IndyCar – St. Petersburg Practice 2

The second practice session for the IZOD IndyCar Series offered some surprises and some similarities to the morning practice. Once again, Will Power was at the top of the time sheets, throwing down a blistering 1:02.3200 sec lap time! That’s close to the 1:02.1355 sec ICS record time he set in 2008 in his first IndyCar race in 2008. To put it more into perspective, the closest person to Power was Scott Dixon and he was seven tenths off of Will’s pace with a best lap of 1:03.0298 sec. While…

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IndyCar – Drivers List Update – 3/26/10

Here is the rundown on driver changes/additions since Sao Paulo: Alex Lloyd will again be in the Boy Scout car for Dale Coyne Racing for St. Petersburg. While the team has sent out press releases about their involvement with the Scouts at racing events throughout the season, we have yet to see from the team an official announcement that the #19 car is a full season effort with Alex Lloyd as its driver. Before Sao Paulo they indicated that there would be more news to come in the lead up…

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IndyCar – St. Petersburg Practice 1

Will Power picked up right where he left off by setting the top time during this morning’s first practice session for the IZOD IndyCar Series on the Streets of St. Petersburg. Will won the season opener on the new street circuit in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and this morning continued to display his mastery of the art of street racing. On Trackside With Curt Cavin and Kevin Lee, Mr. Cavin predicted that Will Power was so good on the street courses that he would sweep the season. Its still very early…

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IndyCar – St. Petersburg Preview: Story Lines

Last Year: Much like any street circuit, Turn 1 of Lap 1 was brutal with abundant contact. The 2008 race winner and 2009 pole setter, Graham Rahal, was punted into the grass inside Turn 1 effectively ending his drive for back-to-back victories. He was able to battle back and claim a top ten, but it certainly wasn’t the finish he was wanting. The surprise performers of the race wer Ryan Hunter-Raey and Justin Wilson. The talent of the two drivers were never in question, but with Ryan driving for Vision…

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Episode 31 – Open Paddock Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadJoin myself and Mike as we get into the lack of news this week. We wrap-up Sebring and get into a small portion of rally news. We talk about the IndyCar 2012 panel as well as some news regarding the potential Baltimore Grand Prix. F1 is on tap and we preview both St. Pete and Melbourne. McLaren “snorkel” debate is heated!!! Grab your favorite adult beverage, sit down and enjoy! Be sure to post your opinion on the McLaren “snorkel” debate…we are going to…

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F1 – Sauber Utilizing McLaren Style “Snorkel”

I have already commented this year that i think the 2010 F1 cars look a million times better than that of the 2009 model. There was also some new innovation on the cars like 50 winglet front ends and new rear diffusers. The diffusers have already stirred up some controversy, but so has a certain McLaren “snorkel” device that now Sauber is ready to test and other teams are close to their own design. The piece in question is a vent mounted on the top of the nose. This vent…

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F1 – Renault Power to Blame…

As we had wrote in our Bahrain race review, Red Bull Racing has blamed a component linked to the spark plug as the reason for Sebastian Vettel dropping off the pace. However, the trained eye of Ron Dennis seems to believe that it was a fuel issue that plagued Vettel’s chance at victory and that there may be a design flaw on the RB6. Interesting… Dennis indicated that the McLaren ECU may have remapped fuel in a move to conserve for the rest of the race. This is a completely…

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IndyCar – St. Petersburg Preview: History and Track Analysis

Introduction: This weekend represents the home opener for the IZOD IndyCar Series, and the first race of the season for the Firestone Indy Lights and US F2000 National Championship, on the Streets of St. Petersburg. The IZOD IndyCar Series began the 2010 season the weekend before last on the Streets of Sao Paulo, Brazil, but this weekend represents the series first race of the year on US soil. Historically, the St. Petersburg race has one of the best races of the season, which is a bit surprising given that its…

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Rally – Skoda Dominates Argentina

The third round of the IRC championship was held this weekend in the beautiful settings of Argentina. The stages that usually play host to the WRC would be ran with names like Meeke, Hanninen, and al-Attiyah and cars like Peugeot and Skoda. All eyes would be on Kris Meeke after a dominant win in Brazil a couple weeks ago, but it was not to be for the British star. Skoda, who has put together a very formidable effort would take a dominating 1-2-3 in the event and further strengthen their…

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Rally – Fiesta to Test Current Focus Motor

With the World Motor Sport Council agreeing to run the S2000 chassis with a 1.6 litre turbo engine, Ford has decided to take a head start on the issue of development. The Fiesta S2000 will be fitted with the current 2.0 litre turbo charged engine used in the Ford Focus WRC. This is a tactic that has been used by Citroen in the development of the DS3 using the C4’s engine. Ford hopes that by using the chassis and engine package, they will be able to gauge how the car…

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