April 11, 2010
Lack Of Spark
I seem to have misplaced my motivation to do much of anything right now.
I seem to have misplaced my motivation to do much of anything right now.
Posted by: Wonderduck at
06:57 PM
| Comments (3)
| Add Comment
Post contains 17 words, total size 1 kb.
April 09, 2010
Nozomi Gets A Thumbs-Up!
Okay, I'm agog. It's pretty clear that the people over at Nozomi/TRSI like the ARIA franchise, but they also appear to like the fans who like ARIA, too. How do I know this?
The box set for ARIA the Origination has not only the OVA, ~Arietta~, and the DVD-only episode, Navigation 5.5, but it also has...
...the picture dramas. Nozomi even licensed the picture dramas! I had no idea those were going to be on the discs... and I've got an ear-to-ear grin because of it.
THAT'S how I know Nozomi likes us.
The box set for ARIA the Origination has not only the OVA, ~Arietta~, and the DVD-only episode, Navigation 5.5, but it also has...
...the picture dramas. Nozomi even licensed the picture dramas! I had no idea those were going to be on the discs... and I've got an ear-to-ear grin because of it.
THAT'S how I know Nozomi likes us.
Posted by: Wonderduck at
08:04 PM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 97 words, total size 1 kb.
April 08, 2010
Thoughts and Webrangling
I'm working on a couple of posts, each about a particular aircraft carrier, at the moment, but neither are ready for prime-time quite yet. So, while you wait, here's this post instead!
Just received an order from Robert's this afternoon that I'm very excited about. First up is HidaSketch x 365, the second series in the franchise. The other thing I got is ARIA the Origination. That's the third and final series of the ARIA saga, and it has what I consider the single finest episode of anime I've ever seen in it, ep09. The interesting thing about that particular episode is that it really only works if you've watched all the others in the franchise; if you just drop in the DVD and watch it standalone, it doesn't have anywhere near the impact. I suppose some might say that because of that, it can't be the best episode ever, to which I'd say "pbpbpbpbpbpbpbpbbpbpbthhhhhhhhh." So there.
Nozomi/Right Stuf really did a nice job on their releases for ARIA. No skimping here. Four boxes, four or five DVDs per box, a "guidebook" in each as well with episode notes, sketches and the like. Then there's the best idea I've seen in a while: the extras DVD. Instead of spreading things like interviews, trailers, music videos, etc, across all the other DVDs in the box, thereby using space that could better be used for other things, Nozomi put them all on their own disc. Great idea!
In other news, we've gotten our first applicant for the Formula 1 gridslot relinquished by the failed USF1. Durango Automotive, until recently a GP2 team, made their desire known today. Unfortunately, the reason they withdrew from GP2 was... financial problems. Just what we need, huh? They're confident, however, that if they get the slot, they'll find backers... sound familiar? Best of luck to you, guys, you'll need it.
Speaking of USF1, it's official: the team is totally dead. They fired all their employees, whom had been on unpaid leave for many weeks, via e-mail a few days ago.
Andy over at Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Catgirls, might be the luckiest person on the face of the earth. He went on vacation back in March, with his first stop being Australia. His itinerary put him in Melbourne for a few days around March 24th... in other words, during the Grand Prix weekend. Which he didn't realize; he's not a F1 fan. After Melbourne, his next holiday stop was... Kuala Lumpur. During the Grand Prix weekend. Which he didn't realize; he's not a F1 fan. On the plane flight over, there were a bunch of people wearing identical shirts... the Renault team. Then once he's in KL, he gets caught in one of those ever-present (but not during the race!) afternoon/evening thunderstorms. Like any intelligent person, he ducks into a shopping mall to avoid the deluge... just in time to be present for Team Lotus' unveiling of their car for the home fans. Oh, and don't forget about the static collection of early '90s F1 cars, too. Then there's the Duck Store, too... AND HE'S NOT A F1 FAN! *whimper*
Finally, the first episode of the second series of K-On!! has hit the torrents, and it's just like the first series only moreso. Hate the OP, though... sounds like someone hit the helium bottles before they started singing. Enjoyable episode, not anything deep and memorable... just like K-On! probably should be.
Just received an order from Robert's this afternoon that I'm very excited about. First up is HidaSketch x 365, the second series in the franchise. The other thing I got is ARIA the Origination. That's the third and final series of the ARIA saga, and it has what I consider the single finest episode of anime I've ever seen in it, ep09. The interesting thing about that particular episode is that it really only works if you've watched all the others in the franchise; if you just drop in the DVD and watch it standalone, it doesn't have anywhere near the impact. I suppose some might say that because of that, it can't be the best episode ever, to which I'd say "pbpbpbpbpbpbpbpbbpbpbthhhhhhhhh." So there.
Nozomi/Right Stuf really did a nice job on their releases for ARIA. No skimping here. Four boxes, four or five DVDs per box, a "guidebook" in each as well with episode notes, sketches and the like. Then there's the best idea I've seen in a while: the extras DVD. Instead of spreading things like interviews, trailers, music videos, etc, across all the other DVDs in the box, thereby using space that could better be used for other things, Nozomi put them all on their own disc. Great idea!
In other news, we've gotten our first applicant for the Formula 1 gridslot relinquished by the failed USF1. Durango Automotive, until recently a GP2 team, made their desire known today. Unfortunately, the reason they withdrew from GP2 was... financial problems. Just what we need, huh? They're confident, however, that if they get the slot, they'll find backers... sound familiar? Best of luck to you, guys, you'll need it.
Speaking of USF1, it's official: the team is totally dead. They fired all their employees, whom had been on unpaid leave for many weeks, via e-mail a few days ago.
Andy over at Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Catgirls, might be the luckiest person on the face of the earth. He went on vacation back in March, with his first stop being Australia. His itinerary put him in Melbourne for a few days around March 24th... in other words, during the Grand Prix weekend. Which he didn't realize; he's not a F1 fan. After Melbourne, his next holiday stop was... Kuala Lumpur. During the Grand Prix weekend. Which he didn't realize; he's not a F1 fan. On the plane flight over, there were a bunch of people wearing identical shirts... the Renault team. Then once he's in KL, he gets caught in one of those ever-present (but not during the race!) afternoon/evening thunderstorms. Like any intelligent person, he ducks into a shopping mall to avoid the deluge... just in time to be present for Team Lotus' unveiling of their car for the home fans. Oh, and don't forget about the static collection of early '90s F1 cars, too. Then there's the Duck Store, too... AND HE'S NOT A F1 FAN! *whimper*
Finally, the first episode of the second series of K-On!! has hit the torrents, and it's just like the first series only moreso. Hate the OP, though... sounds like someone hit the helium bottles before they started singing. Enjoyable episode, not anything deep and memorable... just like K-On! probably should be.
Out-of-context, this screencap looks really, really wrong.
Okay, break's over. Everybody back on your heads.
Posted by: Wonderduck at
06:58 PM
| Comments (9)
| Add Comment
Post contains 594 words, total size 5 kb.
April 06, 2010
Creepy Girl, Oh My Little Creepy Girl*
The main female character in the Denpa Teki na Kanojo OVA is named Ame Ochibana. She's a quiet, intelligent, and resourceful girl with an agile mind. She also believes that she and the show's protagonist, Juu Juuzawa, were linked in a prior lifetime, he as a king, with her as his loyal subject. She swears fealty to him early on in the show, which is set in current times. Her vow to protect him from all who would harm him seems laughable on the face of it, as he's considered their school's main delinquent, with a talent for brawling. He, of course, considers her a wacked-out stalker who has a penchant for breaking and entering, usually into his apartment... a creepy girl, if you will.
This being anime, of course there's more to it than that. Ame is probably the most sane female character in this show... most of whom want to cause rather severe physical harm to Juu, and usually manage to do so. Until Ame shows up, at which point things rapidly go south for those hurting Juu. She's skilled with a taser, is able to talk logic rings around just about anyone, and even occasionally works in a maid cafe. But with her almost expressionless manner of speech, her penchant for wearing her hair in front of her eyes, and her physical stillness (which is a silly way to describe an anime character, few of whom have much in the way of fidgets, I know... but the animators still manage to make her seem very still, even when she's in motion), she really does seem kinda creepy. The occasional glimpse of her eyes that we get just make matters worse, for some reason.
But the most disturbing part of Ame's character is her voice. It's quiet, breathy, mature but still that of a young girl... and almost, but not quite, sinister. She very rarely puts emotion behind her words, which makes it even more creepy when she's talking to one of the really crazy girls in the show, the one who lives in a small, filthy, low-rent apartment with her dead mother and believes that if she "steals happiness points" from other people, her mother will come back to life.
It's Ame's voice that truly completes the character, and it's one that I knew I recognized, but couldn't immediately place. It wasn't until about halfway through the first episode that I figured it out, at which point I was amazed... a character more opposite to Ame it would be difficult to find, in a show diametrically opposed to Denpa Teki na Kanojo.
Who?
Hard to believe.
*with apologies to Tom Servo.
The main female character in the Denpa Teki na Kanojo OVA is named Ame Ochibana. She's a quiet, intelligent, and resourceful girl with an agile mind. She also believes that she and the show's protagonist, Juu Juuzawa, were linked in a prior lifetime, he as a king, with her as his loyal subject. She swears fealty to him early on in the show, which is set in current times. Her vow to protect him from all who would harm him seems laughable on the face of it, as he's considered their school's main delinquent, with a talent for brawling. He, of course, considers her a wacked-out stalker who has a penchant for breaking and entering, usually into his apartment... a creepy girl, if you will.
This being anime, of course there's more to it than that. Ame is probably the most sane female character in this show... most of whom want to cause rather severe physical harm to Juu, and usually manage to do so. Until Ame shows up, at which point things rapidly go south for those hurting Juu. She's skilled with a taser, is able to talk logic rings around just about anyone, and even occasionally works in a maid cafe. But with her almost expressionless manner of speech, her penchant for wearing her hair in front of her eyes, and her physical stillness (which is a silly way to describe an anime character, few of whom have much in the way of fidgets, I know... but the animators still manage to make her seem very still, even when she's in motion), she really does seem kinda creepy. The occasional glimpse of her eyes that we get just make matters worse, for some reason.
But the most disturbing part of Ame's character is her voice. It's quiet, breathy, mature but still that of a young girl... and almost, but not quite, sinister. She very rarely puts emotion behind her words, which makes it even more creepy when she's talking to one of the really crazy girls in the show, the one who lives in a small, filthy, low-rent apartment with her dead mother and believes that if she "steals happiness points" from other people, her mother will come back to life.
It's Ame's voice that truly completes the character, and it's one that I knew I recognized, but couldn't immediately place. It wasn't until about halfway through the first episode that I figured it out, at which point I was amazed... a character more opposite to Ame it would be difficult to find, in a show diametrically opposed to Denpa Teki na Kanojo.
Who?
Hard to believe.
*with apologies to Tom Servo.
Posted by: Wonderduck at
09:53 PM
| Comments (3)
| Add Comment
Post contains 452 words, total size 4 kb.
April 04, 2010
F1 Update!: Grand Prix of Malaysia 2010!
It always rains in the afternoon in Malaysia in April. Always. THIS is your F1 Update! for the 2010 Grand Prix of Malaysia!
*EXCEPT TODAY: One would think the weather gods did it just to spite us, but other than an ominously dark sky seemingly just outside the gates to the Sepang International Circuit, the track was as dry as the Mojave Desert... and seemingly just as hot, though much more humid. They say in conditions like this a driver can lose up to 15 pounds, and it's murder on the cars as well. That's probably why Pete Rose's Sauber died on the recon lap, and why five other cars had mechanical failures to boot.
*DRY TRACK: ...but not a dry race. With Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa and HWMNBN starting from the nether regions of the grid, you would expect a lot of excitement as they weaved their way past the backmarkers, and you'd be absolutely right. Hamilton was up to 10th by the end of the fourth lap, with the two Ferraris not far behind. What happened at that point was that we wound up getting a lot of coverage of the mid-pack cars that we don't normally see. Jaime Alguersuari aka NKOTT in particular has come alive after his 20-some-odd lap tussle with Slappy Schumacher in Australia, and spent a good portion of the race dicing with other big names. That his Toro Rosso isn't fast enough to keep the likes of McLaren and Ferrari permanently behind shouldn't be a knock on the New Kid.
*UP FRONT: The big question for this race (other than "where the hell is the rain?") was "will the Red Bulls hold together?" It's clear that they're the class of the field, just a touch ahead of Ferrari. With the red cars buried in the backfield, it was obvious that this was Vettel and Webber's race to win... which they did, in that order. Vettel made a slightly better start from 3rd than Webber from pole, got past his teammate going into Turn 1, and then the two never looked back. They cruised home with Vettel five seconds ahead of Webber, who in turn was nearly 11 seconds up on Nico Rosberg.
*DRIVER OF THE RACE: There's very little question but that Ferrari's HWMNBN is probably the best driver in F1 right now, and his race today in Malaysia proved it. On the formation lap before the race even began, he had a little problem with his clutch: it didn't work. For the entire race, he had to downshift by stamping on the accelerator and holding the downshift paddle, and hoping that the gearbox would eventually find a lower ratio. Mind you, he did all of this while braking at the same time, usually a sure recipe for disaster as F1 cars tend not to like such things while cornering. That he managed to get as high as eighth, setting fast lap of the race twice along the way, and dueling with Jenson Button for seventh, is nothing short of miraculous. It actually came as quite the surprise, then, when his engine finally let go on him with two laps remaining.
We'll admit it: we were actually saddened when the smoke began pouring out of HWMNBNs engine. He ended up placed in 13th, out of the points... a fate he really didn't deserve today.
*TEAM OF THE RACE: The sigh of relief emanating from Austria was strong enough to blow trees around here at Pond Central. Everything was aligned so that Red Bull could score an easy 1-2 today, as long the cars didn't break or the drivers didn't screw up as they had in the previous two meets. Today, finally, everything went right. That Ferrari and McLaren had shot themselves in the foot was merely icing on the cake.
*MOVE OF THE RACE: Early on, Jenson Button was sandwiched between the two Ferraris, Massa ahead, HWMNBN behind. The McLaren was on the softer tires (a choice he'd later call "a mistake"), the two Ferraris on the harder, so Button would be faster if he could just get past Massa. When Massa got a bit out of shape into Turn 10, Button thought he had his opening and made his move... just a moment too late. While he got under Massa, he couldn't quite get more than halfway up the length of the red car. In the process, he too got a little wide in the corner... opening the door for HWMNBN, who immediately leaped through with a flourish and a jaunty 'tah-dah!' In the process, he managed to squeeze Button into a place where he couldn't fight back AND he couldn't threaten Massa anymore, without risking pronging his car. He dropped back, HWMNBN slipped into line behind his teammate, and the two sauntered off, thumbing their noses at the World Champion as they did. Rather spiffy driving from the two-time World Champion.
*MOOOOOOOO-OOOVE OF THE RACE: While the new teams are permanently stuck in the backfield, many of the drivers in those cars are experienced and knowledgeable in the ways of auto racing. All of which makes Timo Glockenspiel's spin on a straightaway for no reason whatsoever completely stunning.
Seriously. He didn't touch Jarno Trulli's Lotus before the spin, he wasn't even particularly close to the other car. He just... lost it. On a straightaway. Incredible, simply incredible! BRAVO, Timo... here's your Moooooooo-ooove.
*SELECTED DRIVER QUOTES OF THE RACE:
more...
*EXCEPT TODAY: One would think the weather gods did it just to spite us, but other than an ominously dark sky seemingly just outside the gates to the Sepang International Circuit, the track was as dry as the Mojave Desert... and seemingly just as hot, though much more humid. They say in conditions like this a driver can lose up to 15 pounds, and it's murder on the cars as well. That's probably why Pete Rose's Sauber died on the recon lap, and why five other cars had mechanical failures to boot.
*DRY TRACK: ...but not a dry race. With Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa and HWMNBN starting from the nether regions of the grid, you would expect a lot of excitement as they weaved their way past the backmarkers, and you'd be absolutely right. Hamilton was up to 10th by the end of the fourth lap, with the two Ferraris not far behind. What happened at that point was that we wound up getting a lot of coverage of the mid-pack cars that we don't normally see. Jaime Alguersuari aka NKOTT in particular has come alive after his 20-some-odd lap tussle with Slappy Schumacher in Australia, and spent a good portion of the race dicing with other big names. That his Toro Rosso isn't fast enough to keep the likes of McLaren and Ferrari permanently behind shouldn't be a knock on the New Kid.
*UP FRONT: The big question for this race (other than "where the hell is the rain?") was "will the Red Bulls hold together?" It's clear that they're the class of the field, just a touch ahead of Ferrari. With the red cars buried in the backfield, it was obvious that this was Vettel and Webber's race to win... which they did, in that order. Vettel made a slightly better start from 3rd than Webber from pole, got past his teammate going into Turn 1, and then the two never looked back. They cruised home with Vettel five seconds ahead of Webber, who in turn was nearly 11 seconds up on Nico Rosberg.
*DRIVER OF THE RACE: There's very little question but that Ferrari's HWMNBN is probably the best driver in F1 right now, and his race today in Malaysia proved it. On the formation lap before the race even began, he had a little problem with his clutch: it didn't work. For the entire race, he had to downshift by stamping on the accelerator and holding the downshift paddle, and hoping that the gearbox would eventually find a lower ratio. Mind you, he did all of this while braking at the same time, usually a sure recipe for disaster as F1 cars tend not to like such things while cornering. That he managed to get as high as eighth, setting fast lap of the race twice along the way, and dueling with Jenson Button for seventh, is nothing short of miraculous. It actually came as quite the surprise, then, when his engine finally let go on him with two laps remaining.
We'll admit it: we were actually saddened when the smoke began pouring out of HWMNBNs engine. He ended up placed in 13th, out of the points... a fate he really didn't deserve today.
*TEAM OF THE RACE: The sigh of relief emanating from Austria was strong enough to blow trees around here at Pond Central. Everything was aligned so that Red Bull could score an easy 1-2 today, as long the cars didn't break or the drivers didn't screw up as they had in the previous two meets. Today, finally, everything went right. That Ferrari and McLaren had shot themselves in the foot was merely icing on the cake.
*MOVE OF THE RACE: Early on, Jenson Button was sandwiched between the two Ferraris, Massa ahead, HWMNBN behind. The McLaren was on the softer tires (a choice he'd later call "a mistake"), the two Ferraris on the harder, so Button would be faster if he could just get past Massa. When Massa got a bit out of shape into Turn 10, Button thought he had his opening and made his move... just a moment too late. While he got under Massa, he couldn't quite get more than halfway up the length of the red car. In the process, he too got a little wide in the corner... opening the door for HWMNBN, who immediately leaped through with a flourish and a jaunty 'tah-dah!' In the process, he managed to squeeze Button into a place where he couldn't fight back AND he couldn't threaten Massa anymore, without risking pronging his car. He dropped back, HWMNBN slipped into line behind his teammate, and the two sauntered off, thumbing their noses at the World Champion as they did. Rather spiffy driving from the two-time World Champion.
*MOOOOOOOO-OOOVE OF THE RACE: While the new teams are permanently stuck in the backfield, many of the drivers in those cars are experienced and knowledgeable in the ways of auto racing. All of which makes Timo Glockenspiel's spin on a straightaway for no reason whatsoever completely stunning.
Seriously. He didn't touch Jarno Trulli's Lotus before the spin, he wasn't even particularly close to the other car. He just... lost it. On a straightaway. Incredible, simply incredible! BRAVO, Timo... here's your Moooooooo-ooove.
*SELECTED DRIVER QUOTES OF THE RACE:
more...
Posted by: Wonderduck at
04:23 PM
| Comments (9)
| Add Comment
Post contains 1530 words, total size 10 kb.
Easter 2010
Beautiful day outside, a perfect day for some of my Easter duckies to go out and play in the field behind Pond Central. When we got out there, we discovered there was a group of Easter Bunny Peeps that had the same idea, and they were more than happy to join in the photoshoot!
It was great!
And then I discovered something I didn't know about rubber duckies...
more...
It was great!
And then I discovered something I didn't know about rubber duckies...
more...
Posted by: Wonderduck at
10:29 AM
| Comments (4)
| Add Comment
Post contains 90 words, total size 1 kb.
Hope you had a Happy Easter! April 03, 2010
Fantasy Baseball and F1 Scheduling
So my Fantasy League Baseball auction is over and done with, and there's no question in my mind that my team, the Generics, completely bites the rosin bag. That's encouraging, actually, because over the 20+ years I've been in this league, my best teams are the ones that I think suck coming out of the auction. Maybe it was my partner's help. Other than constantly telling me to bid on Brandon Duckworth, even though he's not in the major leagues, he did good work today.
Tomorrow is Easter, and I'm having lunch with Ph.Duck and his aunt at noon-ish. Normally I'd watch the grand prix before lunch, but there might be a problem with that. See, the satellite feed provided by the apartment complex is full of static and snow SPEED's channel... but none of the other channels. Great, just great. I might be forced to d/l the race and watch it that way. If that happens, that means the F1 Update! won't be up until the evening. Of course, if things work themselves out, then I'll be able to watch the videotape and all will be right with the world.
We'll see what happens.
So my Fantasy League Baseball auction is over and done with, and there's no question in my mind that my team, the Generics, completely bites the rosin bag. That's encouraging, actually, because over the 20+ years I've been in this league, my best teams are the ones that I think suck coming out of the auction. Maybe it was my partner's help. Other than constantly telling me to bid on Brandon Duckworth, even though he's not in the major leagues, he did good work today.
Tomorrow is Easter, and I'm having lunch with Ph.Duck and his aunt at noon-ish. Normally I'd watch the grand prix before lunch, but there might be a problem with that. See, the satellite feed provided by the apartment complex is full of static and snow SPEED's channel... but none of the other channels. Great, just great. I might be forced to d/l the race and watch it that way. If that happens, that means the F1 Update! won't be up until the evening. Of course, if things work themselves out, then I'll be able to watch the videotape and all will be right with the world.
We'll see what happens.
Posted by: Wonderduck at
06:39 PM
| Comments (2)
| Add Comment
Post contains 200 words, total size 1 kb.
F1 Quals: Malaysia 2010!
Well that was interesting. Looks like what is becoming the annual Ferrari brainfart is starting to spread... let's take a look at the grid!
Q1 started out with a firm drizzle as the cars took to the track... or should I say MOST of the cars. Ferrari and McLaren sat in their garages, their weather experts apparently telling them that the rain would stop. But it never did.
Button went out first, got a time fast enough to get to Q2, and when the rain became heavier, aquaplaned right into a graveltrap from which he could not escape. He sat on the timing-and-scoring bubble for a few anxious minutes, but managed to eke by. By the time Hamilton, Massa and HWMNBN began their flying laps, the rain was just heavy enough to make it impossible to set competitive laps, rendering their qualifying sessions moot. Serious, serious error by the big guys on the grid. Like most everybody else, they should have gone out ASAP... what do you have to lose? If it dries out, you come in, get new tires, and off you go. If it DOESN'T dry, you've still got times set in the same conditions as everybody else... like Lotus and Virgin, each of whom got a car into Q2 for the first time.
Meanwhile, it took nearly 15 minutes for Button's McLaren to be returned to the pitlane, too late for it to be checked over for damage, get the kittylitter out of the ducts, turned around and sent out for Q2.
Q3 was an adventure, to say the least. The rain started out hard, got even harder (which redflagged the session for a few minutes), and then the full-wet tires kicked in. With about two minutes left in the session, none other than Force India's Adrian Sutil sat on pole, setting fast lap after fast lap as the rain pelted down. Towards the end, however, Red Bull's Mark Webber somehow tore off a lap that was nearly 1.5 seconds faster than anybody else in the session. That's an amazing amount of time, and one that I'm at a loss to explain. He didn't have a drying track, the rain didn't let up at all. I suppose he just caught the sweet spot on the combination of rubber on the circuit, water on the ground, car setup, and tires in a perfect Golden Lap.
So, there you have it... your starting grid for the 2010 Grand Prix of Malaysia (swimming edition). The forecast is for more rain during the race, so it's entirely up for grabs.
UPDATE: It turns out that Webber turned his amazing lap in while running on Intermediates; everybody else was on full wet tires. Gutsy move, that!
Q1 started out with a firm drizzle as the cars took to the track... or should I say MOST of the cars. Ferrari and McLaren sat in their garages, their weather experts apparently telling them that the rain would stop. But it never did.
Button went out first, got a time fast enough to get to Q2, and when the rain became heavier, aquaplaned right into a graveltrap from which he could not escape. He sat on the timing-and-scoring bubble for a few anxious minutes, but managed to eke by. By the time Hamilton, Massa and HWMNBN began their flying laps, the rain was just heavy enough to make it impossible to set competitive laps, rendering their qualifying sessions moot. Serious, serious error by the big guys on the grid. Like most everybody else, they should have gone out ASAP... what do you have to lose? If it dries out, you come in, get new tires, and off you go. If it DOESN'T dry, you've still got times set in the same conditions as everybody else... like Lotus and Virgin, each of whom got a car into Q2 for the first time.
Meanwhile, it took nearly 15 minutes for Button's McLaren to be returned to the pitlane, too late for it to be checked over for damage, get the kittylitter out of the ducts, turned around and sent out for Q2.
Q3 was an adventure, to say the least. The rain started out hard, got even harder (which redflagged the session for a few minutes), and then the full-wet tires kicked in. With about two minutes left in the session, none other than Force India's Adrian Sutil sat on pole, setting fast lap after fast lap as the rain pelted down. Towards the end, however, Red Bull's Mark Webber somehow tore off a lap that was nearly 1.5 seconds faster than anybody else in the session. That's an amazing amount of time, and one that I'm at a loss to explain. He didn't have a drying track, the rain didn't let up at all. I suppose he just caught the sweet spot on the combination of rubber on the circuit, water on the ground, car setup, and tires in a perfect Golden Lap.
So, there you have it... your starting grid for the 2010 Grand Prix of Malaysia (swimming edition). The forecast is for more rain during the race, so it's entirely up for grabs.
UPDATE: It turns out that Webber turned his amazing lap in while running on Intermediates; everybody else was on full wet tires. Gutsy move, that!
Posted by: Wonderduck at
10:55 AM
| Comments (5)
| Add Comment
Post contains 616 words, total size 15 kb.
April 02, 2010
Where's the "Blush" Button
I would be remiss if I didn't give a big ol' Thank You! to Karel and his humorously witty webcomic Quacked Panes for its April 1st shoutout to... um...
...well, me.
Karel's comic is nearing its 100th installment, by the way. THAT one should be epic indeed! Go check him out, won't you?
...well, me.
Karel's comic is nearing its 100th installment, by the way. THAT one should be epic indeed! Go check him out, won't you?
Posted by: Wonderduck at
04:57 PM
| Comments (1)
| Add Comment
Post contains 57 words, total size 1 kb.
F1 Practice: Malaysia 2010!
Short update today, as I'm preparing for my Fantasy Baseball League auction on Saturday. It actually didn't rain during either session, but the second one ended before Sunday's race start time. According to locals, it always rains in late afternoon in April, so prepare for a wet race.
Anyway, the big news is that McLaren looked fast during both practices with Hamilton topping the timesheet for both and Button ending up 4th in P2, with Seb Vettel and Nico Rosberg ahead of him. Ferrari, on the other hand, did not look quick at all. The best HWMNBN could do was 7th, and Massa turned in a miserable 15th. As always, however, one should not put too much faith in Practice results, as we never know just what the teams are actually doing during these sessions. It's possible that McLaren was working on high-speed stretches, while Ferrari was doing heavy fuel loads to check wear on tires.
One thing we can count on, however, is that Red Bull will have technical problems. Mark Webber, using the same engine he's run at Bahrain and Australia, had it die on him early in P2. Well, no big shock there; there were only four drivers that hadn't had an engine change yet, but it's just another blow to the fast, but fragile, Red Bulls... that's track time the team didn't get, and track time is now more valuable than gold in F1.
One bit of off-track news. Those pitiable "outboard mirrors" that Ferrari and some other teams have been using have been banned.
As you can see, "outboard mirrors" are actually mounted out on the sidepods, putting them a very long way from the drivers. Moreover, they're put on a spindly piece of bodywork, which means they're very very tiny. For comparison's sake, take a look at the ones on the MP4-25. By China, all teams must have their mirrors mounted directly to the monocoque.
UPDATE: The deadline has been changed to Barcelona.
Okay, I'm off to figure out the difference between Andy and Adam LaRoche (answer: none, really) and find the second-best left-handed relief specialist who pitches in the NL Central. Quals report will be up Saturday evening, like as not, as the league auction is at 1pm.
Anyway, the big news is that McLaren looked fast during both practices with Hamilton topping the timesheet for both and Button ending up 4th in P2, with Seb Vettel and Nico Rosberg ahead of him. Ferrari, on the other hand, did not look quick at all. The best HWMNBN could do was 7th, and Massa turned in a miserable 15th. As always, however, one should not put too much faith in Practice results, as we never know just what the teams are actually doing during these sessions. It's possible that McLaren was working on high-speed stretches, while Ferrari was doing heavy fuel loads to check wear on tires.
One thing we can count on, however, is that Red Bull will have technical problems. Mark Webber, using the same engine he's run at Bahrain and Australia, had it die on him early in P2. Well, no big shock there; there were only four drivers that hadn't had an engine change yet, but it's just another blow to the fast, but fragile, Red Bulls... that's track time the team didn't get, and track time is now more valuable than gold in F1.
One bit of off-track news. Those pitiable "outboard mirrors" that Ferrari and some other teams have been using have been banned.
As you can see, "outboard mirrors" are actually mounted out on the sidepods, putting them a very long way from the drivers. Moreover, they're put on a spindly piece of bodywork, which means they're very very tiny. For comparison's sake, take a look at the ones on the MP4-25. By China, all teams must have their mirrors mounted directly to the monocoque.
UPDATE: The deadline has been changed to Barcelona.
Okay, I'm off to figure out the difference between Andy and Adam LaRoche (answer: none, really) and find the second-best left-handed relief specialist who pitches in the NL Central. Quals report will be up Saturday evening, like as not, as the league auction is at 1pm.
Posted by: Wonderduck at
08:21 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 379 words, total size 3 kb.
Under Destruction
Nothing to see here, move along. These aren't the droids you're looking for. Let the Wookie win.
UPDATE: Hah! That fixed it!
UPDATE: Hah! That fixed it!
Posted by: Wonderduck at
01:12 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 24 words, total size 1 kb.
April 01, 2010
Chickens In Anime: The Proud Leghorn
-Sketchbook ~full color'S~, ep06
Is there a more regal fowl than the noble chicken? I mean, really?
-Sketchbook ~full color'S~, ep06
Is there a more regal fowl than the noble chicken? I mean, really?
Posted by: Wonderduck at
06:07 PM
| Comments (2)
| Add Comment
Post contains 23 words, total size 1 kb.
Button Involved In Horrific F1 Accident!
Ugly, ugly scene. Hopefully everything will turn out okay.
Ugly, ugly scene. Hopefully everything will turn out okay.
Posted by: Wonderduck at
12:01 AM
| Comments (5)
| Add Comment
Post contains 15 words, total size 1 kb.
March 31, 2010
Ducks In Anime: HidaSketch Hoshimittsu Is Over
-Hidamari Sketch Hoshimittsu Ep12
And so the most recent entry in the HidaSketch franchise has come to a close. As with the earlier series, I'm sorry to see it end, but this time we saw a dud episode or two for once. Not bad enough for me to avoid the next show, or to prevent me from buying it if/when it gets released, but there they were.
Of course the Core Four were still great fun to be around, and Nori-chan did grow on me nicely, but Nazuna never past a whimpering child with an inferiority complex big enough to choke a hippo. I can't imagine her replacing, say, Hiro when she and Sae graduate, so it'll be interesting to see what happens when that occurs.
Other than the one or two episodes that turn the new girls into main characters, Nazuna more or less stays in the background, leaving the Core Four plus Nori to have the spotlight... fortunately! Otherwise I'd be wondering why Ume Aoki hates us me.
On the other hand, Nori has proven to be the most sane of the series. Down-to-earth, not as prone to flights of silly as the others, and more than willing to point out the others' weirdnesses, I almost wish that the series revolved around her. It'd make the silly more silly, and probably better... every comedy team needs a straight man, after all. Though her idea for tomato sherbet was a little... odd.
It's the ducks, though, that push HidaSketch from "good" to "great". Gotta love 'em... Yuno certainly does.
-Hidamari Sketch Hoshimittsu Ep12
And so the most recent entry in the HidaSketch franchise has come to a close. As with the earlier series, I'm sorry to see it end, but this time we saw a dud episode or two for once. Not bad enough for me to avoid the next show, or to prevent me from buying it if/when it gets released, but there they were.
Of course the Core Four were still great fun to be around, and Nori-chan did grow on me nicely, but Nazuna never past a whimpering child with an inferiority complex big enough to choke a hippo. I can't imagine her replacing, say, Hiro when she and Sae graduate, so it'll be interesting to see what happens when that occurs.
Other than the one or two episodes that turn the new girls into main characters, Nazuna more or less stays in the background, leaving the Core Four plus Nori to have the spotlight... fortunately! Otherwise I'd be wondering why Ume Aoki hates us me.
On the other hand, Nori has proven to be the most sane of the series. Down-to-earth, not as prone to flights of silly as the others, and more than willing to point out the others' weirdnesses, I almost wish that the series revolved around her. It'd make the silly more silly, and probably better... every comedy team needs a straight man, after all. Though her idea for tomato sherbet was a little... odd.
It's the ducks, though, that push HidaSketch from "good" to "great". Gotta love 'em... Yuno certainly does.
Posted by: Wonderduck at
08:42 PM
| Comments (1)
| Add Comment
Post contains 267 words, total size 2 kb.
March 29, 2010
F1 On Speed!: Malaysia 2010!
For many, many years, the most hated man in Formula 1 was either Max Mosley or Bernie Ecclestone. It was thought that their meddling with the rules was to blame for the "processional" style of racing we've seen for a while, and there's no denying that they certainly deserve their share of brickbats. But even more deserving of slings and arrows is a man who's face we've seen but rarely. He is responsible for the designs of either nine or 10 (depending on how you lay blame) of the 19 circuits on the F1 calendar. He has a knack of placing turns at just the right place to ruin any chance of passing, or to take what should be a good turn for a pass and destroy it by changing the radius mid-bend. This man is named Hermann Tilke. The Grand Prix of Malaysia is held on one of his circuits. Here's the track map.
To be fair to Mr Tilke, his race complexes often have stunning architecture involved, and Malaysia's Sepang International Circuit is probably best known for having the longest continuous fully covered grandstand in the world. Beginning shortly after Turn 14, it runs down to Turn 15 then pivots around a central parasol, continuing down the main straight until ending near pit-out.
The fact that I'm writing about architecture might give you the impression that I'm struggling to come up with something nice to say about this racetrack... and you'd be entirely right. Other than the Turn 1-2 complex, an off-camber descending corkscrew of turns that I've always been fond of, there's not all that much to like about Sepang.
Unless you like rain, in which case boy do I have a circuit for you! Last year's race was the first in a long, long time to be called on account of weather before the half-way point, meaning all points scored were halved. The big deluge soaked the track for such an extended period that the sun set before it was safe to drive on again. Oh, guess what? There's rain in the forecast again. What a shock.
Still, SPEED will bring us its usual high-quality coverage beginning at 1am Friday morning with LIVE footage from Friday's Second Practice, until 240am. Saturday has plausibly live coverage of the Quals session, from 3am to 430am. The actual race is on Sunday, from 230am to 5am, with a replay at 1030am. Unfortunately, the Legendary Announce Team will be down a voice all weekend, as the ringmaster, Bob Varsha, will be working the Palm Beach Barrett-Jackson collector car auction. I believe they said Lee Diffie will be filling in, and he's certainly knowledgeable enough (he does the same job for Australian TV coverage of F1), but he's not The Varsha.
We'll be here with our sterling reportage all weekend, so don't forget to drop in, Dear Reader. And my other reader is welcome, too.
To be fair to Mr Tilke, his race complexes often have stunning architecture involved, and Malaysia's Sepang International Circuit is probably best known for having the longest continuous fully covered grandstand in the world. Beginning shortly after Turn 14, it runs down to Turn 15 then pivots around a central parasol, continuing down the main straight until ending near pit-out.
The fact that I'm writing about architecture might give you the impression that I'm struggling to come up with something nice to say about this racetrack... and you'd be entirely right. Other than the Turn 1-2 complex, an off-camber descending corkscrew of turns that I've always been fond of, there's not all that much to like about Sepang.
Unless you like rain, in which case boy do I have a circuit for you! Last year's race was the first in a long, long time to be called on account of weather before the half-way point, meaning all points scored were halved. The big deluge soaked the track for such an extended period that the sun set before it was safe to drive on again. Oh, guess what? There's rain in the forecast again. What a shock.
Still, SPEED will bring us its usual high-quality coverage beginning at 1am Friday morning with LIVE footage from Friday's Second Practice, until 240am. Saturday has plausibly live coverage of the Quals session, from 3am to 430am. The actual race is on Sunday, from 230am to 5am, with a replay at 1030am. Unfortunately, the Legendary Announce Team will be down a voice all weekend, as the ringmaster, Bob Varsha, will be working the Palm Beach Barrett-Jackson collector car auction. I believe they said Lee Diffie will be filling in, and he's certainly knowledgeable enough (he does the same job for Australian TV coverage of F1), but he's not The Varsha.
We'll be here with our sterling reportage all weekend, so don't forget to drop in, Dear Reader. And my other reader is welcome, too.
Posted by: Wonderduck at
08:20 PM
| Comments (3)
| Add Comment
Post contains 489 words, total size 3 kb.
March 28, 2010
F1 Update!: Grand Prix of Australia 2010!
Rain was spritzing down as the cars came to the grid. Would it make a difference? Let's find out... this is your F1 Update! for the 2010 Australian Grand Prix!
*LIGHTS OUT: To say that the start of the race was frantic might be understating the case. Mark Webber, who has never had much luck at his home race, had a miserable start from the second spot on the grid, somehow managing to stay in third as the likes of HWMNBN and Jenson Button were breathing down his neck while scrapping with each other. Meanwhile, Felipe Massa looked like he had a rocket strapped to the back of his Ferrari as he leapfrogged to the rear wing of polesitter Seb Vettel as they closed in on Turn 1. It was there that the scrap between Button and HWMNBN was joined by Slappy Schumacher. Button was inside of the Ferrari, and Slappy tried to go around the outside of the two just as HWMNBN attempted to close the door on the reigning World Champion. Unfortunately, he attempted this despite Button's nose being equal with the Ferrari's cockpit. HWMNBN got punted into a spin, which also collected Slappy, breaking the Mercedes' nose in the process. As the Ferrari pirouetted gracefully down the track, the field immediately jammed up behind him as they tried to pick their way around the red car. Renault's Robert Kubica found the narrowest hole it was possible to sneak through and jumped up to 4th from 9th on the grid in the process.
*AND THEN: In the run down to Turn 6, the Sauber of Kamui Kobyashi shed its front wing for no reason that anybody could say. He wasn't tangled up in the mess at Turn 1, and came through the start cleanly. Still, the wing came off unbidden and went right under his front tires. The car reacted by getting slightly airborne, which had a detrimental effect on the Sauber's traction and steering ability. It then whipped into the inside wall at high speed, at which point it continued following the wall until the barrier made the turn. Unfortunately, Kobyashi's car, most of its right side gone, couldn't even steer, let alone turn. Bouncing over the curb at Turn 6, it plowed directly into the side of Nico Hulkenberg's Williams, climbing overtop of it in the process. Both cars ended up dead in the kittylitter on the outside of 6, Hulkenberg looking rather surprised to be there. Seb Buemi's Toro Rosso was also involved, ending his race there as well. The Safety Car was called out immediately, bringing an end to a rather crazy first lap.
*CHANGING SHOES: Early in the five lap Safety Car period, the drizzle ended and the guessing game began. What team would bring their men in for slick tires first, and would it be the right choice? There was still weather in the area and any moment could see the rain return, but a rapidly drying race line would render the Intermediate tires useless in short order. On Lap 6, the first hot lap after the safety car pulled in, Jenson Button felt his tires going off and quickly came in for soft tires on his own hook. Returning to the track, it looked like he made the wrong call as he immediately did some agricultural racing, but by Lap 9, he had set fast lap of the race. That was enough for all the other teams, and the call went out: pit for new rubber. Everybody but the Red Bulls and Button piled into the pitlane, with Vettel going in on Lap 10. When he came out on the softs, he remained in the lead, with Webber and Button behind him. Webber pitted on Lap 11, losing 5 places in the process, from which deficit he would never recover. At this point, the standings were Vettel, Button, Kubica, Nico Rosberg, Massa, Lewis Hamilton, Rubens Barrichello, Pete Rose, and HWMNBN, with Vettel pulling away rapidly.
*NOT AGAIN: The lead was up to five seconds when, on Lap 25, Vettel saw sparks shooting up from his left-front brakes. Too late to pull into the pits, he continued on while informing his crew of the problem. There were also increasingly heavy vibrations in the car under braking, never a good sign. And then, it happened. Touching the brakes for Turn 13, something important broke and the Red Bull was thrown headlong into the kittylitter, beached and out of the race. Button, gifted first place, swept by, Kubica and Hamilton following.
*CHOICES, CHOICES: Suddenly, the question stopped being "will anybody catch Vettel" and became "does anybody dare to do the whole race on one set of soft tires?" The requirement of using both compounds of dry tires was removed with the use of the Intermediates, so nobody had to stop. But could the soft tires last 50 laps, or 52 in Button's case? Only time would tell, but nobody felt confident about it. Slappy was the first to stop for a second set of soft tires, and immediately turned in fast lap of the race. That was enough for pretty much everybody to swing in... everybody but Button, Kubica and the two Ferraris. The standings at this point was Button, Kubica, Massa, HWMNBN, Hamilton, Webber, Rosberg, and Vitantonio Liuzzi. Suddenly, McLaren looked to be in the catbird seat. They had the leader of the cars that were trying to go with one stop in Button, as well as the leader of the two-stoppers in Hamilton. If the tires of the one-stoppers failed completely, Hamilton looked to be perfectly positioned for the win. As the laps counted down however, it began to look more and more likely that Hamilton, who had been driving an absolutely brilliant race, had been scuppered by the decision to get new tires. On Lap 56, unable to get past the defense-minded HWMNBN, his frustrations boiled as he keyed the mic: "Whose idea was it to bring me in? It was a horrible idea." Then it all became moot as Mark Webber missed his braking point and plowed into the back of the McLaren, sending them both into the kittylitter. Both were able to continue, but Hamilton was dropped to 6th as his teammate cruised across the start/finish line with a 12 second lead over Kubica, having made his soft tires last a seemingly-impossible 52 laps.
*DRIVER OF THE RACE: Jenson Button has always been called a smooth driver, easy on his tires and his car in general. With this race he showed exactly how smooth he was, keeping his soft tires intact for basically the entire race without costing himself much in speed. That his teammate Lewis Hamilton was complaining that his second set of tires had gone off after 16 laps points out the skill involved in protecting the rubber. An amazing drive, with a wonderful dose of driver-inspired strategy on top of it to boot.
*TEAM OF THE RACE: Ferrari showed that they've got to be considered the favorites for the Constructor's Championship by finishing 3-4 in a race that HWMNBN was truly lucky not to finish sixth or seventh. That both drivers were able to go the whole race on one set of softs will not be lost on the rest of the pit lane, either, particularly in that neither driver is known as being gentle on their tires.
*MOVE OF THE RACE: Lewis Hamilton had already passed his teammate, Mark Webber, Rubens Barrichello, and Felipe Massa at one point or another during the race, and he was staring at the back end of Nico Rosberg's Mercedes, sitting in 4th place. The two silver cars are pretty much evenly matched, with very little to choose between them on the whole. That fact made what happened next even more impressive, as Hamilton charged around Rosberg on the outside of Turn 11, a place where nobody ever passes. He had the inside line for Turn 12 and made the pass stick, ending an amazing move in 4th place. Pity it was all for naught in the end. Honorable Mention goes to Mark Webber, Lewis Hamilton (again) and Felipe Massa for their Lap 16 shenanigans: Webber passes Massa at Turns 1 and 2. An opportunistic Hamilton follows Webber past the Ferrari, then powers past the Red Bull driver. Going into Turn 3, Webber is overoptimistic and blows the turn, taking Hamilton with him off-track (though with no damage to either), and Massa drives past them both to reclaim 5th place. Just a fun sequence.
*MOOOOOOOOO-OOOVE OF THE RACE: Red Bull's Mark Webber was having a terrible race, all told. On Lap 57, it just got worse. Desperate to get past the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton, he made the sort of rookie error that even Yuji Ide would have cringed at. As he approached the braking zone for Turn 12, Webber was apparently distracted by something bright and sparkly and forgot to apply pressure to the left pedal until it was much, much too late. The Red Bull plowed right into the rear of Hamilton's McLaren, punting them both into the kittylitter with all the grace of a monster truck on ice skates. Hamilton was able to return to the track with no visible damage, though a place lower than he had been, but Webber left his front wing in the gravel. He wound up finishing 9th, and lucky to do so. Good job, mate! Here's your Moooooooo-ooove!
*SELECTED DRIVER QUOTES OF THE RACE:
more...
*LIGHTS OUT: To say that the start of the race was frantic might be understating the case. Mark Webber, who has never had much luck at his home race, had a miserable start from the second spot on the grid, somehow managing to stay in third as the likes of HWMNBN and Jenson Button were breathing down his neck while scrapping with each other. Meanwhile, Felipe Massa looked like he had a rocket strapped to the back of his Ferrari as he leapfrogged to the rear wing of polesitter Seb Vettel as they closed in on Turn 1. It was there that the scrap between Button and HWMNBN was joined by Slappy Schumacher. Button was inside of the Ferrari, and Slappy tried to go around the outside of the two just as HWMNBN attempted to close the door on the reigning World Champion. Unfortunately, he attempted this despite Button's nose being equal with the Ferrari's cockpit. HWMNBN got punted into a spin, which also collected Slappy, breaking the Mercedes' nose in the process. As the Ferrari pirouetted gracefully down the track, the field immediately jammed up behind him as they tried to pick their way around the red car. Renault's Robert Kubica found the narrowest hole it was possible to sneak through and jumped up to 4th from 9th on the grid in the process.
*AND THEN: In the run down to Turn 6, the Sauber of Kamui Kobyashi shed its front wing for no reason that anybody could say. He wasn't tangled up in the mess at Turn 1, and came through the start cleanly. Still, the wing came off unbidden and went right under his front tires. The car reacted by getting slightly airborne, which had a detrimental effect on the Sauber's traction and steering ability. It then whipped into the inside wall at high speed, at which point it continued following the wall until the barrier made the turn. Unfortunately, Kobyashi's car, most of its right side gone, couldn't even steer, let alone turn. Bouncing over the curb at Turn 6, it plowed directly into the side of Nico Hulkenberg's Williams, climbing overtop of it in the process. Both cars ended up dead in the kittylitter on the outside of 6, Hulkenberg looking rather surprised to be there. Seb Buemi's Toro Rosso was also involved, ending his race there as well. The Safety Car was called out immediately, bringing an end to a rather crazy first lap.
*CHANGING SHOES: Early in the five lap Safety Car period, the drizzle ended and the guessing game began. What team would bring their men in for slick tires first, and would it be the right choice? There was still weather in the area and any moment could see the rain return, but a rapidly drying race line would render the Intermediate tires useless in short order. On Lap 6, the first hot lap after the safety car pulled in, Jenson Button felt his tires going off and quickly came in for soft tires on his own hook. Returning to the track, it looked like he made the wrong call as he immediately did some agricultural racing, but by Lap 9, he had set fast lap of the race. That was enough for all the other teams, and the call went out: pit for new rubber. Everybody but the Red Bulls and Button piled into the pitlane, with Vettel going in on Lap 10. When he came out on the softs, he remained in the lead, with Webber and Button behind him. Webber pitted on Lap 11, losing 5 places in the process, from which deficit he would never recover. At this point, the standings were Vettel, Button, Kubica, Nico Rosberg, Massa, Lewis Hamilton, Rubens Barrichello, Pete Rose, and HWMNBN, with Vettel pulling away rapidly.
*NOT AGAIN: The lead was up to five seconds when, on Lap 25, Vettel saw sparks shooting up from his left-front brakes. Too late to pull into the pits, he continued on while informing his crew of the problem. There were also increasingly heavy vibrations in the car under braking, never a good sign. And then, it happened. Touching the brakes for Turn 13, something important broke and the Red Bull was thrown headlong into the kittylitter, beached and out of the race. Button, gifted first place, swept by, Kubica and Hamilton following.
*CHOICES, CHOICES: Suddenly, the question stopped being "will anybody catch Vettel" and became "does anybody dare to do the whole race on one set of soft tires?" The requirement of using both compounds of dry tires was removed with the use of the Intermediates, so nobody had to stop. But could the soft tires last 50 laps, or 52 in Button's case? Only time would tell, but nobody felt confident about it. Slappy was the first to stop for a second set of soft tires, and immediately turned in fast lap of the race. That was enough for pretty much everybody to swing in... everybody but Button, Kubica and the two Ferraris. The standings at this point was Button, Kubica, Massa, HWMNBN, Hamilton, Webber, Rosberg, and Vitantonio Liuzzi. Suddenly, McLaren looked to be in the catbird seat. They had the leader of the cars that were trying to go with one stop in Button, as well as the leader of the two-stoppers in Hamilton. If the tires of the one-stoppers failed completely, Hamilton looked to be perfectly positioned for the win. As the laps counted down however, it began to look more and more likely that Hamilton, who had been driving an absolutely brilliant race, had been scuppered by the decision to get new tires. On Lap 56, unable to get past the defense-minded HWMNBN, his frustrations boiled as he keyed the mic: "Whose idea was it to bring me in? It was a horrible idea." Then it all became moot as Mark Webber missed his braking point and plowed into the back of the McLaren, sending them both into the kittylitter. Both were able to continue, but Hamilton was dropped to 6th as his teammate cruised across the start/finish line with a 12 second lead over Kubica, having made his soft tires last a seemingly-impossible 52 laps.
*DRIVER OF THE RACE: Jenson Button has always been called a smooth driver, easy on his tires and his car in general. With this race he showed exactly how smooth he was, keeping his soft tires intact for basically the entire race without costing himself much in speed. That his teammate Lewis Hamilton was complaining that his second set of tires had gone off after 16 laps points out the skill involved in protecting the rubber. An amazing drive, with a wonderful dose of driver-inspired strategy on top of it to boot.
*TEAM OF THE RACE: Ferrari showed that they've got to be considered the favorites for the Constructor's Championship by finishing 3-4 in a race that HWMNBN was truly lucky not to finish sixth or seventh. That both drivers were able to go the whole race on one set of softs will not be lost on the rest of the pit lane, either, particularly in that neither driver is known as being gentle on their tires.
*MOVE OF THE RACE: Lewis Hamilton had already passed his teammate, Mark Webber, Rubens Barrichello, and Felipe Massa at one point or another during the race, and he was staring at the back end of Nico Rosberg's Mercedes, sitting in 4th place. The two silver cars are pretty much evenly matched, with very little to choose between them on the whole. That fact made what happened next even more impressive, as Hamilton charged around Rosberg on the outside of Turn 11, a place where nobody ever passes. He had the inside line for Turn 12 and made the pass stick, ending an amazing move in 4th place. Pity it was all for naught in the end. Honorable Mention goes to Mark Webber, Lewis Hamilton (again) and Felipe Massa for their Lap 16 shenanigans: Webber passes Massa at Turns 1 and 2. An opportunistic Hamilton follows Webber past the Ferrari, then powers past the Red Bull driver. Going into Turn 3, Webber is overoptimistic and blows the turn, taking Hamilton with him off-track (though with no damage to either), and Massa drives past them both to reclaim 5th place. Just a fun sequence.
*MOOOOOOOOO-OOOVE OF THE RACE: Red Bull's Mark Webber was having a terrible race, all told. On Lap 57, it just got worse. Desperate to get past the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton, he made the sort of rookie error that even Yuji Ide would have cringed at. As he approached the braking zone for Turn 12, Webber was apparently distracted by something bright and sparkly and forgot to apply pressure to the left pedal until it was much, much too late. The Red Bull plowed right into the rear of Hamilton's McLaren, punting them both into the kittylitter with all the grace of a monster truck on ice skates. Hamilton was able to return to the track with no visible damage, though a place lower than he had been, but Webber left his front wing in the gravel. He wound up finishing 9th, and lucky to do so. Good job, mate! Here's your Moooooooo-ooove!
*SELECTED DRIVER QUOTES OF THE RACE:
more...
Posted by: Wonderduck at
12:12 PM
| Comments (5)
| Add Comment
Post contains 2264 words, total size 15 kb.
Good Morning F1 Fans
While I get the sleep out of my eyes after the late night of F1 watching, maybe get some breakfast in me, here's some grid girls to make the wait for F1 Update! a little easier.
You're welcome.
You're welcome.
Posted by: Wonderduck at
08:31 AM
| Comments (1)
| Add Comment
Post contains 42 words, total size 1 kb.
March 27, 2010
Weather Report: Australian Grand Prix 2010 (UPDATED)
We're 10 minutes from lights-out for the Australian Grand Prix, and it has just started to rain... but it's just a drizzle. It might get harder, it might run for a while, so nobody has a clue what type of tire to put on.
For the record? I'm giggling like a schoolgirl.
UPDATE 1am, recon lap: Looks like everybody is playing it safe and going with Intermediate tires.
UPDATE end lap 01: Safety Car! Felipe Massa made a rocket start to 2nd, Kubica went from 9th to 4th, Alonso HWMNBN and Slappy got deranged, breaking Slappy's nose. But the big one came when the Sauber of Kamui Kobyashi had his front wing come off (AGAIN), sending him into a wall, then across the track where he collected the Williams of Nico Hulkenberg in a massive accident. Safety Car lasts 5 laps or so.
UPDATE end lap 11: Everybody is back on slicks now, but it's beginning to rain again. Oops. I'm just going to watch the race now unless there's a major occurrence.
UPDATE end lap 26: Major occurrence! Seb Vettel crashes from the race lead, maybe a broken suspension. Button is now your leader!
For the record? I'm giggling like a schoolgirl.
UPDATE 1am, recon lap: Looks like everybody is playing it safe and going with Intermediate tires.
UPDATE end lap 01: Safety Car! Felipe Massa made a rocket start to 2nd, Kubica went from 9th to 4th, Alonso HWMNBN and Slappy got deranged, breaking Slappy's nose. But the big one came when the Sauber of Kamui Kobyashi had his front wing come off (AGAIN), sending him into a wall, then across the track where he collected the Williams of Nico Hulkenberg in a massive accident. Safety Car lasts 5 laps or so.
UPDATE end lap 11: Everybody is back on slicks now, but it's beginning to rain again. Oops. I'm just going to watch the race now unless there's a major occurrence.
UPDATE end lap 26: Major occurrence! Seb Vettel crashes from the race lead, maybe a broken suspension. Button is now your leader!
Posted by: Wonderduck at
11:54 PM
| Comments (3)
| Add Comment
Post contains 202 words, total size 1 kb.
F1 Quals: Australia 2010!
Rain threatened in Q3, but held off just long enough to get the session completed in the dry. So who's on pole? Let's take a look at the provisional grid:
The big surprise is Lewis Hamilton, knocked out in Q2. He claims that he was balked on his final hot lap, and it is true that he came across two cars somewhere in sector 3. However, both cars were off the racing line. Further, the TV director had us in-car with Hamilton's McLaren at that portion of the lap; if he lifted off the gas or blipped the brakes, you sure couldn't tell from the engine note or the onscreen displays of RPM. I think he's just looking for an excuse; his teammate was fourth in Q2, after all, and ended up fourth on the grid after Q3. Just a bad performance for the 2008 World Champion, and as it turns out, for the team. Reports are coming in as I write this that Hamilton may not have had enough fuel for a final hot lap, though he crossed the line with time remaining on the session clock. If so, that'll rank up there with the two Ferrari blunders early in the '09 season, when in separate incidents both Massa and Raikkonen sat in their garages with what they thought were safe times, only to see the track come alive and the rest of the field sweep by them, dumping them out in Q1.
Another mild surprise was the relatively poor showing by the two Renaults. Kubica, and to a lesser extent Petrov, had been quite quick during the three practice sessions. Having Petrov knocked out after Q1, and Kubica needing a late push in Q3 to get past the Force India of Adrian Sutil, must have been a disappointment for the team. Petrov had a slight moment on his final flying lap in Q1 that sent him just far enough off-track to ruin his chance to make it to the next session, but I'm sure there were still some rueful glances thrown about.
Of course, all six of the new cars went out in the first session, though the Lotuses (Lotii?) are making some small amount of progress out there. Virgin, as we know, can't be a threat until they rebuild their car because of their too-small fuel tank. But spare a moment for Bruno Senna and Karun Chandhok. The HRT HRT is just brutal. While they did last the entire Q1 session, a minor miracle in and of itself, I don't think any driver could get more than a second out of that beast. We did an onboard lap with, I think, Chandhok, and the steering inputs that he had to enter, just to make a turn, looked like he was trying to hack chunks off a slab of meat with the wheel. Just constant, nigh frantic, back and forth sawing at the steering wheel. Other teams would consider the HRT HRT to be in an emergency situation in every single turn. Compare that to the smooth, almost negligible, steering required by Jenson Button and his McLaren, and it becomes obvious: the HRT HRT is just not ready, at all.
Blame the ban of in-season testing. The one thing that the new teams need to improve is track time, and because of the rules, they can only get that at the races. In baseball, it'd be like drafting a player out of high school, then only being allowed to play him if he's in the big leagues... no minor league playing time once the majors start their season.
Race coverage begins at 1230am Sunday morning... see you there!
The big surprise is Lewis Hamilton, knocked out in Q2. He claims that he was balked on his final hot lap, and it is true that he came across two cars somewhere in sector 3. However, both cars were off the racing line. Further, the TV director had us in-car with Hamilton's McLaren at that portion of the lap; if he lifted off the gas or blipped the brakes, you sure couldn't tell from the engine note or the onscreen displays of RPM. I think he's just looking for an excuse; his teammate was fourth in Q2, after all, and ended up fourth on the grid after Q3. Just a bad performance for the 2008 World Champion, and as it turns out, for the team. Reports are coming in as I write this that Hamilton may not have had enough fuel for a final hot lap, though he crossed the line with time remaining on the session clock. If so, that'll rank up there with the two Ferrari blunders early in the '09 season, when in separate incidents both Massa and Raikkonen sat in their garages with what they thought were safe times, only to see the track come alive and the rest of the field sweep by them, dumping them out in Q1.
Another mild surprise was the relatively poor showing by the two Renaults. Kubica, and to a lesser extent Petrov, had been quite quick during the three practice sessions. Having Petrov knocked out after Q1, and Kubica needing a late push in Q3 to get past the Force India of Adrian Sutil, must have been a disappointment for the team. Petrov had a slight moment on his final flying lap in Q1 that sent him just far enough off-track to ruin his chance to make it to the next session, but I'm sure there were still some rueful glances thrown about.
Of course, all six of the new cars went out in the first session, though the Lotuses (Lotii?) are making some small amount of progress out there. Virgin, as we know, can't be a threat until they rebuild their car because of their too-small fuel tank. But spare a moment for Bruno Senna and Karun Chandhok. The HRT HRT is just brutal. While they did last the entire Q1 session, a minor miracle in and of itself, I don't think any driver could get more than a second out of that beast. We did an onboard lap with, I think, Chandhok, and the steering inputs that he had to enter, just to make a turn, looked like he was trying to hack chunks off a slab of meat with the wheel. Just constant, nigh frantic, back and forth sawing at the steering wheel. Other teams would consider the HRT HRT to be in an emergency situation in every single turn. Compare that to the smooth, almost negligible, steering required by Jenson Button and his McLaren, and it becomes obvious: the HRT HRT is just not ready, at all.
Blame the ban of in-season testing. The one thing that the new teams need to improve is track time, and because of the rules, they can only get that at the races. In baseball, it'd be like drafting a player out of high school, then only being allowed to play him if he's in the big leagues... no minor league playing time once the majors start their season.
Race coverage begins at 1230am Sunday morning... see you there!
Posted by: Wonderduck at
02:19 AM
| Comments (3)
| Add Comment
Post contains 775 words, total size 15 kb.
March 26, 2010
Australia Second Practice 2010
The good news is that Kamui Kobyashi's front wing didn't fall off in the second practice session. The bad news is that it rained. Twice. While some teams tried to take advantage and get some running in the wet, most of the teams quickly discovered that the track was too wet for the dry tires, but not wet enough for the intermediates. Rubens Barrichello said it best when, over the radio to his pit crew, he simply said "we're not learning anything. We know the white lines are slippery."
So let us, instead, look at what's going on around F1! The big news up and down the pit lane is the rather embarrassing announcement that the virgin Virgin Racing VR-1 was built with... a fuel tank that was too small. Oy. The team estimates that it really needs to be about 21 liters larger for their car to have the ability to run a race distance. After going to the FIA, begging and groveling, they've been given dispensation to install a larger tank. The problem is, however, that F1 cars are built to such tight tolerances that to install a bigger fuel bladder requires a complete redesign and rebuild of the chassis. The amount of work needed to be completed will mean that the new chassis will be a whole new car... and that should mean new crash testing and all that sort of thing. It goes without saying that the costs of all of this rework will be astronomical... and for a new team, perhaps too much to carry. Of course, the chances of the VR-1 actually finishing a race for the forseeable future are slim to none, so maybe they won't bother.
Speaking of the new squads, Hispania Racing Team got a grand total of zero complete laps in P2 from their two cars. Bruno Senna's car had a telemetry/electrical problem and never left the pits, and Karun Chandhok's HRT HRT made it 100m out of the pit lane before it died, apparently of embarrassment. To be fair, they did complete 43 laps in the first session between the two drivers.
Darth Bernie Ecclestone told Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport that he intends for F1 to be back in the US in 2012. "I'm trying to get F1 to the US in 2012, opposite Manhattan in New Jersey with skyscrapers in the background. The track would be just fifteen minutes from the city centre of New York. It would be something great," said the F1 Troll. I'll believe it when it happens, says the F1 Wonderduck.
Finally, the weather forecast for Australia is great: thunderstorms all afternoon and evening. Which means a wet race, which means fun fun fun! Except for one tiny detail... remember last year's Malaysian Grand Prix, when it rained so hard that the race was delayed, then called at about the halfway mark because of darkness? The Australian Grand Prix will be starting at 5pm local time, and it will be twilight-ish at the end of the race. If it rains during the race...
Quals are late tonight; I'm going to try to stay awake for it.
Picture from the 2009 Australian Grand Prix
It's those lines that earned the Albert Park circuit "God's Slotcar Track," by the way. Because of the ooky track conditions, nobody could really decide what shoes to run. As a result, a lot of teams very quickly chewed through their tires. P2 was, essentially, a waste of time for the most part.So let us, instead, look at what's going on around F1! The big news up and down the pit lane is the rather embarrassing announcement that the virgin Virgin Racing VR-1 was built with... a fuel tank that was too small. Oy. The team estimates that it really needs to be about 21 liters larger for their car to have the ability to run a race distance. After going to the FIA, begging and groveling, they've been given dispensation to install a larger tank. The problem is, however, that F1 cars are built to such tight tolerances that to install a bigger fuel bladder requires a complete redesign and rebuild of the chassis. The amount of work needed to be completed will mean that the new chassis will be a whole new car... and that should mean new crash testing and all that sort of thing. It goes without saying that the costs of all of this rework will be astronomical... and for a new team, perhaps too much to carry. Of course, the chances of the VR-1 actually finishing a race for the forseeable future are slim to none, so maybe they won't bother.
Speaking of the new squads, Hispania Racing Team got a grand total of zero complete laps in P2 from their two cars. Bruno Senna's car had a telemetry/electrical problem and never left the pits, and Karun Chandhok's HRT HRT made it 100m out of the pit lane before it died, apparently of embarrassment. To be fair, they did complete 43 laps in the first session between the two drivers.
Darth Bernie Ecclestone told Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport that he intends for F1 to be back in the US in 2012. "I'm trying to get F1 to the US in 2012, opposite Manhattan in New Jersey with skyscrapers in the background. The track would be just fifteen minutes from the city centre of New York. It would be something great," said the F1 Troll. I'll believe it when it happens, says the F1 Wonderduck.
Finally, the weather forecast for Australia is great: thunderstorms all afternoon and evening. Which means a wet race, which means fun fun fun! Except for one tiny detail... remember last year's Malaysian Grand Prix, when it rained so hard that the race was delayed, then called at about the halfway mark because of darkness? The Australian Grand Prix will be starting at 5pm local time, and it will be twilight-ish at the end of the race. If it rains during the race...
Quals are late tonight; I'm going to try to stay awake for it.
Posted by: Wonderduck at
07:07 PM
| Comments (2)
| Add Comment
Post contains 587 words, total size 4 kb.
140kb generated in CPU 0.2821, elapsed 0.4261 seconds.
62 queries taking 0.2979 seconds, 373 records returned.
Powered by Minx 1.1.6c-pink.
62 queries taking 0.2979 seconds, 373 records returned.
Powered by Minx 1.1.6c-pink.
