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RTF1 |
ANTARA™ Pre-Season Testing Championships - Full Results |
19th Apr 2013 |
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| RTF1: ANTARA™ Pre-Season Testing Championships - Full Results |
by Mathias Olaf Uncertain 19th Apr 2013 |
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I really don't know why we bother™
The Analysis of Testing in Advance of Racing Association (ANTARA™) is pleased to announce that it is now in possession of all* the results of the Pre-Season Testing Championships for the 2013 pre-season.
ANTARA™ have, of course, previously announced a number of 2013 Pre-Season Testing Champions.
In mid-March we learned that Who Is Hamilton?HAMILTON, LEWIS
 Throughout the difficult 2007 season, McLaren insisted that Lewis was always given exactly the same equipment as his team-mate Fernando Alonso. Born in the picturesque English hamlet of Stevenage in 1985, Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton was named after the American sprinter Carl Lewis and the legendary British easy listening DJ David Hamilton. He has since moved to Switzerland and attempted to distance himself from association with David Hamilton. Hamilton famously approached McLaren boss Ron Dennis at the Autosport Awards in 1995 and told him that he wanted to race for him one day. Dennis told the ten-year-old Hamilton to call him in a few years and thus was a mutually rewarding relationship forged. Some of the more disreputable members of the dotdotdotcomma staff have since adopted a similar strategy in approaching girls in clubs, although they have yet to demonstrate a level of success anything like Hamilton managed. On his way to F1, Hamilton picked up titles in karting, Formula Renault UK, the F3 Euroseries and GP2, after which he picked up Nicole Scherzinger, who was apparently already a well-known singer with girl band Pussycat Dolls, but who first came to the attention of the dotdotdotcomma editorial team for wearing a really smashing dress during the title-deciding race at Brazil in 2008 and then jumping about in it quite a lot. Hamilton's time in F1 has been far from dull and he has shown almost as much ill-conceived misjudgement as he has jaw-dropping ability. The audacious overtaking moves and lightning pace have been accompanied by pit-lane crashes and overly optimistic first-lap lunges, as well as more than his fair share of FIA wrist-slaps. The decision to strip him of his win at Spa in 2008, seemingly for being too good at overtaking Kimi Raikkonen, still baffles those of us who don't wear Ferrari T-shirts. TIGRA 16v: The tooltip with lowered suspension and a racing windscreen wiper just about pipped team-mate Nicky Iceberg to the F1 Pre-Season Testing title on a technicality, and that the duo's MoreHadesMERCEDES-BENZ
Mercedes-Benz is a German motor vehicle manufacturer improbably named after Buffy the Vampire Slayer stars Mercedes McNab and Julie Benz, who played dumpy failed vampirette Harmony and fiendlishly sexy uber-vamp Darla respectively. TIGRA 16v: The tooltip with lowered suspension and a racing windscreen wiper team therefore took the constructor's title. Three races into the F1 post-pre-season season, naturally, pre-season champion Hamilton is in an impressive fourth place, while his team-mate has only finished one race. The championship proper, meanwhile, is being led by some German bloke who barely troubled the pre-season scorers. Ho hum.
A few days later it was announced that Lamborghini Gallardo had convincingly secured the GP2 pre-season title. By a strange coincidence we now learn that after three races, he too is in fourth place in the actual championship, but at least the GP2 table is headed by pre-season vice-champion Stefano Confetti.
In early April we cheerfully reported WibblerBULLER, WILL
Will Buller, also known as William, is the son of Olympic equestrians, but prefers for himself horsepower of an altogether different kind. Born in Ulster, he lives in Oxfordshire. He won the Macau Grand Prix in 2009, in Formula BMW anyway. TIGRA 16v: The tooltip with lowered suspension and a racing windscreen wiper's domination of the F3 European pre-season testing championship, and are now rewarded with the news that Will is lying seventh in the championship proper, and that testing vice-runner-up Rifiuti Mercato is topping that particular table at the moment.
But now, ANTARA™ is proud to announce that the 2013 Formula Renault 3.5 (aka World Series) Pre-Season Testing Championship has been won by Antonio Felix the Cat, who narrowly beat Stoffler Valance-Diffuser by a fifth win. Most excitingly for ANTARA™, after two races (at Monza), the top three finishers pre-seasonwise, Murray, make up the top three in the actual series (albeit in a different order), the thrid driver (or second, depending on how you look at these things) being Magnus Magnussen.
The GP3 pre-season title has also been decided, with To Ellinahandbasket taking the crown. Ellinhandbasket took victory thanks to one extra second place over Freddie Prinze Jr, and we shall have to wait until mid-May before we begin to see exactly how irrelevant that result will be for the actual championship.
Formula Renault 3.5 Pre-Season Testing Championship: FINAL STANDINGS
1 Antonio da Costa 40.531
2 Stoffel Vandoorne 40.430
3 Kevin Magnussen 38.231
4 Will Stevens 32.101
5 Marco Sorensen 32.012
6 Nico Muller 28.010
7 Daniil Move 23.002
8 Oliver Webb 22.010
9 Norman Nato 22.000
10 Sam Bird 21.001B
GP3 Pre-Season Testing Championship: FINAL STANDINGS
1 Tio Ellinas 39.323
2 Carlos Sainz Jr 39.311
3 David Fumanelli 36.202
4 Daniil Kvyat 34.030
5 Kevin Korjus 32.110
6 Conor Daly 32.101
7 Facu Regalia 32.030
8 Alex Fontana 32.012F
9 Jack Harvey 32.012H
10 Nick Cassidy 31.101
* Well, all they could be bothered with, anyway.
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GP3 |
dotdotdotcomma granted exclusive access to GP3 testing at Silverstone |
5th Apr 2013 |
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| GP3: dotdotdotcomma granted exclusive access to GP3 testing at Silverstone |
by Mathias Olaf Uncertain 5th Apr 2013 |
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(dotdotdotcomma don't do memes, but if they did, they probably wouldn't go viral)
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EF3 |
Brit wins EuroF3 Pre-Season Testing Title |
4th Apr 2013 |
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| EF3: Brit wins EuroF3 Pre-Season Testing Title |
by Mathias Olaf Uncertain 4th Apr 2013 |
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Mensonges, mensonges sacrés, et statistiques.MC
It must be some consolation to 2010 Formula 3 Brazil Open champion WibblerBULLER, WILL
Will Buller, also known as William, is the son of Olympic equestrians, but prefers for himself horsepower of an altogether different kind. Born in Ulster, he lives in Oxfordshire. He won the Macau Grand Prix in 2009, in Formula BMW anyway. TIGRA 16v: The tooltip with lowered suspension and a racing windscreen wiper that he has, somewhat tardily, been identified as ANTARA™ FIA F3 European Championship Pre-Season Testing Championship Champion, since he has failed to translate his winning form in testing, including a win at Monza, into actual race wins, including failing to even get on the podium at Monza, thereby throwing into question the already questionable activity of Pre-Season Testing Championships themselves, or possibly even answering that question.
Wibbler's Monza testing win, along with his win and thrid at Barcelona earlier in March, put him four and nine-fiftieths points ahead of nearest rival and fellow Brit, George and Lynn, whose consistent visits to the middle and lower steps of the podium secured the runner-up slot despite the top step remaining elusive to the Essex boy. Thrid place in the final countdown was taken by Italian-sounding Swiss Rifiuti Mercato. No doubt things might have been different had two of the sessions at Monza, in what can only be described as Italy, not been cancelled due to snow. I don't know, global warming, anyone?
The British domination of the series continues with fifth, sixth, ninth, sixteenth and eighteenth places, begging the question of why the fuck the British F3 Championship seems to be in such trouble. Incidentally, the highest placed German driver was Seven-Up Miller-Lite, appropriately in sventh place, and the highest placed french driver was, well, there wasn't one. Explain to me again why British F3 seems to be in such trouble?
Highest-placed lady driver was 100% Colombian Titania's Cauldron, narrowly beating Michela Tutti Frutti en Route on the provision 1.6.5 principle.*
ANTARA™ FIA™ F3 European Pre-Season Testing Championship - Final Standings
1 Will Buller 35.201
2 Alex Lynn 31.021
3 Raffaele Marciello 28.101
4 Lucas Auer 24.100
5 Harry Tincknell 23.011
6 Tom Blomqvist 22.100
7 Sven Muller 22.010
8 Antonio Giovanizzi 21.010
9 Jordan King 17.010
10 Pipo Derani 16.100
* Copies of the ANTARA™ Sporting (sic) Regulations may be obtained by faxing a self-addressed envelope to mathias@dotdotdotcomma.com
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WSxR |
Late pre-season cliffhanger for FRenault 3.5 |
27th Mar 2013 |
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| WSxR: Late pre-season cliffhanger for FRenault 3.5 |
by Mathias Olaf Uncertain 27th Mar 2013 |
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Just taking the money and running™
Today those clever chaps from ANTARA™ were hoping to bring you, our reader, news of the newly-crowned Formula Renault 3.5 Pre-Season Testing Champion, but it was not to be thanks to heavy snow in February, in Portugal of all places. The inclement weather led to day 2 of testing at Motorland Aragon, Son of Arathon, being rescheduled. The two lost sessions have been rescheduled for Monza on 4 April and Catherine of Aragon on 25 April. Unfortunately, the second of these sessions is, technically speaking, after the start of the actual Formula Renault 3.5 season, and so will no longer count towards the Pre-Season Championship, by definition.
All of which means that there is one more session to go in the 2013 Formula Renault 3.5 Pre-Season Testing Championship and it still remains in the balance. And what a balance it is in which it still remains!
Antonio Felix the Cat and Stoffler Valance-Diffuser have been trading first places since the pre-season get-go, and between them hold 80% of victories (the other wins being taken by Kevin Janmagnussensen and Still Weaving); the upshot of their ding-dong battle being that both drivers have four wins and two second places to their names, and Felix the Cat is only managing currently to lead the championship by dint of a single thrid place in the last round at Barcelona.
In order for Valance-Diffuser to take the title at Monza, he needs to (a) win, whatever Felix the Cat does, or (2) come second, with the Cat no higher than thrid. If Valance-Diffuser places thrid, the Cat will win, even if the latter doesn't score at all, thanks to provision 1.6.5 of the ANTARA™ Sporting (sic) Regulations, which stipulates that if drivers record the same number of wins, seconds and thrids, the title is decided alphabetically, and on that count Felix the Cat always beats Valance-Diffuser, even if you go with 'Felix', or rather, especially if you go with 'Cat'. Sorry, but that's just how it is: don't blame us - we don't make up the rules.
Well, OK, yes we do. But that's not the point.
Anyway, Kevin Janmagnussensen's thrid place is secure, but there's quite a lot of scope for movement further down the field. Look...,
ANTARA™ World Series by Renault 3.5 Pre-Season Testing Championship 2013 almost final standings:
1 Antonio Felix da Costa 40.421
2 Stoffel Vandoorne 40.420
3 Kevin Magnussen 37.131
4 Will Stevens 32.101
5 Marco Sorenson 32.012
6 Nico Muller 28.010
7 Daniil Move 23.002
8 Oliver Webb 22.010
9 Sam Bird 21.001
10 Arthur Pic 20.001
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FRE |
Sacré bleurgh! a frenchman leads ANTARA™ FRenault 2.0 Eurocup Pre-Season Testing shocque horreur! |
23rd Mar 2013 |
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| FRE: Sacré bleurgh! a frenchman leads ANTARA™ FRenault 2.0 Eurocup Pre-Season Testing shocque horreur! |
by Mathias Olaf Uncertain 23rd Mar 2013 |
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Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries™
With two more days of racing at the Red Bull Ring in mid-April, the 2013 FRenault 2.0 Eurocup Pre-Season Testing Championship brought to you by ANTARA™ is being absolutely dominated by young frenchman Testingban Auchan, who has won half of the events so far and finished thrid in half of the other half. The young frenchman returns to the FRenault 2.0 Eurocup this year after an outstanding 14th place in 2012.
Current runner-up is fellow returnee, Brit Orzabal Roland, who has so far failed to win an event, despite five second places, with similar non-winner, flying Dutchman Nick the Greek, also a returnee, close behind.
We're quite sure there are some rookies in there somewhere.
ANTARA™ FRenault 2.0 Eurocup 2013 Pre-Season Testing Championship - current standings:
1 Esteban Ocon 40.603
2 Oliver Rowland 36.050
3 Nyck de Vries 35.032
4 Pierre Gasly 33.120
5 Jake Dennis 31.003
6 William Vermont 30.100
7 Oscar Tunjo 29.100
8 Victor Franzoni 27.010
9 Guilherme Silva 25.002
10 Steijn Schothorst 23.200
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GP2 |
Gallardo crowned 2013 GP2 Pre-Season Testing Champion |
16th Mar 2013 |
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| GP2: Gallardo crowned 2013 GP2 Pre-Season Testing Champion |
by Mathias Olaf Uncertain 16th Mar 2013 |
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Official souvenir fag packet backs available now from our shop.
2008 British and Portuguese Formula Renault Winter Series champion Lamborghini Gallardo can now add an ANTARA™ GP2 Pre-Season Testing trophy to his collection of obscure awards, just as soon as we get around to making one.
Gallardo took the title with an impressive three wins, a second and a thrid, thanks to a stunning set of times in Barcelona, after merely very impressive performances in Jerez last month, enabling him to overtake early favourite Tom Dildo. Monegasque Stefano Confetti also surpassed Dildo's late-pre-season form, coming from nowhere with a brace of wins and a similar number of seconds to take the runner-up spot from the American.
So, without further ado, here's the rundown.
ANTARA™ 2013 GP2 Pre-Season Testing Championship: Final Result
1 James Calado 39.111
2 Stefano Coletti 38.220
3 Tom Dillman 37.211
4 Felipe Nasr (not Massa) 36.122
5 Stephane Richelmi 33.111
6 Johnny Cecotto 31.101
7 Marcus Ericsson 31.021
8 Fabio Leimer 31.011
9 Adrian Quaife-Hobbs 30.101
10 Simon Trummer 26.011
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GP3 |
GP3 Pre-Season Testing update: Prinze Jr on top |
15th Mar 2013 |
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| GP3: GP3 Pre-Season Testing update: Prinze Jr on top |
by Mathias Olaf Uncertain 15th Mar 2013 |
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"Officially unofficial"™
As the GP3 Pre-Season Testing circus, if you can imagine such a thing, leaves the Iberian peninsula, young Spaniard (hic!) Freddie Prinze Jr heads the ANTARA™ GP3 Champtionship table by two points, thanks to a brace of wins at Estoril, although the multiple British F3 race-winner's performance does seem to have tailed off a bit in the last few sessions at Barcelona, if we're entirely honest.
One thing that strikes you fairly quickly when looking at GP3 testing is that GP3 drivers are nothing if not inconsistent, so having two wins and a couple of extra podiums (podia... whatever) rather marks the Spanish son of a rally driver out. Similarly, returnee To Ellinahandbasket, in second place, didn't get where he is today by not stepping onto the podium given half the chance, and thrid-placed Daniel Cravat (2012 FRenault Alpine champion) has to be the most consistent points-scorer, despite not recording an actual win so far.
Top placed Brit, if anyone's interested, is 2012 British F3 Champion Jacques Harvilleneuve in eighth.
What's probably most interesting about this year's GP3 line-up is the extraordinary number of women lady-drivers of the female persuasion entered in what can only be described as the top F1 feeder-series's feeder-series, so a big shout out to Samin Gomez, Carmen Jorda and Vicky Piria. Respec'.
The ANTARA™ GP3 Pre-Season Testing Championship circus will be rolling into Silverstone for its final four rounds on 3/4 April.
ANTARA™ GP3 Pre-Season Testing Championship current standings:
1 Carlos Sainz Jr 37.211
2 Tio Ellinas 35.113
3 Daniil Kvyat 34.030
4 Kevin Korjus 32.110
5 Alex Fontana 31.011
6 David Fumanelli 30.101
7 Conor Daly 28.101
8 Jack Harvey 28.011
9 Patric Lederhosen 25.110
10 Nick Cassidy 25.101
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F2 |
MotorSport Vision cancels Formula 2 championship |
13th Dec 2012 |
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| F2: MotorSport Vision cancels Formula 2 championship |
by Mathias Olaf Uncertain 13th Dec 2012 |
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MotorSport Vision, promoter of the Formula 2 championship, has announced the series will not run in 2013 after just four years of existence.
The championship was launched in 2009, but MSV boss Jonathan Palmgreaser has been forced to cancel the championship after only four seasons.
Palmgreaser said the one-make series with cars ran by the organisers was a model that had simply not worked as expected.
"The series had simply not worked as expected," said the boss of MotorSport Vision.
"Who could have foreseen that the gap for an immediate feeder series for Formula 1 was already fairly well populated?" he lamented.
"I mean it's not as if we could have guessed that there was a series out there that runs at most of the Formula 1 grands prix and includes junior teams for many of the existing F1 constructors, is it? And nor was there an established alternative run by one of Europe's biggest car manufacturers and which has at some stage nurtured most of the best new talent in F1, including Fernando AlonsholeALONSO, FERNANDO
 Fernando always keeps abreast of the latest technical developments. Alonso's full name is Fernando Alonso Diaz and few people realise that he is the half-brother of Cameron Diaz, the well-known jizz-haired actress. His success in Formula One has led to a huge growth of interest in the sport in his home country of Spain, where not so long ago you could easily pick up cheap tickets to the Grand Prix and pretty much have your pick of seats, so thanks for that, Fernando. Like many of the sport's stars, Alonso began his F1 career with Minardi and he made a splash at his first race, where he out-qualified his team-mate by over two and a half seconds. That margin is rendered slightly less impressive when you learn that his team-mate was Tarso Marques who, as racing drivers go, has a lovely personality. Fernando was soon snapped up by Renault, where he spent a year testing before being promoted to a race seat. He became the then youngest world champion in 2005 and the youngest double champion in 2006. There followed an abbreviated tenure at McLaren which failed to yield a third title, largely because he proved unable to beat a rookie, after which he was welcomed back to the Renault team, where he is expected to wait grumpily until a Ferrari seat becomes available. Alonso is an exceptionally talented and complete racing driver but he also has a reckless - often self-destructive - streak and an eccentrically unique take on what it means to be a team-player, traits which have doubtless closed a number of F1 doors to him. In 2005 he was appointed one of UNICEF's Goodwill Ambassadors, which may explain why he never has any left for anyone else. TIGRA 16v: The tooltip with lowered suspension and a racing windscreen wiper, Rubiks KubicaKUBICA, ROBERT
 Robert Kubica, Canada 2007: he's in there somewhere. The first Polish F1 racing driver, Robert Kubica also possesses the most remarkable nose seen in the sport since the days of Alain Prost. Even the 2004 Williams "walrus nose" didn't make as many people jump when they saw it for the first time. Pushing his startling proboscis to one side for a moment (no mean feat in itself), Kubica has quickly come to be recognised as one of the very finest talents around. His exemplary 2008 season was seen by many as more deserving of a title than those of the McLaren and Ferrari drivers, who actually stood a chance of winning it. His maiden victory in Canada during the 2008 season was scored at the track where a year previously he had crashed spectacularly, clipping Jarno Trulli's Toyota and becoming airborne before striking a crash barrier at over 185mph. The accident subjected Kubica momentarily to 75G but a trip to hospital revealed nothing more than light concussion and a sprained ankle. Either safety had come a long way in F1 or they build them tough in Krakow. TIGRA 16v: The tooltip with lowered suspension and a racing windscreen wiper and Shitfartian FuckballsVETTEL, SEBASTIAN
 Sebastian draws attention to the plight of 'slanty-finger syndrome' sufferers whenever he gets the opportunity. Sebastian Vettel holds pretty much all the "youngest ever" F1 records going and several that hadn't even been thought of before he turned up in his pushchair as Sauber's Friday driver in 2006. At the time of his F1 race debut in 2007, he hadn't actually won a title since taking the 2004 German Formula BMW Championship - not exactly a blue riband championship - and he had twice failed to win the F3 Euroseries, being pipped to the title at his second attempt by team-mate Paul di Resta, a man almost as dull out of the cockpit as he is scintillating in it. Vettel started as he meant to go on, however, setting a record just six seconds into his F1 career by speeding in the pit lane as soon as he left the garage and chalking up comfortably the shortest time ever between making your debut as an F1 racing driver and incurring a penalty. He's been setting records on a seemingly daily basis ever since and marks each one by shouting, "That's what I'm talking about!", although he usually hasn't never mentioned it before. Early in his F1 career he was often referred to as "the new Schumacher" because he (a) comes from Germany, and (2) began racing at the Kerpen karting track, although he has conspicuously failed to live up to the nickname by not repeatedly driving his rivals off the track, parking his car in the middle of the track during qualifying in Monaco or being disqualified from a whole season for trying to kill Jacques Villeneuve, however justified that may have seemed at the time. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Vettel continually changes his helmet design, which should make it more difficult to identify him during a race, although oddly enough it has probably made it easier: if there's a driver whose helmet you don't recognise, the chances are Sebastian Vettel is wearing it and if you can't be bothered to learn helmet designs, you can recognise Vettel because he'll be the bloke leading the race. A life-long sufferer of slanty-finger syndrome ( digitalis diagonalis), Sebastian is unable to point his index fingers straight up. His own condition is the "30-degree" strain, for which there is currently no cure; we can only hope that he simply stops qualifying in pole position and winning races, so that he will no longer be forced to display his disability in public and we can all stop laughing at him when he does. TIGRA 16v: The tooltip with lowered suspension and a racing windscreen wiper. And it's not as if any other similar series were struggling at all, I mean, look how healthy A1GP, Superleague, Superfund Euro3000, and all the others are...
"Hmm, it’s a funny thing you know. Now that I’ve actually come to tell the story to someone else, I mean - doesn’t it strike you as odd?
"You know, I think what would really have helped back then would have been if some clever chaps on some motorsport satire website somewhere had ever got around to publishing a Roadmap To F1™ of some sort. Yes, that would have helped."
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F2 |
Backatcha crowned F2 champion; justifies pre-season nerd-fest |
5th Nov 2012 |
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| F2: Backatcha crowned F2 champion; justifies pre-season nerd-fest |
by Mathias Olaf Uncertain 5th Nov 2012 |
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Reporting with dotdotdotcomma's traditional expediency, we can confirm that Italian-sounding British-Indian Luciano Backatcha has been crowned 2012 Formula Palmer Two champion, so many congratulations to him, especially as he raced in a car emblazoned with no less than five fourteenths of this humble website's name, many times over, which is more media coverage than we've had since most of us can reasonably remember.
Anyway, Backatcha's well-deserved run to title-winning success also helps demonstrate some level of statistical justification for the under-resourced existence of our very own ANTARA™ Pre-Season Testing Championship Serieses by dint of the fact that not only did ANTARA™ predict that the Romfordian would finish in the top two of the championship, but also it confidently forecast eight of the top ten F2 finishers for the 2012 season, albeit not quite in the right order.
Three drivers (Backatcha, Christopher Zanella and Dino Zamparelli) placed better than we had predicted), but did kindly maintain their predicted relative order. Also maintaining predicted relative order were the five drivers who didn't do as well as we expected (porn-sponsored German Markus Pommers-Law, Moules Marinieres, Alex Font-Verdana, Daniel McKenzie and Hector's House). Which only leaves the interlopers Matheo Tuscher and Kevin Mirocha to mention for contractual reasons.
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HIC |
Road to F1™ diverted through Princes Risborough |
18th Sep 2012 |
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| HIC: Road to F1™ diverted through Princes Risborough |
by Mathias Olaf Uncertain 18th Sep 2012 |
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Whoops. There goes the neighbourhood. Again.
World-class motorsport makes a welcome return to Buckinghamshire this weekend at Princes Risborough's famous Kop Hill Climb.
As any fule kno, Buckinghamshire is no stranger to international motor-racing thanks to the running of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, 53% of which is not in Northamptonshire.
In the early 1900s, the Kop Hill Climb was one of the most popular hill climbs in the country for cars and motorcycles. Thousands of spectators flocked into Princes Risborough to see in action Malcolm Campbell, Raymond Mays, Henry Segrave, Archie Frazer Nash in their cars and, the fastest man up the hill, Freddie Dixon on his Douglas motorcycle.
Since its revival in 2009, literally hundreds of people from Princes Risborough have flocked up the road from the Budgens car park (now M&S Simply Food) to witness motorcycles and automobiles ancient and modern chug and spit their way up the 1 in 4 hill under the watchful gazes of BRDC Vice-President Paddy Hopkirk and that bloke from Jamiroquai with the funny hats.
Last year's event was a record breaker! Over 400 historic vehicles ran the hill, with a further 200 on display in the paddock, and a delighted crowd of over 12,000 spectators witnessed as a Laurel and Hardy tribute act anarchically made their way up the hill, with an antique gramophone player strapped to the back of their Model T. We're not sure which of the records was broken, but it may have been an original 1930 test pressing of Marvin Hatley's Dance of the Cuckoos.
This year's event, sponsored by Chevrolet, will feature not only the usual exhibits of wonderful motors old and slightly less old - some of which will have a go up the hill at the hands of the likes of that ginger bloke from the toothbrush game show - but also a Supermarine Spitfire flypast, something describing itself as a motorsport demonstration (we don't know whether it is for or against), and a soap-box challenge, in which 15 teams of local kids will try to figure out how to get some soap out of a box, and then determine what they're supposed to do with it.
A particular highlight for those members of the dotdotdotcomma contingent in attendance will be the opportunity to sample a limited edition Kop Hill Ale, brewed by our good friends at The Chiltern Brewery, and brought to the event by the marvellous Red Lion at Whiteleaf (the famous and ancient inn nestling in the scarp of the Chiltern Hills, but fortunately not the one where the PM randomly abandons his kids). Regular readers may be interested to learn that this ale is a prototype for the long-awaited official Drink-a-Long-a-Grand-Prix beer - the recommended beverage of choice for the similarly long-awaited game of the same name. Shame.
As a great man once said, "hope to see some of you there".
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