Showing posts with label F1. Show all posts
Showing posts with label F1. Show all posts
Thursday, 15 March 2012
Lewis Rocks! In Defence of Hamilton
As the impassioned Lewis Hamilton fan I am, I read Neil Goff's post on F1Podcast with interest. It makes some good points about Lewis' career, but on others I disagreed, and thought Lewis needed a defence - so I'm writing this post as a reply to Neil to say - Lewis will rock F1 again, just you wait and see!
Neil is pretty spot on when he says many (or all?!) of Lewis' seasons in F1 have contained some serious errors. But which driver can honestly look back at a season and say they haven't done the same? Senna, Schumacher, Prost - they all made their fair share of mistakes too. The mistakes are part of the reason I find Hamilton such a joy to watch too. As a Mansell fan in the 1990s you were never entirely sure if his next move was going to be one of sheer genius or folly, and you get the same rollercoaster ride with Lewis. Its a shame the pair seem to have a bit of an antagonistic relationship, because they are actually quite similar racers - in a positive way. Saying that I do think Hamilton has a clear edge over Mansell in natural ability and speed. And as a huge Mansell fan that's a major compliment.
So does Lewis make more mistakes than others? There were moments in his rookie year he did make mistakes, but they generally came at the high-pressure stage at the end of the season, and its unfair to criticise a rookie for feeling the heat of a title charge, especially when he still beat his team mate. 2008 had, arguably, more scrappy moments, memorably the pit lane incident in Canada and the famous penalty in Spa. But I still hold firm in my contention that he won the championship in the 2nd best car - that Ferrari was quicker. And this I think is the key point - excepting his first season Hamilton has, I believe, never had the quickest car on the grid. And when he is in that situation he has a clear tendancy to over-drive in an effort to reach the front of the field, a position his head tells him is where he should alwasy be. Often this leads to race like last year's Chinese or German Grand Prix, when he was absolutely on fire. There are also races however where the head really need to over-rule the heart and accept the win is not on, and the fight is to simply get what you can from the race.
His lifestyle outside of F1 holds little interest for me (heck, not much outside motorsport does hold much interest for me!). It's his life and he can live it how he chooses. But I would agree that last year, amongst some other issues, he did let his life outside F1 impact on his racing. I imagine no-one is more disappointed with that than Lewis himself, and, while I'm not sure I agree with Neil that he has taken his F1 career for granted, I do agree he would benefit from refocusing on what he does best. I hope the tail end of 2011 showed signs of that being to be the case.
I'm also not sure I can agree that Hamilton was any less of a rookie by the time he came to F1 than other drivers. He certainly had a great apprenticeship at the team, but I remember there being serious doubts about whether he was being brought into F1 too soon in 2007. He may have had a great deal of support through the feeder series, but he nailed his opportunities in each one - this was a driver that was coming through come Hell or high water. No matter how much Hamilton had his feet under the table at McLaren there is really no way that a rookie should be beating a double World Champion, who has so much more experience of the sport. The only way to do that is through your racing ability. However bad their relationship got, Alonso clearly sees this himself, as he always picks out Hamilton as his biggest rival. Detractors often say the team was moulded around Hamilton and Alonso never stood a chance. I can't disagree with this more - McLaren are far too astute an operation to hire a double World Champions and to then throw their resources at a young rookie. The way Jenson Button has (to his great credit) come into McLaren and made it his home show that the team is genuinely an open operation, giving a fair crack of the whip to both drivers.
Why the above make make it sound like I am an unabashed Hamilton-apologist this couldn't be further from the case. He makes mistakes and often I sit shaking my head at some of his decisions on track. But 2011 is the one year that stands out to me (and I'm sure many Lewis fans) as the first where, on an overall level, there was a sense of real disappointment. The car wasn't quick enough, but as said already, he has outperformed his car before, in 2009 especially. In 2010 too its pretty clear to me that Hamilton was taking his car to levels of performance it really didn't warrant. But in 2011 the pressure of constantly feeling the need to try to out-perform his car, and still not being able to fight the leaders, clearly exposed cracks that led to a pretty torrid season. It really all started to go bad in Monaco. The poor grid slot (which was out of his control) led to that reckless and impetuous move on Massa at the hairpin, which set the tone for much of the season. There is a clear case to be made that over the last five years Hamilton has been F1's best overtaker, but 2011 was littered with errors in this passing attempts. From half-moves that went terribly wrong (on Massa in Singapore), to over optimistic moves, doomed to failure (like the one on Massa in India), and to moves which were just plain odd (the Spa overtake on Kamui) it seemed like Hamilton had lost his touch.
But lets write 2011 off now. There were clearly a range of issues going on in Lewis' head last year, and we can only hope these have been ironed out so that we get the old Lewis back, hopefully seeing his at the very least win the inter-team battle at McLaren. I'm not ashamed to say I was one of those thinking Jenson Button had made a big mistake joining McLaren (though I respected his balls in taking on the challenge). I'm also not ashamed to say just how wrong I was to under-estimated JB. It's impossible to know how well he was really performing in some of the cars BAR/Honda provided for him, but it definitely seems he is currently in the form of his career. However, I still believe an on-form Hamilton will beat Button - but the battle for supremacy at McLaren is all set to be a tasty fight, and it's making me look forward to 2012 almost as much as the battle for the title!
Monday, 12 March 2012
WeBuyAnyCar(F1)
The issue of customer cars has reappeared on the F1 radar over the last couple of weeks, initially as a result of comments from Bernie, who said they could be used as way of bringing in new teams. Entrants could, he argued, be given two years grace with customer cars before needing to make the step to become full manufacturers. And now Luca di Montezemolo is using the lack of Italians in F1 as an excuse to peddle his desire to see customer cars in F1 again. I suppose you can't blame him for trying.
In broad terms I'm in favour of customer cars. Anything which could help expand the grid a little is a good idea. As far as I'm aware the F1 rule book still allows for a grid of 26 cars, since the grid was expanded in 2010. Personally I think 28 is probably the maximum the grid could hold, so we could realistically have at least two more cars on the grid, possibly four.
The issue I have with schemes like Luca's is that I would want to see incoming teams be able to compete and develop their own style, without being overly bound to the organisation they are buying a car from. Ferrari struggle to give equal treatment to the two cars they are allowed already - imagine how they'd treat a third car, whether it's an in-house entry or a privateer entering a customer car!
The Red Bull / Torro Rosso partnership gives a good indication of how the junior partner in such relationships can be left at a disadvantage when they are beholden to the main team. In 2008 Torro Rosso beat Red Bull in the championship, scoring the Red Bull family's first win on the way. But this was in the organisation's formative years, with Adrian Newey yet to mould the main Red Bull team into the race winning behemoth we see today. In the coming season I'd argue that the relationship is likely to hurt Torro Rosso, as the team acts as an incubator for Red Bull's latest pair of Bright Young Things - in a similar vein to di Montezemolo's thoughts on mandating Italian drivers at a Ferrari customer team. The mid-field battle looks likely to be very close fought this year, and Torro Rosso's two rookies could well cost it dear in the final championship standings - but placing well in the championship standings is not what Torro Rosso is there to do. It's there to act as a test team for Red Bull, and as fans I can't help but feel we lose out from that arrangement.
Though I'm sure those with better knowledge of the sport's history than
myself will be able to give multiple examples of this happening
throughout F1's past, I don't believe it would have to be that way with
customer cars. After all, Lotus' first F1 victory in a World Championship event
didn't come from the main Team Lotus entered cars, but from a Rob
Walker Racing customer Lotus, driven by Stirling Moss. It would be great to see more team's coming in as customers with the independence to use their package to its full potential, without being made to move over for the main team should they find themselves ahead. That would risk doing the sport more harm than good.
The Prodrive organisation was due to enter F1 as a customer team in 2010, but complaints from other teams ended this possibility*, and for now customer cars have been banned in the sporting regulations. If we give Bernie the benefit of the doubt on his comments, and assume it wasn't just another rent-a-quote moment it's quite easy to picture an organisation like Prodrive coming in as a customer team while they ramp up their capacity to construct their own car. Strong performances with a customer car, combined with their proven engineering ability would help entice sponsors and a serious new team could emerge.
The desire to see fully independent customer teams may be unrealistic for a variety of reasons and, despite my criticism above, there is a clear argument that Torro Rosso would not be competing at the level it does now if it was still Minardi. Its debatable if they would be in the sport at all now if they were still Minardi. So maybe I should give more credence to Ferrari's point of view. If being beholden to a 'parent' team was a temporary measure to help get an organisation like Prodrive on the grid, could I see it as a bad thing? In a perfect world maybe not, but we live in the real world, and I think that even with my concerns there is plenty of scope for customer cars to be one of the options the sport re-examines more closely, along with the budget cap idea, to ensure a health grid in the years to come, especially with the current rumours of financial difficulties within some teams.
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Thursday, 8 March 2012
Women in Motorsport - #IWD
Marussia's announcement yesterday that Maria de Villota has joined the team as a test driver caused a fair amount of consternation on Twitter, and was, depending on your level of cynicism, well timed to still be relevent for International Women's Day (IWD) today, or spectacularly badly timed to miss IWD by 24 hours. I suppose I can't talk - this post will only make it out on IWD with 15 minutes to go!
The two stories (de Villota and IWD, keep up) have reminded me of a couple of related thoughts that regularly slosh around my brain which gives me an excuse to let them loose onto this blog! The first of thoughts is that I would genuinely love to see a female racer breaking into Formula 1. I see no reason why a woman couldn't compete in the sport, and I'd love to see it happen. But F1 (and motorsport in general) is a testosterone-driven environment, and historically many have been dismissive of female drivers. In her book, The Pits, Beverley Turner (1) for example suggested that many in the sport recognised that women could have the talent to race in F1, but either lacked the kind of motivation to win that a man has or, even worse, just weren't pretty enough to be promoted to the sport. That's a pretty major pair of prejudices!
It seems attitudes are changing however, as evidenced by Christian Horner's recent comments that he expects to see a woman race in F1 within a decade. But, while team managers may be becoming more open to the thought of women drivers, again I have to put my cynical hat on. Its impossible to mention women in motorsport for more than a few lines without coming to mention Danica Patrick. Danica has proved two things to the male dominated world of motorsport. Firstly, positively, she has proved that women can race with, and beat the boys. Secondly, with more negative consequences, she has also proved that women can be pretty in a race car, and be a highly marketable commodity for teams and sponsors. Do an image search for Danica on Google - you will struggle to find a picture of her in clothes, let alone in a race car. I have no issue with this per say. Its up to every individual to choose whether to pose for semi-naked pictures - certainly many male F1 drivers have no issue when the pay check is right! But for female racers it does serve to confirm the stereotype that women need to be 'marketable' in order to get into the sport. And that is a negative trend, and may help explain to some extent some of the thawing of views on this subject.
It should be said that Maria de Villota seems to have avoided the Danica Patrick route off getting her kit of to stoke attention (amongst other things). Do a Google search for Maria and you do get a page full of pictures of a racing driver, rather than of a swimwear model. But the news has still been met with regret from many commenters, such as F1 Kate, an F1 blogger. This time however, the concern is that her racing career to date simply doesn't support any claim to a place in F1, even as a test driver, and that she is simply buying herself some F1 seat time (probably a token amount), and giving Marussia an easy headline. The reactions seems to suggest that I'm not the only to think therefore that Maria's appearance in F1, however limited, could actually do further damage to women's place in the sport, as covered excellently by Joe Saward in his blog post, 'Lets Get Real'. There is still a lot of prejudice in the sport towards women, and by bringing in a pay-driver in order to raise funds and grab some headlines can only confirm the prejudices to many people. It has been refreshing however to see so many commenters (see this on F1 Fanatic for example) taking a positive mindset towards the idea of women in F1, if not to the idea of Maria de Villota in F1.
Instead of forcing women through the ranks, we need to look at helping women access the sport, and encourage those with talent to stay in the sport. In this way more women drivers will be able to emerge through the ranks with, hopefully, many talented women starting to rise to a level where they too can show they can beat the boys, as Danica has done in Indycars. More can be done to promote the sport and break down any barriers stopping more women taking up the sport - I hope initiatives like the FIA's Women & Motor Sport Commision can start to tackle this, working with those women already in the sport, and identifying those outside the sport who may get involved to find out what can be done to help more women and girld into the sport at all levels.
All of which brings me to the second thought bouncing around the hollow space between my tabs, which is, to my mind, one of the main reasons many women are put off motorsport - grid girls. Bloody grid girls.There still exists the out of date notion in our sport that draping semi-naked girls over cars in some way adds 'glamour' to the sport. The only sense in which the word glamour can be used in this sense in in the same way as it is used to describe 'Glamour Magazines' - the particularly cheap and tacky end of the men's mag market. As noted before, I was always a big Jordan GP fan, but hated the tendency of the team to use flesh to promote itself. As soon as I heard there was a new 'glamour' model named Jorden I realised there was a sad inevitability to seeing her ample charms poking out around various bits of yellow Jordan GP carbon-fibre.
This is the image many women see when they look at motorsport. They see the tacky grid girls. They see the dolly bird lined up as the drivers go to the podium. It doesn't put all women off, but it does put many off. They see their roles defined on the screen - the boys do the racing, the girls get their bits out and applaud the winner. Even low level club racing falls into this trap, trying to raise a series' profile by making it more glamorous by adding flesh to the podium/grid. I really can't say how much this irritates me, and I know it irritates many of the female fans I watch the sport with.
The worst part is that this doesn't even accurately reflect the real role of women in modern motorsport. Last August I attended a taster day to get experience of marshaling before doing a full day on the banks. On the day we met a range of people around the circuit involved in the operation of the event, and many were women. At one point I was on the grid, seeing how race starts were organised. The chief start line marshal, the post chief on Post 1, the Clerk of the Course, the driver on P3 (and other drivers on the grid) and the Chief Marshal for the meeting were all women. In the next week I found a video of the event online (yes, OK, I was looking for it to see if my heroic pushing of a stranded car was on there!) - the only women in the video were the presenter and the grid girls. Technically only part of the grid girls got in many shots - their arse and legs mostly. Of course you can't thrust behind-the-scenes people in front of the camera to prove the point - but to anyone watching that video, yet again, the roles were clear - men are drivers battling for victory, women are scenery, battling to keep their cheeks in impossibly tight pants.
To be clear, I do not want grid girls banning - I want the sport to grown out of them. I also do not mean any disrespect to grid girls themselves. They are all committed to what they do - and no doubt put up with a lot of hassle while doing it. Many are big motorsport fans themselves, often involved in other areas of the sport too.
And so I leave this post with some links for any aspiring girl racers out there. Celebrate International Women's Day by seeing what motorsport can offer you and get involved -
Girlracer
British Womens Racing Drivers Club
I'm off to await hate mail from fans of grid girls (and possibly from gird girls themselves)!
-------------
(1) Beverley Turner's book is a string of unrelated complaints about F1, some of which are spurious in the extreme, and some of which hit the nail bang on the head. From the point of view of someone from outside the paddock, the chapter on women in F1 seems to be more valid than many other of the complaints, even if some of the points in that chapter are still a bit wide of the mark. Its worth reading though just to see how much one person can dislike Eddie Irvine!
The two stories (de Villota and IWD, keep up) have reminded me of a couple of related thoughts that regularly slosh around my brain which gives me an excuse to let them loose onto this blog! The first of thoughts is that I would genuinely love to see a female racer breaking into Formula 1. I see no reason why a woman couldn't compete in the sport, and I'd love to see it happen. But F1 (and motorsport in general) is a testosterone-driven environment, and historically many have been dismissive of female drivers. In her book, The Pits, Beverley Turner (1) for example suggested that many in the sport recognised that women could have the talent to race in F1, but either lacked the kind of motivation to win that a man has or, even worse, just weren't pretty enough to be promoted to the sport. That's a pretty major pair of prejudices!
It seems attitudes are changing however, as evidenced by Christian Horner's recent comments that he expects to see a woman race in F1 within a decade. But, while team managers may be becoming more open to the thought of women drivers, again I have to put my cynical hat on. Its impossible to mention women in motorsport for more than a few lines without coming to mention Danica Patrick. Danica has proved two things to the male dominated world of motorsport. Firstly, positively, she has proved that women can race with, and beat the boys. Secondly, with more negative consequences, she has also proved that women can be pretty in a race car, and be a highly marketable commodity for teams and sponsors. Do an image search for Danica on Google - you will struggle to find a picture of her in clothes, let alone in a race car. I have no issue with this per say. Its up to every individual to choose whether to pose for semi-naked pictures - certainly many male F1 drivers have no issue when the pay check is right! But for female racers it does serve to confirm the stereotype that women need to be 'marketable' in order to get into the sport. And that is a negative trend, and may help explain to some extent some of the thawing of views on this subject.
It should be said that Maria de Villota seems to have avoided the Danica Patrick route off getting her kit of to stoke attention (amongst other things). Do a Google search for Maria and you do get a page full of pictures of a racing driver, rather than of a swimwear model. But the news has still been met with regret from many commenters, such as F1 Kate, an F1 blogger. This time however, the concern is that her racing career to date simply doesn't support any claim to a place in F1, even as a test driver, and that she is simply buying herself some F1 seat time (probably a token amount), and giving Marussia an easy headline. The reactions seems to suggest that I'm not the only to think therefore that Maria's appearance in F1, however limited, could actually do further damage to women's place in the sport, as covered excellently by Joe Saward in his blog post, 'Lets Get Real'. There is still a lot of prejudice in the sport towards women, and by bringing in a pay-driver in order to raise funds and grab some headlines can only confirm the prejudices to many people. It has been refreshing however to see so many commenters (see this on F1 Fanatic for example) taking a positive mindset towards the idea of women in F1, if not to the idea of Maria de Villota in F1.
Instead of forcing women through the ranks, we need to look at helping women access the sport, and encourage those with talent to stay in the sport. In this way more women drivers will be able to emerge through the ranks with, hopefully, many talented women starting to rise to a level where they too can show they can beat the boys, as Danica has done in Indycars. More can be done to promote the sport and break down any barriers stopping more women taking up the sport - I hope initiatives like the FIA's Women & Motor Sport Commision can start to tackle this, working with those women already in the sport, and identifying those outside the sport who may get involved to find out what can be done to help more women and girld into the sport at all levels.
All of which brings me to the second thought bouncing around the hollow space between my tabs, which is, to my mind, one of the main reasons many women are put off motorsport - grid girls. Bloody grid girls.There still exists the out of date notion in our sport that draping semi-naked girls over cars in some way adds 'glamour' to the sport. The only sense in which the word glamour can be used in this sense in in the same way as it is used to describe 'Glamour Magazines' - the particularly cheap and tacky end of the men's mag market. As noted before, I was always a big Jordan GP fan, but hated the tendency of the team to use flesh to promote itself. As soon as I heard there was a new 'glamour' model named Jorden I realised there was a sad inevitability to seeing her ample charms poking out around various bits of yellow Jordan GP carbon-fibre.
This is the image many women see when they look at motorsport. They see the tacky grid girls. They see the dolly bird lined up as the drivers go to the podium. It doesn't put all women off, but it does put many off. They see their roles defined on the screen - the boys do the racing, the girls get their bits out and applaud the winner. Even low level club racing falls into this trap, trying to raise a series' profile by making it more glamorous by adding flesh to the podium/grid. I really can't say how much this irritates me, and I know it irritates many of the female fans I watch the sport with.
The worst part is that this doesn't even accurately reflect the real role of women in modern motorsport. Last August I attended a taster day to get experience of marshaling before doing a full day on the banks. On the day we met a range of people around the circuit involved in the operation of the event, and many were women. At one point I was on the grid, seeing how race starts were organised. The chief start line marshal, the post chief on Post 1, the Clerk of the Course, the driver on P3 (and other drivers on the grid) and the Chief Marshal for the meeting were all women. In the next week I found a video of the event online (yes, OK, I was looking for it to see if my heroic pushing of a stranded car was on there!) - the only women in the video were the presenter and the grid girls. Technically only part of the grid girls got in many shots - their arse and legs mostly. Of course you can't thrust behind-the-scenes people in front of the camera to prove the point - but to anyone watching that video, yet again, the roles were clear - men are drivers battling for victory, women are scenery, battling to keep their cheeks in impossibly tight pants.
To be clear, I do not want grid girls banning - I want the sport to grown out of them. I also do not mean any disrespect to grid girls themselves. They are all committed to what they do - and no doubt put up with a lot of hassle while doing it. Many are big motorsport fans themselves, often involved in other areas of the sport too.
And so I leave this post with some links for any aspiring girl racers out there. Celebrate International Women's Day by seeing what motorsport can offer you and get involved -
Girlracer
British Womens Racing Drivers Club
I'm off to await hate mail from fans of grid girls (and possibly from gird girls themselves)!
-------------
(1) Beverley Turner's book is a string of unrelated complaints about F1, some of which are spurious in the extreme, and some of which hit the nail bang on the head. From the point of view of someone from outside the paddock, the chapter on women in F1 seems to be more valid than many other of the complaints, even if some of the points in that chapter are still a bit wide of the mark. Its worth reading though just to see how much one person can dislike Eddie Irvine!
Monday, 27 February 2012
The Bourne Supremacy (Sorry)
A few weeks ago I head about an event coming up later this year on the Marshal's thread on Ten Tenth's. More details are now coming out, so I wanted to share it, as it sounds like an absolutely fantastic day. The town of Bourne in Lincolnshire will be inviting motorsport fans to line the streets on Sunday 7th October for a celebration of its historic association with Formula 1. The day will involve static displays and a parade through the town's streets featuring classic Grand Prix machinery.
For such a small town, Bourne really does have quite a remarkable pedigree in Grand Prix racing (and in wider motorsports). The historic ERA and BRM teams were both based in the town - usually in workshops owned by local resident, entrepreneur and racer Raymond Mays, who played a leading role in both teams. The involvement of Bourne in motorsport continues today, with the Pilbeam Racing Designs company, founded by ex-BRM designer Mike Pilbeam*, still based in the town.
Bourne has held an F1 demonstration in 1999 to mark the 100th anniversary of Raymond Mays' birth.This year's event will commemorate 50 year's since BRM's 1 and only World Championship winning season, when Graham Hill brought home the driver's title, while the team brought the Constructor's Championship home to Bourne. To mark this achievement the event will be aiming to bring as many classic GP cars from the 1962 F1 season to the streets, with BRM, Lotus and Lola cars on show. In addition there will be a wide range of cars on display from BRM's history, and a general 60's theme to the day.
As soon as I heard about the event I threw my hat in for marshalling duties, and its one of the events I'm looking forward to most this year already. Just in case you were in any doubt as to whether you should attend, have a look (or rather, have a listen!) to the video here, and tell me you don't think its a great idea!
You can find out more about the plans for BRM day at the following links:
BRM day website
BRM Day on Twitter
BRM Day on Facebook
*Father of Ciaran Pilbeam, Mark Webber's race engineer at Red Bull.
(Picture credit - Raymond Mays Memorial)
Bourne has held an F1 demonstration in 1999 to mark the 100th anniversary of Raymond Mays' birth.This year's event will commemorate 50 year's since BRM's 1 and only World Championship winning season, when Graham Hill brought home the driver's title, while the team brought the Constructor's Championship home to Bourne. To mark this achievement the event will be aiming to bring as many classic GP cars from the 1962 F1 season to the streets, with BRM, Lotus and Lola cars on show. In addition there will be a wide range of cars on display from BRM's history, and a general 60's theme to the day.
As soon as I heard about the event I threw my hat in for marshalling duties, and its one of the events I'm looking forward to most this year already. Just in case you were in any doubt as to whether you should attend, have a look (or rather, have a listen!) to the video here, and tell me you don't think its a great idea!
You can find out more about the plans for BRM day at the following links:
BRM day website
BRM Day on Twitter
BRM Day on Facebook
*Father of Ciaran Pilbeam, Mark Webber's race engineer at Red Bull.
(Picture credit - Raymond Mays Memorial)
Wednesday, 22 February 2012
Motorsport Statues
I had an email today from someone at The University of Sheffield who is running a project to catalogue sporting statues. The project has a website (Sporting Statues), which will eventually act as a gateway for people to explore details of these global sporting monuments.
The aim of the project however isn't simply to catalogue statues*. As its being run by a university there are rather loftier ambitions for the data they collect. I must admit to being unsure what interesting output one could make about statues, but have a look at the video below, showing the rise in numbers of football statues across the UK. The way the numbers skyrocket from the mid-1990s took me by surprise, and you have to admit it does make an altogether more interesting research proposition than you would have initially thought - why did we suddenly become so obsessed with commemorating our sports stars in this way?
Anyway, in order to make clever maps (and I'm a sucker for a map at the best of times), the team behind the project need data. They have already logged the following motorsport related statues in the UK -
- John Surtees, Colin Chapman, Stirling Moss, Roger Clark, Mike Hawthorn and Jim Clark at the entry to Mallory Park
- Senna/Fangio and Roger Williamson outside the Donington Collection (for these statues the team are missing details of the sculpter and dates - so any more info would be great)
- Hawthorn/England at Goodwood
- Jim Clark at Kilmany
- Jimmie Guthrie and Steve Hislop at Hawick
- Steve Hislop and Joey Dunlop on the Isle of Man
- Joey and Robert Dunlop at Ballymoney
- Donald Campbell in Coniston
- Bernard Hiett in Reading cemetery
It's always good to ensure motorsport is well represented in any project like this, So if anyone out there knows of any other motorsport statues across the UK that are missing from this list lets pass the information on. Put any extra information down as comments to this blog post and I'll pass them on. Details of the people involved, reasons for the statue (e.g. was it a fan-led idea), and the sculpters and dates are all needed if possible. Alternatively you can send them direct to the project team via either email (info@sportingstatues.com) or via Twitter (@sportingstatues)
* For the record, even if Sporting Statues was just an anoraky site I would still be wholeheartedly in favour, being as I am quite an anorak for motorsport. Two great motorsport sites I can spend hours on are the Motor Racing Programme Covers and the Motor Racing Circuits Database sites. Both do exactly what they say on the tin and both are fantastic!
Monday, 20 February 2012
Testing Times
While decorating at the weekend I took the chance to catch up on Peter Windsor's ever excellent Flying Lap podcast*. The discussion was centred around the recent test in Jerez, and re-triggered an idea I had been mulling a few weeks ago - the potential for F1 testing to return in-season, but in a way that brings some commercial benefit to the sport and engages the fans.
While at university in Northampton I used to work as a plate-waiter at Silverstone. Nearly dropping a plate of half-eaten bacon sandwiches on Felipe Massa is the nearest I've ever come to making a mark in the exclusive world of Formula 1. Table waiting was not my forte. I can't say I was dedicated to the job, and was clearly only there for the chance to get paid to glimpse F1 cars on track. I remember spending my lunch breaks watching the cars and wondering why the invited guests in the executive suites had bothered turning up when they so blatantly had no interest in the sport at all. It was also surprising see very few fans at the tests - I don't even know if the public were able to enter the circuit on the day. The pre-season tests in Spain always seem to attract a decent crowd for a non-competitive even however, as petrol-fume deprived fans get their first chance in months to see and hear the cars.
So, like Peter Windsor, I'm convinced there must be a way to attract paying fans to test events if they feel they are getting something from the event, with the income generated going towards the cost of putting the cars on track. After all, the only reason in-season testing is banned is through a voluntary agreement between the teams to save money. So, my idea is to hold a three day test, with teams mandated to run a combination of at least one race driver and a young driver (plus other drivers if the team chose). On each day of the test the vast proportion of track time will be given over to testing, but each day will also include a competitive element in order to give something to the fans who cough up to attend. These would be (in my blue-sky vision) - Day 1, a one lap sprint with each car getting three timed laps to try to set the day's fastest time. Day 2, a short race in non-F1 cars featuring F1 drivers. Day 3, a half-hour race featuring the team's young drivers.
In addition to the F1 test and competition, the event would also feature F1 displays off-track, alternative track displays from other motorsports, and plenty of off-track activities such as pit stop challenges and simulators. The teams would also be mandated to put on a range of activities to interact with the fans - competitions for garage access, driver signing sessions etc. In short there would be plenty going on during the event, but with time for the teams to get plenty of testing laps in. The events could even be held as a short series, with 3 to 5 events at European circuits (or further afield if the costs allowed) throughout the year.
The benefits to the teams would primarily come from the gate receipts, but they would also get increased merchandise sales, and it would reintroduce the chance to offer corporate events for sponsors and/or paying guests - the famous prawn-sandwich brigade I served so badly in the early 2000s! Young drivers would also get the chance to gain some experience at driving (and potentially racing) F1 cars in a less pressured environment than a World Championship Grand Prix. F1 can have an image as an aloof sport, removed from its fans, and test days like this could begin to change this perception too.
No doubt some (or all!) aspects of this are a touch pie-in-the-sky. The costs involved in running F1 cars may well mean any such event would need to draw a huge income in order to be viable. A race for young drivers in particular could be an expensive proposition if any collisions occurred, as I'm reliably informed carbon fibre is not cheap! But even if the teams don't break even, the events could be structured in a way that at least mitigates the costs enough to justify holding in-season testing again.
I also suspect FOM may have reservations about such events, potentially feeling they dilute the value of the main Grand Prix, but this is just my hunch. The sport's management seems to keep such a tight rein on anything F1 related that getting the idea past Bernie may be the biggest barrier, especially if there was to be any competition involved. These elements aren't essential however (though I do believe they would help draw fans), and don't need to necessarily involve F1 cars. Potentially national race series could be brought in with a few club races interspersed through the day with F1 stars as guest drivers. That also would benefit the sport beyond F1, while still providing an extra element for paying spectators.**
Would you attend a 'test' that was arranged like this? If you would how much would you be prepared to pay to go along? I think there would be thousands of fans across the country, especially families, who would love to attend a Grand Prix but simply can't afford it and would be interested in an event like this. I know I'd pay to come to one or more days of such an event (and that's on top of attending the Grand Prix!).
If you were designing a way of bringing back testing in a way that generated some commercial benefits for the teams how would you do it? If anyone out there has any ideas put them in the comments below or Tweet them to me via @ChrisPageNG. If we get some suggestions together I'll see about firing them off at some of the teams or FOTA to see what feedback they have. In recent years there have been free events in the UK featuring the Brawn GP team, McLaren and Red Bull, all drawing big crowds. I'm sure the teams didn't put these on out of the goodness of their hearts, so there must be a way that paying events can be made to work for all concerned. It would certainly be interesting to hear the reasons why this might not be possible from those involved in the sport.
------------------------
*I was listening to Episode 56 of the Flying Lap, 'Looking Back at the Jerez Test' (from about 22:30). You can access this as a video and sign up to receive The Flying Lap from all RSS and Podcast feeds, including iTunes and I heartily recommend it for insight from a great range of people from within F1, including the great drivers and team representatives as well as those behind the scenes and from the F1 community (for example the excellent ScarbsF1 for technical insight and Keith Collantine from F1 Fanatic).
** I would pay many, many pounds to watch F1 stars racing a grid full of classic Minis. And to forcing Mika Häkkinen to come and play too. Hell, scrap the rest of the idea, I just want this to happen!
While at university in Northampton I used to work as a plate-waiter at Silverstone. Nearly dropping a plate of half-eaten bacon sandwiches on Felipe Massa is the nearest I've ever come to making a mark in the exclusive world of Formula 1. Table waiting was not my forte. I can't say I was dedicated to the job, and was clearly only there for the chance to get paid to glimpse F1 cars on track. I remember spending my lunch breaks watching the cars and wondering why the invited guests in the executive suites had bothered turning up when they so blatantly had no interest in the sport at all. It was also surprising see very few fans at the tests - I don't even know if the public were able to enter the circuit on the day. The pre-season tests in Spain always seem to attract a decent crowd for a non-competitive even however, as petrol-fume deprived fans get their first chance in months to see and hear the cars.
So, like Peter Windsor, I'm convinced there must be a way to attract paying fans to test events if they feel they are getting something from the event, with the income generated going towards the cost of putting the cars on track. After all, the only reason in-season testing is banned is through a voluntary agreement between the teams to save money. So, my idea is to hold a three day test, with teams mandated to run a combination of at least one race driver and a young driver (plus other drivers if the team chose). On each day of the test the vast proportion of track time will be given over to testing, but each day will also include a competitive element in order to give something to the fans who cough up to attend. These would be (in my blue-sky vision) - Day 1, a one lap sprint with each car getting three timed laps to try to set the day's fastest time. Day 2, a short race in non-F1 cars featuring F1 drivers. Day 3, a half-hour race featuring the team's young drivers.
In addition to the F1 test and competition, the event would also feature F1 displays off-track, alternative track displays from other motorsports, and plenty of off-track activities such as pit stop challenges and simulators. The teams would also be mandated to put on a range of activities to interact with the fans - competitions for garage access, driver signing sessions etc. In short there would be plenty going on during the event, but with time for the teams to get plenty of testing laps in. The events could even be held as a short series, with 3 to 5 events at European circuits (or further afield if the costs allowed) throughout the year.
The benefits to the teams would primarily come from the gate receipts, but they would also get increased merchandise sales, and it would reintroduce the chance to offer corporate events for sponsors and/or paying guests - the famous prawn-sandwich brigade I served so badly in the early 2000s! Young drivers would also get the chance to gain some experience at driving (and potentially racing) F1 cars in a less pressured environment than a World Championship Grand Prix. F1 can have an image as an aloof sport, removed from its fans, and test days like this could begin to change this perception too.
No doubt some (or all!) aspects of this are a touch pie-in-the-sky. The costs involved in running F1 cars may well mean any such event would need to draw a huge income in order to be viable. A race for young drivers in particular could be an expensive proposition if any collisions occurred, as I'm reliably informed carbon fibre is not cheap! But even if the teams don't break even, the events could be structured in a way that at least mitigates the costs enough to justify holding in-season testing again.
I also suspect FOM may have reservations about such events, potentially feeling they dilute the value of the main Grand Prix, but this is just my hunch. The sport's management seems to keep such a tight rein on anything F1 related that getting the idea past Bernie may be the biggest barrier, especially if there was to be any competition involved. These elements aren't essential however (though I do believe they would help draw fans), and don't need to necessarily involve F1 cars. Potentially national race series could be brought in with a few club races interspersed through the day with F1 stars as guest drivers. That also would benefit the sport beyond F1, while still providing an extra element for paying spectators.**
Would you attend a 'test' that was arranged like this? If you would how much would you be prepared to pay to go along? I think there would be thousands of fans across the country, especially families, who would love to attend a Grand Prix but simply can't afford it and would be interested in an event like this. I know I'd pay to come to one or more days of such an event (and that's on top of attending the Grand Prix!).
If you were designing a way of bringing back testing in a way that generated some commercial benefits for the teams how would you do it? If anyone out there has any ideas put them in the comments below or Tweet them to me via @ChrisPageNG. If we get some suggestions together I'll see about firing them off at some of the teams or FOTA to see what feedback they have. In recent years there have been free events in the UK featuring the Brawn GP team, McLaren and Red Bull, all drawing big crowds. I'm sure the teams didn't put these on out of the goodness of their hearts, so there must be a way that paying events can be made to work for all concerned. It would certainly be interesting to hear the reasons why this might not be possible from those involved in the sport.
------------------------
*I was listening to Episode 56 of the Flying Lap, 'Looking Back at the Jerez Test' (from about 22:30). You can access this as a video and sign up to receive The Flying Lap from all RSS and Podcast feeds, including iTunes and I heartily recommend it for insight from a great range of people from within F1, including the great drivers and team representatives as well as those behind the scenes and from the F1 community (for example the excellent ScarbsF1 for technical insight and Keith Collantine from F1 Fanatic).
** I would pay many, many pounds to watch F1 stars racing a grid full of classic Minis. And to forcing Mika Häkkinen to come and play too. Hell, scrap the rest of the idea, I just want this to happen!
Friday, 10 February 2012
Animal F1 (Or How I Learned to Stop Moaning and love the Nose)
After 4 days of testing in Jerez, we've now seen the majority of the 2012 cars, and at least one of our pre-season questions has now been answered. Yes, indeed the bulk of this years cars look much as we feared, developing the kind of looks only a mother could love.
As was predicted by those in the technical know all but one of the 2012 cars has developed a rough hump (quiet at the back!) at the top of the nose after a regulation change to minimise the risk of the high noses of previous years leading to airborne crashes or to the nose intruding into the cockpit area. The great blogs by ScarbsF1 and Badger GP explain to the reasons why the step in the nose appears (essentially equal parts Safety Regulation + Team Intransigence = Ugly F1!).
There have been rumblings about the effect the ugly cars will have on F1, most notably from Paul Hembery of Pirelli, who has expressed concern that the new designs may put people off tuning in to watch the races. I respect Paul's opinion, and he seems to be pretty spot on with a lot of his views on F1, but I'm not sure I agree on this one. I don't think non-F1 advocates or casual fans will particularly even notice the change in the cars, much less be made less likely to be converted by the wonky-noses. Its generally only the more hardcore of us that really have any firm opinion on what a beautiful F1 car looks like. And conventional wisdom says the last truly good looking F1 cars are from the mid-90s, and F1 has attracted a decent mix of hardcore and casual fans since then! The people who may be put off are us hardcore fans, but what we really care about is the quality of the racing. If the new cars put on a good show this year, we'll be in no danger of changing channels.
None of which should suggest I actually like the new cars. I don't. They look wrong. I think that because the change has come from a safety perspective (combined with the teams feeling unable to reduce the area around the front suspension) it makes an intrusive dent in the 'natural' flow of the design. The same issue made the look of the 1996 cars look odd too, with safety changes leaving the cockpit sides looking like they featured pre-deployed airbags. Eventually however, a better solution was found and the padding bedded into the designs more. Let's hope after seeing the 2012 cars the FIA and the teams can sit down and find a more elegant solution for future years! Not for the casual fan though, but for me - they are goning to hurt my eyes at 6am for the early race starts!
Some of the cars with wonky-nose-syndrome look better than others. Red Bull have at least had the grace to make theirs a vent so it looks like it was supposed to be there. I was glad to read in Mark Hughes' Autosport column that I'm not the only one cynical about Adrian Newey's assertion the vent is just for driver cooling! On the Lotus the nose-wobble gives the JPS-style gold stripes an extra few curves to look gorgeous on, which is never an entirely bad thing.
The car that really does look like it was beaten with an ugly stick is, sadly, the new Ferrari. But for me the worst part is that gaping mouth at the front of it, making it look like a Basking Shark sweeping the race track for Plankton. Maybe it's after some of those bugs from the Silverstone race last year. Can you fuel a car on bugs?!
All the talk of ugly cars this year has lead to some other inevitable comparisons to other ugly F1 cars. Some of these I agree with, but for some I think its a bit harsh. Beuty is in the eye of the beholder after all! You can have a look at some sets at these links and see which you think are ugly sisters, and which you have a secret crush on!
- Badger F1 Top 5 Ugly F1 - Personally I love Damon's '92 Brabham!
- Axis of Oversteer Flickr Gallery - the Eiffelland car gets my nod here, just for that wing mirror!
- Bleacher report Gallery - plenty to argue over here!
I do have to give a shout in favour of one car that always gets dragged up in discussions of ugly f1 cars - the Williams FW26. It seems most people hated this car, and I've always felt a lone voice in favour of the design, which I thought looked aggressive and purposeful. The results just didn't come for the FW23 until they switched the 'Walrus' nose for a more conventional and bland layout, which annoyingly went on to win a Grand Prix, meaning the detractors were proved right. I hate it when that happens!
Anyway, it gives me another excuse for an F1 / animal lookalike to add to the Platypus and Shark above. If anyone else has any other animal impersonators they want to share either add them to the comments or tweet them to @chrispageng and I'll share them, around! Cars or drivers, but don't be too mean folks!
Picture credits for the images above:
- Platypus
- Ferrari 2012
- Basking Shark
- Williams FW26
- Walrus
There have been rumblings about the effect the ugly cars will have on F1, most notably from Paul Hembery of Pirelli, who has expressed concern that the new designs may put people off tuning in to watch the races. I respect Paul's opinion, and he seems to be pretty spot on with a lot of his views on F1, but I'm not sure I agree on this one. I don't think non-F1 advocates or casual fans will particularly even notice the change in the cars, much less be made less likely to be converted by the wonky-noses. Its generally only the more hardcore of us that really have any firm opinion on what a beautiful F1 car looks like. And conventional wisdom says the last truly good looking F1 cars are from the mid-90s, and F1 has attracted a decent mix of hardcore and casual fans since then! The people who may be put off are us hardcore fans, but what we really care about is the quality of the racing. If the new cars put on a good show this year, we'll be in no danger of changing channels.
None of which should suggest I actually like the new cars. I don't. They look wrong. I think that because the change has come from a safety perspective (combined with the teams feeling unable to reduce the area around the front suspension) it makes an intrusive dent in the 'natural' flow of the design. The same issue made the look of the 1996 cars look odd too, with safety changes leaving the cockpit sides looking like they featured pre-deployed airbags. Eventually however, a better solution was found and the padding bedded into the designs more. Let's hope after seeing the 2012 cars the FIA and the teams can sit down and find a more elegant solution for future years! Not for the casual fan though, but for me - they are goning to hurt my eyes at 6am for the early race starts!
Some of the cars with wonky-nose-syndrome look better than others. Red Bull have at least had the grace to make theirs a vent so it looks like it was supposed to be there. I was glad to read in Mark Hughes' Autosport column that I'm not the only one cynical about Adrian Newey's assertion the vent is just for driver cooling! On the Lotus the nose-wobble gives the JPS-style gold stripes an extra few curves to look gorgeous on, which is never an entirely bad thing.
The car that really does look like it was beaten with an ugly stick is, sadly, the new Ferrari. But for me the worst part is that gaping mouth at the front of it, making it look like a Basking Shark sweeping the race track for Plankton. Maybe it's after some of those bugs from the Silverstone race last year. Can you fuel a car on bugs?!
- Badger F1 Top 5 Ugly F1 - Personally I love Damon's '92 Brabham!
- Axis of Oversteer Flickr Gallery - the Eiffelland car gets my nod here, just for that wing mirror!
- Bleacher report Gallery - plenty to argue over here!
I do have to give a shout in favour of one car that always gets dragged up in discussions of ugly f1 cars - the Williams FW26. It seems most people hated this car, and I've always felt a lone voice in favour of the design, which I thought looked aggressive and purposeful. The results just didn't come for the FW23 until they switched the 'Walrus' nose for a more conventional and bland layout, which annoyingly went on to win a Grand Prix, meaning the detractors were proved right. I hate it when that happens!
Anyway, it gives me another excuse for an F1 / animal lookalike to add to the Platypus and Shark above. If anyone else has any other animal impersonators they want to share either add them to the comments or tweet them to @chrispageng and I'll share them, around! Cars or drivers, but don't be too mean folks!
Picture credits for the images above:
- Platypus
- Ferrari 2012
- Basking Shark
- Williams FW26
- Walrus
Tuesday, 10 January 2012
Donington Collection Visit #MGPdonny
For the past few months I've been 'intending' to start this blog. As with much in life however I've been struggling to find the effort required to move from 'intending' to 'doing'. But the events of the last weekend have inspired me to jump in and have a crack and see where it goes - as often doing things you intend to do but haven't yet done can be a rewarding experience!
As I live only 30 short minutes away from Donington Park, I've always 'intended ' (that word again) to visit the Donington Collection of Grand Prix cars, but somehow I've never quite gotten round to it. But on Friday night, at literally the 11th hour, I noticed vague posts on Twitter where people I follow were telling others to 'enjoy their day at the Donny Collection'. Hating missing out I made quick enquiries as to what was going on and found out another blogger (Garry Marshall at MarshalGP) had organised a trip to the collection, with a track walk too with a £2 saving on the ticket price too! So I shoe-horned my way into the event and headed to Donington on Saturday morning.
As soon as we were in the museum, I realised what a fool I'd been not making the effort before. It's like stumbling into the worlds best garage, with rows and rows of classic Grand Prix machinery lined up - and each a cracker! Most era's of Grand Prix history are represented, from the flaming-spitting brutes of the pre-war years right through to the intricately designed cars of 2008 (I didn't see any cars from the years after the reg changes 'smoothing' out the cars and adding big front wings). Many people say they don't like the cars from the mid-00s due to having too many flutes and funnels and attachments. I must admit though I love seeing them, and the intricate details they employ to shepard the air to the right places. I can't say I like them more than the cars from other eras, but I certainly don't like them less, so it was great to see the 2007 McLaren and the 2008 Red Bull.
I've always loved the old footage of Donington from the 1930s (see the You Tube Video above!), so it was a particular pleasure to see one of the famous Auto Unions, looking as gorgeous in the metal as it does in the newsreels (pic below!). Then there was the Cosworth 4 Wheel Drive test car from 1969 - so completely alien to the designs of any era that it looks like a prop from a Batman movie rather than a car that was ever intended to race in the World Championship (pic opposite)!
The F1 Twitterer @GrandPrixDiary recently had a shout out for recollections of ugly F1 nose designs, and plenty of the nominees were present and correct at the collection, inlcluding the Cosworth, the 1995 McLaren and the 'tea-tray' March 721. I must admit to having a fondness for the out-there design of the March and the Cosworth - but not so much the Macca, but then I don't think its even anyone at McLaren's favorite McLaren!
The absolute highlights for me however were all grouped within a few meters of each other in the Williams hall. First to mention were two of Damon Hill's car - the Brabham he just qualified for his first F1 start (Silverstone 1992) and, just opposite, the Williams I watched Damon race in the 1993 Donington Grand Prix when I was 12 years old. Senna's race winning car was sadly away at the Autosport show, but such was the sheer weight of cars on show I didn't miss it.
I started watching F1 as an 11 year old in 1991 and my first memory of the sport was seeing a Jordan 191 being lapped by two battling cars at the French GP, with all three side by side. The image seared itself (no doubt not entirely accurately) into my impressionable brain and a sporting obsession was born! I supported Jordan until they left the sport, and it was truly moving to see the car up close.As much as I supported Jordan as a team, Mansell really was my man - and I'll still fight any man who suggests he isn't a true Grand Prix legend! In only my 2nd year of watching Grand Prix Mansell took his title in the FW14b. So seeing these two cars together, within feet of each other really did leave me star-struck. I had to watch myself on the day for fear of sounding like a teenage fan at a Westlife concert (or whatever it is teenage fans get giddy about these days!).
If there is any criticism of the Donington Collection, it is that for the most part it is just that - a collection of cars. The changing designs and liveries are explained on the supporting information, but it would be good to see more groupings of cars to really show the evolution (you get quite a good effect in the McLaren and Williams halls where the cars are lined up) to explain F1's evolution from front-engined to rear-engined cars, through the various aerodynamic trends and regulation changes. A windtunnel model was tucked away between two of the cars - it would be great to see more made of this, in a recreated windtunnel maybe, to show how car design process works. The best example in the museum of how this might work is shown in the display of two of David Purley's LEC cars - one in good condition, and one obliterated by a crash in the 1977 British GP meeting. Its amazing to see the two side-by-side, leaving you marvelling at how anyone could ever survive the accident. It would be fantastic to see more displays that tell a story like this.
I'd personally also like to see more of the history of Donington itself. There are some boards giving some detail - but they are consumed by the ever encroaching collection, making them hard to give any attention. I suppose I should remember this is a Grand Prix Collection though, not the Story of Donington, but some of us are never satisfied! Its hard in any sense to feel any disappointment or criticism when you have the sheer amount of historic cars displayed that they do. I know I'm already planning my next visit when some of the cars are back from the Autosport show, and if you are a motorsport fan it really is essential viewing.
The Collection's most poignant exhibit brings together cars and items that belonged to Roger Williamson, who was tragically killed in the 1973 Dutch Grand Prix. David Purley (the amazing crash escapee from described above) earned the George Medal for his heroic efforts in trying to save Williamson. The scene is featured on the recent documentary Grand Prix: The Killer Years and is one of the saddest sights I've seen from F1's often dark history. Tom Wheatcroft, the engineer of Donington's 1970's rebirth, and enigmatic founder of the Collection, funded Williamson's career, and you can feel the personal sadness in the displays. There is a statue outside (right), which at first glance looks hidden away, dwarfed by the memorial to Senna and Fangio, but on discovering it is Williamson, and knowing the story, its more secluded site seems entirely appropriate and moving.
Thanks need to be passed on again to Gary Marshall for organising the day. There was a great turnout (around 35-40 people), and hopefully there will be plenty more gatherings in the future! There are alreday rumblings to that effect, so I suggest if you aren't already you follow @MarshallGP on Twitter! Its always fun to meet up with other people with a passion for motorsport, and new social-media sites like Twitter are making this ever easier - Viva la Future!
And, the moral of the story again is - don't 'intend' to do things - start 2012 off by doing some of them!
My photos from the day are below - my apologies for being as good with a camera as I am with words! Practice makes perfect...!
As I live only 30 short minutes away from Donington Park, I've always 'intended ' (that word again) to visit the Donington Collection of Grand Prix cars, but somehow I've never quite gotten round to it. But on Friday night, at literally the 11th hour, I noticed vague posts on Twitter where people I follow were telling others to 'enjoy their day at the Donny Collection'. Hating missing out I made quick enquiries as to what was going on and found out another blogger (Garry Marshall at MarshalGP) had organised a trip to the collection, with a track walk too with a £2 saving on the ticket price too! So I shoe-horned my way into the event and headed to Donington on Saturday morning.
The F1 Twitterer @GrandPrixDiary recently had a shout out for recollections of ugly F1 nose designs, and plenty of the nominees were present and correct at the collection, inlcluding the Cosworth, the 1995 McLaren and the 'tea-tray' March 721. I must admit to having a fondness for the out-there design of the March and the Cosworth - but not so much the Macca, but then I don't think its even anyone at McLaren's favorite McLaren!
The absolute highlights for me however were all grouped within a few meters of each other in the Williams hall. First to mention were two of Damon Hill's car - the Brabham he just qualified for his first F1 start (Silverstone 1992) and, just opposite, the Williams I watched Damon race in the 1993 Donington Grand Prix when I was 12 years old. Senna's race winning car was sadly away at the Autosport show, but such was the sheer weight of cars on show I didn't miss it.
If there is any criticism of the Donington Collection, it is that for the most part it is just that - a collection of cars. The changing designs and liveries are explained on the supporting information, but it would be good to see more groupings of cars to really show the evolution (you get quite a good effect in the McLaren and Williams halls where the cars are lined up) to explain F1's evolution from front-engined to rear-engined cars, through the various aerodynamic trends and regulation changes. A windtunnel model was tucked away between two of the cars - it would be great to see more made of this, in a recreated windtunnel maybe, to show how car design process works. The best example in the museum of how this might work is shown in the display of two of David Purley's LEC cars - one in good condition, and one obliterated by a crash in the 1977 British GP meeting. Its amazing to see the two side-by-side, leaving you marvelling at how anyone could ever survive the accident. It would be fantastic to see more displays that tell a story like this.
I'd personally also like to see more of the history of Donington itself. There are some boards giving some detail - but they are consumed by the ever encroaching collection, making them hard to give any attention. I suppose I should remember this is a Grand Prix Collection though, not the Story of Donington, but some of us are never satisfied! Its hard in any sense to feel any disappointment or criticism when you have the sheer amount of historic cars displayed that they do. I know I'm already planning my next visit when some of the cars are back from the Autosport show, and if you are a motorsport fan it really is essential viewing.
The Collection's most poignant exhibit brings together cars and items that belonged to Roger Williamson, who was tragically killed in the 1973 Dutch Grand Prix. David Purley (the amazing crash escapee from described above) earned the George Medal for his heroic efforts in trying to save Williamson. The scene is featured on the recent documentary Grand Prix: The Killer Years and is one of the saddest sights I've seen from F1's often dark history. Tom Wheatcroft, the engineer of Donington's 1970's rebirth, and enigmatic founder of the Collection, funded Williamson's career, and you can feel the personal sadness in the displays. There is a statue outside (right), which at first glance looks hidden away, dwarfed by the memorial to Senna and Fangio, but on discovering it is Williamson, and knowing the story, its more secluded site seems entirely appropriate and moving.Thanks need to be passed on again to Gary Marshall for organising the day. There was a great turnout (around 35-40 people), and hopefully there will be plenty more gatherings in the future! There are alreday rumblings to that effect, so I suggest if you aren't already you follow @MarshallGP on Twitter! Its always fun to meet up with other people with a passion for motorsport, and new social-media sites like Twitter are making this ever easier - Viva la Future!
And, the moral of the story again is - don't 'intend' to do things - start 2012 off by doing some of them!
My photos from the day are below - my apologies for being as good with a camera as I am with words! Practice makes perfect...!
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