Dope. #96

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What to watch this weekend (Mar 23rd - Mar 28th)

• Formula 1 - Malaysia Grand Prix; from Kuala Lumpur/Sepang International Circuit. Practice. Friday @ 2am - 3:30am (SPEED/SPEEDHD) live
• Formula 1 - Malaysia Grand Prix; from Kuala Lumpur/Sepang International Circuit. Qualifying. Saturday @ 4am - 5:30am (SPEED/SPEEDHD) live
• Formula 1 - Malaysia Grand Prix; from Kuala Lumpur/Sepang International Circuit. Sunday @ 3:30am - 6am (SPEED/SPEEDHD) replay Sunday @ 3pm and Tuesday 3/20 @ 12pm
• Indycar Series - Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in St. Petersburg, FL. Sunday @ 12:30pm - 3pm (ABC/ABCHD) live
• Renaissance Man. Marathon of all four episodes. Sunday @ 3pm - 7pm (Velocity/Discovery's HD Theater) replays
• Top Gear (UK). Classic episode marathon. Monday @ 8am - Tuesday @ 5am (BBC America/BBC America HD) great replays
• Motorweek. Chevrolet Corvette Centennial Edition ZR1. Tuesday @ 8pm - 8:30pm (Velocity/VelocityHD) new
• Vinsetta Garage. Music. Tuesday @ 8:30pm - 9pm (Velocity/VelocityHD) new
• Chasing Classic Cars. Tuesday @ 10pm - 11pm (Velocity/VelocityHD) replays
• Top Gear (US). Rut's show. Tuesday @ 9pm - 10pm (History Channel/History Channel HD) new
• Wheeler Dealers. Volvo P1800s. Wednesday @ 9pm - 10pm (Velocity/VelocityHD) new

The great thing about the beginning of the F1 season is that it's jam-packed with races. This weekend the gang heads to Malaysia. If you saw last weekends Australian GP podium in a vacuum, you'd say nothing really has changed since last season; Vettel is still fast and crafty when it counts, regardless of qualifying position. Hammy is still a young prodigy that doesn't handle losing well, but is always in contention. Button is the consummate professional that when armed with the right tools can dominate at will; he practically did a 2011 Vettel impression last week. Shuey was the most disappointing story as it seems he has the speed now, but still hasn't overcome bad luck. Then there's the rest of the field. Raikkonen is back from WRC, racing for Lotus Renault, but even more impressive is the other Lotus Renault driver, Romain Grosjean, back in F1 from a sabbatical as well, that had the misfortune of getting his front suspension broke a couple laps in. He surprised everyone by qualifying 3rd last week, so lets see how the hierarchy adjusts as all the teams settle into the new season...and each weeks data logging fills in more blanks.


Video courtesy of Mooorteeen.

Car Pron: Players 5.0 (Stephen Brooks)

This is a quick film of the 5th annual Players event, in the UK, from last year.


PLAYERS 5.0 from Stephen Brooks FILMS on Vimeo.

Car Pron: Aston Martin One-77 (Autocar)

Possibly the worlds most beautiful automobile is put through its paces on the race track. Autocar's Steve Cropley brings us an exclusive interview with Aston Martin One-77's Chief Engineer, Chris Porritt. Enjoy.


Video courtesy of Autocar.

Motorsport Pron: BMW vs Porsche (advevo)

This great track battle was passed along to me by my buddy Neil, via Jalopnik. The BMW race car starring in this footage is a late model BMW 1 series with about 330hp. The car it's battling with is a Porsche 911 (996). Enjoy.


Video courtesy of advevo.

Current Events: 2012 12 Hours of Sebring Race Finish

Looking back from today's perspective, this was a fantastic weekend of motorsport. We had the first F1 race of the season ending with a familiar podium lineup. The 12 Hours of Sebring too, had some of the same familiarity, with Audi's R18 program establishing the prototype benchmark once again. There were also many other story lines in this weekends endurance race in Florida, some of which can be seen in this race finish footage from our usual supplier.


Video courtesy of MT89MotorsportMedia.