Sunday, September 13, 2009

Second Annual Ricardipus Racing Awards

One advantage of being settled in a state of more-or-less Status Quo is that it becomes very easy to recycle blog posts from one year ago. In the spirit of which, I give you the Second Annual Ricardipus Awards, for participants in the 2009 Mobil 1 Grand Prix of Mosport. Once again I refer you, if you're actually interested in the race results that is, to the official document. For the record, the Patron Highcroft Racing Acura ARX-02a, piloted by drivers Scott Sharp and David Brabham, won outright, and in the next class down, the rather pretty Acura ARX-01b of Luis Diaz and Adrian Fernandez clinched the season championship.

But these awards aren't about the race winners. They're about other silly categories that I dreamed up last year, and maybe a few new ones to boot.

So, with no further ado, here they are:

Loudest Vehicle: #3 and #4 Chevrolet Corvette C6.R (tie). In a repeat of last year's performance, these two shook the ground when they went by, despite having significantly less horsepower than last year.
Jan Magnussen, Mosport, 2009
There was lots of local interest, with a GM plant nearby.

Honourable Mention: de Ferran Motorsports Acura ARX-02a. Although various other cars were nice and loud, this one gets the nod for a divine combination of engine noise and ridiculous backfires into turn three, all day long.
Simon Pagenaud at Mosport, 2009
Simon Pagenaud, going really really fast.

Most Cheerful-Looking Drivers: Gil de Ferran and Simon Pagenaud. An honourable mention goes to Gunnar van der Steur and Adam Pecorari, whose rather pretty car was eventually excluded (disqualified) for a technical infraction. They looked happy before the race, though.
Gil de Ferran and Simon Pagenaud sign some autographs.
They weren't smiling like this when they signed autographs for me...

Nicest Paint Highlights: Melanie Snow's #56 Porsche 911 GT3 from the GT3 Challenge support race. There really just isn't enough pink in car racing.
Melanie Snow at Mosport, 2009
Melanie Snow is very fast, but Simona de Silvestro is even faster.

Friendliest Driver: Barrie, Ontario native Kyle Marcelli, who tore up the track in the IMSA Lites support races. I suspect it was the nice chat he had with my brother and I that inspired his performance.
Kyle Marcelli at speed.
He came second in this race, and first in the previous one.

Silliest Doors: Dyson Racing's Mazda-Powered Lola Coupes. These cars probably also win my awards for "Best Looking" and "Hardest to Photograph at Speed".
#16 Dyson Mazda, Mosport
This car would have a bit of a crunch in the race.

Best Save: Gil de Ferran. Gil fell off turn two while leading the race, put his foot down, and drove around the corner through the grass. Most people would have spun and crashed. Olivier Beretta gets an honourable mention for doing exactly the same thing later in the race.
Gil de Ferran goes for a country drive.
He's probably still doing well over 100 kph.

Special Award: best-looking car that spent last year in the shed: Robertson Racing's Mark VII Doran Ford GT-R. Last year, they blew up the engine in testing.
Robertson Racing's Doran Ford GT Mk VII
What a looker.

And, finally:

Best Performance Rebuilding a Car to Race on Sunday After the Driver Smashes it up on Saturday Afternoon: Risi Competizione. The team stayed up all night, rebuilding the left side of the car, which ultimately finished second in its class after starting from the very back of the grid.
Risi Competizione Ferrari, much happier now.
Sleep? Who needs sleep?

So there you go. As before, lots more of this kind of thing over in the relevant Flickr set.

9 comments:

Aled Hughes said...

Ricardipus - I wish I had your enthusiasm for this, but I had to contend with Formula 1 over here, and then shock horror of the discovery that the Beer Store (it's at the side of my abode - not in Toronto) was bereft of decent beer. I did find some 'stuff' called Cobra, which is Indian. Sad.

Richard Wintle said...

Sorry to hear of your tribulations, Aled. A colleague of mine, who is a huge F1 fan, told me she actually fell asleep during the Italian GP yesterday morning.

Aled Hughes said...

Huge fan of FI.... fell asleep... oxymoronic statements... :-)

Aled Hughes said...

Pseudonymph - I'm impressed at least. But 'bogany'... I looked it up, and couldn't find it. I can't see it being related to Toboganning, as you have no snow over there.
Back to pondering....

Richard Wintle said...

Pseudonymph - ah, the Bathurst 1000. V8 Supercars. I would greatly enjoy that... :)

Oh, and yes, I'm all impressed.

Aled - that was my point - the race was so dull and boring that even a big F1 fan was put to sleep.

Aled Hughes said...

I watched it, but I didn't think it was boring... the phrase 'little things please little minds' might be valid... or should that be 'aled' and not 'valid'...
Note to self, must find another hobby...

WrathofDawn said...

I must make a confession. Car posts read to me like, "Car blah blah blah, car blah blah blah."

That is my secret shame.

But I still like the pictures.

Aled Hughes said...

Sorry Dawn, more blah, blah...
Ricardipus et al - Vauxhall UK have just announced the VXR Bathurst V8 based on the Australian development of the Holden and Corvette engine. One mag called it an Aussie Hooligan - must be good then. 544 gee-gees! 6.2 V8... The stuff that make men drool. It's on my birthday list, if anyone want to buy me one...

Richard Wintle said...

It's got a silly wing, but otherwise I'd be quite happy with that, Aled... ;)