The moment we've all been waiting for...

Finally actual video of the R18 has been caught online. Not only that, but it's even HD. I do recommend turning this up.

Audi R18 TDI Testing at Sebring from QuattroWorld.com on Vimeo.

In depth interview with Head of Audi Motorsport and team about the Audi R18 TDI from QuattroWorld.com on Vimeo.

Pirelli's crazy colors explained

Le Mans and Sebring through 8mm Film

Axis of Oversteer Blog

My Obligatory Formula One Post

Yep, there it is. I haven't watched the race yet so I have nothing to right on but considering how much people care about F1, I feel as though I should put at least a picture up.

(NFS) Shift 2 actually good??

So it doesn't take a genius to figure out that I'm kinda a huge fan of Forza. So when I heard that the team over at Need For Speed was eyeing a shot at the racing simulator crowd I was a little bit skeptical. I mean, this is the same Need For Speed that made games where you have to outrun cops and purposefully run into semi-trucks and crap like that. 

This new game is better though. Click after the break for some info, pics and video.

Ride around the 12 Hours of Sebring with the GT race winner

Cadillac CTS-V series

It appears as though Cadillac it quite excited for the race day debut of their new Cadillac CTS-V racer. This newest set of cars from Cadillac is set to be piloted by Johnny O'Connel and Scott Andy Pilgram and will compete in the SCCA World Challenge. Which mean if you live anywhere near where I do, you can see this in April at Miller Motorsports Parks Utah Grand Prix.

Anyway, Cadillac has been so excited, they've been busy filming a Youtube series highlighting these cars. Check in after the break to watch the videos.

Boris Said waking up Joey Hand at the 24 Hours of Daytona

Track to Street, Corvette Racing Series episode 2

Mobil One presents the 12 hours of 'I effing hate the French'.

If you missed it then your stupid. It's that easy. How could you miss it. I mean, granted I didn't watch all 12 Hours but everyone can at least watch a few clips. If you didn't even know it happened then get the f*** off my page.

Just kidding. The truth is though. That I am really too lazy to write up an entire recap of the 12 hour, 300+ lap race. So if you want a recap, go to AutoBlog. If  you want to hear me rant, then stay here.


I'll start it off with the ending results:

Sebastian Vettel explains KERS and the adjustable rear wing

In a new video from Red Bull Racing, F1 world champion Sebastian Vettel is here to explain to us the two major additions for the 2011 F1 season: KERS and the adjustable rear wing. These are set to help improve the amount of passing in F1 and hopefully make it a little more exciting.

From watching the video, it just seems like another continuation of the F1 trend which I despise to much. A competition of which team can afford the best s***.

Also what this video fails to mention is how the adjustable rear wing is borderline useless because drivers are only allowed to use it during certain points in the race. Drivers are limited to only using it in certain designated areas of the course. Even then, they are only allowed to use it when race control allows them too. Race control will base the usage on if a driver is consistently lapping 2 seconds faster then the car in front of them. Drivers will know this because there will be a tiny little light on the steering wheel that will light up notifying them.

Anyway, the F1 season starts this week at Melbourne. Practice begins Friday and you know the rest.

Corvette's newest ad dishes it out towards Ferrari, Porsche and BMW

Around the corner from Sebring

The Twelve Hours of Sebring is less then a week away and boy am I excited.

Sebring is one of the most difficult of endurance races. Most drivers would even label it as the number one most difficult. 

Sebring International Raceway was built on an abandoned WWII airfield. The track is made mostly out of old concrete slabs poured back during the war. Because of this, it's one of North America's oldest operating race tracks. It's rarely, if ever repaved or resurfaced so the track is just squares of concrete. Driving for 12 hours straight on this stuff will shake cars and drivers to pieces. As Alan McNish said, Sebring is like an old man, just getting more and more grumpy every year. Every year the track surface gets rougher and rougher and proves to be more and more of a challenge of driver skills and car design.

Many drivers have said something along the lines of "if you can drive for 12 hours at Sebring, you can drive for 24 hours anywhere else." This is probably true. As I pointed out earlier, the surface Sebring is no joke. To add on top of that,  the track is about 3.7 miles long, less then half the 8.469 miles of La Sarthe. With only 2 major straight aways, this makes passing much more difficult. This year, with no fewer then 57 cars on the starting grid, teams will have to pay special attention to strategy as dealing with traffic will help define the winners and the losers.

On top of all the physical challenges, it makes the race no easier with the fact that Sebring is the season opener for both Intercontinental Le Mans Series as well as American Le Mans Series. This is important because this means teams are scrambling to get the season off to a good start. Teams like Corvette need it in order to recover from a rough previous year. Audi will need it to feel out Peugeots newest diesel workhorse. Ferrari will be putting it's new 458 GT car through the paces.

Overall, it should be one hell of a race. Watching it this year will be easier then ever ALMS has signed contracts to have races broadcast on ABS, ESPN2, and even ESPN3 for all you Xbox people.

Qualifying will be on Friday at 3 PM EST and the the green flag for the 12 hours drops at 10:30 AM EST.

Live timing for practices, qualifying and races can be found on ALMS handy timing page.

McLaren MP4-12C GT3 hits the track and looks damn good doing it.

It's been about three months since McLaren first announced a GT version of its MP4-12C and if you ask me, that an awful long time to be waiting for something so good. Well ladies and gentlemen, the wait is finally over. the MP4-12C GT3 has been hitting Silverstone Circuit for testing and McLaren has been nice enough to make a video and even show us some pretty sexy pictures.

The race-version of McLaren's new coupe is nearly four inches wider than the street version. It also features completely reworked suspension, which was first tested on McLaren's in-house simulator. Power is provided by the same 3.8-liter twin-turbo V8 found in the standard MP4-12C. However, in GT3 guise, the setup has been tuned for the track. A paddle-shifted Ricardo-designed transmission takes the place of the seven-speed unit found in the street car. Upgraded brakes have also been fitted to this race-prepped McLaren.

Beyond the mechanical changes, the MP4-12C GT3 gets aero-upgrades in the form of a front-splitter, fixed rear wing, additional door intake blade and new rear diffuser. 


If you ask me though, that's all fine and dandy, but it just seems like the MP4-12C has some rather large shoes to fill left behind the McLaren F1 GTR. You know, that monster of a machine that took the overall championship at Le Mans the year it was released back in 1995. The same F1 that held the record for fastest production vehicle at 240 MPH back in 1992, and still holds the record for fastest naturally aspirated car. Yeah, that McLaren F1. With details like that, it just seems like I will never be able to love this MP4-12C as much as I love the F1, just like I can't love Miracle Whip like I love Mayonaisse. 


Click after the break for pics and video!!

Heilige Scheiße ist dies schnell!

This video proves that shaking your fist at slower drivers is an official motorsports practice. So next time you're driving down the I-15 to meet your buddies at the Gateway and some grandma cuts you off in her Towncar, I better see that fist up in the air.

Why aren't there more bumper cam views in this world?

I'm sure everyone remembers when Rhy's Millen destroyed the Pikes Peak Hill Climb record. Well here's a view from his bumper. Absolutely Amazing.

Pikes Peak 2010 - Jeff Zwart Qualifying

So I was just passing the time clicking the stumble button (my new form of procrastination), when I came upon this awesome video of Jeff Zwart driving his Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car at Pikes Peak. He set the new record for 2WD Time Attack on the lower part of the mountain. Fast is an understatement. Enjoy!

Pikes Peak 2010 - Jeff Zwart Qualifying from Will Roegge on Vimeo.

Jaguar XKR-S: The best looking hideous car you've ever seen.

Okay, I'm not a Jag fan. When I first saw the XKR in person at ALMS, both the production version and the GT version, I though it was ugly as sin. Still, a little bit of me loves the way it looks. It looks good in a hideous manor, kinda like the way your farts smell so bad but you kinda like them? I dunno.

Anyway, Jaguar has unveiled their newest XKR-S at Geneva a few weeks ago. Aaron Taylor dropped this video on Facebook and here it is for you.

New Highcroft Racing LMP-1 revealed.

Highcroft Racing has unveiled its new Honda Performance Development ARX-01e LMP1 machine - the new car which the back-to-back American Le Mans Series champions will take into battle at next week’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida.

I wish this was my office.

GT3 in the air!!!

How about some car-porn courtesy of AusRingers to mark 100 posts!?

Pagani Huayra Geneva Promotional Video

It's been about a month since the "Paganini HYYA-RAW" has been revealed and I just learned it's actually pronounced "WHY-ra". The stuff you learn online. Anyway, Pagani has released this pornographic video of sorts to show of it's new wind maker.

Ferrari renames their F1 car once more.

Ferrari's 2011 F1 car was originally unveiled as the Ferrari F150 - a que to the 150th anniversary of Italy's unification. Apparently however, the boys over at Ford didn't take to that too kindly, thinking customers would somehow get the Ferrari mixed up with the number one selling pickup truck in America.


After a brief court battle between the blue oval and the prancing horse, Ferrari caved in and renames the grand prix car the Ferrari F150th Italia. Ford liked that, and declared the matter settled. Ferrari, however wasn't done. Still galled that they had to change the name of the racer in the first place, they decided to make one final change to get it just the way they want it.


Now, Ferrari's 2011 Formula 1 effort will be called the Ferrari F150° Italia. The added symbol is the Italian equivalent of the English "th" suffix, and Ferrari added it to give the name more Italian flair. Maranello announced the move in a biting, sarcastic news release saying, "...Therefore the name will now read as the Ferrari 150° Italia, which should make it clear even to the thickest of people that the name of the car is a tribute to the anniversary of the unification of our country.
"Let's hope the matter is now definitely closed and that we can concentrate on more serious matters, namely ensuring that our car that already seems to be pretty good out of the box, becomes a real winner."

Shotgun with Joey Hand behind Bill Auberlen @ HMS

If you missed it, the Rolex Grand Prix of Miami was today. Here's a view from Joey Hand's BMW during the practice round. The dude in front of him; Bill Auberlen in the #94 BMW went on to win in the GT class.

Go for a ride in the new Red Bull RB7

If you didn't hear, the Evo is dead.

Yep, you read right, after 10 generations, the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo is set to end it's long lived and celebrated lineage at the end of this latest gen. 

Mitsubishi's global product director Gayu Eusegi said in an interview with Autocar Magazine: “There is still a demand [for the car],” he said, “but we must stop.” 

Eusegi went on to say: “Our influence now is EV technology,” adding that the decision was a “policy change”. From the sounds of it, it seems that Mistubishi is more concerned with producing lower CO2 emitting vehicles  versus producing full-blown rally cars for a form of motorsport which the company does not compete in anymore.The director went on to say that it would be "easier to understand"  what Mitsubishi was about if it was no longer in a motorsport inspired market.

Officially, it's basically dead. Eusegi addressed the idea that perhaps someday down the road there will be a resurrection by going on to say "Yes. Maybe the world can change, and maybe someday we can do a motor race by electric vehicles, maybe then we can enter the market again."

Although, if it makes you feel any better, you can always go and add this as one of your Facebook Causes.

Aston Martin's new LMP racer goes topless

Aston's brand new racer is intended to compete in the LMP1 category of the Le Mans cup series.


The AMR-One as it will be called it set to be powered by a turbocharged and direct-injected inline-six gas engine resting in an all carbon fiber monocoque chassis. Obviously the huge thing is that it's an open cockpit. You may be scratching your head wondering about that tiny 2.0L engine but sources tell us that the Aston's powerplant was developed with LeMans Cup's new efficiency regulations in mind. Still, that 2.0L packs a punch: a 540 HP punch.


Aston has told us that six AMR-Ones will be built in, with a one-car effort going into the 2011 Intercontinental LeMans series, which includes the 24 Hours of LeMans. Darren Turner and Stefan Mucke plus a third driver (to be determined) will wheel number 007 at LeMans, and Adrian Fernandez, Andy Meyrick and Harold Primat will drive car 009.


Click after the break for a press release and some fancy pictures.