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Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadThis week Mike and I return to discuss Renault and Ryan Briscoe. We run down Motegi, Rally America in Colorado and look ahead to this weekends only real race of value: Petit Le Mans. More politically incorrect motorsport news and opinion served up in Episode 09.
Read MoreIn a rather surprising and disappointing fashion, the new GT2 Corvettes will not be running the same engine they used at Mid-Ohio, Road America, and Mosport. The Porsche and Ferrari teams have successfully argued to the ACO that the Corvette’s direct-injection engine gave them an unfair advantage and it should be prohibited. In spite of having a written statement from the ACO proclaiming the 6.0L DI power-plant to be permissible, the new GT2 ‘Vettes will have to run the Petit LeMans sans DI. This won’t likely affect their power output…
Read MoreWith the national championship already won by Travis Pastrana, the Rally America series went to Colorado to put on a show for the fans. Colorado is typically home of the world famous Pikes Peak hill climb, but the folks in the Rockies sure appreciate their rally racing whenever they can get it. Ken Block would enter the rally but drive for Dave Mirra who was away for the weekend. Block’s open class car had not recovered from damage suffered in the previous round, so the Monster Energy Drink star would…
Read MoreEngine homologation in F1 has been a bit of a black art. The teams were allowed to make ‘reliability upgrades’ to their cars, but those upgrades have increased engine performance. So much so that Renault was allowed to make special engine upgrades during the offseason to catch up. New concerns over the performance level of the engines have come up, with many in the paddock saying that the Mercedes engine is at a very clear advantage, especially after their performance at Monza. The FIA has responded to requests from FOTA…
Read MoreThe FIA took the opportunity of the WMSC meeting with Renault to release the 2010 F1 calendar of events: March 14 – Bahrain March 28 – Australia April 4 – Malaysia April 18 – China May 9 – Spain May 23 – Monaco May 30 – Turkey June 13 – Canada* June 27 – Europe (Valencia) July 11 – Great Britain July 25 – Germany August 1 – Hungary August 29 – Belgium September 12 – Italy September 26 – Singapore October 3 – Japan October 17 – Korea October…
Read MoreGoing into the Motegi race, Ryan Briscoe had a comfortable 25 point lead and with the promise of Penske perfection behind him, looked to be a shoe in to win the Championship with only two races left. But a giant monster pit exit cone attacked him, ending his chance at extending his points lead. You can see our race wrap up for more details on that. Scott Dixon went on to score maximum points for the weekend (53) for pole, most laps lead and the win. Dario Franchitti took home…
Read MoreThe Land of the Rising Sun played host to the IndyCar series last night at Twin Ring Motegi. Non-typical for Motegi, the race ran the full distance without any rain. For the most part, the affair was pretty exciting. Scott Dixon started the race on pole, and the running order was established early on. Dixon and Franchitti led pretty much the entire race, but there was a bit of intrigue behind them. Briscoe, who started the race 25 points ahead in the championship, was clearly saving fuel from the start.…
Read MoreIt has been a week now since DiRT 2 came tearing through the back roads of the world and onto your game console of choice. We here at Open Paddock spoke very highly of the game and gave it as much free advertising as we could. However, it is now time to break the game down and give it our final review. We will do this by looking at car selection, controls, race types, and soundtrack as well as single and multi player modes. Car Selection: To understand the current…
Read MoreThe showdown between the FIA and Renault over race fixing allegations is set to come to a head in just a few days, the FIA has reached out to Pat Symonds (director of engineering) at Renault F1 and offered him immunity from punishment if he releases further details regarding the events surrounding the 2008 Grand Prix of Singapore. Symonds has been somewhat suspect in dealing with these allegations all together. The director indicated that there were discussions about having Piquet crash, but those ideas were brought forward originally by Piquet…
Read MoreAs promised during Podcast Episode 07, we now have some photo galleries up on our Facebook Page. Search Facebook for “Open Paddock”, find our page, and become a fan. You can also get to our Facebook page from the badge on our sidebar on the right-hand side of this page. So far, we have pictures from the 100 Acre Wood Rally America event that was held in Salem, MO, the IndyCar and IndyLights race at the Kansas Speedway, IndyCar and IndyLights practice, qualification, and raceday pics from the Indianapolis 500,…
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