french f1

What engine powered Red Bull to victory? Say that again?

After the safety car-finish of Jenson Button in his McLaren-Mercedes at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, the new World Champion Sebastian Vettel also got a warm round of applause from an enthusiastic Brazilian crowd. It was not only the 3rd consecutive World Championship for Sebastian, but also the 3rd time that Red Bull won the Constructors Championship.

However, in all the excitement over the Grand Prix of Brazil, most commentators and reporters failed to mention that this was a victory for Renault as well as Vettel and Red Bull. Fortunately the French sports journalist Jean-Louis Moncet, who writes for the magazine Auto Plus and does the race commentary for the French TV station TF1, did remember the role of Red Bull’s engine supplier, and was quite justified in doing so.
[Read more…] about The Silent Champion

Alpine Renault author Roy Smith has had a go at all the fine and fun things in life

The Alpine that launched a series of books. Roy Smith gets drive in a ex-works Tour de Corse car in 1983.

By Pete Vack
Photos courtesy Roy Smith

Roy Smith has given the motoring world three very special, often brilliant, and thoroughly delightful books about Alpine and Renault in the space of the same number of years. That’s an amazing feat, his works are well researched, with hundreds of photos, first person interviews, diagrams, and fresh new information about a rare subject. There is no doubt they are landmark books on the subject of Alpine Renault. And if that’s not enough, his latest work on Gordini is due out in 2011. [Read more…] about Roy Smith: A Good Go