⇔ | accouchement | animalcule | apothecary | avaunt | bedlam | beldam | bibliopole | caboose | camelopard | chapman | circumjacent | cicisbeo | cispontine | collogue | communicant | cordwainer | cottier | coxcomb | crinkum-crankum | damsel | dandiprat | embouchure | fainéant | fandangle | filibeg | fishwife | fizgig | frore | fudge | gadzooks | gammer | garland | glabriety | go-cart | grimalkin | gyve | habiliment | handmaid | hearken | hereunto | horse-coper | horseless | carriage | husbandman | intelligencer | iron | horse | izzard | jakes | jade | kickshaw | leman | Lucifer | magdalen | malapert | mayhap | melodist | mooncalf | natheless | nithing | orts | overbrim | palfrey | paynim | periapt | picaroon | pismire | pistoleer | pollard | poltroon | popinjay | pore on | pouncet-box | prithee | pythoness | quaggy | quean | quidnunc | rathe-ripe | rover | saddle-bow | salamander | saturnism | scaramouch | sciolist | schoolman | scullion | sea | smoke | shambles | sippet | slugabed | smite | small | beer | statuary | strumpet | swain | sweeting | swash | sweetmeat | taiga | tantivy | tapster | tenter | thither | timbrel | tocsin | tope | trigon | turnkey | tweeny | twelvemonth | uncle | unhand | up to snuff | verily |venery | varlet | watchword | weasand | wench | white goods | whilom | wool-stapler | wright | yclept | yea | ye | yoke | zounds | ⇔

Now which of the preceding words would I use to describe the now-extinct / the now defunct World Series by Renault?

The odds are: none.

It used to be an eventful event, for sure. And it appealingly featured RF1’s Roadshow on the bill to boot.

The complimentary old man scratching his nutsack came only at Estoril, which was round eight on that year’s calendar.

Harry Baals’ Portuguese relative

If I (or you) remember correctly, the Series comprised of the headline act, Formula Renault 3.5 Series and a couple of support races, namely Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 and Eurocup Mégane Trophy.

Let me pause for a second and explain why this MASSIVE photo gallery you’re about to experience below is kinda special to me: well, the one and only reason being is that all the photos were taken on the same day as the 2007 Brazilian Grand Prix, 21 Oct 2007. I had to make a conscious decision whether to #StayAtHome or go to the circuit for a bit of F1 V8 white noise and other motor racing pleasures (#CarPorn). In me mind I was convinced Nando or Lew would lift the trophy so I thought, what the heck! The championship is more or less settled, it’s not Renault (yes, we are Renault F1 maniacs) I’m going outside, done deal. Then I checked my pretty fancy foldable Samsung mobile phone with physical buttons and all – this was at the dawn of the proper smartphone, the beast, the King, the RULER – on the way back (it had some primitive built-in browser or Vodafone info portal with F1 section in it, I mean Vodafone McLaren Merc, c’mon) and lo and behold! Kimi had won the title. I laughed like crazy, that was my honest reaction (not derogatory, based purely on total surprise reasons). Yeah. A very special day indeed. And now you, my dear unsuspecting readers, will get to share my experience.

FR 3.5 Series featured some cool drivers in 2007 on its entry list: Álvaro Parente, Ben Hanley, Filipe Albuquerque, Sebastian Vettel (Der Finger was ‘absent’ from Estoril for obvious reasons: he was busy racing in Brazil that same weekend for Toro Rosso), Giedo van der Garde, Miguel Molina, Mikhail Aleshin, Davide Valsecchi, Bertrand Baguette, Michael Ammermüller, Charlie Kimball, Robert Wickens, Pippa Mann, Luiz Razia, Esteban Guerrieri. Pretty much who’s who in the world of motorsport, as you can see.

Eurocup FR 2.0 also had a lot of great talent on the books: Nelson Panciatici, Charles Pic, Jon Lancaster, Jules Bianchi, Oliver Turvey, Roberto Merhi, Fabio Leimer, Stefano Coletti, Mika Mäki, Brendon Hartley, Jaime Alguersuari, Adrian Quaife-Hobbs, Martin Plowman, Stéphane Richelmi, Tristan Vautier, Daniel Ricciardo.

Even Mégane thingy was not too shabby in terms of human speed: César Campaniço, Maxime Martin, Bas Leinders, François Duval (of WRC fame).

WSR in Europe to me always felt like Road to Indy in the States, brand promotion/activation (Nissan/Renault) and family entertainment. I think kids loved it. Unfortunately you can’t have F4, F3, F2 and local championships going against car manufacturer-owned series. It’s just too much confusion. That’s what ultimately led to the untimely demise of the WSR, utterly. Although it did propel a lot of fast peeps to international stardom. It served its purpose alright. I doubt we’ll see anything like it any time soon, car companies will have other priorities on their mind for the next decade or so. What’s happening right now is more akin to a giant asteroid hitting all car factories around the world at the same time! Dunno whether that’s physically possible: I’m not an astrophysicist.

And a quick word regarding the guy who drove Alonso’s championship winning Renault R26 on that day (could’ve been Fisi’s ride, no idea which chassis the demo team ran): first off, the car was painted in 2007 colours, quite unusual, colourful and who really cares – it sounded mega! Jonathan Cochet seemed like a friendly bloke. He let everyone hold the actual F1 steering wheel and explained a few things in his best French accent, quoi.

It was Kimi’s glory day of course; I’ll always remember that sunny late October Sunday for giving Kimi his one and only F1 title (let’s face it: multiple champs are not as fun as one-hit wonders, horses for courses I would guess) and RS26 2.4 L V8 engine singing a lovely tune.

My perception of these photos has evolved over the years: I view them as digital time capsule, vintage camera pics, if you will.

Now it’s time to crash your laptop/desktop or smartphone. ⇓