BMW-Sauber F1 at the Ring, first report, photos and video

Now that a few days have passed since the event, and it's apparent many fans around the world were disappointed BMW did not "go for it" and try to improve on Stefan Bellof's mythical 6:11.
I believe it was a no win proposition for BMW: if they tried and failed or worse crashed it would have been terrible PR. If they tried and did set a new time, many might have said "so what, of course a modern F1 would trash an 80's Porsche...big deal" more bad PR. So, in the end, BMW did the smart thing, got a huge amount of interest worldwide and made fans happy.
For those wondering "what if..." the onboard footage in the short clip below where Heidfeld is not slowing for pictures, provides a clear answer as to what the result of all out lap would have been.



BMW and Heidfeld write history on Nordschliefe

BMW has written another chapter in motor sport history on the legendary Nordschleife at the Nürburgring. On Saturday, a modern Formula 1 vehicle was driven round the 20.8 kilometre race track for the first time in 31 years in front of a crowd numbering 45,000 BMW Sauber F1 Team driver Nick Heidfeld was extremely enthusiastic after three laps in the F1.06:
"This drive was simply incredible. I thought it would be great to drive on the Nordschleife before I started out. But it was even better than I had expected. This racing track is the best in the world.......

read the complete press release HERE


Photos Daniel FlinkmannFlinkmann.de





















YouTube fan videos so far...





More Photos popping up....
by Markus Becker



by Andreas Adolph

Nürburgring, ADAC Westfalenfahrt March 2007 by Mike Skowronski



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Can a croc kill the 911?

The 911 death watch rang another bell when Uwe Alzen decided to abandon the 911 platform for his latest race car. It is a fairly obvious choice dynamically even considering the amazing success of the "engine in the wrong place" racers.

We had an earlier post with onboard video from a different race Cayman, here are pictures of Alzen Motorsport's race car. As you can see it is a Cayman only because it's a Porsche and has a mid-engine layout...
Anyway, enjoy these detailed shots, you can even read his spring rate!

I'm not sure of the specs for the car, I read somewhere it might have a Carrera GT V10 engine but if that were the case I would be very surprised as this car got beat recently by a Z4 Coupe-GTR driven by Johannes Stuck, son of Hans and a girl, Claudia Hürtgen who moonlights as one of the Ring-Taxi drivers.

Photos Mike Skowronski, high-speed-corner.de

Waiting for Quick Nick

A shot from the Nürburgring web camera of the Nordschleife's entrance, today between 4:30PM EST and 5:15PM, Sauber BMW is running their Formula 1 car on the circuit, the first time an F1 car has run there since Niki Lauda's accident in 1976. Looks like the weather is perfect for the lap. We will bring you video as soon as available.



If you refresh the page every 60 secs, maybe you'll get lucky and see the F1 car go by in the picture below! If you catch Nick and you SEND THE SCREENSHOT TO US we will send you a set of Axis of Oversteer stickers. Happy hunting!



Update from F1-Live.com:

Nick Heidfeld will have his wings clipped when he tackles the Nurburgring's famous 'Nordschleife' layout in a BMW Sauber this weekend.

For a BMW event, the German will drive the 21km layout known as 'Green Hell' that almost claimed Niki Lauda's life back in 1976.

But team officials have clipped Heidfeld's wings by arranging that his F1.07 is equipped only with 'demonstration' Bridgestone tyres - which are significantly slower than the real thing.

Heidfeld is quoted by Auto Motor und Sport as revealing that he is 'disappointed' with the news.

It also emerges that 29-year-old Heidfeld will not round the Nordschleife's notorious and famous banked 'Karussell' section. "Obviously not," Team Principal Mario Theissen told the news agency sid, explaining that the steep and bumpy concrete banking will be off-limits to a modern Formula One racer.

Ultimate performance of Heidfeld's car will also be compromised by an extraordinarily high ride-height, but Theissen insisted that he thought the BMW Sauber would still reach impressive top speeds in excess of 300kph.

30,000 spectators are expected to watch the event unfold trackside on Saturday.

I found this Photo from the ring....yup they are wild and crazy guys up there in the Black Forest!

Monaco, Porsche Supercup May 2002 by AC



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Tease...

Pocono Raceway, August 2006 by Robert Plafta



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A different look at WRC

WRC is sadly not shown anymore on US television. I suppose the main issue is that it's almost impossible to show and to narrate it compellingly. We've all seen the bits of onboard, the spectacular slides, the terrifying crashes but it's hard for a new fan to get into the intricacies of the sport as it is usually shown on television.
But check this out, I came across this fantastically well done new series shown on Discovery UK called "Engineering the World Rally".
It is an in depth and more three dimensional look at what it takes to run these amazing cars in these gruelling races. This first episode is on the season opener, the Rally of Montecarlo and follows the Subaru team of Solberg and Atkinson. It is long, 44 minutes but well worth watching so sit back and relax. I hope Discovery will show this series here in the US at some point.

Axis approved!

P.O.D.

Watkins Glen, September 2006 by badbadM



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Green Hell and Open Wheels

Sauber BMW is going to run Nick Heidfeld on the Nordschleife this coming Saturday the 28th and it's going to be a site to see but you can run the ring in an open wheel car too with the Zakspeed Formula North Loop course.
For 2550 Euros you'll get a day of Jackie Stewart old school driving on the Nürburgring!
Any takers? CG? might be a bit more exciting than Skippy at Lime Rock.

Engine: 4 cylinder, 1800 cc
Performance: 103 KW / 140 HP
Maximal Engine Speed: 7200 rpm
Acceleration: 4.2 Sec. (0-100 kmph)
Transmission: 5-Gear
Clutch: Sintered metal racing-clutch
Chassis: Steel tubular frame
Safety belt system: Schroth, Safety Products
Running gear: Independent suspension / Pushrod system
Power-to-weight ratio: 3.2 kg/HP
Top speed: 240 kmph

Racy Cayman

I hate videos where you can't see the driver's hands but...race prepped Cayman videos are hard to come by still so here you go.

P.O.D.

Mas Du Clos, May 2005 by LukeDuke Track4Fun.com



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Axis likes Tiff...

Ferrari or Porsche, Nikon or Canon, Milan or Inter, Mets or Yankees.... you know the drill.
I'm sorry Jeremy, we love your humor but we choose Tiff. Why? Aside from the fact that he is not trying to stuff his size 47 belly in size 31 pants, well you see, there is this little detail: he can really drive and I mean REALLY drive.
As much as we adore TopGear, we always have the feeling that Clarkson's driving is a bit...edited and the really money shots always seem to be cars with tinted windows. Besides, is there really any point in going up against a man with a name like Tiff Needell?

So Tiff...you are THE MAN!


Thanks to Ray for digging up this compilation clip!


See Jeremy Clarckson's Obituary in the Axis Forums

P.O.D.

Monaco, May 2006 by AC



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Electric Boogaloo, the Axis views the Tesla up close.

Adil writes:
It is an Electric Lotus Elise weighing 2500 lbs, with 240 ft/lbs of Torque available from 0 RPM. The car is built by Lotus although the Tesla marketers claim that it only shares 15% of the Elise's parts.

It looks good, and very familiar to any Elise owners looking at the pictures. It is also completely silent as evidenced by the movie. At the tail end of the short clip you can see the tach briefly 1/3 of the way up. The woman revved the engine but no one could here it above the conversation.

Given the instantaneous torque, it is supposed to go 0-60 in 4 seconds. 35 People who have put down deposits on the car test drove it in New York's West Village last Friday, at an event hosted by The Classic Car Club. The Club is going to buy one for its members. The cost of running it is 1 cent per mile. The car costs 90k and should be available in the fall of 2007.

AC adds:
I'm not automatically against alternate fuel cars but a sports car has to be FUN TO DRIVE, and while I certainly had tons of fun in my life with slot cars I think SOUND IS a fundamental component of enjoyment. The Tesla's main sound components when driving will be tire and wind noise...not really what you want to hear. Maybe they should come up with an automotive version of putting cards against bicycle spokes.
Another issue from our twisted hyper enthusiast prospective: I'm skeptical their published specs would hold up when using the car as we usually do at the track and if their power consumption is linear. Worse, consider 200 miles with a 3.5 hours stop to charge means a trip from say NYC to Watkins Glen would take some 8 to 9 hours?

P.O.D.

Road Atlanta, 2005 Petit Le Mans by Kell Kirby



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$3000 a gallon.

The 1970 US GP at Watkins Glen. Emo, Jo Siffert, Pedro Rodriguez, Regazzoni, Ickx, the wee Scot... all the tough guys some of whom actually lived through the era.
$3000 a gallon is what the commentator figures it cost Pedro Rodriguez (in the Yardley BRM) to stop for a slash and go.



We post other assorted YouTube finds in our Forum HERE

P.O.D.

Monaco, May 2006 by AC



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Let's ride with El Nano.

Sepang is very interesting with many odd corners with non intuitive apexes. Check out where Alonso gives up some to set up the next more crucial corner. There is the super fast left right that just takes you breath away. The McLaren gets loose there and you get the idea of the sort of reflexes needed for the job. Amazingly if you look at the track map, those turns, 5 and 6 are quite wide, but in an F1 car it looks more like a chicane.
And take a look at turn 4, a more than 90 degree turn, the speed Alonso carries through there is just astounding. Imagine taking that turn in even your nicely tuned sports car...

The tendency is to think that F1 cars drive themselves, I think this clip will make the case otherwise.

this is an .avi file and it might not stream, have faith, it's worth the wait.

P.O.D.

Laguna Seca, February 20 2006 by Rahul Nair



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