BAHRAIN : TOYOTA RACING S'ATTEND À UNE CHAUDE BATAILLE.

Fort d'une victoire à Sao Paulo pour la troisième course de la TS030 HYBRID, Toyota Racing se présentera au Royaume de Bahrain avec l'envie de poursuivre sur la bonne dynamique brésilienne. Une nouvelle retenu par ses obligations en Super GT, Kazuki Nakajima sera absent du baquet de la #7 où seuls Nicolas Lapierre et Alex Wurz seront en piste. Yoshiaki Kinoshita, Président de Toyota Racing, est pleinement concentré sur ce sixième round du Championnat du Monde d'Endurance : « Avec seulement deux semaines entre le Brésil et Bahrain, nous n'avons eu que peu de temps pour célébrer la première victoire du Toyota Racing mais nous avons vraiment apprécié ce premier succès. Maintenant, nous sommes pleinement concentrés sur Bahrain afin de vivre à nouveau cette sensation. Bien sûr, nous espérons que ce sera ce week-end. Remporter la course a été un grand moment d'émotion, tout comme avoir connu un week-end sans problème, des arrêts aux stands plus rapides et une consommation diminuée. Nous devons encore travailler pour optimiser chaque aspect de nos opérations afin de lutter à nouveau contre Audi. »

Alex Wurz s'attend à un nouveau défi dans la chaleur des Emirats : « Je suis impatient de reprendre le volant de la TS030 HYBRID après notre victoire au Brésil. Ce fut un week-end spécial pour l'équipe, mais la saison se poursuit et un autre défi nous attend au Bahrain. Je connais la piste pour y avoir roulé du temps de la Formule 1 et plus récemment en essais avec la LMP1. Il faut s'attendre à une météo très chaude avec plus de 40°C, ce qui sera un nouveau challenge pour nous, mais nous sommes prêts. A Sao Paulo, nous avons montré de belles améliorations dans plusieurs domaines. Nous devons continuer à pousser le plus possible pour nous battre une nouvelle fois pour la marche la plus haute du podium. »

Impérial à Sao Paulo, Nico Lapierre retrouvera un tracé qu'il connaît du temps du GP2 : « Le temps est passé très vite depuis Sao Paulo et il y a eu quelques jours mouvementés pour l'équipe et moi. J'ai rencontré l'équipe TMG la semaine passée afin de célébrer ensemble notre victoire. C'était motivant de voir l'implication et la satisfaction de tout le monde. J'ai hâte d'être à la prochaine course et je garde de bons souvenirs au Bahrain. Lors de ma dernière visite, j'y ai gagné la manche GP2 en 2007, donc j'en retiens un souvenir ému. Nous avons montré au Brésil que la TS030 HYBRID est extrêmement compétitive. Nous arrivons au Bahrain avec confiance, mais la concurrence est très forte et ce sera une nouvelle bataille serrée. »

by Laurent Mercier(endurance-info.com)

CLASSIC F1 AT SNETTERTON

Working with Speedhunters has been a life changing experience. I often wake up smiling, thinking how did I get so lucky to end up with my dream job straight out of college. It can however be an intimidating experience too. Sometimes the notion of writing a story that you’re not 100% confident in can be quite daunting. At the end of the day, we’re writing for hundreds of thousands of readers whom collectively share a knowledge base like no other. If we mess up, you can be sure someone will be there to point out our error quite quickly.

It’s certainly not easy moving between so many different and varying scenes and motorsports. In the last two weeks alone, I’ve covered a tube chassised S2000 powered MKII Escort, a vintage race meeting, a Volkswagen / Euro show, a Time Attack event and even some classic F1 cars which is the focus of this story. Still, I’m not complaining but it might give you an insight into how difficult a job this can be. Anyone who knows me will know I’m not particularly technically minded. I do however aim to learn just one new thing at every event that I didn’t know or quite fully understand before.

This is a story about three Formula One cars from the late eighties and early nineties. I knew nothing about them beforehand, but I’m hoping to change that this very instant …

The first of the three cars was this Lotus 101 from the 1989 season, piloted by Nelson Piquet and Satoru Nakajima with little success.

With the demise of the turbo era of F1 cars, Lotus resorted to the Judd CV engine. A 3.5 litre naturally aspirated V8 which produced somewhere around 585BHP at 9,750RPM.

It replaced a turbocharged Honda RA168 and was a much smaller package which allowed the car to be smaller and lighter than before.

The car was designed by Frank Dernie and Mike Coughlan, the latter of which is now with the Williams F1 team. The car was built within quite a short time frame which may have played a part in its demise.

It’s highest placing during the ’89 season was 4th at several events. It was thought that the 101 was over 100BHP down on the McLaren’s Honda V10 powered MP4/5.

The much simpler aerodynamics are quite a contrast with today’s cars although their operation is still quite complex.

Inside the small cockpit and it’s quite unnerving seeing how far forward the driver’s legs are.

A six speed manual Lotus gearbox from an era where drivers needed to take their hand off the wheel to shift gear.

Although it never enjoyed any major success so to speak, watching the Camel liveried car assault Snetterton was a visceral experience.

For 1990, Nelson Piquet moved from Lotus to Benetton Ford, behind the wheel of this Benetton B190-4.

As it turned out, it would be a wise move for Piquet who would finish third overall in the championship with two back-to-back race wins at the end of the season.

Benetton utilised a Ford HBA4 3.5 litre V8, the HBA being the successor to the legendary Ford DFV.

1990 was a tough year in Formula One and Benetton did themselves proud to stay with the pace of McLaren and Williams that year.

A look at the car’s more recent history.

Like the Lotus 101, the B190 was a manual affair with a six speed H-pattern dog-box. I’ll never look at wooden shift knobs the same way again.

The fabricated aerodynamic steel wishbones with rose joints and in-board suspension acted via rocker arms.

Like the 101, a low nose and simpler aerodynamics.

The HBA engine – which needs to be pre-heated to 40 degrees celsius before starting – produces around 600BHP at 10,500RPM with a 13,000RPM rev limit.

I’m sure the 370 wide rear tyres provide just the right amount of traction as the cars slingshots itself down Senna Straight.

Finally we come to a car which seated who would turn out to be the most successful Formula One driver of all time – Michael Schumacher.

The B193 however was far more sophisticated than the B190 above …

… featuring active suspension, a semi-automatic gearbox and traction control too. It’s also almost identical to its predecessor the B192, albeit slightly narrower to comply with regulations.

The B193 featured a revised Ford Cosworth HBA engine – still with 3.5 litres and eight cylinders.

It’s interesting to compare the aerodynamics from the B190 to the B193 – the rear wings actually look quite similar.

The carbon monocoqued B193 weighed in at around 640KGs according to some sources, with 730BHP at a maximum of 13,800RPM.

Inside the cockpit is much different compared to the above cars. More controls on the steering wheels along with a digital display and shift indicator.

There’s also controls for the driver to make small adjustments in-car.

In comparison to the B190, the front wing has become slightly more complex with the ‘raised’ nose and upper part of the wing shaping around the front tyres.

Although these cars are only four years apart, they’re certainly not as different as you would imagine.

with Paddy McGrath from Speedhunters

VALENTINO ROSSI SE TESTE SUR LA NORDSCHLEIFE EN SUPERLEGGERA.

En parallèle à sa présence en Blancpain Endurance Series au Nürburgring, Valentino Rossi est allé se tester sur la Nordschleife au volant d'une Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera à l'initiative de l'horloger suisse. On sait que l'Italien voudrait bien inscrire les 24 Heures du Nürburgring sur son CV en plus des 24 Heures de Spa et du Mans. Ce galop d'essais lui a permis de prendre des infos sur le tracé si atypique de la Nordschleife. En attendant, Vale a tenu son rang lors de la manche Blancpain avec un relais de départ terminé dans le tiercé de tête au scratch au volant de la Ferrari 458 Italia/Kessel Racing partagée par ses compères Salucci/Ceccato. De quoi lui donner l'envie de revenir le plus vite possible...

by Laurent Mercier(endurance-info.com)

Sandro Cortese to switch to Moto2 in 2013

with twowheelsblog Current Moto3 points leader Sandro Cortese will be switching to Moto2 next season. The German rider who has a very hefty 46 point lead over rival Maverick Viñales, has confimed that he has signed a two-year deal with a new team that will debut with a Kalex chassis under the banner of Intact GP, after Cortese’s personal sponsors Intact Batteries and construction company Kuhn Bau decided to up their support.

“I am really happy to be making the switch to Moto2. With Juergen Lingg [his crewchief in Racing Team Germany in 2011] and Intact I’ll have one of the most professional teams in the Motorcycle World Championship at my side from 2013, which will focus solely on me for the first two years. I think this is the best thing that can happen to me! However, right now, I am focusing primarily on the Moto3 World Championship title,” said Cortese.

Cortese has three race victories and eight podiums and six pole positions so far this season, while closest rival Vinales has five wins, one podium and five pole positions, but has also scored two DNFs compared to the veteran GP rider.

Sid Vicious - C'mon Everybody

The Distinguished Barcelona Gentleman´s Ride.

 The Distinguished Barcelona Gentleman´s Ride.

MAZDA’S IN THE MOUNTAINS: ROADSTER & ROTARY MEET

As the long and seemingly unrelenting summer in Japan comes to an end, there is one event that for a few years now has marked the seasonal transition for me. I am of course talking of the Roadster & Rotary Meeting, held every September at the beautiful Sendai Hi-land Circuit, a celebration of all the great things Mazda has stood for over the years. With the company having ended rotary engine production as of this year, nobody really knows if Wankel-power will make a comeback in the future, so it’s these…

…soukoukai events that enthusiasts have to rely on for their fix. Pan Speed has been a big part of the event from day one, and has continued to support it every year, helping attract rotor heads from the Tohoku and Kanto area of the country. It is in no way a big event…

…although this year there was an impressive turnout of Roadsters, significantly outnumbering their bigger and faster brother, the RX7. It was also great to be back in Sendai and seeing the hard work that the guys at Hi-land have done in keeping the track functional. Following the big damage from last year’s earthquake the track facilities were ravaged by a typhoon and landslides, ending up in the track being closed again. While there is still a lot of obvious damage at least the track and surrounding attractions like the drift course, drag strip, golf course and amusement park are all open to the public.

The big Roadster turnout meant that there were some extremely interesting cars to feast one’s eyes on, from the older versions of the car…

…to the newer.

The line-ups were impressive, and you can expect some interesting spotlights of cars like the number 93 F-Factory NB you see here…hiding a nice surprise under its hood.

Unlike the RX-7 and RX-8 the Roadster does have a future, which is at least good news, as Mazda continues to concentrate on developing more economical cars and its diesel technology.

Check this NA I spotted driving through the paddock…quite the familiar color scheme wouldn’t you say?

While the rotary line up was somewhat lacking this year…

…there were still some awesome cars that showed up.

One of my favorite is always this Pan Speed modified FC, a true track monster that on top of a fully tuned and side ported 13B boasts a stripped out interior and serious suspension, making it one of the fastest and most dramatic sounding cars out on track.

Pan Speed takes the opportunity of a day out at the track to fine tune its demo cars, and as Komoriya-san – the man behind the legendary rotary shop – was telling me, he has “promoted” his 3-rotor RX-8 to shop’s main car. They will be concentrating on getting the most out of the naturally aspirated car for the next year and plan on participating at this year’s Super Battle in Tsukuba to set the fastest NA-rotary time. Kouta Sasaki, who on top of driving the GT300 BRZ in Super GT and winning the production car class at the Nurbugring 24h race this year with an STI Impreza, was on hand to pilot the RX-8.

And speaking of the BRZ check out what I spotted in the car park, a brand new example sitting on a set of Rays Homura 2x8GT. Nice.

Local rotary shop Zesty Racing brought a nice selection of RX-7s…

…all highly tuned as you would expect.

Another local shop, Suzuki Jikou was present with their awesome RX-7 demo car…

…all ready to head out and post some fast times through the technical corners of Hi-land.

On top of the usual event coverage you can expect a spotlight-o-rama of some of the most interesting cars that I came across during the day. So make sure you check back for more Roadster and Rotary action from Sendai Hi-land!

 from speedhunters.com