Friday, March 27, 2009
The 2009 Formula 1 Season is here

There is nothing better than seeing hundreds of millions of dollars of technology and engineering, hours upon hours of time in the windtunnel and similators for drivers to go into the first corner at Melbourne and be caught in the wreckage of the first turn of the FIA Formula 1 season.

This year may be different. The red Ferraris and silver McLarens might be in the back of the grid, caught up in that mess instead of their usual positions at the front of the grid. 2009 has brought sweeping aerodynamic changes to the cars, changes to prolong the life of their 2.8L V8s and the wild card--the Kinetic Energy Recovery System.

Last season was great, just like 2007 and 2006. The drivers championship came down to the last race season and saw the smug Lewis Hamilton of McLaren-Mercedes take the title by one point over Felipe Massa of Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro. In 2007, it was a reversal with Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen take the championship by one point over then-rookie Hamilton. The finale in 2006 saw defending champion Fernado Alonso of Renault win the drivers championship over 7-time champion Michael Schumacher of Ferrari.

So with all of this good racing, why the radical rule changes--especially with a global recession? In short, maybe the FIA wanted to level the playing field. In the last two seasons, both Ferrari and McLaren were dominating. The two teams spend hundreds of millions of dollars (closer to $1 billion) to make their cars hundreds of a second faster. Racing is what Ferrari and McLaren does. They develop racing cars for the high-end, specialized client. Ferrari Enzo or McLaren-Mercades SLR anyone?

Meanwhile, you have car manufacturers like Toyota, Renault, BMW and Honda whose primary focus isn't on racing, but selling cars to ordinary consumers. (Yes, BMW makes cars for ordinary consumers. They just cost more and are put together better.) BMW Sauber finished third in the championship; Renault finished fourth; Toyota finsihed 5th; and Honda finished 9th. Then you have teams like Williams F1, who have won 9 constructors championships and 7 drivers championships who go it completely alone with no backing of a car manfacturer. They finished 8th in the championships. Then there are the teams owned by billionaires who wanted to spend freely on teams with little to no actual results. Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso owned by Dietrich Mateschitz, founder of Red Bull energy drinks. Force India is owned and headed by Indian beer and airline tycoon Vijay Mallya. Red Bull finished 7th; Toro Rosso finished 6th and Force India finished at the back of the field in 10th proving that billionaire owners do not equal results. Honda left Formula 1 and sold the team to team boss Ross Brawn.

Or maybe the FIA wanted to slow down the cars and improve the show. The new cars have considerable downforce with the wider front wings, the taller and narrower rear wing, the complete removal of all appendages on the body work and the reintroduction of slick tires.

To me, the new body styling is flat-out ugly. But it is what it is for the next few years. Then you add in the detuned engines running 1,000 RPM less, it calls for a very interesting season. What we've seen so far out of the first offical practice is that anything goes. A Williams, BrawnGP and Toyota cars top the timesheets after the second 90-minute practice today. The Ferraris and McLarens are further down the timesheet.

But it will be an interesting season. I will be proudly wearing my Ferrari colors in hopes of a 17th constructors championship and either a second drivers championship for Raikkonen or a first for Massa. I hope that the McLarens are further down the field for the rest of the season. Should be fun. Lots of late nights and early mornings to come.

Labels: Formula 1

posted by Jon Hayden at 7:25 PM |

Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Bailing out newspapers is a very bad idea

What's next? A bailout for Hollywood or Valley. This is a very dangerous slippery slope. State-owned newspapers are a scary idea when it comes to freedom and liberty. Say good bye to free speech and a free press.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With many U.S. newspapers struggling to survive, a Democratic senator on Tuesday introduced a bill to help them by allowing newspaper companies to restructure as nonprofits with a variety of tax breaks.

"This may not be the optimal choice for some major newspapers or corporate media chains but it should be an option for many newspapers that are struggling to stay afloat," said Senator Benjamin Cardin.

A Cardin spokesman said the bill had yet to attract any co-sponsors, but had sparked plenty of interest within the media, which has seen plunging revenues and many journalist layoffs.

Cardin's Newspaper Revitalization Act would allow newspapers to operate as nonprofits for educational purposes under the U.S. tax code, giving them a similar status to public broadcasting companies.

Under this arrangement, newspapers would still be free to report on all issues, including political campaigns. But they would be prohibited from making political endorsements.

Advertising and subscription revenue would be tax exempt, and contributions to support news coverage or operations could be tax deductible.

Because newspaper profits have been falling in recent years, "no substantial loss of federal revenue" was expected under the legislation, Cardin's office said in a statement.

Labels: Socialist States of America

posted by Jon Hayden at 10:16 PM |