JDR Motorsports/Motorex/KTM rider and the 2010 Australian Pro Lites Motocross Champion, PJ Larsen, wrote in with an update on the first three weeks of the Australian Super X Series:
I missed reporting back after the first two races so I will begin with a brief write up of the first two rounds and then go into the third round that just took place this past weekend.
Cliff Allison Fernando Alonso Giovanna Amati George Amick Red Amick Chris Amon
Lakewood, CO: 30 team from 30 countries have gathered at Thunder Valley MX Park for the 2010 Motocross of Nations.
Supercross.com's Friday Part 1 coverage includes:
Source: http://www.supercross.com/features/motocross-of-nations-friday-part-1-desalle-roczen-de-coster
Jacques Laffite Franck Lagorce Jan Lammers Pedro Lamy Chico Landi Hermann Lang
Video shows Monster World Rally driver doing more than just working - a donut around a screaming woman and a wild ride around a karting track in France.Carl Edwards Copart Ford Denny Hamlin Z Line Toyota Kyle Busch Toyota Kimmy Z Line Designs Toyota
Do I think Red Bull should have allowed Mark Webber to win in Brazil instead of Sebastian Vettel? Do I think Mercedes and Renault will benefit from such a tight battle this season? Do I agree with Bernie Ecclestone's comment that Lotus are the only new team to have contributed this season? Do I think heads should roll at McLaren? Who do I think has been the best driver in the bottom five teams? And the big question - who is going to win the title?
Watch my answers below.
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IF YOU ARE OUTSIDE THE UK, CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/murraywalker/2010/11/your_questions_answered_-_braz.html
Clint Bowyer Zaxby s Chevrolet Brad Keselowski Ruby Tuesday Dodge Carl Edwards Copart Ford
Source: http://www.zimbio.com/MotoGP/articles/RDOAjWW20av/Yamaha+M1+Lorenzo+MotoGP+Bike+Appears+2010
Ashley Fiolek Ernesto Fonseca Lauris Freibergs Paul Friedrichs Steven Frossard Eric Geboers
![[Suzuki+Shogun+125+Modification.jpg]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl_mXRnquUSkTkl_n8aQ_Tz0bGSwk8vJlGmzZejIgOxeO3bJ6XRZA9jmMCfNoNrZJtHEymgP0OPowoldzIIhd1uNIquVAU_iP7lPt8hoI_OrNDnT0SoWSCzcAA0qgx0eeh23ZS77XTkvdi/s1600/Suzuki+Shogun+125+Modification.jpg)
Source: http://www.zimbio.com/MotoGP/articles/fBNWvvHxPrN/MODIF+SUZUKI+SHOGUN+125+SP+PICS+COLLECTION
Mauro Baldi Bobby Ball Marcel Balsa Lorenzo Bandini Henry Banks Fabrizio Barbazza
Newcastle will host the first round of the 2010 Monster Energy Super X Championship this Saturday October 16, with a huge lineup of Australian and American supercross stars, ready to battle it out at Energy Australia Stadium.
All eyes will be on local hero and reigning Super X champion, Chad Reed, as he makes his return to racing, after being sidelined from US competition earlier in the year with the Epstein Barr virus.� Reed unveiled the new team and motorcycle he will be competing on in the series opener earlier this week, TeamVodafone, and can?t wait to get out and race in front of his home town.
Millennium Fuel Energy Drink Chevrolet Willie Allen Cash America Chevrolet Derrike Cope Charter Communications Dodge Kevin Harvick
Source: http://www.zimbio.com/MotoGP/articles/fBNWvvHxPrN/MODIF+SUZUKI+SHOGUN+125+SP+PICS+COLLECTION
Miller Lite Dodge Jeff Gordon DuPont National Guard Military Intelligence Ryan Newman U S ARMY Chevrolet Greg Biffle
Source: http://www.zimbio.com/MotoGP/articles/HDeMbaydtmh/Recap+2010+Gran+Premio+Generali+de+la+Comunitat
Kevin Conway Joe Nemechek Jason Leffler Kevin Harvick Armour Vienna Sausage Kroger Chevrolet Clint Bowyer
| Wednesday, 24 November 2010 12:44 | |
The FIM has handed down the updated 2011 WSBK calendar and as was the case in 2010 it features 13 rounds, which will take place at some of the world's most evocative and iconic racetracks.
The season opener takes place at the incomparable seaside circuit of Phillip Island, one of the fastest and most open circuits in the entire world of racing (photo). It, like many others, is an old friend of WSBK racing and it will of course feature as an official pre-season test venue, shortly before race weekend, on Monday 21 and Tuesday 22. Raceday itself will be Sunday, 27 February 2011 - make a note of it now. At Phillip Island World Supersport will also make its only non-European appearance of the year.
Early springtime at Donington Park will echo the very beginnings of WSBK in 1988, with this brilliant motorcycle racing venue all ready to welcome back WSBK racing after a year's absence. March 27 will be raceday, for the first of two races to be held in the UK next year.
April 17 is the day for yet another classic WSBK venue, Assen, while the first of three Italian-based WSBK rounds come along at super-fast Monza, on May 8. The normal European theatre of operations is left behind for a short period after Monza, and the Superbike class alone heads to America and the Miller Motorsports Park this year, for a race on Monday May 30 - on the Memorial Day holiday. Note that there will be no Supersport World Championship round at Miller in 2011, but the programme will see the reintegration of a round of the AMA Superbike Championship.
Two race weekends in a row will be enjoyed in June, the first being the San Marino Round at Misano on June 12 and then a new adventure beckons for the full WSBK travelling circus, the debut of the Motorland Aragon Circuit in Spain on June 19.
The wide corners and chicanes of Brno form round eight on July 10; the even faster layout of Silverstone has its latest taste of WSBK action on July 31. Double the thrills for British fans, and they will have several top riders to cheer on again, as they did in 2010.
August is a race-free month for all WSBK classes, with action reconvening at the historic N�rburgring circuit on September 4. An intense end to the season sees three European rounds, Imola, Magny Cours and Portimao, all coming along within a four-weekend period.
Imola has been reconfirmed on September 25, Magny-Cours in France is the penultimate round of the year on October 2, while instant classic Portimao is again the venue for the final round of the season, on October 16. Portimao will, in fact, bracket the WSBK season neatly, as it hosts the first official test of the year, between 26 and 28 January.
Ten rounds remain in the Superstock classes, as there will be no races for those classes in Donington, and their season gets underway at Assen, on April 17.
Source: http://www.zimbio.com/MotoGP/articles/rbE-BDYAgTp/2011+calendar+confirmation+promises+season
Jeff Gordon DuPont National Guard Military Intelligence Ryan Newman U S ARMY Chevrolet Greg Biffle 3M Ford
The agreement for Formula 1 to switch to a new energy-efficient type of engine in 2013, exclusively revealed by BBC Sport, is the culmination of months of in-depth negotiations about one important aspect of the future of the sport.
Increasing F1's sustainability was a key aim of both Jean Todt - the president of governing body the FIA - and the Formula 1 teams through their umbrella organisation Fota, and this move certainly makes a statement about that.
By replacing the current 2.4-litre normally aspirated V8 engines with 1.6-litre, four-cylinder turbos with energy recovery and fuel restrictions, F1 has deliberately mirrored the way road-car manufacturers are taking the cars we all drive on the road.
Fossil fuel supplies are running out and there is an ever-increasing pressure on resources, but there is no realistic replacement in sight for the internal combustion engine for some time to come, despite the hopes for zero-emission hydrogen fuel cell engines, for example.
In those circumstances, car manufacturers have no choice but to produce ever-more efficient engines.
That is already happening with 'hybrid' cars such as the Toyota Prius and an increasing number of manufacturers rolling out energy-saving technologies across their ranges.
But the manufacturers involved in F1 hope that by adopting these technologies in a glamorous, high-profile activity they can speed up their adoption by making them 'sexy'.
So whereas now high-performance and fuel economy/efficiency are regarded among the wider public as pretty much mutually exclusive, F1 can prove otherwise and by extension help in dramatically reducing the carbon dioxide emissions produced by road cars in the future.
They will do this by producing new engines that reduce fuel consumption by as much as 50% while retaining the same power and keeping competition as close as it has been in 2010.
It is not all about philanthropy, though. Inevitably, there is self-interest involved too.
F1 is aware that it has an image for being profligate with resources. In an era when there is increasing pressure on energy supplies, it is nervous about its position as an activity that literally burns fossil fuels for fun.
By introducing these new rules, F1 is hoping it can go some way towards insulating itself against accusations that it is an irrelevant waste of resources.
It can counter any such claims by pointing out that the pursuit of the maximum possible power output for the minimum possible fuel consumption by some of the world's brightest engineers in the white-hot competition of F1 will lead to a much faster development of energy-efficient technologies.
These advances will thus transfer much more quickly to road cars than they would have done, thereby reducing global CO2 emissions quicker than if F1 had not bothered.
It is a noble idea and it sounds like a no-brainer - and regular readers of this blog may remember that I wrote about the likelihood of these rules as long ago as April - but there have over the past few months been serious doubts about whether they would be adopted in 2013, as was originally the plan.
That is because as F1's power-brokers began to discuss the idea, economics and politics threatened to put the brakes on it.
The move was opposed for some time by Mercedes and Ferrari because they felt it did not make any sense to commit to spending millions designing a new type of engine at a time when the sport was trying to cut costs, and teams were facing problems finding sponsorship as the global economic crisis bit.
F1 cars last used turbos in the '80s - they are coming back for 2013 in a very different form. Photo: Getty
Better, some felt, to delay such a big change by a year or two - or perhaps even five - and make some nods towards efficiency with the current engines, than embark on such a complex programme at such a difficult time.
How, these people argued, would they convince the boards of major car companies to spend anywhere between 50-100 million euros building new engines for F1 when the current ones worked perfectly well and all car manufacturers were struggling financially?
There were other objections, too.
The background to the talks was that the 2010 F1 season was developing as one of the greatest in the sport's history, with five drivers in three teams competing for the world championship.
All involved were painfully aware that it would be foolish to introduce a new regulation that put the closeness of competition at risk.
F1 commercial boss Bernie Ecclestone put it this way to me when I spoke to him about the prospect of the new rules: "It's not necessary. We have a very good engine formula. Why should we change it to something that is going to cost millions of pounds and that nobody wants and that could end up with one manufacturer getting a big advantage?
"We don't need to do it; all the manufacturers are doing it (in their road cars) already."
At the same time, F1's senior figures were aware that while the current 2.4-litre V8 engines might appear to be wasteful, in actual fact they are more efficient in terms of specific fuel consumption - the amount of power produced per unit of fuel - than any road-car engine.
The counter-arguments to these objections were as follows:
Nevertheless, even the most ardent proponents of the new rules recognised that those arguing against had a point - no one had an appetite to spend tens of millions of euros on a new F1 engine and no one wanted to wreck the on-track show.
As a result, I'm told, a series of checks and balances have been built into the new rules to ensure that the engine manufacturers cannot engage in a spending war and to prevent one of them gaining a significant performance advantage over the others.
It was also recognised that an F1 car had to remain what it is - super-fast, with a very powerful engine. So the new engines will produce about the same total power output, 750bhp, as the current ones.
How they do it, though, will be very different.
Only 600bhp of that will come from the 1.6-litre, four-cylinder turbo engine itself; the remainder will be generated by the energy recovery systems that will be integrated within it. Fuel consumption will be restricted both by limiting fuel flow and introducing a maximum capacity for races.
Current engines rev to 18,000rpm - a figure that has come down from more than 20,000rpm in recent years as the FIA has introduced limits as part of cost-saving moves. The new ones will not do more than 10,000rpm.
That in itself caused concern - believe it or not, there was disquiet that the new engines would not sound 'right', that they would be too quiet.
Anyone who has witnessed an F1 car at close quarters will be aware that they make a quite shattering noise - few things on this earth are louder.
Certainly, the new ones will sound different - and quieter - but whether that is better or worse depends on your point of view. It is almost certainly also a question that concerns the ardent F1 fans who live for the sport a lot more than it does the millions more who switch on their televisions every other weekend to watch a race.
It sounds almost surreal to think that this was a serious point of discussion among such serious-minded people, but I can assure you it was.
Whatever your take on it, though, the new engines have won the day, and their adoption will be announced sooner rather than later, even if it is not after the FIA World Council meeting on Friday 10 December, as I'm told it could well be.
This, though, is just the first of many sets of talks about the future of F1.
To come are negotiations over a new Concorde Agreement, the document that binds together the teams, the FIA and the Formula 1 Management (FOM) companies, represented by Ecclestone, and which runs out at the end of 2012.
The teams are pushing hard for their split of the sport's huge revenues to increase from 50% to 75%, and early indications are the FIA is also seeking a major shift in its relationship with FOM.
If talks over a new engine formula felt difficult and protracted, those over the new Concorde Agreement promise to be something else again.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2010/12/f1_moves_to_set_green_agenda.html
Parker Kligerman Trevor Bayne Out! Pet Care Toyota Jason Leffler Great Clips Toyota Paul Menard
With a North American launch looming, Ford has announced the 2012 Focus will feature standard torque vectoring control.Steve Wallace 5 hour Energy Toyota Tony Raines Long John Silver s Chevrolet Tayler Malsam Iron Horse Jeans Toyota
JDR Motorsports/Motorex/KTM rider and the 2010 Australian Pro Lites Motocross Champion, PJ Larsen, wrote in with an update on the first three weeks of the Australian Super X Series:
I missed reporting back after the first two races so I will begin with a brief write up of the first two rounds and then go into the third round that just took place this past weekend.
Giovanni Lavaggi Chris Lawrence Michel Leclere Richard Lee Rudd Elliott William Barnes Sadler
Filed under: Carl Edwards, Chase for the Sprint Cup, Sprint Cup, NASCAR
He may have won the two races that dole out the least amount of recognition of the entire season, but Carl Edwards doesn't much care.
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Neil Hodgson Hernan Holder Francis Hollebecq Toshihiko Honma John Hopkins Karl Hoppe
The 2010 season has finished with my second podium for Team Belgium at the Motocross of Nations. As I said after the event it feels like I have been second a lot this year! Thunder Valley was still a good experience though and I enjoyed racing in America. Getting to the Motocross of Nations meant passing a tough couple of weeks.
I crashed on Saturday at Lierop for the second-to-last GP and while my teeth and lip seemed to be the priority my backside was also in a lot of pain. I knew Sunday's motos would be very tough but then Sunday evening my butt was incredibly sore and the bruising was unbearable. Monday was very long. I hardly slept and could do nothing for the few days until going to Italy. I couldn't even dress myself. I knew that the Italian Grand Prix at Fermo was going to be so difficult, especially when I saw the hard-pack and all the jumps!
Source: http://www.supercross.com/news/clement-desalle-blog
Franck Lagorce Jan Lammers Pedro Lamy Chico Landi Hermann Lang Claudio Langes
Spec commercial for the Bertone Alfa Romeo Pandion concept car shows the car in a futuristic setting.Source: http://feeds.worldcarfans.com/~r/worldcarfans/Jxfz/~3/VZzoUW7fdIA/bertone-alfa-romeo-pandion-video
Kelly Bires Raybestos Ford Elliott Sadler GT Vodka Chevrolet Landon Cassill Zaxby s Ford Morgan Shepherd
Filed under: Hybrid, Etc., Marketing/Advertising, Hatchback, Toyota, Humor
Continue reading Video: Toyota Prius Cozy is a total stitch
Video: Toyota Prius Cozy is a total stitch originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 30 Dec 2010 13:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsSource: http://www.autoblog.com/2010/12/30/video-toyota-prius-cozy-is-a-total-stitch/
Loan Max Toyota Tony Raines Long John Silver s Chevrolet Joe Nemechek Gator com Chevrolet Michael Annett
Hey everybody,
Wow, I almost don't even know where to start when I'm sitting here at my computer and begin writing about the Motocross of Nations and my experience of it.
But of course, I will try!
Z Line Toyota Clint Bowyer Zaxby s Chevrolet Paul Menard Richmond Menards Ford Kyle Busch
The final grand prix of the season in Abu Dhabi summed up why the 2010 season will go down in Formula 1 history as a classic year.
There were super-fast Red Bulls, world champion drivers in the thick of the action, strategic errors, raw emotion and a final twist in an epic tale as Sebastian Vettel won his first world title.
Before the race was run, the sun-soaked paddock was buzzing with talk of "the greatest season ever" and debate about the highlight of the season swelled.
In fact, as the dust settles on Abu Dhabi, the teams' attentions are already turning to 2011 - all the teams and most of the race drivers get their first run on next year's new Pirelli tyres at the Yas Marina track at the weekend.
With just 118 days to go until the cars and drivers return to the desert in Bahrain to rejoin battle, expectations are already building that 2011 could be another classic year, matching events this season.
As BBC pundit Eddie Jordan exclaimed on Sunday: "We have five world champions competing next year, what are we in for?!"
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Jordan is right to be excited.
The men who defined this season remain in situ - Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button at McLaren, Fernando Alonso at Ferrari, and Vettel and Mark Webber at Red Bull.
All of them know they have things to improve in 2010 - particularly the number of errors they have made. And the long winter will give each of the 24 drivers on the grid time to analyse and agonise over crucial mistakes and frittered points that ultimately defined their seasons.
"Every one of us made too many errors and that is why we found ourselves in a position with five guys fighting it out," reflected Button, who saw his title defence end in Brazil.
Though he was the first to bow out, Button had the cleanest season of all the five contenders but found himself let down by a lack of pace - particularly in qualifying - as he got to grips with a McLaren in his first season with the team.
Alonso will rue his uncharacteristic errors in Australia and China, his crash in Monaco and, most of all, the fatal call from Ferrari to bring him in early for fresh tyres in Abu Dhabi.
Hamilton will reflect on his ill-judged passing moves in Monza and Singapore, which effectively ended his hopes, while Webber will relive his frightening somersault in Valencia and his costly crash in Korea.
Vettel, too, made more than his fair share of errors. He must take the blame for crashes with his team-mate Webber in Turkey and an unwitting Button in Spa, while his attempt to go around the outside of Webber at the start in Silverstone earned him a puncture.
For Red Bull, though, one of the biggest areas of focus will be the poor early-season reliability, from spark plugs to wheel nuts, that prevented Vettel bursting into an early lead.
When Red Bull adviser Dr Helmut Marko was asked on Sunday what his next goal was after his team captured both championships, he said they intended to cut out the errors so they could win the titles sooner.
All the top teams will be adding grease to their usually slick operations over the winter at the same time as building their cars to a set of regulations that have been tweaked again.
Gone will be the double-diffusers which caused so much controversy at the start of 2009, as well as the F-duct that McLaren pioneered at the start of 2010, forcing everyone else to follow suit.
Blown diffusers - 2010's other defining technical tweak - will stay to an extent, though.
In come those Pirelli tyres, while Kers energy storage and power-boost systems return after a year away. There will also be a new technical trick in the form of moveable rear wings, an attempt to solve F1's perennial problem even in a season as great as this - the difficulty of overtaking.
The success of the teams' research into the effects of these changes will shape next year's title chase - and it is by no means a given that this year's big three will be the ones who get it most right.
There have been concerned whispers that the efforts of waging a season-long campaign have diverted attention away from 2011 development programmes at Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren.
The strain of winning the 2009 championships certainly drained Brawn Grand Prix, which had a debilitating effect on them this season in their new guise as Mercedes.
However, with no championship to fight for, teams such as Mercedes and Renault, who stopped developing their 2010 car in September so they concentrate on next season, could make it a five-way battle for honours next year.
"It has been a special year," mused McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh. "Can there be more?
"We have to keep the focus on brave, fantastic drivers in great machinery; an even-handed regulator, stability and clear rules that are administered properly.
"We can't guarantee it but there is no reason the championship next year can't be as good - or even better."
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/sarahholt/2010/11/could_f1_2011_be_even_better.html
Gregg Hansford Tetsuya Harada John Hartle Wil Hartog Gary Haslam Leon Haslam
Video shows list of new individual options on the Ferrari 458 Italia including new two-tone liveries and carbon fiber for both outside parts and interior trim.Tim Ferry Ashley Fiolek Ernesto Fonseca Lauris Freibergs Paul Friedrichs Steven Frossard
Filed under: Bobby Labonte, Jamie McMurray, Jeff Burton, Kurt Busch, Mark Martin, Daytona Int'l Speedway, NASCAR Testing, Sprint Cup, NASCAR
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Cody Copper Gordon Crockard Craig Dack Roger De Coster Ken De Dycker Yves Demaria
Formula 1 is undergoing a quiet revolution.
In two years' time, the cars that line up on the grid for the start of the 2013 season will be vastly different from those that raced in 2010.
Governing body the FIA has already announced that the current 2.4-litre normally aspirated V8 engines will be replaced by 1.6-litre turbocharged versions with integrated energy recovery systems.
Now, BBC Sport can reveal that, driven by this big change to the engine regulations, the cars will also undergo their own huge revisions.
To the casual observer, they will still look like F1 cars and, importantly, will still go like them. But within the limitations of an open-cockpit, single-seater racing car with exposed wheels, they will be very different from current machines.
Gone will be the huge, snowplough front wings that have been required since the last major change of rules. Gone will be the high, chunky rear wings. Gone, too, will be the high-revving shriek of the engines.
In their place will be a car with much smaller front and rear wings and the much flatter, lower-pitched sound of a lower-revving turbo.
And critically - although largely invisible - there will be a shaped underfloor, replacing the flat bottoms that have been on F1 cars since 1983.
The 1982 Ferrari - a 126C2 - also possessed a small front wing
These external changes reflect a major change in the philosophy behind the cars and, as with the turbo engines, it is a case of back to the future. As the 1980s dominate the latest High Street fashions, so F1 is borrowing from technologies last seen then and updating them for the 21st century.
F1 last saw turbo engines in 1988. The last time cars had shaped underbodies was 1982. Those were the days of 'ground effect', when designers created huge amounts of aerodynamic downforce - and high cornering speeds - by accelerating the air under the car through the use of curved underfloors to create a 'venturi effect'. This was enhanced by the use of 'skirts', which sealed the underbody and prevented air leaking out of the sides.
We are not talking about a return to those days but the general principle is the same. Just as the cars in the 1979-82 period had small front and rear wings, so will the cars of 2013 and beyond.
The difference now is that whereas in the late 1970s and early '80s aerodynamics in F1 cars were still relatively in their infancy and designers were simply chasing as much as they could, now they are highly refined. And the men behind the proposed new rules are using the underfloor of the car to create efficient - but strictly limited - downforce.
The FIA recognised that if it was to make such a major change to the cars, it needed to be done as effectively and credibly as possible. So to help draw up the new rules they asked two of the most respected and experienced designers they could find - Patrick Head and Rory Byrne.
Between them, Head, the engineering director of Williams, and Byrne, now retired but formerly of Benetton and Ferrari, have won a total of 17 constructors' titles and 15 drivers' titles. They were first approached by FIA president Jean Todt in March 2010.
Among the provisos Head and Byrne were given were: a) at the very least, make sure the changes did not make overtaking any harder than it already is; and b) make the cars a bit harder to drive - the target being for a driver to be able to be on full throttle for only about 50% of the lap, as opposed to the current average of 70%.
The new regulations are being fine-tuned by FIA race director Charlie Whiting this week before being sent to the 12 F1 teams for analysis. In the new year, they will be critiqued at the sport's Technical Working Group, a group of leading engineers who effectively define the technical rules.
Head says "sure as hell there'll be some small changes" there. The basic philosophy, though, is expected to stay the same, while Head says the shaped underfloor is "inevitable".
"It all starts with the fact that we are only going to have roughly 65% of the amount of fuel, and a (limited) fuel flow rate," he explains. "When you're very limited on fuel, it's very clear you've got to reduce drag enormously. OK, the tyres are a very high proportion of the drag but we decided not to put tiny skinny tyres on it because it's still required to go around corners quickly.
"So the next thing you turn to is the massive rear wing we're running at the moment and as soon as you replace that with a much smaller one, it's 'Oh, we've lost all our downforce, so what can we do?' So inevitably you end up with a shaped underside."
This idea has been around for a long time - as long ago as 1998, when another working group, led by the late Dr Harvey Postlethwaite, also suggested reducing the sizes of front and rear wings and re-introducing shaped underfloors. The idea was canned by then FIA president Max Mosley.
Back then, the motivating factor was to improve the racing. In theory, cars designed this way can follow each other more closely than modern F1 cars.
Currently, drivers experience a severe lack of grip when they get to within about a second of a car in front because the airflow to their cars, particularly over the critical front wing, is badly disturbed.
In theory, with smaller wings and a greater proportion of the total downforce coming from under the car, there is less disturbance in the wake of the car in front, so a following car loses less aerodynamic downforce. It therefore retains more grip, allowing drivers to get closer to the car they want to overtake, making passing easier.
Under these new rules, any benefit to the racing will be secondary. The first goal is improving the cars' efficiency.
But it's just possible that, in chasing a goal that is all about keeping F1 in step with a world of diminishing fossil fuels, the effect will be to make overtaking easier.
Chastened by years of rule changes aimed at making cars more raceable that made no discernible difference, those involved are cagey about that for now. But one senior figure will at least admit the thought is on their minds.
"One of the fundamental parts of this," he said, "was that it wouldn't make it worse. But we do believe that if you can ensure there's less disturbance in the wake, that's good."
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2010/12/formula_1_is_undergoing_a_quie.html
Citifinancial Ford Michael McDowell Red Line Oil Dodge Steve Wallace 5 hour Energy Toyota Tony Raines
Sebastian Vettel was crowned the youngest world champion in history after a memorable final twist at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, but was he the best driver of the year?
It's a subjective question, and so difficult after such a momentous season that I have been wrestling with it for some weeks.
Does Vettel's pace in the dominant Red Bull mean he was Formula 1's top driver? How does that rank alongside the performances of Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso in inferior cars?
What about Robert Kubica's ability to mix it with the title contenders in the Renault? Or Kamui Kobayashi's attacking verve in the Sauber?
Vettel is centre-stage among the class of 2010 - but is he number one in our list? Photo: AFP
Here is my list of the top 10 drivers of 2010:
10) After battling for the title with Brawn in 2009, it cannot have been easy for Rubens Barrichello, at 37 going on 38, to drum up the enthusiasm for a season battling to make the top 10 in qualifying with once-great Williams.
But drum it up he did, impressing the team with his technical feedback and producing some excellent drives that resulted in strong points positions when Williams had something of a purple patch mid-season.
The veteran Brazilian was outshone by rookie team-mate Nico Hulkenberg at times as the German found his feet late in the season.
Nevertheless, as he heads into an astonishing 19th F1 season in 2011, Barrichello clearly still has a lot to offer.
9) Kamui Kobayashi emerged as one of F1's most exciting talents with some all-action performances in 2010.
Overtaking is notoriously difficult but the Japanese simply went for it, finding unconventional passing places to liven up such races as Valencia and Japan.
There remain doubts about his ultimate potential, with Sauber drafting in the reliable Nick Heidfeld for the final five races of the season to give Kobayashi a benchmark to measure himself against.
But Kobayashi responded perfectly and gives all the signs of having a great future.
8) It all started so well for Felipe Massa, who out-qualified new team-mate Alonso at the first race of the season. But when Alonso passed the Brazilian around the outside of the first corner, it set the tone for the entire year.
Alonso trounced Massa in 2010, proving faster than him at virtually every race, and there is no doubt the Spaniard's relentless excellence got to the man in the second Ferrari.
There were some good drives from Massa - particularly his third places at Monza and Korea. But he will have to pull something very special out of the bag, not to mention rediscover his mental equilibrium, to reverse this trend in 2011.
7) Nico Rosberg convincingly beat Mercedes team-mate Michael Schumacher this year and, had he achieved that feat 10 years ago, there would have been no doubt he had emerged as a truly great F1 driver.
But the Schumacher of this year was not the same driver as before, as even the seven-time champion himself effectively admitted.
Rosberg drove a strong season, and some good races, and there are an increasing number of people in F1 who believe he is emerging as a top-class contender.
But until he goes up against - and beats - a driver of the highest calibre, it will be hard to tell whether he deserves to be considered as that himself, or whether he is nearly there, but not quite.
6) Not even Jenson Button probably expected to be leading the championship after winning two of the opening four races of 2010 and out-qualifying McLaren team-mate Hamilton 3-1.
Button's two victories in the wet in Australia and China owed a lot to clever strategic calls but that was not all. The sight of Button pulling away from Hamilton in China on a wet track and on tyres of comparable age proved once and for all that this is a driver of the very highest calibre.
After that, Hamilton got on top and stayed there but Button, who was rarely very far away in qualifying and often more or less matched his team-mate on race pace, provided a convincing answer to those who said he had gained his 2009 triumph more by luck than ability.
5) Mark Webber chose the name Aussie Grit for his Twitter account, and 2010 proved why. Expected to fulfil the role of an obedient number two at Red Bull, Webber went toe-to-toe with team-mate Vettel throughout the season and led him in the championship for most of it.
After a shaky first couple of races, Webber came on song when the season came back to Europe with dominant wins in Spain and Monaco that left Vettel bemused at where his team-mate had found such electrifying pace.
By mid-summer, Vettel had got his edge back, but Webber remained large in his mirrors, ready to take advantage of any mistakes. That he was able to do this despite suspicions that Red Bull were not perhaps being quite as even-handed in their treatment of their drivers as they insisted was all the more impressive.
But his challenge faded in the end, crashing in Korea and failing to make any real impact in the final two races of the campaign.
4) Did Renault's Robert Kubica perform better than any other driver on the grid when you consider the equipment he had at his disposal?
You can certainly make that case. No-one else can claim to have made so few mistakes while extracting what appeared to be the maximum from his machinery.
The Renault was not fast enough for Kubica to regularly mix it with the title contenders but on three occasions he transcended the car's limitations in a way only the truly great can - at Monaco, Spa and Suzuka, F1's three great drivers' circuits.
To qualify second in Monaco, third in Spa and fourth in Suzuka was a momentous achievement - and he backed that up by taking podium places in both Monaco and Belgium before being robbed of another when his wheel came loose in Japan.
There is still a slight question mark over a man who, in 2009, was not able to comprehensively overshadow Heidfeld at BMW. And let's not forget that Kubica was not burdened with the kind of pressure that the likes of Alonso, Vettel, Button and Hamilton were.
But put Kubica in a competitive car and all his rivals would fear him.
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3) Sebastian Vettel is a great talent and a deserving world champion but, considering the stunning pace of the Red Bull car, he should have won many more races and clinched the title much sooner.
The car's fragility did not help - failures in Bahrain, Australia, Spain and Korea cost him a lot of points - but the German also made a number of high-profile errors. He crashed into rivals in Turkey and Belgium, suffered a puncture following a red-mist moment at Silverstone and was penalised for misjudging the safety car in Hungary.
Ten pole positions and five wins speak for themselves to an extent but, as the (slightly) faster driver in comfortably the fastest car, they are to be expected.
Some of those pole laps were stunning, though, with Vettel possessing an Ayrton Senna-esque ability to pull that little bit extra out on his very final lap, no matter what the circumstances, while each one of his wins was a masterpiece of domination.
However, there have to be fewer mistakes, more wins dragged out of adversity and more convincing performances when he is back in the pack for him to be ranked above the next names on the list.
2) Had this article been written after the Belgian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton would have occupied the number one spot.
Up to that point, Hamilton had made not a single mistake worth the name and he was leading the championship in what had from the mid-point of the season been the third fastest car.
Hamilton had maintained his exuberant, attacking style and stunning natural pace and had mated it to a consistency that was making him a formidable competitor.
His fantastic victory at Spa - not forgetting the qualifying lap that earned him second on the grid on slicks in a shower of rain - confirmed him as the outstanding driver of the season to that point, notwithstanding the canny Button's two wet wins.
Suddenly, though, it all went wrong. Hamilton crashed out of the next two races in Monza and Singapore and when he crashed again in Friday practice at the next race in Japan his season appeared to be coming apart at the seams.
But then came one of the laps of the season - third on the grid at Suzuka in a car in which he had done just six flying laps before qualifying. It was a reminder of Hamilton's amazing talent. By then, though, as far as the championship was concerned, the damage had been done.
1) Fernando Alonso's first year with Ferrari started with a few shaky races and finished with a strategic mistake that cost him the title. In between the Spaniard did just enough to earn the right to call himself the best driver of 2010.
Early-season errors were born of trying too hard in a car that was not quite on the pace. Combine that with Ferrari losing their way for a while and Alonso was 47 points off the lead at the midpoint of the season.
But in a car that established itself as the second fastest behind the Red Bull, he recovered that margin by driving with a consistent, relentless brilliance that his rivals were not able to match. His victories at Monza and Singapore were stunning. Only Hamilton at Spa and perhaps Webber at Monaco can claim a performance of comparable quality.
That ultimately Alonso did not win a third title was only because of his team's error in Abu Dhabi. For the 2005 and 2006 champion, as he said himself, it was still a great year.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2010/11/who_were_the_top_10_f1_drivers.html
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