Take the time to look at this vid. Pretty cool and only a couple minutes. It explains probably the most exciting F1 changes in decades. Should make for a very exciting season. Maybe I'll have to hook my cable back up just so I can watch some of the races this year.

SPORTS DEFAULT VIRAL ST_UIP

Putting here instead of the vid section because the topic is F1 not vids.

 

Interesting how they are lessening the grip and putting it back in the drivers court to really show their skill of managing that machine

looking forward to watching the series this year ... i must remind vivek that we need to tape it

first race is next weekend, right

and if I don't catch at least BBC Radio 1 gives the results in the news beat

 

Color me skeptical. There's not a race series out there that's made a serious effort to reduce the tyranny of downforce. I applaud F1 for trying, but I don't expect it to transform the sport.

The whole reason MotoGP is so much fun to watch is because the bikes don't have huge amounts of grip. Except for perhaps touring cars and dirt track sprinters, that's not true for any auto racing. Worse, the tendancy of tracks to grow chicanes in their long straights has actually killed passing opportunities by bringing the straightline speeds down without doing anything to bring down cornering speeds...little braking = few passing opportunities. No wonder it's all a parade.

 

We'll have to wait and see what happens. At the very least teams are scrambling to figure out which setups will work best on which tracks.

KERS should make for some interesting outcomes too.

I'm really glad they got rid of those stupid groved tires. I'm looking forward to when they bring back the clutch pedal and H-pattern shift. But I aint holding my breath.

 

YES!!! I can't wait until the 28th...

 

Why work backwards? There's no need to bring back ancient technology and mechanics - F1 is supposed to be the pinnacle of motorsports.


I'm stoked about the reduction of downforce and the comeback of mechanical grip via full slicks. I'm excited to see how much the KERS will come into play and what effect it will have when actually used in a race.

KERS/Slicks/Aero changes should indeed make for more passing and a much more exciting show for spectators.

 

Define "pinnacle of motorsports". If it means technology then lets pull the drivers out of the car because the tech to do so is here. But if it means driver talent then lets require more and bring back rev matching, heal-n-toe and precision shifting.

Driver aids make racing boring and F1 has been backing away from it more and more. They haven't had ABS since 1995, eliminated TC and pit-to-car telometry last year.

Enzo embedded F1 with the "car first, driver second" mindset. But Enzo didn't realize how boring tech would become. F1 has, finally.

It isn't working backwards, it's coming full circle and returning to what made racing great.

 

Unless you are Ben Spies from TX in the World Superbike Championship. He rode that Yamaha R1 like it had nothing but grip. In the final lap I think I remember him increasing his lead to nearly 3 seconds. Which was reported is where he likes it to be.

 

After watching the story of the Acura P1 car being built to use more grip in order to compete against Peugeot and Audi, we are looking forward to see how their new setup works out at Sebring this weekend.

Hopefully the issues with the hydraulic steering have been mostly figured out.

 

LOL Chuck, h-pattern! Powerful gay!

The new F1 points rules are really stupid. Champion is defined by most GP wins rather than points. So basically if someone wins twice in a year and another guy places second in every single race the entire year, the first guy will be 'champion'... wtf. Obviously extreme example but you get the idea. A more realistic example, think of last year where Massa had more GP wins than Hamilton but Hamilton was one point ahead; let's say Hamilton crashes out in the final race, in points he'd have ruined his chances of being GP champ, but with the new rules, Hamilton's teammate might be motivated to take Massa out in the last race even though Hamilton is already gone because points would decide the winner in a tie of wins and with both out, Hamilton would stlil have that one point lead.