Twilight Races

[McZiderRed]

Evening races. A good idea, or not....

Nico Rosberg has decried the idea of racing when "The visibility is so difficult, you can't even see the edges of the track in some corners. I was driving into the sun and that's not what racing is about. So I really hope they reconsider that."

Also, the weather forecast for the Malaysian Grand Prix is wet and . A bad combination. Bad light & wet weather. Like Melbourne, they're also racing at 5.00 o'clock local time...

Even without the threat of rain, is it another example of Bernie/FIA madness to rake in more money at the expense of decent conditions/racing? Should races start at the right time for the local time/conditions?

I like a wet race that spices things up a bit, but I also like races where the majority of cars finish....

 

[sobriety]

They seem to manage ok with sunset and sunrise at Le Mans, don't they? Surley it's just a case of selecting the correct visor for the light conditions.

 

[Amdathlonuk]

I agree, at the end of the day these guys really know how to drive cars.

I appreciate it may be slightly more dangerous but surely they will drive the cars to the limit of the conditions. I suppose it's one way of sorting the men from the boys.

However, I appreciate it's easy to drive from the Sofa!

 

[bogaTYR]

its seriously odd when you think about it.

here we have a sport with the most amazing safety one can think of and then we suddenly get races at times when it gets dark and even night races. one of the easiest safety measures, well in my mind at least, is to drive at a time of day when one can actually see where one is going.

rain and other weather phenomena are part of the whole mix which is F1, as is cars crashing out and other ontrack things. sometimes drivers benefit and sometimes they don't. what makes it unfortunately is that. plus the fact a driver is lucky has no bearing on him being a good or a bad driver.

myself, i am never happy with a rain race. mainly cos it might have a huge effect on who will be WDC. it becomes a lottery. it would be great under a medal system where drivers have to take every chance they get. but under the system we have now, rain races should really be scrapped in my view.

 

[Galahad]

I tend to agree with sobriety, these are the best drivers in the world, they are paid enough money and they should be able to cope with variable light conditions.

As has been pointed out, cars have been racing around the clock all over the world for 80 years now. It's not rocket science to make a few practical adjustments.

As for wet races, it's fashionable to call them a lottery but they're really not. If you spin off on a patch of water, and others don't, that's not luck I'm afraid, even if you might claim it is.

And if you manage to stay on the track but end up being lapped by the winner, that's not luck either.

It makes the winners seem undeserving when in fact they are usually more deserving than the dry weather winners.

 

[teabagyokel]

Boga, I disagree 100% about wet races. If its wet, it is all about the driver, and whether the team has the sense to change tyres [RAI, GBR08], pull their drivers in at the right time [MAS, MON08] or be on the right compound [HAM, ITA09]. Its only a lottery when some pillock starts ending races by driving at full pelt under Safety Car [ALO, BRA03].

Either way, the Twilight Races are a particularly daft idea! If you weren't going to get up at 3:00am, then you probably won't get up at 6:00am either! The F1 officianadoinsomniacs that watch fly-aways will watch them anyway, those of us who V+ it (and then suspect Virgin changed the result) will V+ it either way.

Yes, I probably will get up for Malaysia, but if a driver gets killed for European TV's benefit, then I don't think that the whole thing will be worth it! Nico Rosberg has opposed it...

"The visibility is so difficult, you can't even see the edges of the track in some corners. I was driving into the sun and that's not what racing is about. So I really hope they reconsider that.

If you can't see the track then you can't avoid debris, and that can be disasterous if a Polish bloke and a German bloke have just run each other off of the road, for example!

Bad idea, y'all! Go for daylight, what will it cost Bernie? People watching F1 re-runs rather than live. Sheesh, live with it you ridiculous dwarf!

 

[sobriety]

Good point, but i go mountain biking in my spare time, which involves going from bright light to shady trees fairly rapidly, although obviously not as quick as f1, and i can choose a lens for my sunnies that works well in both conditions, and right up to near darkness, i'm not sure why the drivers don't seem to be able to? oops that sounds like a rant!

 

[Brogan]

As I understand it, dusk/twilight is one of the worst times for driving as the eye/brain struggles to cope with the (changing) conditions and light levels.
Couple that with the glare from a low sun and I can see why the drivers don't particularly like it.

Pick a visor that blocks out the low sun and visibility will be reduced.
Pick one with good visibility and suffer from glare.

Either way it's not ideal when travelling at 300kph....

 

[McZiderRed]

I agree with Teabag. At the end of the day (do you see what I did there! ) twilight races are daft, IMO. The people that will get up for the 6 o'clock start, would probably have got up for the 3 o'clock start, so nothing gained. And like Brogan said, it's a dodgy time to be driving. Dodgy conditions, whilst driving in a 24 hour race, are part & parcel, but F1 doesn't have to race at that time.

I can appreciate that they are professionals and should be able to cope with the conditions, but I think the twilight zone might be a step too far.... In my opinion, of course.