Can anyone remember when the last V8 Supercar event was staged? Feels like an eternity ago doesn't it? The inconsistent timing between events has long been a major point of conjecture amongst the V8 Supercar faithful.
    Recently it's been announced that the 2016 V8 Supercar calendar will on average stage an event every two weeks, thus guaranteeing ongoing momentum throughout the championship season. The exceptions being the Perth and Darwin rounds, which demand three weeks due to the tyranny of distance from the eastern seaboard. The will also be a winter break to refresh and recharge. The race weekend format is also coming under scrutiny with the Saturday 60/60 race format set to be reviewed for the sprint rounds. 
    V8 Supercars have made a push for the Australian F1 Grand Prix to be included as part of the championship. Something we've lauded for a long time and long overdue. That decision is apparently now up to the Australian Grand Prix Corporation for approval. Overseas junkets are now back on the agenda with a six year deal struck with Malaysia to stage races through Kuala Lumpur on a purpose built street circuit. A select few will head over this August for showcase races for the test event. For those fans worried that the Malaysian round will be at the expense of current Australian rounds, V8 Supercars has given assurances that will not be the case. Why not a double whammy whilst in Malaysia? Does anyone like the idea of an event also at Sepang International Circuit, which incidentally is close to KL airport? That would be a fantastic circuit for V8 Supercars. Wishful thinking isn't it?
    Lastly, the final event, the Sydney 500 at Sydney Olympic Park is being moved forward into November. Discussion is taking place as to how the circuit can be opened up to improve spectating. Rumours persist that there could also be a circuit configuration change. We'll believe the circuit change when we see it, but despite being a great event, would sure be nice to see the fans' vantage points improve. Maybe reopen the outside of the turns 6 + 7 chicane again is a start.
    Skycity Triple Crown at Darwin's little treasure, Hidden Valley, this weekend. Will Prodrive's Mark Winterbottom maintain his championship lead?
    Cheers....  

    Mystifying. Mercedes decision to pit Lewis Hamilton for fresh rubber during a late Safety Car at last weekend's Monaco GP. Costing him almost certain victory, handing it to team mate Nico Rosberg, they inadvertently gave Ferrari rival Sebastian Vettel a helping hand in the championship by way of inheriting second place with Hamilton relegated to third. Mercedes claim they misinterpreted the gap behind Hamilton with no GPS available at Monte Carlo, plus wanted to cover Vettel in case Ferrari pitted him for fresh rubber. If so, would Vettel have been able to overtake both Mercedes' around the tight confines of Monaco anyway?
    The impressive element of the whole scenario was the way Lewis Hamilton conducted himself post race. Although clearly disappointed, his mature response was nothing short of exemplary. As he so clearly pointed out, to react negatively is not befitting of the current F1 world champion. Stating that he aspires to be team leader, he and his team win and lose together. Vowing to come back stronger in the next race, there's a lot to learn for all racers of all ages from Hamilton's classy behaviour. The happiest driver on the Monaco podium however, seemed to be Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel.
    Imagine if Hamilton narrowly loses the championship to Rosberg by virtue of the points squandered at Monaco though. Ouch....

    Lately we've found Formula One racing a little stagnant. It's not because Mercedes seem to be waltzing away with another title, despite a decent challenge from Ferrari. It's because the cars don't seem to be allowed to exploit their full potential. It's akin to a jockey constantly pulling back on the reins trying to slow a thoroughbred racehorse with not a thought of cracking the whip. 
    A recent meeting of the F1 Strategy Group comprising FIA president Jean Todt, F1 tsar Bernie Eccelstone, and reps from teams McLaren, Mercedes, Ferrari, Force India, Williams and Red Bull formulated some interesting proposals for the forthcoming seasons. 
    Next season teams will be able to nominate which two compounds of dry tyre out of the four available they wish to utilise for each event, rather than tyre supplier Pirelli decreeing the compounds. Will this open up strategy options and more to the point, at what point do they have to make that decision? Will teams be able to evaluate all four compounds before making their decision? Will this provide more Friday running for the punters?
    2017 also sees the return of refueling during the races. The teams will still maintain a maximum fuel allowance of 100kg/race, but once again strategy options will open up. Does this mean the end of fuel flow rates (see Archives April 2015)? Lap times are also predicted to improve by 5-6 secs/lap due to the evolution of aero regulations, wider tyres and louder, higher revving powerplants. 
    Other suggestions include starts activated only by the driver with no outside influence from the teams. Finally a review of race weekend formats will be undertaken through global reflection. Does that mean fans will have a say in the formulation of a race weekend?  
    All this still requires ratification by the F1 Commission and World Motor Sport Council. Intriguing times ahead.... 
    

    Confidence is paramount to a racing driver's psyche. To race in Formula One, a driver's ego must also aspire to a reasonably high level. However, they can also be a fickle bunch with emotions bordering on fragile if they feel someone's conspiring against them or support waning. As fans we love it when intra-team rivalries begin to simmer over and the heat between Mercedes team mates Nico Rosberg and reigning champion Lewis Hamilton is steadily increasing. 
    During the recent Chinese GP, over the team radio for all the world to hear, Rosberg felt he was being slowed up enough by leader Hamilton to push him back into the clutches of Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel. This prompted the team to urge Hamilton to speed up or risk the undercut of Rosberg by pitting him first. Was Rosberg making a valid point? Shouldn't he simply attack and try to overtake? Rosberg claimed he'd tried this earlier in the race but destroyed his tyres as he couldn't punch through Hamilton's dirty air, therefore was biding his time for an attack in the latter stages of the race.
    However, it was the post race press conference that made for compulsive viewing for the punters. A still clearly frustrated Rosberg strayed outside the standard corporate moniker and vented his spleen and questioned Hamilton's racecraft. With Hamilton stating it was not his brief to assist anybody else, this clearly did not appease Rosberg. Should the race leader control the pace of the race as they see fit? Isn't the optimum strategy to win the race at the slowest possible pace? Is Rosberg's argument justifiable, or is he just throwing his toys out of the pram? More to the point, should Rosberg have voiced his frustrations so publicly via the post race press conference? He had already stated his concerns over the radio to his team during the race. Is it a case of if Rosberg wants to control the race, he needs to out-qualify Hamilton, make the better start and get to the front? We thought the most telling factor was Hamilton's wry smirk, knowing he's got the measure of Rosberg and already at this early stage of the season, seems well on his way to a third driver's crown.
    Let the season unfold. Ciao....
     
    

    When Pirelli became Formula One's latest tyre supplier, they were mandated to provide a tyre that degrades quickly, thereby forcing the various teams' strategists to rethink how they attack each race meeting. No longer could the drivers push to the limits and have flexibility in their stategies. Instead they had to nurse the tyres which once they'd reached the precipice of adhesion, would literally fall off the cliff in the space of a lap or two, thus necessitating a pit stop for new boots. Remember Michael Schumacher's qualifying-esque in and out laps around pitstop times to demoralise the opposition during his Ferrari heyday? In recent times the drivers seem cautious on their in and out laps. Recognising they'd possibly gone too far, Pirelli to their credit have produced more durable tyres for the 2015 season. They still degrade quickly, but not to the startling levels of previous seasons. 
    Now to accompany the new turbo powerplants we have fuel flow limits, whereas a maximum amount of fuel of 100kg/hour is allowed to be utilised. We like the idea of the cars carrying a finite amount of fuel in their tanks to cover the entire race distance, once again forcing teams to evaluate their strategies, but why is the amount that the powerplants can draw upon at any given time legislated? We all know more fuel flowing through an engine's veins produces more power, so why not leave the fuel flow rate to the teams to manage? They still only have a certain amount of fuel to get their cars to the chequered flag. Does limiting the fuel flow rate stifle the powerplant's potential? Is qualifying now the only time we see the pinnacle of motorsport at its fastest? 
    Sure is nice to see F1 cars throwing up sparks from their titanium skid blocks though. An intriguing race in China looms. Will Ferrari continue to challenge Mercedes? Ciao....   

    It seems as though the formidable Mercedes Formula One team have started their 2015 campaign where they left off from 2014 by dominating the Australian Grand Prix with a crushing 1-2 victory at Albert Park. Certainly looks ominous for the rest of the F1 field this season doesn't it? The bulk of the field already seem to be admitting defeat and only aspiring to second position in the championship.
    While Mercedes continue their dominance, it's interesting to chart the fortunes of some of the other teams. It seems apparent that Ferrari have made some marked improvements over the winter. Their battle with the resurgent Williams team will be one of the most fascinating contests over the course of the season. What of Red Bull? After a lacklustre AGP, have the once dominant team got some serious soul searching to do? Will their car development allow them to bounce back and punch at the front? McLaren? Reunited with Honda. Well, they have a mountain to climb, don't they? But will they find that mountain insurmountable? 
    We could speculate about the impending season and how all teams will fare, but it's the performance of this year's rookies that warrants scrutiny. Have Scuderia Toro Rosso made a couple of inspired choices with their promotion of two drivers from the Red Bull Junior Team? Max Verstappen's rise to F1 has been meteoric. A karting prodigy, he won the 2013 World KZ Championship in karting's highest level, KZ1, driving for the CRG factory team. 2014 saw him compete in the European F3 Championship where he won 10 races, joined the Red Bull Junior Team in August and was promptly announced as STR's F1 driver six days later. Verstappen was on his way to a points finish on debut at the AGP until his STR expired. Guided by his father Jos, himself a former F1 driver, much has been touted about the 17yo who incidentally is the youngest driver ever to compete in F1. Like Max Verstappen, his team mate also has impressive pedigree. The son of two-time World Rally Championship winner Carlos Sainz, Carlos Sainz Jr won the 2014 Formula Renault 3.5 Series before promotion to F1 with STR. A faultless display all weekend saw him claim points on debut. If not for an extremely long pit stop, he would have secured a higher place finish than 9th. The Sauber F1 team have finally broken their points scoring drought with a mature drive to 5th by Brazilian rookie Felipe Nasr. The 2011 British F3 champion held off the more experienced Daniel Ricciardo for the bulk of the race to score Sauber's first points since 2013. 
    Impressive debuts or not? More importantly, can 2015's young crop of F1 rookies sustain their performances throughout the season? Do they also have the innate ability to develop their cars and to galvanise and therefore push their respective teams forward? Malaysia's next, along with its oppressive humidity and heat. A stern test indeed. Ciao.... 
    

    Here we go again. Another Formula One season about to commence. Another bunch of challengers hoping to dethrone Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes, and the first salvo to once again be fittingly fired at Melbourne's stunning lakeside street circuit, Albert Park.
    Normally at this time of year we like to preview Australia's premier motorsport event. Whether it be speculative statements about possible scenarios, great vantage points where F1 cars flirt in close proximity with the ever present walls, what to do whilst visiting beautiful Melbourne, photographic tips or simply season predictions. This year, it's the TV coverage that has sparked a lot of discussion. 
    In recent years, worldwide TV viewer numbers for F1 have steadily declined. F1 has traditionally attracted the highest viewing numbers worldwide for any sport. It's aired on average every 2 weeks between March and November. Only the summer Olympics and World Cup Soccer attract higher numbers, but those events are only every 4 years. Can the fall in the number of punters tuning in be attributed to F1's migration from free-to-air TV to pay TV?
    Conjecture was rife last year in the UK when it was announced that only pay TV's Sky Sports would be televising all F1 events live in 2014, whilst free-to-air broadcaster BBC would only be showing some events in entirety and the rest via a highlights package. In 2015, Australia is going down a similar path. Opinions were also divided in Australia when it was announced the hugely popular V8 Supercars would be moving over to pay TV and only 6 events broadcast in entirety on free-to-air. Now Australia's F1 coverage is following a similar path to V8 Supercars. Of 2015's 20 F1 events, only 10 are fully broadcast on free-to-air. The other 10 are going to be broadcast via a 1 hour highlights package on Monday evenings. Has this divided Australia's F1 thirsty viewers down the middle? There are those that say the move to pay TV's Foxtel is a good thing. All practise sessions, qualifying and extended race coverage shown on Foxtel coupled with personal viewer preferences is well worth the price. The subscribers will say it's only a case of beer or a couple of packets of ciggies a month. But what about those that cannot sustain the imposition on their wallets? There are those who simply don't have the disposable cash because of family demands, mortgages, car payments, online commitments and the like. What about old age pensioners on a fixed income? They're already fiscally stretched and are quite possibly long time loyal viewers. To lash out on pay TV could be a racing circuit too far for them. Let's see how the viewing figures pan out come season's end.
    See you at Albert Park. Ciao....

    A little under 2 weeks sees V8 Supercars commence hostilities for what we're sure will be another enthralling championship, version 2015. The ledgers are all square, past controversies are vague lamentations. All teams and drivers will be looking to elevate their stock and be talking up their aspirations. One thing's for sure, they'll all be looking to break 6-time champion Jamie Whincup and Red Bull's recent stranglehold on the championship. 
    This is the exciting time of the year where we as fans love to speculate, talking up our favourites and dismissing the also-rans. Towards the end of 2014, HRT with James Courtney and Garth Tander were definitely on the improve. Will this trend continue in 2015 pleasing their legions of Holden fans? Prodrive's Mark Winterbottom and Chaz Mostert will be hoping the new FG X will catapult Ford back to glory, but can they sustain a prolonged challenge to the championship over the course of the season? DJR with Penske backing have put all their eggs in one basket by running a one car team. After nine seasons in NASCAR, will returning former champ Marcos Ambrose be able to mix it with the current crop of V8 pilots? Whilst it's disappointing that Scott Pye has not secured a full time V8 Supercar drive for 2015, he'll be ably supporting Ambrose in the Pirtek Endurance Cup. Mercedes and Erebus Motorsport had a breakthrough victory in 2014, but will they be regular podium contenders in 2015? Kiwi sensation Scott McLaughlin is quite clearly a future champion. Will 2015 be his year? How long before the big hitters of V8 Supercars demand his services? Another Kiwi to watch for is Tekno Autosport's Shane van Gisbergen. A major talent. Whether it's GT racing, drifting or whatever he plonks his backside in, he seems to excel. Then there's perennial crowd favourite Craig Lowndes. Is Lowndesy the one to steal the championship from team mate Whincup? It'll all start to unfold in Adelaide at the Clipsal 500.
    The big question is how is the free-to-air coverage going to unfold now it's moved to Channel 10 (See archives August 2014)? We've no doubt their live coverage coupled with a top commentary team will be excellent. However, remember they're only showing 6 events in entirety. It's the highlights programming for the other events that we're concerned about. They've kept remarkably quiet on that front.
    Ciao....       

    Already it seems like an eternity since V8 Supercars thundered around the Sydney Olympic Park Street Circuit for the Sydney 500. Thank goodness the Australian motorsport off-season is relatively short. We are exhibiting symptoms of motorsport withdrawal as the shutter release trigger finger is getting itchy, and the Nikons must be feeling a little rejected as they too have not shot any motorsport for a spell.
    Patience is a virtue, or so the saying goes, and 2015 is going to be mega. As we approach our 3rd birthday, the excitement towards the impending season is rapidly building. Traditionally at this time of year, we like to inform you of the events we are planning on attending. So here goes.... 
    > February 7-8: Bathurst 12-Hour at Mt Panorama featuring GT and supported by Radical Australia Cup and Formula Ford.
> April 3-5: Bathurst Motor Festival at Mt Panorama featuring Heritage Touring Cars (Groups A + C), Group N and Production Sports Cars.
> April 12: MX Nationals at Appin.
> May 2-3: X Champs at Sydney Dragway featuring all ANDRA classes including Top Fuel, Top Bike, Top Doorslammers and Top Alcohol.
> June 6-7: Sydney Retro Speedfest at Sydney Motorsport Park featuring Historic F1.
> June 21: East Coast MX Series at Wollongong MCC.
> July 4-5: Shannons Nationals at Sydney Motorsport Park featuring Formula 3 and Formula Ford.
> August 2: MX Nationals at Nowra MCC.
> August 22-23: V8 Supercars at Sydney Motorsport Park supported by Australian GT.
> September 6: Australian Kart Championship at Newcastle Kart Club featuring the international CIK classes including KZ2 Pro Gearbox.
> October 18: North Shore Kart Club at Eastern Creek International Karting Raceway.
> November 7-8: Australian Nationals at Sydney Dragway featuring all ANDRA classes.
> November 14-15: Shannons Nationals at Sydney Motorsport Park featuring Radical Australia Cup, Australian Sports Racer Series and the Australian Manufacturers 4-Hour.
> December 5-6: Sydney 500 at Sydney Olympic Park Street Circuit featuring V8 Supercars.
    So there you go. Everything from Moto X to open wheelers to historic muscle cars to karting to production cars to drag racing to exotic marques. If you can't attend an event, we hope you enjoy our images. 
    Anyone notice one glaringly obvious omission? March 12-15 sees us trundling down to Melbourne's picturesque Albert Park precinct for an event we affectionately call The Big One. That's right, the Australian Formula One Grand Prix. Will anyone topple Mercedes? We're unashamedly biased and we certainly hope Aussie Daniel Ricciardo will in his Red Bull.
    After a short break, we'll be back with plenty of images from Mt Panorama of the Bathurst 12-Hour. Thanks for your support and we'll catch you at the track throughout 2015....

    Cast your mind back a year or so ago to when 1997 F1 world champ Jacques Villeneuve came to Oz and had a lash at driving a V8 Supercar. Once his Australian junket finished, he commented that driving a V8 Supercar was about the hardest thing he'd undertaken in all his years in motorsport. These Aussie fan favourite tin-tops require a specific set of skills to muscle them to the front of the grid. Therefore the current crop of V8 pilots must relish the odd chance to thrash the life out of a race car in a different category.
    The 2015 motorsport season is already looming large, commencing with the fantastic Bathurst 12-Hour event for GT cars at iconic Mt Panorama. This is truly an international event with teams coming from New Zealand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Japan, USA, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and the UK accompanying Australian teams. A vast array of exotic marques including Ferrari, Audi, Mercedes, Porsche, Aston Martin, McLaren, Lamborghini and even Bentley are all vying for victory honours. The drivers also come from far and wide, including a number of V8 Supercar drivers.
    However, the Official V8 Supercar Test Day at Sydney Motorsport Park is scheduled for the same weekend. Will this deprive V8 Supercar drivers the opportunity to drive a gripped-up high-end race car, which they hardly ever get the chance to? Remember their local knowledge of Mt Panorama would be invaluable to the GT teams. What about the fans? Whilst the test day is a fan-friendly day with grid walks and the chance to get up close to the cars and have a chat and grab an autograph from the drivers, there would still be a big Sydney contingent heading up the Great Western Highway over the Blue Mountains to catch the 12-hour. Hate to be the one to tell Craig Lowndes or Shane Van Gisbergen they've got to test instead of competing at Mt Panorama.
    For us it's a no-brainer. We'll be heading up the Great Western.


    Many, many thanks to all our friends and surfers who frequent formulafrontrow.com. Your support is greatly appreciated and we wish all of you a happy new year. May the beer be cold and your glass be full. Roll on 2015. Cheers....