Brawn GP

There is a programme on BBC2 entitled Brawn: The Impossible F1 Story. I first saw it on Disney+ (my daughter has a subscription) but thought it was worth having another look.

Near the beginning, there is a very young-looking Ross Brawn at the Cranfield wind tunnel working on (I assume) car aerodynamics.

“So what?”, I hear you cry, but hang on a mo! What’s that keyboard he’s bashing? It’s got red function keys so it must be a BBC Micro. The scene is so brief that I almost missed it the first time round but a quick replay confirmed it. I think it’s an original machine rather than a Master.

Anyone else notice it?

The mighty Beeb, eh? It was pretty capable – I was using it in 1983 to evaluate Bessel functions to try to best-fit geophys data. Interactively.

The mighty Beeb, eh? It was pretty capable – I was using it in 1983 to evaluate Bessel functions to try to best-fit geophys data.

I never used Bessel functions though I was aware of them from when I was taught waveguide theory. That was sometime before 1969. I wish I could remember more than the tiny fraction of that knowledge which I can; though what I’d do with it, I have no idea. :-(

Interactively.

You are a glutton for punishment, aren’t you?

The Bedford wind tunnels date back to the war, so it’s possible that a Beeb was still controlling some part of them in even the mid 00s.

Incidentally we found out about Brawn’s £1 take over of Toyota GP before anyone else, as one of the race engineers phoned up his mum from the crunch meeting to tell her, and she happened to be the owner of my flying school, who promptly told the rest of us at the bar. This was a over a decade before I started at McLaren, so no conflict of interest.

This was a over a decade before I started at McLaren

I know McLaren was a big outfit but did you ever come across Rosemary Miskin’s elder (eldest?) son? He worked on the strategy team for them. She sometimes mentioned him on the now-defunct ZFC usenet group whenever the previous weekend’s race results came up for discussion.

For those who aren’t familiar with what that group was (surely there must be some), back in the mid ’90s, Argonet provided a turnkey solution for RISC OS users who wanted to get on the internet. When people met up at computer shows, they realised that many of them were “of a certain age”. They asked Argonet to create a usenet group for them and, because of their mature status, they chose ZFC (aka the Zimmer Frame Club) as the group name. Despite that, there was no lower age limit for those who wanted to join. Sadly, but inevitably, many of the original members are now hammering that great keyboard in the sky.

The only rule that the group observed was that all mention of computers, regardless of type, was strictly forbidden. Anything else was deemed acceptable. Unfortunately, this led to the development of an increasingly bitter argument between those of a religious persuasion and those who either disagreed with the concept of religion or just took the opportunity to make mischief. Eventually, several of those in the first camp decided that the group was too hostile and left. It took all the fun out of it! ;-)

Ah, religion…

I hold the over-arching belief that a person’s belief system is, like various body parts, not something that should be displayed in public and is best kept a purely personal thing.
Anyone who flaunts their personal belief in public should expect a measure of sympathy, and a measure of ridicule.

As to belief in any supreme/higher/non-human being, mine or yours; well, as an SF author once wrote, “MYOB!”

and a measure of ridicule […] As to belief in any supreme/higher/non-human being, mine or yours

As long as a person doesn’t try to make me believe or castigate me for not believing, I’m okay with them believing in God or Allah or Cthulhu or mitochondria or whatever they think explains things.

But claim to talk ¹ to a guy who has not existed in the mortal realm for two thousand years ², expect to get called on it.

¹ Talk how, anyway? This story took place so long ago they the language spoken around these parts wouldn’t be recognisable as English. Anyway, is this person fluent in Aramaic? And, no, don’t handwave it as the guy speaks all languages. That’s just a delusion brought about by the TARDIS translation system.

² If he existed at all…

I hold the over-arching belief that a person’s belief system is, like various body parts, not something that should be displayed in public and is best kept a purely personal thing.

The chap who stands out in my memory flaunted that concept in spades. So much so that that he gave me a crick in the neck. It was impossible to let him get away with some of the crap he spouted.

I’ve just looked in my extensive archive (saw your name there, Rick) and a brief random sample of his posts (emails when the newsgroup collapsed and re-emerged as a mailing list) show a mixture of erudition and total blindness to anything which didn’t conform to his beliefs. Once, he condemned Darwin’s work as sci-fi, not science and that wasn’t the most egregious statement he made.

saw your name there, Rick

:)

The two things I remember most…

“Love and chocolate”, I thought that was a brilliant signoff.

Elma. Writing messages more erudite than the rest of us using a stick in her mouth (while being patronised by clueless “carers”).

Once, he condemned Darwin’s work as sci-fi, not science

People like that are about to run a major global economy.

People like that are about to run a major global economy.

Missing letter in there

People like that are about to ruin a major global economy.