Well, this came out of left field. …at least for me. After a very successful three-year partnership, Andretti Autosport and AFS Racing have decided to end their relationship and pursue their individual paths in Firestone Indy Lights and the IZOD IndyCar Series. The partnership yielded 11 race wins and back-to-back championships in 2009 and 2010 with Raphael “Rafa” Matos and JR Hildebrand. Here are some quotes from the two team principals, Gary Peterson of AFS Racing and Michael Andretti of Andretti Autosport. “AFS Racing’s partnership with Andretti Autosport has certainly…
Read MoreIndyCar – Sarah Hands the Keys to Carpenter
In a move that many of us were sort of anticipating would happen for 2011, Sarah Fisher has announced her retirement as a driver and will focus her efforts on being a team owner. There was much speculation amongst us fans as to who would eventually be selected for the #67 seat, although we all knew it was NOT going to be Jay Howard. In a press conference held at the Sarah Fisher Racing shop, we find that Ed Carpenter will be racing in nine events in 2011 sporting the…
Read MoreSunday Service Park – 11/27/10
Welcome to the newest column at Openpaddock.net! As the rally season takes its short break they call an off season, the Sunday Service Park will be my time to give some opinion on the week’s news and address rumors within the WRC and Rally America blogs. This week has seen the driver market get kicked up a notch and Petter Solberg is trapped in the middle. Petter Solberg Last week during the podcast I had made the argument that Petter would be a reasonable fit at the Prodrive MINI operation.…
Read MoreRoC – Audi Group B Demo…Fail
The 2010 Race of Champions is going on this weekend in Germany and the Nation’s Cup was today’s attraction. While the competition was good on track, the demonstration of the awesome Audi S1 Quattro Group B car ended in a moment that brought a tear to my eye. Schumi’s reaction was priceless! #EPICFAIL
Read MoreIndyCar – Edmonton Return Makes Headway
Late Friday afternoon, the Edmonton City Council voted 9-2 in favour of a plan to revive the Honda Edmonton Indy 300. The initial deal between the City of Edmonton and race promoter Octane Racing Group fell through when the city demanded that the runway currently used as part of the racing circuit remain open and operational during the race weekend. This meant that an additional $3M needed to be invested in the venue to lay new tarmac and rebuild the pit and grandstand areas on the opposite side of the…
Read MorePre-Turkey Indy Hump Day Report, On the bubble: Your third cousin Lee Roy
Well for us American IndyCar fans the gluttony of Holidays is here. Tomorrow we will load up on dead birds, potatoes, beer, green beans, cranberries, awful NFC teams on national TV, and being annoyed by our nit witted family members we only have to sit near three times a year. For our non-American fellow fans tomorrow is just Thursday. (Or Friday if you’re in Asia.) First I would like to list what I am Thankful for as an IZOD IndyCar series follower: That Randy Bernard is now the man in…
Read MoreEpisode 65 – Openpaddock.net Podcast
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadJoin us this week as we have no race results to speak of! We do get into the track layout issue in F1 and Mike shows signs of hope for the USGP. We talk more IndyCar silly season and discuss the rules package that is nearly complete. Rally is a little segment this evening where we give props to a new triple crown winner in North America and look ahead to Dakar! Sit back and enjoy the Thanksgiving edition of the Openpaddock.net Podcast!
Read MoreVideo – Every Second Counts!
Lotus building a new IZOD IndyCar Engine & Aerokit: Respecting its old school roots
It was short and to the point. Tonight at the Los Angeles Autoshow the IZOD IndyCar series and the Lotus group made it official. In 2012 there will be three engine makes in the IZOD IndyCar series. The brand which has never made their own engine for a race car will now be a manufacturer in IndyCar. Lotus Group CEO, Danny Bahar did not give any technical specifications on the 2012 IZOD IndyCar series engine. In a Press Release from earlier in the day IZOD IndyCar series and Lotus says technical specifications…
Read MoreF1 – Williams Abandons Their Flybrid for 2011: Shocking!
In what could end up being a shocking turn of events, Williams F1 has elected to abandon its flywheel-based kinetic energy recovery system in favour of a fully electric storage design, according to a recent article at Autosport.com. “I think it’s fairly well known that we’re going to be running a battery system,” said Head. “It’s not that we… Had we run KERS in 2009, and we did run the flywheel in the car, but not at a grand prix, it was a flywheel-based system. “The flywheel, by the very…
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