F1 2007

[sperry]

I hope that Honda picture is a fake. That's a terrible looking car... especially since the old Lucky Strike livery was so hot.

[Nick Koan]

Well, we'll find out tomorrow or Tuesday.

[Nick Koan]

Well, its official. That is Honda's new livery. Its not sponsored by Google or Google Earth though. The idea is to bring environmental concerns to light. There will be no traditional sponsors (except for the Bridgestone stickers which are probably required), instead each company will get one pixel on the car, only viewable under a microscope.

The website on the wing (myearthdream.com) will also showcase all of the sponsors and their commitment to environmental issues.

So far, sponsors include:
Universal Music
Gatorade
Fila
IBM
Instron
Oliver Sweeney
Perkin Elmer
Showa Denko
TUV
GF Agie Charmilles
and all the 2006 sponsors (except Lucky Strike).

[Nick Koan]

Pics

[MattR]

That's retarded.

[Dean]

I like it. Most of the other cars are monochrome, or some symmetrical combination of 2-3 primary colors.

[Nick Koan]

I still can't decide. I kind of like the concept, but at the same time it seems so busy that it bothers me a little that way too.

[sperry]

The car looks ghey. Although that's a pretty nice scam to their sponsors: "no really, it's cool, your logos are on the car... they're just microscopic!"

I think the main color of the car should be determined by the country of origin. Leave it up to the sponsors to work their logos in there.

And how did Honda paint the car like that to begin with... is it some crazy vinyl wrap? :blech:

[MPREZIV]

EGADS!!!! That car makes Baby Jebus cry...

[Nick Koan]

So, I'm still up in the air on the Honda, but now I have my name on an F1 car albeit microscopically. And all it cost was a little cash and a pledge to do my laundry with cold water. Woohoo.

[sperry]

Originally Posted by nKoan

So, I'm still up in the air on the Honda, but now I have my name on an F1 car albeit microscopically. And all it cost was a little cash and a pledge to do my laundry with cold water. Woohoo.

I'm gonna make sure to wash my whites *and* my darks in hot water, just to erase whatever benefit you're making on the environment. And when I shrink/bleed everything into crap, I'm gonna go out and buy more clothes... cheap clothes, that will wear out quickly, and that are made from synthetics based on petroleum! Take that Mr. "my name is written microscopically on an F1 car". I bet Jenson crashes your name right into Sato in Australia.

(Matt, am I sounding a little more "normal" yet?)

[Nick Koan]

And he's back. We missed you Scott.

[Nick Koan]

In other news...

Heiki got some style points this morning in Bahrain.


Oops, he just lost them.

[Dean]

Ouch. That is not going to buff out...

[sperry]

Is that a flagger station!? Look at that extinguisher fly!

(poor car... )

[sybir]

Originally Posted by nKoan

So, I'm still up in the air on the Honda, but now I have my name on an F1 car albeit microscopically. And all it cost was a little cash and a pledge to do my laundry with cold water. Woohoo.

The car now has .2534% more greasy wop. I just had to give up ironing

[Kevin M]

I am not putting my name on it. Sato is likely enough to rear-end one of them as it is.

[sperry]

Holy crap... hippie tree huggers agree with me?

http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpa...s_art_id=30649

[Nick Koan]

I agree that its a very small gesture (and much smaller than Honda is trying to play off) but I wouldn't exactly call it bad. Still, I think a small gesture is still better than nothing.

Also, I'm not a huge believer in the usefulness of being carbon neutral, but F1 (and WRC) are already carbon neutral. Mosley also wants to move both sports to be more green, so while this may be an empty gesture now, its kind of the future of the sport.

[sperry]

Originally Posted by nKoan

I agree that its a very small gesture (and much smaller than Honda is trying to play off) but I wouldn't exactly call it bad. Still, I think a small gesture is still better than nothing.

Also, I'm not a huge believer in the usefulness of being carbon neutral, but F1 (and WRC) are already carbon neutral. Mosley also wants to move both sports to be more green, so while this may be an empty gesture now, its kind of the future of the sport.

I'm not knocking the benefits of the program... I'm just pointing out the irony of using the most polluting enterprise (motorsports is a ton of wasted resources, for what's basically entertainment purposes) as a platform for spouting about environmental awareness.

Like the article says, the ploy screams of "well we don't have a title sponsor, what do we do?", not "let's save the earf!" It's not like the Honda F1 car is electric, or running cats, or doing anything to save the earth aside from acting as a moving awareness billboard. If Honda really wanted to make a difference, their F1 program is not the starting point... their line of cars is the starting point (not to say they don't make a difference, as Honda sells the most fuel efficient line of cars in the world).

Bottom line: if you're going to use F1 as an environmental platform, you better be demonstrably more green in your race program... especially with your car. And with competition so tight in F1, I don't see Honda putting catalytic converters on the RA107.

[Nick Koan]

Yeah, to be competitive within the current set of rules, you need to almost be environmentally damaging. Max Mosely is trying to introduce more green requirements in 2010, but again, it could be little more than an empty gesture.

[sperry]

Originally Posted by nKoan

Yeah, to be competitive within the current set of rules, you need to almost be environmentally damaging. Max Mosely is trying to introduce more green requirements in 2010, but again, it could be little more than an empty gesture.

And I'm not against saving the planet (duh), but IMO motorsports is a decadence... it's such a minor front on which to fight the battle... if the major polluters: road vehicles, power generation, industrial manufacturing, etc. were clean(er), motorsports wouldn't have any measurable impact on the environment. Let us have smoke belching, fire-breathing, tire melting race cars! They're fun! Clean up the roads, the power plants, etc.

I'd gladly drive an electric car, or take the subway, if I can still burn a few gallons of petrol at the race track on the weekend.

[Nick Koan]

Spyker decided to not run all orange. Now its orange and pewter.

[sperry]

Originally Posted by nKoan

Spyker decided to not run all orange. Now its orange and pewter.

Looks great! I'm officially on the Orange is the new color of F1 bandwagon. The spyker and new ING Renault cars are gorgeous... I think I like 'em better than I liked the silver McLaren when it first came out.

[sperry]

Woah, I just noticed on that Spyker... what's with the triple element wing!?! Did someone hire the Red Baron for aero design?