Lewis Hamilton to drive MP4-23 at Watkins Glen 6/14
06-15-2011, 03:44 PM
#61
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What a huge disappointment. So much hype, and little delivery. Yes, Hamilton's personality was a much needed boost to the show...but to have them run on WETS,-------------- instead of waiting a little bit until they were able to drive the track with parade laps........and THEN go on slicks.......seemed pointless.
No timing or telemtry..............no GPS,...........really was quite boring.
The only drama was when Hamilton did "donuts" prior to entering the pits.............
And the REAL drama was when "SMOKE" who weighs 180-190, got out of the F1 car, and proceeded to STAND on the chassis right infront of the steering wheel. He was quickly "instructed" to get off from that location. I thought the F1 engineer was going to throw a "clot"
No timing or telemtry..............no GPS,...........really was quite boring.
The only drama was when Hamilton did "donuts" prior to entering the pits.............
And the REAL drama was when "SMOKE" who weighs 180-190, got out of the F1 car, and proceeded to STAND on the chassis right infront of the steering wheel. He was quickly "instructed" to get off from that location. I thought the F1 engineer was going to throw a "clot"
06-15-2011, 04:15 PM
#62
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What a huge disappointment. So much hype, and little delivery. Yes, Hamilton's personality was a much needed boost to the show...but to have them run on WETS,-------------- instead of waiting a little bit until they were able to drive the track with parade laps........and THEN go on slicks.......seemed pointless.
No timing or telemtry..............no GPS,...........really was quite boring.
The only drama was when Hamilton did "donuts" prior to entering the pits.............
And the REAL drama was when "SMOKE" who weighs 180-190, got out of the F1 car, and proceeded to STAND on the chassis right infront of the steering wheel. He was quickly "instructed" to get off from that location. I thought the F1 engineer was going to throw a "clot"
No timing or telemtry..............no GPS,...........really was quite boring.
The only drama was when Hamilton did "donuts" prior to entering the pits.............
And the REAL drama was when "SMOKE" who weighs 180-190, got out of the F1 car, and proceeded to STAND on the chassis right infront of the steering wheel. He was quickly "instructed" to get off from that location. I thought the F1 engineer was going to throw a "clot"
Could it have been better, yeah, but it was still cool to see two great drivers trade cars on a track that we know and have driven. It was also cool to see their respect for each other and how much fun they had driving the other cars.
06-15-2011, 05:12 PM
#63
[QUOTE=SpeedGT3;8639539]What a huge disappointment. So much hype, and little delivery. Yes, Hamilton's personality was a much needed boost to the show...but to have them run on WETS,-------------- instead of waiting a little bit until they were able to drive the track with parade laps........and THEN go on slicks.......seemed pointless.
No timing or telemtry..............no GPS,...........really was quite boring.
And the REAL drama was when "SMOKE" who weighs 180-190, got out of the F1 car, and proceeded to STAND on the chassis right infront of the steering wheel. He was quickly "instructed" to get off from that location. I thought the F1 engineer was going to throw a "clot"
They were under a time crunch for both the drivers ( both flew out of there right after the finish) and for the TV production that made the idea of waiting until it dried to run slicks impossible, as it was they added almost a hour to the day in the hopes of it drying out a bit. Both drivers expressed the opinion that they would stay and run more laps on slicks if it was possible but it just was not in the cards that day.
Both cars ran timing and telemetry but because WG is a track that NASCAR still has yet to run on this year, and NASCAR has a testing ban in effect for current tracks, they had to walk a very, very fine line in the amount of time the NASCAR car could be on the track for. Tony did say afterwards that there is no good reason that they should not be running the full course and addressed his comments to Mike Helton.
As far as Tony standing on the car at the end, it was done because of the direction by Lewis who told him, "Tony when you get out, stand up here" pointing to the location on the front, the crew was completely fine with it and no one "instructed" him to get off.
No timing or telemtry..............no GPS,...........really was quite boring.
And the REAL drama was when "SMOKE" who weighs 180-190, got out of the F1 car, and proceeded to STAND on the chassis right infront of the steering wheel. He was quickly "instructed" to get off from that location. I thought the F1 engineer was going to throw a "clot"
They were under a time crunch for both the drivers ( both flew out of there right after the finish) and for the TV production that made the idea of waiting until it dried to run slicks impossible, as it was they added almost a hour to the day in the hopes of it drying out a bit. Both drivers expressed the opinion that they would stay and run more laps on slicks if it was possible but it just was not in the cards that day.
Both cars ran timing and telemetry but because WG is a track that NASCAR still has yet to run on this year, and NASCAR has a testing ban in effect for current tracks, they had to walk a very, very fine line in the amount of time the NASCAR car could be on the track for. Tony did say afterwards that there is no good reason that they should not be running the full course and addressed his comments to Mike Helton.
As far as Tony standing on the car at the end, it was done because of the direction by Lewis who told him, "Tony when you get out, stand up here" pointing to the location on the front, the crew was completely fine with it and no one "instructed" him to get off.
Last edited by syncspeedinc; 06-15-2011 at 08:17 PM. Reason: spelling and grammer check
06-15-2011, 05:21 PM
#64
Whats the story with the racing suit? Other than it being the same size I would have worn when I was 11?
06-15-2011, 05:39 PM
#65
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06-15-2011, 06:00 PM
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It was all-in-all a good day, in spite of the cold (50 degrees) and chill (gusty north winds) and wet (drizzle). Stewart and Hamilton appeared to genuinely enjoy the day and the swap, especially Stewart (for obvious reasons).
Since this is my "home" track (I'm just over an hour away), it was even more gratifying for me to listen to their comments (positive) on the track.
Stewart knows the course well, and his in-car video shows he is on line, Hamilton was early and late in turn 1 (aren't we all?), but their driving in each car shows they indeed are professional drivers (Stewart looked like he was still racing in the IRL and Hamilton's burnout was better than Jeff Gordon's).
Slicks in the dry would have been cool, but the weather didn't go along with it-so obsessing about lap times is non-productive.
Some low-quality pics from me:
Since this is my "home" track (I'm just over an hour away), it was even more gratifying for me to listen to their comments (positive) on the track.
Stewart knows the course well, and his in-car video shows he is on line, Hamilton was early and late in turn 1 (aren't we all?), but their driving in each car shows they indeed are professional drivers (Stewart looked like he was still racing in the IRL and Hamilton's burnout was better than Jeff Gordon's).
Slicks in the dry would have been cool, but the weather didn't go along with it-so obsessing about lap times is non-productive.
Some low-quality pics from me:
06-15-2011, 08:13 PM
#67
The quick story is that I had a chance to see his drivers suit in his dressing room before the day started and it is so thin and lightweight, it is made out of something that I have not seen drivers suit made out of before, it looked almost paper thin. All of the graphics on the suit are not embroidered on and no patches are attached, they are all silkscreened onto the suit to increase the drivers comfort in the suit and to save weight over standard suits, according to one of his crew members.
06-15-2011, 09:31 PM
#68
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I'd love to see NASCAR run the boot. The toe is my favorite turn there. The brakes don't wear as much as expected, because you can use the uphill banking and throttle steer the cars around it.
06-15-2011, 10:12 PM
#69
uninformed gas bag
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The quick story is that I had a chance to see his drivers suit in his dressing room before the day started and it is so thin and lightweight, it is made out of something that I have not seen drivers suit made out of before, it looked almost paper thin. All of the graphics on the suit are not embroidered on and no patches are attached, they are all silkscreened onto the suit to increase the drivers comfort in the suit and to save weight over standard suits, according to one of his crew members.
06-16-2011, 11:00 AM
#71
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Ummmmm....yeeeaaahhhhh.....I'm going to have to disagree with you on this one Peter.
Could it have been better, yeah, but it was still cool to see two great drivers trade cars on a track that we know and have driven. It was also cool to see their respect for each other and how much fun they had driving the other cars.
Could it have been better, yeah, but it was still cool to see two great drivers trade cars on a track that we know and have driven. It was also cool to see their respect for each other and how much fun they had driving the other cars.
Tony on the other hand came right in when they said pit....After seeing the F1 car out there with Montreal fresh in my mind, the Glen seemed wide open by comparison. I bet Lewis wants to drive there in his F1 full scream on slicks!
Bring F1 back to Watkins Glen!
06-16-2011, 01:25 PM
#72
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One thing I found amusing was prior to them going out, all the Nascar mechanics are sitting back staring at the cars, taking pic's drinking coffee and the F1 mechanics are all over their car, laptops plugged in, adjusting things, checking tire temps.................funny to see how all is handled to each group.
06-16-2011, 04:19 PM
#73
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I just watched those videos, but enjoyed each one driving the others' car and their reactions. Two great drivers doing something they were both very excited about! Sure there was a lot of presentation "fluff", but that's to be expected when you need to turn 4 laps into an hour long feature.
The best was
Over the radio while Hamilton was at turn 10: "Come into the pits now"
Hamilton: "What? I can't hear you!"
The best was
Over the radio while Hamilton was at turn 10: "Come into the pits now"
Hamilton: "What? I can't hear you!"
06-16-2011, 08:27 PM
#75
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This was good stuff. I enjoyed it very much. 
