Virgin All Set To Fly - Australian GP

It’s no secret that the Virgin Racing team had quite an abysmal time at the Bahrain Grand Prix. Initially the pre-qualifying practice sessions and the qualifying sessions at the Bahrain Grand Prix did show some amount of hope and promise for the debutants. However, much of their hopes and aspirations were extinguished when both their cars retired within just a few laps of the race.

Both their drivers and the technical director were disappointed and understandably so. After all, the pre-season had started off with much promise for them and it was to be seen how the only team on the grid to have boldly used only CFD design and technology would perform.

Having said all that, all those problems, and the woes of Virgin Racing at Bahrain are all in the past and were not necessarily related to their CFD designed aerodynamics. The cars suffered from hydraulic and transmission problems which made the sun set rather quickly on their weekend in Bahrain.

This time round at the Australian Grand Prix, Virgin Racing certainly hopes to make an impact. It is a rather interesting race, being a street circuit and will require the drivers to use their technical skill. Good speed and lap times will be crucial during the qualifying sessions as the new regulations do seem to have made over-taking a little too difficult.

The Virgin Racing team seems to be rather upbeat about this weekend and one hopes they can certainly do better than the Bahrain Grand Prix. In my opinion, I am certain that they will. After all, let’s not forget that this is a young team with young drivers and there may certainly be a few technical glitches at the start; but nothing that can’t be fixed.

My prediction for the race is that Timo Glock and Lucas di Grassi will both complete the race this time round and see the much desired chequered flag. I think that would be a good goal to achieve and as long as the team manages that, this race will be a successful one. I believe that one must climb the ladder to success slowly but surely and a step in the right direction would be to finish the race this street circuit.

Timo Glock is said to like the race track and conditions at the Australian Grand Prix and it would be exciting to see the young Lucas di Grassi race on this circuit for the first time. I certainly look forward to the race this weekend and to Virgin Racing being competitive. I am sure that they will do much better as the season progresses. But my prediction for this weekend is that both the cars make the chequered flag.

Ajith's entry confirmed - 2010 F2 (Formula2) Championships!

Motorsports seems to be climbing the slope of popularity in India. The number of Indian names in the list of racers taking part in International races is substantially increasing year after year. One of these names is Ajith Kumar. Mr Kumar has just confirmed his entry for the 2010 FIA Formula 2 Championship. Ajith Kumar is a South Indian film Star and a motor racing enthusiast. However, this is not the first time Ajith will be burning rubber on the race track. This makes it his third season in the International Racing scenario after his debut in 2003 in the Formula BMW Asia Championship. His best results were in Korea where he qualified 4th and finished 6th. The other best results achieved by him were in 2004 races in British Formula 3 Scholarship Class, where he managed two podium finishes.

Ajith is one of those many enthusiasts in the country who believe motorsports in India very well needs a wakeup call. The other prominent Indian names in the field of International Motorsports are Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandhok. Ajith is not the only Indian to take part in the Formula 2 Championship. The other Indian names in the championship are Armaan Ebrahim and Parthiva Sureshwaran. Ajith hopes that the Indian youth is inspired by his as well his fellow Indian racer’s entry into the International Motorsports scene.

"I have the confidence of achieving some success in this year's FIA Formula 2 European Championships. I have already done some testing in Malaysia recently and am looking forward to more practice runs in Snetterton & Silverstone before the event kicks off on April 16th. I hope my participation along with the other two Indians, Armaan Ebrahim and Parthiva Sureshwaran will create the right amount of interest in the sport in India," says Ajith Kumar.

F2 Series Director Jonathan Palmer said, "I am delighted to welcome Ajith to F2. To have a well known Indian film star who has demonstrated such ambition now racing in F2 is very exciting for the championship, and I really admire Ajith's determination and enthusiasm. Paul Newman demonstrated that international celebrities can be competitive in international motorsport - and late in his career. Ajith on the other hand is several years younger than both Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello. The F2 team and other drivers look forward to giving maximum support to help Ajith become increasingly competitive."

Managing a professional approach towards motorsports along with an ongoing acting career may not be a piece of cake. We hope Ajith’s efforts bear the sweet fruits in form of inspiration to the rest of the enthusiasts back in the country who may restrict their entry into professional motorsports citing career related issues. Ajith intends to be a professional racer alongside his acting career.

by Motoroids

Chennai born Karun Chandok confirmed for F1 this season (2010)

Karun Chandok has just been confirmed as the official driver for the Hispanic Racing F1 Team (HRT) formerly known as Campos Racing in Spain for the 2010 F1 season! He will now partner with Bruno Senna, with whom Karun had already shared the team space in the 2008 GP2 season. Chandhok will be presented to the public at the Murcia unveiling, which is set to confirm the team's new identity and its plans for 2010. 

Colin Kolles, HRT's team principal, said: "I am very pleased to use the Murcia site to officially unveil our car livery today. We also complete the driver's team line-up with the Indian Karun Chandhok at the wheel of the car for our first ever season. We have been very impressed with Karun's performance in GP2. India is a great country. It will be great for the sport to have an Indian driver on the grid for the first Indian Grand Prix. Murcia is part of the roots of the team."

 

The Chennai born Karun, started racing in 2000 and ultimately joined GP2 in 2007 where he did quite well to let the whole world and especially the F1 teams know his standard of driving. He was presented with the ‘Best Driving Style’ award in 2008. With this deal, Karun Chandok now is the second Indian driver to race in F1. The first one was Narain Karthikeyan who spent a single season at Jordan five years ago.

Karun Chandok might join F1 this season! 2010!

Chennai born Karun Chandok who was once titled "The most promising Asian", is all set to make his F1 dream come true. For Karun, the racing blood runs in the family with his father the legendary Vicky Chandok and grandfather Indu Chandok, both being ace drivers of their times. And now, Karun is carrying the family's racing heritage forward.

Karun started racing in 2000 and ultimately joined GP2 in 2007 where he did quite well to let the whole world and especially the F1 teams know his standard of driving. He was presented with the ‘Best Driving Style’ award in 2008. But the last season (2009) wasn’t too great for him. So Karun is all set to make a comeback to racing and this can’t get better than this...

He is about to sign a deal with Spanish Campos Racing founded by former F1 driver Adrian Campos. Bruno Senna,nephew of late Aryton senna will be Karun's team mate if the deal is finalized. Bruno shared the team space with Karun in 2008 GP2 season too. Campos racing's team principal Collin Kolles is going to rename the team once they get a position on the finalized 2010 F1 grid. Karun's F1 dream is slowly turning into reality which means that he will soon get a well deserved place at the pinnacle of motorsport. The team hasn’t done any testing in the pre- season. If things go in the right direction they will be present on the grid on March 14th in Bahrain.

With Narian eyeing Nascar this year and Karun thinking of securing a place in F1, the country will soon get the much needed and deserved recognition in this fast paced world of racing.

Force India to get assistance in aerodynamics from CRL

Force India has signed a three year agreement with Computational Research Laboratories (CRL) owned by Tata Sons for developing Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) solutions. The CFD solutions get utilized in the designing of F1 cars. According to the terms of the agreement Force India will be entitled to a High Performance Computing ecosystem including hardware and application support to customized configurations.


Developing CFD designs for F1 cars is a very complicated process which requires the usage of very high computing powers in order to come up with absolutely correct results. Apart from engine power the aerodynamics play an important role in enhancing the overall performance of the car making it go faster.


Going through the various CFD solutions allows engineers to understand the various airflow patterns by viewing the ways in which air flows around the car virtually. This helps the engineers to set up an aerodynamically efficient car. The designs will now be developed and processed on Eka which is currently our country's fastest supercomputer which is also ranked as the fourth fastest computer in the world in 2007.

Speaking to the media after the fomal agreement was signed, Dr.Vijay Mallya, Force India owner and liquor baron said that the team needed the speed and accuracy of a supercomputer to develop its car as the performance of racing cars get measured in one-hundredth of a second. He further said that we are happy to have found a partner right here in India and this partnership with CRL will help us access the best of technology at a much lesser cost.He admitted that Force India always had tremendous straightline speed but the problem area were the turns and curves. Mallya is hoping his team to overcome that problem with CRL's high speed computing strength.

This deal with CRL will reduce the time taken by Force India team in aerodynamically enhancing its cars as the simulations will now be developed by a supercomputer. Basically engineers get a two week gap before the next race to sort out the car's problems. If the CFD designs are developed by a supercomputer in a short time then the guys get more time to play around with the other issues of the car like tyre worries, engine or gearbox issues etc.

When questioned by the media about the possibility of an Indian driver in the Force India team, Mallya first asked the reporters why the particular question is always their primary focus. He then calmly said that the possibility of an Indian driving for Force India can come true only by virtue of a systematized program. He admit that a mission to find people is on.


Voicing his opinion about that the continual flak that he and his team faces for not having an Indian driver on board, Mallya commented that had he done something rash like allowing an Indian to drive with an incapable then also he would have come under major criticism.

Mercedes F1 sign on Nico Rosberg

The reigning F1 world champions Mercedes (previously known as Brawn GP) have signed on the German ‘Britney’ a.k.a Nico Rosberg as one of their title contenders for 2010.
Williams Chief executive Nick Fry admitted that Nico’s Brawn switch had happened long ago and had been kept under wraps until the end of the season.

However the second Mercedes seat is still up for grabs. Rumors suggest that Nick Heidfeld is the most likely candidate for the seat making it an all-German party, but some other big names have been linked to the seat as well. Michael Schumacher might even make a comeback to F1 just to thank Norbert Haug and Mercedes for supporting him all through his pre F1 struggle. It could also be the incredibly talented Pole, Robert Kubica if Renault decides to quit of F1. But it could also be Kimi Raikkonen re-united with a ‘Silver Arrows’. Hope it somehow works out that way.

Schumachers F1 Winning Car For Sale in E-Bay

Coming across various car models in an online market like that of the eBay is not a big deal. But however, when the car is Michael Schumacher’s 1994 Formula One car, it is something unusual. The title-winning Benetton Formula One car has been registered for sale on eBay.



The seller based in Toronto, has advertised the car on the German eBay site. Along with the car are being sold several spare parts. These include two extra sets of wheels and tyres and a data laptop which is responsible for the monitoring of the fluid levels and temperatures.The car has been described as “in racing condition” on the website. It was this Ford Cosworth powered car that drove the German to his first of seven world titles.The bodywork and livery are similar to that seen during the 1994 season and has been left unchanged. However, the damage the car had to face in the 1994 season finale has been repaired.

In the 1994 season finale, Schumacher had made a controversial victory after crashing into Damon Hill in Adelaide after suffering a problem. As a result of the collision, Damon had to let go off the title by allowing Schumacher to take advantage and drive to his first world championship.

With about 184 bids, the car has reached more than 2.6 million Euros (£2.3m). The winning bidder will however have to shell out an additional 10,000 Euros (£9000) as shipping expenses. Monday is scheduled to be the final day of the auction.

Image Source: instablogimages.com

Force India caught in legal net

Formula One team Force India has been taken to court by Aerolab. The Italy based wind tunnel operators has filed charges of serious and persistent breach in contract against Force India.

Initially it was being reported Force India was worried that features of their 2009 car had been revealed to Louts by Fondtech which is the parent company of Aerolab. Fondtech and ex-Force India technical chief Mike Gascoyne are currently developing a car for Lotus which is making a return to Formula One next year. The ground reality is that Aerolab had abruptly ended its three-year long collaboration with Force India in September this year.

According to Jean Claude Migeot, Managing Director, Aerolab, the lotus rumors were designed with the intention of damaging the company’s reputation and professionalism along with diverting attention away from the facts. He said the truth is that Aerolab is suing Force India for not fulfilling its obligations. He further said that it is unusual for the company to comment on negative matters but it had been left with no choice other than making the facts public after recent press reports had said that Aerolab passed on information to parent company Fondtech which enjoys a close technical relationship with Lotus F1 Racing.



Force India has not issued any statement so far regarding the allegations.

Formula1: Vettel wins in Abu Dhabi

Sebastian Vettel from Red Bull racing won in the brand new racing track at Abu Dhabi. Everyone who commented on the new race track said it was amazing and it is said that over 1 billion dollars has been spent in building the race track.

Formula1 is set to come to India by 2011, and we will have to wait and see how far India goes to build a race track to international standards.

F1 season finale this weekend

The Abu Dhabi Formula 1 Grand Prix will take place at the Yas Marina Circuit this weekend after years of waiting. Billions of dollars worth of building work and months of hype have taken place to make this event a reality.

The 2009 season will witness its last event as UAE’s first proper F1 race. Even thought the title has already been decided, the drivers and teams have enough reason to still race for, as winning the race for the lower places would result in million dollars of income for the following seasons. In all, 50,000 tickets have been sold, leaving no more vacancy. This huge number of audience will help make a great atmosphere and a true F1 experience for the thousands of F1 fans who travel across the world for the event.

The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix being the final round of the Formula 1 season will mark a new chapter in F1 history by being the first twilight race in the sport’s history. At 5pm, the drivers will get underway in daylight but by the time the winner crosses the finish line, it will be dark around two hours later. The track will be illuminated with hundreds of floodlights once the sun sets. The circuit is the lagest floodlit track in the world.

Formula1: Jenson might drive for McLaren

If Formula One rumor mongers are to be believed, then Jenson Button will be donning a McLaren racing suit for the next season. The 2009 F1 champion is yet to sign a driver’s contract with any of the teams including Brawn GP. Mclaren intends to replace Heikki Koveleinan for the 2010 championship. They were interested in signing up Kimi Raikonnen but have been unsuccessful in negotiating a contract.