P1: technology/motorsport

It's a Spec-Racer world

Attended the Denver Grand Prix last weekend, along with 145,000 close personal friends. A great event, with lots of racing, and lots of racecars. But not a lot of different racecars. The entire Champ Car field - Lola/Cosworths. Atlantics? Swift/Toyotas. Formula BMW? Er, um, BMW/BMWs.

Ah yes, you say, but there were big announcements about new Champ Cars and Atlantics, weren't there? Yep, looks like the 2007 Champ Car field will be all new - and all the same. Swift/Cosworths or Lola/Cosworths (does it matter?). And the Atlantics? Looks like a full field of Swift/Cosworths there, too.

The IRL has double the diversity - two (count 'em!) chassis manufacturers, and for next year one or two engine manufacturers - no one knows, yet.

Moving overseas, the big news is the new A1GP series. The good news - looks like this new series could be a success, with 24 national teams predicted for the opening race. (Bernie E. must be green with envy.) The boring news - 24 identical Lola/Zyteks.

We're told that clone-cars are good for racing. It showcases the drivers' talents, and all that. Levels the playing field. Improves "the show" for the fans (and let's not forget TV!). The problem is, I think it makes the cars irrelevant, and any time you make the most visible part of "the show" irrelevant to the audience, you're missing a huge opportunity to ramp up fan interest, and to grow a stable base of fans.

NASCAR has managed to maintain its legions of Chevy, Ford and Dodge fans, even though the cars are now all the same, partly by constantly reminding fans of the days when cars really were different, and partly through massive manufacturer advertising campaigns that remind us which set of grille and headlight stickers makes a car a Chevy/Ford/Dodge/Toyota. How long can they maintain the illusion? (Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!)

I'm a car guy. I admire racecar designers - guys who push the envelope. (Jim Hall! Colin Chapman!) And yes, I admire racecar drivers, too. But I think that shifting the fans' attention entirely to the drivers, by enforced standardization of the cars, runs the risk of making racing one-dimensional, and less interesting to a lot of fans.

My evidence? The tifosi, of course. They are, first and foremost, Ferrari fans. They would still show up in their scarlet multitudes if you and I were driving the cars, instead of Schumi and Rubens. Want more? How about Le Mans? There's a lot more excitement around the unveiling of a new-design prototype challenger than there is around the announcement of its driver team. (Think about the Bentley GTP)

Oh, yeah. The best race of the Denver GP weekend? The SPEED World Challenge Touring Cars. Mazda,  BMW, Acura, Honda, Dodge, Ford, Subaru, and Mercedes. Front wheel drive and rear wheel drive. All cleverly managed by SCCA Pro Racing to more or less equal potential performance, but all still retaining their identity. 

How to fix Formula 1, by Gilles Villeneuve

The July 2005 issue of MotorSport provides the following wonderful quote from one of the sport's greatest drivers, captured in an interview by one of its most respected journalists, Nigel Roebuck.

"For me it's very simple," Gilles said. "I love motor racing. To me it is a sport, a spectacle, not a technical exercise. My ideal F1 car would have no ground effect - in fact very little downforce at all. It would have a 5-litre normally-aspirated engine, at least 800hp, with 21 inch rear tyres."..."That would be a fantastic spectacle, I can tell you."

Speaking on the ground effects cars of 1982:

"So this is crazy, right? The drivers don't like these cars and neither do the spectators. So who does like them? The aerodynamicists, I guess. But the public does not come to see how good the aerodynamicists are. They come to see a battle, a spectacle. They come to be stirred, excited. And they are being cheated..." (MotorSport, July 2005, Nigel Roebuck's Legends, p.15-16)

Mr. Mosley, are you listening?

(And to show that Mr. Villeneuve knew a spectacle when he saw one, here are links to video of the famous duel between Villeneuve and Rene Arnoux in the closing laps of the 1979 French GP. Incredible.)

NASCAR considers more testing restrictions - who benefits?

The Winston-Salem Journal (7/11/05) reports:

NASCAR is considering banning Cup testing at Kentucky and Nashville and possibly other tracks, according to crew chiefs, who say NASCAR may also ban any testing anywhere during the season's final 10 events.

Currently, the testing limits on Nextel Cup teams don't apply to "non-Cup" tracks like Kentucky and Nashville. Track testing is expensive, so I assume NASCAR is hoping to reduce costs and "level the playing field" for the smaller teams. Good luck!

[The Law of Unintended Consequences enters, stage left, laughing]

If the best-funded teams can't test on the track, they'll head to the wind tunnel or the vehicle dynamics rig. Guess what? The big teams are buying their own vehicle dynamics testing rigs, at about $1.5M each, so they can test as much as they want. Within the rules, of course.

What F1 fans think of technology

The results of the FIA's survey of F1 fans are in. As reported by Pitpass, fans believe that technology is a key part of F1:

• 4 out of 5 believe technology sets F1 apart from other motorsports
• nearly two thirds say that they look forward to technical innovations each season

F1 - management chaos

Sir Jackie Stewart, in a widely quoted BBC radio interview (GrandPrix.com and others), points out the key issue highlighted by the US Grand Prix disaster:

"We've got to have a workable organisation because those teams are being supported financially by multi-national corporations around the world. In the normal business sector, where corporate life has a very dim view of that kind of situation being allowed to occur, the management of the whole structure is put into question. I think the people at the top are vulnerable."

In any corporation, such a confrontation between management, the company's stakeholders, and its customers would result in the CEO being fired - simply because it is his job to ensure that this sort of thing doesn't happen. The details of the event are irrelevant.

Like it or not, F1 is now a global business. Max, and perhaps the FIA, must go.

The Indianapolis F1 fiasco - a different view

The motorsports column of the Autoextremist (Issue 302, June 22, 2005) has an interesting take on the whole mess. Of note:

"..ultimately [comes] down to the simple fact that Formula 1 is not about racing, it's about politics."

Hard to argue with. Their bottom line - F1 is (deservedly) finished in the U.S. I hope they're wrong.

Porsche LMP2 unveiled

Autoblog (among others) is displaying Porsche's official rollout pictures of the new LMP2 prototype to be campaigned by Penske Racing. Too bad it isn't in Sunoco blue...