MOTORSPORT: Great news for Aussies abroad

Motorsport gods shine on Chris Dyer and Chris Atkinson
It may be the holiday season, but not for motorsport news. The Christmas-New Year break has brought lots of good tidings.
Here's a quick selection:

>> Australian Chris Dyer, who began his career at the Holden Racing Team in the early 1990s, advanced to the (now defunct) Arrows Formula 1 team, and then was recruited by Ferrari, has been race engineer to Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen, and now has been promoted to coordinator of all the engineers in the world's premier race team, including its test team. What an achievement! Might he one day become technical director at the stable of the Prancing Horse?

>> Chris Atkinson's World Rally Championship career has been salvaged, at least partly, with a drive in Citroen's new secondary or "junior" team. The deal, which the rallybuzz.com website says Atkinson -- who recently turned 29 and was fifth in this year's championship, including second places in Argentina and Mexico -- has swung by using money he got when Subaru pulled its WRC program two weeks ago, will begin in a C4 similar to five-time world champion Sebastien Loeb's, at the Rally of Ireland in a month's time and will probably include another seven events -- two-thirds of the WRC.

» Watch the Carsales Network's video on Chris Atkinson's first drive in the WRC Citroen C4

>> Perhaps as many as seven buyers are interested in Honda's Formula 1 team, for which a sale needs to be agreed by New Year's Eve. Mexican telecommunications billionaire Carlos Slim -- reputed to be the world's second richest man, behind American Warren Buffett -- is now the frontrunner after visiting the team's headquarters at Brackley in England, and if he gets it the name Senna is certain to be back in F1 at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne in three months.
That will be Bruno Senna, 25-year-old nephew of the great Ayrton. The new Senna would join Jenson Button and take the place of fellow Brazilian Rubens Barrichello. While Italy's La Stampa newspaper has claimed Slim already has won the deal, until it is confirmed Prodrive's David Richards must remain in the frame with Kuwaiti money.
Other candidates mentioned have been Greek shipping magnate Achilleas Kallakis, a Swiss hedge fund, Spanish interests perhaps supporting former F1 driver Adrian Campos and his associate Alejandro Agag, Korea's Hyundai Kia (the world's fifth biggest carmaker), and Indian billionaire Vijay Mallya, who already owns the Force India team (originally Jordan).

>> Vodafone is reportedly quitting its football (soccer) sponsorships in Europe, but not motor racing -- good news for McLaren in F1 and, on the Australian front, the Triple 8/Team Vodafone that has won the past three Bathurst 1000s and took Jamie Whincup to this year's V8 Supercar Championship title.

>> The Dreamworld park on the Gold Coast, Australia's holiday capital, has introduced a V8 Supercar simulated thrill ride. We gather players, or "drivers", have a choice of two generic tracks for now but that it will feature Bathurst's iconic Mt Panorama when it is officially launched in February.
Isn't it funny how, despite all the emphasis put on the championship, and each round carrying equal points, in situations like this the legend of Bathurst prevails? Apparently the Dreamworld experience allows a "driver" to compete against three others on simulators and 21 computer-generated drone cars.
Players can feel the jarring of a high-speed crash, if they haven't averted it through collision detection, and there is what is described as "real dynamic mechanical vibration". We like the sound of it.

Alonso top of the F1 tree
This festive season has also seen an outbreak of commonsense, or at least what we believe to be some accurate perspectives emerging.

We've seen two polls -- in Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper and crash.net -- in which Fernando Alonso has been ranked F1's best driver, despite Lewis Hamilton becoming the youngest world champion.

In the quiet of the holiday season it occurred to us that Alonso's two victories for Renault in the second half of the season were the closest thing to Ayrton Senna winning five in 1993 in a McLaren-Ford that should not have won any GPs.

"Gazetta" said it rated Alonso No. 1 "because he was driving a Renault which did not begin as the best machine, but in the last six GPs no one scored more points than him".

"In wise and close collaboration with his engineers, he gradually improved to a level of high competitiveness that allowed him not only to win two races but to do better than everyone from September onwards -- 43 points for him versus 33 for (Ferrari's Felipe) Massa and 28 for Hamilton.

"And all this with the handicap of Renault engine power. Had he driven a Ferrari the title would certainly have been his."

The world never got to see F1's greatest talent, Ayrton Senna, in a Ferrari, but bring on the day Alonso steps into the cockpit of one of the red machines!

Flavio Briatore, who oversaw Michael Schumacher's first two world titles with Benetton as well as those of Alonso with Renault in 2005-06, reckons that in some respects the Spaniard surpasses the German legend.

"Fernando makes fewer mistakes than Michael," Briatore told F1 Racing magazine. "The more pressure you put on Fernando the better he gets.

"Michael was not so good at handling pressure."

Briatore said Alonso returned from his ill-fated 2007 season with McLaren an improved driver.

Ferrari's Montezemolo a welcome statesman
Ferrari chief Luca di Montezemolo -- who said recently that Massa and Kimi Raikkonen are contracted for another two seasons, denying Alonso a Ferrari seat until at least 2011 -- has gone in to bat again, even more strongly, on one of our pet subjects -- permanent circuits over temporary tracks.

Since taking on the leadership of the new Formula One Teams Association (FOTA), Montezemolo has become virtually a statesman in F1.

For many years while Jean Todt was the hands-on "captain" of Ferrari and Michael Schumacher was winning the last five of his seven world titles, Montezemolo seemed content to stay in the background.

Now he's stepped on to the stage again, as he did in resurrecting Ferrari in the mid-1970s with Niki Lauda and in running the soccer World Cup in Italy in 1982.

On circuits Montezemolo is talking perfect sense. He has blasted what he calls "touristic tracks" on the F1 calendar.

He had already said that Singapore, venue of the first night GP on its streets in September, would have been "better off staging a circus" and he was even more dismissive of Spain's Valencia street circuit, which produced the dullest GP of the year.

We note that he has not made any mention of Melbourne's Albert Park temporary circuit, perhaps simply because its not at the forefront of his mind -- we can't recall having seen Montezemolo at a GP in Australia, in either Melbourne or Adelaide.

Anyway, he believes that F1 needs "real tracks" with lots more overtaking opportunities.

"Having two or three Monte Carlos is too much," Montezemolo said. "Next time we can race inside the Coliseum, or maybe inside the Papacy. This is not racing!

"I don't think we need more boats, historic skylines. We need more real tracks where it is possible to overtake, where the public can enjoy the competition, not a place where a crash like Nelson Piquet had (in Singapore) can destroy the whole race.

"One of the problems F1 is facing is we need to improve competition, so that the racing is good not only when it rains or the safety car creates a situation.

"New tracks with good opportunities for overtaking. Real tracks, not touristic tracks.

"At least Monte Carlo has history. Having two or three of them is too much."

Montezemolo has recently taken on Bernie Ecclestone very publicly over the share the teams get of F1 television and race sanction revenues, seeking a greater slice than the existing 50 per cent of the "pie".

He also has a strong point of view on Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS) to be introduced to F1 in '09, although we're not convinced he's right on this one.

Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) president Max Mosley, who has championed the introduction of KERS, has said a good system should give an F1 car "an 80 horsepower boost for up to six seconds each lap".

BMW-Sauber is thought to be the leader in KERS development and we wonder if Montezemolo's comments are motivated by Ferrari not having got on top of its system yet.

"Whatever we discover, there is nothing in common between F1's KERS and road car KERS," Montezemolo said. "But for 2012 KERS can be an important part of a new package that addresses properly the environmental concerns.

"KERS is the biggest part of F1 spending for 2009.

"I'm not against the principle of KERS -- it's very important to put in front of the teams research that benefits the environment -- but the way it is at the moment is a mistake.

"It has to be a package looking ahead and we have three or four years to work on the whole engine/KERS package."

While he says he won't decide until June whether to stand for a fourth four-year term he has effectively tried to create a picture of it being unlikely there could be a better qualified candidate.

"The difficulty is finding somebody who has the necessary experience, but also the time and inclination to do the job," said Mosley, who so famously survived a sex scandal this year and an FIA vote of confidence.

Mosley says anyone seeking the position would require lots of patience and "an ability to understand quickly a great variety of technical and legal issues".

"I would advise a potential successor to think very carefully before standing for election," he said.

In other words, "stay out of my way".

As we've mentioned here a couple of times, Bernie Ecclestone foreshadowed before the FIA vote in the middle of the year that if Mosley got the nod of confidence then that he could be expected to put his hand up for another term. How right he's proving to be.

Ecclestone, as only he could, didn't miss the opportunity to have some fun at his long-time mate Mosley's expense with an S&M theme in his Christmas card to many in the F1 world.

How Americans look at motorsport
The three best known race drivers in America at the minute are, according to Scene Daily, NASCAR's Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Junior and IndyCar's Danica Patrick.

Scene Daily says this is on the basis of general awareness among the US population, not just hard-core race fans.

Rather amazing considering that trio won only two races of significance between them this year.

Gordon, a four-time NASCAR Cup champion, did not have a single victory for the first time since 1993.

Earnhardt won one Cup race in his first season with Hendrick Motorsports after leaving his family team, which has now merged with Chip Ganassi's stock car outfit that fields F1 refugee Juan Pablo Montoya, who slipped to 25th in the Cup in his second full season (from 20th the previous year).

Patrick won the IndyCar round in Japan in April but was an embarrassment at the Surfers' Paradise street race in October.

Among NASCAR fans, Earnhardt -- courtesy of the name made famous by his late seven-time Cup champion father, Dale Senior -- ranks No. 1 for marketability and consumer awareness.

"Fans are at least 20 per cent more passionate about Junior than they are the next driver," Millsport's Davie Brown Index report said.

In the top 10 behind Earnhardt were Mark Martin, Tony Stewart, Jeff Burton, Jimmie Johnson (the driver who this year equaled Cale Yarborough's three-decade-old record of three straight Cup titles), then Carl Edwards (Cup runner-up this year), Jeff Gordon, Bobby Labonte, Kasey Kahne and Kyle Petty.

Kyle Busch, the 23-year-old who won eight Cup races and led the series for two-thirds of the season (as well as winning 10 Nationwide secondary series rounds and three in the third-tier pick-up truck series) was "among the highest in awareness but among the lowest on what fans think of him", Scene Daily reported.

US motor industry impact on NASCAR
In the context of the impact the American financial meltdown is having on NASCAR, some interesting information in an article in the San Diego Union Tribune newspaper by Bill Center, whose writings we've admired previously.

"Last year more than 400 US companies pumped almost US$2 billion into NASCAR," Center writes. "One-third of the total came in support from the automakers.

"Ford has announced its support of NASCAR will shrink by 20 per cent (in '09).

"Chrysler has trimmed 30 per cent from its NASCAR budget.

"Chevrolet has ended its sponsorship deals with 12 Sprint Cup tracks and races and -- like Ford and Dodge -- is reviewing its support of the third-echelon truck series.

"And bigger cuts could be forthcoming.

"NASCAR teams have trimmed more than 500 workers since the end of the 2008 season while also consolidating and merging... [and] NASCAR has done away with testing."

"Will the (US) government allow the Big Three (carmakers) to siphon off (some of its financial) bailout money to NASCAR?"

Might be some things worth noting in all this for those who don't value/respect the involvement of carmakers in motorsport.

Center also writes that "NASCAR enjoyed improved TV ratings in 2008 after a three-year slide, but some of those added television fans were those not attending races."

We're surprised, after reports we'd been seeing throughout the season, that the TV ratings improved, if indeed they did, but it's not surprising that, in the economic climate, fans are choosing to stay home and watch races on TV rather than go to tracks.