ok ok ... so i just started a blog and here i am making the second entry in an hour.....
But SHIT! - Over my coffee i was catching up on 1st and 2nd practice times for the Monaco Formula 1 Grand Prix - where i hope Aussie Mark Webber can finally make the top step of the podium.
If your not aware or dont follow F1 - you might be better re reading my 1st blog LOL
WTF is Max Mosely thinking?
How is it right to make rules that require teams like Ferrari and Toyota - who spend anywhere up to $500 MILLION Euros a year on their F1 teams - to downsize to a $40m Euro budget cap in a 4 month period.
Toyota, Ferrari and others have hundreds in and Ferraris case over 1500 people working for them in the various development areas like engines, aero, composite parts and fabrication. They have scientists working on developing lighter, stronger, safer compounds to protect driver and car parts while increasing performance.
Teams like McLaren, Ferrari, BMW, Toyota and (formally) Honda use the formula 1 forum to develop and test new technology - cutting edge technology - that WILL end up in our street cars sooner rather than later.
This kind of development is currently shaping the KERS or Kinetic Energy Recovery System - which translates the - until now disapaited - energy of braking and acceleration - into electricity that is stored in board the car and used as a "power boost" for up to 6 seconds per lap.
Now - hitting the button to give you an extra 80 horsepower in a car that already has over 700 of them and is moving at up to or over 200m per second may seem like stupidity. But that fact is that KERS - in a more advanced and consumer friendly and "road functional" guise will be a significant part in most vehicles sold after 2015 - if not before then.
While the development costs of KERS unit alone was limited to something like $10million Euro per team per year i think - the ability of teams to call on their "in house" manufacturer and factory support facilities and hide the cost of background development must also be considered.
Now consider this. Max wants a $40million Euro (approx $72m Australian) budget cap on development - excluding engines and promotions etc.
