Further to media enquiries on today’s announcement that Toyota has
signed a three-year contract with Ralf Schumacher from the 2005 season,
Team Principal of Panasonic Toyota Racing, Tsutomu Tomita, answers three
pertinent questions.

Q: What will happen to Olivier Panis and Cristiano da Matta?

Tsutomu Tomita: "Toyota is pleased with the efforts of Olivier Panis and
Cristiano da Matta since they joined the team in 2003 and both are under
consideration for the remaining race seat in 2005."

Q: When will Ralf Schumacher join the team?

TT: "Toyota has signed Ralf on a three-year deal fully effective from 1
January 2005. We do not know yet when his first run in a Toyota will be,
but we hope to get him testing as soon as possible after the GP of
Brazil. We will be able to use him for PR and promotional activities
from 1 January 2005."

Q: How much is Toyota paying Ralf Schumacher?

TT: "Whilst we cannot divulge any specific contract details, we have
negotiated a reasonable deal. As usually happens regarding Formula 1
budget figures, the amount of money reported by the media is largely
overestimated. The rumours about the contract between Toyota and Ralf
Schumacher are not an exception."

Toyota confirms Ralf Schumacher signing

-toyota-

–
Emma – The Chocolate Monster
ChocMonsterLand is back @ http://www.chocmonster.rules.it

After all of the following, Is anyone willing to predict exactly what order they will line up in on the grid? ;->

————————————————————————— ———–
Round 11, July 11, 2004. Silverstone, Great Britain. Lap distance: 5.141km/3.194 miles Race: 60 laps – 308.355km/191.604 miles

The Stewards, having received a report from the Race Director, have considered
the following matter, determine that a breach of the regulations has been
committed by the competitor named below and impose the penalty referred to.

Car: 17
Driver: Olivier Panis
Competitor: Panasonic Toyota Racing
Time: 14:45
Facts: Impeded another driver on the slow down lap
Offence: Breach of Article 120 of the 2004 FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations
Penalty: Deletion of Driver’s qualifying time

Stewards’ document no. 18:
The Stewards have received a report from the Technical Delegate that after the
second free practice session on Friday the engine of car no. 21, driver Zsolt
Baumgartner, has been replaced.
Having considered the matter, the Stewards of the Meeting decide that the driver
in accordance with Article 86 of the 2004 FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations
will drop ten places on the grid.

Stewards’ document no. 20:
The Stewards have received a report from the Technical Delegate that after the
first free practice session on Friday the engine of car no. 11, driver Giancarlo
Fisichella, has been replaced.
Having considered the matter, the Stewards of the Meeting decide that the driver,
in accordance with Article 86 of the 2004 FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations
will drop ten places on the grid.

Stewards’ document no. 24:
The Stewards have received a report from the Technical Delegate that after the
second free practice session on Friday the engine of car no. 8, driver Fernando
Alonso, has been replaced.
Having considered the matter, the Stewards of the Meeting decide that the driver,
in accordance with Article 86 of the 2004 FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations
will drop ten places on the grid.

Stewards’ document no. 25:
The Stewards have received a report from the Technical Delegate that after the
second free practice session on Friday the engine of car no. 20, driver Gianmaria
Bruni, has been replaced.
Having considered the matter, the Stewards of the Meeting decide that the driver,
in accordance with Article 86 of the 2004 FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations
will drop ten places on the grid
—————————————————————————

Who will actually be at the back? Is deletion of your time worse than not having a time?
This makes Bernie’s "vote on it" idea for qualifying look sane. I’m finally coming around to
the bring back the 1 hour free for all idea. But all they can do after qually is add fuel.
That would stop them having 12 lap parts like they used to.

regards,
JohnB

Well, that was interesting.

I was glued to the set, except for about ten minutes after "that
pitstop", when Ferrari showed once again that they’re the only people
capable of thinking beyond the confines of a standard race strategy
package.  And Michael Schumacher showed again that he simply delivers
whatever Ross Brawn asks of him. Flawed, sure, but genius without
doubt.

Kudos to the ITV team who provided excellent camera work and
direction, following the action not the leaders or local boys. Kudos
also to Alan McNish, who had to have stepped into his role at very
short notice, and performed seamlessly. Still rather see him in a car,
but boy is he a natural at the TV stuff!

Glad to see Trulli survived with health and sense of humour intact,
what looked like a massive accident. While kudos is being handied out,
some for the much maligned Max Mosely, who’s done much to make safe
survival of such incidents much more likely.

And sympathy to Louise Goodman and the rest of John Walton’s friends
and family. A sad and early loss of a familiar face, and an obviously
much loved and respected guy.

–
([:]) by Kimbo!   www.foca.co.uk

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? I am not a moderator.

note: hotmail address is a spam bin,
write to kim at foca_co_uk for a reply

Hi.  Anyone have this on tape?  Have some stuff to offer in trade.

Thanks
derrick
(best at)  sat…@shaw.ca

According to AtlasF1, an "esteemed British newspaper journalist" has
promised to "strip off and run naked around Silverstone" should McLaren
win a race this season.  Of course since the introduction of the
MP4/19B this, while still unlikely, perhaps no longer seems absolutely
impossible.  This raises two questions in my mind.

- Which journalist?

- Does this not suggest that *all* motorsports journalists ought to
  grow beards as a matter of simple prudence, to have available a less
  embarassing forfeit should rashness impel such a wager?

–
Mark Jackson – http://www.alumni.caltech.edu/~mjackson
        The scientific mind does not so much provide the right
        answers as ask the right questions.
                                – Claude Levi-Strauss

AtlasF1 is reporting a bunch of new proposals from the FIA to help slow down
the cars from 2005 and 2006.  Aerodynamic and engine proposals are much as
expected (reduce downforce, engines to last for two weekends) but the
interesting one is about tyres:

+++
 2. Tyres (2005)

 A driver may choose from two types of tyre, as in 2004. He will then have
 two sets of his chosen tyre, one for Friday and Saturday practice, the
 other for qualifying and the race. A damaged tyre can be replaced during
 the race (taken from the first set), but the car cannot be refuelled at the
 same time as the damaged tyre is changed.

 Explanation: a tyre which must last 350 km rather than 80 km will have less
 grip, reducing cornering speeds, increasing braking distances and possibly
 producing less tyre debris or "marbles".
+++

Sounds almost exactly like the proposal Michelin swiftly came out with after
Max recently commented that the cars were far too fast.  If this proposal
is accepted, does this mean that we might see some non-Bridgestone winners
next season?

Personally I think it’s a good proposal.  We might get more overtaking with
fewer marbles on the track – there will be much less penalty for going
off-line.  And it has to be safer in the pits too, with far fewer mechanics
around the car than at present.

(Hmm.  I wrote that last sentence, then tried to list the people who would
be remaining: lollipop man, fuel hose holder, fuel filler, fuel splash
guard holder, fireman, visor wiper, radiator cleaner (x2), bloke waiting to
restart the car if it stalls …)

Oh, and Max is staying on.

– Neil

I think F1 has hit rock bottom today. A race deficient as competition
(Rubens lying down and doing his "token attempt to pass" schtick again),
deficient as spectacle (F1 cars look pitifully small and slow at Indy
and that infield circuit makes the road course at Rockingham look like
Spa), and deficient organisationally (the utter farce over the Montoya
black flag).

The only positive thing I can find to say about the whole sorry farrago
is that Ralf Schumacher isn’t badly injured.

An utterly tedious race of attrition, bereft of any positive aspects,
that resulted in undeserving cars grumbling around into the points now
"nobody goes home empty-handed".

Yawn.

pete
—
p…@fenelon.com "how many clever men have called the sun a fool?"

Much as I hate to interrupt the misanthropic curmudgeonry around here
– and even I will confess that the major entertainment value of
races this season is trying to guess a) how Williams will screw up
this time, b) what lap  Kimi will retire on, and c) who Klien will
plough into this time – I did think there was one event that I felt
worthy of comment.

I don’t know what anyone else felt, but I thought it was terrific that
as Ralf’s ambulance made its way down the pit straight, one saw the
(red-clad) crowd in the grandstands rise to their feet and give him a
standing ovation.

It goes to show (I hope) that for all the tabloid scandal-mongering
(and the bile that characterises the other place) that the average F1
fan in the street (or in the stands!) still has a decent sense of
sportsmanship – they know what we owe to ALL the drivers who risk life
and limb for our entertainment. If any of you were in the stands
yesterday, you did us proud – my God an Aussie saying something nice
about septic tanks, what’s the world coming to?

Sorry for the slightly purple prose, feel free to return to the ususal
service:

Cue four Yorkshireman "You call yon a grand prix?" "In my day, drivers
had to carry the car on their back for four hours and STILL managed to
pass 37 times a lap!"

Michael

Unfortunately it’s all based on simulations. I’ll be interested to see the complete paper.

http://www.innovations-report.com/html/reports/information_technology…

regards,
JohnB

Used to be, Indy sold some cute little beanie baby type bears for the
GP (actually, all three races, just race specific).  This year they
have a BFU monkey.  No thanks.

Sent a text to my sister telling her same.  Her response:

Just say no to BFU monkeys.  Only dopes buy BFU monkeys.  This is your
brain on BFU monkeys.

–
dillon

When I was a kid, I thought the angel’s name was Hark
and the horse’s name was Bob.