10 Things You Might Have Missed From Last Weekend's Motorsport Action

Last Friday’s Halloween festivities transformed the F1 paddock into excitable kids at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. Nico Rosberg turned up for work as Darth Vader and there were pumpkin carving competitions to keep everyone amused.

2. New designs

The F1 weekend also played host to an array of pretty cool – and unusual – new helmet designs. Sebastian Vettel’s new lid was inspired by Captain America, while Daniel Ricciardo’s helmet had a Texas theme. Adrian Sutil’s was based on a US fighter pilot, while Romain Grosjean’s helmet was packed full of photos of Matt LeBlanc. Seriously…

Vettel and Ricciardo also sported Texas-style beards over the weekend.

Before the US GP action got under way, Infiniti held an F1 demonstration in Austin. Vettel and Ricciardo put on a show for American fans in a Red Bull RB7, with the car’s Renault V8 engine even playing the national anthem.

4. A quick stop

This is what a 2.1-second pit stop at the Circuit of the Americas looks like. Nice job, McLaren!

The FIA World Endurance Championship’s six-hour race in Shanghai got off to a dramatic start after this huge crash on the opening lap. Alexandre Imperatori’s LMP2 car slowed with a problem on the racing line and AF Corse driver Gianmaria Bruni couldn’t avoid running into him.

Despite Porsche taking the early lead, Toyota quickly moved to the front in the FIA WEC race at the Shanghai International Circuit, with the No.8 car of Anthony Davidson and Sebastien Buemi taking the win. Like the last round in Fuji, the two drivers led home the No.7 car of Kazuki Nakajima, Alexander Wurz and Stephane Sarrazin.

The No.14 Porsche of Marc Lieb, Romain Dumas and Neel Jani finished third. Roman Rusinov, Olivier Pla and Julien Canal won in LMP2, with Frédéric Makoweicki and Patrick Pilet emerging triumphant in LMGTE Pro. Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy and Christoffer Nygaard won LMGTE Am.

7. Blancpain GT Series finale

The 2014 Blancpain GT Series and Sprint Series seasons came to a close last weekend around the streets of Baku in Azerbaijan, with the two champions being crowned. Maximilian Götz took the Sprint Series title with ninth place in the qualifying race. Meanwhile Laurens Vanthoor took the GT Series win after emerging victorious in the main event.

Jimmie Johnson survived two green-white-checkered attempts at the Texas Motor Speedway in Sunday’s Nascar Sprint Cup race to win for the fourth time this season. Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski finished second and third, but Johnson’s victory was overshadowed by Keselowski’s post-race fight with Jeff Gordon.

After winning the Camping World Truck Series race at the Texas Motor Speedway on Friday, Kyle Busch then went on to triumph in Saturday’s Nascar Nationwide Series event to take his 70th victory in the championship. He led 116 of the 200 laps, finishing ahead of Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney.

After crashing out at turn 12 in the first race of the Porsche Supercup’s final weekend at the Circuit of the Americas, what do these drivers do? They hug it out. You watching, Nascar?