F1 Funnies: London Grand Prix

Let's cut to the chase: London is not Monaco, can you imagine the center of the British capital closed off to traffic for a week? Enough said, Enjoy the video.

A warning to Vettel and Red Bull: "learn to lose gracefully"

After Valencia there was some harping from Helmut Marko and Sebastian Vettel suggesting a plot to stop Red Bull's dominance by sending out an unnecessary Safety Car and gather the field.

Anyone who saw how much debris Jean Eric Vergne spread around Valencia in his silly attempt to return to the pits after his attack on Angry Bird Kovalainen's right front wheel, certainly would agree with the stewards decision.

But not Mr Marko and Herr Vettel, more than happy to pick on poor Karthikayan but whose sense of humor fails when things don't go his way. Vettel is quoted saying that race control's decision was to clean the track but also to break Red Bull's legs. Marko, as we mentioned before, claimed it was an American style artificial ploy to make the race more interesting.

That was too much for Hans Stuck, president of the German Motorsport Federation (DMSB) who invited Vettel and Marko to think before they speak: "Vettel should learn how to lose, it was clear that there was a dangerous condition on track and there was a real risk of punctures. The stewards made the correct decision"

vergne from AxisOfOversteer on Vimeo.

Crash Man: Martin Schanche.

So he crashed a bit....  in everything from a VW beatle to an Escort RS200.

The now 67 year old Norwegian legend Martin Schanche was six times European Rallycross Champion earning him the title of "Mr. Rallycross", raced Pikes peak and even tried his hand at endurance racing at Le Mans in '87. He crashed.

After his retirement he has tried his had at local politics bringing his trademark style. 



No wonder he inspired this Spinal Tap like totally awesome heavy metal anthem.  Obviously a Norwegian Chuck Norris who produces turds larger than Tanner Foust before his breakfast made out of 30 pound Blocks of Jarlsberg.





More videos and pictures after the jump

Postcard from Monaco

Aston Martin One-77 by AC

No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!

Enzo Ferrari always said to finish first first you have to finish. It's not really that simple but, it is. That and you need to be lucky as well as brilliant.

Fernando Alonso was all that. He is a pit bull, he never gives up and that is why he is head and shoulders the best driver in the current F1 field.

Even if you are the biggest Alonso hater in the world you have to bow to his performance today. Even without Vettel's retirement his march from eleventh on the grid to second was astounding. You can't deny that outside pass on the impressive Romain Grosjean on the restart, you can't deny how he managed these mysterious Pirelli tires, attacking when necessary, holding back when needed after the first lap charge.

Nobody guessed Valencia would be exciting but it was, unlike Monaco and Montreal which were very exciting last season.  Certainly nobody put money on a Ferrari win even if there were clues to their race pace.

Clearly, this was going to be Vettel's race, he was just insanely fast in the first phase of the race. But hey, things happen even to bulletproof Red Bulls. Was it really an alternator?  Was it the exact same failure on Vettel's and Grosjean's RS27 lumps? As a rule, whatever you are officially told is never the real reason.

Grosjean is now a force to be reckoned with, no doubt about it. His pass on Hamilton was "magnifique". Lotus is in a groove.

Speaking of grooves, or maybe, anti-grooves, there is something really wrong with the world of F1 when Mclaren can't build manual jacks that work!  Two failed on Hamilton's second stop? Really Mclaren, it's a jack!
Imagine if it had been Ferrari who had such a comical string of pit stop failures, you would be reading about it everywhere, not just as a side note.  Where are the calls for Whitmarsh and Michael's heads? Mclaren is failing and Williams is going fast...I'm just saying.

Maldonado and Hamilton...Maldonado was obviously at fault but Hamilton was just dumb: why fight there and in such a high risk way? He had to know he was a sitting duck.
So much for Hammy 3.0,  the one with the eyes on the Championship.   However, Lewis should never have found himself in that position, forced to push because of the botched pit stop. But he also made an unforced error locking up into the final corner probably delivering a death blow to his Pirellis.

Red Bull has an interesting pickle to sort: in the Championship their best placed driver is Mark Webber not Vettel.  Awkward.    I had to laugh at Helmut Marko blaming the safety car on "America" and implying there was a conspiracy to stop Vettel. . Hilarious.

I'm guessing Button and Massa must have spent the evening in a bar sharing FAIL tapas. Massa certainly had an eventful race but getting passed by Petrov in a Caterham must not have done his psyche any good.
 Button's bad performances could be down to his not coming to terms with the unpredictability of the Pirellis and a constantly changing car but it's a big failure on the team's part not to have found a solution for him yet.

Schumacher on the podium was almost a relief, certainly for him. With Kimi, Schumi and Alonso, a podium filled with Ferrari DNA.

We have to go with the BBC highlights as I'm currently internet impaired, thanks for your patience and feel free to comment, yes even the rabid Lewis fans!

5 questions for Valencia

Photo: Felipe Ribas

A very interesting Italian blog, Yet Another F1 Blog, has a feature:  "Five questions for...".  As I'm on vacation please forgive if I translate their list, usually they raise the right ones :

1) Will we have the eighth different winner? 
The question is getting a bit old, but this season, it's impossible not to ask it. Who's missing: Raikkonen, Grosjean, Schumacher, Massa, the two from Sauber... Possible in theory but we say : NO

2) Will there be at least one Safety Car? 
We say YES
.
3) Another question we asked too much this season, who will lead the Driver's championship after Valencia?
We say Alonso, in great form.

4) Better Schumacher or Rosberg in quali? 
Schumacher, because Pirelli said so...

5) Will "poor" Jenson make it in the top five? 
McLaren will try to copy Hamilton's setup on Jenson's car, Will it be enough? We say YES, maybe he'll find his groove again.

Want to give it a try and see how you did after the week end? leave your answers below
Cheers!

BTW  have you seen how Red Bull have made an extra  wing profile by enclosing the half-shafts?   Expect "clarifications"

Real Car, Real Data: Scion FR-S

In the showroom, Toyota GT86 photographed in Paris by AC

How does the New Scion FR-S/Toyota GT86 perform on the track, unfiltered, raw data?
Fantastic initiative by Traqmate and the owner of this brand new Scion FR-S who bravely handed it over to Mike Skeen for a lap of Virginia International Raceway three days after taking delivery from the dealer.

Mike's a hot shoe so this is a good measure of the full potential of the car in stock form and Thanks to Traqmate you can have invaluable comparison data as reference and comparison to your current car or any future performance upgrades to an FR-S.

You can find the raw Traqmate data HERE along with the free comparison software .
The Scion FR-S lap video is after the jump.

Racetracks, Cars and Deer do not mix

Summit Point Raceway in West Virginia is notorious for wildlife intrusions.   A varmint chicane can appear at any time and any place but the favorite spot seems to be just before Turn 1, coincidentally the fastest spot on the track.

That annual Race, Drift, Beer and Boobs festival that is Hyperfest took place over the week end and while most had a great time, the driver of this C5 Z06 was probably not in the mood for venison.

Want to see a video of what hitting Bambi well north of 100 mph looks like?

Congratulations to the Winners of the 80th Le Mans 24 Hour!

As the No.1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro of Andre Lotterer-Marcel Fassler-Benoit Treluyer took the chequered flag at exactly 1500 hours, Audi Sport today secured their 11th victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. But this was historic for a number of reasons as it was the first win at the world’s most famous endurance race by a hybrid-powered car, it was on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the 24 Hours, and it was the first year that the famous endurance race featured as a round of the new FIA World Endurance Championship.


Audi filled all three places on the winner’s podium, with the No.2 Audi’s Tom Kristensen-Allan McNish-Dindo Capello in second and the conventionally diesel-powered No.4 Audi R18 ultra in third place. Mike Rockenfeller-Oliver Jarvis-Marco Bonanomi were the drivers.

Breaking up the Audis, and finishing in fourth place after a display of amazing consistency and reliability, was the No.12 Rebellion Racing Lola Toyota of Neel Jani-Nicolas Prost-Nick Heidfeld. Rounding out the top six was Le Mans newcomer JRM Motorsport whose No.22 HPD ARX-03a was in the reliable hands of former winner David Brabham, Peter Dumbreck and Karun Chandhok, the first Indian to compete in the Sarthe classic.

In LMP2, 12 of the 20 cars entered were still circulating after 24 hours which is a terrific achievement for all the teams involved in this privateer class. The best placed was the American No.44 Starworks Motorsport HPD ARX 03b entry, driven by 2011 class winner Tom Kimber-Smith with Ryan Dalziel and Enzo Potolicchio followed by three Oreca Nissans operated by Thiriet by TDS Racing, Pecom Racing and Signatech Nissan.

The GTE production-led class allowed the world’s leading luxury car manufacturers to display a great display of racing in the early stages of the race, with battles between Aston Martin, Corvette, Ferrari and Porsche. However, in the end it was a dominant victory for Ferrari who took 1st, 2nd and 4th in class. Having been completely re-built by the team in just one day following a testing accident, the No.51 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia, in the hands of Gianmaria Bruni-Giancarlo Fisichella-Toni Vilander, finished two laps ahead of the No.59 Luxury Racing Ferrari and the No.97 Aston Martin Vantage. It was a weekend to forget for the No.74 Corvette which had problem after problem following an impressive opening ten hours of racing, but the No.73 Chevrolet-powered car upheld some of the manufacturer’s honour on their 60th anniversary.

After a neck-and-neck battle in the GTE Am race between the No.50 Larbre Competition Corvette of Julien Canal-Pedro Lamy-Patrick Bornhauser and the No.67 IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche of Anthony Pons-Raymond Narac -Nicolas Armindo, the former multiple-Le Mans-winning French team took the upper hand and recorded the victory. For Julien Canal it is his third consecutive GTE Am victory. In third place was Krohn Racing’s Ferrari 458 Italia –Tracy Krohn and Nic Jonsson recording their third Le Mans podium finish and Michele Rugolo his first.

There were 21 official retirements, the most notable of which involved the two new Toyota TS030 Hybrids. British driver Anthony Davidson in the No.8 Toyota was involved in a serious accident in the sixth hour which saw him taken to hospital with a back injury. Fortunately he will be well enough to leave in a few days. The other Toyota was also involved in the incident which ultimately saw the retirement from the race of the innovative Nissan DeltaWing.
(Text: ACO)

MEGA Slide show after the jump courtesy of LeMansLive.Com/Michelin

Half of the Audis crash on the same lap..

You'd think Allan Mcanish, who was in the lead, would know how to pass a Ferrari without crashing by now... On the same lap, Marc Gene went off at the first chicane and had to drive most of the lap with a broken front corner.

Brian Vickers was on fire at Le Mans!

No I mean literally, on fire. The NASCAR driver was nursing his Ferrari 458 back to the pits with a flat tire when the it caught on fire.

Spirit of Le Mans

As you know drivers cannot get outside assistance while on track at Le Mans and when the Nissan Highcroft Delta Wing broke down, driver Satoshi Motoyama tried desperately to get the car running again but to no avail.

Earlier in the race, after a crash of his own making, Romain Dumas turned into the incredible Hulk and single hangedly tore the whole front end off his Audi R18 in order to make it back to the pits where team Audi managed to get the car running again

Huge Crash at Le Mans

Both are committed to the turn, Davidson tries to squeeze a late pass. Perazzini in the Ferrari should have let the pass happen earlier but he can't just disappear either.

Both drivers got out on their own.

Check out the crash at full speed. You can see how air moves the Toyota as it flies through the air!

Audi crash at Le Mans

Audi R18 Ultra, Romain Dumas too impatient and pays the price. After ripping the whole front of the car with his bare hands, he made it back to the pits and Audi managed to fix the car in 27 minutes!

Anthony Davidson also crashed his Toyota, much like McNish last year, on the back of a Ferrari.

80th 24 Hours of le Mans Live Streams

Follow live on the web
http://radiolemans.com/
http://live.lemans-tv.com/
http://www.audi-liveracing.com/desktop/index.jsp?l=en_US
http://live.nissan.co.uk/uk/base/deltawinglive
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nissan-motorsports
http://stream.speedtv.com/corvette
http://tensport.com.au/lemans-live-streaming.htm

Weather this morning was nasty.... Audi will be happy.   Here 's is a clip from the Le Mans Legends race

Casino de Montreal

I can't figure out why I've been cool towards F1 recently,  after all, seven winners in seven races,  that's special.   Perhaps because once again after Monaco we had another objectively dull race.   Sure Hamilton fans will be jumping up and down and I don't mean to take away from his drive which was  great but, reality is that most passes were in the DRS zone or in the pits.
I simply don't find that exciting any more.

Couple with a nagging feeling tires are a lottery, that there is an an element of luck in getting a consistent set of PZeros  on any given race day.  

Having  said that, kudos to Hamilton who drove the right strategy to perfection despite more pit stop shakiness.

Epic fail from Ferrari who cannot hide behind performance excuses for the newly developed F2012 any more.  Not after Massa qualified sixth and was moving up, like the old Massa until the new Felipe (or should I say, the new Button) returned.

Why Ferrari would be covering Vettel  behind rather then Hamilton in front remains a mystery.  Why when the writing was on the wall they did not stop,  even more.  Alonso may come away from Canada only two points behind Hamilton but  that may be the championship right there.  Strategy seems to be Ferrari's weak point right now.

Ferrari's wasn't the only epic fail of the day, Button, Webber, Mercedes.

Mixed feelings aside, being at the track in Montreal was great  (and a full report on the Axis CG epic week end in Ferrari Challenge and Porsche GT3 Cup is coming...) ,  sure you miss a lot in the chaos but you also get  things you just miss on TV.

A good example is sound and how exhaust notes change though out a week end.  In qualifying the Renault engined cars, Red Bull in particular, had a clear honking resonance as they accelerated out of turn 2 and a buzzing sound on the overrun.   These were absent in the race.

I put the question to someone who would know and they confirmed that indeed RBR used different maps in qualifying and for the race, different ones at different stages of the race too (and not always the correct one at the correct time).  This of course, all in an effort to preserve tires.  Think of it as traction control through engine mapping.  I never did get a good explanation about the buzz on the overrun though....

Also with some access to the pit you  catch small details you never would otherwise.   Ferrari's Pit signal board box contains the names of all the 2012 runners and one more,  Robert Kubica.

And all of a sudden your faith in the humanity of Formula 1 is restored.

Please comment on Ferrari's strategy or your view on the championship so far,  love to hear from you guys.

Ride in the Audi R18 e-tron at night.

Tom Kristensen, Audi R18 e-tron in third night qualifying for the 2012 Le Mans 24 Hours.

Want more? check out a night lap in the Corvette C6 ZR1 after the jump

Audi or Toyota?

I think we'll cheer the underdog for this one...

LeMansLive.com

Biker Anatomy.

I'm pretty sure Alpinestars anticipated organ donor jokes when they commissioned David Gwyther or Death Spray Custom in London to design this special bike suit.  Look ready made for TT riders!

This is the second collaboration between Alpinestars and Death Spray Customs after the "heat signature" livery for Nelson Piquet Jr. NASCAR Camping World Truck Series machine.  Find more Alpinestars art/speed projects HERE

From Alpinestars:

The “Anatomy” suit, designed by London-based Death Spray Custom (AKA David Gwyther) was hand built in Alpinestars’ race factory in Northern Italy as part of a consistent effort to fuse art, design, technology and racing. Alpinestars invited DSC to their European headquarters last year to consult with technicians and explore the idea of creating a custom collaborative suit that would offer the same amount of protection as a standard Alpinestars suit, but with an artistic agenda as well. Gwyther, who frequently draws from motorsports and all forms of transportation for inspiration, is an avid motorcyclist and all-around bona fide gear head. He saw this partnership as new medium and a new canvas to apply his craft.

Human anatomy is a theme I have much fascination with and is something I've often visited in previous works. The anatomy model is a visual motif that, even from an early age, was intriguing as a timeless piece of art in itself. Part sculpture, part puzzle and all educational.” said Gwyther. “We see it referenced culturally in many ways from Hirst to Kaws, though my inspiration was an artist from a different field, AMA legend David Aldana. He raced in black leathers with a white skeleton over print. Think a dirtrack Donnie Darko. I wanted to create the next generation version. It's a very simple idea; the best ideas often appear that way.”
Elaborating on the project and why Alpinestars was the ideal partner, he said, “I guess the conflict of protection and the human body is never more apparent than in motorcycles and motor sport. Obviously Alpinestars understands that dichotomy more than anyone. Combining that knowledge with their technical and creative expertise made for a unique and compelling project.”

The Anatomy suit features a variety of bovine and kangaroo leathers, which were carefully selected to achieve the texture, color and effect of a traditional anatomy model. A red (as opposed to black) mesh liner was selected to further emphasize the anatomy theme. The Anatomy suit will be debuted this weekend at the Southsiders MC “Wheels and Waves” event in Biarritz France."

BMW 1M Coupe Drifting

Gratuitous shots of one of our favorite cars doing what it does so well and so gracefully.

"Car is a BMW 1M Coupe with JRZ suspension. The movie was shot on the Papenburg ATP test track in Germany with Driftdagen.nl. Most drifting was done in 3rd gear. Speeds reached of 140km drifting the long corners/straights."

Indoorkartingheerenveen.nl

Postcard from Montreal

Gone Fishing....

Regular programming will resume when we return...

2012 EMCO Gears Classic at Mid Ohio

Richard Westbrook held off Scott Pruett’s late charge to win Saturday’s EMCO Gears Classic, giving the No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Corvette DP started by Michael Valiante its second victory of the season.

Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas finished second, .236 seconds back, matching the best finish of the season for the No. 01 TELMEX BMW/Riley. The defending DP champs also regained the points lead.

David Donohue and Terry Borcheller took third in the No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP. Starworks Motorsport took fourth and fifth, with Alex Popow and Lucas Luhr fourth in the No. 2 Soloson Ford/Riley and Enzo Potolicchio and Ryan Dalziel fifth in the No. 8 Duncan Ford/Riley.

GT also came down to the wire, with Bill Auberlen holding off Jeff Segal by .952 seconds. It was the first victory of the year for Auberlen and Paul Dalla Lana in the No. 94 BMW M3, while Segal and Emil Assentato maintained the GT points lead in the No. 69 AIM Autosport Team FXDD Ferrari.

Robin Liddell finished third in the No. 57 Stevenson Auto Group Chevrolet Camaro started from the pole by John Edwards, .952 seconds back, followed by the No. 70 Mazdaspeed/Modspace/Castrol Mazda RX-8 of Sylvain Tremblay and Jonathan Bomarito, and the No. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche GT3 of John Potter and Andy Lally.

Photo Credit: MotorSportMedia | Halston Pitman | Jake Galstad
 Text: Grand-Am.com

No comment...

...needed!

Canadian GP Preview

Photo: Victor Burnett

You have to feel web sites devoted exclusively to F1 in the past two weeks, there really has been very little to fill pages. What news has been out there has been, at best, thin: Luca Montezuma says Ferrari must win, Hamilton says he should win, web sites guess drivers salaries following an obvious tip from Red Bull trying to counter their image as the spendiest team.

991 GT3 will have no manual transmission

Bit of a watershed moment: the 991 GT3, if you believe Autocar magazine, will only be offered with a PDK dual clutch paddle shifter.

Porsche follows Ferrari ditching the third pedal.    We have no doubt about the performance advantages but how do you feel about not getting a choice, even a silly one like a 7 speed manual?   Luddite 911 owner demographic no firmly in Panamera/Cayenne age group?

I will admit this might put a dent in my "depreciated 997 GT3" ownership plan.

2012 Nurburgring 24 Hours, the inside line.

Axis brings you racing from the inside.   Our Bolognese friend Sergio Negroni is a veteran of the ADAC 24 Hour Rennen at the Nürburgring, Italian GT racing, VLN and is the current Blancpain Endurance Series GT3 Champion but really, just another tracktard like you and I.   
Delighted he agreed to share the story of his sixth Green Hell 24 hour challenge with us and carry the Axis colors on the car.  (All photos by Jochen Van Cauwenberge/Frozenspeed courtesy of Sergio Negroni)

The 2012 edition of the ADAC 24H Rennen was my sixth time at the Nürburgring classic.
The original plan for this year was to field my own 2011 Porsche GT3 Cup, but last minute logistical issues let us to a last minute change to an Aston Martin Vantage GT4.  The Vantage was impeccably prepared by Hamburg's Team HRT.  HRT is an official Aston Martin Racing team with vast experience in endurance races like the N24 and the Dubai 24.

HRT entered three Vantage GT4.  In number 55 along with me, my VLN and 2011 24H mate Jochen Hudelmeier,  Gerrman Carrera Cup driver  Dieter Speves and Porsche Supercup and Megane Euro Championship's Oliver Freymuth.    We all had prepared in VLN with 911's so some quick recalibration was needed.  We all agreed the Aston was fast, easy to drive, direct and most important, reliable.

Axis Invades Canada: 2 Axis cars to race in Montreal

Photo: Bradford Speers

There will be two Axis of Oversteer branded cars competing on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal this coming week end.

Squeaky Huayra

There are two options here:

A. The $1.4 Million Pagani Huayra has the build quality of a 1986 Yugo

or

B. Evo, the first magazine to get their hands on Horacio's latest creation really did him a favor with this video...


Also, it it me or the car looks awful coming out of corners, like it really wants to tankslap?
Bad journalist driving?  Maybe but I get the feeling soon enough someone will make Jalopnik happy and crash one.
Check the video after the jump.

Careful when you film rally cars testing...

That dot in the distance making a tasmanian devil style cloud in its wake is Mikko Hirvonen, testing his Citröen DS3 WRC on some gravel paths in Tuscany. Cool eh? Oh look, it's getting closer, and closer and...oh maremma maiala*, shouldn't those Michelins be on the bottom of the car?!...



* Tuscany is a region known for colorful swearing!

Crotch Rocket Madness: Fastest 'Ring Lap Ever.

7 minutes and 10 seconds BTG, Andy Carlile, Yamaha YZF-R1.
Go read the whole story behind this on Dale's great BTG Blog.