Looks like the Schu will fit again
Sun Herald
Sunday August 9, 2009
OK €“ DON'T roll out the red carpet just yet. Back off everyone. Michael Schumacher's comeback is not quite locked in.There is some lingering doubt about his neck problems as a result of a bike crash earlier this year.A medical clearance will be required to confirm his neck is strong enough to endure the massive G-forces generated in the course of a grand prix.It should be the last impediment he faces. Everything else seems on track. Schumacher says he has already dropped three kilograms as he tweaks his personal fitness.We've also learnt that Schumacher is not making a return in pursuit of the almighty euro (it's about warm altruistic reasons €“ a sense of duty to Ferrari, and a personal challenge).However, the process will be lubricated by a stipend of ‚1 million ($1.7 million) a race plus a similar-sized bonus for every victory while subbing for the injured Felipe Massa, starting in a fortnight at the European Grand Prix.In-season testing is prohibited but Ferrari sought a waiver so Schumacher could test the 2009 F60 F1 car before Valencia, and wrote to the teams in the hope of getting the unanimous "yeah" required.Williams, Red Bull and Toro Rosso wouldn't give their approval, so Schumacher will have to be satisfied with a hit-out in previous years' cars, presumably running on slick rubber.Toro Rosso claims there is a precedent but the knockback is odd, given that Ferrari supplies the engines for its cars.KIMI CARVES IT UPConjecture about Kimi Raikkonen's future will only crank up again after the Finn's competitive outing in last weekend's Rally Finland.Despite crashing out in the final stage on day two, the greenhorn rally driver said he enjoyed the drive and was pleased with his pace. After a sensibly cautious start, the 2007 world F1 champ got the hammer down and proved very quick on his World Rally Championship debut.Driving a Fiat Abarth Grande Punto S2000, the rally neophyte was up to 15th on day two until he flipped over on a tricky high-speed corner.BLAZING BRISCOESydney's Ryan Briscoe has charged back to the points lead in the 2009 Indycar Series after a nail-biting win on the Kentucky oval.If anyone believes oval racing is boring, they should check the final six laps of the race on YouTube.Briscoe and Ed Carpenter duked it out wheel to wheel often less than a metre apart at slightly more than the race average speed of 320km/h, the plucky Australian taking out the event by a margin of just 0.0162 of a second.TWO GOES INTO FOURV8 Supercars has done a smart thing by grabbing superbikes for its support bill at the Phillip Island 500 next month.It seems to be a win-win situation for both parties. V8 Supercars gets a quality support act which is arguably the purest form of motor sport anywhere. And the Australian Superbikes will ply their entertaining trade in front of a car audience that hasn't seen a two-plus-four (wheels) meeting in the history of the two-make V8 category.One gent who should be flattered by this revisiting of motor sporting history is Mike Raymond. Back in the touring car era, the fertile mind of the former Channel Seven head of motor sport provided race fans and viewers with a succession of mixed shows €“ motorcycles and cars €“ at tracks including Lakeside, Winton, Phillip Island, Oran Park and Symmons Plains.This columnist recalls seeing the late great Gregg Hansford and Warren Willing racing two-wheelers on the same bill as the cars at Sandown in the 1970s.Raymond is the spiritual father of the Ford versus Holden V8 category, having pushed for it in the early 1990s at a meeting which also included the then sponsor Shell, and CAMS.Raymond and his team also pioneered the use of the in-car (Racecam) camera, Trackcam,point-of-view cam and wall cam, and chats between two drivers during a race (Peter Brock to Neil Crompton).
© 2009 Sun Herald
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