Anyone care to offer an opinion on the cause of the monster pile-up at the start of the race?
Was it Barichello weaving about or Schumacher, R attempting a hopelessly optimistic close overtake?
Opinions are seriously divided in this household - if I don't get some more input, i'll be cooking my own tea!
Good news though for Minardi, Paul Stoddart and Mark Webber.
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Maybe Ralphie's glasses got steamed up. That can be a real problem inside a race helmet.
HJ
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I read he was wearing Contacts!
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They didn't listen to Charlie when he said that he wouldn't be hanging out the red flag because of first corner crashes, unless there was a real safety issue.
My opinion? Heavy fuel load, cold brakes, cool tyres, first day back at school - I'd say that Ralf Schumacher showed the sort of gung-ho tactics that he had when he drove for Jordan.
Ian
PS - does this answer help you cook the tea?
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Going to be a very boring season, though, by the look of it. Roll on Moto GP with the 1000cc four-strokes competing against the half litre strokers. Be interesting to see how the V5 Honda performs. Pity they didn't go a bit further and do away with noise limits.
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Couldn't agree with you more Tom, the only interesting part of the race was the pile-up and then it was back to the normal procession. Thank God for British Superbikes, World Superbikes and GP Racing (in that order in IMHO!)
In case Flat in Fifth reads this I will e-mail you direct, I don't know why the address didn't work.
Rob S
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It has been mentioned before that bikes are slower around a given track than cars and yet seem more exciting.
I used to have a quick heart attack when the rear wheel of Sheene's bike would twitch. I suppose it goes back to my motorbike days, though I only fell off once. (in public)
Once when riding around the field on an old BSA 250 on which I had "repaired" the gearbox, I changed gear and flew over the bars. Gearbox locked.
It later transpired that I had left a spacer off one of the shafts thus causing a major jam in the gears.
B. amateurs. My head has never been right since :-0
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Sometime back in the seventies either Suzuki or Yamaha had a fairly hot two-stroke with a six speed box, where on the early models it was possible to change "Up" from sixth gear and back into first! I can't remember the exact details but it caused quite a few problems for those who forgot how far up the box they had gone.
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Beans on toast, then Darcy?
I was expecting a restart, but ...
(so were most of the drivers, apparently, the way they hare-tailed it back to the pits!)
The whole thing makes a mockery of GP racing, IMHO. Most of the blokes were out of it through no fault of their own.
BTW, what amazed me was the BLUE run-of area. any ideas why?
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I thought that Barichello was weaving after seeing the camera shot from the Williams. First over to the right to cut off Coulthard, then back to the left to take the racing line/cut off Ralph. Madame thinks that no Ferrari driver does anything wrong, ever. Colour blindness in reverse? Makes for some stimulating discussions.
Yes I did get tea served, hanks
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I thought that Barichello was weaving after seeing the camera shot from the Williams. First over to the right to cut off Coulthard, then back to the left to take the racing line/cut off Ralph. Madame thinks that no Ferrari driver does anything wrong, ever. Colour blindness in reverse? Makes for some stimulating discussions.
Yes I did get tea served, hanks
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>Minardi's Australian rookie Mark Webber fifth ...
what IS it with these Australians? First the ice-skating, and now the GP...Taking advantage of everybody else blowing out...
(An exception in the cricket, where our guys are just crap!)
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Ralf was at fault -Rubens was always going to take the racing line and brake at some point.
Perhaps a rethink is required on first lap incidents. If 9 cars are taken out then it should be red flagged from a show point of view (just like Martin Brundle said).With all the millions being spent jetting these teams around the world it seems daft to keep a race going with nearly half the field missing after one corner. Although Minardi/Toyota/Jaguar would have lost out.
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I wonder if Rubens was using blocking tactics.
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What about the Arrows fiasco? From a no start for both cars to a black flag for both - is this a new record ?
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>>Sometime back in the seventies either Suzuki or Yamaha had a fairly hot two-stroke with a six speed box
Suziuki GT750 ? Loads of fun, totally lethal. Top heavy or what. I was only happy with its handlling because I'd had a Kawasaki H1 immediately before which was eventualy withdrawn for killing off the market - literally.
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When you remember how seventies bikes handled - or rather didn't handle - it's a wonder anyone survived. Remember those early Bridgestone tyres? Slightest hint of rain and it was like riding on ice.
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Is that why Suzukis were fitted with the infamous digital gear indicator? I have to say that always struck me as a good idea, although 'real' bikers were sniffy about it. However, I notice that the sequentially-shifted rally cars have them now...
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Kawasaki had a 750 triple two stroke that must have been the most lethal machine ever built
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Oh yes.
Worst I ever had was a Matchless G12 650 with sidecar tyres, but no sidecar. That was fun until I got them changed. I realise it was self-inflicted.
I had a Kawasaki Z1 (the original 900cc, not the 1000cc) and you couldn't even accelerate in the wet.
I used to think I road fast bikes, but my sister had a Fireblade a while back and I took it out for a ride. I don't know why I didn't die, but a change of underwear was required.
Never again.
Dirt bikes only these days. At the moment a Super Tenere 750. Pretty good in the mountains*.
M.
* the same mountains where I drove the Freelander [mandatory motoring link]
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I used to lust after the Z1, but I saw one the other year at Brands and I could not believe how skinny the tyres were. I would be frightened to lean it at all, let alone ride it hard. Did they ever do a diesel? (Another manditory motoring link)
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There was a diesel bike (I think the Army may still use them), memorably described by J.Clarkson as the worst of all possible worlds, which sounds about right to me.
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I loved the cycle track on the start/finish straight. Of course all the cars drove in it. Typical. But R. Schumacher was going straight on at that corner anyway; the revs rose dramatically when he left the ground, suggesting his foot was on the accelerator far too late.
Chris
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Not sure that signifies, with all the fly-by-wire stuff on board. The sudden absence of motion resistance must have confused it somewhat!
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The sad reality is that they handled really badly, and by todays standards were really slow.
I remember that by Dominator, an IoM 99SS with wideline featherbed, always outhandled the Z1.
However, these days the Domi would be outrun and out handled by yur average 250.
Despite the fearsome acceleration of my sisters bike, it had a great deal more talent than me. It was prepared to lean over further and go round corners faster than I woudl dream of.
Much as there are some classics I love, car and bikes, there is a reason that they don't make them anymore - mostly, whilst we may or may not have liked the experience, they weren't actually very good.
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>>Is that why Suzukis were fitted with the infamous digital gear indicator?
Dunno. Mine broke anyway. When it did work I only ever found it useful for getting neutral, which was a pig, and a green light would have done just as well for that.
The Matchless was probably the best bike I ever had, except I didn´t know it.
I bought it when I was 15 as a non-runner for 20 quid. Sold it a few years later with loads of miles on it for 100 quid. I could weep, goodness knows what the thing would be worth now. All original, even the chrome plates on the tank.
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Andy,
just for you............
www.z-power.co.uk/H2hist.htm
Mark.
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I think its predecessor, the 'mach 1' 500 triple might have been even worse, as it was lighter and had drum brakes! It shows how much chassis design and rubber have improved that you can now get a 600cc Yamaha with 200 bhp/litre (normally aspirated, too!) and no-one bats an eyelid...
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>>I think its predecessor, the 'mach 1' 500 triple might have been even worse
You mean the H1 I suspect. Had one. Absolutely lethal, but for a fairly stupid 18 year old, sooooo much fun.
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Yes, I did mean the H1. I had this dim recollection that it was dubbed 'mach 1' at some stage, but I may be confusing it with the later Z900, or even something else! It was all a long time ago - glad you survived your experience with it...
(The only 2-stroke triple I ever owned was a Wartburg estate!)
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It *was* called the Mach 1...
Type "Kawasaki Mach 1" (in quotes) into Google for confirmation.
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Blooming heck lads, you spend a few hours sat on a plane, another few hours slithering about on ice and snow in Volvo S60 and then try and catch up on the forum to find its moved on a pace.
What about the theory that Ralfie missed his braking point because he was wearing contact lenses rather than specs and that something untoward happened in the eyeball region.
As HJ says spec steam up inside a full face helmet, tell me about it. Give me an open face helmet anyday.
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The Mach 1 was the 250 triple, the Mach II & III the 500cc, and the Mach IV was the 750cc.
e.g Kawasaki 500 H1 Mach III.
I think. Dusty memory and all that.
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Well, I'm a bit hazy too, but the 250 came later, I thought. I remember reading a suitably gob-smacked review of the 500 when it came out - I guess the tyres, brakes and power-band added to the excitement!
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