Wow I am glad I happened to check out the Sports section. Seems like a well informed F1 crowd here. I have to say that I would agree with the general consensus here on a Ferrari/Shumacher victory. I must say that I am worried about our sport. I expected a bad accident last season because of the rules change allowing active traction control. No it didn't happen, but there were a couple of close moments. This year with the pits able to change many car parameters on the fly I am really worried. I only hope that these two way data setups default in a safe manner on failure, and that one of our favorite drivers won't have to pay the ultimate price for an unnecessary technology upgrade. I say leave the driving to the drivers!

 

Daily F-1 is my home page...

Here are some great wallpapers for your desktop.

http://www.dailyf1.com/en/downloads/wallpa...son/index.shtml

 

Another couple of other good F1 sites:

http://www.galeforcef1.com/

You can subscribe to their email service and they will email you the qualifying and race reports.


http://www.formula1.com/news/home.html

Enjoy

 

Chipster - Having watched my favorite driver of all time die, on live TV, on Mother's Day many years ago, I completely agree with your concern about some of the new technology. The active launch control caused some sudden stalls and some nearly horrific pile-ups on the starting line last year. Technology is good, but too much can be a real problem, at least that is the way I see it. Just the launch control saddens me. I loved to see tightly contested qualifying times completely erased at the start of the race by somebody getting too much wheel spin and just plain dropping back as others who got good grip just plain rocketed buy.

And for the younger fans out there:
The event happened May 1, 1994 in San Marino, a small country near the city of Bologna, Italy. This tragic event occurred during the San Marino Grand Prix. The driver on the pole was none other than our beloved hero, Ayrton Senna. Ayrton led the first few laps like the great champion he was. On the second green flag lap, going through the 190-mph Tamburello curve, his steering rod snapped like a twig. The car barreled into the wall head on at approximately 180 mph. I watched, along with the entire world, as the tattered car of Ayrton Senna came to rest along the side of the track. It was at this moment I knew that the Formula 1 world, along with the lives this great hero touched, would never be the same. His limp body was dragged from the car where it was put into a helicopter and flown to a hospital in Bologna, Italy. It was here that Ayrton Senna died in peace and a true hero and as perhaps, the greatest champion of the all.

Although Williams/BMW is a great team and I am a die-hard BMW fan, I just can't warm up to Williams because of this accident. The weld on the steering column played a mayor role in his death. The visual from the live helicopter feed was just too sad to watch without crying! The steering column punctured his helmet and the amount of red stuff on the ground was just too much.

As good as Michael is, and as much of a fan as I am, he ain't no Ayrton. Michael is the constant professional and a great spokesman for Ferrari, but if you liked surprises you had to love Senna. Okay I will admit he did some things that were a little beyond reasonable, but he made the show! He got 12/10's out of a car that nobody else would dare drive at 9/10's. And if another driver got under his skin, whoa, let there be fireworks!!!

Rest in peace my friend, you will always be loved!

 

Reading your post Triple-H, it makes me think of the tragic death of JV's father, Gilles. To make the races safer, the f1 directors should require slower engines(not that I have a problem with speed) so that the impact of an accident would be lighter. That and improve on track safety for the volunteers/drivers/spectators.

 

Since we're posting links, here's a few more:
The King--AutoSport
My F1 forum on Yahoo--Yahoo Formula 1
Good for News--GrandPrix.com
Good for Scoops--F1 Live
My Infrequently Updated Photo Site

 

Thanks... I needed something new!

 

Michael Schumacher unhurt in Spanish shunt...

http://www.dailyf1.com/en/news/2002/january/30e.shtml

Wow!

 

Yeah, I put up a thread about it - the spate of testing accidents he's been involved in are scaring me.... a man only has so much luck

 

Triple-H; I also remember that sad day! One of my greatest Sunday morning pleasures back in those days, was Senna and Mansel going at it. Man that was racing! I keep hoping I will see that kind of spirit in racing again. We had some good contests with Michael & Mika, and maybe Montoya will raise the bar a little. I still miss Nigel... He was for me "The Man!"