Racing Discussion Thread

The SRL Spears Southwest Tour season finale at Las Vegas will be televised on MAVTV!

SRL PR wrote:

Today, the SPEARS Southwest Tour Series is proud to announce additional prize money for positions second through fifth for the SPEARS Southwest Tour Series “Season Finale”. The November 17th event will pay $4,500 for second place, $2,500 for third place, $2,000 for fourth and $1,750 for the fifth place driver.

On August 10th it was announced that any driver that competes in the September 8th SPEARS Southwest Tour Series race at the Bullring, will be eligible for a $15,000 payday if they win the SPEARS Southwest Tour Series “Season Finale” in Las Vegas on November 17th. Any driver that competes in the upcoming “Century Boatland 125” on September 8th – will win $15,000 in prize money if they are the winner of the “Sigma Engineering Solutions 154” at the Bullring on November 17th.

The “Season Finale” on November 17th is shaping up to be one of the biggest events in Southwest Tour history. The event will feature, live pit stops, national television coverage and record prize money.

The final race of the SPEARS Southwest Tour Series, the “Sigma Engineering Solutions 154” will be the longest race of the 2012 season for the ‘Tour’, at 154 laps. The race will also boast the biggest purse in SPEARS Southwest Tour Series history.

MAVTV has already announced their plans to televise the event; additionally the teams will be allowed to make live pit stops to take on two additional right side tires during the 154-lap event.

“2012 has been a great year for the SPEARS Southwest Tour Series, and this event is going to be a great way to close out our season,” stated the SRL’s Larry Collins. “This year has been one of the most competitive fights for the championship in the series history, and it looks like the title will be decided by the outcome of the November 17th finale.”

Last year’s “Season Finale” was the first time the SPEARS Southwest Tour Series had ever made live pit stops, which was a big hit with both the race fans and the teams.

“We will use the same format as last year for the pit stops. Our goal with the live pit stops is to add that element of excitement for the fans and to get the entire team involved in the race,” added Collins. “Strategy will come into play with the extra set of right side tires available at the November 17th race.”

Next race for the SPEARS Southwest Tour Series is the Saturday, September 8th “Century Boatland 125” at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Speedcafe.com wrote:

A driver has been killed and his co-driver airlifted to hospital with serious injuries after an incident in the Supaloc Targa Adelaide today.

The lost control of his car and ran into a tree before chashing down an embankment on Main Road, Chandlers Hill, just after 1pm.

Family of the deceased driver is still to be notified.

A joint statement from event promotors Octagon and CAMS confirmed a driver has been killed.

The incident marks the third fatal crash in a rally based in Adelaide in the past 13 years.

In 2009, driver Gary Tierney and his navigator David Carrawere were killed after their Porsche careered into a tree during the Classic Adelaide rally at Forreston, in the Adelaide Hills.

In the rally’s inaugural year (1997), former Adelaide Grand Prix chairman Ian Cocks, 59, died after his Porsche burst into flames following a crash in the Adelaide Hills

R.I.P

My thoughts and prayers go out to the driver's and co-driver's family!

Looking like the CoTA V8SC date will be announced in the coming weeks. Looking like the weekend of the All-Star race. I think we will see a IndyCar date at CoTA in the coming years as well as rumored. More here!

Dunlop BTCC, 2013 Calendar (provisional):

Round, Date, Circuit, County
1, Sat 30/Sun 31 March, Brands Hatch Indy, Kent
2, Sat 20/Sun 21 April, Donington Park, Derbyshire/Leicestershire
3, Sat 4/Sun 5 May, Thruxton, Hampshire
4, Sat 8/Sun 9 June, Oulton Park, Cheshire
5, Sat 22/Sun 23 June, Croft, North Yorkshire
6, Sat 3/Sun 4 August, Snetterton, Norfolk
7, Sat 24/Sun 25 August, Knockhill, Fife
8, Sat 14/Sun 15 September, Rockingham, Northamptonshire
9, Sat 28/Sun 29 September, Silverstone, Northamptonshire
10, Sat 12/Sun 13 October, Brands Hatch Grand Prix, Kent

Global Rallycross has added a season finale. This will be at the SEMA Autoshow in Vegas on October 30th. They are still racing at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in September.

Pillbeam is looking at re-entering Le Mans in 2014 by introducing a new LMP2 car..Well..Not really new. It will be based off of the Pillbeam MP93 which last raced in 2005 in LMP2 in 2005.

It also appears that it will be announced Wednesday that ALMS and Grand-Am will merge into one series. That means that finally Sebring and Daytona will be in one series. I dont know how they are going to set the rules up. Unless you have LMP1, LMP2, LMPC, DP. DP cars are barely faster than ALMS GT cars.

DP regs will either be completely overhauled or done away with.

I hope so, but Grand-Am is gonna have bigger influence as the current Grand-Am people are looking likely to take over the new series.

Manufacturers will have the biggest influence. Chevrolet, BMW, Mazda, etc. would all throw a shitstorm if their Le Mans invitations and what not affected because Grand Am won't listen to the ACO/FIA

the merger seems like a good thing, It will be cool to have 1 big sports car racing series in the US with a 24, 12, 10, and 2 6 hour races in one series if that's how it goes.

IMO there should just be 1 LMP class, a DP class if they can make them a bit faster, and the 2 GT classes

Gil De Ferran has submitted a 2014 chassis proposal for Indy Lights!
http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/indycar-gil-de-ferran-submits-2014-indy-lights-bid/

I love that proposal, except for the rear wing. Doesn't really fit with the angular styling of the rest of the car.

Office Depot out at Stewart-Haas at the end of the season.

Paulie Harraka moving up to Nationwide with Go Green Racing starting at Richmond.

So that's at least two cautions guaranteed.

trbfan wrote:

Paulie Harraka moving up to Nationwide with Go Green Racing starting at Richmond.

RIP field.

Pastrana to race #60 Roush Fenway Ford at Richmond for NWS, WAT

inb4 Harrakka gets booted as soon as Josh Richards/Kyle Fowler find more $$$

Joe Gibbs Racing will have a press conference this afternoon. Penske is also expected to make a announcement as early as today.

AutoSport.com wrote:

Closed cockpits now appear to be inevitable in Formula 1, with technical chiefs set to ramp up efforts to bring them in following Fernando Alonso's lucky escape in the first lap crash at the Belgian Grand Prix.

Romain Grosjean's Lotus flew over the front of Alonso's cockpit in the pile-up, and it was fortunate that the Ferrari driver did not suffer any impact on his helmet.

The good fortune served to highlight the biggest weakness in the modern safety design of F1 cars, and comes as the FIA Institute and technical figures continue work on closed cockpit concepts.

McLaren technical director Paddy Lowe thinks the first corner crash will serve as a reminder about how important this work is and increase a push being made to change cockpit designs for as early as 2014.

"I think 2014 is intended, as we started the project a year ago," said Lowe, who has been involved in work on the cockpit project. "Personally I think something is inevitable because it is the one big [safety] exposure that we have got.

"You see it time and time again and think 'that was lucky'. One day it won't be lucky. At the same time it is an open cockpit formula so we have to protect that, but it should be technically possible one way or another."

Work on closed cockpits ramped up after the injuries that Felipe Massa suffered at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix when he was hit on the head by a car component, just a few days after Henry Surtees was killed in a Formula 2 race when he was struck by a wheel.

Lowe says that an initial focus on canopy protection has now been abandoned, with tests highlighting that a bar/cage type design is much better.

"We have made a test piece and it has been tested structurally with various impacts, like firing wheels at it, and that was successful.

"So we understand some of the parameters in terms of the angles that are needed and the strength of the pieces. The work that is currently in progress is assessing its visibility, and we've done some work on the simulator with our interpretation.

"Ideally a driver wants nothing in the way, but in the same way as you drive a road car or even the old VW camper van with the centre pillar, you just get used to it don't you? We found that as long as the pillars don't get too big it is something you can get used to.

"So we have some parameters about pillar size, and now we are looking at making something with that pillar size and to the right strength requirement."

Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali says that work on closed cockpits should not be rushed though, because there are numerous safety considerations needed.

"We were lucky because nothing happened to Fernando on the head," he said.

"We are working with the federation to work on the right system of protection, because on what we are testing and working on, there are also some problems that you may have - like moving the protection in the event of a fire or worse. So we need to be very careful on all these devices."

Looking like F1 is going to closed cockpits by 2014 at the latest. The canopy design has been scraped and going with a roll bar design(finally someone has thought of that again!). Remember that Mel Kenyon ran at Indy with a roll caged/closed cockpit version of his Eagle IndyCar chassis in 1974 in the practice sessions but didn't race it in the 500 due to it making the car unstable.

Rubens Barrichello wrote:

people are asking in case the Lotus F1 team[Renault] called me to race in Monza if I would go???the answer is YES...

Hmmmmm....... No conflict with Monza and Fontana, why not lol!

Godfather Motorsports wrote:

The VH1 cable network has recruited a number of current and former NASCAR wives to talk about their husbands, lives and careers as part of a new, NASCAR-themed reality TV show. While divulging few actual details of the project, Influence Entertainment Group producer LT Tottle confirmed today that her company is working on a new, NASCAR-themed reality program. "On the record, all I can tell you is that there is a project in the works," said Tottle today, adding that negotiations are ongoing with the VH-1 to select a title and decide how many episodes will be produced. "We have about eight different (show) names to choose from," she said. "We think one thing and the network thinks another. As of now, we're calling it, `Women Filming.' We want to have the show up and airing -- if not this fall -- by the beginning of 2013." She declined to name any of the show's subjects, but said she has, "approximately 10 women" committed to the project, including some current wives of NASCAR drivers. She confirmed that scenes have already been shot at an undisclosed location outside the Charlotte, NC, area. "I'd call (our roster) a combination of current and former spouses of NASCAR drivers," said VH1's Tottle. "I have a lot of friends from the sport, and we got together to put together a reality show and see how it works." While she has not spoken with NASCAR or informed them of the project, Tottle said she expects the sanctioning body's reaction to be "really good. I have no intention of painting anything other than the positives of the sport," she said. "I don't think it's going to portray anything other than that. I know it'll be very positive."

wat

racer612008 wrote:

Looking like F1 is going to closed cockpits by 2014 at the latest. The canopy design has been scraped and going with a roll bar design(finally someone has thought of that again!). Remember that Mel Kenyon ran at Indy with a roll caged/closed cockpit version of his Eagle IndyCar chassis in 1974 in the practice sessions but didn't race it in the 500 due to it making the car unstable.

And on the topic of Indy Cars with roll cages! I really think they could work now since that both F1 and IndyCar have air boxes on the cars now. I think if they do it right, it would work fine with the aero. I don't really like the canopy design. It's cool and all, it would work good with aero but it would be a deathtrap if the car was on fire if you couldn't open it.


Bruce Walkup in 1970 at Indy


Junior Johnson in 1963 at Indy (Yes, Junior did race IndyCars a time or 2 but didn't like it without the roof over his head)

It's official. Kenseth to JGR in the #20. Sponsors are Dollar General and Home Depot as well as others yet to be announced, Crew Chief is Ratcliff. Contract terms not announced.

Joe Gibbs Racing wrote:

HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. (September 4, 2012) – Joe Gibbs Racing announces today that 2003 NASCAR Cup Series Champion and two-time Daytona 500 winner, Matt Kenseth, has signed with the team to drive the No. 20 Toyota Camry with sponsorship from Dollar General and The Home Depot starting in 2013.



“We are thrilled to be able to officially announce Matt will join Joe Gibbs Racing starting at the conclusion of this season,” said Joe Gibbs, owner of Joe Gibbs Racing. “Everyone knows what he has accomplished in our sport as a champion and a consistent winner. He is well respected in the garage and his experience and knowledge will be extremely beneficial to our entire organization, especially Denny and Kyle.”

Kenseth is currently third in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings with a win, nine top-five and 14 top-ten finishes thus far this season. Over the course of his career he has won a total of 22 Cup races while earning 122 top-five and 223 top-ten finishes.

“I’m excited to announce what the next chapter in my career will be,” said Kenseth. “I remain totally committed to this season and working with my current team toward a championship and having this settled will only help my focus. JGR is an impressive organization with tremendous leadership and strong support from sponsors like Dollar General and The Home Depot. I’m very fortunate to have the opportunity to move from one great situation into another starting in 2013.”

A Wisconsin native, Kenseth started his racing career at the age of 16 and was an instant success winning his first feature race in just his third outing. By the age of 19 he was winning races across the state of Wisconsin and in 1994 he would become the youngest driver to win the Slinger Nationals, one of the most prestigious short track races in the country. From there he would successfully move through the ranks of the NASCAR All-Pro Series (1995), USAR Pro Cup Series (1996) and American Speed Association (1997).

He would make his debut in the NASCAR Nationwide Series in 1997 and run his first full season in the Series in 1998. He has 248 career Nationwide Series starts with 26 wins, 118 top-five, and 168 top-ten finishes. 1998 would also mark his Cup Series debut, but Kenseth would not run his first full season until 2000 when he would also win his first race on the premier level of the sport and go on to earn Rookie of the Year honors.

Kenseth would win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship in 2003 with an impressive season that included one win, 11 top-five and a career-high 25 top-ten finishes. He took the points lead following the fourth week of the season and held it over the next 33 weeks en route to the Championship. He won The Daytona 500 in 2009 and repeated the feat again this past February.

Matt and his wife Katie live in the Charlotte area with their two daughters. His son Ross currently attends Clemson University and is racing competitively as well. "

Magnus Racing and Black Swan Racing have combined forces..And they have put out the best Press Release of all time.

Quote :

Salt Lake City, UT (September 4, 2012)- Following several weeks of quiet and closed conversations, excluding even their own employees and vendors, Magnus Racing, a premier GT team in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series, and Black Swan Racing, a two-time GT-Challenge Champion in the American Le Mans Series, may have an announcement together at this weekend’s Continental Tire Sports Car Festival at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

With very little going on in the world of professional sportscar racing these days, the possibility of the two teams merging together seemed like a good opportunity for headlines, even if very little is worked out between the two teams. With fans at the core interest of both Magnus Racing Team Owner John Potter and Black Swan Racing Team Owner Tim Pappas, the decision to discuss merging seemed like an ideal fit.

"Last week, if I saw Tim Pappas drowning, I would have thrown him an anchor,” stated Potter. “Now, I look forward to our kids playing together one day...he's really an awesome guy who I have always respected."

“I know in the past that I’ve said John Potter’s only interest in sportscar racing is to keep my team from succeeding,” replied Pappas. “But now that I’ve had time to reflect, and a possibility to sell, John Potter really is just a guy who likes racing. Really, he’s not the backwards redneck that myself and all of our fans have claimed.”

While the two teams in principle seem to want to run together as one awesome Porsche team, there remain many details to work out.

“The problem here is philosophy,” stated John Potter. “Fans want to see Porsches they can relate to. That’s why we run five lugnuts on our wheels.”

“John Potter is completely wrong about this,” stated Pappas. “Fans don’t want Porsches they can relate to, they want more awesomer Porsches. That’s why our Porsches ran center-lock wheels.”

With neither party willing to accept that, perhaps, fans just like Porsches, there remain many other complications between the two teams.

“Then there’s the video package,” stated Pappas. “Our Black Swan videos only run on Vimeo. Sure, less people are inclined to watch videos on Vimeo, but the quality of the video is much, much higher.”

“Putting your videos on Vimeo makes no sense,” replied Potter. “No sponsor wants to hear his videos are only on Vimeo. Videos have to be on YouTube, that’s what people are watching. We have up to 90 hits on some of our videos, whereas Black Swan only gets 70 hits. That’s 20 more people! No wonder sponsors are having such a hard time with them.”

While the technology and video package create a major difference of philosophies between the two teams, there still remain a number of other obstacles with a prospective merger.

For example, Black Swan Racing seems to really enjoy promoting its European feel with a driver like Jeroen Bleekemolen (from the Netherlands). As a team that once ran Porsches, the organization feels it should stick to its philosophy of European co-drivers.

Magnus Racing, however, feels that the road racing in the US needs to ignore its European roots and stick to an all-American theme, as demonstrated with driver Andy Lally.

“It’s simple, American fans want American drivers,” continued Potter. “I don’t even know where Holland is, nor do I speak Hollish.”

“Typical Potter-style thinking,” replied Pappas. “I’m telling you, there’s a conspiracy with the Potter’s to kill road racing.”

Then there’s the issue of what to call this merged team.

With the idea of “Black Magnus” being immediately discarded because “it sounds oddly racist,” the team has struggled where best to go with the name.

“I will not allow Magnus Racing to fall under the Black Swan name,” stated Potter. “Yes, there is a great tradition in that name. That name has great history in Europe, it even won an Oscar, but no. This is America.”

“No one knows what the hell Magnus is,” retorted Pappas. “Why wouldn’t they just adopt a name that is both World Class and well known? Plus, ummm, Natalie Portman.”

With neither team willing to compromise, it is possible they may just completely rename themselves. One insider suggests the team may just rename itself to “ChampCar.”

With a merger between the two teams imminent, neither team are willing to comment on the proposed schedule they’d like to run. While one would hope they’ll run the signature events of either series, this will no doubt be an endless process filled with several layers of complications.

Perhaps the most eagerly awaited moment of the proposed merger will be the endless articles that journalists will write about this, expounding on their profound editorial columns on how to save the sportscar world, with little insight on the economic and political realities of either team.

Whatever the outcome, both teams look forward to working together, and just hope the best interest of the fans and sportscar community at large is looked after.

For those who have no idea what the heck this article is all about, be sure to tune in tomorrow to GRAND-AM.com, speedtv.com, or turn on SPEED at 10AM ET.

Otherwise, see everyone at Laguna Seca! The race will be this Sunday, September 9, with live coverage at 3PM ET on SPEED.