Conference oass::racers

So what do we have to look forward to in terms of teams for the 1992 season?
From what I've seen so far, the teams look to be:

Ferrari/Ferrari V12
Williams/Renault V10
McLaren/Honda V12
Ligier/Renault V10
March (nee Leyton House)/Ilmor V10
Tyrrell/Ilmor V10
Larousse:  Fomet/Lamborghini V12
Scuderia Italia:  Dallara/Ferrari V12
Minardi/??engine
Jordan/Yamaha V12
Benetton/Ford V8:

Of last year's teams, that leaves:

Lotus
Brabham
Coloni
Lamborghini
Footwork

unaccounted for, AGS having folded and Fondmetal having turned into the chassis
supplier for Team Larousse.

Can anybody out there help fill in the blanks, or add the driver line-ups?

--PSW

    
      As usuall at this time of the year rumors abound. Here are a couple
    that I have read recently.
    
        Alain Prost looks like he will take the testing trail in 92. 
    February 5 was the last day for Prost to sign a contract if he wanted
    to appear in South Africa, March 1.
        It would seem that Prost will work with the Ligier team this year
    only to resurface as a driver for either Williams or McLaren or Ligier
    in 93. Scuttlebutt around the garages is that McLaren and Williams 
    offered him BIG BUCKS to stay out of the 92 season and then come back
    in 93. ( My question is why? The guy is dried up ! )
        Another rumor has it that Mercedes put its plan to enter F1 on hold
    for a couple of seasons. In doing so they will release Harvey
    Postewaite (who will return to Ferrari) and Michael Schumacher will
    head back to Benetton to join Martin Brundle.( That gives Benetton an
    explosive team,in my opinion : 2 very hungry drivers ).
       
        Ferrari announced it has come to an agreement with Nikki Lauda
    to serve as a consultant to the team.
    
       Stay tuned.........
                                                      Bruno.
    

.2> It would seem that Prost will work with the Ligier team this year
.2> only to resurface as a driver {...} in 93. 
.2> Scuttlebutt around the garages is that McLaren and Williams 
.2> offered him BIG BUCKS to stay out of the 92 season and then come back
.2> in 93. ( My question is why? The guy is dried up ! )
    
    Well, if that scuttlebutt is true, Ron Dennis and Frank Williams have 
    a different opinion and the money and willingness to back it up.
    
    Personally, I tend to agree with them, Prost showed his same same
    ability and desire, except he was saddled with the handicap of driving
    for the most consistently disappointing F1 team in history.  Think about
    it, what other F1 team consistently shows the promise of Ferrari, and
    just as consistently disappoints? 
    
    I'm certainly expecting that to generate flames from the Tifiosi :-)

    There was a report in this morning's VOGON news that Ligier has signed
    Eric Comas and Thierry Boutsen as drivers for this season. No word on
    where Prost will land.
    
    Hmm.. makes the Jordan rumor even more interesting. Isn't Jordan using
    Yamaha power this year? Wouldn't Yamaha like a good shot at Honda????

RE: .4

Jordan have announced their drivers for the start of the 1992 season:
Stefano Modena and Mauricio Gugelmin.  Prost is out of it for the time being,
but since FISA rules allow teams to do two driver substitutions during the
season, he could come back in later on.


RE: .2

CEEFAX reports that Sauber have announced their intention to enter a
Harvey-Postlewaite-designed, Ilmor-V10-powered F1 car for the 1993 season.
The drivers are to be Michael Schumacher and Karl Wendlinger, both of whom are
under contract to Sauber.  It looks like there may be a fight brewing over
Schumacher's contract because Benetton are contending that Schumacher was under
contract only to drive a Mercedes works-team F1, not for Sauber, while Mercedes
and Sauber are claiming that Schumacher's contract was with Sauber and not
Mercedes.  This is getting to be like a soap opera:  "Days of Our Drives",
anyone?


The lineup so far:

McLaren, McLaren-Honda V12	     Ayrton Senna	Gerhard Berger
Tyrrell, Tyrrell-Ilmor V10	     Olivier Grouillard	??
Williams, Williams-Renault V10	     Nigel Mansell	Riccardo Patrese
Middlebridge, Brabham-Judd V10	     Eric van de Poele	Giovanna Amati
Footwork, Footwork-Honda V10	     Michele Alboreto	Aguri Suzuki
Lotus, Lotus-Ford HB V8		     Mika Hakkinen	Johnny Herbert
Fondmetal, Fomet-Ford HB V8	     Gabriele Tarquini	??
March, March-Ilmor V10		     Paul Belmondo	Karl Wendlinger
Benetton, Benetton-Ford V12	     Martin Brundle	Michael Schumacher
Scuderia Italia, Dallara-Ferrari V12 Pierluigi Martini	J. J. Lehto
Minardi, Minardi-Lamborghini V12     Gianni Morbidelli	Christian Fittipaldi
Ligier, Ligier-Renault V10	     Theirry Boutsen	Erik Comas
Ferrari, Ferrari-Ferrari V12	     Ivan Capelli	Jean Alesi
Larousse, Venturi-Lamborghini V12    Bertrand Gachot	??
Jordan, Jordan-Yamaha		     Stefano Modena	Mauricio Gugelmin
Andrea Moda, Coloni-Judd V10	     Alex Caffi		?? 

    2nd drivers:
    
    	Tyrell		Grouillard/Alessandro Zanardi
    	Fondmetal	Chiesa/Gabrielle Tarquini
    	Venturi		Gachot/Ukyo Kayayama
    	Andrea Moda	Caffi/Enrico Bertaggia
    
    Who are these guys??
    

    RE .6 "Who are these guys?"
    
    	..and gals!! Don't forget Giovanna! These are guys - and gals -
    with pots of money and potential talent as disctinct from guys like
    Warwick and Blundell (to name but two ex-F1 drivers) who have proved
    their talent but don't bring in megabucks. Sad, isn't it?
    
    Colin

    Well, its less than 2 weeks until the start of the new season and there
    is no chatter in this note.  Is everyone reading CARS_UK?  I have heard
    that the South African track is new to F1.  Is this true?  Has anyone
    seen the pictures of the new Ferrari car?  Autoweek did not have it
    this week.  Sounds like the Williams team has been doing a lot of
    testing in the off-season.  Are they the car to beat?  Where has
    McLaren been doing its testing?  In Japan?  Any spy news about their
    results?  How has Jordan been doing in testing with the Yamaha engine?  
    
    Less than two weeks......
    
    Anyone heard a broadcast time on ESPN?
    
    Jeff

    � no chatter in this note.  Is everyone reading CARS_UK?  
    
    You gotta go where the action is! :^)
    
    Mark
    

    	So what's your prediction? A noter in cars_uk decided Kyalami would
    be a McLaren benefit (guess the order!) with the Williams' suspension 
    failing!
    
    	I'm going for a Williams win ; may as well start out
    optimistically!
    
    Colin

    I'm looking to form my opinion.  It was mentioned that the SA track is
    new to F1.  Does it favor a car quick on transition or one quick on
    long sweeping bends?  There use to be the "power vs. handling" circuit
    way to define tracks.  McLaren came along and did both well.  Colin
    seems to favor the underdog Williams, but I keep looking for the next
    rising team.  Will this be Jordan's turn?  Will Ligier get their act
    together?  I am trying to divise a scoring scheme where betting on the
    long-shots will be rewarded if they come through.  A couple of us here
    in Shrewsbury have a running challenge on picking the finishers.  Pick
    the top six.  For every driver you correctly pick in the top 6, you get
    a point.  For every driver you also put in the correct position, you
    get another point.  There a bonus points for the first retirement and
    the first crash (involving at least 2 cars).  But you could score
    points by just repeating Senna, Mansell, Patrese, Berger, Prost, etc. 
    Thinking of doing double or triple points if the driver is not in the
    current top 6 in points.  Or something to that effect.  Any thoughts?
    
    Jeff
    
    (Phil and Bruce, are you reading?)
    

If anyone uses DECdecision (or even Rdb) and would like a database of
past F1 winners, poles and fastest laps, send me mail and I'll make the
table available for you.

Dave

The Kyalami circuit isn't exactly new to F1.  F1 was racing there in the '60s
and '70s, before the world-wide boycott on South African sports went into
effect.  I would imagine that the circuit had major revisions to bring it up
to current F1 safety standards, though.

Slightly off the F1 subject, it was announced this week that Piquet will drive
for Team Menard in the Indy 500.  Given that he will have a Buick engine,
I think his chances of winning are nil.  Anybody know anything about Menard?
Do they have a '92 model car?


--PSW

    Since CARS-UK seems to be the place to be for catching up on what's
    going on re: F1, could someone post the note #.
    
    Thanks,
    	
    Barb
    

    the f1 note in CARS_UK is 1557
    

    Anyone know what time it will be on ESPN? I not going to be home on the
    29th and want to set up the vcr.
    
    Thanks,

    Just called ESPN - they're televising the GP Sunday night, March 1, at
    9pm EST.  Unfortunately I didn't ask if it was live or memorex
    
    	Barb
    

9 PM EST means it will be taped coverage, not live.  EST is 5 hours behind
GMT and 6 hours behind European time.  If the race starts at 1 PM local time,
one would therefore expect a live broadcast to be at 7 AM EST.

--PSW

from rec.autos.sport:
---------------------
From: [email protected] (Joe Murphy)
Subject: F1 Kyalami Pre-Practice #2
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 1992 23:12:39 GMT
 
Championship Rd.1 South African Grand Prix at Kyalami: (4.26km)
 P No. Driver------------------------------------ Best-LapT ---Behind -Km/h--
 1   5 Nigel Mansell      (GB)  Williams Renault   1'17.107           198.892
 2   2 Gerhard Berger     (A)   McLaren Honda      1'18.660     1.553 194.966
 3   1 Ayrton Senna       (BR)  McLaren Honda      1'19.007     1.900 194.109
 4   6 Riccardo Patrese   (I)   Williams Renault   1'19.691     2.584 192.443
 5  27 Jean Alesi         (F)   Ferrari            1'19.743     2.636 192.318
 6  19 Michael Schumacher (D)   Benetton Ford-HB   1'19.807     2.700 192.164
 7  28 Ivan Capelli       (I)   Ferrari            1'20.502     3.395 190.505
 8  20 Martin Brundle     (GB)  Benetton Ford-HB   1'20.568     3.461 190.349
 9   4 Andrea de Cesaris  (I)   Tyrrell Ilmor      1'21.050     3.943 189.217
10  12 Johnny Herbert     (GB)  Lotus Ford-HB      1'21.342     4.235 188.537
11  24 Gianni Morbidelli  (I)   Minardi Lamborgh.  1'21.386     4.279 188.435
12  25 Thierry Boutsen    (B)   Ligier Renault     1'21.587     4.480 187.971
13  16 Karl Wendlinger    (A)   March Ilmor        1'21.734     4.627 187.633
14  10 Aguri Suzuki       (J)   Footwork  Honda    1'21.940     4.833 187.161
15  11 Mika Hakkinen      (SF)  Lotus Ford-HB      1'21.949     4.842 187.141
16  23 Christian Fittipaldi(BR)Minardi Lamborgh.   1'22.110     5.003 186.774
17  26 Erik Comas         (F)   Ligier Renault     1'22.389     5.282 186.141
18   9 Michele Alboreto   (I)   Footwork Honda     1'22.399     5.292 186.119
19  32 Stefano Modena     (I)   Jordan Yamaha      1'22.434     5.327 186.040
20   3 Olivier Grouillard (F)   Tyrrell Ilmor      1'22.686     5.579 185.473
21  33 Mauricio Gugelmin  (B)   Jordan Yamaha      1'22.808     5.701 185.199
22  21 J.J. Lehto         (SF)  Dallara Ferrari    1'23.134     6.027 184.473
23  29 Bertrand Gachot    (B)   Larrousse Lambor.  1'24.015     6.908 182.539
24  15 Gabriele Tarquini  (I)   Fondmetal Ford     1'24.049     6.942 182.465
25  30 Ukyo Katayama      (J)   Larrousse Lambor.  1'24.497     7.390 181.498
26   7 Eric Van de Poele  (B)   Brabham Judd       1'25.045     7.938 180.328
27  14 Andrea Chiesa      (CH)  Fondmetal Ford     1'25.068     7.961 180.279
28  17 Paul Belmondo      (F)   March Ilmor        1'26.428     9.321 177.442
29  22 Pierluigi Martini  (I)   Dallara Ferrari    1'26.920     9.813 176.438
30   8 Giovanna Amati     (I)   Brabham Judd       1'28.937    11.830 172.437
31  34 Alex Caffi         (I)   Andrea Moda Judd  55'03.034 53'45.927   4.643
32  35 Enrico Bertaggia   (I)   Andrea Moda Judd     No Time

Thanks for the news on SA.  It appears that Williams are coming out very strong
at the start of the year.  Is everyone but Nigel just cruising, getting 
familiar with the circuit?

Jeff

Sunday's grid (top 10):

	1. Mansell
			2. senna
	3. Berger
			4. Patrese
	5. Alesi
			6. Schumacher
	7. Wendlinger
			8. Brundle
	9. Capelli
			10. DeCesaris

Mansell finished qualifying in the spare car after depositing his primary car 
in the sand trap. 

Does anybody have the finishing order for Monaco? I know that the
top end was-

Senna
Mansell
Patrese
Schumacher

I didn't hear what happened to Berger, Alesi...

Glenn

Senna
Mansell
Patrese
Schumacher
Brundle
Gachot

(other finishers in no particular order):
Alboreto
Comas
Lehto
Fittipaldi
Boutsen
Suzuki

Mechanical retirements:
Berger (gearbox)
Alesi (gearbox)
de Cesaris
Wendlinger
Grouillard
Moreno

Accidents (all single car as far as I can tell):
Capelli
Herbert (107)
Hakkinen (102D)


Mansell now leads with 56 points, Patrese has 28, Schumacher with 20 and Senna
at 18.

Williams has 84 to McLaren's 26 and Benetton's 25.

McLaren is getting very close to Ferrari's 98 wins as a make, they have
95 now (Lotus has 79 and Williams has 56).

Dave

 5. Brundle
 6. Gachot
 7. Alboreto
 8. Fittipaldi
 9. Lehto
10. Comas
11. Suzuki
12. Boutsen

>>12. Boutsen

Boy, it's depressing to see someone I think has real talent stuck in a 
car that's worthless.

A few observations of this past weekend in Montreal, as observed from the 
tip of Turn 10 (the hairpin):

	Friday:
	------

At the 8:00 a.m. session, the cars did quite a job vacuuming the dust off 
the track...by the 1:00 p.m. Friday qualifying session, the track was 
clean.

The 10:00 a.m. session on Friday was as rowdy a session of F1 practice as
I've yet seen.  Morbidelli started it off by charging past another car and,
in his attempt to swerve back to the outside line for the 180, lost control
and sheared off the left-front suspension against the Armco.  This left his
car about 10 feet past where folks would turn into the corner...not good. 
He was apparently unharmed, and grabbed his seat to rejoin the session in
his back-up machine. 

During the same session, Mansell got caught in a bit of traffic and looped
it.  He did a good job to keep the engine fired, and then did a couple of
smoky burnouts to get the car oriented correctly, *just* missing the
barrier with his wing. 

There were several corner-workers who had no appreciation for how much
peril they were in.  One in particular, a long-haired yahoo in cowboy boots, 
*casually* walked all the way across the outside of the corner to get to
Morbidelli's car.  While practice continued, he fussed with the vehicle
with his back to traffic.  After accomplishing nothing to better the 
situation, he casually returned from where he came.  Minutes later, a
smallish bucket loader, specially rigged to retrieve vehicles, was
dispatched.  The Cowboy *rode on the outside of the loader, exposed to the
practice traffic*!  After the car was hooked up, he rode the *outside of
the car*!  Truly a death wish... 


	Saturday:
	--------

I awoke to gray skies and rain.  The 10:00 a.m. session started in the wet,
and then a medium-light rain.  That didn't last long, and before the
1.5-hour session was over, the track was dry and Mansell had set an
unofficial record of about 1:19.6xx.  That would be the only rain of the
weekend. 

During one of the Saturday sessions, Capelli's Ferrari was left disabled,
and Alesi parked his car at 10 (and hustled back to the pits to get into
the back-up).  My friends, knowing that I like the Ferraris, got a good long
laugh when, just as Alesi's car was being hoisted by the tow-truck, 
Capelli's car came by on the hook.  It was quite a scene, the two cars 
oriented exactly the same, the pair of tow-trucks driving off together...
One of my (alleged) friends has promised me a picture.  I can hardly wait.

One of the track safety cars managed to find it's way into a gravel trap, 
and that caused a 15-minute red-flag of the Saturday qualifying session.

Believe it or not, I hadn't seen *any* Brazilian flags on Friday, and saw 
very few on Saturday.  Surprising...in years past you'd have thought you 
were in Brazil.  Loads of Union Jacks, though...


	Sunday:
	------

The morning weather was exceptionally nice.  The 9:30 warm-up went off 
without apparent incident.

Before the race, there was a tribute to Gilles Villeneuve.  One of his 
Ferraris was there and, though he was before my time, it was thrilling to 
see.  The crowd was *very* quiet throughout the ceremony.

The island was infested with NSX's and all flavors of Ferraris.  I didn't 
see any groundhogs, however... ;^) .  The Hot Babe (tm) quotient was pretty 
high. 8^P 

The race...

If you saw the broadcast, you know it was as tight a pack as we've seen in 
a while.  The Lotuses were quite impressive, clearly more than a match for the 
Ferraris.  The Lotus cars had no trouble maintaining contact with the lead 
pack, while Alesi slid slowly back, Capelli fading further.

I fully expected that sooner or later Mansell would get the drive on Senna 
going into 10 and pass him, but he never did.  A pity...One got the 
impression that he would have slowly pulled away.

The Venturi-Larrousse drivers got the D-U-M dumb-move-of-the-weekend award. 
That touch was...was...just plain dumb!

There was a BIG cheer from the crowd when Senna's car failed.  He is not 
well liked.

One of the Venturi-Larrousse drivers (I've forgotten which one) benefited 
from the rule that allows a car to be pushed out of a dangerous area.  He 
had gently spun without hitting the barrier, but lost his fire.  The 
corner-workers came out to push him to a safer area and he was able to 
re-start.

Alesi had a real workman-like race.  In the initial part of the event he 
settled into 9th place, and slowly lost touch with the McLaren/Williams/
Benetton/Lotus(!) train.  He didn't pass anybody for position, yet finished 
3rd.

Wendlinger, DeCesaris and Comas had nice drives.  Alboreto was short-
shifting 3rd-to-4th from very early on, though I don't know why.  I think he
broke a header pipe later. 

Christian Fittipaldi displayed a precise alternative line through the 
hairpin.  He was the only driver putting his inside wheel fully up on top of 
the curb.

Throughout the weekend I noticed that the Williams/Renaults were misfiring 
slightly upon hard acceleration out of 10.  It was explained to me today 
that that is how their traction-control device works, by shutting down one
cylinder or more when excess wheelspin is detected.

A good time indeed...
							Mike

(posted to CARS_UK and RACERS)

    Nice report Mike.
    
    
    
    TMW...Jim

     Well Mansell continued his surge towards the drivers championship this
    weekend by winning the British GP. I didn't actually see it but the
    results that I heard were as follows:
    
    1. Nigel Mansell
    2. Ricardo Patrese
    3. ???
    4. Michael Schumacher.
    
    Quite an impressive season for the Williams/Renault team. I think (if
    my calculations are right) that they now have 116 points in the
    constructors championship. Anyone know whether this still a record
    season for a F1 driver ?? I know that winning the first five GP's had
    never been done before, but winning 7 and gaining a second place all
    within the first nine, is pretty damn impressive !!! Anybody able to
    supply times from yesterday and perhaps upto date tables ??
    
    
    Keith. 

    
    
    Result was :
    
    
      1.	Mansell 
      1.	Patrese
      3.	Brundle
      4.	Schumacher
      5.        Berger
      6.        Hakkinan
    
    	Schumacher passes Berger for fourth almost on the line as bergers
    	engine let go. Brundle had a fight with Senna all race long. Brundle
    	got passed by senna , he had been held up by Damon Hill , but very
    soon after senna stopped with a broken gearbox. A totally boring race
    at the front. Patrese got a better start than Mansell , but mansell
    took patrese after copse, never saw him again. Mansell got a 40 seconds
    ish lead , took a very leasurely pitstop for tyres, the closest Patrese
    got to mansell was at the beginning of the race. Patrese was in
    Brundles sights for a long time , but eventually left them behind.
    
    Garry 

RE: .30

Actually, Mansell didn't "take Patrese after Copse".  Patrese waved
him through.  This brought up the whole question about whether there
are team orders at Williams again.  Frank Williams says that there
are no team orders except not to drive so as to jeopardize one's
teammate (i.e., no kamikaze tactics that might take the teammate out
of the race) and the team's position.  Consensus seems to be that
Patrese knew that Mansell would get by eventually, and might well
try a stupid move in an attempt to get by (as happened with Senna at
Canada), and so, in keeping with the team orders to avoid dangerous
situations, waved him through.  Certainly Mansell took off fast enough
once he got by Patrese, although Riccardo had no trouble staying ahead
of him before the red flag.

--PSW

    
    
    re .31 
    
    	Are you sure thats the same race. There was no red flag at
    Silverstone. The race ran end to end without stop. Now Magny Cour is
    a different story.
    
    Garry

According to a noter in CARS_UK (specifically, Note 1557.1202 by IOSG::FREER),
Ayrton Senna has signed for next year with...



	Ferrari!

RE: .32

Oops.  My mistake.  I was thinking about Magny Cours.  I was out of
town for a week and watched the videotapes of the French and
British GPs one after the other.

--PSW

    re .33
    
    I read today in a British newspaper bought here in Germany that,
    Ferrari are after Senna he apparently has not signed yet but the offer
    went onto the table at $25 million (16 million � ST) for one season !!!
    Ridiculous !!! In the same article it also said that Ferrari are trying
    to tempt Mansell back to them. Perhaps the only way Mansell will go is
    if Williams really do sign Prost, but so far Mansell has said that he
    will be staying with Williams...
    
    Keith.

    	Well, I didn't expect to be the person to break the news,
    	but a big congratulations to the new World Driving Champion,
    	Nigel Mansell.
    
    	He deserved it.
    
    	Scott

    It's about time Nigel won the championship!!!
    
    What about the rumors that Prost told some reporter that Senna had some
    strange sexual preferences??? They said that Prost never said anything
    like that and will help Senna in any lawsuit.
    
    They never _did_ say what the preferences were.....
    
    jim e

Schumacher (!)
Mansell
Patrese
Brundle
Senna
Hakkinen

Williams-Renault have clinched the makes title as well.


Dave

    Is this Benetton's 1st-ever F1 victory?

    No.  Benetton has previously won in Mexico (Berger w/BMW turbo), Japan
    (Nannini w/Ford), Australia (Piquet w/ Ford), and Montreal (Picquet w/
    Ford).
    
    Bjorn.

1986 Mexico	Berger (BMW) First win for Gerhard
1989 Suzuka	Nannini (Ford) First (and last) win for Nannini
1990 Suzuka	Piquet (Ford)
1990 Adalaide	Piquet (Ford)
1991 Montreal	Piquet (Ford) Last win for Piquet
1992 Spa	Schumacher (Ford) First win for Michael

Dave

    Dave,
    
    I forgot about 1990 in Japan.  That's where Senna crashed Prost at the
    first turn to "win" the title and Mansell broke his Ferrari on his pit
    stop to leave the race to Piquet.  Moreno was second, if I recall.
    
    Bjorn.

    musta been brain-fade. After reading the replies, I remembered 3 of 'em
    anyway...
    
    thanks

re .42

Correct about the race.  That has also been Benetton's
only 1-2 finish.

Dave

      It is Schumacher's first though, and on his 1 year anneversary
    in F1. Is this the quickest win for a rookie? Just wondering and
    have no reference material at work.
    
      Hey Dave! Have you got the 1/12 MP4/6 yet? It's gorgeous!
    
    KC

    re: .45
    
    Dave will know this, but Giancarlo Baghetti won the 1961 French GP at
    Reims in his first GP.  He was driving the fourth and sole remaining 
    Ferrari.  He beat the Porsches of Bonnier and Gurney
    for the win.
    
    Bjorn.

I just did a quick check and the following drivers all won their first GP
within 1 full season of their first race:

Guiseppe Farina		1st race (first race of the WDC)
Giancarlo Baghetti	1st race (as noted by Bjorn)
Juan Manual Fangio	2nd race
Emerson Fittipaldi	4th race
Bruce McLaren		somewhere between his 4th and 8th race - my records for
			that year are not complete yet
Clay Regazzoni		5th race
Jackie Stewart		7th race
Jacy Ickx		7th race
Michael Schumacher	18th race

Of course, the length of the season has gotten longer, so the number of
drivers who have had their first win within their first 18 races
will be much higher, but I don't feel like figuring that out right now....

Dave

1-Senna
2-Brundle
3-Schumacher
4-Berger
5-Patrese
6-de Cesaris
  Alboreto
  Martini
  Katayama
  Wendlinger

Dave

And JJ Lehto in 11th place.

--PSW

Yeah, but he pulled over with a few laps to go.  I guess I still rate finishers
like they do in rallying - if you don't cross the finish line, you don't finish.

Officially Lehto was listed in 11th place though, 6 laps back.

Dave

Are you sure about that?  The info I saw (on Clarinet) had Lehto completing 50 
of the 53 laps.

--PSW

come to think of it, all I have on tape of the Monza race is the last
5 laps and they do show JJ parking the car, so it probably is the 3
laps you saw.

Dave

In that case, he would have been scored as "classified, not running at finish." 
F1 rules state that you must have completed 90% of the race laps to be 
classified.  It's thus possible both to be classified but not running at the 
finish, and to be running at the finish but not classified.  Since Monza is 53 
laps, had a driver been 6 or more laps down, they would have not been 
classified even if running.

--PSW

Can someone in the Nashua area tape the Portugal GP this
Monday night for me?  I'll be somewhere in Northern VA, WV, MD
or southern PA on I-81 during the race and the Jetta doesn't
have a sat. dish on the roof.

Thanks
Dave

    Dave, consider it taped.  Was gonna have to do it anyway.
    
    Barb
    
    PS -- How far are you and Diane from Atlanta Int'l?  Peter Symonds and
    I are heading down for Petty's final race and had thought of camping. 
    Had a trial run at Limerock last weekend for the "back of the pickup"
    bit -- we didnt' do well (sleeping that is).  He won the NARRC
    championship in EP however.
    

Thanks for taping it.  The flip side is that I'll also need someplace to 
watch it!  I'm sure we can arrange something.

We live about 40-45 minutes north of the airport (on a clear shot I've made
it in 35 minutes, but during rush hour plan on a week.)  The raceway is south
of the airport.  When is the race?

Dave

    To watch the GP, and you're in Nashua, you're more than welcome to
    watch it at my place.  We live off Route 101A close to the Merrimack
    line.  I guess I misunderstood - thought you were looking for someone
    to tape it and then mail it down to you.
    
    Petty's race is 11/15.  We'll probably do the truck Saturday night
    11/14 (I think Peter ought to be "introduced" to some Southern Stock
    Car fans!!!).  Still need to think about it, but it may be an option if
    you wouldn't mind

I'll be in Nashua from Sept 29 through Nov 10 on training so I'll call you
sometime next week after I get up there.

I will be back in GA when you want to come down for the race, so we can discuss
that too.

Dave

ps - The Mt Philo hillclimb and COM events are on the same weekend, so I'm going
to the hillclimb, but I will be at the BMW school on the 16th at NHIS.

Way back in note 902.27, in my spectator's race weekend report from
Montreal I wrote... 

>                          -< My view at Montreal... >-
>
>During one of the Saturday sessions, Capelli's Ferrari was left disabled,
>and Alesi parked his car at 10 (and hustled back to the pits to get into
>the back-up).  My friends, knowing that I like the Ferraris, got a good long
>laugh when, just as Alesi's car was being hoisted by the tow-truck, 
>Capelli's car came by on the hook.  It was quite a scene, the two cars 
>oriented exactly the same, the pair of tow-trucks driving off together...
>One of my (alleged) friends has promised me a picture.  I can hardly wait.

If you'd like to see _exactly_ what I was referring to, find a copy of the 
December 21, 1992 AutoWeek.  At the top of page 32, there is a picture 
subtitled "Two on the hook at Montreal.  It was that sort of season as 
Ferrari struggled to reclaim past glories."

I could just gag...
							Mike

Has R&T published their review of the '92 F1 season yet?  If they
have, which issue?

Thanks
Dave

    They just got to Adelaide in the current issue.
    
    Chuck

From: [email protected] (HUGO COYA)
Subject: Senna to participate in South African Gran Prix
Date: Mon, 8 Mar 93 11:12:18 PST
 
	RIO DE JANEIRO (UPI) -- Three-time Formula One champion Ayrton Senna
confirmed Monday he would race in the South African Gran Prix, the first
world championship race on the 1993 circuit.
	Senna, 32, told the Brazilian television network Globo he would
compete on the British McLaren squad with Finnish pilot Mika Hakkinen in
the season's first Gran Prix race, slated to take place in the South
African city of Kyalami next weekend.
	``After a long period of uncertainty and several attempts at
negotiations, we have reached a decision: that I am going to participate
in the South African Gran Prix,'' Senna said after completing time
trials in his new McLaren MP4/8A auto in Silverstone, England.
	The Brazilian racing star warned his agreeing to compete in South
Africa did not necessarily mean he would race in the other 15 contests
of the 1993 circuit.
	``The objective is to have a real chance to see what this car can
give all of us, and also it could be the first step toward an agreement
that could be extended for the whole 1993 season,'' Senna told the
Brazilian television network.
	Senna's announcement ended months of speculation that the Brazilian
planned to retire from the Formula One racing circuit and become the
sport's second major star to do so in less than a year. At the end of
the last season, 1992 champion Nigel Mansell of England left Formula One
racing to join the U.S. stock car circuit of the Indy 500.
	Senna, world champion in 1988, 1990 and 1991, had earlier warned he
would not compete this year unless the McLaren team had an auto that
could stand up against the Williams team, their Formula One rivals.
	After four years of domination by McLaren, the two-member Williams
squad surged far ahead of its rivals last year with the help of a new
suspension system and an expirimental fuel.
	Mansell easily won the championship and his teammate, Italiano
Riccardo Patrese, came in second place. Senna ended the season in fourth
place, followed by his teammate, Austrian Gerhard Berger.
	With Mansell's retirement, the Williams team this year contracted
British newcomer Damon Hill and Senna's French archrival, Alain Prost,
world champion in 1985, 1986 and 1989.
	Sports analysts say Senna is the only pilot with a shot at keeping
Prost from a fourth world championship this year. Senna in trials last
week in Silverstone beat times set on the track by the Williams autos.

[crossposted to CARS_UK and RACERS]

    So . . . it appears Mr. Andretti is out?
    

RE: .62, .63

No, Mika Hakkinen is out.  UPI got it wrong (just like they got IndyCar 
wrong--stock car series, indeed!).  Michael Andretti's contract with McLaren 
specifies that he is to be McLaren's second driver for the entire GP season. So 
in races where Senna is #1 driver, Mika Hakkinen is the one who loses the 
drive.

--PSW

I caught this on Late Night with David Letterman towards the end of 
last season (only just now got around to entering it), thought some 
of you might enjoy it. 



		Top Ten Enjoyable Things 
		      about ESPN's 
		 Formula One Coverage


10.  Getting up at dawn to watch coverage of european races 
     makes weekend seem really long.

 9.  Just crazy about new pit lane reporter, Robin Leach.

 8.  Own life gains perspective knowing Bertrand Gachot has
     done time.

 7.  Never tire of Craftsman commercial featuring A.J. Foyt
     tell us how much he loves wrenches.

 6.  Staying up until midnight Sunday to watch tape-delayed 
     coverage of Japanese and Australian races makes for a
     long weekend.

 5.  Sight of garage door closing at speed of light as drivers
     are pursued for interviews good lesson for yongsters.

 4.  Never know when outbreak of legionairs' disease may enable 
     Andra deCesaris to finish in the points.

 3.  Entire family loves to imagine David Hobbs being strip-searched 
     at customs.

 2.  Still hoping for consensus on pronunciation of Ayrton Senna.

 1.  Just plain fun to say Mika Hakkinen.