Crazily Fast and Furious

Ahead of the upcoming Japanese Grand Prix, it is common for Formula One drivers to attend press conferences. Recently, Takuma Sato of Super Aguri, Ralf Schumacher of Toyota, and Rubens Barrichello of Honda Formula One sat in front of journalists to talk about the upcoming race and other issues.  These three drivers well, drive for Japanese teams and so, they are somehow under immense pressure to perform well.

Barrichello who is having a bad year was asked what he think was the reason for his sub par performance. The Brazilian veteran said:  "It’s very difficult to know what the real reason is. The car is not worse (than last year’s car) – basically everyone else improved, and we didn’t. The car last year was fine, and they took a different route for this year to improve something that was OK already and they didn’t pay attention to the aerodynamics and fine-tuning of the car. To go right to the bottom and understand why that happened, I didn’t bother because right now I’m focused on trying to help the new guys understand and make it better. I never thought that the 2006 car was a great, great car – it was doing OK on the Michelin tyres and we had a good package at some of the races, but it wasn’t there to win every race. I had problems to adapt to it, especially to the traction control. This year everything is much better on that side – the car is miles away – so it’s about putting everything together with the new guys there to make it work. It seems already that next year’s car is coming along better."

Takuma Sato was asked what he thinks about the plan to increase the number of races from 17 this year to 20 or more in the future.  The Japanese driving ace answered:  "From a pure drivers’ point of view I think many races are great. More races are very good. But in terms of logistics – mechanics, engineers, all of the families back at home – it’s probably a bit more difficult with more races, but as long as we keep the spring to autumn season, extra races are more than welcome."

Ralf talked about the race and the track saying:  "For us it’s obviously something special because it’s a home track for Toyota. The track itself has a very long straight, so that’s very exciting; you could end up overtaking twice on the straight, which is very interesting. I think the corners we have except for Turn 4 as mentioned by Rubens are not so special, but it’s a nice layout."

With the Japanese Grand Prix almost around the corner and the end of the current Formula One season in sight, talks concerning driver movement started surfacing.  Let us start with the rivalry between Alonso and Hamilton. According to some reports I have read, and I am sure you already know, Alonso wants to be the number one driver but for Ron Dennis, no one is number one in his team.  Anyway, that gave weight to speculations that Alonso is on his way out of McLaren.

This is where it gets interesting, although it was suggested that the two-time world champion might have a good home on his old team Renault, rumor has it that he will not be going back there if he opts to leave McLaren. Instead, it was reported that he is going to Ferrari.  Now, Ferrari has two strong drivers in Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa.  But I am sure that Kimi is the sort of number one driver in the Italian team.  So that leaves Massa as the one who might get axed.  And then, there were rumors that Massa is on his way to Toyota.  Then Ralf Schumacher said that he is talking with other tams for next season.  But it all end right there since Massa said that he is happy with Ferrari and Alonso also said that he is staying.

The Brazilian denied that neither he nor his manager went to Toyota’s motorhome during the Belgian Grand Prix.  "I would be very interested to know who saw my manager in Toyota," said Massa. "Everybody says people saw him there but he was not there. I have never been to the Toyota motorhome either.  When you have a contract that finishes (at the end of) next year, why should I go and speak with other teams?  I don’t want to. I am really happy in Ferrari and I would like to finish my career in Ferrari," continued the Brazilian driving ace.

As for his championship bid, Massa said that he would have preferred to be still in contention for the championship come the last race of the season, the Brazilian Grand Prix.  "It would’ve been very satisfying to come to my home race in Brazil with a chance of winning the title but 20 points is a lot to make up," said Massa.   But he said that even if he has no chance of winning the championship, he will do everything he can to help the team. But Ferrari has already won the constructors’ championship.  That means that he might help Kimi get closer to the championship.  "But at the moment I still have a chance to take the title," said Massa.

Chad Hillier was driving the #5c DIRT Inc. Maxim at the World of Outlaws race at Orange County Fair Speedway last Wednesday and he was able to get the 12th place out of the 11 row. The Burlington, WA resident and the Rookie of the Year contender Kevin Gobrecht started slowly but qualified 23rd-quick in the 29-car field which also made him qualify for the main event in the "B" Feature. His presence was strong that time.

Chad said, "We passed five or six cars in the last few laps. We were a little bit off with the car in qualifying, but we worked on it all night and kept getting better. We weren’t the best on the bottom, but we got going pretty good around the top. After Stevie Smith passed me up there, I figured that was the best place to run. He drove by me and took off, so I went up there and the car felt pretty good so I just stayed up there."

The 1990 Rookie of the Year of the World of Outlaws’ Smith was overpowered by Hillier on the first lap but he was able to pass 15 cars which made him win the KSE Hard Charger Award.

He continues, "Stevie went up and found the top before anybody else. He passed us in one and two, then I battled with the 18 car (Ryan Bohlke) for quite a while. I went up there and got a rhythm going and got by him. We caught up to (Craig) Dollansky (10th place) with seven (laps) to go when the caution came out. We were running well, but didn’t get off to a good start on that restart. I gathered it back up, but I think we might have been able to get into the top 10 if we had had a better restart."

The original schedule of the World of Outlaws’ 19th event at Middletown’s 5/8-mile oval was supposedly at the Memorial Day Weekend.

Chad again made a coment saying, "It was my first time to race at Orange County. It was hard to pass early because everybody was so equal, but we made forward progress all night. We started out rough in hot laps, but we picked up something in every race after that. Our nose wing got knocked sideways on the start of the heat, so we had to limp around with that, but we got into the feature in the ‘B.’ I was really happy with the way we ran in the feature. The guys worked really hard and we made all the appropriate moves with the car."

On his 32nd, he ranks 20th after finishing off the season and pushed 36 points of his fellow rookie Sam Hafertepe Jr. who got 19th place on the World of Outlaws standings. Now, Chad and his teammates are looking forward to be on the Williams Grove National Open this weekend.

"We’ve struggled at Williams Grove, but I feel like we’ve gotten better every time," Hillier said. "The results don’t really show it but, as a driver, I feel more comfortable every time we go there. I’m learning more about how to race the place and how to set up the car. It’s really tough there because a lot of guys race there every week. It’s a tough crowd, plus we have 20 traveling cars out here now. It’s no easy task, that’s for sure.” 

"I went there in ‘05 (with Selma Shell Racing), but this will be my first chance to race in this event. It’s exciting. We’re just going to go there with a clear attitude, hope for the best and give it our best shot. We hope to get a good pill draw, run a good qualifying lap and, hopefully, get to where we need to be in the heat race and get into the feature."

An online website informs me about the Audi fuel pressure regulator. Maybe I should get one now.

 

Team McLaren with ace drivers Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton have a little knowledge about Japan’s Fuji Speedway. The Fuji Speedway is the location for the first of the season  triple-header fly-away races. The Fuji Speedway’s location is being shadowed by the great and striking Mount Fuji. The renovated track has preserved a few of the original speedway’s spirit.

Although Formula One star Juan Pablo Montoya jumped to NASCAR and drove a Dodge for this season, he failed to qualify for the Chase for the Nextel Cup.  But Kurt Busch driving the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge was able to squeeze into the top twelve.  And now that he is eligible to become the next champion, he must use everything in his arsenal to have a crack at the championship.

During the qualifying for the race in Dover, Kurt Busch had this to say:  "All in all I thought it was a good effort from the Miller Lite team to put our Dodge third. It helps us picking pits. We should have a good pit box selection from that. And then, just working the first stages of the race, track position will hopefully help us lead a lap early on, grab those five points. We’ll see how the race shakes out. We could have a really good Dodge Avenger or one that just does the things we need it to do except there might be a couple guys quicker than us; all in all a good start to the weekend."

As for his thoughts on having a bad day, not knowing that his car will cause a wipeout at the race in Dover, Kurt said:  "Sometimes you think you’re overdue and then other times you hope you just keep riding the good way. For us, it’s just been a night and day difference, it hasn’t just been a couple races that we ran better or just had better pit stops. It’s been a nice ten week stretch and I hope we can glue together another ten week stretch running though this chase."

Although the Dodge driver who has shown his potential last year failed to finish decently at Dover, the Chase is not yet over and he still has a chance to beat the other drivers.  Jimmie Johnson proved that last year when the defending champion finished miserably in the first event of the Chase.  With the help of his team and his car’s components which are as reliable as Dodge Neon shifters, Kurt Busch can still rally on the next eight races for a shot at the grand prize.

The driver said that their cars are now performing better and he is confident that they have a chance.  Even if Kurt has not own a race this season, I think that he can still give a challenge to guys who are out front including championship leader Jeff Gordon.

 

The Toyota Panasonic Racing Team was given three long days to test on the Jerez race track. If the Tuesday event was for Franck Montagny and the Wednesday test was for Ralf Schumacher, the final day, Thursday, was given to Jarno Trulli to master his skills for the forthcoming Japanese Grand Prix which happens at Fuji Speedway next week.

Jarno Trulli was quoted saying, "It was a good day without many interruptions. We worked on both aerodynamic and mechanical set-up in the morning, found some good solutions and had a productive test up until lunch time. But then the wind came up in the afternoon and we had to change the focus to items where consistent track conditions were not so important. But we have gathered enough information to be able to study the results and hopefully make a step for the final three races."

He also managed to accomplish his task that day by finishing a huge total of 77 laps compared to Schumacher who only got 27 last Wednesday. I was looking for a Volkswagen control arm when I spotted this news on MotorSport.com:

Chassis: TF107/06
Best Lap Time: 1min 21.521s
Position: 7th
Total laps: 77
Total distance: 340.571km

Gerd Pfeiffer the Test Team Manager also said, "This morning, Jarno carried on the programme Ralf had started yesterday and by midday had made strong progress and was happy with the car handling and balance. But then, unfortunately, some strong winds blew up and that made conditions more unpredictable and we could no longer carry out meaningful comparison testing. We therefore switched emphasis for the final part of the afternoon. Overall we have had three solid days and collected a lot of data."

The day was sunny and warm and so Trulli was able to do his tasks well. But during the afternoon, a strong wind reached the testing site and Trulli found difficulties dealing with it. But he was able to finish his task gloriously at the end of the day.

F1 official website also has the story.

 

September 19 was scheduled for the Toyota Panasonic car racer Ralf Schumacher and he continued the three-day test up to this day. The test is set in preparation for the future battle of the team against Japan, Brazil and China during the Japanese Grand Prix which is going to happen at the revamped Fuji Speedway. Schumacher continuously tests his skills to perfect every move on the upcoming race. Just like an Acura antenna, the news is also available on the official website of Toyota.

Although he encountered several hindrances on his tests, he still managed to finish 79 laps from the different set ups he tried. Jarno Trulli will be the racer practicing tomorrow after Schumacher’s final day. Trulli will be practicing the specifications before he tries to race on the final day in Japan. Schumacher was able to attain these results:

Chassis: TF107/06
Best Lap Time: 1min 21.608s
Total laps: 79
Total distance: 349.417km

He said, "We have tried a lot of things on the car today and by the end of the day we had made progress. We had a couple of small delays due to car issues but nothing major. The stability and balance was difficult early in the day but we made some changes to the mechanical set-up and achieved a more workable balance."

Moreover, he added, "I was then able to do some aerodynamic comparison work in the afternoon. Our test here has helped us prepare for the Japanese Grand Prix and now I am looking forward to racing at Fuji Speedway."

Test Team Manager Gerd Pfeiffer was also quoted by Motorsport saying, "Ralf’s programme was basically a continuation of the work Franck started yesterday but we had a couple of small delays due to mechanical issues. In the morning we were working mainly on the mechanical set-up aimed at improving traction and in the afternoon we did some aerodynamic comparisons and gathered more data. Jarno will conclude the programme tomorrow and we will then make some decisions for the end of season races."

 

No racing team is as controversial as McLaren right now. The media’s eyes are stuck on the team because of the case filed against them! I was pretty interested about the case, so right after repairing my door handle assembly Canada, I hurriedly searched for updates about McLaren’s case on www.newsonf1.com wherein I found the statement of the controversial F1 racing team on the WMSC decision a few days ago. In this statement, somehow we hope it will bring clarity to the fans and spectators about the issues that has been haunting the world of F1 Racing!

Here’s the statement from McLaren courtesy of NewsOnF1.com:

***

McLaren statement from Ron Dennis

"The most important thing is that we will be going motor racing this weekend, the rest of the season and every season. This means that our drivers can continue to compete for the World Championship. However having been at the hearing today I do not accept that we deserved to be penalised in this way."

"Today’s evidence given to the FIA by our drivers, engineers and staff clearly demonstrated that we did not use any leaked information to gain a competitive advantage."

"Much has been made in the press and at the hearing today of emails and text messages to and from our drivers. The World Motorsport Council received statements from Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Pedro de la Rosa stating categorically that no Ferrari information had been used by McLaren and that they had not passed any confidential data to the team."

"The entire engineering team in excess of 140 people provided statements to the FIA affirming that they had never received or used the Ferrari information."

"We have never denied that the information from Ferrari was in the personal possession of one of our employees at his home. The issue is: was this information used by McLaren? This is not the case and has not been proven today."

"We are also continually asked if McLaren didn’t use the information, what was the reason for Stepney and Coughlan collecting all this data about Ferrari? We can only speculate as neither Coughlan nor Stepney gave evidence at today’s hearing, but we do know that they were both seeking employment with other teams, as already confirmed by both Honda and Toyota."

"There will be no issue for the 2008 season as we have not at any stage used any intellectual property of any other team."

"We have got the best drivers and the best car and we intend to win the World Championship."

Now, any reactions from you guys?

No racing team is as controversial as McLaren right now. The media’s eyes are stuck on the team because of the case filed against them! I was pretty interested about the case, so right after repairing my door handle assembly Canada, I hurriedly searched for updates about McLaren’s case on www.newsonf1.com wherein I found the statement of the controversial F1 racing team on the WMSC decision a few days ago. In this statement, somehow we hope it will bring clarity to the fans and spectators about the issues that has been haunting the world of F1 Racing!

Here’s the statement from McLaren courtesy of NewsOnF1.com:

***

McLaren statement from Ron Dennis

"The most important thing is that we will be going motor racing this weekend, the rest of the season and every season. This means that our drivers can continue to compete for the World Championship. However having been at the hearing today I do not accept that we deserved to be penalised in this way."

"Today’s evidence given to the FIA by our drivers, engineers and staff clearly demonstrated that we did not use any leaked information to gain a competitive advantage."

"Much has been made in the press and at the hearing today of emails and text messages to and from our drivers. The World Motorsport Council received statements from Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Pedro de la Rosa stating categorically that no Ferrari information had been used by McLaren and that they had not passed any confidential data to the team."

"The entire engineering team in excess of 140 people provided statements to the FIA affirming that they had never received or used the Ferrari information."

"We have never denied that the information from Ferrari was in the personal possession of one of our employees at his home. The issue is: was this information used by McLaren? This is not the case and has not been proven today."

"We are also continually asked if McLaren didn’t use the information, what was the reason for Stepney and Coughlan collecting all this data about Ferrari? We can only speculate as neither Coughlan nor Stepney gave evidence at today’s hearing, but we do know that they were both seeking employment with other teams, as already confirmed by both Honda and Toyota."

"There will be no issue for the 2008 season as we have not at any stage used any intellectual property of any other team."

"We have got the best drivers and the best car and we intend to win the World Championship."

McLaren Mercedes driver Fernando Alonso took advantage of Bridgestone’s soft compound Potenza to set a record as the fastest time on the Spa Francorchamps last Friday for the ING Belgian Grand Prix. His Mclaren does not use Chrysler brake pads but more quality racing parts are installed on his car to give more power and control during the competition proper. The Motorsport.com has the news.

He was able to gain 1min 46.654secs as his time in the latter half on the afternoon 90-minute practice session. He was declared the fastest driver on that day which put Lewis Hamilton, his team mate, on the tenth place. He also set the fastest time on the soft compound Potenza tyre.  

The Bridgestone Motorsport Head of Track Engineering Operations Kees van de Grint was quoted by Motorsport saying: "It was quite an unusual Friday practice session in many respects. We did not have the usual rain in Spa and also the tyres performed very well for what is the first day of running. The appearance of the tyres was particularly good and we did not see the graining we would usually associate with Friday’s running."

Stats of the Day
Total amount of laps completed by all drivers: 1054 laps
Average number of laps per driver: 48 laps
Most laps by a driver: 61 - Sebastian Vettel
Fastest lap: 1min 46.654secs - F Alonso (FP2)
Compounds used: Medium and soft

Alonso also added, "However, we should not sing our praises before the chequered flag as we still have two days to run yet. The grip levels from the track today were quite low. The soft compound provided a faster lap time of more than half a second, if the car and driver could get the full benefit from the extra grip it provided, but it was critical to get the optimum lap."