Max Verstappen caption contest

Max Verstappen will debut this friday in the first free practice for the Japanese GP in a Toro Rosso.

Today is his 17th birthday.

Do your best/worst

Aston Martin at the N24

V12 Vantage GT3 in flight.

Aston Martin clip from their 2014 ADAC 24Hr Race effort this past June.

Engineers racing what they work on is always a good thing in our book. And that other guy,... he looks vaguely familiar.

"The balance between the fear of god and a lovely time" 

a perfect description for the Nürburgring.

That 136 mph crash at COTA, in first person.

Tim Bell/Facebook

Pay close attention at how cool Tim Bell stays in the 10 seconds between the time he first realizes he has a problem with the brakes and the impact.

The description in the video says the car hit at 136 mph and if Tim was not hurt it's thanks to the TecPro barriers installed at the Circuit of the Americas.  Notice how, despite the speed, there relatively little visible damage to the Nissan 370Z.

TecPro is a french company which has developed a system of foam filled plastic barriers joined by nylon straps that first originated in karting.  The barriers are more expensive than tires but require much less maintenance than a homologated tire wall where tires have to be bolted together and contained by as conveyor belt.   Tim will attest to their effectiveness.

What Fernando Alonso and Kim Kardshian's butt have in common

"Views are down Smithers,!  Quick, produce me three new listicles on the many sides of Kim Kardashian's butt, or you're fired!"

CelebrityCarBlog.com

F1, in recent weeks has had it's own version of surefire click bait with innumerable articles about Fernando Alonso's future plans.  We might have reached "peak Nando" today with the publication on Sport Bild of an article claiming that it's  pretty much a done deal next year: Alonso will be at Lotus, the team revamped with Mercedes engines and bought out by (noted Ferrari collector and past team sponsor) Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll.   

Of course, always according to SportBild, Stroll's son and current Ferrari Academy driver Lance would drive as Fernando's teammate.

Click...

OK, so that's just the business of journalism these days, and yes, it's amusing to speculate.  You might agree with us that the least of Ferrari's problems is their driver line up.   Even if you believe those who say the new "Agnelli/Marchionne" regime is tight with the pursestrings, even if you believe Honda would be willing to cover Ferrari in gold to have Alonso,  I'm not sure I see an obvious solution here.

The two big "market forces",  if you can call them such, are Vettel's supposed need to prove himself somewhere other than at Red Bull and Fernando's biological ticking championship clock.   There had been  a third one, Hamilton's escape from a Mercedes led by world champion Rosberg but that now seems less and less likely.  Plus, only a fool would jump off the Silberpfeil juggernaut at this point.

Back to Vettel and Alonso.   Just a bunch of questions, really.  

Of Vettel at Ferrari there has been talk of since, at least, early last season.  For many that he will be in Red from 2016 is a given.   But would Alonso and Vettel coexist at Ferrari?  Could Alonso and Vettel coexist at Ferrari?  Could Ferrari, or anyone, pay that bill?

Ferrari is going through a rebuilding cycle,  why would Alonso accept to stay during this period and leave right when it might be time to pick the fruits?   Or, why would he want to stay at all if he know Ferrari would dump him for Vettel after next season? 

In any case, Vettel is confirmed at Red Bull for 2015 so that talked about swap is (and my many years following F1 always advise me to hedge) ...unlikely.

Does Fernando  have that many attractive options?   Mclaren?  It's a lot of money potentially but Honda power is an unknown and in any case, exclusive to Mclaren for only one season.   What is know is that Ron Dennis hates his guts and that he is the polar opposite of a "Mclaren" driver.     That would be a big risk for him.

Red Bull won't have him, doesn't need him.  Hell, Red Bull does not even need Vettel at this point and Helmut Marko has already declared Max Verstappen "just like Senna".  That must cheese Hamilton to no end by the way.

Mercedes is not a realistic option either.

So, barring a Copersucar-esque move to a revamped Lotus or retirement, I don't see too many good options outside of Maranello for Alonso.

For Ferrari, there is no option of rebuilding the team with Raikkonen, a driver who has said he would retire come 2015 and a second tier driver.   The Scuderia's biggest error over the past five seasons was in staying loyal to Massa.   Had they hired a driver capable of taking more points away from the competition it's likely  the 2010 and 2012 championship trophies would be on Alonso's mantelpiece and we would not be having this discussion now.

Hamilton takes advantage of Rosberg's car failure, it's hammer time in Singapore.

Lewis Hamilton scored maximum points at Singapore with a victory that once again highlighted the crushing advantage Mercedes have over the competition this year.

Hamilton did not put a foot wrong and now leads the Championship going into the Japanese GP,  Rosberg scored no points and is now 3 behind.

There was a race in Singapore but it was all behind Lewis.  Vettel, Ricciardo and Alonso had a decent scrap for the remaining podium spots which was decided when Ferrari got slightly caught out by the Safety Car, He had been ahead of the two Red Bulls but emerged behind on the same tires after the stop.

It might have been a closer race had the drivers been able actually race with each other rather than just try to save tires and get to the end.    Mark Webber, racing at Circuit of the Americas in the WEC,  was quoted yesterday:


“There’s no contest there, Michelin is a real racing tire, Pirelli was for show business in Formula one.  These are real racing tires so it’s a tire which all the drivers can enjoy...”


But it is what it is, I guess.

As predicted, the FIA's ban, half ban, on radio communications was made a joke today with all sorts of messages being sent back and forth from all teams.  More confusion.

Of note, Maldonado did not crash though he did drive off with a wheel gun still attached once.

Also, Jean Eric Vergne finished 6th despite being given not one but two 5 second penalties!   Perhaps Toro Rosso needs to arrange to have the FIA penalize JEV every race!

Now on to Suzuka and the momentum is all in Hamilton's corner again.   If we're lucky we'll finally see a straight up,  on track battle between the two Mercedes.

 It's been a while now.

Don't miss the Singapore GP!

What 0.007/sec looks like (via SkySportsF1)

Singapore qualifying was the closest so far this season, not just for the 7/1000th of a second between Hamilton and Rosberg but the top 5 are all in the same 2.5/10th, the top 9 in the same 6/10th.

Has the competition caught up to Mercedes?    It's more likely the very specific characteristics of the Singapore circuit played a role.    If you accept Mercedes' big engine advantage is due to their superior MGU-H (turbo) component then it might be that all those short segments make it less of a factor.

In any case, today's  exciting qualifying hint at a very interesting race tomorrow.   The only shame that Kimi Raikkonen did not get a chance to show his speed in Q3 because of yet another problem on his Ferrari.

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Laps
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:46.921	1:46.287	1:45.681	17
2	6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:47.244	1:45.825	1:45.688	19
3	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-Renault	1:47.488	1:46.493	1:45.854	12
4	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing-Renault	1:47.476	1:46.586	1:45.902	15
5	14	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1:46.889	1:46.328	1:45.907	16
6	19	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	1:47.615	1:46.472	1:46.000	20
7	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:46.685	1:46.359	1:46.170	14
8	77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	1:47.196	1:46.622	1:46.187	18
9	20	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:47.976	1:46.700	1:46.250	18
10	26	Daniil Kvyat	STR-Renault	1:47.656	1:46.926	1:47.362	21
11	22	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1:47.161	1:46.943		12
12	25	Jean-Eric Vergne	STR-Renault	1:47.407	1:46.989		14
13	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	1:47.370	1:47.308		13
14	21	Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber-Ferrari	1:47.970	1:47.333		9
15	11	Sergio Perez	Force India-Mercedes	1:48.143	1:47.575		13
16	8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	1:47.862	1:47.812		14
17	99	Adrian Sutil	Sauber-Ferrari	1:48.324			6
18	13	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus-Renault	1:49.063			8
19	17	Jules Bianchi	Marussia-Ferrari	1:49.440			7
20	10	Kamui Kobayashi	Caterham-Renault	1:50.405			8
21	4	Max Chilton	Marussia-Ferrari	1:50.473			7
22	9	Marcus Ericsson	Caterham-Renault	1:52.287			5

The importance of proper barriers.

The team behind Circuit of the Americas did a stellar job building a world class facility, the only FIA F1 Certified track in the United States.

FIA certification means a very high level of safety incorporating all the latest advances in the field But, to all those who still insist safety equates to less excitement, let me show you how all that work paid off today.  

I would bet you Tim Bell, the Nissan 370Z driver racing in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge series,  did not find it boring at all.



In this case,  the paved runoff made things worse but the FIA barriers did a superb job absorbing the impact. Contrast this to the recent crash at Watkins Glen.

A stack of tires, bare armco, just don't not cut it anymore and it's really up to all of us racers and enthusiasts to demand every track make the effort to upgrade.   This is why Axis is fully behind efforts of the Motorsport-Safety Foundation and the Sean Edwards Foundation.

We're guessing Tim Bell will be too.

Engine change, you're doing it wrong

Australians may be a pragmatic bunch but this is not the preferred way to do an engine swap

The Aussie Porsche Carrera Cup was at Sandown last week.  Start of race 2 did not go quite as planned for Nick McBride when he was spun by his teammate and collected by two other competitors.    McBride was taken to the track's medical center for evaluation but was able to eventually limp out the car mostly on his own. Thank you Porsche build quality.

The 991GT3 lumpectomy resulted in so much debris,  the race was just cancelled.

(thanks Sergini!)

Radio Messages: an F1 sized mess in the making?

The FIA will start to clamp down on radio messages this week end in Singapore,  not just for the race but for every session.  The goal is to make life harder for drivers and the pretext is an article in the Formula 1 sporting regulation stating a driver must "...drive the car alone and unaided"

So no more "Lewis is 1/10th faster in sector one, braking later in turns 2 and 5"  but also no more pit to car info on tire and brake temperatures (from the following race) and most crucially perhaps, no more info on fuel consumption.  

And no getting cute with coded messages either.

So yes,  life will be made harder but while the radio talk allowed or forbidden is specified and nothing but gap messages can be displayed on pit boards,  who's to stop teams from sending info to the display,  or work out some other code using the allowed messages?  

Sounds like a big mess?   You got it.

Below is a list of what teams can and cannot say on the radio to their drivers. (list FIA via Adam Cooper)

Goodwood Revival in Pure Sound

Photo seberry67 / Flickr

Formula E got you down?  Hate Formula One's new polite volume?   Despise Diesel race cars ?

Here's a full retro, politically incorrect, loud, smokey antidote  courtesy of aspiring designer Nicholas Lette van Oostvoorne and, of course, Lord March organizer of the event and all those who maintain these mechanical artworks alive and roaring.

Turn it up!

2014 Goodwood Revival: Day 3 Live Stream

Final day at the greatest historic racing event on the planet the Goodwood Revival.   See it all live or wait for the the replay after the event has ended.

REVIVAL BROADCAST SCHEDULE

ALL TIMES ARE BST (GMT +1HR) AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE.

• FRIDAY Sept 12th
• SATURDAY Sept 13th
• SUNDAY Sept 14th

0915 Maserati 250F demonstration

No fewer than 16 of the 29 Maserati 250Fs built are at Revival to celebrate the car’s 60th anniversary. The very first and very last built will part of this spectacular display, along with some other historically significant examples such as that raced by Juan Manuel Fangio at the Nurburgring. If you enjoy this, don’t miss them racing in the Richmond Trophy at 1050.

1000 Fordwater Trophy

The Fordwater Trophy is for production-based sports and GT cars from 1960 to 1966. Watch specialist British cars from the likes of Elva, Tornado and Rochdale take on the likes of Porsche, Ferrari and Sunbeam.

1050 Richmond Trophy

There are 11 Maserati 250Fs on the entry list for the Richmond Trophy, including a very rare V12, making this unmissable viewing. And that’s before you factor in the rest of the field packed with GP cars from 1954 to 1960. That includes three Scarab-Offenhausers which have never before been on a grid together.

1130 Settrington Cup – Race 2

A slower pace, but no less rivalry, in the Settrington Cup. The four to 10-year olds in Austin J40 pedal cars always generate a close finish – and the 2014 fixtures promise to be no different.

1150 Barry Sheene Memorial Cup – Race 2

Race two for the two-rider Barry Sheene Memorial will pick from where race one left off. See the likes of Troy Corser, Steve Plater, Michael Rutter and Steve Parrish wrestle Nortons, JABSs, BMWs and others around the historic circuit.

1240 St Mary’s Trophy – Race 2

The concluding St Mary’s Trophy race, the two-driver fixture for saloon cars between 1960 and 1969. Always a crowd favourite, expect plenty of close action.

1400 Royal Automobile Club TT Celebration

As with Saturday’s TT, today’s race for 1960 to 1964 GT cars will feature lots of well-known names. Alain de Cadenet will be in a Ferrari 250 GTO/64, with other Ferrari competition coming from Derek Bell and Anthony Reid, both in 250 GT SWB/Cs. Jaguar E-types are well represented, too, with Chris Harris, Rob Huff and Emanuele Pirro all in E-types.

1520 Jackie Stewart Tribute demonstration

Sir Jackie Stewart was first talent-spotted at Goodwood back in 1964 and, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of that career break, there will be a daily parade. Cars include the very 1964 Cooper-BMC that he was driving when Goodwood circuit manager Robin Mackay saw him driving will feature, as will the Marcos Xylon GT in which Jackie took his first race win. His three F1 championship wins will be represented by a 1969 Matra-Cosworth MS80 and a Tyrrell-Cosworth 006. In all, there are 27 cars on the entry list – each with a JYS story to tell.

Item 9 Title

1600 Glover Trophy
Lightweight high-revving 1.5-litre F1 and Tasman cars from 1961 to 1965 populate the Glover Trophy grid. Cars to look out for include the Brabham-Climax BT3 – Brabham’s first grand prix car – and the Lotus-Climax 25 in which Jim Clark won the world championship in 1963. That’s entered by Clive Chapman’s Classic Team Lotus operation.

1640 Jaguar D-type demonstration

Did you miss the Lavant Cup, the Jaguar D-type single-make race earlier? Now’s your chance to see 27 D-types, plus five XKSSs, parade around the circuit at a more gentle pace. The Lavant Cup runs again tomorrow at 1640 where you can see them compete in anger again.

1720 Freddie March Memorial Trophy

A second chance to see the Freddie March Memorial Trophy action, the first race having been on Friday. As well as the popular Jaguars, Aston Martins and Frazer Nashes, look out for the HWM-Jaguar, Lagonda V12 Le Mans, Gordini Type 23S and the Cunningham C4R

Formula E first race has its first huge crash.

The first ever fully "e" Grand Prix was won in dramatic fashion by Lucas Di Grassi in the Audi Sport Abt car after a last lap bonehead maneuver by then leader Nicholas Prost who blatantly turned in on a surging Nick Heidfeld.  The resulting collision sent the German tumbling and crashing into one of the Beijing city course's walls.

Kudos to FIA and Dallara for enforcing the highest of safety standards because "Quick Nick" was not injured in what was a very scary crash.   I wish the same could be said about the course which has unacceptable bumps and launch ramp curbs.

Judging from the slowness of the FIA Formula E web site, interest across the globe must be high despite widespread skepticism in electric car racing.

2014 Goodwood Revival: Day 2 Live Stream

Today it's real racing.  Get ready for some amazing racing action all day.  Below is the Schedule,  Keep in mind it's British time.    So program starts at 3:20 am ET Saturday

REVIVAL BROADCAST SCHEDULE

ALL TIMES ARE BST (GMT +1HR) AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE.

• FRIDAY Sept 12th
• SATURDAY Sept 13th
• SUNDAY Sept 14th

0920 BRM V16 demonstration

If you missed it yesterday, you won’t to miss the sound of the BRM Type 15’s incredible 700bhp V16 engine today. It has Goodwood history, too, having taken its maiden victory in the Woodcote Cup in September 1950, and a second win later that day in the Goodwood Trophy. It will run again at 0920 tomorrow.

1000 Goodwood Trophy

The second outing for the 1930 to 1950 GP voiturette cars. The earliest car is a 1931 Bugatti Type 54, the latest a 1950 Ferrari 125/166. Well-known drivers to look out for include touring car driver Rob Huff in a Parnell-MG and GT car racer Calum Lockie is a Maserati 6CM.

1045 Chichester Cup – Race 2

Formula Junior is the arena in which many Grand Prix drivers of the late 1960s learnt their trade. These lightweight, high-revving machines always make a spectacle, the Chichester Cup being exclusively Ford powered and featuring cars built from 1960 to 1964.

1140 Settrington Cup – Race 1

A slower pace, but no less rivalry, in the Settrington Cup. The four to 10-year olds in Austin J40 pedal cars always generate a close finish – and the 2014 fixtures promise to be no different. Race two is at 1130 tomorrow.

1155 Royal Automobile Club TT Celebration – Qualifying

The TT is a two-driver race for closed cockpit GT cars from 1960 to 1964. Expect to see fierce competition from pros in AC Cobras – their number includes Giedo van der Garde, Nic Minassian, Darren Turner, Jochen Mass and Andrew Jordan. Jordan won’t be the only BTCC driver – expect rivalry from Jason Plato (Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray), Matt Neal (Sunbeam Lister Tiger), Anthony Reid (Ferrari 250 GT SWB/C) and Rob Huff (Jaguar E-type FHC).

1255 St Mary’s Trophy – Race 1

By the time the two-driver teams get to the first St Mary’s Trophy race, rivalries will be well-established. With more BTCC drivers than ever, it’s bound to be highly competitive. Race two is at 1240 tomorrow.

1350 Jackie Stewart Tribute demonstration

Sir Jackie Stewart was first talent-spotted at Goodwood back in 1964 and, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of that career break, there will be a daily parade. Cars include the very 1964 Cooper-BMC that he was driving when Goodwood circuit manager Robin Mackay saw him driving will feature, as will the Marcos Xylon GT in which Jackie took his first race win. His three F1 championship wins will be represented by a 1969 Matra-Cosworth MS80 and a Tyrrell-Cosworth 006. In all, there are 27 cars on the entry list – each with a JYS story to tell.

1415 Barry Sheene Memorial Trophy – Race 1

Race onefor the two-rider Barry Sheene Memorial will pick from where qualifying left off. See the likes of Troy Corser, Steve Plater, Michael Rutter and Steve Parrish wrestle Nortons, JABSs, BMWs and others around the historic circuit. Race two is at 1150 tomorrow.

1500 Shelby Cup

A two-driver race for small-block V8 powered saloon cars promises plenty of action – and noise! As you’d expect, there are plenty of Ford Mustangs on the grid. Well-known drivers include current and former F1 drivers Max Chilton and Rupert Keegan, BTCC’s Gordon Shedden, Le Mans racer Jochen Mass. Henry Mann, son of Alan Mann, is also in a Mustang. Keeping them honest will be a variety of other small-block engined machinery: Ford Falcons driven by Henri Pescarolo and Rowan Atkinson respectively, a Studebaker Lark Daytona driven by Matt Neal and a Mercury Comet Cyclone driven by Emanuele Pirro.

1600 Maserati 250F demonstration

No fewer than 16 of the 29 Maserati 250Fs built are at Revival to celebrate the car’s 60th anniversary. The very first and very last built will part of this spectacular display, along with some other historically significant examples such as that raced by Juan Manuel Fangio at the Nurburgring. If you enjoy this, don’t miss them racing in the Richmond Trophy tomorrow at 1050.

1640 Lavant Cup

A rare chance to see the stunning spectacle of a Jaguar D-type single make race. With 32 cars on the entry list – including five XKSSs – it’s a spectacle not to miss. Cars to look out for include the very first prototype (OVC 501) and the 1955 Le Mans winning car (XKD 505).

1730 Whitsun Trophy

‘Unlimited sports prototypes’ is a phrase to get the pulse racing – and this is the race in which to see Ford GT40s, McLaren M1Bs and Lola T70s going wheel to wheel. McLaren’s Chris Goodwin will be at the wheel of an M1B, and there will also be a rare chance to see the McKee-Chevrolet Mahrya in action.