The age of Seb 2.0 may be upon us after next season. Citroen number one and most successful rally driver of all time Sebastian Loeb is set to walk away from rally after next season. It has not been a secret that Loeb’s time in the WRC was coming to an end soon, and it looks as though 2011 will be it for the French ace. To be honest, what is there left for him to do? He has already smashed every record in the book and done so with…
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Rally – MINI Showing Positive Progress
The Prodrive/MINI project seems to be coming along just fine. The MINI Clubman WRC has undergone its first serious gravel test and is looking to step up to a more intensive program. After last weeks test that saw the likes of Kris Meeke, Marcus Gronholm and Markko Martin driving the car on gravel, the team has indicated their intention to test the car once a month up until Christmas. The team was clear that the level of technical changes and situations would be limited but they would run the car…
Read MoreTV – Weekend Racing Schedule for Sept 24, 25, and 26.
Formula 1 is back on track! …well, such as the track may be. The Singapore GP is this weekend, and it really is a great spectacle, even if the racing action is junk. Being on the opposite side of the planet as the US is mitigated a bit by the fact that the race will be at night. The practice, qualifying, and race will be broadcast by Speed at sensible times of the morning. Cool! Formula 1 cars under the lights, even if the racing isn’t great, is always a…
Read MoreEpisode 57 – Openpaddock.net Podcast
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Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadJoin all three of the Openpaddock boys this week as we review Motegi. We also talk a little F1 as we get ready for Singapore. Rally has some interesting news as well as information on a MINI test video that you can view on our main page.
Read MoreOpEd – Top Five Most Influential Racing Circuits
Previously, I posted a rebuttal to the Fast Lane Daily Top Five Most Influential Drivers, and we had a good discussion about it. That conversation got me thinking, though. Drivers weren’t the only ones to have a significant influence on the motorsports landscape. Many of the circuits upon which those five drivers battled with their fellow competitors have a life and history of their own that make a single driver’s career seem insignificant by comparison. Here’s my top five, and I post these in no particular order of importance, merely…
Read MoreRally – LDR Hoists Themselves Into Top 10 at Rallye Defi
Last Ditch Racing Press Release: September 14, 2010 Bangor, Maine USA Maine’s Last Ditch Racing, consisting of Driver John Cassidy and Co-Driver Dave Getchell, overcame significant adversity to crack the top 10 at the Rallye Defi in St. Agathe, Quebec Canada this past weekend. Finishing 10th of 36 starters was not as easy a task as they had initially hoped. The fourth round of the 2010 Canadian Rally Championship, the event is held in the Laurentian Mountains near scenic Mont Tremblant. Cassidy last competed in Canada at the 2008 Rallye…
Read MoreTV – Weekend Racing Schedule for Sept. 18, and 19
ALMS is still off until the Petit LeMans at the end of the month, and this is a travel weekend for Formula 1. The good news, however, is that MotoGP and the IZOD IndyCar Series are back on track. MotoGP is back in Spain at Motorland Aragon, and the IndyCars are off to Japan to compete on the asymmetric 1.5-mile oval at Motegi. The Continental Tire Sports Car Series will be on right before the IndyCar race, and on Friday, Speed is airing the Monterrey Motorsports Reunion which features a…
Read MoreEpisode 56 – Openpaddock.net Podcast
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Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadJoin Mike and I this week as we spice things up with a new show format. We cover Rally Japan as well as the Monza race for the F1 circus. We get into the WMSC’s decisions on all things F1 and WRC. We also give a mini silly season preview for IndyCar and talk some of the schedule changes. So sit back with your favorite beverage and enjoy a night at the races!
Read MoreOpEd – How important are aesthetics anyway?
Discussion of the DeltaWing concept has arisen once again, and also once again at the instigation of Gordon Kirby who wrote an article Rediscovering racing’s true self, and Peter De Lorenzo via his article IndyCar’s death warrant. In these articles, Kirby and De Lorenzo dote on the DeltaWing and its superior engineering concepts. When one talks with a typical race fan about the DeltaWing, however, what one hears most often is something along the lines of, “It’s a brilliant engineering exercise, but …well… it’s ugly isn’t it.” Is the look…
Read MoreIndyCar – 2011 Schedule, Boon or Bust?
If you’ve read any of the IndyCar forums around, you’ll have noticed a lot of belly-aching about the 2011 IZOD IndyCar Series schedule. Of course, no matter what the schedule was there would have been complaining. It is, after all, the #1 passtime of those of us on the net. I want to take some time and examine this schedule and compare it to previous schedules keeping in mind that the goals of the league, and the preference stated by many fans, are for a balanced oval/twisty schedule with significant…
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