[PAULYBEE2656]

 

 

as you may know, im a bit of a motorsport nut.... and the new f1 season is 6 weks away. anyone got anythoughts on the upcoming season or am i the only one willing to admit to a love of this passionate, cerebral and beautiful sport... (any motorsport, not just f1 by the way)

my personal opinion is that ferrari will either walk it or it will be a close run thing between raikkonen, alonso, the bmws and bars. not to mention the great new talents in lewis hamilton and keikki kovailenen.....

im saying ferrari because they are the only car that has a long wheelbase something which is deemed a disadvantage with the current areodynamic regulations and trends. they have either got it totally arse over elbow, which is unlikely or they have found something that everyone missed, remember all teams are using the same tyre this year and that will make a difference.

cant wait for melbourne in march........

anyway, thoughts people???????????????

 

[Пятхъдесят Шест]

I have tried to watch racing, of all sorts, but it doesn't really move me to watch it again. People are crazy about NASCAR here, but I don't get it.

I do like to keep up with the Dakar Rally, however. That is pretty wild.

[PAULYBEE2656]

i think you have to be american to get nascar. im not a fan at all. i actually find it boring! i love oval racing, the indy racing league, indy 500, champ cars whenever they race on an oval and i love touring car racing but nascar just seems too processional for my liking. i know that sounds mental as i know theyre are more overtaking in one lap of nascar than an entire season of f1 but it just doent grab me. i do see the idolisation of dale earnhart and others as beingjustified tho. i mean you cant drive flat out for 3 hours at 200 mph millimeters from cars without having divine skill. ill try again to watch daytona next month and give nascar another chance as i do every year for nearly 15 years now!

the dakar, thats just an endurance test of both man and machine. its an awesome event, the bikes are truly nuts!

[Пятхъдесят Шест]

I can't even be bothered with watching a minute of it, the Daytona that is. Just the thought makes me sleepy.

[PAULYBEE2656]

just incase you think motorsport is dull. watch this from an irl race in texas 3 years ago. the driver in question is swedens kenny brack. he is back this year in training for a serious testing role with a top irl team. the man should not have survived this horrible accident.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fdCsoIh2_E


and of course the hero, alex zanardi of italy. racing in the champ car series in germany in sept 2001. this accident should have killed him but instead he lost his legs pretty much instantly. he is now back bigtime and is a favourite to clinch the world touring car championship for bmw in 2007 .this man is a legend even if his f1 credentials domt show that fact!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FoKTAi3QOw


i posted these primarily to show the sheer brutality if something goes wrong, these guys were badly badly hurt but thankfully injuries are rare. i thnk its ok to watch these as the guys in question are fully recovered but i draw the line in posting crashes where people died. th most horriffic thing i saw live was the death of greg moore of canada during the final race of th 1999 champ car (CART) season in california. its on youtube, search it if u want but i dontfeel right posting it here..................

[Пятхъдесят Шест]

Those are pretty hard to watch. I can't imagine being in that vehicle. Crazy, they are! Gutsy.

[compulsive diarrhea, jico]

yey!

i follow every f1 season since i remember! same to the dakar


yeah man, i've been in the first two stages of the dakar here in portugal, and followed every day action until dakar.

 

here's a pic from your guy robby gordon on 2nd ss portimão-málaga

this year volkswagen official team and privateer carlos sousa were very unlucky.

about f1, the first grand prix i remember is san marino 94 when senna died,

this season,
we finnaly got rid of schumacher - good pilot - not great: proved that a few times, i hated him.

i cant wait to watch raikkonen vs. alonso

[pantophobia]

F1 is fun to watch if it's on, after the fiasco 2 years ago at the US Grand Prix the networks got skeptical of airing much of it, only four races (US, Canada, Britain, and France) will be aired on broadcast

I used to watch American Le Mans Series a few years back, but that doesn't seem to be aired much anymore

[PAULYBEE2656]

yeah with schumacher gone, fairplay may creep back into the sport but then f.i.a. does stand for ferrari international aid! ive always said schumi won more than anyone else ever and so is a highly prized talent, he is a great driver but the way he goes racing will not make him a legend. i mean senna beat prost in equal machinery, schumacher beat irvine, barrichello, massa and jos verstappen in equal machinery. all competent f1 drivers but none are on the same level as prost....

as for my first f1 memory. the 1979 french grand prix, the one with arnoux and villeneuve banging wheels for 2nd place for thelast 2 laps, stuff of legends. i was almost 4 at the time. i dont think ive missed one since........

[compulsive diarrhea, jico]

hey paul do you follow the wrc too?

i've checked the news and it's seems that gronholm won the 2nd round.

 

his car seems to be really fast on snow tracks compared to the citroen c2.

[PAULYBEE2656]

yeah, i keep an eye on the rallying via autosport magazine but the tv coverage in ireland and the uk is fucking appaling. but the wrc is coming to ireland in october and ill be at that with bells on because we lost the british touring car and brit formula three races this year. gotta see some sction in 07!

i think loeb is gonna have a tough year against the ford boys. that car looks the business big time! its a shame the wrc has kinda been a victim of its own success and there are less and less cars being entered. its time for a new class of car to start, keep the running costs down etc! although rallying will never be the same for me since the group b days of the audi quattros and the ford rs500s!

 

[PAULYBEE2656]

in f1 news. mclarens lewis hamilton is blowing peopl away in pre season testing. alonso struggling with the car! shape of things to come...... i doubt it but it adds to the anticipation.......

[compulsive diarrhea, jico]

Originally Posted by PAULYBEE2656

yeah, i keep an eye on the rallying via autosport magazine but the tv coverage in ireland and the uk is fucking appaling. but the wrc is coming to ireland in october and ill be at that with bells on because we lost the british touring car and brit formula three races this year. gotta see some sction in 07!

i dont have cable tv so... same thing here, the wrc is back to portugal this year and i'll definitely going to be there.

Originally Posted by PAULYBEE2656

although rallying will never be the same for me since the group b days of the audi quattros and the ford rs500s!

hehe, i've seen some pretty wild images from those beasts.


shame on me i havent checked f1 news...

[ondskan]

Kimi Räikkönen will do really great this season in Ferarri. I'm very excited about the fight between him and Alonso.

[Norma J]

Yeah, them cars sure go around...

What's there to talk about?

[Hip Priest]

We've got a little radio controlled Subaru Imprezza rally car. My little niece loves it.

It gets raced around the house. My record for the demanding study-landing-bedroom-landing-study course (without hitting anything) is improving steadily.

[compulsive diarrhea, jico]

oh i always wanted one those r/c's w/ small combustion engines.. but they're too expensive.

[PAULYBEE2656]

Originally Posted by ondskan

Kimi Räikkönen will do really great this season in Ferarri. I'm very excited about the fight between him and Alonso.

i reckon he wont. i reckon him and massa will end up taking points off one another and cancel each other out. i still reckon lewis, alonso, and now it looks like bmw is coming up good too!

whats there to talk about norma ????? tonnes of shit if you are interested!!!!

[demonrail666]

Originally Posted by PAULYBEE2656

i reckon him and massa will end up taking points off one another and cancel each other out.

I agree. Kimi is a great driver but I really don't think he'll do it with Ferrari. I think it's going to take the team a couple of seasons to get adjusted to life without Schumacher driving for them. Schumacher was, for all his faults, the greatest driver of his era and the team seemed to worship him.

[PAULYBEE2656]

it wasnt a case of worship. michael moulded the team around him. i mean, he insisted on having second rate drivers as team mates. irvine, barrichello and massa. no offence to any of those drivers (i mean they are much finer drivers than ill ever be) but it wasnt ever gonna be a prost vs senna situation! and thats the greatest shame for 2007. racefans have been robbed of seeing wha we wanted for so long. michael in a ferrari racing with another equally fast drivr in th same team. schumi vs kimi would have been fascinating. but michael being michael decided to take the easy option and bow out at his prime........ actually he shouldnt be faulted for that (think niki laudas double retiremrnt, alan jones, damon hill, jacques villeneuve, all champions and all bowed out of racing kinda anonymously by falling out of the midfield.)

ferrari cant deliver 2 strong cars, they never could. the last time they tried, they failed miserably... prost and mansell 90, berger alesi in 95. i reckon the same will happen again and for kimis sake i hope he kicks massas arse very quickly in the first 2 races or its day day for his championship. remember massa has been a ferrari boy for 3 years now both testing and race team!!!