F1 Sao Paolo, Brazil

[netwrangler]

The final Formula One race of the year features three drivers in contention for the driver's championship.

Lewis Hamilton, a rookie driving for McLaren-Mercedes, has the points lead. Two week ago in China, he blew a chance to clinch the title by driving into the 'kitty litter' while trying to enter pit lane.
Fernando Alonzo, champion for the last two years, is the [apparently disgruntled] team mate of Hamilton. Alonzo is 4 points behind Hamilton.
Kimi Räikkönen, driving for Ferrari, is 7 points back, but could win it all if the McLaren-Mercedes drivers do something stupid.

All of this is aired live on Speed Channel starting at 11:30 am EDT Sunday, 11/21/2007.

Why do I think that traders might be interested in Formula One? Just a guess. :)

[aiki14]

The final Formula One race of the year features three drivers in contention for the driver's championship.

Lewis Hamilton, a rookie driving for McLaren-Mercedes, has the points lead. Two week ago in China, he blew a chance to clinch the title by driving into the 'kitty litter' while trying to enter pit lane.
Fernando Alonzo, champion for the last two years, is the [apparently disgruntled] team mate of Hamilton. Alonzo is 4 points behind Hamilton.
Kimi Räikkönen, driving for Ferrari, is 7 points back, but could win it all if the McLaren-Mercedes drivers do something stupid.

All of this is aired live on Speed Channel starting at 11:30 am EDT Sunday, 11/21/2007.

Why do I think that traders might be interested in Formula One? Just a guess. :)

Can you clarify one thing for me? I understand that these cars turn both left AND right, are we as Americans supposed to understand that? Sounds way too complicated to me. How do they do it, stop after a certain period of time and go around the track in the wrong...err... other direction?

[netwrangler]

And the same to your horse!

[netwrangler]

Can you clarify one thing for me? I understand that these cars turn both left AND right, are we as Americans supposed to understand that? Sounds way too complicated to me. How do they do it, stop after a certain period of time and go around the track in the wrong...err... other direction?
Aiki, I'm sorry, I didn't understand the subtlety of your reply.

Suffice to say, the cars are both directionally versatile and a-political. Their owners may not be either, however.

[aiki14]

Aiki, I'm sorry, I didn't understand the subtlety of your reply.

Suffice to say, the cars are both directionally versatile and a-political. Their owners may not be either, however.

Just a New Yawkah taking a lame shot at my nascar buddies.

[TonyM]

I haven't watched much since the Regenkonig Schumacher left, he was just brilliant to watch. I guess I need to have someone of extraordinary talent to retain my interest, drivers like Ayrton Senna, Niki Lauda and Jackie Stewart brought driving mechanics that were incredible to witness, especially back when F1 used to run the Nurburgring Nordschleife or Green Hell as Jackie put it.

[netwrangler]

Just a New Yawkah taking a lame shot at my nascar buddies.
Yeah. I under-analyzed my first response and over-analyzed my second. [Sounds like my trading patterns.] Finally grokked that you were talking about NASCAR, aka 'The Long Left Turn.'

[netwrangler]

I haven't watched much since the Regenkonig Schumacher left, he was just brilliant to watch. I guess I need to have someone of extraordinary talent to retain my interest, drivers like Ayrton Senna, Niki Lauda and Jackie Stewart brought driving mechanics that were incredible to witness, especially back when F1 used to run the Nurburgring Nordschleife or Green Hell as Jackie put it.
I go back to Fangio and Moss, but still share your sentiments. Nevertheless, Hamilton has been a pleasant surprise this year — 4 wins and the championship point lead going into the last race. I think he has the stuff to rank with the great ones. He may be the first to win the driver championship in his rookie year.

BTW: You can drive Nurburgring Nordschleife in Playstation-2's Gran Turismo 4. I got into that after my [then 11-year old] grandson seriously kicked my butt when I visited him a couple of years ago.

After that encounter he told me not to feel bad because I was just a rookie. I explained to him why they don't send donkeys to college. I then bought the Logictech steering wheel and pedal set, practiced like crazy, and cleaned the poor kid's clock the next time he came out to visit. [I hate to think what the opportunity cost was of not putting that time and effort into portfolio management.]

The capper to this story is that I popped for a weekend of go-kart school for the both of us last summer. [It was a parent-kid session at the Jim Hall Kart Racing School (http://www.jimhallkartracing.com/) in Oxnard.] I led the final race for seven laps then went too deep into a corner. Two corners later, at the end of the front straight, The Kid passed Grampa and went on to win the ten lap race. Fun stuff for all.

[TonyM]

I go back to Fangio and Moss, but still share your sentiments. Nevertheless, Hamilton has been a pleasant surprise this year — 4 wins and the championship point lead going into the last race. I think he has the stuff to rank with the great ones. He may be the first to win the driver championship in his rookie year.

BTW: You can drive Nurburgring Nordschleife in Playstation-2's Gran Turismo 4. I got into that after my [then 11-year old] grandson seriously kicked my butt when I visited him a couple of years ago.

After that encounter he told me not to feel bad because I was just a rookie. I explained to him why they don't send donkeys to college. I then bought the Logictech steering wheel and pedal set, practiced like crazy, and cleaned the poor kid's clock the next time he came out to visit. [I hate to think what the opportunity cost was of not putting that time and effort into portfolio management.]

The capper to this story is that I popped for a weekend of go-kart school for the both of us last summer. [It was a parent-kid session at the Jim Hall Kart Racing School (http://www.jimhallkartracing.com/) in Oxnard.] I led the final race for seven laps then went too deep into a corner. Two corners later, at the end of the front straight, The Kid passed Grampa and went on to win the ten lap race. Fun stuff for all.


I overlooked Fangio & Moss but they definitely belong on that list. I never could figure out how their cars had the room for those giant brass balls of theirs. :wink:

I know all too well the GT4 on PS2 with the wheel and pedals, many hours spent there and imo the best simulation of what it's really like to drive those cars and how making minute adjustments can net a tenth of a second here and there. I hated the Ring at first and found it impossible, but my stubbornness brought me back to it because I couldn't admit defeat. I found the BMW race car (sorry forgot the exact model nomenclature) the best handling vehicle suited to the Ring. I also found the F1 car to be downright scary on that track, I could not take full advantage of that vehicle's power and handling on that course, but I'd love to see Schuey do it.

The karting at Oxnard sounds like a blast. I'd like to do something like that, but like most of my hobbies they get addictive and expensive quickly, still I may look around more locally for something similar in the cooler months here.

[englishman26]

My brother is a McClaren mechanic - actually on Hamilton's team this year. He's not a happy camper today after a year of fighting in the team ended in Ferrari winning the championship by 1 pt on the last day!

[netwrangler]

My brother is a McClaren mechanic - actually on Hamilton's team this year. He's not a happy camper today after a year of fighting in the team ended in Ferrari winning the championship by 1 pt on the last day!
Must have been an incredible year for your brother. I'd love to know more, but this is probably not the right venue to write about it.

I've been a Hamilton fan since I saw him in GP2. Given that, I'm not sure how to evaluate his last two races. Seems like he could have backed-off a tad and put the championship in his pocket. On the other hand, his inability to 'back-off a tad' may be why he was in contention in the first place.

Please convey to your bother my admiration for the McClaren support team and my condolences for their loss.