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Goodwood FoS: Pt.2 – F1

Directly after the classic racing bikes were a small group of modern era Formula 1 cars. No 2009 cars are allowed to take part in the Festival runs due to this season’s test ban regulations, and the running here would bizarrely count as testing and as the track commentator said, quite what they would learn doing burnouts up a 1.1-mile narrow lane remains unanswered. The F1 teams had to run older cars instead, most choosing 2008 versions with Red Bull running a 2006 Toro Rosso in a current Red Bull Racing livery. BrawnGP were the only team to bring a 2009-spec car which remained on static display in the main paddock – they claimed it is the same chassis that will appear in Germany this weekend but I think that’s PR guff. Despite this minor setback the drivers put on an excellent show, notable Timo Glock who was doing burnouts galore and getting his car sideways throughout his runs!

Timo Glock, Toyota TF108, from 2009 Goodwood Festival of Speed

David Coulthard took the morning run for Red Bull before taking the helicopter to Wimbledon where he was spotted on TV that afternoon. Interestingly, his motorhome was seen at the Renault World Series event at Silverstone.

David Coulthard, 2006 Red Bull STR1, from 2009 Goodwood Festival of Speed

Also running on Sunday were Marc Gene in a Ferrari F2008, and some guy called Pierangelo Masselli in a Ferrari F300 of 1998. I got a photo of the ’98 car, and a video of the ’08 car which I’ll keep back for now. 😉

Ferrari F300, from 2009 Goodwood Festival of Speed

Needless to say all of these cars were very loud and very energetic! I’m not sure if my hearing is going and it probably is after attending events like this, but they did seem a little quieter than usual, it’s probably me though. There was a definite difference in sound between the 2008 cars and the Red Bull and earlier Ferrari, which were both more shrill and peaky with their higher-revving engines. Once the cars had departed I headed into the infield to have a wander around, not really sure where to go next. I elected to locate some lunch and was surprised to find they were charging £5.50 for a burger!! A bit of meat in two bits of bread. Okay so it was top organic stuff from their own farm, with a fresh salad in it instead of the muck from McD’s, but still, there’s a principle at stake here. You don’t pay that for a burger. So I stuck to my packet of crisps and head to the Mercedes stand because I’d heard they were bringing the new SLR Stirling Moss Edition. Sure enough, they had!

SLRs past and present, from 2009 Goodwood Festival of Speed

I adore this car. They’d placed it next to the SLR of the type Moss had driven in events such as the Mille Miglia in the 1950s. The similarities are striking, yet the new car is unmistakebly modern. I have no idea how they did it. Several other Mercedes were on display of course, but I wasn’t that interested – what did catch my eye were the signs proclaiming Jenson Button’s interview session in this very pavilion at 3pm, so I decided I should have to come back for that. I had three hours to kill.

On The Limit – Goodwood FoS Pt.1a

I haven’t posted an ‘On The Limit’ for a while – and now I get to do several because I managed to take some very short videos at Goodwood!

I’m not saying they are brilliant, they are just your average fan videos, but they are mine and my first ever video uploads, so I’m going to show them off.

As mentioned previously, the motorbikes were the first batch I saw when I arrived – here is one of the first bikes to depart:

(John Hogan on Barry Sheene’s Suzuki)

Here is a somewhat more modern superbike:

(unknown)

I’ll continue the review over the weekend and insert the odd little video here and there!

Weekend Preview: 11-12 July 2009

Feature Events

FIA Formula 1 World Championship

– Grosser Preis Santander von Deutschland (Santander German GP)
– Nürburgring, Germany
– (9/17)
– www.f1.com

We have passed the halfway point of the season and it is time to pay a visit to the Eifel region of Germany and the Nürburgring, which hasn’t seen a Formula 1 race since that wet event of 2007 – after that race the circuit entered into a ‘sharing’ agreement with the Hockenheimring.

Previously both circuits held races in the same season, Hockenheim would take the German GP and Nürburg would take the European GP. This changes when Valencia took the latter title and simultaneously both German tracks realised they were losing a fortune paying Bernie’s fees. This explains why this is only the second German Grand Prix to be held on this iteration of a track called Nürburgring (of course, the old circuit held the German GP for years, as the Eifelrennen).

This track should suit the Brawns more than Silverstone, and should in theory work against Red Bull – but this was before RBR’s pre-Silverstone upgrade, how will that affect them?

Overtaking spots
The first corner is notable for being almost a dead stop (the start will be fun!) and is a good place to try a pass. The other major spot is the chicane at the end of the lap which follows a fast, long run up the hill.

TV Guide:
UK – LIVE on BBC One at 12.10pm Sunday, race starts at 1pm
(qualifying at 12:10pm Saturday)
USA – Delayed? on FOX but I can’t find when

IRL IndyCar Series

– Honda Indy Toronto
– Exhibition Place, Toronto, Canada
– (10/17)
– www.indycar.com

The return of the streets of Toronto to North American after a one year absence due to the series ‘merger’, although the official website incorrectly and very frustratingly refers to this as the ‘inaugural event’, thus completely ignoring the last 23 years (it has been running since 1986). Wasn’t this supposed to be a MERGER??

Still, nice to have it back.

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

Other Events


NASCAR Sprint Cup

– Lifelock.com 400
– Chicagoland Speedway, Joliet, Illinois, USA
– (19/36)
– www.nascar.com

TV Guide:
UK – LIVE on Sky Sports 2 at 1am Saturday night / Sunday morning
USA – LIVE on TNT at 7.30pm ET Saturday

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).

GP2 Series

– Nürburgring, Germany
– (5/10)
– LIVE on Eurosport: Race 1 Sat @ 3pm, Race 2 Sun @ 10:30am
– www.gp2series.com

Well done to British Eurosport for signing up GP2 after Setanta Sports collapsed! I think only the British arm is covering it so I’m afraid I don’t know the situation elsewhere in Europe.

Intercontinental Rally Challenge

– Rally Russia
– (6/11)
– www.ircseries.com

V8 Supercars

– Townsville, Australia
– (6/14)
– www.v8supercars.com.au

* * * *

Elsewhere in sport don’t forget to keep up with le Tour de France which in the UK can be found nightly at 7pm on ITV4 for the next 2 1/2 weeks. I believe there are copious amounts of coverage on Eurosport too. In the US you can see it on Versus, which curiously also takes Phil Liggett’s commentary (I’m guessing he records links for each network every day because he talks about ITV4 by name on our coverage).

I plan to complete the Goodwood posts during this weekend, then next week will catch up with some race notes because I haven’t done Turkey or Britain yet!
Hopefully soon I will be able to find time to start watching all the other stuff I like to keep up with, which I had to put on hold during my college studies. I am a very long way behind.