Automotive Motor Engine

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…)

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…)

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…)

With just 29 of 57 laps completed in the Formula 1 Grand Prix of Europe, Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro teammates Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa were racing in second and third positions on the twisty 3.36-mile Valencia, Spain, road course.

And, the dozen or so members of Ferrari Club of America’s Las Vegas Chapter, who were gathered on a recent Sunday morning at Siena Italian Authentic Trattoria, 9500 W. Sahara Ave., to watch the event were cautiously optimistic about the revered manufacturer’s prospects.

“We try to hold a social every month,” said club President Paul Hesselgesser, adding that the Las Vegas Chapter currently boasts about 52 members. “Our summer attendance varies because of vacations and such, but we also host a midsummer barbecue and every year we organize an excursion to Mount Charleston.” (more…)

In the world of racing there are few things that test a car and drivers skill and sheer determination more than an endurance race. The 24 hour at Nürburgring is a race that will test the endurance for even the worlds hardest drivers, but for sheer adrenaline nothing can compare to the Pikes Peak hill climb.  This hill climb is a race that is so intense it was featured in Gran Tourismo as a special stage and is one of the most grueling rally stages ever. This races tests cars to the limit not just what the cars drivers but the various components like the wheel hub and bearing assembly. (more…)