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weekend round up – 27th March 2011 #NASCAR #F1 #Indycar

Posted on March 28, 2011 by thatconsultantbloke

#NASCAR – a bit of a bore at Fontana until the final laps from what I hear. West coast races don’t start until it’s nearly time for bed for me here in the UK, so I have to check in on the results next morning. Nice (for me) to see Shrub not win it, but I’m pleased to see JPM continuing his good start to the season. Fingers crossed for him.

#F1 – a bit of a bore from down under as well in most ways at the #AustralianGP. The Barra Boy seemed to have been showing that he did learn something from his Ferarri team mate, or did he mistake which Mercedes he was attacking? Another question; why does JB get a drive through for going off the track in his overtaking manoeuvre (when he had been pushed off in the attempt a few times earlier), but Vettel gets away with doing the same thing when he re-passed JB following his pit stop? He clearly deliverately drove off the track round the outside of JB, so why did he not get penalised as well? Still, a big well done to Petrov for a great drive and for hanging on under pressure at the finish, and also to Perez for a great debut, even if it was spoiled by disqualification. And on that note, a final question; the Saubers went through scrutineering before the race, but were disqualified for an infringement that must have been apparent then, so why was it not resolved at that point?

#Indycar – A good opener at St Pete with some good personal performances. Nice to see Tony Kanaan’s third spot after his off season woes; the series needs to have its heroes there on the track (why no Dan Wheldon for goodness sake?), and also a great personal  best from Simona de Silvestro in fourth, and putting pressure on Kanaan to the flag. The Indy series looks at bit sad at the moment and doesn’t seem to be able to pull in the cash at anywhere near the level that NASCAR can. Hopefully it can hang in there until times get better.

Filed under: F1, Indycar, NASCAR | 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

Filed under: F1, Indycar, Retro Moments | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a comment »

A J Foyt vs Eddie Sachs for the 1961 Indy 500

Posted on January 8, 2011 by thatconsultantbloke

A great video short from  the 1961 Indy 500 with contemporary comments. Watch it here.

AJ had a great car and looked to have the upper hand in his duel with Eddie Sachs, but fueling problems on what should have been his last stop meant that he would have to come in for a splash and dash. That gave Eddie Sachs about a thirty second lead and his best shot at winning the race he loved so  much, but he didn’t back his pace off and the wear strip became visible on his right front.

To stay out and risk a crash or come in for tyres and bank second place money? He pitted for tyres and took the runner up spot. Three years later he would lose his life on the first lap of the 1964 race and the Clown Prince of Auto Racing was gone.

Read Sid Collins eulogy for Eddie Sachs.

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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.

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

Coming soon – motor sport book reviews

Posted on November 25, 2010 by thatconsultantbloke

I have an extensive library of motor sport books and am always adding to my collection. One of my followers here has mentioned that I sometimes recommend books related to posts on this blog, but could I comment on new books, so over the winter I’m going to start adding reviews of motor racing books here.

These things are always personal, but I’ll try to be objective. I’m not sure where I’ll start, but expect a mixture of new books and also some old classics that I think should be part of your library if you can find a copy.

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