Over the last twenty something years I’ve competed in a large number of cars all over the world. Some of the most fun have been in yellow cars partnered by a close friends Carey. We’ve been racing together for more than a decade and had enough success to have won a couple of championships together.
There can never be enough gratuitous rally car pictures, so here is one more.
I’ve competed in some form of racing for far longer than I care to mention, long before it was considered an extreme sport. Racing has taken me all over the world and given me so much. Great stories, wonderful memories and some of the closest friendships I will ever have.
Rallying is just about the best way to spend a weekend, it’s an excuse for hanging out in the woods with my friends. It’s just for fun and bragging rights, and is about as much fun as you can have wearing fireproof overalls.
I was going to carve out a little time this morning to look at the times from the first F1 pre-season test at Jerez. But then I realized why?
I could put down five or six hundred words about times, but as with every other year no one really has a clue what’s going on.
The headlines are
• Times went down over the test
• The step noses on the cars are ugly
• Ferrari have a lot of work to do, but it’s promising
• Hamilton looked good
• Red Bull were fast
• Torro Rosso, Lotus and Force India did OK
• The step noses on the cars are really ugly
Absolutely nothing there we did not know before the test started and I just saved myself a bunch of time.
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2011 was a good year for F1, the stats are excelent, more over taking thanks to a combination of aero changes, the Drag-Reduction-System (DRS), the Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) and the tires that gave tremendous grip, for a while.
But it could have been more competitive. Perhaps we were just spoiled by maybe the best championship in the history of the sport in 2010. With Kimi Raikkonon returning for 2012 (admittedly with Lotus) there are 6 world champions on the grid, and that’s got to be good.
Lets be clear, Vettel won his second world championship in style. It became little predicable and was wrapped up with four races to go. But such was the speed of Vettel and the Red Bull that there was little real doubt after Valencia. The constructor’s championship (which is what the teams get paid by) was tied up one race later.
Vettels ability in the first couple of laps to pull out a significant lead over everyone was astounding. That first lap was critical and made it clear that baring a mistake, everyone else was running for second. Read more…
Sebastian Vettel finally tied it all up last night in a fascinating Japanese Grand Prix. Lets be clear, it’s been a while since there was anything other than mathematical doubt as to who was going to win the drivers titles this year.
It’s been another compelling season of racing and the comfort of Vettel’s championship, won with four races left, had taken little of the drama away.
The winning margin this year is impressive because both the driver and the team cut out the mistakes. Last year he was clearly the quickest, but errors by both parties cost him points on more than one occasion. This year there was none of that, just a team and driver at their very best.
I can think of only two significant errors this year, and that is remarkable. The last lap mistake in Canada that gave Jenson Button an outstanding win, and a spin in Germany, that’s it.
Nine wins and twelve pole positions in fifteen races is impressive. Yes, there were weekends where he was dominant, but there were others where he had to fight for every point and did so. But wait there’s more, he’s the only driver to have finished every race and what’s more finished every race except for Germany on the podium. That’s impressive.
Perhaps his most dominant weekend was Turkey, it was clear from the Friday times that everyone else was looking at second. Team principal Christian Horner was asked after qualifying by one of the press pack if Vettel had any weakness. He replied, “Yes, when he turned up this weekend he had quite a dodgy haircut.”
It was the same story in Australia, Valencia, Belgium, Italy and a couple of others. Monaco was shaping up to be an outstanding fight to the end before a safety car ruined the spectacle. Read more…
So today was final practice followed a couple of hours later by qualifying. A very interesting day at the track. Vettel looked good, easily leading the practice session and took a fairly comfortable pole by almost two-tenths of a second.
Ferrari (and their thousands of supporters) must be content with their speed this weekend. A little distance behind Vettel, but clear of everyone else.
The practice session ended early when Sauber driver Pedro de la Rosa (who will be buying a lot of mechanics dinner tonight) brought out the red flag right at the end after damaging both the front and the back of his Sauber exiting Turn Four. It was clear early that the McLarens were off the pace this morning, taking fifth and sixth, and well over a second off the pace.
One note, Mark Webber never took part in the morning session after problems with the car.
Then to qualifying and times were not for credit. The Q1 session (to get the top 17) threw up a couple of surprises, the HRT have been (relatively) quick this weekend, both drivers qualified comfortably and for once was not bottom of the timesheets, that honour went to Jerome D’Ambrosio’s Virgin. Liuzzi had a big spin in Q1, but ended up 21st (out of 24) and the team seemed very happy with having both cars in the race.
Best of the new boys was Lotus (as usual), but still a little space to make up with the rest. Jaime Alguersuari was the last driver not to make it to Q2, the team has looked good at times this year and this is about where he’s been all weekend (I love having the printouts, makes it easier to compare).
After Q2 it was the usual suspects, Red Bull, Renault (paint looks even better up close), Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes all made it through to the final qualifying session.
This Q3 session does make great TV and today worked well live. It’s a very exciting five minutes with drivers clearly driving right on the edge in the hunt for pole.
Vettel really did look in control and knew what he had to do, and did it. He does make it look effortless and that’s the sign of a great driver. And unlike that “other” German actually seems to have a personality.
Alonso won the battle between the two Ferraris, beating Massa by a tiny 18-hundreths of a second. Alonso’s final lap was on the monitors at the track and he looked like he gave it everything to claim P2. Great stuff to watch.
Mark Webber was fourth, while McLaren and Lewis Hamilton were disappointed with only fifth. Nico Rosberg was sixth, Button seventh ahead of Schumacher. There is a significant gap between these drivers and the top three.
I get the feeling McLaren fancied their chances this weekend; they are off the pace and seemed rather mystified as to why.
Qualifying behind both Red Bulls and Ferraris was unexpected. A lot of people felt this was the weekend they track were supposed to start to make up ground and the ultimate pace is not close. Tomorrow is race day, nothing counts for points yet, but there were a lot of worried looks on the faces of the McLaren engineers this evening as they try to work out a solution.
The biggest question is what’s the weather going to do. The forecast is for showers tonight and through out tomorrow. That will make for a very difficult and unpredictable day for all.
What ever happens it’s going to be fun tomorrow. All by itself the noise of 24 F1 cars live is earth shatteringly incredible. Tonight is a reception and once again I will use the trouser press for something other than making toasties…
Time to leave the track, back to the hotel and nap time!
Made it to the track for the afternoon practice session. It was stopped a couple of times for accidents, but it ended with Alonso fastest, almost 0.369 seconds ahead of Vettel. Massa was third, Ferrari must be happy with that, even if in reality it means very little. McLarens are fourth and fifth, while di Resta ends a creditable sixth.
Good gosh it’s fun to hear F1 cars being driven in anger again. Very much looking forward to qualifying tomorrow when drivers start to push a little harder.
Big thank you for Brian for the tickets and invite to dinner tonight, time to press my trousers and put on a clean shirt 
. But first it’s nap time for an hour or two.
Yesterday I spent a lot of time with friends. A little time sitting on the beach and a quiet drink, followed by nap (which came after day-2, I’m really appreciating naps again) and then an evening sitting on the deck with friends drinking chocolate Martinis, explaining cricket, looking at CAT scans, deciding who is getting what, joking about work, telling rally stories and generally laughing my ass off.
It got pretty dark at times and it is a very different type of therapy, but damned effective last night.
Tracy get’s the Miata, she asked first. Carey gets the tools, he desperately needs some level of organization to his garage. Mindy gets to spread some of my ashes on my favourite rally stages, a little on Pikes Peak on the open hairpin bellow the W’s and a little more on the E-town stage in Maine, specifically on the “R4/C> !TREE OUTSIDE” (she was clear she needs some explicit instructions on the where). Mathew has first pick of my prints and on it went…
Yeah it was jet-black humour at times, but by fuck it was effective to know I have friends who know me well enough and were willing to go there. Being more of a quiet, sober observer last night perhaps made it even more effective.
And if the unsteady stagger to the car in heels was anything to go by (which got an ovation from those of us watching from the house, it was that impressive) at least one person will be keeping her husband awake tonight driving the porcelain bus.
Monday morning started way too early, as Mondays tend to do, with a drive to Vancouver to catch a direct flight to Toronto. The drive was almost spot on two hours and other than the early start a breeze. But in return for dragging my arse out of bed at 3:15 I was rewarded with a just magnificent sunrise over the Cascades.
The northwest really is a beautiful part of the world.
I sat in a restaurant in Vancouver Airport getting breakfast and the TV is on. The Canucks are playing for the Stanley cup and are up 2-0 in a best of 7 series with two narrow wins at home.
Game 3 is in Boston tonight and it seems like everyone who works in the airport is wearing a Canucks shirt or hat, all the screens in the airport have a “Go Canucks Go” ticker across the bottom
The first 15 minutes of the local news bulletins are about the Canucks, and even the local news is broadcasting from Boston today. This is a big deal, and it should be.
I digress and once again my narrative is non-linier (see I’m a writer, maybe not a good one, but I understand enough to recognise a non-linier narrative and yes the book is starting to get a little shape to it, thank you for asking).
As I was driving north this morning, just as the sun was peeking over the Cascades I suddenly felt absolutely over whelmed by what’s going on. I thought of my family in England, my just amazing friends.
A year or so ago my ex went into one of her monologues about how bad a person I was, how lonely and how sad my life was. I remember her saying that I will talk about my friends, but really I’m alone and sad. Classic ex for those who know her, making herself feel better by putting down those around her.
Something this morning reminded me of that lecture. Yes there is the irony is that as she is becoming more and more isolated as the year goes on, but that’s another discussion. Over the last year I seen time and time again that I have so many friends, some incredible friendships. I say this not to prove her wrong, as I stopped caring a long time ago, but because these people have always been a huge part of my life and there were times I let that get away from me a little.
I really do feel thankful for my incredible family and my friends that make up my surrogate family in the US. Thank you, no matter if you live in Washington, Vermont, Oregon, California or where ever, thank you from the bottom of my heart.
These are people that I believe in and in return believe in me.
I just started crying, I could not hold it in and had to pull over for a few minutes. The emotions were not of feeling sorry for myself, but being thankful for the richness of my life today. That I have so many people who get me and are willing to bring the discussions down to my level.
The support I’ve had over the last three years, especially over the last 5 days has been overwhelming and this morning the emotions got the better of me and all of a sudden it needed to come out. And it did while sitting on an exit ramp just south of Bellingham.
So to Tracy, Alex, Carey, Mathew, JB, Min, Rebecca, Mike, Carl, Bill, William, Roger, Kim, Tom, Deb, Kat, Andrew, Chris, Anna-Marie, Stephen, Bob, Rob, Rob, Rob and the rest of you, thank you so very, very much. Know the calls, the emails, your time and most importantly friendship is all greatly, greatly appreciated.
I have the richest and most wonderful life, and I appreciate that.
Barcelona in the book and Vettel has made it four wins out of five this season, a dominance reminiscent of Schumacher at is best. Today he did not have it all his own way and worked hard to fight off a great effort by Lewis Hamilton.
Clearly the Red Bull is the class of the field, but McLaren can be encouraged by their showing and for a time Hamilton did something I don’t think anyone else has done this season and took the battle to Vettel. The Red Bull driver did what the greats do and responded with faster and faster laps in what turned out to be a great duel in an entertaining race.
The Red Bull car was at it’s best on the fast, sweeping parts of the track and able to pull out enough of a lead in the final corners of that Hamilton had no chance under braking into the first turn. It would seem that once we get past the lottery of Monaco the following two races in Montreal and Valencia could suit the Red Bulls very well.
Barcelona is not a track renown for it’s overtaking, and after the record number of on-track position changes in Turkey it was going to be interesting to see what the Drag-Reduction-System (DRS) did here.
DRS is complex, but essentially if the second driver is a second behind the leading driver at a certain point on the track (Activation Line) they are allowed to open up a rear flap, reduce their drag along a designated straight and gain a little speed to challenge for the corner.
In the second half of the race Hamilton was almost always within a second as they crossed the DRS activation line, by the time they went through the big sweeper onto the start-finish straight the gap was always too large for Hamilton to have a run on Vettel into the first corner.
While DRS was not as big a deal as it had been, the new Pirelli tyres were the dominant story and this led to a number of 3/4/5 pit stop strategies. As always this made for a very interesting race.
This is home turf for Fernando Alonso in the Ferrari. He was fourth on the grid and made a lightning start. Overtaking Hamilton with ease and taking a run down the inside at the two Red Bulls into the first turn. He gave absolutely everything on the start and it was fun to watch Alonso have a go at the Red Bull’s over the first 8 or 10 laps.
Alonso could not keep that sort of pace up for long and did not have a spare set of the faster soft Pirellis after being forced to use an extra set in qualifying. His tires were done by lap 10, the first of his four stops.
Button on the other hand did a great job with preserving his tires and stopped only three times. After a bad start Button was 10th at the end of the first lap. His fight to get back to 3rd was a great drive and his run at Alonso down the outside of turn ten to take third was just superb. Today a three-stop strategy looked like the right call, but such was the speed of the Red Bulls and McLarens that they were the only four cars not to be lapped.
In the standings Vettel has a 41-point lead over Hamilton, that’s a big lead, but there is a lot of racing still to go this year.
And as good as Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Buttons drives were (and they really were) I think the best performance came from Nick Heidfeld in the Renault. He had a big fire early on Saturday and never completed a flying lap in qualifying so was last on the grid. He finished a superb eighth, behind the two Mercedes’s drivers.
It was a fascinating race, next weekend is the race everyone should visit once, Monaco. It’s a special place and a total lottery. It seems the McLarens are good on the slow, more technical sections, could it be their turn? It’s a place that occasionally throws form out the window and as ever it will be fascinating and qualifying could be an exceptional battle around the streets of the principality as everyone looks for a clear track.
After two days of watching racing and helping out the organizers a little my car was rather muddy.
By the end of two days of racing the track surface has the consistency of wet concrete with a lot of gravel in the mix. Difficult to drive on and it gets everywhere on the car. I only tootled along some of the better bits of the track in the Miata, getting out long after racing was done, and the car was packed with mud underneath. I must have washed off 25 pounds of mud today.
It was fun, and spending a few hours today with friends over lunch was telling and important. I have a very, very rich life.
