MetaMurph's Metasphere

Finally the F1 season sees a complete race with no safety car but the results still pretty much look the same with last year's mid-pack winning, last year's leaders scrapping it out for points or completely failing and some of the traditional bottom feeders having their way with the field.  Congrats to Jenson and Ross on another excellent race.

I was most impressed in this race by overall reliability.  Only one retirement and we didn't see a rash of brake failure, KERS failure, engine failure.  That was a great thing in this race and there was a good bit of racing going on through out the field.

KERS and tires have combined potentially along with super diffusers air stream disruption to create a frustrating combination of passing possibilities that still just can't happen.  I hope that F1 will allow a little wind tunnel testing of "regular" vs. "super" diffuser testing with two cars in the wind tunnel to see if the air flow disruption is negating all the work of last year's team focused on increasing the amount of passing.  The differences in tire compounds are creating very interesting options (Toyota really misjudged on tires and Ross Braun showed his superior skills) but we are still ending up with less passing options.  I think it has a bit less to do with the diffuser than KERS but would love the wind tunnel testing.  KERS is definitely killing passing options and this race had a number of times where a slower overall lap car with KERS was able to hold off and delay a non-KERS car.  The power to weight ratio trade off pays off huge down the straights.  I am one that likes the ability for F1 teams to push technology and gain advantages but F1 either has to have more homogeneous cars or accept that passing on track may always be limited.  KERS did have an effect off the line for Hamilton and during the race enabled him to hold off faster cars but Button was able to use superior lap speed and overall strategy. 

Mark Weber who seems to be cursed with bad luck picked up 7 positions but still had to be disappointed and had he not been blocked in qualifying had the potential.  But the fact that he didn't get taken out at the first corner, his car made it to the finish and he got some position...still vs. Vettel he is going to be aging a lot if this keeps up.

Piquet - didn't do anything to really help his cause.

BMW to finish below the Force India cars and lose 5 positions, this is the team that has to really figure something out soon.  Ferrari made some progress but still needs a lot of work but BMW is just ouch. 

Bahrain, the layout itself isn't terrible but it is just an ugly race.  There is just (at least on TV) no character to a track set in the middle of a flat tan desert.  I look forward to the series moving to Europe.

We are hours away from the start of the Bahrain GP and finally we may see a complete race not run under the safety car.  Ferrari seems to have gotten over some of its execution issues getting both drivers to Q3 but they still are off the pace.  I am still amazed by the pace of Red Bull and the brilliance of Adrian Newey. 

Overall this should be a great race with lots of unknowns:

• How will the two tire compounds hold out as well as the brakes?
• Will KERS systems also live through the race heat or will anybody get a hot seat?
• Button and Hamilton go out on identical fuel load but Button is +.15 faster will KERS be a difference?
• Can Weber mount any kind of charge?  He is relatively light but he needs to not get taken out in what will probably be a crazy turn 1.
• Can Piquet keep his head in the game?  How did he go slower in Q2 than Q1
• BMW is going super heavy, will they be able to stay near enough to make it to the points? I believe that one will.

So it should be a great race, I need to get to bed soon so I can get up early and watch.

Tomorrow KIRO goes sports becoming the official ESPN radio affiliate in Seattle, a town that couldn’t support two newspapers and where the local sports section is about 3 pages long now.  I have mixed feelings here.  I love the timing because tomorrow starts the annual “bigger dance” which I can’t stand, I like the basic line-up but it another of the national vs. local media battle that has been washing out local character.  I hope this station can reach a good balance of local flavor and complete coverage.

The Malaysian Grand Prix started pretty well, plenty of on track action, racing was clean, a variety of strategies but then was marred by becoming the second race to end under a safety car and worse yet, with too few laps run.  I blame Bernie’s grand plan of euro alignment for races.  Yes, we will bring racing around the world and want to make F1 the pinnacle of motorsport but that only good if it is perfect viewing time for Europe…who cares if the light conditions are poor for racing or if we are in monsoon season and racing in the late afternoon when monsoon rains typically come.  It is a waste and I was glad I was watching it on the DVR so I could just fast forward through 1/2 of the cars sitting on the grid while tried to decide what to do.  Don’t get me wrong, I like a little rain on occasion in a race but not like this.

As for the race, again Brawn GP was awesome and I think in watching Brawn GP vs. Ferrari we are seeing how Ferrari is definitely missing Brawn and Co. and the structure and organization he brought to the team.  Now we have a Ferrari that doesn’t realize their driver’s time won’t hold up and doesn’t even get out of Q1, a team that struggles to have reliability (who formerly was the benchmark for reliability).  Now we have Brawn going from Honda who could barely find their way to the track to the team that is killing the field.

Nico Rosberg – drove a fantastic first stint but somehow they fell apart at the pit.  I haven’t really figured this one out but to take 1/2 point after a brilliant show of pace it is really disappointing.  By contrast the BMW with Heidfeld somehow taking 2nd place this ending just was strange. 

So, I like the cars, I like the passing, I love Brawn GP and Williams and even Toyota being competitive and that McLaren is struggling mightily but the season has to improve and not just on European soil.

Rubens said at the end of the race that he was hit in the rear (along with plenty of other contact) damaging the “magic” diffuser.  If true, the cars are still the class of the field diffuser or not and this will be very problematic for the other major hitters, especially McLaren Mercedes.  Button was off for a lovely Sunday drive and if there was anything bad in this race it is that no one really could mount a challenge at the front in spite of a safety car, and really bad 2nd pit stop by Button/Team and what I think was not the optimal tire choice.  The rest of the field definitely showed that the new changes are making a difference in passing opportunities (though this may be more a factor of the cars just being very different this year). 

Overall, I would imagine that the marketing director for Brawn GP will be quite active over the next week and that there will be more than Bridgestone and Virgin branding on cars and drivers for next weekend’s race.  What an encouraging thing for USF1 to look at though this team is starting with a lot of time together. 

KERS vs. non-KERS is interesting but it also means that cars that maybe would get passed can impede others with a little boost of power at critical points.  I do feel that it is going to play into reliability all year.  As the season wears on I think we will find that passing may even out with prior seasons but at least more chances will be taken.

Hamilton showed that in spite of a lagging car, he can still manage a race very well.

Tire management is definitely and issue with two compounds that are now much different from each other.

Time of day – racing as the sun goes down, I think that is a dangerous proposition.  I don’t know that this gave us the best experience and I am against the general euro-centric ranglings of the schedule.  Unless F1 is going to stay a European driven championship

The cars are definitely flighty with some wild sliding on the grid at the flag drop and wild first corner

What a sweet way to start the new season, the baby team of Brawn F1 takes down the big boys and Jenson Button reasserts himself as the driver we knew he can be with equipment and a team that executes.  I am stoked to watch tonight, I love the “saturday night” races.  That it is all second tier teams up front until Kubica what a way to get underway and what a mess last year’s champions look. 

A few years back F1 seemed like it was heading back in many ways to its roots with the potential that all of the teams would become road car manufacturer owned.  This is only kind of like the ‘old’ days in that early teams like Ferrari started as racing teams that built production cars to help support their racing business or to meet the rules for various classifications.  As F1 progressed it has been filled with a number of small “manufacturers” who only build race cars and often only build F1 cars.  I was a bit sad when these teams started going away to be replaced by passenger car vendors: Toyota, Honda, Renault, etc.  Sure there was the odd one out but we started losing the flair of Jackie Stewart Racing, or Jordan, etc.  Part of this was driven by the incredible rising expenses of F1 racing but also by the desire for the major manufacturers to tap in to the large global F1 audience. 

Now probably more due to the financial straits many mainstream manufacturers find themselves in but aided by cost reduction efforts and a number of wealthy individuals who themselves can’t go racing but can own a team we see the re-emergence of boutique manufacturers.  With Honda’s exit and the quick pick up to Brawn GP, the announcement of USF1 I think there will building excitement different from what the consumer vendors can bring.  We like the little teams; for instance, I love it when Williams is killing Toyota.

I wish USF1 could be ready out of the gate this year because the large disruption in rules, aero dynamics, etc. will play toward disruption on the grid though it will be a challenge for small teams to compete with the wind tunnel abilities of the bigs.  My hope is that Brawn F1 (beautiful car) will make some big advancements over the crappy years of Honda but even if they don’t I think it is healthy for the sport to have more specialty teams.  Partnering with majors as engine suppliers, etc. is fine but F1 is about a dream, I will never own an F1 car and probably never drive one and I am very glad that F1 didn’t become Cadillac, Ford, BMW, Mercedes, Toyota, Honda, Renault, etc. This to me is part of the dream…mythic cars, mythic drivers, epic races.

Just announced by the FIA, the driver with the most race wins is the champion.  Thus if you have 6 great wins and maybe get taken out in a race you can't be surpassed by a driver with 5 wins and all the rest are seconds.  I think this is great in that it takes out that you can have a bad race (generally due to accident) and it restrengthens the championship focus on winning.

Formula One racing’s governing body, the FIA, has approved a change to the points systems for this year’s drivers’ championship, which will see the title awarded to the driver with the most race wins. The rest of the standings, from second to last place, will be decided by the current points system.
If two or more drivers finish the season with the same number of wins, the title will be awarded to the driver with the most points, the allocation of points being based on the existing structure...

I am excited for the new F1 season with a return to slicks, and other moves designed to increase overtaking (if that actually works, weather seems to be the best at this) and the launch of the new cars is the first real step.  The new F60 looks pretty cool except the new rear wing looks so narrow and overly high, it kind of breaks up what is a tight, low to the ground cool looking car.  I love the new mirror attachments to the sidepods, and the sidepods sweep in beautifully to the rear.  From the front the new front wing looks ok but in comparison to the back wing it looks a bit awkwardly large and the rear wing looks like some sick appendage from a dirt track sprint car.  In a side view it all looks fine though the rear end plates are a bit large. 

It will be interesting to see what the other manufacturers do with the new box formula and it is the action on track that I am really excited to get on with.  73 days till the flag drops in Australia!

Simple and trivial maybe but today I got what I really wanted with a Laker win.  It wasn't just that it was a win but that the Laker's really dug in, I saw fire in Gasol's eyes as he took it strong to the hole.  I saw a team that played great D and which got in the heads of Boston and broke the streak.  I saw Luke playing great ball.  Trevor playing his normal all out hustle, Lamar was the warrier, Kobe is Kobe, D Fish solid as always, the Machine...well he doesn't quite have the rhythm this year but great D from him.  Overall just a solid effort and a great way to round out my day.  Can't wait for more.

Playing golf in the winter in Seattle (that is about Oct 20th - May 20th) is not quite as futile as the Frozen states (though for a longer period) but it isn't generally the place where you think about improving your game year round.  Finding a 4 hour window in the day where it a)isn't raining b) is light out c) is 50 or higher is a challenge.   But, I have a plan this year.  I know just grab a single club and a putter and head down to the local par 3 course and take a lesson in creativity and scrambling.  You can get around in an hour, there is a good variety of sand, water, etc. and it makes you think differently about the approach to the game.

I don't just think I am x yds from the front edge, z yds to the pin, this kind of wind and therefor this club.  Instead I have no club choice to make, it is a thought about can I punch and run?  Can I draw and run?  What about spin?  Where do I want to hit a second shot from if I am playing with only my 60 degree wedge and it is a 150 yard hole?  If I only have 1 putt to save par can I mentally stay focused and tough?

And if it rains?  An hour battling the elements isn't so bad.  This mixed with some indoor drills, visits to the putting and chipping areas and maybe I can get my game pulled back together for next year.

With Acushnet, the owner of the Titelist line currently losing its battle with Callaway there could be a glut of Pro-V1s on the market that have to be moved before the end of the year.  It is claimed that the Pro-V1 has been altered to be outside the scope of the patents.  And they will introduce a new Pro-V1 model for next year (subject of the recent "beta-test" disqualification).  Acushnet is pushing this battle up the hill with an appeal to the Federal Appeals Court.  If this appeal doesn't get picked up then Callaway can enforce the current decision:

Callaway Golf Wins Post Trial Motions in Lawsuit Against Acushnet
Federal Court Enjoins Sales of Pro V1 Effective January 1, 2009
CARLSBAD, Calif., Nov 10, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Callaway Golf (NYSE: ELY) today announced that the United States District Court in Wilmington, Delaware, has granted Callaway Golf's request for a permanent injunction to stop sales of Acushnet's current line of Titleist Pro V1 family of golf balls, effective no later than January 1, 2009. At Callaway Golf's request, professional golfers will be allowed to play Pro V1 golf balls through the end of this calendar year.
In its ruling today, the Court also rejected Acushnet's request to overturn the jury's December 2007 verdict which found that Callaway Golf's golf ball patents were valid and infringed by Acushnet's Titleist Pro V1 family of golf balls.
"Callaway Golf has invested millions of dollars in Research and Development to create innovative products for millions of golfers around the world, and has protected those products with one of the broadest patent portfolios in golf," said Steve McCracken, Senior Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer, Callaway Golf. "We are very pleased with today's decision which will stop the sale of these infringing Pro V1 golf balls."

That should potentially create a good sale on these balls right after Christmas.  Note that the "non-violating" version (according to Titelist) have red or black dot stickers on box) but Callaway is pushing to halt the entire line.

It is amazing (like many other areas) the number of patents issued on golf balls.  Acushent claims over 650 active patents.  In the suit brought by Callaway there are 4 patents that it acquired when it bought Spalding that they say the Pro-V1 violates, and which Acushnet says are invalid or were issued after development of the Pro-V1 and their own patents.  They claim that the US Patent office announced that the patents were invalid.  What is patented in a golf ball?  Basically everything dealing with the composition, dimple design, etc. Callaway lists the patents for each of its balls (and any other equipment on their site) including this one for the ball core.  All this is really certain to do it to yet again push the price of balls higher.  So, if they aren't paying you to play them, watch closely for deals.