Author: Pat W

Weekend Preview: 30-31 May 2009

Feature Events

IndyCar Series

– ABC Supply / AJ Foyt 225
– Milwaukee Mile, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
– (5/17)
– 225 laps
– www.indycar.com

Just one week after the Indy 500 the teams and drivers head to the traditional follow-up event at the Milwaukee Mile – this will be the 52nd time Milwaukee directly follows Indy in the schedule and the 3rd time under IRL sanction, it really is one of those long-time Indy-racing traditions. According to IndyCar.com the last driver to win both events back-to-back was Juan Pablo Montoya in 2000.

I like Milwaukee, it can be a lot of fun and it is a different kettle of fish to the 1.5 milers the IRL usually uses.

TV Guide:
UK – LIVE on Sky Sports 1 at 11pm BST
USA – LIVE on ABC at 3:30pm EDT

Support races: Firestone Indy Lights

Other Events

MotoGP

– Gran Premio d’Italia Alice
– Mugello, Italy
– (5/17)
– www.motogp.com

To Italy! I still haven’t caught up with MotoGP so I really have no idea what’s going on, but this track ought to sort them out.

TV Guide:
UK – LIVE on BBC Two at 12.30pm
USA – Delayed on SPEED at 4pm ET

Supports: 250s, 125s, etc.

 


NASCAR Sprint Cup

– Dover 400
– Dover, Delaware, USA
– Charlotte, South Carolina, USA
– (13/36)
– www.nascar.com

TV Guide:
UK – LIVE on Sky Sports 1 at 7pm Sunday
USA – LIVE on FOX at 1.30pm ET Sunday

Support races: Nationwide Series (Saturday), Camping World Trucks (Friday)

DTM

– EuroSpeedway Lausitz
– Lausitz, Germany
– (2/10)
– www.dtm.com (news/results)
– www.dtm.tv (video interviews, live streaming)

The German tourers head to the road course layout at the EuroSpeedway. Turn one is always fun but to be honest this isn’t my favourite DTM race of the year because the huge stands make the place look empty and the track itself isn’t very interesting. There is always a bit of fun at turn one at the start, otherwise there isn’t much to be said.

The good news is that we in the UK return to live coverage for this event, so if you have Setanta be sure to check it out.

TV Guide:
UK – LIVE on Setanta Sports 1 at 12.30pm.
Worldwide – LIVE on www.dtm.tv from 2pm CET / 1pm BST / 8am EDT. When you follow that link it will ask you to choose one of two sites, pick the right-hand one. The live link is on the top right of the page.

Support races: F3 Euroseries

WTCC

– Valencia
– Circuit de la Comunitat Valenciana Ricardo Tormo, Valencia, Spain
– (5/12)
– www.fiawtcc.com

I’ve never liked this circuit. It can produce the odd reasonable race but I just don’t like it! In many ways it shares several characteristics with Lausitz. Lots of tight turns, a long straight, lots of seats that aren’t filled..

TV Guide:
LIVE on Eurosport at 11.45am (race 1) and 1.45pm (race 2).

Support races: International Formula Master


Formula 2

– Valencia
– Circuit de Ricardo Tormo, Valencia, Spain
– (1/8)
– www.formulatwo.com

The return of the F2 name to the contemporary motorsport scene, except this time rather than being an open formula it is a spec series run to a budget. It is pitched as a Formula 1 feeder but in all honesty it’ll find itself competing with FR3.5 to get people into GP2 with the odd guy getting a test & reserve deal in F1 – not to mention this is yet another fracture of the development ladder! Still, if it give opportunities to talented drivers who can’t afford the alternatives then it will have served its purpose well, and perhaps it is other series that need to be cut back. Time will decide that one.

TV Guide:
Eurosport at 5pm Saturday (delayed race 1) and 12.45pm Sunday (LIVE race 2).
Note race 2 slots directly between the two WTCC races in the Eurosport schedule!
There is also live coverage on the series website at 2.20pm CET Saturday and 1.50pm CET Sunday.


BTCC

– Oulton Park
– Cheshire, England, UK
– www.btcc.net

Oulton Park is an excellent and deceptively tricky circuit which is a lot of fun to watch!

Formula Nippon

 

– Fuji, Japan


V8 Supercars

– Symmons Plains, Australia


British F3 & GT

– Rockingham, England

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That’s it, if ever if you think I’ve forgotten something please point it out in the comments. Enjoy your weekend!

IRL Preview: 2009 Indianapolis 500

IRL IndyCar Series
– 93rd Indianapolis 500 Mile Race (4/17)
– Indianapolis Motor Speedway
– Speedway, Indiana, Indianapolis, United States
– 200 laps
– www.indycar.com and www.indy500.com (check both)

Event History
The second of the two great events occurring today, though perhaps only in terms of scheduling. I’ll leave the Monaco vs Indy debate for others and of course readers of this blog must surely agree the N-Word thing happening later isn’t even in the reckoning.

The 500 is one of the longest-standing events in the world if not the longest, it having started way back in 1911. As you can imagine, there is a lot of history and tradition here, right from retaining the yard of bricks at the line, to releasing the balloons before race start, to the three-wide start.

There have also been some very tight finishes!

1992:

2006:

Circuit
On the face of it the track is just a couple of very long straights connected by 90-degree corners, like a rounded rectangle, and while this is somewhat true it very much hides some interesting nuances.

– The banking isn’t very steep for an oval, especially not an oval of this speed, so it requires some balls-out commitment to head into turn one when all you see in front of you is a concrete wall. It is a little bit better now they have the SAFER barrier – but you still don’t want to hit it.

– Unlike many ovals, each turn is unique and has its own characteristics. Dan Wheldon in this week’s Autosport magazine says turns 1 and 2 are tricky and often have crosswinds, while 3 and 4 are easier and allow you to set up a run on someone along the main straight.

The bigger issues at Indy are the traffic, the fuel mileage and the other drivers!

Check out this video of Helio Castroneves on a restart two years ago, if you’ve never seen this you won’t believe how close he gets to the pit retaining wall, and neither did he…

Form
The Penske and Ganassi teams are largely unbeatable on the ovals, yet Indy is the place the smaller teams hope to score an upset because anything can happen. You’ve got to say it is between Helio Castroneves and Scott Dixon though, and anyone else is an outside bet!

What to Watch For
– The warm-up lap. Seriously! This is the only oval race I feel the pre-start tension in the same way I do with F1, and it really kicks in on the final warm-up lap as the cars come off of turn 2 and form up in the classic 3×3 formation, which they hold until turn 4. Goosebumps.
– A fast and furious opening section, a long middle section, and a fast and furious closing section.

UK TV
R: Sky Sports 3 and Sky Sports 3 HD will air the Race live at 6pm

US TV
R: As usual, ABC (in HD) will air the Race live at Midday.
US viewers should remember to switch to Versus when the ABC coverage is over for an extended post-race show!

Enjoy the race!

F1 Preview – GP de Monaco 2009

FIA Formula 1 World Championship
– 67e Grand Prix de Monaco (6/17)
– Monte Carlo, Monaco
– 78 laps
– www.formula1.com
– F1.com Track Map
– Live timing

Event History
This is the big one, the grand-daddy of all Grands Prix. The very first Monaco GP was held in 1929 and 2009 marks the 67th edition of this classic race.

Despite being commonly referred to as Monte Carlo, that is only one small area at the top of the hill with the Casino, and the Hotel and Cafe de Paris. The harbour area is La Condamine.

There have been so many events at this race over the years it is impossible to provide a good enough summary here, needless to say the place is known for odd results! You need a lot of talent and fair amount of luck to win at Monaco because it has a knack of biting you.

Notable highlights include:
– Mansell getting a suspected puncture, pitting for new tyres and then hounding Senna all the way to the flag.
– Gilles Villeneuve winning in a turbo Ferrari when turbos were not meant to be suited to the place against the Cosworths.
– Panis winning in 1996 after not stopping when everyone else made one stop or more in changeable conditions.

– The final two laps of 1982:

The opening part of the classic movie Grand Prix:

There are an absolute ton of videos on YouTube, just run a search for Monaco Grand Prix!

Circuit
The 2.1 mile street circuit is known for being a test of both driver and machine, and while it is the shortest circuit of the year it is also the longest at 78 laps and usually runs quite close to the 2-hour time limit.

The proximity of the barriers makes for a unique challenge in GP racing with the smallest of errors causing race-ending accidents. There are only a few run-off areas, and some of these are relatively recent innovations.

In terms of circuit layout the actual footprint of the track has hardly changed through the entire history of the event, yet there have been notable changes to the surroundings. The addition of the swimming pool section and the Rascasse to replace the hairpin, the new tower blocks appearing every few years along the track (this year check out the new one at the chicane where there used to be a cliff face), the much later and very recent addition of the new pit buildings.

The track demands precision guidance of the car, yet the fastest way around is to hustle it as it is heavily dependant on mechanical grip from the tyres rather than aero grip.

Onboard lap, Nico Rosberg 2008:

Form
It has got to be a battle between Brawn, Red Bull and Ferrari, hasn’t it? I don’t see anyone else getting involved and I only include Ferrari because Massa ran well in Spain and Kimi qualified well here today.

Look also for Renault to score decent points and Force India to surprise some, though perhaps only because BMW and Toyota are having such a hard time this weekend.

What to Watch For
– The fastest blue flagger in all of racing. He’s on the hill after Ste Devote! Only the exit of the final turn at Long Beach comes close.
– Lots and lots of rubber marbles from the tyres after about 1/3rd distance. Its this as much as the walls that make passing hard here.
– Drivers making silly errors causing lengthy Safety Car periods.

UK TV
R: BBC One will air the Race live at 12:10pm with the race to kick off at 1pm.

US TV
R: SPEED will air the Race live at 7:30am ET

Parade Lap
Before the race festivities be sure to go to Sidepodcast.com Live Comments at 11am and await the live pre-race Parade Lap show, a lovely relaxed way to get into the GP. This is a live discussion which will end just as the BBC’s coverage begins, perfect!

Enjoy the race, my notes will hopefully be up in the gap between Monaco and Indy! Then again, you know me, maybe they won’t be.

Weekend Preview: 23-24 May 2009

Feature Events

Formula 1

– Grand Prix de Monaco
– Monte Carlo, Monaco
– (6/17)
– www.f1.com
– Track Map

I will write a full preview shortly.

TV Guide:

UK – LIVE on BBC One at 12:10pm

US – LIVE on SPEED at 7:30am ET

Support races: GP2 Series, FRenault 3.5, Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup

 

IndyCar Series

– Indianapolis 500
– Indianapolis Motor Speedway
– Speedway, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
– (4/17)
– www.indycar.com

I will write a full preview shortly.

TV Guide:

UK – LIVE on Sky Sports 3 at 6pm BST (GMT+1)

US – LIVE on ABC at 12pm ET

Support races: Firestone Indy Lights (Friday)

Other Events

NASCAR Sprint Cup

– Coca-Cola 600
– Lowe’s Motor Speedway
– Charlotte, South Carolina, USA
– (12/36)
– www.nascar.com

TV Guide:

UK – LIVE on Sky Sports 3 at 10:30pm Sunday

US – LIVE on FOX at 5pm ET Sunday

Support races: Nationwide Series (Saturday)


GP2 & Formula Renault 3.5

– Monaco
– (2/10) & (3/9)
– www.gp2series.com & www.worldseriesbyrenault.com

This is the only event in the year where the two biggest F1 feeder series meet at the same place at the same time. This and the extra F1 running on Thursday causes a scheduling shuffle.

The GP2 Feature Race has already taken place, it was held on Friday morning. The Sprint Race will be held after F1 qualifying on Saturday. Not so long ago GP2 only got one race here, and the extra one was a compromise for giving up a slot to FR3.5 which only has one race this weekend – but it is directly before the F1 race.

GP2 Feature: Friday 11:15am local
F1 qual: Saturday 2pm
GP2 Sprint: Saturday 4pm
FR3.5: Sunday 11:10am
F1 race: 2pm

Also in Monaco: Porsche Supercup


ADAC 24h Rennen Nürburgring
(Nürburgring 24 Hours)

– Nürburgring Nordschleife
– http://adac.24h-rennen.de/en.html

This is one crazy event. If you think a normal 24 hour race is tough, imagine driving the 16 mile Nordschleife + GP circuit combo around the clock!

Not only that but 230 cars are entered for practice and 220 qualify, even on this track that is a lot of cars! The organisers also have to keep track of some 800 drivers…

You should be able to follow the event from 4pm German time (3pm UK) on Saturday via streaming on the above website, and there will be live timing. Best of all, www.radiolemans.com will have commentary!

Among the fastest cars are Porsche GT3s, Ford GTs and the new Audi R8 GT which lap the circuit in eight and a half minutes.

There is a brief history of the event on Wikipedia.


WRC

– Rally D’Italia Sardegna
– Sardinia
– (6/12)
– www.wrc.com


Indy Lights

– Indianapolis Motor Speedway

(held Friday)


British Rally Championship

– Jim Clark Rally


British Superbikes

– Donington Park
– Leicestershire, England, UK

* * *

That’s it, if ever if you think I’ve forgotten something please point it out in the comments. Enjoy your weekend!