MotoGP at Laguna Seca - third time's a charm?

Apologies for focusing on MotoGP in the last couple of weeks, but with the third edition of the Red Bull US Grand Prix happening yesterday, it's somewhat on my mind.

The Laguna Seca round of the World Superbike championship was a fan-favourite for many years, and although it had its problems (expensive hotel rooms, local cops more interested in writing tickets than assisting with traffic flow etc.) it was always a fun event.

The switch in 2005 from WSBK to MotoGP turned a weekend attendance of 90,000 into something more than 150,000. This caused some very significant problems, and although I enjoyed my first dose of the fabulous 990cc bikes, it was a shock to the system to see how much of a zoo the event had become.

Promises made for changes in 2006 convinced me to come back, but I was once again burned by a disastrous failure in the shuttle bus system for those who had arrived in cars. Added to this was an unprecedented heat wave that would have turned even the most perfectly run event into a trial by fire.

This year I once again chose to skip finding a hotel, and instead took in the more mellow Friday, stayed home on Saturday and returned on Sunday. I drove on Friday, not relishing the prospect of a total of 240 miles of freeway riding, when I knew that the shuttle bus for those in cars would work fine (it did). Riding on Sunday turned out to be a great way to go, with easy access, unhindered by cars, and relatively decent parking.

Once inside, with our leathers and helmets locked to the bike, we found the atmosphere to be more relaxed and more mellow than in the previous two years. Lines for food were pretty short, there were plenty of bathrooms, the track had provided misting stations should it get hot, water was a universal $2 as opposed to $4 last year, the vendor area was easy to walk around, and finding a spot above turn two for the race didn't require us to set up three hours early.

We watched morning warm-up from my new favorite spot at Laguna, the outside of turn 6 (see photos). Then we switched back to inside and made our way up to the Corkscrew for the AMA Superbike qualifying session. After that we wandered around the vendors, grabbed some cheese steaks for lunch (and found a seat in the lunch tent where we could enjoy them), then had a leisurely beer at the Sierra Nevada tent. With an hour to go before the race we scoped out some empty grass on the hill and drank water whilst we waited for the start.

Although the race was a bit processional, and lost some sting with a first turn collision between local boys John Hopkins and Nicky Hayden, we still enjoyed it, and chose to stick around for the AMA Superbike race. When that turned into a Suzuki whitewash, we headed for the bike, got out of the track with no problems, hit a bit of traffic on the freeway before hopping onto some backroads that avoided the worst of it. The sun was shining, we weren't stressed out by the day, and the ride home was not bad, despite the last 90 miles being on the freeway.

It felt like the glory days of Laguna Seca playing host to World Superbike. This is the first MotoGP event where I left looking forward to next year.

Indianapolis - goodbye F1, hello MotoGP

It's a funny old world sometimes, and the latest goings-on with Indianapolis Motor Speedway are no exception.

It seems like Tony George has once again shown himself to be a businessman at heart, choosing to not pursue a Formula 1 grand prix, and its $9 million fee, and instead host MotoGP, which will cost only 1/4 of that amount. There's little doubt that there will be just as many attendees for MotoGP as for Formula 1 - despite this nation's preoccupation with Hardly-Ablesons and other decrepit cruisers, the sportbike fans are widespread and loyal. In fact the sportbike industry is growing at a record pace whilst the cruiser market is actually shrinking. The percentage of people who ride sportbikes who also follow MotoGP is quite high, and the opportunity to see a MotoGP race for those riders closer to Indianapolis who cannot afford the time or money to get to Laguna Seca will surely be grabbed.

This is all good for MotoGP, their organizers Dorna, IMS, Tony George, US motorcycle racing fans and the US motorcycle industry. It's not so good for anyone in the US with an interest in Formula 1. The inability of all parties to retain a USGP in one place for an extended period of time is hard to figure out, and all the usual excuses just don't seem to wash with me.

Lack of interest from fans is often quoted as a big issue. I'll concede that interest in F1 in the US is much lower than in the rest of the world, but the bottom line is whether there are enough fans to allow the venue to make money and enough US TV viewers to justify the costs to networks (and their sponsors) to actually show the race. Since it has always been on network TV, I find it hard to believe that money is not being made by TV companies.

However, the staggering fee charged by Bernie Ecclestone to a venue may very well be the most significant issue in the failure of F1 in the US. For an event that costs $9million, and draws 120,000 - 150,000 spectators, each spectator would need to spend between $60 and $75 for the track to just break even on that one expense. Factor in the additional staffing costs (450 staff per day), supplies, accommodation, local fees for police, permits, taxes etc., and each fan is going to need to spend much more. I'll admit that additional income from sponsorship, merchandising, food and drink sales, luxury suites, parking and kickbacks from the City for the additional sales taxes the event generates all help. But the bottom line is that IMS can have just as much income from MotoGP, whilst spending $7million less for the privilage.

These venue fees are theoretically supposed to cover costs for the series. It costs money to transport an international racing series, especially via air on tight time schedules. I used to work for a freight forwarder that did just that, so I know the expenses involved. But the massive discrepancy between what MotoGP charges and what F1 charges indicate that the venue fee in F1 is a profit center, whilst in MotoGP it is a reimbursement of expenses. The sad thing for US fans is that Bernie can get that money from another venue in another country - the list of countries who want F1 is very long, and populated with a lot of heavily-funded plans. Bernie believes the US doesn't offer anything that he can't get from another country. Some of the top teams in his series might have a different opinion, especially Mercedes and BMW. It's this that could ultimately be the biggest fallout for F1 from the USGP issue.

I am aware of the fact that IMS was hoping to host both events, but the more favorable deal from MotoGP surely helped put things in perspective during negotiations with Formula 1. Had MotoGP not been on the table, I don't think the F1 deal would have seemed as stinky as it turned out to be.

Weekend Menu - Week 29

Highlight for me this weekend is MotoGP in my backyard...

• V8 Supercars - Queensland Raceway, Australia
• Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series - Queensland Raceway, Australia
  
• Honda 200 - Mid-Ohio Sportscar Course, OH (Indy Racing League)
• American Le Mans at Mid-Ohio - Mid-Ohio Sportscar Course, OH
• Indy Pro Series - Mid-Ohio Sportscar Course, OH
• IMSA GT3 Cup - Mid-Ohio Sportscar Course, OH
• Red Bull USGP - Laguna Seca, CA (MotoGP)
• AMA Superbike - Laguna Seca, CA
• Kells Road Race - Kells, Ireland (Real road racing)
• World Superbike - Brno, Czech Republic
• Mobil 1 GP von Deutschland - Nurburgring, Germany (FIA Formula 1)
• GP2 - Nurburgring, Germany
• Porsche Supercup - Nurburgring, Germany
• Japanese Le Mans Challenge - Motegi, Japan
• West Edmonton Mall GP of Edmonton - Edmonton, Canada (Champcar)
• Champcar Atlantic - Edmonton, Canada
• British Superbike - Mallory Park, England
• World Supermoto Championship - Bishopscourt, Northern Ireland
• Busch Silver Celebration 250 - Gateway, IL (NASCAR Busch Series)
• AMA Motocross - Thunder Valley, CO
• Grand-Am Rolex Sportscar Series - Barber Motorsports Park, AL
• Isle of Man International Rally - Douglas, Isle of Man (Irish Tarmac Rally Championship and British Rally Championship)
• Las Vegas Terrible's Cup III - Las Vegas, NV (SCORE off-road racing)

There you have it, this weekend's action....

John Hopkins nudges a very big boulder down a very long hill

With last year's MotoGP silly season rather tame, it's only fair that this year's game of rider merry-go-round should start early and with a bang.

That bang is the move of John Hopkins from Suzuki to Kawasaki, which is expected to be officially confirmed this weekend at the Sachsenring. Although this may seem like an odd move for the extremely fast American, given the comparative performances of the two Japanese manufacturers, it seems as though money was the motivating factor. As detailed by the blogosphere's top MotoGP writer Kropotkin, Kawasaki feel, perhaps rightly, that their bike is far better than it appears, and simply needs some kick-ass riders to help it achieve its potential. They don't come much more kick-ass than Hopper, who I firmly believe is the quickest of the four Americans in MotoGP.

If Hopkins wanted a change, and didn't want to be on a slower bike, his options were rather thin. He could hope to replace his countryman Colin Edwards at Yamaha, but would then be alongside Valentino Rossi, surely not an ideal situation. He could aim for Loris Capirossi's seat at Ducati. Or he could go to the green team. I'm guessing that Ducati couldn't satisfy his financial demands, so he went green. When all the facts are considered, what seems to be a move backwards, or at best sideways, actually could be very shrewd.

Another move that's looking likely, according to Motorcycle News, is Marco Melandri to Ducati. Melandri's performance on the Gresini Honda this year has been even more underwhelming than that of Nicky Hayden, and it's clear that the RC212V is not the bike to be on at the moment. Ducati are clearly tired of Loris Capirossi, who has been unable to adapt to the new bike, but would love to have at least one Italian on the team.

That leaves Capirossi and one Kawasaki rider looking for a ride, with seats open at Suzuki and Gresini Honda. How this will play out is now open to pure speculation.

• Will James Toseland revise his demand for a factory ride in order to stay in the Honda fold on the Gresini bike?

• Will Kawasaki retain one of their young riders, and if so, will it be Ant West or Randy de Puniet?

• Will Suzuki rush Ben Spies into their MotoGP program?

• Will either or both Kawasaki and Suzuki run a third bike next year? If so, will it be in-house or with a satellite team, and who will the rider be?

• Will Roger Lee Hayden's wildcard ride at Laguna Seca in two weeks be good enough to bag that potential third Kawasaki seat?

• Can any of the current top 250 riders move up? Jorge Lorenzo will probably replace Colin Edwards at Yamaha, but is there a place for Alex de Angelis or Andrea Dovizioso?

• Where will unemployed senior riders Loris Capirossi and Colin Edwards end up? Could we see Colin back in World Superbike, taking James Toseland's seat at Ten Kate Honda? Or will he be moved within the Yamaha organization to the Tech 3 team (unlikely unless they ditch the Dunlop tyres)?

It's all fun speculation for right now, but who doesn't love a lively silly season?

Open cockpits - a risk worth taking?

Motorsport is so safe these days. Or so we're led to believe. I believe we may very well be in the same place as we were prior to the tragic weekend at Imola in 1994 in which both Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna were killed. Prior to their accidents, Formula had had no race weekend fatalities for twelve years, and everyone involved with the sport felt that safety was at a high enough level that there would never again be a death in the sport. Sound familiar? Ask anyone in Formula 1 for example if any major changes could be made to improve safety and you will probably get an answer that goes something like this: "no"...

The accidents of Robert Kubica in Canada and Ernesto Viso in Magny-Cours (and come to think of it, Katherine Legge's Champcar crash at Road America last year) were as much examples of how luck plays a part as how strong the cars are these days. I have little doubt that improvements in safety cell technology saved all three drivers' lives, but there remains one huge risk factor to open-wheel drivers, and that is a situation where the top of the head makes a direct, high-speed impact with something immovable. Viso's crash showed this most visibly: once the car was airborne and upside-down it landed on the top of a concrete wall. Had it made the impact six inches further forward, it would have been his head that took the brunt of the force as opposed to the roll hoop and surrounding safety cell structure.

The collision between Alex Wurz and David Coulthard at the Australian Grand Prix this year is another example of how objects are still able to get into the cockpit and make contact with the driver. The vectors of that impact were such the Wurz was uninjured, but the fact remains that cars without roofs introduce an additional safety risk factor that is not present on those with roofs.

Open wheel motorsport is not the only place where this is an issue. The plans of the ACO, organizers of the Le Mans 24 Hours, call for the elimination of open-topped cars in their top class by 2010. Whilst their reasons for doing so are varied and include responding to the majority opinion of fans who prefer the aesthetics of closed-top prototypes, the safety benefit is worth noting.

There are numerous ways to address this safety issue. Concrete walls played a major role in the crashes of Kubica, Viso and Legge, and repositioning, redesigning or simply removing such walls would be a good start. The addition of a lateral roll hoop to these cars would be a major step forward in risk alleviation, but would be an aesthetic challenge that would no doubt incense fans of F1, Champcar, GP2, IRL or anyone else who might implement the idea.

So I'm not going to advocate for any changes right here. Instead, I'm simply going to suggest that sanctioning bodies are ignoring a major safety concern in just the same way that things were ignored prior to Imola 1994, and that discussion of this topic by the powers-that-be should be happening right now. The clock is ticking before we have another fatality.

A Le Mans marketing disaster

Look at all the people in this photograph. This is the pitwalk on the Friday afternoon at the Le Mans 24 Hours. Thousands of sportscar racing fans descended on the pitlane, as teams made their cars available for viewing (from behind the safety of prehensile barriers). This is the kind of thing sponsors live for. It's the perfect opportunity to hand out posters, collector cards, promotional materials and other swag, all emblazoned with the sponsor's logo.

So how many of the 54 teams do you think were doing this? Maybe 75%? 50%? 25%? Surely at least 10%? No. Only two teams had ANYTHING to hand out, and only one had a human being making direct contact with the public. As such, The Fastest Lap Blog's Award for Best PR Effort at Le Mans goes to the Flying Lizard team. More about them in a moment....

In the meantime, here's a message for all the teams at Le Mans that missed out on the award: WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU ALL DOING???? This is top-level racing, with many millions of dollars invested, and only one team is able to put together any semblance of a PR effort! European sportscar fans constantly complain about lack of promotion in FIA GT and the LMS, and I finally witnessed this in person. As a regular attendee of ALMS events, I'm used to mandatory autograph sessions, free posters from every team distributed all day long in front of the teams' rigs, scoreboards around the track and the excellent Radio Le Mans to keep me abreast of on-track developments. I'm also used to seeing tie-in promotional events in local cities, TV advertising, magazine and newspaper promotion, ticket giveaways on local radio stations, and a wealth of marketing campaigns from associate sponsors when the ALMS comes to town. Sponsors look for value, and one indicator of this is the number of people reached per dollar spent. At Le Mans, that number could have been dramatically higher for any team that wasn't the Flying Lizards, and what's even more infuriating is that this is a highly-targeted, pre-qualified audience. I KNOW that many of these teams have commercial directors or marketing individuals, and to them I say "do your job". It was a piss-poor performance, and they should all be ashamed of themselves.

As for the Lizards: they went to the trouble of hiring a marketing contractor specifically for Le Mans, a fellow by the name of Shane. He was out front of their garage during the pitwalk, handing out cards promoting all the Lizard merchandise that was available at a booth they were sharing with Radio Le Mans. A double-whammy then, since they got many, many mentions during the Radio Le Mans broadcast, and seemed to be doing a roaring trade in their new line of clothing that featured (guess what?) the fantastic (and newsworthy) new livery. They were in fact one of only a handful of teams who even had merch, the others being Audi, Pescarolo, Peugeot, Corvette and Aston Martin. That's some very impressive company to be in, and they were the only small team in that group.

Shane took the time to chat with us for a while, and he was pleased to meet up with other folks from the SF Bay Area. The Lizards are our "home team", based up at Infineon Raceway, a mere 35 miles from San Francisco. We got an invite to visit their workshop and were made to feel vested in the team's success. Guess who we cheered for in the GT2 battle?

Job done, Lizards - you may not have finished the race, but your other successes at Le Mans were in many ways even more notable.

Weekend Menu - Week 23

Racing around the globe this weekend:

• Steam Packet National Races - Billown, Isle of Man (real road racing)
• Bombardier Learjet 550 - Texas Motor Speedway, TX (Indy Racing League)
• Grand Prix of Portland - Portland International Raceway, OR (ChampCar World Series)
• Champcar Atlantic Series - Portland International Raceway, OR
• Star Mazda - Portland International Raceway, OR
• V8 Supercars - Eastern Creek, Australia
• Pocono 500 - Pocono, PA (NASCAR Nextel Cup)
• Syrian International Rally - Sednaya, Syria (FIA Middle East Rally Championship)
• Sahlen's Six Hours of the Glen - Watkins Glen, NY (Grand Am Rolex Sportscar Series)
• Rajd Polski - Mikolajki, Poland (FIA European Rally Championship)
• Spa 12 Hours - Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium (Belcar)
• Federated Auto Parts 300 - Nashville Superspeedway, TN (NASCAR Busch Series)
• Grand Prix du Canada - Montreal, Canada (FIA Formula 1)
• Grand Prix of France - St. Jean d'Angely, France (FIM Motocross)
• Pocono 200 - Pocono, PA (ARCA / Remax Series)
• AMA Motocross - MX338, MA
• Grand Prix of Catalunya - Catalunya, Spain (MotoGP)
• DTM - Brands Hatch, England
• F3 Euroseries - Brands Hatch, England
• Formula BMW USA - Montreal, Canada
• Silverado 350k - Texas Motor Speedway, TX (NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series)

Since I won't be able to do any WM posts whilst I'm gone, keep up with international racing at my racing calendar.

Off to Le Mans

This blog will be rather quiet until early July. On Monday I leave for France, where I'll be making my fourth trip to the Le Mans 24 Hours. After that we're spending a week in the Loire and another week in the Dordogne.

Unfortunately the weather forecast for the race is really rather crappy, so my fingers are very crossed that it improves in the next few days. Some showers could shake things up a bit, but we certainly don't want another 2001 or 1995. That would make my merguez soggy.

Last year I wrote a very comprehensive preview to the Le Mans 24, but this year I've seen so many equally good previews that I'd just like to point you in the direction of The-Paddock.net's Le Mans preview.

TT crashwatch

It was looking like a rather tame Isle of Man TT this year. No serious crashes, no deaths, just good hard racing. Until Tuesday, that is. Former Production class winner and fast-talking New Zealander Shaun Harris had a big accident in the Superstock race and is currently in critical condition. The good news is that he has survived one surgery already, and it sounds like his major injuries are not brain-related, unlike the two riders who died last year of head traumas.

UPDATE ON FRIDAY: A crash in today's Senior TT claimed the life on one rider and two spectators. No-one has been named yet. Two additional spectators are in serious condition. The accident happened on the mountain at the 26th milestone. I have to say that the death of a rider is always tragic, but when spectators are also killed it is so much worse. Yes, we as spectators are always warned "Motorsport is Dangerous" by those stern signs at racing events worldwide, but it is still absolutely awful when spectators die.

Animal invasion at the WRC

Did anyone else catch this on Day 2 of the WRC Acropolis Rally? Very bizarre - a German Shephard just saunters through the Subaru service area...

Weekend Menu - Week 22

Here's what's on this weekend:

• Rally of Canberra - Canberra, Australia (Australian and FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championships)
• AMA Supermoto - Columbus, OH
• British Touring Cars - Croft, England
• Porsche Carrera Cup GB - Croft, England
• Formula Renault UK - Croft, England
• AAA Insurance 200 - Dover, DE (NASCAR Craftsman Trucks)
• Stonebridge Racing.com 200 - Dover, DE (NASCAR Busch Series)
• Neighborhood Excellence 400 - Dover, DE (NASCAR Nextel Cup)
• Tecate Baja 500 - Ensendad, Mexico (SCORE Off-Road Racing)
• Japanese Le Mans Challenge - Fuji, Japan
• World Series by Renault - Hungaroring, Hungary
• Prairie Meadows 250 - Iowa Speedway, IA (ARCA / Remax Series)
• Swedish Touring Cars - Karlskoga, Sweden
• Acropolis Rally - Lamia, Greece (WRC and P-WRC)
• ABC Supply Company AJ Foyt 225 - Milwaukee Mile, WI (Indy Racing League)
• Indy Pro Series - Milwaukee Mile, WI
• MotoGP - Mugello, Italy
• Isle of Man TT - Mountain Course, Isle of Man
• World Touring Car Championship - Pau, France
• AMA Superbike - Road America, WI
• British GT - Snetterton, England
• British F3 - Snetterton, England
• World Supermoto Championship - Villars, France
• Susquehannock Trail Rally - Wellsboro, PA (Rally America)

Also worth noting: this weekend features the Test Day for the Le Mans 24 Hours.

Petrol vs diesel at Le Mans

My compadres over at the Ten-Tenths sportscar forum are all a-twitter at the moment about equivalency formulae between diesel and petrol Le Mans Prototype cars. I've tried to stay out of the discussion because it seems like one of those threads where no-one really hears what anyone else is saying and it all ends up being a bit pointless.

But it's an important issue that impacts the future of Le Mans sportscar racing. The perceived problem is that the current rules format favours diesel-powered cars unfairly. In theory, ACO Le Mans rules are supposed to offer teams and manufacturers the option of running different fuels, none of which offer an advantage over any other, thus encouraging innovation and use of alternative fuel technologies.

In reality, there are two teams running cars with diesel engines, and both those teams appear to be running significantly faster than any of their rivals. As a result, many people are saying that the rules favour diesels. The one point I made on the aforementioned forum thread was that it just so happens that the only two teams running diesels are the only two Le Mans entrants in the prototype class who can effectively be considered "manufacturers".

So is the apparent pace of the Peugeot and Audi diesels down to their engine or their HUGE AMOUNT OF FINANCIAL RESOURCES??? This is a question that will be answered in 2008 (maybe) and 2009 (certainly), when Acura step up their ALMS prototype project to the LMP1 class. It will be the first time EVER that a factory Audi will have been challenged by a petrol-powered prototype from a manufacturer with a legitimate shot at winning Le Mans. Until then, Audi and Peugeot's closest rivals will be privateers such as Pescarolo, Creation, Zytek and Courage, all of which run petrol engines and all of which operate on a fraction of the budget of the two big diesel teams. It's like comparing apples and oranges, something that some of my friends over at 10/10ths seem to be missing.

The elephant in the room here is Porsche. Despite running very close to Audi in the ALMS all year, they believe that the current engine equivalency formulae in LMP1 are so tilted in the favour of diesels that they are considering delaying their entry into LMP1. Personally I think Porsche should suck it up and get on with the job. If it becomes clear that petrol engines are being unfairly legislated against, I'm sure the ACO will make adjustments.

The numbers seem to indicate that any adjustment is either unnecessary or would need to be tiny. Last year, Pescarolo ran a 3:30 on the Le Mans test weekend, and a 3:32 in qualifying, with Audi doing vice versa. So performance was close prior to the race itself. In the race, Pescarolo lost by four laps. Audi's 27 stops gave a total of 2700 litres of fuel taken onboard. In 2007, Audi's fuel tank will go from 100 litres down to 81 litres, giving 34 pitstops. So if both teams run the same pace with the same fuel economy this year, Audi's seven extra stops will cost them an extra 11 minutes, which is equal to three laps. What this means is that the change in fuel tank size has gone a long way to levelling the playing field, and that really it seems as though petrol performance is only about 0.25% below what it should be (at Le Mans at least) in order to produce a straight fight against diesels.

We'll know in 18 days. I'll be watching very carefully from my pitlane grandstand seat how many laps diesel teams are getting on one stint versus what the petrol cars get.

Midweek Menu - Week 21

Open wheel racing has two of its biggest events this weekend: the Indy 500 and the Monaco Grand Prix. The Isle of Man TT also starts.

• All-Japan Superbikes - Autopolis, Japan
• Rocky Mountain Rally - Calgary, Canada (Canadian Rally Championship)
• Spanish CEV - Catalunya, Spain
• Cavan Stages Rally - Cavan, Ireland (Irish Gravel Rally Championship)
• Zulu Rally South Africa - Durban, South Africa (African Rally Championship)
• AMA Motocross - High Point Raceway, PA
• Freedom 100 - Indianapolis Motor Speedway (Indy Pro Series)
• Indy 500 - Indianapolis Motor Speedway (Indy Racing League)
• Isle of Man TT - Mountain Course, Isle of Man
• Jim Clark Memorial Rally - Kelso, Scotland (British Rally Championship and Irish and British Tarmac Rally Championships)
• Rolex GT Series Challenge - Lime Rock Park, CT (Rolex Grand Am GT Series)
• Carquest Auto Parts 300 - Lowes Motor Speedway, NC (NASCAR Busch Series)
• Coca Cola 600 - Lowes Motor Speedway, NC (NASCAR Nextel Cup)
• City of Mansfield 250 - Mansfield, OH (NASCAR Craftsman Trucks)
• World Series by Renault - Monte Carlo, Monaco
• GP2 - Monte Carlo, Monaco
• Monaco Grand Prix - Monte Carlo, Monaco (Formula 1)
• Porsche Supercup - Monte Carlo, Monaco
• Rally di San Marino - San Marino (European Rally Cup - Southwest)
• World Superbike - Silverstone, England
• Grand Prix of Japan - Sugo, Japan (FIM Motocross)
• INA Croatia Delta Rally - Zagreb, Croatia (European Rally Championship
• ADAC Reinoldus Langstreckenrennen - Nurburgring, Germany (VLN Series)
  

Grand Am - get your act together

I spent the weekend down at Laguna Seca at the Grand-Am Rolex Sportscar event. I wrote four pieces: a qualifying report, a report for the GT race, an interview with Porsche factory driver Pat Long and a report on the Daytona Prototype race. In addition to the two races I wrote about, I watched the two Koni Challenge events. Of those four races, THREE ended under a yellow flag.

There are not many things I can think of that are more unsatisfactory than a race ended under yellow. But to see 75% of the weekend's races end that way was terrible. It seemed to me that Grand-Am officials were far too quick to throw full-course cautions when local yellows would suffice. Yes, they utilized local yellows on a couple of occasions, such as a car spinning on track. But will somebody please tell these people about the step between the static yellow, and the full-course caution... it's called a waving yellow, and it's used for a situation that requires a driver to not just be cautious, but to actually slow down. A stalled car in the middle of the track is a good example of a situation where this would be necessary. Ultimately, the car may need to be retrieved, in which case a safety car may be needed. But sometimes a car can get going again. By this time, Grand Am would have sent out the safety car, when it was not required.

To make things even worse, when a safety car was utilized, it stayed out at least two laps too long. Generally, after the hazard was cleared it would be two more laps before the field was released. In a race where seven (YES, SEVEN!!!) cautions were called, that equates to a loss of an additional 14 green flag laps, or more than 15% of the race. There were 30 laps run under yellow, which theoretically could have been just 15. Having extraction equipment in different parts could also have helped, instead of needing the one crew to scramble from and to the pit lane each time.

All in all, it was a pretty pathetic show, and added to the impression I got as a member of the media that the ALMS are light years ahead of Grand Am when it comes to professionalism. From a press conference where the drivers showed up 15 minutes late, to a press room where race notes and results seemed to take hours to be distributed, I was very unimpressed.

The Northwest 200

In the world of motorcycle real road racing, there's three races that are the "crown jewels": the Isle of Man TT, the Ulster Grand Prix and the Northwest 200.

The Northwest, first of the three each year, was held a couple of weeks ago, and produced some absolutely cracking racing. Anyone used to watching the Isle of Man TT will find the Northwest an entirely different spectacle. Despite the fact that both run on extremely fast public roads over a distance much longer than permanent circuits, the TT's "against the clock" format takes the sting out of the racing. The Northwest on the other hand has all riders start together, so when two riders are side by side they are racing for position. The same situation on the TT could mean anything, depending on where the riders are in relation to each other in the start order. The Northwest's format doesn't just make things more exciting for spectators, it also seems to inspire the riders to push that much harder.

I've noticed that there seems to be an increasing level of interest in the real road racing scene from the powerhouse teams of British Superbike, with many of the top teams signing the quickest riders from the roads to ride their highly-developed, big-budget machinery. This year was no exception. HM Plant Honda had multiple TT-winner John McGuinness; Stobart Honda brought in experienced Welshman Ian Lougher; MSS Discovery are running with Michael Rutter, not just on the roads but in BSB too; AIM Yamaha's Steve Plater is also doing both the roads and BSB; and Hydrex Honda signed likeable Brit Guy Martin for their roads campaign.

Joining these top teams were all the other top riders from the real road racing scene: New Zealander Bruce Anstey, Australian Cameron Donald, Scotland's Keith Amor, and the best Irish riders such as Adrian Archibald and Ryan Farquhar.

The weekend featured 1000cc superbikes and 600cc supersport bikes each running two races, supported by a superstock race and the 125s, 250s and 400s all running together in one final race. The first superbike race was abbreviated after a couple of red flags and when all was said and done John McGuinness grabbed his first Northwest superbike victory, despite being confused as to whether the race was actually over or not. The second superbike race was absolutely riveting, coming down to a race-long dogfight between McGuinness, Rutter, Martin and Plater. Plater's no-nonsense style allowed him to clinch victory, after Martin "nerfed" McGuinness off the road. Plater has not been particularly successful in BSB these last few years, so his prowess in the NW200 must be a source of satisfaction for him.

Next up is the fearsome Isle of Man TT. My good friend Peely is flying out from California next Friday to see the TT for the first time. I had to decline the invite given my plans to go to Le Mans, but I'm really looking forward to hearing from him what it's like. Perhaps he'll let me post some photos up here!

Like London buses

You wait seven months for a race at a local track, and then two come along at the same time. Last time I was at either Laguna Seca or Infineon was for the American Le Mans Series last October. If I hadn't got my fix at the Long Beach ALMS race in April I'd probably be going nuts right now, especially with my Le Mans trip just around the corner...

This weekend sees the Rolex Sportscar Series at Laguna, and the AMA Superbike Championship at Infineon. I went to both last year since they didn't clash but have to sacrifice one this weekend. Since The-Paddock wants me on-site to report on the Rolex event, that's where I'm headed. Luckily I can check out the Superbikes twice this year, when they support MotoGP at Laguna in July, and again for a stand-alone event at Laguna in September.

Last year I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed the Rolex race, mainly due to the mellow crowd and the close racing. The cars were still silly and slow, but a day in the sun watching sportscars is never a bad day. Hopefully this weekend will be a repeat, although I'll be burdened with the task of reporting on the event (not a bad thing since it's free admission, all access, a spot in the media center and the opportunity to interview some great drivers).

One final note: there was a fun spot on the morning news on a local TV network, featuring an interview with Steve Rapp, rider for the Attack Kawasaki team in the AMA's Formula Xtreme class. Although most of what was covered was aimed at viewers who didn't know anything about the sport, it was very cool to see our beloved bike racing get some mainstream coverage.

Weekend Menu - Week 20

We're really into the height of the racing season now. A diverse mix of events this weekend:

• FIA GT - Bucharest street circuit, Romania
• British F3 - Bucharest street circuit, Romania
• DTM - Eurospeedway Lausitz, Germany
• F3 Euroseries - Eurospeedway Lausitz, Germany
• AMA Motocross - Hangtown, CA
• V8 Supercars - Winton, Australia
• Fujitsu V8 Series - Winton, Australia
• Rally d'Italia Sardegna - Sardinia, Italy (WRC and Junior WRC)
• Swedish Touring Cars - Mantorp, Sweden
• AMA Superbike - Infineon Raceway, CA
• Bluewater Gran Prix - Parker, NV (Best in the Desert series)
• Utah Grand Prix - Miller Motorsports Park, UT (ALMS, IMSA Lites, Formula BMW USA, IMSA GT3 Cup, Speed World Challenge, Star Mazda)
• South Swedish Rally - Ljungby, Sweden (European Rally Cup - North)
• World Supermoto Championship - Pleven, Bulgaria
• World Touring Cars - Valencia, Spain
• International GT Open - Valencia, Spain
• MotoGP - Le Mans, France
• Quaker State and Lube 200 - Lowes Motor Speedway, NC (NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series)
• Australian Superbike - Symmons Plain, Australia
• US Sportscar Invitational - Laguna Seca, CA (Rolex Grand Am Series)
• Olympus Rally - Olympia, WA (Rally America Championship)
• British Superbike - Snetterton, England
• Toledo ARCA 200 - Toledo Speedway, OH (ARCA/Remax Series)

I'll be at Laguna Seca reporting on the Grand Am event for The-Paddock.net on both Saturday and Sunday.

About damn time....

My Le Mans tickets arrived. That means that I'm definitely going, LOL!

The drama to get these tickets was more than I expected. We knew that we wanted seats in the stands directly above the pitlane, since you can get a great view of pitstops all the way along the pitlane, and it's as good as any other for a view of the start. When I "applied" to the ACO for these tickets they were sold out. In a state of panic I then contacted JustTickets.co.uk and picked them up at a premium price from them. Two weeks later the ACO comes back to me to say that the stands were now available. Alas, it was too late, so we had to suck it up and deal with the extra cost of having bought through a broker.

To be fair, JustTickets did send them via overnight international, quite a cost on their part, after I told them we'd be leaving significantly earlier to start our vacation in France.

By the way, the picture is of me and my dad eating dinner at the legendary Stella Bar on the outside of Tertre Rouge corner at Le Mans in 2004, during the Thursday qualifying session. Only 29 days until I'll be doing the same again!

Hamilton breaks more records

I was all set to write a post about World Superbike after another gripping pair of races, but it's going to be Formula 1 instead. I watched my friend Jeff marry his lovely partner Becky yesterday and he told me he'd be relying on my blog to keep him posted on the Spanish Grand Prix since the hotel they were staying at didn't have Speed Channel. Funnily enough, Jeff is a motorcycle guy, being the proud new owner of a Ducati 1098S Tricolore, but apparently he was more concerned with F1. Not a bad idea on his part, given the relative lack of performance of the Ducatis in World Superbike this year. So with apologies to my fellow bloggers who do a better job of covering F1, here goes....

I didn't watch the F1 race (so far this year I've only watched the Australian Grand Prix), but the most significant aspect of the race didn't need watching: Lewis Hamilton now leads the Formula 1 World Championship, with 30 points and is the youngest driver ever to do so. He's also the only F1 rookie to take podiums in his first four races.

Alonso guaranteed he wouldn't win after an optimistic first corner move on Massa, and now trails his team-mate by two points, one point ahead of the only man to win two races so far, the afore-mentioned Massa. Kimi Raikkonen sits in fourth with 22 points.

It's clear that one of these four men is going to win the championship, but the question is, which one? Alonso and Raikkonen are probably the fastest men out there, but Hamilton has shown remarkable pace and, even more impressively for an F1 newcomer, consistency. The thing that has to be scariest to his rivals is that he is only going to get better. That fact alone has me thinking that he'll be the first ever F1 driver to become world champion in his rookie year. It's a bold prediction, perhaps, but I don't think Formula 1 could ask for anything better. It's always been a form of motorsport that needs personalities, stories and heroes. Hamilton is already all three.

Okay Lewis, you've convinced me - I'll watch the next race. How huge would it be for him to win in two weeks time? The win itself would be remarkable, even if it would be expected fulfillment of potential. But the fact it would be at the spectacular Monaco circuit would make it the stuff of legends. That would be too good to miss.

TV coverage - the good, the bad and the downright ugly

TV coverage can make or break a motorsport championship. I watched the second round of the Australian Rally Championship last night, which is produced by the same folks who do the WRC coverage, with the same style of graphics, same music, same editing style and an overall similar feel. The goal is clear: regardless of what happens in the rally, MAKE IT COMPELLING...

They have succeeded. Despite an absence of flame-spitting WRC cars, replaced instead by tamer Super 2000 and Group N machinery, and even with a runaway leader, I was very entertained. Quick edits, smart, diverse camerawork and an excitable commentator all helped, and the show was put together in a manner that allowed me to keep track of what was going on.

In contrast, MotorsTV's coverage of the Le Mans Series race at Valencia was a disaster. Many on the sportscar racing forums are decrying the lack of spectator-friendliness of this series, and a piss-poor TV package is not helping. Unlike the ALMS, which provides excellent trackside commentary, internet radio, position indicator lights on the cars and numerous live-timing scoreboards at the track and online, it seems as though the LMS exists just for the competitors, and the TV coverage is one more example of this.

The MotorsTV highlights show had a wonderful opportunity to pack 6 hours of action into a tight 90-minute presentation. Instead, they took three segments of the race, stuck them together and called it a day. Tough luck to the viewer if something happened in the time between those segments. For an endurance event, it is vital that the viewer or spectator know what's going on, because it is often hard to see unless you follow closely over a long period of time. This is impossible if one moment you're watching action from lap 70, then a second later, it's lap 170.

As much as I like Mark Cole, an extremely knowledgeable commentator, he needs to be teamed with an entertaining co-commentator. He needs to function more as the expert, and sit next to someone like Martin Haven or John Hindhaugh, who can provide some excitement. Even his normal partner of Carlton Kirby is a little better. But when it's just Mark and David Leslie, or even worse, the pillocks they dug up for this weekend's event, it makes a potentially interesting event rather dull.

The top racing championships have it right - MotoGP for example does a great job, with good graphics, excellent camerawork and a solid commentary team. But the Aussie Rally folks prove that you don't need to be a major worldwide championship to have a great broadcast package. In fact, for smaller championships it might actually be even MORE important to have exciting, compelling TV shows.

Weekend Menu - Week 19

Plenty of rallying this weekend, but in terms of history and credibility the Northwest 200 has to be the weekend's most significant motorsport happening:

• Jordan Rally - Amman, Jordan (FIA Middle East Rally Championship)
• Carlow Stages Rally - Carlow, Ireland (Irish Gravel Rally Championship)
• International Manx Rally - Douglas, Isle of Man (MSA Tarmac AND Gravel Championships)
• Rally Vodafone Transiberico - Estoril, Portugal (FIA Cross Country World Cup e.g. think Dakar)
• Fiat Rally Turkey - Istanbul, Turkey (European Rally Championship)
• Rally of Whangerai - Whangerai, New Zealand (FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship)
• Porsche Supercup - Catalunya, Spain
• GP2 - Catalunya, Spain
• Grand Prix Telefonica de Espana - Catalunya, Spain (Formula 1)
• World Superbike and Supersport - Monza, Italy
• Adenauer ADAC Rundstrecken Trophy - Nurburgring, Germany (VLN series)
• Japanese Le Mans Challenge - Sugo, Japan
• Grand Prix of Germany - Teutschenthal, Germany (FIM Motocross)
• All-Japan Superbike Championship - Tsukuba, Japan
• Dodge 500 - Darlington, SC (NASCAR Nextel Cup)
• Diamond Hill Plywood 200 - Darlington, SC (NASCAR Busch Series)
• Buckle Up Kentucky 150 - Kentucky Speedway, KY (ARCA/Remax Series)
• Northwest 200 - Portrush, Northern Ireland (Irish real road racing)

Note that the Japanese Le Mans Challenge starts up again, albeit with a thin field of 11 cars.

BTCC + Thruxton = a good laugh

This picture illustrates two things: first, that the British Touring Car Championship is good again; and second, that Thruxton is a fantastic place for racing.

The BTCC has had its fair share of ups and downs, and each "down" has seemed to precipitate a switch of basic regulations. In the late 1980s, when spectators got confused about mid-pack drivers winning the overall title, the series switched to 2.0 litre engines that formed the basis of the massively popular Super Touring rules package. By the end of the 1990s, that package had attracted manufacturers in droves, who drive up costs to the point where it was no longer financially viable for them to be there and hence left, leaving a few shabby privateers. Rules changed again to a proprietary set of "BTC Rules", primarily aimed at bringing in smaller cars and less expense. It was never as popular with fans as the Super Touring rules, and manufacturers for the most part stayed away.

With the FIA's new Super 2000 ruleset, essentially an updated, more tightly controlled Super Touring spec, the BTCC saw a chance to satisfy two goals: to bring in more manufacturer interest as well as continue to keep the series affordable for the all-important privateer cadre. This year is the first proper year of S2000 rules, and although there are no significant new teams in the championship, the racing is tighter than ever and attendance is up.

Last year Team Dynamics and SEAT were easily the best of the bunch, but this year Vauxhall and Team RAC are both showing equal levels of competitiveness, whilst a number of privateers in ex-works machinery are able to get into the mix - Mike Jordan and Mat Jackson are good examples of this.

Back in the 90s the series had factory involvement from Audi, Volvo, Ford, Renault, Nissan, Honda and Alfa Romeo. Given two or three years, I don't see it unlikely that we'll see a similar amount of manufacturer interest.

And so onto Thruxton... When I was growing up in the UK, Thruxton was the second closest race track to me (after Castle Combe), yet we didn't often go there. It seemed like there just weren't many events worth checking out, and we'd sooner see touring cars at Silverstone. Thruxton had limited facilities and somewhat of a lack of atmosphere. However, after watching the British Superbikes and BTCC at the track, it's clear that there's plenty of people who disagree with my previously-held opinions. I'd like to go back there on a big race weekend to see how it might be different. One thing is for certain: it's a really fast track with loads of passing places, plenty of run-off, and no annoying "mickey mouse" sections brought in to alleviate safety concerns.

Stefan Bellof

A question was raised on the Ten-Tenths sportscar forum the other day about people's favourite Porsche sportscar teams. This got me thinking about all those great Group C teams of the 1980s, like Kremer, Brun, Joest and Obermaier who ably backed up the factory team from 1983 onwards. So I hopped over to the RacingSportsCars.com site that has a fantastic archive of photos and entry lists from sportscar races, and started browsing through their Group C archives.

So many great cars and evocative liveries and so many great names. One driver in particular stood out as I looked over the entry lists, the late Stefan Bellof. There are very few drivers in the world who would be more deserving of the unfortunate title of "greatest talent lost before his time".

There was no doubt that he was one of the fastest drivers of his generation, winning the German FF1600 title and nearly winning German F3 despite only competing for half a season. He had a tremendously competitive year in Formula 2 before being drafted into the Tyrrell Formula 1 team. Even though the car was perhaps the slowest in the entire field, the young German managed to give Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost and Nigel Mansell a run for their money when the rain fell at Monaco in 1984 and levelled the playing field. He even scored two points finishes in 1985, grabbing a staggering 4th place at the US Grand Prix. It was widely believed that he had signed for Ferrari for the 1986 season, and I personally feel that that would have been the catapult to stardom for him. It's quite possible that he could have ended up alongside Senna or Prost in the McLaren team in '88 or '89. Who would have owned the title of "most successful German F1 driver of the 20th century" had Bellof lived?

His sportscar career was equally spectacular. Although he failed to finish during both his outings at Le Mans, he clinched the 1984 World Endurance Championship ahead of illustrious factory Porsche team-mates such as Derek Bell, Jacky Ickx and Jochen Mass. He won numerous races and showed that raw natural talent that team managers dream about.

In 1985 the factory Porsche team replaced him with Hans-Joachim Stuck, perhaps knowing that his Formula 1 commitments would make it more difficult to focus on his sportscar career. He had a number of outings for the privateer Brun outfit and it was in a Brun Porsche that he lost his life at Spa-Francorchamps on September 1st, 1985. His car was slower than the factory machines, but his sheer speed found him dicing for position with Jacky Ickx's Rothmans Porsche 962. Impatience got the better of him, and he collided with the other car at the brutally fast Eau Rouge corner, taking both cars into the armco where they caught fire. He was pronounced dead one hour later.

I tend to think of the loss of Bellof in the same way as I think of Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin or Jim Morrison. All had huge talent, and all had so much more to give to the world.

All were 27, too.

**LAST MINUTE EDIT**: I forgot to mention when I posted this yesterday that Stefan Bellof holds the record for the fastest EVER lap around the Nurburgring's Nordschleife circuit, set in a Porsche 956 in 1984. The fact that the 23-year old record still stands today is incredible...

Pitbox positioning

I've been thinking about pitstops lately, after watching the dynamics of a pitlane unfold in V8 Supercar racing.

For motorsports that require pitstops and have either pitstop windows or frequent full-course cautions, the possibility of a busy pitlane is to be expected. In these situations, is it better to be at the start, middle or end of the pitlane?

Initially I decided that a position at the start of the pitlane is the most beneficial. The biggest factor in deciding this is that right of way always goes to cars already travelling down the pitlane. If a car is coming, a stopped car must wait for it to pass. The crew member in charge of releasing the car will (should) always err on the side of caution. The car at the end of the pitlane will have the highest likelihood of having to wait for cars that have already stopped.

But hang on a moment.... The car in the first pitbox still has to wait for cars when it wants to leave - only this time it's those that have not yet gotten to their pit. Oftentimes cars will bunch up at pit entry, making departure for the car at pit-in even more difficult.

One good thing with having that first pitbox is that you're guaranteed not to be blocked in by a car that has already stopped in the pitbox before yours. This can make or break a race.

One other consideration: just like safety-car periods, pitstops always have a greater potential for gain for those at the back of the field. The worst place to be (in theory) is first (although obviously first is the place you always want to be anyway LOL!)

So what is my answer? Well, I'd say on-track strategy ultimately plays a much bigger role, and that hitting the pits when there's not much traffic is the ideal situation. Not always possible, mind you, especially if it's a usefully timed full-course caution period, but in V8 Supercars for example, I'd always choose to wait for the third lap of the pit window than the first. The biggest collateral gain with that is that an empty pitlane is a safe pitlane, and that's surely an important consideration that often gets ignored. Witness the chaos of a NASCAR pitlane during a caution period, and think about how many more stories you hear about NASCAR crew members who get injured than crew members in other forms of racing...

Weekend Menu - Week 17

Some bizarre crossover events this weekend, along with a few championships that begin their year:

• Spanish CEV - Albacete, Spain (first round of the top Spanish motorcycle championship)
• World Superbike / Supersport / Superstock - Assen, Netherlands
• A1GP - Brands Hatch, England (final race of the season)
• Quit Forest Rally - Busselton, Australia (Australian Rally Championship)
• AMA Superbike - California Speedway, Fontana, CA
• World Supermoto Championship - Castelletto di Branduzzo, Italy (first round of the championship)
• Cookstown 100 - Cookstown, Northern Ireland (first race in the Irish real road racing season)
• Kansas Lottery $150 Grand - Kansas Speedway (ARCA / Remax Series)
• Kansas Lottery Indy 300 - Kansas Speedway (Indy Racing League)
• O'Reilly Auto Parts 250 - Kansas Speedway (NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series)
• Rim of the World Rally - Lancaster, CA (US Rally Championship)R
• Rally de Canaria - Las Palmas, Canary Islands (FIA Southwest European Rally Cup)
• ADAC ACAS H&R Cup - Nurburgring, Germany (VLN Championship)
• Terrible's Town 250 - Pahrump, NV (Best in the Desert series)
• Rally Matador Tatry - Puchov, Slovakia (FIA Central European Rally Cup)
• AMA Supercross - Seattle, Washington
• British Superbike - Silverstone, England
• Aarons 312 - Talladega, AL (NASCAR Busch Series)
• Aarons 499 - Talladega, AL (NASCAR Nextel Cup)
• VIR 400 - Virginia International Raceway (Grand Am Rolex Sportscar Series)
• VIR 500k - Virginia International Raceway (MOTO-ST)
• Star Mazda Championship - Virginia International Raceway

A few things to mention here... Firstly, interesting to see three entirely seperate sanctioning bodies together at Kansas Speedway (IRL, NASCAR and ARCA). I like to see that kind of thing, it's good for motorsport. Secondly, same thing at Virginia, except even more so. Star Mazda is usually aligned with IMSA and the ALMS, so they're kind of bridging a gap by running alongside Grand-Am. And how WEIRD to see a motorcycle race as part of that weekend. I would have thought that the infrastructure for two-wheeled racing is too different to run alongside cars (I'm thinking of air fencing versus tyre barriers for example). MOTO-ST is run by Grand-Am so the hook-up is not entirely surprising, but I hope that motorcycle safety isn't compromised by running with cars.

The Rim of the World Rally, which I've competed in a few times, is a shell of it's former self, after the Forest Service pulled their permit to run in the Angeles National Forest. It will now be a Superspecial-only rally, albeit one that will feature RallyMoto (another example of the motorcycle-car hookup). Funny, these coincidences...

Riding outside your class

I'm often quick to compare domestic superbike championships, usually in the context of the British and the American series, but one thing occurred to me today whilst reading a report on last weekend's AMA event at Barber in Alabama. The AMA championship is probably the only one in the world where superbike riders also ride in the support classes. I started thinking why this might be.

The primary difference with how the two championships work is financially: a rider in the AMA series can earn much more staying in the US than they could virtually anywhere else in the racingsphere, except perhaps as a top factory rider in MotoGP. Even the top riders in World Superbike are probably making less than their counterparts in the AMA. This is a common reason from US riders who seem reluctant to ride overseas.

In the USA, factory teams strive for success in all classes, since superbike is not viewed with quite as much reverence as in the UK or World championships, thus the importance of winning in support classes. Although you'll find indirect factory support in supersport and superstock in the British and World series, it's is much more prevalent in the USA. There's factory Kawasaki, Yamaha and Suzuki efforts in Supersport, factory Suzuki and Yamaha in Superstock and Honda provides good support to the Erion Formula Extreme outfit.

Given that the support classes are taken so seriously, it's not surprising that the factories want their best riders involved. And given a rider's salary, they're only too happy to "tow the party line" and jump on small-bore bikes, stock bikes or both. It's not seen as a step down like it would be elsewhere, another major reason that it's rarely seen in BSB or WSBK.

Honda in trouble

I just took a look at the combined practice times for this weekend's MotoGP race at Istanbul Park in Turkey, and I am absolutely floored by the poor performance of Honda. By far the most numerous bike on the grid with six entries, they're currently in 5th, 9th, 10th, 14th, 16th and 18th. In contrast, Ducati are in 1st, 2nd, 8th and 13th.

How can it be that the manufacturer with the deepest pockets, and strongest history of winning can be in such a dire predicament? It reminds me of Toyota in Formula 1. Actually, it also reminds me of Honda this year in Formula 1. 2007 is turning out to be a tough year for the Big Red, unless you're in their SuperGT or World Superbike teams.

Questions abound about why the RC212V is such a dog. Perhaps they should see about "prototype-izing" a Ten Kate Fireblade, they might have more success. Actually, it seems that most of the Honda GP riders are bitching about lack of front end feel. Whether this is down to the new profile of the tyres, the smaller 16" front wheels being used in 2007, or the way that mass has been redistributed within the bike's chassis is unclear, but one thing is damn sure: riders who don't give a crap about the rear wheel's behavior but who live on the front (cough, cough, Hayden, cough) are in a whole world of hurt. I also wonder whether the higher corner entry speeds are requiring more commitment from riders who are unfamiliar with that kind of riding. Still, if that's the case you would think that 250cc graduates Melandri, Nakano, Pedrosa and Checa would be doing better. Only Toni Elias has shown any speed so far this weekend. It was a similar story pre-race in Losail, with Elias near the front and everyone else midpack, and Jerez, only difference there being Pedrosa running well and all other Hondas back on the 4th row or worse.

Honda now find themselves in the same place that Yamaha was this time last year, a place called Disarray City, whilst Ducati, whose budget is a tiny fraction of Honda's, are top dogs. Funny the difference a year makes.

Weekend Menu - Week 16

I missed last week, so time to get back on track. This weekend is extremely busy - check out this long list of national and international racing:

• GP of Portugal - Agueda, Portugal (FIM Motocross)
• AMA Superbike - Barber Motorsports Park, AL
• Rally Mille Miglia - Brescia, Italy (European Rally Championship)
• Pirelli International Rally - Carlisle, England (British Rally Championship)
• AMA Supercross - Detroit, MI
• British Formula 3 - Donington Park, England
• British GT - Donington Park, England
• Belcar - Donington Park, England
• Oregon Trail Rally - Hillsboro, OR (Rally America Championship)
• F3 Euroseries - Hockenheim, Germany
• DTM - Hockenheim, Germany
• American Le Mans Series - Houston Reliant Park, TX
• Champ Car World Series - Houston Reliant Park, TX
• Star Mazda - Houston Reliant Park, TX
• MotoGP - Istanbul, Turkey
• Le Mans 24 Hours Moto - Le Mans, France (FIM World Endurance Championship)
• Australian Superbike - Mallala, Australia
• Monaghan Stages Rally - Monaghan, Ireland (Irish Gravel Rally Championship)
• Indy Japan 300 - Motegi, Japan (Indy Racing League)
• Troodos Rally - Nicosia, Cyprus (Middle East Rally Championship)
• Bashas Supermarkets 200 - Phoenix Raceway, AZ (NASCAR Busch Series)
• Subway Fresh 500 - Phoenix Raceway, AZ (NASCAR Nextel Cup)
• Placemakers V8 Supercars - Pukekohe, New Zealand (V8 Supercars Championship)
• British Touring Car Championship - Rockingham, England
• Porsche Carrera Cup GB - Rockingham, England
• Formula Renault UK - Rockingham, England
• Kentuckiana Ford Dealers 200 - Salem Speedway, IN (ARCA Remax Series)
• Swedish Touring Cars - Sturup, Sweden
• International GT Open - Vallelunga, Italy

Busy, don't you think? Plenty of rallying; both US open wheel series; ALMS; British, Swedish, German and Aussie touring cars; all manner of bike racing; the list goes on. Have fun watching whatever racing you watch...

My first weekend as a sportscar journalist

I was down at the Long Beach Champ Car and ALMS event this weekend, in my first proper reporting gig for The-Paddock.net. It was extremely interesting to see what the life of the motorsport journalist is like compared to attending a race as a punter.

I arrived early Friday morning and found my way to the media center. At Long Beach this was in the basement area of the Long Beach Performing Arts Center, where they have a bunch of ballrooms and meeting rooms. John, the website's editor, had secured a couple of spaces in the internet and photo press room, which was arranged with rows of tables, each with power and internet. There was also wireless internet, a number of TV screens showing live TV feeds and live timing and scoring of whatever was on track at that moment. At the back of the room were tables with a whole host of media materials, including the gargantuan ALMS media guide (400 pages) and the latest official press releases from each of the championships competing that weekend.

My goal for the day was to cover ALMS practice and qualifying, and secure an interview with Greg Pickett, owner of the Cytosport team, who were running their first ALMS race. I headed out to the ALMS paddock, but on the way ran into the three drivers of the Intersport Creation LMP1 car. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to try out my rookie interview technique and I pulled out my voice recorder and asked Clint Field if I could have a quick word. He was very gracious, and we talked and walked. I was working feverishly to come up with follow-up questions whilst he was talking, realizing that I could review content later, but had to think of questions NOW! It all seemed to go very well, and as I entered the paddock I was ready for more.

For this event the paddock was seperated from the pitlane, so the cars were all "staged" prior to heading for the pits. This gave the public a tremendous opportunity to get close to the cars and drivers, and me a chance to get more interviews. My next victim was Ben Devlin, factory driver for Mazda's LMP2 program, and then Romain Dumas from the Penske Porsche team. This was all going very well, and I took my place in the grandstands for the practice session very pleased with myself.

After practice I went looking for Cytosport, and was eventually invited into their hospitality area. Greg spent about 15 minutes talking to me and I got a lot of great material for my article. He was very enthusiastic and I found that I didn't need to ask that many questions because he was happy to just talk about the project.

By now it was clear that a media credential provides not only access to media and team facilities but it also allows you to talk to people in a far more brazen fashion, since teams and drivers know that media coverage is important. At no point was I declined an interview, and everyone I talked to was very open and friendly.

I completed my articles, working for the first time against a deadline, and later in the day went to my first press conference, with the top qualifiers from each class. This went pretty much as I expected, and I found myself asking a question to Dindo Capello from the Audi team at one point, as I was seeking clarification on a couple of points.

On race day things started later, which was nice, but I knew that with a 5:40 race finish, I'd be staying late to finish the race report. Much of the day was spent deciding where to watch the race from. Street circuits are notoriously poor for having general admission viewing areas, but I was pleasantly surprised to find Long Beach quite different in this regard. I eventually settled for a GA grandstand with a view of turn 1 for the start, followed by a migration to an embankment across from the pits once pitstops were imminent. The plan worked well, and I made extensive notes as the race unfolded. I've never been so focused on what was happening at a race, especially with four classes to keep track of. In reality, LMP1 and LMP2 ended up functioning as one big class, GT1 only had two cars, and GT2 was a seperate story, so I wrote the report in two major parts. We eventually got out of the media center around 8:30, a long day to be sure, but exhilarating and fun.

I noticed that the sportscar media fraternity is populated primarily by older men, which shouldn't have surprised me. It's a less glamorous form of racing than open wheel, NASCAR or motorcycles, but it meant that John (who's in his twenties) and I (I'm just out of my twenties LOL!) stood out a little bit. John's got a bright future ahead of him - he's passionate and knowledgeable about the sport, a good writer and a good photographer. Since sportscar racing will always be there even as these older journalists leave, there will be a gap in sportscar journalism for people like John, particularly if they have good tech abilities like he does.

My next assignment is likely to be the Grand-Am event at Laguna Seca in May. I'm less interested in (and less knowledgeable about) that series, so it will present its own set of challenges. After that I'll be at Le Mans but as a tourist not media (by choice), then Grand-Am at Sears Point in August. I'll close out the year at Laguna Seca for the final ALMS event of the season. All good stuff to put on my journalistic resume!

Champcar - didn't suck

I watched my first Champcar race in a couple of years on Sunday, with the start of the new season and the debut of the Las Vegas street circuit. I'll be honest - I wasn't expecting much, with only 17 cars, virtually all of them piloted by pay-to-play drivers, and everyone in brand-new, potentially unreliable cars.

Things didn't start well, as the field struggled to achieve a single green flag lap. Graham Rahal got spooked by an aggressive move by Dan Clarke and crashed as a result. He obviously complained about Clarke's maneouver, but it seemed to me that it was a rookie mistake.

Once things got going, it was clear that a number of drivers were pretty competitive. Everyone was expecting good things from experienced Champcar drivers Seb Bourdais and Paul Tracy, but I was pleased to see Robert Doornbos, Will Power, Neel Jani and others on or near the pace of the quick guys. This bodes well for a reasonably interesting season.

I'm driving 500 miles to go to the Long Beach GP this weekend to report on the ALMS race for The-Paddock.net, and hadn't planned on sticking around for the Champcars. I may have changed my mind...

British Superbike is back

Quite possibly my revelation of 2006, British Superbike is a great championship to follow. What made it more compelling than it might otherwise have been was the tedium of its transatlantic cousin, the AMA Superbike championship here in the US. Race after race in the AMA put me to sleep, so it was truly refreshing to watch another national superbike class that was actually entertaining. On any given weekend, any one of perhaps six or seven riders were in with a shout. In the US, that number was really only two (and ended up being three).

The top two teams in BSB remain the HM Plant factory Honda team and the factory-supported Airwaves Ducati outfit. Further down the pecking order are semi-factory efforts Rizla Suzuki, Hawk Kawasaki and Virgin Yamaha, along with top Honda privateers Stobart.

HM Plant boast last year's title-winner, Ryuichi Kiyonari, and kick Karl Harris to the curb in favour of junior team graduate Johnny Rea. Kiyonari is undoubtedly capable of repeating in 2007 and remains one of the top three riders in the series. The question is, how long before Honda gives him another shot on the international stage?

Rea's major obstacle will be the switch from the Dunlops of the junior team to Michelins, something that has caused many more experienced riders trouble in the past (most notably Ben Bostrom, but Neil Hodgson and Noriyuki Haga also come to mind). However, his speed in pre-season testing seems to indicate that he's already oversome that issue.

Stepping into Johnny's place in what used to be called the Red Bull junior team and is now sponsored by BikeAnimal.com, is Leon Camier, who won the British Supersport crown in 2005. It's safe to say he has the support of his family - they sold their house to kickstart his career back in 2000, when he headed to 125 grand prix racing. If he can maintain the pace of Rea from 2006, he'll be a constant threat for the podium.

Last year Airwaves Ducati had the strongest rider line-up with Leon Haslam and Spaniard Greg Lavilla. Haslam's season started slowly but picked up speed to the point that he was in contention for the title going into the last race. Lavilla on the other hand was untouchable to start with, but a series of errors and mechanical failures put him out of the running in the penultimate race of the season. As championship winner in 2005, he's proved he can do it, but with Leon growing in confidence every year, the competition gets stronger, not weaker. However both riders are equally capable of getting the job done this year.

The next strongest team has to be Rizla Suzuki, who have the most exciting new line-up. Returning from his years in World Superbike is Chris Walker, who considers the BSB championship to be unfinished business - he's been runner-up four times, most notably against Neil Hodgson back in 2000 in heartbreaking circumstances as his bike failed in the last race. He'll be quick, there's no doubt, but it's not clear whether the Suzuki is the bike to be on if you want to win the championship. It certainly wasn't for Shakey Byrne, who won on a Ducati in 2003 but couldn't mount a serious challenge last year on the Suzook. However, it's the bike to have in the US AMA series, so perhaps there's hope yet.

Alongside The Stalker will be last year's British Supersport champ, Cal Crutchlow. Like Leon Camier, he represents the future of British Superbike racing, and should be the perfect "yin" to Walker's "yang". The mixture of youth and experience has worked well for teams in the past and Rizla Suzuki will hope that'll be the case again. I'm expecting Cal to find an occasional podium during this first year, but not challenge for victories just yet.

The two Rizla refugees have split for other second-tier teams this year after both endured terrible injury-riddled seasons in 2006. James Haydon finds himself on a Pirelli-shod Virgin Yamaha, whilst Shane "Shakey" Byrne rejoins Paul Bird Motorsport's Stobart team, for whom he won the title in 2003. Now running Hondas instead of Ducatis, they struggled last year against the might of the factory-backed teams, waiting in vain for traction control systems. They'll have it for this year, but who's to say what new gizmos HM Plant Honda will get that Stobart won't. The life of the privateer team is a tough one, even with the decent level of funding that they have. Still, there exists the possibility that Shakey's bike will be close enough in performance that he'll be in with a shout. I certainly hope so.

One other notable rider returning to an old team is Scott Smart. Three years ago he was the next big thing after a great season on the Hawk Kawasaki. He nabbed a spot with Rizla Suzuki, at that point the team to beat, but he struggled mightily and lost the ride. Picked up by privateers Vivaldi, he did what he could and was always top-ten material and in 2006 achieved a spectacular win in the wet at Donington. He'll hope that a move back to Hawk Kawasaki can turn his stuttering career around. If not, we'll be hearing much more of him in the commentary booth of World Superbike, where it has to be said he does a very good job too.

It's all shaping up to be another cracking season. The only difference as far as I'm concerned is that the AMA championship is looking decidedly rosier this year. The question is this: how great will BSB look now when compared with the much-improved AMA Superbike? Whatever the answer is, it's a good year to follow superbike racing...

Weekend Menu - Week 14

This weekend's racing activities:

• British Superbike - Brands Hatch (opening round of the championship)
• Circuit of Ireland Rally - Derry, Northern Ireland (part of the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship)
• Las Vegas Grand Prix - Las Vegas street course, NV (opening rounds of the Champcar World Series and Formula Atlantic)
• Japanese SuperGT - Okayama, Japan
• PFG Lester 150 - Nashville Speedway, TN (ARCA Remax series)
• Pepsi 300 - Nashville Speedway, TN (NASCAR Busch series)
• British GT - Oulton Park (opening round)
• British Formula 3 - Oulton Park (opening round)
• Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix - Sepang, Malaysia (Formula 1)
• Samsung 500 - Texas Motor Speedway (NASCAR Nextel Cup)

Also, I missed last week's Menu, so it should be noted that the following championships started their season last weekend:

• British Touring Car Championship
• Formula Renault UK
• Posche Carrera Cup Great Britain
• Spanish GT Championship
• Australian Rally Championship
• All-Japan Superbike Championship
• VLN Series
• FIM Motocross Grand Prix
• Belcar

In addition the following championships were in action:

• WRC
• Junior WRC
• World Superbike
• World Supersport
• AMA Supercross
• NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
• NASCAR Nextel Cup
• US Rally Championship
• American Le Mans Series
• Indy Racing League
• Indy Pro Series
• Best in the Desert
• Fujitsu V8 Supercars
  

The problem with split times

Once again, the pace of development in the world of communications has had a negative impact on the spectacle of motorsport. I'm referring to the usage of split-times in the World Rally Championship. Too often these days you hear about drivers "driving to the splits", effectively managing their time gaps so as to not go too fast or be overly risky.

I'll be the first to admit that rallying is very much about getting to the finish - I have many trophies from my days as a co-driver that prove that outright speed is not always necessary to achieve success! However, when a driver makes a decision about how hard to push on a given stage, it should not be influenced during the stage through communications from outside the car. The whole concept of driving to splits is inherently unfair, since it favours teams that are starting later (the top runners on days two and three when this practice is most often utilized) and teams with the budget for the kind of radio technology integration.

It used to be the case that as the end of the rally neared, anyone not in the lead would push like crazy to gain back time. This meant the leader had to do the same. These days that never happens, since the guy in second knows that the leader will be able to adjust his pace based on those split times. If you know your rival will push only as hard as necessary, there's no incentive to risk it all.

Even Formula 1 clamped down on excessive comms technology by banning pit-to-car telemetry. I see no legitimate reason for split-time communications to be legal (unless of course those in charge feel it's a safety issue by limiting how fast the cars will go - if that's the case then we live in sad, sad world).

The biggest losers in all of this are the fans, who can no longer witness heroic last-day fight-backs. Instead those final stages pass by like moves in a chess game: considered, informed and downright dull.

What happens when you crash out of Dakar

Now that I'm a card-carrying dirtbike / dual-sport owner, it's only right that I frequent the massivley busy ADVRider.net forums.

I came across an interesting thread that details the experiences of one forum member who took part in this year's Dakar Rally. It pretty much confirmed what I already knew: when things are going right, Dakar is a challenging test of skill and endurance; when things go wrong, it becomes a mental trial of epic proportions. After watching Charley Boorman's "Race to Dakar" documentary, in which his cameraman endured days of drama after he had to retire, this served as further notice that you don't want to have to withdraw from Dakar, for any reason.

Further proof that Dakar riders are absolutely crazy: Isidre Esteve Pujol joins the list of top moto-rallyists to have a devastating accident. Unlike Fabrizio Meoni, Richard Sainct, Andy Caldecott, John Deacon etc., he survived, but may end up paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of his life. Fingers crossed for him that once the swelling subsides he'll regain use of legs.