1) Had drivers with balls…

2) Had tracks that didnt just lead them in left hand circles…

3) Had cars that were infinitely cooler…

This is what it would be like.

I am a motorsport fanatic. I love most forms of car racing. However, my attention wanes when it comes to American car racing. Im sorry but IRL is just F1 for NASCAR fans and NASCAR is just plain boring.

I introduce to you (NASCAR fans) what your sport would be like if the Australians ran things. In short, it would just be cooler. Australian V8 Supercars are Australia’s version of NASCAR wrapped up in a racing series all their own. All the wheel banging, tough racing, grumbly noise making cars that produce about the same power to weight horse power and go about the same speed that America loves with the epic tracks, amazing driver skill and racing action Europeans love. What a perfect blend. Unfortunately, this series and in particular this race, aren’t broadcast in the US so you have to know where to look to watch it online.

This past weekend was the 1000km of Bathurst. Run on the Mount Panorama circuit in Queens Land Australia, the circuit is Germany’s Nurburgring’s little brother and just as challenging. Check out this video. Gives you a great sense of what the series and Mount Panorama is like. They just dont make tracks like they used to anymore.

Change We Need.

Unlike Barak Obama’s slogan, “change we need”…this is actually change we need and the change we may get next year, in this Ferrari fan’s opinion, is a good kind of change.

Let me first start with a quick history of my involvement with F1. I watched my first grand prix on satellite tv in may 0f 1999. At that time, Eddie Irvine was second fiddle to the great Michael Schumacher. Since then, as most of you well know, I have lived and breathed everything Ferrari F1 related. Ive been to 4 grand prix’s since 2005 and have faithfully stood by the team through scandal, success, and failure…which is more then some of you can say right now.

Alonso’s Transformation

In 2006, Fernando Alonso was in the heat of battle for the F1 world driver’s title against 7 time champion and Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher. At the Italian Grand Prix of that year, Ferrari driver Felipe Massa was held up by the Renault of Alonso during qualifying. Massa’s lap was “ruined” and he started much farther back then he would have liked. Because Alonso impeded unnecessarily the pace of another driver, he was given a grid position penalty for sunday’s race. In a post qualifying interview, Alonso said of his penalty that is was totally unfair and that he felt the FIA was biased toward Ferrari and that he no longer considered F1 a sport. For those that follow, you know Alonso’s Renault engine exploded going into the first turn mid way through the race the following day and it appeared that the title had swung back toward Schumacher who had got off to a very slow start early in the season. At the Chinese Grand Prix several weeks later, Alonso scathed that his then teammate, now Ferrari temporary second driver, Fisichella was not helping him win the championship and that the Renault team was doing nothing to help him either. He said he felt alone and in the team and was bitterly angry about it. I lost most of my respect for Spaniard during that 2006 season. His constant whining and its all about me atmosphere made me resent him. Schumacher lost the title after his engine blew going under the tunnel at Suzuka the race following the Chinese grand prix and then blew several tyres during the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend and losing his chance for an 8th title.

2007 rolled in and an unhappy Alonso was signed to the Mclaren team replacing Kimi Raikkonen who was angry that the Mercedes power plant that gave his car power was unreliable at the best of times. 2007 was a turning point for Alonso. Again, Alonso fumed that the Mclaren team gave him no respect and favored British rookie Lewis Hamilton. Say what you want about the cheating scandal that year, but 2007 was not a good year for Alonso. The final race in Brazil became the most fortune filled race of Raikkonen’s career which eventually landed him the World Driver’s Championship for the first time by a mere point. Raikkonen drove with style all year. He has always been known for his stunning drives, though his leadership ability has been questioned from the start of his career. Team player would not be a word that describes the unemotional Fin.

Alonso again returned to Renault for the 2008 and 2009 seasons after a severe falling out with the team and team principle Ron Dennis. 2008 was highlighted by an unlikely win, thanks to Nelson Piquet and the upper echelons of Renault in a cheating scandal that landed Alonso on the top step of the podium and a legitimate race pace win at the following race at Fuji Japan. Other then those two races, Alonso and his car struggled to find grip and the pace to keep up with the front runners. 2009 has also left Renault struggling for pace and though a recent podium at the fateful location of last year’s cheating scandal gave the team some hope for the future after Briatore was banned from F1 forever for the scandal at last years Singapore GP.

So, with sunday evenings announcement that a Ferrari and Alonso deal is imminent, and the speculation is that Ferrari current driver Kimi Raikkonen will get the boot back to Mclaren leaving Alonso and Felipe Massa to run the Scuderia. F1 and Ferrari fans on facebook have flared up on both sides of the fence and surprisingly, a majority against Fernando Alonso joining the Italian squad. Some people argue that Raikkonen has been morally wronged and that they as fans “no longer wish to support the team” and that Alonso is the worst thing that could happen to the Ferrari squad and his “cheating ass should not be given a Ferrari drive until hell freezes over.”

The point of this lengthy article/blog post is to the hypocrisy of those of you who do not feel Alonso should be dressed in red next year and most importantly, does not deserve to be dressed in red next year. Bear with me through the remainder of this post and then feel free to comment on what I have said below. I am not using bias or any other sway. I am simply giving you facts from history and pointing out that even those you support blindly are not perfect but if you call yourself a Ferrari fan, which I personally do, you should support the decision of the team and what is best for the team. NOT the individual driver.

For the record before I begin, I am a huge Kimi fan. I have a finnish flag hanging in my room, I was cheering him on for every race he was wearing red. I love the guy. He drives with skill nearly unmatched in the F1 paddock…but only when he wants to.

Alonso the Cheater?

I like someone with a clean slate to come to ferrari like vettel, but alonso has just got so much bad history, yes he won two [world drivers championships] but it was surrounded by scandals.

A driver involved in just about every scandal in F1. A reputation that exceeds him in all the wrong ways.

Oh how quickly we forget. I present three videos. All of the same driver at different points in his illustrious career. Am I a Schumacher fan? You bet! The biggest. Am I proud of what he did at certain points in his career? Of course not! But Schumacher’s (the hero to a majority of Ferrari fans) career was by no means squeaky clean. He cheated to win at least one championship and it is arguable the team forcing Rubens to step aside in Austria in the early 2000′s was absolutely unnecessary yet Schumacher played along with it anyway. My point is that you slam Alonso and call him a cheater, yet the man we all worship was dirtier then Alonso’s backside. Yet he (Schumacher) did it all to win races…what is the difference? No one is perfect. Has Alonso been involved with scandal? It seems like it, but we all got behind Schumacher and his scandals were arguably worse then Alonso’s yet we forgave him and supported him none the less.

1) Adelaide 1994. Hill vs Schumacher. Schumacher deliberately turns into Hill and they both suffer damage but Schumacher had the points lead so he won the championship.

2) Jerez 1997. Schumacher tries the same move on JV. This time to no avail. Schumacher crashes out and JV continues to win his only WDC.

3) This one needs no introduction. God knows how many laps around Monaco Schumacher has done. Deliberate? You bet it was and he suffered and was crucified for this action.

Passion = Scuderia Ferrari

Smile...No Smile...Smile...Smile..Guess which one won the race?

Scuderia Ferrari literally translates from Italian to English as “Team Ferrari.” And Ferrari as a team is about passion. Passionate fans. Passionate drivers. Passionate people. Arguably why Ferrari as a team has been involved with so many scandals is because of their passion for winning. Kimi Raikkonen, as good a driver as he is, has no passion. He answers interviews in dull one liners. He joined Ferrari after the 2006 season because it seemed like in his mind, Ferrari would give him a better shot at a WDC then Mclaren could. And Ferrari delivered for him. So was Kimi’s reason for joining the team for himself or to improve the team? For himself! He got what he wanted and settled at that. He is what..the third highest paid athlete in the world and has at least double Massa’s salary for the same car to drive? That doesnt seem like a team player to me. It seems like Ferrari wanted to keep a driver that had a better statistical average at the time of winning races and Ferrari’s salary offer was the highest so that is where Kimi landed. Personally think money is money to the guy. He’ll drive a turtle if he thought it would win him races.

On another side of the team work aspect is helping your teammate. I have seen and listened to MULTIPLE interviews where Kimi was directly asked something along the lines of “Your teammate is much slower then you this weekend. Have you compared data?” And almost always, his answer is something along the lines of “I don’t know what Felipe is doing, nor do I care.” Schumacher and Massa were always helping one another and I believe Alonso and Massa will do the same.

One comment that was brought up about a potential Alonso and Massa pairing at Ferrari was…

Alonso & Massa in one team is not going to work. They are one of a kind with having everything their own way & not taking the other driver in consideration. Massa will not stand back for Alonso.

Geez. They look like they hate eachother dont they...

Ferrari is more then Winning.

Alonso has LONG made it known that he would ultimately like to drive for the italian team. Every driver says that but not many ever get to actually do it. Would you not rather have a driver that wants to drive for Ferrari because it is Ferrari then a driver who wants to drive just because it goes fast and wins races? There is SO much more to Ferrari then winning races. Yes, Ferrari are a successful team but they have not always been so. Hearing certain people bitch and moan about how they no longer want to support the team is sickening and what is worse, they call themselves tifosi none the less. That is in no way shape or form a tifosi attitude. No wonder the people that are up in arms about Kimi’s maltreatment are the ones jumping ship right now. You, like Kimi only want to see him win races over the team winning races. I have favorite drivers too. And I will even admit Alonso was never one of them…until 2008. He became humble. Courteous. A leader and dare I say it…an all around amazing driver on and off the track. His rough 2008 and 2009 seasons have made Fernando Alonso the driver he has always been destined to become. Someone to replace and help lead the team back to the top of the grid. Kimi Raikkonen cannot do that. He doesnt know how to do that. He knows how to drive his car fast, but he lacks the team support. His fans love him because of his no bullshit attitude but that has finally worn off now that success has gone out the window. As it was so aptly put…

You never know which Kimi you’ll get on race day.

But you do know which Alonso you’ll get. Youll get a driver who wants to drive for Ferrari. Youll get a driver who wants to carry the team and his teammate forward with him and the fans that support the team as tifosi, should and will stand by him for that. Mark my words. With Fernando Alonso at the helm and Felipe Massa standing at his side as an equal in this team, Ferrari will know no limits.

Feel free to comment.

Lance Armstrong

So as many of you know, from July 4 – 26th, le Tour de France,  the worlds greatest and most grueling cycling race is taking place in France. Hundreds of the greatest cyclists in the world are risking life and limb to wear the yellow jersey given to the overall leader of the Tour. I am working a 1-10pm shift at work today so I slept in a bit and when my body clock eventually woke me at my regular alarm time of 8:30, I flipped on the TV for lack of something to do that early in the morning. The Tour is being aired live every day until July 26 at 8:30 am every day so I naturally turned it on. 

The point of this post is not to talk about the Tour or how the stage went this morning but rather to vent about what came after on the broadcast had ended around 11am EST. Versus, the TV network that airs the Tour in the states, has a program called “Fanarchy” where a team of 4 regular sports fans chime in via skype or something like it and have a raging debate about topics that a moderator chooses. 

The firs topic was one that dealt with the tour. The question was “Is the Tour de France the hardest sporting event in the world?” Now regardless of your opinion of cycling or even if you feel the Tour is in fact the most grueling sporting event in the world, you have to have some serious respect for the riders that do it. I mean imagine that every day for 23 days you ride a bike race that covers from 60 to 120 miles over terrain from flat as a pancake to the steepest roads in the world for a grand total of 2200 miles in the saddle.

Now I am no proclaimed cycling genius nor even above average at it, but I have raced in 4 triathlons and would like to do a cycling race soon. During peak seasons, I ride over 100 miles a week which compared to these Tour guys is a pathetic amount. When the question above was given to these 4 average sports fans (two guys, two girls) to fight about here is a basic approximation of the conversation that followed..

Guy 1: “Think about it! Cycling is kind of hard but youre on a bike! I mean really!! The worst thing that could happen to you is that you fall and skin your knee!”

Girl 1 and 2: “WOW. You have to be kidding me. You need to go to your local gym and sign up for a spin class and see how hard it really is.”

Guy 2: “Oh wow, yeah because you took a spin class at Gold’s that makes you an expert in cycling.”

Guy 1: “Lets be serious here. There are sports that are hard, but sitting on a bike is not one of them.”

I turned the TV off after that in absolute anger. Forgive me but I have done enough cycling to know what is hard and what isnt. I had a facebook status last week when the tour started that said something along the lines of “if everyone had a road bike, there would be no fat people.” Biking is one of the best work outs for your body. You will build lungs, your legs will be like steel, your arms will get muscled up, your abs, back muscles…everything. I dont know of a muscle group that isnt worked, and worked hard on a good bike ride. Now I’m not talking about a mountain bike. Im talking about a road bike with tyres that are an inch wide and can get you moving faster then a van down the interstate. I have personally topped out at over 56mph down a hill in KY. Now think about that and what guy 1 had said. If you pop your car door open and jump out as you drive down the interstate..do you really think that the worst thing that will  happen to you is a skinned knee? In fact, in 1995 one of Armstrong’s teammates, Fabio Casartelli, died going 55mph during a descent from the Pyrenees in the Tour de France.  Maybe it’s me, but that is slightly worse then a skinned knee. 

And even though the girls were defending cycling and the tour, their example of a spin class at gym is not even comparable. While the motion of a spin bike is the same at the gym and the muscles are the same, you eliminate the factors that make biking what it is. I mean, spin class is in an climate controlled building with a TV screen in front of you for your entertainment. Biking for exercise is about a lot more then the bike. Its about wind resistance, road surface, heat, humidity and 100 other factors that cannot be replicated in Golds Gym. I honestly feel that if everyone had a bike, people would treat bikers on the road with a lot more respect when passing them in a car, and a lot more respect as a sport.

Below is a youtube clip from the 2003 Monaco Grand Prix pole lap with Ralf Schumacher.  

After watching that video, I’ll now walk you through some of the things that struck me about the real life track as seen by my eyes and appear distorted and not quite true on the TV pictures.

The first of which is turn 1. The infamous Sainte Devote. Looks fairly straight forward on TV right? WRONG. It is actually blind and uphill. That isnt mentioned much by commentators but the bottom of the finish stretch is actually slightly up hill and at the speed these cars are moving, it is totally a blind corner where they need to pick their turn in before they actually do it.

The second thing I noticed about the track is the climb toward casino square. Very few of the tv shots show just what a climb it is! It is probably a 10 or 15 degree angle and while that may not seem like much, it is. You are really climbing a hill as you go up that and you can definitely feel it in a car.

Thirdly, the track is so incredibly narrow. At its widest point, it can’t be more then 20 feet wide and again, while that may seem wide enough, its barely a two lane road.

The approach toward Mirabou is also pretty crazy. This is more evident on TV broadcasts but the road is so uneven that the cars have to swing left then right then left again as they approach Mirabou to avoid the worst parts of the road.

As some of you may remember from my travel diary, my family went to Europe with the main intention of attending the glitzy and glamourous Grand Prix held each may. We had not arrived in Monaco yet for the unusual thursday practice but we were docked in in Monaco Harbour on the Windstar cruise for friday saturday and sunday. Friday, I dragged the family into town to watch the GP2 race. The noise, even from those underpowered cars was incredible. I don’t think I had heard anything quite that noisy ever. The vibrations off the cliffs and buildings shook your insides to the core. And they weren’t even running at 19,000 rpm like the F1 cars did.

Saturday was a beautiful day and my dad and I walked across the city to our grandstand seat at Portier corner at the entrance to the tunnel. It was a beautiful and small grandstand situated RIGHT next to the perfectly blue/teal ocean front. I remember Sebastian Vettel in the Torro Rosso was the first to turn a lap in qualifying. He came around the bend coming from turn 7 and screamed toward us before turning right at Portier and powering off into the tunnel with the noisy end of the car pointed straight at us. The sound was beautiful. That is the only way to describe it. F1 cars are interesting because the more you are around them, the more intirciate details you pick up about each one. Like for instance, I remember the BMW of Nick Heidfeld at the 2006 Indy GP would always upshift at the exit of the very fast turn 13 right below where we were sitting and the sound was deafening of the car backfiring all while upping the revs to the second last gear. Likewise, my dad and I both noticed that the Honda’s of Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello were both by far the noisiest of the engines out there. Don’t know if they were running higher revs but they were certainly a few decibels up on everyone else.

The race was cloudy and wet, but I didnt care. I was at the Monaco Grand Prix and I don’t think I whipped the smile off my face once. After watching this morning practice sessions, I am having some serious flashbacks and would give nearly anything to be back in the principality for the Grand Prix. The way F1 is going these days though, it may be the last F1 race in Monaco.

Dear Max (NAZI loving) Mosley,

I’ve been ok with all the changes you and the FIA have made. I’m ok with the aero updates. I’m ok with the testing restrictions. I’m ok with giving us fans more accessability via more radio communication.

But what I’m NOT ok with is Max trying to turn F1 into NASCAR. What I like about F1 is the glamour. Thats partly why I think the rest of the world loves it, especially Europe. Glitzy is common. Think disco clubs, grey goose vodka, fast agile cars, famous and glamourous cities, ridiculous hospitality homes on Grand Prix weekend and gorgeous women. That is what makes F1, F1. F1′s appeal to me is it’s inaccessibility to the common man. Its foreign and unusual. Its a live I’ll never live and thats why I watch. To see the most advanced, and loudest cars on earth tear up the tarmac in exotic countries like Monaco, Singapore, Spain, Australia and others.

NASCAR is for the commoner. The uneducated southern hick who loves watching his fellow shirtless west virginian neighbor shotgun a beer and scream “junior!” all while a fat woman flashes the crowd as 43, 800 horse power, cars roar by on a speedway that could fit in my backyard in some backwoods race track.

I would rather see F1 die then become a sport like that. Max, you’re about to lose a majority of the current teams, a large majority of the fans that support your fat wallet and NAZI orgy activities and jump on some other motorsport’s bandwagon.

MotoGP is sounding enticing about now. I’ll follow whatever Ferrari is doing. And if theyre not in F1, I’m not following a sport that has lost it’s roots in favor of new tracks that bore the hell out of me and have no heritage. I’d rather see no passing on Italy’s famous Imola track then watch the cars line up behind each other in Valencia again. I’d rather see races like the British GP, Canadian GP and USGP on the calendar then see a race held in North Korea or India.

How dare you take all but one race away from the western hemisphere. Circuit Gilles Villenueve is one of the best races you had on the calendar and you and Bernie have shot yourselves, and a large number of fans that reside in North America, in the foot.

Change or lose fans until you and Bernie are in your grave.

Enjoy the part around 3 mintues, 10 seconds. That poor BMW driver must have been shitting his pants. Porsche goes right…Viper goes left. F1 fans, that moment may remind you of the Belgium Grand Prix at Spa in 2000 where Hakkinen and Schumacher split a back marker car heading into Le Combes. Anyway, enjoy. Epic stuff right here. THIS is real driving talent. I have the utmost respect for Rally drivers and anyone that can throw down for lap after lap on the ‘ring.’ Its absolutely nuts.

To honor their dedication and hardwork, I am (self) publishing a book titled, “the Last Saturday in April.” The purpose is to provide a photo documentary analysis of the races from sun up to the last race. I was the track photographer on the day and came away with 700 or so images. Many of them are quite good, if I may say so.

Here is a slideshow I’ve added of the photos I took on race day. Please have a look and comment if you like. The hardcover book will be available via individual sale by me for $50.00 each. Enjoy the slideshow!

No, I’m not talking about F1 2009 the real racing series…I’m talking about F1 2009, the video game. As my bio page tells, I enjoy relaxing and kicking back after a long day at school or job and playing XBOX. It has been since 2001 that a Formula One game has been launched on Microsoft’s console, the Xbox (now XBOX 360). At that time, the  F1 game was developed by EA Sports (I will not go into how I feel about them in this blog. In short, I think their sports games are worthless, unoriginal and overpriced with very few redeeming qualities).

To continue reading my game wishlist for Codemaster’s Formula One 2009, please click HERE. I have moved it to a gaming specific blog.

Vettel takes his second career GP win for Red Bull/Renault © Red Bull

The date was June 17th, 2007 at Indianapolis Motor speedway, location of United States Grand Prix 2007. 19 year old German BMW test driver Sebastian Vettel became the youngest points scoring Grand Prix driver in history. Vettel got this opportunity to replace regular BMW driver Robert Kubica after Kubica had a horrific accident the week prior at the Canadian GP slamming into a wall after his wing came loose and got lodged under his front tyres causing him to lose steering.

Vettel’s drive, for the experience he had under him, was stunning. He finished his first race 8th and scored 1 Championship point. Since the USGP 07, I have been a Vettel fan for a number of reasons.

1) He is almost exactly my age (July 3, 1987)

2) He is unique among Grand Prix drivers in that he legitimately cares about his team, he is a leader, and he shows appreciation for the men and women who get him to the races each week.

3) Michael Schumacher sees some of himself in Vettel.

That last one was big for me. Schumacher, one of my most admired sporting athletes is a 7x World Champion and is generally known for being able to pick out the best of the drivers. He has served as a mentor to Felipe Massa who lost the 2008 Championship by one point. The fact that Schumacher supports and publicly acknowledges that Vettel is quite a thing to hear.

Vettel took a race drive for Scuderia Torro Rosso during the remainder of the 2007 season, replacing wild card Scott Speed. Immediately after replacing Speed, Vettel drove the car like no one had done prior.As all race driver do though, Vettel had a string of bad luck in the majority of the remaining races. His worst error coming at the Japanese Grand Prix in torrential rain where he accidentally slammed into the back of (current teammate) Mark Webber behind the safety car. Consequently, he was served quite a bit of flak by the Formula One fan base. Vettel cried publicly on TV after hitting Webber and many called for his exit from F1 saying he was not mature enough for the sport yet and after having made such a ghastly mistake, he should not be given another chance. He stayed with it and finished the season well. Most memorably at the Chinese GP in 2007, Vettel brought the inferior Torro Rosso home 4th right behind Felipe Massa’s Ferrari.

2008 started with a series of rough races for Sebastian Vettel. In my opinion, his retirements in the first 4 races of 2008 were caused by a series of first lap collisions. His qualifying pace was stunning but because he didnt make it more then a handfull of laps into the race, once more F1 fans called his driving poor and unskilled. In particular, I remember a woman saying that “Vettel was talentless and immature and lucky in what he had done.” I saw him drive again at the Monaco GP in 2008. In damp conditions, his drive was stunning. He was 5th around the twisting and difficult streets of Monaco. That is no easy feat. The remaining races of 2008, he MORE then made up for the rough start with a 6th, 5th, a historic win, 5th, 6th, 9th and finally passing world champion Lewis Hamilton in the wet for a 4th in Brazil. While those numbers would be dissapointing for a Ferrari or Mclaren driver during 2008, in the weak Torro Rosso STR-3 chassis, it was magic. His teammate barely made it through the races during 2008 in the exact same car.

2009 has started fairly well for Vettel. After a disastrous mistake in Australia that was his own fault and admittedly so, he won the Chinese Grand Prix this past weekend. In pouring rain, he drove from pole to a magical first win for Red Bull. Like his win in Monza last year, Vettel drove flawlessly and now finds himself in the thick of the hunt for the early world championship.

Martin Brundle was quoted saying Vettel is “the perfect racing driver.” At 21 years of age, there is no one on the grid with as much potential as Vettel. His ability to woo a team and be a leader reminds me of a combination of Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher. He is not a ruthless driver in the garage but on the track, his driving speaks for itself.

Say what you want about his mistakes but two wins in 2 years of F1 racing are excellent figures and betting against Vettel being a future world champion is a poor decision. You can count on me following his career closely and having the privilege to say, I believe when very few others did.

An onboard lap of Australia with then 20 year old Sebastian Vettel driving the Torro Rosso STR-2

This is the outside of the building. It is brand new as of august of 2008. You can bet your ass my room will be covered in Ferrari flags and posters of the most gorgeous F1 cars through the 60 years F1 has been around