You alight from the train. As you travel up the escalators from the subway, that distinctive engine note reverberates off the buildings and pavilions that guard the circuit. Upon hitting the surface, another change up the 6 speed sequential gearbox just whacks your eardrums. The circuit's narrow. The punters are close to the action. The cars flirt with the intimidating walls. There's no mistaking it. V8 Supercars are on track at the Sydney 500.
    For a few seasons now the Sydney 500 has played host to the V8 Supercars season finale. However, fans' response to the Sydney Olympic Park Street Circuit has been mixed. Many love the closeness of racing and unpredictability that comes with a narrow street circuit. The cars ride the kerbs and are frequently up on two wheels. The indoor paddock is unique and allows fans unprecedented access to the teams as they prepare the cars. The flipside is that despite fans being close to the action, the viewing is not good. They cannot access all parts of the circuit. Many decree the circuit uninspiring that consequentially only allows processional racing. Punter numbers were definitely down at this year's event.
    The contract for the Sydney 500 has another year to run, but at the time of writing, no contract extension had been agreed upon. Will 2016 be the Sydney 500's finale? Does the Sydney Olympic Street Circuit have a future in V8 Supercars? Would you prefer to see another circuit accept the mantle of showcasing Australia's premier motorsport category's season ending decider?
    Congratulations to Mark Winterbottom in winning his first V8 Supercar championship. 

    Best wishes to all our friends for the Christmas season. Cheers....
      

    Come this Sunday evening, what stories will the unforgiving confines of the Sydney Olympic Park Street Circuit be able to tell? The finale of the 2015 V8 Supercars championship will be played out at the Sydney 500. Two 125km races on Saturday and a 250km feature race on Sunday will decree this year's champion. 
    Prodrive Racing Australia's Mark Winterbottom has lead the championship throughout the season and takes a 179 point advantage over Red Bull Racing's Craig Lowndes with 300 points on offer this weekend.
    The Sydney Olympic Park Street Circuit rewards cars with excellent brakes and robust suspension, as the ability to stop at the end of the numerous straights and aggressively ride the kerbs is paramount. Check out V8 Supercars at their two-wheeled best at the Turns 2, 3 and 4 chicane. The narrow circuit and ever present walls place an extra emphasis on qualifying well. Staying out front and hopefully avoiding any potential carnage to achieve a favourable result is key for the two title protagonists. Frosty has been there or thereabouts in recent years and would be ecstatic to win his first championship. Lowndsey would also dearly love to attain the double of a Bathurst 1000 victory and championship victory in the same season for the first time since way back in 1996.  
    As much as we love speculating over possible scenarios, in this case there's no point. Whether it's the racing or the weather, this event is always unpredictable. But let's just say a DNF could prove disastrous to Frosty and open a door for Lowndes. 
    See you out there and don't forget the Nikon. Cheers....  

    If ever you wanted a glowing endorsement for Formula One, just head south of the border, down Mexico way. F1 made a triumphant return to Mexico for the first time since 1992, and the fans embraced it in droves. The packed grandstands were out of their seats during the formation lap, cheered during the warm up lap, went ballistic when local hero Force India's Sergio Perez overtook rivals in the stadium section and adopted winner Mercedes' Nico Rosberg as one of their own. Their unabated enthusiasm translated well across the television medium. 
    Recent years F1 has expanded its horizons into new countries, but if you were ever considering an overseas trip to attend a race, wouldn't you want to attend the venues bristling with atmosphere? The knowledgeable Silverstone crowd, the parochial Ferrari fans at Monza, the glamour of Monaco, the party vibe of Brazil, the opening European race in Spain, the hugely popular Austrian GP, the carnival in Canada, sun drenched Australia, and the Japanese cheering well, everything. Don't you think the celebratory nature of the Mexican fans did more to promote F1 to the greater world than any advertising or marketing exercise could ever hope to achieve? Made you wish you were there, right? Bodes well for their longevity as opposed to half empty grandstands at circuits that drop off the calendar within a few years of joining. 
    Come March next year, we'll be heading south of the border, down Melbourne way. Ciao....  

    Once again criticism questioning the Australian Formula One Grand Prix's viability has risen its ugly head, and once again we'll rebuke it. The figures are out, with the Victorian government shelling out a reputed record $62m to stage the F1 season opener. Are they justified in spending that much of the taxpayers hard earned?
    Despite viewing figures dwindling due to the shift to Pay TV, Formula One is still the most watched sport worldwide outside of the summer Olympics and World Cup soccer. Those events are every four years, whereas F1 is on average every two weeks between March and November every year. Popularity equals exposure. F1 showcases Melbourne and Australia for that matter to the world. The great land Down Under translates to an attractive tourist destination for overseas patrons, even when F1 is not in town.
    During GP week in Melbourne, the restaurants are full, the bars are full, the cafes are full, the night clubs are full, the motels are all full, the transport industry benefits, and guess what? We're all spending money. Doesn't the Victorian government collect taxes from that? Don't these venues need to employ more staff to cater for the demand? The point is, the benefit fiscally, economically and socially is surely immeasurable. Besides, do you think the government would continue to throw money into staging the F1 GP if it was akin to ditching it in the Albert Park lake? Remember the contract was just renewed. The benefits both directly and indirectly are surely tangible.
   See you at Albert Park in 2016....  

    McLaren are enduring, to say the least, a rather arduous 2015 Formula One campaign. Here's one of F1's grandee teams, who have won numerous driver's and constructor's championships, currently struggling to evade the Qualifying 1 cutoff and languishing towards the bottom of the constructor's championship. Dark days indeed. 
    From 1995-2014 McLaren utilised Mercedes engine power. Now the other powerplant providers in F1, namely Ferrari and Renault, are widely considered to be not up to the calibre of the current Mercedes powerplant, as evidenced by the works Mercedes team currently dominating the championship. Would McLaren be challenging for the championship if they'd stayed with Mercedes? Could McLaren be sure Mercedes were providing the latest spec powerplant with which to achieve their championship aspirations? Their ethos, according to McLaren chairman Ron Dennis, is "We exist to win". Therefore, in their quest to quench their championship thirst, McLaren adopted Honda power for 2015 and beyond. Sound logic, right? Who could ever forget the halcyon days of the McLaren-Honda package back in the late '80s. Couple this with the star driver lineup of the driver still widely considered by many to be the best in F1, two time champ Fernando Alonso, and 2009 champ Jenson Button, and McLaren seem to have all boxes ticked.
    But the on track results are testing McLaren's resolve and the driver's patience. Four double DNF's and currently (pre-Russian GP) second last in the constructor's on 17 points. The car's deficiencies seem to be attributed to, not the chassis or aero, but to the new Honda powerplant. Fernando Alonso's poignant comments over the radio during the recent Japanese GP for the whole world to hear, including Honda's big bosses who were trackside, highlights the frustrations felt by the whole team.
    All interviews with McLaren personnel, including the drivers, state that Honda are making huge strides in understanding the new complex hybrid powerplants, and will be punching at the front of the grid again. But when? Will frustration and impatience get the better of their drivers? Fans want to see McLaren back at the front of the grid. Have McLaren made the correct evaluation concluding that championships in the foreseeable future cannot be won with the current powerplant providers, thus introducing a new combatant by rekindling their relationship with Honda?
    As always, time will tell....
     

    It's always difficult to compare elite sportsmen from different eras, and Formula One is no exception. The circuits have changed, the machinery has progressed technologically, safety vastly improved. With this weekend's F1 night race in Singapore, talk has predominately revolved around Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton's F1 statistics and their similarity to the great Ayrton Senna. Whilst a name as evocative as Senna provokes passionate parochialism amongst fans, you cannot deny that the figures possess an uncanny resemblance. 
    Lewis Hamilton missed out on Ayrton Senna's 26 year record of 8 consecutive pole positions by qualifying on the third row of the grid for tonight's Singapore GP. However, other stats deserve mention. Despite the tight confines of the Marina Bay circuit offering little to promote overtaking, if Hamilton is the first to pass the chequered flag tonight, he'll equal Ayrton Senna's record of 41 wins from 161 race starts. At the last GP at Monza, Hamilton had acquired 81 podiums to Ayrton's 80. He's also achieved five consecutive wins compared to Ayrton's four, 25 wins from pole position compared to Ayrton's 29, and 84 front row starts to Ayrton's 87. The rest of the 2015 F1 season seems close to being a mere formality regarding Hamilton winning and therefore equaling Ayrton's record of 3 driver's world championships. Only a remarkable change of fortune would deny Lewis Hamilton emulating his childhood hero later this season.
    So how will Lewis Hamilton be revered when he eventually retires from F1? His win tally (40 wins) is staggering. Equal with current Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel, and bettered only by Ayrton Senna (41), Alain Prost (51) and Michael Schumacher (91). We can only imagine where the final number of victories will rest. Will Lewis be touted as one of the greatest grand prix drivers of all time? And what legacy will Lewis leave? F1 supremo Bernie Eccelstone has often stated that Lewis does more to promote the sport than any of the current crop of drivers and recent champions, and credits him with sparking interest in F1 from the younger generation. The daunting prospect for his rivals is he's only 30 and still has more to achieve in Formula One.
    Ciao....      

    It's arrived. V8 Supercars' endurance season is upon us. The Sydney Motorsport Park Supersprint has been run and won. Now it's time to turn our attention to the Pirtek Endurance Cup. Sandown 500, Bathurst 1000 and the Gold Coast 600. Pit stop strategies, the opportune time to run the co-drivers, the mechanical strain on the race cars. All adds up to uncertainty doesn't it? What more can a V8 Supercar fan desire? 
    Prodrive Racing Australia's Mark Winterbottom still leads the championship, but team mate Chaz Mostert is definitely on the ascendancy. Can Mostert win the big one at Mt Panorama, claiming back to back Bathurst 1000 victories, this time partnered with Cameron Waters? With age on his side, Chaz could very well end up being a multiple Bathurst winner and future championship winner. Then there's the return of Marcos Ambrose to partner Scott Pye. What can the former champion offer the quickly improving Dick Johnson Racing team? Red Bull Racing and six time champ Jamie Whincup looked to be on the rise on Saturday at last weekend's SMP Supersprint, only to be brought back down to earth in the Sunday race. However, only the brave would write off the proven combination of Whincup and Paul Dumbrell who incidentally start the endurance season with a new car. There's an international contingent to the enduros as well with the likes of Frenchman Alexandre Premat rejoining Garry Rogers Motorsport to partner Scott McLaughlin, and former F1 driver and Indy Car hotshoe Sebastien Bourdais joining Lee Holdsworth at Walkinshaw Racing. Will Bourdais be able a muscle a V8 Supercar? One of the big stories is the return of Russell Ingall to V8 Supercar action. The Enforcer is replacing the injured James Courtney at HRT to partner Jack Perkins. Have HRT made an inspired choice, or would they have been better served to give a drive to a hungry young driver? Perkins/ Ingall has a familiar ring to it though. It's one of the wildcard entries for the Bathurst 1000 that has us intrigued. Rising star Renee Gracie is partnered with an absolute superstar in Indy Car and Formula E driver Simona de Silvestro. The "Iron Maiden" has also been an affiliated driver with the Sauber F1 team. Would love to see the ladies leave the boys in their exhaust fumes. 
    So, anyone willing to pick a winner for Bathurst or the Pirtek Endurance Cup for that matter? If you know, let us know, because we don't have a clue. Cheers....
    
    Sadly, the motorsport community is once again in mourning. Former F1 driver and Indy Car driver Justin Wilson passed away after succumbing to injuries sustained at Pocono. Immensely popular and will be sadly missed. Our thoughts and best wishes are with the Wilson family. Vale Justin Wilson. 
           

    Our friends and supporters who frequent this site will know how much we love all forms of motorsport, but they will undoubtedly be aware of how much the anticipation and excitement levels crescendo when the endurance season approaches. V8 Supercars is once again about to dip its big toe into the unpredictability of endurance racing including its showcase event, The Bathurst 1000, being just a breath away.
    However there's the matter of the Sydney Motorsport Park Supersprint to contend first before the enduros commence at Sandown. Sydney fans can enjoy a plethora of motorsport with a bumper support programme scheduled. Closely matched Porsche Carrera Cup contest 3 x 19 lap races, crowd favourites Aussie Racing Cars fight over 4 x 11 lap races, the top end exotic marques of GT racing race a 1 hour mini enduro on Saturday and a 40 lap race on Sunday, and the FIA and Cams sanctioned Formula 4 make their long awaited Sydney debut over 3 x 15 lap races. 
    V8 Supercars at this time of year always seems to take on an interesting perspective. The main protagonists bidding for championship glory begin to show their hands. Prodrive's Mark Winterbottom takes an almost 300 point advantage over Red Bull's evergreen Craig Lowndes, with team mate Chaz Mostert and David Reynolds plus HRT's James Courtney breathing down CL's neck. Can 2015 finally be Winterbottom's year? And what of defending champ Jamie Whincup? His title's defense might not be going to plan to date, but he always manages to excel come endurance season. Only the brave would consign him to the also-rans. 
    Ford seemed to have produced a car that can win on all types of circuits with their Falcon FGX. Winterbottom will certainly be hoping that that will be the case at Sydney Motorsport Park. Any increase to his slender advantage going into the endurance season will certainly be welcomed by Frosty. See you trackside next weekend. Ciao....       

    Enthralling, entertaining, emotional. There isn't enough superlatives to describe last weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix. With races like we had at the Hungaroring, there certainly isn't a lot wrong with Formula One. The race had it all.
    Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel secured his second victory for 2015. Team mate Kimi Raikkonen looked set to complete a 1-2 for the Scuderia until his Kinetic energy recovery system failed, thus limping into retirement. Red Bull's Daniil Kyvat acquired his maiden F1 podium, while team mate Daniel Ricciardo finished third after threatening for victory, showing the field that overtaking is definitely possible around the twisting Hungaroring. Championship protagonists Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg both had eventful races and for the first time this season were unable to stand on the podium for Mercedes. Rookie Max Verstappen achieved his best result in F1 with a mature drive to fourth. Have McLaren's fortunes finally started to change with a double points haul for the first time this season with their new Honda package? Williams slid backwards while struggling Sauber picked up a point with Marcus Ericsson claiming 10th position. Lotus' Romain Grosjean incurred a penalty for a pitlane unsafe release and held off Rosberg to finish 7th. The driver you had to sympathise with was Force India's Nico Hulkenburg who spectacularly retired with a front wing failure down the main straight. He looked set for a strong result. Fortunately he was not injured.
    Punctures, penalties and plenty of passing. It was compulsive viewing. The Hungarian GP was the culmination of an extremely emotional week following the passing of Jules Bianchi after a brave fight from the injuries sustained at last year's Japanese GP. Earmarked for a future Ferrari drive, Jules was extremely popular and well liked amongst F1 fraternity and fans worldwide. A touching ceremony before the race with the Bianchi family and all the drivers present. No doubt Jules would of been watching the Hungarian GP and been impressed with what he saw. 
    Vale Jules Bianchi.     
     

    Recently a meeting of the Formula One Strategy Group legislated some interesting regulations to come into effect from this year's Belgium GP. No longer are drivers to receive coaching from their teams through radio communications during the formation lap. They are now to be solely responsible for propelling the car off the grid from the time they leave the pitlane to lights out. 
    In the past teams have been able to instruct their drivers on optimum settings attained from practise starts during the formation lap with a view to maximising the race start. The new rule translates to clutch bite points to be set before the car leaves the pitlane. Any manual offset switch or any other switch associated with clutch settings can only be adjusted after the race start for the purpose of improving subsequent pitstop getaways. This quite clearly puts the emphasis back on the drivers. Are formation lap procedures now more important than ever? Reigning champ and Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton welcomes the new plan, citing driver only activated starts suit his driving style and are reminiscent of his Formula 3 days. 
    In addition to coaching, all radio communications between the teams and the drivers during formation laps will be limited. The only permissible comms are on safety grounds only. Teams may inform drivers of punctures, whether to pit to fix damage. or to stop the car if sensing terminal damage. They may also warn of damage to a competitors' car, oil or debris on circuit, or whether the track is wet. 
    Many will argue that the abolition or limiting of driver aids can only benefit F1 by promoting driver skill. However there are those that state that the pinnacle of motorsport should fully embrace technology and all it has to offer. Will the new rules create glaring disparity amongst the grid when the lights go out? Will drivers with a more discreet feel now be rewarded off the line? We'll start to get an idea at Spa. Cheers....