WhackyWill

Alonso to Mercedes, Newey to Ferrari Ferrari is a hotbed of rumours at the scene of the Spanish Grand Prix. The first rumour was that Ross Brawn, the team's ultra-successful technical director during the Michael Schumacher years, could be on the way back to Maranello full-time following a recent visit during his retirement. But Luca di Montezemolo, the Ferrari team president who is stepping up his presence in the wake of boss Stefano Domenicali's exit, shook his head disapprovingly when asked on Friday about the Brawn speculation. "I am sure (Marco) Mattiacci will do a good job, even though he has just arrived," said the Italian, referring to Domenicali's inexperienced successor. "But I don't believe in a one-man show." Indeed, Montezemolo did little to quell the Brawn rumours when he suggested that Mattiacci was only selected to replace Domenicali because "there was no other alternatives". "To be honest I didn't have time to think of anybody else as I didn't want to leave an open position," he said in Barcelona. The Brawn rumour is not the only one swirling around the Circuit de Catalunya. France's L'Equipe reports that Fernando Alonso is looking for a way out of his 2016 Ferrari contract in order to join Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes next year. The publication cited "Spanish sources", but it may also have been fuelled by Toto Wolff's recent description of Alonso as a 2014 title contender and "race monster". "Absolute nonsense!" Mercedes chairman Niki Lauda rapidly fired when asked about the Alonso connection. "Both of our drivers, Nico (Rosberg) and Lewis, have long-term contracts and we will hold to them. We see no reason to replace either of our drivers," he is quoted by Sport Bild. Montezemolo, however, at least acknowledged that Alonso is currently frustrated. "When we give him a very competitive car again, he will be extremely happy," he said. "My problem is not my drivers, it is making the team competitive again," Spain's El Mundo quotes Montezemolo as saying. The third Ferrari rumour, meanwhile, is linking Red Bull's technical boss Adrian Newey - the highest paid and most highly rated engineer in F1 - with Maranello. The rumour has been repeated by numerous Italian sources including La Repubblica, but also the respected correspondent for Auto Motor und Sport, Michael Schmidt. "Newey is said to have received an offer," Schmidt said. "It would not be the first."

Here a drifting at The Arena Essex. A lot of tracks including Brands do drift courses. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ij6IdAn00mg

Check out this thread. http://www.350z-uk.com/topic/77756-japfest-castle-combe-10th-may-2014-updated/

WIll, you have made my cry. What the hell have we/the FIA done to F1 Play it through a speaker what a sound. Million times better than the DRONE we have now in F1...!

Lovely vid Grundy and it was dry.

Patients and a bigger torch. Make sure its in the hole as sometimes you can slide it down by the shield and you think its in the hole the dipstick on a DE 350z is cr*ap design...

I run mine at 32 psi because at 35 I bounce from pot hole to pot hole in London as CS said there is a sticker inside the door

Great photos all.

None...Not even a parking ticket... . Having said that now..I'll probably get one today.. :scare:

Did you watch on the BBC or Sky? Sky has much better audio broadcast quality, so the cars sound a billion times better. On Sky HD, Yes they sound better on Sky, but still an annoying DRONE just louder...

They were as cheap as chips, what a bargain.

Agree.... Also ,engine sound is horrible of these cars! Its just a boring "DRONE".. They are testing a new exhaust system this week with a larger outlet, it will depend on the results if they will adopt it for racing.

Search for this guy on YOuTube. Loads of great tutorials for spraying using plastidip http://www.matt-pack.co.uk/ Thanks Lexx, I'll give it a try.

Hamilton view on the race. It's fantastic to get my first win here after eight attempts and it's really difficult to put that feeling into words right now. We have our bosses from Mercedes-Benz here today and it's great for the team that we were able to give them a one-two finish. In all my career, I've never before had a car or a performance gap like this. Nico drove a fantastic race and I struggled to keep him behind, but I just managed it at the end. I had the same problems with the car this afternoon that I found yesterday in qualifying: I couldn't attack the corners properly because of snap oversteer and that's where Nico was catching me. I'm just so proud of this team: we are looking very strong and I'm enjoying every moment and every step of the way. There's still a long way to go this season, though, so we are staying humble, getting our heads down and working hard. I still have a bit more time to find from the car because it's very, very close with Nico, so I have to keep working on that. But it's a great feeling to be leading the championship.

Do you have to undercoat them first .

Lovely job. I want to Plastidip my sons Golf wheels, anybody know how hard wearing it is and will it be OK on wheels.

Welcome to the Land of Zed..

You need to get your coat as well GM...

Hamilton beats Rosberg after thrilling finale in Spain Lewis Hamilton took his fourth straight victory for Mercedes and moved into a three-point championship lead over team mate Nico Rosberg after resisting the German in a thrilling climax in Spain on Sunday. Just as it had in Bahrain, when the pair staged another spectacular duel, their fight developed into one of differing strategies. After Hamilton kept the lead in the first stints, Rosberg changed to the hard Pirelli tyres as Hamilton took another set of mediums. Rosberg really made the hards work for him, setting up the dramatic finale to the 66-lap race. Called in earlier than he wanted on the 43rd lap - and after staying out for one more than the team requested - Hamilton had to fight to the finish on a set of hards as Rosberg, who stopped on the 44th lap, went back to the faster mediums. Almost straight away Hamilton found himself struggling on the harder compound, and its tendency to grain more than the medium. A lead of 4.8s on the 46th lap was steadily reduced - it fell to 4.6s, 3.6s, 3.7s, 3.1s, 2.3s and 2.0s over the six ensuing laps before he found a better way to preserve his tyres and reopened it to 2.7s by the 54th lap. Rosberg was relentless in pursuit however, and charged once more. By the 56th lap Hamilton's lead was back down to 2.1s, then 1.8s, 1.4s and 0.9s, before Hamilton gained precious breathing space by opening it back up to 1.3s by the 60th. Still Rosberg kept coming, and down the gap came all over again. With three laps to go it was 0.9s, then 0.7s. They went into their final lap separated by only 0.6s, nose to tail, with everything to play for and Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari to lap as they sped into Turn 1. Hamilton got by the red car before the corner, but so did Rosberg. Through Turn 1 Hamilton kept it together, then through Turn 3, and gradually Rosberg's hopes faded. He needed, he admitted, just one more lap to launch an attack. To the relief of the entire Mercedes crew, including overall boss Dieter Zetsche, both of the Silvers Arrows made it across the finish line intact, still separated by those six-tenths of a second. It was their fourth consecutive one-two finish. And what a crushing demonstration it was for the Anglo-German cars. Daniel Ricciardo figured third place was the best position possible for Red Bull and indeed took the final podium slot legally for the first time after a strong run, but he was 49s behind Hamilton by the finish. The Milton Keynes team got a big boost as a feisty drive from 15th-place starter Sebastian Vettel, allied to clever deployment of a three-stop strategy, brought him past the dogged Williams of Valtteri Bottas and into fourth with three laps to run. A three-stopper also worked for Fernando Alonso, who played second fiddle to two-stopping Ferrari team mate Raikkonen for much of the race. The Spaniard moved by the Finn with three laps to go, but his sixth place was very distant - Hamilton's Mercedes was 87.7s up the road, and had indeed lapped the seventh-placed Raikkonen. Romain Grosjean fought brake problems, which dropped him behind the Ferraris, to score Lotus's first points of the season in eighth, a mere second ahead of the dueling Force Indias of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg. McLaren's Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen were in the fight for midfield points most of the way, but just didn't quite have the pace to better 11th and 12th places, while a very disappointed Felipe Massa found a three-stop strategy failing to work out for him as he took 13th for Williams. Daniil Kvyat was his usual forceful self but didn't have a car capable of better than the 14th he claimed for Toro Rosso on an afternoon when an exhaust problem rendered team mate Jean-Eric Vergne the first of two retirements. Pastor Maldonado was given a five-second stop-and-go penalty for clobbering Marcus Ericsson's Caterham early on and wound up 15th ahead of the Saubers of Esteban Gutierrez and Adrian Sutil, who switched places on the final lap. Behind them, Jules Bianchi won the Marussia battle with team mate Max Chilton and they comfortably beat Ericsson home. The Swede's team mate Kamui Kobayashi was the other retirement after his second brake failure of the season. Hamilton now has 100 points to Rosberg's 97, with Alonso third on 49. Vettel is fourth on 45, with Ricciardo directly behind him on 39. In the constructors' stakes, Mercedes pull further ahead with 197 to Red Bull's 84, while Ferrari move ahead of Force India, with 66 to 57, and Williams overtake McLaren, 46 to 43.

Not heard that question asked for at least a week...

Most hire companies will have them, don't forget to get the proper protection as well.

Welcome to The Forum Loo. Nice pics.

Now there's part of the problem,.. you weren't supposed to be racing.. I agree, I saw some shocking driving yesterday where there were 5 cars within 3 metres of each other trying to outbrake into the chicanes. Also there was far too many drivers who refused to move over and let a faster car through and just hugged the inside on every corner....a blue and black veilside body kitted RX7 was the worst offender I saw! I agree aswell I came out the pit first and there was no 1 eles on the track yet ... I had no chance of hitting any1 lol The damage ent that bad new wing , then just respraying be fine , good old tyre wall bounced me lol Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Glad to hear there is not too much damage Zhorno.

Barcelona GP just about to kick off.

Now there's part of the problem,.. you weren't supposed to be racing..