According to sources close to Planet F1′s own ranks, it is destined to happen…

“Our sources claim that one of the ideas currently on the table for 2013 is for 1.5 litre, straight-four, turbocharged engines, using half as much fuel as at present, but with as many KERS variables as possible. Indeed, our source says that the current talk of the return of KERS in 2011 – initially rejected by the teams before a 180 degree turnaround – is “only half the story.”

Bring. This. On.

I for one welcome and embrace a return to power wars between teams, except this time, on a greener footing.

It was, as always, an issue surrounding money and controlling rights with the people at the center of the series unable to broker a deal.

As it now stands everything is being sold off in this remarkable auctioning of the entire paddock of GP1 racecars and support vehicles.

Anyone for 20, V8 Ferrari powered open wheelers?!

…and smile they would too because the ingenious device gives them an extra 15 kph down the straight and when closed, more down force in the corners! Amazing work from McLaren that is sure to be emulated all the way down the grid.

Getting close to the girls can be really hard work, what with the sweaty, pushy, and sometimes aggressive camera boys jostling for position around you.

So, I did the smart thing – I waited. After the human scrum of photographers had cleared to find their next target I approached the booth where the girls were stationed, introduced myself and got some quality time; unhurried and undisturbed. ( that pack of ravenous shooters had formed behind me while I was busy taking my own shots with the girls. )

The girls from WALD were exceptionally accommodating, friendly and er… appealing in many other ways! Definitely among the finest looking and best presented models at the show if you were to ask me…

<a href=”http://www.7tune.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/DSC_0934.jpg”><img title=”DSC_0934″ src=”http://www.7tune.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/DSC_0934.jpg” alt=”DSC_0934″ width=”587″ height=”390″ /></a>

But enough about what I think!

We’ll come back to the WALD girls a little later if you like.

How does that sound? You want to see any more shots of them?

But enough about what I think!

What do <em><strong>you</strong> </em>think?

I was talking to them in Japanese as I shot ( hence the various expressions ) completely dispelling the rumor that men can only do one thing at a time!

We’ll come back to the WALD girls a little later if you like.

How does that sound? You want to see any more shots of them?

Photos and Text: Adam Zillin

The Honda Civic Type R Euro, while not exactly a bad decision, is a relatively confusing one given that the Japanese market already has a faster, more powerful, roomier and more practical version in the 4 door Civic. Compounding this is the fact the Euro has been on sale for over 2 years in Europe and Australia so it’s not exactly brand new. So why bother to release it here? Well, knowing how important design is to the Japanese would help you come some of the way toward the answer.

This car has all the characteristics and design cues of an alien spacecraft. I mean, look at it. What about it is unlikely to cause more division among us than the controversial design? Understandably, people complain about design concepts never looking like when they were first penned but in this Type R Euro, you can safely say that what you saw on paper is more or less the same as the real thing. That’s a good thing too because so many good designs are ruined by corporate noise and credit has to be given to the brass at Honda for having the temerity to leave this one alone.

Powered by a 148kW (198hp@7,800rpm / 193Nm@5,600rpm), 1.6 liter DOHC with iVTEC, the manic little K20Z4 is more furious than fast, spinning its rings out to 8000rpm and needing to be worked hard to get it going anywhere with serious intent. Significantly, the 165kW 4 door Civic carries much more torque and power. (222hp@8,400rpm / 215Nm@6,100rpm)

Punch the candy red starter button and the R fires up with a throaty rasp. Rowing the Euro R hatch through the hills can be hard work, not simply because of the frenetic and heady nature of the power delivery but also because its characteristics put you on edge as much as it appears to be. It draws you in, egging you on to go for redline in every gear. And that’s the power of the “Type R” drug, isn’t it? It may not be packing 400hp or doing anywhere near 300kph but you sure feel like you’re pushing the envelope when you are really on it. This is the purity that every motoring enthusiast craves and is something that Honda has been hard at work preserving in their cars. I’d be filthy rich if I could figure out a way to bottle it.

You needn’t worry about the engine though because like any hearty sadomasochist, the Honda loves to be flogged mercilessly. It’s frenzied for a good reason too, delivering a spine-tingling aural chorus that lifts the hairs on your skin like any good Honda motor will do. You will undoubtedly notice VTEC kicking in around 5200rpm and then, not long after that, the rev needle will be bouncing off the limiter. You’ll be caught by surprise from time to time at how rapidly the engine will spin to its cut out; a shrieking “brap brap brap” will jolt you out of that trance quick smart.

Driving through the limited slip differential, the sticky 18 inch alloys shod with 225/40 series rubber provide loads of grip; more than a match for the cars 1267kg kerb weight. You can be really aggressive with corner entries in this car. It always seems to need a toilet really because it cocks up hind legs faster than a dog on a fire hydrant. It does have a tendency to become unsettled when lifting off and gave me more than a couple of moments at speed. I put this down to the combination of the very stiff damping up front and the decision for Honda to use a torsion rear axle instead of the newer and more stable double wishbone arrangement; another reason why Honda has gone a little weird. Why make a car that looks like an alien life form if only to stuff old tech under the rear of it?

Where questions about the chassis make sense, nothing can be said in negative tones about the amazing gearbox, it’s snicketty goodness so exceptional you’ll be shifting gears just for the heck of it, even when standing still. Its precision is scalpel like; you don’t “shift” gears so much as “slice” them from slot to slot. Honda has made a snack of delivering the quintessential shift experience in a sports car and this is no exception. The positioning of the lever could be a little closer though and I wondered how much better it would be with the shifter up near the steering column, like the outgoing EP3 model.

Brakes wise, Honda had a bit of brain fade, opting not to fit the obligatory and ubiquitous Brembo caliper set adorning the FD2 4 door Type R. And does it show. They simply aren’t up to the task for prolonged periods of time and on more than one occasion were worked to failure way too easily, the pedal turning into an uninspiring soggy wet sponge. Having to stand by the side of the road and ponder the scenery is fine if you’re an oil painter but it’s a royal pain when you’ve got leagues of empty mountain road ahead of you. Put simply, these brakes aren’t “Type R”. They’re simply an “F”.

Not that you notice them from inside the cabin under normal, more sedate driving conditions. It’s a very fitting place to be actually, the Euro R resembling something of a command module. From the supportive and attractive alacantra covered bucket, complete with harness recesses, a giant centrally located tachometer glows red, leaving you in no doubt as to the intentions of the car. Surrounding this, a double decked receding fascia slopes away from you, opening the cabin up slightly. More oddities. On the top deck a completely useless set of yellow shift lights sit un-noticed next to the digital speed readout. Odd place to put something you never actually see. Trust me, when you’re going for it, the last thing you need to notice before a guardrail is a stupid set of tiny yellow lights.

It’s roomy enough for 4 inside as well, not that you’d think so given the compact dimensions. Honda baulked at the idea of incorporating a multi-function navigation system into the dash but then inexplicably offered a horrid aftermarket item to sit on it. Navigation systems are about as aesthetic as a brick and just as ugly but Honda somehow felt this was the right thing to do. Isn’t that odd?

I walked away from the Type R expecting something more. I’m only looking back now that I’m writing about it actually. I wasn’t disappointed but definitely underwhelmed somewhat. It didn’t blow me away like all the videos on Youtube told me it would. It didn’t have me telling all my friends about how hectic it was. Perhaps there is some truth to the “fanboyishness” the car and brand appears to embody. I personally felt it was a little tepid where it needed to be hot and too compromising where it needed to be unyielding. Maybe that’s just my opinion but considering the odd decisions that have come from the Honda stable in recent times, an opinion not entirely without merit.

Perhaps the Mugen Type R Euro can bring me around to see things from an alien perspective…

No amount of emotive force can replace the absurdity that is this SLS commercial.

Note, if you will, the petrified faces of the firemen who, from behind the safety of their 1 foot high barrier, are set up to be completely obliterated by the gullwinged Mercedes should a mistake be made.

I wont even bother going into how extraordinarily retarded and utterly pointless the car barrel rolling in the tunnel is.

Top of the line Blitz DC II with the DC Live Unit for oil, boost and water.

I was considering putting them on the Subaru due to the fact it has no boost or oil pressure gauges at all but then realized the Subaru will be gone soon and the ‘Line needs them just as much.

The Nissan actually already has these gauges but who can trust those? They’re 17 years old. Plus the boost gauge is measured in mmHG ( mm of mercury – retarded if you ask me )

Anyway, instead of sticking them on ugly ring holsters and then 3M taping them to the dash, a la “I’m too cheap to shell out for a proper cluster”, I did a little hunting and came up with a couple of very pretty triple gauge clusters made from carbon fiber – for a very decent price.

This one’s from Australia care of JustJap.com

The second one is this from Japan

Also have a few suspension parts to go on, 2 of them being these near new rear upper arms from Nismo. They’re not adjustable but they are stiffer and carry better bushes not to mention the fact I’m not at the level yet where I can benefit from the fine tuning adjustable rear arms would provide. Still, I’m considering knuckles -  would definitely know what to do with some extra lock.

And who would be surprised by THAT little piece of truth?

I mean, LOOK at this woman. It makes me physically ill to think that Gollum slithers all over her when the lights go out.

Speaking of Gollum, do you also see the resemblance?

Gollum; star of the LOTR movie trilogy:

Flavio Briatore; convicted race fixer and all round scum bag:

Convicted of conspiring to cause the most outrageously heinous race fixing scandal in the history of F1 , Briatore was sent slithering into the F1 wilderness banned for life, never to return. Or so we had hoped.

Consider the weasel. Weasels are amazing creatures.  They manage to get themselves into situations and then out of situations quickly and slyly, using cunning to avoid capture. Foxes and snakes are the same. All three are good examples of what Flavio Briatore is.

The rotten part to the story revolves around Briatore getting his lifetime ban from the sport overturned, freeing him to return to F1 as a manager or even worse: as a team boss.

Consider this post from Planet F1

While there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that Max Mosley was fueled by personal vendettas to play judge, jury and executioner in the handing down of the penalties to Briatore over “Crashgate”, the fact of the matter is that Briatore was busted cold blooded with his hand in the cookie jar – hence his ignominious “slinking away with tail between legs” departure from Renault. He fell on his own sword and the world said good riddance.

Doctor Mike Lawrence from Pitpass.com, whose features I really enjoy reading, wrote a particularly damning piece all about the turmoil surrounding the “sweater salesman“. An enjoyable read if you haven’t seen it yet. All Mike Lawrence’s pieces are actually.

Getting back to the issue at hand though, it now appears obvious that the Tribunal de Grande Instance ( TGI ) of France correctly saw through the duplicitous intentions of Mosley and set an historic precedent when they declared the life time ban placed on Briatore was not within the power of the FIA to enforce. So they overturned it.

Crucially though, 2 other pieces of information can be taken from the transcripts passed on to the public.

The first being the fact that the TGI overturning the ban came about primarily because of a stupid clause – in the FIA regulations no less – that states only “license holders”, that is, drivers and the teams themselves, can be issued life bans for their involvement in such situations.

I’m literally dumbstuck as to how team principles and chief Engineers don’t fall under the same category.

So the FIA has also quite literally fallen on its own sword by breaking statutes that is had no authority to apply in banning Briatore for life in the first place! How on earth could they not have known this? I’m not sure who is dumber – Mosley or Briatore.

The second piece of information is that while the TGI “overturned” the life ban, they DID NOT overturn the charges nor disagree with them – meaning quite literally that they agree that Briatore was guilty as charged of race fixing but have sought to do nothing further.

Truly appalling.

This is what they said: “The decision of the World Council was presided over by the FIA president, who was well known to be in conflict with Briatore, with Mr Mosley having played a leading role in launching the inquiry and its investigation in violation of the principle of separation of the power of the bodies. The decision (of the World Motor Sport Council) is not annulled ( in dispute ) but declared irregular (outside the jurisdiction of the FIA to enforce), and rendered without effect in its provisions against Mr Briatore and Mr Symonds.”

Gollum liked to harp on about being the victim, whilst hiding murderous intent – he could neither be trusted nor respected. Flavio Briatore, in much the same way, is a wretched little creature who shares all the same qualities.

F1 is better off without him and I for one hope he does not come back to make the sport even more insufferable than it is now.

In my post couple of days ago I mentioned how I got to meet MS and how I expected him to come back for the 2010 season but the guessing and speculation is now officially a reality.

Michael Schumacher will return to the grid in 2010 wearing the black and silver of Mercedes. In this unprecedented move, Schumi will now partner Rosberg and Brawn under a brand new 3 year contract.

This is utterly fantastic news and many people are surely beside themselves over this.

I think I’ll put some money down on Schumi to take out the WDC title. The bookies must be having kittens!!

www.planet-f1.com/story/0,18954,3213_5794625,00.html

Suddenly, from every corner of the news, there is unabated fever among the inhabitants of F1 about the imminent return of the most successful F1 driver ever to grace the sport and live to tell the tale.

I personally believe he will come back and am writing this in due course.

I had seen him race so many times. I grew up in the shadow of the “Senna passes the dominance torch to Schumacher” era and what an amazing 15 years it had been. You may know I grew up in Australia, so I was no stranger to Schumacher or Hakkinen or Hill or anyone from the crop of the mid 80′s to now. You feel as if you know them all somehow and yet, have never met any of them.

As fate would have it then, some 15 years and a move to Japan later, at Suzuka in 2006, I got some pit access and managed to meet most of the field and memorably have a little quiet time with Schumacher, a single race before he retired ( as far as I or anybody else knew at the time ) for ever.

I was wearing sky blue Renault gear, head to toe because I really admired Alonso back then; before the cheating and the blackmail, before the petty bickering and tantrum throwing – back to the days when he was wild, untamed, ragged and massively quick and I among many figured him to be the natural successor to Schumacher – a natural heir.

When Michael and I spoke there was no-one around and after I introduced myself I said, ” You probably don’t like the colors I’m wearing right now…” ( I know – I still slap myself at the stupidity of such a comment but I was awestruck and couldn’t help notice the difference in attire… )

Hence the memorable, “Adam, you talk too much!”

I was embarrassed but he smoothed it out, ” So, you want an autograph?”

RO: ” Umm, actually, just a couple of minutes to chat, if that’s alright.”

MS: “I’ve got a little time but there’s a press conference I have to go to.”

RO: ” I see. You know, I have watched you since Spa all those years ago. I was there in Adelaide when you won the 94 WDC. I’ve always admired you and it’ll be sad to see you go. What are you going to do?”

MS: ” Well, you need to know when your time is up. I have other priorities that need taking care of so the sport has to move on.”

( This is poignant because I feel like he has sorted out these priorities. This is the reason why he is set to return, not in red but in silver clothes next year, 4 years after his retirement from the sport. A fresh slate with the reigning world champions mated to Mercedes ( the manufacturer who brought him into the spotlight ) and a fellow German hotshoe team mate in Rosberg would fit perfectly as a swansong. )

RO: “Well, I don’t know your motives but do you mind if I have a couple of photos with you?”

MS: “Of course not.”

So I swivel the Nikon S4 compact to face the both of us and I’m literally arm in arm with the greatest modern driver to have ever lived. It is still an extremely special moment for me and one I will never forget. I still cringe at the facial hair though…

MS: “That’s a very interesting camera.”

RO: “Thanks, it’s really useful especially in situations like this.”

MS: “I like the way it swivels. It has a wide angle lens and that must help.”

( He was wrong about the lens but I said nothing about it. )

With that he said his farewell and headed up the hill to the press conference room. I found myself wandering in the same direction and then stopped.

I stood there stunned and reflective and yes, that exchange most definitely did take place. I remember it vividly.

I have always respected MS not because of what he stood for in regards to the sport through Ferrari but also because he brought Ferrari to a point where they became unbeatable and that, by anyone elses standards deserves the respect it garners.

For me personally, I had managed to meet one of the men I would most like to have met in my life, and that, literally less than 2 weeks before the end of his career. Merely one race before it actually ended because Brazil was still to come.

I had achieved what a lifetime of people in this world hope to achieve and I am grateful.

( You can see the media scrum around MS in the background )