Sunday, March 4, 2007

About



Welcome
You’ve found No Fenders, an eclectic collection of Rantings, Reflections and Random Thoughts primarily about Formula One, Indy Car and Open Wheel Racing, with a moderate sprinkling of Rally, Sports Car racing and Moto GP thrown into the veritable “Spin Cycle.” There are also other miscellaneous posts about my journeys around the Planet ‘N Pacific Northwest and whatever else I’m in the mood to Scribble ‘bout!

If you’re looking for proper grammatical structure, then Y’all have come to the wrong place, as I’m a proud original UOWWBA member... Which stood for United Open Wheel Word Butchers Association, as I use a cleverly concocted mix of Tomaso ‘TexMex English in all of my various ramblings...

About the Author
I have been an avid follower of Formula 1 and CART/Champ Car for the past two-plus decades, and now follow the Indy Car circuit with much bemusement... The very first F1 race I recall watching was the 1986 Detroit Grand Prix. Afterwards I attended my very first Grand Prix in 1989; the USGP held in Phoenix, Arizona and have been hooked ever since!I was first introduced to Champ Car when they were formerly known as CART at the 1987 G.I. Joes 200 at Portland, Oregon and then attended the race yearly to its bitter demise in 2007. As currently for reasons unknown, the Indy Racing League continues to ignore the Pacific Northwest on its current racing calendar.

When CART invaded Vancouver, BC in the early 1990’s I also became a “regular” visitor to the circuit Up North, Eh! Before this great Temporary Street Circuit was abolished in favour of the 2010 Winter Olympics...For a different perspective I attended the 1994 CART race on the One-mile “Bullring” Oval track in Phoenix, AZ, the year that Jacques Villeneuve tried to impale himself against the then Goodyear walkover Pedestrian Footbridge! Yet, I must say that I am not a fan of ovals, although I did thoroughly enjoy my inaugural Indianapolis 500 in May, 2009.

To read more about Tomaso, see: Low Vision Racer

About this BlogAs previously mentioned; No Fenders is a racing news blog devoted primarily to the world of F1, Indy Car and more, and is written by Tomaso located in Seattle, WA. The site was launched on September 11th, 2006 and all opinions are solely those of Tomaso’s.

Unfortunately, on May 1, 2010 Blogger.com, an entity of Google irrevocably ruined the original No Fenders Blogsite by forcing it to be migrated to their “New & Improved” Blogging Platform... Which therefore rendered the existing 1,500+ stories with “Broken Images,” i.e.; image NO longer available on that World Wide Web thingy!

Thus, instead of trying to figure out how to re-install these, I’ve gone thru the labourious task of deleting the majority of ALL images posted from 2006-08; SHEISA!

ContactYou may contact Tomaso at: nofenders.f1@gmail.com
This page was last modified on: 09/02/10

Saturday, March 3, 2007

Alonso Slams Renault

Yet once again is this some of the notoriously masterful mind games that Formula 1 drivers are renown for? Apparently Fernando Alonso has some doubts about his former race team Renault, which you can read in the story: Renault inconsistent this Winter

Cold as Ice?

The British media never seems quite content unless it’s ramping up the pressure upon Formula 1’s leading lights. Recently the Brit’s turned their attention towards the “Iceman,” better known as Kimi Raikkonen.

Reportedly Raikkonen hasn’t spoken to Michael Schumacher over integrating into the Scuderia or asked for any driving advice, with Raikkonen being quite content to pursue his own agenda…

New Kids on the Block

Although certainly not the first major manufacturer to implement such a program, Renault has just announced its class of 2007 development drivers.

And these aspiring young guns hope to emulate the career paths that Fernando Alonso and Heikki Kovalainen took towards ultimately landing full time race drives with the “Reggie…”

Friday, March 2, 2007

Rossi’s shiny new FIAT?

Valentino Rossi, the “Mega” MotoGP Superstar has been linked to a new deal with Ferrari. Well Sort of...

You may recall that Rossi has previously spent time testing for the Scuderia back in the winter of 2005 fueling speculation as a possible replacement for the newly departed Michael Schumacher.

Rossi continued to remain with his two wheel roots instead after signing a contract extension and fought for the 2006 Moto GP crown which eventually went to American Nicky Hayden.

Now upon Rossi’s Yamaha MotoGP team having lost long time title sponsor Camel due to the never ending Anti Tobacco legislation comes reports that FIAT is poised to become the team’s new backer…

Is gasoline really Dead?

In a recent David Phillips commentary, Phillips writes that Bobby Rahal has pronounced that gasoline is dead as a future power source of motorsports…

Is Rahal on crack or simply touting the virtues of his team’s title sponsor Ethanol? You make the call…

Meanwhile RASSCAR just contested its very first race last weekend in Fontana running Unleaded gasoline for the very first time during its 50+ year history. Holy Unocal, Batmann… What’s next? Don’t tell me RASSCAR will make all ‘O dem roundy rounders ditch their beloved carberators? Would the sanctioning body dare mandate fuel injection and overhead valve trains like the rest of the civilized world currently utilizes?

Thursday, March 1, 2007

Creation makes Three

Talk about your David vs. Goliath! The Interscope Racing team has decided to (wisely) get out of the American Le Mans LMP2 category which will be a real donnybrook with the factory wars between Porsche and Acura.

Of course jumping up to compete against the all conquering Audi’s in LMP1 won’t exactly be a cake walk…