A1 Grand Prix

[OK Computer]

New FIA approved championship, dubbed the world cup of motorsport.

Cars running 520bhp 3.4 litre 90deg v8's.

Official Site (http://www.a1gp.com/home.html)

Some pics of one of the cars in the windtunnel (http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_news_item.php?fes_art_id=21053)

The car's nosecone in the windtunnel looks a lot like the the earlier Renault's. However not sure of the scale of the tunnel so may look different in 1:1 scale.

[108]

I never went into it deeply, but from what I read so far, it sounds good. I'm mainly attracted to the idea that each nation has one car. Should be a good international sport where every country has a good reason to be biased in their support. Sorta like international cricket.

F1 will always be number 1 though, but this should be good entertainment during the off-season (which is when I think the A1GP season takes place).

[King_Crud]

I do hope they show it in oz. But why couldn't they make the cars wider like the good old days?

[thingy]

Let me get this straight? So now not only do we have Indycar, Champcar, and F1 to get confused between as they all look so similar, there's now going to be A1?

[mjolnir]

sheeeit... the ppl who follow it will know the difference... they'r the 1s that matter :D

[108]

http://www.phong.fuckyouanddie.com/images/battleshiprevive.jpg

First race is coming soon, and I'm excited.

Anyone know if Christian Jones is any good?

[mjolnir]

6 weeks and counting till brands hatch :D

bit iffy bout having your son representing australia - am sure there are more... qualified aussies, nee courtney et al... but if he can beat jos the boss...

news about qualifying structure has filtered out. 4 15-minute sessions with 2 quickest times aggregated for the sprint race... a la first half of this year's F1 season... doubtful about that, actually... just... doesn't seem right...

[Cassa]

We'll (Hed and I and probably some others) be going to the eastern creek one :D

[cherubrock]

I like the Idea of A1 The best racer will win not just the best manufacturer

[108]

I'm looking forward to seeing Alex Yoong race. He seems a nice enough guy, but for some reason I want to see him get his ass whooped. I think I'm just an asshole ;)

And what happened to that Nguyen guy that everyone seemed to be raving on about a few years ago?

[Tigress]

I can pretty much guarantee that you will see Yoong getting his arse whipped! At least he is used to it...that and being lapped ;)

[berserk]

Yoong is racing? I want to see him lapped by a n00b.

[Cassa]

Soooo who's going to be going to which races?

[King_Crud]

When's the eastern creek one? I'll be going if there's nothing else to do

[mjolnir]

1 USA 1.24.177 – SCOTT SPEED
2 FRANCE 1.24.392 – ALEX PREMAT
3 IRELAND 1.24.561 – RALPH FIRMAN
4 BRAZIL 1.24.574 – NELSON PIQUET JR
5 NEW ZEALAND 1.24.590 – JONNY REID
6 SWITZERLAND 1.24.617 – NEEL JANI
7 NETHERLANDS 1.24.646 – JOS VERSTAPPEN
8 PORTUGAL 1.24.738 – ALVARO PARENTE
9 MALAYSIA 1.24.987 – FAIRUZ FAUZY
10 LEBANON 1.25.012 – KALIL BESCHIR
11 GREAT BRITAIN 1.25.104 – ROBBIE KERR
12 GERMANY 1.25.211 – TIMO SCHEIDER
13 MEXICO 1.25.296 – SALVADOR DURAN
14 AUSTRALIA 1.25.312 – WILL POWER
15 PAKISTAN 1.25.374 – ADAM KHAN
16 SOUTH AFRICA 1.25.509 – STEPHEN SIMPSON
17 INDONESIA 1.26.291 – ANANDA MIKOLA
18 INDIA 1.26.579 – KARUN CHANDHOK
19 RUSSIA 1.26.805 – ROMAN RUSINOV
20 CHINA 1.27.113 – TENG YI JIANG

if you check out A1GP's official site (www.a1gp.com) they have a video of 16 cars decked out in livery taking their first rolling start

[mjolnir]

http://forums.zgeek.com/gallery/data/media/1/Team_Australia.jpg

[King_Crud]

gee, that Christian Jones is so awesome. When he was driving that Agip Formula Ford in the mid 90s i just knew he'd make the big time :rolleyes:

[108]

Just a reminder that the first race is this Sunday.

For us Aussies:

UK A1GP: 10PM Sunday Fox Sports 2
Brazil F1GP: 2.45AM Sunday Channel 10

And can we get this moved to the Sports forum?

[King_Crud]

I had a look at my uni schedule and unless a miracle happens i won't be able to make the race at Eastern Creek due to uni commitments.

[Cassa]

DumHed and I have our tickets :)

For a wonder I'm not working on Monday so I'll be staying up for the brazil gp

[V_Max]

For a wonder I'm not working on Monday so I'll be staying up for the brazil gpAnd it's live live live, which means formula1.com live timing during ad breaks and Aussie-commentators-talking-shit breaks, hurrah!

[Cassa]

Don't forget fucking James Allen as well. :rage:

[V_Max]

You may wish to investigate getting a t-shirt from here :)
http://www.sniffpetrol.com/

[Cassa]

sniffpetrol is love

[mjolnir]

Pos Id Team T.L. F.L. Time Kph GAP
1 USA USA 19 19 1'16.516 183.4 -
2 BRA BRAZIL 13 10 1'17.156 181.9 +0.640
3 FRA FRANCE 20 20 1'17.216 181.8 +0.700
4 GBR GREAT BRITAIN 21 12 1'17.463 181.2 +0.947
5 MAL MALAYSIA 17 15 1'17.579 180.9 +1.063
6 AUS AUSTRALIA 30 15 1'17.673 180.7 +1.157
7 SUI SWITZERLAND 22 21 1'17.731 180.6 +1.215
8 POR PORTUGAL 19 17 1'17.740 180.6 +1.224
9 NED NETHERLANDS 20 3 1'17.970 180.0 +1.454
10 MEX MEXICO 27 22 1'17.997 180.0 +1.481
11 NZL NEW ZEALAND 24 13 1'18.157 179.6 +1.641
12 GER GERMANY 13 10 1'18.344 179.2 +1.828
13 CAN CANADA 28 24 1'18.470 178.9 +1.954
14 RSA SOUTH AFRICA 21 19 1'18.640 178.5 +2.124
15 JPN JAPAN 27 24 1'18.859 178.0 +2.343
16 PAK PAKISTAN 14 11 1'18.932 177.8 +2.416
17 CZE CZEC REPUBLIC 20 19 1'19.396 176.8 +2.880
18 LIB LEBANON 24 13 1'19.491 176.6 +2.975
19 IRL IRELAND 16 10 1'19.542 176.5 +3.026
20 AUT AUSTRIA 14 12 1'19.674 176.2 +3.158
21 INA INDONESIA 16 10 1'20.126 175.2 +3.610
22 RUS RUSSIA 14 12 1'22.905 169.3 +6.389
23 ITA ITALY 5 3 1'25.320 164.5 +8.804
24 CH CHINA 15 15 1'26.555 162.2 +10.039
25 IND INDIA 2 2 1'28.607 158.4 +12.091

[mjolnir]

Pos Id Team T.L. F.L. Time Kph Gap
1 BRA BRAZIL 14 14 1'25.122 164.9 -
2 GBR GREAT BRITAIN 21 20 1'25.361 164.4 +0.239
3 POR PORTUGAL 15 6 1'25.639 163.9 +0.517
4 RSA SOUTH AFRICA 16 13 1'26.294 162.7 +1.172
5 FRA FRANCE 18 17 1'26.328 162.6 +1.206
6 CAN CANADA 21 12 1'26.346 162.6 +1.224
7 IRL IRELAND 14 12 1'26.540 162.2 +1.418
8 USA USA 14 9 1'26.665 162.0 +1.543
9 GER GERMANY 15 14 1'26.817 161.7 +1.695
10 SUI SWITZERLAND 15 7 1'26.947 161.4 +1.825
11 MEX MEXICO 20 8 1'27.553 160.3 +2.431
12 PAK PAKISTAN 17 15 1'27.738 160.0 +2.616
13 ITA ITALY 17 15 1'27.890 159.7 +2.768
14 JPN JAPAN 21 17 1'28.109 159.3 +2.987
15 AUT AUSTRIA 20 18 1'28.154 159.2 +3.032
16 MAL MALAYSIA 9 8 1'28.193 159.2 +3.071
17 INA INDONESIA 18 14 1'28.241 159.1 +3.119
18 NZL NEW ZEALAND 17 16 1'28.350 158.9 +3.228
19 NED NETHERLANDS 7 3 1'28.594 158.4 +3.472
20 LIB LEBANON 12 11 1'28.806 158.1 +3.684
21 CZE CZECH REPUBLIC 17 16 1'28.827 158.0 +3.705
22 AUS AUSTRALIA 12 11 1'29.346 157.1 +4.224
23 RUS RUSSIA 12 10 1'20.207 155.6 +5.085
24 CH CHINA 9 8 1'25.767 146.6 +10.645
25 IN INDIA 0


Practice 2 ran in wet conditions

[berserk]

Brands Hatch 25/09/2005

Sprint Race Result
Pos Country Driver Laps Gap
1 Brazil Piquet 18 23:17.266
2 France Premat 18 + 0:02.441
3 New Zealand Halliday 18 + 0:02.900
4 Australia Power 18 + 0:11.458
5 Great Britain Kerr 18 + 0:12.798
6 Mexico Duran 18 + 0:17.273
7 Pakistan Khan 18 + 0:18.033
8 Portugal Parente 18 + 0:18.190
9 Switzerland Jani 18 + 0:20.851
10 Ireland Devaney 18 + 0:21.057
Full list (http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_news_item.php?fes_art_id=25992)

Feature Race Result
Pos Country Driver Laps Gap
1 Brazil Piquet 38 55:03.640
2 Australia Power 38 + 0:11.349
3 Mexico Duran 38 + 0:23.142
4 New Zealand Halliday 38 + 0:23.724
5 Malaysia Yoong 38 + 0:24.371
6 South Africa Simpson 38 + 0:24.871
7 Netherlands Verstappen 38 + 0:25.648
8 Japan Fukuda 38 + 0:26.237
9 Canada Macintosh 38 + 0:27.197
10 Germany Scheider 37 + 1 Lap
Full list (http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_news_item.php?fes_art_id=25994)

2005/2006 A1 GP Championship After Brands Hatch
Pos Country Points
1 Brazil 21
2 Australia 16
3 New Zealand 15
4 Mexico 13
5 France 9
6 Great Britain 6
7 Malaysia 6
8 South Africa 5
9 Pakistan 4
10 Netherlands 4
11 Portugal 3
12 Japan 3
13 Switzerland 2
14 Canada 2
15 Ireland 1
16 Germany 1
from here (http://www.pitpass.com/src/a1gp/seasons/2005_2006/championship.php)

[V_Max]

I thought the sprint race didn't count for points? :confused:

[108]

I thought the sprint race didn't count for points? :confused:
Yeah it does. 10 points for first, 1 point for 10th in both races. 1 point for the fastest lap over the two races.

Brazil came out with the maximum of 21 points.

The first race was a bit of a procession, but I quite enjoyed the second race. The Kiwi driver was mighty impressive.

[cherubrock]

go the Kiwis

[mjolnir]

Yes, and the coverage of the race compared to qualifying was vastly improved... thank fuck!!!

Piquet Jr was mighty through Surtees all weekend. Pulling that move off Will seemed a formality

[King_Crud]

Channel 10 is showing it this sunday for all us non pay tv types

[excalibur]

Channel 10 is showing it this sunday for all us non pay tv types
Fucking sweet. I wanted to see this. Expecially that nasty looking crash. Good thing he wasn't hurt.

[mjolnir]

Oh fuck me...

I bet Jonsey thinks "since Australia's second in the championship, we'll give my boy a go"...


PRACTICE SESSION 1
Pos Team Driver Laps Time Gap
1 GREAT BRITAIN Robbie KERR 19 1'34.675 -
2 FRANCE Nicolas LAPIERRE 22 1'34.698 +0.023
3 BRAZIL Nelson Angelo PIQUET 23 1'34.784 +0.109
4 GERMANY Timo SCHEIDER 21 1'35.043 +0.368
5 SWITZERLAND Neel JANI 25 1'35.063 +0.388
6 INDONESIA Ananda MIKOLA 17 1'35.125 +0.450
7 NETHERLANDS Jos VERSTAPPEN 19 1'35.155 +0.480
8 CZECH REPUBLIC Tomas ENGE 22 1'35.321 +0.646
9 ITALY Enrico TOCACCELO 20 1'35.543 +0.868
10 CANADA Sean McINTOSH 28 1'35.614 +0.939
11 USA Scott SPEED 18 1'35.631 +0.956
12 IRELAND Ralph FIRMAN 22 1'35.795 +1.120
13 NEW ZEALAND Jonny REID 23 1'35.961 +1.286
14 PAKISTAN Adam KHAN 21 1'36.000 +1.325
15 PORTUGAL Alvaro PARENTE 19 1'36.198 +1.523
16 MEXICO David MARTINEZ 23 1'36.313 +1.638
17 MALAYSIA Alex YOONG 20 1'36.723 +2.048
18 AUSTRIA Mathias LAUDA 11 1'37.012 +2.337
19 JAPAN Hideki NODA 21 1'37.125 +2.450
20 SOUTH AFRICA Tomas SCHECKTER 11 1'37.408 +2.733
21 INDIA Armaan EBRAHIM 24 1'37.739 +3.064
22 LEBANON Khalil BESCHIR 18 1'37.788 +3.113
23 AUSTRALIA Christian JONES 22 1'37.913 +3.238
24 CHINA Tengyi JIANG 21 1'38.594 +3.919

[mjolnir]

PRACTICE SESSION 2
Pos Team Driver Laps Time Gap
1 FRANCE Nicolas LAPIERRE 18 1'34.150 -
2 IRELAND Ralph FIRMAN 25 1'34.525 +0.375
3 GERMANY Timo SCHEIDER 24 1'34.722 +0.572
4 NETHERLANDS Jos VERSTAPPEN 22 1'34.783 +0.633
5 INDONESIA Ananda MIKOLA 12 1'34.788 +0.638
6 GREAT BRITAIN Robbie KERR 20 1'34.800 +0.650
7 SWITZERLAND Neel JANI 21 1'34.864 +0.714
8 USA Scott SPEED 20 1'34.932 +0.782
9 BRAZIL Nelson Angelo PIQUET 23 1'34.988 +0.838
10 ITALY Enrico TOCACCELO 19 1'35.047 +0.897
11 CANADA Sean McINTOSH 22 1'35.054 +0.904
12 CZECH REPUBLIC Tomas ENGE 24 1'35.375 +1.225
13 NEW ZEALAND Jonny REID 25 1'35.390 +1.240
14 PAKISTAN Adam KHAN 11 1'35.877 +1.727
15 PORTUGAL Alvaro PARENTE 17 1'36.057 +1.907
16 MEXICO David MARTINEZ 23 1'36.167 +2.017
17 MALAYSIA Fairuz FAUZY 19 1'36.242 +2.092
18 JAPAN Hideki NODA 25 1'36.284 +2.134
19 CHINA Tengyi JIANG 28 1'37.231 +3.081
20 INDIA Karun CHANDHOK 21 1'37.452 +3.302
21 SOUTH AFRICA Tomas SCHECKTER 12 1'37.497 +3.347
22 AUSTRIA Mathias LAUDA 22 1'37.571 +3.421
23 AUSTRALIA Christian JONES 24 1'37.632 +3.482
DQ LEBANON Basil SHAABAN

[King_Crud]

Christian Jones was shit in Formula Ford, he'll be even worse here.

[V_Max]

Oh fuck me...

I bet Jonsey thinks "since Australia's second in the championship, we'll give my boy a go"...I think the Wills are busy with the V8 stuff this weekend, so Christian Jones is the only remaining option of the announced drivers IIRC.

[mjolnir]

Ah yes, I'd actually take Bathurst over some non-descript German circuit. T'is going to be one long night (Bathurst, then Jap GP)

Sprint Race Grid
1 France
2 USA
3 Brazil
4 Great Britain
5 Germany
6 Switzerland
7 Italy
8 Ireland
9 Portugal
10 Netherlands
11 Mexico
12 Czech Rep
13 Canada
14 New Zealand
15 Indonesia
16 Pakistan
17 India
18 Malaysia
19 Austria
20 China
21 Japan
22 Australia
23 South Africa
24 Lebanon

[DumHed]

damn slow people!

[King_Crud]

Looks like I'll be going to the Eastern Creek race, fuck studying on a sunday

[Cassa]

See you there

[mjolnir]

Sneak Preview forAustralian A1GP Fans
The A1 Grand Prix of Nations arrives in Sydney next week and local motorsport fans can be the first to preview all the action.
A1 Grand Prix Founder, President and Chairman, Sheikh Maktoum Hasher Maktoum Al Maktoum, is opening Eastern Creek Raceway for a free open day to view the race cars and meet the Australian A1 Team on Monday, October 31 at 12.30pm.
Sheikh Maktoum has requested the open day so he can display his A1 Grand Prix vision to the Australian people ahead of the Western Sydney venue hosting the fourth round of The World Cup of Motorsport that weekend - November 4-6.
At 1:00pm, Sheikh Maktoum will take the opportunity to complete several laps of the 3.93 kilometre Eastern Creek International Raceway at the wheel of an A1 Grand Prix car before he, along with A1 Team Australia's Team Principal Alan Jones and drivers, Will Davison and Christian Jones, will meet with local school children and members of the public to answer questions about A1 Grand Prix and to sign autographs.
Chairman of the A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Australia and Team Principal for A1 Team Australia, Alan Jones said that during the Open Day, the public will be given access to the venue, cars and drivers ahead of this world class motorsport event.
Sheikh Maktoum wants A1 Grand Prix to reach out to the people. It's a series that has been devised not just for motorsport fans, but for everyone, the 1980 World Formula One Champion said. With the egalitarian nature of the race equipment and the unique (for motorsport) country on country competition, it appeals to anyone who is passionate about their heritage.

Source (www.pitpass.com)

[mjolnir]

Eastern Creek virtually sold out
Following disappointing crowds at the EuroSpeedway and Estoril, A1 GP can look forward to some serious support in Australia, when the series arrives in Eastern Creek for round four of the inaugural championship. Pitpass understands that the event is in such demand that tickets are almost sold out. Pitpass contributor Glen Crompton has revealed that 8 of his work colleagues - not usually motorsport fans - have requested time off in order that they can attend the A1 GP event, even though its almost a thousand kilometres away. Our sources inform us that tickets for many of the other remaining rounds are selling well, as fans warm to the series. Although an official attendance figure for the Estoril race has not been given, it is estimated that around 5000 race fans attended the event. Speaking on Portuguese TV on Monday morning, a local journalist said that the price of tickets was too high. Tickets for the event cost 20 Euros, which converts to £13.50 ($24).

Source (www.pitpass.com)

[mjolnir]

So... any Zgeek exclusives from Eastern Creek attendees?

[Cassa]

We're only going to the main race tomorrow but will fill you in duly :D

[King_Crud]

Good day out, we sat on turn 1, got to see all the action at turn 2 and the jap fella spun off in front of us

[DumHed]

yep, twas many fun!

We were at turn 2 for the first race, and I happened to get a phone video of the German and Mexican cars crashing, while I was taking photos of the already crashed Czech car.

For the main race we watched from corporate hill, which was pretty good. One side gives you pretty good views of the hairpin, the run onto the straight, the straight, and turn 4, and the other side of the hill give a nice panorama of the back section of the track.

[Cassa]

I'm sunburnt as a bastard but it was a tops day.

[King_Crud]

I'm sunburnt as a bastard but it was a tops day.
hahahaha me too, my sunburn is killing me

[Tigress]

I'm sunburnt too!

It was a brilliant day. So many great spots to watch the racing. Turn 1 was good, but turn 2 was where all the action was. However, they needed a screen so that we could see what was going on elsewhere. It was difficult to follow when you weren't sure why the order changed so much and could only guess it was because some cars had pitted.

That crash with the Japanese car was amazing to see. His car was literally ripped apart! Check out the pics

[Cassa]

Wow that's some carnage! We were around near turn 7 when that happened so we missed all the fun. I saw a photo of it mid-incident in the paper today, I'm surprised he wasn't badly injured.

I honestly don't know how I got so burnt - I slathered the spf30+ on!

[JumpinJez]

SO what happened to him?
A1 coverage here in perth has been less than stellar. Tweety being saved from the apartments in the tunnel has received about 5-10 times more airtime than the A1.

[Cassa]

http://www.smh.com.au/news/motorsport/france-in-a1-pole-position-with-eastern-creek-double/2005/11/07/1131211953549.html there's a photo of it here as well. He's unhurt which is frankly amazing.