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Former F1 And touring car drivers race in Silverstone

Former Formula One and British Touring Car drivers head the list of over 1000 drivers entered in 22 races across the three day 2011 Silverstone Classic weekend.

Fans of the BTCC will recognise several names from seasons gone by on the entry list. 1989 and 1995 champion John Cleland will be among the drivers taking part in the E-Type Challenge, a special pair of races included on the programme as part of the celebration of the sportscar’s 50th anniversary.

Kiwi Paul Radisich and Patrick Watts – both veterans of the BTCC’s Super Touring era will also be on track, in an Elva Mk7 and Ford Mustang respectively. Mike Jordan, a BTCC race winner, now team principal of Pirtek Racing, will drive a Lotus Cortina at the event while Rob Austin, making his BTCC debut this year with his own team will drive his Arrows A4 in the Grand Prix Masters races. (more…)

admin
December 30, 2010
Racing
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MWR preparation for NASCAR

Worldwide competition for engineering talent is at the heart of a lawsuit involving a leading Formula One racing organization and one that fields NASCAR teams.

MWR Management Co. has filed suit in U.S. District Court against Mike Coughlan and Williams Grand Prix Engineering. The legal action, in the federal court’s Western District of North Carolina, accuses Coughlan of breaching his contract to work for Michael Waltrip Racing.

Coughlan worked with the Waltrip organization, based in Cornelius, N.C., as director of vehicle design under a three-year contract that runs through fall 2012, the suit alleges. He returned to F1 this spring as chief engineer for Williams Grand Prix, which operates in England and Walses. (more…)

admin
December 25, 2010
Racing
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Motorsport summer event at Silverstone

RECORD crowds – and royalty – turned out to Silverstone last weekend to watch the British Grand Prix.

F1 cars on the track were not the only feature for the three day event as a number of VIPs and high profile guests turned up to watch a bit of racing and soak up the atmosphere.

A record 315,000 people came to the circuit over the three days with 22,000 fans staying for the post Grand Prix party.

On the track, the excitement didn’t stop as Ferrari driver, Fernando Alonso took first place in front of last year’s world champion, Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel and Vettel’s teamate, Mark Webber.

Among the VIPs were Prince Harry, who presented the winners’ trophies, the Duke of Kent, actors Hugh Grant and Sir Patrick Stewart, England cricketers Alastair Cook, Stuart Broad, Graham Swann, Jimmy Anderson and Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff, golfer Ian Poulter, musician Goldie and DJ Vernon Kay. (more…)

admin
December 20, 2010
Racing
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Tata Indica eV2 comes with initial price Rs 2.95 lakh

NEW DELHI: Tata Motors on Thursday said it has launched new diesel and petrol variants of its hatchback Indica, priced between Rs 2.95 lakh and Rs 3.95 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).

The company claimed that the diesel vehicle gives a mileage of 25 km per litre as per Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) and is the most fuel efficient car in India.

The new car — eV2 — comes with a CR4 common rail diesel engine. It has a displacement of 1396 cc delivering 70 PS @ 4000 RPM. It has a torque of 140 NM at a lower 1800-3000 RPM. The company claims that the new CR4 engine has resulted in 32% increase in power, 65% increase in torque as well as a 46% improvement on fuel efficiency. The petrol option will run on a multi-point fuel injection engine. Both these engines are compliant with BS4 emission norms. (more…)

admin
December 15, 2010
Car
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Maruti will released new version of Swift by September 2011

NEW DELHI: Maruti has stopped the production of its highly selling premium hatchback Swift. This has been done to make way for the new Swift, which will be launched in late August or early September. The Swift was first unveiled by Suzuki in 2005 with a sporty sub-compact design.

Dealers have started accepting bookings for the new Swift. Maruti has codenamed the new Swift as YP8 and its trial runs are on in the Manesar plant.

Maruti currently sells close to 5000 Swifts every month and the car when launched in 2005 had changed the whole face of the India’s hatchback B to B+ segment. Other carmakers were forced to launch cars in the premium hatchback segment. (more…)

admin
December 10, 2010
Car
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Once upon time in Silverstone formula one race

Formula 1 is not a two-hour race at Silverstone. It’s a three-day weekend of racing and entertainment. Avinash Singh catches some of the colours, on and off the track.

The helicopters descend on Silverstone like invaders from the skies. They all come from one direction, offload their rich and famous cargo, and disappear into the skies, forming a vertical triangle.

Between 8 am and 9 am, they come down at the rate of two every five minutes; in the next two hours, one a minute. “They must be the high rollers,” chuckles a fellow traveller, as another passenger is ferried into a waiting black Audi.

The low rollers, so to speak, come from the other direction. In cars and motorcycles, followed by a very long walk. This is race day in Silverstone, home to the British formula 1 grand prix, the biggest day in motor sport in this country. (more…)

admin
December 5, 2010
Racing
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Exotic and sexy super-car rally raced in Las Vegas

Driving distance from Denver, Colo., to Park City, Utah, and into Las Vegas is about 720 miles. A single run down the drag strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway is a quarter mile.

Averaging 65 mph, a trip from Denver to Park City to Las Vegas should take just over 11 hours to complete. For fast street cars, a respectable pass on the drag strip is anything between 12 to 14 seconds.

So, while in Las Vegas last month during the third stop in the five-city journey — starting in Denver; then to Park City, Utah; Las Vegas; Scottsdale, Ariz.; and finally Dana Point, Calif., — goldRush Rally participants also competed in bracket competition at the speedway. After a full morning of practice and timed runs, the winner of a coveted French-made B.R.M watch was A.C. Forgiato, owner of Forgiato, a Southern California custom-wheel importer and manufacturer. His nearly street stock 2011 Porsche 911 Turbo S turned in a time of 11.5 seconds. (more…)

admin
December 1, 2010
Racing