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Sums everything up … (if you’re into racing cars!)

It is the eagerly anticipated start to the F1 season and the first race is at Bahrain, somewhere I spent the very early years of my life. This video shows Mark Webber in the RedBull F1 simulator (something not often shown to the public …) driving the new for 2010 circuit layout.

The weeks are flying by.  The little guy is growing a pace and we are all getting used to being a new family.  Its great with the run up to Christmas, what better present could anyone want?

Also of interest to me is the motorsports scene.  F1 is due for a shake up next season with a number of new teams entering – the first time in many years.  Already they are bringing some fun to proceedings with Virgin’s Richard Branson and Lotus chief Tony Fernandes poking a bit of fun at each other:  http://www.autosport.com/news/grapevine.php/id/80599

Of importance to my work life post-MBA, it looks like F1 is also set to embrace the online world too.  Fingers-crossed as I would love to be a part of the coming revolution.

Posts have been thin on the ground since the Ball as I took a little time out and unplugged.  Essays for Corporate finance and for Marketing were submitted last weekend, along with our final syndicate group work for Modelling.  Overall they went well even if the guidelines for them were a little hazy.

Entrepreneurial Finance becons now.  I am very intrigued by this module.  It is like no other on the course and has the reputation of being one of the best experiences yet.  The professor is flying in from UCLA and, judging by the pre-work and rumors of the week long format, promises to be something quite tough, quite challenging but extremely rewarding.

Oxford won the boat race convincingly on Sunday. There was a program on before discussing their mental preparation and I think that had a big influence; were Cambridge beaten before they even got in the boat?

The story of last weekend though, for racing and sports fans, was of course the fantastic story of Brawn GP.  The team that only a few weeks ago was facing closure with no backing, turns up in Australia, locks out the front row on the grid.  Then in the race, Jenson Button drove well to secure a long over due victory and Ruben’s (the man most thought had driven his last GP in Brazil 2008) sees good fortune shine and picked up second (after some adventures in the race.) 

What went less well reported was that the actual racing was really exciting.  Yes, even F1 !  The front wing on the new cars certainly make them look odd but it the aero changes have certainly made the difference – car have not run that close to each other for many years.

A great rags to riches story.  Richard Branson also timed his entry into F1 sponsorship perfectly – he is a lucky guy!  As is Lewis Hamilton – 3rd in the first race when the car looks a handful and when he started dead last.  Like Alonso and Schumacher before him, he never gives up and it pays off.  The mental toughness, like in the Oxford boat cannot be underestimated in sports success.  Fascinating. An exciting season is ahead…

Next week we have (another round of) exams and where I have four, others have only 2.

Revision however is going well so far, after a fairly shaky start to Corporate Finance, everything is now much clearer.

The MBA definately gives back the more you put into it and you are not spoon fed.  This has come as an annoyance and shock to some at first but really what can you expect.  There is an interesting dycotomy however, as they are paying significantly for something that they may not actually get in the end i.e. the MBA ticket.  It is therefore interesting to see the different reactions to that, especially when exams, projects and jobs are being discussed, as they are all really tough.

The Ball organisation is coming together too, with one of my friends leveraging his girlfriends expertise in such matters – it is going to be great.  Doing different things like this really brings out talents in people you may never have happend upon – the discovery of mastery negotiation skills in one friend, for example, has been truely impressive!

We are going to take advantage of the garden this summer so went out and got some garden stuff this morning.  The highlight being (I hope!) the grow your own chilli’s … check back for chill growing progress!

Good luck to all those who are racing this weekend and to those of us left who are revising.

The Mclaren F1 was and remains the benchmark for high performance road cars. Designed by Gordon Murray and built in Woking using a small highly trained team of automotive professionals working under the steely gaze of Ron Dennis, it subscribes to the Colin Chapman school of light weight, massive power and razor sharp handling. Not for the faint -hearted, Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson is famously scathing about the F1’s twitchiness, but that might just be sour grapes. His ex – colleague and fellow presenter Tiff Neeedel is a a much bigger fan of the F1, calling it ‘ a triumph of engineering skill that stands up in 2008 as much as it did it 1994.’

It is the Autosport Racing car show on at the moment in Birmingham.  Sadly funds and timing preclude me from going this year, the first time in ages, but following it on the web it was good to read another strong interview by Ron Dennis (McLaren CEO).  As he nears the end of his career it is fascinating to see how he chooses to spend the rest of his life and nice to hear he will be pursuing a path to genuinely help others.  Similar in many ways (but of course different in scale!) to Bill Gates.  The scientific approach to developing F1 is a good one, although there are better market sensing techniques that “market research surveys” – sometimes gut feel has its place too.

Read what he had to say here

Looks like there is a new driver database online for all those budding Lewis Hamiltons! Someone has kindly uploaded my stats for this year too which is very nice of them. Check out the website if you get the chance (click here)