Take a good look, because this will likely be the singular time that we cover the Grand-Am series. The general consensus amongst the three of us here at Openpaddock is that the Grand-Am series is junk, a glorified version of NASCAR. Furthermore, its our humble opinion (ok, perhaps not so humble) that the Daytona roval is also junk. Having said all that, however, the Daytona 24 is the first major motorsports even of the year in the US, and even if its not the best form of racing, we at…
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/
IndyCar – …well, crap.
I tried to come up with a better, more professional title to this post than “…well, crap.”, but let’s be honest. Nothing else really works for a day like today unless I allow myself to decend into a explitive-laced tirade about the two major bombs that were dropped today. Let’s get this morning’s news out first… “It is with profound regret & heavy hearts that we share the following update with you all. Despite the team’s best efforts, Vision Racing will be suspending all racing operations. We have an amazing…
Read MoreRally – Block’s New Ride Is Revealed
The Monster World Rally Team revealed its WRC Focus that will be piloted this year by Ken Block. Honestly, its one of the coolest rally cars I’ve seen in a long while. The car while predominantly sponsored by Monster also sports the logos of DC Shoes, Ford, Dirt 2 (all for obvious reasons), and Castrol. As happy as I am to see Ken move to a Ford, I’m even happier for what this could do for the Rally America series. With Block running in both the WRC and in the…
Read MoreF1 – Mercedes GP Reveals Their 2010 Racer
This morning, Mercedes GP revealed their 2010 race car, the MPG-W01, and its gorgeous! Today was just a stage show, but we’ll get to see the MPG-W01 on track on Feb. 1st when the team arrives in Valencia for the first of several pre-season testing sessions. The Valencia test will also be the first time we see Michael Schumacher at speed in a current F1 car since Ferrari forced his all-too-early retirement. Here are Ross Brawns comments on the release, I think for me it is several things, one is…
Read MoreF1 – Rossi Happy With Ferrari Test
Valentino Rossi, undisputed G.O.A.T. of motorcycle road racing, completed yet another test with Ferrari wtih flying colors. This time, he was in the F2008 shoed with GP2-spec slicks and set a blistering time for someone who has had only a couple of sessions in a Formula 1 car. His quick time around the Barcelona circuit was 1:21.900. To put this into perspective, Autosport.com pulled out the pole time for this year, and for 2008. Jenson Button won pole last year with a 1:20.527, and Kimi’s 2008 pole was secured with…
Read MoreIndyCar – New Fuel Probe for 2010
Hopefully a recently announced change to the refueling system for the 2010 IndyCar season will see a reduction in the number of premature drive-offs and fuel spills that lead to the fiery pit-lane incidents that we saw in 2009. Two such incidents stand out in my mind: Meira’s fire at Indianapolis, and Tony “The Torch” Kanaan’s fire in Edmonton. In both of these incidents, fuel was sprayed over the driver and car during a refueling stop and was ignited by the exhaust manifold. These situations are often caused by premature…
Read MoreRally – Update on Last Ditch Racing’s Preparation for Salem
John Cassidy posted a new article at LastDitchRacing.net updating everyone on their preparation for the 100 Acre Wood Rally coming up next month in Salem, MO. I know I’m running the risk of really boring everyone with too many blog posts, but it’s therapeutic and helps me organize my thoughts a bit as the prep continues for our trip to 100 Acre Wood Rally in Salem, Missouri the end of next month. As I mentioned in another post, we’re relocating the battery to the rear seat of the rally car.…
Read MoreALMS – Marino Franchitti Joins Highcroft, Bummer for Mazda.
Autoweek Magazine announced today that Marino Franchitti has signed with Highcroft Racing and joins David Brabham and Simon Pagenaud as their third LMP driver for 2010. Marino had been with the Dyson team driving the Mazda powered Lola coupe for the past two seasons, but with Dyson’s 2010 plans still not completed with regards to running a second car and the 12 Hours of Sebring not too far away, Franchitti opted for a part-time ride with Highcroft as a third driver in the longer endurance races on the ALMS calender,…
Read MoreIndyCar – Sam Schmidt Motorsports Secures Townsend Bell for the 500
Sam Schmidt Motorsports announced today that it will be returning to the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race in partnership with Chip Ganassi Racing, a relationship that they continue from 2009. Best of all, they’ve secured Townsend Bell to drive the car! Bell has had a great run in the 500 the last couple of years with his best finish coming last year finishing fourth while running for KV Racing. This year he’ll be running the #99 car for SSM and hoping for an even better finish. While there are some who…
Read MoreIndyCar – Interesting Changes for 2010 and THE KNOB IS GONE!
The IZOD IndyCar Series had its annual pre-season safety meeting today at which several changes were announced for the 2010 season. Some of which were already known, some were speculated, and one comes as a bit of a surprise. So Long Fuel Knob! The knob is gone! However, don’t get too elated thinking that we’ll see the end of fuel mileage races. We’ll still have those, but “making fuel” will now be relient on the driver’s skill to finesse their machine and precisely control the throttle. “Teams and drivers can…
Read More