racing

Showing posts with label racing. Show all posts

Monday, July 18, 2011

6th consecutive win for Nobuhiro Tajima on Pikes Peak

Two days before his 61st birthday, Nobuhiro â€œMonsterâ€ Tajima was once again crowned King of the Mountain. His winning the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb for the sixth consecutive year on June 26 was no surprise, but his time was. He completed the 12.42-mile course in 9:51.278, becoming the first person to conquer Pikes Peak in less than 10 minutes.

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2011/07/how-the-monster-beat-the-mountain/

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Phil Remington, last of the soup to nuts mechanics

After serving as a B-24 flight engineer in the South Pacific, Remington returned home after World War II and headed straight to the dry lakes of California. With an ultra-modified Model A fitted with a flathead V8 Ford, he set a class record by running 136 mph and change at El Mirage.

When West Coast hot rodders started tearing up the dry lakes before World War II, he was there. When Sterling Edwards won the first bonafide sports car race staged on the West Coast after the war, he was there. When Lance Reventlow ran the first American Formula One car at Monte Carlo, he was there. When Carroll Shelby's Cobras crushed all comers from Riverside to Daytona, he was there. When John Holman and Ralph Moody were dominating the Southern stock car scene, he was there. And when Dan Gurney's All American Racers finally won Indianapolis 500, Phil Remington was there.

As director of research and development at Shelby American, Remington was responsible for hundreds of modifications to the all-conquering Ford GT40s, Mark IIs and Mark IVs. On the sketches for these fixes, there used to be a legend: " Draftsman: Remington. Designer: Remington. Engineer: Remington. Approved: Remington." Just call him the last of the soup-to-nuts mechanics.

As soon as the Scarab operation folded in 1962, for instance, Remington landed on his feet with the Cobra program. In fact, when Shelby started leasing shop space in Venice from Reventlow, Remington more or less went with the building. As he puts it, "I just changed payrolls, I guess you could say." A few weeks later, when Billy Krause broke a rear hub carrier while leading at race at Riverside in the Cobra's maiden race, Remington was the guy who picked up some forging blanks from his friend Ted Halibrand and made a set of new ones. These served as the prototypes for all future rear hub carriers which, by the way, never broke again.

Excerpts from http://www.allamericanracers.com/rem/rem-story.html

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Lamborghini Launches Gallardo LP570-4 Blancpain Limited Edition

Lamborghini has teamed up with Swiss luxury watchmaker Blancpain to create a limited edition version of its Gallardo supercar that pays homage to the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo racing cars. As you may have guessed, Blancpain is the title sponsor of the one-make racing series.

Finished in a black paintwork, the road-legal Gallardo LP 570-4 Blancpain Edition adopts the racing model's Countach-sized rear-wing and unique engine cover which is said to offer improved ventilation.

The car also gets Skorpius alloy wheels with yellow-painted brake calipers and discs made from carbon-ceramic composite, while several external components, such as the diffuser and mirror casings are made from carbon-fiber.

The racing atmosphere continues in the interior which is finished in black Alcantara with yellow accents and visible carbon-fiber.

As with the Super Trofeo race car, propulsion for the all-wheel drive model comes from the 5.2-liter V10 with 570-horsepower found in the series production Gallardo Superleggera.

Lamborghini says the Blancpain Edition tips the scales (dry) at 1340 kilograms (2954 lb) making it "the lightest road-going model in Lamborghini's range." Not to nitpick, but that's not entirely true as the Gallardo LP 570-4 Superleggera has the same exact weight. So to be precise, it shares the title with the Superleggera.

Power-to-weight ratio of the vehicle stands at 2.35 kilograms (5.18 lb) per hp with the Blancpain completing the standard zero to 100 km/h (0-62 mph) sprint in 3.4 seconds and reaches the 200 km/h (124 mph) mark only 6.8 seconds later (10.2''). Top speed exceeds 320 km/h (199 mph).

There is no word on pricing or availability of the Gallardo LP 570-4 Blancpain Edition as of this time.