Grand Prix Boredom

[PMC]

This weekend marks the return of Spa to the Formula One calendar, but I however won't be watching the race.

It's not because of the track, which is of of the few remaining circuits offering some genuine entertainment, nor is it because of the unpredictable weather which can throw up a suprising result or two (think Jordan's maiden win in '98).

It's because one team and one driver in particular are going to dominate.  Schumacher is traditionally strong at Spa, plus the Ferrari could be purpose built for the circuit.  If it rains then Schuey is guaranteed to make everyone else look stupid too...

In short, F1 has become samey and boring.  

How would you spice up F1 for greater entertainment?

[Cyberus]

Grand Prix Boredom

That says it all

Never been a fan of F1 myself. I'd rather watch rally any time. Sorry, that wasn't a constructive reply, was it.

But I've seen motor racing at Brands Hatch (not F1 obviously) and I sat on a bank and watched cards go, viiiiaooow, viiiiiaooow, viiiaaoooww....boring as hell IMHO.

But each to his own...I enjoy watching cricket remember!

[Vincent]

Cyberus wrote:
But each to his own...I enjoy watching cricket remember!

:-o

There's only one thing I find more boring than cricket - fishing! :-P

The F1 races used to be great a few years back, but not now.

[bloodline]

I used to watch F1 until about 4 years ago when it became so dull...

[PMC]

bloodline wrote:
I used to watch F1 until about 4 years ago when it became so dull...

So what you you do to liven it up?

Personally, I'd remove the wings, bring back slicks and "proper" tracks which are more about spectacle than pit lane facilities and executive washrooms for Mr Ecclestone et al.

[bloodline]

PMC wrote:

bloodline wrote:
I used to watch F1 until about 4 years ago when it became so dull...

So what you you do to liven it up?

Personally, I'd remove the wings, bring back slicks and "proper" tracks which are more about spectacle than pit lane facilities and executive washrooms for Mr Ecclestone et al.

I'd allow the engineers to make any modifications to the cars they like. The cars will go faster, there will be more smashes and crashes. and it will be more about the better team.

[Cyberus]

Vincent wrote:

Cyberus wrote:
But each to his own...I enjoy watching cricket remember!

:-o

There's only one thing I find more boring than cricket - fishing! :-P

How about golf?

edit: Results from 1999 Cricket World Cup

Group B    P    W    L    T    Pts    
Pakistan    5    4    1    0    8    
Australia    5    3    2    0    6    
New Zealand    5    3    2    0    6    
West Indies    5    3    2    0    6    
Bangladesh    5    2    3    0    4    
Scotland    5    0    5    0    0    

:-P

[Vincent]

Golf's not too bad.

Cyberus wrote:
edit: Results from 1999 Cricket World Cup

Group B    P    W    L    T    Pts    
Pakistan    5    4    1    0    8    
Australia    5    3    2    0    6    
New Zealand    5    3    2    0    6    
West Indies    5    3    2    0    6    
Bangladesh    5    2    3    0    4    
Scotland    5    0    5    0    0    

:-P

Cricket's an Englishman's game, and as far as I care you can keep it :-P

And anyways, we don't cover the news saying how great we are at cricket then get hammered by the Windies :-P

We know we're sh**e :-P

[Cyberus]

Vincent wrote:
Golf's not too bad.

Cricket's an Englishman's game, and as far as I care you can keep it :-P

And anyways, we don't cover the news saying how great we are at cricket then get hammered by the Windies :-P

We know we're sh**e :-P

Hammered by the Windies? You got hammered? Or we did? We just whitewashed them in a Test series!

:-)

Golf's a Scotsman's game, and as far as I care, you can, oh, the Japanese and Americans seem to have already taken it to preposterous levels....

:-)

[Vincent]

Cyberus wrote:

Hammered by the Windies? You got hammered? Or we did? We just whitewashed them in a Test series!

Yeah, I forgot about that, but usually when I hear about England's Cricket team it's because they just lost, maybe I'm just lucky that way so I can get a good laugh  :-P

Golf's a Scotsman's game, and as far as I care, you can, oh, the Japanese and Americans seem to have already taken it to preposterous levels....

:lol:

[PMC]

I can never understand the rules of Cricket - this is despite coming from a cricket obsessed family and Golf drives me to new levels of mind numbing tedium.

However, for sheer brain draining, ego sapping monotony you can beat bowls...  The excitement of seeing a bloke gently rolling a ball down a lawn is indescribable.  At least a Grand Prix car is capable of frightening small children, which is a very rewarding passtime...

[Cyberus]

Vincent wrote:

Yeah, I forgot about that, but usually when I hear about England's Cricket team it's because they just lost, maybe I'm just lucky that way so I can get a good laugh  :-P

:lol:

[Dan]

bloodline wrote:
So what you you do to liven it up?

I'd allow the engineers to make any modifications to the cars they like. The cars will go faster, there will be more smashes and crashes. and it will be more about the better team.

Amen, to that!
All kinds of carcompetitions was in the begining also a competition in car-construction...

today it´s a stay-awake competition, which I usually lose first....

[Bezzen]

Oh... and this year's Spa race was pretty damn good!

Lots of crashes and smashes and stuff.... and Schumie didn't win for once.


How I would spice it up?

- Make it possible for a team to buy chassies (would add a couple of new teams to the grid. I want 26 cars again)
- Less driver's aids. No anti-spin, launch controls etc.
- Less downforce == more overtaking.
- Less efficent brakes == more overtaking.
- Klien replaced by Wirdheim (come on, he's quicker in an old car with more fuel! (and he's swedish))
- A couple of clones of Sato.

[Bezzen]

bloodline wrote:

I'd allow the engineers to make any modifications to the cars they like. The cars will go faster, there will be more smashes and crashes. and it will be more about the better team.

I think that would pretty much kill off Formula One.

Firstly because the costs would be too much for all teams but the ones with backing from a major car manufacturer. That would mean Ferrari, Williams, Renault, Toyota, BAR and McLaren would still be in, but Jaguar, Minardi, Sauber and Jordan would be gone. And we could forget about getting new teams into the series.

Secondly (and most importantly) there would be no more overtaking. If there were no regulations the cars would be so quick during corners that a car coming from behind would have no way to pass. The reason for this is that with more speed and downforce the cars need lots of air to push the car down during the corner. When a car is right behind the other car the airflow gets disturbed and that car looses downforce. That way the car can never close in on the car in front and can never pass. With slower cornering speed the cars behind can get closer and try to slipstream on the straights. If there were no regulations the brakes would be too efficient so there would be no opportunity to overtake during braking either.

We would get few teams and cars going round with no overtaking opportunities. Like watching the Hungarian Grand Prix all year long.