Phil Hill, the only US-born driver to ever win the Formula One title, has passed away at 81 years of age. Hill died at Community Hospital in Monterey, California, on Thursday from complications of Parkinson’s disease. Hill won the 1961 Formula One title for Ferrari, as well as the first American to win the 24-hour at Le Mans—a three time winner in all. He also won the Sebring 12-hour race three times. “I had an amazing amount of luck to race for 22 years and not a drop of blood or a broken bone,” Hill once said. “Maybe I wasn’t trying hard enough.”
“Phil was a very special guy and had a love for the automotive age,” said Dan Gurney, a teammate with Ferrari. “He was always a potential winner when he sat in a race car. He was both a competitor and a close friend and a fellow I could look up to.”
F1 cars don’t make milk runs in the middle of the afternoon. Rarely do these ultra-expensive, ultra-fast racers touch a normal road besides at races like the Monaco Grand Prix. But on this one special occasion, BMW driver Robert Kubica, put a F1 car in people’s rear view mirrors.
But don’t think that this was a spontaneous drive. The residents of Ravenna, a city in Northern Italy, invited Robert Kubica to accept the Lorenzo Baldini award for his extraordinary performances. Kubica drove his car along a spectator filled fifteen-mile course. BMW engineers raised his car to conquer the bumpy roadways, and the road was cleared of traffic with the aid of an official car convoy. Even with 800 hp under his belt, Kubica drove well within the speed limits, showing how responsible a driver he is.
The latest piece of viral video going around is Danica Patrick’s verbal bout with fellow female driver Milka Duno. This latest tiff is from the Honda Indy 200 held in Ohio. Patrick doesn’t get to throw a punch – maybe its because she finally learned her lesson from trying to fight Ryan Briscoe at the Indy 500, or maybe the pit wall got in the way. Nevertheless, it serves as a reminder when you’re in the IRL and your female, people take notice to your temper. On the other hand, if you were in NASCAR, it rarely makes news unless more then two entire teams are involved.
It’s not exactly news, but it sure is entertaining.
Acclaimed Los Angeles Times journalist Dan Neil’s claim is interesting. He’s not just another journalist and sports car enthusiast. He won the Pulitzer prize in 2004, an American award considered as the highest national honor in print journalism. He says the Nissan GT-R is not fun to drive.
Does the GT-R need any introduction? Thousands of blogs have written thousands of write-ups on this lively ’budget’ sports car let alone the monthly car magazines which go bonkers over it. People who even haven’t driven it accept it to be one of the best sports cars available in the market today and treat it with the same respect as they would treat any Ferrari or Porsche.
Dan Neil’s comments the GT-R is really fast, efficient and powerful, the three attributes that can’t be taken away from it. But more importantly he says "because there are so many layers of electronic self-preservation, there isn’t much frisson or fear. Without fear, there is no fun."
This comment is similar to the one Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson made when comparing the latest Ferraris with the earlier models a while back on the show. He said there was too much electronics in the latest Ferraris and he would any day prefer the older ones.
Dan Neil gets a little worked up in the course of the review and says "Despite the GT-R’s official nickname, "Godzilla," it’s more like 2 tons of fluffy kitten." Is Dan trying to play Clarkson or was he just having a bad day? We’ll let you decide
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