April 1 jokes (which some only discovered later on)

[Chaparral]

OK who --- up with the merge own up

[xpensive]

What is this Ciro, do you label my postings on McLaren and Brawn as "jokes"?

This is outrageous, when the thread was clearly marked as NO JOKE!!!

[roost89]

Did anyone else miss this one? Don't mess with the good ol' god-fearin', tobacco-spittin' boys of Nascar, y'all!

All Car and Driver magazine tried to do was drive a little levity into the auto industry bailout with a prank. The serious publication ran a joke story that announced that Obama had ordered Chevrolet and Dodge out of NASCAR if they wanted to keep their federal funds. For a brief web-fueled moment, NASCAR fans had to imagine a future of cheering on Japanese cars. Or worse, French ones. The horror.

Immediately, the Internet went crazy, with searches on "obama nascar" accelerating in Search and zooming across Twitter. Although the story was clearly marked a hoax, Car and Driver eventually pulled the fake story and apologized for going "too far."

That's brilliant
It shouldn't have apologised though, it's April 1st and up until noon they can write what they want. Take everything with a pinch of salt on this day (if it's in the papers or on a website) Take everything with a pinch of salt if it's on TV or from friends (until noon, they should drop it then)

[jddh1]

SM I think that poses a broader question on 'rules' and who knows whats going on - did anyone pick up the fact that Massa hadnt a clue what to do when he came up behind the safety car in Australia with its 'green lights' flashing - even the commentary said the same - the rule is "the F1 Safety Car has both yellow and green lights mounted on its roof in the form of a light bar; the green light allows the driver just behind the SC to pass. Once the race leader is right behind the SC, the yellow lights go on" - it took 10-20 secs for Massa to get the message and proceed past the SC. Just an observation.

I thought that was Kimi because of the red helmet. Are you talking for when he went on the side of the SC and kinda asked them what to do?
This just means that the SC rules are garbage and they need to either be re-written or at least clarified.
Have a drivers' meeting and explain the rules. Here in the States all teams go over the rules in training camp and veterans are expected to attend as well. So why not have the drivers meet before the first race of the season to go over all the rules and explain them. Make it a mandatory one day meeting for all drivers.

[Steven]

What is this Ciro, do you label my postings on McLaren and Brawn as "jokes"?

This is outrageous, when the thread was clearly marked as NO JOKE!!!

Hi xpensive, I take the blame for this. I merged all April 1 jokes together.

PS: The replies are obviously serious, but the initial posts were jokes. Hence the title of this topic.

[virtuso13]

Not falling for any of them

[DaveKillens]

Whew, it's a good thing that the steward's decision to penalize Hamilton/McLaren and re-instate Trulli was not released yesterday. Imagine having to digest such a bombshell, all the while pondering if it was all a hoax.

But then again, maybe, just maybe the FIA held off 24 hours just because of the date.

[virtuso13]

I don't think that Hamilton would leave McLaren for a while . I saw in a BBC video that he was signed by Ron Dennis when he was 9 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So leaving McLaren would be ingratitude .I don't think that he's such a guy .
But i guess he would move some day ( maybe after winning three drivers championships )

[Chaparral]

SM I think that poses a broader question on 'rules' and who knows whats going on - did anyone pick up the fact that Massa hadnt a clue what to do when he came up behind the safety car in Australia with its 'green lights' flashing - even the commentary said the same - the rule is "the F1 Safety Car has both yellow and green lights mounted on its roof in the form of a light bar; the green light allows the driver just behind the SC to pass. Once the race leader is right behind the SC, the yellow lights go on" - it took 10-20 secs for Massa to get the message and proceed past the SC. Just an observation.

I thought that was Kimi because of the red helmet. Are you talking for when he went on the side of the SC and kinda asked them what to do?
This just means that the SC rules are garbage and they need to either be re-written or at least clarified.
Have a drivers' meeting and explain the rules. Here in the States all teams go over the rules in training camp and veterans are expected to attend as well. So why not have the drivers meet before the first race of the season to go over all the rules and explain them. Make it a mandatory one day meeting for all drivers.

Yes jddh1 thats the moment - the commentary guys did say Massa and I wasnt looking at the helmet colour. Those rules are pretty straight forward though for the safety car Id have thought all drivers would know them - and the fact Massa and others were all being waved through.

[povar]

*sigh*

[packetman]

I don't think Massa remembers ever seeing the green lights -- usually he is near the lead when the safety car is deployed .