There’s quite a few preview clips for this weekend’s Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix out there in cyberspace. Here is Red Bull Racing‘s effort with Mark Webber talking us through a lap.
The first F1 race to be held under lights—it should be a belter!
In the lead up to the first ever Formula 1 night race, the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team have been busy preparing their car for the difficulties the Singapore Grand Prix will hold. They’ve released a teaser video so you can see how they’re getting on. Make sure you tune in to your favourite broadcaster next Sunday, 28 September, to see how these modifications go.
If I said you could buy a 2006 F1 car for under AU$200,000 you would say I’ve got a few crew members loose in pit lane. However, that is exactly what happened when a 2006 chassis Super Aguri went under the hammer recently. The SA06 racer sold at an internet auction for £85,600 (AU$194,000). The auction was run by SHM Smith Hodgkinson on behalf of Super Aguri’s liquidators. SHM’s Richard Mascall said, “We were absolutely delighted with the outcome. The car sold for £85,600, which is a more than respectable figure and easily more than the original reserve figure.”
The Japanese buyer will now have the keys to the ultimate track day weapon at a price that would raise the interest of captains of industry the world over. Fair enough, the logistics and running costs might up the price a bit in real terms, but it would be pretty ace to own your own F1 car.
The Japanese team made their Formula 1 debut in 2006, but financial difficulties forced their withdrawal from F1 earlier this year, after just four races.
Source: autosport.com (Thanks to Tiaan for sending this in. Pic courtesy of MickyD.)
MINI CHALLENGE driver and Seven Network personality Grant Denyer recently suffered a back injury when a monster truck drive went, well, a bit wrong. Denyer has been driving the big rig for Clive Featherby for the last six months, just one of the many motoring events Denyer participates in. The incident happened at the NSW Monster Truck Championships held at the Dapto showgrounds last weekend. Fortunately, Grant Denyer’s crash was not serious and although he did spend a night in hospital under observation, he is expected to make a full recovery.
Speaking of the moments after the accident Featherby said, “At least Grant’s in one piece thank goodness. Even before the ambulance arrived he was telling me he wanted to drive the truck again when he got better.”
Denyer currently holds a slender lead in the inaugural series of the Australian MINI CHALLENGE. He has a heavy schedule planned at the next round of racing which coincides with the Super Cheap Auto 1000 at Bathurst on 12 October. We wish Grant a quick and speedy recovery.
Messages of support can be left for Grant at the Aussie MINI CHALLENGE Army on Facebook.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald (Thanks to Lee for sending this in.)
Jason Bargwanna’s recent dominance of the 2008 MINI CHALLENGE continued in Round 5 with the former Bathurst champion taking a clean sweep of all three races. Bargwanna started Race 1 on pole and never looked back. Nathan Geier was equally as consistent starting the first race from P2 on the grid and finishing all three races in second place. Geier was desperately close to ending Jason Bargwanna’s dream run, finishing the last race less than two tenths of a second behind, in the closest finish of the series to date.
That left third place the only position changing hands throughout the meet. Todd Fiore was third in Race 1, ahead of brother Paul and Jason Bargwanna’s cousin Scott. Neil McFadyen crossed the line in position three for the second race, with the Fiore brothers close behind. The final podium place for Race 3 was claimed by Paul Fiore, with McFadyen and Paul Stokell finishing fourth and fifth respectively.
Ricardo Patrese, former Formula 1 driver, thought it might be a nice idea to take his wife for a nice Sunday drive. They were in a small Japanese hatchback on a quiet road with no traffic. Isn’t that nice.
Fortunately, for your viewing pleasure, Mrs Patrese wasn’t so keen on Ricardo’s driving style. Okay, so the quiet road was the Jerez circuit in Spain, and the hatchback was a Civic Type R. Of course, old racers never die, they just do it faster. I don’t speak Italian, but I know the odd swear word or two, haha.
This clip is a great laugh and the look of horror on Mrs Patrese’s face is beautifully contrasted by Ricardo’s ice cool demeanour. Enjoy!
Source: The Ricardo Patrese blog via autoblog
Good news from the world of the Australian MINI CHALLENGE today with confirmation of a new management team securing the future of the series. Toleman Motorsport has been given the seal of approval from MINI Australia and CAMS to act as Category Management Agency for the rest of the year. All racing dates and television schedules will remain as advertised. Further highlighting the future of the MINI CHALLENGE is word that plans for the 2009 calendar are in full swing with seven rounds already locked in as negotiations continue.
With the demise of Sherrin Motorsport, subsidary company Motorsport Event Management (MEM) was forced to put the management rights for the MINI CHALLENGE up for sale last May.
Toleman Motosport is headed by Ted Toleman who was the person responsible for giving Ayrton Senna his start in Formula 1. Toleman’s last Grand Prix was Australia’s first, Adelaide 1985. It’s great to see Australia’s MINI CHALLENGE series in good hands and I’m sure all fans of the series will be looking forward to racing this weekend for Round 5 at Phillip Island, including live action from Race 3 to be broadcast on Channel 7 on Sunday (check your local guides).
For the full details on the Toleman Motorsport news the press release from MINI CHALLENGE has been included below. Don’t forget, you can keep up to date with the series and its personalties by joining the Aussie MINI CHALLENGE Army on facebook.
To celebrate the Belgian Grand Prix here is a 1920×1200 pixel aerial photo of the awesome Spa-Francorchamps Grand Prix circuit. The current track is a fraction over 7km, but the original layout was over 14km in length. The Belgian Grand Prix was first held here in 1924 and the Eau Rouge–Radillon corners—part of the original layout—form one of the most famous sections of Grand Prix track in the world. Rivalled, perhaps, only by the Monaco street circuit. However, it is the Blanchimont corner on the back straight that drivers find the more fearsome corner, according to Wikipedia. More detail on the track can be found on the official Formula 1 website.
To download the 1920×1200 pixel version of this image, simply click on the image above.
Credit for the image goes to Chubbennaitor, sourced from Wikipedia.
I’ve been waiting for BMW-web.tv to load this clip all week—now they have and it’s only a computer generated lap of Spa! They usually use real in-car footage. Never mind, it’s a great track any way you look at it. Mind, as a commentator BMW-Sauber’s Robert Kubica makes a great racing driver.
See you on the couch late into the night this weekend. Rain is predicted, as usual, the championship race is very tight, so we have the makings of a cracking race. Hold on tight!
If this clip doesn’t make the hairs on the back of your next stand up nothing will. The only downside is the usual visual effect of television cameras flattening out terrain. I’ve been to Spa and I can tell you the climb into Eau Rouge is much steeper than this clip shows. Either way, the driving from Alonso and Hamilton in last year’s opening lap is as close to carnage as you can get without there actually being a shower of carbon fibre. Forget the merits of who had right of way and just enjoy this amazing footage while you can!
Remember when you were a kid and you had your dream car, a car, that in your mind, you would take from the factory and make it the fastest damn thing the world had ever seen. Well Audi has gone part way to helping you fulfill your dream with the release of the R8 GT3 race version. Clearly the guys down at Audi Sport, quattro GmbH and Audi Hungaria Motor Kft had plenty of Meccano when they were kids and it looks as though they shared similar dreams to the rest of us. Fortunately, unlike the chavtastic ricers you see doof-doofing at your local mall, these guys have actually put their Meccano skills to good use.
The R8 GT3 is a race ready customer car that meets all GT3 racing regulations out of the box. That means the 500hp+ (375kW) normally aspirated V8 is driven via the rear wheels only. A race strength 6 speed sequential transmission has been developed. Amazingly many of the suspension components are standard OEM parts. Three purpose built factories will be opened to service the vehicles in Ingolstadt, Necksarlum and Györ. Rich buggers living our dreams will be able to take delivery of their new dream racecar in the latter half of 2009.
Regular trawlers of motoring websites will know information on this BMW M3 race version is not new. This does not mean its late arrival on AUSmotive is any less worthy however. A replacement for the awesome BMW M3 GTR the new M3 race version is all set for the 2009 American Le Mans Series. Like the previous GTR one would expect this M3 to have a crack at the Nürburgring 24 hour race in 2009 as well. Enjoy this clip above from bmw-web.tv before going all ga-ga over the glory of the images below (click each pic for a 2000px super image). Just look at it! There’s also enough technical data in BMW’s press information to keep anyone happy.