Let's consider ergonomics.

Sometimes fans casually condemn a driver as no so good or question when he complains a car is not suited to him.   In this clip, Giorgio Piola,  author of all those fantastic technical drawings you have seen for the past thirty years and one of the world's most qualified F1 commentators, explains that which may not be immediately apparent from the outside.  



Continue for more of Piola's insights,  fascinating.



Ever the PR geniuses, Red Bull have created a web site with all manner of fascinating content. These clips are only a small part of all the great material you can find at RedBulletin.com

Bad week for Michael Schumacher... now hits pedestrian with a van!

What he was doing driving a van remains to be seen, maybe he was practicing to race Sabine Schmitz at the Nürburgring. In any case, coming the same week he did not at all crash a Ferrari 430 Scuderia, this will require more PR overtime!... more details after the jump.




From Daily Mirror and TotalF1:

"Michael Schumacher has allegedly been involved in a road traffic accident in Kent, England. The ex-Ferrari ace was driving a white Fiat Ducato van, and whilst overtaking a slower car driven by an elderly woman, he clipped pedestrian Martin Kingham. Kingham was not seriously hurt in the accident, despite Schumacher’s van suffering a smashed wing mirror.

In an interview with British newspaper the Mirror, Kingham claims Schumacher was angry about the accident and failed to apologise.

“I was putting the security bars up outside the garage before going home. I have to stand on the edge of the road and keep an eye on traffic,” Kingham explained. “Out of nowhere I heard a bang from behind me. It spun me round and I was thrown forward on to my face, hitting the bonnet of a parked van. Then I saw a big blue van go by and realised they’d hit me. I thought I recognised the driver, but my head was spinning.”

“He was screaming, ‘What the f*****g hell were you doing in the road?’ He seemed cross, as if I was in the wrong. I called the police.”

“The officers asked me to wait in my office while they spoke to him. An officer came in and said ‘This guy’s claiming to be Michael Schumacher’. Then another told us she’d seen his ID and it was him.”

“He still didn’t apologise. The police realised I wasn’t too injured and told us to swap addresses, then he just got back in the van and drove off without even looking at me. He was arrogant.”

“The way I landed was lucky. My leg was aching, but I didn’t mention it to the police. The next day a big bruise came up below my knee.”

Schumacher’s agent, Sabine Kehme confirmed, “There was a collision but nobody was injured. Michael cooperated with police. There is nothing else we wish to say.”

BBC has a slightly different version:

"A Kent car dealer who was sent flying when a van struck a barrier was shocked to discover the driver was the German ex-Formula 1 ace, Michael Schumacher.
Martin Kingham, 39, said he was closing the security gate at his premises in Lydd on Sunday afternoon when a Fiat van struck the end of it.
The barrier hit his leg "sending him spinning" on to the bonnet of a car.
Police called to the incident said they helped both men to swap details and no further action was needed.
Mr Kingham was unhurt, while only minor damage was caused to Schumacher's van in the collision outside Millfield Motors, just before 1600 BST."

More of less: Abarth-Lotus rolling in 2011

Fiat is big on "secret" deals these days, after the recent connection with BMW now comes word that Torino as been shopping in Hethel for a lightweight sport platform...




The recently resurrected Abarth does not have the resources to develop a new car from scratch but having a lightweight focused two seater would recall days when Abarth was more than just a FIAT tuner.



This "halo" car would be based on the next generation Elise platform and powered by a FIAT turbo engine.

While the combination of a FIAT and a Lotus might strike fear in the hearts of anyone concerned with reliability, we applaud any company moving in the direction of building lighter sports cars, 240hp on 900kg is a good direction!

(pictured is the Elise based Pininfarina Enjoy concept)

more from Autocar

Monticello Motor Club, Opening Day.

The era of Motor Country Clubs has really arrived. It's not that it's something new, from the Ascari resort in Spain to VIR in Virginia, the idea had been tried before but now, with a number of new venues opening , it seems like the idea is becoming more widely accepted.

And it is an obvious one, today we have the most capable cars ever built and no place to drive them. The traffic, the law... "great car, wrong planet" went a line in a wonderful review I read once, there was never a better time to build facilities where to ENJOY driving.

The Monticello Motor Club is the latest of these and we were there at the ribbon cutting ceremony. More pictures and a video lap after the jump....

Mario Andretti was there along with Brian Redman with whom I had the pleasure of chatting for a bit. Bob Varsha of SpeedTV fame was the MC, Chris Economaki, a real Ferrari 250 GTO and a parking lot that would have made Monaco's Place du Casino jealous. In other words, a motorhead's dream day.

Tucked away in the middle of the Catskills, MMC now has the track fully paved with just the curbing and some gravel traps missing. Once it's done, set as it is on rolling terrain, I think it has the potential to look something like the fabulous Mas du Clos in France.

You can read about the details of the club and the costs on the MMC web site but before you write it of as another "rich boy" convenience as I have seen it described elsewhere, consider that this facility will be open to select clubs for racing and track day rental and as such represents an invaluable resource for Noth-East tracktard junkies like us. We have to be extremely grateful and supportive to the founding members of this and other similar new ventures (New Jersey Motorsport Park is another), we wish them all the success.








A quick 997 GT2 track review will have to wait, we did not get to do our own driving as had been the program.

The weather only cooperated long enough for the ribbon cutting.  Seconds after the inaugural lap for founding members, led by Andretti and Redman in a Lotus 79 and Porsche 908-3, a torrential downpour drove everyone inside the Formula 1 paddock style hospitality structure which served as a temporary clubhouse.
We never did find out who the poor dude who had left the window open on his new e90 M3 sedan was... he probably found a couple of frogs inside his car.

After the weather let up, we were taken around the track on board some Cadillac provided CTS, CTS-V and XLR-V. Pace was mellow, track was wet and a little muddy. No matter how much I tried to prod my driver and how much he tried, the bargy XLR-V refused to power the tail out even in the rain!

So how is this track? First adjective that comes to mind is "technical". That is usually code for tight and twisty and it is certainly winding, but there is more to it than just that.

There are some very challenging off camber turns, some blind crests, there is a almost Schwedenkreuz style fifth gear kink in the middle of an extremely long straight which will certainly be exciting in a supercar at 140mph.

It will be a track hard on brakes and tires, there are many low speed corners (I would say three definite 2nd gear corners) and many very long corners. There are corners where you will be able to get real silly with the rear if you choose.

There are concerns too, concerns I believe the organizers are aware of and will address: at the end of the very long straight someone is going to go off and it will not be pretty unless they have it sorted out. Grass on the side of the track looks gorgeous but when it's wet, you are going straight into the ARMCO, some crucial gravel traps or paved runoff will have to be added.

The plan is to have not only the clubhouse and garage facilities built but also to have, on site, high end specialist technical/mechanical help and even a sure to be busy, body shop.

So... on to the good stuff!


Here is the video. Two laps, the second at a touch more pace. As you can see it got pretty muddy. Sound was horrible wind noise only so I canned it.

additional pictures by The Dough

This week's Top Gear moment of Zen, episode VI

Last episode of the summer series, a must to watch...  don't forget to express your views about the "American Top Gear" on our poll on the right--->

Did Michael Schumacher Crash a 430 Scuderia at the 'Ring?

Playstation professionals beware, the Nürburgring Nordschleife forgives nobody, including a seven time World Champion. Michael Schumacher crashed a modified Ferrari 430 Scuderia last Tuesday at Schwedenkreuz, the superfast left corner. The car apparently totalled on the half wet half dry track...

UPDATED

The report was published by german newspaper Bild but Ferrari disputes Schumacher was actually driving. Ferrari had booked the track for private testing and a 430 Scuderia was crashed however spokesman Luca Colajanni claimed Schumacher was the passenger and that the car was driven by Dietrich test driver Raffaele DeSimone.

Schumacher press liason Sabine Kehm said "Michael called me and said we had an accidend but we'll continue in another car" and went on to dipell the rumor that Schumacher's son Mick was on board at the time.


So don't feel bad next time you stuff it at the Nürburgring, it happens to the best, the only difference is they have a better press office!

Update: pictures of the the car have emerged and it seems like it's hardly "totalled" but it did take a decent sized hit. Along with the pictures there seems to be some hysteria bubbling because there is a picture of a kid, presumably Schumacher's in the car at some point during the day without a helmet.... now he's really going to get it, "Schumacher a bad father" headlines can't be far away!

Tune in later this week...

Own a Super Aguri F1 or an autoclave or some wipes!

Little sad but that's the way F1 rolls, everything left of the Super Aguri F1 team will be auctioned off next Tuesday.

Fancy an F1 car? Maybe some FACOM tools? 45 bottles of Wurth brake cleaner? some rolls of Kimberly Klark wipes? How about a coupe of transporter, that should be cool...




You can download the full catalog HERE
the auction site is HERE

(thanks Julius Pleaser on BimmerForums...)

Lewis Hamilton's Engine Double Check

McLaren could head for a tense week before the Hungarian Grand Prix, the FIA will further check Lewis Hamilton's engine already scrutinized after his dominant performance at the German GP.

Though the FIA is saying this is just routine, it comes on the heels of the so called "traction control" steering wheel, which is sure to be either copied or protested by all other teams on the grid. Let the conspiracy theories begin!

Partial article from Diario AS after the jump


From AS
Carlos Miguel | 25/07/2008

En plena marejada de rumores de paddock respecto a que McLaren podría tener un control de tracción accionado desde el volante, la FIA ha anunciado que revisará el motor de Lewis Hamilton el jueves previo al GP de Hungría. En principio, el comunicado enviado el martes a la escudería británica se limita a decir que lo harán en función del artículo cinco del reglamento, que permite analizar un propulsor en el período abierto entre dos carreras.

La Federación ha precisado que se trata de una revisión de rutina y no hay ningún aspecto concreto del coche bajo sospecha. Se cree que en Alemania no se pudieron verificar todos los controles del propulsor en Hockenheim y los comisarios lo terminarán en Hungaroring. En cualquier caso, hasta que el motor pase esa verificación no se sabrá a ciencia cierta si estamos ante una mera anécdota o algo más importante. Será un jueves con morbo.

Hot Evo for sale

Another Piece of Axis history for Sale!! This sucker pulls, I remember when we loaded up Adil's car with people for a track day lunch run and were all just amazed at the kind of torque that little turbo 4 could produce.

No wonder, it's not exactly stock.

In fact the car is well set up for both track days and SCCA STU (Street Touring Unlimited) autoX. Why do all the work to be competitive? Buy a sorted car, get a head start!

All the juicy mods and price details after the jump.
Shop for KUMHO tires at Tire Rack.



STU Class prepared 2006 Mitsubishi Evo 9 for Sale. 36k miles. .

Contact Adil via e-mail at adilabd@gmail.com. The car is in New York.

• Vishnu Ohlin suspension
• Vishnu/Perrin TBE, high flow cat + custom
• STU tuned personally by Shiv Pathak
• Hotchkiss adjustable rear swaybar
• Works rear strut tower bar
• Performance Friction floating two piece Front Brake rotors + new pads, both with AMS front brake cooling ducts.
• New OEM clutch with less than 2000 miles.
• All underbody plastic panels replaced July 2008.
• Blaupunkt Bremen Head unit with steering wheel mounted remote control.
• Stock wheels with Nokian winter tires good for at least one more season.

Extras available:

• Volk RE030 17x9 black wheels with Advan Neova AD07 tires with less than 4000 street miles and never Autocrossed. $2600.
• Volk CE28N 18x9.5 bronze wheels with UNUSED 285/30/18 Kumho V710 mounted and balanced $3500.

Max beats it!

Pardon the pun, but Max Mosley has the last laugh here. He won his privacy case against the newspaper which published the video of him having tea with strumpets.

I'm guessing some will be nervous for another year until Mosley's pledged to resignation in 2009....



What remains to be seen is who put the News of the World up to this...

"...Outside the high court, Mosley told the waiting media scrum: "I am delighted with that judgment, which is devastating for the News of the World. It demonstrates that their Nazi lie was completely invented and had no justification."

In his judgment Mr Justice Eady said that Mosley had a "reasonable expectation of privacy" in relation to his sexual activities no matter how "unconventional".

He found no evidence of Nazi themes in the orgy and said Mosley's life had been "ruined"..."

The Guardian

Hypnotic.

Brilliant, sometimes a simple yet twisted idea can result in hypnotic zen like this.

"Zampa" is one the original tracktards, if you are familiar with cinghialoni.org and track4fun.com, he needs no introduction. We have have featured some of his, mostly sideways, antics here before. It's a long drive from Milano to Nürburg, why not make an arty tracktard stoner film out of it?

Part 2 and 3 are after the jump. Be sure you stop by and see some of Marco's excellent automotive photography on his web site too!

Tracktard Cool

Renault Megane R26.R
A new trend, factory stripped cars. Fiat has the 500 Abarth Assetto Corse, now something much juicer, a version of the Megane F1 that is a full 123kg/271lbs lighter and comes with a real limited slip differential and titanium exhaust.

450 of these little track toys will go on sale in the fall (none for us...). Their should embarrass quite a few fancy cars at the Nürburgring next year. As it is it set the Nürburgring lap record for front wheel drive cars with 8:17! For reference, that is faster than an e46 M3, an Exige S or a Cayman S...

More pictures and video after the jump...

This week's Top Gear moment of Zen, episode V

McLaren's clever traction control

Mclaren have been using a form of traction control via a clever exploitation of a loophole in the regulations. Mclaren, who in the past had come up with "solutions" such as differential braking using a separate brake pedal, have engineered something in the same spirit which is giving them the "unfair advantage" over the competition ....

Put a limitation in front of designers and you can be sure someone will read every single line of the rules and find some loophole... Mclaren have figured out how to limit wheelspin out of slow corners by, essentially, circumventing the rules.

Mark Hughes writes in the Telegraph:

McLaren's steering wheel features four paddle levers rather than the usual two. The upper two are conventional gear-change paddles, one for upshifting, one for down. The lower two allow different engine torque settings to be chosen. Using two fingers at the same time allows the car always to have the most favourable engine torque setting for each gear, thus giving the driver a tool for limiting wheelspin out of slow corners without then suffering a reduction in power in the higher gears, where wheelspin is not an issue. The rules stipulate that any change in torque settings cannot be triggered by the same driver input as a gear change. Having two separate levers gets around that rule, while still allowing the change of gear and torque setting to take place simultaneously. This is part of McLaren's current performance superiority over Ferrari.

(thank you Jim Cesiro for the tip!)

The laws of physics are obviously a matter of opinion

...I'm impressed....

BMW Procars at Hockenheim

As you may remember reading about here, there was a BMW M1 Procar demonstration before the German Grand Prix this past week end. The first timeProcars have run during a Formula 1 week end since the glory days of Piquet, Senna and Lauda.

Perhaps it was more like quick parade laps but it must have been fantastic to hear all those straight sixes at full song in one place again. Imagine how cool it would be to have today's drivers going at it in equal cars?

More pictures and a clip from the event after the jump....

The Truth about Massa

There are two ways to look at Felipe Massa's perfomance at today's German Grand Prix.
The first would along these lines...



Let's examine that and watch a few clips from this past week end after the jump.

Massa did not put up much of a fight at all and on the surface his capitulation to the sensational Hamilton-Mclaren package was the most humiliating since Jarno Trulli got passed on the last lap in last year's French GP. Why did he not at least try to get Hamilton to overwork his tires? This will certainly be fodder for those who think that Massa is fast but can only win if he is out front and without having to race anyone. Certainly he did not have to open the door so wide for Hamilton as he did. 

Or you could say that in a race where Ferrari looked rather pedestrian, Massa was smart to think championship and salvaged what he could.  Massa had brake problems and Hamilton was massively faster, seconds a lap. The only way he and Mclaren could lose was if they beat themselves, which they almost did. 

Check out in this clip how relieved Norbet Haug is after the race and how he admits that the team had made a mistake. "Trying to make it hard for me eh?" jokes Lewis. A nice honest moment which will probably be denied later. 

Kimi showed some great moves but it was almost like he was asleep for most of the race. Alonso fought hard and lost big , it was a pretty bad week end for him. Beaten by Trulli, dissed by Vettel, trashed by his team mate, making unforced errors on track, the final straw was the winners press conference when Piquet revealed Alonso had used his setup. Renault finally gets back on the podium and it's not Alonos? ouch, Fernado haters the world over hare laughing today!

Even Kubica had a bad race, great start but in the end he got nothing for his efforts.

Good race for Vettel and Heidfeld but a career making podium for Piquet. I would say his seat is saved...

Oh, I almost forgot, David Coulthard turned in on Barrichello... someone check the statistics, I think we have a record in the makings with DC this year!

German GP Live

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FORMULA 1 GROSSER PREIS SANTANDER VON DEUTSCHLAND: Qualifying.

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I'll be off to a track day by the time this starts today so...I hope it works, good luck and tune in Sunday morning early.

FORMULA 1 GROSSER PREIS SANTANDER VON DEUTSCHLAND Practice 2

Practice 2 is now over, Join us tomorrow morning for Live Qualifying.


Axis of Oversteer from Axis of Oversteer.com *** on Vimeo.

What Will Schumi do Next?

Apparently, jump out of an airplane.

Schumacher, who will be in the Ferrari pits this week end in Germany, has been quite busy of late. Wednesday he flew by plane (his Dassault Falcon 2000 probably) and then by helicopter to the Pannonia Ring in Hungary for a semi pro Superbike race. He won that race, his first win on two wheels, then again off via chopper and plane to Darmstadt near Hockenheim for some footy with the Race Drivers team.



That's just part of it, the German magazine Stern released an interview this week where we learn just how badly the Ferrari retiree might be jonesing for those adrenaline fixes. The latest? Parachute jumping.

"for my first five jumps you could say I might have needed diapers" said Herr Schumacher "but after that it was fine, It's a great joy to fly towards the earth"

Ok...He does admit that his wife Corinna would rather he stay home and brush her horses.

As far as Formula one, Schumacher came out recently with a whopper I think nobody on the whole planet believed, that the reason he retired was so that Massa would not be left without a drive. What driver does he like? "I have a close relationship with Felipe but Kimi, he is just not a guy who talks much." Schumi said this week "I speak frequently with Sebastian Vettel. I like him, he's a great kid and very open."

Ferrari fans may be worried at the news that Michael will be in pits at Hockenheim (traditionally, every time he's been behind pit wall Ferrari have done ...not so well) but I would guess that given the recent bland performances by the supposed "young guns" in the current F1 field, there are still many that would love to see him racing a red car again.
(gazzetta dello sport)

German GP free practice

Practice one is now over, join us for Practice 2 at 7:50 Am est.

GT2 Monster

It's here... come take a quick look....

CG's latest toy was finally ready to be picked up yesterday. It had been shipped from the dealer directly to Farnbacher-Loles for alignment and the installation of a few suspension bits. It will also be getting rear seat installed as this has to be sensible family transportation after all!

Awesome in white, the car is all wings and angles and bulges (hence the cubist photos on the intro). I would say the only disappointment is that it does not come with an inflatable Walter Röhrl instructor in the boot. Even on the careful drive home, a quick comparison between the GT2 and the not exactly slow 997S illustrated perfectly the difference between a great car and a SUPERCAR.


I seriously doubt CG will not succumb to temptation so you might see him and the GT2 tomorrow at the PDA/NASA Pocono track day. Catch him if you can and come back to Axis of Oversteer for future updates and videos!

More pictures here...


Monster! from Axis of Oversteer.com *** on Vimeo.