FOM eyes twilight Abu Dhabi Race

[www.autosport.com]

Surely this will effect the perception of the braking zones for drivers? Isn't that just fuelling the possibilty of mistakes, in addition to the fact its a new circuit?

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Endurance racers do it.

Im sure the F1 drivers will manage. Charlie Whiting is right, deal with it. They test with low sun so why cant they race with it?

At least its not like Malaysia in that at Abu Dhabi rain will be about as likley as Luca winning on Sunday.

As Mr T would say, "Get some nuts FOOL!"

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"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/28/2009 03:55PM by chet.

I actually loved the feeling of a GP at 5pm GMT and it gave a sign that F1 was over for another season. This just makes you feel you're waiting for another one next week. Boo, I want Brasil as a last race again

Quite a novel idea, it could be a nice way to end the season - and hopefully the championship is on the line, like the last few years.

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X (@ed24f1)

Monil...

"The 5pm starts will be 1pm GMT."

So just a normal Sunday afternoon for us then.

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"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL

chet Wrote:
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> Monil...
>
> "The 5pm starts will be 1pm GMT."
>
> So just a normal Sunday afternoon for us then.


Yeah, that's the thing. I liked how brazil used to start at 6pm GMT. This will be at the 1pm GMT slot which is dislike. That's what i meant

Well Brazil has produced three of the more exciting finales in F1 history in the last few years, so Abu Dhabi has a lot to live up to!


However, I am very impressed with the Abu Dhabi track so far. They have abandoned the street section part, so it is a permanent circuit which is nice. Furthermore, they have added some elevation changes across the track, which is even better. The fact that the pitlane exit tunnels under the track is incredible as well.

But even so, there is no way that Abu Dhabi can emulate the passion and love for F1 that the Brazilian GP had. Massa in front of his home crowd last year was a sight that I will remember for a very long time.

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X (@ed24f1)

Ah sorry Monil, didnt read properly :p

But yeah late/early races are always the best, and thats when you know its over, or begining in the case of Aus.

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"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL

Looking forward to this, it sounds very interesting, i'm sure the drivers will cope just fine. Everyone thought Singapore would be an issue last year and it was fine.

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Singapore will be an issue if there's any mist or rain. Just like they couldn't race in Qatar in MotoGP when it was wet. You just can't see with the multitude of bright reflections and refractions if you have moisture on the visor.

The running in normal conditions wasn't going to be an issue for the drivers, just something to talk about. Melbourne and Abu Dhabi is a bigger issue staring straight into this big-ass sun setting. It's a massive problem if people have one eye better than the other, such as having a lazy eye, as the other eye tries to compensate, making things such as low sun quite a big problem. I can't imagine there are many drivers who have lazy eyes, but perhaps Rosberg's problem is something along those lines, rather than him just being a moaning girl.

i can testify to how bad the lazy eye thing is. my eyes are weird and work independantly of each other (i can only focus out of one eye at a time) and whichever eye i'm not focussing out of just wanders (ie a lazy eye). Driving in low sun is an absolute pain - if the eye i don't have full control of wanders to the sun, it effectively blinds me. fun fun

Anyway, back On topic, lol

I'm sure i read somewhere that the lights will be on at Abu from the start of the race, so the actual light level will remain the same(ish). maybe it'll be cloudy (which will mean the sun won't be a problem!)

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gav Wrote:
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> Singapore will be an issue if there's any mist or
> rain. Just like they couldn't race in Qatar in
> MotoGP when it was wet. You just can't see with
> the multitude of bright reflections and
> refractions if you have moisture on the visor.

Singapore I cant comment on, but in the case of Qatar, it was in the months when that much rainfall is not really excepted and is quite strange...

Different story with Abu Dhabi, though rain has a very little chance of falling even in November when it does fall it tends to be all at once and over a shortish period.

If by chance, the F1 race does encounter rain at Abu Dhabi though it will be a small chance it will almost certainly be another washout. Unlike Malaysia though where the rain falls late afternoon, I dont think that would be the case in Abu Dhabi....

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"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL

Singapore will be an issue if there's any mist or rain. Just like they couldn't race in Qatar in MotoGP when it was wet. You just can't see with the multitude of bright reflections and refractions if you have moisture on the visor.

I read an article last year that said the reflections are why they didn't just use bog standard flood lighting like NASCAR, Indy Car and MotoGP used. The lighting is designed and positioned to cause as little visibility issues as possible in the rain.

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A major factor in Albert Park might have been the trees lining the circuit...the sun shining through gaps would be more difficult than constant sun to adjust too. May not be such a big problem in Abu Dhabi...

In one way, while I dislike all the manoeuvring to suit us in Europe (which would be far better achieved by keeping the Grands Prix here where there'd be a bigger audience) I guess the addition of twilight races and night races makes itg a wider challenge of driver skill, and that's a good thing for motorsport's premier category!

the sun shining through gaps would be more difficult than constant sun to adjust too. May not be such a big problem in Abu Dhabi...

I keep reading things like that. All I can think is "awww, diddums". Sorry, sportscar drivers, and even NASCAR Drivers, cope with varying light levels. Yet whenever it is mentioned for F1, people start crying saying the drivers can't cope. It is just incredible.

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Possibly because it is suddenly introduced into F1 without drivers getting used to it. To be honest I don't think it'll make a whole lot of difference, and if it does, so what, we'll get more crashes. But yeah, drivers will complain about it, and if a crash IS caused by someone becoming blinded by the sun, then the F1 world will get up in arms over safety and sun and blah blah blah. You know the way it goes...

It's true everyone starts having a frenzy when it starts to get implemented in F1. Could it possibly be due to F1 cars not having lights and NASCAR having lights? However, it could also be argued that IndyCar did it and they don't have lights (Am I correct in saying that or IndyCar never raced through Floodlights?)

NASCAR does not have headlights. Indy Car races under flood lights.

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DaveEllis Wrote:
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> NASCAR does not have headlights. Indy Car races
> under flood lights.

Took a good look at a NASCAR car again. Wow, they so real painted on !

But thanks for the clarification Dave

DaveEllis Wrote:
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> I keep reading things like that. All I can think
> is "awww, diddums". Sorry, sportscar drivers, and
> even NASCAR Drivers, cope with varying light
> levels. Yet whenever it is mentioned for F1,
> people start crying saying the drivers can't cope.
> It is just incredible.

Agreed there. Coping with differing light levels, and different types of light, should be part of the challenge, and part of the fun too. They have tinted visors too, for things like low sun, so there's no reason why they shouldn't be perfectly OK. Also, the human eye adapts well to changes in light level.
I'm all for safety, but wrapping the drivers up in cotton wool isn't the best idea either. Get out there and get racing!

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/31/2009 12:30AM by EC83.