The racing career of Pablo Escobar.

Plata o sin-plomo?  Nobody ever protested his cars.

Would you believe some of the first mentions of Pablo Escobar in the Colombian press were not for of his activities as narco-trafficer or "politician" but as a competitor in the popular Copa Renault 4 in the late 1970s?

Renault 4 were, for Colombia, the equivalent of the VW Beetle for Germany or the FIAT 500 for Italy in the post war years:  the car that got a country motorized and moving.  Cheap, sturdy and practical, the "Renaulito" was a national symbol and is still a cult car to this day.

Escobar, like many Colombian young men, loved the boxy French cars.   In fact, t's said the future kingpin was at the wheel of a green Renault 4 the day he was first arrested by police in 1974.   He loved the cars so much,  his sister Alba Marina told an interviewer how "El Patron" would often gift friends expensive new cars in exchange for their R4.

Naturally the need for speed was irresistible and in 1979 he entered the  inaugural Copa Renault 4 championship at the Autodromo Ricardo Mejia circuit.  in Bogota.

Escobar turned up at the race with four cars, one each for himself and his cousin Gustavo Gaviria and two spares.    Racing that day were also his narco "frenemies" the  Ochoa brothers, together they were the leaders of the Medellín Cartel that would later bring the Colombian nation to its knees with unspeakable violence.

But in 1979, if anyone knew what his day job was, it was not mentioned in the press.  Escobar passed himself off as a successful  businessman who started off dealing in "used" bicycles and later expanded to  to cars and properties and now used his wealth to help the poor.     This was true, he bought good will with generous donations to the poorest Colombians and it was also true he started his criminal career dealing in stolen bikes.

The passion for bikes ran in the family,  Escobar's brother Roberto was a well known cyclist who later started the bike company Ositto (after his nickname "little bear"), sponsor of Escobar's and his posse's race cars.

Julian Calle, a competitor in the same series recalls how Escobar's team would show up to races with two support trucks  "he was the only one with that kind of operation,  he would arrive in a helicopter. But after the race he would offer everyone lavish meals with champagne and unbelievable women.   I wonder if anyone really believed he did not sell sell drugs"

By all accounts, Don Pablo was an enthusiastic but mediocre driver.   It probably did not help that he used to light up before every race "to focus his concentration".    What did help was that in a nominally "spec" series, his cars were always more "spec" than others.   He was slow in the turns but uncatchable in the straights.   Not surprisingly, there are no records of his cars being found illegal.

In 1979, after six races Escobar was second in the championship "I can't deny it, life smiles at me, I'm a lucky man" he told a journalist.



Of course Escobar was not above using some of his "professional" methods in competition:  one time he used his connections with the local police to make sure his main rival in the series from getting to the track for what was the first nationally televised race.  "Police kept us on the side of the road for hours checking papers"  said his rival Alvaro Mejia  " we got there minutes before the start".

While the R4 were close to his heart Escobar would also field more powerful machines, particularly a 560HP  Porsche 935 for a hillclimb in Medellin.     He had a bet with Ricardo "Cuchilla" Londoño,  then Colombia's most famous driver,  that he could finish within 15 seconds of his time.

Cuchilla was the first Colombian to drive in Formula One,  almost.  He drove for Ensign in practice for the 1981 Brazilian GP but Bernie Ecclestone made it so that he would be denied a Superlicence once he caught wind of  where his sponsorship came from.

That day, in the Martini liveried 935 which must have looked like a spaceship to the people of Medellin, Escobar finished eight seconds behind his rival.  A huge margin in racing but to him, he had "won the bet fair and square"  something he was immensely proud of.  

Happy, carefree days before the horror he wrought on his country in the next decade.   Escobar met his end in 1993 at the hand of the police.  Londoño was gunned down in 2009.




(H/T Autosprint, Daniel Palacio)

Renault to Red Bull: Apologize or go pound sand.

Red Bull will have to write a public letter of apology if it wants engines for 2016.  

That is the request made by Renault's chief Carlos Ghosn as the condition to continue supplying the Austro-British team with engines next season according to European media sources.

Renault have Red Bull by the short and curlies: they can grovel or go pound sand.

Would Mercedes really give Red Bull a competitive engine?

via Autosprint

That was the first thing that came to mind when the rumor of a deal that would have brought Mercedes power to Red Bull Racing.

However, a recent issue of Autosprint lays out a scenario that is, at the very least, intriguing to follow.

Let me summarize:

Next year Red Bull Racing would run a Mercedes Power Unit while junior team Toro Rosso would continue to use Renault.

The deal was started at the Monaco GP and would see Aston Martin come in as a sponsor on the RBR cars,  taking the place of Infiniti.    The engines would not be re-badged as Astons.

When Sergio Marchionne, in Montreal, declared he would be happy to provide Ferrari power to Red Bull, he was trying to derail a deal which had yet to be finalized because for Ferrari a Mercedes powered Red Bull is a problem, on track but also commercially.  There is the missed opportunity to sell €22Mllion worth of engines (yeah, that's for two engine supplies to one team!) and the added exposure F1 would provide Aston Martin, a direct competitor in road cars.

A deal between RBR and Mercedes, Autosprint continues, had been in the works years ago but had been blocked by McLaren.

The final turning point came at the Austrian GP with Dietrich Mateschitz  threatening to leave F1 because of Renault.  This shook not just Ecclestone who desperately needs a rival to the Silver Arrows for 2016 but also Mercedes who have interest in seeing the series thrive (as long as they are on top anyway).


Enter Aston Martin. In late 2013, AMG Mercedes signed a deal to supply engines for Aston Martin road cars and Mercedes has promised to acquire a 5% stake in the British car maker which is currently devided between an Italian private equity firm, Investindustrial, at 37.5%, The Kuwaiti Sovereign fund and David Richards among others.

Adrian Newey and Red Bull Technologies will, as part of the deal,. to be collaborating with Aston Martin on a future top of the line car..

grandprix247.com

Niki Lauda had dismissed the notion at Silverstone but Toto Wolff was quiet.  Rumors have Lauda vehemently against furnishing a team with financial and technical capabilities to be a direct competitor with Wolff taking a longer term view with the welfare of the series in mind.

The deal became possible, always according to Autosprint, because Renault has finalized the purchase of 51% of Lotus (We have only been able to independently confirm top level talks have been taking place but nothing has been finalized yet).

The stake in Lotus would eventually increase but Renault is said to have asked Ecclestone for a dispensation so that the team may officially enter the 2016 season as Renault without the economic (revenue share) penalties of entering as a new team.    2016 cars would sport the traditional yellow and black of the Regie.

Winners and losers?  Red Bull gains the best engine available, Mercedes gains the best available client team, gets to monetize engines it was uncertain Lotus would fully pay for and gets to look magnanimous in front of the sport,
Renault would be largely free of the now damaged relationship with Red Bull and with Lotus gain a team which has good infrastructure and is free of much of the debt that saddles other available teams.   Renault would also be in the position to take better advantage of the exposure or running their own team.

Loser?  Certainly Ferrari who in 2016 will have Sauber, Manor and Haas as clients.


Will it happen?  Would Mercedes take the risk?  Would Red Bull accept the possibility of getting  a B-Spec unit?

Stay tuned, meanwhile here is Rosberg's pole position lap in Hungary last season.

Check out Max Verstappen making his dad nervous.

Kids, they get to be a certain age and they'll want to get their drivers license. It's then a parent's duty is to sit nervously in the passenger seat while their brood practice negotiating the streets.

Max Verstappen is still too young to take his driving test and, like many teenagers, had to find a closed off area to take his dad, Jos, for a ride.

Jos, trying to interview his son for the Dutch Sport1, is not too comfortable in the right seat of the Renault Clio RSport.  Max is loving it.  

Kids.

The sickening sound of a Renault F1 engine self-destructing

Painful, isn't it?

The Renault at the back of Max Verstappen's Toro Rosso exploded with four laps to go in the Chinese Grand Prix,  the second engine related retirement in three races for Verstappen ruining another impressive performance by the 17 year old.

Hope Cyril Abiteboul packed his boxing gloves for China too...

Packing up to Malaysia. Race (round?) 2. pic.twitter.com/RZ6p7Xln1w
— Cyril ABITEBOUL (@Cyroul) March 24, 2015

Adding injury to insult,  the Toro Rosso crew had to endure a less than white glove treatment from the track marshals who kept smashing their expensive front wing into a wall...  not their exasperated expressions.     Amazing the same series that races in Monaco where every station has a dolly jack for sliding cars could not get their shit together in China and forced the race to finish under yellow.

Lame.

Renault: It's hard to have a partner who lies.

"It's hard to have a partner who lies."

that rather stunning public statement comes from Cyril Abiteboul, Renault Sport F1's Managing Director in an interview given to France's Auto Hebdo.  

"We started the season with many new technical development,  some very late.   I'm not making excuses,  other managed it, we did not.   Finding ourselves in this situation is scandalous, frustrating and sad."

But, adds Abiteboul, Red Bull's performance deficit is not exclusively Renault's fault.

"Red Bull has some chassis issues, especially when it comes to rear end stability.  This combined with our problem makes for a very difficult car to drive."

Asked to comment on Adrian Newey saying the only problem with the car is the Renault engine, Abiteboul added:

"It's hard to have a partner who lies.    Adrian Newey is a charming gentleman and an outstanding engineer but he spent his life criticizing his engine manufacturers, he's too old to change."

Repost: African Turbo

1982 Renault 20 Turbo 4x4 Paris-Dakar

First published in December 2012


"Fait attention au vaches!"... "aaargh" ... "C'est bon. C'est bon"

Short shorts, t-shirts and unfastened helmets mixed with much gallic arguing, it's hard to believe these two managed to get anywhere, much less win the Dakar outright.    In fact Claude and Bernard Marreau were by then veterans of the first three editions of the desert classic and had a long previous experience in African Rally Raids.

A 1982 GoPro equivalent...

Cheers then for the brothers who 30 years ago, not only dodged african cows, managed not to strangle each other  or kill their Safari edition 4WD Renault 20 Turbo but also made this film without the aid of  a single GoPro!

The soundtrack gets pretty silly at times but stick with it and keep in mind that in the 80's turbos were a new and somewhat dodgy technology,  ballsy by Renault to have the confidence their turbo engine would prove reliable in that hellish torture test.

The engine in the car was a carburated 1.6 L  out of an R18 Turbo,  good for 132 hp.  5 speed transmission, rear locking differential.     Front suspension was  double a arms, rear was a solid axle.
It has been restored, you can find that story HERE

Will Red Bull build their own Infiniti branded engine after 2015?

AutoMotorSport

Reading too much into Helmut Marko's comments to Auto Motor und Sport  or not?

Consider that Red Bull is already heavily involved in building the current car's batteries and their own engineers are writing software for the Renault power unit.  In fact it is  likely Red Bull has resources in that field beyond what is available to Renault Sport at the moment.   The turbo  in the current engine is said to be sourced from Pankl APC, an Austrian engine component manufacturer (think Carillo).  

If the engine is branded as Infiniti, it would not completely break connection with the Renault group but even hinting at this means Red Bull has lost confidence in the ability of the Renault Sport technical staff at Viry-Chatillon, under press Red Bull's top brass has hinted at since the start of the year.

And to think it all started with a odd tasting soft drink, amazing.

On the subject of resources, in their latest issue Autosprint had an interesting analysis of the number of personnel each team has available,  Ferrari has 750.  Red Bull has 600 along with approximately 350 at Renault Sport, 100 at Mecachrome and another 150 machinists.  Mercedes has 550 for the team and 650 working on the engine.

Poisoned letter for Red Bull.

Here's a new one for F1, anonymous letters!

There is a bit of mystery this morning about reposts of an anonymous letter mailed from Switzerland to the FIA, Mercedes, Ferrari and Sauber alleging Red Bull and Renault conducted illegal tests.

The letter, according to Germany's AutoBild and MotorsportTotal, alleges that "a Red Bull Team" conducted six days of testing on a rolling road dyno at the AVL facilities in Graz, Austria between the last pre season test in Bahrain and the Australian GP.   AVL is an independent engine development, simulation and testing facility.

As you remember Red Bull and Renault had disastrous results in pre season testing yet were competitive enough for Daniel Ricciardo to come in second (on track anyway).  

The crux of the issue  is that you can't really test an engine on a rolling road in anything but a 1:1 car and that for F1 cars to work they need to have air blowing through them.     Blowing air over a 1:1 F1 car is restricted.

We can confirm a Toro Rosso was indeed tested but it had no front or rear wings and no air was blown over it.   The rules do allow for testing for the purposes of developing cooling components with the caveat that absolutely no direct or indirect measurements be taken for anything relating to aero load.

The car was tested with hoses attached directly to the the engine air inlets,  something which is specifically allowed (F1 Sporting Regulations appendix 8, 1.2 )

"...The only allowable exceptions from this definition are as follows : 
a) Wind tunnel testing which aims to develop components associated with cooling, or the running of the engine from a boundary commencing at the engine air intake duct, passing through the engine and finishing at the exit of the exhaust tailpipes, provided that there is no direct or indirect measurement of aerodynamic force during the test. In this context, pressure and flow measurements within a duct shall not be considered to be measurements of aerodynamic force. ..."

So if this is not anything illegal, the more interesting question is, who and why would someone mail this letter (or invent that such a letter was sent)?

"Red Bull might not make it out of Q1 in Melbourne"

"Red Bull might not make it out of Q1 in Melbourne" 

(Jay Penrith/Flickr)

there's a quote not many ever expected to hear after the domination of the past 4 seasons.  Yet those are words out of Sky Sports technical analyst Ted Kravitz's mouth after the first day of the final pre season test session.

Red Bull turned just 32 laps then had to stop with busted headers.  Other Renault powered teams fared no better,  Lotus had to end early after 31 laps and Caterham, they are so slow that Kamui Kobayashi said they'd be better off taking a GP2 car to Melbourne.

It's hard to believe Renault would have so completely blown their engine development so badly all on their own  yet Red Bull have certainly thrown the French under the bus despite being responsible for installation and accessories of course, but also crucial bits like the battery pack.  
So far Renault is taking it on the chin,  they cannot lose Red Bull so they can't criticize,.  It's not helping that all Renault teams are underperforming but we're guessing that's partly because the engine is studied with Red Bull's needs in mind...  except Red Bull did not design the car they had in mind?

Whatever the cause it looks unlikely RBR and Renault will solve all their problems by the start of the season and perhaps the idea that the first, "away" portion of the championship will be lost played in Christian Horner's mind when he changed his tune about double points for the last three races.

Renault Taxi

Renault sort of ripped off pays tribute to Alfa Romeo Spain's 4C videos from earlier this year and every Ken Block clip ever but, no matter,  the Megane Trophy V6 is just cool enough that they can get away with it.

More extra-curricular engine testing: Renault uses a World Series car.

Photo Nicolas Garcia/Flikr

There are media reports suggesting Renault has recently done testing of their 2014 "Turbo Energy F1" power unit at Paul Ricard using a World Series by Renault chassis.

If it true, which it probably is not, it does not mean any rules were broken as FIA sporting Regulations strictly limit testing but  only refer to cars, not powerplants.

"Track testing shall be considered any track running time not part of an Event undertaken by a competitor entered in the Championship, using cars which conform substantially with the current Formula One Technical Regulations in addition to those from the previous or subsequent year."

A World Series by Renault car is quite a bit closer to an F1 car in relevance than a modified supercar but Renault as an engine supplier is not bound by the sporting regulations.

Speaking of testing, the FIA is set to allow top teams to participate in a 2014 tire test using 2013 cars. Only Red Bull, Mercedes, Ferrari and Lotus were invited with the latter having to decline the invitation for lack of funds. Yet another crazy situation for F1.

Who does not love a Renault 5 Turbo?

OK, the video below is in German but you'll figure it out, I'm sure.
(via Caroholics)

F1 Engine vs F1 Guitar

Renault have had this trick for years now, programming national anthems in their racing engine warmup routines. Quick throttle response showcased there.

For a few year now Spanish guitarist Mario Torrado has been doing the reverse, using a musical instrument to uncannily imitate a Formula 1 engine.  He's studiously scientific about it...

First, I calculated the theoretical pitch of current Formula 1 V8 engines. This way, we have the revolutions limit in 18000 rpm, which is 300 revolutions per second, that is 300 Hz. Given that a four-stroke engine cylinder has one explosion for every two revolutions, we have 150 explosions per second per cylinder.  

Therefore, the eight cylinders of a V8 engine make for a total of 1200 explosions per second, that is a sound of 1200 Hz, which is a musical note slightly above D6. However, the actual sound we hear on TV onboard laps has a predominant frequency of 600 Hz when the engine is on top revolutions, which is a subdivision of the 1200 Hz theoretical sound. That is the main frequency I play on my guitar videos, using appropriately tuned third and fourth strings past 22nd fret to have a 600 Hz sound (≈D5).

Mario's latest video is not very good news for race fans wondering what a 2014 spec 1.6L V6  will sound like though it has to be said, this time he did not quite get the Turbo induction sound component.

2014 Renault Energy-F1 Power Plant Revealed.

Is that an intercooler in your sidepod or are you just happy to see me?

It's back to the future for the team responsible for the 1980s turbo revolution as Renault revealed their 2014 Formula 1 hybrid power plant.

The new engine is a 1.6 turbo v6 with direct injection and the new dual system Energy Recovery System mandated by the 2014 FIA engine regulations.    This evolution of the current KERS will produce 160 hp, twice as much power as the current engine assist.  The system is now divided between ERS- Kinetic ( similar in function to the current KERS ) and ERS-Heat which recovers energy via the exhaust.  

For more details on the 2014 ERS read THIS.

The official name is Renault Energy-F1 and is expected to produce about the same power as today's 2.4 liter engines.   New regulations are aimed at fuel economy, limiting rpm to 15000 and while leaving teams free to use any amount of turbo boost they choose, cuts flue flow by 40% over current spec engines.   Cars will also be allowed to carry only 100 kg of fuel per race, verses the current 160kg.

So, big space saving for the engine block, big fuel savings, as you can imagine, not a very big cost savings.  For example we're told a single turbo for one of these engine costs in the $100,000 range!

The Coolest Detail In The Renault PU14 Press Kit...

Can you spot it?

Did Renault's PR Just Give Away Renault F1's Secrets?

While teams are poised for the 2013 Formula 1 season to start in Australia, engine manufacturers, Ferrari Mercedes and Renault are doing double duty with this year's V8 and developing the completely new, Turbo charged, double ERS 1.6 V6.


As you can imagine,  much secrecy is involved.  Sure, renderings have been shown,  vague pictures with obsolete parts maybe.  But yesterday on the Renault Corporate media site in a story about their engine facility in Viry-Châtillon,  some  rather detailed pictures appeared and Renault engineers are surely not too happy about it.  

Teams routinely hire photographers to specifically take high resolution photos of every little detail on rival's cars but engines are always bolted so it's easy to imagine folks in Maranello and in Brixworth are taking a long, hard look at these pictures.  Turbos, heads, headers, dyno graphs even some blueprints, could be gold for Mercedes and Ferrari.   Unless that is, Renault is being fiendishly clever... (more picture courtesy of Renault Press after the break)

2013 Lotus F1 Team E21

Kimi Raikkonen and Romain's Grosjean's ride for the 2013 Formula 1 season.
Pictures and a very cool, almost Red Bull style press kit after the break.

Retro Alpine!

Perpetually on my "List of cars I'd like to drive some day",  five Renault Alpines A-110 from the Renault Classic collection will be taking part in this year's Rally Monte-Carlo Historique.  

Forty year ago, Alpine-Renault scored a 1-2-3 finish at the Monte and went on to win what was the first WRC manufacturers title.

The winning crew from 1973,  Jean Claude Andruet and Michele "Biche" Petit will be leading the group.  Madame "Biche" should be quite familiar with some of the roads, she just finished competing in the 2013  Rally Monte Carlo as a navigator in a Mitsubishi Evo IX!

Meanwhile, near Cremona...

Photos:  Autosprint

300 km on track driving a Team Oregon Renault Megane Trophy as a warm up for his upcoming Mercedes DTM test in Valencia this week, Robert Kubica takes another step in his rehabilitation just about two years after his horrific accident in a rally car in February 2011.    

Despite much media speculation and wishful thinking, Kubica has always lowered expectations about a full return to action, essentially  ruling out the possibility of ever having the mobility required to drive a single seater again.     Sedans though,  even the most extreme ones like DTM, are another story and even though once again Robert plays down speculations,  there is still room on the Mercedes 2013 DTM roster should the test prove successful.
It would be a feather in Merc's hat and frankly a relief to all of Robert's fans who cringe a little every time they see him dodging trees and cliffs in a rally car.