Monday
Nov272017
NOVEMBER 29, 2017
Monday, November 27, 2017 at 08:21AM 
(EPA/BBC)
Valtteri Bottas (No. 77 AMG Mercedes Petronas F1 Team) and Lewis Hamilton (No. 44 AMG Mercedes Petronas F1 Team) dominated the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to close out the 2017 F1 season, finishing 1-2. Bottas started from pole and the uninspired race was effectively over, although Hamilton was quicker in the second half of the race. Sebastian Vettel (No. 5 Scuderia Ferrari) was not a factor, finishing a distant third. Editor-in-Chief's Note: Adrian Newey, Red Bull F1's Chief Technical Officer, in an interview with the Gary Rose of BBC Sport, said that F1 has lost its edge. Newey believes the sport has been heading in the wrong direction ever since the V6 turbo hybrid era began in 2014. The cars are wider and faster this year, but that has made overtaking more difficult as drivers struggle to follow each other through the corners. "You don't have that gladiatorial feeling that you used to have," Newey commented. "If you go back to, for instance Ayrton Senna, on board footage of him at Monaco in 1990, you think 'how on earth can he drive a car like that?' You think you could never do that in a million years. Now if you watch on board footage you kind of feel - and you'd be wrong of course - that you would be able to do it yourself." I concur with Mr. Newey. -PMD
Editor-in-Chief's Note: Kudos to the entire team from NBC for their superb coverage of F1 for the past five years. I have not talked to one person in the business of motorsport, or one racing enthusiast for that matter, who is not filled with trepidation at the thought of ESPN taking over the coverage. Those feelings are well-founded. It's no secret that the sport of F1 is hanging in the balance right now due to a number of much-discussed issues which I will not regurgitate here, and the added dimension of ESPN getting involved is not a positive. -PMD
Valtteri Bottas (No. 77 AMG Mercedes Petronas F1 Team) and Lewis Hamilton (No. 44 AMG Mercedes Petronas F1 Team) dominated the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to close out the 2017 F1 season, finishing 1-2. Bottas started from pole and the uninspired race was effectively over, although Hamilton was quicker in the second half of the race. Sebastian Vettel (No. 5 Scuderia Ferrari) was not a factor, finishing a distant third. Editor-in-Chief's Note: Adrian Newey, Red Bull F1's Chief Technical Officer, in an interview with the Gary Rose of BBC Sport, said that F1 has lost its edge. Newey believes the sport has been heading in the wrong direction ever since the V6 turbo hybrid era began in 2014. The cars are wider and faster this year, but that has made overtaking more difficult as drivers struggle to follow each other through the corners. "You don't have that gladiatorial feeling that you used to have," Newey commented. "If you go back to, for instance Ayrton Senna, on board footage of him at Monaco in 1990, you think 'how on earth can he drive a car like that?' You think you could never do that in a million years. Now if you watch on board footage you kind of feel - and you'd be wrong of course - that you would be able to do it yourself." I concur with Mr. Newey. -PMD
Editor-in-Chief's Note: Kudos to the entire team from NBC for their superb coverage of F1 for the past five years. I have not talked to one person in the business of motorsport, or one racing enthusiast for that matter, who is not filled with trepidation at the thought of ESPN taking over the coverage. Those feelings are well-founded. It's no secret that the sport of F1 is hanging in the balance right now due to a number of much-discussed issues which I will not regurgitate here, and the added dimension of ESPN getting involved is not a positive. -PMD
(Audi)
Audi will be competing in Formula E for the first time as a factory team this weekend (December 2/3) at the season opener in Hong Kong, which features a doubleheader on Saturday and Sunday. Audi is the first German automobile manufacturer to be involved in the series. Daniel Abt and Champion Lucas di Grassi will be at the wheel of the Audi e-tron FE04 for Team Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler. “The past few weeks were intensive and exciting for the whole squad,” says Head of Audi Motorsport Dieter Gass. "Our agenda included the meticulous preparation of the four race cars, computer simulations of diverse strategies and situations, fine-tuning of all processes and perfect preparation of the entire equipment, to name just a few items on the completed checklist. Now, everyone is happy to finally be traveling to the race track and competing for points and trophies again.” The 1.860-kilometer temporary race track runs directly along the waterfront and past the city's famous Ferris wheel.
(BMW)
The Andretti Autosport team will contest its fourth season of Formula E in 2017/18. So far, Michael Andretti’s team has contested 33 races and claimed three pole positions, while scoring 202 points. BMW works driver António Félix da Costa (No. 28 MS&AD Andretti ATEC-003) and Kamui Kobayashi (No. 27 MS&AD Andretti ATEC-003) will be behind the wheel of the Andretti Autosport team's all-electric racing machines for the season opener in Hong Kong.
The Andretti Autosport team will contest its fourth season of Formula E in 2017/18. So far, Michael Andretti’s team has contested 33 races and claimed three pole positions, while scoring 202 points. BMW works driver António Félix da Costa (No. 28 MS&AD Andretti ATEC-003) and Kamui Kobayashi (No. 27 MS&AD Andretti ATEC-003) will be behind the wheel of the Andretti Autosport team's all-electric racing machines for the season opener in Hong Kong.
(Ford Racing Archives)
Walter "Bud" Moore Jr., who won multiple NASCAR championships as a car owner and crew chief and who was the oldest living member of the NASCAR Hall of Fame, has died at the age of 92. After graduating from high school, Moore joined the military in 1943 at the age of 18 as a machine gunner assigned to the 90th Infantry Division, which landed on Utah Beach in France on D-Day, June 6, 1944. His unit was attached to General George W. Patton’s Third Army, which pushed to liberate Europe. In recognition of his heroism, Moore was decorated with five Purple Hearts and two Bronze Stars (the second with clusters). Auto racing was a destination for many returning veterans and since NASCAR was born in 1948, Moore, as a South Carolinian who enjoyed fixing cars, made the organization his life’s work. Referring to himself as “a country mechanic who loved to make ’em run fast,” Moore stood more than six feet tall and couldn’t be missed in the garage, or in victory lane, where his cars won over the course of four decades beginning in 1961. Moore, a Spartanburg, South Carolina, native, won 63 times as an owner, winning NASCAR's top series title in 1957 as crew chief for Buck Baker and car owner titles in 1962-63 with Joe Weatherly. Moore and Weatherly won eight times in 1961 and twelve times during their back-to-back championship seasons. Moore also won the Daytona 500 with Bobby Allison in 1978. Moore was inducted into NASCAR's Hall of Fame in 2011.
Walter "Bud" Moore Jr., who won multiple NASCAR championships as a car owner and crew chief and who was the oldest living member of the NASCAR Hall of Fame, has died at the age of 92. After graduating from high school, Moore joined the military in 1943 at the age of 18 as a machine gunner assigned to the 90th Infantry Division, which landed on Utah Beach in France on D-Day, June 6, 1944. His unit was attached to General George W. Patton’s Third Army, which pushed to liberate Europe. In recognition of his heroism, Moore was decorated with five Purple Hearts and two Bronze Stars (the second with clusters). Auto racing was a destination for many returning veterans and since NASCAR was born in 1948, Moore, as a South Carolinian who enjoyed fixing cars, made the organization his life’s work. Referring to himself as “a country mechanic who loved to make ’em run fast,” Moore stood more than six feet tall and couldn’t be missed in the garage, or in victory lane, where his cars won over the course of four decades beginning in 1961. Moore, a Spartanburg, South Carolina, native, won 63 times as an owner, winning NASCAR's top series title in 1957 as crew chief for Buck Baker and car owner titles in 1962-63 with Joe Weatherly. Moore and Weatherly won eight times in 1961 and twelve times during their back-to-back championship seasons. Moore also won the Daytona 500 with Bobby Allison in 1978. Moore was inducted into NASCAR's Hall of Fame in 2011.
Mazda Motorsports. The team of drivers that will pilot the two Mazda RT24-P race cars in the 2018 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with Mazda Team Joest has been announced. Longtime Mazda drivers Jonathan Bomarito and Tristan Nuñez, both Americans, will be joined by British racers Oliver Jarvis and Harry Tincknell, who both join Mazda for the first time. For the four longest endurance races, the quartet of drivers will be supplemented by IndyCar racer Spencer Pigot and 2017 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) touring car champion René Rast. The driver combinations for each car have not been set, as the team continues a busy testing schedule ahead of the season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona in late January. Racing under the Daytona Prototype international (DPi) rules package, this is the first season for the combination of Mazda and Joest Racing, joining the third-winningest manufacturer in IMSA racing history with the team that has won 15 times at Le Mans.
(Aston Martin)
Aston Martin has unveiled its new factory Vantage GTE racer, which will compete against BMW, Corvette, Ferrari, Ford and Porsche at Le Mans next year.
