A1 GP

Shame it's on Sky Sports.

Superb Team GBR came from the back of the grid and are currently sitting second now this is what i call racing :)

Anyone know what the spec of the A1 cars is? and what is the powerboost thingy is it a nitrous shot or just a temporary map change????

They are a 90 degree 3.4l V8 with 520bhp mated to a 6 speed sequential paddle shift 'box. The power boost is a 2nd engine map taking power to 550bhp

30bhp powerboost ? Hardly seems worth it...

Which shows just how much you know about the subject.

I suppose as all the cars are the same, it can give you that little bit extra for some overtaking action. A 150bhp shot of nitrous would be fair more entertaining though!

Shows what you know

Well, duh. I know absolutely nothing about it, hence the 'question'.

I also know next to nothing about F1, but to be fair I have no interest in knowing anything about it.

Oh btw, I saw a "Stock Movement Assistant" in Harvey Nicks the other day

- a glorified shelf stacker. I didn't half chortle - it made me think of you :)

I know you can f*ck off as well.

HTH.

But surely the car at the side has it as well ?

/Less/ powerful cars would be more entertaining.

So why read this thread?

Because, at the risk of stating the obvious (altho as usual it appears that some people need it), the post I replied to was not about Formula One.

HTH.

Yeah, but it's not there all the time. I havent seen any of the action but from the sounds of it it does make a difference, and does make it more exciting.

How so? Surely it'd be the same sort of action at lower speeds! And you'd then have problems attracting drivers, sponsership, TV coverage etc etc. There's plenty of other race series with lower powered cars.

If you can get 50 rpm more than the guy you are chasing, at the start of a straight, you will still have that 50 rpm advantage for the entire length of the straight when you're braking for the next corner, or reaching maximum speed where the speeds level off.

If they respond to that attack in the same way, they only get their 50 rpm boost for part of the straight, which means they wasted fuel and you gained track position on them.

In most cases, this difference will also mean reaching tow and passing the top speed of the guy ahead so you can coast past while slowing gently back down to your top speed, will happen much more quickly and on all the straights, not just the longest.

The leader can only compete with this by wasting fuel and pre-empting your attack, which you can ignore and catch back up on the corners, i.e. if you are faster than him overall, you can gain a fuel advantage and use it to buy your way past him. If you aren't, you don't deserve to be overtaking and he'll just do it back to you right afterwards.

Personally I prefer the idea of having something like 20 short bursts of nitrous that do much the same thing but you can't refill them. That makes battling for the lead easier, but also brings the back markers into the frame a bit towards the end of the race when they have plenty left and the leaders have used theirs up. Remapping is all very well but they can refuel, can't they?

ISTR seeing something on telly about something called Formula Palmer Audi. They were IIRC using cars with VAG 1.8T engines with sealed ECUs with 2 maps, provided by the race authority. The 2nd, higher power map was programmed to activate a maximum of 3 times a race for 10 seconds at a time or so, providing the driver with extra 3 potential overtakes.

I've heard of it from time to time on late night motorsport programmes, but I don't think I've ever actually seen it.

Douglas

I remember when it was first introduced a few years back. Cheap way into motorsport iirc - either £10k or £20k for the year, all inclusive of parts/cars/tyres the lot. Little single seater jobbies.

I contacted the organisers about who was supplying the dry sump kits earlier in the year, apparently they were a one off and not available to the public.