While we await formal news about Acura’s factory involvement with the American Le Mans series, the Patron Highcroft team has announced they will stay with the Acura. The car they chose is the surprising part. The team has chosen to run the ARX-01C which took Fernandez racing to championship glory in 2009. The article on Autosport states the team will continue to work with Honda Performance Development, however Acura has been relatively quiet since the season ended. Highcroft racing believes that given the performance of LMP2 car at Laguna Seca,…
Read MoreIndyCar – Andretti Autosport Announced
Michael Andretti has completed dealings with former team co-owners Kevin Savoree and Kim Green. As was announced previously, Michael Andretti is now the sole owner of Andretti Autosport, while Green and Savoree have taken over ownership of what was previously Andretti Green Promotions which promotes the Toronto and St. Petersburg IndyCar races. Andretti says that they will stick with a four driver lineup next year, but we await official announcements of who all of those drivers will be. Tony Kanaan and Marco Andretti are locked in with the newly named…
Read MoreV8 SuperCars – They’re coming to America!!
That’s right! The Australian V8 Supercars Championship Series is returning to the US airwaves beginning next season following a three-year deal with Speed TV. …yeah, that’s the bummer part of it. We have to wait until next year, but at least we have a great series to watch over the next off-season. NASCAR should take note, the Aussies do stock car racing properly and with MODERN fuel-injected V8s, a proper racing engine! Here’s an excerpt from their press release: V8 Supercars Australia Executive Chairman, Tony Cochrane, said the deal was…
Read MoreMovember – Help Fight Men’s Cancer
Shaun and I have joined up with John’s Movember team over at Last Ditch Racing to help change the face of men’s health. This month of Movember, we have been farming our mustaches in an attempt to grow gnarly facial hair and in the process, raise money for the Prostate Cancer Foundation and the Lance Armstrong Foundation which research men’s cancers. For those not in the know, “Mo” is Australian slang for mustache. What many people don’t know is that 1 in 6 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer…
Read MoreOP-Ed – Support Your Local Tracks
As fans of IndyCar racing, Formula 1, MotoGP, WRC, we constantly hear about these fantastic venues. Who doesn’t want to go to Indianapolis to see the IndyCars, or to Spa to see Formula 1, or to Phillip Island to see the MotoGP race, or to Cyprus to the WRC? Many of us live cheap and save up over the off-season, giving $5 McDonald’s gift certificates as Christmas presents just so we can afford those big trips to those exotic venues. While doing this, though, we often overlook the true gems…
Read MoreStar Mazda – 2009 Season Review – The Mid-Season Grind
Star Mazda Series – 2009 Season Review The Mid-Season Grind: The first double-header of the season was at the New Jersey Motorsports Park. Both races were won from the pole, Race 1 by Conor Daly and Race 2 by Richard Kent, and it was the first victory of the year for both race winners. Conor struggled on Sunday inspite of winning the pole and race on Saturday. On Sunday, his car was not the same and he fought an oversteering car all day, finishing Race 2 exactly where he started…
Read More#F1 – JR Hildebrand Tests for Force India
2009 Firestone Indy Lights champion, JR Hildebrand, will test for the Force India F1 team in the first days of December. Read the full article at Autosport.com. JR has been searching for a ride at the next level ever since August (probably before), but many, including myself, thought that meant a seat somewhere in the IZOD IndyCar Series, or perhaps with USF1 USGPE. Turns out that he has his sights set well above the doubtful USF1 USGPE and on a ride with a legitimate team that actually has a car…
Read MoreIndyCar – IMS Announces new CIO
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway, having recently sacked its entire online media division, just hired a new CIO, Rhonda Winter. Ms. Winter has been around the Indianapolis area for a while working for the NCAA, Indianapolis Museum of Art (check their website! very cool, and not white text on black background!), and most recently with CIK Enterprises (whose web presence also does not suck). Here’s her comments from the announcement article at IndianapolisMotorSpeedway.com: “I’m very excited to join the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in this new role,” Winter said. “Technology is a…
Read MoreIndyCar – PR VP John Griffin Resigns
John Griffin, Vice President of Public Relations for the Indy Racing League for the past seven years, announced his resignation from the league today effective on December 18th. Here’s the official release: “John has been a valued part of our organization and he will be missed,” said Terry Angstadt, president of the commercial division of the Indy Racing League. “His creativity and passion for the sport brought publicity for the IZOD IndyCar Series to a whole new level. We wish him the best of luck.” Griffin joined the Indy Racing…
Read MoreStar Mazda – 2009 Season Review – Getting Started
Star Mazda Series – 2009 Season Review The Star Mazda Championship is a low-power spec-formula series that started in 1999 in an effort to transition young drivers from karts and F2000 cars to the types of winged single-seaters they’ll see in Atlantics, Formula BMW, GP2, and Firestone Indy Lights, and specifically feeds the Atlantics Championship series. The chassis are all built by Star Race Cars, run the 1.3L Mazda Wankel “rotary” engine, and are shod with Goodyear rubber. Teams are allowed to adjust wing angles, suspension set-up, and brake bias,…
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