Month: November 2010

Lotus building a new IZOD IndyCar Engine & Aerokit: Respecting its old school roots

Mike Shaw

It was short and to the point. Tonight at the Los Angeles Autoshow the IZOD IndyCar series and the Lotus group made it official. In 2012 there will be three engine makes in the IZOD IndyCar series. The brand which has never made their own engine for a race car will now be a manufacturer in IndyCar. Lotus Group CEO, Danny Bahar did not give any technical specifications on the 2012 IZOD IndyCar series engine. In a Press Release from earlier in the day IZOD IndyCar series and Lotus says technical specifications…

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F1 – Williams Abandons Their Flybrid for 2011: Shocking!

Doug Patterson

In what could end up being a shocking turn of events, Williams F1 has elected to abandon its flywheel-based kinetic energy recovery system in favour of a fully electric storage design, according to a recent article at Autosport.com. “I think it’s fairly well known that we’re going to be running a battery system,” said Head. “It’s not that we… Had we run KERS in 2009, and we did run the flywheel in the car, but not at a grand prix, it was a flywheel-based system. “The flywheel, by the very…

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Road To Indy – 2011 Schedules for The Road to Indy

Doug Patterson

The 2011 schedules are set for all three steps in the Road To Indy program and there are some significant changes from the 2010 schedule. First, lets look at just what the schedules are. US F2000 National Championship Date Venue Mar 17 Sebring Race #1 Mar 18 Sebring Race #2 Mar 26 St. Pete Race #1 Mar 27 St. Pete Race #2 May 28 O’Reilly Raceway Park Jun 18 The Milwaukee Mile Aug 5 Mid-Ohio Race #1 Aug 6 Mid-Ohio Race #2 Aug 19 Road America Race #1 Aug 20…

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Episode 64 – Openpaddock.net Podcast

Shaun

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadJoin the paddock boys for a World Championship edition of the podcast. We talk about Sebastian Vettel’s title drive and why we think he is deserving. We also go over Rally Wales and some of the WRC silly season rumors as we say good bye to the Focus and C4. The final part of the show will bring about the IndyCar talk for the week as we look at Chevrolet and some of the engine specs for 2012. Sit back for with your favorite…

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Indy Hump Day Report: On the bubble Spec Engine Racing

Mike Shaw

Proper attire at Penske Racing requires Bow Ties   Well my predictions for who would be the first teams on the new Chevy party boat was wrong. (in that Ganassi & Dreyer Reinbold were not part of the Friday announcement, yet many agree Chip is still very likely between his NASCAR success with Chevy, and the monkey see, monkey do mentality of  Ganassi/Penske.) When I was a guest the other night on The Inside Line, I addressed the issue of how great this is for American fans. Yes, obviously it is…

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Rally – Solberg’s Future TBD in 2011

Shaun

The last man to win the World Rally Championship that was not Sebastien Loeb is questioning his future in the sport for 2011. The 2003 champion has revealed that he does not have the budget to continue his privateer efforts when the new S2000T cars come on line next season. Solberg has been piloting a Citroen C4 the last couple seasons after offered a really good deal. This budget issue however may make Solberg a key player in the driver market if sponsorship cannot be found. Petter said he has…

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Rally – Ostberg to Compete in Fiesta for 2011

Shaun

News broke today on Autosport that has Mads Ostberg collaborating with M-Sport for the 2011 campaign in the new Fiesta RS WRC. Big news for Ford as Ostberg will bring his Adapta Motorsport rally team into the M-Sport fold. The Norweigian driver has competed in select rounds of the championship this year in a Subaru WRC car and has put together great performances for the technology. A move to a better drive was in order and must be considered a welcome addition to the team. One thing that we need…

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F1 – Ferrari Succeeded in 2010

Shaun

As headlines ring around the world hailing Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel on his world championship, there have been some very vicious headlines as well regarding Ferrari and their strategy that lost the title for Fernando Alonso. While I have distanced myself from Ferrari and latched on to Mercedes (Schumacher), I still think these attacks are ridiculous after you compare 2009 and 2010. For that very reason alone, Ferrari should be praised and their season should be viewed as successful. look back at 2009 for just a second. Felipe Massa…

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Star Mazda – Sage Karam Brings the Andretti Team to Star Mazda

Doug Patterson

Andretti Autosport announced today that it would compete in the 2011 Star Mazda Championship Presented by Goodyear with Sage Karam. Sage competed in the Cooper Tires Presents the US F2000 National Championship Powered by Mazda for Andretti Autosport along with his teammate Zach Veach and won the series championship in strong fashion winning nine of the twelve races. Zach will continue running the US F2000 series for Andretti in 2011. “Andretti Autosport did such a fantastic job of preparing me for the USF2000 series that choosing a Star Mazda team…

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