Race cars have all the safety equipment and power required to win races and protect their driver at the same time. Some of them are street legal but most of them are not
Ayrton Senna was arguably the greatest racer to have ever competed in Formula One, and even though Michael Schumacher’s record may look a little better on paper, statistics don’t tell you the true story of what made Senna the stuff of legends. Not only is Ayrton’s nephew Bruno Senna currently racing for the Williams F1 team, the great man himself has even had a film dedicated to his illustrious career, ending with his untimely death at Imola in 1994.
However, all Senna fans out there have a chance to own a one-off piece of memorabilia which is expected to sell for around $20,000. And, it’s none other than the very first steering wheel Senna used in his first race way back at the 1984 Brazilian Grand Prix, and if you ask us, $20,000 seems to be a bargain.
Sure you could by a small sports car like the Mazda MX-5 Miata for that money, but if this estimated price proves to be accurate, it’ll be a hell of a lot cheaper than his helmet which recently sold for $114,000 and one of his racing suits which was sold for $54,000. Silverstone Auctions has been on a Senna memorabilia selling frenzy over the past few months, selling the aforementioned pieces as well as his Toleman TG-184 F1 car which sold for an undisclosed amount last month.
What makes this particular piece so special is that it’s signed and dated by Senna himself, so chances are it will gain value in the coming years.
In the past year or so, electric vehicles (EV) have proven that they can be really competitive. You don’t have to take our word for it, though, just take a look at the Electric RaceAbout which got plenty of attention for its bouts on both ice and the Nurburgring. Now that gas prices are on the rise yet again, some companies are fully embracing the fact that electric cars are the future, even in motorsports competition.
This is exactly why Quimera Responsible Racing is preparing to launch a high-performance All Electric Drift Car (AEDC) for the racing season, but they are going to need some help. The car’s official launch is set for October 2012, and before that happens, the team has to decided on the livery that will be used for the racer. This is where all of you come in. All you have to do is enter your designs at Quimerarr.com and get as many Likes as possible. The winner will be awarded with a trip to California’s Irwindale Speedway – aka The House of Drift – for the car’s official unveiling on October 12th and $5000 spending cash.
The All Electric Drift Car’s electric engine will deliver somewhere between 200 - 270 HP and will be powered by super charged lithium iron phosphate batteries with an average range of 150 miles. It can sprint from 0 to 60 mph in just 3.2 seconds, making it one of the fastest electric vehicles.
Nobuhiro "Monster" Tajima is, without question, the king of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. Not only is he the record-holder for the fastest ascent to the top of the mountain, but he’s the only man to do it in less than 10 minutes.
For this year, Monster Tajima will be keeping his record-setting Suzuki SX4 Hill Climb Special in the garage in favor of an electric car that his team, Team APEV Monster Sports, is in the process of putting together. And here’s the best part: Tajima isn’t looking to break the EV record for the climb; he actually has his eyes set on the overall record. Yep. The same record he set last year.
From what we’ve seen out of this man, if there’s anybody that can do it, it’s Monster Tajima.
As far as details behind the car is concerned, Team APEV Monster Sports is still keeping information tight-lipped, although we do expect them to reveal the car pretty soon.
McLaren is making its way back into the GT sports car racing scene with a limited number of GT3 racing cars based on the MP4-12C sports car. These models will be designed and developed by McLaren and CRS Racing, and should make their first racing debut in the 2012 European FIA GT3 Series.
"The 12C’s architecture and design was always aimed at high-performance and ease of maintenance - two key criteria for potential customers. Combine that with the vast amount of racing experience in our automotive team, and CRS Racing’s specialist development experience, and the 12C GT3 should be an exciting proposition for the top teams planning to race in GT3 from 2012."
McLaren is confident that the MP4-12C’s revolutionary lightweight one-piece moulded carbon chassis, high levels of downforce and aerodynamic performance, and focus on form and function make it an obvious choice to bring back racing success to the McLaren name. The last win McLaren had was in the McLaren F1 GTR when it won the Lemans Series 15 years ago. The MP4-12C GT3 will be the first McLaren car built for FIA GT series racing since the McLaren F1 GTR finished production in 1997.
UPDATE 08/02/2011:McLaren entered the 2011 24 Hours of Spa with three MP4-12C GT3 supercars, but only one of them - car number 60 - managed to end the race. The second vehicle - car number 58 - was retired by the team following a thermal incident.
However, the most unlucky racer was car number 59. The #59 was hit by a competitor - a black BMW E92 M3 GT4 - which forced the carbon chassis-based 12C GT3 off its trajectory and into the wall at turn 1. Driver, Andrew Kirkaldy, was cleared of any serious injury at a nearby hospital following a precautionary scan. The car was subsequently placed in Parc Ferme at the circuit and awaits inspection by the McLaren GT team engineers.
Kirkaldy said: "I was obviously disappointed that one of our cars was forced out of the race so early. Our performance has been strong in development tests and our debut race at Spa in the British GT Championship showed the car is technically reliable."
Check out a slide show of the crash after the jump.
UPDATE 08/17/2011: The McLaren MP4-12C GT3’s mixed results at the 24 Hours of Spa hasn’t stopped the apparent popularity of the race car amongst its growing list of customers. Though it’s being produced in limited quantities, the MP4-12C GT3 already has a list of clients that include Gulf Racing, Apex Motorsport, Doerr Motorsport, J.A.S. Motorsport, and Von Ryan Racing. The teams are expected to receive their race car some time next year.
UPDATE 03/29/2012: McLaren has announced that a total of 25 new MP4-12C GT3 cars will race across Europe and in FIA GT1 World Championship in 2012. Race debut will be made as a safety car in the FIA GT1 World Championship race at the Nogaro circuit in France on April 8-9, 2012. The announcement came with a series of new images and a new video of the race car.
Never content with the growing number of cars on Forza Motorsport 4, Turn 10 Studios is gearing up for the release of their latest downloadable content in the game, the April Alpinestars Car Pack.
For this pack of new vehicles, Turn 10 Studios is including a bevy of new rides mixed in with some classics from yesteryear.
If you’re into some of the earlier models, the pack also has a variety of those, including a 1985 Mazda RX-7 GSL-SE, a 1959 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz Convertible, and a 1972 Mercedes Benz 300 SEL, which was, at one point in time, one of the fastest cars on the planet.
To mark the occasion of the impending release of the Alpinestars Car Pack, Turn 10 Studios has dropped a video preview of the pack, complete with footage of the cars included in it.
How do you write the word "Porsche," and make that word over 475 feet long? Well, obviously there is only one way; you take 48 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Challenge Brazil race cars and line them up accordingly beside a massive Brazilian flag. Where do you accomplish something like this? On the finishing straight at Estoril Circuit in Portugal, of course.
This is exactly what happened on March 15, 2012. 180 people from the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Brasil team and the Portuguese staff of Estoril Circuit came together before the season opening race to get the perfect shot. The entire shoot took 23 hours, and the end result was this 3 minute 30 second video which includes helicopter shots and a time-lapse of the shoot. All that was left to do was write "Porsche" with rubber by having all 48 cars do simultaneous burnouts!
Check out the video to see the whole event take place, and don’t forget to let us know what you think in the comments section below.
At its core, the language of motorsport racing knows no boundaries. Anywhere you go, it’s all predicated on the same premise of being faster than your competition.
But one thing that changes depending on the circumstances are the cars that compete in such races. Over in South Africa, there’s a series called the SA Production Car Championship. One of the teams competing in the series is ADF Motorsport and recently, they, together with partner BMW South Africa, unveiled the prized steed that will be racing under their banner for the 2012 season.
The car, an F30 BMW 335i, is making history of sorts as the very first F30 3-Series racing car in the world, making it noteworthy on a lot of levels.
Developed by ADF Motorsport in collaboration with BMW SA, the F30 335i was given plenty of modifications to adhere to series regulations. In order to keep the car in its intended weight of just over 1,360 kg, ADF opted to replace plenty of the built-in parts on the car with carbon fiber taken from BMW’s new M Performance aftermarket options. Likewise, a new Akrapovic exhaust system was also installed with the car also getting 370mm M Performance front disc brakes, a new set of 18" BBS rims, and an N55 TwinPower turbocharged engine.
As far as the powertrain is concerned, SA Production Car regulations prohibited ADF Motorsport from giving the car any performance enhancements. Nevertheless, the addition of a modified engine management system, a new turbocharger, and the new Akrapovic exhaust system gives the F30 335i enough power - 402 horsepower and 442 lb/ft of torque - to be competitive in the racing series.
The 2012 racing season has already begun and we’re now seeing participants of the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters - that’s DTM, in case you didn’t know - show off their vehicles in the past couple of weeks.
BMW Motorsports has been a regular supplier of race cars in DTM for the past couple of years. This season, the German automaker’s racing division is back in DTM with six BMW M3 DTM race cars, including the recently unveiled Castrol EDGE BMW M3 DTM.
The racer will carry the design livery of Castrol EDGE, considered as Castrol’s strongest and most advanced range of engine oil, and Aral Ultimate, Germany’s largest network of gas stations.
As far as powertrain is concerned, the race car will be powered by a V8 engine that was fitted with its own air restrictor to adhere to racing regulations. With the air restrictor in place, the M3 DTM is capable of producing 480 horsepower, while hitting 0-60 mph in just three seconds, and carrying a top speed of 186 mph.
Young or old, American or European, every man in this world know who Pamela Anderson is, and more importantly how she looks like. She is, or was at some point, the dream of every man out there. But the distance from being a dream girl to owning a personal race team is very long. Unthinkable in fact! But Pamela Anderson did it: she launched her own personal race firm called Downforce1 and announced she will have cars competing in the European Le Mans Series as well as the International GT open series. At this point we are not very sure is she will actually drive any of these cars, but for sure that will be something we will want to see.
Apparently, next to silicone, Pamela is also a huge fan of NASCAR and F1 racing series, and now she wants to take her passion to a next level: "Fast Cars and Fast women go together and here we are surrounded by men I love it.” said Pam on the sidelines of a NASCAR race.
European Le Mans Series will be the first race to compete in. Her team will enter with an Aston Martin Vantage GT2 with Markus Fux, the marketing chief and team coordinator of the team, behind the wheel.
"I’m so proud of the Downforce 1 team. These gentlemen have achieved the impossible and built up a team in just four months, so I cannot wait to see my cars on the racetracks it’s hard to believe until I see it. Look for us in white and blue - my signature color" said Pamela Anderson.
She also announced that by the end of 2013 she will also have a team ready for Nascar. Can you guess the mascot of that team?
We all know that world records always have an expiration date; it’s just a matter of finding somebody willing and able to break that record.
One particular record that was recently shattered involved jumping a car the longest distance on snow. Mads Ostberg, a daredevil in every sense of the word, took his WRC Ford Fiesta and jumped 50 meters (164 feet) through the air, staking claim to the new world record.
It may have taken Ostberg three tries to hit his mark, but when he did accomplish it, he did it so clean that you could feel the adrenaline oozing out of the driver amidst all the cheers from the audience gathered at the site.
The distance is still unofficial and is subject to validation. But that doesn’t take away from the impressiveness of the feat, especially when you’re launching your car on a less-than-ideal surface.
