Race of Champions in HD

Earlier today I watched great live coverage of the Race of Champions from Paris on HDNet. Nice Job. Coverage was very good, lots of in car and behind the scenes footage.

The Race of Champions is really cool. It pits the worlds best drivers (F1, IRL, NASCAR, WRC, Etc.) against each other in identical cars on an identical track. Ferarri 360 Modena Challenge, Citroen XSARA and Peugeot 307 Rally cars, and some crazy single seater called a ROC car. These little buggies are powered by an 1100cc motorcycle engine (175HP) and weigh about 1000 lbs.

This year American drivers Jimmy Johnson and Casey Mears tried their hand. Mears fell to former F1 driver Jean Alesi and Johnson to World Rally driver Armin Schwarz - both in the first round.

Current F1 Champ Schumacher vs. Current WRC Champ Loeb in the buggies was excelent - Schumacher by a nose in three races.

The ultimate victor was young finnish driver Heikki Kovalainen who beat World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb twice in the best of three in the final. On his way to the final he also beat David Coultard and Michael Schumacher.

During the event a second contest was held - the Nations cup where drivers representing their home country compete in a best of three test. Johnson/Mears lost 2-1 to Coultard and Scottsman Colin McRae. Team France (Alesi/Loeb) took the Nations Cup crown defeting Team Finland in the final.

It was a very interesting event, made even better by the HD coverage.