Formula One Grand Prix Racing Thread

[Ichimaru Gin n Tonic]

Fast life on the fast lane. The world of motorsport has never been the same since the rise of Formula One (F1) Racing. Silverstone, England in 1950 is when the history of F1 starts and the whole world gaze in awe as the drivers paced their cars on the circuit going for the podium and the trophy.

Names like Nino Farina, Juan Manuel Fangio, Jackie Stewart, Nicki Lauda, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, and recently retired Michael Schumacher are legends that goes down in history as the great F1 drivers.

Gentlemen, and Ladies too. Start your engine!

[destinator]

I really whould like to know how americans think about formula one or better how popular it is in the usa. Because after the the problem with the tires it seemed that formula one would have a hard way in the states.

[Venom65437]

Holy Crap, I thought this was the sports forum!

[Ichimaru Gin n Tonic]

Holy Crap, I thought this was the sports forum!

And you dont think F1 racing is a sport, Venom?

[Venom65437]

And you dont think F1 racing is a sport, Venom?

Care to tell me what's so athletic about sittin' on your ass and driving? I did quite a bit of that today...

[Leen]

Care to tell me what's so athletic about sittin' on your ass and driving? I did quite a bit of that today...

I care.

Some F1 facts for you to ponder upon before you say anything more.

'F1' is not only just 'F1'
F1 car is made up of 80,000 components, if it were assembled 99.9% correctly; it would still start the race with 80 things wrong!
When an F1 driver hits the brakes on his car he experiences retardation or deceleration comparable to a regular car driving through a BRICK wall at 300kmph!!!
F1 car can go from 0 to 160 kph AND back to 0 in FOUR seconds!!!!!!!
F1 car engines last only for about 2 hours of racing mostly before blowing up on the other hand we expect our engines to last us for a decent 20yrs on an average and they quite faithfully DO....that's the extent to which the engines r pushed to perform...
An average F1 driver looses about 4kgs of weight after just one race due to the prolonged exposure to high G forces and temperatures for little over an hour (Yeah that's right!!!)
At 550kg a F1 car is less than half the weight of a Mini.
To give you an idea of just how important aerodynamic design and added down force can be, small planes can take off at slower speeds than F1 cars travel on the track.
Without aerodynamic down force, high-performance racing cars have sufficient power to produce wheel spin and loss of control at 160 kph. They usually race at over 300 kph.
In a street course race like the Monaco grand prix, the down force provides enough suction to lift manhole covers. Before the race all of the manhole covers on the streets have to be welded down to prevent this from happening!
The refuelers used in F1 can supply 12 liters of fuel per second. This means it would take just 4 seconds to fill the tank of an average 50 liter family car. They use the same refueling rigs used on US military helicopters today.
TOP F1 pit crews can refuel and change tyres in around 3 seconds. It took me 8 sec to read above point
During the race the tyres lose weight! Each tyre loses about 0.5 kg in weight due to wear.
Normal tyres last 60 000 - 100 000 km. Racing tyres are designed to last 90 - 120 km.
A dry-weather F1 tyre reaches peak operating performance (best grip) when tread temperature is between 900C and 1200C.(Water boils boils at 100C remember) At top speed, F1 tyres rotate 50 times a second.


Tell me, if losing around 4kg of weight due to fluid loss everytime F1 driver drives his car isn't athletic, how many kgs of weight someone have to lose in a sport to make it seem athletic to you? F1 is wayyyyyyyy too athletic. It put so much strain on the body of the driver and it tests the stamina of the driver more than any other sports in the world. Everyone can kick a ball and play football but only those with super license can drive a F1 car. If you put yourself into a F1 car without proper stamina and fitness, you won't even be able to complete one lap. Try that as a "not athletic" sport. [br]Posted on: December 28, 2006, 03:26:57 PM_________________________________________________And yes, I'm a big fan of Formula 1.

[Venom65437]

Losing weight isn't athletic at all in mind. I mean, you can go to a body wrap place and lose 50 lbs in an hour or two! And a lot of your facts show how much crap is wasted at F1, basically a whole car or two.

I'm not denying you have to be fit and have stamina to do one of those races, but that doesn't make one an athlete either.

Really, I'm not kidding, no one will ever convince me that driving a race car is a sport, or that a race car driver is an athlete. I just couldn't help but throw in that comment.

[Leen]

Losing weight isn't athletic at all in mind. I mean, you can go to a body wrap place and lose 50 lbs in an hour or two! And a lot of your facts show how much crap is wasted at F1, basically a whole car or two.

I'm not denying you have to be fit and have stamina to do one of those races, but that doesn't make one an athlete either.

Really, I'm not kidding, no one will ever convince me that driving a race car is a sport, or that a race car driver is an athlete. I just couldn't help but throw in that comment.

What is you definition of athletic then? Strong body? Well, F1 driver trains their body everyday? Endurance? What about being trapped in a hot car for 2 hours in every race? Competitiveness? What about 15 corners of various chicanes, hairpins and straights? Rivalries? What about 20-22 cars racing at the same time at 300kph, one overtaking another?

Seriously, what is your definition of athletic?

[Ichimaru Gin n Tonic]

Whoa! Eileen! Now that's an extensive explanation. I'm definitely impressed
For me, F1 racing is not just a battle of speed or endurance. It also takes great concentration of the driver. Knowing how and when to overtake, braking late, judging the speed on corners without over/understeering and the guts to do that over and over.

[Xophien]

To quote Wiki :

At full speed downforce of 2.5 times the cars weight can be achieved. The downforce means that the cars can achieve a lateral force of around four and a half times the force of gravity (4.5 g) in cornering - a road car might achieve around 1 g. Consequently in corners the driver's head is pulled sideways with a force equivalent to 25 kilograms. Such high lateral forces are enough to make breathing difficult and the drivers need supreme concentration to maintain their focus for the 1 to 2 hours that it takes to cover 305 kilometres.

The F1 pilots are taking a lot of g, since they're always decelerating and accelerating, they have that helmet that makes it hard to breathe, usually in a F1 cockpit the temperature is about 55°C (131°F), they have nothing to drink, must concentrate on the road because one mistake could end their lives, and they must do that for 90~100 minutes without taking a break.

If these guys are not athletes, then nobody is

[Leen]

Actually, they do have something to drink. They have a little tube inserted into through their helmet into their mouth. Whenever they want to drink, they just need to press the "water" button on their steering and they can drink from there. Still, there's only so much water for them to drink. Dehydration is still unpreventable. Just take a look at the drivers after they finish the race and have a press conference (top 3 drivers). They usually finish that one jug of water in front of them even before the conference ends. That alone tell us how much they had gone through in one race.

I agree on everything about the G force. Imagine 3G of force pushing your neck to the right/left constantly. That's 30kg more of extra weight on the neck. >.>

[Ichimaru Gin n Tonic]

Ok, now a question about the upcoming season about Ferrari.
What do you think about their choosing Kimi Raikonnen as the replacement for Schummi?

[Venom65437]

Guys, look I just said what I said to push your buttons cause I knew it would.

No one is going to change anyone else's mind so let's just forget about it, eh? I just wanted to tease you a little bit....

[Leen]

Ok, now a question about the upcoming season about Ferrari.
What do you think about their choosing Kimi Raikonnen as the replacement for Schummi?

I think it's a good one considering how limited their options really are. Obviously, they are not going to take someone who had just beaten their favorite boy to replace him, so Alonso is immediately out of the picture. Little brother is just not good enough for the team so Ralf isn't an option as well. They are basically left with Kimi if they are looking for someone who is talented, young and willing to leave his team. Kimi left Sauber to join McLaren in 2002 after an impressive season with Sauber. He was taunted as the next big thing and everyone expected this new flying finn to make history. His will was there but McLaren just wasn't good enough for him. In the same year, Peter Sauber decided to bring in another young rookie, a Brazilian one. Felipe Massa. Now, Peter was hailed as one of the best scouters if not the best *cough*Flavio*cough* and he brought in this no-name person to succeed a high-profile Kimi. Of course, Massa was under a lot of pressure as well as Sauber at that time. Massa flunked as expected in the first season despite showing impressive raw speed and talent. Now Ferrari and Sauber has been working closely for quite some time now. After all, Ferrari provided Sauber's engine for a good few years and genuinely, I suspect that Brawn/Todt might have just be the key persons behind the recruiting of Massa and Kimi. O.o They might have just make it seems like it's Peter Sauber who brought Massa and Kimi into Formula 1 but the real person who was pulling the string all the time was Todt/Brawn. Why were they doing so? My theory, they were already thinking ahead of time. They were already thinking of who's going to replace Michael/Rubens even in the year 2001, knowing the fact that Schumacher did not have many years left and Rubens wasn't going to play second fiddle to Schumacher after all. That's my theory. So if you ask me, is it a good buy? Yes, it is because all this have been planned since the very beginning. All these are just another conspiracy by the big boss in F1.

[Ichimaru Gin n Tonic]

That's what i think, Eileen (but not that extensive XD). It's too bad that Ralf just couldnt race as good as his brother. And Kimi is one of the future drivers that will bring a whole new level of competition by joining Ferrari. As for Alonso... he's good, too bad he didnt join Ferrari