Archive for Motorsports

Volkswagen’s entry for the 2009 Dakar rally is the Volkswagen Race Touareg 2. Four units of these offroad racing monsters will be piloted by Spaniard Carlos Sainz and his French navigator Michel Perlin; Giniel de Villiers (South Africa) and Dirk von Zitzewith (Germany); Mark Miller (USA) and Ralph Pitchford (South Africa) and Dieter Depping partnered with fellow German Timo Gottschalk.

The Race Touareg 2 is built from an aluminium tube frame, with the body panels fitted over it, much like how the Racing Lancer is constructed. The racers will be supported by a team of support and service trucks. The racers and the support trucks together with parts and equipment will be shipped to Le Havre, France for scrutineering before being shipped over to South America for the Dakar race.

Powering the Race Touareg 2 racers are 2.5 liter TDI engines which can produce 280 PS, build by Volkswagen Motorsport in Hanover, Germany.

Look after the jump for photos of the tube frame.

Click here to read the rest of Volkswagen Race Touareg 2 for Dakar rally

We’ve already seen one video of the MEM Proton Satria Neo S2000 rally car in the past, where it was being tested out by a very young racer. You will find two more videos after the jump, including one video of the Neo S2000 being tested on the French alps.

Click here to read the rest of More MEM Proton Satria Neo S2000 Videos!

In efforts to make it easier for more people to enter the world of rally motorsports, Renault Sport Technologies have created a new variant of the Clio R3 Maxi called the Renault Clio Renaultsport R3 Access.

In countries with relatively weaker currencies such as ours, motorsports can be even more prohibitive to the grassroots, with only the rich with tons of disposable income being able to participate in races and the rest of us having to contend with trafficlight sprints and rempiting on long straights in the middle of the night.

The R3 Access Clio aims to open up “access” to motorsports to a wider range of people with a pre-tax price of €32,600 (RM158,000) and a calculated average competing cost of €17 (RM82) per km. If one wants to upgrade to R3 Maxi specs later they can easily do so via a “Premium kit” which will upgrade the chassis, brakes and engine up to R3 Maxi specifications.

The Access model features a Clio Renaultspot bodyshell strengthened with a welded roll cage featuring more than 40 meters of tubing. The 2.0 liter high revving engine derived from the Clio Renaultsport 197 produces 200 horsepower at 7,500rpm and 214Nm of torque at 5,250rpm. It goes on to a redline point of 7,800rpm at which you will shift to the next cog of the Sadev 6 speed dog-teeth gearbox with a ZF LSD.

The wheels are identical to the Maxi spec version featuring 17 inch Speedline alloys wrapped with Michelin rubber. The car rides on Bilstein dampers at all four wheels and has the 4-pot Brembo brakes standard on the Clio Renaultsport 197.

Look after the jump for a few more hi-res photos.

Click here to read the rest of Renault Clio Renaultsport R3 Access

The Renault Megane Trophy that competes in the World Series gets updated for the 2009 model year. It may look like a Megane but it is actually built on a multi-tubular steel chassis with a semi-stressed engine and gearbox.

The styling for 2009 has been updated to match the look of the new Megane Coupe. Only the front and rear light units as well as the windscreen are from the road car.

Renault-Nissan’s venerable 3.5 liter V6 engine is mounted in a mid-rear position driving the rear wheels, mated to a sequential six-speed semi-automatic gearbox with steering-mounted paddle shifts. It produces 360hp and 390Nm of torque, with rebuild intervals of 5,500km.

Brakes are 356mm vented steel discs with 6 pistons at the front and 330mm vented steel discs with 4 pistons at the rear. Wheels are 18 inch one-piece aluminium alloys wrapped with Michelin tyres. The car rides on double wishbone suspensions on both the front and rear, with an anti-roll bar at the front.

Existing Megane Trophy owners will be able to upgrade to this new engine and look thanks to a kit that will go on sale by end-2008. Modifications required to adapt the existing chassis to the new bodywork will be performed by Renault at its Alpine factory.

Look after the jump for more photos.

Click here to read the rest of Renault Megane Trophy Race Car

Click for larger image

We were recently invited to Michelin’s Pilot Experience (MPE) program which was held at the Sepang International Circuit.

This yearly event exemplifies Michelin’s commitment in using advanced technology to develop their variety of tires as well as to showcase its involvement in motor sports, as this event aims to bridge the gap between customers, partners as well as the public at large with the French tire manufacturer.

The MPE program, which is held for 2 weeks in September 2008, offers participants a “once in a lifetime” experience to take part in various activities, such as Racing Simulation drive with Professional Race Car Drivers (R Factor Race Simulation), a Go-Kart race, Pit Stop Challenge, having a go in a GT5 race car, and the ultimate chance of being behind the wheel of Formula Renault single-seater.

Participants will also be driven in a two-seater Formula Renault and in a Porsche Carrera Cup race car by professional race car drivers such as local A1 GP driver Aaron Lim, Aston Martin Asia Cup’s Series Director and Classic Car Series driver, Ian Geekie and Asia Supercar Club series and F3 driver Rodolfo Avila.

Our resident racing nut, Harvinder Singh Sidhu tells his side of the story:

Click here to read the rest of The Michelin Pilot Experience 2008 at Sepang

I have to say, the inaugural race at Valencia that transpired is a bit of a letdown. The track, albeit a street circuit, promised a lot more than it delivered in terms of racing. There were very little overtaking or wheel-to-wheel stuff. However, thanks to the Ferrari team, there were still plenty of controversies that will set tongues wagging.

Click here to read the rest of European F1 GP 2008, Valencia

Click to enlarge

Mitsubishi has unveiled proper photos of the Mitsubishi Racing Lancer MRX09 in action, after previously releasing an artist’s rendering of it back in July. The Mitsubishi Racing Lancer replaces the Pajero Evolution in the Dakar rally. It has covered more than 8,000km in testing and competition in order for engineers to develop new suspension geometry to suit different weight distributions and torque characteristics.

It isn’t really based on a Lancer, instead it is built on a tubular steel frame with a Lancer sportsback-based carbon fiber “skin” put over it. It measures 4,475mm long, 1,990mm wide and has a 2,900mm wheelbase.

Powering it is a 3.0 liter V6 turbodiesel putting out over 260 horsepower and 650Nm of torque. “The diesel version is overwhelmingly easy to drive thanks to its tremendous torque which is available over an even broader rev-band. It outperforms the petrol-powered car in terms of controllability over challenging terrain, as well as when accelerating out of corners and along high-speed straights. With the right set-up it would be comfortably faster,” said Team Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart driver Hiroshi Masuoka.

Look after the jump for two more photos of the new rally contender.

Click here to read the rest of Mitsubishi Racing Lancer MRX09 in action!

Click to view enlarged version

Team Proton Axle’s Faidzil Alang beat 25 other cars and took the chequered flag today at the Bira International Circuit in Thailand, ensuring a driver’s crown win for the team in the inaugural Asian Touring Car 1500Max Series race.

This is Faidzil’s fourth win in the series, chalking up another 15 points bringing his total championship points up to 96 points. The team’s other driver Syafiq Ali is in second place in overall standings with 72 points. Looking at the current standings, it is only possible for Faidzil or Syafiq to win the driver’s title.

The Asian Touring Car 1500 Max Series race is a new regional championship for normally aspirated cars below 1599cc. Example cars that can participate include the Honda Jazz, Peugeot 206, Vios, GEN2, Satria Neo, Waja, Saga, Swift, Aveo and others.

The cars raced by Team Proton Axle are Proton Satria Neo 1500 Max ATCS cars built by Proton’s Race Rally Research division in Shah Alam. The team is managed by Alex Yoong. Other than the two main drivers mentioned (Faidzil Alang and Syafiq Ali), the support driver role is filled by Sanjeev Palar.

1500Max cars are allowed to have bodykits, a 17 inch wheel size, wings, suspension tuning and engine tuning. The engines must be normally aspirated. The race has a strict power to weight ratio rule for the cars to ensure all drivers have an equal chance of winning. Also, winning cars in each race has to have a success ballast added onto the car in the next race.

The next stop for the 1500Max race is Chengdu, China. Look after the jump for more images of our 1500Max Satria Neos.

Related Story:
MEM Proton Satria Neo Super 2000 – Specifications and Photos

Click here to read the rest of Team Proton Axle set to win Asian Touring Car 1500Max Series driver’s championship

Looking at Felipe Massa this time round and the waning challenge from BMW-Sauber, by Alan Ng.

For those who read the first Formula 1 midseason report, you would probably wonder why I only mentioned Felipe Massa briefly while giving full attention to Kimi Raikkonen.

After all, the two drivers have been pretty much equally strong this season with neither gaining an upper hand for long.

I don’t know about you but being a Ferrari fan myself, I don’t really see Massa as the kind of driver I would like to support to be the champion somehow. He’s more like Eddie Irvine and Rubens Barrichello than Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen. This is purely my own bias but I know I’m not alone here

I think it’s mainly because he’s not the type of driver that will raise your heartbeat level during a race. He’s brilliant when he’s in front and when the car’s working for him (think Bahrain and Turkey) but when the chips are down, so does his level of skills (at least five spins in Silverstone!!). There’s still the question of his mental strength. Being a Brazilian, Massa is a very passionate about his driving but in order to do well in F1, you really need a calm, collected and cool head to be on top of things.

Having said that, he is keeping Ferrari ahead in the constructors’ championship, delivering when Kimi hit trouble in previous races. That is why he’s only 3 points behind Kimi with much more to play for in the last seven races. But this then poses a dilemma to the Ferrari team. Which driver to back for the final push in the championship? For now, because these two guys are so equal, resources have to be split equally between the two of them.

Compared to the Mclaren team where Lewis Hamilton is much more stronger than Heikki Kovalainen, this is an obvious disadvantage to Ferrari and only time will tell if the driver equality strategy will work for Ferrari.

BMW-Sauber started this season with a very clear objective, that is to get their first win. Hence, they came out with a very revolutionary car, in terms of design, compared to the previous season. And guess what, they got the win they wanted in the Canadian GP with Robert Kubica. As a Malaysian, it feels quite good knowing that Petronas is now sponsoring a GP-winning team.

And it’s all thanks to the consistency of their Polish driver, Kubica. He was scoring consistently in 7 of the first 8 races and got that win in Canada not because he had the fastest car but because he was able to keep up and push when needed. It all paid off when Hamilton “conveniently” took Raikkonen out at the pitlane. I would dare wager that if you had put Robert Kubica in one of the top two teams in the beginning of the season, he would be miles ahead in terms of points by now, such is the rate of mistakes being made by the Ferrari and Mclaren drivers this season.

Having said that, BMW-Sauber is definitely looking towards the 2009 season as their pace has slowed down considerably since the win and teams like Toyota, Renault and Red Bull seemed to have overtaken them in terms of speed. I guess the team feels that with the raft of changes in the 2009 rules, it is better to concentrate their development resources in the new car and they know they can’t be caught for third place in the constructors’ championship. All these strategies are being carefully and meticulously planned and executed by team boss and mastermind, Mario Theissen.

I really can’t wait for the 2009 season to begin where for sure, we will definitely see much better racing from the teams but for now, let us sit back, relax and enjoy as the F1 circus descends on Valencia next weekend.

A quick look at the F1 season so far and its top two protagonists, by Alan Ng

The F1 season is now in its traditional summers’ break before resuming racing on the 22-24th August weekend at a spanking new street circuit in Valencia. 11 races have gone by and it’s still anybody’s guess, who’s going to be the drivers’ champion this year.

The rule changes introduced this year have really thrown up some interesting races, especially with the ban of launch control and traction control. Of course, there’s still not enough overtaking and most of the time, fans have to wait till the pit-stops before they can see some real action.

The 2009 season will be even more interesting as F1 goes back to using slick tyres and most of the aerodynamic pieces on the car (which caused the hard-to-overtake situation) will be banned.

But before we jump too far ahead, let’s assess the 2008 season so far.

Click here to read the rest of Formula 1 2008 Mid-Season Report: An Intriguing Season So Far