Silverstone A1 test

[macaroon]

hi,
just wondering if anyone has any news / times from the first A1 test today ?

[cos]

Not sure if there will be any times published, but we'll see. Seem to be quite a few drivers out in force; aside from the previously confirmed ones (Kerr, Jos, Lamy etc.) there's Piquet and Dirani (Brazil), Jeff Simmons (USA), Tingyi Jiang (China), Neel Jani (Switzerland), Matt Halliday (NZ), Stephen Simpson (South Africa), Christian Jones (Australia), Loic Duval (France) and Adam Kahn (Pakistan). Lebanon and Mexico are also testing.

[Paul Rayner]

Times (now on motorsportvision.co.uk)

1 Great Britain 48.888 seconds
2 Brazil 49.069
3 Switzerland 49.095
4 France 49.271
5 Portugal 49.393
6 Pakistan 49.506
7 Malaysia 49.634
8 USA 49.740
9 South Africa 49.864
10 Lebanon 49.976
11 Australia 50.066
12 Mexico 50.265
13 Netherlands 50.377
14 New Zealand 50.610
15 China 55.783

Ahhh, makes you feel proud to be British!

[crozier74]

Originally Posted by Paul Rayner

Ahhh, makes you feel proud to be British!

Seems the whole point of the series is already working then!

[cos]

Pretty close so far (except for China...); and good to see countries like Pakistan and Lebanon up there already. Anyone know if there were any particular reliability troubles (Ã* la GP2)?

[andy_b]

lots of pics on www.******************* Brasil livery looks great. The British livery is rubbish (sorry to diss a fellow designer if he/she reads that) but its very weak.

[Kicking-back]

Not all the liveries are definitive at this stage

[andy_b]

probably not. You didnt design it did you?

[cos]

Isn't the British livery going to be racing green?

[Kicking-back]

Here's a list of all the drivers who took part today:

Great Britain Robbie Kerr, Alex Lloyd
Brazil Nelson Piquet Jr., Danilo Dirani, Joao Paulo Oliveiria
Switzerland Neel Jani
France Loic Duval, Alexandre Premat, Nicolas Lapierre
Portugal Pedro Lamy
Pakistan Adam Kahn
Malaysia Alex Yoong
USA Jeff Simmons
South Africa Stephen Simpson, Thomas Scheckter
Lebanon Kalil Beschir, Basil Shaaban
Australia Christian Jones
Mexico Luis Diaz, Memo Rojas, David Martinez, Salvador Duran
Netherlands Jos Verstappen, Jeroen Bleekemolen
New Zealand Jonny Reid, Matt Halliday
China Qing Hua Ma, Tingyi Jiang

[Andrew Kitson]

Originally Posted by cos

Isn't the British livery going to be racing green?

John Surtees asked me to put some design ideas together. He wanted Vanwall green (as Vanwall was the first British GP car and John drove for them briefly) but also incorporate the Union flag and white space for sponsors. I began with a few quick sketches and was then put on hold. The Sheik wanted far more control over liveries than John thought, so out of his control. No idea who has done the latest design.

[ensign14]

I would love it if they went back to the original racing colours. They could create new ones for Lebanon (perhaps Monaco's with green wings), Pakistan (green with white "bonnet"), China (red with yellow "chassis")...

[strider]

Originally Posted by Kicking-back

Here's a list of all the drivers who took part today:

Great Britain Robbie Kerr, Alex Lloyd
Brazil Nelson Piquet Jr., Danilo Dirani, Joao Paulo Oliveiria
Switzerland Neel Jani
France Loic Duval, Alexandre Premat, Nicolas Lapierre
Portugal Pedro Lamy
Pakistan Adam Kahn
Malaysia Alex Yoong
USA Jeff Simmons
South Africa Stephen Simpson, Thomas Scheckter
Lebanon Kalil Beschir, Basil Shaaban
Australia Christian Jones
Mexico Luis Diaz, Memo Rojas, David Martinez, Salvador Duran
Netherlands Jos Verstappen, Jeroen Bleekemolen
New Zealand Jonny Reid, Matt Halliday
China Qing Hua Ma, Tingyi Jiang

I've seen that list too,K-b, but I'm not sure it's correct. In another story I read that Tomas Schechter is flying in to drive tomorrow. There is also talk of Tony Kanaan having a run. Adam Khan is the artist formerly known as Adam-Langley Khan... Quite quick, actually, but in general today sounds to have been not much more than a shakedown.

[andy_b]

BRG would have been ace though wouldn't it

[chezza]

Well the cars and drivers have to have a shakedown at some point, and they are often very important. Ok so the times aren't really relevant but testing times never are. Cars cannot be compared as it not known what set up the teams are running, fuel loads, tyres, etc.

[andy_b]

back off topic for a second. Remember the Team St.George livery of Darren Manning a few years ago ( http://www.speedcenter.com/news02/pix/sc_n0905_02.jpg )

Ignore the fact its the St George's flag and A1GP needs a Union Flag, but that looks quite good.

[Milanostah]

It'd be great if the U.S. livery had the eagle did on the nose of the car (like AAR did for CART).

[Miko]

still no sine of the Irish Team yet! getin a bit late!

[cos]

I don't think GBR's livery is that bad - obviously there'll be some sponsors in the predominantly white areas (e.g. Sky Sports, whose logo is red/white/blue anyway).

Lebanon and Portugal look a bit similar at the moment; but presumably that's due to similar country flags.

[cos]

Originally Posted by chezza

Well the cars and drivers have to have a shakedown at some point, and they are often very important.

For a shakedown the times posted are quite impressive: current Silverstone National lap record is 47.404 set by Scott Mansell in a '97-spec F1 Benetton. Top time today in the first proper A1 test was 48.888. These guys should be quick!

[andy_b]

Originally Posted by Miko

still no sine of the Irish Team yet! getin a bit late!

was half listening to the Autosport radio show and they mentioned something about Irish team announcing something next week

[andy_b]

ok, heres a quick mock up of how a Union Flag graphic could work on a A1GP car. note lots of areas such as winglets, nose, engine cover and side pod have big areas of colour for sponsors, so it could work

[Kicking-back]

Originally Posted by foxy mole

I've seen that list too,K-b, but I'm not sure it's correct. In another story I read that Tomas Schechter is flying in to drive tomorrow. There is also talk of Tony Kanaan having a run. Adam Khan is the artist formerly known as Adam-Langley Khan... Quite quick, actually, but in general today sounds to have been not much more than a shakedown.

That list was the drivers who drove yesterday.

Sheckter will be at Silverstone today.

[ss_collins]

andy-b - that is sort of what the GB car looks like - It should be green though.

The cars sound incredible, I had a chat with the Sheik and he is the most incredible down to earth chap you could ever meet. Also very enthusiastic

[andy_b]

Originally Posted by ss_collins

andy-b - that is sort of what the GB car looks like - It should be green though.

The top of the engine cover and the top of the nose the same, everything else is much bolder and thickened up and styled like a flag....agree about Green. The Holland car looks great in its vivid Orange