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Well what do you know! There are F1 fans and F1 winners in the US. The F1 in Schools program came to a finish this week in Singapore in a heated competition as reported by James Allen as the host of the event. The competition was attended by Kamui Kobayashi, Lucas di Grassi and Lotus Technical director Mike Gascoyne as a show of force and support from the F1 world. The event was sponsored by LG Electronics.

JA says it was the closest fought competition in the programs 10-year history and that’s fitting as the 2010 F1 season is shaping up to be a real cracker. The American team took the top step of the podium with Germany in third and a collaboration between Australia and the UAE in second.

The program was judge by veteran F1 designer Gary Anderson and F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone even stopped by to witness the action. With support from the top ranks of F1, the program is a terrific way to bring students together to create and exciting product and compete at the world level. James describes the series best by saying:

F1 in Schools is a multi-disciplinary challenge in which teams of students aged 9 to 19 use CAD/CAM software to collaborate, design, analyse, manufacture, test, and then race miniature gas powered balsa wood F1 cars. It has the full backing of F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone.

The humorous part for me was Gary Anderson’s comments about the teams and how they argue their points on teh interpretation of the regulations in the series:

“I’m blown away by it,” said Anderson “The professionalism of the organizers, we’ve had a team of judges. The students and teachers are very professional, they sit the other side of the desk explaining why they’ve interpreted a certain rule a certain way– it’s like F1 backwards, I’ve been the other side of the desk arguing with the FIA!”

It seems to me that the actual racing is one thing but the real lesson being taught is how to argue with the FIA over regulation interpretations and it leaves me wondering which team showed up with a flexi-wing or movable floor or even the dreaded J-Damper? That’s just priceless to be honest. I suspect the F1 in Schools Motorsport Council will be hearing arguments leveled by Germany that the US team was using team orders as well as some sort of ride-height adjustment.

Let’s hope none of the teams purposefully crashed being the competition was in Singapore.

Congratulations to Team Unitus of the United States of America! And the rest of the world thought we just liked NASCAR…guffaw!

The Formula 1 United States Grand Prix organization has released more detail on the site today via their website. The new rendering shows the circuit layout including buildings, parking and key features on seating and grand stands. The details were accompanied by the press release here:

AUSTIN, Texas – September 21, 2010 – Full Throttle Productions LP released today the conceptual master plan for the Formula 1 United States Grand PrixTM venue. The conceptual master plan features the development of the United States’ first purpose-built F1 racetrack complemented by additional visitor attractions including a proposed Driving/Riding Experience and Seminar Building, Motorsports Driving Club, Kart Track and Welcome Center.

With a complete length of 3.4 miles, the track combines modern features with details reminiscent of traditional races from the 1960’s. The surrounding landscape will allow for a maximum elevation change of 133 feet, a feature that is sure to please drivers as well as fans. In addition, the circuit includes a strategic combination of over 20 turns, including variations of classic corners such as Istanbul Turn 8, Maggots–Becketts-Chapel and Hockenheimring’s Stadium Section.

The multifunctional facility is ideally situated on a 900-acre site in southeast Austin along the SH 130 corridor near FM 812. The proposed grandstands, semi-permanent stands and natural seating areas created by integrating natural grass berms and picnic areas for families will enable over 120,000 to attend the venue’s first event: the Formula 1 United States Grand PrixTM 2012. To address the traffic impact and provide a great guest experience during a specific event, leading domestic and international transportation and traffic-engineering experts, Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc. and Graham Lake-Grange respectively, have been retained.

Kimley-Horn brings tremendous experience to the project having developed traffic management plans for Texas Motor Speedway, the new Cowboys Stadium, Lone Star Park, and Houston’s Dynamo Park. Graham Lake-Grange, based in the UK, has developed successful traffic management plans for 13 F1 Grand PrixTM events at Silverstone as well as over 100 large-scale public events.
The multifunctional facility is being designed with year-round functionality and attractions. Proposed attractions within the development include:

Driving/Riding Experience and Seminar Building: The facility and racetrack will provide the ideal location for manufacturers to test, launch and educate dealers as well as consumers. The facility will feature classroom settings, virtual driving experiences and will provide the opportunity for test-driving on the racetrack.

Motorsports Driving Club: The membership-only club will serve as a luxury destination featuring an array of hospitality services and amenities focused on the motorsports enthusiast. The club will offer its members professional instruction, customized driving courses, premium car storage and concierge level services.
Kart Track: The outdoor karting track will be designed to provide an experience for youth and adults of all ages. The track, open to the public, will specialize in orchestrating custom group events, team building programs, celebratory events, fund-raisers as well as individual experiences.

FTP attorney, Richard Suttle, faced stiff questioning by the Travis County Commission regarding infrastructure, environment and traffic issues in his first meeting with the board a fortnight ago. The second informational meeting between Suttle and the commission was to relay the plan details as well as announce that FTP has moved forward with an environmental study and hired two traffic engineering firms — one of which worked on the Grand Prix site in Silverstone, England — to conduct studies of the 900-acre location.

Here is a larger view of the new site rendering with additional detail: USGP site detail

The press release does mention natural seating areas or grassy hill locations for viewing and family entertainment. The expected attendance has been often rumored at 150,000 but today’s release seems to suggest that they are looking for 120,000 as a first-year total. This may be a nod to manageable traffic expectations as a previous story last week placed exiting the circuit in hours instead of minutes after the grand prix. The concern is certainly valid and FTP have taken the opportunity to announce the retaining of Graham Lake-Grange and Kimley-Horn as traffic engineering firms.

That rumble of excitement you’ve been hearing all day, from what I can tell, isn’t the release of the Formula 1 video game.

At least, no one’s come up to me clamoring about it. Is it the down economy? Is my Twitter feed acting up? Is it the fact that Los Angeles had one of its coldest summers ever? Perhaps some bitter combination.

Well, the game is out. Check it:

Marking ship week, Codemasters has today released the official F1 2010 launch trailer video, now showing at www.formula1-game.com and www.facebook.com/formula1game. From Monaco to Monza and Singapore to Silverstone, each of the circuits from the sensational 2010 FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP feature in the video, as stars including Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton race wheel-to-wheel for motorsport’s most prestigious prize. The launch trailer also showcases the dynamic weather effects, fully motion captured pit stops and dramatic night-racing which will take players closer to the sport than ever before.

F1 2010, the official game of FORMULA ONE™, includes all of the official teams, drivers and circuits featuring from this season’s thrilling competition. The game can be enjoyed in an extensive career mode, a range of quick-fire races and time trials or full GRAND PRIX™ weekends. Players will experience the unique sensation of racing motorsport’s most advanced cars at the world’s finest circuits, in single player and 12-player online multiplayer modes.

And tell me: Do we care?

Stockholm was the place to be yesterday if you’re a fan of footraces. Two of the fastest men on the planet battled each other on the tracks in Sweden to see who was faster at the DN Galan 100 Meter Finals.

In a surprising finish to many, defending World Record holder, and Olympic champion Usain Bolt of Jamaica was upset by the United States Tyson Gay, who beat the “Fastest Man in the World” by an astonishing .13 seconds to win the 100 Meter heat posting a 9.84 time to Bolt’s disappointing 9.97.

Bolt first rocked the world at the 2008 Beijing Olympics when he won Gold in both the 100 Meter and 200 Meter races, becoming the first man since Carl Lewis did it in 1984 to sweep both Olympic sprints.

He electrified the world even further when he proceeded to set a new world record last August at the world championships in Berlin with a nearly unbelievable time of 9.58 in the 100 Meter race.

Coming into these events, most thought he would easily win out over Gay, as he’d ran faster even this year than Gay’s winning time in this meet, posting a 9.82 time just a month ago in Lausanne, Switzerland.

As the race approached, the fans became silent, and their anxiety likely increased when there were two false starts prior to the race finally being run.

Once the race did begin, for the first stretch of the race, it seemed like it would end like all the others Bolt had taken part in, with him being the victor. Usain and Gay raced side by side in lanes four and five, and there was nothing immediately to indicate this would be an upset.

However, as the race progressed Gay seemed far more comfortable in his strides and in total control of the race, while Bolt seemed unusually uncomfortable.

Whatever the cause of this, the American pulled away from the Jamaican as Usain struggled to keep up.

“I think it showed that I wasn’t in the best of shape,” Bolt said after the race about his struggles. “I’m not unbeatable. I can be beaten and it showed today.”

Tyson Gay wasn’t crowing about the win afterward, though, recognizing Bolt’s physical struggles aided him in the win when he said, “I’m really happy with the win, even though Usain Bolt isn’t in the best shape It was very important to beat someone like that for the fans and the sport.”

It was even more of an upset to some because of the fact Gay had been struggling a bit of late. However, he has apparently now put himself right into the mix for the 2012 Olympic Games, and will easily be seen as one of the favorites, along with Bolt, to medal. Hopefully he can do well in those games and possibly beat Bolt again and take gold.

Bolt isn’t conceding that possibility, though, or losing to Gay or anyone else in the future.

“This is my easy season,” he added. “If you don’t beat me this season it’s not going to happen next season because next year is a championship year.”

Yet, with this win, despite Bolt’s apparent physical struggles, Gay has once again showed he’s one of the world’s top runners, and has shown he isn’t done yet.

In fact, he’s just getting started.

Race Notes: Richard Thompson of Trinidad placed third, posting a 10.10 time in the meet. Asafa Powell of Jamaica was forced to drop out Wednesday due to a back injury. This denied fans the chance to see the world’s “three” fastest men face each other.

In Arsene We Trust..

With the World Cup finally over, we can at last get back to the really important business of club football and our beloved Arsenal.

The new season is only just over four weeks away and Arsene Wenger has already added Marouane Chamakh and Laurent Koscielny to the squad.

However, with the departures of Senderos, Silvestre, Gallas and possibly Sol Campbell, too, we are still very short of centre backs.

There’s also a possibility that our captain and star player, Cesc Fabregas, will leave although personally I can’t see it happening.

Added to that, there is no definite return date set for Aaron Ramsey, and even when he does return, it will take a long time for him to get back to the level he was at before his horrific injury.

With all of that in mind, we are in need of at least another couple of signings and we then have to factor in our current goalkeeper situation, the lack of backup for Alex Song and Eduardo’s inability to recover fully from his injury so far.

In my opinion, that all points to the possible acquisition of a goalkeeper, another centre back and possibly a midfielder too.

Michael Sheehy a.k.a. Jamrock Rover , is a household name in the blogger’s community thanks to his very famous blog at OleOle . He takes out time for 11G in this exclusive to analyse the different stand-out players Arsene can buy, from the World Cup that just concluded. Follow him on Twitter @JamrockRover . Read on..

If I had my choice of goalkeepers at the World Cup, I think I would choose Eduardo from Portugal, but it would appear that he has decided to sign for Genoa in Italy as he was guaranteed first-team football there but Arsenal told him he would have to fight for his place at the club.

Before the tournament, I had thought that Buffon would be an ideal goalkeeper for us as he could play for a few years before Szczesny stepped up to replace him.

However, his injury ended his World Cup in the first game and his wages would probably mean that we couldn’t afford to sign him.

Other than that no goalkeepers at the World Cup impressed me too much at all and I can’t say that I would pick one over the others.

I can say that I wouldn’t like Rob Green to sign for us as he just isn’t good enough although Mark Schwarzer has also been linked, and despite not having a great tournament, he would probably be an improvement on our current goalkeepers and again he wouldn’t hamper the progress of Szczesny long term.

When it comes to defenders I would be quite happy if Arsenal were to sign either of the German central defensive pairing as I think both Mertesacker and Friedrich would fit comfortably enough into our team.

They are both very capable defenders and Mertesacker in particular has the height to offer us a lot more ariel power both offensively and defensively at set pieces.

I think we could get them at a price that wouldn’t break the bank and their wages would be within our price range too.

The biggest problem of course would be to get their clubs to part with them and all that can be done is to place an offer and see how their clubs react.

There are other centre backs that I think would be ideal signings but unfortunately they’re not realistic targets.

I would love to see Lucio or Vidic playing for Arsenal but their clubs would not sell them to us and even if they were prepared to let them go, I don’t think we could outbid Chelsea, Man City, and Real Madrid for their services.

The need for a genuine back up or challenger to Alex Song is also something that needs to be addressed and that’s a position that’s not so easy to fill.

Again I would consider another German player for the role as I thought that Khedira was one of the better players in that role at the World Cup.

He has only a year left on his contract and there are rumours that he paid a trip to Ashburton Grove before the tournament.

It does look like he might be bound for Real Madrid though and again we can’t compete with them when it comes to fees and wages.

A lot of people may have been impressed by the central midfield pairing for Holland, but I would be horrified to see Arsenal even show an interest in either of those two thugs.

The way they kicked their opponents up and down the pitch in every single game was a disgrace and it showed up the poor standard of refereeing that neither of them were sent off during any of their games.

I think our striking options are fairly good but that is dependent on RVP staying fit for most of the season and that has never happened before.

I wouldn’t be averse to signing a wide player who can take on defenders and make things happen and I was impressed with Sanchez of Chile in that department, although he does need to work on his finishing.

It might not be a bad idea to look into the possibility of buying him, as players like him are few and far between in World football at the moment.

Besides all of the above options, I would of course like to see Torres or Drogba and quite a few more sign, too, but again they’re not realistic targets and it would be ridiculous to even consider making an approach for them as we can’t afford either the fees or the wages.

I hope you’ve found a few names of players that you think might do well at Arsenal and we can only leave it in the very capable hands of the boss and hope that he strengthens the squad enough for us to mount an even better challenge than we did last year. Until the next time.

Jamrock

Also Read:

8 Players Wenger Should Consider Signing For Arsenal

6 Players Wenger Should Consider Kick’n Outta Arsenal

Follow 11G on Twitter @11gunnerz

Note: If any of you want to share your views/opinions on the club from N5 (read: Arsenal!), leave Us a comment at the bottom. We’ll get back right away & be glad to give you a chance. Keep Gunning..

To follow with the recent trend of NL East teams calling up their highly touted prospects, The Good Phight checks in on Dominic Brown, the lone man remaining from the Phillies "Big 3" in the farm system last year.

Last year, Brown, Michael Taylor and Kyle Drabek were simply known as the "Big Three", but following the blockbuster trade that sent Roy Halladay to Philadelphia, Taylor found himself in Oakland and Drabek in Toronto. Now Brown is far and away the Phillies best prospect and is tearing up Double AA Reading. Brown is the real deal and could be next in line for an outfield position in the near future. To acquire Halladay, Phillie GM Ruben Amaro knew he would have to break up his Big Three, but the question became who was he going to keep? The decision to keep Brown over Taylor and Drabek looks good so far with Brown putting up impressive numbers and both Taylor and Drabek struggling in their new organizations. With Roy Halladay having another Cy Young season, Philadelphia is the clear winner in this deal, but as they say, you can't judge a trade until all of the players have had a chance to prove themselves.

It was a brutal April for Gary Matthews Jr., and unfortunately for him, there may be too much to overcome to get out of Jerry Manuel's doghouse.

Acquiring Matthews was a bargain from the beginning. He was fighting for a spot on the roster the minute he entered spring training and if it weren't for the late injury to Daniel Murphy, who knows where Matthews would be at now. As MetsBlog points out, Matthews is the type of

A few years ago Reading FC enjoyed one of the best first seasons by a promoted side ever in the Premier league when, in the 2006-07 season, they finished in a very creditable and some would say distinguished for a just promoted side, eighth place in the league.

After the heady days of success and dreams that were enjoyed by all involved with the club that season, the next proved exceedingly difficult and despite the best efforts of the team and manager they were unfortunately sent down on goal difference having three more goals negative than Fulham.

The next season was one of rebuilding and maintaining a positive focus, as the club successfully negotiated themselves through the hangover period that can dog clubs that go down. They started back into the season with vigour and enthusiasm that took them all the way to the play offs.

Unfortunately they met a Burnley side that was a match for them and over a well contested two legged tie they were beaten 3-0.

After the disappointment of this outcome, Reading were to lose the services of former England and Manchester United winger, Steve Coppell, as manager. Coppell had presided over the most successful period in the clubs history. When he took them to eighth place in the Premier, it was the highest place the club had ever been in its 138 year history and its first time in the top flight.

Coppell will always be remembered with affection by those associated with Reading for what he gave to the club. He decided to go of his own volition and blamed it on not fulfilling his ambition of erasing the relegation that had occurred when they went down from the Premier league.

This proved to be a darker day than it initially appeared, as in the new season the club could not find the synchronicity and form needed under new manager Brendan Rogers.

They lumbered through the season until December with only five wins, six draws and ten losses. They found themselves dancing the dreaded relegation jig, a dance that often ends in tragedy for its participants.

Rogers ended up leaving the job he turned his back on Watford for and into the breach stepped former Arsenal player Brian McDermott, who had had an association with the club dating back to him taking over scouting duties in September 2000. By the time he took up the caretaker role he had also coached the under 19 side and the reserves.

On December 19th, McDermott presided over his first match, an away draw with Bristol City. A few weeks later there was a sign that things had perhaps taken a turn toward the positive for the royals when they managed an excellent result in keeping Liverpool to a draw and forcing a replay in the FA cup.

In the period following his takeover of the top job at the club, McDermotts side have managed twelve wins, five draws and only five losses, including an entertaining FA cup quarter final run, with the scalp of Liverpool at Anfield on the way to being knocked out by Aston Villa.

McDermott seems to have re-energised the side and his experience in football and also time under the guidance of Steve Coppell would certainly have prepared him for his chance at the top job.

Reading have been a side transformed in the new year. New energy, desire, and organisation has led to a drastic switch in form, like a light going on in a black hole. The team have pulled themselves out of relegation and are now in eleventh place, eight points off the last play off position, with two games in hand on eight of the teams above them.

The club will hope the turn around is the beginning of another crack at the Premier league and regardless of how the season finishes they will be grateful to the new boss for the way he has righted the ship and got it again sailing to the new world.

For there is plenty of gold to be had in the Premier league, along with the associated prestige and quality it gives any team.

It will be interesting to watch Reading in the next couple of months and see how far this rise will take them. We could even see them back in the top flight! After earlier this year there were those who thought they were going the way of a lot of those that stumble on the golden shores of the Premier league, further down the divisions and into possibly years of obscurity.

The next few weeks will be where we see if the transformation from relegation dancers to promotion par-tiers can fully take place.

Until then, it is easy to marvel at this stunning turnaround and see why this game can constantly surprise you.

Earlier today I wrote a post complaining about the lack of any actual news coming from the newspapers . In an era where newspapers are rapidly declining, it’s almost as if they are trying to destroy themselves.

But just because the newspapers suck, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t plenty of Yankee-related stories out there worth your time. Leave it to the bloggers to do the newspapers' jobs for them. Here's a list of suggested reading:

Former BBD writer Matt Imbrogno has been examining Brian Cashman’s recent trades. Today, he wrote part 2 of his series and it’s definitely worth a read .

Mike Axisa of River Ave Blues is taking to task a Phillies' beat writer who has made the claim that the Phillies have the best infield ever despite the fact that, as Axisa points out, they might not even be the best in baseball today (ahem, Yankees).

Jason Resenberg over at It’s About the Money, Stupid has a good piece about race in baseball.

This one is a couple of days old, but Gary Wallace from No Maas had a great piece on Nick Swisher.

Marc Hulet of Fan Graphs also released their Top 50 AL Prospects. Jesus Montero is No. 4.

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