Seriously, who gets tuned down by Ralf Schumacher? I can see the next USF1 YouTube cartoon now: "Yes Ken, I've got a brilliant idea on how to capitalize in skunk works way on Michael Schumacher's return to F1 and perhaps a new branding opportunity for our toasters!"
Read this funny article by Joe Saward.
end of post
--> READ MORE
Merry Christmas and happy landings in 2010 to all you tracktards.
Buon Natale
Feliz Navidad
Hyvää Joulua
Joyeux Noel
Fröhliche Weihnachten
Kala Christouyenna
Wesołych Świąt
Feliz Natal
Vrolijk Kerstfeest
Bon Nadal
Kurisumasu Omedeto
Nollick ghennal as blein vie noa
God Jul
Shub Naya Baras
VesyOlogo RozhdestvA
(with apologies to the linguists!)
home
--> READ MORE
What a Christmas present for Bernie Ecclestone, Formula 1 now has a classic script for the 2010 season! More than one gift actually because it's not just the return of the "Kaiser", it will be the return of the German national team, silver arrows, German drivers vs the Brits vs the latin at Ferrari, you get the picture and it will be a fantastic season to watch. But, then again nobody is doubting Bernie has been busy in Santa's workshop making this deal happen.
Beyond the huge sporting consideration and the easy headlines, how does the same Formula 1 that has just finished decimating the jobs of thousands in the name of cost savings, that just today FIA president Todt called F1 "too expensive", a motor industry facing disaster, can justify the cost of Mercedes' operation. In fact Mercedes is likely not to pay a dime for Schumacher's services next season. Schumacher's salary, seven million Euro, turns out to be more than twice what had been rumored but it's likely just a fraction of what the colossal deal Schumacher and his manager Willi Weber's marketing machine must have put together for this possibly one year shot (Strike that, it's a 3 year deal!). The big payoff from Mercedes will be in the form of what Schumacher swore he had found at Ferrari, a home for life. Never say never in F1 we always say...
If that seven million Euro salary is coming from sponsor Petronas it is certain that Mercedes gave Schumi full freedom to manage his own endorsements so you will see him sporting a DVAG hat and continue his personal endorsement deals with Bacardi, Omega and Schubert among others but he will "own" the space on his race suit and the merchandizing.
Bild estimated the "real estate" costs, arms: 3 million euro/year, chest: 5 million, cap 7 million. It gets cheaper below the belt, 1 million per leg. No word on how much Bernie's special spot goes for...
The FIA really stepped up it's game this year and I must say, for once eclipsed the efforts of fan produced clips which in the past have put the big boys to shame.
Next season may be the beginning of the austerity and cost saving era in Formula 1 but this year's clip, shown at the FIA gala in Monaco, clearly had to cost more than a warehouse full of USF1 carbon fiber toasters!
Home
--> READ MORE
Out of the ashes of the Farnbacher-Loles implosion, club racers and track day enthusiasts in the North East will be happy to know that the best human talent and services from that organization will be available under the banner of SpeedSport Tuning now based in what used to be the F-L bodyshop on in Danbury, Connecticut.
It's back to the future for Spencer Cox who had run SpeedSport for years before being persuaded to join Farnbacher-Loles with his client list and staff. As a client you can expect the same level of attention, expertise and on track support you have been accustomed to in the past. The all conquering Axis of Oversteer-Palmfund Cayman S as well as the GTS3 Boxster are now under SpeedSport's care.
All the best to Spencer and the guys in this new venture, see you at the track!
Speed Sport Tuning
Triangle St.
Danbury, CT 06810
203-917-9888
Home
--> READ MORE
Final installment of our Vintage Porsche poster set, just in time for Christmas!
Happy Holidays Everyone!
More Posters after the jump.
--> READ MORE
Supposedly the handy work of a Saint Louis Hyatt Hotel parking attendant who obviously watched too much Tokyo Drift...
Knowing he is going to get royally reamed makes it possible to appreciate the guy has some skills: he did not actually hit any columns (at least on video) which puts him a step above the attendants at my previous NYC garage!
(more from FOX2now.com after the jump)
ST. LOUIS, MO (KTVI-FOX2now.com) - The video is being called appalling and unreal. It shows a valet at the Hyatt Hotel in downtown St. Louis doing donuts, peeling out, burning out, revving engines and spinning tires in expensive cars, without the owners ever knowing it. Kyle O'Brien didn't know anything had happened to his 2004 Dodge until he saw his car being abused on FOX 2 Tuesday night, "I'm not freaking out about it, but it isn't that funny," says OBrien. "I would just think a valet service at a nice hotel would have to have more responsibility."
Someone calling himself "valet underground" posted dozens of videos on YouTube, showing fancy cars being driven to the extreme in a parking garage about six months to a year ago.
The general manager of the Hyatt hotel downtown, formerly the Adams Mark, which sits in the shadow of the Gateway Arch, confirms it happened in his garage. Tire marks are still visible on the pavement. He says the Hyatt fired this valet company, which has been identified as AAA Valet, from Atlanta, Gerogia, before he even knew of the video. He says the hotel replaced them with a St. Louis based valet company, and once he saw the video, he called AAA Valet to alert them to their employees' conduct.
FOX 2 left messages for AAA Valet at the home office in Atlanta, but it was after regular business hours and no one returned the call.
O'Brien says he stayed at the Hyatt for one night about eight months ago. He says when the valet brought him his car, he asked him if it was for sale. O'Brien says he also thought it was strange when the valet commented on the nice tires he had. Then when he got in the car to drive away, he noticed there was a problem, "It drove really funny," O'Brien recalls. "I had to replace the spark plugs and the distributor when I got home because they were not working any more."
He says he was not suspicious that the valet had taken it on a joy ride. "No, it's nothing I would ever consider at all," he says.
Tuesday night, the videos showing the parking garage antics were removed from YouTube.
--> READ MORE
First time I've ever seen Walter Röhrl look nervous... I can't imagine why?
I mean a 790HP, 195mph VW van with a MclarenF1 driving position on a wet track, what could possibly go wrong?
More after the jump
--> READ MORE
Greg Loles, team principal the the Grand Am Champion team Farnbacher Loles, surrendered to Federal Authorities Tuesday after a two week stay in a Bridgeport, CT hospital following a reported suicide attempt.
He faces two counts, wire fraud and mail fraud, felonies that each carry a 20 year maximum sentence. He is accused of, starting in 2001, "Madoffing" 6 to 8 million dollars taken from his own church and fellow parishoners with the promise of a steady 7% return. The money was never invested.
This confirms much of what had been rumored for the last 6 weeks. Not yet come to light is what happened to the Farnbacher-Loles clients rumored to have put money down for 2010 race cars.
Below is the arrest affidavit from the FBI alleging the two felony counts and detailing how Loles diverted funds both for personal use and to the Farnbacher-Loles race team.
More Info in this article from NewsTimes.com
LOLES Gregory Affidavit[1]
end of post
--> READ MORE
Formula 1 is desperate for a positive storyline and it might strike some as desperate for F1 to be looking back to Michael Schumacher for redemption. Without a doubt, the return of a seven time world champion would be the story of the 2010 season (as might be his failure to live up to enormous expectations).
Events are apparently snowballing, it will be interesting one day to learn the back story: Schumacher's neck is OK in December but it was not in August? What really was behind that?
Merry Christmas from one of readers, Jim Shepard who sent in this picture of his daily driver as he says "..performing stunningly". Very nice!
Don't forget to send us pictures of your rides, daily drivers to full out race cars for out Axis Reader Rides set on Flickr. email pictures HERE
end of post
--> READ MORE
Alex Zanardi swapped a 4 wheel BMW WTCC 3 series for a 2 wheel BMW HP2 boxer for a day of riding at Monza this past week. The Bike was modified with an automatic transmission, a brake force distribution system and special supports for his artificial legs. He reached speeds around the 160 mph mark. Amazing.With HD cameras now relatively inexpensive, the days of interlaced 4x3 video are numbered. Traqmate is offering a new interface for automatic synchronization of LANC capable cam-corders, providing the same level of convenience now available when using a Chase Cam recorder.
Below is the press release and after the jump an example of a video in HD (downscaled to 1280x720) with the familiar Traqmate dials, check it out full screen.
Need a last minute stocking stuffer for your tracktard friends? I suggest a Shift-I shift light with free shipping for the holidays!
Traqmate Announces HD Video at PRI
Traqmate is looking forward to another successful PRI show in Orlando this year, December 10th through 12th. The Traqmate booth number is lucky 1313.
We have a new HD product offering, that combined with our present data acquisition technology, provides completely synchronized high quality data and video recording for those interested in preserving the ultimate record of their driving experience. The result is simply stunning video. Come by to see our HD video in action.
Once again the best highlight clips come from fans across the globe. This one is from Australia.
Apologies in advance for the soundtrack...it will get on your nerves and likely get stuck in your head for weeks, Merry Christmas!
end of post
--> READ MORE
If Pedro Rodriguez and Jo Siffert were given team orders at the start of the 1970 1000 Km of Spa, they certainly paid no attention.
The race was won by Siffert and Brian Redman with an average speed over 71 laps of 149.415 mph but Rodriguez turned a race lap at 160.513 mph. On the same track, that was 14 seconds faster than the fastest Formula 1 lap that year and 3 seconds faster than his own pole position! Awesome.
A longer clip after the jump.
--> READ MORE
Montecarlo December 5, 2009.
Times, they are a changing ...er, charging.
Home
--> READ MORE
Curious, what do our reader's think of Toyota's supercar?
(Toyota)
Home
--> READ MORE
Around this time of year in Rome, if you park under the wrong tree near the Vatican, even the holy power of all the saints will not protect your freshly Zaino coated paint....
(Ansa.it)
In late fall in southern Europe, starlings gather in the millions and fly around like winged schools of sardines. They all land at the same time, packing themsolves on trees and proceed to do what birds to when they land...
Car owners ought to donate to falcon breeding programs as that is the only thing that can kill and scare off the flying varmint. I'm sure the environmentalist would be in an uproar so some cities, MonteCarlo for one, are resorting to trucks with loudspeakers blasting out bird of pray sounds from loudspeakers...
For the most part, starlings are not impressed and the poo rain continues unabated haunting the dreams of world's car neat freaks!
end of post
--> READ MORE
1994 in DTM meant Mercedes C-Class vs Alfa 155 but you also had supporting roles played by Ford Mustangs (yes...f bodies...), Opel Calibras and BMW e36 M3 Evo.
The Season was won by Klaus Ludwig with a more reliable Mercedes compared to the Alfas of Nannini and Larini (who had 7 wins between them but also 7 DNFs)
As we like to say, Classic DTM never gets old so here is another great clip from DTMEntusiast of mostly onboard footage from the 94 season.
More DTM on Axis
--> READ MORE
(photo by Ricardipus)
The principal behind the Farnbacher-Loles race team has been identified as the person allegedly behind a massive financial fraud involving embezzlement of funds from a Connecticut church, according to the New Haven Register.
Gregory Loles was in charge of managing the Saint Barbara Greek Orthodox Church's building and endowment funds as well as some church members retirement and college funds.
"...state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said his office is reviewing facts to determine whether state laws were broken. But the U.S. Department of Justice has the lead in the investigation, he said.
“Sadly and tragically, this potential fraud seems to be of massive magnitude — making the federal investigation and involvement very appropriate,” Blumenthal said. “We are reviewing whether there are potential violations of state statutes and how we can pursue them and aid the federal investigation. We understand the FBI is actively involved, and we would commonly defer to federal criminal authorities in their criminal investigation. But there may well be state statutes that merit our investigation.”
You can read more here. We suspect this is only the beginning.
Farnbacher-Loles are officially supported by Porsche Motorsport and were the 2009 Grand-Am Rolex GT Champions as well as past class winners in the Daytona 24hrs. They are based in Danbury Connecticut.
home
--> READ MORE
Keep an eye on the 2010 24 Hours, it has the potential of being the most interesting in years. The latest rumors are of a Red Bull sponsored Peugeot 908 Hdi driven by Kimi Raikkonen, Sebastien Loeb and perhaps David Coulthard. Certainly would attract media attention, something RedBull has show to have a certain talent for over the years...
Also in 2010, BMW will return to contest as an official factory team for the first time in years. There will be GT2 M3s but perhaps also the new GT3 class Z4 racer the bavarians have cooked up. Stay tuned for updates.
(autohebdo.fr, motorsportblog.it)
end of post
--> READ MORE
Kimi Raikkonen's switch to the WRC may have caught many by surprise but competing across various motorsport disciplines is really nothing new. In the past drivers, well, they just drove whatever, for money or for sport. Jim Clark drove F1, F2 but also Lotus Cortinas and Ford Fairlanes not to mention Indy. Vic Elford was a Rally World Champion with Porsche and an F1 driver with a number of teams. He drove 908 and 917 in endurance races and even won the Nürburgring 84 hr (that's right, 84 hours) of 1967 in the Porsche's first car with a semi automatic transmission. Of course there is John Surtees who was both a 350 and 500cc bike champion and a Formula 1 World Champion.
In this hyper corporate era it's always nice to see some of the biggest names in motorsport letting loose and having fun. In Monza last week we got to see Valentino Rossi and Audi's "Dindo" Capello tear it up in WRC cars. Great Idea the Monza Rally Show, a friendly competition on a special stage created using the Monza circuit. Especially cool is the use of the old abandoned banked track.
Capello is obviously as comfortable with the handbrake on this Citroën as he is with the big Audis at LeMans. This may be a friendly competition but make no mistake, they are still racers: Capello, after he crosses the finish line what he chuckles to navigator Gigi Pirollo roughly translates to: "F-it, If I didn't win with that one I'll cut my nuts off!".
At the end of the highlight clip, Rossi and Capello are speaking and Valentino congratulates the Le Mans winner, "Now we try on motorcycles". But then he tells Dindo they should do some enduros together. Capello suggests an R8.... I'm guessing it might happen. Cool!
More Clips after the jump
--> READ MORE
For years one of the world's leading sports car teams have been Connecticut based Porsche specialists Farnbacher-Loles. The team is apparently shutting it's doors on the heels of a Grand Am championship win in 2009 with Leh Keen and Dirk Warner. This is a big surprise especially after recent press releases about the team fielding BMW M3 for the 2010 season.
Rumors abound but facts are few. What have you heard?
--> READ MORE
How many other F1 drivers would happily go to a Jr. team ? And the pairing of Red Bull and Raikkonen seems perfect. I hope he wins in the WRC and maybe he'll do the 24hr du Mans next (...ok that may requirre an extra dose of ice cream or two!)
Great news about Sauber too!...
(still on the road)
end of post
--> READ MORE
Mclaren MP4-12C: Supercar in a Gray Flannel Suit
Gumpert Apollo Track Test
Part I: Pilgrimage
Part II: Vomit Comet and other stories
Part III: TerroristenFahrten
