So a couple of weeks back, we had a rare week where none of the series we cover had a major race, so we thought it would be a good time to take stock and review the 2021 IndyCar Series. King, Dre, RJ and special guest Zoeey Hamilton go team by team and evaluate where they’re at, future prospects, thoughts on expansion or in some cases, scaling down, and it’s a 100 minute special for you guys to enjoy. So, included on the bill, but not limited to, we have:

A Zoeey rant for the ages on Carlin, Max Chilton’s commitment to the series and whether an entity like Juncos buys their team up!

Dale Coyne and a breakdown of Romain Grosjean’s incredibly fun and emotional rookie season, his future on ovals and with the #28 car in Andretti for 2022, and who gets the #18 if Ed Jones isn’t coming back? Call forth the good ol’ Dale Coyne *TBC entry*!

Rinus Veekay almost felt forgotten about in the land of youngsters winning in the new age of IndyCar, remember when he y’know… won at Indy’s Road Course? We talk about his future, as well as who gets ther #20 seat at Ed Carpenter Racing to share with the man himself, as Ryan Hunter-Reay tests for them…

Meyer Shank’s Jack Harvey and how he might still be the unluckiest man in all of the series. A series that has Conor Daly in it no less. Also, their future and them seemingly inheriting the mother of all Indy 500 death-lineups in Simon Pageanud taking Jack Harvey’s #60. Combined with Helio’s full-time return at the age of 2022, can they get North American immortality with an unthinkable 5th 500 for Spiderman?

Arrow’s Pato O’Ward and what might be missing from McLaren as they continue to bang on the door of a series title. Is it a 2nd elite driver? Maybe a 3rd car? Bringning in Nico Hulkenberg and Stoffel Vandoorne could be a sign of things to come…

Rahal Letterman Lanigan might have had a completely different season if it weren’t for that loose tyre at the 500 on Graham Rahal’s #15 car. Sato may be leaving, but a 3-car team of him, Jack Harvey and F2’s Christian Lundgaard is hard not to be excited about.

And then the Big 3 – Team Penske slowly leaning towards a rebuild? And does downsizing the team put more pressure on talented newcomer Scott McLaughlin as he competes even more intensely against Josef Newgarden and Will Power?

We untangle the mess of Andretti. They have the series most talented youngster in Colton Herta, but everything else… wasn’t great. Alex Rossi looks disinterested, Hinchcliffe was driving hurt and Hunter-Reay seems in decline. A refresh looms, with Grosjean coming, and maybe Kyle Kirkwood too?

And Chip Ganassi. Which was an excuse for us to gush over Alex “Wholesome Bitch” Palou one more time. See you for more IndyCar in 2022!

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No, despite the occasional 10/10 in a Season Review, Ryan King doesn’t stan Valtteri Bottas. Honest. Even if the episode title MIGHT suggest otherwise!

F1’s travelling circus moved to Istanbul Park this past weekend for the return of the Turkish Grand Prix. And since coming back, its 100% wet record has been maintained as it was an Intermediate damp fest for the 2nd time. But the biggest news of all was that Championship Leader Lewis Hamilton was taking a new ICE engine on, and hence, a 10-place grid penalty.

What we perhaps didn’t see coming was the rise of Valtteri Bottas. After Hamilton took “pole”, Bottas was bumped up to the top, and Verstappen… Who then proceeded to get seal clubbed in a near flawless drive from the Fin. His 10th GP win, the 35th member of the double digit club.

But this race still found a way to be the Hamilton show too, after a controversial decision to disagree with his team as to when to pit for fresh Inters, with Hamilton wanting to copy pseudo-leader Charles Leclerc and run on Inters to the end. Trust me, this wasn’t ideal. We discuss that move and whether drivers or cars should make the call on changeable conditions!

We also talk about F1’s expanding calendar as Stefano Domenicalli revealed that F1 will definitely have a 23-race calendar next year, the toll that may take on the team, crew and drivers. Should F1 be pushing for 25-race calendars? How do we feel about it? And what do we make of Losail making F1’s calendar for this year in Japan’s place?

All that and more on Episode 327 of M101!

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Forgive us regulars, we don’t normally talk NASCAR unless something really crazy happens. Like saying your ex is a trained Assassin (Look it up, we talked about it). But for just the second time in the sport’s top flight history, a black man won a race. This in the same year Wendell Scott’s family finally got the winner’s trophy they denied him of back in 1963 by creating a scoring error, the sport being so afraid of the potential backlash of a black man winning in Florida. We talk about Bubba Wallace’s historic win at Talladega at the top of the show.

For this episode, we stay stateside for MotoGP in America. Only three things in life are certain. Death, Taxes, and Marc Marquez winning at the Circuit of the Americas. For the seventh time in eight attempts, the Spaniard took the holeshot, and never really looked back. In fact, it was one of his biggest American wins since joining the top flight. All this while the world’s press was looking for any excuse to talk the man out of it… yet more proof none of us have any real idea what we’re talking about. But we break down his incredible win at the top of the show.

We also talk about Fabio Quartararo putting one hand on the title in 2nd, creating his first Championship point in three weeks’ time in Misano. Ducati’s also on the bill, with Jack Miller making a complete horlicks of his weekend, and getting involved in his third collision with Joan Mir this season. I think one more and Miller gets a free ¼ chicken at Nando’s.

Bumps were also the order of the day, because MAN COTA had them in spades. So much so the sports riders were demanding the race be shortened. They were brutal, borderline dangerous, and a fundamental problem with the track itself that we go into greater detail on, as multi-discipline facilities keep struggling with juggling cars, and bikes.

But in the main event, we discuss the increasing danger in lightweight racing. This was a weekend taking place just a short week after the passing of World Supersport 300 rider Dean Berta Vinales. The third teenage fatality in the Dorna ladders in four months, and fifth since 2018. Many riders spoke out about needing more safety in the disciplines… and then we got a horrendous crash in a restarted Moto3 race, with Denis Oncu causing Jeremy Alcoba, Pedro Acosta and Andrea Migno to hit Alcoba’s bike at 140mph. Denis, getting a 2 race ban for the trouble.

We as a group discuss the crash, as well as what the sport could and maybe should do if it wants to make the sport safer, from shorter gearboxes, to more power, or maybe even age limits in the lower classes. Is there a conceivable solution? Watch and see.

MotoGP returns to Misano in a fortnight’s time, but until then, thanks for watching, and be sure to follow us on social media for more updates!

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And in the second party of our double header, we headed to Long Beach to IndyCar and its season finale at Long Beach. Three men still eligible for the Series Championship and the Astor Cup, Spain’s Alex Palou for Chip Ganassi Racing, Mexico’s Patricio O’Ward for Arrow McLaren SP and Josef Newgarden for Team Penske. And just to make it even more fun, Josef snagged pole for an extra point, and O’Ward and Palou had to start from the midfield, even if Palou only needed a Top 11 finish to seal the deal…

….Goddamnit Ed Jones. Of course a Lap 1 spinout essentially poured cold water on the whole thing. But it still gave us a whole lot of fun as Colton Herta had the final word on 2021 in IndyCar with a brilliant comeback to win from 14th on the grid, including some sensational passes on Simon Pagenaud and Scott Dixon. We sit down and speculate, could Herta be THE guy for the series going forward?

Of course, we also gush over Palou’s Championship win and the fact we don’t think enough people have gone wild about it – I mean, winning the title in Year 2, at Age 24, first year in a big team, in SCOTT DIXON’S house to take the title? Utterly ridiculous and maybe some more proof that Europe isn’t the only way to discover the best talent out there.

We also talk about the bronze medalist Pato O’Ward, and the direction and the future of the series in general. Has the youth movement truly arrived? Are we going to see some of the veterans phased out with 3 drivers under 25 in the Top 5 of the Championship?! Scotty McLaughlin beating Grosjean for Rookie of the Year? And of course, we talk about some of our favourite moments of what’s been a fascinating season to watch.

Thanks for watching our IndyCar coverage in 2021 everyone, and we can’t wait to see what happens next year, be sure to like, comment and subscribe and it’ll be back in February!

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Just when you thought this Formula 1 season couldn’t get any stranger, we get a classic race of the year contender… At Sochi. Objectively, one of the worst tracks on the calendar. We really HAVE seen everything.

From the moment we knew it was going to be a largely wet weekend, there was also potential for shenanigans, and we got that in Quali. Because who else needed an Internet favourites Top 3 of Norris’s 1st pole, Sainz and George Russell (AGAIN!) Hamilton 4th after two spins, and Verstappen now at the back after taking another power unit. Madness.

We had Carlos Sainz lead for a while, but Norris took back control, cars running long thinking the rain would come but didn’t, and Lewis Hamilton ended up stuck behind a McLaren again.

With 6 laps to go, we thought it was going to be Norris vs Hamilton for the win, then the rain actually landed, as opposed to half an hour AFTER the race like it usually did. We talked about the intense dancing in the rain and whether Norris lost this race, or whether Hamilton won it. We also discuss the title fight as Verstappen stole 2nd at the death, Bottas shithoused a 5th despite looking useless, and Sergio Perez crapped the bread basket again.

We also give Carlos Sainz his flowers for a brilliant 3rd place and talk about how he might be the most under-appreciated driver in the field where the midfield has all had moments of brilliance themselves.

And we definitely gushed over Hamilton’s 100th victory. That’s definitely why Dre dressed up as Eoin Morgan from Cricket’s “The Hundred”. Honest…

(PS: Don’t worry, we didn’t forget you IndyCar fans, check back VERY soon for our season finale coverage on Long Beach and Alex Palou’s title win!)

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