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Audi is on the pole for the 24 Heures Du Mans (24 Hours of Le Mans). This is the showcase race that shares the name with the series for France, Europe and even the American Le Mans Series. This French race has been one of the centers of racing lore and history for decades.
These Germans have had a long history with Le Mans, including the pole and the win for 2011 at this race with their TDI R18. For 2012, they have taken the pole with a hybrid. A hybrid!! (more…)
Southside Virginia has been hosting some classes with a fast learning curve. Drivers and teams are finding the ins, the outs, the tricks and the lines for the picturesque straights and turns of Virginia International Raceway.
American Le Mans will be racing here in September. Five classes of cars ranging from custom shell prototypes to modified production touring cars will be mixing it up among the trees and the twists when they pull off the grid with the green flag. As this will be their first race at VIR the teams are anxious for track time to find all they can about how to get around as fast as possible. With long straight runs, hard braking, downhill bends and some narrow sections the challenge of driving here is multiplied many times with unfamiliarity.
With that in mind, ALMS has paid a few visits to VIR with a variety of their series to find what all the fuss is about concerning this road course in Virginia. NASCAR tests here. Grand-Am has raced here. SCCA and AMA race here. Movie, TV and music stars have driven here. All have fond words of praise for the experience. Now, American Le Mans takes their turn with a first visit as part of the 2012 race schedule. (more…)
Lewis Hamilton should be on TV selling tires. Because of Formula 1 licensing and sponsorships, they would likely have to be Pirelli tires. All they need for a 60 second spot are some video clips of the Canadian Grand Prix and a female voice-over.
Yes, a female. Practically any of the Pirelli girls from the starting grid will do. Men will watch a pretty girl talk about anything. Women will listen because they are tired of their husbands telling them anything.
Hamilton won in Canada after a pit on lap 50, coming out in 3rd and passing the leaders within the remaining 20 laps for the win. This was the seventh race of the season and makes Hamilton the seventh race winner. He also takes over the driver points lead… Just barely. Two points separate him from 2nd place overall held by Fernando Alonso.
All of that is detail and not necessary for the commercial. (more…)
Racing at Pocono shook things up a bit. Early crashes, points lead change, pit road police…
Good racing at Pocono with Joey Logano taking the pole and the win for the day… Seventeen lead changes… Greg Biffle had some engine issues with a lazy cylinder and fell back off the points lead after finishing midpack.
Early laps saw loose cars in turn 3. The new surface at Pocono raised questions on set-ups, speed and handling and the start of the race saw turn 3 serve up some free tickets to a slip-n-slide.
Landon Cassill went for a slide and AJ Allmendinger was caught up on the first lap. At the 13th lap, J.J. Yeley, Reed Sorenson and Tony Raines took the ride and beat up some sheet metal.
However, it was pit road that made for many surprises until drivers began to bite the brake and just roll with it as best they could. The re-surfacing at Pocono also did a number on the speed markers along pit road and caught many drivers with penalties. It was as if they set a speed trap just outside of town after a big party at the local hot spot… (more…)
NASCAR and the races have been taking a little fan heat with talk of not enough excitement.
There is not enough close racing. They aren’t bumping and banging like they used to. There isn’t enough action.
Yeah yeah yeah….
Driver’s want to finish. Owners want to finish. Sponsors don’t want their logo in the garage and out of the spotlight. The points are tight.
Yeah yeah yeah…
Well fans, we give you Dover. A big smash up, some engines blow, a pit action near miss, Johnson in clown hair…
What more do you want? (more…)
The Grand-Am ROLEX racing has come down to a classic American rivalry. It appears as if the “Chevy vs. Ford” argument is being played out on the course from race to race with Chevy and those new Corvette styled Daytona Prototypes placing some good punches.
Ford and Starworks Motorsport are leading the Driver and Team points marks while Chevy has the manufacturer’s lead. Ford swept the top 3 at the ROLEX 24 with Starworks sandwiched between the Fords of Michael Shank Racing. However, from that point on to just this last race in Detroit, the Chevy teams have taken the top spot on the podium.
Will the “Corvettes” dominate for the rest of the season? Will the Ford folks fight back? Can Chip Ganassi hold on while clinging to BMW power?
It does have to be difficult for the BMW / Ganassi Racing teams being the lone guns up against a field overrun by Detroit muscle. They get little sympathy from the Ford teams as the Corvette DP teams are running the show with four consecutive wins following the Daytona opener. (more…)
You would think the folks from MUFON should be getting calls from Southside Virginia as the area just east of Danville and a rock throw from the North Carolina line was occupied by “greys” and UFOs. The UFOs, or “Unidentified Fast Objects”, were hypothetically occupied and operated by NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide series drivers. The “greys”, in this particular context, were often seen moving about in the larger groups of UFOs…
An invasion it may have been but it was not extraterrestrial. For several years, NASCAR teams descend on Virginia International Raceway and take over the rolling, countryside road course to test their ability to build cars that can, amazing as it may sound, turn right as well as left. This visit to VIR has become somewhat of a tradition as the season winds close to the road courses of Sonoma and Watkins Glen. NASCAR rules and regs do not allow teams to test set-ups at “sanctioned” tracks (as in the ones they will be racing on) except on specified times and days associated with the race schedule at that venue. However, there is no such rule concerning testing at a facility that is, in many ways, very similar to the sanctioned and scheduled raceways.
Open the gates and man the flag stations, we’re making right turns in 750 horsepower machines that have the handling characteristics of a lead-lined brick. (more…)