Motorsport Off Topic Thread

Skeeter · 31 Jan 2015 at 20:10

Ted mentioned the trousers in a notebook a few seasons back, and said it was widely disliked by the mechanics. The image of their staff is more important than their comfort while doing their job.

Ron complains that the tiles in the boulevard at MTC don't all perfectly match, while none of the cars parked on it have won them a WCC in 15 years...

smr · 31 Jan 2015 at 21:24

sunama said:
Skeeter got it right.
McLaren are grey through and through.
They are run:
by men
with pale skins
with grey hair
with bland English accents
wearing grey suits/clothes
working in a building which is also grey

What they've (McLaren) done is identify this problem and have hired an agency to think up ways of making them more "colourful". The problem is that they are so grey, any added colour, also turns grey. Same goes for Mercedes.

There was also a video early on where they tried to add "spice". The problem is they had middle aged men, in suits...ie. once again, a colourful moment, featured McLaren employees, which turned the featurette...you guessed it - grey.

McLaren dont need to try to be grey. They are grey.

As Skeeter said, I think they should just focus on winning and be proud of being grey.

didn't hear anyone moaning about them having a grey building or a grey haired team principle in 2008.

Skeeter · 31 Jan 2015 at 21:39

smr said:
didn't hear anyone moaning about them having a grey building or a grey haired team principle in 2008.

Where have you been? McLaren have been considered the clinical corporate machine of F1 for over 2 decades.

Have you forgotten that Alonso and Hamilton were banned from drinking alcohol and forced into having crew cuts by the team?

Slam62 · 31 Jan 2015 at 21:41

Well they are run by wooden ron

Skeeter · 31 Jan 2015 at 22:06

Slam62 said:
Well they are run by wooden ron

To be fair to the guy, he has had some pretty impressive success in the past.

They just seem far to preoccupied with how they look recently. I can't seriously believe that nobody has expressed interest in being a title sponsor, it sounds more like McLaren keep turning them down because they aren't the right image. What was it Boulier said, they wanted a sponsor that "matched the profile of the team"?

drunkenmaster · 31 Jan 2015 at 22:28

Skeeter said:
Where have you been? McLaren have been considered the clinical corporate machine of F1 for over 2 decades.

Have you forgotten that Alonso and Hamilton were banned from drinking alcohol and forced into having crew cuts by the team?

Well to be fair, given Hamilton's recent look they may not have been entirely wrong doing that

sunama · 1 Feb 2015 at 05:14

Skeeter said:
Have you forgotten that Alonso and Hamilton were banned from drinking alcohol and forced into having crew cuts by the team?

When Kimi left for Ferrari, he grew his hair.
Same with Alonso.
Hamilton leaves and he has that crazy mohican-esque cut.
I think drivers (and I'm sure other employees) really do feel stifled.
I remember Newey leaving McLaren because he wasnt allowed to run the department, his way, ie. he was also stifled.

It is a corporate, grey culture, however, if that gets the job done...so be it.

McLaren's concern is just how good/reliable is the Honda power train.

Skeeter · 1 Feb 2015 at 08:44

sunama said:
It is a corporate, grey culture, however, if that gets the job done...so be it.

But its clearly not getting the job done. They have won 1 out of the last 30 championships!

JRS · 1 Feb 2015 at 09:40

drunkenmaster said:
Well to be fair, given Hamilton's recent look they may not have been entirely wrong doing that

The boy's a great driver, but he does need saving from himself with regards to fashion :cool:

smr · 1 Feb 2015 at 14:06

Alonso's new missus...

Hubba hubba

JonnyT · 2 Feb 2015 at 00:12

Skeeter said:
Ted mentioned the trousers in a notebook a few seasons back, and said it was widely disliked by the mechanics. The image of their staff is more important than their comfort while doing their job.

Ron complains that the tiles in the boulevard at MTC don't all perfectly match, while none of the cars parked on it have won them a WCC in 15 years...

I vaugely remember a quote by Clarkson about McLaren around the time of the original McLaren F1 road car; the gist of it was that the car project had somehow meant that they'd taken their eye off the ball for their race cars. As soon as the F1 was canned (and Newey was signed...) they were back to winning ways with Hakkinen. Perhaps with the technical tour-de-force that is the P1, the 650C and the MP4-12C it's been a bit of history repeating?

Skeeter · 2 Feb 2015 at 07:16

The road car division expanding is why Ron moved away from the F1 team and left it in the hands of Whitmarsh... so you may have a point.

Glaucus · 6 Feb 2015 at 14:54

****** idioms.
Yes 1000bhp will be good. But ditching the fuel flow limit is stupid,
For the love of god derestrict ERS limits instead of the 160bhp current limit.

Keep technology relevant don't go back to the 80s way of thinking.

Do they just sit round and decide what the worst rules would be and agree on them.

Skeeter · 6 Feb 2015 at 15:05

The cars are already faster than the V8s, and almost as fast as they have ever been. I don't get what the aim is behind making the V6's more powerful? The 1000bhp idea was suggested as part of a whole new engine format. Hitting that goal by just turning up the V6s feels like an excersize in burning money for the hell of it.

Hopefully the FIA grow some balls and reject the proposals.

This bit made me lol though:

"What is being investigated is the incremental cost over and above what we would normally be doing."

They are admitting that what they are talking about will cost more than not making the changes, but in the same breth say they are talking about these things "to cut costs".

Retards.

Skeeter · 6 Feb 2015 at 15:07

Sorry, for context:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/117620

robbiemc · 6 Feb 2015 at 15:22

JonnyT said:
As soon as the F1 was canned (and Newey was signed...) they were back to winning ways with Hakkinen. Perhaps with the technical tour-de-force that is the P1, the 650C and the MP4-12C it's been a bit of history repeating?

The F1 was canned before the full production-run was finished due to the Mercedes deal - it was then McLaren started with the SLR.
(I'll be damned if I can find/remember the source for that)

robbiemc · 6 Feb 2015 at 15:28

Skeeter said:
The cars are already faster than the V8s, and almost as fast as they have ever been. I don't get what the aim is behind making the V6's more powerful? The 1000bhp idea was suggested as part of a whole new engine format.

I thought it was partly to try and make F1 more of a 'spectacle' and gain back some viewers - you know, to try and make them a bit harder, more challenging to drive. Certainly some are slightly concerned that viewers see the cars as easy to drive (with the ability for the 16/17 year olds to just jump in with few problems).

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/117339

Skeeter · 6 Feb 2015 at 17:16

robbiemc said:
I thought it was partly to try and make F1 more of a 'spectacle' and gain back some viewers - you know, to try and make them a bit harder, more challenging to drive. Certainly some are slightly concerned that viewers see the cars as easy to drive (with the ability for the 16/17 year olds to just jump in with few problems).

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/117339

I don't buy it. Football is massively popular, and any old idiot can play that.

Why do F1 cars need to be hard to drive to be popular?

MissChief · 6 Feb 2015 at 18:13

So talent and ability becomes more important than the size of your pockets?

Skeeter · 6 Feb 2015 at 18:52

MissChief said:
So talent and ability becomes more important than the size of your pockets?

Considering implementing 1000bhp engines will cost more than not implementing them, that ideas out the window anyway.