The Blog of G

A while back I posted about an upcoming event where Nick Heidfeld and BMW were arranging to do some laps of the Nordschleife in a modern F1 car and I was thrilled by the prospect but also concerned that the parties involved wouldn’t have the cohones to give it a lash.

Well surprise, surprise there’s no new lap record, not even close, you can read about it here.

I’m thoroughly disgusted, I consider it a missed opportunity of gargantuan proportions, a tragedy, I’ve managed a faster lap than that in a Ferrari 355! (approx. 7 minutes 40 seconds from memory) All be it a virtual one in PGR3

I think so! That’s why we’re planning a three week european tour!:D

So far on the schedule we have, Stonehenge, Dunkirk, Nurburg, Amsterdam, Wiesbaden, Innsbruck, Monza, Maranello, Monte Carlo, Cannes, Aix-en-provence, Troyes, Maastricht, Spa Francorchamps, Gouda, back to Amsterdam and then home. We intend to drive this! I think it’s about 6650km before we drive around any of the places we’re visiting. Are we mad? Ask me in October

Some of the more astute readers will have recognised that a few of these places would have significance to Formula 1 fans like myself and Elly. Yes, we are taking in not 1 but 2 Grand Prix. What’s more there the last 2 european races of the 2007 season, add to that the fact that Monza and Spa are 2 amazing circuits which have always had amazing races and your starting to get a picture of why were calling this a holiday of a lifetime!

We were at the european GP in Nurburg last year, so why are we returning? Well, were actually heading for the old Nordschleife circuit. We have managed to get a ticket for the Ring Taxi. Which if your not familiar is basically 1 Lap of the old circuit in a BMW M5 with 1 of 3 possible ex- BMW test-drivers at the wheel, a guaranteed sub 10 minute lap. Who knows I may be inspired to take my own car round and see if I can manange a sub 10 minute lap on the fiercest race circuit ever.

We’re also planning to spend a few days in Maranello, the home of Ferrari but also the birthplace of the performance car, where the legend that is Italian Sports cars was born. Were hoping to do a tour of the various manufacturer’s one of the days this covers Ferrari, Lambourghini,
Pagani and more.

For now, I think that’s enough details but don’t worry, I will be talking more about this as we get more details tied down.

Before the F1 new season gets underway it’s worth mentioning that there has been a few last minute changes to the rules, thankfully Grandprix.com has it covered, I think the new tyre rule might backfire (why save the softer tyre?) but we’ll all know after Saturday night/sunday morning’s race.

Over on ITV-F1 they’re talking about Kimi being outpaced by Massa in testing, that could get interesting.

Meanwhile it was announced recently that David Richards and some buddies have bought Aston Martin. Why anyone would want to sell that brand I don’t know but I’m very curious to see what will happen there.

Other things that have caught my eye recently were the report that Melbourne was considering a night race. That would certainly make things interesting for the stewards! And that Bernie seems to think that the points system needs a bit of a change, I’m inclined to agree with his thinking, but I’d love to here what other’s have to say.

It’s been a while since I had an F1 post, but then the off season is never terribly interesting there is always some rumour or other, not a huge amount of news and the odd award. So here’s a quick round up.

First off the pre-season rumours of Silverstone’s demise from the calendar are back, (did they ever go away?) this time in some sort of weird Grand Prix swap with the French??? and shure lets fire in the threat of Donnington for good measure

David Richards is a busy man, what with running prodrive, Aston Martin’s racing program, getting his Formula 1 team on it’s feet and now, apparently, he’s trying to buy Aston Martin? hmmm here’s a thought Aston Martin F1 Vantage 2008.

Over in Ferrari land, well they are not missing Michael or both there drivers would like us to believe. It’s only fair to wonder is the ould fella is maybe over staying his welcome but then who could blame him, it’s Ferrari for gods sake Still it must be nice to know the books are all good, they look good in testing and Massa is picking up the Bandini Trophy in recognition of his impressive performances for Ferrari last season. Well deserved if you ask me. It’s not all perfect though, their recent TV commercial shoot went a bit pear shaped in Australia, hopefully though it’ll be the only bad luck for Ferrari down under in 2007.

Roll on March 18th