I quit smoking after 12 years puffing away by using magic tablets. If you want to quit then march down to your GP and demand Champix.

Take these tablets and 5 days later you are a non-smoker. I kid you not it really is that easy.

Schumi came back from his broken leg in Malaysia in 99 and took pole by something stupid like 2 seconds, so it's not necessarily the end of the world.

Big rule changes and a quick team mate add to the challenge though.

Quote from gezmoor :

Go with the MotoGP points IMO. Allows for more emphasis on winning and placing high but also gives an incentive to gain the extra place most of the way down the grid. With points/medals only awarded to the top 3-5 placers all the rest wouldn't bother racing each other

MotoGP Points

1st: 25 points
2nd: 20 points
3rd: 16 points
4th: 13 points
5th: 11 points
6th: 10 points
7th: 9 points
8th: 8 points
9th: 7 points
10th: 6 points
11th: 5 points
12th: 4 points
13th: 3 points
14th: 2 points
15th: 1 point

Interestingly 2008 WDC would have ended up like this with the MotoGP scoring (change compared to actual placing):

Hamilton: 268 (+0)
Massa : 258 (+0)
Kubica : 217 (+1)
Kimmi : 216 (-1)
Heidfeld : 197 (+1)
Alonso : 188 (-1)
Heikki : 171 (+0)
Trulli : 124 (+1)
Vettel : 118 (-1)

No change in the overall winner but some interesting swaps further down the list.

MotoGP does not place extra emphasis on winning:

25 divided by 2.5 = 10

20 divided by 2.5 = 8

16 divided by 2.5 = 6 (rounded down )

Gold medals is fine, but I would do it a bit differently:

Winner gets 12 gold medals
2nd gets 8
3rd gets 6
4th gets 5
and so on.

most gold medals at the end of the season wins the championship

British GP 1991 - was nearly ran over by Sir Stirling Moss on a scooter ("Sorry old boy!" he said to me as he whizzed past).

Got my own back on celebrities a year later when I nearly ran over Sir Norman Wisdom. My reward for sparing his life was one of his trademark trips as he walked off.

Rick Wakeman refused to buy a melon off me as it was 8p cheaper in a shop 2 miles away.

I was interviewed by the BBC for a kids consumer programme because the shop I worked in had the most expensive crisps on the Isle of Man. It was never broadcast.

It'll happen - mark my words.

(Definitely going to bump this thread if smellocards turn up in the next 10 years - I'm going to look like a genius)

You should know how many revs you pull at a given point. If you are not pulling what you expect then you either have engine damage or you messed up the last corner.

Get rid of the clutch heat indicator and replace it with smoke in the cabin. Of course, when S3 goes final, mainstream PCs will have a smell addon card (like a GFX card) which will simulate that special smell only a burning clutch has.

Quote from MR_B :

And because you can't see what you've just written So you never know if the next letter you write is in the correct place!

@Storm Cloud - You should have heard the laugh I had just now! There was the devil's name written all over it! Are you a righty(conventional bore), a lefty(awesome) or both? (a cheat) As your avatar has a pipe in your left hand but a match in your right

Maybe the picture was mirrored for aesthetic reasons. I do usually hold my pipe in my right hand (oooooh Missus)

Quote from amp88 :

1976 too. Lauda's accident mid season then the final soaked race at Fuji where Hunt only just won the title.

... and he punctured too.

1986 and 1994 stand out in the memory, but I think that has a lot to do with races in the middle of the night - just makes the mood different, especially a title decider.

1997 too. The top 3 cars all got exactly the same qualifying time - you couldn't make it up.

I didn't realise you were one of the Devil's Children, Brad.

I mean, I know you joined dbp, but left handed aswell?

UKGPL? Are you driving in season 16?

I agree with Boris. It is a skill in itself to push a lap when you have only limited time to do it.

In OWRL F1 last season because of the way the qually rules worked you would tend to get 1 shot at the lap. Much better for broadcast coverage if it is condensed to 10 or 15 minutes than watching a tedious hour of hotlapping.

1 hour also reduces the chances of mixed grids as the quickest will have more chances to be quick and that can reduce the action in the race. Much better to have the possibility that a championship favourite screws up their 2 chances of a lap and have to start near the back.

I can't think of one good reason to have a one hour session.

I wonder if they'll try to make Brundle go to the Hungarian GP this year? It is an event that he has avoided for a number of years now.

Watch out for Open Wheel Racing League's MRT Cup which traditionally runs for a couple of weeks after Christmas.

Keep checking http://www.owrl.de for announcements (you'll need to register to join the league.

Quote from Garfild12 :

LAst word about tracks; plz DONT CHOOSE those were suspention wont stand 10 laps; that is FE GOld REv(maybe some more) where curbs are 1 m high and going into last chicane kills suspention right away; i think that was a bit of probelm last season in some other races taking the attention from driving to keeping suspention alive.

That's just another skill to learn. I've managed a 300km race at Aston North without fixing the damage from the chicane

I really like the longer races. OWRL did 300km at SO Long and it was an absorbing race to drive in as the strategies played out - even if it was 1hr 45min! There is no point in both series going for exactly the same rules though.

Don't be tempted to do Super-Pole. Extremely boring for drivers and spectators. Don't make it too complicated - a simple standard session will suffice.

Saturday afternoons are not the best time for me - spending a couple of hours on the PC in the afternoon and then going back on later for OWRL is not condusive to good matrimonial relations!

Sunday evenings - good

Saturday evenings - agree that OWRL and oneGP should try to avoid clashes

Sunday mornings - who is busy at 9am on a Sunday? Get out of bed and race!

Remove all the wings and let them have ground effect - loads of downforce that is not so badly affected by turbulence and the cars wouldn't look ridiculous.

Quote from DieKolkrabe :

I'm sure there was a race with the best of WSBK and best of 500cc GP riders one year, or am I confused?

Not thinking of the Transatlantic Trophy are you? I think that was long gone before SBK arrived though.

500s would have less power, but it's not as smooth on a two stroke.

Just because we have reached Patch Z doesn't necessarily mean the next step is Beta.

Go get them Andy!

I'd go with everything Mazar says.

One other thing to add - I would say that drivers who wish to compete in the oval races (the 500 excepted which has its own criteria) should race and complete a certain percentage of laps of the preceeding road course races. This would keep the races as part of the championship and not have them invaded by oval "specialists".

My dream team:

In the Box - Toby Moody (Eurosport MotoGP commentator) & Martin Brundle (natch - do people still say natch?)

In the Pits - DC (as he knows exactly what is going on down there)

Presenting - Anyone, don't care as I only turn on during Marty's gridwalk and miss all the tedious "lifestyle" reports ("at home with the Hamiltons" etc)

Rather than making this a "Hate Scipy" and denouncing his cheating worthlessness, I would like to give a big thumbs up to the Mercury leadership for their impeccable handling of the situation.

Nicely done - dignified and sporting