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The results from Horse Thief Mile yesterday were staggering for everyone involved in our virtual versus reality project. I sat on the track scared for my life as we battled it out for virtual reality and reality. Vaughn had never driven HTM at the time or driven the Shelby GT500 on a track until yesterday. I had never raced the Shelby GT500 at HTM on Need* for Speed SHIFT until we arrived at the track as well.

When Vaughn wasn’t busy melting the tires we had some really awesome battles in our respective machines. A huge thanks to the guys at Go Pro Camera who brought us 10+ HD Motorsports Hero car cameras to really capture the event with video. We are going to get putting all this footage and data together as soon as we can. Stay tuned for when we release it all in one of the upcoming issues of Wrecked Magazine,

NOTE: This post is from an outside source.

Filed under: Motorsports

Danica qualified 12th for her first NASCAR race, the ARCA Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 held at Daytona Raceway. After a lot of bumping, a few runs through the infield, a skid or two, a race stoppage, a lot of time in the pits and a lot of running on the outside line, she finished the race in sixth.

Ironically her biggest off came courtesy of the also-new-to-NASCAR Nelson Piquet, Jr.. He qualified seventh and climbed up to sixth at one point, but bumped Danica and sent her down to 24th when she rejoined after having her car repaired. Piquet would find more ways to get in trouble before the chequered flag and finish in 27th.

Patrick was lauded by her entire team and a few others as well. It is said that part of the reason she spent so much time on the outside line was being nervous about such close racing, but sixth place is still sixth place. Based on that performance, the only female driver ever to win an IRL race confirmed that she will make her official NASCAR debut next weekend in the Nationwide Series race – that’s the race just before the Daytona 500. There she’ll get much more intense instruction that “rubbing is racing.”

[Source: Fox Sports, Sports Illustrated | Image: Sam Greenwood/Getty]SPOILER ALERT: Danica Patrick impresses in stock car debut, confirms NASCAR debut in Daytona originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 08:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Motorsports, Hirings/Firings/Layoffs, Ferrari

Ferrari got seriously caught with its pants down last year in Formula One. When Felipe Massa was sidelined with a head injury halfway through the season, the Scuderia found itself without a viable replacement after Michael Schumacher proved unfit to take his place, veteran test driver Luca Badoer failed to rise to the challenge and Giancarlo Fisichella didn’t manage to score a single point. But the venerable F1 team is learning from its mistakes with the launch of the Ferrari Driving Academy.

Similar to the programs run by Red Bull and Renault, the Ferrari Driving Academy was established to foster young talent along the ladder to Formula One, starting way down in karting. The program is run by Luca Baldisserri, the strategist who replaced Ross Brawn during his sabbatical and who currently serves as the team’s track manager.

The first pupil selected for the program is Jules Bianchi. The young French driver, managed by former Ferrari CEO Jean Todt’s son Nicholas, is the scion of a successful racing family: his grandfather Mauro Biachi won the FIA GT Championship three times, and his great uncle won the 24 Hours of Le Mans and competed in nineteen grands prix. Jules himself won the French Formula Renault 2.0 title in 2007 and the F3 Euroseries in 2009, and following his test for Ferrari in December, has scored a podium finish in his debut in the GP2 Asia series. Not a bad start, so we’d better keep our eyes open for Bianchi and future Ferrari Driver Academy pupils making their way up the ladder. Press releases after the jump.

Gallery: F1 Young Driver Test, Jerez, December 2009

[Source: Ferrari | Image: Mark Thompson/Getty]Continue reading Ferrari Driving Academy already yielding results

Ferrari Driving Academy already yielding results originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 08:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Motorsports, Hirings/Firings/Layoffs, Toyota, Racing

Some people just won’t take no for an answer. That sense of unbridled optimism could stand to serve an F1 team well, only Stefan GP isn’t an F1 team. Yet. But they hope to be, and they’re not taking no for an answer.

Late last year after Toyota departed from the series, the Serbian racing team headed by Zoran Stefanovic (pictured above at Toyota’s headquarters in Cologne, Germany) brokered a deal with the Japanese automaker to pick up Toyota’s aborted 2010 program and run with it as an independent. Stefan applied for a slot on the grid, but their bid was rejected. Now they’re banking on one of the teams that was accepted – Campos, USF1 or (less likely) Virgin or Lotus – failing to make it to the opening round in Bahrain next month.

Sounds ambitious? Definitely, but not without merit. Bernie Ecclestone is backing Stefan GP’s effort, and they’re slated to unveil their own car, powered by their own engine (both rebranded from Toyota’s program), and send it to the test session in Portugal later this month. Toyota is providing support, and Stefan has recruited a team of engineers – including several former McLaren operatives implicated in the Spygate and Liegate scandals – and former Midland/Spyker/Force India director Colin Kolles.

Word has it the team has also already lined up two experienced drivers backed by Toyota: Kazuki Nakajima and – get this – Ralf Schumacher. The younger Schumi expressed interest in returning to F1 alongside his more successful brother, and may just get his chance if another team misses theirs.

Gallery: Stefan GP gears up for 2010 F1 season

[Source: Stefan GP via ESPN]Opportunity Knocks: Stefan GP and Toyota prepare for another team’s failure originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 07:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HKS Premium Day was held just over a week ago now and it wasn’t all about on-track festivities. HKS also had an entire new turbo lineup to unveil. This is their new inhouse designed turbo lineup known as the HKS GTII.

Due to be released in March this year, HKS are also developing a full turbo kit for the Nissan GT-R that will utilize these turbos matched with a HKS exhaust manifold to directly compete with the current Trust TD06-20G kit that has been out for some time.

Source: GTR-World.net Special Report – HKS Turbo Unveiled

View Entire Article: HKS Unveil New Turbo Lineup – Nissan GT-R Full HKS Turbo Kit Inbound at GTRBlog.com Originally appeared on and © GTRBlog.com. 2010. | Read comments.

NOTE: This post is from an outside source.

Where there’s a problem there’s an opportunity must be the SSP moto because they’ve released another innovative product for the Nissan’s GR6 dual clutch transmission. A drop in replacement filter that claims to filter 90% more debris in the transmission than the standard screen.

With one transmission fluid being circulated through the gearbox protecting everything from the clutch packs to the gears, it can get contaminated pretty quickly. Upgraded fluids assist by lowering gear wear but there’s some logic in a replaceable filter.

SSP recommend replacement after 5,000 – 7,000 miles. I’d like to see some data after a few track sessions with oil analysis done, but for now it’s out there. At $219 a pop, if it proves to be a performer, this is something I can see being popular.

Link: SouthSide Performance Website

View Entire Article: SouthSide Performance Transmission Filter for Nissan GT-R at GTRBlog.com Originally appeared on and © GTRBlog.com. 2010. | Read comments.

NOTE: This post is from an outside source.

Polyphony Digital has updated their sales figures for the Gran Turismo franchise, and the company’s latest title, GT PSP is now on the list. In the four months since its release on October 1st, 2009, it has sold more than 1.8 million copies around the world, making it the sixth-best selling title on Sony’s portable console. With a suggested retail price of $39.99 (it’s roughly the same around the world), the game has brought in more than $70 million in sales – certainly enough to cover the $60 million bill for GT5.

NOTE: This post is from GT Planet.

[English Narration & Subs] Is this a fair battle? Rally Japan EVO challenges Nakaya and Kinoshita’s Super Taikyu EVO VIII on track.

A new website from the ground up has been in the works for RedLine Time Attack and the new splash page and logo is up while the site progresses to goes live. I’ve been told the new site will offer online registration and classification wizards with car/driver performance data including lap times at events.

I was at the last Willow Springs Track day where the new Redline Crew was testing an RFID lap timing system which was spot on and only requires a small piece of tape with a mini RFID transponder embedded in it. No more bulky transponders and zipties! The new system was able to track times in different zones and could even tell if a car was overdue in a certain segment of the track.

Very cool and high tech stuff going on over at Redline for the new 2010 season! I think with the new backing and Nicolas being onboard fulltime, Redline is moving from successful grassroots to pro event status.

Keep an eye on their website http://www.redlinetimeattack.com for the update to complete!