Red Bull Hopes to Turn the Heat Down

Testing time in Jerez didn’t go too well for Red Bull. For all the design genius of Adrian Newey, the team broke out the drills a few weeks ago just to scallop out the body work in hopes the car would just cool down. Temperatures were at an average high of 58F degrees, and an average low of 43F – hardly hot. But the heat was on in the Red Bull kitchen as everyone packed up and left early, with hardly any laps completed. You know Newey has been burning the midnight oil these past few weeks, figuring out a way to either 1. somehow get a Ferrari engine in the back of his otherwise stellar creation, or 2. figure out how the heck to get this engine to stay within temperature limits this time around. Temperatures predicted in Bahrain over the next few days will average a very spring like 69-70 ish F, and a low not much lower. Beautiful weather over there this time of year.

Of course, there is one more test session scheduled in Bahrain, at the end of the month. That’s it, over and done with. Then the first race is mid March in Australia – where temperatures will likely be similar to what it is in Bahrain. So who’s running hotter right now? The Red Bull engine, or Newey himself? No doubt he’s under a tremendous amount of pressure. Afterall, their star drivers can’t do much if the car isn’t fully functional. With that said, there is no doubt that Newey is perhaps the greatest F1 engineer in the series history. He has a knack for applying his Hawking-esque brain to the world of racing. While I’m a Tifosi a heart, I’m rooting for Newey, and I think he will figure it out. We all know the season is long, and literally everything can happen. Particularly with the new engines, not to mention all the new rules for this year.

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Master and Apprentice

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Will the student one day surpass the master in the record books? Pic courtesy of Classic Formula 1

El Capitan

This is what the Spanish settlers called this famous mountain in the Colorado Rockies. Standing just over 14,000 feet, it’s one of the tallest mountains in the US, as well as being a national landmark. And since the early 1900’s, it’s been home to one of the most heart pumping races in all of motorsport.

The Race to the Clouds as it’s come to be known, used to be run on a course that was paved in some parts, and unpaved gravel in others. The cojones it takes to run here are massive; big heavy brass ones. In 2011, the road was fully paved. However that doesn’t make it all that “safe”. The course measures just over 14 miles long, and rises 4700 feet during its 156 turns. Between the hairy turns, the normal mechanical attricion rate, combined with the effects the altitude has on anything with a fuel burning engine, it’s always a blast to watch

This year we may see some new course records broken – to tune into the live feed, Racecar Engineering magazine has the event live streaming on their site.

Here’s the live feed link: http://www.racecar-engineering.com/articles/features/test-page/

While you’re at it, if you’ve never seen the famous short film Climb Dance, it’s most certainly worth a watch.

Vettel = Machine

Some say he is only capable when leading, and not chasing. He’s certainly put that criticism to rest at least for today’s race. Absolutely amazing performance so far

The overall talent in F1 now is as high as I remember it – so many great drivers in the mix

Wings

Courtesy of GP3 driver Antonio Felix DeCosta. Remember the name you’ll likely see him in an F1 car one day soon

Too Cool Not to Post (USA F1 Content Inside)

Yeah, it’s been on all the big blogs, but whatever, it’s too cool not to share with those who might not have caught it yet