McLaren vs. Ferrari

Despite the headline, we're not talking F1 (though with all that's going on in that world then perhaps we should be) but rather road cars. After having developed the iconic McLaren F1, still one of the most desirable cars ever produced, McLaren focused its energies instead on an increasing collaboration with Mercedes, ultimately resulting in the MB SLR McLaren. By this stage the road car partnership was going less than well with sales falling short of target and McLaren less than thrilled about the design limitations applied by Mercedes who wanted more of a GT sort of vehicle while McLaren were all hard-core sports car.

Now the divorce has been agreed, the two parties are off doing their respective things which, in the case of McLaren, looks to be very interesting indeed. With the specifications listed here, and given that the indicated price is indeed correct, then Ferrari had better watch out. The two companies have been locked in combat on the track for many years; looks like the fight will now be spilling out onto the road as well!

Update: Here's Jay Leno's take!

(BTW, apologies for the extended absence. Too much going on and too little time to try and get it all done. Work continues to be the curse of the drinking-and-otherwise-leisured classes.)

Flying Ferrari

I spent Saturday at the 36th running of the Monterey Historics meeting down at Laguna Seca. Despite the on-going Lockheed fire, burning some 10 miles west of home, visibility wasn't too bad and although you could smell the smoke it didn't really cause any problems either for myself or the camera.

I'll post some more pictures etc. over the coming days but here's one for starters. This is a 1958 Ferrari 250 TR Testa Rossa, doing something it was never designed to do: kangarooing over rough terrain! According to the driver, David Love, he missed his braking point for the Corkscrew corner and ended up bouncing over the run-off and into the tyre wall. Fortunately, damage looked to be light but he ended up parking a few yards down the hill and jumping out.

Warning: motors sports can be dangerous, especially in the area of one's wallet ....

Time To Go Racing, 2009 Style

What with Sebring this weekend and the first F1 GP in Australia next, the 2009 racing season is well and truly underway.

The upcoming F1 season promises to be one of the most interesting for years with a whole new slew of regulations throwing the old kings out with the old cars ... perhaps! Ferrari look to have done a good job in the closed season, and if the final testing session at Jerez is to be believed then better than McLaren at creating a brand new aero package to go with the new rules. This year the cars have smaller rear wings but are back on slicks again, the idea being to trade mechanical grip for aero down-force and hence to make overtaking easier. At least, that's the theory, but we'll just have to wait and see what will happen in actual races. Also new this year is a Prius-like KERS system, taking advantage of regenerative braking energy, that will allow drivers an extra 80 bhp or so for about two seconds a lap. Not sure every car will start in Australia with this technology but even if not then very soon thereafter.

Despite having Honda pull the plug on them, one of the stronger contenders in the developmental sessions has been Brawn GP. Ross Brawn has now become a team owner and they will be running McLaren engines this year instead of Honda. Somewhat embarrassingly for the Woking outfit, the Honda/Brawn chassis has been around a second a lap quicker running those customer engines, a fact that will surely mean the McLaren boys will be burning the midnight oil prior to Australia in order to close the gap. On the plus side, Button might finally have a car that will allow him to show just what he can do. Again, it will be an interesting year.

Endurance racing has also been thrown a curve ball with Audi not yet committing to a full season of racing, despite their very strong debut showing for the R15 at Sebring where they came in 1st and 3rd. Even in these reduced times, perhaps the idea of just gifting the Group 1 championship to Peugeot might be a bit too much to swallow? Here's hoping.

SV Toy

Shot outside the Village Pub in Woodside (where else?) Ferrari's finest and yours for a mere $300k, plus a bit more if you get heavy handed with the options list which the owner of this one had. (Carbon ceramic brakes, for example, adding a mere $18,555 to the base price of $250k.)

Good for him, I say, and I look forward to the day when working through which of those same option boxes to tick is my biggest problem du jour. Which begs the question, how much do you have to have sitting around the bank in order to sensibly - and I use the word advisably - let yourself go out and buy such a thing? I reckon it's about 10x the price, or the equivalent of dropping 10% of cash-to-hand on such a plaything.

"Goals are good", as they say ....

Brand Limits?

California Dreamin'

Took off on Saturday to the 34th Monterey Historics at Laguna Seca. I suppose it's easy to tell how close you are to the eternal fountain of money that is Silicon Valley when Ferrari has its own island in the middle of the circuit! In addition to the official presence where, amongst other things, they were promoting their services to certify used or collectible cars (see above shot), countless small vendors were selling a bewildering array of merchandise prominently tagged with the iconic prancing horse.

How, then, does the brand maintain its cachet when the exclusivity originally associated with the race car company is so watered down that Ferrari badges are appearing on shoes and shirts, backpacks and bags? Does it even matter if it doesn't, given that their race cars are still winning in F1 and their road cars selling out at the showrooms with waiting lists running into years?

Yes and no. I remember from years ago that it was generally accepted that you didn't wear Ferrari -logo'd stuff unless you owned one, and even then the practice was considered dubious at best. Nowadays, anything goes. But although this might weaken its strength in the eyes of some, I'd bet that if you ran a brand-recognition survey ten years ago and compared the results with the same survey today the company would have accelerated up the standings like a nitrous-powered Enzo. On the other hand, how long will even the most well-heeled of enthusiasts be happy to shell out 250 big ones for a 430 when everywhere they go pot-bellied proles are wearing Ferrari boxer-shorts (pun intended)?

I think the saving grace for the company will ultimately be that their products remain the stuff of dreams for all but the most wallet-hardened enthusiasts or those who have the money to spend and a need to impress. They will come to view the mass-marketing of the brand either incidental and hence to be ignored so long as it makes money to keep on racing or it will help fuel their egos to have even more people ogling them as they drive through town at 25 mph. (And on that topic, I was utterly depressed to hear that Dr. Phil, an annoying TV relationship counsellor here in the USA, bought two white 550s, one for himself and one for his wife.) Therefore, don't expect a budget Ferrari any time soon. Ain't going to happen, and frankly I think that's a jolly good thing too! Make 'em smaller and harder-core and keep the Dr. Phil's of this world buying Bentley's instead. The Germans can handle it.

I Wins Again

Yes, it was Mika Salo's GT2 Ferrari 430, shown here at the Freescale Technical Forum.

Who said us geeks don't know how to party?!

Photo Quiz 3

Your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to name the principal driver of the above car! And yes, it is a Ferrari. There are some clues in the picture and also clues in other posts about where I am.

Enjoy! (My money is on "I" to clean-sweep #3 because he has some inside knowledge, but we'll see!)

Answer in a couple of days.

Strategy or Tactics? Which Wins?

Lauda's Championship Winning Ferrari

Someone I respect greatly once said, "start-ups don't die through a lack of strategy, but poor execution gets 'em every time".

I used to agree strongly with this sentiment, and I think I still do ... sort of. But here's my current take: both can be fatal, it's just that the tactical failures will kill you quicker than the strategic ones.

Start-ups are odd creatures. In many ways, you are much better off if they die young than you are if they are allowed to reach a corpulent middle-age only to find they are still living at home with their parents, have no prospects of getting a real job, and are constantly mooching off their uncle VCs.

Alas, on any given day it's almost impossible to separate the two. It's only with hindsight that the difference becomes clear and allow you to get some sort of perspective on what went well vs. what failed tactically, and where it was the overall strategy that was lacking (or not).

Anyone who thinks the start-up world looks, acts or feels like an MBA case-study has never, ever experienced the real thing. Indeed, I seriously question the net worth of an MBA at all these days versus, say, the value of time-spent inside almost any company with the opportunity to watch how things work - or don't - in the real world.

Look at it this way: Who would you rather have behind the wheel driving you at high speed round a track? The guy who has done at least some basic autocross or amateur racing, even if it's in the local corn field, or someone who is a record holder piloting GTA or Project Gotham on a PS3 or XBox?

Cracking Race, Gromit

So, Ferrari are back, and it's like they were never away! Kimi seems to have slotted-in like the Schumacher era never existed and it's back to business-as-usual. Shame we never got to see how he and Massa would have fared head-to-head but there are 16 races left in which to try and answer that question. Of course, the other story was the frankly amazing debut by Lewis Hamilton. Here's a man completely new to Formula One, on a track he's never seen before (and one of the most technically challenging on the calender) and in his first race he drives with more composure, native speed and raw talent than almost any other racer out there, and ends up on the podium. Quite remarkable. The question for him is not if he'll win races, just when, and how many.

Oh, and thanks to DC for providing our first "lunge of the week" spot. Nice one! (Though parking ones car on the front of your opponent was over-egging the pudding somewhat!) Personally, I had Takuma Sato marked out for that one but there you go. He was content besting the number one Honda team, and judging by the pre-race interview having lots of fun doing so!

Good, too, to see Briatore back on fine form, lambasting Kovalainen's performance. "I don't need to protect anyone. It was rubbish", he's quoted as saying. I think this is one to chalk down to the racing equivalent of a "bad hair day", but the pressure on Heikki in race 2 will be enormous. Can't wait!