Tag Archives: Motorsport

RIP Maria de Villota

Pic from F1zone.net

On the eve of Qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix comes the very sad news that F1 reserve and test driver Maria de Villota has been found dead in her hotel room in Saville, Spain. The Spanish police say that “everything points to natural causes.”

De Villota was nearly killed in July 2012 when the Marussia she was driving in straight line tests accelerated into the lowered rear platform of a support truck. She lost an eye in that accident and it cost her her dream of becoming the first female F1 driver. Since the accident and what must have been a grueling rahab, de Villota had married and was about to debut a book about her ordeal entitled “Life is a Gift”. A very sad day for all motorsports fans, Maria de Villota was a much too young 33 years of age.

 

Motorsport Movies: Rush vs. Grand Prix

RUSH-poster-new

Ron Howard’s Formula One blockbuster Rush opened this past weekend across the country to generally very positive reviews from the critics and rather lackluster box office receipts. Most people, particularly Hollywood cognoscenti, will take that to mean that straight up racing films remain box office poison and that films about the Euro-centric world of F1 are particularly lethal. The thinking will be that unless you have Paul Walker and Vin Diesel blowing things up and destroying the bad guys in stolen hot rods while crashing them into jet liners, the general public is just not going to go to a straight racing movie no matter the high profile director or the technical virtuosity on display amongst all that vroom vroom.

That’s all fine and good but the real issue is: Is Rush any good as a racing film, period? One can make a cult classic that does not attract great popular success and yet still have made something special, exciting and valuable to the cult itself. To truly evaluate Rush one has to compare it with arguably the only other really good racing film Hollywood has ever made, John Frankenheimer’s 1966 Grand Prix. (Obviously, the documentary Senna is indisputably fantastic but we are talking dramatized portrayals). Unfortunately it has to be said that in comparison Rush falls short, not on narrative but on the basis of visceral excitement.

Looking at footage from the two films is instructive of the difference between them. The trailer for Rush:

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Formula 1 Backgrounder: Spa Francorchamps

The most technically advanced motor racing series in the world returns to action after its 4 week summer layoff for Round 11 at one of the classics of the calendar, Spa-Francorchamps. The Belgian Grand Prix at Spa dates back to the inception of F1 in 1950, although for several years in the 1970s and 80s the race was held primarily at the Zolder track, infamous for the death of Gilles Villeneuve during qualifying in 1982. But Spa has its own deadly history to be sure. Originally an open road circuit, Spa used to encompass a blistering 14k tour through several Ardennes villages and was considered, along with the original Nürbergring, the ultimate test of a driver’s skill, not only because of the high speeds but also the unpredictable weather. But as cars became faster and faster and particularly prior to the advent of downforce, the risk factor for such a long country road course with houses, ditches, telephone poles and trees only yards from the edge of the road became extremely perilous and fatalities and serious shunts piled up.

New and Old Spa Circuits Overlaid

New and Old Spa Circuits Overlaid

Eventually in 1983, after many years of disuse by F1, the Spa track was shortened to the 7k circuit we see today. Although most of the real life hazards have been removed, the circuit is still one of the fastest and is considered a supreme test of driver skill, as it always has been, particularly the narrow uphill charge out of Eau Rouge. When you see overtaking there, you know that a driver has nerves of steel because the consequence for failure can still be quite severe. Simply have a look at this terrible crash by a very fortunate Ricardo Zonta in 1999 to see what happens when things go awry at Spa:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWFZWpbjO44

You can see the practice times for the first two Friday sessions at Spa at FormulaOne.com.

 

 

The state of play in Indycar

Championship leader Helio Castroneves

Heading into the race at Mid-Ohio this afternoon, it’s been a very topsy-turvey season in the Izod Indycar championship, America’s premier open wheel series. Not only is perennial championship contender (and bridesmaid) Will Power lying 10th after 13 rounds but his employer, the mighty Team Penske, has only one win. If it’s any consolation (and it won’t be to Power), that lone Penske win was by Helio Castroneves at the Firestone 550 at the big oval in Texas in round 8. Despite that paltry victory total, it’s the 3-time Indy 500 winner who tops the driver’s standings with 425 points due to excellent consistency if not outright speed.

Hot on the Brazilian’s heels is Kiwi Scott Dixon with 396 points for the Ganassi team, Penske’s arch-rival. Dixon is smoking hot having won the last 3 races in a row (yes, you read that right): Indycar’s return to Pocono’s “Tricky Traingle” on July 7th and then the 2-day double header in Toronto the following weekend. You’ve got to like Dixon’s chances of cruising by Castroneves in the overall today, having won the Honda 200 at Mid-Ohio four out of the last six seasons. It’s hard to imagine one driver being so dominant at a course as technical as this one but Dixie is definitely the real deal and I like his chances for another win today. In fact, I also like him to finish up the season as overall champion.

Contender Scott Dixon has a lot to smile about lately

Other notables:  Continue reading →

Cars we want–2014 Corvette C7 Stingray

The Stingray’s back and coming soon to GM showrooms near you:

And we want one (euro snobs need not read on).

C7 Stingray: 6.2L direct injected small block V8. 0-60 in under 4 secs. 26mpg (believe it when I see it). MSRP $56.5k loaded. Aluminum and carbon fiber up the yin yang and magnetic ride suspension. Sounds like a bargain and I have a feeling it’ll be hard to come by without a wait.

Check out the official site: 2014 Corvette Stingray

And an excellent photo gallery and rundown from the boys at autoevolution.com

Place your orders, muscle car fans. And can we please have some of these in the new United Sports Car Racing series?