F1, A1, V8, iRacing + more - The Fever Motor Racing thread

Still racing in the WEC as well, so:

Mexico Grand Prix This Weekend, WEC Shanghai next weekend, Brazilian Grand Prix the weekend after that, WEC Bahrain the following weekend then finishing off at the Abu Dhabi grand prix.

Because of all the commitments of a race weekend and practice for the WEC starting three days after each Grand Prix Hartley is literally going to have at most 24 hours to get from one continent to another and recover from his jetlag, etc.

It's a shame they couldn't just replace him in the WEC, one of the Porsche teams will win it either way, and let him concentrate on F1.

That's brilliant!

I wouldn't be surprised if they win the WEC championship in Shanghai (basically all they have to do is finish ahead of their nearest competitor in the Toyota) then he could ask Porsche for a release for the WEC event in Bahrain to concentrate on the F1.  

So Hartley confirmed for 2018 season with Torro Rosso.

Awesome to have a Kiwi in F1.

Still though, after reading reports he was close to signing on for Chip Ganassi in IndyCar I can't help but feel a little bit disappointed.

At Chip Ganassi he would have genuinely had a car capable of winning whereas at Torro Rosso he'll be doing bloody well to finish in the top 10. Based on their car the last 2 weeks he'll be doing well just to finish.

As a huge motorsport fan its hard not to be excited at the prospect of a Kiwi in F1 though, regardless of the team.

Indycar is always an option, it's one of the places where F1 rejects end up having long and succesful careers. F1 is not always an option, you get an F1 opportunity and you take it. I read somewhere that more living people have been to space than have raced an F1 car. It's a very very select group.

Plenty of people have gotten top team drives out of Torro Rosso and Torro Rosso is a works team next season as well!

Sadly that hasn't gone as well as hoped for McLaren the last couple of seasons!

The gates are open & Pit Lane Walk is packed! The #AusGP is off & running ? #F1 pic.twitter.com/gkHPhegivj

— Australian Grand Prix #AusGP (@ausgrandprix) March 12, 2020

[THREAD] The Australian Grand Prix Corporation (AGPC) & F1 have been advised by the Victorian Chief Health Officer of the results of tests relating to eight personnel from the F1 Paddock.

— Australian Grand Prix #AusGP (@ausgrandprix) March 12, 2020

Of these eight tests, seven individuals have returned a negative result confirming that they do not have the COVID-19 virus. An eighth individual has tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. It has been confirmed that the individual was a member of the McLaren Racing Team.

— Australian Grand Prix #AusGP (@ausgrandprix) March 12, 2020

Risk to HIGH - All Albert Park Race activity cancelled

8 pm  V8 Supercar drivers take on a Virtual Bathurst in the IRacing series Live.

That was some great racing last night. Did Kostecki get a penalty for the tap on McLaughlin in the last race? (last corner)

Yes he got the pen and was reduced to 2nd.   Some dam expensive kit run by some drivers.

Yes, Tom Randle has even set up a business using the simulators to train drivers.. His sim has motion platform. Pretty impressive.

An interesting excerpt from an article on Raelene Castles resignation.  Football is not alone.

"Wiggs runs private equity firm Archer Capital and is chair of Supercars after Archer bought the business for a reported AU$180 million from SEL in 2011. It is now reportedly worth about half its purchase price and is in the middle of difficult broadcast negotiations to renew its deal with Fox Sports and Ten. "

Supercars Fox Team comment on Virgin Voluntary Receivership

EPISODE 1: INSIDE LINE: A SEASON WITH EREBUS MOTORSPORT    Betty K was the daughter (adopted) of the man who Started Frank Lowy in Malls.   

Klimenko inherited her fortune from her adoptive father, John Saunders, co-founder of the Westfield shopping centre empire. Possibly some of her chutzpah, too. Saunders, born Jeno Schwarcz, survived Nazi concentration camps, then fled the postwar Communist regime in his native Hungary before migrating to Australia with his wife, Eta, in 1950.

In Sydney, he opened a hole-in-the-wall delicatessen in the Town Hall railway station underpass. There he met another European immigrant, Frank Lowy, who delivered smallgoods to him. The two went into business together, opening a delicatessen and coffee shop in the western Sydney suburb of Blacktown in 1954. By the end of the decade, they had moved into property development and built their first shopping mall, Westfield Place, also in Blacktown.  

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/motorsport/betty-klimenko-the-unlikely-heiress-revving-up-motor-sport-20180320-p4z57p.html

Just finished watching the series last week. Was brilliant.

Supercar eseries 8pm tonight running on Montreal and Watkins glen circuits

F1 back in July Silverstone negotiates 2 races for 2020 

Driver moves for 2021 begin before 2020 even starts a race

How good was the Supercars from Sydney last weekend. Brilliant racing.