Cars and other kinds of motoring gibberish

Didn't see this one coming:Dennis Relinquishes F1 Duties[/list:u]
By Pablo Elizalde Thursday, April 16th 2009, 10:12 GMT


The McLaren team has confirmed Ron Dennis is stepping back completely from his involvement with the Formula 1 squad, as AUTOSPORT predicted on Wednesday.

McLaren said on Thursday that Dennis has already handed his responsibility as CEO of McLaren Racing to Martin Whitmarsh, who was named team principal earlier this year.

Dennis will focus entirely on leading the new sports car business, McLaren Automotive, which will now become an independent company, and which plans to launch the first model of McLaren sports cars in 2011.

Dennis, who missed his first grand prix for many years when he skipped the Malaysian GP, said the decision to step down was made by him alone.

"I passed the role of team principal of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes to Martin Whitmarsh on January 16th, the day of the launch of our new Formula 1 car," said Dennis.

"That day I was asked many times whether I would attend the 2009 Australian Grand Prix. My answer was 'yes'. I duly attended it - albeit not as the person in charge of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes. It was, I admit, a strange feeling.

"The next race, the Malaysian Grand Prix, I watched on TV in the UK - an activity I found surprisingly easy. I'd expected to be more emotional about it, after an unbroken run of attending so many grands prix for so many years.

"I admit I'm not always easy to get on with. I admit I've always fought hard for McLaren in Formula 1. I doubt if Max Mosley or Bernie Ecclestone will be displeased by my decision. But no one asked me to do it. It was my decision.

^ Wow.

The end of an era. :sweat:

[image]

Chinese GP Qualifying1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1:36.184
2 Fernando Alonso Renault 0:00.406
3 Mark Webber Red Bull 0:00.491
4 Rubens Barrichello Brawn 0:00.518
5 Jenson Button Brawn 0:00.557
6 Jarno Trulli Toyota 0:00.860
7 Nico Rosberg Williams 0:01.422
8 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 0:02.114
9 Lewis Hamilton McLaren 0:02.620
10 Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso 0:03.346
11 Nick Heidfeld BMW 0:00.000
12 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren 0:00.057
13 Felipe Massa Ferrari 0:00.058
14 Timo Glock Toyota 0:00.091
15 Kazuki Nakajima Williams 0:00.218
16 Sebastien Bourdais Toro Rosso 0:00.931
17 Nelson Piquet Renault 0:00.933
18 Robert Kubica BMW 0:00.991
19 Adrian Sutil Force India 0:01.694
20 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India 0:01.697
[/list:u]

^ Amazing that the difference between pole and the last position is 1.697 seconds. :sweat:

Vettel Wins Chinese GP1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1:57:43.485
2 Mark Webber Red Bull 10.970
3 Jenson Button Brawn 44.975
4 Rubens Barrichello Brawn 1:03.704
5 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren 1:05.102
6 Lewis Hamilton McLaren 1:11.866
7 Timo Glock Toyota 1:14.476
8 Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso 1:16.439
9 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:24.309
10 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:31.750
11 Sebastien Bourdais Toro Rosso 1:34.156
12 Nick Heidfeld BMW 1:35.834
13 Robert Kubica BMW 1:46.853
14 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India at 1 lap
15 Nico Rosberg Williams at 1 lap
16 Nelson Piquet Renault at 2 laps
17 Adrian Sutil Force India out
18 Kazuki Nakajima Williams out
19 Felipe Massa Ferrari out
20 Jarno Trulli Toyota out
[/list:u] 3 races in, NO points for Ferrari :mwahaha: [/list:u]

^ Wow, this is looking like a free-for-all season. :victory:

i watched a documentary about jim clark the other day. it was very interesting and was nice to see a period when formula 1 was romantic with the drivers brave heroes.

^ Kenjilina is back and posting with a vengeance! :victory: :applaud:

Yuko has new springs. Too sick to go and drive around though. :puppydog:

krim wrote:Yuko has new springs. Too sick to go and drive around though. :puppydog:

Details? :sweat:

EDIT: About the springs, not your flu....

bmwracer wrote:
Details? :sweat:

EDIT: About the springs, not your flu....

Well, my nose is really really raw.

Oh.. :hehe:
20mm lower, linear spring rate. black powder coat... not sure what else i can tell you til i take her down some canyons. but the ride is much improved, less jarring on the cracks, potholes and expansion joints.

bmwracer wrote:^ Kenjilina is back and posting with a vengeance! :victory: :applaud:

yeah been a tad busy these days and neglecting jdorama. :puppydog:
i've also stopped watching formula 1 now as i think it's turned into a farce although i would love it if jenson got one over on lewis. :woot:

krim wrote:20mm lower, linear spring rate. black powder coat... not sure what else i can tell you til i take her down some canyons. but the ride is much improved, less jarring on the cracks, potholes and expansion joints.

Nice... Though if it's 20mm lower, I woulda thought the ride would be stiffer, even with a linear spring rate... Guess that doesn't say much about the stock springs. :sweat:

kenjilina wrote:i've also stopped watching formula 1 now as i think it's turned into a farce

Just because Ferrari isn't leading the pack??

Hmph. :headscratch:

bmwracer wrote:
Nice... Though if it's 20mm lower, I woulda thought the ride would be stiffer, even with a linear spring rate... Guess that doesn't say much about the stock springs. :sweat:

Well, jus because it's 20mm lower, doesn't mean it has to be stiffer, because the spring rate could be similar. Though the sport coils are pretty stiff as it is and the runflats make it worse.
I think it's a bit stiffer, but more compliant when upset.

krim wrote:Well, jus because it's 20mm lower, doesn't mean it has to be stiffer, because the spring rate could be similar. Though the sport coils are pretty stiff as it is and the runflats make it worse.
I think it's a bit stiffer, but more compliant when upset.

It should be interesting once you get a chance to try 'em out on some twisties...

Oh... a little driving anecdote from the day:

I was driving home from the gym and this guy in a Mazda MX6 (probably ~94) decided he was going to sneak along the side of me at the stop light on a one lane road.. I definitely enjoyed giving my little inline 6 a little workout - sure I let him pass me (I coulda taken him, but I'm getting too old for that stuff...), but I don't think he's ever had anyone so close to his tail ;-) I had a good laugh thinking about how nervous he was - I didn't speed up past 35, but he kept going and immediately turned away, fearful he had 'angered' me. silly kids.

phlargo wrote:Oh... a little driving anecdote from the day:

I was driving home from the gym and this guy in a Mazda MX6 (probably ~94) decided he was going to sneak along the side of me at the stop light on a one lane road.. I definitely enjoyed giving my little inline 6 a little workout - sure I let him pass me (I coulda taken him, but I'm getting too old for that stuff...), but I don't think he's ever had anyone so close to his tail ;-) I had a good laugh thinking about how nervous he was - I didn't speed up past 35, but he kept going and immediately turned away, fearful he had 'angered' me. silly kids.

Heh.

Though nowadays you never can tell. :sweat:

bmwracer wrote:
Heh.

Though nowadays you never can tell. :sweat:

I always liked those MX-6s. I tried to find one a while back. They're pretty hard to come by these days in really nice shape. I would definitely say they were a design ahead of their time. Same was true of the Millennia.