News

Jacksonville, FL-- With the 2011A season coming to a close, and the 2011B season fast approaching the engineers at Litchfield Dynamics have been hard at work moving the team into the future. With the change in formula for the 2010C season, the evolution of the LD car has been ongoing and 11B is no exception. The team has recently ended its 5-season long deal with Hyundai, and has partnered with the highly successful Chevrolet for the future. This new partnership has led to a redesigned car focused around improving the handling and driveablity of the car, while still attempting to retain minimal drag and weight.

"This was likely the most challenging car we have had to design," says team owner, Zack Litchfield. "We had a single design point we were working toward, and building the car around that was both exciting and challenging," remarked Mr. Litchfield. Our reports indicate that various more novel options were considered to get the car where the engineers wanted it, including steel brakes, extreme ballast, 4-speed transmissions although how many of these options were used we are unsure of. Extensive testing was done, and Mr. Litchfield seemed confident that the coming car would be one of the best.

Along with the new car in 11B, Litchfield Dynamics will be welcoming two new members into its ranks. Alex du Plessis assisted the team during testing and has joined the team after his stint at M-Sport due to the uncertain nature of the continuance of M-Sport in the wake of team owner Matthew Lewis' semi-retirement. Another M-Sport regular, and 2010B GMWC Champion Anthony Cochrane will also be making his full-time return with Litchfield Dynamics next season and all in GMWC are hoping he can return to championship form. The new members bring the total Litchfield Dynamics drivers to four, including Emmanuel Baako who is hoping to make a more prominent mark in 11B after some time away and owner Zack Litchfield. The enlarged team could now make a prominent run at a team championship hoping to displace MRDC, Rusyn or even SDL atop the GMWC rankings next season.

Sebring, FL- The Bantam Sport and Grand Touring cars of the Grid Motorsports World Cup have decended on the Florida town of Sebring for the 1st Annual 1.2 Hours of Sebring. This extended endurance event is the first for the GMWC this season and will be part of a year long series of special endurance events including the currently scheduled 2.4 Hours of Le Mans in June. The drivers have been preparing for weeks, and the race on Saturday will not only test the skill of the drivers, but their ability to concentrate over a distance which is approximately 60% longer than the average 45 minute length of the standard Grand Prix races.

The race will feature two distinct classes, each with a variety of cars. The Bantam Sport class is kin to the Daytona Prototypes, and the three styles also come with differing engines which allow for many combinations on race day. The Demon, Proton, and Fabcar of the Bantam class should easily lead the time sheets during the race, and also include the overal winner of the race, but anything could happen. They will be joined on track by the slower, but no less exciting Grand Touring class. The GTs have had quite a few seasons of exposure from the now defunct GTCC and the drivers are quite familiar with them. The Corvette, Porche, and Panoz will battle it out as well and for many drivers this is the prefered class.

It will be an exciting race, and many will be tuning in to see how the GP regulars do driving these closed-wheel monsters. The winner of each class will also earn a single seed point towards the GMWC finals, giving some added incentive to drivers to battle it out for the win.

For 2011B Rusyn Performance Dynamics will make available a rolling chassis (no engine) for use by customer teams.  This is ideal for new teams or struggling independent teams that want a proven chassis, but for whatever reason need or want to use a different engine package.  This is also ideal for teams that may not be able to do CSP development and submissions for whatever reason.

If interested contact Rusyn's sales department (post on the Rusyn forum).

The procedure is simple.  Once you decide to enter the customer chassis program, simply specify the engine package you want and Rusyn will submit a CSP on your behalf.

For a nominal extra charge (post how cool the chassis is or something) the Rusyn paint department can provide a simple single skin to use as your 'factory' skin, where you simply specify the colors and a logo.

Grid Motorsports is pleased to announce the schedule and format for the forthcoming 2011A GTCC championship.

Jan 29th - Grand Touring , Mosport
Feb 19th - Spec Touring, Varano
Mar 12th - Grand Touring, Sebring (extended enduro)
Apr 2nd - Spec Touring, Brands Indy
Apr 23rd - Grand Touring, Snetterton

2011A will feature rounds for both Grand Touring cars and Spec touring Skodas. Each round will feature three points scoring races on a 3x20 min format for Spec Touring and 2x10min plus 1 hour enduro for GT rounds. The season will feature also an extended endurance race at Sebring.

A Number of car revisions are also featured this season including an all new Aston Martin Vantage, sound upgrades for the Porsche and simplified setup options for the Spec Touring cars feature in garage switchable FWD or RWD. GTCC looks forward to welcoming all drivers to the grid in 2011A

During the 2011A homologation and inspection process, Vanderwall paid of....er...sponsored a speed shootout at Jacksonville among all of the new GP cars.  Each car was run at 1/1 wing and of course Vanderwall tires.

A bystander Rusyn engineer scoffed at the value of this data stating that the B/B wings dominated (MP-11A and MRDCXT1) these silly tests, but that in real races it will be the A/A wings to look out for (ASR03 and Kelly).  Strangely, he had no good answer for why Rusyn went with A/B wings (as did Hyundai11A and ASR02).  He did mention that B/A wings are 'right out'.

An Antares engineer went on to point out that the airboxes skew the results as well, showing only their advantage of more power, at a level not normally seen, since most races never go north of 300 kph, and average in the low 200s at best.  These tests do not show drivability, fuel mileage, or pull out of slower corners.

In any case, another test was run using full wing (50/50), even though the Antares engineer still protested the airbox issue.  The Rusyn engineer muttering 'whatever' to the retest.

An SDL investor was seen quietly smiling off in a dark corner.

NewsFlash!

By: Guy Smiley

Rumors are swirling around the GMWC that the former powerhouse team known as Antares racing may be back. As the assets, personelle and facilities have gone through bankruptcy, liquidation, receivership and multiple buyouts by anonymous buyers it's unclear as to HOW Antares racing could return.

GMWC race driver Douglas Baggett, currently the only known official contact for Antares racing and being the head of "Antares Patent Licensing LLC" was interviewed:

Smiley: Mr. Baggett can you comment on the rumors of Antares racing return? How could this happen?

Baggett: (munching on some corn chips)....wthell...Isthupose..mmmm...good

Smiley: Can you be more specific? What legal path is there?

Baggett: (swallows)....Well..Lotus did it in F1 though I'm still not sure who is Lotus and who isn't. Really though, I think the correct model might be two now defunct personal computer manufacturers from the 80's; Atari and Commodore. They are still around right? That's cool. I think we'll do that.

Smiley: But neither of those companies have anything to do with the original companies. They are just trademarks that were sold a couple dozen times. 

Baggett: Don't know what you are talking about. If you have any more questions please send a self-addressed stamped envelope to my law firm Dewy, Cheetham and Howe. 

Smiley: Thank you Mr. Baggett

Baggett: wanna corn chip?

Club members will be pleased to hear that the MRDC has successfully completed its first year in the GMWC and is now poised to submit exciting entries for the next. Radical, striking and frankly, practically identical to last season's seems the best way to sum up the 2011A MRDC fleet, and if the vehicle design is traditional, then the colour scheme harks back to history too. Due to an ordering error leading to over supply in the paint shop, the MRDC will be offering 3 great colour collections this time around. Whoever you are, whatever your mood there's a colour that will say everything about you. And at only 12.99 (+ tax) they make a great gift this holiday season for friends, loved ones or people you just want to humiliate later.

All the colours were on show at Sepang this weekend as the MRDC held the annual club championship

In more detail, history experts will see the allusions to the legends of the MRDC through these fine invocations. First, the Member Group

Suiting those who already know they're MRDC boys, the classic lines of Scott's, Todd's and Ben's couture will again be gracing the paddock. Then, for the younger set, who only remember the 60's from the Austin Powers movies, we give you The Acid Collection

And for the real traditionalists, there's the return of the good ole Red, White and Blue. Oh, and the Blue, White and Red as well. Way back in 2010A, Club President Andy Jones fought his way to midpack mediocrity bearing the "mainly Blue with a bit of Red" colour scheme. But obviously he's forgotten that, because this time around he's been seen in the "mainly Red with a bit of Blue" version. It's his age y'know. Anyhoo, here they are, The Patriot Collection.

We had hoped to bring you a bit of Black-and-Gold, but that so last year Darh-linnng.

Grid Motosports has reached an agreement with Antares Sim Racing to produce the league "default" cars for the 2011A season.  Two models will actually be produced.

The ASR01 will be built under license from MRDC as the current 2010C default car design rebadged.  The ASR01 will continue to use GRID engines and RB5 geaboxes.

Grid Motorsports has also reached an agreement for a Merlin engine supply, and in conjunction with Antares engineers will design the new ASR02 around the new Merlin engine.  It has also been reported that a shipment of Taekook GP tires has already been delivered to Antares testing staff located in Jerez, the site of most winter testing and the opening round of the 2011A season.  This implies that the ASR02 will be designed to work with these new tires.

The GMWC Drivers Championship standings is determined by the cumulative results of the Finals event, which is held after the conclusion of all official seasonal series that contribute to the GMWC.  The winner of the Finals is crowned as the GMWC Drivers Champion.  The winner is the driver with the most Finals points after the Superprix Stage.  Points for the GMWC are earned via two separate methods:

1. The finishing positions in the seasonal series.
2. The finishing positions from the Finals stages.

The Finals event itself consists of multiple stages, where each stage features a race that represents one of the contributing series:

• Street (GART)
• Oval (GMOC)
• Touring (GTCC)
• Superprix (GMGP/GMFC)

Series Seed Points

A driver can only earn seed points from one series.  If a driver finishes in a points-earning position in more than one series, they will be awarded seed points only from the one in which they earned the most seed points.  If a driver earns the same amount of points in more than one series, the priority of assignment is as follows: GMGP, GMFC, GTCC, GART, GMOC.  The order matters because drivers with seed points have certain vehicle restrictions placed up them in the Finals stage that corresponds to the series in which they earned their points.

Race Day Format

Signature tracks have been chosen that will be featured in every GMWC Finals (until such time as changes are made, of course).  The intent is for the GMWC Finals to be not only a tradition, but also something with unique appeal that drivers can anticipate and prepare for over the course of each season.

The stages will occur in the order listed here.  There is a separate (short and private) qualification session for each stage.  The stages get progressively longer, but there are also 3 breaks included in the schedule, also of progressively longer duration.

Note that after each stage, drivers will have to leave the rFactor server just long enough to switch vehicles, and then hurry back in order to participate in the qualification session for the next stage -- the race for one stage and the qual for the next occur back-to-back because the breaks are located between qual and race sessions.

Street Stage

Oval Stage

Any driver who earns seed points from GMFC or GMGP must use the car in this stage that they used in the respective series.

Touring Stage

Any driver who earns seed points from GTCC must use the car in this stage that they used the most in the GTCC series.

Superprix Stage

Any driver who earns seed points from GMFC or GMGP must use the car in this stage that they used in the respective series.

Notes

• The 2011A CSP release will be published by the time of this event.  The reason this is important is because we no longer need dedicated oval tires for the grid-gp vehicles.  They're no longer needed because the normal grid-gp tires are viable for use on all of the oval tracks at which the grid-gp vehicles will be used.  This means Taekook will be providing a new grid-gp tire for 2011A for mainline grid-gp usage.  These tires will be available for use in the Finals.  Taekook had originally licensed tire technology from Vanderwall, so their new tire is expected to be similar to the Vanderwalls.  However, due to Taekook's heavy involvement in the drifting scene, expect a tire with much higher ideal slip angles.  If you have a 'drifty' style, you may like the new tires.  This will also probably suit gamepadders better than any current option since gamepadders tend to oscillate in and out of higher slip angles as a matter of finger/thumb technique.  The Coffields have the highest ideal slip angle among the current mainline GP tires.
• A GMWC Team Championship based on the Finals may be possible.  This has not been thoroughly discussed or finalized yet.
• The tracks for future Finals will not change often from season to season.  These will tend towards our 'Indy', 'Le Mans', or 'Daytona' in tradition, with a little bit of F1 mobility (like the British GP has ocassionally been at a location other than Silverstone).  Of note, the Superprix stage track is actually Suzuka, not Sepang, but we are using Sepang for the inaugural event because we just visited Suzuka this season.
• The track/car combos were all chosen to be substantial, requiring more than typical preparation effort compared to our weekly events.   Even the oval will require a measurable amount of setup prep to get through the race on our tires.
• In the future we will not schedule Finals tracks for the regular season events.  The one exception this season is Martinsville for the Oval Stage, which both GART and GMOC did use.  The reason for this is exactly why both of these series chose the track in the first place.  It works exceptionally well for open wheel cars in rFactor.  We have isolated the main requirements for a killer oval track for our cars:  at least one tight radius corner, low banking, and long straights relative to the corners.  Only Martinsville and Gateway satisfy all of these in a format that allows us to use non-oval-specific tires.  Indy and Pocono satsify the three specs as well, but require the oval tires.  Martinsville has a lot more sparkle in the implementation than Gateway, so it is the stage choice.  In the future GMOC and GART will not run Martinsville.  They'll visit Gateway.
• The length of the stage races will be a fixed lap count, not a time value.  The official laps counts will be announced after the practice server gets enough activity on these tracks for us to determine the lap counts that will consume the desired amount of time.

NewsFlash!!

By Nancy Newswire (Disclaimer: Nancy was at various times a paid "Entertainment Consultant" at Antares racing)

One can hardly believe it. After another glorious team win for the powerhouse Antares racing everything looks to be at an end. It started yesterday when reports of yelling were heard coming from the Antares racing facility in beautiful eastern Stafford County, Virginia (USA). Reliable information surfaced that current manager figurehead Doug Baggett had been betting well over a 100 million dollars from the Antares development fund in sports betting...on GMWC results. 

The evidence is sketchy at this point, but after coming out of the pits and over the white line into the path of the Evil Rusyn driver AJ Weber and being crashed off of the track new information has come to light. Rumor has it that the Antares manager/driver PURPOSELY break checked Weber after placing a 50 million dollar bet that Weber would lose the driver championship at Suzuka by crashing into Baggett....on the straight. Bookies were astounded that Baggett would make such a bold prediction. 

A GMWC investigation has been initiated. All winnings of the bet have been frozen along with assets used to back the wager. Given that Antares racing money was involved, the Stafford racing giant is technically out of money. As of this morning reports were that Mr. Baggett had the Antares financial accountant (with ledger in hand) by the shirt collar and was pleading for more money. Moving vans from various banks were seen outside the gates. It's assumed repossession is the reason. 

The last words heard from Mr. Baggett..running back into the facility and as the vans were let on the compound were....

"The leather chair is mine..mine..MINE...muhahahahahaha!"

Engines

All three engines and all three inductions were used, so we still have wide variety in the power department.  However, Ottodyn has displaced GRID as the preferred engine in number of designs.  But this is not the whole story.  The huge growth of SDL combined with the still strong RAC, both using Velocotech, it is likely more Velocotech engines will see use than any other engine.  This is all interesting because it was in fact the GRID engine that won both the TC and DC.

Wing Analysis

Looking at the choices of wing is an interesting clue into each chassis' design philosophy.  An A/A (front/rear) choice indicates the thinking that the car needs more efficiency at high downforce, which indicates the team is thinking they lean more towards higher downforce setups.  A B/B choice indicates the opposite.  An A/B choice indicates a thinking that setups will often be medium downforce with the front wing set higher than the rear.  A B/A choice indicates that setups will also be in the middle, but the rear wing will often be higher than the front.

MP-10C (M-Sport) -- Evolution

The DC championship car for 2010B seems to have only gone through minor changes to adapt to the new formula.  This is probably wise.  Why fix it if it ain't broke.  The result is a car that a balanced choice.

Given that, there is not a whole lot to say about this car, as it is pretty much a known.  It even took the most common wing configuration, which is B/B, which is a lean towards lower downforce setups.

CJ10C-A (RAC) -- "6"

Six speeds.  This is the only design to try it, and is wisely matched with somewhat peaky by powerful velocotech engine with airbox.  This is a relatively high bling car, inclucing nanotech brakes, high pit tech, and the highest mass mobility of any car.  Like a lot of other cars, it is a B/B wing car.  It also sports one of the lower CGs.

So what does all this bling cost?  Well, as it turns out, both mass and drag.  Even though the CJ10C-A has a low CG, it has a little extra ballast bolted on to enhance the mass mobility.  It is the highest drag car, being 7% higher in base drag than average.

MRDC10C (MRDC) -- Only 4 pit guys

In the tradition of the team charter, this car favors fun and drivability over raw time.  In this case basically no resources were invested in pit technology, and everything was dumped into the car.  The only other cars with this primitive pit technology are the customer cars, which is the default car and from that, the Redman car.

So where does it rock then, with all of those tech points saved?  Everywhere, just a little.  They spread the benefit across the whole car.  It has low drag, but not the lowest (it is 2nd).  It has low CG, but not the lowest (it is 2nd).  It has good mass mobility (3rd).  And it has some bling, such as a medium diffusor and nanotech brakes.

The only item that is any sort of on-track compromise at all is the lack of seamless shifting, as the RB5 gearbox was selected.

rusyn-10c (Rusyn) -- Spring, Spring, Spring

One again, the trademark of the Rusyn entry is the inclusion of the third spring.  However, this season, the Rusyn is the only team car to include it.  While not the most extreme car, the Rusyn does have the lowest CG by a small margin and therefore has good mass mobility.  It is also the only car to choose the A/B wing combination, indicating a preference to use more front rear than rear at medium downforce levels.

The main weakness of the Rusyn is that it is one of the higher drag cars, with 4% more drag than average, and does not have one of the high peak power engines to compensate.  Instead, it is the only car to use scoop induction to maybe stop the bleeding.

Hyundai10C (Litchfield) -- Back to the Front

The Hyundai10C is a mostly moderate and reserved design, with the exception that it has moved the mass more forward than any other car.  The Litchfield also appears to be designed for downforce, according to its A/A wing configuration.  So while in the big picture the Litchfield car seems moderate, for this team this is a dramatic change from their roots.  Historically, Litchfield setups have been very low drag and their cars have had mass placed more aft than most.

The basics of this car are reliable choices: nanotech brakes, medium diffusor, and mid level pit tech.  One spot where the Hyundai cut a corner to keep the price down is the gearbox, where the seamless shift was dropped in the form of the RB5.

Another interesting note about the Hyundai, which is a trait from past Litchfield cars, is that it has a wider track than average.  Although this season it does not even come close to the having the widest track.

Jezebel (SDL) -- Drag King

This car is probably the boldest design of the lot, as it is the most extreme in many categories, and is done so in a way that makes a lot of sense.

The SDL entry is the other car besides the Litchfield designed for downforce, using the A/A wing configuration, but gives this a double punch by also having the lowest drag at only 94% of the average.  The Jezebel also sports the best pit tech fielded, along with several other designs.  This entry does not cut corners on the gearbox either, and uses the popular RS5.

None of this is free, and where the Jezebel pays the price is in mass.  It is the heaviest team designed car.  Only the default car is heavier, by  4kg.  And it has all this mass sitting up high at 240mm, leaving no flexibility to adjust mass.  This is combined with the furthest back CG at 0.59.  But this car seems designed for that --  the Jezebel has the widest footprint as well, maxing out at 1800mm, so in spite of the high CG, the Jezebel will likely also have some of the most even tire wear and nimble handling.  Of course the price of this could be longitudinal stability.  We'll see.

default-10c (GMWC Default) -- MRDC with bling

The default car is B/A just to reuse the skin, so that doesn't really show anything philosophy-wise.  Other than that, the default car is the MRDC car with a third spring and brake bias control added.  Since the MRDC was already heavy due to some ballast enhancement, this makes the default car the heaviest car of all, although not uncompetitively so.  It is still one of the lower drag cars, and due to supply issues uses the GRID engine, so in a long straight line is probably faster than its parent, the MRDC.

Ant3333 (indie -- Anthony) -- Gamepad Optimized

The Ant3333 is the only car sitting on B/A by design, which guess what...makes sense.  This car is a custom gamepad indie, and gamepads need as much front end twitch forgiveness as they can get.  I am not a gamepad driver, so I'm not sure what else to say about the mostly balanced design of this car, other than to say it was designed overall by a fast gamepadder.

The one interesting note is that this is the first car by design, for racing, to mate an airbox with the Ottodyn engine.  This is probably a style thing, since Anthony tends to run fewer gears than most, but likes high top speed, so he took the fat power curve and made it as fast as he could.  I'm actually a little surprised he didn't choose a 4 speed, but that could simply be because he still wants good starts off the grid.

Redman10C (indie -- Mike) -- MRDC in Antares clothing

This is another MRDC lineage car, mainly with wing and bodywork changes to reuse Mike's skin.  His main use is to use it to preview tracks, although he may race it, so from a design point of view, it is basically a MRDC.

fter another eventful season in the GMWC, and yet again another eventful season finale, RAC have now turned their attention to the up and coming 10C season....

10B season finale, held at Paul Ricard race circuit at Le Castellet, near Marseille, France, saw only two RAC drivers attend. Both Chris Jones (team owner) and Ian Cumming were fairly evenly matched during the event's sprint race's, and saw some good battle's between one and other. The Feature race however, turned out not so favourably for Ian, only managing 10th at best, Chris on the other hand was set for a commendable 5th place, only to find in the dying laps that both AJ Weber and Anthony Cochrane had under fuelled their cars for the final race, and was able to snatch 3rd by the skin of his teeth. 

And. at season end, Chris Jones finished a well deserved 4th, just 16 points behind title winner Matt Lewis. Ian Cumming was the next closest RAC Driver finishing the season 9th overall with 20 points, followed by Carl in 16th, Shaun in 18th and Brandon rounding up the team in 19th. And in the team constructors, RAC managed to grab hold of the bronze trophy finishing 3rd, just 20 points ahead of MRDC.

So now, days after the final race of 10B, RAC unveiled their new 10C competitor at Paul Ricard. And at a glance, the car seem's more visually dynamic, athletic and in general, a car that seem's to be travelling fast when it's standing still. The car's general appearance has not changed a great deal from 10B, the only difference being the new rear wing, opting to go with the lower wing of the 2 available. And as for the car's mechanical bits, the 10C car resemble's the 10B car with regards to brakes, engine and suspension, the newest feature's of the car will shortly be published by the admin of GMWC in due course.

"Testing time was limited for the team during the design process of the new car, and it has been rushed a little to get it finished in time for the submission to the league" Explains team owner Chris Jones, "Most of the car's feature's as identical to the 10B car, as we found these items beneficial to the team and drivers alike" When asked what bits of the 10C car are new, the reply "The rear wing is the most obvious new addition to the car, but the other new items on the car will be disclosed shortly by GMWC"

Here Is the car of the team owner Chris Jones taken just days after the season finale at Paul Ricard. 

AutoBollocks

Litchfield Dynamics have unveiled their "new" design, a day after final submissions were taken in by the GMWC. While some items are new for the 2010C season, the car could be more thought of as a upgrade from the current 2010B car. It retains many aspects that made the car a favorite of lead drivers Zack Litchfield and Emmanuel Baako, while changing a few things up.

Team Owner, Zack Litchfield, addressed some of the changes to the car and the ideas behind the design. "With the new mass and drag regulations for 10C, we decided to push the car towards the lowest drag possible, while retaining the minimum weight of 605kg." Other changes were noticed during testing at Monza, including increased braking performance, one of the often cited complaints by LD drivers.

One of the more notable changes, aren't associated with the performance of the cars, but rather the look. The team dropped the more boxy sidepods, opting for something more streamlined to reduce drag. The liveries have also undergone drastic change, dropping the customary White/Blue color combination, for a bolder Yellow/Black combination. Sponsorship has been reduced to just primary sponsor Yuengling, and secondary sponsors Craftsman and Wal-Mart. Special consideration was given to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, with the not-for-profit given space on the front wings of the car. "We decided to help a special cause, and with my personal experiences with the CFF, felt they were a great addition to the car", said Litchfield.

Hopes are again high for the 2010C season. A top ten DC finish for Zack Litchfield last season, even with the loss of four points from Bahrain due to space-time issues (dropped connection), brings even higher hopes for 2010C. Emmanuel Baako is expected to return in full force for most of 2010C, and promising results from early in 2010B boosts hopes of a couple points finishes in 10C. LD looks to be hoping the golden car brings some golden results.

Special Note: If you would like to know more about the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and all they do, please visit www.cff.org. Thank You.

Club members will be pleased  to know that after the crowds had left Suzuka this weekend, Argentinian playboy and retired race ace, Juan-Manual Fandango steered the brand new MRDC10C out of the garage for its final testing. Club Engineer Arthur "Two Sheds" Jackson had earlier pronounced the car to be the "Simplest, Fastest, Beautifulest" he'd ever designed and while beauty is in the eye of the beholder, members are invited to visit the garage at their leisure later this week to see for themselves just what can be achieved once desperation sets in.

Sadly, there wasn't time to include any ABS capability on Club President Andy Jones' car, so he will have to rely on his own delicate skills when it comes to arresting progress. As that means this is probably the last time the car will be seen not wreathed in a cloud of blue smoke, we've included the shot to the right, so that you can remember what it looks like.

Also expressing an interest in taking Sporting Membership for 2010C, the third GMWC season for the MRDC, have been Scott Farm, Todd Thorne and Ben Montet and their cars are also ready for inspection now. together with the standard club livery that will be on the spare cars provided for any latecomers.

With each passing season, the MRDC has gone from strength to strength. But increasing competition expected from SDL and RAC in the coming season, expect some highly suspect team radio messages to ensure that the points haul is maximised. And if the Club President announces that his long lost twin brother from Australia will be taking his place for alternate races, ask for identification.

For immediate release

Seattle WA, July 15. 2010 - The recent return of SDL driver, Cordell "C" Cahill, seems to have breathed new life into the languishing team. While Mr. Loyer still appears to be a mostly absentee owner - he only made one race so far this season, Cordell seems to have taken on a more prominent role within the team than he has in the past. With his recent reappearance, along with two, rather large, associates by his side, activity within the SDL compound has increased considerably. While the activity level is certainly not up to the level seen during their 08C championship season, the lights are staying on in the vehicle design offices late into the night. Could this mean another run at the championship? We sent field reporter, Johnny Johnson, to ask Mr. Cahill's new associates for more information. Sadly Mr. Johnson has since disappeared, but his recording equipment was recently found, and while the majority of his interview has been lost, we did manage to recover a small portion. We've included a transcript of the recovered conversation between Mr. Johnson and two individuals, identified as Jamie, "The Wishbone", Calzatori, and his brother "Big Mike" Calzatori, below:

J. Johnson: "First of all, could you introduce yourselves to our readers and tell us how you came to be a part of Scuderia DeLoyer.

J. Calzatori: "Yeah, my name's Jamie Calzatori, and my partner here is my little brother, Mike Calzatori. They call him "Big Mike", but on account of the fact that he don't say too much, I'll do all the talkin'. We met the boss in the federal pen...err at the spa, yeah, at the spa. He said he was lookin' for some muscle to help out wit' dis here racin' team, and we jumped aboard. Right Mike?"

M. Calzatori: "Yep."

["Big Mike" is only 5'7" or so, but appears to be about 300lbs of pure muscle - Ed]

J. Johnson: "And what are your roles here at SDL? Are you engineers helping design a winning car for next season?"

J. Calzatori: "Heh, that's funny! Isn't that funny Mike?

M. Calzatori: "Yep."

J. Calzatori: "You're a real funny reporter Mister. But no, we aint no egg-head engineer types. We're take more of a...hands on approach to our job. I'm in charge of public relations. Making sure you reporters tell the story like it is...know what I mean? And Mike here, well, he's in charge of recruitin' new personnel. New drivers and engineers and the like, as well our protection rack...err...drummin' up new sponsorship and such. He's really good at that. I hear tell this team has had problems with a Russian mob...or a mob of Russians? Or somethin' like that. So Mike here will be recruitin' personnel to help specifically in that area as well. We know some guys that will be getting outa da joint...err...coming home from the spa pretty soon, and they're gonna be lookin' for a job. This here might be a good fit for dem guys. Right Mike?

M. Calzatori: "Yep."

J. Johnson: "So you're courting new sponsorship? Can you give us a hint on who's logos we might be seeing next season?"

J. Calzatori: "Well, you'd have to ask my brother that, but like I said, he don't say much, so it's probably best you not waist your time. I can tell you the Don...err...Mr. Loyer aint gonna have no sponsorship on his car. Never does if he can help it. He had to this season, just to pay the bills, but with Me and Mike here, payin' the bills aint a problem no more, right Mike?"

M. Calzatori: "Yep."

J. Johnson: "What can you tell us about next season's car?"

J. Calzatori: "Not a hell of a lot. Like I said, I aint no egg-head engineer, but I can tell you that once the boss showed up again, them braniacs got to work right quick! He only had to whack...err..fire one of the old engineers before the others got the message, know what I mean? Anyways we gots ta go now. We got a sit-down with a couple of folks here soon. We're tryin' to recruit some more drivers. Right Mike?

M. Calzatori: "Yep."

J. Johnson: "Do you have anything to add to that Mike?"

M. Calzatori: "Yeah...that's a nice microphone youz got there...be a shame if somethin' were ta happen to it...."

- Transcription end -

FSN is offering a reward for information pertaining to the disappearance of it's reporter, Johnny Johnson. Last seen near the Scuderia DeLoyer team headquarters. Anyone with information is asked to call (800) 555-2121.

Susan Sweets - Foxy Sports News

Wednesday the 19th of May saw RAC's Cargo division preparing for the return flight to the US after a dismal turnout at Essington. Team owner Chris Jones was struck with illness, RAC's 2nd cargo aircraft had been grounded due to a engine failure preventing both Ian Cumming and Brandon Longworth's cars from even getting anywhere near the track, and technical gremlins stopped Carl Dixon and Shaun McLean's cars from racing. "We, as a team are very disappointed we were not available to participate due to the many issues that we encountered this week, and with a late departure for the US for the upcoming Laguna race, testing is going to be limited," explains team CEO Chris Jones.  "Our aircraft only returned Tuesday afternoon after sending out a spare engine for our downed 2nd aircraft."

So three races in, RAC have now been relegated to 3rd in the team championship standings, and Chris Jones has now moved down to 4th in the Driver's Championship table with Ian Cumming not too far behind in 7th.  "Again, we were disappointed we didn't score any points this weekend, so this coming weekend, we will have to come out with all guns blazing.  We have a strong team, very able cars and the motivation to win, and finger's crossed no more technical gremlins prevent the drivers from racing."

Shown are some pictures of a rather bare looking RAC cargo aircraft having had all its previous colours removed, seen shortly after it completed loading the team cars, and an hour later it was seen taking off from London Gatwick.

Club members will be pleased to know that a free drink in the club bar awaits them, to celebrate Club President Andy Jones' strong showing in early practice for the Essington GP this week.

Uniquely, the usually glacially slow ageing wannabe is showing all purple sectors at the top of the timesheet. No doubt, normality will be resumed once the big boys show up in the playground, but in the meantime, we asked Club Engineer, Arthur "Two Sheds" Jackson what the techno-whizz had done to achieve this amazing turn of pace.

"I was watching the telly last week, and they were talking about this F-Duct thing. Suddenly I had a flash of inspiration and realised how I could do the same only much better. I just needed to create an Antidrag Aperture, or A-Hole, the only problem was finding the space for it in the chassis. But lateral thinking came to my aid. I just found the biggest A-Hole I could and stuck it in the driver's seat. Works a treat."

GMWC will see a long awaited return to the principality on May 8th when the GTCC rolls into Monaco for round two.

The second round will use the ever popular Class C Skodas on the most challenging street circuit of them all.  GTCC organisers stated "Drivers have petitioned for a return to the streets of Monaco for some time but the GP cars just won't provide a rewarding event.  Continuing our trend of providing alternate race locations, Monaco sees its first GTCC outing and with the Skodas we hope we have the ideal car to provide close and competitive racing on these tricky streets."

Round one saw three different winners from three races, demonstrating the competitive nature of the series.  Whether you're a serious championship challenger or just wanting a fun raceday away from the GPs then come and join GTCC at one of motorsport's most famous circuits.