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weekend round up – 1st May 2011 #NASCAR #IndyCar #BTCC #DTM

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.

Indy 500 2011 – Not too long to wait now

There was a time when the fun would have started next weekend and we would have spend the month of May at the speedway settling in, tuning, testing and readying the cars. These days things have been comressed on necessity, but somehow the approach of May still means one thing to me; The Indy 500!

I still recall the thrill of seeing the 1961 race film (in about 1966/67), the first Indy race footage I had seen. One day, maybe, I’ll get to see the speedway for real and maybe even the race. Who knows, but I’ll be following the news from Indiana over the coming weeks. The current incarnation of Indy cars are not what they used to be, but they’re what’ll be racing and all the drama, disappointment or glory will still be the same. Who’s in, who’s out, who will last the distance, who will drink the milk? All will be revealed next month.

100 years of Indy. Here’s to the next 100 years.

weekend round up 17 April 2011 #F1 #NASCAR #Indycar

#F1 Chinese GP – What a race! Hats off to both Hamilton and Webbo for heroic drives, well done Vettel, Rosberg and Massa for decent runs, to JB for a good early run and then adding a bit of comedy in the pits (did he fancy Seb’s tyres, or did he think that the Red Bull boys might be quicker on the stop?) and finally to whoever the Alonso look-alike was; lets face it, 7th place for a stand in isn’t half bad.

#IndyCar at Long Beach – Will Power still owns qualifying on road and street tracks, but got punted off by Helio and could only manage 10th as Mike Conway picked up a great maiden win.

#NASCAR – all the fun of the fair at Talladega and another fantastic finish with just 0.145s covering the first eight. Watch the last two laps here. What is it with the Busch boys? Even I have to admit that, even if they are both pretty ugly, they have talent as drivers, so why are they so often found shoving people off? I’ve never forgiven Busch major for punting Mr Excitement off at Dover (and that was years ago). After a Hendrick blitz in qualifying, they come up 1-3-4-8 in the photo finish.

The Indy Photo Archive Project

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:

Indy photo archive

and take a look through some of what they have to offer.

weekend round up – 10th April 2011 #F1 #NASCAR #Indycar

#F1 #MalaysianGP – has Shorty been at it again? There used to be a time when I could get up at my usual time and find these Far East races to watch before everyone else got up and in the way, but not today. Start put back so that it works better for the lazy sods and TV no doubt. Oh well.

The race? Well a good win for Vettel, with intelligent drives from Button, Heidfeld, Webbo and Massa to round out the top five. Those two great pals from their McLaren days both in trouble, but they are two of the best racers out there and both handled the outcome of this one with dignity, so top marks both for battling and for taking the penalties on the chin.

Just a thought, but the team right at the back of the grid are named after a treatment for menopausal women; would a name change give them a second or two a lap?

#NASCAR – A good win for Matt Kenseth and a strong Blue Oval showing over both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup races. Well done Digger for a top ten as well. The man from down under is getting there.

#IndyCar – Over at Barber Motorsport Park in Alabama another Aussie was doing pretty well as Will Power dominated the event. Can he pull off the title this year? He’s going the right way again, and is the best on the twisty tracks, but needs to bang in some more consistent good results on the ovals.