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Weekend round up – 11 October 2010 #NASCAR #F1 #BTCC

Posted on October 10, 2010 by thatconsultantbloke

#NASCAR Danica in the news again! She’s showing signs of getting there and I applaud that. Smoke takes the Sprint Cup win! Could he remember where victory lane was? Of course he could. My man MM led most laps, so some signs of a late recovery with that and 6th at the finish.

So the much vaunted Fontana can’t support 2 races. The daft and greedy mob at NASCAR should have left the race at Darlington. Bring back the old tracks where there is tradition and support. Same argument as in #F1; lets keep the races where the fan base is and stop chasing media cash.

#F1 Japanese Grand Prix. So the Mineral Water Kid wins again at long last. It’s going to be a tight race to the finish. I’ll stick my neck out at this point and predict that Webbo and his team mate fall over themselves or each other and Alphonso pinches it for Ferrari. That should jinx it!

Lotus (or whatver they end up having to call themselves) could be looking good for the mid race pack in 2011. With Renualt power and a Red Bull transmission they ought to to well.

No obituary from me this week for Peter Warr. Met him a few times back around 69 – 71 and couldn’t stand the bloke. His later treatment of Mansell just re-inforced my feelings.

#BTCC Good job Jason Plato taking another title and commiserations to Matt Neal. Two great tin top drivers. Whils on that subject, news from Bathurst has 8 Holdens in the top ten! With my Queensland connections I was always a Dick Johnson fan, so the blue oval gets my vote over the bow tie and its brands every time (I’m cool with Plato winning the BTCC in a Chevy; go count how many titles Ford has), so 5th and 9th in the great Australian race is not too good.

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Sad news of Ralph Broad

Posted on September 22, 2010 by thatconsultantbloke

Sad to hear that Ralph Broad has taken the final lap and gone to the grid in the sky. My generation here in the UK grew up on tin tops run by his excellent team; Minis then Fords and on to British Leyland products. A great man and one who produced great cars. RIP Ralph

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Weekend roundup 19 September 2010 #F1 #NASCAR

Posted on September 19, 2010 by thatconsultantbloke

Firstly an apology for last week’s roundup going out late. Not sure what went wrong, but it happened.

#F1 So Nick Heidfeld is back as predicted, and at #Sauber, but at the expense of PDR. A shame to see Pedro go in many ways, although he has been outperformed by Kybosh somewhat.

Will Renault take Kimi? In some ways I hope not. Petrov has been showing signs of getting the hang on F1 after a decent GP2 season where he would have conceivably taken the title if he hadn’t had so many car failures, so we know the lad can pedal a car pretty well. Grosjean didn’t get enough of a chance to show his class last season, so I hope that the team has more patience with their Russian ace. Kubica is working the car into shape as a reasoanble hopeful and the team will benefit from him sorting their 2011 car, so we have the prospect of them being competitive next year, hence Kimi being interested, but, just as I’ve said regarding PDR getting the push at Sauber, and the other week about Chandhock being shoved aside at Hispanic, I don’t like to see drivers with a chance of being the future of F1 losing out.

#NASCAR The chase is on and Smoke comes up a half gallon short at New Hampshire to gift Bowyer the win and first bragging rights. A good run for the Dinger by the look of it, but a bad day for my favourite #5. Oh well, another race next weekend.

#Indycar. Exitement in Japan. From a Penske 1-2-3 in qualifying to a 1-3 in the race. Well done Helio for back to back wins, and WP coming in third so the championship goes to the wire at Homestead in 2 weeks time. I’ll be in Clermont that weekend, so might drive down for the finale. Just 12 points in it; going to be tight.

#BTCC Ford fun at Donnington in qualifying, but just the one race win. Sets up a great 4 way shoot out for the title at the final round at Brands. Another series goes down to the wire with no need for a daft chase format.

Maybe more important than the result is having Donnington back in action after the disgraceful fiasco of the ill conceived British Grand Prix project. All those concerned in that shameful episode, including a diminutive personage whose name shall not be spoken here, deserve stringing up for what they allowed to happen.

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Weekend round up 5 September 2010 #indycar #NASCAR #BTCC

Posted on September 6, 2010 by thatconsultantbloke

Indycar. So the Toowoomba Terror led a lot of laps, but fell short on fuel and the finish and lost a little more ground at the top of the table. Come on Will, two to go, so keep in cool and the title is yours in your first full season. Good to see Helio with a win. I was there for his Indy Car debut many years back and have followed him since. A good bloke.

NASCAR. Happy to see Todd Bodine winning in the trucks. They’re a good bunch the Bodine boys and I’ll be happy to see Todd pick up another series title if he can. I can recommend the truck series as something to go and see, especially on the shorter tracks. In the Sprint Cup Smoke finally got one this year. My man MM dropped another place away from the chase and that’s pretty much it for 2010 for the #5. What went wrong after last year?

BTCC from Knockhill. Always good action on this tight little track and nice to see the wins shared three ways. First time for a while that I’ve watched some of the ITV4 coverage and they did a pretty good job with the support races giving some of the club racers and up and comping names getting exposure.

I don’t mention the bikes much as it’s not really my scene. I respect those guys a lot though and many of my favourite racing drivers of old came up via bikes; Surtees, Siffert, Hailwood, Beltoise and more, all from an earlier age, Damon Hill being about the last that I recall. They are a supr competitive bunch and very brave racers, so it is sad to hear that they have lost a second up and coming rider in just a week. Motor racing is still dangerous.

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Weekend round up 23 August 2010 #NASCAR #DTM #BTCC #F1 #indycar

Posted on August 23, 2010 by thatconsultantbloke

So Shrub (small Busch) got a couple at Bristol. Can’t stand the boke myself, but there you go. Good job Rootie for a fine second despite helath issues, and best wishes for a full recovery to Brian Vickers after his heart surgery. Hopefully you can come back next season and take up where you left off. The Double M had another bad night and is now just over 100 points out of the Chase; doesn’t look like he’s gonna make it. Shame. I’m looking forward to being over next month and seeing some racing on TV in my den plus all of the other round up shows.

Another strong UK day for the DTM boys and girls at Zandvoort. Well done GP and PdR for a great one two. Audi in trouble over team orders! Where would this championship be without them (I know they have ruled them out, but come on)?

Also on the team order front the outher double M has apparently said that Ferarri, Alonso and Massa should all lose their points from the German GP. Personally I think that this is nonsense. The most that should happen is that the result should be reversed, but I don’t care if they just tell them that they’ve been naughty and don’t do it again. There wouldn’t have been much of a fight if Alonso had had to make the pass unaided as he was so much quicker by that stage. The only possible other outcomes were that; a) they would have had eachother off, or b) that they would have slowed themselves down a bit and allowed Vettel to catch them. Ah! That must have been it; they wanted a German to win the German GP! Stupid of me not to have thought of that. Oh, yes. How do team orders not come into play when you want to take a part off one car and put it on the other one? Answers on a postcard please.

Fords rule at the Silverstone BTCC. I just can’t get excited about these hatchbacks pushing each other off. It’s not really racing to me somehow.

Will Power dominant in Sonoma. Looking good for the title Will; all ovals from now, so keep it going. Simona de Silvestro impressive again even if a couple of incidents left the final result looking less worthy.

Spa next week for the Belgian GP. One of the better tracks even if it’s a bit shorter than it used to be, and why oh why do they continue the stupidity of releasing an F1 pack of the start and into the slowest corner on the track? Why not move the start back round La Source and let them charge off down to Eau Rouge like in the old days? Anyway, it’s been a wet August so far so what are the chances of a wet race next Sunday? Should shake things up a bit.

Filed under: Circuits, Drivers, F1, Indycar, NASCAR, Tin Tops | Tagged: , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

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