Gadget Freaks

Well race fans the Grand Prix of Monaco for 2008 must go down as one of the more interesting and dramatic races in recent memory. With an all Ferrari front row for the race it looked as though the Monaco drought may end for the Italian marque. However, rain began to fall as the cars sat on the grid with all teams switching to intermediate tyres. One team though tried to hang on just that little bit too long to see what the weather was going to do. That of course was Kimi Raikkonen’s team. They had not fully fitted their tyres within the regulatory ‘3 mins before the start of the warm-up lap’ and the Fin was hit with a drive through penalty. This was to be just the start of his troubles for the race. Without the aid of traction control and other banned driving aids this was going to be a race and a half, and we weren’t dissapointed here at Gadget Freaks at all!

Massa led off the start with Lewis Hamilton edging by Raikkonen with a great start, almost getting alongside Massa into the first corner. As rain began to fall the field miraculously managed to get around the opening lap  without incident, quite a feat at Monaco.

The order did not last long as incident after incident brought chaos and drama. Alonso was driving like he was in Nascar causing several collisions due to being over optimistic. Still it was nice to see some competitive overtaking on the street circuit! Lap 6 and Lewis Hamilton hits the armco barrier with his rear wheel destroying the tyre but nothing else. He was able to pit and hence change his race strategy. He rejoined the race in a good position and when on lap 16 Massa went off handing the lead to Robert Kubica, Lewis was looking good. 

 The conditions out on the circuit were treacherous as the number of front wing replacements would testify. Hamilton had found his way to the lead after the first round of pit stops and appeared to get some extra speed, leaving the rest in his wake ( or should that be spray? ) Kubica had passed Massa at the stops relegating the Brazilian to third with Adrian Sutil in the Force India car a brilliant fourth. Sutil was driving the race of his life and it looked as though the new team would not only get points but were perhaps in line for a podium finish. Sutil was racing the two Ferraris ! However, exiting the tunnel Raikkonen lost control under braking, his car weaving and skidding out of control smashing into the back of Sutil. Both cars sustained damage with Force India having to retire, much to the disdain of all watching. Raikkonen rejoined the race to finish in ninth place.

So at the checkered flag it was a jubilant Hamilton from Robert Kubica then Massa with Australian Mark Webber fourth, continuing his good run of points finishes this year. All in all it was a great race which saw Massa slip up again and Hamilton regaining the lead in the 2008 Championship. Raikkonen had a day to forget and was slammed in the press by former 2-time F1 Champ Niki Lauda who said, ” I cannot understand how the highest paid driver can have a race as stupid as that.”

After the excitement of the F1 Monaco race we here at Gadget Freaks are looking forward to the race of the year! The Moto GP Grand Prix of Italy at Mugello, June 1st 2008.

Well after all the rumours and speculation,  Formula One legend Michael Schumacher indeed made his debut in the German Superbike series. Somewhat of a mixed weekend for the 37 year old and his Honda CBR1000RR. After qualifying 39th fastest he finished race one in 28th at the flag posting times just 3 seconds of the pace of teamate and race winner Martin Bauer. Unfortunately, race two saw Schumi crash out while working his way through the pack.

                                      Schumacher gets a taste of the German tarmac

There has been quite a lot of talk about why Schumacher has chosen to take up bike racing. Even Bernie Ecclestone has commented in the press hinting that it is not really a good idea. However, hats of to him and we’ll certainly be watching his exploits here at Gadget Freaks.

What would we do without Lewis Hamilton? For me his passing move set up in the fastest corner in GP racing was the highlight of a race that almost cured my insomnia. Well it wasn’t the Ferrari whitewash that we expected with the Loveable Lewis Hamilton splitting the Ferraris and Robert Kubica’s BMW a distant fourth. I thought Hamilton had the race in the bag after his move on Massa but a 3 stop strategy put the Briton back a spot behind the Brazilian. I briefly fell asleep after Hamilton took the lead and awoke at the flag wondering what the hell had happened! Anyway, the French GP this weekend will surely keep me up- Moto GP that is! Read more……

After the excitement and drama of the Shanghai Moto GP last weekend we here at Gadget Freaks are looking forward to a bit of humdrum on Sunday with the F1 Grand Prix of Turkey. After a brilliant start to the season, Mc Laren seem to have dropped off the pace. Either that or Ferrari has lifted its game to lofty levels that the other teams cannot reach.

After early practise sessions at the Istanbul Park Circuit it seems Ferrari with Kimi Raikkonen are having an easy time at the top of the time sheets. Lewis Hamilton has struggled into second with Massa the Crasha in third after a few customary excursions onto the Turkish grass. Great early news for David Coulthard as the veteran Scottish driver clocked the fourth fastest time. The BMWs of Nick Hiedfeld and Robert Kubica were down in 10th and 6th respectively with some work to do to get up the grid.

The Istanbul Park Circuit is a great racetrack so let’s hope that we will see the 3 top teams all at their best on Sunday. With the banning of traction control and some electronic driver aids this year we are seeing the cars sliding around more which has made for some spectacular action. We here at Gadget Freaks are hoping this will bring the cars much closer for the duration of the race and maybe one day we might see 3 cars fighting for the lead on the last lap with tension and drama and………well we can always dream!

Ever been to an F1 or Moto GP race and been a bit frustrated at how much you can actually see? There are trees, heads, safety barriers and all sorts of obstacles that you almost wish you had x-ray vision. Portable televisions have been around for years but getting decent reception at race events has been a bit of a sticking point.

Kangaroo TV is going to be renting out portable tv gadgets at F1 races this year. For 50 pounds you can hire a small handheld tv with a 3″ screen that receives a direct telecast. You can switch between ‘in car’ cameras and get all the commentary via headphones. Read more…….

If your event doesn’t offer Kangaroo TV you might want to take along your own portable device. This neat portable TV has a cool 10.2″ screen and has an analog TV tuner and DVB TV. It also plays DVDs,CDs and basically is an all purpose Multi-Media Centre. It also has a car power adaptor and comes with a great range of accessories.

If you are not into TV but relish the excitement of motorsport you might want to throw a leg over this! This is the latest in exotica from Ducati, the 2008 1098R. This is the production model that Troy Bayliss is leading the World Superbike Championship with. It features a 1098cc twin engine with a 6 speed gearbox producing 186 hp. Traction control is an awesome feature on this model which the Moto GP team uses to great success with Casey Stoner. Weighing in at 165kg and looking sexy as hell, this is about as much fun as you can have with your clothes on! However, every rose has its thorns and with this baby it’s the pricetag, a cool 60K (approx)

Over the past decade or so there has been a sharp decline in tobacco company sponsorship in all sports globally. Bans on tobacco advertising in all forms of media and motorsport have all but closed off the last avenue for the tobacco industry to parade its brands to the public en mass. An increasing number of countries have outlawed public tobacco branding even in the form of sponsorship in Formula One and Moto GP. This has pushed most companies to abandon these sports in droves and leaving with them are their huge investment dollars.

A quick look at todays F1 car and Moto GP bike reveals a whole new generation of sponsors picking up the huge bill involved. In exchange their brands are proudly displayed on the machine’s livery and plastered over just about anything involved with the teams. In fact there is more diversity among the sponsor companies with IT, financial management, airlines and even power drink corporations occupying the wings and wheels of the world’s most glamourous and dangerous sports.

One such company is SanDisk which has been a sponsor of the Moto GP Ducati Team. To celebrate, or maybe even cash in on their investment, they have released a series of computer accessories with a Ducati Moto GP theme. Boasting ‘Ultra High Performance’ the gadgets come in the style of the Ducati Moto GP team colours and are even styled like the machines and feature imagery of their #1 rider Casey Stoner.

CF Card Ducati Moto GP USB SD Card

Being the Moto GP fanatics that we are here at Gadget Freaks, we want these gadgets so bad it hurts! Considering that Casey Stoner is current World Moto GP Champion and one of the most exciting and popular riders in the sport and the huge international following the historic Italian motorcycle marque enjoys, we think SanDisk are on a winner.

Well what a fantastic Malaysian Grand Prix, full of action, excitement and controversy! Sadly, after qualifying well in third and fourth spots on the grid both Mc Larens were pinged 5 places for, apparently, obstructing cars during qualifying. This of course gave the Ferraris of Massa and Kimi Raikkonen a clean set of heels in the race. Raikkonen showed why he is the master by sitting comfortably behind Massa saving his machinery and staying out of dirty air. Knowing that Massa would pitting first Kimi turned up the wick in no uncertain terms and after the first round of stops it was The Flying Finn out in front. Massa later spun into the gravel ending his race and handing Raikkonen an unchallenged victory.

McLaren’s day was a mixed bag but considering the grid positions they were handed they could well be pleased with coming away from Malaysia with points for both cars. Heikki Kovalainen finished a fine third behind Robert Kubica with Lewis Hamilton surging through the field only to have a drama at his first pit stop which relegated the Briton back to 11th finally finishing fifth in what has to said, was a spirited drive.

So all in all quite a good race with all podiums filled by different drivers from the opening GP in Melbourne. So it’s off to the Sakhir Circuit in Bahrain next for more F1 action and excitement!

Well what a week it’s been in Formula One. Ferrari Head Jean Todt resigns after their dismal performance in Melbourne and The Red Bull team is under scrutiny for a dangerously designed car. Now the Melbourne race may start in the early morning next year not 5:30PM as stated last week. Ah but that’s why we love F1 so much.

This weekend the action moves to Malaysia and looking at the grid for tomorrows race it would seem Ferrari are back on track and only Brazilian Phillipe Massa has managed to qualify in front of the Flying Finns, Kimi Raikkonen and Heikki Kovalainen. So we have an all Ferrari front row with a McLaren second row. The third row will be Jarno Trulli and Robert Kubica with Nick Heidfeld and Mark Weber starting from the forth row. Fernando Alonso will start from position nine on the grid with Timo Glock filling the top ten. Should be a great scrap tomorrow in the Asian heat but of course rain is never far away at Sepang so anything could happen.

Speaking of things fishy, we here at Gadget Freaks love keeping fish. So we are always on the lookout for fish gadgets and of course our fish tanks looks like something from an Alien movie! However we don’t have anything like this, well not yet anyway.

The Speedfish is a racetrack shaped fish tank so you can watch your fish race each other.Perfect for race fans and Gadget Freaks alike!

Feeding fish can be a tricky business. Feed them too much and you’ll be cleaning your tank more often than you’d like. Feed them too little and they may develop nutritional disorders. This Automatic Fishfeeder takes the guess work out of feeding and also feeds your fish to a pre-programmed schedule. You can vary the feed size, length of feeding program and it even keeps the food dry via an air nozzle which connects to any air pump. Oh and it looks like the Death Star too. How cool!!

Ever wondered how they transport big fish or lots of fish? Yamaha Australia has built 2 humungous fish transporters. They drive them around the country to boat and fishing shows and the like to demonstrate fishing tackle and other angling equipment. Could be cool to turn fishing into a spectator sport!

Well race fans what an opening F1 Grand Prix! We here at Gadget Freaks would sum it up in one word…..Carnage! Lewis Hamilton led the race from start to finish but it was what was going on in his wake that had the pundits gasping in awe and disbelief. Massa was first to go spinning at the first corner exit and hitting the barrier. He limped back to the pits for a new nose cone while fellow Ferrari pilot Kimi Raikonnen was carving his way through the field after starting from way down the grid.

However the day was to finish in disaster for both Ferraris as Massa crashed into David Coulthard whose car seemed to implode and fall apart. Massa later retired and Raikonnen also retired but gained one point due to the heavy DNF (Did Not Finish) rate. In fact only around 6 cars actually took the chequered flag with the Melbourne circuit once again proving to be a chellenge for both car and driver.

So at the finish it was Hamilton a clear winner with Nick Heidfeld second and Nico Rosberg ( son of former F1 ace Keke Rosberg) getting his first podium and the first for the Williams team in a long time. Stay tuned as the F1 circus heads to Sepang in Malaysia this weekend. Let’s hope that the safety car doesn’t get in almost as many laps as the F1 cars this race!!!

The 2008 Formula One season is finally underway with qualifying today and the race tomorrow. Of course there is drama on and off the track and a few surprises for tomorrows grid. The fine city of Melbourne , Australia is host once again to the opening round and Australia’s capital of culture has turned on it’s best weather for the occasion.

After a long running dispute with race officials, this years event has been moved to a 5:30 pm start time. It seems that if Melbourne wants to hang on to its Grand Prix it will need to run the race at night. This is to accommodate European television audiences and in fact it is looking like all races in the Asian region are being encouraged to follow suit (and of course we here at Gadget Freaks are so looking forward to the first night Formula One race to be staged on the streets of Singapore later this year) There is no shortage of potential host cities lining up for their own race so the Melbourne organizers are going to have to either do some fast talking, run the race at night or let the event go! Anyway……enough politics!

With the pre-race build up and media hype out of the way the cars were out for qualifying which produced some dramatic incidents which saw World Champion Kimi Raikkonen relegated to 16th on the starting grid order after problems with a fuel pressure regulator on his Ferrari in QP1. He will certainly have his work cut out for him in the race tomorrow but as we have seen in the past he seems to relish in challenges like this so never write him off. The Melbourne circuit has numerous passing opportunities and Kimi is the passing move meister so watch out for him producing some of that ‘Iceman Magic’.

Not altogether unexpected, Lewis Hamilton grabbed pole but was pressured by a fired up Robert Kubica who narrowly missed out after running wide and hit the grass on his last hot lap. Heikki Kovalainen and Phillipe Massa will start behind them from the second row with Nick Heidfeld and Jarno Trulli from row three. Nico Rosberg and veteran David Coulthard will occupy the fourth row while Timo Glock and Sebastian Vettel complete the top 10.

Another driver surprisingly out of the top ten is Fernando Alonso. Obviously still quite a bit of development work to do on the 2008 Renault. So with Mc Laren and BMW at full strength at the head of the grid it will be up to Massa to uphold the Ferrari honour. Perhaps a resurgent Toyota may surprise as it has been a long long time between drinks for the Japanese team. Could we see Williams back in the thick of the action, another team looking to regain some form. Whatever happens it promises to be an exciting and action packed race.

So till next time race fans…………

The start was the finish for many drivers in Melbourne in 2002 thanks to this rather unorthodox passing move by Ralf Schumacher!