Karting post: My Video from hooton!!

Howdy, its been a while hasn't it? Ive missed you all but I'm back! and here's the video from my day out in hooton, also gone are WandiWednesdays! unfortunately neither you nor me has the time for some midweek racing goodness so its changing to a weekend thing! let me know if you have any name suggestions in the comments section, but here's my videos from hooton enjoy.

Be Well ----------------------- Mustafa S. Wandi

New Weekly Segment, Videos thats more fun than a cinnamon bun

From today onwards Wednesdays shall be about 12.23% more awesome, keep your eyes here for the weekly segment where i through a little bit of YouTube awesomeness at your face. i have watched thousands if not millions of videos and some have been good, some very poor.

i have been working on a little YouTube project of my own and soon that will take over this weekly segment and the videos i shall post will be my own, but for the time being they shall be my favorites on YouTube. i want to kick today's segment off with Mr Ryan Burns in a KF3 kart in Hooton (woop woop my local track), i have never driven a KF3 but he seems to be doing it oddly, but anyway without further ado (This was recorded with a special "SmartyCam" that is how he has the overlay of data (very useful i must say))

Be Well ----------------------- Mustafa S. Wandi

F1 POST : Mercedes Front DRS (controversial or creative?)

IT HAS BEGUN!!!!!! yes im a bit late but still, every year we seem to have a team come out with thier sexy new design that just complies to regulations due to loop holes in the rules, 2009 it was the Double diffuser, 2010 is was the F-duct and 2011 it was the Flexi-Front wing and this year its Ross Brawn again with the contoversy, thats twice in the past 3 years, ey yay yay

So what is it this year? well ill keep it as simple as possable, all F1 cars this year have a Rear flap at the back which at high speed (when downforce is BAD!! and slows you down) the driver opens the flap and reduces rear downforce and thus more speed on the straights.

Here we see the flap closed (High downforce, Good for corners, Bad for Straights)

Here we see the Flap open (Low downforce, Bad for corners Good for straights)

(Click read more for full post)

So my clutch exploded and stuff

As posted before i went to hooton park with my kart and have uploaded the pictures onto Flickr to check them out the links is:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/77033868@N03/   Racing karts are not toys! yup i learned to hard and rather expensive way, A friend of mine is rather handy with a camera (being a photography student and all) and having never driven a kart before i thought what's the worst that could happen if he was to give it a few laps. Just a quick side note and over the next few days i will be throwing some tasty new fitness and diet posts towards your computer screens so keep an eye out for that.   Now back to the main story and unfortunately the worst did happen, after a spin out our photographer was riding the throttle and brake at the same time (not knowingly of the damage it could cause ofcourse) generating a lot of heat in the clutch and eventually causing it to explode, blowing off the the blue thingy dangling off (which i later learned it to be an ignition coil) in the process. so 2 lessons 1, NEVER press the brake and throttle at the same time 2, Indoor karts and Racing karts are different animals, not everyone can drive a racing kart on the first go,   That shouldn't push anyone away from racing but try to practice on a slow kart first such as a single engined prokart or a direct drive engine. If you decide to jump right into a fancy racing kart then just remember to never push both pedals at once and don't be put off if you spin off I want to make it very clear that i do think ANYONE can drive and race a go kart and do so very well, but like any other sport you will struggle if you jump and skip a few stages, or put in a metaphor, you will struggle later on if you run before you walk. Now unfortunatly this all happened before i got a chance to shoot the video i promised you all so more delays on that but i shall keep you up to date on the karts recovery. and also in my next post ill upload some pictures of the remains on my clutch Be Well ----------------------- Mustafa S. Wandi

Formula 1 begins!

Albert park was harassed recently by the revs and screams of 22 formula 1 cars a few hours ago, yup 22 not 24, i hate to sound cocky... wait , i love sounding cocky, but i predicted the failure of HRT in preseason testing, but they still impressed me, i assumed they would be embarrassing, but no they failed to even quilify (didn't meet 107% rule).

 

McLaren seem to have a clear advantage in straight lines and the MercedesGP looks amazingly steady and stable, Red bull seem to be in Mclarens shoes last year because the car doesn't seem to have pace in qualy but race pace was good and Vettel gave Jenson a good run for his money...
 

Modern Formula 1 Tracks boring??

If your into your formula one then you will know that the "buzz" of the sport is gone, (well... gone is such a powerfull word, perhaps shrunk) , are these modern tracks a factor?

Its no secret that the new tracks such as india, abu dhabi and korea were rather boring to watch, F1 is trying to spread and there is nothing wrong with that but this is a lenthy proccess, with the addition of the USA GP thats 4 new tracks.

The drivers seem to love the tracks, I have watched millions of videos and played endless hours of video games (as close as i can get) and the tracks are good fun but i cant help but think why not bring back the classics? why not just improve the safety of the tracks and re-introduce them.

It seems like a cheaper option in comparison to an entirely new track. F1 does occasionally need a new track to spice the season up but 4 is too many.
I leave you now with M Shumachers 2006 lap of imola (a track i am too young too know the glory of but abselutely love watching races there. ) i hope you watch it and admire how the track isnt flat, but goes up and down and theres the odd camber, and as the car drives past the grand stands just take a quick look at how packed it is.

Be Well ----------------------- Mustafa S. Wandi

Back into rutine : vettel leads the way in Spain

Yup, you may be bored of the young german but hes back, as mentioned before all the big boys hold back, but they still have to test out their gear(s) (literally with red bull, they had terrable overheating issues in 2010). I have a good feeling about Force india, they have been sneekily moving up the ranks in the past couple of years Full Unofficial times below.

The Hulk (Nico Hulkenburg) was close behind vettels time and set a rather impressive 97 laps, the slow coaches in the back still disapointing and once again Marussia (formerly HRT) running a 2011 spec car, i dont think they will last more than this season....

Jerez Day 2 Shumacher on the move

My pre season comments are quite clear in my previous post so i shall not bore you again but just a quick note, HRT racing are running their 2011 spec car here, they did this last year and the plan bit them in the a#% they were "shaking" down a grand prix car in a race weekend with little realiable data though i doubt HRT are going to do much this year, ive had little faith in them since the start. full unofficail times below

Interestingly Merecedes GP have opted for the same plan, this is a team on the rise and clawing its way back into podiums, i certanly hope this doesnt push them back a step.....