Australian Grand Prix - What next ?

After the amazing performance of the McClarens on Sunday, will the other teams be able to catch up by Brazil ? Also, the regulations to slow down the car seem to have had very little effect. Hakkinen's fastest lap was only 1.1 seconds slower than last years record. What do people think ? Are McClaren going to walk away with most of the early races ? Regards Andrew -- __ / \ , , _._ _ |oo| _ / \__/ \ _|||| ((/ () \)) / \ Andrew Carroll |||||/| ( ==== ) |oo| Kodak Ltd, \____/ _`\ /'_ / \ Hemel Hempstead / /.-' /\<>/\ `\.( () )_._ UK | ` / \/ \ /`'--'////) | |. | \___/\___/ | |. | | | "All views expressed here are entirely my own and should not be taken to represent the views of Kodak Ltd or Eastman Kodak Company"

If you spelled their name right they might do even better, mate.

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>After the amazing performance of the McClarens on Sunday, will the other >teams be able to catch up by Brazil ? >Also, the regulations to slow down the car seem to have had very little >effect. Hakkinen's fastest lap was only 1.1 seconds slower than last >years record. >What do people think ? Are McClaren going to walk away with most of the >early races ? >Regards >Andrew >-- > __ > / \ , , > _._ _ |oo| _ / \__/ \ > _|||| ((/ () \)) / \ Andrew Carroll > |||||/| ( ==== ) |oo| Kodak Ltd, > \____/ _`\ /'_ / \ Hemel Hempstead > / /.-' /\<>/\ `\.( () )_._ UK > | ` / \/ \ /`'--'////) > | |. | \___/\___/ > | |. | | | > "All views expressed here are entirely my own > and should not be taken to represent the views > of Kodak Ltd or Eastman Kodak Company"

Even if this is a Simulation racing USENET newsgroup, I don't care. (lol). I'm just happy that Bill France is not like Uncl'Ecclestone <vbfg>

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>After the amazing performance of the McClarens on Sunday, will the other >teams be able to catch up by Brazil ? >Also, the regulations to slow down the car seem to have had very little >effect. Hakkinen's fastest lap was only 1.1 seconds slower than last >years record. >What do people think ? Are McClaren going to walk away with most of the >early races ?

Fran?ois Mnard <ymenard> Sponsored by http://www.awpss.com/ Good race at the Brickyard, (-o-) Official Mentally retarded guy of r.a.s. Excuse me for my English (I'm French speaking) Excuse me for being provocative (I'm dumb speaking) --"People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realise how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."--

I cant wait to see the next Pieter's carset!! The mclaren will blow the competition away hehehe Goodbye Williams, i'm buying a Mclaren!!

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>Even if this is a Simulation racing USENET newsgroup, I don't care. >(lol). >I'm just happy that Bill France is not like Uncl'Ecclestone <vbfg> >>After the amazing performance of the McClarens on Sunday, will the other >>teams be able to catch up by Brazil ? >>Also, the regulations to slow down the car seem to have had very little >>effect. Hakkinen's fastest lap was only 1.1 seconds slower than last >>years record. >>What do people think ? Are McClaren going to walk away with most of the >>early races ?

On Mon, 09 Mar 1998 14:23:29 -0800, Andrew Carroll >What do people think ? Are McClaren going to walk away with most of the >early races ? More to the point, does anybody care? After all the hooha about rule changes to improve racing, there was no sign of any more passing in what had to be the most boring race for some time. The first race I've fallen asleep at for ages. The only interesting moment was David Coulthard's strange attack of chivalry in letting Hakkinen pass - on such decisions world championships are lost. Cheers! John

For a few years now I've been of the opinion they need a radical rethink about the format of F1 races. All the tinkering with the hardware rules hasn't done anything to change the fact that even the best races can be pretty dull. Maybe they should have a couple of shorter races (Touring Car style) or just make the fuel tanks much smaller, forcing four or five pit stops.

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> > there was no sign of any more passing in what > > had to be the most boring race for some time. > For a few years now I've been of the opinion they need a radical > rethink > about the format of F1 races. All the tinkering with the hardware > rules > hasn't done anything to change the fact that even the best races can > be > pretty dull. Maybe they should have a couple of shorter races (Touring > Car > style) or just make the fuel tanks much smaller, forcing four or five > pit > stops.

Well, I'm probably pouring fuel on the fire with this statement: They need to adopt rules closer to ChampCars. Some underbody aerodynamics that are not too sensitive to the cars in front. Replace front and rear wings with "controlled" small wings. Get them slicks back, widen the cars, and use engines with torque, not just horsepower. A turbo would be a good idea......Imagine seeing the F1s powersliding out of turns al la champcars... And send Adrian Newey to Minardi:)) Cheers, Matt (Likes ALL racing) -- Matthew Birger Knutsen Cheek Racing Cars (http://home.sn.no/~kareknut) "Racing cars is like dancing with a chainsaw" -Cale Yarborough

> After all the hooha about rule changes to improve racing, there was no > sign of any more passing in what had to be the most boring race for > some time. The first race I've fallen asleep at for ages.... Oh... has it been *that* long since the end of 1997? Monza 1997? Or perhaps Nurbuering (post - Schumi2 ecounter) , and Canada has always been a bit of a sleeper. Although it has to be said I don't actually fall asleep, because I have my copy of Autosport in hand. The races are becoming far more interesting to read about than to watch. Still a major F1 fan, Stannley

Simply outlawing carbon fiber brakes would do the trick. -- Suck The Goat

ban all wings, front and rear tires the same size with tread, cigar shaped bodies, and GPL will be GP99. brian

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>> After all the hooha about rule changes to improve racing, there was no >> sign of any more passing in what had to be the most boring race for >> some time. The first race I've fallen asleep at for ages.... >Oh... has it been *that* long since the end of 1997? Monza 1997? Or >perhaps Nurbuering (post - Schumi2 ecounter) , and Canada has always >been a bit of a sleeper. >Although it has to be said I don't actually fall asleep, because I have >my copy of Autosport in hand. The races are becoming far more >interesting to read about than to watch. >Still a major F1 fan, >Stannley

-- remove 'bye' from address to reply

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> > there was no sign of any more passing in what > > had to be the most boring race for some time. > For a few years now I've been of the opinion they need a radical rethink > about the format of F1 races. All the tinkering with the hardware rules > hasn't done anything to change the fact that even the best races can be > pretty dull. Maybe they should have a couple of shorter races (Touring Car > style) or just make the fuel tanks much smaller, forcing four or five pit > stops.

I personally liked it better with no pits. Especially when they had the turbo's and managed the fuel with boost control. Also, drivers could turn up boost and risk mech failure to be competitive. Now, those where the days.

Monza was, IMO, extremely enjoyable, albeit more from studying the drivers and strategies technically compared to the wheel to wheel stuff. Same with Canada - Coulthard driving a stormer, Panis' terrible accident, the stall in the pits - I thought it a highly eventful race. Cheers! John

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> >Oh... has it been *that* long since the end of 1997? Monza 1997? Or > >perhaps Nurbuering (post - Schumi2 ecounter) , and Canada has always > >been a bit of a sleeper. > Monza was, IMO, extremely enjoyable, albeit more from studying the > drivers and strategies technically compared to the wheel to wheel > stuff. Same with Canada - Coulthard driving a stormer, Panis' terrible > accident, the stall in the pits - I thought it a highly eventful race. > Cheers! > John

Actually, call me biased (Aussie here), but I thought the Aussie GP was very entertaining. Funnily enough, I thought seeing the McLaren's BOTH lap the ENTIRE field was awesome in this day and age and on a track with laps in the 1.30+ range. Mika's problems, Couthards *** tendancies <G>, Schuey's blowup, etc. I spose I must just be a F1 die hard.

_Coulthard's_ *** tendencies? It looked rather like Mika professing undying love for David rather than the other way around! Cheers! John