We’re always down with the youngsters here at Badger. We’ve gone as far as checking out Jaime Alguersuari’s favoured genre of music, House (it confused us) and, in the case of Benson Jamichello, growing a Lewis Hamilton-esque beard to stay ‘with it’, if that’s what they’re call it these days. In keeping with this we’ve been also been paying plenty of attention to the upcoming release of Cars 2, a soon-to-be movie that is bound to grab the attention of the world’s youth.
Cars 2, as you’d expect, is the sequel to Disney-Pixar’s 2006 release Cars, and like the original charts the exploits of anthropomorphic racecar Lightning McQueen, his best buddy Mater and the unsettlingly alluring Holly Shiftwell. In adittion to these there are a host of other car-based characters in the film, some of whom happen to remind us of Formula One drivers. Could they be inspired by grand prix stars? We’ve been trying to figure it out.
Who’s this then? German, kinda mischievous looking and running a dark blue livery – could Max Schell be based on reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel? We think so.
Schell is of course German for fast – which Seb is – leaving this one a pretty open and shut case. Also notable is that one eye looks lazy, like it doesn’t really mind what happens so long as it has fun. But don’t be deceived – the other has an unmissable glint in it that says ‘ruthless competitor’. And no, I don’t think we’re reading too much in to that, thank you very much.
Ah, now this is more our territory: a single-seater. Okay, so the nose is weirdly chubby, but they need to fit a mouth somewhere. Otherwise we’re quite happy that this, folks, is a Formula One car. The paintjob is in the Italian colours, suggesting this is a Ferrari-inspired machine. An Italian driver? Nah, when was the last time an Italian drove for Ferrari and was happy?
The rear-wing is a copy of that seen on this year’s 150° Italia (or, being as the Cars 2 characters were dsigned some time ago, the Scuderia have copied them – this could blow the top off a whole new spying scandal!) He’s cool looking, this one, like the type who wears a tight white t-shirt and slings a leather jacket over his shoulder. The Fonz of Cars 2, if you will – aye!
This somewhat devious looking Spanish racer needs no introduction. He looks fast, uncompromising and, err, yellow, a bit like a deceitful banana with eyes. Green eyes – can anyone with green eyes really be evil? I’m not so sure. His name is Miguel Camino, and we reckon he takes his cue from Fernando Alonso. What do you think?
The other fact we’ve picked up on is Camino is Spanish for ‘path’, and also the name of a Japanese rock band. So now you know.
What is this? Yes, yes, it’s a car, but more specifically than that. It’s some sort of prototype in a startlingly bright livery – that’s all we can muster. He’s friendly looking anyway, perhaps too friendly to ever truly scale the heights of motorsport. There’s a bit of the Heikki Kovalainen about him in that sense – yes, he may well be very quick, but he’s probably never going to be world champion.
As for the name, Rip Clutchgoneski conjurs images of either a heroic fighter pilot or, at the other end of the scale, a waiter who works tables to pay his way through acting shcool. It’s hard to make a definitive judgement on that one, really.
The lurid livery below reminds us of the 2007 Honda ‘Earth car’ (sorry, Carla), often and quite rightly classed as one of the worst paintjobs in F1 history. The car too was rubbish, leaving Rubens Barrichello pointless for the only time in his F1 career (though 2011 isn’t exactly shaping up well either) and Jenson Button with just six to his name. Actually this car seems to be a female (I thought all cars were of the fairer sex?) and thus doesn’t remind us of any modern F1 driver, though perhaps she’s inspired by Indycar stars Danica Patrick and Simona de Silvestro.
