Posts Tagged ‘Audi’
Monday, December 19th, 2011
Audi Advances
Audi was running at Sebring this week. According to the best minds that analyze such things (Mulsanne Mike, for instance), the 2012 R18 really quite a different car than last year’s R18. Hopefully, the changes will improve the outward vision. A pal of a friend of the Bear drove the R18 a couple of months ago, and reported an “absolute blind spot out of the right hand side.” “It explains the McNish crash at Le Mans,” he said.
In other news from the Bear’s Chief European Correspondent, Romain Dumas is headed back to Porsche soon, there’s a big tug of war over Timo Bernhard, and Oliver Pla was quick at a secret Peugeot test.
Insiders in Europe believe ALMS will have Audi, Mercedes, and perhaps others not fully homologated by the ACO in some form of local GT class – but it’s unclear when that gets done. (more…)
Tags: Andy Lally, Audi, Austin, Bahrain, Baltimore, Bernie Ecclestone, Conquest, Corvette, Ferrari, Ganassi, Guissepe Risi, Intersport, Jaime Melo, Jan Magnussen, Kevin Buckler, Larbre Racing, Oliver Gavin, Olivier Beretta, Red McCombs, Risi Competizione, Scott Maxwell, Tommy Milner, Virginia International Raceway
Posted in Paddock Poop | 65 Comments »
Monday, July 18th, 2011
Porsche and Audi Racing
Porsche announced a prototype to race at Le Mans in 2014. That took even the Bear by surprise. Oh, there had been rumblings, but Murphy – and just about everyone else – filed them away for future reference; what debt-burdened Porsche does with a few hundred million Euros is not (regardless of protestations) independent of Volkswagen Group in general and – if in racing – of Audi in particular. Nor is it this time. (more…)
Tags: Abruzzi, ACO, American Le Mans Series, Andy Lally, Audi, Austin F1, BMW, Colin Kolles, Corvette, Edward Sandstrom, Ferrari, Flying Lizard Motorsports, Formula 1, Gary Horrocks, Hispania Racing, Jaguar, Jerry Pyman, Nick Wirth, Porsche, Renault, RLR, Rod Benoist, Signature Motorsports, The Boss, The Cat, The Don, Tommy Milner, Toto Wolff, TWR USA/Jaguar, Williams, World Endurance Championship
Posted in Paddock Poop | 43 Comments »
Thursday, June 16th, 2011
Déjà vu all over again
“American Le Mans is the global benchmark of professional sports car racing.” –Scott Atherton to the Austin Statesman, June 9, 2011–
Professional Sports Car Racing (PSCR), Andy Evans’ renaming of IMSA, was – according to management – more descriptive of the content of the product. When Don Panoz bought PCSR, his American Le Mans Series adopted as its motto “For the Fans,” arguably an improvement in that it directly addressed the constituency that would sustain it – or not. Later, that was not good enough (and perhaps not so descriptive anymore, either) to describe its “aspirational” content, (and after spending a few hundred thousand on a consultant) the American Le Mans Series decided it was “World Class.” After a run of a few years, in which “World Class” attracted nothing but a parade of watch makers and a few pearls (and another consultant for another few hundred grand), and yielded more stagnating fields and fading visibility, Scott unveiled a new motto, Global Leader Green Racing. Fields dropped further, Ethanol sponsorship came and went, fans tuned out. If Global Benchmark Professional Sports Car Racing is indeed upon us, we’re nearly back to where we started, aren’t we? (more…)
Tags: Audi, Chris Dyson, Corvette, Delta Wing, Elan Composites, Elan Power Products, Elan Precision Products, Elan Technologies, Humaid al Masaood, IMSA American Le Mans Series, JJ Lehto, Mosport, Panoz Auto Development, Panoz Motorsports Group, Peugeot, Portland International Raceway, Sebring, Toyota, Van Diemen, Yancy's Fancy
Posted in Paddock Poop | 73 Comments »
Thursday, May 19th, 2011
There’s not much action out there, racing or otherwise, but there’s still much being decided behind the scenes. Here’s Murphy’s synthesis of rumor, fact, and speculation about North America’s two principal sports car road racing series. (more…)
Tags: Acura, ALMS Grand Am, AMR One, Aston Martin, Audi, Autocon, Bill Auberlen, Dyson, F1, Ferrari, Ford, Ganassi, Generic Racing Team, Highcroft, Honda, ILMC, Intersport, J R R Tolkien, Jim France, John Evenson, Le Mans, Mazda, McDreamy, Miss 12 Hours of Sebring, News Corp, Nissan, Oklahoma, Peugeot, Porsche, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Shinden Mooncraft, Toyota, Wankel
Posted in Paddock Poop | 29 Comments »
Wednesday, April 27th, 2011
The Straight Poop?
The Boss predicted 5-6 LMP1 entrants “week-to-week” after the “Le Mans break” (that’s 3-4 “new”) and a week later “2 or 3” additional entries, which means 4-5 total. In other words, he doesn’t know for sure. It’s not reasonable to expect him to, of course. Even the principals don’t know whether their “deals” will come through or fall through. (more…)
Tags: Ana Beatriz, Andy Lally, Audi, Autocon, Barber Motorsport Park, Dreyer & Reinbold, Duncan Dayton, Dyson Racing, Highcroft, Intersport, Laguna Seca, Oreca, Petit Le Mans, Simon Pagenaud
Posted in Paddock Poop | 12 Comments »
