In their centenary year the folks at Indy are to be congratulated on their project to digitise their photo archive to ensure its longivity.
Read more about it here:
and take a look through some of what they have to offer.
Filed under: Circuits, Indycar, Retro Moments | Tagged: autoracing, Indy500, Indycar, motorsport, racecar | Leave a comment »
No F1 or NASCAR Sprint Cup this weekend (apologies to the truck series), so just a preview of a couple of things that I am working on in my Setting the Record Straight series.
The first one will be on the notorious James Hunt and Dave Morgan incident on the 3rd October 1970. I’m prompted to this one because of Tom Rubython’s book on the former where, in amongst a whole series of things that should never have appeared in a serious book, he raised the last corner crash at Crystal Palace. I was there and saw the whole thing, so I’ve got something fairly well advanced that will talk about the 1970 F3 season in general and that race in particular.
Also in production is something on the record of the Ford GT40 at Le Mans. This one comes from the erroneous utterings of one Jeremy Clarkson who has claimed that the GT40 won the Sarthe classic 4 years running, when it plainly did not.
Both of these are taking a lot of research to make sure that what I write will be as factually accurate as I can make them; that’s what setting the record straight is all about.
Thanks to all of the people that have read my posts here over the months. I hope that I can keep you entertained. Both of the above articles should be posted here before the end of April. Feel free to challenge me on any racing incident that you would like to know more about.
Filed under: Cars, Circuits, Drivers, Retro Moments, Setting the Record Straight | Tagged: 1960s, 1970, autoracing, bookreviews, Dave Morgan, F3, GT40, James Hunt, lemans, NASCAR, racecar | Leave a comment »
Good gracious, what will they think of next?
Are we to believe that those in power have finally woken up to the fact that many of these plastic tracks that they’ve inflicted on us might actually be pretty useless? It would be nice to think that they have.
So let’s see the stupid chicanes that have sprung up straightened back out (including those two abominations on the Mulsanne – it’s not just #F1 that’s been blighted) and have some fast straights leading to slow corners. OK, we’ll not change Monaco, but Barcelona, Abu Dhabi and a good few others would be so much better if sorted out. Modern F1 at Reims anyone?
Filed under: Circuits, F1 | Tagged: autoracing, F1, formula one, lemans, motorsport, racecar | Leave a comment »
So Bahrain is off because of the troubles. One of those races where the organiser’s wallet was deep enough to satisfy Bernie’s demands, but at what cost to the locals?
The traditional venues struggle to afford a grand prix because they have to be self funding, accepting that the pot includes sponsorship, but how many times have we heard the call for our government here in the UK to help the British GP survive yet another of Bernie’s negotiation strategies? It won’t happen and it shouldn’t. Yes we have a great motor sport industry in this country, but it has to be able to stand on its own two feet. The idea of taking public funds to subsidise the race is obscene to me, and so is the thought that the billions that have been poured into races such as Bahrain and some of the other new venues might have helped the plight of those in need of better education, health and other services.
Motor sport is a sport. Look at the ludicrous sums of money that go on football as a parallel where sooner or later there will have to be a change or the professional game will contract radically. Yes F1 should be the pinnacle of motor sport, but why are we trying to cap what the teams spend when, seemingly, there is nothing holding the costs of the races down?
Bahrain is no loss for me. I wish the people of that nation well and hope that they resolve the issues that have led to the race being put off.
Roll on Australia.
Filed under: Circuits, F1 | Tagged: autoracing, F1, formula one, motorsport, racecar | Leave a comment »
#NASCAR – Really great to see the Wood Brothers having something to celebrate once again and well done to young Trevor for holding his nerve on that last lap. Once again though, why is it that NASCAR’s finest can’t drive round without wrecking? A record number of cautions the man said last night. You’ve read my thoughts here; park ’em for the next race if they wreck someone (and why not just park the#18 every third race just for the sake of it – he’d probably deserve it anyway). Well done also last night to the Double M in the #5 – coming back from the big one and two laps down. That, and seeing the #21 in victory lane again, cheered me up a bit. It’s been a long winter, but we’re racing again.
#F1 – This isn’t the place for politics (I write about those elsewhere), but the middle east situation is changing before our eyes. The unrest in Bahrain could result in a bloodbath if the GP goes ahead as scheduled and no-one wants to see that happen. To at least postpone it would make sense.
Filed under: Circuits, Drivers, F1, NASCAR | Tagged: autoracing, F1, formula one, motorsport, NASCAR, racecar | Leave a comment »
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