F1 London Live

Another motorport event that I managed to attend in July despite the short notice provided that it was taking place, was F1 London Live. I was lucky enough to attend the running of F1 cars in central London back in 2004 along with my family and so when I heard about F1 cars potentially running again in central London, I knew i had to go.

The event turned out even better than expected as it presented the chance to even get close to a number of the current F1 drivers albeit one particular driver was clearly not present. The even was put on by F1's new owners, Liberty Media and was a great way of reaching fans such as myself who, despite loving F1 for decades, do not fork out the extortionate ticket/grandstand prices every year to attend the Silverstone GP. As such, this was a really successful event and if run again in 2018, is likely to be even more packed with people than this first attempt.

Hearing the sounds of the cars again was amazing and well worth the effort to attend. If this is any indication of how the new owners of F1 intend to run the show then I am already excited about the future of the sport I love. 

Silverstone Classic 2017

After having attended a number of Goodwood Revival events over the last 5 years, I wanted to see what another famous, classic car racing event would be like and so decided to attend the Silverstone Classic held at the end of July.

Overall, this was quite a different feel of event as compared to Goodwood Revival. Firstly, I was pleasantly surprised that the cost of your entry ticket gives you access to all areas (unlike Goodwood), which meant you could sit in any grandstand and you could access the very heart of the pits and stand next to cars that were being worked on and would shortly grace the circuit.

The other major difference, is of course the size of the two respective circuits. At Goodwood you can walk around the whole circuit if you so desire or hop on one of there slow trundling tractor trailers. With Silverstone's size, walking around the whole circuit is not practical but this is overcome through a dedicated bus service to various parts of the circuit and to the two paddocks. With over 100 different car clubs attending the event, there was plenty to see.

Ultimately a very enjoyable day out and well worth the price of the ticket, albeit, the event lacks the cache and atmosphere of Goodwood, which given the adoption of period dress by 90% of attendees, is really quite unique and special. Thankfully, I got to attend the Goodwood Revival again in September but more on that in a later post.

Some of the racing action...

An unlucky competitor... lost a wheel at just the 2nd corner!

2017 London Classic Car Show

Despite not posting for the majority of 2017, my motorsport related activities have been more frequent and more varied than ever before and it will be challenging to ensure I cover all the events attended/taken part in during the year. But I will attempt to catch up in this and the following posts!

So first up was the London Classic Car Show held in the Excel London in February. this was the first time I attended this particular show or any classic car focused show, so I was looking forward to seeing what it would be like. An indication of how hot the classic car market has become was this keenly priced Porsche Turbo.

The main attraction of the show was the Grand Avenue, where classic cars of all ages were paraded up and down with varying degrees of enthusiasm by their drivers. This really helped bring the show to life as looking at static car displays all day can get a trifle boring after a couple of hours.

Some of the stars of the show for me are shown here but the best part of the static part of the show was the Ferrari stand, which was a comprehensive display of its cars over the last 50 years or so.

The whole event, only in its third year, was quite well run and worth the entry ticket price - an enjoyable and worthwhile day out.

RAC Club London

I had the chance to finally visit one of the automotive related places I have had on my bucket list to visit for quite a while now - the Royal Automobile Club in Pall Mall. The visit did not disappoint; the club was immaculately presented throughout and had some amazing paintings on the walls.

In the rotunda was presented a Jaguar XK120, which just added to the aura of automotive history the inside of the building already portrays.

Membership to the club was confirmed to me as requiring two existing members to both propose and vouch for you. A 12 month waiting list exists and even once your name gets to the top of the list there is an interview to attend with the relevant committee.

Sounds all very old fashioned and exclusive but I think it is amazing that such places still exist and hope that the club is around for at least another couple of hundred years...!

2016 Abu Dhabi F1 Finale Prediction - Rosberg or Hamilton??

Well it has come down to the wire again for the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi. who will have won the F1 crown by the time the fireworks come out??

The odds are clearly in Rosberg's favour. But this is his first chance to win a F1 World Championship and could potentially, given the fickle nature of F1, be his only chance. Will he buckle under the pressure and make a mistake? Judging from his form to date, I would make the bold assumption of saying yes.

He has successfully taken one race at a time as he has mentioned and that is fine whilst in the midst of a championship but this is the last and deciding race... Will he be mentally strong enough?? I have my doubts. As Hamilton has picked up in the past, Rosberg is a rich kid, the son of an F1 world champion, raised in Monaco... He therefore has clearly not had to fight as hard as Hamilton to get to where he is today - that cannot be denied. Therefore he may lack a level of mental toughness and resolve to do it on his own.

I may be doing Nico a disservice but this is how an independent 3rd party sees it. All the conjecture could be for nothing as reliability impacting either driver could determine the ultimate winner. Also, if Nico didn't drop it in the terrible wet conditions in Brazil maybe he has already shown he is mentally tough enough. We will see...

The Amazing Bluebirds

I came across this picture by Jack Vettriano and whilst impressive in its own right, it relates to an individual and the cars that achieved an even more impressive feat - breaking the world land speed record on a number of occasions. The individual is of course Sir Malcolm Campbell and the picture represents the birth of the first of the amazing Bluebirds.

The story goes that after watching a play one evening by the same name, Sir Malcolm was inspired to christen his own land speed vehicle Blue bird by painting it blue and subsequently achieved a number of land speed records in successive Bluebirds (detailed below).

The first thing that strikes you about these cars is the sheer size of them. They look mighty and imposing even today and so you can only imagine what the impact of sighting one of these behemoths back in the 20s and 30s would have been. They are also quite beautiful in their own way and capture the spirit of a pioneering period where man was seeking to continually push back the limits of what was considered possible. An exciting time for sure, particularly in Britain, where we were determinedly aiming to catch and overtake our European counterparts in terms of motor sporting accomplishment.

What follows is a summary of the amazing Bluebirds:

Sunbeam 350HP - Blue Bird

Napier-Campbell Blue Bird II

Napier-Campbell Blue Bird III

Campbell-Napier-Railton Blue Bird

Campbell-Railton Blue Bird

Ron Dennis deserves a Knighthood...!

Something that doesn't quite add up is why Ron Dennis has not become Sir Ron Dennis...? If I was the British man who has been the driving force behind the second most successful team in F1 behind only the 70 year old Ferrari, for the last 30+ years, I would have thought that, that alone might earn me a Knighthood. The fact that Mr Dennis has also headed up and overseen the growth of the increasingly successful McLaren Automotive over the last 10 years and expanded the expertise of the company into other industries such as Healthcare, through McLaren Applied Technologies, should guarantee to be awarded a Knighthood. The fact that his counterpart at Williams F1, Sir Frank Williams, has been Knighted, only serves to highlight the absence of the title before the name of the other.

So you have to ask why the man has not been honoured in such a way and can only guess as to the reasons. Mr Dennis, is a character that clearly has ruffled feathers in the past and appears to make people either like him or loathe him. I would guess it was one or more of the latter who have managed to block the man from being nominated for a Knighthood. It doesn't take the wildest imagination to guess the likely candidates when looking at Ron's run-ins over the years.

To compound it all, the recent events relating to Mr Dennis' fellow shareholders ousting him from running the F1 team and other parts of the McLaren group, I imagine is just rubbing salt in the wounds. Thankfully, he still holds a 25% shareholding in the McLaren Group and may be able to orchestrate a return to the helm of the Company he clearly loves and has built into the globally respected brand it is today. Others may not be so keen but I say good luck Ron.