A Scientific Study of Motorsport Nations

After spending twenty minutes yesterday trying to explain the concept of the football World Cup to Christian, I thought I’d had the breakthrough with it seemingly sinking in that Manchester United couldn’t play Brazil, until, in typical seven year old fashion, I was faced with a new poser; who would win in a world cup of motor racing? Frustrated at losing precious BTCC watching time, Christian was duly sent back to his room, with the instruction not to come back out until he was twenty five. The seed was sewn, though, and I started to consider his question. I could have dug out the A1 GP results for the time that the now ill fated series was running, but it wasn’t exactly conclusive in that respect, was it? There was no historical value to it, most drivers and teams that have made any impact on motorsport haven’t been anywhere near it, and the cars were identical – sourced from a single supplier. So how would I do it? I would look at the World’s most prominent racing nations and score them on certain areas; F1 World Champions, current top class drivers, race car production and national racing series, and see how they came out. Which countries would I choose to represent this highly scientific survey? I don’t suppose it would take long to assess the merits of motorsport achievement in Burma, Gabon or St Lucia. So I would select a few nations with the richest motorsport heritage. Here comes the controversial part; feel free to lodge displeasure at any omissions:
Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Spain and the United States. A special mention at this stage goes to Denny Hulme and Jody Scheckter, whose nation’s – New Zealand and South Africa are the only ones with a World Drivers Champion in F1 not to be considered, and to Russia, India, Poland and Switzerland, who all have current F1 drivers; it had to stop somewhere. Now let’s consider them individually:

Argentina – F1 World Champions – Juan Manuel Fangio (x5) 8/10. Current top class drivers – Jose Maria Lopez nearly made this year’s F1 grid (albeit with substantial state funding), but sank with the USF1 mess 1/10. Other – Potrero del Fuego in San Luis is probably the most picturesque circuit anywhere in the world, and will stage a round of this season’s FIA GT1 World Championship, while national touring car series, TC2000 (where Lopez is reigning champ) is in good health 4/10
TOTAL 14/30

Australia – F1 World Champions – Jack Brabham (x3), Alan Jones 8/10. Current top class drivers – Mark Webber, Jamie Whincup (Double V8 Supercar champ), Indycar stars Will Power and Ryan Briscoe, David Brabham (Current ALMS Champion and 2009 outright winner Le Mans 24 hr) and Daniel Ricciardo (2009 British F3 champ and Red Bull test and reserve driver) 7/10. Other – Great racing pedigree and infrastructure, V8 Supercar championship is thriving, where the Holden/Ford battle is almost tribal. Bathurst endurance race is iconic, and Melbourne is a favourite F1 destination 7/10
TOTAL 22/30

Austria – F1 World Champions – Jochen Rindt, Niki Lauda (x3) 8/10. Current top drivers – FIA GT1 driver Karl Wendlinger, IRC’s Franz Wittman and 2009 British F3 runner-up Walter Grubmuller, whose Dad seems to have enough money to make up for any shortfall in his boy’s talent 2/10. Other – Red Bull F1 team hails from Austria, which has hosted many Grands Prix in the past, latterly at the A1 Ring 4/10
TOTAL 14/30

Brazil – F1 World Champions – Emerson Fittipaldi (x2), Nelson Piquet (x3), Ayrton Senna (x3) 9/10. Current top drivers – Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, veteran Rubens Barrichello, and F1 rookies Bruno Senna and Lucas di Grassi, Indy legends Helio Castroneves and Tony Kanaan and WTCC ace Augusto Farfus 8/10. Other – Interlagos has seen the F1 title decider in each of the last three years, and is always one of the most entertaining races on the calendar, Indycar, GT1 will also visit this term 5/10.
TOTAL 22/30

Canada – F1 World Champions – Jacques Villeneuve 5/10. Current top drivers – Villeneuve had been tipped to return to F1 this term, but didn’t, Bruno Spengler (DTM nearly man), Indycar legend Paul Tracy, Alex Tagliani (Indycar) 5/10. Other – Gilles Villeneuve’s life was cut short and would surely have been F1 champion had it not, F1 returns to Montreal this year, while Indycar has two races in Canada, and NASCAR holds a Nationwide race there 6/10.
TOTAL 16/30

Finland – F1 World Champions – Keke Rosberg, Mika Hakkinen (x2), Kimi Raikkonen 7/10. Current top drivers – Raikkonen, Heikki Kovalainen, Ford WRC stars Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala, and Williams test and reserve driver Valtteri Bottas 6/10. Other – Climate doesn’t suit top level racing, although ideal for WRC round and other major rally events 4/10.
TOTAL 17/30

France – F1 World Champions – Alain Prost (x4) 7/10 Current top drivers – Sebastien Loeb (on his way to an unparalleled seventh straight WRC crown), Sebastien Ogier, F3 Euroseries champion Jules Bianchi (firmly on Ferrari’s F1 radar), touring car ace and former BTCC and WTCC champ Yvan Muller, Romain Grosjean and Sebastien Bourdais 7/10. Other – Le Mans (say no more). Has lost its F1 race at the moment although still represented by Renault team, Citroen dominate WRC, while Peugeot replicate this in IRC and won the 2009 24 hours. ART are clearly the top feeder series team in European motorsport, and World Series by Renault has become a huge series of events 9/10.
TOTAL 23/30

Germany – F1 World Champions – Michael Schumacher (x7) 9/10. Current top drivers – Schumacher heads a list of six F1 drivers comprising Sebastian Vettel, Nico Rosberg, Timo Glock, Adrian Sutil and Nico Hulkenberg. Double DTM champion Timo Scheider and current GT1 champion Michael Bartels 9/10. Other – Two of Europe’s most iconic circuits (Hockenheim and the Nurburgring) rotate the staging of the F1 round, whilst all top European based series’ visit the country. DTM is Europe’s premier touring car category, German based F3 Euroseries is struggling for numbers this term, but has launched the careers of many current F1 stars. Audi, Mercedes, Porsche and BMW all have huge motorsport pedigree, only minus is lack of a presence in top level rally, with only Walter Rohrl’s two WRC titles in the early 80’s to consider 8/10.
TOTAL 26/30

Great Britain – F1 World Champions – Mike Hawthorn, Graham Hill (x2), Jim Clark (x2), John Surtees, Jackie Stewart (x3), James Hunt, Nigel Mansell, Damon Hill, Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button 10/10. Current top drivers – Hamilton and Button; the two latest F1 World champions. Reigning Indycar champ Dario Franchitti, and previous champ and Indy 500 winner Dan Wheldon. DTM frontrunners, 2005 champ Gary Paffett, soon to be F1 driver Paul di Resta, Jamie Green and David Coulthard. IRC champion Kris Meeke, and triple WTCC champ Andy Priaulx 10/10. Other – Britain struggled to hold on to it’s F1 round this year, until Silverstone came to the rescue, like Germany, Britain holds rounds of most top European series’, and it’s BTCC is a great spectacle, although not on the scale of the DTM, while the British F3 series has become the top F3 championship in the world. The UK no longer manufactures large volumes of vehicles, although Ginetta and Aston Martin continue to thrive, and most F1 teams have their main base in the UK 7/10.
TOTAL 27/30

Italy – F1 World Champions – Nino Farina, Alberto Ascari (x2) 6/10. Current top drivers – Lotus F1’s Jarno Trulli and Ferrari test driver Giancarlo Fisichella, WTCC Gabriele Tarquini, GT1 champion Andrea Bertolini, Max Papis (the only European in the main NASCAR series) and double BTCC champ Fabrizio Giovanardi 6/10. Other – Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Maserati, Monza – brands which exude the spirit and history of F1, Auto GP and the Superstars touring car series are fast becoming big name championships on the European scene, and talk of a second Grand Prix around the streets of Rome will only add to the country’s racing stock 8/10.
TOTAL 20/30

Japan – F1 World Champions – None 0/10. Current top drivers – Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi, Kazuki Nakajima, Indycar stars Hideki Mutoh and Takuma Sato, HRT reserve driver Sakon Yamamoto and British F3 frontrunner Daisuke Nakajima 5/10. Other – Japan holds a popular F1 race at Suzuka, Twin Ring Motegi holds the only Indycar race outside of the American continents, Japan holds top level rallies, and its Formula Nippon and Super GT championships are as big if not bigger, than any domestic series in Europe. Toyota’s withdrawal from F1 marked the end of Japanese involvement as an F1 constructor, but Toyota and Honda (especially their engine department) have massive F1 pedigree, Mazda have won Le Mans outright, and Nissan run a successful GT programme. Subaru and Mitsubishi have had huge success in rallying, producing two of the sports most iconic and successful challengers of all time, in the Impreza and Lancer Evolution respectively 9/10
TOTAL 14/30

Spain – F1 World Champions – Fernando Alonso (x2) 6/10. Current top drivers – Alonso (in my view the most talented driver on the F1 grid), fellow F1 drivers Jaime Alguersuari and Pedro de la Rosa, Le Mans winner and Ferrari tester Marc Gene, F2 champ Andy Soucek, and WRC Citroen driver Dani Sordo 7/10. Other – Spain holds two F1 rounds and all of the official F1 testing, due partly to its climate, but more to its excellent facilities. Three International rally events will be held this year, as will rounds of all of the top European series’. Carlos Sainz is a former double WRC champ and his son is moving quickly through the ranks of single seater racing, HRT is Spain’s first F1 entrant although their cars are made externally by Dallara 8/10.
TOTAL 21/30

United States – F1 World Champions – Phil Hill, Mario Andretti 6/10. Current top drivers – Jimmie Johnson has won four consecutive Sprint Cup titles, while Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart also star in the States’ top series. Indycar stars Graham Rahal, Marco Andretti and the only woman ever to win a top level car race Danica Patrick (a PR man’s dream). Ken Block is a popular rally star and Alex Rossi is making waves in the junior formulae on this side of the pond 8/10. Other – The NASCAR brand, including its many series’ is a huge organisation, so much so that the US audience is totally switched off to F1 (a situation not helped by the 2005 US Grand Prix fiasco), and most single seater enthusiasts are mopped up by Indycar. Some of the world’s most iconic races take place in the States, including the Indy 500, Daytona 500 and Sebring 12hrs, while an F1 return is being mooted, either to Indianapolis, or as a New York street race 9/10.
TOTAL 23/30

RESULTS
1) Great Britain, 27; 2) Germany, 26; 3) United States, 23; 3) France, 23; 5) Brazil, 22; 5) Australia, 22; 7) Spain, 21; 8) Italy, 20; 9) Finland, 17; 10) Canada, 16.

So there we have it, its official, England beat Germany in the World Cup, and it’s been a long time since anyone said that. Scientific, of course it wasn’t, but I am not biased towards Britain in any way; I would be just as happy to see Webber, Massa or Alonso win the title this year as I would Lewis or JB. Doubtless people from this country will disagree with the scoring, as I’m sure people from other countries (the US and Germany, in particular) will argue the result, but I think before they start pulling holes in it, I’ll let Christian out of his bedroom, tell him it wasn’t such a silly question after all, and give him the answer he was after. Let’s hope they (or England at least) can make it a double in South Africa.

How it all began: Part 2

After Spa in ’86 (and having spent the early hours in tears after Mansell’s Australian GP puncture – where he lost the title at the final round), our next F1 adventure would come a year later with another coach tour, this time to Hockenheim, to watch the German Grand Prix. My recollection of this trip is even cloudier; I remember that it was won by Nelson Piquet and that we had watched from the stadium section at the end of the lap. When we returned home from the race and watched the highlights, you could quite clearly make me out, wandering around the concrete steps towards the end of the race, the stand looking remarkably empty, I looked bored, that was probably because I’d been spoilt at Spa and Mansell was not winning this one. In the years following on from this, we started to take a tent and then a caravan and make weekends of it; we did Silverstone in ’88, followed by, in no particular order, a few trips to Le Mans, some more visits to Spa, lots of British Grands Prix and lots of national racing at Oulton Park. I have some wonderful memories of our travels, seeing Senna dominate in the wet, both at Silverstone in ’88 and his now legendary drive through the field in the European Grand Prix at Donington, and was in the Silverstone paddock at a Formula 3000 meeting watching a visibly shaken David Coulthard being interviewed about a possible Williams drive on the day the great man lost his life. I was at the Northamptonshire circuit to see not just Coulthard, but also Mansell, Johnny Herbert and Damon Hill win their home race. I watched on a large screen at Pouhon as more than half of the cars piled up at Spa on the run down to Eau Rouge in ’98, allowing Hill to lead a historic Jordan 1-2, Halcyon days indeed.
Seven years prior to the Hill victory, in the days when F1 and its protagonists were accessible to its audience, my Dad and I were in the pit lane at Spa on the Thursday before the race, and my Dad called to Eddie Jordan, asking who would be replacing Bertrand Gachot, who had been incarcerated in the UK for a mace spray attack on a London cabbie, EJ replied that he wasn’t at liberty to say, but that it was a young German; we assumed it would be Heinz-Harald Frentzen, we were wrong, it was of course, Michael Schumacher, who went on to qualify seventh, only to succumb to a clutch failure on the first tour. I realise how this story may, to more contemporary F1 spectators, seem romanticised at best, but it was a totally different ball game then, Ferrari were seen as unfriendly because they had a tarpaulin over their cars in the garage. You could wander around the garages of most teams on a Wednesday and Thursday, I had many pictures taken sat in F1 cars of the era, in their pit garages. The paddocks were totally accessible, we would have to dodge the back of the trucks as they backed up to the garages, and then sit and watch them be unloaded and washed, it only really changed about the time that Bernie Ecclestone tightened his grip on the F1 purse strings with the ’97 Concorde Agreement. I didn’t realise at the time just how lucky I was, my Dad loved it as much as I did, we spent ten days one year between World Sportscars at the Nurburgring and F1 at Spa, we camped two years in a row on the outside of the Mulsanne straight at Le Mans, and joined the hordes invading the track to welcome Martin Brundle et al home in the Silk Cut liveried Jaguar. Looking back, if I had to pick a favourite memory, it would almost certainly be the first race I saw at Spa, I was only six, a year younger than Christian will be when I take him this year. My Dad was taken too young, just weeks after Christian was born, and I only hope I can do as much to help him enjoy it as my Dad did for me. Mansell and Hill have been replaced by Hamilton and Button, the tickets have seen inflation that the Zimbabwean Finance Minister would deem excessive, but the bond between a Father and his Son, is timeless.

Christian's autograph book: Part1

You may have already noticed what I am trying to achieve on these pages, or you may not. If you are looking for a comprehensive motorsports results service, you are probably looking in the wrong place. If you're looking for a detailed analysis of the impact Red Bull's pull rod suspension has on lateral graining on Bridgestone's Super-soft tyre, again, I will be found wanting. What the blog is about is a) trying to give a unique slant on motorsport, particularly British motorsport, and trying to promote some of the best series' that the UK has to offer, and b) for as long as I have the editorial freedom to write what I like, I will insist on boring you with some of the mundanity that comes with being a motorsport fan, and wannabe motorsport journo. This is the first such instalment.
As I travel the circuits of the UK and beyond, watching the best that the sport has to offer, I will more often than not be accompanied by my Son, hot shot photographer, Christian, 7. Accompanying him to all events will be his digital camera (I will post his photo's, along with mine, on a soon to be created I.I.G.4 W. Flickr page), and his autograph book. I will be compiling a dynamic list of the autographs that he collects, along with any observations that we have about the person in question. I will first make a list of the few that he has collected prior to this season.


Oulton Park April 13th 2009
1. Daniel Ricciardo, British F3. (Comfortably Christian's favourite non-F1 driver, made a big fuss over him, Christian calls him his 'mate')
2. Max Chilton, British F3. (Looking bleary eyed by the Carlin transporter, after jumping the start from pole before the red lights had even come on, leaving him point-less)
3. Daisuke Nakajima, British F3. (Closest he has come to meeting an F1 driver)
4. Oliver Oakes, British F3.
5. Carlos Huertas, British F3.
6. Walter Grubmuller, British F3. (Christian refers to as Walter Grumbler)

Oulton Park May 30th 2009
7. Tim Harvey, Carrera Cup GB, 1992 BTCC champion. (Brought back some memories for me, I met him at OP at about the same age. Had a good chat with him, genuinely nice chap)

I'll post about my childhood experiences travelling around Europe with my Dad, watching mostly F1 soon. If only I could find my autograph books from then. F1 was a different ball game then with reasonable access to the stars, my autograph book included, to name a few, Michael Schumacher, Alain Prost, Sir Jack Brabham, Eddie Jordan, David Coulthard, Mika Hakkinen, Damon Hill, Martin Brundle, Derek Warwick, Rubens Barrichello, Riccardo Patrese, Andy Rouse I could go on all day, and I probably will one day.

Part 2 of Christian's autograph book will come early next week, after this weekend at British F3/British GT at Oulton Park.