The Team GDT squad keeps getting stronger and is shaping up to be a serious contender for the 2011 Star Mazda Championship. As you’ll remember from earlier in the year, the team hired top-notch engineer Eric Purcell which in itself seriously elevates the competitiveness of the team. The addition of the 2010 US F2000 National Championship runner-up, Patrick McKenna, immediately puts Team GDT among the strongest teams on the 2011 grid. The 2011 Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear is really shaping up to be one of the best and…
Read MoreAuthor: Doug Patterson
Motorsports enthusiast since ...well... always. Grew up watching Mario and AJ, took my first lap around IMS in the tour bus in 1977, fell in love with anything that went fast.
Currently, I work as a professor of astronomy and physics at a college in the suburbs of Kansas City, http://staff.jccc.edu/dpatter/, and own a photography business, Patterson Prints, with my wife. http://www.pattersonprints.com/
USF2000: Cape Motorsports Adds Petri Suvanto for 2011
Cape Motorsports adds Petri Suvanto to their driver line-up for the 2011 US F2000 National Championship season. Suvanto competed with Josef Kaufmann Racing as the 2010 Formula BMW scholarship winner. In the 2010 season, he had eight top-ten finishes and ended up eleventh in points. Not bad for his first time running cars instead of karts. Prior to his Formula BMW experience, he raced karts in Europe and in his home country of Finland where he won the championship in the ICA Junior class in 2006. “Everyone at Cape Motorsports…
Read MoreStar Mazda: Miller Re-Ups With JDC MotorSports
Well, re-ups for at least the season opener in St. Petersburg, FL on March 27th. Miller has contested the full 2010 season in the Star Mazda Championship with JDC Motorsports, scoring five top-ten finishes, and finished the season tied for tenth in points with fellow rookie Tatiana Calderon of Juncos MotorSports. “We are very privileged to continue our long association with Chris Miller and the Miller Milling Company. Chris is a class act and always brings a positive attitude. We look forward to building on Chris’s rookie season and bringing…
Read MoreMazda Road to Indy Wrapup: 1/29-2/5
There’s not been much in the way of announcements this past week from the Mazda Road to Indy teams and series, but there has been a lot of testing! Winning top prize for “Most Grueling Testing Program” is Juncos Racing which took their four-driver team on a three-week boot camp tour, testing at three very different tracks in three consecutive weeks. Not only does the non-stop testing give the engineers a lot of data and the drivers a lot of seat time, but it also, and more importantly, gives the…
Read MoreGarage 36 – Liza Markle and the New INDYCAR Nation Fan Club
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Podcast: Play in new window | Download Liza Markle, INDYCAR’s new Director of Fan Engagement, joins us for our third episode of Garage 36 where we bring you the news and happening of the INDYCAR Nation, The official fan club of the IZOD IndyCar Series, Firestone Indy Lights, and the Mazda Road to Indy. 2011 brings some significant changes and new personnel to the fan club formally known as Indy Downforce. For this up coming season, all members will enjoy exclusive access to news, videos, photos, and interviews throughout the…
Read MoreF1 – Red Bull’s RB7 Plays The Exhaust Game Too
Apparently, trick exhausts are going to be the hip thing in this season’s FIA Formula 1 World Championship. After Renault’s bold reconfiguration to route the exhaust forward of the floor, McLaren and Mercedes have already stated that they’re working on similar exhaust systems. Red Bull Racing, on the other hand, is utilizing what they believe is a loophole that will allow them to run the exhaust directly into the diffuser through the floor inspite of the FIA’s attempt for prohibit this. Frankly, I’m not sure about the loophole, so I…
Read MoreIndy Lights – Ostella Completes Test with Jensen MotorSport
Toronto native, David Ostella, signed on wtih Jensen MotorSport last November to run in the 2011 Firestone Indy Lights Series after competing for two years in the Star Mazda Championship with the AIM Autosport team. Ostella got his first opportunity to test a Firestone Indy Lights car down at Sebring International Raceway around the short course and laid down a best time of 58.4 s. “It was a really productive test for David and for our team. This was David’s first time driving the Indy Lights car on a road…
Read MoreF1 – Renault’s Trick Exhaust: Legal?
There’s been a flurry of unveilings for the 2011 Formula 1 chariots lately including the new machine from Renault Lotus R31 (The Group Lotus, not the Team Lotus). While because of the ever increasing strictness of the FIA regulations the cars are outwardly appearing more and more similar each year, there was something distinctly different about the R31: No exhaust outlets in the rear of the car! Racecar Engineering took a close look at the car during the reveal, and posted their findings in the article, Renault’s radical R31 exhaust…
Read MoreRally – Recap Video of the Sno*Drift Rally
Inside The Helmet – Anders Krohn
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Podcast: Play in new window | Download We had the great pleasure and honor to speak to Anders Krohn, driver for Belardi Auto Racing for the 2011 Firestone Indy Lights season. Anders had one of the earliest starts in motorsports I’d ever heard of, getting his own kart when he was only 3-1/2! He gives us some insight to his early career in karting and Formula Ford racing in his home country of Norway, how he came to race here in the United States, and the value of racing for…
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