The Motorsport Thread (was the F1 thread)

Ah, I've been wondering when another Senna would be in F1
Also, is Alonso still with Renault?

^I think a lot of it is to do with how Kimi performs this year, if its like last year he'll probably just pack it in and retire. Having said that, he's not taking last years results lying down, apparantly he's beefed up his winter training program, lost several kilo's to help offset the added wait of KERS and seems to really like the new rules. Slick tyres with a very grippy front end and low(er) downforce seem to suit him. 

Oh, he loves racing. I think this weekend he'll be taking part in the Arctic Rally in Fiat Abarth Grande Punto S2000 car, just because he can. The racing driver life on this side of the pond seems to be all PR events these days, so its good to know that at least one of them has a human side. The funny thing is, the press complain that the drivers are all so bland, but whenever one goes and does something a bit different, they get panned for it (like Kimi doing a boat race in a Gorilla suit last winter!).

Anyone watching the Daytona 500? Hmph, probably not.

Chris H wrote: Anyone watching the Daytona 500? Hmph, probably not.     Anyways, I'm doing a little thing where I'm going to profile the 100 best auto racing circuits in history (in my opinion). Although the 100 is going to be picked by me, I am going to add in a top 10 "fan favorites" list. There is voting going on in another forum I go on, but I felt like starting it up here. PM me with your vote for best track ever and I'll let you guys know the tally soon.   The leading track is an American road course, I'll let that info slip.   Enjoy!

The 500 was a joke.

It was the Daytona 380 actually.

Right, with only just over two weeks left to the start of the F1 season, I thought I'd do an update here. First off the calander for this year, only 17 races with no French or Canadien GP but Abu Dhabi joins the line up.

2009 Formula 1 calendar

March 29   Australia
April 5    Malaysia
April 19   China
April 26   Bahrain
May   10   Spain
May   24   Monaco
June  7    Turkey
June  21   Great Britain
July  12   Germany
July  26   Hungary
Aug   23   Europe (Valencia)
Aug   30   Belgium
Sept  13   Italy
Sept  27   Singapore
Oct   4    Japan
Oct   18   Brazil
Nov   1    Abu Dhabi*

* subject to circuit approval

The cars are going to be quite different this year with huge rule changes for tyres, aero and the new KERS device. Here a good video from Red Bull that explains it well. http://www.redbullracing.com/4th-Sector/Webber--Vettel-Rip-Through-The-Rule-Book/

And now for pictures of the cars, note that Honda has been sold and is now Brawn GP after a managment buy out led by Ross Brawn and Nick Fry. The car has Mercedes engines and judgeing by yesterdays test time over 1 second quicker than anyone else, its going to be a fast car.
Brawn

Ferrari

Force India

McLaren

Red Bull

Renault (Probably the ugliest F1car I've ever seen)

Toro Rosso

Toyota

Williams

BMW

Visitor13 wrote: sleeper wrote: Visitor13 wrote: JJLehto wrote: The 500 was a joke. Yeah, well NASCAR specialises in jokes (and cartoons now). Luckily I got to see Mark Martin win the Daytona 500 in 2007 before the series went completely to hell. Just noticed this, it was Harvick that won in 07 with Martin in second, remains the only NASCAR race I've ever watched. Harvick did not win the Daytona 500 in '07

You stand corrected
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZOltYjYk4E

I guess Martin won Daytona just like Hamilton won Spa last year then, both were robbed.