PH 2014 - Person/thing of the year
People, events, innovations - the PH team pick our favourite things of 2014
Ably assisted by right-hand man and co-founder Mark Edwards, Ansar Ali has been the very public face of the Zenos project from the very start. His first presentation of Zenos to PH was supposed to have been a half-hour Powerpoint introduction that turned into a three-hour history lesson in the highs and lows of the British sports car business that he and Edwards know intimately. Given the legacy of endless start-ups that promised much and delivered little it'd have been easy to be cynical about Zenos's chances. But few know the pitfalls better than Ali and Edwards. And still they want to give it a go! First experience of the car suggests the product is good. And Ali's openness and willingness to engage on the PH forums is as worthy of respect as the disciplined and methodical approach taken to building a product the market actually wants, rather than some pie-in-the-sky pipe dream. (Dan Trent)
A terrific event for an unequivocally brilliant cause. Throughout a cold and wet November weekend in Wales there was huge and infectious optimism from everyone involved. The team led by James Cameron deserves great recognition for organising it; you would never have known this was their first attempt and I have absolute faith that Race of Remembrance will continue to grow in the coming years because of that. Anglesey is a superb little circuit as well. You'll certainly see me out in North Wales in 2015 - there's a 1,600cc Trophy to defend!
(Matt Bird)
I know, maybe a bit premature - he's only just become Aston's boss. But Palmer has always been one of the industry's good guys, a clever engineer, a good leader and a proper petrolhead. The Bez era dragged on for far too long at Aston, I'm really looking forward to see what Palmer can deliver with some investment behind him. The recent appointment of ex-Lotus man Matt Becker to head of Vehicle Attributes Engineering can't do any harm either.
(Mike Duff)
Kevin Estre's N24 qualifying lap
While I was tempted to write about one of my favourite gadgets or video cameras, I couldn't really offer anything more awesome than the pole position lap of this year's Nurburgring 24-Hour. It's actually been a record year for Nurburgring lap times, with a flurry of sub-eight laps in the 24km VLN configuration. But it's this lap by Frenchman Kevin Estre that takes the biscuit. "It was a bit oversteery on the Grand Prix [track]," said Estre at the time. "But then as soon as I got on the Nordschleife the car felt really good. There was still a little tendency to oversteer but that helped me in a lot of places. It maybe slowed me down in one or two places but overall I gained quite a lot. I took quite a lot of risks in some fast corners, I was really on the edge so I'm really happy with the lap." On the edge? I'm glad he said it, because I thought he was well over quite a few times... See the lap here
(Dale Lomas)
It's a toss up between two World Superbike riders, Sylvain Guintoli and Carl Fogarty. Sylvain is the nicest man in the WSB paddock and thoroughly deserved to win his first ever world title, despite the fact he was up against a Brit. Carl Fogarty, on the other hand, munched his way through ostrich anus and had to deal with that hideous creature from TOWIE on his way to winning I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here, a feat that pales his four WSB titles into insignificance.
(Jon Urry)
Photo: LAT Photo
How could we not pick Lewis Hamilton? It might seem the easy option, a cop out, but Britain has not had a double F1 World Champion since Sir Jackie Stewart in 1971. Besides, Hamilton showed his maturity this year, getting the better of Rosberg in a straight fight in the beginning in Bahrain, before overcoming some tough mental obstacles - including some terrible luck, dubious qualifying tactics by his teammate and cruel mechanical failures - to triumph. A second world title for a proper racer who's done a lot of growing up since his McLaren days.
Lewis wasn't the only British driver to win a world title this year, however. Anthony Davidson claimed the driver's title in the World Endurance Championship with Toyota after some stunning drives this season, proving F1 isn't the be all and end all and British talent is at the sharp end across motorsport.
(Sean Carson)
Photo: LAT Photo
Ansar and Mark, "building a product the market actually wants". Summed that up nicely.
Andy Palmer and Matt Becker are indeed a great combo too. But throw Simon Sproule in to the mix and you get a New Car Launch Dream Team. No more of the same-old, same-old Aston from this point onward.
Hopefully Palmer will have the guts and maturity to drop Dr Bez homecoming gift to his German friends and colleagues and drop AMG in favour of a more interesting partnership: Cosworth, Lotus, Ricardo or even Jag to build the next gen of AML V8 and V12.
Marquez is great, but has a machine advantage most of the season.
Rossi did really well, somehow Yamas
ta have hauled a lot of HRC's advantage back, we might get a real season next year. Mark who? Oh, you must be Australian
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