2011 Mercedes-Petronas F1 car; deconstructed with great delight!
src: mbca
Category Archives: sports
Vettel/A110 photoshoot.
The photos here have been REMOVED due to their unoriginal effects as I was informed by the photographer (Anke Luckmann). The ORIGINAL PHOTOS have now been uploaded into a new post, thanks to Ms. Anke Luckmann for sending me her original versions of these photos:
http://iedei.wordpress.com/2012/04/23/vettel-alpine-a110-updated-with-original-photos/
video of the day. 2012 Sebring 12 hours.
DRIVE has done a fantastic job editing this……these days, my absolute favourite form of motorsport is endurance racing……watch this 15 minutes and you’ll see why!
the first quattro rally car.
Octane has taken some cool photos of the first rally spec 1980 Ur quattro prototype rally car….although the car needs more dirt on it!
src: more pics and read the great write-up about the car at Octane
Sebring 12 Hours Race: Streaming live online.
Audi qualified 1-2-3 for this with the glorious R18. There are 9+ hours left in the race, so go to ESPN3 to watch this live now!
Make sure you select the “ALMS” race on the right hand menu.
Embrace the weird: Nissan Deltawing.
and YES this is going to be running in the 2012 Le Mans as an experimental prototype, unclassified in any class per se. I have to say that aside from how hideous it is—I will be very excited to see this freakshow rummaging through the field at Le Mans! Let’s just hope it doesn’t cause any accidents….and take over Ferrari’s role of poor driving.
Can it even bloody steer!? see the videos at the bottom to find out..
from Nissan:
“A highly-advanced and hugely-efficient Nissan engine will power the remarkable DeltaWing car as it races in anger for the first time at the legendary Le Mans 24 Hours (16-17 June).
While Nissan DeltaWing will not be classified in the 2012 Le Mans 24 Hours, the Company is looking to showcase the pioneering technology that will show one potential direction for the future of motorsport and will feed into the research and development of future technologies, that filter down to Nissan’s road car product range.
A race-prepared 1.6-litre four-cylinder engine, featuring direct petrol injection and a turbocharger, will power Nissan DeltaWing, which is half the weight and has half the aerodynamic drag of a conventional racer.“
videos:
src: prwire via l’endurance
quattro returns to racing! Audi R18 e-Tron quattro.
I’m so excited about this; the next Le Mans is going to be absolutely wicked! Audi today introduced the latest variation of last year’s Le Mans winning R18, the R18 e-Tron quattro, marking the first AWD race car entry by Audi in a looooooong time. This is a complicated drivetrain, with electric motors driving the front wheels, and the diesel motor driving the rear wheels—-with variation between them, so the front wheels serve as stabilizers depending on when the electric motor is on and what direction the car is turning in. Surely this has added weight as well, but it will be fascinating to watch the TDI R18s running simultaneously with the e-tron R18 quattros! As with most street and prior race-spec’d Audis….the grip gained by quattro will likely make up for any weight difference.
src: Audi
Audi R8 wins the 12 hours of Bathurst.
Audi entered 3 cars into the 12 hours of Bathurst this year, and the #1 car came out on top after pouring rain and a kangaroo crossing the track! These R8 LMS specially put forth for Bathurst looks sweeeeet!
Photos and videos:
Official 2 part video:
src: Audi Sport
Lotus return to rally with the Lotus Exige R-GT
I cannot wait to see Lotus entering this into the 2012 FIA WRC GT class, and although Lotus still hasn’t officially begun its season with this rally version of the Exige, they claim it will enter in competition for this 2012 season at some point.
Claudio Berro, Group Lotus’ Director of Motorsport, said: “When you consider that we’ve only began working on this car in July, I think what we’ve achieved in that time has been incredible. For me the Exige S makes the perfect GT rally car, it has an awesome 3.5-litre, supercharged engine, and we’ve managed to balance the weight perfectly to meet the minimum weight regulations.
365hp, to be exact! Wicked.
Video:
src: Lotus
foto of the day. 205 GTI
Is this the best looking hot hatch ever made? I am starting to think so…
the Peugeot 205 GTI, photographed by Autostyle
foto of the day. 700 RS.
Tagged 1959, 1961, 1965, bmw 700 rs, hans stuck
National Geographic: Ranks Le Mans #1 sporting event in the world!
National Geographic recently ranked the greatest sporting events in the world. What do you think they ranked #1? LE MANS!!
“Skill, speed, and stamina are the three s’s that mark the world’s best automobile race, the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The race, organized by Automobile Club de L’Ouest, bridges past and present on the automotive circuit.
The competition is set on a non-permanent track at Circuit de la Sarthe near the city of Le Mans on the Sarthe River. Roughly 46 cars start the race, in a series of classes that include prototype high-performance vehicles, dedicated race cars, and street cars. The diversity of autos gives the race a mix of old-fashioned and modern competitors. The winner is the car, driven by a team of three drivers, that covers the greatest distance in 24 hours.
The first Le Mans contest took place in May 1923; today it is held every June. The race begins at 4 p.m., and for 24 hours the sound of roaring engines fills 8 miles (13 kilometers) of French countryside.”
mad respect, NG….mad respect.
src: National Geographic via Le Mans
fotos of the day. vintage sebring/daytona
Nigel Smuckatelli has catalogued many of his photos from the 60s and 70s on his flickr page, and in his own words: “Most of my photos were taken as a college student who volunteered as a safety official at the 24 Hours of Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring in the late 60′s and early 70′s.”
He has literally thousands of photos on his page….a good percentage of them are photos he took, although mixed in there are also stock and obtained photos…..but well worth sifting through them…so make sure you follow the link above! Here are some of his original photographs i loved:
Silver Arrows reunion at Goodwood this year.
This is just epic. Here’s the list of Silver Arrows race cars that will be at Goodwood this year——driving on the track! This is the first time in over 70 years that these cars will be racing on the same track. I can’t wait to see/hear the footage when this happens.
The list of cars planning to be there:
Mercedes-Benz W25, W125, W154 and W165
&
Auto Union Type C and Type D
full story here: Fourtitude
Sauber C31: best looking new F1 car?
I haven’t for sure figured out why I think this is the best looking F1 car around, but on Monday, Sauber introduced their new C31 for this year’s F1 competition. I think it’s something about the ‘steps’ right before the nose that really do it for me; remind me of the more straight-curve mixtures we used to see on F1 cars in the 70s. The colours, the nose treatment, and those combinations of curves and straight edges really do it for me.
I know that the “look” of the F1 car is of less importance than all of the performance characteristics; but to someone who appreciates the design of race cars——this one hits the right buttons!
src: F1SA
EDIT! I’ve just realised after careful examination that Ferrari also has a very similar design to their nose—–just executed with much poorer aesthetics (but likely better aerodynamics). But you would expect that—-as it’s a Ferrari.
foto of the day. 80 competition STC
Audi 80 Competition, driven by Emanuele Pirro in the German Super Touring Car series of 1995……
src: lensdesign
Lotus to enter LMP2 class at 2012 Le Mans
The GT class Lotus Evora with the Cosworth engine was one of THE best sounding cars I saw at the Petit Le Mans this past autumn……and i’m really pleased to see Lotus expanding their entry into the LMP2 level. Very exciting stuff indeed!
“The Kolles-run Kodewa squad will campaign two Lola B12/80s under the Lotus title, with Lotus-badged V8s from John Judd’s Engine Developments, which is also building the sports car maker’s IndyCar engine.
Lotus motorsport director Claudio Berro said the partnership was an ideal way for the group to take a step up the endurance racing ladder after returning to the GT class with the Evora last year.
“This is a very exciting step for us,” said Berro. “We made no secret of our intention to tackle LMP2 this year but it had to be done in the right way and we’re very happy with the setup with our partners. More than anything else, we’re looking forward to our return to Le Mans in this capacity after our success with the Evora last year.”
art of the day. MS84
The superfly AWD Matra MS84.
foto of the day. VW 911.
well not really….but this 911L racing in sweden circa 1969 has a big fat VW sticker right on the bonnet!
src: Early911Registry
art of the day. Racing Car News covers.
Illustrated by Colin Anderson
why can’t modern car magazines be this creative with their covers? Instead they just put synthetic, advertising-like covers up. Blah.
src: motorsportretro
to buy old copies: motor book world
