FYI -- no autocross content...I thought some might be interested.
Jerry
Jerry Mouton mailto:jerry@moutons.org Laissez les bons temps
rouler!
----- Original Message -----
From: <Lee_Darzycki@amat.com>
To: <Leshic@yahoo.com>
Sent: Monday, September 25, 2000 7:44 AM
Subject: Formula 1 Report -- Very Long
> This was not written by me, although I WISH I experienced what Rich did.
Just
> forwared by me.
>
> Enjoy.
>
> A report by someone that experienced Formula 1 racing, like most will
never
> experience in their entire life.
>
> If you love racing, you'll love this report.
>
>
> Lee Darzycki
> Red '93 300ZX Twin Turbo
> http://www.clubz.org/cgi-bin/member/LeeDarzycki.asp
>
>
>
> ---------------------- Forwarded by: Lee Darzycki/APPLIED MATERIALS on
9/25/2000
> 7:34:08 AM ----------------------
>
>
> Merritt <merritt@cedar-rapids.net> on 09/25/2000 04:00:03 AM
>
> Please respond to opentracking@topica.com
>
>
> To: stealth@starnet.net, opentracking@topica.com,
Team3S@stealth-3000gt.st
> cc: (bcc: Lee Darzycki/APPLIED MATERIALS)
> Subject: OpnTrk: Formula 1 Report -- Very Long
>
>
>
>
> I just got back from the F1 race in Indianapolis. It was a walk on the
wild
> side.
>
> First, let me say that I am no one important. A very good friend was kind
> enough to invite me along as a guest of Siemens, who is a "technology
> partner" (sponsor) on the West McLaren team. Because of this, I got to
> experience F1 from the inside.
>
> I felt the same as I do when we are at Road America -- I expect a janitor
> to step out of a building and yell, "Hey! What are you guys doing here?"
> Here, I expected someone from F1 to say: "Excuse me sir, but you are not
> worthy enough."
>
> If you watched the race, you undoubtedly saw the new F1 garages behind the
> pits. Atop the garages are the hospitality suites. West McLaren had
leased
> almost the entire top section to host at least five separate suites for
its
> sponsors, including Mobil 1, Sun computer, Computer Associates, Siemens
and
> SAP. I was in there, amongst the movers and shakers and VIP guests.
Siemens
> brought 135 such guests from all over the world. In all, West McLaren
> entertained about 900 people for the weekend.
>
> You've seen shots of people milling around the hot pits before a race, I'm
> sure. That's called the "Pit Walkabout" and the only people permitted
there
> are guests of the teams. You cannot buy a pit pass at the track. So those
> thousands of people you see -- from the leggy blonde bimbo babes to the
> corporate VIPs are all guests of somebody's team or sponsor.
>
> Running a top F1 team costs $200 million per year. Both Ferarri and West
> McLaren have this kind of money to spend, while other teams spend
> considerably less -- as you can tell by their relative performance
compared
> to the two top teams.
>
> West McLaren has 26 sponsors, ranging from the biggies such as West
> (European cigarettes), Hugo Boss (clothing and cosmetics), Mobil 1 and
> SAP, to the smaller sponsors, such as Siemens. If you are a West McLaren
> fan, you are probably scratching your head, saying "Siemens? I don't
> remember seeing a Siemens logo on the car." The amount of money you put
> into the program determines if you get a logo on the car, and where it
> goes. Siemens has a tiny Siemens Fujitsu logo on the edge of the right
> front wing, and a logo on Mika Hakkinen's uniform. This is because they
> probably only put a mere $15-25 million into the program (just a guess,
> mind you), which isn't enough for an on-car logo.
>
> F1 is high technology gone berserk. Watch carefully next time you see them
> start an F1 engine. It takes two Siemens Fujitsu laptop computers -- one
> for the engine and one for the chassis -- to start them up. That's why you
> never see an F1 car push-started, and why the driver simply abandons it if
> the car stalls on the track. It can't be restarted without being taken
back
> to the pits and hooked up to the computers.
>
> Each car has a data acquisition system that senses about 200 variables,
> encompassing just about everything you can imagine, from cylinder
> temperatures to exhaust composition to sideslip acceleration. This data is
> transmitted from the cars to transponders located at intervals all the way
> around a circuit, back to the Sun computers in the pits. West McClaren
goes
> one step farther than most: Using Siemens communications equipment
(another
> plug for my Siemens friends), they transmit the real-time data via
> satellite back to McLaren headquarters in England, where 100 engineers
> monitor every variable in real time. If they spot an anomaly, they can
> communicate directly with the crew chief over the satellite.
>
> In F1, cars are new every year. Last year's cars go to the museums, and
> every team starts over from scratch. The cars are designed, modeled and
> simulated in CAD systems, and then every one of the 10,000+ parts has to
be
> made by hand. Some work gets contracted out to specialty race fabricators
> in and around Woking, England, but McClaren has complete machine tool and
> fabrication facilities of its own. McClaren builds almost 100% of the
> parts, with the exception of the engines, which come from Mercedes/Ilmore
> (originally Roger Penske's Chevy small block motors).
>
> The technology involved represents the state of the art in every aspect:
> materials science (carbon fiber), on-board computers and electronics, CAD
> design, computer modeling and simulation, wind tunnel testing,
> communications and so on.
>
> Throughout the race weekend, we were treated to live presentations by a
> teddibly clever pair of commentators -- one in the suites and one in the
> garage. Using large screen TVs in the suites and its own TV cameras and
> race feeds, West McLaren kept up us informed about everything that was
> happening on a regular basis.
>
> As an example, we got to hear the incredible sound of the 7-speed gear box
> being tested in the garage - with the car off the ground, the mechanic
revs
> the motor up to some insane rpm and then shifts the car through the entire
> range, up and down. The tranny shifts gears in 25 milliseconds, so it
> sounds something like this: Waaaaa aaaaaaa aaaaa aaaaa aaaaa aaaaa aaaaa.
> Unbelievable. The engines generate about 850 hp on pump gasoline and rev
to
> 16,500 rpm. 0-60 takes 2 sec, 0-100 is 5 sec.
>
> At Indy, they were under full throttle for 22 seconds nonstop, the longest
> in F1, and reached 200+ mph before braking for turn 1. David Coulthard
> told us that turn 1 made him feel like a real race driver.
>
> Oh yes, the drivers came and talked to us. They knew they were talking to
> SPONSORS, the folks who put up the $200 million that lets them go so fast,
> so they did their standup routines very well. Coulthard is very funny and
> forthright, while Mika Hakkinen is much like you see on TV during the
> interviews. To Mika's credit, he was more personable with us than he is on
TV.
>
> Sounds like I was buddy-buddy with Dave and Mike, doesn't it? Actually, I
> only got within 10 ft of Coulthard, along with 900 other people, so we
> didn't have a conversation.
>
> The hospitality during the race and Friday and Saturday nights was
> everything you imagine. It was like being in a Hollywood movie. Try to
> picture what it would be like to be entertained trackside by the top F1
> team in the world -- it was all that and more! We were treated to
> wonderful food, excellent wine, and superb entertainment morning, noon and
> night. We got racing shirts, jackets, hats, wristwatches, throwaway
> cameras, Hugo Boss gifts sets, and commerative tea cups. The producer of
> the Friday night entertainment (including performers from Circ du Solei in
> Paris) told me that West McLaren had put the extravaganza together in the
> hopes of making F1 more understandable and enjoyable for its sponsors in
> the US, so that the sport will grow here.
>
> (In my humble opinion, F1 won't take off here until there is an American
> driver in the ranks, and they change the wings and aerodynamics so that
> passing is possible. But that's another topic)
>
> For all the folks out there who run race teams (we have a TransAm team)
and
> treat their sponsors to hamburgers, hot dogs and brats under a hospitality
> tent stretched between the transporters, let me say this: Man, F1 knows
how
> to treat sponsors right! West McLaren and Siemens probably spent more on
> hospitality for this single event than we spend on our race cars for an
> entire year.
>
> Here's an example: On Saturday, it took an unacceptable amount of time to
> get from our downtown hotel to the track for morning practice. Siemens had
> rented 25 identical silver/gray minivans, and it took well over an hour to
> go the five miles to the track on Saturday. So, on race day, Siemens hired
> the county sheriff to give us an escort. Our caravan made it to INSIDE the
> speedway, to the entrance to the paddock area, in 15 minutes. We never
> stopped -- not for red lights, not for traffic, not for pedestrians. With
> sirens blaring and lights flashing, the police took us into oncoming
> traffic, around stopped cars at intersections, and through red lights, all
> with the assistance of local police at each intersection. What a ride! I
> have no idea what that cost, but I'll be it was not cheap.
>
> That's all I can think of at 5:45 am.
>
> Rich
>
>
>
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