TBK-Light.com

It was utterly boring and 2 people many seconds faster than the field and not being given much competition doesn't exactly make for a good race. And I was there that year also.

A1-Ring hasn't produced many good races, simple as that. But if you've enjoyed them then good for you.

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BTCC Pick Em's Champion 2010
Formula Fun Cup Champion 2013
http://www.the-fastlane.co.uk

I thought they were riveting yeah.

And I've only seen it from Farzad's vids when he went there but being able to see the majority of the track from wherever you sat must've been a plus?

(I will admit the races are 100x better on F1 Digital than they were on Free to air TV at the time. But I only had FTA and always looked forward to this track so it's not all about that)

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RIP Birmingham Wheels: here's some of the crash videos I recorded when it was there:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIaKIE ... 5t9d5PvoHA

Twitter:

http://www.twitter.com/paulhadsley

1997 was a fantastic race, 1998 was simply Mika heading off into the distance while with DC and Schumi it was a case of when not if they would reach the podium places. DC's cause was helped by the SC shortly after his lap 1 turn 2 skirmish thanks to the Arrows. 1999 was intense thanks to DC turning Hakkinen on lap 1 (turn 2 ironically). Whereas all the 2000's races were dull as dishwater bar the few laps Montoya was able to hold off Schumi in 2001. The only other good part of 2001 was DC being able to hold on to the win. 2002 wasn't a race between the Ferrari twins, despite many people's belief that Rubens drove superbly to hold of Michael (hahaha lol...). 2003 was just meh and was only enlightened by Schumi's light up in the pits.

In 1998 I took a walk round part of the circuit, going from the final turn up to turn 2 (it's a long walk). At the time the only way to get from turn 1 to turn 2 was to walk around the trees and use the original GP circuit. The view from turn 2 is good but I wouldn't say you could see lots of the circuit. The surroundings were fantastic, as were the fellow fans in the campsite and grandstand, including very entertaining Jos the Boss fan.

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BTCC Pick Em's Champion 2010
Formula Fun Cup Champion 2013
http://www.the-fastlane.co.uk

This always produced great races. So glad the track is back and I hope it stays around for a long time.

The only one that wasn't great was 2002.

We all remember the Prosts crashing into each other and the McLarens. Plus Sato's massive crash into T3. Plus the mess in F3000.

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"Many people ask me why I always sign off Till We Meet Again, because goodbye is always so final. Goodbye Dan Wheldon." -Marty Reid

Oh great, there goes my argument

_________________
RIP Birmingham Wheels: here's some of the crash videos I recorded when it was there:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIaKIE ... 5t9d5PvoHA

Twitter:

http://www.twitter.com/paulhadsley

What's that stuff next to the track? Brown painted tarmac run-offs?

I expect them to be tarmac in 2015... unfortunately they took away a lot of it's thrill when making all the key run-offs asphalt. Especially the first turn was always so exciting with the rumble strips on the exit, or the gravel trap in the second to last corner that cost Schumi dearly...

+ Kimi. He said today he has fond memories of the track.
Conversely Fernando said he remembers nothing about driving at A1-Ring. I find that a bit weird.

With regards to the comments about DRS on the st page, I don't really think this track even needs DRS as it was always one of the easiest tracks to overtake on & there was always a lot of overtaking into turns 1 & 2 with the odd move into T3.


Fortunately they have been more sensible with DRS than they have been elsewhere by not putting it on the primary overtaking zone.





Mercedes & Ferrari will run a spark test during practice tomorrow:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/114525

The cars might still look like shit, but hey, they spark!

C'mon guys, focus on the actual problems with the sport.
Sparks were like the icing on the cake, a spectacular side effect from a great era of racing.

No one tuned in specifically to see sparks.

(We had robot wars for that )

_________________
RIP Birmingham Wheels: here's some of the crash videos I recorded when it was there:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIaKIE ... 5t9d5PvoHA

Twitter:

http://www.twitter.com/paulhadsley

FFS! Is it a job requirement at the FIA to actually get stupider the longer your tenure is there? In all seriousness I think TBK can cobble together better technical regulations than the monkeys in charge atm.

That's correct, fixed the OP.

The sparking Porsches in WEC look cool, so why not try it in F1? It's a low cost modification and will look great during the 3 night time races. It's not like it costs millions to test and develop, so why is everyone against it?

welcome back Austria

Rosberg in trouble, car slowed dramatically. Could be session done.

I agree with what Anthony Davidson & David Croft just said on Sky.

When we had the sparks in the past you know it was a sign of teams lowering the cars for performance while now you know its because they have put something on the cars to artificially create the sparks purely to add spectacle so it just doesn't seem as interesting to see them.

Erickson stopped at pit exit, possible red flag.

Good tast track