Throwback Thursday: BMW Eargasm

Dan Morgan/Flickr

While we reflect on sounds produced by the new "green" race cars whooshing around La Sarthe this week end, lets bask in the glorious sounds of a now 20 year old race car.

Justin Bell got to drive the Big Mac from  BMW North America's fabulous historical collection around Mid Ohio.  GoPro was along to record every possible angle and capture that amazing engine wail.

Chassis 17R, Ex Team Bigazzi was driven to eight place overall in the 1996 24 Hour of Le Mans by Nelson Piquet, Johnny Ceccotto and Danny Sullivan.

Turn it up!

Fresh off the presses:  BMW has announced GoPro integration for their cars via iDrive apps.  Check out the press release and info on the Axis Facebook page



If you'd like a more raw experience, less cameras, more sound, let me suggest this clip

2012 EMCO Gears Classic at Mid Ohio

Richard Westbrook held off Scott Pruett’s late charge to win Saturday’s EMCO Gears Classic, giving the No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Corvette DP started by Michael Valiante its second victory of the season.

Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas finished second, .236 seconds back, matching the best finish of the season for the No. 01 TELMEX BMW/Riley. The defending DP champs also regained the points lead.

David Donohue and Terry Borcheller took third in the No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP. Starworks Motorsport took fourth and fifth, with Alex Popow and Lucas Luhr fourth in the No. 2 Soloson Ford/Riley and Enzo Potolicchio and Ryan Dalziel fifth in the No. 8 Duncan Ford/Riley.

GT also came down to the wire, with Bill Auberlen holding off Jeff Segal by .952 seconds. It was the first victory of the year for Auberlen and Paul Dalla Lana in the No. 94 BMW M3, while Segal and Emil Assentato maintained the GT points lead in the No. 69 AIM Autosport Team FXDD Ferrari.

Robin Liddell finished third in the No. 57 Stevenson Auto Group Chevrolet Camaro started from the pole by John Edwards, .952 seconds back, followed by the No. 70 Mazdaspeed/Modspace/Castrol Mazda RX-8 of Sylvain Tremblay and Jonathan Bomarito, and the No. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche GT3 of John Potter and Andy Lally.

Photo Credit: MotorSportMedia | Halston Pitman | Jake Galstad
 Text: Grand-Am.com

There is no "Driving Style..."

“It is important to have a car that is the same on entry, mid-corner and exit and needs to be predictable from entry to exit.
I want the car to drive into the corner by itself, I never want to force it with the steering. I want to transfer enough weight to the front of the car with my braking or by lifting but I don’t want to have to turn the wheel too much. My belief is there is no ‘driving style’, you need to be able to adapt at every corner.”

The quote is from Simon Pagenaud in a very interesting article from SimRaceway. The Peugeot ILMS, Honda IndyCar, Citroen WRC driver (and more!) explains how he sees and drives Mid-Ohio, a track he holds the record on, 1:03.7.



Pagenaud explains how Mid Ohio is a track requiring flexibility in thinking and technique, where to go fast, “you have to know how to drive in different ways.”

Turn 2 is a good example:

“The biggest issue with Turn 2 is the level of understeer, you enter the turn at the top of the hill and you have to brake as you turn. The car gets light and you have to contain the rear as much as you can. The more you can turn the car in on entry, the less the front of the car will wash out in the middle of the corner”.

“There are a lot of different lines, you can turn in early and ‘diamond’ the corner (in fast, out fast, slow middle) or go for an early entry and a long duration when you try and stay on the kerb all the way”. This technique helps the car rotate and it will help optimize your position on exit which, in turn, will mean you can get back on the throttle sooner"



Have a look at the complete lap walkthrough as told to Declan Brennan on SimRaceway's website, I know I'm bookmarking it for future reference.



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ALMS Mid Ohio Ice skating finals

The Wolf knows the race line..

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Reminder: ALMS Mid-Ohio broadcast today

(photo: Kevin HD)
Honestly, I still can't get over the pinnacle of sports car racing in the US cannot find a live slot on television but, be that as it may, the ALMS race from Mid Ohio will finally be broadcast today starting at 12:30 PM ET on CBS.

A few more videos are after the jump.
(special note to anyone tuning in via iPhone or iPad: YouTube released a new player which is apparently compatible, would you let me know if you can view these videos?)

Spec e30 taught him well!

You're on board with Mike Skeen at Mid Ohio.

You remember Mike: Spec e30, that TV show whose name escapes me now and then onto Trans Am and Grand Am. Mid Ohio was his debut in the SCCA's World Challenge GT series (yes it still exists) and after qualifying the Carlisle Companies/Cragar Corvette a few thousands off pole, he went on to win the Saturday race and set the fastest race lap (1:27.296 ).

Cheers from Axis, Mike!
See more video after the jump

Do you over-drive your mirrors?

My brother recently sent this clip of a C6 Corvette driver at Mid-Ohio. As far as we can tell, the guy is happily cranking away at his big American monster car, and his G2X (similar to a Traqmate) tells us he's turning laps in the 1:50 range. How hard is he pushing? He loses it and spins a few turns into the next lap. As the car settles, we hear a puttering sound and a MINI Cooper motors past the now-helpless American wundercar. Over on Corvette Forums, the guy claims to have "missed the gas pedal" while attempting a downshift, and claims he had just passed the MINI (although we never saw that). Is the Corvette pedal arrangement really that bad? Where's the finesse, people? Was this guy just driving his mirrors in fear of the MINI? You decide...