Happy 40th Birthday Champ!
oh now heās a champ is he?
Still we Rise! Team #LH44 in da house!!
Yes yes, I am a modern F1 fan⦠Some of those questions are older than me!
Formula 1 race on the table for Cape Town ā BusinessTech
CTGPSA has proposed an F1 street race in the Green Point Sport Tourism Precinct in Cape Town, with a 5.7km street circuit around the DHL Stadium.
It added that the concept aligns with the global appeal of F1 street circuits, with the F1 calendar having street races in Monaco, Singapore, Baku, Las Vegas and Miami.
āā¦the global appeal of F1 street circuitsā¦ā The what now?
Pit lane, Start/Finish down the bottom? Not sure what the sticky out bit on the top left is, or the funny squiggly bit on the right - extensions to make the circuit longer? All those silly turning circle āchicanesā will have to be straightened out I think.
While Iām a proud Cape Townian, and would prefer most things to be here(especially considering I would save on a plane ticket if its here), I just feel Kyalami would be better man(dik of these street circuits). That said its cool that we have two options.
The red lines are the āexistingā Formula E circuit, with a very weird pit lane design:
At 2.93 km, itās much too short for an F1 circuit, so Iām guessing the yellow bits is to get it long enough⦠but it doesnāt really look like itāll add enough distance to me!
Okay, starting with the ePrix circuit makes some sense I guess. But I think youāre right - those added bits donāt look long enough. The article says theyāre planning ā5.7km street circuitā. There does look like thereās enough road there to make up the other 2.8km?
Yeah, I drew some lines in Google Maps. That yellow bits config comes out to about 3.8 km.
Monaco is the shortest current track at 3.3km, but it gets special dispensation for a lot of things. While there is no set minimum length, F1 prefers circuits around 5 km long. Even the Red Bull Ring is 4.3km. While it doesnāt feel as short, Circuit Hermanos Rodriguez (MEX) and Interlagos (BRA) come in at 4.3 km as well.
The number of laps in a GP is set by the requirement of driving 305 km, except in Monaco. That would make this circuit have a race that is 81 laps long.
I think the CPGP team need to sharpen their pencils a bit still⦠That said, I would love to see a South African GP alternate between Kyalami and Cape Town!
This third bid for the EC and its provisional nonsense bid for an alternative CT city circuit sounds like the biggest load of shady AF tenderpreneur cadre collusion kak ever.
a bid that eventually wants to hold a race in the future Wakanda Smart City Development. That project, earmarked to be built on a private beachfront in Eastern Cape along the Nelson Mandela Corridor that aims to become a business hub like Singapore and Dubai, includes plans to construct a grand prix track there ā but it will not be ready for up to 10 years.
Malefane said he was close to signing off on the plans for a Cape Town race that could be ready by the 2027 date that is being targeted.
āItās a green field infrastructure on existing land that is fully developed,ā he said. āItās 570 hectares, right in the middle of the city.
āI shall not reveal where, because weāre tying up the final agreements on the awarding of that land.
āWe will be able to dock enough cruise liner ships that will dock 100,000- 200,000 spectators, who will then be within proximity of the F1 track.ā
Utter bs from start to finish. None of that is feasible or real. The bollocks reason is obvious: āMalefane is urging South Africaās president to take charge of proceedings because of concerns he has of an āagendaā to help Kyalami.ā
When his bid fails, heāll be bleating about it being rigged and be tying everything up with court challenges and protests.
The what?
The what? Where in the middle of the city?!
Do they want to annex Oudekraal? Or on top of the mountain? Or (and I actually like this one) around Robben Island?
Look, Iām no big Hamilton fan. Iām not a bigger Ferrari fan than your average racing enthusiast. But the combination of LH coolness and Ferrari Italian je ne sais quoi must have been so helpful to convince the big bosses in red that heās the right horse to back.
A cool billion should do it.
āFormula 1 is coming by fire or by force.ā
~ Gayton Promises McKenzie, 2025 ~
F1 2025 Key Pre-season Dates
Date | Event | Location |
---|---|---|
February 14 | Williams reveal | Silverstone |
February 16 | Haas filming day | Silverstone |
February 18 | Season launch event | The O2, London |
February 19 | Ferrari reveal | Fiorano |
February 24 | Mercedes reveal | TBC |
February 26-28 | Pre-season testing | Bahrain |
March 14-16 | Australian Grand Prix | Melbourne |
Ah, the constructor champion giving us a Valentineās gift
Six new F1 rules you need to know about for 2025
With a Formula 1 rules revolution coming in 2026 with all-new cars, things are much more straightforward for this season as we head to a year of stable regulations. But thatās not to say there arenāt some important rules changes coming in 2025 - so here are six of the most important to keep an eye out for.
Good!
Booo!
Good!
Boo!
Good!
Boo!
Okay, some real comments:
- The video hits the fastest lap point problem on the head - itās too straightforwardly a reward for the front runner with sufficient gap behind them.
- Heavier cars == less agile cars == less fun racing.
- Safety first! Heat exhaustion is no joke, and the effects we saw the last few years on hyperfit athletes were extreme. Itās either this, or fit aircon!
- This is a bugbear for me. The testing procedure is documented. McLaren builds a component that is compliant to the published rules and testing procedure. McLaren gets told, no, canāt do that, even though thereās no rule being broken. Formula 1 has long had the problem of creating rules that are impossible to enforce in simple engineering terms, and that needs to end. Rather publish the testing/scrutineering criteria every car needs to comply with, and let that be that. Itās as simple as changing āAero surfaces may not flex excessively at speedā to āA load of 10 kN will be applied to the front wing at 400 mm outboard of the centreline. Deflection must be 20 mm or lower.ā DONE. /engineered
- More rookie runs is good! Get the young folks racing!
- Okay, this one got a boo purely on the heading, to keep the pattern going and because the general chaos of the last season was exciting. The actual rules that they are changing to clarify what happens when sessions are lost, is a very, very good thing.