Spy Shots: Mysterious small Ford spied in Germany

Filed under: Spy Photos, Budget, Hatchback, Ford

Our spy photographers have just popped off a few shots of something curious. This little runabout was spotted in Germany out testing with a current-generation Ford Fiesta. We're fairly confident the machine is a Ford, but exactly which Ford model is up for debate. The hatchback could be the next-generation Ka, but we've also heard that the Blue Oval supermini might not get a replacement. Our shooter says the five-door is a bit smaller than the current Fiesta, though there is a chance that this rig is just an engineering mule for drivetrain development. Then again, it could be a model built specifically for the South African market or China, or not a Ford at all.

Whatever it is and wherever it's headed, you can check out in the gallery for a closer look before heading into Comments to weigh in with your best guess.

Mysterious small Ford spied in Germany originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 29 Jun 2013 13:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.autoblog.com/2013/06/29/mysterious-small-ford-spied-in-germany/

Out! Pet Care Toyota Jason Leffler David Carl Allison Gregory Jack Biffle

MOTOGP: Rossi, Lorenzo Add To Legends At Dutch TT

The legendary Valentino Rossi scored his first Grand Prix victory in three seasons while Superman Jorge Lorenzo earned fifth just one day removed from surgery.

Source: http://moto-racing.speedtv.com/article/video-motogp-assen-highlights/

Kurt Thomas Busch Kyle Thomas Busch Jeffrey Tyler Burton Richard Allen Craven

Team Honda Research - West and Rimicci Corse Prepare for the USAF 25 Hours of Thunderhill

NAPA VALLEY, Calif. (October 30, 2012) - The United States Air Force 25 Hours of Thunderhill race is just over a month away with plenty of high profile entries preparing for the twice around the clock plus one hour race to be run at Thunderhill Raceway Park in Willows, California on December 8-9. Two exciting entries are the Team Honda Research - West Acura ILX and the Rimicci Corse Fiat 500 Abarth.

ACURA ILX Team Honda Research - West, located in Los Angeles, is building a pair of Acura ILX cars for the NASA 25 Hours of Thunderhill. The build was completed in time for this week's Specialty Equipment Manufacturers Association (SEMA) Show in Las Vegas.

Calvin Liu, Team Honda Research - West project leader, created the build plan and schedule early in the year as the team not-so-patiently waited for the cars to arrive. Once the new chassis and donor cars arrived in late summer, the bodies were prepped and painted. Next, the roll cages were installed. Once the team received the donor cars from Acura Public Relations, the work began in earnest. Following the primal fun of tearing down the donor cars, the suspension, powertrain, interior and electronics were fitted to the two new white-body chassis.

"Team Honda Research - West, with support from American Honda and HPD, has entered two Acura ILX cars to highlight the performance credentials of the new entry level Acura," Liu said. "Team members from Honda R&D, American Honda Motor Company, Honda Access America and Honda Performance Development (HPD) have been contributing many after-work hours, including weekends, to build the two cars. The team has completed two shakedown tests of the first ILX at Buttonwillow Raceway Park, and a third, more extensive test at Willow Springs International Raceway prior to delivering one of the cars for display at SEMA in Las Vegas."

Liu likes the challenge that running Thunderhill Raceway for 25 hours provides to car and driver.

"We are racing in the NASA 25 Hours of Thunderhill because the track layout offers a great blend of speed, handling, and braking. It is a grueling event that taxes all parts of the car and team, like engine, transmission, suspension, and strategy. While we could go out and just run a test all by ourselves and get the mileage, Honda thrives on competition. It is one thing to say you did all this testing, but it is another to conquer the elements, show mechanical durability and speed, and to measure yourself against the competition."

Honda has a rich history at the NASA 25 Hours of Thunderhill. With entries ranging from individual Honda associate-run teams to full, HPD-supported efforts such as the Honda CRZ hybrid program of 2010, Honda-affiliated teams have been on the grid of every 25 Hours of Thunderhill since 2003.

Rimicci Fiat 500 Rimicci Corse, based in Northridge, Calif., has built a Fiat 500 Abarth to compete in the NASA 25 Hours of Thunderhill. Anthony Rimicci, team principal, is utilizing the two-day event as a part of the development program for the car. Rimicci will partner with GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge driver and 25-hour veteran Johnny Kanavas, brother and Alfa Romeo racer Fabrizio Rimicci, and longtime vintage racing friend Efrain Olivares in hopes that the Abarth will somehow survive the longest endurance race in the world.
Rimicci Abarth
Anthony Rimicci with Rimicci Corse Fiat Abarth 500.

"One great thing about being Italian is that you have a huge family, which means you have a lot of people you can ask for help," said Rimicci. "Also, it means we'll have an espresso machine in our trailer to keep the guys going through the night. The 25 Hour will be a big challenge, but we also expect it to be a lot of fun. We can't think of a better scenario to test the Abarth under race conditions and really push its limits. There are a lot of parts that have been built specifically for the car and we really want to put them to the test to get ready for next season."

Jerry Kunzman, NASA Executive Director, likes the mix of privateer and "skunk work" factory teams that populate the diverse grid for the NASA 25 Hours of Thunderhill.

"There is a nice mix of top privateer, semi-factory and full factory backed entries for the 25 Hours," Kunzman said. "The teams with factory affiliation look forward to competing with the best privateer teams the sport has to offer. The Team Honda Research - West guys are no strangers to the 25 Hours. They have been with us since the first one in 2003. Rimicci has a very interesting Fiat 500. I am looking forward to seeing that great looking car on the track come December."

Source: http://www.motorsportsjournal.com/archives/2012/10/team_honda_research_-_wes.php

Peter de Klerk Christian Klien Karl Kling Ernst Klodwig

Ricciardo: sixth no boost to RBR chances

Daniel Ricciardo does not believe qualifying sixth for the British Grand Prix will make a significant difference to his chances of landing a Red Bull seat.

The Australian is on Red Bull’s shortlist to replace Porsche-bound Mark Webber, along with Scuderia Toro Rosso team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne and Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen.

While he is sure that his qualifying performance will have been noticed, he insists that a strong race result will be more important to his hopes of succeeding Webber.

“Obviously it doesn’t hurt, but I’ve got to back it up tomorrow,” said Ricciardo, moments after being congratulated on his performance by Webber.

“It’s good, it shows that when we get the car right and we get things going well we can be quick, so it’s nice to confirm the speed I know I have.”

This is Ricciardo’s best qualifying performance of the 2013 season, matching his career-best performance in Bahrain last year.

While he accepts the Toro Rosso has been strong around Silverstone all weekend, he suspects that changes in approach on his side of the garage since the Canadian GP have also contributed.

“Since Canada, I spent a bit of time with my guys on my side of the garage,” he said. “We had to re-assess a few things.

“Things went well [here] but I think we’ve taken a little bit of a different approach, not throwing things at the car and just hoping for the best.

“If we feel it’s going to help, we do it otherwise let’s just see what happens, let’s not chase our tails.

“Whether that’s the answer for this weekend, I don’t know. I think it’s a combination.”

Team-mate Vergne qualified only 13th after failing to make the cut for Q3, the fifth time he has been beaten by Ricciardo on Saturday in eight weekends this year.

But the Frenchman did look on course to make the top 10 shootout before running off the track during Q3.

He did improve his time on his second flying lap of that run, but his Pirellis were past their best and he had some floor damage.

“I got some [turbulence] off Vettel and I just lost the downforce and went straight onto the grass, hitting the large kerb,” said Vergne.

“Q3 was easily reachable, I was doing the same time as Daniel at that moment. It’s a big shame.”

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/formula-one-news/f1-formula-one-news/ricciardo-sixth-no-boost-to-rbr-chances

Bruce Halford Jim Hall Duncan Hamilton Lewis Hamilton

Whiting nearly stopped the British GP

Formula 1 race director Charlie Whiting has revealed that he came close to red-flagging the British Grand Prix in the wake of the multiple tyre failures.

With Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa, Sergio Perez and Jean-Eric Vergne all suffering major blow-outs in the early phases of the Silverstone race, Whiting says it had crossed his mind to stop the race on safety grounds.

“It was quite close to being red-flagged; it did occur to me to do that,” explained Whiting after the race.

When asked if just one more failure in that phase of the race would have been enough, Whiting replied: “I’m not going to give a specific number. Obviously to clear up all that debris was putting marshals at risk, and it is not satisfactory.

“We haven’t seen a failure like this before; we have seen other types of failure – and that is what has been addressed. So we need to analyse it very carefully to see if we can establish the cause.”

Whiting said the FIA needed to get answers from Pirelli about what it believes caused the incident before it could establish a way forward.

“It is too early to draw any conclusions,” said Whiting. “They have a lot of analysing to do, including the tyres that didn’t fail – because maybe we will find something there that was on the verge of failing that will give us a better indicator of what happened.

“It is too early to say what will happen, so it’s too early to say what needs to be done.”

The tyre safety issue has been added to the agenda of next week’s Sporting Working Committee meeting that was already scheduled to take place at the Nurburgring ahead of the German Grand Prix.

However, Whiting believed that the tyre situation needed to move forward before then – so solutions could be put in place.

“We will be on it first thing in the morning,” he said. “Pirelli have got to analyse it, to try and find the cause. We need to make decisions earlier than Wednesday.”

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/formula-one-news/f1-formula-one-news/whiting-nearly-stopped-the-british-gp

Brian Henton Johnny Herbert Al Herman Hans Herrmann

Hamilton storms to British GP pole

Lewis Hamilton claimed pole position for his home grand prix in Britain by a commanding 0.4-second margin.

Hamilton won a huge battle with his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg as the silver cars monopolised the qualifying contest again.

A 1m30.096s early in Q3 gave Hamilton the initial advantage by a tenth and a half.

Rosberg beat that with a 1m30.059s on his second run, but Hamilton was already responding.

He came through to set a 1m29.607s and take a comfortable pole, his first at Silverstone since 2007.

Red Bull was Mercedes’ main rival, but Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber had to be content with the second row. They were just 0.009s apart.

Hamilton was not the only Briton to star, as Paul di Resta added to the home crowd’s excitement with fifth on the grid for Force India.

His team-mate Adrian Sutil was up in seventh, behind the sensational Daniel Ricciardo. His Toro Rosso team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne was way back in 13th.

Ferrari struggled badly. Fernando Alonso was only 10th fastest, beaten by the muted Lotuses as well as the flying underdogs, while Felipe Massa failed to get out of Q2 and will start 12th.

Despite predicting on Friday that Q3 would be impossible for McLaren, a mighty late-Q2 lap from Jenson Button almost got him into the top 10.

Unfortunately for the Woking team, Raikkonen squeezed ahead by 0.057s, leaving Button 11th. His team-mate Sergio Perez was 0.4s and three places further back.

One race on from his incredible Montreal qualifying result, it was back to reality for Valtteri Bottas. He was eliminated in Q1 and will start one place behind Williams team-mate Pastor Maldonado in 17th.

Sauber’s year continued in the same disappointing vein too, with Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Gutierrez 15th and 18th.

Max Chilton was troubled to end up slowest in his first Formula 1 qualifying session at home, especially with Marussia team-mate Jules Bianchi 1.7s faster (although he was behind Caterham’s Charles Pic in the backmarker shootout).

But Chilton will not start last as Giedo van der Garde will drop back due to his penalty for tangling with Mark Webber in Montreal.

Pos Driver                Team                 Time            Gap   
  1. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes             1m29.607s
 2. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m30.059s  + 0.452s
 3. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     1m30.211s  + 0.604s
 4. Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m30.220s  + 0.613s
 5. Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m30.736s  + 1.129s
 6. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m30.757s  + 1.150s
 7. Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes 1m30.908s  + 1.301s
 8. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault        1m30.955s  + 1.348s
 9. Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault        1m30.962s  + 1.355s
10. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m30.979s  + 1.372s
Q2 cut-off time: 1m31.592s                                   Gap **
 11. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m31.649s  + 0.659s
 12. Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m31.779s  + 0.789s
 13. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m31.785s  + 0.795s
 14. Sergio Perez          McLaren-Mercedes     1m32.082s  + 1.092s
 15. Nico Hulkenberg       Sauber-Ferrari       1m32.211s  + 1.221s
 16. Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault     1m32.359s  + 1.369s
 Q1 cut-off time: 1m32.512s                                   Gap *
 17. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Renault     1m32.664s  + 1.669s
 18. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari       1m32.666s  + 1.671s
 19. Charles Pic           Caterham-Renault     1m33.866s  + 2.871s
 20. Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Cosworth    1m34.108s  + 3.113s
 21. Giedo van der Garde   Caterham-Renault     1m35.481s  + 4.486s
 22. Max Chilton           Marussia-Cosworth    1m35.858s  + 4.863s
 
107% time: 1m37.364s

* Gap to quickest in Q1

** Gap to quickest in Q2

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/formula-one-news/f1-formula-one-news/hamilton-storms-to-british-gp-pole

Bruce Kessler Nicolas Kiesa Leo Kinnunen Danny Kladis

Britain qualifying quotes: Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel – 3rd: “We will see what happens tomorrow. It’s a long race, but I’m happy with today. Either Lewis found a short cut or he has something special round here, it was a phenomenal lap and he wasn’t in reach today. I was very happy with the lap I did at the end, it was very close with Mark also. We did what we could for the team and it’s always nice to position well in qualifying, especially around here – qualifying is good fun and I’m enjoying the high speed corners. We’ll see how we get on with the tyres tomorrow and with looking after them. I’m happy for the team today, our factory is very close to this track, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

Mark Webber – 4th: “We were up against it to get on the front row against the Mercs, they’re on another level as they have been for the last few events. It was disappointing to get pipped by Seb there at the end by a hundredth, it was very close. I was happy with the first part of my lap, but I could have done better in the last sector. We have a good balance for qualifying and race pace in terms of where we prioritised things. It should be an interesting race, we can get a good result from there.”

Christian Horner: “We could see this morning that Mercedes were very fast over a single lap and they’ve demonstrated that again this afternoon, so congratulations to Lewis on his pole position at Silverstone. It was a great performance from both of our drivers with only one hundredth of a second separating them on the second row. Hopefully we can give Mercedes a good run for their money tomorrow from there, and I’m sure it’s going to be an exciting British Grand Prix.”

Thierry Salvi, Renault: “Silverstone is one of the hardest circuits on the engines, with some of the fastest series of corners we see all year and one of the highest average speeds, but also some of the tightest complexes. As a result, getting the maps correct is always a compromise, but we were on the right side today. While it would have been great to get a front row start at the team’s home race, we did the best we could. We’re still in a good position to let the race come to us and hopefully we can win for the fourth time in five years.”

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/formula-one-news/f1-formula-one-news/britain-qualifying-quotes-red-bull

Yuji Ide Jesús Iglesias Taki Inoue Innes Ireland

Hamilton says tyre issues unacceptable

Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez declared Pirelli’s British Grand Prix tyre problems as “unacceptable”.

The pair were among four drivers to have dramatic tyre blow-outs during the Silverstone race, with Hamilton’s coming while his Mercedes was leading on lap seven.

Several other drivers reported tyre troubles during the event.

“The safety is the biggest issue,” said Hamilton. “It’s just unacceptable.

“We had that tyre test to develop and improve the tyres to stop that from happening and after that tyre test they didn’t do anything.

“Someone could’ve crashed. I was thinking behind the safety car that it’s only when someone gets hurt that something will be done about it.”

McLaren driver Perez echoed Hamilton’s forthright comments.

“This is unacceptable, we are risking our lives and we shouldn’t wait until something happens to all of us,” he said.

“If it happens at 250km/h it will be a big shame so Pirelli has some work to do.”

When asked if he would talk to Pirelli or the FIA about the events of Silverstone, Hamilton said any such conversations would be pointless.

“I think it’s a waste of time talking to any of them at the moment,” he said.

“They can see what happened today. They have to react to it.”

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/formula-one-news/f1-formula-one-news/hamilton-says-tyre-issues-unacceptable

Fred Gamble Howden Ganley Frank Gardner Billy Garrett

Britain practice quotes: Mercedes

Nico Rosberg – No time/1st: “It was a pity for the fans that we didn’t do much running this morning so it was good for them and for us that it was dry this afternoon. On one lap the car is still quick, so qualifying should be okay. But the question mark is our race speed. We practised the race speed today and it felt decent so far. But it could be a completely different picture on Sunday as the weather should be a lot warmer, so we don’t know where we are right now compared to the others. I’m still quite confident that we can have a good weekend in front of our fans, our colleagues and their families.”

Lewis Hamilton – 4th/5th: “We had quite a challenging day today and definitely have more to learn tomorrow. I’m struggling a little with the balance of my car so there’s some work to do overnight to get us into shape for qualifying. We haven’t quite got it hooked up yet and you can really tell that on this circuit, particularly with Becketts and Maggots. I’m confident we’ll fix it tomorrow though. It’s great for the British fans here that they were able to see some track action this afternoon after the rain this morning and a big thank you to everyone for sticking with us. Hopefully the weather will improve tomorrow!”

Ross Brawn, Mercedes team principal: “After the wet morning, we had a good session this afternoon and managed to get some useful work done. The conditions today were cooler than we expect for the rest of the weekend, and the track was very green, so we must be careful with the conclusions we draw from our running. The unrepresentative conditions today mean that we will be relying on projections in order to choose the right car set-up for Sunday, so if we get that slightly wrong, we may find ourselves hurting in the race. Today was not too bad in terms of performance and the car had a reasonable balance, which helped us collect some good information on the different tyre compounds with medium and high fuel loads.”

Toto Wolff, Mercedes motorsport boss: “After it rained through first practice, it was good to do plenty of laps this afternoon and we had a decent session. We can’t read too much into the results but we ran slightly different programmes with the drivers to learn as much as possible. Now we need to analyse that data and draw the right conclusions for the rest of the weekend, when we expect quite different conditions to today.”

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/formula-one-news/f1-formula-one-news/britain-practice-quotes-mercedes

Duncan Hamilton Lewis Hamilton David Hampshire Sam Hanks

GRAND-AM: DP Qualifying Rained Out At The Glen

Wayne Taylor Racing's Max Angelelli, Jordan Taylor to start from pole for Sunday's Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen (Live! SPEED)...

Source: http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/grand-am-dp-qualifying-rained-out-at-the-glen/

Georges Grignard Bobby Grim Romain Grosjean Olivier Grouillard

2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix preview

Yas Marina Circuit facts & stats

The ultra-modern Yas Marina circuit hosts round 18 of the 2012 world championship. The track is located on a man-made island on the eastern side of Abu Dhabi and it's one of five anti-clockwise venues on this year's calendar. It has several unique features: the pit garages are air-conditioned, the pitlane exits through a tunnel under the track and it has the largest permanent lighting system in the world.

The 5.6km track weaves its way around a man-made marina and has three distinct sectors, each putting different demands on the car. Two high-speed corners start the lap; there are then two very long straights in the middle section and the last sector is tight and twisty. Such variety makes car set-up a compromise between high-speed balance, straight-line speed, good traction and braking stability.

The track surface is made from granite imported from the United Kingdom, and it's relatively high-grip and hard wearing. Pirelli will take their Soft and Medium tyre compounds to the race and they expect to see a mix of one and two-stop strategies.

Lewis won last year's race, while Jenson has finished on the podium in every grand prix staged at Yas Marina. After their fourth and fifth places in India last weekend, they're hoping for a return to the podium on Sunday.

Race distance 55 laps (189.747 miles/305.355km)

Start time 17:00 (local)/1300 GMT

Circuit length 3.451 miles/5.554km

2011 winner Lewis Hamilton (Vodafone McLaren Mercedes) 55 laps in 1hr37m11.886s (188.494km/h)

2011 pole Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Racing) 1m38.481s (203.027km/h)

Lap record Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull RB5) 1m40.279s (199.387km/h)

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Wins 1 (2011)

Poles 1 (2009)

Fastest Laps 1 (2010)

Car 3: Jenson Button

Age 32 (January 19 1980)

GPs 225

Wins 14

Poles 8

FLs 8

2012 points 141 (6th)

Abu Dhabi record 2011 Q3 R3; 2010 Q4 R3; 2009 Q5 R3

"I'm really looking forward to this race weekend. I've always gone well around this track - I had a great battle with Mark Webber in 2009, and finished third, and Lewis and I have been on the podium together at the last two races.

"I think this will be another closely matched race: India showed us that the gap between the top three teams is extremely close at the moment, so I wouldn't like to predict the exact pecking order. As in the last few races, I think Red Bull will go into the weekend with a slight advantage, but I'm confident that, with a clear run through practice, we can be right up there too.

"One of the most satisfying aspects of the Indian Grand Prix was that we could battle cleanly at the front - that was fantastic. While it'll be quite tough to overtake around here - even with DRS - I'm hopeful that we can have another great battle, which would be fantastic for the fans."

Car 4: Lewis Hamilton

Age 27 (January 7 1985)

GPs 107

Wins 20

Poles 24

FLs 11

2012 points 165 (5th)

Abu Dhabi record 2011 Q2 R1; 2010 Q2 R2; 2009 Q1 R-

"The facilities in Abu Dhabi are absolutely fantastic - probably the best of any circuit in the world. I've always enjoyed the Yas Marina circuit - I took pole here in 2009 and led until my retirement, finished second in 2010 and won it last year - that's a pretty good record.

"It's a track where you can really push the car, which is what I most enjoy. There are a wide variety of corners - I love the fast sweeps in the first sector - and it's incredibly satisfying to hook together a good sector through the tricky marina section of the lap. Good mechanical balance makes all the difference here because you're always changing direction.

"This has also been a place where Red Bull have traditionally gone well, but our race pace was very strong throughout the race in New Delhi. I really enjoyed that race India - fourth place may have been little reward for 60 laps of flat-out effort, but I couldn't have gone any faster.

"I feel confident that we can pull together a strong race weekend in Abu Dhabi."

Martin Whitmarsh

Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

"Another race just a week after the last gives us the perfect opportunity to maintain the positive momentum we gathered during Sunday's grand prix in India. Both Jenson and Lewis drove their hearts out, and, although we weren't able to match the Red Bulls in qualifying, their pace on Sunday afternoon, particularly during the second half of the race, was impressively strong.

"The Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team has always gone well in Abu Dhabi - Lewis set a stunning pole at the first-ever grand prix in 2009 and led until his retirement; the last time, in fact, that we failed to get two cars home in the points. Additionally, in 2010, both Jenson and Lewis finished on the podium, while Lewis finally delivered on two years' promise by winning spectacularly last year.

"It's a circuit that both drivers enjoy, and which plays to our cars' strengths, so I feel confident that we'll have a strong race weekend."

The Yas Marina circuit is an interesting challenge for the teams and drivers. Here's how Vodafone McLaren Mercedes defined three days in the short history of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

November 01 2009

Lewis is in brilliant form. He takes pole position by a massive 0.6s and beats Sebastian Vettel into Turn 1 at the start of the race. But his progress soon begins to falter, due to a rear brake problem on his MP4-24. He keeps Vettel at bay until his first pitstop on lap 17 but retires soon afterwards.

November 14 2010

To win the four-way world title showdown, Lewis needs to win and his rivals have to falter. He drags the maximum out of his MP4-25 all weekend: he qualifies second, just 0.031s behind pole-sitter Sebastian Vettel, and he finishes the race second. Vettel is champion. Jenson's third place secures McLaren's second position in the Constructors' Championship.

November 13 2011

Lewis lines up second on the grid, but there's no stopping him in the race. Pole-sitter Sebastian Vettel retires with a puncture on the opening lap and Lewis disappears into the distance. He comes home eight seconds ahead of Fernando Alonso. Jenson is third in the second MP4-26.

Source: http://www.motorsportsjournal.com/archives/2012/10/2012_abu_dhabi_grand_prix.php

Loris Kessel Bruce Kessler Nicolas Kiesa Leo Kinnunen

Daryl Harr Records Top-Finish of Season At Iowa Speedway

Daryl Harr (Photo Credit: Jeff Bottari / Getty Images North America)

NEWTON, Iowa – Daryl Harr scored his best finish of the Nationwide Series season with a 24th-place run in the JD Motorsports with Gary Keller No. 4 Chevrolet in the DuPont Pioneer 250 Sunday at Iowa Speedway.

Harr started 39th and rolled home 24th in his fourth Nationwide appearance of the season.

Earlier, Harr had finished 34th at Phoenix, 31st at Las Vegas and 28th at Auto Club Speedway in California.

Harr pushed to a high position of 23rd during the 250-lap race, the first of two Nationwide seasonal visits to the seven-eighths mile track this year.

The team advanced one spot to 28th in the car-owner standings.

Source: JD Motorsports with Gary Keller Press Release

The article Daryl Harr Records Top-Finish of Season At Iowa Speedway is from Catchfence.

Source: http://www.catchfence.com/2013/nationwide/06/10/daryl-harr-records-top-finish-of-season-at-iowa-speedway/

Nanni Galli Oscar Alfredo Gálvez Fred Gamble Howden Ganley

Massa confident of new F1 contract

Felipe Massa is confident that he will remain in Formula 1 next year, even though he has no guarantees of a new Ferrari contract.

The Brazilian has showed improved form this year but after seven races still lies 47 points adrift of team-mate Fernando Alonso – and his tally will be vital amid a tight constructors’ championship battle.

Massa’s chances of being retained by Ferrari are boosted with one his potential rivals for the seat, Mark Webber, announcing this weekend that he is switching to sportscars.

But Massa knows nothing can be taken for granted amid the annual battle for leading race seats.

“I am confident I will be here [in Formula 1],” said Massa, when asked by AUTOSPORT about his feelings on the future.

“I think I have a good chance to stay at Ferrari, so we wait and see. I think I will just concentrate on the races, because the result is what counts for me.

“I am just looking forward to having good races and I am optimistic that I will stay in Formula 1 and a good chance to stay here [at Ferrari].”

Massa said that until Ferrari had decided what it wanted to do he had to keep an eye out for other options on the grid, including the vacant Red Bull seat.

“I think when you have a team that is winning championships and is winning the last three years, I think it is always an opportunity,” he explained.

“Everybody wants to drive in a quick car; but as I said, I am happy where I am and there is a good chance to stay here.

“But for sure we need to be open in case there is not a possibility to stay here. We need to be open for everywhere.”

Although Webber has elected to turn his back on F1 for a switch to sportscars with Porsche, Massa has ruled out a move to endurance racing.

“I don’t know what I will do when I stop, but I will stay racing somewhere,” he said.

“I am not sure if I will be at Le Mans as I don’t like the idea of having three different categories together, with 20 seconds difference from one car to another.

“I prefer a short race where I will be fighting everybody in the same category, and fighting from the beginning to the end. The DTM I like, but I have no idea when I decide to stop.

“I hope I still have some years in front to finish my career in the best way I can; fighting for more victories and championships.”

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/formula-one-news/f1-formula-one-news/massa-confident-of-new-f1-contract

Cecil Green Keith Greene Masten Gregory Cliff Griffith

Harvey claims dominant first GP3 win

Reigning British Formula 3 champion Jack Harvey took his first GP3 Series race win in front of his home crowd at Silverstone on Saturday.

ART racer Harvey did not let a lengthy safety car break his stride as he won by three seconds from poleman Kevin Korjus.

The safety car was required for a huge shunt at Becketts as Patrick Kujala flew over the back of David Fumanelli’s crossed-up car. Both were uninjured, despite Kujala vaulting onto the top of the tyre wall at high speed.

Harvey led into the first corner, as team-mate Conor Daly rocketed from ninth to second after he blatantly jumped the start. Harvey had extended a 3.8s lead over Daly by the time the safety car appeared on lap five.

Daly took his drive-through penalty as the safety car came in, which meant Harvey had a big gap over Korjus at the restart. In truth, his lead never came under any serious threat throughout.

Behind Korjus, Facu Regalia held off the early challenge of Daniil Kvyat, while Tio Ellinas forced his way past Alex Fontana for fifth.

Nick Yelloly also passed Fontana, with a brilliant move at Stowe.

The battle for eighth, however self-destructed when Carlos Sainz Jr banged wheels with Lewis Williamson on the Wellington Straight, sending Williamson up into the air and into retirement. Sainz crawled home with damage in 13th.

This followed a superb pass by Williamson on Sainz at Maggots half a lap earlier. Sainz now faces a trip to the stewards.

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/real-world-racing/3rdparty/harvey-claims-dominant-first-gp3-win

Masahiro Hasemi Naoki Hattori Paul Hawkins Mike Hawthorn

Current WTCC cars allowed in 2014

This year’s World Touring Cars will be permitted to compete in the 2014 season despite FIA confirmation that the planned new regulations will come into effect.

While the intention to open up the series’ regulations was first revealed at the end of 2012, a final decision has hinged on attracting new manufacturers into the sport.

Following Citroen’s announcement of a 2014 programme, led by nine-time World Rally champion Sebastien Loeb, the FIA World Motor Sport Council has now formally confirmed the new regulations will come into effect from the start of next year.

The council also confirmed that 2013-spec cars will be permitted to compete, a move AUTOSPORT first predicted ahead of the current season.

That will effectively boost grid numbers given only Citroen and Honda have so far committed to having their new cars ready for the start of next year.

Lada is understood to be prepared to join them, while SEAT insists its new Leon Cup car will not be ready for the early rounds.

BMW said earlier this month that it would likely leave the series should the new regulations be ushered in.

Promoter Marcello Lotti recently told AUTOSPORT that 2013 cars could benefit from a small update package in order to reduce their expected deficit to new-generation cars.

“It could be we have to keep both regulations on the grid,” Lotti said ahead of the WMSC decision.

“If the decision is to keep both, it makes sense to allow a small kit for 2014 to improve the performance of the current cars; this is something we decide in the next couple of weeks.

“It could be easy for everyone to upgrade a little the engine, and perhaps find also other improvements that are easy to do.

“This is an idea. I’m no technician – after the technical people decide what the best kit is without spending a fortune, we will upgrade the regulations to improve the performance.”

NO CONCERNS OVER TWO-TIER FIELD

Lotti also played down fears that a two-tier grid could hurt the series, saying: “We were in the same position in 2010, regarding the decision to change to a turbo.

“At this time we were optimistic but not sure 100 per cent there was the commitment that all would switch to the new turbo, so we decided to do both regulations, and make a world cup title for [the older specification] cars.

“Conclusion: at the beginning of the year, we had all but one car with the new turbo. Fantastic, but at the time of June we didn’t know. This is perhaps what is going on now.”

For the full FIA World Motor Sport Council decision, click here

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/other-news/touring-cars/wtcc/current-wtcc-cars-allowed-in-2014

Bruno Giacomelli Dick Gibson Gimax Richie Ginther

Britain practice quotes: Marussia

Jules Bianchi – 10th/18th: “It has not been an easy start to the Team’s home Grand Prix but we kind of expected these conditions for today. Although we are not expecting any further wet weather during the weekend’s running, we have made the best of things and used this opportunity to work on wet set-up generally for future races. I’m looking forward to some dry running now so we can really start to attack the circuit and see what we can do here. It’s a fantastic track and it will be nice to get a better taste of that tomorrow.”

Max Chilton- 9th/21st: “Despite the tricky conditions, it has still been a great day here at Silverstone in front of the home crowd. The good news for them is that the weather looks set to pick up for the remainder of the weekend; but it’s a testament to the dedication of the fans that they stick with it, even in the rain. I hope we can reward their support this weekend. The day got off to a slow start which set us back a little in terms of our programme, but we’ve made some good progress this afternoon, particularly with some more long-range set-up work in the wet. No doubt that will come in handy at a couple of the remaining European rounds. It will be good to tackle the circuit in the dry tomorrow and properly assess how the car will perform here.”

John Booth, Team Principal: “The British weather made for a difficult start to our programme and required us to switch focus a little from our normal aero test in FP1 to wet set-up in general. At the start of FP2 the track was again wet, so with Max we opted to use the Intermediate tyres to continue with this work, however it became clear the track was too dry. With Jules, as the track condition was not suited to tyre work at the start of FP2, we did carry out some of our aero measurements in order to decide on parts which we have been looking to run for a few weekends. Both cars then completed a fairly typical programme with the slight difficulty of a rapidly improving track, however with the long run data under our belts we are sure we have gathered enough information to make the right decisions for the race. We are looking forward to what is currently looking to be a dry Saturday and hopefully tomorrow we will be able to focus more on our qualifying pace.”

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/formula-one-news/f1-formula-one-news/britain-practice-quotes-marussia

Oscar Alfredo Gálvez Fred Gamble Howden Ganley Frank Gardner

Nelson Piquet Jr. Leaves Rain Delayed Iowa with a 25th-place Finish

Nelson Piquet Jr (Qualcomm) - Photo Credit: Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images

NEWTON, Iowa (June 10, 2013) – Mother nature wasn’t too kind to the NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) this weekend, as rain caused the DuPont Pioneer 250 at Iowa Speedway to be delayed for a day. Making his first career NNS start at Iowa Speedway on Sunday morning, Nelson Piquet Jr. and his No. 30 Qualcomm team looked to put down laps and get familiar with the 0.875-mile speedway in the 250-lap race. Piquet Jr. and his No. 30 Qualcomm team started the weekend by qualifying 22nd at the Iowa short track. After battling multiple rain delays and an accident towards the end of the race, Piquet Jr. and the No. 30 Qualcomm Chevy Camaro were credited with a 25th-place finish.

Piquet Jr. quickly worked his way through traffic once the green flag dropped, finding himself in the 15th position after only 11 short laps. The Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender continued to hold on to a top-20 position until the second caution of the day came out on lap 52 for a spin in Turn 2. Crew chief Chris Carrier called Piquet Jr. down pit road to change four tires and add fuel to the No. 30 Qualcomm Camaro. After a great pit stop by his Turner Scott Motorsports crew, Piquet Jr. restarted the 250-lap race from the 16th spot.

Shortly after the restart, Piquet Jr. radioed to his crew that his Qualcomm Camaro was a little loose on entry into the corner but overall the car was stable. After a long green-flag run and a round of green-flag pit stops, the Brasilia, Brazil native found himself one lap down, in the 20th position, when the third caution of the day came out on lap 151 for a spin on the backstretch. Carrier again decided to bring the No. 30 down pit road for tires, fuel and adjustments. After another quick pit stop by the Qualcomm team, Piquet Jr. was able to maintain his position and restarted the race on lap 154 in the 20th spot.

Three laps after the restart, the fourth caution of the day came out on lap 157 for a spin in Turn 2. Piquet Jr. went low to try and avoid the accident when another competitor turned down the race track and clipped the right front of the No. 30 Qualcomm Chevy. Piquet Jr. brought the No. 30 Chevy down pit road to the attention of his crew for repairs. The Qualcomm crew worked feverishly and was able to get Piquet Jr. back out onto the track in the 25th position, 4 laps down. Before the field could go back to green, a heavy rain shower moved over the speedway and delayed the restart of the race for one hour and ten minutes. Once the race restarted, Piquet Jr. continued to battle for the remaining portion of the race, bringing the Qualcomm Chevy Camaro home in 25th place.

“I would like to thank all my guys for the hard work they put into this No. 30 Qualcomm Chevy this weekend,” Piquet Jr. said. “It was a tough weekend with the multiple rain delays and getting caught up in an accident, but my guys and I will keep our heads up, keep working and move on to Michigan. We won the Truck race there last season, so I think we can contended for a really great finish.”

About Turner Scott Motorsports:

Turner Scott Motorsports was established in 1999 and has become one of the most successful organizations in NASCAR by combining the business acumen and shared passion for racing of co-owners Steve Turner and Harry Scott Jr. This season will mark the fourth season of full-time NASCAR competition for the organization, which expanded in 2011 from a two-truck operation in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) to become the largest stand-alone multi-series team in NASCAR’s top-tier touring series. The team earned its first championship when James Buescher captured the NCWTS title in 2012. Turner Scott Motorsports operates out of an 110,000 square-foot state-of-the art facility in Mooresville, N.C. The Chevrolet-backed team has created alliances with General Motors’ powerhouse team Hendrick Motorsports, which provides engine support for both its NNS and NCWTS programs, and Earnhardt Technology Group for drive train and suspension technology assistance. For more information on Turner Scott Motorsports, visit www.TurnerScottMotorsports.com

About Qualcomm:

Qualcomm Incorporated is the world leader in next-generation mobile technologies. For 25 years, Qualcomm ideas and inventions have driven the evolution of wireless communications, connecting people more closely to information, entertainment and each other. Today, Qualcomm technologies are powering the convergence of mobile communications and consumer electronics, making wireless devices and services more personal, affordable and accessible to people everywhere. For more information, please visit www.qualcomm.com.

Source: Turner Scott Motorsports Press Release

The article Nelson Piquet Jr. Leaves Rain Delayed Iowa with a 25th-place Finish is from Catchfence.

Source: http://www.catchfence.com/2013/nationwide/06/10/nelson-piquet-jr-leaves-rain-delayed-iowa-with-a-25th-place-finish/

Dave Kennedy Loris Kessel Bruce Kessler Nicolas Kiesa

Britain qualifying quotes: Williams

Pastor Maldonado – 16th: “We were expecting to be a bit closer to the top 10 today, but we were struggling to put everything together in the car for one lap. Hopefully tomorrow we can work on our race pace and fight with the teams around us to move up a few positions. We need to keep improving as a team because we’re not where we want to be still, but race by race we are aiming to close the gap.”

Valtteri Bottas – 17th: “We were unlucky to miss out on Q2 today as I was very close to my team-mate and we could have both made it through. There are always things you can do better during a lap but we didn’t have the pace to be in the top 10 today so we need to do everything we can to get closer. We will look at our strategy going into tomorrow and try to maximise our potential for the race.”

Mike Coughlan, technical director: “It was a difficult session for us, after a promising FP3 we were expecting more from qualifying. In the high speed corners here we feel we are competitive but we still have work to do in the low speed sections. There is always a great crowd here at Silverstone and we are looking forward to the race tomorrow. We will be aiming to put on a good show for all our fans here supporting us at our home event.”

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/formula-one-news/f1-formula-one-news/britain-qualifying-quotes-williams

Danny Kladis Hans Klenk Peter de Klerk Christian Klien

Britain practice quotes: Marussia

Jules Bianchi – 10th/18th: “It has not been an easy start to the Team’s home Grand Prix but we kind of expected these conditions for today. Although we are not expecting any further wet weather during the weekend’s running, we have made the best of things and used this opportunity to work on wet set-up generally for future races. I’m looking forward to some dry running now so we can really start to attack the circuit and see what we can do here. It’s a fantastic track and it will be nice to get a better taste of that tomorrow.”

Max Chilton- 9th/21st: “Despite the tricky conditions, it has still been a great day here at Silverstone in front of the home crowd. The good news for them is that the weather looks set to pick up for the remainder of the weekend; but it’s a testament to the dedication of the fans that they stick with it, even in the rain. I hope we can reward their support this weekend. The day got off to a slow start which set us back a little in terms of our programme, but we’ve made some good progress this afternoon, particularly with some more long-range set-up work in the wet. No doubt that will come in handy at a couple of the remaining European rounds. It will be good to tackle the circuit in the dry tomorrow and properly assess how the car will perform here.”

John Booth, Team Principal: “The British weather made for a difficult start to our programme and required us to switch focus a little from our normal aero test in FP1 to wet set-up in general. At the start of FP2 the track was again wet, so with Max we opted to use the Intermediate tyres to continue with this work, however it became clear the track was too dry. With Jules, as the track condition was not suited to tyre work at the start of FP2, we did carry out some of our aero measurements in order to decide on parts which we have been looking to run for a few weekends. Both cars then completed a fairly typical programme with the slight difficulty of a rapidly improving track, however with the long run data under our belts we are sure we have gathered enough information to make the right decisions for the race. We are looking forward to what is currently looking to be a dry Saturday and hopefully tomorrow we will be able to focus more on our qualifying pace.”

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/formula-one-news/f1-formula-one-news/britain-practice-quotes-marussia

Narain Karthikeyan Ukyo Katayama Ken Kavanagh Rupert Keegan

Britain practice quotes: Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel – no time/3rd: “I think overall we can be pretty happy, it was a good day. Obviously it was important to get some laps in the dry as we expect dry conditions on Sunday. Now we need to have a look at what we can improve, have a look what the others did and then we’ll know a little bit more for tomorrow. Today we tried to do both short and long runs. For FP3 tomorrow, we need to decide if we go for short runs, to prepare for qualifying, or long runs trying to look more at the race set up.”

Mark Webber – no time/2nd: “We tried to do as much as we could in 90 minutes; we put both compounds on and did different fuel loads as well, so it was quite a demanding session for the team. In the end we got what we could out of it. I think that both Seb and I ran different compounds and got the information we need for the race. Today we did a snapshot of work for tomorrow, but mostly the focus was for Sunday. I think the race will be quite tight, to be honest I don’t think there’s anyone charging away.”

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/formula-one-news/f1-formula-one-news/britain-practice-quotes-red-bull

Chris Irwin Jean Pierre Jabouille Jimmy Jackson Joe James

Bobby Labonte’s 704 Consecutive Starts Over This Weekend

Source: http://thefinallap.com/2013/06/26/bobby-labontes-704-consecutive-starts-over-this-weekend/

David Carl Allison Gregory Jack Biffle David Lee Blaney Michael Duane Bliss

Kenny Wallace Finishes 13th at Iowa Speedway

Kenny Wallace - Photo Credit: Rainier Ehrhardt / Getty Images

RAB Racing and Kenny Wallace came into a familiar Iowa Speedway with high hopes of a good finish and excitement to have U.S. Cellular on board for the first time. Iowa Speedway is a track that Kenny Wallace has an almost perfect lap completion record (99.7%), and three top 10 finishes in five starts.

The No. 29 U.S. Cellular Toyota Camry started off strong on Friday in practice with crew chief and team owner Robby Benton calling the shots from the garage. The team set the third quickest lap time, with the fastest ten lap consecutive lap time average of the entire field. On Saturday, Wallace qualified in 13th place right before the rain began to fall and postponed the DuPont Pioneer 250 until Sunday morning.

There was excitement for the No. 29 Toyota Camry as soon as the green flag dropped, Wallace avoided a multi car crash on lap 4, but a tight car relegated the team as far back as 25th place. With good calls in the pits by crew chief and team owner Robby Benton, and the most consistent lap times in the field, Wallace climbed from 25th early in the event to finish in the 13th position.

“I can’t thank RAB Racing, U.S. Cellular, and Robby Benton enough for a good car, and a great day at the races,” said Wallace. This weekend marked the first time partnering with U.S. Cellular and it was a lot of fun to sign autographs and meet the NASCAR fans of Iowa, at the U.S. Cellular display, I can’t wait to have them back in August for the U.S. Cellular 250. We had a really solid car all day, and after the first run just kept improving our position, if this was a longer race who knows where we could have finished.”

The next race for Kenny Wallace and the No. 29 RAB Racing, U.S. Cellular Toyota Camry will be August 3rd at Iowa Speedway.

Source: RAB Racing with Brack Maggard Press Release

The article Kenny Wallace Finishes 13th at Iowa Speedway is from Catchfence.

Source: http://www.catchfence.com/2013/nationwide/06/10/kenny-wallace-finishes-13th-at-iowa-speedway/

Dale Arnold Jarrett Jimmie Kenneth Johnson Kasey Kenneth Kahne Matthew Roy Kenseth

Button plays down top 10 prospects

Jenson Button thinks there is little chance of McLaren qualifying in the top 10 at the British Grand Prix.

Button was 11th fastest in practice at Silverstone on Friday, and sees no prospect of the weekend turning around given McLaren’s ongoing struggles.

“The car doesn’t feel too bad out there, we’re just slow,” he said.

“On the straights we don’t have the issues we had in Canada, so that’s good.

“But we’re still going to be a long way from the front.

“I think we can improve a tiny bit, but I think Q3 is a long way off for us this weekend.

“I’m one and a half seconds off the quickest car, so there’s good reason to be disappointed.”

His team-mate Sergio Perez was more optimistic, feeling that the new parts McLaren added for Britain are an improvement – albeit not a sufficient one.

“We did another step but still we are quite far off,” said Perez.

“I think we can improve more for tomorrow but we’re in a similar position to Canada.

“We can aim tomorrow for Q3 if we get the perfect lap.”

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/formula-one-news/f1-formula-one-news/button-plays-down-top-10-prospects

Paul Hawkins Mike Hawthorn Boy Hayje Willi Heeks

Video: Seinfeld tours with Citroën 2CV and French standup in latest CiCGC

Filed under: Classics, Budget, Videos, Citroën, Celebrities, Humor

Jerry Seinfeld has released his latest Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, and the new episode is dedicated to all things French. Or at least as French as one can get in New York City. The show follows a 1950 Citroën 2CV and French comedian Gad Elmaleh as both try to endure Seinfeld's attempts to navigate the metropolis. Of course, Seinfeld and Elmaleh spend plenty of time stalled in the ancient piece of budget French engineering between stops at various French establishments around the city. There are French Fries, which turn out to be from Belgium, baguettes and, as you might expect, coffee.

You can watch the duo ham it up in the clip below. Our favorite moment? Watching the Citroën drop to one cylinder in downtown traffic. Hilarity ensues.

Continue reading Seinfeld tours with Citroën 2CV and French standup in latest CiCGC

Seinfeld tours with Citroën 2CV and French standup in latest CiCGC originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 28 Jun 2013 12:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.autoblog.com/2013/06/28/seinfeld-tours-with-citroen-2cv-and-french-standup-in-latest-cic/

Mack Hellings Brian Henton Johnny Herbert Al Herman

NYC Aims to Make the Most of Its Handful of School-Zone Speed Cameras

Details concerning New York City’s first-ever speed camera program are scarce. To slow down as many speeding drivers as possible with the small number of cameras permitted by Albany, this is as it should be.

Walk to School Day in Harlem in 2011. Photo: NYC DOT/Flickr

On Tuesday, DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan joined Mayor Bloomberg at P.S. 81 in Riverdale, where 96 percent of motorists observed for a DOT school area survey were speeding. While a camera or cameras will presumably be deployed to slow drivers around P.S. 81, it’s one of 100 schools around which 75 percent or more of drivers speed [PDF]. To cover even a fraction of NYC school zones with a relative handful of cameras, flexibility is key.

Here’s Sadik-Khan, as quoted by WNYC and the Daily News: “The cameras are mobile so we’ll be able to move them around and address high-speed locations that may change over time. Any school where there’s excessive speeding will be fair game. One of the deterrents is that people don’t necessarily know where they are.”

The bill passed by the State Legislature limits NYC to the use of 20 cameras at a time. Cameras will be operable only from one hour before the school day begins to one hour after it ends, and from 30 minutes before to 30 minutes after school activities. A driver can go up to 10 mph over the speed limit without getting a ticket, and camera-enforced penalties will be capped at $50 — billed to the vehicle owner — regardless of how fast an offending motorist drives. No license points or insurance penalties will be attached. The legislature placed a five-year sunset clause on the program.

DOT told us that, since the system will be handled by a vendor, operational details have yet to be worked out. But a look at other mobile speed camera programs sheds some light on how they might work in NYC. Mobile speed cameras are often mounted in SUVs or other vehicles, and localities might or might not disclose where they are, or where they might be. Washington, DC, uses a combination of mobile and fixed cameras. The MPD posts a list of six dozen “enforcement zones,” most identified by block number, where cameras may be at any given time.

The Albany speed camera bill says NYC “may” install signage to notify motorists that cameras are in use, and warning motorists that they are about to enter a monitored school zone. So it could be that motorists know only that cameras will be used near schools.

Juan Martinez, general counsel for Transportation Alternatives, says warning signage would lessen the program’s effectiveness. “Because that tells drivers it’s ‘okay’ to speed a block later,” he says.

Then there is the question of decoys, which were recently deployed by police in Laurel, Maryland. Again, DOT said their use would depend on the vendor.

“It does all come down to the vendor,” says Martinez, “how the cameras will be mounted, how many cameras will be used, decoys, et cetera.”

A DOT spokesperson told us the 100 high-priority schools will be “candidates” for automated enforcement, echoing Sadik-Khan’s remarks about any school where there’s a lot of speeding being “fair game.” Martinez believes the less motorists know about where cameras are, the safer school zones will be.

“I imagine DOT will be cagey about which schools get the treatment — and I hope they are, because again the technology works best when drivers don’t know where the cameras are, so they expect them to be everywhere.”

Source: http://www.streetsblog.org/2013/06/27/nyc-aims-to-make-the-most-of-its-handful-of-school-zone-speed-cameras/

Brian Gubby André Guelfi Miguel Ángel Guerra Roberto Guerrero

Alonso sure Vettel can be beaten

Fernando Alonso thinks there is every reason to have faith that Sebastian Vettel can be beaten this year, despite the comfortable gap the Red Bull driver has in the standings.

Vettel is 36 points clear of Alonso in the title standings, with the campaign not yet at its halfway point.

But despite the widening distance to the leader, Alonso believes that nothing is lost just yet, and reckons Ferrari can still turn things around over the remainder of the campaign.

“Being 36 points behind the leader, we don’t have much more room to make mistakes or lose many more points,” said Alonso ahead of this weekend’s British Grand Prix.

“But on the other side we need to remain calm and do our job. If we can win races and if we can finish in front of Sebastian it will be great, but if we cannot, then we try and lose the minimum points.

“Last year I had an advantage around Monza time of 42 points, and it was not enough. So being the eighth race and 36 points behind is not an ideal position, but it is not the end of the world.”

Alonso thinks Vettel’s advantage in the standings has been particularly boosted by the fact that both he and Kimi Raikkonen have endured two lacklustre grands prix, while their Red Bull rival has been strong everywhere.

“I think he [Vettel] is doing a fantastic job in all the races,” he said. “He has been nearly perfect with no down races, always performing well in qualifying and with very good races.

“Obviously I had two unlucky situations, one in Malaysia and one in Bahrain. Kimi was leading the championship and then was very close until he had two unlucky situations, one in Monaco and one in Canada which was a mixed race for him.

“So we need to keep fighting, we need to keep pushing to recover now these bad races we have had.

“Red Bull is improving really well, compared to the first part of the championship. We need to raise our game if we want to arrive at him.”

Alonso is one of the favourites for success at Silverstone this weekend, with his Ferrari having excelled on high-speed tracks so far this year.

And although conceding that nothing can be taken for granted – especially with tyres playing such a key role this year – he says there is a level of confidence at the team.

“It should be a good circuit for us,” he said. “We have been more or less competitive here for the last three or four years, and it is the first circuit that is similar to China and Barcelona, which have been the best circuits for this year’s car.

“We have some high hopes for this weekend. But, on the other hand, Red Bull has been quite strong and dominant here since 2009, so it will be a close and challenging weekend – with Mercedes as well who I am sure will be very, very strong as well.

“We have an interesting weekend ahead of us, but we can approach it with confidence, knowing we have a good opportunity.”

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/formula-one-news/f1-formula-one-news/alonso-sure-vettel-can-be-beaten

Juan Jover Oswald Karch Narain Karthikeyan Ukyo Katayama

2013 Mazda CX-5 AWD Long-Term Update: Lots of Love, Except from One Guy

Our long-term Mazda CX-5 has covered some 14,000 miles since our last update, the majority of which were accumulated under the watchful eye of Montana deskman John Phillips. Here, a list of vehicles that he prefers to the Mazda CX-5, composed using pasted letters, ransom-note style, and jammed in the car’s tailpipe: Nissan Pathfinder; leaky canoe; drunk, bareback moose. READ MORE ››

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/caranddriver/blog/~3/FQ9rOjAmeVk/2013-mazda-cx-5-awd-long-term-test-update-review

Jeffrey Michael Gordon Charles Robert Hamilton IV Charles Robert Hamilton V Kevin Michael Harvick

Richard Childress Racing 2013 NSCS Party in the Poconos 400 Post-Race Report

Richard Childress Racing Logo

Party In The Poconos 400
Pocono Raceway

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Pocono Raceway
June 9, 2013

Race Highlights:

• Richard Childress Racing teammates finished ninth (Kevin Harvick), 11th (Jeff Burton) and 30th (Paul Menard).
• Following the event at Pocono Raceway, Harvick remains fifth in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver championship point standings, trailing leader Jimmie Johnson by 87 markers, while Menard ranks 12th, 136 points back, and Burton sits 21st, 165 points out of the top position.
• The No. 29 Chevrolet SS team ranks fifth in the Sprint Cup Series owner championship point standings, with the No. 27 team 12th and the No. 31 team 23rd.
• According to NASCAR’s Post-Race Loop Data Statistics, Harvick posted two of the Fastest Laps Run during the 160-lap event.
• Harvick earned the eighth-best Driver Rating (98.8), had the eighth-fasted Green Flag Speed and made 31 Quality Passes, ranking him eighth in the loop data category.
• Burton completed 73 Green Flag Passes, nine of which came while running in the top 15 (Quality Passes).
• Menard posted 76 Green Flag Passes and 12 Quality Passes.
• Jimmie Johnson earned his third victory of the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season and was followed to the finish line by Greg Biffle, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman.
• The next Sprint Cup Series race is the Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday, June 16. The 15th race of the 2013 season is scheduled to be televised live on TNT beginning at Noon Eastern Time and broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Satellite Radio.

Late-Race Incident Relegates Menard to 30th-Place Finish at Pocono Raceway

Paul Menard and the No. 27 Quaker State/Menards Chevrolet team had their afternoon spoiled by a blown tire on the final lap and finished 30th in the 400-mile NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at Pocono Raceway. Menard started the race in the ninth position after persistent rain showers forced NASCAR officials to cancel Friday’s qualifying session. The 32-year old driver maintained a top-15 position during the first 60 laps while battling a loose-handling condition on his green and yellow machine. After falling out of the top 20 during the middle stages of the race, crew chief “Slugger” Labbe and the No. 27 pit crew went to work and made several adjustments to the car during multiple pit stops. As the race progressed, the Richard Childress Racing driver climbed back into the top 15 where he remained until bad luck struck on the final lap when a right-front tire went flat causing the Eau Claire, Wis., native to lose control of his car and slam into the outside retaining wall. In the end, Menard settled for a 30th-place finish and now sits 12th in Sprint Cup Series driver championship point standings.

Start – 9 Finish – 30 Laps Led – 0 Points – 12th

PAUL MENARD QUOTE:
“Our Quaker State/Menards Chevrolet was pretty good for most of today’s race, but it was a tough way to end the day with a blown tire on the final lap. We’ll keep our heads up and look for a better result in Michigan next Sunday.”

Harvick Salvages Top-10 Finish at “The Tricky Triangle”

Kevin Harvick and the No. 29 Rheem team rallied back to a ninth-place result at Pocono Raceway on Sunday afternoon after receiving a mid-race pit road speeding penalty. The Richard Childress Racing driver started the 160-lap event from the fifth position after rain canceled qualifying Friday afternoon, setting the field by the NASCAR rulebook. During the early laps of the Party in the Poconos 400, Harvick informed crew chief Gil Martin he was battling a tight-handling red and black Chevrolet that transitioned to a loose condition as the run progressed. The Rheem pit crew executed scheduled two and four-tire pit stops on laps 26, 54 and 67, along with chassis and air pressure adjustments, in an effort to alleviate the handling issues their driver was battling. Harvick maintained a top-five position in the running order until a lap 99 green-flag pit stop when NASCAR officials issued a pass-through penalty for speeding on pit road, forcing him back to the 28th position. As the race progressed, the California native methodically and patiently worked his way back toward the front of the field, crossing the finish line in the ninth position. Following his sixth top-10 finish of the season, Harvick remains fifth in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver championship point standings.

Start – 5 Finish – 9 Laps Led – 0 Points – 5th

KEVIN HARVICK QUOTE:
“The Rheem crew did a great job today at Pocono Raceway, especially coming back from that mid-race set back on pit road. Recovering from that mistake to finish in the top 10 is proof of how hard this team works each week.”

Burton Finishes 11th at Pocono Raceway

Jeff Burton and the No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet team battled back to a top-15 finish of 11th at Pocono Raceway. Starting the 400-mile event from the 24th position after rain forced NASCAR officials to cancel Friday’s qualifying session, the 21-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race winner worked his way into the top 20 early while battling a loose on exit and tight in the middle-handling condition. Burton began to find speed as the race progressed, but a missed shift on a restart relegated the Richard Childress Racing driver to the 27th position on lap 75. By the time the next caution flag was displayed on lap 126, Burton was solidly back in the top 20. The Caterpillar team didn’t give up over the course of the race, making several chassis adjustments to remedy the ill-handling condition during multiple pit stops and finally started to showcase speed in the latter stages of long runs. The 45-year-old driver restarted in the top 15 on lap 129 and worked his way into the top 10 five laps later, making it to as high as seventh on the leaderboard. Over the final 19 laps, Burton battled through multiple restarts and managed to bring home the black and yellow machine in 11th place. Burton is now 21st in the Sprint Cup Series driver championship point standings.

Start – 24 Finish – 11 Laps Led – 0 Points – 21th

JEFF BURTON QUOTE:
“Today was just another day where the No. 31 team showed we are making progress with our 1.5-mile and above track program. I dug us a hole early in the race by missing a shift on a restart and restarts were so important today. You had to be aggressive. I also expected to run well here after our successful test session last week. We’ll continue to make progress next weekend at Michigan (International Speedway).”

Source: Richard Childress Racing

The article Richard Childress Racing 2013 NSCS Party in the Poconos 400 Post-Race Report is from Catchfence.

Source: http://www.catchfence.com/2013/sprintcup/06/10/richard-childress-racing-2013-nscs-party-in-the-poconos-400-post-race-report/

Cliff Griffith Georges Grignard Bobby Grim Romain Grosjean

Lander: NYS DOT Rejected Improvements to Deadly Brooklyn Intersection

Eugene Agbimson, brother-in-law of Ngozi Agbim, called for changes to the intersection where she was killed and to laws regulating truck travel in NYC. Photo: Office of City Council Member Brad Lander

Safety measures proposed for a crash-prone Brooklyn intersection where a senior was killed by a truck driver this week were rejected by New York State DOT, according to City Council Member Brad Lander.

Joined by local residents, traffic safety advocates and family of Ngozi Agbim, Lander held a rally this morning at Ocean Parkway and Church Avenue, at the terminus of the Prospect Expressway, in Kensington. With nine lanes of north-south traffic and five lanes east-west, there were 36 pedestrian and cyclist injuries and four fatalities at the intersection between 1995 and 2008, according to Transportation Alternatives’ CrashStat.

Tri-State Transportation Campaign ranks Ocean Parkway as one of the most dangerous streets in Brooklyn, citing six pedestrian fatalities between 2009 and 2011.

Lander included a line item for improvements to the intersection among his FY 2013 participatory budget proposals, securing $200,000. But he says the State DOT rejected a proposal from NYC DOT for a pedestrian refuge between northbound and southbound traffic. Instead, according to Lander, NYS DOT wants to eliminate the crosswalk altogether.

“Without the crosswalk, residents would have to walk a block out of their way and wait for three crossing signals instead of one,” said Lander, via press release. “Cars would speed by even faster. And many pedestrians would certainly still cross there anyway, far more exposed to speed, danger, and future tragedies.”

On Monday at approximately 9:40 a.m., Agbim, 73, was crossing nine lanes of traffic east to west when she was struck by a semi truck driver who was attempting a right turn from Church Avenue onto Prospect Expressway, according to reports.

Agbim died at the scene. The truck driver, Eric Turnbach of Sugarloaf, Pennsylvania, was cited for failure to exercise due care, the Daily News said.

Trucks exceeding 55 feet in length are not allowed on surface streets without a permit. Video from the scene indicated that the trailer of Turnbach’s truck was 53 feet long. It is not known if the truck was equipped with crossover mirrors, which give truck drivers a better view of pedestrians who are directly in front of them. Trucks registered outside New York are exempt from the state’s crossover mirror requirement.

Central Pennsylvania Transportation, the Lancaster-based company that owns the truck, did not respond to a request for comment.

“We just do not understand how is it that a God fearing and loving mother would die in such a manner walking back from a church service,” said Eugene Agbimson, Agbim’s brother-in-law. Agbimson called for changes to the intersection and to laws “governing the operation of these monster vehicles very close to highly populated residential areas.”

Said Lander: “New York State DOT’s proposal is unacceptable. It would make this intersection even more dangerous. Our neighborhood is not a highway.” Lander has posted a petition aimed at prodding NYS DOT to act on proposed safety measures.

“We voted for this money,” said Julie Bero, a lifelong resident of Kensington. “We should be able to cross this intersection safely and New York State Department of Transportation should make it a priority.”

Streetsblog has a message in with NYS DOT. We’ll update this post if we hear back.

Source: http://www.streetsblog.org/2013/06/28/lander-nys-dot-rejected-improvements-to-deadly-brooklyn-intersection/

Peter Hirt David Hobbs Gary Hocking Ingo Hoffmann