Formula BMW Indonesia: The Sentul track is quite technical and it took me a little longer than usual to get to grips with it.
"Last weekend I was sick with a bad cold and not really up to form the way I had wanted it. The Sentul track is quite technical and it took me a little longer than usual to get to grips with it.
For the latest and
NEW images just go to the Gallery or click the Image
above.
Big
crowd at the Sentul race track...
Therefore
my qualifying times were not so fast and I had to
start the first two races from 8th and 9th position
respectively. The first two races on Saturday did not
really go well and I had an accident in race two by
colliding with a competitor on the start finish line.
Not much damage was done to my car but I couldn't
finish the race. This kept me down at the end of the
starting grid for the other two races on Sunday which
went slightly better. Finally my lap times were at
par with the front runners, but I had a hard time
making my way up through the field since everybody
was fiercely defending their positions and I ended up
in 6th and 7th position respectively. Well, not such
a great race weekend to remember. I will now just
concentrate on the three guest races in Europe ahead
of me - starting with the Hungarian F1 Grand Prix
next week - and try to prepare myself for the next
rounds of the Formula BMW Pacific series in
Singapore, supporting the first F1 night race on
September 27 and 28."
Marlon
Marlon’s Travel log continues...now I am off to the Sentul Circuit near Jakarta, Indonesia, for the next Formula BMW Pacific race as part of the Asian Festival of Speed and after that I travel back to Europe and start my 3 race guest stint in the BMW Europe series in Budapest, Valencia and Spa."
"Between all my activities in Europe I had a few days in Zurich, Switzerland. I was invited to an event of the Gody Naef Fan Club. Racing is supposedly for young people. But check this out:
Gody is Europe's most senior race driver! He is 88 years young and invited me for a ride in his Vintage Amil car. My God he throws that car around...! I had to hold on cause I feared to fall out and - beginners mistake - bruised my elbow on the old timers tires. They are right next to you when you sit in it. Look at the pictures. Gody still races hill climbs in all sorts of cars and I remember watching him a few years ago together with my dad racing up the Alps in a red Chevy Corvette convertible.
Watch your elbows! Specially in vintage automobiles
like
Gody Naef's Amilcar
for more Photos of Marlon and Gody Naef and the
cool vintage car
click on the image above or this
link.
Now I am on his website
in the 'Friends of Gody' section right next to
Peter Sauber. Well if that's not
being famous...!
Check out his website @ Go to www.godynaef.ch he is
Europe's oldest race driver.
Many thanks also to Hansueli 'Joeggi' Rihs, founder
and co-owner of Swiss high tech company
Phonak Hearing Systems, also a
friend of Gody and the organizer of his fan club.
I had difficulties from the beginning of this year
with the ear plugs of my in-helmet team radio. It is
crucial for the communication between driver and team
during races, like: team to driver: 'careful there is
a carabao (water buffalo) crossing the track at turn
five, reduce speed!'...joking...I have actually
experience goats, dogs and lizzards...specially on
the infamous Batangas Racing Circuit
near Manila!
My new friend: 88 years young Swiss racing
legend
Gody Naef
for more Photos of Marlon and
Gody Naef and the cool
vintage car
click on the image above or this link.
Mr. Rihs was kind enough
to organize the tailor making of special ear plugs
for me that reduce sound clutter but still let you
hear vital engine sound. That's very important for a
racer! The plugs now also fit snugly into my ears
inside the helmet and don't hurt anymore. The team at
Phonak did a perfect job producing and fitting the
plugs in the short time I stayed in Zurich.
Thanks again to them and special thanks to
Joeggi Rihs!
Now I am off to the Sentul Circuit near Jakarta,
Indonesia, for the next Formula BMW
Pacific race as part of the Asian Festival
of Speed and after that I will travel back to Europe
and start my 3 race guest stint in the BMW
Europe series in Budapest, Valencia and
Spa."
Marlon
Wow...Marlon's Travel Log continous..."After the visit to the F1 test in Spain my Dad, Chris and I travelled by car to Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium. Spa is the World's most exciting race track.
"After the visit to the F1 test in Spain my Dad, Chris and I travelled by car to Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium. Spa is the World's most exciting race track. Every racer loves it and it is a privilege to be able to drive there. I am not absolutely sure, but I might be the first Filipino race driver ever to race on this famous European track!
Wow, this is the best roller coaster I've been on...
for more on ”Marlon’s latest
Photos”click the image.
It is a great 'nature
track' located in the middle of a big forest with
trees all around. These have been safely removed from
the corners of the track in recent history and run
offs were constructed. In former times the track was
quite dangerous. It goes up and down with altitude
differences of more than 600 meters! When you come up
the famous 'Eau Rouge' curve, you shoot up into the
sky and soon after go steeply downhill and turn into
an extremely fast left hander. When you see these
curves during F1 races on TV you don't realize how
steep it actually is! You experience constantly
negative and lateral G-Forces that push you into the
seat and to the sides of the cockpit.
With Chris Wassermann and Italian mechanic Maurizio
in Spa,
for more on ”Marlon’s latest
Photos”click the image.
I did quite well during
the two half-day tests I was allowed to do and placed
constantly in the top five or ten. Not bad since the
best drivers are supposed to be in the BMW Europe
series. So I think I will be able to do well during
my guest races in summer, even so I was not allowed
to do more testing because the testing for guest
drivers in another BMW series is very limited."
Marlon
More BMW NEWS from Marlon, "After my visit to the BMW F1 factory in Switzerland...plus cool images from Spain including Robert Kubica...
http://www.marlonstockinger.com/page2/page1.html
http://www.marlonstockinger.com/
"After my visit to the BMW F1 factory in Switzerland, all of us flew down to Barcelona in sunny Spain to observe one full F1 test day. We were issued head phones, so we could listen in to the team radio and follow the conversation between Robert Kubica and his race engineer during testing.
At the Circuit de Catalunya... click on the images
and go direct to Marlon’s latest Photos on this
Blog
It's actually ten of us
from around the world who were chosen as BMW
Juniors and we got to know each other a
little better during the day. In the evening Simon,
Mike - a family friend of his - my dad and me went to
a fantastic Spanish restaurant in town where also
Nelson Piquet Jr. was having dinner.
The day was actually pretty relaxed. We had lunch in
the F1 team's tent and were interviewed together with
Robert Kubica at the end of the day.
Robert Kubica in the pit garage...click on the images
and go direct to Marlon’s latest Photos on this
Blog.
My dad and I flew then
back to Zurich from where we were planning to go to
Spa, the famous race circuit in Belgium, where I was
going to test for my guest race there in
September..."
Marlon
Being one of the chosen BMW Juniors, I was recently invited to visit the BMW Formula One factory in Hinwil, Switzerland.
@ http://www.marlonstockinger.com/blog.html
or go to Marlon’s website:@ http://www.marlonstockinger.com/
The chosen ones. BMW Juniors at the BMW F1 Factory
in Hinwil, Switzerland
"Being one of the
chosen BMW Juniors, I was
recently invited to visit the BMW Formula One
factory in Hinwil, Switzerland.
We were given an extensive seminar on racing
technique, aerodynamics and car set up by
Mike Strottmann a former BMW touring
car racer himself and other experts from the factory.
Extremely interesting was also the tour of the
factory including the museum and the high tech wind
tunnel, which is so important for the development of
F1 aerodynamics.
F1 Engine secrets revealed by the expert
A Formula
One car is actually not a car as most people
perceive it: It is actually an airplane flown upside
down. If you race through a tunnel you could actually
drive along the ceiling and it would stick! The only
problem is how to get it there without crashing at
300 km/h. The engineer who gave us the lesson on
aerodynamics had been crazy enough to volunteer but
management refused because of safety concerns.
Set up and driving technique lesson by BMW Touring
car driver Mike Strottmann
The wind tunnel is
managed by the second most powerful computer in the
world: Albert. It is really huge, something like 20 x
2 x2 meters, like computers used to be 50 years ago,
but as powerful as they are today! Only
NASA has a bigger one. It works 24/7
and calculates billions of ways every day how air
could flow over the car in a way that it gives the
right mix between downforce and drag or wind
resistance. That's why the cars have little wings all
over and look so alien. But next year there will be
more restrictions and cars will look more similar
again to give the teams a more level playing field
and increase competition on the track instead of in
the factory, which is better for spectators, since
only few people have the opportunity to go inside an
F1 factory. Even we were not allowed
to go inside the actual tunnel. Top secret!"
Marlon
Marlon Stockinger and Simon Moss checking out
Nick Heidtfeldt's Steering Wheel at the BMW F1
Factory in Hinwil, Switzerland