Next Tuesday is the IRL’s annual winter meeting. This gives the league an opportunity to talk about rules changes with the teams, as well as perform physicals and film segments with the drivers to use for Versus and ESPN’s TV packages. For us here in the Paddock though, it really marks the beginning of the IndyCar season as we come off of a very quiet winter break. Granted, we have already had the first test of the new year with Taglianni, Briscoe and Franchitti taking laps at Homestead. But the…
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IndyCar – SATO?! New info from de Ferran
Robin Miller was hinting this early in 2009. We heard more rumors about it when Gil de Ferran said he was starting an Indy program. But now we have new word from John Oreovicz at ESPN that Takuma is joined at the hip with Gil’s new Indy effort. Clearly, this still stands as a rumor though since this comprised one line in John’s article. But it doesn’t take much to get me excited about the prospect of Sato taking to the grid in an IndyCar. Takuma showed a very aggressive…
Read MoreF1 – USF1 Car Installation Laps in Alabama?
This is definitely a first in the world of F1. USF1 team principle Peter Windsor has revealed that USF1 has been given special dispensation from the FIA to test their car stateside at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama. While no official details about where they will unveil the car have been announced, Peter did give us an early February timeframe for when their car will be hot shoeing it around the moto track. “Because we are a new team and start everything from zero the first time we will run…
Read MoreF1 – Car Launch Dates – 1/8/2010
There is no downtime here at the Paddock. Car launches and winter testing are on the horizon and we know that all you dedicated motor heads want your F1 information delivered to you in a concise and easily digestible package. That said, we are starting a new feature to keep you updated on all of the F1 car launch information. We will regularly update this with the latest info on launch dates and links to pictures from all the launches. Enjoy! Team – Launch Date – First Test McLaren –…
Read MoreEpisode 21 – Open Paddock Podcast
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Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadJoin Mike and I this week as we travel to South America for Dakar….ok not really…but we cover it and have a Robbie Gordon revelation. We cover Ken Block to WRC, RHR to Andretti and hit a couple F1 high points. All in all it is a great show and it is signed, sealed, and delivered as it is nearly every week.
Read MoreIndyCar – IRL Cars and Tracks to Be Part of Gran Turismo 5
Sony’s long awaited flagship driving title for the Playstation 3, Gran Turismo 5 is reportedly going to have Dalarras and IndyCar tracks. This goes along with the WRC and NASCAR sanctions that are already signed up to be part of this behemoth title when it comes out. This news comes from VirtualR.net, a website devoted to sim racing. Their report claims that the next issue of Playstation Magazine has a huge feature on GT5, including the ‘revelation’ about IndyCar being included in the game. This continues an interesting relationship that…
Read MoreRally – Ford and Block Join Forces
After months of “rumor” and speculation as to the future of Ken Block, we finally have our answer and it is more than we could have hoped for. Ford will now team up with Ken for a global sports push in 2010. What does this mean you ask? Ken will drive in the 2010 World Rally Championship in a Ford Focus WRC and run Rally America events in the all new and amazing Ford Fiesta. Specific event breakdown has not been outlined at the moment. This is huge news after…
Read MoreIndyCar – Driver of the Decade Poll
Planet IRL is running a poll right now to determine the blogosphere’s temperature on the completely subjective question; ‘Who do you think the driver of the decade is?’ So, what do you think. Be sure to defend your answer in the comments.
Read MoreF1 – Flavio Wins! Appeal to Follow…
One of the biggest news stories of 2009 revolved around the “crash gate” episode. We are all familiar with the story of Nelson Piquet Jr. intentionally crashing so that teammate Fernando Alonso could take victory. Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds were both blamed for the incident and received a lifetime ban and 5 year ban from FiA competition. The verdict on the appeal filed by Flavio and Pat was released today and the fiery Italian boss may be back a lot sooner than Max Mosley had hoped at the time…
Read MoreF1 – USF1 and the Driver Carousel
The most recent reports out of Corsa in Argentina continue to link Jose Maria Lopez with a race seat at USF1. Lopez has raced in several different formula feeder series since 2001 including Formula Renault Eurocup, Italian Formula Renault, Formula Renault V6 Eurocup, Formula 3000 and GP2. But his last formula race experience was in 2005 and 2006 in GP2 where he finished 9th and 10th in the points respectively. Since then he has raced in ALMS GT2, Argentina’s touring car championship TC2000 (where he won the driver’s title in…
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