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Pikes Peak 2011

#motorspurts

LIVE guide to weekend's motor racing; June 22nd - 26th

UPDATED! *WARNING!* This page contains live webcams, twitter feeds and further links. It may take a while to load. Races covered in this post: Pikes Peak International Hillclimb, NASCAR, IndyCar, Intercontinental Rally Challenge, GP3, GP2, Formula 1, Seat Leon Cup, Porche Carrera World Cup, ADAC 24 Hours Classics, ADAC Nürburgring 24 Hours and Climb to the Clouds. Click at your own responsibility. ;)

Run to the Hills

The 24 Words of Le Mans 2011

Le Mans in the 80s

Does Bahrain Need F1 Right Now?

The answer simply: NO. Going a little bit deeper the answer is quite obvious, so let's start with the obvious.

We should point out at the beginning: the case of the Bahrain Grand Prix is not a moral question on behalf of the FIA, it never has been. If it was a moral issue, then F1 wouldn't have gone there, or Hungary, or China, or South Africa for decades for that matter.

The Bahrain case is a primarily safety problem (still on behalf F1) which is unfortunately heavily rooted in moral matters. F1 has stayed out of politics so far (quite wisely) and it was words of wisdom cancelling the event from the calendar at the beginning of the year due to the Arab Spring and the unstable situation.

The FIA forcing the series to return to Bahrain later this year however broke that barrier and stepped to a yet uncharted and controversial area. Any move from now on will be examined through a magnifying glass.

First of all, no one wishes to go there. Neither the teams or the drivers, and supposedly their sponsors would stay out of controversy, too.

If a race to be held then FIA should risk the followings, for example:

• general safety hazard (á la US GP, 2001)
• self-proclaimed protesters on and off track (á la German GP, 2000)
• boycotts from teams, suppliers (á la US GP, 2005) [this could lead to highly dangerous outcomes on behalf of a disappointed audience]
• sponsors leaving, avoiding controversy (á la post-Singapore GP, 2008 case reveal)
• long-term reputation loss for the sport

...and the list could go on endlessly. Even if a race could be pulled off without any setbacks, F1 would still be accused of intervening domestic affairs of a country. The problem is, FIA had already trespassed that line.

The only reasonable solution would be to back off ASAP.

Agree? Disagree? Share your view!

The Afternoon of Revving Dreams - Gumball 3000

"Seems you got slightly disoriented right there” said the Hungarian border guard with a smile on his face as I misinterpreted his hand gesture and almost got the car in the opposite lane. “Yeah, wasn’t the first time today” I said, sweating all over in the heat and turning the old Ford four-banger off. It was the miles, the temperature, the rush hour, the foreign capital, the masses of one-way streets, the sometimes strange and seemingly inconsequent road signs, the fear of the car being towed away for parking illegally, the crowd, the cheering, the revving of turbocharged straight-6s, V10s and the applause in the – by all means beautiful – Croatian capital, Zagreb. As I waved goodbye to the guards knowing that neither them nor I would be able to afford the cars I had seen just a few hours prior, it was me putting up the smile and carrying on with my personal “Gumball 250″. This is the story of a small portion of the real deal: the Gumball 3000 in Zagreb, Croatia, on the last day of spring, 2011.

Read the rest of this entry here.