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WELCOME to Trackside - the new weekly motor sport column from Auto Trader's resident race junkie Keith Collantine.

In the coming months we'll be covering four-wheeled racing in every flavour imaginable: From Formula One to World Rallying, from Touring Cars to lawnmower racing.

It's rarely any fun being a motor racing fan during the F1 winter break, when the cold weather sets in and the track action stops.

Thankfully this year someone came up with a solution. That someone was Sheikh Maktoum Hasher Maktoum Al Maktoum, and the solution was A1 Grand Prix - "The World Cup of Motorsport".

Maktoum devised a new racing series that pits drivers against each other in identical equipment, so the best driver should win, rather than the best car. Each car is entered by a different nation, giving spectators patriotic loyalty to a team.

The formula has worked well, attracting a range of drivers including former F1 racers and up-and-coming talents. The cars, with their twitchy handling and distinctive designs, have produced fantastic racing with tons of overtaking and plenty of incident. 

Best of all, Maktoum had the sense to run the bulk of A1 Grand Prix during the F1 off-season. White it was winter in Europe A1 went racing in hotter parts of the globe, taking international motor sport to new territories such as Indonesia.

Hardcore worshippers of Formula One may turn their noses up at A1 with its 'ugly' cars and 'amateur' drivers. But they're missing out on some awesome action if they do. French duo Alexandre Premat and Nicolas Lapierre may have dominated the series but there has been some superb racing.

The season kicked off in fine style at Brands Hatch, with Brazil's Nelson Piquet Jnr passing Australian Will Davison around the outside to win. In Australia Japan's Hayanari Shimoda cheated death in an incredible 160 mph shunt.

At the street race in Durban, South Africa, Jos Verstappen capped a great race with an incredible last-lap pass for victory for The Netherlands. Briton Robbie Kerr has come heartbreakingly close to victory on a couple of occasions. 

Admittedly, it's not yet perfect. The compulsory second-race tyre stops have spoiled a couple of races. And the quality of driving from some of the countries without much of a racing pedigree is a cause for concern.

But A1 Grand Prix's focus on providing great racing for the fans and a fair contest for the drivers is one to be applauded. It's interesting that Formula One's new qualifying system for 2006 bears hallmarks of A1 Grand Prix's setup.

Formula One will always be number one - but thanks to A1 we now have top quality racing every month of the year.

The penultimate round of A1 Grand Prix is on Sunday 12th March at Laguna Seca, California, USA.