|Video| Formula 1 Insights from Gary Hartstein #F1 (Long Documentary/Worth It)

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Normally, I wouldn’t want to post a 45 minute video of just a guy talking.

However when the person is Gary Hartstein, the former FIA Medical Delegate for the Formula One World Championship, it’s worth taking the time to listen. He’s got an interesting backstory.

I’m going to be honest. It’s a long one, so I’m not expecting people to get to commenting on it right away. However, I’d love to get people’s opinions on how safety in motorsports has changed over the last thirty years. The sport has seriously changed for the better thanks to people like Gary.
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|Reader’s Submission| John Pattison strikes again at JapFest 2013!

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Is that a StartingGrid sticker in the rear window? I do believe that it is!

We love getting submissions to |StartingGrid|, especially from our international readers.  John Pattison has always been particularly awesome, sharing pictures of his Starlet V with us either here on the blog our on our Facebook page.

(I think the fact that he got some stickers from us helps with the motivation. jk ;) )

John was down at Japfest2013 recently, and snapped some pictures to share here with everyone on the blog. Click on the bump below to get a sight of what was shown in the UK.

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|Video| @MyCaterhamF1 might be planning to put it’s nose back into shape for the rest of 2013… #F1

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Any F1 fans know Caterham F1 is having a hell of a time with the development of it’s CT03. From what I’ve read, because of the upcoming regulation changes in 2014, the plan has been to develop a “hybrid” car, which integrates some of next year’s design methodology into this year’s car. The end result is that…well, it’s slow.
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Mad Mike takes on the Crown Range in MADBUL #drifting #drift #fd #rotary #redbull

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Mad Mike is one of those drifters, who I absolutely love his style.

Take one quad-rotor FD3S, a super winding road, with some slow-motion shots and you have all of the pieces for a super fun video. No words. Just beautiful noise.

I’d love to do something like this. Thanks to Speedhunters for the original find.

Street Parked: All I know is, I need this Saab!

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So today, while I was pulling my race kart chassis out of storage to prepare for this season, I came across this Saab sitting in the corner of the parking lot.

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Ignore the monitor sitting on the dash. This car needs to be driven…now!

I have a thing for odd-ball cars. (Clearly, not as much as Bret does. ;) ) However, any modified Saab certainly qualifies. The thing is, like with my last Street-Parked post, I don’t know much about this car! Not the model, nothing! (facepalm)

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|Video| Miata owner catches car, then himself on fire #drift #facepalmdrift

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I honestly cannot believe this. I can count the people on one hand that I know who would catch the car on fire, keep trying to start it, then catch HIMSELF on fire…before posting the video on Youtube.

Some people’s kids, I guess. At least it gives us something interesting to watch. *Facepalm*

|Video| Time-Lapsed Marussia #F1 Car Build

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Marussia Winter – F1 Car Building Tilt Shift Time-Lapse from Kai Clear on Vimeo.

Constructing a Formula 1 car is not an easy task. It takes hundreds of man-hours to construct and deliver two cars to races at around the world. Marussia F1 team provided this awesome time-lapse video building one of their cars prior to winter testing. It’s a bit long, but still very interesting.

I always love these time lapse videos though. Pretty crazy to see all of these people running around.

|Video| RUSH – Official International Trailer (2013)

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The world has been missing a good racing movie. I mean, an actual good racing movie that shows the thrills and possible horrors of the sport. Ron Howard has brought together some amazing talent to make a film that’s less in a lesser talked about era of Grand Prix racing.

Lauda vs Hunt. I mean, Thor is now James Hunt! I cannot wait to see this movie. This is going to be amazing. What about you guys? Let us know in the comments.

|Video| Lewis Hamilton explains his driving position #F1

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As most of us know, driving position is massively critical when it comes to providing a solid performance in any car or kart.

Although none of us are driving Formula 1 cars, take a look at this video and think about what your own racing position is like. Can it be more comfortable? Your body remembers a lot of the feedback that you’re getting from the seat. So the more comfortable you are, the better your performance will be.

* I’ve always loved Mercedes’ Formula 1 videos, as they explain a lot of the inner details about driving a Formula 1 car. As an added highlight, I really like seeing Lewis Hamilton in these videos now. He seems much more relaxed than during his time at Mclaren, which shows in this video and also in his driving.

Autocrossing an Icon

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It seems like jumping back into autocross is the “theme of the day” on StartingGrid.

Two weeks ago, I decided that I wanted to expand my driving experience by going to events in new and different cars. Getting a better feeling of machines with different characteristics will really help to increase my adaptability.

Plus it’s just a hell of a lot of fun.

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The Smiling Assassin

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Reblogged from The Buxton Blog:

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Yep, you guessed it. It’s another opinion on the fallout from the Malaysian Grand Prix. I’ll be honest, I didn’t want to just blast something out in the immediate aftermath. I wanted to take the flights home to think about it.

I barely slept last night. Jetlag accounted for part of that. The rest was the final ten laps in Malaysia and, in particular, the podium ceremony, press conference and interviews that followed.

Read more… 2,303 more words

Another brilliant article by Will Buxton. I'm super glad that he's still in Formula 1 commentary, personally. This article encapsulates our feelings on the weekend's events, perfectly. Give it a read, and give him some feedback. He deserves it.

|Video| Sauber F1 – Living the Dream #F1

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I feel that Sauber F1 create some of the best Formula 1 demonstration videos around. The team does a stellar job providing awesome drama around the build-up to the 2013 season and to the new Sauber C32.

I think that Sauber is going to be one of the surprise dark horses in the 2013 season. Just look at those sidepods! (#nerdgasm) I cannot wait for the racing to start this weekend!

|Video| – Single Seater vs F1 Two-Seater

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Check out the difference comparing a F1 single-seater (Alonso) vs a two-seater F1 car (Bruno Senna) that are used to take guests of demonstration runs. Granted, its doubtful that the two-seater is going on a banzai qualifying lap, but it still pretty interesting to see the acceleration differences between the two.

*Note: I know that I’ve been a bit slow on updating some of our detailed category, but I’ve just been running around crazy. I’ll be updating more frequently soon!

|Video| 2005 GP2 Monaco – Feature

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I was planning on writing another driving-technique post earlier today, but I got frustrated during the brainstorming phase. Instead, I’ve fallen back to a personal favorite weekend activity by watching (‘classic/nostalgic/early 2000-era?’) feeder series races.

One of the reasons that I enjoy this, is because YouTube actually allows people to upload these races so I can see them. I’ve always been bewildered with the ridiculousness that FOM stops people from sharing Formula 1 races online. It’s honestly like they don’t want more people in the modern era to watch their sport.
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|Video| Fact: Women who can drive well are sexy…

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If you’re a car guy, it’s a fact. then we all know this to be true. It doesn’t matter how they look, if they can handle a car well, then they are beautiful. (Well it does matter really, it’s just a super-added- plus bonus. ;) )

Sumika Kubokawa, from Team Orange, is a great example of a woman who can really tear it up. Skilled female drifter = Car Control + Common Sense.

Just get a cheap car and start practicing!

|Pure Sound| @ Spa – Ferrari Formula 1

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Something about this video stands out for me, but I’m not sure what it is.

Maybe it’s how the camera is placed on track. Maybe it’s because the driver isn’t pushing the car to the limit like F1 drivers do during the races. Whatever it is, for some reason this video seems to show better movement of a Formula 1 car from a track-side camera than most videos that I’ve seen.

Whatever. It really doesn’t matter. Just listen to this noise! Amazing!

|Project Asuka| – A red-headed homecoming!

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Well, it’s the moment that we’ve all been waiting for! Project Asuka has finally arrived on my doorstep!

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I’ve been looking for a second project car to act as a backup for Project Kyoko, as well as be some cheap fun for the spring/summer autocross season. Asuka is a car that I purchased from a friend at a price so low, we might as well call it a gift. (Thanks!)

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|Formula 1| Lewis Hamilton crashes W04 in Jerez test

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Lewis Hamilton’s opening days with Mercedes have not been the smoothest. Due to a brake failure, Hamilton crashed his W04 after only 15 laps of testing. Between the two days, the Mercedes has only achieved 29 laps in the pre-season test, compared to the hundred plus of some of their immediate competitors.

It’s better to have these problems now, than during the season, but it doesn’t help the team.

Check out the video after the jump.

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|Formula 1| – Caterham and Marussia – Only videos today #F1

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This post will only have just pictures with launch videos today, as I don’t have too much time. Plus there are giga-quads of Formula 1 videos to go through that I’m still trying to find some cool stuff for this blog. ;)

Check out the launch videos for the CT03 and the MR02 after the jump.
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|Formula 1| STR8 has a ‘straight’ nose #F1

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I don’t have very much to say about the Toro Rosso. The team had a terrible year in 2012, scoring a paltry 26 points and a 9th place in the World Championship. Pretty shocking when their parent team won both championships.

The hope is that Toro Rosso raises its game in 2013 to help raise the value of the team. The one nice thing is that James Key has come from Sauber to work there as technical director. The other thing is that the team has chosen to run with a straight nose, which makes this entire year ripe for parody (STR-8).

Anyhow, check out the launch video after the jump.
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|Formula 1| Mercedes W04- If looks could win races. #f1

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After a frustrating server crash foiled the teaser launch promotion on the Mercedes website this weekend, it’s nice to finally see real pictures of the car. Again this is just my opinion, but if looks could win races then the Mercedes W04 would be miles ahead of everyone else.

As always, you can find pictures of the car all over the web, but click to see the launch video after the jump.

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|Formula 1| Red Bull Racing unbolt the… RB9 Purple People Eater?

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Normally when a team does a bad launch, I can let it go. However, in my opinion, Red Bull Racing’s has been the most disappointing.

The Twitter-verse has been alight with complaints from people attending the launch that the team would not allow media to take live photographs during the event, and because they had the presentation in a dark lair that made the venue look a lot like the Batcave.

However, my biggest gripe is about the hideous livery of the RB9. (Seeing that’s all I have to look at right now.) I know that Infiniti has become a title sponsor for the team, but I can’t stand the overt Infiniti branding all over the car mixed with those insane purple streaks.

At least they attempted to give us a nice launch video to try and distract me. Check it out after the jump.

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|Formula 1| Sauber C32 comes good, at least on the livery front. #F1

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Last season, Sauber had their most competitive season in Formula 1. Scoring four podiums, the team is hoping that the team’s new contender will be able to do one better.

What I personally love about the new car has nothing to do with the performance changes of the car. It’s the new livery. I’m loving the grey throwback, which reminds me a bit of the older Sauber cars from ’93 and 94′.

Will this be the car that brings Nico Hulkenburg closer to a Ferrari drive? Will this be the first Sauber car to score a Formula 1 victory? I hope so, on both fronts. I’m probably more excited about this car, than any other car this year.

Of course, check out the launch presentation after the jump.
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