After the news that Peugeot had pulled the plug on their endurance program the competition was looking slim within the new WEC but Toyata took the bate and stepped up, confirming a double entry in the season highlight at Le Mans but taking on 4 Audi’s will be tough but fascinating for us fans.

A third Manufacturer will also be making an appearance, Mazda being run by Dyson Racing have been accepted by the ACO for the 24hrs of Le Mans. It remains how much the Mazda factory are involved within the development of the Lola.

Expect the unexpected.

The LMP2 category’s surprisingly has a strong entry for 2012 WEC with 9 teams competing throughout the season, being doubled for Le Mans. Even though this is the second tier within the WEC do not discount it, I believe LMP2 will provide some of the best racing as long as the fragile nature of the cars can be sorted.

All 9 WEC entries have a tie up with a manufacturer Honda, Nissan cover most entrants with Morgan and Lotus joining the Japanese firms.

DTM
This could be the best year for DTM for a while, BMW have entered this years championship and the full might and resources being thrown into the V8 touring car series.

Audi and Mercedes the longer established teams within DTM could be in for a surprise. Two further reasons to watch will include Andy Priaulx and the fact the cars themselves are stunning.

MOTOGP
I say this because I can see a resurgence from Ducati and the reemergence of Valentiono Rossi and that is always great for the sport. Stoner will be on a strong Honda, Lorenzo returning from injury and appearing back on the Yamaha all signs are good for a great season.

Also the top bikes will be built to the latest rules moving on from 800cc machines to 1000cc! That alone must be worth a look.

INDYCAR
After the tragic events at Las Vegas in the final 2011 round of the which saw the passing of Dan Wheldon, 2012 will debut the car Dan helped to develop, the DW12.

An up and down season last year as regards driving standards and officals 2012 will be a step forward in all respects. Changes have been made throughout the series and I see a great year ahead.

New engines from Honda, Chevolet and Lotus split throughout the grid will provide another element to mix up the season. The new car is new to everyone and I can see a a lower ranked team competing with the likes of Ganassi. Returning drivers and new drivers will also add another exciting mix.

SKYSPORTSF1
Regardless of the politics which have lead to sky showing F1 in the UK and fact we must pay for it. I can see Sky stepping up the level of coverage available to fans for 2012 and setting a new standard.

With the launch of their stand alone channel in March, I wait with bated breath to see what Sky are bringing to F1.

Keep your eye out for all of the above, I will be watching and commenting throughout the season on twitter and via my blogs.

Today I’m tackling a new subject, sportscar racing. I’m not going to lie, I’m a bit of a latecomer to this endurance game.
After recently getting into LMS, ALMS and Le Mans 24hr 2011 (which was the catalyst). I find myself extremely excited with the news from the ACO and FIA with the formation of the World Endurance Championship (WEC).
As far as I can make out it’s about time a proper world championship as I’ve always been confused by LMS and ALMS but I’m catching up slowly, however for the casual viewer this can be confusing and this announcement is very welcomed.

I’ve been drawn by the constant flow of cars all over the tracks, all in their own race with the faster LMP1 cars attempted to pass the slower GT classes sometimes with devastating consequences, it’s added a new level to racing, and I like it.

I’m hoping the ACO/FIA can get the balance of performance right between the diesel and petrol LMP1 cars or at least close enough to challenge and take advantage of any mistakes. The GT classes are great with most top manufacturers represented with McLaren and possibly Ginetta with their new GT3 G55 adding to the list. Again I’m still new to all this so my in depth knowledge is a work in-progress but I’ll be there soon.

With the seasons/series starting a Sebring and talk of Spa the tracks will be at the top level and of course the famous, Le Mans with double points on offer too, the 24hrs race will have added importance to the season with both driver and team points available to the victors.

Coverage wise, if all else fails we will have Radio Le Mans to keep us up to date. Live coverage in the UK will probably be covered b a cross section of Motors TV and Eurosport and hopefully ITV or channel 4 highlights. Seeing as Bernie doesn’t own the rights we may even get live internet streaming (I Hope) but this may be a pipe dream.

I will conclude with this by saying, roll on 2012 I’m actually excited this ain’t F1 and that’s the point.

I was lucky enough to be attending the event for Motors TV, but was a little unsure what to expect, what I had stumbled across is the best thing I have ever attended. Just to put things into perspective I have attended F1 in 2006 at Silverstone, the WRC in Wales, Renault World Series X1 million, numerous club events and so on……
However I have found a new benchmark a stunning, spectacular event for all drivers, teams, media and most importantly the fans.

Britcar set a new attendance record of 10,000 plus however the freakishly high 20 degree temperatures may of helped. Don’t let the temperature fool you, the attractions and access available were second to none, the paddock was open to all throughout the night with teams and drivers always willing to chat. A fairground, music, food and camping area were also busy with people, the atmosphere was electric.

The most impressive thing was the racing, great fights throughout the field in all classes compounded with drama, technical problems and skill of the drivers/teams competing. My full race reportBritcar24hr report

The stand out image for me was seeing the sunrise over a live Silverstone GP Circuit, truly breath taking.

Finally a quick thank you to all the people I met through the weekend Steve Woods from Britcar for the constant flow of information. All the guys from The Checkered Flag James, Leigh, Chris also Nick from Racing Report and every other person in the media centre throughout the event, it was a team effort.

A Final quick thank you to Paul Havell for your bad influence and hospitality.
Next year I will be there again either reporting or as a fan, Britcar 24 is a great event and will go from strength to strength.

So get yourself there next year you won’t be disappointed.

Since the unfortunate loss of Colin McRae, Richard Burns and the retirement of Marcus Gronholm and Tommi Makkenen, things have never been quite the same. Our only slight saving grace at the moment is Peter Solberg, but again never been the same since Subaru pulled out of the world championship. The Fin does his best though and we love him for that.

For those of you who have read my previous blog regarding the WRC (Part 1) would have noticed my nomination to save the sport as Ken Block, not everyone agreed with me. Comments included; great stunt driver, requires a different set of driving skills, just not fast enough and finally too old (not my point of view). At this point I decided to have a bit of a re-think, I managed to come up with two more possible savouris Travis Pastrana and Valentino Rossi.

First I will start with Travis. Unfortunatly this idea may end before it’s even begun, as from the start of the 2012 NASCAR season Travis will be competing full time for Waltrip Racing. The 27yrs would just about be young enough to hone his skills to begin an assault on the WRC. The American has shown early promise in the rallying world , securing the 2006 Rally America National Series. The important thing is that Travis has a huge following just like Ken Block, but would that be enough to raise the WRC profile?

My second idea to save the failing WRC is the most successful motoGP rider ever, Valentino Rossi.
The Italian has openly admitted his love for rallying and has often been linked with a switch to the WRC. The Ducati motoGP rider has competed in a few rallying events with varied successful, in 2002 Rossi crashed out of the first proper stage of the Rally Great Britain. A more notable effort includes the 2006 annual Monza Rally, In which he managed to win by 24 seconds. This was an even better achievement considering Didier Auriol had entered and had been clearly outpaced by Rossi in a Ford Focus WRC M-Sport prepared machine.
The other side to Rossi, is his absolutely huge following worldwide and would they follow him into the WRC?
I think a lot would, me included, although it would take a top team to tempt the moto GP ace. I’m sure a Fiat WRC team would fix that but the likelyhood of that happening is slim as Fiat have made no suggestion of such plans.

If neither of the above happens then my final thought is, send your CV’s in and hope for the best. Lets hope someone comes from the depths of the Rallying world and saves the sport, as it deserves to be saved.

The American’s driving ability is unquestionable, his touch for car control is just inspiring to watch, I-for-one have often said to myself “How the hell did he do that?”

I rate the American as one of the best in the world for controlling his numerous rally cars at extreme angles. Now finally to my point,

Dear Mr Ken Block
Can you please concentrate on a full WRC season and become the Tiger Woods or Valentino Rossi of rallying.

I conducted a little survey of my own, I asked 10 people at work 2 questions,

Who is Ken Block?
Who won the 2010 WRC world Championship?

The results from the survey were quite interesting, 7 out of the 10 knew who Ken Block was, while only 2/10 could tell me that Sebastien Loeb won the 2010 title and one one told me he had won 7 championships.

The WRC needs a character to raise the profile of the sport. Although Seb is a great driver, winning multiple championships, he fails to capture the imagination of the fans (unless your French), this is where Ken comes in.

I have a feeling if Ken was to concentrate solely on competing in a full WRC season, in my opinion the American could become the Tiger Woods of the rallying world. Ken has such a following all over the world, the majority of them would follow his progress via social networks. With the kind of following Ken has the scope for extra revenue would be through the roof.

There is no question the financial backing is available if Ken decided to go full time with current sponsors Monster Energy and DC. The You Tube superstar has shown glimpses of speed during the 2011 events but I’m sure with a little more work results could follow and possibly a move to a top team. If Ken could secure the WRC title or compete to win it, the media coverage would explode and the magic of WRC would return. This could be further strengthened by the manufacturers Mini and Volkswagen Group from 2014.

I can see a great few years ahead for the WRC, Ken Block needs to be part of the return to the rallying golden age.

The other day I was randomly trying to think of a race winning British NASCAR drivers, after pondering for a while, I drew a blank gave up and changed the question. Can you think of a single British NASACR driver? Again I pondered for a while, drew a blank and resorted to google for answers.

I managed to come across a couple of names, first off Ben Hobbs in the 1970’s, the second name to be thrown out by google was John Mickel. You may of heard of John if you ever followed the UK’s attempt at NASCAR (ASCAR) were he secured the championship. John has competed in the Sprint cup on 7 occasions as recently as 2008 with a highest series finish of 15th. John also won the first ever NASCAR race to held in South Africa in 2010 unfortunately this was a non-championship round but still a great feat for the Brit.

At this point I also recall Ben Collins AKA The Stig trying for a NASCAR drive, he managed a test but was unable to secure a full time drive. Ben also competing in the UK version winning the championship in 2003.

The reasons to why the Brits have never had a successful NASCAR driver, are a bit of a mystery. For example the British can win around ovals as proved by the likes of Dan Wheldon, Nigel Mansell and the Franchitti Clan. We have also had huge success round the short ovals in F1 stock cars with numerous world champions. This proves once again that Briton has the talent to produce high quality drivers that could compete at such a high level.

So that leaves me with one thing, the good old problem of money. To compete in a season of NASCAR requires the huge sum of 3.5 to 4 million! Hopefully John Mickel can find enough sponsorship to compete for a season and I am very confident, results would follow and a bit of luck a race win. I have decided however, If I mange a lottery win I will fund a British driver to compete in NASCAR (chances of that happening are slim).

Fingers crossed a Brit can get the break they deserve and you never know the UK fans might actually be able to hear about it.

The device was invented by Dr. Robert Hubbard in the early 1980′s. A discussion with a mutual racing friend after an unfortunate incident which saw Patrick Jacquemart lose his life after a testing accident involving a sudden stop. Dr Hubbard saw a weakness during a sudden stop accident, while the body would remain in place due to the seat belts the head remained un-tethered and momentum caused the head to continue moving forward, resulting in serious injury or instant death called a Basilar skull fracture.

Dr Hubbard came up with the HANS device, which stopped the head from going forward to extremes, reducing the risk of Basilar skull fracture. At first no one was interested in the device, it took nearly 10 years and some high profile deaths of Rolan Ratzenberger, Scott Brayton and Dale Earnhardt  for the device to finally set to work.

1. HANS device
2. Tether (one per side)
3. Helmet anchor (one per side)
4. Shoulder support

In the mid-90s, Mercedes Benz have decided to further develop the device in order to implement it in their Formula One programme. After further evaluation from the International Automobile Federation  it became a mantatory requirement in F1 2003 and since then all major series have followed suit right down to club level. Reported sales for the device are over 300,000.

In my eyes the HANS device is one of the greatest inventions to ever come from motorsport, it has saved the lives of many drivers since it’s introduction, Robert Kubica, Ernesto Viso, Kenny Bernstein and Michael McDowell to name a few (a You Tube search will prove my point) and many more.

The work of Dr. Robert Hubbard deserves to go down in history and I’m sure if you asked a driver about the device he would have nothing but praise. A truly great invention.

James Foster
Follow me on twitter @jimmyb_84