Crazily Fast and Furious

Some people just have this peculiar crave for speed.

Featured in Reuters.com last week were three racing drivers whom I guess were never taught of what going slow means.

Former Formula one world champion Michael Schumacher, now testing for Ferrari cars, took the challenge of racing Fiat 500 cars on outdoor ice rink two weeks ago - part of a team-building event held in northern Italy.

Schumacher, 39, won the giant slalom ski contest over other car racers including Ducati’s MotoGP titleholder Casey Stoner.

Seems like Formula one offers such an excellent speed training, isn’t it?

Formula One, or F1, is considered as the world’s highest class of auto racing. According to wikipedia.com, "formula" stands for a set of rules that govern all participants and cars. Grands Prix is F1 world championship season’s series of races usually held on purpose-built circuits and sometimes on closed city streets.

On these events, cars race at a speed reaching more than 320 kilometer per hour or 200 miles per hour. You should know! Millions of people around the world watch such breath-taking event in televisions worldwide.

The cars’ secret? Well, it’s on electronics, suspension, aerodynamics and tires that must bear quality same as of an Acura Integra wheel bearing.

Formula One has what it calls as The Schumacher’s era - the period in which Schumacher established his reputation as a Formula One champion for seven consecutive years. Just right for someone who spent almost 16 years of his life in Formula One thus making him a certified speed pro.

Last year, Schumacher tested Ducati MotoGP bike. He told Reuters, "I will continue to enjoy the bike, yes. Whether I do another test with Ducati, I don’t know."

Okay, okay. Some people like Schumacher just have the guts to FEEL what it means to fly with cars.

            
Here’s another F1 update for every racing geek out there. The 2008 Formula One World Championship season is on the way and we don’t want to be left behind. I know everyone’s excited, so let’s start kicking our engine mounts and prepare for the newest season of the world-renowned racing event!

To start of, here’s a Q&A with Tetsuro Kobayashi, the Technical Manager of Bridgestone Motorsport, courtesy of MotorSport.com News:

Q: What has Bridgestone learnt from this test?
TK: "Valencia is an interesting circuit with a mixture of low and medium speed corners, as well as a reasonably long straight, which makes it useful for data accumulation. This has been a useful exercise to see how our tyres interact with the latest cars from the teams, and we had no interruptions from poor weather over these three days. As the car regulations are largely the same as the previous season it becomes more critical for the teams and drivers to extract the maximum from the Bridgestone Potenzas and watching the evolution of the new cars for this purpose is fascinating."

Q: What is the rest of the test programme before the season starts?
TK: "From Valencia we head to Barcelona with an expected eight teams who will use the hard compound Potenza. Ferrari and Toyota will test in Bahrain with the medium compound between 4-6 and 9-11 February and should see hotter running than we have had in Europe. After that, it is back to Jerez with an expected nine teams and the medium compound on 12-14 February. Six teams are expected to return to Barcelona between19-21 February, with certain teams opting to test at other locations in this period. Finally, between 25-27 February we will have a test in Barcelona with the hard compound where all teams are expected to attend. This is an intense period of activity for us, and unlike many teams our engineers attend both the tests and the races. There are now under 50 days before we see running at Albert Park for the first race of the season, and I am sure we will see plenty of progress from the teams between now and then."

                   
BMW Sauber F1 team is making thorough preparations for the upcoming 2008 season. And so far, they are doing great! Their 2008 Formula One Car named the F1.08 and is driven by Robert Kubica has impressed the crew on its first test drive at the Circuito de la Comunidad Valenciana Ricardo Tormo in Valencia, Spain. Definitely two thumbs up!  

According to Motor Sport, Nick Heidfeld, Kubica’s teammate, who exhibited the racecar at its launching last Monday at BMW World in Munich, is scheduled to put the car throughout its speed Thursday.

"All systems were functioning from the word go, and Robert has gained a positive first impression of the new car’s handling. It means the most suspenseful moment for the engineers and technicians has resulted in a positive outcome. In the next few days we will be testing the technology in detail before tackling the job of further honing the BMW Sauber F1.08 for performance," says team principal Mario Theissen.

"The car feels more stable than its predecessor, and it builds up more grip," the Pole said. "I’m looking forward to the test days to come."

"I really enjoyed driving the old car as well," said the German, who then enthused about the new one. "The F1.08 is the most beautiful vehicle I have seen in my F1 career. It has a lot of interesting details. I’m really excited about getting inside it on Thursday."

"We are all accordingly delighted to have encountered no problems whatsoever on the first outing with this completely new vehicle," he said. "Now all the car’s systems and entire sensor technology will be checked in detail before the start of the further test program,” says Team technical director Willy Rampf.

Is Saab’s “green” claim truthful?

Saab was told to stop portraying its cars as environmentally friendly or face legal action for misleading advertising, reported EU Business.

A summons, instigated by Friends of the Earth Europe and delivered by bailiff to Saab’s Belgian office, calls on the company to remove all wording and imagery from its website and brochures which associate its cars with nature or the protection of the environment, the report said. Also, the Swedish automaker must also withdraw false claims that driving a company’s car reduces CO2 emissions.

Friends of the Earth Europe also mentioned in the document that the automaker does not display the CO2 emissions or fuel consumption figures of its ‘Biopower’ engines on its website or in its brochures. The said omission is a violation of Belgian and European law.

The manufacturer of Saab 9-5 radiators has 8 days to comply with the demands. Lapse of the period would pave the way for the filing of a complaint by Friends of the Earth Europe.

"Saab is the latest carmaker to engage in ‘greenwash’ advertising designed to enhance its green credentials. Instead of fooling consumers thatits cars don’t damage the environment, Saab should be making real efforts to improve the fuel efficiency of its vehicles," said Jeroen Verhoeven, the car efficiency campaigner for Friends of the Earth Europe.

The action by Friends of the Earth Europe follows a ruling promulgated in November 2007 by the Belgian advertising standards authority. The ruling said that Saab must cease an advertisement campaign in which it claimed its ‘Biopower’ cars made the roads, "finally turn green".

The said advertisement is deemed in breach of the environmental advertisement code which precludes advertisers from implying a product has no impact on the environment, unless it is otherwise proven.

Despite the ruling Saab has continued to claim on its website and in its brochures that a car with a ‘Biopower’ engine will provide drivers with a "clean conscience" about its environmental impact. Saab backs up this assertion by stating that driving a car which runs on E85, a mix of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline, will slash its CO2 emissions by 80%.

"Saab is using ethanol as a green alibi to cover up the fact that it is failing to significantly reduce the fuel consumption of it cars," Verhoeven added.

As opposed to the automaker’s claims, the environmental performance of Saab’s vehicles is poor. Saab cars rank among the worst, rating from mediocre to very poor, according to the official fuel consumption data.

One year is enough to make a pretty compelling difference. Take McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton. A year ago, he was a rookie, but a remarkable one. Now, he radiates oozing confidence.

What would the 2008 season be like to Hamilton? In an interview with the official website of F1, he spilled the beans…

Q: How do you expect your relationship with new teammate Heikki Kovalainen to differ from that you had with Fernando Alonso?
Lewis Hamilton: I don’t think it’s going be a huge difference because me and
Fernando got on very well. Sure he liked to keep to his own side and do his own thing whereas Heikki is probably more similar to me as I like to talk a lot and he is also quite bubbly. He is more open to talk so it’s easy to speak to him and there is already something of a friendship developing, so it will be a fun season.

Q: But as Heikki is the newcomer, does that automatically make you the top dog?
LH: We both will be treated equally. And I think that is the best way to do it. At the end of the day we are out there to beat each other, compete with each other, but also to bring the team forward. With Heikki I can clearly see that he wants to beat me and I want to beat him - but all in a fair manner. He is as much a racer as I am.

Q: And obviously he does not come with the baggage of being a twice world champion…
LH: I don’t know what you mean… What I can say is that Heikki and me, we both have that fresh blood and the determination to go somewhere.

Q: Do you think the team will be handicapped by agreeing to suspend development of certain new systems on the car following the Ferrari ‘spy scandal’?
LH: No, we will find other ways of improving the car and continue moving forward. It is part of the sport. The team has gone through a hell of a lot but they still have the same determination and drive to win the world championship - and if we win it’s even better.

Q: Traction control has been banned for ’08. There has been talk that this could prove dangerous in wet conditions such as those we saw at Nurburgring and Fuji last year - what are your thoughts on this?
LH: We will see. I quite liked traction control so it’s a new challenge for the drivers - and for the team, to not have the set-up control and use it to our advantage. So I guess it will be tricky for sure. But look at GP2, look at Formula Three - every other class can drive without it and so we can do it too. It’s harder for sure. In the end racing is our job and we have to give the maximum under whatever technical requirements or outside conditions.

[credit: Formula1.com]

Fernando Alonso has left the Vodafone McLaren team for good. Now the vacant position as second driver to Lewis Hamilton has been officially taken by Finn Heikki Kovalainen who have signed with McLaren last month. According to my source, Finn Heikki Kovalainen will team up with Formula 1 World Championship ace driver Lewis Hamilton for season 2008. The upcoming season is drawing nearer and nearer! We can’t wait for Kovalainen to fasten his seat belts and race with one of the greatest young race drivers in the world.      

Furthermore, Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa will continue to be the team’s third driver and will be an essential component of Vodafone McLAren. Gary Paffett will help out Pedro with the testing program if necessary.

"We had a number of options open to us and as always we want to make sure that we have the most competitive driver line-up and I think that Lewis and Heikki will be a formidable combination," said Martin Whitmarsh.

"Both enjoyed great rookie seasons in 2007 and share a genuine passion for winning and being the best. Heikki made a strong impression and Lewis’ performance so far has been outstanding and speaks for itself. I am confident that they will push each other on track and work well together off track. In addition with Pedro remaining our primary test driver alongside Gary, we really have a strong package and look forward to 2008," he added.

"Heikki is a talented driver who showed his skills during his debut season in Formula 1 this year. Heikki’s most impressive performance was at the Japanese Grand Prix at Fuji where he finished second behind Lewis in extremely treacherous wet conditions." commented Norbert Haug, Vice President, Mercedes-Benz Motorsport.

"I am so excited to join a team like Vodafone McLaren Mercedes," said Heikki. "So far I have been blown away by the dedication and commitment to winning which is clear through the entire organisation and I am really excited about our joint future. As a Finn it’s an honour for me to follow in Mika and Kimi’s footsteps. I haven’t really spent a lot of time with Lewis so far but from what I know I think we will work well together and do our best for the team."

"As soon as the chequered flag went in Brazil I began to count down the days until Australia. I am really looking forward to 2008 and working with Heikki as my team mate. Together with the team we will do everything we can to ensure that our Championship challenge is as strong and focused as possible. My first year in Formula 1 was incredible and I was so fortunate to spend it with Vodafone McLaren Mercedes and I hope that Heikki will enjoy his first year with the team as much as I did mine," says Lewis Hamilton.