Category: Motorsports

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Porsche Video WEC

Behind the scenes with the Porsche 919 Hybrid

Porsche 919 Hybrid simulator

While we’re firmly in Bathurst 12 Hour mode, put up your hand if you’d like to see LMP1 cars competing in a 12 Hours of Bathurst race?! Of course, that would be truly magnificent and the sight of Mark Webber lapping Mount Panorama in his Porsche 919 would surely attract a crowd to rival the V8 Supercars. Not to mention increased international coverage.

Alas any such suggestions of that becoming a reality are well in the distance and, for now, we’ll just have to make do with Porsche’s latest update showing us some behind the scenes action of their preparations for its return to LMP1 endurance racing.

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Bathurst 12 Hour Nissan Video

Onboard the Nissan GTR Nismo GT3 at Bathurst

Rick Kelly, Nissan GTR Nismo GT3

The #32 Nissan GTR Nismo GT3 has just set the fastest time in Practice 3 at the Bathurst 12 Hour. At the wheel for this afternoon’s flying lap was Bathurst rookie Alex Buncombe who set a time of 2:06.5958. That’s a bit off this morning’s pace when David Russell set a GT3 practice record with his 2:05.9397 lap during Practice 2 in the #23 Lamborghini Gallardo.

From that morning session here is an onboard video with V8 Supercar ace Rick Kelly driving the GTR. He lapped in the low 2:07s and said it was his second fastest-lap ever around the 6.2km Mount Panorama circuit.

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Bathurst 12 Hour

2014 Bathurst 12 Hour race program

Bathurst 12 Hour trophy

A full race program including all support categories can be found on the Bathurst 12 Hour website, but here’s the key times for the main runners.

Aside from the race itself the key timeslot will be 2:20pm tomorrow where the Class A runners will be let off the leash for a frantic 15 minute qualifying session. For the first time the GT3 runners won’t be cobbled by a time ceiling, they’ll be going as fast as they dare with expectations a new course record could be set.

Friday 7 February

0745–0845: Practice 1 (Classes C, D, E, F & I)
0855–0955: Practice 2 (Classes A & B)
1305–1405: Practice 3 (All classes)
1615–1715: Practice 4 (All classes)

Saturday 8 February

0900–1000: Qualifying 1 (All classes)
1330–1410: Qualifying 2 (All classes)
1420–1435: Qualifying 3 (Class A only)

Sunday 9 February

0615–1815: 2014 Bathurst 12 Hour

[Pic: Race Torque Media]

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Bathurst 12 Hour

2014 Bathurst 12 Hour live streaming guide

2013 Bathurst 12 Hour race start

Live coverage for the 2014 Bathurst 12 Hour will be available throughout the weekend, culminating with SBS TV covering the final three hours of the race across the nation.

Live streaming and live audio (via Radio Le Mans) will do the bulk of the work prior to the race climax on televsion. If you can’t see the live stream here at AUSmotive then keep an eye on the official race website.

Lap times for practice, qualifying and the race can be monitored on the NatSoft website too, just select the Bathurst 12 Hour entry and follow the relevant links.

You can also keep up to date with on track and behind the scenes action by following the Bathurst 12 Hour on Facebook and twitter (use #B12hr hashtag).

[Pic: Race Torque Media]

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Audi Bathurst 12 Hour BMW Ferrari Fiat Ford Lamborghini Lotus McLaren Mercedes-Benz Porsche Seat Subaru

Best ever field to take on 2014 Bathurst 12 Hour

2014 Bathurst 12 hour

Just a a couple of days from this weekend’s 2014 Bathurst 12 Hour race now is a good time to cast an eye over the official entry list. And what an entry list it is too!

There’s six classes in all, with the overall race winner expected to come from the 14-strong field of Class A (GT3 Outright) competitors. The #1 Erebus Motorsport Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 is back to defend its 2013 crown. Only Bernd Schneider returns for driving duties with Erebus, he will be joined by Maro Engel and Nico Bastian. Erebus will run a second SLS AMG GT3 (#63) to be crewed by Will Davison, Jack LeBrocq and Greg Crick.

Audi will have four representatives in Class A headlined by the #3 Phoenix Racing entry of Rahel Frey, René Rast and Laurens Vanthoor. Former winner Christopher Mies joins Marc Cini in his #9 R8 LMS Ultra along with Mark Eddy. The #5 Audi will be shared among a strong local crew of Jason Bright, Warren Luff, Rod Salmon and Liam Talbot. United Autosport rounds out Audi’s GT3 entrants in the #25 car driven by Marcus Winkelhock, Mark Patterson and Eric Lux.

Ferrari will be represented for the third year in a row by the #33 Clearwater Racing entry of Mok Weng Sun, Craig Baird and Matt Griffin. They’ve finished the race in third (2012) and second (2013) so will be hoping for another year of progression up the podium. The #88 Maranello Motorsport 458 GT3 will again attract attention with this year’s line up consisting of Craig Lowndes, John Bowe, Mika Salo and Peter Edwards.

Tony Quinn’s diversity in exotic racing ownership has extended to a McLaren 12C GT3 (#37) and he’ll be making that car’s debut in the Bathurst 12 hour with his son Klark and Andrew Kirkaldy.

Also making its B12hr debut is the #32 Nismo-backed Nissan GTR to be driven by Rick Kelly, Katsumasa Cyio, Alex Buncombe and Wolfgang Reip.

Class B (GT3) is dominated by Porsche 911s, with 10 of the 14 entries coming from Stuttgart. These cars are older-spec GT3 machines and two Audi R8s and a pair of Lamborghini Gallardos round out the category.

The stand out crew here is the #12 McElrea Racing 997 GT3 Cup (2012) driven by well-established racers Patrick Long, Alex Davison and David Calvert-Jones. A touch of Hollywood is represented by Eric Bana who is sharing the #99 Gallardo with mates Peter Hill and Simon Middleton.

A small field of three forms the Class C (GT4) field, including a Ginetta G50, a Lotus Exige Cup R and a Lotus Exige S.

Class D (Invitational 3001cc+) is headlined by the #7 Dean Herridge Subaru WRX STi, which will face stiff competition from a mixed bag of makes and models including a BMW 335i, a BMW E46 GTR, a BMW E92 M3, a Daytona Coupe and a pair of Seat Leon Supercopas.

Class E (Invitational up to 3000cc) consists of three Fiat Abarths, so if nothing else the Italian manufacturer is assured of a class win! Similarly, Class I (Invitational, non-production) is made of up of three Ford Focus GTCs and will see Grant Denyer at the wheel of the #70 entry.

All going well there’ll be 54 cars on the starting grid on Sunday morning, with the late withdrawal of the Vita4One Racing BMW team being the only downer, in what shapes as the most exciting and competitive Bathurst 12 Hour race yet.

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Formula 1 McLaren Video

VIDEO: 2014 F1 steering wheel display

McLaren MP4-29 steering wheel display

The Racer’s Edge (aka Peter Windsor) YouTube channel brings us video of the steering wheel display from the McLaren Electronics PCU-8D. It forms part of the the standard ECU used across all teams. There’s no commentary, but it’s still worth watching the display scroll through a series of demonstrations.

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Formula 1

Post-Bernie era draws closer for F1

2013 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

At 83 years of age it’s hardly rocket science to suggest Bernie Ecclestone’s days in Formula 1 are numbered. However, as the F1 supremo increasingly finds himself dealing with unwanted court cases the landscape of F1 and its ownership could be facing significant change.

Joe Saward explains:

Financial rumours are always to be treated with care because one never knows why the news is being leaked and who gains the most from such leaks. Quite often such stories are not at all what they seem to be. The word, however, is that US media billionaire John Malone, who is in the middle of a major expansion into European markets, is looking to buy control of Delta Topco, the parent company of the Formula One group, in order to be in a position to decide which TV channels would be buying the media rights to F1 racing, so as to either boost the revenues of other companies in his empire, or to charge his rivals more for the same privilege.

Malone has been busy investing in Euro television channels, including Virgin Media (Britain), Ziggo (Netherlands), Telenet (Belgium), Unitymedia (Germany) and he also own a controlling stake in Eurosport. It seems too simple to think that he could simply buy the Formula 1 media rights and hand over the broadcasting to his own companies.

That’s because it is too simple, as Saward goes on to explain:

The word is that he [Malone] wants to acquire the Formula One shares currently controlled by CVC Capital Partners, which wants to cash out in F1 because its plans for a stock market flotation have been blocked by the legal troubles surrounding F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone.

However, this does not necessarily mean that a buyer would actually control the Formula One empire because this appears to influenced by a parallel company called Delta Prefco, which has some of the same shareholders as Delta Topco. These investors get a different (and preferential) deal to those involved in Topco.

The rights to Formula 1’s broadcasting and wider management is certainly a confusing tale of corporate intrigue. We recommend you follow the source link to read Saward’s article in full.

[Source: Joe Saward | Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

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Bathurst 12 Hour

A twitter lap of Mount Panorama

Griffins Bend, Mount Panorama, Bathurst

The 2014 Bathurst 12 hour race takes place this weekend and to help get you in the mood the official race twitter account has taken us on a lap of the famed 6.2km Mount Panorama circuit.

Of note is the new super smooth surface the drivers will experience on Australia’s toughest and most spectacular race track. Check it out below.

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Formula 1

Sebastian Vettel owes F1 around 50 million TV viewers

2013 Japanese Grand Prix

Sebastian Vettel’s dominant 2013 season is responsible for 50 million television viewers staying away Formula 1, according to Bernie Ecclestone.

The recent publication of the F1 media report 2013 shows the annual television audience dropped by 10% compared with 2012. The last time F1 confirmed an annual audience tally was in 2011 when 515 million viewers tuned in for at least 15 minutes of coverage across a full season. It’s thought the 2012 figure also had a slight drop to around 500 million, meaning the 2013 audience was approximately 450 million.

“The less-than-competitive nature of the final few rounds, culminating in the championship being decided ahead of the races in the USA and Brazil, events which often bring substantial audiences, had a predictable impact on reach,” explained Ecclestone.

It’s also worth noting there were only 19 races in 2013 compared with 20 grands prix in 2012. The biggest fall in the 2013 audience was seen in China (down 30 million viewers) and Brazil (down 9 million). Even in Germany approximately 3 million viewers stopped tuning in to F1 in 2013.

With the dramatic new changes in the technical and sporting regulations introduced this season Ecclestone is hopeful viewing numbers will rise.

“One thing I am sure of is that this coming season will not only offer a heightened level of unpredictability, but renewed excitement and fierce competition,” he said.

[Source: Mail Online | Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

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Formula 1

Ross Brawn “definitely retiring” from Formula 1

2013 Italian Grand Prix

Ross Brawn won’t be joining McLaren this year, instead he will be “definitely retiring”, leaving the sport to enjoy a spot of fishing.

The 59-year-old who has overseen a combined total of 16 world championships with Renault, Ferrari and Brawn GP team was tipped to join McLaren to work alongside Ron Dennis who has returned to a hands on role at Woking.

Dennis is restructuring the F1 team and needs to fill the newly created position of McLaren Racing CEO, who will be the conduit between Dennis and new Racing Director Eric Boullier.

You can see how a man of Brawn’s experience would be ideal for such a role. Alas, for McLaren its search will continue. However, it would be foolhardy to expect Brawn’s time away from F1 to be permanent. That may prove to be the case, but don’t be surprised at all if he turns up somewhere in 2015.

Honda is returning to F1 as an engine supplier next year and that may provide a pathway for Brawn to come back to the sport, given his history with the manufacturer.

Brawn left Mercedes at the end of last year and speaking at a recent fishing event in Scotland he said: “What they didn’t realise when I was invited here was they had a scoop because the world’s press was trying to find out if I was retiring or not.

“This is the busiest time of the year for Formula One and I said I would come along and open the River Dee. If they had put two and two together they would have realised I was definitely retiring.”

Brawn later left the door open of a return to the sport when he added: “I’m retiring, it’s not tongue in cheek.

“I’m going to take a year to enjoy the fishing and then see what life brings. I’m looking forward to it but I’ve got no other plans.”

[Source: The Telegraph | Pic: Mercedes AMG]

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Formula 1

F1 winter testing: Jerez day 4

Felipe Massa, Williams FW36

Felipe Massa’s career could be headed for a resurgence after setting the fastest time (1:28.229) on a damp final day of testing in Jerez overnight. The FW36 has been near the pointy end all week and the decision of Williams to switch from Renault to Mercedes power for this season is proving to be inspired.

“We managed to do many more laps today than we have in the last three days which is important,” Massa said. “Today we didn’t have any issues with the car which I think is also another step forward.

“Overall, I’m happy with my first days with Williams and I’m pleased with what I have seen in the team this week. For sure it is important to be competitive, but testing is testing, and we now need to look to prepare for Bahrain and then towards the first race, which is the most important thing.”

Once again the three Renault-powered teams struggled to gain any meaningful track time and that, more than anything, is the major story from this first taste of the new regulations. At least Daniel Ricciardo (1:45.374) managed to lock in a flying lap time for Red Bull, albeit the slowest time of the day and one of just seven laps completed.

Fernando Alonso (1:29.145) has given Ferrari fans cause for optimism with the second fastest time and a large haul of 115 laps, the most of any driver on day 4. Third place was Daniel Juncadella (1:29.457), an impressive debut for the Force India reserve driver who no doubt relished all of his 81 laps.

Kevin Magnussen (1:30.806) notched up 110 laps and recorded the fourth fastest time of the day. Hot on his heels was Lewis Hamilton (1:30.822) splitting his driving duties with teammate Nico Rosberg (1:36.951) who set the eighth fastest time. Again, the Mercedes duo combined to complete an impressive tally of 132 laps.

The sixth and seventh quickest times of the day were set by Jules Bianchi (1:32.222) in the Marussia MR03 and Adrian Sutil (1:36.571) in the Sauber C33.

After Rosberg came the struggling Renault-powered trio of Kamui Kobayashi (1:43.193) with 54 laps, Daniil Kvyat (1:44.016) just nine, and as previously mentioned Daniel Ricciardo managed only seven.

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Formula 1 McLaren

F1 winter testing: Jerez day 3

Kevin Magnussen, McLaren MP4-29

Kevin Magnussen made the most of his first official day on track as a McLaren driver by topping the lap charts in Jerez overnight. His time of 1:23.276 was almost half a second faster than next best, Felipe Massa with Williams (1:23.700).

Magnussen’s efforts were made more impressive by the fact he only ran in the afternoon session, as the morning was handed over to Jenson Button. Combined, the McLaren drivers covered a total of 92 laps; 30 more than any other team.

The 21-year-old Dane admitted to having butterflies before taking to the track but understands it’s too early to get carried away with McLaren’s early season pace.

“Happily, everything worked as it should, and the car felt good,” Magnussen said. “I’m pretty pleased with our reliability—to have done as many laps as I did in just half a day was pretty positive.

“I’m not taking too much from the fact that I set the fastest time—I was pushing, but it wasn’t a balls-to-the-wall lap. We wanted to get good data and learn about the car, so I think everyone is pushing out there.”

Red Bull would love to be in McLaren’s shoes right now and after three days of testing the four-time constructors’ champions are yet to record a flying lap time. Daniel Ricciardo’s first day at the wheel of the RB10 lasted just three installation laps before the team shut up shop in the morning session.

“We worked hard yesterday to make the changes it was felt were necessary to overcome the problems we identified and we were hopeful of a more successful day today,” said Race Engineering Co-ordinator Andy Damerum. “Unfortunately, the measures we took only partially solved the issue and, as with yesterday, it’s more sensible to stop and dig deeper into finding a solution. It’s obviously not where we want to be and naturally the whole team is frustrated by these issues.

“This is where the whole team pulls together and I’m sure we will get these problems fixed.”

Lewis Hamilton (1:23.952) ensured Mercedes was well represented and he joined Jenson Button (1:25.030) to see the four fastest times of the day were set by Mercedes-powered cars.

Ferrari slotted in with the fifth best time after Fernando Alonso (1:25.495) racked up 58 laps in his first day driving the F14 T. Nico Hulkenberg (1:26.096) put in a more modest 17 laps in his Force India debut.

Jean-Eric Vergne (1:29.915) saved some face for Renault by locking away 30 laps in the Toro Rosso STR9. However, he was the only Renault-powered driver to record any flying laps on the day. Adrian Sutil (1:30.161) registered the slowest time of the day in the Sauber C33 after 30 laps at the wheel.

Robert Frijns (Caterham) and Max Chilton (Marussia) did not record any times, logging 10 and five installation laps respectively.

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