Jensen Button, part 7: "The final, final showdown"

I fear MotoGP will go the same way....

The budgets are now so huge - with sponsors tossing in zillions - that designers can get cleverer and cleverer, spending more and more, all to make cars (and bikes too) do almost impossible things. Then the rule makers step in and impose restriction upon restriction which means cars look more and more the same, with no-one having a clear advantage technically. Going back to the "good old days" of F1, you had sucker cars, gas turbines, front biplane wings, hydraulic ride height, six-wheelers, disposable water ballast......but it's all gone now. And to try to get some drama back, they place restrictions on how many tyres can be used, make engines last two race meetings.....big deal!

For me, F1 needs to allow innovation to burst forth - so IMHO it's 1600cc diesel engines, blown or unblown, five speeds only, but any fuel, any aero aids, any tyres, any weight..... any number of wheels.....(we've had six-wheelers but it would be nice to see a three wheel F1!!)

And for bikes, it's 650cc, any cycle (ie 2 or 4), any fuel, turbo/supercharged, but five speeds only....and that's it!

[carelesschucca]

Originally Posted by M.Ockx

1600cc diesel engines, but any fuel

Would the fuel not be Diesel???

What we call "diesel" is just one type of fractionated oil. There are loads of other fuels and aromatics that will self ignite if you squeeze them hard enough - that was Mr Diesel's big idea. Similarly you don't need petrol to run a spark ignition engine - you can run them on methanol, ethanol, propane, butane, cow fart.....

I think Indy cars are now running a methanol-ethanol mix rather than we call petrol.

Indycars, ahhhhh beasts!!!!!!

Went to see them the 1st year they went to Rockingham from the USA........ Now i've seen most motor racing (bar MotoGP dammit
), F1, trucks, carts, the lot, but indycars are something else.......

Watching them take a corner at 200mph and peaking at about 240 down the straights, WITH overtaking as they can draft, well, it wasn't massivly exciting, and earplugs were needed, but man did they shift......

Old man went to F1 a few years back at Silverstone, just like the other comment, it was like watching a procession of cars go round and round and round and round.... Nothing exciting, just noisy....

I'd go see Indycars over F1 still..........

Here is what I think about F1. The FIA has been taking wing off the cars, because this will slow them down (less downforce). But the more wing gets taken off, the more the teams are making dowforce by shaping the body into curvy, wavy winglets and diffusers. This is why F1 has become really boring this year, the cars are way too dependent on still air going across the body. They cannot overtake

I have two model cars on my desk in front of me here. Kimi's car from last year and Mika's car from 2000. Mika's car looks like a flat plank compared to Kimi's. GIVE THEM BACK THEIR FRONT AND REAR WINGS. They'll be able to get a decent tow, like they could a few years back. Figure out other exciting ways to slow the cars down, and switch to a control tyre (we're kind of getting that next year..sorta)

I kind of get that everyones frustrated about jensen this year but you cannot say he's a bad driver, none of us know that. All we can say is the car he has right now is slow. When was he quick? 04? That year he had a good car, and Id say he used it really well, he's got a great race head on. All I can say is, watching the cool brake/throttle info that itv has at the bottom of the screen sometime is that he really finesses those peddals compared to some of the other drivers. And what about Rubens' comments at the beginning of the year? "Ive come from a car that really is point and floor it, to the honda that requires a lot of finesse and left foot braking". I'd say Jensen's an excellent driver, and we'll see for sure when he's in a good car