Weekend in Motorsport (01/02 October 2011)

We're approaching the end of the motor racing season here in the northern hemisphere, but there's another action packed weekend ahead of us.

This week's main events are the Petit Le Mans from Road Atlanta and the Britcar 24 Hours from Silverstone.

The PLM sees the stateside return of Audi and Peugeot after sitting out most of the ALMS races this season.

Axis Of Oversteer: Lap Road Atlanta with BMW's Dirk Warner

Also returning to the driving seat is former Le Mans GT2 winner Justin Bell. He's normally to be found at ALMS races as SPEED tv's pitlane pundit but will be joining the AF Corse team to pedal their GT-class Ferrari.

Bell has long been a contributor to the online videos at Jay Leno's Garage and has just started a new series of videos for eBay Motors entitled World's Fastest Car Show.

Silverstone in October is usually a wet and windy affair but the UK is currently experiencing a bit of an Indian Summer so this weekend's Britcar 24hrs will be a sun drenched affair for a change.

Previous runnings of the race have seen length Safety Car periods and even Red Flags overnight due to mist and fog, so perhaps this year will see an uninterrupted run from Flag-to-Flag.

To remind yourself of last year's event, check out the following lengthy documentary:

MJC Ferrari & the 2010 Silverstone Britcar24 Hours from Chris Simpson on Vimeo.

If I Won the Lotto This Week, I Would Buy...
It's a twofer this week. Having just returned from a couple of week's in Africa I'm still dreaming of roaming the dark continent in a 70-Series Land Cruiser. This makes a nice contrast from cruising the urban jungle in an opinion splitting bandit Porsche 356.

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Weekend in Motorsport (17/18 September 2011)

Now then Sportsfans,

Goodwood revival is the pick of bunch. It's a complete sell out, no general admission tickets are available. From the website "An unusual form of pedal power will take to the famous Goodwood motor circuit at this week’s Revival when the Baker Boys RAF Bicycle Display Team ride on the track in perfect formation.". It promises, as always to transport race goers back to the sixties. They are also celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the Supermarine Spitfire - "On Sunday 18^th September up to 12 Spitfires will take to the skies with a spectacular display as the Band of Royal Marines and RAF Choir perform on the motor circuit and airfield below."

Aussie V8 Supercars visit Phillip Island, Melbourne for a 500 kilometre race. It sees the start of the 'Endurance Season' where the 28 regular drivers team up with a co-driver.. Which should promise to mix things up a little!

Indycar is visiting the Motegi circuit in Japan. Can Will Power complete a hat trick of wins after topping the podium at Baltimore & Sonoma? "More than 420,000 pounds of cargo and 1,525 tires shipped to Japan, where it's unloaded at Twin Ring Motegi"

DTM returns back to Germany, after racing at Brands Hatch, and goes to Oschersleben. "In the past three years, the previous championship leader never succeeded in winning at Oschersleben. While the winner of the Oschersleben round always secured the title, in the end: Timo Scheider in 2008 and 2009, Paul Di Resta in 2010." Which should make things interesting as the top two are separated by a single point! Audi have unveiled their new A5 DTM car, at the Frankfurt Motorshow, which looks fast.

I don't read many of the motorsport magazines, but have been reading "No Angel". For those who don't know it's a biography by Tom Bowers about Bernie Ecclestone. It covers a period from his early childhood right up to almost the current day. It is a gripping and enlightening read, which attempts to shed light on what makes Bernie the man he is.

Videos of The Week
Lancia Delta S4 Bergrennen Hillclimb DTM BMW M3 Subida Oberhallau 2005 - Porsche 935 - Gruppe B and IndyCar Motegi Jeff Simmons Flip


If I Won the Lottery This Week, I Would Buy...
A Noble M12, saw one of these recently, understated excellence. Again, a few available on Pistonheads. They represent amazingly good value for money!

As always all of the aforementioned Race Series are available in the Motorsport Calendar App from the Android Market, Slideme.org and the Amazon App Store.

Weekend in Motorsport (10/11 September 2011)

Morning Sportsfans,

Topping the bill for this weekend is The Le Mans Series & International Le Mans Cup at Silverstone. 6 Hours of proper racing, featuring some of the same vehicles that muscled their way around La Sarthe, for the Endurance Race.

F1 is back, after the summer holiday, while Truckosaurus (your usual motorsport blogger) is trekking up Mt. Kilimanjaro on his summer holiday, the F1 circus rocks in to Monza. One of the proper old circuits still left on the calendar, admittedly it's been a bit ruined over the past few years (thanks Max!!) but it is still the fastest circuit on the F1 calendar. There was a little controversy surrounding the tyres and cambers being ran at Francorchamps a couple of weeks ago, see the James Allen on F1 blog for great insight into the tyres and other F1 related ephemera. F1 is joined by GP2 and Porsche SuperCup.

NASCAR is at Richmond, sponsored by Wonderful Pistachios 400... I kid you not!

Super GT is at Fuji, from their site "A turmoil race means keep your eyes on GT-R fleet"

I don't read many of the motorsport magazines, but have been reading "No Angel". For those who don't know it's a biography by Tom Bowers about Bernie Ecclestone. It covers a period from his early childhood right up to almost the current day. It is a gripping and enlightening read, which attempts to shed light on what makes Bernie the man he is.

Videos of The Week
Graham Rahal vs Safety Truck IZOD Indycar... at the start of the race!! Le Mans Legend Henri Pescarolo finally got given back his team and produced a win at Le Castellet!! Henri, Henri, Henri! As F1 is at Monza, here is a superb video of the 1972 race, featuring Emo.

If I Won the Euro Lotto (126M GBP!) This Week, I Would Buy...
A TVR Sagaris, lush! A handful for sale on Pistonheads. Omnomnom!!

As always all of the aforementioned Race Series are available in the Motorsport Calendar App.