Picture Exclusive Man - Closure!

Yesterday I found a man who was previously titled "Picture Exclusive Man" while playing Gran Turismo 5. I asked around the internet and this morning I've had a reply from someone on Jalopnik.com who has told me who it is. The idea of it being Ayrton Senna's ghost proves to be just as far-fetched as it sounds.

It's Japanese racing driver and creator of Spoon Sports, Tatsuru Ichshima!

Here he is in GT5 as a Premium render. Just kidding.

Ichishima-san's significance in the world of Gran Turismo stems from him racing alongside series creator Kazunori Yamauchi in the well-known 25 Hours Of Thunderhill, which is the longest endurance race in motorsport by 1 hour, as most major endurance races typically last a day. In 2009, he prepared a 4-door Japanese-market Honda Civic Type-R for the longest race, something he can do better than most, perhaps all Honda tuners due to his 23 years of running Spoon Sports (who exclusively modify Hondas), as well as privately racing them beforehand. His overall experience with racing Hondas spans almost 40 years. He and Yamauchi-san were joined on the driving team by Sam Mitani and ex-JTCC racer Naoki Hattori. Despite receiving penalties and spending an hour in the pits, they finished 7th in class.

I would imagine that, perhaps from there or from an earlier meeting where they might have agreed to do the race, the two men got along and became close enough friends that Yamauchi-san wanted him in the game. Apparently he can also be seen in another Photo Travel location in Switzerland, but I don't know what significance that might have.

Clearly he's equally excited to have figured it out!

As you can see, he is wearing the same suit (perhaps his signature suit) in both rendered and real forms, and despite my initial thoughts that the rendered figure didn't look very Japanese, the resemblance is clear. In my defence, it is dark in that GT5 location, and Picture Exclusive Man is a lot smoother than real-life Ichishima-san. It is also true that humans (and dogs) are not rendered in such high quality as the cars, perhaps because they had to prioritise to save time/memory, and also because this is of course a game that centres wholly around the cars. You're meant to be flying past the (still pretty good-looking) scenery and crowd, rather than meticulously scanning their every detail.

The pictures of real-life Ichishima-san are from an interview with Speedhunters, in which I guarantee you will love him. He prefers simple, un-gimmicky cars and looks for balance and fun in his products rather than merely pursuing outright speed. He says "for example, a GT-R is exciting because of its power, but in a corner a small, well-prepared Civic can easily overtake". Well, one of his Spoon Civics certainly can. He also comes out with a great metaphor when describing his favourite engine:

"I'll give you an example. Ferraris and Lamborghinis are like women that are great in bed, but not so great at cleaning the house or cooking. The [Honda] B-series is a more balanced engine; it's great in bed but also great at doing the chores. Frugal and civilized."

Well put! Making cars "fun, not fast" is certainly an idea I can get on board with, because it's something that one can appreciate more often. Yes, a big engine is great for overtaking people on motorways and a fast car is best enjoyed at a track, free of speed cameras and police, but a fun car can be enjoyed on almost any road. My own car (a 1.2-litre Fiat Grande Punto) is underpowered, so I don't get to hit 100mph at all, but on quiet country roads it can be really enjoyable, despite its porky body weight causing a fair bit of roll in tight corners. It has a happy character about it, and it can put a smile on my face.

So anyway, the mystery of Picture Exclusive Man is a mystery no more. He is Tatsuru Ichishima, Japanese racing driver, Honda guru and all-round Cool Guy.

I leave you this time with some relevant pictures, as they are of the greatest Honda ever: the NSX supercar (specifically a hardcore NSX Type-R). Enjoy again!

The images of the real Tatsuru Ichishima are from Speedhunters.com and I do not claim ownership of them. However, the Gran Turismo 5 pictures in this and any of my other articles are my images. I would thus prefer if you asked my permission to use them elsewhere. Ask in the comment box or email mikeado66@googlemail.com .

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A Mystery of Gran Turismo 5 - Who Is Picture Exclusive Man?

WHO IS THIS MAN?

On Gran Turismo 5, I recently spent Cr.5,260,000 on a 1991 Mazda 787B racing car, and decided to take a few pictures of it in a Japanese setting (called "Kyoto - Gion"). The man here is leaning against a bridge looking at the small river below, occasionally looking towards you so you can take his photograph. I've noticed him before, but not really paid any attention to him, but this time I decided to take his picture. As it turns out, doing so - provided you press Square to 'AutoFocus' on his face - unlocks a Hidden Trophy called Picture Exclusive. The description reads: Take a picture of a special someone as he stands in Kyoto's Gion district. The thing I want to know is, who the hell is he?

*UPDATE*  I have been told who he is. See here!

I can say with a feeling of certainty that it isn't series creator (and thus my personal gaming God) Kazunori Yamauchi. In fact, it doesn't even look like someone Japanese, which makes me doubt that it is someone else who works for Polyphony Digital, which is based in Japan and part of Sony. One thought is that it could be a Sony higher-up, but who?

The next logical thought is that he must be a racing driver. Gran Turismo is a racing series after all, and one that appeals to serious petrolheads and motorsport fans. I like to think that if he was a significant Formula 1 driver, I would recognise him. With both Sony and Polyphony Digital being Japanese organisations, he could be an ex-Formula Nippon or JGTC/Super GT driver, but in that instance, he would likely be Japanese himself, which he does not appear to be. Wherever there is a "GT5 Hidden Trophies" thread, this question gets asked at some point, but never answered. Surely if he's a "special someone" then he must be of significance to at least one group of people?

Well, one idea that popped up in one or more threads is that it is yet another instance of Gran Turismo being better than real life. First there was the ability to race the previously-never-raced Jaguar XJ13, drive the too-valuable-to-drive Lamborghini Miura P400 Bertone Prototype (prototype 1 of 1) and the ability to witness Formula 1 with no boundaries (Red Bull X1). Now, according to some, we see what could have been were it not for a tragic race in 1994. Apparently, this man might be a 50-year-old Ayrton Senna.

Can you see the resemblance?

I hesitate to agree with this. I suppose the shape of his eyes are similar, and he's in suitable physical form for an ex-F1 driver, especially one as great as Senna, who would've been 50 years old in March 2010, the year this game was released (and the month that it was going to be released in, but this Gran Turismo we're talking about here...). The eyebrows may look similar, but I fear I'll have to get another angle of him to be certain. It would certainly be nice if it was meant to be Ayrton Senna, who tragically died at the height of his career during the San Marino Grand Prix in 1994. He was taken from us too soon, and left a permanent mark on motorsport, partly because of the tragedy of it, but also because of the huge advances in safety rules and devices that have come about as a result. He remains the last F1 driver to have died in a race, arguably as a result of this. Now his ghost (potentially) is overlooking the next generation of racing fans and drivers as they enjoy 'The Real Driving Simulator'.

For now, it's the closest to an answer that there seems to be, but I'm not closing my mind yet...

I leave you with a couple of pictures of the Mazda 787B I was snapping when I found him. Enjoy!

The Mazda 787B is the only Japanese car to have won the 24 Hours of Le Mans, as well as the only rotary-engine car to win Le Mans, but I think I'll save a full explanation for later.

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Porsche 997 Goes Out With A 4000cc Bang

2011 Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0 (997.5)

What you see here is not a squashed VW Beetle with a wing on the back. What you see here is the 21st and final version of what many consider the best generation of Porsche 911 ever: Type 997.

The 997 generation of 911 (they call it 911 to continue the name - it's not directly related to the 1964 original, just spiritually) has been around now since 2005, starting with the basic, rear-wheel-drive Carrera 3.6 and Carrera S 3.8, and slowly adding four-wheel-drive (Carrera 4/4S), convertible versions of each Carrera, a Targa 4/4S with a sliding glass roof, a track-focused GT3, a more track-focused GT3 RS, a Ferrari-baiting Turbo version (at the time the most powerful Porsche available), a 200mph GT2 (the first time a factory 911 topped the double ton), a ridiculously mental GT2 RS and a 530 horsepower Turbo S. Later the non-Carrera versions had their ageing 3.6 engines replaced by bigger-yet-cleaner Direct Injection 3.8-litre units. On top of all those, there is also currently a 3.6 Carrera "Black Edition" in both Coupe and Cabriolet form, a 408bhp Carrera GTS 3.8 (again, both open and closed) and a Speedster version. Yeah, that's a lot of different versions of the same car. 20 variants is rare in one generation. Even this list doesn't include the Sport Classic limited edition that spawned the GTS versions.

If none of that made any sense at all, here's Porsche's 911 line up in pictures and links. It's easy to see what people mean when they say that buying a Porsche 911 these days is like buying coffee at Starbucks.

Pre-facelift 997 Targa 4

Maybe one solution is to just buy the fastest one you can afford, but even here there are puzzling decisions to be made. Do you want a coupe or a convertible? If you can afford a high-end 911, do you want an advanced, brutal turbocharged one (Turbo, Turbo S, GT2, GT2 RS) or a purer, driver-focused GT3/GT3 RS? If you can only afford a Carrera, do you chicken out of the first question and compromise with a Targa 4? If you get a special edition, will anyone even realise unless it's the fat-arsed Speedster version or has a massive rear spoiler? If magazines are to be believed, you should just sweep this mess of 911s off the table and get a GT3 3.8 because it balances track-friendly performance and road usability better than any other car, let alone other 911s. I think that unless you know exactly what you want, you should choose between these three of the myriad 911s: The Carrera GTS (like a simple 2WD Carrera but with 408bhp, coupe or convertible), the aforementioned GT3 3.8 or the Turbo/Turbo S (also coupe or convertible) if you want to argue with Nissan GT-R owners at the Nürburgring. The general truth is that drop-tops are not as rigid as hardtops, making them worse sports cars, so unless you really need the wind in your hair, get a coupe. Besides, 911 Cabrios are for dentists and people with grey wigs and golf clubs.

Whichever version you get, you'll still end up with a Porsche 997, one of the all-time great sports cars. 40 years after the original, Porsche have stubbornly soldiered on with a fundamentally flawed rear-engined layout (having the whole thing behind the back wheels means it's very tail-heavy, making early 911s very dangerous at speed) and all but ironed out its disadvantages to make an involving, well-engineered sports car, and the benchmark for all that can be compared, such as the Lotus Evora. I'm sure you can find a review by someone who's actually driven one that explains it better than that. In 2012, however, its replacement shall arrive, with many major changes to what has previously been a very evolutionary car. Porsche has thus decided to give it a send-off.

The final edition of the 997 is based on the GT3 RS, the most closely-related to Porsche's racing 911s. Rather than painting bits of it in shiny silver and tweak the exhaust to make a quick buck, they've lightly revised the aerodynamics, adding canards on the front bumper, made the front lid and wings of carbon fibre to shed another 10kg off the usual 20kg weight-saving over a normal GT3. They've also added rear suspension parts from the insane GT2 RS to keep the back end planted, a shorter throw to the gear stick for quicker, more direct shifts and... what else is there? Oh yeah, they gave it the biggest engine EVER fitted to a production Porsche 911. A four litre version of the traditional Porsche flat-six, upgraded with forged pistons, titanium connecting rods and a crankshaft taken from the hot-blooded 911 GT3-RSR racing car that competes with much success in just about every GT series known to man, woman and child (and possibly some known only to dolphins). Other versions of the H6 engine have been more powerful, but they needed turbochargers. This is the most powerful naturally aspirated 911 engine ever, and probably will be for a few years yet.

The difference the extra 200cc and racing parts makes is profound. The "standard" GT3 3.8 makes 435bhp and the GT3 RS (previously the most hardcore 911) makes 450bhp. This makes 493bhp (or a nice round 500PS) at a howling 8250rpm, and 340lb/ft of torque. 500bhp from 4.0 litres is very impressive. In fact, the only other NA engine that manages 125bhp-per-litre I can think of is the brilliant new Ferrari 458 Italia, a sign that Direct Injection technology is a very brilliant thing, as both these cars are notably more efficient than the less powerful cars they replace (in Porsche's case, this applies to both the 4.0 and the 3.8 GT3s compared to the 3.6 GT3 997). As a result, the GT3 RS 4.0 can hit 60mph in 3.8 seconds, 100mph in just under 8 seconds and rocket on to 193mph. The 1360kg 911 can also lap the Nürburgring in 7:27, faster than the V10-powered Carrera GT supercar of 2004, but not quite as fast as the Nissan GT-R's latest evolution. Mind you, a GT3 of any kind is a more connected experience on the track than the 4WD, non-manual R35. Porsche's loud, mechanical-sounding engine and engineering prowess paints a very different character to the Japanese car's technological tour de force. You just sit in a bucket seat, put on 4 or 5 seatbelts at once, zero the stopwatch and play racing driver all afternoon. Marvellous.

The cost of entry to this 368bhp-per-tonne almost-racer? About £128,500. And that's before you've wandered through Porsche's options list and accidentally spent another £10,000. Trust me, it happens. That said, if I had the money, I'd certainly give this a serious going over...

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Happy Chocolate Eating Day!

Sorry for the lack of posts recently. College work appeared just when I thought it was over...

Lindor is officially the best-tasting chocolate...... In The World.

Christians might call this day "Easter", Pagans might have called it "Ostara" before the Christians nicked it, the Internet uses this weekend to post either rabbit-based soft porn or a captioned picture joking about Jesus taking 3 days to respawn, but it actually serves a wider purpose that almost everybody appreciates and most non-religious people take advantage of. To that end, I hope you've all had a Happy Chocolate Eating Day today! I myself swapped the usual Cadbury egg for this smaller, more expensive, better-tasting Lindor egg. Gorgeous chocolate on the outside and strange soft-but-solid chocolate-like stuff on the inside (in the little ones, that is), it was delicious!

Of course, the last month or so has also been Creme Egg season, and that once again made me think of a toy car I had when I was little. It was a Creme Egg Car (although I called it a van) that Cadbury's used to have a fleet of to drive around in busy areas and sell their wares, similar to Red Bull using Minis with an oversized dummy can on the back of what became a pickup-style body. Thinking about it now, I'd like to buy a Red Bull Mini and take the can and stickers off before maybe stretching the wheelbase a little and having a BMW Mini Pickup. The problem with this plan (aside from lack of funds, etc.) is that I would of course have to buy a BMW 0-Series, and I don't like them. Anyway, the Creme Egg van.

Here's a picture of one just like mine, produced by Corgi. At 1:64th scale, it's about the same size as a real egg, except slightly bigger and harder to unwrap. Any doors it might have could not be opened, so its innards have been a mystery to me for all this time. Did the tail end open up to reveal many Creme Eggs? Were the headlights hidden? Could it drive itself? Well no, it was push-powered. Besides, with two live axles, no discernible suspension and no steering, it would have been a bugger to drive anyway. But did it ever exist in real life? Or was it just a way of making small children always want their Mummies and Daddies buy a tasty Creme Egg?


A year or two ago, I actually saw one driving around. Hurrah! There's a real, working one! It was like seeing Thomas The Tank Engine steam past at a level crossing. Most likely in private hands as Cadbury stopped using them a while ago, it had more in the way of exterior lighting than the toy (small plastic lights might break off and get swallowed, I suppose) and a handy door (middle of the left-hand side) to aid ingress and egress, as well as the equally helpful addition of a suspension system (the rear springs are visible in the bottom picture). Since then, I've been satisfied just knowing they exist, but this year I've looked into this obscure oddity...

It turns out to be little more than a re-bodied Bedford Rascal/Suzuki Super Carry, and because the body is somewhat bigger than the Rascal's, it's probably a lot heavier. Not good for performance considering the tiny engine, but then it's only designed to loiter around in public places. As long as it goes, stops and steers, it'll do. But that doesn't mean we can't snigger at its pathetic performance figures anyway. Power comes from an Immense 970cc OHC Straight-4 engine creating a Thunderous 44bhp and an Earth-Shattering 55lb/ft of torque. This allows the Creme Egg Car to reach a Blistering top speed of 30mph or so, which it can reach from standstill in a Mind-Blowing 9.5 seconds. 0-60 rather depends on the length and gradient of the hill you're coasting down in neutral to get there, and frankly I wouldn't trust the brakes in that situation if they're only designed to slow down from 30 or so. That tall, egg-shaped body may or may not be aerodynamically stable at 60mph, and any Richard Hammond attempts to do a Scandinavian Flick will most likely result in a) Tragedy, or b) Rolling for hours, which is like a), but more vomit-y. Needless to say, you'd soon be scrambled. Fnar.

Because I've never seen a real one for very long (the above picture is not mine), I don't know how much space there is in the back for storing Creme Eggs, so I don't know if it's worth pining after one. It would be cool to say I had one, but it doesn't seem particularly nice to drive. The description from the Beaulieu Motor Museum doesn't reassure me:

"Using a Bedford Rascal van chassis, they were each fitted with a fibreglass body and a single gull-wing door for access. The headlights [and mirrors] were of Citroën 2CV origin, the windscreen wipers from commercial vehicles, and the wide split screens gave a nice panoramic view. The curvature of the bodywork meant that the drivers’ foot pedals required realigning, making the cars very difficult to drive."

Clearly then, this is only any good as a novelty advertising tool, and is not recommended over a regular Bedford Rascal or Suzuki Super Carry upon which it's based. That doesn't subtract from its weird charm though. Admit it, this would put a smile on your face if you saw one, even if you don't like Creme Eggs or hadn't owned the toy. How many egg-shaped cars have you seen? It's just cool for being so strange, which I think makes it fitting that the lights and mirrors are from an old Citroen. I think they should bring them back. Because it need only go 30mph, a 21st-Century version could even be electric. Just don't base it on a G-Wiz......

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Formula 1 - Chinese Grand Prix 2011

SPOILER WARNING: There are two spoilers in this picture: one at the front and one at the rear of the car

Normally the new circuits make for boring racing, because while the design may look good on Hermann Tilke's drawing board, they usually aren't that great for overtaking. This year however, the Chinese GP was so good it was practically a cheap knock-off of a more expensive European Grand Prix. There was so much action the TV directors couldn't keep up with it all!

This is due to a couple of factors, one of which is the new Pirelli tyres, designed to suddenly wear out. This has caused very tactical racing, with a large variety of strategies at play. Another reason was the new overtaking device called DRS, which allows a following driver to raise part of the rear wing in a certain area to improve straight-line speed and get past the car ahead, which cannot use DRS to defend. However, they can defend in the normal ways, so it's not a straightforward overtake. This was undoubtedly an aid to Mark Webber, who I'll get to later.

When the 5 red lights went out after a relatively long period (they can stay on for as long as race director Charlie Whiting sees fit, rather than a fixed number of seconds that the drivers could learn), championship leader Sebastian Vettel didn't have the revs up high enough for the best launch, meaning that the car bogged down off the line and was immediately swarmed by the two chrome-effect McLarens, both of which got past in the long, spiralling first corner. In fact, Nico Rosberg even had a go at the Red Bull, as he started in 4th place, just behind the current top three drivers in the championship, but Vettel eventually held him off. The top positions otherwise stayed as such in the opening laps, but they were mighty close, with 1st and 3rd place just two seconds apart. Michael Schumacher, however, finally flecked his Septuple-World-Championship muscles for the first time since his return last year, going from 14th on the grid to 9th place in just the first lap.

One-Wheel-Drive is not ideal

Just before the first wave of pit stops started, Spaniard Jaime Alguersuari was forced to retire after one of his Scuderia Toro Rosso mechanics didn't put the right rear wheel on properly, causing it to wriggle free after the first corner of his outlap. He valiantly soldiered on, perhaps thinking of when Schumacher got to the pits on three wheels in the 1998 Belgian GP, alas it wasn't to be today, and he became the only retiree. It wasn't the only Red Bull-based pit stop mishap today, however - Jenson Button clearly got used to stopping in the first pit box last year, as he pitted in with Vettel close behind and stopped in the Red Bull's pit area instead of his own team's box mere metres away. Vettel's mechanics swiftly gestured him out of their area and into his own, so that the Teutonic Champion could get a set of Option tyres. This mistake directly cost Button a place, as he subsequently left the pits behind him. After losing time and places on his worn out Option tyres, Lewis Hamilton got a fresh set of Primes (the harder, slightly less grippy, longer-lasting tyre choice) and quickly made up positions not by cruising past the likes of Felipe Massa, Nico Rosberg and teammate Button as they pitted, but by overtaking them the old-fashioned way. This got him into 2nd place, where he stayed for almost the rest of the race...

Meanwhile, two-time F1 World Champion Fernando Alonso spent most of his afternoon battling tooth-and-nail with seven-time F1 World Champion Michael Schumacher, with most of the passes happening at turn 14, at the end of the 1.2km straight that allows drivers to use the DRS, but only in the second half of it (the FIA made this decision because it felt that, if the DRS could be used for the entire straight, drivers would just sail past long before the corner and the overtaking would be considered "artificial" - this way the drivers were merely set up for a chance to pass in the end hairpin). The battle ended up with Alonso finishing ahead of Schumacher in 7th place. Scottish F1 rookie Paul Di Resta showed much promise after qualifying 8th and reaching 7th in the peak of his afternoon, unfortunately a third addition to his points tally was squandered by the fighting champions and Mark Webber (who I'm still saving for later). Kamui Kobayashi was also up to his usual tricks, with one skirmish leaving a noticeable hole in his Sauber's nose cone making the car look almost like it had chipped a tooth. BBC commentator Martin Brundle said "He won't mind that [...] It feels very refreshing when you get a 200mph breeze running through the cockpit". Certainly beats air conditioning for weight efficiency! Unfortunately, his Mexican teammate Sergio Perez - who, despite TopGear's idea of a Mexican, is neither feckless nor lazy - caused a collision and was given a drive-through penalty, putting him in 17th or so, an unfair contrast to the 7th place he achieved in his debut race at Melbourne, but this is a 19-race season, so one bad race here is nothing more than a learning experience. The third rookie this year, Venezuelan driver Pastor Maldonado, was happy to finish 18th, as it was his first finish in his three-races-so-far Formula 1 career, after reliability problems plagued his Williams Cosworth in Australia and Malaysia.

Late on in the race, it looked like, even after all the position changes and a fluffed start, it would be three wins out of three for the seemingly unbeatable Sebastien Vettel. Can no-one dethrone the reigning World Champion? Then the situation became clear: Lewis Hamilton was on tyres with 7 laps' less wear on them than the race leader, and he was catching him fast. The situation may have been less clear for Vettel however, as his radio communications to the team had malfunctioned and only worked one way. This meant that he couldn't ask for or comment on anything, but could be updated on the situation by his race engineer both aurally and by good old fashioned pit board. He knew the Brit was coming, and it became clear he could do nothing about it. On lap 52 out of 56, Hamilton was close enough to out-grip him in turn 6 and drive straight past, taking the lead for good and pulling away to win the 2011 Chinese Grand Prix by 5.1 seconds. This was an especially emotional win for Lewis, perhaps because, just minutes before his car had to leave the pits to line up on the grid, his car flooded the air box with fuel and cut out. His McLaren MP4-26 had to be dismantled at the rear, removed of its excess race fuel and put back together again... all in about six minutes. He was sent out with a missing piece of bodywork and the car was fully dressed up on the grid before the parade lap started. Imagine if he hadn't made it...

So it had finally happened. After the first two races worryingly pointed the way to Schumacher-style dominance, the Red Bulls had both been beaten. Vettel was joined on the podium by his Aussie teammate Mark Webber, who finished in thir-- hang on, how on Earth did that happen?!

Mark Webber's race today gets its own paragraph for being so awesome

On Saturday, Mark Webber's Qualifying session was an absolute disaster. His KERS wasn't working, his car was understeering, the team had sent him out on the wrong tyres in the closing stages of Q1 and he was subsequently knocked out of Qualifying, meaning he started the race in a dismal and distant 18th place in his Red Bull RB7, the twin sister of Sebastian Vettel's pace-setter (which he has nicknamed "Kinky Kylie" because of its "tightly packaged rear end"). Webber has had a lot of bad luck in his F1 career, but that must have hurt. His team could only tell him to enjoy himself out there and make the best of it... and he duly did so. Well, not at the start of the race. Being the only one not starting on Option tyres has its ramifications (Options are the softer of the two dry tyre compounds and are significantly grippier than Prime tyres, but they only last a short distance), and he even dropped down to 20th place as he struggled to get comfortable in his car. After deciding the Primes were a lost cause and pitting in early (lap 10, along with Schumacher and rookie Pastor Maldonado), he changed onto a fresh set of Options. The one advantage of going out in the first of three Quali sessions is that you have lots of unused tyres left over, giving you a grip advantage in the race over the top 10, who have usually taken some life out of all their allocated sets of Option tyres by setting blistering lap times on them. Mark used this advantage to the best of his ability, finally getting comfortable in the car and scything through the field over the course of the race, making some gutsy overtaking moves and brilliantly selling Michael Schumacher a dummy into turn 14, getting past someone who's notorious for his ability to defend a position (as well as a few other, less positive things). Towards the end of the race, his three-stop strategy - clearly the ideal strategy here when you look at the other drivers - meant that when most were on withering hard tyres, he was on softer ones and he just breezed past the likes of Ferrari drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa, even taking 3rd place from Jenson Button in the last couple of laps. His approach towards the British World Champion caused David Coulthard, in his new commentating role at the BBC, to give us the quote of the day after hearing Button's race engineer tell him that "Webber is approaching and is on Option tyres - watch out for him". Coulthard's response? "The only way that message could be any scarier is if it was delivered in the dark". Very well put, sir! This track does not lend itself well to overtaking, as I mentioned at the start, yet the Australian hauled his Red Bull car fifteen places up the grid to go from 18th to third place by the end of the race. He is without doubt the Driver Of The Day, even though race winner Lewis Hamilton played it smart tactically by qualifying on Prime tyres and keeping a set of Options in hand, which on any other day would earn him the unofficial accolade, but 18th to 3rd is hard to beat for effort points. He may not have won the race, but he can walk away with the Fastest Lap (a 1:40.571) and one hell of a comeback to tell his grandchildren about one day.

And now we wait for three weeks as the teams head off to Istanbul in Turkey, a Tilke circuit that I actually quite like. Here is a table or three to sum up the outcome of today's race. Enjoy!

*All copyrighted images are taken from F1 Fanatic and I do not claim ownership of them.

**The points table is pixellated because I made it in Microsoft Paint.

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Supercar/Muscle Tuesday - Ford GT

To make up for a lack of Supercar Saturday and Muscle Car Monday, here's a car that covers both.

Now, a lot of car names are words meant to evoke some kind of feeling or mindset, or aid a car's image, like "Charger" or "Mustang", but when the name is just a combination of letters and numbers, it is comparatively cold and only has meaning to the anoraks who have decoded it. Sometimes though, particular combinations do have meaning, they do evoke thoughts and emotions, and they can even evoke memories of a legend. One such instance might be GT-R, another might be M3 or RS or F1, depending on what you know or grew up with. One of the big ones, however, is a name that speaks of revenge, of endurance, of victory and of icons: GT40.

The finish line at the 1966 24 Heures du Mans

Many moons ago in 1963, Ford tried to buy Ferrari after hearing that Enzo Ferrari was interested in selling to them, however, the Italian racing enthusiast was determined to remain in charge of his racing cars, particularly open-wheeled racing such as Formula 1 and the Indianapolis 500, the latter of which Ford said Ferrari wouldn't be allowed to enter were the deal to be sealed, in order to avoid competition with them. This enraged Enzo, who cut off the deal with Ford at a late stage, a move which left then-company head Henry Ford II equally pissed off. Ford decided to give the Italians what for by making a new car specifically designed to beat them on the track, in world endurance racing.

Ford's racing division was ordered to team up with a racing company that would help ensure them victory, looking to three British firms; Lotus (who already raced successfully in F1 with a Ford engine), Cooper (founded by John Cooper, who was also tuning Minis to win rallies at around this time) and Lola, who to this day make competitive endurance prototypes, as well as having a history in F1. After Cooper was deemed unsuitable and Lotus wanted a high price and main credit for something Ford weren't sure they could do, they went with Lola, who had just recently built the Ford-powered Mk.6, one of the most advanced race cars of the time. The company's head and chief designer got involved without involving Lola Cars as a whole. He (Eric Broadley) and former Aston Martin racing team manager John Wyer headed the development team with Ford engineer Roy Lunn and designer Harley Copp, who used the only two Lola Mk. 6 chassis as a basis and worked away at the new car in England, first at Lola HQ in Bromley and then at a new facility in Slough.

One of the two original 1964 Ford GT40s

The finished car, dubbed "GT40" due to its 40-inch height, first appeared in 1964, and it didn't exactly leave Ferrari quaking in their boots. The '64 Nürburgring 1000km saw the solo débutante retire from 2nd place early on with suspension failure, and the GT40's first outing at Le Mans three weeks later was no better, with all three of the entered cars retiring, although one car did lead the race in its first stint. After a series of failures, the project was handed over to muscle car legend Carroll Shelby, who, in 1965, finally got a win out of the GT40 at the Daytona 2000. Alas, that was the only success to be had that year...

1966, however, was different. The Mk.II was given several aerodynamic revisions and a 7.0 litre V8 to replace the old 4.2. This, along with experience gained from the two previous years, allowed Ford to finally realise their ambition. They beat Ferrari, and beat them hard, with a 1-2-3 finish at the 24 Heures Du Mans, the most famous endurance race in the world. Not only that, but four Porsches separated the 3rd place GT40 and the highest-finishing Ferrari that year. There was dispute over which one actually came first, but in the end it didn't matter - Enzo's six-year reign over Le Mans was over, and Ford had shown them who's boss. Ford kept them beat too, with Le Mans victories in the three following years making it four in a row, and in 1968 they won the World Sportscar Manufacturers' Championship (WSC was the series holding the Le Mans 24H at the time).

Carroll Shelby standing with a 1967 Mk.IV

After that, the GT40 was outdated. After the speeds achieved in '67 with the redesigned Mk. IV, new rules in '68 cut the engine size down to 5.0 litres for sports cars and 3.0 litres for prototypes, effectively axing the Ferrari 330P that Ford originally chased. Despite winning that year and in 1969, the cars around it were moving into a new era, and by 1970 the GT40 was resoundingly obsolete, making way for the mighty Porsche 917 to own Le Mans for the next two years. Its replacement, the P68, proved a dismal failure...

Nevertheless, the Ford GT40 had become a legend, and in Gulf racing colours, one of the most iconic racing cars ever, so much so that ever since its departure (and the departure of the road car they built from 1965-9), companies have been building replicas for enthusiasts that can't afford one of precious few genuine road cars. Ford themselves tried to rekindle the magic of the GT40 with the GT70, a rival to the Lancia Stratos, which was made obsolete shortly after it started by new WRC rules. They tried again with the GT90, but that never evolved beyond a concept, so they decided the only way forwards was to go backwards and make the original Ford GT all over again.

2005 Ford GT

Powered by a 5.4L supercharged small-block V8 engine, the Ford GT remake had even more international origins than the British-American original. It has German wheels, Italian (Brembo) brakes, a British gearbox and body, a Lotus-tuned chassis and the steering rack from an Aston Martin Vanquish. Seems fitting when you look at the Lola-designed GT40, but it does mean that any claims of an "All-American Supercar" are unfounded. Because it had a Lotus chassis and other parts from the best places to get them, it was miles above all other American cars and a great left-field alternative to a Ferrari F360 Stradale or an F430, as well as the then-new "baby Lamborghini", the V10 Gallardo. A limited edition that the likes of Martin Brundle, Jeremy "POWERRRRR" Clarkson, John Mayer (whoever he is) and even some people who are not famous bought for over £100,000 each, it left a sufficiently big mark for a successor to be in the works. Can't wait...

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