Category: Motorsports

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Motorsports

Bruno Senna has dog of a day in Turkey

Bruno Senna, 24-year-old nephew of Brazilian triple world champion Ayrton Senna, was forced to retire from his GP2 race in Turkey on the weekend due to bizarre circumstances. Two dogs managed to find their way on to the track, and, sadly, only one made it back. Senna hit one of the strays at some pace, despite the Safety Car being sent out to enable course marshalls to capture the animals (see 2:18 on the youtube clip above original clip removed). The other dog managed to escape the track without further incident. The accident took place approximately three hours before the Formula 1 Grand Prix which was won by Ferrari’s Felipe Massa.

Source: Reuters UK

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MINI Challenge

MINI Challenge – Round 3 Wrap up

MINI Challenge - Barbagallo Raceway

Well, what a bonanza Barbagallo has dished up for this round of the MINI Challenge. More thrills and spills than anyone anticipated, or, in some cases, wanted, but alls well that ends well. The big talking point from the round was Ben Tune’s accident in Race one. The former rugby international came across the rise heading toward the final turn on the Barbagallo Raceway, before losing control on the damp circuit on lap seven. His MINI dug into the soft ground and rolled onto its roof. He was then rushed to Joondalup Hospital for precautionary scans where he stayed overnight. Earlier today he was released from hospital with no sign of serious injury. A big sigh of relief for Ben, his family and all followers of the MINI Challenge.

In the end Damien White became the third round winner in as many rounds when he swept to victory in the most hotly contested MINI Challenge race this season, while Gary Young (SALTA Constructions) scored his maiden MINI Challenge victory. Read on for more detail.

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MINI Challenge News

MINI Challenge statement on Ben Tune

MINI Challenge logo

Media statement: 11 May, 2008

Best wishes to Ben Tune

Former Wallaby Ben Tune was discharged from hospital in Perth today in good spirits and is looking forward to returning home to Brisbane.

Tune was injured in a single car accident when his car rolled over in the MINI CHALLENGE round at Barbagallo Raceway yesterday (Saturday) afternoon. He was taken by ambulance to hospital for precautionary examination overnight and underwent other medical tests today before being discharged.

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MINI Challenge

2008 MINI Challenge – Round 3 Preview

MINI Challenge - Todd Wanless

Round 3 of the 2008 MINI Challenge began at Barbagallo Raceway in Western Australia earlier today. As reported previously there’s been a few driver changes to the line up with drivers swapping seats or making their debuts, such as Todd Wanless, pictured above. But, perhaps, the driver with the most potential to rattle a few cages this weekend is Leanne Tander.

Leanne, wife of V8 Supercar driver Garth Tander, will be driving one of the MINI Uber-Star Cars this weekend. The MINI Uber-Star Cars are designed to bring a broader focus to the MINI Challenge at each round, through engaging high profile personalities from the areas of sports, entertainment and media. Leanne Tander is arguably Australia’s most credentialed female race driver, becoming the first lady racer in the world to win a Formula 3 race and in 2007, she went perilously close to wrapping up the Australian F3 Championship. She currently lies fourth in the 2008 F3 Championship. She wasted no time in staking her claim for outright honours either, posting the second fastest time in this morning’s first practice session, behind fellow West Australian David Turner.

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Motorsports

Jim Richards talks about driveBathurst

If you’ve not heard of the driveBathurst event before it is a weekend of closed circuit track day action. Open to, well, pretty much anyone really. There are, of course, regulations that do need to be met, but essentially, if you’ve got a suitable car and licensing qualifications along with a few lazy grand burning a hole in your pocket, then Mount Panorama is all yours, in all its glory!

The Event, to be held on 10-14 December 2008, comprises two categories: driveBathurst and sprintBathurst. driveBathurst is an untimed non-competitive event while sprintBathurst is a timed competition. Eligible competitors can enter both categories if they choose.

Find out more at the driveBathurst website: www.drivebathurst.com

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Formula 1

Is the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix up the Creek?

Eastern Creek International Raceway

Could the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix be heading to Sydney’s Eastern Creek International Raceway? Or will it be up the creek after Melbourne’s contract ends in 2010? As they say, all will be revealed in the fullness of time. In the lead up to the 2008 Melbourne Grand Prix there had been plenty of speculation about Australia’s future as an F1 host. One of the major issues with a race down under is the television schedule it creates back in Europe, with a broadcast time in the wee hours of the morning. This year’s race was delayed some 90 minutes to allow a bit more sleep in for European F1 fans, and next year’s race will be further delayed. Mr Formula 1, Bernie Ecclestone, has all but demanded Melbourne run the Albert Park race under lights so as to further enhance the viewing pleasure of European television audiences or face losing the event. Mr Melbourne Grand Prix, Ron Walker, would probably like to do what Bernie says, but the costs involved with lighting up Albert Park are cost prohibitive and as a result it is hard to put forward a case for the Melbourne Grand Prix existing beyond 2010. So where does that leave the future of Formula 1 in Australia?

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Targa Tasmania

Targa Tasmania – At your service

2008 Targa Tasmania

An all expenses paid trip to participate in Targa Tasmania. Sounds good doesn’t it. What would I be driving? And could it compete with Gentleman Jim’s brand new Porsche GT2? Service crew … what do you mean service crew? Yes, the offer to take part in my first Targa Tasmania was not behind the wheel of a tarmac tearaway, but behind the wheel of a service vehicle. Still, when Andrew Robinson asked me to join him and his 2002 MINI Cooper S for his fourth Targa Tasmania assault, I couldn’t say yes quick enough.

This opportunity came up by chance, as most pieces of good fortune do. As an owner of a MINI Cooper S since 2004 I’ve very much enjoyed the social aspect that MINI ownership brings. There’s been plenty of great drives and new friends made in that time. It is through such connections that I had previously met ‘Robbo’. He’s shown me the way around Wakefield Park once or twice and seems a likeable enough chap. So, let’s talk Targa…

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MINI Challenge

MINI Challenge gets Tune up in preparation for Round 3

MINI Challenge at Wakefield Park

It’s just over a week until Round 3 of the 2008 MINI Challenge fires up and the off track action since the Wakefield Park round has almost been as frenzied as the on track thrills and spills with a series of moves taking place (read the full articles below for the latest news). Round 3 of the 2008 MINI Challenge will support the BigPond 400 at Barbagallo Raceway, May 9-11, the fourth round of the V8 Supercar Championship Series.

Race 2 of MINI Challenge from Barbagallo will be shown LIVE nationally on the Seven Network’s V8 Supercar coverage, with a 30 minute post-produced highlights package airing on May 31 from 1:30pm on the network.

Former Wallaby tackles MINI Challenge

Today MINI Australia announced that former test Rugby player Ben Tune will be taking the hot seat in the Uber-Star Car in Perth. “I’m definitely excited about it,” Tune said. “It isn’t every day you have an invitation to get behind the wheel of a racecar. I’m really looking forward to having a lot of fun while I’m in Perth, but also I hope to develop further as a driver.” Tune is a noted revhead and has business interests importing a range of accessories for the motoring market. The pun possibilities here are endless, haha. All the best to Ben, I’d love to be offered a drive like this, what a blast he will have!

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Targa Tasmania

Targa Tasmania in pictures – part 2

2008 Targa Tasmania

This is the second batch of images from my 2008 Targa Tasmania experience, all taken at the Longford town stage on Day 2. Most of the cars featured are from the classic categories. After Robbo went through in his MINI Cooper S (car #923) we had to get back to Launceston to help sort one of the minor gremlins that had appeared on his car. You’ll be able to read more about that when my detailed account is posted in the coming days.

In the meantime, enjoy these images. Point of note is the Porsche 356 (car #260) which was flown out to Tasmania especially for the event direct from the Porsche musuem in Germany. The car was driven by Klaus Bischof, the museum’s director. Nice work if you can get it!

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Nissan Targa Tasmania

R35 Nissan GT-R world competition debut at Targa Tasmania

R35 Nissan GT-R at Targa Tasmania

The 2008 Targa Tasmania event marked the international racing debut for the new R35 Nissan GT-R. Sadly, the event didn’t go entirely to plan for the big Nissan, forced to withdraw from the event on Day 2 with suspension problems.

You can read more about the car’s involvement at Targa at gtrblog.com. There are also more pics below of the car at Targa Tasmania.

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BMW Formula 1

Nick Heidfeld crashes F1 car at publicity event

This is a classic ‘oops’ from Nick Heidfeld. Watch the clip above, where BMW have allowed Heidfeld to show off the BMW Sauber F1.08 at BMW’s Munich headquarters, all goes well and the usual burning rubber stunts keep the fans happy. But, at around 1:23 on the clip Heidfeld has his crash. It’s actually very tame, and nobody got hurt. But it is the lamness of the stack that makes this clip so good! We like Nick Heidfeld because he’s driven the Nürburgring in an F1 car, but bloopers like this show he’s just one of us after all.

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Targa Tasmania

Targa Tasmania in pictures – part 1

2008 Targa Tasmania prologue

Here is my first installment of Targa Tasmania articles. There’ll be a few popping up over the next few days—a few picture essays like this one, and I’ll finish the series with an account of my experience working as a service crew member for Andrew Robinson in his 2002 MINI Cooper S. In the meantime, please enjoy this selection of pictures taken from the George Town prologue on Day 0. The town stages were the only real opportunity for us to get a look at the cars in competition and I’ll also be posting up some images from the Longford town stage on Day 2.

Featured above is the Close/Close entry, a 2000 Porsche 911 Turbo, which took outright honours for the prologue in the modern category, completing the 4.81km course in 3:12.72. Very impressive indeed, considering the Richards/Oliver entry—making the world competition debut for the new 390kW Porsche 911 GT2—was back in third place with a time of 3:16.64. Other cars making their world competition debut were the new R35 Nissan GT-R—14th, 3:22.78—and the Corvette Z-06—51st, 3:34.16.

The fastest outright time in the classic category was 3:22.12 by the Pye/Geelan entry in a 1974 Porsche 911 Carrera RS. Unfortunately, this was as good as it got for car #531 as they encountered mechanical issues coming back into the service area, and their withdrawal from the event was confirmed when we saw the car parked on a trailer in our motel car park the next morning. Still, they fared a bit better than the stunning looking BMW 2002 which missed the first corner of the prologue and crashed out of the event with damage to the front left wheel assembly. Oops!

I hope you enjoy these pictures, as always you can click each image for a larger version, and keep en eye on the site over the coming days for more Targa Tasmania coverage.

Continue reading “Targa Tasmania in pictures – part 1”
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