Autosport International

[Grizzly]

Did anyone here go?

I went Thursday and Friday. Didn't have a great deal of time to go wondering and didn't have a camera, but I did get a couple of teaser pictures with the crappy camera on phone...

Clive Chapman was on hand with his Classic Team Lotus, a fantastic display and some inspiring stories/tidbits of days gone by. They were right next door to Group Lotus , who unveiled their final livery ahead of the new season.

Lots of team managers in attendance, they still speak like politicians one to one, but that's to be expected i suppose..

Anyone want to hazard a guess as to why the Williams has a pre-09 front wing??

 

[fat jez]

Anyone want to hazard a guess as to why the Williams has a pre-09 front wing??

Sometimes the teams use old cars with the current year's sponsors for demo purposes. I've seen McLaren do that when they had one of their cars on display in the Bullring in Birmingham. The wide tail wing was a dead give away, even though the sponsors were current.

 

[Grizzly]

Anyone want to hazard a guess as to why the Williams has a pre-09 front wing??

Sometimes the teams use old cars with the current year's sponsors for demo purposes. I've seen McLaren do that when they had one of their cars on display in the Bullring in Birmingham. The wide tail wing was a dead give away, even though the sponsors were current.

That was my first thought, Merc and the new teams had 2010 cars, the rest were 09, 08 etc. The Williams has a tall, narrow, rear end though...? It must just be a mishmash to get something to the show. I didn't speak to any Williams people to ask...

I have another picture, pretty sure that's a 2009 FW31 with a 2008 or earlier nose/wing... probably as simple as teams not wanting to show off their more recent aero parts to rivals... The RB was not equipped with a current wing either I wanted a good look round that...

 

[fat jez]

probably as simple as teams not wanting to show off their more recent aero parts to rivals... The RB was not equipped with a current wing either I wanted a good look round that...

That's actually a very good point. With no significant changes to the front wing rules, the last year's wings may not change much for this year. With regard to the RB, I bet it had very few of this year's parts on it, given how secretive the crew were every time Martin Brundle took the camera crew near the front or rear of the car!

 

[Grizzly]

Pretty sure this was an RB6, Horner said it was and it had an F-duct fitted, but that is definitely not an RB6 wing, that's from the RB5, and probably an early version of it. The most obvious shape difference is the RB6 has a kind of duckbill shape nose compared to the RB5.

The RB6 wing also had two cuts or slots in the side of the end plate that were supposed to clean the air flow (when the wing is scraping on the floor).

One thing i didn't notice in the last seasons until i was stood right next to the things were the inverted 'shark fins' that the RB and the Merc used under the nose, which i presume helps guide air onto the front bib. Only those two appeared to do so.

 

[F1Yorkshire]

Are Renault still looking for sponsors? There seems to be some large expanses of empty space on their black and gold car.

 

[cider_and_toast]

The wife and I went on the Saturday and managed to meet up with FB for a coffee which was pretty cool. We didn't think it was that great this year, having last been 5 years ago, not a great deal seemed to have changed.

We did get to meet Jody Scheckter who signed my copy of Motorsport magazine on a picture of him crossing the line at Anderstorpe in the Tyrell P34 plus later on we met and got a signed poster from Richard Noble, project manager of Thrust Bloodhound and before that Thrust SSC and before that, holder of the World Land Speed Record in the Thrust 2.

I'd actually like to be able to go on the thursday or friday on the corperate days. I would imagine that it isn't so busy and there would be more interesting people ot meet and talk to.

As for the 2010 F1 Grid Walk (not that you could actually walk among the cars as advertised in Autosport) I noticed that there were no Ferrari's, Saubers or HRTs in the line up.

 

[Grizzly]

There was no official Ferrari participation I only actually noticed on Friday afternoon as i was packing up . Their Wroom? event was on at the same time wasn't it??

The corporate days are a much more chilled affair i presume, not actually having been to a public day, it is also a LOT cheaper as a registered trader, less than half price and if you hold a licence, there are one or two more perks. Speaking to some of the officials, its planned that all the team managers, engineers, sponsors, up and coming drivers etc attend the trade days and then all the F1 drivers etc come for the weekend. That way they cater better for the audiences.

I was quite pleased to meet quite a few people in high places. Martin Whitmarsh for one, and i know you'll like this CaT, Clive Chapman! Being as i was -2 when the late Chapman died, this really was the next best thing for me. He was sat, watching over his cars and shared stories and such of Senna, Fittipaldi, Peterson etc. I don't think the public days are quite so open.

Anyway, i was there for the engineering, the entirety of which is dismantled on Friday evening. Look in your program and you will see the extent of what you don't see on public days. As well as that, there is no money floating round right now, everyone's pretty tight and that shows on 'show' days that don't make money for the teams...

Are Renault still looking for sponsors? There seems to be some large expanses of empty space on their black and gold car.

They lost ING in the race fix scandal didn't they and I don't think they have had a main sponsor since. If you look at the 2010 car it is just covered in 'Renault' writing and some stripes.

 

[FB]

Grizzly said:
As well as that, there is no money floating round right now

As skint as the average shmo in the street is this car sold for £215,000

I'll post some of my pics once I've downloaded them. Perhaps next year rather than just me and CaT saying hi, you'll be pleased to know doesn't just drink cider (unless that's what was hidden in his rucksack) as I saw him consume a cup of coffee, more of us can get together?

 

[fat jez]

you'll be pleased to know doesn't just drink cider (unless that's what was hidden in his rucksack) as I saw him consume a cup of coffee

But did he have a side order of toast?

 

[FB]

One other quick point, all the Mclaren cars had their Marlboro livery removed whilst the Alfa 182 and Arrows A5 on another stand both still carried their tobacco sponsorship. Not sure if this is due to the tobacco advertising regs or Mclaren no longer wanting to promote a Ferrari "sponsor"...

 

[Grizzly]

Did you see the auction FB? There were a few interesting cars there...

Sadly the money comment, as response to CaTs suggestion that the show appeared much the same, was not limited to just the consumer, although that's whats in the drivers seat, the entire industry is lacking the moolah', just as the entire w/world economy is, and motor sport is a commodity.

I didn't quite appreciate the struggles these companies (yes the small F1 teams, but moreover many many of the supporting series and other series) go through just to survive, and in a recession, they are like the sweetie shop - the first place you stop spending money...

I'm actually quite disappointed that CaT doesn't survive purely on cider and dry white toast, you've spoiled the illusion.

 

[Grizzly]

One other quick point, all the Mclaren cars had their Marlboro livery removed whilst the Alfa 182 and Arrows A5 on another stand both still carried their tobacco sponsorship. Not sure if this is due to the tobacco advertising regs or Mclaren no longer wanting to promote a Ferrari "sponsor"...

All the West sponsors were removed from the 98 car too.

 

[fat jez]

It's that old get out clause that Ferrari has that permits them to have a tobacco company as a title sponsor, despite it being banned in most countries and all the other teams ending their contracts with tobacco sponsors.

 

[FB]

Money came up in a chat I had with Barry Sheavills who has temporarily "retired" from top fuel drag racing as he can't find any. He said he needs about half a million quid for a full European season on the top fuel circuit but this is about 20% of what it costs to run an F3 team.

His last set of sponsors moved on to football and you have to wonder what an oil company gets out of having their logo round the side of Eastlands or Stamford Bridge compared to bieng able to point at an 8,000 hp car and say "our oil makes that work".

http://www.barrysheavills.com/

If any of you have never been to Santa Pod and watched the big guys running I can recommend it as a brilliant day out (unless it rains). A standing quarter mile in just over 5 seconds just WOW! The FIA Main Event is on the late May Bank Holiday

http://www.santapod.co.uk/e_main.php

 

[cider_and_toast]

Actually, about an hour before I met up with FB I was in the bar enjoying a quick pint of cider (well ok, Magners but it was all they had). For me it was my favourite part of the day. The wife and I were sat on the floor just outside the bar drinking pints and eating our Cheese Sarnys and discussing cars. Brilliant !!

 

[Grizzly]

enjoying a quick pint of cider (well ok, Magners

ahh', this from a country that gets beer sooo right One word - Dunkertons, familiar?? The real way to enjoy apples and pears. (IMHO)

Money came up in a chat I had with Barry Sheavills who has temporarily "retired" from top fuel drag racing as he can't find any. He said he needs about half a million quid for a full European season on the top fuel circuit but this is about 20% of what it costs to run an F3 team.

His last set of sponsors moved on to football and you have to wonder what an oil company gets out of having their logo round the side of Eastlands or Stamford Bridge compared to bieng able to point at an 8,000 hp car and say "our oil makes that work".

http://www.barrysheavills.com/

If any of you have never been to Santa Pod and watched the big guys running I can recommend it as a brilliant day out (unless it rains). A standing quarter mile in just over 5 seconds just WOW! The FIA Main Event is on the late May Bank Holiday

http://www.santapod.co.uk/e_main.php

It does bring home the seriousness of the cost cutting attempts accross the board and i completely agree with the sponsorship sentiments. In late 2007, i came pretty close to getting sponsorship (less than £50k) to enter cup racing, with a furniture company believe it or not, however in early 2008 it was quite clear there was no spare money to spend having stickers on a lads toy car so that ended there and then.

On drag racing and the Pod, i love it, im there at least 3/4 times a year for run what ya' brung days with various creations and as a member of the MMAUK (Mopar Muscle Association) i take at least one of my old cars to the Mopar Euro Nats each year which are held July. Id encourage anyone to go, especially the European Championship that you mentionned which fields the very fastest top fuel cars, because everything happens right in front of you, as little as 10 feet away, and 8000hp 10feet away moves the ground under your feet and leaves you trembling! An utterly addictive drug.

Get those pics up FB, mine are rubbish.

 

[FB]

You ever get to York Raceway Grizz? It's only about a mile from where I live so a little more convenient than Santa Pod.

viewtopic.php?f=62&t=673

 

[Grizzly]

No, never been up the strip there, it has been planned once or twice but always fallen through. It is the former secretary and editor to MMAUKs local track and for a time we had exactly the same model Shelbys and always intended to have a grudge match there. However, he moved on, i moved on... things changed.

Its pretty much 200 miles for me where Santa Pod or North Weald are more like 50.

The Plymouth Satellite in the other thread is a regular from MMA, and yeah, they're all red necks, or actually, worse in some cases, wanna'be red necks! I like the cars, but i keep my distance from the culture Im 40 years too young for starters.

 

[FB]

Finally got round to downloading my photos from the Autosport show.