Showing posts with label Le Mans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Le Mans. Show all posts

Monday, 9 March 2015

2015 - Quick Thoughts

I am really enjoying Formula E. I like the good looking modern race cars, the city street circuits, and am enjoying the racing! I am hoping to go to London for the final round in June. The Virgin cars have rapidly become my favourite modern single seaters, with their flash chrome, red and purple colour schemes, but more of that in a bit...

Once again the Red Bull Air Race has got me hooked. Great spectacle, great entertainment and really close racing!

Oh dear, only three races in and we are already discussing this years NASCAR Sprint Cup Series aero rule changes, and not necessarily in a favorable light.

On the same topic, after the build up to, and, hopefully, drama of the Daytona 500, I find it hard to get excited by NASCAR over the following few weeks. To be fair, a general disliking of Atlanta and Las Vegas doesn't help... Yawn!

Also, I can not shake a feeling of disappointment towards this years Daytona 500. All that anticipation, those 15 or so laps of fantastic 3 wide racing and it ends under yellow, and yes I know NASCAR were right to put the yellow out, safety first blah blah blah, just don't ask me to like it. I wanted a last lap, last corner one on one slingshot for the win. The only comfort I took from the yellow was I am not sure it changed anything. As great as the racing was, I do not believe the drivers were able to overtake, one on one for the win, without a push from another driver, and on the last lap that was not going to happen.

I have been patiently waiting to see what the new Indycar aero kits look like.. and now the Chevrolet aero kit has been unveiled... One word... UGLY. The DW12 used to be my favourite modern single seater but not anymore... They had better race well 'cause that looks hideous!

On paper I like the "idea" of the new Nissan Le Mans car. A front engined sports car, a modern Panoz if you like. Something different to the normal mid-engined prototypes. But sorry what did you say? Front wheel drive? Oh dear, moving on...

As someone who has owned and loved two mark 1 Mazda MX5's I am loving the the look of the new version. If all I read about it is correct, it sounds like it will be a great car too, just like the original!

Another thing I like about Formula E is the School Series. I just like the idea of getting the host city's schools involved!

Marco Ambrose back in a V8 Supercar, and a Penske, of sorts! Sounds good to me. His car is pretty too!

I am looking forward to this year's BTCC. Lots of new driver, team, car combinations! I hope the relative stability in the rules package helps more teams get to the front.

And finally... the Honda Indycar aero kit has been unveiled, and guess what? Just when you thought things couldn't get any uglier...






Thursday, 8 March 2012

Return of the DeltaWing

I was a fan of the DeltaWing concept during the evaluation process to become the new for 2012 Indycar Series chassis. The dramatic new way of looking at single seater aerodynamics struck a cord with me. Unfortunately the concept was too bold for some in the series and Dallara won the battle with the car now known as DW12.

The DeltaWing car is now being reworked to enter ths years LeMans 24 hour race. I am not a LeMans fan, but I do wish such a bold project well!









Friday, 3 December 2010

Favourite Race Cars Part 4 - Anything Else

With the motor racing off season upon us I found myself questioning... what does the author of a topical motorsport based blog write about when there is no racing??

The first answer I came up with is to talk about what I love about racing, starting with my favourite race cars, so here we go... last of all...  Part 4... Anything Else.. 

LE MANS

I am not the biggest Le Mans fan but the stand out cars for me are...

1964 Le Mans winning Shelby Daytona Cobra Coupe - just gorgeous!

The 1989 Le Mans winning Sauber Mercedes was a good looking race car; they even cleaned the Mercedes badge on the front in the pit stops.







1991 Jaguar XJR1- even though it was purple.

1998 Panoz GTR1 - Not good looking... not very quick... but such character.







OTHERS - just 'cos I can...

1990-1992 Jaguar XJR-15 - The one make series was not around for long but in its day it was stunning.






1993 DTM Alfa Romeo 155 V6 TI - came with matching brght red, and always immaculate, transporters.










I am not a rally fan but if I had to choose; the Ford RS200.







A list of my favourite race cars would not be finished without...



So, not the shortest list, and not in any way definitive (no GT40, Lotus Cortina, Mk1 (touring car) Mini Cooper, Ford Coupe bodied Legend, IROC Dodge Avenger, Lightning Rod Sierra, step away from the keyboard...), but a talking point nevertheless!!

I hope you enjoyed my favourite race car list, now what about yours...