I’ve been sick for most of this weekend, so I ended up slumped on the sofa in front of the TV a lot more than I usually do. As a result I ended up watching about 10 hours of the SPEED TV coverage of the Rolex 24 Hours race from Daytona.

In no particular order, here are a few random thoughts that occured to me while watching the coverage.

•  I love modern enduranc racing, thanks to the improved car  strength the reliabilty runs of the past have been replced by every hour being run as if it were a 50 lap sprint. There was more action here than most Grands Prix and NASCAR (whatever it’s called this year) Cup races.
• Can SPEED have Bob Varsha and David Hobbs call every major race they cover?
• Pit reporter Calvin Fish asks some great questions, but does he have to call everyone he talks to “mate.”?
• This was a true International Race of Champions, it would have been even better if we’d had a few of the top F1 guys there too.  How about the FIA, NASCAR and the IRL get together and  mandate that the top three finishers in their respective championships have to run the following year’s Daytona 24 Hours. - Ah I can dream.
• I give it 2 years before Roger Penske is dominating the Rolex 24.
• Congratulations to the Chip Ganassi organization for their third straight victory. It was well deserved.

2008 marks the 50th anniversary of Mike Hawthorne becoming Britain’s first F1 World Champion. Hawthorne was a dashing figure and a natural talent in all sorts of cars. His tragic death in a road accident shortly after his title win only added to his legend.

 John Michael Hawthorn was, born in Mexborough, Yorkshire, England.  When he was small the family relocated to the South of England, close to the famous Brooklands track. From and early age Hawthorne was a regular spectator at the banked circuit. After leaving school Hawthorne started racing motorcycles eventually switching over to cars. By 1951 he was in Formula 2 and attracting notice.

He  made his Formula One debut in the following year’s Belgian Grand Prix, finishing an impressive 4th place.  He was signed by Ferrari for the 1953 and 1954 seasons scoring two Grand Prix vistories. However he was badly burned in a crash during the 1954 season and seriously considered retiring.

He was persuaded to join the Jaguar sports car team for 1955 and went on to win Le Mans despite being involved in the infamous accident that killed over 80 spectators. The Jaguar contract allowed him to drive for other marques so he campaigned a Vanwall for the first half of the season before rejoing Ferrari once more. Over the next few seasons he alternated between Jaguars in sports cars and Ferrari in Grand Prix racing.

Hawthorne’s World Championship in 1958 came at the expense of Stirling Moss who interceeded on Hawthorne’s beahlf and had a disqualification for Hawthorne pushing his car overturned. The reinstated points would cost Moss the championship at the season’s end.

With a world title won, Hawthorne announced his retirment from racing. Just a few months after the end of the season he was killed when his car went off  a wet road. How a driver of Hawthorne’s skill lost control is still something of a mystery.

The Official Mike Hawthorne Tribute site.

Three more Formula One teams have unvieled their 2008 Grand Prix challengers over the last few days. However, these have all been realtively low key affairs with the cars being unvieled on track at pre-season testing.

Red Bull RB4

Renault R28

Williams FW30

Giancarlo Fisichella - January 14th, 1973

Roman born Italian Formula One driver “Fisi”  has driven for 5 different teams over the last 10 years.  While one of the most naturally talented drivers on the grid he has never really seemed to match his early promise. Fisichella has won three Grands Prix to date. Outside of driving, he runs his own GP2 team, FMS International.

Like most current Formula One drivers, he began kart racing as a youngster. In 1992, he competed in the Italian Formula Three series. He finished runner up in 1993, and in 1994 he won the championship. He left open-wheel racing briefly in 1995, to drive for Alfa Romeo in the International Touring Car Championship series.

Fisichella (Renault) 2005 Turkish GP

In 1996 he arrived on the Formula One grid with Minardi, although did not complete a full season with the underfunded team.  The following year he joined Jordan, before moving on to Benneton from 1998 to 2001.  He rejoined Jordan for the following two years, scoring his first GP win at a chaotic Brazilian GP.  In 2004 he joined Sauber hoping that it would provde a path to a longed for drive at Ferrari. (Sauber were using rebadged Ferrari engines that year.) It wasn’t to happen and “Fisi” arrived at Renault with aspirations to be a team leader. However he was overshadowed by the arrival of double World Champion Fernando Alonso.  With Alonso’s departure to Mclaren in 2007 Fisichella assumed the role of team leader but was once more overshadowed by a younger team mate. With Alonso’s return to Renault in 2008 it seemed that Fisichella was left without a ride.

Fisichella does a lap of San Marino

Last week it was announced that he would race for the new Force India F1 team in 2008. 

The Official Giancarlo Fisichella Website

Other Birthday Drivers today:

• Don Garlits  - drag racing legend (1932)
• Tom McEwen  - drag racer (1937)

The BMW Sauber F1 team launched its new car for 2008, the F1.08 earlier today in Munich. The team drivers will once more be Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica.