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Don’t Go Away

The off-season is the ideal time for people to take a break from racing, but not me. This is when I catch up with all the things I haven’t had time for during the main season. I hope you’ll stick around because there is also plenty else happening around the racing blogosphere too.

For one thing I have been moving house over the last week, and preparing for it for a while beforehand, so my planned blog posts have been delayed – there’s a bit of a backlog now. Over the next fortnight I plan to write about:

– Saturday and Sunday at the Belgian Grand Prix;
– A few short paragraphs on all the F1 races since then;
– A few short paragraphs on the last two MotoGP races of the season;
– My day at Silverstone for the Le Mans Series;
– Some other seemingly-random stuff I’ve been watching;

After that I’ll be catchup on some racing from all over the place as I try to cut down my massive backlog of things marked ‘to be watched’. I insist upon watching it now I have it, no cheating by skipping ahead.

Then we’re into the depths of the off-season and there is the Thursday Thoughts series which will surely make a comeback in a couple of weeks, then perhaps Bloggers Swap Shop could make a return after its triumphant debut a few months ago. Be sure to check out all the various other blogs taking part in these initatives, not only when they are happening but in the meantime because there are some good posts out there.

I’m tempted to start a series of posts linking to good blog articles I find elsewhere. Jackie at VivaF1 does for F1 articles, Tony at PopOffValve does a great series on IndyCar, JOWT for junior series. I’m not aware of anyone doing it across multiple disciplines of racing. In any case, these sites and others need more links to them not just from them. The remit of this blog is to expose people to racing they might not otherwise follow, and act as a discussion place for those of us that already do. The game has done that a little, at the expense of the discussion. Time to redress the balance.

Then there are the F1 launches and tests, Dakar and soon Daytona again. It isn’t that long really.

Don’t disappear this winter – your humble bloggers aren’t.

TMR Game – Week 41

Welcome to Week 41 of the Too Much Racing Game!

Be advised: Next week’s post is likely to be late, I am moving to a new flat this week and I don’t expect the internet connection to be restored until the middle of next week (I don’t understand why it takes a week to flick a switch or whatever it is they do). I’ll have access from work but for obvious reasons can’t spend long on this while there, so I will most likely set up a basic thread during lunch on Monday or Tuesday and come back to the results later.
I will also be asking for game feedback soon.

Racing this week:

Formula 1 – Brazilian GP, Interlagos;
Asian LMS – 1000km of Zhuhai, China;
NASCAR Sprint Cup – Ft Worth, Texas;

Usual restrictions apply, pick up to 7 drivers in any individual race up to a maximum of 10 drivers.

The cutoff is Saturday 6th November at 4.59am GMT (UK is now on GMT), that’s 12.59am Friday night US EDT.

For the full results from Week 40, read on. Continue reading “TMR Game – Week 41”

2010 Belgian GP – Friday Pt.1

This post is part of my recap of the Belgian Grand Prix weekend and is about the Friday before the race. Please see Tues/Weds, Thursday Pt.1 and Pt.2. Once again I apologise for the lengthy delay.

Friday

Thursday’s pitlane walk had really got us in the mood to see some track action, unfortunately Friday dawned as one of the wettest in months. Nevertheless we got ourselves togged up in rain gear and wangled a lift to the circuit from the resident campsite owner / driver / breakfast-maker / barman / fixer – for a small fee of course. It was a damned sight better than paying for the far more expensive bus option with all the bogans*. We weren’t so convinced when we were told to get into the minibus with the benches laid out along the length with no seatbelts, but it was all good fun and turns out ‘Bub’ took a shine to us – more about him another time.

Francorchamps village was filled with race fans milling around in the general direction of the race track, and a long line of traffic – some of us tried to spot famous faces but no joy. Unfortunately there was a bit of drama at the gate as one of the tickets refused to scan, the water causing it problems, but thankfully after several attempts it worked and let us all through. Perhaps having paper tickets at a venue known for wet races is a bad idea?

Continue reading “2010 Belgian GP – Friday Pt.1”

I’m Watching.. MotoGP

MotoGP 2010 – Australian GP

Phillip Island, Australia – Round 17 of 18

17th October 2010
BBC coverage

Front row: Casey Stoner is on pole at his home circuit, new champion Jorge Lorenzo 2nd, Ben Spies an impressive 3rd.
Dani Pedrosa is still out through injury after crashing in free practice at Motegi.

This will be Mika Kallio’s last race of the year which is a shame, he’d been tipped as a new talent but after a few poor races he’s shuffled out. He’ll be replaced by Carlos Checa, who spent 12 years in the top class before moving to World Superbikes.

Conditions are very windy and it has been raining for three days straight – but today it is dry.

Race Start

Stoner and Lorenzo make a good initial start before Spies tries to run around the outside, but he gets mugged by Simoncelli and Hayden. By the end of lap one Stoner already had a 1.5 second lead over Lorenzo! Simoncelli’s Honda passes Hayden’s Ducati on the front straight. Check up with the Doctor, Rossi is down in 9th.

A bit of a battle between Dovi and Spies ends up with Spies ahead and Dovi dropping back, slowing which allows Rossi (now 6th) to catch up to Spies. Replay: Dovizioso’s bike is going slowly and multiple riders pass him, he pits shortly afterwards.

Lap 5 and the battle for 3rd is suddenly Spies vs Hayden vs Simoncelli vs Rossi in that order, I don’t remember seeing Spies move up through the group, but here goes Rossi, up another position.
Lap 6, Stoner has a 2.6sec lead over Lorenzo who’s 4 seconds ahead of this mad battle for 3rd.

BBC commentary reminds us that the new engine rule is in effect, most guys are on their 6th engine of the year but because Rossi missed races he’s able to keep using new engines when others are saving theirs. Rossi and Simoncelli make their way past Hayden who’s back up to speed on their tail – and just a few corners later Rossi is past Spies for 3rd, having made two places in a lap. Spies then gets shuffled back to 6th by the other two who continue scrapping as Rossi darts away from them.

A couple of laps later and I didn’t expect this, Hayden is catching Rossi! The 2011 teammates are running together with a gap to the pair of Simoncelli and Spies. Things calmed down for a while thereafter, small groups of bikes circulated and while they weren’t trying any less the amount of passing seemed to drop for a bit. It was a bit like the Aragon race with pairs or threes racing and the gaps enlarging between the groups.

Further back, de Puniet, Bautista and Kallio make it three abreast in the fast southern loop! Dangerous stuff, it is barely wide enough for three bikes at these speeds. Spies gets ahead of Simoncelli once more.

Wow, suddenly Hayden makes a move and is past Rossi into second! 3 laps remaining, can he hold on to it? Rossi attacks Hayden just as hard as Nicky had been doing for so long, but with only three-quarters of a lap to go this could go either way.
Vale dive-bombs him, they are side-by-side as they hang on around the low grip right-hander, does it he make it.. yes! Amazing. All credit to the pair of them for a cracking race in which they were the undoubted highlight, and well done to Casey Stoner on his dominant, flawless win.

Podium: 1. Stoner, 2. Lorenzo, 3. Rossi.
Hayden 4th, Spies, Simoncelli, Edwards, Espargaro, Melandri etc.

The race for the first two positions was over at the first corner of the first lap, the race for 3rd wasn’t settled until the last corner of the last lap! Excellent race.

[picapp align=”left” wrap=”false” link=”term=MotoGP+Phillip+Island&iid=9993557″ src=”http://view1.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/9993557/motogp-australia-race/motogp-australia-race.jpg?size=500&imageId=9993557″ width=”380″ height=”265″ /]

Points:

Lorenzo 333 (C), Pedrosa 228, Stoner 205, Rossi 197, Dovizioso 179, Spies 163

The next round is the Portuguese Grand Prix at Estoril this weekend.

Photo credit: Rossi stalks Hayden in the closing stages at Phillip Island – Lucas Dawson / Getty Images via PicApp.com