Dope Vid. #298

Video courtesy of MFENNO29FILM.

What to watch this F1 Weekend (July 9th - July 15th)

• Formula 1 - Steiermark Grand Prix; from the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. Practice 1. Friday @ 4:55am - 6:30am (ESPN2) live
• Formula 1 - Steiermark Grand Prix; from the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. Practice 2. Friday @ 8:55am - 10:30am (ESPN2) live
• Formula 1 - Steiermark Grand Prix; from the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. Practice 3. Friday @ 5:55am - 7am (ESPN2) live
• Formula 1 - Steiermark Grand Prix; from the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. Qualifying. Saturday @ 8:55am - 10:30am (ESPN) live
• IndyCar. Race #1 action from Road America. Saturday @ 5pm - 7:30pm (NBC) live
• Formula 1 - Steiermark Grand Prix; from the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. Race. Sunday @ 9:05am - 11:30am (ESPN) live
• IndyCar. Race #2 action from Road America. Sunday @ 12pm - 3pm (NBC) live
• Bitchin Rides. Mon/Tues/Wed @ 5pm - 6pm (MotorTrend) replay
• Chasing Classic Cars. Tuesday @ 7pm - 7:30pm (MotorTrend) replay
• Motorweek. Tuesday @ 7:30pm - 8pm (MotorTrend) replay
• Overhaulin. Tuesday @ 9pm - 10pm (MotorTrend) replay
• Wheeler Dealers: Dream Cars. Wednesday @ 9pm - 10pm (MotorTrend)

What a race weekend. From beginning to end it was full of unexpected surprises aside from Merc being the season front runner, again. From practice to the thrilling qualy (Bottas nipping Hams for pole by .0012 seconds before the 3-grid spot penalty on race day), to the solidarity between the drivers on race day for equality to the battle of attrition that was the race. DNF's all abound, from electric gremlins, to poorly attached wheels to gearbox issues to the curbs becoming a natural deterrent, to Albon's shattered dreams after tangling with Hams and Hams getting a time penalty again, to Vettel getting spun around, but fighting back to get points, to only 11 cars finishing the race. For Norris getting his first podium by taking fastest lap on the final lap and just making it inside Hamiltons time penalty window; for Leclerc making miracles happen despite Ferrari's lack of pace to Bottas starting off another season strong. I missed F1 and was happy it was back. We have a short week and the gang will be back in Austria for the next race. With the penalties assessed and checkered flag dropped the Driver's Championship standings are as follows: Bottas, Leclerc (-7), Norris (-9), Hamilton (-13), Sainz (-15) , Perez (-17). With all the covid testing performed last week everyone has stayed negative, so hopefully we'll have another clean, uninterrupted race weekend.

Enjoy your motorsport weekends.

Video courtesy of Formula1.

Automotive Workshop: 400+HP AIR-COOLED PORSCHE | GUNTERWERKS SHOP WALK (PCAHQ)

On this episode of PAM feature, we get a shop tour of the Guntherwerks facility in California.


Video courtesy of PetersonAutomotiveMuseum.

Current Events: Ferrari F8 Spider Review | new Ferrari Tributo convertible driven (Autocar)

Matt checks out the all new F8 Tributo Spider.


Video courtesy of Autocar.

For the love of McLaren: F1 GTR Longtail | The Greatest of all cars - Tom Hartley Junior (TheSupercarDriver)

The Supercar Driver brings us Tom Hartly Jr. to talk about his very special McLaren F1 GTR Longtail, chassis 19R -- one converted to a road car by Lanzante and Gordon Murray's design studio.


Video courtesy of TheSupercarDriver.

Dope Vid. #297

Video courtesy of VWHome.

What to watch this Independence Day and F1 Season Opener Weekend (July 3rd - July 8th)

• Formula 1 - Austrian Grand Prix; from the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. Practice 1. Friday @ 4:55am - 7am (ESPN2) live
• Formula 1 - Austrian Grand Prix; from the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. Practice 2. Friday @ 8:55am - 11am (ESPN2) live
• Formula 1 - Austrian Grand Prix; from the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. Practice 3. Friday @ 5:55am - 7:30am (ESPN2) live
• Formula 1 - Austrian Grand Prix; from the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. Qualifying. Saturday @ 8:55am - 10:30am (ESPN) live 
• IndyCar. Racing action from Indianapolis Int'l Speedway in Indiana. Saturday @ 12pm - 2pm (NBC) live 
• WeatherTech Sports Car Championship. 240 at Daytona. From Daytona International Speedway in Florida. Saturday @ 6pm - 9pm (NBCSN) live
• Formula 1 - Austrian Grand Prix; from the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. Race. Sunday @ 9:05am - 11:30am (ESPN) live
• Bitchin Rides. Mon/Tues/Wed @ 5pm - 6pm (MotorTrend) replay
• Wheeler Dealers. Monday @ 9pm - 10pm (MotorTrend) replay
• Chasing Classic Cars. Tuesday @ 7pm - 7:30pm (MotorTrend) replay
• Motorweek. Tuesday @ 7:30pm - 8pm (MotorTrend) replay
• Overhaulin. Tuesday @ 9pm - 10pm (MotorTrend) replay
• Garage Squad. Wednesday @ 4pm - 5pm (MotorTrend) replays
• Wheeler Dealers: Dream Cars. Wednesday @ 9pm - 10pm (MotorTrend)

As you can see above, all the sweet sweet motorsports are back for this weekend (even NASCAR is headlining in Indy this weekend) amid all the worldwide pandemic fun you could ask for. There's worldwide social unrest too, which has been sparked largely by the #blacklivesmatter movement's resurgence and growth here in the US, beginning in late Spring with thousands of public protests across the country, in response to several brutally vivid killings of black people by non-minorities (both by public law enforcement and civilians) caught on video. These videos hit the internet and news outlets and were then consumed on the largest worldwide scale that I can remember in my 43 year old lifetime. Outrage, anger, sadness and sympathy spread to other minorities, but most notably these emotions spread to many more non-minorities than these events have historically, which has lead to some of the largest multi-cultural protest gatherings in history...all during a pandemic. Downstream of these civil rights protests many matters of day to day race relations and equality have come to the forefront, around the world, from many different minority groups in various walks of life. Lewis Hamilton is not only arguably the best driver in F1 (inarguably the most decorated active driver in F1), but is the only black driver in F1. Lewis took this opportunity to push F1 to look at what it can do to support the sport's diversity going forward. In support of this initiative, Mercedes AMG will be running Lewis and Valteri's cars' in a black livery this 2020 season to stand against discrimination and support diversity.

I stick to racing and car related content on this blog by design and will continue to do so. Cars, racing and driving (and barbecue for that matter) have always been a prized outlet for me that have been free from the often agenda driven media news cycles which have become inescapable as of late. Some of my best life-long friends came through mutual enjoyment of cars and modifying them, going to races and shows and sharing that automotive passion with one another. I'll leave it at this; living by the golden rule goes a long way. Considering and empathizing with what others go through and how another persons' life experience may be very different from yours, goes a long way. Accepting and respecting one another's views, whether or not you like or agree with what you hear from the other side, goes a long way. Every last person on the planet is looking to improve quality of life for themselves and their loved ones, where ever possible and as human beings every last person has the right to do so. And I know, this is all 'no shit' information for most of us, but still worth stating. While it takes a proverbial village to make macro-level differences in this world of ours, at a micro-level every one of us that make up this village have some amount of power to push and pull those around us in whatever direction we choose. The internet and smart phones have shrunk the globe and you can influence someone in another country, someone down the street or in another state, in just a few seconds, all without much thought. With this in mind, try to avoid being socially divisive when sharing your thoughts, ideas and actions with and upon others.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming -- the 2020 F1 season is looking to start over after the debacle that was the Australian Grand Prix. Thought out COVID-19 precautions are in place and there will be two races in Austria, back to back, to kick things off. Lewis is trying to match Shumi and has chosen not to move to  another team next year. Will Toto leave Merc? Driver moves a plenty for 2021. Vettel is leaving Ferrari after this season and Sainz will join Leclerc. Ricciardo is leaving Renault for McLaren and Valteri is looking for an opportunity to seize not only a chip this year, but a driver's seat for 2021. The 2021 regulations have been pushed to 2022 so Merc should have the edge for this and next season; I mean, they have a dynamic toe-adjusting steering column. On the other end of the paddock, famed Williams is looking for future dollars to keep the team around while getting off the last spot of the grid. Plus many other story lines I didn't get to, but yea, excited to see FP1 tomorrow. Here's hoping everyone has race weekends without covid incidents so we can continue to follow our favorite international motorsport events on tv and internet, once again. 

Enjoy your Independence Day Weekends and stay safe out there.

Video courtesy of SkySportsF1.