The Axis GT3 Cup resting at the TRG shop, waiting ominously, lulling its enemies into a false sense of security ahead of the next outing, at Laguna Seca in a couple of weeks. Now that's ridiculously cool, thanks to TRG for the picture.
TRG is of course the Axis team for IMSA GT3 Challenge. They are awesome pros at what they do.
"When we are not busy shooting client work we like to shoot some personal projects with our friends and our buddy Shinji just happens to own a RWB 964 named "Good Hills Speed". Like all RWB's customers Shinji-san is passionate about his Porsches and is a very humble, fun and kind hearted person.
We asked Shinji-san "Why do you like RWB?" and Shinji made sure to tell us the most important key points of his car in English.
We told you it would happen, but even we are surprised by how much Toyota, the power behind the e-Wolf Alpha 1, would crush the previous record.
The old record, held by Peugeot, was 9 minutes 1.338 seconds and we were expecting something around the 8 minute mark, we were off by quite a bit. The new 100% electric record stands at 7:47.794!
to put it in perspective, that's faster than Porsche was able to drive a Nissan GT-R, faster than a 997 Turbo, faster than a 360 Challenge Stradale. OK it's a Radical but it was running on road legal tires which eerily make the only noise you hear!
Official press release and full laps are after the jump....
NEW EV LAP RECORD FOR TMG
30 August 2011
Toyota Motorsport GmbH (TMG) has set a new lap record for an electric vehicle (EV) at the legendary 20.8km Nürburgring Nordschleife circuit in Germany.
The TMG EV P001, with 100% electric powertrain and Jochen Krumbach at the wheel, set a new lap record of 7mins 47.794secs to beat the previous lap record, which stood at 9mins 1.338secs, by a very substantial margin.
Using two electric motors, the TMG electric powertrain has a top speed of 260km/h which combined with 800Nm of torque to achieve impressive speeds on the extremely challenging Nordschleife track, which includes significant elevation changes and lengthy flat-out sections.
TMG’s target prior to the 29 August record run was to become the first electric vehicle break the eight-minute barrier and this was achieved comfortably on a day when the notoriously changeable Nürburgring weather stayed fine, although track temperatures were relatively low.
Such performance shows TMG’s electric powertrain is ideal to power any future single-make electric motorsport series and TMG will begin commercial sales of this technology in 2012. TMG continues to advance its electric vehicle capability for motorsport applications with in-house development of the electric powertrain and ongoing investigations into alternative chassis solutions.
Pascal Vasselon, TMG’s Technical Director, said: “The goals for this project were twofold: obviously we wanted to set a new EV lap record and I am very pleased we could achieve that so comprehensively. On the other hand, we also wanted to learn more about the operation of our electric powertrain in extreme circumstances; in motorsport there is no more extreme circuit than the Nürburgring. On the record lap the TMG EV P001 performed better than in testing due to the improvement we already could make based on that experience. We have enhanced our electric powertrain development thanks to the information our engineers have gained and our future EV products will benefit from this project.”
Rob Leupen, TMG’s Director Business Operations, said: “This is a very impressive achievement which really shows the huge potential for electric powertrains to deliver fast, exciting action on the race track. There’s no doubt that electric motorsport can be every bit as thrilling as traditional racing and it was an amazing sensation to watch the TMG electric vehicle fly past on the Nordschleife, with only the sound of wind rushing past and tyres squealing. To achieve a new lap record at the first attempt, and by such a huge margin, is a great achievement and I am very proud to see TMG’s name in the record books. But this is not the end of the story for TMG and I hope we will see our electric powertrains in action on the track again soon.”
The new lap record was completed on road-legal tyres, using the complete Nordschleife track. It was verified by independent lap timing.
TMG extends its thanks to its partners in this achievement: Aguti created and implemented the livery concept while rational motion integrated the electric powertrain, traction battery and control strategies. EVO Electric motor technology delivered the power. The TMG EV P001 is based on a Radical chassis as modified by TMG for e-WOLF.
Tough day for Colombian driver Felipe "Pipe" Merjech.
Merjech was driving his 430 Challenge, possibly the only one in Colombia in the 3 Hours of Bogota.
As you can see from the first part of the video, with most cars being mid 90s hot hatches, it's basically an exercise in dodging slower traffic.
Not everything is slower than the 430 however, that pesky little yellow car in the rear view mirror in a Salamandra, a colombian built bike engined prototype. The Salamandra is quite clearly faster in the corners though the Ferrari pulls away on the straights. You can probably see where this is going... the good thing is no humans were injured and even the Ferrari looks to have pulled though incredibly well considering the impact.
Not sure how the underwear of the marshal atop the tower the 430 hits fared.
A side note, for you fans of SpeedTV Latinoamérica, that is Diego Mejia in the yellow Clio Cup getting passed at around 3:15. Diego won the Touring Class. Motorsport Journalist that are actual tracktards FTW!
(Thanks to Andres and CG for the local reporting!)
Let's get one thing out of the way, if the Red Bulls did not have that blistering issue they most likely might have lapped the field in Belgium. That said, I don't want to fall into the "it's just the car" trap, Vettel drove the way only a great driver perfectly in tune with a machine designed around him can. He managed the tire issue without panic and was just stunning. That outside pass on Rosberg is proof enough. Yes he caught a break with the safety car but do you really believe this would have ended any other way?
Red Bull got a 1-2 with two cars on different strategies even with Webber once again totally blowing the start. Now I don't believe Webbo is a retard who can't use a clutch so once again I have to raise the question of why exactly it's always his that will not work....
Hamilton is the opposite of Vettel, he does not seem to be capable of playing it cool and many of his accidents are the result of his inability to look past what's immediately in front of him. It is the fatal flaw in his character and something he will need to conquer if he ever plans to be World Champion again, barring a completely dominant car.
Jenson Button on the other hand seems to be conquering his own flaw, inconsistency. He drove a hell of a race again, coming from behind, using his head and staying cool. Big props to Jense once again.
Alonso was the usual pit bull, He had a lucky escape in turn one and a stellar first part of the race but the Ferrari just does not work with low track temperatures so there is not much he could do on the harder tires.
Awesome start by Rosberg who read the start melee perfectly only to come up against the limitations of the Mercedes in a couple of laps.
If there was a star of the race it would have to be Schumacher, 20 years after his F1 debut, when Jaime Alguesaury was feeding from a bottle, "grandpa" Michael shut his critics up once and for all, 24 th to 5th place, consistently faster than Nico, you got to love it, oven if you're a hater.
Senna, well, I think he did himself much harm in just one braking zone.
One last word about DRS, I'm still very conflicted. It's nice to mix it up but I want to see passes under braking, not artificial assists on the straights, do you feel the same way?
I apologize, but the whole Hurricane Irene thing got in the way this week end, I'll have our usual summary later in the week.
Meanwhile, here was a key incident of the Belgian GP, discuss....
Nick Heidfeld showed up at Spa in full Renault F1 regalia giving interviews left and right. The German is suing Lotus Renault after being kicked out of his seat in favor of a well funded Bruno Senna and in advance of a court hearing in two weeks, Heidfeld wanted to make sure he fulfilled the terms of his contract to a t. I imagine if both Bruno and he showed up at a sponsor event? ....aaaaawkward.
One has to believe there is more behind this story than is out right now. Lotus must be desperate for money, otherwise why keep the driver with less championship points? Petrov comes very well funded of course while Little Nick was getting a hefty salary.
Then again who knows, maybe Heidfeld is unbearable.... in any case, I'm sure Nick stroked his beard when he saw this...
Green has always been the color of choice for the wacky soon to be ex Libyan strongman: Green book, Green flag, lots of greenbacks stashed under the mattress I'm sure but, an electric car?
You have may have seen the wire picture of a green and gold pimped out Fiat 500 captured by rebels in Tripoli this week.
Gaddafi is known to have an extensive exotic car collection, including at least one Veyron. You would imagine the dictator of an oil rich country where most people live in poverty would but who knew he had a thing about electric cars? Apparently he had many and the green and gold FIAT is said to have been his favorite.
(1914 ALFA 40/60hp Aerodinamica "Siluro Ricotti" built by Castagna)
The car was built by the famed Milanese coach builder Castagna. In business since the mid 1800s, Castagna is known for building pretty much whatever you can think up and have money to buy. The Libyan leader had some very particular requests for his green machine. Find out more after the jump.
The 500 was commissioned anonymously in June 2009 but when the spec sheet came in, it did not take long for Castagna to figure out who the buyer might be.
Ordered with full options, nautical teak wood and cream leather interior with green stitching, sand colored top and a metallic green and gold paint job, it had to be ready by September.
It is said to be powered by a 34kW engine running on lithium batteries good for a top speed of 100 mph and a range of 160 miles.
As you would imagine, Muammar is a man who needs to get places fast so he specified that the car needed ultra fast charging. Castagna provided two enormous charging machines, sourced in Sweden, which cost as much as the car itself and can fully recharge the batteries in ten minutes (...yes and Quaddafi has not been defeated, he is simply lulling the rebels into a false sense of security!).
The car would not of course wear a FIAT badge but a custom made malachite emblem depicting Africa and Gaddafi's Green Book. Tasteful.
One last detail. The car has does have a gas tank, not for propelling the car but to power a generator for the oversized air conditioning compressor, Those Romanian nurses did not like the heat!
The car was delivered on time, final price, 100000 Euro for the car, 100000 euro for the charging stations.
Bad news for coach builders that eccentric third world dictators are on the outs...
Granted, it's hard being the son of a legend but frere Jacques is a specialist in foot in mouth disease.
Fresh from proclaiming Kimi Raikkonen undeserving of his 2007 World Championship, he reminded the world why nobody ever liked him with an embarrassing display on the very track baring his family name this past week.
Not that this was the fist time Villeneuve showed "deserving world champion" judgement after an off, you all remember this classic of course...5 cars hit in just one accident! Check it out after the jump
Maybe it would be better if JV sticks to his most excellent music then:
Insanely awesome qualifying lap by 24 year old Sean Edwards at Road America. 2:14.067 was good for P1 and a lap record in GTC which is essentially Porsche Cup running in ALMS.
Not bad for Team NGT's first try at ALMS, they certainly hired the right gun!.
"For those of you just tuning in at home, this actually IS professional motor racing...".
With apologies to all you Legends racers out there... but this is makes "I was seventh" seem reasonable and professional!
For NASA folks, can you imagine Chris Cobetto pulling this?
OK, so watching a Porsche 996 Turbo, owned by a 24 year old Swiss, fished out of the Rhine is the stuff WreckedExotics and Jalopnik are made of but actually making a time lapse, tilt shift video of the whole thing is really taking schadenfreude to a whole new level!
That musty turbo was apparently driven off a boat dock by a friend of the young owner and floated in the river for quite a while before sinking into the murky waters.
(20Min.ch)
F1 cars are so fast there is almost no chance to see how they actually move. Check out a great video provided by Toro Rosso: it's raw footage with no sound but recommend going full screen and enabling 1080P mode.
You can see slip angle, wheel spin, every drop of water kicked up off the Misano track by those Pirelli intermediates clawing for traction....even a lucky butterfly that somehow survived getting run over. Awesome, check out a second clip after the jump.
Bonus video, a tour of the Toro Rosso factory in Faenza, Italy. Faenza is just south of Bologna, in Emilia Romagna, the land of Ferrari, Lamborghini, Ducati and of course Minardi, which is what Toro Rosso used to be.
With Formula 1 is still on vacation for another week or so, it's as good a time and any for a little refresher of the last race in Hungary. I think Bernie Ecclestone made a deal with someone to have rain liven up even the historically most boring track on the circus.
Next race, Belgian GP in Spa August 28. Happy rest of the summer!
James Hunt's Mclaren M23 parked on a NYC street for the Senna movie "premiere" yesterday.
Go read about ir and see more pictures over at Stassenversion
I'll be honest, the only time I can stand to watch NASCAR is when they burn their "tars" on a real race course. They still crash into each other all the time, just like on the ovals though. On a side note, that has to be the biggest safety worker on the planet in the blue jumper.
Thank you for voting in our poll. Once again it looks like Lewis fans got a tad mesmerized by the chinstrap and the diamond earrings (all right...settle down). While Hamilton received 19 % of the votes, his 20 passes for position put him only in fourteenth place for this completely meaningless, summer filler, classification.
Kamui Kobayashi got a lot of votes but he was not even "on the podium"! The top spots are perhaps a bit of a surprise:
the last Porsche 935K3 was build in Cologne for the LeMans 24h race in 1981. Driven by the three Whittington Brothers the race ends after 2hours with a engine failure.
Later driven by "John Winter" in the DRM and Rolf Stommelen in the Endurance World Championship. in 1982 the car comes back to LeMans with Edgar Dören, Antonio Contreras and Billy Sprowls. But they did not see the checkered flag, the race ends without fuel.
in August 2011 the car was tested on the Nurburgring GP-Track for the next race during the AvD Oldtimer Grand Prix. Drivers are Chris Stahl and Klaus Ludwig.
The Schnitzer BMW M1 Turbo was raced in 1981 by Hans Stück in Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft (Group 5) and later in the 90's by others in the Spezial Tourenwagen Trophy. Schnitzer built the chassis out of aluminum and the body out of kevlar and fit an experimental BMW twin turbo 3.2 liter 6 good anywhere from 800 to 1000 hp, depending on who you believe. The car won the 1981 Norisring 200, its only win.
In August 2011 the car was rolled outfox the first time in over 10 years at a Porsche Club Trackday at Nurburgring.
Check out these cars in action, restored to their former glory and running on the track along with a period clip, after the jump.
(motorsportvideo.tv)
That classic saying, first heard when I asked for pads with with friction material beyond just the backing plates at a well known rental garage at the ring, is perfectly demonstrated by this clip of the legendary Ring Mini Clubman. Awesome. (via Save the Ring)
Seth Thomas reached out to share some of his in car videos and fancy footwork with us tracktards.
Laguna Seca is good timing, CG will be there in September with IMSA GT3 Challenge and the last time he was at there it was a track day in an Acura Integra Type R, sometime in the 1850's!
This might give him a little break from all those out hours training on rFactor and iRacing.
Above, a couple of practice laps out the front, below, the foot cam also from practice. Never driven Laguna but looking at the clips it seems like a track where one needs to be somewhat patient with the throttle, is that correct?
..I'm sure you'll agree. Great story, great shoot via Fuel Magazine
Craig Metros is a Detroit born car designer, artist and hot rod builder. Craig moved to Melbourne, Australia five years ago on an international work transfer. The first film from new production house Fuel Tank TV begins the 'Factory 6' series by peering through the doors of a workshop deep in the suburbs of Melbourne. Craig is one of a handful of passionate and skillful guys, toiling away the winter nights, creating art and working on a multitude of automotive projects in the same shared space.
Craig talks to us about moving from Detroit to Melbourne, what inspires him, and what it's like to build a hot rod that has fulfilled a childhood dream.
Bandit Films and Fuel Magazine from Melbourne Australia have joined forces to create Fuel Tank TV, a platform that curates a wide selection of short films from across the world, combined with producing and showcasing our own locally made productions.
Credits
Director: Tom Broadhurst
DOP: Daniel De Silva
Producer: Luke Ray
Editor: Daniel De Silva
Music: Band: X / Album Aspirations / Delinquent Cause
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-Aspirations
Team Axis was at New Jersey Motorsports Park this past week end and we had a change to grab some real life Traqmate data from young Eddie's new BMW 1 M Coupe and compare it, side by side, on the same day, on the same track with my 2001 M Coupe. As usual we give you our data so you can dig into for yourself, at your leisure.
OK, lets start with the various disclaimers so you can calibrate this comparison. The 1 M is stock save for:
- KW Clubsport shocks and springs. Serup comes with Camber plates which allowed a -3.2 degree of camber up front.
- the car was corner balanced with driver
- Stock brakes with Hawk race pads (sorry, can't recall the compound now)
- 18x10 wheels with non sticker Toyo 888, 275 all around
Not stock, but not an unreasonable setup for anyone doing regular track days. Best lap time: 1:15.097, Theoretical best lap 1:14.614 (combined best segments from the whole session)
Top speed in session, 133.28 mph
My 2001 M Coupe (s54) is also modified:
-Ground Control/Koni Shocks/camber plates
-Diffsonline LSD, 3.46 final drive (from 3.15, making the gearing almost identical to the e-46 M3)
-stock brakes, PFC Direct Drive rotors, PFC race pads
-9x17 and 9.5x17 wheels with 245/45 and 275/40 Kumho 710 (year old)
Best lap time 1:14.470, theoretical best time 1:14.342
Top Speed in session 132.58 mph
What do we see from the data? well, while it's not the perfect comparison because it's two different drivers, it's amazingly close. I was surprised by the acceleration curves being so matched but I think I had to work much harder to get there than Eddie did even with an almost 300 lbs weight advantage. Slap some fresh Hoosiers on that puppy by and you got something pretty awesome on your hands.
Here is the bonus, there were no overheating issues at all despite the 95 degree, 100% humidity day and the brakes held up fine. Great news for the lucky 1 M owners!
Have a look at the Traqmate data for the BMW 1 M vs MZ3 , play around with it by downloading the free software (windows or mac via parallels) HERE
Couple of weeks back, our Spec E-30 heroes, The Freep, Pete and Sean were at Pocono raceway with NASA. The configuration for the day was long course reversed, that would be the North course infield and then out to turns 2 and then 1 of the NASCAR try oval.
Aside from the, to me still incredible, GPS speed of 150 137+ mph in a car with 23 hp and brick shaped like the e-30 (I kid, I kid...I know the e-30 has a better Cx than the M Coupe...or even the 1 M Coupe). Yeah, aside from that you got insane speed differential with some of the faster classes on track, check out the Porsche fly by at. 4:45 secs, woah!
In the top video , you are riding with the Freep in a Drive-Gear.com rental. Freep drives the boobs off the tires, eventually overheating them with predictable results. Please join me in amusement at all the 500HP Corvettes getting owned by the e-30 in the corners...
In the bottom video we are riding with Sean (green and white e-30) , check out the bump drafting with Pete in the gray and orange Axis-SOH machine... Pete's a big NASCAR fan, he doesn't like lifting.
We're suckers for a well produced promo, too bad it's a touch far for us to attend! :
Hellaflush Japan – October 1, 2011
This is the official announcement of our first event in Japan which will be held at Fuji Speedway (FSW, for short). Hellaflush X. We are very excited about this event and with the help from our friends at AF Imp, G-Fine / Grace, AME Wheels, Rays Engineering, Alpinestars, Air Runner / ACC, Rotiform, Super Street, RAYS Engineering and Speedhunters.
"..That combination may say "stick" on paper, and it does... until you disengage the traction control. And trust me, you will.
With the system set to Normal, the Axis light on the dash flickers with the insistence of a Christmas tree with an electrical short, pulling power at the faintest hint of wheel spin..."
...for electric vehicles. The current record is held by Peugeot which lapped its weird sci-fi looking EX1 in 9:01.338. Fast for a golf cart but in real life teams, way slower than a Range Rover Sport.
Toyota Motorsport GmbH has a 160 mph, 0-62 in 3.9 second electric car hiding in the forests of Germany and figures they'll send the Peugeot lion scampering home. Usually, when these things are announced, it means the time has already been beaten unofficially and now it's just a matter of finding a nice day to film the event...
You'll be amazed when the time is revealed, that's one fast golf cart! Care to take a guess?
The Blancpain-Ritter Lamborghini Gallardo driven by Nikolaus Mayr-Melnhof fails spectacularly at making the turn into pit lane during this year's 24 hours of Spa. .
It would be awesome to have a test between all the contenders for the track day world championship, imagine Ferrari FXX vs Zonda R vs the Riley MK XXII...wait, what's a Riley? Hmm you don't follow Grand Am do you?
My magazine stack, like yours, is littered with the corpses of ambitious constructors who have built machines that on paper were to blow the doors off of any Mclaren F1 but that in reality either did not work or were impossible to drive. Bill RIley formed Riley Technologies with his father Bob who was one of the principals in RIley & Scott of Trans Am and IMSA GT fame. We are not talking Pagani here, we are talking solid, American engineering built to last. Riley tube frame cars have ruled Daytona Prototypes and pretty much every tube frame silhouette racer running in Grand Am comes out of their shop in Mooresville, North Carolina. The Grand Am Mazda Rx8 and BMW M6 are Riley chassis as are the ALMS and ACO Corvette GT2 and Camaro GT4. Riley has an 80% win to start ratio, impressive.
So that is the pedigree of the Riley MK XXII track car, a Daytona Prototype re engineered to cost about half as much and simplified for easier setup and running costs. Gone is the carbon fiber body, in comes the optional air conditioning but one look at the MK XXII and you see it's not something made to be pretty, it's made to go fast. The question is, do you need to be Scott Pruett or Juan Pablo Montoya to drive it and enjoy it?
Now Axis is not in a position to get press cars or free rides but as luck would have it, Riley has an interesting program for its investors and (here comes the full disclosure) CG is one. So last Friday I accompanied him up to Monticello Motor Club where he got to run the car for two half hour session.
I would urge you to take the time to read professional reviews of the MK XXII by Jalopnik's Mike Spinelli and Fast Lane Daily's Leo Parente, We can only add our usual tracktard prospective and give you the Traqmate data file to download and play with. Sadly we could only get both data and video to work on the very first session then the GPS never locked up, possibly because of the big storm which hit towards the end of the session.
Here are CG's random thought about the car:
-By far th fastest track worthy thing (lap time wise) you can buy for the money, quality also feels great from the driver's seat.
-By my 2nd lap I was driving at 8/10ths, lapping well under my fastest ever in the Porsche Cup at Monticello
-All controls are awesome in quality and precision, Porsche Cup Car level and beyond. Very easy to go fast 8-9/10ths right away if you are an experienced driver.
-Car is extremely neutral and compliant. has literally no handling vices and the engine is very tractable. Of course it can only get better if you can get it with a high revving, high tech BMW engine instead.
-The "driver aids" work and can be dialed off with predicability. The race ABS system is supreme, and allows DEEP threshold braking. It's a welcome thing to be able to left foot brake 100% of the time thanks to the paddle shifters as clutch is only for stop and go.
-Cabin has great visibility and extremely comfortable, a lot more effortless than drivimg a Cup car. Cabin Air Conditioning is a nice plus.
-It is probably how a Cayman RSR with a lot of Aero would feel like?
-Really hard to think about any negatives, other than not having a license plate to enjoy it everyday? Seriously, although you know you are in a racecar because of the 5pt harness, and dash and sterrig full of knobs, it is a machine thats so approachable, that you can go for full hour sessions easily.
-Only downside is that 99.9% of buyers or drivers will never get anywhere close to what the real limit of the car is. Such a great chasis, low weight and real downforce is another new level even for the experienced amateur racer.
-is it beautiful? I leave it up to you, but who cares!!! Seriously wanting for a Spec series to devleop around this car!
Check out the video with data overlay, don't miss CG's spin on lap 2! The Riley right seat minder was a lot cooler about it than the fellow who was riding with me when I tested the Gumpert Apollo at Paul Ricard! But CG recovers well and sets his fast lap on the very next try. It's a fast lap but, just for reference, Riley's test driver while setting up the thing lapped MMC in 2:04! Wow!
Traqmate DATA HERE. You can download the free software HERE
