Posted on 10 March 2010 by Tomaso
Sao Paulo Indy 300 Race Preview
Driver: Alex Tagliani
Entry: No. 77 Bowers and Wilkins FAZZT Race Team Dallara/Firestone/Honda
Event/Track: Sao Paulo Indy 300, Temporary Street Circuit, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Event Date: Sunday, March 14, 2010 11:30 a.m. on Versus
Race 1 of 17
No. 77 Bowers and Wilkins FAZZT Race Team News and Notes
This is the first race event for the newly formed FAZZT Race Team. 2010 will be Tagliani's first full IndyCar Series season and his 10th season of open wheel racing. Tagliani previously raced in the CART Series in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil and was the pole sitter of the event in 2000. Tagliani last drove at a test on Jan. 20 at Sebring International Raceway.
Alex Tagliani
"The FAZZT Race Team has done an excellent job preparing for this event. It will be the first race for us as a team but with the experience on our team it certainly doesn't feel that way. Starting the season in Sao Paulo will be good because it is a brand new track and everyone will start fresh and from the same page. No one has past information from this track so we will all be relying on our work during testing and applying that to the track. We tested well over the winter and I think we have a good place to start from on Saturday and that will be the difference for the teams this weekend as two days is not a lot of time to work on the car, you have to be happy with the car you brought to the track. I have only seen a video of this track and I think it will definitely be an interesting track to race and also a good track for the fans."
Event Notes
The course is a 2.6-mile, 11-turn temporary street circuit comprised mainly of asphalt with a section of concrete in the Sambodromo area.
This is the first time the IZOD Indy Car Series has raced in South America. The course runs through the Sambodromo, which normally serves as part of the parade route for the carnival celebration…
Posted on 10 March 2010 by Tomaso
Walter Gretzky, Alex and Eddie Shack
(Photo courtesy of FAZZT Race Team)
Alex Tagliani has been busy racking up his Frequent Flyer miles according to his FAZZT Race Team’s latest release, as hopefully he’ll remember to change into his driving boots upon arriving in Sao Paolo, eh?
As Alex Tagliani got his first opportunity as an actor playing a small speaking role for the upcoming film, Score: A Hockey Musical. Alex played himself in the film along with other Canadians such as Walter Gretzky, Marc Jordan and Margaret Atwood in a scene that was filmed at an ice hockey rink in Toronto. Alex thoroughly enjoyed the experience although he wasn't certain he would give up his role as IZOD IndyCar driver anytime soon.
"This was an incredible opportunity," said Alex. "I had so much fun doing this today! I got to put on my hockey skates again and it's been quite awhile since I had those on my feet. And I completely enjoyed meeting all of the actors and singers who are in the film. I don't think I will be pursuing a career in movies, but I had a great time and was honored to be invited to participate in the film."
As it sounds like he’ll be keeping his “Day Job” for now, eh?
Posted on 10 March 2010 by Tomaso
Last night around 5:15PM (Pacific) as Don Kay went off the Air from his weekly Autosport Radio Show, he threw out the little tidbit that Junior Strous who was apparently in the audience would be driving for HVM Racing and an announcement would be following shortly… So here’s the Press Release that was awaiting me this morning in the No Fenders mailbox.
HVM Racing Launches Indy Lights Program with Strous
Dutch Driver Eager to Take Winning Ways to IZOD IndyCar Series
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA (March 10, 2010) -
HVM Racing will participate in the 2010 Firestone Indy Lights season with a car driven by Junior Strous, with the intention of progressing the Dutch racer to the IZOD IndyCar Series. The 23-year-old driver won two races and led the FIL championship standings in 2009 before having to stop his season early. He will pilot the Shell/HVM Racing car, beginning with the series-opening Streets of St. Petersburg (Fla.) on March 28.
HVM Racing team principal and owner Keith Wiggins recognizes the benefits of a ladder system to develop drivers for the premier-level IZOD IndyCar Series and welcomes the opportunity to work with the young driver.
"Junior is a proven talent," Wiggins said. "He's won races, so we know he has good skills behind the wheel. We will start him in a (Firestone Indy) Lights car and plan to do some testing with him in the big car at some point this season also. I have no doubt that with continued development he will be in an IZOD IndyCar Series car in the future."
"I'm now closer to reaching my ultimate goal and that's racing the big IndyCars," Strous said. "If I have a chance to improve my position, I'll always go for it. The HVM partnership offers me good opportunities both for the short and long term in my racing career. HVM is the place to be to achieve my goals."
Strous will run with sponsorship from Shell and the European-based Car Channel Television Network. Car Channel has acquired the live television broadcasting rights for the IZOD IndyCar Series and Firestone Indy Lights in the Netherlands.
"The IZOD IndyCar Series has a large fan base in Europe," said Etienne Marijnissen, CEO of Car Channel. "Junior driving for Keith Wiggins and HVM is a great development for European televisions viewers, who will get a better understanding and feeling for the fast and exciting Indy Racing League. We will follow Junior and the team on and off track. It will be an exciting racing season in the highest level of motorsports."
HVM Racing currently fields the No. 78 Team Stargate Worlds/HVM Racing entry, driven by Simona De Silvestro, in the IZOD IndyCar Series.
Posted on 09 March 2010 by Tomaso
(BAT IndyCar rendering; Source: nextindycar-wordpress.com)
Coming live from its Bat lair situated somewheres in Indiana… The “5th Wheel” of New 2012 Indy Car’s has finally tipped its hands by releasing the rendering above, along with the launching of it’s new website/blog page, as the story was originally broken by Racecar Engineering.
Fifth firm to reveal Indycar 2012 concept next week
And I’ll defer to “Mr. CHiPs, nee Chris Estrada’s post for more background on the project, since he’s gone to the effort of divulging the image and website info for this story.
The BAT soars
And although I’m adamantly against the notion of covered wheels, wheel fairings or in the BAT’s case the boxed in sidepods, nevertheless I have to say I like their sketch way better then the Delta Wing’s.
Yet I’m not sure why this just finally hit me, or that I haven’t heard one single discussion over it, BUTT! How in the HELL are they gonna do those “lightning-fast” Pit stops with covered rear wheels? I mean how do you change tyres? As in has anybody looked into the problems Formula 1 had recently with its now fortunately BANNED wheel spats… Which were intended to provide front brake cooling, yet caused several tyre issues, as in those black majik rings disembarking the chassis… So, this seems like another potential recipe for problems… And what happens if/when a tyre bursts during racing, as in isn’t this just another way of potentially introducing more shrapnel to be discarded from the chassis, although I’d have to assume this has already been studied?
Posted on 09 March 2010 by Tomaso
In case by now you haven’t’ heard, Sir Stirling Moss took a nasty tumble down his home’s elevator shaft after apparently not noticing that the lift had malfunctioned, stopping on the floor above as the 80yr old Brit stepped thru the floor’s partition and fell a long ways down an empty elevator shaft Breaking both ankles, four foot bones and chipped four vertebrae, along with a lot of nasty skin abrasions…
Sir Stirling Moss recovering in hospital after lift shaft accidentThe last chance I had to see the “Best Man to never win the World Championship” was last summer whilst milling about the BRDC’s Clubhouse at Jolly ‘Ol Silverstone, but I missed him by ‘Dat Much… As I was told I’d just missed seeing Sir Stirling upon returning from the Loo…
And my favourite memory of Moss has to be upon walking past the mangled front bodywork of an extremely rare Shelby GT350R at the Monterey Historics that he’d crumpled against his opposition upon giving it the Rowdy Holmes treatment, as Moss’s solution to the crumpled front fender was to autograph it and simply walk away! (Although you’re NOT supposed to have any contact when Vintage Racing…)
Stirling Moss Speaks
Posted on 09 March 2010 by Tomaso
Whale its almost time for the season opening Indy Racing League’s kickoff event in Sao Paolo, Brazil, which I’ll apparently be missing… As I’m quite interested to know if it’ll turn out to be a good race or not? Although it’s gotta beat that other stuff on le Telescreen right now, eh?
And apparently 24 Dallara chassis have been shipped to Brazil, so we’ll have a decent field, perhaps even some of the not so Usual Suspects up front? And here’s a very brief look at some of the rule changes.
Technical changesHonda 4-position fuel map button removed, now only full rich or safety modes available in cockpit.
P2P, Err Push to assist horsepower button’s available “boost” effectively doubles along with multiple duration’s dependant upon racing circuit.
Reverse gear mandatory for all Road/Street circuits.
Hopefully Milka-licious ‘N DannaCar won’t need to use it!Brazil Entry list
Posted on 09 March 2010 by Tomaso
So this past weekend I watched a large portion of the 2hr taped delayed Australian V8 Supercars event which was taking place upon the Bahrain International Circuit, as the Commodores ‘N Falcon’s were using the newly elongated Formula 1 layout, which made for lots of very entertaining “Criss-Cross” overtaking maneuvers thru the circuit’s new portion of “Ash-fault,” so we could have a good race on our hands upcoming this weekend…
2010 F1 Rule ChangesThe F1 Class of 2010You can catch all of the action beginning very early Friday morning on the SPEED Channel, but as ALWAYS! Check your local listings...
Posted on 08 March 2010 by Tomaso
(HRT F1; Source: F1 Fanatic.co.uk)
Come On Down! You’re the very next F1 Constructor… As the former Campos Meta 1 Team broke cover last Thursday, just a scant 10 days prior to Bahrain, as the newly rebranded HRT F1 Team held a press conference in Murcia, Spain where it showed off its new Racecar along with confirming Karun Chandhok as their second driver, which has been widely expected… While I don’t know if Jose Maria Lopez was named as the Spanish squad’s Test/Reserve Driver or not, although this too was expected...
Yet I wouldn’t expect too much from either Bruno Senna or Chandhok as the chassis hasn’t turned a wheel in anger, nor run a single test session this year, so HRT will definitely be starting at a disadvantage… But then again, at least they made it to the party!
2010 Car launch:
HRT F1
HRT F1 in pictures
Posted on 08 March 2010 by Tomaso
Nah, nuthin’ to do with some Roundy-round action from somewhat Hotlanta…As I was scourin’ le internets for something to scribble ‘bout… I found it interesting to learn that Jack Roush (Senior) has just scored his most amazing 400th victory… While I thought it was simply astonishing when The Captain cracked the massive 300 mark in 2008.
So I guess its somewhat ironic that Roush’s monstrous “W” tally comes no less than from the hands of his son Jack Roush Jr. and co-driver Billy Johnson in this weekend’s Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race at Homestead, where after Roush Jr. had secured Pole Position, the Ford Mustang GT was deemed to have illegal brake ducting and forced to start from the rear of the grid.
Yet I suppose its worth noting that The King of the Outlaw’s, a.k.a. Steve Kinser has amassed more victories then either the Cat-in-the-Hat or Roger Penske with an insane 520-plus! Not to mention 20 World ‘O Outlaw titles, as interestingly it was the same Messer Kinser who made his one and only Indy 500 start as a 42yr old “Rookie” in 1997…
Posted on 08 March 2010 by Tomaso
As we already know, Vitaly Petrov is set to become the very first ever “Rooskie” to compete in Formula 1 when the Russian debutant takes his place upon the starting grid in Bahrain…
Thus it should come as little surprise that ‘Mother Russia has also struck a deal with Petrov’s Team Renault to provide signage of Russia’s Automotive brand Lada, as after all Renault previously purchased a 25% stake in Lada’s parent company Avtovaz for $1 billion in 2008, with Russia seeking to improve its automobile production capabilities, as Renault is set to introduce several models in Russia, hoping to take advantage of the countries own Cash for Clunkers program which has just begun… As Renault’s cooperative effort will boost Lada plant production to 160,000 vehicles annually, as Renault competes against Ford for the valuable market share.
Lada will be featured on the Renault R30 chassis along with Vitaly Petrov’s ‘Kit, i.e.; overalls & crash bucket, yet the Reggie’s sidepods still seem to have an abundance of sponsorship space available, although I’d expect this to be somewhat remedied this weekend, eh?
Meanwhile, also hoping to cash in on the veritable Ruble bonanza between Renault and Russia is none other then Uncle Bernaughty, (Ecclestone) who hopes for further backing of his sport by Vladimir Putin will enable him to finally crack the Iron Curtain and get his long sought after Moscow Grand Prix installed…
