Remind Me. Is There a Race this Weekend?
As reported yesterday, the Valencia street circuit was given the go ahead for the F1 race, as the FIA handed out their official licence. Button also gave his stamp of approval to the new circuit.
It is a great venue and it will bring a lot of new fans to F1. It is quite a fast circuit, for a street circuit. It has got a lot of run-off in the places that you need it.
BMW are already looking to the simulator to get accurate data for the race weekend, including downforce levels, gearbox ratios and brake specifications. Willy Rampf said they were starting early so as not to lose time during the race weekend.
Mike Gascoyne has revealed that although they will test out Force India’s new seamless shift gearbox on Friday in Hungary, they’re saving actual implementation for Valencia.
Lewis Hamilton is looking as far ahead as the Singapore night race, saying he will walk the track to get a good feel for it. No doubt he is planning to do the same for the unfamiliar curves at Valencia.
From what I can see, all the talk at the moment is about Valencia, despite the fact the race doesn’t take place for almost another month. I’m looking forward to it, another proper street circuit, and the track looks stunning. With the races we’ve been having this year, adding a brand new, unknown layout to the mix is only going to cause chaos!
With that in mind, then, with the Valencian GP so close and everyone talking about it, do we even care about Hungary? I say, why not just hand this weekend’s points to Hamilton, and let’s move on to a track we’re actually interested in.
July 29th, 2008 at 12:12 pmSteven Roy said:
Interesting start to you Hungaroring build up. Although the circuit is a bore and the racing is generally dull it may have one or two things to recommend it this year. First it regularly gets very dusty and it has a lot of slow speed corners and we don’t have traction control. That is an interesting combination which could result in the race being less predictable and processional than the usual fare served up in Hungary.
There may be another far more interesting race taking place. Keith has proposed a bloggers and commenters kart race at Clive’s blog. He proposed it there. We are not racing there. I have suggested that the best option would be if we could organise something for Autosport International. If anyone is interested or has a better idea pop over and let us know.
July 29th, 2008 at 12:17 pmme said:
a very fine point. although it might also just hand the race to mclaren.
i swear we suggested the very same idea to keith / ollie this time last year
the conclusion was karting is too expensive. unless the price has dropped in 12 months, i’m betting the same conclusions will be drawn this year.
any idea what autosport charge?
July 29th, 2008 at 12:26 pmSteven Roy said:
Alianora has found a place one train stop away which cost about £40 for a multi race event so that everyone gets a few races. She says their karts have 10hp engines which doesn’t sound much but most indoor karts have either 5.5hp 160cc or 6.5hp 200cc Honda engines.
July 29th, 2008 at 12:28 pmDank said:
They must have signed a pretty good deal to keep Hungary on the calendar for this long. After Circuit de Catalunya, the Hungaroring is the biggest snoozefest in F1. Unfortunately there is 0% chance of rain for this weekend.
So, only four weeks to go until Valencia!
July 29th, 2008 at 12:29 pmme said:
okay, have jumped in with my suggestions. the link is here should anyone be interested:
http://madtv.me.uk/f1insight/default.aspx?blogid=334
my gut feeling is it’ll be too expensive to do properly, but if it’s feasible please count us in
July 29th, 2008 at 12:31 pmChristine said:
Not me. I karted once and hated every second of it. I’ll take the pictures though
July 29th, 2008 at 12:33 pmStuart C said:
It can be a bit pricey. I prefer outdoor to indoor tracks – the indoor ones are often un-grippy and hard to pass on.
They have a very good relationship with Bernie – the access road is named after him.
July 29th, 2008 at 12:38 pmLe BOL said:
I’m planning to miss the Hungarian race because, unless it rains, it’ll be even worse than my recent nightmare, Valencia sounds like fun, let’s wait & see.
I decided to come up with my very own quiz, I’ve been thinking about it all morning and finally sat down and typed the questions. The link is on drop.io or click here http://blog.myspace.com/toborre
July 29th, 2008 at 12:39 pmSteven Roy said:
Out door is definitely better but given that it will be Birmingham in January the grip probably won’t be much better. There are likely to be a few complete novices so it’s probably safer to keep it indoors and keep the speed down. Although if someone wants to do an outdoor event I will find a few jumpers and have a go.
July 29th, 2008 at 12:43 pmDank said:
I went karting for the first time ever this weekend on an indoor track. Would easily become my favourite hobby if it wasn’t for the fact it cost an arm-and-a-leg plus the fact I have a bruise the size of Wales on my spine following an ‘incident’!
Heading down to my local outdoor track at Milton Keynes next (£49 for 30mins!!!). Putting in the practise as I’ll be racing against Mark Webber and the other MW club members soon. People at work are taking bets on how many times I’ll be lapped by him!
July 29th, 2008 at 1:13 pmDom said:
I suppose the un-interest in the Hungarian race is not surprising. Its a circuit with little landmarks that’s stuck around for 23 years. Added to that is the fact that it takes place in a country very few people know much about so any local culture is not recognised by F1 fans and the circuit doesn’t really have enough character to be noticeable during the memorable moments that have taken place there. Perhaps part of the problem is the lack of motorsport interest within the Hungarian people too. Most of the fans present at the race are German, Finnish and Austrian. The circuit is probably not used for many other motorsport events either.
July 29th, 2008 at 1:18 pmChristine said:
The only interest I think I’ve seen was from Kubica, who’s expecting lots of Polish fans to turn up.
July 29th, 2008 at 1:38 pmStuart C said:
I’m not sure it’s used for any others now. As for crowds, you’d be surprised – it’s usually full.
July 29th, 2008 at 2:06 pmme said:
that’ll make a nice change after germany
the forecast is:
fri: sunny
sat: cloudy
sun: cloudy
i’m banking on alonso to stir up some controversy, don’t let me down ferni.
are you taking photo’s this time round stuart?
July 29th, 2008 at 2:18 pmBG said:
there are some national sports car championship races, drag races, and the WSR since last year apart from F1 on the Hungaroring.
I’m not sure, but I think good old Bernie co-owns the circuit, hence the never ending desire to come back to the track.
it’s also rumored that the circuit’s contract is to be extended until 2016. official confirmation is expected some time this week.
July 29th, 2008 at 2:22 pmClive said:
As regards the karting event, it should be reasonably inexpensive if the right venue is found. Alianora’s suggestion is probably the one to go with. Years ago, while I was still in England, I used to work with teenagers who had been excluded from school. Occasionally we would take them to a kart track of the kind suggested, indoor to begin with (Birmingham) and then outdoor (Coventry), and ran a series of heats with a final to decide the overall winner. The project was fairly tight on funding but we managed it easily enough - the cost was around the amount mentioned by Ali, if I remember correctly.
July 29th, 2008 at 2:40 pmme said:
i was assuming that it would cost us double, but as christine’s already bailed that halves our expenses
of note, a long while ago (pre-sidepodcast) i acquired a job lot of onboard-microcameras for use in radio controlled vehicles. i’m thinking we should attach them to the front of each kart? depending on the number of buggy’s they could be both forward and rearward facing.
July 29th, 2008 at 2:47 pmStuart C said:
I will be, but perhaps not quite so many – I’ve got a bit more mag work to do this weekend. Hans says “You can go out and play at being Darren Heath when you’ve got all your work done.”
July 29th, 2008 at 2:57 pmme said:
ahh, hans he wise man.
mean… but wise.
July 29th, 2008 at 3:13 pmSteven Roy said:
Just how much equipment are you planning to carry? Presumably you need to get signals from these to a PC and you need to somehow link all the channels together. I have only ever seen 8 karts on an indoor track at a time but according to their website the track is 750 metres which is enormous by the standards of most indoor tracks so they may have more karts. It doesn’t say anywhere on their site how many. It does say however that there is a 10% online booking discount.
I didn’t realise it was such a tough life hanging around a grand prix. Will Hans allow you to comment here or has he revoked your commenting priveleges as well?
July 29th, 2008 at 3:25 pmJordan Allen said:
Oh, I do not know. Maybe Hamilton will try squeeze Kovi off the track in order to pass his Kovi and will will have none of that and not move so that they crash and Hamilton takes both of them out. I would love to see James Allen explain that away that one. PLus, it will tigthen up the championship again.
Where I reside there are two outdoor go-kart tracks within the city limits and another indoor go-kart track and these were found on my inter-city travels.
http://www.conservationhamilton.ca/parks/visit/Confederation_Go_karts.asp 0.5 km track.
http://www.cameronspeedway.com/index.php4 ==> 2 km track. price seems to be quoted at 2005 levels. 15 laps, 30 km, for $20.00 CDN dollars fir you have a group of 8 or more? Yeah, I know gas went up over the years, but even at $27.00 CDN, think you guys where quoting a higher face value of the price, then I have to doubvle it to come up with its price in CDN dollars.
Too bad for most of you it is going to require a Transalantic flight to get here, but then again, you are missing Hungary.
July 29th, 2008 at 3:31 pmStuart C said:
As a rule of thumb, the very people you need to speak to are hard to get hold of, so Thursdays and Fridays of a GP weekend tend to consist of a lot of frantic charging around, combined with extended stretches on what are best described as ’stakeouts’. In many ways F1 is quite an old-fashioned industry – the people in it frown on any efforts to circumnavigate the rules of engagement, so kicking the front door in (so to speak) doesn’t get you very far.
The main rule on commenting is “Never insult the people who pay your wages,” which seems eminently sensible to me!
July 29th, 2008 at 3:39 pmAlianora La Canta said:
They must have signed a pretty good deal to keep Hungary on the calendar for this long. {Dank - 16 comments ago}
Put it this way - I’ve never heard the Hungarian authorities make the slightest complaint about Mr Ecclestone’s prices.
It can be a bit pricey. I prefer outdoor to indoor tracks – the indoor ones are often un-grippy and hard to pass on. {Stuart C - 13 comments ago}
I have to admit I suggested Teamworks purely because of its proximity to the Autosport venue and not-horrifically-expensive prices rather than for any particular sporting characteristics. If the test concept works, it would be interesting to have outdoor as well as indoor races.
The only interest I think I’ve seen was from Kubica, who’s expecting lots of Polish fans to turn up. {Christine - 8 comments ago}
Possibly because the other main draw at the moment is Kimi Raikkonen, and he’s not known for making enormously enthusiastic public statements about much of anything.
I’m not sure it’s used for any others now. {Stuart C - 7 comments ago}
According to the Hungaroring’s web site, it hosted the World Series by Renault two-and-a-half weeks ago, and next month will have two days of BRO Racing (what’s that?), a drag racing day and two days of Ferrari racing. I would say that it’s a seriously underused track, though.
I’m not sure, but I think good old Bernie co-owns the circuit, hence the never ending desire to come back to the track. {BG - 5 comments ago}
Bernie owns Turkey. His ownership status of Hungary is unclear, but he did have a major hand in founding the race, so he may feel like an attack on its continued position in the championship is an attack on him personally.
July 29th, 2008 at 4:25 pmme said:
ummm, what?
http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_news_item.php?fes_art_id=35531
“Coulthard to use engine for third race”
not fair, the renault engine can’t be that reliable, it just can’t
July 29th, 2008 at 4:31 pmSteven Roy said:
Yes but he only managed one lap of Silverstone. I read the story this morning and the reason given was that it would allow him to run different engines at Monza and Spa which are two tracks which really work the engine. Maybe Red Bull are not confident that Renault can make an engine that will survive both.
July 29th, 2008 at 4:59 pmme said:
ahh, yay. normality restored. thank you.
July 29th, 2008 at 4:59 pmGaulty (What the hell happens at 1 in the morning) said:
Its a track thats there because its always there, a bit like Rio De Janiro and Barcelona. Its not the greatest track in the world, but for the fact its been there for quite a number of years means it will keep its place for many years into the future.
July 29th, 2008 at 5:13 pmJoe said:
Speaking of Catalunya, it has the highest number of wet races. I’m not sure where I read that, it may have been here, but that’s quite a fact considering how dull a race it tends to be.
July 29th, 2008 at 6:49 pmAndyT said:
I’d love to come karting - £40 ish sounds very reasonable to me.
July 29th, 2008 at 7:10 pmLynch said:
Hey “me” the Aguri auction is going live right now if you are reading this! I am bidding on a wheel rim (£23) and some brake discs and maybe some shirts, there is some serious kit there, check it out… I guess you are close-ish to Oxfordshire to pick up the stuff….it ends in 2-3 days…
July 29th, 2008 at 8:08 pmJordan Allen said:
That has nothing to do about nothing. Gaulty. HUngary has only been around the F1 circus since 1986, for a total of 22 years.
If I can offer a Zillion dollars to Bernie and Max, they will gladly knock off the Monaco Grand Prix to have it at 3/4 oval Cayuga Speedway in the middle of nowhere.
How long has Silverstone had the British Grand Prix? and Where it it going in 2010?
Crowd favourite Circuit de Gilles Villeneuve was threatened to be yanked of the calendar becasue of Anti-Tobacco sponourship one year before it went into effect in Europe.
You would think that Monza, home of Italian Motorsport would be save. But if Imola offers the FIA more money Imola will once again get the Italian Grand Prix. As it did in 1980.
Osterreichring, gone twice. Remember Zandvoovt (Dutch Grand Prix, anyone? Gone.) The massivly unfair advantage that teh Turbos held at the Mexican Grand Prix? Another well known and established circuit gone for strictly finanical reasons.
July 29th, 2008 at 8:12 pmlou said:
I’m hoping to go to autosport this year, so I’m up for some karting…. have never been before but I would love to give it a go. If it’s strictly for people with experience I will stand with Christine and keep her company
Just a bit of a reminder, if anyone is thinking of going to the ROC, tickets prices go up in a few days.
July 29th, 2008 at 8:38 pmJoe said:
I’d love to go to the Autosport show, I wouldn’t fly over though, so maybe in a few years when I should be living in England.
On the subject of circuits, Imola as the Italian GP would feel weird.I’ve not seen Zandvoort, how’s the safety and stuff there? Would it be able to host a GP in its current state?
I’d like to see the A1 Ring back also.
July 29th, 2008 at 8:41 pmme said:
trust me, it’s not worth flying in for.
goodwood fos… maybe, but not that.
July 29th, 2008 at 8:41 pmme said:
cheers lou. will do.
July 29th, 2008 at 9:12 pmSteven Roy said:
No experience needed Lou. You won’t be the only rookie as Alianora has never tried before apart from two and a half minutes 10 years ago. I am sure there will be others. The big problem if you have never tried before is you may become addicted and want to race something more expensive.
July 29th, 2008 at 9:20 pmlou said:
briliant I may give it a go then
would be great to met you all anyway if you’re going to autosport.
July 29th, 2008 at 9:27 pmJoe said:
On the subject (or not so much) of flying, out of countries that have yet to host a GP, where would you like one?
It’d be awesome to have one in Ireland (I would say that wouldn’t I :D) but due to such a small population, and the fact that we have little history in F1, I’ll keep dreaming, hehe.
I’d like Russia too, they’re probably looking to host one anyway, but lets get more European races I’d say. And not another Tilkedrome please.
July 29th, 2008 at 9:31 pmSteven Roy said:
Is this April 1st or a blue moon?
ALL of the F1 teams meeting at Maranello today reached an agreement. I don’t think that has ever happened before.
http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns20610.html
The Formula 1 teams had a meeting today in Maranello, Italy, and have agreed to set up a new association called the Formula 1 Teams Association, that will negotiate with the FIA and Formula One Management to agree on a new Concorde Agreement.
All the teams were represented, along with Bernie Ecclestone and Donald McKenzie, CVC’s managing partner, and Ferrari issued a statement this afternoon stating that the meeting had been “extremely constructive”.
The statement said “The teams have subsequently agreed unanimously that they will establish the new Formula One Teams Association to work with the FIA and FOM to agree upon regulations and commercial conditions which will provide a framework for a strong and dynamic sport.”
The first question that spring to mind is what is the difference between the new organisation and FOCA?
July 29th, 2008 at 9:44 pmIan Lockwood said:
That is an interesting distinction - the C in FOCA was for Constructor - does replacing Constructor with Team mean they may be willing to review the customer car situation again????
July 29th, 2008 at 11:59 pmJordan Allen said:
Zandvoort has been shortened since its glory days but the hairpin named “Tarzan” still remains as the last corner to the start/finish straight. it is awful close to a body of water and the track is built around some sand dunes so it suffer more from this probem than Bahrain, due to onshore winds. But really, what is some sand going to do to Mercedes-Benz enigne in particular?
Well, the 1980 Italian Grand Prix was held at Imola. Monza of course was every upset, and they found a small country called “San Marino” to give the Imola circuit a Grand Prix and keep the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
Good God Joe, why? The A-1 Ring is actually on the inside parimeter of the old Osterreichring circuit and as such the entire track lies on the inside slopes of a valley.
The Osterreichring had this awesome turn called Hella Licht. It was a completly blind corner as it was on the reverse slope of a ridge. You went down the slope of one ridge, into the bottom of the valley, up the second valley over the crest of the second ridge, disappearing from site of the reverse ridge, slam on the breaks as only at the crest of the second ridge would you see Hella Light Corner and make the right hander onto the Remus straight.
Other thing that the Osterreiching had was the infamous Boschkurve horseshoe corner totally flat out left flick right turn through more than 180 degrees, left flick.
Compared to the Osterreiching, the A-1 circuit is the track equalivalent of a baby being born a male and having the family doctor look over it, notice that something is missing, and telling the parents that “its a girl”.
July 30th, 2008 at 12:14 amSteven Roy said:
The A1 Ring was like the Hungaroring compared to the Oesterreichring’s Spa but it produced great races year after year. The old circuit was awesome though but never recovered from its last GP having three re-starts.
July 30th, 2008 at 1:15 amJoe said:
I dunno, but if Catalunya has one, so should Austria, and the A1 Ring is the only one I can think of. It’ll never happen though unless there’s a successful Austrian driver.
And damn Alonso being as good as he is, now we won’t see the end of that track for a long time.
July 30th, 2008 at 1:18 amJoe said:
While I’m at it, imagine if Bernie got everything he wanted, implemented. We’d probably have all privateer teams except for Ferrari,wins deciding the championship rather than points, and god knows what else.
July 30th, 2008 at 1:41 amme said:
off topic, but a quick heads-up. drop.io have been doing some upgrades today, notes are now fully html enabled plus there’s an insane 3d view of the whole drop.
it requires a plugin download, so i made a quick video giving an example:
http://drop.io/sidepodcast/asset/piclens
not sure how useful it is, but i just wasted a couple of hours skimming back and forth
July 30th, 2008 at 2:49 amPink Peril said:
I’m so jealous I won’t be able to make the inaugural F1 Bloggers Karting race, but somehow I don’t think Mr Pink would be too happy on me spending $3000 on airfare to attend…. (although makes the £40 race fee look quite cheap in comparision).
*sigh* maybe next time.
And I must be in the minority here, but I am looking forward to the race this weekend - although perhaps that is because I missed the last one (I will download it Alianora & watch it, just haven’t had the time yet.)
July 30th, 2008 at 5:06 amMattw said:
I know what you are saying, but the ‘A1′ track (long strights, short tight corners) is a world away from Hungaroring (long flowing corners and short strights)
Yes, I remember a certian Mr Brundel getting it all wrong in a Zackspeed. Played hell with the TV schedules - but I always found the race to repair cars, or prep spare cars for the restart facinating.
July 30th, 2008 at 12:01 pmme said:
have you been chatting to ernie bernie recently?
July 30th, 2008 at 1:06 pmSteven Roy said:
Yet another thing Max’s insanity has deprived us of. I remember Derek Warwick landing a Lotus on its head at the Parabolica at Monza at fairly high speed and getting out and sprinting back to get in the spare. It was amazing how the driver who needed the spare so often was not the driver it was set up for.
Watching the mechanics changing the set up was always entertaining. I have often seen a pair of legs sticking ouf of the cockpit as some poor mechanic tried to adjust pedals. Watching a driver who had half of his set up and half of his team mate’s set up could be entertainig too.
On the rare occasions when both team mates needed the spare the sprint back to the pits to be the first to claim it could be more interesting than the race that followed. I can’t remember who was involved but I have a very clear picture in my head of two drivers in blue overalls sprinting along the water front at Monaco trying to find short cuts back to the pits.
It really is amazing how much entertainment we have been deprived of as a result of Max’s stupid rules and decisions.
July 30th, 2008 at 1:08 pmSteven Roy said:
It’s not just the kart race you get Autosposrt International and a British winter. What more could you want?
I suppose there must be a track near Goodwood….
July 30th, 2008 at 1:12 pmSteven Roy said:
How deranged can one person be?
http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?id=43504
July 30th, 2008 at 2:00 pmDom said:
This is my favourite bit:
Kinda sums up Max, doesn’t it? The more court cases you win, the more popular you get. That could be his motto.
July 30th, 2008 at 2:20 pmMattw said:
It slid along way down the track, so he didn’t have that far to run. It was a brave moment from Derek, and this was the first race after Donnelly’s accident?
Also remember Brundle having a huge shunt at the 3rd corner in Melbourne, and then running all the way back to the pits for the spare.
That was fun - it was almost if some mischievous god was in charge.
July 30th, 2008 at 2:33 pmSteven Roy said:
According to wikipedia Jerez was two races after Monza.
I saw Martin Donnelly at Autosport International and he is still hobbling badly from that crash in 1990. Although I guess it is pretty miraculous that he is able to hobble. It looks like he lost the front half of one of his feet. He is apparently back racing again.
July 30th, 2008 at 9:21 pmDom said:
Not gonna be around for a bit, I’ll have to wait till some time next week to find out if Hungary was a bore or not. One thing to mention, whenever I miss a race Jenson Button gets a really good result (which is pretty annoying seeing as I support him). Jenson FTW!
July 30th, 2008 at 9:23 pmDom said:
That’s my official prediction, by the way
July 30th, 2008 at 9:36 pmme said:
cheers dom
July 31st, 2008 at 12:13 amAlex Andronov said:
A brave, brave, move…
I’ve been sadly forced away from the internets by work all week. But I’m back once again (like the renegade master
July 31st, 2008 at 12:42 amlou said:
oo so it could be a good race for Jenson then.
no chance of him doing as well as he did in 2006 though 
it suppose it could happen. i mean if there are lots of accidents or whatever and there are about 4 cars left he could win it.
July 31st, 2008 at 1:12 amJordan Allen said:
Good move Dom! Now all the Jenson Button fans on this website are going to tie you to a tree somewhere deep in Sherwood Forest every time there’s a Grand Prix.
Hmmm, I would if it is time for me to dump barrichello in favour of Button in Fantasy Racers, now.
BTW, do not forget to alter your Fantasy Racers teams! I hear Christine has finally stopped sandbagging and is gunning for “Me”…..
July 31st, 2008 at 11:39 pmAlianora La Canta said:
Now all the Jenson Button fans on this website are going to tie you to a tree somewhere deep in Sherwood Forest every time there’s a Grand Prix. {Jordan Allen - previous post}
Dom, if the Jenson Button fans carry out that threat, remember there’s a Robin Hood festival on at the weekend, so you’ll probably get rescued. I cannot guarantee that you’ll still be sober at the end of the rescue attempt, though…