Wait'll they get a load of... the 2009 F1 cars

What you see above is a shot of BMW's Formula 1 racer built to 2009 specs. Slicks are back for mechanical grip, but to reduce downforce and speeds -- and supposedly increase passing -- the rear wing has been trimmed down so much that it looks like a shelf from IKEA. The front wing on the car is also larger and wider, and extras like flip-ups and winglets on the front wing, nosecone and bodywork are prohibited next year. BMW has also been testing its KERS hybrid system, where other teams are using ballast while they sort out when they'll introduce their own systems. Frankly, that system could be just as shocking as the car itself. If the on-track action gets better, then we're all for it. But for now, these cars remind us of ugly things.

[Source: F1 Live]

the anatomy of a race car driver

It pains us to hear it, but everyone is up in arms lately over the racing wins by Danica Patrick and Ashely Force. One of the lingering stances on the matter (and one we heard on that bastion of common sense: talk radio) is that the women have every right to compete and win because racing relies mostly on the car, and not the competitor. Well, anybody whose driven a car faster than 65 mph knows that a car can put strain on the body. Wired put together an excellent infographic detailing parts of the body and what a 200-plus mph can do to it. Click the picture above or the link below to see it in its full glory. If anything, being a race car driver is harder on women who generally have smaller body frames than men, possibly making their victories even more impressive. Now, let the debate begin! [Wired]

First Drive: Formula Vee racer

this is the news from Autoblog, but i think it's very related to our work so i put it here.

There aren't a lot of things that will get an automotive journalist out of bed before dawn. But nearly all of them have four wheels, which is about the only thing a formula racing car shares in common with the kind of ordinary automobiles you and I drive regularly. The chance to drive one stands out as one of those few luring precipitators. So when the invite came to join a local racing team for a test session at a remote desert airstrip, we broke with tradition and raced the sunrise just to see if it would prove worthwhile. Follow the jump to read what we discovered.

gallery here

read a full review here

ECOPA trip gallery: 4th day, take prides back home.

in the past half of the final day is the ceremony, i've been one of ten peoples who can enter the hall and witness this. we received the awards, 3 awards.

1. the sportsmanship award: this award, because of our never-give-up power, like i've said, our car always had problems. many repairations, many inspections, many accidents but everytime we fought back, so the committee can see that and give us this prize.

we heard from Maeda, anoother close steward that Kojo's been part in committee and promoted us so we all have to thanks her.

2. best styling award: hahaha, this is the pride for all of the design team. our design is almost distinctive, every team might be so curious why the team from Thailand have to make a beautiful bodyparts than the mechanical system.

3. second place for rookie award: this place is for this year only, for next year we'll not be newbie any more. but this prize means we've done quite well as a new face.

link: 4th day, take prides back home.

ECOPA trip gallery: 4th day, taking honor

in the morning, there's a phototaking time. all 65 (or 66, don't know) cars were brought together, in the previous dynamic zone area. our car got a front row place for we're overseas team. Toyohashi, friend of our team and one of the best team this year was at the right of our car, Korean car in the left and India was at the back. in any view, you can see many many cars, this is much more than taking pictures in Thailand. we're proud for bringingThailand flag there, maybe bigger flag next year.

after taking pictures with all others, it's time for the team, we took pictures together, Kojo, the team steward wearing the team's shirt and taking pictures with us. 

and there comes the leaving time, we had to pack our car back to the box and ship him back to Thailand. now while i'm typing this blog, the car still not yet arrive. while packing we still had some thanks to our close staffs, we gave the team's shirt as gifts for them and promised to be there again, next year.

we've many friends here, and we have a good experience, we don't even know we'd have such this good memories. we'll receive this, and make Thailand SAE be like this, thank you Japaneses.

click here for photo gallery.

ECOPA trip gallery: 3rd day, finish the fight.

we have many things to do taday for yesterday we've wrecked our car, for the 1st half of the day we repaired and went to inspection. like yesterday, we passed and got to the test track for practicing. accident happened here, the side of wheels sucked with the safety wall and throw the car crash to the wall. safe for all both driver and the car for the wall is soft.

we passed the exciting practice to the queue to the 'endurance' track, after long waiting we're in track and able to run the car through the race without problem, not. after the first driver's running, it's the drivers switch for next run. we found the breaking part again at the rear end, the same problem with yeaterday, less serious, but we can't finish the race, again.

so we get back to the pit. the race for this year is over. all we could do is just promise to ourself not let this happen again next year, so we're not going to be down and quit, we'll fight back. see you again next year, Japan.

link: 3rd day, finish the fight.

ECOPA trip gallery: 2nd day, run the race!

today we wake up early and hurried to ECOPA in the morning. we still have some repairations to be finish before going to inspection in 8.30 and hurried to the test zone before midday. we passed the inspection quite quick, thanks to all staffs and stewards and every teams those are living near us, you were all kind for lending us a tools, thanks to Kojo, our team steward for translations too.

and it's good in the test section, we passed it well, just have a little problem about oil system but we can fix it. we finally done the test and go to the racing path, the autocross.

here is the problem, after running the autocross for a while, the links in A-arm tip were tear apart by the material fatigue and the car must be stopped before danger. we can't finish the race, and everyone were so sorry. but the best thing is, everybody safe, that's enough for us today.

see the picture gallery here:

2nd day, run the race!

ECOPA trip gallery: 1st day of repairation

today is an inspection day, many things happen. i'm one of the presentation team and have to prepare myself up with a suit(really, a suit), it's stricter in Japan, hope Thailand won't follow(it's hot). in the morning half- of the day is for in-room presentation, we made a slide with our marketing plan but there's never enough. we've been asked for when the production starts, how many cars do we plan to build per year! oh, Japan is so serious. it's very different from Thailand so we didn't make a good job here, but, i feel good when realize that if the presentation is to be  reasonable, we can make a plan an think of it better and we might get a good score next year : D

afternoon is the inspection time, we didn't pass the inspection for the 1st time and have to move to the 'repairing' zone. there we met many generous staff helping us for inspection repairing. including the welder professor from Honda. we greet and thanks many times, we started to learn saying 'arigato gozaimasu' for thank you and this is the most-used word we said in Japan.

gallery: 1st day of repairation

ECOPA trip gallery: hello! ECOPA

we hurried to ECOPA on the 1st day we stepped on Japan, for unpacking  our car from the crate. the car has been locked tight in the box and has its beauty with this view, there's some problems about our documents require to open the box but with some helps from staffs, we passed it. see for your self in the gallery.

many teams are prepping up for tomorrow too so feeling around there is just very exciting to be there.

and today we meet our team steward, Kojo, she'll be taking care of our team for the rest of the days. there' a lot of stories ahead. follow us on the next articles.

after taking some pictures, we called TAXI back to Tsumagoi hotel, the taxi drivers in Japan drive good and took us safely to our place. we sleep tirely, exciting for tomorrow to come.

gallery: hello! ECOPA

ECOPA trip gallery: hello! Nagoya

one day before JSAE 2008 starts, we arrive at the Nagoya airport in the morning,. the time is +2 from Thailand (GMT+9) so it's about 8.30 there. we leave the airport for hotel by the bus. we headed to Yamaha hotel 'Tsumagoi' at about late 10. there we met the team from India, the first information is India is competing for JSAE for the first time, there's no such competition in India so this is there 1st league. we greet, shake-hand and talking a little about the race going to start tomorrow. after hanging around for a while we have to unpack the car. we went to ECOPA (the race will be rise there) and meet our car. let's see the pictures in next article. 

gallery: hello! Nagoya