Sidepodcast

Silverstone vs. Silverstone

We have been asking for your stories of racing events that you've attended. Yesterday, Lady Snowcat described her freezing visit to Sweden to watch Kimi, and today Lewis talks about two separate Silverstone events and tries to compare the two.

Credit: cmonville (creative commons)

The Peugeot 908 flies around Silverstone during the Autosport 1000km in 2008.

Silverstone. The quintessential British racing circuit. Greasy fast food, Maggots and Becketts, plagues of souvenir stands and die hard British racing fans. Having been there twice, I've felt the buzz of the field going past many times. But surely my visits can't have been any different?

I first went to Silverstone in 2008, on a typically autumnal day. I was going to watch Le Mans Series, the final race of the season, the title decider. I was going as a guest of Peugeot, and as I sat in Luffield B with a Peugeot flag and cap in my hands, the field went past at an amazing pace. The atmosphere was electric, it felt as though a lightning bolt had passed through all of our bodies. It was a feeling I won't forget.

After a while, we went for a walk. There were lines and lines of souvenir stands. Magazines, caps, flags, books, programmes. It would have taken days to visit everything. The Le Mans organisers really knew what the spectators wanted.

The paddock was open that day, a chance for fans to see what was behind the pit lane. Across the infamous bridge, we walked past motorhomes, cafés and team personnel. I felt like a VIP, even though it was public. Every two minutes, you got a complimentary car sticker, or a free flag. They catered for everything. There was even an opportunity to buy used tyres from Dunlop or Michelin. Autosport (who were the title sponsors of the event) were also fantastic. I bought their magazine, then got laden with three free books. A truly awesome day.

I came back in 2009, to watch the World Series by Renault formula. My expectations were high. Brendon Hartley (a driver that I can't wait to see in F1) was driving, and I felt the same buzz as before as I stood at Becketts, watching the twenty-strong field fly past. I was lucky enough to stand at Bridge corner and see Fernando Alonso drive past in his Renault.

It was only when we started to go walkies that it failed to live up to my impressions. The only souvenir stands were official Renault stands, and the prices were outrageous. £7.50 for a fridge magnet?! The only free thing I got was a badly made flag, and the only attractions were the 'official ING funfair' and Renault's heritage. The paddock was non-existent, only for a few manic drivers driving crates of tyres around. You couldn't buy those. Renault disappointed me. They should've done a lot better. The pressure from 'Crash-gate' perhaps? All of the souvenir stands were gone, there were none of the cheerful helpers that pointed the way to confused fans. Even all of the mobile cafés were gone (I didn't want an official ING sandwich, I just wanted a normal one).

Overall, you could see the effort each set of organisers put in to the event. I don't think I'll be going to anything for Renault any time soon. Le Mans Series? Yes.

Finite Element Analysis in Formula 1

FEA in Formula 1 - stress and load mesh modelling at its very best.

The Open University offers distance learning for undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications. To support courses, a number of educational resources are made available for free via Apple's iTunesU mobile learning solution. This month an engineering and technology podcast relating to Formula 1 has become available.

The course in question is the catchily titled T884 - An Introduction to Finite Element Analysis which relates to a computational modelling and analysis technique known as Finite Element Analysis, or FEA to its friends. FEA is used by F1 teams in a number of design areas in order to optimise the performance of various elements of a racing car, thus the OU descended on the Red Bull Racing factory in Milton Keynes to help explain how these techniques enable them to reach the front of the grid.

Whilst this iTunesU content is primarily offered as supplemental learning material, the course does amount to 17 videos. Included is insight from Lewis Butler who's the senior structural analyst for the team and who offers a detailed look into how a part such as a wheel hub might first be modelled virtually, in order to predict weaknesses or suggest improvements in the design before manufacture.

Much of the footage appears to have been filmed in the teams factory, and a real chassis is used to demonstrate the finer points of the talk, although the sight of Michelin tyres belies its true age. The short video's are provided in both low and high resolution format, and are backed up by PDF transcripts.

I will admit to being considerably out of my depth 10 minutes into the course, but you will get some fantastic insight into what goes on behind the scenes of a Formula 1 team, and you likely won't be so quick to judge a team the next time a loose wheel comes flying from its hub in Hungary.

Computer Aided Design at this level is an incredibly complex subject to cover, but the series is well produced and presented. That a Formula 1 team can see the benefit in putting effort into such a programme speaks volumes and Red Bull should be congratulated for making a largely inaccessible topic more available.

If you haven't taken a look at iTunesU before, it's a recommended destination, and there's no place better to start than the free Finite Element Analysis course from Red Bull and the Open University.

I Should Be in Charge of F1 Because...

With Mr Todt's arrival at the head of the FIA comes the news that there will be a commissioner assigned to each world championship that the governing body oversees. That means we are looking at a brand new name placed in charge of F1, and there is plenty of speculation around as to who it might be.

In the comments, earlier today, Lukeh turned this into a fun game rather than idle speculation, by suggesting:

I think the fans should be allowed to apply to be F1 Commissioner and then be given 150 words maximum to explain why they should be.

My statement of intent would be:

Because I want to give Rubens a hug and I suppose the F1 would be nice too

Mr C and I think this to be a marvellous game, and have since been coming up with some of our own. Mine would go something like this.

I would like to be F1 Commissioner so I can bring back: Michelin, Franck, testing, one lap qualifying, non-green striped tyres, refuelling... and the Fosters girls.

It's interesting that everything I would improve are things that have already existed but been taken away from the sport. That is a whole other post though, I think.

In the interests of whiling away a Saturday evening, how would your pitch sound? Don't forget, 150 words or less. Mr. C?

Sidepodcast Diaries 13 - Photo Frame

Christine looks at the recent Toyota launch and who might be the next to join the team.

Transcript

On-screen text: Toyota launched their new car with this very bad photo. [Show very bad photo.] This got me thinking. If all it takes to be an F1 driver is a photoshopped head... I'm in. [Show very bad photo with my head photoshopped in.] And I bet I'm not the only one. [Replace my head with: Doctor Who, Michelin Man, Britney, Mr T, Micky Mouse, Panda] Perhaps racing related people would be better. [Vicki Butler-Henderson, Franck Montagny, Bernie Ecclestone] No? How about a Trulli replacement? [Thomas the Tank Engine] Okay... Now I'm just being silly. Who would you put in the driving seat? See you next week.

Tyre Compounds

This article was originally written for BellaOnline, but is republished here for posterity.

When I first started watching F1, there were two makes of tyre: Michelin and Bridgestone. The great tyre war raged, and Ferrari on their Bridgestones were having to fight with a newly competitive Renault on Michelins.

However, after the US GP disaster, Michelin pulled out of the sport, and a year later, it was a single tyre supplier series. To make the tyre aspect of racing more exciting, Bridgestone introduced various compounds of their rubber, varying in hardness, and they would only bring two types to each race. The compounds are usually one step apart from each other, and are known as the hard and soft tyres at each race, although they may actually be different compounds. In Monaco, Bridgestone bring the soft, and super-soft tyres, whereas other tracks may see different compounds used. They are all still known as hard and soft within each race weekend.

A team is required to use one of each type of tyre during a race, and it is usually the case that the soft tyre is faster over a single lap, whilst the harder tyre is more useful over a longer race distance. You will usually find drivers using the softer tyre, distinguishable by a white circumferential stripe, during the later stages of qualifying.

Bridgestone have recently announced they are looking into the possibility of widening the margins between the compounds to further add to the action. However, this is a very risky concept.

The way the tyres are at the moment mean there is very little scope for playing with strategies. On tracks where the soft tyre wears out very easily, you will likely not find a driver one stopping, as at least half of his race would be on unsuitable rubber.

If the margins were widened even more, you would see all the teams finding the optimum setup and strategy, and they would all do the same thing. That would mean everyone would pit together, and there would be no strategy gains to be made in the pit lane.

Far from spicing up the action, this would reduce it to merely a procession. It’s a fine line for Bridgestone to tread, and what they really need is the competition that comes from having another supplier on the grid. That is not going to happen for a few years yet, so we will have to wait and see what Bridgestone come up with for 2009.

Days that Shook the F1 World - US Grand Prix 2005

• Length: 3:59 
• Size: 3.7 MB 
• File: day1.mp3 
• Transcript: day1.pdf 
• Torrent: day1.torrent 

Welcome to Sidepodcast. This is the first part in our latest mini series – Days that Shook the F1 World. The idea is to pick out some specific dates in Formula 1 history that made drivers, teams, fans and the media sit up and take notice. Days that quite literally shook the F1 World. Our first date is June 19 2005.

The 2005 Formula 1 season proved to be a refreshing break from the Ferrari dominance of previous years. Fernando Alonso took his R-25 Renault and made it work out on track, and Michael Schumacher was left struggling in the distance. Only Kimi Raikkonen could match Alonso’s pace, but the McLaren suffered from reliability problems.

In June, Formula 1 descended upon the USA, and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Speedway features some of the only high banking in the Formula 1 calendar, as the cars leave the infield section and rejoin the Speedway oval. The critical corner is Turn 13. During Friday Practice, Ralf Schumacher suffered a left rear tyre failure at the turn and crashed heavily. After close inspection by Michelin of both the tyres in use, and spare tyres flown in from Spain, they advised their customer teams – seven out of the ten teams competing – that they couldn’t guarantee safety through the banking for a full race distance. On Saturday, Michelin informed the FIA that they didn’t know what the problem with the tyres was, but that it could be solved by slowing the cars down at Turn 13. The teams proposed several options: new spec tyres to be flown in, or a temporary chicane to be built, but Race Director Charlie Whiting would not allow either of these amendments. According to him, Bridgestone would be unfairly put out by a chicane, and essentially it was Michelin’s problem if they couldn’t bring the correct tyres to a race.

The teams met up, discussed the options, and all except Ferrari, who weren’t there, agreed that a chicane really was the best way to go, despite the FIA’s concerns that any changes to the track layout would render the race outside of the championship. Bernie Ecclestone offered to ask Jean Todt for Ferrari’s position on the proposal but returned with bad news. Todt believed the problem was between the FIA and Michelin and didn’t want to get involved.

Discussions continued, and the proposals went back and forth, with the teams beginning to come round to the idea of running a non-championship event, if only for the fan’s entertainment. The FIA and Ferrari continued to disagree to all the options presented to them.

With only moments to go, and confusion reigning supreme, the teams decided that they had no options left and would be forced to complete only a formation lap and then retire from the race. Ferrari were going to race, and Jordan decided to race also. Minardi team principal, Paul Stoddart, who was running on Bridgestones decided he needed to race, to keep the fight up with Jordan, but announced he would retire his cars if the Jordan’s were out of the race.

And so, twenty cars took to the grid, twenty cars completed the installation lap, then fourteen cars peeled off into the pit lane. Six cars took their places at the start line.

The crowd booed.

Obviously Ferrari won the race, and it helped them considerably in both driver and constructors championship. But any benefits the team had were outweighed by the many, many complaints. Anyone attending the race was absolutely furious, the race was rubbished and the future of F1 in the United States looked very shaky.

The fans blamed the FIA. The FIA blamed Michelin.

It was a very dark day in the entire history of Formula 1, and still provokes reactions today. Although the FIA eventually decided Michelin was not solely to blame, it was too late for the company, and the sport is now supplied by a single tyre manufacturer. Although the US Grand Prix battled through the bad feeling in both 2006 and 2007, it is off the calendar for 2008. Michelin eventually gave refunds to anyone who had attended the race.

That’s our first topic covered, a day that really did unsettle F1 to its very foundations. Join me again tomorrow for part two, featuring another day that shook the F1 World.

Theme music: Dylan in the Movies, Better Days and Causeway, Change in My Lifetime.