http://www.autosport.com/news/report.ph ... 003Formula 1, like Nascar, just isn't what it used to be. I stopped watching Nascar when they went to the cars of tomorrow and Formula 1 when the went to grooved tires.I watch races at Talladega and Bristol because 20 car pileups are fun to watch... as are fistfights in turn 2!But I do remember this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWTVpeJ7krc
I fail to see the problem with grooved tires in the top level of auto racing in the world. It may have made a difference of a few tenths of a second in lap times but this is quite quickly overcome with other advancements in technology. The real problem with F1 is oil rich nations buying races and older established races (Montreal) falling by the wayside due to extortionate hosting costs.p
The problems start at the top!I don't like watching governing bodies of motorsport trying to slow cars down. Leave that up to the ability of the drivers!
The many problems with F1 start with Bernie Ecclestone...Bridgestone (the sole tire manufacturer) is quitting after 2010.Renault is about to announce they're quitting F1 too.Let's face it: $500,000,000 a year to field an uncompetitive team in F1 is ridiculous, even if you're a billionaire. Just putting that much money in a pile and burning it would be more entertaining than F1 parades have become.I think they got rid of grooved dry tires after the 2008 season. Rain tires are probably grooved of necessity.I'll bet Tony Stewart could field at least two top-tier multi-car NASCAR teams (or 5 IRL teams because of the shorter schedule) for $500 million, and IRL and NASCAR have some ridiculous rules too.But if you're a multinational company with a high-end product that appeals to the ridiculously rich and famous, there's hardly a better advertising venue than F1.
My 2003 Vibe Base Auto 2-tone Salsa "SalsaWagon" was built in May 2002. I acquired it in Feb 2004/Traded it in on a 2016 Honda HR-V in Feb 2018.
Bridgestone is getting out of F1. Honda left at the beginning of the year and BMW is leaving last time I checked. Toyota is getting out after their best season yet. Renault may pull out eventually.The orphaned Honda developed car was brought racing by Ross Brawn as Brawn GT and it won the Manufacturers and drivers championship, running on one of the lower team budgets and a last minute arranged Mercedes engine. Even with all the turmoil, it turned out to be a great and surprising season, leaving the normal front runners, Ferrari and McClaren, stuggling near mid pack for a change. F1 is going through a tough time, just like the rest of the economies of the world. F1 is wicked expensive (leading edge Technology usually is) so they need to come up with a less extravagant formula somehow. That's a tough order for a business that touts itself the worlds most advanced racing circus. But on the brighter side, we have a new US F1 team set up in Charlotte, N.C. and they will race this coming 2010 season. We might end up with an American driver, too. Pretty cool. There are two more new teams on the roster as well and as many as 26 cars that could make the starting grid.And yes, F1 got rid of grooved tires for 2009, so they have been racing on slicks again in the dry. The four grove tires were mandated by the rules from 1998 to 2008. They still have two wet condition tires with rain grooves, a full wet and an intermediate wet. Nothing that Bernie or FIA has tried to slow these cars down, has been successful. Records continue to be reset... be it with or without grooved tires, slicks, V-12, V-10 or V-8 engines or the aero package configurations. Team engineers and aerodynamicists always find a way to improve the cars. Some better than others, as this year thoroughly showed.
'08 Manual, Sun&Sound, 17" Borbet Type CA wheels, 215/50 Summer Tires... 16" OE steel, 215/55 Snow Tires