Category: Motorsports

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Formula 1 News

F1 TV Pro online streaming service announced

F1 TV Pro online streaming service

Formula 1 has announced it will be launching an online streaming service called F1 TV Pro. Launching this year, the commercial-free service will be priced at US$8–12 per month, with annual subscriptions also available. This will be sure to create shockwaves among both free-to-air and pay television networks.

Full details are yet to be announced, but we know the countries included in the initial 2018 rollout will be Germany, France, USA, Mexico, Belgium, Austria, Hungary and much of Latin America. A launch date for Australia is yet to be determined. Foxtel currently has an exclusive rights deal running until 2022.

From launch, F1 TV Pro will be accessed direct via internet. While, Apple and Android mobile apps, as well as TV apps such as Amazon will follow.

As well as the live service a cheaper option called F1 TV Access will be launched in conjunction with F1 TV Pro. F1 TV Access will provide live timing and radio commentary as well access to archival race footage.

[Source: Formula 1]

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Formula 1 McLaren Video

John Barnard talks about the McLaren MP4/1

John Watson wins the 1981 British Grand Prix driving the McLaren MP4/1

What’s so special about the 1981 British Grand Prix? It was the first race won by a car with a carbon fibre composite chassis.

That car was the McLaren MP4/1, on that day it was driven by John Watson. In the video below you can hear the car’s designer John Barnard talk about his creation and its lasting effect on the safety of the F1 cars we watch today.

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Formula 1 McLaren

McLaren dares to praise Alain Prost

Alain Prost, 1985

As custodians of The greatest F1 rivalry of all timeâ„¢ McLaren is in the unique position of having the luxury of curating the legacies of not one, but two of its most iconic drivers. For reasons too controverisal to dissect now Ayrton Senna is the beneficiary of “the good guy” status, which unwittingly leaves his adversary Alain Prost to play the role of “the bad guy”.

Over the years, then, for fear of reminding people that Prost won four world titles to Senna’s three, as just one example, Prost’s name is usually in the shadows to Senna’s spotlight. If you didn’t live through the 1980s and early 1990s you could be forgiven for thinking Prost drove for anyone but McLaren, such is the team’s willingness to remind everyone of Senna’s legacy in McLaren’s red and white livery.

So for this unabashed Prost fanboi I was impressed to see that McLaren can and has pumped up Alain’s tyres. Follow the link below to read the nine reasons you should dig Alain.

Of course you only need one: Prost is the greatest!

[Source: McLaren]

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Kahn Motorsports

Speed 7 retro rocket set for reality

Kahn Design Speed 7

This seriously cool looking Speed 7 is little more than a sexy rendering at this stage. But if Afzal Kahn gets his way his Kahn Design business will be making these retro racers for real.

Finished with an aluminium or carbon composite body the Speed 7 is designed for track day racers. It’s very much pie in the sky at the moment with the release below stating:

“Kahn is currently inviting discussion with British firms interested in taking part in the project and with a passion for classic motorsport. Collaboration in the areas of infrastructure, manufacturing and associated services is particularly welcome.”

Keep your fingers crossed though, because Kahn wants to get this project off the drawing board this year. We wish him well.

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Porsche Red Bull Racing WEC

Mark Webber wins at the Nürburgring again!

Mark Webber maiden wins at the Nurburgring

Mark Webber must love the Nürburgring. Back in 2009 he cracked his maiden Formula 1 victory in the Eifel mountains and early this morning he, along with his Porsche teammates, won the 6 Hours of Nürburgring. It was Mark’s first WEC race win.

It was a huge day for Porsche too, who dominated with 1–2 victories in both the LMP1 and GTE Pro categories.

Full results available HERE.

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Porsche WEC

Porsche extends LMP1 program until 2018

2015 24 Hours of Le Mans

Success breeds success and Porsche is hoping to live that mantra after extending its LMP1 program until at least the end of the 2018 season.

The news follows the company’s 17th Le Mans victory in June and ahead of this weekend 6 Hours of Nürburgring.

“Motorsport is an important part of Porsche’s brand identity—but not an end in itself,” said Matthias Müller, Chairman of the Executive Board of Porsche AG. “Racing has got to help the technology of future road going sports cars. It was the revolutionary efficiency regulations that convinced us to return to top-level motorsport for the 2014 season.

“That we have managed to take the crown jewels of endurance racing in only our second year, with a one-two result in Le Mans in 2015 with our highly innovative and complex 919, is an outstanding testimony to the people in the Weissach research and development centre.

“The competition bears fruits and we see further potential for future synergy between the racing and road car programs. This is why we have extended the program.”

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Motorsports Nissan

Matthew Simmons wins 2015 GT Academy

Matthew Simmons, 2015 GT Academy winner

Matthew Simmons is Australia’s latest high-achiever in the international motorsport arena. The 26-year-old has just topped a field of 30 finalists to win the 2015 GT Academy, which will land him a race seat with Nissan in the Dubai 24 Hour race in January next year.

Simmons’ started the final race of the International Camp from pole position and was fighting for the lead until his 370Z suffered mechanical problems and he dropped off the pace. He was still in the running for the overall win, however and was over the moon when he named the winner.

“I genuinely can’t believe it. I’m on top of the world,” Simmons said. “Unfortunately a mechanical problem took the race out of my hands, but that’s motorsport and you can’t hide that, and I think in the early stages of the race I really showed the potential of what I can do.

“The wait on the podium was killing me, but when Rob said my name I had to do a double take. I can’t believe he said it, and I’m now a racing driver!

“My journey has been massive in the last 18 months to here. I’ve had so many people supporting my dream, and they’ve given me so much confidence and made me believe I could achieve what I’ve wanted for so long—to become a racing car driver.

“The GT Academy program is amazing. You can really tell the driver development program trains you to become an athlete, and they teach you all the aspects, so by the time you reach that pinnacle and you’re at Dubai 24 Hours, you’re ready to take on the world.”

All the best to Matt, we look forward to following his career. He has some lofty shoes to fill, with Nismo’s GT Academy team winning the 2015 Bathurst 12 Hour and former GT Academy alumni Jann Mardenborough and Lucas Ordonez mixing with the world’s best in LMP1 at Le Mans.

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Nissan WEC

Nissan puts GT-R LM wacky racer on hold

2015 24 Hours of Le Mans

After its disastrous Le Mans campaign Nissan has officially put the competition return of its GT-R LM Nismo on hold. The WEC returns in just over two weeks for the 6 Hours of Nürburgring (30 August).

Shoichi Miyatani, President of NISMO, explains: “We are racers and we want to compete but we also want to be competitive.

“That is why we have chosen to continue our test programme and prepare the GT-R LM NISMO for the strong competition we face in the World Endurance Championship.

“When you innovate you don’t give up at the first hurdle. We are committed to overcoming this challenge.”

Nissan says it will continue testing “predominantly but not exclusively in the United States” and will provide updates on its developments and the return to competition in due course.

Nissan’s full statement can be read below.

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Auctions & Sales Motorsports Porsche

Porsche 956 for sale, only driven on Sundays

Le Mans winning Porsche 956.003

This Porsche 956 is up for sale at the forthcoming Gooding & Company Pebble Beach Auction (15–16 August). It’s chassis 956.003, the car that spectacularly won the 1983 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Astute readers will know there’s a strong Australian connection with this car as 1983 was the year Vern Schuppan won Le Mans, alongside American duo Hurley Haywood and Al Holbert. The car famously crossed the line with smoke pouring from its left side and stopped after crossing the finish line. There’s a brief video after the break showcasing the car’s crowning glory.

Chassis 956.003 holds an impressive record and is one of Porsche’s most successful racecars. In addition to its Le Mans victory it finished second at Le Mans in 1982. Over its competitive life the car racked up 1000km race wins at Spa, Fuji and Imola, as well as winning the 9 Hours of Kyalami.

And, according to the Gooding & Company price guide, it can be all yours for somewhere between US$7–9 million. It really is a car that Porsche should have in its own museum.

[Source: Gooding & Company]

UPDATE 18 August: The car sold for US$10,120,000!

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Formula 1 Red Bull Racing Video

I am Daniel Ricciardo

Daniel Ricciardo

No, I’m not Daniel Ricciardo, but he is. Infiniti Red Bull Racing has put together a short clip with Daniel. Check it out below and hear what the three-time Formula 1 Grand Prix winner has to say about the beginnings of his career.

There’s also a few words after the video taking us through Daniel’s pathway to F1.

And if you’re a Daniil Kvyat fan, you might want to watch this.

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BMW Motorsports Random wallpapers

BMW Motorsport icons never die

BMW 3.0 CSL

BMW USA will be participating in the 2015 Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion later this month and has come up trumps with a few photos of its past motorsport icons.

We liked the pics of the 3.0 CSL aka the Batmobile and the mid-engined M1. And because we’re nice folks here at AUSmotive we sharing these pics with you now. Check them out below and remember to click on the images to load the 2560px mega image sizing.

UPDATE 18 August: New image added above.

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Formula 1 Honda

Very cool 1968 Honda RA302 illustration

1968 Honda RA302 illustration by Road & Track

British company Stuart Taylor Motorsport has recreated a replica of the 1968 Honda RA302 Formula 1 car. If you know about the car’s history this may seem an unusual choice, as the Stuart Taylor website explains:

The RA302 of 1968 is something of an oddity, introduced with a magnesium skinned monocoque and an air cooled v8 engine it was certainly innovative and there had been plenty of outside the box thinking going on—the driving position was very far forward and left the drivers legs very exposed to serious damage though with hindsight that would have been a relatively minor bruise compared to the very public death of Jo Schlesser in a RA302 fireball at Rouen —after testing the car John Surtees wisely chose not to run the new 302 however Honda France chose to run the car with Schlesser and after 2 laps the car speared off the track and rolled, swiftly igniting the full tanks of fuel and trapping the driver in an appaling public cremation.

The car was never properly developed and Honda left the world of F1 racing soon after—one car can be seen in the Honda museum.

We came across the story via Road & Track and that’s where we found this impressive illustration from the magazine’s own archives. You can see a couple of grabs of the double-page spread here, but make sure you follow the link below for the full picture. It is seriously cool!

[Source: Road & Track]

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