I begin again in 2007 with this, a primarily racing news thread. Being US based; I will report on racing that I know, follow/watch, and (occasionally/rarely) attend. I will report on Rolex, ALMS, CART, IRL, and NASCAR. I invite input on these and other racing series such as V8 Supercars, LMES, JGTC, etc.

I will not post/do not invite commentary about F1/LeMans here for 2 reasons.

1 .There are plenty of other threads/opinions posted about F1/LeMans.
2. Others have better info than I have available.

Spare us the "Rolex cars are ugly"/"NASCAR is boring" posts (ESPECIALLY from those pedestrians who have never been to an auto race. You may THINK you know about fast cars; but you know bupkus about racing.). Start a new thread for that trash.

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The Rolex Daytona 24 goes green flag 1:30 PM EST SAT 1/27.

FOX has the start after 1:00.
SPEED takes over at 2:30 PM, 8:00 PM, and finally at 6:00 AM Sunday for the last 8 hours.

Those who believe that nobody cares/pays attention to the Daytona 24 because it doesn't have international(French) sanction take note. The entry list includes...

2 Daytona 500 Winners
6 Indy 500 Winners
6 NASCAR Champions
5 IRL Indycar Champions
3 CART Champ Car Champions
10 F1 Veterans
4 Le Mans overall winners
21 Daytona 24 overall winners


In the 3:45 PM Q1 session today, Alex Gurney took the pole position in the #99 Gainsco Pontiac/Riley at 1:43.475/123.220 mph; 1/2 second quicker than the DP Qual record and 45 years after his father, Daniel Sexton Gurney, won the first sports car race at Daytona. Alex will share driving duties with '06 reg teammate Jon Fogarty; team owner Bob Stallings; and '96 CART Champ Jimmy Vasser.

Max "the AXE" Angelelli starts 2nd in the '05 Champion #10 Suntrust Pontiac/Riley he shares with Jan Magnussen, team owner Wayne Taylor, and 4xNascar Champ/3xDaytona 500 winner jeffie gordon.

(Oswaldo Negri drove the #60 Michael Shank Racing Lexus/Riley, and jeffie drove the #10 car faster than Qual in practice 2 hours earlier.) Means nothing.

What happened to the Mazda MX-5 cup?! It's no longer on the SPEED channel.....

I will certainly be attending the opening V8 supercar round 'The Clipsal 500'. That commences in early March and shows the unveiling of the VE supercar.

AVESCO have also made an announcement over the Christmas Holidays that team budgets will be limited to $6.75 million after it was revealed that four teams spent in excess of $14 million AUD (HSV Dealer Team, HRT, 888 Engineering, Stone Brothers Racing). My source didnt specify how they are going to govern spending or consequences for infringements.


Having said my piece, I was watching a documentary on NASCAR's and they were talking about axle tramp. Could someone please elaborate as to what this is because they didnt exactly state what it is and now I am curious. So, Assuming its a racing term, What is axle tramp?

Cool, you're goint to the Clipsal 500. actually hot. VERY, VERY hot.

Pontiac seems to own the rolex 24 @ Daytona, can you post some pics?

Haven't you sen the VE Supercar yet? it was unvailed (admittedly, before testing and homologation was complete) a while age, and some teams have already shown their car's livery. Check the latest V8X.

Steve, like last year, I'll try to help you with the European part of the motorsport. FIA GT, FIA GT3, DTM, FIA WTCC etc.

BTW, I'll be going to a CART race, possibly twice. They race in Assen and in Zolder, and both are very close to me.

Cool, you're goint to the Clipsal 500. actually hot. VERY, VERY hot.

Pontiac seems to own the rolex 24 @ Daytona, can you post some pics?

Haven't you sen the VE Supercar yet? it was unvailed (admittedly, before testing and homologation was complete) a while age, and some teams have already shown their car's livery. Check the latest V8X.

Yeah I made a thread about it after the first spyshots were discovered, I meant seeing one in warpaint in the flesh thundering down the back straight with Skaifey at the wheel.

I go to the Clipsal every year, Good deal the Clipsal.

Polesitter Alex Gurney's #99 Gainsco Pontiac/Riley had a GT car in front pop their hood on lap 6. The ensuing multiple car panic braking got them into the wall. They run 91 laps down in 40th.

The #58 Red Bull Brumos Porsche/Riley had led and was running 2nd w/Scott Sharp driving when a GT Porsche clipped them and another DP car 14 hours ago. They run 42nd, 125 laps down.

Some of the Pontiacs had early trouble with coilpacks overheating. Still, the #10 Suntrust Pontiac/Riley of Taylor/Angelelli/Magnussen/Jeff Gordon made up 5 laps to swap the lead with the #01 Lexus and the #11 Citgo Pontiac/Riley of Dalziel/Duno/Carpentier in the last 2 hours. They have done so with no clutch release for over 14 hours. Kudos to them; especially the pit crew that have push started the beotch every hour all night long!

If it is possible to dominate a 24 hour race w/o racking up multiple laps of lead; The Telmex/Ganassi Racing #01 Lexus/Riley has done so. After 22 hours, they could break and still have 3 times the total laps lead by the other teams combined. Pruett, Montoya, and rookie Duran have stayed in front consistently.

#01 Montoya leads (as he has for 174 total laps) at lap 603 with 2 hours to go with a 5.3 second spread over #10 and #11. Pruett is suited up for relief. This is RACING!


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There are great pics here: http://www.daytona24hr.com/Default.htm

I forget what more-than-emergency dialup was like. I do remember different transglobal ping rates on Napster. Please tell me if you want selected (expertly!) pics posted/hosted.

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Kudos to Scott Pruett, Juan Pablo Montoya, and Pablo Duran for (politely) owning the '07 Rolex 24 at Daytona in the Telmex Ganassi Lexus/Riley! Winning margin was 1:14.749 sec. This is the first overall win by a Mexican driver since Pedro Rodriguez in 1971. (Where is the Columbian total, huh?)

Montoya becomes the 2nd F1 race winner to win a Daytona 24 hour race (after Mario).

The race went 200 laps w/o a full-course caution, and was on track to be the fastest average speed; until a 1.5 hour redflag to fix 80 feet of guardrail out of turn 2.

This was a great start to great racing season... g'bye, g'nite, g'nap... SNORE!

Nice to see Montoya being successful in the states.

BTW, what cars do they use in the Daytona 24hr? As in, are there any regulations that specify which types of cars teams can use?

Nice to see Montoya being successful in the states.

Montoya has already been succesfull in the states. He is the '99 CART champion and he won the Indy 500 on his first attempt.

Montoya has already been succesfull in the states. He is the '99 CART champion and he won the Indy 500 on his first attempt.

That is...quite true! I kind of knew that, but it slipped my mind when i posted that. I was meant to put an again somewhere in there, because that's what I was meant to say :p.

Haha, you're right though. I never liked Montoya's attitude outside the car(blaming every single creature on this earth, except himself if something went wrong), but he's a good racing driver.

Yeah there's no doubt he's fast, but his attitude is pretty dismal. Like when he called the Wilaims crew w**kers at Magny Cours in 04, or on a lesser related event, the time he walked into that camera :D

Per your earlier question, Timbit; the Daytona 24 Hour runs to Grand American (GARRA) rules. Since 2003, the DP (Daytona Prototypes) class are closed cockpit, flat bottom, tube frame cars of 2250 lb. min weight. NO titanium is allowed except for engine valves/retainers. No magnesium is allowed, period! Suspension is steel. Calipers and brake hubs may be of light alloy, but rotors must be iron. Approved chassis made by (as of the '07 24) Riley, Crawford, Doran, and Fabcar run production based (5.0L GM, Lexus, Ford, BMW V8/<3.99L Porsche I6) approved engines. By restriction of port volume, cam duration, rev limit, intake restriction, etc, everybody gets about 500 HP.

A year ago, at the same tracks run by ALMS; Rolex DP cars ran laps equivalent to those of GT1 C5R Vettes (at a fraction of the cost), about 5 sec down on the non-smoker Audi R8s.

28 DP cars started the Daytona 24 this year. That is called competition.

In addition 41 GT spec cars started.

Funny thing is only 17 DP cars and 25 GTs finished total.

Nevertheless great race, adverse weather conditions, world class drivers, heavy duty performance machines, it does not get much better than that, I only see 24 of LeMans being slightly bigger in road racing.

Sorry for late post.

cant wait till the motogp season starts, i love to watch it, its all about...go ducati, go stoner!!, HOLDEN!

The Bathurst 12 hour is on this year. can't wait for that.
all car classes, and possibly the return of the two HRT 427's.

The Bathurst 12 hour is on this year. can't wait for that.
all car classes, and possibly the return of the two HRT 427's.

I have a DVD with the first race the 427's were in when they spanked Ferrari, Porsche, Lambhorghini, Mclaren and others by 23 laps. Awesome race, Having said that though our V8 supercars are faster than all of these cars around Bathurst even if they are not Le Mans inspired.

I have a DVD with the first race the 427's were in when they spanked Ferrari, Porsche, Lambhorghini, Mclaren and others by 23 laps. Awesome race, Having said that though our V8 supercars are faster than all of these cars around Bathurst even if they are not Le Mans inspired.

When the 427 monaros raced at bathurst they got capped to 5,500 rpm's if they could rev to 7000rmps may of put them close the the v8 supercar lap times.... oh i dude i went to see it, best time of my life!! ****ing loved it!!

I loved Bowe's facial expression when he heard the 427's came 1-2.
Absolute GOLD.
And it was funny that the commodores lap bathurst 7-8 seconds faster than the Vipers, Carreras, Diablos, 360s, Moslers and the BMWs.
That means the commodores/falcons would lap them every 20 laps!

the commodores suit that track allot better, having allot more torque for the hills, and the drivers were allot better with allot more bathurst knowledge.

The general setup of the V8 supercars is the reason they are so fast at Bathurst, I have serious doubts as to whether anything would be faster than a V8 supercar at Bathurst particularly due to the bumpyness of the track and steep elevation drops which would exclude most Le Mans and F1 type vehicles from ever running a respectable time there.

I love watching the older videos of Brocky sliding an older model commodore around the top of the mountain there.

What's funnier than that is watching a HQ Monaro GTS storming over the top of the mountain on bicycle tires.

Apart from the drivers, what else could it be? The Vipers and Diablos etc have more torque and power than the Commodores, and better aero, bigger tires and are 100-200kg lighter. Mind you, Bathurst is scary as *****, when I was 6 my parents did a lap, 60km/h, and it scared the carp outta me. our 1993 got air over the top. And I'm not exaggerating, either. After a hike around the circuit, the lead Mosler driver ordered the car to be immediatly sent back to the UK because he was so scared. The team boss beat him back into line, though.

I had a family wedding to attend too not long after I obtained my licence which was in the city of Bathurst, Seeing as Mt.Panorama is to Aussie Motorsport fans as Mecca is to Muslims I had to do a scenic lap. Come to think of it Bathurst isnt really all that close to Mt.Panorama.

Mind you it was in my first VL which had a wheel balance problem and was a complete turd so I didnt even bother trying to light the car up around the circuit.


Still the 427's won by 22.5 laps over the next closest competitors which was a GT3 from memory, They even stopped for 90 minutes after an accident with a Porsche which dented the side and jammed the car in neutral.

Seeing as the driver at the time (Nathan Pretty) exited the car in order to unlock the jammed gear by rocking it backwards and forwards the first 427 over the line should have disqualified. Which would of robbed Pretty, Mconville, Tander and Richards of a Bathurst 24 hour race victory.


Edit: Come to think of it, Excluding the circuit the area of Bathurst sucks ballz hard.

well technically no, people are allowed to exit the car to do simple repairs, ON THEIR OWN. They are also allowed to push the car around the track, as lond as it obeys all the blue (pasing) flags, and any yellow, black, black/white, black/orange, or red flags.

On parts of the track you can get out and make simple repairs, I could be wrong but the sandtrap at the end of 'skyline' leading into the 'esses' isnt one of those parts as that is deemed as a dangerous part of the track. Which is a fair call seeing as it is a winding straight into a blind turn and drivers can often overshoot there braking marker particularly at night.

Still wherever possible it is a CAMS requirement that the driver of the car attempts to stay on the opposite side of the car to the racing line which he did and is the reason he didnt receive a penalty, According to commentary anyway.

Even if he did receive a penalty, 22.5 laps x 2:10-12 second laps that is still roughly 45-50 mintues before the next competitor crossed the line so it would have made minimal difference.


Someone said that there is another 24 hr race on this year, Seeing as my roatrip around Australia was cancelled due to unforeseen reasons I might have to make do with visiting both the Bathurst 1000 and 24 hour races each year.

Toll HSVDT and Tasman just unveiled their new paint jobs. Both look fantastic!

Now we're waiting for the big one; the HRT release.


Lowndses Vodafone car looks crapola to me compared to these two.

The new Ford Aero facelift looks crap in general if you ask me.

I cant wait for the first flying lap of the new commodore at the Clipsal 500, Skaifey is always the first one out on track and I cant wait for him to thunder around the kink in the straight where I will be sitting at 250km/h.

Where can I find good piccy's of the new warpainted VE's?

v8supercar.com is useless.

http://www.sportscarforums.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/9060/size/big/cat/68
Oh Yeah.

I would sex that, I just viewed Greg Murphy's car over on V8X.com and that too is deserving of a bit of loving from me.

Yep, the Tasman cars are HOT. I hope they do really well this year. Murph deserves it after the last few years.

boys that has to be one of the prettiest things ever

The Rolex Grand Am series races Sat 3/3 @ Autodromo Hermanos Rodriquez in Mexico D.F. on SPEED TV 4:00 PM EST.

Had not contract obligations prohibiting drivers under 17 during 2 GA/IRL race weekends; Colin Braun would have been the GA champ in '06 instead of Jorg Bergmeister in the reliable (if not particularly fast) #75 Krohn Racing Pontiac/Riley. He has the pole today co-driving with "Mad Max" Papis.

Jon Fogarty put the Daytona polesitter #99 Gainsco Pontiac/Riley outside in 2nd with Alex Gurney.

Local Memo Rojas qualified the Daytona 24 winner #01 Ganassi Lexus/Riley 3rd. '04 Champ and last year's race winner helps out.

Bill Auberlen qualified the #05 Sigalsport BMW/Riley in 4th after being fastest in Thurs practice. This is an unproven team. The driver is not.

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Sunday 3/4 NASCAR Busch Series races the same track on ESPN2 2:00 PM EST. They removed 1 chicane hoping that there would not be a BIG one on the first lap.

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Sunday 3/4 update: Mexico is a difficult track for GrandAm or Nascar Busch cars.

If your sponsor does not market in Mexico; the exposure is worthless to them. Shell oil does not market that brand there; so Busch points leader Kevin Harvick did not run. Only 18 DP cars entered/ran the Rolex race.

N/A cars racing at 7400'/2250M are handicapped by lack of HP, lack of downforce, and lack of cooling. Few teams got the handle.

The Rolex race was a rarity. 100 laps/251.8 miles ran without a full-course caution. Still, only 4 cars finished on the lead lap; 3 of them top-4 starters. With 1 scheduled pit stop, the winner averaged over 96% of pole speed.

Last year the #01 Ganassi car driver by Pruett/Luis Diaz(ALMS P2 Acura this year) led flag-to-flag. Saturday's Rolex race looked like the same script for the #75 Krohn car. Braun/Papis led all but 4(pit cycle) laps through lap 88. Papis was balked by a GT car and polesitter Gurney took the lead for 7. Papis got by again; but overcooked w/3 to go to give the #99 car it's first win in 23 GA starts.

The MazdaSpeed RX-8 had a 250 lb weight advantage and won the GT class by a lap after leading 79 laps from pole.

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The Nascar Busch race Sun was a whole 'nother smoke. Racing 80 laps on a 35 lap pit window meant that the leaders pitted between laps 10 and 15. Backmarkers stayed out to lead laps. There were several late cautions.

Scott Pruett did double duty for Ganassi Racing. His #41 started from the pole. His #42 teammate Montoya started 3rd and waited a polite 3 laps to take the lead. Montoya was the class of the field, leading by up to 18 sec. until;... on his 2nd pit stop, the fuel tank vent overflow "catch can" failed to open the tank vent valve. Instead, it pushed the vent valve/tube off the port and into the trunk (boot). They got less than 10 gal. of fuel. He stopped again 10 laps later for fix/fuel/tires and rejoined way down. No matta. With 10 lap newer tires; the youngest ever CART Champ/Indy 500 Winner/ex-F1 pilota carved the field up by 3-5 cars/lap. With 9 laps to go; Montoya punted teammate Pruett around ("dirty, low-down racing!") for the lead. 1 regulation and 1 overtime green-white-checker restarts got Pruett 5th. The top-5 finishers started 3/5/7/9/1. They were class-of-field most of the race. The way 2nd place finisher #20 Denny Hamlin went after/leaned on Montoya on the next-to-last restart convinced me that Pruett could not have held on to 2nd place w/o the punt.

Pruett is a 2-time IMSA GTO/3-time Trans-Am champion. He is a master of V8 FR live-axle curb-vaulting. (He would be a natural in Aussie V8s) He set his car up with soft springs for the Busch race. He cut lots of corners for naught.

Montoya drove high downforce open-wheel cars and does not consider curbs(kerbs) his friends. He set his car up stiff. His in-car camera footage showed him patiently holding the tight line through esses. His tires lasted longer.

Great race!

Round 1 of the V8 supercars has been completed and it was quite an exciting round particularly from the stands, Shame the concert lineup sucked this year....


Dominated by the HRT Machine of #22 Todd Kellly for much of the weekend who won race 1 and was leading race 2 until his brother the defending champion #1 Rick Kelly overtook him in the dying laps. Todd Kelly was the effective round winner and Rick Kelly was crowned the Clipsal champion.

The VE Commodore's showed a great deal of speed for cars that have had just a few hours practice and the results showed.

Montoya gets his first Busch win after spinning his own team mate out in the first corner with 8 laps to go. Pruett was definitely not happy with Juan.

Montoya gets his first Busch win after spinning his own team mate out in the first corner with 8 laps to go. Pruett was definitely not happy with Juan.
lols. I guess he's still not use to NASCAR from the switch of Mclaren Mercedes. hmmm i wished he was still in F1. He was a great driver for mclaren mercedes.

If Montoya had gotten a drive-thru penalty and Pruett won; or, if Pruett had punted Montoya for the win: Scott P. couldn't have got out of town/country alive, LOL.

The point was; Montoya had 8.5 laps to pass Pruett easily. Punting your teammate needlessly is low class.

Racing update 3/25: This was a busy weekend for US racing.

After going full distance caution-free in Mexico; Rolex Grand-Am needed to put on a more interesting race (Bristol weekend!) at the Homestead-Miami 2.3 mile "roval" (infield + partial oval). The scheduled 250 mile/109 lap distance was cut to 91 laps due to "only" 7 cautions for 36 laps. I say only because there were probably a dozen drive-through penalties. The drivers (deprived of traction control) leaned on, banged on, and punted each other for 2.5 hrs.

Bill Auberlen has won multiple championships in many series. He drove the awesome BMW V-12 Le Mans Roadsters. He now drives for the relatively new Luggage Express/Sigalsport Team #05 BMW/Riley (Dinan motors/big torque) in GA Rolex. Sat., he gave BMW their first Rolex DP win in a car that started 15th. He was 3rd on a lap 80 restart; took the lead within a lap; and won easily over polesitter Angelelli's #10 SunTrust Pontiac/Riley and 7th starter Pruett in the #01 Ganassi Telmex Lexus/Riley. Kudos to GA for a great race and congrats to Auberlen!

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IRL Indy cars ran the same oval Sat. night; delayed a bit for rain. Dan Wheldon won, setting fastest lap of 214.438. Danica switched to Andretti/Green Racing; qualified 7th and DNF'd 46 laps down. Sarah Fisher is back for the full season. She qualified 5th and finished 11th running 5 laps down. Forget Danica.

I slept for most of the race. Single seat, open wheel cars with wings damn well should be able to brake and turn (either direction)! When IRL cars do so (2 street/3 road courses) this year; most of the drivers won't be very good at it.

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NASCAR raced the COT (car of tomorrow) on the brutal concrete banking at Bristol TN for the first time today. The COT is a spec body shape for all engine makers with a splitter and a rear wing. Gone are the "outside the templates" aero tweaks of different makes/teams. The nose template every car has to match looks like a cage or a muzzle for a vicious dog. Tony Stewart smoked polesitter jeffie (and) everybody else for many laps. A fuel pump failure put him way down at the end. On an overtime green-white-checker restart; Jeff Burton was 3rd; quickly jumped jeffie; but failed to punt Kyle Busch out of the way for the win. Dale (RIP) would not be proud.

Garth Tander won all 3 races at Barbagello raceway to close the championship gap on teammate Rick Kelly to a handful of points.

HRT and the Toll HSV Dealer Team drivers are leading in the points after just 2 rounds.

^Thanks for the information guys. Dominance for Tander, and a win for the Brits!!! The perfect way to get the season underway for Wheldon! Well in!

The first 2 races were pretty boring for motor racing. I don't see why Motors TV put on some dumbass Englishman as commentator for those races. He sounded less enthusiastic about the sport than my sleeping dog and had no idea what the hell was going on. Such as not knowing the name of the Ford that spun out in the early part of the first race.

On an overtime green-white-checker restart; Jeff Burton was 3rd; quickly jumped jeffie; but failed to punt Kyle Busch out of the way for the win. Dale (RIP) would not be proud.


As some may already know I am a Jeff Burton fan and he is my favorite driver all around. Those who follow NASCAR know he is a fair racer and will race you the way he wants to be raced. That means he does not bump you out of the way. The last 2 laps of the race were given to Kyle Busch, who I dispise, and Jeff settled for 2nd.

With another lap, we would have had a different winner. Here are a couple of pics of the finish.

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/1036/660926272dr4.jpg
http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/1711/1010yx7.jpg


Anyways he has been having a great year so far, with finishes of 3rd, 4th, 15th, but was challenging for the lead when engine lost power, 4th, and 2nd. He is 2nd in points as well, 3 points behind leader Jeff Gordon.

Just thought I might point that out.

I wish I could watch aussie V8 races. A few years ago, SPEED TV showed a few replays in the (north)winter when they lacked filler.

Since then; SPEED has come up junk filler like monster trucks ad nauseum, "Pinks", and "Unique Whips". (If I invite you to a party; and you show up in anything like the latter; I will make you park in the ditch. If you refuse; my neighbor will run over it.)

V8 races were good stuff! Reminded me of NASCAR Cup cars at Sears Point and Watkins Glen; except 1/4 lighter + usable medium speed cornering downforce = way better handling. If NASCAR ran Bathurst; 3 drivers and 15-25 spectators would be killed the in the first lap.

Can I get FREE live timing or leaderboards for V8 races? Give me a heads up. If not; lobby/spam them and give them hell for giving slack results. THIS is quality online race results(see page 4/4, pdf file): http://www.grand-am.com/CONTENT/Docs/PDF/2007/3_RolexRace%20Results.pdf

Here's a few Miami/Homestead pics.
1. They may all look the same/ugly(that will change for '08); but nobody runs away and hides.
2. The sole Doran/(NOT the only Ford) chases an '06 Team Champion Krohn Pontiac/Riley.
3. In his 20th year of pro racing; eventual winner BMW Master Bill Auberlen still confers.
4. Cheap thrills for the GT class Nissan fans.

clutch, you an observant hardcore NASCAR fan.

Several years ago in the last half lap at Dover; jeff gordon crowded Jeff Burton down from the outside(!). I multiple jumped an ageing 12-18 inches off the floor screaming, "HE WOULD DO IT TO YOU!" Burton didn't, finished 2nd.

A caller to SPEED TV's "Wind Tunnel(exhaust leak) w/Dave Despain" last night irately opined that the driver of the better car should have given Kyle a firm tap and said, "excuse me, please", and gone on by. This was no time to be a "gentleman racer". Funny as hell!

As I said; Dale would NOT be proud of his future teammate...

The V8 supercars have adopted a new network broadcaster, Channel 7 who replaces Network 10.

Thankfully for the American fans Channel 7 make a few deals with American networks and predominantly show American shows. This leads me to believe that at some point in the near future V8 supercars may be telecast on American TV.

Hopefully in exchange we get something a bit more classy from the American stations, 'Desperate Housewives' doesnt sit very well with me for some reason.

A generation of american motorheads think fondly of Oz because of "Road Warrior". I would gladly kill Desperate Housewives (could I spend a bit of private time with a couple of the stars?) tomorrow in exchange for some fender-banging downunder see-dan racing!

I certainly want to see some more Indy car races shown on commercial television. We only get the Australian event each year which seems a bit unfair to the other events and fans of the sport.

A bit of NASCAR and Drag Racing would be good as well but I dont see that happening unfortunately.

This is a great thread, keep up the good work guys. Also its great to know what is happening in overseas racing. Now this is a really silly question, but i was wondering why so many people die in NASCAR racing?
PS Sorry if it sounds rude or anything.

Chiso, it doesn't sound "rude". It just sounds stupid. You are "down under" the info curve.

Nobody has died in NASCAR in 5 years. Compared to F1 go-karts; NASCAR drivers race in Sherman Tanks.

Well, I caught a bit of the Food City 500 from Bristol this morning at 2am. For the 20 minutes I watched it, it was brilliant. Loved the sights, the sounds and the racing, although the spoilers looked a little funny.

Car 40 was spitting flames like a b*tch!

Yeah sorry Steve FX i just don't know much about NASCAR due to lack of information we recieve about the competition over here (unless you have pay TV which i don't have). The only information we get is about how Marcos Ambrose is going in the lower ranks of NASCAR the one before the big time, which i forget the name of. Anyway sorry for the stupid post.

You are thinking the Busch series. Also if anyone wants to stay up to date with NASCAR, you can check out nascar.com, it is basically like formula1.com, except with way more video and stories, and its all free.

I think that NASCAR racecars are the safest cars that any race series races at comparable speeds. F1 and Indy car is very dangerous mainly because it is so light while ALMS and touring car series have really stiff cars that don't really give when being hit, and if they do the hit just obliterates the car and driver inside.

I think that NASCAR racecars are the safest cars that any race series races at comparable speeds. F1 and Indy car is very dangerous mainly because it is so light while ALMS and touring car series have really stiff cars that don't really give when being hit, and if they do the hit just obliterates the car and driver inside.

Dunno about that, I have seen some very high speed accidents in front of my eyes involving the V8 supercars and apart from a bit of crumpled metal and broken axles the rest of the car and driver are perfectly fine.

It all depends on where the impact is, The cars in all racing series are as safe as possible.

Though I wouldn't want to be an open wheel racecar in a high speed accident, Especially like this accident with Legge:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZCI-QSt0hpE

Thankfully she survived without major injury.

Remember Briscoe's crash, it tore the Target sponsored car in half, flames everywhere... So Indycars should be safe-ish.

Wanna K, you remember the death at Bathurst in the Development Series last year? The car was T-boned, at over 180km/h, hit the drivers' door. Yet he lasted for almost 8 hours in Hospital. I really don't think you could survive that kind of impact in anything.

I certainly want to see some more Indy car races shown on commercial television. We only get the Australian event each year which seems a bit unfair to the other events and fans of the sport.

A bit of NASCAR and Drag Racing would be good as well but I dont see that happening unfortunately.

get fox then u can watch all u want

Plan on waiting on NASCAR.com, the largest bandwidth (bullshit) safe site I have ever bogged a junk 'puter down with. The greedy bastids were finally shamed into giving up live timing/scoring like EVERY other US series and F1 already had for years. (Yoo-hoo, Oz. I can't find non-scrip live t/s for V8s...?)

I watched (tube) the race where Katherine Legge crashed. It was chilling! Unscathed; she waved going into the med center. Exiting, she tongue-in-cheek asked if the crew could fix the car. If that girl ain't a racer; she at least wouldn't ***** at YOU for driving too fast! Maybe poorly; LOL!

Remember Briscoe's crash, it tore the Target sponsored car in half, flames everywhere... So Indycars should be safe-ish.

Wanna K, you remember the death at Bathurst in the Development Series last year? The car was T-boned, at over 180km/h, hit the drivers' door. Yet he lasted for almost 8 hours in Hospital. I really don't think you could survive that kind of impact in anything.

Like I said it depends on where the impact is, The side of the V8 supercars is the weakest point structurally where there is minimal reinforcements.

That was a bad accident.

Yeah definately. I remember watching that crash on T.V and it was quite sickening and then replaying it over and over it just got even worse knowing that the poor bloke died. Anyway do you guys know how the other bloke is going that was in that incident?

Yeah definately. I remember watching that crash on T.V and it was quite sickening and then replaying it over and over it just got even worse knowing that the poor bloke died. Anyway do you guys know how the other bloke is going that was in that incident?

The other bloke is the brother of one of my dad's new workmates.

He is getting better apparently but it is going to be a long time before he recovers fully.

Ok thanks for that Wanna Koenigsegg. It is a small world.

Ok thanks for that Wanna Koenigsegg. It is a small world.

While media reports all state he is getting better, I am somewhat doubtful of this guys claim that he is his brother....

Dunno why, Just a feeling I have.



SteveFX - How is the points system calculated in the NASCAR series, Despite several attempts I have been unable to find out the adopted system by the series.

I ask this out of curiosity, Especially considering the drivers that started the championship on a negative number of points.

Plan on waiting on NASCAR.com, the largest bandwidth (bullshit) safe site I have ever bogged a junk 'puter down with. The greedy bastids were finally shamed into giving up live timing/scoring like EVERY other US series and F1 already had for years. (Yoo-hoo, Oz. I can't find non-scrip live t/s for V8s...?)

I found this but it looks like you need to be on Bigpond broadband to use it.
Maybe the free trail will work for you.
http://v8supercar.bigpond.com/live_race_engine/choose.aspx
You could also try using a torrents but not many sites have them.

I found this but it looks like you need to be on Bigpond broadband to use it.
Maybe the free trail will work for you.
http://v8supercar.bigpond.com/live_race_engine/choose.aspx
You could also try using a torrents but not many sites have them.

Yes, You do need to be a member of bigpond as I only recently found out.

I am a member yet think that the service fee they charge is not worthy of the service they provide. My parents are now looking for another server to host us.


Sorry to the US fans, That is rather disappointing but I hope that the networks between the two countries can come to some kind of agreement/trade so that motorsport fans in general are the winners.

^I just had another look. It looks like you can get live timing and car tracker but you need to log in for the live video and telemetry.

The Bathurst 12 hour is on now. While there are no factory cars from Ford, Holden has put together 2 Astras, a SRi Turbo for the hot hatch class, and a diesel, all female driven, for the econobomical class. Anyone who can get more info, please post a link or something!

The Bathurst 12 hour is on now. While there are no factory cars from Ford, Holden has put together 2 Astras, a SRi Turbo for the hot hatch class, and a diesel, all female driven, for the econobomical class. Anyone who can get more info, please post a link or something!

http://www.bimf.com.au/live_results.asp

Many factory teams didn't enter due to the rules. I am surprised Peter Floyd wasnt up there dominating as per usual in the GTS.

i was gonna go up to bathurst for it but i couldn't get off work for it

I heard Dutch driver Robert Doornbos got second in his first race in the Champcars. Anyone got more details? Pretty good for a rookie:)

I dropped the ball on US racing this past weekend (been under the weather). I found out last minute that Champ Car racing series debuted on the Las Vegas street course Sun 15:00 EDT. They have made some significant changes.

This season Champ Cars run a spec Panoz/Elan MS DP01 chassis. They use paddle shifting for the first time. Teams are required to use a soft (red) Bridgestone for at least 1 pit cycle. There will bo NO oval races.

They put on a great race! '06 Top Rookie Will Power became the first Aussie driver to win a Champ Car/CART race. Fastest in practice/polesitter; Power lost the lead to Paul Tracy at the start, regained it on lap 9. Tracy (and some other teams) had a problem venting the fuel tank. On 1 stop Tracy only got 5 laps worth; which put him out of the hunt. There were 4 cautions in 14 laps; then the race ran green to the 1:45 time limit/68 laps. Power set fastest lap on #44. I think he would have had the race covered; but Tracy is a maddog.

I would hope that this would bode well for a competitive season. However, 3-years running champion Newman/Haas driver Sebastien Bourdais started 16th, changed 2 flats under caution, and still made it to 3rd place by lap 23 before a third puncture caused him to hit the wall (frustration factor?) and break it a lap later.

Official report here:

http://www.champcarworldseries.com/News/Article.asp?ID=11432

2nd place Robert Doornbos is the first driver to score a podium finish in his Champ Car debut since Nigel Mansell (Il Leone!) won his debut in 1993.

Doornbos and Tristan Gommendy (5th) made their Champ Car debuts with top-five finishes today, marking the first time that has happened since Jim Crawford (4th) and Emerson Fittipaldi (5th) turned the trick at Long Beach in 1984.

-----

I reiterate: This was a good race. The Malaysian GP; where 5 cars/drivers held the same order, after pit cycles, from lap #15 on was not.

wanna: NASCAR points has to wait for taxes and maybe another thread.

Champ Cars race Long Beach CA USA this weekend Sun 4:00 PM EDT.

Here is an interesting history of how Long Beach came to be the second-longest running street race (except possibly the classic Macao GP) after Monaco:

http://origin.presstelegram.com/sports/ci_5647458

The ALMS race at Long Beach runs Sat at 400 PM PDT. Motors TV Europe, SPEED Latin America, and 7TV in Russia will carry the race live. It airs on SPEED at 800 PM EDT(1 hour delay).

Team Cytosport debuts in P1 with a rebuilt (#20)Lola/AER that Chris Dyson wrecked last Petit. Drivers are former TransAm champs Greg Pickett and Klaus Graf(?), with 8 LB starts between them. 5 entries in P1.

2 Penske Porsches, 2 Dyson Porsches, 3 Acuras(Andretti/Green, Lowe's, Highcroft), and BK Motorsport's Lola/Mazda make 8 entries in P2.

Only 2 Vettes, no Astons in GT1. Still yawn.

6 Porsches, 3 Ferraris, and 2 Panoz(Pani? Panozi?) in GT2 could have some fun; if they don't get run over by a maddog Audi driver!

-----

What would one serve to REAL race fans at a CA beach party??? How about SMOKED Audi?

6 (SIX!) P2 (4 Porsches, 2 Acuras) cars finished ahead of the P1 smoker Audis at Long Beach! Can't blame it on a 6-lap caution. 2 P2 cars set faster race laps.

The Risi Ferrari won 3rd straight in GT2.

P2 & GT2 are competitive racing classes. I would trade ALMS AudiHype P1 for some V8 Supercar racing YESTERDAY!

-----

Excellent last 10 lap hard-fought win by Jeff Burton in the NASCAR Texas race! jeffie still zip/10.5 years at the venue (snicker).

-----

CN lady racer Valerie Limoges got the pole/led most laps in the 400KM GrandAm Koni Challenge race Sun. at Homestead/Miami. In a Mustang. Her teammates won.

DTM had it's season opener at the Hockenheimring this weekend, and for the first time in the history of the DTM as we know it in the new format Audi won the race at Hockenheim.

Spengler snatched pole position yesterday in a Mercedes, with Tomczyk in the Audi 2nd. Then another Mercedes driven by Paul di Resta, and then an Audi with '04 DTM champions Ekström behind the wheel.

The race started with a huge crash involving 5 cars. Stoddart, Carrol, Kristensen and Scheider collided at the Parabolica corner. Prémat, not paying attention then drove in the 4 colliding cars at high speed. Kristensen and Prémat were hospitalized. They probably havent got serious injury's.

The first five of the race are:
1. Ekström (Audi)
2. Tomczyk (Audi)
3. Spengler (Mercedes)
4. La Rosa (Mercedes)
5. Margaritis (Mercedes)

The last round at Pukekohe in New Zealand has been completed by the V8 supercars before they move to a new street circuit in Hamilton next season.

Once again the new VE Commodore claimed the win for Holden with usual race leaders winning again.

1st - Rick Kelly/Toll HSV Dealer Team
2nd - Garth Tander/Toll HSV Dealer Team
3rd - Jamie Whincup/888 Race Engineering
4th - Todd Kelly/Holden Racing Team

In the first 3 rounds this season there has been 8 races, Each race has been won by a Holden....

This is the race win standings at the moment:

Garth Tander - 5 wins
Rick Kelly - 2 wins
Todd Kelly- 1 win

Garth Tander probably would have won all 8 races so far if it were not for shredded wheel nuts during pit stops which cost him time.

Rick Kelly leads the championship from Tander and his brother Todd Kelly.

Penski Porsche RS Spyders beat Audi with the R10's for a second time straight for the top overall position at Huston ALMS Grand Prix....

Penski Porsche RS Spyders beat Audi with the R10's for a second time straight for the top overall position at Huston ALMS Grand Prix....

And, the polesitting Andretti-Green P2 Acura finsished 2nd. Capello brought the #1 P1 Audi home 3rd; with the rest of the P2 field covering spots 4-9 over 6 laps. Houston is a really crappy street circuit. Smoker Audi massive low-end torque is seriously negated on a rough surface. The Audis will probably hide from everybody at Miller/SLC in 3 weeks; leaving the Porsche vs Acura P2 battle the real race.

-----

Rookie Robert Doornbos got a 2nd consecutive podium 3rd in the Houston Champ Car race.

-----

IRL Indy races Kansas Sun 3:30 PM EDT on ESPN2. Anyone want to bet against Penske?

This weekend NASCAR races the BIG ONE, Talladega AL. Busch cars run Sat 3:00 EDT on ABC; Cup cars Sun 2:00 EDT on FOX.

Grand Am Rolex races the gorgeous resurrected VIR track at Danville VA. The GT race is Sat tape delayed to 8:30 EDT; the DP race is Sun 1:00 EDT. Both on SPEED.

A good friend is playing some music Sun afternoon. The ATL Braves (baseball) don't play until 3. I plan to get there early enough to hopefully take control of one of the club's 2 TV (closed captioned) clickers, LOL.

-----

PS/RIP. Bob Snodgrass, pres/CEO of Brumos Racing, Brumos Motor Cars, and Vice Chairman of Grand Am died at home Tuesday evening. Many US race fans have memories of red/blue striped white #59 or #58 Porsches/Porsche powered prototypes in US road racing. The Brumos Grand Am team switched to Riley chassis this year to great improvement from the original Fabcars.

Story (not long) here: http://www.grand-am.com/News/Article.asp?ID=8022

Rookie Robert Doornbos got a 2nd consecutive podium 3rd in the Houston Champ Car race.


Yeah! Doornbos has been my favourite Dutch driver since he drove in the F3000. I'm very happy he's doing so well in the Champ Cars.
Cant wait to see the Champ Cars when they come to Assen and Zolder.:)

Over a week late; but Dan Wheldon won the Kansas IRL race for Ganassi. Too bad, Penske.

jeff gordon won the 4/29 Talladega Nascar race; passing the late Dale Earnhardt on the total win list. Alabama race fans were less than thrilled. One picture says it all:

http://wwwcache.wral.com/asset/sports/racing/2007/04/29/1367521/5a61ba85-4ea4-42d4-ad69-6636568a8405_NASCAR_Talladega__Auto_Raci ng.sff-512x355.jpg

The fact that only 14 fans were banned from future Talladega Nascar events is less a commentary on slack fans w/grandstand seats than the fact that 90% of the cops (and every 5th moving car) were in the infield (Snake Pit).

(I did sit in an open-air bar a week ago Sunday and listen to my friend's band. He did an excellent Lou Reed/"Rock and Roll".) I kept one eye on the Rolex race. Polesitter Colin Braun got snookered at the start; but led for awhile before the #10 Suntrust Pontiac Riley took control. Blah blah... watch this highlight video. Good stuff/lots of action:

http://www.grand-am.com/Multimedia/Player.asp

For record only; #48 JJ won the COT Nascar race at Richmond 5/6(rain delayed from Sat night).

I am sick of Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. I am sick of Hendrick Motorsports winning ever stupid race and I am sick of the COT.


I am also sick of Jeff Burton's bad luck, taken out at Talladega and blows motor at Richmond.

I am sick of NASCAR shutting up anyone who talks bad about them, I am sick of NEXTEL refusing to allow AT&T to put their name on Jeff Burton's car, and I am sick of all the contract talks regarding Jr.

NASCAR is frustrating to say the least.

"NASCAR Doesn't Muzzle Drivers" reads the headline. Smoke sucks up/apologizes...; gimme a break!

If jeff gordon comes out of pit tired & fueled and gets to 1st of -1 lap cars; there will be a debris caution for a plastic beer cup in 5 laps! Sue Me.

Michael Waltrip is a decent (former?)driver and a funny guy; but he is NASCAR's lapdog on "Inside Nextel Cup"on Monday nights. He has become spin doctor/apologist for NASCAR rules/decisions.

Long gone are the days when El Supremo Jerry Helton sat on the "Hot Seat" and had Ken Shrader ask him, "how are you doing for money?"

"NASCAR Doesn't Muzzle Drivers" reads the headline. Smoke sucks up/apologizes...; gimme a break!

Its really rediculous when you look at the whole picture, and I think that Tony has seen it and will move on as soon as Gibbs and HOme depot will let him.

If jeff gordon comes out of pit tired & fueled and gets to 1st of -1 lap cars; there will be a debris caution for a plastic beer cup in 5 laps! Sue Me.

Isn't if funny that at Talladega NASCAR just happened to wait after Jeff passed Jaime to throw the caution for Reutimann.

Michael Waltrip is a decent (former?)driver and a funny guy; but he is NASCAR's lapdog on "Inside Nextel Cup"on Monday nights. He has become spin doctor/apologist for NASCAR rules/decisions.

For sure, I think he considers himself lucky NASCAR didn't suspend him for using jet fuel in his car. What really puzzles me is that although Mikey is a great rep for NAPA, eventually any company will want to stat seeing their driver race, I mean he has missed 9 races now and that is just bad. I am wondering why the 00 team doesn't give a replicated setup to the 55 guys every week.

Long gone are the days when El Supremo Jerry Helton sat on the "Hot Seat" and had Ken Shrader ask him, "how are you doing for money?"

Speaking of Kenny, two races he has missed in a row, but I am not feeling to bad for him, he races like 5 races a weekend that aren't related to NASCAR, and he has crossed the 50 year mark so I doubt that he will hold the seat over Jon Wood for long.


I forgot to mention another thing that I am sick of. Ever heard of IROC ladies and gents, well it was this great idea to put all of the greatest drivers in the same cars and race them. Its basically disgusting that no one is sponsoring them, therefore there is no season this year. And if you remember last year Tony said f he won the crown he was going to give all the money he made so that IROC would come to Eldora, ELDORA! Just imagine all these "sophisticated" drivers going dirt track racing. I would almost guarantee a Kinser victory if that ever came to fruition.

Sometimes I just want to punch the executives in the face.

Anyone who believes F1 results are purely a measure of driver talent needs to buy a bridge from me. If you are a great driver in a suck car; you still suck!

Montoya brings a huge knowledge of racing experience to Nascar. CART Champ/F1 race winner isn't buying into being the humble newbie. Nascar regs recognize he is a FAST learner. When the race goes green; he will be on (or passing) your ass!

I can't wait until Sears Point (infineon) road race! Montoya will be a major force/nuisance there, LOL!

Montoya vs Gordon could be a GREAT race!

-----

Too bad about IROC. It lost a ton of credibility to me ages ago when it quit running 2 road/2 oval tracks. After that, Mark Martin RULED!

The schedule could have been Daytona oval track, Daytona road course, Eldora dirt track, Atlanta oval.

"The schedule could have been Daytona oval track, Daytona road course, Eldora dirt track, Atlanta oval." -clutch.

No dice.

Smoke and jeffie (recent Nascar champs) both raced open-wheel cars on potato patches [I]and paved ovals before stock cars. They adapted.

In a promo/test; jeffie lapped Montoya's F1 BMW at the Indy GP course within the 7% qual limit for the previous year's race... in 20 laps. To say that he adapted would be an understatement.

Montoya raced karts, CART (Champion), and F1 before he ever drove a stock car on a paved oval. He is adapting amazingly fast.

Rusty Wallace, Ricky Rudd, Mark Martin (3-time GT class Daytona 24 co-winner for Roush), Davey Allison, Dale Earnhardt, Ernie (swervin') Irvan, and jeffie all became standouts on the 2 Nascar road courses (Sears Point/Infineon and Watkins Glen). They adapted.

The "I" in IROC once meant "international." Once upon a time there were a some F1 pilotas... more recently international came to mean Canadian/South American CART/IRL drivers. If you expect Euro drivers to adapt to dirt/paved ovals; make the good old boys adapt to road courses THEY don't already know.

Eldora is stipulated (Smoke offered to donate his IROC prize money to make it happen!) as the dirt oval.

Race 1 paved oval. I suggest Pocono (3 turns/radii/banking) or Dover (the Monster Mile). The good old boys have too big an advantage at the faster tracks.

Race 2 relatively new road courses: Barber Alabama (3 years) and Miller Utah (1 year). International GT class drivers, Trans-Am Champions, and Audi hired guns have driven one or both of them; but I think no top-ranked Nascar, F1, CART, or IRL drivers have raced at either.

What do you think, clutch?

I have to say seeing IROC on dirt would be quite a spectacle, especially when you have drivers from all walks of racing.

I would still only have 4 races with the option of 5.

1. superspeedway
2. dirt
3. short track
4. road course
5----road course again or city track

Instead of Daytona I would pick Dega, because at Daytona you can go 3 wide but it is tough, at Talladega you can easily do 5 wide, so that would be my choice for one superspeedway. You have to have draft track just to see the close action.

Eldora or some dirt track would be one race for me for sure or go to Rusty's track, Iowa Speedway but now everyone is going there, and I mean everyone but F1 and NASCAR. Heck if they would come up to our dirt track it would be just thrilling. (Red River Valley Speedway) WoO come every year.

Pocono is actually a track I would think would be my replacement for Atlanta, and I was actually thinking about it being perfect because it has 3 totally different corners.

After seeing Darlington I think that a race there would be kind of cool because you would see how the drivers would have to man handle the track, if they have that much trouble with the COT I would imagine an IROC spec car would be the same. A short track like a Bristol would be fun to see or even Irwindale.

Then I think there should be one road course with the option of another or a city course if there is funding. I think Utah is a very good choice, I have seen only one race there on TV, and it looked quite spectacular. In fact it is one of my favorite racetracks currently because of the complexity. Barber I think would be fun and fast paced but I have never in my life seen it being driven on. The track does not look too complicated, not that I am a racer, but it doesn't seem challenging from looking at pictures.


My other choice for road courses would be

LG with the legendary corkscrew
VIR a challenging track with a wide range of turns
Riverside- similar to Barber but a little less complex old nascar track
Mid-Ohio

They could also do a street course in Vegas or Reno at night.

You have to also think that if they were to ever race on these tracks, there would need to be a lot of money and promises exchanged.

Weren't we talking about the '07 Iroc season that wasn't/never will be?

Forget Riverside. Here it is: http://terraservice.net/addressimage.aspx?t=1&s=12&lon=-117.27881499&lat=33.93140308&alon=-117.27881499&alat=33.93140308&w=3&opt=0&qs=Day+Street%7cMoreno+Valley%7cCA%7c&addr=Day+St%2c+Moreno+Valley%2c+CA+92553

Laguna Seca is a tougher course than Sears Point/Infineon (short) or Watkins Glen; and lots of sports car/open wheel drivers with/without experience there would have a big advantage over the Nasiroc good old boys. There a few current F1 teams with dusty, old setup notes for GP races at the Glen. You think that wouldn't be an advantage?

VIR is the kewlest new (ressurected) track in the US. It is a moderately long, highly technical course that would give a big advantage to RR aces.

I offered Barber and Miller as road courses.

Disclaimer: I am 115 miles from Barber; and it is the most beautiful man-made landscape short of Augusta National (Masters) I have ever seen. I am biased. Barber is folded/short/compact. and won't have high TE speeds. Miller is too damn long @ 4.5 miles and is ugly (on camera, so far).

"Barber...; the track does not look too complicated, not that I am a racer, but it doesn't seem challenging from looking at pictures." -clutch.

80'/24m elevation change in 2.38 mi. doesn't sound too radical; especially with the track record being only 1:20.613/102.713 mph (Mad Max Papis 10/04). However, there is not ONE level, neutral camber turn at Barber. Everything happens in 3 dimensions.

@ 2.5 miles, Pocono is a "superspeedway." With 3 turns/radii/banking; there is no one perfect setup for the whole track. Stock car drivers have to adapt.

Not to interrupt your discussion here, But I may as well give a quick V8 supercar update to those who follow the sport:

Jamie Whincup (888 Engineering) won the fourth round at Winton by a single point over Garth Tander and Rick Kelly (Toll HSV Dealer Team).

Whincup won race 1 after Tander was spun out of contention by fellow Holden driver Todd Kelly, Tander recovered to finish fourth and won race 2 and 3 to reclaim some credibility.

Rick Kelly leads the championship by one point over Tander, Whincup is now third but presently a long way behind the championship leaders.

So far Ford have won just 1 of 11 races, 9 of the 11 races have been won by the Toll HSV Dealer Team, How is that for dominance

Sidenotes:

Ford and Holden are both pushing for cost cutting rule changes in the V8 supercars after Ford have threatened to withdraw from the category due to a lack of recent Falcon sales and the decline in large family car sales in general, Smaller alternatives are a distinct possibility with Holden rumored to be developing a revival of the legendary Torana as we speak.

Congratulations also extend to Mark Skaife (Holden Racing Team) for his 20 years in Australian Touring Cars on the weekend, One of the most successful drivers behind the late Peter Brock with 5 championships and 5 Bathurst victories. He is also one of the most popular drivers especially amongst Holden fans.

The next round is in 3 weeks at Eastern Creek raceway, Followed by Round 6 in Darwin/Hidden Valley raceway.

Ryuichi Kiyonari won both races from Snetterton, UK in the British Superbikes Championship today. He now leads from Gregorio Lavilla, who came sixth and had a DNF today, by eleven points. Congratulations to Leon Camier who came 5th and then 6th in the two races after coming back from 29th on the grid with gearbox problems in qualifying.

Using this topic to give some attention to Robert Doornbos' maiden win in the Champ Car World Series! First rookie to win in his first year since Dominguez in '02. He's starting to become the Hamilton of the CCWS(5 podiums in 6 races)
He's now leading the championship tied with Bourdais at 145 points.

I personally haven't seen the race(no broadcast here, just a pre-F1-race-summary....), or any highlight videos, but heard that Bourdais was kinda pissed off at Doornbos for cutting him(or something like that). Maybe somebody who did see can explain a little?

Using this topic to give some attention to Robert Doornbos' maiden win in the Champ Car World Series! First rookie to win in his first year since Dominguez in '02. He's starting to become the Hamilton of the CCWS(5 podiums in 6 races)
He's now leading the championship tied with Bourdais at 145 points.

I personally haven't seen the race(no broadcast here, just a pre-F1-race-summary....), or any highlight videos, but heard that Bourdais was kinda pissed off at Doornbos for cutting him(or something like that). Maybe somebody who did see can explain a little?
I also didn't see much footage of the race but, Bordais can hardly go around accusing people of cutting him off when he does it all the time. He might be "the king" of Champ Cars but I would like to see how he would go in an F1 car!

Yeah, he said something along the lines of: He probably got used to that racing in F1, but that's not how we race here.
So, when somebody tries to overtake you just have to let it happen or what?

Plus he had a HUGE jumpstrat at the beginning of the race.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMenAdoeExk

So he's the last person who should be complaining

A bit rusty...

Last Friday; Scott Pruett, with rookie Momo Rojas, took his 4-point lead in Grand AM DP to Iowa (EYE-OH-WAY?) this weekend. He took the lead just before halfway and held it to the finish. He gained the series record of 14 overall wins.

Pruett's #01 Telmex Ganassi/Sabates Lexus/Riley had lead only 13 laps since winning the Daytona 24. 7 top-fives (+ a 6th and an 8th) in 9 races proves consistency pays.

-----

Andy Lally took the #66 TRG CRG/Maxter Porsche into the lead w/20 to go for the GT race win Sat. This is his 50th Rolex Grand Am podium. There was some great racing on a short, goofy track.

Jonathan Rea and Ryuichi Kiyonari completed a double-win for HM Plant Honda at Oulton Park in the British Superbikes Championship yesterday.

An on-form Rea, who had won the last four races (two rounds) crashed out at the notoriously slippy (due to the constant rain for both of the races yesterday) Druids hairpin in Race 1 whilst leading, giving Kiyonari the lead and the overall win.

In Race 2, Kiyonari leads but gets a big high side in the exact same place as Rea crashed, at Druids, leaving Rea in the lead to take the overall win.

2005's championship winner Lavilla, suffered bruised ribs from an early nasty accident in Race 1 where he got onto the kerbs, fell off and got ran over in the ribs. He finished 10th in Race 2. His team-mate for Airwaves Ducati, Leon Haslam, was robbed of 2nd place in the last two laps of Race 1 by Shane ''Shakey'' Byrne and Christ ''Stalker'' Walker and ended up fourth.

Kiyonari leads the standings with 273 pts, with Rea behind him on 262.

Haslam and Lavilla follow, on 231 and 226 points respectively.


____

A horrificly wet afternoon at Donnington Park saw host to the sixth round of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship.

Team Halford's Gordon Shedden won a drenching first race in the brand new 2007 Civic, whilst Seat's Jason Plate dominated the other two races and taking two wins.

Plato now leads the championship on 188 points, whilst VXR Racing's Fabrizio Giovanardi is second on 163.

PS a friend today got me a signed Team RAC hat from the BTCC with Mike Jordan's autograph on it and Dave Pinkney's aswell.

___

Sachensring, Germany, MotoGP. An emotional Dani Pedrosa wins from 2nd place on the grid to vault up to 3rd in the championships. Ducati's Loris Capirossi came third and Marco Melandri 3rd.

Championship leader, Ducati's Casey Stoner, saw his Bridgestones fall away during the race to end up a distant 5th.

Valentini Rossi crashed out on lap 5 whilst on a pass of Kawasaki's Randy de Puniet, but saw the front of the bike fall away from him, and he goes skidding into the gravel.

Rossi now trails by 32 points in the standings from Stoner.

Hey bennyboy is that Jason Plato? and what kind of VXR's are racing?

^That is Jason Plato, yes.

The BTCC race mainly FWD cars, with the exception of Team RAC which run RWD BMW 3-Series.'

Models of the companys generally change over time as a new model from that company arrives, for example this year Team Halfords are running the 2007 Civic, and Seat Racing are running their 2007 Leon.

http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/8708/lg31842df3oj2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/9348/lg3183c8c6qo4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

And VXR Racing use these Vectras:

http://img239.imageshack.us/img239/7250/lg312899a5ah6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)


RWD 320si, the best looking BTCC car I think:

http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/3900/lg31408aabxp7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Terrible, terrible news today.

British Superbike rider Oliver Bridewell has died in a free practie session at Mallory Park.

The 21 year old rider lost control at the Esses part of the track, fel off and sustained heavy neck and head injuries. He was taken to hospital where he later died.

RIP Ollie Bridewell, a golden man denied a golden future.

Report:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/wiltshire/6909073.stm

In the DTM Audi got a 1-2-3-4 on Zandvoort!! Tomczyk won in front of Premat, Ekström and Scheider.

A little controversial finish. In the last laps it was Premat, Tomczyk, Spengler(Mercedes), Scheider and Ekström. Both Scheider and Ekström passed Spengler. And on the finish, Premat let Tomczyk pass and Scheider let Ekström pass. Tomczyk and Ekström are both contenders for the championship, and need every single point.

It was what Ferrari did in Austria a few years back, but then twice. Though, this is more important, since the championship race between Merc and Audi is VERY close. And in the end, every single point will be extremely important.

It was an awesome race. I was literally jumping up and down during the last laps in front of the tv, it was very close and very exciting.

2007 24 Hours of Spa

Final results

GT1

1. Carsport Holland - C6R - Deletraz, Hezemans, Fässler and Gollin
2. Vitaphone - MC12 - Bartels, Biagi, van de Poele and Lamy
3. PK Carsport - C5R - Kumpen, Longin, Bouvy and Mollekens

GT2

1. BMS Scuderia Italia - 997 GT3 RSR - Collard, Malucelli and Lieb
2. IMSA Performance Matmut - 997 GT3 RSR - Lietz, Long and Narac
3. Tech9 Motorsport - 997 GT3 RSR - Edwards, Machitski and Maassen

G3

1. Mühlner Motorsport - 997 GT3 Cup - Splunteren, Khan, Frederiks and Gosse

G2

1. MT900R - Kenis, De Keersmaecker, Smets and Mattheus


Had to be nice race with all those changes at the lead and also beacues it was raining from time to time but they didn't show it on any tv channel I have. Anybody was watching it?

British Touring Car Championship from Snetterton today.

Team RAC's Colin Turkington put his BMW 320i on pole position today, and dominated the race from the front, only to find out he had been disqualified for his car being 1kg underweight. Error by Team RAC's weight judgement means he had his points stripped from him and he starts from the back in Race 2, and the win goes to Team VXR's Fabrizio Givanardi in the Vectra VXR. Title leader Jason Plato in Seat Racing's Leon was down in 5th.

Race 2, Giovanardi takes a win with Plato in 3rd place.

Race 3, incident filled. Plato was going for the lead when he got tagged by 3rd-place man Mat Jacskon, spinning him into Jackson and clobbering Giovanardi, who finished up the race in 2nd, with Matt Neal, the 2005 and 2006 champion, in 3rd, with an injured Plato in 4th, but the story of the day was Tom Onslow-Cole for Team RAC in the BMW 320i taking a stunning victory, leading from lights to flag; his debut win in the BTCC.

Thought this might be interesting for the bike guys:

World Superbike Rider James Toseland is to move up to MotoGP next year with Honda:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/motorbikes/6925959.stm

DO they have a proper Touring car championship in the UK, or just these "2L FWD shopping trollies"? - (don't blame me! Plato said it in 2004!) something with Moslers/Ultimas/Nobles?

Not sure about just in England, but theirs always the FIA GT series, or even the Le Mans enduro series.

DO they have a proper Touring car championship in the UK, or just these "2L FWD shopping trollies"? - (don't blame me! Plato said it in 2004!) something with Moslers/Ultimas/Nobles?

Yup, British GT championship

http://www.britishgt.com/