An electrical flywheel, yes, before Lithium Ion batteries had the storage capacity. The difference here was that instead of having motor generators that spun the flywheel via electricity, this was mechanically coupled to the flywheel.

Yeah, their hybrid was also ambitious (purely mechanical flywheel, no electric motors) but rubbish (it had been tried by another team a few years prior and failed there as well). Either way, it was the front end being compromised - tires, brakes, and suspension - that doomed the project. I would have loved to see it…

Actually front brakes were what kept overheating, but all related to the lack of a functional hybrid harvesting energy from the front wheels.

Yeah, I don’t mean to say that’s what he was suggesting, merely that it added to why it was a stupid comment.

I liked the GT-R LM, and thought it made equally much sense as the DeltaWing. Right down to leveraging extreme weight bias (but the other direction, this time because of a loophole in the rules).

I think my issue with it is the implication that the two things have anything to do with each other. It’s a sporting event. Unless you ban particular foreigners from competing in the event (and just this one, presumably, as the only one on a major armed-forces holiday weekend) there’s always going to be a chance one…

Exactly. There are a few sports car teams I legitimately have a proper beef with because of the way they’ve either been financed, or how they’ve failed to pay employees, but otherwise it’s all in good fun. They’re the heels, and without them the sport is less fun. Doesn’t mean I’m going to punch one of them during the…

He would have kept that Ferrari fan who doesn’t own a Rolex out of the paddock too, if it weren’t for those meddling kids!

Bearing in mind that in this case, the extent of social media includes things like YouTube and the free race highlights they’re putting there.

The Cadillac is one of the more conventional of the current crop of prototypes, I’d hardly call it insane.

Oh, they’re definitely every bit as sophisticated aerodynamically. But it being done mostly internally means they don’t look insane, which was the question being asked.

The initial concept did what it was meant to do. Once Nissan pulled its funding (and poached the primary engineering talent) is when it started to struggle.

Did I necessarily say I cared?

Well, the difference is that the sponsors in F1 tend to purchase less of the car. The closest we’ve come is Force India with the BWT sponsorship getting them to change the car’s color. However, the team is still Sahara Force India, unlike the days when it was Marlboro Team McLaren or John Player Team Lotus.

Of course, it’s also one of their biggest challenges (and one of the things Liberty is working hardest to improve). The series has become unsustainable aside from the few factory teams. It literally depends on people being willing to pour 8 figures into a team without getting comparable ROI to other forms of…

On the other hand, the fact that there are still people who complain about a Japanese driver winning on Memorial Day weekend, or upset at a Japanese manufacturer in NASCAR, shows just how far we still have to go.

Actually, Ferrari ironically does get most of their budget from outside sponsors. Marlboro advertising gives Ferrari more money than some backmarkers entire budgets (they just can’t talk about it in most media outlets because it’s banned).

Sure, but naturally the results of the sporting event are news and should be reported as such, even when TV broadcast has to wait for months.

The ‘personal’ bit related to Sato himself, not Frei’s personal discomfort. As in, it wasn’t specifically Sato that made him uncomfortable, any Japanese driver would have made him uncomfortable.

I can understand fighting in the Pacific theater causing different opinions than the European theater. My grandfather never really liked the Japanese after the war, and he didn’t even deploy until after their surrender.