The World Cup of Motorsport...has a nice ring to it, right? Other sports like athletics for example, have a World Cup, there is even a World Games, so why not a World Cup of Motorsport, considering its huge popularity? Well, later this year that is exactly what is going to happen via the A1 racing series. The A1 series is the brainchild of Sheikh Makhtoum al Makhtoum, a member of the Dubai Royal family who is so keen on motorsport that he decided to do something about it.

What exactly is the A1 series? Well, it?s a racing series in which identical racing cars will be racing against each other. The big difference is that the drivers will not be driving for personal glory alone. Oh yes, personal glory will be a part of the equation alright, but more importantly, it will be national pride at stake as the teams will be racing cars in national colours. Each team will be a franchise of A1 Grand Prix, sold to a representative of a country. The national footballer Figo and the assistant manager of Manchester United, Carlos Queiros, for example, jointly own the Portuguese franchise. Brazilian star player Ronaldo likewise owns the Brazilian franchise. The Gupta family that owns Sahara Computers of South Africa owns the Indian franchise. There are similar franchises for various other countries like the UK, Lebanon, Pakistan, China and more ? in fact, 23 franchises have been allotted to different countries with seven more reserved for those showing interest in racing in the series.

The cars are built by Lola of England and feature extremely advanced technology. The specifications make for very interesting reading. The car has a wheelbase of 3000mm and a dry weight of 630kgs without driver. The suspension is of the dual-wishbone type (A Arms) with pushrod operated twin dampers. Ride height, toe and camber are all adjustable, while handling is helped by quick-change anti-roll bars at the front and the rear. The chassis is of carbon fibre skins over an aluminium honeycomb core.

Thirty identical Zytek V8 engines built especially for the A1 GP power the 30 identical Lola cars. These 90-degree DOHC V-engines have a cylinder capacity of 3400cc and running on 100 octane racing fuel, develop a formidable 520bhp of power and a massive 442Nm of torque. The gearbox is a six-speed transversal unit with sequential gear change via paddle shifts. The driver will have a 280mm-dia Sparco steering wheel with a mounted dash that also has a multichannel data logging facility for the race engineers. The brakes are steel discs with carbon pads while the clutch is a 3-plate carbon/ carbon unit. The A1 cars run on control tyres, either slicks or wets with water dispersing tread pattern.

Each A1 race will be over three days, and the drivers will get free practice on Friday to enable them to get familiar with the track and maximise the set-up of the car. The second day will see another practice session followed by a qualifying round. There will be two races on the actual race day ? a short sprint race for points and forming the grid for the main race, which will be longer. Drivers will get both points as well as prize money, with the tenth place finisher gaining a single point. In addition, as an incentive to perform, the driver with the fastest lap time during the two races will be awarded a bonus point.

As this is a winter series, races will take place in countries with warmer weather conditions ? like Dubai, Bahrain, South Africa, Indonesia, Malaysia and South America. The series gets flagged off in September at a very traditional racing circuit ? Brands Hatch in the south of England. This uphill and downdale circuit is excellent from the spectator?s point of view as large sections of the track are visible from almost any point of view.

The provisional calendar till the end of the year is Brands, UK on September 25, Eurospeedway, Germany on October 9, Estoril, Portugal on October 23, Eastern Creek, Australia on November 6, Sepang, Malaysia on December 20 and Dubai Autodrome, UAE on December 11. There are races in 2006 as well in Indonesia, Singapore, South Africa, Mexico, the USA and China.

The A1 series will be interesting for a number of reasons ? racing for the country, not self (remember how fired up Leander Paes gets in a Davis Cup?) in the national colours, equal opportunities for drivers in equal cars, and easy accessibility for the general public in terms of cheap tickets. After the US GP fiasco, that is exactly what is needed to direct interest back to the sport.

Easy listening

David Abraham
fashion designer

The only time I get to really take time out to enjoy music is when I am driving. And my favourite music is what I carry around. I find listening to the radio extremely tedious. The songs in themselves are not so bad, but the banter and chatter of the radio jockeys annoys me. So I have this stock of almost 25 to 30 CDs in the car. I am devoted to Western classical music and while I have a pretty large collection of recordings of various composers, of late I find myself listening to Handel a lot. I also love opera and have some favourite ones on tape.

Besides Western Classical, I also enjoy disco and lounge music. Another favourite is the kind we grew up with — disco and 60s hits. I find myself listening to Dion Warrick a lot. The best thing about these hits is they sound great even today, which is not something one can say about the current crop of popular hits