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Weekend round up – 3 October 2011 #NASCAR #DTM #NASCAR #BTCC

#NASCAR – not much to report really as one of the Ugly Brothers won and we don’t like them here on these pages. The #48 came up a bit short, but had a good run and a typical chase result for JJ. Is he back?

The Petty boys did well with both in the top 10 and The Dinger managing to lead a lap. Good job guys.

Smoke dropped the ball maybe and slips to joint third in the standings.

#IndyCar – more problems here too for our favourite as Miss B gets released into his path on pit road. Exit the fastest car in the race. Not Miss B’s fault; her crew should never have released her, but pit road saw more that its fair share of chaos last night. Hope those who got hurt get well soon.

Big swing in the points back in favour of Dario. One race to go.

#DTM – One to go here too, but Martin Tomczyk takes the title anyway for Audi in Valencia, the first guy to do it in an old spec car. A great series and should get better next year with BMW back to give Audi and Mercedes some competition.

#BTCC – Another series with one more weekend to run, albeit that there will be three races that day in the current BTCC format. On the Brands Hatch GP circuit two wins for Jason Plato in his Chevrolet put him in front in the title race, but success ballast and the reverse grid held him back for the third race of the day and Matt Neal took a win for Honda and takes a 5 point championship lead into the last trio of races at Silverstone.

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.

where did all the Easter motor racing go?

When I was really getting into motorsport as a teenager the Easter break was a veritable treasure trove of racing here in the UK.

Take 1967 for example; Good Friday saw the F2 European championship circus at Snetterton and then they all trooped over to Silverstone and did it again on Easter Monday. Both events were also supported by the British Saloon Car and Sports Car Championships. In F2 Jochen Rindt beat Graham Hill in Norfolk and his own team mate Alan Rees at Silverstone, Jackie Oliver won both saloon car outings in Alan Brown’s Mustang and Paul Hawkins in his own GT40 beat Denny Hulme in Sid Taylor’s similar car on Friday with that result being reversed in Monday’s race.

All frantic activity, and there were club races up and down the country to choose from as well. We were spoiled for choice really, but now we don’t get any major racing over the holiday weekend at all. Shame really, but there you go. At least I have the memories of the Easter weekends that I was able to enjoy as a teenager.

If you’re interested to research some of the racing further, try these links:

British Sports Car Championship

1967 British Saloon Car Championship

well done Jason Plato – 62 BTCC wins

Too busy to put out a weekend round up last Monday, so a belated word of congratulation for Jason Plato on his record setting 61st and 62nd BTCC wins to beat Andy Rouse’s haul. Could it be another title year in the land of pushing and shoving tin tops?

Malaysia here we come for the GP, Indycars are in Alabama and off to Texas for the NASCAR. Have a great weekend all.

RIP Jaques Swaters & Tom Walkinshaw

Sad news that both Jacques Swaters and Tom Walkinshaw have passed away.

Amongst their other achievements they both ran successful sports car teams, but both did so much more in their lives.

Jaques Swaters managed a few F1 drives in the early 1950s and later founded the legendary Ecurie Francorchamps team that campaigned Ferraris, and other cars, at Le Mans and other major events, famously coming close to winning the 1965 Le Mans.

Tom Walkinshaw was a winner in Formula Ford in the late 60s before moving through to F2. He later made a name in tin tops winning the European title and founding the TWR team that came to success pretty much in every class they entered, including the Group C Le Mans Jaguars of the late 1980s.

Two more giants of the sport lost, but memories of what they achieved live on.

RIP both