Now official Alfa back in F1 after 30 years.

Andyk

Member
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61,005
From what Ive seen that record will be beaten by the production Project 8 ....See no reason why it shouldn't Mick...But then it is 150k and a very limited run of cars in LHD....Still it's looks the business.
 

outrun

Member
Messages
5,017
Does anyone really car about 'Ring records? I've been there a couple of times and done several laps, it's not a real world example of what makes something quick, it's a crappy, long, badly surfaced, old track where production cars are often comprehensively beaten by a local in a Golf Gti with a roll cage in it. For me, it means absolutely nothing and would have no influence in my decision to choose a particular car. Just wondering if that's just me or if others think the same?

I got overtaken in my 993 turbo by a CLK Merc that made me look like I was standing still.

Found out when we got back to the car park that it was a CLK Black Series and the driver was some old geezer called Walter Rohrl.
 

Andyk

Member
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61,005
Suppose it's just a measure like 0 - 62 which doesn't really mean show the whole picture...but the industry has to have some kind of measure and they seem to like this ring record being theirs......
 

MrMickS

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3,945
From what Ive seen that record will be beaten by the production Project 8 ....See no reason why it shouldn't Mick...But then it is 150k and a very limited run of cars in LHD....Still it's looks the business.

A 300 run car is a homologation run not a production car. I reckon the Project 8 will get shuffled off into a different category based on that. Don't really care about it but some people seem to.


Anyway back to Alfa Romeo in F1. Still no second driver announcement, but that's probably not going to come until after the tyre tests. Then its whether they want to keep Marcus Ericsson or put Antonio Giovinazzi in the second car and run with two rookie drivers. If they are going down the Toro Rosso racing route you'd favour the latter.
 
G

Guest 1678

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Finally, as Andy brought it up, I think Jaguar are pushing it with claiming the ring record. That isn't a production car its a homologation special. If the record stands though it could be interesting to see what the response is from Alfa Romeo. An upgraded QV perhaps?

I thought they had left Verde off the Quadrifoglio nomenclature to allow an even more focused version. I can imagine a BMW CSL style car with 100kg less and 575 Bhp. That should get the 11 seconds back.
 

agooner

Junior Member
Messages
103
Interesting Fiats Lexus.
Thing is Toyota executed the Lexus really well right from the beginning with a quality car and pretty bullet proof.

After having my Lexus hybrid for 8 years and done almost 120,000 mls in it, I can agree with the above. No issues in all that time except for a holding charge battery issue (came with the 3 yrs old car) and the known but unresolved multi-CD player problem.
 

jasst

Member
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2,313
I'm sure I heard somewhere that Sauber will be having the Honda power plant next year, yeah the one that was so good in the McLaren !!
 

Andyk

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61,005
There seems to be done kind of input by Ferrari so perhaps that Ferrari unit will stay....I take it they still have Ferrari engines.
 

MrMickS

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3,945
I'm sure I heard somewhere that Sauber will be having the Honda power plant next year, yeah the one that was so good in the McLaren !!

No. Toro Rosso are going with the Honda power plant. If they can sort out the issues expect to see it in the Red Bull cars going forward.

Part of the AR/Sauber deal is that Sauber will get the 2018 Ferrari engine labelled as an Alfa Romeo engine.
 

jasst

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2,313
Thanks Mick, knew it was one of the lesser teams, all I can say is good luck Toro Rosso, your going to kneed it!
 

MrMickS

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3,945
Thanks Mick, knew it was one of the lesser teams, all I can say is good luck Toro Rosso, your going to kneed it!

Its actually a canny ploy by RedBull. TR is there to develop drivers so seeing what they can do with an engine with less power might be good information for the team. If Honda can get it right, after the complete rethink at the start of the 2017 season, it will give RedBull a shot at a new engine before the rules change and they have the potential of an AM one. Interesting politics in F1 as always.
 

conaero

Forum Owner
Messages
34,582
I feel you will see the Honda engine come on next season. In the TR they will be able to run it at the lower power to match their chassis and drivers.

In the McLaren its been better in the last quarter of the season.

The word is that the reason its failing was due to vibration at full power which basically shakes the thing till it blows and adds too much stress to the other components. If they can get over that it will be a descent unit but yes, its been a total waste of time in the Macca and the work is the Macca chassis is brilliant so with Renault power expect to see them a regular on the front 3 rows of the grid.

Renault have an uncanny knack of winning throughout history with their engines then withdraw when there is nothing further to prove. I see this as making F1 potentially very exciting over the next few seasons and there will be 3 engines all capable or winning races.
 

zagatoes30

Member
Messages
20,704
Red Bull certainly have a plan to try and develop the Honda engine in the TR so that the have an alternative engine if and when Renault pull out or indeed if the Honda engine comes on form. Having a back up team to run / test it in is a perfect idea one that other teams are discussing - there is talk of Mercedes creating a junior team for there up and coming drivers and now that Ferrari have something similar with the Sauber / Alfa team I can see it happening sooner rather than later.
 

MrMickS

Member
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3,945
So will there be Ferrari engineers in the Haas pits wearing Maserati shirts in the same way there will be Ferrari engineers in the Sauber pit wearing Alfa shirts?

Kind of scuppers the cheaper engines thing really.
 

bigbob

Member
Messages
8,951
It's cheap advertising for both Alfa and Maserati so should help perceived brand value and unit sales. However, it sound like it will be very different for the teams than having a watch brand sponsorship; i.e. its money exchange rather than knowledge exchange.