Yearly Archives: 2012

Kimi Raikkonen Lotus F1 Team at F1 2012, Barcelona

1. REAR WING
Similar levels of downforce are required to Bahrain, which is a little bit higher than Shanghai. A reasonably long straight here means an effective DRS systems helps, even though the straight isn’t as long as that seen in China.

2. BRAKES
There are no real issues with braking at all here. The demands are not great and testing here means we know what to expect. It will be a case of tuning our front and rear ducts to achieve the correct temperatures for best braking performance, with no particular concerns over wear.

3. SUSPENSION
It’s a track we know well from testing, but the main difference with the race is that the track temperatures will be much higher, meaning the tyres will work differently. Set-ups used in winter testing to make the tyres warm-up quicker will not be needed. There is no particular kerb usage so the car can run lower than otherwise. Turn 16 is the essential corner; if you have a good car through here, it maximises the run down the long straight. In qualifying it’s pretty much a flat out corner but with high fuel and a bit of tyre degradation it becomes more tricky.

4. TYRES
Pirelli’s P Zero Yellow Soft and P Zero Silver hard tyres will be nominated. Barcelona can be tough on tyres due to the circuit layout and track surface abrasion. The long, fast turn 3 puts a particularly heavy load on the left front tyre. Turn 5 can also present locking of the front tyres caused by braking and turning into the corner as the road falls away from the car.

5. FRONT WING
Sufficient front wing is required to eliminate understeer through the first and final turns.

6. ENGINE
Good driveability from the engine is needed, particularly during the lower speed corners in the second half of the lap.

Alan Permane, Director of Trackside Operations gives us his insight into the Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona.

TURNS 1 + 2
This is a quick part of the circuit with a swift change of direction in between the first two bends. Turn 1 is one of the few corners on the track where overtaking is possible. Carrying high speed from the exit of turn 2, combined with a good line heading into the very quick turn 3 is crucial to a good lap time.

TURN 3
The high speed nature of turn 3 puts a lot of stress through the tyres, especially the front left.

TURN 4
Similarly turn 4 is another which places heavy demands on the tyres (again predominantly the front left), with the car turning and breaking from high speed into the tight bend.

TURN 5
With downhill braking into this corner it’s very easy to lock the front tyres – as the driver brakes and turns inwards the road falls away from the car, so the inside front tyre can easily lock.

TURN 10
The slowest corner on the track, turn 10 is a good test of the car’s traction. With high fuel loads this will be taken in first or second gear, followed by a wide exit into turn 11 which is taken flat out.

TURNS 14 + 15
A more technical part of the track here with some large kerbs which drivers are advised to avoid. The car is not set-up to use these kerbs.

TURN 16
It’s essential to have a good car through Turn 16 to maximise the run down the long straight. In qualifying it’s taken pretty much flat out, but with high fuel and a bit of tyre degradation it becomes more tricky.

START/FINISH STRAIGHT
The track surface is quite abrasive, meaning the tyres get a double whammy as the circuit layout puts them through their paces too.

Paul Bird Motorsport or PBM that races a single ART machine in the CRT category of MotoGP with rider James Ellison has denied that it is splitting with the rider.  The manager of the team Paul Bird (who managed the official Kawasaki World Superbike effort before quitting WSBK at the end of last year after a split with Kawasaki and concentrating on BSB still with Kawasaki machinery and MotoGP with ART or Aprilia Racing Technologies) himself has issued a denial of split with Ellison.  The mysterious press release says that Shane (Shaky) Byrne is only being used for additional testing and not as replacement for Ellison.  The additional testing has been necessitated apparently by the chatter issue on the ART machine which Ellison is finding to be a problem.  Bird has insisted that Byrne and Stuart Easton will continue as test riders for PBM.  Now that is a strange piece of news, something that nobody even knew existed.

The Czech based Liberty Racing team that runs the Ducati 1198 in World Superbikes will race at the Donington Park round of World Superbikes but without its sponsor Effenbert’s name on the Ducatis.  It has been reported by us that the team was not happy with the Race Direction of WSBK due to what it thinks is the unreasonable cancellation of the first race and the truncating of the second race under pressure from certain riders and managers.  The team had in fact threatened to withdraw due to the fact that it thought it was robbed a chance of victory for itself, its sponsor and for Sylvain Guintoli the rider who had put the Ducati on Pole.  It has now said that it will race at Donington but without the backing of its sponsor.  It is unclear if the sponsor has withdrawn only for one race or if it has done so for the rest of the season.  It is also unclear if in the absence of Effenbert, the Liberty Racing Team can continue to race in the series.

It is well known that Joan Lascorz of Spain sustained an injury in post race testing and this injury has probably (we say probably because there have been no accurate updates) been paralysed in his arms and hands.  After going one round without a replacement, it became contractually imperative for the Provec Team that manages the Kawasaki official racing effort in World Superbike racing to find a replacement.  Provec is a Spanish outfit and chose to run Sergio Gadea who once raced with reasonable success in the 125cc category of MotoGP. But the Spanish rider was ill at ease on the 1000cc Superbike machinery and this has yet again forced Provec to look for a replacement.  This time around for Donington and Miller Park rounds the replacement will be Loris Baz of France who rides the Kawasaki ZX10R in the World Superstock category of World Superbike Racing.

The Donington round and the Miller park round will not have Superstock races and therefore Baz will race in the Superbike category.  His performance in Superstock has been impressive and his familiarity with the ZX10R seem to be the reasons behind choosing him.  It is however unclear as to what will happen for the rest of the season with no clarity on the Joan Lascorz situation.

This time of the year seems to be all about replacing injured riders.  It is now the turn of John Hopkins to be replaced for the Donington round of the World Superbike Championship, after having sustained a fracture of the foot and muscle tear injuries while crashing out at Monza.  His replacement will be Peter Hickman who races for the MSS Colchester Kawasaki team (which is supported by the manufacturer) in the British Superbike Championship.  Again this is a temporary replacement for the coming race at Donington Park before Hopkins resumes duties at the Miller Park round in the USA.  Hopkins last rode in MotoGP on a Kawasaki before the manufacturer pulled out and left him very high and very dry.  Since then his career as a racer has seen a downward spiral until last year when he did well with the Crescent Suzuki team in the British Superbike Championship.  This led to his promotion to the World Superbikes squad after Suzuki officially withdrew from the sport but allowed Crescent Suzuki to race with technical backing from Yoshimura.  However he was injured before the inaugural round at Australia and had to be replaced by Josh Brooks.

It is well known that Colin Edwards was unceremoniously bounced off the track last time around at Estoril during qualifying by a crashing Randy De Puniet.  The punt received by Edwards led to his breaking his collarbone into five parts.  Since then Edwards has undergone corrective surgery but has been advised by doctors that he needs rest and time to lead the injury heal and therefore he will not be racing at the Le Mans race in a weeks time.  His team has replaced him for Le Mans with Chris Vermeulen whose career in two wheeled racing has been blighted by an injury that he suffered when he went to race in World Superbikes with Kawasaki.  He suffered a knee injury that has kept him out of racing for nearly two years now.  Prior to that Vermeulen raced on the Rizla Suzuki MotoGP machine for four seasons and got the Japanese manufacturer its first and thus far only victory in four stroke GP racing at a wet Le Mans in 2007.   However, with the necessity to replace Colin Edwards becoming a contractual obligation and the BMW-Suter machine of NGM Racing not exactly setting fast lap times, the team seems to have chosen the out of work Vermeulen so that they do not have to pay high wages.  Edwards will most likely return to racing post Le Mans so this could be for just one race.

The Cruze from Chevrolet (General Motors) has been one car that has reversed the dwindling fortunes of GM worldwide.  It has also been doing exceedingly well in the World Touring Car Championships by dominating them for the last couple of years.  At the Geneva show a stationwagon version of the Cruze was shown with a slightly new face; one that features thin horizontal slats in the place of the honeycomb grille and new vertical fog lamps and a wider chin.  Since then there has been speculation that the new look will be used for the saloon version as well and it seems that India may actually get the car with the facelifted front.  This is likely to happen later in the year and there maybe some changes to the interior as well.

Updated Cruze

The ever increasing prices of Petrol have more or less nullified any advantages that petrol fuelled cars had and that has meant that most car makers and their dealers have piled up inventories of petrol cars manufactured in 2011.  It has now emerged that Volkswagen in the one manufacturer who is yet to clear the petrol car inventory of 2011 which features both the Polo and the Vento.  Apparently to clear the stocks, dealers are offering discounts in excess of Rs. 1 lakh.  So if you like petrol cars (like some of us here at Riot Engine do) you can grab a VW for a song.  We suggest you do that, for they are good solid cars.

This is not necessarily a rumour which is in the realm of the impossible.  It is well known that after Bajaj has successfully bought into KTM to the extent of 47% synergies between the two companies are growing.  KTM has designs for the Indian market and all but confirmed a 350cc motorcycle and Bajaj is likely to develop the cheaper sibling of that.  Some are speculating that this 350cc  is actually going to be 375 cc while others are speculating that the twin cylinder will be of at least 400cc because they feel that the existing 200cc will become the base.  Some of the more imaginative rumours are that the existing Pulsar 220 will become the base engine and therefore the new motorcycle could be of 450 or even 500cc.  None of them are unrealistic speculations, but as is usually the case with Bajaj we get to know everything only when the product is actually launched.

Honda is changing gears and competition beware!!  The day after Bajaj launches its new motorcycle, Honda will launch the motorcycle that it hopes will take it to the top of the Indian market.  Honda had previewed the Dream Yuga, the motorcycle that features the 110cc engine from its CB Twister and the looks of the 125cc CB Shine.  A less known fact about the CB Shine is that Honda sells this unassuming motorcycles by the bucketfuls every month and that this has been the motorcycle that has been driving the growth of Honda in the motorcycle segment just as the Activa has been driving the scooter sales. A not very well known fact is that Dream was the operative word for Honda founder Soichiro Honda and the first ever motorcycle that he built was called the Dream D.  In the South East Asian part of the world, the Super Cub look alikes also go by the name of Dream and Honda is number one in these markets.  The observative people among you may have noticed the almost regular use of the word Dream in all communication that Honda uses.  We know of Earth Dreams, Power of Dreams etc.  So we also know what Honda is dreaming up for India.

It is also known that Honda has relegated TVS to fourth position in the Indian two wheeler market and also overtook Bajaj once in March for second position before dropping down to third again in April.  However, Honda is snapping at the heels of Bajaj and the launch of the Dream Yuga could just catapult Honda into second position in the Indian market.  However, it may need some time to reel in Hero because of the substantial gap between the first and the second positions in sales terms.  Bajaj needs to develop less experimental and more well researched products if it has to stay ahead of Honda.  As for Yamaha and Suzuki, hmmm, what can we say but all the best.

Honda Dream Yuga with the iconic 'Dream D'