Archive-name: autos/sport/addresses
Posting-Frequency: monthly
Last-modified: 24th June 1994
Version: 1.0

This will be posted monthly to rec.autos.sport and to news.answers.  
It answers some of the most frequently asked questions (FAQs) in 
rec.autos.sport as well as some others which perhaps _should_ be asked.

The latest version of the rec.autos.sport FAQ should be available
for anonymous ftp at mgu.bath.ac.uk (138-38.24.19) as file
/pub/rec.autos.sport/general-faq or at rtfm.mit.edu (18.70.0.209) as
pub/usenet-by-hierarchy/rec/answers/autos/sport/addresses. If you only have 
electronic mail, the FAQ can be retrieved from mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu.

For information on how to use FTP, send e-mail to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu 
with with no subject line.  In the body of the mail, put:
send usenet/news.answers/finding-sources

Whilst some care has been taken in the preparation of this FAQ, a few
errors may have slipped through the net (no pun intended).  Please send 
any corrections or additions to rasfaq@bath.ac.uk. 

14    GENERAL QUESTIONS

14-1  Who is the greatest driver of all time ?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gilles Villeneuve  (IMHO).

Anyone can have an opinion on the greatest driver of all time. 
Unfortunately we'll never know just who is correct.  The "great" 
drivers have never all raced each other in similar cars with each 
at the peak of their careers.

We can say who has won the most races and the most championships.  
However, some of the "great" drivers have not been particularly 
successful.  Stirling Moss being the classic example of a driver
who failed to win the F1 championship after driving for some second 
rate teams.  Comparisons of drivers between different eras of motor 
racing are even more open to question.  There are so many changes 
both in technical developments for the cars and circuits, and the 
differing numbers of competitive cars and drivers through the years.

Try to ignore obvious flame-bait.  You're unlikely to persuade anyone
that they are wrong by shouting at them.  If you want to try, please 
do it in alt.flame.  Whats much more interesting for people to read 
are the reasons why you like your favourite driver. Tell some anecdotes
about their greatest moments.  What makes them special ?

14-2  Which is the best racing series ?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is another topic that has been thrashed to death.  You are just as
unlikely to persuade anyone that they are wrong by shouting at them.  
Whats much more interesting for people to read are the reasons why you 
like your favourite series.  What makes it special ?

+++ Safety features at race tracks  (crashing into walls, sand traps etc)
+++ Safety features of cars (High modulus carbon, methanol, roll cages, 
    crushable zones)
+++ How to get started in Motorsport
+++ Improving media coverage of motorsport

14-3  Murray Walker (aka Muddly Talker)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Murray Walker is the commentator for the much of the BBC's motorsports 
coverage including F1 and the BTCC.  He is a motorsports _enthusiast_.
He is also prone to spouting rubbish in the heat of the moment in spite
of his vast experience of commentating for Grand Prix racing.  He's a 
nice bloke too.

"He's obviously gone in for a wheel change. I say obviously because I 
 can't see it"

"With half the race gone, there is half the race still to go"

"Do my eyes deceive me, or is Senna's Lotus sounding rough ?"

"Anything happens in Grand Prix racing and it usually does"

"Alboreto has dropped back up to fifth place"

"As you look at the first four, the significant thing is that Alboreto is 5th"

"I can't imagine what kind of problem Senna has.  I imagine it 
 must be some sort of grip problem"

"He is shedding buckets of adrenalin in that car"

"It's raining and the track is wet"

"And theres just a few more corners for Nigel Mansell to go to win
 the Canadian Grand Prix...and...he's going rather slow....HE'S STOPPING
 HE'S STOPPING!"

"and this is the third placed car about to lap the second placed car"

"they say clothes maketh the man... the clothes are Niki Laudas, but 
 the contents are me..." as Murray prepares to take a drive in a F1 car."
 [He gets a total distance of... oh, 1 foot before he stalls it.]

[During a F1 race, describing how the leader can see the driver following him]
 "... Mansell can see him in his earphone..."

"So Bernie [Ecclestone], in the seventeen years since you bought
 McLaren, which of your many achievements do you think was the most
 memorable ?"  Bernie Answers, "Well I don't remember buying McLaren."
[Bernie Ecclestone used to own the Brabham team].

Murrary: "What's that? There's a BODY on the track!!!"
James:   "Um, I think that that is a piece of BODY-WORK, from someone's car."

Murray: There's a fiery glow coming from the back of the Ferrari
James: No Murray, that's his rear safety light

As an introductory piece for a rallysprint race, Murray was put in the
Navigator's seat alongside Tony Pond in a Chevette HSR (270 BHP, rwd,
and TWITCHY), added an in-car camera, and wired Murray for sound.  The
result can be deduced by extrapolating his usual excitement and
enthusiasm, and adding a large pinch of raw terror!
 "And there's a 600 foot drop on my left..AND we're doing 120 mph... AND
  we're approaching a hairpin...OH MY GOD we're going to die..."

[after a post race interview where Mansell won the French(?) GP]
Murray : "How did you get that nasty bumb on your head Nigel?"
[Nigel leans forward to show the camera as Murray pokes it with his finger !]
Nigel: "OWCH!!"

14-4  Where are there any Motorsport GIFs and JPEGs ?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ftp.nau.edu /graphics/gif/racing
rana.deaking.oz.au

Corel Professional Photos (USA 1-800-836-3729) sell a CDROM with 100 Photo 
CD racing photographs. They are royalty-free and cover F1, sportscars etc


14-5  Which are good races to spectate at ? 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Spectators guides for the British GP at Silverstone, the Belgian GP at
Spa, and the Italian GP at Monza are available for anonymous ftp at:
mgu.bath.ac.uk (138-38.24.19): /pub/auto/f1/silverstone-spectators-guide
         /pub/auto/f1/monza-spectators-guide
         /pub/auto/f1/spa-spectators-guide

14-6  Where can I get tickets for races ?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
San Marino GP, May 1st 1994
SAGIS, Via Calori 9/D, 40122 Bologna, Italy.  Tel Italy (39) 51 52 20 75,
Fax Italy (39) 51 52 20 85.   Friday Saturday  Sunday
General Admission (adult)   L25,000 L30,000   L45,000
General Admission (child + soldiers)  L15,000 L20,000   L30,000
Tribuna Fiat (A)    L50,000 L80,000   L350,000
Tribuna Pirelli (B)    L40,000 L50,000   L250,000
Tribuna G. Villeneuve (C)    ------  ------   L180,000
Tribuna E. De Angelis (D)    ------  ------   L200,000
Tribuna T. Nuvolari (G)     ------  ------   L150,000
Tribuna Nuova Copma (H)     ------  ------   L160,000
Tribuna Marlboro (I)     ------ L50,000   L220,000
Tribuna Agip Petroli (L)    ------  ------   L180,000
Tribuna C. Romagnolo (M)    ------ L60,000   L240,000
Gradonata Verde (V)    L40,000 L50,000   L 90,000
(All prices in Italian Lire)

Canadian GP, June 12 1994
Gilles Villeneuve Track, Tel Canada (1) 514-392-0000
Tickets     3 days       Sunday only
------------------------------------
Gold         $240        $210
Silver       $200        $175
Bronze       $105        $80
General Admission        $50 (no seating)

British GP, July 10th 1994
Booking Office, Freepost, Silverstone Circuits Ltd, Silverstone, 
Towcester, Northants, NN12 8TN.  Tel Great Britain (44) 327 857273, 
Fax Great Britain (44) 327 857663
      Friday Saturday  Sunday
General Admission (adult)   GBP 14 GBP 19   GBP  52
General Admission (child)   GBP  4 GBP  4   GBP   7
Grandstand transfer    free GBP 17   -------
Transfer to centre of circuit (adult)  GBP 10 GBP 13   GBP  17
Transfer to centre of circuit (child)  GBP  3 GBP  3   GBP  17
Gen Adm + Family Grandstand (adult or child) ------ GBP 21   GBP  62
Gen Adm + Normal Grandstand (adult or child)    ------ ------   GBP 110
(All prices in pounds sterling.  Add between 5 and 10% after April 30th)


14-7  Origins of the names of teams and Manufacturers
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MARCH - an acronym formed from the names of the founders: Max mosely,
   Alan Rees, graham Coaker and robin Herd
TIGA - an acronym from founders TIm schenken and howden GAnley

14-8  What are the origins of F1 chassis numbers ?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lotus cars have each have a type number.  These are also allocated to
projects from outside F1.  This means that there can be gaps between 
successive F1 models (eg 102, 107 and 109). The 108 is the carbon fibre
bicycle which Chris Boardman used in the 1992 Olympics.

The derivation of the McLaren numbers like MP4/9 is from McLaren Project 4,
model 9 where Project 4 is the name of a company.  This means that there 
will not be a McLaren MP5.

Ferrari seems to change their numbering scheme every couple of years.
All the F1 cars have internal project numbers like 639, 641 etc.  The
latest 412T1 number signifies a car with a 4 valve per cylinder, 12 cylinder
engine.

14-9  How are F1 race numbers allocated ?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Before 1973, F1 drivers raced with different numbers at each race.
Teams in the world championship had to submit their entries to each
individual race organisation and were then given their race numbers by
the organiser.  Number 1 (#1) was used by either the defending champion
of that race, the world champion, the first team to submit their race
application, or the favourite of the organisers.

By mid-1973, FOCA (the Formula One Contructors Association) united the
teams who now entered the races with one joint application.  FOCA now
took over the assignment of race numbers.  At first, each team was
given a random number, which it kept until the end of the year.  The
numbers were given to the team, but not drivers, so Stewart drove as
both #5 and #6 in the latter half of 1973.

In 1974, the modern system took hold.  At the start of the 1974 season,
the teams were given the numbers according to the final positions in
the 1973 Constructors Championship.  Hence Lotus got 1 & 2, Tyrrell got
3 & 4, McLaren 5 & 6, Brabham 7 & 8 etc.  If a team had more than two cars,
the extra car was given a high number like 33.  An exception was BRM, which 
had three consecutive numbers.

These numbers are only changed when a new driver wins the the Driver's
World Championship.  In this case, champion and his teammate are given
1&2, while the previous champion gets the old number of the new
champion.  If a driver changes teams after winning the Championship, he
takes the #1 to his new team.

For example in 1977, Ferrari (#11 & 12) won, but Lauda moved to Brabham.
So in 1978, Brabham raced as 1 & 2, McLaren (champions in 1976, who held
#1 & 2 in 1977) got 7 & 8 (Brabham's 1977 numbers), while Ferrari kept
the 11 & 12.  Tyrrell have kept numbers 3 & 4 for 20 years because they
had not won the championship since 1973.

Before Nigel's Mansell's retirement, some non-champions did drive as
#1.  Ronnie Peterson got the #1 in 1974 because this was the first
year.  In 1985, Watson drove #1 because he was Lauda's replacement.
However, after Mansell's retirement & possible unretirement, which made
the numbering system unclear, #1 was declared being 'personal' and only
for the world champion, so Damon Hill got #0 for 1993 in the Williams.

The numbers have been personalised for the past few years.  Hence when
FIA gave out a number, it is both for the team and the specific driver.  
Nowadays the numbers are given alphabetically, with the driver whose 
last name is first in the alphabet receives the lowest number.  Of course, 
you can always request a change.

Occasionally, if a team expires, a team with a high number will move to
occupy the old team's numbers.  When Renault left F1, March took over
the 15 & 16 slot.  Same rule applies to Brabham, but in this case it
was unusual involving a three teams switch: Larrouse > Benetton >
McLaren > Brabham.  This had never happened before.

Careful study of the race numbers shows some of the relationships
between the teams.  Take 19, 20 & 21.  These were the old Williams
numbers in the 70s.  When Walter Wolf took over, Team Wolf got #20,
while Williams, who re-started his new race team, got a new number of
#27.  By 1980 when Wolf had merged with Fittipaldi, Fittipaldi got rid
of its old #s and got 20 & 21.

Some numbers have special significance for some of the fans and
drivers.  Thirteen is considered to be an unlucky number and is missing
from the F1 lineup.  Gilles Villeneuve raced as #27 during his finest
years which makes it a special number for Ferrari fans.  Nigel Mansell
drove as "Red Five" for Williams, although this number has since been
taken over by Michael Schumacher's Benetton.

14-10 Why is there no US GP ?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Politics and money.  The F1 circus expects to have a well developed 
infra-structure at a racetrack.  The FIA also wants to be paid a 
significant amount of money to hold a race.  At the moment, there are 
no circuits in the US which have the necessary pit garages, press 
facilities and hotel accommodation which think that they would be 
able to run a F1 race at a profit.  Whether this is because of the 
unreasonable demands of the F1 establishment is open to question.
After a few years without a US GP, F1 may have lost the sponsors who 
would have been most interested in a race in the US.


15    MOTORSPORT PRONUNCIATION GUIDE


Name          | English pronunciation
------------------------+--------------------------------------------------
Derek Warwick  | der-rick worr-ick (worr-ick rhymes with the end of
   | "historic")
Johnny Herbert  | JON-ee-ur-BUT (Johnny is from Essex where people
   | tend to ignore consonants in the middle of words
   | and just use vowels [a,e,i,o and u] instead)
Eddie Irvine  | ED-yur-vine (vine rhymes with wine)
David Coulthard  | day-vid cool-tard
   |
Mark Blundell  | mark blun-DELL
Martin Brundle  | mar-TIN brun-dle
   |
Bernie Ecclestone | BER-nee ECK-ul-stn
Max Mosely  | Maks Moe zlee  (Moe rhymes with toe)
   |
Sterling Marlin  | STUH-lun MAAAH-lun
Stirling Moss  | stir-ling moss
   |
McLaren   | muck LAR un
Williams  | will-yums
   |
Reynard   | ray-nard (French word. English company. English
   | pronunciation).
   |
Jaguar   | Jag-wahrrr (American) or Jag-uw-ah (British)
   |
Jyrki Jarvilehto (the a | yir-kee yar-vee-leh-toh (or jay-jay leh-toh)
has an umlaut-two dots) |
Mika Salo  | Mee-ka Sa-low (low as in blow)

15-1  Pronouncing Germanic names
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pronunciation of "ch" in German: This is a soft gutteral sound. Take the 
"ch" from "which", remove the "t" part from that sound - and voila!  

Michael Schumacher | Mi-cha-el ("i" as in "in", "ch" as in Michelle "a" as 
   | in "part", "el" sounds like "ale")  Shoe-mach-er 
   | (gutteral "ch")
Heinz-Harald Frentzen   | High-nts Hah-rahld Frren-tsen
Karl Wendlinger         | Kahl Ven-dling-ah
Gerhard Berger          | Gair-hard Bair-gair
Roland Ratzenberger     | Ro-land Rah-tsen-bair-gair
Jos Verstappen  | yohs fair-shtopp-en (The 'a' sounds more like 'o' 
   | in Dutch)
   |
Sauber Mercedes  | zow-ber mer-tze-des 

15-2  Pronouncing Japanese names (Ron O'Dell):
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In Japanese, the family name is spoken first followed by the personal 
name.  The most important thing to remember, though, is that there is 
no stress in Japanese, and that each letter -- ma, tsu, shi, ta --
must get the same amount of time.  (Otherwise you run into problems,
like calling your aunt (obasan) an old woman (obaasan).)

Hiro Matsushita  | mahtsoo-shtah (very faint "oo") he-row 

[An aside from Troy Davis:  Hiro is the grandson of the industrialist that
started Matsushita Industries.  Their products, when not OEM'd, are marked
as mah-tsoo-shee-tah worldwide.  When he started in ICs, Hiro tried to
explain to people that the pronunciation used to market the products was
different that what they actually called themselves in the family, and
that his name should be pronounced mah-tsoo-shtah.  Panasonic asked him to
tell the press that no, it should be pronounced mah-tsoo-shee-tah.  Hiro
then told Paul Page to pronounce it however he liked to.  Personally, I 
like Derek Daly's version: mah-<spit all over Bobby Unser>-ta.]

   |
Ukyo Katayama  | kah-tah-yah-mah  oo-kyohh 
   |
Aguri Suzuki  | sooz-kee ahg-ree
   |
Nissan   | Kneess-ahn (American). Niss-ann (British). 
   | Kneessss-ahn (Japanese).

15-3  Pronouncing French and Canadian names:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gilles Villeneuve | jil (with a soft j sound) vil-neuv  (where vil 
   | sounds like kill and neuv sounds like curve without 
   | the 'r').
Jacques Villeneuve | Jacques is either "jawk" (hawk) or "jak" (yak). Both 
   | have a soft j sound.  JV, brother of GV, uses "jawk".
   | JV, son of GV, uses the European "jak" pronunciation
   | He also has told the American media that his name is 
   | pronounced vil-nev bordering on vil-neph and not the 
   | Francocorrect form we grew up on.
Alain Prost  | a-lan p-roast
Jean Alesi  | jon (with a soft j sound) a-lay-zEE 
   |
Renault   | ren-oh (ren as in siren, oh rhymes with blow)
Peugeot   | pooh-szjoh (szjoh has a very soft "j", and rhymes 
   | with show)
   |
Magny-Cours  | man-nyee cor
Le Mans   | le mon
Spa-Francorchamps  | spa-fron-cor-shom  (fron rhymes with from)
Grand Prix  | gron pree


15-4  Pronouncing Portugeuse and Brazilian names
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The common "street" pronunciation for Brazilian names may be different to
the "formal" pronunciation.

Ayrton Senna  | Ah-EER-tone senn-a (EE sounds like "i" from "in")
Mauricio Gugelmin | Mow-RI-see-oh Goo-gel-min ( The see-oh sounds very 
   | close to "see-you" as the final "o" tends to sounds 
   | like "ouh". The RI is a soft "r" like in "risk")
Rubens Barrichello      | roo-bens Bah-he-KEH-loh (Bah-he is a hard sound which
   | is made with the tongue and not from the throat)
   |[Although Barrichello is an "Italian" name, it is 
   | pronounced differently in "street" Brazilian].

16    REC.AUTOS.SPORT AND USENET

16-1  The race finished hours ago.  Where are all the results ?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There are sometimes delays propagating articles around the Net,
particularly at weekends, when systems may fail when there is no
system administrator on hand.  Please don't post articles which
just say "I haven't seen anything about this race yet".  The delays
may be a very local problem and your message will get sent all the 
way around the world, at considerable expense.

16-2  Where are rec.autos.sport.info, rec.autos.sport.tech & 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
      rec.autos.sport.nascar?
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
These newsgroups were created in March 1994.  If they have not appeared
where you read rec.autos.sport, contact the administrator of your system.
Some sys admins do not enable automatic news group creation, but vet
each new group individually.  Currently, all the posts to rec.autos.sport.info
are cross posted to rec.autos.sport, but this may stop in the future.

16-3  How many people read the rec.autos.sport hierarchy ?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is taken from the USENET readership report for May 94.  Explanations 
of the figures are posted to news.lists.  Briefly, someone is listed as 
reading a newsgroup if they are subscribed to it.

  +-- Ranking in order of most popular newsgroups
  |      +-- Estimated total number of people who read the group, worldwide.
  |      |      +-- Actual number of readers in sampled population
  |      |      |    +-- Propagation: how many sites receive this group at all
  |      |      |    |     +-- Recent traffic (messages per month)
  |      |      |    |     |       +-- Recent traffic (megabytes per month)
  |      |      |    |     |       |    +-- Crossposting percentage
  |      |      |    |     |       |    |     +-- Cost ratio: $US/month/reader
  |      |      |    |     |       |    |     |    +-- Share: % of newsreaders
  |      |      |    |     |       |    |     |    |   who read this group.
  V      V      V    V     V       V    V     V    V
 154  130000  1108  76%  3141     4.3  15%  0.03  2.2%  rec.autos.tech 
 265  110000   886  76%  4899     8.3   2%  0.08  1.8%  rec.autos.sport 
 313  100000   835  74%  1556     2.0  28%  0.02  1.7%  rec.autos.driving 
 489   83000   689  59%   661     0.4  60%  0.00  1.4%  rec.autos 
1332   43000   360  54%  2907     4.7  12%  0.08  0.7%  rec.autos.misc 
1686   33000   276  51%   361     0.9   5%  0.02  0.5%  rec.autos.simulators 
2067   25000   207  39%   190     1.1   1%  0.02  0.4%  rec.autos.sport.info 
2293   20000   170  39%   154     0.2   2%  0.01  0.3%  rec.autos.sport.tech 
2312   20000   168  38%  1058     1.7   2%  0.05  0.3%  rec.autos.sport.nascar 
2991    8100    67  27%    13     0.0   0%  0.00  0.1%  alt.autos.karting 

16-4  Where can I get the latest race results and championship tables ?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Many race results are posted to rec.autos.sport.info, which is archived
at ftp.metrics.com [198-133.164.1] in /archive/rasi.*


16-5  Why not split rec.autos.sport into r.a.s.f1, r.a.s.indycar & r.a.s.drag?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At first glance, this may seem like a great idea.  However, it is not
quite so simple.  There are some subjects which are very easy to put 
in the correct groups.  Then there are the others.  Where would you 
discuss Michael Andretti's fortunes over the last couple of years ?  
Refuelling returns to F1.  Is there anything to be learnt from refuelling 
IndyCars ?  Someone crashes on an IndyCar oval.  Why don't they use 
gravel traps like in F1 ?  Which is the better series: F1 or IndyCars ?
These are all subjects which are not easy to pigeon hole.

Cross-posting to r.a.s.f1 and r.a.s.indycar might help in some of 
these cases, but what are the chances that the thread will still be 
cross-posted long after the discussion has drifted onto a new topic ?

In theory, once you have read an cross-posted article in one newsgroup,
you won't see that article in any other newsgroups.  In practice this
does not always work, and you may get to read everything twice.

Much of the discussion of NASCAR in the rec.autos.sport hierarchy can be 
clearly separated from the rest.  Few drivers swap between stockcars and 
single-seaters like F1 and IndyCars and the cars have few features in common.

Some subjects like drag racing or rallying can be clearly defined but are 
not discussed often enough to justify a newsgroup on their own.  Start 
some discussion !

If you still want to split the group, news.announce.newusers has guidelines
on how to procede.  Please take the discussion to news.groups ASAP.

16-6  Why rec.autos.sport and not rec.sport.autos ?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A long long time ago (in the mid 80s), on a usenet far far away, there were
two newsgroups about cars: rec.autos, and rec.autos.tech.  Discussions
about motorsports tended to disappear in the noise (and there was every
bit as much noise in rec.autos then as there is now.)  A number of rec.autos
residents who wanted more discussion of a sporting nature briefly discussed
getting a group created, but instead we settled for a mailing list.  The
auto-sports mailing list was run from a Vax at GE R&D for about two years,
administered by me (Richard Welty.)  It eventually became so popular that it
killed itself, having impacted the GE R&D long distance bills enough that
the corporate bean counters noticed it and ordered it stopped (GE did not
have a good quality Internet link at the time.)

Fortunately, the auto-sports mailing list was also successful enough that
I convinced myself that it was worth trying to run a vote for a new
Usenet newsgroup.  The only major issue to decide was the name.  After
extended discussion, we settled on rec.autos.sport, as most of us had
come together via rec.autos in the first place.  Other strong candidates
were rec.sport.autos and rec.sport.motor (on reflection a placement in
rec.sport might have been a better idea, but that's all old news articles
in the bitbucket now.)

One thing that was felt very strongly at the time was that in light of
the interminable arguments on what constituted a "sports car" that regularly
consumed rec.autos, we felt that rec.autos.sport was for sporting discussions.
We could see no way in which a meaningful, useful discussion could be held
on whether a Chevy Camaro was any more or less a sports car than a Bugeye
Sprite.  I think that this holds true today.  rec.autos.sport should continue
to be for sporting discussions.

16-7  What do these abbreviations mean ?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GOB   NASCAR racers and fans (from Good Ol' Boys)
Pick6  Competitions where you use your skill and judgement to predict the 
 results of races.  

BGN  Busch Grand National (feeder series for NASCAR)
BTCC    British Touring Car Championship
CART    Championship Auto Racing Teams (Run PPG IndyCar series)
DTM     Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (German FIA Class I Touring Cars)
FIA     Federation Internationale Automobile
IMSA  International Motor Sports Association
NASCAR  North American Stock CAr Racing.
NHRA    National HotRod Association (Drag Racing governing body)
PPG     Pittsburgh Plate Glass
USAC    United States Auto Club (Organisers of Indy 500)
WRC  World Rally Championship

ABS     Anti-Blockieren System (anti-lock brakes)
BHP     Brake Horse Power
ci,cc   Cubic Inch, Cubic Centimetre (1ci = 16-39cc)
ESPN    ??? Sports ???  Network
BBC     British Broadcasting Corporation
CBC     Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
TNN     The Nashville Network
FWEP    Front Wing End Plate
PS      Pferde Starke  ???
PIR     (Portland or Phoenix) International Raceway
NACA    National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (as in NACA duct)
DNF Did Not Finish
DNS Did Not Start
DNQ Did Not Qualify
DNPQ Did Not Pre-Qualify

FAQ  Frequently Asked Question
BTW  By The Way
IMHO In My (Honest or Humble) Opinion
AFAICR As Far As I Can Remember
AFAIK As Far As I Know
IMHO In My {Humble,Honest} Opinion
IYSWIM If You See What I Mean
RTFM Read The Fine Manual
SWALK Sent With A Loving Kiss
TLA Three Letter Acronym
17    MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS

17-1  How do I Join the Pick6 competitions ?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
These competitions, where you use your skill and judgement to predict
the results of races, are being run for F1 and NASCAR series.  An
IndyCar competition is being prepared.  You can join the competition in
the middle of a season, you are unlikely to win the championship.  The
rules for these competitions are too complicated to describe here.
However, the both the F1 Pick6 and GOBPick6 rules are posted
frequently.  Alternatively, you can get them by anonymous ftp to
mgu.bath.ac.uk (138-38.24.19) as file /pub/rec.autos.sport/F1-Pick6-rules
You can submit picks for F1 Pick6 directly from the World Wide Web,
from the URL http://essi.cerisi.fr/Pick6/pick6

17-2  Which are faster: Racing cars or racing motorbikes ?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At the average road course, F1 bikes (500 cc) are just a little slower in
overall lap times that Formula _three_ cars. F1 cars are _much_ faster
than bikes! For example, at Donington Park last year, the F1 bike pole
was about 1:34 (min:sec); the F3 pole was about 1:30, and the F1 cars
were under that _in the wet_. 

F1 and IndyCars can generate very high downforce which means that they 
can go round high speed corners very quickly.  GP motorbikes have good 
acceleration, but are much slower at cornering and braking because they 
have a lot less downforce.  One of the main reasons for this is the rule 
which stops them from having bodywork which extends behind the rear wheel.

Road legal superbikes are much closer in performance to the Grand Prix
machines than a Ferrari F40 is to a Formula 1 Ferrari.  A magazine
tested a stock Yamaha FZR1000 against a the Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1
with slick tyres and the bike posted a better time by around a second. 
Thus, a CBR900RR might be closer to the Ferrari F1 car than the F-40 is.

Similarly, another magazine reported that Mick Doohan tested a RVF750
superbike (essentially the $25,000 RC-45/RVF750 you and I could buy +
the three race kits costing $30,000 + a good trackside tuning) and ran
times 5 tenths of a second slower than times he set using the RVF750 F1
bike he ran the Suzuka 8hrs with. During the 8hrs he posted times a
scant 2 seconds off the 500cc GP outright lap record. $55,000 for a
bike that can run 2-5 seconds of a 500cc pace is quite astonishing.

17-3  Which are faster: F1 or IndyCars ?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This very much depends on the racetrack and the race distance.  For a
qualifying lap on a road course or short oval, an F1 car would be much
quicker.  However F1 cars are designed to race for 190 miles and are not 
designed to cope with racing conditions found on a superspeedway.  Stefan 
Johansson was the most recent driver to try an F1 car on a superspeedway, 
in a 1986 McLaren-Porsche.  The car was relatively quick even running 
with a lot of downforce and drag, but probably would have not been able 
to run for 500 miles without breaking down.  F1 engines are usually only 
run for 400-500 miles between rebuilds and the clutches rarely have to 
take more than three standing starts per race.

Both F1 and IndyCars have about 750-800 bhp on tap.  However, the
minimum weight for an F1 car is 1108 lbs.  The minimum weight for an
IndyCar is 1550 lbs.  Generally, F1 cars are more sophisticated and
expensive than IndyCars.  Carbon fibre brakes used in F1 are less
likely to fade and are much lighter than the steel brakes used in 
IndyCars.  However they are also much more expensive.  

Although semi-automatic gearboxes are banned in IndyCars, some say that
after the initial development cost, they actually save money for F1 teams 
by reducing the amount of engine damage when drivers miss downshifts with 
a manual gearchange.  

F1 cars have to have a flat-bottomed chassis which means that an IndyCar, 
which is allowed ground effect tunnels, can generate a lot of downforce 
for a given amount of drag.

0-100:  4s
0-150:  7s
215-0:  4s
        Speeds are in miles per hour. 

17-4  Can a car decelerate faster than 1G ?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yes - F1 cars can pull 4-5G under braking with the help of high downforce,
sticky tyres and carbon fibre brakes.  Aerodynamic downforce can double
the effective weight of an F1 car at speed.  Sticky tyres don't slide
smoothly but in a series of many small deformations. These can give very 
high coefficients of friction (much greater than 1).  A less significant 
factor is the aerodynamic drag caused by the large wings.  The Cd figure 
of an F1 car can be very high and is even higher when a car spins.

17-5  Who helped make this FAQ ?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Al Griffy   agriffy@bongo.cc.utexas.edu
Alan F. Perry    esprit@netcom.com
Andrew Henry   bspahh@midge.bath.ac.uk
Anupam Razdan   raz@prairienet.org
Bob Kehoe   bob@ncube.com 
Bono    s9104429@mella.ee.up.ac.za 
Cameron Howie   cameron@cs.uct.ac.za 
Chris Walton   cmw5907@zeus.tamu.edu 
David Koch    koch@uwplatt.edu
David Reininger   aq175@yfn.ysu.edu 
David Ross   stud7c32@bnr.ca 
David Ward   abdkw@stdvax.gsfc.nasa.gov 
Eric Tittley   etittley@phobos.astro.uwo.ca
Hans Spiller   hanss@microsoft.com
J. B. van der Meer  J.B.vdrMeer@kub.nl  
Jay Carina    carina@wiliki.eng.hawaii.edu
Joao Alcino de Andrade Martins jmartins@cat.cce.usp.br
John Burford   burford@umr.edu
Kenji SUEHIRO   suehiro@csl.cl.nec.co.jp
Kevin J. Coulter  kevinc@cbnewsf.cb.att.com 
Mario Perrazzino  m_perra@pavo.concordia.ca 
Mark A. Breland   breland@mcc.com
Mark H. Black   black@mig.upenn.edu 
Mark Williams   cymru@cbnewsc.cb.att.com 
Martin Coombes   mcoombes@mcoombes-sun.cisco.com
Matthias Blume    blume@cs.princeton.edu
Max Behara   behara@mcmail.cis.mcmaster.ca 
Michael Andrew Holthouse holthous@cis.ohio-state.edu 
Michael Regoli   mr@ogre.cica.indiana.edu
Pat Campbell   campbell@sauron.msfc.nasa.gov
Pat Hayes   phayes@tamu.edu 
Paul S Winalski   winalski@adserv.enet.dec.com
Pete Fanning   fanningp@music.lib.matc.edu
Philippe Baque   baque@cict.fr 
Richard Querin   rquerin@alfred.carleton.ca 
Richard Welty    welty@balltown.cma.com
Robert J Unglenieks  unglenie@schenectady.ecn.purdue.edu 
Roberto Barros   roberto@dcs.gla.ac.uk
Ron O'Dell   keeper@cats.ucsc.edu
Santiago Oleas   s_oleas@pavo.concordia.ca
Smitherman   mlsmithe@unix.amherst.edu 
Stefan ???   stefansk@sjuvm.bitnet
Steve Thompson   thompson@cheme.cornell.edu
Tancredo Vasconcellos-Neto tancredo@athena.mit.edu 
Terry Matula   tlm1@Ra.MsState.Edu 
Timo Pelkonen   timo.pelkonen@hut.fi
Toby Vaughn Padfield  tvp53202@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu
Tom Haapanen   tomh@metrics.com 
Tom Stangler    stangle@infi.net
Troy Davis   troy@autodesk.com 
Vincent B Ho   hbv@mercury.sfsu.edu
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The rec.autos.sport FAQ                                      rasfaq@bath.ac.uk

