78 replies to this topic

[vowcartaGP]

Maybe vowcartaGP was thinking from Williams perspective - choosing Rosberg to drive.

Precisely this yes

[Talisman]

Mallya buying Spyker.  Thought it was yet another billionaire with too big an ego who doesn't have what it takes to run an F1 team.  I was right about the first part but wrong about the second.

[DeKnyff]

1) Going to Formula 1 with an unreliable 1.5 litre V6 turbo engine in the back of the "yellow teapot".

 

2) Hiring a daredevil snowmobile Québecois racer with very little Formula 1 experience.

[PlatenGlass]

My winner in this thread. Off course they should have made a chicane. Everyone with a brain knew that. That should have been solved, but the FIA was only going by the rules...

Why not hand out Bridgestone tyres to everyone?

[TomNokoe]

Button challenging Hamilton at Macca

[Talisman]

The 'Indianapolis chicane' that was designed in an afternoon to help out the Michelin-shod teams seemed like a bad idea at the time, at least to the FIA, but one wonders if the mocking that would have ensued could have ever been even half as bad for F1 in the United States as the farce that the race turned in to when all the Michelin teams voluntarily retired after the parade lap.

 

 

That all depends on whether there would have been an accident, the chicane would have voided Indy's insurance for that race leaving them wide open to lawsuits had there been any injuries or worse as a result of the race.

[Red17]

Taking a Wankel engine to Lemans.

[CSquared]

That all depends on whether there would have been an accident, the chicane would have voided Indy's insurance for that race leaving them wide open to lawsuits had there been any injuries or worse as a result of the race.

I'm not a lawyer but I find that extremely difficult to believe. I think that was just a bogus excuse.

[Talisman]

I'm not a lawyer but I find that extremely difficult to believe. I think that was just a bogus excuse.

 

I think if you modify anything beyond what you insured your insurance is void.  Even if logically your change may improve safety.

Try fitting better but non-standard brakes to your car, not informing your insurer and crashing it.  I suspect you may not be covered.

[Rob]

I think if you modify anything beyond what you insured your insurance is void.  Even if logically your change may improve safety.

 

In 1994, Barcelona added a tyre chicane at the last minute, known as "Beirut". So it's not impossible.

 

[DampMongoose]

Taking a Wankel engine to Lemans.

At the time, reliability was the only way Mazda could compete with the faster Jags and Mercs as their car was slow as ****, so I'd disagree with that.

[Muppetmad]

In 1994, Barcelona added a tyre chicane at the last minute, known as "Beirut". So it's not impossible.

 

But that's a different country with a different legal system. Without wishing to invoke the stereotype that the USA is prone to lawsuits, it's certainly fair to suggest laws regarding motor sport events (and general liability in such instances) are very stringent in the USA - there's a reason why IndyCars throws (and has done for years) a full course caution whenever someone is on the track, for example.

Edited by Muppetmad, 17 June 2015 - 20:33.

[CSquared]

I think if you modify anything beyond what you insured your insurance is void.  Even if logically your change may improve safety.

Try fitting better but non-standard brakes to your car, not informing your insurer and crashing it.  I suspect you may not be covered.

I find it extremely difficult to believe that the oldest and largest racing facility in the world, which has hosted the world's largest one-day sporting event 99 times, has such a huge, unnecessary, and dangerous loophole in their insurance. On the other hand, it's very easy for me to believe that Max Mosley lied.

[Talisman]

I find it extremely difficult to believe that the oldest and largest racing facility in the world, which has hosted the world's largest one-day sporting event 99 times, has such a huge, unnecessary, and dangerous loophole in their insurance. On the other hand, it's very easy for me to believe that Max Mosley lied.

It doesn't matter who the insuree is.

You insure a given event or object. If you subsequently modify the subject of the insurance without notifying the insurer then the insurance can be voided. I'm staggered to find people who don't understand this principle. Whether its your car, house or racing track is irrelevant.

Btw it isn't a huge, dangerous and unnecessary loophole. It's standard. Check whatever insurance you may have at home. It'll be in there.

Edited by Talisman, 17 June 2015 - 21:08.

[Fatgadget]

I recall people criticizing Formula E when it was first conceived. I mean, an electric car racing series was surely to fail! No one would watch such a gimmicky racing series with slow cars that produced no sound!

They still are.........eating humble pie 

[PlatenGlass]

It doesn't matter who the insuree is.

You insure a given event or object. If you subsequently modify the subject of the insurance without notifying the insurer then the insurance can be voided. I'm staggered to find people who don't understand this principle. Whether its your car, house or racing track is irrelevant.

Btw it isn't a huge, dangerous and unnecessary loophole. It's standard. Check whatever insurance you may have at home. It'll be in there.

Couldn't they have just notified the insurer then?

[Hamandeggs]

Damon Hill challenging Schumachers dead benneton in Australia

 

Schumacher not seeing coulthard in a wet Spa:)

[Atreiu]

A night race at Singapore with the threat of thunder storms and all.

 

The rain never bothered anyone and it's a terrific GP now.

[Dmitriy_Guller]

Damon Hill challenging Schumachers dead benneton in Australia

 

Schumacher not seeing coulthard in a wet Spa:)

Not that any of this is on topic, but Schumacher's Benetton would've been alive, even if sick, for as long as Hill were behind.

Edited by Dmitriy_Guller, 18 June 2015 - 00:00.

[Afterburner]

Taking a Wankel engine to Lemans.

This might win the thread. A shriek like the sky being torn apart...

[lbennie]

Max Verstappen skipping FR2.0 and jumping straight into the European F3 championship for a midfield team.

 

We'll see, If one of them doesn't start beating the other soon it might not end well for the STR boys.

[sopa]

Arrows were bizarrely rather good in 88. Totally off-topic, but I wonder what was up with that, and why couldn't they build up on the momentum but instead started a long, slow downwards trend into backmarkers in the following years.

 

Maybe it was just Williams stuck with a crap engine and Lotus messing up their car that year, that flattered Arrows.

 

Arrows got the Megatron engines, which I think were old BMW turbocharged engines, which were still pretty good. And there weren't many turbo-charged competitiors left. Honda and Ferrari, and they were clearly first and second that year.

 

I think competition flattered Arrows. McLaren, Ferrari, Benetton were clearly above them. Lotus had a crap chassis and Williams a crap engine. Remember, Leyton House was also good, about a match to Arrows and on many circuits even better. But Leyton House/March could not repeat such season either.

 

Sometimes competition fluctuates around in such ways that a team is elevated to a higher level than they normally are. Jordan and Stewart did that also in 1999. Or Brawn in 2009!

[king_crud]

Arrows still had some good years after 88, they also had some diabolical years as well

[Rakaman]

http://www1.skysport...s/22058/9538348

 

Aside from Whitmarsh, how have any of these people not been laughed from F1 for being so wrong? 

[Tony Mandara]

Wasn't Ferrari 'roundly lambasted' in early 2004 when choosing to 'evolve' the 'tricky' F2003GA, into the F2004? Rather than going for a 'revolutionary' design as others had? I seem to remember some experts cooing that Ferrari had dropped the ball.

Egg/Face, Face/Egg.??

[sopa]

Wasn't Ferrari 'roundly lambasted' in early 2004 when choosing to 'evolve' the 'tricky' F2003GA, into the F2004? Rather than going for a 'revolutionary' design as others had? I seem to remember some experts cooing that Ferrari had dropped the ball.

Egg/Face, Face/Egg.??

 

Yeah, I think for 2004 Williams and McLaren had "revolutionary" designs, while Ferrari and also Renault had "evolutionary". But this was the year, where refining the previous design worked the best and teams, who started with a clean sheet of paper, failed.

[PayasYouRace]

In 1994, Barcelona added a tyre chicane at the last minute, known as "Beirut". So it's not impossible.

 

 

 

But there is one important difference. The chicane at Barcelona was built before the weekend started. All the practice and qualifying sessions were run on the track with the chicane in place.

 

At Indy, it would have been a change to the circuit with no chance to test it before the race.

[Nemo1965]

The signing of Max Verstappen to Toro Rosso for 2015. I thought it was wrong for Max and a mistake by Red Bull.

 

I was wrong.

 

[sopa]

Okay, now that's a controversial one.

 

When that sacked former Mercedes worker walked on the track during the Hockenheim Grand Prix in 2000, he looked utterly insane.

 

But in the end... we got one of the best and most memorable races.;)