Weekend Open F1/WRL Thread

All subscribers welcome

Just this once we will break with tradition: feel free to discuss the Abu Dhabi race, and the F1 championship, throughout the weekend.

If you haven’t yet watched the press conference featuring the top three, it’s good fun. YouTube won’t let me embed it, unfortunately.

Also happening: the “World” Racing League at COTA. Our good friend Matt Farah is joining Tommy Kendall, Super Trofeo spank Mateo Siederman, and noted Pikes Peak competitor Jonny Lieberman in a freebie ride driving one of the BMW M235i body-in-white race cars that debuted for World Challenge before moving to WRL. I’ve been faster than three of these four guys in our races together; I don’t know Mateo at all. (To be fair the event I did with Tommy Kendall was a glorified autocross in 2006, and I was the top time of 66 drivers that day, so I think I had some luck on my side.)

So far, Matt and company have qualified 12th of 22 in their class, four and a half seconds off the front, with their sister car from the same provider qualifying 9th of 22. All of the times seem awful slow to me, but I’ve only driven COTA once in my life, for a total of 18 laps, running 2:20 in a street-tired 2015 Huracan against the 2:29-2:35 of the GP1 class today. The goober-grifters from Round 3 are leading the top-rung qualifying doing 2:18.5 in a fully prepped Sebeco; Jon Field, who is very much a gentleman driver, ran a 2:05.1 in a Radical SR8 down there and really the Sebecos shouldn’t be that far behind.

Under normal circumstances I’d say something catty about Jonny but let’s be honest: when you have failed at each and every timed driving event you have ever attempted over the course of seventeen years, including one embarrassing thing where he couldn’t even drive as fast in a straight line as random mommybloggers, it takes a sort of raw courage and self-esteem to keep going nevertheless. It took me 4 months to win a BMX race for the first time, and that felt discouraging. Imagine being dead last, or near to it, for 17 years. I’d have sucked off a Mossberg by Year 5.

So let’s put on our encouragement hats here and wish them the best!