Autoblog

While Bernie Ecclestone continues to bring grands prix to new markets every year, additional locations around the world get to see part of the Formula One action through individual teams staging demonstration events.

BMW-Sauber has held several such high-profile events, returning to the Nurburgring Nordschleife and racing on ice in Switzerland, and we reported on Ferrari's demo in Barbados a year ago. The latest event, organized by the Renault F1 team and title sponsor ING, drew a staggering record crowd of 300,000 on the streets of Mexico City, where Giancarlo Fisichella and test driver Nelson Piquet, Jr. drove last year's championship-winning R26 race car for the elated crowd.

The event marked what was undoubtedly the largest F1 event in the city since the last Mexican Grand Prix was held there in 1992, though both the NASCAR Busch Series and A1GP still hold races there.

To view fans' videos from the event, follow the link to Renaultsport's blog here.

[Source: Autosport.com]

There are so many driving schools out there, it's hard to throw a rock and not hit one. Renault pilot Giancarlo Fisichella is the latest entrant in the branded driving school game, but he's doing it differently. The Fisichella Motorsport Technopole will teach people driving skills via its Motorsport Academy, and will also teach official courses in how to be a mechanic, telemetrist, mechanic, race engineer, or any one of the other jobs required in F1 -- even catering managers and PR flacks. When another round of students graduates, the academy will offer the list of newly minted motorsport experts to all of the teams ... though that probably doesn't include people who've finished the driving school. The academy will be based at the Vallelunga circuit, near Rome.

[Source: Yahoo UK]

The Renault R26 is an impressive piece of machinery, to say the least. Piloted by Fernando Alonso and Giancarlo Fisichella, the French team's 2006 Formula One race car managed to secure both the titles: the drivers' championship and the constructors'. And it did so under a great deal of stress as Ferrari put up a good fight for both titles, and hardly broke down the entire season.

This video from Renault gives you a look at the car and its engine, all developed and produced in-house, in all their championship-winning splendor.

[Source: Renault via Auto Motor Portal]