It's all about GTs this week, the SRO promoted GT1 and European GT3 series
kickoff at Nogaro in France.
Looking Forward... Event of the Week
What the GT1 series has done very well in previous years is its online video coverage in addition to live coverage on the Bloomberg news channel (a seemingly bizarre choice but it reaches people working in the financial industry worldwide so is popular with sponsors). This season the video links on their website point to a YouTube Channel and whilst live coverage will definitely be on ESPN in the UK (a subscription channel) there is rumours of live coverage on Bloomberg but there is no mention of it on the schedules or electronic programme guide. At least the race timetable is clearly displayed on the official website, other series take note... (GT3 is live on MotorsTV)
We at The MSC are big GT fans, but they do make things difficult for even those of us with our fingers close to the pulse so Lord knows how the casual fan will discover or follow the series.
The GT3 grid is not especially stellar, due I suspect to the popularity of the longer Blancpain Series.
Another SRO series making its traditional Easter start is British GT at Oulton Park. The Trackspeed team are fielding 3 GT3 spec 911s with decent drivers (including ex-factory driver Richard Westbrook) so look like the people to beat. There's a nicely varied selection of cars too with Mercedes SLS, Corvette, Nissan GTR, Lotus, Ginetta, BMW and Chevron joining the obligatory Porsche and Ferrari entrants.
Looking Back...
Kiwi hillclimb legend Rod Millen has created a southern hemisphere motorsport festival based at his farm entitled the Leadfoot Festival featuring vehicles from New Zealand illustrious motorsport heritage.
There's an excellent write up and pictures on the SpeedHunters site.
If I Won the Lotto This Week, I Would Buy...
The clock change signally the beginning of British Summer Time and the appearance of some sunshine had Your Reporter taking to Google to daydream about sitting with some wine and fragrant fromage whilst touring the continent in a modestly sized motorhome. The Mercedes Sprinter based Hymer Starline 590 (with the optional V6 engine and heavy duty 5300kg chassis upgrade, naturally) would fit the bill nicely. (Perhaps painted something other than white though.)
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The first European endurance event of 2012 might actually be a bit of a disappointment. With the factory prototype teams racing in the World Endurance Championship and the top flight GT teams entering the Blancpain series and/or regional GT series, there's only a handful (20) of cars pitching up in the south of France.
Plenty of coverage from Radio Le Mans and MotorsTV on Sunday.
The British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) begins as well, with again a full day's television coverage on ITV4.
Looking Back...
A video has surfaced of TRG's (The Racers Group) time at January's Rolex 24hr at Daytona. The team's 911s had a decent roster of pro-drivers to tackle the Florida banking.
The Grand-Am series is a Barber Motorsports Park this week.
Television Show of the Week...
Set your generic recording devices on Sunday evening for BBC4's documentary on Group B rallying, entitled "Madness on Wheels".
Internet Video of the Week...
There's now a growing selection of YouTube channels featuring motoring videos with pretty good production values and decent presenting staff. From sources such as traditional magazines (eg. Evo) or web based new comers such as the DRIVE Channel and their dreamteam of hosts (Monkey Harris, Fatty Farah, Alex Roy, Leo Parante plus uber-producer JF Musial).
Our choice of VotW is Motor Trend's European Roadtrip featuring Justin Bell. MotorTrend seems to have evolved from the publication that named the Chevrolet Caprice its 1991 Car of the Year to something more youthful and sporting.
If I Won the Lotto This Week, I Would Buy...
Nothing. I did not buy a ticket.
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Keep upto date with all the world's major events with The Motorsport CalendarAndroid Application
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After what seems like an endless winter break, broken only by a brief interlude from the Dakar rallying from South America, the racing season kicks off with a double header of the Sebring 12 hours and Formula One from Australia.
Looking Forward... Event of the Week
Claimed to be a tougher test than the Le Mans and Daytona 24 hour events, the 12hrs round Sebring's concrete runways launches the World Endurance Championship and the American Le Mans Series.
A bumper grid of 64 cars is expected to start.
Race coverage on MotorsTV in Europe, plus online streaming at FIAWEC.com and espn3.com
Race Team of the Week...
The good people of Arizona off road racing equipe SHOC Racing were kind enough to buy your humble reporter a tequila shot in a faux-Mexican bar on the Las Vegas Strip therefore qualify as our inaugural (and maybe only) Team o'the Week.
If I had Won the Lotto over the winter, I Would have Bought...
The Sunoco liveried Can-Am Porsche 917.
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Keep upto date with all the world's major events with The Motorsport CalendarAndroid Application
The Motorsport Calendar App has been updated on the Official Android Market, Slideme.org and the Amazon AppStore. The new version for the Amazon AppStore will not become available until it has passed their review process.
What changes have been made?
Where 2012 dates have been confirmed, we've removed the 2011 dates.
The Ginetta Championships, Junior, Supercup and Challenge are now available.
Kindle Fire, the layout for this has now been revised.
More updates to follow, as calendars and proposed series are confirmed! With user enhancements planned for 2012.
The Motorsport Calendar App has been updated on the Amazon Appstore. We've also released our other Calendar App, Olympic Calendar on Amazon.
We're always looking to allow our Users to access our Apps in the way that suits them.
We're steadily removing the 2011 data, as 2012 calendars are confirmed.
We will also be adding the Ginetta Championships (in the UK) to the Calendar. If there are International or High level Championshsips or Series that you feel should be included in the App please let us know and we will do our best to accomodate them, where we feel they are appropriate.
We will be looking to enhance the functionality in the App to give a better user experience, so stay tuned!
Following on from the Autosport International Show at the NEC in Birmingham, the Motorsport Calendar App has been updated once more with the 2012 dates for Indycar, NASCAR, DTM and WTCC.
In the following weeks we are also looking to add some SCCA Pro Championships and a few other Endurance Race Championships.
In addition to the 2012 dates we are also looking to enhance the functionality of the App to give our Users a better experience.
Many thanks for your continued support.
Version 0.9.8.2 is the latest version. Currently only available in the official Android Market and slideme.org
The most comprehensive Motorsport Calendar App on Android has been updated. With 2012 dates added to more series' and new series added.
Blancpain Endurance Series & FIA GT3 events and Formula 1 Testing dates added.
Obviously it's the Autosport International Show at the NEC in Birmingham and a lot of focus is on Motorsport right now. In addition the Dubai 24hrs is taking place, with excellent coverage from both the Radio Le Mans team and Dailysportscar.com
