Weekend Preview : 1-2 August 2009

Feature Events

IRL IndyCar Series

- Meijer Indy 300
- Kentucky Speedway
- Sparta, Kentucky, United States
- (12/17)
- www.indycar.com

Changes to the aero rules for this race (see previous post) should mean an improvement in the racing on this 1.5 mile oval, as it has been fairly bad on ovals earlier this season. Since side by side open-wheel racing on ovals is the hallmark and unique selling point of this series, let's hope they work.

Note this is a Saturday night race under the lights.

TV Guide:
UK – LIVE on Sky Sports 1 at 2am Sunday (repeated 11.30am and 4.30pm on SS Xtra)
USA – LIVE on VERSUS at 8pm ET Saturday

Other Events

Le Mans Series

- 1000KM do Algarve
- Portimao
- Algarve, Portugal
- (3/5)
- www.lemans-series.com

The is the first evening/night race for the Le Mans Series in Europe, and also the first visit of the series to this new circuit. The race will begin at 7.15pm local (and UK) time and run for the usual LMS distance of 1000km or six hours.

TV Guide:
UK – Eurosport at 7pm for 1h30m.

Formula Renault 3.5

- Portimao
- Algarve, Portugal

Supporting the LMS, both races are on Saturday afternoon.

TV Guide:

Race 1 on Eurosport at 12pm Saturday.
Race 2 doesn't appear to be covered.

NASCAR Sprint Cup

- Pennsylvania 500
- Pocono, Pennsylvania, United States
- www.nascar.com

TV Guide:
UK – LIVE on Sky Sports 3 at 7pm Sunday
US - LIVE on ESPN at 1pm Sunday

NASCAR Nationwide Series

- Iowa Speedway
- Iowa, United States
- www.nascar.com

NASCAR Camping World Trucks

- Nashville Speedway
- Tennessee, United States
- www.nascar.com

DTM

- Oschersleben
- Germany
- www.dtm.tv / www.dtm.com

dtm.tv should have live coverage from 1pm UK time.

V8 Supercars

- Norton 360 Sandown Challenge
- Sandown, Australia
- www.v8supercar.com.au

Indy Lights

- Oschersleben
- Germany

F3 Euroseries

- Kentucky Speedway
- Kentucky, USA

Superleague Formula

- Donington Park
- Leics., England, UK

World Rally Championship

- Rally Finland
- www.wrc.com

Kimi Raikkonen has entered his home round of the WRC in a Super 2000 spec Abarth. After the first day's stages he's performing among the top runners in his class and in the top 20 overall!

Intercontinental Rally Challenge

- Rally Vinho Madeira
- Madeira, Portugal
- www.ircseries.com

British Touring Car Championship

- Snetterton
- Norfolk, England, UK

TV Guide:

UK - The usual six hours (3 x BTCC plus lots of support races) on ITV4 from 11.30am!

* * * *

Sources:
Live Sport on TV
RadioTimes.com
and several of the series sites mentioned above

Michael Schumacher Returns

It was too good to be true, wasn't it?

He's back. HE'S back. Him. That man. The one we thought we'd got rid of.

We've had a great year and a half without him and it has been brilliant to see new drivers come to the fore and make F1 their own, and also watching Ferrari evolve in the post-Schumacher, post-Todt era. I'd even begun to not dislike them.

I do wonder how MS will fit in as a race driver in that changed environment, rather than a 'consultant' on the pit wall. Let's hope none of the old nonsense returns.

I must admit to being curious about how he'll perform after so long away, in a new-style car with no testing whatsoever - and in Valencia on a circuit he hasn't driven before vs most of the rest of the field who have.

As much as I dislike the guy and his tactics, you can't deny that in terms of ability and application he is the best of his generation if not all of them. If he didn't pull such ridiculous stunts I might even have become a fan of his, and yet... too many, too often, too deceitful. So it'll be interesting to see it for a race or two, though I don't think I want to see him for any more than that.

Realistically Massa won't be in the car before winter testing resumes in January, but still... get well soon Felipe.

BMW Announces F1 Withdrawal

The board at BMW has today announced the company's withdrawal from Formula 1 racing, effective at the end of the season.

There have been rumours for some time now that this or that F1 team was withdrawing, most frequently about Renault and Toyota and consistently denied by all parties. Announcements may yet prove forthcoming from other teams.

It is a shame that BMW-Sauber is the next team to jump. Just one season ago they were leading the World Championship. Many observers, including myself, believed at the time that had they not dropped the development of the 2008 car (in favour of the 2009 model) they would have had a good shot at winning either title by the end of the year. As it was, the regulation changes were so great the decision was made to attempt to steal a march on the field by switching development early.

It didn't work. The 2009 car has not been competitive since the early part of the season and doesn't seem to be improving relative to the competition, even if it has done so relative to where it was before. You would think they'd switch focus to the 2010 car, as is usual when performance falls short of expectation. That they are bailing out and that it was announced by the higher-ups of the company suggest this one was out of Mario Theissen's control.

I think this is bigger than one underwhelming season, there has to be more to it than that. The announcement talked about changing their focus towards "sustainability and environmental compatibility". F1 is not embracing this as much as it should be, with even the token-effort KERS looking like being withdrawn next season under FOTA proposals.

I'm sure the global economy, slow car sales, and of course the whole Mosely affair and the Ecclestone/Hitler comments did not help sell F1 to the board of a German company.

A shame. I always thought BMW-Sauber should have achieved much more than they did, and 2008 should have been the beginning of a competitive phase. It was not to be. Let's hope a buyout can be arranged, either internally a la Brawn, or from elsewhere.

Hinwil is a top notch facility and the engines were produced in Munich. This is ideal as Hinwil shouldn't have to be downscaled for any prospective buyer, all they need do is slot in an engine of their choice. Perhaps BMW could even be persuaded to supply engines to the team in 2010. All of this has yet to be decided.

A Push To Pass

As reported in several places, the IndyCar Series will adopt a 'Push to Pass' system this weekend and for the remainder of the year. This system will provide a horsepower boost for a duration of 12 seconds per button-press. The amount of extra hp will depend on the fuel mixture setting selected (there are several preselected settings from full rich all the way to full lean, to save fuel, and a yellow flag setting). A fully rich setting will gain just 5hp while a leaner setting will benefit from up to 20hp.

These are not big gains. The Senior Technical Director of the IRL said the small amounts were due to the fact these are normally-aspirated engines which are already near their full potential, unlike Champ Car turbos which only needed a boost level change to get big hp gains. Perhaps he's inferring that the A1GP engines are somewhat detuned under normal conditions, considering they get a rather larger bump from their normally-aspirated P2P...

What is very interesting about this development is that it is being introduced on an oval. No variant of P2P has ever been used on an oval, to the best of my knowledge, since Champ Car had stopped racing on them by the time their system was implemented. On an oval the horsepower and car setup are everything. Perhaps even just this small difference will be enough to create close racing? Maybe less so on the shorter tracks, but at those where their foot is on the bulkhead all the way round, definitely.

I am much more sceptical on the road and street courses where I really don't think it'll make an ounce of difference, the jump in power just isn't enough for those tracks.

What is interesting is a tweet from Allen from The Furious Wedge. He mentioned another change that has been lost among the hoopla about P2P - the removal of the 'wicker bill' from the rear wing (as well as the general freeing-up of the aero regs). The wicker bill is a part on the trailing edge of the rear wing which creates drag. I'm not entirely sure why they are there, perhaps in a previous evolution of the aero package they helped the racing but it seems the reverse is true now, for whatever reason.

Let's hope these changes improve the racing which has reportedly been dire this season. I've not really been able to see much of this year but I have recordings which I will watch over the coming weeks.

Felipe Massa

I am glad to hear news that Felipe Massa is recovering well after his terrible accident on Saturday. I'm sure I need not go into the details of the accident, I think all reading this are aware of the nature of it by now. The good news is that he is being brought out of his induced coma and is communicating, albeit 'sleepily' with doctors and his family and friends. He faces a long recovery, but a full recovery.

There is some doubt over whether or not he will be able to race again, though this may be doctors being cautious. At first there were reports of long-term damage, then reports of a full recovery. Either way, we must remember the example of Lord Paul Drayson who was advised by some doctors that he was unable to race due to sight problems in one eye - yet he competed in a full ALMS season in 2008 and went on to race in this year's Le Mans 24 Hours, having overturned an FIA ban on people with such conditions. Felipe's eye may not heal enough for the demands of F1 or other single-seater open-wheelers but a career may yet beckon in sportscars should he wish it.

He's a very lucky guy and his survival is a testament to the heavily revised FIA helmet regulations of recent years, the cockpit protection measures for surviving the impact with the tyre barrier, and the skill of the doctors both at the scene and at the hospital. I must say I feared the worst when he was not moving in the cockpit, I am very glad that he is on the mend.

I cannot say I have ever been Felipe's biggest fan, certainly not in the early days at Sauber when he seemed to be constantly spinning off track. His time at Ferrari has been a revelation, he is a completely different driver. 2008 saw a marked improvement and he would have been a worthy champion. Let's hope he returns in 2010 to fight for it again... not win it of course, he's in a Ferrari, we can't have that!

* *

Fellow F1 driver Nelson Piquet forwarded details of a Twitter account which will be passed to Felipe when he recovers enough to pick it up:

Online now @Forza_Felipe Created by @ferrarijr. Leave your message and we will deliver everything, including to account, to Felipe!

No matter your opinions of Felipe as a driver, feel free to send your wishes to the @Forza_Felipe! account and let's help spur on his recovery.

All this assumes Nelson and Rubens finally convince him to use Twitter - he was refusing last week!

Weekend Preview: 25-26 July 2009

Feature Events

FIA Formula 1 World Championship

- Formula 1 ING Magyar Nagydig
- (ING Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix)
- Hungaroring, nr.Budapest, Hungary
- (10/17)
- www.f1.com

F1 returns to the dustbowl of the Hungaroring, where as usual the forecast is for high temperatures. The dust of the surrounding area has a tendency to get all over the track and make grip very hard to come by, it is this in combination with the circuit layout itself that tends to prevent good racing at this notoriously boring race track - though the changes to turn one a few years ago have created a divebomb-braking opportunity for the brave/crazy (if not in the F1 race, definitely in the GP2 support races!).

I am not a fan of this event although it did bring F1 to Eastern Europe as long ago as the mid-1980s, and track improvements over the last two decades have improved racing.. a bit..

TV Guide:
UK – LIVE on BBC One at 12.10pm Sunday, race starts at 1pm
(qualifying on BBC Two at 12.10pm Sat)
USA – HEAVILY DELAYED on FOX at 3pm ET.

IRL IndyCar Series

- Rexall Edmonton Indy
- City Centre Airport, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
- (11/17)
- www.indycar.com

This is the second visit to Edmonton for the IndyCars but the 5th (I think?) running of the event, with this being a former Champ Car venue - but any advantage the CC guys had has now been erased and there should be a nice level playing field, apart from the actual track surface of this bumpy airport circuit!

Of note this year is the first visit to the circuit of the supporting Indy Lights series.

TV Guide:
UK – LIVE on Sky Sports 2 at 10.45pm Sunday (directly after NASCAR)
USA – LIVE on VERSUS at 5pm ET Sunday

FIM MotoGP

- British Grand Prix
- Donington Park, Castle Donington, England
- (11/17)
- www.motogp.com

The final visit to Donington for the premier motorbike series, for now at least, as it moves in the opposite direction to F1 and will pitch up at Silverstone in 2010, with apparent mixed feelings from the riders. Some love Donny, some can't wait to leave. I think it makes a great motorbike track with the sweeping curves.

Living in the UK I know the forecast for the weekend. Saturday is due to be warm and sunny so qualifying should be representative - but rain is due to appear for the race on Sunday.

(I can never remember if DP is in Northants or Lincs)

TV Guide:
UK – LIVE on BBC ONE at 3pm Sunday (directly after F1), race start 3.30pm
USA – SPEED claims 6pm ET, which is not possible because the race starts at 8.30pm ET.

Other Events

GP2 Series

- Hungaroring
- Budapest, Hungary
- (6/10)
- www.gp2series.com
- (F1 support with F.Master, FBMW Europe and Porsche Supercup)

TV Guide:
UK – Eurosport 2
- Race 1 @ 4.45pm Saturday (this may be slightly delayed due to MotoGP coverage)
- Race 2 @ 7pm Sunday (very delayed - I can't see any live coverage)

World Superbikes

- Brno
- Brno, Czech Republic
- www.worldsbk.com
- (with Supersport, etc.)

TV Guide:

UK – Eurosport
- Race 1 LIVE @ 11am Sunday
- Race 2 DELAYED @ either at 3.40pm or 6pm (Eurosport's website sucks)

NASCAR Sprint Cup

- Allstate 400 at the Brickyard
- Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Speedway, Indiana, United States
- www.nascar.com

TV Guide:
UK – LIVE on Sky Sports 2 at 7pm Sunday
US - LIVE on ESPN at 2pm Sunday

NASCAR Nationwide Series
& NASCAR Camping World Trucks

- O'Reilly Raceway Park
- Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
- www.nascar.com

Firestone Indy Lights

- Edmonton
- Alberta, Canada
- (IndyCar support)

IMSA Atlantics

- Autobahn Country Club
- Joliet, Illinois, United States
(with Star Mazda)

FIA GT

- Total 24 Hours of Spa
- Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium
(with European GT4 and British F3)
- www.fiagt.com

Super GT

- Sugo
- Sugo, Japan

Silverstone Classic

- Silverstone Circuit
- Silverstone, Northants, England, UK

A multitude of historic racing series at what used to be known as the Coys Historic Festival.
Featuring: GP Masters, Pre-66 F1, the David Leslie Memorial Trophy for 90s Tourers, BRDC Historic Sportscars, Classic Group C and a lot more.

TV Guide:
UK - LIVE all weekend on MotorsTV

* * * *

Sources:
Live Sport On TV
RaceFanTV
SkySports.com
Eurosport.co.uk
BBC.co.uk
SpeedTV.com

The Passing of Henry Surtees

I am sure readers of this blog will know by now that Henry Surtees died yesterday from injuries sustained during a Formula 2 race at Brands Hatch, he was 18.

Will Buxton reminds us of Mario Andretti's words upon the death of his Lotus team-mate Ronnie Peterson in an accident at Monza.
"Unfortunately, motor racing is also this."

Despite all of the great strides forward in motor racing safety over the last thirty or more years, it unfortunately remains the case.

These cars are compliant to 2005 F1 safety regulations, including wheel tethers. No doubt there will be an investigation, hopefully the cause of the apparent tether failure will be found and rectified. I have now seen footage of the incident. That wheel should not have come off.

As for the wheel assembly striking the car, this was nothing more than a freak accident and there is no way anybody can legislate for that, freak accidents will always happen.

The driver is as safely cocooned within the bodyshell as is possible without enclosing him - some are suggesting the latter should be the next move, but in my opinion this would bring about other problems, such as extrication from the car in an emergency. Given the very low number of times an accident such as this happens it would seem counterproductive to run closed-top formula cars.


Henry Surtees

Anybody who attended a BTCC meeting in recent times and stayed trackside for the support series will have seen Henry Surtees race, even if they didn't realise it at the time. He competed in Formula BMW in 2007 and Formula Renault in 2008, both on the BTCC support package. (Ginetta Juniors was not yet on the package when he ran in it, and FBMW has since merged to become pan-European). His name was known to most who follow the junior ladder in this country and perhaps further afield.

On a personal level, I was at a wet and windy Silverstone last year when he took a podium finish in the afternoon race. I don't recall much of the race apart from a few spinners and a driver who lost a wing and kept driving (not Surtees), and I didn't watch him specifically though I was very much aware he was there and I remember being pleased that he scored a good result because it confirmed he was more than just a 'name' driver, more than just the son of someone famous.



**
It should be noted that Sunday also saw the death of co-driver Flavio Guglielmini on the Rally Bulgaria, while driver Brain Lavio is in a 'stable' condition. Rally Bulgaria has been on the FIA European Rally Championship schedule for 20 years and this year was a Candidate Rally for the 2010 WRC, for which a decision will be made in September.

Also on this dark weekend, Ricardo Londono was shot and killed in Colombia. Londono was entered for the Brazilian GP some 28 years ago but was not able to qualify despite reportedly setting some good times earlier that week.

My thoughts go to the families and friends of each of them.

Goodwood FoS: Pt.3 - Trackside

At the end of the last post I had three hours to kill before Jenson Button appeared on the Mercedes stage. I wasn’t all too fussed about that actually, I only wanted to go because you don’t see Formula 1 drivers every day and I actually knew he was going to be there rather than chancing a meeting in the paddock.

It was 12pm and I was starting to get hungry. I headed to the concessions to check out the prices. £5.50 for a basic burger, £7 for a decent one. I take the packet of McCoys crisps from my bag and walk on in search of an event programme.

You need a programme at Goodwood because without it you don’t know when to get trackside, and you don’t have a hope of planning your whereabouts to coincide with drivers arriving/departing the paddock. Relieved of £12, but given a ‘free’ radio (ok I’m paying for it, just tell me I am, yeah?) and another magazine about the people attending, I immediately thumb the programme to figure out what to do next: go to the track, then explore paddock. The programme seller was positioned between gaps in hospitality marquees so I got my first good look at this year’s sculpture.

Audi Sculpture, Goodwood House, from 2009 Goodwood Festival of Speed

I cross the bridge and immediately spot celebrity chef and 2008 Mille Miglia entrant James Martin signing autographs. I choose not to do same, or even get a photo, because I don’t care about James Martin.

Cars are starting to run up the hill again now so I take up station by the bridge to watch – this is the sportscar section and I want to see the new Audi, Peugeot and Aston in the flesh! First though, a massive group of Porsches. I’m sure if you were a fan in their era you would have found this section riveting, and they did look and sound great, but really.. there were a LOT of them.

1969 Porsche 917K, from 2009 Goodwood Festival of Speed

One of the drawbacks at Goodwood is the need to rub elbows to get anything like a decent view if you are not in a grandstand. The covered grandstands cost a fortune, though there are freely available open grandstands dotted around the place – unfortunately not in this location. This meant trying to peer around the side of the people next to you, who were trying to do the same to the people next to them! When they stay back you can get a really good view.

Finally the new cars arrived! You can see the Pug in the set of four above, it wasn't a good photo unfortunately - you couldn't hear it coming so it was a rush job!
The Aston shot was much better.

2009 Lola Aston Martin LMP1, from 2009 Goodwood Festival of Speed

And by this time I'd practised so when the near-silent Audi R15 appeared I was ready.

From 2009 Goodwood Festival of Speed

Little did I know I would have a closer encounter with the Audi later.

TMR on Planet IRL podcast!

Kohl from PlanetIRL has a new podcast and was gracious enough to ask me to appear on his first show. I was glad to agree even though I was mortified at actually talking out loud! What might I say?

Find out here!

Show Details

Host: Kohl Kirkland

F1 Segment
- Dex Brennan, from Midweek Motorsport and www.radiolemans.com
- Me!

IRL Segment
- Existing PlanetIRL co-writer Lisa Kenny.
- New PlanetIRL co-writer Paul Dalbey, also of http://greatestspectacleinracing.blogspot.com/

Special Guest
- Daniel Herrington, currently running inside the top ten in the Indy Lights points standings

Head over to the PlanetIRL to download the show!

* *

I let the side down a little by saying "umm", leaving gaps and generally being a bit quiet, but that's me generally anyway - for a quiet guy I didn't do too badly, particularly when paired with experienced motormouth Dex! He was a legend stepping in at the last minute when the booked guest found himself stuck at work.

What have I learned? If I ever go on a podcast again I'll be sure to prepare notes first and cut down on the nervous laughing! I very much enjoyed it though, and I hope the podcast is a success.

Weekend Preview: 18-19 July 2009

Feature Events

MotoGP

- Alice Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland
- Sachsenring, Germany
- (9/17)
- www.motogp.com

Last weekend we had the German F1 GP, the 9th race of 17, and either due by design or coincidence this week sees the German MotoGP, also the 9th race of 17 but this time on the opposite side of the country to the Nurburgring over at the Sachsenring circuit between Dresden and Leipzig.

TV Guide:
UK – LIVE on BBC Two at 12.50pm Sunday, race starts at 1pm
(qualifying on BBC Red Button on Sat)
USA – LIVE on SPEED at 6pm ET Sunday
(amazing, the US gets a live MotoGP race!)

Support races are live on Eurosport and the BBC Red Button from 9.30am.

American Le Mans Series

- The American Le Mans North East Grand Prix
- Lime Rock Park, Connecticut, United States
- (5/10)
- www.americanlemans.com

The long hiatus to allow teams to compete at Le Mans – and recover – is finally over! This is a 2h45m event on the little Lime Rock circuit which last year was just a little bit frantic! Slightly fewer cars this year of course, but those up front will be trying just as hard.

TV Guide:
UK – Heavily Delayed on MotorsTV at 9.30pm on Monday 27th July
USA – LIVE on SPEED at 2pm ET Saturday

UK fans if you want to follow this event live I suggest listening to www.radiolemans.com instead! Should be at 7 or 8pm Saturday?

Other Events

FIA World Touring Car

- Brands Hatch
- Kent, England, UK
- (8/12)
- www.fiawtcc.com

TV Guide:
UK – LIVE on Eurosport
- Race 1 @ 11.45am Sunday
- Race 2 @ 1.30pm Sunday

FIA Formula 2

- Brands Hatch
- Kent, England, UK
- (4/)
- www.formulatwo.com
- with Formula Master

TV Guide:
UK – LIVE on Eurosport
- Race 1 DELAYED @ 6.45pm Saturday
- Race 2 LIVE @ 12.30pm Sunday

Elsewhere – Live streaming on www.formulatwo.com
Race 1 starts at 2pm on Saturday, Race 2 at 12.45pm Sunday

DTM

- Zandvoort
- Holland
- (4/10)
- www.dtm.com for news
- www.dtm.tv for live streaming and other video

The annual visit to Holland for the Germans appears likely to receive no UK TV airing following the collapse of Setanta Sports, as unlike GP2 no other broadcaster has stepped in to pick up the rights.

There should be live streaming on www.dtm.tv though! It is due to kick off at 1pm UK time.

Superleague Formula

- Zolder
- Belgium
- (6/11)
- www.superleagueformula.com

No TV deal here either for the same reasons as DTM, although I’m a little less bothered about this one!

World Series by Renault

- Le Mans Bugatti
- Le Mans, France
- (6/9)
- www.worldseriesbyrenault.com

There is a 30 minute update at 10pm Sunday on Eurosport, otherwise coverage seems as patchy and randomly-timed as ever.

Atlantic Championship

- Lime Rock Park
- Connecticut, USA
- (4/10)
- www.atlantic-championship.com

Grand-Am Rolex Series

- Barber Motorsport Park
- Alabama, USA
- (8//12)
- www.grand-am.com

Formula 3 Euroseries

- Zandvoort
- Holland
- (4/10)
- www.f3euroseries.com

NASCAR Nationwide Series

- Gateway International Raceway
- Madison, Illinois
- www.nascar.com

NASCAR Camping World Trucks

- Kentucky Speedway
- Sparta, Kentucky
- www.nascar.com
- with ARCA Re/Max

* * * *

I think that’s everything, if you spot anything I’ve missed or if you are attending any of these events be sure to leave a comment!

For those in the UK who missed the Goodwood Festival of Speed show on Tuesday, it will be repeated on ITV4 on Sunday at 5pm – don’t miss it!

On The Limit: Goodwood Fos Pt.2

As I said yesterday, following the bikes were the modern Formula 1 cars.

I managed to get a video, just a short one, but I'm pretty pleased with it. Turn it up!!


Marc Gene, Ferrari F2008

Goodwood FoS: Pt.2 - F1

Directly after the classic racing bikes were a small group of modern era Formula 1 cars. No 2009 cars are allowed to take part in the Festival runs due to this season's test ban regulations, and the running here would bizarrely count as testing and as the track commentator said, quite what they would learn doing burnouts up a 1.1-mile narrow lane remains unanswered. The F1 teams had to run older cars instead, most choosing 2008 versions with Red Bull running a 2006 Toro Rosso in a current Red Bull Racing livery. BrawnGP were the only team to bring a 2009-spec car which remained on static display in the main paddock - they claimed it is the same chassis that will appear in Germany this weekend but I think that's PR guff. Despite this minor setback the drivers put on an excellent show, notable Timo Glock who was doing burnouts galore and getting his car sideways throughout his runs!

Timo Glock, Toyota TF108, from 2009 Goodwood Festival of Speed

David Coulthard took the morning run for Red Bull before taking the helicopter to Wimbledon where he was spotted on TV that afternoon. Interestingly, his motorhome was seen at the Renault World Series event at Silverstone.

David Coulthard, 2006 Red Bull STR1, from 2009 Goodwood Festival of Speed

Also running on Sunday were Marc Gene in a Ferrari F2008, and some guy called Pierangelo Masselli in a Ferrari F300 of 1998. I got a photo of the '98 car, and a video of the '08 car which I'll keep back for now. ;-)

Ferrari F300, from 2009 Goodwood Festival of Speed

Needless to say all of these cars were very loud and very energetic! I'm not sure if my hearing is going and it probably is after attending events like this, but they did seem a little quieter than usual, it's probably me though. There was a definite difference in sound between the 2008 cars and the Red Bull and earlier Ferrari, which were both more shrill and peaky with their higher-revving engines. Once the cars had departed I headed into the infield to have a wander around, not really sure where to go next. I elected to locate some lunch and was surprised to find they were charging £5.50 for a burger!! A bit of meat in two bits of bread. Okay so it was top organic stuff from their own farm, with a fresh salad in it instead of the muck from McD's, but still, there's a principle at stake here. You don't pay that for a burger. So I stuck to my packet of crisps and head to the Mercedes stand because I'd heard they were bringing the new SLR Stirling Moss Edition. Sure enough, they had!

SLRs past and present, from 2009 Goodwood Festival of Speed

I adore this car. They'd placed it next to the SLR of the type Moss had driven in events such as the Mille Miglia in the 1950s. The similarities are striking, yet the new car is unmistakebly modern. I have no idea how they did it. Several other Mercedes were on display of course, but I wasn't that interested - what did catch my eye were the signs proclaiming Jenson Button's interview session in this very pavilion at 3pm, so I decided I should have to come back for that. I had three hours to kill.

On The Limit - Goodwood FoS Pt.1a

I haven’t posted an ‘On The Limit’ for a while – and now I get to do several because I managed to take some very short videos at Goodwood!

I’m not saying they are brilliant, they are just your average fan videos, but they are mine and my first ever video uploads, so I’m going to show them off.

As mentioned previously, the motorbikes were the first batch I saw when I arrived - here is one of the first bikes to depart:

(John Hogan on Barry Sheene's Suzuki)

Here is a somewhat more modern superbike:

(unknown)

I'll continue the review over the weekend and insert the odd little video here and there!

Weekend Preview: 11-12 July 2009

Feature Events

FIA Formula 1 World Championship

- Grosser Preis Santander von Deutschland (Santander German GP)
- Nürburgring, Germany
- (9/17)
- www.f1.com

We have passed the halfway point of the season and it is time to pay a visit to the Eifel region of Germany and the Nürburgring, which hasn’t seen a Formula 1 race since that wet event of 2007 – after that race the circuit entered into a ‘sharing’ agreement with the Hockenheimring.

Previously both circuits held races in the same season, Hockenheim would take the German GP and Nürburg would take the European GP. This changes when Valencia took the latter title and simultaneously both German tracks realised they were losing a fortune paying Bernie’s fees. This explains why this is only the second German Grand Prix to be held on this iteration of a track called Nürburgring (of course, the old circuit held the German GP for years, as the Eifelrennen).

This track should suit the Brawns more than Silverstone, and should in theory work against Red Bull – but this was before RBR’s pre-Silverstone upgrade, how will that affect them?

Overtaking spots
The first corner is notable for being almost a dead stop (the start will be fun!) and is a good place to try a pass. The other major spot is the chicane at the end of the lap which follows a fast, long run up the hill.

TV Guide:
UK – LIVE on BBC One at 12.10pm Sunday, race starts at 1pm
(qualifying at 12:10pm Saturday)
USA – Delayed? on FOX but I can’t find when

IRL IndyCar Series

- Honda Indy Toronto
- Exhibition Place, Toronto, Canada
- (10/17)
- www.indycar.com

The return of the streets of Toronto to North American after a one year absence due to the series ‘merger’, although the official website incorrectly and very frustratingly refers to this as the ‘inaugural event’, thus completely ignoring the last 23 years (it has been running since 1986). Wasn’t this supposed to be a MERGER??

Still, nice to have it back.

TV Guide:
UK – LIVE on Sky Sports Extra at 6pm Sunday
USA – LIVE on ABC at 1pm ET Sunday

Other Events

NASCAR Sprint Cup

- Lifelock.com 400
- Chicagoland Speedway, Joliet, Illinois, USA
- (19/36)
- www.nascar.com

TV Guide:
UK – LIVE on Sky Sports 2 at 1am Saturday night / Sunday morning
USA – LIVE on TNT at 7.30pm ET Saturday

For all other events I will list the UK time (BST not GMT) and channel only, if you are elsewhere you will have to look it up (check their website).

GP2 Series

- Nürburgring, Germany
- (5/10)
- LIVE on Eurosport: Race 1 Sat @ 3pm, Race 2 Sun @ 10:30am
- www.gp2series.com

Well done to British Eurosport for signing up GP2 after Setanta Sports collapsed! I think only the British arm is covering it so I’m afraid I don’t know the situation elsewhere in Europe.

Intercontinental Rally Challenge

- Rally Russia
- (6/11)
- www.ircseries.com

V8 Supercars

- Townsville, Australia
- (6/14)
- www.v8supercars.com.au

* * * *

Elsewhere in sport don’t forget to keep up with le Tour de France which in the UK can be found nightly at 7pm on ITV4 for the next 2 1/2 weeks. I believe there are copious amounts of coverage on Eurosport too. In the US you can see it on Versus, which curiously also takes Phil Liggett’s commentary (I’m guessing he records links for each network every day because he talks about ITV4 by name on our coverage).

I plan to complete the Goodwood posts during this weekend, then next week will catch up with some race notes because I haven’t done Turkey or Britain yet!
Hopefully soon I will be able to find time to start watching all the other stuff I like to keep up with, which I had to put on hold during my college studies. I am a very long way behind.

Goodwood FoS: Pt.1 – Arrival & Bikes

The Goodwood Festival of Speed is a massive event, it is very difficult to cover the entire area in a single day, but just about manageable if you are quick. I attended on Sunday only, arriving 45m later than planned due to a combination of my own slow movement away from the house (I was unprepared!) and the slow traffic on the roads during the 2hr 15m journey.

Suitably chastising myself, I collected my pre-booked ticket at the gate just as the Red Arrows arrived at about 11am.

Red Arrows, from 2009 Goodwood Festival of Speed

I would have taken better pics but for the decision for safety reasons to hold the air display area over the car park rather than directly above the venue, thus meaning almost the entire display was obscured by trees! I’m sure it looked great to those near the House or on the cricket pitch, for those of us at the start line it was rubbish.

As the air display was coming to a close the next batch of vehicles arrived at the start line, to this day I have no idea why these two classes were batched together: classic motorcycles and current F1 cars. Wow, F1 cars straight away, great luck.

While everyone was in the infield being distracted by the planes I grabbed a space trackside at the start line. I hung around during the motorbike runs to keep the spot. I’m not really into the classic ‘bikes, I don’t know anything at all about them and I didn’t recognise a single machine what with no MotoGP presence - though I did recognise the names Mick Doohan and Carlos Checa when the announcement came that they were running (AFTER they'd left the start) – so imagine my surprise when I looked at the second bike lining up to make a run and recognised the rider!

John Surtees, the only World Champion on two wheels and four, from 2009 Goodwood Festival of Speed

John Surtees is a frail old man these days of course, and he was struggling to keep himself upright which was sad to see – until he was released on to the track, when he took off like a rocket! He was really going for it, absolutely brilliant. I'd not taken much notice of Surtees previously - here I became an instant fan.

All sorts of racing motorbikes from the 1960s to the present day followed him up the hill, including modern endurance bikes and classic sidecars. As I say, I’m not a huge fan so I didn’t get a lot of photos, for those I did get check out my FoS gallery.

I did manage to grab a quick couple of videos though.

Following the final bike was Peter Fonda, the actor from the movie 'Easy Rider' which is 40 years old this year. I actually haven't seen the film so this passed me by a bit, but Mum had already told me to look out for him.

Peter Fonda, from 2009 Goodwood Festival of Speed

I am writing this as a journal of the day and already we can see these posts are going to be photo- and video-heavy rather than covering a lot of words, so I think it would be a good idea to spread out the content over several posts. You can jump ahead of me if you like by checking out my photos here. In the next instalment: F1 cars!

All photos and videos © Patrick Wotton.

Photos from Goodwood Festival of Speed 2009

Goodwood on Sunday was fantastic!

From 2009 Goodwood Festival of Speed

I have uploaded 319 photos of various quality from the day, you may view them here, if you so choose:

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/PatrickWotton/2009GoodwoodFestivalOfSpeed#

I had a fantastic day which capped a great weekend, and I was well and truly shattered at the end of it, so tired! Absolutely 100% worth it though and I recommend the event to anybody (with a few caveats - more on that another time).

As you will have hopefully seen on my Twitter feed or in the photoset above I got photos of Stirling Moss, John Surtees, Jenson Button, Jay Leno, Jesse James and a huge number of classic, priceless racing cars. I'll tell you all about it as soon as I can sit down to write the posts! That's a plural because I may do a large post or several smaller updates, I need to work out which will work better.

In the meantime I hope you enjoy the photos, and I'll also point you in the direction of first-time attendee Lukeh who's blog post sums it up perfectly. I'll link to more people's blogs/photos in future entries.

2009 Goodwood Festival of Speed

Tomorrow I will be attending the Goodwood Festival of Speed for the 3rd time.

I had been considering it for a while and had pretty much decided against it until midweek, when I realised I urgently needed - yes needed - to get to a motorsport event, not having been to one since September. Luckily the tickets were still available on Thursday morning (is this normal or are sales slow?) so this is a very last-minute decision but one I don't regret at all.

I will be attempting to tweet comments during the day to @TooMuchRacing but this will very much depend on the phone signals. There will be a lot of people in one place in a rural area so the network may get overloaded, in which case you'll have to wait for me to upload pics from my camera when I get home tomorrow night (don't tweet and drive, kids).

In the meantime, feel free to enjoy my photos from 2002 and 2003 visits in my Picasa album. I am not claiming they are masterpieces but I hope they give a flavour of the event!

I'll probably be fairly incognito not being one to shout about myself, and I'll be attending as a fan rather than trying to get any media access as many bloggers do - so this blogger will be deploying in stealth mode. Not to mention I have nothing to identify myself as TooMuchRacing other than telling people. I intend to have a busy yet relaxed day, if possible.

Will blog upon my return!

Weekend Preview: 4-5 July 2009

Feature Events

Goodwood Festival of Speed

- Goodwood House, Chichester, West Sussex, England, UK
- www.goodwood.co.uk/motorsport/

This event grows every single year without fail, it was huge when I attended in 2002 and 2003 and reportedly it is even bigger now, with an expanded rally stage and other updates. Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button and Sebastien Loeb will be present among the luminaries of racing history such as Stirling Moss, Jackie Stewart (tbc), Damon Hill, Al Unser Sr and Rusty Wallace. The big news though?

I am hoping to attend on Sunday! I’ll be looking for last-minute tickets Thursday morning and if I’m successful I will be tweeting to @toomuchracing throughout Sunday, for as long as the battery and network signal allow.

IndyCar Series

- Camping World Fifth Annual Grand Prix at the Glen
- Watkins Glen International, New York, United States
- (9/17)
- www.indycar.com

After a long oval swing lasting several months the IndyCars make their return to the roads at the sweeping Watkins Glen circuit, utilising the full GP layout as opposed to the shorter N-word layout.

This is a good race track, nice and fast out the back and despite being narrow and bumpy it does have a couple of possible passing spots for those willing to go for them.

TV Guide:
UK – LIVE on Sky Sports 2 at 6pm Sunday
USA – LIVE on ABC at 1pm ET Sunday

MotoGP

- Red Bull United States Grand Prix
- Laguna Seca, Monterey, California, United States
- (8/17)
- www.motogp.com

The first of two visits to the US for the premiere class of motorbike racing, they’ll go to Indy later in the summer. For now a visit to California and a track which is notorious for being hard to pass at, even on bikes, and with vicious unrelenting gravel traps.

If anyone can advise of US TV coverage in the comments below, I’d be grateful.

TV Guide:
UK – LIVE on BBC Two at 10pm Sunday night
Delayed on Eurosport

 

Other Events

NASCAR Sprint Cup

- Coke Zero 400
- Daytona International Speedway, Daytona, Florida, USA
- (18/36)
- www.nascar.com

TV Guide:
UK – LIVE on Sky Sports 1 at 1am Saturday night / Sunday morning 
USA – LIVE on TNT at 7.30pm ET Saturday

If you’re not into staying up all night to watch NASCAR, this race is repeated in the UK both directly before AND after(!!) the Watkins Glen IndyCar race on Sunday on Sky Sports 2.

For all other events I will list the UK time (BST not GMT) and channel only, if you are elsewhere you will have to look it up (check their website).

FIA World Touring Cars

- Porto
- Boavista circuit, Porto, Portugal
- (7/12)
- Eurosport: Race 1 @ 11.15am, Race 2 @ 4.30pm
- www.fiawtcc.com

World Series by Renault

- Silverstone
- Unable to locate any TV coverage

Grand-Am Rolex Series

- Daytona
- (7/12)
- www.grand-am.com

British F3

- Snetterton

German F3

- Lausitzring

* * * *

For those in the UK, don’t forget Top Gear on BBC2 at 8pm Sunday!

I am again going to be offline for a while. I should be here and there for a short time on Friday.
On Thursday I’m going to see Blur in Hyde Park, London (have waited a nearly decade for them to get back together!), and I’m not here Saturday either. Then Sunday I’m hopefully at Goodwood! If I make it I will recap the day, with pictures, during next week.