Austria 2003

[GaySchumi 0]

Sigh !! I lost power exactly as the race was about to start, talk about frustrating !@!! Guess I'll just have to wait for the replay at night.

Anyway, looking at the webcasts, I think it's absolutely horrendous, the way those fuel rigs perform !! They ought to be properly scrutineered before being used ! As far as the race action goes, I'll have to wait on launching my tirade till I see it. Anyways, by the looks of it, Schumi, Kimi, and Rubi(Just trying to go with the flow ) did a pretty good job, and Button looks like he drove a faultless run to 4th. Wonder what happened to Vilenueve, I guess, I ought to trade him in the Fantasy game

Edit : Just Read more detailed articles, jeez JV lost all electronics on his steering, and was counting down the speed using his Race Engr. BAR, has got to clean up its act, I doubt they'd purposely sabotage themselves, but it seems to be the '89 McLaren syndrome

And the Stop and Go that Webber incurred is absolutely asinine !! He started from the Pit-lanes, and decided to top up on fuel over there, but due to the two aborted starts, and subsequent restart, he was given a 10 sec penalty !!! Hmmm.... why didn't Alonso get that penalty ? <_< Better go read some more ...

[pumpdoc 2]

M.Schumi. was brillant the way he kept the engine from stalling while one of the pit crew litteraly poured water via hose into the air box is nothing short of genius you could hear the engine just sucking in the water as Schumi just kept it nailed a lesser driver would have killed the motor and any chance of re-firing as the engine would prob.hydro lock..... Toyota get them off of the grid with the bucks they shell out they should go back to Japan and comit Hari-Kari and put'em out of their misery -------------FERRARI #1 in const. soon to be in DWC....... thats a hat trick in wins&fast laps for the new" God of Hells Fire" with ice in his vains

[TotalF1 Jens 0]

The new Mclaren is gonna prevent that pumpdoc! Truly amazing with the pit fire though, reminded me of Jos Verstappen in 1994, quick reactions by the team saved the situation though Ross Brawn admitted it wasn't as bad as it looked...

Kimi did the race without the full power of his engine, yet managed to still keep Rubens behind him for nine laps! Amazing job by him, can't wait to see what he can do in the new car

And a hell of a race from Jenson, good on him!

[nichosnz 0]

I don't think I did too well in the Fantasy game either. But think I did a lot better in the PPP. Certainly an interesting race. Showing a bit of optimism there Jens.

[pumpdoc 2]

I don't care what Ross B. says 12 yrs ago racing in the San Felipe 250 in Mex. I was co-dvr. in a class 7s(ford ranger 4wd stk susspension mounting pts. max.10" travel frt-rear 3.0 ltr. ESSlinger motor) and we are zipping along a dry lake bed at 80-85mph threw a drive shaft and rolled about 6-7 times tore a fuel hose off of the cell spewwd 105 oct. into the cab and every where else now mind you I'm in a full Simpson kit---nomex long johns top-bottom one piece 3 layer main kit with head sock and full face helmet/pumped in fresh air--- after we stoped tumbling my job upon seeing the fire was to deploy the halon system 1st the pri. biggest bott.that covers engine comp. and oil tank/ coolers behind cab when that ring/cable is pulled it also disconects the elec.system then if still on fire the escape/back up ring is pulled (it was) and the next bottle contents are expd. mainly in the cab----- even though we were both ok and cohearnt, wheels down all the safety gear/roll cage did its job--later we found just like MS it was a small amt. that acc. was spilt and burned 8-10 oz. we both did the same thing---panic city!!!and got out of that truck so fast don't re: even droping the window nets----what I"m saying is fire just puts the fear in you

[nichosnz 0]

Not disagreeing with you at all pumpdoc, however when no-one is in any immediate danger, fire can be quite facinating

[TotalF1 Jens 0]

I really couldn't imagine Ross Brawn saying that either, because a pit fire is a dangerous situation no matter what. It happened in Belgium 1995 as well, but Jos Verstappen in 1994 was the most amazing example. Fuel spilled and the whole car ignited immediately - now imagine if a few more drops of the fuel had been in Schumacher's refueling hose yesterday and the teams didn't use those plastic protectors on the bodywork during pitstops...

Michael was sitting inches away, that is a dangerous situation no matter what. Verstappen's quick reactions saved him in '94, and his car burst into FULL flame ten feet high!

The petrol used in F1 cars nowadays though is 99% the same as commercial fuel used in road cars, the only difference being that there is some preservative chemical that has been subtracted (I am not sure, anyone know?) and that helped yesterday. Back in '94 and earlier I think the fuel was a good deal different...

[nichosnz 0]

Not sure but I think it is higher octane too, about 102. Don't know what you guys have but in NZ we have 91,96 and 98(at some stations).

Yes it wouldn't have taken much for it to have been a lot worse.

[TotalF1 Jens 0]

Wow, your lowest octane is the highest here in California. We have 87, 89, and 91, with 91 being about 20 cents more expensive than 87 per gallon. In Finland it is the same as you lot have in NZ

[nichosnz 0]

The cost is 91 cheapest, 96 5 cents more (Shell, Mobil and some BP) or 6 cents more at (Caltex[Texaco] and the other BP's), with 98 a further 2 cents. We also have two local companies here Challange, now owned by Caltex so probably the same prices, and Gull which I don't know the prices of. All that is per litre which is approximately

[GaySchumi 0]

Did Anyone notice that Webber had the third fastest lap ???!!! He was the only other driver to go Sub 1:09 !!! Pizzonia had 8th fastest ! Those Cosworth engines seem to pack quite some punch !

And I only learned yesterday that Wilson's been making his blazing starts without launch control !!! Come to think of it, with launch control, his start was far more ... reserved ?!

[TotalF1 Jens 0]

Yea, Webber's fastest lap came on the last lap of the race, and Kimi was fourth fastest despite running on low revs! Wilson's starts are amazing, he's averaging a minimum of six positions gained within the first lap - in Malaysia he overtook eight on the first lap, five by the first turn!

[nichosnz 0]

Quite astounding, isn't it. Wilson must be trying to prove a big (tall) point.

[TotalF1 Jens 0]

It is being reported (and indeed there are pictures to prove it) that Wilson and manager have been in contact with teams such as Jaguar and Mclaren...

Here's another bit of news, Mika Salo was contacted by Jaguar during the Pizzonia-saga to ask if he wanted to race for them. Salo turned it down! It looks like he indeed is done with F1 for good, which is what he has told Finnish press. We'll see him next at Le Mans...

[pumpdoc 2]

Nichos a bit of a fire bug are you??? cool here's a quick one for ya---1991 unlimited hydros at San Diego---camp out from thurs.-sun. Sat. night is the big party 30 motor homes in a wide horseshoe shape --open end to the water---a roofer would allways bring a 30' flat bed with wood pallets (30'x8'w x8-10' tall) this truck has a lift bed- goes 20' up ---so we procede to stack wood as high as poss. through 2-3 vw blocks (mag) and about 10 pm or so light it up---wind coming off the ocean flames going up 100+ ft. sparks an embers also and next thing ya know the Highway Patrol is closeing down the interstate 5 (about 1/2 mile to the east ) 'cuz tree tops and other things are catching fire!!! about that time we start spraying the vw blocks with water BIG BIG white hot sparks an flames its like daylite we don't see the p**sED OFF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND FIRE TRUCKS A-COMIN .....well to many of us to put in the slammer 4-5000 of us so they took away our wrist bands (addmision -parking ) made us pick up and booted us off the island--when the unsuspecting firemen went to douse our little weenie roast they didn't know about the blocks and they wanted to show off and hit it with 20 -2" fire hoses---they said you could see it 10-15 miles away I love big flames.... PS in all my yrs of doing stuff like this I've only spent a cpl of nites in lock-up...lucky

[nichosnz 0]

Sound pretty spectacular.

[TotalF1 Jens 0]

Hahah That is pretty cool, I've seen fires but never something like that