Pro Mazda – Race 2 at COTA Recap

Doug Patterson

Race 2 this afternoon for the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires at the Circuit of the Americas started out much like Race 1, with a giant furball headed into T1 and two drivers coming out worse for it. Yesterday’s winner, Juncos Racing’s Diego Ferreira, set the fast lap during Race 1 and earned pole position for Race 2. He would lose that spot to Andretti Autosports’ duo of Matthew Brabham and Shelby Blackstock as they would take advantage of Diego’s overshooting the T1 apex. Diego would fight all…

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Flying High at the 100 Acre Wood Rally!

Mike Shaw

In the World Rally Championship their is Colin’s Crest in Sweden, and El Bronco in Mexico.  At the 100 Acre Wood Rally here in America we have the “Cattle Guard Jump!”  OpenPaddock’s professional photographer extraordinaire Doug Patterson trekked two miles (up hill both ways he tells me)  to capture the action at the Cattle Guard on film.  Here’s Doug’s description of the setting: I’ve been going to the Rally in the 100 Acre Wood headquartered in Salem, MO since 2009, and I’ve loved the experience every single year. Over those past…

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SCCA – RallyCross Season Is Here!

Doug Patterson

Ever since the first Kansas City Region SCCA rallycross event last October, I’ve been anxiously awaiting our second. Yesterday, registration was opened for the first of four rallycross events the region has planned for 2013. The event will be at the same location as last year’s event, at a member’s property south of Garnett, Kansas. The field has some elevation change which makes for a challenging course as for half of the circuit you’re trying desperately to find grip as you climb uphill, and then you’re desperately trying to keep…

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Pro Mazda – COTA Day 1 WrapUp

Doug Patterson

The Pro Mazda Championship presented by Cooper Tires completed it’s first day of competition for the 2013 season at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, TX, and became the first INDYCAR-sanctioned series to race at the new world-class facility. Andretti Autosport’s Matthew Brabham looked poised to take an early hold of the series championship showing dominating pace in pre-season testing, but Juncos Racing’s Diego Ferreira was never far behind and claimed pole position for Race #1. This may come as a surprise for some, but those who were paying…

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Formula 1 – Razia Out and Bianchi In at Marussia

Shaun

One day after being ruled out of a seat at Force India, Jules Bianchi has landed a seat with Marussia with two testing days left until the 2013 season kicks off. Bianchi who had been reserve driver with Force India will take the race seat of Luiz Razia. A terrible and gut wrenching afternoon for Razia after his sponsor failed to deliver payment to the team. Bianchi will be set to test the Marussia over the final two days of the last preseason test. While heartbreaking for Razia, this is…

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Pro Mazda – Season Opener at COTA Preview

Doug Patterson

The Pro Mazda Series Presented by Cooper Tires has the honor of being the first, and for this season, the only INDYCAR-sanctioned series to race at the new Circuit of the Americas in Austin, TX. The Mazda Road to Indy teams and drivers have been at COTA all week testing and practicing for qualifying and racing today, and a racing tomorrow in support of the Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series. Testing earlier in the week provided few genuine surprises, as we mentioned on our most recent podcast, Episode 177.…

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Formula 1 – Ferrari Downplay Pace

Shaun

Ferrari has looked pretty good so far during pre-season testing. At a minimum they look a lot better than a year ago. I found it really funny that a lot of fans on the forums have been rather critical of Stefano Domenicali and Ferrari for playing down their pace heading into Australia. The Italian squad firmly believes they will not be the fastest car for 2013 season opener. While it is hard to judge pace during testing, Fernando Alonso and Ferrari set one of the fastest times at the last…

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Formula 1 – Force India Getting it Wrong Already

Shaun

If I am Jules Bianchi, I am one pissed off reserve driver today. I have worked well with my Sahara Force India team all year last year, and tested well with them this off season and still I get snubbed. To be honest I would be an ex-reserve driver at this point. This after finding out that Adrian Sutil who has not driven a racing car but once over the last year and a half has been signed to the second race seat at my team. This is a real…

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Review – 100 Acre Wood Rally 2013

Mike Shaw

Once again the Rally in the 100 Acre Wood had plenty of action. As everyone descended into Salem, Missouri (or at least attempted to), it wasn’t the teams or the drivers that everyone was talking about, instead it was the weather. On Thursday as everyone went out to do their Recce to adjust their pace notes on the stages, a freak winter storm brought a combination of freezing rain, sleet, and snow. In some places, the icy mix was deeper than the snow in the previous Sno*Drift event in Michigan.…

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Indycar-Zen and the Art of Relevance

John Olsakovsky

Hooray for sinus infections. I’ve had one for the better part of this week. Instead of suffering through another day at the office, I elected to stay home and rest up a bit. On the tube right now is a replay of the Daytona 500. Undoubtedly, NASCAR is the benchmark of motorsports here in the United States. I can remember a time not so long ago when Indycar drivers were the household names and NASCAR was pretty much a regional series. Now things are pole shifted; NASCAR drivers are widely…

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