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Belching behemoths.

Are you invited to a no leather shoe, save the planet vegan barbecue this week end? I know you don't want to go but there is no way to get out of it....your week end is ruined, right?

Perhaps the Axis can help.

Download and save the following clip. At a crucial time during the inevitable Prius praising segment of the evening, break out your computer and horrify all with this gratuitous display of environmental rudeness. Nothing like a seven tons of Isuzu powersliding out of a corner covered by a black smoke screen to liven up the party!!!

2008 Nürburgring 24 hour, by Volker vom Brocke.

View Slide Show

Bernie Ecclestone on Mosley and the future of the FIA

You may have been reading a lot of speculation about what will happen after the June 3rd vote by the FIA. You may also have read rumors about might become Mosley's successor as head of world motorsports, Jean Todt, even Gerhard Berger....I thought it would be interesting to hear the most influential man in F1's thoughts on the subject.




This interview is from Belgian TV (Spraakmakers) and features a stunningly bad and comical interviewer. Given the questions asked, I commend Mr Ecclestone for sitting through the whole twenty minutes without tossing a heavy object at the guy's head.

My favorite question: "...are there persons you haven't met you would like to meet again?"

TraqStudio and Traqmate 2.10 preview.

Major overhaul from the guys at Traqmate. The latest version of the Traqview software has a long list of improvements and new features but the most significant change is the new TraqStudio which can not only sync video but can now output it with a graphics overlay of the gauges.

I have tried the new software running under Parallels and it not only runs perfectly but is quite fast as well, better than real time speed for video output. The primary use is with the ChaseCam PDR100, it likes MPEG2 files best but it will also accept .wmv and .AVI files.



At this point there is no support for direct .DV input (for that you might look at TrackVision) but there is an extensive output list, cleverly organized by intended use presets, for example "web 4x3" or "DVD 16x9".

All of this is intended to make what had been a tedious process as simple as possible, because really, we'd rather be driving, right?

This is no accident, Traqmate is run by racers. Below you can find videos, created with TraqStudio, by company boss and Spec Miata racer Glenn Stephens. To flog those Miatas around the track you need to keep your foot down and Glenn does a great job at it both on track and with Traqmate!
(check out the "Theoretical Best Lap" video feature, the best lap you NEVER did!)

Traqmate TraqStudio: Axis approved and recommended!

You can read all the tech details on this .PDF file.


CMP Saturday Pole Lap from Glenn Stephens on Vimeo.


CMP Saturday Race Start - SM41 from Glenn Stephens on Vimeo.


Theoretical Lap Video, Spec Miata at Road Atlanta from Glenn Stephens on Vimeo.


1967 Camaro Z28 at Sebring from Glenn Stephens on Vimeo.

The Freep is missing...Updated!

... presumably he is still alive but perhaps still nursing his massive, Axis Brilliant Plan B induced hangover. We tried to catch a glimpse of him in superhero pajamas in the following video but no luck.... Have you seen the Freep? if so please return him in reasonable condition

UPDATE:

clues to the Freep's whereabouts appeared in the form of these two photos taken from a crossbow arrow pierced diary found, next to a broken banjo, inside an abandoned canoe floating on the Cahulawassee River. Some say the Freep will never be the same again...

Speaking of Monaco

Alex King was back this year and just published this tasty teaser. Alex is involved with a production company which specializes in Historic racing films


2008 Monaco Grand Prix Historique - Teaser 1 from alex king on Vimeo.

And here is a slide show of pictures taken by our secret man at the Monte. Lots of fabulous machinery as always for this great event.

View Slide Show

Can we give Force India bonus points?

...what race fan does not feel terrible for Adrian Sutil? In a race that showed how being good is not as good as being lucky and good, the sight of the Force India car stopped in the pits after getting punted by Raikkonen was just devastating.

Hamilton proved the point about luck and skill when he was awarded the Golden Safety Car (and Magic Padded Guard Rail) award early on an then took full advantage of his skills in the rest of race. Kubica, another great race. Ferrari an embarrassment with Raikkonen's penalty. Massa tossed a race win away. And Kovalainnen? what if?

But join me in a salute to Force India and Adrian Sutil, the underdog stars of the race!



And here is another guy who could not catch a break today. On the SpeedTV broadcast they were speculating that Rosberg hit an inside curb and slid wide, from the replay it looks like he loses the rear end on turn in and is just a passenger from then on, hard to say for sure without an onboard.

Nürburgring 24hr Rennen Live feed.

Let me know if this works...


You can also try this (you will need VLC)
High quality Stream
Low Quality Stream

Monaco Massa Class

While everyone was busy pre-congratulating Lewis Hamilton and Mclaren for their domination of Monaco qualifying, the Rodney Dangerfield of Formula 1 was busy plugging away at getting his braking just right and dodging guard rails by the right amount. On Saturday Felipe Massa put in a massive lap for Ferrari's first pole at Monaco since 2000. Raikkonen will be right next to him.
While Lewis Hamilton will get bonus extra style points for trying a WRC handbrake turn at the hairpin (I wonder how that looked time wise on the telemetry?) Mclaren did not have an answer for Ferrari who were faster in the light tanks Q2. Pole is 90% of the race and you can see from the Q2/3 times that everyone is running as light as possible.

Meanwhile, David Coulthard practiced for the race by slamming the door on a pesky guard rail he thought was trying to pass him on the outside...

All Access

It may not be an FIA (or I guess it would have been FISA...) all access pass but I'm sure it was not much different. This old pass (a birthday present from my lovely and super patient wife) is a great snapshot of what Formula 1 was back then and how things are now (nice picture Max...).



What has not changed is the magic of running at 300km/h on narrow armco lined streets.
We might get rain this year, that always made for interesting Sundays on the riviera.


The announcer may be German but the language is pure motorhead and needs no translation.




Now back to the present, lets go for a few laps with Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso (having a hell of a time fighting the Renault)

Axis Ringball 08 part III: TerroristenFahrten!

I think I will start this one off, if anything because CG's later tales of the GT3RS will be inevitably....faster!

Day2

This was the day when the Ring clicked for me.  

For some unexplained reason I had full confidence in the "...this is our best Alfa" car Dale offered on Monday morning.  OK fine, the harnesses were a bit dodgy but, for me it was the first time ever driving a fully caged car on the track...and this could only end well, I thought.

The car was the "fabled" V6-7 in the RSR fleet and is is as sweet as they get: Close ratio box and lumpy cams, Yokohama 048 and vestigial velour upholstery on the door panels, the old girl was fine!

I have a photographic memory so for me getting lost even on a long track like the 'ring was never the issue,  what clicked during the course of the day was learning to let the car flow.

The 'ring seems to me to be very much about that,  flow.

Certainly with a car like the Alfa speed there are really very few heavy braking areas,  for many corners you might only tap the brakes to shift weight and make the front bite (Back to that classic Berndt quote "brakes? why brake, it only slows you down!")  The trick, to brake a little earlier and a little less and so carry more speed to the apex.

So, as I learned to relax and maintain precious momentum, my speed started to creep up and I managed to do more key corners...the right way:

-Hatzenbach without braking for the last left, the Flugplatz right double apex no brakes, full throttle. 

-Fuchsröhre in fifth. Miss-Hit-Miss without messing my pants. 

-Angstkurve no lift, Pflantzgarten with just a tap of the brakes after the jump... 

All those were milestones for me and a great thrill. 

I cannot stress enough that this is mostly due to getting passenger rides with more experienced drivers and a chimp like attitude of "well, if he can do it, so can I".   When you get to the braking area, simply ask yourself,  "...what would Dale do?" and act accordingly.

Traqmate showed my v-max at just 125.8mph (202 km/h) even though I KNOW the linguine enhanced speedo read 220 km/h on the run to Schwedenkreutz.  Once I got both more relaxed and more aggressive with traffic, my best BTG was 8:51, a good 30 seconds faster than Sunday and close enough for now to the 8:40 seconds Dale told me the RSR instructors can flog those Alfa to!

Highlight of the day: having an Ultima Gt2 blow by me only to catch it up at the end of Hatzenbach, have it rocket away away again but catching and mercylessly tailgating it, tires begging for mercy, all through the Flugpaltz double right.... moments later it was all over but man was that fun!



One word about bikers before I turn you over to CG. I actually got threatening hate mail from a biker today because of yesterday's post. Look , bikers, I respect your balls but you are a bunch of lunatics and some of you are clueless lunatics. Maybe experienced ringers are nonchalantabout passing you figuring you already have a deathwish anyway but for us newbies bikers are a seriously scary issue.

Thing is, many of you are painfully slow in the corners and blistering on the next straight, in a momentum car...that's just a serious bummer. Essentially, this is what it looks like from our prospective: we do all our turns right, we earn that precious momentum going up the hill and then we come up on some clueless assclown like this dude in green to whom I would like to award the Axis of Oversteer Ring Assie.... see what I mean?



Over to CG now:

Good night sleep, and a healthy but just large enough breakfast before my biggest challenge yet at the Nordschleife: a well setup 996 GT3RS / Cup car hybrid rental from RSR Nurburg. I was also looking forward towards the 2 hours of instruction from Ron Simons, the shop owner and Euro Pro Racing Driver.

We started the day by stickering out our rental racecars so that the Axis gets proper coverage on the track photos. The GT3RS was an original streetcar that got converted to racecar. RSR bought it and converted back to street car for NRing duties (Remember that cars have to be TÜV Road legal to be able to get on the NRing on Touristenfahrten days).

Basically you end up with a well setup GT3RS with less weight (stripped of carpet and unnecessary goodies – It still had A/C to compensate for the Lexan sealed windows!), with a full race rollcage and fire system, proper factory raceseats, 6pt harness, and nice things like cup-car shifter and shorter gear ratios. Tires were N-spec Pilot Sport Cups.

Helmet ready, driving position perfect, talked to Berndt (master mechanic) about the setup and inquired about the harness compatibility with my HANS device: “Hans…? what is Hans?... my second name is HANS..”!! Another well deserved big dose of German sarcasm to my American trained health and safety standards that can easily revert back to my South-American born laidback-ness and NO standards!

Right away the car felt perfect. It didn’t have a very aggressive setup, more on the softer side to swallow bumps (and kerbs!), good camber (-3.0 at least from my eye-gage) and not too much caster (so self centering was not typical racecar aggressive). The 6 GT3RS feels closer in development to the 997 than to its 996 sibling. The front end, despite the rear weight bias feels glued to the road and always in control even if you lift one front tire from the ground. I’ve gained immediate confidence on the car mostly because it had the best brakes I’ve ever driven. Almost an unfadeable setup after a day of hard driven 500km of NRing laps. Pedal firmness and height was always the same all day out.

The engine felt strong and with loads of torque, given the car very fast acceleration mostly due to its low weight. In the fast 70-100mph transition sections one could easily short shift and do those in 4th almost at the same speed as staying in 3rd. What a machine!
The first couple of laps were at an easy pace mostly to get acquainted with the car, allow Ron to build confidence in my ability (so that he knows I’m capable of driving a Cup-car and doesn’t feel the need to babysit me all day!) and most importantly learn the proper line pointers from him. In general, on the faster sweeping corners my line tends to be tighter than optimal (earlier apex given that almost all are blind!) in a conservative way so that I carried less speed than what the true limit was and that allowed me to “hug” the apex for longer than on the ultimate faster line.

For me its hard to get to feel the proper line if you are not carrying close to limit speeds, as my style is more towards driving by feedback and feel than by reference (i.e. using pointers for braking and turn-in points), so that if the car is not at the limit I tend to wander a bit and not use all the track contrary to when I go all-out (almost), looking far ahead carrying enough speed and being forced to open my line a lot more (that’s probably why I use a lot of minor corrections on corner entry via left foot trail braking).

Ron did a couple of laps in the GT3 and in one of his Alfas and clearly showed me how fast some of those turns are (Schwedenkreuz at 130mph+ for example!) and allowed me to learn what the proper track position should be to be able to straighten and go flat out critical sections like after Flugplatz or the big climb after Bergwerk.

My fastest traqmate real GPS speed was 161mph (258kph… I believe the car indicated around 270kph!) on the big jump before Schwedenkreuz). Despite a great car and feeling high on confidence was never able to flat out Fuchsröhre as the compression on the left kink feels brutal and the brake area after it incredibly short once you are north of 140mph! (Flat out Fuchsröhre was relatively easy to do in the 325i racecar).

The car was a joy to drive on the fast transition sections were speeds were saner, allowing me to test the limits of the PSCups and play a bit. This car is a monster on the Nordschleife. I would be intrigued to see, maybe not sit as a passenger (wife, 3 kids, good job, chicken co-driver), how fast it can go in the hands of Ron or the likes of Rohrl. (BTW, Dale is not allowed to drive the GT3RS… reasons are obvious…).

You can easily see how much faster the GT3RS is everywhere than the Carrera and the Alfa, including cornering speed on every type of corner. I loved the experience and loved the car. Only caveat of that sunny day is that it felt like hell inside the car thanks to lexan sealed windows. I did 3-4 laps at a time and came out drenching in sweat (and I’m in pretty decent shape as Im an active triathlete). I easily lost 5-6 pounds in fluids during the course of the 500kms I drove that day (Yep! That’s basically 1.5 times the length of an F1 race!). Obviously I went far beyond the allowed mileage for the rental and you can see one of my testicles in a formaldehyde jar at RSR’s HQ, but I would do it all over again!


Don’t know how Stee managed the brutality of 3-4 consecutive laps as a passenger with me driving this car on the Nordschleife, but his theory goes that I have more to loose than him (3:0 on the children count) so he should feel safe in my hands (Go figure… I’m not able to apply that logic..!).

The high point of the day was a time when I was reeling in a well driven white sedan after Wipperman that was about 200yds ahead. 100yds ahead on the approach to Pflanzgarten and with great surprise about to make the pass going flatout off-line before braking area for Schwalbenschwanz to the NRing’s very own Ring-Taxi!... Priceless… Feat repeated once more during the day, causing a perma-grin effect that lasted almost a whole week!.

Better than Sunday but still plenty of traffic and accidents, mostly bikers and one totaled MGF, so no really totally clear laps but nonetheless ginourmous fun. Best BTG lap was in the 7:50’s with a Traqmate best sectors (9 sector split) BTG lap of 7:40s.
Now my lame, well setup 997 S feels slow and sloppy and my local 10 corner tracks look boring as hell…. Can’t wait to go back!! If anyone knows of a Private Equity Fund that invests in the German Black Forest let me know asap!!

The End?

PS. June 30th Pistenclub.de has a track day at the 'ring. Open track, open main straight, cars only. From 10 am to 5 PM, $450 Euro! Tempted? Download the application HERE.

When is a BMW an Audi and an Audi a BMW?

Fantastic info from one of our readers about the Gertrag BMW Z4 we saw at the Nürburgring:

Volker writes:

"The winning Getrag-Z4 does not use BMW's wonderful (but sadly by now outwitted) s54 engine but a used v8 out of an old DTM-Audi tt (when Audi tuner Abt and not Audi themselves raced, some years ago). This engine has been used by Getrag before in their now retired e46-m3 racer.
Rather funny though: the "Audi"-TT engine didn't start life as an Audi engine at all, Abt didn`t have time or resources in those days to build up their own (Audi) motor, so they bought a BMW Race engine from a swiss Race franchise (probably Mader, but I don't know for sure). So, a BMW z4 with a BMW-Audi-BMW-engine. And fast it is..."

Here is an onboard lap in the FrankenZ4 from the ring-emotionen collection.

Axis Ringball 08 part II: Vomit comet and other stories

CG picks up where we left off yesterday....

Day 1

What can I say, first day in three years with clear blue skies and a dry forecast. Too good to be true. Big downside? With such good weather everybody and their mother decides to go for a lap. 5-6 blocks long lines coming out of the parking lot were the norm of the day.

7:30 am I picked up the Blue 996 Carrera at Theo’s place. As usual impeccably set up: KW suspension, race seats and harnesses. The car was still in street mode and the PCM Nav proved very practical to navigate around the small roads around the track! (AC: rennlist nudge!)

Driving the 996 makes you realize how good the 997 is. In my opinion the 997 is a quantum leap in development. There’s more in common between the 997 and 996GT3 than between the 6 Carrera and 6 GT3.

Engine felt strong and grip level, albeit on Michelin PS2s was good, but the front end is a different animal than the rest of the car. With all the camber changes on the track the nose on plenty of occasions completely floats and wonders around and you can literally move the steering wheel a good 90 degrees around the center with no-effect whatsoever (Typical on a place like the downhill into Fuchsröhre).

Other than that and the brake fluid boiling while on queue in between laps, the car was a joy to drive and required the typical 911 technique: Hard brake, make the front end grip and early committed throttle on exit. Favorite section on this car was between the Karrusell and Planzgarten (Hohe Acht, Wipperman, etc.). Well planted on deeply cambered transitions, but on the fast sweepers like Dottinger-Hohe (last corner) or Schwedenkreuz, the car alternated between a front end skip and initial oversteer.

I think I pushed hard on all the sub 100mph sections but never near the limit on the really fast turns. Impossible to get a clean lap with so much traffic that gave us a good share of “events” during the day plus a couple of close-call incidents dealing with slower traffic.

3 tanks full worth of laps (eu$240 just in fuel!!) and it was a great day. It was a breeze to drive the 996 Carrera, as we could chill out in A/C comfort in between runs. Stee came in for some passenger rides at noon and lunch break was perfectly timed for a 4 wheel brake pad change at Theo’s and we were back in an hour for more action. Was only able to install the Traqmate for the last 4 -5 laps of the day, and recorded a couple of 8:20s BTG times, and adding up best sectors led to a probable 8:15 BTG time. Not sure where that stands for a 996 on PS2s but it felt more than enough for my own willingness to keep the shiny side up. Fastest speed was on the “straight” and jump before Schwedenkreuz: 147mph. Fuchsröhre I was not able/willing to flat out and recorded 132mph. A younger me with no wife or 3 kids would have probably been able to keep it pinned to the floor in that section…

Well rounded day that ended up with the perfect alcohol enhanced debriefing at Pistenklaus. The Nordschleife is such a cool place where almost 100% of the people and visitors you encounter in the region are awesome friendly cool tracktards (just like us!!). Great night that included several track incident stories coupled to lots of beer and the Steak on Stone de rigour… 

Happy ending to an awesome but traffic heavy day at the NRing.

Vomit Comet

AC:

I was warned by Dale that my first day was going to include some "Dude where's my car" moments. RSR was short on cars but Dale stepped up and promised me the use of his personal, just bolted together, very shiny red Alfa 75. The caveat was that he needed to instruct two guys in the morning.

Stee and Carlos were lapping just behind Dale in the distance when all of a sudden they see him jam on the brakes (turns out he does use them on special occasions) and pull over violently. Stee had just enough time to see one of the students rush the guardrail and spew over the side. Fine, it can happen, big breakfast...too much beer the night before... fine. Next up, after the sighting lap, the students get into their own car and are supposed to follow the instructor's (who is in radio contact with them) around the track. I decide that I might as well see the track some more so I jump in the passenger seat with Dale. Off we go for three of the most excruciatingly slow laps around any circuit ever, dudes on bicycles were passing us... OK maybe not that slow but I doubt we ever broke the 70mph barrier.

But 3 laps, how long could it take? What I did not count on was that after each and every one of these laps one of the students, or both had to stop and go puke in a bush! Unreal, after EVERY single lap!

After the barfers it was Stee's turn for the lead follow exercise. Then, finally and thanks to Stee's prodding (thanks Stee!) Dale handed the keys over and I could finally have a go. I had never driven an Alfa 75 and it was a pleasant surprise. Sure they are relatively cheap 1980's Italian cars with questionable electrics but they are also the last of the rear wheel drive and thus, proper Alfa Romeo. Sure, they have solid rear axles but they also have a transaxle with the gearbox in the rear attached to the differential that's pretty fancy weight balancing. The engine sounds great, the brakes adequate and the handling, with the RSR suspension kit is super neutral. I think CG Stee and I will get more into the driving specifics later on though, all kinds of 'Ring related considerations like "Bikers, will killing one actually ruin your day?"*. Because of the traffic and the many closures due to...bikers, I managed five or six laps on Sunday, a good warm up for Monday when it would be quieter.









After hours, Ron arranged a track walk (... we took buses to sections and then walked) another recomeded activity. Amazing how the track looks from that prospective and the little things you can learn when you have time to look around. Make sure you check in with RSR to see if that might be happening on your next trip.

* attention bikers.... this is meant as humor. It's a rhetorical question regardless of how insane you may be!

To be continued...

Axis Ringball 08 part I: Pilgrimage

Catholics might go to Lourdes, Hindu's bathe in Ganges, Jews pray at the wall, Muslims go to Mecca. Tracktard petrolheads pilgrimage to a remote corner of north western Germany, to the Nürburgring.

The Axis returned to the Eifel forests and, there is just no other way of putting it, had an effin' great time. Bonus extra points for the amazing weather we had for two days in a row, almost unheard of in those parts.

CG will start us off:

Flight and Arrival:

Everything went smoothly. Bags checked, flight on time and even time for a couple of beers before departure. My international business travel routine experience paid well while I shut off completely almost prior to take-off, while bitchy Stee kept complaining about how tight our economy seats were.

Uneventful arrival to Frankfurt and thanks to a nice corporate rental reservation (Thank you Dan Cohen!) we got a nice upgrade to the most proper vehicle for our trip: Brand New Mercedes E-Class Wagon – Diesel (why waste our gas money driving on the street?). It easily swallowed all our bags (2 changes of underwear, helmets and more cameras and telemetry devices than you can find on an ITV F1 broadcast)




Some traffic on our Frankfurt – Nurburg trip, so it took us almost 2hrs (80mph avg). Check in at the hotel and then for a great local treat of Grille Haxe (Roasted Pork’s hock) and Bitburger beer. Now fully loaded with german cholesterol and alcohol and we were set for some action.


AC continues:

We checked into the "fancy" hotel, The Dorint. OK, it's more expensive but c'mon, it has balconies overlooking the Nürburgring Formula 1 track!

When we arrived, they were just wrapping up a VLN race. Heaven. All kind of hardware running, from VW Polo's to a mysterios looking Lexus racer. My favorite, the awesome looking BMW Z4 Motorsport racers. What a car.

Back to CG:

Next stop, RSR Nurburg to meet Ron, Dale and the crew. If you ever need a spare part for an Alfa 75 this is were you find it. Basically, they have a full corn-field planted with Alfa 75s!

Our jet-lag showed when Stee completely fell asleep on Ron’s pep talk about the dangers of driving in the Nring, specially now with the existence of a new type of driver: The World acclaimed “Playstation GT4 professional”.

(AC: the "Playstation Professional is distinguished by the massive accident his misguided self confidence will cause, pre- GT4 drivers would spend years learning the track and would usually get into smaller accidents because they did not have the confidence of knowing twhich way the track went over that next blind crest...)

CG: Our sleepy selves didn’t have enough time to recover before we were offered an evening instructional ride by Dale in the 2 hours the track opened on Saturday. Most valuable tip shown to us that evening was how to avoid entrance traffic (which I prefer to keep secret, but it made my life easier on crowded Sunday May 11 where I was still able to log in 20 laps).

Alfa 75 with brand new race suspension, loaded with the 4 of us and how can I explain those laps with Dale at the wheel?
Dale, your typical PCA instructor…NOT!

Let’s just define Dale by the facts: NRing instructor and Petrolhead Brit who can strap himself to a crotch rocket and do a lap in close to 7:30mins…. So you can just imagine how he can drive with the confidence of 4 wheels and bodywork around him. 'Nuff said…. It was a great intro for this year’s NRing trip, as I was clearly shown limits I will not be willing to test.

AC: Those laps with Dale made me giggle, essentially, the brake pedal is your enemy....it just slows you down. The correct way to slow down is to use the tires, if you really must.
I think in some parts he was trying to show off a little and it certainly was a great show. I would highly recommend for anyone to try for a ride from one of these guys BEFORE you go out. It is a great attitude adjustment prescription.

To be continued....

Axis Ringball 2008

with thanks to Ben Lovejoy's Nürburgring web site for the strict German chick's voice!

Say WHAT??

Just when you thought the FIA could not get any weirder..... you have got to THIS.

We always maintained that vastly more interesting than Max's "eccentricities" was finding out who ordered the hit on him...

Sometimes you can just tell....

Porsche Supercup, Turkey 2008.

Between Bergwerk and Kasselchen, 5-11-2008 by AC



(PS our posts about the Ring trip are coming....guess everyone is still jet lagged!)

Riding Godzilla!

7:29 in the Nissan GT-R, here is the man who did it....



and here is Tochio Suzuki's throttle position tracing!... (TPOS)



Read all about it on Drivers Republic!

(PS....  twisted minds think alike,  I see BTG has the same thing on today, wooot!)

Cruel, cruel internets....

People are just SOOO MEAN.... What did Lewis do to deserve this? Oh wait, he said "yes, I'll do it."

Check out this other knee slapper courtesy of BMW Sauber! And who are these PR clowns who actually think these lame stunts are a good thing?

That's a great angle.

The camera is on the  rear suspension arm of James King's Brabham BT7 at the Monaco Historic Grand Prix.   Very cool.

Where Michael Got That Marlboro Sponsorship

This never-before-seen clip comes to us by way of an anonymous source in the US racing community (thanks). Shot on a ferry between races in 1992, we see a number of key players from early-Nineties F1, including a nameless virtuoso of active suspension and, as the camera pans right, a young M. Schumacher enjoying a smoke. Quite a flashback. As our source says, “I guess I should’ve smoked more if I wanted to be the best driver in the world.” Enjoy.

-Freep

Ham Dorifto

I think some of you might have the impression we hate Lewis Hamilton. I can assure you that is not really the case, go back to the beginning of last year if you don't believe me. The man has the goods, no question there.

Fair minded fanboys will have to admit however that over the past year Lewis has become a bit of a bloviating egomaniac. Mix this with his obvious false modesty and it makes for an very irritating passive aggressive cocktail. Frankly, we wish Lewis would adopt a more Kimi-esque "Shut Up and Drive" attitude rather than do Peter Pan imitations.

The clip below is spectacular to watch, full opposite lock at over 150 always is, but it is also what Ron Dennis was referring to when he slapped Hamilton for overdriving a car on a light load and not only missing out on the pole but getting beat by his team mate on full tanks.

In the race Hamilton drove well, but then in the post race conference inexplicably blamed Bridgestone for forcing him to do a 3 stop strategy not to mention having been Ferrari's technical partner longer.... Lewis, STFU and drive please.

Zaino* this...

We're back, cars were abused but not destroyed, much fun was had by all. I think this picture sums up the spirit of this week end of awesomeness! (and no, we did not just sit around drinking Eifelfeuer!)

Give us time to decompress and remember, we'll post more about our trip over the next few days।

* Zaino... the polish of choice for those who live to polish and then write about it on the internet!

Hamming it up.

Super Aguri left bankrupt leaving a short grid but other teams and sponsors while bloviating about costs, manage to come up with something like this.

I guess Mclaren decided the best way to catch up to Ferrari would be to take the Broadway route and managed to produce what must be the single most embarrassing moment ever for any Formula 1 driver. I heard Hamilton say in an interview he was interested in acting... I never imagined he would debut at a peacemaking Peter Pan! OUCH!

Off we go!

OK, Three of us clowns are off to the Nürburgring. We'll be staying at the Dorint hotel and renting cars from RSR Nürburg so is you are there and see some egregiously pathetic driving, by all means come up and introduce yourself (unless we cut you off that is...).

We'll try to post from there if we can get online. Meanwhile this week end you are on your own with the Turkish GP which might just be another Ferrari blowout.



I suggest you get on a plane instead and fly to Monaco, this week end they are having the Grand Prix Historique. It only happens once every two years and it's fantastic fun with reasonable ticket prices to boot!
We were there in 2006 (see our pictures HERE) and so was Alex King who produced the great clips below.


Enjoy the week end, I'll be celebrating my birthday with a helmet on and beating on those tires like they are Max Mosley!

Monaco Grand Prix Historique from alex king on Vimeo.

Pre-1966 1.5L F1 Cars from alex king on Vimeo.

(all right, all right.... here is ONE clip from FP1)

Ciao Gilles!

Gilles Villeneuve January 18, 1950 - May 8, 1982.

Porsche GT3 RS MkII testing

CG, as you are shopping, here is a third possibility: the 2009 (10?) GT3 RS. We were right when we discussed that there would be another run of 997 RS'.... Dale caught this one testing today.
If the weather holds, the track should be nice and rubbered in this week end!

Hamilton, Mandela and other silly F1 news.

Oh no he didn't just say that, did he?

In a spectacular case of NOT STFU and drive, Lewis Hamilton compares himself to Nelson Mandela. That raises so many issues I'm not sure I even want to go there so, here is the quote, decide for yourself:

"A few people have questioned my commitment, my ability to drive. I’m not Superman but I believe I have the ability to win a world championship. Everybody makes mistakes. I'm sure Nelson Mandela, at 90-odd, still makes mistakes. That's life."

Sounds like another chapter for his next autobiography, likely to be published in July, titled "My life since last October".

Only Honda's stunningly bad choices can top that. You can read extensively about the Super Aguri fiasco elsewhere, I just wanted to share the words of Giancarlo Minardi to Racingworld.it:

"Sadly in such a competitive Formula 1 environment there is little interest for a small team with funding issues.

It happened in the past with Minardi and other teams. They use you when they need to fill in the grid or to create interest and promotion. This happened last year when Super Aguri was born to mask Honda's choices when that team found itself without a Japanese driver and at odds with the home fans.

Perhaps now that marketing operation is obsolete and the team principal is not interested in a satellite team any longer.

Presently Formula 1 does not show the fights at the back of the grid and as the level of reliability of cars has become so great, the need for survival of little teams becomes secondary"

Hot weather means hot prototypes testing at the 'Ring

Our tracktard brothers at BridgeToGantry report fresh sightings. Apparently an unusual run of dry mild weather means it's time to shred some rubber in the Rhineland.

"...Without insider knowledge* it would be difficult to confirm, but I think they may have been looking for a laptime today. From my office window I spotted a helicopter chasing something that sounded very V8 and awfully supercharged.."

But that's not all. The eagle eyed BTG crowd spotted a v6 Lotus Eagle in "dazzle" camouflage but the real catch of the week is the mysterious Veritas RS3 prototype.... check out this rare sight:

Veritas testing at the Nurburgring from MrBTG on Vimeo.

Axis Plan B update

I'll let pictures do the talking for the Freep...

Dude, where's my turn?

We had a slight visibility issue at Pocono East this past Saturday.

CG, Stee and I were there to get in a last little bit of practice before our upcoming trip. You'd think we were in the Westphalian forests...but no, Pennsylvania in May! I was actually hoping for rain but instead we just spent most of the day inside a cloud.

Still, it eventually cleared up enough that you could see the turns and we got some runs in. I had a blast running the MCoupe on street tires in the first session. Pocono East is low speed and twisty, a great place for some douchy sideways action. The MCoupe with my stiff suspension and skinny tires is pretty silly stuff: no front end grip and come to think of it not much rear grip either... weeee.

Later I did put proper rubber on, the video below is my best lap. The Boxster in front is Stee's "Axis Plan A", with the 3.4 carrera engine. Once all issues are sorted, that car is going to be f.great! CG is driving it in the video and as you can tell towards the end, the car is a proper Axis of Oversteer car!

You can download my Traqmate telemetry file HERE

Axis Brilliant Plan A...in action from Axis on Vimeo.

Sometimes it's better to Just Go Home. (or not)

Ever get the feeling fate is trying to tell you something? Jorge Lorenzo might have gotten that feeling after what happenend in the first practice for the Chinese MotoGp.  After coming out of a corner a bit too hard and lifting his front wheel where he probably should not, Lorenzo makes the all time highlight reel with this EPIC highside.... You can see what happened to his ankle, probably lucky that's all that was broken.




So that, as our readers pointed out, he even got on the bike to ride the next day is pretty amazing, but check out what had happened the day before:





Most sane men and even a few riders might have packed it in at that point. Not Lorenzo who rode a whole race with a broken ankle and came in fourth. I guess Jorge gets the Iron Man Award as well as that place on the best crashes of all time video!

Today's Axis moment of woah!.

Thanks to Axis reader Omar Baksh for this... check out the full video on YouTube HERE. A little hot hatch can book around the twisty parts of the 'Ring and Stee, that's about an 8:40 BTG lap. we are expected to have that pace with the Alfas next week end!



PS It always struck me as silly to ride in a car without a helmet when the other person is wearing a lid. Chances that you'll bump heads are actually pretty decent...

M1 Revival

Because BMW just came out with a M1 "tribute" show car and we promised to be 'Ring whores for the next couple of weeks...

Ayrton Senna da Silva. March 21, 1960 - May 1, 1994

Fourteen years since that day at Imola. Also fourteen years since losing a driver in Formula 1, a testament to the FIA's leadership on safety. Kubica and Kovalainnen's recent crashes would not have had the same outcome without that work.

I guess everyone has seen these classic videos, we posted the red NSX one last year on May 1st. The other (white NSX, white sox and loafers) is where you get to see that characteristic Senna right foot doing it's own analog traction-yaw control. Great to see, those NSx must have had great throttle response.

Anyway, enjoy and remember Ayrton.