Chinese Grand Prix

On ITV now, can't believe it, they are actually overtaking each other, seems the rain is playing a big part. This one is very entertaining.

Perhaps in future races, the stewards could stand at the side of the race track with big hose pipes :D

Aye, and Hungary was MUCH better even than China.

See, the problem with F1 is that the cars are too feckin good, too much grip, but ONLY "in the groove", so they tend to tootle round staring up each other's arses, beacause anywher BUT up the previous car's chuff is off line and slower. Chuck the wet down, it's an instant guessing game as to where the grip is. Not only that, but driver skill becomes more important than the arcade mode driver aids.

Doc, in the F1, do they change tires to something less sticky, from slicks and change them to something with some grooves? I imagine if they do they also loose softness in the rubber, which helps the rain groove last longer, but the "sticky" traction will disappear as well.

EdelBrock wrote: Doc, in the F1, do they change tires to something less sticky, from slicks and change them to something with some grooves? I imagine if they do they also loose softness in the rubber, which helps the rain groove last longer, but the "sticky" traction will disappear as well.

3 types of tyre, dry, intermeadiate and full wet.

the balance between when to use each is a pretty mad and comlex one, for instance today, some people were taking the piss and running inters for lap after lap as the track dried....the tyres wore off their treads, but left an almost perfect slick dry tyre(as opposed to the actual dry tures which have circumfrential grooves cut into them to reduce contact patch and grip) as they wore.....worked for some folks not for others.

Kubica was the first driver who put those fookin slicks. And... he was dancing on the race track and out of it as well. Too early, the surface was not dry enough to use these tyres. Only 2 GPs to the end and we have two drivers with 116 pts.

Doctor? wrote:

EdelBrock wrote: Doc, in the F1, do they change tires to something less sticky, from slicks and change them to something with some grooves? I imagine if they do they also loose softness in the rubber, which helps the rain groove last longer, but the "sticky" traction will disappear as well.

3 types of tyre, dry, intermeadiate and full wet.

the balance between when to use each is a pretty mad and comlex one, for instance today, some people were taking the piss and running inters for lap after lap as the track dried....the tyres wore off their treads, but left an almost perfect slick dry tyre(as opposed to the actual dry tures which have circumfrential grooves cut into them to reduce contact patch and grip) as they wore.....worked for some folks not for others.

Obviously they have a relation into the amount of grooves, vs. complete rubber contact of the tire...however, is there a different hardness to the rain tires and intermidiates? Would imagine it would, which might be why it didn't work for many of them?

Yes indeed they are all made from radically different compounds. The slicks, are very complicated as the grooves that run round them must be supported by strong rubber to stop them sagging. There are strict rules in place to prevent people running those into true slicks....any car finishing with less than a certain depth of groove will be excluded...however it seems they are free to take the piss with the wets and inters. Coupla years ago, Ferrari who were losing, had the FIA re-write the rules to ban the Michelin front tyres (the rule stated "front tyres must measure no more than 290mm When NEW", and somehow that became "when USED" so that they could say the Michelin (which had a tendancy to spread a little after the race) was ilegal. The tyre has already been run, in that form for 40-50 races, and no one said a word...until the red cars were losing. They gave Michelin less than 1 week to develop a completely new tyre for the fastest circuit on the calendar. They cost my boy Montoya the championship, but could not stop him setting the fastest lap speed in F1 history ;)

BTW Advice: avoid bridgestone (firestone) tyres in the wet ;)

Caught Jenson talking bout the race on the radio this morning - sounded good, but for every good race, there's a 'watching paint dry' one, where noone changes position at all... I'm still to be convinced of F1s merits, Steve...

Snorri xxx

what's China bothering with boring bastard car racing for?

they should stick to cully flied lice and chop sluey lolls, and flinding the next bluce ree.

Great race - looks like being a cracking end to the season.