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weekend round up – 8th May 2011 #NASCAR #F1

Posted on May 8, 2011 by truckertoggle

#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: , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

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

Posted on May 1, 2011 by truckertoggle

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: , , , , , | Leave a comment »

motorsport rewind – 1971 Rome GP F2 from Vallelunga

Posted on April 22, 2011 by thatconsultantbloke

F2 began to lose its way a bit towards the second half of the 1970s perhaps, but in 1971 it was still thriving, and you could still find a crop of Grand Prix drivers turning out and plenty of dicing all down the grid. It was still possible to turn up at Brabham, March, Lotus, Tecno or wherever with a bag of cash and buy a competitive car if you had the funds and you too could be part of the fun.

Thanks to Roy Pagliacci, here’s some home made cine film of the 1971 Rome GP, a qualifying round of the European championship, and marvel at how close the racing was. Here you have two future World Champions, 1 current GP winner, 6 future GP and 3 future Le Mans winners amongst the entry.

Look down the list of drivers below and see just how cosmopolitan it all was. There are drivers from many parts of Europe, plus North and South America and Australia taking part. This was still in the 1600cc powered era with the Cosworth FVA as the power unit of choice for most, although the BMW unit was still a competitive option as evidenced by Questor’s second place.

Note also the race time of 1 hour 26 minutes for winner Ronnie Peterson, just 10  minutes less that Lewis Hamilton took to win in China last week in F1. These people earned their money, even if they did do it over two heats sometimes.

Along the way in Roy’s film you’ll also see the F850 cars (Italy’s answer to Formula Ford) racing. The winner of that race? One Lella Lombardi, the only lady grand prix driver to finish in the points so far, and sadly no longer with us.

Lella’s half point for the shortened 1975 Spanish GP is sometimes regarded as a bit of a fluke, but the lady could drive; she was only tiny, but managed 7th in the German GP at the Nurburgring, no mean feat, handled F5000 with aplomb and later qualified 29th (of 43) for the NASCAR Firecracker 400 at Daytona in 1977, being classified 31st after retiring with transmission problems.

Here are the results of the 70 lap 1971 F2 Rome GP race:

Pos No Driver Entrant Car – Engine Race Time
1 1 Ronnie Peterson Smog – March Engineering March 712M – Cosworth FVA 1:25’57.2″
2 5 Dieter Quester Eifelland Caravans March 712M – BMW M11 1:26’07.8″
3 2 Carlos Reutemann AC Argentina – YPF Brabham BT36 – Cosworth FVA 1:26’38.9″
4 33 Mike Beuttler Clarke Mordaunt March 712M – Cosworth FVA 1:26’51.2″
5 10 Gerry Birrell J. & J. Stanton Lotus 69 – Cosworth FVA 1:27’07.7″
6 13 John Watson John Watson Brabham BT30 – Cosworth FVA 1:27’10.0″
7 8 Niki Lauda Bosch Racing Team March 712M – Cosworth FVA 1:27’15.3″
8 12 John Cannon John Cannon March 712M – Cosworth FVA 1:27’40.5″
9 25 Carlos Ruesch AC Argentina – YPF Brabham BT36 – Cosworth FVA 1:27’44.9″
10 29 Claudio Francisci Racing Team IRIS Ceramiche Tecno TF71 – Cosworth FVA 69 laps
11 28 Giovanni Salvati Scuderia Ala d’Oro March 712M – Cosworth FVA 69
12 22 Freddy Link Jolly Club Switzerland March 712M – Cosworth FVA 68
13 26 Carlos Pace Frank Williams Motul March 712M – Cosworth FVA 68
14 14 Silvio Moser Silvio Moser Brabham BT30/36 – Cosworth FVA 67
15 11 Peter Westbury F.I.R.S.T. Brabham BT36 – Cosworth FVA 66
NC 7 Jean-Pierre Jaussaud Shell – Meubles Arnold Team March 712M – Cosworth FVA 63
NC 38 Henri Pescarolo Frank Williams Motul March 712M – Cosworth FVA 61
NC 36 Emerson Fittipaldi Team Bardahl Lotus 69 – Cosworth FVA 37
NC 6 Wilson Fittipaldi Team Bardahl March 712M – Cosworth FVA 11
NC 4 Francois Cevert Equipe Tecno Elf Tecno TF71 – Ford BDA 6
NC 3 Tim Schenken Rondel Racing Brabham BT36 – Cosworth FVA 6
NC 39 Derek Bell Frank Williams Motul March 712M – Cosworth FVA 3

Filed under: Circuits, Drivers, NASCAR, Retro Moments | Tagged: , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

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

Posted on April 18, 2011 by thatconsultantbloke

#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.

Filed under: Cars, F1, Indycar, NASCAR | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a comment »

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

Posted on April 10, 2011 by thatconsultantbloke

#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.

Filed under: Drivers, F1, Indycar, NASCAR | Tagged: , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

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