Ancillary F1 - Mercedes Support Vehicles
- Length: 3:40
- Size: 3.5 MB
- File: ancillary4.mp3
- Transcript: ancillary4.pdf
- Torrent: ancillary4.torrent
Welcome to the Sidepodcast mini-series Ancillary F1. This series is all about the companies the sport couldn’t live without, but who get none of the glory. Today, though, we’re looking at a company who do provide a car and sometimes take part in races.
Mercedes Benz have been providing the Official Safety Car to Formula 1 since 1996, along with the Official F1 Medical Car. The Safety Cars services are called upon when weather conditions, or an accident, mean that drivers shouldn’t be running at full speed. Since 2000, Bernd Mayländer has been the man behind the wheel of the safety car, with a co-pilot by his side. The pair are in constant contact with race director Charlie Whiting, to determine when the car is needed and when it should pull aside.
Since 1978, and Ronnie Petersen’s fatal accident, the medical car has been dispatched behind the grid on the first lap of the race. The first is notoriously the most incident prone lap, so it makes sense for medical attention to be as close as possible. At the end of the first lap, the medical team pull into the pit lane, ready for any further call to action. There are four personnel manning the medical car, Dr Jacques Tropenat, Dr Gary Hartstein, and two assistants.
The two cars make their first appearance of a race weekend on the Thursday, when they test out the track, the cars, the television cameras and live timing system. Mayländer admits that he and Tropenat will often turn it into a bit of a race between themselves, not just for fun, but to make sure they’ve got what it takes to keep the speeds up. The only exception to the rule is Monaco, where Free Practice is on Thursday, so the safety car test is on Wednesday. With mainstream traffic running through the streets that day, the two can only race as fast as rush hour will let them.
In 2008, the cars were revealed as versions of top of the range Mercedes stock – an SL 63 AMG for the Safety Car and C63 AMG Estate for the Medical Car. I say versions of, because there have to be adjustments made for the cars to be suitable for Formula 1 running.
The AMG development team have Formula 1 specialists who develop, produce and service the vehicles, and make adjustments to the original models. Four cars need to be modified, two as backup. Such changes may include larger cooling ducts, weight reduction, and of course, higher top speed. The Safety Car, in particular, needs to go fast enough to prevent the Formula 1 technology behind from overheating. Both cars have video monitors, radios, and safety lights. The cars can get to 60 in about 4.5 seconds, and reach a top speed of just under 250 kilometres per hour. This compares with an F1 car that can reach over 300 on the long straights. Mayländer says that he is driving at 99% the limit of the car at all times, with that extra 1% there just in case the F1 cars behind push him. Drivers know that he’s in a slower car, but they always want to go as fast as they can.
Of course, it’s not just a question of speed. At the Japanese Grand Prix in 2007, the safety car ran for 19 laps, and no one knew when or if it would run out of fuel. Of course, with two cars available, it’s assumed one could just take the others place, but how would the transition work and how long could they keep that up for?
Given the present F1 rules, the appearance of the safety car always brings about consternation. Current regulations regarding pitting under the safety car are making some strategic decisions redundant and some would go so far as to call it a farce. The regulations are being looked at, examined, and hopefully changed at some point in the future, but there’s no doubt that the safety car will be here for years to come.
That’s it for this episode of Ancillary F1. Join me tomorrow for another instalment of this mini series, and don’t forget to leave your feedback on sidepodcast.com, or on the voicemail 0121 28 87225.
Theme music: Porter Block, Second Wind.
October 5th, 2008 at 10:38 pmScott Woodwiss (Franck FTW! XD) said:
I wonder what the future will be in this aspect of F1.
Maybe the future is an electronic system manually controlled that controls the speed of all the cars in the queue once they are all bunched up together and the speed limiter comes into effect once the cars cross the start/finish line.
Looking back on previous safety cars, they used to be various makes and models of car. Some which I can remember are a Honda Prelude, Porsche 911 and an Opel Cavalier.
October 5th, 2008 at 11:19 pmScott Woodwiss (Franck FTW! XD) said:
Hellooo?
Lol, I’m always here at the quiet times
I feel lonely…
Only kidding
October 6th, 2008 at 10:11 amme said:
TED! News:
“Ted Kravitz introduces the 16th race of the F1 season live from Japan.”
“Ted is joined by Mark Blundell, with commentary from James Allen and Martin Brundle, while Louise Goodman reports from around the circuit.”
anchorman? we ‘aint never gonna be able to afford him now
more here:
http://www.itv.com/PressCentre/F1/F1GrandPrixJapan/default.html
October 6th, 2008 at 10:17 amme said:
btw: if steve’s not around, what happens to the suitcase containing lewis? will pdlr have to stand in?
this could put a whole new perspective on the championship.
October 6th, 2008 at 11:00 amme said:
the beeb are reporting bmw are sticking with their ‘08 lineup next year:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7654412.stm
so nick did enough to keep his seat. what of alonso?
October 6th, 2008 at 11:07 amChristine said:
Autosport have the story too. I reckon A-Lo will stay at Renault. Better the devil you know, and all that.
October 6th, 2008 at 11:39 amJeremy said:
Does anyone else think Kubica looks like Frankie Muniz (Malcolm in the Middle) in that photo? I knew Frankie had given up acting to become a racing car driver, but he isn’t that good apparently.
October 6th, 2008 at 11:53 amChristine said:
And Heidfeld looks a bit… short.
October 6th, 2008 at 12:01 pmScott Woodwiss (Franck FTW! XD) said:
And there’s me thinking Kub was threatening to leave if BMW didn’t beat Ferrari. But then, where else would he have gone?
Kinda shot himself in the foot there to be honest
October 6th, 2008 at 12:03 pmScott Woodwiss (Franck FTW! XD) said:
On the Ted Kravitz thing, he’s anchorman for the BTCC coverage, and he does rather well so to be able to present the F1 programme will be a nice boost.
Does this mean that Louise will have to take over all pitlane reporter duties?
October 6th, 2008 at 12:27 pmme said:
almost certainly.
i wonder if the plan is to extend this arrangement for the rest of the season?
October 6th, 2008 at 12:41 pmFlibster said:
Yay Ted!
October 6th, 2008 at 12:57 pmme said:
so here’s a confusing post from the itv website.
http://www.itv-f1.com/news_article.aspx?id=44147
“But we want to know what you, the viewing public, thought of the groundbreaking event. Did the night race concept work? You can have your say on that and numerous other F1-related topics in the Global Fan Survey carried out by ING and F1 Racing magazine”
who’s this “we” business? and when did the sony sponsored itv f1 website become part of either ING and/or f1 racing?
am i missing something, is that a badly worded post or how come itv are interesting in plugging the survey? especially seeing as they have but three races worth of broadcasting remaining.
October 6th, 2008 at 1:02 pmChristine said:
Everyone seems to be plugging it. Maybe they are just interested in what the fans actually think. Oh wait…
October 6th, 2008 at 1:15 pmSteven Roy said:
I am sure that F1 Racing used to have some part of the itv-f1 site although there is no obvious sign of it now. A wild guess which Stuart could shoot down is that Haymarket own and are running the survey and ING are paying for it and Haymarket plan to make the findings freely available. The only thing that puts me off this theory is that the structure of the the questions is way to corporate to have come from an independent media company.
October 6th, 2008 at 1:18 pmScott Woodwiss (Franck FTW! XD) said:
I think it’s a universal ploy to F1 fans on all related websites to fill this in and make some kind of a difference.
October 6th, 2008 at 1:32 pmme said:
the survey privacy policy says:
- Haymarket will process your personal data
- TNS, an independent market research company, has been commissioned by Haymarket to complete the analysis
- By taking part in the survey respondents agree to Haymarket passing on their responses to TNS for analysis
http://www.ingf1racingmagazinefansurvey.com/privacypolicy.aspx
i don’t see how itv have anything to gain from this?
are we being assimilated?
October 6th, 2008 at 1:46 pmSteven Roy said:
How can I promote a conspiracy theory if you go and read the instructions. No wonder Christine has to build the flat packs. It is a well known fact that you should never read instructions.
October 6th, 2008 at 1:52 pmme said:
sorry.
unbelievably, they’re still standing too.
October 6th, 2008 at 2:21 pmlalpedal said:
Surely that’s a photo of Ant & Dec.
October 6th, 2008 at 2:31 pmStuart C said:
Well, it’s sort of yes and no. Haymarket are hosting the survey. As to the provenance of the questions – I can’t say for certain, because the editorial team weren’t involved, but the usual form for these things is that the market research company (in this case TNS) works with the client (in this case ING) to arrive at a set of questions that fulfils the brief.
What, then, is the brief?
When a company spends a lot of money on advertising it’s naturally very interested in trying to quantify the effects of that spend. So at its most basic level this survey is aimed at finding out whether your recognition of the ING ‘brand’ has increased as a result of watching F1 – and, in tandem, how the spectacle of F1 can be improved so that more people can be persuaded to watch it (therefore generating more brand exposure).
Therefore they do have an interest in acting on the survey’s findings…
The ITV-F1 website is also hosted by Haymarket. It has its own editorial team a few floors down from our eyrie.
In other news, tomorrow’s going to be quite a long one: I’ll have to get up at 5-ish to ride to the Chinese visa agency (the queue started at 6 this morning, apparently), and assuming they give me back my passport I’ll have to hotfoot it back to the office, ditch the bike and get a cab over to Heathrow, where (hopefully) Mrs C will be waiting with my luggage. And, since I’m departing from Terminal 5, that’ll probably be the last I see of it. The flight goes at 1.45…
…arriving at Narita Airport at 9.15am local time (1.15am UK time). Then it’s at least another 3-4 hours of faffing around on umpteen different trains, not all of which will have destination info in English, before I get to the Fuji area. It’ll be an adventure!
October 6th, 2008 at 2:38 pmme said:
ahhh. right. had no idea, but that makes a lot of sense. thank you for clearing that up, even if i had to google eyrie first
very best of luck with the trip. we’ll look out for you on the grid walk(s).
October 6th, 2008 at 3:53 pmScott Woodwiss (Franck FTW! XD) said:
Checked on Accuweather for the Fuji forecast, and it’s something I never thought we’d see - they’re predicting dry weather for this weekend!
http://www.accuweather.com/world-forecast-15day.asp?partner=accuweather&traveler=0&locCode=ASI|JP|JA038|FUJI&metric=1
October 6th, 2008 at 4:40 pmr.g (my fuji, its mini me) said:
There goes a win
Wicked news for Nicky and Robbie still to be at BMWy. Two drivers who suit the car, and look like little and large in that pic.
October 6th, 2008 at 4:52 pmFlibster said:
I’ve got weather.com showing showers on friday but dry for the rest of the weekend. But given how accurate it’s been for the rest of the season, dry on friday and rain on the rest of the weekend.
October 6th, 2008 at 5:34 pmLe BOL said:
Hallo, folks!
From a distant island in the South Pacific following in the steps of P. Gauguin the Lion family is sending you all its greetings, peace, brothers and sisters.
We have to say that Mercedes safety and medical cars are simply disgusting, only Seat car range can beat the sheer ugliness of Mercs. Why not use a revamped Fiat 500 for safety car purposes? Huh, can somebody, please, explain what was Max thinking? Huh?
Trulli yours,
the Blue Orange Lion
Baby Blue Orange Lion
the Dog of the Blue Orange Lion
the Wombat of the Blue Orange Lion
October 6th, 2008 at 5:40 pmme said:
there’s no blue orange lion panda?
hallo btw
October 6th, 2008 at 5:41 pmme said:
they built the damn track under a mountain. it’ll rain.
October 6th, 2008 at 5:45 pmLe BOL said:
That Singapore race was OK, I thought it would be a mighty flop but thanks to Piquet’s efforts our family had some fun in front of the TV, my dog and wombat even got into fight over who would eventually win the race, the wombat was cheering for Fisi while my dog was all for Sutil, alas, they were all wrong because I knew Alonso would win, I had a dream the night before the race. All hail Flav and his decision to sign PK, we’ll need him next year for Monaco and Singapore to spice things up a little. Oh, and the grandstands were full, super! Not to mention Ferrari pit stop entertainment, I was jumping on my wooden South Pacific sofa with joy!
Now Australia, Malaysia, China and Japan absolutely must switch to night races of face the exclusion from the championship. I’m not gonna wake up in the middle of the night anymore. All hail Singapore organizers!
And finally, we found out that McLaren will be testing in Portimão in November, 17th - 19th, wethinks sidepodcast will get the all exclusives. Unless Ron decides to cancel this glorious event. We’ll keep an eye on it. We’re on it.
October 6th, 2008 at 5:52 pmScott Woodwiss (Franck FTW! XD) said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4×1EY6u5r8
I say, that music in the first part of this video sounds awfully familiar…
October 6th, 2008 at 5:54 pmLe BOL said:
We might want to add one to our family: you see they all rely on me to feed them, I’m the lion here after all, I rule & they rock.
Some mighty fun I’d say.
“will get all the exclusives”, sorry, these public libraries in the South Pacific are all filled with stone age computers, I can’t see what I’m doing, the screen is so old & blurry!
October 6th, 2008 at 6:00 pmme said:
ahh, just need bamboo. they’re cheap and cheerful (mostly).
excellent stuff. hearing this news, i’m sure will make ron’s evening
thanks le bol.
October 6th, 2008 at 6:01 pmme said:
i can’t listen right now (no speakers), but am guessing it’s the free sample from apple? we meant to write our own but ran out of time… ahh, next year maybe.
October 6th, 2008 at 6:11 pmScott Woodwiss (Franck FTW! XD) said:
Same music track used on F1 Digest.
October 6th, 2008 at 6:19 pmme said:
ahh, okay. assumed it was the inside track intro (it’s a favourite of the renault video editors too).
tis a small musical world when mainstream artists get all prissy about their performance royalties isn’t it?
October 6th, 2008 at 6:38 pmScott Woodwiss (Franck FTW! XD) said:
What is the name of that song, by the way? I like it.
October 6th, 2008 at 6:50 pmSteven Roy said:
A wombat sounds like the perfect pet for Christine.
October 6th, 2008 at 7:40 pmSteven Roy said:
We were discussing Bathurst in the early hours of Sunday morning. For those who have never seen the track here is an onboard lap. THe circuit is better than it looks in this vid. Of course it has never been Tilked http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=SawhpwFnLFc
October 6th, 2008 at 7:41 pmChristine said:
Inside Track or F1 Digest?
October 6th, 2008 at 8:05 pmScott Woodwiss (Franck FTW! XD) said:
Inside Track
October 6th, 2008 at 8:29 pmme said:
yeah, not a song, just a loop. apparently so is the one from f1 digest. for some reason i’d assumed it was a podsafe artist.
October 7th, 2008 at 12:18 amCamilo said:
Hello I just want to congratulate you all for this website. I have learnt a lot about formula 1 and enjoy your comments.
I’m from Colombia and perhaps your #1 fan here lol
Take care
Camilo Perdomo
October 7th, 2008 at 1:36 amme said:
thankyou camilo. am just off to sleep, and that’s a lovely comment to wrap up a fine day.
you may come back and comment any time