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Famous quotes from ayrton senna-

1. “Fear is exciting for me.” ~ Ayrton Senna 2. “I felt as though I was driving in a tunnel. The whole circuit became a tunnel... I had reached such a high level of concentration that it was as if the car and I had become one. Together we were at the maximum. I was giving the car everything - and vice versa.” ~ Ayrton Senna 3. “Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose.” ~ Ayrton Senna 4. “It's going to be a season with lots of accidents, and I'll risk saying that we'll be lucky if something really serious doesn't happen.” ~ Ayrton Senna 5. “The day it arrives, it will arrive. It could be today or 50 years later. The only sure thing is that it will arrive.” ~ Ayrton Senna sponsored by-historyoff1.blogspot.com

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Showing posts with label toyota. Show all posts
Showing posts with label toyota. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

KERS for some??? in 2009!!!???


BMW Sauber, Honda Racing and Williams will be suppoting the introduction of Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS) in Formula One, despite concerns about safety and opposition from other teams against its introduction in 2009.

F1 teams have met twice in the past seven days to discuss the subject of KERS, with some teams feeling the safety worries and escalating costs of the technology mean it better to postpone their use in grand prix racing until 2010.

But with unified agreement among the teams needed to change F1's regulations, or at the very least put in place a gentleman's agreement that no one will run with the devices next year, the introduction of KERS looks certain to go ahead.

Renault boss Flavio Briatore is understood to have led calls for a delay when the matter was discussed at last week's Maranello meeting, with some teams happy for such a delay to happen if other teams agreed. However, with Honda, BMW and Williams opposed to such an idea, any move to postpone the introduction has been abandoned for now.

Team bosses met again in the paddock at the Hungaroring on Sunday morning to therefore implement a more open framework for resolving the issues - agreeing to publicise each outfit's safety and cost experiences.

BMW motorsport director Mario Theissen told autosport.com: "We think we should go ahead with it, and there were three aspects discussed in the meeting - two of them openly, which is safety and financial implications. And the other one, underlying the picture, is competitiveness, as you would expect.

"Our point of view is that it is good, not just for BMW but for the sport. And if it is good we should have it as soon as possible."

Theissen, whose team's KERS project is currently on hold while they investigate the recent electric shock incident at Jerez, said that delaying it would be of no benefit for costs or safety.

"No technical project has become cheaper by delaying its introduction. So if we delayed it by another year we would spend the same money without putting it on stage, and there is no sense at all.

"It is clear that we have to get the safety issues out of the way and we definitely will not race it until it is achieved. We are confident to achieve that safety and I don't see any other reason for a delay."

Theissen's feelings about the matter are echoed by Williams chief Frank Williams, who claims the vote taken at Maranello means there should be no going back.

"It is an exciting challenge that we are enjoying," he said. "There were two or three against the delay but we want to carry on with what we are doing."

Although BMW Sauber and Red Bull Racing have had safety scares with the systems, Honda Racing have so far experienced few problems – after becoming the first team to successfully complete a track test with their device at Silverstone last week.

Following a run at Santa Pod earlier this year, and having conducted rig test work on the device recently, Mike Conway drove a KERS system at Silverstone to show that the devices could work without problem.

Honda Racing team principal Ross Brawn told autosport.com: "We are happy to carry on with KERs, and we have put a lot of effort in. I think if we were the only ones who were stood out saying no then we might consider it (a delay), but we would generally be happier if it was kept."

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Q & A with Panasonic Toyota's Timo Glock

Conducted and provided by Toyota's press office.

Q. From stretcher at Hockenheim to podium at Hungaroring. How does that feel?

Timo Glock on the podium in HungaryTimo Glock: Just unbelievable. I almost had to pinch myself when I saw Felipe Massa's engine failing with three laps to go and I knew that I was in second position. I had pressure from Kimi Raikkonen in the other Ferrari over the closing laps and I was struggling a little with the softer tyre in the final stint. We knew from Friday practice that the soft tyres would be more difficult.

I had a reasonable pace and saw I was 9 seconds ahead of Kimi but then the team told me that he was half a second a lap quicker. I just tried to push more while staying focused on not destroying the tyres. In the end he was catching me up but I kept cool and made sure I didn't make any mistakes. I knew from GP2 how hard it is to pass in Budapest and it is even tougher in F1.

Q. You qualified fifth in Hungary, your best grid position by three places, and then came the podium. How do you explain the progress?

TG: In Hockenheim we had a good race pace before my crash and we came to Budapest and just kept that speed. The TF108 felt really good from Friday onwards and we didn't have to make any big changes. It was just perfect until that last stint with soft tyres, which was a bit tricky. I'm in my first full F1 championship and with just half a season gone I'm on the podium! It feels great - it was a perfect weekend.

Q. You managed to beat Robert Kubica's BMW away from the grid and take fourth place on the opening lap. How important was that?

TG: Pretty important the way things worked out because Robert had a tough race. I've had to improve my starts because my reaction times were not perfect at the first couple of races. This time the start was really great. And actually, although qualifying was good I felt I might even have been a couple of places further up the grid. I was second fastest to Massa's Ferrari with low fuel in Q2 but struggled a bit in Q3 with tyre temperatures.

I actually set my best time on used tyres because I couldn't get the tyres up to temperature for the first flying lap of my last run because Kubica was a bit slower on the out lap compared to me and I had to slow down. I lost a bit of performance on the flying lap but in the end I was happy with fifth even though I thought I could have gone quicker than Robert.

Q. Has anything fundamentally changed to help your performance?

TG: I don't like an understeering car and that was a problem sometimes this season. But in Hockenheim and Budapest the feel of the car was much more in my direction and better suited my driving style. I could just put the car where I wanted to in a corner and that was the case in both qualifying and the race.

Q. Were there any after effects following your Hockenheim crash?

TG: No. Until I came into the medical centre I was sure that maybe I made a mistake and ran a bit too wide over the kerb with a heavy-fuelled car. I had felt some bottoming and so I thought it might be my own mistake. But then the team told me that the rear suspension collapsed and that was the reason for the crash. When I saw it for the first time it looked more spectacular than it felt in the car. For sure it was a bit painful on the back in the first impact and I must have breathed at the wrong moment because I was a bit winded. But I was ready to go home from hospital that night although it was standard practice to keep me overnight for observation.

Q. What did it feel like to be front page news for a few days?

TG: Actually, answering all the same questions probably took more energy out of me than the crash. I want to make the news for race results, not accidents! In fact, what was worse was a minor case of food poisoning I picked up at the Jerez test the week after. The heat was no issue in Hungary but when I drank quite a lot throughout the race I again had a few problems with my stomach. I wasn't feeling perfect after the race but the heat wasn't the biggest problem.

Q. Do you think the team is well placed now to finish fourth in the constructors' championship?

TG: The grid is very competitive and at one circuit or in certain conditions Red Bull is stronger, then next race it is us, and so it's quite up and down and difficult to predict. But the TF108 has shown good performance in hot conditions and we were always confident for Budapest.

Q. What do you know about the new Valencia circuit which hosts the next race?

TG: I've studied a computer game, walked around the track and seen some pictures from the recent F3 race there. It looks pretty interesting for a street circuit.

Q.What is on your personal agenda for the summer break?

TG: I will go to Los Angeles, to Monterey, where there is a big old-timer event where I will drive a Toyota sportscar. Then maybe I'll spend four or five days in LA and have a little break there. I will definitely watch the Olympics. I don't have any special names to support but the cycling is definitely one thing I will follow closely.

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