Richard French's Weblog » Auto Racing

Black flagged at Laguna Seca for a sound violation

Richard — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 23:51:33 +0000

This week I participated in the Hooked on Driving, HPDE event at Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca. Having never driven at this track I was assigned a coach to help me learn the line and teach me the braking and power zones. There was a noise restriction at the track of 92db for the day.

During my first outing the wind changed direction so that it was blowing directly at the microphone that was halfway up the hill between turns 5 & 6. On my 3rd lap I was black flagged for being at 94.6db. The car is stock so I was very surprised that it exceeded the sound limit. You can see the black flag to the left side at the end of the video.

I ended up short shifting the rest of the day – my speed improved through 4, 6 and 10 and I found the right line by 3rd session on the track.

Racing against the clock – PCA-GGR Autocross

Richard — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 23:09:08 +0000

This year I’m taking my interest in auto sports to a new level. I participated in my first autocross event a few weeks ago. The event was at Alameda Point [ex-Naval Air Station] and run by the Golden Gate region of the Porsche Club of America. My best time was 43.9 — plenty of room for improvement and not bad for my first time out.

Autocross is a sport where you try to drive around a course in the shortest possible time. The course is laid out in a big empty parking lot and outlined by orange plastic cones. — PCA-GGR

I didn’t take a video of my drives around the circuit, however here’s a video of one of the top drives of the day.

Amazing Kimi – Winning Brazilian GP and World Drivers’ Championship

Richard — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 18:59:15 +0000

What an exciting Formula 1 season. After the Japanese Grand Prix, two races ago, I was convinced Lewis Hamilton was going to be the first rookie to win the Formula 1 World Drivers’ Championship and that Kimi Raikkonen didn’t have a chance. Even entering today’s race it was really only a mathematical probability that Kimi would win. I was still convinced the WDC would go to a McLaren driver, either Fernando Alonso or Lewis Hamilton.

Kimi really kept his cool throughout the entire race, while Lewis lost his on the first lap and McLaren proved no match for Ferrari.

Congratulations Kimi – you deserve it!

Well done Kimi — you’ve turned on the heat!

Richard — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 20:22:26 +0000

Back in June, I wrote a post suggesting it was time for Kimi Raikkonen to turn up the heat. He’s certainly done that over the last few races, winning the Canadian, US, British, Belgium and the Chinese Grand Prix’s and coming second or third in four others. Kimi now has a chance to win the world drivers championship.

With Lewis Hamilton’s retirement and Kimi and Fernando Alonso finishing first and second in the Chinese Grand Prix yesterday, the championship is down to just 7 points. The battle for the world championship should go down to the wire in Brazil. If Massa can become the spoiler, Kimi has a chance to pull it off. I’m looking forward to the finale of an exciting season.

Lewis Hamilton asterisk — * First WDC as a Rookie

Richard — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 19:36:08 +0000

There’s been a lot of talk in the press and blogosphere about Lewis Hamilton and whether he should have an asterisk beside his name if he becomes the Formula One world drivers champion. I say yes! – Not because he may have won as a result of the Mclaren – Ferrari spying scandal, but because he’s the only rookie to ever win the championship and he did so fairly over his teammate and previous WDC, Fernando Alonso.

Lewis Hamilton, is one of the best new drivers to enter into Formula One since Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna. If he wins the championship, he deserves to be recognized for beating Alonso and the rest of the field and earning it during his rookie year. I say put the asterisk beside his name and let it indicate the first rookie ever to win the championship.

Well done Kimi

Richard — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 19:07:00 +0000

At long last, it looks like Kimi Raikkonen is back on form. He ran a flawless race beating his teammate Felipe Massa.

As reported in GPUpdate, Kimi said:

“We’ve had a bit of a hard time the past two months but I always expected that and it’s a bit difficult when you don’t get good results so we just worked hard to get the car right,” he added. “We’re still not right where we want to be but definitely a lo happier with the car since the last test.”

Time to turn on the heat Kimi

Richard — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 22:44:53 +0000

It seems that I’m not the only one disappointed in Kimi Raikkonen this year. According to a news item on Pittpass.com and another on gpudate.

“Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has turned the heat up on Kimi Raikkonen, saying the Ice-Man has so far failed to achieve his potential with the Italian team, despite winning the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

We’ve got just over half the season to go. Lets hope Kimi will show us his ferocious competitive form over the next few races – and become the F1 race car driver of the last few years – feared by his teamates and competitors.

Formula One — season of surprise

Richard — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 17:51:45 +0000

After the retirement of Michael Schumaker last year, I though this year’s Formula One racing would be boring. It’s been completely the opposite. At least three teams seem competitive McLaren, Ferrari and BMW Sauber. We’ve also got a new era of race car drivers with Alonso, Rosberg, Hamilton and perhaps even newcomer Vettel.

With the single tire manufacturer, the back and forth advantage we’ve seen over the past few years, has been eliminated. It’s good to really see the competition among the teams and their drivers. With six races completed and eleven to go, I’m looking forward to a very interesting and exciting rest of the season.

My only dissapointment, so far, has been the performance of Kimi Raikkonen.