Source: http://www.motorsportsjournal.com/archives/2012/10/2012_abu_dhabi_grand_prix.php
Kyle Thomas Busch Jeffrey Tyler Burton Richard Allen Craven Kerry Dale Earnhardt
Saturday
2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix preview
Yas Marina Circuit facts & stats The ultra-modern Yas Marina circuit hosts round 18 of the 2012 world championship. The track is located on a man-made island on the eastern side of Abu Dhabi and it's one of five anti-clockwise...
Friday
SEMA: Forge Motorsports Mk1 VW Golf goes Group B all over SEMA
Filed under: Aftermarket, Motorsports, SEMA Show, Hatchback, Volkswagen, Racing
If it had a bit more ground clearance and we didn't know any better, we'd ask when Forge Motorsports' first-generation Volkswagen Golf racecar competed in Group B rally, thanks to almost every one of its exterior design/aero elements and the crazy 400-horsepower turbocharged 2.0-liter four (crank up the boost from 1.0 bar to 1.8 bar and the engine will make 500 hp easily), but Volkswagen never raced the little hatch in that World Rally Championship class.
Besides the Group B-like aerodynamics package and high-strung turbocharged mill, the right-hand-drive 1982 Golf gets a six-speed manual transmission and a limited-slip differential to put the power to the ground, according to Auto 123. Additionally, the cooling system has been moved to the rear (check out those cooling fans) to help even out the weight distribution of the front-wheel-drive hatch.
A Forge Motorsports representative tells us that the car will run a time attack at Road Atlanta next year, and that the company wants to bring it to the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb; we're crossing our fingers that it runs at both events.
Until then, check out our photo gallery of one of the fastest VWs at SEMA.
Forge Motorsports Mk1 VW Golf goes Group B all over SEMA originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 07 Nov 2013 17:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsSource: http://www.autoblog.com/2013/11/07/forge-motorsports-mk1-vw-golf-goes-group-b-all-over-sema/
Georges Grignard Bobby Grim Romain Grosjean Olivier Grouillard
Thursday
Danica Patrick has 0 Cup wins, Jimmie Johnson gets 66th victory
Danica Patrick finished 25th in the AAA Texas 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. Danica Patrick, who started 30th, completed 3331/334 laps, so she was actually three laps down instead of ?One Lap Downica.? The race was won by?..you guessed it, Jimmie Johnson?SHOCKING!
Rooting for JJ in NASCAR is like rooting for Notre Dame?in the 1940s. Seriously, you might as well be rooting for the house in roulette instead.
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Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 4.390 seconds behind Johnson in the runner-up spot, while Joey Logano, Matt Kenseth and Kasey Kahne rounded out the top-five.
?From where we unloaded on Friday, we actually made a lot of gains throughout the weekend,? said Danica Patrick, who made her 44th Sprint Cup start and her third at Texas. She has zero victories.
Jimmie Johnson got his 66th win. Think about that 66-0 disparity between Johnson and Patrick. Granted this is just the second year of NASCAR for Danica Patrick, and her first in full-ti...
Rooting for JJ in NASCAR is like rooting for Notre Dame?in the 1940s. Seriously, you might as well be rooting for the house in roulette instead.
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Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 4.390 seconds behind Johnson in the runner-up spot, while Joey Logano, Matt Kenseth and Kasey Kahne rounded out the top-five.
?From where we unloaded on Friday, we actually made a lot of gains throughout the weekend,? said Danica Patrick, who made her 44th Sprint Cup start and her third at Texas. She has zero victories.
Jimmie Johnson got his 66th win. Think about that 66-0 disparity between Johnson and Patrick. Granted this is just the second year of NASCAR for Danica Patrick, and her first in full-ti...
Beppe Gabbiani Bertrand Gachot Patrick Gaillard Divina Galica
Wednesday
Happy Hour: NASCAR vs. F1, attending races in person and qualifying changes
Throughout the week you can send us your best questions, jokes, rants and just plain miscellaneous thoughts to happyhourmailbag@yahoo.com or @NickBromberg. We'll post them here, have a good time and everyone's happy. Right? Oh who are we kidding, this is NASCAR. No one is ever happy.
This is quite the packed mailbag this week. Big response to last week's column. Must have been something I said? Or were you all just inspired by Carl Edwards' music video appearance? I'm betting it's the latter.
[Watch: Kyle Busch trivia]
Anyway, let's stop wasting time and get to it.
Greetings. I happened to bump into some of that race yesterday (at Martinsville). Rubbish. I believe the fans have begun to figure out this lapping exhibition as witnessed by the growing number of empty seats and increasing conversion of seating sections to race day billboards. This sport has long lost its appeal. Last month I attended the Singapore F1 event. The entire weekend was a blast. First rate entertainment, plenty of food and beverage, no lines and exciting backdrop. Nascar, and while I'm at it horse racing, need to take a look at what's going on in Asia to revive these sports. Otherwise lights out.
- Cowboy Bob.
Oh fun, we haven't had some F1 attitude in the mailbag in a while. Are you saying that you don't want to pay a bunch of money to listen to Hank Williams Jr. perform before Bristol? What type of race fan are you?
I also think it's a tad crazy to compare an F1 street race in Singapore to a NASCAR race at Martinsville. Apples to toboggans. And I'll leave it at that.
_____________________
If I had a dime for every time I've heard the statement "Hotel prices are the biggest factor keeping fans away from the tracks". I would've burned out an industrial strength coin roller at this point. My question is "if that's the biggest issue. Why are the local fans not showing up?"
TV ratings for Martinsville are a perfect example. Here's some of the the top 10 areas for ratings. Greensboro (1), Greenville S.C. (2), Norfolk (3), Charlotte (5), Richmond (6), and Raleigh-Durham (10). Those 6 cities are less than an 8 hour round trip from Martinsville, heck, #1 is practically walking distance! These are people that don't need to worry themselves with room prices.
What is it that NASCAR isn't doing (or IS doing) that is keeping even the locals away on Sundays?
- Darrell
Some good points here, and on that note, I think it's important to mention that ISC announced that it was going to take steps to start upgrading WiFi capacity and HD screens at some tracks. And that's why you've seen tracks like Texas and Charlotte go with the big screens as well.
Look, let's not be naive. Attending a race, hotel prices or not, can be expensive, especially if you want the access that NASCAR is known for. Hot passes, unless you have a hookup, aren't cheap and neither is grandstand seating for that matter. Then you add in the cost of a scanner or FanView and souvenirs, concessions and anything else you want to think of and it's an absurdly pricy weekend at the track alone.
Or, you could stay at home, get things accomplished before the race, crack a beverage that you've paid for at 10% of the track cost at the grocery store and watch from your couch on your big screen. And you'll get radio access at a minimal cost per year if you paid for RaceView and all the other info you don't get via TV on Twitter. I think every NASCAR fan should have the opportunity to experience at least one race live and take it all in. But I can't blame someone for preferring to watch from his or her living room.
_____________________
Why don't they give out points for qualifying, 3-2-1 Would make it interesting. Having more cars on track would be viable as well.
-John
I like this idea to spice up qualifying, and I'm also glad that NASCAR is looking at different qualifying formats for next year. I think in the car count era we're in with minimal cars missing the race every week, qualifying not only needs a shakeup in terms of format but in terms of emphasis. An extra few points for the top qualifiers would help significantly, especially in the Chase.
_____________________
What is wrong with the know it alls at Nascar? Leave qualifying alone. We are not Indy Cars or Formular One. I for one, and I hope others want to watch single car qualifying. Shortening the times Nascar is on TV, has already been started with Speed becoming Fox Sport 1. Which I hate!
- Betty
And here we are with the opposite opinion. Betty seems to speak for a vocal minority of fans who are disappointed about the Speed to Fox Sports 1 transition and if you're included in that group, please email me with the answer to this simple question. Why?
[Watch: Jimmie Johnson trivia]
I can understand if you're that disappointed about the loss of WindTunnel or SpeedCenter, but outside of those programs, it's simply been a void of cheap reality content that was meh. The live coverage of racing hasn't been affected and with the launch of Fox Sports 2 there's a backup channel for it. Not every NASCAR test session or truck practice was televised in the Speed era, and it's not going to be in the FS1 era either.
_____________________
First, start a new series of oval track racing where the cars must be STOCK cars. Either remove the interiors or have the manufacturers build them special without interior, insulation and sound deadening. Then add safety equipment and racing wheels and tires. No other changes from factory specification.
It's been done many times for road racing, remember the Corvette Showroom Stock series that was started when the 'Vetts of the 90's got so good they were kicked out of other classes? Remember when Dodge sold Neons minus interiors etc strictly for racing use? Do the same for oval racing. I bet if given decent TV coverage it would soon be as or more popular than the fake cars NASCAR has been running.
Second, adding up all the times the Daytona 500 has been shortened, there's more than enough missing laps to make up another 500.
Put all those laps into one race and limit entries to only drivers who have never won a race or even placed in the top ten in any level of NASCAR competition. NO TEAMS! Every driver on his or her own with their crew.
That would put the attention on the up and comers without having to be overshadowed by the teams with practically unlimited funds.
Call it a make-up race for all the Daytona 500 action we've missed over the years. Could even have a company like Mary Kay or Maybeline sponsor it. Would the "Mary Kay Makeup 500" attract more women drivers to racing?
- Gregg
There's a series that involves stock cars and it's called the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge. If "stock" car racing was such the draw that the loyalists say it is, why isn't the CTSCC more of a draw than it is? Hell, the races aren't even televised live. They're usually shown on delay a few days after the race airs.
And I'm not sure where you're going with the final few graphs of your letter, Gregg, nor am I sure that I want to.
When I purchase a ticket to see a 300 lap race, I expect to see 300 laps of racing, not 20% of the race as caution laps. NASCAR needs to not count caution laps as "race" laps.
- Vance
Raise your hand, do you want caution laps to count? Sunday's race at Martinsville took a cool 3:45 to run and featured 111 laps of caution. At 20 seconds per lap at Martinsville under green flag conditions, that's more than 30 minutes of green flag racing that would be tacked on to that race. No. No. No. No. No. NASCAR races should only go over four hours on the rarest of occasions, namely the Southern 500 and the Coca-Cola 600.
Besides, that's counter to the argument that NASCAR races need to be shortened in this era of shortening time spans. While I understand that, I think that's significantly muted if the racing in the early and middle stages is remotely compelling. I certainly don't hear the cries about football games, namely college football games, going over 3.5 hours. And I think that's a significant issue. With the overtime exceptions, football games shouldn't take that long to complete. And the same goes for NASCAR.
- - - - - - -
Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
Jeffrey Michael Gordon Charles Robert Hamilton IV Charles Robert Hamilton V Kevin Michael Harvick
Tuesday
McLaren set to power Formula E racing
WOKING, SURREY, UK - 12th November 2012 - McLaren Electronic Systems Limited today announced that it will provide the electric engine, transmission and electronics for cars that will participate in the FIA's exciting new Formula E race series. McLaren will...
Source: http://www.motorsportsjournal.com/archives/2012/11/mclaren_set_to_power_form.php
Parker Kligerman Trevor Bayne Out! Pet Care Toyota Jason Leffler
Power Rankings: We need someone to shake it like a saltshaker
It's time for Power Rankings! After every race, we'll opine about who we think is at the top of the Sprint Cup heap and how and why they got there. Remember, this isn't scientific, as our formula is the perfect blend of analytics and bias against your favorite driver. So let's get on with it now, shall we?
1. Matt Kenseth (LW: 1): No, we're not asking Kenseth to blow an engine or for Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus to start a feud that ends with Chad driving the No. 48 hauler out of Talladega and leaving Johnson without a car. But someone do something to give us some variety. Speaking of non-variety. Kenseth finished in the top five again at Charlotte. Away we go to number two.
2. Jimmie Johnson (LW: 2): Chad Knaus's Reddit AMA was fun if you missed it. And because of it, we now know why he is an emotionless human being who thinks about car setups every waking moment of his day. But you know what? Even if Chad drove Jimmie's hauler out of Talladega and Johnson was without a car, Johnson would just go get Junior's backup and win, paint scheme and everything intact. Can we make this happen?
3. Kevin Harvick (LW: 3): The Harvick is going to drive in 12 races for JR Motorsports next year in the Nationwide Series. That has absolutely nothing to do with the Chase right now but it was announced on Monday. If you're a Harvick fan you better get this camo shirt while it's hot and on sale so that everyone can't see and know you were a fan of his when he was at RCR.
4. Jeff Gordon (LW: 4): While looking for that sweet Harvick shirt linked above, I was really hoping this shirt still only had 12 drivers. Alas, it has 13. But you can see they added Gordon's number to the middle row off to the right like "yeah, OK, he's here too." Does anyone have a Chase t-shirt like this without Gordon on it? Hit us up. Guess is that there are a ton of them in eastern Europe right now.
5. Kyle Busch: (LW: 5): Mr. Busch was not happy after Saturday night's race. He finished fifth, and words in his post-race transcript included "pretty frustrating," "it certainly stinks" and "we need wins and we can't win." Yeah, it's easy to say that Busch is acting spoiled here, but he's understandably seething. He's running well, but not well enough. It's one thing to mess up and get your butt kicked. But it's another to perform well and have it happen.
6. Brad Keselowski (LW: NR): This is the closest we can get to a shakeup without randomly ranking the 12 best start and parks of all time. (Future Power Rankings idea?) And it's fun to have Brad right behind Kyle because we can metaphorically make Power Rankings Kyle look behind his back and see Brad right there. Random thought: Keselowski restarted right behind Busch late in the race. If he wasn't going for his first win of the year, would revenge have been a serious thought?
7. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (LW: 7): Anyone listen to the new Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. album? Pretty good. It's a shame that they're not the type of music that's popular at Talladega, or otherwise they'd be a great idea for a pre-race concert. Hell, any track should get them to do a concert. Think of the "best homemade Junior items" contest they could have. I want royalties when this idea is executed, ISC and SMI.
8. Kurt Busch (LW: 6): This Busch was disappointed too because after finishing second at Kansas, he was 14th at Charlotte. But hey, he's driving a Wonder Bread car this week. Can we get a kickstarter going to fund Busch re-enacting the invisible fire scene from Talladega Nights? Please? You know you want in.
9. Carl Edwards (LW: 10): Edwards' 10th place finish is good enough for a spot higher in Power Rankings. And is there really anything else to say right here? Does anyone else wonder if Carl will get a Talladega win as some karmic retribution for flying into the catchfence? Not that we're blaming Keselowski for that -- that wasn't intentional, it just seems that a crash like that would get you a win down the line from the Talladega spirits.
10. Clint Bowyer (LW: 11): The biggest team penalties keep getting bigger with the announcement that MWR is going to be down to two full-time cars next year. Bowyer's one of them and while it may be natural to think that he's the one who deserves to be out instead of Martin Truex Jr., don't think that way. Bowyer (and Brian Vickers) was doing what his bosses told him to do.
11. Ryan Newman (LW: NR): Here's something interesting. Remember when Ryan Newman dissed his pit crew after Richmond when he initially thought he missed the Chase? Well, he hasn't apologized to them. Why? Because they haven't apologized to him for the slow stop. Yeesh. Yeah, he laughed as he said it, but that wouldn't be happening if Newman wasn't leaving the team at the end of the year.
12. David Ragan (LW: NR): Want to get ready for Talladega? Let's relive the last couple laps of the May race. That was one hell of a charge by Ragan and his teammate David Gilliland and how fun would it be if they did it again in October? Two non-Chaser wins in two weeks? What would our NASCAR world be coming to?
Lucky Dog: Denny Hamlin finished ninth. That was his first top 10 since Pocono in June. Think about that for a second.
The DNF: JJ Yeley. Yeah it's October and all that, but pink and camo? That car might have crashed out of sheer ugliness.
Dropped Out: Greg Biffle, Paul Menard.
Monday
Spy Shots: Smart Fortwo spied with production-ready body
Filed under: Spy Photos, Coupe, Budget, Smart
Fans of super-minis, take note - here's your first look at the all-new Smart Fortwo. The teensy, tiny city car skipped out in full camouflage, but lacking any shape-hiding body cladding. Immediately noticeable is just how tiny it is. It looks even smaller than the Smart Fortwo that's on the road now, but that's merely an optical illusion - it's not as long, but has a larger footprint overall.
The rear overhang is virtually non-existent, while the new Smart looks to be sporting a snub-nose look, with both designs going a long way towards highlighting the reduction in length. Riding on a miniaturized version of the architecture that will underpin the Smart Forfour and Renault Twingo, our spies are reporting that this car will have its engine mounted in the back and that it will drive the rear wheels.
Gas, diesel and a next-generation of the Fortwo ElectricDrive should all be expected when the third-gen Smart hits the Geneva Motor Show stage in March.
Smart Fortwo spied with production-ready body originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 03 Nov 2013 17:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsSource: http://www.autoblog.com/2013/11/03/smart-fortwo-spy-shots/
Sunday
Tomorrow: Celebrate a Safer East Side With TA and Melissa Mark-Viverito
First Avenue at 79th Street, with bike and pedestrian improvements. Photo: DOT
Tomorrow, Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito and Transportation Alternatives will take a well-deserved victory lap on the First and Second Avenue protected bike lanes.
Streetsblog readers know how difficult it was to overcome the misinformation campaign waged by a small number of business owners who didn’t [...]
Tomorrow, Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito and Transportation Alternatives will take a well-deserved victory lap on the First and Second Avenue protected bike lanes.
Streetsblog readers know how difficult it was to overcome the misinformation campaign waged by a small number of business owners who didn’t [...]
Ryan Joseph Newman Kyle Eugene Petty Floyd Anthony Raines Scott Russell Riggs
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