Remembering Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger, 18 years on

This Monday coming up (30/4/12) and Tuesday (1/5/12) will be 18 years that Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna has past away from us, from the accidents at the San Marino Grand Prix in 1994 were Ratzenberger crashed his Simtek at Villenunve in Qualifying and Senna crashed his Williams at Tumbrello in the race itself. Both would have been 52, if there still around today. So for this post remembering both Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger.

First for Roland a two minute YouTube footage from his BTCC days in Brands Hatch 1988, in his BMW M3 (the red car), battling against 1988 BTCC champion Frank Sytner, who also in a BMW M3 (the white car) with commentary from Murray Walker.



As for Senna, there is a good YouTube video below of the late three times world champion back in 1986 driving a few rally cars in Wales, which includes a Group B MG Metro 6R4 Rally car and Group A Ford Sierra RS Cosworth Rally car. Enjoy.



The sport has change since their deaths, with the safety of both cars and tracks to improve safety. So never forget Ayrton and Roland, both are still missed throughout the world of motor-racing in general.

BMW getting ready for DTM return and other BMW Videos

This weekend at Hockinheim in Germany, will be the first time in about over 19/20 years that BMW will be in the DTM this season with the new BMW M3 DTM.

With 2011 DTM Champion Martin Tomczyk driving the car this season. Also Joey Hand, 2011 DTM runner up Bruno Spengler, Dirk Werner, former three times WTCC champion Andy Priaulx and Augusto Farfus will be driving the M3 too.

So, here is some BMW DTM video's. Which, includes testing at Valencia in March 2012.





Here is the unveiling of the concept BMW M3 DTM car debut in Munich in July 2011.



Also, here is some other BMW videos, which includes former BMW Sauber F1 driver Nick Hiedfied driving a BMW Motorrad Motorsport BMW S1000RR superbike around the Nurburgring, Germany. While former Double World Superbikes Champion Tory Corser driving the BMW Sauber F1 car. The video also includes Rubén Xaus and Robert Kubica.



Here is another BMW video below of a road version of the BMW Z4 and a racing version of the BMW Z4 GT3 with a 4.4litre V8 inside the car producing over 500bhp. The Z4 is racing around in different global GT3 championships from the past few seasons. Which includes FIA GT3 European Championship, ADAC GT Masters and Blancpain Endurance Series for a few examples were they racing in.



End of blog for how, new blog soon, that is all. Bye.

2012 Bahrain Grand Prix Review and thoughts on the race too

Forth post of the F1 season. A quick review of the Bahrain Grand Prix, thoughts on the race itself.

Good points

• Red Bull Racing (Sebastian Vettel, started from pole, fastest lap of the race and the win, Mark Webber finished 4th)
• Lotus F1 Team (Kimi Räikkönen finished 2nd despite starting 11th on the grid, Romain Grosjean finished 3rd)
• Paul di Resta (finished 6th on a two-stop strategy)
• Filipe Massa (finished 9th, first points of the season)
• Michael Schumacher (despite going out of qualifying 1 and changing his gearbox which means a five place grid penailty to start 22nd finished the race in 10th place)
• Vitaly Petrov (finished 16th, ahead of team-mate Heikki Kovalainen)

Bad points

• McLaren (Jenson Button DNF with Exhaust/differential problems, Lewis Hamilton finished 8th)
• Williams (Bruno Senna DNF with Vibration problems, Pastor Maldonado DNF with Puncture)
• STR ( Jean-Éric Vergne finished 14th, Daniel Ricciardo finished 15th despite starting in 6th place on the grid)
• Charles Pic (DNF with Engine)

Despite the political problems in Bahrain we should or should not race in Bahrain. The race itself was a great race to watch. A great battle between Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen for the win. First win of the season for Vettel to take the drivers championship lead. And to Kimi Räikkönen for finishing second place in the race. I felt like the old pre 2007 Kimi is now back in F1, next stop a grand prix win.

Also some Interesting facts:

• The last time a Lotus F1 car was on the podium was Nelson Piquet at 1988 Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide.
• The last time a double Lotus podium was at the 1979 Spanish Grand Prix in Jarama with Carlos Reutemann second and Mario Andretti in third place.
• The last time there was four cars with four Renault backed cars inside the top four of a F1 race was at the 1997 Luxembourg Grand Prix at Nürburgring (Jacques Villeneuve won in his Williams Renault, Jean Alesi in second place in his Benetton Renault, Heinz-Harald Frentzen in third place in his Williams Renault and Gerhard Berger in forth place in his Benetton Renault)

End of blog for how, new blog soon, that is all. Bye.

Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge GB 2012, explaining the championship and Round 1 recap.

A different post today, something different than usual, while I was reading in this weeks Autosport magazine and I saw an ad from the back page from Porsche announcing their new championship. A brand new championship from Porsche in the UK called "Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge GB" has started from two weeks back. A quote below from Porsche UK web-site explains whats the championship is all about:

"Open to all Porsche GT3 Cup cars from 2009 or earlier, the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge GB brings the rich heritage and quality of Porsche racing, to a range of drivers, from young beginners to gentlemen racers, in a cost sensitive racing series."

A Youtube video from Porsche themselves explains the championship testing at Silverstone early in the year.



The calendar below for this season championship.

• Round 1. 07-08/4/2012 Snetterton
• Round 2. 19-20/05/2012 Rockingham
• Round 3. 17/06/2012 Thruxton
• Round 4. 21-22/07/2012 Croft
• Round 5. 18.-19/08/2012 Donington
• Round 6. 06-07/10/2012 Silverstone

The first round was at Snetterton in Norfolk (7-8/4/2012). First race was won by Steven Liquorish in his Porsche 911 GT3.



While in second race, that was won by James Birch in his Porsche 911 GT3. While race one winner Steven Liquorish is leading the championship from Neil Houston by a single point.



End of blog for how, new blog soon, that is all. Bye.

2012 Chinese Grand Prix Review, thoughts on the winners and Bahrain Grand Prix thoughts

Third post of the F1 season. A quick review of the Chinese Grand Prix, thoughts on the race winner Nico Rosberg and Mercedes AMG. Also predictions for this weekends Bahrain Grand Prix and thoughts on should the race goes ahead.

Good points

• Nico Rosberg (started from pole to a dominate finish to win)
• Mercedes AMG Team (first pole and win as a constructor since Juan Manual Fangio at Monza in 1955)
• McLaren (Jenson Button finished 2nd, Lewis Hamilton finished 3rd)
• Mark Webber (finished 4th, ahead of team-mate Sebastian Vettel)
• Romain Grosjean (finished 6th)
• Williams (Bruno Senna finished 7th, Pastor Maldonado finished 8th)
• Marussiaf1 (Timo Glock finished 20th, Charles Pic finished 21st both only a lap behind the leaders)
• Pedro de la Rosa (finished 22nd, only a lap behind the leaders in his HRT)

Bad points

• Michael Schumacher (started on the front row, another retirement with an incorrectly fitted right-front wheel immediately after his first pitstop)
• Ferrari (Ferandro Alonso finished 9th, Filipe Massa finished 13th)
• Kimi Räikkönen (could have finished 2nd, but didn't pitted for tyres at the end and finished in 12th)
• Force India (Paul di Resta finished 12th, Nico Hülkenberg finished 15th)
• STR ( Jean-Éric Vergne finished 16th, Daniel Ricciardo finished 17th)
• Heikki Kovalainen (finished 23rd, three laps down with a puncture in the race)

Overall, I thought it was a good race to watch. However, not as great from last years race. But, still a good race to watch. And a first great F1 race win from Nico Roseberg and a dominating one too from pole position to chequered flag. Making him the 3rd father and son combination of winners in Formula 1 after Graham and Damon Hill and Gilles & Jacques Villeneuve, now Kete and Nico Rosberg too. It's the first time a Mercedes as a constructor won in Formula 1, since Juan Manual Fangio at Monza in 1955. A proud day for Mercedes and the race winner Nico Rosberg, well earned.

Next weeks Bahrain Grand Prix will go ahead as planned, according to reports in China this weekend, as last years race didn't happen due to political reasons in Bahrain. My opinion about this should we race in Bahrain or not? and is it safe in Bahrain in general. If Bernie Ecclestone and FIA President Jean Todt have both said its safe to race in Bahrain. We should race in Bahrain as planned. If its not the case, we shouldn't go. But, its more than likely we are racing in Bahrain.

So predictions for next weekends Bahrain Grand Prix. Predictions for the race: a McLaren one - two, Jenson Button ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel third. Don't forget Mark Webber, Fernando Alonso, Mercedes AMG drivers or the Lotus drivers as well.

End of blog for how, new blog soon, that is all. Bye.

A Lotus Rant from Group Lotus themselves

From the last week we heard the news that the Lotus F1 Team and Group Lotus have reshaped their commercial relationship. From now on there are not the main sponsors of the team. But, will be still sponsors the team and the Lotus name will still be in F1 until at least 2017. Also, still believe have a 25% stake in the team, with Genii Capital owning the other 75% of the team. But, from the Autosport web-site and Group Lotus Facebook account. Their statement has a few questions to ask, as the statement states:

"Never let the facts get in the way of a good story….

Take a little look at what we found online. Don’t you think it’s funny? We do. We had a good old giggle. After all, we love a bit of self irony, just as well really. Although it’s funny, this one’s not accurate but then again, why let the facts get in the way of a good story? The inconvenient truth is – surprise, surprise – we have never said that there are no problems at Lotus.

So whilst lots of people obviously feel the need to comment on Lotus’ current situation in the absence of proper facts or evidence, we can’t ignore these particular mistruths any longer even if we would like to, so we have decided to turn a negative into a positive and use this hilarious piece of ‘art’ to set the record straight regarding the status quo at Group Lotus and try to return a little stability to a fast changing situation.

False rumour #1: Dany Bahar is no longer CEO of Group Lotus.
Fact: Rubbish – Dany Bahar still is.

False rumour #2: Dato’ Sri Syed is no longer Managing Director of Proton.
Fact: Again rubbish. He still is.

You can thank good old Tony Fernandes for these two. Don’t take everything he tweets too seriously – perhaps he’s still frustrated about owning Caterham instead of Lotus and the fact that he fights HRT and Marussia instead of Mercedes and Ferrari in F1.

And whilst we’re on the subject of jokes - do you know the latest F1 joke? Mike Gascoyne, Caterham Group’s Chief Technical Officer, has gone missing. Why? He’s looking for the 30 to 40 points he predicted for the last F1 season. Funny.

Speaking of F1: It seems that one special so called ‘independent’ source is at the root of the lion’s share of damaging rumours and misleading stories. The delightful Joe Saward which leads us nicely to….

False rumour #3: Joe Saward is JUST an independent journalist.
Fact: He is an active Director on the Caterham Group Board.

And unlike some, we don’t want to get too personal, so we’ll leave it to you to judge how ‘independent’ his stories about Lotus are.

False rumour #4: Group Lotus is no longer involved in F1.
Fact: Lotus F1 Team and Group Lotus have reshaped their commercial relationship earlier this year. The new governance agreement signifies the continued commitment of Group Lotus to the team and the sport.

Group Lotus’ branding and marketing rights and subsequent activities remain unaffected by the new agreement until at least 2017. Alongside continued branding and title partnership status, Group Lotus is also the exclusive master licensee for all Lotus F1 Team merchandise.

The new agreement was reached following Group Lotus owners Proton providing team owners Genii with a £30m loan which is repayable within three years. In order to secure the loan Genii used 100% of the F1 team’s assets as collateral meaning that under the conditions of the loan agreement Proton have been given full title guarantee to all plant, machinery, show cars, computers, office and the Lotus F1 Team headquarters.

In addition Proton retains the rights to purchase 10% of the F1 team. Another 10% share option will be activated if the team default on their loan obligations with Proton.

Again we leave it to your judgement how ‘bad’ Lotus’ current situation in F1 is. And speaking of bad situations…..

False rumour #5: Group Lotus is going into administration.
Fact: Rubbish. The takeover of our parent company Proton by DRB-HICOM couldn’t have come at a worse time, but up until that point Proton was (and still remains) fully committed to our five year business plan to create jobs and to expand the factory and business. With the takeover process the funding has been restricted and DRB-HICOM is taking time to understand what to do with the business. DRB-HICOM is currently in the middle of due diligence of Group Lotus and there have been and continue to be positive discussions between Group Lotus senior management and senior management at DRB-HICOM both here in Hethel and in Malaysia. At no point has DRB-HICOM indicated to Group Lotus that it intends to put the company into administration. The over-active rumour mill is seriously damaging our business reputation, image and credibility but it is what it is.

The simple fact is, and we haven’t denied this - Lotus is going through a very difficult phase at the moment but we are showing true fighting spirit every day in trying to keep this vision alive. This is also a fact – no matter what people outside of Lotus may say or tweet or blog."

And so here is my opinion about this Lotus rant, oh by the way here is my own Lotus rant from a few weeks back. Did they needed to slag off the Caterham F1 team personal and Joe Saward? No, they didn't need to do this, let along write it. 4/5 of this shouldn't appear on this statement in the first place. And it make Lotus themselves and their PR department unprofessional. And it also look like a 12 year old has written the statement.

If I was Group Lotus, keep quite for a while. And let the Lotus F1 Team, do what they needed to do to win races. They have got a good car in the E20 this season, and a good driver too in Kimi Raikkonen. Also, fire the person who writen that statement. That statement was so unprofessional altogether, hope we don't see this for a very long while.

End of post for now. New post soon. That is all. Bye.

Qatar MotoGP Review and F1 Chinese Grand Prix Predictions

Two more post for this week, first one a quick review of last weeks MotoGP race in Qatar. Then, this weekends Chinese Grand Prix Predictions. A great win for Jorge Lorenzo on his new 1000cc Yamaha M1 bike ahead of both Pedrosa and Stoner on the new 1000cc Honda RC213V bikes. A quick mention to both Cal Crutchlow and Colin Edwards. Cal Crutchlow who started on the front row and finished 4th in the race, ahead of his experience team-mate Andrea Dovizioso. Also, Colin Edwards too, who was the top CRT rider in the race finishing 12th, under a minute of Lorenzo's race pace. Overall I felt all three races from Moto3, Moto2 and MotoGP were all great races to watch.

While for this weekends Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix Predictions at Shanghai, Jenson Button for the win in his McLaren, Sebastian Vettel second in the Red Bull and a surprising one Michael Schumacher third in the Mercedes. Don't forget Mark Webber, Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, Nico Rosberg or two Lotus drivers either.

Anyway, that is all. Bye.

Nissan DeltaWing

Third post of the week. The news from a few weeks back that Nissan will enter a completely new type of experimental racing car into this year's Le Mans 24 Hours this year, as it aims to "change the face of endurance racing forever" which is called "DeltaWing".



Basically a tub from last years Aston Martin AMR One race car, special and smaller Michelin tyres, a 1.6L 4 cylinder turbocharged Nissan engine producing 300bhp, which should make the DeltaWing up-to a top speed of around 186mph. Weights only 475kg, which is only a third less wright than a current Formula 1 car. Which, will be enough to give it the pace to run lap times somewhere between LMP1 and LMP2 cars, while using only half the amount of fuel.

Nissan has joined a number of other partners to produce the Deltawing, includes the All-American Racers organisation which will build the car itself, Highcroft Racing will race the car at Le Mans. At this moment of time, Marino Franchitti and Michael Krumm are signed up to drive the Deltawing at Le Mans.





The car has received a special invitation to enter Le Mans as an experimental vehicle from race organisers. However, it's not eligible for classification but will instead "showcase the pioneering technology that will show one potential direction for the future of motorsport and will feed into the research and development of future technologies". Nissan says that technology from the DeltaWing will filter down to its road car range. Footage below of the DeltaWing doing some demo laps at Sebring race circuit from last months 12 Hours of Sebring race.



End of post/blog for now, That is all. Bye.

The Dodge Viper back in endurance racing

With the news of the brand new Dodge Viper coming out in 2013. Dodge also announced from the New York Auto Show on last Wednesday that the new Viper will be also going racing too in ALMS, later in the season.



Riley Technologies (who usally do chassis's for Grand-Am championship) has partnered with SRT Motorsports (Dodge) to design and build the new SRT Viper GTS-R. They will be fielding a two-car factory backed GTE class effort Drivers include Kuno Wittmer, Dominik Farnbacher, and Marc Goossens. The car has received a waiver from the championship, as its 8.4L V10 engine is above the maximum displacement of 5.5L allowed by the rules in GT class.

No word yet on the Vipers debut, but more than likely at 15th Annual Petit Le Mans in mid October. The last time any Vipers' was in endurance racing, was in back in the late 90's and early 2000s when Viper won GTS class at Le Mans 24 hour races in 1998, 99 and 2000. So here's a video below about Dodge Viper history in endurance racing. Enjoy.



End of post/blog for now. New post/blog soon. Bye.

WRC round 4 and IRC Round 3 recaps

Recaps of last rounds for both WRC and IRC. First, with last weekends World Rally Championship round at Rally Portugal. Forth round of this seasons championship (29 March-1 April) won by Mikko Hirvonen in his Citroen DS3, but was excluded when event scrutineers found that parts in his DS3 did not match the parts listed by his team. Hirvonen's exclusion mean that Adapta World Rally Team driver Mads Østberg in his Ford Fiesta was declared the winner. Over 90 seconds ahead of M-Sport rally driver Evgeny Novikov in his Ford Fiesta.

While Petter Solberg finished third in his works Ford Fiesta, despite he crashed out of the rally and therefore had to restarted the rally at the start of Day 3. Therefore, he could have won the rally outright if he hasn't crashed out of the rally. But, still made it a Ford 1-2-3 in the rally ifself. While his works Ford team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala who also crashed out of the rally at end of Day 2, did restarted on day 3. But, only managed 12th in the rally.

Also, current world champion Sébastien Loeb crashed out the rally at the rend of day 1, were his Citroen rolled over the road, with his car suffered heavy damage, went out the rally for good. Highlights bellow, enjoy.



While in this weekends IRC (Intercontinental Rally Challenge) Round 3 at Circuit of Ireland Rally in Northern Ireland ( 6-7 April). Won by works Škoda driver of Juho Hanninen in his Škoda Fabia S2000, 44 seconds ahead of current IRC Champion Andreas Mikkelsen in his Škoda. While, Jan Kopecký finished third in his Škoda. To make a Škoda 1-2-3 in the rally itself.

End of post/blog for now, That is all, Bye.

Saab 9-3s in TTA spec

Last month I did a post on the Volvo S60 TTA. Flash Engineering will run Saab 9-3s in this seasons TTA Racing Elite League. Despite, the car company is in receivership. Flash Engineering will be entering four Saab 9-3 in TTA Racing Elite League.

Just like Polestar in the pervious post, Flash Engineering run many seasons in the Swedish/Scandinavian Touring Car Championship, previously run with BMWs. They will enter the series with Saab 9-3, as a part of a tribute to the troubled Swedish car manufacturer, which sees the number of brands on the TTA grid increase to four along with BMW, Citroën and Volvo (Polestar Racing).

The same as the Volvo S60, basically a 400bhp V6's with a KERS system in a space-frame touring car under the Saabs body.





Talking about Saab, here's a YouTube tribute video from Top Gear on the Swedish manufacture. Enjoy.



End of post/blog for now. New post/blog soon. Bye.

2012 MotoGP Season Preview

Today post on the 2012 MotoGP Season Preview about some of the new rules and my top six riders to watch in this seasons premier class. Also, I will predict who will win the title too.

Another new season of MotoGP will start this weekend in Qatar. With new MotoGP bikes this season, with the old 800cc prototype bikes gone and replace with 1,000 cc prototype bikes and engines. Also, in 2012 will see the introduction of Claiming Rule Teams (CRT). Basically street-bike engines in prototype chassis. CRTs will be given twelve engines per rider, six more than the other teams and more fuel too, 24 litres instead of 21 litres then the satellite/factory teams. But, the factory team such as Ducati, Honda and Yamaha can buy or "claiming", their engines for €15,000 or €20,000 with the gearbox included.

So my top 6 riders to watch this season are:

1. Casey Stoner: won the title with Honda last year. Fast and favourite for this years title too. Can Stoner be a three times MotoGP champion.

2. Dani Pedrosa: been fast in testing, been fast for the last six years on the Honda. Can he beat Stoner for the title this year without being injured.

3. Valentino Rossi: a horrible year on the Ducati last year, can he improve this year on a better Ducati to win races or championship as-well.

4. Jorge Lorenzo: 2010 champion can he lead Yamaha again with new 1000cc M1 and take the title away from Stoner.

5. Ben Spies: can he improve his results from last year, and he win more races this season, can he beat Lorenzo in some races this year.

6. Cal Crutchlow: looks fast on the new 1000cc Yamaha M1 in testing, can Crutchlow step up get onto the podium this year, time will tell.

So who will win this years MotoGP world championship. If I'm going to pick a driver to win the championship it's Casey Stoner once again. Looks fast last year, his looks very fast in testing so far, so his my favourite for the title.

A few more posts I am hoping for later in the week. But for now, that is all. Bye.