Melbourne a wealth of entertainment plus F1 on the 16th!
March 4, 2008 | Formula1The Australian Grand Prix makes a relaxed and popular start to the season on a track in Melbourne's Albert Park.
The circuit often produces a good race, despite a certain lack of overtaking opportunities, but is not particularly challenging for the drivers.
Rather than being locked in motorhomes, drivers and team personnel often sit on garden furniture behind the garages, helping create an informal atmosphere. And cosmopolitan Melbourne provides a wealth of other entertainment.
Metro is a good place to start your exploration of clubland. It's a huge and impressive club with eight bars over three levels. Often featuring notable local and international performers, the Metro also hosts a number of themed nights. 20 Bourke St, Melbourne.
Heat Nightclub and Cocktail Bar,
A total glamour club, Heat is located within the Crown Entertainment Complex and is frequented by Melbourne soapie stars, footballers and music industry figures. The interior tells the story; the sound system rocks and the space-age surrounds are uber chic.
Level 3, Crown Entertainment Complex, Southbank
Sitting on the corner of Bourke St and Exhibition St., is a traditional English/Irish pub called the Elephant & Wheelbarrow
Goldfingers
584 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne 3000
Sit back, relax and let the gorgeous Goldfinger Girls get upclose and personal with you. See the most erotic showgirls from Australia and around the World perform live.
Bar 20
46 King Street, Melbourne 3000
Welcome to Melbourne's first established Gentleman's club, where Australia's most glamorous personal and podium dancers perform continuously.
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Hamilton fires warning to Ferrari
March 4, 2008 | Formula1Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton believes McLaren will match the pace of rivals Ferrari this season.
The 23-year-old, second in the 2007 drivers' championship, will lead the McLaren charge when the new campaign begins in Australia on 16 March.
Ferrari were ahead by maybe three or four 10ths of a second, but now McLaren are in equal cars.
Hamilton is also adamant that his second season in Formula One will be an easier proposition than the first, when he won four races after achieving nine podium finishes in a row.
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BMW is on their way
February 20, 2008 | Formula1Willy Rampf has no regrets about pushing the new BMW Sauber F1.08 to the limits as he believes that is what it will take to challenge the front-runners.
Team principle Mario Theissen admitted back in December that the team would need to find over half a second to be in the running for Grand Prix victories in 2008, and the engineers were handed the difficult task of ensuring the car evolved into a true contender.
At the official launch of the F1.08, Rampf, the team's technical director, said he was delighted with the new set-up and believes the team were right in pushing the car.
BMW Sauber enjoyed their best season in 2007 with second place in the constructors' championship and Rampf is confident the team can score a maiden win in 2008. Whilst it doesn't necessarily expect to finish so high up again, it at least expects drivers Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica to get closer to the silver and scarlet machines on the circuit this year, and reach the top step of the rostrum along the way.
Whether the F1.08 is considerably quicker than the F1.07 is yet to be seen, and to exploit its full potential at any given time and condition can not be done on the test track alone. A better understanding of the car will be gotten from the races themselves - I have no doubt that BMW is on their way!
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Super Aguri cancel Spain testing
February 20, 2008 | Formula1Super Aguri have withdrawn from testing in Spain, prompting fears about the financial future of the team ahead of the Australian Grand Prix on 16 March.
Next week's test in Barcelona will be their last chance to try the cars before they are flown to Melbourne.
The cash-strapped Japanese team have held talks with potential backers but have yet to strike a deal.
Super Aguri had postponed their official launch of their 2008 car last week in the hope of finding an investor. And the Honda-backed team have yet to confirm their drivers for the forthcoming season.
But they have said they expect to continue with Japan's Takuma Sato and Britain's Anthony Davidson, who drove the team to ninth place overall in 2007.
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Hamilton Gets Laureus
February 20, 2008 | Formula1British driver Lewis Hamilton has won the Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year award after his remarkable debut Formula One season.
The 22-year-old driver powered his way to four Grands Prix victories in 2007 before finishing second in the F1 championship behind Kimi Raikkonen.
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Bottoms-Up
February 13, 2008 | Grid Girls
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Super Aguri seeking new investors
February 11, 2008 | Formula1Formula One minnows Super Aguri are in talks with new investors to avert a potential financial crisis.
The Japanese outfit has struggled to find enough funding since ex-F1 driver Aguri Suzuki founded the team in 2005.
There are many things to be resolved at all levels. But we will be alright, we will never disappear.
Suzuki also confirmed his Honda-backed outfit intends to retain Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson as his team's drivers for the 2008 season. An Indian consortium, led by the Spice Group telecom company, last week said it was interested in buying into Super Aguri on condition that Indian driver Narain Karthikeyan be put in the cockpit this year.
Karthikeyan, 30, became India's first F1 driver with Jordan in 2005. He tested for Williams in the past two years but his contract was not renewed.
The website of the American broadcaster Speed TV also reported rumours that an unidentified Russian consortium had emerged as a potential investor in Super Aguri. And it was claimed last week that Spanish businessman Alejandro Agag had bought as much as 50% of the team, which is based in Leafield, England, but this has also been denied.
Suzuki said: "We are holding talks with a few companies not mentioned before.
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Approval for Silverstone upgrade
February 11, 2008 | Formula1Plans to secure Silverstone's future as a Formula One circuit have received the backing of a second local authority.
The Northamptonshire circuit's facilities are due to be upgraded as part of plans to keep the British Grand Prix on the F1 race calendar.
F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone said it is the sport's worst circuit, jeopardising the future of the British GP.
But South Northamptonshire Council's Cabinet committee has adopted the Joint Silverstone Circuit Development Brief.
Aylesbury Vale District Council previously endorsed the same blueprint.
The development brief, which has been prepared by independent consultants on behalf of South Northamptonshire Council and Aylesbury Vale, sets out plans for sustainable development of the circuit.
Proposals include a new pit and paddock complex for the circuit along with a manufacturer test centre, business park, two hotels, a university campus and new homes near the circuit.
A planning application for the new pit and paddock facility is now being finalised with a submission expected to be made in the spring.
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Force India confident in new car
February 11, 2008 | Formula1Force India launched their 2008 Formula One car on Thursday and co-owner Vijay Mallya said he is confident it would mark the start of better performances.
Force India raced as Spyker last season before being bought and renamed by a group headed by billionaire Mallya. The Ferrari-powered VJM01 has the same basic chassis as used by Spyker last year but has aerodynamic changes.
Spyker scored just one point and finished 10th overall in the 11-team championship - after McLaren were stripped of all their points for a spying controversy. Force India's new car will be tested for the first time in Barcelona on 25 February, and the test drives will be spread over three days.
The experience of the drivers - Italian Giancarlo Fisichella and German Adrian Sutil - provided value to the engineering team, Mallya said. Sutil was the most successful driver from last season's team, which was known as Spyker, while Fisichella joined Force India from Renault.
Force India's budget for the season has been set at $120m, an increase of $50m from last year.
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BMW plotting F1 title challenge
February 7, 2008 | Formula1BMW Sauber are hoping to break the stranglehold of Ferrari and McLaren in 2008 and turn the new Formula One season into a three-horse race.
BMW were second in the constructors championship last year, 103 points behind Ferrari, but only after McLaren had been stripped of all their points.
Speaking at the launch of their new F1.08 car, team boss Mario Theissen was optimistic for the coming season.
We're confident we can turn the battle into more than two teams
BMW are still awaiting their first F1 victory, but German driver Nick Heidfeld did finish second in Canada - the team's highest ever placing - and was third in Hungary.
Heidfeld and Polish team-mate Robert Kubica have again
been confirmed to drive for the team in 2008, and Heidfeld is targeting
victories.
The new season gets underway in Australia on March 16.
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