Bartle Doo Article Archives

Automobiles

NASCAR Takes to the Dirt in the Middle of Ohio on a Wednesday

July 21, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

By Steven Cole Smith

There hasn’t been much in the way of positive NASCAR news this year. Rather than building more grandstands for overflow crowds, some tracks are reducing seating capacity—flagship Daytona International Speedway is trimming its bleachers by around 15 percent. Five-time champion Jimmie Johnson seems to be rolling along uneventfully to a sixth crown. And Danica Patrick, who NASCAR publicists were hoping might have won three or four races so far in first full season, is turning out to be a mid-packer at best. But , if you dig deep enough, there is some unexpected good news to be found, in all places, smack in the middle of a bunch of corn fields in western Ohio. And it will occur, of all times, on a Wednesday night. And it has been sold out, nearly 18,000 seats, since January.

Eldora Speedway, the half-mile dirt track that isn’t on the way to much of anywhere, is hosting the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series on July 24th. It’s the first time a major NASCAR series has run on a dirt track since September 30, 1970, when Richard Petty drove a Plymouth to victory at State Fairgrounds Speedway in Raleigh, North Carolina. State Fairgrounds Speedway isn’t around anymore. Neither is Plymouth, for that matter. Has anybody seen Richard Petty lately?

Stewart is the proud owner of Eldora Speedway, as well as a few cars in the Sprint Cup series, too.

Wednesday’s race, the CarCash Mudsummer Classic, is the result of a conversation a couple of years ago between the track’s owner, former Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart, and NASCAR. Stewart bought Eldora from Earl Baltes, who owned it for 50 years. To understand Eldora, you have to understand Earl Baltes, now 92.

The CIA could not have done a better job of disguising a brilliant, savvy promoter as a backwoods hayseed, complete with dungarees, suspenders, a baseball cap with the bill turned up, and Elvis sideburns. A former bandleader, Baltes turned Eldora into a magic place—where else could a fan sit at the top of the grandstands, lean over while watching the race, and order a shot from a full bar? Baltes made Eldora into one of those valuable properties that is known worldwide by just one name, like Daytona, Talladega, Sebring, or Le Mans.

In 2001, he ran a late-model race that paid $1 million to the winner, which was Donnie Moran. Afterward, when we asked Baltes how the night went, he answered with his trademark line: “If I coulda sold one more hot dog, I woulda broke even.” If Baltes is there Wednesday night, ask him about the time he had Pancho Carter preside over the wedding of two gorillas. No, we are not making that up. With Earl Baltes, you don’t have to.

When the time finally came to sell Eldora, the list of buyers who might operate Eldora in the manner in which we’ve become accustomed to was pretty short. At the top was Stewart, an Indiana native who raced …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Car & Driver

Automobiles

Video: Highlights from the Goodwood Festival of Speed, including the McLaren P1 and a Ford Transit running the hill

July 15, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

Continue reading Highlights from the Goodwood Festival of Speed, including the McLaren P1 and a Ford Transit running the hill

Filed under:

The sole purpose of this post is as a time-waster, and since you shouldn’t have to work to waste time, we’ve done it for you. In the numerous videos below you’ll find cars that have lately been in the news tramping all over the grounds of Lord March’s estate in Goodwood, England.

There’s the McLaren P1 heading up the hill, the Jaguar Project 7, then a casually-driven Porsche 917 followed by an even-more-casually-driven Porsche 956, topped off by a Porsche 936 that is anything but casually driven. The next round is the flame-spitting Peugeot 405 T16 Pikes Peak from Climb Dance, a camera mounted on the Peugeot RCZ R after it showing you what the whole, uninterrupted run up the hill looks like. For a real head-turner, we couldn’t embed it but there’s Andy Reid blasting up the hill in a Ford Transit Supervan with a Cosworth 3000 V6 engine.

The modern racing contingent has Allan McNish doing the hill in the Audi R18 e-tron quattro he used to win Le Mans and Lewis Hamilton making lots of tire smoke in the Mercedes-AMG Petronas MGP-W02. For comparison, that’s followed by Nick Heidfeld’s record-setting run up the hill in 1999 in the McLaren MP4/14 . The classic racing contingent is headlined by 71-year-old Giacomo Agostini on an MV Agusta.

Finally, there are the miscellaneous exhaust notes of all kinds of supercars headed to the start for the supercar run. You’ll find it all below. Enjoy.

Highlights from the Goodwood Festival of Speed, including the McLaren P1 and a Ford Transit running the hill originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 15 Jul 2013 19:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Audi testing long-tail version of R18 e-tron quattro for Le Mans

Automobiles

Official: Audi testing long-tail version of R18 e-tron quattro for Le Mans

April 27, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

By Jeffrey N. Ross

Filed under:

Race teams are always looking for ways to shave hundredths of seconds of their lap times. Case in point: Audi is making some slight changes to its prototype racecar to make it ever so much more slippery as it cuts through the air.

Debuting at the second round of the FIA World Endurance Championship at Spa on May 4, Audi will be testing a long-tail version of its R18 E-tron Quattro racecar. As its name suggests, the long-tail car gets a lengthened rear section with the goal of improving aerodynamics. The long-tail will be run alongside the standard version of the racecar as a testbed for possible changes that might be in store, heading into the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Audi did not say how many inches were added to the racecar, but as you can see in the image above, “long-tail” definitely doesn’t take on the same meaning of classic long-tail cars of the past such as the Porsche 917. More information about the car, Audi’s team and even some info about the track itself can be found below.

Audi testing long-tail version of R18 e-tron quattro for Le Mans originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 27 Apr 2013 12:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

From: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/caranddriver/blog/~3/OkCZlfdtBF8/

Automobiles

Jaguar Recreates 1953 Speed Record Run with F-type

April 17, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

By Alexander Stoklosa

How big did your balls need to be to go 172 mph on a Belgian road in 1953? So big they’d need their own seatbelt. Guess what, credit some more real estate for your cojones, because back then seatbelts weren’t fitted in a great number of cars. Longtime Jaguar test driver Norman Dewis must be straddling a pair of pineapples, then, because in 1953 he set a land speed record for the flying mile in an XK120. Even more bad-ass, the man’s still alive and kicking, and Jaguar brought him back to Jabbeke, Belgium, and the site of his original speed run to witness the new F-type roadster replicate the feat. Of course, a video with a helicopter, dramatic music, and a speeding F-type was made.

Now, Dewis is 92 years old and didn’t do any of the driving, but in the video offered some sage advice to 1988 Le Mans winner Andy Wallace, who did do the driving. “He’s got to keep his foot hard down, don’t lift that little pedal, keep it flat to the board.” Wallace did just that, but not before Dewis added a quick jab at the relative ease of going over 170 mph in a modern car: “I mean, we’re going back 60 years when I did mine . . . 172.4 was quick.” He might as well have tossed in the laundry list of safety features he did without back in the day—stability control, airbags, anti-lock brakes, tires designed for high speed, crumple zones—and called Wallace a ninny. For some perspective on where Dewis is coming from, in 1971 he famously wrecked a Jaguar XJ13 test car at the MIRA circuit in the U.K. at an extremely high speed. Unbelted at the time of the crash, Dewis sensed the car was going to flip—which it did, many times—and crouched down under the dashboard to ride things out. He was fine. Oh, and he once rolled an (roofless) XK120 at 130 mph, too. Rolling anything at such speeds—then or now, roof or no roof—is not fluffy stuff.

As for the F-type, Wallace was able to sprint from 0–179 mph and back to a stop in two miles. He was driving a V-8 S model (two V-6 F-types also are available), which has a top speed of 186 mph. Check out the video for yourself below to hear both Dewis’s quick wit as well as the Jag’s glorious exhaust note:

Automobiles

Video: Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport in Fuji Speedway time attack

April 16, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

By Jeffrey N. Ross

Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport tackles Fuji Speedway - in car camera screencap

Filed under:

From the same guys who brought us video of a street-legal Porsche 962C driving through the streets of Japan comes this latest video showing Le Mans-winning pro driver, Seiji Ara, lapping Fuji Speedway in a Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport. Most of the video centers around Ara’s impressions, but there is plenty of great video showing the supercar carving up the track’s numerous turns and blasting along its lengthy front straightaway.

Ara says this is the most powerful car he’s ever driven, so we imagine it was as much for fun for him to drive as it is for us to watch. During the drive, the camera provides a sense of what it’s like to pilot the Veyron on such a challenging track, and you can hear its turbos and wastegates getting a workout. Scroll down to watch this well-shot, well-edited video of Ara and the Veyron lapping Fuji Speedway. Oh, and be sure to stick around for the end, as there’s a bonus three-way drag race you won’t want to miss.

Continue reading Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport in Fuji Speedway time attack

Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport in Fuji Speedway time attack originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 16 Apr 2013 19:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

From: http://feeds.autoblog.com/~r/weblogsinc/autoblog/~3/txhVIzt4C7w/

Automobiles

Peugeot to Return to Pikes Peak with Its Stunning 208 T16—And Sébastien Loeb

April 15, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

By John Lamm

Racing in the rarified air of Colorado’s Pikes Peak has been going on since 1916 and is one of the classics in American racing, but it also has a hold on overseas automakers. Suzuki may not even sell cars in this country anymore, but it and “Monster” Tajima are modern legends on the mountain. The words “Hyundai” and “racing” would be an odd combination at most every racetrack, yet at Pikes Peak, Rhys Millen and Hyundai Genesis are world-record holders. Audi has made a sizable mark of its own on the mountain with the likes of Walter Röhrl, Bobby Unser, and Michèle Mouton. So too has Peugeot, and it’s about to make a comeback.

When the 2013 Pikes Peak hill climb kicks off on June 30, starting number 208 in the top-notch Unlimited class will be taken, appropriately, by a Peugeot 208 T16 Pikes Peak. The French marque revealed very little about the car, other than to say, “Its proportions are very different to those of the production 208.” It was revealed, however, that the rear wing is the very same as was used in the 908 prototype racer that won Le Mans in 22009. Regardless of what resides beneath the 208 T16′s beautiful bodywork, it will be fine tuned for the special nature of racing the fully-paved, 12.4-mile, 156-turn course that runs from 9390 feet up to 14,110. The car most certainly will achieve the feat in a time of less than 10 minutes.

We say certainly because Peugeot has the right driver for the climb. Sébastien Loeb, 39, is about as close as it gets to a perpetual title holder in any form of racing, having won the past nine World Rally Championship driver’s crowns. This year he has already won his record seventh Monte Carlo Rally and finished second in Sweden in what will be a reduced-schedule year, as he segues to road racing.

Normally, if you team the words Peugeot and United States, what follows will be “commercial failure,” but the French automaker has a history of racing success in the U.S. Dip way back into Indy 500 history and you’ll find Frenchman Jules Goux won that race in a Pug 100 years ago, Dario Resta did the same in 1916. What has Peugeot done for us lately? Overall wins at Sebring in 2010 and 2011 and a pair more at the Petit Le Mans (2009 and 2011). As for Pikes Peak, famed Finnish rally driver Ari Vatanen first raced there in 1987 with Peugeot’s 205 T16, losing out to Röhrl and his Audi Quattro. Vatanen was back and broke the hill record in 1988 with a Peugeot 405 T16, a run documented in an award-winning video—”Climb Dance.” The automaker returned in 1989 and won again, this time with driver Robby Unser, whose famed family

From: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/caranddriver/blog/~3/mODGZ7zmM-Y/

Automobiles

Report: Audi's diesel-electric supercar is codenamed 'Scorpion'

April 15, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

Filed under:

Speculation continues as to the final nature of the diesel-hybrid Audi supercar said to arrive in 2016 or 2017. A previous report in Automobile had the halo coupe, based closely on the R18 etron quattro endurance racer, codenamed R20 and pegged to look like a Le Mans winner for the street with around 700 horsepower and 737 pound-feet of torque from a twin-turbo V6. Now Car and Driver has updated the gossip with a report that the car is internally called “Scorpion,” and it will be even closer to the R18 than supposed.

CD says the heart of the car will use the R18 etron quattro’s carbon fiber tub and its engine will be “taken directly” from the race car. That means a 3.7-liter V6 with a single turbo that, in ACO-spec restricted form, outputs 500 hp and 625 lb-ft – CD suspects production output could get to 600 hp – and drives the rear wheels, aided by hybrid motors driving the front wheels. And remember, at Le Mans the R18’s hybrid motors can’t kick in until they’re above a certain speed in order to prevent Audi from getting an advantage coming out of slow corners. A street car wouldn’t face that restriction.

The Scorpion would be a fulsome and undiluted example of the technologies Audi has created during its return to sports car racing. Its exterior design hasn’t been finalized, with CD citing either the convoluted concept of “a retro take on the future of racing” or packaging that would adhere to the R18’s looks. To make sure it is properly appreciated and sells well, production could be limited to the same 333 units as the R8 GT and A1 Quattro.

Audi’s diesel-electric supercar is codenamed ‘Scorpion’ originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 15 Apr 2013 11:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

From: http://feeds.autoblog.com/~r/weblogsinc/autoblog/~3/2PvNqrUxZwo/

Automobiles

Porsche Video Documents History at Le Mans, Previews 2014 Comeback

April 11, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

By John Lamm

Porsche’s return to prototype racing in Le Mans likely will make use of many components from the 918 RSR concept.

Porsche hasn’t won the 24 Hours of Le Mans since 1998, but those in Stuttgart are eager to change that in 2014. The German automaker is prepping for its return to France’s Circuit de la Sarthe, and to keep us from forgetting about how it once dominated that classic race, Porsche has cut a video that covers its 1971 win there in a 917.

A win won’t be easy. Toyota will be hankering for an overall victory, Audi will be defending what’s become its home turf, and Nissan will be making a comeback to the LMP1 class in a serious way. The most intriguing aspect is how the Volkswagen Group will handle Audi butting heads with corporate rival Porsche. Having a look at the numbers, Porsche—in various guises—has won Le Mans 16 times dating back to 1970, while Audi has scored 11 victories in the past 13 races. (You could argue Audi’s nailed down 12 victories as it was the driving force behind Bentley’s win in 2003.)

Although we’re more than 12 months away from the 2014 race, we have a bit of an idea of what to expect from the four major players. Toyota will have had two years refining its TS030 gas-electric hybrid, and we doubt Audi would abandon its highly successful R18 e-tron Quattro diesel-electric hybrid. Nissan president Carlos Ghosn has promised an LMP1 car that will be “a high-speed test bed in the harshest of environments for both our road-car and race-car electric-vehicle technology,” which we gather to mean something along the lines of what Toyota’s TS030. As for Porsche, we expect its entry will be based on the 918 RSR concept it debuted in Detroit two years ago, which, at the time, featured a 563-hp V-8 and two electric motors producing 204 horsepower. Much of the knowledge and development will be borrowed from lessons learned through the brand’s LMP2 RS Spyder and 911 GT3 R hybrid. But a lot can change between now and when Porsche arrives in Le Mans next May.

From: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/caranddriver/blog/~3/6zjJHUKq4Ik/

Automobiles

Audi Scorpion Rendered: The Roadgoing Le Mans Racer

April 8, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

By Jens Meiners

What It Is: Audi’s upcoming, race-bred hypercar, based directly on the R18 e-tron Quattro Le Mans racer that took victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans last year. Audi intends to use the new car, known internally as Scorpion, as a rolling showcase of the technologies the brand has developed throughout its racing endeavors. A design has yet to be finalized, but there are several proposals on the table, including a retro take on the future of racing as well as something that would closely resemble the R18. This rendering is our best interpretation of where the ongoing development of the car is at presently, following along the R18-inspired design that we understand to be favored within Audi. READ MORE ››

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Car & Driver

Automobiles

Video: Preparing for Le Mans 2014 Porsche remembers 1971 and the 917 [w/video]

April 7, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

Continue reading Preparing for Le Mans 2014 Porsche remembers 1971 and the 917 [w/video]

Filed under:

Porsche has given us another look back at its successes at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This time it’s 1971, the year that its 917 set records that haven’t all been eclipsed. It’s 45-kilogram magnesium tube frame was the lightest, Jackie Oliver set the fastest in-race lap with a time that still stands, and winning drivers Helmut Marko – the same Helmut Marko currently with Infiniti Red Bull Racing – and Gilles Lethem did so many laps that their distance wasn’t exceeded until the Audi R15 TDI did it in 2010.

1971 was also the year of the “Pink Pig.” With bodywork created by a French aerodynamics firm, the wider, rounder 917 earned the porcine moniker so Porsche painted it pink and labeled it with the cuts you’d get from a pig. Sponsor Martini was so miffed they demanded all Martini branding be removed. No one can remove the thousands of photographs taken of the car ever since. Enjoy that and more in the video below.

Preparing for Le Mans 2014 Porsche remembers 1971 and the 917 [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 07 Apr 2013 19:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading 2013 Porsche 911 RSR makes official debut

Automobiles

Official: 2013 Porsche 911 RSR makes official debut

April 1, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

By Seyth Miersma

Carbon Motors E7 police car prototype - front three-quarter view

Filed under:

Porsche is ready to go racing in 2013, showing off a new 911 RSR today that is scheduled to compete in several endurance events this year. Based on the current 991 911, the new RSR will compete in the 2013 season of the World Endurance Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It will not, however, make an appearance in a North American racing series this year.

The 2013 version of the racecar has increased in wheelbase by some four inches, features a new wishbone front suspension in place of the last-generation’s McPherson strut setup and boasts a new, lightweight six-speed racing gearbox. The engine, meanwhile, is an “optimized” version of last year’s car, a 460-horsepower 4.0-liter boxer six-cylinder. Extensive use of carbon fiber and polycarbonate windows help the RSR shed weight, and Porsche has also balanced the weight more evenly with a lower center of gravity.

Porsche has thoughtfully dedicated some space to celebrate the 911’s 50th Anniversary, with the number 50 clearly visible in the top-down view of the RSR, as well as along the doors. Scroll down to read the full Porsche press release, below.

2013 Porsche 911 RSR makes official debut originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 01 Apr 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Automobiles

Video: Evidence of Renault 5 revival discovered during commercial shoot

March 29, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

Continue reading Evidence of Renault 5 revival discovered during commercial shoot

Mystery Renault concept caught on camera phone - video screencap

Filed under:

Renault has exceptional plans for this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, bringing six classic cars, four Formula One cars from this year’s season and three current offerings. It will also be showing off two brand-new concepts, one of them gasoline-powered and another that’s purely electric, and it’s possible that the ICE concept has been spotted in Madrid on a video shoot. If so, it would be appear to be a fresh take on the Eighties-era Renault 5 that would look very nice next to the 1984 Renault 5 Maxi that will be at Goodwood.

Some Spaniards with camera phones caught a little blue Renault hatchback with a number “5” on its flanks and a giant wing hanging off the back. Renault has to have expected someone to catch it in photos, not because it was working with a camera truck but because it was doing donuts in an intersection and spitting out a murderous exhaust note. It might actually have nothing to do with the Goodwood concepts, but the coincidence of a classic Renault 5 showing up in England does provide a potential connection.

Elsewhere in the stand from July 11 to 14 Renault will have a 1920 Renault Type K, a 1926 Renault 40CV, the first turbocharged F1 car, the 1978 RS01, the Alpine that won Le Mans in 1978 and a Groupe 5 Alpine A310 rally car, Kimi Räikkönen’s Australian F1 Grand Prix-winning Lotus E21, the Red Bull RB9, Caterham CT03 and Williams FW35. Among current offerings will be the Clio Renaultsport 200 Turbo EDC, Captur crossover and all-electric Zoe. Find out more about all of them in the two videos and the press release below.

Evidence of Renault 5 revival discovered during commercial shoot originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 29 Mar 2013 11:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Automotive Legend and American Icon Carroll Shelby Inducted into SCCA Hall of Fame

March 26, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

Filed under: Investing

Automotive Legend and American Icon Carroll Shelby Inducted into SCCA Hall of Fame

LAS VEGAS–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Carroll Shelby, founder of the Carroll Shelby Foundation, Carroll Shelby Licensing Inc., and Shelby American, Inc., wholly owned subsidiaries of Carroll Shelby International Inc., (Pink Sheets:CSBI), has been inducted into the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony took place at the SCCA‘s Annual Meeting on March 2, 2013, at the South Point Hotel in Las Vegas. The award will reside with the Carroll Hall Shelby Trust and eventually the Carroll Shelby Foundation, established by the automotive legend in 1991 after his successful heart transplant.

Automotive legend and American icon Carroll Shelby has been inducted into the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) Hall of Fame. (Photo: Business Wire)

“Carroll Shelby is an icon in the automotive performance industry,” said SCCA President and CEO, Jeff Dahnert. “He impacted the SCCA as a competitor, as an automotive designer and builder, and his influence within the motorsports world elevated SCCA. We are very proud to have had him as a member of the SCCA and now as a member of the SCCA Hall of Fame.”

Carroll Shelby was involved with the SCCA for well over 50 years and his impact on the club continues today. As a driver, he took home the SCCA National Championship in 1956. When Shelby turned professional, he won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1959 and competed in eight Formula One races before his career was cut short with a heart ailment.

Shelby’s involvement with the SCCA continued in the 1960s through his Cobra sports car and then his efforts turned the Ford GT40 into a winner that defeated Ferrari. Shelby is also known as the man who turned America’s “secretary car” into a pony car. In 49 SCCA National Championship Runoffs, 35 drivers have won in a Mustang or Shelby Cobra.

“Carroll Shelby‘s racing fame began with his domination of SCCA, winning a national championship as a driver during the 1950s,” said SCCA President Dahnert. “Later as an auto manufacturer, his cars regularly won SCCA championships during the 1960s. And with the launch of the current generation of cars a few years ago, Shelbys are once again topping SCCA podiums.”

Fellow legends John “Skip” Barber, Bill Noble, Bobby Rahal and Andy Porterfield accompanied Carroll Shelby into the SCCA Hall of Fame. The Hall was created to pay tribute …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Automobiles

Official: Alpine unveils N36 LMP2 car that will race in 24 Hours of Le Mans

March 25, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

Continue reading Alpine unveils N36 LMP2 car that will race in 24 Hours of Le Mans

Filed under:

This is the Alpine LMP2 competitor you’ll see contesting European endurance races this year, including The 24 Hours of Le Mans in June. Parent company Renault showed off the N36 racer at its atelier in Paris, the blue and orange a switch from the yellow, black and white livery Alpine wore last time it was seen in Le Mans way back in 1978 when it won the race.

The team will be run by Signatech-Nissan and the chassis will be powered by a Nissan engine. Nelson Panciatici and Pierre Ragues will contest World Endurance Championship rounds throughout the year, they’ll be joined by endurance and IndyCar veteran Tristan Gommendy for Le Mans and Paul-Loup Chatin as the team’s reserve driver.

The Alpine N36 will get into its first test this week at Paul Ricard, then experience its first racing miles at the European Le Mans Series round at Silverstone on April 13. The press release below has the full scoop, the photos above have the past and present in high-res glory.

Alpine unveils N36 LMP2 car that will race in 24 Hours of Le Mans originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 25 Mar 2013 10:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Automobiles

Chevy's own contest points to C7 Corvette Stingray pricing

March 22, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

By Jeffrey N. Ross

Filed under:

As much attention as the 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray has attracted since its debut back in January, we still have no idea how much the car will cost. Thanks to Chevy’s Race To Win Corvette contest, we finally have a pricing estimate of sorts for the hot new coupe.

In addition to winning a trip for two to France and tickets to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the grand prize winner will also become the proud owner of a C7 Corvette, which has an “approximate retail value” of $71,860. While this would be quite a step up from the $49,600 base MSRP of the 2013 ‘Vette, keep in mind that this may also include options and taxes associated with the car – depending on where the car is sold, taxes alone could easily be in the $5,000 range. Or, it may just be some sort of estimate.

Regardless of how much the car costs, this sounds like an awesome contest. To enter, just head over to the Race to Win Corvette website.

Chevy’s own contest points to C7 Corvette Stingray pricing originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 22 Mar 2013 09:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Automobiles

Upcoming Audi Hypercar Known as Scorpion, Will Receive R18-Derived Engine

March 20, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

By Jens Meiners

Audi’s Scorpion will use a modified version of the 510-hp, 3.7-liter V-6 TDI engine from this R18 e-tron Quattro.

Speculation is rife about Audi’s upcoming hypercar, which is being referred internally as Scorpion—and not R10 or R20 as has been previously speculated. A final decision on the name hasn’t been taken yet, we learned from an Audi source, but progress is strong on this pet project of the brand’s R&D chief Wolfgang Dürheimer.

Details on Scorpion are slow in emerging from Germany, but we can reveal that the car will be powered by a modified version of the 3.7-liter V-6 TDI engine found in the R18 e-tron Quattro Le Mans Prototype racer, as well as a front-mounted hybrid module that remains unspecified to those outside the program. The diesel mill is a 120-degree V-6 featuring four valves per cylinder and a fully aluminum engine block, force-fed by a single turbocharger. In race trim, this engine produces “more than” 510 horsepower and “more than” 27 lb-ft of torque, but its intakes are restricted. In series-production trim, theoretically, it could be even more powerful.

This contradicts previous reports that have filtered out of Germany that the car would the Volkswagen Group’s ubiquitous 3.0-liter V-6 TDI mounted behind the seats of the hypercar. A capable unit, to be sure, the 3.0 TDI powers diesel variants of vehicles as diverse as Porsche’s Cayenne and Panamera, Volkwagen’s Touareg, and just about the entirety of Audi’s range; but that unit is deemed far too pedestrian for an über-expensive, über-exclusive, über-fast hypercar of Scorpion’s stature. “It wouldn’t make sense to use anything but the R18′s racing engine in the Scorpion,” our source tells us. Good news for the select few that will ever have the financial means or the clout to get behind the wheel of Audi’s roadgoing Le Mans racer.

Automobiles

Motorsports: Race Recap: 2013 Twelve Hours of Sebring, cakewalk up front, grindfest out back [w/spoilers]

March 19, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

Continue reading Race Recap: 2013 Twelve Hours of Sebring, cakewalk up front, grindfest out back [w/spoilers]

Filed under:

This year’s 12 Hours of Sebring wasn’t exactly a foregone conclusion because we’re still talking about racing, and anything can happen when the speeds are as high as the adrenaline and the desire. But we’re still talking about Audi bringing it’s two top-spec racers – and its huge budget and its nearly neurotic attention to detail – to a race that it uses as a test bed for The 24 Hours of Le Mans and as a way to open the endurance racing season with a victory.

Besides, 12 hours is a long time, especially at Sebring, and things didn’t go all Audi’s way. On top of that, although it was a pretty quiet race, behind the Audis things got even grimier, with plenty of battles, plenty of mechanical issues, and the new BMW Z4 GTE and Viper GTS-R being race tested. Oh, and that brand new chromed-out DeltaWing…

Race Recap: 2013 Twelve Hours of Sebring, cakewalk up front, grindfest out back [w/spoilers] originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 19 Mar 2013 09:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Automobiles

Motorsports: Notes from Day One of the 2013 Twelve Hours of Sebring

March 16, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

Continue reading Notes from Day One of the 2013 Twelve Hours of Sebring

Filed under:

The 61st edition of The 12 Hours of Sebring is on, and Autoblog has come to central Florida with Audi to feast on jumbo boiled peanuts, pickled eggs and the final race for the LMP1 class at the oldest road course in North America. As Audi has been doing for more than a decade now, it’s brought its latest endurance race car, the 2013-spec R18 etron quattro, to Sebring to begin testing for Le Mans.

Why the commitment to Sebring? Audi Sport executives have repeatedly called Sebring “punishing,” “extremely demanding” and “one of the toughest tracks in the world.” It is a 3.47-mile circuit that, in places, feels like it was made from the leftover bits of other circuits. Doing the 12-hour distance in Florida is thought to be a good start on lasting the 24-hour distance in France, and we can’t think it a coincidence that Audi has won ten times here in the last 13 years and 11 times in Gaul.

Where there’s rhyme – and victory – there is reason. We think we found a few of them on our first day where preparation, technology, fastidious attention to detail and sweat fit right in with swamp cabbage…

Notes from Day One of the 2013 Twelve Hours of Sebring originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 16 Mar 2013 17:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.