kobayashi thrills in valencia

KO KO B YEAH SHEEEE !!!

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Kamui Kobayashi is one quick little dude, and he continues to impress me.

Why?

I'm glad you asked. See, Kobayashi drove his Sauber almost all the way to the end of this weekend's European Grand Prix in Valencia on a single set of tires. That feat alone would be impressive enough, but Kobayashi was keeping his (seriously out-gunned) Sauber ahead of (2009 world champion) Jenson Button's McLaren-Mercedes and just behind Sebastian Vettel's Newey-designed Red Bull and (2008 world champion) Lewis Hamilton.

With seven laps to go, Kobayashi came in for a mandatory stop, switching out to fresh rubber. He re-joined the action just behind (2005 and 2006 world champion) Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Buemi, who were battling each other for 7th spot.

7th place is a good position for a Sauber driver, but the man from Japan wasn't done ... just watch.

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WATCH CLOSELY AND YOU MIGHT SEE A TORCH BEING PASSED

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That was Kamui Kobayashi putting an authoritative pass on Fernando Alonso, widely considered to be among the best Grand Prix drivers in history, and the guy who finally drove the stake into Schumacher and Ferrari in their prime.

Great stuff, Kamui - AMAZING! I can't wait to see what the future holds.

formula pr0n

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OOH BABY

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Yesterday was my birthday, and among the various cards and gifts was the little gem above, which is as close to erotic reading as I will get.

Peppered with historical commentary by Gordon Murray, the Art of the Formula 1 Race Car reads like a Penthouse magazine, complete with letters from the men who were There. They are hard to believe, these accounts of heroism and technical brilliance - but, like those letters to Penthouse, you find yourself wanting to believe.

I've read it through once already, and re-read the story of the Leyton House CG901 twice already. Great stuff!

new this week: fun!

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Last week was kind of a downer, no?

Phil Hill died, Paul Newman took his last laps in a racecar, I subjected you to an opinionated eco-rant, there was no F1 race - really, the list goes on and On and ON ...

THIS WEEK will be better, I promise.

REASONS THIS WEEK IS BETTER THAN LAST WEEK

1. Phil Hill can't die on us again.

2. It's a 4-day week (for most of us).

3.

I'll think of a third reason, soon - maybe a fourth and a fifth, too! For now, I'm stealing a page from the Autoblog and posting some of the more influential cartoons of our (my) youth. My 'toons will be posted soon, links to Autoblog's below.

Enjoy!

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CLICK HERE for "Car of Tomorrow".
CLICK HERE for "One Cab's Family".
CLICK HERE for "Susie, the Little Blue Coupe".

one lap turns 25

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Last week, Winding Road magazine published a great article highlighting 25 years of One Lap history. Having been at Mosler for two of their three overall wins ('97 and '99, with the Mosler Raptor - shown, above) I was especially happy to see an S1 Consulier GTP included in the article.

CLICK HERE to jump directly to the Consulier, presented with some fellow One Lap oddballs: a Mitsubishi Fuso box truck and Brock "the Animal" Yates himself.