Finally the brood has expanded!!! Twins, boy Knox Leon and girl Vivienne Marcheline, were born by c-section and finally taken out of the hospital this weekend.
Doctors have told since the babies were born that both the mother and the newborns were perfectly healthy and ready to go home, and enjoyed by their parents and siblings.
We hope they are all doing well and adapting to their new lifes!!!

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History Part Seventh

Racing and strategy

A Formula One Grand Prix event spans a weekend, beginning with two free practice sessions on Friday (except in Monaco, where Friday practices are moved to Thursday), and one free practice on Saturday. Additional drivers (commonly known as Third drivers) are allowed to run on Fridays, but only two cars may be used per team, requiring a race driver to give up their seat. A Qualifying session is held after the last free practice session. This session determines the starting order for the race.

The format of this qualifying session has been through several iterations since the 2003 season. Attempts were made to reinvigorate interest in the qualifying session by using a “one-shot” system in which each driver would take turns on an empty track to set their one and only time.

For the 2006 season a knockout qualifying system was introduced and remains in use, with some minor alterations, in 2008. The qualifying session is split into three phases. In the first phase, all twenty cars are permitted on the track for a twenty minute qualification session. Only their fastest time will count and drivers may complete as many laps as they wish. The slowest five cars can take no further part in qualifying, these cars will make up the last five grid positions in the order of their times.

The times for the fifteen remaining cars are reset for the next fifteen minute session. The slowest five cars will make up the grid in positions 11 to 15 in the order of their times set in this session.

The times for the ten remaining cars will be reset for the final ten minute session. For the final period, the cars will be arranged on the grid in positions one to ten in the order of their times in this session. In the first two sessions, cars may run any fuel load and drivers knocked out after those sessions may refuel ahead of the race. However, the top-ten drivers must start the race with whatever fuel was left in the car at the end of the final qualifying session. For all the sessions, if a driver starts a timed lap before the chequered flag falls for the end of that session, their time will count even if they cross the finish line after the session has ended.

The race begins with a warm-up formation lap, after which the cars assemble on the starting grid in the order they qualified. If a driver stalls before the parade lap, and the rest of the field passes him, then he must start from the back of the grid. As long as he moves off and at least one car is behind him, he can retake his original position. A racer may also elect to start from pit-lane if he has any last minute problems with the car. If they choose to do this, they must wait for all cars to pass pit-lane before they may begin the race.

A light system above the track then signals the start of the race. Races are a little over 305 kilometres (190 miles) long and are limited to two hours, though in practice they usually last about ninety minutes. Throughout the race, drivers may make one or more pit stops in order to refuel and change tyres. Teams are supplied with tyres from Bridgestone. Bridgestone have developed four tyre compounds of which they then select two for the teams to use at a given race event. Drivers must use both tyre compounds during a race which is hoped will bring more excitement to the sport. The softer of the available compounds for the weekend’s tyres can be seen with a white ring around one of the grooves on the tyre itself.

When a driver comes round to lap another, the backmarker must move out of the way within three blue flags being waved by the trackside marshals, or face a penalty.

Various systems for awarding championship points have been used since 1950. Since 2003, at the end of the race the top eight drivers and their respective teams receive points on a 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis (the race winner receives ten points, the first runner-up eight, and so on). The winner of the two annual championships are the driver and the team who have accumulated the most points at the end of the season. In the case of a tie in points, the championship is awarded to the driver or team having the higher number of wins; if these are equal, second place finishes are considered, and so on.

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Former employee of Rachel Ray’s show is suing CBS claiming he got fired from his job as an accountant with the station for sufering eating disorders.
Apparently Mr. Ferguson has suffered from anorexia for over six years,and while the short period of time working with Ray, he was constantly harrased by his supervisor on coments of how he was disgusted by people who suffer eating disorders and so forth.
He is suing for $1 million on discrimation charges, but fortunately for the cook, her name was not involved in the demand.

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History Part Sixth

Outside the World Championship

Currently, the terms “Formula One race” and “World Championship race” are effectively synonymous; since 1984, every Formula One race has counted towards the World Championship, and every World Championship race has been to Formula One regulations. This has not always been the case, and in the earlier history of Formula One many races took place outside the world championship.

European non-championship racing

In the early years of Formula One, before the world championship was established, there were around twenty races held from late Spring to early Autumn (Fall) in Europe, although not all of these were considered significant. Most competitive cars came from Italy, particularly Alfa Romeo. After the start of the world championship these non-championship races continued. In the 1950s and 1960s, there were many Formula One races which did not count for the World Championship (e.g., in 1950, a total of twenty-two Formula One races were held, of which only six counted towards the World Championship). In 1952 and 1953, when the world championship was run for Formula Two cars, a full season of non-championship Formula One racing took place. Some races, particularly in the UK, including the Race of Champions, Oulton Park International Gold Cup and International Trophy, were attended by the majority of the world championship contenders. These became less common through the 1970s and 1983 saw the last non-championship Formula One race: The 1983 Race of Champions at Brands Hatch, won by reigning World Champion Keke Rosberg in a Williams Cosworth in a close fight with American Danny Sullivan.

South African Formula One championship

South Africa’s flourishing domestic Formula One championship ran from 1960 through to 1975. The frontrunning cars in the series were recently retired from the world championship although there was also a healthy selection of locally built or modified machines. Frontrunning drivers from the series usually contested their local World Championship Grand Prix, as well as occasional European events, although they had little success at that level.

British Formula One Series

The old fashioned DFV helped make the UK domestic Formula One series possible between 1978 and 1980. As in South Africa a generation before, second hand cars from manufacturers like Lotus and Fittipaldi Automotive were the order of the day, although some, such as the March 781, were built specifically for the series. In 1980 the series saw South African Desiré Wilson become the only woman to win a Formula One race when she triumphed at Brands Hatch in a Wolf WR3.

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