Welcome to this SPECIAL AWARDS EDITION of The Formula One Times. Firstly, we would just like to thank everyone who chose yesterday's edition as their POTD and also those that left kind comments. It's good to know that the effort put in by all of us is appreciated. Once again, due to other commitments, our business contributor is unable to submit anything- Don't worry though, we will have this up and running shortly.
We also have a new venture to tell you about.
Enough waffling, on with issue two...
The Votes are In
As Michael Griffin reports in his latest article “The results of the second F1 Community Awards are in," and after a few days of some intense voting here are the winners of their respective awards- in true F1 style...
Here at The F1 Times, we congratulate the winners and the community as a whole. In an order to celebrate this occasion, the winner of each category will be offered the opportunity to be a reporter for one week for The F1 times. The Man in the Bleacher, will over a period of time, run a small bio on each winner. Nothing in depth, just an overview of each of the winners.
New on Monday
There are many F1 fans that watch NASCAR, while other do not understand it at all. Well starting next Monday, will be a new e-news, where you will be able to get the gossip, learn more about the sport. The NASCAR Times will launch Monday 10 am EST. The staff are Paul Heffernan, Adam Poole, Kara Martin, Kelly Crandall and LJ as our Man in the Bleachers. Tune in Monday as it will be released only hours after the 2008 NASCAR Champion has been decided.
BMW Not Worried by New Engine Regs.
The engines in the back of the two BMW Sauber F1 Team cars will have to run one more race in the coming season. The decision by the International Automobile Federation (FIA) means that the same engine must now be used for three race weekends in a row, not the two specified for the 2008 season.
This change to the regulations is intended to reduce costs in Formula One as well as challenge and promote technical reliability among the teams- an area that BMW shone in last year.
BMW is not only faced with the problem of integrating slicks into its race operation, whilst at the same time coping with the revisions to the engine regulations, but team engineers must also grapple with the Kinetic Energy Recovery System KERS, which will make its debut in Formula One this coming season.
F1 Favorites Test Speedcars in Dubai
- B/R Ticket Guide
Several drivers from the F1 paddock turned out in Dubai to test ahead of of the Dubai based Speedcar stock car series- Faces include those of Jean Alesi, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Johnny Herbert and Alessandro Nannini.
Also in the field was Force India test driver, Vitantonio Liuzzi, and former F1 drivers Sakon Yamamoto, Alex Yoong and Gianni Morbidelli. In addition to these, a blast from the past showed up to show his support, the 1980 world champion, Alan Jones' son Christian, as well as 2003 Champ Car title winner Paul Tracy.
Di Resta: I'm Ready for a Seat in F1
Rising Scottish racing star, Paul di Resta, has said he is ready to step in to a Formula 1 car and is keen to be on the grid next season.
Last month saw the 22-year-old test with McLaren and rumor has it that, as part of the new engine deal with Mercedes, Di Resta could well have a seat with Force India for the 2009 season despite Force India's billionaire owner, Vijay Mallya, stating that Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella will stay on.
Di Resta has said he is ready to join Hamilton and Vettel in the record books, speaking on his personal website, he said, "What I want to do now is be on the Formula 1 grid in 2009 to race head-to-head against Lewis. I know we’re mates, and we’ve raced against each other in numerous formulae in the past, but this would be the big one; racing against each other in Formula 1. Lewis has made it, and so too has Vettel, who I beat comfortably to the Euro F3 championship in 2006. If they can do it, I certainly know I can too."
Further news on this as and when it is released... Watch out Lewis!
Renault First in Indian Roadshow
ING Renault have been the first to parade their car in the first roadshow in India. Over 120,000 people turned out to see Nelson Piquet and test driver, Lucas di Grassi parade their car through the streets of New Dehli- a first for Renault and a first for India.
The 1.2km track was specially designed for the event and took the cars straight through the heart of the capital. At the end of the demonstration, Piquet said, "It was my first visit to India, and I have to say I was totally amazed. I hope that our demonstration entertained the fans and they enjoyed the day as much as I did. I was really happy to be involved in this event which was important for Renault, ING and India."
Renault's third driver, di Grassi added, "It was also my first trip to India, and although I haven't been able to see much of the city, I have really enjoyed being here. I hope people enjoyed it and now have a better understanding of the potential of a Formula 1 car."
There Once Was an Ugly Duckling
When Hans Christian Anderson penned “there once was an ugly duckling” I wonder if he had the 2009 Formula 1 cars in mind. The FIA have done everything to make the car cheaper and slower. Not happy with that, they have introduced rules, that are there to encourage passing. Problem is that the hallmark of F1, sleek and beautiful power has been forgotten. Here is an early rendition of what to expect on the track next year. To see a larger version of the image on the left, please click on the image.
A Quick Apology...
Unfortunately, due to other commitments, Saraswathi Sirigina, was unable to contribute in this issue, however in normal circumstances Saraswathi would bring you all the latest on the business side of F1. The bits that we, as fans, sometimes fail to see. Keep your eyes open for Saraswathi's contributions to The Formula One Times coming real soon...
Around the Horn in B/R Motorsports and Beyond
Now that the F1 championship is decided and with only one race left to crown a NASCAR champ, let's look around B/R and see what we missed;
The recent merger of the IRL and Champ Car gave hope that North American open wheel racing will rebound. This season's growing pains have been well documented by our star scribe from the IndyCar section, Tiffany Davis.
U.S. motorcycle racing is on B/R also, the American Super Bike finale was covered by Claire Reclosado here.
AMA Formula Xtreme coverage here. Claire covers San Francisco Bay area sports and the Phillies so kudos to her for taking the time to update our bike series.
Our own D-Boy throws his weight behind multiple racing series in this fan's perspective.
At one time we had fledgling Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters and World Rally Championship coverage by Sanjay Kumar. Check his work out and let's see if we can expand our coverage.
The Auto Racing section as a whole has promise but there's a lot more racing beyond F1 and NASCAR yet to be covered. Perhaps this off season we can find some time to add to our coverage of all motorsport disciplines.
Formula 1's finale in Brazil took home an all time record world wide TV market share. That's huge!
Over at the autoblog you can find holiday gift ideas for your Mclaren maniac and help celebrate the Big Mac and Hamilton World Championship. A very odd header considering...
Wings for Life Appeal
Although not everything has been given the "OK" by Bleacher Report and by the "Wings of Life" foundation, that doesn't stop us giving you a little insight into who "Wings for Life" are what they do.
The Wings for Life Spinal Cord Research Foundation is a privately funded non-profit organization which follows the principal aim of promoting research worldwide in order to expedite scientific and clinical progress towards a putative cure for Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Paralysis. Here at The Formula One Times we are jumping on board with David Coulthard, Gerhard Berger and Max Mosely, as well as countless other famous faces, to support the foundation. We are aiming to bring in a button that will take you directly to the charity's website and allow you to donate on-line, all through our articles. Neat eh? We are hoping to have the go-ahead from both parties by the end of the week.
The Formula One Times is proud to be in partnership with Countdown to Formula One 2009 by Billy Sexton. Make sure you don't miss his weekly countdown every Sunday.
comments (27) write a comment »
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about 1 month ago
Even though I am involved in this project, it still amazes me. Not much into self serving but I am proud of this project and the people who make it work!
First class!!!
from about 1 month ago
Tell you what amazes me. The fact that I put it together and I still look at in on the B/R page and think "nice one."
I'm not one for blowing my own trumpet, but when you see it on B/R it looks so much better than when it's in my HTML editor...
Thanks to Paul and LJ for getting their stuff to me quickly :)
from about 1 month ago
I agree Paul , the graphics are amazing , and ive finally had my dream , im in an F1 car :0)
about 1 month ago
It's going to be very difficult for you guys to keep this up, but while you do I'll be supporting you with stars and picks.
Am I the only one who's reminded of ill-fated CHAMP by that car?
from about 1 month ago
Planning to keep it up for a while yet mate. Thanks for the POTD and stars. Glad you like the work!
from about 1 month ago
Ill-fated CHAMP? You mean the Panoz DP01 that allowed Champ Car to finish the 2007 season with a slight profit(contrary to popular belief), went on to become the basis for the SUPERLEAGUE FORMULA chassis after Champ Car and IRL unified, will be used by Dallara as an object lesson in developing the 2011 IRL chassis, AND will be used in the Green Prix USA series beginning next year?
Doesn't sound all that ill-fated to me. Maybe in regards to its original intention you could call it that, but I'd say that one-year run has resulted in quite a legacy.
But more to the point, since the Panoz DP01 was based around the same aerodynamic principles utilized by F1 teams, we shouldn't be surprised to see similarities. You can see similarities between most open-wheel cars these days. About the only cars that don't seem to be following the same conventions are the current IRL cars, and the new Formula Nippon car.
about 1 month ago
Oh good, you got the results, thank god for that!
I like the grid part of it, looks good.
Well done again boys.
about 1 month ago
This is great guys, keep it up.
While the concept for next year's car looks cleaner, the back wing seems ridiculously small.
5* and POTD
from about 1 month ago
with all of the winglets and cures removed, I think it a glorified COT (NASCAR)
The car has no style, just plain ugly!
about 1 month ago
Congratulations is in order to all the great writers we have on this site!
about 1 month ago
Hmm.... New F1 conceptual.... Well, I hope they don't turn out EXACTLY like that, but.... Could be worse. They could have copies of the Dallara IRL car. I always liked the winglets - they showed just how much effort gets put into the aero design, but at least that thing still looks like an F1 car. It'd reconsider the airbox from an aesthetic standpoint, but they'll probably need it for some stability with the narrower rear wing.
But if we assume the concept to be a worst-case interpretation, we might be pleasantly surprised when the cars are unveiled.
from about 1 month ago
Typo correction: I would reconsider the airbox FIN from an aesthetic standpoint.
about 1 month ago
Love the grid bit Adam!
5 stars POTD .... Personally I think you ought to mention the 'almost best emerging writer' who missed out on runner-up by 1 vote ... ME !!!!
Seriously, great article and fantastic design! Keep it up!
about 1 month ago
Im a double comical champion , im happy about that , Growing up with a bunch of jokers has helped that cause ha ha .
cheers to those who voted for me .
congrats to everyone who won an award and those who didnt are still aweesome writers , we have huge talent on this site and its not long before a member of the f1 community makes it big in the journalism world .
as for the new design of the 09 cars .......ewwwww WTF , it looks like the f1 cars they used to have on the sega mega drive II ........ugly and the wings look stupid .
to use an engine for 3 races in a row is extremly dumb , we are going to have a lot of engine blow up on the third race of each engine i think they should keep it as 2 races and even reduce the penalty from 10 places on the grid to 5 places for changing it early , i think 10 places is so harsh for something you cant stop happening .
And another British talent on the rise is fantastic , especially a scot after DC retired , I think that Fisichella should be Test driver at Force with Sutil and Di Riesta as the drivers , Fisi has had his day to shine and didnt produce , new blood is what i say !!!
Great article people . 5 and pick obviously :0)
about 1 month ago
I don't watch F1, and could only name a handful of drivers and companies that are involved in it.
But I always see your articles on the front page. I decided to read one for a change.
WOW. You guys have one of the hardest working communities on B/R.
Fantastic work!
from about 1 month ago
Thanks very much David ! We are VERY passionate about our sport and our writing! We have lots of banter and fun as well as serious stuff! Welcome to our part of the B/r world!
about 1 month ago
Spectacular article, looks brilliant, with one exception. That 2009 car is absolutely ugly. Call me weird, but I like the aerodynamical winglets.
from about 1 month ago
You're not weird. Although not beautiful, its easy to like the winglets since they underline just how much effort is put into the design of the car.
But if you want UGLY, track down some concept drawings of the split rear wing that was being talked about a while back. You'll start liking this car REALLY quickly.
about 1 month ago
wow some great stuff here, much better than the special awards edition in our world football community..
about 1 month ago
LOVED IT ! picked this shit -
about 1 month ago
but you guysssss - put me in darned Silver motor car - ..... kiddin'
chers
about 1 month ago
Well done to all winners. Your resilience in this section is what keeps us fans going :)
about 1 month ago
That render of the 09 car isn't that accurate. And I don't think the shark fin will be used because the rear wing will be too high for it to be effective.
A much better render of the F2009, from Autosport: http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/5354/ferrari09zt1.jpg
about 1 month ago
That render of the 09 car isn't that accurate. I don't think the shark fin will even be used because the rear wing will be too high for it to be effective.
Here is a much better render of the F2009 from Autosport: http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/5354/ferrari09zt1.jpg
about 1 month ago
this is a really great idea. so creative guys. way to go
about 1 month ago
WOW, what a great edition.
Alot of hard work has done into that. Very well done to all involved.
Very enjoyable to read and I can't wait for the next edition.
I am available to contribute as well if needed.
about 1 month ago
Thanks everyone who voted for me, Im delighted to win an award, and well done to everyone else who won one.
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