Get your answer in for the first ever TCW Hump Day Contest.

My personal guess (hope) that it's some sort of interoffice affair/blackmail pictures.

But you know how these overhyped things usually go...

An endurance race I raced in last weekend. We raced 40 minute heat races driving SCX GT cars during the race. Thanks to the Interstate Home Slot Racing Club and Nils for hosting the event.

Knight Racer Girls (2)
Originally uploaded by gfbphoto

Here is another Sexy Summer Car Wash! I need to move to a year round warm climate. I would have the paint washed off my car!

Car Buying Tips

Huge congratulations to the two of my teammates who won State Championship jerseys yesterday! Mike Sequin won the Master's 4/5 40+ and Liam Donoghue is now the top ranked Cat 4 racer in Illinois.

William worked his tail off at the front the entire race to try and set up Mike and me for the end. Seegs rode my wheel into Turn 7 and came out of Turn 8 just in front of me before blasting into warp drive on a 40+ mph sprint for our first win of the day. The train of riders who went wide to the left were all caught with their bib shorts around their ankles as Mike motored from the corner to the line through 250 meters of open air.

Seven hours of waiting and moving around with the shade later – 9:15 first race, 5:30 second race – we lined up again with nine XXXers in the field and put together what one race organizer said was a team effort the likes of which he would never have thought possible in a Category 4 race.

It was fast at the gun and stayed that way for the entire 46 minutes. Liam followed the first flyer from the line and soon a break of about nine was off, including William, as well. When that was caught, William went off again, and won a prime. Next, Seegs jumped and strung things out for a lap or to. Not to be outdone, as he was absorbed and more than one of us was second-guessing taking a jump, new Cat 4 Chris Kostner went on his own two lap flyer.

At just under five to go he came back, and then it happened: Liam jumped hard, got a huge gap, and stayed off, crossing the line before we’d even come through Turn 8 on the final lap. After all the chasing, it was not easy to block, but seven other teammates will get the job done at that point. Again, just before Turn 7 I watched with amazement Seegs acceleration away from the pack – he put a 30 meter gap on us and came in with his second podium of the day.

We all met for beer at the bar at Turn 1/5 after on the cool down lap. We really couldn’t savor that fine American macro-brew craftsmanship as Seegs and Liam were being immediately called to the announcers stand. It had been a long day for everybody.

It was a bittersweet day for me. It was great day to be XXX, positively. But I had been psyching myself up for a podium all week, and when it came time to race, my legs had nothing. I felt I couldn’t contribute, especially in the second race. I was drowning at the front – desperately trying to stay third wheel and block for us but fading back each time I worked my way up, my fingernails scraping furrows into wood, sliding downward back to the water.

It was hard to watch all the joy and celebration knowing that I had raced weakly, both physically and mentally, but was easier once I just let myself be happy for them.

It’s been a long, productive month, but I was hoping to end it on a higher note, personally. I suppose four straight weekends plus a Wednesday of racing have taken a lot out of me but I can’t make excuses - we’ve all been racing hard. When each moment of truth came yesterday, I didn’t respond to step up my game – giving in to self-doubt. I know I felt like shit, but so did everybody else. And when do you ever feel perfect during a race?

I wanted to gold-plate my upgrade with a podium yesterday and it just didn’t happen. Don’t see how I can really submit it at this time. I have the requirements, but I didn’t race above my category yesterday. I don’t deserve it.

Motivation is at a serious low right now – equal parts Monday, retrospect, self-loathing, and fatigue. Thank God it’s finally my rest week – I don’t want to even look at my race bike right now. I’m completely off the hoops today, Wednesday, and Friday and just commuting into work the other two weekdays. Friday, Maggie and I head to Milwaukee for some of our first, real summer fun. Summer fun that I would have loved to have shared yesterday – instead of hiding from the sun for hour after hour and jabbering to myself inside my head to go faster – with a morning at the farmer’s market and taking Jack to the dog beach.

So I’ll make up for it this week. It’s straight to Summerfest after stepping off the Amtrak on Friday morning. It will be more crowded than I prefer, but at least early on we’ll still be able to walk between the beer tents, and take a whirl on the Skyride. By time it gets asses-to-elbows crowded at sunset, we’ll be firmly ensconced at our picnic table to take in The Roots performance.

Saturday will be a leisurely spin through Milwaukee on my cousin Rick’s city bikes: Alterra coffee to the Art Museum to the Lakefront Brewery before returning to his place in the evening with vittles for grilling, and suds for swilling.

I can imagine it now. My bare feet are up on the railing, silhouetted in front of the deepening orange sunset. I have a beer in my hand; the label slowly disintegrating against the glass bottle from the condensation in the warm evening air. The soft strains of U2 float out of the speakers in the kitchen, The Edge’s jangly guitar swirling around us, mixed in with the sweet smell of charred barbeque sauce and roasted corn-on-the-cob. Maggie’s ever-present hiccup will make me smile, I’ll squeeze her hand, and all this stress will come out in a long, contented sigh.

Hi folks -- Back in Ohio and trying to get my life in order after seven weeks in Germany. One big problem is getting my Porsche running properly, after several bad episodes with a distributor rotor that kept crashing into the cap. OK, so the diagnosis appears to be bad distributor bushings, and the remedy is to send the distributor out to Jerry Woods in California for a rebuild and a re-curve. My friend Cliff tried to get the car running with the rebuilt distributor while I was gone, but to no avail the car awaited my gentle touch last week upon return from Leipzig. So the last 5 days I have spent my free time trying to set the timing and get the distributor to distribute the spark properly to the spark plugs. My best efforts have resulted in the car running well at idle, but once under load the car bogs down, and it accelerates unevenly. The plugs seem to be carbon fouled, or at least characterized as having carbon deposits on them. So not enough spark it seems.

So there is a devil in my car. I used to call my car Lazarus because I raised it from the dead, but now I have renamed it Legion, for the many evil spirits that are in it. There was a great song in the early 1980s by one of my favorite groups, the B-52s, entitled "Devil in my Car."

HELP! The devil's in my car.
HELP! The devil's in my car.
HELP! The devil's in my car.
Ho, devil's in my car, whoa please
PLEASE! Leave me alone!

We're really tearin' tar.
We're goin' 90 miles an hour.
Ho! He's drivin' me crazy.
He's drivin' me to Hell now.

He's pointing his pitchfork at me.
He's in the front seat of my car!
He's taking over!
Oo, he ripped my upholstry.
He's at the wheel,
HELP! The devil's in my car.
HELP! He's drivin' too far.

(scream!) Ooooooh!

Whoooa!

I can't lock the door,
I can't put on my safety belt.
There's nothing for me to do but yell HELP!
Devil's in my car!
I'm goin' to Hell in my old Chevrolet,
I don't know which way.
Oh, HELP! Devil's in my car!
Yeah, yeah. He's gone too far.
I won't see ya tomorrow.
I won't see ya anymore.
He's got his cloven hoof on the clutch.
Oh! Ow! I'm sitting on his tail.

Oh-Ohh, I don't wanna go to Hell.
(I don't wanna go to the devil.)
He's in my car, in my car, in my car.

Ohhhh-waaaaahhh!

The radio gives me static,
there's nothing on my CB.
Oh, HELP! the devil's in my car.
Oh, he's in my car. He's in my car.
The devil's in my car.
We're turning off the road.
Oh! Where ya taking me devil?
Oh! He's grinning door to door.
He's got his cloven hoof on the clutch.
HELP ME!
Oh, I don't wanna go to Hell.
(I don't wanna go to the devil.)
He's in my car.

Freeway to Hell.
We're burning up the road.
Freeway to Hell. (Right through the tollbooth)
We're burning up the road.
Freeway to Hell. (Right through the guardrail)
We're burning up the road.
Freeway to Hell. (Across the median)
We're burning up the road.
Freeway to Hell. (Would you slow down?)
We're burning up the road.

I've got the devil juice in my CARburater!
I've got the devil in my cigarette lighter.
I don't need no battery (I got the devil in my car).
In my car. In my car-oh!
In my car
In my car
In my car
In my car
In my car

Clearly, there are devils in my car!

From Sloting Plus:

Two Combi bushings adapted for a tube ( 1 g total weight ) in order to keep axle straight, ensure perfect alignment of bearings and reduce possible transversal oscillation chassis !
The 31 mm is for example adapted to Ninco Ferrari 360 and Lamborghini Gallardo....
The 31,6 mm ( with a groove in the tube for easy identification ) is for example adapted to Mosler...

Recommended with our axles 2250, 2252 or 2255 and finally, an advantage is also you can keep oil you put under bushings under the tube and so not loose it quickly in the ground ....

UPDATE from Jacques...
Ref 1010 31 mm is for exemple for Mosler's, Megane, Toyota Supra, Honda NSX and Lexus
Ref 1011 31,6 mm is for exemple for Ferrari, Lamborghini and Ascari

HST 344

Summer, 2009, Leipzig

Final Exam

Open Book Exam! You must work independently with no help from anyone, and no discussion among members of the class! Send your exam to john.heitmann@notes.udayton.edu no later than June 22, 2009.

I Identification and historical significance (50 pts.). Answer five (5) of the following eight (8) people, places, and things in a concise and detailed paragraph for each of five sentences or less.

1. Fred and August Duesenberg

2. Sitdown and the Coming of the UAW

3. The Jeep and WWII Popular Culture

4. The Cadillac as a Symbol of Post-WWII Success in America

5. Ben Hamper’s Rivethead

6. Ralph Nader and Unsafe at Any Speed (1965)

7. Lowriders and Hispanic Culture

8. Oil Shock II, 1979

II Essay. (50 pts.) Answer one of the following by writing a coherent essay harnessing factual evidence whenever possible. Your answer should have both an introduction and a conclusion.

1. It seems obvious that the current decline in the American automobile industry didn‘t happen in the past six months, or even the past few years. In your own words and using what you have learned in this course, trace the decline of the American industry, making sure to discuss key aspects and developments in chronological fashion. Do you think this decline was inevitable or not, and why?

B. Discuss recent developments in car culture, post 1960, in terms of music, film, and literature. Why is culture integral to developing an understanding of the place of the automobile in American life?

This awesome pictures were taken by the who also took the time to write down the names of the cars and the wonderful artist who made them at this years 11th Annual Seattle Art Car- Blowout. If any you have more info on these cars please email me and I can post a detailed entry about your car. Some of the other cars that where there and have been featured on Art Car Central were The Vain Van, Eartha Karr, Aero Car, Leopard Bernstein and Rot N'Hell

SPACE JUNK Art Car by Rot N' Hell

Godspeed 818 Art Car by Phil Teller - Seattle, WA

The Mock 7 Art Car by Daniel Johnston - Bellingham, WA.

Bruce Art Car by Joanne Quinn Owens - Bay Area CA

The Octopod Art Car by Emily Hall - Portland, OR

Flutterbug Art Car by Konnie Mae - Ashland, OR

Flivver Art Car by Joy Johnston - Oregon

Drala the Dragon Art Car By Bruman of Berkeley, CA

Attila the Fun Art Car by Tish Smith - CANADA

All photos were taken by The KronoNaut

...mohawk and everything:

Snowball.



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Don't forget my contest!

via boing boing

That's right folks, Christmas will never be the same again because of this one image of a Japanese Car Tree. This comes to us via a Japanese Junkyard were a Japanese hackberry tree sprouted from a seed 25 years ago and managed to lift a car in the air. The workers there built a small fence around the tree protecting it as it grows. I think this is the birth of a whole new line of Christmas ornaments that will enabling consumer recycle all the old cars from going to waste. The only problem see is finding a base strong enough to support the tree from falling down on top of the kids Christmas morning. Would this be covered under your car insurance, who knows.

C u @ 4:30.

SLOT MINIAUTO 57 – JULY

The new Porsche 997 of Xlot by Ninco is the highlighted protagonist on the Slot MiniAuto cover of July. On the inside you can find the track tests of the new Lola T70 of Revell, the Chevrolet Bel Air of Carrera, the new and exclusive Rondeau M379B of Slot Real Car, the Honda NSX and Lexus SC430 from japanese GSlot and the assembly kit of the Toyota 88 C of BRM. It includes an extensive interview with Marco Montrasio of Racer.
You can also read the chronicle of the second meeting of SCX collectors VIP’s. The new Slot Miniauto subscription car, the McLaren MP4/6 Ayrton Senna, also stands out on the cover.
(More information on www.revistasprofesionales.com)






SLOT MINIAUTO 57 - JULIO

El nuevo Porsche 997 de Xlot es el protagonista destacado de la portada de Slot MiniAuto del mes de julio. En el interior se pueden encontrar las pruebas en pista de los nuevos Lola T70 de Revel, el Chevrolet Bel Air reproducido por Carrera, el Rondeau M379B de Slot Real, los Honda NSX y Lexus SC430 de Gslot y el montaje del Toyota 88 C de BRM. Se incluye una entrevista a Marco Montrasio de Racer.
Además se puede leer la crónica del segundo encuentro VIP de coleccionistas de Scalextric.
El nuevo coche de suscripción, el McLaren MP4/6 de Ayrton Senna, acapara también gran parte de la portada.
(Más información en www.revistasprofesionales.com)

Michael Jackson died today at age 50 died after being rushed to a Los Angeles-area hospital late Thursday afternoon. This is his collection of mini-art cars that look like they might have once been part of a Disneyland ride, a bit on the boring side but I just wanted to make sure he got his due here on Art Car Central. May he rest in peace and our best wishes go to all his family and fans.

People who offer you the choice, but have no intention of actually giving it to you.

You bitched and bitched about the cold weather and rain. You thought summer would never get here. Please shut up now.

People who own dogs that are too big to control. And too lazy to train them.

The first pieces of information are surfacing for the NINCO World Cup 2009.
The information below is from the NINCO Blogspot site.

Friends, drivers... Finally we have a date and a venue for the final of the NINCO WORLD CUP 2009! The chosen city is: Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Canary Islands Spain. An idyllic location that will permit participants and guests to enjoy the greatest Slot event of the year, in privileged surroundings.

The dates are the following: 20/21 Nov 2009, the first day (Friday) will be entirely given over to training sessions and on the Saturday the final will be held the determine the new world champions.

The NWC will crown two World Champions in two categories this year, NINCO SPORT and XLOT.

This year the NWC offers a new format, there will be 2 x champion teams! In 2009 the first XLOT World champions will be crowned. Under this format, this year all countries entering will compete in both categories, the traditional 1:32 NINCO SPORT and with the revolutionary 1:28 XLOT.

The car to be used for the final of the 1:32 category will be announced on this blog on the 1st Sept. For the XLOT final, the car will be the PORSCHE 997, the first available model of the brand which will be available from week 30 worldwide.

I found this jump drive in the locker room at the work-gym today.



It appears to have 512MB of memory.

Leave your guesses as to what's on it in the comments section of this entry. Then next Wednesday I'll power it up and reveal the contents.

Closest guess wins the prize. You must come to the Turin Ride on Wednesday, July 8th to redeem your prize in the parking lot of J.J. Pepper's.

This quote today really struck a nerve with me. It expressed in a way that I haven't been able to my frustration and annoyance with people who overreact when I tell them I don't own a car:

Jerks say: You’re weird. Skeptics say: How are you going to handle the heat this summer (it gets up to 110 in Santa Clarita)? The Unimaginative say: I could never give up my car, I have kids/dog/insert special problem here.

I've ranted over and over again in this space that our car-culture and subsequent accouterments are only temporary. The means to power this wasteful, slothful, and selfish way of life will soon come to an end. We even may live to see it.

But it heartens me to see, read, and hear about more riders taking to the streets every day. People who are no longer making excuses to tie themselves down in life and to their car. People who discover how much better their lives can be once they realize that there are less limits on a car-free lifestyle, and those limits are only as constraining as they allow them to be.

A breakthrough for me arrived today in my dog Jack's complete acceptance of the dog trailer I'm buying for him. Available from Pet Ego, a higher-end pet store owned by my friend and teammate Emanuele, now I can take him to the beach, to local races - such as the Chicago Crit, and cyclocross - without relying on a friend's car, or renting one.

The trailer is very affordable, extremely well made, and now gives Jack and I the freedom to go so many more places and to enjoy life together - car free.

Tomorrow will be his first day at the Montrose dog beach!

"Go Like Hell" by AJ Baime is just a fantastic book.

The book gives an in depth picture of the Ford vs. Ferrari battle for supremacy during the mid 60's LeMans era. Every page of this book gives the reader an ever clearer view of the background of the two giants of sports car racing during what is probably, at least for the slot car fans out there, the most popular era for slot cars. Who out there in slot car land does NOT have a Ford GT or Ferrari 330P3... and if you don't have one you probably want one... at least one.

In the book Baime gives us a view inside the politics of racing and building the iconic cars that made history. But what I personally found more interesting was the VERY good backgrounds of the drivers that are written about in the pages of this book. All the drivers you've heard of and seen on the sides of the cars and mentioned on the message boards. I must admit I didn't know much, if anything about John Surtees... yes... Il Grande John was not someone I knew much about. Sure I knew the name, but to read about him in such detail. To read about an accident that permanently disfigured him, and to read about his comeback to get into the drivers seat for the '66 LeMans only to have a vindictive team leader (Dragoni... appropriate name, eh?) who effectively took him out of the drivers seat before the start of what would be a crowning race for Ford.

And to read about Ken Miles (yes I know, I know.... again, I'd not know much about him either as a driver, someone out there all the older generation of slotters are saying to themselves,"oh god open a book once in a while...") but to read about his tireless work to develop the Ford GT40 from a worthless, useless death trap into a world beater and then to have the race win taken from him by his bosses at Ford in some half-assed attempt to get a "tie" between the top 2 Fords... it's tragic, and I really felt for him.

The book built towards the '66 race. Each chapter building and laying the groundwork for the finale, Carroll Shelby coming from "only" being an American driver to being one of the most important figures in sports car racing. Being given the chance (and the burden) to build maybe the single most important American race cars. From a small shop of hotrodders where there was an informal open-door-policy of letting people wander into the shop and see what they were working on to acres of high security compound to build the cars that would finish 1,2,3 at LeMans.

And then there's the long trail of horrible accidents chronicled in the book. The prologue for the book sets the tone... the infamous accident by the Mercedes 300 SLR piloted by Pierre Levegh is described in gripping detail.

Of course no book about this part of sports car racing history would be complete without an in depth look at the man behind it all...Enzo Ferrari... well, let's just say I'm more of a Porsche fan now than ever and leave it at that.

There's simply something in EVERY chapter that you as a racing fan will find interesting I think. If you don't have this book, you should get this book.

...Go like hell? Yes... read it like hell! When you finish it, you'll want to start all over.

Good job Mr. Baime... good job!


http://golikehellthebook.com/
$26.00
Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
www.hmhbooks.com

Dave Kennedy
Publisher, Slot Car News

A video of the race from Saturday at Great Traditions in Philadelphia.

Maximus Minimus or The Pig Food Art Truck is the brainchild of Kurt Beecher Dammeier up in seattle who also is the person behind Beecher’s Cheese and other Seattle food endeavors. Kurt hired local designer Collin Reedy to make it all happen and ended up up with a superb Pig Art Truck that deserves a place here on art car central. They serve pulled pork sandwiches but also have veg sandwich with fennel, onions, and bulgur for vegetarians and vegans who might be "pork challenged". I love the fact that it looks so industrial and heavy duty as if it was in one of those end of the world apocalyptic movies. I can see it now, the last remaining source of food in a land filled with mutants all trying to get in for a bite to eat. The truck is racing through barriers of steel and flaming cars. I see the flame thrower coming out of the nostrils and deadly gas out of the back end. And don't forget the two.50 caliber mounted inside the ears. With this bullet proof beauty there is new hope for the remnants of the "Fast Food Chain Wars" that destroyed our planet in 2025. Wow what a rant.

Is it too much to ask for even two consecutive days without rain?

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Pledge Week on NPR. Donate now, so I can have my begging-free morning news back.

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Just in time for summer, the Chicago Police produced a bicycle training video.

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No bike lane? Take it with you.

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Watched the first half of "The Hangover" last night. Don't ask, but what I would have given to be present at the initial writing session for the morning-after-hotel-room scene.

The DeWalt Morgan Aero 8 was raced in the 24 Hours of LeMans in 2002 by the trio of Richard Stanton, Steve Hyde, and Richard Hay. The 4 litre car also competed in the British GT Series.

The classic styling of the car makes maybe the most unique GT sports car being raced today.

There's just two constants in the life of the amateur bike racer: suffering and ice cream. Both make the other just as sweet.

The Fox River Grove Cycling Challenge is Illinois' answer to Iowa's Snake Alley. Lap after lap of abject suffering, detonating entire fields into shards of sweaty, grunting, broken, lapped, and pulled riders.

After my pathetic performance in Iowa, I had no illusions about doing much beyond trying not to get lapped. Yet, I had a lead in the Master's 30+ 4/5 Illinois Cup standings, and feeling in a masochistic mood, I preregistered for both that race and the Elite 4 races, to give myself hard training ride and make the hour drive out worth my while.

The climb certainly lives up to its reputation. Its begins just after the start line with a 14% pitch, then two switchbacks, followed by two more stairsteps, before topping out underneath the towering ski jump ramp. Then there are four left turns on a fast descent on which to recover, and do it all over again. For 20 minutes in the first race, 30 in the 4s race, broken up by a 15 minute break for the big wheel races.

At the line, USCF's Dave Fowkes announced a short leash on uncompetitive riders to keep the descent fast and safe, then blew the whistle and we were off.

Up until three laps to go the lead group stayed together with about 15 of us running up a gauntlet of screaming teammates and locals, urging us to "GOGOGOGOGO!" Some would run Alp d'Huez style along side, exhorting us to please turn our pedals faster and to go get that $%&#$*%#$er's wheel.

After seeing three to go and coming around the 2nd switchback, Luke hoarsely yelled, "Attack at the top! Attack at the top!" I'll meander midpack all day long when left to my own devices, but when you give me an order, I hop to it. Two shifts and out of my saddle, I passed out of mere tunnel vision and into Dr. Dave Bowman hallucination-worm hole territory.

And a gap.

I tried my best to recover and keep my speed up, but alone in the wind was no place to be with 15 other guys behind me. I was absorbed right at the bottom after seeing two to go, and right there was the decisive move. I hit the top in a group of 5, and looking at a gap between us and the group ahead. One to go they dropped me, and I rolled in for 11th with Lucas right behind me.

I grabbed a cookie and half a banana, reloaded the water while the big wheel race erupted into chaos, kids crashing into the grass left and right, and then made my way back to the line, this time in the rear of a field of 66.

The race was over before it began. I lacked any pop to make up much ground, and spent the next 30 minutes in 20th-ish limbo. The only excitement was overcooking the last turn on the first lap and taking a detour into a lawn. There was a gap behind me, so it didn't make much of a difference, and I was back soon with the group I was with for some hard hill repeat training.

I didn't get pulled, or lapped at least, and ended the day cramping in the back seat of Emanuele's Dodge and enjoying a large dipped cone from the Dairy Queen down the road.

In the dark depths of the pain cave with seemingly no way out, you might question why the hell you would ever do something like this. Your non-cycling friends watching you certainly do. Yet the sense of accomplishment after is just as sweet as the post-race ice cream dripping down your hand.

One of the best things about this trip to Germany was meeting folks who, like myself and many other Americans, love their automobiles. And indeed this is the case for many Germans. Along with others in our Study Abroad program, I had the privilege of meeting and spending time with several great people who are employed at the BMW plant in Leipzig. Indeed, without their efforts, our program would have not been nearly as successful. So many thanks to Dr. Stefan Frenchel, Rueben Petzold, and Dr. Wolfgang Shwartz. I cannot believe the time they put into teaching our students about BMW and the auto industry! After our program at BMW was over, we had a dinner at which Dr. Shwartz drove by in his remarkable 1962 Alfa-Romeo! This car is near perfect! So I am attaching some photos that Wolfgang took of his car during a recent trip to Italy and also back in Leipzig. The love of the car is alive and well, not only in the U.S. but also in Germany and undoubtedly worldwide.

From Jacques at Sloting Plus:

"We present you tyres made with Cartrix brand collaboration.
We have used some very good Cartrix moulds with a new formula of rubber high quality tested together !
It is always difficult to specify tracks adapted BUT in general, we can say Ninco tracks are natural for Sculpture references and Ninco, other Rally tracks a little bit dirty for exemple are adapted for Microtaco references...

The four references are for wheels with a minimum diameter of 15,9 mm but you can use for bigger diameter and it is not necessary to glue tyres on the wheels...


Selling by packs of 4 units under references :
SLPL M27A ( 19 mm x 9 mm dimensions for A ), SLPL M27B ( 20 mm x 10,5 mm dimensions for B ) for Microtaco design, SLPL M28A and SLPL M28B for Sculpture design !

Kind regards
Jacques
Sloting Plus

In order to explore the performance of MP4-24 to a fuller extent, the team has chosen to pursue differing paths for Lewis and Heikki over the course of the Silverstone weekend. Today’s practice was the most divergent of the season so far: on a track where the benefits of using KERS are less pronounced, Heikki’s engineers chose to continue running the system while Lewis’s team decided to focus on developing the most effective balance without it.
Also evaluated today were further modifications to the floor and front wing, the back-to-backing of tongued and standard static front hubs and the addition of new double-fin sidepod strakes.

LEWIS HAMILTON
MP4-24-04
P1 programme 26 laps 1m20.650s (8th)
Lewis spent the morning understanding the balance of the car and was encouraged by its consistency. He completed two installation laps and three runs, all on the Prime tyre, as he evaluated a series of new aero components. With the track starting off cold and slippery and the tyres requiring several laps to reach their optimum, Lewis spent the morning working down to a fast time. He completed runs of four laps/1m23.722s best; six laps/1m21.026s and seven laps/1m20.650s, ending the morning session eighth fastest.
“It took a while to get used to the car this morning,” he said. “It feels a little different from what we’ve been running in previous races. Generally, I’m very happy with the balance but, with a revised car and on a high-speed circuit like this, it takes a bit longer than usual to find the limit.”

P2 programme 35 laps 1m20.417s (7th)
Lewis’s opening five-lap run (1m21.181s) felt different from the pace shown this morning. Nonetheless, his second run, on Primes, was remarkably consistent, seeing him post the following eight-lap sequence: 1m22.572s, 1m22.736s, 1m21,826s, 1m21.862s, 1m21.768s, 1m24.032s, 1m21.644s and 1m21.688s. Two further runs on Options (10 laps/1m21.475s and four laps/1m20.417s) concluded his session.
“It’s no secret that we’re lacking speed in the faster sections,” Lewis concluded. “But the car wasn’t too bad today. The balance was good, we’ve made some set-up changes and it now appears to be fairly consistent. But this has already turned out to be one of the best weekends of the year for me because I’m at my home grand prix and the fans are incredible here – I’ve seen and felt their support from the very first lap I did today.”

HEIKKI KOVALAINEN
MP4-24-02
P1 programme 22 laps 1m21.029s (12th)
Heikki completed three runs this morning: five laps/1m22.779s;four laps/1m22.161s and six laps/1m21.029s. MP4-24’s lack of high-speed grip and its nervousness in the faster corners meant it was difficult to extract a strong time from the car, but Heikki felt the team made progress with its understanding of the car and its balance at high speed.
“Firstly, it’s great to be back at Silverstone because it’s a circuit I love,” Heikki said. “I got pole position last year and I really enjoy driving here. We know we face a tougher weekend this season because we’re lacking grip, but the balance of the car didn’t feel too bad this morning. As Lewis is running without KERS this weekend, we now have to analyse the balance of both cars and see what we’ll do for the rest of the weekend.”

P2 programme 37 laps 1m20.733s (12th)
Another busy session. Heikki started off on Primes (five laps/1m21.796s) and Options (three laps/1m20.859s) before starting his long-run programme, completing runs of seven laps (Primes/1m22.682s) and eight laps (Options/1m22.822s).
“We’re definitely making progress,” he said afterwards. “It’s still difficult to say whether it’s an advantage to be running KERS, but I felt I was getting a laptime benefit from the system. This weekend will be all about developing our car and seeing what difference the changes make to both Lewis’s and my pace. The whole team is pushing like crazy and we’re getting a better understanding of our car. Whatever happens, we are definitely going to learn a lot of useful things about the car this weekend.”

1 Sebastien Vettel Red Bull Racing 1m19.456 39 laps
2 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing 1m19.597 35
3 Adrian Sutil Force India 1m20.141 41
4 Kazuki Nakajima Williams F1 1m20.209 36
5 Fernando Alonso Renault 1m20.237 36
6 Rubens Barrichello Brawn GP 1m20.244 26
7 Lewis Hamilton Vodafone McLaren Mercedes 1m20.417 35
8 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1m20.458 40
9 Nico Rosberg Williams F1 1m20.468 42
10 Nelson Piquet Jr Renault 1m20.608 37
11 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 1m20.622 23
12 Heikki Kovalainen Vodafone McLaren Mercedes 1m20.733 37
13 Timo Glock Toyota 1m20.762 37
14 Jenson Button Brawn GP 1m20.767 28
15 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1m20.932 35
16 Sebastien Bourdais Toro Rosso 1m20.945 36
17 Felipe Massa Scuderia Ferrari 1m21.005 37
18 Kimi Raikkonen Scuderia Ferrari 1m21.132 38
19 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India 1m21.413 40
20 Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso 1m21.668 37

Session 1
Pos Driver Constructor Time Laps
1 Sebastien Vettel Red Bull Racing 1m19.400 20
2 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing 1m19.682 19
3 Jenson Button Brawn GP 1m20.227 20
4 Rubens Barrichello Brawn GP 1m20.242 29
5 Fernando Alonso Renault 1m20.458 26
6 Felipe Massa Scuderia Ferrari 1m20.471 23
7 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1m20.585 32
8 Lewis Hamilton Vodafone McLaren Mercedes 1m20.650 26
9 Nico Rosberg Williams F1 1m20.815 32
10 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India 1m20.838 25
11 Adrian Sutil Force India 1m20.913 22
12 Heikki Kovalainen Vodafone McLaren Mercedes 1m21.029 22
13 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1m21.103 24
14 Kimi Raikkonen Scuderia Ferrari 1m21.179 27
15 Sebastien Bourdais Toro Rosso 1m21.384 23
16 Timo Glock Toyota 1m21.386 32
17 Kazuki Nakajima Williams F1 1m21.489 26
18 Nelson Piquet Jr Renault 1m21.525 30
19 Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso 1m21.590 37
20 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 1m21.801 16

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