Friday, 14 October 2011
Toyota Prius to take on Le Mans....
Monday, 18 July 2011
Channel 5 an option for F1 ??
The world is falling apart.........
The only positive is that he has said he wouldn't want it to go to Pay TV - small mercies.....
Friday, 1 July 2011
Race Of Champions returns to Düsseldorf
So, Gentleman……….are we still up for it ?
Düsseldorf’s ESPRIT arena is to host its second successive Race Of Champions on December 3-4, 2011 instead of Frankfurt’s Commerzbank-Arena.
In addition to last year’s successful Race Of Champions, the ESPRIT arena has also hosted international football matches, world heavyweight boxing title fights and this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. Now this news means the noise of engines will again reverberate round the Düsseldorf stadium in December.
While there is excitement at this outstanding replacement venue, race organisers wish to extend their sincere apologies to the thousands of fans who have already ordered tickets for the event in Frankfurt. As announced last week, this had to be changed due to a late fixture clash with Germany’s Bundesliga football.
Düsseldorf has been chosen as the replacement as it is the closest alternative venue in order to allow as many Frankfurt ticket-holders as possible to attend. By way of recompense for this inconvenience, the organisers have created a special offer for existing ticket-holders to come to Düsseldorf. Alternatively they will be entitled to a full refund.
Race organiser Fredrik Johnsson said: “We had a successful event at the ESPRIT arena last year and we look forward to working alongside the same people again. While we are happy to be heading back, we want to apologise again to all the race fans who made plans to join us in Frankfurt. After our announcement last week we were contacted by a number of great venues but Düsseldorf is the closest alternative and we hope our special offer will make up for some of the disappointment. With Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel and the other great champions, the event is sure to thrill everyone who makes it to Düsseldorf in December.”
Patrik Meyer, Managing Director of German promoters TSP, said: “We’re happy that we have been able to sort out this perfect replacement venue at such short notice. We know Düsseldorf’s ESPRIT arena well from last year. It is a spectacular stadium and the crowds will see equally spectacular racing. We’re sorry to inconvenience the fans who already have tickets for Frankfurt but we hope as many as possible will take us up on our special offer to see the greats of motorsport in action.”
The Race Of Champions is an annual end-of-season competition that brings together the world’s greatest drivers from all motor sport’s disciplines – including Formula 1, world rally, touring cars, Le Mans and NASCAR – and sets them free to battle head-to-head in identical machinery on a specially constructed parallel track. Drivers pair up for the ROC Nations Cup, this year scheduled for Saturday 3 December, before the individual Race Of Champions takes place on Sunday 4 December.
Düsseldorf’s ESPRIT arena features a roof and heating system, and the atmosphere is certain to be heated as German F1 superstars Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel again head ROC’s line-up of motorsport legends in front of their home fans.
Thursday, 30 June 2011
Porsche to return to Le Mans 24 Hours with new LMP1 car in 2014
Porsche will return to the Le Mans 24 Hours with a full factory LMP1 prototype in 2014, the Stuttgart-based sportscar manufacturer has announced.
As the event's most successful manufacturer, the company has not been represented in a works capacity in the top class at Le Mans since 1998 when Porsche claimed the last of its 16 outright victories with Allan McNish, Stephane Ortelli and Laurent Aiello in the 911 GT1.
It has retained a strong presence in the GT class since then, however.
President of the Executive Board at Porsche AG, Matthias Muller, said the company had always intended to return to Le Mans as a factory team and had been waiting for the right time to announce its intentions.
"Motorsport was always an essential part of the Porsche brand," said Müller. "So for us it was only a matter of time before we returned as a factory to the top league of racing.
"Porsche's successes in Le Mans are unrivalled. We want to follow up on this with the 17th outright victory."
Porsche's last factory involvement in the prototype class was its successful American Le Mans Series-winning LMP2 RS Spyder - which was run and developed by Penske.
Hartmut Kristen, Head of Porsche Motorsport, said: "We're looking forward to the task of developing new technologies and to continue on with the success of the Porsche RS Spyder. After the conclusion of our works-supported sports prototype programme in the American Le Mans Series we have kept up with the latest technological advances.
"Now we will begin with detailed research in order to evaluate the various concept alternatives for our new car.
"These obviously depend on how the regulations for the year 2014 look in detail. In principle, these regulations are interesting for us because the integration of our hybrid technology in the vehicle concept is one possible option."
Porsche indicated that it could use the new project to highlight new technologies as it did recently with the 911 GT3 R Hybrid, which raced in the recent Nurburgring 24 Hours with the flywheel KERS system developed by Williams.
"With the RS Spyder we proved that our motorsport engineers in Weissach are at the forefront," said Wolfgang Hatz, Board Member for Research and Development at Porsche AG. "For instance, we were the first to run a high-revving race engine with direct fuel injection, DFI, setting new standards in performance and efficiency.
"Recently, with the 911 GT3 R Hybrid, we adopted a completely new drive technology for racing purposes and achieved a considerable reduction in consumption."
Porsche's run of victories at Le Mans began in 1970 with Richard Attwood and Hans Herrmann in the fabled 917. The French track then witnessed the marque dominate through the 1980s, with a consecutive wins from '81 - '87, the last six of those with the 956/962 derivatives.
Friday, 10 June 2011
The Royal Birthday
We boarded the ferry in double quick time on Tuesday evening and walked into almost untold luxury when we checked into our Commodore cabin. We ordered our breakfast for the following morning and armed with a cold beer went to bed for an early night.
Our breakfast arrived at 4.45, an hour before we disembarked, delivered by our waiter Tyrone. After a shower and copious amounts of black coffee (although not really needed as we didn't drink much the previous day) we departed the ferry and drove off enroute to LM.
The journey this side of the channel was even more straightforward than the journey in the UK and by 10.00 we were at our usual supermarket loading up with beer and wine. By midday we'd pitched up at our new home for the week, Houx, connected the electricity and were enjoying a nice cold beer.
To celebrate LM2011 we'd procured a new piece of furniture which Chadders excitedly opened.
Spicy Thai Prawn soup for lunch went down well (even with HRH who has an aversion to fish) and we continued to drink heavily into the early evening.
Somehow, in a drunken blur, Sniffer managed to make a delicious Chicken Pie for the evening meal (evening being a loose term as it was after midnight before we ate) and somehow we managed to tidy up, lock up, make up the beds and go to sleep (or fall into unconsciousness in reality) - although none of us really remember too much - bad boys!!
Onto Thursday and the Royal Birthday......
A leisurely breakfast of Muesli (for Chadders and Sniffer) and porridge with golden syrup for the birthday boy set us up for the day (obviously coffee and a winky helped too).
Today we opened up our case of Real Ale - after a cheeky pint we decided to let it settle for another day...
Early afternoon HRH went for a hose down in the bathroom and in his absence we decorated the East Wing in his honour. He was pleasantly surprised when he returned!
A quick lunch of BBQd meat and then back on the fruity beer for the afternoon session.
The birthday meal was Steak, Cauliflower Cheese and Roast potatoes which was cooked in relative sobriety compared with the previous evening. Champagne sealed the deal along with the formal birthday crowning of the Monkey King.
The highlight of the evening was the chocolate birthday cake in the shape of a Monkey's face.....HRH made a wish and blew the candles out....
Treluyer takes pole for Audi
The first sorties in the battle for pole were fought in the opening minutes as Bourdais in the #9 Peugeot and Tom Kristensen in the #3 Audi essayed fast laps on fresh tyres. Traffic precluded them from improving on their cars' times from the previous session straight away, and it was Dumas in the #1 Audi who found a clear lap to vault from fifth place to the top of the timesheets with a 3m25.799s. Kristensen took over a second out of the #3 R18's fastest time from the previous session but it was not enough to move the car up the order.
Anthony Davidson spun at the Ford chicane before starting his first flying lap and then hit traffic, and further attempts to improve the #7 Peugeot's time were stymied by a red flag at the 20-minute mark.
The session was stopped after 20 minutes when the #58 Ferrari of Anthony Beltoise went off on oil at Mulsanne Corner and hit the tyre barrier. Christian Klien also fell foul of the oil in the #007 Aston Martin and sustained a rear left puncture, but made it back to the pits. Twenty minutes were lost while cement dust was laid on the racing line at crucial corners between Mulsanne and the pits, particularly in the first right-hander of the Porsche Curves.
A lull followed as the leaders worked through their programmes, but with 40 minutes to run the track had cleaned sufficiently for Treluyer to post a 3m25.738s in the #2 Audi, slotting ahead of the #1 car.
With 20 minutes to go the session awoke from its torpor once more. Kristensen had another run but a promising lap was interrupted when he came across the #68 Ford GT at the exit of the Porsche Curves. He took on new tyres and a splash of fuel before heading out again, while Simon Pagenaud clocked a 3m26.010s in the #9 Peugeot to move up to third overall. Traffic interfered with further efforts and as the clock counted down to zero Kristensen spun off at Tertre Rouge.
Both Rebellion Lolas improved during the early part of the session, before it was halted. Neel Jani posted a 3m32.883s to surpass the #16 Pescarolo as the quickest petrol-powered car, while Andrea Bellichi's 3m34.573s fell a second and a half short.
The Soheil Ayari/Franck Mailleux/Lucas Ordonez Signatech ORECA-Nissan remained at the head of the LMP2 field but did not surpass its 3m41.458s, lining up 14th overall. Once again, Strakka Racing's rebuilt HPD ARX.01 did not improve upon the 3m42.615s Jonny Kane recorded in the car during last night's qualifying session, but it remained unbeaten by its other rivals and will start 16th.
Augusto Farfus set the fastest GTE Pro time thus far in the #55 BMW just before the stoppage. His 3m57.592s is nearly half a second clear of the #51 Ferrari driven by Gianmaria Bruni/Toni Vilander/Giancarlo Fisichella, which improved to 3m58.040. The Ferrari therefore moves ahead of the Andy Priaulx/Dirk Muller/Joey Hand #56 BMW, which did not take part in the session.
AF Corse's #61 Ferrari driven by Piergiuseppe Perazzini, Marco Cioci and Sean Paul Breslin took a clear lead in the GTE Am class, edging into the GT Pro tail-enders with a 4m01.282s, over a second quicker than the previous session. Its nearest opposition, the #63 Proton Competition Porsche, did not improve on its previous best of 4m03.532s.
Pos Cl Drivers Team/Car Time
1. LMP1 Fassler/Lotterer/Treluyer Audi R18 TDI 3m25.738s
2. LMP1 Bernhard/Dumas/Rockenfeller Audi R18 TDI 3m25.799s
3. LMP1 Lamy/Bourdais/Pagenaud Peugeot 908 3m26.010s
4. LMP1 Montagny/Sarrazin/Minassian Peugeot 908 3m26.156s
5. LMP1 Capello/Kristensen/McNish Audi R18 TDI 3m26.165s
6. LMP1 Gene/Wurz/Davidson Peugeot 908 3m26.272s
7. LMP1 Lapierre/Duval/Panis ORECA Peugeot 908 Hdi-FAP 3m30.084s
8. LMP1 Jani/Prost/Bleekemolen Rebellion Lola-Toyota 3m32.883s
9. LMP1 Collard/Tinseau/Jousse Pescarolo-Judd 3m33.066s
10. LMP1 Belicchi/Boullion/Smith Rebellion Lola-Toyota 3m34.573s
11. LMP1 Monteiro/Moreau/Ragues Oak Pescarolo-Judd 3m34.933s
12. LMP1 Ickx/Martin/Leinders Kronos Aston Martin 3m36.551s
13. LMP1 Amaral/Pla/Hughes Quifel-ASM Zytek 3m37.393s
14. LMP2 Mailleux/Ordonez/Ayari Signatech ORECA-Nissan 3m41.458s
15. LMP1 Hein/Nicolet/Yvon Oak Pescarolo-Judd 3m41.908s
16. LMP2 Leventis/Watts/Kane Strakka HPD ARX-01d 3m42.615s
17. LMP2 Premat/Hallyday/Kraihamer Oreca-Nissan 3m43.098s
18. LMP2 Perez Companc/Russo/Kaffer Pecom Lola-Judd 3m43.223s
19. LMP2 Nakano/De Crem/Charouz Oak Racing Pescarolo-BMW 3m43.479s
20. LMP2 Ojjeh/Kimber-Smith/Lombard Greaves Zytek-Nissan 3m43.812s
21. LMP2 Frey/Meichtry/Rostan Race Performance ORECA-Judd 3m44.294s
22. LMP1 Mucke/Turner/Klien Aston Martin AMR-One 3m45.918s
23. LMP2 Erdos/Newton/Collins RML HPD ARX-01d 3m47.308s
24. LMP1 Zacchia/Lammers/Elgaard Hope ORECA 3m47.691s
25. LMP1 Primat/Fernandez/Meyrick Aston Martin AMR-One 3m48.355s
26. LMP2 Rosier/Haezbrouck/Fournoux Extreme Limite Norma-Judd 3m48.420s
27. LMP2 Barlesi/Da Rocha/Lafargue Oak Pescarolo-Judd 3m48.665s
28. LMP2 Tucker/Bouchut/Barbosa Level 5 Lola-Honda 3m48.863s
30. GTE P Farfus/Muller/Werner BMW M3 3m57.592s
29. GTE P Fisichella/Bruni/Vilander AF Corse Ferrari 3m58.040s
31. GTE P Priaulx/Muller/Hand BMW M3 3m58.426s
32. GTE P Gavin/Magnussen/Westbrook Corvette C6 ZR1 3m59.519s
33. GTE P Farnbacher/Simonsen/Keen Farnbacher Ferrari 3m59.519s
34. GTE P Beretta/Milner/Garcia Corvette C6 ZR1 3m59.633s
35. GTE P Lieb/Lietz/Henzler Felbermayr-Proton Porsche 3m59.662s
36. GTE P Ortelli/Makowiecki/Melo Luxury Racing Ferrari 3m59.901s
37. GTE P Goossens/Holzer/Van Lagen Prospeed Porsche 3m59.962s
38. GTE P Dolan/Hancock/Buncombe Jota Aston Martin 4m00.747s
39. GTE P Bell/Sugden/Maasen JMW Ferrari 4m00.890s
40. GTE P Bergmeister/Long/Luhr Flying Lizard Porsche 4m01.024s
41. GTE P Beltoise/Jakubowski/Thiret Luxury Racing Ferrari 4m01.176s
42. GTE A Perazzini/Cioci/Breslin AF Corse Ferrari 4m01.282s
43. GTE P Al Faisal/Tandy/Miller Felbermayr-Proton Porsche 4m01.752s
44. GTE P Kauffman/Waltrip/Aguas AF Corse Ferrari 4m02.216s
45. GTE P Pilet/Narac/Armindo IMSA Performance Porsche 4m02.548s
46. GTE A Felbermayr/Felbermayr/Ried Felbermayr-Proton Porsche 4m03.532s
47. GTE A Niemen/Law/Pumpelly Flying Lizard Porsche 4m03.648s
48. GTE A Bourret/Gibon/Belloc Larbre Porsche 4m03.918s
49. GTE A Rodrigues/Menahem/Marroc JMB ORECA 4m04.640s
50. GTE A Giroix/Goethe/Wainwright Gulf Aston Martin 4m04.825s
51. GTE A Krohn/Jonsson/Rugulo Krohn Ferrari 4m05.211s
52. GTE A Bornhauser/Canal/Gardel Larbre Porsche 4m05.955s
53. GTE A Ehret/Lynn/Wills CRS Ferrari 4m07.236s
54. GTE P Hirschi/Rossiter/Mowlem Jetalliance Lotus Evora 4m07.465s
55. GTE A Robertson/Robertson/Murry Robertson Racing Ford-Doran 4m08.208s
56. GTE P Rich/Slingerland/Hartshorne Jetalliance Lotus Evora 4m12.569s
Tuesday, 7 June 2011
We’ve Never Been So Quick
After Sniffer’s thorough packing last night the girl was ready and gagging to set off even before the boys arrived at Sniffer Towers. Lunch was consumed and before 14.00 we were off !
Travelling at a steady (cruise controlled) 60mph we made excellent time – so much so that KL celebrated with a shockingly early beer en route.
Sensible Mr Chadders, Sir took the first driving stint with not even a sniff of beer in sight – good boy.
By 18.00 we were less than 30 miles from the port and stopped for our traditional evening meal.
The boys waiting for the food with bated breath.
Our first team photo of LM2011
Sniffer having a coffee with a cheeky nip
Pie & Peas Dinner – KL can’t wait to get stuck in….think he might have missed a meal!
Which fool bought such a large box of Tangfastics – how dangerous ?
As I type we’re queued up to get on the ferry at Portsmouth – I suspect we’ll be stationery for a while as the ferry doesn’t leave until 22.45.