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  • Surely you’re joking, Mr. Ecclestone

    The following post has been cross posted on the Pavilion Seat blog.

    Formula 1 has seen such a deluge of rule changes over the past couple of years that it has left many fans (including yours truly) greatly miffed and confused. The qualifying session has been changed so often that I am sure the drivers must be confirming the rules before every race. Moreover, an F1 car with a 2.4lt V8 engine is a joke! This one gives 750 bhps compared to the 950 of the V10s. F1 is the only sport that is stepping back on technology. Also, teams are now trying hard to push the V8s to their limits for more power which I think increases the risk of an engine (that is supposed to last for 2 races now) failure.

    When I sit down to watch F1, I want to see the fastest cars being driven around by good guys to the limit where speed is all that matters. All the rule changes are being made to make the game cheaper and safer. Cheaper! I don’t think that these companies care about a few million here and there. They say that it will attract more companies to race as costs go down and the competition becomes close. It’s like telling Superman that you have the cape but you are not allowed to fly because others can’t fly as fast. And safer. F1 has the most stringent laws concerning driver safety. What was the last accident you heard about in F1? I think it was Ralf Schumacher at the US Grand Prix in 2004. That was due to a split tyre, and he still missed some 6 races only. The crash was one of the worst ever in the F1 history, but the car kept him safe. These cars are safer than any other road cars.

    Here are a few (ridiculous to say the least) rule changes F1 is about to see.

    – Same car for the years 2008-2010. A tech freeze. There goes the entire development concept.
    – Four race gearbox.
    – Single tyre supplier (Bye-bye Michelin! We will miss you.).
    – Testing limited to 30,000 kms per year.
    – No tyre warmers. You want to save money by doing away with them? Seriously!
    – No spare cars.
    – Entry fee lowered from USD 48mn to 300,000 Euros.

    I say give them the fastest cars and let them race. Also there is a talk about reducing the downforce (technically F1 cars can race upside down on ceilings!) on the cars for more overtaking. But then again that increases the risks. Wait! FIA has a solution. Keep the drag force the same. Which basically means you will have to slow down the car to make it stable. Sucks!

    But the good news is that with the entry fee cut down and performance being no criterion, we might once again see our very own Karthikeyan back on the track.

    What did you say? Indicators on F1 cars! Well, you never know.

  • Been there, done that!!

    This weekend was about as good as it gets. I mean one of the better ones in this place. Sanghi had come over on Friday evening. Dinner outside and then that crappy movie called Zinda. It is supposed to be another brilliant one from our very own Tarantino (the amount of blood and gore being the comparison), Sanjay Gupta but failed to make any impression on me other than the scene with the actress tied up 😉 Agle subah we woke up to head to NII where we had planned on spending the weekend with TK and Bharathi. Ride for Bansal and Sanghi must have been good in that Innova but was awesome for me. I did some 20 kms in 26 mins. Not that the speed was anything to boast about but the feeling of driving for such a distance in Delhi was good. I had always heard that it is difficult to ride a 2 wheeler in Delhi but I did not face much problems.

    We got there by lunch and headed off immediately to the New Shanthi Sagar Restaurant, which brought back all those memories from Bangalore. Topped it off with great kulfi-falooda at Evergreen. And now we were sleepy. So we headed back to NII and next two hours were devoted to some talk and lots of sleeping. Woke up in the evening to take a first look at the top of NII. This place took my breath away and is high on the list of places where booze must feel so different. Headed to JNU campus for a walk then and that place called PSR Rock. Brilliant place!! Watching an aircraft fly by was never better.

    It was time to bid Sanghi goodbye. We headed to the New Delhi Railway Station. Again drove and this time it was even better through those brilliantly peaceful areas of Lutyens Delhi. Very nice. Paked our bikes at Nirulas at CP and took the Metro (I fall more in love with it every time I ride it) to the Station. Reached the station, bid Sanghi goodbye and then headed back to CP (now Rajiv Chowk btw) to Nirulas Chinese Room. Had Won-Ton soup there and Veg Chopsuey (Yum!!). I am now a die hard fan of the food there and swear to go there at every possible opportunity.

    After that back to NII and then mostly chatting with Tk and that eccentric friend of his (whose name I don’t remember thanks to this great memory of mine). We stayed up till 2 I think talking about everything from Physics to bikes and how the chappie who wanted to “do” Physics ended up “doing” Immunology at NII.

    Woke up next morning and returned to Gurgaon as I had to catch up with some work and that is the glorious weekend came to an end. Btw, as an icing on the cake Schumi won the Imola GP 🙂 There is something about San Marino that gets the Ferrari horses prancing. Is it the tifosi gathering or the circuit being their own or just the number of red flags all over, I do not know but they sure help I guess 🙂

  • Bits and pieces

    Lots hasn't been happenning. But contained below are a few pieces I wanted to write about.

    1. Casanova sucks – Always thought that being Casanova required something special in the person like charisma and behaviour and a way with the ladies. Seems it doesn't!! Rejoice all geeks!! This yuccky movie suggests that it has to only do with how well is someone physically endowed!! Crappy movie. Avoid at all cost.

    2. India lost to Pakistan – One more game left. Let's see if India can bounce back. Also Indian management (if there is one) has decided to give Sehwag and Kaif a break. Sachin has taken a break from WI ODI series and players are complaining of burn outs. And why are we having those matches in Abu Dhabi again?

    3. Dr. Rajkumar (kidnapped once by late Verrappan) passed away and his fans burnt down stuff in Bangalore, resulting in a very-long weekend.

    4. Also I turned 23 last weekend. Hmm!! I feel old.

    5. A piece of shayari I read here.

    haalaat ke tiiron se chhalnii hain badan apne
    paas aao ke siine ke kuch zakhm to bhar jaayein

    simtii huii yeh ghadiyaan, phir se naa bikhar jaayein
    is raat mein ji lein hum, is raat mein mar jaayein

    ab subhaa naa aa paaye, aao yeh duaa maangein
    is raat ke har pal se raatein hi ubhar jaayein

  • Gen Crib

    Feel like cribbing a lot today.

    Work is as much as I can do without going crazy or burning myself out. Not bad though. What is bad is working with too many women!! I am the lone guy on the project with 4 other females, three of whom insist on talking in kiddo lingua (like the famous BITSian “baccha farty” gang) and behaving in a very very girly manner that is so damn pissing off.

    Also hating the fact that India lost to England (finally!!). Sehwag, I dont give a damn about the bowler or the ball, as usual decided that he will not change the way he bats. Kaif, “look ma I got double figures“, tried to get a little too cute after a life was granted and paid the price and in the process Indian team paid the price. Also a lot of damage was done by Sehwag’s decision to keep pacers on attack even when they were being smacked to all corners of the park. Looks like people don’t want to see logic.

    And a day before Sehwag says that Ganguly episode is history. Did I hear someone mention the Foot-In-Mouth disease? He better use the term with caution or else he will soon join the ex-captain whose record both as a captain and a player remains miles ahead of Sehwag. I still think Ganguly is a very good option at the top of the order. At least better than Sehwag and Kaif!!

  • Feeling ‘haute’!!

    If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing.
    ~ Anatole France

    Which proves that the 500+ bums sitting in that place called the Indian parliament are what they are. Dumbasses.

    Meanwhile, the Govt of Maharastra, decided to probe the wardrobe malfunction that made Ms. Gracias cry on the shoulders of a co-model. Ms. Carol was however of the view that such events are common in the business. It has completed the enquiry (talk about short turn around time) and arrived at the conclusion that it was, indeed, a malfunction and not an attempt for cheap publicity. Mr AN Roy does have a "hard" work to do along with the Govt which decided to use the sparse police force to conduct such important enquiries at such short notice. I mean those deaths/suicides of the farmers are a common happening.

    Also, in news that the two Koreas are fielding a unified team for the Beijing Olympics 2008. Ah, for once I started thinking about a unified Indo-Pak cricket and hockey teams and how it would then kick the Ozzie ass in both sports.