01-05-2004 - Edwards takes the last victory of the season at Adelaide

News just filtered through from the other side of the planet that LA Racing driver Az Edwards has won the final round of the FMBL 3 Championship at Adelaide. With the top three drivers in the championship absent, he took his chance and took 3rd place in the final standings from the unfortunate Beaudoin.

When the FMBL spectacle arrives at the traditional season ender at Adelaide, the championship is often already decided. This means the top drivers can take it easier, or in this case, stay home to see what the rest of the racing world is doing. This gives many drivers a good chance to provide some good racing - like they always do, but this time in the spotlights. In only his first season of FMBL, Howard Gregory took finished the race in a formidable second place to take his first podium. Alex McCarthy took a solid 3rd to make it an all-British rostrum.

Just behind him came Nishi Perera in the only Lotus that was shipped to Australia, followed by another fine performance from Samuli Strang. Local hero Jeremy Washington took the 3 points that come with 6th, while Samuli Ikäheimo took his first (and last!) points of the season in 7th. Tom Tziotzios, recently voted Top FMBL 3 Backmarker, took his Ferrari home in 8th place.

So that's it - another long season of hard racing is over. Edu Parise took another deserved title in his last season, while HERTZ Racing took the Teams' championship. Lotus not surprisingly won the Constructors title. Canada was the fastest country this year. A last-minute British charge was too little, too late so they had to settle for 2nd.

Many thanks for everyone who raced, followed or participated in any other possible way and see you in FMBL 4 - but don't forget the two off-season leagues that are organised. The FMBL F2 League starts tomorrow with a race at the challenging Dijon-Prenois track, while the FMBL Endurance Challenge (using the new 1965 mod!) will start in 2 more weeks at Daytona. Be there!

13-04-2004 - Team of FMBL drivers takes 5th place in Oulton Park 1250 km race

Team FMB International, formed by 6 of FMBL's finest drivers, managed an excellent 5th place finish in the first round of the European Endurance League. The race was held over 1250 km, or 282 laps, of the long layout of the British Oulton Park circuit. At the end of the gruelling 7 hour race the FMB team, of Fransson, Perera, Beaudoin and Thomassen, as Parise and Perron were unable to make their way to the track, was 20 laps behind the winners of the race, Team Notepad. During several stints the team faced connection problems, causing it to fall back.

Team Captain John Fransson qualified the car for the race, putting it on a fine 9th position on a 13 car grid. That's exactly where he kept the car during his stint, but at the end of what should have been his first of two stints the problems began. Nishi Perera was up to do the second stint but had trouble rejoining the race, causing the team to lose several laps in the pits.

Perera: "I had a bit of trouble starting the car for the 2nd stint, then my teammate Jo kicked it and it fired right up, unfortunately it lost us quite a bit of time. Once out onto the track I took it cautiously for the first couple laps. I was right in the a gaggle of battling cars, so I didn't want to get in the way. Then I had some clear track I began to push a bit harder, but still keeping a margin of safety. the stint got better and better. Especially with new tires after the pit stop, I was even catching and passing a few cars. I only had one incident where I was trying to let a faster car lap me, but he just drove into the back of me, and pushed into the gravel trap of the last turn. Fortunately, I was able to drive out and didn't loose too much time. I then handed the car over to Didier after 1h30m."

Didier Beaudoin now took over the car for the third stint. Beaudoin: "Even if it was an endurance race, my stint seemed too short! I must say the car was absolutely perfect throughout, mostly because of the fantastic work of the mechanics, that I want to thank! Great job guys! While I'm in the thanking mode, I'd also like to thank our sponsor who backed us magnificently and made this race possible, namely Farzad's Message Board.

When Nishi came at the end of his first stint, the driver change was pretty fast. I got in the car and started lapping really consistently and pushing more and more as I was really at ease in the car. I started overtaking cars and I completely lost track of the standings, I was only lapping as fast yet consistently as I could until my tank was amost completely dry. I came in for new fuel and some fresh tires but I had some troubles in the pits as the gear indicator and the speedometer weren't working, so I had to guess what speed I was going. Fortunately, We didn't get a speeding penalty, but I suspect I lost many seconds because I was driving too slow.

When I came out, I was surprised by the car handling onfull load and cold tires and spun twice at the hairpin. Fortunately again, I was able to avoid an other car that had spun and went back to the track unharmed twice. Then went back into the mood I had at the start of my stint and stayed there until the end. I even made temporary team's fastest lap. I then had an incident at the very end when a slower car spun right in front of me. I couldn't avoid it, but there was o damage.

I'm really happy brecause no other car lapped me during all my stint and I overtook quite a lot of them, which is very positive."

Now the "connection" problems got worse, as Fransson failed to reconnect his hands to the steering wheel for the fourth stint. However, in a hurry to get back to the circuit, Fransson unsettled a policeman's hairdo by flashing past it at 124 mph in his Volvo, and was subsequently thrown in jail. Fortunately he used his one phonecall to call Nishi and ask him to stand in for him.

Perera: "I was watcing the race from the pits, thinking that my hard work was done for the day, when I got the call to suit up agian. Apparantly Jo had been pulled over by the local police and thrown in jail! So I was called in to do another stint, as I was the only one available at that moment. But I had forgotten to take my noise cancellation earplugs off before putting my helmet on. So I couldn't hear a damn thing! I did the best I could for that stint, trying to use my eyes as feelers for how the car was reacting. Fortunately it was only a 45m stint and Marcel was ready to take over."

Thomassen was now up to take the car to the finish, and to drive the 2 remaining hours of the race. At the end of his stint, Perera still had the car in last place but he managed to get it well within reach of WR Racing. Now it was up to Thomassen to finish the job.

Thomassen: "When I got in for the last stint, we were about 7th or 8th, I'm not sure. I had seen on the timing screens before getting into the car that we were closing considerably on WR Racing, so I figured that once they made their last driver change, I should be able to challenge them. With this being my first race in the car, I really had to get used to the car. I had to let a few cars by in the beginning, one even shoved me to the side a bit, but we survived. A little later I was able to push harder and gain on other cars, who must have felt our pressure as they spun off right in front of my nose.

Then a few more cars retired, so we were 6th when WR Racing did make that final change. That put me to within a lap behind them, and I was gaining on them quite rapidly at some 3 seconds per lap. Within 10 laps I had catched them, and a few laps later I was by into 5th place. However they got it back for a while when I had to stop for fuel and tires for the second time - but I was able to repass them before they had to stop themselves.

During the last pitstop I didn't need a full tank of fuel anymore to finish the race, so the car was a bit lighter on the last stint. With nobody left to race I kept myself alert by trying to drive good lines and fast laps - and helped by the lighter fuel load set Team FMB's fastest lap at 1:22.808s. It was really great to do the last stints! It lasted 2 hours but they went by very fast, so while I was craving for a brake I wouldn't have minded another stint! It was just fantastic to cross the line in 5th, rewarding all the hard work by my teammates. I'm hungry for more!"

The three remaining drivers now went to to have a party in the paddock as if they had won the race. Completely forgetting all the troubles they had, and that Fransson was in jail. Finishing 5th was what mattered. A little while after the race Fransson joined the party, after he worked his charmes on a policewoman and set himself free.

Fransson: "What an absolute rush it was to run as the first driver and teamleader today! I am so proud of my team and the job from everyone involved. If we keep on building on this, our car will pack a potent punch when we arrive at Le Mans in October! It's an honour working with such fine drivers."

Perera: "That was a great result for our first race. The team was put together very late and we barely got any testing in the car. So our goal was to try and finish the 1250km in one piece. We had a roller coaster race, with various troubles. But at the end of the day we managed to finsh and the 5th place is a bonus. All the driver's did a great job, so here's to them! Cheers!"

Beaudoin: "I really appreciated my first experience in Trans-Am and endurance racing. The car was fast and very fun to drive and the track was really interesting with ups and downs and some very challenging corners. Also, the final result is really pleasant, and I think team FMB will get many other good results throughout the season."

Thomassen: "This was awesome! I already was really enthusiastic about endurance racing but now the bug has really caught me! I'd just like to thank my teammates for all their great work, and ofcourse our broad base of hardcore fans, who were cheering us on throughout the race. See you at Road Atlanta!"

The race results can be found here.

Team FMB hopes to enter both cars, or maybe even a third one, at the next race at Road Atlanta on May 1st.

03-04-2004 - Edwards brings a British flair to the US GP as Parise takes FMBL WDC

"The Eagle is a bitch around here!" - Az Edwards
By Varun Kotharu

As the sun rose above the small town of Watkins Glen, there seemed to be a feeling of suspense and anticipation. Nearby, the roaring voices of fifteen FMBL F1 cars were shaking up the Watkins Glen track. The overnight parties of the American people in the bog left a lingering dark omen in the skies as the smoke from the burnt vehicles in the bog raised into the sky and swirled around clouding the sun light. But Eduardo Parise of Team Herring was not to be deterred by such excitement as he was to emerge as the driver of the year once more.

Fifteen races have gone by us in this seventeen round championship and the Championship still seemed possible to be up for grabs. Round sixteen was set in the USA at Watkins Glen. The small town is shaken up every year as the FMBL circus gives them a visit from time to time with the clowns being the drivers mostly. On this occasion, there was an added incentive for the people to be at their best since there would be a big party at the end if Parise were to take the championship away from defending champion Marcel Thomassen and take revenge for the Herring's that were eaten by the hungry HERTZ during the season.

Qualifying time came and the pits were starting to brim with activity to show that the weekend had begun. It was once again a battle of skill and speed as Az Edwards of Great Britain was to snatch pole position from Edu Parise with a mere 0.056 second difference while registering a smoldering time of 1:04:263s. It seems that the race was not without the hint of irony as Edwards had branded the Eagle as a "bitch" to drive at Glen. The irony was not to end there since Parise himself drives an Eagle. Defending champion Marcel Thomassen took third place on the grid with his Lotus while being slow by only 0.104 seconds behind Edwards. Nishi Perera took fourth place with the difference being just over half a second. Samuli Strang of Finland in his Ferrari once again surprised everyone by planting his Ferrari fifth on the grid while being just over a second slower than Edwards. He was followed by Alex McCarthy in his Ferrari as well. Howard Gregory and Jeremy Washington took seventh and eighth respectively in their Brabhams. Mauri Virtanen and Samuli Ikaheimo took ninth and tenth in their Ferrari's. They were closely followed by Nate Perron and John Potter in eleventh and twelfth positions in their Brabhams. So far, it looked like the constructor's wanted their cars to be side by side on the grid given the notorious T1 incidents at Glen and in FMBL. Tom Tziotzios and Matt Danson finally broke that chain when they qualified thirteenth and fourteenth with Tziotzios in his Ferrari and Danson in his Eagle. It was a great day for Tziotzios since he outpaced a much better ranked FMBL driver probably for the first time in his career. Craig Harris in his Ferrari took last spot on the grid just for showing up. Due to a screw up in the time frame of the world on this day, Didier Beaudoin who was the most likely candidate to beat Edu Parise arrived to the Grand Prix one hour late only to find that he got the message about the race being an hour earlier than usual a little late. Being the man that he is, he simply took the next flight home with a smile on his dejected face. Whether it was the smile or the dejected face that broke the heart of the spectators will forever remain a mystery. His loss was a loss to all Canadians as it ended the Canadian charge for the FMBL WDC.

The Esses of Watkins Glen provide a dangerous way to start a GP. However, the Esses also provide the best way to set oneself up for a pass during the lap. Therefore, a certain level of restraint and commitment is required from the drivers at Watkins Glen during the start. The younger drivers are the most prone to crashes while the elder drivers are more prone to being butted out due to the eager mentality of the younger drivers. Tensions ran high among the marshals of the track who were dreading a cleanup since drivers don't slow down while on their second lap which makes it a hazardous environment for a marshal to work in.

As the green flag came down, the drivers rocketed away leaving a stream of blue smoke from the tire's on the pit straight. While, Edwards, Parise and Perera zoomed away into the distance, the rest of the field had a very different story to be told.

Two drivers who never were able to make it to the start for problems that are still unclear were Samuli Ikaheimo and Craig Harris. Both Ferrari drivers were not to be seen for the race. While that may seem unusual, their disappearance might be linked to the bizarre problems that affected TV camera's as the only replay left was from the unreliable feed of Nishi Perera's own crew that was able to salvage a little of the race coverage. Problems caused them to focus on only a few drivers and the incident at the Esses is still undergoing extensive investigation.

Tom Tziotzios finished in the unlucky thirteenth position while having his car stamped with the number thirteen for the race. Being on the of the drivers who was caught in the incident at the Esses, Tziotzios had a hard time recovering from the accident and managed to complete only 2 laps before he parked his Ferrari and retired from the race. An uneventful race for the Greek if one does not count the Esses incident.

Twelfth position was taken by the Big Man aka Mauri Virtanen in his Ferrari. The Finn managed to finish about 5 laps before he had to park his Ferrari alongside Tziotzios' car for the same reasons. After being caught in the Esses, there was nothing much left to do but save the car and once the car gave up, he retired and watched the race dejectedly.

Aussie Matt Danson of Australia was able to finish six laps before his retirement from the race. Like Tziotzios and Virtanen, the damage suffered by the cars due to the Esses incident was too much and he took third spot in the retirement's podium. A man who is known to speak his mind, he babbled incoherently into the public radio channels which disrupted the concentration of some drivers. After being informed of their discomfort, Danson announced his retirement from FMBL but not before he called Jeremy Washington his best friend and told the world that "Jeremy is not a toss pot". We can only deduce that Danson and Washington were close friends who will not see each other on the tracks of GPL ever again.

The driver who took fourth spot in the retirement placements was Jeremy Washington. While it was not a real retirement, the unusual transportation of the car to some other place with the driver left to stare at their screen is officially called a retirement. But his race was a little more fascinating than that of the people who finished behind him. While the true culprit of the Esses incident may never be found, Washington admitted that he and Howard Gregory might have been responsible for the Esses incident. Since they qualified next to each other and since he saw himself drifting over into another Brabham, it is only right to surmise that he and Gregory were indeed the spark that ignited the volatile condition of a clean start in FMBL. But a quick recovery on his behalf saw him in fifth place at the end of lap one. After unable to keep up with Alex McCarthy and letting Marcel Thomassen through safely, he fought a bit with Samuli Strang who was successful as well in getting through past Washington. After that, Washington settled for seventh place and two points. But fate had its own mind and Washington was forced to retire and end in tenth place in the grid. Had it not been for the Esses incident, he might have been the "Driver of the Day".

Canadian driver Nate Perron had a roller coaster of a race. After getting caught in the Esses, he managed to get ahead of John Potter who was upside down. Being in eleventh position then, he kept going on with Potter behind him chasing him. But Perron lost his bearings when he planted his car into the lush green grass at the Loop and this allowed Potter to get ahead of Perron. But Perron was able to pull himself up behind Potter and the two pushed it to the max in their Brabhams until Potter spun at the last corner. This allowed Perron to pass him and get ahead of Potter. But Perron was unable to contain his excitement while in tenth position after the retirements of Virtanen and Danson at the Loop. He spun off and got lapped nearly by everyone and was in last position. However, Potter took advantage of the spin and propelled himself up the charts and away from the sight of Perron. Once Perron got lapped by Washington once again, he lost all joy and just drove to finish the race in ninth position due to the retirement of Washington. John Potter was the lucky man of the day. After taking advantage of Perron's spin he got himself enough of an advantage to stay ahead and with the retirement of Washington, he managed to get into eighth spot and get himself one point in the championship.

The ever elusive Howard Gregory who was never available after a race for his comments was hounded by reporters and cornered off in the paddock before he could make his escape undetectable. Forced to give his evaluation of the race, Gregory summarized his race into four small points and as a result adding to the world's stereotype of English men as stylish and diplomatic. Like many others, he was another member of the now famous Esses incident. After piloting his car to the ground, he managed to save his car unlike others. He kept his car on the asphalt and drove a calm and collected race while passing four other cars with their own accidents. He also managed to beat Danson in his Eagle before it expired. Gregory's engine had a small problem on lap 18 but the crew managed to change the engine in less than a second and he was on his way again. And instead of settling for one point after sitting behind Washington, he got more than he gambled after Washington's forced exit from the race. As a result, the teammates Gregory and Potter score a 1-2 in the 7-8 positions with their Brabhams.

Sixth place went to Finn Samuli Strang who was driving a Ferrari. After a small wrestling match with the Lotus of Marcel Thomassen at the Loop, Strang got ahead of Thomassen. But the final laugh rested with Thomassen who passed Strang a couple of laps later. After that, Strang passed Aussie Washington and managed to stay in 6th place till the end of the race. A quite uneventful race for him when compared with the races of the drivers from the lower order.

Fifth place was taken by Alex McCarthy in his Ferrari. In a way, the Ferrari's of Strang and McCarthy only swapped places with each other before they finished the race. A clean race for the Brit saw him get through the race unscathed and also allowed him to pick up some valuable points that saw him consolidate his sixth position a little more in the Championship Standings.

Marcel Thomassen who is the defending champion finally finished in fourth place in the race. After tangling with Strang at the Loop on lap one, he drove a magnificent race to overtake all the slower and much more inexperienced drivers. While the task may have been easy on paper, it is no easy task to keep the car on the track and pass others. It is a true legacy to his experience, skill and dedication.

Canadian Nishi Perera in his Lotus finished on the podium in third place. While he may have had it easy without being involved in the Esses incident, he certainly gave Eduardo Parise a run for his money after Parise's mistake during the race at the last corner. It seemed that Parise got a little too much over steer and he spun on the straight. Perera being right behind him used evasive tactics to run circles around Parise and move into second place. Parise's spin on the pit straight was a reminder of Surtees' spin on the pit straight in the 1967 US GP at Glen. After that incident, Parise drove a grueling race to pass Perera who was not going to give up second place so readily. Perera was seen locking the brakes and spewing the smoke into Parise's face while trying to get away from him. Parise was not to be deterred as his perseverance saw him brake a tad bit later than Perera into the Loop twice or thrice. But Perera was smart enough to get the inside line onto the straight which put Parise behind him. However, Parise was no fool and he showed this after a slight mistake by Perera at the Big Bend saw Parise get through him and take second place back. But the battle will be remembered by all who have seen it and cherished for a long time to come.

Brit Az Edwards drove an almost flawless race and was the Schumacher of the race instead of the "Driver of the Race". He lead from start to finish and only passed drivers when lapping them. The few mistakes he encountered were not enough for the other drivers to pass him since he was so far out ahead. And in the end he took the chequered flag of the US GP.

While Edwards may have won the race, it was Eduardo Parise who won the hearts. The Brazilian has had a tough season and he has emerged victorious as FMBL3 WDC. After taking the first FMBL WDC, he lost it last year to Marcel Thomassen. But he has taken his WDC crown once again. His victory will be long remembered since he has officially resigned from FMBL. Politics and young drivers were the cause for his retirement from FMBL. The day was marked with irony since Parise had furiously announced his retirement after the Belgian GP at Spa Francorchamps earlier this year. But he has seen it through the season and congrats to him on his second WDC.

And the US GP also marked the victory of the HERTZ Team for the Constructor's Championship. Teammates, Thomassen and Beaudoin did not party as expected due to Beaudoin's dejected outlook on the year at the US GP. But the bubbly will most probably flow at the Australian GP which is the last Grand Prix of the season.

With the US GP, we have seen three retirements. Team Herring will no longer exist with John Fransson and Edu Parise leaving FMBL. Another retirement from FMBL is Varun Kotharu of Xytech Racing. Without his team's second driver Gaarenstroom active, it's most likely the end of Xytech as well.

Both the WDC and Constructor's Championship have been decided. But more excitement lies in store for everyone since the battle for second place in the Driver's Championship is still on. That will give Beaudoin something to cheer about and the only way to know if he will ever show up is to rejoin us in two weeks time.

FMBL 3 Champion: Eduardo Parise, Herring Racing

02-04-2004 - Parise takes his second FMBL crown!

By finishing in 2nd place in the United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, Eduardo Parise deservedly clinched his second FMBL World Drivers' Title. With two races still remaining on the calendar all he needed to do was keep in front of the HERTZ drivers. He started from 2nd place on the grid to finish second, but not without one of the greatest battles in FMBL history with rising star Nishi Perera. Thomassen qualified right behind Parise in 3rd, but had a bad start followed by a first lap incident, which caused him to fall back. He eventually finished 4th behind Perera. Didier Beaudoin very unfortunately missed the event due to a bad misunderstanding over the start time, which meant he was unable to defend his chances. The race was won by Az Edwards in an Eagle, staying out of trouble way ahead of the most important battles of the race.

A report of the race will follow soon.

24-03-2004 - Parise works the Brazillian magic to win at Monza

"Eagles may soar but Brabhams don't get sucked into jet engines"
By Varun Kotharu

The Italian GP. Home to the team Ferrari and its beloved Tifosi. Round 15 of the FMBL was located in the exquisite surroundings of this Europe's most southern country. The track is a favourite of all drivers because of its simplicity, the ability to overtake and more importantly, because of the speeds. An easy track to learn, it is quite a relief for many drivers who had driven at the last race in Canada at St Jovite where keeping the car in the right direction is in itself tiring.

Round fifteen attracted fifteen drivers. A statistic overlooked by everyone who were lost in the excitement of the race. Qualifying was as usual a dogfight at the front of the pack. Eagles are known for their prowess at fast tracks and the defenders of this opinion were able to entrench themselves as Az Edwards raced to pole position with a 1:27:372s. However, people expecting an Eagle front row were disappointed as Didier Beaudoin drove a wedge between the Eagle's of Edwards and Parise by taking second position in his Lotus giving only 0.166 seconds away to pole sitter Edwards. Parise took third and was 0.398 seconds behind the leader. Following him was another Lotus with Marcel Thomassen who was 0.433 seconds behind Edwards. Nothing less or more was expected from the top four who are all vying for the championship this year. Nishi Perera sat on fifth position in his Lotus and was finally followed by the Scarlet cars of Mauri Virtanen and Alex McCarthy. Danson took eighth in the Eagle with Howard Gregory in his Brabham following close by. Samuli Strang in his Ferrari was 10th fastest and was followed by Perron, Kotharu, Washington, Potter and Tziotzios in his Ferrari. A popular among fans even though he planted the red car on last position.

All drivers tensely gripped their steering wheels in anticipation for the start. Fifteen very powerful cars were roaring to be let free like lions held in chains against their wishes. Infact, most drivers were known to wet in their pants because of the tension. But the diplomacy they have learnt in their career's also came with lessons in quick thinking and they all waved it away saying they were sweating. (Yeah Right!) Drag racing met Formula One racing at Monza as drivers with quicker reflexes were able to literally drag away. This resulted in Didier Beaudoin taking the lead, Nishi Perera beating Thomassen for 4th place and Kotharu in the back loose two places to the Brabhams of Washington and Potter. All drivers who lost positions were noticeably frustrated as they kept hitting the dashboard in utter frustration - except for Tziotzios who was extremely slow and not frustrated since he was at the back to begin with.

A fascinating phenomenon took place at T1. While FMB races are notorious for T1 incidents, all drivers were able to get through it safely except for Mauri Virtanen in his Ferrari who stuck a wheel on the grass but was able to continue without wrecking anybody else's race. However, a new phenomenon is taking its place to replace the old. Drivers are now messing up at corners which are supposedly easier since everyone's has settled in by now. However, Danson in his Eagle and Gregory in his Brabham made unusual contact which resulted in Danson spinning wildly and forcing Potter in his Brabham to avoid collision. Unusual indeed. Later on, Perera and McCarthy had another incident which was blamed on spatial distortions which ruined McCarthy's steering column and no blame was assigned to any driver.

An unsettling first lap indeed with racing coming from stalled cars, crashed cars and other non racing events. And while the field was swearing, spiting and making vows to kill each other in retribution, Beaudoin, Edwards and Parise were swinging around Parabolica and in their perfect unity around Parabolica, they emulated the music of racing. Mozzart would have been proud of them. And while the three aliens were running away, Perera and Thomassen were not far behind as they too were swinging into Parabolica. And while they might not have been in perfect sync, they performed the art of racing. da Vinci would have been proud of them in this case. And as the rest of the field was drowning in their troubles, they performed the unexplainable music of racing in the view of bands such as Slip Knot and Metallica. Just pure shouting and screaming for justice. We are not proud of these mortals even if they are supposed to be created in the image of god. (Then why can't they all drive like gods :S :S :S :S :S)

After Lap 1, all the anger and tension rolled away as drivers started to think about just driving home. Perron and Strang found each other on Lap 1 and they were found to entertain the crowd by racing each other. And with Strang in the Ferrari, there was no doubt that the car would be bolstered by the cheers of the crowd every time Strang was found to be strangling Perron into the corners to yield and stay back. However, Italy was not to favor the Finn as he spun off into Parabolica after a sensational battle. A little while after that, he found Kotharu who managed to keep him behind in his highly powered Eagle. After Strang passed him, it all dwindled down to skill as Strang blasted away only to find himself with a blown engine on lap 14. (Perhaps that engine could be used on Schumacher's car next race to spice up the F1 season). After that, it was a case of showing his anger as Strang ran away to his bicycle and started to pedal home to Finland vowing revenge on the power the Ferrari didn't have.

Till lap 5, the four championship contenders were close to each other pecking at each other's nerves to see who would crack first. While no one doubts their will to win, Thomassen began to show signs of nervousness in his car. The car became twitchy into Parabolica on many an occasion and Thomassen started to fall back without ever loosing his consistency. The Dutchman finished in fourth place and the suspicions were confirmed when he admitted to foolishly changing the brake bias during qualifying. It could very well have costed the defending champion the championship. With annoying and monkey like Thomassen off their backs, the three orchestra performers were able to continue on with their performance till lap 8 when Beaudoin had to get his priorities straight after he claimed to have seen a woman showing her chest to distract him. Whatever the incident was, it worked as Beaudoin lost all interest in his work and by lap 11, he even let Edwards through and he settled in 3rd place. (Further investigation revealed the "woman" was actually a man in disguise trying to show his muscle to the ladies in the crowd. So Beaudoin lost his lead for nothing. Well; amost nothing since it was something according to him :P)

While such drama was taking place at the front, Perera who challenged Thomassen in the beginning had a nightmarish kind of race. After spinning into Lesmo 1 under braking, Perera politely waited for the field to zoom by him. The onboard camera at this point makes any driver want to hit the gas and rudely step into the race. That showed the amount of self control Perera used to wait and then move on. After whizzing by the helplessly slow drivers, Perera once again said hello to the barriers at Lesmo 1 after cloberring wheels with McCarthy. At the same time, his car's gearbox also said hello to the nose of Kotharu's Eagle who clobbered into the barriers as well at this time. After that, Perera got down to business and passed Potter in his Brabham and finished in 6th place. A respectable drive since most backmarkers would have hung up their gloves by this time and moved on with their lives (or whats left of them atleast).

Nascar enthusiast Matt Danson once again joined the field in hope of getting a podium. He was to be dissapointed since he managed to bring the car in 10th position. Thats two places short of getting a point and 7 positions short of a podium. However, his race was not spent in complete boredom as he clashed wheels with Howard Gregory, Jeremy Washington and Az Edwards. While he gave a warning to Washington and didn't literally clash wheels, the chatting of these two on the public team radios caused quite a stir and the RAT's ratted them both out for misappropriate use of public chanells to fuel their tete a tete. But more damage to his image was done when another spatial anomaly in the space time continum caused his steering column to malfunction and lapping Edwards was unfortunate enough to collect him without spinning. But Edwards claimed to have been put at a disadvantage of this incident and while he hasn't complained to the RAT's, the incident has been noted in their logs as Edwards was a strong contender for the championship.

Howard Gregory was unavailable for his comment after the race despite the fact that he managed to finish in 5th place. No big event befell him and he drive an almost calm and clear race as he was never in threat of loosing that 5th place after gaining 4 places after the start during small mishaps. His team mate John Potter was however more cooperative and managed to inform the reporters that he was suffering from brain fade throughout the race which caused him to cream his car into Lesmo 1 and Parabolica on many an occasions and finish in 9th position. Reporters informed him that he might want to get checked up by a brain specialist and he just looked at them darkly with no apparent reason and flew away into the night sky with wings sprouting from his arms and laughing like a crazy man. (Beware this man people for he just might have gone insane from hanging around the normal FMB'ers.)

Team reports from Team Ferrari were sketchy to say the least. Their drivers Virtanen and McCarthy were the only ones capable to finish in point scoring positions in 6th and 7th place respectively. Tziotzios representing Italy finished in 11th place and Strang in his Ferrari retired early on in the race. Rumours and little evidence points to a "dissapointing race" for McCarthy according to him. The incident with Perera at Lesmo 1 seemed to have damaged his car more than he had anticipated and a few other mishaps made this race a difficult one for him. Virtanen in his Ferrari seemed to have the same problems as Thomassen did due to a faulty setup. However, the Big Finn as he is affectionately called was able to adjust to the new conditions and he ended his race in 6th place. Both the drivers voiced their beliefs that they might have done better had it not been for the minor accidents. Tziotzios who adopted Italy as his nationality was forgiven by the Tofosi for his love of them. And the fact that he didn't come in last place was more than an incentive for the Tifosi to raid his car for souvenirs at the end of the race.

Washington was the last running driver of the race. After a small laugh with his countryman Danson at Lesmo 2. However, that small chat got him into enough trouble to keep his mouth shut for Watkins Glen when many eyes will be trained on him. But a slight miscalculation on his part put him at the back of the grid and it has been reported that Nate Perron has cut his salary from 20 million dollars a year to 6 peanuts or so. Washington was seen to be running after his peanuts with tears streaming down his face because the 6 peanuts were blown away by the wind.

Retiree's Kotharu, Perron and Strang were thoroughly rebuked by many people for their inability to finish a race and all three drivers were seen to be escorted out of Monza by security guards for fear of being pelted by stones after not giving the crowd enough attention.

And that brings us to a looooooooong and tiring Italian GP. Join us for the US GP at Watkins Glen. The championship will most probably be decided here and that puts a lot of pressure on the US GP officials who will have to make sure none of the crowd will go beserk and trash the track for the GP. Join us if u are not yet tired or leave us if u are.

06-03-2004 - Meticulous Parise Drives To Victory In Canada

"Mountains & Ditches" (Mt Tremblant in a nutshell)
By Varun Kotharu

Round 14 of the FMBL Championship drew 13 competitors to the St Jovite aka Mt Tremblant for the GP du Quebec. The ever changing track elevations in the track certainly differentiates the men from the boys more than any other track with the exception of the Nurburgring. It was no different today as only 10 drivers of the 13 who arrived for the race were able to take up the challenge and defy the track's outright prejudice towards the drivers. One of the main attractions besides the championship contenders was Nishi Perera. This young driver from London, Ontario took a podium in his debut race last year at this very track. The crowd certainly hoped for another podium for him here and he was not to dissapoint them. Another home favourite was Didier Beaudoin who is also a strong contender for the title this year.

Two of the most experienced drivers in FMBL are the Brazillian, Eduardo Parise and the Dutchman, Marcel Thomassen who are in the neck to neck battle for the championship. Qualifying may not be very exciting for the viewers, but these two drivers were absolutely terrific in the fight for pole position. Parise was able to edge out Thomassen by a mere 0.162 seconds. But that was enough to give him an advantage for the race on this track where passing is almost impossible. McCarthy took third place on the grid followed closely by Beaudoin and Perera. Sixth place was taken by Howard Gregory who was then followed by Jukka Mattanen, Samuli Strang, Nate Perron and finally Varun Kotharu who formed the end of the grid. The crowd wasn't very happy with the performance from their home drivers but their charm and good looks were enough to make all the women scream out loud and that bolstered the morale of Perera and Beaudoin who would entertain the crowd by taming the untamable track.

When the flag dropped, the bullshit certainly stopped. 10 cars with the engines screaming for mercy rolled away into the first corner. A spectacular view presented itself as the drivers literally dived down into the track. Dirt and grass spewed onto the track as some of the drivers stuck a few wheels on either side of the track to gain control or rather because they lost control. In either case, one of the first drivers to loose himself was Nate Perron of Canada in his Brabham. An embaressing moment for him considering this is his first race in his career in FMBL in front of his home crowd. And before he waltzed across the track out of control, Varun Kotharu in his Eagle somehow managed to keep the car under control as Perron went across him down the hill. Terrifying seconds for both drivers as the incident between Sato and Heidfeld at Austria flared up in everyone's memory. Both drivers were calm about it and continued on. Meanwhile at T3, Beaudoin of Canada lost it too and hit Strang in his Ferrari. This allowed Kotharu and Perron to pass them both and move ahead while Kotharu had to slide his car a bit to avoid the collision there. But Strang would later take him out in an "optimistic move" as penned by the RAT's. As a result, he has managed to come under the scrutiny of the RAT's who will rat on him even for the slightest misconduct.

Ahead of the pack, Eduardo Parise and Marcel Thomassen were flying away as if on wings and these two drivers clearly stood out from the rest of the field. Many people felt a reminiscing of the famous battle at Dijon between Gilles Villeneuve and Rene Arnoux was required in order to properly showcase the intense skills of these two drivers. While there was not much banging of wheels, their courage at T1 was enough to satisfy the crowd and change the mind of the harshest critic. Since there was not much racing between them, it was an excellent case of modern racing meeting the old. And that does not change the quality of racing between them by even one bit.

One of the favourites of the home crowd was Nishi Perera. He maintained his position in third place throughout the race and while he was not racing anyone, he apparently enjoyed the attention of the home crowd and more importantly of the women for getting on the podium in third place and waving the Maple Leaf for all to see. While he may have been on the podium, another fighter was Didier Beaudoin who politely let Strang go after he took him off on Lap 1 and simply raced back to 4th place on the grid from the back. This accomplishment shows tremendous courage and skill of the driver since St Jovite is not very polite to drivers who want to overtake.

Alex McCarthy of Great Britain in his Ferrari was fantastic in qualifying. Placing himself 3rd on the grid, he looked set to place a Ferrari on the podium. However a slight mistake on his part put him down to 5th place. Another spin let through Beaudoin who was charging from the back. With a few laps to go, he blew his engine and a quick reset of the car corrected his problems and he was on his way when fate intervened in the form of a racing incident with his countrman Howard Gregory. McCarthy was quite furious at this incident and while he reported Gregory to the RAT's, the RAT's have turned down his plea and set him in his place which was 6th in the end while Gregory finished in 5th.

Finn Maattaanen in his Lotus managed to finish in 7th place while his countryman Strang in the Ferrari finished in 8th place. A relatively boring race was Jovite for the Finns despite Strang's problem with the RAT's. One can only hope they will race at Monza and bring out more interesting results.

Canadians Perron and Kotharu topped off the bottom of the sheets. But that was enough for admiration and respect from all of Canada and the ladies as each driver was seen driving away with a car full of ladies to their homes. (:P)

And that ends the Canadian GP and now all eyes turn towards Italy as Monza is next on the schedule. Answers to Questions about the Title will be given here as the race for the Championship is more intense and closer than it will ever get. Do join us after the next race or the Questions will remain Questions.

(Note: A lot of reference is made to Canadian drivers and women with them. Dont feel jealous. We were just living the moment :P)

15-02-2003 - Thomassen Emerges Victor at Keimola
By Varun Kotharu

"There are those who think that they were dealt a losing hand,
The cards were stacked against them; they weren't born in Lotusland."

The small elegy by John Fransson of Team Herring proved to be almost a foreshadowing to the outcome of the Finnish Grand Prix at Keimola. Round 13 of the FMBL Championship was set in the land of the thousand lakes. While Keimola had been shutdown in 1978, the FMBL drivers felt it would be nostalgic and an honour to the Finnish drivers in FMBL. With the battle for the championship fully heated up, it was ironic that the race should be held in a cold country. (No offense Finns)

All drivers felt it was quite a dull track to race at. But race day certainly proved their assumptions to be quite wrong. Testing was interesting and intimidating as usual. Eduardo Parise released fake times of his fantasy laps in a BRM. But the FMBLIA was too quick for him and he denied his times. (Don't we all wish we had an edit button in life?)

Qualifying was nail biting. Among the Finnish drivers, Samuli Strang managed to get 7th spot on the grid while Mauri Virtanen and Samuli Ikäheimo were fighting to win the crowd's heart and while Virtanen managed to get 10th place, the crowd applauded both of their heroes as they managed to lap equal times of 1m17.939s. It couldn't have been better entertainment for the Finnish fans even with a victory for the Finnish drivers. However, the Dutch driver Marcel Thomassen in his Lotus was able to get pole position with a blistering time of 1m15.892s. He was closely followed by Didier Beaudoin of Canada also in a Lotus who was followed by Eduardo Parise in an Eagle. These drivers managed to be seperated by only 0.06 seconds and the crowd showed their appreciation by politely giving them a standing ovation.

Sixteen drivers managed to make the start. Such a large turnout towards the end of the season shows that the FMBL has been a success - which Farzad Bakhtiar should be proud of. While Farz may be proud, his fellow countryman Nishi Perera seems to be in a sea of troubles. His tangle with the Nascar fan and F1 driver Matt Danson at T1 caused quite a problem on this narrow track. Perera literally rammed Danson and started a chain reaction as most of the drivers at the back were caught in this incident and were thrown across to either side of the track. The crowd immediately went up on its feet and were ready to stop the race since a couple of Finnish drivers were involved in this incident. But Virtanen managed to calm them down by waving to them and Strang and Ikäheimo followed him and the race went on again. Meanwhile, the leaders Beaudoin, Parise and Thomassen were close to each other and took this opportunity to stream away. First retirement of the race came from Kotharu who was pathetic during qualifying and it should have been a relief to the frontrunners.

But Beaudoin soon developed problems due to his setup and he started to fall back. The problems were so troubling, he took second place in the retirement department and was found to be crying like a baby in his trailer because of his stupidity. Meanwhile, Parise and Thomassen were playing the bitchfight game by clawing at each other like little cubs and giving the crowd something to "ooooh" and "aaahhhh" about.

Virtanen was on quite a charge by this time and he was quickly moving through the field nearly getting a position every two laps or so. A graph of the race history showed a remarkable consistency by him. On the other hand, Jo Fransson of Sweden seemed to make a few mistakes which dropped him down a bit. But his driving seemed to get better and he managed to redeem himself and finally finished in 8th place.

Meanwhile, a whole bunch of positivers were passing and repassing each other on track and off the track. But only John Potter was able to keep his head high and finish what he started and he managed a meagre result of 11th place while his teammate Howard Gregory was able to finish in 6th place. These two make a good team and we hope they can continue to race with us in the future. Canadian Nishi Perera in his Lotus had a horrible race and he stayed on to finish the race in 10th place. When it comes down right to it, the Canadian involvement in this race was saddening and the TV stations in Canada reported a marginal drop in ratings when it came to the race.

The amazing driver of the race was Matt Danson. He kept the "Eagle flag high" according to him and we have to agree with him. A relatively inexperienced driver; he managed quite an astonishing result. A few congratulations went in his direction and everyone hopes that he will quit Nascar to become a full time GPL driver.

British driver Alex McCarthy in his Ferrari finished in 7th place and he was neither happy, nor sad at this result given his excursion at T1 on lap one. He certainly played his part well and kept the British pride up even with the retirement of Tom Ansell in his Honda early on in the race.

The Finnish drivers had a great outing and even if Ikäheimo couldn't finish in the points by placing in 9th place, the crowd went nuts about the huge battle between Strang and Virtanen for about 9 laps towards the end. Virtanen with his experience was able to pull ahead and finish in a well-deserved 4th place giving Strang 5th place. The crowd certainly had a great day with their heroes banging wheels in qualifying and in the race.

The fight at the front between Thomassen and Parise was breathtaking to say the least. These two drivers harrassed each other for the extent of the whole race and in the end Thomassen managed to pull ahead of Parise and finished just 0.80 seconds ahead of Parise. No amount of words can express the tension and competition these two drivers brought about during the race. We salute you.

And that wraps up the Finnish Grand Prix of FMBL 3.0. Join us next year and certainly join us for the next race at Mont Tremblant in Canada since the fight for the championship is certainly still on!

The latest championship standings can now be found at GPLRank.

14-02-2004 - The title fight is on

Going into the 13th race of the season at Keimola, the fight for the FMBL3 crown has become closer and closer. And we've even come to the point where the championship leader has to start dropping his worst results of the season. He is the only one to have contested every race so far - and finished every one of them in the points. Parise in 2nd place has already missed 5 races, so he won't have to drop any results. Thomassen will have to drop 2, Edwards one.

It's going to be Lotus vs Eagle, and the last part of the season seems to favour Lotus over Eagle. The graph on the left pictures the fight for the title so far (click for a larger version). Beaudoin keeps going all the time, although he will be held back by dropping results from here on. Parise seems to have come to a stop now but with his speed he only has to finish to win a race - and as said he won't have to drop results. Thomassen is on a charge lately, taking over 3rd place from Edwards after the last race at the Nürburgring. Edwards is going up and down a bit, and he will have to race every race to keep in contention.

The next track is real Lotus territory, then there's a real drivers track, and then Monza, where Eagle should have the upper hand. It's going to be a couple of exciting races at the front, as this is where it matters. Will Beaudoin hold on to his lead, or can Parise work his magic once more? Or will it be Thomassen who takes his 2nd consecutive FMBL title? And Edwards is still looking very strong as well, now with the 2nd best GPLRank in the championship.

02-02-2004 - Thomassen takes victory at the Ring

Marcel Thomassen has won yesterday's German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring for the second year running. Having set pole with a time of 8:03 he led the best part of the race to take the win and, as at Clermont-Ferrand, set fastest lap as well. This win, with Beaudoin and Edwards finishing further down the field and Parise retiring on lap 1, brings him up to 3rd place in the championship standings, within reach of Parise and still a chance to defend his title.

Samuli Strang took a very impressive 2nd place in his Ferrari, driving an incredibly constant race, lapping with an average deviation of 0.988 seconds! In the end, only Thomassen and Edwards were able to lap quicker than him. Getting stronger by the race, he could be one of the strongest drivers in FMBL4.

McCarthy took 3rd place, also for Ferrari, nearly a minute down on Thomassen. This ensures him of 7th place in the standings, under little threat from anyone else - if it weren't for that same Samuli Strang. Both are still within reach of 5th place.

Championship leader Beaudoin had another disappointing outing, finishing 4th. He still enjoys a 17 point lead to Parise but having scored at every race this year he'll have to start dropping results from the next race. Having missed 5 races, Parise won't have to drop results, so Beaudoin isn't there yet! Thomassen, now 21 points behind, still has to drop 2 results but has the "advantage" that he can drop a 7th and 8th place...

Howard Gregory started from an impressive 3rd grid position to take his first points in only his second race, finishing just behind Beaudoin in 5th. Congratulations! Perera fought to hold on to 6th place, just in front of Edwards in 7th. Jeremy Washington took the last point of the day.

The Nürburgring saw another debut, namely that of Joe Cammarano in an Eagle of the Bald Eagle Racing team. Qualifying for 14th place on the grid, he had to retire on the 2nd lap. Better luck next time!

The next race will be at Keimola in Finland, a very twisty track where the Lotus is a powerful tool. Can Beaudoin reassure his lead or will Parise forget he's driving an Eagle and make another one of his amazing performances anyway?

The Teams & Drivers page has been updated with the new teams and, finally, everyone's GPLRanks. Quite a few big improvements since the last update, and even a few new negatives! Keep it up!

See you at Keimola!

25-01-2004 - Edwards wins at home, too!

Az Edwards has won last Sunday's British Grand Prix at Silverstone, the first race in the new year. Spurred on by all the crowd, he ruled supreme with his Eagle to win by a margin of 4 seconds to Thomassen, after some problems late in the race threatened his victory. Starting from pole, he led all the way to the finish to score a popular victory, which further strengthened his 3rd position in the championship standings and brought him closer to the lead as Beaudoin ended a misfortunate race in 5th.

Australia's Darius Koreis finished 3rd, half a minute behind Edwards and with Perera breathing down his neck in 4th. Strang put in another fine performance to take the 3 points that go with 6th place while the reformed Repco-Slipstream team finished 7th and 8th with Perron and Washington just 3 seconds apart.

Silverstone also saw the debut of L'Equipe Django, which runs all-new Brabham cars for Howard Gregory and John Potter. Gregory finished his first race in a fine 9th after some problems caused him to fall back, while Potter claimed 11th in front of Tziotzios. A very respectable debut for a team from which we'll hear more in the future, no doubt.

The FMBL circus now moves to the German Eifel region and the Nürburgring for the 12th round of the championship. So far only 2 of the current drivers have managed a lap under 8 minutes at the track - both are champions of the series. This is where the boys will be seperated from the men - will we see the FMBL3 champion rise here?

28-12-2003 - Thomassen rules at Clermont-Ferrand

News has reached us today that last Sunday's French Grand Prix at Clermont-Ferrand has been won by HERTZ driver Marcel Thomassen in a dominant display. Taking pole with a blistering time of 3m24.738s he was over 2 seconds faster than anyone else - he was obviously on a mission to make up for his loss at Le Mans.

In the race, Thomassen got a good getaway to keep Parise behind. Parise then went for a thourough guardrail inspection in turn 2, which promoted Beaudoin to second place. He was able to close on his teammate but spun out later on the first lap, and he had to let a lot of cars pass him by. It was now Koreis who was running 2nd for PITA Racing. However, now that Thomassen was relieved of his teammate's pressure he was able to pull away, never giving Koreis a chance to catch up. In fact, a few laps later Beaudoin was back in second, but he made a mistake, allowing Koreis to slip back into 2nd. Beaudoin now dropped to 4th behind Parise, but soon passed him for 3rd just before Parise's race came to a premature end. So Beaudoin found himself again catching Koreis, but having caught him in the last laps he couldn't find a way past on the twisty roads that make such a fabulous racetrack.

Behind all this action, Perera, Strang and McCarthy all drove steady but lonely races for 4th, 5th and 6th places. They were far off Thomassen's pace, but today nobody could keep up with him. An enthusiast for the longer tracks like the Nürburgring and Le Mans, this one was for him - he eventually crossed the finishing line 42 seconds in front of Koreis ending a perfect meeting with pole, fastest lap and a win.

Parise, although retired, still took 2 points for 7th while Perron took the last point. Ikaheimo, who fell victim of Thomassen's off just a week earlier, had to retire after just 3 laps, eventually classified 9th.

The next race will be the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, the first FMBL championship meeting of the new year. Being one of the oldest venues on the calender, all drivers know it well and times are close, and with 3 weeks still to go until the race those will only get closer as the teams will be testing intensively.

After that it's time for the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, the most challenging track on the calendar. In preparation, Thomassen competed in a 500 km race there yesterday, finishing 4th after 3 hours of racing when the race was cut short to 478 km. After some considerable warming up trouble in the early laps, he worked his way up from 15th.

16-12-2003 - FMBL Endurance Race

Sunday, december 14th, 2003, 14:00 CET. Time to start the long awaited FMBL endurance race at Le Mans. 12 drivers have lined up for the start, eager to make a big leap in the standings with the chance of scoring double points today. The rolling start will be at the end of a formation lap, so the drivers leave the grid to warm up their cars and tires. At the end of the famous Mulsanne straight, polesitter Eduardo Parise stops. Having reached far out of his cockpit to feel if his tires are warming up nicely, he missed the turn and had to back up. Meanwhile the rest of the drivers got stuck in the traffic jam. After a neatly executed metre of reverse driving, the field could continue, so that Parise could again stop, now to check his temperatures properly. This allowed Thomassen to ram him from the back as he didn't have any intentions yet to check his temperatures. That would have been something to do at Indianapolis, he thought. The little Zebu nudge was enough to put a Herring upside down though, and it was time to restart the race, especially as further down the grid some people couldn't even see where the others were going, let alone themselves.

A restart it was, and the field was back at the end of Mulsanne when Thomassen spotted an untrimmed hedge on 2 'o clock and couldn't resist sacrificing his race to help the Le Mans' greenkeeper. Afterall, when the FMBL series runs a race at a track it is very important that the track looks the part. Once the field reached Maison Blanche, the hedge was in order and Thomassen went chasing the pack.

At the start, Parise got away well from his 30th career pole and took advantage of his Eagle's high top speed to open up a gap to Perera and McCarthy. Thomassen soon caught Tziotzios and Ikaheimo, who kindly let him by, when he spotted a high patch of grass coming out of Maison Blanche. Without any effort at all, and again putting his race on the line, he put a wheel on the grass and flicked the car into a spin, mowing the grass within the blink of an eye. About to rejoin the track he spotted more trouble on the other side, so off he went in a graceful pirouette to save the greenkeeper's job once more. His job now well and truly done, it was time to come to a standstill on the middle of the track. Ikaheimo had been catching Thomassen again during the mowing action, and he simply was at the wrong place at the wrong time, and struck the Lotus. Or was it Thomassen who was in the wrong place? Opinions in the paddock varied. The only consolement they have now is that the greenkeeper can still feed his children. Ikaheimo's Ferrari lost two wheels in the crash, so he was out. Thomassen's car also lost two wheels, and blew the engine, so he could go on albeit on a slightly slower pace.

A few laps later, Nate Perron in the sole Brabham had to retire his car with an engine problem. His faithful Repco V8 had never failed him before but as luck has it, it did in this all important race. Meanwhile, Parise was still comfortably leading, but Perera had retired. A little mistake had cost him and he was out of the race. After a short battle with Tziotzios, Thomassen retired from 8th place because his car was lacking power and speed on the straights. The Ferrari's fuel tank had gotten stuck against his brake pedal, and the fumes coming from it were making him sick, or so was said the press statement.

There was now a great battle going on for second place between Beaudoin and Edwards. After a little mistake from the Canadian Zebu driver, Edwards took over second place but Beaudoin catched him back up again, thanked him for keeping his seat warm and took over again and held on to finish 2nd, with Edwards behind him in 3rd.

The last retirement came with Strang, whose Firestone suspension proved not to be able to cope with the extreme loads, as did his Ferrari's suspension. He couldn't go on and dropped to 7th place, still earning him 2 points for the championship. Tziotzios took advantage to take 6th place and 6 points with a steady race.

Koreis had run 4th for a while until he was overtaken by Beaudoin and Edwards, and finished the race in 5th after Perera retired. McCarthy underwent the same fate one place higher to take 4th. The Beaudoin-Edwards battle was won by Beaudoin in the end, beating Edwards by 25 seconds at the line by taking full advantage of Edwards' language disadvantage. But Parise was the class of the field. Never threatened by anyone, he was able to slow down on the last laps to let Beaudoin finish only just within a minute.

Those who finished this race made great leaps in the points standings, which are now dominated by Beaudoin and Parise 4 points apart, with Edwards no less than 20 points down from 2nd place Perera and Thomassen follow at 14 points behind Edwards. The teams championship however is still lead by HERTZ, with a margin of 34 points.

That's not the end of it though! There are still 8 rounds to come, including Clermont-Ferrand and the Nürburgring, so nothing is decided just yet.

07-12-2003 - Endurance Race: Qualifying Results

Herring Racing's Eduardo Parise continued his Anderstorp form to set pole for next Sunday's Endurance Race at Le Mans, with a blistering time of 3m16.274s. Just 6 tenths behind him is HERTZ driver Marcel Thomassen, going faster than anyone would have expected to be the fastest Lotus at a track where Eagle is the way to go. Third fastest was Balderdashes Nishi Perera, lapping half a second quicker than championship leader Didier Beaudoin. The fastest Ferrari on track was Alex McCarthy with 5th place, followed by Nate Perron with an impressive time in the Brabham, which doesn't suit this track at all. Darius Koreis took 7th, closely followed by Samuli Strang and Samuli Ikaheimo. Niklas Rudi and Craig Harris were also present but both failed to set a time.

This means 11 people are qualified for the race so far, and 9 places are still available. Those who join now will have to submit a recent replay of them doing at least 3 consecutive, quick and trouble-free laps in order to be allowed to race. That goes for those who failed to set a lap today as well except they can't be bumped off the grid in case the 20 driver limit is reached. You can sign up for the race by posting in the Le Mans thread and sending your replay to Marcel before saturday the 13th.

Qualifying results are online on the endurance race page - names will be added to the list as people sign up, their entry will be confirmed when the replay is in. (Professional, eh? :D)

06-12-2003 - Endurance Race: Qualifying

With qualifying coming up tomorrow (um, today) at F1 time, I've created a little page for the endurance race, with all the dates and times we need, the extra rules for the race, and some tips for dummies which nobody probably needs anyway. I'll post the qualifying results there as soon as I can, and add people to the starting grid if they join in after qualifying. There may be some typos in there but all the information on that page will be official (damn doesn't that sound professional?? :D). Click the endurance race logo to go to the page!

See you at Le Mans tomorrow!

03-12-2003 - Parise dominates at Anderstorp

Last Sunday's Swödish Grand Prix at Anderstorp has been won by Herring's Edu Parise, making him the fourth double winner of this season. Parise led from start to finish to take a deserved win. In qualifying practice, Parise took pole with a time of 1:35.41, just 0.2 seconds ahead of HERTZ driver Thomassen. Championship leader Beaudoin was half a second off Parise's pace in third.

At the start of the race, Beaudoin got away well and slipped into 2nd place in the first corner, only to explore the Swõdish grassfields a few corners on, allowing his teammate to take back 2nd place. Eager to make up for his terrible time at Francorchamps, Thomassen was pushing hard to catch Parise and keep Koreis behind. But on the 2nd lap the inevitable happened as he misjudged his braking at the end of the runway and spun. On further investigation to the car by the team afterwards, it was found that the cause of the spin would fade away during the day but furtherly remains unexplained. The spin caused him to fall back to 6th place. Meanwhile, Parise just went on like he was still at the party of the night before, like in a trance.

John Fransson, who was driving his home race, was now third in front of Beaudoin and the crowd loved it. Beaudoin was now catching him though, and the crowd hated it. He made a move at the third corner and the crowd hated it even more. Fransson, having just seen Beaudoin sail by on the inside, only just managed to hit the HERTZ Lotus to spin them both and allow Thomassen into 3rd place. The crowd now started to scream all kinds of compliments we didn't understand at Fransson, who soon stopped to scream back some more things we didn't understand. Meanwhile, Parise acted as if his nose was bleeding and went on leading the race.

Thomassen was now catching Koreis for 2nd rapidly but the cause of his earlier spin still hadn't faded away so he soon had to spin twice more. This prevented him from getting close enough to Koreis and 2 more valuable points. With Beaudoin right behind him in the race and 25 points ahead in the championship, this meant the gap would be closed by an encouraging.... one point. Meanwhile, Parise's Eagle was rocking him to sleep and, dreaming about everything except the race he tried to take off at the end of the runway but soon realised braking would probably would be better for the forest surrounding the track. So he went to fill his radiator with grass and returned on his leading way.

Beaudoin was now experiencing the same strange fading problem his teammate had earlier, allowing Aaron Edwards to overtake him for 4th. Now Thomassen got 2 points closer to his teammate in the championship, so he pushed a little harder (obviously) to try and take 2 more from Koreis, setting his fastest lap on the last lap. Koreis held on to his 8 points however, giving him another boost in the standings. Meanwhile, Parise woke up to notice the race was over and celebrate his win.

Aaron Edwards held on to 4th with Beaudoin right on his gearbox, while Nishi Perera took 6th. Both one lap down, Samuli Strang and Alex McCarthy took the last points of the race.

The action returns next weekend already with qualifying for the important endurance race at Le Mans. More on the endurance race, like rules, race times and qualifying results can be found here soon.

20-11-2003 - Second win for Beaudoin!

Round seven of the FMBL Championship saw the circus at Spa. The magnificent hilly mountains and the ever changing altitude of the track promised an eventful race. Seventeen drivers took to qualifying at this challenging track. While the leaders felt at home here, many rookies were just here for the experience. With seventeen drivers, it proved to be a very interesting qualifying with cars all over the track proving difficult for a driver to get a good lap. Nevertheless, Brazillian driver Eduardo Parise of Team Herring snatched pole from the British driver Az Edwards with a blistering 3m15.072s, well ahead of Edwards who slotted in 00.856 seconds behind. Didier Beaudoin of Canada took third place with a well driven 3m.16.505s, which proved to be 01.433 seconds short of Parise's time. Now, the stage was set and all the drivers were ready to play their parts.

Seventeen, very tense drivers were on the grid waiting for the green flag to drop. And when it did, the Ardennes Forest trembled with the echoes of seventeen cars roaring away into Eau Rouge at over 8000 RPM's each. A clean T1 was almost in sight until backmarkers Niklas Rudi and Craig Harris crashed their cars while entering the intimidating T1 of Spa Francorchamps. Luckily they were the only ones slowed down by the incident and no other driver was involved in a chain reaction and the race was on.

Parise followed by Edwards followed by Beaudoin was the order going into Les Combes and all drivers came through another intimidating corner unharmed. However, Parise was being challenged by a very aggressive Edwards and the two looked almost connected to each other going into Burnenville and the rest of the field was following them while respecting each other. However, the umbilical cord was disconnected when Edwards stuck his Eagle onto the grass on the exit out of Burnenville and in the process took out Pererra, Thomassen, Virtanen from the frontrunners and the upcoming Perron in his Brabham.

Rest of lap 1 consisted of the drivers involved in the pile up playing the chasing game making up for lost time. But the line up now consisted of Parise, Beaudoin (who escaped the accident), McCarthy, Koreis, Kotharu and Matannen from the top six. Lap two was pretty much a normal lap with the frontrunners overtaking the slower drivers except for Perrera who stuck 2 wheels on the grass from the exit of Masta which was quite unusual since he always seemed so cool under pressure.

Lap 3 took another twist with another big bang - this time at Burnenville. In his chase on Kotharu, Strang who passed Matannen after a slight mistake made a big miscalculation and ended up banging wheels with Matannen on the entry to Burnenville. Both drivers reset their cars and were on their way when charging Washington followed by Thomassen got caught up in the crash. This saga wasn't over by a long shot when Pererra and Ansell also joined the melee and it soon became another chaotic place on the track.

The man responsible for the crash on lap 1 got a big advantage from this crash on lap 3 since he passed all the cars that had built up a substantial lead over him. He soon was in the hunt for Strang and Washington who were the first ones to get out of the crash before he came through. Once he passed both these drivers, he started to cut into the 20 second lead Kotharu had built up from the crash.

Meanwhile at the front, all was quiet with Parise enjoying a pleasant race and who indulged himself by going into "the zone". Parise openly admitted this after the race. Beaudoin in his Lotus was no match for the much more experienced Brazillian in the Eagle and was becoming content with his second place. McCarthy was also enjoying the scenery in his third place and was not willing to push his car beyond the limit for fear of loosing his much awaited and deserved podium finish. Koreis, himself was prolly not willing to push his car either since he failed to catch McCarthy in his Ferrari. Kotharu in fifth place was however sweating buckets in his cockpit for fear of loosing his fifth place from Edwards on the warpath.

Lap 7 awarded Edwards with fifth place after he passed the Eagle with no effort and he continued on to chase Koreies but twas too late. The race was coming to an end and Parise was relishing victory but Ansell and his Honda were to play a major role in the finish of this incident filled Belgian Grand Prix.

On lap 8, Ansell lost it at the exit of Masta while closly followed by Parise who was to lap him. But the Honda driver mysteriously began to reverse his Honda onto the track once reset was impossible. A distraught Parise tried his evasive manouvers only to nick the Honda and spin wildly on the straight while managing to stay clear of the house. But the damage was done and the toll taken by the engine over the 8 laps and this accident was too much for the fragile piece of machinery which gave up at the entrance to Blanchimont. But the reset took too long as Beaudoin flashed by the Eagle with adrenaline pumping through his entire body only to hear the distraught Parise cry out "Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo".

And when the chequered flag came down, Beaudoin took his second win of the season followed by an angered Parise who left for the airport as quickly as he got out of the car without waiting for the awards ceremony. McCarthy has something to cheer about after climbing the podium after awaiting for the moment a long time.

Immediately after the race, Team Herring announced in a press statement that the team was to retire from active racing there and then. H.E.R.T.Z. Racing Team, dominant leaders in the teams championship, are now considering changing their name to Starving Zebus, and trying to find out whether or not a Balderdash is good on their stomachs.

Thus ended the Spa adventure of FMBL 3.0 and now we move to Anderstop for the Swedish GP in two weeks. But before we do, the circus stops at Rouen for a non championship race. The fun never ends.

04-11-2003 - First FMBL win for Beaudoin

The setting for the 6th round of the championship was the mountainous region of Zeltweg for the Austrian Grand Prix. There were reports of incoming rain, but the track stayed dry in an area where changeable conditions are common. During qualifying twelve cars took to the track to fight for pole. The Lotus 49 was well suited to this track with long straights and medium speed corners. Canadian, Didier Beaudoin, took pole with an impressive 1m44.381s followed by two more Lotus’ of Koreis and Perera. Only nine cars were able to make the grid because of technical difficulties and Thomassen having to rush off after forgetting about a denstist appointment.

On the start, Perera got a swift get away, passing Koreis for second and following Beaudoin into the fast Hella Kurve. Further behind there was contact between Moulin and Rudi into turn two. After putting two wheels off the edge of the track, Beaudoin spun towards the end of the first lap. Perera took over the lead with Kories in close pursuit.

Beaudoin now pushed hard, and set a blistering pace trying to recover. He easily passed McCarthy in the Ferrari and caught Kories within a few laps. Kories had a moment at turn one, not hitting anything, but letting Beaudoin through. Beaudoin soon caught leader Perera, and the next few laps became a monumental battle between the two. Observers report that the two went side by side many times. Eventually Beaudoin took over the lead, with Perera spinning in his wake. Further in the field Moulin was having a rollercoaster race and could only recover to 8th after battling with Tziotzios and Rudi. Kotharu had a solid 5th place denied when his engine blew on the last lap. The race ended with Beaudoin taking the checkered flag, his first of the season, with Kories and Perera in tow.

20-10-2003 - Another home win!

Yesterday's Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort has been won by HERTZ driver Marcel Thomassen, as for the second time in a row a GP was won by the home favourite. HERTZ had the Herring opposition, who took turns in setting off mines to get to the circuit wearing nothing but a bit of sand, completely boxed in as teammate Didier Beaudoin finished fourth. "It might seem like they just got 2nd and 3rd, but the truth is we've got them right where we want them. We are now first and joint second in the drivers championship, and leading the teams."

The start of the race was an FMBL first as nobody managed to crash himself or another in Tarzan. Half the spectators immediately left the circuit in disgust to go and watch the minefield on the beach being dismantled. In an effort to keep the remaining spectators at the track, Eduardo Parise soon spun at Tarzan, letting Thomassen into 2nd place. Now, Beaudoin was running away with it quickly, so most spectators set about building sand castles in the dunes. Realising it was of no use in the dry sand they returned their attention to the race. Now Beaudion was already coming up to some backmarkers, and lost the lead when he collided with one. The spectators soon found out trying to throw dry sand at the backmarker was of little use as well as they tried to get it out of their eyes again.

So now Thomassen had a surprisingly firm lead. Parise and Beaudoin were catching him by leaps at a time but they were too far away. The specatators soon found out throwing dry sand at fast drivers to slow them down doesn't work either. Now it was Thomassen's turn to have a moment with a backmarker, but fortunately his car was undamaged and he could continue still leading. The spectators soon found out throwing dry sand at backmarkers still didn't work.

Thomassen's lead was still confortable however, and he could continue at the same pace - at which Beaudoin and Parise were catching him a second per lap at times. Everything looked to be in the bag for him when, going through Bos uit to start the last lap, he went off. The spectators wisely figured throwing dry sand at him would be of no use, since his cockpit was now filled with it anyway. He still had enough time though, and completed the last lap to win his home GP.

Zandvoort also saw John Fransson and Varun Kotharu scoring their first points of the season with 3rd and 8th, while Määttänen and Perera took 5th and 6th for Balderdash racing, and Strang again scored some valuable points for l.A.D.a. in 7th. Furthermore, by finishing first and second in the race, Thomassen and Parise became the first two drivers to ever score more than 200 points in their FMBL careers!

17-10-2003 - Testing in the dunes...

As the Dutch Grand Prix is closing, all the competing drivers have been very busy testing and testing and testing, and then testing some more. Afteral, Zandvoort will be a big chance for points for many, as the otherwise so annoyingly present Herrings are expected to prefer the oh-so nearby salt water of the North Sea over the asphalt of Zandvoort. In case they should still want to get out of the water, the mine fields created especially for the event should keep them occupied for a while as well.

It's the reigning champion's home race, and he will be eager to do well, especially after that strange race last year, when some old timekeeper put him down as one lap behind when he fell asleep. And not having made the trip to Interlagos means he has some catching up to do in the championship standings as well. The picture shows him testing at Zandvoort, where a huge crowd showed up, just to block the view to the Herrings, and to see the Lotus 49 in its new orange livery in real life.

A definitive starting time for Zandvoort has yet to be decided, however we can not race between 15:00 and 17:00 CET since that coincides with the final two races of the ETCC at Monza, with Alessandro Zanardi and Giancarlo Fisichella.