Why?Quote:
Originally Posted by Daniel
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Why?Quote:
Originally Posted by Daniel
Totally agree. F1 is the sum of all it's parts. There has been scandalous mismanagement of the sport but it's testament to the fans and teams that F1 is still surviving.Quote:
Originally Posted by Daniel
Dumbing down is not the word. How about enhancing to improve the spectacle. Enhancing the effects of aerodynamics so that a suitable level of down-force that doesn't create as much air turbulence for following cars for example?Quote:
I don't think F1 should be dumbed down to NASCAR level because that really would kill it but I think there is a certain level of dumbing down that can be down without harming the sport which could actually make for more spectacle.
Well, if some lapsadaisical neanderthals who don't understand the heritage and ethos of the sport get pissed off, why should we care ;)Quote:
If some fussy purists get pissed off then that can only be a good thing. Everyone has their own little picture of what makes F1, Rallying, rock music, a good steak what they are and so on are but you should concentrate on the big picture rather than details which are actually quite minor when you think about it.
I think this is drag racing you're talking about.Quote:
In an ideal world we'd have different manufacturers for engines and so on and no regulations
Manufacturers and teams have always pushed to get the maximum that's available to them with the budget they have.Quote:
but time and time again manufacturers have shown they can't be trusted to keep things safe and to keep to caps and so on. In the WRC the FIA has stood by while the sport has priced itself to death and most of the people on the forum realise this. F1 is running the risk of doing the same and people seem to be resisting. Why? I don't know :)
F1 will always cut it's cloth to suit it's pocket but will do it in other areas rather than the standardised components.
However, the teams have come up with some real world suggestions to help standardise elements of the sport that should make smaller teams more competitive.
You will find that even in standard spec series, the better teams tend to be the most professional and have the best funding as they have more resources at their disposal. F1 will be the same.
The thing is - if spec series, absence of innovation, and being solely focussed on the on-track "product" and "entertainment" are your thing, then 95% of the worlds' racing series already cater for you.
For those who are actually interested in motorsport as a whole, seeing a variety of technologies, makes of car, in combination with drivers, tyres, and everything else coming together, we have....what? F1 for the time being (very tenuously!!), Sports prototypes yes definitely, but that lacks the single driver-to-driver, all-out speed of competition that single seaters have.
I've tried getting into MotoGP over the past couple of years and appreciate it, but my passion since I played with my car mat before I could walk has always been cars rather than bikes, and that series' move to a spec tyre indicates they are down the same slippery slope as F1, just slightly further up it...
So that leaves, well...nothing. Spec series have their place as a gimmick, like the nation-oriented A1GP, but they are becoming the norm at an alarming rate.
Also, I can't find any real evidence that spec series and standardisation help with increasing the competitiveness, and in saving costs.
Looking at IndyCar/CART/IRL/Champ Car/etc. as a first example. In the mid-90s, there were two makes of tyre and multiple engine manufacturers. On one of those weekends where one particular make "got it right", it would sometimes throw up an unusual result, I remember one CART season where for the first half of the season there was a different winner in each race (1995 or 2000 I think). In contemporary IRL IndyCar where everyone uses the same equipment, three teams win probably 95% of the races, and car counts were lower than ever before the merger.
F1....Pierluigi Martini used Pirelli qualifiers to stick a Minardi on the front row for the 1990 US Grand Prix. Jean Alesi's well-documented heroics on race day were aided by the characteristics of his Pirellis probably being better suited to the task than the Goodyears used by all the "usual" front runners.
In 1994, Ferrari were slowly emerging from one of their barren periods, but the combination of a powerful Ferrari V12 and the characteristics of the Hockenheim track enabled Gerhard Berger to outpace title contenders Michael Schumacher (Ford V8) and Damon Hill (Renault V10) even before they hit problems, and score a then-rare win for the Scuderia.
Without the recent Bridgestone-Michelin tyre war, 2001 and 2003 would probably have been the same borefest that 2002 and 2004 were. Michelin having the edge in 2003 enabled Montoya and Raikkonen to push Schumacher harder than they otherwise would have. Without Michelin, it's possible that Schumacher would have been champion every single year from 2000 to 2006.
Also I don't think its a coincidence that since the single tyre, Ferrari and McLaren have done the bulk of the winning, whereas in previous seasons there were an average of three cars that could contend for wins on more than one-off occasions.
Standardization places more emphasis on money and resources, since you can rely even less on innovation, and not on having the right tyre or component, so the teams that can eke out performance to the n-th degree by throwing resources at a problem, win. See IndyCar 2006 onwards.
People talk about "entertainment", but I don't want to be "entertained", I want to be interested, captivated and absorb myself in all facets of the sport. And when it comes to relying on quirky qualifying and race regulations to mix things up in order to keep the casual fan mildly satisified in order to make more and more money, while alienating the hardcore fans, who contrary to popular belief, AREN'T worthless, because they are the ones who stick with the sport through thick and thin providing it retains its core values.
And like I said, for those who don't give a toss about all that stuff and just want to watch an "exciting" race, virtually every series out there is already catering for you, I'll always say each to his own, but to be as good as told your point of view is worthless and that every single form of motorsport should standardise to chase some unattainable pipe dream of equality, cost containment and entertainment, is becoming repetitive and annoying, and it is being led from the top (Max).
:up:Quote:
Originally Posted by V12
If Mosley wants to save F1 the cheapest and probably the best thing he can do for the sport is to resign and leave F1. and while leaving, he can ask Bernie to follow suit. And finally the FIA board can use a shakeup and transparency.
Those actions alone will do more for F1 than any gimmick measure.
Totally agree with you! Those who want to be entertained can watch "Dancing with the Stars." Those who want to be interested watch "Nova." The motor racing equivalents are NASCAR and F1/ALMS, respectively.Quote:
Originally Posted by V12
A long, long time ago... I can still remember how
That music used to make me smile
And I knew if I had my chance
That I could make those people dance
And maybe they'd be happy for a while
Geeusss,
what do you people not understand---you think MaXie wants to turn F1 into dancing with the stars or the red neck good times of nastycar???He knows the elite snobs of F1 could not deal with that!! OH NO, we do not want the f1 fans might actually laugh and get a hernia or a dose of rectal prolapse :eek: Regardless of many other faults, He is not a "wannabe" Nero playing the fiddle while F1 burns...
But that's not how it used to be
The money was a flowing, the sponsors were a spending...
Bad news on the doorstep
I couldn't take one more step
He knows that given the way the world is going, that first all the tobacco money dried up, like the desert in Iraq.
Now the banks and auto industry are crashing into the pitstop of no return.
Price of oil is falling, by over 50% in less than three months (as in 140 plus per barrel to the 60 or so range), so bye bye oil money like Shell......
AIG, Prudential and Hartford are going bye, bye.....
While Lennin read the book of Marx
Real estate prices and mortgages are crashing all over, even.....IN CHINA!!!!!
Maybe you people need to worry over more important questions like
So do you have faith in God above?
Do you believe in rock and roll?
Will music save your mortal soul?
BUT NO........
Now for 10 years we've been on our own
And moss grows fat on a rolling stone
So who is gonna pay the bills for those buffets fancy wind tunnels, carbon fiber, tires good for 10 minutes, complex tech and stuff good for two hours per race and out-moded in three months????
I met a girl who sang the blues
And I asked her for some happy news
But she just smiled and turned away
Enjoy what is very likely to be the last great orgy of money and splendor for f1 for years to come, assuming any of it is around in a year or so.......
I went down to the sacred store
Where I'd heard the music years before
But the man there said the music wouldn't play
And in the streets the children screamed
The lovers cried and the poets dreamed
But not a word was spoken
The church bells all were broken
And the three men I admire most
The Father Son and Holy Ghost
They caught the last train for the coast
I think I will have another drink before they (be it MCCain, Obama, Osama or Putin) turn out the lights.....Bye, bye Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry................