It's often what you don't see...

With the completion of the Formula 1 race at Hockenheim now firmly in the record books, we're learning about the engineering details that had a significant effect on the outcome. First, we've learned that Kimi's outstanding qualifying effort was due in large part to broken engineering! It appears that a fuel sensor malfunctioned during qualification laps and mistakenly kept the McLaren refuelers from putting a full qualifying load of fuel into the car before the 3rd knock-out session. Result? Kimi qualified in first, however he had to make a fuel stop just nine laps in. That, combined with a crossed wheel nut on the pitstop, caused him to lose 2 places to the Italian red of Ferrari... and he thought he was just the fastest guy in the race...

In addition to the fuel sensor news, the hysteria over Renault's use of a mass damper to aid in the overall transfer of energy during directional changes caused a potentially unfair advantage to the blue and yellow team from Enstone. The team smartly removed (or so they say) the technology from the nose of the R26 to avoid a potential disqualification later in the schedule. Could this have been Renault's secret weapon over the past eleven races? We'll likely never know mostly due to the fact that the performance of the Michelins is now degrading faster than ever. Blistering tires caused the Renault team to suffer poor performance and a less than optimal finishing order.

Where it gets interesting is that Flavio Briatore, Renault's team manager, while directing the team and overall strategy in order to win the world championship still retains the management contract on Felipe Massa, Ferrari's number two. So either way, Flavio will get a piece of the pie, should Renault win or Ferrari overtake the World Championship.

It's nice to have your cake and eat it too.

Branding 101

The Saleen Store grand opening. Now here's a guy with a vision.


We attended the Grand Opening of the Saleen Store in Irvine, a fantastic showroom and salon-like environment for the common man to take hold of the dream. Saleen Mustangs, the new Saleen truck, the Saleen assembled Ford GT and, of course, the ever sleek Saleen S7... three of them to be exact. Steve Saleen has seen his brand destiny and is charging toward it.

In addition to the 200,000 sq. ft. assembly complex in Michigan, known as Saleen, Troy, the Saleen company is moving toward the assumed goal of branding - making the company a household name. While the displays in the store covered the range of clothing to performance accessories, the overall identity fell a bit short. We get that it's all about the Saleen brand, however we never understood our place in the food chain. While we would love to plunk down the $500K+ for a new S7, we're a bit short this month. Something a good branding exercise should always tell you is where you fit in... at what level you are 'allowed' to buy in.

While the store was beautiful, the displays were average. The one exception was the Mustang, carefully sliced in half to reveal all of the inner workings of everything from supercharger to the hvac system. That was cool.

With the driving simulators, (with additional cost to test drive anything other than an S7) to the N2O bar, boutique water and O2 shots for those who couldn't catch their breaths over the sight of the cars to the casual but sparse displays of performance parts; overall the brand impact felt just a bit light. We didn't see many people buying into the accessories, clothing or memorabilia, just a large number wandering about in search of their place in the food chain.

Never leave them wandering Steve, tell them where to buy in.

photos from the visit

Day 1 : Let the blogging begin

Welcome to the Mercury Customs blog. We're here to discuss anything that crosses our mind which could encompass engineering, motorsports, music, news, motorcycles, cars, people... well you get the idea. Stay tuned for information, updates, opinions and observations on anything and everything. We'll be sure to entertain and inform.