McLaren F1 dashboard on the cheap March 13, 2010
Posted by richard in : Motorsport, Technology , 1 comment so farF1 cars round Silverstone are being replaced for one weekend, by a few thousand bats people.
Among the throngs will be yours truly: yep, I’m entering the Silverstone Half Marathon.
Inconvenient, this, in so many ways – such as, for example, the fact I will probably fall apart by the end of it. Chief inconvenience, though, is the start time of the race. 12 noon.
Yes! Not only is it on the same day as the 1st F1 race of 2010, it is on at the same time. Groan. My only vain hope is that the good men of the BRDC pipe out the race through the race commentator speakers.
Here’s something, though: thanks to McLaren’s brilliant race dashboard, F1 has gone all ubertech for 2010. It’s now possible to track JB and Lewis in Real Time – see where they are, how fast they’re going, all sorts of stuff. This got me thinking…
… who fancies tracking my pained progress tomorrow? If you’ve got the computer up for the F1, maybe you could also pop open a window to check I don’t keel over en route?
Via the magic of Runkeeper, you’ll (hopefully) be able to do this.
I’ll be strapping the iPhone to my arm and, as the lights go out bloke with an air horn honks, I’ll press ‘go’. For, my lo-fi version of the McLaren F1 dashboard, on foot!
May work, may not… just in case, I’ll be posting updates on my blog while I’m not in action, checking on via Foursquare and Tweeting on the canny #f1silverstonerun.
About a billion people entered this last year, so I am in a small way looking forward to it. Mostly though, I’m dreading it. Share in my pain tomorrow, if you fancy a giggle…
View Silverstone from up on high!
I’m not the only one running – and so far, DealDrivers’ John has raised £750!
Citroen DS3 Racing past March 11, 2010
Posted by richard in : History, Minutiae of cars, Motorsport , add a commentWHY only 1000 Citroen DS3 Racings, I asked the Citroen man at the Geneva Motor Show.
Surely you could make it a permanent addition to the range, underlining its MINI John Cooper Works-challenging status?
The reason why, he revealed, was a blast from the past. It’s a mainstream maker’s homologation special. Like the Ford Escort RS 1600i, like the Alfa Romeo 155 Silverstone, like the Mercedes 190 Evolution. And thus, for me, cool.
It’s even diverted off the production line for final finishing: Citroen Racing (for it is they) send the instructions to the production line men, who add on a ‘parts kit’ of bits that turn a standard DSport into a DS3 Racing.
Changes include:
• Stiffer springs, lowered by 15mm
• New-spec front and rear dampers
• 30mm wider track front and rear
• 4-piston brake calipers
• Drilled rear brake discs
• 18-inch alloys
• Wing extensions
• Carbon-fibre air diffuser
• Remapping software for EPAS and ESP (including ‘off’ button)
Chuck in an interior makeover and STRICT limitations to 1000 units, and you have something that won’t be cheap but will be exceedingly collectable.
It’s quick, too. The 1.6 THP turbo has, at 200hp, 30 percent more power, plus 15 percent more torque. Thank uprated components, tuned turbo and remapped ECU for this. Rortiness is provided by a special exhaust back box.
But what is it homologation for? Next year’s new WRC rules, that’s what. These stipulate more real world cars with front-drive chassis. Kimi Raikkonen will be driving one of these next year. We’ll be able to buy one before that.
Citroen, you’ve sold me: add my name to the press fleet booking list now, please..!
Save BBC 6Music and the Ford Zephyr
Renaultsport past to inspire turbo future?
Why RenaultSports don’t have rear spoilers
Richard Branson’s Virgin F1 (Teenage) Fanclub March 5, 2010
Posted by richard in : History, Motorsport , add a commentVirgin boss Richard Branson takes to the F1 grid for the first time this year with his own racing team.
But it’s not the first time ‘his’ cars have been ‘in’ F1.
This, as you may suspect, is slightly tenuous. But for Indie/F1/car geeks such as, well, me, it’s curiously neat. And goes like this:
• Teenage Fanclub released a 1994 album called Grand Prix
• On the cover was a shot of a contemporary 1994 F1 racer
• That car was a Simtek
• Boss of the Simtek F1 team was Nick Wirth
• Nick Wirth now runs Wirth Research
• Wirth Research designed the new Virgin F1 racer
It may be a new team, but there’s heritage in that there Virgin setup, not to mention a good dose of jangly guitar musical brilliance. Sort of.
Question is, can you come up with a more brilliantly tenuous link between something random and F1 racing?
Motorsport and Twitter aim for Groundswell
Another most amazing save of 2009
Motorsport and Twitter aim for Groundswell February 7, 2010
Posted by richard in : Motorsport, What I learned today , 4commentsTWITTER as a networking tool is developing fast. Once again, I found out how useful it can be this week.
Trusty ol’ twhirl lit up green one morning: an @ reply to a Tweet! Exciting – particularly as it was from someone I didn’t know.
@JoshBensonGV picked up on some random price list musing I was Tweeting – that Volvo only fits heated seats as standard to the sportlich R-Design variant of XC60 compact SUV – with a smiley ribbing.
Smiley back from me: but who was this chap? Turns out, he’s a Brit FFord racer, who’s using social media in some very canny ways.
Typically, being British, he has little money to go racing. Typically, too, he’s pretty good. Just as Anthony Davidson should be in an F1 seat*, Benson’s stats show a fair turn of speed when he’s actually able to race.
So, he’s solving his cash quandary by being innovative. With the aid of Lesley at oneplusonemarketing, he wants to do for motorsport what the Arctic Monkeys and MySpace did for music.
Namely, create a Groundswell. Become the people’s driver. Gain a following, a community – level the playing field, ensure that talent gets you the seat, rather than the plain power of the corporate dollar.
‘The control of what we hear is over,’ reckons Lesley. The motorsport intent here is similar: to enable the good guys, who just so happen to be pretty good, get their chance.
Things hopefully kick off for Benson on 1 April up at God’s own motorsport garden, Oulton Park. I’ll try to be there – but, even if I’m not, Twitter will mean I’m as good as.
It’s certainly one for us social media devotees to follow. Now, who’s going to be the first to develop a motorsport section for MySpace?
* Little Ant may not be in an F1 seat, but if we’re being selfish, we can say he’s doing something even better: once again pairing up with Crofty on 5Live. They cover pretty much all the track action of F1 throughout the weekend, for the commentary pairing of your dreams. Tune in, stream it, podcast it, Tweet it, do anything to listen when the racing kicks off in Bahrain. It’s brilliant.
Another most amazing save of 2009 December 28, 2009
Posted by richard in : Motorsport , 1 comment so farGRAHAM Rahal proved that you can be Plato-esque in an IndyCar single seater too.
This really is quite incredible: how sideways IS the boy? Given the dynamics of FWD v RWD, which do YOU reckon is the more impressive?
Internet of Things joins motorsport
Why Barry Ferguson should look to Lewis Hamilton
The most amazing save of 2009 December 26, 2009
Posted by richard in : Motorsport , 2commentsJASON Plato did it, at the Brands Hatch BTCC race, in a Chevrolet Lacetti.
Check this out and enjoy! Oh, and if you have any that are just as good, please share them here…
Internet of Things joins motorsport
Why do people hate the Lotus Elan?
F1 takes to the road September 27, 2009
Posted by richard in : Motorsport , 2commentsDriving to work every day – well, it’s just like being an F1 driver, isn’t it.
Hmm. Not something you’d normally think on the commute around the Wolverhampton Ring Road. But really, take out the glamour and the grid girls, and the two processes are very similar.
See, even if you’re Lewis Hamilton, what you actually want is not to get the tail out each and every time, catching it with an act of God (and do check out 0.50 and 1.30 here…) No, you want consistency.
It’s actually quite boring, this F1 driving lark. What you’re aiming to have is no surprises, just metronomic consistency, lap after lap – same lines, same feelings, same response, same position of the car on the track each and every time. Yes, being fast is, really, rather dull and formulaic. (Ahem.)
Just like, really, your drive to work. you go on the same road each and every day. Do the same things. Use the same gears.
So, tomorrow, why not try analysing this, as an F1 driver would do?
Consider your lines. Think about the placement of the car. Monitor what the car’s doing, and compare with what it did yesterday. Try and pick out exactly the same lines, exactly the same potholes to kiss with the rear wheel.
Ensure you have an entire month of seeing exactly the same rpm when exiting that second-gear bend after the railway bridge.
You want the same lines, the same feelings, the same response, the… well, you get the idea. Ah, you may ask, but what about traffic? Ah indeed, but F1 drivers are not immune to this either. Their skill comes in how they solve it, to get the car back on the ideal as fast and as loss-free as possible.
Believe me, it’ll transform your drive to work. Yes, you’ve followed exactly the same route for 8 years, which probably adds up to, ooh, 2000 ‘laps’. But that’s only what Hamilton, pre testing ban, would have done in testing at Jerez.
No, take F1 to the roads instead. (But maybe without doing this sort of stuff in the 318d, perhaps…)
Internet of Things joins motorsport
Why do people hate the Lotus Elan?
