By Lemmy Gibson

The Formula One season is now one third complete following the Monaco Grand Prix. As expected, the season has been one full of chaos and controversy.

After massive changes to the rules and regulations for Formula One, the 2009 season promised to be an interesting one. Well, it has fallen flat. After three straight seasons of intense tight championships, the 2009 season was over before it began and has made a farce out of the efforts of FIA chief Max Mosley to make the sport more competitive.

Jenson Button and Brawn GP have risen from the ashes of Honda and wiped out the field. Using a controversial double diffuser, the team has only really been challenged in the rain. The team is so dominant that the mercurial Ross Brawn has resulted to his old tactics of filling up the car with more fuel than others to make it look slower compared to the other cars in the field during qualifying.

If there has been one highlight to the season, it is that passing is a bit easier. That being said, most fans enthusiasm for this is misguided. The passing is taking place in the middle to rear of the field. How this is exciting is beyond me, but it is what it is as the announcers lamely try to make a pass for 11th position seem exciting.

Team of the Year

Brawn GP is clearly the team of the year. Honda almost folded the team and it was Ross Brawn that saved it with his investors. One of the major players at Ferrari during the Schumacher years, he has proven to be every bit as brilliant with his own team. It must be difficult for Ferrari fans to look down the pit lane at Brawn GP and wonder how Ferrari possibly let him get away. It was a mistake that will haunt Ferrari for years and years.

Driver of the Year

Jenson Button is the undisputed winner. Yes, he has the best car, but he is driving the wheels off of it as well. He senses his opportunity and is grasping it ever so tightly as Schumacher or Alonso did when their opportunities arose. This is no more apparent than when Button is compared to Rubens Barrichello, his teammate. Jenson has finished ahead of Barrichello in every race and now has a 15 point lead over him. Unless Jenson gets hurt, the Driver's Championship is his.

Poor Performance of the Year

Ferrari and McLaren Mercedes were running neck and neck for this award, but things have changed. McLaren is still a mess, but is at least keeping its current pace. To the surprise of many, Ferrari has rebounded and now may be the second best car in the field. Regardless, my award for poor performance of the year goes to another team.

BMW is the biggest disappointment in Formula One this year. The team had a plan to progress over the years and had followed it. The 2009 rules and regulations, however, have proved too much for the team. They are arguably now the worst team on the track with their starting grid positions behind Force India at Monaco. What a disaster. Given the economy, it would not surprise anyone to see BMW decide to save some money and leave Formula One after 2010.

2009 has proven to be a disappointment after three years of championships that went down to the last race. Both championships in the 2009 season are already won for all intensive purposes. Expect to see decreased attendance in the stands and lower television ratings given the economy and an uncompetitive season.

By Dirk Gibson

The 2009 season in Formula One has been nothing less than stunning. The reason? The days of domination by McLaren Mercedes and Ferrari appear to be over. Or are they? The FIA will decide that very issue on April 14 when it takes on and rules on the diffuser issue.

The 2009 Formula One season has been revolutionary because of massive rule changes made to contain costs. Faced with a major economic downturn, the FIA sought to pass rules and regulations that would keep costs to a minimum. This, of course, basically returned all of the teams to the same starting point when it came to car design. While Ferrari and McLaren concentrated their resources on winning the 2008 season constructor and drivers championships, less competitive teams had the opportunity to start working on the 2009 regulations early.

Honda is the classic example of this situation. The team began working on the 2009 car at the outset of 2008. It was a case of their 2008 car being so horribly bad that there was really no reason to spend even a dollar trying to make it any better. This effectively gave the team a one-year head start over teams like Ferrari and McLaren. It also gave the team extra time to consider the finer points of the rules, loopholes in those rules, and how they could be used to their advantage.

After two races in the 2009 championship, we can see how this early development period is playing out. The normally competitive Ferrari and McLaren teams are riding around at the back of the pack. The Honda team, now called Brawn GP, is not only finally competitive but actually is completely dominant. In addition to Brawn GP, we see teams like Toyota and Williams also being much more competitive than they normally would be.

One area that is being highlighted as a cause for the difference between the teams is the diffuser found at the bottom rear end of the car. Brawn, Toyota and Williams all have very unique designs when it comes to the diffuser at the back of the car. Many of the larger teams feel that these unique designs violate the spirit of the rules on diffuser design. What is entirely clear is that the diffusers definitely make the three cars much faster. The FIA will make a ruling on April 14th in regard to the legality of the new diffuser designs.

The FIA ruling on the diffuser issue is going to be a major turning point in the 2009 season. If the FIA decides the diffusers are legal, then it seems as though Ferrari and McLaren will have no chance of making a comeback in 2009. They will simply be too far behind. Even if they attempt to design their own unique diffusers, they will be so far behind in points that equaling the competitiveness of Brawn will make no difference. On the other hand, if the FIA rules the diffusers are illegal, then we have complete and total chaos. If Brawn, Toyota and Williams must go to a more traditional diffuser design, it would appear that the leading team in the pack is not Ferrari or McLaren, but Red Bull.

The 2009 Formula One season has been given credit for revitalizing the sport. If the FIA rules the diffusers in question are legal on April 14, the revitalization will continue. If not, it could be a big setback for the sport. All and all, I believe it is better to let the smaller teams be allowed to be creative with the dollars they have rather than just have another season with Ferrari and McLaren dominating the proceedings. Hopefully the FIA will agree.

By Mesut Felat Ozsoy

The Overtaking Working Group (OWG) made a very detailed study about how to increase the overtaking in Formula one and has came up with some set of modifications to the regulations and FIA used these modifications as a base of their 2009 rule changes. As you can imagine most of the changes are in the aerodynamic area which enables cars can easily follow the car in the front and have a chance to make a move if it's faster than the one in the front. As a result many rule changes are applied for 2009 season and both the appearance and the performance of the cars have changed radically according to the F1 cars before.

Fundamental differences are; wider and lower front wings, higher and narrower rear wings, lower and simple diffusers, slick tires, and KERS. Also the drivers are now allowed to change the front wing setting from their steering wheels and all the winglets on the cars are now banned. So Let's look over the changes in detail if you want;

Front wings: The aim of changing the characteristic of front wing is to enable a car to follow the car in the front more easily. The car is now less effected by the air flow which is generated from the car in the front. Also the driver is now allowed to change the front wing settings twice during a lap. This will help the driver to be able to change the setting without waiting for a pit stop, if he feels the setting is wrong for the track conditions at that time. Also it will help to reduce the drag effect when following a car if he reduces the setting in the straights. But as a result of this change, the front wing is now too wide and it's almost impossible for the driver to see all the front wing from the cockpit. This may cause many front wings related crash's especially in the opening stages of the season as some of the drivers have already mentioned it.

Rear wing and Diffuser: The rear wing is now smaller and higher. This will cause a dramatic decrease in the downforce that rear wing produces. Also the diffusers are now lower and simpler than its predecessors. Because of the changes in the rear of the car, the downforce level at the back of the car is very limited now and this leads the teams to find different solutions. Since most of the teams were able to produce more downforce than they expected in the front of the car, the stability at the rear has became a big problem. It's believed that Ferrari and McLaren have moved their cockpits to the front in order to move the weight distribution closer to the front.

Unlike the other teams Toyota, Williams and Brawn GP produced very different diffusers with evaluating the gray areas in the regulations. Since diffuser is the most important part in producing the downforce, a little difference in the diffuser may cause a bigger difference in the vehicle's performance. Therefore, teams like Ferrari and Renault are likely to protest these teams in the first race of the season. Although these teams are stated that their diffuser designs are completely legal, it's believed that the other teams are most probably waiting FIA's decision to start copying. In addition, it's known that some teams cannot easily adapt these changes because of their car's rear design concept. It's also believed that some teams have already made modifications to their diffuser designs and waiting for FIA's final decision.

The grooved tires were introduced by FIA in 1998 to slow down the cars, but finally FIA changed it's mind and introduced the slick tires, which is the favorite of almost every F1 driver. The only contact of the cars with the surface is their tires and just because of this, the most important part in car's overall grip is its tires. It's believed 50% of the downforce is already lost because of the new aerodynamic restrictions. But some of this performance loss can be recovered through the slick tires. Slick tires offer 18% more surface contact than the grooved tires and this will improve the overall grip. Slick tires, especially in a slow turn provides better grip and hold the car to the surface better. But in the long and fast turns the car becomes slower because of the reduced aerodynamics. As a result, it's expected the teams will reach last year's lap times. In fact they have already improved their fastest lap times at test circuits during the winter season. Another major problem is, the slick tires provide better grip on the front and this causes a huge rear tire wear.

KERS(Kinetic energy recovery system): This system is the most recent and most discussed technology in Formula1 so far. KERS basically recovers the energy generated during braking and uses this energy as an additional horsepower to the engine. The energy recovered from braking is stored on the charge batteries which are mostly located under the fuel tank and transmits this energy to the engine when the driver press the KERS button on the steering wheel. This will provide an additional 80 horsepower for 6.5 seconds. Although the working principle is simple, the system is quite complex by itself and many manufacturers had a very hard time during their development phase of this system. Almost every manufacturer have exceeded their budget set for the production of KERS.

Some teams are already reported that they are not going use the system at the beginning of the season. Some of them are believed to use the system in the middle of the season. Although Ferrari has some difficulties during the development phase, they are now one of the few teams that currently uses the system successfully. The biggest concern over the KERS is definitely safety. Teams made big improvements in this area but it's still not clear whether the teams will face any safety problems during the races. Toyota, Williams, Brawn GP, Force India and Torro Rosso will not use the system at the beginning of the season and BMW is still undecided about their debuts in the first race. So Australia may probably unfold some of the early surprises.

KERS is believed to provide a 0,2-0,5 seconds gain per lap depending on the characteristic of the track. Some of the drivers who already tested the system are very impressed from the extra power provided by the system and they are very curious about how it will work in the races. The system has also some disadvantages. KERS is affecting the weight distribution very badly. Since this system will bring extra weight about 50 kg or more the amount of the ballast that teams are using to balance the car will be very limited especially for the heavier drivers. As a result the heavy drivers will be in a very disadvantaged circumstance because there will be even less ballast to balance the car. Therefore, many drivers tried to lost weight during the season break. Massa and Heidfeld are the lightest drivers, whereas Kubica and Webber are the heaviest ones. BMW already stated that they will decide using KERS on a driver by driver and circuit by circuit basis. The cars that will not use KERS will be in an advantageous state in regard to the ones, that uses KERS, because they will have more freedom to use the ballast in order to balance the car. But they will be in a disadvantageous state especially in the long straights with the other cars using their extra power which is brought by KERS.

Another purpose of these new regulations is to give all the teams a chance for a fresh start to their designs since everyone has to start from a white paper. And obviously it seems like it worked, as we see from the last tests that BRAWN GP was dominating the sessions. Until the last tests Ferrari, BMW and Toyota cars seem to be very competitive, but at the last test Brawn GP showed a wonderful performance which other teams are all set to review their performance closely. Renault and Redbull teams are also seem like they did a good job. But the biggest disappointment is definitely the performance drop of the McLAren team. It's not expected that a Ferrari-McLaren competition will happen this year, at least until the European season gets started.

By Dirk Gibson

With the conclusion of the nail biting Brazilian Grand Prix, the 2008 Formula One Season has come to an end. For the second season in a row, it was an absolute cliff hanger.

The Championships were a mixed bag between the two heated rivals in the sport. McLaren has taken the Driver's Championship through Lewis Hamilton by one point over Felipe Massa of Ferrari. In a flip of sorts, Ferrari prevailed in the Constructor's Championship over McLaren by 21 points. From the expressions of team members, it was clear the Driver's Championship was the big prize.

Both championships were up for grabs going into the final race, which made for exciting racing. The Driver's Championship was considered the more competitive contest and it proved as much as Lewis Hamilton staggered home in 5th to win the title by one point. He will find particular joy in such a narrow win given the fact he lost the 2007 title by one point.

The Constructor's Championship went to Ferrari by a wide margin, primarily due to the serious shortcomings of Heikki Kovalainen, the second driver for McLaren, who failed to not only out point either Ferrari driver, but either BMW driver as well. It has been announced that Kovalainen will return to McLaren next year, but one has to wonder if that decision will be given a second look because he is a definite weak link.

The Return of the King Award clearly goes to Fernando Alonso. Having done serious damage to his reputation given the McLaren fiasco, the little Spaniard re-established his driving reputation by developing a weak Renault car into a competitive car that he not only took to the podium, but won twice with even though the car was clearly weaker than McLaren and Ferrari.

The Future Is Here Driver award goes to Sebastian Vettel. Here is all you need to know. He drives for Toro Rosso. Before being renamed, it was better known as Minardi. Minardi was one of the worst cars in the history of Formula One, always finishing dead last in nearly every race. Notwithstanding all this, Sebastian Vettel gave the big boys a run for their money and even won the Italian Grand Prix at historic Monza. It is only a matter of time before a top team snaps him up and he begins winning championships.

The Woeful Driver of the Year Award is awarded to a clear winner again - Kimi Raikkonen. After winning the Driver's Championship in dramatic fashion in 2007, Kimi was pathetic. His lack of apparent interest was so obvious that many thought he would retire at the end of this season. A contract extension has been announced by Ferrari, but you really have to wonder if something will happen in the offseason. Kimi should be ashamed for disgracing the title of Champion. Yes, he was that bad.

The Worst Team of the Year Awards was uncompetitive, just like the "winner." Honda is our champion and the home office in Japan must wonder why it is spending millions a year on a car that can barely beat fans driving to the races, much less other F1 cars. The cars were consistently slow and twitchy. The team is so bad that despite trying to lure Fernando Alonso with truck loads of money, he has apparently begged off. There is some hope with Ross Brawn, formerly of Ferrari, now running the operation, but one cannot imagine the team being seriously competitive for at least two to three more years.

The Big Four? Formula One has long been dominated by McLaren and Ferrari. Starting in 2009, the big two may become the big four. BMW made major advances this year and won its first race at Canada. The Fernando Alonso and Renault combination was also looking very feisty by the end of the year. With an offseason of development, both could become serious contenders and make the 2009 season even more chaotic.

By Gregg Hall

Formula D drifting also known as just drifting has become a fairly large sport so far since 2004. The sport has gained popularity since then and can be seen live on G4TV. The pro drivers are training all year for the formula D championship. When the formula D championship is held there are about 50 drifters that are competing to be known as the best drifter in the United States. As like all other pro races they take place on tracks around the U.S.

People think that racing is racing and its all the same well drifting is different and isn't really racing. As drifting becomes more and more famous there will be more and more tracks to be built to handle all the events. If you already know where they host live events then you are ahead of most people and can be considered a loyal fan.

Atlanta, Georgia is just one of the stops along the formula D series. Most of their events take place on road Atlanta which is a track that is been known for some time. The road Atlanta added a turn just for the formula D series. This new turn will add much excitement to the drifting that will take place here. Road Atlanta is home to many racing events every year.

The Formula D series also makes a stop in Sonoma, California. That stop is to the Infineon Raceway. The Infineon Raceway is well known due to where it is located. The track is located really close to the golden gate bridge only 30 min from it actually. Just as it is home to drifting it is home to many other racing events as well. Some of these events are drag racing, NASCAR and many others as well.

As to the above stated venues, the Formula D series also stops in Long Beach and Irwin dale, California, Seattle, Washington, and Wall, New Jersey. In Wall, New Jersey, all the action takes place at air force reserve wall track. As In long beach California the action always has been known to take to the streets. In Irwin dale, all the events take place at Irwin dale speedway and have been taking place there for a long time. As you can begin to start to see these events take place at many famous tracks so they can gain the utmost respect from everyone and everything.

To be a fan you just need to give support to the sport of drifting. Maybe you know nothing of it maybe you know everything but all it takes is thought and love for the sport. If you are looking to get into drifting the sport requires you to have a RWD car in case you don't know what that is it's a rear wheel drive car, and you should also have a LSD which is a limited slip differential and will allow you to get into drifts easier. Most of the cars you will see in the formula D championship will be 240sx's, or any other RWD cars.