Ok, so this is the big one, the one we've all been...uh, never mind, I've just checked my inbox and apparantly if I continue that thought a J.K. Rowling is threatening to sue me.

Anyway, this isn't just restricted to a single series, this will (hopefully) incorporate everything.

Rookie of the Year - not a hard choice when you boil it down. To win 4 races (granted, you should if you are driving the best car but a win's a win all the same) and come within a single point of winning the title, it can only be Lewis Hamilton...anything less than having the #1 on his car in 2009 will be a failure however (no pressure Lewis...just don't change your name to Tim Henman over the offseason, mate).

Best Race of the Year - again, not a hard choice. You want a race to have everything; variable weather, crashes, overtaking, wheel-####ing, a charge through the field, right? Well, there was only one race that brought us all that and that was the European (or was it German this year?) Grand Prix at the Nurburgring. The skies opened on lap 1 causing a red flag as 5 cars went off about a lap later (all at the same corner...one car even brushed the rescue tractor/crane as it was retrieving the other cars from the gravel trap), Alonso and Massa provided the climatic finish while Hamilton finished an agonising second behind 2 points after a stonking drive from the back.

Qualifier of the Year - now, this is a tough one. There have been several quality drivers to consider for this one; Jeff Gordon, Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa, Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne just to mention a few. However, I'm going a bit more controversial for this one...Nico Hulkenberg. He's the new Williams F1 test driver and thumped everyone in the A1GP series this year. Not bad for a 20 year old that no one had heard of before 12 months ago.

Team of the Year - Hendrick Motorsports...do I really need to explain why? No, I didn't think so either.

Pit Crew of the Year - I'm going with the Toll HSV boys from the V8 Supercars. When the pressure was on, they delivered in the final round, getting Garth Tander from 5th to 1st and were the main reason he won the title.

Driver of the Year - another toughie. Kimi Raikonnen, Jimmie Johnson, Garth Tander, Dario Franchitti, Nico Hulkenberg all won their respective series, though only Nico won by a massive margin. However, I'm going with the man who set a few records but didn't win the title...Jeff Gordon.

Ok, so that's the official stuff out of the way so let's have a little bit of fun.

Personality of the Year - Rusty Wallace for providing us with his insightful comments and magnificent commentary...hopefully someone gives him a drive next year instead.

Crash of the Year - I think we can all agree that there were many candidates for this one. But, at the end of the day, I've given it to dragster driver, Phil Lamattina...which I think HotfootLori posted about in September.

Surprise of the Year - Clint Bowyer would, under any other circumstances, be odds on here...but I have to give this to the fact that the name 'Earnhardt' won't be in the winners list for NASCAR this year...in any category. If the number of engine failures matched his car number, he might have picked up the next award too, but it was not to be.

Miracle of the Year - Jeff Gordon not winning his 5th title? Lewis Hamilton doing the impossible by screwing up the final 2 GP's of the year to lose the championship? Phil Lamattina for surviving that crash? No...this award can only go to one thing; McLaren Mercedes F1 team. The miracle being they weren't punished more in the 'spygate' saga.

Worst Looking Car Livery of the Year - Team Vodafone in the V8 Supercars. They took the old saying "if you can't beam 'em, join 'em" a touch too far when they launched their 2007 challenger. I guess no one told them that HRT use more or less the exact same colours in more or less the exact same locations...made it hell to watch on TV.

And lastly, my favourite award...

Bone-headed Overtaking Attempt of the Year - well, Juan Montoya didn't take long to make his mark...just 3 races in fact and the mark was on Scott Pruett's right rear panel. Garth Tander nearly cost himself the V8 title by divebombing inside Steve Richards but wobbled away with a broken suspension instead. Dario Franchitti took Marco Andretti off...along with a section of his front wing which ultimately cost him a win. Quite a few to choose from I think you'd agree, but the winner has to be Kyle Busch for passing (well, trying to anyway) his brother at the All-Star race.

I thought I might as well try to give you lot a bit of a laugh heading into 2008...hope you don't mind. If anyone has a problem with who got what, you are more than welcome to argue your point/s...just be prepared for me to not care about it *laugh*

Apologies for missing out a few awards...a 'part deux' might be required to cover for that ;)

So, the NASCAR season is over until next year and you’re wondering what to do without any racing?

Uh…no.

You see, if you take a step back and remember that there’s more to the world than the patch of land, whose name escapes me, between Mexico and Canada, you’d realise that there’s still plenty going on in motorsport for the next few months (though not enough to keep jbroomy awake considering his last post *laugh*).

The A1GP season has had two rounds already and are in Malaysia this weekend after a five week layoff. I think we’ve got four rounds of that before Daytona starts…so get behind your country. Even if you don’t like open-wheelers, you should at least feel a little bit of pride seeing your nations colours on the car.

World Rally Championship…one round to go in that; in Wales. The title is between Sebastian Loeb (Citroen) and Marcus Gronholm (Ford) with Seb in control. Last time out in Ireland, Marcus crashed out while Seb won so the points went from Marcus four in front to Seb six in front…Marcus has to win and hope that his rival finishes no better than sixth to win it so Seb seemingly just has to finish this thing to win yet another championship.

And lastly, the V8 Supercars. They’ve got one round to go (Phillip Island in Victoria) and the title is anything but over like I suggested last time I posted about it. Garth Tander went into Tasmania holding a handy 20 point lead over Craig Lowndes (with Jamie Whincup and Rick Kelly a bit further behind). To put that into perspective, the three-race format of Tassie means that you get 24 points for winning a race…so 20 is a nice lead to hold I think you’d agree.

Things looked really good for Tander as he swept to pole position and took out race one over Whincup while Lowndes could only manage fifth. It was races two and three where things got interesting. See, the V8’s have a compulsory pitstop rule where every car (unless you’ve retired from the race early on) has to come in and change (at least) two tyres…most elect to do rears but sometimes teams change just one side of the car like they do in NASCAR. Whincup got the jump on Tander in race two off the start line but during the stops, Tander managed to get back ahead.

However, both were down the order as several cars decided to do a long first stint before coming in for their stop. So, it was around lap 20 of 50 that Tander, Whincup and the rest found themselves towards the back end of the top ten…then Tander went off. Amazingly he didn’t get beached in the gravel trap but lost a whole bunch of track position as he rally-crossed his way back to the black stuff. He then proceeded to carve his way through the field and wound up in seventh…a sterling job but Whincup won the race so the points gap was back to around 20…just with Jamie in second instead of Craig.

Just a slip in concentration for a second saw Garth outbrake himself, costing him vital championship points.

Race three saw Tander start where he left off, jumping up to fifth at the end of lap one and up to third once the pitstops were over. That was as good as it got for Garth though as he tried to dive up the inside of Steven Richards at the hairpin following a safety car period. That move proved costly as he was too far back and all he achieved was a nice whack from Steve as he turned into the corner…which broke Garth’s suspension forcing him out of the race.

While that was going on, Whincup was just doing what he does best; driving out front. Jamie seems to be one of those guys that loves to lead races instead of having to storm through the field…at least, that’s just my opinion anyway. Regardless, Jamie took the win, both the race and the overall round, and leapt into the top of the points to boot...a great weekend for the Vodafone driver and a great weekend for Ford as they swept the podium again.

As things stand, these are the points of those still in the hunt for the championship;

1 – Jamie Whincup, 569 points
2 – Garth Tander, 562 points
3 – Craig Lowndes, 548 points
4 – Rick Kelly, 521 points

We’ll see how things go next weekend in Victoria…the Fords seem to have found some pace in the sprint rounds now and last year saw Mark Winterbottom take his first career victory…driving a Ford. It’s another three race weekend so there’s a maximum of 72 points up for grabs for a driver…something that both Rick and Craig would love desperately to manage. Jamie’s in the box seat, but with Tander so close, it could very well come down to pitstops…and both the Vodafone and Toll HSV teams are among the fastest in the pitlane.

I’d love to see Jamie win, purely for the fact that he’s been, arguably, the most improved driver this season. Yes, Garth has been leading the title the majority of the year, but he’s also been more prone to bad luck…something he can’t afford this time (nor can the others though).

Jamie using all of the track…and then some!

And I also know that Jamie will probably be the favourite for many of you too…why?

Well that’s simple; he drives the #88 so you can get some practice in for cheering it.

Now obviously I can't speak for everyone on here so I'll just have to go with letting you know why I watch the racing series I do...well a short version of why anyway. 

Formula 1 - the one series that a lot of people can't get into since "the only overtaking happens in pitlane". I admit, F1 does throw up some rather dull races...but it makes the exciting ones (like last weeks one in Germany) simply brilliant. I don't care what anyone tries telling me, but when there's a race like that, you then know why F1 is the best series on the planet...end of story.

NASCAR - another series that doesn't appeal to everyone as "they just turn left". Again, some races I wish I hadn't bothered taping as watching the grass grow in winter is more exciting, but it is the closeness of the racing that I like. It doesn't really matter where you qualify (unlike in F1) since the cars are that evenly matched and it's the driver/crew combination that makes the difference.

V8 Supercars - well that's a rather easy one to explain; I'm an Aussie. Lately though, the series has suffered a little bit since the cars are evenly matched that it's virtually impossible to pass on the track...unless the weather plays a part which we've had a couple times this year.

IRL - it's kind of like the best of both worlds really; F1 style cars racing on NASCAR tracks. I'll freely admit that my interest will probably only last as long as Scott Dixon races in it since that will be when the coverage of it stops here.

A1GP - a mini F1 series really, these guys tend to produce more exciting racing than F1 since they have that funky little 'power-boost' which gives you eight shots of extra revs to use during the race. Again, like IRL, this series is only popular here in NZ due to the TV coverage showing the racing on free-to-air instead of pay TV. It also helps when Team NZ goes well and we have a race here I guess.

So there we go, five series that I like to see. The main point I think is that no matter what series you watch, there will always be races that put you to sleep. You can argue over which is better (like Dave and ccr are currently doing...which is real interesting as both are passionate about 'their' series yet don't mind the other anyway) but at the end of that day, it all boils down to personal taste.

I will always rate F1 as the best since I hang out for those rare times it produces an absolute pearler of a race like last week. Oh, and also for the sheer speed, acceleration and under braking (which is more impressive actually), those things can go...there's just nothing else like it in my opinion.

up, up and away!

The old CART series (now Champ Car World Series) no longer holds the appeal for me. It was the series responsible for getting me into oval racing so I have to give it a mention on here, but my interest in it died right after a handful of laps of the final race in the 1999 season.