By Roger McCleery
GLOBAL MOTORSPORT OVERVIEW
Motorsport was
tops in June
The Canadian F1 GP was more like it as far as racing and drama went. Mercedes-Benz suffered a rare
problem when a new electronic power gathering unit overheated and both Rosberg, who was leading and
Hamilton slowed and eventually retired to the pits to change the face of the race.
O
ut on the track five drivers were
going for it. Rosberg (Mercedes
Benz), Ricciardo (Red Bull),
Massa (Williams), Perez (Force India) and
Vettel (Red Bull), which made it three Merc
engined cars and two with Renault power.
Starting the last lap, Massa piled into the
back of Perez, who braked early going into
the first corner and the two of them hit the
tyre barriers at top speed and wrecked
their cars. Fortunately no-one was injured
thanks to the built in strength of the
modern F1 car enforced by the late Dr Syd
Watkins. The result? Ricciardo went on
to record his first GP win. Rosberg in 2nd
stays at the top of the points table ahead
of team-mate Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari was
a disaster in 6th and 7th position with
Alonso and Raikkonen.
Ferrari, it was rumoured, has threatened to
pull out of the F1 GP with all its tight rules
and regs, which are a pain in the backside
and costly. A little rich coming from Ferrari.
They wanted the V6 engine and not the
proposed 4 cylinder unit. Maybe there is
more truth to this as Alonso was the man
who flagged off the Le Mans 24-Hour.
Anyway the Canadian Grand Prix was the
best so far this year. The two Mercedes
drivers fighting it out in Bahrain was good
but comes second.
Red Bull winning is probably just a blip
on the screen as far as Mercedes Benz is
concerned. They are sure to sort out their
problems and dominate once again.
Best TV viewing last month was
undoubtedly the Isle of Man TT, the
MotoGP and the World Superbikes.
The TT is probably the scariest TV
coverage I have ever seen.
The riders in the Isle of Man have got to be
the best in the world achieving 340 km/ph
on narrow roads amongst houses, walls
and lamp posts.
Irishman, Michael Dunlop, won four of the
five TT’s he contested. He was on a BMW
for three of them. Their wins celebrate d
the fact that they last won a TT 75 years
ago in 1939 so these bikes of Dunlop
are going into the BMW museum. A lap
record was left at 210 km/ph average.
There was even an electric motorcycle TT
over one lap of the 60 km circuit. This was
won by John McGuines who recorded his
21st TT win. His average speed was close
to 170 km/ph.
MotoGP racing is making history. The 21
year old Marc Marques, the Spaniard,
takes on the established world champions
like Rossi (on a serious come-back
trail) and fellow Spaniards, Pedrosa and
Lorenzo. He passes riders anywhere on
the track in a full two-wheel drift with
his knees and elbows rubbing on the
tarmac or kerbs. Unreal. He gave Honda
their 100th 4-stroke engined GP win
in Barcelona. If the other riders don’t
imitate his riding style, they haven’t got
a chance. Moto2 (600cc) and Moto3
(250cc) singles have 6 to 10 riders fighting
it out for the lead every time right to the
flag. Our Brad Binder led the Moto3 race
in Barcelona and eventually came home
6th by a fraction of a second on his Indian
Mahindra.
Le Mans with 54 starters and 40 finishers
was a winner. Audi came home 1st and
2nd with Toyota in 3rd and 4th place.
Toyota continued to lead the world
championship with 5 rounds to go.
All the top makes in the LMP 1 (Le Mans
Proto-Type 1 Class) had their share of
crashes, rebuilds, transmission and
electrical problems etc. Amazing things
happened in the pits as pit crews virtually
| Wheels in Action
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july 2014
rebuilt cars in hours and got them back into
the race. Coverage and commentary were
tops. Local media coverage in South Africa
on TV, radio and in the newspapers was
almost non-existent.
History was also made in Moscow in June
when a Chinese driver, Ma Qing Hua, won
in the World Touring Car Championship
race driving a Citroën. He was up against
the likes of Chev and Honda, plus his
team-mates in the Citroën team, Seb Loeb,
Yvon Muller and Jose Maria Lopez.
Our teenagers are doing well in
international car racing in Europe.
Kelvin van der Linde (18) leads the GT
Masters Class in an Audi RS8 at the
halfway mark. Jordan Pepper still leads
the VW Scirocco Cup Race in Germany
whilst Jeffrey Kruger in the Volkswagen GTi
Castrol Cup has won in Poland and took a
3rd there as well. With 6 rounds to go, the
next event is in the Czech Republic.
Locally Superbike
Champion, Clint Seller,
riding his Kawasaki in the
first race in East London
did a victory wheelie
crossing the finish line,
only to be hit by a strong
wind coming from the
front and went over
backwards. He was hurt
bad enough to miss the
second race, which was
won by Lance Isaacs on
his BMW.