Posted on 08/05/2009 7:57:45 PM PDT by Chode
This will be a general purpose thread for F1 news and pings that really don't require a thread of their own.
10 yrs old but I'd never heard of it.
Carnage, technical insight, and sex!
Highly recommended for any race fan.
Fiction, but the books by Bob Judd are a good read, if you can find them.
I was referring to the books by Bob Judd, which are fiction, in response to that documentary novel nascarnation mentions in his post. As F1-themed novels which I found fun to read. More thriller than technical, though.
Sovereign Order by FReeper Jim Macomber, also a member of the F1 list, is a great read about terrorism at the Monaco GP, it came out last year
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/34297046
Volkswagen close to buying Red Bull F1 team
German car giant Volkswagen is close to agreeing a deal to take over the Red Bull Formula 1 team, says BBC F1 chief analyst Eddie Jordan.
The agreement would see VW buy the team and build its own engine, while Red Bull continues as a major sponsor.
Jordan says a VW engine would not enter F1 until 2018 and Red Bull would use Ferrari power in the interim.
The team will split with current engine partner Renault after this season, ending their contract a year early.
“Red Bull and VW have been in on-and-off talks for more than a year and I understand that the fundamentals of a deal for the sale of the team have been agreed,” said Jordan.
“An arrangement whereby VW would take it over, becoming the fourth major manufacturer in F1, and Red Bull would continue to enjoy the high profile that comes from a major sponsorship suits both parties.”
It is not clear which of the VW Group’s brands would be promoted in F1, although Audi is the favourite. The company also owns the Porsche, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Bentley, Seat and Skoda marques.
Red Bull
Red Bull, the four-time constructors’ champions, are struggling to match Mercedes and Ferrari
Red Bull boss Dietrich Mateschitz told his company’s Speedweek website on Friday that his team’s split from Renault was concluded “a few weeks ago”.
He said using a Ferrari engine would be “a very acceptable solution for the next two or three years” but a contract with the Italian company was not finalised.
Any VW deal would represent a triumph for Martin Winterkorn, the chairman of the VW board of directors, in an internal power struggle.
Winterkorn has agreed the deal with Mateschitz and the drinks giant’s motorsport adviser Helmut Marko, Jordan says.
VW and Red Bull have long-time links and are currently partners in the world rally championship.
BBC Sport understands Winterkorn agreed a deal to buy out Red Bull last winter but the plan was vetoed by former VW Group chairman Ferdinand Piech.
Piech was ousted in a boardroom power struggle and resigned in April.
In May Marko said: “If we don’t have a competitive engine in the near future, then either Audi is coming or we are out.”
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has consistently denied that the team have held talks with the VW Group.
He told BBC Sport in June: “There has been no dialogue with VW or Audi.”
On Thursday and Friday at the Singapore Grand Prix, Marko and Horner repeated the threat that Red Bull would quit F1 if they did not get a strong engine.
hasn’t worked out for Honda this year...
read it last summer...the description of the Gordon Smiley accident is gruesome...you can youtube the accident in which they go frame by frame and you can see his helmetless head halfway out of the cockpit as the car is climbing the fence...
here’s the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LKtgEUTYqY
May have been, how will the upcoming EPA fine for the TDI’s software figure into buying Redbull? Also how would it look to buy a ‘racing’ team when you cheat on clean air?
good point
to me racing isn’t about clean air and though it’s bad press, i don’t think it’ll hurt their sales as the people buying their TD’s aren’t doing it for Mother Gia, but that’s just me
Back then the chassis was fabricated aluminum similar to aircraft of that era. Sort of an interim step between the old steel tube frame and the current carbon fiber. The speeds advanced much quicker than the structural integrity of the chassis.
my guess on Mercedes is a software issue which the higher tire pressures exposed. With all their power the higher tire pressure cause the rear tires to spin coming out of slow corners with the application of throttle. The lower tire pressures allowed more grip covering the issue. I think Mercedes is going to have to program the throttle to be more progressive.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/motorsport/formulaone/jenson-button/11879322/Jenson-Button-poised-to-quit-Formula-One.html
Button to quit F1 or quit motorsports entirely ??
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.