Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach
Verizon IndyCar Series 2014
After an exciting opening round in St. Petersburg that saw Will Power start the season on top, it's back to the classic straights of Long Beach for the second race of the 2014 season. Ryan Hunter-Reay picked up an impressive pole in qualifying to start at front, with the Mayor of Hinchtown and Sebastian Bourdais just behind him on the grid. There's a lot of history and heritage with the Long Beach area and motorsport in many kinds - here's hoping we get another classic race to enjoy tonight!
Firestone Grand Prix Of St. Petersburg
Verizon IndyCar Series 2014
With the arrival of Verizon as the new title sponsor for IndyCar comes a brand spanking new season straight from the familiar streets of St. Petersburg! Don't get too confused - we've not gone back to Russia after the Winter Olympics - but instead the streets of Florida to see if Scott Dixon can hold onto his championship straight from the off. He'll have a lot of exciting changes to put up with - the return of Juan Pablo Montoya alongside Will Power and Helio, and the driver swaps at teams like Ryan Briscoe and Tony Kanaan moving about just to name a few - it all promises to be an exciting start to the 2014 calendar.
21st century racing, 19th century attitude
Negative images is the main criteria
It's a bit astonishing that in this day and age it's still quite easy to upset people with new ideas that may not be popular but do have a concept behind them. These events have been commonplace in F1, whether it be more recently from DRS or in the past with regulation changes, and yet over the past few weeks there seems to be this same feeling of unease at the next big Formula to be unveiled by the FIA - Formula E.
Romain Grosjean vs. the World
An epic driver of epic epicness
If you're going to do well in F1, there are a few things to remember. One - it's probably not a cracking idea to have the hair of a Simpsons character in F1. Two - it's always going to be tough joining a team who cheated and brought F1 into shame, and then do well. Three - driving into people on the first lap and just embarassing yourself is never a good way to make friends. These are three rather important rules, three rules that stood in the way of greatness for Romain Grosjean, and thankfully, three rules I finally believe he has overcome over this past year.
MAVTV 500 Grand Prix of Fontana
IZOD IndyCar Series 2013
After a season of ups, downs and big moments along the way we're at the final championship showdown at Fontana for what should be a cracking end to a cracking season. Will Power once again sees himself on the front row but our championship contenders, Helio Castroneves and Scott Dixon, sit down in 12th and 17th respectively. Who is going to come out on top after an exciting season? And will any of us British fans be able to stay up so late without falling apart? Lots of questions to be answered!
F1 2013 Review - Codemasters to the stewards office please
Past, present and future of the F1 game franchise
Yearly instalments of games can be a tricky thing to deal with. For two decades EA Sports have managed to ride on the success of their various sports franchises churning out a yearly update but, using FIFA as a good example, whilst there have been improvements over time there’s always criticism of such a business model for consumers. It brings in big money for developers but is it really worthwhile buying, essentially, the same product again a year later? This was my primary concern coming into F1 2013 this year, as build up to the game didn’t really give me a huge amount of optimism for how much new content there would be.
Grand Prix of Houston
IZOD IndyCar Series 2013
After what has felt like an absolute age since our last Indy Car race, we are finally and sadly into the final stretch of the season with a finish in sight. Luckily for us though we have two races this weekend through the streets of Houston to enjoy. There's already been a bit of controversy this weekend with a change to the circuit to bring in a new chicane, delaying sessions following the change too. Helio Castroneves continues to sit atop the championship despite amazingly only one win in 2013, but the pressure will be on the likes of Pagenaud and Dixon to close a 50 point gap this weekend.
All the juicy details
A familiar look for Forza Horizon
Shapes are nifty things. Squares, triangles, those ones with different angles and stuff. They're all lovely in their own magnificent and mathematic ways but it turns out that combining hundreds of shapes can create something pretty rewarding too. Over the years I've dabbled in the creation of the Forza Motorsport livery editor as part of the Xbox series of games, a series that has most definitely held it's own against its Gran Turismo competitor on various Playstation consoles. Both have their advantages and disadvantages but one thing I've always loved about Forza is the livery editor.
Grand Prix of Baltimore
IZOD IndyCar Series 2013
Onto Baltimore we head for the next race of the season as the Grand Prix of Baltimore leads us ever closer to the end of quite the season. It's taken all this time for Will Power to finally get his first win of 2013 at Sonoma last week but it's Helio Castroneves who still sits atop of the championship so far with just a few races left. His nearest rival, Scott Dixon, is the man who grabbed pole in qualifying yesterday and has a fair advantage over his rival going into the race. Can he close the gap with a win in Baltimore or will we see another turn in this championship tale in these twisty street corners tonight?
The power of dreams
The second part of a double-header on Honda's F1 return
Risk is a funny old thing. For starters it’s a board game, but that’s not my point. To define risk is to expose one’s self to danger, to take the losses in the palm of a hand and go ahead regardless, to attempt with no promise of a positive outcome. Formula One is risk. Honda’s return to Formula One is risk. So, why do it?
Gentleman, restart your engines
The first part of a double-header on Honda's F1 return
It’d be pretty easy to wonder why Honda would want to come back to Formula One. Their most recent run in the sport ended in a fairly disastrous venture into the world of highlighting environmentalism and poor performances despite a stellar line up and plenty of experience in the team, and it’d be just rude to simply ignore the green trousers that came with the outfit.
GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma
IZOD IndyCar Series 2013
It's a Ganassi front row at Sonoma tonight as Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon lead the field into our next IndyCar race for the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma. It's been two weeks since our last race and with F1 also coming back, it should be an excellent end to a good day of motorsport. Sonoma has provided some entertaining races in the last few years here for Indy Car so let's hope we get another one tonight as we look towards the final few races of the Indy Car season!
Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio
IZOD IndyCar Series 2013
Whilst Formula 1 may be on its summer break for a few weeks, luckily we still have a bit of open wheel racing to enjoy with the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio, a nice challenging track away from the world of ovals once more. Qualifying saw Ryan Hunter-Reay put himself at the top of the timing sheets in what will no doubt be a fair old confidence boost to his championship challenge but he does have the likes of Dixon and Andretti just behind him to challenge during the race. After a few weeks without IndyCar let's hope it's more of a summer fiesta than anything else!
Hide and seek
With testing being opened up, what good is it hiding away?
This past week I took the drive up to Silverstone to experience this esteemed circuit for the first time. It’s a bit strange having watched Formula 1 for 15 years or so and never actually having the chance to go up, so it was really exciting for me. It’s also quite amusing how in the past I’ve said to people how I could just go, sit down all day and watch cars do nothing but go round and they’ve laughed off such a suggestion. Funnily enough, it’s actually quite fun.
Out with the old, in with the old
Why F1 2013 is shaping up to be the previous best thing
Codemasters have a lot on their shoulders at the moment. Their vast reputation of being a solid developer of racing games precedes the F1 series but last year’s installment of F1 2012 began to give off a whiff of staleness. I mean, F1 2012 had what it needed really in regards to up to date tracks, a solid racing game and the bits and bobs that come with the series but it also came with a bit of criticism too regarding features being removed and the amount of patches needed to settle the game down following launch. It hasn’t quite been a rough ride, but it hasn’t been plain sailing either.
Honda Indy Toronto
IZOD IndyCar Series 2013
If one race wasn't enough, let's have a double header weekend with the Honda Indy Toronto Grand Prix, a race that's been fairly crazy in recent memory and should provide an excellent duo of races. It's already lining up for an interesting race on the Saturday with Dario Franchitti starting on pole and, amazingly, Sébastian Bourdais on the front row too. Honestly! Of course, with Scott Dixon providing another new winner this season at Pocono we could get another new winner in 2013 with a front row like that. With the absolute carnage that was Toronto a few years back, fingers crossed after a few oval races this double header will provide a fascinating weekend of street-based racing.
Pocono IndyCar 400
IZOD IndyCar Series 2013
Once again, it's Andretti Motorsport whose strong performance continues into the Pocono Raceway Indy 400 with another excellent pole position for Marco Andretti as he lines up alongside his team mate and current champion Ryan Hunter-Reay. It should be another sporting highlight to add to an action packed weekend in and out of motorsport but the three corner triangle that is the Pocono Raceyway, not to be confused with Pocoyo of course, has been much looked forward to so here's hoping it'll be an exciting race from the front and the back.
On the outside looking in? A cynical Brit on IndyCar
How the other single seater series won over this Formula One fan
IndyCar has had quite an effect on me over the last year and a half. Aside from the brilliantly devious method of attracting Rubens Barrichello in order to allow myself to take it seriously, I will give it credit where credit is due in how it has been continually entertaining over my short time watching. As a Brit, Formula 1 has always felt like a 'European' formula, despite its obvious worldwide nature, whereas IndyCar has always been the one 'over there', very much an American sport.
Iowa Corn Indy 250
IZOD IndyCar Series 2013
For the next Indy Car race, I-owe-ya an impressive Iowa pun as the championship moves onto the Iowa Speedway where Will Power sits on pole following yesterday's heat races. It was of course the ever-present Helio Castroneves who grabbed pole following the heats but an engine penalty sees him demoted down to 11th. It'll be interesting to see if he can recover from there to help his championship charge that he's having in 2013. Nevertheless, it's another race at a speedway and after the action packed race at Milwaukee, let's hope Iowa isn't too 'corny' and instead gives us a reason to bring popcorn.
Milwaukee IndyFest
IZOD IndyCar Series 2013
There is most definitely no hold up in pace with the run of IndyCar races at the moment as we have another exciting race to look forward to at the Milwaukee Mile, and once again Marco Andretti continues to impress in 2013 with blistering pace to make it onto pole. His qualifying speed smashed the record and he's absolutely having a strong run of form this season. Of course, we have had 6 different winners in 8 races and it's been an excellent season so far with plenty of surprises and first-time moments, who knows what the Milwaukee Mile could possibly bring tonight?
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