Car launch season is upon us with a few teams setting up release dates for their 2010 challenger. Ferrari have not released their launch date as of yet, but according to crash.net the car may look similar to another car that has already been on the grid. F1 technical artist Giorgio Piola has indicated that the new Ferrari takes many design cues from the Red Bull RB5 that ran so well last year. The Adrian Newey designed RB5 was the closest challenger to the Brawn GP cars for most of…
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Dakar – Rest Day Summary
Rally – M-Sport Enter IRC
Malcolm Wilson and his M-Sport squad have decided to follow up the much anticipated launch of the new Fiesta rally car with their entrance into the Intercontinental Rally Challenge. The team will compete in the opening round of the championship with Mikko Hirvonen at the wheel. Ford becomes the eighth manufacturer to participate in the IRC, adding a certain level of excitement to the 2010 season. This and the welcome addition of a Subaru car for sale have made this a lucrative off season for the IRC as it looks…
Read MoreEpisode 21 – Open Paddock Podcast
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Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadJoin Mike and I this week as we travel to South America for Dakar….ok not really…but we cover it and have a Robbie Gordon revelation. We cover Ken Block to WRC, RHR to Andretti and hit a couple F1 high points. All in all it is a great show and it is signed, sealed, and delivered as it is nearly every week.
Read MoreRally – Ford and Block Join Forces
After months of “rumor” and speculation as to the future of Ken Block, we finally have our answer and it is more than we could have hoped for. Ford will now team up with Ken for a global sports push in 2010. What does this mean you ask? Ken will drive in the 2010 World Rally Championship in a Ford Focus WRC and run Rally America events in the all new and amazing Ford Fiesta. Specific event breakdown has not been outlined at the moment. This is huge news after…
Read MoreF1 – Flavio Wins! Appeal to Follow…
One of the biggest news stories of 2009 revolved around the “crash gate” episode. We are all familiar with the story of Nelson Piquet Jr. intentionally crashing so that teammate Fernando Alonso could take victory. Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds were both blamed for the incident and received a lifetime ban and 5 year ban from FiA competition. The verdict on the appeal filed by Flavio and Pat was released today and the fiery Italian boss may be back a lot sooner than Max Mosley had hoped at the time…
Read MoreF1 – USF1 and the Driver Carousel
The most recent reports out of Corsa in Argentina continue to link Jose Maria Lopez with a race seat at USF1. Lopez has raced in several different formula feeder series since 2001 including Formula Renault Eurocup, Italian Formula Renault, Formula Renault V6 Eurocup, Formula 3000 and GP2. But his last formula race experience was in 2005 and 2006 in GP2 where he finished 9th and 10th in the points respectively. Since then he has raced in ALMS GT2, Argentina’s touring car championship TC2000 (where he won the driver’s title in…
Read MoreDakar – Day 3 Highlights
Dakar – Day 2 Highlights
Le Mans – Pugs Snub ACO
French Manufacturer Peugeot has announced that at this time, the new International Cup is “not in the plans” for 2010. While the announcement is not official, it certainly continues the bad news for the LMP series across the globe. The announcement was made after arch rivals Audi stated their intention to enter two cars in the championship. Problems with the French manufacturer are to blame for the snub as the board has approved the budget for this year’s Le Mans 24 Hour and work for the 2011 challenger. This is…
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