nudge

Dutch GP at Zandvoort is apparently set to return to calendar next year already!

You're watching it already???

Yes, I was skeptical at first as despite Bruce Lee being cool, martial art movies from the 70s were a bit silly and the acting was mediocre to put it mildly... But this one actually manages to not overdo the fighting scenes and the story has a lot of layers as there's a lot of going on... Love it so far.

Just watched it and I'm sold. A sort of wild west + Gangs of New York + Boardwalk Empire + Black Sails + Into the Badlands + Banshee + Bruce Lee mix that's got solid fight choreography without it being silly, great music score, good acting and interesting story and characters. The setting of the Chinatown in late 1800s San Francisco is done beautifully. Think you might enjoy it too fellas. @Bluewolf @Viva la FCB @Tommy

Just finished the final episode of Race Across the World... Thoroughly enjoyed it; definitely the best show of this type on TV as it feels much more genuine and natural than the others I've seen before (Amazing Race etc). In the similar series I've seen the participants used to get a lot of help from the locals and had things easier because of the cameras; this seems less like it and when I saw one team getting completely ripped off by the bus company and tuktuk drivers as well as for the taxi from Cambodia to the Thailand border without them even knowing it, I knew this is definitely not staged Also was fun to see and recognise most of the places in Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand; I even know where I was at the time when they were filming it there Love the character development and relationship dynamics of the participants; really great watch. Just read that the producers are already looking for new participants for the second series; good to hear it will be coming back! @Pyfish have you watched the rest of it?

Thanks for the kind words but I think there's some mix up as I'm most definitely not going on any awesome holidays this year Just going back to Europe for a few months.

1. Agreed... That said, it's probably the way the transfer fees are now. He's got a 12m release clause apparently; Gladbach offered 10m for him a while ago. Does sound too expensive for me as well though. 2. Hmmm yes a bit too excessive as it stands now. Johannsson's contract is expiring this year and I can't imagine him getting a new one. Pizarro might be retiring (maaaybe haha); Kruse's future is unclear at this moment as his contract expires as well. I love Fin but I'm afraid he is not going to make a proper comeback anymore. That injury was just too serious, he's not the youngest anymore and now injured again after just one match Then it's Osako, Harnik, Sargent and Johannes Eggestein. I'm a big fan of Füllkrug and would love to have him back but not at the expense of strengthening other areas of the team... Now moving to some positive news... Now it's Maxi's turn!

Niclas Füllkrug is apparently on his way back to Bremen! 8m transfer fee and a contract until 2023 is being reported.

This looks good. The pilot episode is now out; will check it out tomorrow...

Hehe work is almost done... Just a few more datasets and it's finally over. Haha. Yeah I enjoyed the debate as well; always open to it as long as everyone remains civil and it's indeed refreshing to be able to talk different opinions without personal insults and the likes. To be fair I started watching F1 properly only in 1991-92 myself so we're pretty much on the same page here... Due to my father working with cars for most of his life and being involved at Nürburgring for a few years I had a lot of chances to meet and talk to many people who were part of the German racing scene at the time and were active in various levels of organising racing events as well as drivers and engineers etc. Nowadays I just have to stick to talking to people online haha.

Nah I'd say better let's not bring this thread back on topic

Did the feet of the poacher survive the ordeal?

I may be inclined to just drink those beers and skip the movie altogether

Depends how bad the movie is...

Ah it's a pity; I thought you had some fancy rating system there Like 8 beers in 3 hours makes the movie enjoyable

You'll have to explain your rating system to me

Joe's just taking the piss anyway...

I think you misunderstood me in terms of the fuel filter... They removed the original filter from the fuel valve prior to the fire and that's why they were under investigation! They didn't change anything after the explosion and weren't required to; the fuel system supplier actually brought in completely new valves for all teams as that fire showed the faults and defects of the previous valves and could have potentially led to more similar incidents if not changed. Have fun at the birthday party haha, not much to discuss here anymore... Besides I have a work deadline for tomorrow anyway.

Flat Earth TV

Because Lunar Overshoes...

That first link is not some dude saying what "he thinks"; it's a well researched book with references and documentation. A great read regardless of what your opinion on this whole thing is. A lot of well-documented details that are hard or even impossible to find otherwise. I'm confused with the meaning of the bolded sentence though. So just for clarification: the whole point of the fuel filter tampering allegations was the fact that Benetton removed the original filter from the fuel valve, it was alleged to speed up their fueling process and was thought to have caused that Verstappen fire in the pits. They never actually tried to hide the fact that they had the filter removed and as it turned out, other teams had written permission from the fuel system supplier to do it; this was mostly because there have been numerous previous incidents with the original valve with nozzles and leaks and whatnot and teams looked for solutions to it (removing the filter was one of them). Therefore, Benetton was found not guilty over Verstappen's pit fire and weren't given punishment for removing the filter. Yes sorry I misread the part of your post about McLaren; thought you said they were cleared off any wrongdoing completely and only Benetton were charged. So yeah, basically both teams got the same fine for delaying the data; both had illegal systems in their cars, both were deemed innocent and avoided punishment because of circumstantial evidence. Other questions you're asking are very interesting for sure, you can also add a few others such as why the FIA didn't actually punish ANY team for having illegal aids despite promising "draconian" punishments for it before the season? Why didn't Williams or any other team on the grid launch official complaint and ask for investigation if they were suspected Benetton were cheating? Why didn't Williams appeal Schumacher's title after Adelaide crash? Would Senna have beaten Schumi had he not been killed early in the season? We don't know the answers to any of those and we can speculate all we want; it doesn't make it a fact though. Senna did make allegations about other drivers/teams "cheating" prior to 1994. He was accusing David Leslie for running an illegal car in Silverstone 1983 because Leslie took pole position ahead of him haha. He used to get into fights with officials in F3 before that when he was getting being beaten by Brundle as he saw it as a big conspiracy against him whenever he wasn't winning. Martin Brundle even said himself that Senna "convinced himself that Benetton was cheating" and that turned into his weakness. Jos came out with his accusations only some 15 years later and admitted that he had no evidence for his claims; he just felt there was no way Schumacher would have been that fast while he struggled with his car. In fact he said in an earlier interview shortly after leaving Benetton that he couldn't handle the car as it was not suited to his driving style. So it just sounds like sour grapes to me; but once again as I said before I wouldn't be surprised if Benetton were up to something after all.

Yeah that's why I took my time to actually find and post reliable links to sources from well-researched books and respectable racing magazines and articles instead of just some random posts on some discussion board. "All but 4 teams" was meant in regards to fuel filter tampering (see my original post); it was based on Benetton's defense where they admitted that they have removed the filter and never even tried to hide the fact that they did and have provided a list of incidents and teams that got permission from Charlie Whiting and Intertechnique to remove it hence why they were cleared and weren't punished for Verstappen's fire in the pits. Other sources I quoted document other teams having the same or similar prohibited systems in their software and also being accused of cheating so I'm not sure why you'd say that "nothing can be found". Yes you are wrong here. Benetton, McLaren, and Ferrari were the three teams that had to hand over the data in that particular case but only Ferrari actually did it. Both Benetton and McLaren were fined for delaying it. McLaren were not cleared of any wrong doing either; it was confirmed that the gearbox control device fitted to car No. 7 (Mika Hakkinen) Marlboro McLaren Peugeot at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix was in breach of the Formula One Technical Regulations.They escaped punishment because they convinced the FIA that they didn't "intend to infringe the regulations" and were told to remove the illegal aid but still got their 100000$ fine for failing to hand over their data on time (just like Benetton). The official FIA press release here: https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/fia-press-release-on-benetton-mclaren-hearing/919/ Same with Benetton who were found to have the LC system in their software but convinced the FIA that they never used or intended to use it. Actual official statement: "The FIA had enlisted software analysts Liverpool Data Research Associates to inspect Benetton’s source code, and ruled that “according to LDRA the best evidence is that Benetton was not using ‘launch control’ (an automatic start system) at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. Had the evidence proved they were, the World Motor Sport Council would have been invited to exclude them from the World Championship. Given the evidence available, such a course of action would obviously have been wrong.” (Motorsport Magazine; Page 14, September 1994). In other words both teams got away due to the presumption of innocence. I didn't mention it because it's clearly stated in that Motorsport Magazine timeline article that I posted. Of course Ferrari and Larini denied it afterwards. The same way that Benetton or McLaren or anyone else denied any wrong doing. Doesn't mean either of them were telling the truth though. The same line of defense (i.e. the systems are redundant and only used in training/practice) was also used by other teams who had the TC/LC systems in their code. Fact is, numerous teams were found to have it but not a single team - including Benetton - were found guilty of using it and none received any punishment. Besides one of the links I provided actually documents how FIA found that Ferrari used the engine rev limiter illegally and were told to remove it once it was discovered. They were also found to not have correctly adhered to the cut holes in the airbox rule after their win in Hockenheim yet that wasn't punished either (source: https://www.racefans.net/2014/07/31/1994-german-grand-prix-flashback/) Results after 1994 San Marino and pending investigation: Monaco: Quali: P1 Schumacher; Race: P1 Schumacher Spain: Quali: P1 Schumacher; Race: P1 Hill Canada: Quali: P1 Schumacher; Race: P1 Schumacher France: Quali: P1 Hill; Race: P1 Schumacher Silverstone: Quali: P1 Hill; Race: Hill (Schumacher disqualified) Germany: Quali: P1 Berger; Race: P1 Berger (Schumacher DNF) Hungary: Quali: P1 Schumacher; Race: P1 Schumacher Spa: Quali: P1 Barichello; Race: P1 Schumacher (disqualified afterwards for excessive plank wear) Monza: Quali: P1 Alesi; Race: P1 Hill (Schumacher didn't participate due to his ban) Portugal: Quali: P1 Berger; Race: P1 Hill (Schumacher still banned) Jerez: Quali: P1 Schumacher; Race: P1 Schumacher Japan: Quali: P1 Schumacher; Race: P1 Hill Adelaide: Well we know how that went... Anyway Mansell was P1 both in quali and the race. Overall, hardly a reduction in performance and race wins during/after the investigation and doesn't support the idea that they stopped doing whatever they've been doing prior to that. It's interesting you mention the skid block; I never disputed that ban as it was proven by scrutineering and Benetton/Schumacher received their punishment. It's also interesting that Ferrari apparently had the skid block on Berger's car worn beyond the legal limit at Hockenheim already (the first race that the 10mm skid block was introduced and the one Ferrari went on to win); unfortunately I can't find any sources online on that now so nevermind. I have all recordings of full F1 races since 1981 on my external HD... I'll give the 1989 another watch but whichever way you look at it, both Senna and Prost took each other out on two occasions in order to win the title. I respect Senna a lot as a driver; love the aggressive pushing-the-limits style but he was just as capable of dirty tricks and unsportsmanlike behaviour and put winning above everything else just like Schumacher. Anyway that's also a bit irrelevant.