LNERandBR

So Russell has had a very good Friday, it's great to see that he's faster than the Red Bulls. I note Bottas had his fastest time deleted due to track limits though and that would have put him top of the timings if it had stuck. His resulting fastest time was set of the hards so not completely representative of his true pace when everyone else set their fastest on the softs. Tomorrow will be most interesting Meanwhile, if you turned up with an F1 car at Monza this weekend you'd be in for a shock with the conditions the best in the WRC are putting up with. Elfyn has made no major mistakes like many of his rivals have. If he keeps that up we could have a new British WRC champion and a Welsh one too. Then all we'd need is a Northern Irish WRC World Champion and we'd have the full set.

I know this is the F1 thread but watching the first full day of WRC action at Monza has been very interesting. Getting to see some of the 'offstage' areas of the F1 circuit is a highlight and the amount of rain they are getting has made things very tricky for the Drivers. Wales Rally GB on slick tyres has been mentioned with all the mud sections on the stages. Many opting for Snow tyres!

I've used the original Close Couplings on some Hornby Mk2d's. They don't have a close coupling mechanism but there is enough space for the ends to swing on the curves I've tested on. It's a case of experimenting with a few different lengths and finding those that work best.

In theory I think Bottas and Max will outqualify him. Albon I'm not sure given that he's often ending up lower down the starting grid then you'd expect a RB to be. Hopefully he'll be in the top 5 positions but exactly where I'm not sure. It all depends on how he gells with the car in Practice. No matter what happens, I've got two Britons that I'm rooting for this weekend. George Russell in F1 and Elfyn Evans in the WRC

Depends on how he qualifies. I get the feeling he'll be behind Max on the grid.

So he has experience of the car and is a current driver on the grid. Therefore, his fitness levels will not be an issue and he's alcimatised to driving this years cars. I can see why he was chosen over the others. Now he just needs to keep the amount he could achieve into perspective. I feel a Win is a long shot, a Podium could be the best outcome but it's not a certainty. I do feel that if he beats Albon then Albon's likelihood of keeping his RB drive next year will go down.

Well next weekend there's not only another F1 race to watch but the final round of the World Rally Championship too. Hopefully, we'll have a British World Champion this year, go Elfyn Evans

To some extent we can analyse it as much as we like but it will just be speculation without all the data and knowhow. Probably better to be thankful Roman escaped with minor injuries, commend the Marshalls and Medical Car staff for doing an excellent job and being very brave and await the FIA's full investigation.

I think if the car hadn't been angled with its nose into the barrier and the impact had been more 'side on' it would have bounced off. You would expect the car to be oriented more that way given the location on a straight. What this may do is give more thought to how barriers are positioned and designed on straights.

A bit like this one you mean?

Not really, they'd just be flat out all the time. Though the dirty air would cause problems for following cars. If your going on bravery then I'd say Rally Drivers have the best bravery. 100+ on dirt between trees and boulders takes some commitment to know the car is going to find some grip and not spit you off into the undergrowth.

To some extent, the car splitting into two saved Roman. There will have been a lot of energy involved in the engine and rear ripping away, just think if that energy had gone somewhere else. Yes there was a big fireball, but all the oil and combustibles in the engine were ejected from the crash site. It could have been a whole lot worse and I'm glad Roman got out of it with only minor injuries. The marshalls and medical staff really did an excellent job.

A lot of an F1 cars suspension comes from tyre deformation. With smaller tyre walls the teams will need to design more suspension movement to compensate. Of course, they'll want to minimise movement as much as possible due to the tight 'car to track' height tolerances and effects moving suspension has on airflow over the car.

Not sure, but somehow I think one of the side doors would be open so that the poor chap can extricate himself after pushing the remaining coal through the bottom doors.

Would depend if the coaches are touching on the curves or not. If they are, you would probably need the next size up of coupling. This is why they do different lengths so that you can pick and choose depending on the radii on your layout. What I would do is purchase the next size up of coupling then see if you can mix the two sizes together. You'll probably find that you can use the couplings you don't use in the HST on other stock. That's certainly been my experience in OO at least

I can't help feel the same about Red Bull when they start complaining. Maybe I have a short memory but I can't remember the other teams complaining as much when Red Bull were winning.

DC mentioned in his C4 commentary that Max looked like he was driving aggressively whilst stuck behind Vettel. He made too many little mistakes that all added up to his inability to pass. I do hope that Perez get's a drive next year.

Some images of the HST Midland Pullman in daylight have now appeared on Facebook. Whilst it's grown on me slightly I still think the whole front end being blue below the windscreens looks odd on a HST. The way the white has a curved top also looks strange. I get that they wanted to match the original but they could have taken the HST's different shape into account there.

Personally I think the amount of content was a good thing. It allowed for a continual stream of updates throughout the day and the quality was very very good. Maybe if people are struggling to see everything the pages could remain available for upto a week afterwards. Then people could revisit videos they enjoyed and catch up on anything they have missed. With the amount of effort put into putting it all together then surely continued exposure is a good thing. I saw you were doing a 'Show Guide' for continual access but you could still have that as it would still allow access to the content after the extended period is over.

That's very interesting. Maybe the thing to do then is wait for it to appear and either see it in the flesh or view more photos of it before deciding on a purchase or not. It's the look of the cabside Railfreight logo that makes me think they're working from a prototype image somewhere. Which means the model would fit a later set layout better.

Only thing that worries me about the Railfreight liveried 58 is the fact it's 'faded'. Are there any photos of 58 011 in that situation for a better idea on the timeframe the model would represent? I've done a quick google but haven't found anything yet

Bono taking no chances with penalties now

So it's back to the situation before Monza was added then. That'll be a blow for Neuville and Tänak as they needed the extra round to gain back some more points. I do hope that Monza can go ahead though as it would give Toyota another go at beating Hyundai. Just something about the way the latter operates that I don't like. I get they want the Manufacturers championship but it's just the way they chop and change the driver of the third car around at short notice that puts me off them. I mean, swap the drivers around by all means but don't say 'X' driver is going only to swap to 'Y' driver just before for no reason other then tactics.

To be completely honest I'm not sure about the front end. The lack of yellow and the fact the windscreen and headlight areas are white makes it look odd. Think I need to see more pictures of it in the daylight.

I think pointing out things that are 'wrong' in peoples models is important as it allows them to correct the error and makes sure that others don't make the same mistake. Let's take the positioning of this A4 number plate. If Tony didn't mention it then some unsuspecting modeller could think 'it's like that on Retford so it must be correct'. This being more about the high standing that Retford has and the assumption that 'everything' will be correct. Of course, what people should do is get a photo of the actual prototype and do their own research but I expect there are many who will be more than happy to cut corners if they can. Tony doesn't only point out errors in other people's modelling by way of constructive criticism. He's pointed out errors in his own work and I'm sure he's more than happy for people to find his errors and point them out to him too.