Go Force India

Having missed out on the TV telecast and highlights of the Monaco F1 Grand Prix due to un-avoidable offline chores, I find myself in no position to write up a good review of the race here, I myself had to rely on the blogosphere and the news websites for knowing what went on in Monte Carlo on Sunday. And  well, there was this one review which I really liked because it was exhaustive and well written. I know a lot of you have reservations about exhaustive reviews on any thing and I couldn’t agree with you more myself, but when it comes to F1, I need to know everythi, why? Well, because I am a F1 junkie. A first this incident then this and then these were the top three position wining drivers type of review doesn’t fix me, I need to know all that happened, the strategy, tactics etc etc. So I had to salvage what info I got from the blogosphere and form the big picture myself damn! And on account of what I have gathered, it was a fantastic race, I hate myself for missing it.

Anyway, thanks to Gadget Freaks for their Monaco GP review, it was one of the better ones I found and since I must put something of a sort of review of Monaco GP here at ‘Go Force India’, [this is supposed to be the best blog/website out there for Force India and Formula1 stuff guys, get used to it] I posted about the nice review I found from Gadget Freaks, if you missed the Monaco GP like me, you will ome to know a lot about what at Monaco.

Talking of Jaguar, any motor sport aficionado immediately remembers that Jaguar is the only car that has won the ‘Le Mans’ 6 times! Le Mans is a 24 hours race and most motor sport enthusiasts, pundits will tell you that Le Mans is THE most grueling in Motor sport. So every one was shocked a bit at least Ford put up Jaguar and even Land Rover brands up for sale. And as was rumored since some time now, Jaguar and Land Rover brands were to be sold to Tata Motors. The deal was officially confirmed by both sides yesterday on 26th March. Yesterday, Ford officially announced it’s agreement to sell the brands to Tata Motors for aproximately 2.3billion$. Tata Motors can now boast of a range from as low as Rs 1 Lakh (approx 2500$) to 50 times that price at much more than hundred thousand$.

The irony of this is getting chuckles everywhere. India is now the second largest source of foreign investment in UK. And a company from England’s former colony has come to the aid of the ailing Jaguar & Land Rover brands which are seen as icons of British Luxury. To give you an idea of how iconic these brands are, the last time Tony Blair pulled out of 10 Downing street, he did so in a Jaguar and higher up the British Aristocracy, her majesty, the Queen of England Queen Elizabeth II herself uses a Land Rover to drive around the gardens in Windsor Castle.

Then, Jaguar has also competed 4 times in Formula1 championships. Though it’s performance was dismal in F1 with zero wins, zero pole positions, two podiums, a handful of points. In November of 2004, Ford finally sold of the Jaguar Racing to the energy drink giant, Red Bull and the team has since then be christened Red Bull Racing team. What I can’t help but wonder is: Will we see another Formula1 team in years to come by owned by an Indian? Will Tata motors ever reintroduce the Jaguar brand in F1 or even in other motorsports or better yet, will we see Tata F1 in the not so distant future? Only time will tell…

Anyway, as for the business angle, many blame Ford for the mess Jaguar is in now and a change of ownership is being viewed with optimism every where. Tata now can count itself amongst companies such as Daimler & Toyota who also have a full range portfolio. The jury seems to be divided on whether this is strength or a liability.

The ever positive and optimistic visionary business man - Ratan Tata had this to say:

Toyota created Lexus, Nissan has Infinity. No one is saying, ‘How can BMW handle the Mini?’ But they’ve made a huge success of it. So why is it impossible?

I was until a few days earlier very happy with the look of the Go Force India blog, but whenevr I wanted to add or change some functionality of the blog, I’d have to make my way through all the PHP, CSS and XHTML code included in the theme files and it would take me hours to get the look I wanted.  It did not support widgets and the guys who made this theme don’t answer emails, so the only choice I had was to switch over to a new theme. The current theme is called ’ Techicon‘ and it is by Jai Verma. I hope all of you subscribers and all visitors like the revamped look of the blog, please drop me a comment about how you liked the new look. Your feedback is very important to me, I like listening to what others feel about my choices and work. Thanks in advance…!

I am writing the second time here today just to say that I wish I was in Europe right now or more specifically Stoneleigh Park, Coventry. That is where Race Retro’s premier Motorsport  History of Europe show is being held. (Which does go back quite a long way.)The show is being held starting tomorrow 14th March up until 16th March. If you do not know about the Race Retro show then watch the google video to get a good idead of what it’s all about.

 The fun thing is that the guys who assemble there need’nt worry about missing the first race of the F1 season as well, live shows will be screened indoors as well outdoors so that the drunk and fun crowd can go berserk together during every important moment during the race. What a grand way to celebrate passion for motor racing!!!

A number of technical and sporting changes have been introduced by the FIA for the 2008 season, while some changes have been applauded, others have been criticized by many important voices in the Formula1 community. But looking at the big picture, it is clear that much more emphasis is now on the reliablity of the cars and on driving skills. Here’s a brief list of the regulation changes for the 2008 season and an explanation of what it means.

1. Traction & Launch control systems are no longer permitted to be used by any of the F1 teams. Their chief function was to prevent the rear wheels spinning if a driver applies too much power. The reason given by FIA for this is that not permitting Traction & Launch control will place more emphasis on Driver skill and this would inevitably increase overtaking on the track which of course would make the sport much more exciting and entertaining.
2. Engine ChangesNot too much surprise here, engine changes can only be made after the current engine has been used for two consecutive races. If the engine does fail in testing or any time before qualifying and has to be changed then the driver gets demoted by 10 positions on the grid. If however, the engine fails after qualifying and it is changed, the driver must then start at the back of the grid. Now, comes the fresh amendment for 2008: Each driver is allowed one ‘free’ change per season, unless that change takes place at the final round. In other words, he will not incur a penalty for his first engine failure of the year, as long it is not at the last event.
3. Gearboxes must now last for four consecutive Grand Prix races. Every unscheduled gearbox change will require the driver to drop five places on the grid at that race. If a driver does not finish any grand prix race, he will be allowed to start the next race with a new gearbox without incurring a penalty.
4. Electronic Control Units (ECUs)The FIA has now standardised ECUs and starting this season, all teams must use FIA approved ECUs to control their cars electronics. Even the software which runs on the ECUs is standardised by FIA and owing to these changes, what the teams are doing can be scrutinised more closely.
5. Cockpit Safety The height of the cockpit padding even on the sides has been increased by the FIA. Obviously, this is to increase the safety of the drivers vital parts such as the head & neck in the event of the crash. It also looks like they may just be anticipating more accidents because of the traction control, gearbox changes and hence this step may also have been taken.
6. Qualifyinghas a couple of slight tweaks too. The duration of the Q1 session has been increased from 15 mins to 20 mins, while that of the Q3 session has been decreased from 15 to 10 mins. The Q2 session will still be for 15 mins. The other change is that the teams which qualify for Q3 do not get the fuel that was lost in this session back.
7. Regulations Over Fuel being used have also been changed to make F1 racing more environmentally friendly. Since 2008, at least 5.75 percent of all fuel must contain bio-matter and, as a result, all cars must be designed to be bio-fuel compliant.

The changes all look good to me. Teams like McLaren & Ferrari have a near endless supply of money to burn and they could well afford to be miles ahead when all that mattered was how much is the budget of the team. The regulation changes lower the gap between the tail end teams and front end ones thus creating a much more level field. I hope we get to see another hottly contested season this year as well with drama on the road as well just as off it.If you want to read the FIA Regulations for the 2008 season in detail, please visit the official formula1 website.

With Vijay Mallya’s and the media’s attention being caught up in swimsuit calendars and IPL T20 cricket league, F1 and Force India have taken a back seat recently. Now, finally there’s noteworthy news coming from the Force India team. VJMO1, Force India’s F1 car has only had some major aerodynamic and mechanical updates recently in preparation for the seasons first race - the Australian Grand Prix held in Melbourne city. Considering the recent history India and Australia have had in cricket makes it interesting to see the Melbourne race even more. Also, I used to play F1 a lot on my PlayStation earlier and I had the Melbourne circuit memorized. It’s one of the best one’s I like after Monaco (but hate it that there is virtually no overtaking there) I hope Fisichella and/or Liuzi can pull of a couple of overtaking stunts. That’ll be absolutely thrilling perhaps.

Anyway, they test the car starting today 25th Feb up until 27th in Barcelona. One of the biggest factors which the team is looking at according to the team’s chief technical officer Mike Gascoyne is the cars reliability. This is one area in which the team (Spyker previously) was very poor throughout the previous season of 2007.  

It’ll be fun to see the cars take the chequered flag no matter what position then maybe they can suddenly be in points for one or two races and get even more camera exposure during races and then improve further and further until… a season championship. (one can hope atleast) Collection of related pic’s can be found here.