The Explorers' Club
№ CCCXL - The White Rajahs of Sarawak, Part II: Sir Charles Brooke (1829-1917), Sir Vyner Brooke (1874-1963), & the pretender Anthony Brooke (1912-2011).







This Week in Motorsport
Indy Rock
IndyCar Series
Round 1
Grand Prix of Saint Petersburg
Sunday, 24 March 2013

Round 2
Grand Prix of Alabama
Sunday, 7 April 2013

Round 3
Grand Prix of Long Beach
Sunday 21 April 2013

Round 4
São Paulo Indy 300
Sunday, 5 May 2013

The 2013 IndyCar season opened with four road races, three on temporary street circuits & one on a permanent road course. Andretti Autosport (Chevrolet-powered), the team of reigning champion Ryan Hunter-Reay, has opened the year in dominant fashion, winning three of the first four races: Hunter-Reay at the Barber in Alabama & the social media savvy James Hinchcliffe, "the Mayor of Hinchtown," winning on the streets of Saint Petersburg & São Paulo. At Saint Pete, Hinchcliffe passed Will Power, three times runner-up of the series & 'til this year the undisputed road-course king, & Helio Castroneves, three-time winner of the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, both of Team Penske (Chevrolet), on track—no mean feat. Hunter-Reay ran a flawless race at Barber. The Long Beach classic was won by Takuma Sato of A. J. Foyt (Honda), the Japanese F1 veteran's first IndyCar victory as well as the first Indy car victory for a Japanese. Sato almost won his second in a row at São Paulo, leading in the dying laps & blocking for everything he was worth, but a bobble at the final corner of the last lap allowed Hinchcliffe to make a classic outside-inside pass for his second win of the year. Both Hinchcliffe & Sato are first-time winners this year.

The mighty Team Penske has struggled mightily, though not as badly as their long-time archrivals, Ganassi Racing (Honda). Despite losing the lead to Castroneves, Power was running well at Saint Pete 'til he was crashed into by J. R. Hildebrand of Panther Racing (Chevrolet) in a bizarre collision under yellow-flag safety car conditions; Hildebrand was looking down at his instruments, not paying attention, & drove his race car into the back of Power's, riding up & over the right side of the Australian's vehicle. Power continued, but his can was never again the same & he finished sixteenth. São Paulo was a nightmare, Power retiring in the early laps with an engine fire. Double champion Scott Dixon ('03 & '08) of Ganassi finished second at Barber, but eleventh at Long Beach & eighteenth in Brazil. Dixon's teammate, four-time champion Dario Franchitti ('07, '09, '10, & '11), finished twenty-fifth in each of the season's first two races. Wherever happened to the giants?

The São Paulo race saw six full-course caution periods, with the cars running under waving yellows flags behind the safety car. In the four-year history of the event, no race has seen fewer than five full-course cautions. Watching race cars crawl along behind a safety car is about as much fun as watching football players stand around during an extended video review of a play. I will never understand why IndyCar travels all the way to São Paulo & doesn't take advantage of the historic & challenging Autódromo José Carlos Pace, Formula One's far-famed Interlagos. It's a great track, a track with a great history, & would feature far fewer safety car interventions than the concrete canyons of the São Paulo street circuit. Just go to Interlagos, confound ye!

Indy Lights
Round 1
Saint Petersburg 100
Saturday, 23 March 2013

Round 2
(sponsor) Indy Lights 100
Sunday, 7 April 2013

Round 3
Long Beach 100
Sunday, 21 April 2013

Thus far, the Indy Lights season has been dominated by second-year driver Carlos Muñoz, with rookies "Captain Jack" Hawksworth, Gabby Chaves, & Sage Karam competing fiercely for second place. (Yes, Hawksworth won the first race of the season, but he was running in third before Chaves crashed himself & Muñoz out of the running.) How good is Muñoz? After this weekend's qualifying for the Indianapolis 500, Muñoz, an Indianapolis Motor Speedway rookies, will be starting from second, ahead of all but one of the regular IndyCar drivers. "The boy's good, no doubts there."

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
MxPx, "Andrea" from Life in General (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary:

"Meeting you was just so unexpected,
I guess I was there to be rejected…"