New Beginnings

Well, after 16 months, 274 posts, 517 categories (see above for just a selection), over 2,000 comments and well over one million hits, the Superleague Formula blog is coming to an end, ready to be replaced by a shiny new website for ‘the beautiful race’.

We’re proud of this blog, though. Mainly because, when we launched it back in April 2007, we wanted to ensure that we could build interest and enthusiasm (slowly but surely), to make sure we published news on a regular basis (so that everyone could review our progress) and – most importantly – to listen to the views and opinions of both motor racing and football fans…

Also, as the home of Superleague Formula, this blog (alongside our associated apps like flickr, YouTube, twitter, etc.) has been able to document the birth and growth of a new, exciting sport, with ‘need to know’ information mixed in with news updates and more personal posts too.

Job done, I hope, on all fronts.

Now, as clubs pursue their desire to ‘go global’, to grow their exposure, fanbase and recognition around the world, Superleague Formula will give them a new and innovative way to do this, without impacting on their football activities.

The end? No, this is just the beginning…

Welcome to Superleague Formula.

SF Tickets Now On Sale

Football and motorsport fans can now purchase tickets for the opening round of the inaugural Superleague Formula championship at Britain’s Donington Park circuit.

The two-day event will be staged on August 30/31, and prices range from as low as £20 (24 euro) for a weekend pass, and a weekend advance purchase ticket for a family (two adults and two children) is only £70 (88 euro).

Tickets are available online from Donington Park or through Ticketcorner.

“After many years of planning and development and a very intensive past 12 months, we are delighted to open ticket sales for our first event,” says SF’s Alex Andreu. “We have had daily calls and emails enquiring about ticket sales from right across Europe. We have a lot of new fans to motorsport that are really looking forward to seeing their club colours in action at more than 300km/h.”

Each round of the SF championship will be staged as a two-day event with teams contesting two 50 minute races on Sunday – the first race will be staged at 11.00am with the second reverse grid event scheduled for 2.00pm.

Each race will feature a single pit stop for tyres, and teams will hit the track for the first time on Saturday with morning practice sessions before attacking the qualifying session at 12.30pm.

More Than A Race

The 2007 Aerobatic World Champion, Ramon Alonso, is set to thrill SF race fans by performing aerobatic displays three times over each Superleague Formula weekend – once on Saturday and twice on raceday.

Alonso is just a part of the full programme of fan activities (organised around a Central Stage area) on SF race weekends, aimed at providing a large range of family entertainment, including DJs, break-dancers, freestyle football displays, face-painters and prize-giving.

Fans will also be able to take the opportunity to have their photograph taken with team show cars, and to meet the drivers for autograph sessions, too.

Additional entertainment will include a Motorcycle Stunt-Show (featuring World Champion Streetbike Freestylers Chris Pfeiffer), Paramotors (six pilots performing beautifully coordinated flights aboard SF-branded paragliders, using pyrotechnic effects),

There will be a ‘Football Zone’ with giant human football table, penalty shoot-outs, radar shoot outs, XXL table football unit, a Karting Zone (with brand new 200cc karts) and special interactives that help to improve reaction, hand-eye coordination and stamina – just like SF drivers.

“Our plan from the start was to establish Superleague Formula as more than just a motor race – we want to provide an extensive array of entertainment options for the entire family,” says SF boss, Alex Andreu. “We think we have a great line up of entertainment – both on the ground and in the skies above.

“Superleague Formula will bring a host of new fans to the track who have never been to a motorsport event before and our goal is to be able to provide them with an excellent experience.”

Milan Hits The Road

Here are a few pictures from last weekend’s kick off of the “Milan Tour” at Piazza Duomo, in Milan – part of a national tour which the club is taking around Italy, with a fan interactive and a display of all the international titles that make “Il club Più titolato”, the club with the most international titles in the world.

It was certainly one of the most impressive locations SF has been at, that’s for sure!

The history of the Piazza combined with being part of one of the most important and oldest clubs in the world made it feel really special for us to be there – feeling part of history…

As you can see, the fantastic Milano weather ensured that the roadshow was packed on both Saturday and Sunday, with a lot of attention from the Milan fans, who were cheering and taking pictures with the car (if we had a penny for each picture)…

All in all, the weekend was a roaring success and everyone was very interested in ‘the beautiful race’. In fact, as more and more people recognized the car and SF, the AC Milan fans’ impatience for the competition to kick off in August was tangible. More pics here.

Milan Welcomes Doornbos

Following our announcement that AC Milan’s driver in ‘the beautiful race’ will be Robert Doornbos (above), the Dutch driver visited Milan last week to take a closer look at the Rossoneri’s home ground at San Siro, which holds more than 85,000 fans.

While he was there, he also met up with his Scuderia Playteam squad. In fact, the entire race team paid a visit to the famous Italian stadium (below).

Robert knows he will face a huge responsibility to those Italian fans who will want to see their car in victory lane this year. “Pressure is good, specially if you have some fans watching you,” Doornbos said. “I am used to Dutch fans who are very much into motorsports and follow me around the world, so if we have more AC Milan fans joining, it only makes the series better, and everyone happier.”

While the Milan car was in town, we also took the opportunity to send it around some of the local sights including Colonne San Lorenzo (above), Colonne San Lorenzo (below left) and Castello Sforzesco (below right). All images are here.

SF Prototype Tops 300km/h

Superleague Formula prototype hit more than 300km/h for the first time in testing last week in Estoril, Portugal.

The Estoril test was the final three-day development test for the prototype before the specifications are frozen for the 2008 championship.

“The gearing was still a little bit off, but the data showed a top speed of more than 300km/h for the first time,” test driver Bruce Jouanny said. “The engine from Menard is now at full spec. It is very powerful with incredible torque – the car has really come a long way since our debut in Donington in March.

“All the suppliers and the guys at Hitech have a done a great job – we have now run at Donington, Monteblanco, Magny-Cours, Jerez and Estoril – a great combination of circuits. This a real driver’s car – the guys are really going to enjoy competing in Superleague Formula.”

Street Sensation

For those who missed our previous post, here are some more pictures from the streets of Eindhoven where the Superleague Formula prototype was unleashed last weekend at the ‘Pole Position in Technology’ event.

More than 50,000 Dutch football supporters and motorsports fans were thrilled with the noise and spectacle of the 750 horsepower, V-12 powered prototype machine.

The car was taken out for two demo runs with test driver Bruce Jouanny entertaining the crowd with a number of smoke-billowing burn-outs and a spectacular donut.

“The crowd had an amazing day… and the Superleague Formula prototype really stole the show,” says SF boss, Alex Andreu. “They really went crazy for it – with the amount of noise they were making, I thought we were at a football match. Bruce did a brilliant job in the car – I think he picked out the most enthusiastic fans to perform his burn-outs and donuts in front of.

“I don’t know whether the clutch had such a great time, but the crowd certainly enjoyed it! If get this kind of reaction today – imagine what it is going to be like when we have a full field of V12 cars hitting the track.”

SF at Zolder’s 45th

Better late than never… He are a couple of images from our presence at Zolder’s 45th anniversary celebrations last weekend.

As you can see, we had the PSV car on display which went down a storm and – while we were there – we also held a press conference for local media, with Astromega Race Team leader, Mikke Van Hool, the Zolder circuit director Roger Dejaeghere and Zolder Marketing Manager Walter Goossens (as well as SF’s Diego Barroso) all in attendance.

SF Hits The Streets

Superleague Formula’s prototype car was unleashed on to the city streets of Eindhoven yesterday.

Test driver Bruce Jouanny (in car above and below) took the 750 horsepower Superleague Formula development prototype – which has been undergoing testing across Europe in recent months – for a spin before a crowd of 50,000.

The run was part of a week-long ‘Pole Position in Technology’ event in the Dutch city of Eindhoven, the home of PSV (whose Superleague Formula car was also on display for fans to see).

A wide variety of machines from past, present and future including solar and hyrdogen-powered cars were also on display, as well as other race cars (including local heroes Mike Hezemans and Peter Kox aboard GT sportscar machines).

For all the images from the weekend, click here.

New AC Milan Car Livery

Here are some images of the new AC Milan car livery, designed by Ian Hutchinson. They were revealed to club representatives, sponsors and media at event in Villasimius on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia (May 08).

Click here for all the images we have (so far).