Thursday, October 29, 2015

What to watch this Weekend (Oct 30th - Nov 4th)

  • Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Mexico; from Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City, Mexico. Practice. Friday @ 1pm - 2:30pm (NBCSN(HD)) delayed airing; replay @ 11:30pm
  • Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Mexico; from Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City, Mexico. Qualifying. Saturday @  2pm - 4pm (CNBC(HD)) live
  • FIA WEC. Shanghi. Saturday @ 11pm - 4:30am (FS2(HD)) live, 4:30am - 6am (FS1(HD)) live
  • Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Mexico; from Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City, Mexico. Race. Sunday @ 1:30pm - 4:30pm (NBC(HD)) live
  • V8 Supercars. Surfer's Paradise. Sunday @ 2pm - 3pm (CBSSN) delayed airing from 10/25
  • Top Gear (UK). Marathon of past episodes. Monday @ 2pm - 11pm (BBCAmerica(HD)) great replays
  • Chasing Classic Cars. Mini-Marathon. Tuesday @ 10am - 1pm (VelocityHD)
  • Wheeler Dealers. Mercedes-Benz 230E. Wednesday @ 8am - 9pm (VelocityHD) replay
The long rainy weekend in Austin Texas ended with a dry track and a declared World Drivers Champion. Before we get to that we have to talk about the rain. It rained so much the coverage of Qualifying was limited, taking place the morning of the GP. The various F1 teams entertained the few fans that camped out on; some dancing, some waving, some acting out imaginary rowing competitions. Rosberg took poll, with Hamilton in 2nd spot. The Ferrari boys had a 2016 power unit putting them over the limit for 2015. Being docked 10 grid positions they started no better than 13th. The Red Bulls were quick in the wet and were looking forward to competing. The race started somewhat predictably, but then it all went out the window. It wasn't raining, but the track was still wet, some spots worse than others. Everyone started on the Inters, but as incidents piled up and the yellow flags started waving, folks hit the pits early and gambled on the Softs, some too early. The McLaren's raced well with the conditions, along with Force India for another quick race. The Red Bulls brought it, Kvyat spent much of the early laps up Hams gearbox. Nico lost ground early but clawed his way back into the top four. Then the Inters started dropping off, Hams fell off the pace and hit the pits for Softs. Then things got really interesting. Without turning this into War and Peace, DNF's abounded. Nico bungled late and proved he wasn't ready to fight Hamilton this year. Hulkenburg made another bad mistake late resulting in a DNF. Alexander Rossi had a great first home race in Austin and was the crowd favorite next to Hams and Vettel was about one lap away from possibly challenging Rosberg for 2nd, which would've put off Hamilton's clinch for another race; but it was not to be.

With the smoke cleared, Rosberg leap frogs Vettel for 2nd overall, so they'll be duking it out for 2nd in the Drivers Championship. AMG Petronas Mercedes double Champions again for two years in a row, Hams passes Vettel in GP victories and matches Senna in World Championships. Sergio Perez has been on a tear lately and did well in Texas finishing 5th behind the young Max Verstappen in 4th. He'll be at his home GP this weekend in Mexico City so this should be a good one with last week's Hurricane now past. Enjoy your weekends.



Video hosting courtesy of PhantomSMA.

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Enthusiast Topic: Turbo BMW E34 535i - (Connecticut) One Take (TheSmokingTire)

Matt meets up with an E34 fan, named Justin, who built a turbo track car from his 535i to run in the One Lap competition. We're big fans of this vintage of BMW here, which made this a perfect hump day vid.


Video courtesy of TheSmokingTire.

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Automotive Workshop: The Magic of ECU Tuning - /ENGINEERED (Drive)

Drive's Engineered series brings us a look at ECU tuning, hosted by legendary tuner Steve Dinan.


Video courtesy of Drive.