After suffering serious head injuries due to a rogue spring that came off of fellow Brazilian Rubens Barichello’s Brawn GP racecar during qualifying, it appears that Felipe Massa will be back in time for the most important race on Ferrari’s calendar, September 13, the Italian Grand Prix. Back at the Hungaroring, Massa suffered a fracture at the base of his skull and was immediately airlifted to a nearby hospital to undergo surgery and then put into an induced coma in order to speed up the healing process, and it looks like it worked.
This news comes right after the Maestro, Michael Schumacher announced that he will not be stepping back behind the wheel. This report has not yet been confirmed by the Scuderia, but team members have said that Massa is making remarkable progress with his recovery and should he make a return in Italy. Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali visited the Brazilian last week: "Felipe is in excellent form and his recovery is going very well!... I’m very happy about Felipe’s state,... The medical checks which have been carried out over the last two weeks continue to be very encouraging...Now it’s important to be patient and take one step at a time, without any hurry."
If Massa does return, Formula One’s governing body would require him to undergo a full examination by the sport’s doctors before he can compete at speed once again. Ferrari’s test driver Luca Badoer will stand in for Massa in next weekend’s European Grand Prix at Valencia after the sad news from the Maestro being forced to cancel his comeback due to the lingering neck injury.
If the Porsche racing drivers Joerg Bergmeister and Patrick Long can take home the checkered flag this Sunday at the upcoming round of the American Le Mans Series at Road America in Elkhart Lake, the pair will have won their sixth straight GT2 win in their Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. The German Joerg Bergmeister said that: “Of course it would be great to continue our winning streak, … but it’s even more important for us to bring home as many points towards the championship as possible.”
Thanks to his American teammate Patrick Long, Bergmeister has already won as many races after just six rounds of competition than he did in the entire 2005 season when he won the championship behind the wheel of a Porsche. Jorg has already racked up 26 wins in the ALMS GT2 class, easily making him the most successful driver in the category. The fact that four of those wins came at Road America, more than any other driver, doesn’t hurt their chances at success. The German Porsche pilot Bergmeister has a very special relationship with the 14 turn 6.5 kilometer racing circuit. “This is my favorite track – it’s very fast, very hilly and very demanding,” and facing stiff competition from the likes of BMW, Chevrolet and Ferrari; he also said that: “If we want to do well here we have to give everything we’ve got.”
The ALMS race at Elkhart Lake will start on Sunday, August 16 at 3PM Eastern, but check your local listings for times, and will run for over 2:45 hours.
The high performance English coachbuilder Aston Martin has announced that after competing in the 37th Nürburgring 24 hour race this past May, the V12 Vantage muscle car is also slated to compete in the upcoming Shelsley Walsh National Hill Climb Festival that will take place soon on August 15-16.
This beautiful blue Aston Martin not only receives the 6.0 Liter V12 from the larger Aston Martin DBS, but also a pair of really cool rally inspired driving lamps in the grill and an interesting wheel and tire combination, that judging from the photo varies from front to rear. This Nür spec Vantage almost certainly has a few more than the standard versions 510 HP resting underneath that wonderfully vented hood and should also be able to better the production version’s 4.2 second 0 to 60 MPH time, but where they might have gotten close to the roadgoing car’s 190 MPH top speed on the back straight at the Nordshleif, it’s doubtful that they will get anywhere close on the hill.
U.K. motoring journalist Richard Meaden is scheduled to drive the V12 Vantage up the hill. This accredited racer formed part of the driver lineup that piloted the car to victory at the Nürburgring only three months ago. Meaden will be joined by fellow writer Matt Prior from Autocar Magazine when they face the narrow stretches at Shelsley.
For the last 8 years Corvette Racing has dominated the GT1 category of the American Le Mans Series. Since they began the race spec Corvette has won at the 24 Hours of Daytona, the 12 Hours of Sebring and the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and since 2005 have been competing the C6.R against world-class grand touring cars from automakers like Aston Martin. For 2009 the factory backed racing effort has chosen to step down into the GT2 category in order to compete with the same cars on the track that the production model competes with in show rooms.
Chevrolet will bring out the next generation Corvette C6.R at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on August 6-8 in order to conduct preliminary testing for the redesigned and restricted race car. The latest version of the Corvette C6.R will be put to the ultimate test when it competes in the GT2 category for the final five rounds of the 2009 American Le Mans Series.
The Corvette race cars will be powered by 6.0 Liter GM small block that is based on the 7.0 Liter LS7.R that powered the outgoing GT1 version. The diameter of the series-mandated air intake restrictors has been decreased from 30.6 mm to 28.6 mm, which also drops engine output from a mighty 590 HP to a bit more conservative 470 HP. Hopefully the Corvette Racing engineers will be able to develop some new tricks to get the most out of the pushrod V8 that will lead to a more efficient production sports car in the future.
Here at Top Speed we love anything and everything that goes fast, so during our weekend on the Monterey peninsula we had to make a stop at the legendary Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for the MotoGP Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix. Once there we were pleasantly surprised when the track staff offered us the opportunity to take a ride around the prestigious racing circuit aboard one of Mazda’s modified safety cars. The lineup of matte black and white pace cars included an RX-8 four door sports coupe, a CX-7 crossover and the all new Mazda 6.
At first we were a little disappointed not to see a Miata wearing the pace car livery, equipped with the fancy amber light bar and beefier tires allowing the trio of Mazdas to corner like champions and stay ahead of the two wheeled racers. However, after a quick trip in the CX-7 and Mazda 6, we were absolutely convinced that the Miata’s fun to drive DNA runs rich throughout the entire automaker’s lineup.
When the track marshall told me to get into the CX-7, our thoughts were limited to, “what a bummer, we come all the way to California and we get stuck riding in the cow of the group", boy were we wrong. Inside the crossover everything was stock except for a circuit board to control the flashing lights and a roll bar that gave the bright blue Scroth 4 point racing harnesses a place to secure themselves to while we were strapped in tight to the leather wrapped seat. The only modification to the drive train of the Euro-spec CX-7 were a set of Brembo brakes and a set of plus sized forged TE-37 wheels from Volk Racing wrapped in sticky rubber.
Nevertheless, it seems that these basic modifications were enough to turn the CX-7 into a track day special. It was amazing how well the sports inspired crossover handled on the track. We were instantaneously blown away by how fast this little Sport-Utility could lap the circuit, and especially the way that the driver was able to tame the infamous corkscrew. We were surprised to find ourselves on the heels of the other safety cars, the driver was really hammering it. Truning in sharply, pumping the steering wheel like mad, clipping the apexes, pushing the CX-7 to its limit. The car did an amazing job of staying on track. Mazda has truly figured out a way to incorporate their zoom-zoom high performance attitude into even the most unlikely of products.
Check the gallery for more photos and details about each of the cars.
Ford will be bringing the Fiesta Movement to the racetrack when a few of the European minded city cars are campaigned at X Games 15 at the end of this month. However the compact rally racer is slated to make its North American motor sport debut at the upcoming Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in Colorado. The vehicle’s run up the hill is guaranteed to be more than just a shakedown run.
The Swedish Olsbergs Motor Sport Evolution (MSE) team has decided to prepare a pair of three door Ford Fiesta’s for the event that will be televised around the globe here in the U.S. on ABC and ESPN. It is fitting that they have chosen someone who speaks their language to get behind the wheel, Swedish driver Kenny Brack. The other driver has not yet been announced. All three Fiestas will compete in the Rally America Open Class. That should be no problem for the 1999 Indianapolis 500 winner who will be making his X Games debut. Brack retired from motor sports in 2006, but has decided to come back in a Ford Fiesta. Could we see the 17 year old rally phenom, Markus Eriksson sitting in the other car?
When you think of setting speed records, there is only one place that comes to mind, the endless dried up lakebed in Utah, the Bonneville Salt Flats. However this is not the place where the most recent land speed record was broken. The English crew traveled to the northwest corner of Nevada in order for their Thrust SSC jet powered streamliner to hit 714 MPH, making it and Royal Air Force pilot Andy Green, the fastest man and machine of the planet.
The Thrust Super Sonic Car was powered by a pair of Rolls-Royce turbine engines and after their initial record setting attempt and a little fine tuning, the team came back two weeks later to go 763 MPH. It would take the velocity of three Bugatti Veyrons just to come close to the Thrust SSC’s top speed run that was set on October 15, 1997. What is most impressive is that this record has stood uncontested for over a decade.
It is only fitting that the fastest man in the world will make an appearance at the Goodwood Festival of Speed this weekend, but it has also been announced that the 1000 MPH hopefuls, team Bloodhound SSC will be on hand as well to show off their super sonic machine for the thousands of automotive enthusiasts on hand.
Things didn’t turn out as well as Dr. Ulrich and the rest of Team Audi would have liked, but at least an R15 made it onto the podium. It was a sight to see all three Peugeot 908s regroup for the final laps of the 24 hour race, in order for that oh so important photo finish after so many years of trying. Things didn’t turn out exactly as we predicted:
Like you saw in the video, a Peugeot 908 took the overall win as well as the LMP1 trophy.
In the smaller LMP2 category Team Essex’s Porsche RS Spyder took home first place in its category.
Johny O’Connel won his 4th 24 Hour Title behind the wheel of a Chevrolet Corvette
Risi Competizione taking the GT2 win for the second year in a row, in the same Ferrari F-430.
No matter whether you are watching the race on television or are enjoying the aromas first hand, there is one essential tool that any race should have with them. Birdwatchers have their books from the Audubon Society to help them identify different species, well now the web site spotterguides.com is offering the same tool to enthusiasts free of charge. These fully color coded entrants list are very well designed and offer all the information you would need to know about a particular race team’s entrant. Best of all, Spotter Guides gives you a diagram of the race car which makes it all the more easier to identify when it is going around the track.
Spotter Guides is currently offering their wares for the American Le Mans Series, British Touring Car Championship, Formula 1 and of course the 24 Hours of Le Mans. So now when the announcer starts talking about an Audi R15 is being held up by a slower Porsche RS Spyder on the other side of the track, you will know exactly which cars they are talking about. Follow the link to download your own copies for this weekends race from Le Mans.
It is mid-June, the Nurburgring 24 has passed and the endurance race fans from around the world are gathering at the Circuit de la Sarthe in France. That is because this Saturday and Sunday, June 13 and 14 racing greats from around the world are competing in the 2009 24 Hours of Le Mans. The race twice around the clock includes vehicles from the ALMS as well as the LMS racing series which are made up of two classes of GT, production car based racers, and two classes of prototypes, this year’s race will include 20 of the big boy LMP1 machines all fighting each other as well as lapped traffic for an overall win.
The big battles lately have been between Audi’s and Peugeot’s endurance racing teams at these events. The German automaker is competing in their all new R15 racecar and Peugeot is bringing back their 908, except this time it has Formula 1 derived KERS. Reports from the racetrack say that the Audi camp has gotten a hold of some unfound speed from their previous entrant, the R10. The four ringed automaker has an excellent track record at the epic endurance race, with an Audi engine winning every year since 2000. 2003 was the only year that an Audi R chassis didn’t take home the victory, that year Audi’s factory efforts lent their services to fellow members of the Volkswagen family, creating the Bentley Speed 8. Ever since 2006 Audi’s racing team has been taking advantage of the rules regarding diesel powered race cars, a trend that has caught on with Peugeot.
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