Archive for Motorsports

It looks like our friend Karamjit Singh is not having much luck at Leg One of the Malaysian Rally 2009 today. The course is a tricky one and rain had made it even worse. The Proton Satria Neo Super 2000 ended up in a ditch during SS2 and had to be towed out. “In SS1 we stalled many times and we had to reverse many times so we lost more than a minute. Then in SS2 we were doing much better but unfortunately I clipped a corner too early and ditched the car,” said Karamjit.

The duo of Karamjit and his navigator Jagdev will start again tomorrow. Motor Image Racing Team’s Cody Crocker finished Leg One in 2 hours, 3 minutes and 15 seconds in his Subaru Impreza WRX, while his rival Katsu Taguchi who looked like he was going to finish second place crashed his Evo 9 in a ditch in SS7. He had earlier also damaged his car in SS3. Full results available here.

Look after the jump for shots of both Crocker’s WRX and Taguchi’s Evo 9.

Click here to read the rest of Karamjit’s Neo S2000 ditched in SS2 Leg One

F1 fans who are eagerly anticipating the temporary return of Michael Schumacher to F1 will probably let out a sigh of disappointment after you read this piece of news – Schumi will not be driving Massa’s F1 car after all. I’m sure you know why – it’s been a source of concern for quite some time now. It’s his neck injury.

“Unfortunately I’m not able to step in for Felipe. The consequences of the injuries caused by the bike accident in February, fractures in the area of head and neck, unfortunately have turned out to be still too severe. That is why my neck cannot stand the extreme stresses caused by Formula One yet. I really tried everything to make that temporary comeback possible. I am disappointed to the core. I am awfully sorry for the guys of Ferrari and for all the fans which crossed fingers for me. All I can do now is to keep my fingers crossed for the whole team for the coming races,” said Michael on his official website.

Ferrari has announced that their test driver Luca Badoer will replace Schumacher at Valencia this month. He has been with Ferrari as a test driver since 1998.

Related Posts:
VIDEO: Massa’s first interview after his crash
Schumacher training with a F2007 race car
Michael Schumacher returns to F1!
Massa crash puts him in serious but stable condition

2009 F60 Formula 1 car.

Michael Schumacher is racing in a Formula 1 car again, and the whole world is excited about it. He is a racing legend, and is perceived by many as the ‘best’ Grand Prix driver there is. Schumacher, who has temporarily taken over Massa’s race seat following the Brazilian’s freak accident last weekend in Hungary, is now undergoing extensive training programs to prepare himself for his first race since 2006’s Brazilian Grand Prix.

Highlights of his training program would be made up by: physical exercise, driving in a Ferrari simulator and actually driving a real Formula 1 car. All of these have to be cramped within three weeks, since the European Grand Prix at the streets of Valencia happens on August 23rd. With the physical exercise, the 7 times World Champion will focus on his stamina and neck muscles, especially after suffering from a motorcycle crash in February.

2007 F2007 Formula 1 car.

The Formula 1 simulator is an important part of his training. Modern Grand Prix drivers rely on this tool, since it is the next best thing there is, after driving the actual car. Especially these days, when there is a mid-season testing ban, it becomes more important. The simulator offers real-life driving scenarios, with tracks that are developed using laser technology and satellite images. Even the virtual car features real-life driving characteristics, and various scenarios can be added, such as different weather conditions, rain for example. The simulator works like those high quality racing games available out there, although it is definitely better.

The part where the 40-year old has to drive the real car is the most important one. Unfortunately, there is a mid-season testing ban. However, there is a loophole. Schumacher is allowed to drive the F2007 race car, which is the car used for the 2007 championship. The car was not supplied by Ferrari and wasn’t classified a test car. In fact, the car is provided by F1 Clienti, which is a workshop owned by Ferrari, meaning the German is allowed to drive it. Schumacher just concluded his first test yesterday, at the Mugello circuit and the results were positive.

The car is of course outdated and was developed using different rules set by the FIA, but Ferrari fitted slick tires (from a GP2 car) and ran the car. Ferrari has requested permission to use this year’s F60 race car, but has only received the green light from FOTA (Formula One Teams Association). The Prancing Horse is waiting for the FIA’s verdict regarding the matter.

Michael Schumacher is now back in Formula One! The 7 times world champion will be racing in Felipe Massa’s seat for the European Grand Prix in Valencia on the 23rd of August 2009 and will do so for the rest of the season until Massa is ready to be back in the driver’s seat.

This must be something big for Schumacher himself as well, as he has probably in a mental state that F1 is a chapter that is pretty much closed in his life. They say quit while you’re ahead right? The 40 year old also has to physically prepare himself for the sport now as he is not exactly in F1 driving shape since retiring from the sport in October 2006, and this calls for extensive fitness programs.

“The most important thing first: thanks God, all news concerning Felipe are positive. I wish him all the best again. I was meeting this afternoon with Stefano Domenicali and Luca di Montezemolo and together we decided that I will prepare myself to take the place of Felipe. Though it is true that the chapter Formula 1 has been closed for me since long and completely, it is also true that for loyalty reasons to the team I cannot ignore that unfortunate situation. But as the competitor I am I also very much look forward to facing this challenge. Ultimately I like challenges and this is a great challenge,” said Schumi.

I’m sure droves of fans who say they have begun to lose interest in the sport will flock back to their TV sets for the races now that there is a very interesting new contender.

New shocker in the Formula One scene – BMW has announced that it will be exiting F1 at the end of 2009, after a 3 year run in the team’s current incarnation, the BMW Sauber F1 team. In the middle of 2005, BMW acquired the Swiss team Sauber and took to the starting grid under the team’s new name.

“Unfortunately, we were unable to meet expectations in the current season. Nevertheless, our ten years of Formula One experience have had a major impact on our development engineers. We have racing to thank for numerous technological innovations as well as the competitive spirit that drives us to develop mass-produced cars,” said board member Dr. Klaus Draeger.

NEW VIDEO: BMW withdraws from F1

“The main reason for this decision was not our current performance in Formula One racing or the general economic situation. It was solely the company’s strategic realignment. Premium will increasingly be defined in terms of sustainability and environmental compatibility. This is an area in which we want to remain in the lead. In line with our Strategy Number ONE, we are continually reviewing all projects and initiatives to check them for future viability and sustainability. Our Formula One campaign is thus less a key promoter for us. Mario Theissen has been in charge of our motor sports program since 1999. We have scored a large number of successes in this period, including some in Formula One racing. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Mario Theissen and his team for this,” said chairman Dr. Norbert Reithofer.

Looks like the green movement killed yet another Formula One team, as similiar reasons were given by Honda when it decided to exit the sport. BMW will continue to participate in other sports like the ALMS, and of course, Formula BMW. These activities will continue to be supervised by Mario Theissen. The focus in the future will be more on programs like Efficient Dynamics.

I’m not sure what’s going to happen to the team. Perhaps someone will buy them over, and one man rumoured to possibly step in and take over the team is Peter Sauber, the man whose name is the other half of the team’s name. Whatever it is, BMW will work to find solutions for all current F1 employees, and someone else taking over is definitely one of them. Our national oil company Petronas could continue their F1 sponsorship with this new team and their new owners, if they choose to remain in the sport.

Right before the crash… look at the throttle and brake position indicators

28 year old F1 driver Felipe Massa is currently in the AEK military hospital’s intensive care unit after an accident at the Hungarian Grand Prix left him with a fractured skull, a concussion and a cut on his forehead above his left eye.

Massa’s helmet was hit by an 800 gram (0.8kg) spring that came off Rubens Barrichello’s Brawn GP car right before Turn 4 on the track. Right after he was hit, he lost consciousness for about 2 seconds and in an F1 car at such high speeds that’s alot of distance to be covered. It was not enough for him to stop in time and he crashed into the Turn 4 tyre barrier.

He was sent to the AEK via a helicopter and underwent surgery immediately. His condition is serious and life-threatening but luckily stable. Ferrari described the outcome of the surgery as “positive”. Unfortunately this means he will miss the Hungarian race day as he has to stay in the ICU for observation.

Click here to read the rest of Massa crash puts him in serious but stable condition

Did you know that the GEMS computer system in the Proton Satria Neo S2000 tracks and logs over 50 variables and has two settings – stage and road? Stage mode uses the standard race settings but road mode is used when the rally car has to travel on regular roads with traffic between stages.

In road mode, the engine runs on less aggressive tuning so it runs quieter and etc. These are just a few of the interesting bits of info about rally cars like the Proton Satria Neo S2000 that should be quite interesting to the enthusiast. Let’s go into more.

The car runs on two different suspension, brake and tyre packs, known as the gravel pack and the tarmac pack. The gravel pack uses smaller wheels of only 15 inches in size. This is so that larger tyres with thicker sidewalls can be used, for the purpose of enduring the tough gravel road conditions. The suspension travel is also longer, and the suspension arms are heavier and stronger. The gravel pack also uses a sumpguard to protect the gearbox and other components from rocks and etc but in both packs, the entire bottom is flat for aerodynamics purposes, and the rear has a diffuser.

The tarmac pack has larger 18 inch wheels, and thinner tyres. The larger wheels are to fit larger 350mm brakes, compared to 300mm on the gravel setup. The tarmac setting requires larger brakes because a tarmac course generally works the brakes harder.

Look into the engine bay and somehow you get the image of some kind of mechanical squid lying in there. I blame the recent Transformers and Terminator madness. This odd image is partly because of the thick ceramic coated (resulting in the white appearance) exhaust manifolds sticking out of the engine and heading towards the rear. The ceramic coating is to keep the exhaust heat in the exhaust and not let it spread to the other components of the car. Keeping the exhaust at a higher temperature also helps with exhaust velocity, allowing the exhaust to escape faster.

The engine bay is a mechanic’s dream, with each component placed in a position for easy access and repair or replacement. The ability to craft such a layout comes with experience and that is what the builders MEM have. The gearbox ratios can be changed in 10 minutes, and the entire gearbox in 12 minutes. It has to be fast because of the 20 minute service interval in rallies, so components are designed to be changeable within those periods of time.

The gearbox is a specced down version of the X-trac gearbox in the Citroen WRC car. The engine should be familiar to you guys now, it is a config that is commonly used whenever a Proton race car needs a 2.0 liter engine. The 1.8 liter Renault engine from the Waja 1.8X is used, and has its displacement increased to 2.0 liters. It produces 278 horsepower at 7,600rpm and and a massive 271Nm of torque at 7000rpm, with a usable powerband of between 5,500 to a screaming 8,500rpm.

Get into the interior and at first you might get confused by the seemingly messy array of exposed raw parts and rollcage bars. It looks that way for the purpose of weight reduction. However the upper dash area itself is more “posh” compared to the standard Neo. It has a black felt covering to reduce dashboard glare on the windscreen, to help the driver see on glaring days.

The handbrake lever is quite interesting. It uses hydraulics, but where are the hydraulics stored? The oil is actually stored in the handbrake lever itself, so you actually unscrew the top of the handbrake lever to access the oil. When you pull the handbrake, the gearbox automatically disengages the rear axle from being driven, as the rear brakes aren’t going to do much when the rear wheels are still being driven by the powerful engine.

Next to the handbrake is the gear change lever. Simply push forward to downshift and pull back to upshift. You don’t have to operate the clutch unless you are rolling off from a stand-still as the gearbox automatically cuts itself off from the engine when you shift. This means you can shift while you have your pedal to the metal, no need to lift-off. This means faster shifts.

Of course in the end you realise that most of the components of the car are third party. What’s left of the Neo is just the chassis and body design itself, which is widened (not just aesthetics, the wheel arches are widened even when you look on the inside). You may wonder what exactly is the benefits of using a Satria Neo chassis? I’m not sure if the chassis is the best but there are a few benefits.

For one, the Neo already has a lower roof height compared to other cars, so this helps with lowering the center of gravity. You cannot take a car with a higher roof and change the roofline for rally car spec because it is against the rules. Secondly. you cannot change the placement of the wheels, and the Neo’s wheels are already at the edges of the car with minimal overhangs so this helps with the car’s agility and balance.

So there you have it, some interesting tidbits about the Satria Neo Super 2000 rally car. Look after the jump for new hi-res photo gallery of a white Satria Neo S2000.

Click here to read the rest of Cool facts: the Proton Satria Neo S2000 racer

The FIA have announced that a deal has been reached with the FOTA and the breakaway series will not happen, instead next year’s Formula One series will continue with a full grid consisting of the existing teams and three new players – Manor, Campos and US F1.

The deal involves the teams reducing championship competing costs down to early 1990s levels within 2 years, via internal cost cutting measures. Thing is, I’m not sure what 1990s levels are, anyone have any idea? It must be higher than the 40 million budget cap though, for the manufacturers to accept it. The manufacturer teams have also agreed to assist the new entries for 2010 by providing technical assistance.

The final bit is that FIA president Max Mosley will not stand for re-election in October this year. That must have been part of the agreement – they want Max out and Max is out. The Max and Bernie circus will end this October. FOTA appears to be in the stronger position now and next they will probably try to get the commercial rights holder to give them more share of the cash, something they have been complaining about for the longest time.

Honda has always been associated with motorsports, ever since from day one with their founder Soichiro Honda. It began with Mr Honda heeding the call to compete in the Isle of Man TT races. It was a classic “win on Sunday, sell on Monday” case for Honda, and a real need in the face of looming bankruptcy because the Juno scooter flopped.

It had many issues – it had reliability issues and was too heavy, thus making it underpowered. Honda needed to sell bikes to get sales on the move again, and motorsports was one way to get the brand out there. The Tourist Trophy race program on the Isle of Man was Soichiro Honda’s choice of platform to showcase his race bikes. It took him 5 years for the first Hondas to race on the island, and 2 years later, Honda bikes won the Tourist Trophy category that they were racing in!

It’s a shame that they had to pull out of F1 at the moment due to the high costs associated. But I believe that it’s only something temporary, as Honda has been in and out of F1 before. They’ve been involved in F1 way back – since the 1960s, and they even won a race in 1965, just one year after they joined. And that amazing chassis that’s contributing to Brawn GP’s success now is the result of Honda F1 engineer development.

Even if they are not in F1 (they could possibly join the FOTA’s new Grand Prix Racing though?), they are still heavily involved in many other types of motorsports, both bikes and cars. Many of the technologies gained through racing R&D have been channeled into their road cars and bikes. Amongst many other races, in Malaysia, a factory team never fails to join the MME endurance race every year, and it races an NSX in the Super GT race.

VIDEO: Honda Motorsports “Reasons to Exist” – MME 2008

Their MME team is manned by Honda Malaysia staff and it helps them build team spirit, not to mention the knowledge and experience they gain under Mugen when building the race car. This is another way that motorsports can help a car company.

The Honda NSX-GT was in Malaysia during the weekend. It’s a race car based on the NSX, or the Honda New Sports eXperimental, a rear wheel drive, mid-engine mounted sports car powered by either a 3.0 liter or 3.2 liter V6 VTEC engine.

The NSX-R GT came much later as a response to the requirements of Super GT car requiring production car homologation. It was limited to a production run of only 5 cars to comply with JGTC rules. The NSX production car sales halted in 2005 to make way for a new V10 supercar (which was later put on hold around the same time as Honda pulling out of F1), but the NSX GT cars continued racing in the Super GT.

EPSON Nakajima Racing team is geared up to start

The Honda NSX Super GT car races in the GT500 class and runs a tuned up C32B engine, with displacement increased from 3.2 liters to various figures depending year to year. It was 3494cc in 2008 but this year lower at 3,396cc, but they all put out a rated 500 PS. There are even years where a force inducted 3.0 liter was used. The race car has evolved significantly since the road car, even down to the fact that the engine is now mounted longitudinally instead of transverse as per the road car.

VIDEO: Honda NSX GT car on-board cam at Fuji

In the GT500 race during the Sepang leg of the Japan Super GT last weekend, the NSX took 2nd (Keihin NSX) and 3rd place (ARTA NSX) after a Nissan GT-R, which very competitive considering that some might consider it an old chassis. Fourth position also went to the Raybrig NSX, with HIS Advan Kondo’s GT-R trailing it at 5th place.

Honda is currently having a competition called “Our Challenging Spirit” contest where you can basically nominate your friend with a Honda and Honda Racing-liked value (there are two – Passion and Dedication) and a reason for why you think your friend encompasses the spirit of Passion or Dedication, in under 300 words. You have to upload a picture of the person you are nominating.

Then you also have to fill up a slogan (example of Challenging Spirit) of not more than 100 words. Winners will be chosen based on both reasons for nomination and the required slogan. You can follow updates on the competition and Honda Racing updates at the Honda Racing Malaysia Facebook page. Go on, join and become a fan, I have!

If you any favorite nominee you noticed, do let us know in the comments so we can go check the nominee out together!

Click here to read the rest of Challenging Spirit: Honda and Motorsports

US GPE, which will be racing in next year’s Formula 1 World Championship has officially revealed its intention of having current Indy Car racer Danica Patrick on board the outfit.

The team’s sporting director, Peter Windsor said, “We’re getting near to the point where we start looking at drivers and Danica is on our list for sure, because she’s the best-placed American in the leading single-seater championship of the United States.”

He also added that, “There are some other great drivers out there, Marco Andretti, Graham Rahal, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Jonathan Summerton…the list goes on. There are some really good guys and we’ve got to start focusing on that.”

27-year old Danica Patrick currently races for the Andretti Green Racing team and has thus far finished four times in the top five, after seven races of the current season. Last year she finished sixth in the championship standings and became the first female to win a major closed-course auto race in April at Twin Ring Motegi. The Charlotte-based US GPE will compete next year with Cosworth powerplants, and has yet to select which rule it will run with, with or without the budget cap.

Regarding the current situation between FOTA and the FIA, Windsor revealed, “We are open to the political instability. We’re building various iterations of the car based around the ways we think the regulations could go.”

Related Posts:
American USF1 drivers: Scott Speed and Danica Patrick?