The Curious Case of the Carbon-Fibre Nose Cone

I know that everyone will, of course, know that its only 40 days until the start of the new F1 season, and as such its the time of the much awaited car launches, don't deny you're excited. Now don't worry although this post currently seems sports-related, i promise you that it shouldn't be, just hang in there. Now back to F1, something very unusual has happened to F1 cars this year, well not the whole car, more just the nose cone to be honest. If you haven't seen the new cars, then really what have you been doing, there's definitely nothing better to have been done with your time, but in case that is the case then below is the picture of the new Ferrari.

As you may have noticed it seems something has decided to cut a section of it off, now my reason for this whole long winded introduction it that it has brought up the old debate; one of those big questions (well prehaps not that big to be honest, but nevertheless a question), which is more important form or function? Now i know most objects try to have both, but there will always be conflict between the 2 and which one should be prioritized in these cases, it's obvious that in the before mentioned case function has won over form, unless someone at Ferrari has gone completely bonkers (probably not for the first time though), but there has been cases where the opposite is true (i really only mentioned this for a bit of apple-bashing) for example the infamous iPhone 4 aerial, where apple decided the phone's looks were more important than, well the actually phone part of the phone.

Now to get a better view of the people's opinions i've done some in depth research and surveying (well i read through the comments section of the above picture, but that still counts). The view i got from this is that a lot of people are not happy, they all think that despite an F1 car's nose purpose is to be as aerodynamically efficient that it should still look good, i don't know maybe they think if it looks good other drivers will slow down to have a look, or maybe they're just haven't actually thought about it much, but instead decided to type some barely legible comment, thinking that Ferrari might listen to them and come back with a different design.

If any of you readers share the view that form is more important than function, i would apologize but since i'm not sorry about bashing your views, then i won't. I mean i value your opinion (albeit not very highly), but i  still haven't had anyone explain to me a good reason for that view. Now most people who know me will put all this down to me not being a great fan of art, and the fact that i'm going to study engineering at university, but to be honest, and although i'm quite vocal against art, i do love design. I mean show me a Picasso and i won't be interested in the slightest; however show me a piece of quality architecture, or a new chair design and it's a whole different matter.

So really, although i definitely think that function is by far more important than form, things can still have form as long as it doesn't affect the function, and to be honest a lot of design has come about from the function, for example arches, which some people are completely obsessed about (having watched countless episodes of Grand Designs), but arches are at the base designed not for aesthetic purposes but because they're very good at supporting things whilst letting things through. 

Having said all that, if you think that you can persuade me to think differently (or just fancy an argument... um i mean a debate) then feel free to comment, email, im, text or even use that outdated method of communicating, you know that one where you move your mouth and noise comes out, talking that's what it's called. And as for the Ferrari, i actually hope that they don't share the same view as me, and that's it's not functional at all, but merely some guy trying to start a new style of design. The reason for this is that i hope that McLaren's design, with their more pleasing to the eye nose cone, is better and that in 10 months time i will be revelling in another world championship for JB.

Too Busy, Too Early

As the clock ticks over into the afternoon, so far my morning has been relatively productive (despite me sitting here now writing this). You may have noticed that I've changed my blog layout to the new-fangled "dynamic view", please comment on this change since i'm still not entirely sure about it so far, this meant that I've had to find pictures for most of my previous posts in order that the flipcard view works well. This will mean that most my posts will have pictures in now, and hopefully (if i can be bothered) they will be my own pictures, but we'll see about that.

Well that's one thing i've done this morning, but the other much more important one had me up at 7 this morning. This was of course for the England v Scotland rugby match, since my church decided to combine the men's breakfast with the watching of the match, and i have to help set up since my dad organizes the event. However i'm glad that i gave up my lie-in and in the end a few fingernails to watch this match. Whilst not exactly magnificent, it was truly a pulsating match as both teams world cup fate relied on wins. Thankfully England came through but it was too nerve wrecking, but i suppose that's how England play in all sports.

However there is one thing that i found myself getting annoyed at, and to be honest i often find when watching sports with other people, and that is the pure pessimistic views of people. Now, yes it's fine to get annoyed but when people start just to give up hope that is truly annoying (especially when they get vocal about it). I possibly would say i'm an optimist, but that mainly comes from my belief that anything can happen until it's mathematically impossible.

I remember the 2008 F1 season, going into the last race with Hamilton needing a 5th place to win the championship. It was the final few laps and Hamilton pitted for wet tyres putting him back out in 7th, now my dad who is a Hamilton fan got up and left the room at this point, only for Hamilton to regain 5th place on the final corner. Now that's why you should never be pessimistic, because you never know what's going to happen, as the saying goes "It ain't over till it's over".

To be honest i carry this view through all of my life, not just sport and it seems to work. Whilst i won't tell you to have a similar view (because that could cause some sort of liability issue), give it a go and see what happens. But if you don't want to give it a go then next time you're watching sport in public don't be so annoying, please.

And Here’s Your Picture Round

(A question from a recent university challenge: University of Manchester vs. Selwyn College Cambridge) Name these Formula 1 circuits:

Now i know not everyone is as big an F1 fan as i am, but the first one should be recognisable to most people (and on the program the picture had the harbour on as well), meaning that it is of course Monaco. Surely enough they got that one right. However the next 2 stumped them, in case you wondered they’re Yas Marina, Dubai and Hockenheim, Germany. It became obvious that they only knew 2 F1 circuits, as their only guess for the last 2 was “Is it Monza?”

This handily brings me to this weekend, and if you hadn’t guessed already it is the Italian GP at Monza, which means my whole weekend’s TV is sorted. But fear not, if you’re not interested in F1, as i will be filling this post with pictures. For starters here is the Monza GP Circuit for reference.

Whenever people realise I'm an F1 fan, they say: “But it’s so boring”. The answer to that is yes there can sometimes be very dull races or sections of a race, but surely that’s true for any sport, not every football match is pulsating exciting, some of them are plain boring 0-0 draws. And in the same way a football player can have a spark of inspiration that changes a whole match, in F1 a driver can make an extraordinary overtake that defies belief.

This a picture of Webber’s stunning overtake only last race, and in case you’re thinking it’s not impressive, then keep this in mind: this is at 170mph, with walls on either side, (when i tried it, i was only doing 130mph). This was only one of several amazing overtakes last GP, and that has seemingly been the case for this whole season.

Anyway I'll keep it short, and just leave you with 2 things. First here are my predictions for the race: 1) Button 2)Hamilton 3)Schumacher. Secondly if you’ve got nothing to do this weekend then perhaps give Monza a watch, it could very well be a classic.

P.S. I hope i haven’t bored you too much, and i promise I'll be back to my normal posts next week.