The way this thing builds speed is startling. Obviously the car is incredibly well tuned with a flat power delivery curve, not suffering from the big boost lag of old-school hillclimbers. The quickness with which this moves through the gears is another part that makes me sit back and just stare. Those upshifts, particularly from third to sixth come about as quick as you can count. The short ratio box is by design, but it’s still impressive.
I hope this car sticks around the international hillclimb scene for at least a few years, because I’d love the opportunity to see it in action someday. Maybe Signiore Gabrielli will bring the car over to tackle Pikes Peak. That would truly be a sight to see.
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The Last MotoGP Home Outing For Valentino Rossi’s Chainsaw Fans
Because yes, they show up to MotoGP races with chainsaws. The high (or low) point for Rossi’s supporters in the MotoGP World Championship was during the openly hostile 2016 title fight. Italian rider’s rivals Marc Márquez and Jorge Lorenzo were given bodyguards during that season’s Italian Grand Prix weekend to protect the riders from any potential incident with Rossi’s fans. Thankfully, no altercation took place between the fans and rival riders.
It is unclear what these fans will do after the 2021 season. A team owned by Valentino Rossi will enter MotoGP for the 2022 season. Despite Rossi’s ownership, one of the team’s riders being his half-brother and being based in his hometown, it won’t be clear if the Italian icon’s fervent support will carry over to Racing Team VR46 until their first race in Italy.
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NASCAR Cup Series driver Brad Keselowski has been a frequent feature of the motorsport news lately with his swap from Team Penske to a co-ownership and driver role at Roush Fenway. It’s a pretty massive career move for someone who has been with one team for over a decade. But that’s not what I’m here to talk to you about today. Instead, I want to discuss Mr. Keselowski’s suits.
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Every time Brad Keselowski makes an appearance in the broadcast booth or during a press conference, I think to myself, “That’s a nice jacket.” Instead of opting for a regular black, navy, or gray suit, he’s usually sporting a nice plaid coat. But lately, saying that has turned into a bit of déjà vu. Haven’t I said this before?
As it turns out, I have. It appears that Brad Keselowski has one Nice Suit, and he wears it everywhere.
Here’s a photo from Keselowski’s recent Roush Fenway press conference:
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Here’s Keselowski in the booth on June 12, 2021:
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Here’s a photo of Keselowski in the same suit jacket in March of 2019:
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Unfortunately, my theory has been disproved. Mr. Keselowski has been seen in the booth wearing a blue suit with a very faint plaid pattern. But did he offer his other suit jacket to his boothmate? I’ll let you decide:
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That said, it’s the same suit that he wore back in 2016:
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And he also appears to own a striped blue suit jacket as well:
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That striped suit made a reappearance in 2018:
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2017 also brought us this snazzy checkered number:
Photo: Chris Graythen (Getty Images)
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Whatever the case — however many suit jackets Keselowski owns — I have to say that I respect playing favorites. I have about four outfits that I pack any time I go on a press trip, which I am sure people have noticed by now. When you find something nice that you like, I say stick with it. Go on and be your bad self, Brad. Maybe ask Roush for a slightly larger suit budget.
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The World Rally Championship hasn’t held a round on U.S. soil in 33 years, but personnel within the series and particularly the M-Sport Ford team are keen to bring the sport back to our shores.
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It won’t happen overnight, though. First, the WRC is exploring trialing a non-championship event of some type, like a “roadshow or candidate rally,” according to Motorsport.com. If all goes according to plan, that’ll hopefully lead to an actual U.S. rally on the calendar. And although nobody’s talking about specific locations yet, it’s quite possible it could return to the grounds of the Olympus Rally outside Shelton, Washington, which currently plays host to the ARA Rally, but used to function as a WRC event in the ’80s.
“For sure America is something we are working quite hard on,” [FIA Rally Director Yves] Matton told Motorsport.com.
“We want to have an event in the close future in North America. We will try to something in 2022, for sure it will not be an event that is part of the calendar but we will try to achieve something in 2022 to go there.
“We can have a lot of things. We can have a roadshow we can have a candidate event any form of event which could become the first step in North America with the WRC without being involved in the championship as a proper event.
Ford is reportedly one of the primary instigators behind all this, which makes sense given that Ford is the only American constructor active in the WRC. The Blue Oval’s WRC program is operated by M-Sport, and M-Sport Team Principal Rich Millener leaves no ambiguity that the automaker is interested in boosting its sporting profile in the U.S.
“I think an event in North America is part and parcel of why Ford wants to be involved,” Millener told Motorsport.com.
“We want to see an event, it is a huge market that is currently untapped. They have got some great facilities, great roads and great opportunities to do something.
“Anything in America is always bigger and better than anything else so we’d love to get there and being the home of Ford I think that is really important.
“Whether it will change the levels they [Ford] are involved at I don’t think so, but we are not looking for that change at the moment.
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Ford left the WRC as a full factory effort after the 2012 season; since then, M-Sport’s essentially been responsible for running the Fiesta, though Ford has made technical and financial contributions to M-Sport all the while. So M-Sport exists as a pseudo-privateer with factory backing, and the close relationship with Ford has worked quite well for the crew. M-Sport World Rally Team claimed drivers’ championships in 2017 and 2018 — both times with Sébastien Ogier at the wheel — and a constructors’ title in 2017.
Millener said he believes the objective is to secure a full-on U.S. rally as early as 2023, though 2024 may be more likely. It’d be very strange to see a souped-up Fiesta kicking up mud in the Pacific Northwest, given that Ford’s long since canceled all of its fun hot hatches on this side of the pond. I highly doubt an American WRC event would change Dearborn’s “no cars” stance for the U.S., but we can certainly dream.
Longtime MotoGP fans knew that the 2021 season opener at the Losail Circuit in Quatar would be a good one, but it’s safe to say that no one was expecting Maverick Viñales to show off one of his most impressive rides in years. It was a well-earned victory for the Spanish rider.
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Polesitter Francesco Bagnaia held an early lead over the rest of the grid, but it was obvious that he wouldn’t be able to keep the pace; as a competitive field seethed behind him, Bagnaia was focused on preserving his tires.
Several riders that started near the rear of the field, like Viñales, Joan Mir, and Fabio Quartararo, went on a tear as they pushed their way up the field. But it was truly Viñales who caught everyone’s eyes; after losing two places on the start, the rider sliced his way back up through the field with precision. On lap 13, after several attempts, he took the lead.
Bagnaia dropped back to fourth place as Johann Zarco and Joan Mir both passed by him. Viñales, meanwhile, pulled away from the rest of the field by almost a second.
But a podium wasn’t meant to be for 2020 Champion Mir. After nabbing second place from Zarco, he ran wide, letting both Zarco and Bagnaia past in what must have been a heartbreaking move for the reigning champion. It was an action-packed race from start to finish, one that seems to predict a fascinating season ahead.
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Three riders failed to finish the race: Danilo Petrucci, who crashed before the end of the first lap, followed by Alex Marquez on lap 9 and Takaaki Nakagami on lap lap 16. Despite his strong qualifying position, Valentino Rossi finished the event in 12th place.
Top 10:
Maverick Viñales
Johann Zarco
Francesco Bagnaia
Joan Mir
Fabio Quartararo
Alex Rins
Aleix Espargaro
Jack Miller
Enea Bastianini
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You don’t have to be an avid fan of Australian Supercars to know the name Shane van Ginsbergen, but if you’re not tuning into the touring car series, you’re missing out on some frankly excellent racing—like van Ginsbergen’s drive from 17th to victory at this weekend’s race at Sandown. Despite still nursing a healing collarbone that required surgery less than two weeks ago. And yes, that 17th-to-first a record number of positions for the ATCC/Supercars race at Sandown.
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This season had the promise of excitement now that three-time Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin has moved to America to try his hand at IndyCar racing—and it has delivered. In this event at Sandown, van Ginsbergen started off the race down in 17th and quickly made up four spots during the first lap-and-a-half before it was yellow flagged for a crash. On the restart, van Ginsbergen kept pushing, dicing with his competitors and taking advantage of the fact that many of the cars in front of him were pitting.
That left van Ginsbergen as the final driver to make his stop, and he held on until there were only 11 laps remaining in the race before he did so. Decked out with fresh rubber, the Kiwi was able to absolutely dominate during the final laps.
And dominate he did. Van Ginsbergen was down in fourth with two laps to go, but a three-way battle for the lead between polesitter Chaz Mostert, Cam Waters, and Jamie Whincup resulted in every car slowing down. Three turns later, van Ginsbergen lunged past Whincup and Mostert to take second.
That left Cam Waters—and resulted in an incredible battle that lasted throughout the penultimate lap.
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It was an exceptional display of side-by-side racing, and it left van Ginsbergen in first to take the checkered flag.
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Interestingly, van Ginsbergen claimed after the race that his injury didn’t slow him down. In fact, the ‘weird’ position of his steering wheel seemed to help him out.
“We started with the gearshift [resistance] lower, but the strength isn’t too bad, it’s just the movement, lifting my arm and stuff,” he said. “So I had to lower the wheel and bring it a lot closer. It feels a bit weird but once I was out there I got used to it.”
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He also credited a swap in medication as the reason he was able to be so competitive: “Last week was super tough. I was on weird drugs that make you think weird things. I’m on some [different] stuff this week that’s much better. Drugs are no good, I don’t see the appeal to them.”
According to Cam Waters and Jamie Whincup, their inability to pass Chaz Mostert left van Ginsbergen in the ideal position to take the win.
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If you’re not watching Supercars, go out and sample Superview, the series’ streaming platform. The racing is some of the most exciting you can watch.
