Roy

If my car wasnt pinging in 4th gear i would probably enter. But looks like the car needs a bit more attention then i hoped. So for the minute i am beign sensible and keeping my money in my pocket as the car is driving fine...and the fix to the pinging, wheel alignment, gearbox fluid and tyres all means too much dollars pre drunken bahviour in San Sebastian.

LOL, everyone loves the when he was 10 story. I am only being as critical as i am because so many people are eating up the whole Cindarella Story. What do you say to your idol when you are 10 and meet him? I would have said the same thing, i bet hundreds of kids involved in motorsport have said similar things to team manegers. The BIG DEAL is the fact that years later he was actually a kid with talent, not just a dreamer like all of us when we the Fire Brigade visit the school, or the Police, or a Qantas pilot. Hamiltons conversation would have had more merit had he been 15 or 16, that way a dash of reality (maturity, not stary eyed kids stuff) would have been in the mix. But its a great story, but thats all it is. What about Webber telling Luff at about the same age that he would be driving for Williams in F1. I am not on a witch hunt, just balancing the equation. Re the whole 6 months in the team thing. So you are saying that after his long term involvement with Dennis and McLaren, his year of testing etc that he was a noobie to the team, more so then Alonso? To say that Lewis and his engineers knew nothing of the info floating around the team would surprise me. Why wouldnt he, the test team and engineers do not work only for Alonso. The Coughlan, Lowe (Engineering) work for the team and as a guy with more race miles then De La Rosa, as much kms as Alonso and simulation time, why would he not have been involved in discussions. He is responsible for the development of the car as well. Hell if he wasnt, as a driver i would be kicking up a huge fuss about why is the engineering, testing and development all centered around Alonso!!!!!!!! Do you think Lewis would have been ok with that, recalling his behaviour having finished 2nd at Monaco? Secondly, the Hungary thing, the two drivers swapped the stratgey from GP to GP. In Hungary it was Lewis' turn to let Alonso take full advantage of the fuel burn, just like at the previous GPs when Alonso did the same for him. It was only a marginal advantage but as a team its something they took in turns. I wonder how often it actually made the difference between pole and second? Fact is though it was something that was applied equitably to both drivers. I am discussing things that spring to mind. You dont have to be a conspiracy theorist to come up with it. Its simply a matter of putting him under the same scrutiny as other people. The seed was planted by people i have spoken with, not so much by me. He is an amazing talent. I look forward to see if Heikki can get over his hopeless start to the year and how Hamilton deals with being challenged by Heikki, if thats at all possible. He has shown that he has the pace to, but whether he can actually win GPs over a season, who knows. Question is would Lewis want him to? Or, in years to come how he handles driving McLarens like in the early-mid 90s and ealry 21st century. (ie clearly behind the top 2-3 teams)

Omit? Kimi made the mother of all stuff ups. But did a great job keeping it off the wall which woudl have meant the GP finishing under yellows. As for Massa's no better no worse. LOL if only he was lucky enough to have hti something and got apuncture then it maye have been a real race up front with Massa on the same strategy as Lewis Also, i recall the current WDC binning it in 2007 and chasing his tail the whole GP. Massa raced pretty well last year, likewise this year. If Monaco really carrys the weight of ones ability as much as ppl make out, what does that mean for Kimi and Massa?

Yeh, Lewis only initiated an enquiry into McLaren at Monaco by claimign he shoudl have won the race. Dont mind that he had been clipping armco barriers all race and was lucky to have not damaged the car. Secondly, he claims to be a friend and respectful of his boss, the same guy that made the call to change his strategy. Yet felt it was his place to take his grievances to the press, subsquently an FIA investigation. All because Hamilton was on a one stop strategy, but by going to a 2 stop strategy the increased pace and track position would mean he would not be exposed by a pace car should there be an accident. This only gave him another podium position, the team a 1-2, and ensured that he was not caught back 3rd or 4th with a safety car. So , people complain about Alonso and what he did to McLaren, but look back earlier in the season and it was Lewis who to a lesser extent put the team in an awkward position. His displeasure at havng a co driver that had not won a few GPs to his zero. So Lewis is no saint, putting pressure on Dennis and trying to influence his decisions, look what happened several GPs later, as a rookie he was demanding that the team get behind him by disobeying pit orders , and Alonso was the one that wore the penalty. I wonder what internal punishment was administered to Lewis? LOL, obviously it wasnt enough to make Alonso feel as though he would not be put at a disadvantage by following pit orders/calls team orders. All in all, its no crime, just the actions of a hungry young guy that wont let anyone stop him from achieving his goals. My problem is when he is painted as a sweetheart who is innocent and shares no blame for the teams situation last year, any of his driving mistakes etc etc. All whilst being the 'victim' everytime he was intervied. FFS his dad even started on the same tune in interviews referring to Alonso and even Alonso's Dad

The other reason i dont get Hamilton, he gets to party with whoever he like and he invites P Diddy He was on the right track with Vivian Burkhardt , but why would you leave her side or Danni Minogues to be with the fella that changes his name every album Oh and i love James Allen, best commentator around

Re your claim that Alonso is a low mongrel etc etc for his role in the Stepney issue last year, consider this. Other then Coughlan, De La Rosa was the main culprit according to the FIA press release. He was the driver in contact with Coughlan the most and was the one talking to Alonso about it all. Lowe claims that they stopped the tide of information flowing through the team, yet things were discussed amongst the test driver and engineers who run the simualtor. Would this stuff be happening without the permission of bosses/superiors? Its not a summer camp where people run around and do stuff at a whim without authority. Every bit of testing is discussed, planned and scheduled to ensure that it maximises data and information for the team. It is not his job, nor would he be able to handle and process the sensitive Ferrari info, so there is no way Coughlan came to only him and Alonso with this stuff. So to claim it was isolated to De La Rosa is silly, he doesnt tell the engineers/team what they will be testing today, next week. No doubt he is heavily involved in discussions etc, but to say that it was only Coughlan, Alonso and De La Rosa is laughable. McLaren stuck to their guns, the FIA didnt buy it and the rest is historty. But here is the thing, Coughlan got marched, what about Lowe, where does he work today and what role does he hold? What is De La Rosa up to these days? McLaren protected their guys to the best of their ability. Why did the story get the light of day in Sept? Because Alonso fired up and held a gun to RD, to which his response was to hand it over to the FIA. It is laughable that Coughlan knew of the info, Lowe knew of it, De La Rosa and Alonso knew of it, but Dennis didnt. So Alonso's game of bluff with Dennis is what made all this stuff surface. Why? Because he felt the team didnt appreciate his standing as WDC within his new team. I have no problem believing that Hamilton knew of this stuff as well. He is a team driver, he was leading the WDC, he tests the cars along with Alonso and De La Rosa and Alonso. He runs in the simulator as well. Alonso is not the good guy here, his action within his own team were damaging, but it was the teams actions to begin with that were damaging. But this is all in the past. I bring it up because while there are Hamo bashes on this forum, Adam loves to bash Alonso these days. I point out that you dont have to look too hard to see that last year Lewis played a big part in causing friction between drivers and by no means squeeky clean in the whole Stepneygate. It was in McLaren's best interest to protect him and any exposure to him. Just like there was only a murmur re his delaying Alonso in Hungary, it was the McLaren team's decision to keep him out in China. It was a mechanical glitch in Brazil. McLaren work full time at protecting him and his reputation, even when at the time, or later it is revealed that the error was Hamiltons doing. So what would they have to gain from exposing him last September. They didnt expose De La Rosa and Alonso in July, only doing so in Spetember when Alonso exposed himself.

So for the record woudl you like to tell me who was involved in the spy scandal last year? Which drivers, which engineers and which team staff/members?

I think you are being a littlke naive thinking that the case. You only have to look at the events last year and its clear. Speaking to some ppl that know better then me during and after the Aus GP ....well lets just say that Lewis was every bit as ambitious with regards to last years championship as Alonso was. And Lewis played his hand before Alonso. Thinking he was to green to know better? He was too green to know that what he played a hand in was only going to hurt his WDC chances. And Kimi going to the strippers and drinking? LOL so what. Again you not being realistic if you think Lewis doesnt party hard, he also has a shallow penchant to accumulate trophy roots and BJs. Again, whatever, he is a young man. But he is no low key innocent, right now i am thinking Kubica is old school cool. He is there for the racing. Hamilton should stop all the Senna BS and just admit that he really wants to be James Hunt Again, i dont hate Hamilton because of the RD/McLaren thing. I think he will only be at his best in years to come, when perhaps he isnt in the best car (If he sticks with McLaren like he claims). He will only be at his best when he has been galvanised by some more tough racing and wins and also the beats. I think i have made it quite clear why i dont like Hamilton. Actually, its not dislike, he just annoys me. It made me laugh when at the start of the year all the talk about Hekki being a great team mate, McLaren being a team strong together etc etc. The immediate expectation was that he woudl support McLaren and Lewis's quest for a WDC. I will haev bet money that if 4 GPs in Hekki was taking points and GP wins off Lewis then the tone would be different again. In fact i will have LOVED to see at Monaco if Heikki didnt have the problem on the grid what woudl have happened. He could have possibly been ahead of Lewis on the road at the end of the race, armco strike and all. I wonder if Lewis would have cried foul that he wasnt allowed to win the race because of team orders again this year?

What happened to Kimi and Sutil was the pits. But how is it any different to Webber, Vettel. MS/Couthard etc etc. Its racing and it usually happens in the wet. Kimi apologised, what more do you want? It must feel horrible for Sutil, but he can take solace in the fact that Kimi binned both of their races before Sutil threw it away trying to hold position, or the car failed, or he hit a wall...or he could have held on for a great 4th or 5th. But thats racing....and he showed he has some grit about him to keep his head in those sorts of condition. Alonso, Piquet, Button, Rosberg, Kimi, Heidfled etc and to a lesser extent Hamilton didnt....so that is a huge wrap for the guy. Hamilton won last night, but like all ppl that walk away with a WDC luck played a part. What i cant get my head around is what the hell is happening with Heikiki. The guy keeps showing glimpses of what he can do...but he is like Rosberg in Bahrain 2006 and is nowhere when he shows his goods. Surely he will be able to make it to the first round of pitstops in a reasonable position soon. And Adam, get fired up all you want. If you like a driver because of his driving, not who he is out of the seat then fine. I happen to like who they are out of the seat more then there actual driving. To me its more important, you know the old how you play the game. Hamo is a great talent, and will only get better. But the day i see him truly grind out a great result well i will say that his ability in the seat probably compensates. Funnily enough last night was probably his best race in my eyes, even though he did bin it in the early laps. His confidecne didnt get knocked around too much and he recovered for the remaining part of the GP. But pit stops, safety cars and driving a tougher then leather McLaren all helped. But would have been interesting if the race didnt come to him what he would have done in palces 3-5 in the pack. Roll on Canada, hopefully Kubica can get up after the shocker he had last year. And Webber is somewhere in the mix again.

Well you have had enough of the Homo bashing? Others seem to have had enough the continual praise the guy gets. He did a number on most of the field last night, but was out of this world lucky to recover from where he did. I was loving Massa driving away from him in the start. Personally the talk about loving the wet and being so gifted in the wet etc confuses me. To date i think he has been lucky in the wet. Only have to look at China, European GP, Japan etc to see that for a guy that is meant to be supreme in the wet he makes lots of mistakes and gets super lucky. ie gets away with being towed out of the kitty litter then unlap himself. LUCKY. Driving all over the track with wierd lines and gets blasted by Kubica and clashes when much slower. Kubica penalised whilst Lewis is lucky enough to havea still functioning car and races to the win. LUCKY. Runs around in teh damp with huys like Kimi and Alosno much quicker and kinder to their tyres in the wet at China, then parks it in the kitt litter, LUCK RUNS OUT. Last night was lucky again, hardly supreme wet weather master. Watch the Japanese GP again and you realise that he was struggling to do consistant times and lines. Sure the weather was tough, but the likes of Webber, Kubica and another rookie Vettel were able to do a better job. LOL but we rememebr what Vettel later did It seems they want to paint a tag on him as rain master. Have to look at how Vettel and Kubica perform in the rain to realises that they show more wet weather prowess then Lewis. Its no different to the Massa bashing. I think his efforts over the weekend are a credit to the guy. But people will just credit the fact that he is in a Ferrari. Last night was a strange one as he showed a clear pair of heels to Kimi, and Kimi had a shocker. Was surprised to see Alonso making the mistakes he did. It seems he was just way too keen to get a result and didnt drive the conditions correctly. Would never of seen him drive like that in 2005 or 2006. Simply trying too hard

But i like Massa. Was happy to see him get pole and race well in the wet and showing pace, his little error was no worse then others. He is always smiling etc in the conferenes, unlike the other guys. Sheesh win or come 2nd at Monaco you think Lewis and Rob would smile a bit more. And again, i dont get what happened to Heikki. It was a wet race and drying. The car obviously was going to have the pace to jump a few spots. So i am not sure it was such a wise decision to pull him in and use him as the guinea pig for Lewis. There was already Alonso, Webber and Piquet running around on slicks and it wasnt hard to tell that it was a little too soon. Then, rather the screamign and kicking up a fuss about letting him past the pace car with a few laps to go to try and jump all the chumps in slower cars, they stall the restart by stuffing around with him behind the pace car. He shoudl have got points today, and should not be languishing on equal points with Webber. Perhaps he is too nice a guy and combined with the rotten luck he is having. The impressive thing is he seems to be damn quick. He just cant get a clean race under his belt. Must be frustrating for the guy

Fark me! "I do it for my fans" He probably is sincere but doesnt coem accross that way

What i said the other page about Lewis and his intentions last year were just reinforced tonight. He on the radio and commentators referring to how he things he shoudl have won last years, so this years makes up for it He was the spoilt brat having a winge about not liking Alonso as a team mate. Anyway, he raced well tonight. Though he did keep up his tradition of hitting walls around Monaco, which is why its laughable that he feels he should have won last year. Several wall strikes last year, only one this year But you have to feel for Sutil and wonder when is Heikki going to get a change of fortune. If it continues then you would have to say that he has taken Webbers mantle as unluckiest guy in F1. Hell hear what they were saying about the strategy of trialling the tyres on him and saying it was a great tactic? BS, part of what made MS the champion he was that he fought every race for any points, to quit when in 12th in one of the two fastest cars on the grid Well look at the final results and he could have easily finished 6th if they didnt take their eyes of the ball

things that go .... bump in the night

Well considering how long i pined over these wheels it really is disappointing that they do not clear teh Brembos. Who knows, whichever sells first dictates what survives the kull, brakes or wheels

I have just got home, twice as pissed as the afternoons posts ready for a dual! And nothing It seems Louise and his chonies are all off bum brushing one another Am i wrong about last seasons events or what? Sincerely, was she really 43? She looked damn hot for an old duck!

Ok re the suspension. But he is a driver, not an engineer. Nice bloke, again OK, but Brundle didnt deserve the chop, especially considering his replacement was Patrese. (my opinion, then again i was only 16 at the time so what did/do i know ) And no, last years McLaren was not as dominant as the FW14B. But in 92 two manufacturers still won 15 from 16GPs. Last year two teams won all 17GPs. So if not the Williams he had the McLaren. Either way, MS had the 3rd best car on the grid, so todays equiv is that MS had a BMW-Sauber in his first full GP season after having driven a single race for a team that had never been on a podium. I stand by my claim that Uncle Tom picked MS at the prefect time, where he was quick but able to mature with the emerging team which had only recently acquired key engineering staff in the past season or two. What Lewis really got last year was Gerhard Berger 92 McLaren seat. A seat in a car that woudl win races alongside the current WDC.

Yeh, in 2005 at Williams should have finished 2nd. 2006 was racing hard in 3rd and car broke, who knew what was on teh cards that day if the car had held together . And he has won at Monaco. It was in 2001 or something when he was driving for the Arrows/Walkinshaw/Orange etc F3000 car.

That is also laughable. He didnt really blow Martin Brundle into the weeds in his first season in F1. Brundle did a damn good job alongside him, even though he had 5 retirements out of the first 7 races. I have no idea why they replaced him with Patreste in 1993. In 93 he did some growing but who couldnt with Ross Brawn, Rory Byrne and Pat Symonds by your side? Also what year was it that the old black box didnt have traction control? Yeh MS ended up a great champion and had planty of talent from the get go. But he grew as the teams he was driving for grew. To put it into contrast what you are saying is that in 1992 MS was given Mansells FW14B! Thats effectively what Hamilton had last year. Ferrari tripped up in the wind tunnel and with a driver fresh to the team who wasnt initially that happy with the car. McLaren went to sleep and it hurt them

I am all for a bit of a rant. But made to look second rate? What a crock of shit! Seriously, try to dettach emotion and who was the WDC and who was the rookie for a second. (hard hting i know, i find it difficult) 1. Which driver saw an opportunity a few GPs in and started playing mind games with his team mate? 2. Which driver didnt want to relinquish track position during qualifying as per the instruction from pit wall? 3. Which driver was the first to start airing problems in the press, despite the team trying to keep out of the lime light as the whole Ferrari/Stepney thing was going on? To Hamiltons credit he was in a strong points position heading to Canada. Alonso had settled into the new team quickly and had a few problems, hit by Massa at Spain, damaged car in Canada etc (from butting wheels with Lewis, but all is fair in my eyes...credit to Lewis for being on pole and racing hard for position). In my eyes the turning point of the season was partly Monaco but mostly France. Alonso simply out raced Lewis and Lewis whilst having a great 2nd in Monaco (clipping barriers here and there driving on the edge) made comments that would the next week mean the team was investigated by the FIA regarding team orders. Comment that he should/could have won the race. Having been mega consistant to this point you could see he wanted a win and knew it was within reach. Confirming it in the next two GPs. But to me, Monaco hinted, France confirmed, and Hungary Lewis started fighting for it. The 8th GP of the year in France had Lewis 2/4/1 (1st / 2nd / 3rd race finishes) and Alonso was 2/2/1. So Lewis was showing himself to be mega consistant and looking good in points. But Alonso's gearbox failed in Q3 meaning he was to start from Pos 10. He raced to 7th, giving Lewis a very handy points advantage at this point of the season. Now here is a rookie alongside a 2 time WDC and he is fairing bloody well against him, in fact leading him in teh championship. At this point i think its when Lewis really began to understand he can win races, he can beat Alonso and started thinking seriously about winning the WDC. So on to British GP Lewis stuffed a pistop going to leave when the lollipop was turned over. That small mistake meant he was 3rd to Kimi and Alonso. Perhaps the first sign of pressure getting to him in his rookie season as the realisation of the situation became real?!?! So with a points lead and a little error in the pits it was on to European GP where it was his turn for some bad luck with the wheel failure meaning it was his turn to start the race from 10th. He gambled with tyre strategy and raced hard for a 9th. He was dealt a similar hand as Alonso had in France. So this is now two races in a row where he has lost points and his lead in the championship. So at this point of the season, Hamilton is thinking "i am in the hunt here, i can win this" but fark, what has happened the last two races. Alonso knows its a long season, had had some misfortune, some tough beats but is still in the hunt. His biggest challenger is his rookie team mate. No doubt a surprise. So in Hungary, to me it was Lewis cracking under the pressure. He wanted every advantage he could get, had tasted some of the make or break stuff the previous few GPs that were hindering Alonso and Kimi's campaigns and decided he needed to take what advantage he could. He disobeyed the pit instruction and messed with Alonso's quliafying fuel burn trying to get track position. Alonso faught back and got burnt by the FIA. Lewis showed his true colours right there. When the pressure to perform was on, he thought of himself not the team. Many great drivers have done it, but he disobeyed the guy who had nurtured him and gave him all his major breaks, a guy he supposedly respected. Ignored. So dont tell me he is a straight up champion. He may win WDC in a similar way to MS etc, but he has shown he will be underhanded when it suits/fortunes him. Just as Alonso did with his threat to Ron about the Stepney info. Both drivers reacted poorly, but it is my opinion that if Lewis had not of started the games then Alonso woudl not have finished it. In my eyes it was the next few GPs where Alonso showed his grain. Ferrari were competitive, McLaren as a team were under pressure and the drivers were airing their differences in the public domain. But Lewis let it distract him, and the occassion got too much for him. Alonso was no doubt still affected, but consider the pressure on him? He pulled back points on Lewis as Lewis stumbled through 5 of the last 6 GPs of the year, with questionably less pressure on him then Alonso. Alonso has shown how he is good under pressure when racing with MS in his WDC. He gets the job done when he needs to. He showed that again last year, when the chips were down, he did the better job under pressure at the end of the season. He binned it in Japan, but after his pitstop that saw him in the pack he had no choice but to go all out and the gamble didnt pay off. I didnt hear any excuses or complaints for the crash. Anyway, i sit back and look at the season, which driver did what in press conferences etc and i am amazed people dont pick up on the fact that it was Lewis that didnt like having Alonso as a team mate from early on in the piece. He didnt like Alonso's 2 GP wins to his none. No doubt by mid season the feeling was mutual, but i love how ppl think that Lewis didnt have any aspirations and was just driving a car for the season and he wasnt saying, doing things, pulling strings to ensure that it was his WDC. It seems strange that from the point that the WDC was possible he seemed to deviate from what it was he had been doing, and distracted himself as much as he did Alonso. Oh, and it shits me that he won the Japanese GP. That should have been Kubicas by a mile. He was so much quicker and should not have been given a drive through for Lewis running way off line then scrambling back accross the track trying to recover and clashing with Kubica who was sailing by on the inside on the right line. That and with how he controlled the field under the pace car...well he should never have won that race Think if Kubica had of broken through for his first GP win in Japan, what that would have done to the WDC points score?

Dangerous ground there matey. In the same sentence you are talking about liking the guy, defending him and waxing

Would love someone to pony up the coin for a 2530-Kai. Whats the bet they are a 2860-5? Also, what ever happened to the so called GT-ZZ that HKS were meant to be releasing?

I was thinking about changing my oil pressure channel to throttle position. Ignorance is bliss with regards to the oil pressure the poor old RB20 is running at teh track Only with my turbo its pretty easy to guesstimate when i pick the throttle up by looking at manifold pressure and revs. I did actually think i ouwl be better off using that channel for steering angle, but the sensors cost teh earth Thats not the case with the things i am logging at the moment. And throttle position would be pretty easy/cheap to do

I still think it would be interesting to see a GTSt with decent mods and how it compares to a well sorted GTR. There is only an R34 GTT that i can think of that has all the major boxes ticked, and to date is a little slower then me as the package is still being tied together and developed. No doubt when sorted and a few more kms under the belt it will be a quick car. Credit to the guy for all the hard work as he could have gone the less painful route and got an R34 GTR. Only its a shame its an R34 GTT as they basically weigh what an R32 GTR does so there is no real payback for being rwd.

Just saw some others for sale and their asking price is much higher. If not sold this weekend then a member of the Vic R32 brotherhood gets these wheels for a steal