Friday, May 23, 2014

Thursday, May 22, 2014

What to watch this Memorial Day Weekend (May 22nd - May 28th)

  • Formula 1 - Monaco Grand Prix. From Circuit de Monaco. Practice 1. Thursday @ 5am - finish (NBCSNLiveExtralive
  • Formula 1 - Monaco Grand Prix. From Circuit de Monaco. Practice 2. Friday @ 8am - 9:30am (NBCSN(HD)) live
  • Senna the Legend. Friday @ 7pm - 8pm (NBCSN(HD)) new
  • Senna - Documentary. Friday @ 8pm - 10:30pm (VelocityHD)
  • Formula 1 - Monaco Grand Prix. From Circuit de Monaco. Practice 3. Saturday @ 5am - finish (NBCSNLiveExtra) live stream
  • Formula 1 - Monaco Grand Prix. From Circuit de Monaco. Qualifying. Saturday @ 8am - 9:30am (NBCSN(HD)) live
  • Formula 1 - Monaco Grand Prix. From Circuit de Monaco. Race. Sunday @ 7::30am - 10am (NBC(HD)) live; re-airing @ 10:30am, 4:30pm & 11pm - pre-race @ 7am on NBCSN(HD)
  • IndyCar Series - The Indianapolis 500. From Indianapolis Motor Speedway, from Speedway, Indiana. Sunday @ 11am - 3:30pm (ABC(HD)) live 
  • Top Gear (UK). Marathon of past episodes. Monday @ 5pm - 11pm (BBCAmerica(HD)) replays
  • Motorweek. Tuesday @ 7:30pm - 8pm (VelocityHD) 
  • Chasing Classic Cars. Tuesday @ 8pm - 9pm (VelocityHD) replays
  • Legendary Motorcar. Race Shop and GTX resto Mod. Tuesday @ 10pm - 10:30pm (VelocityHD) new
  • Wheeler Dealers. Citroen 2CV. Wednesday @ 9pm - 10pm (VelocityHD) new
We have an outstanding weekend ahead, with two juggernauts of motorsport lore goin' down at the same damn time. The 98th running of the Indianapolis 500 will take place Sunday at 11am on ABC and the legendary Monaco Grand Prix will be taking place earlier that morning at 7:30am on NBC (with re-airings all day long).

Before we look to the magical street track that is Monaco, we have to speak about the previous race; Hamilton had a great race, holding off a hounding Rosberg through the checkered flag, but wasn't clean enough all the way through to keep it from being interesting. Peopled predicted this to Bahrain part 2, and it ended up being pretty close. Nico on softs, Hams on the hards; Hams seemingly losing trust in what his pit was doing for him during the race, in the form of information and appropriate chassis adjustments. This should be an interesting media week with some of the radio transmissions that took place throughout this fourth consecutive GP victory. What we know is that Hamilton wants a title this year, Nico wants it too and they both have the machinery to accomplish that task. All things being equal, Hams is pulling more out of his car and it shows. In the shadows of Mercedes' dominance is the return to the fold of Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull. Ricciardo has been at the front of the field for all of his races, including the vacated race earlier this Spring; he finally got his podium and it was much deserved. Seb showed his metal, coming from 15th to finish 4th, mixing it up in the pack which he's typically not known for. While he still had plenty of bad fortune, once again, he's definitely earning the respect of this viewer for his showing in Catalunya. The smoke has cleared and the drivers championship cement is firming up a bit; Hamilton, Rosberg (-3), Alonso (-51) Vettel (-55), Ricciardo (-61). Hulkenberg has been bumped out of the top 5.

Nico won the Monaco Grand Prix (his home Grand Prix) last year and I'm sure he's looking to do so again, which would not only make him a back to back winner, but also put him back a top the driver standings. Hamilton is now going to try to step on everyone's neck and separate himself to ensure himself against possible bad fortune in the future. Vettel has had a crap year in a car that wasn't fast enough, but is still in 4th. Ricciardo is starting to pay dividends and has been the third fastest driver just about all season to this point; I'm sure he's looking to keep the party going. Alonso is still scrapping as he always has, staying very consistent, but his teammate Raikkonen has finally gotten a handle on his car, enough at least for him to compete. Botas is out performing Massa, currently, in one of the two best looking cars on the track. The inter-team battle has been the highlight of 2014.

There are plenty of other regulars to look forward to, including all the Ayrton Senna you can handle. Enjoy your weekends!

Video courtesy of XCAR.

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Neo-Vintage: Austin Healey 3000 MK III - Classic review (Autoblog)

The team from Autoblog.nl bring us a classic car review. While I personally haven't owned anything older than about 25 years, if I were to go further back one bucket list car I'd like to play with is a small british sports car with a straight 6. It's probably why I love E21s and E30s so much.

Video courtesy of Autoblog.

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Car Pron: Lamborghini Huracan: 602bhp Gallardo successor driven (Autocar)

Steve takes a drive in the all new Lamborghini Huracan. Looks sharp, but is it a worthy successor to the Gallardo?

Video courtesy of Autocar.

Monday, May 19, 2014

Automotive Workshop: Making 280mph Capable Carbon Fiber Wheels - Inside Koenigsegg (Drive)

On this fifth episode of Inside Koenigsegg, Christian Von Koenigsegg talks carbon fiber wheel manufacturing for the One:1. There have been aftermarket carbon fiber wheels made previously, but I doubt they have been built on this level.

Video courtesy of Drive.