Neo-Motorsport Feature: WORLD FIRST; F1 champ J.Button takes on Bathurst; Sets record! (Blunty)

This vid has been floating around for a while, but I'm surprised I've never posted it. Now retired F1 World Champion Jenson Button and V8 Supercars Champion Craig Lowndes both, in their younger years, check each others cars out at the Bathurst Circuit. Both V8s, both Vodafone sponsored and liveried, both championship level drivers. Legendary circuit. Hard to beat.


Video and hosting courtesy of Blunty.

Vintage Motorsport Pron: Amazing BMW M1 & Porsche 935 Ferrari 712 at the Spa Classic - CER Classic Endurance Racing (MPZRaceVideo)

The MPZ Race Video crew bring us some great footage from the 2011 Spa Classic. BMW batmobiles, 935s, Ferrari BB512's and much more. Turn up the volume.

Video courtesy of MPZRaceVideo.

Motorsport Pron Feature: McLaren Documentary (BBC)

This 2011 BBC documentary of McLaren is a more formal look than our previous post from June. Sit back and enjoy.

Video hosting courtesy of McLarenNB.

Hillclimb Pron: Best of Bergrennen 2011 Vol.1 (MPZracevideo)

It's that time again for a hillclimb fix. On this trip up the mountain we have just under 20mins of MPZRV's best Bergrennen footage from 2011. Turn up the volume and enjoy.

Video courtesy of MPZracevideo.

Car Pron: VAG Event 2011 (Wolfsgruppe/Loniek)

Can't wait for spring.


Wolfsgruppe VAG EVENT 2011 from Loniek on Vimeo.

Quick Vid: FLD's Best cars of 2011

FLD's Road Testament discusses the best road and race cars of 2011.

Motorsport Pron: Audi wraps up the 2011 DTM Season

Audi goes behind the scenes to show the trials and tribulations on path to the 2011 DTM Championship.

Neo-Vintage: 1953 Ferrari 375MM at the 2011 Goodwood Festival

I'd like to know what raggin' 5 mil' through the woods feels like one day.


Video courtesy of AutoMotoTV.

Car Pron: 2011 Geneva Int'l Autoshow (Loniek)

Here's a look at this years autoshow in Geneva from one of our favorite car-flick makers.


Motorshow Geneva 2011 from Loniek on Vimeo.

Quick Vid: Tunercars at the 2011 Frankfurt Int'l Auto Show

The Frankfurt International Auto show took place not too long ago with plenty debuts from the major manufacturers and tuners of said manufacturers. Autoblogger bombs the event and checks out some of the tuner cars that were on display this year.

Event Recap: H2o International 2011

This years H2o International was one I won't forget too soon, but not for the reasons you might think. I spent more time hanging out with friends this year than I ever have, stayed in a less than fantastic motel on an air mattress, drove my grey car down to the beach for the first time in two years and was under a seemingly constant rain cloud that never ran out of water...and that was just Friday. Outside of the annual socializing, I wasn't sure what to expect from the show this year. The showgrounds were set upon a Catholic School I never heard of and the confirmation of H2oi 2011 taking place wasn't set in stone until pretty late in the Summer. Reflecting on this years VAG weekend in OC, now that a week or so has passed, a few things have become glaringly clear. One, this years show was pulled off as expected and proved again to be the undisputed king of east-coast shows in turnout. Two, this show isn't what it used to be and I don't think it'll ever be as good an overall event as it was before 2010.

In the case you think I'm blaming my lackluster H2oi's experience on the oppressive weather this year, let me elaborate. What has made H2oi so good over the past fourteen years is a number of things (in no particular order); a great and familiar location, familiar staff, an organized show field, cool cars, parking with other cars like your own, judging by peers who intimately know the cars on their docket, laid back environment, ease of parking, seeing slick daily drivers/personal cars on the way out and show regulars. This years show had a sprinkling of what the previous shows brought to the table, but fell short in the majority of other departments. First off, the location was a train wreck; not because it was at a private school, but because public parking and the event/show parking were on two sides of a major road; Racetrack Road (Rt.589). In order to make this work, organizers had Maryland State Troopers and show staff in the middle of said major road, working it as a gate to let people in and out of both event and general parking sides. This directly lead to ~2 miles of backed up traffic coming from Rt.50, due to this major thru-way being clogged up. It took an hour to travel a mile and a half, at 3pm, the Saturday (Big Ass BBQ) before the show. In order to rectify the situation on Sunday, when the patron count would be quadrupled, the local police/signs told people to take Rt.113 and come to the show grounds from the other side of Rt.589. This was a band-aid solution at best.

Back from the dead!

1552's custom shoes for Alexi's Golf

The Quebec based Unix line-up was a good reason to attend.

Learning a lesson from the shenanigans on Saturday we left early enough to arrive around 9am Sunday morning. The car line was short, thankfully, and we all were directed to follow some of the show staff to be parked. Much to my surprise, there were no set rows or sections matching the details on the dash cards that showing participants received through registration, and the staff was just trying to jam cars in wherever there was room. There were lines of cars coming from all directions from within the showgrounds; I was later informed this was because the plan for arranging cars was different depending on the staff you spoke to at any given time. And to add insult to injury, we had some teenage kid that didn't know what the fck he was doing telling us to rearrange our cars every few minutes to squeeze more into a space that didn't exist. Not long afterwards we were notified judges would be working sections of the showfield, instead of the classes they were supposed to judge, since all the sscattered makes would be too hard to track down. Now I'm not a stickler for judging and enjoy a good parking spot more than anything else, but this is a judged carshow and for all those spending countless months building cars to showcase and compete, why would you want someone who knew nothing about your car (or cars in general in some instances) having anything to do with judging it? And don't get me started on the dubstep tent.

My soapbox back in storage now, let me tell you what was good about this years show. For one, it happened. This was a question mark for many regular attendees and vendors, some of which didn't make it in person due to the short-notice planning. Second, there were some cool cars worth showing up for, but you had to search for those that didn't find their way onto Top Dog row or Vendor alley. The Top Dog section was chock full of well built cars including Bynum toys and Alexi's mk3 golf. Alexi's golf, which was fantastic to see finally running after a stint at EuroAutoSource, was crisp-n-clean with some of his family present and dressed to impress. Third, the show turnout as big as last year if not bigger; this was hard to tell by sight given the layout was more compressed than years past. There were a ton of new faces in addition to the several hundred people you see at this event every year. Going forward I think the show needs a bigger and more purpose-built venue; after seeing what happened to traffic and the grass of Most Blessed Sacrament School, I wouldn't be surprised if this won't be a repeat location. Odd as this may sound to some, I think the show needs to slow it's growth. H2oi may have finally gotten too big for its own good. Think Waterfest. VWoA was there with the corporate paddy wagon and I'm sure vendor sales were up all around. But at what cost? H2o International is supposed to be the chill show with cool cars that isn't a hassle to attend; it is now.

Album.

Quick vid: Aston Martin Zagato racer

An Autocar review of this lovely new Aston Martin racecar, the Zagato, which competed in this years 24 hours of Nurburgring.

Quick Vid: Germanfest 2011 (MADEgarage)

A new videography outfit called MADEgarage is making a name for itself everywhere with a tidy vid covering Germanfest 2011 in Tarnow, Poland this Summer. It's reminder of what gets us exited for big events. Can't wait for this weekend.

Baltimore Grand Prix 2011 - Baltimore's Cloudless Thunder.

Motorsport isn't something that everyone flocks to. People who live for the sounds of engines or driving a well sorted automobile, spending countless hours building and repairing their own cars, don't understand the perspective of those that don't share the same mindset. People who love motorsport are an even smaller subset of that same group. Racing is loud, smelly, dangerous and expensive. Racing is also one of the purest expressions of competition and skill. Racing is called motorsport because it involves motorized vehicles of course, but also because there are no points tallied during a race for actions performed like a game; there is only crossing the finish line first; winning and losing. Fortunately for all of us motorsport enthusiasts in the greater Mid-Atlantic area, 'winning and losing' is what makes the draw of auto-racing occasionally skip past the lines of automotive enthusiast and non-enthusiast. The occasion I speak of was the inaugural running of the Baltimore Grand Prix (BGP).

After logistics and tax dollars were championed in 2010, the Baltimore Grand Prix (BGP) was green-lit for the streets of Baltimore Maryland's Inner Harbor. The IZOD IndyCar Series had lost a couple race venues from the 2010 season and the BGP group bid its way, filling one of those slots, ultimately becoming the 15th round of the 2011 IndyCar Series Championship. Things got more interesting when the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) signed on to hold its 7th round on the same weekend. ALMS hopping on board was important for the hardcore US road-racing fans who mainly watch European auto racing, and without them I suspect the draw on Saturday wouldn't have been half of what it was. Before the weekend was underway however, the question that remained was if the inaugural BGP could be pulled off and be profitable; given the Baltimore Festival of Speed is now over, it can comfortably be said that it was.

Pratt Street straight.

There have been reports stating the crowd count was as high as 75k on both Saturday and Sunday, and through my own misadventures getting from one portion of the track to the others, I don't doubt it at all. And here lies the biggest fault with the event; crowd management. Getting around the venue on Friday was reasonable due to the fact that it was a practice/qualifying day, and a work day for many, but Saturday showed the extent to which the event planners failed. There was a system of six bridges to walk back and forth from different parts of the venue surrounding the racetrack, but they weren't set up to have several hundred people pass through them simultaneously in different directions; much too narrow. What resulted was race teams, race equipment, media and fans all waiting in masses at the base of these bridges to cross over to where they needed to go. Doubling these bridges and making each one way will do wonders in this department, however, there's one bridge on the BGP map that will be impossible to double and that's the Bridge to Grandstand #7 at Turn #2. This bridge connects from hotel walkways normally used to help pedestrians cross above the street, from said hotels, to other buildings downtown. On Sunday there were so many people trying to cross over this bridge at once that security halted all foot traffic, for an hour or more at a time, from anyone coming from the area surrounding Grandstand #6. I experienced this first hand, and ended up enjoying the start of the IndyCar race while in line on this very bridge.

One of many bottlenecks on Sunday.

Now one thing everyone should understand is that a lot of these issues are symptoms of street race events in general, due to the nature of the event; street tracks are created from existing cities that aren't necessarily designed to handle the on foot quantities that result from a large public draw. There were a lot of local police assigned to manage the flow in areas like the aforementioned walkway, that had to deal with the direct outbursts of irate fans just to keep a potentially unsafe situation from escalating and I salute them for doing so. I hope BGP organizers took note of problems like these so that everyone involved can have a better experience next year.

The BGP was primarily created to earn money for the city of Baltimore, but a more important side effect in my opinion was getting people exposed to racing. From Friday to Sunday the sights and sounds around the BGP grounds had a common theme; hardcore race fans, fans of large public events, the occasional race event watcher and the completely green (children and adults), all gathering to see what types of things go on at an event like this one. Even the people who just wanted an excuse to put down a few drinks with friends somewhere were covered, just with better background music than most places.

When you think back to your first big public event as a child, Barnum and Bailey's Circus for me, it's something that sticks with you for a lifetime. You'll either love the experience or hate it, and aside from kids holding their ears because of parents not smart enough to buy them earplugs, I saw plenty of youth that were completely ecstatic about what was happening before them. I sincerely hope these kids, and the thousands of adults that came to their first race event in Baltimore, can continue to support things like the BGP. Unfortunately for road-racing fans, popular, financially-sustainable racing in America is pretty much NASCAR or nothing. Other forms of motorsport that take place solely on road courses (left and right turns), represented primarily by the Grand-Am and ALMS/Petit LeMans series' here in the US, need continued growth in popularity or they will become even harder to come by both on TV and in person. If the solution to this problem is ALMS piggy-backing IndyCar events (or vice versa) a couple times a year, then so be it. We need more American drivers represented in international racing series (F1, Touring Car, etc.) and for this to happen more kids in this country need to be exposed to racing early and often.

Conor Daly and two other IndyLights drivers taking military families on track tours.

The racing action at the BGP was fantastic and I learned quite a bit more about the 'AA' and 'AAA' levels of open wheel racing (IndyCar being the 'Big League') through seeing Firestone Indy Lights and Star Mazda series practice, qualifying and racing, weaved around the ALMS and IndyCar schedules. My cameraman Matt and I had the opportunity to talk shop with one of Indy Lights' rising stars, Conor Daly, after a Military family-specific Honda track tour gathering on Friday evening. It was good to hear his perspective on the business of racing and his current career path, and this event did a great job of making drivers accessible through various activities throughout the weekend.

IndyCar Paddock, pre-race on Sunday. Crew building Tony Kanaans' car after morning practice incident.

What made the competition so exciting at the BGP was not only the great drivers and legendary teams that participated, but the unique track that resulted from the absolutely incredible transformation of existing roads in Baltimore's Inner Harbor. I drive these roads several times a month and I was more than impressed with what organizers were able to do in such a short amount of time. There were some issues with the track that had to be tackled before teams were comfortable however; the first of which were the infamous Light Rail tracks that crossed over Pratt Street at the intersection with Howard Street. For road cars there is a reasonably manageable dip in the road, where these tracks lie, but for race cars hovering an inch or two above the pavement it was quite the prospect to hit this dip while accelerating to top speed on this long straight.

The chicane build on Thursday afternoon.

IndyCar official checks chicane condition prior to Friday's afternoon practice session.

The view while waiting in line to get to Grandstand #7 was pretty good.

The solution to this quandary, which was planned by BGP organizers months ago, was to build a chicane to not only slow down the race cars before the tracks but also direct them over the smoothest part of Pratt Streets rails. Chicane construction, which consisted of three swimming noodle shaped curbs being installed, 'ramped' with additional tarmac then painted red and white, was going on late Thursday afternoon and unsettled many who were participating. By Friday morning the chicane was painted, but additional fence reinforcement was being added to different sections of the track, delaying scheduled morning practice and afternoon qualifying. In order to keep delays within reason, the organizers shortened some of the extra-curricular track activities during the day, like the 2-seater IndyCar rides and Honda Accord ride-along's with pro-drivers. While the crowds were chomping at the bit for action prior to the start of Friday's first practice session, event goers in the grandstands stayed in good spirits.

Start of IndyCar practice session on Friday evening.

The racetrack was fast and tight with a few sneaky turns that caught several drivers out throughout weekend. The straight into Turn #1 was heavy braking funneling area that lead to several incidents, much like Turn #3. There were a few victims at Turn #10, which depending on the speed you come through it with can present a sneaky-sharp direction change without friendly tire-barriers to help out if you push wide. Drivers adjusted as the weekend sessions went along and continuously got faster. During practices on Friday and the ALMS race Saturday we had the opportunity of capture drivers navigating the pit exit junction at Turn #8, then blasting down the dogleg into Turn #9. The chicane at the beginning of the Pratt Street straight worked out as planned, with some short flight dramatics provided by a few of the open wheeled racers. On Sunday during the IndyCar race, we spent most of our time non-commuting time at Turn #4, taking full use of an aerial vantage point without equal (thanks Jerry). The track workers and officials worked a great race for ALMS and IndyCar, but there were some inexplicable extended caution laps mid-race in IndyCar that seemed to go on without end.

All in all I think the event was a great success that I would not have bet on days leading up to the race. Organization of the entire operation wasn't without flaws, ask anyone who worked this event as media, but the event expectation was met and the races were completed as scheduled for television broadcast. Hurricane Irene whipped the East Coast into a frenzy just days prior and potential turnout and racing team participation was questioned on every online fan portal you can think of. Not every local business benefited as much as they hoped due to the number of road closures and where they took place, but money was poured into the city via ticket sales, the local restaurants and vendors that setup within the grounds to sell to walkers-by, and the many local parking garages and hotels which got their best Labor Day weekend take in years. There was a wide variety of food and drink, activity areas outside and inside like the ALMS and Indy Paddocks, as well as live music performances outside of the Baltimore Convention Center (See yellow 'W'). All this and it was still reasonably easy to leave the city via 83N or 395/MLK Blvd since most people used the ever affordable MTA Light Rail to get there. IndyCar and ALMS drivers interviewed applauded the crowd that Baltimore produced and were impressed by this little thing called the Inner Harbor that so many of us locals have enjoyed for decades. The backdrop of harbor marinas, yachts and city skyline east of the Light Street grandstands was a sight to behold and as a poor man's Monaco, I think Baltimore fits the bill.

-AT

Upcoming Show: H2o International 2011

It's that time of year again. The summer is coming to a close, the fall equinox is in the near distance and there's one last show to run through before taking dem show wheels off. It is time for H2o International 2011. If you remember the recap from last years festivities, or better yet were there yourself, you'll know that slot machines are now in, and H2oi is now out of the old location at Ocean Downs racetrack. Thankfully Jay Shoup worked his off-season magic and albeit late in the timeline, has found new digs for the event to take place this year; Most Blessed Sacrament Catholic School (!) 2.5 miles north of Ocean Downs. This is the first major change of location for H2oi since about 2000. There have been many fond memories, mammaries and pictures taken over the last decade-plus at Ocean Downs. I look forward to everyone starting this tradition anew in this fresh location. From the pics I've seen, it's a pretty large venue and it will NEED to be. That said, who's up for a game of Racetrack Rd. Frogger?

This years event breakdown is as follows:

• Saturday September 24th - Big Ass BBQ / Pre-show gathering (12pm-5pm)
• Sunday September 25th - H2oi Show (9am-5pm)
• $25 Pre-registration for show/club cars; must be done online by Sept 18th @ 5pm
• Aircooled, Watercooled, Audi & VW classes
• 11242 Racetrack Road Berlin, MD 21811

As usual there will be a ton of gtgs for every cool to squirrely grouping of enthusiasts you can think of; have fun picking out what you will do with your time. As usual the main event is on Saturday night at 37th and Philadelphia Ave. Flashback...

Get up and out of the house, drive to Ocean Shtty, book a room and enjoy.

Event Recap: Bimmerfest East 2011

For those of you familiar with the West Coast European car scene, the name Bimmerfest carries a good bit of weight. It's arguably the biggest show of it's kind in the country, with plenty of outstanding cars showcased in the southern California sun, every year. 2011 marked the 11th year of Bimmerfest being held in California, but in order to address the BMW enthusiast contingent from the East Coast, the 1st annual Bimmerfest East was thought up, researched and executed. Bimmerfest East took place on August 6th 2011, in Aberdeen Maryland at Ripken Stadium. With such a large (BMW) show taking place right around the corner from where I live, I made it a point to be there.

Bimmerfest east was organized and run in the large parking lot of Ripken Stadium, home of the Iron Birds Minor League Baseball team. I've been to Ripken Stadium previously, for multiple occasions, but most recently an Auto-X event on the very same parking lot. I was curious how they would arrange the vendors, but they did a pretty good job given the number of cars that came to be a part of this brand-new East Coast event. A week or so before the show, the pre-registration count online was around 1100. Five days before the show, the count reached 1900. I'm pleased to say regardless of numbers, there was no outrageous backup to get in (I arrived at 11am) and Bimmerfest faithfuls showed up in extremely large numbers as predicted.

The cars that showed up were decent, but predictable. I've been attending European specialty car shows for over a decade, so this could be my jaded viewpoint...but I don't think so. E46s made up the largest grouping of all attendees, but there was a good blend of old and new as well; E90/2s, F10s, E30s, E21s, E31s, a lovely handful of 2002s and 1600s, as well as a quite splendid couple of E9s. Bimmerworld and Turner Motorsport brought out the trailers and their Grand-Am prepped track cars as well as some project cars with some serious engineering work. VAC Motorsport brought out race engines and a couple track toys and there were plenty of clubs in attendance. The biggest failure in my opinion was the single tent for food and drinks; you had to stand in line for an hour just to get a single soda, sausage or snack, since the show wasn't setup to serve more than one or two people at once. Also, showing cars didn't park with other cars of their own make, so the judges wandered aimlessly just to see if cars had display cards on their dashes to be judged. While cars had plenty of room to park and move around, the organization of said cars left a lot to be desired. This was a first attempt, so hopefully they learn from this going forward. I seriously doubt the organizers expected this big a turnout.

The food and drink line was a 45 minute single-file affair.

If you needed a break, the stadium was open for a chat or a better place to eat/drink.

All said and done, I'll give this new show a B. While there were plenty of cars there, the show field had too many cars spread out to find the best gems of the show. Organizers instructing the show cars to 'find a place to park' is great to avoid parking lot mayhem, but doesn't help people/judges sort through a sea of yawns to get to the good stuff; or more importantly get to the BMW models of individual interest. Thankfully I ran into another event photographer that informed me of a few cars that I had missed; I made a quick run towards the end of the show to snap those extra diamonds in the rough that were nearly impossible to locate on foot. As I implied already, the average quality of cars on the 1500+ show field were semi-beat daily driver at best. Now I understand that some of these cars see a lot of miles and/or have poor college students behind the wheel, but there should have been a better line drawn in the field between these and the cars there to be seen (if the yawns weren't showcars that is). There were a few stunners, as well as a large quantity of daily and Sunday cars who had owners with their priorities straight, and as usual those cars were shot more than others. I was happy the major players in the BMW Tuning scene were present in full force and these vendors all had cool motorsport or project car pron to ogle over. There was an extremely wide selection of BMW's of varying vintage, from all over the US, and despite protesting BMW workers union members that made their presence known to some (by no fault of the show organizers) it was an enjoyable event. I look forward to next year and the growth of Bimmerfest East going forward.

The ROTL Bimmerfest East 2011 album can be found here.