Crossing Over To The Other Side

Why can I not get excited about Kimi Raikkonen testing and racing a NASCAR Craftsman Truck?

When Juan Pablo Montoya started in NASCAR I thought he was the sort of driver who could do well. He had raced in the IRL and won the Indy 500, and he had never really fitted in in F1 as he was a “racer” not a corporate “driver”. He was more likely to crash trying to overtake you than execute the perfect pit stop strategy and win.

I guess I don’t see Kimi as that sort of driver. Maybe I am being harsh. We are talking about a driver who went rallying, because he wanted too! To give him credit, he is starting out his NASCAR adventure in the Craftsman Truck series. Many non-American drivers have tried to break into stock car racing by jumping straight into a Cup or Nationwide car and then failed to learn the craft or make an impact.

If you are going to make it work you have to do your time, earn the respect. Obviously you have to learn to drive the cars, but for a driver from a “European” background you also have to learn the etiquette. Grooves are an alien concept in most European racing, especially single seaters and that includes F1. In Europe we have a racing line, not grooves, we have no idea of spotters and quite frankly not many race cars even have three pedals anymore.

So which non-American drivers would I like to see testing or racing a NASCAR Craftsman Truck?

If, like me, you are from this side of the pond, you may have a favourite short oval driver who you would like to see have a shot at the big time. You may even have a favourite ex-ASCAR or Pickup Truck driver who could give it a go, or a BTCC driver you think might make it. But in terms of F1 or other international series?

With moderns form of communication and transport the world is not as big as it used to be, however in racing terms I still believe the world to be a big place.

I believe different parts of the world have different styles of racing that work in their own markets but don’t necessarily work in other parts of the world. In the UK we like F1 and touring cars. In Australia they love touring cars too, but theirs are very different to the UK machines. The same applies to Germany. In Japan they like a different sort of racing again. Americans love NASCAR, but we are not talking about moving championships, we are talking about drivers crossing over. Drivers like Marcos Ambrose, and JPM have switched disciples successfully. Others like Sam Hornish and Dario Franchitti found it much, much harder.

Would I like to see Messrs Hamilton or Button in a Cup car? No. I would rather NASCAR concentrate on developing the next generation of American stock car drivers.

I have nothing against international drivers racing in NASCAR as long as they earn their place, and as long as the series for the “good old boys” stays true to that.

Favourite Race Cars Part 1 - UK

With the motor racing off season upon us I find myself questioning... what does the author of a topical motorsport based blog write about when there is no racing??

The first answer I have come up with is to talk about what I love about racing, starting with my favourite race cars, so here we go... Part 1, UK racing 

BTCC

I grew up watching the likes of Andy Rouse, Rob Gravett and Tim Harvey racing 600+ BHP Ford Sierra RS500's. The cars were rear wheel drive, had 5 speed H-pattern gearbox's and were a "mans" car. The drivers had to manhandle the cars around the track and compared to todays front wheel drive econo-boxes were "real race cars". Oversteer anyone??




The day the BTCC went front wheel drive was a dark day for me. However the first few years did contain some very good racing! I was a John Cleland fan. So my favourite car of the FWD era has to be his Vauxhall Cavalier GSi 2000. Before Alfa Romeo came along the cars were still very production based, devoid of wings and splitters, and big arches. These were the big selling family cars of the day racing door-to-door, hard but generally fair (Mr Soper aside) across the UK. This picture must have been taken in practice as the car has both mirrors lol... 


UK CLUB RACING

In the mid 90's British club racing was pretty dull. Until the Eurocar package came along. Eurocar started out at a couple of short tracks including Birmingham Wheels with about six cars, and rapidly grew to the be the big hit of the 1990's.

First came the V6; what looked like a Ford Mondeo was actually a space-frame, rear wheel drive, left hand drive, 290bhp 2.9 V6 powered brute! It was NASCAR for the UK, down to the steel wheels, big steering wheels and BIGGER numbers. The cars raced two or three wide everywhere (including round Clearways at the Formula Ford Festival) thanks to the organisers and drivers adoption of oval racing etiquette, grooves and respecting each other's room, on the big tracks. Brilliant racing...

Then came the V8! Looking like a two thirds scale Winston Cup Pontiac Grand Prix, the cars were good looking (Mike Jordans MacTools car was very pretty), they even had a Roush V8 providing loads of power! The V8's never achieved their full potential but they looked and sounded great!

Lastly the Pickup Trucks! Two litre 16 valve engines, this time right hand drive for the UK circuits! Big grids again ensured great racing on the circuits! When the Rockingham oval opened the trucks were converted to left hand drive, and restrictor plate racing hit the UK! They are still racing, and while numbers may not be what they once were, the quality of the show is still as good as ever! 

V8 SUPERCARS

OK, not UK based, but I had to include them - 

The earliest memory I have of touring car racing in Australia, on TV, is of an in-car camera pointed at John Bowes feet, watching them dance as he drove Mount Panarama, Bathurst in a yellow Ford EB Falcon. V8, rear wheel drive, 3 pedals, H-pattern 'box... see a pattern forming here? Great cars, great track!



In 2001 Ford raced the AU Falcon in V8 Supercars. The car raced by Craig Lowndes, with its evil green eyes, and two tone Ford paint job was especially mean looking, and goes down as my favourite V8 Supercar!





OTHERS

TVR Tuscan - Another light weight, V8 engined, rear wheel drive, space-frame chassis beast of a race car. No patttern here honest!! Best one make series ever!!





Part 2... NASCAR...

Superspeeday Restrictor Plate Racing... UK Style

In the USA they have NASCAR.

In the UK we now only have Pickup Truck Racing. 

Thanks to a friend I went to Rockingham Motor Speedway at the weekend to watch the first two oval races of the 2010 LINE-X Pickup Racing Championship.

Due to the financial situation in the UK grid numbers are not quite what everybody involved wishes they were, but regardless of this the trucks still put on one-hell-of-a-show!

The top 10 trucks were nose to tail drafting at speeds around the 130mph mark, on Rockinghams 1.5 mile oval, for the entire 35 lap race. The racing is and has always been a high speed game of chess; this is restrictor plate racing in the UK.

I have always said there are three parts to a truck race at Rockingham. The first 15 laps are a bit of fun, the middle 10 laps are a game of chess, and the last 10 are down to business. Even with fewer trucks this is still the case. The drivers draft single file, 2 or 3 wide for a bit, sussing each other out, having some fun, seeing what the opposition has got. In the middle the good guys get themselves into line and work their way into a spot they feel they can race from at the end. The last 10 laps are a waiting game, waiting for someone to pull the pin and make a move.

Put it this way, at the end of the first race the top 6 were separated by just over half a second, were 2 by 2 across the line, with Phil White holding off the fast approaching, bump draft aided, and sideways, Steve Dance by just 0.021 of a second. Race two was more of the same with White winning by 0.041 of a second. Another dull Truck race then!!

If anybody behind the scenes ever wonders if the long hours required to make the series happen are worth it, those two finishes proved that there is life in it yet!!

The trucks make for seriously great entertainment, unlike the other races that day. Now there is nothing wrong with club motorsport, organised and run for the people in the cars, maximum track time, maximum racing; good old fashioned club racing. The pity for the Trucks is that they are this and so much more. Pickup Truck Racing has always been about putting on the best show possible for the fans, but without the support of a show biased package to race with fans are not going to sit for up to 3 hours between races in the wind and the cold.

The Trucks need to race with series that have decent numbers of cars on the grid and produce good racing. Put a package together with the Legends, MX5's and other club series that are good for the drivers to be a part of and also put on a show for the fans to enjoy.    

I feel sorry for Pickup Truck Racing as they appear to be on their own at trying to promote (non TOCA) fan biased motorsport entertainment... but what entertainment!