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Power wins, Dixon crashes out

Power won in an action packed Toronto race

New Zealand champion Indycar driver Scott Dixon's 2010 title hopes took a severe knock at the weekend when he crashed out of the latest race in Toronto, Canada.

Dixon was forced to retire with damagae on the 72nd of 85 laps after a collision with the car of American Ryan Hunter-Reay. Hunter-Reay went on to finish third behind Australian Will Power, whose latest win saw him extend his series lead.

Power capitalized on a poor restart by Justin Wilson, opened up a big lead on defending race winner Dario Franchitti, and cruised to victory in yesterday's Honda Indy Toronto. It was the fourth win of the season (all of them coming on road or street courses) for the Team Penske driver, who now holds a 42-point lead over Franchitti in the overall standings.

It was perhaps the luckiest of Power's four wins this season, however, as Wilson clearly had the car to beat all weekend. During an early practice session, Wilson had a .7-second advantage on the next best car; from there, he won the pole, and led in the early stages of the event. He only relinquished the lead during pit stops under the first caution, which came after KV Racing teammates Takuma Sato and Mario Moraes got together.

Stanaway stars at Assen

Stanaway is the man to beat in ADAC Formula Master

Tauranga’s Richie Stanaway (18), racing in the ADAC Formula Masters Championship in Germany for the Ma-Con team, experienced a frustrating weekend at the fourth round of the championship at the Assen TT circuit, despite taking a win and two seconds in the three races and extending a strong championship lead.

In wet qualifying conditions, his engine was plagued by an electrical problem meaning the car wouldn’t go above idle. The problem was suspected to have been resolved prior to the first race although it came back during the formation lap and Richie was lucky to make the start of the race.

Starting from the back of the grid, he charged through the field to finish second, manually using his on-off switch several times a lap to temporarily resest the electronics in his engine. It didn't stop the talented youngster and setting the fastest lap of the race by almost half a second.

However, in the second race, with the problem now resolved, he quickly moved into the lead from the start and won the race by over eight seconds, setting the fastest lap-time.

Webber cruises to dominant win

Hamilton starred but Webber won

Red Bull's Mark Webber cruised to a dominant victory in the British Grand Prix from McLaren's Lewis Hamilton. The Australian took the lead at the start after making a better getaway than team-mate Sebastian Vettel.

Vettel's attempt to retain the lead around the outside of Copse led to a puncture that ruined his race. Hamilton seized second after a poor start by Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, while Mercedes' Nico Rosberg was third ahead of McLaren's Jenson Button.

Webber said over the team radio: "Not bad for a number two driver." That was a reference to his unhappiness over the team's decision to take the only remaining new front wing off his car and give it to Vettel ahead of qualifying on Saturday.

The result extends Hamilton's lead over Button in the world championship to 12 points, the equivalent of a fourth place. Webber is third, 17 points behind Hamilton, with Vettel - who finished seventh - fourth in the title race a further seven adrift of his team-mate.

Historic legends for Speedshow

Classic Sunbeam racer will turn heads

Speedshow organiser Keith Sharp says the quality and number of fantastically rare and special historic cars in New Zealand shows yet another dimension to Kiwis’ love of all things motoring-related.

“We have already had some amazing classics at Speedshow in our first three years and again in 2010 we have several very special cars on show. In particular, the 1925 Bugatti which has a phenomenal history with New Zealand’s Roycroft family. Then there’s the Jaguar XJ220 sports car – the only one of its kind in New Zealand – and the utterly unique Sunbeam which was restored by renowned historic car enthusiast Wallace McNair of Hamilton, which I’m told was conceived in the spirit of the Sunbeam land speed record cars from post WWI,” says Sharp.

The Bugatti Type 35 was the most successful of Bugatti’s racing models, winning over 1,000 races and the 1926 Grand Prix World Championship. The example at Speedshow this year also has an extraordinary heritage having been bought to New Zealand in 1950 by Ron Roycroft, one of the foremost Kiwi drivers of the 1950s.

“Ron created a ‘Bugatti special’, so the story goes,” says Sharp. “He fitted a straight-six Jaguar engine to the mechanically-worn Bugatti and raced it in events like the Dunedin street race and the New Zealand GP. Now son Terry owns this wonderful car which has been refitted with its original two-litre, straight-eight Bugatti engine, and we’re fortunate to have the opportunity to see it at Speedshow.” Only a few Kiwi motoring fans would ever have seen the sole Jaguar XJ220 residing on our shores.

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