Nirenjan’s Space

Microsoft has been granted an exclusive contract to be the sole Engine Control Unit (ECU) supplier for F1 from 2008.

So we can expect to see the following things in 2008:

1. All cars would require to be fitted with a system board running 64 Intel Pentium 5 processors running at 6.4 GHz and having a minimum of 512 GB RAM per processor.
2. All cars would need to be retrofitted to include a generator inline with the engine shaft. The ECU power needs would require 99% of the engine output to drive the generator.
3. If any car stalls on the parade lap, it would cause the remaining cars also to stall. The race would then have to be postponed to the next decade while Microsoft determines the cause of the stall.
4. Turning the steering wheel by at least 0.0001% at speeds of more than 1 cm/h would cause the brake to be applied automatically.
5. Attempting to refuel the car while replacing the tyres would cause the fuel valve to close prematurely. The only solution would be to have separate pit stops for fuel and tyre changes.
6. Occasionally, entering the pit lane would cause the car to stop. The pit crew would have to push the car into the garage, remove the front wing and reattach it to restart the engine.
7. The safety car feature is implemented by sending a common signal to all cars. This signal would cause all cars to move at a speed of exactly 11.309734 km/h (3.14159 m/s for those curious/nutty enough to monitor speeds in m/s). The only way to remove the safety car feature is to move all cars to the starting grid in their current lap positions, stop the cars, remove the rear wing and reattach it.
8. Sensors placed on the car will detect possibility of collision and stop the car in the event the possibility exceeds 0.001%. The ECU will also emit a banshee scream, causing the cars (and spectators) in the hearing range of the scream to shut down (spectators collapse)
9. Cars fitted with less than the minimum specified hardware (refer point #1) will not run at speeds of more than 100 km/h due to slow processing

After a long time, I’ve enjoyed seeing Ferrari in action, with some brilliant moves at the Indianapolis Speedway.

Go Schumi…

Did I mention never to trust statistics? Well I’m about to repeat it…

Brazil lost…

While the world watches the return of Ferrari eagerly, here in Chennai, I am forced to press Ctrl+F5 every minute in espnstar.com…

Given that today’s match was a complete washout, the TNCA should have refunded the ticket costs or at least adjust the ticket towards play on another day. However, going by a report in The Hindu, ticket costs will not be refunded “at any cost”.

The ticket rates start from Rs. 200 for squatting to Rs. 8000 for a pavilion seat. There are hundreds of people in Chennai who are willing to pay that kind of money for watching the match. Nobody would give daanam to TNCA for a match that was washed out.

The root cause of all this would be the BCCI. As it is, international matches in Chennai are few and far between. To top it all off, when the BCCI schedules matches in November - December, the monsoon season here, the odds are a thousand to one that the matches is going to be washed out.

News via Navin

This is one record that our Harish would like to beat, but won’t, atleast not now…

Looks like Ferrari’s domination of the circuit is taking a beating. But although they may be down, they are definitely not out yet. I’m sure Schumi will defeat all odds to secure the first place once again.

The FIA has put up some new rules to make Formula 1 all the more interesting. Personally, I feel that these changes won’t really affect Ferrari’s dominance in the sport. Let’s look at these rule changes.

Rule number 1: Engines must last for two races, instead of just one. An engine change before qualifying results in a 10 place penalty on the starting grid, while an engine change before the start of the race will drop the driver to the end of the pack. This change is aimed at cutting costs and improving safety through reduced speeds. No prizes for guessing who has the most reliable engine.

Rule number 2: Qualifying will be held over two days, with the final qualifying session on Sunday morning. The fastest car on Saturday will be the last to go out, while the slowest will be the first to go out onto the morning qualifying session. Saturday and Sunday timings will be aggregated. Thus we won’t really know the grid positions until shortly before the start of the race.

Rule number 3: Aerodynamics has been changed, the front wings have been lifted by 50 mm, while the rear wings have been brought forward by 150 mm. These changes cut the downforce by about 25%. This causes cars to be more “twitchy” (less grip) and hence should be driven at a slower pace to improve safety. William’s co-owner says that the focus in the factories has been to reduce this downforce and that it won’t be until the early races of the season that we know how well the teams have done that. My take on this - it still won’t affect Schumacher’s dominance. Schumacher is one of, no, not one of. He is the best, driver in Formula 1 now. He has driven in all conditions, be it dry or wet, sharp turns or long straights, and the reduced downforce won’t affect his performance in the least.

Rule number 4: There is a new rule that only three sets of tyres can be used for a race, one for Saturday’s practice, one for the qualifying and the race, and one in case of a puncture or debris on the track. Also, the team can have an additional set of wet tyres, which can be used only if the race director proclaims the track to be wet. This means that the tyres will have to be harder and more resilient. Now, since all the teams are using either Bridgestone or Michelin tyres, this rule applies primarily to the tyre manufacturers, and hence affect all the teams. As a result of this rule, pit stops will involve only refilling the fuel, involving less mechanics in the pits, and hence a very different look. Also, tyre changes cannot be combined with refuelling. Personally, I feel that this rule will increase the number of non-finishes.

Heck, it looks like FIA is just playing into Ferrari’s hands. None of these rules will affect Ferrari or Schumacher in any way.

Rules courtesy The Hindu & Business Line, 5th March 2005