A1 on tv?

Running Bing

Looking forward to the start of a1 (things are looking promising for Ireland http://www.a1gp.com/news/index.php?flashNavId=1&newsid=45 Check out the times down the bottom). Just wondering what channel it will be shown on and whens the official launch of the Ireland team(or has it already happened? I cant seem to find much up to date info). Thanks.

Beekay

I think the launch is when the F3/GT race is on in Mondello,because i seen an ad in Autosport.
Aren't Sky Sports supposed to be showing it,i don't know if an Irish channel is,because i don't really want to watch Sky they will concentrate on the GB team and end up pissin' me off

ffocused

A1 is going to be on Sky Sports. They are advertising it now.

ffocused

The unveiling of the Irish team is next Sunday (18/9). Tickets EUR20 via www.mondello.ie Just got mine

Running Bing

Whats the deal with the tickets? If I order on the net do they post it out and if so will it make it in time? I dont mind paying the extra fiver on the day if I thought there would be enough tickets but will there be a big demand. Sounds like a great day though looking forward to it.

ffocused

Babybing wrote:

Whats the deal with the tickets? If I order on the net do they post it out and if so will it make it in time?

I dont know, i presume they are posted out. After completing the online purchase, i only got a thank you screen. No transaction I.D. or reciept or indication that they will be posted out. Am ringing Mondello on Monday to find out. I would assume that you could get in on the day if your tickets do not get to you on time by going to the office past the main car park and giving your details there.

Kersh

The car was picked up early today, and will be in my work place being prepared until the weekend.... yee ha.....

Running Bing

What did everyone think of qualifying. Must say I dont think the format is great(why the hell dont they show all the times?). Also disapointed with the lack of coverage ireland got, I dont actually think the camera followed them once :mad: Biggest shock for me was how poorly Scott speed performed.

gs39t

Babybing wrote:

What did everyone think of qualifying. Must say I dont think the format is great(why the hell dont they show all the times?). Also disapointed with the lack of coverage ireland got, I dont actually think the camera followed them once :mad: Biggest shock for me was how poorly Scott speed performed.

Apart from the lack of on-screen live timing, (which surely will be sorted out) there seems to be a very good response to it if you read other forums. I think it works very well.

This series has a LOT of potential, im looking forward to the races

Running Bing

Agreed it definately has potential it was really just sky sports coverage I thought was crap. It was really a mess, showing the wrong cars and not even knowing themselves what was going on and I thought the inteviewer was very poor just a pretty face. I dont watch much motorsports besides f1(and I havent even been following that for long) and I found it very confusing so a complete newbie to motorsport watching to support their country could be easily turned off. Im sure Sky will get their act together I just hope its sooner rather than later.

gs39t

Babybing wrote:

Agreed it definately has potential it was really just sky sports coverage I thought was crap. It was really a mess, showing the wrong cars and not even knowing themselves what was going on and I thought the inteviewer was very poor just a pretty face. I dont watch much motorsports besides f1(and I havent even been following that for long) and I found it very confusing so a complete newbie to motorsport watching to support their country could be easily turned off. Im sure Sky will get their act together I just hope its sooner rather than later.

A1GP admitted that the onscreen (TV) timing wasnt working yesterday for qualifying and they are working to fix it.

pH

*yawn*

Some parts of that 1st sprint race almost woke me up. Now some idiot is telling me how exciting the pitstop is going to make the 2nd race.

Now this really gets my goat, I'm sick of commetators shrieking hysterically about pitstops, IF CHANGING TYRES WAS EXCITING IT WOULD BE A SPORT!

Watching a group of men fill a car with petrol and change it's tyres is about as interesting as watching paint dry.

As for these Boost buttons - anyone notice them being used. After we were told about them ad-infinitum pre-race, the commentators didn't mention them once, did they work?

Motor racing needs to be competitive, fast and dangerous.

I used to be an avid F1 fan, but the last 3 years have killed any interest. I was hoping for something new from A1, but sadly the same; a long string of cars circling a track with the gaps beween them gradualy expanding.

zAbbo

Boost gets you an extra 30BHP, not sure if that will make a huge difference on 550BHP cars. The presentation is poor, the sprint race(18 laps) ended with Ireland moving up into 10th position(starting on 12th)

At the moment, we're watching random cars with similar paint jobs(ireland/india/mexico/italy etc.) and not knowing who's who.

Only way i knew the Irish car was when it showed it front on and you can see the tricolour on the nose, or if it showed the USA car which Ireland was ahead of.

Feature Race starting @ 3pm

Mossy Monk

wow, what a collision between Netherlands and Italy. the onboard camera shot was excellent

pH

OK, feature race was much better, some good racing.

Seemed silly to let back markers hold up the actual racing, they have no blue flag system which is weird - any idea why?

Boost seems once again irrelevent.

So all in all 6/10 - I'll probably watch some more!

gs39t

For a race at Brands Hatch to be THAT exciting is amazing.

A lot of amatures who shouldnt be there; the opening lap of the feature was a disaster, but the racing itself proved good.

Goodbye formula one, nice knowing you

Running Bing

The feature race had some cracking action but Im a bit disapointed about the boost button, seemed to have little or no impact(can someone please explain what the numbers beside the drivers name has to do with the boost?). the feature race was very boring and again the lack of coverage of the ireland team was very disapointing. Does anybody even know what happened when we went out?

Big Ears

The number beside the drivers name indicate how many boosts a driver has left . I saw a good couple of overtaking manouvers where the boost was used and I think its a good addition to the sport even if it is only 30hp for about 5 secs .

I found this much more exciting than Formula 1 and I know which code il be keeping my eyes mainly on in the future .

gs39t

According to Ben Edwards explanation of the boost:

They have 4 (i think) boost 'shots', where when the driver is on full throttle, activing the boost button will increase the power by 30hp (not sure how, didnt say) UNTIL they release the throttle. So, the boost lasts only until the driver gets off the throttle.

It's nice the way they implemented it into the onscreen graphics. 30hp against 500hp wont equate to a massive speed increase, but would give the driver a good run to get alongside or close up on another car. Some people seem to think there's gonna be big orange flames coming from the back of the cars when the boost is on. :rolleyes:

CART had a similar system a few years back which just went to full rich mixture.

Kersh

I thought the coverage was sh1te. The commentators are brutal, as was that blonde presenter. Ben Edwards trying to get way overworked about triviial moves on track . For example - Kerr was diving up the inside of some driver, it was plain for anyone to see that he wasnt going to make it , yet Edwards was roaring (football commentator) style about the 'move', which didnt work, and i just think he is 'hyping' it a bit much. Martin Brundle would have sat back and said 'thats not gonna work Robbie, duck back in and try elsewhere".
as for the cars, i just dont think they are quick enough. Just 3 secs a lap quicker than a 2 litre f3 car!!!!!! , plus there are some drivers that should not be there.
But isuppose it was the 1st race...............

Running Bing

Yeah thats another problem Kersh pointed out the cars are pretty slow and it shows

Kersh

Oh the other thing that really annoyed me is this:
They keep calling us the UK.
That we are part of the general UK teams, and gb is the british team, and we are the irish team. Cos they keep saying - lets check on the UK teams, and Devaney bla bla Kerr bla bla.
Last I checked, we were not part of the United Kingdom. This is really annoying me too.

Running Bing

Kersh wrote:

Oh the other thing that really annoyed me is this:
They keep calling us the UK.
That we are part of the general UK teams, and gb is the british team, and we are the irish team. Cos they keep saying - lets check on the UK teams, and Devaney bla bla Kerr bla bla.
Last I checked, we were not part of the United Kingdom. This is really annoying me too.

That was absolutely infuriating :mad:

gs39t

Kersh wrote:

Oh the other thing that really annoyed me is this:
They keep calling us the UK.
That we are part of the general UK teams, and gb is the british team, and we are the irish team. Cos they keep saying - lets check on the UK teams, and Devaney bla bla Kerr bla bla.
Last I checked, we were not part of the United Kingdom. This is really annoying me too.

I never noticed this, but if it was mentioned its probably because Sky bought the rights to the UK and Ireland for A1GP.

I cant compare the lap times, but part of the track was re-configured, so that may account for the time difference. Having seen a demo run of the A1 Ireland car at Mondello, it certainly didnt seem 'slow'. The car specs are fairly decent. To be honest yours is the first major complaint ive seen about the series

Give it time; its already better than F1, but what isnt these days

Kersh

Maybe just cos im heavily involved in racing its more obvious to me - but the cars are slow, they look slow. An f1 car looks sensational going around quick corners. The A1 car doesnt. Its not even as good to watch as a well set up f3.
It wants to rival F1, but its falling way short of it right now. Its on a par with f3. At least it wasnt quite as boring as f3000.
The track is slightly different, but should be quicker than it used to be, as they got rid of the ferocious Dingle dell chicane, and replaced it with a bend.
Majorly disappointed I was - and I should be real excited- since my cousin is Ceo..... and i hear loads of A1 news in here.

gs39t

If they are slower, thats not necessarily a bad thing. Sure, F1 has been trying to slow the cars down, no? Look at that series, fast cars with 500 feet between them all. I'd rather watch a race with slower cars and closer racing. Some of the best racing i watch is on short ovals where the speeds dont go above 130mph.

Kersh

Then watch f3!!
Euro F3,
Formula renault, bmw etc.
For all the hype, it was a let down. Not helped by the crap sky program. The sprint race was brutal, not much overtaking going on at all, which is what we were promised. The onboard cameras looked like they were held on with sticky tape they shook so much.
What if Piquet wins the next one..... and dominates.... him a nd Parente are the only 'true' quick guys ala Alonso/kimi. The rest make up the numbers. F3 cast outs, f1 cast outs, a Frenaukt driver, f3000 guys......
I really hope it gets better, i really do - something to watch in the off season.

AdMMM

Don't suppose anyone has been taping/capturing these races? I don't have Sky

aidan_dunne

Well, after watching the race in Germany earlier today, I think I have to agree with some of the comments other people made about how slow the cars look. Maybe it's partially down to the Lausitz circuit itself, I don't know, but watching it today the cars looked painfully slow. And not just on the twisty infield section either, even on the part of the oval circuit they were using the cars looked slow. I've seen F3 cars racing on the same circuit and they've looked quicker, to be honest! :rolleyes: Funnily enough, though, I don't think they looked nearly as bad at Brands a couple of weeks ago. Yes, they looked slower, but it didn't seem quite as bad as it did today. As I said, perhaps it's the nature of the Lausitzring circuit or whatever that seemed to give that impression today, I don't know, but the A1 cars looked terribly slow today.

Flicking between the A1 race on Sky Sports and the repeat of the Japanese Grand Prix on ITV, the speed differential is massive. Okay, I know, completely different formulas and all but, my God, an F1 car looks amazing in comparision, expecially around corners. I know they're quick, and always have, but it's when you compare them side by side is when it really shows up how much faster an F1 car is compared to anything else. No matter how much I see F1 cars in action, I never seem to be able to get over the speed of the direction changes, in particular. If only we had more F1 races like we did today. Some of the overtaking moves, WOW! :eek: I know a lot of people have been asking the question is A1GP going to mark the end of F1. On today's comparison between the two, I'd have to say F1 has little to worry about at the moment, to be honest.

Running Bing

Have to agree the A1 didnt even compare with the f1 this weekend. f1 was another level altogether. I again thought A1 failed to live up to expectations this weekend. I dont think some drivers dont even bother using the boost. Again I thought the qualifying was a mess without timing for a large chunk it was like an f1 practice session with cars that are slower and dont look as good. The sprint race was again extremely boring for some reason compared to the feature race( which was far from spectacular). And how come when new zealand stall and brazil have mechanics crawling all over their car the race is restarted yet when it happens to Italy and Netherlands they have to start from the pits?.

I was seriously looking forward to this series as much as anyone but so far Ive been disapointed. For something billed as the future of motor racing and which promised such exiting wheel to wheel racing and overtaking it hasnt delivered. The end of formula 1? I know id take f1 any day.

Beekay

The pitstops are a disaster.It looks so stupid that they have to run from the garage when the car comes in.
and what was with all the problems wit the rear wheel nuts.

The overtaking isn't even that close,it always looks easy because the car behind has that stupid boost button on.

Running Bing

The cars seem to be pretty dodgy as well mechanically. I know its only the second race and teams are still getting to grips with the cars but a lot of people have had problems. And yes it does look stupid when the mechanics run out. Whats the point of it?

AdMMM

Keeps them fit and adds to the tension "WILL HE GET A STITCH AND BE UNABLE TO TAKE OFF THAT TIRE???!!!""

Beekay

|.Murderer.| wrote:

Keeps them fit and adds to the tension "WILL HE GET A STITCH AND BE UNABLE TO TAKE OFF THAT TIRE???!!!""

HaHaHa.

coolcon

Right - some of you like a1, some of you dont but what do you think of the irish performance Its not the worst anyway.

Kersh

Emmm, it has been ok, the only thing is why did they put Firman in the car for lausitzring, when Devaney has done German Fbmw, and German F3 - i can only think he was racing elsewhere.
But on the whole, I think we have a great chance to get some wins during the season, definitely.
btw, did anyone notice the amount of prizemoney for the feature race!!!! :eek:

$300,000 for 1st,
$200,000 for 2nd
$100,000 for 3rd.................
all the way down to $10,000 for 10th.....
Thats a lot of money.
And.... did you guys know the shocks are taken off the cars after each race and taken away, and then given back at the start of each race weekend - to stop any 'illegal' running of the car.

Running Bing

Only for we got got up with the incident in the sprint race we would have been up to second at the first turn. It was a cracking start from Firman and I think he did an excellent job at salvaging some points both in the sprint and feature. Qualifying really did it for us for the weekend and I think if we had of got that right we would have been up near the top. But I think after two races were in a relatively good position and I think we'll get some good results with Firman behind the wheel.

Kersh

Ok, its really bugging me that these cars are that slow. So I did a bit of digging. On sep 11 2004, Jan Heylen put his F3 Dallara (which was 2 years old ) on pole for the German F3 round at Lausitzring - his time : 1:36.909.
His car is a 2 litre F3 car, on relatively small slicks.
Pole for the A1 gp sprint race was a 1:32. something i think (only aggregate time is on the site). Lets say 1:32.000 for argument sake. Given the size of the tyres, engine etc of the A1 car, and the length of the straights at the circuit, I would have expected it to be alot quicker. Its just 5 seconds a lap quicker than an (old) F3 car!!!!! :eek:

I dont suppose it would be that bad if it wasnt being touted as F1 rival, but since thats what the name insinuates, and the pr machine says it is... I think its a huge disappointment that its that slow, relatively speaking of course.

Aside from that, we can be sure team Ireland will be climbing up that leaderboard.....

I

gs39t

I would think the time difference is more to do with the fact that the A1 cars have no driver aids at all, so drivers are being forced to be more cautious eg, not being able to just plant the throttle out of a turn. They were doing 170mph on the front straight at Lausitz. Comparing A1 cars to, say, F1 wouldnt work. I'd imagine driving an A1 car would equate to driving an F1 car in the rain, if you get me

Kersh

F3 cars dont have any driver aids at all, and only a 2 litre 4 cylinder engine......

SouperComputer

I would think the time difference is more to do with the fact that the A1 cars have no driver aids at all, so drivers are being forced to be more cautious eg

Have to disagree with that this, these drivers have been racing without aids in most cases for 8 years or more.

Drivers dont drive less cautiously because of a lack of driver aids, in fact in some cases, the opposite is true as racing is a fine balance between art and a science, computers dont do art, unless you want to drive like a fractal!

Nascar has no driver aids, nor do karts which hold the lap record for the (older) monaco circuit. Drivers have been driving without "interference" for over half a century.

That said, weather there are driver aids or not, there would be little visible difference in speed on camera.

Edwardius

That said, weather there are driver aids or not, there would be little visible difference in speed on camera.

Damn straight, I can't see any national level driver even consider backing off because he doesn't have a computer to correct his mistakes. On another note, I wonder how good a monkey would be in an f1 car because I'm damn sure they could drive one now. Who exactly flogged the series as an f1 rival. It's a bloody one make series run in the winter months and seems to be something for gp2 guys to do when bored in the winter. I do think the cars look pretty cool though.

Conrod

Hi all - first post on here.
Just a couple of points that I would like to comment on.
One of the reasons that F1 cars look so fast on TV is that all the camera positions at the GP's are VERY carefully chosen to show the cars in their best light. If anyone was at the British GP in the late 90's / early 00's the pictures on the big screens made the cars look like they were doing about 300mph!. They've calmed it down a bit now though.
A1 cars are a bit slow. They were about 5 seconds a lap slower than the GP2 cars at the Paul Ricard test, using the same layout as the GP2 cars had used at a previous test. They are heavier though, and due to the fact that they are going to be constantly shipped around the world, with no return to the factory for a big rebuild, are using very strong (and heavy) components in their construction.
The pitstops are becoming a major issue. It's the Sheik's (sp?) series and he has had some input into how he wants the series run. Some of the 'swoopy' design of the car was down to him, and the pitstop format, (where the mechanics run out), is his choice too.
The biggest problem for the teams is that the hub and wheel nut design on the car is not very good for pit stops. There is an aluminium nut going on to a steel stub axle which has a very fine thread. The hub unit comes from the old Lola F3000 car which was never designed for pitstops, but introduced them during the life of the last F3000 car, the B2/50.
Lat years F3000 title was effectively won and lost on mistakes in the pitlane during tyre stops. A1's problem is that these problems are magnified now, due to the size of the rear wheels. During the stops' the nuts have to be started onto the stub axle by hand, before hitting the gun trigger, or the chances are is that the nut will cross thread. Trying to look up the inside of the rear wheel to see if the nut has started is nigh on impossible, hence the number of crossed nuts we have seen.
GP2 have the right idea. Coarser thread on the axles, but not impossible to cross. You only have to change 2 wheels, which can be done in about 5 - 6 seconds and looks very impressive compared to a labourious A1 stop.
Dont forget though, that A1 is only 2 races old. It's never going to be F1 or even GP2, but with a bit of fettling can hopefully turn into a really entertaining alternative series.

Jonny Arson

Well someone has done very well out of A1 already......

http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/champcar/20167/

SPEEDTV.com wrote:

Team Australia Signs Will Power for Three-Year Deal
Written by: Cassio Cortes Gold Coast, Australia – 10/14/2005

After impressing in his sole A1GP outing, Power has committed to a different Team Australia... (LAT Photo)

Australian driver Will Power will steer a third Team Australia entry on next week’s Champ Car race at Surfers Paradise, the squad has confirmed.

Power, 24, counts two British F3 seasons and one Minardi F1 test under his belt. He’s spent the 2005 season in the World Series by Renault but perhaps his most impressive achievement of the year has been a near-win at A1 Grand Prix’s inaugural “feature” event at Brands Hatch last month - ironically driving for a different “Team Australia,” he led the race before finishing second to Nelson Piquet Jr.

"We have been toying with the idea of running three cars at Surfers for sometime and when Will made himself available we jumped at the chance,” said Team Australia co-owner Craig Gore, who revealed the Toowoomba native is part of the outfit’s long-term plans.

“We have extended that further by securing him to a three-year contract."

Team manager Derrick Walker, who’s seen many up and coming drivers go through his Walker Racing’s ranks, is keen on the team’s new signing: "All the early indications are that Will could be a very competitive driver in the Champ Car series," he said. "He certainly has the pace and is professional in the way he approaches his racing.”

A bonus for Power’s chances to impress is the fact the Queenslander has plenty of experience at the Surfers track, including poles and victories in Formula Ford and Formula 3 outings at the circuit.

"To make my debut on the Gold Coast is going to be a fantastic experience and it would be terrific if we could have similar or better success than David Besnard did last year when he finished seventh in his one and only Champ Car race," Power revealed.

"The Champ Car World Series is one of the most exciting categories of racing in the world and I am excited about being a part of it with Team Australia.”

Alex Tagliani and Marcus Marshall have been Team Australia’s regular drivers in its debut season, with the Canadian veteran showing consistent speed - including podiums at Monterrey, Milwaukee and Toronto - while the Australian rookie has mostly struggled, clinching his first top-10 two weeks ago at the Las Vegas oval.

I'm delighted for Will. He's a top class driver and deserves a chance like this to compete in Champ Cars.

Running Bing

Its gettin better! once you get over the initial disapointment that it actually doesnt compare to f1 you realise some of the racing is actually quite good. The sprint races seem to be a bit boring for some reason but the feature races are good with plenty of overtaking and close racing, also skys coverage is gradually getting better. Add to this Irealnd are giving a pretty good account of themselves( great quali, sprint race and what about that pit stop in the feature race, excellent) and I think all in all its a pretty positive experience so far.:)

Kersh

Ye, seems to be getting better. Devaney did really well imo.
Did you see the state of that japanese car... :eek:
I do honestly think that the french car is just a 'better' chassis than the others. 2 diff drivers, 6 wins, they should give them a new chassis.
Its making a mockery of a one make series, and neither french driver would be regarded as 'stellar'.
The Estoril rounds were brilliant though, as was the Eastern creek sprint race..

ando

is there anywhere we can get highlights of A1 from the net or where ever?

gs39t

ando wrote:

is there anywhere we can get highlights of A1 from the net or where ever?

The official website has a live video stream during races; they might have an archive too.

aidan_dunne

Was watching the MotoGP highlights there on Sunday night on RTE 2 and Peter Collins mentioned something about RTE showing highlights of the A1GP races over the winter, starting with the first round that was held at Brands a while back. Think he said they're starting to show them next week or something. So keep an eye out in the TV listings.

aidan_dunne

Hmmm, so much for that last post of mine then, eh? :rolleyes: They showed highlights at 7.30 this evening on RTE 2.......... of the last round at Eastern Creek in Australia.

Apologies for the last post, folks! Though, in my defence, I wasn't paying all that much attention to Collins during the MotoGP highlights last Sunday night. He tends to almost bore me into sleep! So, I guess I must have misheard him or something........ as I was starting to doze off listening to him!

I'll say one thing. That Japanese driver was damn lucky. Tore the whole back off the car, right up to the back of his seat almost! :eek:

gs39t

aidan_dunne wrote:

I'll say one thing. That Japanese driver was damn lucky. Tore the whole back off the car, right up to the back of his seat almost! :eek:

There is no video of the crash, but from the pictures ive seen the car hit the gravel, rolled 3 times and hit the wall UPSIDE DOWN, so hard it BROKE the roll hoop! :eek:

'Lucky' is not the word...