Category: Weekend Preview

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.

Weekend Preview: 27-28 June 2009

Feature Events

IndyCar Series

– SunTrust Indy Challenge
– Richmond International Raceway, Richmond, Virginia, USA
– (8/17)
– 300 laps
– www.indycar.com

A Saturday evening race as darkness falls at the short oval where traffic will be an issue, it could cause problems or it could help the racing as the better drivers through lapped traffic will run well.

TV Guide:
UK – LIVE on Sky Sports 1 at 1:30am Sunday morning
USA – LIVE on VERSUS at 8pm ET Saturday night for an 8.45pm green flag (why not a nice easy 9pm??)

Support races: USAC Silver Crown, USAC Sprint Car


MotoGP

– Alice TT Assen
– Assen, Holland
– (7/17)
– www.motogp.com

MotoGP is also on a Saturday as is the tradition at Assen.

TV Guide:
UK – LIVE on BBC Two at 12:40pm Saturday afternoon
Delayed on Eurosport

Support races: 250cc and 125cc available on the BBC Red Button

Other Events


NASCAR Sprint Cup

– Lenox Industrial Tools 301
– New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Loudon, New Hampshire, USA
– (17/36)
– www.nascar.com

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

(The Nationwide Series at Loudon on Saturday night, Trucks are at Memphis also on 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).


World Rally Championship

– Rally Poland
– (5/10)
– Eurosport and Dave
– www.wrc.com
This is the first time Rally Poland has been a part of the WRC.

DTM

– Norisring
– Nuremburg, Germany
– (3/8)
– live web streaming: just before 1pm Sunday
– www.dtm.tv
The UK TV deal collapsed when Setanta Sports did, let’s hope someone else picks it up. Check the webstream if you can, Norisring is nuts!
(supported by F3 Euroseries)

Superleague Formula

– Magny-Cours, France
– (1/6)
– Eurosport 2: Race 1 at 10am, Race 2 at 1pm followed by the new ‘extra time final’
– there may be live streaming on the website? I refuse to look at it.
– www.superleagueformula.com
The whole idea is a bunch of hokum clearly, but it features interesting if unspectacular drivers such as Enrique Bernoldi, Giorgio Pantano, Antonio Pizzonia, Yelmer Buurman, Adrian Valles, Tristan Gommendy and Ho-Pin Tung, all in powerful V12 single-seaters.

(also on the bill: Euroseries 3000, this is the series which picked up the old Lola A1 cars, no telly coverage as far as I know)

FIA Formula 2

– Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium
– (3/8)
– Eurosport: Race 1 live 12pm Saturday, Race 2 delayed 11:30pm Sunday night but there is live streaming online
– www.formulatwo.com
The first visit to Spa for this series should be a bit of fun!
(with the International GT Open and the Dutch Supercar Challenge)


Formula Nippon

– Fuji, Japan


Grand-Am Rolex Series

– Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, Ohio, USA
– (6/12)
– www.grand-am.com


Super GT

– Sepang, Malaysia
– (4/9)
– www.supergt.net/en

* * * *

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

I will be quiet on the blog and on Twitter for a few days because I’ll be offline, if anything crazy happens I’ll text it in but won’t see responses until Sunday at the earliest. Enjoy the weekend!

Weekend Preview: 20-21 June 2009

Feature Events

FIA Formula 1 World Championship

– Formula 1 Santander British Grand Prix
– Silverstone, Northamptonshire, England, UK
– (9/17)
– 60 laps
– www.f1.com

The final FIA Formula 1 British GP to be held at Silverstone, for the foreseeable future at least, as in 2010 this event is scheduled to move to Donington Park. Irrespective of how Donington will turn out, it will be a shame to leave Silverstone. The facilities for the crowd, the teams and the sponsors are not brilliant yet the actual racetrack is one of the best in the world. I absolutely love that camera position on the fence on the entry to Maggotts/Becketts, you really get a sense of the speed and the rapid direction change of these cars.

Quite what the motorsport landscape will look like by June 2010 is anybody’s guess – which teams will arrive at Donington? Will the circuit even be ready? Will FOTA organise their own British GP, held at Silverstone?

All this is for the future.

For now though, let us focus on this race meeting. We can reasonably expect the Brawns to be strong and today’s times from Free Practice suggest the recent Red Bull updates have strengthened that team. We could be in for a very competitive race!

While this is a home race for Jenson Button, it has historically been one of Rubens Barrichello’s stronger circuits, expect him to come into play here. As for the other teams.. forget it, they are scrapping for minor points.

TV Guide:
UK – LIVE on BBC One at 12.10pm BST (race start 1pm), followed by the F1 Forum on the red button service
USA – DELAYED on FOX at 3pm ET (I’m not sure how much pre-race they’ll have, if none that’s still a SEVEN HOUR tape delay *shocked*)

Support races: GP2 Series, FBMW Europe, Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, Historic Sportscars

BEFORE THE RACE at about 11am UK be sure to head to www.sidepodcast.com and join the live Parade Lap! It is an online radio show loosely discussing F1 with a laid-back Sunday vibe. It will end as the BBC coverage begins and there is live text commenting! Stick around on the site to live comment the race.

I intend to both live comment the race on SPC, and live tweet on Twitter. If you follow my Twitter account and are located in the US (or elsewhere) and do not wish the result to be spoiled, you should avoid Twitter completely or un-follow me until you have seen the race. Sorry, the live audience isn’t going to wait for you!


IndyCar Series

– Iowa Corn 250 Presented by Pioneer
– Iowa Speedway, Newton, Iowa
– (7/17)
– 250 laps
– www.indycar.com

The return to the fast 7/8ths of a mile oval in the Pressdog’s back yard, Iowa. Check his site for regular updates from the track during and after the weekend!
Iowa is a small oval but it is designed in such a way that the racing and the speeds are as they would be on a superspeedway. Craziness ensues! They haven’t been coming here long but it is turning into a must-see event, unfortunately year 1 was for all the wrong reasons will lots of crashes. Year 2 was much better with close racing everywhere. What will this year bring?

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

Support races: Firestone Indy Lights, USAC..something or other

Other Events


NASCAR Sprint Cup

– Toyota / Save Mart 350
– Infineon Raceway, Sears Point, California, USA
– (16/36)
– www.nascar.com

TV Guide:
UK – LIVE on Sky Sports Xtra at 10pm Sunday
USA – LIVE on TNT at 4.30pm ET Sunday

For all other events I will list the UK TV channel only, if you are elsewhere you will have to look it up (check their website).

NASCAR Nationwide & Trucks

– Milwaukee (Saturday on ESPN2 and Friday on SPEED, respectively)


GP2 Series

– Silverstone
– Britain
– (4/10)
– Setanta Sports 1: Feature on Saturday at 2.55pm, Sprint on Sunday at 9.25am (both live)
– www.gp2series.com

FIA Formula 2

– Brno, Czech Republic
– (2/8)
– Eurosport & live web streaming: Race 1 at 11am Saturday, Race 2 at 12.30pm Sunday
– www.formulatwo.com

FIA World Touring Cars

– Marriott Race of the Czech Republic
– Brno, Czech Republic
– (6/12)
– Eurosport: Race 1 at 11.45am, then F2 at 12.30, then Race 2 at 1.45pm(both Sunday)
– www.fiawtcc.com
– with F2, FMaster

FIA GT Championship

– Oscherseleben, Germany
– (3/8)
– Setanta Sports at 10:30am
– www.fiagt.com
– with FIA GT3 European Championship, FIA GT4 European Cup, Formul’Academy, FRenault NEC, ATS F3


Australian V8 Supercars

– Hidden Valley, Australia
– (5/14)
– www.v8supercars.com.au


Grand-Am Rolex Series

– Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, Ohio, USA
– (6/12)
– www.grand-am.com


Super GT

– Sepang, Malaysia
– (4/9)
– www.supergt.net/en


Intercontinental Rally Challenge

– Ypres, Belgium
– (5/12)
– Daily updates on Eurosport
– www.ircseries.com

 

I believe that’s everything, let me know if you spot something else worth noting.

For those in the UK, don’t forget the return of Top Gear on BBC Two at 8pm Sunday!

Finally, if you missed the Jackie Stewart, Jim Clark and Graham Hill docos on BBC Four earlier in the year, as I did, they are repeated in one lump on Saturday night from 8pm. Enjoy!

Weekend Preview: 14 June 2009

Just a very quick list of things this weekend:

Le Mans 24 Hours
Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, France
(see my previous post)

NASCAR Sprint Cup
Michigan International Speedway, nr. Detroit?, Michigan, USA
(with Trucks)

NASCAR Nationwide
Kentucky

World Rally Championship
Acropolis Rally, Greece

Renault World Series
Hungaroring, Budapest, Hungary
(FR3.5, FR2.0Euro)

Masters of Formula 3
Zandvoort, Netherlands
(with FBMW Europe)

Atlantic Championship
New Jersey, USA
(with Star Mazda)

British Touring Cars
Croft, England, UK

British GT
Knockhill, Scotland, UK
(with UK F.Ford)

F3 Sudamerica
Curitiba, Brazil

* EDIT * I forgot the MotoGP in Barcelona!!