感谢诸君来访！
我是红衣棒糖人（新浪微博@红衣棒糖人），一名F1,WRC,MotoGP和Le Mans车迷。
这是最新的站点，希望可以为大家带来有关的赛车资讯。
鞠躬！
补录1. 版权
如果有版权问题的，我会藏着掖着不拿出来的。拿出来的都可以转载，不过：
有些东西显然是我码的，请转载时不妨写个作者byline，这是值得嘉许的美德。
补录2.访问速度及访问不能问题
这个站的主机在美国达拉斯。
至于为什么经常不能正常访问，我也很困扰。还好没有比较紧迫的东西，都是可以慢慢看的文章。只不过它真是对不住If Doubt,Flat Out了。它完全是If Doubt，Crash Out么！
我在想今年有什么不一样呢？20周年，是的，但是这很像用数字去绑架一个人。我只想说我第二疯狂的一件事，那是看加拿大站的时候。第一疯狂的事情在上海赛车场的看台上，略过不谈好了。
那场比赛的时候，已经看了勒芒24小时里面的20个小时，人都快虚掉了，然后比赛还中断那么久，但是后来看到，就是舒马赫他怎样上到第一，怎样拼杀，情不自禁双手合十。尽管最后抵不过对手和DRS，可是足以让人疯狂地叫出来了，这就是能控制人心跳频率的比赛啊。
Magnificent. Go Michael.Go Schumacher……. this is what we want. They must have put the old chip in by mistake this morning.
而这竟然是杨拜伦说的！
我一下回到了高中时候，我的桌子柜子上全是这个人。哪怕当时看到他的胜利是平常，现在看到却觉得奢侈。
“还是上个毕业季。我已经烦到不愿意去和人解释为什么总要对着一个退役的人，一个不会再来的人。记得最后拍完有这几张纸（我买不到速报，全是自己印的）的床位以后，我就告别了高中。那时我心底里并没有期盼过今天这样的比赛，但是它还是来了，虽然合十没有换来领奖台，不过，谢谢，舒米。”
Danke.
几圈已经让我我能想起来很多很多，对赛车这段不会结束的爱的开始。所以说心里的一些沉淀，在轻轻搅动之后也能泛起，因为它并没有被掩盖，会有一天被揭起，然后疯狂地绽放。
Though nothing Will keep us together We can beat them For ever and ever Oh we can be heroes Just for one day.
And this day，Alles Gute zum Geburtstag，Schumi.
原文地址：http://bbs.hellof1.com/3039486.html
标题：Memories of the year: Meeting Simoncelli
作者：Sam Tremayne
坎布里亚的九月里，阴冷风大的一天，在通常情况下很容易被遗忘，但是在Penrith——确切说，在Penrith的一个废弃机场，朦朦雨雾中，我见到了马尔科·西蒙切利。
西蒙切利搭乘米口·希尔沃宁的WRC赛车© LAT
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原文地址：http://www.lotusrenaultgp.com/8111-2012-FIA-Regulations-highlights.html?lang=en http://media.lotusrenaultgp.com/8112-2012-FIA-Regulations-highlights.html?lang=en
标题：2012 FIA REGULATIONS HIGHLIGHTS – WITH JAMES ALLISON
作者：James Allison
莲花车队出品，很有用，需要存档。
Following this morning’s FIA 2012 season Technical and Sporting Regulations announcement, we caught up with the team’s Technical Director James Allison who explains some of the key changes we can expect to see in 2012. We feature part one below, with part two to follow tomorrow.
Lower Noses
The car noses are lowered to 550mm above the reference plane (previously they could be 625mm high). This is to ensure that all parts of the nose are definitely below the height of the cockpit sides in the event of a T-Bone type of crash.
Panels
The chassis is constructed from certain panels – the so called “homologated panel” – that are regulated to achieve a required amount of penetration resistance in order to protect the driver. To give better protection to the driver in the event that a car T-bones him from the side, the homologated intrusion panel is increased in height to 550mm above the reference plane (the same height as the highest part of the new nose regulation above).
Apertures and aerodynamics
An ambiguity in art 3.8.5 is cleared up to make it entirely clear that each suspension leg that emerges from the rear bodywork may have just one aperture. Suspension apertures allow the team a certain amount of aerodynamic development possibilities and from an aerodynamicists point of view, the more apertures the merrier. Under the old regulation it was possible to construct a wavy surface where a leg exited and re-entered the bodywork several times, on each occasion accruing another legal aperture – under the new regulation this is no longer possible.
Weight distribution
We had originally agreed for the 2011 cars to have a limited range of adjustment for weight distribution for a single year to cover the introduction of Pirelli’s. This regulation has proved successful and has now been extended to 2013.
Tethers
For 2011, each wheel had to be held on by two safety where previously they had only needed one. In order to ensure that the tethers offer genuine redundancy in the event of the failure of one of their mounting points it was agreed for 2011 that the tethers needed to have separate mounting points. The wording for this in 2011 was rather clumsy and had some undesired effects. For this reason we have re-worded art 10.3.6 to ensure that the desired redundancy is delivered in a rational manner.
FOM Cameras
Recent seasons has seen the FOM nose cameras located in a manner clearly aimed at promoting the performance of the front wing rather than to deliver effective TV pictures. A new article (20.3.4) has been introduced to ensure a minimum standard for the field of view of any nose mounted camera. A similar minor change is made to the roll hoop camera location to ensure that a clear picture is not sacrificed on the altar of downforce.
Suspension
Suspension members (wishbones/trackrods etc) are bound by strict aerodynamic limitations (limited chord, symmetrical section, maximum incidence angles etc). This is not true of the uprights which hold the wheel on to the suspension. Their design has always been free. There existed a possibility (albeit never yet exploited) that someone would make a giant, aerodynamic upright to make use of this hypothetical freedom. A change to article 10.5.3 has been introduced to ensure that the uprights may not protrude beyond the volume currently allowed for brake ducts – this prevents the giant upright problem from ever occurring.
Car floor
The floor under an F1 car (the so called step and reference planes) has to be designed flat. Because things cannot be made perfectly flat, a manufacturing tolerance of +/-5mm was permitted. It was felt latterly that this 5mm tolerance allowed for opportunities to design [illegally] some mild contours into the floor. To clamp down on this possibility, the tolerance has been reduced to +/-3mm.
Helium
There has been a recent trend by some teams to use helium as the gas which powers the pit stop guns. This is because helium is capable of making the guns run at higher power for a given gas pressure. It is ruinously expensive however and has been banned for 2012.
Absorbing structures
Each car is fitted with energy absorbing structures on the side of the chassis which act as crumple zones in the event of a side on shunt. These structures are subjected to a crash test at the start of the season where a loaded sled hits them absolutely square on to the chassis. In addition, the structures have to pass a robustness test where they are subjected to a horizontal push-off load to make sure that they will not just flick off the car in the event that they experience a real crash that is not exactly perpendicular to the chassis. In previous seasons we have also had to demonstrate by making stress calculations that the structures would be OK if subjected to a vertical load. For 2012, this stress calculation test is replaced by a physical test as a means of being certain. In theory, this should change nothing. If the calculations were correctly made, then the structure should withstand the load.
Exhausts
The 2011 generation of blown floors are discarded. For 2012, the exhaust must exit in a prescribed box that is in a similar location to the top exit exhausts of circa 2008. It is also subjected to particular exit angles and diameter as a means of providing further restriction. This does not mean that exhaust generated downforce is a thing of the past – it is very hard to stuff that back into Pandora’s box. However these changes, coupled with the recent technical directive banning off throttle blowing create an environment where exhaust generated downforce for 2012 will be a much smaller proportion of the total than it was in 2011.
Technical Directives
For many years there was a growing list of Technical Directives offering guidance on how to operate the electronics and software side of the car in a legal manner. There has been a concerted effort this year by the teams and the FIA to bring the settled parts of these TDs into the main body of the technical regulation to provide a more convenient and more permanent home for them
以下是一篇软文。
先说门票花销。周六800港币。周日900港币。葡京看台，澳门比赛周最高价的看台。相比F1这该是多么的亲民啊。不过就不谈赠票什么的吧……
周五晚上去探葡京看台，还下着点小雨，街上都湿嗒嗒的。我没看过统计，只是笼统听说“澳门格兰披治十几年没有雨战了”，非常期待中。
我在葡京弯的外侧轮胎墙后面，摸着轮胎，看着黄黑色的护栏，觉得这东望洋赛道愈发真实了起来。
第二天，也就是周六一早原定是7：30开始摩托赛的热身，因为还在下雨就取消了挪到下午正赛的时间，而正赛挪到周日。澳门的摩托赛近年还有人遇难，所以安全方面有点谨小慎微的意思。
那么财神酒店杯香港澳门埠际赛（通称埠际赛）就成了当天第一场比赛。比赛的时候已经没有雨了，不过地还湿，所以racing line全靠车子跑出来。垫场赛就是干这种事情的吧。
这该能看得清楚了。
这比赛的车型都是本田Integra DC5，车手都是业余的港澳选手。按惯常来说可看性也不差，不过那是电视上看的，如果在现场看，会发现走线走得比较开，而且在弯内很明显停顿——车子如此嘛。并且车手过弯的路线非常之不统一和稳定，感觉略乱，但是仍然是不错的开胃菜。
比如我第一次现场看了过弯失败的结果。
并且第一次注意到了神器——吊车。背后就是葡京酒店。
接下来是太阳城集团澳门路车挑战赛（通称路车赛）。车型包括三菱EVO以及扫把佬的Impreza，日产GTR等，代数不一。车手介于我认得和不认得之间。
比赛还是不错的。#39 拿达活领先优势保持了很久，但是就剩一圈多点时候爆缸了。这真是太让人惋惜了。#31 丘永材一直在他后面，因此上位夺冠。
比起上一场比赛，车型的多样让看点更多。你可以听到刹车的声音，有些车慢进快出比较明显，从前面的直道比较远处就开始“吱溜～～～”，加速点也比前一场的更靠前。还可以看到有些车因为侧向G力，车壳整个往左边倾压的场景。
这场比赛里第一次看到吊车的施救。澳门的马修效率全球知名，要不在这里比赛安全车每次都能带完全场的。再次吐槽今年勒芒大赛的效率。
只见马修们翻过轮胎墙，挂上四个钩，车子就被大手拎起来往边上一扔。
解释下图二的水柱，那是看台顶篷不知为何，泼下一大堆水。
第三场，澳门电讯汽车杯（通称电讯杯）。这算是周末最好看的比赛之一了。比赛进行到这时看台上的人越来越多，气氛也越来越热。
澳门的观众就是如此，他们对赛车也许没多少理论知识，但是他们在这里也许一看就是二十年。他们懂行。就好像那些著名球队的主场死忠一样，嘘声和掌声都给得恰到好处。他们会为从文华东方弯开始的battle而尖叫，因为马上就要杀到眼前了；不管哪里在超车，哪怕将超未超，他们都会开始叫。他们会为事故高呼，然后为车手平安出车、马修奋勇清理赛道、跑偏车辆重回赛道等等鼓掌；比赛结束后车手做回场圈也会鼓掌。
这就是气氛，来澳门值得找寻的东西。我在看台上听到最多的一句话就是“猴塞雷啊！”，意思是“好犀利啊，好厉害啊！”这才是赛车最应该带给人的感受。
忘了他妈的DDD、F-duct、DRS吧。这些值得去研究去品味，但是不刺激也不感人。
电讯杯真是猴塞雷。再祝贺一次苏华龙先生，华龙车队这场比赛真是太赞了。虽然赢得惊险。
潘德俊和冯文伟这场比赛被梁欣荣逼得非常狠，一度丢了领先，不过几次黄旗后重新起跑都抓住了机会，最后一二带回，非常了不起。
至于#27 张汉标，这个周末的确是很……很What a shame。。。。在葡京弯出了两次还是三次事故。第一次如图。把葡京弯堵住可是很容易的。不过马修们的疏导也真是神速。
现在是12：20.天气还有点热，雨战是没希望了。12：50的名门世家澳门GT杯排位赛不看了，去吃饭。
赛场饮食有三种。普通赛场饮食是上海F1的吉野家，或者一些赛场外面的烤肉之类，不坑爹，味道一般；文艺赛场饮食呢，上周在标致VIP房间吃的自助餐算是，味道不错，而且可以一直吃；二逼赛场饮食就是葡京看台下面的这个，一杯咖啡20港币，一个普通三明治30.
可是看台显然是可以出去的。出去时候保安会在你的手上盖个紫色的戳，代表你被赛场验过票，以后随便怎么进进出出，伸手给他们看检验检疫戳记就行了。
只要你走到葡文学校后面马统领围，就可以吃到最正的葡式蛋挞——玛嘉烈蛋挞，一个只要8港币，该酥的酥该糯的糯，香甜适口，你会感觉排队排得好值得并且决定再也不吃开封菜的蛋挞。
下午两点开始F3的排位赛。其实亮点不多，Wittman领先优势拉得比较开，Merhi在葡京弯有好几次精彩的表演。但是，各车手都开得保守，并不火爆，谁希望周六上墙啊。
我得承认一点，刚刚翻了下新闻，感觉其实事情不少，但是现场看的时候比较混乱，因为一来F3的车子不熟，二是F3的车子走线很贴墙，然后等转到能看到的角度，已经是背身向观众了，看不到车号，对不上车子还是蛮受影响的。总之，对比赛情况还是有些混乱。
下午最后一项就是推迟了的摩托车热身赛。因为时间多，热身足有一小时，到后面都不剩什么人了。不过，这是个拍照的好机会。
也有人这时候跑出去的——
摩托车slide过弯还是挺爽的，不像四轮，总要停顿一下。如果说走线的区别，摩托车更贴路肩，动力滑行到墙边，车头对正直道，车身摆正了再加速（这是废话吧><），我想弯外侧摄影位拍出来的一定很不错，因为整个车身侧面都对着那边。另外，真心觉得105mm的镜头不够。
四点半热身赛收工，步行到主教座堂、玫瑰圣母堂等处拍点照。还吃了蔡澜推过的祥记虾籽拌面。
晚上后来还从司打口往南走，绕过妈阁和民国大马路，再从岗顶绕回来。
到此为止过得非常愉快。以下是分割线。
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为什么分割线要设在这里呢，因为楼主手贱去赌钱了，然后在十六浦输了一笔，回去捶床大呼，自信心和金钱都被角子机吞噬了——数目保密，反正自己挣的回来，不是坑爹，但是真心觉得玩大了，小赌怡情你妹啊！！！就差点觉得第二天比赛没心情看了要。
满怀忧伤却流不粗泪，极度的疲惫却不能入睡。
但是第二天还是起来了，比赛重要嘛。一早是WTCC的热身，最后是马清扬撞了葡京弯的轮胎墙，出红旗停练了。
这张图上正好拍到Coronel有问题的过弯，WTCC的速度快，走线比较顺滑，但是吃路肩是不对的——这个显然吃的离谱了。
红旗之后，果断冲到玛嘉烈又买了两个蛋挞。吃下它们以后，几乎忘了自己输过钱的惨痛经历。
这时候名门世家澳门GT杯正好开始。东京都营地下铁说这是澳门周日唯一好看的赛事，因为WTCC和F3在哪都不好看。这话不错，因为WTCC早就是Chevy一家独大，对于三人以外的Tarquini、Coronel等车手，也很难说有多少切实的期待；而且WTCC在澳门也确实太难超车，事故率又极高，真正在比赛的圈数少。而澳门的F3主要特征肯定包含着一点：混乱，而且那些正太们如果年年来澳门，就说明又没升级，就说明有苦逼的潜质，如果在澳门连冠了，那么……说明已经是个苦逼了吧？
澳门的意义并不像当年那样，是个F1进阶的试金石。但对于车手和车迷来说，它还是意义非凡。毕竟这是东望洋，这是葡京弯，而且你我在这里。
刚才的苦逼论，中枪的人就是Motara。这回他开了一辆奥迪R8的厂车来，加上东望洋是一条经验尤为重要的赛道，结果对手们一开赛就望尘莫及了……
泽圭太和Watts也都是东望洋的老人了。泽圭太应该评为全场最佳，防守得真是令人赞叹。不愧是两届冠军。Watts的车子就是迈凯轮MP4-12C，涂了Gulf的颜色。
不多久，文华东方弯粗大事了。。这个镜头大概回放了四遍。
毫无疑问，红旗停赛了。而且看台上的人，包括我在内，都觉得有可能不会restart，因为实在是太难搞了，一地的碎渣，一地的油。
而这时澳门的马修展现了世界一流的风采，清扫，撒土吸油等等做得有条不紊。当他们收队回到葡京弯，受到了英雄般的喝彩。
后来比赛总算是继续了。
可是马修们还是没有的歇……
结果这场比赛就这样暗错错地过去了，本来应该很精彩，Watts和泽圭太应该还会有非常棒的竞争，但是这就是澳门，高退赛率让赛事悬念陡增，但对观众而言不是什么好事情，因为比赛圈数本来就不多，安全车带的每一圈，都是高比例的比赛损失。
下面是回场圈
泽圭太很有范得挥手通过看台，看台上这位老兄也高举右手give him five。谁不爱这样的澳门呢。
WTCC的比赛人必须多起来了，这时候比赛已经延后了接近半小时。
按照排位的结果，Muller怎么追杀Huff是绝对的重点，而Menu怎么追上来也同样值得一看。可是又在文华东方弯，Menu被Couto两次撞上……真是悲剧。
重新开赛以后又出事，过了葡京弯的直道上，欧阳若曦斜切过了直道，正好被Bennani撞到——我看到的是这样，但是原因不清楚。又需要清理油渍，于是安全车继续带。
安全车一回pit，周围的车迷们都开始嚎叫。因为Muller又要动手啦。其他弯角似乎都太窄而衔接直道很短，没法满足超车的需要，光顶屁股不超车是纯粹耍流氓的行径，于是葡京弯成了首要的超车点。大屏幕上一看到两辆蓝车甩过文华东方弯，沿着直道，Muller仿佛越来越快，和Huff side by side，并且占到了内线，一触即发的紧张气氛中，爆发出此起彼伏的“猴塞雷啊！！”的呐喊声，但是Muller最终都未成功，我不知道这场比赛他是不是比较保守了，因为按我的印象他通常比这个狠。
这是个不错的结果，15分钟后如果Huff再拿冠军，今年的总冠军还有希望。
现在是插播新闻。虽然WTCC的观众很多很多，但是我还是继续坐在别人的位置上，也就是离弯心最近的过道的两边，反正座位的主人没有出现。不过Race1结束以后，有人来了，我就挪了个位置。
这时候惊奇地发现了前面坐着Rossi的车迷，下蛋鸡的衣服暴露了一切属性。
楼主这时已经决心要去认亲了。但是比赛正热不便打扰。
比赛也还是老调重弹，Chevy三个人+Tarquini捡软柿子（Nykjaer和Coronel并不软，但是请问谁比Chevy还硬……）捏，九圈说多不多，捏着捏着完赛了。不过超车是很有看头的，虽然有时候不在眼前，可是看台上还是鼓掌欢呼，顿时就会觉得，捏软柿子也是件了不起的事情。另外欧阳和Couto重新出战赢得全场热烈掌声和喝彩。
下面继续说认亲的事情。Race2大约有3圈的安全车，没记错的话。这时候就去问候前面的车迷，说自己也是猴子车迷。那两位是澳门本地车迷，意外被其他猴子番司认亲，都很开心，简单聊了几句。但是大家都不太想说Rossi这个赛季。谁都不习惯比赛时候在list的中间找他的名字。
比赛快结束了，白衣服的大哥突然掏出一个绿牌子——workers证件，可惜我现在都不知道权限到底多大——说，这证件可以上赛道，一会儿F3开始前可能还有时间，马上过去拍照吧。他说他就坐在葡京弯不去了（很多有证件的人比赛也在葡京弯看，因为比其他地方都要爽）。
这下真觉得RP守恒的。难怪前一天晚上输钱。我也不知道怎么答谢，就说“祝Rossi明年好成绩”，白衣服大哥旁边那位说：“GP12必须的！”还翘起了大拇指。他起身下看台时候看到了这个包。The Doctor。
时间很短，过不到半小时，前一天没有赛的摩托车要赛完，这段时间原本是要舞狮子什么的，也就是说倘若在去年我此时收获此证，已经可以去围场玩爽了，但是今年来不及过去。
其实摩托车赛没有多少悬念，对于Rutter的第七次夺冠简直是麻木了，所以他一开始暂时落后我也全然无感，只是等着他超车。两次都是在葡京弯，拉出一个好的走线，刷的一下就过去了，对方还手机会都没有。
他一定是在车群中突然迷失了
葡京弯不适合老虎跳，但是是不错的烧胎位置，只是味道重了些……
说说最后一幅图。他本来想在赛道上烧胎，居然没转起来，于是马修很搞地拿起箭头牌朝下一指，他就往前一停，就烧出白烟了，又是全场欢呼。
赛后我赶紧往围场走。因为已经退房了，背着所有的行李，重的要死，可是没办法，这时候计程车不会载你，因为绕路可能比走过去还要慢，这是事实。三点半开赛，半路上听着暖胎圈的声音，方程式的车子声音就是特别的燥，弄得心也越发的急。
我在想，假如走到了的话，也不一定来得及拍什么了。而且那个证我没有看明白权限。所以就给自己定了计划，如果三点十分走不到的话，就会葡京看台，这样比赛至少能看完，不要比赛开始了还在半道上。结果果然到不了。回去了，发现人都到齐了，得对号入座。我买的票的位置简直拍不了照。后来就直接放弃了。
比赛我就不重复了吧。Merhi悲剧的要死，发车不动被人菊了。结果重新开赛以后又出了这状况——
蓝车是#9 Huertas。
Mitch Evans 米吃的车被吊起来图
这张拍的是刹车痕迹的开始范围。
后面的比赛就是乱七八糟。过程我理得不是太清楚，只是觉得Wittman在和Bottas抢弯的时候表现相当不错，但太可惜后来没Hold住一下掉下去了，结果Juncadella就抢到了冠军。不过，说Juncadella爆冷也有点过，欧洲F3季军的名次拿到澳门冠军有什么好奇怪的呢。爆冷的名分还是归国本京佑吧。
临近终场时候的重点镜头是一位小哥撞车之后扶墙头痛哭。但是我没弄清楚那是谁，相烦知情者告知。
不看颁奖了，奔赴围场。
WTCC的围场正在收工中。车子还都在外头。
这具引擎在我六点多离开围场时候仍然摆在外面。不知道技师为什么这时候还要去捣鼓它。
转进劈房里，看到了Wittman的奖杯
然后就突然看到Sainz父子在劈房。还有几个朋友。都用西班牙语在交谈。
儿子在描述比赛吧。
这个过程中，他撞坏的车子被推进来了。附带说一句，隔壁的Merhi没有粗线。早早撞车的人此时都不知道躲哪儿去了。
我在那里看了很久。旁边是富士电视台的记者。Sainz老爹谢绝了他们的采访，这周末他的心情差到爆。小Sainz在换衣服，脱得只剩内裤，一身的精肉真的很好看……但是没拍。我怕他爹，真的，我觉得他爹是个会凶起来的人，虽然对车迷很nice。
但是后来让我有些感动的是，Sainz何等的名声，为了儿子的前途，都和车队的人一一握手，说谢谢你们照顾了。小Sainz也一样，对车队的人说，你真的帮了我很多。在一旁听了只觉得可怜天下父母心啊，谁不知道Sainz为了他儿子的比赛有多辛苦。
我先去看了其他车房，然后等他们忙完了，去要了签名。
两人名字一样，不妨猜下哪个是爹哪个是儿子。
这是Merhi的车。车房一直没人。
这是米吃的车子。
佐藤公哉的车。
我抓到重点了吧。
这大概是我还在等Sainz父子的时候，Merhi的车子被拆了。
冠军车被推进来了。冠军Juncadella有打不完的电话。
富士电视台在采访。这是山内英辉吧？
方骏宇车队的赛车侧箱
Stanaway的车子被拆中
Nasr的亚军车
安田裕信的车子，拿胶带封了一切的口子
最后走前拍了一张Coronel的车。
文末，感谢把自己的证让给我的LUO BU HONG先生，我只知道他也是Rossi车迷，祝猴子明年成绩好。
期待明年能有更多人去葡京弯。在这个举世闻名的扶墙进扶墙出的弯角，你可以对比出不同种类赛车不同的刹车加速点和走线轨迹，看到激动人心的超车和事故，以及事故处理的果断快速；更重要的也许是，永远在最合适时候出现的鼓掌和喝彩声。你不是一个人在看比赛，你将深陷于此。当两辆赛车突然并排出现在你的眼前，运行到左方过弯前仍在奋力拼抢着位置，也许有一方取胜，但是接下来的直道上又会被顽强地反扑，此时你也会很想和旁边的人一起说一声：“猴塞雷啊！”
原文地址：http://www.maxrally.com/features/entry/citroen_prepares_to_reveal_all/
标题：Citroen prepares to reveal all…
作者：Anthony Peacock
WRC赛季后的Ogier-Hirvonen转会市场展望等等。绝对不是多余的话……
Citroen has summoned the media to an ‘end of season press conference’ in its Versailles factory on Wednesday afternoon. But all the signs are that this will be about rather more than celebrating yet another title sweep for itself and Sebastien Loeb…
The media gathering is expected to see the announcement of at least one half of the driver swap deal that has been the talk of the service park since it became clear that the factory Citroen squad simply wasn’t big enough for two Sebastiens. If Loeb was heading for the exit (whether that door led to retirement, a VW or a circuit racing career) Sebastien Ogier would be ready to step up and become Citroen’s latest homegrown winning machine. But Loeb’s going nowhere. And that would be fine, if Ogier was willing to accept that the eight-time champion is team leader and priority. But Ogier doesn’t fancy that.
It’s the situation the McLaren Formula 1 team faced at the end of its tumultuous 2007 season.（还有MotoGP里Yamaha的墙） What do you do when you’ve got two remarkable drivers who simply cannot share a garage/service area without ripping the team apart? The answer: you keep the more congenial one who you’ve also known the longest, let the higher-maintenance one take themselves elsewhere, and bring in an amenable Finn.
The rumours of an Ogier/Mikko Hirvonen swap deal first surfaced a few rounds from the end of the season. With Ogier firmly contracted to the red team through 2012, it seemed implausible. But the more you looked at it, so did the possibility of Ogier and Loeb sharing an awning any longer.
There was no official confirmation in Wales, but there was a lot of finality in Ogier and Hirvonen’s remarks about their current situations, and a few unguarded comments from other drivers accidentally talking as if Ogier was already in white-and-blue and Hirvonen already in red. The surprise now would not be if the exchange took place, but if it didn’t.
Should all this come to pass, it makes 2012 even more intriguing. The Ogier out/Hirvonen in shuffle instantly reduces Citroen’s intra-team antipathy levels, but it’s not as if the French squad is opting for someone who will guarantee Dani Sordo levels of dutiful supportiveness. （这还要看思路，特别是OQ的思路） It may have been a while since Hirvonen consistently delivered his finest form, but he’s still run Loeb close for two championships in three years, and won’t be keen to take too many penalties to help the man who’s been his nemesis throughout his stint as Ford’s number one.
Assuming Ford rubber-stamps the continuation of its World Rally programme, in Ogier and Jari-Matti Latvala it will have a dynamite line-up in more ways the one. Two men with sufficiently blistering pace that they could be the one to finally end the Loeb title streak, and both also getting closer to rounding off the rough edges that have so far prevented them from doing so. One who will feel that after four years of backing their previous team-mate, and having won the season finale, they’re ready to lead the team’s 2012 title charge. The other switching teams purely because they didn’t want to be subordinate to an incumbent team-mate… （对于Hirvonen是利好，对于Ogier是从迷局到迷局）
Perhaps, of course, Citroen’s invitation will just be a chance to hear Loeb, Daniel Elena and Olivier Quesnel reflect on their 2011 successes while enjoying some champagne and party snacks… But probably not…
标题：Japanese Grand Prix 2011: Kerpen, the club where F1 greats Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher were made
作者：Tom Cary
Yet in motorsport, and in particularly Formula One, the place is a by-word for excellence; known to every petrolhead with a pulse.
Michael Schumacher, born a stone’s throw away in Hurth-Hermulheim, was a junior champion at the celebrated Graf Berghe von Trips kart track at the age of six. We all know what he went on to achieve.
Barring a seismic shock which would register even on Japan’s battered Richter Scale, another graduate of the Kerpen kart club will become a multiple Formula One title winner at Suzuka on Sunday.
Sebastian Vettel may hail from Heppenheim, 200km further south, but Kerpen is where he started racing as an eight year-old in 1995.
Kerpen is where Red Bull’s blond-haired, blue-eyed wunderkind first made a name for himself, both on and off the track, hanging around the charmingly rustic paddock “pestering” his hero Schumacher for his autograph.
A former hobby karter himself, Noack recalls that first race in 1995. “Suddenly it started to rain,” he says. “Everyone else went on to wet tyres with only Sebastian driving on slicks. He really stood out..”
As well he might have done. Vettel had been karting since the age of three, when his father Norbert gave him a 60cc machine to “keep him off the streets”.
In one of those quirks of fate which enter into sporting folklore, Vettel Snr had to douse the front drive with water since the only way to get around one of the corners was by skidding around it. All those hours spent lapping an artificially-soaked courtyard had paid off.
From that day on Noack kept a close eye on Vettel, acting as mentor and friend, making sure he got the right equipment, met the right people, just as he had for Schumacher.
It was Noack who facilitated Vettel’s meetings with Red Bull, for whom he signed as a 13 year-old, and BMW, for whom he first raced in 2007 before they let him go to Toro Rosso.
“I put a lot of time and effort, 10 years, trying to pave the way for Sebastian,” Noack recalled after Vettel claimed his maiden title in thrilling fashion Abu Dhabi last year.
“In 1997, I even rented my business to have more time for Sebastian. I was convinced already then that he would be a world champion. It is of course a moving moment when you say: ’Yes, the investment was worth it.”
And had he become rich off the back of it, he was asked. “No and nor do I want any [money]. Because then it’s business, then perhaps it’s no fun to myself.”
What it has done, though, is make Noack uniquely well qualified to comment on the rise and rise of Formula One’s latest superstar.
We meet on the Sunday between the Singapore and Japanese grands prix, in early autumn sunshine, at the track in Kerpen where Noack still runs a bambini-karting team, searching for more little Schumachers.
Somewhat surprisingly, given his relentless schedule, the real deal is here. Schumacher is wandering about the place with his shirt off, wheeling a mountain bike.
Fans and locals mill about in the sunshine, eating currywurst and drinking beer on the terrace of the kartbahn café, the interior of which is crammed with pictures and memorabilia.
No one bats an eyelid when the great man walks past. “It is one of the few places Michael can really relax and be himself,” Noack remarks.
It turns out Schumacher, a millionaire hundreds of times over, is actually staying in a camper van in a field just behind the circuit.
Only a gleaming red Ferrari parked incongruously outside hints at the van’s illustrious occupant. It says a lot, both about Kerpen and Schumacher that the seven-time champion should choose to spend a rare weekend off in this fashion.
Vettel visits less often these days, Noack says, but not because he is a big shot. Yes, he lives in Switzerland now in a big farmhouse but he has not forgotten his roots.
Far from it. He, too, stayed in a campervan with his Dad, his brother and a friend at winter testing earlier this year. He still attends Eintracht Frankfurt matches, incognito, with old school mates.
Vettel was back in Kerpen this summer for the first time in two or three years to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the club. Schumacher beat him in a 10-lap exhibition race.
“I guess Michael showed me who’s boss,” Vettel said afterwards.
“He hadn’t changed a bit,” Noack smiles. “Very humble. That is a product of his family. They were always there — father, mother, sisters — at every race, in the family campervan. They never had any airs.”
Just a strong work ethic apparently. The young Vettel printed out a Lance Armstrong quote and put it on the wall next to his bed: “For every single victory I paid with gallons of sweat.”
Once, so the story goes, Vettel became angry when his sister Stephanie went quicker than him in the family kart. He refused his lunch and stayed out until he had set a better time.
“Sebastian’s greatest strength is that he never gives up, just like Michael,” Noack says. “He has an insatiable desire to learn and he doesn’t repeat the same mistakes.”
Vettel (who has always politely rejected the ‘Baby Schumi’ tag) certainly appears to have upped his game this season. Unlike 2010, when he was dubbed the ‘Crash Kid’ by McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh, 2011 has been virtually blemish-free.
Gone, too, is the occasional petulance which punctuated last year, replaced by a seemingly unflappable coolness. Partly that is down to being put under little or no pressure, partly the 24 year-old’s increasing maturity both in and out of the car.
Not that everyone has been won over. As he stands on the brink of his second world title, Vettel is universally respected, widely liked, but perhaps not yet loved. Sure he is cool, he is young, he fits Red Bull’s brand, but to some he remains oddly anodyne.
Maybe it cannot be helped. Behind the easygoing, fun-loving exterior, the driver who gives his race cars racy names (current model: Kinky Kylie), quotes Fawlty Towers and takes his mechanics out for pizza, is an intensely private individual.
Vettel is extremely protective of his family and particularly his girlfriend Hanna, a fashion design student with a British father who he met at school in Heppenheim. His private life remains strictly off limits.
It makes for an interesting comparison with our own karting prodigy, Lewis Hamilton, whose private life — the Pussycat Doll, the visits to LA — is under so much scrutiny and whose heart-on-sleeve behaviour tends to polarise opinion.
“It seems that Lewis has lost the control about his self, his priorities have shifted and maybe he looks too many times to the errors in others,” is Noack’s observation.
“Maybe he has too many distractions. Sebastian loves and lives his job. That’s what makes him so successful.”
We have run out of time. I have to leave for the airport. Out on track the final race of the day is about to take place. It is being run in memory of Thomas Knopper, a young Dutch karter who died in an accident two years ago.
It is a tribute both to him and to the pull of Kerpen that the assembled field is so strong Schumacher has qualified only seventh. I hear later that the 42 year-old recovered to finish fourth. Still no podium but you have to admire the energy.
Behind the barriers the young karters, flushed from their earlier exertions, jostle for position. One day, perhaps, they too will follow in the footsteps of Kerpen’s kings.
2011 F1 circuit length
2011 F1 circuits lap times
Indian Grand Prix lap time based on estimate by Pirelli
2011 F1 circuits average speeds
Indian Grand Prix average speed based on estimate by Pirelli
2011 F1 circuits maximum speeds
Indian Grand Prix maximum speed based on estimate by Pirelli
2011 F1 circuits number of corners
原文地址：http://www.asphaltandrubber.com/oped/closing-thoughts-marco-simoncelli/
标题：Some Closing Thoughts About Marco Simoncelli
作者：JENSEN BEELER
It has taken me a week to collect my thoughts and process the passing of Marco Simoncelli, the San Carlo Gresini Honda rider that lost his life during the MotoGP race in Malaysia. I’m not one of those journalists that can belt out some poignant thoughts on an event immediately after it happens, nor did I personally know Simoncelli well enough to offer a comprehensive anecdote on the man’s short but distinguished life. Having only met and talked to Marco briefly a few times, I cannot shed some deeper insight regarding who he was as a man, stripped away of all the pomp, prestige, and PR spin of the premier class.
I’ve heard the MotoGP paddock described as a family or village, so as one of its most recent members, this tragedy both cuts me deeply, but yet also seems like a distant and surreal event. Perhaps it will affect me more as I travel to Valencia this week, or perhaps I will continue to feel as if I am on the outside looking in at cataclysm of grief that has befallen friends, acquaintances, and strangers. Time will tell in that regard, and I’ll leave it to those masters of the pen who are better suited to the task to account for the young Italian’s life and racing career.
Instead my closing thoughts about Marco Simoncelli are a mixed commentary of life, tragedy, and where we go from here.
Racing Every Corner as If It Was the Final Turn
A modest, playful, and grounded personality, perhaps the only contentious thing about Marco Simoncelli was how he rode when he was on the track. We don’t have to look far back into the 2011 MotoGP Championship to find harsh criticism of how Marco raced. He was called dangerous and he was called reckless, and those elucidations of opprobrium are not completely unfounded.
Marco rode every corner as if it was the final turn of the race, and he raced every position as if it was for the top step on the podium. And as a result of this, Marco’s brash and bold riding style garnered him harsh words from Spaniards Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa, along with others in the MotoGP field.
While unpopular with the riders, Simoncelli’s two-wheeled Italian bravado earned him the admiration of MotoGP fans around the world. And though his competitors would say his racing style was foolish, fans praised Marco for riding with heart instead of head. No matter where you come down on that argument, the one thing you cannot say is the Marco left anything unsaid on the track, and that’s the way he raced to the very end. Watching the final turns of Marco’s life, we gave witness to SuperSic twisting every last bit out of his factory Honda RC212V as he battled with Álvaro Bautista.
As his bike struggled with the humid Malaysian track conditions, briefly stepping out several times, it didn’t matter to Simoncelli that he was only one or two laps into a lengthy race, nor did it matter that he was battling for only fourth place. To the young Italian rider each position was a leg in a long war campaign, and each corner was a battle from which there was no retreat.
That train of thought extends to his final moments as his Honda finally lost the front tire, and Marco propped the bike up on his knee, trying to recover the slide. We know how the rest of the story unfolds, but what is worth repeating is how Marco, true to form, refused to give up right until the very end. Reflecting on all this, I can only encapsulate my thoughts with the word “bravery.”
A Line of Completely Selfish Reasoning
If I had to chart my progress through the five stages of grief, I’d land somewhere in the anger stage. There is a vacuum of space left behind in MotoGP now, and as a fan of premier-class motorcycle racing, I admit that I have completely selfish and angry frame of mind when I think about GP racing without Marco Simoncelli. What keeps me up at night are the “what ifs” about what could have been in MotoGP racing. There was something special with Marco, something pure but still unrefined that we will now never get to see blossom.
When I try to describe it non-motorcyclists, I like to think of Marco Simoncelli as a diamond unearthed from some deep cavernous mine. Raw and uncut, the glimmer of talent shone through Simoncelli’s rough edges, and there isn’t a doubt in my mind that we had just begun to scratch the talent that could be polished-out from that gift. Marco was good, there is no denying that. But given another season or two to cut the facets of his artistry, and he truly could have been one of the greats.
We are lesser people for not getting to experience that transformation and that product, just as the sport is now the lesser for not having one of its rising stars. Securing a factory bike for the 2012 season, HRC could clearly see the talent that was gaining steam in Marco’s riding, and like the fresh crop of riders now dominating MotoGP, Simoncelli surely would have been part of the sport’s next generation.
We’ll never know how good Marco would have been on the 1,000cc machines. We’ll never see the battles he would have with Casey, Jorge, Dani, et al. But, if they were anything like his final rides at Phillip Island and Sepang, they would have been truly captivating, and they would have returned some glory to the ailing series. We would have been excited about watching MotoGP again.
Away from the track Marco Simoncelli was already becoming a brand in his own right. His huge head of hair, his tall stature, his verbal sparring with other riders, and his approachable demeanor with fans cast him as a favorite personality in MotoGP. In a series inundated with the white-washing of charisma and a noticeable barrier between the riders and the public (I will include the press in my liberal use of the word “public”), SuperSic was a refreshing step in the right direction.
I stand frustrated by Marco’s passing, and I long for the day when all the riders can publicly be as vibrant and distinct as Simoncelli was to MotoGP fans (and I do believe many of MotoGP’s riders have vibrant personalities worth promoting). However with the media environment that currently exists in MotoGP, only riders like Marco are capable of shining so brightly that their light comes through the distance, and overcomes the system that is in place.
The sport will truly be at a loss from this perspective, and if Marco proved to be every good of a racer as his potential showed him to be, then perhaps the premier class of motorcycle racing would not be dominated by a single media icon, and a real marketplace of personalities would emerge. As I look at the field now, I know there will be young talented riders that will pick up the torch and carry the racing pace into the next generation, but I’m not sure who will manifest from the gray and captivate our hearts with their effervescence.
We Are Not Guaranteed Tomorrow
If anger is the second step in the grief process, then let us attempt to move onto the final one: acceptance. A week later now, I’m starting to find solace in my lingering thoughts about Marco Simoncelli, focusing on the idea that in death we celebrate life. A life like Marco’s is certainly worth celebrating, but honoring his passing should serve more than just to acknowledging a life in the public spotlight that was cut unexpectedly short.
Marco surely knew the dangers inherent in motorcycle racing, but he also surely did not wake up that Sunday morning believing it would be his last waking day. Much has already been said about the risks that riders accept when they line up on the starting grid, and I would echo the sentiment that it is the risk of death that adds to the thrill of each victory.
That may sound perverse, as we don’t like to admit that we are frail creatures, and generally try to avoid thinking about our own mortality. While we all may still struggle with our ultimate end, the motorcycling community can at least understand to a greater extent what it means to truly live in our finite existence. While it saddens me that Marco has departed us far too soon in life, it warms my heart to think that he died doing what he loved. If motorcycling is one of the greatest celebrations of taking life head-on, Marco Simoncelli is the benchmark on living each moment to its fullest.
If there is any truth in life, it is that we are not guaranteed tomorrow. Accordingly, prudence would teach us that we should live each moment in life as if it is our last in time. Marco showed us how to live that mantra right up until his end. If there is something from Marco that any of us can take down the road a bit further, it’s that we should live the corners in our life’s course as if they were the last ones before the finish line. If that’s something we can internalize and carry forward with us, then maybe it won’t feel like Marco’s death was so arbitrary and meaningless. Ciao Maro, SuperSic Forever.
原文地址：http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2011/Oct/111028rydernotes.htm
标题：Ryder Notes: 58
作者：julian ryder
The only thing I am certain of about Marco Simoncelli is that we hadn’t seen the best of him. We’d seen the best race of his MotoGP career just a week before his death. In Australia he finished second after a clever and controlled comeback on his lifelong rival Andrea Dovizioso. He’d lost position to Dovi when a rain shower arrived but judged the conditions perfectly to get it back on the last lap.
I’m not sure he’d have been able to do that earlier in the season. He crashed twice in the first three races then had the infamous coming together with Dani Pedrosa in France. At the time, I took the view that Marco was largely to blame and it would be hypocritical of me to change that opinion in the light of last weekend’s tragedy. What I will say is that those crashes in the two previous races had ramped up his desperation to get that elusive rostrum finish. What he endearingly called ‘the polemic’ surrounding the incident then affected him, as he admitted later in the season. He had a run of six front-row starts up to and including Mugello that produced very little in the way of results, including two pole positions, Catalunya and Assen, that he didn’t take advantage of. The next time he started from the front row was Phillip Island. In the three races previously he had a hat-trick of fourth places. A few months earlier that would have been a prelude to another disaster.
He’d also started getting the better of Ben Spies, who’d overtaken him on the last corner of two GPs in the middle of the season. It’d taken Marco until Misano, the thirteenth race of the season, to beat Dovi in a race. It might only have been a fight for fourth but it started the run-up to that Phillip Island race.
It took Marco a good while to learn how to ride a MotoGP bike. Restrictions on testing made life very difficult for him as a rookie, and just when he thought he was getting to grips with the RCV, HRC gave him the factory electronics package. His understanding of the bike dropped, he said, from 90% to 40% overnight. He had to start the learning process all over again.
The record books will show that Marco only had two rostrums and two poles in MotoGP. No-one believes it would have stopped there. HRC clearly thought the graph was going to continue upwards, otherwise they’d have kept hold of Dovizioso. Whatever the paddock thought of Marco, one thing is certain: the paying punters loved and adored him, and not just the Italians. There was a good deal of the old-school, don’t give a damn about him, as Kevin Schwantz touchinglypointed out earlier on Soup. He didn’t really say it, but there was an awful lot #34 and #58 had in common.
Of course fans loved watching him on a bike. Too tall, feet crammed into boots two sizes smaller than his shoes, knees and elbows everywhere, playing fast and lose with the laws of physics. There’s no doubt he was intimidating on track; as Rossi noted before Marco came to MotoGP, “He’s f****** big and he’s F****** aggressive. I think the thing that really attracted everyone to Marco was the difference between the racer and the off-track persona. I never heard of or saw him refuse to pose for a picture or sign an autograph, and he always did it with a smile. He enjoyed everything about his job. And of course the magnificently scruffy yet ultra cool look, the hair, the sonorous voice that resonated so charmingly with his use of the English language didn’t do any harm.
The bottom line is that he was a thoroughly nice man. Mary Spies told me about a riders’ visit to a children’s cancer ward before one race. Guess who was down on the floor with over-excited kids riding on his back, pulling his hair and generally making a lot of noise. But when you look at the astonishing courage, dignity and humanity exhibited by Marco’s father, Paolo Simoncelli, you start to understand where he got it from
Would Marco Simoncelli have won a MotoGP race? Of course he would. He would have lit the sport up for years. Would he have been World Champion? We’ll never know.
God, I’d have loved to have seen him on a 1000.
ENDS
原文地址：http://www.formula1.com/news/features/2011/10/12634.html
标题：Track evolution – the change from green to mean in Korea
这是一篇很好的有关轮胎损耗和赛道表面的名词解释和原理汇总。
In 2010, the Korea International Circuit registered the greatest decrease in lap times between first practice and qualifying as the circuit rubbered-in, with the pole time 5.302 seconds faster than the quickest time in practice one, compared to an average dry weather improvement of around 2.5 seconds. That’s typical for a new circuit on which the cars are running for the first time, and also strongly characteristic of little-used street circuits. But what exactly happens during the processing of ‘rubbering-in’? Mercedes explain more…
Q: In what condition does the circuit usually begin the race weekend?
A: Almost all circuits begin the weekend in a condition that is termed ‘green’ – even if rubber has been laid down on the racing line, any previous running will not have been with the same sticky tyres as used in Formula One racing.
Q: What happens when a circuit rubbers in?
A: ‘Rubbering-in’ describes the process by which tyre rubber is deposited on the racing line as a result of the 24 cars running during practice. This forms a layer of rubber on the track, which is then compressed on the racing line and increases grip levels. As the cars run around, they also clean the circuit: dust and grit on the track surface are either picked up by the tyres, or blown away by the aerodynamics on the underside of the cars.
Q: How does temperature affect this process?
A: The tyre choice made by Pirelli for each event takes into account the historical air and track temperatures, to ensure that the selection is appropriate. A historically hotter track may therefore require a harder compound, because softer rubber might wear too fast. The effects of temperature on the process of rubbering-in are secondary to compound softness.
Q: Has the process of rubbering-in changed significantly with the Pirelli tyres used in 2011?
A: There haven’t been any significant changes compared to previous years, as the compounds do not appear to be particularly softer or stickier than last season. However, the tyres do wear more, so while the circuits do not rubber in to any greater extent, the marbles produced by the tyres are more significant than last year.
Q: What’s the difference between rubbering-in and the formation of marbles?
A: Marbles are small chunks of rubber thrown off the tyres, which collect off the racing line, and are a function of the tyres’ wear rate. They are therefore not flattened down, and give the same effect as driving on marbles if the driver runs off line. Equally, the dust and grit that is cleared from the racing line does not clear from other parts of the circuit, which means the penalty for running off line at a dusty circuit generally increases as the weekend goes on.
Q: Does the circuit configuration make a difference to how a circuit rubbers in?
A: Yes: the more cornering involved over the lap, the more rubber is laid down. In Korea last year, the best sector time in the first sector improved by 3.2 percent between first practice and qualifying, and 45 percent of this sector is spent cornering. In comparison, the times in sector two improved by 6.2 percent (79 percent of sector spent cornering) and in sector three by 6.7 percent (77 percent spent cornering).
Q: Which circuits rubber in most significantly?
A: Generally, street circuits – Monaco in particular, and Melbourne, Singapore and Valencia to a lesser extent. At circuits like these, times will generally come down by 5.5 percent (up to five seconds) from the beginning of practice to qualifying. The other factor to remember is overnight rain: a reasonable amount of precipitation will result in a return to almost completely green track conditions, with a loss of up to two seconds of lap time.
