Autoblog

While we get all revved up over the revival of Speed Racer in film form, our funny friends in France are gearing up for the remake of their own children's classic, Asterix. The new film, which opens in French theaters next month, is slated to feature cameos by a number of sports figures, including Ferrari stars Michael Schumacher and Jean Todt.

Set in the ancient Roman era, Asterix is a classic series of French children's comic books which has been translated into dozens of languages around the world. The film which, like Speed Racer, is shot with live actors (rather than animated like the original), is called Asterix aux jeux olympiques ("Asterix at the Olympic Games"). Schumacher appears in a seven-minute segment in the movie as a chariot racer called – you guessed it – Schumix, while Todt gives orders from the pit wall...dressed in red, of course. (Hopefully the German authorities won't give Michael a hard time about driving the chariot this time.)

In addition to the Ferrari champions, several other European sports celebrities make cameos in the movie as well, including French tennis player Amelie Mauresmo, retired French soccer player Zinedine Zidane (of World Cup head-butting infamy) and British footballer David Beckham. This is, of course, the second such cameo Schumacher has made, after his appearance in Disney/Pixar's Cars.

[Source: F1-Live]

We just can't get enough of this saga. First, Michael Schumacher, family in tow, commandeers a taxi to get to the airport. Then the local police decide to launch an investigation into the purported violation of Germany's Personnel Transport Act. Now the cab driver, a hundred euros richer thanks to the champ's generosity, has said that he's considering selling the now-famous taxicab which Schumacher drove in the incident.

The taxi is a nine-seater Opel Vivaro minivan, and according to the driver, he's already been inundated with calls from potential buyers interesting in acquiring the cab. The top offer at the time of printing the story in the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag was 63,000 euros.

"I need the money – because of the Schumi-Ride I could be in big trouble with the police," said Tuncer Yilmaz, the owner and driver of the taxi.

[Source: F1-Live]

"So...wanna see a pensioner drive?"

Michael Schumacher casts a pretty big shadow over all of F1, and nobody knows it better than Kimi Raikkonen. That's bred a little animosity by Ferrari's latest world champion to his septuple-crown predecessor, but that hasn't stopped either from fulfilling their contractual obligations towards their corporate overlords at Fiat by appearing side-by side, swapping keys in a television commercial for the new Fiat Bravo.

The ad reminds us of a similar spot filmed with uber-rivals Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso earlier in the season for their employers at Mercedes-Benz. The same spirit of, ahem, "camaraderie" permeates this Fiat spot, filmed in German, in which Kimi and Michael take turns behind the wheel and riding shotgun. Follow the jump for the video, complete with – God bless 'em – English subtitles.

[Source: YouTube]

Talk about airing your family's dirty laundry in public. Michael Schumacher has made a public statement to his kid brother Ralf, urging him to consider taking a sabbatical from F1.

The news comes hot on the heels of a less-than-spectacular test Ralf undertook for Force India, the team formerly known as Spyker, which has two of the remaining seats open on the F1 grid for next season. Team owner Vijay Mallya and Schumi Jr. formed close links when the Indian tycoon's Kingfisher Airlines was sponsoring Ralf's Toyota, and the German driver was strongly linked to a potential drive for the new team. Unfortunately for Ralf, the test didn't go so well, prompting him to admit that the session could very well be his last drive in F1.

His considerably more successful brother, meanwhile, urged him to consider taking a sabbatical from Formula One, pointing out that, following his own retirement, it wasn't hard for him to come back for the recent test sessions for Ferrari, in which he posted top lap times. Michael was quick to point out, however, that he himself had no intention of returning to the race seat.

[Source: Autosport]

The critics have been silenced, and silenced good.

Michael Schumacher retired a seven-time world champion, but his eighth title narrowly escaped him right down to the line at his farewell grand prix in 2006. Retiring after losing the championship two years in a row to a younger Fernando Alonso, many started asking if the driver that dominated the sport for so long still had it in his, ahem, "advancing" age.

Those pundits got their answer when Schumacher briefly returned to F1 in taking the wheel of the Ferrari F2007, this year's title-winning car, at an official FIA-sanctioned Formula One testing event in Spain this week. The focus of the event, the first since the end of the season, was to give the teams a chance to run the cars without traction control and with the standardized engine control unit (ECU), as mandated by the 2008 regulations.

Schumacher drove for the first two of the three day test session, and on both days his lap times sat at the very top of the time sheets. Unfortunately, spokespersons were quick to point out that this did not herald Michael's return to the grid, just a one-time event. So the rest of the drivers can sleep easier.

[Sources: Italiaspeed and Ferrari]

Every year the Race of Champions makes for an enjoyable spectacle. The event, set to take place this year on December 16 at a tarmac-filled Wembley Stadium in England, pits drivers from all different forms of motorsport against on another to determine who is the best of the best, alongside a second competition, the Nations Cup, in which two drivers from each participating country strive for the glory of their homeland.

The team to watch this year is Germany, which puts together one of the most promising young drivers with the most decorated old champion. Sebastian Vettel, who recently left his test seat at BMW-Sauber for an impressive race debut with the erstwhile back-marker Scuderia Toro Rosso, will be teaming up with seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher.

It's not the first time the two have crossed paths, but it is the first time the two will be racing together. Aside from both driving Ferrari-powered F1 cars for Italian teams, the two played together in the Nazionale Piloti soccer tournament in Italy, and Schumacher presented an up-and-coming Vettel with the trophy at a karting race years ago. Schumacher made his F1 debut when Vettel was only four years old, and it'll be interesting to watch the two race back to back for victory at the settling of the drunken bar bet of the year.

[Source: F1-Live]

Anyone who's ever driven into or through Manhattan knows what a nightmarish experience it can be, with gridlock congestion and a lack of available parking spaces. Jim Gehr wants to make it even tougher in the hope of drastically reducing traffic altogether by further reducing parking, shutting down the biggest intersection, and increasing green space.

Gehr is the urban planning consultant whose plans have already been famously (or infamously, depending on your perspective) imposed in London, as well as Copenhagen, and he's proposed similar policies for Stockholm, Oslo, Edinburgh, Cape Town, Zurich and Melbourne. His plans for Manhattan would include shutting down Times Square to almost all traffic, while eliminating parking on some avenues in favor of wider sidewalks to accommodate park benches and sidewalk cafes. The result would be a more pedestrian, cyclist and public transit-oriented Manhattan.

While some elements in the city are opposed to the idea, he appears to have the ear of NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the municipal transportation department wants to hire him as a consultant, and several prominent civic and commercial organizations have his support, as well. If Gehr gets his way, Project Gotham Racing might be the closest we'll ever get to driving Manhattan's streets ever again.

[Source: NY Daily News via Kicking Tires]

Though we're sure Ferrari wishes Schumi were returning to the cockpit of one of their racers, he will actually be contesting the Race of Champions this December at the new Wembley Stadium. The now-retired septuple F1 World Champion has done the RoC before, in 2004, when he was beat by current Renault F1 driver Heikki Kovalainen, but he did beat rally driver Sebastian Loeb in a one-up rally heat. After turning Wembley's field into a tarmac track, 18 drivers from F1, Rally, NASCAR, Champ Car, Le Mans, Touring Cars, Dakar Rally Raids, and X-Games riders will compete in one-on-one heats to be declared the Champion of Champions. This year's race will also feature a national shootout between Jenson Button representing England, and David Coulthard racing for Scotland.

[Source: Race of Champions]

Victor Muller and Maartin de Bruijn (re)founded Spyker cars on January 1, 2000. De Bruijn, who was head designer, left in 2005, and ever since, Muller has played the role of designer in addition to his position as CEO and marketing chief. After seven years at the head of the company, Muller is stepping down from the role of CEO and will focus on the design and branding of Spyker Cars. His replacement will be interim CEO Michiel Mol, currently the director of racing for the Spyker Formula 1 Team.

[Source: Spyker]

The motorsport press rumor mill is grinding away at full speed on a juicy bit of gossip and speculation that Michael Schumacher is being groomed to take over as head of Scuderia Ferrari. After his retirement, Schumacher took on a role as a special advisor to Ferrari chief Jean Todt. It was supposed to be a low-key, backstage kind of position that would let the seven-time world champion continue to impart his experience to the team, but it apparently hasn't been as hands-off as they made it out to be: Schumacher has reportedly made more visits to Maranello and sat in on more key meetings in the past few months since his retirement than he did during the entire 2006 season.

An unnamed source inside Ferrari was quoted as saying that Schumacher's current level of involvement points to only one conclusion: that he's preparing to step in as team leader -- and it would make sense. A lot of F1 pundits said that it would be entirely likely for Schumacher to head up a team after retiring from active racing, but how could he leave Ferrari for another team? Ferrari today is the house that Michael built. He brought in the key staff, revamped the way the team works and turned it into a winning tour de force. Jean Todt has been looking to step away from directly managing the team since being promoted to overall head of Ferrari, but hasn't been able to up to this point. He's needed a capable successor.

Of course, Schumacher's representatives have denied it up and down, but it's hard to avoid the logical conclusion when all the pieces fit.

[Source: F1i]