July 2009

Michael Schumacher Is Coming Back To Formula One

Driver In Focus: Mark Webber

Mark Webber was born on the 27^thof August 1976 in Queanbeyan , Australia.

He started his relationship with sport at a young age, working as a ball boy for premiership winning rugby league team, the Canberra Raiders, during the late 1980s. However, motorsport was where his interest lay, later listing Formula One World Champion Alain Prost and Grand Prix motorcycle racer Kevin Schwantz as his childhood heroes.

Starting out racing motorcycles, Webber moved to four wheels in 1991, taking up karting at the age of 14. He won the New South Wales state championship in 1993, and moved straight into the Australian Formula Ford Championship after his father bought him an ex-Craig Lowndes Van Diemen FF1600.

Global Racing Schools Latest Promotions

Panoramic view of Barcelona

Price: Euro 1655 ( 2 Person with VAT Included)

If you are looking for a Unique Valentine’s Day Gift that is likely to be the highlight of your loved one’s year, be sure to read on. Finding a Valentine’s Day Gift for a loved one can be daunting, with so many options, contemplating what they would like or dislike. Take a departure from the norm of buying a physical gift and instead, buy them an experience that will be firmly embedded in their minds for years to come.

Global Racing Schools is introducing a special racing program package, which caters for couples just for Valentine’s Day. If you wish to pamper or wow a loved one with a unique gift experience, this is what you would want to consider. It is not biased to either gender, with activities for both to enjoy. Whether it’s a relaxing steam bath, or a heart pumping drive in a Sports Car, we cater to enjoyment for both parties.
This package will be set in the beautiful city of Barcelona in Spain.  This package will start off with a pick up from the airport to your Hotel. You’ll be staying at a 5 Star Hotel.

You can experience a sense of place unlike any in Spain. As an artfully restored hilltop palace overlooking the world-famous Las Ramblas neighbourhood, this stylish Barcelona luxury hotel blends 1920s grandeur with cool, contemporary design.

Savour the casual intimacy and personal service afforded by our 75 rooms, or indulge in gourmet Mediterranean and Spanish cuisine at the elegant Forestier Restaurant. Sip morning coffee on your private balcony, overlooking stunning views of downtown Barcelona and the Mediterranean beyond. Find tranquil repose by the edge of our mesmerising outdoor pool, or take an evening stroll through the Montjuïc i Llobera Botanical Gardens.

W have arranged a range of activities that is bound to tickle your senses.

Day 1: Ladies Day
•    Welcome drink upon arrival
•    Bottle of Cava and strawberries with chocolate in the room upon arrival
•    Buffet Breakfast served in the Forestier Restaurant
•    Romantic Candle lit dinner for two in the Forestier Restaurant
•    Romantic Bubble Bath with aromatic candles, rose petals and bath salts
•    Complimentary access to the Spa

Day 2: Gentlemen’s Day
-    We will pick you up at your hotel and bring you to the race track
-    You will get to drive a Lamborghini Gallardo with our instructor
-    Learn about driving techniques and ways to control such a powerful machine
-    Drive a H2 Hummer around the track with instructions
-    Finally Race around the track in a track prepared Mitsubishi Evo
-    Snacks and Refreshments will be provided

That will conclude your 2 day Valentine’s day Getaway. We will take you back to the airport for your flight home.

Contact us now for your bookings. Email: info@globalracingschools.com

Client of the Month – Marcus Xing

Marcus Xing is a 23 year old young man that is interested in racing. He has no experience and has never been involved with the sport before. However given his age and considerable lack of experience, he is still interested to become a professional racer which would eventually lead him to race in Europe.
So he approached Global Racing Schools for help on advice on how to proceed with his racing career aspirations as he has just completed a disastrous formula training program from a popular school in Thailand. So Global Racing Schools set him up on a Program in Philippines to conduct his racing initiation program for 5 days based on a customized program cater to his learning curve.

Day 1 – Day 3 ( 1 on 1 kart training)
His first challenge was to learn all the fundamental racing techniques of racing and to do so he used the most fundamental and basic form of racing; Go Kart( Tony kart with 125cc Rotax Engine). He was set up for a 3 day 1 on 1 karting training program followed by a 2 day Touring car Package. The karting program’s focus was to instill the basic sense of racing lines, braking lines, entry and exit strategies to achieve a perfect lap.

Under the guidance of 2 kart engineers and 2 race instructors, his intense program included over 200 laps of karting that included:

• Entry/ Strategies
• Pace Kart overtaking maneuvers
• Racing Lines
• Braking Lines and many more

With a zestful spirit to learn and a determination to get the most out of the program, Marcus started out with a bang to finish the 3 day karting program 7 seconds faster than his initial time on the 1st day. On top of that dipping below the track average timing which is considerable amazing considering his lack of experience in karting and racing. On the completion of Day 3, Marcus had a good knowledge of Racing fundamentals on track and was ready to take on Touring car racing.

Day 4 – 5 ( 1 on 1 Touring Car Training)

The final 2 days of the program was to have private training on a Race Prepped Touring car. After the rough and tumble of a go kart, sitting in a touring car had an immense difference on the driver’s physical body so he was able to make even better use of it.

The 2 days of training was focused on techniques such as:

• Heel/ Toe Techniques for downshifting properly
• Positioning of the car on track
• Oversteer and understeer, what they are and how to correct or solve them
• When to apply the power and how this affects the overall corner speed and balance of the
• When and how hard to brake
• Vision and how important it is to be looking through the corner and many more.

By the end of the Touring Car Program, Marcus managed to beat the timings of more experienced drivers due to his intensive training and accelerated learning curve. Fully satisfied with the program, Global Racing Schools is currently arranging a long term goal for him to get his advanced FIA License so as to race in the British Touring Car Championship within 3 years.

Global Racing Schools can do the same for you. With a network of schools, race teams on almost any circuit in the world, we specialize in any form of racing consultation in regards to competition and training in all categories ( Rallying, Karting, Touring car etc).

So contact us today for your customized program that will save you the trouble of  “Trail and error” learning that only leads to a waste of your financial resources and time. It is about time you left your racing career to real professionals that have the experience and contacts to get you to where you want to be.

Thank you for your choosing Global Racing Schools for your racing requirements

Contact us now for all your race training and driving experiences needs!

Fuji pulls plug on Japanese GP

Fuji International Speedway has pulled the plug on hosting the Japanese Grand Prix in the future, track officials confirmed on Tuesday.

The circuit had been planning to share the event with Suzuka, having held the last two Japanese GPs, but the global economic downturn that has affected track owners Toyota has forced a rethink.

A statement on the circuit’s website said that although planning had already been underway for the 2010 event, the track had no option but to abandon its plans.

“In view of the sharply deteriorating business conditions and few signs of a rapid economic recovery, we decided it would be extremely difficult to continue holding the F1 Japanese Grand Prix,” said the statement.

Fuji returned to the F1 calendar in 2007, following huge efforts by Toyota to revamp the circuit.

Lewis Hamilton won that first event amid torrential conditions, while Fernando Alonso took a surprise win for Renault in last year’s event following a chaotic first corner.

Fuji said its focus now would be on holding Formula Nippon and Super GT events.

Hiroaki Kato, president of the Fuji track, could not hide his disappointment at the decision that brings an early end to the track’s return to the F1 schedule.

“After only having announced barely three years ago, in March 2006, that Fuji Speedway would hold the F1 Japanese Grand Prix, it is heart-wrenching that we were not able to avoid the decision to abandon our plans to hold the race from 2010,” he said.

“To the people who attended the event at Fuji Speedway last year and the year before, to those who were looking forward to the event there in the future, and to all those locally and elsewhere who granted us their immense understanding and encouragement, I deeply apologize for a result not commensurate with your expectations.

“At the same time, I would like to express my heartfelt appreciation for your kind support.

“Fuji Speedway intends to devote itself with even greater intensity to promote motor sports. For this, we humbly seek your continued understanding.”

Suzuka is due to hold this year’s Japanese GP, and the future of the country’s race will now depend on whether the track’s owners Honda wish to bankroll the event in the future – having already pulled out of F1.

Toyota’s decision to stop the bankrolling of the Fuji event, which Reuters has suggested was costing it around £12-£18 million GBP, come against the backdrop of the company expecting overall losses of £5.5 billion GBP in the business year to March 2010.

Source:autosport.com

What Is F1 for a Common Man?

Let us come to a question, which has been forgotten by FIA, FOTA, FOM and all others who claim that that they are the saviors of Formula One. It is the question of what F1 means for a common man.

F1 is a medium, a source, an option, which helps them to get relieved from their daily routine of life.

It is something different for people who are employed either with the federations or those with the participants/who make a living out of them, who are a very small percentage, maximum one or two percent of the whole base and for their benefit the industry is run currently.

Who has built F1: Is it the common people like us who have fancied the super fast cars, the teams, the tracks, the glamour,and the great racing drivers?

Have we championed and stood behind the great names of Lotus, Brabham, Ferrari etc. and turned them into their present iconic status? It is one very high end show business and we hold the keys for their fortunes.

The various groups who claim that they are acting in the goodwill of saving F1 should understand the sacrifices that we make to watch when it on (either on the track or on television).

We make sacrifices to see the sport. How many of us would have lied to their girlfriends for watching F1, how many would have fought with their wives, parents, siblings, saved money religiously to watch the sport in person or on television?

We need to have participants from the fans, who need to be present across these federations to make the sport livelier and make it worth for the money that we pay.

We people, the common people across the globe, have helped built the massive empires of Bernie, Dietrich Mateschitz, Flavio Briatore, CVC, Michael Schumacher, the legacy of teams etc.

We are the ones who buy their sports cars, road cars, buy products of their sponsors, pay the ticket fee, the fee on television and probably all tangible and intangible monetary components associated with the F1 showbiz.

Does it really matter to us in our day to day life whether a V12, V10, or V8 runs in the car, the tires are grooved or have slicks, whether any particular personality sits on the pit wall or not?

All we need is the spectacle, a worthy spectacle, which is worthy for the hard-earned money that we pay for this wonderful F1 circus.

But the sport has been very successful over the last few years in providing a wonderful off-track action, which even any scriptwriter/soap opera could not beat. Championships being argued in the court, teams having to spend a massive budget for lawyers and off-track events, millions of dollars thrown in flop technologies like KERS etc, the list goes endless without creating anything to improve the spectacle.

Even the new rules of the 2009 and the countless man hours of OWG haven’t provided us any improvement in the spectacle, all we have is a former Scuderia man running a Ferrari kind of show albeit a white car and a British driver with one similarity, poor o Rubens in he usual No. 2 spot.

In this kind of tough global economic scenario, it is said that “Cash is King”. We still pay the same money for the F1 circus and our returns in the form of the spectacle haven’t increased.

Although we find Ferrari championing the FOTA alliance this year, let us not forget that how an alliance called GPMA (Grand Prix Manufacturers Association) was crucified by the Italian Marquee in 2005. I am not trying to blame Ferrari, but pointing the fact that they are partly responsible for the recent and huge blow up among FIA, FOTA and FOM.

Had Ferrari not altered their status quo with Bernie and Max in 2005, we would not have seen such a large blow up of events like the mad and autocratic rules of Max and the loss of iconic tracks from the calendar, which have currently put the sport in this kind of a scenario.

I am not advocating that GPMA should have started their independent series, but should have done what FOTA is currently doing. They should have stayed in F1, but similar to what was achieved recently a better bargaining power for the teams in the whole stake.

It would have definitely taken the sport to a much better shape than what it is currently today.

GPMA could have still been a powerful alliance, which could have obtained a better bargain for the sport (I mean prevailing of common sense by protecting the race promoters from such an exorbitant fee, spiraling ticket prices, better presence in Americas, empty tracks like Turkey, China and proposed new venues, which have no relevance to motorsports).

Although F1 stands as the second most viewed sporting event after football, it is ranked way below in the recent list of top 200 sporting properties across the world.

It is the shame for the sport that Ferrari is values higher as a global sporting property than F1 and F1 stands way down in valuations with NASCAR albeit having such a large fan base globally.

The benefits, which could have been claimed if GPMA had stood together, are as follows.

1. FIA would have remained as a pure facilitator and not a enforcer of technological and commercial regulations, probably Mad Max wouldn’t be president now at all.
2. Bernie’s greed of overcharging for all versions of cash inflows would have seen a little sanity.
3. We would not be facing such a scenario at all today.
4. Probably the value returns for the common man would have increased.
5. Ticket prices would not have skyrocketed.
6. Race promoters would have been shielded from the ever increasing hosting fees, with a justifiable percentage.
7. We wouldn’t have seen this much mad rule changes in the last three years.
8. Apart from this, the crown jewel of FIA, i.e. F1 need not have undergone such a complex rule change every year for qualifying, yielding little or no improvement in spectacle.
9. We would not have lost Michelin, the scrap between Michael and Fernando during 2006 was further spiced up by the Bridgestone vs. Michelin battle. Now post the exit of Michelin, even Bridgestone would accept the lack of competition and a driving force for their staff. Of course, we would have missed viewing the green painted earth conserving tires of Bridgestone last year, which was such a big joke.

The list goes endless, but I’ve just highlighted based on my understanding of the sport over the last decade.

F1 as a sport and its various stakeholders have built their own individual multi-billion empire by depriving the man in the pub by refusing him to provide the due spectacle for which he had paid. We are not concerned about with whom Max settles in Chelsea or whether Luca runs for Italian Presidency or even Bernie gets divorced.

We need simple things like a better show at an affordable price across all commercial mediums, more overtaking, better battles on track, new talent, new innovations, which keeps on helping teams to find tenths of seconds here and there producing a better show.

These are aspects, which will take the sport in the path of growth and in the absence of these events, the sport will die slowly.

It is time for the various factions, who claim as demigods to protect F1 to consider fan representatives for the welfare and betterment of the sport.

Unless and until this happens, the  entry of large and new sponsors, enhancement of valuation of F1 as a brand and potential growth to the next levels will be withheld and the man in the pub will get cheated once again, which is not a very good scenario.

Source: bleacherreport