ALMS Eye Candy

Did you miss the American Le Mans race that took place at Lime Rock Park this past Saturday?  If you did, go look up who won.  Then come back and look at these pics of what you may have missed.

Back Home Again In Indiana

This weekend is the height of the racing season, starting in Monte Carlo with the Monaco GP, coming back home to Indiana for the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing", and finishing in Charlotte with the 600.  While I do like NASCAR the first two represent 2/3rds of racing's triple crown (the other being the 24 hours of LeMans).  The main event for me is the 500.  With all due respect to the Daytona 500, the Indianapolis 500 is the still the most significant race in the USA in my opinion.

This year's race is loaded with story lines, the biggest of which is the new car.  First off it's slower, second there is noticeable gaps between engine manufactures.  Its Chevy > Honda >>>>>>>>>>>>> Lotus.  Lotus is way off pace to the tune of 16 MPH off of the pole speeds (yet IndyCar decided not to let them use extra boost).  Its a borderline safety hazard, they will be moving chicanes.  If they don't maintain 105% pace they will be removed though.

There are also new names in the fray, the biggest star thus far in the month of May has been James Hinchcliffe who takes over Danica Patrick's (and what was to be Dan Wheldon's) ride in the Andretti Go Daddy Chevy.  He is quite the character, he is the mayor of his own imaginary internet town Hinchtown.  He missed the pole by a whopping .003 mph average. You've also got Josef Newgarden driving for Sarah Fisher's team who was the best Honda in the field in 7th as a rookie.  He was the Indy Lights champion last season and won at Indy in that series.  Sarah Fisher is also entering Bryan Clauson, a rookie Indiana boy who took the traditional USAC ladder to Indy.  He had a very promising qualifying effort going on pole day before he took a hard hit on lap 4.  Being that there were only 33 cars, all he had to do was get in 4 clean laps on bump day which he did.  He will start 31st, ahead of the two Lotus snails.

Here are some recent clips to get you in the mood for The Greatest Spectacle in Racing...

The Real Lotus Story

The recent Lotus soap opera has been pretty incredible. In a matter of less than half a year, parent company Proton sold its majority stake to DRB-Hicom, endangering the commitments and resources once promised to back Group Lotus' five-year plan to produce the five cars it unveiled at the 2010 Paris Motor Show, including the revival of the legendary Esprit.

Then, Group Lotus announced the termination of its title sponsorship of the Lotus-Renault F1 team, causing some serious rumors to surface. The word around the office is that Lotus will be going into administration, and Lotus CEO Dany Bahar is being placed on leave.

Yet despite the end of title sponsorship and mounting financial issues within the brand itself, more news revealed that Proton still holds a call option to purchase 10 percent of the Lotus F1 team from current team owner, Genii Capital.

In short, all the madness we're seeing unfold is starting to look like the tragic downfall of not just a storied British sports car marque, but threatens the equilibrium of the F1 race team as well. A failed attempt from Lotus to down play the media frenzy has only left car buffs and racing enthusiasts even more hopelessly confused.

However, there is still one great thing that I can take out of all this - it has caused myself to think about Colin Chapman and Lotus' past glory more than ever before. I've been searching on youtube for something that I could really sink my teeth into and this is far more than I ever expected I would find. It's a bit long, but if you have the time, why not?

 

2nd Flappy Paddle Heads GT5 Mega Invitational

A bit Overdue, but better late than never!

Lotus Road Cars

Stirling Moss, Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart, Graham Hill, Jochen Rindt, Emerson Fittipaldi, Mario Andretti, Ayrton Senna. We're all familiar with the heroic exploits by Lotus in Formula 1 and open-wheel racing.

This time, I present a post dedicated to Lotus' road racing heritage that have spanned for decades. Sit back and enjoy!

2011-2012 Silly Season Remix

Race season kicks off in just over a week with the Rolex Series 24 Hours at Daytona!!! Ya, we're revved up (every pun intended!)!  Okay okay, so we're not the biggest fans of the Rolex Series or Nascar, which both start the earliest of any series.  Who cares?!?!  Racing's back!  Here's a quick, semi-entertaining yet highly informative rundown of what happened in the off season with the series we do follow:

eBay Finds: The Weird, The Wonderful, The WTF

eBay is a great place to research classic car prices, look for that next project, or just find something that is completely weird and foreign.  While all the above are easily found with a few mouse clicks, it seems the gathering of strange and obtuse are at an all time high this time of year.  Click ahead to see what was too weird for Halloween and had to be unloaded two weeks later.

NYIAS 2011: FPH wrap-up Pt. 2

Part 1 of our NYIAS wrap-up covered the media day unveilings that stood out to us. But there were unveilings that fell short as well-- whether it may be the cause of a lukewarm product or because of a presentation that carried a lot of potential, but ultimately under-delivered.

Beauty in Racing

When looking at an open-wheel race car as a piece of art, there are many differing opinions on its physical beauty.  To most people, modern cars possess little to no inspiration in their design.  They are just an amalgamation of airfoils, winglets, and scoops.  To others, that is the beauty of the design, the process by which all those little pieces unify to create a blisteringly fast car that seems to cheat fluid dynamics and defy the laws of physics.

grandprix.com

Still, nothing can ever compare to the classics...

Affordable Supercar Series

The 80s were a dark time for the automotive world.  Manufacturers hadn't figured out how to make horsepower after federally mandated smog equipment had been bolted onto motors.  The giants of the sports car realm - Supra, Corvette, 928 - didn't break the 300 horsepower mark until the very end of the decade.  However, if you look hard enough there's always a light in the darkness.  In the mid 80s, the light could be found in music by a still black Michael Jackson, the inherent goodness of Darth Vader, and the turbo V6 in the blacked out Buick Grand National.

autogaleria.hu

Lotus teaser for F1's 2011 season

Lotus is back, take 2, with a second team, Group Lotus.
Behold the John Player Special colors!

mucho cojones.

Seems like an Amateur Class one-spec racing series. But Dean Evans is no amateur.

Lotus lights its ass on fire

1969 Lotus 49B
Courtesy of: ausmotive.com

Affordable Supercar Series (ASS)

Lotus is a company that I highly admire. Throughout their existence, they've kept weight at a minimum to keep performance at a maximum. Until recently, their downfall has been their utter British "quirkiness" which makes older models about as reliable as a solar powered flashlight. If you're willing to overlook these little idiosyncrasies for a supercar that is bristling with personality, won't need a second mortgage, and can still hold its own against prancing horses and raging bulls.