The Fast Lane

Prodrive has announced that they won’t send an entry to the 2008 Formula One Season championship. It was confirmed by former BAR principal David Richards of Prodrive.

"Prodrive has always been committed to competing in Formula One with what has become known as a 'customer car'. It has been well known that our entry was made on this basis and that our entire business model was built upon this premise,” stated the company.

"Over the past 18 months we have put considerable effort into securing an agreement for the supply of cars and engines from McLaren and Mercedes, as well as financial backing from a partner new to the sport."

"It was therefore particularly disappointing to face a last minute legal challenge to our entry, when our plans have been public knowledge for over a year."

"This legal challenge and continuing delays to the new 'Concorde Agreement' represent a fundamental change in circumstances. Therefore we must now realistically rule out the possibility of Prodrive being on the grid in 2008."

Q: How would you rate the BMW Sauber F1 Team's second season? 

Mario Theissen: It was a strong season at the end of which we even managed to crack the 100 points barrier. We went into the season having finished fifth in the World Championship on 36 points in our debut year. We set ourselves the goal of fourth place and a much bigger points total this year, so third was a great bonus. The powers that be then promoted us even further, but it is a pretty empty second place in our eyes. After all, we're well aware that four cars have been faster than us, and we want to beat them on the track, not in the corridors of power. It was surprising that we were the third-best team from the outset and were able to reinforce this position in practically every race. On occasions we were even able to break into the territory of the two leading teams, meaning that we recorded the podium positions we were aiming for on merit. To sum up, we can be proud of what we have achieved -- both as far as our development work over the winter is concerned and in terms of our pace of development during the course of the season. We have managed to meet our targets in both of our development years so far, so the engineers can see that our ideas are working. That breeds confidence in our strategy, and as a result they can see that we are heading in the right direction. 

Q: What were the highlights of 2007 for you? 

MT: For me the highlight of the season was Montreal. Nick's second place gave the team its best result so far. And the fact that Robert was able to emerge from his crash practically unhurt was a great advert for the strength and outstanding construction of the car. When you look at it this way, the weekend felt like a victory on two fronts for the team. 

Q: Were there also some low points? 

MT: Yes, there were a few of those as well -- most significantly the shock that went through us all when Robert had that accident in Montreal. We had an agonizing few minutes before we received the welcome news that he was practically uninjured. Other, less dramatic, low points were the retirements due to technical problems. You can never rule out these kinds of issues entirely, but it hurts the whole team when one of the drivers takes nothing away from a race on Sunday, because they have received no reward for all their hard work. Having said that, we finished in the points in every race this season, which meant we didn't go away from any of the 17 race weekends empty-handed.

For the 2008 season, a new face will be seen driving a Panasonic Toyota racecar. Third driver Franck Montagny retired from the position and main driver Ralf Schumacher left the team and now, it’s time for the reigning GP2 Series champion to take over Panasonic Toyota team. It’s no other than the GP2 ace driver Timo Glock!

Glock has already signed a multi-year contract with Toyota and is expected to provide more firepower for the success of Toyota F1’s campaign for the 2008 season. Timo Glock is one of the official drivers for Toyota.

"It's a great feeling to be a Formula One race driver again and I am really looking forward to this new challenge," said Glock. "I have worked hard over the past few years to get this opportunity and I must say I am grateful to Panasonic Toyota Racing for having faith in me."

"From what I have seen of the team at the track I am confident we will be able to work well together to move forward. Even though I have not raced in Formula 1 since 2004, I have tested quite regularly so I expect it will take very little time for me to get back in the groove."

In preparation for the upcoming Formula One racing series, Tonio Liuzzi practiced his skills in India and according to Motorsport.com. And it seems that Liuzzi is satisfied with the result.
 
Tonio Liuzzi says, "I'm very satisfied of how the test went. In a day and a half we did lots of laps and I understood the car very well. Obviously it wasn't easy at the beginning, since the car was very different. Not only in terms of driveability but also in terms of driving position, steering assistance and all the 'optionals' of a Formula One car."

He continued to say, "You need to adapt and I struggled a little bit at the beginning. The time we did was not the one we supposed to obtain, of course, that's why at the end I was very satisfied, because the team proved to be much more professional than what you think from the outside. It surprised me because they are hungry to do well, also thanks to the chances they have now with the new owner."

"They will do lots of steps forward, that's for sure. They will need time, because the team has already a quite solid structure in place, but the car can improve, seeing as it remained a little bit behind. They have very good engineers and there is a good feeling inside the team."

He also gave comment on the India car. He said, "I have to say there are some little flaws which make the car slower, but after very little time they are able to go one second-one second and a half faster, with little details such as the brakes, the steering assistance and so on. Little things which in the end make the difference, because they make the driver more confident with the car. This was the problem I had in adapting to the car."

On driving without electronic aids, he shares his point of view saying, "I have to say I enjoyed it very much, because the car is much more nervous. It's not more difficult to drive, but you have to pay more attention to avoid mistakes, while before the traction control concealed lots of faults in the setup and the driving style. Now you have to try and be much more delicate with the throttle, you have to pay attention because it's much easier to lose control of the rear. So it was much nicer for us drivers because it involves us a lot more."

Are you guys familiar with Karun Chandhok? Well for the benefit of those who do not know him, he is the winner of a GP2 race at the demanding Spa-Francorchamps circuit of 2007 and he will be undergoing testing for Red Bull Racing when Formula One resumes at the Circuit de Catalunya (Barcelona) happening on the 13th and the 14th of November.

He is a 23-year-old Indian who was born in Madras. He will be replacing Sebastien Buemi who will be competing at the Macau Formula 3 race soon. Chandhok won the Spa on the season in GP2, as he was also crowned 2006 Asian Formula Renault V6 Champion winning seven races and nine pole positions.

"This really is a dream come true for me. Ever since I was four years old I've dreamed of being behind the wheel of a Formula One car and this is a day that not just myself, but my family and everyone who has supported me over the years, has thought about for a long time. I really have to thank everyone involved at Red Bull Racing for this opportunity; I'm really looking forward to it,” Karun said.

"Karun has been supported by Red Bull for a couple of years now and his progress in GP2 this year has been clearly evident, culminating in a win at Spa. Barcelona presents a good opportunity to put Karun in one of the cars for his first F1 drive,” commented team Principal Christian Horner.

The future seems to arrive too slowly. Why others are saying time passes so quickly, some circumstances defy the observation. Things are gradually changing. But some are changing so at a snail's pace.

Take the flying cars. Despite the tech wonders why can’t flying cars appear in multitude?

Each day there are thousands of inventions and millions of innovations. They could be jaw-dropping, remarkable, so-so, or mediocre, but still they can’t bring to reality the opulence of making aficionados ride on flying cars.

The fact is glaring: by far, the innovations and inventions did not take us to flying cars.

Jason Fry of The Wall Street Journal writes:

I doubt the creators of "The Jetsons" ever imagined how they'd influence kids growing up in the 1970s. The last episode of the original "Jetsons" aired in the spring of 1963, but its real heyday came in syndication, with the show playing on what seemed like continuous loop in the late 1970s. Amazingly, there were only 24 "Jetsons" episodes --- it's a bit frightening to imagine how many times I must have seen each one.

Why such an influence for a show that was basically "The Flintstones" in aerial houses. I'm sure a nation of grad students have emitted turgid narratives about alienated children finding a utopian sequel to JFK-era space-race America preferable to a dystopian continuation of the real 1970s. But at the risk of being no fun, that's not it.

The appeal of "The Jetsons" is much simpler. It had easily identifiable characters (often ripped off, down to the same voice talent, from other Hanna-Barbera shows) and comfortably well-worn family-sitcom situations, with the addition of goofy gadgets that made kids laugh. None of that has anything to do with the future -- "The Flintstones" had the same goofy gadgets, but with vaguely prehistoric animals as technology. Most importantly, "The Jetsons" was on all the time. (Though it should be said that the brassy, galloping theme song is totally great.)

The only reason "The Jetsons" is a touchstone for the future instead of just childhood nostalgia is that it was "about" the future -- which was bound to arrive because, well, that's what the future does. You could spend your day comparing the future to "2001: A Space Odyssey,” but not everybody's seen that. "The Jetsons," on the other hand, is pretty close to a sure thing, conversationally. If for some reason daily life in the 2000s included girl bands foiling not-very-frightening crimes, those of us who watched too much TV 30 years ago would spend a lot of time wondering why today's intrepid musicians weren't more like Josie and the Pussycats.

Are flying cars just around the corner? Or we’ll wait ages to witness the revolution. Whether or not we will be waiting in vain remains a big issue.

But I do look forward to riding one of these amazing flying cars. It will be nice to touch the clouds you know.

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