The cars look like recent vintage F1 cars (identical), and the focus is not on the drivers as much as on the country represented. There are some surprises in the field (Tomas Enge and Bobby Rahal's son) and some fringe nations doing fairly well (Malaysia, Lebanon). The cars have a CART-style power boost button with limited juice.

The tire sponsor / spec tire is Cooper (?) and the tires look HUGE like old-school F1 tires. They drive on nice tracks in Europe (which I can follow thanks to my GTR2 game).

 

In a couple of years the series plans to have new cars with around 800hp instead of the 500-550 they have now.

 

I usually watch it...and they do have some pretty good young talent.

 

They put on a great show, great hospitality, and great racing (close racing in open wheel cars, minimal mechanicals, and no traction control which made for a ton of open whell drifitng through 3 and 4). US team folks like Scott Sharp and Bryan Herta were very friendly with the small crowds. Seeing how the crate up and fly the series around the world was pretty interesting. And they used some highly tuned Audi's as pace cars too!

 

a massive crowd of around 3500 folks. Too bad the fans didn't know about the race. There was virtually no promotion here on the west coast.

The cars are Lola's with Zytek V8's. Lots of fun to watch especially in the rain. This season has had some events that looked about as well attended as the Laguna event... the race in Beijing on a cobbled up street circuit looked pretty deserted aside from the racers and their teams.

 

Sheikh Maktoum Al-Maktoum. He provided the concept (world cup of motorsports), the funding, the design of the cars (like a shark), just about everything.

There aren't that many sponsors on the cars or at the tracks so I'm guessing he still funding quite a bit of it.

Last year at Laguna, the field had a huge number of recognizable stars, even better than a Champcar field. Even though it was so cold that it snowed, I still enjoyed it.

Some pics:

<img src="http://www.jeepvideos.com/mpeg/pics/060312ls-a1gp/DSC_0729.JPG">

<img src="http://www.jeepvideos.com/mpeg/pics/060312ls-a1gp/DSC_0775.JPG">

<img src="http://www.jeepvideos.com/mpeg/pics/060312ls-a1gp/DSC_0791.JPG">

<img src="http://www.jeepvideos.com/mpeg/pics/060312ls-a1gp/DSC_0802.JPG">

<img src="http://www.jeepvideos.com/mpeg/pics/060312ls-a1gp/DSC_0807.JPG">

<img src="http://www.jeepvideos.com/mpeg/pics/060312ls-a1gp/DSC_0808.JPG">

<img src="http://www.jeepvideos.com/mpeg/pics/060312ls-a1gp/DSC_0814.JPG">

<img src="http://www.jeepvideos.com/mpeg/pics/060312ls-a1gp/DSC_0815.JPG">
Jos the Boss

<img src="http://www.jeepvideos.com/mpeg/pics/060312ls-a1gp/DSC_0665.JPG">
Emmo

<img src="http://www.jeepvideos.com/mpeg/pics/060312ls-a1gp/DSC_0672.JPG">
Emmo &amp; his McLaren M23

<img src="http://www.jeepvideos.com/mpeg/pics/060312ls-a1gp/DSC_0817.JPG">
Pat Carpentier

<img src="http://www.jeepvideos.com/mpeg/pics/060312ls-a1gp/DSC_0822.JPG">
Salvador Duran (Mexican team driver who won both races) He's going to be a good one.

<img src="http://www.jeepvideos.com/mpeg/pics/060312ls-a1gp/DSC_0827.JPG">
Sullivan

<img src="http://www.jeepvideos.com/mpeg/pics/060312ls-a1gp/DSC_1052.JPG">
High Speed Herta

<img src="http://www.jeepvideos.com/mpeg/pics/060312ls-a1gp/DSC_1057.JPG">
Ralph Firman and friends

<img src="http://www.jeepvideos.com/mpeg/pics/060312ls-a1gp/DSC_0857.JPG">
Mad Max

<img src="http://www.jeepvideos.com/mpeg/pics/060312ls-a1gp/DSC_0863.JPG">
Ryan Briscoe

<img src="http://www.jeepvideos.com/mpeg/pics/060312ls-a1gp/DSC_0895.JPG">
Crazy Dutchies

<img src="http://www.jeepvideos.com/mpeg/pics/060312ls-a1gp/DSC_0919.JPG">
Snow at Laguna Seca?!

<img src="http://www.jeepvideos.com/mpeg/pics/060312ls-a1gp/DSC_0924.JPG">

<img src="http://www.jeepvideos.com/mpeg/pics/060312ls-a1gp/DSC_0943.JPG">

 

Great pictures! They obviously have a rolling roster of drivers.

 

I saw the race in China(the street circuit with that godawful corner), and the decide to use an Audi S8 as the pace car. And that thing had the hardest time going around that corner-the A1GP cars weren't much better off(for the same reasons-wide track and long wheelbase).

They should've used the RS 4 that they used in the next race-the fast, wide, flat out Sepang circuit!