Daily: 9th January 2009
If there was a drought of Formula 1 news before, then the flood gates have well and truly opened today. Autosport International kicked off for the press, and we’ve heard from a few paddock people already. It’s not just limited to Birmingham, though, there’s news coming in from all over the world.
- Dave Richards is apparently not buying Honda now, having hinted that the cost-cutting improvements won’t begin to show until 2010, and he’s not interested in Formula 1 when it is this expensive. Nick Fry says there are still plenty of people in the running – 12 in fact. Where did they all come from, and who are they?
- Motorsport Aragon – a new track in Spain – is hoping to get on the F1 testing roster. It seems as though there will be more test tracks than racing events soon. The question is, with two Spanish races on the calendar, and Valencia a very poor one, is Aragon hoping to be a replacement?
- Pedro de la Rosa, known as Pedalo round these parts, believes he’s still got a chance at an F1 drive. He’s fallen into the testing trap at McLaren, but holds out hope (and is sure that) one day he will return to the grid. Really, Pedalo? Really?
As ever, I’ll end today’s Daily post with a request. Please vote for us in the 2008 Weblog Awards. We’re up for two categories, so that’s just two clicks, and then I’ll let you get on with your day.
Thank you in advance for your clicks, and I’ll see you in the comments.
You shouldn’t let him...
Both, and add happy to the mix as well.
January 9th, 2009 at 00:18 #1 - Dank said:
There’s a woman playing darts on BBC2 by the name of ‘Krappen’
*sniggers behind hand*
(oh and I better talk about something F1-related…)
Surely Pedlo has to accept the fact now that his time as an F1 race driver has come and gone? Give it up man, and let someone like di Resta have a go.
January 9th, 2009 at 00:20 #2 - me said:
110% agreement from me. he’s too tall for kers anyway.
January 9th, 2009 at 00:22 #3 - Andy Taylor - trying to break Lou's comment record one post at a time... said:
She is Dutch, and losing.
BTW what happens if a player ends up on a score of 1 in a professional match?
January 9th, 2009 at 00:23 #4 - Dank said:
I read that as ‘he’s too tall for cars anyway’ which is probably true as well.
January 9th, 2009 at 00:24 #5 - me said:
can you text croftie questions during a darts match?
and if the answer to that is yes… can we get a shout out?
January 9th, 2009 at 00:25 #6 - Andy Taylor - trying to break Lou's comment record one post at a time... said:
I dunno – do they do darts on the radio?
January 9th, 2009 at 00:25 #7 - me said:
that would be weird.
January 9th, 2009 at 00:26 #8 - Andy Taylor - trying to break Lou's comment record one post at a time... said:
No more than tennis. Or Magic
January 9th, 2009 at 00:27 #9 - Dank said:
Counts as a no score doesn’t it?
January 9th, 2009 at 00:28 #10 - me said:
please don’t tell me they can do magic on the radio?
January 9th, 2009 at 00:28 #11 - Andy Taylor - trying to break Lou's comment record one post at a time... said:
Makes sense.
January 9th, 2009 at 00:28 #12 - Andy Taylor - trying to break Lou's comment record one post at a time... said:
OK, I won’t. (but you can)
January 9th, 2009 at 00:29 #13 - me said:
how?
January 9th, 2009 at 00:29 #14 - Dank said:
You never heard of Magic FM? It’s more music and less talk, so it is.
January 9th, 2009 at 00:32 #15 - Scott Woodwiss said:
How’s this for a name – a female stock car driver by the name of Leilani Munter (no joke!).
January 9th, 2009 at 00:33 #16 - me said:
January 9th, 2009 at 00:38 #17 - Andy Taylor - trying to break Lou's comment record one post at a time... said:
Get the presenter to pick a card, do a number trick that the listener can join in with, pretty much any mind reading trick.
For example: select two numbers, each of which is less than 10.
Choose either of the numbers and multiply it by 5.
Add 7 to this result.
Multiply the resulting sum by 2.
Add it to the other number that was first selected.
Post the result and I’ll tell you the numbers you chose.
January 9th, 2009 at 00:40 #18 - me said:
January 9th, 2009 at 00:41 #19 - me said:
oh i see. hold a sec. for a second i though you were just gonna quote me.
answer = 71.
January 9th, 2009 at 00:44 #20 - Andy Taylor - trying to break Lou's comment record one post at a time... said:
So you chose five and seven.
January 9th, 2009 at 00:45 #21 - me said:
that’s very clever.
January 9th, 2009 at 00:45 #22 - me said:
got any more?
January 9th, 2009 at 00:46 #23 - Andy Taylor - trying to break Lou's comment record one post at a time... said:
There’s loads more, but they’re all very similar really.
January 9th, 2009 at 00:47 #24 - me said:
well, consider me educated.
January 9th, 2009 at 00:49 #25 - littlepurplegoth said:
Somewhere I have a small pile of books full of things that ‘work on the radio’
Actually to tell the truth they will work, full stop. As long as you actually read the instructions and ask the right questions anyway….
But you’ve set him off searching for things to use as examples now…………
January 9th, 2009 at 00:50 #26 - Andy Taylor - trying to break Lou's comment record one post at a time... said:
I think I’ll go to bed instead – always leave them wanting more
January 9th, 2009 at 00:51 #27 - me said:
yay!
*bounces*
January 9th, 2009 at 00:51 #28 - me said:
boo
January 9th, 2009 at 00:57 #29 - Andy Taylor - trying to break Lou's comment record one post at a time... said:
OK One more before I go. Think of a 3 digit number where all the numbers are different. Make another number by reversing the digits
e.g. 389 and 983
Subtract the smaller number from the larger number
reverse the digits of the result and add to it.
I predict the answer will be 1089.
January 9th, 2009 at 01:01 #30 - me said:
check
check
erm… add what to it?
January 9th, 2009 at 01:04 #31 - Andy Taylor - trying to break Lou's comment record one post at a time... said:
Oops, I mean take the result of the subtraction and its reverse and add them together.
January 9th, 2009 at 01:08 #32 - me said:
w00t!
January 9th, 2009 at 01:08 #33 - me said:
you may go to sleep now
cheers.
January 9th, 2009 at 01:08 #34 - Dave in NZL said:
Completely changing the topic now – if you get a spare half hour, check out some of these comparison videos from old F1 with current. 1000hp+ quali weapons vs. 2007 V8s etc.
January 9th, 2009 at 01:08 #35 - Dave in NZL said:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Scotracer
January 9th, 2009 at 01:09 #36 - Andy Taylor - trying to break Lou's comment record one post at a time... said:
So I need permission now?
Night all
January 9th, 2009 at 01:13 #37 - me said:
blimey. what a fine idea
January 9th, 2009 at 01:16 #38 - me said:
see ya tomorrow.
January 9th, 2009 at 01:30 #39 - me said:
web hosting
this site has been down almost as often as it’s been up recently, and it’s driving us nuts. in order to try and help the problem, the hosting company are taking sidepodcast.com offline intentionally from 5am this morning, for two whole hours.
clearly that’s crazy talk, which is why we’re doing our utmost to move the site somewhere else as quickly as possible. we got burned back in november trying to rush things, so in order to test things properly first we’ve created:
http://www2.sidepodcast.com/
that domain (with a www2) uses a different hosting company, and will hopefully be more reliable. however, we’ve not used them before so we’re not promising anything.
if you’re bored by all means pop along, look around. feel free to leave comments (although they will be deleted at some point), and test the following:
http://www2.sidepodcast.com/ria/ajax/
http://www2.sidepodcast.com/realtime/
with any luck all will go well and soon we’ll be shot of the dodgy hosting company.
appreciate your patience all
January 9th, 2009 at 01:59 #40 - lou said:
okay, have caught up with the comments and most of the news. Am off to bed now. Night x
January 9th, 2009 at 01:59 #41 - me said:
night lou.
January 9th, 2009 at 02:17 #42 - me said:
http://www.ismycomputeron.com/
January 9th, 2009 at 02:18 #43 - Dave in NZL said:
www2… is unreachable – 15:18 NZL time, 02:18 at your end.
January 9th, 2009 at 02:25 #44 - me said:
hmmm. seems okay from here. i’ll investigate.
January 9th, 2009 at 02:50 #45 - me said:
okay, think i know what the problem was. have made dns changes. cheers dave, appreciate the headsup.
you may find you can’t see it until the dns propagates correctly. but it’ll be there soon.
January 9th, 2009 at 03:26 #46 - Steven Roy said:
www2 OK now. Time for bed
January 9th, 2009 at 06:56 #47 - Jackie said:
Norning, just tried that www2 thing and I can’t get into it either
,, ar least this server’s working so it can’t have been shut down for the whole 2 hours
January 9th, 2009 at 07:25 #48 - Gavin Brown (RubberGoat) said:
Proof that not all Panda’s are cute and cuddly: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7819372.stm
Great quote from the article:
January 9th, 2009 at 07:58 #49 - Journeyer said:
Morning, Jackie.
It was working when this main server went down. The main server went back up probably just a couple of minutes before you came in.
January 9th, 2009 at 09:02 #50 - F1Wolf said:
people tend to forget that pandas are bears … yes, they feed on bamboo, but other bears feed on blueberries and other berries and I do not hear much about people jumping in to hug them
http://www.rthk.org.hk/rthk/news/englishnews/20081209/news_20081209_56_544039.htm
January 9th, 2009 at 09:16 #51 - Christine said:
That’s why if I had a baby panda, I could teach it not to try and kill me.
January 9th, 2009 at 09:18 #52 - Journeyer said:
I guess they’re cuter than the average bear?
They’re no Yogi bear, though.
January 9th, 2009 at 10:03 #53 - me said:
dns is a mysterious beast. might take up to 24hrs or more.
cheers journeyer. here’s the word from the most useless web host in the world:
“(mt) Media Temple engineers have scheduled a Maintenance Window for two of our Storage Servers on Cluster.1 . We do not anticipate any single customer having more than 2 hours of downtime. You will not be required to make any changes to your server configuration as this maintenance action is managed entirely by us.”
at least the site came back, i guess.
January 9th, 2009 at 10:15 #54 - Steven Roy said:
It has to be worth trying. Even if it did kill someone it would be put in a zoo because they are endangered.
January 9th, 2009 at 10:17 #55 - Christine said:
It must show that I really, really want one, if I’m willing to put the whole neighbourhood at risk.
January 9th, 2009 at 10:22 #56 - me said:
you’re not having one.
January 9th, 2009 at 10:37 #57 - Steven Roy said:
http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_news_item.php?fes_art_id=36805
The real reason why no-one has bought Honda so far? Nick Fry is putting his own bid together and blocking other bidders.
January 9th, 2009 at 10:38 #58 - me said:
what??
January 9th, 2009 at 10:40 #59 - Alex Andronov said:
I think Christine’s after an ocelot now. You really are ending up with a vertiable cornucopia of animals in your menagerie.
January 9th, 2009 at 10:42 #60 - me said:
January 9th, 2009 at 10:42 #61 - Steven Roy said:
It reminds me of the last manager my local football club had. The team was in th middle of the top league and this guy was signed because they had not progressed for a while. After a reasonable first season he got us relegated for the first time in the club’s history the second season then had us well on the way to being relgated again the next season when he quit with the announcement that he had taken the club as far as he could. It looks like Nick Fry hasn’t reached the point where he thinks he has taken Honda as far as he can yet.
January 9th, 2009 at 10:46 #62 - lou said:
“The real reason why no-one has bought Honda so far? Nick Fry is putting his own bid together and blocking other bidders”
The original telegraph article is here if anyone wants to read it,
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/motorsport/formulaone/4177928/Nick-Fry-keen-to-become-big-wheel-at-Honda.html
I’m hoping it’s not true, the chances of him getting enough backing to secure the teams long term future are pretty small.
January 9th, 2009 at 10:53 #63 - Steven Roy said:
The trouble is he has already put off a lot of serious bidders. I know Honda are incompetent but how can you have someone who has his own bid in be the person who deals with other bids. That is a conflict of interest the like of which Max would be impressed with.
January 9th, 2009 at 11:05 #64 - Flibster said:
Another manufacturer pulling out of motorsport – Kawasaki has pulled out of MotoGP.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/motorbikes/7811975.stm
January 9th, 2009 at 11:07 #65 - me said:
fry has clearly learnt from the master!
January 9th, 2009 at 11:21 #66 - Alianora La Canta said:
I know Honda are incompetent but how can you have someone who has his own bid in be the person who deals with other bids. That is a conflict of interest the like of which Max would be impressed with. {Steven Roy – 2 comments ago}
It’s pretty common, and known as a management buyout. Tony Purnell and David Pitchforth tried it in the early autumn of 2004 with Jaguar, but the plan fell through when Ford unilaterally announced it was rejecting F1 completely.
However, in this instance I do not think a management buyout would be in the best interests of ex-Honda even if it was financially possible. They might as well sell it straight to Vijay Mallya, because surely if ex-Honda continues as it currently is they’ll be asset-stripping it in a year or two anyway to salvage any residual value from it.
January 9th, 2009 at 11:25 #67 - Steven Roy said:
My objection is not to the management buyout but the fact the the guy heading the MBO is the guy dealing with the other bidders. Although this is the first we have heard of Fry heading a bid it was already known that Ross Brawn was trying to put a bid together. It cannot be in the best interests of Honda or the team to have Fry scuppering potentially good bids to aid his own.
January 9th, 2009 at 11:26 #68 - Alianora La Canta said:
Although this is the first we have heard of Fry heading a bid it was already known that Ross Brawn was trying to put a bid together. It cannot be in the best interests of Honda or the team to have Fry scuppering potentially good bids to aid his own. {Steven Roy – previous comment}
Good point. Having two distinct management buyouts going on is just plain wierd. No wonder they’re struggling to get a buyer.
January 9th, 2009 at 11:27 #69 - Steven Roy said:
That has been in the public domain for the last week. Kawasaki have never achieved anything other than having the most distinctive looking bikes on the grid. They have never even threatened to win a championship. The trouble is though Moto GP is entirely dependent on manufacturers and if others follow suit the whole thing could collapse in no time flat.
January 9th, 2009 at 11:32 #70 - Scott Woodwiss said:
Ali – any more luck signing up to ftlog yet?
January 9th, 2009 at 11:46 #71 - Alianora La Canta said:
Ali – any more luck signing up to ftlog yet? {Scott Woodwiss – previous comment}
No. They sent me confirmation e-mails this morning, but the username and password I picked still don’t work.
January 9th, 2009 at 11:53 #72 - Scott Woodwiss said:
Have you activated your account yet? Most of the time confirmation e-mails give you a link to activate it.
January 9th, 2009 at 12:20 #73 - Scott Woodwiss said:
Nissan confirm their GT-R GT1 plans
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/72685
January 9th, 2009 at 12:23 #74 - Scott Woodwiss said:
First PDLR, now Klien
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/72686
January 9th, 2009 at 12:24 #75 - Christine said:
Grrr.
January 9th, 2009 at 12:28 #76 - Steven Roy said:
“”That’s why Mario Theissen was kind enough to let me race at Le Mans and Petit Le Mans/USA, to stay in shape and not lose focus.”"
All well and good but McNish totally mugged him in the closing stages of the Petit Le Mans and made him look like an amateur. And I seem to remember Le Mans wasn’t a total success.
January 9th, 2009 at 12:28 #77 - Alianora La Canta said:
Have you activated your account yet? Most of the time confirmation e-mails give you a link to activate it. {Scott Woodwiss – 4 comments ago}
I did that before trying to log into RLB’s forum. IT didn’t help
January 9th, 2009 at 12:29 #78 - Alianora La Canta said:
First PDLR, now Klien {Scott Woodwiss – 3 comments ago}
Has anyone told these drivers that the time to look for an F1 race seat is when there are some available, not when all of them have gone except for what is likely to be a pay drive at Scuderia Toro Rosso?
January 9th, 2009 at 12:30 #79 - Christine said:
Grrr.
January 9th, 2009 at 12:31 #80 - Alenyaa said:
Oh look! She’s purring!
January 9th, 2009 at 12:33 #81 - Steven Roy said:
I don’t think that is purring. That is the noise the panda made before it attacked that bloke and tried to bite his legs off.
January 9th, 2009 at 12:35 #82 - Scott Woodwiss said:
In that case, it’s a brilliant panda impression.
January 9th, 2009 at 12:41 #83 - Christine said:
January 9th, 2009 at 12:47 #84 - Scott Woodwiss said:
Uh oh. Not good news for Renault’s new car.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/72688
January 9th, 2009 at 12:58 #85 - Steven Roy said:
As the article says it is quite common for teams to fail crash tests. The odd thing is that they are allowed to test the car without passing a crash test. I get the impression that teams now use the first crash test as a way of gauging where the limit is and they aim slightly under and expect to fail the first test.
January 9th, 2009 at 13:06 #86 - Lukeh said:
I was a little worried about that but they obviously know what’s wrong so it should be fine when sorted, like steven said, it seems common place for the tests to be failed.
January 9th, 2009 at 14:18 #87 - Andy Taylor - trying to break Lou's comment record one post at a time... said:
Love it
January 9th, 2009 at 14:19 #88 - Steven Roy said:
Keith managed to get an interview with Pedalo yesterday. Looks like it won’t just be BMW who have ugly cars.
“F1F: Have you seen the design of the 2009 McLaren?
PDLR: Some of it.
F1F: Does it look better than the BMW does?
PDLR: Er… it will take some time to get used to.”
Full interview at http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2009/01/09/exclusive-interview-pedro-de-la-rosa-on-f1-2009-and-motorland-aragon/
January 9th, 2009 at 14:21 #89 - me said:
building work at donington started yesterday:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/72682
January 9th, 2009 at 14:22 #90 - me said:
ron not so confident about donny though:
“I really do struggle to understand how the economics of Donington will work. They have had a 25% swing in the dollar and the contract will be a dollar-based contract. It has got a massive investment into infrastructure.”
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/72692
January 9th, 2009 at 14:22 #91 - Christine said:
They didn’t hang around, did they?
January 9th, 2009 at 14:25 #92 - me said:
fences up before they even got the go-ahead? they must’ve been supremely confident.
January 9th, 2009 at 14:36 #93 - Steven Roy said:
Why is Bernie doing inspections? Surely that is an FIA function.
Gillett clearly doesn’t understand the difference between motor sport and ball games. People may use public transport to go to Wembley or Twickenham but they only go to those place for 2 hours at a time which gives them a lot of time to deal with public transport.
January 9th, 2009 at 14:41 #94 - me said:
would he not want to look at the media building and corporate boxes too?
January 9th, 2009 at 14:49 #95 - Steven Roy said:
Hadn’t thought of that.
January 9th, 2009 at 14:52 #96 - me said:
or maybe he just wants to make sure he’s gamble’s paying off. he could easily wander on site and say none of it’s up to scratch
January 9th, 2009 at 14:53 #97 - Christine said:
Maybe he’s just nosey.
January 9th, 2009 at 14:57 #98 - Lukeh said:
It’s not a shock but this is on BBC’s website
MOTORSPORT: Sebastien Buemi to race for Toro Rosso this season. More soon.
No page yet.
January 9th, 2009 at 14:58 #99 - Lukeh said:
Ooh, it’s on Autosport now.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/72695
Sorry if you guys already now, been doing uni work all afternoon and can’t see anything mentioend so thought I’d pop it in
January 9th, 2009 at 15:10 #100 - Steven Roy said:
Hadn’t heard that. it is always better to have something posted twice than not at all.
January 9th, 2009 at 15:16 #101 - Lukeh said:
Very true
January 9th, 2009 at 15:23 #102 - Zoe Gates said:
heard Toyota are launching their new car next week live on a new website http://www.tf109-premiere.com
First ones to launch I think.
Worth a look?
January 9th, 2009 at 15:28 #103 - Lukeh said:
I think Ferrari are first to launch on Monday but we do have a lot of launches next week to look forward to
January 9th, 2009 at 15:31 #104 - lou said:
Makes me wonder what Brawn thinks of it all.
January 9th, 2009 at 15:32 #105 - lou said:
nice to have it confirmed now
January 9th, 2009 at 15:32 #106 - Steven Roy said:
I wonder if Zoe works for Toyota
January 9th, 2009 at 15:35 #107 - Steven Roy said:
Looks like diResta won’t be going to FIF1 after all the talk. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/72691
January 9th, 2009 at 16:08 #108 - me said:
cheers zoe. i’m quite worried, if i look closely, the yellow and black makes it look like the bat sign
January 9th, 2009 at 16:14 #109 - R.G (Sidepodathon reciever on line #4.) said:
I’m having a heart attack
Evnin’ all. How is one and all?
YAY! Klien, my third favourite non-F1 driver!
(Sorry Christine, but I love im)
Contary to that all Penguins are beatuiful and cute
(Once again, sorry Christine)
January 9th, 2009 at 16:15 #110 - me said:
that’s a good thing though isn’t, given mallya’s already had to confirm his drivers twice.
also, means the team retain at least a small amount of independence.
January 9th, 2009 at 16:18 #111 - R.G (Sidepodathon reciever on line #4.) said:
Good start to the evnin. Moderated
January 9th, 2009 at 16:21 #112 - me said:
on this occasion i think the moderation was justified
January 9th, 2009 at 16:22 #113 - R.G (Sidepodathon reciever on line #4.) said:
Just cos I said Klien was my third favourite non-F1 driver and Penguins were cuter than Pandas.
Oh wait…
January 9th, 2009 at 16:25 #114 - Andy Taylor - trying to break Lou's comment record one post at a time... said:
That’s going to put you on even more negative points come the next series of the ‘panel.
January 9th, 2009 at 16:31 #115 - R.G (Sidepodathon reciever on line #4.) said:
Mweh, I’m not gonna come back from -999,999 anyway
January 9th, 2009 at 16:35 #116 - Dom said:
“Toro Rosso said Buemi’s teammate would be announced in due time.”
I have a feeling Toro Rosso are having a tough time choosing their second driver…
January 9th, 2009 at 16:36 #117 - Dom said:
2 mins to qualifying…
January 9th, 2009 at 16:38 #118 - Lukeh said:
*hides under duvet in fear*
Need something to kickstart my season
January 9th, 2009 at 16:40 #119 - Selidor said:
That occured to me too , I wonder if Toyota have taken a cue from The Dark Knight?
January 9th, 2009 at 16:41 #120 - Lukeh said:
Mmm… 9th, I’ll settle for that.
January 9th, 2009 at 16:42 #121 - Dom said:
Just when I get the kind of speed i’m aiming for, there’s a problem with the car…
January 9th, 2009 at 16:44 #122 - me said:
think so. the more i look the more i see it.
January 9th, 2009 at 16:47 #123 - me said:
joe’s new blog: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/
January 9th, 2009 at 16:52 #124 - me said:
franck news:
“Franck Montagny is still targeting an Indianapolis 500 drive with Andretti-Green Racing, although he admits that his hopes of a regular IndyCar Series seat have faded.”
“AGR’s deal with Acura in the ALMS has now ended, and Montagny’s only confirmed drive for 2009 at present is another Le Mans 24 Hours appearance with Peugeot.”
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/72697
January 9th, 2009 at 16:59 #125 - Papa Smurf said:
Not surprised STR signed Buemi. Do hope they keep le seb though, the chap deserves another chance(hopefully with a bit more luck).
January 9th, 2009 at 17:10 #126 - Andy Taylor - trying to break Lou's comment record one post at a time... said:
Just reading Joe Saward’s blog entry on Jacke Stewart’s comments.
He makes some valid points there – why have the comments been ignored? Do Max and Bernie think if they say nothing, no one will notice?
January 9th, 2009 at 17:24 #127 - Scott Woodwiss said:
Ooh, 3rd on the grid for me. Niiice.
January 9th, 2009 at 17:25 #128 - Scott Woodwiss said:
I got the news on that via Autosport text while out in the city
January 9th, 2009 at 17:28 #129 - Lukeh said:
So who would you guys say are the main contendors for the second seat, Sato or Bourdais?
I think my Barrichello fandom is just grasping onto any completely outside possibility
January 9th, 2009 at 17:32 #130 - Lukeh said:
woah woah woah… Jacques Villeneuve is doing V8?
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24889582-39478,00.html
“This is real. Absolutely. He is pretty keen to do it,” Morris said yesterday.
“It would be the full season. Not just one race. If we can make a bit of a buzz about it then I think it can definitely happen.
“We would have to write about $2 million in sponsorship so we could run the car and pay him to drive.”
January 9th, 2009 at 17:34 #131 - Scott said:
Nice analogy. I really hope for the team’s sake that, if it is present on the grid next year, Fry has no involvement.
If there is even a little bit of substance to these reports that he’s trying to manipulate the bidding process for his own gain, then surely it’s time for Honda to pay him what he’s owed and wave goodbye? This is a man who’s taken a racing-winning team to the back of the grid in the matter of only a few seasons, not to mentioned introduced concepts as disastrous as Earth Dreams.
January 9th, 2009 at 17:34 #132 - Papa Smurf said:
Ha! cool
Hopefully Bourdais, keep some continuity going.Funny feeling it’ll be neither Sato nor Seb for some reason though. Dunno why.
January 9th, 2009 at 17:34 #133 - Scott Woodwiss said:
Heart says Bourdais, but head says Sato. I think my head’s gonna win it this time.
January 9th, 2009 at 17:38 #134 - Scott said:
It’d be great if these rumours are true, although if he is to have a serious attempt at the series, he’d really need to move to Australia (as Max Wilson was prepared to).
Not impossible, though. Maybe Dannii Minogue left him with a good impression of Australia?
January 9th, 2009 at 17:43 #135 - me said:
no idea. but it’s unexpected. wasn’t thinking any teams would leap to his defence, but nothing from bernie or max? no nonsensical fia lawsuit?
what gives?
January 9th, 2009 at 17:43 #136 - Dom said:
I know what you mean…
Looks like this is being left until Honda’s drivers are sorted to me.
January 9th, 2009 at 17:56 #137 - Dank said:
Yikes. The formatting on his latest entry is a little off putting!
January 9th, 2009 at 17:58 #138 - Papa Smurf said:
Good point. Hope they dont wait too long and Seb heads back to indycar.
January 9th, 2009 at 18:51 #139 - R.G (Sidepodathon reciever on line #4.) said:
Hello all, back from Football training.
I’ll tell ya, one of these days I’ll get into qualy 3
Gooo Scott’s head
(Sorry Christine mk III)
January 9th, 2009 at 19:47 #140 - guille2306 said:
Yeah, but they can also be really evil. Haven’t you seen Madagascar…?
January 9th, 2009 at 19:49 #141 - R.G (Sidepodathon reciever on line #4.) said:
Yeah, but they are still cute. Dontcha just want to hug one?
January 9th, 2009 at 19:55 #142 - guille2306 said:
Yes, they’re still cute. Just as the pandas are… I would watch my back if I were in the same room with one
January 9th, 2009 at 20:01 #143 - me said:
January 9th, 2009 at 20:09 #144 - Andy Taylor - trying to break Lou\'s comment record one post at a time... said:
I have just two words to say to that – Feathers McGraw.
January 9th, 2009 at 20:11 #145 - shaun said:
You’ve got my vote on both counts guys! (blog awards)
I’m with Murray Walker when he says Kubica could win the championship this season. It could be between him and Alonso…
S.
January 9th, 2009 at 20:13 #146 - Andy Taylor - trying to break Lou\'s comment record one post at a time... said:
Just looking at the roll-call for tomorrow: I definitely won’t be coming to the show now, so will be arriving at the kart track around fiveish for a spot of pre-race intelligence gathering and to check out the facilities.
Is there a sensible way of swapping mobile numbers? Facebook?
January 9th, 2009 at 20:16 #147 - me said:
we have a roll call?
by all means, mail christine.
January 9th, 2009 at 20:18 #148 - me said:
i would’ve agreed until renaults minor mishap earlier today.
i think mclaren are best placed though – look what they achieved last year after receiving an fia kicking in ‘07. they’ll be in the first garage all year, and no-one (called max) can screw then around.
January 9th, 2009 at 20:18 #149 - Andy Taylor - trying to break Lou\'s comment record one post at a time... said:
On the Wiki? Although I’m not sure if there is a full list of drivers on there.
Done
January 9th, 2009 at 20:18 #150 - me said:
sorry, second garage. me = donut. still not moving ‘em though.
January 9th, 2009 at 20:20 #151 - me said:
ahh, in the comments?
January 9th, 2009 at 20:20 #152 - R.G (Sidepodathon reciever on line #4.) said:
Ooooh. Its the ‘RG on the comment show with several others’ isn’t it?
January 9th, 2009 at 20:22 #153 - me said:
if you’re free that would be ace.
January 9th, 2009 at 20:22 #154 - R.G (Sidepodathon reciever on line #4.) said:
Just looking at the wiki, cool feature to have the Birthdays Mrs C. Although I’m pretty sure you coulda put Mr C’s on there, assuming you know it of course
January 9th, 2009 at 20:23 #155 - me said:
there are birthday’s?
January 9th, 2009 at 20:24 #156 - R.G (Sidepodathon reciever on line #4.) said:
I’ll juggle with my French. So please excuse the inevitable
‘Mark Webber is apparantly out until Mars, after the Australien GP’
January 9th, 2009 at 20:25 #157 - Andy Taylor - trying to break Lou\'s comment record one post at a time... said:
Well she definitely knows their wedding anniversary, so there’s a fighting chance that Me’s DOB is known too. Christine’s mother in law probably knows too…
January 9th, 2009 at 20:28 #158 - Dirty Scarab said:
I think he’s my first favorite non-f1 driver.
It’s a shame how it all worked out for him, but I really rate him as a driver. Fingers crossed he’ll be back.
No real surprises about Buemi. I’m hoping Sato’s currently sitting in some gooey seat molding stuff as I type…
January 9th, 2009 at 20:30 #159 - R.G (Sidepodathon reciever on line #4.) said:
To be fair, the two drivers ahead of him are Di Resta and Albers, and thats only cos they share my birthday. So he’s technically my favourite non-F1 non April 16th born driver. Yeah, I think he is a classy driver, he knows what he is doing, I like im.
And you like Sato, aw man, can you get any better?
January 9th, 2009 at 20:31 #160 - Lady Snowcat said:
Excuse me if this has been posted but what is the general view on the idea that Honda are to be bought by….
Nick Fry…
Per pitpass which gets it from the Daily Telegraph…
I’ve also heard that the Honda mood seemed good today…
Hmmm….
January 9th, 2009 at 20:32 #161 - me said:
you think he’s better than liuzzi?
January 9th, 2009 at 20:33 #162 - R.G (Sidepodathon reciever on line #4.) said:
Aw man, I love Liuzzi too. I forgot about him.
I’ll be back in a tic
January 9th, 2009 at 20:34 #163 - Lukeh said:
That is pretty cool. Just added mine, easy to find the date with it being new years eve I suppose
January 9th, 2009 at 20:35 #164 - Andy Taylor - trying to break Lou\'s comment record one post at a time... said:
I think the general feeling is that this is the worst possible thing that could happen.
January 9th, 2009 at 20:35 #165 - guille2306 said:
If you read Spanish (or you can find a translation) get a copy of the book ‘El mundo a vivido equivocado y otros cuentos’ (’The world has lived wrong and other tales’), by the Argentinean Roberto Fontanarrosa. There is a short story about the author of the book ‘The most terrible bird of prey: the penguin’.
January 9th, 2009 at 20:37 #166 - me said:
same question to scarab btw.
January 9th, 2009 at 20:38 #167 - Lady Snowcat said:
The other story that caught my attention,(can’t think why) is about Kimi going rallying in the closed season…
Now all I have to do is persuade him to leave the gorilla suit at home….
Oh and the fact that only drivers called Seb need apply to Toro Rosso….
January 9th, 2009 at 20:40 #168 - guille2306 said:
Yeah. The only person not thinking like that is probably, well, Nick Fry…
January 9th, 2009 at 20:40 #169 - R.G (Sidepodathon reciever on line #4.) said:
Right, Liuzzi is now my third, Klien demoted to fourth.
Go Liuzzi.
January 9th, 2009 at 20:42 #170 - me said:
wurz?
January 9th, 2009 at 20:42 #171 - R.G (Sidepodathon reciever on line #4.) said:
Nah. Not too keen on him, good driver, just never really got intrested by him
January 9th, 2009 at 20:43 #172 - me said:
hulkenberg or di grassi?
i think i’m out
January 9th, 2009 at 20:43 #173 - guille2306 said:
That should put an end to Sato’s ambition for the remaining seat
January 9th, 2009 at 20:45 #174 - R.G (Sidepodathon reciever on line #4.) said:
Hulkenberg similar to Wurz, Di Grassi isn’t to bad.
January 9th, 2009 at 20:47 #175 - guille2306 said:
R.G.: you’re talking only of ‘open wheel non-f1 drivers’, or you’re counting also rally drivers, for example?
January 9th, 2009 at 20:49 #176 - Lukeh said:
Just to mess with everyone, Red Bull should’ve had Vettel, Bourdais, Buemi and brought back Loeb after his tests for a position.
The Sebastiens ^_^
January 9th, 2009 at 20:50 #177 - Andy Taylor - trying to break Lou\'s comment record one post at a time... said:
You’ll be asking him “daddy or chips?” next
January 9th, 2009 at 20:51 #178 - R.G (Sidepodathon reciever on line #4.) said:
Open wheel. Not too fussed on anything other than open wheel racing, aside from bikes.
January 9th, 2009 at 20:51 #179 - R.G (Sidepodathon reciever on line #4.) said:
Tough one. Both nice, I think dad edges it out.
January 9th, 2009 at 20:52 #180 - R.G (Sidepodathon reciever on line #4.) said:
Don’t take that the wrong way Dad if you read this. Chips are really good.
January 9th, 2009 at 20:52 #181 - Lady Snowcat said:
The Incredible Hulk will do well and almost certainly end up in F1…
Willi Weber is a pretty good judge of who to support for an F1 seat…
The only thing against him is the fact that Germany don’t need another driver for marketing purposes as they have Mr Vettel….
Di Grassi has been around the block too long with three seasons in GP2… and Renault prefer Piquet….which says a lot about di Grassi….
Hulkenburg is three years younger….
January 9th, 2009 at 20:55 #182 - me said:
January 9th, 2009 at 20:59 #183 - Lady Snowcat said:
And actually as we are having at least two Sebs this year next we’ll be having two Nicos….
And Mr Buemi will make another driver living in Switzerland I expect…
January 9th, 2009 at 21:01 #184 - me said:
apparently he’s moving next door to the factory or something. maybe in 2010 though
January 9th, 2009 at 21:04 #185 - guille2306 said:
OK. As I don’t have too much TV coverage of anything outside F1 and IRL in open wheel (and not a good one in any case), I’m more biased towards other forms of motorsport in my non-f1 drivers preferences (Sainz and Rossi are in my podium, for sure…)
January 9th, 2009 at 21:05 #186 - Lady Snowcat said:
But “me” you are forgetting he’s… Swiss….
January 9th, 2009 at 21:06 #187 - me said:
will the swiss hate him for moving to italy
January 9th, 2009 at 21:13 #188 - Lady Snowcat said:
I guess not… I mean at least he’d be moving closer to work… not further away….
January 9th, 2009 at 21:14 #189 - me said:
ouch
January 9th, 2009 at 21:15 #190 - lou said:
i’ll admit, baby penguins are really cute but baby pandas are slightly cuter.
January 9th, 2009 at 21:18 #191 - Lady Snowcat said:
Do you think Gordon tapped up Lewis for a loan at the Autosport awards?….
Just the small contribution we’d all have to make of course… if we had his dosh….
January 9th, 2009 at 21:36 #192 - Alianora La Canta said:
As the article says it is quite common for teams to fail crash tests. {Steven Roy}
This is true. Even the (slightly less usual) bit about a chassis being written off isn’t that much of a problem for Renault. If it was ex-Honda, Williams or Force India, I might have worried that producing a new chassis would have been too much of a distraction for their competitiveness to be unaffected, but Renault have easily enough staff to be fine.
January 9th, 2009 at 21:37 #193 - Alianora La Canta said:
http://www.ismycomputeron.com/
What is the point of registering a domain name just for that? Not that I doubted the answer, but it does seem a bit pointless…
January 9th, 2009 at 21:41 #194 - Alianora La Canta said:
Why is Bernie doing inspections? Surely that is an FIA function. {Steven Roy}
It is (Appendix O of the International Sporting Code explains at length), but if the inspection is already booked, then there’s a good chance Bernie knows about it, since he seems to consider himself personally responsible for all circuit contracts. He could turn up for the inspection himself, but he can’t overrule the FIA inspectors.
January 9th, 2009 at 21:59 #195 - Dank said:
Dank’s Swiss-Buemi-related fact of the day: motor racing was banned in Switzerland for 52 years and only ended in 2007.
January 9th, 2009 at 22:16 #196 - R.G (Sidepodathon reciever on line #4.) said:
Street races around Zurich for 2011?
January 9th, 2009 at 22:26 #197 - Alianora La Canta said:
I think it was aimed more at getting certain non-Swiss F1 drivers to pay more taxes than getting competitive racing going there, sadly.
January 9th, 2009 at 22:27 #198 - Ollie said:
What if you’re using a friends computer, and yours is actually off?
Ollie’s Swiss-Buemi-related fact of the day: Buemi is, assuming my counting is right, the 22nd Swiss to race in F1. The others were either just test drivers or didn’t manage to qualify.
January 9th, 2009 at 22:27 #199 - me said:
that’s just being picky!
January 9th, 2009 at 22:29 #200 - Andy Taylor - trying to break Lou\'s comment record one post at a time... said:
You’d be surprised how many people need this sort of confirmation.
I like this one:
http://www.shibumi.org/eoti.htm
January 9th, 2009 at 22:30 #201 - Ollie said:
The next page needs to be an alphabetised index.
Edit: What’s that quote? Something like, “When I’m bored I read Google, alphabetically.”
January 9th, 2009 at 22:32 #202 - me said:
seriously… brilliant!
January 9th, 2009 at 22:33 #203 - R.G (Sidepodathon reciever on line #4.) said:
Oh well, no point going to Sidepodcast anymore.
You guys have a Sidepodbook/magazine coming out soon?
January 9th, 2009 at 22:36 #204 - me said:
what would be in it?
January 9th, 2009 at 22:37 #205 - lou said:
hows the script coming along
January 9th, 2009 at 22:40 #206 - R.G (Sidepodathon reciever on line #4.) said:
Ah. Probably so out of date Nigel Mansell still hasn’t won a World Championship.
January 9th, 2009 at 22:51 #207 - Andy Taylor - trying to break Lou\'s comment record one post at a time... said:
Some pictures of pandas.
January 9th, 2009 at 22:51 #208 - Alianora La Canta said:
What if you’re using a friends computer, and yours is actually off? {Ollie – 9 comments ago}
In that case, it’s still no use as it’s just three letters. There’s no code-checking going on…
January 9th, 2009 at 23:03 #209 - Alianora La Canta said:
I’m off to bed now. See you all tomorrow!
January 9th, 2009 at 23:05 #210 - Lukeh said:
goodnight
January 9th, 2009 at 23:06 #211 - R.G (Sidepodathon reciever on line #4.) said:
Night Alia
January 9th, 2009 at 23:07 #212 - Ollie said:
Off topic, entirely… Have Google changed there favicon, again?
January 9th, 2009 at 23:11 #213 - Andy Taylor said:
Looks like it. I quite like.
January 9th, 2009 at 23:22 #214 - Ollie said:
It stands out better than the blue ‘g’. I wonder if Google bowed to the general reaction to that version or just wanted to change it again?
January 9th, 2009 at 23:40 #215 - Ollie said:
Oh, and another (slightly) off topic point… The tagline to Sidepodcast is “Your Weekly F1 Podcast”. Can’t you or the community of wonderful people here do any better than that? I certainly don’t mean to belittle your efforts (especially as I don’t really have one myself), but during the season Sidepodcast is much more than just a weekly show. It’s an extravaganza of live video, phone-ins, quizzes, panels and of course, all the shows you produce plus live comments etc…
Maybe a contest to get people to think of more appropriate taglines would be good? The header one seemed to go down well, after all. As ever, just my meandering thoughts.
January 9th, 2009 at 23:44 #216 - Scott Woodwiss said:
Sidepodcast – Leading the pack one lap at a time
January 9th, 2009 at 23:46 #217 - me said:
sir, you’re ahead of the curve
asked for some in the summer, had a bunch of submissions but ran out of time. it’s on the board for 3.0 though. my guess would be mid-march. there’s a facebook discussion about them somewhere, but by all means keep ‘em coming.
January 9th, 2009 at 23:47 #218 - me said:
just checking, but can everyone see:
http://www2.sidepodcast.com/
now? dns should mostly have figured itself out by now.
January 9th, 2009 at 23:48 #219 - R.G (Sidepodathon reciever on line #4.) said:
Sidepodcast – 2 Time WeBlog Award Nominees
or
Sidepodcast – More damage to your ears than a FIA Crash Test With a Renault.
Maybe those don’t give off a good impression
Sidepodcast – We’ve Talked With Colin Murray, What More do you want us to do?
January 9th, 2009 at 23:48 #220 - Journeyer said:
I can see it.
January 9th, 2009 at 23:49 #221 - Scott Woodwiss said:
Sidepodcast – Formula 1 news & views, with added cupcakes
January 9th, 2009 at 23:49 #222 - lou said:
the facebook discussion – http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=22534566720&topic=4453
January 9th, 2009 at 23:50 #223 - me said:
how did you find that?
i tried search. nothing came up
January 9th, 2009 at 23:51 #224 - Journeyer said:
Sidepodcast – Fighting for a better F1, one panda at a time.
January 9th, 2009 at 23:53 #225 - Scott Woodwiss said:
Sidepodcast – Love F1 and pandas, hate Max. That’s why we’re No.1
January 9th, 2009 at 23:55 #226 - lou said:
it was on the third page of the discussion board.
here – http://www.facebook.com/board.php?uid=22534566720&f=2&start=60&hash=62e09a0dc57e1dca2e57bf6ed45a16b9
January 9th, 2009 at 23:55 #227 - R.G (Sidepodathon reciever on line #4.) said:
Mr C – The guy who was painting my car said there was no place on the car that could fit the logo. Hence, why I am just leaving it. Sorry.
January 9th, 2009 at 23:57 #228 - me said:
no probs sir, cheers for trying.
January 9th, 2009 at 23:58 #229 - me said:
well. i never thought of that!
January 10th, 2009 at 00:00 #230 - Ollie said:
Yep.
Thanks Lou. I had a vague memory of it, but wasn’t sure enough to state it out loud on t’internet.
January 10th, 2009 at 00:02 #231 - me said:
gooood stuff. one thing off me list then.
January 10th, 2009 at 00:05 #232 - Scott Woodwiss said:
big one?
January 10th, 2009 at 00:06 #233 - R.G (Sidepodathon reciever on line #4.) said:
I could tell ya at least 10
Something intresting to ease your minds
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=c04_1231280509
Very realistic.
January 10th, 2009 at 00:07 #234 - me said:
yeah. huge list. never seems to get any smaller?
January 10th, 2009 at 00:09 #235 - Andy Taylor - trying to break Lou\'s comment record one post at a time... said:
I can see the www2 site.
January 10th, 2009 at 00:10 #236 - me said:
groovy. gotta do more testing with it. may look to move over in a week or so’s time.