Its Coming

… a new video from Stereoscreen showcasing BMW’s touring car racing history.

N24 is Emotion

Need we say more? Now feel the emotion.

What more? See beautiful pictures of the players here – Cars of N24 2014

Ripping Sound

Here’s a car – a race car – that rips through the air. There are few cars today that produce such a sound as this Ferrari 312PB. The screams are produced by a Ferrari developed flat-12 boxer engine. Yup, a boxer engine. This car was developed specifically for FIA prototype racing, especially after losing to Porsche 917 race car in the early 1970’s. This car was unfortunate in claiming victory over the competition but it won over our ears and sensations. Let’s turn it over to Petrolicious who had the opportunity to capture this historic banshee.

Charge Mazda 787B

Yup, its the classic Group C Charge Mazda 787B that we want to share. You’re probably wondering what the difference is between the 787 and 787B. Well it comes down to this: the 787B has an ECU to controlld the action of the telescopic intake for the rotary engine – how cool is that?!

However we are not focusing on how cool this car looks, but rather how GREAT it sounds! This year at the 2014 Spa Classic we found a lad who strapped a GoPro to the inside of the Mazda 787B that he was racing. Enjoy the great video demonstrating how difficult it is to pilot one of these types of cars around the famed Spa Francorchamp Circuit.

Here are some additional sounds of the race winning Mazda 787B, that was restored, and driven in demonstration laps at the 2011 24 Hours of Le Mans

After Le Mans – A Lookback Brief

Now that a few weeks have passed since Le Mans and Porsche’s epic return, companies are beginning to turn out videos of their epic battle.  Here are a few videos highlighting each manufacturer’s point of view of how it went down.

First up, Porsche tells us about their return.

Now, Audi’s recollection of the race.

Finally, Toyota wants to share their thoughts.

As an encore, here is Michelin and Porsche’s “We Are Racers” take on Le Mans.

Action From The Ring

Here are a few good videos sharing the excitement from the Nurburging 24 Hours this weekend.

How about some slow motion!

 

Spoiler alert!

 

Here’s a pit stop the old fashioned way. In fact, most of the converted race cars in the N24 retain the factory style five stud or lug wheel mounting system. Did you catch the mechanic installing them one-by-one?

 

Ever seen a complete car rebuild?  I believe the driver crashed in qualifying and the Nissan crew worked through the night to get another car sorted to race.

N24

What happens when you take the running time of Le Mans and add the Nurburgring? Easy! You get the greatest GT race in the world. It is that time of year again, we are gearing up for the 24 Hours of the Nurburgring. Because this race takes place on the one of the tightest race tracks, fans will not see any prototype cars out on track. To makeup for that, cars entered will be true GT raced cars, from purebred GT3 cars to European GT4 cars, and finally, heavily modified sports cars (called SP class) from all makes and models to fill out the field. At the announcement of this race there were 175 cars registered for the race.

While it is challenging to get complete information for the race, since it doesn’t have the same level of appeal on the world stage it is our understanding that Porsche’s Manthey Racing team will not be here this year. They have taken on the WEC with their factory Porsche efforts. Therefore the closest team we have to a factory favorite is the Falken Porsche Race Car. Nissan is here again to show the world that their GT3 spec GT-R is worthy enough to win the hardest race. Outside of those listed the favorites continue to be Audi with their R-8, Mercedes with their SLR, BMW with their GT3 Spec Z4 race car and finally McLaren will be running their MP4-12C race car. All of these cars are fielded by well qualified teams so the battle should be exciting. Finally, there will be a few teams running the factory race car program produced by BMW with the M235i Race car. It will be interesting to see how well these cars hold up to the abuse.

  Following links should help you enjoy this year’s race that will take place at the famed Nurburgring.

• Time table of race events Spotters guide (semi-complete; may not be up to date)
• Top 30 Cars Qualified for the Race
• WIGE live timing
• Live vehicle tracker
• Official Race live stream
• English Race Radio Broadcast
• Aston Martin Race Team
• Subaru NBR Factory Team
• Nissan Factory Team
• 24H Race Technical Document

82nd Running of Le Mans 24 Hours

It’s that time of year again when we drop all that have planned over the weekend to take part in watching the world’s most respected race – 24 Hours du Le Mans. This marks the 82^nd running of the world famous race, and man does it have some exciting news for this year.

What’s new for this year?

This year is the first for three top manufactures going all out to claim the top spot. This year marks the return of Porsche, running two factory LMP1 hybrid race cars set out to battle Toyota and the reigning champions, Audi. On top of that, the ACO organizers have imposed rules stating that top-tier LMP1 cars (just listed) will have to run this year’s race using roughly 30% less fuel than that of last year, which will be monitored live throughout the entire race. Let’s introduce the contenders.

Audi’s R18 E-tron quattro will run a 4 liter, turbo diesel V6 engine with flywheel hybrid technology (combined power of nearly 770HP)

 

 

Toyota’s TS040 will run a naturally aspirated V8 supplemented by a supercapacitor hybrid storage/deliver unit (combined power of 1000HP)

 

Porsche’s 919 will run a turbo V4 (yes, V4 motor) with an energy recovery system (ERS) hybrid system (combined power of nearly 800HP)

 

Garage 56 entry, which is designed for experimental cars, has been taken by Nissan’s ZEOD and will be  piloted by Nissan PlayStation GT Academy winner Lucas Ordóñez. We hope this car can make it to the end.

Corvette Racing will be returning for their 15th anniversary of running at Le Mans with guest driver Jordan Taylor, who will join Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia to battle the GTE-Pro category for the top step.

Dempsey Racing is back this year, but fielding a car produced by Proton featuring an all American team of Patrick Dempsey, Joe Foster and Patrick Long

As for the track the Ford Chicane now features rather beefy ‘baguette’ inner curbs to dissuade corner cutting (and the subsequent massive intrusion of gravel onto the track surface).

 

 

How to enjoy the race remotely!

With all that said, set aside your Saturday and Sunday plans and fill your 24H information needs from the following links:

24Hours of Le Mans Home Page (live timing and ranking)

Before this weekend’s race be sure you print off your spotters guide and study hard all thanks to the hard work from Andy Blackmore, 2014 Le Mans Spotters Guide

Live ACO Official TV-feed can be streamed directly to your iPhone/iPad or Android by the ACO Official app found here: iTunes or Google Play Store

Nismo TV will be hosting their live stream via Youtube

Static Cameras track side from Le Mans will be available here: Lemans-TV

Corvette Racing will be streaming their two cars (in car footage and pit camera) in conjuction with Fox: FoxSports

Live radio commentary is provided by RadioLemans; new this year is a webcam showing their mobile media center

Live timing can be found in three locations: http://en.lemanslive.com/ or http://www.24h-lemans.com/live/en/ or (clean single page) http://live.fiawec.com/

For those located here in the United States you can enjoy the race on TV:

TV SCHEDULE (all times EST):

Saturday, June 14 – 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM (FOX Sports 1, LIVE)
Saturday, June 14 – 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM (FOX Sports 2, LIVE)
Saturday, June 14 – 6:30 PM to 1:00 AM (FOX Sports 2, LIVE)
Sunday, June 14 – 1:00 AM to 7:30 AM (FOX Sports 1, LIVE)
Sunday, June 15 – 7:30 AM to 9:30 AM (FOX Sports 2, LIVE)
Entire race streamed LIVE on FOX Sports GO​ (if subscribed and offered in your area)

Pre-made Tweeter feeds for this year’s race

• Tweets from Drivers
• Tweets from Teams
• Le Mans News

All of these could not be possible without Thomas Baekdal

 

And of course nothing would be completed without some Videos to get you ready for the race:

Road to Le Mans

We Are Racers Series 1 & 2

 

Fun Le Man Infographic

How About a Flyback

Following Tudor’s repatriation to the United States means we are showing off new watches headed our way. Specifically we will have the opportunity to purchase their newest line of watches designed for the motorsport enthusiast.

Shortly after the introduction of Tudor Heritage Chrono, Tudor has done it again with their newest racing inspired collection: the Grantour, where one watch even comes with a flyback feature. This watch collection was produced in association of their sponsorship for the FIA World Endurance Championship, which includes the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The Grantour collection brings three new watches that share race-inspired features, but the one that has caught our eye is what Tudor calls the “two-register” automatic chronograph, representative of the two smaller dials at the 9 o’clock and 3 o’clock positions. This chronograph provides the wearer a true flyback feature, not found on the other Grantour watches. What this means is when the 4 o’clock pusher is pressed the second hand will whip back to the 12 o’clock position to start another timing interval. The flyback feature acts like a true stopwatch, where the user does not need to stop and reset the second hand for each additional measure through a series of pushes; it can all be achieved in a single push.  This is especially useful for those wanting to measure individual sector times, during a single lap. It is this feature alone that truly makes a chronograph worth owning.

Other accents for this piece include the date function located at the 6 o’clock position. The fixed outer bezel has fairly large arabic numerals ensuring time does not get misread in the split second glances at this face. Other special features include the ability to lock the pushers to prevent the accidental starting of the chronograph when the user is driving or reaching into their pockets. Locking of the pushers is achieved with a simple quarter turn.

The 42mm chronograph flyback comes in three distinct colors: black face, white face or two-tone black face with 18k rose gold. The watch can be configured with a black leather band, steel bracelet or two-tone steel and 18k gold bracelet. The automatic movement is handled nicely with an ETA 2892 while a sapphire crystal protects the hands and face from the elements. Pricing has yet to be confirmed, but the steel bracelet is estimated to be priced around $4,725 to under $5,000 USD. If there is one watch worth considering we would say this is it.

Photo credit: Tudor

Art of Overtaking

Overtaking cars while racing is very tricky business. It sounds very easy, yet difficult to implement and is absolutely nothing like the video games. To help folks see how the masters perform the Art of Overtaking, we want to share some great examples of drivers following their lines, anticipating other drivers, and powering on at the exit of the corners.

All we can say – watch and learn.

First is a two lap ride in Al Buncombe’s Nissan GT-R, racing in the 2014 Blancpain Endurance series at Monza. Al fights from 32nd out of 44cars, and ends up in 14th after two laps.

Then we sit with Steve McAleer, who drives the ModSpace Motorsports MX-5 in the Continental Tire Series from 30th to 15th position in a single lap during the 2014 race at Sebring International Raceway. Unlike the GT-R, the Miata shows it is not always about power.

If this does not get you excited about driving, then nothing will.