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#Robert Kubica

Posted on February 7, 2011 by thatconsultantbloke

Sad to hear that the Flying Pole may be out for much of the season, but these things happen.

One of the things I think is great about this guy is that he is a bit of a throwback to the days of my youth when F1 drivers competed in all sorts of racing. Jackie Stewart was not fully fit for much of 1968 after breaking his wrist in an F2 race and, maybe, this cost him a first world title, so there are precedents.

A shame about Robert though, because I had a feeling that he might have been on the verge of shaking up the 5 world champions this year and racking up a few wins. Still, maybe the door will open for one of the desrving young pretenders to take his seat for part of the season; The Incredible Hulk springs to mind….

Wishing RK a speedy recovery anyway.

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Weekend round up 29 January 2011 #F1 #NASCAR #speedweeks

Posted on January 30, 2011 by thatconsultantbloke

#NASCAR. Not long now before we get the season rolling, but what have they done to the points? Seems a remarkably pointless (pun intended) revision and I can’t really see much in the way of benefit. All it seems destined to do is to make it very crowded with lots of people on the same totals. Oh well, I doubt that it will change the spectacle.

#Speedweeks. Good to get the racing year under way with the Rolex 24 (or Daytona Continental as I still think of it). Sports car racing doesn’t appeal to me that much these days, but news of racing having started up at Daytona always makes it feel like the season has started and we’re back in business. Shame that they’ve spend three hours or so under caution due to fog. Spoils it all a bit.

#F1. Nice to see Paul Di Resta rewarded with an F1 drive and I hope that he does well. I’m always pleased to see talent getting a chace over chequebook. Less impressed with commentary team changes at the BBC though, but I always turn the sound down when I watch anyway. Maybe with all the clever tricks we’ll be able to keep the track sound and lose the commentary one day.

I’ll be a bit sad if F1 loses the Australian GP but, if Melbourne don’t want it anymore, it could go back to Adelaide. The Antipodes have provided motor sport with some great drivers and cars, so I’d like to see them stay in F1.

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Weekend round up 16 January 2011

Posted on January 16, 2011 by thatconsultantbloke

#F1 – Very pleased that Narain Karthikeyan is back on the F1 grid and that Karun Chandhok has, at least, got a test role. These guys can drive and deserve their places.

Sorry to hear about Derek Gardner passing on. He created some good cars and wasn’t afraid to go out on a limb, the Tyrrell six wheeler being a classic example.

Good to hear that thoughts of moving the Italian Grand Prix away from Monza have fallen through, and also good to hear a gracious response from the Rome GP promoter. I too would have supported a second GP in Italy because the fans have such passion, and maybe we only have Ferrari now, but where would grand prix racing be without Maserati and Alfa Romeo in its blood?

#NASCAR – Just a month to go until the Daytona 500. I shan’t be bothering with the clash, but will be looking out for qualifying and the twin 125s on the run into the big race, and also the truck race on the 18th.

Good luck to Todd Bodine running in all three classes.

It doesn’t now look as though I can get there in person, but I’ll be there in spirit.

Filed under: Cars, Drivers, F1, NASCAR, Retro Moments | Tagged: , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

RIP Derek Gardner

Posted on January 11, 2011 by thatconsultantbloke

I seem to be writing a few RIPs lately, but maybe it is because of my own age.

DG was a key man at Ferguson working on 4wd systems and got involved in F1 through the work Fergusons did on the various Indy and F1 4wd projects that cropped up in the late 1960s. Through that he had met Ken Tyrrell and, when Ken needed a decent car for Jackie Stewart, he hired DG to produce it in secret, the Tyrrell 001 appearing at the Oulton Park Gold Cup in the late summer of 1970 and, in developed form, as 003 giving JYS a second title in 1971, the basic design remaining competitive through into early ’73.

He later designed boats and microlights amongst other things in a long and distinguished career.

DG left us last week, but the record of his designs, and their success, will live on.

RIP

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Holiday roundup December 2010 #F1 #NASCAR #Indycar

Posted on December 23, 2010 by thatconsultantbloke

#F1 – Good to hear that Vitaly Petrov has retained his seat at what will be Lotus-Renault and on a 2 year deal. Whether or not there may have been some finacial inducement he deserves to have a long term chance. The lad has the potential as shown the year before in GP2 and from a couple of drives in the second half of 2010, so it is refreshing to see a team making the committment. This is why I was so dissapointed to see Williams let The Hulk go when he is clearly a driver with some class and potential, but there you go.

Talking of Lotus, it will seem odd to have two varieties of Loti in the races next year, but that might be a marketing coup when all is said and done.

Will the team orders issue make any difference? I doubt it, but there are just 80 days to the new season, so we’ll soon know.

#NASCAR – I’m pleased to read that Richard Petty will have a team up and running next season, and will be looking out for the Digger and the Dinger week by week. At the moment I’m looking at options to be over in Florida in February, so might get another trip to the Daytona 500 in. It seems incredible that it will be 15 years since I last saw the race live, but time flies.

Is Junior something of a Jonah? His results have been way below expectations since the switch to Hendrick and the efforts to pair him with Mark Martin this year saw the latter have a much less stellar year than in 2009. Giving Junior another fresh start by, effectively, swapping him with Jeff Gordon may actully be doing the Martin/Gordon garage a favour at the expense of the #48. Jimmy Johnson and Chad Knaus are a mean double act, and their professional approach has seen an unprecedented 5 year championship run. Jeff Gordon is a pretty resiliant bloke and also knows what it takes to win titles, but even he seems to have been ground down by the relentless march of the #48 crew. The switch of the #24 and #88 puts Junior in something of a make or break position, but the #5 and #24 operations may well benefit from sharing an garage more. I hope that Junior does well; we know he can do it as we’ve seen him do it in the past. The question is, will putting him in with the #48 operation pull him up or them down?

We kick off in 60 days. If I’m not there to see it for real, I’ll be following the Daytona 500, and the rest of the series, on the ‘net.

#Indycar – I’ve been re-reading a few on my many books on the Indy 500 and am getting tempted to try and fit in a trip to Indiana on one of my Stateside trips this year. It was a pretty good season this year and hopefully we’ll get another one in 2011. Tony Kanaan will be back for another year, but with a new team and he’s always good value. Sarah Fisher looks to be stepping back into an owner’s role rather than owner/driver, but my hat is off to her for having done so much over the years. Andretti, Ganassi and Penske will be strong again no doubt and there is a good mix of circuits to test different styles and skills. Bring it on.

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