Powered by Blogger.
Showing posts with label Racing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Racing. Show all posts

Toyota's 400hp GT86 GT4 Racer Ready to hit the Track

Tuesday, February 5, 2013


This tasty looking Toyota GT86 (Scion FR-S in N.A.) is the first GT4 racing version of the Japanese brand's sports coupe and it will make its first appearance on the track at the European GT4 championship in May.

The white and blue-liveried  racecar was created by Buckingham-based motorsport outfit GPRM, with Nicholson McLaren developing its 2.0-liter direct injection and turbocharged four-cylinder ‘Boxer’ engine.

Read more »

SRT Announces Return to Le Mans 24-Hour Race with New Viper GTS-R [w/Video]

Monday, February 4, 2013


Even SRT boss Ralph Gilles has admitted that the previous Vipers had an “axe-murderer” kind of demeanor but, despite that, the “snake” has had been quite successful in racing, competing against the best production-based rivals in the world and beating them not only in America but across the globe, too.

One of its greatest triumphs has been finishing in the first two places in its class for three years in a row, from 1998 to 2000, in the most prestigious endurance race in the world: the 24 Hours or Le Mans.

Read more »

Ferrari’s New F138 2013 Formula 1 Car is Evolutionary Rather Than Revolutionary

Saturday, February 2, 2013


On Friday, February 1, Ferrari unveiled the new single-seater with which Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa will fight for the 2013 Formula 1 World Championship.

The new car is named the F138, with the first two digits standing for the year (2013) and the “8” for the number of cylinders as well as the eighth season the team is using that configuration.

With F1 switching to V6 turbocharged engines, the project 664 (as it is code-named) is a development of last year’s F2012 rather than a clean-sheet design. Of course, practically every one of its nearly six thousand components has been revised for maximum efficiency but the basics, such as the suspension layout and the engine, follow the same philosophy.

Read more »

McLaren Remembers its Founder at its 50th Anniversary, Launches New Film Series

Friday, February 1, 2013


Bruce McLaren was a man of many talents. Born in 1937 in New Zealand, he was not only a racing driver but also a racecar designer and engineer.

His racing career started when he was 14 years old. He won the 1959 U.S. Grand Prix at the age of 22 years and 80 days, becoming the youngest driver at the time to win a Formula 1 race. In 1963, he founded his own team, named Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Ltd., but continued to race for Cooper.

He quit in 1965 and announced that he would enter F1 next year with his own team. In 1966 he won the 24 Hour of Le Mans along with Chris Amon in a Ford GT40 and, two years later, gave his team its maiden F1 win at Spa.

Read more »

Lexus LFA Loses to Ferrari 458 Italia in C&D's 2013 Lightning Lap Test

Thursday, January 31, 2013


It's a fact that Nürburgring lap times have become something of a standard when it comes to comparing sports cars’ performance. Car & Driver magazine decided that it was impractical to conduct its annual Lightning Lap event in Germany as they had 20 cars to test, so its editors chose the Virginia International Raceway (VIR) as the U.S. equivalent of the ‘Ring.

While the 4.1-mile long track is one-third of the Nordschleife, it features more than 30 turns and elevation changes and, according to C&D, it makes for a demanding venue in which to test each car to its limits.

Read more »

Lamborghini Launches New 2013MY Gallardo GT3 FL2 Racer

Tuesday, January 29, 2013


For quite some time, Lamborghini has not officially engaged in motorsport except for the one-make Super Trofeo series. Now, the Sant’ Agata-based supercar maker has announced a new racer and a five-year long motorsport program.

The Gallardo GT3 FL2 is based on the recently revamped MY2013 Gallardo and has been created in cooperation with Reiter Engineering, the German outfit that has developed its own racing versions of Lamborghini models since 2000 netting 199 victories and 350 podium finishes.

Read more »

Celebrities to Race New Mazda6 on the Sidelines of the 2013 F1 Australian GP


As part of a large-scale promotion for the launch of the new Mazda6 in Australia, the Japanese carmaker is organizing the star-packed Mazda6 Celebrity Challenge, which will take place during the 2013 Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix in the middle of March.

Mazda said it plans to have 20 "big name celebrities" behind the wheels of an equal number of cars, each of which will come in different body and racing livery colors.

Read more »

MINI Wins 2013 Dakar, Race2Recovery Disability Team Makes it to the Finish [w/Video]

Monday, January 21, 2013


After 8,570 km (5,437 miles) of grueling roads, Stephane Peterhansel and his co-driver Jean-Paul Cottret crossed the finish line of the 2013 Dakar rally at Santiago de Chile first. It was the second consecutive win for the MINI ALL4 Racing and the record 11th Dakar victory for Peterhansel (his fifth with a car, the other six being with motorcycles), who took the lead after the second stage and remained there until the end.

A second MINI, with Leonid Novitskiy and Konstandin Zhiltsov, finished the race third behind the Toyota HiLux of Giniel de Villiers and Dirk von Zitzewitz, while a third MINI, driven by Nanni Roma and Michel Perin, followed in fourth place just 8 minutes behind them.

Read more »

New VW Polo R WRC Takes Second Place in its First Competitive Outing at Monte Carlo


Multiple world champion Sebastian Loeb of Citroen may have grabbed another win at the opening round of the 2013 FIA World Rally Championship at Monte Carlo, but it was Sébastien Ogier and the all-new VW Polo WRC that made the biggest impression.

The 29-year-old French rally driver managed to lead the Polo R WRC in its first competitive outing to second place. The third place on the podium went to Dani Sordo, who returned to Citroen after two seasons with MINI, which pulled out of the championship at the end of last year.

Read more »

New Audi RS7 Sportback Envisioned as a Ferocious Group B Rally Car

Thursday, January 17, 2013


The spanking new Audi RS7 Sportback is one of our favorite cars from the ongoing Detroit Auto Show.

With a sleek-looking body and a masculine 4.0-liter twin-turbocharged V8 pumping out more than 550-horses to all four wheels, what's not to like? Well, you could say its price tag, which will certainly be more than the $78,800 Audi commands for the 420hp S7 Sportback, but that's another story.

Read more »

Porsche’s 917/20 “Pink Pig” Le Mans Racer is a Tasty Piece of History


Racing cars that don’t win races are quickly forgotten even by their own creators. Winners make history, second is the first loser: that’s the way it’s always been. Surely, nobody remembers a Le Mans contender that didn’t even make it to the finish line, right?

That may be true for most cars but not for Porsche’s 917. The brainchild of current VW Group supremo Ferdinand Piech, it is deeply etched in racing history not only for giving Porsche its first-ever victory at La Sarthe in 1970, followed by another one the next year but also because it starred in Steve McQueen’s 1971 Le Mans film.

Read more »

McLaren Updates MP4-12C GT3 Racer for 2013, WRC Champion Loeb to Compete in FIA GT


Non-motorsport fans may overlook racing versions of sports cars but the fact is, they make for a very lucrative business for automakers that, naturally, are very happy to put some effort into them.

Like Ferrari, Porsche and Mercedes-Benz, McLaren has developed a GT3-spec variant of its MP4-12C supercar that was supplied to 13 customer teams last year. In its inaugural season, the 12C GT3 took part in 98 separate events, mostly in Europe, and claimed 19 victories and a further 19 podium finishes.

Read more »

NAIAS 2013: Mazda6 Skyactiv-D Grand-Am Diesel-Powered Racer

Tuesday, January 15, 2013


When Audi wanted to showcase its TDI diesel technology, it chose to compete in the 2006 Le Mans 24-hour race with a diesel-powered prototype. It was a risky move, as the R10 TDI replaced the all-conquering gasoline-powered R8 that had five straight wins under its belt. The success of the R10, and later the R15, proved that Audi was right. Read more »

Caterham Launches a New and Affordable Kart Championship for Teens

Thursday, January 10, 2013


British parents looking to introduce their youngsters to the marvelous world of motorsports have a new option in the guise of Caterman's low-cost karting championship at the heart of which is the CK-01 kart, a prototype of which is on display at the AutoSport International at Birmingham’s NEC from January 10 to 13. Read more »

Austin F1 Fans Drank US$2.8 Million Worth of Alcohol, More Than Any Other Venue in Texas…

Wednesday, January 9, 2013


Last November, the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, hosted its inaugural Formula 1 race, which was also the penultimate event of the 2012 season. Austin was the 10th track to host the U.S. GP and it marked F1’s return in the country after a five-year absence.

According to the Texas comptroller’s office, the newly constructed circuit was also the state’s top seller of alcohol, i.e. beer, wine and mixed drinks, with US$2.8 million. Total alcohol sales in the city in November reached US$48.4 million, a 23 percent increase compared to November 2011.

Read more »

Disabled U.S. Marines Compete in the 2013 Dakar Rally

Monday, January 7, 2013


The world is full of remarkable people who, despite facing very difficult situations, not only come to grips with their hardship but also try to make the best of their lives.

Staff sergeant Mark Zambon was a U.S. Marines bomb technician deployed in Afghanistan. In January 2011, he lost both legs when a homemade bomb that he was trying to diffuse exploded.

Read more »

Honda Gets Super Busy for 2013 Tokyo Auto Salon with a Barrage of Concepts and Tuned Models

Wednesday, December 26, 2012


Honda will be unleashing a host of new production and prototype vehicles and motorcycles at Japan's largest aftermarket event, the Tokyo Auto Salon 2013 that runs from January 11 to Sunday, January 13, 2013.

The first car that caught our attention is the S2000 Modulo Climax study of Honda's roadster model that ceased production in 2009.

It's featured in a Candy Red paint and sports a newly designed front end with a chrome brace-like strip, a new rear bumper and a series of other customizations both inside and out.

As one of its newest model series, the "N" family of mini cars that includes the tall, van-like N BOX and N BOX + models and the retro-inspired N ONE hatch, will be under the spotlight, with Honda to display the cars dressed in both production and concept parts from the likes of its in-house tuners, Modulo and Mugen.

Read more »

One Ring to Crash Them All and Into Armco Bind Them: Watch 2012’s Nordschleife Accidents

Tuesday, December 25, 2012


There’s a very good reason why Jackie Stewart named the “old” Nürburgring the Green Hell and why Formula 1 doesn’t race there any more: it’s too bloody dangerous.

Still, the Nordschleife track hosts other race series up to this day and is the place where manufacturers hone their latest cars and advertise their lap times, while on certain dates, it is also open to the public. This means that anyone can pay the ticket and drive around the 20.8 km (12.9-mile) circuit.

Read more »

EVO Drag Races Shelby GT500 Mustang and Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Coupe

Wednesday, December 19, 2012


The Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Coupe and the Ford Shelby GT500 Mustang are two different cars from two separate schools of thought that we seriously doubt will ever be cross-shopped by consumers even in North America where they are both available. In Europe, even if one wanted to, you can't officially buy the Ford.

Despite their many differences, there's one thing that both cars lay claim to being good at: straight line acceleration, and it is this aspect of the two sports models that UK car magazine EVO set out to put to the test with a good ol' fashion drag race.

Read more »

How Red Bull Racing Bought Ford's F1 Failure for $1 and went on to Win 6 Titles

Sunday, December 16, 2012


The late legendary NASCAR racer and team owner Dale Earnhardt Sr. had famously said, “Second place is just the first place loser”. Sebastian Vettel, who on November 26 won his third consecutive Formula 1 world championship with Red Bull Racing (RBR), thinks along the same lines: “When you win, everything is crazy. When you lose, you have time for yourself, no one is interested”, he says.

Everyone is certainly interested in Vettel and Red Bull Racing, which also won its third constructors’ title in a row this season. What makes their accomplishments even more astonishing is the fact that the RBR team was formed in 2005 and its first win came in the 2009 Chinese Grand Prix.

Read more »

Total Pageviews