Motorsports Calendar, 25-27 March 2011

[Matthew Little]

Often times, the month of March is compared to both a lion and a lamb(though not in that order per se.......); this year's no different. It came in as a meekly lamb............the last weekend of March sees the motorsports calendar explode like a hungry lion. Here, then, lies the motorsports calendar for the weekend of 25-27 March 2011...........

~~IndyCar Series: Honda Grand Prix of St. Pete[Streets of St. Petersburg, 1.8-mile hybrid street circuit]
~~World Rally Championship: Rallye de Portugal[Vilamoura, Algarve, Portugal]
~~NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Auto Club 400, Auto Club Speedway[Fontana, Ca., 2-mile Michigan-style oval]
~~NASCAR Nationwide Series: Royal Purple 300, Auto Club Speedway
~~FIA GT1 World Championship: Rd.1--Abu Dhabi[Yas Marina Circuit, 3.451-mile road course]
~~SCCA World Challenge Series: Rd.1--St. Petersburg[Streets of St. Petersburg]
~~FIA Intl. V8 Supercars Championship*: Albert Park 400, Albert Park Circuit[Melbourne, Australia--3.3 mile temporary road course)
~~FIM World Superbike: Rd.2[races 3-4]--Donington Park, Leicestershire, England[2.468-mile natural terrain road course]

There are a couple of support events on the calendar as well..................
~~Firestone Indy Lights: Streets of St. Petersburg
~~Star Mazda Series: Streets of St. Petersburg
~~US F2000 Series: Streets of St. Petersburg

As always, please check your local listings for exact times/dates, and feel free to add any events that may have clipped the apex and not made it onto this week's calendar.......

*-note: While checking the calendar, I noticed that the Australian V8 Supercar Series got a bit of an upgrade, so to speak........
V8 Supercars Upgrade Status
Back in November 2010, the FIA voted to give "World Championship" status to the V8 Supercars; quoting the article:

The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), at last week’s meeting of the World Motor Sport Council, voted unanimously to recognise V8 Supercars as an international category, paving the way for further growth.
The significant decision means V8 Supercars can now compete at up to six international venues and 12 Australasian events each year. The decision stands for the next five years.

Unless I'm reading that wrong, this means there are now five FIA World Championship series........
~~Formula 1 World Championship
~~FIA GT1 World Championship
~~FIA World Touring Car Championship
~~FIA World Rally Championship
~~FIA International V8 Supercar Championship

 

[Andrea_Moda_Rules]

Oh man I just relised how much stuff there is going on this weekend after seeing joe bloogs do this in that pratice session and john Doe do that in the other pratice session.

So much stuff to watch this weekend. Ive got F1, GT's, IRL, and Nascar available and ill be able to find ways of seeing somehow or other World Superbikes and WRC, its going to be a busy week looking forward to it.

 

[KekeTheKing]

Anyone just see the start crash in the IRL race? Marco Andretti got flipped over and the car came to rest upside down. It was pretty low speed at Turn 1, so there wasn't much injury risk. It appears that Helio Castroneves hit Marco pretty hard from behind and helped him into the contact that started his rollover.

It was a debacle of a start by a number of drivers, about 4 or 5 cars tried to go into the corner at the same time. Pretty ugly.

 

[KekeTheKing]

Pretty embarrassing show from the IRL so far. 4th full course caution (safety car) so far, in just 13 laps. I think they may have run only a single full lap under green.

The highlight so far has to be Danica Patrick dropping an F-bomb on her radio.

 

[Matthew Little]

Anyone just see the start crash in the IRL race? Marco Andretti got flipped over and the car came to rest upside down. It was pretty low speed at Turn 1, so there wasn't much injury risk. It appears that Helio Castroneves hit Marco pretty hard from behind and helped him into the contact that started his rollover.

It was a debacle of a start by a number of drivers, about 4 or 5 cars tried to go into the corner at the same time. Pretty ugly.

Fugly, Keke............that was a fugly start to the year. And they're supposed to be professionals? I doubt even HRT could've screwed that start up.........

 

[Matthew Little]

Pretty embarrassing show from the IRL so far. 4th full course caution (safety car) so far, in just 13 laps. I think they may have run only a single full lap under green.

The highlight so far has to be Danica Patrick dropping an F-bomb on her radio.

At the moment, Danica's hit 'bout everything but the lottery...........
On the other had, props to Simona on her performance so far today.............

 

[KekeTheKing]

I doubt even HRT could've screwed that start up.........

I too found myself wondering about HRT in the context of this race. They would have fit right in down there in St.Pete today!

 

[Andrea_Moda_Rules]

im sort of coming back to the IRl after missing the last year (couldn't watch live and the highlights programme on 5 got canelled) but I do not understand the new re-start rules. So You slow down right before the line and dispite half the grid not forming up for the double-file(?) start the go anyway. Its a bit of a joke there. Nice to see a couple of diffent teams up there though with KV and silverstro's team too.

 

[Matthew Little]

im sort of coming back to the IRl after missing the last year (couldn't watch live and the highlights programme on 5 got canelled) but I do not understand the new re-start rules. So You slow down right before the line and dispite half the grid not forming up for the double-file(?) start the go anyway. Its a bit of a joke there. Nice to see a couple of diffent teams up there though with KV and silverstro's team too.

The way the starts & re-starts are supposed to work is as follows.......the cars line up 2-by-2 w/the leader getting his or her choice of whether to start on the inside or outside. About 200-250 yds. from the start-finish line is a timing line; when the leader crosses that line, the starter waves the green and its' off to the races. At least that's how its' supposed to work, AMR. The starts were a bit of a joke today but compared to past years(when the restarts were single-file) not as bad as they could've been.

As for the race at St. Pete......one of the hand, it wasn't surprising to see the usual suspects(a/k/a Franchitti & Power) at the front of the pack. On the other hand, mad props to Simona de Silvestro; if there had been a vote on Driver of the Day for St. Pete the Swiss Miss would've won by a landslide, that's how good of a drive she had today. Even though she's with a mid-pack team in HVM Racing, if she wins a race this year, it'll be because she drove like she did today and not because of fuel strategy or pit strategy(like a certain other IndyCar driver used to win her first & so far only IndyCar win a few years back).......