Friday, September 9, 2011

Thursday, September 8, 2011

What to watch this weekend (Sept 8th - 14th)

  • Australian V8 Supercars - From Queenland Raceway in Willowbank, Australia. Friday @ 2pm - 4pm (SPEED/SPEEDHD) replay
  • Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Italy; from Autodromo di Monza, Italy. Practice. Friday @ 8:00am - 9:30am (SPEED/SPEEDHD) 
  • Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Italy; from Autodromo di Monza, Italy. Qualifying. Saturday @ 8:00am - 9:30am (SPEED/SPEEDHD)
  • GT Racer - Le Mans. Saturday @ 10am - 11am (Discovery's HD Theater) replay
  • Isle of Man 2011. Superstock TT Race 2. Saturday @ 11am - 12pm (Discovery's HD Theater)
  • Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Italy; from Autodromo di Monza, Italy. Race. Sunday @ 7:30am - 10:00am (SPEED/SPEEDHD) replay at 4:30pm
  • Top Gear (UK). Season 17, Episode 4. Monday @ 9pm - 10pm (BBC America/BBC America HD) replay at 11:40pm
  • Chasing Classic Cars. Tuesday @ 10pm - 11pm (Discovery's HD Theater) replays
  • The Car Show with Adam Carolla. Special Maneuvers. Wednesday @ 10p - 11pm (SPEED/SPEEDHD)
With all the rain we're getting out here, going back to Italy for a late Summer trip to check out the action in Monza this weekend sounds like the greatest short vacation on earth. Back to reality though, it's wet here and there isn't a cloud in the sky there. Hopefully the sunshine will continue for the race on Sunday. Vettel is 92 points ahead of Webber, his nearest rival, and is getting closer to claiming the championship outright. This doesn't mean you shouldn't watch though, because on top of the great 18,000+ rpm 2.4 litre V8 symphony, this track is a monster for high speeds and passing. We also need to see how Hammy responds after his DNF at Spa. Formula 1 is all about playing on the razors edge, and I look forward to more F1 action this weekend...I think I'm going through withdrawal. Oh and football is back tonight. Set your lineups if you're into that kinda thing...ahem.

Image courtesy of Christian Wright

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Car Pron: 2001 RUF Turbo at Nurburgring

A smokin hot lap around the Green Hell, in the 996 Ruf Turbo.

Video courtesy of porsche911x996.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Baltimore Grand Prix 2011 - A look at ALMS Round 7

This past weekend at the Baltimore Grand Prix (BGP) was a marathon for us, not a sprint. We got in town to the Sheraton off Fayette Street Thursday, got briefed an hour later for the work we'd be putting in all weekend, then went outside to watch the crews build the chicane for Pratt Street before the infamous light rail tracks that the city and officials debated on paving. My assistant photographer Matt and I walked the track that night, much as many of the other race teams and drivers were doing at the same time, to get an idea of what things would be like during practice the following morning. Friday came and went, pics and video were taken and the grind continued for 8hrs a day for the next two days. We're working on our formal article on the Baltimore Festival of Speed, but in the meantime I figure it'd be good to give you a taste of what went down in person for the race that most of our readers are interested in; ALMS Round 7.

If you take a look at the site and recent posts you'll see more hints of our evolution, defining our brand and content, but never fear as we'll continue as always without intrusive advertising and what not. Please share our posts with your friends and like/follow us on facebook, twitter and youtube. These three media portals are filled with unique content to compliment our M-F posts here on the main site. Just as I mentioned last Thursday, we uploaded pictures taken during day of the BGP to our fb page and I suggest you all check it out to get caught up. We'll be linking a few other unreleased images to reward our twitter followers (currently a small group, but proud). Look forward to more original content through this Fall, under the ROTL umbrella as well as the APblog.

Without further adieu, ALMS in Baltimore this year was all that I hoped it would be. Great action, a hairy street course with some sneaky funneling turns, very few safe passing locations and great representation by the regulars in the driver, manufacturer and team ALMS Championship hunt. You can get the details on the race results here, but here's some of what was seen before and during the ALMS Round #7 race on Saturday.

Delayed start, awaiting fans.
Plenty of yellow flags during the race.
While limited on video equipment we captured a few short clips from the event. We've put two BGP clips up on our youtube channel today to help share the sights and sounds that fueled our engines all weekend. Make sure to turn up the volume and turn on the HD.

Monday, September 5, 2011

Quick Vid: ALMS at Lime Rock (FLD Shakedown)

Leo Parente interviews Bill Auberlen and his ALMS Race team concerning the connection between the racing road cars of BMW and their roadcar counterparts.


Video courtesy of FastLaneDaily.