Take Off Eh!

So your Humble Scribe is off to the Great white North, Eh? To go visit the Greg Moore Gallery at BC Place’s BC Sports Hall of Fame and perhaps even a quick jaunt over to Maple Ridge? But never fear… I’ll return early next week “Just-in-Time” for Turkey Lurkey Day! And if you can’t stand it, then perhaps you’ll wanna check out some of the sites of those very clever ‘N astute Vurd Botcherer’s from the list below, which you can find links to several of on the Right Hand sidebar of this page under Racing Links…

And then drop back into my site next week – Please! Shameless Plug, eh?

Greg Moore – 10yrs after

The USF1 Mini-series continues

Shamelessly pilfered from My Name is IRL...

More “As the USF1 Vurld Turns”

The serious Hi-jinx ‘N Superb Sarcasm, Err Humour of Decklen’s excellent talking movies continues…

Day 5 at the USF1 HQ

Day 6 at the USF1 HQ

You can find Parts 1-3 by clicking here and then scrolling to bottom of post…

Button bolts to McLaren

Newly anointed F1 World Champion Jenson Button has decided to take his No. 1 plate and run off to Mercedes Grand Prix rival McLaren, in what seemingly has become a massive game of tit for tat… After BRAWN GP, Err Mercedes apparently refused to budge upon its very low contract offer for the Brit’s services next year, as I was looking forward to purchasing a No. 1 Silver Arrows “JENSE Diecast…

Apparently the plucky Brit decided to take McLaren’s HIGHER retainer reported to be $6m for 3yrs vs. $4m for 2yrs with the allowance of Button to add additional personal services sponsors to boost his pay packet…

And the deal seemed all but a formality after the Iceman’s manager announced to Finnish press that the Kimster (Raikkonen) has elected to sit out next season’s Formula 1 contest after negotiations broke down with McLaren, as the Finn will take his reputed $17m severance pay from Scuderia Ferrari to go play in the snowbanks instead in the WRC! Although NOT having ruled out a return to Formula One in 2011, but you’ve gotta wonder if this is another Mika Hakkinen style retirement, eh?

Thus will we see an all German line-up now at Mercedes next year with “Quick Nick” Heidfeld partnering Nico Rosberg?

Night of the Living Bloggers

Otay, I confess I stole the title from “Jeffie” of My Name is IRL, which after I read it makes me smirk and think of that long lost MTV video classic Thriller and all of the marching Zombies…

After having recently learned about the Indy Car “bloggaratzi” taking over the Indianapolis Airwaves last Thursday evening on AM1070’s The Fan’s Trackside with Kevin ‘n Cavin, in which I tuned-in for my very first Trackside episode, carefully taking notes of everyone participating during the entire two hours.

Also, I especially liked Kevin’s quip about Curty Cavin’s Job Shadower: Are you going to be a Word Butcher on the keyboards or an Ink Stained wretch in Journalism… To which Cavin replied I’ve tried to talk him outta going into Journalism since there AIN’T gonna be any newspapers in the future…

But I really enjoyed Kevin doting on the “Vurd Botcherers” aspect, of which was a very clever takeoff regarding an ‘Ol article Jeff Olsen wrote abouts us nucel bashers ‘O keeboards many Moons ago, which I scribbled my thoughts in Beauty ‘N the Beast when gang tacklin’ the effervesant Mr. Olsen, noting how it was the perfect opportunity to cancel my subscription to Racer magazine!

Thus here’s my “lowdown” on the show’ participants in order, as Kevin Lee said ladies go first, so drumroll please…

the race gIRL
1) Monica
Talked about upcoming “Tweet-Up,” while Cavin noted that Monica sounded an AWFUL lot like the Princess; Dan-Dan-Daniker, or as “The DAWG” calls her; the Danistar… To which Curt also mentioned that Kevin was wearing his pressdog T-Shirt to which shameless pandering then took place. As for the Tweet-up, you’ll have to go elsewhere in the Blogosphere since I’m nNOT-a member of the TWIT-er Nation, which I like to refer to as the GRUNTER Nation…

Is it May Yet?
2) Will McCarty
Kevin asked for a brief description of his site to which Will explained started with the famous Son ‘O Stash mustachio photoshop pic and also provides Race Day weather forecasts which is what he does in his real job, along with having a very good sense ‘O Humour!

Also gave a “Shout-Out” to Jeff of My Name is IRL “Fame” who couldn’t make it since he was stuck in Rush hour AZ traffic… You know when Arizonan’s actually have to go the legal speed limit instead of 37.5+ mph over!

Open Paddock
3) Doug Patterson
This Blog is new to me, with my notes saying that Doug resides in Indy and he “Yakked” about the current state of the I500 as Matt “CAM-WOW!” Chamois of The Other Side likes to call the Indy 500…

Planet IRL
4) Kohl Kirkland
Kevin noted that Kohl was the first of three members from Planet IRL, which seems a little overboard to me (Hee-Hee-Hee…) As this even took Kohl by surprise, who gave another Shout-Out to Jeffie, Gee Whiz, what’s the Dealio, eh?

Kohl brought up the subject of the current Open Wheel Racing Feeder system, mentioning how USF2000 had just had a press announcement, while also noting how there were only two I500 Rookies in ’07 and how we need more “Young Guns” in the series. Cavin gave his two cents on the muddied waters of our Open wheel ladder system, while Kevin brought up how the Champ Car Atlantics used to give $1m bonus to the season’s Champion.

For more Feeder series insights, I suggest you check out Ryan’s Junior Open wheel Talent blog, which keeps tabs on this sorta stuff.

16th and Georgetown
5) James Black
James talked primarily about the leagues hottest property at the moment; Ryan “The IZOD DUDE! Hunter-Reay as Kevin ‘N Cavin bantered on ‘bout how they expect RHR to do in 2010, as Curty pondered if RHR could take TK (Tony Kanaan) straight-up? But he certainly expected Hunter-Reay to push Marco and the Princess, or did Kevin say that last part?

Also Cavin said tell us ‘bout your IMS Seating Chart project, which James has just launched on his site after the previous author was unable to continue it, to which Cavin lamented I don’t know why the Indy Star never did anything like that before Kevin interjected; you shoulda taken a camera with you when you were counting all of ‘dem seats! To which Curt replied; whale I was trying to not get caught by the (Yelllow Shirts) Security…

Oil Pressure
6) George Phillips
George mentioned how he was probably the oldest (Southern) IRL Blogger having gone to his very first I500 race in 1965 and lamented on the lack of diversity in today’s Indy Car Series, noting how he really missed the competition of rival chassis/engine combinations and the innovation in general this brought about when everybody wanted to see what showed up each May at the Speedway; citing how Chip Ganassi took a flyer on the relatively unknown Reynard chassis in ’94 and two years later it was dominant. (It was also the Cheepster who switched to the rival Toyota when the Honda was dominant in CART, before Toyota became the “Lump” to have…) But all three agreed that they’re will never be another tyre war and they don’t like them either…

Planet IRL
7) Paul Dalbie
Paul brought up a great subject over how it just seems a little too coincidental that the latest round of the Danistar to RASSCAR made the Airwaves just prior to the ICS’s IZOD title sponsor announcement and how this perpetual Danistar SHIT is conveniently fueled by ESPN as he never saw anything solid on this after it broke via ESPN’s assistance…

Indy Racing Revolution
8) Chris Estrada
Mr. “CHiPs” as I like to call Christopher talked a bit about how he got called up to the big leagues… And wanted to know the Hosts take on the current level of competition and what Tony Kottman needed to do, since he felt that if the league didn’t do something to spice it up from this year’s Red ‘N White Show; Can you say TCGR ‘N Penske? Then he felt that the league may be hard pressed to continue riding the IZOD wave…

Drive Hard-Turn Left
9) Bill Potter
Bill is also another “Indy Homeboy” (While Monica also mentioned she was in the process of moving there, since it’s the Heartland of Open Wheel Racing) who wanted to know how the proposed Comcast Takeover, Err merger of NBC/Universal would effect the IndyCar viewership? To which Cavin commented he just doesn’t know how important it is to Comcast?

pressdog
10) Bill Zarhin
After some guffawing ‘bout wearing The DAWG’s T-Shirt, Bill shocked us all by talking ‘bout Formula 1 instead… Hey, wait a minute… F1? What’s going on here, that’s my turf Bubbah!

Bill spent considerable time chronicling the absolute zaniness of the just completed season; how BRAWN GP came outta nowhere along with Red Bull Racing which was an Also Ran squad before the season and how they finished 1-2 in the Drivers & Constructor’s Championships. And that doesn’t even mention all of the vonybrtdird… Err Controversies, sorry ‘bout ‘dat, meese nucel’s gotz in duh way!

Indy Car Garage
11) Tyler Carmichael
Tyler wanted to know if they thought the ICS was doing enough to build-up a younger Generation of Drivers to grow the league. To which Cavin said that sounds like a question we had earlier… To which it musta been here when Kevin noted the $1m Prize Fund Mazda used to hand out for the Atlantics Champion, to which Cavin said is only a third of what it’ll cost to be driving for a bargain basement bottom rung ICS team… And $5m will only make you an average race team

Planet IRL
12) Joel Osborne
Joel, the Threes Company member of the Planet IRL Tag team wanted to know when was the last time a USAC Driver made it in Indy Cars instead of going to RASSCAR? To which Cavin explained how the parallels between USAC and RASSCAR were largely due to the similar driving style which is all about the weight bias being on the right rear tyre… To which Kevin eluded to how there’s NO current USAC road racing to give them the experience needed… To which Don Kay likes to lament how that’s exactly what Bruce Ashmore and his Gold Crown Series is setting out to rectify… While Cavin rattled off some names of drivers who had their shot in the Dark Dazes of the IRL (Pre-Unification) saying how Tony Stewart was a wildcard, but bringing up my favourite American IRL driver name Billy boat… And I seem to recall somebody named Greg Ray?

Anyways that’s the end ‘O my notes; so good job to all of the Word butchers taking part, to Kevin Lee for being the catalyst of the yearly Blogger Night and Curt Cavin and Kevin for making the show hum right along, as I’ll try to participate next time and may be we can talk Kevin “N Cavin into doing that twice a year? May be right before the season starts next year…

And if you’re interested in listening to the show, then check out the Trackside Bloggers Podcast, click here. (Thanxs to George Phillips who I borrowed the link from…)

You may also wish to read George Phillip’s Oil Pressure take on the event in his story An evening with Indy Car Bloggers

Glock signs at Manor

And now one fourth of the new 2010 F1 Constructor’s racing seats have been Officially filled, as Timo Glock who was reportedly set to join Robert Kubica at Renault next year has decided to sign a deal with the Manor GP, nee Virgin F1 Team beginning next season for two years with an option for a third, while speculation suggests that Lucas Di Grassi
has either signed or will be shortly announced as the 27yr old German’s partner for next season.

And I say Virgin F1 since this has long since been rumoured and obviously now with the Mercedes takeover of BRAWN GP, the path is clear for Sir Richard Branson to make his way onto the grid in a higher profile…

Kobayashi targets Lotus drive

Ex-Toyota F1 Rising Star Kamui Kobayashi has revealed in a recent interview that he’s now targeting one of the two available race drives at the newly reconstituted Lotus F1 Team for 2010, while claiming that all four of the new 2010 F1 Challengers are ultimately his best bet for finding a seat in Formula 1 next year…

Yet simply the name Lotus alone is enough for the Japanese driver, who obviously wishes to continue racing in Grand Prix versus returning to his waiter career; as Kobayashi has also revealed that Toyota is likely to help him along with displaced fellow Countryman Kazuki Nakajima financially in finding seats next year.

Meanwhile Lotus Boss Tony Fernandes has just leaked via Twitter that the Team has signed its first driver with an announcement to be made soon. And although the “Scrumptious ‘Juan” (Jarno Trulli) was spotted in Phoenix hanging out with Mika Salo in Mikey “Aw Shucks” Waltrip’s garages over the weekend, I’d expect Trulli to wind-up at Lotus eventually, while I’m guessing the Rally-Rally-Rally BIG! Announcement will include Fairuz Fauzy as the squad’s Test/Reserve Driver, since after all; his Poppa is part of the Ownership backing the project…

Malyia trying to Force Lotuses hand?

Thought the intra-team squabbling was over now that the F1 season’s finished? Nope, as I believe that Formula 1 never sleeps, eh? As word comes now that Force India has gone on the offensive against the newly reconstituted Lotus F1 Team, claiming they appear to be using Wind Tunnel models extremely similar to the Force India designed chassis…

Hang on a moment here; let’s see. Force India sacked its Chief Technical Officer Mike Gascoyne who designed the original VJM-01 chassis amongst other iterations of the team’s guises from Jordan to Midland F1 to Spyker and ultimately Force India…

Then Gascoyne filed a lawsuit against Vijay Malia claiming breach of contract for lost potential salary, having been fired before his contract expired in 2007.

Next Gascoyne set up his own Design Office (MGI) and went to work on what was to be the Lightspeed F1 project for 2010, which wasn’t selected by the FIA. And now Gascoyne has gone to work for the new Lotus concern which showed off an initial 2010 F1 Chassis for publicity, which in Formula One tradition, obviously wasn’t the final evolution as car design is a most highly guarded secret kept by all teams as long as possible; something akin to Mum’s ‘N first born children!

Yet the Lotus Team has taken up a collaboration with the AeroLab research facility which ironically was partnering Force India previously, which like prior speculation suggested over Malyia’s tendency to pay off his bills late to engine suppliers Ferrari and Mercedes Benz, has an outstanding balance owed to AeroLab which has now filed a lawsuit against Force India along with issuing a rare press statement over the Wind Tunnel model controversy, as it appears that perhaps Force India is using the issue to deflect attention?

In another Force India lawsuit, the Indian owned team won $4.6m in damages from Etihad Airways and Aldar Properties as compensation for bailing out early of their Sponsorship contracts with the Spyker F1 Team, upon its being sold to Vijay Malyia and rebadged Force India; opting to go with a rival Constructor known as the Scuderia, which obviously has a much higher potential for coveted television exposure since its usually farther up the grid then Malyia’s Boyz, albeit Force India has steadily improved this season, securing its very first Pole position and Grand Prix Constructor’s points.

But as I read somewhere, possibly from Mike Gascoyne(??) Why would the Lotus Team wanna copy the Force India which isn’t exactly known for its great handling prowess along with the fact that next year’s enlarged Petrol tanks will not only change the cars design but also change the all important weight distribution of said racecar.

Q & A with Mike Gascoyne

But hey, that’s Formula 1 for you, as they’re even more competitive in terms of litigation off the track as not only is every ounce of weight scrutinized, every available Euro is also fought over!

Mercedes buying out Brawn GP

This morning Daimler AG announced (finally) what has long been rumoured, that they along with Aabar Investments PJSC have purchased a controlling 75.1% interest in BRAWN GP, while Ross brawn & Co. will continue to hold the remaining 24.9% outstanding shares while Daimler will have 45.1% and Aabar 30% respectively.

The deal is somewhat complicated, as relations have reputedly become strained with current team McLaren, in which Mercedes has a 40% stake of, which will now be sold back to McLaren by 2011, along with the McLaren Car concern being spun off from parent company McLaren Group. Yet McLaren surely must be somewhat relieved to have the vaunted “Star” power “Lumps” available thru 2015 and perhaps beyond?

Thus it’s the perfect end to the fairytale season of BRAWN GP I suppose, having risen from the ashes of Honda F1 to become Driver & Constructor Champions in their very first attempt and then having their future secured by selling out to Daimler… Along with the fact that the current Management will stay at the helm, as all we need now is for the newly renamed Mercedes Grand Prix to unveil its 2010 Silver Arrows with Jenson Button carrying the Number 1 plate with Nico Rosberg deputizing in No. 2…

Spiesing Up the Show

Its pretty funny to Mwah just how much the exploits of reigning World Superbike Champion (WSBK) and future MOTO GP rider Ben Spies has captivated me this season, especially since he’s not even a four wheel racing driver! (Although never say never I suppose?)

Having already scribbled about Ben spies’s memorable weekend in Portugal where he captured his and Yamaha’s very first WSBK Championship, Spies celebrated his accomplishment with a Wildcard MOTO GP Entry at the season finale in Valencia, Spain where he rode a “One-Off” race aboard the Sterilgarda Yamaha, (courtesy of Yamaha) in an effort to afford Spies more seat time as he prepares for his first full MOTO GP season in 2010 with the Tech 3 Yamaha Team, which will most likely receive much “Ink” (Press fodder) in unofficially being revered to as” Team Texas” as Spies will partner ex-Double WSBK Champion Colin Edwards, who’s already quite pleased with his junior teammates exploits…

Spies qualified on the third row of the grid in a very respectable ninth place, before falling backwards as the race progressed, at one point having slipped back as far as 12th before deciding to put his head down.

Having become comfortable with his new mount, which I heard Colin Edwards tell Dave Despain on Wind Tunnel; there’s simply NO comparison between a MOTO GP and World Superbike “Scooter.” The MOTO GP, which is the two wheeled formula 1 equivalent of Motorcycles simply is the most technologically advanced along with its amazing weight transference, i.e.; how F1 chassis simply react like Slot cars thru the twisty bits; which David Hobbs endlessly marvels about!

Thus Spies began running comparable lap times to his soon to be 2010 teammate Edwards who was lying fourth and steadily picked off rider after rider in front of him, ultimately passing Andrea Dovizioso for seventh place, when the rival Repsol Honda rider ran wide. By finishing one place ahead of Dovizioso, Spies enabled Edwards to secure fifth place in the overall MOTO GP Championships, with Dovizioso winding up sixth, to which obviously Colin was most enthused about! So now we’ll have to wait until next year to see how this satellite Yamaha Team fares, eh?

And it was a good weekend for Team USA, as Edwards led the Three Amigos home in fourth place, followed in fifth by the “Kentucky Kid,” a.k.a. Nicky Hayden (Ducati) and Spies in P7.

Valencian GP: Ben Spies race report

Schuey’s legend is born

Australian GP – Adelaide; Nov 13, 1994
Winner: Nigel Mansell, Williams-Renault
Second: Gerhard Berger, Ferrari
Third: Martin Brundle, McLaren-Peugeot

1994 F1 Driver’s Championship
1st. Michael Schumacher; Benetton-Ford, 92pts.
2nd. Damon Hill; Williams-Renault, 91pts.

And yet, as the years go by and I yearn to put another log upon the fire to warm my bones beside...

I can recall less “N less from that fateful year of 1994, (minus “Black Sunday,” a.k.a the Imola weekend & Karl Wendlinger’s ensuing accident at Monaco) except for the ecstatic reaction I received in Monterey, CA for wearing a Michael Schumacher Camel Benetton T-Shirt at the Monterey Visitor’s Center while trying to learn where all of the action was during my first foray to the Monterey Historics, as the German Fraulein gushed over my Benetton T-Shirt, even going so far as to ask me where I got it; do you wanna sell it?

Along with staying up into the wee hours (Midnight) in my little house on the Prairie, Err the countryside of then unincorporated King County... Screaming at the Telescreen, as “The Deuce” (ESPN2) was then the rights holder to the F1 Broadcasts, with Bob Varsha and David Hobbs actually calling the action “Live” from the venue, when the TV Broadcasters were required to actually call the races onsite, but I digress…

Sitting there dumbfounded and shrieking over Herr Schumacher’s collision with arch nemesis (enemy) Damion Hill… As clearly the “Terminator” put his soon to be patented “Schumi Swerve” upon the unsuspecting(?) Brit, which would lead to his very first Formula 1 Drivers World Championship being cemented in Adelaide, Australia 15yrs ago, (yesterday) as I screamed in jubilation as Schuey had done it! Besting Hill by a single point with the two rivals being 50 points clear of third place Gerhard Berger; SHEISA!

Although one could argue he wasn’t so successful in ’97 trying to give Jacques Villeneuve his patented ‘LUV-tap, eh? Aye Karumba!

And I suppose I should give Damon Hill his due, like I’ve come to grant Mika the Finn. (Hakkinen) Although something about Hill (his bushy eyebrows, perhaps?) has always rubbed me the wrong way… Kinda like Jacques O’ Lantern (Villeneuve) and DC (David Coulthard) in his younger McLaren days… As this quartet seemed to be Michael’s fiercest competition whilst searching for his crown…

As the pantheon of Formula One’s greatest Piloto’s; Mansell, Piquet, Prost and Senna had all left the scene, albeit Mansell’s brief return to breech the massive void left by Senna’s untimely demise… And thus I suppose its most ironic that Michael Schumacher’s very first career pole position didn’t occur until after Ayrton’s death at Imola, as Hakkinen battled royale against the TERMINATOR for Pole position at Monte Carlo a Fortnight later.

Thus I guess it’s somewhat even more ironic, or is that karmic? Or just synergy that like 1994, a most turbulent F1 season, we’ve just supposedly come to the conclusion of another overly dramatic season of Formula 1, not to mention the irony of Schuey’s very Championship winning mount, the Benetton-Ford B194 replete with the mysterious Option 13 Launch/Traction Control software (embedded) coming up for offer on eBay, and thus, a legend was born all those years ago, as another slipped into the abyss upon scoring his very last Grand Prix victory before wankering away at McLaren the following year when his backside apparently didn’t fit the tight confines of the doggish McLaren-Peugeot…

Ecclestone Sisters making waves

So apparently the apple doesn’t fall very far from the tree… As Uncle Bernaughty’s daughters Tamara and Petra have apparently been making noise in the British tabloids… (Again)

As eldest daughter Tamara, age 25 has apparently spouted off about Jenson Button not deserving to be World Champion, claiming Lewis Hamilton is a better driver and nicer Bloke to boot. As apparently Tamara’s funk comes over ‘JENSE answering his mobile in the middle of an interview with Tamara, who possibly told the Brit; DON’T you know who’s my Daddy?

Tamara: Jenson doesn’t deserve to be World Champ

Meanwhile PETA, Err Petra, age 21 was busy losing a Libel case in Britain, as the Fashion Designer apparently took a swipe at some Celebrities, regarding her quip about using real leather in her designs… Hmm? Where’s the Beef?

USF1 submits entry fee

Don’t know if Y’all caught newly elected FIA Vice President Nick Craw, leader of ACCUS in America on Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain last Sunday night… But Craw was quick to point out that Team USF1 had sent in its entry fee for the 2010 F1 World Championship some 10 days ago, and the sum was nearly $440k, as back in the Old Dazes a team wasn’t counted as an entry until its NON-Refundable cheque had been deposited!

Craw who’s also made visits to Ken & Peter’s lair in Charlotte, NC is quite certain that everything’s in order and that he expects the team to be on the grid in 2010…

Schumacher Benetton-Ford up for grabs

Ever wanted to buy a Formula 1 racecar? Whale here’s your chance as its been widely reported that Michael Schumacher’s 1994 title winning Benetton-Ford B194 is now being offered on eBay.

“The car is in condition as in the 1994 Formula 1 season with paddle shift and traction control," the advertising reads. The car is in racing condition, with the painting and sponsoring scheme as in 1994."
The engine was overhauled by Langford Performance Engineering/Wellingborough (UK) and was since then just running a few minutes for test and check reasons.”
(Source: Grandprix.com)

Good Luck!

Bloggers taking over the Airwaves

Yep! Y’all read that right, as I first learned of this amazing Radio Show Broadcast scheduled for tonight via “The Dawg,” a.k.a. pressdog…

Trackside plans Blogger Night Thursday

So I didn’t bother to enter myself in the melee ‘O Bloggaratzi, as may be it was something to do with pressdog’s reference to Clown Carz, eh? But you may wish to catch all of the frivolity on AM1070’s The Fan tonight between 4-6PM Pacific… But beware you’ll need to sign-up for an account ahead of time. So tune-in and see how many bloggers you can count…

Veterans Day - 2009

Imagine a time when it all began
In the dying days of a war
A weapon that would settle the score
Whoever found it first would be sure to do their worst
They always had before...

(Song Lyrics” RUSH: Manhattan Project - Power Windows, 1985)

At the south end of the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum’s Park is a giant flowing water fountain. This Fountain of Peace was created four decades ago in 1969 in order to give prayer to all of the people who perished in the second Atom Bomb dropping while vainly searching for water. At the base of the fountain is a black stone plaque with Lines from a poem carved into it. They were written by a girl named Sachiko Yamaguchi, who was nine at the time of the bombing,

It reads:
"I was thirsty beyond endurance. There was something oily on the surface of the water, but I wanted water so badly that I drank it just as it was."

Nagasaki Atom Bomb Park Photos

The New Regime
And thus we American’s celebrate our first Veteran’s Day under the guise of new leadership, as President Barack Obama follows in the nebulous footsteps of George W. Bush, as although we haven’t dropped any Atomic Bombs to date(?) Nevertheless Obama continues Bush’s legacy by continuing to fight two LOSING Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, while preparing to increase the numbers of troops being sent to fight these USELESS Occupations!

And while I prefer to post my traditional Veteran’s Day’s thoughts which first began in my story Time Stands Still, this year I’m changing tact slightly, as something has been sticking in my craw ever since listening to the STUPID debate on Speed Freaks….

Spindrift
As sun goes down

On the western shore

The wind blows hard from the east

It whips the sand into a flying spindrift

As the sun goes down

On the western shore

It makes me feel uneasy

In the hot dry rasp of the devil winds

Who cares what a fool believes

(And) What am I supposed to say?

(Song Lyrics” RUSH; Spindrift – Snakes & Arrows; 2008)

So the debate in question on Speed Freaks revolved around whether or not Middle East money should be allowed to flow into the NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) and dare (I say it?) to potentially work its way into RASSCAR?

MidEast beyond Cleveland

As this “Hot Button” topic was centered around the fact that Larry Dixon currently drives for Alan Abi Racing in the NHRA’s Top fuel division, while another “Rail Jockey” Hillary Will ran Bahrain sponsorship on the side of her Top Fueler previously…

This comes on top of the current speculation that George Gillett is planning to sell a minority stake in Richard Petty Motorsports (RPM) to Saudi Prince Faisal bin Fahd bin Abdullah al-Saud as part of a package including Ownership in Gillett’s Liverpool Football Club; while reportedly the deal could include running a Richard Petty Driving Experience program at a NASCAR style venue yet to be built in the Desert.

And now speculation suggest that Bruton Smith of Speedway Motorsports Inc. (SMI) is pursuing an alliance with the Emir of Qatar, Sheik Hamad Bin Khalifa al-Thani regarding a massive Motorsports complex similar to SMI’s “Los Wage$” (Las Vegas) 1300 acre site, as Bruton claims a design is already completed and is separate to any of Gillett’s proposed racing venues, in which he hopes to have up to 14 NASCAR-style facilities operating in the future.

Thus business is truly open in the Gulf; along with the black tar spickets being open, the region is now diversifying into Motorsports with the just completed running of the Inaugural Abu Dabi Grand Prix, along with the Bahrain GP (both Formula 1 events) plus the annual MOTO GP night race held in Qatar.

And yet while some RASSCARHEADS are blathering’ on ‘bout how we cannot have ‘dem Saudi’s in our be-LUV-ed Roundy round series, (DAMN! Weeze alreadys gots ‘dem darn Toy-Yoter’s, yuhs here?) As they shouldn’t be allowed to cherry pick the best NHRA Teams and simply buy their way into motor racing…

Yet perhaps current racing teams wouldn’t be force to look outside the box for new financial backers (money streams) if Obama hadn’t just signed a $680 BILLION Pentagon budget into law in order to keep the United States entangled in two utterly USELESS conflicts, eh? As this is just a one year budget for Military spending which doesn’t include the countless Billions approved to fund the Occupations, nor the extra $44b given to Homeland Security, and these are just the reported “Black” budgets; SHEISA!

Since it’s reported that the cost of having just One Soldier for One year in Afghanistan could pay for twenty schools to be built there; so what are we fighting for?

John Edwards to Indy Lights?

Last night on the Speed Freaks, albeit some narly static interference for major portions of the show, for the first time ever, they had reigning Atlantics Champion John Edwards as a guest and quizzed him about whether or not there was any controversy regarding his securing of the title at Laguna Seca…

When the former Red Bull American F1 Driver Search recipient, two time Star Mazda and Atlantics Champion was pressed about his 2010 plans, Edwards eluded to the fact that a potential sponsor had fallen by the wayside and Indy Cars in 2010 was most likely not going to happen, although he’d been looking forward to sampling the Dallara/Honda package in a test and now most likely he’ll wind-up competing for Newman Wachs Racing in the Firestone Indy Lights next year, albeit nothing is confirmed and they’re still exploring their options…

John Edwards on Speed Freaks

Team USF1 Update

While the cynics still seem to doubt the arrival of USF1 in 2010, nevertheless the silvered tongued House ‘O Windsor (Peter) made his very last Grid Walk for current employer SPEED TV during the inaugural Abu Dabi GP…

And the team has hired long time F1 veteran David Stubbs to be the Manager of its newly announced European Operations base at MotorLand Aragon, a most impressive facility located in Alcaniz, Spain, featuring multiple test tracks, including a Formula 1 spec circuit designed by FIA circuit Architect Herman Tilke.

Interestingly, Stubbs began his Grand Prix career at Williams having joined from the British Atomic Research facility alongside another recruit by the name of Ross Brawn, way back in 1978, starting work as a “gopher.” Stubbs then steadily moved up the ladder and was Williams Team Manager during the late 1980’s, notably during the Mansell-Piquet Honda era before moving onto Brabham, Paul Stewart Racing, Stewart Grand Prix and Jaguar…

Meanwhile it has become clearly obvious to me that Ken & Peter will NOT have an American Driver in 2010 as somewhere I heard/read that none of the current names being dropped by Peter qualify for the mandatory FIA Super license one needs to race in Formula 1; although Princess does meet the licensing requirements Y’all know she’s way too busy preparing to what many on the Blogosphere are denoting as CABS!

While Ryan Hunter-Reay would have been hard pressed to be granted said Super License, since he doesn’t meet the current requirements, I doubt he’s going anywhere besides Mikey Andretti Racing now that his personal sponsor IZOD has become the Indy Car Series title sponsor, eh?

Meanwhile a certain Aussi guest scribe at My Name is IRL has been giving us his jaundiced view towards Team USF1 in his Hillarious behind the scenes USF1 HQ videos…

A Day at the USF1 Office

Day 2 at USF1 HQ

Day 3 at USF1 HQ

Now I’d better shut down Ye ‘Ol Confuser since the Stefny Cleaning Agency is due any moment…

IRL Newsflash… We’ve got a Title Sponsor

Team IZOD!

Uh, in case you missed it somehow? In a story that’s been plastered all over le internets, the Indy Car Series has finally landed a new “tittle” sponsor for its vaunted Indy Racing League as I believe some sorta shirt company is going to be the Leagues backer beginning in 2010, in a deal reportedly for six years (optional two year extension) and rumoured to be for $10-15 million per season and potentially worth as much as a “Mega” $100m over the contracts lifetime… In what will become the Tuh-Duh!

IZOD IndyCar Series

But according to Will of Is it May Yet? Its NOT that IZOD Company Y’all think it is…
Fly Over for the 2010 Indianapolis 500 announced

And IZOD’s new proposed IndyCar T-Shirts look a HELL of a lot better then previous ICS incarnations, now hopefully they WON’T flashback to that catchy marketing jingle I AM INDY!

2009 ROC Recap

Whale this year’s ROC, the REAL Race Of Champions… NOT to be cornfuzed with that dually departed abomination of Pontiacs goin’ round ‘N round in some Adult Spirits series… (IROC) Has just been completed, having taken place in Beijing, China on November 3-4.

And with this year’s event having been moved forward one month and clashing with something called The Chase, Team USA dug deep into its bag of available Personalities, settling upon a pair of largely unknown Rally and Drifting Champions… As with NO disrespect to either Travis Pastrana or Tanner Foust, I think Double Formula D (“DUH!”) Champion Foust was OUT of his league…

As this year’s entrants consisted of no less then several top caliber names like: Jenson Button, Mattias Ekstrom, Marcus Gronholm, Mik0 Hirvonen, Tom Kristensen, Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel, to name a few.

2009 ROC Preview

And this year’s event in Beijing’s Bird’s Nest Stadium, site of the 2008 Summer Olympics, having moved from the previous two events at London’s Wembley Stadium in December also saw a change to the event’s format with Drivers and Nations now competing in Groups before progressing to the Semi-Finals.

The Nation’s Cup which began the two day event on Tuesday, saw a grouping of four and two groups of three compete against each other, with Team USA competing against France and Scandinavia. As Team USA made it into the round of four: China, Germany, Great Britain, and USA.

surprisingly Tanner Foust defeated the TERMINATOR (Schumacher) in round One before Michael’s teammate ‘ZEBB (Vettel) won the next round against Travis Pastrana in Rally Cars to see Vettel then defeat Foust in Heat 3 in ROC Buggies.

‘Zebb’s win enabled the Defending Nation’s Cup Champion (Team Germany) to advance to the Finals vs. Team Autosport GB, consisting of World Champion elect ‘JENSE (Button) and 3-time (WTCC) World Touring Car champion) Andy Priaulx, who’d defeated Team China. Team Germany then went onto defeat Team Autosport GB 2-1 and claimed its third Nation’s Cup title.

Team Germany wins Nation’s Cup

The following day (Wednesday) saw the similar first round groups format, where 2-time Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) Champion Mattias Ekstrom defeated all three first round competitors including Pastrana; while Foust lost to button in his first round grouping, as Ekstrom would cruise all the way thru to the Finals.

The other side of the ladder saw the TERMINATOR similarly working over his competition, starting off by defeating old F1 rival David Coulthard and also basically cruising thru his heats, as Schuey would face his protégé, the young Wunderkin Vettel in the Semi-Finals, but ‘ZEBB crashed and thus Schumacher would once again square off against Ekstrom in the Finals, of which the “Swede” (Mattias) easily won, by taking the first two of three heats.

Mattias Ekstrom:
"This is a very special day for me," the 31-year-old Swede smiled. "I was not particularly fortunate this year in the DTM. To end the season with a victory against Michael Schumacher is fantastic!"

Ekstrom is Champion of champions again

Toyota Quitting F1

There have been rumblings of an impending pull-out from Formula 1 by Toyota for some time now, with the decision of Williams to drop its Toyota engine supply along with the lack of signing any Drivers for next year… And this speculation heightened with Bridgestone’s shock announcement of not renewing its exclusive tyre supply contract as Japan seems destined to shun Formula 1 for the first time in years…

The news of Toyota’s decision to Quit Formula One was first reported in the Mainichi newspaper yesterday as Toyota Executives began a four day meeting in Japan, which Toyota initially denied, but it has now been widely reported that Toyota indeed will cease its participation in F1 henceforth and its another very harsh day for Grand Prix racing, especially the hundreds of employees set to lose their jobs, although there’s NO word yet on what exactly will happen to the team as Toyota’s departure now makes way for the reconstituted Sauber F1 Team to become the sports 13th entry…

Abu Dabi GP: Desert Stars

(F1 Drivers at Abu Dabi; Source: Grandprix.com)

Whale I pre-empted my recent Saturday “Qualie” teaser in honour of the tenth Anniversary of Canadian Open Wheel Star Greg Moore’s passing…

Along with the fact that I don’t recall it being an overly exciting Qualifying session, as Lewis Hamilton simply “Blitzed” the field, as it was reported that his margin of 0.667 seconds over second place Sebastian Vettel was the largest since 2005.

And “JAGUAR’s” (Hamilton) teammate “KOVY” (Kovalainen) continued his Rodney Dangerfield impersonation, as his Gearbox packed-up on the Fin in the middle of Q2, when it looked likely that Heikki would help insure a McLaren front row lockout… While ironically, as “Fredrico Suave” (Alonso) was making his final Qualifying run for Renault, the Spaniard failed to survive Q1 for the very first time in his career.

And while the Red Bull & BRAWN GP Boyz duked it out for the sharp end of the grid, they were left scrapping over P2 and beyond as Hamilton’s KERS equipped MP4-24 was unassailable, with the top two teams in this year’s Constructor’s Championship inverted; as Vettel led Mark Webber, with Rubino (Barrichello) besting ‘JENSE (Button) once again, while the Kimster (Raikkonen) was unable to advance into the final Q3 Qualie session, finishing 11th and “Fishy-Fellah” (Fisichella) was down in the doldrums once again. (P20)

Thus with Hamilton taking his fourth Pole in the last seven races and Kovalainen 13th, while Raikkonen was P11 and Fisichella starting dead last… (Some 1.5 seconds adrift of Hamilton) The odds of McLaren holding onto their narrow one point lead for third in the Constructor’s title seemed in their favour, as reportedly the difference between third and fourth is a cool $5 million…

Race
Although the Announcers, Driver’s and Media had all spent the entire weekend totally enamored by the brand new circuit (for obvious reasons) largely due to the man made Island’s sheer opulence… I found the race like qualifying to be most Anti-Climatic… Also being not overly impressed by the race itself, as Hamilton seemingly would walk away from the field with his KERS boost upon the F1 Circuses longest straightaway, three quarters of a mile in length and doubling as a future drag strip.

Yet Vettel did his best to remain within sight of the somewhat vanishing McLaren, whose lead was cut in half when “Louise” made an unforced error and thus Sebastian was able to take over the lead after running an extra two laps before pitting… But it was all for naught, as shortly thereafter Hamilton would be forced to retire with an unknown rear braking problem; as I found it most interesting that Peter Windsor reported that Lewis was running two different manufacturer’s compounds on his car; Carbon Industries at the front and Brembo on the rear…

Thus with Vettel’s stiffest competition tucked away into the air conditioned Pit garage, it was a cakewalk for the young German, building up an 18 second lead over eventual runner-up Webber, albeit new World Champion elect Button spiced up the show in the waning laps with a fairly epic duel with the Aussie over second place as the pair ran wheel to wheel, front wing endplates nearly touching, before ‘JENSE settled for the podiums final step…

Race Drive of Abu Dabi
Although Nick Heidfeld gave departing BMW Sauber its final F1 points and “BOOMER” (Sebastian Buemi) came home eighth, once again my hat’s tipped to the man of the fleeting moment; “K-Squared,” as Kamui Kobayashi once again drove an excellent race, finishing sixth, one place ahead of his senior teammate and scoring his first (and most likely last) Grand Prix points, as sadly Kobayashi now looks set to go back to being a Sushi waiter in Japan…

Kobayashi: It’s Toyota or Sushi

Top 3 - Qualifying
Pole: Lewis Hamilton
Second: Sebastian Vettel
Third: Mark Webber

Race Results
Winner: S. Vettel; 2nd: M. Webber; 3rd: J. Button; 4th: R. Barrichello;
5th: N. Heidfeld; 6th: K. Kobayashi; 7th: J. Trulli; 8th: S. Buemi.

Red Bull duo pushes Jense’s button

Apparently we’re not privy to the full length of the Post-race Driver’s interviews, as we’re just given the TV Unilateral before they switch to the following Press Conference… Where apparently the real fireworks were had as I just busted out laughing over the fact that “ZEBB (Sebastian Vettel) was giving new World Champion ‘JENSE (Button) some major stchick about getting married to his girlfriend over the winter break… To which Vettel’s teammate Mark Webber then joined in the grilling to which seemingly irked off “JENSE quite a bit… As Jenson even stopped his comment to tell them they might like to listen to his comment, to which Webber said we’re just trying to clear our schedules for your wedding Mate!

Hmm? Is that an IZOD shirt Button’s wearing in the photo?

Red Bull duo start Button wedding rumours

Wedding proposal F1 style

And although the walls of the financial debacle seem to be closing in upon Formula 1, its nice to see that its not all Doom ‘N gloom in the F1 Paddock, as grizzled “Journo” Joe Saward has a very short but sweet post upon a fellow colleagues novel way of proposing marriage, click here.

BMW Sauber’s last dance

In what seems a pathetic move, a la knee-jerk fashion by BMW AG, sadly the BMW Sauber F1 Team has now run its course with its 70th and final Grand Prix race at the inaugural Abu Dabi Grand Prix.

With “Quick Nick” Heidfeld’s fifth place finish, the Team was able to leapfrog Williams for sixth in the Constructor’s Championship, as the German has been a part of Peter Sauber’s various Formula 1 incarnations for seven years and in thanks for his loyal service, Heidfeld will be presented with a current spec Sauber racecar.

Meanwhile Heidfeld’s teammate Robert Kubica, nee the “Krakow Kid” who’ll be moving to Renault next year is set to take part in his very first Rallying event in France at the end of November, where Kubica will partake In the Côte d'Azur aboard a Clio R3 (Nov. 26-29) purely for fun, claims the Pole…

Heidfeld finds it a difficult farewell

Williams unveils new Driver line-up

As expected for some time now, the Williams F1 Team has announced that Rubens Barriechello will partner Rookie Nico Hulkenberg in 2010 after current Driver Nico Rosberg had announced his departure from the team previously.

Williams has also announced the ditching of its Toyota “Lumps” in favour of the new Customer supplier Cosworth, returning to the British company in 2010, thus leaving Japanese Driver Kazuki Nakajima’s future with the Grove based squad doubtful.

Rubino, the current Formula 1 Elder Statesman will therefore seek to become the very first Grand Prix Driver to crack the once unachievable mark of 300 starts in F1 next year, while reigning GP2 Champion Hulkenberg will make his Formula 1 debut in the Desert sands of Bahrain next March, with Nakajima’s future in F1 looking doubtful…

Bridgestone out of F1 in 2010

As the inaugural Abu Dabi Grand Prix had barely come to a close, Bridgestone tyre officials announced in Japan that the Formula One’s sole rubber supplier would not seek to renew its exclusive supply deal after its current contract expires at the end of the 2010 Formula 1 season and now leaves the FIA scrambling to find a new tyre supplier for 2011 and beyond, as it seems doubtful that Goodyear would return and Michelin’s relationship with Grand Prix racing isn’t exactly rosy... Could we see a return of Italian rubber giant Pirelli?

Greg Moore – 10 years after

So like always, its hard to believe that a decade has already passed since the fatal tragedy that claimed one of CART’s rising Stars on Halloween occurred, thus taking Greg Moore’s life in the 1999 CART Season Finale’s Marlboro 500 at the California Speedway…

As I can still recall seeing Moore’s Player’s liveried Forsythe Reynard/Mercedes Benz violently Barrel-rolling multiple times along the circuits high bank knowing that it would be a miracle for Moore to escape un-injured; especially at the unabated speed of 200mph plus!

Yet for reasons unknown, the strongest memory of the late Greg Moore I seem to harbor is his overly foolish Bonsai carnival-like maneuver into the Festival Curves at the start of the 1998 Portland G.I. Joes 200, where as “Auntie” Harriet would say… He was acting like a “Hot Head!”

As almost co medically, Moore attempted to leapfrog his way into the lead from P14 and in the process managed to eliminate seven Racers!

Yet obviously the New Westminster native, who grew-up in the Maple Ridge suburb of Vancouver, BC had unbridled talent, as none other than the legendary “Captain” Roger Penske had just inked him to a (Multi-year) contract during the summer of 1999 to become a Penske Racing Driver for the 2000 season before his untimely incident.

Like many “Kanuck’s” Moore played Ice Hockey as a youth and ironically the No. 99 would be assigned to him when he began his Karting career… Thus reputedly having nothing to do with the revered “Great One,” (Wayne Gretsky) although certainly the connection wasn’t lost to Greg, as it would become his Car number throughout his CART career...

And like most Open Wheel Racecar Drivers, Moore cut his teeth in Go-Karts, winning the 1989-90 North American Enduro Championship before progressing to Formula Ford’s, where in 1991 he was the Formula Ford 1600 Rookie of the Year after finishing fourth overall with one victory.

In 1992, Moore became the USAC West FF2000 (Formula Ford) Champion, having claimed four Poles and four victories enroute to the title, along with being the series Rookie of the Year, before moving onto the (original) Indy Lights series, which he ran in 1993 for his Family’s underfunded Team and finished ninth overall.

In 1994 Greg became the youngest ever winner of a (CART Sanctioned) Indy Lights race at the tender age of 18 when he took the chequered flag at the season opening round in Phoenix, AZ and would record two more wins that season enroute to finishing third in the Championship.

For 1995, Greg joined the Players/Forsythe Racing Organisation and simply crushed the competition enroute to the Indy Lights Championship with a staggering ten wins out of twelve races, including a scintillating five-in-a-row… And thus was destined to make his move up to the “Big Boyz” the following season.

In his Debutant season, Moore scored 84 points and finished as runner-up in the CART/PPG’s Jim Trueman Rookie of the Year standings behind somebody named “Zorro,” a.k.a. Alex Zanardi.

In 1997, Greg then became the Championship Auto Racing Teams youngest ever winner (to that date; since eclipsed by Scott Dixon and Nelson Philippe) at the age of 22 when he beat Michael Andretti to the stripe at the famed Milwaukee Mile and would repeat as winner again just one week later… As I recall screaming at the Telescreen as not one but both of my Home team’s PacWest Racing Drivers; Mauricio Gugelmin and Mark Blundell who were running nose to tail 1-2 both sputtered out of petrol on the final lap and Moore swept thru from third place to claim victory on Detroit’s Belle Isle.

In ’98 Greg was joined by fellow Canadian Patrick Carpentier as Players/Forsythe expanded to a two car operation and Moore would dice with Zanardi at the Emerson Fittipaldi Speedway (“Roval”) in Rio de Janeiro before making a spectacular pass to solidify his fourth Champ Car victory, before later that year he’d pass the Target Boyz duo of Zanardi and Jimmy Vasser to claim the Vanderbuilt Cup in the US 500 at Michigan International Speedway, which was sadly overshadowed by the deaths of three spectators from a flying tyre that bounded over the catch fencing.


The year 1999 would start off very good for the Kanuck, once again taking victory in the season opening race in Miami, this time on the Oval Track at Homestead, which sadly would become his final Indy Car career victory, as Moore would suffer fatal head injuries on his early race incident at Fontana. (As the violent crash registered an incomprehensible 154 G’s!)

And ironically the Halloween race weekend had started out ominously for Greg when he was struck on his “Scooter” by a vehicle in the Paddock, suffering an injured right hand with Roberto Moreno being called-in by Players/Forsythe as a Back-up replacement, although Greg would take the Green flag from the rear of the field, having been cleared to drive with a hand brace.

And as I’ve said before, reportedly it was Greg whom introduced the “Dashley ‘Juan,” nee Dario Franchitti to his future wife (Ashley Judd) at a party of friend Jason Priestley's… As Greg’s posse was known to include the likes of “Mad Max” (Massimiliano) Papis, “TK,” (Tony Kanaan) “REO Speedwagon” (Dario Franchitti) and others I cannot recall, (Greg Moore Brat Pack: Adrian Fernandez, Franchitti, Kanaan, Papis and Jimmy Vasser) as I was overly touched by Dario dedicating his 2009 Indy Car Series Championship at Homestead to his late, great, friend…

Remembering Gregg Moore

Stats
1993-95: CART Indy Lights
1995 Indy Lights Champion

1996-99: CART/PPG Championship
72 Starts; 5 Poles; 5 Wins; 17 Podiums.
First race, 1996: Homestead-Miami Speedway; Homestead, FL
Last race, 1999: California Speedway; Fontana, CA

Help Spa-Francorchamps

Apparently some of the local residents who aren’t fans of Formula 1 are trying to cause the demise of one of the world’s most legendary race tracks… Spa-Francorchamps! And thus cause the Belgian Grand Prix to fade away because its too loud. SHEISA!

So please check out the petition to KEEP Spa-Francorchamps on the F1 calendar in the future, click here.

Lapping the Yas Marina F1 Circuit

James Allen has been providing some great videos on what the upcoming Abu Dabi Grand Prix on the Yas Island Marina circuit should look like along with some thoughts upon possible lap times. For a nighttime view, click here.

Toyota drivers familiarise themselves with Abu Dhabi track

Caterham Cars Founder perishes

Although I know very little about the English make affectionately known as Caterham Cars, sadly I was informed of the news that its company founder Graham Nearn has passed away at the age of 76 this past Saturday. (October 24th, 2009)

Yet there seems to be an outpouring of fondness for the late Mr. Nearn, the “Godfather” of the Caterham Super 7, who I had the privilege of meeting once some half dozen years ago, albeit I had no idea of the man’s stature in the zany world of Automobile Manufactures, nor any inkling that a half century ago he’d started Caterham as a Lotus Agent for Colin Chapman’s lightweight (Fenders) Sports Car known then as the Lotus 7.

Nor do I know anything about a long forgotten British Television Show called: The Prisoner, which apparently was originally aired back in the mid 1960’s before spawning a whole new generation of fans with its rebroadcasting on Britain’s Channel 4 (BBC?) in the early 1980’s. (Circa 1983) Only learning about said TV show whilst searching for news upon Graham’s untimely death and having found an interesting interview.

The Vanishing point – Not a number

Thus further learning that Graham had ultimately built a Prisoner Replica nearly two decades ago, having tracked down Patrick McGoohan and hashed out a deal over breakfast in LA, as Nearn and McGoohan unveiled the Caterham Prisoner Edition 7 in October 1990 for the Birmingham Motor Show. As Graham had ambitious plans of a limited production run of 500 for the Prisoner replica which apparently peaked at the modest number of 47 when sales orders dried up.

And there’s a photograph (the photograph?) of Prisoner star McGoohan and Graham Nearn in the brief article titled: Steward of the 7, as the above interview mentions how Graham had been an “Extra” in the TV show and telling the producers he wasn’t really worried about the daily wages, he just really wanted a photo of him alongside McGoohan, which he’d use to promote sales of the Lotus 7, having just been granted a Concessioner’s deal in 1966, before ultimately taking over the automobiles manufacturing in 1973.

Yet, even today, this most iconic English Sports Car in varying forms of build and now known as the Caterham (Super) 7 is still in production a half century later and revered by many motoring enthusiasts around the world…

Japan’s newest Star?

Perhaps you’ve already heard that Toyota’s Test Driver Kamui Kobayashi will once again fill-in for the injured Timo Glock at this weekend’s upcoming inaugural Abu Dabi Grand Prix, as I suspect the team is using this as a further evaluation towards a Full time ride in 2010?

GP Race Debut
Ok, so it was only his very first Formula 1 race ever, albeit the weekend being of a most trying circumstance, a la wet ‘N wooly weather… But I found Toyota new boy Kamui Kobayashi’s performance at Interlagos, a track he’d never driven on before, except for video games and a exploratory “Scooter” outing prior to Free Practice to be very impressive.

Yeah, so it was only Friday, but in the battle of the Japanese Drivers; F1 Debutant Kobayashi outdueled the more experienced Williams-Toyota Kazuki Nakajima, (14th) he also finished ahead of both of the Ferrari’s who languished at the bottom of the time sheets with Raikkonen and Fisichella P18, P20 respectively, while Kobayashi wound-up a fine 13th in his second official outing, having substituted for Timo Glock in Friday Free Practice at Suzuka, which was also held in the rain.

After both Toyota’s had passed thru “Qualie One,” ( Q1) Kamui was lying a very impressive P7 in Qualie Two before Vitantonnio Luzzi stuffed his Force India into the wall on an abysmally wet track, and after a 71min Red Flag delay, Kobayashi got as high as sixth before a last moment spin saw Fernando Alonso snatching tenth in the waning moments of the session, with Kobayashi ultimately ending up 11th; as Raikkonen qualified sixth, Nakajima finished ninth and Fisichella spun out in Q1 and would start dead last. (P20)

But it was the race where Kobayashi put on his best show by holding up none other then eventual 2009 World Champion Jenson Button while driving in sixth place, as ‘JENSE would later report that Kobayashi was driving INSANE! Before the Brit finally overtook him…

As Kobayashi would cycle as high as third place before pit stops would see him come out to tangle with and effectively “Nerf” off track his Japanese rival Kazuki Nakajima who ended up on in the tyre barriers… Yet it was refreshing to see Kamui fight so hard for every place on track as he made a very nice pass upon Fisichella for ninth place in the waning moments of the Brazilian Grand Prix.

So, how will the “Young Lion” fare this weekend? Whale it’s a brand new circuit that nobody’s ever driven on, so I’d guess that Kobayashi could possibly finish in the points, but we’ll see, eh?

Brazilian GP Debrief with Kamui Kobayashi

Turnin’ the BIG Six-Oh!

A ‘lil Indiana ‘Sycamore has told me that today a “Mega” middle aged procostinator of Indy Car Doom ‘N Gloom is celebrating his Birthday today… But wait, it’s even better yet as my reputed “Source” sez it’s none other then ‘Ol Open Wheel Racing Curmudgeon Robin Miller’s SIXTIETH BIRTDAY!!! AYE KARUMBA!

So Happy 60th Birthday Robin…

and NO word on what Ye ‘Ol Windbag (and friend) Dave Despain presented Robin with for this momentous occasion… As it’ll be hard to top last years gift when Despain actually had video footage of giving him a Tin-Top ride with someone named ‘Lil Ironhead…

And good luck blowin out all of ‘dem candles Robin!

Paul Tracy Wants You!

Hey all of uze Hosers from Up North Eh? (Besides Meesh & CAM-WOW…) Along with ALL of us CART ‘O Phyles, Err Chump Car Fanatics whose still are Paul Tracy (devotees) supporters…

According to James over at 16th and Georgetown, the Thrill from the West Hill, Err Mr. Chrome Horn (nee Paul Tracy) wants everyone to drop TROW, NO! NOT your pants silly… I meant to say drop his sponsor Monster Energy Drinks a line (or 48) claiming how the Wily ‘Juan, Messer Paul Tracy should indeed be given a 2010 FULL season ride in the Indy Car Series…

Click here and then go to the Shout Out section to leave your positively vociferous comments in support of ‘Ol PT!

(Thanxs ‘DAWG, Err pressdog for pointing ALL of us to the Paul Tracy Athlete link…)

IndyCar Trivia Question

So this past Saturday I asked Y’all an entertaining trivia question in Winning their Way, to which so far NOBODY has attempted answering besides Danny B and Mr. Carpets…

Although there seems to be a little confusion upon the exact wording of the Trivia Question, which was originally supposed to be: How many Indy Car Drivers have won the Indy 500 as (first) a Driver and (then) a Car Owner (Separately) in the modern era.

So does anybody besides Danny B and Mr. Carpets (who both know the Answer) Have an Answer?

As we originally came up with a total of four “Modern Day” Post 1960’s names, yet I’ve now come up with a total of eight, as the Trivia Question now reads as: How many drivers have won the Indy 500 both as a Driver and Team Owner…

so how many did you come up with, eh? As Y’all can leave your answers in the comments section...

Spies wins World Superbike title!

On another gray, dreary ‘N wet day in the Pacific Northwest, I eagerly sat down to watch the final two rounds of this year’s hotly contested World Superbike (WSBK) Championship Sunday afternoon…

As Ben Spies, the latest in a long line of American Road Racers from the Lone Star state of Texas was hoping to make history against 2009 WSBK title favourite “Nitro Nori.” (Noriyuki Haga)

Yet it was the Texan who triumphantly claimed the World Superbike Championship in dramatic fashion, as the series Rookie tallied his (WSBK record) 14th victory Sunday at Portimao, Portugal; as Spies has had an epic season long duel with perpetual Bridesmaid “Nitro Nori,” as the Japanese rider has been unable to close the deal in a decade of trying to win his first World Superbike crown, while leading Spies by as many as 88 points at one point on his Ducati.

After having won three consecutive AMA Superbike crowns for Suzuki stateside, Spies switched to Yamaha this year four his debut outing in the worldwide competition, as a springboard to a future in MOTO GP - targeting his fulltime series debut in 2011; as ironically Spies was riding for the Italian based Yamaha WSBK Team which Noriyuki Haga had previously ridden for before switching to the rival Italian (Ducati) concern in nearby Bologna.

And after having wrestled the points lead away from Haga in the first round of the Magny Cours double-header, Spies faltered in the second race with what appeared to be the wrong tyre choice and thus went into the season finale at Portimao trailing Nitro Nori by ten points, thus needing to win both rounds in the final race to take the title.

Spies started the week off in dramatic fashion by taking Pole position with a record time enroute to his 11th Pole of the season, claiming the SuperPole Award and setting a new record for most Poles in a season… Before the Texan simply motored away from the field at the drop of the Green flag, before title rival Haga crashed out at the tricky course on Lap 7, effectively handing the crown to Spies, who then held off a hard charging Jonathan Rea And Max Biaggi in third place, as it was the Italian who’d “Nerfed” off the Texan Down Under in Australia at the beginning of the season.

Yet by claiming the victory, more importantly Spies gained a valuable 25 points for first place, giving him a 15 point cushion over Haga going into round two, who’d DNF’ed a most pivotal Race 1.

But you must spare a thought for Noriyuki, who came down with the flu on the morning of the season finale, adding insult to injury on his Race 1 performance, which Haga made amends of in Race 2, passing title rival Spies enroute to a second place finish behind Ducati teammate Michael Fabrizio by 1.195 seconds. (So much for Team Orders, eh?)

Although Spies had started on Pole in round two,, the race shortly became a Battle of the Brits, as Shane “Shakey” Byrne And Jonathan Rea became locked in a mighty “Scrum” for the lead with Michael Fabrizio in close pursuit, as Spies simply wanted NO part in the battling Britain’s and decided discretion was the better part of valor in his title quest, ultimately dropping as far back as sixth, before once again passing Biaggi to finish in a secure fifth place and claiming the World SuperBike crown by six points over Noriyuki Haga, who seemed very gracious in defeat while still suffering with flu-like symptoms during the Post-race interviews; while once again Rea made the podium, but Fabrizio’s victory along with Rea’s third place was enough for Fabrizio to narrowly clinch third in the Championship by a scant two points ahead of Rea.

As Y’all may know, earlier this year Yamaha decided to promote Spies to the ranks of MOTO GP one year ahead of its plans, as the newly crowned Champ will join another past World Superbike Champion at the Tech 3 Yamaha Team in 2010 instead, as Tech 3 will effectively become “Texas Tech 3” when Spies will partner Colin Edwards in his Rookie MOTO GP campaign.

Yet, I’m not sure who was more happier with the accomplishment as Yamaha WSBK Team Principal Massimo Meregalli could not hide his jubilation over Spies handing him Yamaha’s very first ever World Superbike title as a grinning Spies said it would take a few days to sink in; before he jets off to Valencia to partake in the MOTO GP season finale as a Wildcard entry…

Rossi is Champion again

Valentino Rossi once again won another MOTO GP World Championship, as “The Doctor” performed surgery upon his competitors in the wet Malaysian event Sunday, after faltering to an unusual tenth place at the start, he carved his way back to the final step on the podium and thus clinched his seventh MOTO GP crown by finishing third…

The race which was delayed for 35mins by rain… Hmm? Must be Monsoon season, eh? As Rossi’s title rival and teammate George Lorenzo apparently failed to take his place upon the grid in the warm-up and was forced to start from the rear of the field, while the “Kentucky Kid” (Nicky Hayden) had a very good duel with Lorenzo, as the two riders swapped positions multiple times in the wet while fighting over fifth place, before The Doctor slipped by both of the riders.

Hayden ultimately finished fifth, one position behind Lorenzo while Colin Edwards seemed off the pace once again, soldiering home in 13th.

Thus Rossi has now claimed a total of nine Championship titles in his thirteen year career to date and looks set for more, although potentially the competition will be stronger next year, especially now that the ailing Casey Stoner has returned for Ducati and won the last two races…

A Day at the USF1 Office

I found this at My Name is IRL... Now if The House 'O Windsor could only come up with some Driver's name's for us, eh?

Winning their way

So recently Danny B asked me a trivia question: How many Indy Car Drivers have won the Indy 500 as a Driver and a Car Owner?

Quick; time’s up! Put them pencils down…

What’s your answer? As we came up with a total of four “Modern Day” names; so how many did you come up with, eh?

Todt is new FIA President

Unfortunately, but not surprisingly Jean Todt has been elected the new FIA President by a (“Secret-Secret?”) vote of 135-49 vs. rival Ari Vatanen, who as an outsider was fighting an uphill battle… As “Bert ‘N Ernie” (MAD Max ‘N Uncle Bernaughty) along with Herr Schumacher and the FIA constituency who wanted to keep their current jobs all backed the 63yr old Frenchman (Todt) and thus don’t expect too many changes from the WMSC rubber stamping Department…

Talking the USF1 talk

It’s kind of sad that it takes the dubious nay saying of one Emperor Bernardo’s casting doubts over the Singapore Grand Prix weekend regarding the health of new Formula 1 team’s to cause a rash of reactive PR Speak from one of the most “Hyped” F1 newcomers for 2010…

As instantly after Uncle Bernaughty said that the USF1 team seemed doubtful to appear next March, the House of Windsor flooded the internets and Newswires with reports of the teams progress to date with exclusive interviews with Team Principal Ken Anderson…

Latest USF1 fodder

Interestingly, although Team USF1 has recently hired Bernard Ferguson (ex-Cosworth employee) to oversee the liaison of their Cosworth engine supply, rumours suggest that perhaps Ken & Peter are now trying to break their contract in favour of a French or Japanese manufacturer’s preference instead?

Can you say Oh What a Feeling (Toyota)

While further reports claim that potential driver Alex Wurz has given up hopes on landing a ride next year with the team.

But the team is reportedly on track with parts being cut as we speak, to which Peter Windsor cleverly invited Steve Matchett to go check out “live on Air” during the Friday second Free Practice session on SPEED; to which Matchett immediately jumped on along with stating we should take a camera along too, eh?

As ironically I sat thru several airings of Peter Windsor promoting a free trip to the 2010 Canadian Grand Prix via a contest at GP Tours during the Brazilian F1 race, which would imply the team will indeed make the grid… Of which I hope so for several people’s sake including GP Tours...

Meanwhile Nate Ryan wrote an interesting article for USA Today with further teases about the progression of Team USF1 recently; even divulging that some of the team’s staff is from RASSCAR!

Start-up team seeks Formula One title made in USA

Also, it was revealed during the Brazilian GP weekend that Matchett did indeed go around the corner from the SPEED studio’s in Charlotte, NC with camera crew in tow and supposedly his very last RPM (Racing Per Matchett) episode of the season, to be aired during the Abu Dubai Pre-race segment will be this footage, so check it out!

And I’m guessing some of the negativity will dissipate once the team unveils its new 2010 Challenger sometime after the Season Finale… Now all we need is a trio of drivers, eh?

Atlantics Championship Team to IRL?

I spotted this very intriguing tidbit upon The Other Side initially, which claims that according to SPEED’s Marshall Pruett, the 2009 Atlantics Championship winning Newman Wachs Racing Team could potentially be either jumping to the Indy Car Series or GP2 in 2010 with star driver John Edwards…

Although Team Owner Eddie Wachs goes onto say he’d like to possibly join an already established IRL outfit, to (hopefully) minimize the “Growing Pains” of building an operation from the Ground-up, if he makes the leap to the “Big boyz.”

So in true “CAM-WOW” (Matt Chamois) fashion, I’ve attempted to take a crack at the 2010 Indy Car landscape minus the “Big 3” establishments (Mikey Andretti Racing, Penske and TCGR) along with SRF (Sarah Fisher Racing) and Newman Haas Lanigan Racing which seemingly are the only outfits to be fairly stable at this moment in regards to their 2010 plans.

(NOT to say that ANY of the below Teams aren’t… As after all I can only GUESS, Eh?)

Personally I’d like to see NWR merge operations with Dale Coyne, as I think this would be a really good nucleus to build from, as they’ve got an excellent driver, while I suppose the Team’s only shortcoming is their Oval Track program, in which then you’d wanna possibly go with Panther Racing, eh?

Then again another good Team would be HVM, while Meesh’s favourite Team Owner “Boobie RAY-Xes” (Bobby Rahal) RLR Organization could always be resuscitated and Oriel Servia would be a great team leader… While of course the Up ‘N Comer of these potential merger candidates has to be (LCR) Luczo Dragon Racing, not to mention KV Racing Technology.

Meanwhile I’d guess that Dreyer & Reinbold would be a Dark horse selection since they seemingly already have their cadre of drivers in place, while I don’t know what Eric Bachelart’s (Conquest Racing) plans are for next year, while Team 3G seems to be a bit of a stretch.

And I never thought I’d say this… But I’d like to see Tony G. integrate his woeful vision Racing Team with Super Tex’s operation in order to build a sustainable 2010 two car entity… YIKES! (CANNOT believe I said that…) As it seems only logical that there will certainly be more consolidation in the future, while we await to see if Gil De Ferran can get his hoped for ICS team off ‘N running next year… Which I certainly hope will occur!

And then again there’s always an unlikely tie-up with AFS or Sam Schmidt; so who will it be? Will it happen? We’ll See, eh?

Button is World Champion

And obviously he likes saying it! As it’s only been a decade in the making, with many bumps ‘N bruises upon the way… As I still fondly recall his rookie campaign with Williams-BMW under the tutelage of Gerhard Berger, losing his Driver’s License for speeding in a BMW Turbo Diesel and professing to like women’s small feet in an F1 Racing interview…

Regardless of how one may feel towards ‘JENSE’s winning of the World Championship, to which he’s taking heavy flak back home Across the Pond for simply “Backing into it…” Nevertheless the BLOODY BRIT did indeed win the MOST races this season, (Six to date) and would have locked up the crown in Singapore if we were utilizing Uncle Bernaughty’s gold medal system.

Yet, has everybody forgotten that 1982 World Champion Keke Rosberg secured his lone title for Williams on the back of a solitary victory at the Swiss Grand Prix (Dihon-Prenois ) while title rivals Rene Arnoux And Alain Prost, (Renault teammates) Niki Lauda and John Watson, (McLaren teammates) and Didier Pironi (Ferrari) all double Keke’s victory total with two wins apiece.

Not to mention other various World Champions low victory tallies, i.e.; British title winners Mike Hawthorn (1958) lone victory and John surtees (1964) two wins; along with America’s first Champion Phil Hill clinching his lone title at Monza with his second and final victory of the season upon title rival and Ferrari teammate Wolfgang Von Trips death…

Or Jimmy Clark outscoring 1962 World Champion Graham Hill 4-2 and Jackie Stewart tying Graham’s three victories, yet it was Graham Hill whom clinched his second title in 1968; as yeah, button’s performance certainly dropped off mid-season, compared to title rivals Barrichello, Vettel and Weber, as the “aussie” race winner put it most succinctly.

Mark Webber:
“I think he will sleep better now, because he’s been incredibly nervous, there’s no question about that, ” he said. “He’s been absolutely bricking himself the last few weeks, so he can sleep better now.”

And it would be hard to replicate last year’s title fight… But isn’t it ironic that Buttons title was secured in part by current World Champion Hamilton's "Ginzu-knife" tyre slashing on Rubino… Talk about passing the torch, eh?

Button: “The best race of my life”

So, Congrats ‘JENSE!

Who will be Mosley’s replacement?

Whale we’re just days away from electing a new FIA President to replace the outgoing “Sir maXXum,” a.k.a. Max Mosley this Friday, with the two candidates being Jean Todt and Ari Vatanen.

And the mudslinging has been pretty ferocious, as the deck chairs seem decidedly stacked against the rebellious Finnish upstart Vatanen, who most ironically drove for and won three Paris Dakar Rally’s for then Peugeot Sporting Boss Jean Todt…

Yet, it appears that the FIA under Mosley’s guidance has done nearly everything in it’s powers to quash Vatanen’s election bid; from todt’s flying on private jets, FIA members campaigning on their alleged “FREE” time, Ecclestone barring the Finn access to the F1 Grid, Mosley doing interviews in Todt’s defense, Mosley having Vatanen physically removed from his office and now reports that Todt backers have tried extorting votes in favour of Bribery!

Todt Official Made ‘Threats’ For Vote

Not to mention Michael Schumacher’s campaigning and letter writing in behalf of ex-Ferrari Boss Jean Todt; while Vatanen himself has filed a brief in the Paris courts asking for transparency in the upcoming election… Which naturally the FIA lambasted, even going so far as to say that all of the information upon the voting process was available upon their official website, yet, interestingly SPEED’s Bob Varsha, a Lawyer himself noted on Sunday night’s Wind Tunnel, that although there was indeed a section on voting on the website, it only told you how to go about getting your vote and NOT how the election process itself would be completed…

So you’ve gotta wonder why the full court press against Vatanen and which is really better? Status Quo or new leadership, as only time will tell… Hopefully shortly and without any lawsuits being filed instead, eh?

UPDATE:
Ari Vatanen has now agreed to withdraw his legal action against the FIA and will await the outcome of voting this Friday to see who’ll be elected the new FIA President, click here.

Baking in Brazil

Whale and to think it was only raining HEAVILY here in the Pacific Northwest… As I was gonna steal Bob Varsha’s quip about the weather; Drizzle in the Sizzle for the title, but decided not to… As apparently the weather has been overly Fallish-like in San Paolo, as Friday’s morning Free Practice (FP1) session was interrupted by a 30min rainstorm, with drizzle returning at the end of the session and then once again returning for the final 20+ minutes of the afternoon session, (FP2) with further spritzing predicted for Qualifying and Race Day, as Y’all may know that Saturday morning’s final practice was interrupted for 42mins due to not being able to launch the Air Ambulance Helicopter. And then an overly LONG Qualifying session, but I digress…

Yeah, I know it’s only Friday Practice, but what in the HELL was “BOOMER,” nee Sebastian Buemi in the Scuderia Toro Rosso doing in second place? As even more impressive was the fact that the top 19 Grand Prix Piloto’s were only a scant 0.73 seconds adrift, while Giancarlo Fisichella finished last once again for the Scuderia, 0.9+ seconds adrift.

Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso made a light tanks flyer in the waning moments to grab the day’s top spot, with Championship rivals Barrichello third, Button fifth and Vettel seventh, as it was entertaining to hear ‘JENSE (Button) complain of both oversteer and understeer via his radio before grabbing P1 provisionally…

As previously mentioned, Saturday’s Qualifying was a veritable mess, with an 1hr 11min Red Flag delay during Q2 due to the monsoon like track conditions, as Vitantonnio Luzzi’s crash caused the second Red Flag of the day, while “Fishy-Fellah” (Fisichella) seemed more like a fish outta water, having spun off in Q1and bringing out the first Red Flag as he disgustedly walked back to the Ferrari pits; while Bob Varsha pointed out, in “Fisi’s” defense, he’s now running 2010 development “Bits” on his race chassis…

Admittedly Rubino (Barrichello) was on a lighter fuel load then front row competitor Mark Webber and those around him, having tried to take off like a scalded cat in front of 90,000 Brazilian’s chanting Rubino-Rubino-Rubino! But the ensuing melee behind him caused a Safety Car deployment, while the “Scrumptious ‘Nuan” (Jarno Trulli) vented his anger upon Peter Windsor over how he thought Adrian Sutil was just driving plain STUPID! After Sutil, Trulli and Alonso had all been taken out in a first lap crash.

Thus, the multiple carnage allowed “JENSE to move from P14 to ninth, with “ZEBB (Vettel) behind him, and all of this was before Kovalainen’s Pit fire when he was told to go before the fuel hose was decoupled and Raikkonen’s Ferrari was momentarily surrounded in a flash fire due to the combinations of hot exhaust headers vs. petroleum… Which thankfully snuffed itself out and the Kimster motored onto a sixth place finish, while McLaren would be fined $50,000 afterwards for their transgression…

Meanwhile Button ran into his fiercest competition of the race, none other then Grand Prix debutant “K-Squared.” (Kamui Kobayashi) who ran a mostly masterful race, keeping the Points leader at bay whilst in sixth place… With Jenson’s lone low point being the radio transmission to tell his engineer to tell the FIA to make the Toyota driver pull over, to which David Hobbs said you just need to get on with the job lad!

As Rubens pitted first, Webber took over the lead due to his longer duration on track and never surrendered the lead afterwards… While ‘JENSE made some pretty masterful passes upon his competitor’s, while Barrichello day spiraled downwards, having to ultimately pit for a tyre puncture, while the “Krakow Kid” (Kubica) ran a great race in the recalcitrant BMW Sauber, chasing Webber to the stripe, with Lewis Hamilton storming from the back of the grid to finish a fine third… And although Vettel finished one position ahead of Button in fourth place, with Rubens taking eighth, it simply wasn’t enough, as Jenson finished with 89 points vs. Vettel’s 74 and Rubens 72, hence clinching his very first World Championship with a single race remaining, while BRAWN GP also locked-up the Constructor’s Championship in their very first go…

Race Drive of Interlagos
Whale I suppose I’d have to choose between one of these three drivers, Sebastian Buemi, Hamilton and Kamui Kobayashi, as ‘JAGUAR (Hamilton) put on a most masterful Clinique racing from 17th to the final podium step, due to having a “Dry” setup in Saturday’s rain-fest… While Buemi quietly spent the entire weekend keeping his Toro Rosso at the sharp end of the grid enroute to scoring his very first World Championship points, but it was the Japanese driver’s performance which most captured my attention… Even if he “Nerfed” fellow countryman Kazuki Nakajima into the barriers…

His pass upon Fishy-Fellah for ninth place in the closing laps of the race reminded me of another Japanese “Lion” named Taku-San (Takuma Sato) making a blinder on David Coulthard many moons ago…

Top 3 - Qualifying
Pole: Rubens Barrichello
Second: Mark Webber
Third: Adrian Sutil

Race Results
Winner: M. Webber; 2nd: R. Kubica; 3rd: L. Hamilton; 4th: S. Vettel;
5th: J. Button; 6th: K. Raikkonen; 7th: S. Buemi; 8th: R. Barrichello.

San Paolo ‘N Sprinkles

What an extraordinary Qualifying session I’ve just sat thru… As it has to be the longest “Qualie” in recent history? Taking a mere 2+ hours to complete, due to a massive rain delay, when asked of his opinion, Mark Webber quipped; tell him to put his glasses on! Referring to the FIA’s Charlie Whiting as there were rivers of water cascading across the tarmac after Vitantonnio Luzzi had stuffed it into the barriers in Q2, bringing out a Red Flag, before we went into the prolonged stoppage with 12:45 remaining to be run.

Yet while the past two days activities have commenced in the wet stuff, nee rain, (understatement of the day, eh?) reportedly it should be a fairly dry race tomorrow. (Hopefully) As all BLOODY ‘JENSE (Button) needs to do is finish on the podium, no worse then third to clinch his first F1 Drivers World Championship regardless of what Barrichello or Vettel do… So, a BRAWN GP 1-2 with Rubino winning his home race would do nicely, as it’s probably his very last shot, eh?

Besides we really want ‘JENSE & BRAWN GP to clinch the titles in San Paolo just to spite Uncle Bernaughty who’s publicly crooned for the title fight to go all the way to Abu Dubai instead… (So he can jack-up TV Commercial rates?)

Then again, Button and Vettel will have their work cut out for them tomorrow, as Jenson will roll off from P14 and Sebastian from a very uncharacteristic P16! While starting ahead of both McLaren’s…

As the Boy from Brazil; Rubino set Interlagos alight with his first pole in 5yrs, ironically 88 races ago at Interlagos whilst driving as Herr Schumacher’s wingman… So can the ageless Brazilian finally take the chequer’s in his Home race?

Tune-in tomorrow!

Was Glock really busy Texting?

Initial speculation surrounding Timo Glock’s “Suzuker Smash!” (Hmm? Don’t Y’all miss those days of the Honda Suzuker Specials, eh?) Saw SPEED’s Steve Matchett quickly claim that something musta broken; steering shaft or suspension failure, as NOBODY ever crashes there! With ‘Hobbo (David Hobbs) prattling on ‘N on ‘bout how strange of a place to crash, while Matchett thought perhaps the steering columns UV joint failed?

But further review showed how The Kimster’s (Raikkonen) steering input was nearly identical for that portion of the track… So it was somewhat surprising to hear during Friday Practice at Interlagos that Glock had admitted he’d simply taken his eyes off the road in order to look down at his steering wheel… Uhm? I’d like a Number Four with a Diet Coke… Err, you want me to switch the rear ride height to setting XBK//469 Tango-Charlie-Alpha-Oscar Eight-Six-Niner?

And thus apparently as he approached the straightaway, he looked down, his front wheel touched the wet grass and WHAM! Game Over… To which ‘Hobbo was quick to lambast as a bit of a silly mistake at his Professional level as a driver…

So repeat after me Y’all: Hands at 10 ‘N 2, eyes ON the road…

Three Amigos?

NOT! As ironically, once again it appeared that the hands of fate had intertwined the lives of Fernando Alonso, Kimi raikkonen and Michael Schumacher, of which it seems, was brought up during the just completed Japanese GP by Bob Varsha, whilst I finally had an opportunity to watch the Italian edition of Inside Grand Prix which chronicled the TERMINATOR’s near comeback…

Schuey gives up
As many of us anxiously awaited the return of Michael Schumacher to Scuderia Ferrari at the European Grand Prix, it was entertaining to note that first Williams and then Red Bull & Toro rosso all (adamantly) nixed the idea of letting Herr Schumacher get some seat time in Ferrari’s 2009 challenger, the F60, sighting how the current rules forbid any in-season testing and how Scuderia Toro Rosso’s rookie Jaime Alguersuari wasn’t allowed to do so prior to his Hungaroring debut.

Yet sadly, after having found himself behind the wheel of a privately owned Ferrari Clientente F2007, with “current GP2 spec” Slicks on it pounding about Mugello for 67 laps, Michael’s severely injured neck simply wasn’t able to withstand the rigours of a modern days Formula 1 chassis G-Loading and was forced to cancel his planned comeback, which was mightily disappointing to many around the globe, as the Tiafosi salivated at seeing the Ferrari God once again behind the wheel of one of their beloved rosso chariots.

Alonso to Ferrari
This was a long standing rumour which just wouldn’t go away… as mounting speculation continued to suggest that “Ferdi the Putz” (Alonso) had been inked to a pre-contract signing with the Scuderia to replace “The Kimster” (Raikkonen) in 2010 as Felipe Massa’s new teammate, in a deal eerily similar to Herr Schumacher’s farce majeure, where a la Williams dealings with Messer’s Mansell, Prost & Senna, saw some of the sport’s greatest simply unwilling to share the limelight with their contemporaries, nee arch rivals.

As it appears that Schuey was finally presented with the fact that he’d be paired with a younger Finnish teammate (Raikkonen) who could potentially beat him in equal machinery and thus decided to reluctantly call it a day in F1 a la Williams revolving cast of Grand Prix Superstars.

Thus, almost the entire Formula 1 Paddock seems to believe that it’s a done deal with Ferrari having switched its season ending party to Valencia and Spanish mega banking concern Banco Santander becoming Ferrari’s sponsor in 2010, (As this badly kept secret has just been confirmed at Monza with Ferrari announcing a five year deal having been struck.) Thus it seems to imply that it’s most certain that Alonso is set to arrive shortly.

Kimi going Rallying?
Then of course there was the most entertaining rumour suggesting that FIAT will start a new WRC Rally team next year allowing Maranello to transfer Raikkonen to the World Rally Championship in order to make way for Alonso’s arrival; of which I’d personally welcome, as it’d be an added boost to the WRC, which is sadly lacking for competition currently…

And thus, if such things do occur, where the Kimster is either persuaded or forced out to make room for the Spaniard, it would be an ironic parallel to the Finn’s own career path to the Scuderia, as Raikkonen first replaced the retiring Mika Hakkinen at McLaren, before filling the even larger “Schues” of Herr Schumacher at Ferrari… Although Kimi claims he AIN’T GOIN’ NOWHERE!!! Next season, since he’s got a contract to race for Ferrari in F1 alongside Felipe Massa, who seemingly has made a miraculous full recovery from his horrifying accident in Budapest and is set to return to full racing action for the Scuderia in 2010.

Yet, as Y’all know… Fredrico Suave (Alonso) has now been confirmed at Ferrari beginning in 2010 for 3yrs with an allotment of extensions available for the paltry sum of $25m (Euros) per season, as Massa’s new teammate, while Kimi will most likely return to McLaren next season as Lewis Hamilton’s new teammate, with Michael Schumacher continuing his role as Felipe’s mentor…

Glock out for Brazil, season?

Toyota’s Timo Glock has been diagnosed with a cracked vertebra in Germany and therefore will not be participating in this weekends Brazilian GP, as the team has announced that third driver Kamui Kobayashi will make his Formula 1 debut at San Paolo, substituting for the injured Glock, who’s status for Abu Dubai is still unknown…

Laguna Seca Donnybrook

Whale fortunately SPEED decided to show the 4hr American Le Mans Series finale from Monterey, CA in its entirety a day after the fact and thus, I sat down and watched the entire show mid day Sunday, and what a race it turned out to be for the overall victory and the GT2 class win, as both were mighty scrums between the various combatants…

Yet, it was even cooler getting to see (briefly( that not only had Jim Hall been coaxed into attending the race, but he brought along a pair of his legendary Chaparral’s for exhibition duty, to which SPEED’s Dorsey Schroeder said the crowds went completely “Banana’s” (wild!) over seeing on track… Not to mention the brief interview with Hall saying how he was looking forward to being out on the track with Gil… As this was Gil De Ferran’s final race and thus as I said before, it was a nice touch on Gil’s part to honour the man who gave him his very first Indy Car ride some 14yrs ago, behind the wheel of a Hall VDS Racing Pennzoil yellow Reynard 95 Mercedes Benz, (Ilmor) where he won his very first CART race at Laguna Seca enroute to the Rookie of the Year title.

Paul Gentilozzi’s Rocketsports Racing made their Jaguar XKR GT2’s chassis full race outing as a development test as the team looks to make a full season campaign in 2010, while I’m wondering if perhaps this car is simply a dusted off Trans Am racecar since Gentilozzi should have plenty of them laying around his shop from the days of SCCA Pro Racing competition.

The No. 17 Team Falken Tire Porsche 911GT3 RSR competing in the hotly contested GT2 category was busy developing Falken racing rubber as a new contender in the series and the team had driven 11hrs to retrieve a better suited set of tyres “Just-in-Time” for the race…

The No. 16 Dyson Racing Le Mans P2 (Prototype class) Mazda Lola B09 86 once again was racing as an Unclassified entry (UNC) as it continued it’s test program involving running upon Bio-Butanol in conjunction with team sponsor BP (British Petroleum) and engine partner Mazda, which the team made its Butanol debut at this year’s Petit Le Mans, as the series fourth fuel source: Diesel, E85 Ethanol, Pump-grade Petrol and now Bio- Butanol, which the team hopes to use in series Points competition next year, while in my previous story Is Corn King? I noted how BP is an ardent supporter of Butanol in the future, especially as an alternative to the media darling Ethanol, as interestingly Butanol has better properties then Ethanol as shown in an cross country exercise way back in ’05, albeit most likely to be a Petroleum Corporations byproduct, but I digress…

Thus, back to the racing action, as fittingly De Ferran captured the Pole position for Saturday’s race, with his main competitors for the overall victory being Championship rival Highcroft Racing, along with Fernandez Racing’s LMP2 Acura being the dark horse.

Simon Pagenaud led from Pole and simply motored away from the 32 car field, comprised of four different classes, as Championship leaders Highcroft simply needed to complete 70% race distance to secure the title and thus David Brabham took it very easy, albeit suffering with an electrical gremlin relating to the gearbox shifting selector, which the team disconnected and thus Brabham and co-driver Scott Sharp needed to be informed of which gear they were in when pitting as their dashboard no longer displayed this pertinent information…

Meanwhile the No. 48 Corsa Motorsports Hybrid P1 challenger argubably put in its best performance by running as high as third place overall, before finishing fourth, after having to replace its electric motor earlier that morning, while Brabham and Sharp would cruise home to a third place finish.

But the race was an epic battle between old CART competitors De Ferran and Adrian Fernandez in the final thirty minutes, as Fernandez doggedly chased Gil as close as a scant 0.4 seconds adrift thru traffic, even passing De Ferran, only to be out powered on the front straight, as Fernandez said; Gil’s a great racer and he never made a mistake… As the pair would finish 1-2 respectively with De Ferran 0.6 seconds ahead at the stripe!

Yet the real fireworks were being contested in the GT2 class between the No. 45 Flying Lizard’s Jorg “Rowdy” Bergmeister and the No. 3 Corvette with Jan “Trickle” Magnussen behind the keyboard, as “MAG’s” (Magnussen) relentlessly hounded Bergmeister for the class victory, putting an unbelievable “Out-of-Bounds” pass upon the German for the lead, by using the pit lane’s entrance as a passing zone, which the Officials told the Dane to give the position back, before the two combatants did a ‘lil Racin’ is Rubbin’ action on their way towards the Corkscrew… Then in the final corner Magnussen did his best Cole Trickle impersonation, trying to loosen up Jorg with a luv-tap, but Bergmeister was having none of it, as he basically ran MAG’s into the front straight wall, which the Dane then T-Boned as Bergmeister held onto the GT2 victory with Jan’s crumpled Corvette runner-up… As Jorg said he was still shaking in the Post-race interview… As both drivers have now received a two race probation for the beginning of the 2010 ALMS season, with any further incidents to result in a two race suspension...

And next year should be even better with the American Le Mans Series new four class structure, which I’ll delve into later…

(And now they’ve moved the Laguna Seca race to May… SHEISA!)

2009 Laguna Seca ALMS Class Entries:
P1: 6; P2: 4*; GT2: 14; GT3-CS: 8#.
(* = #16 Dyson Racing UNC race car.)
(# = Two competitors excluded from results for rules infractions.)

Laguna Seca Race Results

IMS for Sale?

Don’t know if Y’all saw this ‘lil tidbit – teaser in the Oct. 14 edition of Ask the Expert, which I believe is Curty “Two Shoes” Cavin…

Question:
Joe Saward writes on his blog about the rumors that IMS is for sale, then goes on to speculate that the France family is the obvious choice, puts the tag at $600 million and cites potential of using it more than three times a year. Is there any smoke, much less fire here? (Frank, Jersey City, N.J.)

Answer:
I just will be shocked if they sell. I hear all the same rumors and the speculation makes sense in a still-strained economy, but I think the family sees this as more than a business; it defines them. It's also something for future generations to own and operate. For those who don't know Joe Saward, he's a Formula One guy who is very well connected in the sport. I consider him a friend, too, so I respect his work.
(source: Indystar.com)

Seems a bit far fetched, eh? Then again you make the call…

National Hug-A-Blogger Day

Jeff of My Name is IRL has boldly proclaimed October 13th to be National Hug-A-Blogger Day… So have Yuhs dones soe yet, eh?

Audience Participation Requested

Massa to throw Chequer’s at Brazil

The steadfastly improving Felipe Massa, who’s recently spent time reacclimatizing himself in Scuderia Ferrari’s simulator at Maranello while preparing to test a ’07 Spec Ferrari (F2007) fitted with GP2 slicks, in which he did yesterday and today at Fiorano… Successfully completing 100km on Monday, 79 days after his horrific shunt at the Hungaroring, has also confirmed that he’ll throw the Chequered Flag at his upcoming home race at San Paolo, Brazil this Sunday.

Yet don't expect the Brazilian to return to racing for Ferrari until 2010...

Indy Car fodder

So the seasons over and Y’all know the Championship results… But did I hear Bob Jenkins right? As I swear I heard him say that Alex “Pink” Lloyd has a full time ride with Newman Haas Lanigan Racing in 2010 during the Broadcast…

Along with Will Power being given a full time gig in Team Penske’s third IRL entity next year as Penske’s Grand Am Sports Car crew will move over to the IRL, which seems to be unconfirmed at the moment, since its expected The Captain will at least run the Rolex 24 at Daytona next January?

Not to mention Sarah Fisher Racing’s expansion plans, while the verdicts still out on Hideki Mutoh and his Formula Dream sponsorship for 2010…

And did Y’all catch Dario on Wind Tunnel Sunday night? To which when asked by Dave Despain if he’d caused any modern IRL lore by celebrating, Dario replied that he’d been out with Dixon, Wheldon and Kanaan ‘til 5AM… After snickering nothing good ever comes outta hanging out with them, since somewhere during the weekend’s festivities, TK’s reported to have thrown Dario into a swimming pool… Yet, there’s no word on whether or not any bicycles were sawed in half?

And I liked Dave’s gentile dig about Dario’s future plans… Asking him if he’d may be going to MOTO GP with all of his Motorcycling skills… To which Dario coyly replied I’m not so good with my Motorcycling Dave, but I do enjoy watching MOTO GP…

And “”Mr. CHiPs” of Indy Racing Revolution has an entertaining look upon how the Dashley ‘Juan, Err Mr. REO Speedwagon, nee Dario Franchitti’s improvable victory is being viewed abroad, click here.

Yet, best of all was the eternal optimist Robin Miller’s take upon the IRL switching over to a slightly biased Road Course/Street Circuit calendar… HELL! TCGR & Penske won all of the Ovals this year, they’ll win them ALL next year and then again ‘N again…

So may be the switch will be a good thing, since the only driver to prevent the Ganassi-Penske “Clean Sweep” was Justin Wilson’s breakout victory for Dale Coyne at Watkins Glen…

Edwards wins Again!

Although it would have been nice to see the Winn ingest Female Atlantics Driver in history… NO! Not Princess who’s got less “W’s” (Wins) then former Champ Car driver Katherine Legge in Atlantics.

No, it’s Simona De Silvestro with four victories who went into the Season Finale at Laguna Seca leading the title, so it would have been nice to see Simona win the Championship title, yet it wasn’t to be upon retiring early and thus the title went to perennial front runner John Edwards, the 2008 Star Mazda Champion instead… As Juniour Open Wheel Talent (JOWT) has a pretty good story about it, click here.

Another NASCAR Drug problem

Isn’t it ironic? As this past Thursday, prior to the Homestead Season Finale Grand-Am race, a series owned by NASCAR… None other than J.C. France, grandson of “Big” Bill France, founder of the family Dynasty was arrested for alleged possession of Narcotics… Hmm? First Jeremy Mayfield and now J.C. France, as I just find it a bit odd that the majority of issues seem to be occurring on the RASSCAR side of the fence…

France arrested on drug charges

And thus its even more ironic that the No. 59 Brumos Porsche which is usually chauffeured by J.C. won the race with none other then the legendary Hurley Haywood at the controls, who was standing in for the suspended France, having won the race back in ’03 with J.C. as his co-driver; Hurley’s last Grand Am victory…

Homestead ’09: The Motegi edition

First ‘N Foremost… Hats off to the entire ICS grid for running their own respective races and NOT interfering with or taking out the three title contenders… As fortunately Hulio didn’t pull a “Bryan Herta” and cause a Yellow flag in order for teammate Ryan “Burnin’ Inferno” Briscoe to make the necessary fuel mileage to claim his first Indy Car crown, but I digress… As this would turn out to be the very first race in IRL history to go caution flag free and the second quickest ever completed event at a skosh over 201mph.

Dario Franchitti (1st: 2009 ICS Champion)
As Y’all may know, I was rootin’ for Dario “REO Speedwagon” Franchitti to win his second Indy Car crown the majority of the season… As he seems to be the liveliest of the three Championship combatants Yet, I changed this tact when I wrote Dario-speak where I thought he uncharacteristically threw his Pit crew “Under the Bus” and hence changed allegiances to Ryan Briscoe…

So I found it most ironic that Dario won the 2009 Indy Car title Saturday; as I’d previously asked Mary Ellen over the course of our Maryhill excursion if she thought Dario remembered that it would be his friend Greg Moore’s 10yr Anniversary of his death this Halloween… Especially since reportedly it was Greg who introduced him to Ashley Up North, Eh? In Vancouver, BC at a party; as thus the irony dripped even further over Mwah when Dario dedicated his '09 ICS title to Greg Moore, saying this "Juan's for him as it was 10yrs ago that Juan Pablo Montoya beat me (for the CART crown) and we lost Greg... And when asked if he started thinking about it before the chequered flag, Dario responded; Greg would have KICKED MY ASS if I'd started thinking about it before winning the race!

And before Y’all make any Dario backing into it a la Princess Motegi comparisons… As Dario was quick to point out that they went for a fuel mileage race… Its worth noting that Dario’s taken five Pole positions this season along with five victories; so Congratulations Dario!

Scott Dixon (2nd; -11pts)
Don’t know why, but for some strange reason I wanted anybody but The Iceman 2.0 to win a second consecutive title and third overall this year, as Scott just seems to be the most “Vanilla” of the three drivers and Thank Goodness I wasn’t playing some sorta drinking game for every time he said the word Target this season; Aye Karumba!

And its even funnier yet that I feel this way since I should be rooting for him as he’s originally a PacWest CART Boy, which after all was my Home team for several years… Yet Dixon still has plenty ‘O time to break all of Sam Hornish’s IRL records and I’m guessing he’ll be even hungrier next year, eh?

Ryan Briscoe (3rd; -12pts)
As Y’all ready know… This was the driver I spent the whole race chanting GO RYAN! At the Telescreen as I kept saying you’ve gotta lead the most laps plus win the race as Scott Dixon was making things difficult for him once again…

And Ryan did his very best, by clinching the two points bonus for leading most laps and seemingly being the driver to beat, but it wasn’t to be, as Dario slyly worked his way forwards from third to first in the final laps, going on to win the title…

Yet I found Ryan to be the most impressive of the three and I really enjoyed his openness and humbleness throughout his “Twenty-Oh-Nine” IRL campaign, as he seemed to be the most improved driver of this Championship trio, so Hats Off to Ryan, who’ll possibly beat his former Boss next year, eh?

And it was most impressive how these three combatants left everyone in their dust, by lapping the entire field by two laps as you cannot ask for anymore of a season finale, Yet since these three drivers claimed a total of 16 of the 17 Indy Car race victories this season, you’d have to expect them to be the Championship front runners… So perhaps it was fitting that the number 10 racecar captured victory and the Championship on the tenth day of the tenth month of the year, ten years after having lost a title and a very good friend, eh?

And I've just learned that it was also TCGR's 10th victory of the season... Coincidence?

Congratulations Dario

Congrats to the 2009 Indy Car Series Champion!

Gil De Ferran’s Swan Song

Although I’ve hoped to be at Laguna Seca the past two year’s for the Monterey Sports Car
Championship, for some strange reason they pushed the event forward one week this year and hence I’m still home instead poondin’ meese nucel’s on ze keeboards, but I digress….

Thus as this weekend’s spotlight is shone upon Homestead, the Laguna Seca outing also on Saturday marks Gil De Ferran’s final race drive, and he’s been made the races Grand Marshal, while his team’s Acura racecar will feature a special all white “Chaparral” livery in tribute of Jim Hall, who gave him his start in Indy Car competition, as hey! That’s a pretty cool way to go out… And it’s nice to see a driver pay homage to those who’ve helped him out along the way…

Laguna Seca: Series spotlight - Gil de Ferran

It’s almost Showtime!

Ok Kiddies, it’s almost time for the mondo-spectacular Homestead IRL Season Finale, just a little over 24hrs away… As Y’all will wanna gather ‘round and watch potentially Princesses last drive in an Indy Car?

Nah! But do tune-in to the TV Broadcast bright ‘N early… If Y’all can manage to sit thru a riveting race Preamble; or if you’re still a hapless casualty in the Direct TV/versus skirmish, then you’ll have to go elsewhere… As may I recommend the IMS Radio Network via le internets, while TV coverage begins Saturday afternoon at 1PM Pacific and will indeed be your last chance to watch Bob, Robbie, Jon, Robbie Floyd 2.0, Mr. BRUT Arute-Arute and Lyndie-Car in action this year.

The racing action kicks off today with Indy Car Qualifying set to begin at 1:20PM, preceded by Sarah Fisher’s 2010 season plans and second driver announcement at Noon… Then on Versus at 3PM is the Firestone Indy Lights Final 2009 race, with the IRL’s Season Finale set to roll off at 2PM Saturday… (ALL Times Pacific – Check your local listings)

GO BRISCOE!

Petit Le Mans Postscript

Whale, although I missed the majority of SPEED’s live flag to flag coverage of this year’s Petit Le Mans and was overly ANNOYED that SPEED chopped off the Singapore Grand Prix Qualifying Post Race interview in order to take us to a fairly lame Petit Pre-race show, I did manage to catch the first 45mins or so…

Thus it was cool to see that Marino Franchitti captured the LMP2 Pole position and he and co-driver Butch Leitzinger ultimately went on to win their category, while the Ford GT-R started on Pole in LMGT2 thanks to David Murray’s performance…

Yet, it wasn’t to be as the race was cut short and failed to reach the 1,000km distance for the very first time ever due to the massive deluge of precipitation, including Thunderstorms, which continued to hammer the Atlanta region…

It also would be the first time in nine years that Audi didn’t win the event, as Peugeot who won this year’s 24 Heurs du Mans, would capture their very first Petit Le Mans victory with Franck Montagny and Stephane Sarrazin behind the wheel...

Road Atlanta: Series race report

Latest USF1 fodder

(USF1 picture from Joe Saward’s Grand Prix Blog)

Whale that’s interesting… As I’d grown tired of the blank white pages that greeted you on both of Team USF1’s websites, usf1/usgpe.com) which have now been changed to boldly claim “America’s Formula One Team… Coming in 2010!”

As I also noticed yesterday that veteran F1 reporter Joe Saward had a brief interview with Team Principal Ken Anderson, claiming that the team’s still on track and a car should be completed by early November, in time for January 2010’s “Winter Olympics,” nee Off Season Testing.

USF1: Interview with Ken Anderson and pictures

Meanwhile that proverbial soothsayer ‘O words Peter Windsor, has now apparently told Autosport that the team may be “forced” to take on an experienced “Non-American” driver for its first season... Uh-Duh, I think this has been in the “cards” for awhile, but hey as long as we get another American into Formula 1 eventually is all that matters… Although I still think the team is remiss to not give the young “Wicky” (Robert Wickens) a shot, since after all he’s from the same Continent, eh?

Then again, can you say The Hamburgular? (Bourdais)

American driver unlikely for US F1

Kubica signs with Renault

As expected, now that Crash Gate has settled down, and lead “Reggie” driver Fredrico Suave has been signed as the Kimster’s replacement at Scuderia Ferrari… Renault has announced the signing of Robert Kubica as its lead driver for its 2010 F1 campaign, while the jury is still out on whether or not Romain Grosjean will retain his seat next year.

Ferrari to power reborn Sauber Team

And missed while Out ‘N Aboot in Maryhill was the news that the recently sold BMW Sauber F1 Team, which changed hands with the mysterious Swiss Holding Conglomerate QADBAK for a cool $80m Euros, has confirmed that it will run customer Ferrari “Lumps” beginning in 2010, with a supply deal rumoured to be for 3yrs. Now all they’ve gotta do is connive their way back onto the grid…

“Kuhnichiwah” Suzuka Circuito

So the Japanese Grand Prix returned to its traditional (and rightful) home of the wonderful Suzuka Circuito this year for the first time since 2006, after a massive infield complex upgrade, including brand new Pit garages, Media Centre and extensive track repaving, which thankfully the circuit was NOT neutered by Herman Tilke, while reputedly Uncle Bernaughty was overly quick to point out to the BRDC how he’d asked the Japanese to spend money and they’d done it…

As memories came flooding back (Pun intended) as Friday’s practice session was an extremely soggy affair due to a fast approaching Typhoon, of which I’d encountered upon my wonderful outing to Suzuka way back in 2004… (Can it really be already 5yrs ago? Since seeing the TERMINATOR score another glorious victory…)

And I sat there pondering just how well would the Laser ride height sensor that Steve Matchett had pointed out its red light during the Singapore event function in the abysmal conditions.

Interestingly, it was originally pointed out by Bob Varsha that nine of the current twenty F1 Piloto’s on the grid had never raced a Formula 1 chassis in anger at Suzuka, which seemed pretty high to Mwah, as it was later pointed out during the Qualifying pre-amble that there were six “Freshman” debutants at this year’s Japanese GP event, with obviously half of these being the three Formula 1 Rookies of Renault’s Romain Grosjean and both Scuderia Toro Rosso Drivers Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi.

The other three debutants are none other then reigning World Champion Lewis Hamilton and McLaren teammate Heikki Kovalainen and Toyota’s Timo Glock.

Meanwhile Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel and Force India’s Adrian Sutil have only participated as Friday Third Driver’s back in 2006, while Williams home grown talent Kazuki Nakajima had previously run at Suzuka countless times, just not in a Grand Prix.

Thanks to F1 Fanatic for doing the heavy lifting on this, as I got tired of SPEED blathering on ‘bout it all weekend long with never saying the names out loud!

F1 Drivers relish Suzuka challenge

And according to Inside Grand Prix, the hardest braking spot is the Casio Triangle corner just prior to the start/finish straight, where the drivers must bleed off a massive 204kph and resist a “Mega” 5.9G deceleration force.

And I’ve already scribbled about the wild ‘N wacky Qualifying session in Utterly chaotic Qualifying in Japan.

While the race seemed to be a somewhat more sedate affair, with Pole Sitter “ZEBB (Vettel) basically rocketing off into the distance on his Monza Renault Lump which will be utilized in one of the final two races, with Toyota’s Jarno Trulli getting jumped by the KERS powered McLaren of Lewis Hamilton on the start and BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld moving up to fourth place, while once again ‘JENSE struggled mightly to get into the points from his tenth place starting position.

As the race was fairly dull from the leader’s perspective, although I was happy to see Trulli-Scrumptious get back around Hamilton, who would finish 2-3 respectively, while Button’s points lead was shaved once again, with great infighting occurring mid-pack, while Vettel simply “Walked-it!” For his third victory of the season and fourth of his young career, and thus, the Championship rolls onto Brazil, with button on 85 points, leading teammate Barrichello by 14 (71) and Vettel by 16, (69) with a maximum of 20pts up for grabs; meanwhile BRAWN GP is all but assured of wrapping up its very first Constructors Title at Interlagos, as it leads Red Bull 156-120.5 and both cars would have to retire from both races with a maximum of 36pts available in the Constructors chase.

Race Drive of Suzuka
Although I was hard pressed to choose between Jarno Trulli and a very impressive outing by “Quick Nick’s” (Heidfeld) resurgent BMW Sauber, my choice goes to the German wunderkind Sebastian Vettel, who simply dominated the weekend and is always a pleasure to listen to in the interviews and especially on his in-car radio when celebrating victory! As ‘Hobbo (David Hobbs) said again; Vettel like Michael Schumacher just seems to enjoy winning...

Top 3 - Qualifying
Pole: Sebastian Vettel
Second: Jarno Trulli
Third: Lewis Hamilton

Race Results
Winner: S. Vettel; 2nd: J. Trulli; 3rd: L. Hamilton; 4th: K. Raikkonen;
5th: N. Rosberg; 6th: N. Heidfeld; 7th: R. Barrichello; 8th: J. Button.