By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

I went to the Petit back in 2008, and this gorgeous video recap of this year’s 12-hour, day-into-night enduro definitely brings back memories. If videographer Jim Perry really wanted some good engine audio, he might’ve given a little more airtime to those Compuware Corvettes, the most badass-sounding cars in the field. But I guess the mood he was going for was a little more atmospheric. Great footage! Via Speedhunters.

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

In ALMS, we’re generally for Corvette Racing. But at Laguna Seca, driver Jan Magnussen was bumping like it was NASCAR, and on the last lap, Flying Lizard driver Joerg Bermeister gave him a taste of his own medicine. This battle was the highlight of the entire race, and you can watch the last few laps in this longer clip, but if you just want to see the final confrontation, check out the video below. As you can imagine, the officials weren’t happy…

By Speedhunters

Car Culture At Large

The 2009  American Le Mans Series  season kicks off this weekend at Sebring in Florida. And as you may have noticed, we are big fans of the ALMS here at Speedhunters! We have John Brooks out in his natural habitat, at the track, so stay tuned for more images and stories over the next few days, and check out the ALMS articles we’ve already posted this month. We’ve also introduced highly respected Sportscar author Janos Wimpffen to Speedhunters this week. Watch for his stuff!

Back to the present: time to refresh everyone’s memory on the ALMS and introduce you to the Class of 2009. More…

-By Andy Blackmore

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

After watching Corsa Motorsports’ cars run in the Petit Le Mans last month, I was stoked to run across one of them in the Dunlop booth. It’s a Zytek LMP1, running in the top class of the series against serious contenders like the TDI Audi R10s. Corsa’s cars were supposed to have been ethanol/electric hybrids, running both a 4.5L 90-degree V8 and a 35 kW direct-drive electric motor—but since the electric technology wasn’t ready in time for this season’s races, they’re hoping to debut the hybrid during the 2009 season of American Le Mans Series. More pics after the jump.

Continue reading "SEMA 2008: Corsa Motorsports Le Mans Prototype Car" »

Emanuel Pirro, who helped win the Petit Le Mans in the TDI R10 Audi with teammates Alan McNish and Dindo Capello just a couple of weeks ago, has announced his retirement after 15 years of racing for Audi. His last race will be the Monterey Sports Car Championships at Laguna Seca, airing Sunday on NBC (at around the same time as NASCAR—d’oh!). It strikes me as a little odd to see such a big name stepping down at what seems to be the peak of his career, but considering how superstar drivers in many motorsports series often hang on long after they shoud’ve been put out to pasture (cough, Petty, cough), the whole retire-in-your-prime thing might be a wise move. Pirro is 46, after all. See the full press release after the jump.

How would you rather have your favorite drivers go? Quit at the top of their game or keep plugging away until they’re eligible for AARP? 

Continue reading "American Le Mans Series Top Audi Driver Emanuele Pirro To Throw In The Towel" »

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

At every track I go to, I’m always curious to see what kinds of rides the fans show up in. The Road Atlanta crowd sure had a diverse array of cars, from beaters to exotics—and the percentage of old-school content was higher than I’d anticipated. Click below the jump to see a whole gallery of fan rides from the Petit Le Mans this weekend.

Check out the Amoco Ultimate Your Car Is Worth It Photo Contest. They’re giving away gas money on a weekly basis, and one Grand Prize Winner will get to go to France for 24 Hours Of Le Mans!

Continue reading "Race Fans' Rides At Road Atlanta" »

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

…but Peugeot got in the middle to thwart a 1-2 finish by the two R10s. It was the No. 1 Audi driven by Allan McNish that took the win, after having started the race from two laps down following his crash during the recon lap this morning. If you watched the race, you saw the No. 1 and No. 2 Audis and the No. 07 Peugeot swapping the lead back and forth all day, and you got to witness that vicious dogfighting between the three cars the race’s final hour, but in the end, the McNish’s Audi finished ahead of the Peugeot by four and a half seconds. While McNish both started the race and cruised past the finish line, the car was driven at various points by teammates Emanuel Pirro and Rinaldo Capello, and the victory marks the 9th straight win by Audi at Petit Le Mans—apparently, they’ve never not won this race! That’s totally great, but think it might be time to shake things up a little. A lot’s going to change between now and the 2009 Petit—stay tuned.

In other unofficial results, the Penske Porsches enjoyed a 1-2-3 finish for the LMP2 class, and the E85-powered Vette driven by O’Connell and Magnussen won in the GT1 class. Full race results for all classes will be posted here shortly.

Check out the Amoco Ultimate Your Car Is Worth It Photo Contest. They’re giving away gas money on a weekly basis, and one Grand Prize Winner will get to go to France for 24 Hours Of Le Mans!

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

I watched the No. 21 Panoz Esperante go for a little ride between turns 6 and 7, very close to the spot where the same car ended up in the dirt during night practice on Thursday. The car has been in the pits twice today for power-steering issues, though I’m not sure if that played any role in either of these incidents. Going into a turn at over 100 mph with marginal steering has to be just a little scary, though—nice save! Click below the jump to see the whole sequence.

The Panoz’s 360 has to be one of the least scary on-track incidents of the day, however—did you see the No. 18 Porsche bounce off the tire wall a few laps ago, and then the No. 46 Porsche demolish the No. 30 LMP1 Lola that was spun out backwards on the track during the subsequent restart? It’s getting really crashy now that it’s dark, and some of the most harmful wrecks seem to be happening on the restarts. Let’s hope for safe racing for the drivers from here until the checkers.

Check out the Amoco Ultimate Your Car Is Worth It Photo Contest. They’re giving away gas money on a weekly basis, and one Grand Prize Winner will get to go to France for 24 Hours Of Le Mans!

Continue reading "Panoz Goes For Another Spin… In Nearly The Same Spot!" »

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

It seems that Black Swan Racing’s Falken-sponsored Ford GT is always a fan favorite, so yesterday after American Le Mans Series practice I thought I’d stop by the team’s tent to give you a look at the car’s insides. The car is packing a Roush-built 5.0L V8, restricted to 500 hp through its 29.3 mm intake ports, as per GT2 regulations. I talked with Dennis, one of the lead technicians, who was busy tinkering with different suspension setups—mostly swaybar and shock adjustments. He said they’d been unhappy with the existing configuration and plauged by understeer problems, so they were swapping the suspension back to the old setup in an effort to get back into the top 10, "where we belong." The team almost did it yesterday, qualifying 11th in the GT2 class—but as of hour 7 of the Petit Le Mans, they’re running in 28th overall, near the bottom of the GT2 standings. Nonetheless, they’ve hung in there throughout the race, even weathering a shock failure that appeared to drop the left rear of the car down on its body, making a hell of a cloud of tire smoke. Tune in to SPEED to catch the end of the race and see how they do. In the meantime, check out some pics of the car in its garage stall and out on the track.

Check out the Amoco Ultimate Your Car Is Worth It Photo Contest. They’re giving away gas money on a weekly basis, and one Grand Prize Winner will get to go to France for 24 Hours Of Le Mans!

Continue reading "Falken Ford GT-R, Apart" »

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

I got to Road Atlanta a little early this morning to watch the TDI Jettas complete the half-hour mad scramble that was the final race of their series. It was awesome! Lots of close, three-wide and even four-wide racing as the drivers battled door-to-door for that quarter-million dollar award—the $100,000 championship prize, plus an additional $150,000 bonus they get for signing with a sponsor. In the end, there was a desperate battle between Josh Hurley in the No. 11 car and Liam Kenney in the 35, with Liam finally taking the win and Josh hanging onto the championship. Congrats to both! CarDomain member Chris Castagna came in 12th, which was also a pretty stellar finish considering his No. 37 car had sustained a bent frame during a wreck in practice the night before. I spoke with him on the phone after the run, and he says the TDI cup has been a great time and that he’s looking forward to taking another stab at it next year. And in the meantime, he’ll be looking out for other series and sponsorship possibilities. Best of luck, man! Follow the jump to check out more crazy bumper-to-bumper and side-by-side racing from the TDI Cup race, and click here to check out yesterday’s tour of the TDI garage.

Check out the Amoco Ultimate Your Car Is Worth It Photo Contest. They’re giving away gas money on a weekly basis, and one Grand Prize Winner will get to go to France for 24 Hours Of Le Mans!

Continue reading "VW TDI Cup Crowns Race Winner and 2008 Champ!" »