Today’s Autosport news (http://www.autosport.com/nav/index.cfm)
reports that "Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn believes the
discussions over whether F1 should scrap grooved tyres and return to
slicks is in danger of missing the point".

He says that the grooves are pretty much irrelevant, and that the real
issue is that the tyres are harder and less grippy than in the past.

Now, maybe I’m missing something, but I thought that the reason the
tyres were so hard was *because* of the grooves… that the compound
had to be harder than it was previously to prevent the tyre
deteriorating to the point where the grooves disappeared.

Have I missed something?  Do the grooves really have nothing to do
with the hardness of the tyres presently being used?

Cheers,

Julie
—
Julie Miles
Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada

Never ascribe to malice
that which can be adequately explained by stupidity

Indianapolis has a site  www.indyf1.com

Will Ford need to get permission from all the other Team bosses to change
the name from Stewart to Jaguar like Prost has to a few years ago, or have
the rules changed since then?

Jonathan
—
"What a start to my Grand Prix career.  I get punched by Senna in my first
race, crash in my second, destroy four cars in my third and get banned from
my fourth.  People are going to think I’m some kind of nutter." – Eddie
Irvine 1994
Irv The Swerve @ http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/7864

Anyone else think there will be a strong push for an American driver to
be in F1 for next year. It would definitely give Americans cause to
attend, although the mystique of the Brickyard seems to draw crowds to
any major event. If they’ll show up for the I.R.L 500 they’ll watch
anything. The problem I see is that there is no real talented American
driver with mass appeal to make the move for next year.  Juan Montoya
seems destined for F1 and Canadian Greg Moore might have had
opportunities but just signed with Penske for three years.

This may be old news to most of you but I’ve been away for a week.
Anyway, here is a link to a site carrying  picture of the proposed
layout for the Indy 2000 GP.
Interesting looking circuit – what do people think?

www.dailyf1.com/en/news/1999/august/08.htm

Regards,
Sean

The following are a couple of quotes taken from
http://www.f1-live.com/GB/

"Damon Hill quit the German Grand Prix in a temper sparking rumours he
may yet leave Formula One before the end of the season. The ex-
   world champion drove into the pits saying he was not confident about
the car’s brakes. Hill is known to be very unhappy with the new system
Jordan use on high-speed braking circuits – which his team-mate likes –
   "I nearly went into the back of Wurz a couple of times – I just could
not stop the car. It was impossible for me to carry on because my
   braking foot had gone dead," said Hill after the race. "But that’s
what happens when things are going badly – everything starts to go
wrong."

I have been unable to turn up any details on what this braking system is
and why it should affect Hill’s foot so badly.
Does anyone else have and info?

Apologies if this question has been raised already but my ISP only added
.moderated this morning.

Sean

Has anyone else noticed that Hill and Zanardi are having almost identically
bad seasons?  Both cannot come to terms with the new tyres, both are being
blown away by their team mate and both had brake woes at Hokkenheim.

By this token, do you think Hill would be as great as Zanardi was in CART?

(For the record I am a Zanardi and Hill fan).

–
Steve Brindle
************
Leia – "Why, you stuck up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf-herder!"
Han Solo – "Who’s scruffy-looking?"
      – The Empire Strikes Back

Greeting;

With this week-ends race, this makes it a 10 DNF sequence for Jacques;
I’ve looked at the numbers at Forix, and I can’t find anyone with a
longer sequence of DNF (Berger, 1989, Ferrari, also with 10)

Does anyone know if JV next race will be the record ?

André Prégent (my first time on the good side!)

Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Share what you know. Learn what you don’t.

Today (August 3rd) is my birthday. I’m f..f…..f…far older than I
look.

Anyway, my wife bought me one of those newspapers, you know – ‘The
Times – published on the day you were born’. In it, it has a report of
the German Grand Prix of 1959 (bugger – given my age away!).

The race was run in two heats. Here are the results of the first heat
– think back a few days to the German Grand Prix of 1999 and see if
this sounds familiar…

German Grand Prix, 2 August 1959, 1st Heat (Avus Circuit):

1st place – Ferrari
2nd place – Ferrari
finished off the podium – McLaren
retired from the race – Hill

The first-place Ferrari was Tony Brooks, second was Dan Gurney (third
was also a Ferrari – Phil Hill). The retired McLaren was the original
Bruce, and the Hill was the original Graham.

The second heat also had a ferrari 1-2 (Tony Brooks / Phil Hill) and a
Ferrari third (Dan Gurney). This time, though, both McLaren and Hill
retired.

That year, Ferrari came 2nd in the Constructor’s Championship, behind
Cooper. One of Cooper’s drivers was Bruce McLaren…

Dr Jim Fitzpatrick

j…@jfitz.demon.co.uk

Confirmed placings

Team            Drivers                                 Engine
McLaren         Mika Hakkinen           David Coulthard Mercedes Benz
Ferrari         Michael Schumacher      ?               Ferrari
WilliamsF1      Alex Zanardi            Ralf Schumacher BMW
Jordan          H-H Frentzen            ?               Mugen Honda
Benetton        Giancarlo Fisichella    Alex Wurz       Playlife (nee  
                                                        Supertec)
Sauber          ?                       ?               Petronas (nee
                                                        Ferrari)
Arrows          ?                       ?               Supertec
Stewart         Johnny Herbert          ?               Ford
Prost           Jarno Trulli            ?               Peugeot
BAR             ?                       ?               Honda
Minardi         ?                       ?               ?
"Team 12"?      ?                       ?               ?

1999 F1 drivers unconfirmed                                    

Driver                  Believed to be negotiating with          
Eddie Irvine            Ferrari, Stewart, Jordan                  
Rubens Barrichello      Stewart, Ferrari                        
Jean Alesi              Sauber, Prost
Pedro Diniz             Sauber, Benetton
Tora Takagi             Arrows
Pedro de la Rosa        Arrows, Minardi
Olivier Panis           Prost or retiring
Jarno Trulli            Prost, Ferrari, Sauber, Benetton
Jacques Villeneuve      BAR, Ferrari
Ricardo Zonta           BAR (awaiting approval of Mercedes)
Marc Gene               Minardi
Luca Badoer             Minardi
Mika Salo               Ferrari, BAR
Stephane Sarrazin       Prost, Minardi

–
Stephen M Baines
http://www.motorsport.org.uk
One to watch: Charles Hall, Opel Euroseries