Gun shooting Saudi drifting is brilliantly scary [video]

A smooth new asphalt motorway with a constant layer of blowing sand makes for great drifting conditions. As a result, an Saudi Arabian style of drifting has emerged in recent years and it is known as Hagwalah.

Source: http://feeds.worldcarfans.com/~r/worldcarfans/Jxfz/~3/sSnPIgws208/gun-shooting-saudi-drifting-is-brilliantly-scary-video

Andrea de Cesaris Francois Cevert Eugene Chaboud Jay Chamberlain

Pastor Maldonado - classic F1

Pastor Maldonado is the latest driver to choose his five favourite all-time grands prix for BBC Sport's classic Formula 1 series.

The Venzuelan has made quite an impression one way or another in his first season in F1.

On the plus side, he has out-qualified his team-mate, the veteran Rubens Barrichello, an impressive six times in 14 races so far this season.

Not so positively, he has yet to shed a reputation for occasional wildness that followed him from the junior categories, and was on full public display when he drove into Lewis Hamilton's McLaren in qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix. The incident earned Maldonado a five-place grid penalty.

Pastor Maldonado

Maldonado not only came to F1 with the backing of President Hugo Chavez and his country's state oil company, he also came to the sport relatively late in life.

He is 26, relatively old compared to the age many drivers make their debut these days. That almost certainly explains his selections for this blog - which span the last 30 or so years and would be classed as all-time greats in anyone's book.

The 1979 French Grand Prix

This race is famous for two reasons: the thrilling duel over second place in the final three laps between Ferrari's Gilles Villeneuve and Renault's Rene Arnoux; and for being the first win for a turbo-charged car.

That second landmark, achieved courtesy of Renault's Jean-Pierre Jabouille, has been rather overshadowed by the first.

"This race was before I was born but I have seen it many times," Maldonado says. "It was so great because they were racing wheel-to-wheel, overtaking each other and switching positions. It was amazing. You don't see action like that very often!"

The 1984 Monaco Grand Prix

Another event famous for many reasons: a controversial win by Alain Prost; Nigel Mansell crashing out of the lead; and two stunning drives in the wet by rising stars Ayrton Senna and Stefan Bellof.

Prost led from the start in heavy rain but was passed early on by Mansell, who crashed six laps later, blaming the embarrassing incident on his rear wheel losing grip on one of the white lines on the track.

Senna, whose natural talent more than made up for the deficiencies of his Toleman car, then began catching Prost, with Bellof, driving a Tyrrell and, like Senna, in his first season of F1, making inroads into both.

As the weather worsened, Prost, driving a McLaren, began gesticulating for the race to be stopped, which it was as he completed lap 32, just as Senna caught and passed him on the pit straight.

The decision to stop the race was controversial because the man who made it, clerk of the course and former F1 driver Jacky Ickx, was employed to drive Le Mans cars by Porsche, which made McLaren's TAG-badged engine. Ickx has always denied he was influence in any way.

"It was an amazing race to watch, as Senna came from the very back in just a few laps to catch race leader Prost," says Maldonado. "He was overtaking everyone which was even more impressive being in Monaco where it is difficult to overtake anyway. He was amazing in the rain."

The 1989 Japanese Grand Prix

A favourite among many of the grand prix drivers this season, this was the first of two consecutive Japanese races in which a crash between McLaren drivers Prost and Senna decided the world championship. It was, as Maldonado points out, "the end of a difficult two-year rivalry for the team-mates".

Prost led much of the race but was eventually caught by Senna. As the Brazilian tried to pass at the chicane in the closing stages, Prost turned in on him and they collided. Prost climbed out of his car but Senna rejoined the race, pitting for a new nose cone before catching and passing Benetton's Alessandro Nannini.

However, that was not the end of the drama. Senna's win would have kept the title battle going until the final race of the season but he was controversially disqualified for missing the chicane and Prost declared champion.

The 1993 European Grand Prix

This race at Donington Park has gone down in history as one of Senna's greatest drives and is another favourite among the current crop of F1 drivers.

"There are so many great races from Senna it is hard to single any one out," Maldonado says. "He was always amazing in difficult situations, with incredible instincts, and this was a perfect example.

"From fourth on the grid, he read the changing conditions perfectly, unlike anyone else on the grid, as the race went from dry to wet and back again. He ended up winning by over a minute by the chequered flag! It is like magic watching him."

The 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix

Relatively recent it might be but already another all-time classic. McLaren's Hamilton and Ferrari's Felipe Massa went into the race, the last in the season, contesting the world championship.

Massa survived a late shower of rain to win the race but, as the Ferrari pit celebrated, Hamilton slipped past the struggling Toyota of Timo Glock at the final corner to take fifth and the title.

"It was so great so see a race go right down to the wire like that and then change at the very last second," Maldonado recalls.

"With so much at stake, it was great as a viewer but not so great for Massa. It was so close I never forget seeing both teams celebrating at the same time not realising what had happened."

As always, we pick one race to highlight in the blog and, ahead of the street race at Singapore this weekend, we have chosen the 1984 Monaco event.

The full grand prix programme of the time is embedded below. Underneath it, to whet your appetites for the action to come this weekend, are short and extended highlights of Fernando Alonso's superb victory for Ferrari in last year's Singapore Grand Prix.

In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions. If you're reading via RSS, you'll need to visit the blog to access this content.


CLICK HERE FOR HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 2010 SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX
CLICK HERE FOR EXTENDED HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 2010 SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX

Short highlights from France 1979, Japan 1989, Europe 1993 and Brazil 2008, plus extended highlights from Monaco 1984 and Singapore 2010 will be broadcast on the BBC red button on digital television in the UK.

On satellite and cable, the classic races will be available from 1500 BST on Wednesday 21 September until 1055 BST on Friday 23 September, then from 1235 BST until 1425 BST on Friday 23 September.

On Freeview, they will be shown from 1235 BST until 1425 BST on Friday 23 September.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2011/09/pastor_maldonado_-_classic_f1.html

Slim Borgudd Luki Botha JeanChristophe Boullion Sebastien Bourdais

Why Michael Schumacher Could Win The 2011 World Championship

Michael Schumacher?s 2010 comeback was somewhat abortive.  The results, the driving standard and the overtakes were well below par for the former champion.  He even let his team mate beat him for the first time in his career.  So why can Schumacher, the fallen Ferrari hero, win the world championship for an 8th time? It?s [...]

Source: http://f1fanatics.wordpress.com/2011/01/14/why-michael-schumacher-could-win-the-2011-world-championship/

Bob Christie Johnny Claes David Clapham Jim Clark†

Five ways to improve F1


Emerson Fittipaldi in his heyday © Sutton Images
In an interview in the Times, former world champion Emerson Fittipaldi?s outlined his five-point plan to enhance Formula One. Cut costs ?They spend a fortune in wind-tunnel testing alone. Reduce costs and the slowest teams would catch up and make it more even.? Limit downforce ?They need to reduce enormously the downforce in the cars, the only way to bring back overtaking. We need more mechanical grip so that you have longer braking areas, can set up the car coming out of a corner, get in the slipstream and then overtake.? Close the pitlane ?When the safety car goes out they should close the pitlane. Now it?s just a lottery.? Lift ban on team orders ?It is a very stupid rule. It?s why they are called teams, it?s why they have two cars. If a driver is leading in the championship, everything has to go in his favour. What is wrong with that? It?s so easy for teams to camouflage their orders anyway. All they need to do is tell one guy on the radio he has a problem with his brakes. They can bend the rules very easily. In the old days they would even swap cars, so why do we have this ban now?? Retain traditional grands prix ?These places are the soul of racing. The Americas are under-represented. We have Canada back, but there is no USA, no Argentina, no Mexico. We need to stay in the heartlands.?

Source: http://blogs.espnf1.com/paperroundf1/archives/2010/11/five_ways_to_improve_f1.php

Lorenzo Bandini Henry Banks Fabrizio Barbazza John Barber

Massa threatened with jail over team orders


© Getty Images
Brazil?s F1 fever may have overstepped the mark after a local prosecutor threatened Felipe Massa with a six-year jail term if he ?defrauds? the sporting public by letting Ferrari team-mate Fernando Alonso past at Sunday?s grand prix. The story, reported by a local paper and picked up by the Daily Telegraph, is the latest of several anti-Massa reports to emerge from his home country since the team orders controversy at the German Grand Prix earlier this year. The Daily Telegraph's Tom Cary reckons that Massa simply isn't living up to his home crowd's high expectations.
?A public raised on a diet of Emerson Fittipaldi, Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna were simply appalled and saddened in equal measure by Massa?s apparent lack of ambition.?

Source: http://blogs.espnf1.com/paperroundf1/archives/2010/11/massa_threatened_with_jail_ove.php

Tony Brise Chris Bristow Peter Broeker Tony Brooks

PE grilles?

I must admit that I am a little bit clueless on how to remove the plastic grille and install the PE parts. I have a few kits that I am working on with PE detailing kits.

On a high level, I realize that you have to cut/grind the kit's plastic grille, leave the shroud (etc) and glue in the PE parts. What I really don't grasp is the best way to do this without ruining the parts that I need to save. Tutorial?

TIA

Steve

Source: http://cs.scaleautomag.com/SCACS/forums/thread/980010.aspx

Ken Downing Bob Drake Paddy Driver Piero Drogo