Astute followers of F1 will know that there was a race held this week in Korea. Astute followers of Fun with Cars will notice that there is not a Grand Prix Show discussing that race. We may be able to produce a show later this week, but our normal grand prix viewing was superseded by other obligations. As it happens, those are potentially interesting as well, so here’s a quick update on what the FwC guys have been up to.

Over this past weekend Robin and his brother were driving in the 24 Hours of LeMons race outside Chicago. I’d love to tell you more about how his team did and all, but with his busy schedule he hasn’t had a chance to fill me in yet. The guy works full time and is finishing his Masters degree, so we can cut him a break on scheduling.

The day before that on Friday, I was outside Mexico City in Puebla running data analysis sessions for participants of the Porsche Driving Experience Mexico. It’s a fun event to take part in, as I have worked with the crew for five years. I got to eat some delicious tacos and catch up with my Mexican friends. It’s cool to see how much of a star Checo Pérez has become in Mexico, after initially seeing him on a billboard last year. Maybe he’s not quite a household name, but among car enthusiasts he and his just-announced move to McLaren are certainly talking points. It reiterates for me how much enthusiasm there is for racing in Mexico and how future success for Checo could really be a big deal toward the return of a Mexican Grand Prix. If that happens, I’m going and I know a bunch of folks who’ll be there’d with me.

Anyway, it will be a few days until Robin will have a chance to watch the Korean GP, and I’ll be out of town again but we might try and do a show remotely. Either way, stay tuned here and on Facebook and Twitter and you’ll see what we come up with.

As we mentioned in the last podcast, Jim is currently out of town, well out of the country actually, and we are hence unable to make a podcast directly after the Italian Grand Prix. However, my more domesticated, less jet-setty self did watch the race and will push Jim to do the same as soon as he gets home so we can do a delayed podcast. However, I cannot make any promises, so we may have to wait until Singapore.

In general, it sounds as if our tweaked format largely went over well. Jim and I have more fun debating particular points of the race than giving the “news” of what happened in the race. Besides, most of you already have seen the race when listen to the podcast, so it was a waste of everyone’s time. That said, we’ve heard from “The Kilt” et al that Listener Feedback is indeed a fun part of the show and we will henceforth bring that segment back.

As of now, we haven’t heard much from you guys about alternative names to “The Grand Prix Show” so for the time being we will run with that. But if anyone experiences an epiphany, please share, as we have yet to set anything in stone. Jim and I have also kicked around some ideas for more videos and other things that fall under the “Fun With Cars” umbrella that we will definitely share once they are finished. Hopefully this expansion of scope will be something you guys enjoy. After all, I never thought I would turn to McLaren for my animation-based entertainment. Who knew?

As for Monza, great race! I definitely was gutted to see Button fall-out of second place, slightly less gutted to see Vettel dropout a little later on (still a Button fan) and then totally shocked to see Webber spin and then exit the race himself! Kudos to Hamilton for driving a flawless race and kudos to Alonso for engaging the crowd so effectively on the podium, he even became the cameraman for a minute!

So, what would you guys like to hear about? Vettels penalty for his block against Alonso? Kimi Raikkonen’s advance to third in the championship? Massa’s performance and team orders? Let us know and we’ll talk about it on the next show.

Cheers,
Robin

P.S. Thanks to everyone that recently purchased the limited-edition F1Show t-shirts! We are now down to 10 shirts left in the inventory. So these things are well and truly in limited quantity. If you’ve been considering buying one, now is the time!
– RW

A few of our most astute listeners have already noticed a couple of changes here at The F1 Show. And while you haven’t heard from us in the month of August so far, Jim and I have in fact been busy working on the show, mainly in a legal sense. A few weeks ago, we received a letter from Formula 1 US legal representation demanding that we cease and desist all use of “F1” in our name, logo, and website; as it might be confused with something officially affiliated with the real deal. Of course, Jim and I disagree with this claim and find it a bit silly to even waste the time dealing with our, to paraphrase Jeremy Clarkson, pokey little racing podcast. However, Jim and I equally feel uninterested and ill-prepared to defend our logo and use of the name in court. So we have acquiesced to their request and are changing the name and logo of the podcast and website.

As ever, Jim and I see this bump in the road as an opportunity to expand our car/racing geek empire and branch out beyond our Formula 1 racing news podcast and into the broader world of auto racing, our own amateur racing, and other car-geek related awesomeness. So in that spirit we are proud to officially announce our new name: Fun with Cars!

We believe the title, Fun with Cars, embodies all of our passions and interests into one succinct phrase. That’s not just a new name for the show, though. It’s bigger than that. Over time, Fun with Cars will be a destination for all of our auto and racing projects with videos, blogs, and podcasts. Some F1-related, some not, but all fun and all involving cars and racing. Future coverage will include our new racing team, WarnerLau Racing, which is currently building a 1992 Honda Prelude for 24 Hours of Lemons competition, an endurance racing series for old junkers with a maximum initial value of $500. Of course, the nucleus of this new venture remains our podcast, which we plan to continue uninterrupted as one part of the new site under the new, generic name, The Fun with Cars Grand Prix Show.

Everything is online at http://funwithcars.net but for a while the old web address will continue to work. Most all podcast subscribers will be moved to the new site automatically, but in case you’re not, please check that you are subscribed to http://funwithcars.net/podcast in your player. If you follow us on Twitter or Facebook, you will automatically be switched over. If not, you should follow us on Twitter or Facebook to keep up with everything we do!

So, please don’t be sad for us, but join in the excitement of the next chapter of our podcast, and really our online existence, Fun with Cars!

-Jim & Robin