2016 Belgian Grand Prix - Fri 26 – Sun 28 Aug 2016

[SR71]

"A" Mac driver will finish in 6th place.

my second prediction in history,

my first prediction being 100% accurate.

even though it caused the butthurt.

[ChrisDanger]

Pirelli make crap tires that explode randomly because they are so damned incompetent and their rubber is so fragile

I try hard to not be like so many on here but I can't help it,,,That's just plain dumb.
Pirelli is hardly incompetent. They make excellent tires and have since1872, longer than Michelin who came along after Avon/Cooper.
Incompetent indeed!
I have to ask since it's come up so many times: What do you run? The cheapest you can get? That's what many self proclaimed experts on here have said before.

Although I said that but I was being totally sarcastic, and it was simply a reaction to Juzh's previous comment which showed scepticism. Obviously Pirelli are not incompetent.

[Andres125sx]

Pirelli make crap tires that explode randomly because they are so damned incompetent and their rubber is so fragile

I try hard to not be like so many on here but I can't help it,,,That's just plain dumb.
Pirelli is hardly incompetent. They make excellent tires and have since1872, longer than Michelin who came along after Avon/Cooper.
Incompetent indeed!

Indeed

Experience is not always related to expertise I´m afraid. Even if Michelin came along after, I´d never pay a single cent or same price for a Pirelli tire if there´s available a Michelin tire for my car. Period.

I´m afraid people involved in racing at highest level think the same for their racing environement. At least I know one who does.

[lebesset]

Pirelli make crap tires that explode randomly because they are so damned incompetent and their rubber is so fragile

I try hard to not be like so many on here but I can't help it,,,That's just plain dumb.
Pirelli is hardly incompetent. They make excellent tires and have since1872, longer than Michelin who came along after Avon/Cooper.
Incompetent indeed!

Indeed

Experience is not always related to expertise I´m afraid. Even if Michelin came along after, I´d never pay a single cent or same price for a Pirelli tire if there´s available a Michelin tire for my car. Period.

I´m afraid people involved in racing at highest level think the same for their racing environement. At least I know one who does.

one swallow does not a summer make
strange how many high performance car makers fit pirelli by choice after having carried out exhaustive tests ...unless the one person you know who is involved in racing at the highest level knows better than them

[Shrieker]

With sharp knifes and electrified

Why not

[Shrieker]

A lil' something from me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccmT7AtOQaI

Nice one.

It's interesting to see how the 2015 car pulls in the straights, and the 2008 car pulls back on the corners. While the recent cars clearly have more power, in 2008 the aero rules were much more lax and the cars were considerably lighter.

Very cool to see that side by side in a vid.

[ChrisDanger]

We are officially half way through the summer break. Two weeks to race-day guys!

[Manoah2u]

looking at the track, a question pops to mind......bar the Circuit of The Americas not being bad (though imho not really special either),
why is it that 'new' tracks are so notoriously crappy? I dont know if i can point it to Tilke being the cause as he's the one that did the 'new ones',
and additionaly, the revised rules certainly will have effect, but in general, what is the cause that the old classics are so spectacular?
I'm not even touching the legacy part there, im rather discussing the tracks actually being exciting.

Spa definately is. the OLD hockenheim was. Suzuka, Imola. Monza. Silverstone. Mexico (renewed but still).

this might deserve its own thread, but im wondering, is it because its too purpose built? i dont remember how in the past circuits were elected to
be driven on. Why is there a belgian gp at spa, for example?

The original spa, like the original monza, were different in their layouts, so at a certain point people - whether that was the FIA i dunno - must have
come to a point where they said 'lets change it'. That which followed is what intrigues me. Why did these tracks turn out to be stellar exciting tracks,
while we have new tracks that are mostly overly boring?

[FW17]

COTA is crappy

[Moose]

looking at the track, a question pops to mind......bar the Circuit of The Americas not being bad (though imho not really special either),
why is it that 'new' tracks are so notoriously crappy? I dont know if i can point it to Tilke being the cause as he's the one that did the 'new ones',
and additionaly, the revised rules certainly will have effect, but in general, what is the cause that the old classics are so spectacular?
I'm not even touching the legacy part there, im rather discussing the tracks actually being exciting.

Spa definately is. the OLD hockenheim was. Suzuka, Imola. Monza. Silverstone. Mexico (renewed but still).

this might deserve its own thread, but im wondering, is it because its too purpose built? i dont remember how in the past circuits were elected to
be driven on. Why is there a belgian gp at spa, for example?

The original spa, like the original monza, were different in their layouts, so at a certain point people - whether that was the FIA i dunno - must have
come to a point where they said 'lets change it'. That which followed is what intrigues me. Why did these tracks turn out to be stellar exciting tracks,
while we have new tracks that are mostly overly boring?

Two things.
1) Mostly, sentimental attachment. People attach worth to things that have been about for a long time, so people who have been watching F1 since 1970 are all going to love spa, monza, silverstone, etc
2) Some of the new tracks appear to have been designed deliberately with no decision made about what kind of track they're going to be. Lots of them have some combination of 1/3 of the track being very high speed, 1/3 being about high speed sweeping corners, and 1/3 being about low speed turns. That combination isn't always going to be bad (see Suzuka), but repeating it endlessly does cause rather a boring collection of tracks.

IMO they would have been better off designing a series of individually unique tracks - Spa is interesting because it's pretty much all high speed - there's barely a low speed corner on it. Monza is interesting because it's the only (at least now that Hockenheim is gone) track with basically a combination of straights and chicanes. Silverstone and Suzuka both live off a series of extraordinary high speed corners that are very difficult to get right.

CoTA managed to fit into that final category, and they got a good track out of it.

[ThumbsUp]

Spa wasn't a full circuit back in the day, it was partly public road and part track.

"Until 2000 it was possible to travel over the race track when it was still a public road. At Eau Rouge, southbound traffic was allowed to use the famous uphill corner, while the opposite downhill traffic had to use the old road and U-turn behind the grand stands, rejoining the race track at the bottom of Eau Rouge."

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circuit ... ncorchamps

Some of the old classic tracks where created on public roads..

[PlatinumZealot]

looking at the track, a question pops to mind......bar the Circuit of The Americas not being bad (though imho not really special either),
why is it that 'new' tracks are so notoriously crappy? I dont know if i can point it to Tilke being the cause as he's the one that did the 'new ones',
and additionaly, the revised rules certainly will have effect, but in general, what is the cause that the old classics are so spectacular?
I'm not even touching the legacy part there, im rather discussing the tracks actually being exciting.

Spa definately is. the OLD hockenheim was. Suzuka, Imola. Monza. Silverstone. Mexico (renewed but still).

this might deserve its own thread, but im wondering, is it because its too purpose built? i dont remember how in the past circuits were elected to
be driven on. Why is there a belgian gp at spa, for example?

The original spa, like the original monza, were different in their layouts, so at a certain point people - whether that was the FIA i dunno - must have
come to a point where they said 'lets change it'. That which followed is what intrigues me. Why did these tracks turn out to be stellar exciting tracks,
while we have new tracks that are mostly overly boring?

Let us differentiate between exciting track and exciting race because not all the time all the old tracks make exciting races. I feel I have been over this topic almost everyear when Spa comes around; and like three quarters of those times Spa produced a mediocre race. Yes. Lovely track, beautiful scenery, nice towatch the cars being driven around it, almost serene. But the races are not always exciting. I don't even remember what happened in last year's race. Was probably a snoozer too. I think for every boring race on a new track there is a boring race on an old one.Mind you, if you want to talk about the actual track design and how ecxciting it looks with a car lapping it that is a whole nother kettle of fish.

[Paul]

I think too powerful DRS has hurt racing here recently. Unless severely underpowered faster cars just breeze past others.

[Juzh]

A lil' something from me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccmT7AtOQaI

Nice one.

It's interesting to see how the 2015 car pulls in the straights, and the 2008 car pulls back on the corners. While the recent cars clearly have more power, in 2008 the aero rules were much more lax and the cars were considerably lighter.

Very cool to see that side by side in a vid.

Thanks.

[Jolle]

Spa wasn't a full circuit back in the day, it was partly public road and part track.

"Until 2000 it was possible to travel over the race track when it was still a public road. At Eau Rouge, southbound traffic was allowed to use the famous uphill corner, while the opposite downhill traffic had to use the old road and U-turn behind the grand stands, rejoining the race track at the bottom of Eau Rouge."

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circuit ... ncorchamps

Some of the old classic tracks where created on public roads..

Oh yes, I did this in the mid ninties with my trusty old Saab 96. Real fun to go trough Eau Rouge, shifting back to third, doing the bottom with about 80km/h and then trying to get up the hill. I think it was a few weeks before the GP, it was like driving into a comic book, from busted up roads with dark green and dirt on the sides to suddenly this brightly colored surroundings with tarmac so flat it didn' t make any sound (compared to the Saab). It was a surreal experience