I'm a believer.........................................

.....................was a song by the Monkees, a sixties beat combo of marginal talent. However I do believe in loads of things and there are even some things I'm willing to believe in that so far, I don't. As a f'rinstance I'm quite prepared to believe Gordon Brown is a nice bloke (well, that is a bit of a stretch but you never know). Then I'm prepared to believe that there is a more ethical way to produce Fois Gras. I believe in Father Christmas (run with me on this please) and of course the tooth fairy. Well, I got pressies as a kid at Christmas and also got money every time a tooth fell out.

I believe the Australian cricket team is one of the best in the world surpassed only by England. Indeed the same applies to Rugby teams. I believe Micheal Schumacher was/is a damned fine driver who made a few minor mistakes. I believe Tiger Woods is the best golfer the world has seen.

But, and here I really am struggling.................................






I can't believe a Force India driven by Fisichella is on pole a Spa Francorchamps!

The Return of TGF (That German Fellow)

“Don’t get me wrong but…………..”. Words that are usually spoken, or written, as a preamble to justify an opinion that may differ from the audience and it is used many times when referring to a driver or a team in motorsport forums (fora?). As a for instance, the recent happenings in Formula One. Certainly the events that have left Felipe Massa out of the rest of the 2009 Championship are very sad, however his reported recovery is very good news indeed. But, what about the news of his replacement, a certain German Fellow by the name of Michael Schumacher, who some may recall won seven World Driver’s Championships between 1994 and 2007 when he hung up his helmet for, what we all assumed was “good”?

Oh how wrong we were. He’s back as Felipe’s stand-in and with over half the season gone one asks what he can achieve? Indeed whatever he does there are many questions that will be left hanging by November 2009. Let’s look at some of them.
He comes back finishes at best third in one of the races, all the rest are fifth or lower. What to make of that, if he beats Kimi in any of those races then it must mean Kimi is pretty ropey. If he loses to Kimi in any of those races it must mean he’s not very good anymore.

He comes back, blows everyone into the weeds and runs the Driver’s World Championship to the wire. Hmm, then after a two year lay off these cars must have got too easy to drive because otherwise how would he do it? And what does it say about the rest of the grid?

For my part I’m just looking forward to seeing him back, although I’m no fan per se, his less “ethical” actions have soured his name for me, but there can be no doubt he is or was extremely talented but because of the issues above this is going to make the final part of the season extremely interesting.

Now, one more point which may be somewhat controversial. According to this years rules, there is no in-season testing. Thus when new boy Jaime Alguersuari was chosen to replace Sebastian Bourdais at Torro Rosso, he got precisely zero miles in testing. As a rookie he qualified for the necessary Superlicence by winning the British Formula 3 Championship. Yet as that rookie, in other words someone who has limited or no Formula 1 experience, he had to get used to it in the Hungarian GP weekend. However our multiple World Champion has (we understand) received dispensation to test a car for a day. Thus his team will no doubt also benefit from this extra curriculum, albeit sanctioned, activity.

Yes let us celebrate the return of the chin but let’s also look at the impact of the decision. I hope it all works out for the best but don’t get me wrong here, I hope he doesn’t show the rest of the circus up.

A Tales of Lost Talent

It is always sad when we lose a driver in a motor sport accident. It's even more sad when that driver is a young and up and coming talent. Not only has that driver lost his or her life, he or she has also lost the opportunity to shine and like a bright star that may have been their talent is snuffed out in an instant.

So it was eighteen years ago when Paul Warwick at the age of 22 lost his life whilst in the lead of a British Formula 3000 championship race. He'd dominated that category all season and had a very strong lead when at the fifth round, whilst once again dominating the race, when near the end his car’s right front suspension failed at Knickerbrook, which was an extremely quick corner at that time. The car disintegrated in the ensuing accident and, despite prompt medical attention, Paul died without ever regaining consciousness.

Read more: http://autoracing.suite101.com/article.cfm/paul_warwick#ixzz0MAWrZvM2

I recall at the time being very sad because his brother Derek was one of my favourite racers and we all knew that Paul was going to be as good if not better. We'd never see him shine brighter than in that last season though and the world of motor sport lost a real talent.

Fast forward to 19 July 2009 and an eighteen year old Henry Surtees is running down in ninth place in the second of two Formula 2 races at Brands Hatch. He'd finished on the podium in third place the day before and was in ninth because of a spin earlier in the race. Sadly as he was running back through the field he was hit by an errant wheel that had been torn off the car of Jack Clarke, who had spun into the armco at Westfield Bend. Although Surtees collided with the barriers at the following Sheene Curve he was unconscious and would not recover form the injuries he suffered from the collision with the wheel.

So where is the link in these two tragic accidents? Well firstly Henry was only just born when Paul lost his life and in that time many safety improvements have been made in single seater motor sport. That said it is impossible to tell if the tethers that have been introduced to retain wheels in the event of an accident, would have worked for Paul. It is certain that they didn't work for Jack Clarke at Brands Hatch.

But the one point of all this that has made me think, is the need for many people to find someone to blame. It seems that for some people the thought that motor racing is dangerous has just struck them like a bolt from the blue. Even more disturbing is that the finger pointing has gone as far as to accuse the organiser MSV, which is owned by ex racer Dr Jonathan Palmer, of skimping on safety. Frankly I find this attitude appalling and furthermore childish in the extreme. These finger pointers, fail to consider the feelings of those involved, not only Henry's family and friends but the marshals and medical staff who all tried so hard to save him. Don't these people realise that Henry was doing what he loved doing and he wasn't too shoddy at it either?

Ultimately we will get the findings of the enquiry and that will either suggest that something went awry or there is something that needs to be changed. However nothing will bring Henry back no more than it would Paul.

These two drivers are inextricably linked in my mind as two young guns who could never realise their full potential. That's a cruel enough fact on its own, it doesn't need a blame culture to make things worse.

With thanks to Pink Floyd

Well I’m Lost For Words! This must be The Final Cut because it looks like there’s Nobody Home. Our Prime Minister is either Comfortably Numb or just Waiting for the Worms. Never mind though The Tide is Turning, he’s looking through Paranoid Eyes but it will be a Great Day for Freedom when it All Makes Perfect Sense and we get rid of New Labour!

Holidays (or Vacations to our friends in the "colonies").

Sooooo, what's been happening in the world whilst I've been partying, eating, lazing on a beach (yes even in the UK), testing and racing my racing car?
The Tories lost an important election. Nope not the EU elections which only served to demonstrate the sheer contempt that the Labour Government is deservedly held in by the British populace. Nope this is the election that the Labour party should have held to remove their prime minister (I use no capitals because he is a small minded individual of little import). Yep the Tories lost it because instead of encouraging the Labour ministers and MPs to do something they ignored it and preferred to gloat (albeit justifiably) about the lack of support and the increase in control that each party has respectively achieved in the local elections.

Brown you are the weakest link. Go now for goodness' sake. And no kissing Anne Robinson either!

However on to more important things. I went to Jersey, that's an island in what we like to call the English channel, where we had great weather for a few days and then English weather for a few days and I gained about three kilos eating and drinking great food and wine. The eating the food and drinking the wine of course. Eating wine tends to hurt when the glass breaks. Anyway I highly recommend the place, it has cliffs, waves, fishing, walks, greenery, and of course restaurants and bars. Go, you won't be disappointed.

Right now I ache a bit. I'm sitting in the BA lounge in Heathrow, waiting for the delayed flight to Doha. I'm aching because I raced my car yesterday and for 45mins in a pretty hot cockpit I fought a monster that was trying desperately to throw itself at the scenery! This was a bit of a shame because prior to yesterday I tested the car and it was brilliant! Going quicker and needing less effort to make it go! Anyway aching or not I went faster than before at the circuit, Kept it on the island and netted a second place pot. As you know real men come second, so that's all right.

MP's Expenses, that accounts for it!

So, the question is who is watching the watcher, when the watcher is being watched?

Of all the lame brained schemes to come from our useless idiotic lame duck of a Prime Minister, is the idea that we need an independent body to check the MP’s expenses. So, its jobs for more of “the boys” and therefore more civil servants to clog up the over burdened state.

If it wasn’t so appallingly incompetent and indeed corrupt, it would be funny. The fact is these people (ministers and MPs) are there on trust and if they can’t be trusted get rid of them. Don’t give them a slapped wrist and claim they are victims of the system, which is what an “independent body” would do and our (using the term loosely) Honourable PM is trying to do.

Sack those who’ve done wrong and let’s move on. Let’s not allow this painful and sadly ruinous debacle to continue any longer. Election time.

Why Can't the FIA Diffuse this?

Well what a surprise! Here we are two races into the new Formula 1 season and lo' some of the teams disagree with others over the interpetation of the regs surrounding diffusers. Interestingly this is all the late Colin Chapman's fault. I kid you not. Back in 1977 the late great engineer, designed a Formula 1 car that aerodynamically surpassed anything that went before. Whilst Patrick Head at Williams was designing possibly the prettiest conventional "flat bottomed" Formula 1 car (the FW06) for the 1978 season, Colin had been studying aircraft design and came up with ground effect. It wasn't new by any means but making it fit with the Formula 1 regulations of the time made his solution innovative.

In essence Colin was using inverted wings on the side of his car to generate downforce as opposed to the normal "lift" seen on an aircraft. This downforce enabled the car to drive through corners much more quickly than traditional flat bottomed cars because the faster it went the more it was stuck to the ground. In the face of this leap of engineering innovation, what did the other teams do? Well, the teams got on with life and went racing. That year Lotus did pretty well and came second, but it was Ferrari who triumphed.

So what has this history lesson to do with the current shenanigans in Paris? Well, it seems that even though he warned them, the technical working group that defined the regulations for this season, ignored Ross Brawn and missed an important trick which has unsurprisingly been leapt upon by Brawn, Williams and Toyota. They have used a loophole in the regulations to produce a diffuser that creates much more downforce (thank you Colin) than the opposition, which includes Ferrari, Renault, Red Bull, BMW and Force India. It seems that rather than get on with life and go racing, these teams are now using the FIA to resolve their disagreements. Surely if the components have been deemed legal in two races by two sets of stewards, then there can't be any case to answer?

Of course the foregoing logic reckons without Ferrari, who are proclaimed in interviews given by the FIA Presdient, as being the most important team in Formula 1. Of course then if Ferrari shouts, the FIA must jump and jump they have.

As I write there is no verdict but we now face the prospect of the winners of the first two races and leaders of the championship being excluded together with those two other teams. About the only consolation, in the event that the teams ore disqualified, is that Ferrari won't actually benefit because they've been so laughably poor they've failed to score a point yet. Indeed their lawyer a Mr. Tozzi has accussed Ross Brawn, who in a previous life was the driving force behind Ferrari's success, of being "supremely arrogant". A trait, I suggest, not totally unfamiliar to the entire Ferrari organisation.

Going back to 1977, what have we lost? Sportsmanship. What have we gained? Manipulation and backbiting.

Sad isn't it?