Le Mans – A Tale of Three Minutes and Two F’s

Or “How I learned to love Le Mans and hate the ACO.” I have a ritual for watching the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Of course, I watch as much pre-race as I can (usually through a bootleg internet stream) and through the start. My favorite times are the “golden hours” at sunset and sunrise. Watching sunset isn’t much of a challenge, but I usually fail to see the sunrise, as I invariably fall asleep about an hour before sunrise. None of our readers care about my sleep habits.  You…

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Episode 294 UMMM-Cast – OpenPaddock.net

Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadThe “better late than never” UMMM-Cast! It’s May and we’re all agog about our collective trip to Indianapolis! That’s not going to stop John, Tom and Mike from probing the end of Formula 1’s Asian swing and Vettel/Kvyat feud, IndyCar in both Long Beach and Barber (guess which one was exciting…) and Tom’s first-hand account of the WEC opener from Silverstone. Oh yeah.  IT’S MAY!

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LeMans – Who says video games are a waste of time?

Mike and I spoke on the most recent podcast about the drivers from Nissan’s GT Academy and their stellar performance at the 12 Hours of Bathurst last weekend. If you’re unfamiliar with GT Academy, it is a competition backed by Nissan, Polyphony (the developers of the Gran Turismo games for Playstation consoles). Although the competition has been around since 2008, SpikeTV backed a reality show or the 2011 competition.  The show lasted only one season, but they continue to film episodes, and all seasons are available on Nissan’s YouTube Channel.…

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Le Mans – Race to 24 Competition

As I’m perusing racing news, I happened upon a Facebook posting by Jonathon Summerton announcing his participation in Race to 24. This is something that I’d not heard of, so I started investigating as I listen to the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour race on Radio LeMans. Twenty-four drivers start a competition to earn a seat in a Team Sard-Morand LMP2. Sard-Morand is a merger of Sard Racing from Japan and Benoit Morand’s team that ran in ELMS. Benoit Morand will be selecting the driver to join the team behind the…

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Sports Cars – Bathurst 12 Hour with Global Live Streaming Today!

The Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 hour race in Australia has to be one of the most iconic races in the world, and a lot of that has to do with the track.  The race takes place at the Mount Panorama Race Track and it it literally built into the side of the mountain.  I don’t know of another race track on the planet with as much elevation change over the same distance as Bathurst.  I’m admittedly more of a rally racing fan than a circuit racing fan, but one of those reasons…

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IMSA – Andy Lally Has a Bad Day

Crazy stuff happens at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona.  But I think Andy Lally had the craziest encounter on-track.  I’ll let his tweets tell the story: This broke through the splitter & tub and then into the front of the car.. By the way we are out of the race pic.twitter.com/2b6UpcUdyC — Andy Lally (@AndyLally) January 25, 2015 They named the possum Ballast. HUGE testament to the PWR radiators.. BENT it,, and still held water. pic.twitter.com/DY7c9uGwqE — Andy Lally (@AndyLally) January 25, 2015 Despite the first tweet, they were…

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SCCA — World Challenge Ready to Wrap Up

This weekend, Pirelli World Challenge prepares to wrap up the 2014 season with this weekend’s race in Tooele, UT. Going into the final race of the season, the championship is still up for grabs, as Johnny O’Connell leads the points standings by a mere 42 points in his Cadillac Racing Cadillac CTS-V.R in GT class. A similar gap of 48 points separates leader Michael Mills from Hendrik Hedman in GT-A. Mark Wilkins has a more comfortable lead over Lawson Aschenbach, sitting 80 points ahead in GTS class. In TC, Michael DiMeo…

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SCCA – Photos from the 2014 Midwest Division Solo Championship

This was my first time at the famous 50+ acre sea of concrete at Lincoln Air Park in Lincoln, NE. All I can say is WOW! Massive grip and massive courses! The Nebraska Region who hosted this third and final round of the MiDiv Solo Championship season reconstructed the 2013 SCCA Solo Nationals courses for us to run on Saturday and Sunday. After running at MCC for so long, where course design is extremely limited, I didn’t realize how bad some of my bad habits were. Saturday was a disastrous…

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SCCA – Pirelli World Challenge at Mid-Ohio, Best Races of the Weekend

The IndyCar weekend at the Mid-Ohio SportsCar Course is a special one for myself and Mr. Whitesell. It’s a wonderful weekend of gorging ourselves on fried bologna sandwiches, tasty craft beers, and as much racing as you can pack into a 10-hour day. In addition to the Verizon IndyCar Series, the entire Mazda Road to Indy Program which includes Indy Lights, Pro Mazda, and USF2000, were on hand, as well as the best damn racing in North America the Pirelli World Challenge. Even when the weekend was shared with the…

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SCCA – Newgarden Moonlights in Formula Ford, Kicks Everyone’s Backside!

So what does a Verizon IndyCar Series driver do during an off weekend? How about going to a Formula Ford race and kicking everyone butt! That’s exactly what Josef Newgarden did this past weekend down at the Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, AL. I contemplated going to this event, and now I wish I’d done so! Here’s the official recap from the SCCA… Official Release from the Sports Car Club of America Newgarden Wins Formula F 45th Anniversary Feature Race at Barber BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (Aug. 10, 2014) – Taking a…

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