Ah Spa!

[XYXPDQ]

Ah, finally Spa time!

[Sir Tim]

XYXPDQ <qwrt...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Ah, finally Spa time!
>

Yes, always a highlight of the season.

--
Sir Tim

[~misfit~]

On 26/07/2023 5:22 am, Sir Tim wrote:
> XYXPDQ <qwrt...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Ah, finally Spa time!
>
> Yes, always a highlight of the season.

Agreed. It's the race that I always look forward to more than any other.
--
Shaun.

"Humans will have advanced a long, long way when religious belief has a cozy little classification
in the DSM"
David Melville

This is not an email and hasn't been checked for viruses by any half-arsed self-promoting software.

[fleemos876]

On Tue, 25 Jul 2023 08:35:13 -0700 (PDT), XYXPDQ wrote:

> Ah, finally Spa time!

My favorite of the year. It's on my bucket list to get there someday.

[JP]

On Tuesday, July 25, 2023 at 11:35:15 AM UTC-4, XYXPDQ wrote:
> Ah, finally Spa time!

Spa, Monza, Monaco, and COTA are the only places that really interest me anymore. I wish they could run at Watkins Glen again. I have many great memories (and dead brain cells) from the 70s there.

Hey you kids, get off of my lawn!

[Alan]

It's on my bucket list to race there someday.

[Sir Tim]

JP <jpay...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Tuesday, July 25, 2023 at 11:35:15 AM UTC-4, XYXPDQ wrote:
>> Ah, finally Spa time!
>
> Spa, Monza, Monaco, and COTA are the only places that really interest me
> anymore. I wish they could run at Watkins Glen again. I have many great
> memories (and dead brain cells) from the 70s there.

I would add Suzuka to your list (and probably leave Monaco off it).

--
Sir Tim

[News]

86 COTA, another Tilkedrome. Near Austin, but still in backwater Tejas.

[~misfit~]

Agreed - though Monaco qualifying is exciting.

Maybe it's time for the Monaco GP to become a new format, maybe like an extended qualifying session
over (say) two hours (no refueling) with each car having to do at least forty flying laps (using
two compounds) and their four fastest laps (two from each compound) being added together for their
'race time'?

Just off the top of my head... I guess you'd have to put a minimum time on their 'out laps' so they
don't unduly influence cars on fast laps.

That could be very interesting, a real challenge for the tacticians. (So I guess that would rule
Ferrari out!)

[leonard hofstatdter]

On 7/26/2023 10:21 PM, ~misfit~ wrote:
> On 27/07/2023 7:42 am, Sir Tim wrote:
>> JP <jpay...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> On Tuesday, July 25, 2023 at 11:35:15 AM UTC-4, XYXPDQ wrote:
>>>> Ah, finally Spa time!
>>>
>>> Spa, Monza, Monaco, and COTA are the only places that really interest me
>>> anymore. I wish they could run at Watkins Glen again. I have many great
>>> memories (and dead brain cells) from the 70s there.
>>
>> I would add Suzuka to your list (and probably leave Monaco off it).
>
> Agreed - though Monaco qualifying is exciting.
>
> Maybe it's time for the Monaco GP to

go away!

[a425couple]

On 7/25/23 08:35, XYXPDQ wrote:
> Ah, finally Spa time!

Yes, I very much appreciate Spa.
A fair hunk of my liking it comes from the history, and
the fact that many parts of the race track are still
very recognizable to what it was in the 1950's, 1960's and
1970's.
In 2016 we spent 3 weeks in Northern Europe, and I picked
the timing to match up with a Track Day at Spa.
I did a fair amount of research ahead of time. Google Maps,
and satellite view, and street view all allowed exploring of
parts of the old complete circuit. I arrived early the day
before to check out the old areas.
It seemed special to me to drive over the same areas like
Fangio, Moss, and Jim Clark drove.
Oh, yes, it frequently rains there.

[Dan the Man]

The elevation changes/scenery make it great as far as I'm concerned.
The rain just adds to the challenge.

Dan

[News]

Put another way, despite their intent, it's not yet a Tilkedrome.

[XYXPDQ]

On Tuesday, July 25, 2023 at 8:35:15 AM UTC-7, XYXPDQ wrote:
> Ah, finally Spa time!

Friday qualifying was fantastic!

[XYXPDQ]

The sprint race was a blast. Start seemed odd; they drag the field around behind the safety car on full wets but half the field pits before even crossing the start line and the rest pit at the end of the first.

Top marks to Paistri for a great drive.

[texas gate]

you sure told him
you juvenile fucking douche

[geoff]

Yes, surely that implies that whoever made the decision for the 4
formation/safety-car laps was rather inept.

geoff

[Alan]

Formula 1 has a problem:

While the extreme wet tires can make racing at F1 speeds possible, the
amount of spray they throw up makes it impossible to see what's ahead of
you.

I remember my first time racing in the rain at Seattle and headed
towards turn 1 at speed for the first time in practice and with 3 or 4
Formula Fords about 30-50 yards in front of me, I couldn't see the
turn-in point AT ALL.

Fortunately, it was only practice, and I could just back off.

I also remember following two Formula Fords into turn 1 at Mission in
heavy rain...

...seeing them both edging inward as the lead car tried to prevent the
car chasing him from trying an overtake underbraking.

I lost sight of them in the spray, but was taking the classic racing line...

...when one of the cars emerged from the spray and there was very
quickly exactly one RF89's width of track remaining for my RF89.

When I got back to the paddock, I discovered that all the white paint on
the right side of my right side American Racer tires had been left on
the wall at the outside of turn 1.

[texas gate]

On Saturday, July 29, 2023 at 7:02:47 PM UTC-6, Alan wrote:

> I remember my first time racing in the rain at Seattle and headed
> towards turn 1 at speed for the first time in practice and with 3 or 4
> Formula Fords about 30-50 yards in front of me, I couldn't see the
> turn-in point AT ALL.
>
> Fortunately, it was only practice, and I could just back off.
>
> I also remember following two Formula Fords into turn 1 at Mission in
> heavy rain...
>
> ...seeing them both edging inward as the lead car tried to prevent the
> car chasing him from trying an overtake underbraking.
>
> I lost sight of them in the spray, but was taking the classic racing line...
>
> ...when one of the cars emerged from the spray and there was very
> quickly exactly one RF89's width of track remaining for my RF89.
>
> When I got back to the paddock, I discovered that all the white paint on
> the right side of my right side American Racer tires had been left on
> the wall at the outside of turn 1.

this is bullshit
from a trolling fucking idiot

[texas gate]

On Saturday, July 29, 2023 at 7:02:47 PM UTC-6, Alan wrote:

> I remember my first time racing in the rain at Seattle and headed
> towards turn 1 at speed for the first time in practice and with 3 or 4
> Formula Fords about 30-50 yards in front of me, I couldn't see the
> turn-in point AT ALL.
>
> Fortunately, it was only practice, and I could just back off.
>
> I also remember following two Formula Fords into turn 1 at Mission in
> heavy rain...
>
> ...seeing them both edging inward as the lead car tried to prevent the
> car chasing him from trying an overtake underbraking.
>
> I lost sight of them in the spray, but was taking the classic racing line...
>
> ...when one of the cars emerged from the spray and there was very
> quickly exactly one RF89's width of track remaining for my RF89.
>
> When I got back to the paddock, I discovered that all the white paint on
> the right side of my right side American Racer tires had been left on
> the wall at the outside of turn 1.

yawn

[XYXPDQ]

Excellent race today. That little bit of rain mixed up the tire strategy nicely.

[Darryl Johnson]

On 2023-07-30 4:23 PM, XYXPDQ wrote:
> Excellent race today. That little bit of rain mixed up the tire strategy nicely.
>

I haven't been paying too much attention to the situation with Perez and
Red Bull. But I must admit I assume that being outclassed so soundly by
his teammate has to be worrisome for him.

There are teams where one driver consistently beats his teammate: I
think of Hamilton and Bottas, for example. But when you are 22 seconds
behind in identical cars, well, it makes me wonder how long Perez will
be with Red Bull. Marko has been fairly short with drivers who didn't
seem to be up to the task in the past.

There is considerable bias in my observations: I cannot find it in me to
like Verstappen. Not anyone I'd like to go for a beer or pizza with. But
the man can drive! (Unless Perez is quite hopeless at driving, which I
don;t think for a minute.)

So when I admit that I cannot avoid praising Versteppen's driving skill,
that is despite my antipathy towards him as a person.

[~misfit~]

I've heard it said that Verstappen likes his car to drive a certain way that's different to how
most drivers like their cars and that, in recent years RBR have embraced this philosophy on both
cars. This has been put forward as the reason nobody else seems to do well in the second car.

I don't know if there's truth to that but I can't deny that the combination of Max and that RBR car
is mighty. I would like to see how well another top-tier driver does in the other car but RBR don't
seem likely to put anyone in the other car who might upset Max. It seems that their preference is
just to have someone who will consistently get second or third place. That's a fine line to tread.

I'd like to see them put Liam Lawson in it for next year but don't think that's likely as there's a
good chance Liam would take too many points away from Max.

[Alan]

On 2023-07-30 19:01, ~misfit~ wrote:
> On 31/07/2023 10:11 am, Darryl Johnson wrote:
>> On 2023-07-30 4:23 PM, XYXPDQ wrote:
>>> Excellent race today. That little bit of rain mixed up the tire
>>> strategy  nicely.
>>>
>>
>> I haven't been paying too much attention to the situation with Perez
>> and Red Bull. But I must admit I assume that being outclassed so
>> soundly by his teammate has to be worrisome for him.
>>
>> There are teams where one driver consistently beats his teammate: I
>> think of Hamilton and Bottas, for example. But when you are 22 seconds
>> behind in identical cars, well, it makes me wonder how long Perez will
>> be with Red Bull. Marko has been fairly short with drivers who didn't
>> seem to be up to the task in the past.
>>
>> There is considerable bias in my observations: I cannot find it in me
>> to like Verstappen. Not anyone I'd like to go for a beer or pizza
>> with. But the man can drive! (Unless Perez is quite hopeless at
>> driving, which I don;t think for a minute.)
>>
>> So when I admit that I cannot avoid praising Versteppen's driving
>> skill, that is despite my antipathy towards him as a person.
>
> I've heard it said that Verstappen likes his car to drive a certain way
> that's different to how most drivers like their cars and that, in recent
> years RBR have embraced this philosophy on both cars. This has been put
> forward as the reason nobody else seems to do well in the second car.

I've heard it too many times from too many different knowledgeable
people to doubt it very much. Verstappen seems to like a very "pointy"
car, and a lot of drivers don't seem to care for that. You need to be
super-precise not to get the car to over-rotate, but if you can stay on
top of it, you'll use less steering input to turn into the corners, and
make your front and rear tires share the workload more equally.

And with grip, sharing the load equally always results in more overall
grip than a less even split.

>
> I don't know if there's truth to that but I can't deny that the
> combination of Max and that RBR car is mighty. I would like to see how
> well another top-tier driver does in the other car but RBR don't seem
> likely to put anyone in the other car who might upset Max. It seems that
> their preference is just to have someone who will consistently get
> second or third place. That's a fine line to tread.

Ummmmm... ...Sergio Perez is no slouch as a driver. Is he in the very
top tier? No, I don't think he is, but Verstappen isn't just beating him
by a little: he's destroying him.

And it's not just the lap times. Verstappen seems to have a knack for
pulling the performance out of the car while doing less damage to his
tires than most.

>
> I'd like to see them put Liam Lawson in it for next year but don't think
> that's likely as there's a good chance Liam would take too many points
> away from Max.

Please.. ...just give it up.

Don't let your personal antipathy for Verstappen convince you that he is
not one of the very best out there.

I don't like him, either, but there is simply no denying that he is in
very rarefied company among current F1 drivers.

Is he faster than Hamilton in equal equipment: I really don't know, but
I would LOVE to see that battle.

[Sir Tim]

~misfit~ <shaun.at...@gmail.com> wrote:

> I'd like to see them put Liam Lawson in it for next year but don't think
> that's likely as there's a
> good chance Liam would take too many points away from Max.

I think you are allowing your patriotism (nationalism?) run away with you a
bit Shaun :-)


--
Sir Tim

[texas gate]

On Sunday, July 30, 2023 at 8:28:24 PM UTC-6, Alan wrote:

> Please.. ...just give it up.

fuck you
you fucking cunt

[Phil Carmody]

Sir Tim <no_e...@invalid.invalid> writes:
> XYXPDQ <qwrt...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Ah, finally Spa time!
>
> Yes, always a highlight of the season.

I love te circuit dry, and like it even more when it's changeable, but
what were those two wastes of time that were televised between the quali
and the race?

If I wanted short-format racing, I'd chose a short-format racing series
to watch. If you want to "mix it up" for more excitement, make them
drive hovercrafts, not the same cars they always drive.

The fact that they changed from the previous sprint race format that
would decide the starting positions in the actual race shows that
they're literally thrashing around presently. Flinging shit at the
flagpole, and seeing if anyone salutes anything that sticks.

Phil
--
We are no longer hunters and nomads. No longer awed and frightened, as we have
gained some understanding of the world in which we live. As such, we can cast
aside childish remnants from the dawn of our civilization.
-- NotSanguine on SoylentNews, after Eugen Weber in /The Western Tradition/

[~misfit~]

Yeah maybe. ;) That said he's the first driver in the modern era (~50 years, including Japanese
drivers who know the circuit and speak the same language as their teams) to rock up to Super
Formula in Japan and win his maiden race. Out of the 6 races they've had this year he's won 3 and
always finished in the top 5. (However he's not leading the championship, he's in second place by 1
point with 2 races to go.)

He's also the only non-Japanese driver in the top 16 this year (that's including an Alesi who was
in his third year there before he got booted from his seat a race or two ago).

In F2 last year he beat his team-mate Logan Sargeant to finish 3rd in the championship and has been
a Red Bull driver for a few years now.

With all that considered it's not completely out of the question that he might be faster in the RBR
F1 car than Perez and he's only 21...

Oh and he would have won DTM in his maiden year in 2021 if it hadn't been for dirty driving by his
closest competitor in the last race which took him out of contention. He started the race ahead on
points and on pole but finished second in the championship after being 'speared'.

[~misfit~]

On 1/08/2023 12:36 pm, ~misfit~ wrote:
> On 31/07/2023 7:47 pm, Sir Tim wrote:
>> ~misfit~ <shaun.at...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> I'd like to see them put Liam Lawson in it for next year but don't think
>>> that's likely as there's a
>>> good chance Liam would take too many points away from Max.
>>
>> I think you are allowing your patriotism (nationalism?) run away with you a
>> bit Shaun :-)
>
> Yeah maybe. ;) That said he's the first driver in the modern era (~50 years, including Japanese
> drivers who know the circuit and speak the same language as their teams) to rock up to Super
> Formula in Japan and win his maiden race. Out of the 6 races they've had this year he's won 3 and
> always finished in the top 5. (However he's not leading the championship, he's in second place by 1
> point with 2 races to go.)
>
> He's also the only non-Japanese driver in the top 16 this year (that's including an Alesi who was
> in his third year there before he got booted from his seat a race or two ago).
>
> In F2 last year he beat his team-mate Logan Sargeant to finish 3rd in the championship and has been
> a Red Bull driver for a few years now.
>
> With all that considered it's not completely out of the question that he might be faster in the RBR
> F1 car than Perez and he's only 21...
>
> Oh and he would have won DTM in his maiden year in 2021 if it hadn't been for dirty driving by his
> closest competitor in the last race which took him out of contention. He started the race ahead on
> points and on pole but finished second in the championship after being 'speared'.

Oh, not to mention that Lawson's been RBRs reserve driver since June last year, adding it to his
role as reserve driver for AlphaTauri. He's still reserve driver for both teams. He's driven F1
machinery a few times including the RBR car in FP1 as well as in test sessions.

If RBR don't promote him to F1 next year then they might lose him - IMO. There's a chance that they
might let Yuki go I suppose and pit Liam in AlphaTauri. Yuki's a Honda driver and RBR have made the
decision to change to Ford PUs from 2026 so don't need to keep Honda happy so much now.

I'd rather see Liam in the BRB car though. He's proved that he can step into new formulas and start
winning from the first race (Super Formula, DTM) against established drivers. Then consider that F1
isn't exactly new to him. Helmut might just be crazy enough to do it.

<fingers crossed>

[Phil Carmody]

~misfit~ <shaun.at...@gmail.com> writes:
> I don't know if there's truth to that but I can't deny that the
> combination of Max and that RBR car is mighty. I would like to see how
> well another top-tier driver does in the other car but RBR don't seem
> likely to put anyone in the other car who might upset Max.

Yeah, but I'd love to see what Alonso, with his new lease of life, could do.
I like Perez, but I think he's become just the stable and steady
journeyman now. Like an HHF, say? Sure, he deserves a seat, but maybe
not *that* seat.