Fly to Let buyers on the starting grid for properties near new motor race track

Portugal has leapt nine places from 12th to 3rd position as the UK’s favourite place to buy property around the world according to the annual top 20 survey conducted by A Place In The Sun magazine. And more tourists and Fly to Let investors are expected to flock to Portugal’s Western Algarve following the recent opening of the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, a brand new state-of-the-art motor racing track near Portimão.

The Algarve is already renowned for its golf courses, beaches, water sports, culture and good food and wine. With the new venue, the region is expected to welcome a further one million tourists a year.

In November it hosted the Portuguese round of the Superbike World Championships and Formula 1 testing took place in December. Other major international events are scheduled and there is talk of it trying to lure an F1 race in the future.

As well as the circuit, the complex includes a karting track, technology park, 5-star hotel and sports facilities. At around €195m it is the biggest single investment ever in the Algarve and as well as the creation of over 1,000 new jobs, tourist levels are expected to substantially increase as visitors flock to see the sporting contests, all of which should have a positive impact on the local and national economy.

A member of Alderley Edge-based The Emerson Group, Jones Homes Portugal has two residential and leisure developments just 10 minutes drive away from the Autódromo. Both look set to benefit as Fly to Let investors seek to take advantage of higher expected occupancy rates for rental properties in this area.

The opening last year of a brand new clubhouse with fully equipped gym and luxury health spa has enhanced Boavista Golf & Health Spa Resort’s claim to be one of the Algarve’s top golf and holiday destinations.

Located near Lagos, a choice of detached villas and golf village properties start at €365,000 and, under a new freehold quarter share scheme, a 13-week per year rotating occupancy can be purchased from just €112,000.

Jones Homes’ other major development on the Western Algarve, Oásis Parque, is located between Alvor and Portimão. With a country club atmosphere, Oásis Parque has a huge outdoor pool, kiddies’ pool and playground, heated indoor pool, Jacuzzi, tennis courts and on-site restaurant. A range of detached villas and apartments start at €205,000.

A1GP News Round Up

London, Great Britain On Monday (26 January) following the Taupo event, and at the request of Ferrari, A1 Teams Ireland and New Zealand completed some additional running to try out a version of the pressurised fuel collector at high ambient temperatures. The data collected will be validated by A1GP Technology in further factory tests to produce a modification for all team cars prior to the A1GP Gauteng event in three weeks time.

Team Principal Mark Gallagher: "We were asked to help out with the test and were happy to oblige. Naturally for reasons of fairness we could not use Adam Carroll for this test, nor carry out any performance testing of benefit to the team, but it was very useful for Niall Quinn to get some decent running in the car. It was nice as championship leaders to be asked to assist A1GP and Ferrari with this test and to help them ensure that the superb new A1GP Powered by Ferrari car continues to provide the teams with a strong, reliable package. Well focus all our energies on the next race in Gauteng, South Africa. Kyalami is a new track for everyone in A1GP and will be another leap into the unknown.

A1 Team New Zealand also ran its car in the test, and worked with Ferrari and Magneti Marelli so they could gain a better understanding as to why a small number of cars including the New Zealand car were affected by problems during the Taupo event with the drivers application of the anti-stall system. New Zealand did not have a rookie driver at the Taupo event, and therefore Jonny Reid undertook the testing.

South Africa is already gearing up for the next event, A1GP Gauteng on 20 - 22 February. As part of the build up the A1GP test car has already arrived in the province from New Zealand last week and was on display at The MPH Show, which also incorporates Top Gear Live, at the Coca-Cola Dome in Johannesburg from January 29 to February 1.

A1GP Village will also be at the Montecasino Piazza from Thursday 12 February to Thursday 19 February with the test car on show from 12 -15 February. Visitors will also get the chance to hear the distinctive notes of the Ferrari engine that propels all the cars on the A1GP grids around the world. The Tyre Change Challenge will also be activated from 12 15 February with TW Steel watches also up for grabs on 14 and 15 February. Adventure biker and Supermoto Champion, Brian Capper, will be doing a display in the Piazza over the weekend with other exhibitors including Fantastic Racing, TW Steel, Neo Solutions super cars, a super bike display and EA Sports Need for Speed gaming pods. The A1GP Adrenalin Rush will also be set up for children.

Looking further ahead, tickets for A1GP Algarve, Portugal are now on sale via www.autodromoalgarve.com. The event is due to take place at the Autdromo Internacional do Algarve, from 10-12 April 2009. Ticket prices vary according to the selected grandstands with children under 12 able to attend the event free-of-charge. For anyone buying tickets before 28 February, there will also be an additional promotion in place with four tickets sold for the price of three.

Congratulations also go out to A1 Team Great Britain's Danny Watts and his partner Fiona who are proud parents to Joshua Louis, born at 0915 on 15 January 2009.

John Toshack sticks with youth

WALES boss John Toshack will take one last opportunity to give teenage stars Aaron Ramsey and Jack Collison the chance to cement their roles in his World Cup plans.

Toshack named a 27-man squad today for the friendly against Poland on February 11 in Portugal – the match being played on the Algarve in Vila Real St Antonio, where Wales will be aiding the Poles’ warm-weather training ahead of their own World Cup matches next month.

Arsenal starlet Ramsey – on his full international debut – and West Ham youngster Collison played as a central midfield partnership for their country when Wales won in Denmark last November.

Toshack desperately wanted to see the pair have as much Premier League experience as possible since then, and his wish has been granted.

Ramsey has figured in nine Arsenal games since then, while Collison has won a place in Gianfranco Zola’s senior side and has played in the last 10 Hammers games.

For Toshack, this is the final game before the make-or-break home matches in World Cup qualifying group four when Wales play Finland and Germany in Cardiff on March 28 and April 1 respectively.

Those games will virtually decide whether Wales have any chance of qualifying for South Africa 2010.

But it has not all been plain sailing for Toshack as he has monitored the club progress of his youngsters, and in particular Spurs pair Chris Gunter and Gareth Bale.

Both Cardiff-born players have had their problems at White Hart Lane as the north Londoners have battled to get away from the Premier League relegation zone.

New boss Harry Redknapp has suggested Gunter would benefit from a spell on loan, while Bale has been in and out of the Spurs team and was even – it is believed – offered to Liverpool in the initial bid for Robbie Keane.

Manchester City’s young striker Ched Evans has been out of the picture there and the subject of a bid from Celtic, while goalkeeper Boaz Myhill has lost his first-team place at Hull.

But it is the improvement in Ramsey and Collison that will boost Toshack.

The duo have already been hailed as the answer to Wales’ playmaking problems, having struck up a good central midfield understanding as part of Brian Flynn’s successful under-21 side.

And Toshack is keen to give them as much time on the pitch together as possible before deciding whether to risk the young pairing against the Finns and Germans.

Toshack has been boosted for that game by the return to full fitness and the outstanding club form of defender James Collins, who finally returned to the West Ham team in October after a knee injury.

Collins has helped West Ham to an eight-match unbeaten run and won plenty of praise for his partnership with Matthew Upson.

Wales, though, have announced a big squad to cover for the expected withdrawals, and have already lost Peterborough defender Craig Morgan.

A scan today revealed a broken toe that will keep him out for several weeks, while Robert Earnshaw – back in goalscoring form at Nottingham Forest – is certain to withdraw with a hamstring problem.

An Football Association of Wales spokesman said: “John Toshack wants people to know they are involved and on standby.

“This is an important game for us because it is the only run-out the lads will have before the two World Cup games, having last seen each other in November.”

Veteran Carl Robinson, just returned to pre-season training with Toronto, has been left out along with Coventry’s Freddy Eastwood, while young striker Craig Davies – now with Brighton – is back for the first time in more than a year.

Also recalled is midfielder Andrew Crofts now he is back in action after a long spell on the sidelines. He has moved from Gillingham to Peterborough.

Stockport goalkeeper Owain Fon Williams is the only uncapped player named for his first call-up, having been promoted from the under-21s squad who did so well last year in the UEFA championships before losing out against England in a play-off to reach the finals.

The former Crewe keeper, 21, takes the place of Derby’s Lewis Price, who has had little senior activity this season and has been out on loan with MK Dons for a spell.

Flynn has named an 18-man under-21 squad for the friendly against Northern Ireland in Ballymena on February 10, including Llanelli teenage winger Jordan Follows.

The 18-year-old has made a big impact in the Welsh Premier League this season and has had a trial at Blackburn, with several Championship clubs also interested.

It is a new-look under-21 squad, with six uncapped players named in the build-up to their new UEFA championship campaign. The draw will be made in Denmark on Wednesday.

The new faces include Everton’s Nathan Craig and Bournemouth’s Joe Partington.

Contador in USA

Contador traveled to USA on Sunday for training camp in Santa Rosa
“I’m not going crazy over logging hours on the bike”

Alberto Contador traveled to the USA on Sunday for ten days work with his teammates at Astana’s training camp in Santa Rosa, California. At camp, Contador will prepare for his first race of the 2009 season, the Volta al Algarve, February 18-22. He is eager to race, but notes that this year his preparation is somewhat behind the schedule of last year, and that it’s still too soon to be fully in shape for competition. “I’m looking forward to camp, because this year I started training a little later, and at first, at Tenerife, I almost couldn’t take advantage of it because of surgery. Now I hope we have good weather in California and can get in a sizeable chunk of work.”

How do you rate your current form?
I’ve been doing very dedicated training for weeks and I’m starting to feel good, but up till now I’ve only done base work. I haven’t been doing climbs, I haven’t done intervals, and I’m not going crazy over logging hours on the bike. Maybe at training camp I’ll start to work on intensity, but I don’t want to overdo it, because this will be a very long year.

Are you eager to pin on that first bib number?
Absolutely, because I love to race and that’s what motivates me to train. I’m going to debut in the Algarve, but it’s not a race I’m familiar with and I won’t be riding to win. It will be the first contact with competition.

Have you made any changes to your bike, or will it be the same as in 2008?
We’re working with Trek to introduce some new features, and we also want to set up the time trial bike to coordinate with the data we got in the wind tunnel.

Will you train against the clock in California?
I think that the wind tunnel team are going to training camp in order to define the exact position I’ll adopt in the races, therefore I want to take that opportunity on some day, because that training is also very important.

Are you familiar with Santa Rosa?
I’ve talked to Levi Leipheimer, who lives there, and it’s his usual training ground. I think we’ll have spring-like temperatures, but I’m not familiar with the venue, because it’s different from the recent ones.

Do you know yet who’ll be on your team for the Algarve?
No, that’ll be decided at camp, depending on how each guy’s doing.

By the way, some fans wonder why there aren’t any classics on your calendar this year.
Well, there’s still a chance to fit in a one-day race, specifically La Flèche Wallonne or Liége-Bastogne-Liége, but I haven’t wanted to put them on my calendar because everything depends on how the Vuelta al País Vasco ends, since that stage of the season is usually a bit long to hold my first peak of form. I like those races, but I’m going to play it by ear.

Ryanair announces two more new flights to Faro

The announcement that Ryanair are to begin two new twice weekly flights to Faro airport has been welcome news for anyone living on the Algarve. This brings to eleven the number of Ryanair flights from different destinations. It looks like the promise by Ryanair spokesman Stephen Mc Namara last October that Ryanair will ‘continue to grow’ is holding true and it reflects a basic confidence in the Algarve as a viable tourist destination even in these days of economic crisis. Commenting on this announcement, the busy spokesman said “Ryanair continues to offer great new routes so that passengers can beat the recession by flying at Ryanair’s guaranteed lowest fares and no fuel surcharges to exciting destinations all over Europe. Ryanair will continue to grow as other airlines pull routes and reduce capacity. With passengers becoming increasingly price sensitive Ryanair will continue to expand so that even more passengers can take advantage of Ryanair’s guaranteed lowest fares and no fuel surcharges´.

The new flights, starting on March 31st are from from Bournemouth in the South of England and from Bremen in Germany. The Bournemouth flights are on Tuesdays and Fridays and the Bremen flights on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Contact Ryanair for more information.
According to reports, there is an increasing interest in flights out of the U.K. since the beginning of January. Algarve accommodation providers have also noticed an increase in enquiries and confirmed bookings. It seems like initial concerns about the economic situation have been overturned by a need to escape the doom and gloom of both the physical and economic climate. And as usual the Algarve proves to be a popular holiday destination given the number of low cost airlines that fly into Faro, the variety of holiday accommodation available on the Algarve and the always tempting Algarve weather.

Testing ban to be reversed

The on-season testing ban agreement is about to be cancelled, according to test team personnel that attended last week's session in Algarve. With KERS giving a lot of trouble to all the teams, as the batteries lose performance quite quickly and are still far from being fully operative during an entire race distance, there are now moves for at least three test sessions to be held during the season, to help improve the reliability.

As one of the measures to cut costs, the ten Formula One teams agreed to cut testing during the year to 15,000 kilometres and introduced a testing ban that should start on the week of the Australian Grand Prix and go until the last race of the season, which will take place in Abu Dhabi. This was certain to lead to the disbandment of all test teams and there are reports that Renault has already started negotiating the end of contracts with members of their test team.

But on the Algarve, the test team managers got together to discuss the situation and one admitted there were talks going on between the teams to allow for at least three test sessions during the year. According one top team member, "KERS is new for everybody and no one has achieved the level of reliability with it that we would like to have. It makes sense to have a transitional year, with less testing than before, but with a few tests early on in the season, to help everybody get on top of their problems. It's not on everybody's interest to see only five or six cars finish races, so we're trying to get an agreement on a change of the rules for 2009."

It has to be noted that the testing ban was not imposed by the FIA, but is part of a general agreement by all the teams, thanks to their commitment to FOTA. To reverse this agreement all of the teams will have to accept the change, and that's where the plan might find resistance.

Normally, though, the smaller teams would try to block this change, but there are signs that this may not be the case. Both Toro Rosso and Force India are not even certain of having their new cars ready for the test session booked for Jerez on March 1-4, and at this point have only confirmed they'll attend the following session, in Barcelona, one week later, so there's a good chance they'll get to Melbourne with just four days of pre-season running. They would benefit from additional testing in the first half of the season and, therefore, may be willing to accept this change. Also, whoever buys Honda's Formula One team will almost certainly get to Australia having not tested at all.

Ecclestone eyes Portugal's return

Bernie Ecclestone is showing interest in getting the Portuguese Grand Prix back in the Formula One calendar, now that the country has a new, state-of-the-art circuit in Algarve. For 13 years, between 1984 and 1996 the Portuguese Grand Prix was a very popular venue for teams and drivers, with the Estoril circuit holding the race and becoming a favourite test track during the winter season. But the facilities were never properly upgraded and, in the end, Ecclestone pulled the plug on the deal, cancelling the 1997 Grand Prix and replacing it with the European Grand Prix in Jerez de la Frontera, in Spain, where Michael Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve famously clashed in the World Championship decider.

For the last ten years, with the exception of Turkey and Valencia, Ecclestone has been moving the World Championship out of Europe, organising races in Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Malaysia, Singapore and China, with deals already done to hold races in India and South Korea in the near future.

But now Ecclestone seems to have decided to look for new venues in Europe, as he’s concerned about the situation of the French, German and British Grand Prix and knows the teams will always demand at least half of the races to be held in Europe. The promised new Yvelines track, at Flins, close to Paris, has yet to have its budget approved by the French National Assembly and even if everything goes according to plan, it won’t be ready before 2011. In Germany there are clear signs Hockenheim won’t be able to hold the Grand Prix again and with the Nurburgring unable to finance it more than every two years, the race may disappear if Ecclestone tries to impose a yearly deal with the track. As for the British Grand Prix, there is a contract with Donington to hold the race in 2010, but there are many doubts about the financing of the project, meaning there’s a serious chance the race may be scrapped altogether from the calendar.

With all this going on, Ecclestone has been looking for new venues in Europe, and might be keen to get Portugal back on the calendar.

The new circuit in Algarve is already built and fully functional, having held two F1 tests since it was opened in December, and has been highly regarded by the teams and drivers. The circuit is 50km from an international airport with direct motorway access, and has more than one thousand hotels and resorts in the region. There is also the fact that the weather in the region allows Ecclestone to hold a race as early as in April or as late as in October without much risk of being caught by rain or cold.

Ecclestone had planning to visit the track during the last test but the bad weather scrubbed this. Ecclestone had his people inspect the facilities and the surrounding area. According to sources close to Ecclestone, he might be looking to hold a Grand Prix in Algarve as soon as 2010, making it the last European race of the season, in the second half of September.

Hope Fund raises thousands for Algarve’s animals

The Hope Fund’s annual charity golf tournament this year smashed all its previous achievements and raised an inspiring €15,000, which will be put towards helping stray and abandoned animals across the Algarve.

The event took place last Saturday, January 24th, on the Palmares Golf Course, at Meia Praia. A total of 88 enthusiastic golfers participated in the charity tournament, many of whom had come from the UK and Ireland. Players’ hopes were answered when the rain held off for the day, making the round even more enjoyable.

“The course was wonderful and the weather was perfect golf weather” said the event’s main organizer, Doug Clarke.

A lavish evening meal at the Tivoli Lagos Hotel followed the day’s activities, and featured a prize draw and an auction to raise more revenue for the Hope Fund.

The auction alone, which boasted a star-prize of a champagne boat trip courtesy of Blacktower Finance, raised €7,000.

Michele Jones, a long-term resident who founded the Hope Fund in 2000, told The Portugal News the staggering amount would “cover a whole year’s treatments” for stray and abandoned animals. This includes veterinary treatments, neutering, treating ‘hit and run’ cases, and organizing neutering campaigns.

Doug and Michele initiated charity golf tournaments for the cause in 2004, and have since raised an estimated €50,000.

After three months of intense organizing the day was more successful than anyone could ever have hoped for.

“I can’t believe we raised so much money. I thought that, given the economic circumstances at present, we would not raise as much as previous years, but we have done our best to date”, said Michele.

Doug and Michele would like to take this opportunity to thank all of their many sponsors, participants, and those who donated prizes.

They would particularly like to thank Palmares for the use of their course.

For more information, contact Michele at the Hope Fund on: 919 457 263, or e-mail: happyhounds@mail.telepac.pt.

The Hope Fund is not a refuge and does not take in animals.

Johnson happy with England preparation

England have concluded what manager Martin Johnson described as a "very productive" pre-RBS 6 Nations training camp in Portugal.

The squad returned home on Friday following a final session at their Vilamoura base on the Algarve.

Johnson said: "The five days have been very productive. The conditions were good and the players and coaches have enjoyed some quality training, preparation and analysis time together."

England kick off their Six Nations campaign against Italy at Twickenham on Saturday week.

Wasps prop Tim Payne sat out training on Friday because of sore abdominal muscles, but is expected to resume preparations on Monday.

Bath flanker Michael Lipman, meanwhile, will return to his club this weekend after being assessed by England's medical staff during the last few days.

Lipman went off midway through the first-half of Bath's Heineken Cup draw with Toulouse last Sunday after taking a heavy blow to the side of his head.

With Lipman now out of the reckoning, England have opted to call up experienced Wasps back row Joe Worsley as Tom Rees' replacement.

Three other players - London Irish pair Delon Armitage and Nick Kennedy, together with Sale Sharks back Mathew Tait - were released early from the camp to play for their clubs in Guinness Premiership games tomorrow.

The squad will reconvene at its Surrey training headquarters on Sunday evening, with Johnson due to name his team for the Italy opener next Tuesday.