Dope. #60

Photo courtesy of EAH photography

What to watch this weekend (July 29th - August 3rd)

• Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Hungary; from the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary. Practice. Friday @ 8am - 9:30am (SPEED/SPEEDHD) live
• Motorweek. 2012 Audi A7 and Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet. Friday @ 8pm - 9pm (Discovery's HD Theater) replays
• Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Hungary; from the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary. Qualifying. Saturday @ 8am - 9:30am (SPEED/SPEEDHD) live
• 24 Hours of Spa. Endurance racing from the legendary Spa Francorchamps racetrack. Saturday @ 9am - Sunday @ 9am (Webcast on Audi.tv) live
• Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Hungary; from the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary. Race. Sunday @ 7:30am - 10am (SPEED/SPEEDHD) live - replay Sunday @ 4:30pm
• GT - Racer: Carrera Pan-Americana Cross Country Race. 3200kms through Mexico. Sunday @ 12pm - 1pm (Discovery's HD Theater)
• Top Gear America. Season 2 Episode 2; First cars. Sunday @ 10pm - 11pm (HistoryChannel/HistoryChannelHD)
• The Car Show with Adam Carolla. Blast from the past and a look into the future. Wednesday @ 10p - 11pm (SPEED/SPEEDHD)

I got home from vacation last week and checked my DVR. I was excited to see I had an F1 race saved with Sunday's race around the corner. Sunday afternoon came and I watched both races back to back. Even though I'd been at the Ring' mid-week during the setup for the Grand Prix of Germany, I amazingly didn't have the ending of the British Grand Prix ruined before I got home, two weeks after it was run. And the gods have smiled again with another week of F1 action; this time in Budapest, Hungary. These are the current Drivers Championship point standings in Formula 1:

01 Sebastian Vettel 216
02 Mark Webber 139
03 Lewis Hamilton 134
04 Fernando Alonso 130
05 Jenson Button 109
06 Felipe Massa 62
07 Nico Rosberg 46
08 Nick Heidfeld 34
09 Vitaly Petrov 32
10 Michael Schumacher 32

Hammy's great performance last week (and Vettel's last two 'off' performances) has made the proverbial peloton quite stout as three men deep. If Button had better luck it would be a 4-man peloton, and McLaren will have to work those bugs out quick as they only have one week to get his chariot back to top form. Last year at this track Webber took home the big trophy, so look for him to do his best to stick it to his doubters after the team orders situation at Silverstone.

Image courtesy of autosportgallery.wordpress.com

Quick Vid: 2011 Mercedes SLK 350 Review

Autoblogger reviews the new Mercedes SLK 350.

Quick Vid: 2012 (F10) M5 preview

It's funny seeing all the loose footage of the F10 M5 floating around the web since the new year. Much to my surprise I stumbled onto a black on tan pre-release F10 M5 in Harford County (MD) this past May. I didn't have a camera worth a damn on me, but I did take the time to give the car a very good walk around before getting food. The lines are predictable, given what we've all seen of the F10 5-series already on the road, but along with subtle but muscular M styling in theme with the current E92M3, 1-series M and X6M, it's quite the sexy sight to behold. In my opinion this new F10 is the true successor to the E39. The M5 I ogled in person was a 7-speed dual-clutch, X-drive variant and I sincerely hope they do not abandon the manual transmission option on this new, ~578hp, twin turbo V8, AWD model. According to reports, the manual option will happen due to the notoriously vocal M-enthusiast contingent in the US. Here's a look at the pre-production model in testing this past winter.


Video courtesy of GmotorsTV

Classic Vid: The Weltmeister Teams' E30M3's

This classic video goes into the famous Weltmeister BMW M3 touring car team, the cars and the drivers. Understanding some German helps, but it isn't necessary if you dig this kinda thing.

Part1

Part2

Video hosting courtesy of m3e30site.