Erebus Motorsport Mercedes E-Class V8 Supercar completes the field [w/videos]

Jonathon Ramsey — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 16:59:00 EST

Filed under: Motorsports, Sedan, Mercedes-Benz, Australia, Racing

Ford, Holden and Nissan introduced their V8 Supercar challengers a while back. Erebus Motorport, whose racing program got the green light not even 120 days ago, has finally shown off the Mercedes-Benz E-Class racer that will complete this year's field of entries. The first AMG race car ever to be built outside of Germany, it's an Australian-built tube-frame chassis specced to the series' Car of Tomorrow rules, fitted with body panels that channel the E63 AMG.

Supported by AMG Customer Motorsport, the 5.0-liter engine is provided by HWA in Germany, the racing arm of AMG. Regulations dictate that it have roughly 650 horsepower, a redline between 7,000 and 7,500 rpm and a torque curve that matches the parity baseline set for all cars.

Lee Holdsworth, Tim Slade and Maro Engel will drive the three team cars, each with different sponsors. Their first showing will be at the Clipsal 500 on March 3 in Adelaide, here in the US we'll get to see them in May at the Circuit of the Americas. Check out the videos below of the Erebus car starting up at its launch, and footage of all of this year's cars doing pre-season testing on track together.

Continue reading Erebus Motorsport Mercedes E-Class V8 Supercar completes the field [w/videos]

Erebus Motorsport Mercedes E-Class V8 Supercar completes the field [w/videos] originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 23 Feb 2013 16:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Race Recap: 2013 Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12-Hour race a feast of water, wrecks and yellow flags

Jonathon Ramsey — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 16:30:00 EST

Filed under: Motorsports, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari, Australia, Racing

For the last two years, Audi has won what's called "The ultimate Aussie endurance race," the Bathurst 12-Hour event at Mt. Panorama, reverentially known as "The Mountain." It did so with factory-backed versions of the R8 LMS Ultra and factory-backed drivers sent over for the sole purpose of taking the checkered flag at the 3.861-mile course and then taking the silverware back to Ingolstadt.

Erebus Motorsport, owned by property developer Betty Klimenko, is 18 months old. You've read about Erebus in news about the V8 Supercar season, the team engaging in some international intrigue so it could run Mercedes-Benz E63 AMGs against Holden, Ford and Nissan which also in the series. It took second in last year's Bathurt 12-hour race, and Klimenko said that this year they'd win it.

They'd have to get past Phoenix Motorsport, the Audi team that's taken two wins on the trot. Phoenix had different drivers this year, but the team still had race-winning experience and there were six other R8 LMS Ultras in the field with customer racing support, and we're still talking about Audi, a juggernaut going up against a team that, were it human, would barely be old enough to talk.

It was a crazy day on the mountain that would decide the day.

Continue reading Race Recap: 2013 Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12-Hour race a feast of water, wrecks and yellow flags

Race Recap: 2013 Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12-Hour race a feast of water, wrecks and yellow flags originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 12 Feb 2013 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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