//:: The Singtel Singaporean Grand Prix

A bitter blow!!!

It's the first ever Formula1 night race. The Formula1 Singtel Singaporean Grand Prix. What a night at work for Scuderia Ferrari. It look so perfect during the start of the weekend. The cars in really good setup with the drivers Kimi Raikonen and Felipe Massa did a great job in practice specially in qualifying where Felipe took P1 with Kimi taking the first of the 2nd row at P3. I was really confident about the race and I knew Kimi Raikonen would be able to challenge Lewis Hamilton on his Mclaren and take 2nd and maybe probably take the win if it all went well. Lap times in qualifying suggest that Felipe Massa may have been carrying out a lower amount of fuel as the usual case for Scuderia Ferrari where kimi really likes to carry more fuel so he can attack when Felipe Massa gets to the pits first.

Felipe Leads at the start of the race

At the start of the race it all went well when it reached about lap 10 where when Kimi Raikonen had his tires really up to the right operating temperature and really started to push really hard to take on Lewis. He was really hammering it down that he could even do about .4 upto .6 of a second a lap faster than Lewis Hamilton. As Kimi Raikonen was getting closer and closer to the gearbox of Lewis Hamilton's Mclaren at the other side of the track the 2nd ING Renault driver Nelson Piquet, Jr. lost the rear of his car, spun the car around, and then rear ended it on the wall on lap 15. Damaging his car really hard that's it's not possible to run it anymore. Because it was a dangerous place to be, the FIA safety car was released for the workers/stewards safety to clear the car and debris from the crash. As the cars are running a bit low on fuel teams called their cars as same with Scuderia Ferrari calling up both of their cars in the pit at the same time as a result Kimi Raikonen had to que up behind Felipe Massa. The Safety Car period was such a bad timing for Felipe Massa and the team. After calling in both the cars into the pits. It was the 2nd part of the bad things that had happened all weekend for the team. When the fuel rig man pulled the fueling rig it got stuck a bit and failed to pull it out completely . I don't know what happened but somehow the lollipop guy/lights man has triggered the go signal for Felipe. B'coz the hose was still on Felipe's car when he thundered on. The fueling rig was pulled cutting the rig (ripped it off the tank) and dragging mechanics and injured one as he was slammed on the tarmac and then it was still attached on Felipe's car as he cruised all the way down at the ends of the pits. He had to stop at the end before going out so the mechanics can run after him to pull it off. But before the mechanics can do that, because both Kimi and Felipe were called at the same time to pit Kimi had to que behind and waited for Felipe to clear the box where he can move and have his tires changed and have his car refueled. Which was the third part of Kimi's bitter blow. After the mechanics had serviced Kimi's car the team ran over to the end of the pit lane to get the refuel rig off Felipe's car. When Kimi came out he was way behind the podium positions already. That's because of the time spent on que at the pits.

Where it all started

Felipe Drags the Fueling rig and mecahnics

Helping the injured up

At the latter part of the race, Kimi Raikonen kept on pushing and pushing over taking a couple of cars until the final set of pits stops where he finally rejoined at 5th behind Timo Glock of the Panasonic Toyota F1 team.... Another safety car period came when Force India's Adrian Sutil also got a taste of the wall. Kimi new he had to take on as much points as he can to keep their lead in the Constructors championship. He kept on pushing and pushing and attacked Timo Glock for every single lap left. But then he lost the car where he ended up crashing on the wall where David Coulthard from Red Bull racing also ended up during the practice sessions. It was the end of Kimi's race at the Singaporean GP. He got off the car and ended his weekend. Felipe on the other hand did not made it to the top 8 as he rejoined 18th after his pit drama and did not score any point for himself and for the team.

I was so disappointed with the results of the First Singtel Singaporean Grand Prix. Also the 2008 season has been a very bad year for the world champion Kimi Raikonen. He had reliability issues at the 2nd part of the season. He could have won more Grand Prix and lead the Drivers Championship right now if it was'nt for the reliability issues playing Ferrari this season. From mechanical parts failures, Engines blowing up, tire management failure, etc... it is/was a bad season for Ferrari. With 3 races left I'm still confident Ferrari can still claim the Constructors Championship with Felipe really the closest person to challenge Lewis Hamilton for the drivers title. I still want Kimi to win the 2008 season but I think he would need a miracle for that to happen. It's not his fault why he is in his position now. He drove absolutely to the limit as what he normally does. But it was his car which let him down. I do believe Scuderia Ferrari will give him a better car next year. I do believe the new management of the team this year can and will be stronger next year.

Here is the final result of the Singtel Singaporean Grand Prix

more pictures to be posted ....

//:: Singtel Singaporean Grand Prix Live!

Singtel Singaporean Grand Prix

Live video Feed from the 1st ever night race, The Singtel Singaporean GP

It's the first ever in the history of Formula1. A night race in the glamorous city streets of Singapore FOR THE FIRST TIME. Yep! It's the Inaugural Singtel Singaporean Grand prix. An ambitious move that took a year of planning. Catch all the action on race day September 28, 2008 at 8PM UTC/GMT +8 hours.

Only here at althonealexis.blogspot

*****************************************************************************************************************

Here is the result of the qualifying session of the Singtel Singaporean GP that took place on September 27, 2008.

//:: The El Quinto drum beaters feat. DJ Tone

"4 boring senior citizens with pens inside their top pockets who loves to hit and destroy things using drumsticks"

If I'll say the "band" what comes out on your mind? You think of your favorite band, or you think about your favorite vocalist, think about the good looking keyboards player, you'd imagine the instruments used, etc.... These are just a few examples of things that comes poppin' out of your mind if someone tells you the word "band". So let's see what comes out when I say the word "DJ".... Let me guess .... your favorite club, your favorite house music, your favorite rnb music, your favorite DJ, or you even sometimes imagine a vinyl. Am I right?

Music has found it's own way around. Music has lived for years, music has been always with us, music is everywhere. That's what I love about music. You can bring it, enjoy with it, play with it, it even makes you talk to it (singing). When I said found it's way around. I meant evolution. Music like some known recording artists has evolved. Rod Stewart for instance. If you listen to his old original songs they're very different from what he sings today. He sings jazz and standards now a days. "Shhhh I found some pirated DVD's of his concert somewhere"

So anyway, when you think of music it makes you think of something that you usually see. Probably something you've experienced. But have you ever thought, what if you try to combine things with music. For El Quinto's case, they combined the club music of a DJ and the sounds produced (drum beats) by 3 percussionists (Drum beaters).

What kind of music can they do?

//:: Fuel Saving tips: Save Fuel with the tale gate up

Some pickup-truck drivers take it as an article of faith that they're saving fuel by driving with the tailgate down, or removed, or replaced by a mesh fabric or metal gate. Which is not true and is a false claim.

Tale gate UP

Tale gate DOWN

Aerodynamic studies show a pickup truck is most fuel efficient with its tailgate up. The upright tailgate causes air flowing over the roof of the main cabin to collect as a stagnant "dome" in the cargo bed. As speed builds, this dome, which tapers in a teardrop shape near the tailgate, acts as an aerodynamic ramp that forces airflow over the tailgate, which in return gives less drag as it smoothly ramps the air over the tailgate.

Disrupt this flow by dropping or removing the tailgate, and air coming over the cab is left to swirl around in the cargo bed, degrading the truck's aerodynamics. If you have a sort of swirl of air on the cargo bed it causes air to vacuum in that air and tends to slow the car for causing lots of wind drag. So you tend to put more gas to give it some more power to accelerate and so it hurts fuel economy.

Keeping your vehicle in good shape can help with its fuel efficiency. Don't ruin the look of your car. Manufacturers study hours and hours of wind tunnel tests on the cars. They're perfect the way they are. Unless your an aero dynamic expert....

//:: What goes through the mind of a DJ?

What goes through the mind of a DJ when he/she is up their in the DJ's booth?

Everyone living in this world has their own way of living, they all have their own mind to think for themselves, different opinions, different personality, etc... In "DJing" is probably desame. I don't know what goes through the mind of the other DJ's. Just how like people live, I have my own way of doing it.

Thought we could probably see DJ's with the same skill sets, but I'm sure their minds are thinking differently. This article I'm blogging now does not go for the other DJ's. As I we all know everyone is different. So what you'll see and read here is my way of thinking.

So what goes through my mind when I'm up their playing. For me it's very simple. My mind is playing a "Chess board game". Why? When i'm out their playing I don't really concentrate too much and sink myself in and make myself look like a spanner for just looking down on the cd's or turntables always and not carrying about the crowd. I keep myself open always, I always base my move from the crowd. So if I play I'm gonna have to look and feel the crowd and try to see if they like it. If not I try to attack them differently by shifting the mood of the song. if it works then I keep on going that direction. So it's really abit like playing chess "They make a move and so I'll answer that move by making my own move."
Remember this! That the skills of a DJ is very easy to learn you don't need special powers to learn how to spin. But it's when you learn to feel the crowd is I think the one that's abit hard to acquire. It takes time for you to learn it. Takes a couple of gigs for you to really understand how you should do it and how you should treat things.

//:: Residencia Del Josefina condotel

Residencia Del Josefina, A condotel with amenities and services well beyond its old world charm. Set right in front of all the conveniences of the NCCC Mall of Davao, coupled with a place where you can relax, be yourself and feel at home.

Functional features and comforting amenities are available in the room to ensure convenience of its guests. More than just a cozy place, Residencia Del Josefina is in itself an experience of a condotel comfort, so heartwarming, just like home.

At the Residencia Del Josefina, condotel comfort is made more meaningful. With our sincere hospitality and impeccable service, we make your stay more memorable, more like home.

Take the family for a weekend getaway and enjoy a fun – filled stay with us. While most hotels cram a family of four in a room with only 2 beds and an extra roll – in cot, the Residencia Del Josefina has designed a unit with two rooms for a family. They can be configured to 2 single beds per room which totals to 4 beds per unit.

A totally new experience, our Residencia allows the utmost luxury in a very homey setting.

A Living and Dining areas * Two rooms with 2 beds in each room * Toilet and Bath * Telephone Line * WiFi Access * Wide Screen Cable TV * Mini Bar * Coffee Making Facility* Use of Microwave * Airport Pick Up and Drop Off

“A condotel comfort, just like home”

//:: What does that wing at the back of your car do?

Does it really make your car look good? Stunning!? Fascinating? Pogi points? ... Do I really need that? What does it really?

They simply call it a rear wing. It's an aero dynamic device usually used in automobile racing that helps produce downforce as the air passes around it. Please do not confuse yourself by thinking I'm talking about the spoiler. A spoiler is an automotive aerodynamic device whose intended design function is to 'spoil' unfavorable air movement across a body of a vehicle in motion. Spoilers are often fitted to race and high-performance sports cars, although they have become common on passenger vehicles, as well. Some spoilers are added to cars primarily for styling purposes and have either little aerodynamic benefit or even make the aerodynamics worse.

First of all I want to talk about downforce. Aero Dynamics 101: From the word itself, Downforce. It's a force produced to help push an object down. To make it more imaginable, try to put the palm of your hand on top of a desk without pushing your hand down on the desk. Just put it on top and let it sit on top on it's own weight. Now try moving it sidewards left to right. You will notice that your palm is rubbing through the desk freely. Now Same scenario, put your hand back on top of the desk but this time try to put pressure on it and actually push your palm down and then after applying pressure try moving it from left to right. As you can see, it's much harder to move it because of the weight/force that's pushing it down. It makes the palm of your hand stick on top of the desk. So why is it used in racing?

Below are pictures of The Ferrari F2007. The car that Kimi Raikkonen used to win the World Drivers title in the 2007 season of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship.As you can clearly see that this car has some serious design issues. It does'nt look like a car anymore. Only because of it's wheels that you are able to determine that it's a car.

Looking at it's design, you will notice that it has lots of wings on it. The most noticeable once are the front and rear wing. As air passes through this wings when the car is at speed. It will push the car down on the ground (Downforce). Sometimes when it's really going really really fast it sometimes makes the weight of the car 3 times it's normal weight when standing still. So the faster the car goes, the faster the air passes through the wing. The faster the air passes through the wing, the more downforce is generated.

If there is downforce meaning a car can go around bends and corners faster without slipping or sliding the car. Downforce helps push the the tires of the cars down on the road to get more grip. Exactly the same way when you pushed the palm of your hand on the table (with our experiment earlier). That is one reason why racing cars have these wings. So the drivers/pilots can drive the car not just fast on the straights but also quick around the bends or corners.

With the combination of good grippy sticky tires, wings that can generate tremendous amount of downforce and a very big and brutally powerful engine. A car with all these 3 factors can go around a circuit very quick.

How fast or how much time do you think can the F2007 go around a 7 kilometer circuit? A circuit with corners and bends that a car needs to break and slow down to get around it. 7 minutes?, 10 minutes?, 5 minutes?, 12 minutes? Your wrong! Kimi Raikkonen drove the F2007 around the a 7 kilometer circuit (Spa Franchorchamp racing circuit in Belgium) in 1:45.994. That's under 2 minutes around a 7 kilometer road. What the video below to see how kimi does it around the circuit.

Because of the powerful engine the car can really thunder down on the straight line. But if you watch closely and listen to steve the commentator. You'll notice that Kimi is driving the car so fast in the corners and the car is allowing him to do that because of the downforce. It gives him confidence to go really fast in the corners because there is so much grip available because of the downforce.

Downforce is a very crucial element in racing as it gives you the edge to win a race.

//:: The new A1GP powered by Ferrari

Ferrari has signed a 6 year contract with A1GP to produce and supply V8 engines for the A1GP staring with the 4th season which will be launched probably on September or October of 2008. Apart from supplying engines Ferrari will also play a key role in consulting with the development of the new chassis for the coming seasons of A1.

The new chassis is based on the design of the highly successful F2004 chassis, incorporating A1GP’s core values to deliver close, exciting racing among a competitive field where overtaking is an essential part of the entertainment. A1GP technical director, John Travis, is overseeing the design, development and production of the car from premises in Bognor Regis in the UK, with Rory Byrne acting as consultant.

The first image of the new chassis

The Ferrari F2004

Wind tunnel tests of the new chassis

Ferrari A1GP engine

The New A1GP car being tested at Ferrari's test circtuit, Fiorano. With Ferrari's test driver Andrea Bertolini

With the engine now developing about 600hp. According to Danny Watts the first to test the old and the new car it has shown dramatic changes with already 2 seconds quicker per lap than the old car and it producer more downforce. it is also noticeably more powerful with power already coming from the low end all the way up the high revs. It produces more down force compared to the old car. Corpse -- one corner where they have to go down 1 gear to 5th with the old car. Now with the new car they can easily go through it at 6th.

With the car now more powerful and faster in the corners, A1GP promises to create a great racing spectacle for the coming season. It will also help A1GP be more noticeable and will help by educating everyone about the World Cup of motorsport. Ferrari is already a fantastic name/brand/word. With Ferrari now associated with A1GP it will draw more crowd to watch the A1GP races as everyone knows what Ferrari is.

The big question .... Is the new A1GP car really a Ferrari? or Can you really call it a Ferrari?

//:: KERS

Why do they hate F1: KERS?

What on earth is that!? What does it do? What can it do to help me? Is it really important? Or is this article a waste of time to read?

“A regenerative brake is a mechanism that reduces vehicle speed by converting some of its kinetic energy into another useful form of energy. This captured energy is then stored for future use or fed back into a power system for use by other vehicles.

For example, electrical regenerative brakes in electric railway vehicles feed the generated electricity back into the supply system. In battery electric and hybrid electric vehicles, the energy is stored in a battery or bank of capacitors for later use. Other forms of energy storage which may be used include compressed air and flywheels.

Regenerative braking should not be confused with dynamic braking, which dissipates the electrical energy as heat.”

Ok stop right there! It's gonna get really boring if I continue to paste tall the words. Explanations of scientist is too much for a normal ordinary guy to understand. Let me try to explain it as simple as I can....

KERS stands for Kenetic Energy Recovery System. Ok, so what it does basiclly is it gathers energy out of the brakes of a car. So when the driver hits the brakes, the heat generated from the brake disks are then gathered and then somehow convert it into a useable energy. After it has been converted to a useable energy it will be stored in a holding cell where it waits to be deployed or used as a form of fuel to power a car. Ain't that great? So from time to time your car runs on fuel then sometimes it runs on the recovered energy... Simple isn't it? Nope! Your wrong. It's simple to read it just like that and what it does. But to be honest with you KERS is not an easy thing to deal with. Auto manufacturers have been trying to develop this said system and has failed to make it completely stig and work.

So now the big boys are steppin in to help develop this system. I'm talking about Formula 1. For years they have proved that when they do research on a technology for cars they can really make it work. Ferrari has developed the electronics such as the traction control . Mclaren was the first team to capitalize on using carbon fiber in the 80's. So really F1 has helped us a lot in keeping our cars safe. Now they are gonna try to help us again in terms of efficiency. Next year, for the 2009 season the FIA (Governing bodyu of Formula1) has made it mandatory for the teams to use this system.

Guess what? Even F1 giant Scuderia Ferrari has admitted it is a very hard system to develop. Toro Rosso burned their factory because, and BMW had an incident during testing in barcelona. When they tested the KERS system in one of their F1 cars it was working well. When it came back to the pits a mechanic touched the carbon body of the car and got electrified.

So what is the future of KERS? Given the time that F1 engineers will be able to develop and perfect the system. It will soon be available to our road cars as is the case for most of the system that has been studied and developed in F1 and it will help us save more fuel cause this system can help produce an energy that can be used as a fuel to power our cars.

So why do you hate F1?