McLaren

This is the second in a series about successful F1 teams.

McLaren is one of a small group of highly successful F1 teams that dates back to the 1960's. Since their debut in 1966 at the Monaco GP, McLaren has won a staggering 8 constructors championships ('74, '84, '85, '88, '89, '90, '91, '98) and a total of 12 driver's championships ('74, '76, '84, '85, '86, '88, '89, '90, '91, 98, '99, '08). Along the way, the elite team has accumulated 182 race victories, 155 pole positions, 152 fastest laps, 47 one-two finishes, resulting in 391 podium appearances.

Founded in 1963 by F1 driver Bruce McLaren in order to run the Australian Tasman Series, the New Zealand native had already tasted victory with three F1 wins under his belt with the British F1 team Cooper. A consummate engineer, Bruce would push far beyond the envelop in the early days of F1. To watch a short video about the man, click here. For the 50th anniversary video, click here.

Fittipaldi in a MP 23

The Brazilian Emerson Fittipaldi was the driver who restored McLaren as a top contender after four years of rebuilding, after the passing of the founder in a testing accident at Goodwood in 1970. A couple of years later, Britain's James Hunt won one of the tightest championships in F1 history, in an epic championship battle with Niki Lauda that has now been put on the big screen as "Rush".

Prost and Senna in 1988 

After a couple of uncompetitive years, the team bounced back by winning seven championships through the mid-80's to early 90's in what can be only categorized as in F1's greatest era. With Lauda setting the stage by winning the championship in 1984, Alain Prost followed in 1985 and 1986, and with the legendary Ayrton Senna joining team, together they won 15 out of 16 races the following  year, with Senna wining the championship by a small margin.

As the technological side of F1 racing increased in importance, so did the brain trust. With Adrian Newey making technological improvements, Mika Hakkinen won back-to-back driver's championships with McLaren in 1998 and 1999. Only in 2008 would a McLaren win the title again, this time with Lewis Hamilton behind the wheel.

For the 2015 season, two time world champion Fernando Alonso joins Jenson Button in what will be known as the season in which the all conquering partnership of McLaren-Honda, first established back in 1988, will resume. Back then the powerful MP4/4 won a staggering 15 out of 16 races!

Below the list of 30 of the most famous McLaren drivers:
- David Coulthard

Early McLaren logo

- Mikka Hakkinen
- Lewis Hamilton
- Alain Prost
- Jenson Button
- Kimi Raikkonen
- Denny Hulme
- John Watson
- Niki Lauda

- Jochen Mass
- James Hunt
- Gergard Berger
- Bruce McLaren
- Emerson Fittipaldi

Modern day logo

- Juan Pablo Montoya
- Fernando Alonso
- Martin Brundle
- Keke Rosberg
- Michael Andretti
- Mike Hailwood
- Jody Scheckter

Marlboro, main sponsor for 23 yrs

- John Surtees
- Nelson Piquet
- David Hobbs
- Nigel Mansell
- Mark Donohue
- Jacky Ickx
- Pillippe Alliot
- Derek Bell

- Gilles Villeneuve


Source: McLaren, Wikipedia
Photo/image credit: McLaren F1, own files, others are unknown.

F1's driver nicknames

FIA's Formula One is known as the pinnacle of motorsports and everything related is held to very high standards. Even when it comes to driver's nicknames, unlike in other sports, they tell a tale of the driver's driving style, his personality, his habit of crashing, his services to a specific team or even about his looks.

Below some excerpts of Oliver Harden's article "Ranking F1's greatest driver nicknames":


Juan Manuel Fangio "El Maestro", as the 5 time World Champion was considered to be the master in his home country of Argentina, but in retrospect, around the world as well. From the 5 championships, four were with different teams, Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz and Maserati. He is pictured above, on the cover of the Italian Life magazine.

Sir Jack Brabham "Black Jack", as the 3 time World Champion was known for his tough, firm persona. Mr. Brabham is pictured on the right looking at the newly presented bust of himself.

Niki Lauda "The Rat", as the three-time World Champion's bucked teeth led the Austrian to be likened to a rodent. After winning the crown this changed to "King Rat".

Graham Hill "Mr. Monaco", on winning at the principality on five occasions in the sixties.

Nigel Mansell "The Lion", as the World Champion was called by the tifosi for his highly committed, aggressive, spectacular style he drove his Ferrari in 1989-1990.

Alain Prost "The Professor", as the four-time World Champion was referred to his extensive repertoire, consisting of tactics, politics, mind games and shear speed, to beat his faster but more naive rivals.

Mika Häkkinen "The Flying Finn", as the 2 time World Champion was referred to.

Arie Luijendijk "The Flying Dutchman, as the two-time Indy 500 winner (1990, 1997) was known to be fly around the 2.5 mile tri-oval.

Michael Schumacher "The Red Barron", because of the seven-time World Champion's red Ferrari and in reference to the German famous flying ace of WWI. Schumacher's nicknames also include "Rain Master.

Fernando Alonso "Teflonso", as the World Champion was involved in several controversies, but like Teflon, nothing stuck.

Kimi Räikkonen "Iceman", as the blunt, straightforward and monosyllabic style in interviews the World Champion carries himself.

Pastor Maldonado "Crashtor", as the Venezolean has the habit of crashing into everything in sight.

Nico Rosberg "Britney", as the fresh-faced appearance and blond locks reminded many of the famous pop singer. Coined in 2006, the nick name caught on in 2010 thanks to Hamilton and Button playing a practical joke on Rosberg's birthday.

Lewis Hamilton, "Hammertime", as the 2008 World Champion is known to be able to press hard and make the passes when it's necessary.


So when you hear a F1 driver's nickname mentioned, you know there is a great deal of truth to it. Unfortunately, as the corporate world has gotten a strange hold on the modern F1 era, nicknames are on the decline.

Source: Oliver Harden
Photo credit: Life Magazine (Italy)

The decline of F1

Formula One has become such a large money making machine that due to over-regulation it runs the risk of alienating its core fans.

At the conclusion of last weekend's Singapore GP, Australian driver Mark Webber hitched back a ride to the pits on the sidepod of Alonso after his car broke down. The fact that this happened in a blind corner caused the stewards to issue the below mentioned report asking for a reprimand:

"The driver of car 3 drove the car in a manner which could be deemed potentially dangerous to other drivers or any other person".

Please see the official document to the right.

This same courtesy was extended by Nigel Mansell to the legend Ayrton Senna back in 1991, when Senna rode on the Williams sidepod of rival Mansell at Silverstone. See picture below.

The difference between these two incidents is that Alonso stopped on the racing line in a blind corner and that the business of F1 is exponentially bigger than it was 22 years ago. The former was used as an excuse to give Alonso a reprimand and Webber a 10-grid penalty at the next event [note I didn't call it a race].

To me, this is hypocrisy at its best. We all know that motorsports at this level all have a high degree of danger, but we leave this in the capable hands of the drivers who know best. Yet, in this case, even though we cheer these drivers who all have incredible sharp reflexes combined with the modern F1 car out-of-this-world braking power, the stewards deemed it necessary to intervene.

The entire paddock area must be laughing amongst themselves, especially the drivers. They all know that this is entirely over blown. And Webber, he must be glad he is leaving the F1 circus this year.



Senna hitching a ride with Mansell, who can be seen saluting the fans

Thanks for reading.

Photo credit: Motorsports.com.

The racing weekend that was - UPDATED

In Formula One, in Australia:

Kimi celebrating his victory

As this race was not aired in my neck of the woods, I can't comment on it... other that it was won by Kimi "The Iceman" Raikkonen, followed by the Spaniard Fernando Alonso and reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel.

A very strong start for Lotus which will make my father unbearable until the next F1 race!
For details about the Australian F1 race, please click here.

In NASCAR, at Tennessee:

Aerial view of the Speedway

At the very exciting short track that is Bristol Motor Speedway, the final 100 laps of the race had some epic battles for the lead, and the top ten positions.

Brad Keselowski and Kasey Kahne ran door to door for what seemed an eternity. No matter what Kahne tried, he could not complete the pass and when they hit traffic on the back stretch he tried his best but lost control for a brief moment. As he fought to regain control Keselowski was able to pull away. While this battle for first place took place, Kyle Busch was running a strong in third and briefly took second from Keselowski.
After the last caution of the race, caused by a tire failure on Jimmie Johnson's car, Kasey Kahne held off a series of battles to win the Food City 500, followed by Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, Kurt Busch and Clint Bowyer.

Unfortunately for the two strongest cars of the race, Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth saw their races end in spectacular fashion. As Gordon lead the race, his car shot up the embankment and hit the wall and was later collected by Kenseth who had no place to go.

As NASCAR tightens its grip on the Sprint Cup series, especially on the behavior of the drivers, it is interesting to see what NASCAR will do after a shoving match occurred after the race. After battling for the lead with Gordon, Joey Logano slipped back a bit and allowed former teammate Denny Hamlin to catch up with him. As the former teammate rounded turn one, Hamlin bumped Logano causing him to spin out. This type of behavior is a flagrant display of unsportsmanlike conduct. However, what Logano did after the race in going to talk to Hamlin while he hadn't climbed out of his car yet, wasn't much better. Let's see how the governing body will handle this situation.
At the very least the NASCAR drivers are not as sterile as the F1 boys!

Below a short video of the Logano-Hamlin shoving incident.

 


In NHRA, at the Gatornationals:
I will write this piece as soon as I see it on Monday,s o please bare with me and do check back. In the meantime, some pretty cool picts of Saturday qualifying at the Gatornationals can be seen in Dragzine's picture gallery. To view these, please click here.

Update:
Well, as I thought previously the Gatornationals was well worth the wait (until rebroadcasted on Monday).

In Top Fuel:
Antron Brown defeated Clay Millican with a low et of the meet at 3.761. Brown gave his team owner Don Schumacher (DSR) his 200th win. Quite impressive if you ask me.

In Funny Car:

Gray vs Worsham in the finals

It was great to see Courtney Force sticking it to the ol' man. In a staging duel, she held up her own and went in last. And then beat him too! She is now 3-1 against her famous father.

In the finals, Johnny Gray defeated Del Worsham with a 4.05 to 4.10. He jokingly mentioned that even though he would be retiring at the end of 2013, he would do his very best to give the youth a very hard and though time this year.

In Pro Stock:

Finals: Johnson vs Coughlin (far lane)

In the doorslammer category Mike Edwards continued on Sunday to dominate the field when he bashed out a 6.473 that matched his national record pass from qualifying. At the time, he had four of the five quickest passes in class history this weekend. However, a severe tire shake cost Edwards his race against Jegg Coughlin Jr, who went on to defeat Jason Line on a holeshot, 6.532 to 6.501.

The finals of Pro Stock saw two Mopar's and teammeates going mano-a-mano. At the stripe it was Allen Johnson who had lady luck on his side throughout Sunday, winning on a holeshot, 6.535 to 6.514.

In P/S Motorcycle:

With some drastic rule changes coming too late for the harley boys to adapt, clearly had them at a disadvantage. And so it was.

But it couldn't have turned out any better, well I guess he could've won, for Steve Johnson after getting to the final round in Pro Stock Motorcycle since back-to-back runner ups in Chicago and Englishtown in 2010. He kept going rounds and getting great TV exposure, even though he didn't have any major sponsors.

Finals: Arana II vs Johnson (far lane)

The Arana's went head to head in the semis with Sr having to back down. And even though Johnson had lane choice over Arana II, last year's rookie still got the win.

Congratulations to all the winners!

To see the NHRA recap of the race, please click here.

Thanks for reading.

Source: Formula One, Fox.com, Dragzine.com, NHRA.
Photo credit: Newsobserver.com, Motorauthority., NHRA.

The racing weekend that was

Formula One, under the lights, in Singapore:

Awesome Singapore skyline

One of the most anticipated events on the F1 race calendar is the Marina Bay Street Circuit. It is a track in which most of the corners kinda look alike, and as such, is considered difficult to learn for rookies. However, the glittering city skyline makes it all worth it.

In a race which Lewis Hamilton looked to have securely in the bag and Pastor Maldonado a podium finish for sure, well, it all changed for the worse. Around lap 22, as Hamilton's lead was 1.5 seconds ahead of Vettel and Button, the Brit lost all gears coming out of turn one. The onboard camera captured his right finger feverishly clicking away at the paddle-shifter trying to find a gear, but to no avail. The radio communication affirmed that the McLaren had gearbox issues on Saturday and the crew had done their best to remedy the situation.

Alonso maintains title lead

As Vettel inherited the lead, the Venezolean Maldonado started to put the heat on second place Jenson Button. However, in fourth was the Spaniard Alonso who after getting new tires started putting pressure of Maldonado, who at this point wasn't lapping as fast as the Ferrari No 1 driver. Around lap 34, a hydraulic failure was detected with the Williams car and Maldonado was ordered to bring the car into the pits and consequently had to retire. The fans love it, and the concerts are great too!

Schumacher crashes into Vergne

Micheal Schumacher plowed into the back of Vergne who was determined to get passed the struggles Sergio Perez. The two's fight had slowed their approach into a right hander, however, Schumi was oblivious to this and could not slow the Mercedes enough to avoid the collision. He would later be penalized by the race stewards. Vergne was also sidelined by the collision.

Overview of the track

In the end, Sebastion Vettel secured the win, followed by Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso.
Vettel dedicated his win to the memory of Prof Sid Watkins.

The championship top five: 1. Alonso 194 points, 2. Vettel 165, 3. Raikkonen 149, 4. Hamilton 142,
5. Webber 132.
For some great pictures of this race, please click here.

The next race will be the Japanese GP on October 7. For more info, please click here.


NASCAR, at New Hampshire:

Hamlin celebrating his win

Denny Hamlin's luck turned this time around as he vowed to win the race. In the last race, at Chicagoland, he had run out of fuel whilst in the lead.

Hamlin had started 32nd due to a mistake with tire pressures during Firday's time trials. However, by the 100th lap he took the race lead.

The top five race results: 1. Denny Hamlin, 2. Jimmie Johnson, 3. Jeff Gordon, 4. Clint Bowyer, 5. Kasey Khane.

The next race will be run at Dover on September 30. For more info, please click here.


NHRA will follow tomorrow.

Thanks for reading

Source: Crash.net, Formula One, NASCAR.
Photo credit: Luxury Insider, eMercedes.com, Jerome Cijntje

The racing weekend that was

In Formula One, at the Hungaroring:

The Hungaroring is a racing circuit near Mogyorod, near Budapest, Hungary where the eleventh round of the F1 championship took place on Sunday. Oddly enough, this race historically draws a lot of foreign fans, with the majority of them from Germany and Austria, but the Finish contingency is large as well. Back in the eighties, Bernie Ecclestone wanted F1 to have a race in the USSR, but a Hungarian friend recommended him Budapest. And so, the first F1 race behind the iron curtain was held in 1986.

Lewis leads the field into turn 1

Up to this season's last race, Lewis Hamilton was having a season to forget. However, this past weekend he seemed to turn a page, for he set a blistering pace in practice and subsequently qualified on pole. On the other hand, Fernando Alonso, season went from great to below par.
The gird was formed as follows: P1. Lewis Hamilton, P2. Romain Grosjean, P3. Sebastian Vettel, P4. Jenson Button, P5. Kimi Raikkonen, P6. Fernando Alonso.

Lewis Hamilton lead from start to finish to complete a perfect Hungarian GP weekend, resisting a late charge from the Lotus' dynamic duo. A pretty uneventful race, except from a aborted start of the race, which saw seven-time wold Champion Schumacher embarrass his team as he turned off his overheating engine as the field was waved round for a second green flag lap. Schumi was left stranded on the grid and would start dead last from the pit lane.

Grosjean battling with Vettel

The pole sitter was quick from the beginning and dominated the race only to relinquish the lead while he pitted for fresh rubber on two occasions. In the closing stages of the race, he came under pressure from Lotus' Kimi Raikkonen who used a longer stint strategy to emerge with fresh rubber. He initially reeled in the Briton but then, as has been the case in the past, he could not pass Hamilton, even though at a point he was less the a second behind in the DRS activation zone.

In the end, Kimi had to settle for second while his teammate Grosjean completed the podium. Sebastian Vettel came in fourth and Fernando Alonso was fifth.

The Championship stands are as follows:
1. Alonso, Ferrari, 164 points,
2. Webber, Red Bull Racing-Renault, 124
3. Vettel, Red Bull Racing-Renault, 122
4. Hamilton, McLaren-Mercedes, 117
5. Raikkonen, Lotus-Renault, 116


Lewis was over-joyed after the race, as be seen in the pictures below. He even kissed the camera (last picture).












The season now goes into the summer break with mandatory stop on all activity, including testing. The next race is on September 2, with the Belgian GP at the circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. At last, we will see who's got the balls not to lift at Eau Rouge.



MotoGP at Laguna Seca, for the US GP:
Last week the MotoGP guys crossed the pond for a visit to the Monterey Peninsula, California, home of Laguna Seca. The now renamed Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, is one of those tracks that is a joy to drive, or ride for that matter. The Corckscrew is simply amazing and can be seen in the two pictures below. The first picture shows Jorge Lorenzo leading Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner out of the second corner that makes part of the famed Corcscrew. The second picture is a continuation of the first.

After two difficult races, reigning MotoGP Champion Casey Stoner (Honda) put in a valiant effort to close the gap to title leader Jorge Lorenzo (Factory Yamaha). 

Stoner's gutsy call to go with softer rear tire prevented him to make an early brake and had to settle for third at the start of the race. However, after some time on the softs, Stoner was able to pass teammate Dani Pedrosa and set his sights on front runner Lorenzo. The Aussie's perfectly balanced speed with smoothness got stronger as the race progressed and at 2/3 point of the race he was able overtake the Spaniard. He won with a 3.4 second lead. The photo above/right shows Stoner looking back at Lorenzo just before the finish line.

The podium consisted of, 1. Casey Stoner, 2. Jorge Lorenzo, 3. Dani Pedrosa, with Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow rounding out the top five.

"I was confident for the entire race that I had enough pace for the win, we just needed to make sure the tire would last until the end. When we got to the front we put in some good laps and pulled a small advantage and just continued from there," recalled Stoner. "I'm very, very happy and a big thanks to all the team."

Rossi hitching a ride

Since Volkswagen's Audi division bought Italian motorcycle maker Ducati (now the 12th brand in VW's group), they has been trying to convince Valentino Rossi to re-sign for 2012. However, "the Doctor" as Rossi is called, had another off pace weekend, culminating in a fall two laps from the finish.
"I wasn't fighting for the podium, but a crash like that at the end of the race is still disappointing.... I lost the front when I was approaching the Corkscrew, when the bike was vertical, right when I touched the brake, a bit like what happened at Silverstone," explained Rossi.

The next race is on August 19, at the Red Bull Indianapolis GP.



NASCAR, at the Brickyard 400:

There was a lot of racing activity at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway this past weekend. It culminated in the Nascar Sprint Cup series race on Sunday, which was filled with controversy. However, one thing was certain. Jimmie Johnson's (#48) dominance was recognized by everyone, even the runner-ups Kyle Busch, who's not known as a "good" looser.
This was Johnson's 58th win of the series in 383 starts, his fourth Brickyard 400.

"Man, you just hope to race here - to come here and win is a huge honor," Johnson said. "And to win four - four wins! I'm at a loss of words."

With 26 laps to go, Matt Kenseth could do nothing to avoid running into a out-of-control Joey Logano, who suddenly got loose.
Kenseth went to the high side in the short shute between Turns 1 and 2 but he was in vain. Although Carl Edwards' race did not end in a wreck, it didn't end much better. At 4 laps down, he was forced to come in to diagnose an engine problem and try to fix it.
And front runner Elliot Sadler was black flagged for jumping a race restart, ending his bid for a podium finish.

For more details about the race, please click here. For a short video, click here.

The race results:
1. Jimmie Johnson, 2. Kyle Busch, 3. Greg Biffle, 4. Dale Earnhardt Jr., 5. Jeff Gordon.

The next race will be the Pennsylvania 400, at Pocono Raceway on August 5, 2012.


Thanks for reading.

Source: Formula One Mgt, Crash.net, Jalopnik, Reuters, Wikipedia, NASCAR
Photo credit: Centraleurope.com, Totally cool pix, MotoGP, Crash.net

A picture is worth a 1000 words

Ferrari driver and former F1 world champion, Fernando Alonso, is on a roll this season, even though his rivals seem to have quicker cars. In the picture below, the Spaniard illustrates the difference between him and his rivals.

And, in drag racing, any time you see a picture like the one below, it can't possibly end well. And this one didn't either. Paul Pittman, who builds his own cars, lost it at the Bandimere Speedway last Sunday and crashed it hard during his first NHRA Pro Stock race. Fortunately, he build a strong chassis for he was able to walk away unhurt. For the full sequence of shots, please click here.

Thanks for reading.

Photo credit: Totallycoolpictures, Mark Rebilas.

The racing weekend that was

Formula 1, Grosser Preis Santader von Deutschland, at Hockenheim:
Ahead of the third practice session, Mark Webber, Romain Grosjean and Nico Rosberg changed gearboxes and had to take a five grid penalty after qualifying. In a rain-affected qualifying session, Ferarri's Fernando Alonso, for the second time in a row, made the most of his Pirelli's extreme wet tires in poor weather conditions and secured pole position.

Alonso leads into the first turn

On race Sunday, Alonso picked up where he left off and made a great start to the race without having to defend his line going into the first corner. And even though the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton was quicker than his Ferrari, and both Sebastian Vettel and Jenson Button pressed him hard, the Spaniard led from start to finish in commanding fashion and took home the win.

Despite having just a few overtaking, the race was an exciting one for the leaders and their teams showcased their very best, without the interference of "Lady Luck" in the latter stages of the race. During first round pit-stops, Alonso (P1) and Vettel (P2) came in together and with his pitbox just behind Ferrari's, the suspense grew immensely. Usually, passing is done on the track and rarely in the pits in front of the pit-crew that committed a mistake. However, Ferrari boys stepped up to the plate and hit the ball out of the park, with a great stop.

In the second round of pitstops third place sitter Button pitted ahead of Vettel, who pitted a lap later. But when Vettel rejoined the race he came out just behind Button, who moved up to second place. Vettel made a charge on the McLaren driver on the penultimate lap and used his DRS on the run up to the hairpin. The German took the outside line and completed the pass on Button by putting all four tires off the track. Immediately hereafter,  Button complained on his radio that by going off the track Vettel had gained a competitive advantage.

Alonso celebrates his 3rd win of the season

In the end, Fernando Alonso won the race, Vettel who finished second was handed a 20 second penalty by the race stewards which pushed him back to fifth place. Jenson Button was brought up to second and Kimi Raikkonen to third place. To read selected driver quotes, click here.
With his win, Alonso extended his lead in the championship with a dominant lead of 34 points.

The Ferrari team mate of Alonso, the Brazilian Felipe Massa ran in the back of a Toro Rosso at the start of the race and had to come in for a new wing. This incidents' debris punctured Lewis' left rear on the second lap which effectively put  him out of the race. He retired due to damage to the rear of the car caused by the flat tire.

The next stop on the calendar is the ENI Magyar Nagydij, in Hungary, on July 29 next.

NASCAR, at Chicagoland:

Allgaier giving Sadler a push on last lap

In a very competitive racing championship, such as Nascar's Nationwide series, drivers must often dig deep in order to pull a win out of the hat. But none had to dig deeper than Elliott Sadler, who battled illness throughout the weekend. Luckily he had his doctor with him and by keeping hydrated through lots of fluid and a few IV's, Sadler was able rally late and capture the win.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. had lead the majority of the race, but some ill-timed cautions caused him to finish in second place. Last year's Chicagoland race winner, Justin Allgaier was running second at the start of the green-white-checkered finish and was able to give Sadler a push and then protect him own position. However, he could hold off Stenhouse who passed him coming out of turn two relinquishing him to finish in third place.

Take a look at the last two laps of the race, in the 1 minute video below:

"I'm still not 100 percent, but it feels good to win here in Chicago," Sadler said. "My wife and I came here with another couple, which also happens to be my doctor, and we had to put him to work."

The next race will take place this Sunday, at Indy at 4 pm (ET).

Thanks for reading.

Source: Formula One, Crash.net, the F1 Times, NASCAR,
Photo credit: Totallycoolpix, NASCAR
Video credit: NASCAR

The racing weekend that was

A great weekend of racing: Formula 1, MotoGP, and NASCAR.

Formula 1, at Silverstone, UK:

The new Wing complex

Round nine, the Santander British GP, was run at the Silverstone Circuit. The track first hosted a GP back in 1948, and in 1950 under the sanctioning body of the F.I.A. Before that it was a WWII Royal Air Force bomber station. Recently, it has undergone a radical redesign to transform it into a "Arena" circuit configuration to bring the spectators closing to the action

Weather played a major role during the weekend, with torrential rain and flooding on Friday's practice and Saturday's qualifying. The fans were even asked to stay a way from the track on Saturday.
However, on race-day the sun came out and threw off everyone's racing strategies, for the teams had no data on slick racing tires at Silverstone. The race would be wide open.

Alonso leads Webber at the start

From the start of the race Mark Webber, driving for Red Bull , took the fight to Fernando Alonso and kept up the pressure throughout the race. And in the closing laps, Ferrari executed their tire strategy to perfection, as the Ausie native Webber exerted considerable pressure on the Spaniard hoping to force him into making a mistake. While the battle for first continued Vettel was coming on strong, still in third. With four laps to go, and in spectacular fashion, Webber took first in a daring move on the outside, as Alonso's tires started to fade.
The Spaniard drove a great race but the Red Bull was just quicker. Monday's headlines would read: "Webber out-duels Alonso for Silverstone win."

Vettal in his RB8

Both Lotus' ran strong. The man of the day would be Romain Grosjean who drove very well, who after a first lap incident with Paul di Resta, made it all the way back to sixth place. His team mate Kimi Raikkonen, also ran well passing Schumi and Hamilton in the closing stages for fifth. Also worth mentioning was Ferrari's Felipe Massa who drove like his old self.

Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi gave Schumi a very tough time but when Kamui pitted he locked the fronts and slid into some of his crew, sending them flying. He immediately apologized to his mechanics for misjudging his entry.

1st place finisher Webber celebrating

Race results (top 5): 1. Mark Webber,  2. Fernando Alonso, 3. Sebastian Vettel, 4. Felipe Massa, 5. Kimi Raikkonen.
At least we didn't have Schumi in the post race interview screwing everything up or not knowing where he was on the track.

Round ten will come at Hockenheim in Germany on July 22 next. For more info, please click here.


MotoGP, at the Eni Motorrad GP of Germany:
Round 8 of the MotoGP was run at the Sashsenring which is the shortest and slowest tracks on the championship.

Pedrosa ahead of a sliding Stoner

The factory RCV riders were in a class of their own throughout the race and had exchanged the lead many times. For the final eleven laps Dani Pedrosa was ahead of his team mate and reigning world champion Casey Stoner. The Ausie native was determined to win the race pushed really hard on the final lap. However, as he explained later on, it was not meant to be, as he fell off his Honda on the last lap of the race and was unable to continue.
The German marshals were not very cooperative.

"I had planned to go for my "win or bin" effort in the last corner, not that one!", lamented Casey Stoner after the race.

As for Dani Pedrosa, he finally broke the casey Stoner/Jorge Lorenzo victory strangelhold on MotoGP in 2012 with this win. His drive could be summed up as follows: He took a holeshot into Turn 1, but was then passed by Stoner on lap 2, but he made what turned out to be the winning pass on lap on lap 19 when he out-braked Stoner into turn 1.

Italian Andrea Dovizioso rode a great race to get his second third-place finish in two weeks. With this he stakes his claim to the factory Yamaha seat, after he beat Ben Spies for third place, again.

Next race, the Gran Premio d'Italia TIM, at Mugello on July 15 next. For more info, please click here.

AJ Allmendinger suspended

NASCAR, at the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona Int'l Speedway:
Just a couple of hours before the start of the race Nascar temporarily suspended AJ Allmendinger for failing a random drug test. Team owner Roger Penske had to scramble to get Sam Hornish Jr back to Daytona to drive the no 22 car. He did so with just 8 minutes to spare, thanks to the track be situated next to the Daytona's airport, and of course, having access to private jets helps too. For more info, please click here.

The track was patched up very nicely after JP Montoya's fiery incident jet dryer truck incident in back February.

Racing under the lights at Daytona

Lap 81, the first caution came out due to Sam Hornish Jr blowing a tire and wrecked on the back stretch.  The caution enabled Stewart and Keseloski, who were half-lap down, to catch up.

However, in the ensuing pit stop Kasey Kahne, Ryan Newman and Jeff Gordon whent three-wide and touched on the way to the exit to pit road, sending Newman's Chevrolet spinning into the back of Keselowski's Dodge, which was still getting service. Alert and nimble crew members scattered and jumped for safety and luckily nobody was hurt.

Lap 124, a seven-car wreck saw Jimmie Johnson's car destroyed, caused Greg Biffle to be penalized for stopping under yellow. His team mate Matt Kenseth who was pitting with him continued down the pit lane with out stopping. Both drivers were committed to pitting before the yellow came out.

Lap 153, Denny Hamlin made an ill-fated move that exiting the tri-oval which caused a wreck that thinned the field for the final restart. All of Joe Gibbs Racing cars as well as Michael Waltrip's were involved.

Steward ahead of the massive wreck

At the last restart, Kenseth led with Stewart to his outside and Biffle behind him. However, Stewart out-foxes Kenseth as he skillfully side-drafts and unhooks himself from the teammates and pulls ahead while Kenseth waits for Biffle. As Stewart approached the checkered flag, a massive wreck in Turn 4 skewed the finishing order behind him, unfortunately for those who had been driving well all night. Yet another wild finish.

Stewart, on his 47th career win and 4th at the July race in Daytona: "I'll trade all [the July Daytona wins] in for just one Daytona 500. ... But all of 'em are special, and it's cool to do this.

The top five are as follows: 1. Tony Stewart, 2. Jeff Burton, 3. Matt Kenseth, 4. Joey Logano, 5. Ryan Newman. Click here to watch the "race rewind" video.

Next race will be Lenox Industrial at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on July 15. For moore info, please click here.

Check back for a report on NHRA.

Thanks for reading.

Source: Nascar, Wikipedia, Crash.net, Foxsports, MotoGP, Formula One,
Photo credit: Getty Images for Nascar, FoxNews, Dailymail.co.uk, Crash.net

The racing weekend that was - UPDATED

Formula One, at Valencia, Spain:
The F1 circus came back across the pond this weekend for the running of the European GP, and it looked as if the "no-repeat" streak of winners would hold again this weekend. Vettel took his 33rd career pole, now third best in F1 history, while past champions like Alonso (P11) and Schumi did not even make the Q3 cut.

Vettel's stricken RB being hoisted away

At the start of the race, Alonso, Kimi and Romain Grosjean all made spectacular starts. As was expected, the Red Bull Racing F1 car of Sebastian Vettel blasted away from pole and created a considerable lead.
But around the midway point, Vettel's dominance of the race came to an abrupt end with engine problems. Fellow Renault engine driver Romain Grosjean (Lotus) also dropped out of the race due to a problem with its engine's alternator.

The second part of the race saw the Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso in the lead, followed by Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) and Pastor Maldonado (Williams). As Hamilton's tire started to go away in the closing stages of the race, he fell into the clutches of the Venezolean who was pushing the Brit very hard into making a mistake. Well, Hamilton did make a mistake that cost them both dearly. Lewis dropped crashed out and Maldonado finished tenth but a penalty for causing the accident, which in my opinion he did not deserve, set him back two positions. To watch a video of the incident, click here.

From left, Kimi, Fernando and Schumi

As the checkered flag waved, it was Fernando Alonso followed by Kimi Raikonnen. The Fin, ex Ferrari Champion and now driving for Lotus, again came up short whilst chasing the red Spaniard. And remarkably, the third place finisher was none other that the Mercedes of Micheal Schumacher. As Schumi was cruising through the race he did not even notice that he was third.
I guess he just drives as fast as he can. This is evident by his post race interview remark that he was surprised to finish third.
The suits from Mercedes won't be happy with that remark.

Alonso waving the Spanish flag

A jubilant Alonso stated: "Nothing compares to this...I think, from the emotional side, this is the best win. The emotions that I felt on the in-lap, or during the podium ceremony or right now, doesn't compare to anything before. I confirm that this is the best feeling of victory by far, because of the whole situation in Spain [Spain qualifying for euro Cup semi's and economic situation], the grandtands, the weekend in general, how they support us."

As I watched the race finish, the first thing that came to mind was that it would be a podium of past F1 Champions with Ferrari.

Kimi: "just didn't have enough tires"

And the post-race interview was fun to watch; Alonso full of emotion, a surprised Schumi that didn't know where he was, and Kimi just being Kimi. Born cool, that is just how it is. To watch the video, please click here.

All in all, an awesome race that makes me want to keep watching F1. The only thing that is sad is to see Lewis keep making these mistakes that in the end will cost him being considered among the great's. To finish first one must first finish!

The next race, round 9, the British GP at Silverstone on July 8 next.


ADRL, at Virginia Motorsports Park:

Mother Nature did not cooperate Friday night when rain and strong winds postponed, then cancelled all together the qualifying sessions. The action continued on Saturday morning, bright and early, with lots of holeshot and upsets.

Below follows the winners in their respective categories:

Mick Snyder (Pro eXtreme), first driver in PX history to win three straight races, and did this against Tim Tindle on a holeshot win, 3.665 at 208.23 mph.

Doug Riesterer (Pro Nitrous), ran a 3.74 at 195.11 mph to beat Burton Auxier. Riesterer remarkably didn't make a qulifying pass until the final session but made it count.

XTF winner Brad Brand

Brad Brand (XTF- Extreme 10.5)) barely avoided touching the left guardwall en route to his first ADRL victory. This came against Alan Pittman in a highly entertaining come-from-behind victory, 3,949 at 185.72 mph.

Casey Stemper (Pro eXtreme Motorcycle) beat Eric McKinney in the finals eventhough his bike caught fire. He beat Eric with a 4.034 at 164.77 mph.

Richie Stevens Jr. (eXtreme Pro Stock) beat Dean Goforth with a 4.091 at 176.33 mph, picking the perfect time to make his quickest and fastest time of the weekend. Stevens: "This feels awesome".

Fredy Scriba (Pro Modified) made an impressive run to knock out Rickie Smith with a 3.981 at 188.25 mph. "This was really cool. It was definitely a tuner's weekend, but all the hard work we put in really paid off", Scriba mentioned on his performance.

Clash of Titans winner Teets

Terry Teets(TS), driving in the Top Sportsman and hailing from Virginia, who won the $10k Summit Clash of Titans, when he beat Richmond-area native William Brown III. Teets winning et was 4.444 at 163.59 mph.

The next race is the Summer Drags at US 131 Motorsports Park, Juny 13-14 next.



NASCAR, in wine country:
Sunday's running of the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma, California, was an action packed road course race out West that left many begging for more.

Even though I didn't get a chance to watch this race "live", from Nascar's race rewind video, you see that racing on road courses can be as entertaining as on oval super speedways. To watch the short but entertaining video, please click here.

In the end, Clint Bowyer won the race, followed by Tony Stewart (2), Kurt Busch (3), Brian Vickers (4) and Jimmie Johnson (5).

Clint Bowyer on winning: "...You know, [Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch] behind me were champions of this sport, and that's big, to be able to hold them guys off."

The next race is the Quaker State 400 (Kentucky) on June 30 next

Thanks for reading.

Source: Crash.net, ADRL, Nascar.
Photo credit: Crash.net, ADRL.