Autumnal delights

F1

Suddenly it is September, the end of summer, and already autumn is here. In my part of the world the harvesting is nearly done and the leaves are turning.

September brings two great events on the motor racing calendar, two weekends to cheer us up before the trees are bare and the sun is low in the sky.

This weekend the Grand Prix cars will be at the wonderful Spa-Francorchamps circuit in the forests of the Ardennes in Belgium. Not as wonderful as once it was, perhaps, but still a great place to watch racing cars. Then, just two weeks later, comes the extraordinary Goodwood Revival. This is surely the best historic meeting of the year, with real cut-and-thrust racing on a classic circuit.

I recently wrote about the mysterious lack of form that appears to be affecting Kimi Räikkönen and, in Valencia, he was again curiously off the pace. But I believe he may win the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday. Spa brings out the best in the best, and Kimi is undoubtedly still one of the very best of the current generation of Grand Prix drivers. I sense that if the Ferrari is perfectly beneath him, he will awake from his mid-season slumber, the tap turned back on by the sheer bravado of driving on the limit on this great circuit. I hope so because I relish a battle for the World Championship between Räikkönen and Hamilton.

As for the unique Goodwood Revival, well, you just have to be there if you still have an appetite for the romance and glamour of motor racing as it used to be. This is pure theatre, and dare I say, really good fun. Get out the fancy dress, pack the picnic and bag a place on one of Goodwood’s grassy banks. Then just sit back and bask in the sounds, the smells and the old fashioned thrills of opposite lock, power slides and side-by-side racing. Yes, I am a little biased, because I helped to create this event. But I know a great many people who would not miss this September date for all the oil in the Gulf.

Autumn then, and still so much to look forward to. And I haven’t even mentioned Monza. Makes you feel good, doesn’t it? Spa, Monza and Goodwood all in a month.

Will you be there? Or will you be watching on TV? Either way, enjoy, and I think we should all be prepared for a memorable climax to the 2008 Formula 1 World Championship. Rejoice!

You may also like