Category Archives: racing

Toyota Racing Shows 2013 Le Mans Hybrid Racer

Posted on 19 February 2013 by Ken Zino

Toyota Racing unveiled a revised TS030 Hybrid car that will lead the team’s quest for victory in the Le Mans 24 Hours and the FIA World Endurance Championship this season. The first full test of the 2013 car will begin at Paul Ricard in southern France tomorrow. In a hard fought Le Mans race in 2012 marred by accidents, two Audi diesel hybrid P1 cars took first and second at the 24 hours of Le Mans, with another Audi in third. Toyota, though it did not finish in its first le Mans race with a hybrid, provided a strong challenge to Audi with its two hybrids and posted some of the fastest racing laps. Continue reading →

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Milestones – 50 Years of the Porsche 911

Posted on 11 February 2013 by Ken Zino

More than 820,000 Porsche 911 models have been built, making it, arguably, the most successful sports car in the world since it was first shown in 1963. For each of its seven generations the engineers in Zuffenhausen and Weissach have revised it, while retaining its identifiable and now classic lines and proportions, as well as its famous but often quirky performance. Continue reading →

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Rotary Engine Le Mans Winner Mazda 787B Selected as ‘Legend’

Posted on 9 February 2013 by Ken Zino

For the 1990s, the voting- using French sponsorship and nationalist math – was a “dead-heat” between the Mazda 787B and the Peugeot 905 – so 11 cars were given ‘legend’ status. Continue reading →

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Older C6R Corvette to Race in American Le Mans This Year

Posted on 13 January 2013 by Ken Zino

While the success or failure of a revised 2014 model C7 Chevrolet Corvette will be much debated this week at the North American International auto Show this week in Detroit, the success of Corvette’s racing program seems certain, as the C6.R will return for the 2013 season. The C7.R is expected to make its racing debut in 2014. Continue reading →

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1940 Ford Coupe Steel Bodies on Sale Again. Hot Rodders Rejoice!

Posted on 4 November 2012 by Ken Zino

This sure beats cutting out rust, filling by welding and smoothing with Bondo: Ford Motor has licensed reproduction steel bodies of one of the all time favorite street and strip machines – the 1940 Ford Coupe. A nascent restoration or what could become a flame-painted hot rod is available now with prices starting at $11,900, plus shipping, from Dennis Carpenter Ford Restoration Parts. Continue reading →

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Toyota Hybrid in First Win Beats Audi in Six Hours of Sao Paulo

Posted on 17 September 2012 by Ken Zino

A Toyota hybrid turned in a dominant performance at the Six Hours of Sao Paulo this weekend going from the pole to first place during the fifth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship. It was the first overall win this year for the new hybrid racing team, which challenged Audi’s clear dominance in endurance racing by showing up at Le Mans last June, a year ahead of announced plans. Continue reading →

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Milestones: 50 years of Mustang at Watkins Glen

Posted on 16 September 2012 by Ken Zino

It was 50 years ago that Ford Motor Company decided to show a mid-engine, V-4 powered two-seat concept car at the Watkins Glen Grand Prix.  While the striking handsome white car – still residing at the Henry Ford museum in … Continue reading →

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New Thermaltake Mouse Designed by BMW as E-Sports Thrive

Posted on 30 August 2012 by Ken Zino

Forget Formula One, the future of motorsports might be in the hands of gamers. BMW DesignworksUSA has created the latest mouse for Thermaltake, a Taiwanese based company well known for gaming. The so-called Thermaltake Level 10 M mouse that just went on sale is a high-tech extension of a gamer’s hand in computerized sports competition.

Traditionalist sports fans, as in occupiers of stadium or race track or couch potato seats, might be surprised to learn that that e-sports have evolved from simple Nintendo or Playstation set-ups at home to professional competition at the annual World Cyber Games with millions of dollars in prize money. So much money is floating around from sponsorships that professional gamers can now earn hundreds of thousand of dollars a year. At peak times, 15 million gamers could be online – and football and auto racing are the top games, err sports. Continue reading →

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Goodyear Drops World of Outlaws Racing Series After 2012

Posted on 14 August 2012 by Ken Zino

The surprise announcement ends Goodyear’s three-year sponsorship of sprint car racing in what is arguably the most competitive racing series run on dirt. Goodyear, of course, has been racing for more than 100 years going back to Henry Ford in 1901. Supplying tires for the Outlaw series is complicated with one tire with four different compounds on the right rear. The left rear comes in four sizes and compounds. The front tires have three different compounds. Continue reading →

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Audi Hybrids One-Two at Le Mans. Toyotas Crash, Break

Posted on 18 June 2012 by Ken Zino

In a 24 race marred by accidents, two Audi diesel hybrid P1 cars took first and second at the 24 hours of Le Mans, with a another Audi in third. A Toyota-powered Lola took fourth, boldly inserting itself ahead of the fifth place car – another Audi diesel, but not good enough to prevent an all Audi podium. All four Audi R18 cars could have won what became the brand’s eleventh Le Mans victory in front of a claimed 240,000 spectators. Continue reading →

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Mazda to Supply Diesel Engines for 2013 Le Mans 24 Hour

Posted on 16 June 2012 by Ken Zino

As the 24-hour endurance race at Le Mans got underway today, Mazda Motorsports announced that it would sell racing versions of its new diesel engines to teams competing at Le Mans. Continue reading →

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Le Mans Test Day – Audi and Toyota Hybrids, Nissan DeltaWing

Posted on 6 June 2012 by Ken Zino

Two new unlimited racecar entrants – Toyota with a pair of TS030 hybrid cars and Nissan with its lightweight DeltaWing – successfully participated in the traditional test day to prepare for the Le Mans 24 Hours on 16-17 June. They were joined on the Circuit de la Sarthe in Le Mans by Audi dieselR18 ultra and R18 e-tron Quattro models, the latter another hybrid design. Missing, sadly was Peugeot, which last year placed four Peugeot 908s in the Top Five finishing list, but whose endurance-racing program fell victim to the Eurozone crisis. Continue reading →

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Mazda to Race Diesel Engines in U.S. Grand Am GX

Posted on 4 June 2012 by Ken Zino

With the RX-8 no longer in production for the U.S. market, Mazda is moving to bolster its marketing efforts by combining racing with a car that will be on sale here. The racing effort also begs the question when and where a Mazda Skyactiv-d production engine will appear in the United States. No Japanese automaker is currently selling a diesel in the U.S. – a possible area Mazda could exploit, building on its fuel-saving technologies. Continue reading →

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Carroll Shelby – Sports Car Racer and Builder – Dead at 89

Posted on 11 May 2012 by Ken Zino

Carroll Hall Shelby, a legendary sports car racer and builder died Thursday at age 89, his company, Carroll Shelby International, said today. The creator of the Cobra, Shelby passed away yesterday at Baylor Hospital in Dallas. Carroll Shelby is the only man to have won the 24 Hours of Le Mans race as a driver, team owner and automotive manufacturer. Shelby once told me that he “spent a ton of old man Ford’s money, and kicked Ferrari’s ass,” which his team did for successive years at the 24 Hours of Le Mans until a rule change made the brutally fast and reliable cars illegal. Continue reading →

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Speedway Motorsports, NASCAR Track Owner, Posts Q1 Loss

Posted on 2 May 2012 by Ken Zino

The entertainment company, which owns many NASCAR tracks including Atlanta Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Infineon Raceway, Kentucky Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway, is suffering from declining fan attendance and weak corporate sponsorships. Continue reading →

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