Reminiscing 31 December 2008
Posted by grandprixinsider in Formula 1.Tags: Jimmie Johnson, Lewis Hamilton, Sébastian Loeb, Scott Dixon
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31st of December - Final day of a year that – for me personally – was all about changes. Like the whole World out there I had my fair share of bad news to digest. But in the end change can be for the better. That’s how I prefer to face it. In terms of motor racing we have seen great competition and fresh faces making their dreams come true, Lewis Hamilton certainly being the most popular of new champs. And others, like Sébastien Loeb, Jimmie Johnson or Scott Dixon just keep getting better and better. Inside this post you will find all the champions of the most important automobile racing categories. And, as a bonus, there’s a list of champions of past decades from 10, 20, 30 40 and 50 years ago. Sometimes it’s funny to find a famous name inmidst karting champions or junior formulae revelations. I would also like to thank you for visiting my blog throughout 2008, contributing to the 75,000 visits we reached today, and to wish you and your family a great 2009 with hopefully lots of good news and great racing action always. See you next year 
Oh, those Germans – Beaten by an Austrian 30 December 2008
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In only its second year running Group 5 rules cars the DRM or Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft, at the time Germany’s premier tin top series, was a huge success with more Gr.5 entries than the World Championship of Makes they were originally intended for. And after Division 1 Porsche driver Rolf Stommelen having secured the inaugural 1977 title, the 1978 champion would come out of Division 2.
Tuesday, 30 December 2008
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30th of December – Back in November 2007 I published a story in the Brazilian version of this blog about efforts being made to find ways to put a 3rd Ferrari for Fernando Alonso on the F1 grid. If you can read Portuguese, HERE it is. My little piece about the 3rd Ferrari was published in MOTORSPORT Aktuell, too. And my findings were duly rubbished by some. Since then Banco Santander have signed a sponsorhip deal with Ferrari and there’s talks of Vodafone doing the same for 2010. Why do you think? We lost Superaguri and Honda’s withdrawal nearly reduced the grid size for 2009 to 18 cars. Renault will quit at the end of 2009, if the team’s not sold before that – not an easy thing to do inmidst of a fierce global financial crisis. As FOM guarantees a minimum of 20 cars on the grid to their contractual partners, Bernie Ecclesteone is said to be pushing top teams to field a 3rd car. And Ferrari seem to be taking up this option for Alonso. Not an easy thing to do, even if only planning the pitlane allocation…
Monday, 29 December 2008
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29th of December - Today is the 20th anniversary of Mike Beuttler’s passing and he is also remembered for showing up with the a privately run and a rather surprisingly self-assembled March 721G as of the 1972 Monaco Grand Prix. Do you know what the story behind the 721G model is and what the “G” stood for?
Sunday, 28 December 2008
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28th of December – Straight forward. Can you name all of the drivers taking part in the driver’s briefing shown above? And, of course, I’d like to know where and when this meeting took place. Easy, huh?
Saturday, 27 December 2008
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27. Dezember: Last Wednesday I offfered a pic of a mistery driver in a 1993 Williams FW15C Renault V10. Well, today I’m offering a shot from another F1 key person having a go at a Williams FW11 Honda V6 Turbo a decade earlier. Any takers on this one? I admit, it’s an unlikely one. You’d probably be very, very surprised…
Friday, 26 December 2008
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26th of December – Last Wednesday I asked who the man shown at the wheel of the splendid 1993 Williams FW15C Renault V10 might be and actually Carlos got it right: It was the designer of that remarkable piece of engineering himself who is commemorating his 50th birthday today: Adrian Newey. Congratulations! Actually he’s is quite a keen racer himself and emerged unscathed from a sizeable crash at the 2006 Le Mans Classic event in his own Ford GT40. A total brake failure caused Adrian to skid along the guard-rails and finally hit the barriers at the second chicane. Luckily he walked away unhurt from what was, by all accounts, a huge accident. The GT40 was badly damaged in the crash, but has since been fully rebuilt.
Thursday, 25 December 2008
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25th of December – Today is Wilson Fittipaldi’s 65th birthday and what an opportunity to show off his 1975 Copersucar FD01 in its original design (top). Along the 1975 season the bodywork suffered a series of necessary but estethically rather challenging improvements, as you can see on the FD03 below. By the way. Do you know what the “D” in the FD typology stands for?
Wednesday, 24 December 2008
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Pic of the week: This shot was taken at the end of the 1993 season, obviously showing a Williams FW15C Renault V10. But who’d be the driver that’d been invited by Sir Frank Williams and Patrick Head to take the Drivers’ and Constructors’ title winning machine for a lap? Any takers?
P.S. OK, I’ll give you a hint: His birthday is coming up these days…
Tuesday, 23 December 2008
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23rd of December – For decades race cars taking part at international events had to be liveried in the colours of the entrants county of origin. In 1935 Siam, which in 1949 would become the kingdom of Thailand, would have its racing colours defined by Prince Bira of Siam. Initially consisting of a pale blue colour, as of 1939 a yellow horizontal stripe was added as well as having the wheels painted in the same colour, too.
