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Motorsports Porsche

Injury forces Walter Röhrl out of Nürburgring 24 hour

Walter Rohrl

Last last year it was announced that German motorsport legend Walter Röhrl would be making his return to the Nürburgring 24 hour race after a 17 year absence. However, a back injury has forced the 63-year-old to withdraw from the event.

Simon Patrick will replace Röhrl in the Porsche 911 GT3 RS. He will share driving duties with Chris Harris (EVO magazine), Roland Asch and Horst von Saurma.

A preliminary entry list for the 2010 Nürburgring 24 hour race, including a highlighted list of Australian and New Zealand entrants, can be seen at AUSringers.com.

[Source: Sport1.de | Thanks to Obi for the tip]

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Skoda Targa Tasmania

Skoda Octavia RS-P ready for Targa Tasmania

Skoda Octavia RS-P

Skoda Australia’s wicked one-off creation, the Octavia RS-P, is all set to make its tarmac rally debut at Targa Tasmania which kicks off next week.

The recipe is pretty simple, take one standard Octavia RS, turn up the boost of the 2.0 litre turbo, fiddle about with the intake and exhaust. This will see you increase power from 147kW to around 190kW. Then throw on some adjustable suspension, a few strut braces, some uprated brakes and fit semi-slick tyres to great looking 18″ alloys and you’ve just cooked yourself one very cool, and surprisingly rapid, Euro estate. Five stars!

At the wheel of the Octavia RS-P will be Mike Sinclair, Editor-in-chief of carsales.com.au, with Justin Hunt guiding the way in the nav seat. Further detail, and extra pics are available after the jump.

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Motorsports Peugeot

Peugeot RCZ to puff its way around the Ring

Peugeot RCZ

Peugeot will take part in its first Nürburgring 24 hour race next month. To help boost the launch of their RCZ coupé the French marque will enter two cars featuring 147kW 2.0 litre turbo diesel engines.

There will be one team of French drivers (car #200) and a team of German drivers (#201). The numbers represent Peugeot’s 200th anniversary.

Categories
Audi Motorsports

Do a skid!

Audi DTM donuts

Doing burnouts on public roads is bad, m’kay. Just ask Lewis Hamilton. But burning a bit of rubber on a street that is blocked off and surrounded by advertising hoardings is just fine and dandy. Good thing, then, that a couple of the Audi DTM pilots obliged at last weekend’s 2010 season launch in Wiesbaden, Germany.

Timo Scheider, Oliver Jarvis and Mattias Ekström are the guys behind the wheel and you can check out their handiwork after the break.

[Source: quattroholic]

Categories
Green Machines Motorsports Volkswagen

Volkswagen Scirocco Cup 2010

Volkswagen Scirocco Cup

The Volkswagen Scirocco R, one of AUSmotive’s favourite cars, is set to feature in a new one make series to support the DTM category in Germany. To help kick things off for the first round at Hockenheim this weekend five motorsport legends will participate in the racing action. Names such as Derek Bell, Frank Biela, Martin Brundle, Jacques Lafitte and Carlos Sainz will take to the track in the 275bhp race-prepped Sciroccos.

The horsepower legends will be a series within a series during the full nine race Scirocco Cup and Volkswagen will invite five new legends for each race. It’s a similar approach to the Uber-Star Car concept used in the Australian MINI Challenge.

In all 25 cars will take to the track for the Scirocco Cup with 20 regular drivers competing for either the Junior Cup or Pro Cup, depending on their previous motorsport experience. As the Hockenheim round Frank Biela will be competing against his own daughter, Isabella, who is one of the Junior Cup entrants for 2010. A father and daughter competing against each other in the same race, can’t say that happens every day!

The other headline feature of the Scirocco Cup category is its use of bio natural gas fuel which reduces the CO2 emissions of the field by around 80%. Clean, green motor racing, then. This new series is a further development on the two Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Sciroccos that took part in the 2009 Nürburgring 24 hour race.

Based on the Scirocco R road car the race car uses a push-to-pass system that offers drivers shorts bursts of extra power. In standard trim the Scriocco Cup car produces 165kW (down from the road car’s 195kW), but the push-to-pass system boosts power up to 202kW. The system can be used strategically to initiate or defend overtaking moves.

Until we see a Scirocco on Australian shores—and there is at least one on its way—the Scirocco Cup provides great exposure for one of Volkswagen’s best looking models in their current line up. More pics and press releases follow below.

Categories
Ferrari Formula 1 McLaren Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing

2010 Chinese Grand Prix in pictures

2010 Chinese GP

Rain in Shanghai ensured qualifying form was tipped upside down at yesterday’s 2010 Chinese Grand Prix. Jenson Button furthered his reputation as a rain master by winning his second wet race of the year. Teammate Lewis Hamilton was close behind as they crossed the line. MercedesGP driver Nico Rosberg continued his dominance over Michael Schumahcer to finish on the podium for the second race in succession.

Red Bull Racing have had a driver start from pole position every race this year. Unfortunately for them it hasn’t led to a race win for the pole man. Shanghai was no different, with both Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso getting past Sebastien Vettel off the line. Although, Alonso did jump the start and was forced to pit for a stop-go penalty. It was strategy and tyre choice, though, that undid Red Bull’s qualifying supremacy. Both drivers finished well below expectations—Vettel unable to follow his Malaysian GP victory with a podium and he finished in sixth, Webber further behind in eighth.

Four races in to the 2010 Formula One season and what do we make of Michael Schumacher’s comeback? It’s not gone to script, has it. Rosberg is to be commended for leading the way for MercedesGP so far in 2010. And while Schumacher has shown moments of raw pace, he is yet to string together the consistency required to see him challenging for a podium finish. Rosberg out qualified Schumi here in China, which means, for the first time, Schumacher has been out qualified by his teammate for four races in succession.

Quotes from drivers and team principals are now available on Formula1.com. You can also enjoy a total of 50 images from the Chinese GP here on AUSmotive, check them out below.

Categories
Formula 1

The wheels have fallen off

Sebastien Buemi, Chinese GP practice 2010

Toro Rosso driver Sebastien Buemi got the shock of his life during Free Practice 1 at the Chinese Grand Prix on Friday. As you can see from the image above the wheels literally fell off his Formula One car in a spectacular incident. Luckily the only damage was to the car and Buemi did not suffer any injuries.

Speaking after the crash he said, “There’s not much to say about what happened in FP1. I braked, the wheels came off and that was it. Physically, I was fine though.”

Fine, yes, but not happy, “But I have to say, I am extremely disappointed that, once again, through no fault of my own, I have been unable to run for almost all of the three hours available. I will have to try and catch up on Saturday morning and we will be relying on Jaime’s data from today to see which way to go.”

A bit surly perhaps? The team’s Technical Director, Giorgio Ascanelli, explained fixing the cause of Buemi’s accident was straightforward, “Sebastien’s accident this morning was down to a technical problem on the right hand upright, which proved simple to identify once we got the car back. We have resolved the problem, which the many laps completed by Jaime this afternoon confirms.”

If you have not seen any vision of the incident, you can see a video clip below. Like the cat, I expect you will be amazed, too.

Meanwhile, Red Bull Racing duo have once again hogged the front row all to themselves with Sebastien Vettel snatching a last gasp pole position from Australia’s Mark Webber in yesterday’s final qualifying session. Best of luck to both for this afternoon’s race.

[Thanks to Chris for the tip]

Categories
Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Mark Webber drives virtual lap of Shanghai

Mark Webber drives virtual lap of Shanghai

Here is the latest installment in the Red Bull Racing Grand Prix previews for the 2010 season. This time Webber is driving the Shanghai circuit in the Red Bull simulator. At the Chinese Grand Prix Mark thinks of millions of people, a nightmare drive to the the track and a fantastic circuit.

At last year’s Chinese GP Red Bull Racing achieved its first pole position, first race win and first one-two race result. Here’s hoping the team can repeat those efforts, with Webber out in front, of course.

Check the full video of Mark’s Shanghai preview after the break.

Categories
Formula 1 News

For sale: 1980 Williams FW07 driven by Alan Jones

Williams FW07/04

This coming weekend Sothebys Australia will be auctioning off a unique piece of Australian motorsport history when they put Alan Jones’ ex-Formula One car under the hammer. Built in 1979 and raced in the same year, as well as Jones’ 1980 championship winning year, the Williams FW07 is expected to sell for close to one million dollars.

The FW07, designed by Patrick Head, was recognised for its aerodynamic ground effects and was good enough to bring Williams the first of its nine F1 constructors titles and first F1 drivers championship. The car up for auction is chassis number 4 (FW07/04) and was used by Jones to win the 1979 German, Austrian and Candian Grands Prix, as well as the 1980 Argentine Grand Prix.

FW07/04 saw an end to its competitive life after it was crashed in testing during the 1980 season. Jones has recounted it was the only time in an F1 car that he feared for his life after the front wheel broke loose and brushed his helmet as it flew over the car.

After its crash FW07/04 was rebuilt for show car purposes and includes a replica Ford-Cosworth DFV engine. The car was sold in 1981 and found its new home at the York Motor Museum in Western Australia.

The car is now available to purchase for the first time since its original sale and James Nicholls from Sothebys hopes there is strong interest in Lot #130, “It’s difficult to tell as this is such a specialist car—we certainly think it will be in the high hundreds of thousands, it could be $700,000 or higher than that. With the (Formula One) race in Melbourne bringing people into the country we’re hoping people are aware of the car, it’s a very prestigious car, a ground-breaking car driven by Alan Jones so it’s pretty significant here and internationally.”

[Source: Sothebys Australia | via carsguide | Pics: Sothebys Australia]

Categories
Motorsports Porsche

Hey this Hybrid thing might just work

Porsche 911 GT3R Hybrid

Earlier this year when news broke about the Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid there were a few sceptics around suggesting the car would be a triumph of marketing over substance. That may yet prove to be the case, but, for now, Porsche’s working Hybrid experiment is showing good early signs.

In a four hour endurance race at the Nürburgring on the weekend the GT3 R Hybrid finished third, behind the current Nürburgring 24 hour champions from Manthey Racing and an Audi R8 LMS. That’s some good company for a car like this to be keeping in its first season of racing.

The secret to the Hydbrid’s good showing was its ability to stay out on track longer. Most cars pitted three times during the race, the Hybrid just twice.

Works driver Joerg Bergmeister said, “The hybrid system clearly helped us to save fuel. Moreover, it’s a great feeling to have those extra 120 kW from the electric motors when you accelerate out of the corners.”

Categories
MINI Challenge

2010 MINI Challenge – Round 1, Adelaide

MINI Challenge, Rd1, Adelaide

The Australian MINI Challenge has been underway since mid-March, and the 2010 version is showing mixed signs. On the plus side the series has two title sponsors in Hertz and Pizza Capers. On the down side there are only six confirmed races, with the Gold Coast SuperGP only pencilled in at this stage. As yet there are no confirmed slots for live television coverage either.

Round 1 action was part of the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide and a highlights package went to air nationally yesterday afternoon. Paul Stokell is back to defend his 2009 title and Chris Alajajian looks to be his main threat in 2010.

You may recall the series got of to a spectacular start during Friday practice when emerging racer Chris Wootton made a MINI Challenge debut he would rather forget. I’m sure things will only improve for Chris throughout the rest of the year.

Over the rest of the weekend the racing in Adelaide was some of the best seen yet in the MINI Challenge. Although, there was a lot of contact between the cars and a lot of damage suffered as a consequence. As exciting as that is to watch from the comfort of one’s lounge room it must make for extreme discomfort in the hip pockets of the drivers and team managers.

Chris Alajajian managed to fight his way to top spot on the podium in Round 1 to get his 2010 campaign off to a great start. You can see video and pictures of the action after the break. Once you’ve watched the footage see if you agree with me in thinking the MINI Challenge organisers may not be so quick to invite Robbie Maddison back for a third appearance in the Uber-star car.

[Pics: Spherix]

Categories
Audi Motorsports

Audi refreshes R15 Le Mans racer

Audi R15

Audi Sport is in full swing with its preparations to win back the Le Mans 24 hour race. However, rather than boasting of new technical changes, or improvements to Team Joest’s R15 racer, they are announcing the car has a new paint scheme. Along with the image shown above, there are detail images shown after the break.

Supposedly the new paint job demonstrates “pleasure in efficiency”. Markus Auerbach and Tobias Drews from the Audi Design Team tell us, “We wanted to add a dash of surprise when the Audi leaves the pits at Le Mans. We practically opened up the bodywork and are exposing the light-weight construction and its uncompromising technical development – and with a little rock’n’roll for good measure.” Okay, then. Moving right along.

The R15 will continue its development during an 8 hour race at Paul Ricard later this week, so we can expect to see more of this car soon. In the meantime, check out the teaser pics below along with Audi Sport’s press release.