USA's elite motorsport cherishes traditions and makes money

Turun Sanomat made a pioneer trip to Nascar-races during Charlotte All Star -weekend. There we also saw Kimi Räikkönen for the first time in Camping World Truck -class.

The reporter and photographer arrived early on Friday morning in order to avoid traffic. The castle-like Motor Speedway -complex is a mighty entity surrounded by camping-areas. Yet the traffic was almost non-existing in the morning and the audiences were all empty although the practice sessions were about to begin.

Where is the audience when you expect over 100.000 spectators for the weekend?

– It's Friday, people are still at work. The race is in the evening, that's when the local people's freetime begins and the audiences are filled. Don’t worry, ESPN -channel's longtime motorsport reporter Lewis Franck told the Finns.

Each oval is different

We got to experience what it's like to drive on this 1,5 mile oval first hand when we got a ride with the pace car. It really has nothing to do with an European track race. On top of that each oval is different although they look similar. Their lenghts wary from half a mile to 2,5 mile.

Charlotte track's inclinations are 24 degrees in the corners and 5 degrees on the straight.

– The track has only one ideal driving line which is faster than the others. Since everybody can't take it they have to take the 2nd fastest line and those behind again the next best driving line. It takes time to learn how to manage on an oval when several cars go flatout side by side, the pace car driver explained to us.

Then the practice begins. There are more people than usual in the media center and every interesting driver is interviewed by the media one by one. The atmosphere is very open all the time like when old buddies meet each other. Even Räikkönen who trembled in practice talks on and on and he is remarkably laidback.

After Jim Clark, Mario Andretti and Jacques Villeneuve, Räikkönen brings breath of fresh air from F1-champion -level. It is revealed that he isn't even the serie's first Iceman.

When Räikkönen started karting as a little boy, a driver called Terry Labonte who had an exceptionally cool attitude was driving on Nascar-tracks, he was the one and only Nascar-Iceman.

The evening comes. Drivers are presented to the audience one by one on an estrade built in front of the main stand. A male choir sings USA's anthem, which the locals listen to holding their right hand on their heart.

Easy to supervise easy rules

Nascar is a package that functions well. There has been no need to change rules every year like in F1.

– The more simple rules, the easier it is to supervise them. That's why the rules haven't much been changed since the beginning. And because the pits and cars are so out in the open everyone sees immediately if the neighbor is trying to cheat in some way, reporter colleague Franck emphasizes.

When a Finnish world champion competes somewhere around the world, you usually see automatically supporters waving Finland's flag.

In Nascar you had to search and search in order to find Finland's flag. There were two of them. The duo from Hyvinkää carried their flag on the track-area and the other one was in the stand.

Columbian reporter Diego Mejia reminds that you don't really see Columbia's flags either.

– When Juan Pablo Montoya drove in the Indy-serie hundreds of Columbian fans with flags travelled to the spot. When Juan drove in F1 you could see Columbia's flags all over the world. Then when he came to Nascar in 2006 you didn't see the flags anymore. They have started to come back slowly, Meija tells.

Turun Sanomat

HEIKKI KULTA

Courtesy: Nicole

Kimi Räikkönen: The most versatile star in motorsport

The amount of vehicles Kimi Räikkönen has collected from several genres in motorsport is in it's own class. There's no doubt that we are talking about today's most versatile motorsport-man.

Räikkönen has raced in karting, with a Formula Ford, Formula Renault 2,0 -liter, Formula 1, WRC-rally car, motocross bike, snow sledge, jetski and soon also with top class NASCAR-cars starting with trucks.

I even heard that Räikkönen has sometimes asked if he could try stunt flying. He didn't get permission for that though...

Basically everything that has an engine interests Räikkönen. At home he has all possible vehicles - at some point there will also be room for the legend's American Legends-car.

Grabbing the NASCAR-challenge proves once again in it's own way the burning passion Räikkönen has to try new things. Usually when a Finnish star leaves the F1-tracks they cool down in for example DTM or Arctic rally. NASCAR-ovals are something that scares them right from the start.

Mika Salo drove in NASCAR-tests but it didn't open up a new career for him there. NASCAR is as popular to Americans as F1 is to Europeans - it's their royal class of motorsport.

Soon Räikkönen will become the Finnish pioneer of that serie too - and most obviously one of it's spectator-magnets.

The Columbian tv- and radio-reporter Diego Meija who I chatted with especially when Juan Pablo Montoya was driving as Räikkönen's team mate in McLaren, stopped by in Barcelona's F1-tests.

Mejia told that Montoya had already for some time compared his own NASCAR-switch to Räikkönen going into the rally world. The Columbian star said that they both had to start from zero because the new genres were so different than F1.

Based upon this Räikkönen has to learn the basics once again, just like he had to do when starting his rally career two years ago.

Turun Sanomat

HEIKKI KULTA

Courtesy: Nicole

Vauhdin Maailma Book: Long march

by Kari Melart

Michael Jordan was the best basketball player in the world but he came back with his tail between the legs from the baseball-fields with his revolutionary dreams crushed.

What's in common for basketball and baseball is the ball - in a different shape and in a different material.
Rally and F1 are also two sports that differ completely from each other. Like sprint and orienteering.

I doubt it came as any surprise to one single expert that Kimi Räikkönen's debut season in WRC turned into a beginner's learning year even though the F1-champ had the best possible vehicle.

But who wouldn't have started dreaming for a moment about a miracle you see happening in the movies all the time and sometimes even on sport-fields. Räikkönen was afterall just a green fruit as a racing driver when he stepped into the royal class - he only had a fragile stone foundation of about 20 races in the smaller formula series. Yet the open-minded youngster whipped his Sauber into 6th right at his first attempt in Australia 2001.

In F1 Kimi didn't have any limits but in rally, where the top lead is remarkably smaller, he faced them very quickly in 2010. Even though he scored points in his 3rd rally in Jordan by coming in 8th and two weeks later in Turkey by coming in 5th.

Yet it didn't turn out to become a Cinderella story. At least not yet.

Should Räikkönen continue in rally then he has an exhausting long march ahead of him if he intends to satisfy his burning ambition in addition to his passion.

- One has to remember that experience-wise Kimi can be compared to a B-junior who rallies in the national village-rallies. His F1-history has none whatsoever meaning in these circles. A project like this requires an awful lot of work, time and kilometers. It will take at least two-three years at miminum before he even has a chance to rally in the top lead, Kaj Lindström has reminded many times.

And not without a reason.

Switching from F1 to a rally car and from a tarmac track to devious and lingering gravel paths is a challenge that can be classified as a mission impossible.

Fortunately almost anything seems to be impossible in this world...

In the big picture Kimi Räikkönen is a unique phenomenom in motorsport history.

John Surtees won the world championship in both MotoGP and F1. No other driver has ever been able to do that in rally and F1. And probably won't ever be able to do that either.

- Rally is an extremely difficult sport. I have to adopt a completely new driving style, learn to set up the car in a completely different way than in F1 and first and most learn to listen and take in the notes. But if this would be easy then anyone could do it, Räikkönen has admitted.

He has never wanted to be just anybody as a sportsman.

Räikkönen's Citroën has been on it's roof beside the road or in the ditch or in the hill but noble rally champions from Ari Vatanen to Marcus Grönholm have also searched for their limits through extremes.

In Germany Räikkönen got his first stage victory in WRC-level and in France he won his first rally, the Vosgien rally.

Small steps for the mankind but huge steps for Kimi Räikkönen.

Courtesy: Nicole

Kimi Räikkönen Interview from Motorsport Aktuell

From Motorsport Aktuell Magazine



You hardly lack variety, after snow and gravel you had your first WRC rally on tarmac. Satisfied?
Generally yes, our speed was good. Okay, it was disappointing though that we didn’t finish were we could have been, in the top 4. But most important was that we learned much again. On the second and third day it wasn’t easy to have the same motivation than in the beginning when we were fighting for the top places. Altogether I’m still happy.

Is the time difference to Sebastien Loeb like you expected it?
It was the first time that I did a tarmac rally against Loeb. How should I have an exact idea what to expect? On some places we were not so far off.

As an ex-F1 driver you certainly feel more comfortable on tarmac. Are you working there already more on details?
The difference is not that big although I feel more home on asphalt. But rally driving is and will remain something totally different to circuit races. When we set up the rally car it is the same procedure. You handle a programme, no matter if it’s gravel or tarmac. I’m still lacking the experience in rally. That’s why I not only trust my feeling but also listen to the tips of the team.

Is rally after half a season still passion or already daily business?
No, I still have a lot to learn, so it’s rather not daily business. I like driving rallies, it’s a great challenge for me.

How far are you with your process of learning?
Still at the beginning. In rally there is nothing like experience. Everything is very complex, that can’t be learned in some months.

In which areas you see most likely room for improvement?
Everywhere, really. Everything is new for me, I’m learning all the time. One fundamental point we have to work on is the notes. That’s something which doesn’t exist on the circuit but in rally sport it’s an important factor of success. With the right notes you can gain a lot of speed.

And where you have improved the most?
I don’t think that there is this one point. The point is to improve everything together, the whole package – to learn as much as possible. I feel now much stronger than at the beginning of the season, in all areas. But we have to continue working and learning.

Are there things in the rally championship you imagined differently?
No, basically everything is like I expected it. From last year I had a bit of experience, so I could imagine how things will come. But if you want to improve only experience counts. A circuit you can learn in some hours, with rally that will take much longer.

Where can you benefit from your experience in F1?
Like I said before, rally and circuit are actually completely different, there is no comparable point. Of course on tarmac rally there are some things which are similar like for example the quickest curve. The driving style is still pretty different, in the race car you want anything but drifting. To drive as clean as possible that applies for both.

How about your setup in WRC? You said at the beginning of the season that you will start more or less with the same setup like your team mates. Is that now different?
Actually we start every rally with a very similar setup. Later I, like the others too, let the team make little changes to have a better feeling for the car. Once we want the car to turn in better or we change the height of the car. Luckily the team has a lot of experience with the car and they can give me good advices.

How difficult is it for you to trust someone else in the car?
You mean the relationship to my co-driver? That’s very good. My co Kaj Lindström is a great guy with plenty experience, that helps me a lot. For me the point is to make good notes and to use them optimal. We are working on it and it’s getting better every rally.

Which rally has you surprised the most?
But for me all WRC rallies are new – apart from Finland. All and everything is new. But the most special event this season was Jordan. The surface and the character of the rally changed all the time. It was very important to work precisely with the notes. We got our first points there, a nice memory.

What do you know about ADAC Rallye Deutschland?
Not much. I know it is a tarmac rally with very different surfaces and that Loeb has won there several times. That’s it.

Germany is a “Racing” country. Is it a special feeling, as an ex F1 driver to contest there now with a WRC rally?
Not really. I’m not thinking about something like this. I start every rally the same way. So Germany is a rally like every other rally.

They say that in F1 the relation car to driver is 60:40. How is that in rally?
I don’t know. I don’t have the experience yet to value that exactly. It depends on so many different things, if you just look at the surfaces and the tactics. In rally there are probably more variations than in F1. When I was driving Grand Prix, the top cars were pretty close, a driver could make a big difference.

How often do you have contact with your buddy Sebastian Vettel? Do you get information about F1 from him?
From time to time we talk but that’s not so often. If, then we talk about F1, rally but also about other things, just normal things.

What would have to change that you come back to F1?
It is not so much the question what would have to change. The point is to have the right options. I had some opportunities to stay in F1 this season. But they were not the right ones. That’s why I’m now here.

The fight for the F1 championship is close. Who will be world champion?
I think it will be a duel between McLaren and Red Bull. The Red Bull is the quicker car, but they had some problems with reliability. The drivers are pretty close. McLaren also did a good job, especially Lewis Hamilton. I guess it will be very close.

What do you think can we expect from Michael Schumacher in the second half of the season?
Hard to say, I don’t know. He is a seven time world champion so obviously good. It is always also a question of the car, motivation and many other things.

How about your future? Is there a decision to continue rally?
You can be certain that as soon as I make a decision I will let everybody know. There are always options to do different things. I need to find the right one for me.

When can we expect your decision?
When I made it.

Source: Motorsport aktuell
Courtesy:Miezicat

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