Vrooomm! They're back on track.

[Gerard]

At last, after a whole month of nail-biting boredom, the sounds of roaring formula 1 engines can be heard again.
And I don't think there has ever been a seasons beginning with such a whole lot of 'first timers.'

Today, Friday, Arrows, Benetton, Jaguar and Jordan will be at Silverstone for their shakedown.
After that the teams will face a three week testing program in Spain.

Benetton will try out its new Renault engine for the first time, while Gaston Mazzacane will drive for Arrows, trying out the AMT engine.
Luciano Burti is sceduled to have a go with the Jaguar.

Next week, McLaren will measure itself with Ferrari in Jerez but attention will certainly be pointed at Juan Pablo Montoya in his first outing in the Williams-BMW.
Jenson Button is the man to prove Frank Williams wrong for letting him go while testing the Benetton-Renault.

Later in December, Olivier Panis has his first run in the BAR-Honda.
Tomas Scheckter and German Andre Lotterer will have their tests with Jaguar.

With the re-appearing traction control systems and Michelin's testing program it promises to be an exiting month.
And that's the way it should be, shouldn't it?

[Liz]

And you have missed the lovely and talented Ricardo Zonta, who is already shaking down the new Jordan with its brand new Honda engine!

Oh to be trackside and see all these new boys and hear their brand new cars.

I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Valve Bounce]

I am wondering how the Renault will perform straight out of the box. It was not all that long ago that factory Renault quit Williams and left them with Mechachrome. Now the factory is back after a short holiday, and will they be firing on all 10 when the hit the asphalt? I don't have that much confidence in the AMT engine since the Peugeot was never a winner. Honda and BMW are different, in their second year, and will prove to be winners this coming year. Testing will not tell us enough between the teams, simply because testing is testing - just that. However, it will tell us something between the team members that we are interested in: JPM against Ralf, and Bunsen against Fisi. Actually, I cannot see that much differences between the two at Benneton as Bunsen will get along with Fisi without any problems. It's the Williams duo that all eyes will be on, how they get along as well as how they perform against each other. I certainly do not subscribe to the idea that Ralf will not be able to handle the pressure, and I am more interested whether they get along. For Williams to succeed this year, there must be harmony in the team.

[Billy_Hunt]

Quick grumble why only 5 minutes to edit your posts I've just started a thread called what do you make of this then I read this thread and thought it go in here instead but I cant aaaaaarrrrggggghhhhhhh ! WHY ?

Anyway this what I put :-

Just picked up on something at the Jaguar website about the recent testing
"Benetton tester Mark Webber put some miles on Renault’s wide-angle and unusual sounding V10."
Have Renault got something up their sleeves or am I reading nothing into something.
What do they mean by wide-angle ?
and why does it sound unusual ?
I'm quite sure Renault have not been sleeping while they have been away.

[Valve Bounce]

I'd like to know how long Renault have had their engine built and testing. They didn't stay away that long, and it makes me wonder why they left Williams in the first place when they were on top of the world. As for the strange sounding wide angled engine, I am also curious - I know at least one of the posters here is a mechanical engineer, so let's hope we hear from him!!