KLM

Wow, you're comparing this to the largest/most-popular/best-attended motorsport event in Sri Lanka. Must be good then.

Are tickets for this event really Rs. 750???? Yup, MRA Rally KKG 2K9 has been postponed until the 20th/21st of June.

I'm told that the Colombo Pro-Kart Centre at Excel World was very successful, but had to be shut down due to ownership issues with the land, so the potential is definitely there. Fortunately for us, another venture is already under construction and should be ready within the next couple of months.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/e60/news/story?id=3571491 Cindy McCain, Senator John McCain's wife, is a drifter. No lie. As much as I think drifting is the worst/stupidest form of motorsport, this is pretty damn cool and I honestly think that the Americans made the wrong choice for President.

Nice sig Velocity. Tell us about your new additions to the family.

Fabulous. Fully worth the drive and fully worth a day trip.

No machan, I wont be running, but will be assisting with the event administration. However, among those taking part are: Aravinda Premadasa - Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII Dinesh Deheragoda - Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X Dinesh Jayawardene - Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII Reyaz Farook - Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII Rizvi Farouk - Subaru Impreza WRX Shafraz Junaid - Subaru Impreza WRX Janaka Dias - Subaru Impreza WRX STI Pasindu Peiris - Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX Shantha Suraweera - Subaru Impreza WRX STi Thiwanka Wijayasekere - Honda Integra Type-R Dinesh Senanayake - Toyota RAV4 Farzan Najmudeen - Nissan March Javidh Wahab - Honda Civic Type-R Missaka Gamage - Honda Civic SiR Sanjaya Sedara Senarath - Honda Civic Type-R Manish Gunatilleke - Subaru Impreza Taffy Alahakoon - Honda Civic Emdad Hussein - Honda CRX It'll be good to see the Thiwanka's DC5 mixing it up amongst the turbo/AWD brigade in SL 'GT' and It'll be even more interesting to see how an N/A 2.0 litre car performs against a restricted Evo/WRX.

Directions for DZ: http://www.kkgholidayresort.com/howtoget.html

KKG is coming up guys, it'll be held on the 6th and 7th of June. It's the only tarmac rally held in Sri Lanka and we expect a good number of entries, half of which will be GT cars. Who's in?

As much as I'm a fan of Seb Bourdais, I think Hartley (or even Bruno Senna) will replace him soon unless he figures out these cars very soon and scores some points. Piquet was really strong last week and he needs to build on that as well if he wants to keep that seat as well. Speaking of Sebastian Bourdais, has anybody noticed how common his first name is in top-line motorsport? We already have Bourdais, Sebastien Vettel, Sebastien Buemi, Sebastian Loeb and Sebastian Ogier.

It's a suspended 3-race ban. They ended up getting off lightly. Looks like Ron Dennis leaving F1 was part of the backroom negotiations though.

Sanjay crashed in qualifying for Fox Hill. It was one of the worst accidents seen there and the car, a rental from Kurunegala, was totalled. Yet, they mucked around with it and brought it to the track in the hope that they could run the SL GT Race 2. Mercifully the scrutineers refused to pass it and that was that.

Nope, that's not it. You're referring to the ex-Manapperuma car and as far as I know that project has been abandoned, even though Shantha still owns it. The car he races/rallies and ran at Fox Hill is one that Dan Dissanayake once owned. His son Sanjaya (who incidentally had a massive wreck in an Evo IV on Friday) raced this car a few years ago at Fox Hill.

That's a very interesting article and I have no doubt that the Middle East has an atrocious human rights record with regard to their expat labour, but I have to question the motives and the tone of the writer. For every case of a labourer being cheated out of his pay and denied basic human rights, there are thousands and thousands of success stories where men/women have spent time in the Middle East and happily provided well for their families back home. If things were as bad as this journalist made it sound, why would people from the subcontinent keep lining up to go? Also, the white couple who got into debt - now whose fault is it that they completely overdid it and ended up in massive debt? The Sheikh's? Those people need to take responsibility for their own actions without blaming the very society that they enjoyed while things were good. I agree that some of their laws are archaic, that Arabs can (and mostly are) bastards and that the modern cities of the Middle East grew too fast, are very tacky and completely lacking in charm, but it certainly seems as if this writer had an agenda. That's just my humble opinion. Now, can we back to some motoring-related topics please? Fox Hill, anyone?

Good deal DD. Let's hope that you and the rest of the GT boys put on a worthy show for Nutahara san.

No machan Pradeep ran Fox Hill in 2005, the year after his accident, but if I remember right, his engine blew on race day. But I think this is Carmen's first race in a long time.

Add 12. Pradeep Jayawardene - Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution V RS 13. Carmen Thenuwara - Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VI RS 14. Sanjay Dissanayake - Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VI RS The addition of PJ is a very exciting one because he is one of the better drivers in Sri Lanka and a Fox Hill specialist who is hunting his first SuperFox title. As one of the competitors pointed out, this is the largest field of pure GT cars (no Starlet Turbos and no Civics) ever to enter a race in Sri Lanka. Recession? What recession?

The Fox Hill entry list: 1. Dinesh Deheragoda - Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X RS 2. Aravinda Premadasa - Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII RS 3. Reyaz Farook - Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII RS 4. Mahinda Premaratne - Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX GT 5. Tharindu Lokuge - Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution V GSR 6. Shantha Suraweera - Subaru Impreza WRX STi 7. Rameez Mahamoor - Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV RS 8. Janaka Dias - Subaru Impreza WRX STi 9. Pasindu Peiris - Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX GT 10. Rizvi Farouk - Subaru Impreza WRX 11. Sanjeewa De Mel - Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV GSR It's going to be great as usual.

I totally disagree with this OD. Considering the fact that Lewis and Dave Ryan were categorically asked if the McLaren slowed down to let Trulli and they (quite untruthfully) replied in the negative, a DSQ is only fair. McLaren seem to agree, because they've suspended Ryan, a veteran of some 30-odd years, and are apologizing profusely all over the media. Lewis Hamilton and McLaren have just cocked up a lot lately is all - the FIA are not going after them. The other teams get punishments meted out quite regularly as well but because they're successful and the English-language press follows them so closely, there is a lot more over-analysis that goes on with regards to their interactions with the FIA. However, the stewards at Melbourne did f**k up in that they didn't take into account ALL of the evidence (such as the radio conversations) before passing the first judgment. However, since justice was eventually served I don't think anybody will really care. It's a shame that Lewis' great drive from 18th was over-shadowed though - he claims that he though he'd lose the car on every corner of all 58 laps, thats how unbalanced and twitchy the car was.

I think AL members need to be more disciplined. The few automotive-related threads that come up now are taken over by inane banter that really is more appropriate for a private mailing list or that God-awful 'Post Whoring' thread. To be quite frank, there is actually very little of interest here anymore, automotive-wise, and it's more about other day-to-day nonsense that doesn't really belong on an automotive forum.

1. Dinesh Deheragoda - Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X RS 2. Aravinda Premadasa - Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII RS 3. Nishan Weerasooria - Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX GT 4. Charith Perera - Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX GT 5. Romani De Silva - Subaru Impreza WRX STI Spec-C Type RA-R 6. Rohan De Silva - Subaru Impreza WRX STi 7. Rameez Mahamoor - Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV RS 8. Darin Weerasinghe - Subaru Impreza WRX STi 9. Janaka Dias - Subaru Impreza WRX STi 10. Pasindu Peiris - Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX GT 11. Rizvi Farouk - Subaru Impreza WRX 12. Shantha Suraweera - Subaru Impreza WRX STi Add another Subaru to the GT list.

The SLARDAR 1000 might be held again this year and this vehicle would be perfect for it.

Good scene machan what car are you running and in what class?

http://f1.automoto365.com/news/controller....p;news_id=35229 This is some funny stuff, released by STR's PR team I believe. One fool of a reporter actually asked Buemi (during the Friday Press Conference in Melbourne) if he actually tried to bring in the Toblerone and paid A$350 for the taxi ride. My favourite bit is at the end when he talks about his team-mate Seb Bourdais being so 'nice'. ________________________________ It’s going to be a long flight to Melbourne, but I don’t mind, I have plenty to read on the plane, including the 325 interviews I have given to Swiss magazines and newspapers since I was confirmed as a Toro Rosso driver. There are some other drivers and team bosses at the airport when I check in, but I don’t see them after we go through passport control. I head off to the shops and they follow signs to another gate, although I have never heard of an airline called “V*P.” No, I was wrong, they are on the same flight, but once again I don’t see them on the plane. They all disappear through a curtain. I feel sorry for them, as I am lucky enough to sit near the back of the plane with the rest of my team. I get a middle seat, which is neat, as I can talk to two people either side of me. And it’s handy for the toilets too. Halfway through the flight, I am feeling rather hungry and have an upset tummy from eating too much fruit, but there is nothing else on the menu that my trainer told me I’m allowed to eat. Maybe next time I should use a Japanese airline as they are more likely to serve Tofu and raw bean shoots. The other F1 people seem to like drinking wine. I think they are sad to be leaving their families after spending a lovely winter with them and are drinking to forget their sadness at having to be away for about a month for the first four races. Before I left the factory, my press officer – hey, do you like that? “my press officer” stuff – told me that when I land in Melbourne there might be some local TV film crews and newspaper reporters and photographers and would I mind doing interviews with any of them who asked. I am surprised at this lack of organisation. It is not the way we would do things in Switzerland, so before leaving I find the emails for these TV stations and give them my flight details. They reply and sound excited, saying they might want to talk to me for a minute or two. I mail back, saying they could have a full 20 minutes each, as this would give them a better understanding of my views on F1. Finally, we land in Melbourne. I feel very proud when the passport control man says “Welcome to Australia Mr. Buemi,” as I didn’t expect to be famous here already, but then I realise he is reading my name from the passport. Never mind It’s a scandal! I have been taken to a small room and there is talk of giving me something called a “full body search.” It’s ridiculous but apparently I have committed a crime by bringing 20 bars of Toblerone chocolate into Australia. I try to explain it is Swiss chocolate and therefore not just a “foodstuff.” Eventually they let me go, but they keep the chocolate. I am worried there will be no TV crews still there and I will be in trouble with my press officer. But I’m lucky and do many interviews which I am sure will be a great publicity coup for the team as I don’t see other drivers doing as many interviews as me. Unfortunately, the team forgot to wait for me and it is dark when I leave the airport. So I take a taxi to the city and the driver says that as it’s my first time here, he will only charge me 350 Aussie Dollars. He tells me the exchange rate is 15.75 dollars to the Euro, so taxis are obviously much cheaper than back home. When I get to the hotel, my teammate Sebastien Bourdais is there. He tells me that as I’ve got here so late, I shouldn’t worry about getting up early for the first technical meeting at the track tomorrow and he will tell me everything the engineers say. I think he is really nice to do this and we will get on really well. He is giving me lots of little tips and also mentioned that the FIA’s Charlie Whiting doesn’t mind at all if you are late for the Drivers’ Briefings. Also, we have both been invited to the Governor’s Cocktail Reception, but Monsieur Bourdais (as he says I can call him) promised he would let me go alone, so I could do all the interviews and get all the publicity, as it is my first Grand Prix. He really is a gentleman. That must be why he chooses to live in Switzerland. I think I’m going to enjoy being a Formula 1 driver.

I disagree with some of that list. Sauber morphed into BMWSauber and were legitimate contenders last year. Since the '70s it's been difficult for privateer teams with customer engines to contend and Sauber did more than just that before Peter Sauber sold the team to BMW. Also, the Sauber-Mercedes sportscars were very successful before F1, although that's besides the point. Minardi was probably the most beloved F1 team ever, after Ferrari. They used to do wonders on a non-existent budget and I was glad to see Scuderia Toro Rosso (the team they eventually became) become a winner. Among the drivers they brought into F1 are Jarno Trulli, Giancarlo Fisichella and Fernando Alonso. Copersucar-Fittipaldi and BAR both ruined the careers of young World Champions, namely Emerson Fittipaldi and Jacques Villeneuve, so they deserve to be on that list. There are also some other teams on that list that sucked even worse. One was so slow that it's entry couldn't make it up the hill at Eau Rouge at Spa and at least 2 were run by famed criminals who were arrested in the paddock itself. Another team showed up to a Brazilian GP with the fuel tank opening on the wrong side of the chassis. Needless to say, none of these 'teams' lasted.