In a rare 'off week' for the Cup teams, that leaves not much in the way of touring car racing as we only have the Nationwide race from Mexico City, right?
Not really...if you guys get a live feed from the V8 Supercars that is.
Hamilton...home of the Waikato Chiefs, perennial underachievers in the Super Rugby but the 'Mooloo men' can claim they were the first province to win the revamped National Provincial Championship (rebadged as the Air NZ Cup) in 2006 and also a rather popular place to buy wine from. Actually, Hamilton are having a big weekend this week as not only is the V8 round there but the Chiefs host the unbeaten Canterbury Crusaders in what will probably be, if it isn't already, a sellout game of rugby on Friday night.
For he past seven odd years, the New Zealand round of the V8 Supercars was held near the country's biggest city; Auckland. The Pukekohe circuit was a Holden benefit, with hometown boy, Greg Murphy, using it as his personal playground as he stomped on everyone for the first few years before the other Holden teams nicked his setup and were able to topple him for the round win.
However, the contract for Pukekohe ran out last year as the V8's wanted a street course instead of a purpose-built track...and the town of Hamilton stepped in to fill that gap. Not only that, but they also put their hand up to host the WRC round when that contract ran out a couple years ago as well...ensuring NZ kept their place on the rally calender.
So, welcome everyone, to the motoring capital of New Zealand.
The round is a three-race sprint one, like Pukekohe was, and will kick off with practice tomorrow (Friday) with both qualifying and race one held on Saturday while races two and three are on the Sunday.
track map of the Hamilton round of the V8 Supercars.
Alas, the weather may prove to steal the show as the North Island has been pretty much in constant rain so far in April (though the forecast looks ok for the weekend...but we're only halfway through the week of course). That will make things much more interesting as a few drivers have already said that this could be a crash-fest round and the slippery roads would only exaggerate those beliefs. Common sense says that drivers who excel on the streets of Adelaide and the Gold Coast will be the ones to beat...but if the rains come down, it's anyone's guess who will be in front after three races and 400km around the streets of Hamilton.
So...think the rain in Fontana was the worst news for motorsport over the weekend?
I'll give you something else to compare it to then (and I haven't even seen it mentioned on here); Ashley Cooper.
He's a driver in the development series for the V8 Supercars in Australia and they had their opening round for the 2008 season in Adelaide. That was about the high point of the weekend for the 27 year-old really.
No need for me to add anything to it so this is straight from The Daily Telegraph paper article;
On Sunday afternoon fans at the V8 Supercar event were asked to stand in silence as chaplain Garry Coleman led a prayer dedicated to Cooper, who was given an emergency tracheotomy at the crash scene.
Sporting chiefs were yesterday left to defend their safety record and the Adelaide street circuit as they paid tribute to him.
Cooper was competing in the Fujitsu Series, a V8 Supercar support category, when he slammed his VZ Commodore into a concrete barrier as he exited the street circuit's fastest turn at more than 200km/h.
V8 Supercars chief executive Wayne Cattach said a preliminary look at crash footage suggested Cooper's car might have clipped the guard rail on entry to the corner.
There was nothing to indicate failure of the seat, his roll cage, seat belt or other safety systems.
"Our sport over-complies with the highest FIA (Federation Internationale De L'Automobile) rules for closed cockpit racing and most of our teams extend even beyond our own high standards with their own safety measures," Mr Cattach said.
"Certainly there have been accidents when drivers have walked away unscathed that would appear far more severe than was the case here.
"This one didn't look all that bad to me (but) at the end of the day, motorsport is a dangerous pursuit and we try and make it as safe as possible.
"But when you've got a 1350kg car travelling at say 260 km/h top speed, it's a risky combination."
According to Cooper's personal website, he started racing in 1998 and his career highlights included being crowned the 2006 V8 Utes Rookie of the Year.
In an interview published just six days ago he said he was looking forward to racing and had high hopes for his trip to Adelaide.
"I hope to be able to finish the race well, but myself and the team are focused on working out the potential of the car and working out any kinks in performance," Cooper said.
"Having strong support from the local community is something that is important to us all (so) we hope people tune in and watch the Clipsal 500 and give me some support. In turn I hope to do the region proud."
Cooper is the second driver to die in a V8 Supercar accident in the past 12 years.
New Zealand driver Mark Porter was killed in the Fujitsu Series race at Bathurst in 2006.
He leaves behind a wife and two kids...still reckon it was the rain now?
Been waiting for today to post this so here we go. Australia does tend to have a pretty decent history in motor racing, be it Sir Jack Brabham in F1 or Mick Doohan in the 500cc bikes. But what could 2008 bring for a nation that prides itself on punching above its weight when it comes to sports?
The V8 Supercars kick off at the end of February in Adelaide for the Clipsal 500, raced on the streets where the F1 boys used to be until they moved to Melbourne. Garth Tander has moved from Toll HSV to the Holden Racing Team (HRT) and will be favourite to retain his title. Helping him should be the fact that Holden have released a new Commodore so that should be better than the old one. However, we'll have to see on that since AVESCO have regulations in place that neither manufacturer can have a significant advantage over the other so the racing still should be pretty even. His closest rivals will most likely be Rick Kelly, Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup...in other words, the same three as last season. Dark horses could be Mark Winterbottom and Lee Holdsworth. My money will be on Tander but since I'm president of 'The Stoppers', I doubt Garth will be happy with that idea.
Formula One sees Mark Webber flying the flag...again. Mark seems to make a habit of joining teams that then inexplicably decide to push the self destruct button on the cars' reliability (Jaguar, Williams and now Red Bull), but he is one quick guy, particularly when it comes to qualifying. He's twice visited the podium and will be needing some serious good luck if he wants to stand on the top step and hear Advance Australia Fair being belted out. But, with Adrian Newey on board, anything is possible...hopefully Vettel won't take him out again like last year in China when they were behind the safety car. That could have been the first win for an Aussie since Alan Jones back in the 80's, but hey, some people say you "have to lose one to win one," before you can fully appreciate it.
Mark had been running in 2nd and quicker than the leader until this happened.
Casey Stoner is the reigning champion in the MotoGP series after trouncing everyone in his Ducati. Chris Vermeulen is also in the series and he won a rain-soaked race at Le Mans which didn't really surprise many as he's considered somewhat of an expert when the skies open. But Casey has the added advantage of a new teammate this season and his confidence levels will be skyhigh so we could very well wind up finishing 1-2 at the end of 2008...I'd settle for just the 1 to be honest but the main thing for both will be whether their bikes are competitive enough.
Casey celebrating one of his 10 wins in 2007.
The Sebastien Bourdais World Ser...uh, Champ Car Wolrd Series, apologies for getting the name wrong...will be moving into unchartered waters as Seb has left to persue his F1 dream (driving for Toro Rosso). Will Power managed to increase interest from Australia by having a great start to the year, so much interest that the TV networks were forced to show the races instead of just a highlights package...a win for the public finally. Unfortunately, I don't live in Australia so the only race I get to see in NZ is the one on the Gold Coast but that's ok, my interest in the series is nowhere near as high since the death of Greg Moore in 1999...yes Will, that's a challenge that you're welcome to tackle and I truly hope you have better luck on the streets of Surfers Paradise this time around.
With a bit more luck, Will might have challenged Seb for the title.
NASCAR...bit like F1 really where Marcos Ambrose is the only representative. His debut season in the Busch series last year went exceptionally well with the only thing missing being a victory. And if I know Marcos , he'll be keen to put that right this year. He'll also be making his Cup debut (ok, so he did at Watkins Glen last year but the weather ruined his chances as qualifying was cancelled so that doesn't count in my books) and run a part-schedule (around 15 races or so). I am not really expecting much in the Cup series since the Wood Brothers aren't exactly what you'd call a topline team anymore...but they do have a great heritage and the knowledge he'll get from racing with them will put him in great stead if he manages to make the switch to Cup fulltime in 2009.
Back for another tilt in the States, Marcos is looking to improve on his best finish of fourth.
Discounting the V8's since it's a home series, our best chance of winning clearly comes from the MotoGP...but we like to spring surprises and I know I won't mind if any (or all) of the rest pulls a Steven Bradbury ;)
So why did I wait until today before posting this? I suggest you look up January 26 and Australia on Google and find out.
'Australiana' by Austen Tayshus (from 1983)...thanks to HotFootLori for the instructions although the sound needs to be up quite high to hear it
...what would it be? The old points format back? The top 35 qualifying 'lock in' to be chucked out?
Mine isn't really going to be much of a surprise...unless they actually did it in which case it would then be a huge surprise.
Mexico City, Montreal, Sonoma and Watkins Glen; the four tracks where the Cup and/or Bu...uh, Nationwide cars have to turn left as well as right. They also tend to come under fire from people as strategy plays the main role, more so than on the usual ovals. However, when things go right, they also can throw up the most exciting races...the '07 Watkins Glen race missed out on my 'Race of the Year' by a whisker, mainly since Nurburgring had that amazing, wheel-####ing dual between Fernando and Felipe for the win while the only wheel-####ing Jeff Gordon was doing was whacking his head repeatedly on the steering wheel after throwing away the race.
But I'm not asking for more road courses, no. My point is that since next year is the last year for the 'normal' cars in the Nationwide series (assuming they do switch in '09 that is) and the first full year with the new car for the Cup guys...that makes 2008 the best opportunity to correct the one thing that royally ticked me off this year; wet weather.
There is absolutely, without question, no reason why NASCAR can't race in the rain on their road courses. V8 Supercars do it, Formula 1 do it, Champ Car do it...even the bloody MotoGP bikes can handle wet conditions, yet, despite having a roof (something F1, CCWS and bikes don't), NASCAR cancel the sessions to wait for Mother Nature to let up.
What's good enough for the rest of the world apparantly isn't for NASWUSS...uh, NASCAR
Yes, that kind of weather isn't the best with the fans at the track (been there, done that) but the slippery conditions bring out the best in the drivers...and isn't that what racing is all about?
So my '2008 one thing' would be to see the cars roll out on every road course with lights, wipers and Goodyear to have brought some wets just in case of adverse weather (they should remember how to make them from their F1 days). It won't happen of course, but I don't mind...just means the drivers will remain soft whenever someone spills their beer on the track *shrugs*
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 ;)
Coming into Phillip Island we had two drivers fighting out the title, with seven points separating them. After race one of three, they were locked together on points. It was race three when things got a bit interesting.
Rick Kelly (Toll HSV) was leading Craig Lowndes (Team Better Electrical) but it was Rick's brother, Todd, who got the jump off the line. The order was Todd, Craig and Rick...and then all hell broke loose. Craig had a look under Todd down the hill into the hairpin at the same time Rick did the same on Craig. Rick then tapped Craig who slammed into Todd, taking them both off leaving Rick to serenely sail away with the title...albeit via a drive-through penalty for "creating an avoidable collision."
So to 2007 then where, amazingly, we had a Toll HSV driver and a Team Vodafone (they switched sponsors for this year but it's still Team Better Electrical) driver seperated by seven points going into this last round. After race one, they were tied...can anyone say deja vu?
Well, this time around it was the teammates turn; Garth Tander (Toll) and Jamie Whincup (Vodafone). It was advantage Tander after race two (he won both) as he took a seven point deficit prior to the round into a seven point lead with one race to go.
In other words; all Garth had to do was finish right behind Jamie after 27 laps (120 km) and the title would be his...sounds easy doesn't it?
It looked quite good too as Todd Kelly led (his last race for the Holden Racing Team...he's being replaced by Tander for 2008) into turn one with Garth slotting in behind him and Jamie right on Garth's rear bumper. The pitstops shuffled the order a touch as Todd came out in front of Jamie, with Garth in third...and a hard charging Craig Lowndes showing some serious pace in the second Vodafone entry.
Tyres are critical around 'the Island' and the Vodafone boys have been one of the lightest wearing teams this year and that proved to be crucial as while Todd skipped away from Jamie initially, the gap was diminishing as we got into the final 15 laps (the leaders choosing to pit early as fresh tyres were worth about a second a lap...that's how Jamie nipped by Garth). In fact, with seven (there's that number again) laps to go, the top four were within two seconds of each other and setting times to the nearest hundredth of a second.
Craig was busy giving Garth a few little love taps, just so Tander knew he was back there, and eventually managed to squeeze him over enough to slip by into third. The seven point gap that Garth had built up was down to two (24 for a win, 20, 17, 15). All Jamie had to do was find a way to muscle past Todd and the title would be his...and he gave it his best shot.
But it was not to be...Garth Tander held on to win his first V8 Supercar Championship as the Toll HSV boys went back-to-back. Quite similar to NASCAR actually...even the number of overall races; V8's do 37...of course, the races (Bathurst excepted) aren't as long but not even NASCAR with the Chase produced such a close title finish...maybe there is something to be said abut shorter races (after all, the Truck series had the closer final race battle...until Skinner's car let him down).
So like last year, Ford won the battle (Bathurst) while Holden won the war...let the 12 month gloating begin *laugh*
After a decade in the sport, Garth captured the title that had eluded him for so long.
Oh and guess who was in town to see this round? Some bloke by the name of Dale Earnhardt Jr...and he was impressed with what he saw.
(this is from the V8 supercar website by the way):
“We’ve become fans of V8 Supercars from watching on television. This series has come a long, long way since I started watching it. I would be quite proud to showcase this off to anyone,” said Earnhardt.
“In a perfect world I would come and race fulltime in the V8 series for a year. I believe I would enjoy it. I like the format over the weekend as far as the rounds go.
“It is definitely different to how we approach the weekend. I would definitely enjoy coming here and racing and dedicating solely to that.
“I could probably talk to the right people and make that happen. I would definitely entertain that. I am going to run my butt off in the Cup cars until I can’t anymore and maybe I’ll move to Australia and race the V8 cars as long as there’s a ride for me.”
Jimmie Johnson has also gone on record saying he'd love to race these things too if his schedule allowed...I believe his exact quote was "I'll race anything."
Nice guys, racing drivers...until the red mist sets in when they pull on the helmet *laugh*
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;
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.
Right, well I'm back from my two week holiday and since this is the NASCAR section I won't bother going over the races from Martinsville, Atlanta and Texas in great detail as that would have already been done so let's have a look at the other stuff I post; V8's, Rugby and Marcos Ambrose.
Not that it feels like I'm home. We're supposed to be coming into Summer...which doesn't explain the fact that we're barely getting into double digits temperature-wise (deg C). Not going to get into Al Gore's territory but I thought the term 'global' meant that, not just some places scattered around the world.
Moving on; V8 Supercars first. Well, they've had two rounds since Bathurst and the Championship looks like it's Garth Tander's to lose. He had a great weekend on the Gold Coast and coupled with Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup's misfortune at Bahrain (yes, the V8's don't just race in Aussie and NZ) he leads the standings...despite his overenthusiastic teammate tapping him during one race (come on Rick, you did it to Craig last year but this is your teammate. Everyone knows rule number one is don't hit team cars, sheesh *rolls eyes*).
To Rugby then...both codes I guess. South Africa snuck by England to win their second William Webb Ellis trophy beating them 15 points to 6. No tries scored (take that all those people who reckon the only way to win is via an expansive game) but it was a gripping match to watch as both teams had monster forward packs and every yard was hard fought. On the League front, New Zealand look rubbish...a far cry from two years ago when they beat both Australia and Great Britain. First the Aussies thumped them by 50 odd points, then GB have beaten them the last two weekends. The new coach has come under fire and this week's game could be vital as to whether or not he stays on for the World Cup next year.
Well, it's been a rollercoaster few weeks for my man, Marcos. A few poor finishes had seen him drop to 10th (I think) in the Busch standings until the Memphis race...which I missed as I was at my friend's house. Anyway, to take pole position on his 'worst' type of track (he prefers the inters, not the short tracks) was one thing, but to storm through the field (different pit strategy) to take fourth was another. Reminds me of last year when I also missed his best races (Kentucky and Kansas)...I should get paid by Wood Brothers to take more holidays since he does this whenever I do.
Marcos shows off his first pole in his Busch Series career.
I shall update both the qualifying and race championships over the weekend...not looking forward to that since I've missed a few weeks but hey, if I don't no one else will since I'm the one with the spreadsheet *laugh*
Oh and if you're wondering why there appears to be two posts about this from me...blame technology. I had written this one then clicked post. That brought up the wonderful 'whoops' page so it didn't get posted. I then wrote a summary one as I couldn't be bothered rewriting this and find that it suddenly gets done too...go figure. Suffice to say, no point with the summary one after that so I deleted it.
Yes it was the weekend a few days ago...the one weekend where every other form of sport I follow can go and get stuffed, NASCAR included.
Mount Panorama was the location as the V8 Supercars revved up for their Daytona 500, only ours is longer; the Bathurst 1000.
161 laps around the 6.21km long, arguably, best racing track in the Southern Hemisphere and one of the most challenging in the world.
The map doesn't do justice to just how steep the track is.
The outright lap record is held by Kiwi, Greg Murphy, in his Holden Commodore with a time of 2:06.8594 in 2003...and he would've gone quicker but he changed down to first instead of third through the Dipper.
Anyway, practice began on Thursday and saw the #17 Jim Beam entry of Steven Johnson and Will Davison (we use codrivers down here remember) at the top of the timesheet but it was Saturday when the first ten cars were sorted in the 'top ten shootout'. Basically, the fastest ten cars after the last qualifying session is finished on Friday get to battle it out in a one-lap race against the clock. The order starts from the slowest of the ten while the fastest guy on Friday goes out last knowing what time they have to beat.
This year it was the #6 Castrol Ford Falcon with Mark Winterbottom behind the wheel (Steven Richards letting Mark do the lap) who took pole position from the #2 Holden Racing Team (HRT) Commodore of Mark Skaife and Todd Kelly.
The car the rest would chase into turn one on Sunday.
The race got underway half an hour later than usual; 10:30am local time and it didn't go accoridng to plan for the #50 Supercheap Auto entry of Cameron McConville and David Reynolds who had a mechical failure on the warmup lap and put them out for the day. The start was a clean one for the front row and nothing much happened during the first few hours except for both Toll HSV cars (including the Championship leaders; Rick Kelly and Garth Tander who were paired up in the #1 car) had brake issues which led to lengthy pitstops under the sfaety cars (when they came out) to bleed the bakes.
The Ford Falcons appeared to have the pace on the Holdens but by lap 100, it was the #2 HRT Commodore who looked to have the race in their pocket. However, all wasn't as it seemed as they were concerned about fuel. See, around Bathurst, on full tanks, you can squeeze out 33, maybe 34, laps...they last pitted with 69 laps to go so it was touch and go whether they could make the finish on just one more stop like everyone else.
So the race then became a battle between the #6 Falcon of Winterbottm/Richards and the #888 Team Vodafone entry (and defending race winners) Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup. When Winterbottom pitted for the final time, the gap was 0.4 seconds and Whincup pitted a couple laps later...and blew it.
Jamie came barrelling into pitlane, locked up the front tyres and slid into the gravel trap. Amazingly he was able to keep the car moving and made it to his pitbox but they came out some ten seconds behind the #6 car.
Things then became interesting as the weather people reported rain and it came with around 25 laps to go. Richards was the first to suffer as he slid wide and smacked the wall as everyone was racing in the slippery conditions on slick tyres. He managed to pit to make repairs and change onto wets but it wasn't their day.
That left the #888 car out front, with the #17, the #4 (James Courtney and David Besnard in the car that Marcos Ambrose vacated) and the #51 (Greg Murphy and Jason Richards in the Tasman Motorsport Holden) right on their heels once the safety car came out to slow the field down. The first car on the wet tyres was the #34 Valvoline Commodore of Greg Ritter and Cameron McLean and he was lapping around a second a lap faster but was too far behind to make a serious challenge for the win.
In the end, Ford wound up with a 1-2-3 as Lowndes crossed the line ahead of Courtney and Johnson, with Murphy finishing fourth. All four cars finished line within two seconds to complete one of the most weird Bathursts I've seen.
I say weird since the first 100 odd laps were rather boring with only two cars retiring and not a lot of passing taking place on the track. However, once the skies opened up, the race came alive...something I still reckon NASCAR should take note of; rain is good and makes for brilliant racing.
So full credit to everyone at Team Vodafone and well done to their drivers for managing to go back-to-back at the Mountain. As a result of the Toll HSV cars having trouble and not scoring any points, Lowndes and Whincup now head the Championship.
Winners are grinners.
So that wraps up the most important racing weekend in Trans-Tasman motorsport and with three rounds to go, it's all on for the title.
And, just so I don't get any complaints from chux, ccr or anyone else...
Okey dokey, now it's been a while since I've done one of these but the same thing applies; this contains spoilers for the...oh wait wrong webpage, sorry.
This post contains sarcasm and ranting...probably. I won't know until I finish it really *shrugs*
Not much on last week in terms of motorsport...just the NASCAR circus...so we'll go a week further back and start with Formula 1, the start of the Belgian GP in particular. Fernando Alonso edged his teammate coming out of the first corner hairpin leaving Lewis to take to the tarmac on the outside of the track before going side-by-side through half of Eau Rouge (cue 'heart in mouth' as some people may recall Stefan Bellof attempting something similar in the 1980's...and it was the last thing he ever did). In the end, Lewis gave way and Fernando was able to finish in front of him...so no worries, right?
Wrong.
Lewis then decided to have a nice whinge (proving that he is a stereotypical Brit afterall) and said that Alonso's tactics were unfair...what rubbish. Lewis has no problems cutting everyone else off when launching off the line when the lights go out (standing start remember) which can be just as dangerous as squeezing someone to the outside.
So, Mr Hamilton, think about things before you open that mouth to complain...you're a rookie driver after all, remember that. I know Fernando has come under fire lately, but after hearing Lewis' bleat, I hope he wins the title now just to tick McLaren off.
Sandown had the first endurance race of the V8 Supercar calender and the officials all need to be sacked after putting the safety car out with around 30 laps to go. Why? Simple; they couldn't even pick up the leader of the race.
Instead, the leader was stuck behind the guys in seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth meaning instead of a nice clear track to make hey while the guy in second was negotiating those cars, he was losing ground as someone nicked all the blue flags since none were being waved to let the near lapped cars know they were being lapped.
Um, not much to talk about the Loudon race really except to congratulate Clint Bowyer on a flawless performance and gave me good reason to wear the shirt I got at last years Sonoma race with pride on tuesday...even if I was the only person who knew who Clint Bowyer is down here.
So we'll go to Dover and that incident...no, not the Tony/Paul one or even the Denny/Kyle one (both have been thrashed to death so I'm not bothering to cover those). The incident I'm talking about is Carl's backflip; how many more times do you reckon he'll do that until he snaps an ankle and stuffs all the ligaments in them?
I mean, I can stomach Tony's fenceclimbs...though maybe he should cut that back since he's a bit red-faced when he gets back down...but to risk an injury like that (and I speak from experience with this; landing on your ankle sideways is not a nice feeling) is rather silly, but still, he's in pretty good shape in the overall standings and it would be nice to see a 'new' champion crowned this year.
That's it in terms of racing action so we'll go with a few things regarding rules. Firstly, everyone knows that NASCAR likes to portray themselves as big and brash and have to do things bigger and better over all other series...so what would happen if they tried to do something similar to what they have in F1 to cut down the costs by making teams use the same engine for two consecutive races?
Well, they'd have to go one better and say that all teams have to use the same car for two races in a row without being able to repair them in between...hope they can refuel the pace car 'on the fly' since we'll be having constant yellows for debris.
Now the Chase, where...and I'm doing this for the sole prupose of annoying JJD...it's working brilliantly this year.
Only have one suggestion to improve it; take the 12 cars to the infield before the race and let the other 31 drivers at them for an hour with a sledgehammer...that way, drivers like Denny Hamlin can find out what it's like to be driving in a junk car and constantly being lapped.
Oh, if you're wondering where the TNRC for Dover is, I'll do it tomorrow since I've been just like that lizard at work this week...let's see how long it takes for someone to figure that out! *laughs*
Yes, 161 laps around Sandown...which more often than not chucks up some variable weather that only causes problems for the teams and fans at the track as for everyone else, the rain is welcome relief as it evens out the field and is bound to throw in a few surprises (see Lee Holdsworth's win at the last round in the wet). Anyway, the rain didn't really eventuate, we had some light drizzle towards the end of the race but not enough to force cars onto the wet tyres.
For those unfamiliar with the V8 Endurance races, our rules dictate a driver change (the minimum a driver can complete is a third of the distance, so 54 laps in this case) and a mandatory brake pad change. The V8's can go approximately 60 laps on a single load of fuel and, unlike in NASCAR, they don't throw the caution out every time a driver spears off into the gravel trap and drags a whole bunch of sand back onto the track.
Also, unlike NASCAR, we have grid girls...so stick that in your tailpipe.
To the race then where the Ford quartet (two drivers per car remember) of Mark Winterbottom/Matt Halliday (who drove the Team NZ A1GP car for half the season last year) and James Courtney/David Besnard started from the front row but it was the fast starting Todd Kelly (Holden) and Craig Lowndes (Ford) who got the jump on James and slotted in behind Mark. Now, the season so far has seen a domination of the sprint rounds by the Holden (GM to you North Americans...Vauxhalls to the Brits) cars while the Fords have been struggling to keep up.
However, this wasn't a sprint race and it was the Fords that looked the better car as those three pulled out a gap over James until the first round of stops began on lap 47. Mark blinked first with Todd and Craig not pitting for another 10 or so laps. After that, Nathan Pretty (who swapped with Todd) stayed behind Matt Halliday while Jamie Whincup (swapped with Craig) jumped both and went into a lead that the #888 car would not lose for the rest of the race.
Matt had a few issues and ended up flying off the road a couple times due to some minor brakes problems, though that was nothing compared to the #17 Ford of Steven Johnson/Will Davison. Their brake problem was that it stayed on...the brake fluid wasn't working as it should and when Steve hit the brakes they just stayed on which cost him about 20 positions before he managed to get into the pitlane.
The only other point of interest was the final safety car which came out with about 30 laps to go. For whatever reason, the officials decided that the leader was the guy in seventh and not Craig Lowndes (who jumped back in the car for the final stint) which caused great frustration as Craig was, effectively, a lap ahead of those guys but the blue flags (see Iowa's blog for details) were not being shown so Rick Kelly was able to start closing the gap to Craig. Finally, Craig got past and was able to keep the lead around six seconds to the end of the race.
The #888 car was nearly as dominant as the #07 was at Loudon
Overall, a dominant performance by Team Vodafone which bodes well as they attempt to defend their Bathurst 1000 title in three weeks time.
And, after that we have the Gold Coast Indy, where no driver has ever won the race more than once since the first time they roared around these streets back in 1991.
I'd hate to be a judge...such pressure *sigh*
It's also home to the meter maids and the Miss Indy competition...why do I get the feeling that some people have just booked flights?
Well it's a good thing Oran Park provided some cool V8 Supercar racing since the Busch race at Michigan was a total bore. If it wasn't for the battle between Denny and Matt I think I probably would have fallen asleep. As it was I switched it on mute and was listening to some music instead...but that didn't matter (fortunately) once 3pm rolled around.
Oran Park was host to round 9 of 14 in the Australian series and also was the final sprint round before the two enduros at Sandown and Bathurst. Qualifying saw the 'ton up boy' Todd Kelly celebrate his 100th start in style by sticking his #22 HRT Commodore on the pole. His teammate, Mark Skaife, had a potential pole lap ruined when he pushed a little too hard and spun causing Toll HSV driver, Garth Tander, to take avoiding action (which destroyed his shot at pole). Garth obviously was upset since he called the 5 time Champion's error someone who "ran out of talent and lost it in front of me." Kudos must go to Lee Holdsworth in the #33 for starting in fourth, his best qualifying performance of his career so far.
But Skaife got his revenge in race one (of three) by jumping past Todd and slotting in behind, ironically, Garth going into turn 1. Those guys settled in as the pacesetters until Garth had a steering failure and went straight on at turn 3 on the fourth lap. That left Skaife in front with a hard charging Rick Kelly behind him. That would be how they finished as the Ford brigade finished third through seventh...but their day would come on Sunday.
Sunday dawned and, like in Michigan today, the weather played a huge part in both the races. Of course, this being V8 Supercars and not NASCAR, there was no worries about a delayed start since we use something called "wet weather tyres"...which must yet to be invented in the States or something I suppose *shrugs*
Anyway, in a plume of spray, the Holden duo had a shocker and it was the Ford Falcons of Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes who took advantage of that by storming to the front. Unfortunately for Jamie, a collision with Jason Richards (who had closed down the 11 second gap by half distance) damaged his front left suspension and forced him to retire from the race. That left Jason out in front but his tyres went away as Craig sailed on past and scored the win. Todd Kelly wound up second, Mark Winterbottom in third and Lee Holdsworth posted fastest lap on fastest lap to end up in fourth...and that was a warning for everyone when race 3 started.
The track dried by then, but as the cars started their warmup lap, the rain came down again. This ruined a lot of drivers race as many elected to start on slicks and pitted for wets so they had to start from the pitlane. Lee had no such concerns since he was on the right tyres and pulled away to have over 40 seconds in his pocket when he finally pitted for tyres. That meant he had enough time to make his stop and get back out still in the lead. And that was it really...although behind him, chaos was the order of the day as the "red mist" set in and drivers were smashing into each other trying to gain as many spots as possible. In the end, Holdsworth won from Tander, Russell Ingall, Whincup and Steven Richards in fifth. That win meant that Holdsworth won the overall round, from Steven with Craig rounding out the podium.
Lee Holdsworth piloting his #33 machine at Barbagallo (and in the dry) earlier in 2007
All in all, Garth kept his Championship lead over his teammate, Rick Kelly, but it's now just six points as we head for Sandown in a few weeks time.
If you want to check out some highlights, here's a link to the videos from the V8 site.
And, if you're like ccr and only came here to perv on the grid girls...I'm sorry to say that since it was a wet race they weren't anywhere to be seen. However, here's a link for you anyway with some pics of them from the first round of the year in Adelaide (now don't come back and say I don't give you anything).
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.
Well, seven rounds have gone by in the Australian V8 Supercar series and it isn't really much of a surprise to see the two Toll HSV cars leading the way.
Showing the way...just like he did last year
Rick Kelly, the defending series Champion (who won the title without actually winning a round...go figure) was always going to be the one to beat this year and, up until last week, no one could match him. However, his teammate, Garth Tander, managed a series sweep last week at Queensland raceway while Rick missed out on a top three finish after having a shocker of a weekend by his own extraordinarily high standards. This meant that Garth was able to turn a points deficit to a slender lead going into round 8 in Sydney (which starts on August 17).
As the season kicks off its second half, here are the top ten in points;
In that list there are 4 former Champions; Rick, Craig, Skaife and Russell and only three not to have won the prestigious Bathurst 1000; Will, Winterbottom and Courtney (who now drives the car vacated by NASCAR Busch driver Marcos Ambrose).
Is Whincup the best hope for Ford to wrestle the title back from Holden?
Rather interesting to note that, despite the dominance this year in terms of round wins by the Holden boys, there are six Fords in the top ten. Perhaps just as interesting is that the top six drivers are all in team order; the two Toll HSV cars, the two Team Vodafone boys and the two HRT cars.
But, naturally, that isn't the closest fought title race...no, that honour belongs to see who will win Miss V8 Supercar for 2007. Maybe I should change the title of this to 'Midriff-season review' instead.
Will Miss V8 2006 repeat this year?
They'll have a hard time trying to figure out a winner
Now, if only I could find where I sign up to be a judge...*sigh*
As a response to Forensic's blog about the new car looking eerily similar to the cars used in the Australian V8 Supercar series, I thought I might share with you guys (and girls) another idea NASCAR might want to consider borrowing from us; a new rule.
Now I know what you're thinking, "there's too many freaking rules and no consistancy...the last thing we need is another rule, Tez!" and, ordinarily, you'd be spot on.
However, this ain't no ordinary rule that got introduced at the last round held in Darwin. No, this rule put the V8 Supercar series on the map as the only sport where the competitors are allowed to criticise the officials (and fellow competitors) without getting a fine or a points deduction.
Oh, so you're interested now are you? Think that sounds pretty good huh?
Well, allow me to clarify it then.
Before the first race on the Saturday (the V8's have rounds, consisting of 2 or 3 races as opposed to a single race on the Sunday), the head honchos of the series dragged all the teams behind semi-closed doors (some of the media were allowed in) and told everyone that they were going to drop the shackles they had felt for years, namely fear of being charged with bringing the sport into disrepute, and that they were allowed to speak their minds freely and frequently.
It took all of four corners into the first race before we got the pleasure of seeing this rule come into effect.
Mark Winterbottom got turned around by Will Davison and collected Russell Ingall (the 2005 series Champion. His nickname is 'The Enforcer' and he's never been backwards in coming forwards...Tony Stewart reminds me a lot of him actually) in the process. Ingall slammed both drivers, saying things like; "They can't drive, what are they thinking on lap one?" and "If this is where the sport's future is, we're all in deep trouble."
Suddenly, we had a completely new angle to look at the V8's from and the headlines became; "The Gloves Come Off!" and "The Old Guard verses the Young Guns!"
We had fresh excitement back in the series...and it added a whole new (and ####y) dimension to the racing since you knew that the drivers weren't going to hold back anymore when a microphone got shoved in their face after crashing out.
Now, let's compare that to NASCAR. All the talk about how boring the drivers are starting to become and how refreshing it is whenever Tony (or Kyle Busch) say what's on their minds...and they usually wind up apologising to everyone and being fined, all for saying the things that we, the fans, were probably shouting at the TV (and at the track) not a few minutes earlier.
If you have doubts, just imagine what Denny Hamlin might have said had he been given free reign after being wrecked by Tony at Daytona a couple races ago...mmm, I thought you'd see things my way.
So I'm telling you, if NASCAR want to copy the Aussie V8's, go ahead...just make sure you take this rule too as I reckon it'll win a truckload of points with the fans.
Tez is a rare creature; an Australian who was living in New Zealand before moving to Canada. He's also a Civil Engineer who is hoping to spend his Monday to Friday sitting in front of a computer surfing the inter...uh, working hard for an Engineering Consultant or Contractor when he finds a job. His heart is torn between his two loves; F1 and NASCAR.
Due to his high interest in those, his blogs will likely focus on them with the occasional foray into sports that don't get much (if any) mention on this website. All blogs and/or comments will more than likely have his usual dollop of sarcasm and general Aussie spin on them.
Amazingly, he also managed to score 2 MiB nominations on consecutive days (August 5 & 6, 2007) after announcing he had been keeping track of them...he's considering hiding under his bed as a result.
