Month: July 2009

2009 Goodwood Festival of Speed

Tomorrow I will be attending the Goodwood Festival of Speed for the 3rd time.

I had been considering it for a while and had pretty much decided against it until midweek, when I realised I urgently needed – yes needed – to get to a motorsport event, not having been to one since September. Luckily the tickets were still available on Thursday morning (is this normal or are sales slow?) so this is a very last-minute decision but one I don’t regret at all.

I will be attempting to tweet comments during the day to @TooMuchRacing but this will very much depend on the phone signals. There will be a lot of people in one place in a rural area so the network may get overloaded, in which case you’ll have to wait for me to upload pics from my camera when I get home tomorrow night (don’t tweet and drive, kids).

In the meantime, feel free to enjoy my photos from 2002 and 2003 visits in my Picasa album. I am not claiming they are masterpieces but I hope they give a flavour of the event!

I’ll probably be fairly incognito not being one to shout about myself, and I’ll be attending as a fan rather than trying to get any media access as many bloggers do – so this blogger will be deploying in stealth mode. Not to mention I have nothing to identify myself as TooMuchRacing other than telling people. I intend to have a busy yet relaxed day, if possible.

Will blog upon my return!

Weekend Preview: 4-5 July 2009

Feature Events

Goodwood Festival of Speed

– Goodwood House, Chichester, West Sussex, England, UK
– www.goodwood.co.uk/motorsport/

This event grows every single year without fail, it was huge when I attended in 2002 and 2003 and reportedly it is even bigger now, with an expanded rally stage and other updates. Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button and Sebastien Loeb will be present among the luminaries of racing history such as Stirling Moss, Jackie Stewart (tbc), Damon Hill, Al Unser Sr and Rusty Wallace. The big news though?

I am hoping to attend on Sunday! I’ll be looking for last-minute tickets Thursday morning and if I’m successful I will be tweeting to @toomuchracing throughout Sunday, for as long as the battery and network signal allow.


IndyCar Series

– Camping World Fifth Annual Grand Prix at the Glen
– Watkins Glen International, New York, United States
– (9/17)
– www.indycar.com

After a long oval swing lasting several months the IndyCars make their return to the roads at the sweeping Watkins Glen circuit, utilising the full GP layout as opposed to the shorter N-word layout.

This is a good race track, nice and fast out the back and despite being narrow and bumpy it does have a couple of possible passing spots for those willing to go for them.

TV Guide:
UK – LIVE on Sky Sports 2 at 6pm Sunday
USA – LIVE on ABC at 1pm ET Sunday

MotoGP

– Red Bull United States Grand Prix
– Laguna Seca, Monterey, California, United States
– (8/17)
– www.motogp.com

The first of two visits to the US for the premiere class of motorbike racing, they’ll go to Indy later in the summer. For now a visit to California and a track which is notorious for being hard to pass at, even on bikes, and with vicious unrelenting gravel traps.

If anyone can advise of US TV coverage in the comments below, I’d be grateful.

TV Guide:
UK – LIVE on BBC Two at 10pm Sunday night
Delayed on Eurosport

 

Other Events


NASCAR Sprint Cup

– Coke Zero 400
– Daytona International Speedway, Daytona, Florida, USA
– (18/36)
– www.nascar.com

TV Guide:
UK – LIVE on Sky Sports 1 at 1am Saturday night / Sunday morning
USA – LIVE on TNT at 7.30pm ET Saturday

If you’re not into staying up all night to watch NASCAR, this race is repeated in the UK both directly before AND after(!!) the Watkins Glen IndyCar race on Sunday on Sky Sports 2.

For all other events I will list the UK time (BST not GMT) and channel only, if you are elsewhere you will have to look it up (check their website).

FIA World Touring Cars

– Porto
– Boavista circuit, Porto, Portugal
– (7/12)
– Eurosport: Race 1 @ 11.15am, Race 2 @ 4.30pm
– www.fiawtcc.com


World Series by Renault

– Silverstone
– Unable to locate any TV coverage


Grand-Am Rolex Series

– Daytona
– (7/12)
– www.grand-am.com


British F3

– Snetterton


German F3

– Lausitzring

* * * *

For those in the UK, don’t forget Top Gear on BBC2 at 8pm Sunday!

I am again going to be offline for a while. I should be here and there for a short time on Friday.
On Thursday I’m going to see Blur in Hyde Park, London (have waited a nearly decade for them to get back together!), and I’m not here Saturday either. Then Sunday I’m hopefully at Goodwood! If I make it I will recap the day, with pictures, during next week.