F1 has been rocked this week after the culmination of a terrific and unpredictable season by the sudden withdrawal of Toyota from the sport, despite having signed up to stay in until 2012 and the possible withdrawal of Renault. This follows on the heels of BMW announcing it was pulling out earlier this season and Honda who pulled out at the end of last season. Add to this the fact that Bridgestone, the tyre manufacturer to F1 has also announced it will not be renewing it's agreement and you could easily conclude that the sport is in meltdown.
Those who think that F1 must have the top motor manufacturers in it to make it relevant have forgotten the rich history of this sport. Bernie Ecclestone, who has done a tremendous amount to bring the sport to the heights of popularity that it enjoys these days, seems to think that it needs these firms to make it the premier motor racing tournament.
History does not bear this thesis out however. Look at both of the major teams of the last decade, Ferrari and McLaren. True nowadays Ferrari is the prestige brand of Fiat but it started when Enzo Ferrari left the Maserati team to start his own team solely to race in Formula 1. Mclaren was one of those teams started by an ex-World Champion (in this case Bruce McLaren), although again now it is in the main supported by Mercedes. The other teams that have won World Championships have equally humble origins. Brabham was another driver start-up team. Lotus was created by Colin Chapman and only became a motor manufacturer because of its success on the racetrack not the other way round. Look at the last great independent in the sport today, Williams. A team that battled for many years without a victory before they became World conquerers, subsequently (and wisely as it turns out) rejecting a buyout from BMW to remain independent. When this sport has been at its most competitive, most innovative it has been driven by skilled engineers and designers not by multinational conglomerates who want to sell more of their bland town car or (never used) off-road 4x4.
Indeed one only has to look at this remarkable season to see who adapted to the rule changes the best. Brawn, freed from the yoke of Honda, were first out of the blocks with the double defuser, a smart interpretation of the rules that would have made Chapman smile. Williams also had a double defuser and ended up having their best season for some time, albeit with the one driver they wanted rather than the one forced on them by their engine manufacturer. The other team to have the double defuser? Toyota. A team that has supposedly pumped more into its F1 team than anyone else, even beating Ferrari, who this season had a the technological edge that would prove to be the difference between first and second in the championship. What happened to them? Well, they were competitive one weekend and nowhere the next, ultimately dropping out of the sport altogether. Brawn won the World Championship for both driver and manufacturer, whilst Williams got out of the Toyota deal, got themselves the Cosworth engine deal for next year and an very sensible pairing of experienced F1 driver and proven race winner, Rubens Barrichello and up and coming racer, current F2 champion Nico Hülkenberg.
The other major team of the year, the team that came second in the Championship, the team that "won" the second half of the season was Red Bull. A team with the best designer of the past 15 years, Adrian Newey creating a car that looked different depending on the circuit, sometimes with the pinsharp shark nose and sometimes with the broad shovel nosed variant if that was what suited the track. Late on McLaren took what was a dreadful car and miraculously made a silk purse out of it and Ferrari looked competent at times but the season belonged to two independents.
When F1 was great there were a number of teams competing for race wins, they all tended to use the same engine, the old Ford Cosworth V8, which meant that it was the designers, the chassis, the drivers and the skill of the teams that won through and I hope that this loss of the manufacturers from F1 will see a return to the days when we focused less on budget and more innovation and ingenuity. Bye-bye Toyota, hello racing.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
The Ghosts of my Life Blow Wilder than Before
I am going o have another moan, frankly I think this whole blog could end up being the basis for the next Grumpy Old Men series.
First, my ex-wife, who tricked me out of two thirds of the value of our flat despite the fact that we agreed to a 50/50 split seems to think that the law is on her side for me paying her tons of cash for the sale of our flat but that the law does not require her to keep up payments on the joint mortgage we have until the flat is sold. Apparently I should pay that, the maintenance fees for the flat and the legal fees for selling the flat too and then give her a pound of flesh from nearest to my heart as possible.
Second, an ex-very good friend suddenly sends me a text (I have been trying to send her a cheque for a small amount of money I owe her) claiming to have never "given out her address" to me, conveniently forgetting that she invited me round after having told me on numerous occasions where she lived and we spent a splendid evening talking, watching trashy TV and nattering on the sofa. However, now that she has decided we are no longer friends history has been re-written to such an extent that I am right up there with Hitler and Stalin obviously.
I have been feeling quite chipper recently despite everything but as the lyric goes "Just when I thought I was winning . . . the ghosts of my life blow wilder than before". Thank you ladies, you make my life complete.
First, my ex-wife, who tricked me out of two thirds of the value of our flat despite the fact that we agreed to a 50/50 split seems to think that the law is on her side for me paying her tons of cash for the sale of our flat but that the law does not require her to keep up payments on the joint mortgage we have until the flat is sold. Apparently I should pay that, the maintenance fees for the flat and the legal fees for selling the flat too and then give her a pound of flesh from nearest to my heart as possible.
Second, an ex-very good friend suddenly sends me a text (I have been trying to send her a cheque for a small amount of money I owe her) claiming to have never "given out her address" to me, conveniently forgetting that she invited me round after having told me on numerous occasions where she lived and we spent a splendid evening talking, watching trashy TV and nattering on the sofa. However, now that she has decided we are no longer friends history has been re-written to such an extent that I am right up there with Hitler and Stalin obviously.
I have been feeling quite chipper recently despite everything but as the lyric goes "Just when I thought I was winning . . . the ghosts of my life blow wilder than before". Thank you ladies, you make my life complete.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
British Banking Rip-off (& there's more!)
It would be best if you read the previous post first. I will give you a couple of minutes to do that before I continue.
Done? Okay, so finally after "seven working days", which was actually eight working days the money left my Lloyds credit card late on the 24th. I had set up a number of payments to go out from my current account to pay the bills I had not been able to pay last month.
However, Lloyds neglected to tell me that the money would leave my credit card in seven working days but not actually hit my current account for another two to three days! The next thing I know I am getting a text from lloyds saying I do not have enough money in my account to pay the bills.
I then phoned the credit card people and after a long-sih conversation was transferred to the telephone banking people who said that actually I need to speak to the credit card people who then said they had had a bit of a backlog and were very sorry that I had not been told the right information but it would be all okay as I would be getting my money by the end of the week. Remember I asked for this transfer from one Lloyds account to another Lloyds account on the 12th August and they are patting themselves on the back for completing it by the 28th August. I think you will agree an incredible achievement in this day and age.
I explained what that I was paying bills on the basis the money would be there and they apologised and said it would be okay by the end of the week. I explained again that I was trying to pay bills now on the basis of the information they had given me and they apologised for that but could do nothing to help.
I asked to have my credit facilities extended to cover the money that was being returned to my account so that the bills could get paid but they said that due to my credit rating they were not able to do that but everything would be okay by the end of the week. I explained again that it was not acceptable and that as the money was being transferred from one Lloyds account to another Lloyds account. After moving up the ladder a bit and in a phone call lasting over an hour I finally was told they would extend my credit facilities by less than half of the amount that was being transferred and for the privilege I would pay 19.3% interest.
I think next time I need money I will go straight to the loan sharks, at least they are honestly crooked!
Done? Okay, so finally after "seven working days", which was actually eight working days the money left my Lloyds credit card late on the 24th. I had set up a number of payments to go out from my current account to pay the bills I had not been able to pay last month.
However, Lloyds neglected to tell me that the money would leave my credit card in seven working days but not actually hit my current account for another two to three days! The next thing I know I am getting a text from lloyds saying I do not have enough money in my account to pay the bills.
I then phoned the credit card people and after a long-sih conversation was transferred to the telephone banking people who said that actually I need to speak to the credit card people who then said they had had a bit of a backlog and were very sorry that I had not been told the right information but it would be all okay as I would be getting my money by the end of the week. Remember I asked for this transfer from one Lloyds account to another Lloyds account on the 12th August and they are patting themselves on the back for completing it by the 28th August. I think you will agree an incredible achievement in this day and age.
I explained what that I was paying bills on the basis the money would be there and they apologised and said it would be okay by the end of the week. I explained again that I was trying to pay bills now on the basis of the information they had given me and they apologised for that but could do nothing to help.
I asked to have my credit facilities extended to cover the money that was being returned to my account so that the bills could get paid but they said that due to my credit rating they were not able to do that but everything would be okay by the end of the week. I explained again that it was not acceptable and that as the money was being transferred from one Lloyds account to another Lloyds account. After moving up the ladder a bit and in a phone call lasting over an hour I finally was told they would extend my credit facilities by less than half of the amount that was being transferred and for the privilege I would pay 19.3% interest.
I think next time I need money I will go straight to the loan sharks, at least they are honestly crooked!
Friday, August 21, 2009
British Banking Rip-Off
Now I know this has been said before but I think until the British banks are forced to improve their service they will continue to rip us, their customers off.
Last month instead of transferring my salary to my current account I picked the wrong option and paid off a credit card instead. This was entirely my error and for that I admit responsibility. It takes British banks five working days to complete a transfer between different banks, so I waited five working days, which was a Friday and then as nothing had turned up in the other account and once before they had not managed to complete a transfer on a Friday I waited until Monday. When it still did not turn up on the Monday I went back to the original account and realised my error.
I presumed that the bank would not transfer my money back so instead I arranged a number of balance transfers to pay off other credit cards and to put some money on a card that I could then do a balance transfer to my current account. After waiting another week because of course it takes British banks a week to do a balance transfer I phoned the credit card company to find out what the hold-up was and was told that my credit rating was not good enough to allow the balance transfers to go through.
I explained the situation to the person on the phone who said that they could transfer the money back to my account, which I was amazed and pleased at but that, guess what, it would take seven working days to complete the transfer. I asked them to undertake the transfer and as that was a Wednesday I presumed that seven working days later would be a week Friday.
Today I checked my account to find still no money. I phoned the credit card company to be told that seven working days started the day after I requested the transfer. This meant that I would not receive my money back until Monday. guess what else happens Monday? I get my next pay cheque. this whole fiasco has taken a month and the really annoying thing is that the account my salary gets paid into and the credit card that I mistakenly paid my salary onto are both the same bank! So they "take" seven working days to transfer money between two accounts! Pathetic. I will complain and I will take my financial business elsewhere but frankly all of the British banks are the same.
Last month instead of transferring my salary to my current account I picked the wrong option and paid off a credit card instead. This was entirely my error and for that I admit responsibility. It takes British banks five working days to complete a transfer between different banks, so I waited five working days, which was a Friday and then as nothing had turned up in the other account and once before they had not managed to complete a transfer on a Friday I waited until Monday. When it still did not turn up on the Monday I went back to the original account and realised my error.
I presumed that the bank would not transfer my money back so instead I arranged a number of balance transfers to pay off other credit cards and to put some money on a card that I could then do a balance transfer to my current account. After waiting another week because of course it takes British banks a week to do a balance transfer I phoned the credit card company to find out what the hold-up was and was told that my credit rating was not good enough to allow the balance transfers to go through.
I explained the situation to the person on the phone who said that they could transfer the money back to my account, which I was amazed and pleased at but that, guess what, it would take seven working days to complete the transfer. I asked them to undertake the transfer and as that was a Wednesday I presumed that seven working days later would be a week Friday.
Today I checked my account to find still no money. I phoned the credit card company to be told that seven working days started the day after I requested the transfer. This meant that I would not receive my money back until Monday. guess what else happens Monday? I get my next pay cheque. this whole fiasco has taken a month and the really annoying thing is that the account my salary gets paid into and the credit card that I mistakenly paid my salary onto are both the same bank! So they "take" seven working days to transfer money between two accounts! Pathetic. I will complain and I will take my financial business elsewhere but frankly all of the British banks are the same.
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