FIA to meddle with the rules again to cut cornering speeds.

[FourWheelDrift]

GrandPrix.com said:

As we suggested would happen a couple of days ago, the FIA has invoked Article 7.5 of the Concorde Agreement and has instructed the Technical Working Group to examine ways in which the increased cornering speeds can be reduced next year. The FIA will now propose three alternative packages and the TWG must decide on one of them within 45 days. If that does not happen the FIA World Council will be able to decide on its own and this can be introduced three months later. This means that the rules can be changed for 2007. The last time Article 7.5 was invoked was relating to switching from V10 to V8 engines and the packages on offer were such that the FIA got what it wanted.

The news that this is happening must be viewed not as an independent measure but rather as part of the ongoing tussle between the FIA and the manufacturers over the rules. The two parties are edging slowly (and not very gracefully) towards a deal for 2008 and beyond but the FIA clearly wants the same thing in 2007 as well and is not moving to achieve that.Whether restricting engine and having control tyres will make the racing better is an entirely different question and there is no sensible indication that this is the case. In order for there to be more differentiation between the cars, based on the drivers, there still need to be changes to the aerodynamics in order to allow one car to run closely behind another. There is some hope that the opportunities for overtaking will improve in the longer term with this and with hybrid systems which may allow drivers to get extra power when they need it.

The theory is that if the cars are very close in terms of performance and hybrid technology can be used to make the difference, it will be a big bonus for F1 in the future.

One can only hope that this is the case because at the moment the races are dull and interest in the sport - and the all-important TV viewing figures - are on the wane.

God only knows what mad ideas they'll come up with this time. Whatever it will be it will slow the cars down for maybe 3 or 4 races next year (unless they know sooner and can make back the difference over the winter) before the engineers get back what they've lost and in the meantime it'll have no effect whatsoever on creating closer racing.

[flemke]

FourWheelDrift said:

God only knows what mad ideas they'll come up with this time. Whatever it will be it will slow the cars down for maybe 3 or 4 races next year (unless they know sooner and can make back the difference over the winter) before the engineers get back what they've lost and in the meantime it'll have no effect whatsoever on creating closer racing.

And spend £100M doing it - whilst Numbnuts continues to whinge about needing to force the teams to spend less.

[stew-typeR]

ive got a great money saving idea, maybe i should email it to max.

i reckon that all teams should be forced to run...road cars. 4 door family saloon cars to be exact. doesn't get much more 'real world' than that. and they are all basically the same. dont handle well or go fast. so it would save millions.


can someone please get rid of mosely?

[flemke]

stew-typeR said:

can someone please get rid of mosely?

Maxey learned well from the example of his parents' hero.

He changed the rules for voting for the FIA Presidency. Now, each candidate has to have an entire declared slate (around a dozen, IIRC) of candidates who would take various subsidiary posts if their Presidential candidate were to win the election.
How many people are going to support a different candidate if they have to make public in advance that they would participate in his cabinet? There is too great a risk that their candidate would lose to the incumbent, who after the election would excommunicate the challenger's key supporters.

Also, the people who vote for FIA President are representatives of the various (175ish, IIRC) motoring assocations from around the workd, one from each nation. For the UK it's the RAC, for Germany probably the ADAC, for US, the AAA.
To be the chairman or president of one of these national clubs is no big thing, and little in the way of money or perquisites would normally attach to it.
However...if as the President of, say, the Automobile Club of Zimbabwe, you could get VIP tickets to a Grand Prix, or an autographed picture of Schumey for your son, or your club could get an FIA grant to study...anything at all...that would make you very grateful to the person dispensing the largesse.

A couple of years ago there was talk that the President of the (US) AAA would formally take on Mosley. He started to compete but then was hammered. (This culminated in Mosley's risible "resignation", which conveniently was rescinded within about a fortnight).

IIRC, Jackie Stewart's name came up as a possible opponent in last year's election. His response to the proposal was something like - "Do you think I'm crazy? I don't like competing in something that I am guaranteed to lose."

Where are the grandchildren of von Ribbentrop when we need them?

[V8 Archie]

flemke said:

Maxey learned well from the example of his parents' hero.

Thankfully it is possible to ignore Max with endagering ones way of life. In fact ignoring him and his series will indeed make the problem disappear. The only downside is that it might take a few years - but probably not as long as a World War.