Let’s get Right to it. No bickering at all, just plain facts. First off, Suzuka Circuit of Ise Bay on the Island of Honshu Japan is one of the most challenging courses in the world for a racecar driver. It sits along side with the likes of Spa-Franchorchamps and Monaco. It was built by Honda as a test facility in 1962, and was designed by Dutchman John Hugenholz. Some of the greatest controversies in Formula 1 history have occurred here, namely feuds between Ayrton Senna and Alan Prost. It’s come to the point where different historians call major incidents here the “Suzuka surprise?, especially since many championships where decided at this race, because it’s position in the calendar. Now let’s talk racing and why this circuit is so amazing.
As you start your lap at Suzuka, you plunge downhill towards the first of 3 double apexes, (which this course has All the definitions for a double apex) at 200mph. The first of the 2 corners is a swooping right-hander in which you only slow down to 160mph for, until you stomp on the brakes to pull the car hard into the second right-hander. Very few dare to pass on the outside of Turn 1, but Kimi Raikkonen (in an astounding F1 race in 2005, where there were about 3 Historical passes in One race - all by Fernando Alonso and Raikkonen) made that pass on Giancarlo Fisichella for the win on the final lap.
As you head up the hill you realize those music lessons your parents gave you when you were 12, will come in handy. I say this because in the Senna S curves, you need rhythm, rhythm, rhythm. There is no track with S’s quite like these. They are in a left, right, left, right, left arrangement; all different, continuously getting tighter S’s that are each deceiving in their own way, with a major elevation change. If you make the smallest mistake on entry, exit, breaking mark or accelerating mark for Any these corners you will completely jumble your rhythm for the rest of them. The final of these S’s is the Dunlop curve, which can easily throw you off to the right of the track since your so mentally and physically tired of the corners you just went through. So next is a straightaway for a breather right? Of course not, the Dunlop curve continues as a long left-hander that is technically a straightaway but it really puts the G-forces on as you speed up to 180mph.
Next is the second of the three double apexes (a favorite corner combination of mine). As soon as you pin the car to the left side of the track, coming off the Dunlop curve, you brake slightly and snap the car back to the right for the Degner curve, and cut the corner as much as you can. After you’ve pounced the curve, you accelerate quickly before promptly slowing to 80mph for the second right-hander of the double-apex. As you accelerate out of the corner, you go under a bridge-why? because if this track doesn’t have enough to offer, it is the only figure eight circuit on the Formula 1 calendar.
After passing under the bridge you continue to climb the hill on what is again technically a straightaway, but medium length right-hander. Your next corner is the sharp left hand hairpin, which is taken at only 40mph. A good exit is important here because you will be heading into a very long right-hander called 200R for its 200 degree radius. Where you pin the car on the right side of the track during the corner is up to you, and also how you swing the car. All that matters is that you pin the car to the right side of the track before the next combination of corners, the Spoon Curve.
The Spoon Curve is the last double-apex combination on the circuit, and is arguably the hardest corner(s) in racing. There are also many different ways to take these corners, such as swing the car during the first corner pin and go, or pin the first corner and stay close to the inside of the corners. This is all dependent on what machine your driving as well of course. The elevation here is the highest on the track, and the way its topography is shaped makes it feel as if the Spoon Curve is pushing you off the track, and you experience “spoon fulls? of the centripetal force while driving. The position of the very difficult Spoon Curve is special too, because the exit of this section is the most crucial exit on the circuit, since you are about to enter the longest straightaway on the course.
The straightaway you now find yourself on is plunging downward at a fairly rapid pace as you “crossover? the bridge you went under earlier. You finally feel relaxed because this is really your first break on the track. Although there is a problem, the straightaway is in fact too long, because the 8 seconds you have of flat out pushing is enough time for you to think about what could happen at 130R; should I go full speed? Should I lift a little? If I miss it will I careen into the outside wall? If I do how badly will I get hurt?? 8 seconds is enough time where this begins to happen. So now what is 130R? (this is all being said as 130R was before there was a small change which has made it an easier corner than it was previously)
130R like 200R, is a left hand corner named for its 130 degree radius, and it has become one of the most famous corners in racing. At almost 200mph you make your decision of how you want to take the corner. If you have made a great exit off of the Spoon Curve you are tempted to make a pass at 130R rather than wait for the chicane. Although sometimes just getting through 130R alone is a difficult task (in the 2005 Japanese Grand Prix both Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen made outstanding Outside passes on 130R). Similar to the Spoon Curve, the corner tries to push you in the same way that turns 10 and 11 of Spa-Franchorchamps does as a very fast swooping corner. As you come off 130R you finish the rest of the 2-part straightaway, and see the colossal ferries wheel that is part of Suzuka Land Theme Park which is next to the circuit.
Just as you’re back to 180mph you slam on the brakes for about the only other type of corner that hasn’t been seen yet, a chicane. There are actually a few different types of chicanes the track officials can make out of this area, called the Casio Triangle. It is a right, left combination where you bash the car over the curbs. Last but not least is perhaps the most misleading corner on the course. You see it as just a right hand sweeper that starts the main straightaway, but like 200R, where you pin the car on the right side of the track and how you swing the car through the corner is up to the driver. You would never think people would crash on this “little nothing? of a corner, but in the last 2 years alone three people have crashed off this corner. This was mainly because they did not take it correctly and swung the car too far to the left, attempting to lose the smallest amount of speed for entering the main straightaway. If you haven’t crashed yet, you’ve made it home, so now all you have to do is do it about 100 more times in the next 2 days under the intense pressure of Formula 1.
Course length 5.821km(2-Wheels) 5.807km(4-Wheels)
Wide 10m~16m safetyzone 5m~140m
Road surface special paved road
Musically and Snowily -
Cory Pesaturo "The Snowman"
Sep. 10th, 2006
One of the most Emotional and Important moments in Formula 1 history occurred today. Michael Schumacher, the man who holds Every Major F1 record by a mile except % wins / starts and % poles / starts, has come out after much speculation to tell the world that he will be retiring after this season. Today’s race could not have been scripted any better. At the Home of Ferrari, the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Schumacher’s rival finally has some bad luck and blows an engine for the first time this season, bringing the championship to almost a dead heat. The man who will replace his seat next year, Kimi Raikkonen, tried to show Schumacher up by beating him on the race track fair and square, but couldn’t win and finished 2nd. With this, a New man by the name of Robert Kubica, finishes On the podium in 3rd in only his third race (a record itself) while holding off the Ferrari’s during the race (and by emotional means, it was reminiscent of the passing of the torch to a new, rather unknown man who could very possibly become the Next great champion). Of course to top it off, Schumacher Wins the race in front of the Italian Tifosi, and beats the man who will replace him next year, as if to make a statement of I am still the man to beat! All this before the post-race interview where the usually Senna-type non-emotional Schumacher almost broke down in tears. He told of his future, which most of us had an idea of but didn’t exactly desire to believe.
No one is currently sure whether Ferrari created an environment to make him retire or whether he feels he has just done it all. If Ferrari did try to craft an atmosphere that would cause him to want to retire, it actually would be for his own good since the ideal time to leave was after the inconceivable 2004 season which he did not act upon, so the Next best time to leave would be after this year since he Can win the championship, and retire on a good note. If he waited until next year or beyond, 2007 and/or further on might Not be a good note. If Schumacher had left after 2004, it would have left people stating, “why, why, Why is he leaving at the Top of his game??? Which is of course, how you want to leave off as in his situation of legendry status, which he had fully attained at that time. It would have left a situation where people would have only been able to Guess what Schumacher could have continued to do, instead of Knowing what Did happen, which of course was the rather dreadful Ferrari season of 2005.
Sadly, Schumacher’s retirement is not the only loss of the great era of Ferrari and himself. The 2 most important men other than Schumacher at Ferrari are expected to leave as well. Jean Todt, the team manager at Ferrari who has been there since the early Schumacher days, will most likely be leaving after 1 more year because of his deep friendship and connection with Schumacher, and his new job as CEO of Ferrari. Along with this, Ross Brawn the technical director, is going to take a 1 year sabaticle, and with it will most likely not return to the sport either, leaving Ferrari in disary for one and also putting a Complete end to the true Scumacher-Ferrari dynasty that completely shocked the entire sports world for more than 8 years.
If Ferrari and Schumacher can pull off this 2006 championship for both the Driver’s and Constructor’s Title, it would be the Greatest end to the Greatest Era in sports (unfortunately, this did not happen because of the begining of the season and the Mass-Damper system on the Renaults, which Ferrari did not want to contest as illigal and be soar losers). It can even be argued that even the New York Yankee’s dynasty in the late 30's to early 50's in Baseball, can't beat this dynasty, nor Fangio’s F1 era of the 50’s, the Pittsburg Stealers of the 70’s, the Lakers of the 80's or the San Francisco 49ers of the 80’s. Maybe the Celtics of the 50's and 60's. Every week for 7 of 8 years Straight, Schumacher and Ferrari were the team and driver to beat. At no other time in sports history did it happen on a level of Total Domination as it did in F1 from around 1998 till now.
Ferrari is the reason F1 has tried again and again and again to change F1, so as to make it more exciting, or in other words, to make Ferrari Not the dominating team. But nothing could stop them, no rule changes and no spec changes could stop the progress of them because Ferrari was and still is Just That Good. If it weren’t for the Tire Wars and Renault’s mass damper that was in place for the past year and half, Ferrari would have had much less trouble last year and at the beginning of this year, which would have resulted in a now 8 year Dynasty; non-stop. Although the FIA perhaps let Renault’s mass damper system persist because it was causing a Different team to succeed, rather than the impossible to beat Ferrari’s, which could create better ratings because of the increased excitement for non-Ferrari fans. But now Ferrari is Back, just as arguably the Greatest Sports Dynasty, comes to an end........or so we think....
Michael Schumacher very much Built Ferrari to what it has Come to be. He worked deeply with the team managers, the engineers and the mechanics, and was involved in every step of every weekend. Concerning his driving, he will be sadly missed, especially since he was bred from the Senna / Prost era, in which He was the man that truly took the torch from the past legends, and pushed the statistics and records of Formula 1 to their boundaries, and well beyond. But are we sure that we seen the last of Schumacher?? He may be as much part of Ferrari next year and beyond ,and he has been....just maybe Not in the driver's seat this time............
Musically and Snowily -
Cory Pesaturo "The Snowman"
For an Absolutely Wonderful look into "If Senna hadn't died...The Greatest Sports Rivalry in History would have endured..." Go Here - www.speedtv.com/commentary/22186/
