BTCC 2014 Review: Bringing the Thunder to Brands Hatch
Photo Credit: BTCC.net
After months of excitement and anticipation, the time finally came for the first round of the 2014 Dunlop British Touring Car Championship. There was no better proving ground than the hallowed tarmac of Brands Hatch in Kent. The Indy circuit provides a sub-50 second thrash of a lap, demanding both high speed and perfect handling. It will come as no surprise (based on the monumental BTCC-based output I am prone to) that this championship has and probably will always be my favourite motor sport series. So one can only imagine my uncontrollable happiness to be first hand witness to the rebirth of a racing phoenix on the weekend of March 29th/30th.
Passion for the Prancing Horse: Ferrari Racing Days.
Scuderia Ferrari, that’s what the letters SF stand for on the emblem for perhaps the most passion inspiring brand ever. Ferrari. Sydney Motorsport Park hosted the first ever Ferrari Racing Days weekend in Australia; covering April 11 to 13 which was an ideal opportunity to showcase the brand and, as it happened, the circuit.
Essentially, the FRD weekend was to show off the brand, by virtue of building a mini showroom, exhibiting some classic cars, running a few F1 cars covering some thirty years of Ferrari F1 history and inviting some privileged owners to drive their cars on the circuit. But the sheer exposure of the black horse on a yellow shield locally and, more importantly, internationally by having a round of the Ferrari 458 Speciale Pirelli Trofeo Challenge which included drivers from Indonesia, South Korea, Japan, Australia and the USA is priceless. Two races, over two days, plus twenty odd pilots seeing a circuit they’ve never driven on and being able to take that experience back to their home cities. An added attraction was the parade of cars, on Sydney’s freeway system, from the city to the circuit, of approximately 150 cars. Infrastructure was a major part of the event; in the paddock there were two entrances joined by a red carpet, joining a children’s entertainment area that also had the genuine F1 car driven by Michael Schumacher. A showroom with five cars, some classic cars such as a F40, F50 and Enzo, development cars in the form of the FXX and 599XX plus some truly historic cars added to the spectacle. On track were examples of Ferrari history, from a 348 Testarossa to the new California and more.
Biofuels – What’s Currently Being Researched?
There’s no doubt about it: there is only a limited amount of fossil fuel in the world. Even running around in hybrid or purely electric vehicles may only go part of the way towards solving the problem, depending on how the electricity used to power the cars in question is generated. If the electricity is generated by an oil-fuelled generator, electric cars merely move the issue of burning fossil fuels further along the production line. If the electricity is generated using something sustainable, then that’s less of a problem.
Enter biodiesel and other biofuels. Biodiesel is almost just like normal diesel except that it can be refined from vegetable and animal fats. At the moment, these oils are a tad more acidic than regular diesel, so biodiesel, if used pure (B100) has a tendency to wear out the rubber hoses and gaskets inside your vehicle. Car manufacturers are beginning to respond by making cars with bits that can handle biodiesel, but at the moment, only a few cars can handle pure B100. The Saab 93 Biopower is one example. Most require a blend, although this may be starting to change. Car manufacturers aren’t stupid.
Raising the Bahr for F1 2014
Over the weekend, the F1 monster machine made its way to the blistering shores of Bahrain. In the past, the Grand Prix at Bahrain has got itself a rather negative reputation, with accusations of both processional and lack luster racing. This in many ways is down to the laborious and ever repetitive circuit design by the grand emperor of tedium Hermann Tilke. An interesting side note, did you know that if you start typing his name into Google, the suggested searches include ‘Hermann Tilke boring’ and ‘Hermann Tilke ruining F1’. What does that tell you? Anyway, the first two races of the new season were hardly anything too spectacular given the level of media hype that has surrounded this new era of Formula One. So when Bahrain came around this weekend, I wasn’t really expecting very much.
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