2011 BMW M5 shredding tires at the Nürburgring

Obviously undergoing early 'Ring Taxi duty testing. Makes you smile, admit it!


(Car Advice.au)
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BMW might make DTM relevant again.

What better excuse than the announcement of BMW's possible return to DTM for posting this clip again. It never gets old, right?



More DTM on Axis
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Crowd Favorite

NASA Mid Atlantic peeps have been used to seeing the screaming yellow Ferrari like this...
(WARNING, this clip includes an excited and possibly intoxicated tracktard dropping the f-bomb and no, the "F" does not stand for Ferrari!)



Now that it has officially started on its road to Daytona, the underdog Bennet Racing Ferrari can be cheered by Spec e30 racers across the country on SpeedTV's Grand Am broadcasts.

But you get a bit of an inside line, Mike Skeen sent us a clip that lets you ride along in the Bennett Ferrari in its season debut start at VIR. Turn it up!



More AFTER THE JUMP






Bennett Racing Accomplishes First Mission by Completing Maiden Run in GRAND-AM Rolex Series With 15th Place Run at Virginia International Raceway

ALTON, Va. (April 24, 2010) – The mission was clear for Bennett Racing and co-drivers Skip Bennett and Mike Skeen in their debut race in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16, the Bosch Engineering 250 at Virginia International Raceway.


That mission was to learn everything they could about themselves, their team and their bright yellow No. 56 South River Marina & Mercruiser Ferrari F430 Challenge. After two hours and 45 minutes and 77 laps around the twisting 3.27-mile, 17-turn VIR road circuit on Saturday afternoon, it was mission accomplished. Skeen and Bennett combined to bring the lone Ferrari in the field home in 15th place in the GT class, exactly the position where Skeen qualified it on Friday.


“It was definitely a great experience,” Skeen said. “The pit stops were better than I expected being the first time out for all these guys--they did an awesome job. I think we were pretty much running the pace that we expected. I won’t lie. It was a little bit disappointing that we couldn’t keep up a little better because the racer in me wants to do battle at the front of the pack. All of us are used to being at the front in the other forms of racing that we’ve done, but we know that takes time. We’ve got to develop the car more. We didn’t have the straight-line speed to keep up, and that part of it was disappointing. But at the same time, we exceeded our rational expectations.”


Skeen started the car 15th following a best lap at 1:54.288 (103.002 mph) from the15-minute qualifying session on Friday afternoon. He drove a trouble-free first stint in the race and came onto pit lane just prior to the 45-minute mark in the race to turn the controls over to team owner/driver Bennett, who pedaled the Ferrari for a clean middle stint before giving way to Skeen with slightly more than an hour remaining in the race.



“They’re definitely pros,” said Bennett of his on-track competition. “Hands down, these guys are pros and they want to finish the race. There’s a lot of respect out there. I’m a slower driver in a slower car and there were absolutely no problems at all. Do I think I’m a pro now? No. Do I think I can do better? Absolutely. Do I think the car and the team will do better? Absolutely, but you’ve got to remember that to do better than what we did, there’s a lot to do.”


Both drivers pointed out that—for starters—the car needs to be roughly 200 pounds lighter. Bennett remarked that a few changes to the chassis are in order, as the car needs to pick up roughly four seconds to compete at the front of the GT field. However, Skeen noted that the team needed this race to learn where the car’s shortcomings were.


“For the beginning stint, I was right behind the (No. 40) Dempsey Racing Mazda,” Skeen said. “In my second stint, there were several caution periods where we ended up being amongst the leaders in GT going to green, so we had some chances to mix it up—albeit a lap down—with the leaders. We did get a chance to see and feel where the other cars are gaining and losing speed. For the most part, we were off sequence pit strategy wise with the guys that were a position ahead or a position behind us. We didn’t have a whole lot of position battles on the track.”


One area where Bennett and Skeen came away extremely satisfied was the ability of their volunteer crew on pit road. Just as it was the first time in a Rolex Series race on the track for the drivers, it was also the first time the crew worked together in the pits. The drivers couldn’t have asked for better service.


“Our crew was tremendous,” Bennett said. “I watched a lot of the other crews and our guys looked better and they were faster. I’m not trying to blow smoke. This is a fact. When Mike came in for a gas-and-go under a yellow, he wasn’t the first guy into the pit, but he was the first guy out of the pit. That gave us a lap back. Our pit guys were awesome.”


“One of the coolest things was in one of our team meetings (on Friday),” Skeen added. “We were sitting around in the back of the transporter and we’ve got a guy from South Africa, we’ve got a couple of guys from Georgia, a guy from the Czech Republic, Virginia, North Carolina and guys have been on a bunch of different teams. One of them spoke up and said, ‘I’ve only known you guys for five days. We’ve only worked together a few times and already this team is really, really gelling.’ We’ve got great camaraderie, it’s a big family and everybody has got a lot of respect for each other.”


With the Bosch Engineering 250 now in the rearview mirror, the team’s focus shifts to making improvements to the car ahead of its next scheduled Rolex Series appearance in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen on the weekend of June 4-5. Bennett expects to share the car with co-drivers Mike Davidson and Jonathan Allen for their first attempt at a Rolex Series endurance race, while Skeen will be competing in an SCCA Trans-Am Series event at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah that weekend.


Chris Cobetto, another of the team’s drivers, will get some seat time in the car later this season. The team plans to make four Rolex Series starts this season: at VIR, the Watkins Glen enduro in June, and sprint races at Daytona International Speedway and New Jersey Motorsports Park in July. All of this is being done with an eye toward competing in the 2011 Rolex 24 At Daytona next January.


“The car is now going to go to UUC Motorsports in Georgia and they’re going to do a couple things,” Bennett said. “We’re going to continue with our plan, which is to get four races under our belt to get the car sorted out so we can do Daytona in January. We could definitely use some sponsors to help us, as it will take a lot of time and a lot of money to get the car where we want it to be. We have to do some significant things to the car. We know what they are and we know what they’re going to mean when we get them accomplished.”

Just like the team’s mission in its debut this weekend.


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Pirelli Personalized.

Not so easy finding ways to get attention in the tire world but Pirelli has come up with a pretty cool one: personalized tires.

This bit of extra bling is, for now, limited to our 2 wheeled tracktard friends who use the Pirelli Diablo Rosso Corsa. You can customize a label online and Pirelli will deliver the personalized set through their online direct distribution (in Europe only for now). The Rosso Corsa is an extreme performance tire derived from WSBK designs.

Pirelli is one of the companies rumored to be taking over from Bridgestone as the next supplier to Formula 1, a combination that might work especially given Pirelli's recent focus on "Green" racing and road tires.

As for DOT R track tires, I had tried the P-Zero Corsa some years ago with some pretty mixed results, that tire had been replaced with the Corsa System, a design closer to a regular road tire. Now Pirelli has introduced a new "trackday" contender, the P-Zero Trofeo. Rather than the Corsa's wavy, motorcycle inspired grooves, the Trofeo has a dual section mold closer to, say, the Michelin PSC and others.

Like the P-Zero GrandAm tire it is free from highly aromatic oils and conforms to coming road noise regulations.

For us track junkies, the more options the better, so bring it!



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Team Axis Strikes on Lightning

Justin and Pete rocked New Jersey Motorsport Park's Lightining course this past week end at the NASA Northeast races. Justin won his first race and Pete set a Spec e30 track record in qualifying. But let's hear it from them...



Justin:

It seems like only weeks ago team Axis Of Oversteer Spec E30 racers were ripping through the twilight at Summit Point during an EMRA enduro in which a small technicality kept car 343 off the podium. The team went to work over the winter at the secret warehouse honing an already solid German sled. With a fresh motor rebuild by the Axis’s own Chad Knaus, car 343 was ready for the NASA Northeast season opener at the latest (and only) road course in the depths of New Jersey, NJMP.

My rookie year, 2009, yielded a 2nd in the Spec E30 North East championship so pressure is on for 2010. The season opener was a great way to test enhancements made to the car over the winter, work out the inevitable bugs and gain valuable track time.
With most of our fellow Spec E30 racers at Summit Point the class was a bit light, to say the least. In the video you may notice my hard shifting style, it is that ham fisting that earned P3 during qualifying due to a broken shift rod. Yes, you heard right…I broke the rod during qualifying. The always quick Sean, newly licensed racer Dwight, and myself lined up for the start.

The Redline Speed Worx shop owners were at the race and called the start for me but I didn’t get the jump I needed to move past any of spec E30 racers: Dwight did a bang up job (yet no banging took place between us, I will save that for our next meeting) on his first race and will no doubt be a threat as the season progresses. After the consistently quick Sean was dive bombed by a 944, the race was mine to lose. I kept the shiny side up and took the race win, although it was just a matter of being there as the checkers flew. I am sure future races will see more Spec E30 racers make the drive north to do battle at The Glen, Lime Rock, and Pocono, there are rumors the Axis’s own 232 will be at NJMP at the end of May for our next race. Hope to see you all at the track soon, stop over our pits for cheese dogs!



Peter:

After a long and snowy off season, it was time to go racing! Justin was going to race the first NJMP Lightning event, but due to family responsibilities, could only race Sunday. So I decided to race on Saturday. It was my first time on the Lightning track, but after a few videos and some Traqmate data files from Freep, I was confident in some good lap times.

During practice I was on the pace quickly. Was very impressed with the layout and the elevation changes of the track. We were going to have two other spec e30 cars, but one had a problem during towing, and was unable to make the Saturday field. The other spec e30 driver graduated comp school the day before. The car felt great right out of the box. Had a best time of 1:19.83 for practice, but had a lot of trouble with corner exit oversteer. The track was very cold and seamed like one in ten cars were blowing motors and throwing oil on the track for the whole morning. Adjusted tire pressures for qualifying and put a fast lap down of 1:19.74 which got me 12 on the grid and a few seconds ahead of the other spec e30.

Well like the morning went with blowing motors, mid day was full of cars going into the wall, which delayed my race over an hour and half. That did get me time to add some cheeseburger ballast into the car. Adjusted tire pressures right before the race, and we were ready to go. My start was not the greatest, and the straight line speed of the cars around me for the start was nothing I could touch. After a few laps of sorting out the field, I pretty much had open track for the whole race. Went the wrong way with the pressures which lost allot of grip, but was able to beat the track record by a few tenths posting a 1:20.06. Then going with the day theme, a 944 exploded a motor on the back straight and brought a fill course yellow. After a very bad restart, I look ahead and see a 944 ride over the side of a lotus, and I swear the front end of the 944 was about 2 feet off the ground! The full couse black flag comes out on track, and I guess some people need a refresher course of the rules, because I was passed by 4 cars! After a few min in the pits they called the race. Finished 12 overall, a lap ahead of the other spec e30. Felt good in the race and looking forward to the end of may for the larger spec e30 field.

Nice one guys!
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J.C. France's Drive Through Penalty

Seriously, you can race on public streets high on cocaine, get all charges dismissed on a ludicrous technicality and get full reinstatement in the Grand -Am racing? Seriously?

NASCAR owns Grand-Am of course. No word if the Florida cops kindly returned his stash as well as drop all charges....

From the Daytona Beach News Journal:

All charges dropped for driver France
By LYDA LONGA and GODWIN KELLY, STAFF WRITERS

DAYTONA BEACH -- J.C. France, grandson of NASCAR founder Bill France Sr., will be behind the wheel of a race car soon, now that a technicality has wiped out the charges lodged against him in an October arrest.

On Thursday, France was reinstated to Grand-Am Road Racing to compete in Rolex Series events after a five-month suspension following his arrest last year by Daytona Beach police.

Grand-Am spokesman Kevin Hinson confirmed that the 44-year-old France was issued a competitor's license earlier this week after a circuit judge granted a motion to suppress all the evidence collected against the race car driver when he was stopped in Holly Hill.

Therein lies the technicality.

France was stopped in Holly Hill by a Daytona Beach cop.

The officer, Charles Fields, initially heard a BOLO (be on the lookout) on the police radio by Daytona Beach Capt. Steve Szabo. The BOLO concerned two cars racing westbound over the Seabreeze Bridge. Police said France, in a 2007 Lamborghini, was racing against his half-brother Russell Van Richmond, who was driving a Porsche Cayenne.

Fields, who was northbound on Ridgewood Avenue, said when he saw France, the latter was running a stoplight at Ridgewood and Mason avenues. Fields said France then headed north on Ridgewood. Richmond had gone in the opposite direction into Daytona Beach and was stopped a few minutes later by a policewoman.

But France's stop was unlawful, said his attorney Mike Lambert, because Fields was outside of his jurisdiction when France was pulled over at the 200 block of Ridgewood Avenue.

According to Fields' report, France smelled of alcohol. The officer also found a baggie with cocaine inside the pricey ride, the report shows. As a result, France was charged with possession of cocaine and DUI and hauled off to the Volusia County Branch Jail.

But the charges evaporated like a cloud of engine exhaust off a racetrack.

Circuit Judge Patrick Kennedy agreed with Lambert, saying that when Fields observed France run a red light at Ridgewood and Mason Avenues, France was already in Holly Hill.

Holly Hill begins at Beach Street and Mason Avenue in the westbound direction off the Seabreeze Bridge. A city engineer confirmed that at a suppression hearing March 22.

"As a general principle, police officers of a municipality have no official power to arrest an offender outside the boundaries of their municipality," Kennedy said in his order. "Obviously, there are exceptions to that general principle; however, none were offered or could be applied to this case."

If Fields had seen France run the red light in Daytona Beach, he could have stopped him in Holly Hill, prosecutor and State Attorney's Office spokesman Chris Kelly said.

Szabo could have stopped him in Holly Hill as well, because the captain initially said he saw France and Richmond racing over the Seabreeze Bridge -- street racing is against state law -- and the bridge is in Daytona Beach.

Kelly further explained that if Fields had observed France commit a felony in Holly Hill, he could have arrested him with a citizen's arrest.

"This is so technical, it's borderline ridiculous," Daytona Beach Police Chief Mike Chitwood said. "Who knew that little stretch of Mason from Beach Street to Ridgewood is Holly Hill?"

While Chitwood and his officers learned geography that day, the chief said he hopes France learned something also.

France underwent rehabilitation and drug testing required by Grand-Am, headquartered in Daytona Beach and owned by NASCAR.

"He addressed the legal issues that were outstanding. Based on the fact those issues were resolved, and successfully completing the program administered by Dr. David Black, we made a decision to reinstate him," Hinson said. Black is a forensic toxicologist.

Meanwhile, France won't compete in this weekend's Rolex Series at Virginia International Raceway. He's not expected to attend Saturday's Bosch Engineering 250.

"Being out of the car was tough,'' France said Wednesday. "Sometimes it takes losing something to understand its importance. I was getting a little ragged and needed a good kick in the butt; I got it."

Chitwood thinks France was lucky nonetheless.

"Some people lead a charmed life, that's all I can say," the chief said.

-- Correspondent D.C. Williams Jr. contributed to this report.

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Team Axis Blitzes a Lime Rock Track Record

(photo by "PistolPete")

Our own CG laid waste to the previous Porsche Club of America I-Prepared lap record on during last Friday's qualifying with a blistering 58:42. The car is a Cayman S set up for H-Prepared car but, on occasion, CG will slap on a bigger wing, change ECU and move up one class to harass some of the big boys!.

CG's was not the only record breaker this past week end , Axis Pete scored a Spec e30 track record at New Jersey Motorsport Park. We'll get full details of his and Justin's race, tomorrow, for now, enjoy lapping HIstoric Lime Rock in well under a minute!



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How do you say "YeeHaw" in Italian?

Well actually it doesn't matter because in this video we are in the UK and the car is driven by a Dane. Still, the cars are FIAT Abarth Trofeo and they seem behave just like the classic 60's Cinquecento derived racers did back then: more often than not with something less than four wheels on the ground.

Momentum cars, got to love them!.



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Mobil 1 12 hrs of Sebring. By Old Boone
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Röhrl dops out of the Nürburgring 24 Hours

"Uncle" Walter can't make the party.

In this year's 24 hour Rennen at the 'Ring, Porsche will be running what they say is a stock 997 GT3 RS. OK, it's stripped, with a different springs, slick tires, a cage and modified electronics, but never mind all that, the cool thing was going to be the return of Walter Röhrl to a major racing event.

Sadly he had to drop out. No official reason given but it is said that after the recent VLN shakedown race, it was realized he was just too exhausted by his stint. Time waits for no one, even legends like Röhrl.

Cheers from all of us Walter, you still are the patron saint of tracktards the world over!

Here is the official entry list

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Ferrari sets a (qualified) Nürburgring Lap Record

Let the arguments begin... Brits are already getting (predictably) in a bundle.

I think more interesting will be the 599GTO's lap times. It's faster than the Enzo which lapped in 7:25 with a blown out shock. If it can lap just one second faster and beat the Maserati MC12, which it will, that will be truly impressive for a proper, comfortable, leather clad street car.



Record of the Ferrari 599XX at the Nürburgring announced in Beijing

Beijing, 23 April - The Ferrari 599XX is the first ever production-derived sports car to break the 7-minute barrier on the classic 20.832 km Nordschleife circuit, lapping in 6 min 58.16 sec.

The 599XX, which inspired the 599 GTO, is an extreme berlinetta designed for track but not official competition use, and is a veritable technological laboratory incorporating a number of innovative solutions. Some of these will remain the exclusive preserve of the 599XX while others have already filtered down to the 599 GTO, introduced today at the Beijing Motor Show. These include the wheel doughnuts of F1 derivation which serve two purposes - to reduce turbulence and thus drag, and improve brake cooling.

Powered by a development of the V12 engine used by the 599 GTB Fiorano, the 599XX features Ferrari's High-Performance Dynamic Concept, a novel integrated design and chassis set-up that uses sophisticated electronics to govern the mechanical limits of the handling for maximum performance.

On the aerodynamics front, the car sees the introduction for the first time of the Actiflow™ System that increases downforce and/or cuts drag depending on the car’s trim during cornering. This, together with other careful detailing, ensures that the 599XX boasts extraordinary levels of downforce - up to 630 kg at 300 km/h.

Fundamental to the performance of the car was the development of specific components undertaken together with our technical partners: Brembo for the carbon-ceramic brakes, Michelin for the tyres and Shell for the fuel and lubricants.
(Ferrari S.p.A.)


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Add lightness: the Porsche Motorsport Battery.

Figure this is the tracktard version of those fetishistic articles lustfully depicting the opening of some gadget's packaging.

It's a Porsche optional lightweight Li-Ion battery. It weighs 12 lbs (about 5.5 kg) and costs probably more than you will spend in track tires for the next three seasons. It was bought by a Rennlist forum member who kindly shared...

The battery is produced by Lithium Technology Corporation (LTC)-GAIA a american-german company based in Pennsylvania and Nordhausen. They have been developing and perfecting Li-Ion cells since the 1980's. GAIA was the battery supplier for the Gumpert Apollo Hybrid that competed in the 2008 24 hrs of the Nürburgring, driven by Heinz Herald Frentzen.

More about the Porsche Lightweight Li-Ion battery after the jump.


(Photos: Savyboy)



World Debut: Starter Battery in Lithium-Ion Technology
New Lightweight Battery Option for the Porsche 911 GT3, 911 GT3 RS, and Boxster Spyder

Stuttgart. Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart, is the first car maker in the world to offer a starter battery in lithium-ion technology. Weighing less than 6 kg or 13 lb, the new battery is more than 10 kg or 22 lb lighter than a conventional 60 Ah lead battery.

The new lithium-ion battery will be available as of January 2010 for the 911 GT3, 911 GT 3 RS, and Boxster Spyder as an option delivered with the car, selling at a price in the German market of Euro 1,904 including 19 per cent value-added tax.

The battery is delivered as a separate unit together with the car and may subsequently be fitted as an alternative to the regular, conventional starter battery.

The cars are delivered with both batteries, therefore they are ready for use throughout the whole year. Since, while the lightweight battery offers a very high standard of everyday driving qualities, its starting capacity is limited at temperatures below 0o C or 32o F due to its specific features.

The primary reason for developing and introducing the new battery was its lower weight. In sports cars built consistently for superior driving dynamics such as the two versions of the 911 GT3 and the
Boxster Spyder, less weight naturally means even greater agility and driving dynamics.

In its length and width the lithium-ion battery comes in the same dimensions as the regular battery, but is approximately 70 millimetres or 2.8” lower. The fastening points, electrical connections and voltage range are fully compatible with the respective models, allowing simple and quick replacement of the standard lead battery by the lightweight unit, for example when racing on the track.

With its nominal capacity of 18 Ah, the lithium-ion battery, through its specific features, offers a level of practical output and performance not only comparable to that of a 60 Ah lead battery, but rather even better in many cases.

On a conventional car battery only about 30 per cent of the total capacity is actually available for practical use due to the configuration of the system, while this restriction does not apply to the lithium-ion battery. On the contrary, through its characteristic structure – and, in particular, the independence of the chemical composition of the electrolytes from the charge status – a lithium-ion battery consistently offers almost 100 per cent of its capacity.

Delivery of power by the lithium-ion battery throughout its useful charge range is likewise significantly better, providing its full power, for example, when starting the engine almost independently of the current charge level.

After the engine has started, the new Porsche battery shows further benefits in the charge process, being able through its smaller internal resistance to take up more power than a conventional battery and thus re-charge more quickly.

Yet a further benefit is that a lithium-ion battery allows a significantly greater number of charging and discharging cycles, plus the two further advantages that the self-discharging effect is lower and the service life of the battery longer.

The lithium-ion battery being introduced by Porsche as the pioneer in this area is made up of wound film of carbon and iron phosphate with a ceramic film moisturised by the electrolyte serving as a separating layer in between. Compared with other types of lithium-ion batteries using a combination of manganese oxide, cobalt oxide or nickel, this lithium-
iron-phosphate battery, as it is called, offers advantages when used as a starter battery. It is robust and consistently guarantees the usual voltage of 12 V in the car’s on-board network.

The lightweight battery is made up of four cells and integrated control electronics. This battery management system protects the battery from major discharge and guarantees a consistent charge level within the individual cells. Once battery voltage drops below a certain threshold, a warning signal reminds the driver to re-charge the battery either simply by driving the car through the power of the engine running or by means of a conventional battery charger.

The new lithium-ion battery will also be available for retrofitting from February 2010 on the three models mentioned from Porsche Tequipment. The sales price in Germany when retrofitted after delivery of the car is Euro 2,499 including 19 per cent value-added tax.


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Consumables...

Monza : Porsche 997 GT2. By Marco Zamponi

Last week CG changed the rotors on his GT2 after 5 track days and some "spirited" street driving. Every part of a properly driven car is a consumable.


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Beast

A nice perk living in a forest in North West Germany is getting to see all the cool cars first.

It's testing season at the Nürburgring and Dale at BtG once again bagged a good one: the MkII Porsche GT2. More power, less weight and is that a bigger wing? Nothing wrong with that right? Unless it can't top the ZR1 and GT-R times on its home track that is.


(Bridge to Gantry)



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Chinese Grand Prix Executive Summary.

First off, thank you for all the comments on the post below, as Bernie knows, controversy makes for entertainment! Now lets continue with the Hamilton bashing: Lewis had a fantastic race, all the best moves were his and he displayed a level of aggression and decisiveness in passing that is absent in most of the rest of the field. His passes on Vettel and Sutil and Schumacher the second time were career highlight material.

That being said, we are extremely happy Button is kicking his ass. Button, who everyone gave for dead at the start of the season, is becoming quite the 21st century Lauda. Shrewd in his calculations, starting with his switch away from Brawn, he has been tempered by years of crappy cars and has emerged cool as a cucumber. Hamilton, who has always had perfectly prepared cars from a top team his whole life is most definitively letting the pressure affect his judgement.

There is more than a good chance Alonso would have won today had he not jumped the start. He finished 11.8 seconds behind Button, his drive through penalty cost him 13.8 extra seconds in pit lane. Alonso made a hard pass on Massa into the pit lane (I'm expecting a rules clarification about where and how you can enter and exit pit lanes...). This was a clear assertion of alfa driver status for the team to pick up. Massa had been holding him back, again and that was clear punctuation by Fernando.

Vettel an Webber had lousy races, from front row to 6th and 8th but Kubica and Rosberg showed that Button's "no panic" 2 stop strategy was the way to go.

What can you say about Michael Schumacher? After qualifying he blamed a new wing which did not exist on Rosberg's car, now Mercedes is going to build hims a whole new chassis because his current one "... has an inherent flaw"? OK.






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Baking the Ham

Let's jump right to the race incidents and open it up for discussion: Personally I find it incredible Hamilton, as brilliant as his race was, did not get penalized for at least one of the incidents he was involved in on Sunday. I guess having a steward who had been a Mclaren driver for six years as Alex Wurz was, helps!

In this clip he first decides to pretty much drive backwards to the pit entrance, cutting across the runoff area and the gravel trap. Apparently that's allowed now.

Then the most egregious incident, the pit lane insanity with Vettel. Again to my surprise, you are allowed to enter the pit lane outside of the white lines and even pass (this goes for Alonso too). OK fine but there is no excuse for what happened as the cars were released. Vettel is in the lane and in front of Hamilton and had the right of way. As soon as Hamilton loses traction and position he should have realized he wasn't going to get out fist. But no, he kept going in the mechanic's area. As CG said, there should be a poll among the pit crews to see if they would rather waterboard him or just go straight for decapitation...

Finally the last restart, this was probably more Button's fault for bunching the field like that but Hamilton clearly dive bombs and nerfs Webber out of his way, maybe not illegal as the incident happens what I'm assuming is the "Safety Car Line" mentioned in the sporting regulations but very certainly very much like what all the people singing his praises spent years criticizing Schumacher for...

Discuss.




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F-Duct that...

I guess the biggest surprise in qualifying was seeing Alonso ahead of the Mclarens on a track where the top speed potential of Button's and Hamilton's cars was supposed to be key. Of course the race is another story especially if the Mclarens get in front.

With rain in the forecast it will be interesting to see who can thread the needle best since all top 10's times indicate nobody has chosen any kind of compromised "rain"setup.

The race to the first corner, who do you think will win it?

Pos  Driver         Team                  Q1        Q2        Q3
 1.  Vettel         Red Bull-Renault      1:36.317  1:35.280  1:34.558
 2.  Webber         Red Bull-Renault      1:35.978  1:35.100  1:34.806
 3.  Alonso         Ferrari               1:35.987  1:35.235  1:34.913
 4.  Rosberg        Mercedes              1:35.952  1:35.134  1:34.923
 5.  Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1:36.122  1:35.443  1:34.979
 6.  Hamilton       McLaren-Mercedes      1:35.641  1:34.928  1:35.034
 7.  Massa          Ferrari               1:36.076  1:35.290  1:35.180
 8.  Kubica         Renault               1:36.348  1:35.550  1:35.364
 9.  Schumacher     Mercedes              1:36.484  1:35.715  1:35.646
10.  Sutil          Force India-Mercedes  1:36.671  1:35.665  1:35.963
11.  Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth     1:36.664  1:35.748
12.  Alguersuari    Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1:36.618  1:36.047
13.  Buemi          Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1:36.793  1:36.149
14.  Petrov         Renault               1:37.031  1:36.311
15.  Kobayashi      Sauber-Ferrari        1:37.044  1:36.422
16.  Hulkenberg     Williams-Cosworth     1:37.049  1:36.647
17.  de la Rosa     Sauber-Ferrari        1:37.050  1:37.020
18.  Liuzzi         Force India-Mercedes  1:37.161
19.  Glock          Virgin-Cosworth       1:39.278
20.  Trulli         Lotus-Cosworth        1:39.399
21.  Kovalainen     Lotus-Cosworth        1:39.520
22.  di Grassi      Virgin-Cosworth       1:39.783
23.  Senna          HRT-Cosworth          1:40.469
24.  Chandhok       HRT-Cosworth          1:40.578

All Timing Unofficial

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More on Buemi's crash.

Some isolated shots and more super slow motion video of the incredible Toro Rosso double suspension failure. The right side upright failed but the force was immediately transferred to the other side of the suspension, the stills are one frame apart so within 1/30th of a second and you can clearly see both sides have collapsed.

Not sure why this incredible transfer of energy would occur, that will be up to those more familiar with the specific suspension design. I would venture to say though is that a design which allows this to happen cannot be deemed safe.

Another thing you might notice is in the very last onboard replay. You can hear the car was scraping and skipping on the pavement well before the failure occurred, listen for the sound.

Again, the failure of the tethering is most troubling (remember what happened to Henry Surtees). In one of these replays you can clearly see the cameramen likely ducked for his life as the right side wheel slams into the camera position.












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Insane Suspension Failure

This was Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi just a few laps into the first practice session in Shanghai.
I can't recall ever seeing anything like this. Maybe Kimi Raikkonen's suspension failure with Mclaren, but that was just one side and after running many laps with a square wheel. This was just incredible, Buemi is very lucky.

Another thing to add is...what happened to the wheel tethers? the right wheel looks like it end up nailing one of the the cameras.

Toto Rosso says it's the upright that failed. From the video it looks like it was the carbon fiber arms that failed and the failure of two "aluminum" upright/hubs at the same time seems impossible. Readers need to help me out here, I remember F1 teams were running or at least experimenting with a front axle system that distributed braking torque between the wheels. Might that explain why both sides failed simultaneously?





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Alonso getting all F-Duct'd

Commenting on new aero developments Ferrari will bring to China this week end, Fernando Alonso said they "will be very useful" on the long straight of the Shanghai circuit raising speculations that Ferrari will be the second team to copy Mclaren's clever blow wing. Sauber tested a version in Australia but did not use it in the race.

It will be interesting to see if Ferrari make it work as one would imagine the system has to be integrated with the rest of the car's aerodynamics and represents quite an effort in terms of manufacturing effort for an away race. LaSexta reports that only Alonso will get the new bits to try, if they work and he uses them in the race there will be one unhappy Brazilian in the paddock.
(la Sexta/Mediaset)




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Best Homework Incentive Ever...

Are you still wondering why it is so many great race drivers come form Germany?

Meet ten year old Seppi and fourteen year old Schorschi Wörle. When not doing their homework, they dutifully help out with the family business. Ok, that business happens to be the Porsche Zentrum 5-Seen just outside on Munich but how many 10 year olds get to rip a GT3 RS? In the US the parents would probably be arrested immediately. Yah Mammi!


(D-SF)


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Let's check out those donuts...

In this closeup, taken from Jeremy Lines' photo from the Miller Motorsport Park Ferrari event, you can clearly see the Ferrari "Wheel Donut" brake disk cladding in anger. This feature is shared by the 599xx and then just released 599 GTO. You will notice that, especially in the front, it has changed substantially from the way it was at the 599xx presentation in 2009 and I would venture to say their function is not so much F1 circa 2009 inspired aero as forced air cooling for the disks.

An amusing note, Kleen Wheels markets their brake dust shields as being "Turbo vented to cool your brakes"! Hey if it works on the 599xx... slap!






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BMW M 1 series: Do these Flares Make My Butt Look Big?

Indeed they do!

Dale out on his lunchtime, grabbing scoops left and right today! Here is the 135is or M 1 series or whatever they are going to call it....





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Trackday World Championship: American XX Edition

(photo:Michael Jozwiak)

Eight of the latest Ferrari track only but not for racing toys, the 599XX, were on track on a cold and windy Miller Motorsport Park in Utah this past week end.
Along with the über coupes were few of their big brothers, the FXX and Ferrari Challenge cars, who were actually racing. Ferrari used the event to show the new Ferrari 458 Italia publicly for the first time in the USA.

Here are some clips from spectators at the event, turn up to 11 and enjoy the music. More after the jump.







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It was the best of teams, it was the worst of teams...

Brawn, USF1... You can understand why the sellers are, shall we say, downplaying the USF1 aspect.

You will remember how the North Carolina based "team" said it had bought transports and trailers from Brawn GP.

Lucky for the sellers, Peter Windsor never got around to putting new stickers on at least one of those trailers so this still is the trailer of the most successful "rookie" team in F1 history and it has Jenson Button's number on it. Looks like trailer 2 has no stickers but was the machine shop, trailer 1 has a conference area.

As Alex said in his message "What a great way to make an entrance at a Trackday World Championship 2010 event. Whoever buys it and turns up at a trackday only to unveil a tired, abused track-miata will be my hero. "

Calling Dale.... Dale Lomas? More pictures after the jump.

Brawn GP Trailers for sale: Trailer 1 Trailer 2





FOR SALE BY ORDER OF THE HIGH COURT (NO RESERVE)

*PLEASE NOTE THESE ITEMS ARE NOT OWNED BY BRAWN GP. THE GOODS HAVE BEEN SEIZED FROM A MOTORSPORT TEAM THAT PURCHASED THEM FROM BRAWN GP AND SUBSEQUENTLY FAILED TO QUALIFY FOR THEIR SERIES*



In accordance with law, the seized goods as detailed above will be sold to the highest bidder.



You are viewing one (of two) ex-Formula One Motorsport Trailers for sale without reserve.

All bids are for the trailer only.

As stated above, the trailer was previously owned by Brawn GP and this trailer is currently sign written with their logo and the name Jenson Button 22 on the side. This may infringe on copyright and/or trademark law and it is recommended the purchaser removes this livery upon collection.



Test Trailer (TT2) Triple axle straight frame chassis with 1250mm pin height.

MOT until November 2010
Transportation of equipment and Engineers office in front.
Rear fitted with Lista Cabinets and cupboards, power and data sockets fitted throughout.
Engineers office for approximately 10 engineers, with data cabinet, data and power sockets in tables, overhead storage, counter at front for data engineers.
2 off air operated masts.
Air conditioning.
Eberspacher night heater.
Side door on LHS onto slide out platform with aluminium clip on steps.
External storage lockers with coach style doors
90Kva Webb Generator. (serviced)
2 ton D’Hollandia Race Car tailift with central access door, aluminium clip on steps.
Hydrovane compressor.

Viewing is highly recommended at can be arranged by appointment only.

The trailer will need to be collected within 72 hours of sale from our storage facility in Oxfordshire.

The Sheriffs Office will require payment in full by bank transfer within 48 hours of the sale finishing.

Should you have any queries please contact us accordingly.

Trailer 2

Test Trailer (TT1) Triple axle step frame chassis with 1250mm pin height.

MOT until November 2010
Transportation of 3 single seater race cars and equipment.
Rear area fitted with Lista Cabinets, cupboards and overhead lockers, power and data sockets throughout.
Machine shop equipped with Lathe/Mill, draws/cupboards and overhead lockers.
Side door on RHS onto slide out platform with aluminium clip on steps.
Air-conditioning.
Eberspacher night heater.
Scissor lift to transfer Listas etc up onto swan neck area
90Kva Webb Generator. (serviced)
2 ton D’Hollandia Race Car tailift with central access door, aluminium clip on steps.
Low level external lockers.
Hydrovane compressor.

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BMW Z4 GT3, let's go for another lap.

This past week end saw the second VLN race at the Nürburgring and this Team Schnitzer car came in 6th overall.

The BMW cars are coming along but are still just a tad behing the Porsches in overall lap times. The M3, which had problems in this round and scored a 43rd place, had a best lap time of 8:22.7 against the winning Porsche GT3 R's best of 8:21.5. The Z4 GT3's best lap was 8:33.9.

You can see in the video that the Porsches are able to pull on the the Z4 on the straights but the BMW is more at ease in the turns. Watch for the nice pass after the Karussel.

Remarkable performance by the Porsche GT3 Hybrid coming in 3rd overall.



Results from the race are HERE
Some nice pictures (taken on his lunch break...hate him :)) are on Dale's site HERE



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Flying Cars

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Whatever you do, don't lift!

..even if you sideswipe a wall, because if you do it's really not going to end well!

Another great amjayes compilation.




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Rally Dorifto!

Seems like 1980's Group B Mazda RX7 rally cars only worked sideways...if "worked" is the correct term.


(Amjayes/YouTube)


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Keihin Honda HSV at Suzuka


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Off Week F1 Rumor Roundup: Schumacher, Durango, Massa, and suspensions

Running the gamut from National Enquirer on up, here it goes.

Schumacher might call it a day at the end of the season:

The reasons are obvious if one looks at the season so far, Schumacher's return has been less than spectacular. Given the expectations how could it be anything but. Schumi has a three year contract with Mercedes but Eurosport reports on "insistent rumors" that he's not happy being effectively a #2 to Rosberg and is considering retiring again at the end of the season.

Believability Index: 3.5 out of 10.

Durango shoots for F1 entry in 2011.

Durango an Italian GP2 team who could not complete last season because it ran out of money has been accepted by the FIA as one of the new team applicants for next year.
So how is a team with no money for GP2 to finance an F1 campaign? According to their web site and press release, there was no sponsor interest in GP2 but fundraising was possible with a Formula 1 prospect. Interesting.

Chances of Making it: 1 out of 10

Ferrari to renew Massa's contract.

Domenicali said he is in favor but really, how can you say otherwise three races into the season about the driver who is leading the championship? If memory serves, Ferrari was swearing up and down that they were happy with Raikkonen too, and building a contract renewal on a single phrase is at best, premature.

Felipe's chances? 5 out of 10.


Variable height cheater suspensions banned.

But Red Bull is not cheating and the FIA said their suspension is legal... wait, what? So innovative solutions in suspensions may or may not be legal but Mclaren's f-duct and it's future imitators are?

Confusion Index 10 out of 10.




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599 GTO: Hmmmm, Donuts!

Among many other performance goodies, the Ferrari 599 GTO will get a version of the 599XX "wheel donut" aerodynamic fairing on the outside of the brake disk, derived from the now banned F1 wheel fairing pioneered by Ferrari 2009. Banned from F1 maybe but the aftermarket "stunner" market will will be jumping for joy at the opportunity to pass off brake dust shields as "performance" components!

The aero work on the GTO is impressive, but it's probably the electronics that have made the most progress. Interesting that they would use data graphs showing Nürburgring corners rather than Fiorano. That's a change for Ferrari.

A note on the videos, the Italian to English translation is, to say the least, clunky. When they refer to the GTO being the maximum expression of Ferrari's "sportsmanship", what they mean is "sportiness" or "performance". When they refer to "muffling" they really mean "damping" and so on and so forth. But you'll get the idea.


More after the jump. Don't forget to try out the GTO configurator on Ferrari.com




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Needs more Wing...

I'm guessing it has enough cowbell. Not sure if it's a real Turbo RSR but it's stupendous anyway.






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Breadvan

The sound is missing in the post about the California GTOs but, it would be pretty much like this one, from the 250 Drogo Coupe. The famous Breadvan was actually not a GTO but a Drogo designed body for a 250 SWB with better Cx than the GTO. Giotto Bizzarrini also moved the engine further back and lower.

Sort a recurring theme with Ferrari, in 1962 Enzo refused to sell Giovanni Volpi a GTO for the 24 Hours of LeMans because the venetian count had financed ATS so Volpi went out and built a better version. This car was built in 14 days, which makes me wonder why my car has been in the shop for 2 months....

(Motorsportblog.it)



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The Impossible Cool

There is this blog I look at where they post iconic pictures of icons, no comment needed, just cool. If there ever was an Axis version of The Impossible Cool, this video would be it.

It has been around a while so you may have seen it, no matter, and clip that starts off with, "...and by the way, that's me driving my GTO" is worth a second look. And does it really get any better than painting a 250 California like an Army Jeep before driving it to a Ferrari owner's club meeting?

Late 60's California cool, than a bunch of kids ripping their GTOs in the canyons, treating them like they were meant to be treated or as narrator Stephen Mitchell says "having fun and the cars doing what they were intended to do which is to cause problems for other people".

Impossibly Cool.

Winners, Axis Historic Tracktard Award,


(Steven Mitchell)


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Malaysian Weave

It's Easter so I won't go through the usual job of doing the big clip so just a couple of clips from the GP which unfolded pretty much as expected with a cakewalk for Red Bull. For me the unexpected highlight of the race was the performance of the Renaults (along with the Force India) and Valery Petrov's fight with Hamilton.

Renault definitively has the straightline speed but it was all over in the corners as you can see in the clip. The move Petrov put on Hamilton to retake position was fantastic but on the other hand, the move Hamiton made on the next lap was, shall we say, interesting? I counted four changes of direction on the straight and I have no doubt Petrov would have passed him again if he had not driven like that.

I'm also suspecting Hamilton would have been given more than the warning he received had he tried that move on someone other than a rookie in a Renault. Your thoughts?



Also interesting is how well Alonso was able to drive in a car that was in serious trouble mechanically. I would imagine that contributed to the engine failure to some extent but it was great to see Alonso fight to the end rather than cruise to bring home for a few points.



Ferrari looks like it has some issues following cars when on full tanks especially. Massa was stuck behind Buemi, that's not a good thing. Check out the interview with Stefano Domenicali, he conceeds that Mclaren is way faster in a straight line and in Italian says "...Thanks to their, quote, SPECIAL wing". Ferrari not too happy about that one, I guess.



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Oh, he'll never live this one down

The things you do for racing.

Ok, so maybe it's not Scott Speed's "Milk and Cereal" but man...Painful.
I wonder how this goes over in the paddock or if the drivers are all too personality free to make fun of each other. Then again, apparently Weber refers to Rosberg as Britney but I that's another story...





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Good one Champs, Chumps!

Three World Champions and two teams, Ferrari and Mclaren, who have won the vast majority of Formula 1 races and they still have not figured out that when the weather is variable you go out and put one in the bank? Ferrari especially who, before the season started, was making fun of the new "inexperienced" teams, must be eating a good dose of crow bucatini tonight.

It could have been , pun intended, Bernie's wet dream with the Force India's on the front row and even the Red Bulls midpack, but by the end of Q3 Webber put the hammer down and got a dominating pole in horrible conditions.

In the Senior GP division, Barrichello qualified ahead of the The Rainmeister Schumacher, something I'm sure will make his week end.

Tomorrow, should be a cakewalk for the Red Bulls as long as they stay in one piece and survive the inevitable massive crash in turn 1!

Pos  Driver         Team                   Q1        Q2        Q3
 1.  Webber         Red Bull-Renault       1:51.886  1:48.210  1:49.327
 2.  Rosberg        Mercedes               1:52.560  1:47.417  1:50.673
 3.  Vettel         Red Bull-Renault       1:47.632  1:46.828  1:50.789
 4.  Sutil          Force India-Mercedes   1:49.479  1:47.085  1:50.914
 5.  Hulkenberg     Williams-Cosworth      1:49.664  1:47.346  1:51.001
 6.  Kubica         Renault                1:46.283  1:46.951  1:51.051
 7.  Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth      1:50.301  1:48.371  1:51.511
 8.  Schumacher     Mercedes               1:52.239  1:48.400  1:51.717
 9.  Kobayashi      Sauber-Ferrari         1:48.467  1:47.792  1:51.767
10.  Liuzzi         Force India-Mercedes   1:49.922  1:48.238  1:52.254
11.  Petrov         Renault                1:47.952  1:48.760
12.  de la Rosa     Sauber-Ferrari         1:47.153  1:48.771
13.  Buemi          Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1:48.945  1:49.207
14.  Alguersuari    Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1:48.655  1:49.464
15.  Kovalainen     Lotus-Cosworth         1:52.875  1:52.270
16.  Glock          Virgin-Cosworth        1:52.398  1:52.520
17.  Button         McLaren-Mercedes       1:52.211
18.  Trulli         Lotus-Cosworth         1:52.884
19.  Alonso         Ferrari                1:53.044
20.  Hamilton       McLaren-Mercedes       1:53.050
21.  Massa          Ferrari                1:53.283
22.  Chandhok       HRT-Cosworth           1:56.299
23.  Senna          HRT-Cosworth           1:57.269
24.  di Grassi      Virgin-Cosworth        1:59.977

( Sky, Autosport)
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Ferrari 599 flyby at the Nürburgring.

Ferrari usually doesn't "do" the Nürburgring so maybe they are are finally working towards their promise, at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show, get some record times on the Nordschleife.

In any case, what a sound!





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NY Auto Show

Not exactly an exciting show but, the SLS certainly looks...imposing in real life, great presence except from the back. However, Merc have gone loony with their stunner wheel catalog.

New BMW 5 looks good, you might mistake it for a 3 series...or a 7. Definitively not styling controversy there. S1000 RR looks wicked.

Mazda2 best looking small car, but the Cinquecento had by far the hottest models.

Porsche has no GT cars on their stand, just the new Cayenne which looks like the old cayenne except it's a bit bigger and a lot lighter they say. Turbo does not look as aggressive as the last generation but the interior, essentially the Panamera's, is much nicer. The giant short bus steering wheel is gone. The Turbo claims 0-60 in 4.4 sec. good for doing elephant sprints with X6M's.

I went lo-fi on the pictures, you can find sharp ones plenty of places! Gallery after the jump





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The "stock" 997 GT3 RS at the 'Ring

This is the 997 GT3 RS street car that Porsche is racing at the 24 Hours of the Nürburgring in May and that had it's debut at the VLN race last week. At that race the car finished and placed 22nd overall.

It's not quite stock, it has different springs and has a re-calibrated traction control and obviously a cage and no passenger seat

Driving in the video is "Uncle" Walter Röhrl driving. Hi co-drivers will be Nürburgring specialist Horst Von Saurma and journalist Chris Harris from EVO.





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