The reason merc would consider moving – 1. under current agreements Merc , Renault and Ferrari have to supply the grid with engines should one of them pull out – thats extra cost to merc, 2. they would have the name of F1 devalued by not competing against Ferrari, Alfa Romeo etc, to the casual viewer / follower.

i agree with hols2 though – i think when it really came down to it, liberty really forced the issue, nothing will actually happen and Ferrari will remain – mainly because they dont have the balls to do it.

thats probably why horner is pushing for the 3% – as i said that would mean the other engines would have to be within 3% of the honda unit next year – i cannot see how merc + ferrari would go for this whatsoever.

should be an interesting week when Liberty show the blueprint and the kind of talk we’ll get from ferrari.

IIRC – Merc and pretty much all its top brass staff (totto etc) are all contracted to the 2020 season  –  could this cause a merc withdrawl if ferrari go to?

Interesting to hear Renault talking about engine development freezes next year and 2020 for the new engine regs in 2021 so they dont have to develop 2 engines on the run up to 2021 season.

seems Horner agrees and has suggested a 3% difference rule across all F1 engines

i understand where they are coming from – especially if the 2021 engine is drastically different to the current ones, and of course, if a new manufacturer decides to enter they can develop freely outside of current F1 regs/rules over development.

Will not be great for us the viewer if engines are the same (and you can bet there will be a whole load of arguments and accusations ,potential penalties about what is and what is not a “development” )

Also if Honda is so down on power and performance and the above takes place with the 3% rule, does that mean everyone else has to detune their engine to witin 3% of honda!

tricky situation.

agree agree agree agree agree!

Problem with it is – Bernie handed a lot of control to the F1 teams rather than the owners and they cannot do anything without full consent from the big teams, and if they are up front, they dont want anything to change – why would a Merc works team want to level the playing field so someone like Haas or Force India could compete with them at the front.

VSC should just be banned totally (indeed i thought it was for 2018?) – they want to spice up the show, just always have a the full safety car and bunch up the field again.

i have to also say, i feel the C4 coverage is almost like watching QVC – lets sell sell sell sell that this is most fantastic thing ever and its all great and fantastic and great and …..fantastic.

when in reality it was humdrum boring race showing the serious flaws of F1.

i’ve had enough of F1 now – since the 80’s ive been watching, but the likes of WEC/FE/MotoGP etc i wonder why i waste my time watching it….its all feeling a little bit…..sh**….

sh** halo

sh** graphics

sh** in car camera nobbled by sh** halo

sh** rules that are not thought out

sh** cars that cannot follow behind each other

sh** aero winglets all over the place making cars look sh**

sh** fuel saving

sh** structure that means nobody changes anything because they all want just to keep the CA$$ flowing and those that do want the change have no power to do so

monday morning +1 hour GMT rant over!

what tyres though were being run – that has a big effect as we saw in pre-season testing –

also joined the f1 league

Home boy Riccy will have 3 place penalty for not being under the allocated time in a red flag zone – not a great start.

does anyone know yet if that F1 TV streaming channel can be *cough*watched in the uk with a vpn*cough*

probalby start with a toast to absent friends.

oh no wait….

bullseye – yes the winners of a speedboat that lived in bradford.

Avoid the ‘moor’ road from Ilkley to Menston at rush hour it’s a rat run and dangerous.  The main road from Burley up to Menston is actually quite safe before the mayhem towards Leeds.

yeah thanks FunkyDunc – a lot of people have said this to me!

work doesnt do flexi so its 8.45 start / 5.15 finish – but to be honest i’ll get in on the bike and enjoy a coffee breakfast and podcast catchup in the morning before others arrive.

I note that there is a nice “bridleway” right over the moor south that could be done a cross bike / mtb hardtail and then perhaps a few other off road routes east into leeds for a more interesting commute in/back 😉

well i’m signed up now for Ilkley in a wee house….so i’ll have to make the best of it 😉

to be honest, the roads north are all looking like great Dales routes, and i would prefer an extra 10mins on my commute either cycling or driving, to not have to do any driving or nasty roads at the weekends to ride – so ilkley i can ride straight out the door and into the dales, along with the many many others in the very large ilkley cycle clubs

and its got tons, and i mean TONS of cafes/pubs/eats/shops etc etc

I drove the A65 route – and apart from the small dual carriageway section, it *seems* like it will be ok, many bits are quite wide with a large seperator in between , few hills, theres also a cycle lane for a short section, and then i hit a shared use path direct into work.

there is also a bypass i could do and go south at burley in wharfedale down a backroad folllow the railway line and come out further down the a65  just north of guiseley … well thats a plan anyway

cheers everyone for the invaluable advice!!!!

bloody hell – its a fast rental market in Ilkley – but i’m “in” so will start in April — and will try and checkout any backroads to my commute if I can!

forget about Alonso finishing out the season – will McLaren as a team finish out the season at this rate?

Those saudi backers must be thinking what on earth am i paying billions of ££ for….

we wont see it because it will be at the back with all the penalties it gets, or we see a glimpse as alonso gets out of the parked car on lap 8.

Alonso will quit mid year…

me:D

I think i mentioned previously, the reason Alonso was so keen to get a full WEC drive is because even before it McLaren hit the track, they know its a dog – and looking at it so far in testing….well…..

Also been looking at Guiseley today – thanks to the responses above!   seems to have a good range of pubs and a high street – renting also seems to have a good selection – more than ilkley – although the prices seem similar…

certainly worth a consideration …not too far to ride from the door into the dales from there either….

thanks johnx2 — I might need to tap you up closer to the time for help on some routes.

I notice there is a dual carriageway on the a65 just outside of ilkley – do you have to do a diversion through burley in wharfedale for that?

— actually good idea about Ilkley CC i’ll try and find their Forum and ask a few Q’s about the commute from there.

some bits of the a65 have a cycle lane, some dont ….

hmm ok – much appreciated advice – thanks!!!!

i’m heading down next weekend to look at rentals and perhaps even a property to buy – going to center on ilkley…

further research today – silsden looks cheap for houses!!!!

would have to use the minor b road for commute as the main A road into the city looks nasty- but as said above that B road will probably be a rat run….

@funkydunc

just street viewed its main high street – looks pretty nice !!!

mid forties 🙁

like me quiet pubs,cafes and road riding now …….

thanks for all the replies, its been a great help!!!!! now, much searching to do 😀

“Williams will lose Martini sponsorship next year” – and now we know the real reason for the Russian Driver – CA$$$$H

@ahsat – wow, thats a great post, thanks for taking the time on that – much appreciated, and great info….

although i hate to admit it , the ilkley “line” seems to be the best option for what i want – even if i have to pay more in rent might make it more enjoyable long term in not faffing around for road riding / dales – and if i can figure out a commute path thats not too bad , then thats a bonus , otherwise i could drive/train it in.

i did kind of think that the moors roads would probably get a lot of cut-through traffic!

i’m coming from edinburgh, so i know all about terrible traffic, from 6.20am here it getts choka, especially as i have to go over the FRB – sometimes after work , 11 miles can take over an hour.

I think the saving grace might be the gym & cafe next door to work is open longer hours than my working day, so i dont mind cycling in earlier and enjoying a wee stretch session in the morning + lazy breakfast and then a gym session after work and let the traffic calm a little. plus i’m an early riser and dont mind early morning commutes.

still poor “i’m doing this for no reason, oh no wait 5 mins later there is a reason” type scripting….

defo rushed – the bomb is something that might link into Star Trek movie “The undiscovered country”

Emperor was well under used , and in the end pointless – would have preferred that Admiral woman to have taken over for a single Episode and attempt to do the dirty then had the direct face to face “speech”…

…and the final quip at the end about “no more jump drive”, seemed very contrived – considering they spent all that time perfecting it , building a ship for it, and have a viable way of using it now!….but hey it fitted in with the script that needed it for what happened all of 1 min later……..sigh….

<span style=”font-size: 0.8rem;”>…and i just knew they could not leave “that” ship out of the cliffhanger……oh dear.</span>

one thing is for sure – they are going to have to hit a massive reset button to keep it all in line

oh and…..so they are still 6 months in the future then? no Time Police? like in other series / episodes? everyones ok with being 6 months later i guess….no resolution on what the Mirror evil-Discovery did while there either?

loved the program – wasnt much comeback though from the IOC on why they decided no blanket ban on russian athletes, despite the evidence of bottle tampering and everything from the WADA commision.  methinks more will come out about that in many years to come….

one things for sure, these eps are not going to be a terrestial weekday rerun at 5pm for kids…..

it will probably:
a) get picked up for season 2 and then wobble along with ever poorer ratings
b) revamp some new sexier crew members and go more extreme to try and “crank up the drama”
c) cross/gather characters and plots for the other Star Trek series to pull in ratings
d) end S2 on some form of massive cliffhanger that “….will change the star trek universe for everrrrrrrrrrr….” (s2 ending promo trailer)
e) never get renewed after that

Police Academy

well at least its written better than this show!

next trick in the book will be a looping time travel episode. oh no wait…..

“There’s little in Discovery to prevent it being set later in the timeline”
thats a good point @Cougar – didnt think of it like that

the only way i can see the spore drive never coming into historical timeline is they all die and /or the ship is lost because so far only that ship has it and the Captain seems keen to keep it away from the federation.

thats assuming they dont transmit thier data/logs back to federation on how its all working of course, which would also be a bit ridiculous…

pah , i just had a thought, as they turned a klingon into a total human (on the outside) are they going to macguffin in some sort of klingon/human hybrid that ties in with the original series where klingons look like humans?

thats about the only thing that could tie in, as lets face it , the tech in this series is better than the tech in the next gen movies – yet its set before KIRK IIRC.

disaster.
i would have had more respect if they had kept it “old tech” and copied KIRK era and just concentrated on script/story!

#holographicbloodycommsrubbish….

over the past 2 decades that power over the rules have ebbed away from FIA into the teams / manufacturers, and now its just impossible to get back,
i think Liberty are just realising this after the luke warm reception they got from offering the teams shares in the sport and the Brawn dossier on new regs for 2021 and suggestions about reformatting the payment structure to the teams.

@molgrips ftw!

considering how long it took to get into production, the script is dire – and the throwaway swearing/gore/rape , for me , sometimes feel its for “sensationalism” to show its “more adult”

Williams – they just seem to be trying to find the next young-verstappen and hoping it will get them some notice, when in reality they are slipping further and further down the grid (even with that Merc engine in the back) with less and less sponsorship money — and almost every race there is some excuse as to their problems with performance (doesnt suit us, tyres not heating up etc) – and i think they had a chance with Kubica to get a genuine talent with F1 experience and they went for ooodles of cash instead.
Personally if i was Kubica i’d have looked at another F1 team instead of backburner status.

as for Formula E – plenty of big manufacturers coming in, and rumours are the new car for 2019 will be very much faster than the existing ones and there is already talk of them “out growing” some street circuits – when they start to get on to proper race circuits, then the F1 challenge will really begin.

There may be no need at all to try and change F1 against the manufacturers power base , because it might just simply fade away as they all jump ship into FE.

great info – thanks – yeah perhaps getting full hydro on 9sp just isnt that possible/financially viable and some cable hydros are the way to go – just that some say nah some say yeah, but as above, lot of yay’s on here 🙂 !!!

so cable hydros :-
guess thats discussed in depth here
cable hydro discussion on here

finally BBC1 after most of the race is done. stupid coverage. this aint no heat or semi final, this is all or nothing.