Hamilton's Gambit

I am busy these days and so my two blog sites Pinoy Technocrata and Couch Potato Journal are on indefinite leave.

I’m a Ferrari fan at heart… and also an Alonso fan boy but this season gave me two additional teams to watch out for… and that’s Toyota and Brawn GP.

I said early on when F1 teams were just beginning to unveil new cars due to a lot of rule changes that Ferrari’s F60 is definitely the sexiest car on the track and McLaren, the big fat bus. I still believe it’s the sexiest car even though they lost the first race to Brawn GP. But of course, the Brawn GP001 is the talk of the town. It looks simple in white maybe due to lack of sponsors. All I can see during the race was the “Virgin” logo of Sir Richard Branson! Hmmm I guess things are about to change for Brawn GP… dramatically.

Brawn GP, the team that was formerly known as Honda is the new “backstreet boy” of the pack and they have displayed tremendous power and reliability at their maiden race. Jenson Button dominated the race all throughout and never looked back till the checquered flag. Rubens Barrichello, Jenson’s teammate could have made it difficult for Jenson to win if only he got a good start from the grid and minus some mishaps. I think Rubens could have won the race but hey all is well… Australian Grand Prix is a Brawn 1-2 victory! The Honda guys might be scratching their heads when Jenson and Rubens both got a podium finish after a long time with Honda. This gives me doubts about Honda engines as the Brawn GP001 car’s body is believed to be designed by Honda way ahead of the 2009 season but the engine was replaced with a Mercedes Benz.

And so Brawn, if all goes according to plan, is set to capture this year’s Constructor’s Cup and Drivers’ Championship. Then a development in the F1 world woke me up from blog slumber as I read the news from F1-Live.com (click here!)

And so the reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton pulled some strings and will be suiting up for Brawn GP in the Malaysian Grand Prix! I think Rubens is definitely going to be out of the line-up if this really… pushes through. I feel sorry for Rubens, after complaining for some time with the Honda Team, he is now on a competitive car only to be booted because some sick brat wants the better F1 car! I was already beginning to admire Hamilton as a driver but it seems he’s desire for winning is beyond the boundaries of ethics. I guess Alonso was right in leaving McLaren which he helped built to be competitive whom Hamilton benefited. The real looser is McLaren and for a short span of time, lost two of the best drivers! Alonso leaving McLaren was viewed to be a bratty move but at least he’s got some pride and definitely… class…

Hamilton! You truly deserve to be called BLEWIT SHAMELTON!!!

Reloaded: Knight Rider

Pop quiz! What do you do when the name of your company is Ford known as one of the Big 3 in the automotive industry and suddenly lost your number 2 spot in the world market to a Japanese carmaker Toyota? 

The answer!  Simply… create a TV show that would showcase one of your successful brand names!  To ensure an immediate wide fan base… why not use the tried and tested franchise such as the Knight Rider of 80’s fame!  Actually, I never thought about it at first until I learned that GM (General Motors) is also interested in putting up a TV series using one of its cars!  I guess to ensure they’d still be number one as Toyota is closely creeping at the number 1 spot.  It sucks to be GM right now because the original car used in the old TV series is actually from them, a sexy Pontiac Firebird Trans Am.

For those who have no idea what Knight Rider was in the 80’s, visit wikipedia.org.  There is a lot of information there that even I can’t believe it’s there, like for example, a list of gadgets attached to KITT complete with brief descriptions geek style!  All I can remember about the old Knight Rider is that it’s the show that catapulted David Hasselhoff to stardom before he decided to wear red shorts and started running around the beach half naked chest out (to hide his beer gut) in “Baywatch.”  Hasselhoff as Michael Knight is the first driver/crime buster driving an intelligent [artificial intelligence] Pontiac Firebird Trans Am named KITT (Knight Industries Two Thousand).  Another interesting info about the series is that there is actually another car in the show dubbed as the “evil KITT” named KARR (Knight Automated Roving Robot), which is actually KITT’s predecessor.  Most memorable part of the series was when KITT collided head-on against a truck and was reborn or shall I say re-engineered into a more ass-kicking car, which can do quick stops using flaps popping from all sides!

For today’s generation, KITT now stands for (Knight Industries Three Thousand).  From a Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, the new KITT is a Ford Mustang modified by Shelby (Shelby GT500 KR) and fortified with nanotechnology.  That is… from sexy… to brute muscle! I enjoyed watching the pilot episode since it answered all would be questions like “Is this a continuation of the previous one? What are the relationships of the new characters from its predecessor?  Will David Hasselhoff pop-up in his red shorts?”  And in true borderless fashion, you’ll be surprised what happened to KITT's mobile base (Knight Truck)!

The new series pilot is now available for download via torrents and to some hard disk space conscious people… via streaming video. Enjoy!!!!