While Champ Car is in the midst of another extremely long hiatus, having been out of sight of the majority of US house holds for nearly two months now…
Champ Car held its final 2007 season test at Sebring, (9/25-26) with Conquest, Dale Coyne, Forsythe, N/H/L, PCM and PKV taking part in the two day test session. New recruit Martinez got acclimated to the cockpit of Forsythe’s second Panoz DP 01 chassis, previously driven by Oriel Servia.
And the weirdest part of the testing was that Forsythe asked Servia to test for them on the first day, with Servia being the fastest of the three Forsythe drivers after being previously given his walking papers.
Dominguez re-sumed driving with Pacific Coast Motorsports, whom he’d previously driven for during Ryan Dalziel’s forced absence from the San Jose race after a bicycling accident.
And I suppose it will come as NO surprise that on Day 1 the “Hamburgular” (Bourdais) topped the time sheets.
Day 2 saw Sea Bass drop down the order due to having used up all of his allotted testing miles the previous day. This saw Will Power take over the top spot as well as “Christian Comedy” nipping at his heels…
Sebring Champ Car testing times – Day 2:
1) Will Power, Team Australia, 51.51
2) Tristan Gommendy, PKV, 51.53
3) Mario Dominguez, Pacific Coast Motorsports, 51.55
4) Simon Pagenaud, Team Australia, 51.71
5) Alex Figge, Pacific Coast Motorsports, 51.73
6) Paul Tracy, Forsythe, 51.79
7) Graham Rahal, Newman/Haas/Lanigan, 51.82
8) David Martinez, Forsythe, 51.91
9) Neel Jani, PKV, 52.04
10) Bruno Junqueira, Dale Coyne, 52.30
11) Katherine Legge, Dale Coyne, 52.58
12) James Winslow, Conquest, 53.65
And in another incredulous slight of hand, Conquest Racing has given Jan “Van Hagar” Heylen the unexpected BOOT! In order to make room for Nelson Philippe… Yeah I can hear y’all saying’ Nelson Who? As perhaps many of you have forgotten that the Frenchman is Champ cars current youngest ever winner, apparently being recalled “just-in-time” to defend his last year victory at Surfers Paradise.
“Van Hagar” is the third current Champ Car driver getting an extremely RAW deal! Joining the likes of Servia and Dalziel, who’ve also been shown the door for less than honorable reasons…
But Heylen’s dumping is extremely poor seeing how he brought desperately needed funding to Eric Bachelart’s team that was on life support at the beginning of the year. Then Heylen has done nothing but improve each week after his Portland debut, with a 6th place finish at Road America and runner-up behind Justin Wilson at Assen TT…
And I’ve also seen rumours of Wilson possibly defecting to Andretti Green Racing next season along with major sponsor CDW saying NO Thanks to continuing in Champ Car!
Meanwhile Paul “Sand Dune” Tracy was busy thrashin’ about the mud bogs of Chula Vista in an Off Road Trophy Truck curtsey of Ricky Johnson. Well at least one of Champ Car’s driver’s is enjoying his holiday!
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Saturday, October 6, 2007
D-Squared
As previously mentioned in Indy Celebrities; it was rough sledding for me while in Indianapolis. Having to meet ‘N greet so many damn celebrities. And last but certainly not least was the REAL Double D. NOT to be cornfused with Derr-Wreck Daily. To whom I’m not sure whether Mr. Davidson would wish to be associated with? Therefore I’ll nickname him D-Squared from now on!
Donald Davidson is a very pleasant chap, originally from England. Naturally his first interest in motorsports was Grand Prix racing, where he learned of the Indy 500 in the mid 1950’s. (Recall that the Indianapolis 500 was part of the Formula 1 calendar back then)
Folklore claims he wowed the crowd in 1964 upon making his first trek to Mecca. Having written to track announcer Sid Collins, Davidson impressed the crowd by; “being able to recite the record of every driver who had ever competed in the "500." After this, Davidson quickly changed his focus to Oval Track racing and the rest as they say is history.
Davidson immigrated to the United States in 1965, promptly going to work for USAC as a statistician, a position he held for 31 years. In January of 1998 he became the official track historian of the Speedway.
As I mentioned, Danny spotted him coming out of his office while we were perusing the Hall of Fame Photo Shop. Upon introducing Davidson to me, we struck up an enjoyable dialogue. As I mentioned that I’d enjoyed listening to his radio broadcast; “The Talk of Gasoline Alley” on WIBC. To which I listened via the internets.
Danny also told him his newest book was excellent. You may wish to check it out: Autocourse Official History of the Indianapolis 500. To which I’ve just received my very own copy from Motorbooks…
Then we launched into several questions. Which soon reminded me of a little ‘ole radio program we have out here in Seattle. It’s called “Stump Slayton.” (KZOK, 102.5 FM) Of which nobody ever stumps the DJ Steve Slayton on Rock ‘N Roll trivia…
I was quite intrigued to discover how the Speedway had gotten its mitts upon Michael Schumacher’s 1991 Benetton-Ford chassis? Davidson coolly responded that they’d purchased it. Yet several race cars are on loan or simply donated by their owners. As many racing cars were either handed down or sold to other teams. Since there was a brief period in history when teams could run older equipment competitively. Yet most racing team owners don’t wish to hang onto obsolete machinery since its just equipment.
Danny then asked about the mysterious Hall of Fame basement collection. To which Davidson remarked is used to hold vehicles in rotation as five cars had just been moved recently. There have been several plans to expand the museum over the years. And it’s been designed for expansion, but things seem to always get in the way. Like the addition of grandstands, etc. Right now it’s on the back burner, but look for it to happen one day.
Next I asked him about the 1972 Penske Sunoco McLaren M16B currently on display in the museum. Telling him I’d seen the exact same Mark Donohue winning race car on display at the Penske Racing Museum in Scottsdale, AZ. Which sparked a startling response from D-Squared. Davidson flatly answered without hesitation; “It’s a replica!” Penske has every Indy 500 winner except for two. *1972, 1981)
Sensing he wished to move along, Danny casually pointed to a picture of an early Speedway roadster parked on a snowy pit lane. Davidson told us that the picture was real. They’d rolled the car out, which was 1 of 3 remaining and he believed it was 90-95% original. Amazing, simply amazing…
Donald Davidson is a very pleasant chap, originally from England. Naturally his first interest in motorsports was Grand Prix racing, where he learned of the Indy 500 in the mid 1950’s. (Recall that the Indianapolis 500 was part of the Formula 1 calendar back then)
Folklore claims he wowed the crowd in 1964 upon making his first trek to Mecca. Having written to track announcer Sid Collins, Davidson impressed the crowd by; “being able to recite the record of every driver who had ever competed in the "500." After this, Davidson quickly changed his focus to Oval Track racing and the rest as they say is history.
Davidson immigrated to the United States in 1965, promptly going to work for USAC as a statistician, a position he held for 31 years. In January of 1998 he became the official track historian of the Speedway.
As I mentioned, Danny spotted him coming out of his office while we were perusing the Hall of Fame Photo Shop. Upon introducing Davidson to me, we struck up an enjoyable dialogue. As I mentioned that I’d enjoyed listening to his radio broadcast; “The Talk of Gasoline Alley” on WIBC. To which I listened via the internets.
Danny also told him his newest book was excellent. You may wish to check it out: Autocourse Official History of the Indianapolis 500. To which I’ve just received my very own copy from Motorbooks…
Then we launched into several questions. Which soon reminded me of a little ‘ole radio program we have out here in Seattle. It’s called “Stump Slayton.” (KZOK, 102.5 FM) Of which nobody ever stumps the DJ Steve Slayton on Rock ‘N Roll trivia…
I was quite intrigued to discover how the Speedway had gotten its mitts upon Michael Schumacher’s 1991 Benetton-Ford chassis? Davidson coolly responded that they’d purchased it. Yet several race cars are on loan or simply donated by their owners. As many racing cars were either handed down or sold to other teams. Since there was a brief period in history when teams could run older equipment competitively. Yet most racing team owners don’t wish to hang onto obsolete machinery since its just equipment.
Danny then asked about the mysterious Hall of Fame basement collection. To which Davidson remarked is used to hold vehicles in rotation as five cars had just been moved recently. There have been several plans to expand the museum over the years. And it’s been designed for expansion, but things seem to always get in the way. Like the addition of grandstands, etc. Right now it’s on the back burner, but look for it to happen one day.
Next I asked him about the 1972 Penske Sunoco McLaren M16B currently on display in the museum. Telling him I’d seen the exact same Mark Donohue winning race car on display at the Penske Racing Museum in Scottsdale, AZ. Which sparked a startling response from D-Squared. Davidson flatly answered without hesitation; “It’s a replica!” Penske has every Indy 500 winner except for two. *1972, 1981)
Sensing he wished to move along, Danny casually pointed to a picture of an early Speedway roadster parked on a snowy pit lane. Davidson told us that the picture was real. They’d rolled the car out, which was 1 of 3 remaining and he believed it was 90-95% original. Amazing, simply amazing…
For more Indianapolis stories, see; Indy Celebrities
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Doctor Doctor
Upon returning to the hotel after dinner, Danny noticed that his friend Dave was still there, so we sauntered back into the bar and pulled up stools to chat with Dave and Dr. Who.
And I certainly don’t know how he got the nickname, but Dr. Who’s real name is Tim Wardrop. Perhaps you’ve heard of him? He’s a quite prolific and well traveled Indianapolis 500 Winning race engineer. As in specifically Arie Luyendyk’s 1997 victory for Tredway Racing. Along with engineering The “Flying Dutchman’s” pole position in 1996. You know when Arie posted one and four lap records of 237.498mph and 236.986mph respectively, which still stand today.
Soon we were waltzing down memory lane as Tim was quite willing to engage us in conversation regarding his motorsports career. To which the conversation soon steered towards Formula 1. Of which Messer Wardrop has a quite distinguished career in. Telling us briefly of his exploits of working for Walter Wolf Racing, Williams and McLaren. Not too shabby, eh?
Tim claims that the inspiration for the white stripe on the Wold WR1 came from his seeing those beloved “copper’s Starsky & Hutch! And he reminisced about that being a star crossed lineup of engineering talent. As he worked with Dr. Harvey Postlethwaite and Patrick Head. With Jody Schekter as the driver of the single car entry.
Wardrop fondly stated that Postlethwaite was a great guy. And it was a thrill to have Scheckter win three races in 1977. They won the season opener in Argentina. Startling the F1 community as it was the team’s debut. Scheckter also won the crown jewel of F1, Monaco. Along with the Canadian GP that season.
Sheckter finished second in the Driver’s championship with Wolf finishing fourth in the Constructor’s championship, the team’s best results. Scheckter then Moved to Ferrari. Where he became the Scuderia’s last World champion pre Michael Schumacher.
Tim then told us an entertaining story about discovering ground effects. As he’d gotten ahold of some pictures of the revolutionary Lotus 78 from an Italian magazine. Tim claims he then set to work in his spare time cobbling together a ground effects chassis from various discarded bits. While the team was busy testing Postlethwaite’s latest creation at the MIRA wind tunnel. Wardrop mentioned his mock-up, which was reluctantly tested and came up with numbers twice as good as Postlethwaite’s “winner.” And when they put moving side skirts upon it, the numbers were even higher.
I asked Tim his thoughts upon CFD. (Computational Fluid Dynamics) and he was quite positive about it. I wish we’d had that back when I was at March. As you can simply input your data points and change everything on the fly. Wind Tunnels are so expensive to operate, as they’re running 100% scale models at speeds up to 200mph these days!
Did you work with Robin Herd? Yeah, I worked at March Engineering for eight years. Then I came to the States in 1995 to work for Newman/Haas with Michael andretti and Kevin Cogan.
Tim asked me if I remembered Willy T Ribbs? Sure, while trying to ask him why Ribbs sat out the 1992 Indy 500 over the din of the bar’s patrons. Tim replied that he’d been Ribbs race engineer for both of his Speedway efforts. (1991, 1993)
Yet the 1992 Indy 500 was a most successful year for Tim as his cars finished 1-2 that day. You see Wardrop was involved with Alan Mertens who designed the Galmer G92, driven to victory by Al Unser Jr. And Tim was engineering Scott Goodyear who came from dead last (33rd) to finish second for Derrick Walker that day in what is regarded as the closest finish at the Brickyard!
And speaking about Walker Racing drivers. Tim told us an entertaining story about Robby Gordon, who once asked a teammate when do you turn-in at Turn 1 of Indy? And the response was when you reach 228mph. So bam, Robby turns into the corner as soon as he reads 228 on the dashboard. Not 229 or 227, but exactly 228mph!
And speaking about straight line speed, Wardrop assured us that Luyendyk’s record numbers are correct. Claiming he was reaching 250mph on the front straight. Never dipping below 236, as the car was completely trimmed out… Tim claims that Gugelmin’s & De Ferran’s “record” runs at Fontana, CA are NOT correct as the track distance was measured incorrectly. Therefore the speeds are approx. 6mph too high!
Wardrop’s ex-Indiana neighbor was a chap named Jim McGee. And he worked on Newman/Haas’s 2004 entry for Bruno Junqueira, which just missed winning the race by about 10 minutes, as everybody was watching for precipitation.
Wardrop also was reunited with Arie Sr. in 2006 to attempt qualifying Luyendyk Jr’s entry, which wasn’t successful. While now having been hired as Chief Engineer for the SWE Racing Indy Pro Series team. The team ran gray beard Jon Brownson (54yrs old) n a limited ISP program this season while searching for sponsors. Brownson’s dream is to become the next Marty Roth and race in the Indianapolis 500…
SWE has moved into a new “state of the art” facility. Currently sharing the space with a brand new IPS team; Team KMA co-owned by the “Red Rocker.” A.k.a. Sammy Hagar. With SWE’s website claiming; “Wardrop has won the Indianapolis 500 more times than any other engineer in the history of the 500.”
And as we kept saying just one more question, Tim told us how he’d worked with some chap named Ross Brawn. I mean he was a true junior machinist at Williams when I worked there. Oh you mean the Ross Brawn who worked with some dude named Michael Schumacher!
For more Indianapolis stories, see; D-Squared
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Talladega Nights
Whale, I suppose there will be more blather about the various Open Wheel refuges makin’ dare Super Speedway debuts then the actual Nextel Cup race.
Apparently RASSCAR Official have seen ‘nuff wire transfers to promote Jacques Villeneuve to “Big Boyzs” status, as “Jack Vanilla” was originally scheduled to rub fenders with Scott “Nose” Speed in the ARCA event as well as contest the Craftsman Trucks event. But Jackie V will now run the NCTS event prior to joining MAC Montoya in the Cup race in the Bill Davis Toy-yoter’
And if Scott Speed gets buckled up in time he’ll take his chances on the high banks of Talladega…
While I didn’t get up in time to watch the Really-Really-Really Big announcement scheduled at 10:30AM EDT live on SPEED (Which is 7:30AM out here on the West coast) from “Cheep” Ganassi’s N. Carolina headquarters.
It seems indicative that “Half Gainer” Dario (Franchitti) will indeed be announced as a bonnafied TCGR employee set to ply his trade in the RASSCAR waters alongside Montoya beginning in 2008. (Under a five year contract)
Franchitti was originally scheduled to be busy competing at Road Atlanta in the Petit Le Mans 1000K this weekend aboard former team Andretti Green Racing’s Acura L MP2entry.
But AGR quietly announced the releasing of the Flying Scot from his contract that expired on December 1st yesterday in order to allow Dario to move to Ganassi’s growing stable of Open Wheel drivers turnin’ left.
Franchitti will now join Scott Speed in the ARCA Remax race at Talladega this weekend as his baptism under fire will see a rapid immersion in the Stock Car universe in preparation for his Sprint Cup debut at Daytona next February…
Funny, but there hasn’t been any talk about Sam Hornish Jr. trying to qualify for his first race at Talladega, nor whether Buddy “Soprano” Lazier will be runnin’ another Truck race that weekend. Kinda scary how the Open Wheel community’s brightest star of the moment is Helio “Dancin’ Shoes” Castroneves who’s busy hangin’ out with Mr. Los Vegas.
And perhaps a roof over Dario’s helmet is a good thing…
Apparently RASSCAR Official have seen ‘nuff wire transfers to promote Jacques Villeneuve to “Big Boyzs” status, as “Jack Vanilla” was originally scheduled to rub fenders with Scott “Nose” Speed in the ARCA event as well as contest the Craftsman Trucks event. But Jackie V will now run the NCTS event prior to joining MAC Montoya in the Cup race in the Bill Davis Toy-yoter’
And if Scott Speed gets buckled up in time he’ll take his chances on the high banks of Talladega…
While I didn’t get up in time to watch the Really-Really-Really Big announcement scheduled at 10:30AM EDT live on SPEED (Which is 7:30AM out here on the West coast) from “Cheep” Ganassi’s N. Carolina headquarters.
It seems indicative that “Half Gainer” Dario (Franchitti) will indeed be announced as a bonnafied TCGR employee set to ply his trade in the RASSCAR waters alongside Montoya beginning in 2008. (Under a five year contract)
Franchitti was originally scheduled to be busy competing at Road Atlanta in the Petit Le Mans 1000K this weekend aboard former team Andretti Green Racing’s Acura L MP2entry.
But AGR quietly announced the releasing of the Flying Scot from his contract that expired on December 1st yesterday in order to allow Dario to move to Ganassi’s growing stable of Open Wheel drivers turnin’ left.
Franchitti will now join Scott Speed in the ARCA Remax race at Talladega this weekend as his baptism under fire will see a rapid immersion in the Stock Car universe in preparation for his Sprint Cup debut at Daytona next February…
Funny, but there hasn’t been any talk about Sam Hornish Jr. trying to qualify for his first race at Talladega, nor whether Buddy “Soprano” Lazier will be runnin’ another Truck race that weekend. Kinda scary how the Open Wheel community’s brightest star of the moment is Helio “Dancin’ Shoes” Castroneves who’s busy hangin’ out with Mr. Los Vegas.
And perhaps a roof over Dario’s helmet is a good thing…
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Ralfanso leaving Toyota
Ralf Schumacher has announced on his personal website that he’ll be leaving the Toyota Formula 1 team at the end of the season.
This doesn’t seem too shocking given Ralfie’s turbulent career and continuous struggles with the Colone based team. As SPEED’s David Hobbs has been harping about the entire year plus, Ralfanso has been totally out performed and out qualified by Jarno Trulli, who’s salary is far less than Schumacher’s.
So who will fill the void? As there’s been rampant speculation about Ferrari’s Felipe Massa being sent packing to Toyota, along with this year’s GP2 Champion timo Glock. Yet it would be very refreshing to see Toyota sign Adrian Sutil instead…
This doesn’t seem too shocking given Ralfie’s turbulent career and continuous struggles with the Colone based team. As SPEED’s David Hobbs has been harping about the entire year plus, Ralfanso has been totally out performed and out qualified by Jarno Trulli, who’s salary is far less than Schumacher’s.
So who will fill the void? As there’s been rampant speculation about Ferrari’s Felipe Massa being sent packing to Toyota, along with this year’s GP2 Champion timo Glock. Yet it would be very refreshing to see Toyota sign Adrian Sutil instead…
PCM Turnabout?
Although I’m still overly disappointed about Pacific Coast Motorsport’s dumping of Ryan Dalziel in favour of Mario “Boom Boom” Dominguez, apparently my flogging of PcM may be misguided? Especially upon reading David Phillips latest commentary, explaining how the Dominguez decision could rather be more team oriented than Gerald Forsythe’s quick-fix solution with Mexican David Martinez. As Phillips points out in Apples ‘N Oranges, Forsythe’s maneuverings are totally transparent, while PCM could actually be trying to improve its struggling Champ Car operation…
Monday, October 1, 2007
F1: Singing’ in the Rain? Japan, 2007 edition
Holy Downpour Batman!!! Wasn’t that the MOST DIABOLICAL racing conditions you’ve seen in years? As I’m flabbergasted that the FIA actually squeezed in the entire race distance at the rain drenched Mount Fuji circuit…
Talk about earning your paycheck, as I simply couldn’t believe that those F1 pilot’s were capable of hurtling their race cars around in such HORRIFIC weather conditions. As the race seemed eerily reminiscent of the inaugural Japanese Grand Prix held at Mount Fuji 31 years ago!
You may recall that this was the race that Niki Lauda abandoned due to heavy rainfall, claiming the weather made the race too dangerous and there by handing that year’s Driver’s title to James Hunt.
The following year’s event was little better, with the first and second place drivers (James Hunt, Carlos Reutemann) skipping the podium ceremonies in favour of catching their flights. And with Niki Lauda having already wrapped up the 1977 Driver’s title for Ferrari, before departing the team as his relationship with Enzo had faltered. Lauda was replaced by Gilles Villeneuve whom had a tragic accident that killed a Marshal and photographer!
And although I know I watched it way back when? I simply don’t remember seeing the abominable race Down Under. As the 1991 Australian GP was Red flagged after only 14 laps with Ayrton Senna being declared the victor and half points awarded. And what was that race when Senna rammed into the back of whom in the rain…
Of course I suspect holding a motor race near the base of an extinct volcano in the fall will always be prone to inclement weather, eh? Although overall this is supposedly the better portion of the year to visit the Orient. So I can only ponder what this week’s conditions at Shanghai will be?
And if you think the organizers are NUTS for running at Mount Fuji so late in the season, my way back memory machine faintly recollected the 1994 Japanese GP as Professor Matchett was waxing eloquently about it. As the Suzuka race was held on November 13 and was also Red flagged after Martin Brundle struck a marshal attending a previously stricken race car in the exact locale and broke his leg! Yeah, you guessed it; it was RAINING that day too…
As for the racing, it seemed quite hard to follow this weekend, as there seemed to be a constant parade of race cars throwing up huge rooster tails behind them. And I’m still quite bemused over how Ferrari will indeed spin its wet weather tire advantage. Err excuse me Mr. Todt! Didn’t you get the memo? But who says that the FIA doesn’t play favourites?
And without doubt the star of the weekend had to be German “hot-shue” Sebastian Vettel, who took the Scuderia Toro rosso to never seen before performance heights… As it was pointed out that the last time a Minardi Tail-gunner Charlie” had led a Grand Prix was Estoril, 1989!
As Vettel became the very first driver to push a Toro Rosso into “Q3” Final Qualifying. Although he gave the Williams-Toyota team a bit of a surprise when he attempted pulling into their pit stall at the end of the Q2 session…
And Vettel’s weekend long “High” continued into the race, when the young German found himself leading his very first Grand Prix. Unfortunately the entire weekend would be for naught as catastrophe struck during the second Safety Car period. With “Big Brother” Mark Webber (Red Bull) second and Vettel third behind race leader Lewis Hamilton, young Sebastian rammed into the rear of an unexpecting Webber…
Mark Webber (DNF, Accident)
"That was a completely disastrous finish. We were in very, very good shape to challenge Lewis for first today. We were strong and I didn't make any mistakes despite the tricky conditions, cars were aquaplaning and the visibility was very poor. Fernando's crash caused the second safety car stint, which bunched everyone back up again. That wasn't great; I would have liked to have continued to the end of the race. Vettel was a bit wild behind me during the first safety car period and then did a very good job of hitting me very hard under the second safety car. I think today he will have learnt a very valuable lesson."
Adding insult to injury was the fact that Vettel’s teammate Vitantonnio Luzzi was deemed to have passed Adrian Sutil’s spyker under a yellow flagged corner for the final points paying position.
Which made me very happy to learn as I’m most impressed by my “Rookie of the Year” candidate Messer. Sutil, whom was elevated to eighth place upon the stewards giving Luzzi a 25 second time penalty which dropped him to ninth. Thus Toro Rosso is now the only constructor to have not scored points this season.
And as further penalty to Vettel’s errant ways during the second Safety Car shenanigans… Sebastian has been docked a ten grid spot penalty for China…
Meanwhile the race ending saw a terrific tussle between two Finns, as Heikki Kovalainen and Kimi Raikkonen frolicked about in the monstrous spray while challenging each other for second place. This would see two Finns on the podium for the very first time in history.
And rumours suggest that Lewis Hamilton’s father (and manager) Anthony has hammered out a new five year $110 million deal to stay at McLaren. That’s a paltry $22 million per season for all of you math whizzes out there.
Yet I found myself having a new found admiration for the young “Louise Jaguar Hamilton.” As not only was he fast, nor put a wheel wrong the entire race, he’s also tremendously smooth. As I marveled at his mannerisms of thanking the Japanese crowd for enduring such ABYSMAL weather conditions during the post race interview.
And speaking of memo’s, I seemed to have missed the one noting that the Japanese Grand Prix will alternate venues between Suzuka and Mount Fuji beginning in 2009…
Talk about earning your paycheck, as I simply couldn’t believe that those F1 pilot’s were capable of hurtling their race cars around in such HORRIFIC weather conditions. As the race seemed eerily reminiscent of the inaugural Japanese Grand Prix held at Mount Fuji 31 years ago!
You may recall that this was the race that Niki Lauda abandoned due to heavy rainfall, claiming the weather made the race too dangerous and there by handing that year’s Driver’s title to James Hunt.
The following year’s event was little better, with the first and second place drivers (James Hunt, Carlos Reutemann) skipping the podium ceremonies in favour of catching their flights. And with Niki Lauda having already wrapped up the 1977 Driver’s title for Ferrari, before departing the team as his relationship with Enzo had faltered. Lauda was replaced by Gilles Villeneuve whom had a tragic accident that killed a Marshal and photographer!
And although I know I watched it way back when? I simply don’t remember seeing the abominable race Down Under. As the 1991 Australian GP was Red flagged after only 14 laps with Ayrton Senna being declared the victor and half points awarded. And what was that race when Senna rammed into the back of whom in the rain…
Of course I suspect holding a motor race near the base of an extinct volcano in the fall will always be prone to inclement weather, eh? Although overall this is supposedly the better portion of the year to visit the Orient. So I can only ponder what this week’s conditions at Shanghai will be?
And if you think the organizers are NUTS for running at Mount Fuji so late in the season, my way back memory machine faintly recollected the 1994 Japanese GP as Professor Matchett was waxing eloquently about it. As the Suzuka race was held on November 13 and was also Red flagged after Martin Brundle struck a marshal attending a previously stricken race car in the exact locale and broke his leg! Yeah, you guessed it; it was RAINING that day too…
As for the racing, it seemed quite hard to follow this weekend, as there seemed to be a constant parade of race cars throwing up huge rooster tails behind them. And I’m still quite bemused over how Ferrari will indeed spin its wet weather tire advantage. Err excuse me Mr. Todt! Didn’t you get the memo? But who says that the FIA doesn’t play favourites?
And without doubt the star of the weekend had to be German “hot-shue” Sebastian Vettel, who took the Scuderia Toro rosso to never seen before performance heights… As it was pointed out that the last time a Minardi Tail-gunner Charlie” had led a Grand Prix was Estoril, 1989!
As Vettel became the very first driver to push a Toro Rosso into “Q3” Final Qualifying. Although he gave the Williams-Toyota team a bit of a surprise when he attempted pulling into their pit stall at the end of the Q2 session…
And Vettel’s weekend long “High” continued into the race, when the young German found himself leading his very first Grand Prix. Unfortunately the entire weekend would be for naught as catastrophe struck during the second Safety Car period. With “Big Brother” Mark Webber (Red Bull) second and Vettel third behind race leader Lewis Hamilton, young Sebastian rammed into the rear of an unexpecting Webber…
Mark Webber (DNF, Accident)
"That was a completely disastrous finish. We were in very, very good shape to challenge Lewis for first today. We were strong and I didn't make any mistakes despite the tricky conditions, cars were aquaplaning and the visibility was very poor. Fernando's crash caused the second safety car stint, which bunched everyone back up again. That wasn't great; I would have liked to have continued to the end of the race. Vettel was a bit wild behind me during the first safety car period and then did a very good job of hitting me very hard under the second safety car. I think today he will have learnt a very valuable lesson."
Adding insult to injury was the fact that Vettel’s teammate Vitantonnio Luzzi was deemed to have passed Adrian Sutil’s spyker under a yellow flagged corner for the final points paying position.
Which made me very happy to learn as I’m most impressed by my “Rookie of the Year” candidate Messer. Sutil, whom was elevated to eighth place upon the stewards giving Luzzi a 25 second time penalty which dropped him to ninth. Thus Toro Rosso is now the only constructor to have not scored points this season.
And as further penalty to Vettel’s errant ways during the second Safety Car shenanigans… Sebastian has been docked a ten grid spot penalty for China…
Meanwhile the race ending saw a terrific tussle between two Finns, as Heikki Kovalainen and Kimi Raikkonen frolicked about in the monstrous spray while challenging each other for second place. This would see two Finns on the podium for the very first time in history.
And rumours suggest that Lewis Hamilton’s father (and manager) Anthony has hammered out a new five year $110 million deal to stay at McLaren. That’s a paltry $22 million per season for all of you math whizzes out there.
Yet I found myself having a new found admiration for the young “Louise Jaguar Hamilton.” As not only was he fast, nor put a wheel wrong the entire race, he’s also tremendously smooth. As I marveled at his mannerisms of thanking the Japanese crowd for enduring such ABYSMAL weather conditions during the post race interview.
And speaking of memo’s, I seemed to have missed the one noting that the Japanese Grand Prix will alternate venues between Suzuka and Mount Fuji beginning in 2009…
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