tweety bird

great race. pasta marinara was handed a 10,000 Euro fine and given a reprimand by the race stewards for his part in a collision with Sergio Perez during the British Grand Prix. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/101094 Kamui Kobayashi has been fined 25,000 Euro for his incident in the pits during the British Grand Prix. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/101095

interesting project you got there.

i've never noticed the second intake before.

good move, i learnt form the canadian gp last year to record way longer then the race.

that's why i set mine to finish two/three/four hours after the program that i'm recording.

what a great qualifying, i look forward to the race.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sd1EFMi7HY&feature=related old school kimi awesomeness. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=kQ1CPhi3sn4 symphony of awesomeness. f**ken youtube f**ken..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XgfkVTSi6o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gm3HH0sMM2Q

Maria de Villota has undergone further surgery for her facial injuries after doctors were sufficiently happy with her progress to permit the operation. http://www.autosport...t.php/id/100974 Silverstone has 'strongly advised' fans holding public car park passes for the British Grand Prix to stay away on Saturday because of the on-going traffic chaos caused by unprecedented levels of rain. While those who have pre-allocated park-and-ride passes will be able to attend as planned - as well as those already in camp sites or within walking distance - Silverstone managing director Richard Phillips warned that fans with public passes may be turned away. The move has been made to protect the grass car parks in the hope that there will be no such restrictions in place for race day, after significant traffic problems on Friday led to many fans not being able to get into the circuit. It is estimated that as many as 30,000 fans could be affected by this decision. "We are strongly advising anyone with a public parking ticket not to come [on Saturday]," said Phillips. "What we can do tomorrow is accept people that are in park and ride. People who are camping or who can walk in are fine. There are a lot of categories and paddock-ticketed people that go into the centre and will be fine to get in. "There will come a point [tomorrow] - and that's why I am dissuading people now - where we will probably stop the traffic on the Dadford Road [the A43] and push them straight through past the circuit. And I don't want to do that. "The people that didn't get in today, we are offering refunds to and anybody that doesn't get in tomorrow will get a refund." Phillips blamed the problems that arose today on the rain, which led to grass car parks that had not been intended for use on Friday being opened. With numerous vehicles unable to gain access to camp sites, the decision was taken not to use the car parks on Saturday so that they will be fit for Sunday. "Yesterday, we had quite a good day with the sun shining," said Phillips. "The car parks were in a reasonable condition and we announced that we were going to go to an amber situation just in case and use the hard standing car parks if we could and keep off the grass. "What happened today is with the rain also came a lot of campers that didn't come in yesterday. They didn't come in to camp because of the wet weather, they came in caravans and Winnebagos and couldn't get into the campsites as the campsites were waterlogged and wouldn't let them in. So they were being turned away. "We tried to accommodate as many as we possibly could but the damage was started by then. We had to abandon just parking on hard standing because we just had to get traffic in as best we could. "We broke into a lot of the grass car parks. As a result of that, we have basically lost 50 per cent of our parking." Phillips underlined his hope that these measures would allow all those holding tickets for Sunday's race to attend, but could not guarantee that this would be the case. "I am not sure at all," he said. "I would have to see where we are tomorrow and we may have to have another chat tomorrow about Sunday. "At the moment we have to do our damndest to make sure that people that do come tomorrow are looked over the best we can and on Sunday hopefully everybody [will be]." http://www.autosport...t.php/id/100977 facepalm.jpg

who's watching?

it's so awesome isn't it. they've started the pre-practice for those that can watch it. http://www.vipbox.tv...eam-online.html

Pastor Maldonado says he is not planning to change his approach to racing despite the penalties he has been handed this year. "I think I have been quite unlucky the last couple of races," said the Venezuelan. "Especially in Monaco and Montreal because I got penalised because of the gearbox and I crashed in qualifying in Montreal, but the pace was always there and I think in the last race it is difficult to value because Lewis was losing by three seconds per lap. "I saw the chance to get on the podium when I had a very difficult race, especially at the beginning when I was P10 and then I had a good race and I was looking forward to getting on the podium as well. One and a half laps from the end I saw the chance to take the position against Lewis and he tried to defend and I tried to attack and it was normal racing contact I think. "I was disappointed because they were good points for the team and for me but there are many races ahead and the season is still long." The Williams driver said however that he did not feel the stewards were picking on him for his aggressive driving. "I don't think so. I have been unlucky but it is like football, and for sure we need to respect the rules. If you do not respect the rules you get a penalty and that is it." http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/100917 ''he tried to defend and I tried to attack and it was normal racing contact I think''. ^ Maria de Villota remains in critical but stable condition two days after her dramatic accident http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/100929 Silverstone weather forecast for Friday and Saturday is for heavy rain to fall over the two days. http://www.planetf1.com/driver/18227/7870439/Silverstone-gearing-up-for-wet-weekend

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0px0RBA5cbc

^yes but if you touch the throttle more then **% i believe it disengages the clutch. we will know soon i suppose.

Marussia test driver Maria de Villota has lost her right eye and remains in critical but stable condition following her crash on Tuesday. http://www.autosport...t.php/id/100907 Daniel Ricciardo admits STR need to get their qualifying act together, but is confident their race pace is good enough to keep them well ahead of Caterham. Heikki Kovalainen qualified ahead of both Ricciardo and his team-mate Jean-Eric Vernge at the European GP, but Toro Rosso appeared to have much better pace on the Sunday. However, Caterham will head to this weekend's British Grand Prix with several updates to their CT01 and will be eager to challenge midfield runners like STR come race day. Ricciardo, though, says "not at all" concerned about qualifying behind Caterham. "Although I do believe they've got some more updates for Silverstone - some that they are quite modest about - and it will probably work and they had good pace in Valencia," he told ESPNF1. "I think with overall pace we're still a fair bit in front, it's just the qualifying we have to soak a bit more out of. I think it's between us drivers and also understanding a bit more with the tyres. But then our race pace still seems to be quite a bit stronger than theirs. "I think if we don't get on top of our qualifying they will have more opportunities to be in front of us, but I still think our race pace will clearly be better than theirs." There is a healthy rivalry between Ricciardo and Vergne developing. Although the Australian has the upper hand when it comes to qualifying, Vergne is not too far away when it comes to race results. "I guess on paper with the qualifying it's been good," Ricciardo said. "I think it's 7-1, which is nice. I guess the first thing is that you look at your team-mate, but if we're 17th and 18th then even if I'm 0.3s or 0.4s quicker than him it's not going to give me a great sense of satisfaction. I think we've always got to push for more. He's had some strong races and I think the last few have been stronger. "I'm finding a bit more, which is good for the Sunday, so that's encouraging. If I can keep working this way then in qualifying I think I've already got a bit of an edge and in the race hopefully I can run away and get my nose clean in front. But in saying that, we can't really afford to try to push each other down because as a team we've got to try and get each other up. The rivalry is pretty good at the moment. I'd say it's healthy." http://www.planetf1....about-race-pace Formula 1's driver penalty system is set for an overhaul, after it emerged the FIA is discussing changes to the way punishments are handed out. http://www.autosport...t.php/id/100898

they might do it again. http://www.topgear.com/au/car-news/bmw-toyota-link-up-2012-06-29

my family was already here throwing rocks and sticks and your familys... so i win right?

i saw a red one today (the first one i've seen), i think it was a gt and it wasn't being driven by a p plater.

goodwood pics.

McLaren's deal with Vodafone is in jeopardy with reports that the latter is "reviewing its global sports and events sponsorships." http://www.planetf1.com/driver/18227/7858741/Vodafone-to-review-sponsorship it could happen, they have already stopped their v8 supercar sponsorship.

London Mayor Boris Johnson has thrown his support behind a bid for the city to host a round of the F1 World Championship. On Thursday, The Times reported that F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone is set to put up £35 million for the proposed race. The grand prix will run through the streets of the capital, starting at The Mall and passing landmarks such as Buckingham Palace and Trafalgar Square. "I am always interested in projects that attract jobs and bring growth," said Johnson. He did, however, add that it will be important to see if there is a "really good economic case" for London hosting a grand prix while the question of "air quality and noise impact will have to be looked at. "I am broadly positive providing we can satisfy the air quality and noise issues." The proposal is expected to be confirmed on Thursday night. http://www.planetf1.com/driver/18227/7846837/Mayor-supports-London-GP-proposal will it happen?

Bernie Eccletone would consider funding potential London Grand Prix Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone says he would consider throwing financial weight behind any attempt to stage a grand prix in London in the future - ahead of a promotional event by sponsor Santander on Thursday evening to unveil its idea for a track around the city. Just a week after it was revealed that one option being considered for the London Olympic stadium is to turn it in to a grand prix venue, Ecclestone has reiterated his belief that the British capital is the perfect venue to hold an F1 race. Santander is ramping up interest in the British Grand Prix, which it is title sponsor of, by hosting an event that will reveal how a grand prix in London could look – having commissioned a proper evaluation of a potential venue and commissioning a CGI film of how the race would appear on television. The plans will suggest a three-mile route around some of London's famous landmarks which could play host to more than 120,000 spectators. Although it is not thought that there has been any serious discussion about turning the idea in to reality, Ecclestone has suggested that he thinks it makes financial sense – and would be willing to fund it himself. "With the way things are, maybe we would front it and put the money up for it," he told The Times newspaper. "If we got the okay and everything was fine, I think we could do that. "Think what it would do for tourism. It would be fantastic, good for London, good for England – a lot better than the Olympics." Any future grand prix in London would have to be in addition to the British GP, as Silverstone has a long-term deal in place. http://www.autosport...t.php/id/100760 i'd be keen to see that, an old school track where if you go off the track you go into a wall. Sebastian Vettel and Romain Grosjean's retirements from the European Grand Prix were both caused by an overheating alternator, engine supplier Renault has confirmed, but the French car manufacturer is still uncertain about why the parts got too hot in the first place http://www.autosport...t.php/id/100770 more on that^ Q & A: White on Renault failures Q. What was the issue with the Red Bull and Lotus cars during the European Grand Prix? Rob White: On both Sebastian and Romain's car, the alternator - which converts mechanical energy into electrical energy to power the engine and ancillary systems - failed. In both cases the failure of the alternator cut the electrical supply, causing the engine to shut down very quickly and stop the car on the track. It appears that both alternators overheated. We've checked over the parts thoroughly now and it seems that there were no obvious reasons for the failure, so we are conducting further tests on the dyno at Viry to replicate conditions and double checking the findings. Q. Were the failures linked to the safety car period? RW: No. We had evidence that the alternator on Sebastian's car was showing signs of overheating before the safety car period, but the slower speeds prolonged its life expectancy slightly. Of course, when Sebastian went back up to racing speed the problem stepped up again and the result is now well known. With Romain's, the problem occurred very suddenly some laps after the safety car had been withdrawn. Q. Has this type of problem happened before? RW: This has never happened with the Lotus team before. We had one issue with Red Bull over winter testing but this was because we were pushing the car and the engine to the absolute limit to find out how far we could go. Once we had signs of issues, we went more cautious with the settings. We did have one issue with Vitaly Petrov's car in Monaco but when we investigated the problem, we found that the alternator in question had completed over 4,000km and was due to be serviced very shortly. As a result we decreased the amount of time between alternator services to a much lower figure. We felt that this was a sufficient measure. Q. Were the two that failed at the end of their lives? RW: No, in fact they were brand new parts, which points to the fact that this may be an issue with a particular batch of alternators. Both had been shaken down on the dynos at Viry for approx 400km and completed FP3 and qualifying without any issues and then failed suddenly in the race. Both had completed less than 1,000km. Q. Is the alternator a Renault-built part? RW: Yes it is a Renault part. We use various suppliers for the sub-internals but we build the alternators so we are responsible for the integrity of the part. We are now working with all the suppliers to make sure we can get to the root cause of the problem and ensure it does not happen again. Q. What kind of counter-measures or safeguards are you going to put in place now? RW: We are looking at several solutions. The first is to use another batch of alternators for Silverstone across all our clients, or a slightly modified design. We are also looking at returning to an older specification of alternator from 2011. Then we are working across all our partner teams to potentially introduce some mechanical and cooling solutions, or changing a few settings on acceleration maps so the running is less severe. All of these will be in evaluated between now and Silverstone, plus we will also look at everything after Friday running and see what additional measures we may need to take. http://www.autosport...t.php/id/100771