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RAC Racing and Lamborghini have signed a new contract this week, for Lamborghini to supply a spec engine in accordance with the GMWC council for the 09C championship, but this is no ordinary engine, for the first time in the history of the GMWC, Lamborghini will be supplying RAC Racing a V8 oil burner, that's correct, a Diesel engine. This is the same unit that's rumoured to be powering Lamborghini's newest car, the Estoque, but modified to the correct specifications to meet the league's regulations.
"Expectations for this new power unit are high, as we draw to a close on our worst season to date, which is all due to the lack of development" explains Chris Jones, team owner, "this new engine under test conditions have proved to be successful, and the current development of the car's new technology and this engine will hopefully prove to be as successful combination"
Financing this new technology, which is rumoured to be a development of Knights Industries KITT (knighs Industries Three Thousand) now under the name of KIRT (Knights Industries Racing Technology) have all come from those old gold zeplins which Chris Jones and Brandon Longworth managed to retrieve from their previous team's (SDL) principle's office.
Current No 2 driver Brandon Longworth will be missing the up and coming Enduro event, and is likely to miss the final 2 championship races due to ill health, but rumours have it, he is currently sunning it up in some foreign country with the team's primary sponsor, which for leagal reason's we are still unable to disclose, but the team's logo (the scorpion) is a hint as to who she is.
Bernie Bigglestone
After 12 years in Formula 1, where the FIA takes care about every little hump, this is a race track for real men. It’s more a fight than a pleasure, but I love the challenge of Le Mans!
- Alex Wurz, 2009 Le Mans 24 hours winner
Racing's important to men who do it well. When you're racing, it's life. Anything that happens before or after is just waiting
- Steve McQueen, Le Mans 1971
Enduro Season finale
Drivers and teams of the GMWC Enduro series arrived in La Sarthe region of France today for the completion of the first ever Enduro championship
Competitors will take on the circuit La Sarthe in its 1979 configuration with the classic Mulsanne straight uninterrupted by chicanes. With high speeds, technical sweepers and the challenge of running on public roads await the drivers and teams as the plan their round the clock race to the season end.
Whilst drivers are yet to declare the class of car they will drive, Championships are at stake. In class A, Matt Lewis has the advantage but in missing Bahrain cannot relax and must shoot for the win to be assured of the title. Class B has been one of the most competitive groups with AJ Weber and Dennis Loyer leading the charge. Tom Castellani has performed well in this class but has yet to bring the car home and will be eager to score well at one of his favourite tracks.
Finally class C has been one of the most un-predictable. Chris Jones, Alex Dorsett and Moe Faster have a win each but it’s the consistency of the Moe that gives him the edge to the Class C title.
All is to play for but Le Mans is unique, from the setting sun over the Dunlop Bridge, Glowing brakes in the night at Mulsanne and at dawn driving through forest and lingering smell of breakfast from the Arnage corner campsites. Le Mans is a classic and this race looks to be no exception.
A-tek is announcing its new sponsorship Deals with Alienware OnLive and Virgin Galactic. These will be the new key sponsors for the 09C season along with the main sponsor of the team microsoft xbox 360.
A-Tek have decide to create a kind of unique livery which is a step away from the normal kind of race repaint with colours and stripes. We have also tried to incorporate more of a theme with the repaint and tryed to make it as noticeable as possible with out being crazy. With all details still to be finalised by each team member of A-tek with the new ATK2009C car for 09C the repaint is the only bit of the car that can be confirmed at the moment.
The team are looking forward to 09C as it will be the first official season for the team.
A-Tek wont be making an appearence this saturday for the endurance race at le mans.
Pictures supplied by Carl Dixon.
Daytona Beach, FL-- Litchfield Dynamics and Hyundai unveiled their new car today at Daytona International Speedway. The newly christened LD09C, took laps around both the Daytona Infield Course, and speed tests around the famous oval itself. Team Owner and Driver, Zack Litchfield, was asked how the car felt navigating the Daytona track, "The car feels great, and ran very well around the Daytona Circuit. Testing has gotten rid of the early touchiness of the engine during acceleration, although we still have the same downshifiting and clutch problems of the current season's car. Hopefully further testing and discussions with the GMWC will yield a solution."
Times of around 1:32-1:33 were being put up consistently in the car, and a maximum top speed of 215mph was put up momentarily on the back of the oval. The top speed should be very similar to what other teams could put up due to the spec engine, although it will be interesting if other teams can or can not match that speed. It should also be noted that no track on the current schedule can reach these speeds, but team owner Zack Litchfield has shown interest in attempting to start an oval series and the spec engines would help in this endevor.
Litchfield Dynamics are not expected to make a showing at the Le Mans endurance next week, but are preparing to ship both the old and new cars to Nuerburg and begin testing for the next GMWC race.
A lot has happened since the last news update with many changes and results; however the one constant is the names at the top of the championship standings with AJ Weber and Antares leading the drivers and team championship standings respectively
In the past few rounds different winners have reaped the rewards. The Turbo powered cars however seem to have really got to grips with their engine designs with the standard engine cars now really struggling to keep the pace up the front for extended runs. Advantage to Antares, Rusyn and SDL who have enjoyed the feature wins in rounds all bar Suzuka. M-sport and A-tek drivers will be looking forward to the standard engine formula for the 2009C season
SDL drivers have enjoyed a welcome revival of late, Dennis Loyer returning from occasional absence to dominate the Silverstone round and Stuart Barge enjoying his first Enduro victory in Bahrain
Spa
Non turbo cars actually held the surprise fastest times in the run up to the Spa round and enjoyed competitive qualifying times but it was once again those turbo cars that had the long run pace.
Anthony Cochrane managed one sprint win but Celso Jorge and AJ Weber shared the rest.
Matt Lewis gained second on the feature grid behind Celso Jorge. On lap one Matt got the better run out of La source and was set to make of move at the end of the straight into Les Coombes but was caught out when Celso braked unexpectedly at the 300 meter board. With 200 to run to the usual brake point Matt had no where to go. AJ Weber sneaked through the resulting carnage to lead at the end of lap one.
Celso and Matt recovered but it was Celso with a much higher top speed hunting down and eventually passing AJ on lap 6. Celso would go on to hold this place to the end. Further back, Matt would get the jump on AJ during the pit stops and emerge with a healthy 11 second gap. Second was not certain however as a short fill left Matt fuel saving for the last two laps. Back marker traffic would prevent AJ closing the final 2 seconds on the last lap.
GP's take a break now as Le Mans beckons the Enduro finale but AJ Weber will head into the final cup with one hand on the championship trophy leaving Matt Lewis and Celso Jorge in with a chance but effectively scrapping over second.
RAC Racing are going all out for the up and coming 09C GMWC series, with a host of new changes, driver position swaps and a host of other backround changes within the team. 09C hopes are to see RAC Racing being more competitive, consitant and above all, more colourful, as the following picture prove, they certainly managed to acomplish that.
These late changes to their design of the 09C car shape, the livery and the almost set in stone design specifications have not deterred team principle Chris Jones, from being a team capable of challenging for glory in the 09C season. Purely for the fact that all teams will be competing using a spec engine, front and rear track and car wheelbase will all be restricted, the only design changes that are team customizable will be the syspension, aero package, diffuser are among the few.
Rumours have it though that, RAC Racing are currently undergoing testing of some technology that has slipped past the scrutineers of the GMWC board, and will possiblly help with the performance of the car during racing, this technology is rumoured to be called KIRT (Knight Industries Racing Technology) and further evidence of this can be seen on the new car on the very tip of the nose where what seems to be a miniaturized scanner, but when questioned about the technology, Chris responded by saying "dont know what your talking about"
RAC racing are looking forward to consigning the current 09B car to the history books, and just pray they have a better 09C season.
Autobollocks columnist
Bernie bigglestone.
Jacksonville, FL-- President and owner of Litchfield Dynamics, Zack Litchfield, has announced that with the new regulations being posted for the 2009C Season, Hyundai will be providing engines and some Chassis support for Litchfield Dynamics. The engines, originally intended to be based upon the Hyundai Tau engine, will now be built to spec as ordered by the GMWC. The spec engine is the same as all teams will run, and was generally a well supported move among the teams, including Litchfield Dynamics. Litchfield will maintain the design aspect of the chassis, but will turn over construction to Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama, in order to keep the construction of the car in America as well as costs down.
Sony has also been in talks with Litchfield Dynamics about sponsorship for the coming season, in response to the Microsoft/Xbox 360 sponsorship of rival team A-Tek. The Litchfield Dynamics livery is expected to carry PS3 logos along with the Blue coloring of this past season. The new car and sponsorship deals are expected to be unveiled in two-to-three weeks at Daytona International Speedway, which is the home track of Litchfield Dynamics.
Laguna Seca was all about one man with Celso Jorge completing a brilliant clean sweep of race wins.
Proving practice makes perfect, Celso racked up more laps than any other driver in advance of the race and these translated into race pace that the rest of the field struggled to respond too, the turbo/gyro package of the Antares car proving too strong.
Leading the chase during the sprints were the works M-sport car of Matt Lewis and Anthony Cochrane in the newly entered A-Tek team running a customer M-sport car.
Heading into the feature race however, the MP009 cars seemed to have made a huge leap in performance and were contesting for the pole, but Celso pulled it off leaving the top three covered by less than 160ths of a second.
From the start Anthony Cochrane unexpectedly hounded Celso hard with the Antares car possibly running a one stop strategy. Inevitably they were both soon off with Celso loosing a wing and Anthony dropping down to 6th leaving Matt Lewis and an impressive Carl Dixon up front. Matt was unable to take the advantage however nursing an overheating car due to a bad radiator setting selection.
After the final pit stops all four contenders were once again together but the order had changed. Anthony looked set to challenge for the win but suffered an untimely technical problem allowing that man Celso back through into a lead that would not be challenged after a calm and measured recovery from the earlier incident. Matt Lewis completed the podium in second after solving the overheating issue with an impressive drive from Carl Dixon taking 3rd in his first race for A-Tek
Leaving this USA round, Local driver AJ Weber leads the championship thanks to his Shanghai and Estoril wins depsite a chassis struggling for speed. With season budget remaining, new parts are due on the car very soon so the championship race is very much hotting up.... stay tuned
RAC Racing have been spotted just days after a successful 2nd place finish at Estoril, sporting a new car with a new livery design to the body work. Insiders have confirmed that the car, although not 100% finished, both in terms of design of the overall car and the livery, were more than happy to release the car early to give it a good shake down on track and find any potential flaws in the car. And if it's not already aparent, the team have made a return to the team's original colour, bright orange.
This weekend has also marked a new development for RAC Racing, as it has been confirmed that Lamborghini will be powering RAC's GRID-09C car. Sources have revealed that the design of the car is being cept tightly under wraps, and are unlikely to find out the engine's specifications until after the final deadline for the submition to the league has closed. But what is apparent, is the distinct lack of turbo power, the old familiar whoosh of the turbo as the current car accelerates is unmistakable, and the new car seem's to be missing this.
Reports are, that the PROTOTYPE-09C Mk3, as the car is called runs mid to high 1:16s, where as the RAC-09B car's best time over the weekend was a 1:17.3. Indicating that the engine has more power than the outgoing engine, and without a turbo will make a big difference. The team are also being hush hush over the design of the chassis and where the 8 point credits will be spent.
Worried faces were aplenty a few weeks ago in the M-sport camp when the various new team cars rolled out the garages in Brazil for the pre season showcase and the Turbo trend became apparent.
Having opted for an entirely different technical development route from most of the grid (Rusyn the exception), the MP009-B car struggled for pace in the pre-season test down the long Jacarepagua straight compared to the turbo cars and fears had set in as to whether the right development had been chosen.
Two events in however and the worry has eased with the team sitting strong in the drivers and manufacturers tables. Test Driver and race regular Alex Dorsett AKA Bruce admits “The attraction of a big turbo was there for sure so yes we were worried sticking with a standard engine was a risk. Having tested a turbo side by side with the standard engine we found the disadvantages negated the advantages. The drivers found the standard engine also a lot easier to drive and that’s what made the choice for us.”
Asked how the rest of the season will develop, team owner Matt Lewis said “We are very encouraged by the results seen so far but we know tracks are coming that will suit the turbo teams more than us so we must capitalize where we have the upper hand. At the same time the ever present threat of Rusyn remains with a lot of development budget remaining and I have no doubt that AJ and his boys will be back up front soon. It will be interesting to see how they deploy their remaining budget and again we must capitalize on our advantage whilst we have it.”
Under the stars and fireworks, it was the underdogs that were celebrating class wins in the first round of the GWMC Enduro championship.
From the outset the practice pace setters controlled the race and looked set for the wins but their plans began to unravel heading in to the final stages of the race.
The successful event proved popular once again with the track characteristics proving challenging for drivers and heavy on tyre wear. Although some inevitable start issues, multi class contact issues and fatigue crept in, all participating drivers drove a good and measured race and although maybe not mentioned below, deserve congratulations none the less. After all in endurance racing, getting to the end is a result alone.
Class A
Practice pace and pole was taken by Matt Lewis with comfortable margins and for the most part had the edge on race pace. Mike Redman however surprised the class A pack with a consistent performance and was always running a steady but strong speed.
As night fell it would be the leader and not the chaser that made errors as an increase in wing setting left the M-sport car off the pace, getting bottled up behind lapped Class A and B cars. The M-sport team reduced the wing on the next stop but the damage had been done and both Lewis and Redman were now on the lead lap, swapping the place at the pit stops. The defining moment however came when Matt, caught out by a slowing Panoz, lost control and got caught on the kerbing loosing half a lap. This error was then compounded by over filling the car on the final stop.
Matt emerged 20 seconds behind Mike but despite a faster pace, made numerous errors and off track excursions leaving Mike to take a great win with calm and controlled driving.
Class B
A strong class B field was hotly contested with leading GP series drivers from Rusyn, Antares and M-sport. Much like class A, it was the M-Sport liveried Panoz of Tom Castellani that held the pace edge but in this class too it would not prove to be success for M-sport.
Throughout the race AJ Weber and Tom traded the lead by result of differing strategies and going into the final stops it looked like they would emerge very close for a sprint to the end. Unfortunately a technical problem putting Tom out of the running soon after.
AJ went on to claim the win having survived a few attacks from frustrated class A drivers along the way.
Class C
No matter where you went or looked, there always seemed to be a Skoda in front, at least to the Panoz and Proton drivers. The most popular class saw the entire RAC team take to the track in Class C. Chris Jones, Scott Farm and Alex Dorsett were the class of the field but an early exit from Bathurst Class C enduro winner Alex made it a two horse race.
Chris raced hard with Scott Farm all distance long in some of the best action on the circuit. Inseparable to the end it was Chris that would take to the win after a fuel strategy error left him dry with one lap to run.
Spotted during testing, was RAC Racing's very own Class C Touring car sporting it's new livery (yet to be finished ED), which also marks the return of RAC Racing's very distinctive orange colour, last seen on the 2009A season Grid GP cars. The car also sported a new feature to help other drivers identify the driver in front should a quicker Class C touring car catch them, and this is in the form of a personalized name plate on the rear trunk. The new design, an otherwise slightly re-designed BTCC livery though will not make it's debut this coming saturday at the Orchard lake road course endurance event, as the team are still awaiting the delivery of the remaining 5 cars required for the remainder of the team after Team Principle, Boss, Driver and in general an all round nice guy Chris Jones, decided to cash in those supposedly worthless gold zeplins he aquired during his days at SDL.
Here's the photo of the unfinished car of Chris Jones.
Get the comfy seat cushions out and make sure the beer is within reach – Enduro’s are back with a bang
Following a hugely successful and popular Bathurst endurance race last season, the GMWC special events now takes the guise of a new four race endurance series, kicking off at Orchard Lake road course this weekend culminating in the daddy of them all, Le Mans.
Drivers will face the challenge of multi class racing, day/night transitions and managing long distance strategies, all of which are required skills to be successful in endurance racing.
Practice times are now on the board but remain inconclusive, one hot lap will not win a 2 hour race. The Panoz class looks to be hugely popular and competitive this time but no doubt the Proton and Skoda’s will see no less intensive competition.
The heat was on for round two of the GMWC series this week and the action on the track was as hot as the local climate. Whilst many teams and drivers were glad to move on from the demanding Shanghai track which thoroughly tested driver skill, the Bahrain Sakhir circuit posed a whole new challenge to complete the opening cup of the season.
Whilst remaining a challenge to the drivers, Sakhir presented a nightmare for the teams and setup engineers with many struggling to find a fast but consistent setup. The early pace in testing saw Shanghai feature winner and points leader AJ Weber topping the times.
Come raceday though, the headline grabber was the appearance of the much feared pace of the Antares car which saw them enjoy significant advantage in the many straights with Celso Jorge and Mike Redman showing strong.
Sprint Races
Complete chaos ensued at the start of the first race with the tight turn one catching lots of drivers out, the safety car also added to the melee with more drivers getting caught up in incidents with damaged cars. More than half the grid pitted for repairs leaving pole sitter Matt Lewis at the head of the field and the eventual win. Mike Redmond scored a great result for Antares starting and finishing second with Brandon Longworth escaping the chaos to rise to the final podium place. Anthony Cochrane was the big winner of the opening chaos rising 17 places to take 4th.
By the second race a theme was emerging, M-sport had a fast qualifying car but Antares had faster sprint race pace. Another pole for Matt Lewis came to nothing though after contact from Chris Jones into the first corner sent them both to the back of the pack. AJ Weber chased hard but Antares notched the first win of the year with Celso taking the flag. Mike Redmond with another solid performance in 4rd and Zach Litchfiled with a strong result came home in the points in 5th
The final sprint saw a Matt Lewis, Celso Jorge, AJ Weber result.
The main event
So the scene was set and the cards were on the table, or so it seemed. Between races the Antares team had been thinking hard and Celso Jorge snatched pole with a stunning lap in the dying seconds having narrowly avoided a spinning Matt Lewis on the back straight. The M-Sport team owner having wasted that final lap could not respond. Anthony Cochrane also showed his hand with 3rd followed Mike Redmond and AJ Weber.
The feature race start whilst less incident strewn was no less dramatic. Matt Lewis had a poor lap dropping to 6th with Mike Redmond endured a torrid start dropping to 17th. By lap 3 Matt had clawed two places back but the leading pack of Celso, Anthony and AJ had a gap going. Celso and Anthony exchanged places briefly on lap 4 and they would continue to battle throughout the race.
AJ Weber showed good pace struggling with a difficult car but a 3 stop strategy ultimately dropped him away as the race progressed. In the midfield and rear of the grid action was frenzied and changed by the lap. The large grids now enjoyed by the league providing some entertaining racing.
Up front Anthony had the upper hand after the pit stops and led the most laps but a longer middle stint did not work out for him and going into the last stint the race was far from won. Matt Lewis has made a steady recovery through the race to sit in 3rd but unable to close a 5 second gap to the Celso / Anthony battle. However the race was about to be decided in a true case of it isn't over till the fat lady sings.
Entering lap 19 Celso has once again diced with Anthony but this time had the lead onto the final two straights where his cars power had the upper hand. Ahead in the final turn however a sister Antares car was recovering from an off and Celso, possibly distracted ran wide. As Celso rejoined Anthony found himself faced with a back marker and two recovering Antares cars, the combining traffic and backing off had closed the top three in one corner. As Celso and Anthony regained there speed from the unexpected incident in a drag race down the finish straight, Matt Lewis was foot to the floor behind enjoying a healthy slipstream from team mate Michael Gore and then latching onto the back of Anthony for a further tow effect to slingshot into first place. All 3 cars closed in on turn one with hardly a gap and contact between all 3 seemed inevitable but it was Anthony chasing Matt up the hill out of the turn. An attempt was made into the hairpin with the RAC car diving up the inside of the M-sport car but over cooking it.
A spin from Anthony later that lap left Matt with a comfortable margin that he would maintain for the victory. Celso and Anthony had unfinished business however continuing to trade places until a blocking move too many saw Celso unable to avoid the back of Anthonys car, tapping him into a spin. Celso continued to take second with a return to the podium for the new RAC rookie. AJ driving well to wring performance out of his car took 4th.
So the first two races down and some of the most exciting races the league has seen, the new Formula certainly seems to be doing the goods thanks to its developers. The GP league now takes a break whilst the drivers head for the Enduro series but the GP cars return at Estoril soon where the battle will be as strong as ever.
The Shanghai grid rumbled to a record turnout as the new look GMWC 2009B season got underway this weekend. With an even playing field drivers got to grips with the new formula and finally questions are starting to be answered about how the teams and drivers would fare with the new specifications. Rusyn, M-sport and RAC all scored a win during the event with the higher powered cars of SDL, Superoo and reigning team champions Antares off the pace.
However no one team could claim to be truly dominant. Pre season speculation of the league entering a turbo era remains in question however as the Rusyn and M-sport standard engine cars notched up the most victories with the RAC turbo powered car picking up the last sprint win. Where the turbo cars will gain the upper hand on other circuits will remain to be seen as the season progresses however they are sure to come back strong very soon.
The 2009B season opener also welcomed many new rookies to the league and the results saw a highly competitive mid field over the various races. At the sharp end, former champions AJ Weber and Matt Lewis picked up where they left off and rookie Anthony Cochrane impressed up front which saw some exciting 3 way battles. Snapping on their heels were Chris Jones, Tom Castellani and Antares lead driver Celso Jorge.
Results for the event as follows..
Sprint 1 - 1st Matt Lewis, M-Sport
2nd Celso Jorge, Antares
3rd Chris Jones, RAC
Sprint 2 - 1st Matt Lewis, M-Sport
2nd Tom Castellani, M-Sport
3rd Chris Jones, RAC
Sprint 3 - 1st Anthony Cochrane, RAC
2nd Matt Lewis, M-Sport
3rd AJ Weber, Rusyn
Feature - 1st AJ Weber, Rusyn
2nd Matt Lewis, M-sport
3rd Anthony Cochrane, RAC
Fastest Qaul lap - AJ Weber 1:43:127
Fastest Race lap - Anthony Cochrane 1:44.118
The GMWC circus now heads to the sandy terrain of Bahrain and the Sakhir GP circuit.
As of 9:00 PST, Matthew Lewis (M-Sport) sits atop the Shanghai practice timesheets with a healthy margin over Anthony (RAC) in second and AJ Weber (Rusyn) in third; all three into the 1:43 bracket.
Strangely, nobody is in the 1:44 bracket at all, with Celso (Antares) leading the rest of the field in the 1:45 bracket. Top 10 practice times:
- Matthew Lewis (M-Sport) 1:43.552
- anthony (RAC) 1:43.751
- AJ Weber (Rusyn) 1:43.872
- Celso Jorge (Antares) 1:45.508
- Mike Redman (Antares) 1:45.527
- Tom Castellani (M-Sport) 1:46.276
- Stephan Moons (Rusyn) 1:46.554
- Chris Jones (RAC) 1:46.941
- Tom Giangreco (Rusyn) 1:46.986
- Scott Farm (Rusyn) 1:48.228
2009A Observations
The story that was 2009A saw a few stars rising to the top of the league. Some youngbloods, a few old timers. Even amongst the teams there was a rising and falling. Scuderia DeLoyer, a formidable team to be sure, fell a few places down the team ladder while M-Sport Racing, the new kid on the block, rose to claim a coveted spot among the top three. Antares once again proved they were the king of the hill and claimed the title as number one team in GMWC. If the race for the championship was the main plot, one of the subplots in this drama was a technical one.
In 2009A, more teams/drivers opted to go with the helotek driveline than at any other point in GMWC history. Does this prove the strength of the driveline? Only time will tell as the story of 2009B is written over the course of the season. Each race will have it's own unique story to tell. Those stories will comprise the great mosaic that is GMWC. Future generations will tell the stories of what we've done around community fires all the while dancing like a bunch of crazed peyote induced natives praying to the gods for a great day of sport. This is the reason we race. It's the reason 2009B will prove to be one of the greatest of all time. So spike your fuel, attach some illegal movable wing, tip your glasses, pass the peace pipe. We're in for the season of a lifetime.
2009B Season Preview
The big story of the 2009B season is the new grid-gp formula. Teams were restricted to a budget of 8 points, with certain areas of development and focus costing differing amounts of points. Teams could spend all 8 points up front, or reserve some points for a single update after the second cup. Most teams spent the full 8 points, with one team opting to defer all spending until the update, and a couple others reserving some lesser amount of budget.
Most teams also went with turbo engines, and the few non-turbo teams are rumored to be developing their own turbo packages for the update. Has the GMWC entered a turbo-era?
The new season also brings a new look. Part of the new formula is wider and shorter cars. This has driven the development of lots of new shapes, although a couple teams have instead chosen to adapt their tried and true aerodynamic approach. All of the newly developed shapes also sport new liveries.
After a non-points showcase event at Jacarepagua, the season starts at a new venue for the league: Shanghai. Shanghai is a large Tilke designed track and should be a big challenge for the teams to come to terms with in their new cars.
Teams
|
Antares Sim Racing The Antares design effort was one of the more thorough and collaborative projects among the teams and has resulted in a balanced approach. |
|
| 2009A Score | 105 |
| 2009B Budget Spent | 8 |
| Drivers | Celso, MikeR, Doug, Bill, Sammy, Abe(?) |
| Engine | custom turbo, 483-531 kW |
| Chassis |
level 2 aero, gp suspension, carbon brakes, mclaren88 carshape |
|
Rusyn Performance Dynamics Rusyn is one of only three teams to hold back any budget for the mid season update, opting to deploy minimal upgrades at the start of the season. One thing to watch with Rusyn is if they can scrape together enough points to stay in the championship running early on. |
|
| 2009A Score | 87 |
| 2009B Budget Spent | 2 |
| Drivers | Tom, Stephan, AJ, Moe, Jeremi, Scott |
| Engine | custom standard, 485 kW |
| Chassis |
basic aero, gp suspension, carbon brakes, ferrari88 carshape |
|
M-Sport Racing M-Sport has by far the most advanced chassis, choosing to develop the aerodynamics more than any other team. Their advanced materials and nanotech brakes only help to improve the chassis beyond the norm. Can their standard based engine keep up with the turbo invasion over a whole season? |
|
| 2009A Score | 77 |
| 2009B Budget Spent | 8 |
| Drivers | MattL, Brian, TomC, Alex |
| Engine | custom standard, 511 kW |
| Chassis |
level 3 aero, kpi suspension, nanotech brakes, gmwc99 carshape |
|
SUPEROO The unfortunate news for Superoo is the loss of one of their drivers, Scott, which adds to the challenge of moving up among the teams. With the respect to the car, Superoo has chosen a well balanced approach much like Antares. |
|
| 2009A Score | 57 |
| 2009B Budget Spent | 8 |
| Drivers | Josh, Todd |
| Engine | custom turbo, 470-517 kW |
| Chassis |
level 1 aero, kpi suspension, carbon brakes, ferrari91 carshape |
|
Scuderia DeLoyer SDL is one of the three teams reserving some development for the mid season update, although a mere 1 point. As with Antares and SUPEROO, SDL is chosing a balanced development plan in their bid to recapture past glory. SDL's biggest hurdle is the temporary absence of their star driver, C, who is on an extended all-paid vacation in a secure environment. |
|
| 2009A Score | 55 |
| 2009B Budget Spent | 7 |
| Drivers | Dennis, C, Stuart |
| Engine | custom turbo, 474-521 kW |
| Chassis |
level 2 aero, gp suspension, carbon brakes, gmwc99 carshape |
|
RAC Racing RAC has one of the more interesting cars since focused heavily on their engine drivability without sacrificing too much in their chassis except for one key component: brakes. Among the highly developed cars, RAC is the only team to remain on steel brakes, and this could prove to be a thing to watch over the season. |
|
| 2009A Score | 49 |
| 2009B Budget Spent | 8 |
| Drivers | Chris, Brandon, Carl, Tim |
| Engine | custom turbo, 451-496 kW |
| Chassis |
level 1 aero, kpi suspension, steel brakes, minardi91 carshape |
|
De La Rosa There is not much to say about DLR yet, as they have taken the bold path of reserving all upgrade deployment for the mid season update, so their campaign starts on a basic car. They could be a very interesting car to watch after the update as they will have better information on tradeoffs than any other team had. |
|
| 2009A Score | 5 |
| 2009B Budget Spent | 0 |
| Drivers | Gregg, MikeS |
| Engine | standard engine, 459 kW |
| Chassis |
basic aero, gp suspension, steel brakes, benetton88 carshape |
In a shocking turn of events, the most infamous team in F1 has run up the white flag. Scuderia Ferrari has thrown in the towel and called it quits.
The announcement was made during the regularly scheduled Ferrari Press Breakfast at their headquarters in Maranello, Italy. The event is a regular gathering of press personnel and Ferrari representatives, and traditionally serves as the forum in which Ferrari disseminates the propaganda that the press is to issue in coming weeks regarding Ferrari and its competitors.
It was clear that something was afoot, however, when none of the normal Ferrari faces were in attendance and instead Jean Todt entered the room. The former Team Principal was rumored to have finally severed all ties with Ferrari in March, after having spent a brief tenure (2008) as Ferrari CEO.
Todt, barely visible above the lip of the podium, spent only a few brief minutes addressing those in attendance. He cited the F1's reckless pursuit of fairness as the primary reason for Ferrari's withdrawal from the series, saying:
"Frankly, FIA is trying to make the series a sporting competition and that's just not what we're after. It's not in the best interests of Ferrari. It's not what the fans want. Ferrari has a responsibility to its legion of international fans and they don't want a fair race. They pay good money to see the prancing horse lead a two and a half hour parade, and they've not been getting that. F1 has done nothing recently except obstruct and hinder us and we're left with no choice but to exit the series. We spend too much money to waste our time competing fairly. That makes no business sense. We finally just said, 'What is the point? Anyone can win a fair race. What's in this for us?'"
Ferrari had a contract with F1 and FIA that guaranteed a certain percentage of poles, wins, and championships, but that contract expired several seasons ago, coinciding with the departure of Michael Schumacher as Ferrari's lead driver. According to Todt, subsequent seasons were rife with difficult negotiations between Ferrari and F1, and only short term agreements were reached. Todt indicated that Ferrari had lost patience with F1's unwillingness to re-enter a long term contract and that the recent formula rule changes were the tipping point, saying, "What - now they just want to leave all of this up to the drivers! This is madness!"
Todt continued, "Actually, the end of last season set the stage for this. We'd been given assurances that the driver's championship would be ours following the Brazilian GP. We had voice confirmation with race officials that both Glock and Hamilton had received their orders regarding how to finish. To this day we've still not received an adequate explanation for why those orders weren't followed. In previous seasons they were contractually bound, and everything ran smoothly, but we had a gentlemen's agreement for 2008, and what happened just proves there was only one gentleman involved - us. Our suspicions are that F1 had been negotiating in bad faith all year and that they'd been preparing for a future without Ferrari. Well - that's what they'll get."
It is unclear at this point if the team is being disbanded or will just be on sabbatical indefinitely. Todt was mostly mum on questions regarding the future of the team.
The news comes on the heals of one of the team's worst performances in an opening round of an F1 season, seeing both Ferrari drivers DNF in Australia due to mechanical problems, and obviously scoring 0 points. Todt explained that the decision to quit probably should have been made prior to the start of the season, saving them the public embarassment in Melbourne. Apparently there was still some hope of securing a mutually agreeable contract, even as the start of the season approached, and they were hesitant to quit prematurely when only a pen stroke at the 11th hour was needed to secure them an opening round win.
Todt was asked about the status of the team's drivers, Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen, and whether their contracts allowed them to pursue other seats in the immediate future. He responded, "How could they? They have absolutely no appeal as personalities. Without Ferrari they're about as marketable as a quadriplegic street mime. And without the usual guarantees from F1, there's no point embarassing themselves every week. Look at what happened to Ralf in 2007 after he lost his guarantees. I hear he's driving a taxi in Düsseldorf now."
This marks the end of a long and storied chapter in not just motorsports history, but faux sports in general. Scuderia Ferrari is matched perhaps only by the Harlem Globetrotters as the most successful exhibition franchise ever.
As news spread across Ferrari nation, the reaction among the red-clad 'tifosi' was a mixture of sorrow, denial, and zealotry-laden irrationality.
"This is great! Now we don't have to travel anymore, we can just live in a shanty town right next to Fiorano," said one fan. He explained that he had to pimp himself, sexually, to be able to afford to follow Ferrari around the world during the season, and even then had spent the vast majority of his adult life sleeping in dumpsters and train stations.
Another declared this the "best thing to happen since lung cancer", referring to Ferrari's exclusive $1 billion sponsorship by Marlboro/Philip Morris.
One woman seemed distraught, by contrast, responding "What am I supposed to do with my life now? All I know is waving the flag and screaming incoherently. Why should I even yell racial epithets at Lewis Hamilton anymore - what's the point?"
Many were pinning the blame for this squarely at the feet of Bernie Ecclestone, with the consensus opinion being that he was a 'traitor' who had lost sight of the fact that Formula One existed solely to provide a venue in which to celebrate Ferrari's racing monarchy. Sure, they argued, the new medal system for awarding the driver's championship was supposed to make up for some of the series' recent transgressions against Ferrari, but, they argued, it was too little too late.
And indeed it does seem too late. Though a small glimmer of hope did exist. Kimi Raikonnen was spotted exiting the facility and a reporter shouted the following question at him, "Kimi -- what do you think of the team's resignation from F1 and what's the future look like for Scuderia Ferrari?" He responded, "I don't know."
Over the past few weeks, speculations as to the future of RAC Racing have been unknown. All teams are currently in full swing with their chassis and engine designs for the upcoming 09B season, but RAC Racing have been nowhere in sight, that was until earlier today in Sepang. Running in the distinctive grey primer all teams must run when testing new cars, was the recently acquired new ‘test driver’ otherwise known as the STIG. Team owner and 1st driver Chris Jones and 2nd driver Brandon Longworth were both unavailable for comment, but team mechanic Desmond Hill, has stated that the delay in the release of the new engine and chassis has been a long time in coming, but initial testing has proven that the chassis is very capable, where as the engine might need some tweaking.
When questioned about the car’s engine, Desmond responded by saying that the BMW engine that’s currently powering the 09A car is running perfectly, though is slightly down on top end speed. Desmond also stated that BMW will be pulling out of the contract at the end of the current season, which lead us to ask, “So what engine is powering the new car?” the reply was, “for now, it’s just called the prototype”
When asked about the cars handing , the STIG made his first reply in an unusual dialect, then displayed his comments on the front of his visor in the form of binary wording, our Intel team are currently in the process of trying to decipher what the STIG spoke and what his thought are on the handling.
Our photographer managed to catch the STIG in action at Sepang, pictured below.
Bernie Bigglestone, Autobollocks columnist.
M-Sports 2009B plans have been hard to come by so far as the 2009A Championship heads into the final rounds. Details about how the team intends to adapt to the new regulations have been kept tightly wrapped up although sources indicate they are working closely with technical partners Scuderia Deloyer. An insider confirmed ongoing shipments being recieved of the SDL trademark Gold Zeppelins into the UK Based M-sport factory and said, "we keep getting tons of the damn things and they pile up in the corner, its just as well gold still has good value in these tough economic times as we have been doing good business in gold ingots from molten zeppelins"
The team owner has also denied that the team had stopped developmental support on its 2009A MP-009 chassis as the season draws to a close. "we really want to try and finish the season on a high. Our drivers may be behind int the drivers points race but we have a good chance in the team race. Antares may be a little out of reach at the top be we aim to be the highest place team with an legitimatly developed car design"
It is belived that in effort to gain extra performance, the team will run without the SDL patented monker fur filters on the air intkaes for the final few rounds.