F1 on SPEED....for 3 years

[Jim Garfield]

Will include the USGP.

Practice from Australia starts Thur. night at 10 ET.

And the Porsche content is... umm...Porsche might race in F1 someday...

[Jack Olsen]

The down-to-the-wire negotiations between F1 and Speedvision are often more exciting than the races they're planning to broadcast.

[Doug E]

Thanks for the news.

Hopefully this year the rules changes will make it a little more exciting.

Who knows, maybe we'll get lucky and the Cayenne will be the safety car this year!

[APKhaos]

Live coverage, of course. The boys did well!
Aussie GP next weekend might rev up a few first time DE'ers.

Doug's keeping quiet about his six speed sequential project.

[Zeke]

Originally posted by JackOlsen
The down-to-the-wire negotiations between F1 and Speedvision are often more exciting than the races they're planning to broadcast.

Hah! How true. And the CART thing is way interesting. What a scramble Chris Pook has done to put on the show. The IRL BS about thirty some cars to compete was laid open to the truth last Sunday when 19 showed up, same number as CART's opener the week before.

[lateapex911]

Too bad we won't get Bob Varsha.....

(No offense to Rick DeBruhl)

Hope Steve Matchett is back!

[dimps8]

melbourne is sunny at the moment according to my window, though knowing melbournes weather it could be snowing for the race on sunday! neather the less i'll be there.

[Jim Garfield]

Jack, even more exciting than the negotiations is tuning in to watch the money flying out
of the window. I was just reading an article today about the cost of F1, last year the series
went through $ 2,141,100,000. Yes, billion with a B. Lets see R & D $ 173,000,000, wind
tunnel costs, $ 93,600,000, manufacturing the cars, $ 19,250,000....it all adds up.

How can you not watch people spending that much money trying to make cars go faster?
I know that you can relate to money flying out the window to make a car go faster Jack.

There are some radical rules changes this year that hopefully will make for closer racing.

Steve Matchett will be back, along with David Hobbs, Rick D. and Peter Winsor in the pits.

Another interesting money related item. Last year the road car division of Ferrari made a
$120 million profit, of that they put $109 million into the F1 team ( out of a total Ferrari F1
budget of $ 443.8 million ) , quite a commitment of resources to a passion.

And VW is seriously hot to get into F1 with Audi? VW? SEAT? or Ferrari?, which they are trying
to buy. Or as a long shot Porsche?

Damon you lucky dog, good on ya mate!

[88911coupe]

I'm an F1 fan going way back but I have to admit to a slight level or frustration based on how things have evolved recently. Do you all think the manufacturers are putting things in place to give Bernie, et al, a run for their money...or just to light a fire under the organizers to shake things up a bit? Apparently Bernie is rumored to be buying out the banks who have a big interest in F1.
Frankly, I am sick of having Nascar rammed down my throat in the Dallas Morning News. I get SO tired of hearing "it's the fastest growing sport on earth!!!!!!" Who gives a crap? Budweiser is the best selling beer on earth and that does not keep me from searching for Sierra Nevada.
Sorry about the rant...I am preaching to the choir. The problem is we are a lot bigger choir than the networks realize, I think (hope?).
Later,

[82SC]

Predictions

CART and IRL will consolodate their differences in the next 3 years
with a mix of road and oval and street...emphasis on ovals (because of the NASCAR mind set)
or
IRL will be the premier US series and be NASCAR without fenders and CART will be bought out by F1 and used as a spec series stepping stone with international events


F1 will lose the independent teams and will all be manufacturer based in 2 years...it will be the CART of the eighties and early nineties on steroids


NASCAR will continue to rise but plateau out...it will not gain international fame and be like the NFL

can't wait till F1 starts...staying up at 4AM on suday...sweet....

[APKhaos]

Live coverage, of course. The boys did well!
Aussie GP next weekend might rev up a few first time DE'ers.

Doug's keeping quiet about his six speed sequential project.

[stinkpot]

mmmmmmmmmmmmm, Sierra Nevada!

[Deeks]

I'd much rather watch the WRC or Le Mans than F1. Formula 1 has become too political and money/sponsorship focussed (some drivers are having to pay the teams to get a seat for god's sake !!) and the organisers seem to have forgotten what makes motor racing exciting (the time-worn battle between man and machine)

I think they should lose the automatic gearboxes and auto launch
controls for a start..... give control back to the driver !! Where's the skill in using all this automatic mallarcky ???

Imagine Colin Mcrae or Carlos Sainz screaming down a gravel track at 130mph in a rally spec Carrera 4, or a Carrera GT hunting down a 550 Maranello throught the Porsche Curves at Le Mans..... (I know I know...I'm dreaming out loud )

[82SC]

wrc is great...the sweeden rally was incredible

hopefully this year with the rule changes F1 will be better...

the new qualifying setup should be exciting...
I did like the old way too...where schumacher would wait till the final seconds to pull off a screamer and drop montoya down to 2nd

the electronics are going to be gone mid season...no more traction control and auto gearboxes...though I heard they want to get rid of radios too...that is a bit much

then there is the issue of long lasting engines...making engines availible to other teams...one engine per weekend...standard rear wings for all teams

I think they have made way too many changes all at once...hopefully everything settles out in the end

Just my 2 cents but to make F1 more exciting they should go back to slicks and reduce downforce and maybe bring turbos back...

cars making 1000+ hp with less downforce and slicks...now that will be exciting

[jluetjen]

The one "take-away" that I got from watching the CART race last weekend is that engines don't matter, aero doesnt' matter, a wide chassis selection doesn't matter, slicks or treads don't matter. Just make sure that there is enough HP and/or torque to spin the tires at any time -- any place.

That won't guarantee an even field -- the best drivers will still soundly beat the others -- but it will make for an exciting race watching the drivers trying to fight to the front while balancing the car at the limits. I guess it's just the basics really.

[thabaer]

Any québécois know why you're being blacked out on SpeedVision??

It'll be fun viewing if arbitrary races get chucked off the air during the season.

[Jim Garfield]

This new qualifying procedure should be interesting. The cars get 1 timed lap on Fri. to
determine the order that they will qualify on Sat. On Sat. it is one car at a time, one
hot lap for the starting grid. The cars are impounded after qualifying and can't be worked
on unless damaged during qualifying. Most interesting, I think, is that the cars have to start
the race with whatever fuel remains in the car after qualifying and on the same tires.

I would think that some of the backmarkers will qualify with a light fuel load to start at the
front of the grid which will make the faster cars have to work their way through or wait till
the slower cars pit. Anyway it will make for some interesting strategy permutations.

[cegerer]

Didn't know about the fuel thing Jim. That is going to be very interesting! -- Curt

[alf]

F1 is boring to watch, TOCA, WRC, LeMan and even Golf is much more fun to watch. Let me take a wild guess at who will be the winning F1 team and driver the next 3 years...the guy in red with the red car. Hopefully the new rules will change things.

But, personally I'd rather be out driving my Porsche while the race is on and watch the F1 highlights with a Sierra Naveda in my hand the next day

[Jim Garfield]

Have a nice drive Alf