EYE CANDY // EVERYBODY LOVES AN E-TYPE

The car featured above, a 1962 Jaguar E-Type driven by Steve Tandy, raced in the Masters GT class during last months Nurburgring Oldtimer Grand Pix 2010. This bit of Eye Candy comes to us courtesy of Jurrie Vanhalle. Click here for additional images from the Nurburgring Oldtimer Grand Pix // [comment]

GEAR // FERRARI VIRTUAL ACADEMY 2010

On September 9th, for only $19.11, you will be able to download Ferrari's new online driving simulator, the Ferrari Virtual Academy. Developed with the assistance of the Scuderia Ferrari racing team, the new simulator will allow players to drive the company's F10 on three circuits: Fiorano, Mugello and the famed Nürburgring. According to our sources, the package being released on September 9th is nothing more than the first of many, with more circuits and additional cars becoming available later in the year // [comment]

UNION RULES? // DRIFTING @ GATEWAY INTERNATIONAL

I love to watch drifting. There is something so appealing to me about the skill required to control these tire shredding, smoke belching monsters that fascinates me. Every event I attend I learn something new and it just makes me want to learn more. I don’t know if I’ll ever cross the line to do it though.

At first I thought it just took big power and bigger cojones, to slide these cars around inches from the wall at triple digit speeds. Like all forms of motorsport I learned there is a lot more involved then a fast car and hand eye coordination. Power and a slight lack of self preservation doesn’t hurt... [read more]

I recently attended the Midwest Drift Union event held at Gateway International Road Course. This “roval” offers 7 turns of infield corners ranging from ‘esses’ to a big old carousel that the drivers get to slide around on, and slide they did! Some quite majestically, trailing billowing clouds of tire smoke while shrieking engines let out their cries. Others not so elegantly slid off the track, into the tire barriers or off into the grass. Nothing that more zip ties or less body panels couldn’t fix

The on track action was as varied as the cars themselves. From the usual drifting staples of 240sx, AE86 and RX7s to the more unique Toyota Chaser, Lexus IS300 and Supercharged 350z. My personal favorites however were a toss up between the matte black, V8 Powered 240 that really has to be heard to be believed (Imagine a Le Mans C7R Corvette motor in a rather beat up shell….awesome), or the Stillen Supercharged 350Z with its distinct blower whine that left dense trails of smoke in its wake.

There were also some, shall we say, questionable things I saw this weekend. Some simply noteworthy, others in my opinion flat out dangerous.

The 240sx that was missing a third of its body structure, fenders, hood and bumpers really made the Tech inspector inside me cringe.

When I arrived at the track I watched the driver “massage” a bumper beam with a hammer so it could be affixed to the car with 2 bolts. This was supposed to absorb a rear impact? If that was the case what was to protect the gas tank, the rear diff? Noteworthy, but quite amusing to watch as it slid around the track.

More serious was the total lack of safety exhibited by people in the infield and the lack of corner Marshals with flags & fire-bottles. Maybe this was just the “Union Rules” for this group, but as a Driver I would expect manned corner stations with safety equipment.

Emphasizing this point was the yellow 240 that had to stop at corner station with smoke pouring from under his hood. The driver stopped, jumped out and proceeded to rip his hood from the car while looking around for a fire crew. After he had run back to the cabin for his fire extinguisher, the on-track fire truck had started to drive over to him. We’re all told when starting out in motorsports that if you have a situation, try to get to a corner station for help, but what do you do when no one is there?

The day had started with a very stern, and to me, very unprofessional, safety lecture for for the “media”. Those of us who cover motorsport events accept and assume there is danger in what we do, its part of the gig. What I do not accept is that any joe who wanted to walk into the infield and setup a camera ON the FIA curbing or lean ONTO the track in front of cars is considered OK. I saw a videographer almost get clipped by a car while standing on the curbing, at the apex, with his camera to his face. He laughed and said it was because he knew the driver…really? I know a lot of people at the events locally, none of them try to hit me. Oddly enough he wasn’t at the “media” meeting.

Of all the events I have been to at tracks across the Midwest, I have never seen a portable gas grill ON the safety wall separating portions of the track! If you want to BBQ go someplace that lacks the chance of a car hitting you, again people not at the “media” meeting. Other antics included spectators track side, on the infield jumping up and down waving their arms at the drivers they knew. Most would consider this distracting, or misleading behavior. Personally if I came around an apex sideways with my foot down and saw that, I would assume something was wrong and hit the binders. Maybe this has to do with the lack of flagmen as well?

I don’t know where the blame falls for the lack of safety. Either way we are fortunate nothing serious happened, at the end of the day everyone drove home. Next time this circus comes to town, I’m staying home and playing with old dynamite… its just as safe.

Click here for additional images.

Photo/Editorial: Shawn Manny

EYE CANDY // AN M3 EVERYDAY

What can be better than a race prepped BMW M3? Well in our opinion just about nothing. This fine example of Bavarian splendour from the UK CSL Cup Series reminds us just why we call it ThreeSeriesThursday. But we're beginning to think it should be called ThreeSeriesEveryday! // [comment]

NEWS // U.S. GRAND PRIX CIRCUIT UNVEILED

The group responsible for bringing Formula One back to the United States has just unveiled the track layout for the forthcoming Formula 1 United States Grand Prix. The new 3.4-mile circuit, which will play host to the U.S. Grand Prix from 2012 through 2021, was designed by Herman Tilike and features 30 turns, 133 feet of elevation change and a 0.75-mile long straightaway. So with construction scheduled to begin shortly, be sure and stay tuned for additional information as it becomes available.

Follow the link for the official press release... [read more]



Formula 1 United States Grand Prix™ Race Track Revealed
Austin, Texas track to excite Formula 1 fans, new and old

The team responsible for bringing Formula 1 racing back to the United States is pleased to reveal the track layout for the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix™ in Austin, Texas. Set to host the race from 2012 to 2021, Austin, Texas has proven to be an ideal location for Formula 1 racing in more ways than one. The natural landscape and elevation of Austin has allowed Tilke GmbH to design a one-of-a-kind track.

Members of the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix™ team feel that racing fans the world over will share their excitement as the track details are revealed. “In the modern era of Grand Prix racing, I think this track layout and topography will be very special,” said Tavo Hellmund, Chairman of Formula 1 United States Grand Prix™. “It will have many of the elements of previous 'classic' circuits combined with the benefits of FIA-mandated safety for the competitors and spectators alike. Add in the amenities fans have come to expect, like rare, multiple-turn viewing opportunities for added value, and you have an ideal, world-class venue.”

“For the competitors, we'll have all the ingredients necessary,” Hellmund said. “You'll see fast turns that require commitment from the drivers and technical turns that will test the engineers from a set-up point of view. We have a good deal of elevation to make it not only scenic but challenging also, and the view of downtown Austin is wonderful as well.”

With a complete length of 3.4 miles, the track combines modern features with details reminiscent of traditional races from the 1960's. The surrounding landscape will allow for a maximum elevation change of 133 feet, and the strategic combination of over 20 turns will please drivers and fans alike.

Complete details of the track layout can be found in the attached documents, which include an image of the track layout and a 3D version of changes in elevation. Details of the master plan and facilities will be revealed in the coming months.

Click here for a closer look at the new circuit.

Image and Info: Formula1UnitedStates
Editorial: Justin W. Coffey

PREVIEW // AYRTON SENNA DOCUMENTARY

According to our sources, the first official feature-length film highlighting the life and times of Formula One legend, Ayrton Senna, is scheduled to be released sometime this fall. The film, which will be titled Senna, is backed by the FIA, the Senna family and the Ayrton Senna Foundation, and will chronicle his career in F1 and his untimely death at the age of 34. Certainly a must see for any motorsport fan // [comment]

BTCC // SERIES HEADS TO SCOTLAND

This weekend will see Britain’s most popular motor racing series head north of the English border into Scotland. The short but extremely challenging Knockhill circuit plays host once more to the touring car series as the title fight for the 2010 crown is set to become ever more intense. With the top 4 drivers separated at the top of the championship standings by just 33 points the 3 races around the tricky Scottish circuit are likely to be pivotal in the chase for tin top glory... [read more]

Current series leader Jason Plato who lost ground to the chasing pack last time out at Silverstone looks upon the Scottish circuit as one of the best places anywhere to get up close and personal with the current BTCC stars and machinery commenting, “Knockhill is probably the ultimate BTCC circuit. Consider what the BTCC is all about – close, competitive, bumper-to-bumper, rubbing panels, going for the big moves and putting on a show for the public. If you were to sit down and dream up a circuit for the BTCC then Knockhill is probably it."

“It’s a fantastic challenge for the drivers and a fantastic arena for people who love any sport to come and watch. The public can literally smell the action. A few other circuits around the UK allow the crowds to get as close in some areas but not all the way round like Knockhill. It retains a real ‘old school’ feel to it and unlike other circuits hasn’t been toned down.

“The atmosphere is also something else – the Knockhill crowd have a great sense of humour and plenty of opinions! But the BTCC at Knockhill is also one of those events that motor sport fans, wherever they’re from in the UK, need to tick off. It’s just a great excuse to jump in the car with three mates, drive up and make a big weekend of it.”

After their stunning performance at Silverstone where the Team Aon Ford's took all three race wins both Tom Onslow-Cole and Tom Chilton will be hoping for more of the same but may well find that the tighter nature of the Knockhill circuit could well negate the extra torque advantage of their LPG Turbo engines.

Chilton however points to other factors that he believes have given the Arena Motorsport prepared cars their recent pace, “I’m going to change the press after Silverstone", said Chilton, "I’m now praying for circuits with short straights. Our cars don’t have mega ‘top end’ performance anymore." The double race winner last time out went on to add "I don’t think Knockhill will be so bad. It’s a tight, twisty circuit and although the LPG technology means we’ve had extra weight to carry the progress we made with the chassis at Silverstone makes me feel quite confident. On top of that, giving us a smaller restrictor on the engine has actually improved the car’s engine braking.

“There are also several uphill sections out of corners at Knockhill and the torque we have in the engine should be good for us. But we might be at a disadvantage when we start using the kerbs which you have to at Knockhill. That gives you wheelspin and with our engine that starts sprawling the turbo up a bit for us so it might require a slightly different application on the throttle.

“I actually think out of the three circuits left that Donington will be the hardest circuit for us because it has got long straights.”

Team Honda driver and race instructor at the Scottish circuit Gordon Shedden believes this weekend's 3 races could go a long way in shaping the title fight for the last two meetings of 2010, "We’re at the stage where the championship fight starts to get a bit more dramatic, said Shedden, " After Knockhill we’ve only Donington Park and Brands Hatch to sort it all out, so this weekend is going to be very important to those still in the hunt. We’ve just got what are possibly our worst two circuits out of the way but are still in touch with the leaders and now comes Knockhill, which is a circuit that we believe will be much better for the Honda. It’s twisty and up and down – a bit like a rollercoaster ride but you don’t know if you’re ever going to reach the end. The Honda is fantastic on the brakes and cornering so hopefully it’s our kind of territory.”

Adult raceday tickets cost £27 whilst admission for children aged eight and under is free.

Tickets can be pre-ordered right up to Friday 3rd September at www.knockhill.com or by phone on 01383 723337

Editorial/Photo: Neil Tozer

PHOTO GALLERY // SUPER GT @ SUZUKA (PART TWO)

As promised, here are the rest of the photos from ColdTrackDays correspondent, Masaaki Kitagawa's, visit to the 39th Pokka GT Summer Special, what was the sixth round of the 2010 AUTOBACS Super GT Series, held on August 22nd at the Suzuka Circuit... [read more]





























Photo(s): Masaaki Kitagawa
Editorial: Justin W. Coffey

PHOTO GALLERY // SUPER GT @ SUZUKA (PART ONE)

I know it's a bit late, but ColdTrackDays correspondent, Masaaki Kitagawa, just sent us a handful of images from Round 6 of the 2010 AUTOBACS Super GT Series held at the famed Suzuka Circuit. Follow the link for a look and be sure and stay tuned for part two... [read more]































Photo(s): Masaaki Kitagawa
Editorial: Justin W. Coffey

VIDEO // DIRT FISH RALLY SCHOOL

We'd like to introduce everyone to the DirtFish Rally School. Scheduled to open sometime next month, DirtFish will offer students the chance to drive Group N Subaru Imprezas built by Vermont Sports Cars, the same guys that build and run cars for Travis Pastrana and Dave Mirra in the Rally America series. Equipped with Ohlins suspension, rally tires, and OMP safety equipment, students will pilot the rally-prepped Imprezas around nearly 300 acres in an area they have dubbed the Old Mill Rally Park, located just 30 minutes east of Seattle. DirtFish will have both one and three day courses available, with an introductory price of only $895 for their '1-Day Intro to Rally Driving' course. Click here for additional information // [comment]

MotoGP // DECISIVE PEDROSA WIN @ INDIANAPOLIS

MotoGP racing made its way back to the U.S. for the second and final time in 2010 for round 11 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Jorge Lorenzo came into the weekend in first position, where he has been since race number two at Jerez, his lead at 77 points over second-place Dani Pedrosa. Lorenzo has indicated that he is now riding with the overall championship in mind and not individual race wins. This will presumably mean a more conservative Lorenzo giving other riders a chance at winning races... [read more]

One issue that emerged over the weekend’s practice sessions was the condition of the track. The MotoGP layout at Indy utilizes part of the oval straight, part of the old F1 layout and newer sections built in 2007 to accommodate GP bikes. This makes for a patchwork of different surfaces, the transitions between which are sometimes less than optimal for motorcycles. To make matters worse, certain sections of track have developed some nasty bumps that took down some of the best GP riders including Stoner, Hayden, Spies and, most surprisingly, Valentino Rossi on three different occasions. Nobody seems to be able to recall Rossi falling three times in a single weekend. Needless to say, many riders are calling for Indianapolis to repave a few sections before next year’s race.

Ben Spies ticked off another first in his MotoGP career by snatching pole position in a qualifying session that saw a few riders go down and some others fail to live up to expectations. Still, a rookie putting a satellite bike in pole position is no small feat. It begs the question of whether or not Yamaha has begun throwing more factory team-level parts at Spies in anticipation of his move into Rossi’s ride there next year. Either way, he seems to be reaffirming the wisdom of the decision to bring him up for 2011. The starting grid was as follows: Spies, Lorenzo, Hayden, Dovizioso, Pedrosa, Stoner, Rossi, Simoncelli, Edwards, Capirossi, Bautista, Melandri, Aoyama, Espargaro, Kallio, Barbera, De Puniet.

Spies got a dream start from pole, beating the pack into turn one, while Jorge Lorenzo reverted to his old ways and dropped like a stone back to fifth place. Between those two were Andrea Dovizioso, Nicky Hayden and Dani Pedrosa, who failed to achieve one of his miracle starts. Following Lorenzo was Rossi, Simoncelli, Melandri, Stoner and Edwards rounding out the top ten. They would cross the line for the first time in this order, with Spies looking to pull a small gap over Dovizioso. On lap two, Lorenzo began to put pressure on Pedrosa but Dani responded by shooting past Hayden. This gave Pedrosa a bit of breathing room to catch the front two while Lorenzo was left to grapple with Hayden. It took Lorenzo a little less than a lap to pass Nicky and hunt Pedrosa down. Meanwhile, Stoner had just passed Simoncelli for eighth, setting his sights on Melandri who promptly lowsided out of his 200th GP start.

On the same lap, Hayden, while chasing Lorenzo, had ripped his left-hand knee slider off in a turn. He desperately tried to reapply it to his leathers while going down the front straight, to no avail. This was particularly worrisome for his race as Indy is mostly left-hand turns, meaning he would have to take the majority of the corners without the aid of his knee slider. Pedrosa now got past Dovizioso early into lap four and began to hunt Spies while Rossi took advantage of Hayden’s troubles to move into fifth, Stoner would follow on lap six. Lap eight saw Pedrosa pass Spies on the front straight and begin his unstoppable march to the win. It also saw Stoner crash out into turn eleven just as he was closing in on Rossi. The excitement was now in watching Lorenzo stalk Dovizioso for the remaining podium spot, which he did going into the first turn of lap twelve. His delay in passing Dovizioso effectively put him out of reach in catching Spies, let alone Pedrosa. This order would stand at the front until lap 20, when Rossi got past Dovizioso, whose tires were beginning to give him trouble. There would be little more action in the remaining eight laps, save for Hector Barbera putting in a very hard pass on Capirossi in one of the final corners of the race.

This weekend marked the first time Dani Pedrosa has won more than two races in a season at the top level of GP racing. It was also Ben Spies’ first pole position and first second place in MotoGP. A win for Spies this season doesn’t seem too far-fetched. It was also Lorenzo’s first race of the season where he didn’t come first or second, he is only the third rider ever to have come first or second in the first ten races of the season, behind Agostini and Doohan. Even so, it will still take a massive streak of bad results for the title to slip away from him. Rossi’s fourth place finish, while not where he wanted to be, was a great showing after the terrible sessions he had leading up to the race. The other unsung winner of the weekend was Alvaro Bautista who came in eighth place (he missed seventh by only 0.08 sec). Bautista has been plagued by falls, injuries and the mediocre performance of this year’s Suzuki. Hopefully results like this will convince Suzuki to pour some money and resources into its MotoGP effort instead of pulling out after 2011, as some fear.

2010 Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix // Final Results:

1. Dani Pedrosa 47m31.615s
2. Ben Spies 47m35.190s
3. Jorge Lorenzo 47m38.427s
4. Valentino Rossi 47m44.248s
5. Andrea Dovizioso 47m53.500s
6. Nicky Hayden 48m06.753s
7. Marco Simoncelli 48m08.355s
8. Alvaro Bautista 48m08.440s
9. Aleix Espargaro 48m16.520s
10. Hector Barbera 48m22.983s
11. Loris Capirossi 48m27.001s
12. Hiroshi Aoyama 48m29.518s
13. Randy De Puniet 48m35.754s

DNF

Mika Kallio
Colin Edwards
Casey Stoner
Marco Melandri

On a note unrelated to MotoGP, 13-year-old Peter Lenz, riding in a US Grand Prix Union race at Indianapolis on Sunday morning, crashed and was run over by another rider during the warm-up lap. He was pronounced dead soon after at a local hospital. While everyone involved in racing knows the risks involved, it’s heart-wrenching to see someone, especially someone that young, suffer something like that. Condolences to his family and friends.

Photo: Mirco Lazzari via Autoblog
Editorial: Jeff Winterberg