New F1 Season starts tonight

[Tawfik]

For those of you who are avid F1 fans and have been counting the days like me
The 2007 F1 season starts tonight at 8PM on Speed with the Australian Grand prix practice session broadcasted live.
Let s see if Kimi is worth a $1,000,000 a week!

[kurquhart]

I have had my Tivo programmed for two weeks. I only wish that they would broadcast in HD...

[Jad]

Big fan, just disappointed in the fact F1 is becoming a spec series instead of state of the art stretching tech. Spec tires, RPM limits, and the ruling that any performance enhancing mods are eventually ruled illegal , don't say F1 to me.

Still fun to watch though.

[Tawfik]

I wish it was in HD as well
As far as tires there has just been a decision to force the teams to run 2 compounds of tires per race just like for Champ cars. This will hopefully spice things up a bit.

[993Panzer]

My DVR is still programmed to record all first time broadcasts of practice qual and the race. I've been waiting for the season to start.

I agree with Jad about F1 becoming more like a spec series. F1 used to be about bleeding edge technology not limits.

Did any of you see the article about them changing the direction of the course at Indy? They want to start running counter clockwise for safety. I don't think it will happen till 2009.

[Jad]

The new Indy course is to allow motorcycles run as well. The leave the infield and get rid of the oval section in addition to running NASCAR direction.

[993Panzer]

I knew the Indy change was for the motorcycles but I thought they said part of it was for safety after the tire fiasco a few years ago and Ralf's big crash the year before.

[Bob Gagnon]

I am looking forward to the season too.

Very dissappointed that engines are frozen at 2006 spec and that there is only one tire manufacturer, Bridgestone.

The new rule that there will be 2 tire compounds that both have to be used during the race and that they will be marked for the fans to see which one the teams are on seems an interesting gimmick.

[Tawfik]

Just finished watching this session. Looks like BMW will be quick this year.
Also did anyone notice how smooth the upshifts and downshifts were on some of the cars?
While watching onboard footage, the drivers heads barely moved under shifting. It really seems much smoother than previous years!
Are they using seamless shifting gearboxes this year??

[Bob Gagnon]

Yes, I understand that Ferrari, McLaren and Honda have a seamless gearbox for sure. The rest are working on one.

I wonder how they work? Some kind of dual clutch?

[Tawfik]

I believe it uses a dual clutch and the next gear is always engaged as well as the current gear making the shift smooth as silk and making best use of teh engine torque curve
I believe VW developped a system called DSG which is currently in use on the Bugatti Veyron.
Also I had read somewhere that Porsche is working on "perfecting" the system so it could be used on some version of the 911.
I wonder if the upcoming 997 GT2 wil come with that?

But looking at the onboard of teh McLaren, it was just unbelievable how smooth the shifts were.
A few times Alonso shifted up mid corner and the car's balance was simply unnafected by the shifts.

[Bob Gagnon]

Porsche developed the dual clutch gearbox for the 962 in the 1980's it was called "PDK" for "Porsche Doppel Kupplung" and was quite successful.

Now with microprocessor controlled electronic throttle, electronic clutch and shift management it becomes DSG in Audi speak...probably complements of Ferdnand Piech.

[Jad]

For several years F1 trannys were in two gears at all times, thus allowing very fast shifting. I believe the rules prohibited the seamless before this year as I recall Honda got in trouble last year for shifting too fast, but that rules appears to be gone this year. Way too complex for me to understand the inner workings, but there are several systems that seem similar already in street cars or will be very soon as stated.

[Dan Chambers]

Big fan, just disappointed in the fact F1 is becoming a spec series instead of state of the art stretching tech. Spec tires, RPM limits, and the ruling that any performance enhancing mods are eventually ruled illegal .....

Dem good ol' boyz down south keep-a sayin': "If ya ain't cheatin' ya ain't racin', son. He11, an'-body know's that!"

I too like innovation, creativity, and cleaver "application" of equipment. I also like the idea that everyone races with "similar" equipment, and the skill shows more apparently.

As long as F1 doesn't go in circles to the left, I'll keep watching it! It's still the best show around .... except for some great in-car videos at AX's from GeorgeB.

How's the 951 coming, Jad?