Friday, July 8, 2011
Aviation and motorsport
The FIA Institute has come out with an interesting theme for the latest edition of Institute Quarterly (IQ), with a focus on the strong connection between motor sport and aviation. The tie between the two industries has long been apparent but only recently has aviation technology been exploited to develop both safety and sustainability in [...]
BMW 335i Performance Edition announced
The BMW 3-Series sedan (E90) life cycle is coming to an end (October 2011) and BMW is already ramping up the special editions to keep sales flowing.
Gerino Gerini Peter Gethin Piercarlo Ghinzani Bruno Giacomelli
McLaren lead the First Practice Session in Spanish Formula One Grand Prix
Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button gave a strong start to McLaren in the Spanish Formula1 (F1) Grand Prix at Circuit de Catalunya in Spain. Both the drivers topped the charts in the first practice session here in Spain. Lewis Hamilton topped the first practice session followed by team mate Jenson Button.
Mercedes, who have come up [...]
Mercedes, who have come up [...]
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Your F1 2011 questions answered - part II
Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel has extended his dominance of the 2011 season at the European Grand Prix in Valencia with another win. I look at who might be able to close the gap on the runaway leader - and give my thoughts on Lewis Hamilton's future.
Watch my answers below.
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Team order rule needs a re-think
 Jean Todt arives for Wednesday's hearing |
?Whether you are for or against team orders, if the FIA could not back up its own rules and nail a competitor in a blatant case such as this the rule really does need reviewing. Perhaps Ferrari?s thinly-veiled threat to take the matter to the civil courts if they were punished too harshly scared the governing body, who as much as admitted the flimsiness of its rule."Paul Weaver, reporting for the Guardian in Monza, was in favour of the ruling which keeps alive Ferrari?s slim chances in an enthralling championship.
?The World Motor Sport Council was right not to ruin a compelling Formula One season by taking away the 25 points Alonso collected in Germany. That would have put him out of the five-man title race. But the council was widely expected to increase the fine and possibly deduct points from the team, as opposed to the individual. In the end, it could be argued that common sense prevailed. But the decision will dismay those who were upset by the way Ferrari handled the situation as much as anything else.?The Daily Mail's Jonathan McEvoy expressed outrage at the FIA tearing up its own rule book by allowing Ferrari to escape unpunished.
"Although the race stewards fined them �65,000 for giving team orders in July, the FIA World Motor Sport Council, to whom the matter was referred, decided not to impose any further punishment. It leaves the sport's rulers open to derision. It was, after all, their rule they undermined. In a statement, the WMSC said the regulation banning team orders 'should be reviewed'."
Lewis Hamilton - classic F1 2011
Lewis Hamilton picks his five all-time favourite races ahead of the British Grand Prix, in the latest instalment of BBC Sport's classic Formula 1 series.
This year, we have asked all the drivers to make such a choice, and we are serialising them before each race to whet your appetites for the action ahead.
The drivers have taken different approaches to this task so far.
Multiple world champions Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso, for example, chose a mixture of their own races and events that resonated with them from before their own time in F1.
Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg, by contrast, did not take his own races into account at all.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, Hamilton - like reigning champion Sebastian Vettel before him - has gone for his five favourite races from his own F1 career. And what a selection it is.
Hamilton has been F1's most exciting driver since he entered the sport with a bang in 2007, and in that time he has produced drives that are not only among the best of his era, but will stand the test of time as all-time great performances.
His five choices reflect that, and you can watch him discussing his choices with F1 presenter Jake Humphrey in the video embedded immediately below. He starts off by talking about this season's Chinese Grand Prix.
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Hamilton has included a couple of career landmarks because of what they mean to any driver - a home race, a Monaco win, for example - so not all of them would necessarily be on a list of the five greatest drives of his career. But at least three of them would.
His superb wins in Belgium 2010 and Hungary 2009 do not make his list, nor is there a mention for his breathtaking qualifying lap in Japan last year.
Nevertheless, I'm sure many could make a case for the other two as well, and all are stand-out performances from a man even his team-mate Jenson Button describes as "super-talented, one of the best drivers Formula 1 has ever seen".
Hamilton has not ranked them himself, either in order of preference or in order of status, so I have done so myself, after discussing their merits with our F1 commentary box producer Mark Hughes.
In what we perceive to be reverse order of merit, they are as follows:
5. The 2008 Monaco Grand Prix
Hamilton has chosen this because, he says, as a grand prix driver "you always remember your first Monaco". He undoubtedly drove superbly to win in mixed conditions, but the victory owed a lot to luck.
He crashed into the barrier at Tabac corner on lap six, damaging a rear wheel, as rain began to fall more heavily. But he managed to get the car back to the pits undamaged, enabling him to take on more fuel and delay his final tyre change to dry tyres until he had built a winning lead.
4. The 2007 Canadian Grand Prix
Hamilton made an instant impression in his debut season in F1, overtaking his team-mate Alonso around the outside of the first corner at the first race of the season in Australia.
After a series of increasingly impressive performances, and podium finishes in every race, his maiden victory came at the sixth race of the season, the Canadian Grand Prix.
It was a dominant performance, leading from lights to flag, despite four safety cars, and such was Hamilton's superiority that it appeared to completely unsettle Alonso.
The Spaniard went off at the first corner after the start disputing the lead with his team-mate and, most uncharacteristically, ran off the track there a further three times during the course of the race, eventually finishing seventh.
3. The 2007 Japanese Grand Prix
Run in horrendous, monsoon-like conditions on the Fuji Speedway in the shadow of Japan's iconic mountain, this was the first real indication that Hamilton had the almost supernatural ability on a wet track that marks out the truly great drivers.
He led the race throughout, coping well with a safety car intervention, while other drivers - including Alonso - were caught out by the rivers of water that were running across the track or the appalling visibility.
Hamilton joked with Humphrey that seeing his team-mate, with whom he was at the time disputing the world championship, had crashed was one of the reasons he remembered the race so fondly.
He describes it as "the race in the wet in Fuji where Fernando crashed".
"That made it great, did it?" Jake asks.
"Yeah," Hamilton says with a laugh, before adding: "No, it was a great race because it was the trickiest conditions. And you've got a two-time world champion who's been racing a lot more than me and he's put it in the wall. And the others who were trailing around and struggling, to have those races and keep the car on the track in those conditions, it doesn't compare to anything."
2. The 2011 Chinese Grand Prix
Hamilton's only victory so far this season was the result of a breathtaking drive, in which all his raw pace and daring overtaking skills were on display.
He chased Vettel down in the closing laps and passed him brilliantly into the 150mph Turn Seven to take the lead. That was impressive enough.
But the win hung on an equally stunning overtaking move on Button earlier on, diving audaciously down the inside into Turn One at the last possible moment. The two came very close to disaster, Button having a wobble as he noticed his team-mate was there and took avoiding action.
"Every moment was amazing," Hamilton remembers. "To express what you feel in the car, you can't put it into words.
"I race a Formula 1 car. It's crazy to be able to even say that. I've been racing since I was eight and now I've got my own F1 car that I can race and help develop. I feel very privileged.
"When you're in that race and you feel you've got the car beneath you, overtaking Vettel, the world champion, was amazing - and also doing it in a place where he didn't expect it.
"It's definitely one of the best grands prix I've had."
1. The 2008 British Grand Prix
Hamilton was brief on the subject of this race, his first and so far only win in his home grand prix, describing it as "wicked". Another way of looking at it is as one of the greatest wet-weather performances in F1 history.
It was a drive that reminded onlookers of Ayrton Senna's iconic victory at the 1993 European Grand Prix at Donington Park, Michael Schumacher in Spain in 1996 or Jackie Stewart's at the Nurburgring in 1968 - a day when one man is on a completely separate level from his competitors.
In treacherous wet conditions, Hamilton was at times four of five seconds faster than anyone else. It was, as McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh said at the time, "an astonishing performance".
Highlights of that memorable afternoon are embedded below, with beneath it links to short and extended highlights of Mark Webber's victory for Red Bull in last year's British Grand Prix.
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CLICK HERE FOR SHORT HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 2010 BRITISH GRAND PRIX
CLICK HERE FOR EXTENDED HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 2010 BRITISH GRAND PRIX
Short highlights of Canada 2007, Japan 2007, Monaco 2008, Great Britain 2008, China 2011 and extended highlights of the 2010 British Grand Prix will be broadcast on satellite and cable from 1500 BST on Wednesday 6 July until 1830 BST on Friday 8 July. They will be broadcast on Freeview from 1040 BST until 1240 BST on Friday 8 July.
Subaru confirms three new models and a hybrid
Subaru has unveiled their Motion-V business plan which calls for launching three new vehicles and a hybrid by 2016. 
Paul di Resta - classic F1 2011
Scotland's Paul di Resta, who has made such an impressive start to his grand prix career with Force India this season, is the latest driver to feature in our revised classic Formula 1 series.
Ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix, the 25-year-old has picked his five favourite all-time F1 races. We will broadcast highlights of each of his choices in this blog and on the BBC red button to whet your appetites for the action to come in Montreal this weekend.
Di Resta follows in the footsteps of Sebastian Vettel, Michael Schumacher, Sebastien Buemi, Rubens Barrichello, Fernando Alonso and Nick Heidfeld so far this season.
The drivers have all taken a different approach to this task. Vettel, for example, picked only races from his own career, while the others drivers we have showcased so far have all to one degree or another chosen a mix of races in which they featured and ones from before their own time in the sport.
Di Resta has raced in only seven grands prix so far, so it is no surprise that four of his five choices are from the archive.
His first is this year's Australian Grand Prix - after all, a driver will always remember his F1 debut fondly.
The rest are as follows:
The 1968 German Grand Prix, which has gone down in history as one of the great Jackie Stewart's most extraordinary victories, and one of the greatest of all time.
Di Resta says he "read about it in Jackie's autobiography - sounded exciting". The race, memorably described by Stewart himself, was held in teeming rain and dense fog, and Stewart was in a league of his own, winning by four minutes in his Matra.
The next choice is the 1979 French Grand Prix, famous for the thrilling duel over second place between Ferrari's Gilles Villeneuve and Renault's Rene Arnoux in the final three laps, the two men passing and re-passing, banging wheels in lurid, thrilling fashion, until Villeneuve finally prevailed.
It was one of the iconic Villeneuve's landmark performances, a man of sublime talent transcending the limitations of his machinery and taking on faster cars.
A similar description can be applied to Di Resta's next choice, the 1993 European Grand Prix at Donington Park, which has entered F1 folklore as one of the late Ayrton Senna's greatest wins.
In a race of constantly changing conditions, Senna moved from fifth to first in the course of a stunning first lap and raced off into a league of his own. Such was his superiority that at one point he had lapped the entire field.
Finally, Di Resta has chosen the climax to the 2008 world title fight at the Brazilian Grand Prix, when, as he puts it, "the championship went to the last corner".
Many will recall that Ferrari's Felipe Massa would overhaul McLaren's Lewis Hamilton and take the title if the Brazilian could win, with Hamilton finishing lower than fifth.
Massa completed his part of the bargain and, as he crossed the line to take the chequered flag, Hamilton was down in sixth place, having recently been passed by Toro Rosso's Vettel.
In the Ferrari pit they celebrated, but with rain falling all was not lost for Hamilton. Ahead of him the Toyotas, which had decided not to stop for wet-weather tyres, were struggling, and the Englishman passed the gripless Timo Glock at the last corner of the race to sneak the place he needed.
As regular readers will know, we pick one of the driver's choices to highlight and I have to admit that the initial inclination was to run Di Resta's choices ahead of the German Grand Prix and show the '68 race at the Nurburgring.
Highlights of that race do not exist in the BBC archive, though, so instead we have moved Di Resta to Canada and chosen the '79 French race because of Villeneuve, after whom Canada's F1 track is named.
So the full 'Grand Prix' highlights programme broadcast on the evening of that race is embedded below - it has never been shown since that day 32 years ago.
Beneath it are links to long and short highlights of last year's Canadian Grand Prix. It was arguably the best race of the season last year, featuring a thrilling battle between all five of the men who fought out the championship - Hamilton, his McLaren team-mate Jenson Button, Alonso's Ferrari and the Red Bull drivers Vettel and Mark Webber.
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CLICK HERE TO WATCH SHORT HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 2010 CANADIAN GRAND PRIX
CLICK HERE TO WATCH EXTENDED HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 2010 CANADIAN GRAND PRIX
The details for the BBC red button on digital television in the UK are as follows:
Long highlights from France 1979, short highlights of Europe 1993, Brazil 2008 and Australia 2011 plus extended highlights of the Canadian Grand Prix 2010 will be broadcast on satellite and cable from 1500 BST on Wednesday 8 June until 1700 BST on Sunday 12 June.
Unfortunately, a lack of bandwidth because of the Queens tennis tournament means we are unable to broadcast these highlights on Freeview.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Last chance for tickets to an Audience with Joe
Joe Saward will be hosting another of his “Audience with Joe” events on Friday, July 8, in the Music Room of Stowe School, just down the road from Silverstone. The event will allow F1 fans to ask one of the sport’s most experienced journalists, who has not missed a race in 23 years, anything they [...]
China officially opens the world's longest bridge over water
Everything in China these days is becoming bigger, higher, faster, and sometimes, a combination of all three. That?s what happens when you position yourself as one of the fastest growing countries ? and in a sense, most powerful, too ? in the world.
Straight from the country comes another monumental achievement, something that should prove to be a boon for a lot of its motorists. It?s called the Jiaozhou Bay Bridge and it was recently opened last June 30, immediately being cited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest roadway bridge over water in the world.
So how long is this piece of architectural wonder?
From start to finish, it covers a distance of 26.4 miles, which is nothing to snicker about given its enormity. But as with bridges of this size, the name of the game is still about saving time on commutes, which ironically, the Jiaozhou Bay Bridge doesn’t quite adequately accomplish, saving only 19 miles and 20 minutes off of the commute time.
Having said that, there’s still something to be said for a bridge this long and the Jiazhou Bay Bridge accomplishes that by a mile, or 26.
China officially opens the world's longest bridge over water originally appeared on topspeed.com on Wednesday, 6 July 2011 08:00 EST.
Italeri Australian Truck #719
I just bought this kit, and need some help. I like to research subjects, and detail them as close to the 1:1 subject as possible. Does anyone know the year this truck represents, and which engine/trans it has? The Western Star truck site really hasn't helped, and doing a blind internet search has been almost useless. Thanks for any help!
Karthikeyan Makes Surprise F1 Return With HRT
Narain Karthikeyan has made a surprise return to Formula One after being announced as one of Hispania HRT’s drivers for the 2011 season. The Indian driver was unveiled as the first racer to be working with the Spanish based squad, who look likely to enter into a second season of racing despite on-going financial concerns. [...]
All-action Button thrills in Canada
One of the most spectacular races in a very long time produced an appropriately stunning win from Jenson Button in the Canadian Grand Prix.
The McLaren driver came from last place to first in the space of 30 amazing laps on a track that, while it regularly produces the best race of the Formula 1 season, has never produced a race quite like this one.
It will surely go down as one of the most amazing grands prix in history and Button's performance matched it.
For a long, long time, Sebastian Vettel appeared to be on the way to another imperious victory, but the German made his first mistake in what has been a virtually flawless season to hand his English rival a fully deserved victory half way around the last lap.
"An amazing day," said a scarcely believing Button as he sat down in front of the media a few minutes after climbing out of the car.
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And as if to underline just how incredible it was, how much the end result turned on the right decisions and the right breaks at the right time, the heavens opened again no more than an hour after the end of the race, in even more dramatic fashion than they had in the course of an afternoon that left almost everyone involved dizzy.
For more than half the race, Button appeared completely out of contention.
He collided with team-mate Lewis Hamilton - an incident for which he apologised even though it appeared to be at least as much Hamilton's fault; made five pit stops to change tyres; survived a collision with Ferrari's Fernando Alonso; and visited the pits a further time to serve a drive-through penalty for going too fast when the safety car was deployed.
Button was last at the penultimate of four restarts under the safety car, with 30 laps to go.
And yet he sliced through the backmarkers with the clinical precision he displays when he is on top form and timed a final pit stop to change to slick tyres perfectly - only one lap after Mark Webber made the call himself, one that was instrumental in moving Vettel's team-mate from the midfield into podium contention.
Those final 20 laps were some of the most exhilarating I have witnessed since I started watching F1 30 or so years ago, as Button closed in on the lead at a pace Webber described as "on a different planet from the rest of us".
With 15 laps to go, Vettel looked unassailable as he pulled away in the lead and Button homed in on a battling Michael Schumacher, who produced by far the most convincing drive of his comeback so far, and Webber.
A final safety car on lap 57 was what put Button into victory contention. He would have easily passed Schumacher and Webber, but the safety car reduced Vettel's lead from a probably uncatchable 10 seconds to zero.
At the restart, the German pulled it out to 3.1 seconds again while Button battled to get past Webber and Schumacher but the Englishman was in range.
He closed remorselessly in - 1.6secs, 1.3secs, 1.1secs, 0.9secs - and Vettel buckled under the pressure.
Hamilton paid generous tribute afterwards. "Jenson drove absolutely amazing," he told BBC F1 pit-lane reporter Ted Kravitz as he filmed his behind the scenes report for this website.
"With all the commotion going on, the pressure he put on Vettel at the end, I knew he was going to get him."
Despite his error, Vettel is still in a very strong position in the championship. He actually extended his lead by two points and is now two wins and a fifth place clear of his closest rival, which is now Button following Hamilton's retirement.
His mistake proves that he is beatable if he is pushed hard enough, as was the case last year.
But Hamilton - who still seems the man with the biggest chance of overhauling him for all Button's genius on Sunday - will need to get his act together again if he is to do so.
His controversial collision with Button led to his visiting the race stewards to explain his actions for the sixth time in seven races - an extension of a record that led to the McLaren driver coming out with his now-infamous Ali G remarks after the last race in Monaco.
In the midst of Hamilton's reaction, one phrase was particularly telling. Where does your season go from here, he was asked. "Onwards and upwards," he replied. "Go to the next one and try to stay out of trouble."
Hamilton at least finished an incident-packed race in Monaco. In Canada, where in hindsight he could have won, there were more errors.
He was in the wars as soon as the drivers were released following a safety car start, colliding with Webber in an incident Hamilton admitted was his fault.
Two laps later, as he fought to make up lost ground, came the collision with Button.
It was a racing incident - Button should probably have seen Hamilton, who should probably have realised the gap was going to close.
But who was to blame is not really the point. Hamilton does seem to have turned into a magnet for trouble this year, and there seems little doubt that the situation is arising out of frustration at helplessly watching another title slip away.
Be that as it may, a slight change of approach is required if Hamilton is to deliver fully his fantastic potential.
"It's the nature of Lewis's attacking style," said David Coulthard as he analysed the Button-Hamilton collision on BBC One. "It's easy to knock someone when they're involved in a series of incidents, but it's why Lewis has so many fans around the world.
"This is just a phase he's going through. He believes he's the best driver in the world. Right now McLaren are not able to give him a winning car, and he's getting frustrated.
Lewis Hamilton was penalised twice by the stewards at the Monaco Grand Prix a fortnight ago. Photo: Getty
"He wants to win, and that passion, that drive, is what's causing him to get up close and personal with other cars. If I was his management, I'd be saying: 'Chill. Everyone knows you're a great driver, just enjoy it.'"
Heading into the weekend, Hamilton named Ayrton Senna and Gilles Villeneuve as two legendary drivers to whom he would like to be compared.
Undoubtedly Hamilton shares their speed, their verve, their charisma, and their good looks. But he also shares their occasional tendency to go over the limit.
That is, of course, what has given all three their enormous global appeal but in all three cases it also led to races lost through going too far.
Hamilton might well think he fancies his chances against Vettel in a Red Bull.
And, brilliantly as the world champion is driving at the moment, Hamilton is not alone in thinking that is with good reason. What a battle it would be.
But, apparently under contract to McLaren until the end of next season, that prospect is probably not a possibility for the foreseeable future.
Hamilton has to do battle with what he has and make the most of it. If he is to do that, he must stop fretting about Vettel and relax into his racing. In that, he could learn a thing or two from his team-mate.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
MOTOGP: Rossi Reconsidered
Valentino Rossi is unquestionably one of the greatest motorcycle racers of all time, but is it possible that he may not be the peerless talent once assumed?
Paul di Resta - classic F1 2011
Scotland's Paul di Resta, who has made such an impressive start to his grand prix career with Force India this season, is the latest driver to feature in our revised classic Formula 1 series.
Ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix, the 25-year-old has picked his five favourite all-time F1 races. We will broadcast highlights of each of his choices in this blog and on the BBC red button to whet your appetites for the action to come in Montreal this weekend.
Di Resta follows in the footsteps of Sebastian Vettel, Michael Schumacher, Sebastien Buemi, Rubens Barrichello, Fernando Alonso and Nick Heidfeld so far this season.
The drivers have all taken a different approach to this task. Vettel, for example, picked only races from his own career, while the others drivers we have showcased so far have all to one degree or another chosen a mix of races in which they featured and ones from before their own time in the sport.
Di Resta has raced in only seven grands prix so far, so it is no surprise that four of his five choices are from the archive.
His first is this year's Australian Grand Prix - after all, a driver will always remember his F1 debut fondly.
The rest are as follows:
The 1968 German Grand Prix, which has gone down in history as one of the great Jackie Stewart's most extraordinary victories, and one of the greatest of all time.
Di Resta says he "read about it in Jackie's autobiography - sounded exciting". The race, memorably described by Stewart himself, was held in teeming rain and dense fog, and Stewart was in a league of his own, winning by four minutes in his Matra.
The next choice is the 1979 French Grand Prix, famous for the thrilling duel over second place between Ferrari's Gilles Villeneuve and Renault's Rene Arnoux in the final three laps, the two men passing and re-passing, banging wheels in lurid, thrilling fashion, until Villeneuve finally prevailed.
It was one of the iconic Villeneuve's landmark performances, a man of sublime talent transcending the limitations of his machinery and taking on faster cars.
A similar description can be applied to Di Resta's next choice, the 1993 European Grand Prix at Donington Park, which has entered F1 folklore as one of the late Ayrton Senna's greatest wins.
In a race of constantly changing conditions, Senna moved from fifth to first in the course of a stunning first lap and raced off into a league of his own. Such was his superiority that at one point he had lapped the entire field.
Finally, Di Resta has chosen the climax to the 2008 world title fight at the Brazilian Grand Prix, when, as he puts it, "the championship went to the last corner".
Many will recall that Ferrari's Felipe Massa would overhaul McLaren's Lewis Hamilton and take the title if the Brazilian could win, with Hamilton finishing lower than fifth.
Massa completed his part of the bargain and, as he crossed the line to take the chequered flag, Hamilton was down in sixth place, having recently been passed by Toro Rosso's Vettel.
In the Ferrari pit they celebrated, but with rain falling all was not lost for Hamilton. Ahead of him the Toyotas, which had decided not to stop for wet-weather tyres, were struggling, and the Englishman passed the gripless Timo Glock at the last corner of the race to sneak the place he needed.
As regular readers will know, we pick one of the driver's choices to highlight and I have to admit that the initial inclination was to run Di Resta's choices ahead of the German Grand Prix and show the '68 race at the Nurburgring.
Highlights of that race do not exist in the BBC archive, though, so instead we have moved Di Resta to Canada and chosen the '79 French race because of Villeneuve, after whom Canada's F1 track is named.
So the full 'Grand Prix' highlights programme broadcast on the evening of that race is embedded below - it has never been shown since that day 32 years ago.
Beneath it are links to long and short highlights of last year's Canadian Grand Prix. It was arguably the best race of the season last year, featuring a thrilling battle between all five of the men who fought out the championship - Hamilton, his McLaren team-mate Jenson Button, Alonso's Ferrari and the Red Bull drivers Vettel and Mark Webber.
In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions. If you're reading via RSS, you'll need to visit the blog to access this content.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH SHORT HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 2010 CANADIAN GRAND PRIX
CLICK HERE TO WATCH EXTENDED HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 2010 CANADIAN GRAND PRIX
The details for the BBC red button on digital television in the UK are as follows:
Long highlights from France 1979, short highlights of Europe 1993, Brazil 2008 and Australia 2011 plus extended highlights of the Canadian Grand Prix 2010 will be broadcast on satellite and cable from 1500 BST on Wednesday 8 June until 1700 BST on Sunday 12 June.
Unfortunately, a lack of bandwidth because of the Queens tennis tournament means we are unable to broadcast these highlights on Freeview.
One of those days?
As an F1 journalist you get good days and bad days. Trying to figure out what is going to happen is not always easy but today I got something right and something wrong. Williams did confirm that it has reached an agreement to work with Renault once again, something which I predicted in May but [...]
Hispania gets a new Spanish owner
The Hispania team has a new majority shareholder in the form of investment group Thesan Capital. The new owners plan to emphasise the team’s Spanish background and eventually move it to a new base in Spain. The team said today: … Continue reading 
Bahrain F1 Grand Prix 2010 Race live on Sunday BBC Start Time
Sebastian Vettel will take the pole position in the Bahrain F1 Grand Prix on Sunday March 14, 2010. The two Ferraris will be running after his car and you can catch all the race day action live on BBC.
March 14, 2010: Sunday Live Race Day
Bahrain F1 Grand Prix 2010�? 11:10 (Red Button, BBC1�and online) (12:00)
F1 [...]
March 14, 2010: Sunday Live Race Day
Bahrain F1 Grand Prix 2010�? 11:10 (Red Button, BBC1�and online) (12:00)
F1 [...]
Mike Wilds Jonathan Williams Roger Williamson Dempsey Wilson
Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport L'Or Blanc unveiled
The Bugatti Veyron 16.4 is headed into the history books, but Grand Sport production continues as the company has unveiled this one-off L'Or Blanc in Berlin. 
66 Black GT350........Interior Done Body Foiled.........7/4
Got this from a friend and I will be doing it as a GT350......................................
Hope to get started soon..........................................
Monday, July 4, 2011
Team orders in spotlight again
 Will Christian Horner regret not utilising team orders in Brazil? |
?The extra seven points Alonso collected when Ferrari ordered Felipe Massa to move over for him in Germany earlier in the season are now looking even more crucial. ?And the �65,000 fine they picked up for ruthlessly breaking the rules will seem loose change if Alonso clinches the title in his first year with the Maranello team. ?Red Bull could have switched the result yesterday given their crushing dominance and still celebrated their first constructors' championship just five years after coming into the sport. ?That would also have given Webber an extra seven points, leaving him just one behind Alonso.?The Guardian?s Paul Weaver says that if Fernando Alonso does take the drivers? title in Abu Dhabi, Ferrari owes a debt of gratitude to Red Bull for their decision not to employ team orders in Brazil.
?If Alonso does take the title next week it would not be inappropriate were he and Ferrari to send a few gallons of champagne to Red Bull's headquarters in Milton Keynes. ?While Red Bull should be heartily applauded for the championship they did win today their apparent acceptance that Ferrari might carry off the more glamorous prize continues to baffle Formula One and its globetrotting supporters. ?Their refusal to make life easy for Webber, who has led for much of the season and is still seven points ahead of Vettel, means that whatever happens in the desert next week Alonso, the only driver who was capable of taking the championship in the race today, only has to secure second place to guarantee his third world title.?The Independent?s David Tremayne is also of the opinion that Red Bull may regret not using team orders in Brazil.
?Had Red Bull elected to adopt team orders and let Webber win ? something that the governing body allows when championships are at stake ? Webber would have left Brazil with 245 points ? just one point off the lead. For some that was confirmation of his suggestion that Vettel is the team's favoured driver ? which generated an angry call from team owner Dietrich Mateschitz in Austria and was much denied by team principal, Christian Horner. ?And it sets up a situation where, if the result is repeated next weekend, as is likely, Vettel and Webber will tie on 256, five behind Alonso.?The Mirror?s Byron Young has put Lewis Hamilton?s fading title chances down to an inferior McLaren machine and he admits the 2008 World Champion now needs a miracle.
?Sebastian Vettel's victory sends the world title fight to a four-way showdown for the first time in the sport's history. ?Hamilton goes there as part of that story with a 24-point deficit to Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, but with just 25 on offer in the final round in six days' time it would take more than a miracle. ?Driving an outclassed McLaren he slugged it out against superior machinery and stiff odds to finish fourth.?
Harry Schell Tim Schenken Albert Scherrer Domenico Schiattarella
Five ways to improve F1
 Emerson Fittipaldi in his heyday |
Why Michael Schumacher Could Win The 2011 World Championship
Michael Schumacher?s 2010 comeback was somewhat abortive.� The results, the driving standard and the overtakes were well below par for the former champion.� He even let his team mate beat him for the first time in his career.� So why can Schumacher, the fallen Ferrari hero, win the world championship for an 8th time? It?s [...]
CUP: Right Time For Ragan To Win
Roush Fenway Racing is negotiating a contract extension with UPS...
Porsche 996 gets an LS1 V8 engine transplant
A beat-up, burnt Porsche 996 is a sight for sore eyes. To put it plainly, the finest in German engineering doesn’t deserve to be treated like this by an engine fire that rendered it virtually catatonic.
Fortunately, LS1tech forum member "1dirtyZ" has come to save this particular 996 from the jaws of a junk shop incinerator. Taking the completely destroyed 996, 1dirtyZ bought the Porsche sports car to give it a complete make-over, one that specifically involved changing the powertrain and putting in a General Motors LS1 V8 engine to replace the 996’s old 3.6-liter H6 engine that produced 316 horsepower. With the LS1 V8 engine, the Porsche 996 is looking at a new output of around 345 horsepower and 350 lb/ft of torque.
The project is far from a finished product - as you can see, there’s still plenty of work left to be done - but from the looks of things, it should be done sooner than later. In the meantime, there are a couple of videos you can watch of the GM-powered Porsche 996 - how often do you hear that? - hitting the road for some test runs after the jump.
Porsche 996 gets an LS1 V8 engine transplant originally appeared on topspeed.com on Saturday, 2 July 2011 12:00 EST.
Post-2000 F1 cars at the 2011 Goodwood Festival of Speed | Goodwood Festival of Speed
Pictures of recent F1 cars at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Vettel set for titles aplenty
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?Here, after all, is a young man, already dubbed ?Baby Schumi? by Germany?s tabloid press, winning the first of what will presumably be multiple world championships, and all at the tender age of 23. Plenty of time yet to match Schumacher's incredible haul of seven world titles. And yet, their phenomenal ability to drive racing cars apart, there is little similarity between the two men. ?There are still lingering doubts over his racing ability but with such blistering qualifying pace he is nearly always leading from the front anyway. Vettel is set for multiple world championships. Just don?t call him Baby Schumi.?The Guardian?s Paul Weaver says it was difficult to begrudge Vettel his moment of glory after he won the first of what will be many world titles. He also looks back at some of the season?s highlights.
?An amazing Formula One season produced its final twist here on Sunday when Sebastian Vettel, who had never led the title race, won his first world championship. It is difficult to begrudge him his glory, for he had more poles (10) than any other driver and shared the most wins (five) with Fernando Alonso. There will be red faces as well as red cars and overalls at Ferrari, though, for deciding to bring their man in when they did, only to see him re-emerge into heavy traffic. ?Among the highlights, and every race felt like a highlight after the bore-start in Bahrain, there was that wonderful beginning to his McLaren career by Jenson Button, who won two of his first four races, even though he couldn't keep up the pace, especially in qualifying. ?Hamilton once again drove his heart out, and outperformed a car that looked a little too ordinary at times. He was superb in Montreal. Then there was Webber, the Anglophile Aussie who was the favourite among most neutrals to win the title. There was that spectacular crash when he ran into the back of Heikki Kovalainen and the most famous of his four wins, at Silverstone, when he said to his team at the end of the race: 'Not bad for a No2 driver.' ?But in the end there was only one German who mattered. It was the remarkable Vettel. This will be the first of a clutch of championships for him.?The Independent?s David Tremayne focuses on the plight of the other title contenders, writing it is easier to feel more sorry for one than the other.
?It was impossible not to feel for both Webber and Alonso. Yet while a frustrated Alonso gestured at Petrov after the race, the Australian, predictably, refused to complain about his pitstop timing. ?A world championship seemed an inevitable part of Sebastian Vettel's future, but it came a little sooner than most expected, after his recent tribulations. You wouldn't bet against several more, and if that record-breaking streak continues, perhaps even Schumacher's achievements will be overshadowed.?And the Mirror?s Byron Young elaborates further on the petulant behaviour of Fernando Alonso on his slowing down lap after his title dreams ended behind the Renault of Vitaly Petrov.
?Fernando Alonso was hurled into more controversy last night for a wild gesture at the former Lada racer who cost him the title. But the Spaniard brushed off accusations he gave Russian Vitaly Petrov the finger for ruining his title hopes by blocking him for 40 laps as they duelled over sixth place. "The Ferrari ace was caught on television cruising alongside the Renault driver on the slowing down lap and gesticulating from the cockpit. Petrov was unrepentant: "What was I supposed to do? Just get out of his way, pull to the side? I don't think that is how we race. It was important for the team for me to get points."
Aston Martin V12 Zagato confirmed for production?
Aston Martin has apparently confirmed the V12 Zagato concept will go into production. 
"Fawn" interior for 62 Belair (?)
Having painted a 62 Belair body in Corrona Cream I'm "forced" to do the interior in FAWN, the only factory option with the cream. The AMT color chart clearly shows this but I wasn't paying attention and had planned on black - not available on any Belair.
An internet search didn't help much so can anyone post (or direct me to) pix?
Thanx
Peter Kennedy
Piero Carini Duane Carter Eugenio Castellotti Johnny Cecotto
Saturday, July 2, 2011
1940 Ford Standard Coupe WIP
Well, I want to build a 63 Chevy in Laurel Green (my college ride for 4 years commuting) but I haven't seen one at HobbyLobby or Michaels yet. My LHS has one for $20 that I may go ahead and buy but then I still need to order paint from MCW. I also thought about building the 70 Challenger below but I think the color is banana which I also will have to purchase. I also have a 65 Pontiac GTO and I would like to do the same color as the picture of the 66 Tempest below or an Iris Mist Poly. So I am going to order those paints and in the meantime I'm going to build this 40 Ford Standard Couple in dark green paint that I have. It is finally raining in Houston and I am not going to complain as we haven't had rain in months. So I'll start by cleaning up the body and getting everything ready for paint. Thanks for looking!
2012 Toyota Camry teased [video]
Toyota has released the first teaser video for the 2012 Camry. See the footage inside 
Friday, July 1, 2011
Vettel on driving for Ferrari and not wasting time with team-mates
Sebastian Vettel has responded to speculation linking him with Ferrari by saying that he is ?completely happy? at Red Bull. Speaking to formula1.com about the possibility of representing Ferrari one day, the German said: ?Let?s get this straight. To win races is not easy; to win championships even less so – at whatever team. I [...]
Austin City Council approves F1 race plan | F1 Fanatic round-up
In the round-up: Austin's hopes of holding an F1 race in 2012 take a step forward.
Lotus 88: the F1 car that was banned | Goodwood Festival of Speed
The Lotus 88 was banned after the team made several attempts to race it in 1981.
Toshio Suzuki Jacques Swaters Bob Sweikert Toranosuke Takagi
Reluctant David Coulthard launched into Red Bull pool! (Video)
David Coulthard is very much respected as a commentator by Formula1Fancast. He offers excellent insight into the races all year and life as a Formula 1 driver. If this video is anything to go by though, Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel and co don’t have quite the same respect for him! Poor David really didn’t want [...]
Robert Kubica Could Be Ruled Out For At Least A Year Following Accident
Polish racing driver Robert Kubica will spend at least one whole year recovering from a rally crash he suffered this morning, according to his surgeon. Kubica, who races for Renault Lotus crashed the Skoda Fabia rally car this morning and was airlifted to hospital suffering serious injuries. He has spent many hours in surgery, with [...]
Fifth Gear pits McLaren MP4-12C against Ferrari 458 Italia
TV show Fifth Gear maestroes Tiff Needel and Jason Plato put the McLarena MP4-12C and the Ferrary 458 Italia through their paces coming away with some profound results. 
Revell Datsun 510's
I would be interested in buying a couple of the Revell Datsun 510 1/25 scale model kits. I would be interested in any one of the THREE different releases over the years...........the yellow "Brock Buster" street car, the red white & blue "BRE" race car, or the latest version from the "Tuner Series".
Best to contact me directly thru email at yenpit@hotmail.com.
Thanks in advance! TJ
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