2012 F1 in HDTV - Page 22  

Watching the practice on Speed.

Is there any penalty for when the cars leave the black asphalt?

Grass is a valid -- although non-optimal -- race surface.

Varsha always struck me as just one more talking head pretty boy who, along with dozens of other talking hear pretty boys, tends to take himself too seriously. I can see why an old pro like Varsha might be set on edge by a whirling dervish like Buxton who is clearly putting on a show for us and doesn't mind letting us know that he is putting on a show. Who knows, though? Maybe Varsha just feigned impatience in order to set the scene for Buxton. It seems as if everybody in F1 struts instead of walks, so it's fun to see a class clown like Buxton good-naturedly puncture some of their balloons. He's never obnoxious, though. I have found Buxton's super excitement refreshing so I hope (1) that NBC brings him on board for its F1 telecasts, and (2) that he can remain as effective as he is now, with Diffey as the lead commentator, as he has with Varsha in the first chair.

So, since they can go anywhere, what is the meaning of the red - red/white - blue paint areas? Just guidance info?

Just kidding actually. During qualifying/race, two wheels off is OK, four wheels off is not OK to gain advantage.

During practice they are mostly just trying to figure out car setup and it doesn't matter too much otherwise if they go off.

basically you can't pass with four wheels off the track.

So is there a difference between the red areas and the red/white checkerboard areas? Or is it just like graffiti art, a visual thing for the fans.

I wouldn't count on that....
After the announcement, Buxton tweeted some very dumb comments.

The red and white striped bits have mild bumpers, the red is painted track surface. The green is artificial grass that's been glued down. The orange bits at corner apex is severely angled and quite high at peak - no one would intentionally drive over the top of them. They're in the slowest corners as a strong disincentive to cutting it.

At entrance and exit of a corner, the bumpers are a disincentive since they would be destabilizing under braking or power - it is perfectly legal to drive on them though. Mid corner, they are often abused to get a more desirable line, though not always - sometimes it's quicker to round it off.

At exit, the green fake grass is a disincentive since you can't put the power down efficiently on it. If you look at exit, you can see that the green stuff always leads into the red painted area as a safety margin, so if a driver gets unstable on the green stuff, he can catch it on the red pavement. You'll often see a driver go up on the bumpers at exit briefly, then back down onto the track itself. Sometimes they'll over shoot the bumpers all together and sort of straddle the green stuff.

If you look at the red painted area, there's a white line on either side. The inside line is the track boundary, and you can't legally put all 4 over that line. I assume one reason for the red area is it defines a border around the track, and makes video inspection of what a driver did a little easier (like, fully on the red means he had all 4 over the line.

They really went all out to make this track colorful, as the colors we are discussing here are really BIG, and if we are lucky and a nice sunny day this is gonna really be a great visual experience, the shiny colorful cars and this incredibly colorful track on our big tv's should be fantastic. Pray for sunshine!!

Its such a difference in the visuals when its overcast. The sun just brings out the colors so great, this is true in all sports. Watch a baseball game, most are at night but when you finally can see one on a sunny day in the middle of the afternoon it looks so much more vibrant.

Pray for the Texas sun pardner!!

Thanks for the explanation of the colors. The Speed announcers assume we all know that stuff.

Tomorrow is forecast high clouds, over 12,000 ft. Temps in high 60's, 10 knot winds.

According to Weatherunderground, the Austin forecast tomorrow calls for a high of 75 degrees with a 20 percent chance of rain

Race starts at noon local. High temp is about 4pm here. Track is right by the airport. http://www.usairnet.com/cgi-bin/launch/code.cgi?Submit=Go&sta=KAUS&state=TX

They just changed from cloudy to mostly cloudy.

I watched yesterday's practices last night.
The track looks fantastic.

Unfortunately, I have come to regret not toughing it out and going to the race.
I was under the mistaken impression Austin was further away from COTA than it really is....

Grittree, are you at the track?

Dang, oh well...next year for sure.

I don't regret canceling my plans to go. After hearing reports of difficulty with ingress/egress, with long waits and long walking distances uphill, I realize I wasn't going to have much fun if my back ends up giving me problems as a result by the time I made it there. That, and the fact I have to purchase all my food and drink for the day at high prices is a deal breaker.

When we go to Petit Le Mans, we rent a golf cart for the week, and load that up with a cooler full of food and water. It makes getting around easy, and we don't waste money on overpriced crappy track food. Ditto for Sebring, although there we use the trams instead of renting a golf cart. At Road America, you can drive around the entire track in your car. I just don't like the idea of being told you can't bring anything in, just so the track can rape you for the necessities once you are in.

MY BACK is the reason why I stayed away.
I would have to fly in from Oregon and flying is always tough on me.
Now, if I had a bottle of Vicodin, then maybe....

There is golf carts available to rent at the track?

Yes. Mid-Florida Golf Carts rents them at the track. You reserve one in advance. We pay $325 for three days, and have done so for the last six years. We also don't have to deal with parking on track and getting out through traffic at the end of the day.

Thanx for the info.

Wow.

The new track looks great.

I really enjoyed the Austin race. The track was great! It was wide with long straightaways but was filled with tight, hard to see, curves, too. I thought it brought out the best in the drivers. Best of all, I never thought I'd live to see a pole sitter get passed unless his car broke or he made a mistake. Nevertheless, Hamilton did it. The guy may be a disloyal ass but, boy, he knows how to drive a race car.

Did you go?
I know you're not far away in OK City....

Nah, I don't even go to the OU football games anymore and Norman is only 25 miles away. The F1 track in Austin is nearly 400 miles away so the trip really wasn't in the cards for me. Too bad, but there it is.

Oh, OK.
I didn't realize the distance...way out here in The Wild West it would just be a lazy 4 hour drive.

Did you say 400 miles in 4 hours? Maybe you partner, but include me out of a trip like that.

Back in 2005 I drove all the way across South Dakota, from Rapid City to Sioux Falls at 100 MPH in my M3. That's 350 miles.

SkySport and BBC have their own coverage. Too bad BBC did not come to the U.S. race. I prefer BBC coverage to all others, this include pre- and post-event shows. It is not just commenting the picture, they have actual people on track and in the garage, talking to other people, not just behind the camera voiceover. If BBC coverage is not available, the next best is SkySport. Speed is the third in my opinion.

BBC has charismatic Eddie Jordan and a very literate David Coulthard. SkySport has Damon Hill (looks like a granddaddy) and Martin Brundle (looks and talks like a midpack driver... wait, he was a midpack driver).

I liked the race. Not as violent as in Abu-Dhabi, but plenty of drama and overtaking. I like the way the race turned out, the one whom I rooted for, won. Good stuff. Camera positioning and switching between them was awkward, constant attention to very few Hollywood and whatever other celebrities was annoying. The heli looked almost like on a ground attack course, I wonder how those who were there felt when the heli hammered by. Liked the bit with hats, way to go Pirelli, yee-haw!

The funniest bit is Rick Perry calling Christian Horner as Pepe.

Ummm, F1 does the production and broadcast. Everyone else just adds their own pit reporters and announcers. F1 controls the camera angles and shows the celebrities and all of that.

Out West there is alot of open spaces....and you don't buy cars with > 550 HP to go slow.

Governor Perry is one of the reasons why, in my neck of the woods, the noun Texas is always a punchline.

Funny, I've basically lost interest in F1 TV coverage since I got rid of 'live' TV 2 year back, since watched on Sky/BBC. BBC's coverage is more comprehensive but the commentary is dry and dull, like most McTilke races.

Sky's silly "Hot chick and a young kid in front of a touchscreen" leaves me reaching for the cyanide. Steve Matchett alone is nearly worth the $90 a month I'd burn on a "live" cable feed, and he's got a lot more information than some retired driver re-treading the same old commentary.