Month: August 2009

Categories
Formula 1

Frank Williams says “No test drive for you!”

Michael Schumacher

It seems not everyone is jumping for joy at Michael Schumacher’s return to Formula One.

The current ban on in season testing means that Schumacher is yet to take the wheel of the 2009 F60 machine. Ferrari were seeking approval to have that ban relaxed for a single day of testing to allow Michael to get familiar with the car.

Sir Frank Williams, meanwhile, was having none of that. Indeed, as recently as the last Grand Prix new Toro Rosso driver Jaime Alguersuari was not given an opportunity for a pre-race test drive prior making his debut at the Friday test session on race weekend. On that basis Williams voted against any moves to allow Schumacher freedoms that have already been denied to other drivers this season. Then there is also the fact that Ferrari could have chosen one of their test drivers who have pre-season testing miles behind them already.

“In a similar situation, Williams would unhesitatingly use its current test driver,” Sir Frank said. “For the sake of consistency and fairness, therefore, we oppose Ferrari’s proposal to test ahead of the European Grand Prix.”

Felipe Massa’s recovery is going well and he hopes to be back on track as soon as possible. You can catch a brief interview with Massa on the BBC website.

[Source: TimesOnline]

Categories
Ford Motorsports

Peak Performance – It’s no Climb Dance, but it’s still pretty good

Peak Performance - Marcus Gornholm

Back in 1990 Jean Louis Mourey gave the motoring and cinema world Climb Dance. A five minute epic, if there can be such a thing, capturing Ari Vatanen‘s mad scramble up the famous Pikes Peak Hill Climb.

Fast forward 19 years and here is the latest short film centred around the Pikes Peak event. This time Marcus Grönholm is featured. The two-time world rally champion is at the wheel of an 800hp Ford Fiesta.

Boil the kettle, make yourself a cuppa, click the jump and enjoy.

[Thanks to Mark & John for the tip.]

Continue reading “Peak Performance – It’s no Climb Dance, but it’s still pretty good”
Categories
MINI

This is the internet, you can’t stop me watching this

MINI USA TVC

In Australia we have killjoys that can prevent a car manufacturer from broadcasting an entertaining television commercial. This is because, apparently, the sight of a sliding car means you will lose all sense of perspective and hit the streets without a care in the world for anyone else’s safety, much less your own. The skills you have learned from such exposure will set you on an uncontrollable path of death and destruction. IT MUST BE STOPPED!

But this is the internet, where you can learn to make bombs and stuff. Even though our PM is trying to control what we watch online, neither he nor any nanny-state loving wowser can stop you enjoying the three 15 second MINI ads shown after the jump.

You will see smoking tyres. You will see a sliding MINI. You will see some entertaining commercials. But, you will not die!

[Thanks to Chris for the tip]

Continue reading “This is the internet, you can’t stop me watching this”
Categories
Fiat Motorsports

“It was good fun and nobody got hurt”

Kimi Raikkonen crashes our of Rally Finland

Kimi Raikonnen’s Rally Finland experience came to an abrupt halt when he crashed out on SS19 yesterday. Three YouTube clips of Kimi in action can be seen after the jump, including a brief interview with Kimi, who seemed in good spirits after the spectacular accident.

Climbing out of his car after the rollover Kimi can be seen to matter of factly dust his hands and walk away. While it appears he didn’t show much concern for his co-driver I’m sure he would have made sure he was okay before exiting the car. Don’t you think?

[Thanks to Paul for the tip]

Continue reading ““It was good fun and nobody got hurt””
Categories
MINI Challenge

Chris Alajajian gets some air at Sandown

Round 4 of the 2009 Australian MINI Challenge is taking place at Sandown this weekend. Chris Alajajian currently sits in second place on the series table, however his chances of clawing back some points on championship leader Paul Stokell were done no favours after this spectacular crash in yesterday’s first race.

The accident happened on the opening lap and forced organisers to cancel the race. Fortunately, Alajajian was not injured and spoke philosophically after the incident, “I’m OK, but the car isn’t that flash. I got tapped in the right rear wheel as we went into the corner, I think it’s turn six, and then I got on to the grass and everything sped up dramatically. From there I was just hanging on.”

Alajajian, starting well down the field in 13th, had made a the most of a bumper start taking advantage of some front runners spinning ahead and had reached 4th place before his crash.

[Source: Racecar.com]

Categories
MINI Challenge

James Tomkins takes on MINI Challenge

James Tomkins (pictured left)

Australian Olympic legend and all round nice guy James Tomkins (pictured left) is taking a seat in the MINI Challenge Uber Star Car this weekend at Sandown International Raceway.

Tomkins is a self confessed motorsport tragic and he couldn’t wait to get out there, “I’m pretty excited,” he admitted, “Motor Racing has been a passion of mine for as long as I can remember. I have memories of getting up early Sunday mornings to watch the black and white TV coverage of Bathurst. All those awesome HO Falcons, those were the days!”

There is no live television coverage of the MINI Challenge round this weekend, but stay tuned for a highlights package on your TV screens soon.

Continue reading “James Tomkins takes on MINI Challenge”
Categories
Top Gear

Top Gear – Series 14 (An ending?)

Top Gear - Series 14

NOTE: This article was originally posted before the last episode of Season 13. We now know that Season 14 is coming, and coming soon. Sunday 15 November to be exact—CLICK HERE for more.

UPDATE 16 November: Click here for a full rundown of what to expect in Series 14 (contains spoilers).

UPDATE 4 August: Okay, so I went off half-cocked on the Stig is dead theory (see below). However, perhaps the death in the family is much larger than that—is Top Gear dead, never to return to our screens again?

The Aston Martin V12 Vantage review, which closed Series 13, contains hidden messages about the show’s future. Well, if you are prepared to go looking for them. Even the soundtrack used in the V12 Vantage film was titled “An ending” (by Brian Eno). Clarkson’s commentary on the Aston centred around the death of the supercar due to, among other things, the financial crisis. Were his comments simply about the car in question, or did they form part of a bigger picture for the show itself?

The Top Gear-is-over-theory does have momentum, as this piece in The Guardian shows. And, as noted earlier, the banter at FinalGear contains plenty of discussion on the topic.

One thing is certain and that is Top Gear, as we know it, will end one day. Is that day sooner than we may have first thought? At this stage I am still prepared to accept the words of “The Mole” on the Top Gear Transmission blog, which states there will be “a little bit of time off for the crew and then we’re straight back into filming for series 14 later in the year.”

I formed an educated guess that Season 14 would be back on UK screens around Sunday 15 November [Ed: Zing!] I guess we will have to wait and see what transpires. Let the speculation continue…

(Oh, a reminder to Australian readers that SBS TV will start the seven episode run of Top Gear, Series 13 on Monday 31 August.)

UPDATE 30 September: Top Gear have recently been filming a segment for Series 14 on the Transfagarasan road in Romania.

Continue reading “Top Gear – Series 14 (An ending?)”
Categories
Top Gear

Top Gear – Jay Leno preview

American talk show host and genuine car nut Jay Leno will be making his Top Gear debut in tomorrow night’s episode of Top Gear (Series 13, Episode 7). This clip features some behind the scenes footage of Leno filming his Star in a reasonably priced car segment.

A full preview of the final episode for the current series can be seen on the Top Gear website. There will be a bit of an Aussie flavour included as well.

[Source: FinalGear]

Categories
BMW

If you tolerate this then your children will be next

You may remember the earlier news that saw the worldwide BMW Z4 ‘art of driving’ television commercial pulled from Australian screens. I stated at the time that, as a sign of protest against this ludicrous decision, AUSmotive will be running the above footage, which is featured in the commercial, on the first day of every month for the rest of the year.

The fact that regulations are in place that deem this ad inappropriate is a sad indictment on the state of the road safety debate in this country. The fact that some members of society are unable separate entertainment from reality is equally disturbing. That they are given a voice is mind boggling.

Clearly, the title of this article is tongue in cheek and is designed to highlight the level of paranoia that exists in wowsers when presented with the notion that driving can be fun.

A reminder, too, that you can watch the ad in full on the BMW Australia website.