shakh your bootie

I could wax lyrical about what a wonderful sport it is - engineering achievement, lightning-quick skills of the drivers that outclass a jet-pilot, sportsmanship, strategy, culture of excellence.... oh, and babes & champagne, too....

Rog_Rams

Could always visit your backward cousins in Bahrain - I've done 3 out of the 4 - a good day out.

shakh your bootie

Lucky you - the downside of my job is that my holiday dates are fixed, so can't take a long w/end for the Bahrain GP....

Rog_Rams

Unlucky.

Because it's a relatively small event, and it helps "who you know" have met Frank Williams, David Coulthard, Jackie Stewart over the years. A few other drivers and principals briefly too - including Lewis Hamilton this year, he called me Sir, that's when I knew I was getting old!

Inselaffen

or the boredom of only 3-4 cars actually being good enough to win and tracks that don't allow any overtaking!!!!

shakh your bootie

Nice one! I've done some work with McLaren in the past - have met David Coulthard when he was still with them, Ron Dennis, Adrian Newey, Martin Whitmarsh. It does add to the interest in the races - they were running the MP4-17, 18, 19 when I was working with them & having a terrible time of it, first against Ferrari and later with Renault. It's been great to see the efforts of the engineers pay off over the last 2 years!

Rog_Rams

Maybe the resurgence is due to the top class spies in McLaren, or so the FIA seem to think!

shakh your bootie

Yeah, that was a very surprising and sad turn of events. I never met Nigel Stepney, but the senior engineers that I did work closely with are gentlemen of the highest character - there is no way that they would compromise the team's integrity. It's funny - Ferrari have always had the reputation of being the Dick Dastardly team of F1. It's also odd how all of this blew up at a time very convenient for the Red Barons!

Rog_Rams

It's a highly competitive business, so it is unsurprising that rivals try all manner of avenues to gain the upper hand, that is all part of the game in some ways.
Like recruiting another teams staff, drivers, aerodynamicist, whatever.

What struck me from my very limited interaction, is just what a small, tightly knit group the F1 crowd is.

shakh your bootie

Yes, and that is where it becomes a grey area. People do migrate to other teams to develop their careers, but naturally retain friendships & relationships with their ex co-workers. This is what happened with Stepney & Coughlan. It is difficult to regulate against people meeting for a beer or whatever and either blatantly or inadvertently swapping information.

The same is true in the aerospace & defence industries where one becomes party to sensitive information, and develops professional relationships with others.

It is part of the code of conduct of engineers, as laid down in the Society of Professional Engineers charter, that one behaves responsibly and professionally to minimize disclosure.

silax

hi chaps
sitting in an internet cafe in bur dubai with said girlfriend having a laugh at the thread.

if theres any more questions i need answered will get back to you lot.
oh just out of interest is there any bars open during the afternoon that will be showing football during ramadan

Dago

Funny, with your independent means I thought you would have opted for an hotel with internet in the room. Did she like the bit about masturbating over France?

silax

hi
after spending quite a while in Dubai i'm now back in the UK planning my next sorta but i'd like to give you my impression of Dubai.
i have never lived in such an unfriendly racist godforsaken place before, i take my hat off to you guys who stick around.
i eventually took the advise of one of the locals if " you don't like it you can leave"
I did meet some very nice people and have made a few friends who i will keep in touch with for a long time.
no doubt this post will get completly slated but i'm sorry i had to voice my opinion.
i would also recommend Dubai as a holiday destination only for a couple of weeks though. there is some amazing things to see and Oman is a very beautifull place. for those of you who have maids i would suggest paying them the equivelent of the UK minimun wage. i employed a cleaner and she was shocked to see how much i gave her i paid her 40dhs an hour. think about it its not a lot is it. Anybody paying a full time maid less then 2,500 dhs a month must ask themselves a few questions in my opinion that is.
goodnight and god bless.