Outspoken Poet's Blog

By Radoslav Penchev

The hype and build-up to this coming season has been more frantic than any other year, and for good reason. We have two British world champions paired in a top team, two-times champion Fernando Alonso in a prancing horse, the return of the Canadian Grand Prix and the introduction of a race in South Korea. Added to that is the prospect of two/three/four (delete as applicable) additional teams arriving on the starting grid.

All of these, however, are eclipsed by the return of one man: Michael Schumacher.

Some say that he is arrogant to a fault; some say that he made Formula 1 boring during his period of dominance, and the truly ignorant know him only as the Stig off Top Gear. But whatever your views about the man, Schumacher is, statistically at least, the greatest Formula 1 driver of all time. And now, after three seasons in retirement, he is returning.To glimpse what the German’s return means to the Formula 1 fans, media, the current drivers, and even the man himself, just look back to the end of July, and the aftermath of the Hungarian Grand Prix. After the scare of Felipe Massa’s accident in qualifying, and the worrying news which came out of the hospital in Budapest that afternoon about the Brazilian’s fractured skull, the mood turned to one of excitement – once we’d learned that Massa should make a full recovery – as a rumour emerged that the legend Schumacher was returning to the sport.

By the Wednesday after Hungary the shock announcement was made: Schumacher would return as a ‘favour’ to Ferrari. The great and good of Formula 1 past and present were giving their opinions on how the seven-time world champion would do, some voicing concern that he was too old, out of practice, and taking a big risk. Fans, even those who disliked Schumacher, would admit they were intrigued at seeing him take on the young talent like Hamilton and Vettel. Of course, the comeback never happened. Schumacher had suffered a bike accident in February 2009, and testing in a 2007 car aggravated the resulting neck injury. Almost tearful in a press conference, Michael had to announce to the world that the much awaited comeback was not going to happen. “I am disappointed to the core,” he said. “I am awfully sorry for the guys of Ferrari and for all the fans which crossed fingers for me.”

Luca Badoer managed two almost comical races as Massa’s replacement before the team replaced him with Giancarlo Fisichella.

At the end of the season, Mercedes took over championship winning team Brawn GP, and soon afterwards Jenson Button left for McLaren. This seemed a strange decision on the part of both driver and team, as Mercedes’ other driver Nico Rosberg was hardly a proven world beater.

The chance of working with Ross Brawn again, and driving for Mercedes, his childhood sponsor, was far too big a temptation for Schumacher to refuse. On 23rd December last year Formula 1 fans got one of the best Christmas presents they could wish for: The neck was healed, and Schumacher had signed a three-year deal to drive the silver arrows. In a BBC interview the German said he was ‘recharged’ after his three-year break from the sport, and relishes the challenge ahead.

Many ‘experts’ cast doubts over Schumacher’s ability to compete with the best at the age of 41, but Ross Brawn obviously has faith in the driver that he masterminded to seven-world championships. Michael’s experience may even put him at a slight advantage over his rivals – he is the only driver on the grid to have won a world championship during the previous era without refuelling.Winter testing has also indicated that Schumacher hasn’t lost his sharpness.

Ferrari was the team which brought Schumacher much of his success, but Mercedes were actually the company responsible for his debut in Formula 1. The German car-maker funded Michael’s first race at Jordan in 1991, and Eddie Jordan later admitted that if they hadn’t, he would have given Schumacher’s race seat to a driver with deeper pockets.

So now, only a few days before the start there is one question - will Schumacher's debut be a triumph or a tragedy? And the risk he takes is grate. If he proves his critics wrong he will only be another great champion to come back, just as Nicky Lauda did. But if he fails his reputation and his status as contender for the title of "greatest driver of all time" will be slanted. And Schumacher realises this perfectly well.

So why do it? In an interview in January he said that a life away for the track is not for hi, and he is probably right but he is also a winner-one of those individuals that do not have the word impossible in their vocabulary.

(c) Outspoken Poet

Caterham: A Legacy Preserved

(this is not a typical post for this blog,but this is not a typical blog as well. I am a man with varied interests.Sometimes to varied)

Caterham is one of those automotive companies blessed with a truly interesting history. After the founder of Lotus, Colin Chapman, decided to seize the production of his legendary Lotus 7, one of his trading associates – Graham Nearn, living and working south of London, in the village of Caterham, bought the rights and the plans for production of this automobile. He began manufacturing his own car and named it after his home village.

But Nearn wasn’t the only one offering 7’s. His main rival was Westfield Cars – a company positioned in Kingsford. In the 80’s they copied Nearn’s decision to implement an aluminium chassis in the classical 7. Nearn sued Westfield and won. He went even further by regularly inviting Westfield owners to trials, so as to convince them in the superiority of his product.

Currently, the company manufactures 500 cars per year, with an intended quota of 600 for 2009 but the financial crisis hindered those plans. Half of the production is sold in the UK, 80 pieces are sold in France and Japan, 40 in Germany and the USA and so on.

In 2005 the company went through a production shock with the demise of Rover, as they were Caterham’s engine supplier. After 91 engines from various manufacturers were tested, the company leaders chose two Ford engines – a 1.6 L. 150 hp, Ford Sigma engine and a 2.3 L., 200 (260 with a charger) engine. Recalibrating production to those new engines cost the company 150,000 Pounds, and it was questioned weather it would have been better for the company to develop it’s own engine. The company officials simply stated that they preferred not to follow TVR’s faith. The village of Caterham remains a vital part of the Company, were the HQ is seated. The cars are now manufactured in Dartford, and are no longer 100% handmade with processes such as welding assigned to machines. A Caterham can be bought road ready or as a do-it-yourself kit.

The latest model introduced by the company (shown below) is the Caterham X330, a monster with 330 hp powering a 900 kg chassis, making the car a leader in terms of power-weight ratio. That means the X330's equivalent power-to-weight ratio puts it ahead of the Bugatti Veyron (521bhp per tonne) and the McLaren F1 (559bhp). Two more specifications are available at the moment, using the 1.6 ford engine at 125 and 150 hp respectively and the 2.3 L engine. In 2007 Caterham celebrated it’s 50^th anniversary.

(c) Outspoken Poet

Unknown to most of the world and even to most car fans, a small English auto-company called Lister, by the surname of its founder, Lister Cars Ltd. Produced one of the most-outstanding pieces of auto art-work only to see it’s creations’ premature end. In this article I want to present to you the Lister Storm and its story.

Originally Lister started out tuning Jaguars such as the JSX. The common upgrade was a displacement increase on the V12 from 5.3 to a full 7 litres. In 1991 the company wanted to move up the evolution chain and create there own super car. After 2 years in development the Lister Storm was unveiled in 1993. With its slick yet sharp design and massive looks the Lister Storm was the centre of attention. A four-seated bullet, holding in itself a luxury interior, with extras such as letter, air conditioning and 2 air bags it was way ahead of other super sport coupes, striving to cater to all the needs of the affluent lovers of speed. The car was equipped with a 7.0 Litre V12 engine capable of producing 546 hp. Weighing at 1,664 kg it took the 0-100 km sprint in 4.1 sec. only to reach its limit at 335 km/h making it the fastest four-seated vehicle at the time - a title it held until very recently. It seemed like Lister had the perfect weapon to enter the elite world of GT sports cars as well as GT racing.

Four months had now passed since the car was unveiled and only 4 orders have been made. Over the next years those were produced but it was announced that in the future Lister will focus solely on GT racing and develop the racing versions of the storm , effectively putting an end to the road version’s production. And from the stand point of time it is now clear that this was a result of bad PR and the inactivity on Lister’s part to ensure maximum exposure to the car as in the years to come it popularity would only rise. By today the Lister Storm has a classical status among collectors and friends. With only 4 vehicles produced, only 2 are currently “on the market” as one is in the Lister museum and another one had simply disappeared from sight.

The Lister Storm did not die in 1993 though. The company focused on their programme in GT racing and through the years produced the very successful GTS, GTL and GT version with the works team even claiming the FIA GT World Championship title in 2000 with a factory programme run by Labre Competition and the impeccable Jamie Campbell-Walter behind the wheel alongside Julian Baily. More on the Lister Storm in sports coming soon.