Alonso romps home

 

Fernando Alonso drove a superbly judged race to emulate Nigel Mansell and Kimi Raikkonen, as he sped to victory on his debut for Ferrari in Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix. Alonso chased Sebastian Vettel’s fleet Red Bull fruitlessly in the early stages, when both were running the super-soft Bridgestone tyres, but had an advantage after they had respectively switched to the harder compound on Laps 17 and 16.

Alonso then began to hunt down the German, whose lap times got slower and slower until the moment of truth arrived on Lap 34. That was when exhaust problems hit the Red Bull and the Ferrari dived past in the penultimate corner, to grab a lead it never lost. Felipe Massa had also closed in driving the second Ferrari and passed Vettel as they braked for Turn One at the start of Lap 35. Crucially, however, Alonso put in some fearsomely quick laps to break his team mate’s challenge, after that there was nobody left to put him under pressure.

Read the rest of the race report on the F1 site.

Pity about Vettel but a solid performance from Michael Schumacher in 6th place.

Vettel takes first pole of the season

Our pick to win the 2010 F1 season, Sebastian Vettel has qualified on pole for Bahrain tomorrow edging out Felipe Massa.

Michael Schumacher in his first start since coming out of retirement has come in a credible seventh.

Bruno Senna, our outsdie pick came in an uninspiring 23rd out of 24 cars and looked well off the pace.

1 Sebastian Vettel  RBR-Renault
2 Felipe Massa    Ferrari
3 Fernando Alonso  Ferrari
4 Lewis Hamilton  McLaren-Mercedes
5 Nico Rosberg       Mercedes Benz GP
6 Mark Webber   RBR-Renault
7 Michael Schumacher     Mercedes Benz GP
8 Jenson Button   McLaren-Mercedes
9 Robert Kubica   Renault
10 Adrian Sutil   Force India-Mercedes

Planning to bet on Bahrain tomorrow?

BWIN Sports Betting & Gaming Click Here

Open letter from MSA chairman

Motorsport in South Africa has the capacity to grow ten-fold over the next five years. At least that’s the view of the newly elected chairman of MSA, Dr. George W. Nyabadza who has extended the following message to Motorsport fans in South Africa.
Read more…

Formula 1 Fantasy League & F1 Predictor

Formula 1 Fantasy League with SuperSport.com – starts Saturday 13 March
We’re up and racing with one of the most exciting F1 seasons of all time to look forward to. Last year’s constructors champion, Brawn GP, has now become Mercedes and current F1 champion Jenson Button has moved to McLaren to make up an all British challenge alongside former champion Lewis Hamilton. Speaking of former champions, 7 times winner Michael Schumacher is back in action for Mercedes which adds even more spice to the battle. The first round locks out on Saturday 13 March at the start of the qualifying session. Select a team of 4 drivers and 2 constructors now at http://fantasy.supersport.com/f1fantasy

F1 Predictor with Carmag.co.za – get your Round 1 predictions in now!
If you don’t have time to manage an F1 fantasy team but would still like to follow the F1 action, then Car Magazine’s F1 Predictor brought to you by Bridgestone is the perfect game for you. All you have to do is enter your result predictions before the start of each new race. Predict the finishing grid and fastest lap to score points and win great prizes. We have R500 SupaQuick tyre vouchers for each round winner and a massive R20 000 in cash prizes for our overall winners courtesy of Bridgestone. Enter your predictions for Round 1 now at www.ultimatedreamteams.co.za/f1predictor

BWIN Sports Betting & Gaming Click Here

Audi S4 vs. CL65 AMG Merc

I have to say I was a little surprised yesterday when I saw a street dice between two older gentlemen driving a new Audi S4 and Mercedes CL65 AMG – the Audi absolutely snot klapped the Merc off the line and didn’t appear to have any trouble keeping its lead.

The Audi S4 quattro® S tronic retails for R606000 and has the following engine specs:
Aluminum V6 spark-ignition engine with gasoline direct injection, DOHC, mechanical charger module with two intercoolers, two charge movement flaps, demand-controlled high-pressure and low-pressure fuel system. Top speed of 250km/h.

It weighs roughly 1700kgs.

The Merc I would have thought had more bite and while it might be physically a bit heavier it would have had more grunt. Who knows…?

Suffice to say it’s kudos to Audi – that S4 is nice!

Bold plan of action from MSA off-road motor racing commission

 bold plan of action to build for the future has been put into action by the MSA Off Road Car Racing Commission with four regional championship events to run in conjunction with Absa Off Road Championship national races.

Three Northern Regions and one KwaZulu-Natal regional championship events will run alongside high profile nationals. Northern Regions events will run alongside the Sun City 400, the Carnival City 400 and the RFS Magaliesberg 4000 with a KZN regional running in conjunction with the Sugarbelt 400.

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Season opens on 27 Feb at Zwartkops

The 2010 regional and club car racing season opens at Zwartkops on Saturday. An entry list of 200 competitors divided into Tata Super Saloons, Tata Modified Production Cars, Silver Cup, Goldwagen MotoEuro SuperHatch, single seatsers Formula GTI, Formula Ford, Formula Libre and Zwartkops Thunderbikes will ensure some serious action on the track.

The BMW brigade has a dominant position in Super Saloons starting with Paul Munro BMW M3 Coupe, Sav Gualtieri in his V8 eater BMW M3 Turbo, Johannes Kleynhans E 36 and Mike Trafoyer M3. These guys will have to contend with Corrie Uys Corvette, Anton Brits Mazda MX6 and Shaun O’Conner’s Mazda. The Super Saloons always put on a dramatic race even more so now that the safety car laps will not be consented as overall race distance. In other words they will have to keep going faster for longer.

The Tata Modified Production Cars continues to gain momentum however competitors will still have to contend with George Bezuidenhout touring car Nissan Primera.

The Goldwagen MotoEuro SuperHatch has drawn a series 45 car entry. A new record! Defending champion Jonathan du Toit will not be racing his Audi but has taken over his father’s prototype Camaro however, the previous year champion Mark du Toit will be out to regain honours in his Honda Civic. This will not be easy with the brave Claudette Vorster (neé Grover), Jeffery Kruger and Gary Silverwood. SuperHatch always provides real cut and thrust racing.

Sports Racing Association will also provide a revised field with some exiting new additions to the grid. The formula GTI and Formula Ford brigade will join forces to increase the dimension of single seaters racing. The Libre’s will then make up for even more variety.

Thunderbikes will as ever bring super Superbike racing to the program with Paul Jacobs, Stephen Steenkamp, Marco Pugi and Andrew Jones the most likely to take line honours.

Twelve categories 24 events and Zwartkops hospitality all ads up to an exciting days racing.

Practice starts early with racing from 10h00.

Adults R50, Students R30 and children under 12 free

See you at Zwartkops.

Toyota / Toyoda?

Does anyone else think that it is ironic that the President of Toyota is a man named Toyoda?

Small things amuse small minds but I have to say that it cracked me up that the president of the troubled car firm – Akio Toyoda has a name that similar to the company he manages.

Anyway that is just an aside – the main reason for this post is to discuss the impact of the troubles in the global automaker sector and try and work out whether or not it has changed your thoughts on what car you would buy going forward.

  • Has the recall at Toyota put you off buying one of their cars or do you believe that on the whole they have handled the issue well and haven’t done as much damage to their brand as the media makes out? Personally  I still would continue to buy a Toyota before probably 90% of other vehicles on the market at the moment
  • What about the US makers? Are the GM, Chrysler and Ford brands effectively in a death spiral? Ford rolled out a profit for the first time in a while recently and I recently overheard an American saying he would buy a Ford simply on the basis that he would be supporting US industry and brands.

Thoughts on these cars? Any brands you think are dying off or are going to successfully re-invent themselves?

South African Karters – why are they so good?

Ken Walker is a UK-based international kart commentator and journalist. A lawyer by profession, after many years as a freelance sports reporter for BBC Radio he turned his attention to kart commentaries. His first race call was for British Superkarts (250cc Shifters) at Silverstone in 1995 and his first international assignment was at Le Mans, France for European Superkarts in 2002.

Since retiring from his legal practice he has worked all around the world at kart events. In 2009 he was the English language commentator at the CIK World Championship in Macau, China, the Rotax World Finals in Egypt, and took up his regular series appointments with the Rotax Euro Challenge, the Florida Winter Tour and the Monaco Kart Cup.

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Zwartkop International Day of the Champion – 31 January 2009

Heroes day at Zwartkops will see all the greats of Motorcycle Racing on the track. Castrol / Honda Day of the Champion will feature 18 International riders competing with South Africans. The day will include Isle of Man winner including the most recent achievements of Steve Plater.

Heading the International contingent will be Mick Grant 7 times Isle of Man Tourist Trophy winner – together with such names as Alan Walker, Alan Cathcart (now Sir Alan Cathcart), John Chapman, Tony Salt… a long list of riders who will be with the South African contingent of big names Dave Paterson, Alan North, Bucks Boshoff, Howard Mellet, Jerry Anassis, Jimmy Guthrie, Kevin Hellyer, Keith Zeeman, Les van Breda, Peter Ekerold, Rodney Gray, Wayne Duncan, Wayne Heaseman… the list goes on and on. It’s the meeting of the greats and Legends in the world of motor cycle racing.

Of special interest is that Ian Scheckter – six times South African motor racing champion will return where it all started from – racing motorcycles. Ian will be a special guest and will ride with the greats on Sunday.

Yoshiaki Nakamura M.D. of Honda South Africa will also be racing over the weekend on a Honda RC171. Mr. Nakamura was a factory racer in the seventies and still shows the form that brought him to the fore. Steve Plater who won the 2009 British 600 Supersport Championship as well as the senior Isle of Man TT Series. He will be launching a special edition of the TT winning Honda Fireblade at Zwartkops. The Historic Motorcycle Group will feature a full field of racing motorcycles with such great names as Norton, AJS, Bultaco, Greeves, Triumph and the Japanese onslaught in the sixties with the screaming Hondas, Suzuki and Yamaha before the Italian empire struck back with the might of Ducati. Huge names of man and machine will all be at Zwartkops. The day will not only be for demonstration events. There will be a full field of racing classic bikes, the Suzuki SV Cup, more contempory Thunderbikes. The stars of tomorrow will feature the first race for the Honda NSF 100. This is the Honda initiative for development and young riders.

The SA Tourist Trophy “Day of the Champion” for historic racing bikes will be a new addition to the program. This will be a fully fledged race on the day. Not to be missed and big bike day of legends, heroes – past, present and future.

Entrance for Sunday only R60 per adult, R30 per student and children under 12 for free.

See you at Zwartkops.