Not long now until another running of the 24 hours du Mans. I can’t pretend to get too enthusiastic about the cars these days, and as for those two chicanes. well they are beyond contempt, but this is still one of the classic motor sporting events and long may it continue.
Filed under: Circuits | Tagged: autoracing, lemans, motorsport, racecar | Leave a comment »
#NASCAR from Darlington. Regan Smith picks up a maiden win for himself and Barney Visser’s Furniture Row team and manages to translate a great qualifying performance this season (7 top ten starts out of 10 trys) into a win. The wonders of NASCAR make these things possible, and it’s great to se one of the smaller teams pull off a win, especially at one of NASCAR’s iconic venues. Also of note maybe was that the four manufacturers competing in Sprint cup were each represented in the top 4. Less noteworthy was that, yet again, he who shall not be named was involved in some pushing and shoving. We’ve suggested here before that parking him for a few races might wake him up; the #18 driver has the talent to win cleanly, so why all this stupidity almost every week?
#F1 from Turkey. We’re pleased here to see Mercedes challenging and, with Renault/Lotus, making it five teams in the hunt in qualifying at least, even if race pace varies hugely. But is there any doubt that the Red Bull, especially in the hands of Vettel, is the class of the field? Certainly in terms of raw pace he has them all covered.
Behind the flying #1 Red Bull plenty of uncertainty about the outcome with the differing strategies for a while though, but once you get down to the last 15 laps or so it’s all pretty much over. A decent track for a modern one and plenty of overtaking going on.
Who can stop Red Bull though, and Vettel in particular? Two in a row is not an easy feat, but who would back anyone other than Vettel for the title at this stage? Roll on Spain.
Filed under: Circuits, Drivers, F1, NASCAR, Teams | Tagged: autoracing, F1, formula one, lotus, motorsport, NASCAR, racecar | Leave a comment »
So the Trumpster has pulled out of driving the pace car to focus on his Presidential campaign. Well, I suppose parking it in the wall might have damaged more than just the paintwork.
Seriously, the pace car job is not for amateurs, so this scribe is very pleased to see that 4 time 500 winner AJ Foyt will be handling the job. AJ, winner in 1961, ’64’ 67 and ’77, will drive the pace car on the 50th anniversary of his first win. My only thought is that it seems slightly ironic that a man so associated with the Blue Oval should be driving a Bow Tie pace car, but AJ was always pretty versatile and I have no doubt that he’ll work it out.
This blog celebrates two of AJ’s Indy500 wins in other posts if you’d like to check them out.
Filed under: Drivers, Indycar | Tagged: autoracing, Indy500, Indycar, NASCAR, racecar | Leave a comment »
In 1967 Indy 500 legend Andy Granatelli made another off the wall attempt on the race with his STP Paxton turbine car. It came within 7.5 miles of the win before a small proprietary part failed and the car rolled to a stop.
AJ Foyt picked up the win, his third in the 500, having avoided last corner carnage amongst the lapped cars.
See exerpts of the race plus interviews with Foyt, Jones, Gurney and Andretti here: Parnelli Jones, Silent Sam and the 1967 Indy 500
The 2011 Indy 500 wil be with us at the end of this month. Sadly all of the innovation that Andy Granatelli and his team brought to the race are long gone, but it’s still the 500, one of the world’s greatest races.
Filed under: Indycar, Retro Moments | Tagged: autoracing, Indy500, Indycar, motorsport, racecar | 3 Comments »
Toggle here, standing in for TCB this weekend, so off we go first with the #NASCAR from Richmond. As regulars here will know we don’t mention the name of a certain pair of brothers so we’ll ignore who won, but honorable mentions for The Dinger for a good top ten in the #43 and also welcome back to the top 10 for Brian Vickers; good to see you back mate.
#IndyCar down in Brazil saw things get a bit too wet at Sao Paulo. Will Power with his 4th pole of the season so far doing well in qualy, but the damp conditions making it a bit of a wreckfest with the inevitable red flag in the race. The attempt at a re-run got another red flag and they will try and run the remaining 61 (of 75) laps tomorrow (Monday). I’ll update this post with the results when we have them.
Update 2nd May – Having managed to re-start the race today, Will Power picked up a comfortable win after Takuma Sato’s fuel gamble didn’t pay off, and Power now leads the series by 14 points.
The Indy 500 comes up this month. One of the world’s great races, even if the current generation of cars are not as spectacular as some of those we have seen in the past. Can’t wait.
#BTCC. Thruxton is one of our favourite circuits and saw the tin top boys out to play today. The ‘ondas doing well with a pair of wins for Messers Neal and Sheddon and with Jason Plato’s Chevy taking the final win of the day.
The #DTM got under way at Hockenheim with a dominant win for Bruno Spengler’s Mercedes. Fearsome cars these, and it will be good to have another manufacturer back in next year to add to the fun.
Off to Turkey next weekend in #F1 for the start of the European season. Should be interesting to see how things pan out now we’re back from the Pacific rim races.
Filed under: Circuits, Drivers, F1, Indycar, NASCAR, Tin Tops | Tagged: autoracing, BTCC, DTM, Indycar, NASCAR, racecar | Leave a comment »
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