B.A.R 2nd & 8th in German GP

[azndng]

congratulations to jenson for placing 2nd in the race this past sunday. i was shocked at how fast he reeled everyone in... from 13th.. to 7th.. to 5th to 3rd (which i thought he'd finish) then did a beautiful move on alonso (probably because of understeer problems he had late in the race) and took 2nd.

don't foget sato either. altho he didn't place 6th (spun out with 1X laps left) like he was 'suppose' to.. he did place 8th good enough for points. which puts honda only a few (i beleive 8 points?) behind renault!

does anyone ever feel that sato gets the 'test' engine or something? he's obviously a great driver, the agressive driver that puts race fans on the edge of their seats. lately, i've heard that BAR detuned sato's engine so it'll be more reliable. anyone here this? good work on finishing in points! =)

http://www.barf1.com/

 

[Dash Rip Rock]

Congrats to BAR Honda

I thought both drivers had excellent races and was very happy to see the second place outcome for Jenson. I was so excitted to watch the race I initially watched the race in French and later on the English Channel.

As for BAR Honda not giving Sato the exact same car as Jenson I would find that very hard to impossible to believe. I would have to say their only two goals at the outset of the year would have been to win a race or two, with either driver and finish as high as possible in the constructor points (which means second) If they could accomplish both of these I think you could consider it a successful year and they would be well poised for next year.

Saying all that I am dumb founded as to why Sato has blown so many engines this year.

I also wonder why Honda would dump so much money into F1 racing and then not transfer that technolgy to a new NSX or a new elite sports car?

 

[azndng]

from what i remember about the 2nd gen nsx. it will go into 'production' when the root of the nsx starts to regain its 'flame'. which is coinsided with F1 racing. so now that honda is in battle for 2nd place constructors and 3rd for championship, it looks very hopefull that the 2nd gen nsx aka hsc aka whatever.. is gonna be seen soon.

well, i agree that the positions that BAR finished were great. BUT if you look at the end of the race where sato had 6th place in his hands, which btw, took a lot of laps for him to over take 8th and 7th.. just to only spin out and luckily regain control and finish for 8th still in points.

and reports have it, that sato DID have a detuned engine just to see the reliability of it.. .and yes it proved reliable in the race before germany...BUT commentators noted how sato was a bit slower (due to HP ) on the straights then it shoud've been. but to have a TOTALY differnt car, i dont' think so either.

you think honda 'dumps' money.. check out the budget over at slow toyota they can easily triple honda's budget, but they can't even place in points without having other racers crashing/engine blow/etc etc.

 

[Dash Rip Rock]

The detuned engine is interesting. I wonder why he was blowing engines in the first place. If they have the same engine and one driver blows X# of motors and the other guy does not, what does that say?

I like Sato's driving and his attitude to boot.

Best of luck to Honda, they will need to run at 100+% to win one or more races this year. I look forward to Budapest.

 

[azndng]

what i heard about sato's driving style is the main reason. honda and ferrarri have the highest revving engines. but unlike button, sato' really bangs each gear to very high 18k rpm. also, i think a good percentage of his problems is due to bad luck.

ex: i forget which race but, remember when toyota had to call for restart... that made the engines very hot and bad luck on sato's side.. his engine got too hot. and blew up.

 

[Dash Rip Rock]

ex: i forget which race but, remember when toyota had to call for restart... that made the engines very hot and bad luck on sato's side.. his engine got too hot. and blew up. [/B]

I believe you are refering to the French Grande Prix when several other competitors could not see throught the thick smoke and the narrow track played a roll in the pile up as well.

So could one deduce Sato over revs the engine? There is no specific red line on an F1 car... is there? Racers typically shift at differnt points 17.5K, 18.5K, 19.0K reves etc.

 

[FGG]

Ditto on the congrats to the BAR Honda team. Based on Sato's earlier performances in qualifying and races it seems pretty obvious that he is a bit detuned for reliability---they just need to find the right balance point so he can last and be a bit higher on the grid and at the finish. He is an exciting driver to watch--love his courage.

 

[Andrie Hartanto]

to steal David Hobbs phrase, Sato has quite large "attachments".

Some drivers are harder on equipments than others. As simple as that. Each drivers drive differently and put the engine at different stress level.

Just for example, Sato might ride the high rpm and bang on the speed limiter instead of shifting to higher gear when he has to shift to lower gear soon after due to corners or overtaking. That is of course pure speculation.