I love open wheel racing and since speed started showing F1 I've watch every race since 05, I also love to watch IRL and lemans. Today while browsing thru the boards I found another form of racing called A1, Immediately I went to their site and saw a video----Man" this looks exiting, lots of cars,lots of passing and even the US competes. I dont know anything about it so can any of you experts give me some information about it. It looks like f1 cars, how do they compare? It looks more exiting, Is it? It also looks like there are a lot more cars and passing than in F1, am I right? and what do I need to do to watch it? Thanks.

monaco - 02 April 2008 09:07 PM

I love open wheel racing and since speed started showing F1 I've watch every race since 05, I also love to watch IRL and lemans. Today while browsing thru the boards I found another form of racing called A1, Immediately I went to their site and saw a video----Man" this looks exiting, lots of cars,lots of passing and even the US competes. I dont know anything about it so can any of you experts give me some information about it. It looks like f1 cars, how do they compare? It looks more exiting, Is it? It also looks like there are a lot more cars and passing than in F1, am I right? and what do I need to do to watch it? Thanks.

Much of this information I'm pulling from Wikipedia, but it should be on the A1GP site if you dig as well.

The A1GP cars are Lola chassis with Zytek engines and cooper tires (or tyres if you are in Europe!). They have 3.8L V8 engines at 520 bhp and 550 bhp with power boost (which they use for a brief HP increase during the race a set number of times). F1 is a couple a hundred more horses and better aero. The series is a spec racing series so everybody runs the same cars. Each country has a team.

Next season A1gp will be using Ferrari Engines and a Ferrari assisted new design for the chassis. Rumors are it will be a lot like one of their older F1 designs. The engines will also have more HP to put the speeds more in line with what F1 does (but will probably still be a little slower).

There are LOTS of passes, and unfortunately on occasion some of their races become crash fests.

I like watching it, although it's hard to find here in the states. Speedtv used to carry it but does not any more. It looks like Sentanta sports (an international cable sports channel) are carrying but not everybody in the states gets that channel.

You can watch the races live streamed from the A1GP web site (but no commentary) or if you ask somebody "in the know" there are places you can download the races broadcast from ITV and Australia via bittorrent but that would be illegal and immoral and I'd NEVER recommend you do that mkay?

When SpeedTV had A1GP, they would show it at difficult times for most people and on tape delay, so it was overlooked by most viewers. Too bad they ignored all the complaints about the time slots, we might be able to see it on TV.
Let's hope some network fills the void soon. Many of the A1GP races were in our winter time when there is no racing coverage at all.

Thank you guys for the very informative post, This sounds like the type of racing that I would enjoy----I like a little more competitiveness in racing, I wish F1 was like that. I too wish some network would telecast it soon. Thank You!

Look here what I found" I hope he can pull it of!

A1 Team USA owner Rick Weidinger hopes that the A1GP series might be able to pick up some of the American venues that lost open wheel racing dates due to the Champ Car World Series and IRL IndyCar Series merger.

With the unified championship primarily following the IRL calendar, eleven circuits have lost Champ Car races for 2008 - including American tracks Houston, Laguna Seca, Cleveland, Portland and Elkhart Lake.

A1GP raced at Laguna in its inaugural season, but has not returned to the United States since then.

"We'll take a look at the established road races that are not going to be a part of the unified schedule for IndyCar and see if there might be an opportunity for A1 Team USA to race on home ground," Weidinger said.

Weidinger has sponsored one of Dreyer & Reinbold Indy entries for the past two seasons, and was also a co-owner of former IRL team Kelley Racing.

He praised the IndyCar and Champ Car series owners for finally achieving reunification.

"American open-wheel fans, and I'm proud to be a member of that group, now have a rallying point to support IndyCar racing," Weidinger said.

"I'm very pleased and encouraged for the future of the sport. It's been said that compromise is what makes men noble and both Tony George and Kevin Kalkhoven have shown character of the highest quality in doing what is in the best interest of IndyCar racing.

"Tony George has made it possible for the Champ Car teams to switch to the IndyCar equipment without financial harm. Kevin Kalkhoven recognised that one series was needed for IndyCar racing to prosper and, along with his partners, was willing to relinquish controlling a major racing series.

"It should have an immediate impact with more teams, cars and drivers, a couple of additional races in new markets and higher television ratings. The entire package will be much more attractive to sponsors."