Reply to: F1 Doom

[Bagpuss]

Mosley was saying only a few weeks ago that the credit crunch is really going to hit F1. Just look how much bank/finance, not to mention multi millions fromstruggling motor manufacturers. It's either going to have to get more basic or die.

[Doggy Styles]

"tugging on a fag round the back of the pits,"

Really, you should know better; it's a family site you know!

Well, half of the old British drivers were public schoolboys...

[Mich the Tester]

tugging on a fag round the back of the pits,

Really, you should know better; it's a family site you know!

[Doggy Styles]

Right on.

Lotus & Emerson Fittipaldi, James Hunt & Hesketh racing, huge tyres, dolly birds, champers, JPS etc etc.

I do not doubt the skill of the drivers today but I doubt many of them even contemplate the real chance of death or serious injury that was always lurking in periphery back then.

It’s just too sterile these days.

Those were the days ... oily rags, the Paul Ricard circuit, gear-sticks (on the right), drivers racing in other formulas on their weeks off, lugging on a quick fag round the back of the pits, marshals in bowler hats (I might be imagining that one), engine tuning with screwdrivers and gap guages instead of laptops, and just two mechanics per team in brown overalls and flat caps...

[TheFaQQer]

I do so hope you're right. Shame they can't resurrect James Hunt though.

Sadly, it's only to write in the BBC online pages, it seems

Linky.

[Mich the Tester]

Murray is coming out of retirement when it moves to BBC next year.

I do so hope you're right. Shame they can't resurrect James Hunt though.

[TheFaQQer]

I miss the goggles, the bales of hay, and Murray Walker.

Murray is coming out of retirement when it moves to BBC next year.

[Mich the Tester]

Right on.

Lotus & Emerson Fittipaldi, James Hunt & Hesketh racing, huge tyres, dolly birds, champers, JPS etc etc.

I do not doubt the skill of the drivers today but I doubt many of them even contemplate the real chance of death or serious injury that was always lurking in periphery back then.

It’s just too sterile these days.

I rather like seeing the pre-war grand prix cars. Chaps sitting in a big leather chair, sporting goggles, leather helmets and white cotton, sometimes smoking a pipe while wrestling with a huge wooden steering wheel to try to control a big wrought iron monster with a supercharged 6 liter engine, drum brakes and thin wheels on a track full of hills, adverse camber bends and potholes.

This kind of thing;
http://forix.autosport.com/8w/merced...nur38-test.jpg

Those guys were hard.

[norrahe]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/moto...ne/7766092.stm

Super Aguri have already gone belly up and all the technicians have been absorbed by the main honda team.

A friend of mine used to work for SA and has since woved on with his team to honda.

[lilelvis2000]

Honda already supply engines to at least one other team

I didn't know that! They used to support another team last year but withdrew it. Renault supplies Red Bull and Ferrari supplies Toro Rosso. I don't know any others...

Anyway its all a farce now....Nevermind about the costs to the teams. How about the costs to the tracks. Bernie charges huge fees which I'm sure are never recouped from the two fans that come to watch.

[gingerjedi]

I’m pretty sure there will be more casualties, Toyota will probably follow Honda, Super Aguri are effectively the Honda ‘B Team’ so they’ll be under pressure, Force India is always changing hands due to the high running costs and how a caffeinated drinks manufacturer can sustain 2 teams is beyond me?

As for the rest… are Renault, Mercedes, BMW & Ferrari selling lots of cars at the moment?

I guess it’s tough for a team like Honda to justify closing its Swindon factory for 2 months (probably longer) whilst they’re winking away £500m on a playboy sport, the other true manufacturers will be thinking the same.

Maybe they should all be forced to use 50cc Go-karts for a couple of seasons?

[Spacecadet]

Don't get this How can the team be bought. It would still be the Honda team using Honda kit. The buyer would need to pay Honda to support the whole operation.

No-one gonna buy it, the whole thing's a worthless thrill trip, nothing else.

PS: Why did Honda have it in the first place?

Honda already supply engines to at least one other team

I guess that the buyer would be buying the existing infrastructure, cars, engines, staff, drivers and everything else that comes with an F1 team including entry into next years F1 championship.
I doubt that Honda would closely support the new team owners, the mechanics who would be part of the deal should already know every little nut and bolt on those Honda cars.

Going on from there they might continue to use Honda parts or they might go elsewhere. It's not just Honda who supply equipment to other teams.

[gingerjedi]

I miss the goggles, the bales of hay, and Murray Walker.

Right on.

Lotus & Emerson Fittipaldi, James Hunt & Hesketh racing, huge tyres, dolly birds, champers, JPS etc etc.

I do not doubt the skill of the drivers today but I doubt many of them even contemplate the real chance of death or serious injury that was always lurking in periphery back then.

It’s just too sterile these days.

[Doggy Styles]

People didn't get interested in motor racing to see scalextric cars driven by multi-millionaires and banks of computers, on the other side of the world, going round and round sterile tracks watched by a few people in the stands (they don't fill them) in countries with little or no tradition in the sport.

I miss the goggles, the bales of hay, and Murray Walker.

[Beefy198]

I would have thought they would at less give Ross Brawn a fair crack of the whip first. But who knows?