You may hate him (British/Canadians); you may love him (Germans/Italians); you may be indifferent (French/Spanish) or you may not know exactly who he is (Americans) BUT there is little doubt that he’s the most talked about driver amoung all those opinions over the last 15 years. Without him what exactly would have happened in F1?

Mika Hakkinen taking out David Coultard in Adelade?
Trulli trying the same over Frentzen at Jerez?

And could you really have imagined Damon Hill taking home seven, yes SEVEN, world championships?  Some may have found Schumachers dominance to be the worst thing in F1 over the years but there was only 2 reasons why he was:

1. He’s THAT good.

2. The rest are not.

Take the closest comparisons from other sports, say Roger Federer. The worlds best player….or is that Nadal?  What happens when they play against each other is that their matches regularly get toasted as the “best ever” and “extrodinary”. And that’s the point, there are legitimate challenges to Federer but to Schumacher there were none. OK, so Mika was a nicer bloke but he had to have a car 10% better than the rest to take the championship. Schumacher has regularly taken cars that were 10% down home across the line in first place.
Don’t blame the man, blame the lack of other men.

But that was then and this is now. Nobody, including the man himself can deny his much talked about comeback hasn’t been all that it could. Not that he’s that bad, missing the podium narrowly on 3 occassions but we all expect more from him. Why? Because realise it or not he’s your favourite driver. If he’s not, well get him in the same car as Hamilton and see what happens…now there’s a fight worth watching.

Silverstone, has been much maligned and criticised in recent years by Bernie Ecclestone for facilities that have fallen behind glittering those state-funded venues in emerging economies like Malaysia and China, being likened famously to a “country fair tying to be a world event”.
The circuit seems to have listened, and following the debacle that was [oh dear oh dear] Doningtons bit to host F1, the circuit has a major revamp under way.
Phillips said a new pit complex was due to be finished by May next year and some £36 or £37 million would have been spent on improvements and new buildings by the end of 2011.
Damon Hill added that
“There are some lovely new corners,” continuing to say that
“The new Abbey corner I think they (the drivers) are going to love and Farm is going to be really exciting.
“It’s retained its traditional high speed format and continues to evolve. And there are some really great new places to watch from,” added the the 1996 world champion
“You certainly can’t recreate Silverstone somewhere else. New tracks are being built around the world…but it’s a bit like a tree, it’s grown out of this place, out of Europe. The great challenges for the drivers are what sells the sport.
“You want to race at Monza, Monaco, Silverstone, Spa or Suzuka because you have seen great drivers on those circuits and you want to know how you compare.”

Only time will tell if Mr Ecclestone is finally satisfied. From the track day rider and drivers point of view we reckon the new Arena GP circuit is the best Silverstone has ever been. That said, comparing the place to Yas Marina is just a bit daft (we’ve been there and it’s out of this world) and perhaps Silverstone should stay clear of trying to live up to venues such as. It would take massive state spending to build the facilities needed to rival the oil-states and for what? Let them burn their oil dollars and Silverstone instead keep your eye on the most important element of motorsport: the fans.
Just a thought…

It’s the Aussie way…..

The FIA’s World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) investigated the North Carolina-based outfit’s vow to make its F1 debut this year and subsequent painful pleas to either delay its entry until later on in the season or else defer it altogether until 2011, after it became apparent that co-founders Peter Windsor and Ken Anderson had chronically underestimated the level of funding required to race at the highest level.
The WMSC’s conclusion was that the now-defunct Charlotte concern had “infringed the FIA International Sporting Code and the sporting regulations of the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship” by not following its obligations in taking up the slot that it had been granted, with the strict sanctions imposed for so doing being a fine of £255,000 plus legal costs and exclusion from any future competition.
It is unclear how the fine will be paid.
A statement added that USF1 “had displayed poor financial management and had underestimated the requirement to present an F1 car for the 2010 season in the time and with the financial resources available to them”.
A liquidation auction recently brought down the final curtain on the whole sorry saga, and crushed an American dream that – on paper, at least – with the backing of YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley, ought to have been able to attract sufficient sponsorship to successfully make the field.
However, after a number of backers reportedly pulled the plug last year – a combined effect of widespread media cynicism about the ambitious project and the global economic recession – the team reluctantly informed the FIA just three weeks before the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix in March that it would not be ready in time.
The full WMSC statement:
During the extraordinary hearing that was held in Geneva on 23 June 2010, the Judging Body of the World Motor Sport Council examined, in application of the new disciplinary procedure adopted at the beginning of 2010, the failure of the USF1 team to take part in the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship, for which it had been selected and had registered.
Having had this disciplinary procedure submitted to it by the FIA President, who did not attend the hearing, the Judging Body of the World Motor Sport Council has found the USF1 team guilty of having infringed the FIA International Sporting Code, the sporting regulations of the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship and the obligations resulting from its entry in this championship.
In these circumstances, the Judging Body of the World Motor Sport Council has decided to impose the following sanctions against USF1:
A fine of €309,000 (a sum equivalent to the entry fees for the championship)
The disqualification of USF1 (which definitively deprives USF1 of the right to take part, in any way whatsoever, in any competition)
And the payment of the costs incurred by the FIA within the context of this disciplinary procedure
USF1 has seven days to appeal the ruling, though no appeal is anticipated – and the judgement handed down will certainly act as a salutary warning to any prospective F1 2011 entrants that they must only pledge their commitment to join the top flight if they are truly capable of doing so. The procedure to select the 13th entry for next season remains ongoing.

The USF1 didn't come to anything but a (bad) logo....

Crash.net / Eurosport

The forthcoming TrackDays.com web site’s main aim is to list every single good track day operating during the Track Day season while avoiding the trackdays experience tells us (and our readers) will not be good ones.

The site is a non profit making web site and purely exists for Track Day organisers to list there dates and for the Track Day attendee to view them. To book any of the Track Days listed on the calendar you simple follow a link back to the operators web site where you can book with them directly.

A web site with just a calendar would seem pretty boring and wouldn’t attract to many people so we are adding in some extras. You will find details about all major race circuits, accommodation listings for all the race circuits, a classifieds section to advertise, sell and swap track day related products and some general information about Track Days.

We must add that any text, articles or points of view are purely my own, if you don’t agree or you feel some of the information listed on the site is wrong please email me and we can discuss further.

To the organisers and operators of Track Days, if you would like to include your dates, just drop us an email and we’ll get your company on the “to approve” list. We’ll secretly book in to at least 3 of your events and send our expert review group. Currently we are accepting entries from UK, France, Spain and the USA