Re: Audi in F1

[David Bishop <da6bishop@mindspring.com>]

Rob,
Firstly I'd like to say that I agree almost whole-heartedly with your
musings. I have attended 3 F1 GPs, 2 FIA-GT races,
3 ALMS events, an IRL event (ok, so I admitted it), a CART race,  and NO
NASCAR races   ;-)

I go see what I can when I can afford to, but the ultimate for me will
be Le 24 Heures du Mans, and hopefully Audi will
bring home the laurels in 2000. Indy F1 ? no thank you. After my
experiences in the paddock at FIA-GT and ALMS
events, Tony and Bernie can stuff it. F1 will never be fan-friendly, and
I don't care how awesome those V10s will sound
inside the hallowed walls of the brickyard, if you see me anywhere in
2000, it will be ALMS events or frequenting the crepe vendors in France.


I'll insert other comments into your musings...
Cheers,
David Bishop
'99 Audi A6 Quattro 2.8
'89 Alfa Romeo Spider Veloce (soon to be for sale , will there be a TT
cabriolet in my future ?)

>Date: Wed, 01 Dec 1999 18:26:00 -0700
>From: only5kgt@uswest.net
>Subject: Re: Audi in F1???

>Thanks indeed... I work with all sorts of racing nuts, and no one had
heard this
>yet.
>Some thoughts (general  in nature, to put it mildly...)
>Of course awd is disallowed in F1, I think they put that series
together to
>maximize expense while minimizing innovation. When Colin Chapman tried
awd
>(can't, alas, pinpoint when... list Lotus junkies?) it was overweight
and hardly
>the magic bullet. Didn't get banned from the outset though, and
profoundly ahead
>in the wet (duh!)
>Being as much of a car nut as I am, I fear I've never gotten as far
into racing
>as I might. Something about my personality just doesn't appreciate the
tight
>regulation (not talking needed safety stipulations here) which comes in
in the
>name of parity and cost containment. Newsflash, people: Racing is
absurdly
>expensive. Trying to control this (in top-flight series, at least, like
F1, CART,
>LeMans etc, or even Winston Cup NASCAR) is foolhardy and makes for
stagnant
>engineering, IMO.
As expensive as F1 is already, why not let them go for it and loosen the
rules so they
can innovate again ? It is so tight , the politicos have to rule over
10mm on a Ferrari
barge board. No thank you, this is not excitement or innovation.

>I look at the original Can-Am as a pinnacle of "real" racing. Build the
fastest
>ostensible sportscar you can put together. Period. Limits largely
open-ended.
>Turbo flat-12? Sure. 500 cubes of Chebby? Bring it on. Active vacuum
system
>(Chaparral)- at least until the competition got paranoid about
failures...
>Porsche ended that series, it is argued, with the 917-30. I argue that
the series
>was canceled before anyone else could try to build a better mousetrap.
All the
>truly great race machinery came about when rules were just loose enough
to let
>the innovators in-
unfortunately Can-Am was before my time regarding following motorsports,
but from
everything I've read it was THE thing to see...

>will the current era be remembered in the future as compared
>with luminaries like:
>Auto Union Silver Arrows
>MBZ 300SLR (desmo straight eight, anyone?)
>Lotus Indy Turbine (late 60s)
>Porsche 917-30
>1000HP 1.5 litre '80s turbo F1 era

May I add Mansell and Patrese's 92 Williams ? if only for the marvel of
active suspension,
traction control, and semi-automatic tranny that combined to be an
almost bulletproof winner,
were it not for the genius of Ayrton Senna

>My (vacuous) point is that banning AWD is NASCAR mentality. These stone
age
>flying billboards are a mockery of racing.

Here Here ! Can everyone spell WWF ? WCW ? I live in the heart of NASCAR
country
and it is simply amazing the looks I get when someone (a NASCAR fanatic)
discovers that I
am a 'racing' fan (before they realize that I follow sportscars,touring
cars and open wheeled
motorsports). I mention "Le Mans" or "Spa" to them and they look at me
as if I'm speaking
Gaellic.

>Puttin' on the asbestos suit now,
>Rob

got an extra one for me ?    ;-)