Proud of my Bridgestones!

[Legacy STI]

after seeing the start of the Formula 1 race today, I will never buy a set of Michelin tires... EVER!

So glad I didn't fork out the bucks to go to this race! I feel so bad for the people that did. SHAME ON MICHELIN!

[melayout]

What happened in the start? Blowouts?

 

Edit: From http://www.formula1.com/race/news/3199/740.html :

 

A six-car race at Indianapolis http://www.formula1.com/images/spacer.gif

 

http://www.formula1.com/images/spacer.gif Just six cars took the start at this afternoon’s US Grand Prix after the Michelin teams stood by their threat not to race without an additional chicane ahead of the high-speed Turn 13. http://www.formula1.com/images/spacer.gifMichelin could not guarantee the safety of their tyres through this corner over a race distance, so instructed their teams not to compete if the track layout was not changed to slow the cars.

 

The FIA refused the request for a chicane, pointing out several other options available to Michelin. The Michelin teams declined these and jointly decided they would race on the tyres they used in qualifying, but only if the chicane was inserted.

 

It wasn't. As a result, all cars took to the grid, but the Michelin cars all peeled in at the end of the formation lap, leaving only the Ferraris, Minardis and Jordans to start. Jordan and Minardi had been expected to stand by the Michelin teams.

 

The Michelin withdrawal follows two tyre failures for Toyota on Friday, one of which led to Ralf Schumacher crashing heavily in Turn 13.

[PGT]

What do F1 tires have in common with the tires you use on the street? Michelins did EXTREMELY well at LeMans this weekend.

[Legacy STI]

What do F1 tires have in common with the tires you use on the street? Michelins did EXTREMELY well at LeMans this weekend.

 

Michelin basically thumbed their nose at the american racing fans, as well as Formula 1 fans worldwide by knowing well ahead of time that the tire requirments at Indy include nine degrees of high speed banking. They are not new to racing at Indy and I find their handling of the situation indefensible at best.

 

They race to sell tires on the street... understand?

therefore, I will not mount them on my car.

[NutBucket]

Overpriced French crap:p

[ADirtyLegacy]

What do F1 tires have in common with the tires you use on the street? Michelins did EXTREMELY well at LeMans this weekend.

w00t w00t!! who defended their GT1 class championship..ahh yes we did!! Aston Martin my ass..C6R all the way baby!!

 

Kenda

 

thank God our Michelins lasted!!

[Colonel Angus]

after seeing the start of the Formula 1 race today, I will never buy a set of Michelin tires... EVER!

So glad I didn't fork out the bucks to go to this race! I feel so bad for the people that did. SHAME ON MICHELIN!

 

sounds like a pretty ignorant conclusion to come to, since the tires they make for your standard car are of a completely different design of those used on F1's. and, as someone's already mentioned, they did very well in the LeMans race that just went down.

 

keep in mind, that that race is a 24hr gig; with that said, you'd better have some pretty damn reliable tires in your inventory to keep on going.

 

and to say that michelin thumbed their noses at the american public? if the concern of the drivers' safety because their tires were inadquate to finish the entire race means they were thumbing their noses, then you're right. the spin outs toyota had - zonta and ralf, caused concern. keep in mind, that where ralf crashed, was around the same spot where he hit the wall last year. on michelin's as well.

 

it's one of michelin's obligations as a supplier to hold safety first and foremost. you want to place blame soley on one person or place, good luck, because you're going to find that fingers are going to be pointed at more than one place.

 

all of this seems to come at a bad time. it felt like F1 was starting to become more interesting, more exciting; and now this.

[KGreb]

Michelin basically thumbed their nose at the american racing fans, as well as Formula 1 fans worldwide by knowing well ahead of time that the tire requirments at Indy include nine degrees of high speed banking. They are not new to racing at Indy and I find their handling of the situation indefensible at best.

 

Except that there were no F1 allowed testing days at Indy for tires and the track was just resurfaced. IRL and NASCAR have also had significant problems with the new surface, requiring new tires, test session cancellations, etc. Gee,which F1 tire manufacturer has a sister company that tests regularly at Indy and already developed a new tire for the new surface?

 

Michelin definitely deserves the lion's share of the blame, but there's plenty to go around in this fiasco.

[ADirtyLegacy]

i think its kinda unfair to those drivers who didn't feel their safety was at risk. they couldnt race b/c they had to follow "team orders" (which is another load of BS to discuss another day). i guess the question becomes, does Schumacher's win get an '*' since the rest of the field didnt show up? i mean after all the people who had been kicking his tail all year didn't race!

 

Kenda

[EyeFlyIsTheEye]

Right now, I believe that I can say this with certainty:

 

Potenza RE92 > Michelin F1 Tires

 

[FunkyMunky]

sounds like a pretty ignorant conclusion to come to, since the tires they make for your standard car are of a completely different design of those used on F1's. and, as someone's already mentioned, they did very well in the LeMans race that just went down.

 

keep in mind, that that race is a 24hr gig; with that said, you'd better have some pretty damn reliable tires in your inventory to keep on going.

 

and to say that michelin thumbed their noses at the american public? if the concern of the drivers' safety because their tires were inadquate to finish the entire race means they were thumbing their noses, then you're right. the spin outs toyota had - zonta and ralf, caused concern. keep in mind, that where ralf crashed, was around the same spot where he hit the wall last year. on michelin's as well.

 

it's one of michelin's obligations as a supplier to hold safety first and foremost. you want to place blame soley on one person or place, good luck, because you're going to find that fingers are going to be pointed at more than one place.

 

all of this seems to come at a bad time. it felt like F1 was starting to become more interesting, more exciting; and now this.

 

Well I agree that is hard to find a single place to point the blame. But the engineers at michelin know what the layouts of the tracks are ahead of time and knew that the tire had to stand up to that high speed turn. So it was definitely a HUGE mistake on their part for not adequately testing their product.

[PGT]

w00t w00t!! who defended their GT1 class championship..ahh yes we did!! Aston Martin my ass..C6R all the way baby!!

 

Kenda

 

thank God our Michelins lasted!!

 

The Michelins did so well, Champion kept them on the leading R8 through several fuel stops. Sorry, I have always been a Michelin fan. I even have them on my mt. bike.

[red beast]

re92a’s still suck!

 

my new continental contact sports have 2 -2.5 times the grip of the re92a's for the same given width.

[melayout]

I don't think you will be proud of your SuckStones when you lose grip/hydroplane in the wet or engage ABS in the dry and rear-end someone.

[red beast]

contact sports are dry/wet summer tires. i still have the "suckstones" mounted on the old rims for the winter, unless i get all-seasons to replace the conti's.

[f1anatic]

http://www.f1forums.com/cavpics/fuckmichelin.jpg

 

Incredibly dissapointed. I drove 400 miles and spent 250 dollars to see a 6 men United States GP.

 

I am incredibly dissapointed. All of us there today felt cheated. It is a farce, a sham. But it is not Ferrari's fault. We did not know the teams would not race...nobody was commenting on that over the stadium speakers. I fully expected Michelin teams to put on new rubber and start from the pits. Instead...we had the most "original" GP of my 16 years watching F1.

 

I am surprised that many of the people stayed. Sure...rednecks were booing...I booed too...I booed the sport and I am sure most of us did that. But then the "crackers" started throwing beer and water bottles on the track. I have one on videocamera myself...so much so that we rewinded, identified the fvcker and called security. They took him away...a sad sad BAR Honda fan.

 

I feel Ferrari were fully justified in refusing any mercy dealings to allow the 7 teams to race. They came there prepared according to FIA mandated rules and it is unfair to them to make any amendments. Michelin has cut curners before...recall the class act at Monaco where the renaults were running slicks ? We dbated that at length as we debated Kimi Raikonen's fiery crash. Cutting corners in the name of speed ? Yeah...that also means reducing safety...

 

That's right...no chicanes...no new tires...no amendments. The rules are the same for everyone. I just watched portions of the SPEED coverage and Jarno Trulli explained it best. It is sad for the sport but certainly fair. Michelin came unprepared. because of this...F1 lost any credibility in America. Should I tell you that the crowds are getting smaller every year ? There were huge empty spots in the two stadiums along the straightaway, before the 1st corner. Guess what...next year that's how many seats will be filled. I certainly am gonna see into this and I hope there is some class action to provide free tickets for next year's race.

 

IMHO effective Monday or Tuesday when the situation is already digested...some heads should fall. Starting internally at Michélin with Patrck Dupasquier and ending with Max Mosely. Sure some people will lose their jobs.. But the FIA - who suffered a HUGE blow - should go back on this tire changing rule as well as expell Michelin out of the championship. Michelin should pay Bridgestone the costs asscoiated with supporting those 7 teams for the rest of the season. And Michelin should be banned from F1 for 5 years.

 

By the way...Schumi's and Rubens near get-together at the 1st corner wasn't as dramatic on TV as it was in person. But let's just say that calling for a black flag or punishment for Schumacher is too much. He came prepared to race...even if it was only Rubens. It is a hollow victory don't get me wrong. And no...there were enough people to applaud the effort at the end. Ferrari let the boys race today. That was the most good they could and should have done for the sport and the fans today.

[EyeFlyIsTheEye]

The Hondasheep can't shut the f&*# up about how sad they are that BAR Honda isn't racing, that it's all Toyota's fault- blah, blah blah... Now one goes and makes an arse of themself... pure hilarity

 

Yeah, Michelin stinks... but F1 tires are expensive as hell to develop and manufacture- and I don't know who else wants to do it aside from Bridgestone.

Goodyear withdrew recently, and just got themselves back in the black. Yokohama and Toyo don't have the budgets. I think the only two candidates left who could replace Michelin if they get expelled are Pirelli and Continental.

http://www.f1forums.com/cavpics/fuckmichelin.jpg

 

Incredibly dissapointed. I drove 400 miles and spent 250 dollars to see a 6 men United States GP.

 

I am incredibly dissapointed. All of us there today felt cheated. It is a farce, a sham. But it is not Ferrari's fault. We did not know the teams would not race...nobody was commenting on that over the stadium speakers. I fully expected Michelin teams to put on new rubber and start from the pits. Instead...we had the most "original" GP of my 16 years watching F1.

 

I am surprised that many of the people stayed. Sure...rednecks were booing...I booed too...I booed the sport and I am sure most of us did that. But then the "crackers" started throwing beer and water bottles on the track. I have one on videocamera myself...so much so that we rewinded, identified the fvcker and called security. They took him away...a sad sad BAR Honda fan.

 

I feel Ferrari were fully justified in refusing any mercy dealings to allow the 7 teams to race. They came there prepared according to FIA mandated rules and it is unfair to them to make any amendments. Michelin has cut curners before...recall the class act at Monaco where the renaults were running slicks ? We dbated that at length as we debated Kimi Raikonen's fiery crash. Cutting corners in the name of speed ? Yeah...that also means reducing safety...

 

That's right...no chicanes...no new tires...no amendments. The rules are the same for everyone. I just watched portions of the SPEED coverage and Jarno Trulli explained it best. It is sad for the sport but certainly fair. Michelin came unprepared. because of this...F1 lost any credibility in America. Should I tell you that the crowds are getting smaller every year ? There were huge empty spots in the two stadiums along the straightaway, before the 1st corner. Guess what...next year that's how many seats will be filled. I certainly am gonna see into this and I hope there is some class action to provide free tickets for next year's race.

 

IMHO effective Monday or Tuesday when the situation is already digested...some heads should fall. Starting internally at Michélin with Patrck Dupasquier and ending with Max Mosely. Sure some people will lose their jobs.. But the FIA - who suffered a HUGE blow - should go back on this tire changing rule as well as expell Michelin out of the championship. Michelin should pay Bridgestone the costs asscoiated with supporting those 7 teams for the rest of the season. And Michelin should be banned from F1 for 5 years.

 

By the way...Schumi's and Rubens near get-together at the 1st corner wasn't as dramatic on TV as it was in person. But let's just say that calling for a black flag or punishment for Schumacher is too much. He came prepared to race...even if it was only Rubens. It is a hollow victory don't get me wrong. And no...there were enough people to applaud the effort at the end. Ferrari let the boys race today. That was the most good they could and should have done for the sport and the fans today.

[legandrex]

Boy, I am sure glad I didn't drive 12 hours roundtrip to go see that. My brother and I were going to go, but decided at the last minute not to. I feel bad for those of you who did make the trek.

[Brady]

Everyone is at fault here. Ferrari should have made some concession for the greater good of the sport in the US. Michelin should have been prepared. FIA should have reconsidered the situation for the greater good of gaining the American fans they so badly want.

 

Quite frankly, what's fair on the track means nothing if it's completely unfair to all those who took time off work and spent a lot of their hard earned money to come to this event.

[Sparky]

I feel for you f1anatic. I went to the Australian GP (Melbourne - I'm from Newcastle, which is 2 hrs north of Sydney) I would have been very disappointed to see that. F1 has certainly done itself the worse possible harm with that.

 

I am not sure about all the rest of the problems, but I sure as hell hope that they refund you tickets or give you freebies to next year.

 

A fellow F1 fan, struggling to get excited anymore.

[rao]

I don't think it is right to slam the guy for linking the brands to the problem; that is WHY the companies spend so much money to sponser F1.

 

That little show in Indy just set back F1 at least a few years in the US, whichhappens to be the largest potential maret for F1 in the known universe. Not a smart move no

matter how you slice it.

 

At least NASCAR can actually put on a race, which they managed to do with no trouble yesterday and a lot more people saw that race then the 6 car parade in Indy [ducks]