Ferrari feel pressure to unseat Red Bull

Pressure comes with the job when you work for Ferrari, and there was no hiding from expectation on Friday when they became the first Formula 1 team to unveil their 2011 car.

Asked if he felt an "obligation" to win, technical director Aldo Costa replied simply: "Yes."

Chief designer Nikolas Tombazis said he was "quite optimistic about this car and how it will go during the season".

And team principal Stefano Domenicali, always cautious about his public proclamations, said: "F150 was created with a simple aim. Our goal is to win the championships. We know it won't be easy, but that is definitely what we are aiming for."

It is normal for F1 teams to sound optimistic when they launch their new cars. One gets used to a seemingly endless series of wildly confident predictions about what each team will achieve in the coming year, to the point that at the first race of each season you can almost hear the whistling of air from a series of burst balloons.

Ferrari are different, though. Such a fixture are they at the top of F1, so successful have they been over the last decade, that the big surprise is if they do not turn out to be title contenders.

They certainly were last year, only to lose out in the most agonising fashion at the final race of the season when a catastrophic decision to call in Fernando Alonso for an early pit stop left him stuck behind Vitaly Petrov's Renault and let in Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel to win the race and snatch the title from under the Spaniard's nose.

However, while Alonso went into the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix leading the championship and hot favourite to win it, Ferrari know they were somewhat fortunate to be in that position.

Fernando Alonso gives the new Ferrari F150 its first laps at the team's Fiorano test track

Ferrari have worked hard to make the rear of their new car as low and narrow as possible. Photo: AP

The Red Bull was comfortably the fastest car last season and it was only a series of mistakes and failures by that car and its drivers that allowed Alonso to capitalise on a quite superb run of form in the second half of the season and take the championship lead.

In many ways, 2010 was a success for Ferrari. Their decision to drop Kimi Raikkonen in favour of Alonso paid off in spades, and they proved that a poor 2009, when they won only one race, was an aberration not the start of a trend.

But second place is not good enough for this team that carries the hopes of an entire nation, and millions of other fans around the world. And the pressure is on to at least match Red Bull for pace in 2011.

Ferrari are the only team to have been in F1 since the world championship started in 1950. And while they have been through their ups and downs, they exist to win.

When they do not, questions are asked, and Ferrari are painfully aware of how they let the championship slip through their fingers.

Yes, there was the error in Abu Dhabi - for which chief engineer Chris Dyer has paid by being relieved of his position and moved to a factory-based role.

But there was also the slow decline in competitiveness from winning the first race to a dreadful Turkish Grand Prix in May, when Alonso finished eighth having not even made the top-10 qualifying shoot-out.

This period coincided with a series of uncharacteristic mistakes made by Alonso himself that cost him a hatful of points in the first few races of the season.

In that context, their rise back to competitiveness in the second half of the season, and Alonso's near-miss in the championship, served only to remind them what might have been.

The frustration of lost opportunity, and the determination to make amends, ran through the Ferrari launch on Friday.

As Domenicali put it: "Last season we had difficult and beautiful moments, and we want to build on those beautiful moments."

So expectation is high, both within Ferrari and without, and a lot rests on the sleek new F150 that Alonso and team-mate Felipe Massa unveiled in Maranello.

To the untrained eye, the car looks similar to the F10 with which Alonso came close in 2010. But the detail hides some significant changes - and some surprising revelations.

Chief among these is the decision to retain push-rod rear suspension, rather than the pull-rod that has been used by Red Bull since 2009 and which is expected to feature on the majority of the grid in 2011.

Pull-rods had been out of fashion since the late 1980s, but were brought back by Red Bull's design head Adrian Newey - widely regarded in F1 as a genius - as a response to the major technical changes that were introduced for 2009.

In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions. If you're reading via RSS, you'll need to visit the blog to access this content.


These included severe restrictions on the design of diffuser, the part of the car where the floor sweeps upwards under the rear wing and which is so important in creating downforce.

Newey's pull-rod design actually proved a handicap in 2009 following the controversial adoption by some teams of the so-called double-diffuser, around which a pull-rod was difficult to package.

But with the ban on this item, 2011 effectively marks a return to the intended diffuser regulations of 2009, and Newey's design is expected to come into its own as a way of lowering the centre of gravity and improving airflow.

Most teams are expected to follow Red Bull's lead, so it is interesting that Ferrari have chosen not to.

My sources in Italy tell me that instead they have come up with a clever repackaging of the dampers, bringing them forward in the car. This allows them to have a much lower back to the gearbox without the penalties inherent in a pull-rod design, which is very difficult to work on - the mechanics have to take the floor off to adjust the dampers.

Fascinating as these things are, no F1 car's performance is defined by one single aspect of its design - it is about how a complex package works together.

And it is clear that a lot of thought has gone into this car in the context of the rule changes for 2011 - most notably the debut of movable rear wings to aid overtaking and the re-introduction of the Kers energy recovery and power-boost systems, which come with heavy batteries that create a packaging headache.

"We had to rethink quite a lot on the car from the aerodynamic point of view," Costa said.

"The ban on the double diffuser, the introduction of the new rear wing concept and a lot of other detailed clarifications around the back end of the car pushed us to have a complete re-think about the rear of the car.

"(There's) a completely new layout with a completely new concept. Also the introduction of Kers has pushed us to review the central part of the car. Because of all these changes, Kers and then develop the car around new tyres, changes related to the safety of the chassis, it has been quite a different project."

Have they succeeded? Ferrari will begin to get the first indication next Tuesday, when their new car runs against those of Red Bull and Mercedes on the first day of the first pre-season test.

Between then and the first race in Bahrain on 13 March there are a further 15 days of testing for teams to hone their designs. And it is clear where Ferrari's ambitions lie.

"I'm feeling very motivated," Alonso says. "2010 was an interesting year for me. It was my first with Ferrari and I enjoyed the atmosphere. 2011 will be an important year with a new challenge after changes to the rules. We have to commit to everything we do and I think we are up to the challenge."

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2011/01/ferrari_feel_pressure_to_unsea.html

Great Clips Toyota Paul Menard Richmond Menards Ford Mark Green

F1 gurus lead a revolution in car design

Formula 1 is undergoing a quiet revolution.

In two years' time, the cars that line up on the grid for the start of the 2013 season will be vastly different from those that raced in 2010.

Governing body the FIA has already announced that the current 2.4-litre normally aspirated V8 engines will be replaced by 1.6-litre turbocharged versions with integrated energy recovery systems.

Now, BBC Sport can reveal that, driven by this big change to the engine regulations, the cars will also undergo their own huge revisions.

To the casual observer, they will still look like F1 cars and, importantly, will still go like them. But within the limitations of an open-cockpit, single-seater racing car with exposed wheels, they will be very different from current machines.

Gone will be the huge, snowplough front wings that have been required since the last major change of rules. Gone will be the high, chunky rear wings. Gone, too, will be the high-revving shriek of the engines.

In their place will be a car with much smaller front and rear wings and the much flatter, lower-pitched sound of a lower-revving turbo.

And critically - although largely invisible - there will be a shaped underfloor, replacing the flat bottoms that have been on F1 cars since 1983.

The 1982 Ferrari - a 126C2 - also possessed a small front wing

The 1982 Ferrari - a 126C2 - also possessed a small front wing

These external changes reflect a major change in the philosophy behind the cars and, as with the turbo engines, it is a case of back to the future. As the 1980s dominate the latest High Street fashions, so F1 is borrowing from technologies last seen then and updating them for the 21st century.

F1 last saw turbo engines in 1988. The last time cars had shaped underbodies was 1982. Those were the days of 'ground effect', when designers created huge amounts of aerodynamic downforce - and high cornering speeds - by accelerating the air under the car through the use of curved underfloors to create a 'venturi effect'. This was enhanced by the use of 'skirts', which sealed the underbody and prevented air leaking out of the sides.

We are not talking about a return to those days but the general principle is the same. Just as the cars in the 1979-82 period had small front and rear wings, so will the cars of 2013 and beyond.

The difference now is that whereas in the late 1970s and early '80s aerodynamics in F1 cars were still relatively in their infancy and designers were simply chasing as much as they could, now they are highly refined. And the men behind the proposed new rules are using the underfloor of the car to create efficient - but strictly limited - downforce.

The FIA recognised that if it was to make such a major change to the cars, it needed to be done as effectively and credibly as possible. So to help draw up the new rules they asked two of the most respected and experienced designers they could find - Patrick Head and Rory Byrne.

Between them, Head, the engineering director of Williams, and Byrne, now retired but formerly of Benetton and Ferrari, have won a total of 17 constructors' titles and 15 drivers' titles. They were first approached by FIA president Jean Todt in March 2010.

Among the provisos Head and Byrne were given were: a) at the very least, make sure the changes did not make overtaking any harder than it already is; and b) make the cars a bit harder to drive - the target being for a driver to be able to be on full throttle for only about 50% of the lap, as opposed to the current average of 70%.

The new regulations are being fine-tuned by FIA race director Charlie Whiting this week before being sent to the 12 F1 teams for analysis. In the new year, they will be critiqued at the sport's Technical Working Group, a group of leading engineers who effectively define the technical rules.

Head says "sure as hell there'll be some small changes" there. The basic philosophy, though, is expected to stay the same, while Head says the shaped underfloor is "inevitable".

"It all starts with the fact that we are only going to have roughly 65% of the amount of fuel, and a (limited) fuel flow rate," he explains. "When you're very limited on fuel, it's very clear you've got to reduce drag enormously. OK, the tyres are a very high proportion of the drag but we decided not to put tiny skinny tyres on it because it's still required to go around corners quickly.

"So the next thing you turn to is the massive rear wing we're running at the moment and as soon as you replace that with a much smaller one, it's 'Oh, we've lost all our downforce, so what can we do?' So inevitably you end up with a shaped underside."

This idea has been around for a long time - as long ago as 1998, when another working group, led by the late Dr Harvey Postlethwaite, also suggested reducing the sizes of front and rear wings and re-introducing shaped underfloors. The idea was canned by then FIA president Max Mosley.

Back then, the motivating factor was to improve the racing. In theory, cars designed this way can follow each other more closely than modern F1 cars.

Currently, drivers experience a severe lack of grip when they get to within about a second of a car in front because the airflow to their cars, particularly over the critical front wing, is badly disturbed.

In theory, with smaller wings and a greater proportion of the total downforce coming from under the car, there is less disturbance in the wake of the car in front, so a following car loses less aerodynamic downforce. It therefore retains more grip, allowing drivers to get closer to the car they want to overtake, making passing easier.

Under these new rules, any benefit to the racing will be secondary. The first goal is improving the cars' efficiency.

But it's just possible that, in chasing a goal that is all about keeping F1 in step with a world of diminishing fossil fuels, the effect will be to make overtaking easier.

Chastened by years of rule changes aimed at making cars more raceable that made no discernible difference, those involved are cagey about that for now. But one senior figure will at least admit the thought is on their minds.

"One of the fundamental parts of this," he said, "was that it wouldn't make it worse. But we do believe that if you can ensure there's less disturbance in the wake, that's good."

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2010/12/formula_1_is_undergoing_a_quie.html

Carl Edwards Juan Pablo Montoya Target Chevrolet Clint Bowyer

Testing teams get to grips with new technology

Valencia

At the end of the first Formula 1 pre-season test, three teams emerged as pace-setters for the hotly-anticipated new season.

It was no real surprise to see Red Bull's world champion Sebastian Vettel become the first to lay down a marker before Fernando Alonso went faster for Ferrari the following day.

But there were also intriguing early signs in Valencia this week that Renault have taken a competitive step forward over the winter.

Kubica

Kubica set fastest time seen so far in winter testing on the final day in Valencia Pic:Getty

The team had produced a self-proclaimed "brave" design concept over the winter and in Spain they revealed the so-far unique approach of having the exhausts exit at the front of the sidepods either side of the driver.

Robert Kubica went on to show it was not simply style over substance by scorching to the fastest time seen so far in winter testing on the final day.

The Pole's time was 0.163 seconds quicker than Alonso and 0.625 secs ahead of Vettel's best.

F1 insiders calculate those three leading times were all set on similar levels of fuel, even though Kubica and Alonso set their times on a five-lap run while Vettel's best came over 10 laps.

Those runs were not in qualifying trim and so all three could, in theory, have gone even faster.

Kubica also encouragingly showed good pace over a 25-lap run with most tours in the 1:16s bracket, while Mark Webber exhibited consistent pace for Red Bull on Thursday in a 20-lap run which mainly consisted of 1:15s.

Kubica, Alonso and Vettel may have tantalised the top of the timesheets but in testing headline lap times don't tell the whole story.

Valencia was the first opportunity for teams to trial their technical updates for the 2011 season.

Yet another raft of rule changes - the return of the Kers energy boost system, the introduction of a moveable rear wing to aid overtaking and the removal of the double diffuser and F-duct aerodynamic aid - has meant a major re-think for design departments.

On top of that there is the problem of understanding how to tease performance out of the Italian Pirelli tyres, back in F1 for the first time since 1991 as single supplier in place of Bridgestone.

It is, in fact, the tyres that have leapt to the top of the teams' concerns about what fortunes lie ahead.

"Tyres are more of an unknown," commented Ferrari technical director Aldo Costa, throwing back an espresso in a single gulp.

"It is a very, very big job to develop the car around the tyres because they have a lot of implications on the car consistency and performance."

Even Red Bull's seemingly unflappable design guru Adrian Newey described it as "difficult to design for the Pirellis".

To a man, the drivers agreed that the Pirellis "went off" - reduced significantly in grip - much quicker than they were used to.

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton said the new rubber did not have "as much grip as the Bridgestones" and was "harder to control over a longer stint".

Kubica agreed with that assessment, adding: "That is why I think the tyres will play a crucial role. You may have to adapt your car set-up, or make the tyres last longer, or work better - that can make a big difference."

Pirelli has been asked to deliberately design less durable tyres in the hope that this will spice up the racing.

The company's motorsport director Paul Hembery batted away the drivers' disappointments.

"There will be no developments [to tyres] made following this test," he explained. "The teams now have to work out how to get the best out of the tyres."

Eight teams rolled out the first interpretations of their 2011 challengers in the Valencia sunshine, while McLaren, Force India, Virgin and Hispania ran last year's cars.

The main priority for teams with the fledging class of 2011 cars was to find out if the new parts were reliable. Only much later will it become clear how much, if any, performance they have added to the car.

"Looking only to our car, yes we are very happy," Costa said. "It needs to be a very balanced approach to be a fast and winning car.

"About the competitors, it's very difficult to understand where they are because it is difficult to see if they are using Kers or not, the rear wing or not, what kind of tyre they are using, how much fuel..."

The teams fiercely protected their secrets behind towering screens, guarded garage doors and under billowing sheaths. When Felipe Massa dramatically stopped on track on Thursday, crimson-clad Ferrari employees remarkably managed to hang a concealing cover underneath the car.

As always, the teams were keeping their cards close to their chest about the specifics of their programmes.

Most teams testing the 2011 cars had Kers installed for the majority of the running, even if they weren't actually powering it up.

Ferrari, Renault and Red Bull ran smoothly while Mercedes reported their Kers system was behind some of their teething problems, even though Mercedes had the most reliable when it was last deployed in 2009.

"We've got some areas that were getting a little bit too hot," Mercedes boss Ross Brawn said coolly.

The moveable rear wings also seemed to be a relatively trouble-free addition. The concept is such an integral part of the design rules that even if the wings played a passive role in testing they were still worth having on the car.

It will be up to the drivers to master the devices and with more buttons to press on the steering wheel that may not be quite so straightforward.

"In terms of all the other things we are operating from the cockpit, last year we had quite a bit to do and that was quite a challenge," Webber said.

"It's no big surprise to us that we might have to learn some new techniques this year but as long as you can still watch the road, that's the most important thing."

In less than a week, round two of testing begins in Jerez, where McLaren will also introduce their new challenger - which is being unveiled on Friday - to the pack.

Teams vying to rein in Red Bull talked with a beguiling mix of mystery and confidence about unspecified new developments in the pipeline.

But the clock is already ticking and there are just 12 days of testing left before the teams face up to reality in Bahrain's opening grand prix.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/sarahholt/2011/02/testing_teams_get_to_grips_wit.html

Jason Keller T Coleman Pressley Mike Wallace Hermie Sadler III

Di Resta out to prove winning potential

Paul di Resta has bumped up the British numbers racing in Formula 1 this year by finally signing for Force India.

But unlike his compatriots, McLaren drivers and world champions Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, Di Resta is out to prove he deserves his place on the grid.

The likeable 24-year-old Scot, whose promotion has been expected for some time, has plenty of reasons to feel confident about his first season in F1.

Over the course of 12 months as Force India reserve in 2010, Di Resta has already managed to galvanise the team's support.

His manager Anthony Hamilton, father of Lewis, revealed: "There hasn't been anything negative from the team. Paul has done a great job and they love him."

In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions

The team were so smitten by Di Resta that his seat does not depend on sponsorship - in stark contrast to 2011's other rookies, Pastor Maldonado of Williams, Virgin's Jerome D'Ambrosio and Sauber's Sergio Perez.

In fact, to partner Di Resta with German Adrian Sutil, Force India will have to pay a financial settlement to Sutil's 2010 team-mate Vitantonio Liuzzi for breaking the firm contract the Italian had for this season.

Force India must be certain Di Resta has something worth paying for.

The son of racer-turned-businessman Louis di Resta and cousin of three-time IndyCar champion Dario Franchitti, Di Resta has described having racing "in his blood".

After winning the 2010 German touring car championship (DTM) for Mercedes on his weekends off from F1 duties, Di Resta arrives as a proven champion.

In his junior career, the Scot raced against future F1 world champions Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, notably beating the German to the Formula Three Euroseries crown.

Di Resta recalled in a 2008 interview: "Sebastian was my team-mate in 2006. I definitely beat him on far more occasions than he ever beat me.

"I'm not saying that I'm a faster or better driver than him but you'd have to say there's at least parity between us.

"As for Lewis, when we had the same machinery we were equally good."

In terms of raw talent Di Resta may well be a match for two of F1's fastest men but it will be difficult for him to prove it when he rejoins them on track.

The laidback Scot's first task will be to adapt his racing mindset from DTM's slower 'tin-top' cars to F1's open, single-seater speed machines.

The difference between driving a touring car with 500bhp and an F1 car charged with 750bhp and tonnes of downforce can be compared to handling a family estate car and a supercar.

"It requires a different style to drive both [cars] on the limit; it's not easy," explains McLaren reserve and driver Gary Paffett, who was one of Di Resta's Mercedes team-mates in the DTM last year.

"But if you can win in DTM it puts you in a good position to do a good job in F1. Paul will do a good job - but how good?

"If you're used to winning you might have to get over the fact that you're not going to be beating the McLarens and Ferraris week in, week out or beating your team-mate 100% of the time. That's something you have to learn."

In eight first practice sessions over grand prix weekends for Force India last season, Di Resta was only able to out-pace either Sutil or Liuzzi, who alternated in the other car, once.

Improving that niggling statistic will be a target for the Scot when the season begins with free practice in Bahrain on 11 March.

Beyond that, barring a major surprise Di Resta will not have the machinery capable of reigniting his teenage rivalry with Hamilton and Vettel, Red Bull's reigning champion.

Force India finished seventh in the constructors' championship last season with Sutil collecting best-place finishes of fifth in Malaysia and Spa. In terms of pace, both drivers failed to qualify inside the top 10 in the final six races of 2010.

The development of Force India's 2011 car has had to absorb some unsettling changes at the team's Silverstone factory, with two technical directors, James Key and Mark Smith, as well as chief designer Lewis Butler leaving for rival teams in the space of a year.

Force India intend to fine-tune the new VJM04 car in the wind tunnel before introducing it at the second pre-season test in Jerez - a policy also adopted by McLaren, but not by Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes, Renault and Williams, who will all have new cars ready for the first test in Valencia next week.

After the flashbulbs and fanfare of being unveiled as an F1 driver have died down, Di Resta will start the process of making his opportunity count in Valencia driving a modified 2010 car.

Di Resta may still have everything to prove in F1 but like the rest of 2011's rookies he also has nothing to lose.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/sarahholt/2011/01/paul_di_resta_has_bumped.html

Walt Hansgen Mike Harris Cuth Harrison Brian Hart

Tom Walkinshaw - an obituary

Tom Walkinshaw, who has died of cancer aged 64, was one of the most powerful personalities in motorsport for nearly 30 years and, latterly, an influential figure in English rugby.

Walkinshaw's famous TWR racing team won championships in touring cars and sportscars, as well as claiming the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1988, giving Jaguar its first win in the race for more than 30 years in the process.

But Formula 1, motorsport's pinnacle, proved a tougher challenge. Although the Scot was instrumental in the success of the Benetton team with Michael Schumacher from 1992-4, his attempts to conquer it with his own team eventually led to his downfall and exit from top-level motor racing.

In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions. If you're reading via RSS, you'll need to visit the blog to access this content.

Watch highlights of Walkinshaw's Arrows nearly winning the 1997 Hungarian Grand Prix

When Walkinshaw joined Benetton in 1991, after nearly two decades of often controversial successes in touring cars and sportscars, his reputation preceded him.

He was known as an uncompromising and controversial character whose granite jaw reflected his determination - he pushed things to the limit, didn't mind who he upset to get his way and used his imposing physical presence to its full effect.

Walkinshaw was not a tall man but he was immensely broad and stocky, and he was not afraid to employ his physical strength to his own ends.

At a sportscar race once, he sought out a journalist to whose reporting he had taken exception, dragged him across the pit lane and hung him over the pit wall as cars passed by at nearly 200mph while he verbally harangued him.

But Walkinshaw had brains as well as brawn. He was a very competent racing driver in touring cars in the 1970s but he was a far better team boss.

One of the people he employed at Jaguar was Ross Brawn, later to transform Ferrari into the most efficient winning machine in F1 history, but then an ambitious young designer.

Walkinshaw took him on to apply F1 expertise to sportscars and the result was a game-changing car that won the world sportscar championship.

With that conquered, only F1 remained and the flamboyant new Benetton team boss Flavio Briatore, an intimidating character himself, decided that Walkinshaw and Brawn were the men he needed to turn Benetton from also-rans to winners. Walkinshaw was installed as engineering director, Brawn as technical director.

It didn't take long for Walkinshaw's ruthlessness to emerge.

He had witnessed Schumacher's talents driving for Mercedes in sportscars and when the 22-year-old German made an electrifying F1 debut for Jordan at the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix, Walkinshaw told Briatore this was the driver they needed. By the next race in Italy Schumacher was in the cockpit of a Benetton, the fact that he had binding contract with Jordan a minor inconvenience.

Together, Benetton and Schumacher made a formidable team and success was not long coming - by 1994 they were world champions. But, just as in the other categories in which Walkinshaw had competed, the whiff of controversy followed him to F1.

Benetton were accused of cheating. They were found to have illegal driver-aid software in their cars, but were not punished because the sport's governing body, the FIA, could not prove it had been used. Then, after a refuelling fire during the German Grand Prix, Benetton were found guilty of taking a filter out of their fuel hose without authorisation.

Jos Verstappen's Benetton catches fire in the pits at the 1994 German Grand Prix

Benetton's 1994 pit fire led to the end of Walkinshaw's career with the team

They blamed it on a "junior member of staff", but the rumour was that Walkinshaw had authorised it.

Benetton agreed with the FIA to part company with certain unidentified staff as an act of good faith. It was an open secret that a deal had been brokered behind closed doors that Walkinshaw would leave the company at the end of the year.

He moved first to run Benetton-linked Ligier, before in early 1996 taking over Arrows.

Such was the regard in which Walkinshaw was held that he was expected to make a success of a team that had never won a race in its 20-year history.

He pulled off a coup by convincing world champion Damon Hill to join the team for 1997 but the car was uncompetitive. Hill took a somewhat freak second place in Hungary but left the team at the end of the year.

From then on, it was largely all downhill, despite a few flashes of hope, namely when investment bank Morgan Grenfell bought into the team in 1998 and Walkinshaw signed a high-profile sponsorship deal with mobile phone network Orange in 2000.

Generally, his Arrows years were a struggle against the odds, and they ended in 2002 with the ignominy of a High Court battle with Morgan Grenfell and a damning judgement, in which Mr Justice Lightman described proposals Walkinshaw had made trying to ensure the survival of the team as "underhand and improper, indeed downright dishonest".

Why did it go wrong for him in F1?

Some said Walkinshaw too often had his eye off the ball, concentrating on his other business interests, such as his TWR engineering group and Gloucester Rugby Club, to the detriment of his F1 team.

Walkinshaw found money and new partners hard to come by, despite his long history in the car and motorsport industries - or perhaps because of it, some believed.

Walkinshaw was a hard-nosed businessman and sportsman, always viewed as the ultimate survivor, the man who could be guaranteed to pull off the last-minute saving deal.

But his failure with Arrows spelt the end of his association with top-level motorsport, although he did continue to run a touring car team in Australia.

He turned his business acumen and tough negotiating skills to a new role in rugby.

Related or not, the collapse of Arrows coincided with Walkinshaw's tenure as chairman of Premier Rugby, the top-flight clubs' umbrella body, from 1998-2002.

Later, he led the clubs' team negotiating with the Rugby Football Union over the release of England players, the details of which are now enshrined in an eight-year agreement that has largely ended what for a while were very bitter wrangles over the management of the men playing for the national side.

As chairman of Gloucester, he is remembered fondly for pumping in lots of money and keeping the team at the forefront of the game, even if he never quite achieved his ambitions either domestically or in Europe.

Walkinshaw was a complex figure who aroused mixed emotions but, although he had a dark side, plenty of people will remember him as a warm-hearted and generous man.

BBC F1 analyst Martin Brundle, whose long relationship with Walkinshaw included winning Le Mans and the world sportscar title, says: "He was a mentor to me.

"I wrote to him and asked him for a drive when he didn't know me from Adam and he gave me a chance. If he hadn't done that, I'd still be selling Toyotas in West Norfolk, for sure. He was an entrepreneurial racer and a great tactician."

And Hill, now president of the British Racing Drivers' Club that owns Silverstone, adds: "He was a very big-hearted guy who put everything he had into motor racing in all its forms. He loved motorsport and he liked business, too.

"Tom had competitive spirit and there were a lot of good things about him. He genuinely wanted to compete. He wanted things to turn out right.

"I certainly believed in Tom and his sincere desire to build a team. But it didn't work out.

"He was a major player in motorsport for a long time and that will be his testimony."

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2010/12/tom_walkinshaw_who_has_died.html

Great Clips Toyota Paul Menard Richmond Menards Ford Mark Green

Tom Walkinshaw - an obituary

Tom Walkinshaw, who has died of cancer aged 64, was one of the most powerful personalities in motorsport for nearly 30 years and, latterly, an influential figure in English rugby.

Walkinshaw's famous TWR racing team won championships in touring cars and sportscars, as well as claiming the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1988, giving Jaguar its first win in the race for more than 30 years in the process.

But Formula 1, motorsport's pinnacle, proved a tougher challenge. Although the Scot was instrumental in the success of the Benetton team with Michael Schumacher from 1992-4, his attempts to conquer it with his own team eventually led to his downfall and exit from top-level motor racing.

In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions. If you're reading via RSS, you'll need to visit the blog to access this content.

Watch highlights of Walkinshaw's Arrows nearly winning the 1997 Hungarian Grand Prix

When Walkinshaw joined Benetton in 1991, after nearly two decades of often controversial successes in touring cars and sportscars, his reputation preceded him.

He was known as an uncompromising and controversial character whose granite jaw reflected his determination - he pushed things to the limit, didn't mind who he upset to get his way and used his imposing physical presence to its full effect.

Walkinshaw was not a tall man but he was immensely broad and stocky, and he was not afraid to employ his physical strength to his own ends.

At a sportscar race once, he sought out a journalist to whose reporting he had taken exception, dragged him across the pit lane and hung him over the pit wall as cars passed by at nearly 200mph while he verbally harangued him.

But Walkinshaw had brains as well as brawn. He was a very competent racing driver in touring cars in the 1970s but he was a far better team boss.

One of the people he employed at Jaguar was Ross Brawn, later to transform Ferrari into the most efficient winning machine in F1 history, but then an ambitious young designer.

Walkinshaw took him on to apply F1 expertise to sportscars and the result was a game-changing car that won the world sportscar championship.

With that conquered, only F1 remained and the flamboyant new Benetton team boss Flavio Briatore, an intimidating character himself, decided that Walkinshaw and Brawn were the men he needed to turn Benetton from also-rans to winners. Walkinshaw was installed as engineering director, Brawn as technical director.

It didn't take long for Walkinshaw's ruthlessness to emerge.

He had witnessed Schumacher's talents driving for Mercedes in sportscars and when the 22-year-old German made an electrifying F1 debut for Jordan at the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix, Walkinshaw told Briatore this was the driver they needed. By the next race in Italy Schumacher was in the cockpit of a Benetton, the fact that he had binding contract with Jordan a minor inconvenience.

Together, Benetton and Schumacher made a formidable team and success was not long coming - by 1994 they were world champions. But, just as in the other categories in which Walkinshaw had competed, the whiff of controversy followed him to F1.

Benetton were accused of cheating. They were found to have illegal driver-aid software in their cars, but were not punished because the sport's governing body, the FIA, could not prove it had been used. Then, after a refuelling fire during the German Grand Prix, Benetton were found guilty of taking a filter out of their fuel hose without authorisation.

Jos Verstappen's Benetton catches fire in the pits at the 1994 German Grand Prix

Benetton's 1994 pit fire led to the end of Walkinshaw's career with the team

They blamed it on a "junior member of staff", but the rumour was that Walkinshaw had authorised it.

Benetton agreed with the FIA to part company with certain unidentified staff as an act of good faith. It was an open secret that a deal had been brokered behind closed doors that Walkinshaw would leave the company at the end of the year.

He moved first to run Benetton-linked Ligier, before in early 1996 taking over Arrows.

Such was the regard in which Walkinshaw was held that he was expected to make a success of a team that had never won a race in its 20-year history.

He pulled off a coup by convincing world champion Damon Hill to join the team for 1997 but the car was uncompetitive. Hill took a somewhat freak second place in Hungary but left the team at the end of the year.

From then on, it was largely all downhill, despite a few flashes of hope, namely when investment bank Morgan Grenfell bought into the team in 1998 and Walkinshaw signed a high-profile sponsorship deal with mobile phone network Orange in 2000.

Generally, his Arrows years were a struggle against the odds, and they ended in 2002 with the ignominy of a High Court battle with Morgan Grenfell and a damning judgement, in which Mr Justice Lightman described proposals Walkinshaw had made trying to ensure the survival of the team as "underhand and improper, indeed downright dishonest".

Why did it go wrong for him in F1?

Some said Walkinshaw too often had his eye off the ball, concentrating on his other business interests, such as his TWR engineering group and Gloucester Rugby Club, to the detriment of his F1 team.

Walkinshaw found money and new partners hard to come by, despite his long history in the car and motorsport industries - or perhaps because of it, some believed.

Walkinshaw was a hard-nosed businessman and sportsman, always viewed as the ultimate survivor, the man who could be guaranteed to pull off the last-minute saving deal.

But his failure with Arrows spelt the end of his association with top-level motorsport, although he did continue to run a touring car team in Australia.

He turned his business acumen and tough negotiating skills to a new role in rugby.

Related or not, the collapse of Arrows coincided with Walkinshaw's tenure as chairman of Premier Rugby, the top-flight clubs' umbrella body, from 1998-2002.

Later, he led the clubs' team negotiating with the Rugby Football Union over the release of England players, the details of which are now enshrined in an eight-year agreement that has largely ended what for a while were very bitter wrangles over the management of the men playing for the national side.

As chairman of Gloucester, he is remembered fondly for pumping in lots of money and keeping the team at the forefront of the game, even if he never quite achieved his ambitions either domestically or in Europe.

Walkinshaw was a complex figure who aroused mixed emotions but, although he had a dark side, plenty of people will remember him as a warm-hearted and generous man.

BBC F1 analyst Martin Brundle, whose long relationship with Walkinshaw included winning Le Mans and the world sportscar title, says: "He was a mentor to me.

"I wrote to him and asked him for a drive when he didn't know me from Adam and he gave me a chance. If he hadn't done that, I'd still be selling Toyotas in West Norfolk, for sure. He was an entrepreneurial racer and a great tactician."

And Hill, now president of the British Racing Drivers' Club that owns Silverstone, adds: "He was a very big-hearted guy who put everything he had into motor racing in all its forms. He loved motorsport and he liked business, too.

"Tom had competitive spirit and there were a lot of good things about him. He genuinely wanted to compete. He wanted things to turn out right.

"I certainly believed in Tom and his sincere desire to build a team. But it didn't work out.

"He was a major player in motorsport for a long time and that will be his testimony."

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2010/12/tom_walkinshaw_who_has_died.html

Elliott Sadler GT Vodka Chevrolet Jason Leffler Great Clips Toyota

Nascar Brand Management And Sponsorship

Who would've thought that anyone would pay to watch other men drive around in a "circle" at high speed? Well, when you think about it, its sounds a little silly doesn't it? But when you play the high velocity, plus the cool cars, the drivers, etc, it all gets a little more exciting! Nascar which is the American version of the Formula 1 (which I personally love) is the second most watched sports ever. At any point in time during a Nascar Nextel race or a Daytona 500, there are more than 180,000 individuals who pack the stadium to watch the event. It is watched by more than 80 million people on TV alone. That's a fact!

When a sport such as this is so big, the sponsors have to be even bigger! Nascar in particular has a wide range of sponsors from electronic, communication, soft drink, beer, food, and even auto companies. I don't think you will ever find a company that doesn't want to be associated with Nascar, and the reason why is super simple. One word. Promotion. Not only will they be sponsors of one of the most popular sports in the country, but their name will be seen by millions of people across the board.

The Nascar Brand -
Take a look at some of the cars you pass today on the street, on the road, on the highway, in parking lots, and you will see that out of every 15 cars, at least 3 cars will have some sort of a Nascar advertisement. Have it be the word Nascar or a number from one of their favorite drivers. Branding doesn't just account for cars and automobiles, there is all kinds of Nascar fan memorabilia out there for the new comer fan to the die hard fan. Nascar is literally, everywhere!

Nascar Merchandise -
You can find plain t-shirts, baseball hats, pants, warm up outfits, jackets, automotive products, flags, kitchen and bar items, bathroom items, jewelry, holiday items and much more with the Nascar logo and design imprinted on them. And that's not all you can also get team and driver specified items, with the number of the driver/car, names of the driver and or crew, owner of the car and much more. Another cool thing to look into is finding items that your favorite driver might have worn personally during a race such as a helmet, gloves, t-shirt, or baseball cap.

Nascar for just men? I think not! -
A lot of people think that Nascar is just for men, or mostly men anyway, they don't realize that more than 40% of Nascar fans are women and that number is going up higher and higher each year! In this case, women's accessories and products are a big point in merchandising sales as well, not just men! Nascar is soon to be the number one sport brand any day now, so what are you waiting for? Isn't it about time you got some for yourself?!? This is one of the few times I'll tell you to follow the leader! Go check out some Nascar stuff now!

This author is a HUGE fan of NASCAR licensed merchandise

Article Source: Nascar Brand Management And Sponsorship

Source: http://www.articlespan.com/article/111186/nascar-brand-management-and-sponsorship

Nationwide Series Joey Logano NASCAR Danica Patrick

Nascar And The Critique It Faces

Nascar has faced a lot of criticism for a lot of things over the last few decades. We can attribute the criticism to the popularity of Nascar. Apart from the environmental impact of Nascar which has led to criticism, there are other technical reasons as well. One of the reasons is the oval shape of most Nascar racing circuits. Driving enthusiasts have severely criticized the difficulty of these race courses when compared to the extremely difficult twisting and turning race courses of Formula 1. They say that it involves going round and round for 500 miles and nothing else.

Some courses of the Formula 1 put up to 5 or 6 G's of stress on the body of the driver. This is totally absent in Nascar. But Nascar has denied these allegations and countered by saying that there are certain race series in which road courses are included. But again it is for a very small percentage of the race. Nascar has also brought to light the fact that even the Indy racing league uses mostly oval tracks.

The Grueling Season
The grueling racing season of Nascar is also a reason for its criticism. While a Formula 1 race has 22 cars in its beginning, a Nascar Nextel cup race has 43. Add the 36 point races for the entire series, and the session becomes extremely hectic. The drivers are left with just a few hours to practice. Some of the drivers have even quit the sport because of their inability to cope with such stress.

Drivers who have been reasonably successful in road racing circuits have been unable to duplicate that success record in Nascar. The prime reason is the difference in the entire structure of the two.

The Cars
The technology behind the cars is another reason that Nascarhas faced so much criticism. The cars are mostly fitted with accessories from the 1950s. The carburetors, cast iron engine blocks and most primarily the use of leaded fuel have triggered huge criticism against Nascar. The reluctance of Nascar to add safety devices has also aggravated the criticism against them. The use of this equipment places more emphasis on getting an undue advantage rather than focusing on the skill of the driver.

The Business
The last thing that has received flak from critics is the Nascar business structure. The majority of revenue generated by the entire Nascar racing goes towards the France family, as they control most of Nascar . Many say that the drivers do not have a voice in Nascar and it is like a dictatorship. The penalties and fines that Nascar levied on its drivers for using foul language in the media have also been a reason for criticism against it.

This author is a HUGE fan of NASCAR licensed merchandise

Article Source: Nascar And The Critique It Faces

Source: http://www.articlespan.com/article/111183/nascar-and-the-critique-it-faces

Bruce Johnstone Alan Jones Tom Jones Juan Jover

Ten Years After: Sharing Final Moments and a Driver's Seat With Dale Earnhardt

Filed under: , , , ,


"So, you got any advice for me here coming up?'' Dale Earnhardt radioed to Andy Pilgrim while slowly driving caution laps around Daytona International Speedway, preparing for the final race restart with 21 laps to go in the 2001 Daytona 500.

Only two weeks earlier, the NASCAR icon had co-driven to a runner-up GT Class finish in the historic Rolex 24 at Daytona with the sports car champ Pilgrim (second from left above), who was now sitting with his girlfriend and Earnhardt's wife, Teresa, hooked up to the race team's radio in the couple's private motorcoach in the speedway's infield. A pair of motorcycle policemen had just arrived outside and were waiting to escort them all from the track after the race.

"When he said that to me, I just started laughing and thinking to myself, 'Dale Earnhardt, the seven-time NASCAR champion, is asking me, a road racer, what to do in the Daytona 500,' '' Pilgrim recalled. "I told him, 'No, man, I haven't got any advice for you, just keep doing what you're doing.' '''

"Okay, just wondering,'' Earnhardt good-naturedly replied, his words getting cut off by his spotter, who was alerting him the race was going green on the next lap.

"I told him, 'Cheers, talk to you later,' '' Pilgrim said. "And there was no more radio communication other than him cheering on and yelling for Michael (Waltrip) and (Dale Earnhardt) Junior.

"Then, 10 minutes later, he was gone.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Source: http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2011/02/10/ten-years-after-sharing-final-moments-and-a-drivers-seat-with/

Home Depot Toyota Paul Menard Brad Keselowski Dale Earnhardt Jr