IndyCar – Takuma Sato Signs With KVRT

As we reported in an article from Feb 6th, former F1 BAR Honda and Super Aguri driver has signed with KV Racing Technologies for a full-time ride in the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series. “We are very excited to have been able to put this deal together with Takuma and his group,” said KVRT co-owner Jimmy Vasser. “I can’t wait to see what I know will be a extremely fast pace by Taku on the road courses and look forward to working with him and getting him up to speed on…

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Podcast – Episode 26 Preview

Tonight will see episode 26 recorded and thrown to the masses of motorsport fans looking for their off season weekly serving. On tap for tonight will be discussion on Rally Sweden and the 2011 calendar. We will also discuss the Lola chassis design in our ongoing analysis of the 2012 chassis war. Gil de Ferran has merged with another team and Mike will share his thoughts on de Ferran finally surfacing after months of silence. We will also bring in the latest rumors and news regarding USF1, Campos Meta and…

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IndyCar – de Ferran Motorsports Teams with LRD

Luczo Dragon Racing released a statement today revealing that LDR and de Ferran Motorsports will join forces for the 2010 season. This is great news for the former Indianapolis 500 champion’s suddenly ailing team. Last year, Gil announced that 2009 would be his last year in the cockpit of a racecar and he was going to focus on being a team principal fielding both an ALMS prototype effort and a two-car effort in the IZOD IndyCar Series. As the season ended, and we got deeper into the off-season, it became…

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IndyCar – The Lola Project Revisited

Today, Lola followed their initial press release which revealed their intent to bid for the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series chassis contract with a second, more fulsome press release including sketches of their proposed chassis. It must be said that the outward appearance of the chassis is rather uninspired and stale. There’s nothing genuinely new, innovative or modern about the looks of the chassis. Lola does bring some very interesting concepts with their bid that could lower costs, and bridge the equipment gap between the IZOD IndyCar Series and the Firestone…

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OpEd – Beauty Pageant or Racing Series?

The interwebs have been all a buzz over the release of the chassis concepts for the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series from Dallara, Swift, and especially the much anticipated Delta Wing. There’s been much commentary offered for and against all of the designs, but none has received more discussion and more scorn than the extremely radical concept car from Delta Wing, LLC that was revealed last Wednesday at the Chicago Auto Show. We’ve gone over various aspects of the proposed concepts here, as have many others, and there are certainly a…

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Episode 25 – Open Paddock Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadMaybe a day late but not a dollar short! Join Mike and I this week as we break down all the chassis stuff from the world of IndyCar. We also highlight some key changes in the 2010 WRC championship and venture to everybody’s favorite world of F1. Great chassis discussion to be had, so enjoy!

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IndyCar – Detla Wing: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly!

The official unveiling took place this afternoon at the Chicago Auto Show and now we officially have the Delta Wing concept car to ogle, ponder, ruminate upon and maybe mock a bit. The Bad and the Ugly Our universal opinion here amongst the Paddock staff is that this thing looks a bit too far fetched, to the point of being downright unattractive.  Delta Wing’s press release calls this an “open wheel” car, to which they may be referring to the tire contact patch sized gap in the top of the chassis where…

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IndyCar – The Delta Wing Project

Yesterday, some photos were leaked of a version of the Delta Wing chassis designed by Target Chip Ganassi Racing’s Ben Bowlby. Mr. Bowlby is certainly not new to chassis design having spent a very successful stint with Lola creating very fast chassis with a wide setup window. The photos we saw yesterday posted ever so briefly at 16thandGeorgetown.com, were in a word hideous! The most common statement amongst the IndyCar fan community was, “How the heck is that thing supposed to turn?” This is in reference to the front wheels…

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