F1RWRS -- 2014 Season

[Shizuka]

So, who's gonna be RotY? Tropico or Shonan? Because basically this is all we're fighting for.

You seem genuinely cheesed off.

Yeah, if I had waited FIVE more minutes one day before I went to sleep, I actually would have had a better chance of setting together a proper engine-chassis pairing. It's all my fault, so I will blame myself all the season!

In one off-season, Foxdale have gone from poles and challenging for wins (reliability permitting!) to a DNQ and a totally-off-the-pace DNF...

If only I have said "I'd stay at Foxdale".

Oh yeah, plus I have to be the most unlucky driver of the previous season, I remember retiring from the lead at least twice.

[Aerond]

I'm eager to see what happens at the next race, i'll probably start the new weekend tomorrow.

Both races have been quite exciting, lets hope it stays like this all season!!

[The Lukas]

Dofasco spend all credits on reliability

[tristan1117]

Oh, and I need someone to replace Zimmer at Brazil, because that Honda-burning thing is still hanging over his head. Any takers? Preferably a pay-driver who's raced before.

Tristan Jung is not a pay-driver, but he is always open for a drive.

[Klon]

You can have Renaldo Jiménez, he has the experience of a full F3RWRS weekend and would bring Tropican sponsorship.

I'm not sure about the F2RWRS schedule matching the F1RWRS one, otherwise I would offer you Du Lei too, who both has Chinese sponsors and gets financial assistance from the "Best In The World" brand.

[the Masked Lapwing]

I should have made it clearer, but I meant F1RWRS experience. Which makes Jung closest, although he doesn't meet the pay-driver expectation.

[Aerospeed]

Ron Mignolet said:

Waffles for everyone!

Woo hoo!

Question: How many credits does Acuri and ArrowTech have?

[Klon]

I have set a record, this post is the post with the worst interest-to-effort ratio of the entire board. Have fun.
Although I think it's easier if I split this one in parts...
Once again I'd like to point out that Kay Lon's and my opinions are not always the same

Kay Lon: Up-Close And Personal - Part 1
A report by Zach Henry

Here I am, after three hours of flight and another thirty minutes of driving around the monotone landscape of Northern Germany - this is the house of Kay Lon, one of the most noticeable figures in the current F1RWRS series. Despite the Bathurst race having been only four days ago, Lon seems fit and greets me (surprising to me, if I may say so) quite kindly. First thing to note is that his house is surprisingly small - not that it is actually small, but one might think that a personality such as his would have a big mansion. Two cars in a cheaply-looking garage, a Ford C-Max Duratorq and a brand-new Infinti model of which Lon must admit to not even know the proper designation. It's in his contract that he gets such a car. Interestingly he emphasises the fact that he never asked for such a deal, although he says it's a "good car".

Entering his house, you would think that Kay Lon is a normal person with a normal job, nothing too spectacular or grandeous, aside from a few seemingly expensive pieces of art on the wall. Perhaps the only thing of interest to the average racing fan would be the room Lon leads me to - the so-called "Trophy Room". It's the only room in the house that makes it seem like a star lives here. Trophies from one of the longest F1RWRS careers, polished neatly. "Although the second and third place trophies I earned at Jones Racing are only replicas, the team wanted the originals. I made sure that I kept the one for my first win however," he informs me while I take a look at the other things in the room. A tire hangs on the wall, it looks quite used. As I learn, it's a tire from the car he won his first race with, the Jones CJR-102B. Not far away is a photo of the Castrol Jones team, taken shortly after it's first win of 2013. Right next to it a picture of [Sammy] Jones doing work in his office, apparentely quite sweaty. "He looks so goofy," Lon notices laughing, explaining that it always was interesting to see Jones doing office work directly after having done his fitness routines. My eyes wander along the wall and see more and more pictures of Lon winning, of Lon's (former) partners and team mates. Interestingly, photos with James James Davies are amongst the pictures. I ask him why these are in his trophy room. He looks at me like I am stupid and explains to me that every racing fan would cherish a picture of himself and his favourite driver.

We sit down on a rather small table and I pick up where we left - with his team mates. When asked about his favourite team mate, he does not have to think for a very long time. "Since I only had two team mates in my F1RWRS career who ever were worth their money, Sammy [Jones] and Shin[bou Katayama], it's not that hard to choose. However, I would put Sammy just a little bit in front of Shin. He's a fast driver and very good at everything else modern motorsport involves, although Shin is very fast as well - she's not quite as good as Sammy as far as the complete package goes. Whether that will change once she has a little bit more experience remains to be seen. Still, they are both, to say it that way, awesome behind the wheel and are both on a level to win the world championship."

Obviously, I had to ask why he did not consider Simon Redman amongst those team mates who were, to quote him, "worth their money", since paddock insiders always claim that the relationship between Redman and Lon has always been good back when both were driving. He sits back and explains calmly that Redman was, "and still is," a decent driver and a friend of his but, "to say it frankly," he was "terrible" at developing a car. Since Lon lacked experience back then, was younger and "had not the results to speak for his talent," he "couldn't overcome [Redman's] negative influence on the designers. In hindsight, the 2010 and 2011 Kahama cars could have been so much better." It is a rare view that is presented to me here and I regret not being allowed to take a picture of it, it is the look of regret in the otherwise ever so confident eyes of the professed "best in the world at what he does". A look that, as I know now, would appear once or twice more during this interview. With his reference to past Kamaha cars, we were to divert our conversation to the beginning of his career and to his beginnings in British Formula Three.

"I was way out of my leauge back then. You just can't go to a level like British Formula Three at the age of 15, no matter how good you are. Even HWNSNBM would be challenged by that," the German notes. Although he admits that his contacts made at the time have proven themselves quite useful a few times and he has multiple options once his career in the F1RWRS is "done". When asked about his year winning the Swedish Karting Championship, Lon just starts laughing. After he has calmed down, he explains that "I feared being mocked for not having raced in a year and having failed in Formula 3. Although it was very entertaining and I matured a bit which would prove itself to be surprisingly useful," he noted. His next stop was German Formula Three, which he believed, was a "surprisingly consequent step" to rebuild his career after his "British fiasco". It was during his brilliant Lausitzring weekend where he met and drew the interest of Tatsuya Kahama. "He always acted like one of these internet millionaires, despite being so old," Lon said, "it was awfully odd. However, he paid my wage and did a decent job of running the team, so I never complained." Lon admitted that he had his doubts about moving to F1RWRS, after his first failure at making a big jump at young age, and needed a surprising amount of convincing. "To this day, Tatsuya is a little bit offended that I did not sign the offered contract immediately," the F1RWRS racer commented.

[TomWazzleshaw]

You can have Renaldo Jiménez, he has the experience of a full F3RWRS weekend and would bring Tropican sponsorship.

I'm not sure about the F2RWRS schedule matching the F1RWRS one, otherwise I would offer you Du Lei too, who both has Chinese sponsors and gets financial assistance from the "Best In The World" brand.

The F2RWRS isn't racing on the weekend of the Brazilian GP so the move's got the go-ahead.

[Pointrox]

To retire so early in the race is a disappointment. We have to move on and put on a good performance in Brazil.

Ladies and gentlemen, today it was shite. Thank you.

[Phoenix]

Just so I know, was there any way to earn some credits during the season apart from scoring points?

[Klon]

Just so I know, was there any way to earn some credits during the season apart from scoring points?

Them pay-drivers.

[Aerond]

This is teams which currently have any money left, for you people asking. This is after the Australian GP and without having applied yet any of the updates you´ve asked for so far. Any teams not mentioned have 0 Cr. left.

HRT: 70
Mitie: 150
Mecha: 100
Trueba: 220
Foxdale: 335
Prospec: 80
Jones: 105
GRM: 50

[Klon]

It continues...
Once again I'd like to point out that Kay Lon's and my opinions are not always the same

Kay Lon: Up-Close And Personal - Part 2
A report by Zach Henry

Kay Lon told me before the interview that he wouldn't be able to say much about his two years, since he considers himself a "non-entity" for these two years. I asked him what he meant and he explained that while he was there and got the experience that made him "the good driver that I am now," he did not play any role; as he worded it: "I was insignificant." With that in mind I chose to leave it at asking him about his favourite memories from these two years. He started with the first race at Hockenheim.

While he did not have any success, he, "like everyone that day", felt good because he was part of "something new, something that hadn't been there before". "Had we known back then just how big that story would become, we would have been even more excited," he explains. "Then we obviously have my first points at the next race and that brilliant qualifying at the Tasman Grand Prix. It's perhaps the only thing I had resembling success in Adalaide," Lon said while giggling a bit. "My favourite event was the fastest lap at the Belgian Grand Prix. While the strategy was not good and I had to pit twice, I was able to do a brilliant lap, which was as good as a pole lap, noone could touch me that day in this regard."

2011 was the second year of his career and while it was very anonymously, Lon said he was "very lucky in Holland, where our car just went well and I was up to the job." He also added: "I battled with Chris Dagnall during the race, which I considered quite an honour back then, Dagnall was one of the biggest stars of the nineties and here was I, taking it to him." While Lon opened a can of coke, I decided to ask him about his opinion regarding Chris Dagnall, hoping that I could lure another controversial answer out of him.

Sadly, he seems to have realised my attempt and just grinned slightly before saying that he considers Dagnall a legend of our sport and a great racing driver. The only negative thing he could say about Dagnall would be that his parenting is "questionable". Kay's dislike for Mark Dagnall is widely known, however, so I decided to rather ask him about another British F1 driver who joined the F1RWRS, Jack Christopherson.

Little did I know that I opened a can of worms: "Jack Christopherson is a waste of space, really," said Lon directly. "He is old and past it, the only reason he entered the F1RWRS is because he couldn't live with the fact that nobody cared about his pathetic old self anymore and that his former glory is completely gone ... maybe the fact that he has only shinty-six weeks left to live plays its part as well. Christopherson uses a car which could be given to either an upcoming talent or Ben Fleet who deserves a bit more than these Saturday fun drives he had last year. He is an useless parasite and I hope that Pippa Mann shows a rare flash of competence for once and releases him rather sooner than later," Lon said, getting more excited by the second, "Sorry for daring to mind old drivers if they obviously don't have it anymore and feed off teams because they cannot accept that they have become worthless and want to bathe in a disgusting combination of pity and hype for one last time."

Going back to talking about his career, the next topic was his 2012 run. Lon directly admits that he "did not believe that Kahama would go very far with only one car", however he did not mind being proven wrong in that regard. When asked about when he started to believe that he could win that championship, he admits thinking about the title as early as his run of second-place finishes in Germany. However he notes that he only really believed himself a contender was after the English Grand Prix, where he finished on the podium just a year after "that godawful pre-qualifying".

The obvious topic came up: how could he lose the title? Before answering that question, Lon left the room and brought back something to drink and one of these caps he is selling. He explained that his loss in the title battle came down to the simple fact that he was fighting against "the wrong drivers" for the title. "Matter of fact is, with the reduced involvement of German audiences in the F1RWRS management's plans and a former legend looking for a last trophy or a possible female world champion, I just was not the champion they were looking for. Their world champion was in another car ... stle, hehehe," Lon claims while giggling childishly about his lame wordplay. "I mean, it's perfectly clear that they did not want the best man - read: me - to win but rather the most profitable, which is why they inserted this lottery in Indiana and made it count double points."

Why would the Budweiser 500 be considered a lottery? "It is simple: racing on an oval does not require any type of skill, aside from turning left. I mean, if winning this race would prove that you are a great driver ... ah, nevermind, just look at them winners: [Hagane] Shizuka? He's with possibly the worst team on the grid now. Christopherson? I already said more than enough about him a few minutes ago," Lon explains before adding that the only way they could have made "their plan more obvious" is by "giving out quintuple points" for the Adalaide race. To emphasise his point, he puts on the "Say No The Conspiracy" cap and points to its slogan.

Now I wanted to talk about him about a press conference he was a part of - the one where he infamously announced planning on retiring from the sport if he won the title. "Yeah, I was planning on retiring back then and as far as I am concerned, I will do so once I have won the title. At the very most, I would have a last season of celebration after winning the world championship, but after that, I'd be gone from F1RWRS racing for good," Lon claims.

When asked about what he would do with the rest of his young life if that happens, he believes that there are "many things" one can do with their time: "There are other racing series and events that can be won - for example winning the 24 Hours Of Le Mans would be something. Or I could become a team owner, you might have heard of this silly bet Thomas De Bock and I are having? I could do commentary, become an official behind the scenes. Maybe I would do something that does not involve fast cars at all - I could become an actor, or try my hand at writing books. I really do not think I would die of despair if I couldn't race anymore, unlike most of my fellow drivers in the paddock who would embarass themselves just so they can have one more race."

[TomWazzleshaw]

...looks like we have a common enemy now.

Translation: Shite just got interesting in the paddock

[FullMetalJack]

So, Kay Lon has been talking shite about me, I may be 46, but I can still kick his head in. And besides, how many races did he ever win in Formula 1, oh yeah, bathplug all. I know hell of a lot more about racing than you, i've been constantly competitive since 1991, I escaped from near death in 1992, and I came back to win races. Oh, and it's fairly clear Pippa Mann shown competence when he hired a man who won on his F1RWRS debut. And if driving on an oval requires no skill, then how shite must you be if you can't even win an oval race. Keep up that cheek, and i'll tell you what I told Daniel "lowest GP4 difficulty" Melrose, i'll teach you a lesson, Nelson Piquet style.

[TomWazzleshaw]

Keep up that cheek, and i'll tell you what I told Daniel "lowest GP4 difficulty" Melrose, i'll teach you a lesson, Nelson Piquet style.

Don't push it mate. Just because Sammy pays both our paychecks and Lon's a blithering idiot, doesn't mean I won't kick the living daylights out of you if I lose my patience with you.

Aerond's gonna have a heart attack at this rate if we keep this up.

[Klon]

Please, here it is! Here is my head! I beg you, kick me, put me out of my misery! I should point out though, that as soon as your foot hits my head, the F1RWRS will suspend you. Foxdale won't accept that, meaning that you are gone. My head may be kicked in, but your pathetic has-been rear is gone for good. So, you couldn't do me a bigger favour than kicking my bathplugging head in. Come on, you coward, you want to hit me? Here's your chance

[FullMetalJack]

Please, here it is! Here is my head! I beg you, kick me, put me out of my misery! I should point out though, that as soon as your foot hits my head, the F1RWRS will suspend you. Foxdale won't accept that, meaning that you are gone. My head may be kicked in, but your pathetic has-been rear is gone for good. So, you couldn't do me a bigger favour than kicking my bathplugging head in. Come on, you coward, you want to hit me? Here's your chance

I'm above the FIA, or whatever the F1RWRS equivalent is.

[Nessafox]

Ron Mignolet said:
Waffles for everyone!

I did not said that! I said waffles for everyone except for the Phoenix team who dumped me because i was way too sexy for their car, but got a whole big stock of waffles left anyway.

[AdrianSutil]

Aerond, couple of things before the next race.

*Id like to spend 60 credits on Matthias Valsattis' qualifying performance.

*Stephen Mackintosh has been promoted to the second seat and is NOT a pay-driver. I'd like to spend 60 credits on his qualifying performance too.

*Id like to spend the remaining 30 credits on engine performance (qualifying performance if there is one).

Weekend 3 and weekend 4 will have a driver lineup of Valsattis-Mackintosh. Weekends 5, 6, 7 and 8 will have a lineup of Valsattis-Neuberg. Neuberg comes from my F3RWRS team and IS a pay-driver. After weekend 8, I believe I can use 80 credits to improve car/driver(s) so will do so before weekend 9.

*Weekends 9 onwards will either have Valsattis-Mackintosh or Valsattis-Pchelintsev (Depending if The Lukas makes an appearance in this thread as Pchelintsev is his driver. If The Lukas doesn't make a continued appearance in this thread I'll drop his driver).

Hope that all makes sense mate. Any problems with what I've written let me know

[Shizuka]

I have a question that we seemed to slip over.

What if a team is ridiculously bad and does not want to earn any credits, with the team owner not wanting to earn any, making them a deliberate RotY contender?
Is there a rule for this? Is a pay-driver forced in after some races?

[TomWazzleshaw]

I have a question that we seemed to slip over.

What if a team is ridiculously bad and does not want to earn any credits, with the team owner not wanting to earn any, making them a deliberate RotY contender?
Is there a rule for this? Is a pay-driver forced in after some races?

I don't think there is a rule for that but as to ROTY contention I'm sure Mr Lon would have had the crap kicked out of him by Christopherson by then anyway

[Aerond]

I have a question that we seemed to slip over.

What if a team is ridiculously bad and does not want to earn any credits, with the team owner not wanting to earn any, making them a deliberate RotY contender?
Is there a rule for this? Is a pay-driver forced in after some races?

Given that ROTY is first voted by you and then is usually given to a team/driver not only not meeting the expectations
Plus failing altogether, I can't see that happening. Don't forget that every team is given 200cr anyway.
Pay drivers are never forced.

[Klon]

Aerond, could you do us a favour and announce the superlicense rules any time soon? I need to know because...

Micko Glotch Signed For 2015!

Tropico Grand Prix powered by CR Motorsport announced today that they have signed Micko Glotch for a 2015 drive. Glotch, who is mostly known for being one of the few users of the controversial EU Regulation allowing individuals to declare their nationality to be "European" when being born to parents from different countries within the EU, was rumored to take the seat from Darren Older Jr..

This announcement goes with the latest rumours saying that German council have written off any chance at success this year. According to said rumours, the unofficial goal of the team is to finish at least one pre-qualifying in front of either Shonan DMS Racing or Dofasco Lukoil Racing, depending on which team is weaker on that day. These rumours are only supported by the announcement that Alberto Cara's planned weekends in the cockpit for 2014 have been moved back by one year.

With Glotch not appearing in the F1RWRS this year, his planned second year in the F3 EuroSeries will take place as planned. Meanwhile, it seems that the seats of Miko Fäkkinen and Darren Older Jr. appear to be safe for the time being - although both are in danger of getting sacked for next year, especially considering that Glotch is no slouch, both from his performance and - perhaps more importantly - his sponsorship.

... if you need experience in either FRWRSs, I need to have Glotch have a few bogus drives at the end of this year.

[TomWazzleshaw]

The rules on are the very first post Klon. And for the record, Glotch doesn't qualify for a super-license yet.

[dr-baker]

Please, here it is! Here is my head! I beg you, kick me, put me out of my misery! I should point out though, that as soon as your foot hits my head, the F1RWRS will suspend you. Foxdale won't accept that, meaning that you are gone. My head may be kicked in, but your pathetic has-been rear is gone for good. So, you couldn't do me a bigger favour than kicking my bathplugging head in. Come on, you coward, you want to hit me? Here's your chance

That is very presumptuous of you, Herr Lon, to say what we would or would not do if Mr Christopherson were to cause you physical harm.What we would decide to do would depend on a number of factors, including bearing in mind that one could quote what you have just said and cite that you were asking for it!

(Facinating article though!)

[Klon]

The rules on are the very first post Klon. And for the record, Glotch doesn't qualify for a super-license yet.

Oh, I am blind. Shame on me. So I need to have him enter an event in 2014. No problem...

However, I realised that there are a two minor problems:

D) To have qualified for a F1RWRS race in 2013, or to have scored a Top 5 finish in a F1RWRS race in the 2010 - 2012 period.

I know that this is very unlikely, but if Dougal Kerr or Adam Lewis were to come back they wouldn't get a license with that system and due to their F1RWRS starts they could not go back to either F3RWRS or F2RWRS to get it, meaning they are ... well, screwed.

Secondly, I think calling it a super license does not fit with this series. Anyone else in favour of calling it the "Reject License"?

[MinardiFan95]

Simpson prepared to leave Prospec "for the benefit of the team".
After another lackluster qualifying performance at Bathurst, where the Prospec team barely missed the dreaded pre-qualifying drop going into the next round, Dave Simpson has announced that he would step back from the role of the team's second driver to let a pay-driver in if the team does happen to end up in pre-qualifying. "I feel that the best thing to do would be to let a pay-driver in, as I would feel quite guilty if I just ran off to start my own team and let the most successful team in F1RWRS go broke" Simpson was apparently quoted as saying. It has been well known that the Prospec team have been short of funds since the middle of last season, and their car didn't receive many upgrades during the off season. Don't forget to buy next week's issue, where we have an exclusive interview with Simpson.

[Phoenix]

Ron Mignolet said:
Waffles for everyone!

I did not said that! I said waffles for everyone except for the Phoenix team who dumped me because i was way too sexy for their car, but got a whole big stock of waffles left anyway.

Look, we dumped you because we needed money to improve the car. It's thanks to the money The Stig brought with the help of Jeremy Clarkson that we are being able to qualify for the races. No hard feelings. But I think you've angered The Stig with your snubbing, and that's not good...

[Klon]

The final part of my text, I hope you had fun with it.
For the final time I'd like to point out that Kay Lon's and my opinions are not always the same

Kay Lon: Up-Close And Personal - Part 3
A report by Zach Henry

Another interesting point of this press conference was him talking about Mori, quite positively, especially compared to the later words these two exchanged. "That was mere PR talk, I did not care much for him, I was busy fighting for a world championship I couldn't win - although I didn't know that back then," Lon admits, before adding that this may have been one of the biggest mistakes of his career while the mentioned look of regret appears again, "perhaps I should have though. I mean, everything that happened after Mori took over the team happened out of spite. He felt bad because I was - and still am - so much better than he ever will be. If I had taken time and helped him getting adjusted to the car, his result would have been better and he therefore would have felt better, even with me kicking his rear in the intra-team battle from here to Japan and back again. HWNSNBM knows where we and Kahama as a whole would be if that had been the case."

I wanted to know just how Mori could take over the entire team and turn it, as Lon claims, against the German? "Well, Mori is a very charismatic person, even I who dislike him must admit this much. That in combination with the short-term apathy, nay depression, born out of the huge disappointment I felt after having lost the title despite being the best of the three title contenders proved fatal to my standing within the team. And once he had booted out those who supported me completely, for example my close friend, the former chief mechanic Yoshiaki Kamimizu - hey, Yoshiaki, if you're reading this, good luck with and congratulations on your job with Acuri - the way things have turned out, was inevitable," Lon expounds.

With the topic of Mori having been dealt with in media more than enough, I felt it was important to know just how the German came to Sammy Jones and his racing effort: "Well, Sammy called me, interestingly enough, almost five hours before I got fired and asked to meet me as soon as possible. While I agreed, I did not know why he was calling. Obviously, after having been fired just a few days before, I was delighted to learn that Sammy had taken some of the former Jones team [the team that is now known as DGNgineering] and Hemogoblin Autowerks staff to build up a rather spontaneous F1RWRS effort. It did not take long to agree on a contract since Sammy offered me a decent contract and I needed a drive and needed it fast.", Lon explained the story, "Of course I had doubt how a decent team could be build up that fast, but Sammy ... well, he knows his stuff, as one can see from our result."

The story of Lon's first win was told a few times, but Lon adds another dimension to it, telling the story of the last lap: "There I was, about to win my first Grand Prix in a car that has been build up only 12 hours before pre-qualifying got underway. While there is thankfully no footage of that, I was screaming inside my helmet - "Don't break down, don't break down, for everything that is holy, don't you break down, you bathplugging piece of feces" - while doing these last kilometres. As you can see I was appropriately happy with the result."

Sadly, the story of Kay Lon and Sammy Jones will never be complete without its tragic end. When asked about his many affairs, Lon stated that he "cannot help it, women just love successful men; the term you are looking for is "hypergamy". Sadly however, I let myself be deluded by that and forgot that women are horribly dependent on social opinion. This dependence lead to these accusations that, obviously, proved to be wrong very fast." It costed him dearly, however, with Sammy Jones firing Lon, stating that his behaviour has hurt the image of the team. "I can't blame him for his actions, he did what he felt was needed and since it was not driven by bad intentions, my opinion about Sammy as a person has not lowered, I still like him. I just think it was the wrong decision and I know that he will realise that. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but some day he will," Lon says while the regret that could only be seen in his eyes previously now came through in his voice.

Once again Lon found heritage with a new team, Sunshine Infiniti had a horrendous season and looked for someone who could help them back on the right way. "They were looking for a Kay Lon, a person who could grab them by the throat and make them the top-class effort they have the potential to be," Lon states enthusiatically, "and I have done that. I have been here for four races, two in 2013, two in 2014 and during this time, the team has scored almost three times as many points as they have before I arrived. Even though I admittedly drove carelessly in the first two races of 2014, the team profits from my large presence and my technical feedback. I am happy here and from what I can tell, the guys at the factory are happy to have me there as well."

Our last topic was Kay Lon's young driver program. When asked whether he was too young to actually teach people, Lon just countered with the fact that despite his young age, he has very much experience in motorsports. "58 F1RWRS entries speak for themselves, really," he believes. Furthermore, despite being just slightly younger, his students have not driven many races before Lon took care of them with the sole exception of Alberto Cara, who had already build up a career on her own. "Other than her, they were pretty much all absolute newcomers as far as driving goes, Tomo, Du, Renaldo ... they all haven't driven anything else but a few cart races. I gave them spots in different low-tier series before using my contacts to put them in F2RWRS and F3RWRS. And while Tropico Grand Prix has informed me that they will not use Alberto in 2014, I still believe we will see at least two of them making the jump to F1RWRS. A success rate of 50 %, Red Bull wish they were as good as I am," he explains. He does not deny that his support is not only based on talent, saying that he "would be stupid" if he were to deny the money Tropico pays him to support their racers. "And well, as far as girls go - I have said why it works earlier. Furthermore, I would love to turn either Tomo or Du into a female F1RWRS World Champion who does not earn her title in a stupid gimmick race created to damage their better opponent," Lon says while his gestures become more and more hyped up as he loosens up.

Everything important has been dealt with - except the one question that has been asked a lot but never truly recieved a coherent answer: why does Kay Lon think he is the best in the world? He smiles a bit before explaining the situation, saying that he has "beaten every famous name there is in modern racing. You can name them, I have beaten them: Chris Dagnall, Sammy Jones, Nathanael Spencer, Gary Cameron, Daniel Melrose, Phoenix McAllister, Douglas Mann, hell, if you want even Pippa Mann. I have conquered every driver in the F1RWRS that has a famous name - and I did so more than just once. And once you have beaten every famous name I think it's not wrong to call yourself the best," Lon boasts while we leave his house. Two very moving and interesting hours have passed and I think I have gotten a closer look to a person that sometimes seems so far away from our common world, and I hope you have done so too.

[Phoenix]

OK, first off, Red Bull runs an extremely succesful Young Drivers Programme both in the RWRS sanctioned events and in F1 under the competent tutelage of Dr. Helmut Märko. We're so far being very successful overall and Tanner Jason in particular is showing great promise, so much so that I'll promote him if he keeps his form throughout the entire season. And second, you have beat all those people including myself, yes, but you should be winning races more consistently before calling yourself "Best in the World", assuming your concept of World goes further than the lenght of your nose, which is quite considerable admittedly.

[SuperAguri]

Exclusive Barii Mori interview

After hearing the Kay Lon interview, we approached Kamahas owner and lead driver, Barii Mori and he agreed to give us an interview and we were full and frank in our questioning. We first asked him about his responce to the Kay Lon interview, "Well frankly, Lon is talking out of his arse as per usual. Kahama were a one car team and I built up a friendship with Kahama san, after I helped broker a deal between Australian Minardi and a Nissan consortium my relationship with Phoenix McAllister became strained, so I signed up with Kahama, the car was designed and set up for Kay Lon so it did not suit my driving style, but I helped the cars development and worked on the car for 2013. When Kay Lon did not win the title and also failed to win a race the entire season Kahama san had enough, so I bought the team off him for a tin of baked beans, that happened as we were drinking Sake in a quite Tokyo bar and he said he had enough and wanted to get rid of the team, so I jokingly said I would give you a tin of baked beans for it, so we went to a 24 hour supermarket saw that a tin of heinz beans was 495 yen, so I gave him 500 yen and within 2 days the Kahama team was mine. I did not have a lot of time as Kahama san basically funded the team with minor sponsorship, I had to go out and find sponsors as the team had no money and I had to fund it from my own pocket, thankfully during the off season I found some good sponsors but this effected my testing times. Kay Lon was suffering from depression, I told him to see someone and he said he did but I doubt it and he seemed to lose all interest in driving, his pathetic qualifying and race retirements proves this. In testing my engineers said Kay Lon had done the minimal amount of set up work and we suffered the whole season. He was a different person from the 2012 season so I looked at the prequalifiers to see if anyone wanted to jump ship and I signed Nicolas Steele as he is a reasonable driver but he never drove for a single team the entire season. When Kay Lon found out, he went mental, he called me all kind of names and frankly I had enough and fired him. Maybe that is what he needed, a new team and a new challenge.". We asked, do you think he was driving badly so he could get a drive at a better funded and better team? "Well maybe, maybe he was depressed and just needed the change, but he was costing us money and he was useless, so I had to fire him before he brought the team down."

We asked about the court case, "Well we felt that Kay Lon had breeched his contract and we had to sue him to get back the wages we paid and to recover costs of the useless tests, so we sued him, however there was only a brief court apperance but the Judge said we had a case but we had to have watertight evidence for the case to continue. When Kay Long was arrested in China and was then sacked by Sammy Jones, Sunshine were quick to snap him up and they did not want this case hanging over him so Shinji Zanmai and other senior people from Nissan took me for some nice sushi and they agreed to pay the money that we were suing Kay Lon for, so we dropped the case. Not because we did not have evidence but because it was settled.". You and Shinji Zanmai are quite close, can you tell us about that? "Well Shinji Zanmai was my race engineer when I was in Formula Nippon and he saw 2 of my 3 titles before he was snapped up by Nismo for their GT squad, next thing I know he is made Principal of Sunshie Infiniti. However we still socialise a lot and we do go on holidays together with our families.". Does Kay Lon driving for Sunshine cause any problems? "No, but I keep to my side of the Garage and Sunshine keep Kay Lon to theirs". What do you feel about Kay Lon? "Well he is a utter pain in the arse, but he can drive a car when the mood takes him but he can get frustrated and make rookie errors like we saw in the last race when he just span off and wrecked his car as he tried to recover from his bad start. Although he does take the buscuit if he thinks that he made Sunshine good overnight, a large budget and developement probably had more to do with it and Shinobu does have a win and three podiums to her name.". Why Kamaha from Kahama? "I was drunk and I had to fill in the entry and I found saying Kamaha was easier when drunk.". Do you think Kamaha are doing better this season? "Well last season I did a fantastic job getting three fifths in a row to make sure we did not have to prequalify. Steele did well at the last race to get a point, which with the failure of Flying Fish meant we do not have to prequalify this season. I really wanted the Isuzu engine but we could not strike a deal but Yamaha came up and I think we have the best team name in F1RWRS now. We have been very fast in qualifying, just had a few issues with the car but I believe we will score points and get podiums this season."

Do you have anything to add? "Well Kay Lon saying the Simon Redman was useless at set up and development is selling the man short, he was employed to help the car and out of the 4 drivers that have driven for Kahama, how many have race wins? That's right, two, me and Redman. Okay mine was a non championship race but still a win is a win. I did get him in at the end of last season to help us with development and he has helped a lot.". Thanks for you time.

[Aerond]

F1RWRS 2014 - ROUND 3 - BRAZILIAN GP - Brasilia

Weather forecast: Dry all weekend.

PRE-QUALIFYING (drivers in bold get into qualifying)

1. Jack Christopherson (Foxdale) -- 1.28.394
2. Andrea Acuri (Acuri) -- 1.29.371 (+0.977)
3. Douglas Mann (Foxdale) -- 1.29.698 (+1.304)
4. Phoenix McAllister (Phoenix) -- 1.29.810 (+1.416)
5. Fredo Mestolio (Trueba) -- 1.29.841 (+1.447)
6. Giovanni Roda (Trueba) -- 1.30.153 (+1.759)
7. Stepehen Mackintosh (Mitie) -- 1.30.195 (+1.801)
8. The Stig (Phoenix) -- 1.30.317 (+1.923)
9. Ron Mignolet (Acuri) -- 1.30.323 (+1.929)
10. Tomislaw Tajner (Dofasco) -- 1.30.872 (+2.478)
11. Yu Hiang Hao (Dofasco) -- 1.31.332 (+2.938)
12. Matthias Valsattis (Mitie) -- 1.31.572 (+3.178)
13. James Davies (Mecha) -- 1.32.126 (+3.732)
14. Hagane Shizuka (Shonan) -- 1.32.472 (+4.078)
15. Saeed Al Faisal (Mecha) -- 1.32.741 (+4.347)
16. Francois Albertini (Shonan) -- 1.32.783 (+4.389)
17. Darren Older Jr (Tropico) -- 1.33.851 (+5.457)
18. Miko Fakkinen (Tropico) -- 1.34.155 (+5.761)

** Foxdale will skip Pre-Qualifying at Round 4.

QUALIFYING




** Prospec will go to Pre-Qualifying at Round 4

RACE

As said before, I´ll slightly change the approach of race reviews this time. You can look for the Live Commentary in page 25. In case you need it in the future, just ask for it, I have a text copy of it somewhere.

At the front, the race quickly became a two way battle between Spencer and Dagnall. The MRT driver did an impressive start and gained a 6 secs advatange in the space of two laps, while Dagnall was fighting with Nicolas for 2nd. Once the current champion got rid of the french, he went on to chase Spencer. They arrived with a 7 secs difference to the first round of stops, and during the 2nd stint Dagnall was being way faster until something failed in the DGN and had to stop to repair it mid-race. Once in the pits, a second fatality struck as Nathan Scott was doing his stop at that moment, losing the race there. Once the battle for the win was settled, both Spencer and Dagnall cruised to the finish in the 2nd half.

The 3rd place was a different matter. Nicolas held the 3rd place comfortably until his car failed, then Mann inherited the 3rd podium place, but the Foxdale failing once again when he most needed to finish left it vacant either Rhys Davies or Sammy Jones. Nicolas Steele was not expected to recover as he had to stop around lap 10 to solve a brake problem, but he drove at a fantastic pace and was unrivalled for the last podium spot.

The 6th place achieved by Martins mustn´t go unnoticed. He finally got something out of the Arrowtech. It´s truth that it wouldn´t have arrived if Nicolas or Mann had kept their cars on track, but he was beating Nathan Scott for the last points place when the British retired in a disappointing weekend.

Shouldn´t go unnoticed the efforts by Ron Mignolet and Fredo Mestolio as well. Mignolet confirmed that the Acuri is the best of the new cars by qualifying it for the 3rd time in a row and going one place shy of points. They´re going in the right direction, even though Andrea Acuri hasn´t qualified the car yet. Fredo Mestolio managed to qualify the Trueba for the first time this season and started a race for the first time in his career. At the beggining he was a little bit shy and happy enough to keep his car on track, but in the second half he showed he´s not a piece of cake by overtaking the likes of Kay Lon and finished a remarkable 8th.

In the disappoints chapter, we should start with Daniel Melrose. The weekend Sammy Jones finally got something out of his car, Melrose simply struggled. Meanwhile, Ben Fleet, after qualifying brilliantly in the top 10, drove slowly until his retirement and created a bunch of traffic, which would be enough to award him ROTR if it wasn´t for Shinobu Katayama. The Japanese female drove a horrible race in a difficult Sunshine, spun twice, did some Deletraz-esque moves (in front of Nathanael Spencer) while Kay Lon at least fought until his car expired.

Pics:











Results:


Fastest lap: Mark Dagnall - 1.29.449
Rotr: Shinobu Katayama

STANDINGS (After 3 Rounds)

DRIVERS

1. Mark Dagnall - 12 pts
2. Thomas de Bock - 11 pts
3. Phillippe Nicolas - 10 pts
=. Nathanael Spencer - 10 pts
5. Shinobu Katayama - 9 pts
6. Daniel Melrose - 8 pts
7. Nicolas Steele - 4 pts
8. Frank Zimmer - 3 pts
=. Rhys Davies - 3 pts
10. Ashley Watkinson - 2 pts
=. Ron Mignolet - 2 pts
=. Sammy Jones - 2 pts
13. Jesus Plaza - 1 pt
=. Daniel Martins - 1 pt

CONSTRUCTORS

1. MRT - 20 pts
2. DGNgineering - 12 pts
3. Gillet - 11 pts
4. Jones - 10 pts
5. Sunshine - 9 pts
6. HRT - 5 pts
7. Kamaha - 4 pts
8. GRM - 3 pts
9. Acuri - 2 pts
10. ARC - 1 pt
=. Arrowtech - 1 pt

[The Lukas]

[size=156]Pchelintsev:I'm not surprised
It is known already for that Alexey Pchelintsev not go in the race for Grand Prix of Brazil because it replaces because it replaces
Steven Mackintosh who had a ride in MA-Racing at the beginning of the season.How do I found out in conversation with the first Kazakh in F1RWRS not surprised at this turn of affairs-said"to be honest I'm not surprised because the team bosses said that they will apply rotations drivers, so I'm not angry at MR.Alexander."

[the Masked Lapwing]

Slow down Aerond, I still don't have a second driver for GRM!

[Aerond]

Slow down Aerond, I still don't have a second driver for GRM!

Maybe you could borrow Ben Fleet from Foxdale or bring back John Zimmer??

[dr-baker]

Yeah, Ben Fleet can be loaned out on a race-by-race basis to keep him race-fit until such time as Foxdale see the need to 'recall' him...

[the Masked Lapwing]

Sweet, then I'll have Fleet for Brazil. All good, we may continue

[dr-baker]

Sweet, then I'll have Fleet for Brazil. All good, we may continue

Ah, but don't forget that he still has a thing going on with a rival team boss...