Round 12: The German Grand Prix

*** Trulli will start from 21st place and Albers will st art from 22nd due to engine changes.

Round 11: The French Grand Prix

Magny-Cours arose effectively (and indeed literally) from nowhere, rising from a small national racing circuit to one of the world's premier facilities.

Founded 1960 as the Circuit Jean Behra, it was initially a short 1.21 miles blast, the brainchild of local farmer Jean Bernigaud who created the track on land next to his farm.

The circuit flourished and it's Winfield racing school, established in 1963, soon became world famous after churning out the majority of France's GP winners in 1970s and 80s.

A new loop was added in 1971, forming two inter-connected circuits and bringing the total lap distance up to 2.39 miles.

By the time French racing authorities decided to revamp the circuit with Government money as the new home of the French Grand Prix, there was also a thriving industrial estate for racing comapanies, including units for the ORECA team and the Martini factory.

The new circuit opened in 1989, based loosely on the old but incorporating corners that were facsimilies of others from tracks around the world.

Impressive in every respect, the circuit is now one of the most used around the world, hosting rounds of all the major car racing championships. It also briefly held the 500cc, 250cc and 125cc FIM Motorcycle Grand Prix races in 1992, but concerns over rider safety prompted a switch back to Le Mans.

Driver reaction to the layout has been mixed; some like it, others - notably Gerhard Berger - detest the place. All, however, agree that it presents a challenge and even offers at least one genuine overtaking spot.

Text source: http://www.etracksonline.co.uk/

*Note: Nico Rosberg changed his engine before qualifying and will recieve a 10 place penalty added to his grid position

Round 10: United States Grand Prix

Indianapolis is another distinct circuit like that of the Canadian GP. They are marked by their long straights and slow corners. Indy boast the longest straight in F1 and the longest amount of time on the throttle. Formula1.com has a good brief history of the track and it's F1 heritage.

The oldest track still in use today, Indianapolis is a true motor sport institution. Built in 1908, the original track cost $75,000 to build and was originally constructed of crushed stone and tar. Following a spate of accidents however, the decision was taken to replace the surface with bricks: 3.2 million of them to be precise. Thus the legend of 'the brickyard' was born.

The first Indianapolis 500 took place in 1911 and when Formula One was incepted in 1950, the Indy 500 was a championship round. And so it remained for 11 seasons, its final running as a Formula One event coming in 1960. Formula One teams carried on turning up to Indy for the fun of it and, following the resurfacing of the brickyard in asphalt in the early '60s, the rear-engined cars of Lotus blew the chunky American roadsters out of the water. Jim Clark scored a memorable victory in 1965 and Graham Hill took the spoils in 1966.

In 1998 Indianapolis made a deal with Formula One to host a round of the World Championship again. A brand new infield course was constructed and in 2000, almost a century after the track was built, Formula One racing returned to the world's most revered circuit. With the sport building its fan base up in America every year, this is one race that looks sure to go from strength to strength.

Here we are all together after qualy in the main grandstand along the start/finish straight.

There were pit girls all over the race plaza to take pictures with the fans. Tex turned the photo op into a photo shoot, and the grid girl was loving it. As you can see I was really working the camera as well.

Luke posing with the Michelin man in the same plaza.

Scott Speed pushing hard in Friday practice, representing Americans in Formula 1. He would go on the qualify in 12th place, his best result to date.

Montoya during Friday practice getting round a Midland. He would go on the qualify 11th just outside of the final session.

Dornboos torturing his tires in the Toro Rosso during his Friday duties. That won't make for much useful data.

All the big guns line up at the end of the pit lane waiting for the final qualy session to begin. Alonso would beat Schumi to the first corner, although he would eventually be passed by him and Massa as they cruised around burning off their fuel.


Kimi would also have an off weekend by only qualifying in 9th place, nearly 2 seconds off the pole time.
Nico Rosberg would have a dismal qualy session, knocked out in the first round. No specific problem was announced however the fast rookie was slower that the Super Aguri of Takuma Sato.




Rubens Barichello helps Honda get both of their cars into the top 10

Below are the qualy time for all of the drivers. So, make those picks..

Round 9: Canadian Grand Prix

Thanks to ITV-F1.com here is the lap as told by Kimi Raikonnen

You reach 297 km/h in fifth gear along the short pit straight, before braking hard for the left-right weave of turns one and two.

Located just before the pit lane exit, turn one is taken at 133 km/h in second gear, and is immediately followed by the Coin Senna. This right-hand hairpin is negotiated at 71 km/h in first gear.

You push hard on the throttle as you exit the Coin Senna for the short straight that leads to the chicane of turns three and four.

You drop from 258 km/h in fourth to negotiate the right-left flick at 148 km/h in second.

Exiting turn four, you sweep flat-out through the long right-hand curve of turn five, reaching 258 km/h in fifth before once again braking hard for the left-right flick of turns six and seven.

The first left-hander is taken at 90 km/h in second with your speed increasing to some 142 km/h for the right of turn seven.

Full on the throttle on the exit as you power along the Place de la Concorde, achieving speeds of up to 298 km/h in seventh gear, before dropping back through the gears for the right-left sequence of turns eight and nine.

Entering the bumpy braking zone under the bridge for turn eight, your speed decreases to 113 km/h in second gear.

The slightly faster turn nine follows and this can be taken at 155 km/h, still in second gear.

Exiting turn nine, you blast along the sweeping straight that leads to the L'Epingle hairpin.

Having reached speeds of 299 km/h in fifth gear, you brake hard for the 180-degree right-hander, which swings you round onto the Droit du Casino.



Accelerating along the main straight, you reach over 320 km/h in top gear as you approach the hardest braking point on the track.

You pull 2.5G as you brake sharply to negotiate the final two corners that take you back to the start-finish straight.

The right-left complex of bends is negotiated at 144 km/h in second gear and you have to be careful not to jump the kerbs too aggressively as it's easy to hit the wall on the exit.




Here is the 2005 Pole lap with commentare by Jenson Button



Alright, here's all the times. So make you picks...

Finally got my Kart Pics

So I finally got pics of my new Kart. I thought I would treat you guys with a little taste. It's a Briggs & Stratton World Formula engine, makes about 15 hp. The kart and I weigh 340 lbs making the kart about 175 lbs. Threw in a couple of me with my racing suit on. I did my first hot lap in about 50 sec. Was down to 42's by the end of the first day (though I spun 5 times). Hit a 40.00 on m second time out, only spun once. Probably going to start racing this weekend, so I'll let you know. Maybe we can add a bonus point for my finish place. Oh, and if you want to see the track check out http://www.bataviamotorsports.com/, although you really don't get a sence of the elevation change.

Points Update

Hey all, just updated the points and the page I have going for them. I added a link to it at the top of the standings. Check it over, voice any concerns. I'll post up Canada pretty soon here. Finally got my poop in a group. I'm looking forward to these next couple of taces. Lots of long straights, and the Ferrari's have been very good in a straight line this year. Plus I'm sure you all can't wait for Indy. Well, good pickin.

The FlyinFinn

Alonso: Nine out of Ten ain't Bad

I'm sorry but I think that this deserved a post all in of itself. I have just read an articale at F1Racing.net that states Fernando Alonso has sufficiently climed his way up the all time most efficient drivers ever. You can read the article yourself here, but basically he has scored enough points per start to be listed in the top 5 drivers of all time. This is among such great names as Micheal Schumacher (say what you will, he is the man of our time), Juan Manuel Fangio, Alberto Ascari, and Alan Prost. I believe this deserves some recognition and will forever change my opinion of the man. Here are the stats:

Average Points Scored Per Start
1. Michael Schumacher - 5.45 points per start
2. Juan Manuel Fangio - 5.44
3. Alberto Ascari - 4.34
4. Fernando Alonso - 4.06
5. Alain Prost - 4.01

Oh and I've had a crazy week, I'll get the points up as soon as I can along with next weeks post. And I'm disapointed that no one posted any comments about the sweet spreadsheet website that I've hosted with everyone's point's up to date (minus the last race). I was hoping you all would be a little more excited as I was very proud. This should be more of a discussion forum. It is all of our blogs, not just mine and Luke's (even though Luke puts in the most work on it)

Round 6: The Telefonica Spanish Grand Prix

Coming off a string of victories at the last two races Michael Schumacher and Ferrari appear to be back in contention for the title. McLaren on the other hand have been unable to compete for a win yet this season. The Spanish Grand Prix will prove to be an interesting one as Fernando Alonso has succeeded in grabbing pole for the first time at his home grand prix, leading a Renault 1-2. In 14 out of the 15 running of the Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona, it has been won from the front row. The exception being a win by Michael Schumacher from 3rd place in the wet. The Renault dominance might be somewhat artificial however as Micheal hinted at in the post qualifying press conference that he may have several laps of fuel on hand. However it unfolds it's bound to create edge of the seat excitement in front of a sell out crowd, there to watch their man Fernando Alonso.
Another interesting stat is that if Michael wins tomorrow it will be the 5th track that he will have 7 wins at, tying his own record for most wins at a track and increasing his record for how many tracks this is at.