Formula 1 - F1 - Current Season Discussion

[sugarbutch]

Taylor Swift serves two purposes:

1) Attract more ticket buyers with a bigger spectacle
2) Spread out the exodus of fans over a greater period of time to ease congestion

Elton John last year did the same. Thousands of people who would otherwise be jamming the exits hung around to watch him run through his greatest hits.

 

[sugarbutch]

Nice rundown of the cars and tech side of things from Mike Gascoyne and Craig Scarborough on Sky: http://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12433/10198914/watch-f1-development-special

 

[idfnl]



Taylor Swift serves two purposes:

1) Attract more ticket buyers with a bigger spectacle
2) Spread out the exodus of fans over a greater period of time to ease congestion

Elton John last year did the same. Thousands of people who would otherwise be jamming the exits hung around to watch him run through his greatest hits.

Only thing worse than the sound of the cars is EJ's voice.

 

[idfnl]



Nice rundown of the cars and tech side of things from Mike Gascoyne and Craig Scarborough on Sky: http://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12433/10198914/watch-f1-development-special

Yeah, looking forward to watching this later.

 

[idfnl]

Ted's Notebook development corner is more fun to watch.

It's a shame the rules restrictions are so acute. We are talking about 1mm turning veins and monkey seats, **** me that's a snooze. Part of the fascination with F1 is dead, I used to revel at the engineering developments year on year, but there just really aren't any. I was fascinated by whether carbon fiber would shatter, and at semi auto gearboxes, then Williams went to the moon with that incredible Prost car, but since that period, I challenge anyone to point to a something that had the same impact. KERS was around 20 years ago.

I do value the work that happens with refinement, but I look at the sport kinda knowing nothing significant will happen whereas 20 years ago you still had the wow waiting for what these teams can do.

Now? Short nose, S duct, tight packaging at the rear. You could do the same with shampoo bottles.

F1 has always been a dance between engineering and drivers. Today the drivers are muted and the designs are uninspiring. I talk about boring a lot here, and I guess I mean that I would rather have that Prost car dominating than what we have with Merc today because of the wonder. I got to watch that car race live a few times, it's hard to explain just what it was like to watch it in person, but having never seen the Merc go in person it's clear as day it would be a ******* snooze.

This may be the most boring F1 year in history.

 

[horndog]

I know I've said it before, but there is much better racing and technology to watch in sports car racing like WEC and IMSA.

With F1 we're like a bunch of old hip hop guys talking about what-ifs and remember-whens. We lament the over commercialized garbage and manufactured drama but for whatever reason can't stop talking about Kanye West.

 

[borbor]

wec yes

imsa, no

I'd much rather watch PWC than IMSA. IMSA was good before they put the P2 and DP cars together; after that there's something on how they keep on messing with the BoP that leaves a sour taste to me as a viewer. At least in PWC, they're using something adopted by the SRO in that they're following the bop procedures recognized globally; IMSA seems to like to make a set of rules on their own for the sake of being different.

Thank god GT racing is alive and well globally.

There is also motogp Those guys never fail to disappoint.

 

[idfnl]



wec yes

imsa, no  

I'd much rather watch PWC than IMSA.  IMSA was good before they put the P2 and DP cars together; after that there's something on how they keep on messing with the BoP that leaves a sour taste to me as a viewer.  At least in PWC, they're using something adopted by the SRO in that they're following the bop procedures recognized globally; IMSA seems to like to make a set of rules on their own for the sake of being different.

Thank god GT racing is alive and well globally.  

There is also motogp  Those guys never fail to disappoint. 

Death by acronym here.

 

[Texasmade]

Only thing I can make out is WEC and PWC. The rest I have no idea.

 

[horndog]



wec yes

imsa, no  

I'd much rather watch PWC than IMSA.  IMSA was good before they put the P2 and DP cars together; after that there's something on how they keep on messing with the BoP that leaves a sour taste to me as a viewer.  At least in PWC, they're using something adopted by the SRO in that they're following the bop procedures recognized globally; IMSA seems to like to make a set of rules on their own for the sake of being different.

Thank god GT racing is alive and well globally.  

There is also motogp  Those guys never fail to disappoint. 

Actually I agree 100%. The Prototype class is a mess right now so I've been paying much more attention to GT Le Mans and GT Daytona classes. Now that GT Daytona is essentially a GT3 spec class, this year should be awesome for them. You're right that Pirelli World Challenge (PWC) kicks ass and I'm sorry to have left them out.

For those that don't follow IMSA; it's an incredibly confusing nomenclature but the GT racing rocks. GT Le Mans cars is a factory class - Corvette v. Porsche v. Ferrari v. Ford v. BMW. The same kind of GT cars you see in the WEC GTE factory class. Really great racing here. GT Daytona is GT3 cars. There used to be the American Le Mans series and Rolex Sports Car Series that a few years ago merged into one, the United Sportscar Championship (USCC). It's run by IMSA, was sponsored by Tudor last year, and now is sponsored by Weathertech. So it's the IMSA Weathertech USCC this year.

The new breed of GT cars for 2016 makes this an exciting year too:

Ford GT

BMW M6 GT

Huaracan GT3

991 GT3 R

AMG GT3R

Think there's also a new R8, Viper, Ferrari 488, and RC-F.

 

[sugarbutch]

I would like for some things in F1 to change, but I'm not in the camp that thinks it's broken. The elimination of tokens will fix much of what's wrong, in fact.

I would love to watch more sportscar racing, but the coverage is usually substandard. I hate edited races with a passion. At that point, just show me a few minutes of highlights. It's also hard to keep up with who's driving from year to year, and then throw in multi-driver cars to add to the confusion...

 

[idfnl]



Actually I agree 100%. The Prototype class is a mess right now so I've been paying much more attention to GT Le Mans and GT Daytona classes. Now that GT Daytona is essentially a GT3 spec class, this year should be awesome for them. You're right that Pirelli World Challenge (PWC) kicks ass and I'm sorry to have left them out.

For those that don't follow IMSA; it's an incredibly confusing nomenclature but the GT racing rocks. GT Le Mans cars is a factory class - Corvette v. Porsche v. Ferrari v. Ford v. BMW. The same kind of GT cars you see in the WEC GTE factory class. Really great racing here. GT Daytona is GT3 cars. There used to be the American Le Mans series and Rolex Sports Car Series that a few years ago merged into one, the United Sportscar Championship (USCC). It's run by IMSA, was sponsored by Tudor last year, and now is sponsored by Weathertech. So it's the IMSA Weathertech USCC this year.

The new breed of GT cars for 2016 makes this an exciting year too:

IMO, the best racing out there right now is DTM, the WRC and MotoGP/2/3. MotoGP is so good I even watch the Moto3 races, who here can say they watch GP2? MotoGP has the formula just right, none of this aero bullshit, and tons of great skill. It's eclipsed 4 wheel racing. I'll note that 4 years ago I almost never watched a race. And WRC, I still watch and think "I can't do that".

 

[idfnl]



I would like for some things in F1 to change, but I'm not in the camp that thinks it's broken. The elimination of tokens will fix much of what's wrong, in fact.

I would love to watch more sportscar racing, but the coverage is usually substandard. I hate edited races with a passion. At that point, just show me a few minutes of highlights. It's also hard to keep up with who's driving from year to year, and then throw in multi-driver cars to add to the confusion...

It's broken, badly. The sport has eaten itself alive. The token change won't fix the fundamental aero problems, and the boring programmed races where the driver is just expected to knock in lap times within spec and manage tires, driving well within the car's limit. It's short format endurance racing.

You're dead on about coverage of lower formula. MotoGP coverage is superb, I don't know the guy's name but he's as good as Brundle.

 

[borbor]



IMO, the best racing out there right now is DTM, the WRC and MotoGP/2/3. MotoGP is so good I even watch the Moto3 races, who here can say they watch GP2? MotoGP has the formula just right, none of this aero bullshit, and tons of great skill. It's eclipsed 4 wheel racing. I'll note that 4 years ago I almost never watched a race. And WRC, I still watch and think "I can't do that".

Watched gp2 from its inception until they switched to pirelli.

I still follow f3, that's about as junior a formula as I go. F3, world series of Renault. Not so much gp2 nowadays, but lots more gt racing.

 

[sugarbutch]

I watch GP2. I wish we could get both races here in the US, but we get either the sprint or long race, and lately it's not even broadcast during the weekend. I would like to see F3.