It was an impressive display and once in a lifetime chance to see so many classic ‘British Ferraris’ doing what they do best.  Thanks to our friends at Octane Photographic, here’s some shots from the day out in Norfolk – if you look closely, you’ll spot Johnny Herbert, Mike Gascoyne and none other than Elliot Moss (yes, that one!)

Slideshow: (or browse images at you leisure using the thumbnails below)

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All images courtesy of Octane Photographs, please request permission before using them elsewhere

You can read more about Elliot Moss’ experience in his father’s classic Lotus, here on StirlingMoss.com

This coming Sunday the Snetterton circuit in Norfolk will play host to the Classic Team Lotus festival, an event celebrating the proud history of the F1 legends and lending some support to their 21st century incarnation. What have they got lined up? It’s pretty special…

The event will see one of every Lotus Formula One on display- that’s right, every F1 car they’ve ever produced. There are some absolute beauties among them, with cars driven by legends such as Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Emerson Fittipaldi and Ayrton Senna on show. More than half of these will be doing demo runs on the circuit, so there’s chance to see these great machines in the in all their glory.

Several of F1 legend Jim Clark's cars will be on show at Snetterton. © www.SuttonImages.com

Both current Lotus F1 drivers, Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen, will be taking some classic F1 machines out on track, as will ex-F1 driver Martin Brundle. And, if F1 drivers in F1 cars doesn’t do it for you how about this: Lotus technical chief Mike Gacoyne will be doing a lap in the Type 49 once driven by Graham Hill. Now that’s got to be worth seeing.

“It’ll be great a great privilege to see all the cars and the fans who’ve supported our predecessors since day one,” Kovalainen said of the event, whist teammate Trulli described it as “a very rare chance to see so much history in one place.”

The day will end with a lap of the track by Lotus’ 2010 F1 challenger, before the team depart for the European Grand Prix- their 500th in the sport- and will also see a full programme of racing, including the Lotus Cup Europe and the Elise Trophy.

This is a once in a lifetime chance to see some of the greatest cars in Formula One history in one place. If you get the chance don’t hesitate to attend. For now, check out the video below for a little taste of what will be on show this weekend.

Click here to view the embedded video.

For full details visit the Classic Team Lotus Website.

© www.SuttonImages.com

As well as the superb Turkish Grand Prix last weekend, there was also a rather special event going on in South London at Crystal Palace – one of Badger’s roving reporters went along to see what it was all about

“And they’re off …”  The local mayor resplendent in his golden snow tyre chains waved a union jack flag to signal the start of the time trails for the return ‘Motorsport at the Palace’.

“I love the smell of freshly laid rubber in the morning” I declared to myself as it mingled with the hot dog van nearby. There were all manner of motors for petrol heads and alike to feast on; short ones, fat ones thin ones – at times it was akin to watching ‘Wacky races’ however I was slightly taken back when a ‘G’ Reg Windsor blue, four door Lexus saloon car rocked up at the start line.

I felt sure the driver had made a wrong turning from the car park! Other interesting entries included a cut down lowered 2CV (Deux Chevaux) which set off at a snail’s pace if you’ll excuse the pun!

A second star studded 2CV No. 50 (not 42) had a musical connection. It is co owned yet sadly not driven by Mike Lindup; the keyboard player of 80’s pop group Level 42 no less!

Best and ‘Bad boy’ of the show had to go to the throbbing ‘Golden Rod’ – a souped up all American muscle car; The Corvette “Chevy” left a thick heavy bloom of black smoke reminiscent of the mysterious one found in The Lost TV series…It proved a real handful as its driver, Ian Wright narrowly avoided careering off the circuit on the very first corner!

The ‘smooviest’ as well as ‘grooviest’ off the line was the Electric Telstar’s which confused many of the spectators as it sped off in complete silence as it scaled the hill in a ‘Scalextric’ stylee!

Next up in the Boy racer category, whoops I mean the 1970s-80 class (including various Ford Escorts – MK 2, México etc) was a rather heavily customised bright yellow RS200 complete with the largest T-tray (spoiler ) I have ever seen! It was the kind of getaway car that an unsuspecting superhero such as ‘Banana Man’ would have used.

The Children’s cartoon character – ‘Roary The Racing Car’ made a rare stationary appearance at the racetrack. As did the RBS sponsored Williams 2010 F1 car.

All the entries were available for closer inspection as well as a chance to talk to some of the drivers and owners in the wooded area of this picturesque South London park.

There were also various car clubs in attendance including the Gilbern one. They had a prototype of what could have been the first Welsh Supercar. I commented it looked visibly lower than the famous 1960’s Ford GT40. The owner proceeded to pull out a tape measure – 38’ he proudly declared!

All in all it was a fantastic family day out and we at F1 badger feverishly look forward to a repeat run of this event next year.  For more information see the website here.

About the Author: Ant Bradbury – aka Ant Hotwheels is fan of F1 Badger and motorsport in general as well as being a fine vinyl disc jockey and photographer.

He covered ‘Motorsport at the Palace’ for F1 Badger – if you fancy writing a report or an article for F1 Badger, get in touch here.

You can see the rest of his photos below:

 

Anyway, the break in the F1 proceedings gives us a chance to answer that question by catching up with a few old friends who we don’t see quite so much any more.

Sometimes when a driver leaves F1 it can seem like they’ve vanished off the face of the earth, but 9 out of 10 of them continue racing. Sure, some may turn to international property development (Eddie Irvine) the aviation business (Niki Lauda) or running for political office in their homeland (Carlos Reutemaan) but the majority can’t shake the racing bug and continue to get their fix outside Formula One.

So, whilst the F1 circus was trying to navigate its way out of China and back to Europe, Badger was checking in on a few recent F1 leavers to see how they’re getting on in pastures new.

First up it’s that fun-loving, brilliantly quick, man of few words: Kimi Raikkonen. He’s off tackling ice and gravel, whilst dodging trees and over eager photographers, having swapped F1 for the World Rally Championship.

Kimi giving a photographer a friendly face full of dust. © LAT/Autosport

Unsurprisingly he’s still adjusting, what with F1 and rally cars being very different beasts. But he’s already got points on the board, having finished 8th at the 3rd round, thus becoming only the second man to score points in both F1 and the WRC. At the next round he took a very credible 5th place finish, and he looks to be growing in confidence with each passing event. Will Kimi be back in F1 next year, or might he decide that the rallying world is a better home for him?

Kimi’s old teammate Juan Pablo Montoya has been gone from F1 for nearly 4 years now, and opinion is split on whether his departure was a huge loss or a great relief.

But like him or not you can’t escape the fact the Montoya was a very quick and feisty driver, and one who always spoke his mind. Badger has missed the larger than life Colombian’s presence in the F1 paddock since he switched to the American stock-car series NASCAR.

Racing-wise he’s performed well, better than other drivers who’ve swapped single-seaters for stock cars anyway, and last year finished 11th from a field of over 40 competitors. He’s won a fair few fans across the pond too, and that’s an achievement in a sport that sees F1 drivers as overpaid and overrated.

He’s not the only ex-F1 man in NASCAR, with Scott Speed- who will probably end up being remembered as the bloke Sebastien Vettel replaced to get his F1 break- competing there too, in Red Bull colours of course. Nelson Piquet Jr also races there, albeit in the lower-tier NASCAR Truck Series. And yes, he does race an actual race modified pick-up truck, much like the one you see below.

Piquet Jr has a team of lawyers hidden in the back of his truck ready to pounce at the first mention of crash-gate. © LAT/Autosport

Having failed to land an F1 drive since Super Aguri folded in 2008 Takuma Sato has joined the Indycar series for 2010. For those who don’t know Indycar mixes oval races with F1-style circuit and street racing, so Takuma’s not spending the whole year driving round in circles.

You’d think Sato’s F1 experience would prepare him well for the non-oval events, but with four rounds complete, all on road and street courses, he’s had an aboslute nightmare. He caused a start line crash at the season opener, threw it in to the wall at round 2, was the victim of technical gremlins at round 3 and had a spin-affected run to 18th last time out. All that means he currently sits a lowly 23rd in the standings.

But a quick word for Indycar’s other F1 ex-pat: Justin Wilson, who competed in 17 grands prix for Minardi and Jaguar back in 2003, has had a stellar start to the season, taking two second place finishes, and currently sits an impressive 4th in the standings. A genuine British talent lost to F1? This reporter certainly feels that way- not that they’ve been in short supply in the last few years.

After being fired by Toro Rosso midway through 2009 Sebastien Bourdais now races in Superleague Formula, the racing series that paints cars in football teams’ colours and races them across the globe. After his nightmare season and a half in F1 Bourdais is having a much better time of it in Superleague, winning races and enjoying the big prize pot the series offers. And he’s not the only ex-F1 racer there: Franck Montagny, who drove for Super Aguri in 2006, Robert Doornbos, formerly of Minardi and Red Bull, and Narian Karthikeyan, India’s first F1 driver, are also competing in the football-themed formula.

Seb's been earning himself some silverware since swapping F1 for Superleague Formula. © Superleague Formula Media

As many British fans will well know Anthony Davidson now does a very good job in the role of racing expert on BBC radio’s F1 coverage. And, as regular listeners to the Friday practice sessions will have heard David Croft announce, Anthony picked up a win in his first outing for Peugeot in a 12 hour endurance race. His teammates at the French team? None other than ex-F1 men Marc Gene and Alex Wurz.

The German touring car series DTM has long been home to retired F1 folk, with several having competed there in the past few years. Currently peddling DTM machinery are former F1 race winners Ralf Schumacher and David Coulthard, whilst McLaren and Force India’s test drivers race there too in the form of Gary Paffett and Paul di Resta respectively. Paffett- who spoke to Badger recently- won the season opener this weekend past.

Kazuki Nakajima was involved in the fun-but-flawed Stefan GP project. No word on what he’s been up to since, though he’s probably still involved with old his old pals Toyota in some capacity. Romain Grosjean is racing GT cars this year, and probably enjoying the escape from the spotlight after his nightmare stint with Renault last season. He took a win on his debut weekend in the GT World Championship, a good start to the rebuilding of his reputation those 7 races with the French team have made necessary. He’s joined by a few other ex-F1 drivers: Mika Salo, Ricardo Zonta, Tomas Enge, Enrique Bernoldi and Karl Wendlinger. Star studded or what?

Romain Grosjean on his way to victory in Abu Dhabi- definitely not something you'd have read on Badger last season. © Autosport

Some recent F1 leavers haven’t strayed too far from the paddock. Giancarlo Fisichella is still on the Ferrari payroll, fulfilling the role of third driver at the Scuderia whilst also indulging in a spot of G.T racing. Naturally he’s driving a Ferrari, and his teammate is another ex-Ferrari F1 man, Jean Alesi. Then there’s Nick Heidfled, whose currently third driver at Mercedes. A shame this as Nick still has much to offer in a race seat, but there are rumblings that he got the role on the understanding that of Michael Schumacher’s comeback went belly up it would be he who took the seven-times champ’s place. Surely not?

Fisichella driving his new Ferrari F430 GT, proving what a hard slog life is post-F1. © Autosport

So there is life after F1 for drivers not ready to hang up their helmet. The world of motorsport is littered with former F1 drivers, many of whom are finally enjoying some success after years of struggling at the pinnacle of the sport. Still, we reckon most of them would swap it all for one more chance in Formula One. After all, F1 is what it’s all about.

Got any other ‘where are they now’ stories of ex-F1 folk? Join in and let Badger know who’s where these days.

Here at Badger we love Formula One and we also love meeting people, socialising and having fun, so in conjunction with our friends at the Sports Cafe, we’re putting on the first ‘Badger:LIVE’ event where you, your family, friends and neighbours can come along and enjoy the most prestigious grand prix on the calendar with us and other F1 fans.

The Sports Cafe is in Central London, just around the corner from Trafalgar Square and has 2 floors, 4 bars and more tv screens than you can shake a stick at, all of which will be showing the live coverage from Monte Carlo on Sunday May 16th.

All Badger readers receive some pretty amazing drinks and food offers – just download and print the voucher (available soon) then present it when you come along.  The event kicks off from 10.30am with the qualifying being re-run at 11am before the big race build up.

As well as the grand prix, there will also be a prize giveaway with merchandise courtesy of Henri Lloyd up for grabs and a special edition of our FantasyGP game where someone will win themselves an F1 Badger Trophy Mug.

There are more details to be announced soon – see the Monaco GP Live in London page for more details, if you’re on facebook – let us know you’re coming by RSVP-ing here

Any questions or comments, make them below, we hope to see you there!

In all seriousness though, at the time of writing there are still no proper flights in and out of the UK, which does pose major issues for the Formula 1 teams.  It would all have been fine if the next race was Abu Dhabi or Singapore, but the current 3 week break is before the grand prix circus returns to Europe.  With most of the teams being UK based, there are massive issues for the teams getting their cars back to work on and apply the all important updates ahead of Barcelona and Monte Carlo.  Bernie’s FOM-organised freight which transports the cars for the long-haul races doesn’t have to comply to the commercial airline ban, but that said, who’d risk a plane full of expensive F1 motors with the cloud of volcanic ash still looming over most of the UK.  We’ll leave that upto the clever DHL folk….

...not the actual Volcanic GP - credit:AP Photo/Omar Oskarsson

On a lighter note, Badger has been busy monitoring its Twitter feeds and can proudly point out that it’s created the current F1 trending topic #volcanicGP which the BBC and other media folk have been using to describe their journeys back to good ol’blighty.  Thanks to the wonderfulness of Twitter, we know that at around 2pm this afternoon Jake Humphrey (the BBC F1 anchor) was only 400km away from the ferry which would take him back to the English shores, whereas the BBC 5Live crew were 800km away.  Jake was sat in the back of a Ford people carrier with Lee McKenzie, having a laugh while 5Live’s chosen motor was a Citreon Grand Picasso.

At 2.30pm, the 5Live team changed their destination from Caen to Calais and reported that they have traveled 450km in 2hrs 50mins (that’s over 150km/h – das autobahn ist wonderbar!) at 3pm, Jake’s team were complaining of poor traffic in Brussels and at 4pm, the 5Live team had a quick driver change, but at present we’re unaware of Jake’s strategy, except that their first stop may be for Haribo rather than fuel.  This is no doubt due to some sweets-envy after learning that the 5Live team comprises of Bradley driving, Crofty navigating, Holly doing telemetry while Ant Davidson and Producer Jas eat Haribos…

...hard to come by - the BBC's sacred hire car (from Jake's Twitterfeed)

Jonathan Legard, the BBC F1 commentator had different flights to Jake, Lee and the 5Live folk – so he’s still in Shanghai with the BBC tech team, FOM and Sauber!  Autosport’s Jonathan Noble is singing the praises of Emirates after his Athens-bound flight was abandoned, but then got one to Zurich – he was happy because it meant he will be back in London by Thursday, and in time for the Kate Nash gig (oh dear!)

At 3pm we also learned that another F1 journalist, Adam Cooper got the wrong airport for his flight out of Shanghai and realised the correct one was over 200km away, but he did pick up a bargain Beatles CD boxset earlier in the week so it’s not all bad.  Now, we’ve learned that Tony Fernandes’ Air Asia have given a flight to Adam Cooper for Wednesday lunch time and he’s got the correct airport.

As for actual F1 drivers, they’ve been a little quiet, we know Lewis Hamilton is over in South Africa for a publicity shindig and that Jenson is off with his lady celebrating his Chinese GP victory.  Only Bruno Senna has recently tweeted say that he’s traveled from Shanghai to Dubai to Alicante to Barcelona and then Nice… blimey.

Another trinket of insight has filtered through the twitter world that Sam Michael and Ross Brawn shared a car across France to get back and have already made it – they may have made it back ahead of the BBC crews, but this result will be pending stewards discussions and any speeding fines…  As for the new teams, Lotus are in no rush, with the team hanging out at the Boss’ Air Asia Academy… but they do still promise updates to the car for Barcelona.

So you get the idea – and we should all thank the Icelandic volcano for providing us with the Volcanic Grand Prix!  Who said Formula 1 is boring?!

If you’re after some real F1 news and opinion, read our F1 Chinese Top 5 – the Badgerometer

Trophy for Rosberg © MercGP Twitter

Here’s Nico Rosberg’s trophy from coming third in the Malaysian Grand Prix over the Easter weekend, pretty isn’t it.  As well as trophies for the top three drivers, they also receive points, in order of their finishing position.  For 2010, the points scale was heavily revised with points for victory being a massive 25 rather than 10 and with all cars down to 10th place receiving points, rather than previously just the top eight.

Now, three races into the 2010 championship and here at Badger we’re all rather pleased to see that the top five drivers are covered by only four points – i.e. it’s all pretty even and no one is just running away with it, phew.  The only slight hiccup is that 2008 runner up, Felipe Massa is topping the tables with 39 points, despite not winning a race or having any particular performance of note so far this year.

In the far-from-entertaining season opener in Bahrain, he followed Alonso home in 2nd place with no answer to the Spaniard’s speed, in Australia he came home in third place after holding up Alonso for most of the race and having no answer to Robert Kubica in 2nd place and then just now in Malaysia he was as quick as Alonso who had a problem with his car and looked slow relative to Hamilton who seemingly overtook every car in the field including those in the GP2 race earlier that day.

Nothing personal against Felipe, he’s a great chap and we’re so very pleased he came-back this season after the horrifying accident in Hungary last season, but to comeback and lead the championship after an less than inspiring performance so far seems a bit cheeky and questions whether this new system has made any difference whatsoever (granted we’d rather have this than the medals idea from Bernie)

The new points are supposed to be designed to encourage drivers to over-take and go for glory, sadly it seems to have made no difference so far and just causes a headache when comparing to previous seasons’ stats and results.

Those with a more short-sighted opinion could say the new system works really well because it’s kept them all close in the table, but that’s not quite true – as the graphic below shows, even on the old system it’s still close – and therefore it’s the different race results (and Vettel’s unreliable Red Bull) that has kept the championship even.  As ever with F1, they change so many different rules that it’s tricky to see what’s worked and what hasn’t.  For more on F1’s silly rule changes read “Breaking the formula – Rules are there to be… changed?”

What to do you think of the new points?  Good, bad, indifferent?

click to make it bigger!

Jordan 191

To celebrate St Paddy’s Day, Badger didn’t have too far to look for a fitting link between the green isle and Formula One.  Ladies and Gentleman, we give you Eddie Jordan, or at least Badger’s super tribute to the man and legend.

You know, let’s just say a little bit about Jordan Grand Prix, as a prelude to this “life and times”.  Its Alumni list reads like a veritable who’s who of Formula One greats, with staff members including Sam Michael, Mike Gascoyne and Rob Smedley and drivers such as Eddie Irvine, Barrichello and Damon Hill.  That’s not to forget that Jordan were the first team to try out the then little-known Herr Michael Schumacher.  According to Eddie’s Autobiography – An Independent Man, “The first time I watched Michael Schumacher race, I was not particularly impressed… Michael’s performance that day in 1990 had not cased a raising of the eyebrows.” It seemed however, enough to give the German his first shot in the big time with a drive in the Jordan 191 for the eleventh round of the 1991 World Championship in Belgium.

From the sometimes tactless but always energetic and knowledgeable Irishman that greets us on Sunday afternoon in his white trousers and flamboyant shirts, there would be little to suggest that Eddie Jordan has been so instrumental in making Formula One the sport of kings as it exists today.  Indeed, before the heavily commercialised and crass “F1 Rocks”, F1 actually rocked, to the tune of Jordan.  And perhaps in retrospect, it’s no surprise that Eddie left the sport when he did; Formula One just doesn’t sound like it’s as fun, compared to the heady days of old.

“As the Jordan came off the last corner, a banked 180-degree right-hander, it rolled to a halt just short of the chequered flag, Andrea was out in a flash and, urged on by me, he began to push the car towards the line.  Then Ron Dennis pointed out that this was totally illegal.”

Such a great story and in the end, after a lot of drama, Eddie and with a bit of “well-wishing” from Mr Ecclestone, managed to convince the stewards that on the grounds of safety, the only option was for Andrea de Cesaris to push the 191 over the line and out of the way.  It was their second consecutive points finish, and all in their first competitive year.

Jordan and Jordan

But how on earth did this motley crew ever make it into Formula One?  Eddie Jordan is still, by all accounts, known as a bit of a chancer.  It’s an Irish stereotype applied to a man with much greater intelligence than the label gives credit.  Jordan made a name for himself in F3 and later F3000 (the precursor to GP2), but years before that, Jordan was an amateur racer turned wheeler-dealer with a great eye for a bargain, and ridiculous gift of the gab.

“Someone might come in for a loan to buy a car.  I would ask them what particular year and model they had in mind.  Then I’d say, ‘Well that’s a stroke of luck.  I know where there’s a car exactly like the one you want.  Leave it with me.’  I would be on the phone to the dealers until I found a car that matched the requirements and away we would go.”

It was an attitude that he seemingly carried with him the whole way into Formula One, whether it was getting Jean Alesi on the cheap by waiting for Marlboro to finish their contract with him or losing Schumacher’s contract to Benetton but persuading Flavio to pay for a room at the £300 per night Villa d’Este.

Eddie’s life in Formula One has been a rollercoaster ride, admitting even on Sunday that “he must have been mad” to try and run an F1 team.  After 250 races, 4 victories and a best finish of 3^rd in the championship, Jordan may not be the most successful team principal in the sport, but certainly he is the most colourful and admired.

There’s much more than an article’s worth of anecdotes on the epic man that is Eddie Jordan, and in the future, we’d like to catch up for a cuppa with the man, but in the meantime, you can check out his awesomely funny and interesting autobiography “Eddie Jordan – An Independent Man”.

Happy St Patrick’s Day to you all.

Chinese New Year is upon us and as we say goodbye to another year of the Ox, and welcome in the year of the Tiger, Badger is posing a question: why is there no year of the Badger?

Actually, no, we’re asking a more sensible question: why has China, the most populated country on earth, never produced a Formula One driver?

In asking this you can’t avoid comparing China with the undoubted home of Asian motorsport, Japan, which to date has produced 20 F1 drivers. Okay, they range from the quick-but-erratic (Takuma Sato) to the downright useless (Yuji Ide) but they’ve made the grid nonetheless. Sato even has a podium to his name, as does Aguri Suzuki.

The big difference is that Japan is home to some of the world’s largest car manufacturers, notably Honda and Toyota, who have paved the way for Japanese racers to make it. Sato is one of many who got to F1 on the back of Honda support, whilst Kazuki Nakajima and Kamui Kobayashi were both helped in by Toyota. Only Kobayashi has managed to stick around on talent alone.

China doesn’t have a major car manufacturer pushing its drivers towards F1. Nor does it have a major sponsor in the sport. Jordan were backed by TV station CCTV in 2003, whilst McLaren have run with the logos of Aigo, an MP3 manufacturer, since 2006. But neither deal was for big money- you’d be forgiven for not having noticed these names on the cars. In 2008 Williams ran with Chinese computer manufacturer Lenovo heavily featured on their cars, but the deal only lasted one season.

Though Aigo logos have appeared on the McLaren since 2006 it will probably be a long time before a Chinese driver sits in the cockpit of one of their cars.

So Chinese drivers are already at a disadvantage to their Japanese counterparts. This is only made worse by the fact that the switch from Asian to European racing- a must to make it to Formula One- isn’t an easy one. Culturally it’s another planet, much greater than the leap from South America to Europe. Getting to grips with a whole new way of life, whilst also trying to impress in a new racing series, isn’t easy.

Chinese hopes took another knock with the collapse of A1GP- the so-called world cup of motorsport- late last year. If nothing else A1GP gave drivers from countries like China a chance to race across the globe against some very talented opposition. The experience was vital, and, for Chinese racers, it’ll be missed.

But there is a beacon of hope in the form of new Reanult test driver Ho-Pin Tung. Born in the Netherlands of Chinese parentage- he races under a Chinese licence- Tung was German F3 champion in 2006 and has raced, albeit without success, in GP2. Will he be the man to end China’s F1 drought?

Well, maybe, though it will depend on how he does upon his return to GP2 this year. Unfortunately for Tung he’s up against a quick teammate in Jerome d’Ambrosio, who apart from having a great name also made then-teammate Kamui Kobayashi look ordinary last season. Yes, Kamui went on to race in F1, but he had Toyota to help him out. Remember what we said about no major Chinese car manufacturers?

Tung tested for Renault in 2009 and is now a full-time reserve for 2010.

But Tung has a fair bit of sponsorship behind him and could well find himself a seat with a team looking for a bit of cash. At 27 he’s a bit long in the tooth for a rookie, but he could still be the man to open the door to Chinese racers in F1.

And even if he doesn’t hope isn’t lost. There are a few other young Chinese drivers moving through the ranks, and China’s motorsport scene- like many of the nation’s industries- is growing. There are four or five good race circuits- including the Shanghai International Circuit, home to the Chinese Grand Prix since 2004- as well as the street circuit in Macau. A former Portuguese colony handed back to China in 1999, Macau annually hosts a prestigious Formula 3 race, won in the past by many drivers on their way to F1.

China is a complex country- far to complex to get in to here- but it’s also a country forging ahead in many walks of life, not least the car industry. You have to think that at some point in the not too distant future they’ll produce a racer worthy of a place on the F1 grid- or a Chinese company will stump up the cash to place someone in a seat. Don’t bet against a few Chinese drivers making their bow before the next year of the Tiger rolls around twelve years from now.

As well as bringing the you first pictures of the new Lotus F1 car, Badger’s podcast producer and host was at the event and spoke directly with Tony Fernandes, Mike Gascoyne and ex-McLaren driver, Heikki Kovalainen about the challenges ahead of the new Lotus team and while Gascoyne is saying he’s feeling like a teenager, Fernandes expresses his opinion on F1 as a global sport.  List to the interviews below:

Download audio file (Lotus-F1-Launch.mp3)

Why the “British Ferrari” you may ask – well back in the day, Lotus were just like Ferrari in that they built fast road cars, always beautiful, always quick and of course, at the heart of both these companies was racing – it was the whole point of them existing in the first place – road going cars were simply a spin-off.  Unfortunately, come the mid-90s the Lotus name vanished from grand prix racing… seemingly forever, until now – with the Malaysian entrepreneur Tony Fernandes realising his dream of running a racing team and managing to bring back the Lotus name with full support of the Chapman family.  You can read more on the team in our series of “new” F1 teams here: Lotus to position themselves at the front?

Back to the big launch event – Below is a rather long video, with Tony Fernandes’ entire speech, followed by the launch of the car.

If you just want to see the actual launch bit, you can here: Crikey! – It’s the new Lotus

More images: