How To Fix The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

A is the original layout and B is my version. You can tell because they're labelled in Altastrada font, which is superior to your font.Although double DRS and a lack of Vettel helped to spice up this year's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, it wasn't exactly Canada or Silverstone. Much of the problem with this race is in the track layout, as Hermann Tilke was probably far more interested in a) grandstands and facilities, and b) getting paid lots by sheiks, thus...

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Two Ways To Make A Porsche

There is a right way and a wrong way to build a Porsche. Or is there? Maybe, with the Panamera and Cayenne selling just as well or better than the 911 and Boxster/Cayman, there are two ways to make a Porsche, or maybe it's proof that people will buy anything with a Porsche badge on it... except a new-age Need For Speed game, perhaps. They all suck and so does EA for claiming exclusivity on using Porsches...Anyway, what we have here are two new cars...

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Formula 1 - Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2011

Yas Marina Circuit. Grotesque Ferrari World theme park adjacent...The Race In a Nutshell:> Sebastian Vettel's luck finally runs out as he gets a right-rear puncture into Turn 2.> 2nd place-starting Lewis Hamilton leads by 2.5s after lap 1.> Jenson Button slips back from 3rd to... 3rd. KERS fails for a while, partially reset later on, battles Mark Webber> McLaren make lightning-fast pit stops, Red Bull botch Webber's, he falls out of contention...

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The New Chevrolet Corvette (Apparently)

It looks 'shawped. I can tell from teh pixels and from seeing quite a few shawps in mah tahm.38 minutes after they said they would, Jalopnik have released what they say are images showing exactly what the next Chevrolet Corvette will look like. For some reason they based it on an assumed ZR1 version, so I had a go at toning it down to show you what the normal C7 Corvette may very well look like. I'm having mixed feelings towards it even after de-ricing...

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Video Sunday - Every Second Counts

Uploaded: 16/11/10Running Time: 5:22Views When Posted: 243,648If you don't really get the attraction of motorsport, if you think it's just tubes with spoilers going round in circles and turbocharged Subarus driving past anoraks wearing anoraks in a wood, watch this video. I'm sorry it has orchestral music - you may find it atmospheric, you may find it intruding or cheesy, but I didn't put it there, so I can't help it - but the choice of clips and the quotes from legends and masters of the sport, living and dead, make this an incredibe and moving...

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Video Saturday - Celebrating In Style

Uploaded: 5/11/11Running Time: 5:40Views When Posted: 72,321You know you're living your life right when you can turn up at Monza and get to sit alongside Valentino Balboni, long-serving former chief test driver at Lamborghini and all-round cool guy. You also know you've made it on the internet when such a man says your username on camera and lets you film him hounding round the Italian Grand Prix circuit in a Lamborghini Gallardo LP570-4 Superleggera. Marchettino has made it, and is living it right. I don't know if he actually makes money from...

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Supercar Weekday - Toyota 2000GT

Written for Jalopnik's gift to Jezebel each nightThink Toyota and you may well think Prius, or Corolla. Toyota have built their reputation on well-made, economical sedans (and nearly threw it away with the whole "Unintended Acceleration" fiasco, but let's not get into that now). The only problem with being known for cars like that is that it earns you quite a mundane image. Back in the 1960s, Toyota decided it didn't want such an image, and wanted...

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Photo Dump - McLaren

First of all, if you haven't already, check out the new blog title image I made! Pretty cool, right? It's quite simple, but the redesign needed a proper title image to look finished. Since I used the same engine for that as the background, I might consider changing the bg to a different small block V8, but for the time being, enjoy the new pic. Anyway... Gran Turismo 5's Photo Mode is brilliant, because not only do you get all the professional...

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Lightest Car Ever Made Should Be Easy To Park

In recent years, cars have suffered something called "model bloat", wherein each new generation of a model gets longer, wider and heavier as more safety features and creature comforts appear. Happily though, the last couple of years have seem most makers fight against this in various ways, partly to improve their cars' efficiency, and in some cases also to improve the driving experience by making them less cumbersome. Leading the charge, it seems,...

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SBV8 Spec 2.0

Farewell, original layout.Yes, this here blog looks different now. I might have to get used to it myself, but it was necessary, because the site now looks cleaner. It also has a new background, which is still a General Motors LSA smallblock V8 (so the pun still stands), which powers the Cadillac CTS-V, and will eventually power the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 when it's unleashed next year. This slightly-wider SBV8 also allows for more tabs, which means...

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Video Sunday - It's All Uphill From Here

 Uploaded: 29/10/11Running Time: 5:22Views When Posted Here: 38,805Yesterday, I went to a local rally event in Yateley Wood. I might write about it later, but one thing I noticed when the 2WD class was climbing up a little hill after a tight hairpin is that compared to the 4WD cars, some of them struggled with it. This guy, however, won't struggle one bit in his 2WD car. This is partly because he's racing on tarmac (ok, it's entirely because he's on tarmac), but it's also because he is driving a hillclimb car. You might want to adjust your...

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Toyota FR-S - More Specs

Whoever scanned this needs to take the bar out the middle...I was going to put this in an update to my original post about Toyota's and Subaru's antidote to the likes of the pious Prius, but there's been another sizeable spec-drop for the first fun affordable Toyota since the MR2 was killed off. This time it's about handling and the components and calculations that make this a rival to the Mazda MX-5 in terms of driver satisfaction. In case...

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10,000 Views

Stats Page. I can also see what browsers you're all using. What the hell is "Jasmine"???This is just a little post to myself for having reached 10,000 views. It's quite lame that I feel the need to commemorate this, but never mind. I thought I'd put up something that those of you who don't blog may not have seen before, which is the Stats page. Here I can see what you're clicking on, why, how often, what with and from where, which is nice. The slightly...

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Formula 1 - Korean and Indian Grands Prix 2011

2011 Standard Issue F1 PodiumFirst of all, my apologies for missing the report on the Korean Grand Prix. It's only the second one I've missed out (the other being round 2 at Malaysia), so I'll sum it up here:The Korean Race In A Nutshell:> Lewis Hamilton out-qualifies Vettel by 0.2s, the first time a non-Red Bull gets pole in 2011> Vettel overtakes Hamilton at Turn 4 on lap 1 and pulls away, Jenson Button falls behind Felipe  ...

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