Sadly, looks like Robert will leave F1 at the end of the current season. I’m sure the completely undermining performance of the Williams Considering how many young drivers are waiting in the wings and experienced drivers without a ride – Nico Hulkenberg being a stand out – there’s probably very minimal chance Robert will find a ride. Regardless, what a heroic year it has been. It’s a shame the romance couldn’t last longer.
Back in the day, Nismo meant something. TRD meant something. And, until recently, Gazoo Racing meant something. They all held the deepest level of respect among car enthusiasts as these sub-brands of OEMs went racing. And they won. And these brands were attached to some of the most iconic Japanese supercars of yesteryears – namely, the Nissan GT-R, the Toyota Supra and, most recently, the Toyota TS050 LMP1 Le Mans and WEC champion. So, I ask, why take such respected names and just, well, screw it all up?
Didn’t know Toyota had so many Gazoo “Racing” models in development. Horseshit.
Nissan isn’t doing much better either. They’ve managed to slap the Nismo branding onto the 370Z and the Sentra. Neither of the Nismo versions offer any performance advantages over their non-Nismo brethren. It’s all exterior bullshit. Might as well add a bunch of stickers to the non-Nismo versions (don’t forget the “NOS” sticker!) and save some money. The stickers will add as much horsepower as the Nismo versions!
For shame!!
Toyota and Nissan: instead of making these cars “sticker-fast,” why not start making some cars that are actually fast? Yes, the R35 GT-R is a fast car, but it’s a bit long in the tooth (probably an understatement) and the latest additions have made the car about as attractive as Pete Burns, lead singer of an old band who’s had one too much plastic surgeries.
I’ll be honest. I’ve never been a fan of Sebastian Vettel. While he brought some laughs at press conferences, I’ve always felt he was over-rated. Just a look at his performance @ Ferrari is reason enough to pass judgement of this nature. The quality of the car @ Red Bull Racing masked his deficiencies and is the only reason he is a 4 time champion.
At Monza this past weekend, Vettel added yer another screw up to his long list of mistakes. It was only a few months ago that he created a hell of a kerfuffle by dangerously rejoining the track after he went off at turn 3 of the Canadian GP. He almost squeezed Lewis Hamilton into the wall by doing so but claimed he was robbed of the victory because he was handed an undeserved time penalty as a result of his own mistake. That’s not what I saw and supported the stewards’ decision.
Indeed, Vettel did basically the same BS at Monza. He made the mistake purely on his own – no one hit him, no one touched him, he just screwed up plain and simple. He can’t handle on-track pressure, as seen in recent cock-ups at Sinapore (2018), Hockenheim (2018), Monza (2018), running into the back of Verstappen at Silverstone (2019), Canada mentioned above and, now, at Monza. And while Leclerc’s move squeezing Hamilton – the penalty handed down was a piss poor decision, by the way – at least the young Monegasque can deal with the pressure, the pressure of being upfront. Vettel has shown time and time again that he can’t do the same. And this reason alone is reason enough for this guy to retire from F1 and free up that seat for someone who can actually do something with it.
It’s time to go, Sebastian. Leave and enjoy time with your family and do whatever else you may fancy. It’s time to go.
To say Monsieur Driot was just a racing team owner would be the understatement of the century. With alumnus including Érik Comas, Allan McNish, Olivier Panis, Jean-Christophe Boullion, Sébastien Bourdais, Kazuki Nakajima, Romain Grosjean, Kevin Magnussen, Jolyon Palmer and Pierre Gasly, his DAMS (Driot Associés Motor Sport) org produced the highest levels of motorsport and drivers. If you’ve followed the GP2 / F2 feeder series for Formula 1 in any regard, the DAMS name would surely be familiar to you.
A bit of a confession. This is the first Wekfest I have ever attended. Sure, in my “previous life,” I’ve attended shows of all monikers – Import Showoff, Hot Import Nights, Extreme Autofest, Darknights (Canada), Tokyo Auto Salon (Japan) and everything in between. Glad I went. Lots of old schools cars with plenty of sweat equity under the hood and newer model cars with plenty of credit card bills called for.
Enjoy the photos as this is it for import car shows for at least a few months. Just received media credentials for the LA Auto Show so we’ll hit that up in November. Will also have an F1 mid-season wrap up coming soon. Hope you all are enjoying your summer.
The second import / sport compact car event of the year turned out to be quite the surprise, with a solid mix of cars, models and attendees. It was a solid start to the 2019 SPOCOM series season. We suspect that other editions of the show will be just as solid and pleasing to the sense. Rather than carry on with words, we’ll let the photos do all the talking.
