Gallery: Indianapolis 500 100th Anniversary at Pebble Beach

Monterey 2010: A century of Indianapolis 500 entrants féted at Pebble originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 16 Aug 2010 16:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Gallery: Cornell's SAE Baja buggy tour and test drive

Continue reading Cornell's SAE Baja buggy helps us get even with would-be alma mater

Cornell's SAE Baja buggy helps us get even with would-be alma mater originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 04 Dec 2009 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

As disappointing as it was for Briscoe, the year ended up being a good one for Franchitti, who did short stint in NASCAR before returning to IndyCar's open wheelers. Yesterday's title is Franchitti's second and the third for Target Chip Ganassi Racing. In an odd bit of meaninglessly trivial statistics, it was the 10th series win for Dario, on the 10th day of the 10th month in the number 10 car. And Lincoln's secretary was named Kennedy, while Kennedy's was Lincoln. The top three in the final points tally were Franchitti (616), Dixon (605), and Briscoe (604). Due to the lack of yellows, yesterday's race at Homestead went down as the second fastest in IndyCar Series history, with an average speed of 201.420 mph.

Continue reading IndyCar crowns its first post-reconciliation champion (Spoiler Alert)

IndyCar crowns its first post-reconciliation champion (Spoiler Alert) originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 11 Oct 2009 11:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Al Unser Jr., extortion victim? originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 26 Dec 2008 11:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Officials have confirmed that the newly reunified IndyCar series is contemplating a move to turbocharged engines by 2011. The move could entice more automakers - aside from Honda, which is the only engine manufacturer currently participating in the series - to join on as well. In a meeting held this past June, IRL officials spoke with a dozen automakers about joining the series, and several sounded enthusiastic at the prospect of switching from the current naturally-aspirated V8s to smaller turbocharged engines. The new formula would call for either four or six cylinders and either one or two spools, producing as much as 750 horsepower instead of the current 650. Officials expect three or four manufacturers to sign on to the new formula, which could be announced as early as December to give the manufacturers enough time to develop the new engines.

Turbochargers had been common in American open-wheel racing, but after the IRL and Champ Cars split, the former switched to non-boosted V8s while the latter continued with turbos. The bulk of the formula for the reunited series, however, was based on the IRL regulations. Many of the drivers competing in the series have been pushing for the switch, and responded enthusiastically to the news.

[Sources: Autosport and The Indianapolis Star, Photo by Jon Ferrey/Allsport/Getty]

Indy to go turbo by 2011 originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 25 Aug 2008 07:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Gallery: '08 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach

Long Beach Grand Prix: Final Champ Car race gallery originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 23 Apr 2008 20:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Champ Car and IRL working hard on truce for 2008 season originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 08 Feb 2008 13:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The drivers after receiving traditional didgeridoos in Australia

Fans of open-wheel racing awaiting the results of today's season-finale Brazilian Grand Prix had something to keep them busy in the meantime, as the results of the Champ Car race Down Under came in with this season's champion one race early.

If you didn't tape the race to watch later, click through to the SPOILER ALERT to find out who won and who's champion this year in Champ Cars.

[Source: Autosport.com]

Continue reading Champ Car champ and rookie crowned Down Under

Champ Car champ and rookie crowned Down Under originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 21 Oct 2007 15:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

American motor racing has been steadily moving towards "Spec", that is, each team racing the same car with the same engine and other components. The Indy Racing League runs Dallara chassis powered by Honda engines. (Although NASCAR technically uses a few different cars with different engines from different suppliers, they all look pretty much the same.) Now the latest spec racing cars for the Champ Car series - IRL's rival formerly known as CART - have just been delivered.

The new Panoz DP01 has been received by ten Champ Car teams, the first ten before the entire field makes the switch from the previous Lola-built cars. The new chassis will use the same turbocharged Cosworth V8 engines, the now independent engine supplier owning majority rights to the series and having involuntarily withdrawn from supplying engines in Formula One. They all run on spec Bridgestone tires, just as Formula One makes the switch next season.

Constructed primarily of carbon fiber, the new cars weigh an impressive hundred pounds less than their predecessor Lola counterparts. The chassis were delivered unpainted and all-but-identical to the teams who'll be adding their own team and sponsors' livery. We're looking forward to seeing the new cars in action.

[Source: Edmunds Inside Line]

Champ Car teams receive new Panoz chassis originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 27 Dec 2006 13:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

To battle its image as a form of motorsport exclusive to the South, NASCAR is going North - to Canada: "the True North, Strong and Free" (at least that's how the anthem goes). So with F1 drivers coming to NASCAR, NASCAR is going to an F1 track: it's been confirmed that next season's Busch Series schedule will include a race at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, home of the Canadian Grand Prix.

In past years the track has hosted both F1 and Champ Car races each season. After securing exclusive rights to the track from Montreal city hall in June, Canadian Grand Prix promoter Normand Legault began moving on plans to bring stock car racing to Montreal. As an extra bonus, the weekend will also feature a Grand-Am race.

The Champ Car race, meanwhile, will move even farther north to the legendary track by the slopes of Mont Tremblant. Securing a major open-wheel event is a huge coup for the recently revived track, which was once famously referred to by Michael Schumacher as the "little Nurburgring". (No wonder Ferrari elected to open its first North American driving school there. )

Having grown up in Montreal, this writer can attest that it's a die-hard racing town through-and-through (in the summer, at least). Hosting F1, CART, Grand-Am and NASCAR will only allow more fans, teams and drivers to get a taste of the action.

[Sources: GrandPrix.com and Canada.com]

Canadian race shuffle: NASCAR comes to Montreal, CART moves to Tremblant originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 05 Oct 2006 14:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It's surely a credit to stock car racing that F1 drivers have been migrating to NASCAR. In the new parody movie Talladega Nights, it seems like a joke that the antagonist (pictured) is a French F1 driver come over to America to race stock cars, but that's looking less and less like a joke as it becomes reality.

McLaren recently released its departing driver Juan Pablo Montoya from his contract early so he can begin testing stock cars. And the speculation continues to mount that former world champion Jacques Villeneuve is planning to move to NASCAR as well. Other former F1 drivers have gone back down the totem-poll to sports-car racing, endurance racing, Indy cars, and touring cars, but Jacques indicated his intentions by asserting that NASCAR was not, in his bespectacled eyes, a step down from F1.

The latest reports claim that the French Canadian son of legendary Ferrari driver Gilles Villeneuve has already signed a contract with Roush Racing. Roush drivers won the Nextel Cup in 2003 and 2004, and the team is considered to be Ford's leading NASCAR challengers. In addition to the five cars run in the top-tier Nextel Cup, Roush also runs six cars in the lower Busch Series and two Craftsman trucks. While it's not yet clear where the former Indy 500 winner would start (nor, for that matter, confirmed that he will), he'd be joining a winning team with the apparatus to give him the opportunity to win. After racing for Williams, BAR-Honda, Renault, Sauber and BMW, JV's been given no shortage of opportunities to win in F1 - time will tell if his fortunes will turn for the better in NASCAR.

[Source: GrandPrix.com]

Reports: Villeneuve signed NASCAR deal with Roush originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 04 Oct 2006 09:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.