Selection box - You have to love British rain - Getting the most out of Silverstone, from the tyres to the tests
Published by Christine
The British Grand Prix was a great weekend of action, and although we are in the midst of an insanely busy period of F1 racing, it feels odd not to be prepping to see what the next installment brings this weekend. Instead, we'll focus on some of the great and the good from around the web, starting with a little bit of the technical side of things.
These companies constantly experiment with chemistry and engineering, seeking new combinations of rubbers, curatives, and polymers and better ways of improving traction, durability, and comfort. The goal changes with each type of tire—the tire on your car is vastly different than the tire on Vettel’s racer—but it’s always some combination of reducing rolling resistance, increasing grip, and maximizing durability.
We’ve covered the main features that you tend to hear about during the races but remember – there’s about 1000 different mode combinations which drivers can change to during a race so it’s a lot more complicated than you might think.
Next up, there's more to motorsport than just what you see on TV, it can also inspire creativity in other ways. The next couple of posts take a look at music playlists coming from the world of F1 (what would you put in yours?) as well as playing a table top version of the series.
We’ve compiled some of the music most synonymous with motorsport from The Chain to Just Drive and with everything in between. Alongside Channel 4 and Sky’s current theme tunes, the playlist also features songs from Codemasters’ Formula One games, and from the Sony games before that including Muse’s Butterflies and Hurricanes (F1 2005), The Infadels’ Jagger 67 (F1 2006) and The Editors’ Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors, from Codemasters’ epic F1 2010 trailer:
Similar to the ways PC gamers modify and tweak computer games, racing board games like Formula D tap into players’ enthusiasm for customisation and collection. For example, between Formula D and the earlier Formula Dé, players can buy brand new race tracks to play on that are also based on actual locales, including such A-list circuits as Silverstone, Daytona and Suzuka.
Moving on to a couple of posts from the action at Silverstone, although it's a little step outside of the normal preview/review setup. We've got a great post about marshalling for motorsport to inspire you to pick up some orange overalls soon, as well as a word from tester Alex Lynn about his experience this week.
The location we chose meant we were able to watch the cars come through the Village Loop and then turn around and watch them come through Copse and onto the Maggotts/Becketts complex which gave me the great view of Max Verstappen’s spectacular overtake on Nico Rosberg.
The Silverstone weather did its best and the rain began to fall before the afternoon session. We had a wet programme lined up in case of this anyway, but it’s a shame because we missed the chance to get a proper performance run. You have to love British rain: at first it wasn’t wet enough for full-wet tyres and then it was a bit too dry for intermediates…but the whole day was still an awesome experience.
Unless you've been hiding your head in the anti-technological sand, you'll know that virtual reality is gradually raising its profile, and our next link talks to Pat Symonds about the usefulness of VR to Formula One.
Pat’s passion for technology is evident. However, with a lot of criticism about tech taking away from the sport, i.e. reducing the influence of the driver on a race, I also asked – is there such a thing as too much technology? Apparently, the answer all depends on how you view Formula One. Is it a business, a sport, or merely entertainment?
Finally, some fantastic photos of a day spent watching Formula E in London, with plenty of familiar faces from F1 days gone by.
Featuring Bruno Senna, Alain Prost, Champagne, fountains and more.
