Capricorn 1

[Ross Prawn]

I was watching my recording of Valencia the other night, in an effort to get off to sleep.

And it seemed to me that it looked a little unreal. The buildings are all clean and angular, like cheap computer graphics models, likewise all the boats in the harbour were clean and tidy with few features. And the crowd was stuffed way back behind walls and barriers, so you couldn't really see them.

Then it struck me.

What if Bernie and Max have taken the Tilke circuit and cost reduction trends to their ultimate conclusion? What if the Valencia GP was in fact a giant Playstation 3/CGI game, beamed into our living rooms, whilst the F1 circus had an additional week on the beach. And maybe Bernie has paid for the software upgrade that allows simulation of overtaking in the race. Which accounts for the quality of the racing.

[Waris]

With Bernie and Max, you never know...

[Wizzie]

Left field to the extreme but not entirely unbelievable

[jackanderton]

In the Formula 1 universe, the more left-field the idea, the more likelihood of it being true.

[Wizzie]

In the Formula 1 universe, the more left-field the idea, the more likelihood of it being true.

Well what applies for right field then?

[jackanderton]

left field, as in "that insult really came out of left field" — Unusual, unexpected, or irrational. AHDI dates this idiom back to the mid-1900s; it also states that the precise allusion is disputed, but a number of theories exist.[17] Rumored to originally describe fans who came to Yankee Stadium to see Babe Ruth (a right fielder) but who bought tickets for the wrong side of the field. Another legend is that the phrase originates from the location of the Neuropsychiatric Institute building of the University of Illinois College of Medicine, which was built on land that was once part of left field at West Side Park, the former home of the Chicago Cubs.[14]

I guess right-field would be 'the norm' anywhere outside of Formula 1. If Formula 1 operated there it would have sensible progressive changes to regulations, a calendar perfectly balancing commercial interests with the sport of motor racing, a president who didn't get his kicks from being bound and gagged, and Briatore would be under house arrest in Haiti complaining about the food.

[WeirdKerr]

be careful.... you don't know how far this rabbit hole goes......

[Phoenix]

I didn't notice something strange. In fact, I know from people that went to see the GP...

[shinji]

I didn't notice something strange. In fact, I know from people that went to see the GP...

Computer generated people?

[Phoenix]

I didn't notice something strange. In fact, I know from people that went to see the GP...

Computer generated people?

I'm affraid that there were real...

Or are we just part of a big fictional game? The debate is on...

[Stramala]

I didn't notice something strange. In fact, I know from people that went to see the GP...

Computer generated people?

I'm affraid that there were real...

Or are we just part of a big fictional game? The debate is on...

Maybe they un-knowingly went into a simulation room to what they thought was Valencia GP track?

[hclw]

its obvious looking at the race that it was all faked. The Valencia Grand Prix was infact filmed in an abandoned aircraft hanger in a secret military base. They rigged up a small polystyrene road circuit with cardboard buildings to make it look realistic. Its clear the circuit is a fake because no sane person would really build a f1 track like that. Then toy cars are pushed around the circuit and CGI is used to remove any strings or fingers caught on camera. Then the film is all speeded up and fake engine noises are put over the top.

The boats in the harbour were all toys filmed close up top make them look big, I know that because my baby nephew has the same 'luxury boat set' for bath times.

For further proof, look at the name Herman Tilke. Anagrams of this name include "Lame Thinker", "Harem Tinkle" and "Mental Hiker". Do I need to say anymore?

[lostpin]

The Valencia Grand Prix was filmed by Stanley Kubrick back in 1969, together with the landing on the moon...

[Popi_Larrauri]

The Valencia Grand Prix was filmed by Stanley Kubrick back in 1969, together with the landing on the moon...

I can bring you more evidence: If this would have been a real race they would have been a real second Ferrari Driver. If this is the real Badoer, he should have 40 years old or something. A typical case of sci-fi reverse anachronism, like Buck Rogers rocket Launch in 1987 with a... Saturn V rocket!

[Popi_Larrauri]

its obvious looking at the race that it was all faked. The Valencia Grand Prix was infact filmed in an abandoned aircraft hanger in a secret military base. They rigged up a small polystyrene road circuit with cardboard buildings to make it look realistic. Its clear the circuit is a fake because no sane person would really build a f1 track like that. Then toy cars are pushed around the circuit and CGI is used to remove any strings or fingers caught on camera. Then the film is all speeded up and fake engine noises are put over the top.

The boats in the harbour were all toys filmed close up top make them look big, I know that because my baby nephew has the same 'luxury boat set' for bath times.

For further proof, look at the name Herman Tilke. Anagrams of this name include "Lame Thinker", "Harem Tinkle" and "Mental Hiker". Do I need to say anymore?

Recurrent film's goofs like planes flying behind the scene (as in Ben Hur) are also present. Even more... did you see Grosjean spinning? Doesn't remind you that spinning Tennis-shoe from Star wars flying across? Well...

[hclw]

a contact who works for bernie has just sent me this incriminating photo of last year's valencia GP



you can clearly see the tell-tale signs of a carefully concocted formula one fraud. A small rubber duck is floating in the harbour, to be removed in the editing process later. A set designer has left a glue stick near the 'harbour', an amateur's error. And at this angle (one the 'tv cameras' never let you see) its possible to make out the scalextric track with the two ferraris on.

Its all becoming much clearer now. Do Max and Bernie know no shame!?

[lostpin]

Hm, on second thought, I think that this was all rendered and animated in Industrial Light & Magic. They got nearly everything right, except for the driver's artificial intellegence: the production was running late, so they had to freeze the development of the ability for drivers to pass one another. Hopefully the code will be finished for the next Valencia simulation... I mean Grand Prix.

[MinardiFan95]

There was a mode where you could set up a race to watch on the last PS3 game so they may have used that, only with 2009 cars.

Oops, sorry, the cars in that game ACTUALLY OVERTAKED EACH OTHER!

[Tealy]

Do you think this is why Bernie wants more night races. So he can disguise the fact that the races are computer generated.

[Cynon]

I think it just harkens back to the days of really bad games for the Nintendo Entertainment System, where there would be many, many problems...

It seemed to me like something I'd see from a bad video game. Oh well, time to wait 20 years for the Angry Video Game Nerd to review it.

[Phoenix]

Talking about...can all the races have been filmed instead of being real (or simulated in a vidgame)?

[shinji]

The only problem with the system is that it can't function when it rains. As a result, a real race needs to be run and excitement ensues.

[SáT]

Well, the programme of simulated car races in fact started in 1942, when Hitler commissioned number of projects of entertainment in order to avert the subdued people's attention away from wartime suffering &c. One of these projects was auto racing, but the war effort prevented Germany from making real races; so a top secret project was called forth to create these simulated races. Top German scientists, including Fritz Fend, Wernher von Braun and Dr Merkwürdigliebe worked on the project that utilized 1:12 scale model cars and an early form of artificial intelligence (which was eventually re-used in the Nazi space programme, in the third Mars voyage, in 1944), and they reached considerable successes until the end of the war, running at least three races. Here is a photo of one of the model cars:



Notice how remarkably similar it is to a modern F1 car.

After the end of the war, the plan & the assets were picked up by the US (along with the Nazi space programme), who used it to create Nascar in 47. In Europe, the concept was kept alive by Jean-Marie Balestre (a former member of the French SS, in which capacity he witnessed one of the races) and the Mosley family (there's proof that Oswald Mosley knew about the project and lobbied vehemently to have an AI driver designated as British). The FISA-FOCA war was actually about the ownership of the remaining Nazi artefacts. At this time 2-3 of the races in the F1 were but simulations every season; when a driver attempted to speak up, he was promptly assassinated (or but "warned", like Niki Lauda), and his death was staged as a "race accident" in one of the simulated races.

Currently, since 2001, all races are simulated, and half of the drivers are nothing but simulations. the first fully functional AI driver without a human actor posing as him was Lewis Hamilton, he's entirely a hologram. As for Hermann Tilke: he's not a person, but merely a front for a committee of scientists who design and run the simulated races.

[shinji]

Well, the programme of simulated car races in fact started in 1942, when Hitler commissioned number of projects of entertainment in order to avert the subdued people's attention away from wartime suffering &c. One of these projects was auto racing, but the war effort prevented Germany from making real races; so a top secret project was called forth to create these simulated races. Top German scientists, including Fritz Fend, Wernher von Braun and Dr Merkwürdigliebe worked on the project that utilized 1:12 scale model cars and an early form of artificial intelligence (which was eventually re-used in the Nazi space programme, in the third Mars voyage, in 1944), and they reached considerable successes until the end of the war, running at least three races. Here is a photo of one of the model cars:



Notice how remarkably similar it is to a modern F1 car.

After the end of the war, the plan & the assets were picked up by the US (along with the Nazi space programme), who used it to create Nascar in 47. In Europe, the concept was kept alive by Jean-Marie Balestre (a former member of the French SS, in which capacity he witnessed one of the races) and the Mosley family (there's proof that Oswald Mosley knew about the project and lobbied vehemently to have an AI driver designated as British). The FISA-FOCA war was actually about the ownership of the remaining Nazi artefacts. At this time 2-3 of the races in the F1 were but simulations every season; when a driver attempted to speak up, he was promptly assassinated (or but "warned", like Niki Lauda), and his death was staged as a "race accident" in one of the simulated races.

Currently, since 2001, all races are simulated, and half of the drivers are nothing but simulations. the first fully functional AI driver without a human actor posing as him was Lewis Hamilton, he's entirely a hologram. As for Hermann Tilke: he's not a person, but merely a front for a committee of scientists who design and run the simulated races.

Best. Post. Ever.

[Phoenix]

@SáT:

I'd like to know the source of your information if possible (I'm dying to check it for myself really)

[lostpin]

And on of those simulations, namely Michael Schumacher, was hacked by a young german genius, whose identity remains unknown today. Every driver simulation was programed by percentages in his profile: on for speed, other for overtaking, then for being a moving chicane, fairplay, etc. Until then, F1 was an interesting and thrilling simulation since all the drivers had unequal percentages in their profiles. But since MS was hacked, he received 100% in every possible field. It took them long years of reprogramming and bug hunting in order to get the system back to its balanced state. Finally they did, but the damage was already done...

[SáT]

@SáT:
I'd like to know the source of your information if possible (I'm dying to check it for myself really)

It was leaked out in the spring of 1994, by F1 drivers, that's when I got to know about it. It was a staged coup of sorts, led by Ayrton Senna, though obviously he was just a figurehead, it was in reality the work of China. Since that, however, China apparently came to an agreement with Mosley & Ecclestone, and now they sort of run the show together, as evidenced by the rise of "racing" there.

There was a long post on the Usenet about this written by Roland Ratzenberger, but it's been since deleted. Nick Wirth is very deep in the thing, btw, he designed several of today's drivers. He used the same tech in his RS-01 RoboDog.

And on of those simulations, namely Michael Schumacher, was hacked by a young german genius, whose identity remains unknown today.

Yeah, I heard about this. Dunno, though, maybe it was another power struggle all along. Personally, I think that the MS affaire was the work of the DESEFER, a German secret society, as they tried to topple Mosley & Ecclestone, but MS got out of their hands.

It's interesting about MS, btw, I've read claims that his initials actually stand for Messerschmitt, and that he's in fact the reincarnation (so to speak) of one of the early models codenamed Messerschmitt FG-845, winner of two of the three early sim races. Back then the AIs were built directly in the model cars, and their profiles were basically set by the small differences in the voltages caused during the installation. So, since the drivers all had different, fairly random, characteristics, the racing was actually quite interesting back then. As these faults in the manufacturing process have been corrected, we have today's uniformity.

[Popi_Larrauri]

@SáT:
I'd like to know the source of your information if possible (I'm dying to check it for myself really)

It was leaked out in the spring of 1994, by F1 drivers, that's when I got to know about it. It was a staged coup of sorts, led by Ayrton Senna, though obviously he was just a figurehead, it was in reality the work of China. Since that, however, China apparently came to an agreement with Mosley & Ecclestone, and now they sort of run the show together, as evidenced by the rise of "racing" there.

There was a long post on the Usenet about this written by Roland Ratzenberger, but it's been since deleted. Nick Wirth is very deep in the thing, btw, he designed several of today's drivers. He used the same tech in his RS-01 RoboDog.

And on of those simulations, namely Michael Schumacher, was hacked by a young german genius, whose identity remains unknown today.

Yeah, I heard about this. Dunno, though, maybe it was another power struggle all along. Personally, I think that the MS affaire was the work of the DESEFER, a German secret society, as they tried to topple Mosley & Ecclestone, but MS got out of their hands.

It's interesting about MS, btw, I've read claims that his initials actually stand for Messerschmitt, and that he's in fact the reincarnation (so to speak) of one of the early models codenamed Messerschmitt FG-845, winner of two of the three early sim races. Back then the AIs were built directly in the model cars, and their profiles were basically set by the small differences in the voltages caused during the installation. So, since the drivers all had different, fairly random, characteristics, the racing was actually quite interesting back then. As these faults in the manufacturing process have been corrected, we have today's uniformity.

Ohh... and I was the one that believed that linking in the aerodynamic efficience of the BMW F1.09 with the one produyced by a Bishop Self Propelled Gun http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishop_(artillery) was just an futile exercise of latheral thinking.


Btw. theory is perfect. What was Nick Fry then? An alternate self of Vidkun Quisling?

[tristan1117]

@SáT:
I'd like to know the source of your information if possible (I'm dying to check it for myself really)

It was leaked out in the spring of 1994, by F1 drivers, that's when I got to know about it. It was a staged coup of sorts, led by Ayrton Senna, though obviously he was just a figurehead, it was in reality the work of China. Since that, however, China apparently came to an agreement with Mosley & Ecclestone, and now they sort of run the show together, as evidenced by the rise of "racing" there.

There was a long post on the Usenet about this written by Roland Ratzenberger, but it's been since deleted. Nick Wirth is very deep in the thing, btw, he designed several of today's drivers. He used the same tech in his RS-01 RoboDog.

And on of those simulations, namely Michael Schumacher, was hacked by a young german genius, whose identity remains unknown today.

Yeah, I heard about this. Dunno, though, maybe it was another power struggle all along. Personally, I think that the MS affaire was the work of the DESEFER, a German secret society, as they tried to topple Mosley & Ecclestone, but MS got out of their hands.

It's interesting about MS, btw, I've read claims that his initials actually stand for Messerschmitt, and that he's in fact the reincarnation (so to speak) of one of the early models codenamed Messerschmitt FG-845, winner of two of the three early sim races. Back then the AIs were built directly in the model cars, and their profiles were basically set by the small differences in the voltages caused during the installation. So, since the drivers all had different, fairly random, characteristics, the racing was actually quite interesting back then. As these faults in the manufacturing process have been corrected, we have today's uniformity.

Ohh... and I was the one that believed that linking in the aerodynamic efficience of the BMW F1.09 with the one produyced by a Bishop Self Propelled Gun http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishop_(artillery) was just an futile exercise of latheral thinking.


Btw. theory is perfect. What was Nick Fry then? An alternate self of Vidkun Quisling?

EVIDENCE! And to cement the theory, during the American broadcast David Hobbs referred to the track as "almost like a video game"! The commentators then said, "since when did you know what a video game was". But he was obviously on to something!

[lostpin]

Btw. theory is perfect. What was Nick Fry then? An alternate self of Vidkun Quisling?

How do you know that?!? That's top secret!

[Phoenix]

@SáT:
I'd like to know the source of your information if possible (I'm dying to check it for myself really)

It was leaked out in the spring of 1994, by F1 drivers, that's when I got to know about it. It was a staged coup of sorts, led by Ayrton Senna, though obviously he was just a figurehead, it was in reality the work of China. Since that, however, China apparently came to an agreement with Mosley & Ecclestone, and now they sort of run the show together, as evidenced by the rise of "racing" there.

There was a long post on the Usenet about this written by Roland Ratzenberger, but it's been since deleted. Nick Wirth is very deep in the thing, btw, he designed several of today's drivers. He used the same tech in his RS-01 RoboDog.

So, this is why races have become so dull in the last 15 years...
But the drivers really existed in a human form or were/are just robots or even holograms? (because I think you said that some drivers were murdered when they tried to speak about)

[LukeB]

This explains the terrible attendences. Clearly simulating thouands of fans at once as well as the race would cause massive slow-down.
We're through the looking glass here people.

[Ross Prawn]

So its true then.

I haven't been posting much, as I'm busy trying to avoid the black helicopters armed with machine guns that are pursuing me everywhere.

It certainly explains Hamilton's permanently Photo-shopped appearance, and his unworldly manner of speaking. I imagine Kimi was an early attempt at an artificial AI voice, which didn't work too well.

[Nuppiz]

I imagine Kimi was an early attempt at an artificial AI voice, which didn't work too well.

And they had to remove most of the emotions to fit that voice AI in the hard drive.

[tristan1117]

Could Bernie be a robot? After winning the rights to the technology, he might have been involved in some covered up scandal which we don't know about. He then became a robot after a car accident permanently damaging his face. AFter becoming a robot and selling Brabham he passed on. Max then took over the robot, used Bernie to make F1 so incredibly boring that the sponsors and viewers wouldn't care. He created ANTSMSW5PG as a cover-up and then stole the sim-race technology from NASCAR.

Suddenly, in 2003, 2005, 2006, 07 and 08, Max was horrified to find that his simulation runners were messing up races and letting Schumacher not win and leave! (Nick Wirth could be credited with that) After Nick left to make a new team (Manor), he engineered the global financial crisis so sponsors would leave so he could at last start his World Championship of Cribbage as thought by the great leaders of this site. HWNSBM is leading the resistance movement with Luca Badoer. Badoer convinced the aging Barichello to replace his sim self and win in Valencia. Raikkonen and Fisi were also in on it and hacked into the sim system with enhanced Ferraris and Force Indias to provide entertainment. The FOTA-FIA war weakened Max and the economy began to pick up again. What will happen in Monza?

[UlyssesBlue]

I think that the strongest evidence in support of the CGI racing theory is the performance of Force India in Belgium - The Grands Prix simulation has been hacked by the same Indian hackers who took down the F1Rejects website only scant months ago.

In that context, the sabotage inflicted upon the F1Rejects site can be seen as a pre-emptive attempt to silence the only media outlet both brave, and mad, enough to expose the "racing" for the fraud it is.
Where else could I suggest that the CG Massa was damaged by a rogue collection of pixels resulting from the Indian hackers early attempts to rocket Force India up the field, and was temporarily replaced with a "Badoer-ised" clone of the CG Trulli but left at the back of the field lest the two inadvertantly ended up on the podium together? Where else could I moot that the "Trudoer" was then replaced only when programmers found the USB stick with the stored CG Liuzzi down the back of a swivel chair, or in the bottom of a filing cabinet?

Therefore, two things appear obvious to me.
1. The Force India-Ferrari driver shuffle is a cover-up by the programmers - having expunged the Indian hackers influence from the simulation they need a remotely plausible explanation for the return of Force India to the lower mid field. A driver change should do it.
2. The Piquet Jr crashgate furore is a smokescreen hastily created to divert attention from the unusual results of the most recent race.

I guess we'll know how well the firewall and simulation have been rebuilt after the next race.

[ARGmarine]

[Spam removed]

[eurobrun]

This spam is just getting better and better

[tristan1117]

Looking back on this thread, I still think SáT's post is still one of the best things ever posted on this forum. Too bad he completely disappeared soon after he posted his theory (Coincidence? I think not!).

[dr-baker]

I saw this in Autosport recently...

...and it got me wondering.

Capricorn advertising? Bernie providing them with a quote?

Yet a team called Connew, i.e. Con-New/New Con? Was there a subliminal message there that there were a few people in the early 1970s who knew of the Capricorn project, and believed it to be a big con? And did Bernie provide that quotation to draw attention to the fact that the team would only ever be short-lived? And did those in charge ensure that they were chronically underfunded, to stop them from spreading the message of Capricorn too far and widely?