Massa threatened with jail over team orders


© Getty Images
Brazil’s F1 fever may have overstepped the mark after a local prosecutor threatened Felipe Massa with a six-year jail term if he “defrauds” the sporting public by letting Ferrari team-mate Fernando Alonso past at Sunday’s grand prix. The story, reported by a local paper and picked up by the Daily Telegraph, is the latest of several anti-Massa reports to emerge from his home country since the team orders controversy at the German Grand Prix earlier this year. The Daily Telegraph's Tom Cary reckons that Massa simply isn't living up to his home crowd's high expectations.
“A public raised on a diet of Emerson Fittipaldi, Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna were simply appalled and saddened in equal measure by Massa’s apparent lack of ambition.”

Source: http://blogs.espnf1.com/paperroundf1/archives/2010/11/massa_threatened_with_jail_ove.php

Jimmy Bryan Clemar Bucci Ronnie Bucknum Ivor Bueb Sebastien Buemi

1971 Challenger R/T convertible

Here's my latest completed build, a "what if" '71 Challenger R/T convertible. If I could have ordered one back in '71, that's what it would have looked like;

AMT '70 Challenger kit with '71 resin conversion kit from V.Hart, Keith Marks decals, photo etch seatbelt buckles and hood pins, and some parts from my parts boxes. Color is FJ6 Green Go.

(I know, the shifter is on backwards, this has been fixed after those pics were takenSmile, Wink & Grin )

Source: http://cs.scaleautomag.com/SCACS/forums/thread/1007407.aspx

Henry Banks Fabrizio Barbazza John Barber Skip Barber Paolo Barilla

Zing Carpeting

There are a few things you might like to know about Zing Carpeting. If you start with white powder, and select a dark color to airbrush it, when you nick it (installing seats, etc.), you will leave white scars in your carpet. Easily fixed with a brush, but since it will be applied full strength, it will probably not look like the airbrushed carpet 100%. This is probably why they offer so many colors beside white.

Also, I applied a coat of white glue for the first layer with a brush, and because the glue had started to dry by the time I had the floor coated, some of the areas would not hold the powder and I wound up with some carpet gone. So, I tried again, but this time I used Createx Wicked Moss Green that I hand-brushed the existing layer of Zing so that I could get a nice liquid layer of paint that would hold the powder.

Of course, this also has to be painted, and unfortunately, I realized that my Createx was old - it clogged my airbrush, and I had to discard it. The closest I could come to this color was Hunter Green craft paint, which I thinned 50% with Liquitex Airbrush Medium, and the following photo shows the results with just one application of paint (another coat would have eliminated the nice random look)...

Source: http://cs.scaleautomag.com/SCACS/forums/thread/1007355.aspx

Alberto Ascari Peter Ashdown Ian Ashley Gerry Ashmore Bill Aston

Team orders in spotlight again


Will Christian Horner regret not utilising team orders in Brazil? © Getty Images
Michael Spearman of The Sun, says that the £65,000 fine Ferrari received for breaching the team orders ban in Germany will seem like loose change if Fernando Alonso wins the drivers’ title in Abu Dhabi.
“The extra seven points Alonso collected when Ferrari ordered Felipe Massa to move over for him in Germany earlier in the season are now looking even more crucial. “And the £65,000 fine they picked up for ruthlessly breaking the rules will seem loose change if Alonso clinches the title in his first year with the Maranello team. “Red Bull could have switched the result yesterday given their crushing dominance and still celebrated their first constructors' championship just five years after coming into the sport. “That would also have given Webber an extra seven points, leaving him just one behind Alonso.”
The Guardian’s Paul Weaver says that if Fernando Alonso does take the drivers’ title in Abu Dhabi, Ferrari owes a debt of gratitude to Red Bull for their decision not to employ team orders in Brazil.
“If Alonso does take the title next week it would not be inappropriate were he and Ferrari to send a few gallons of champagne to Red Bull's headquarters in Milton Keynes. “While Red Bull should be heartily applauded for the championship they did win today their apparent acceptance that Ferrari might carry off the more glamorous prize continues to baffle Formula One and its globetrotting supporters. “Their refusal to make life easy for Webber, who has led for much of the season and is still seven points ahead of Vettel, means that whatever happens in the desert next week Alonso, the only driver who was capable of taking the championship in the race today, only has to secure second place to guarantee his third world title.”
The Independent’s David Tremayne is also of the opinion that Red Bull may regret not using team orders in Brazil.
“Had Red Bull elected to adopt team orders and let Webber win – something that the governing body allows when championships are at stake – Webber would have left Brazil with 245 points – just one point off the lead. For some that was confirmation of his suggestion that Vettel is the team's favoured driver – which generated an angry call from team owner Dietrich Mateschitz in Austria and was much denied by team principal, Christian Horner. “And it sets up a situation where, if the result is repeated next weekend, as is likely, Vettel and Webber will tie on 256, five behind Alonso.”
The Mirror’s Byron Young has put Lewis Hamilton’s fading title chances down to an inferior McLaren machine and he admits the 2008 World Champion now needs a miracle.
“Sebastian Vettel's victory sends the world title fight to a four-way showdown for the first time in the sport's history. “Hamilton goes there as part of that story with a 24-point deficit to Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, but with just 25 on offer in the final round in six days' time it would take more than a miracle. “Driving an outclassed McLaren he slugged it out against superior machinery and stiff odds to finish fourth.”

Source: http://blogs.espnf1.com/paperroundf1/archives/2010/11/team_orders_in_spotlight_again_1.php

Alain de Changy Colin Chapman Dave Charlton Pedro Matos Chaves Bill Cheesbourg

Ferrari's F2012 is a bold step - but is it enough?

Chastened by the disappointments of 2011, Ferrari promised an "aggressive" approach to the design of their new Formula 1 car and they have not disappointed.

The new F2012, unveiled via the internet on Friday because of unusually heavy snow at the team's base in Maranello, is the most radical of the four new cars that have broken cover so far this season.

Many will also regard it as the most unattractive, featuring as it does a pronounced 'step' on the upper nose that even Ferrari themselves have described as "not aesthetically pleasing".

Fernando Alonso, the man on whose shoulders rest Ferrari's huge expectations, paused when asked for his impressions of the car and said, politely, that it "looks very different".

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It is a design that will feature, to a greater or lesser extent, on most of the F1 cars this season - with the notable exception of the McLaren which was unveiled on Wednesday.

The McLaren is undoubtedly more beautiful than the Ferrari but it also appeared a little conservative - a charge vigorously denied by the team. In fact, that is a charge Ferrari have levelled at their own recent efforts, and the Italian team's new car is certainly anything but.

There is no doubting Ferrari's ambition. "We want to go back to the top level," said the company's flamboyant president, Luca di Montezemolo. "We want to win. We don't want to lose the world championship at the very last race [as they did in 2010]. We have all the ingredients for a perfect recipe."

That remains to be seen. Certainly this season could not be more critical for the sport's most famous team.

The fact is that since a major set of new regulations were introduced into F1 in 2009, Ferrari have not produced a car that was right on the pace.

The 2009 car was uncompetitive - taking only a single win in Kimi Raikkonen's hands. The 2010 was their best stab yet, but even though Alonso took it to the brink of the world title, he was only able to do so because Red Bull, who had a faster car, made so many errors between the team and drivers.

Last year was not quite as bad as 2009, but still Alonso, a man regarded widely as the most complete racing driver in the world, was able to take only one win, despite producing what he said himself was his best season in F1.

It's not hard to see where Ferrari may have created a problem for themselves.

Having put such emphasis on the need to be competitive this year, on the need to rid their design department of what they described as its conservatism, what happens if this year's car does not live up to their expectations?

They have already dismissed one technical director. Aldo Costa - who was at the team through the glory years with Michael Schumacher - was pushed aside and replaced by ex-McLaren engineer Pat Fry.

Equally, Alonso has effectively committed his career to them. This is, as team boss Stefano Domenicali has said, a huge benefit - he is a gold standard and no failure of pace can be laid at his door. But that is a double-edged sword. If the car is not winning, it is clearly Ferrari's fault, not his.

"Fernando did an incredible, extraordinary season [in 2011]," Domenicali said on Friday. "He has extended his relationship with us for many years and that is a sign of the responsibility we feel - we have to offer you a competitive high-performing car. I'm sure it will be winning from the very beginning."

Ferrari's F2012: Is this the car that will complement the exceptional talents of driver Fernando Alonso?

A lot rests, then, on the performance of the F2012. Whether its stepped nose, pull-rod front suspension and exhaust exits angled low down will make it competitive remains to be seen, but it is at least clear what Ferrari are trying to do.

The ugly step on the nose will undoubtedly cause more airflow disruption on the top of the car than any other seen so far, but it also means that Ferrari can get the much more important bottom part of the chassis higher across its entire width.

In theory, that means more airflow under the car, and therefore increased downforce, the holy grail for all F1 designers.

However, according to BBC F1 technical analyst Gary Anderson - a man with 20 years' experience of designing grand prix cars - the curved chassis underside that will result from the 'eye-let' design on the Force India is actually advantageous in terms of directing the air where it needs to go - under the floor.

The pull-rod front suspension - where the rocker arms run from the top of the wheel to the bottom of the chassis rather than the other way around - has advantages in that it gets the weight of the suspension lower down in the car, and Ferrari claim there is an aerodynamic benefit, too.

And it remains to be seen whether Ferrari's solution on exhaust exits - which look like remaining a key issue this year, despite the ban on exhaust-blown diffusers - is as effective as that of their rivals.

"I really believe in the skills we have here in Ferrari," Alonso said. "We have to be optimistic. We have two months to get ready for the first race in Australia. We have to fight for this title."

Alonso, Ferrari say, works more closely with the team than even Schumacher did. But he is a very demanding man, who expects the absolute best from those around him, just as he delivers it on the track.

If the F2012 does not go better than it looks, things will get very uncomfortable at Maranello.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/02/ferraris_f2012_is_a_bold_step.html

Allen Berg Georges Berger Gerhard Berger Eric Bernard Enrique Bernoldi

Robert Kubica Could Be Ruled Out For At Least A Year Following Accident

Polish racing driver Robert Kubica will spend at least one whole year recovering from a rally crash he suffered this morning, according to his surgeon. Kubica, who races for Renault Lotus crashed the Skoda Fabia rally car this morning and was airlifted to hospital suffering serious injuries. He has spent many hours in surgery, with [...]

Source: http://f1fanatics.wordpress.com/2011/02/06/robert-kubica-cold-be-ruled-out-for-at-least-a-year-following-accident/

Gino Bianco Hans Binder Clemente Biondetti Pablo Birger Art Bisch