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Tough times call for tough measures

Honda pulls out of F1

Even as the F1 fraternity agreed on a host of cost saving measures, Honda announced its immediate withdrawal from the sport of Formula 1 – leaving team boss Ross Brawn scrambling for a suitable buyer in time for the start of the 2009 season.

Honda’s been struggling in Formula 1 over the past few seasons, but Brawn’s spent an enormous amount of time, perhaps more so than any other team, developing Honda’s 2009 contender. Nevertheless, Honda President and CEO, Takeo Fukui, cited the global economic scenario, as well as the fact that he expected a recovery to take some time, as reasons for pulling out of F1.

Over the years, Honda’s invested very heavily in the sport of F1 – the result of which is a state-of-the-art facility in the UK, which is now up for sale. Supposed prospective buyers include Prodrive and Aston Martin Chairman, David Richards, and our very own, already flamboyant F1 team owner, Dr. Vijay Mallya. Lets hope for the sake of all the talented men and women working for the Honda Racing team, including their lead driver, Jenson Button (who’s since voiced his commitment to the team), that they find the right buyer sooner rather than later. Nevertheless, it’s sad to see a team with a racing heritage as rich as Honda’s pulling out of the pinnacle of motorsport – it’s certainly a wake up call for the entire F1 fraternity.

Subaru and Suzuki pull out of the WRC


	The famous blue and gold of Subaru, and the recently introduced yellow of Suzuki (in the top rung of WRC at least) will be missing from the 2009 World Rally Championship. Citing the current economic downturn, and the fact that both companies see this as more than a short term blip, Suzuki and Subaru both announced their decision to withdraw from the WRC within one day of each another. The iconic Subaru World Rally team has won 6 WRC titles, and they only introduced their latest contender in the middle of the 2008 season. Suzuki, on the other hand, joined the WRC just at the start of 2008. They’ve had mixed results over the course of the season, but their performance seemed to be improving towards the end of the year with PG Andersson claiming 5th place in the final two rallies of the year. There’s no word yet on the immediate future of their respective drivers, including Norwegian superstar and 2003 WRC Champion Petter Solberg. The decision of both teams to quit the sport could have been precipitated by the World Motor Sport Council’s ruling to revert to Super 2000-based specs for the WRC from 2010 onwards. In an effort to cut costs, the S2000-based cars will have third-party supplied gearboxes and drivetrains, as well as have limited modifications in comparison with today’s cars. On hearing the news, 5-times WRC champion and dominant figure of the sport, Sebastian Loeb, said he wasn’t sure if he’d be interested to continue in the WRC if the new rules were implemented. However, he has since pointed out that if turbos are allowed, the new cars shouldn’t be much slower than the existing WRC contenders – therefore maintaining the challenge for the drivers, and the spectacle for the fans. Any way you look at it, though, these are testing times indeed for both forms of top flight motorsport.

The 2008 Race of Champions (ROC)

Imagine this – you’re at Wembley stadium in the UK, in full view of two parallel tarmac tracks, a handful of custom buggies, eye popping KTM X-Bow’s, Abarth rally cars and some of the worlds best drivers from all forms of racing ranging from F1, WRC, DTM, WTCC, NASCAR, etc., all battling it out with each other to determine a ‘champion of champions.’ It’s quite a spectacle to see the greatest names in motorsport go head-to-head against each other in equal machinery, and that’s exactly what you get every year at the Race of Champions.

The 2008 Nations Cup was once again claimed by the German team of F1 legend, Michael Schumacher, and rising F1 star, Sebastian Vettel – edging out the Scandinavian team of DTM champion, Mattias Ekstrom, and 8-time Le Mans winner, Tom Kristensen (winner of last years individual cup).

5-time WRC champion, Sebastian Loeb, continued his good form this year by claiming his 3rd ROC crown. Loeb narrowly beat retiring Scotsman, David Coulthard, in their deciding race by just three-tenths of a second. The biggest upset of the ROC this year, however, was when NASCAR driver Carl Edwards beat Michael Schumacher in the second round.

The 2008 event was also supposed to feature one very special and unique race, which was being pegged as ‘Man vs. Machine.’ Four-time Olympic cycling gold medalist, Chris Hoy, was meant to take on Lewis Hamilton and his Formula 1 car in a specially devised race. Unfortunately, some ice on certain parts of the circuit prevented Hoy from competing, but it didn’t prevent the recently crowned F1 champion from entertaining the crowd in his McLaren Mercedes.