Here's a little Saturday treat for you: the first episode of our new animated series "Pit Chatter." In this episode, entitled "The First Date," you learn some amazing ? and perhaps disturbing ? things when you date a NASCAR fan. Get yourself a big bowl of cereal and enjoy.
Saturday
Fun times, strange quotes at the Las Vegas Media Center
NASCAR drivers! They're funny! Or at least reasonably so! Check out this collection of clips from the best of Friday's media sessions. And even though the jokes don't really warrant the guffaws they draw from the assembled media, it's still good to see a little bit of life out of these cats. Enjoy.
Friday
Martin Whitmarsh: ?We?re starting from the right place?
After Jenson Button’s win in Australia McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh says that the team is well placed for a title challenge, given its recent history of developing its car over the course of the season. The difference is that this … Continue reading 
Source: http://adamcooperf1.com/2012/03/19/martin-whitmarsh-were-starting-from-the-right-place/
Whoa, Dodge Has Style
A new day is dawning in the aesthetics of the sport’s highest series. Or at least it looked that way on Sunday. Dodge unveiled it’s new Charger Cup car on Sunday and it looks great (sorry I didn’t include a photo, but check out the unveil video here). A car with bodylines and a distinctive [...] 
TheNASCARInsiders.com
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheNascarInsiders/~3/Oh9NJb0iQe0/
Wreck of the week, with the new ?Crazed Montoya? rating system!
It's time to bring back Wreck of the Week, and this year, we've got a whole new twist. In honor of the man who brought us NASCAR's greatest wreck in a generation, we're proud to begin ranking each week's wrecks in the currency of Crazed Montoyas.
Suggested by reader Patrick Jacques, we're shamelessly ripping it off from Puck Daddy's "Stunned Milbury" ranking system (get the home office to cut you a compensation check, Wyshynski). We'll go from one Crazed Montoya (routine spin/fender bender) to five Crazed Montoyas (jet dryer exploding into a fireball). So let's begin, shall we?
It wasn't a banner week for wrecks, but this spin-and-park-it by Kurt Busch gave us something to talk about, if only to see if Busch was going to go batcrap crazy in the infield care center. He's now up to four wrecked Phoenix Motorsports cars. James Finch is going to have Kurt bring his own cars to the track before long.
Verdict: Two Crazed Montoyas. Just barely, and only because the car got towed off the track.
NASCAR Saturday cartoons! Enjoy the first episode of ?Pit Chatter?
Here's a little Saturday treat for you: the first episode of our new animated series "Pit Chatter." In this episode, entitled "The First Date," you learn some amazing ? and perhaps disturbing ? things when you date a NASCAR fan. Get yourself a big bowl of cereal and enjoy.
Thursday
What went wrong for the back of the grid?
It was another frustrating season at the back of the grid for F1?s relative new boys. Lotus, HRT and Virgin all in their sophomore seasons in Formula One all failed, again, to score points in 2011. So what went wrong last season and what does 2012 have in store. Lotus They?ve arguably been the best [...]
2012 VW Beetle: Relax Guys, it's Okay to Drive One
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Seemingly every car has a stigma attached to it. Some make their driver look like he has a big ego, some are classified for country folk, and some cars even get tagged with a specific gender. Yup, how many guys do you see driving a Miata? Not too many, unless you happen to know me ? hey, it?s a Mazdaspeed MX-5, leave me alone. The Volkswagen New Beetle was another car that got stuck with the ?chick?s car? label, and rightfully so. C?mon, there is a flower vase in the dashboard?
In 2012, VW redesigned the beetle, giving it a lower profile and elongated hood, which makes it look stouter, flower vase and all. On top of the more ?manly? look, VW also targeted men in particular in 2012 Beetle ads. The two ads that stick out most are the ?Slap five? and ?Thanks for flying Volkswagen,? both of which are directly aimed at men ? the former more than the latter. I guess fist bumping and high-fiving random dudes and one pretty woman makes the Beetle manly. Hmm?
Regardless of my opinion on it, this campaign worked. Since September 2011, 49% of all 2012 Beetle buyers were men. That?s nearly one-third more than last year. Apparently, Volkswagen knows a thing or two about how men?s brains work and aren?t afraid to blatantly go after what it wants. One mind trick VW pulled over men’s eyes was to focus mostly on the turbocharged models, tugging away at our weakest point, raw power. I wonder what people would think of me if I decided to trade my Miata for a Beetle.
2012 VW Beetle: Relax Guys, it's Okay to Drive One originally appeared on topspeed.com on Thursday, 22 March 2012 13:00 EST.
Source: http://www.topspeed.com/cars/car-news/2012-vw-beetle-relax-guys-it-s-okay-to-drive-one-ar126785.html
Tony Stewart dominates off the line for his first career Vegas win
Be afraid, NASCAR drivers. Be very, very afraid.
Right up until about last September, the knocks on Tony Stewart were piling up. His best days were behind him. He couldn't juggle both ownership and driving. He was scoring points against the media but not on the track.
Amazing how one championship changes everything, doesn't it? And yet the doubts still persisted ...
He just got hot at the right time. He made a mistake ditching his championship crew chief. He can't win before the weather turns warm. He can't win at Vegas.
Hey, guess what? Smoke's done all this and more in the last few races, and Sunday's run at the Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas affirmed that we write off Tony Stewart at our peril.
Stewart wasn't the best car early ? that honor belonged to none other than Dale Earnhardt Jr. ?�but Smoke absolutely dominated on restarts, beating both Brad Keselowski and Jimmie Johnson off the line after pulling off an amazing three-wide move to take the lead near the race's midpoint.
"That's what they pay me to do!" he crowed to his crew after the maneuver, which put him at the front of the pack for the remainder of the day.
Only Johnson could mount any kind of challenge, but even Five-Time's attempt at running down Stewart faded long before the checkers flew. "Man, I want to win," Johnson said. "But Tony really got away on those restarts."
"We were so strong on restarts," Stewart agreed before thanking a grocery list of sponsors, "especially the Hendrick engine department and chassis department. That was the key to the race."
The win gives Stewart all kinds of momentum that he hadn't been able to gather up during a disappointing Daytona run and a frustrating Phoenix race in which his car wouldn't restart. Add to that an "anything you can do, I can do better" shot right back at former crew chief Darian Grubb, who won last week with Denny Hamlin, plus the fact that this is his first victory at Vegas, and you've got one heck of a fine afternoon for Smoke. Darlington and Kentucky are now the only tracks at which he hasn't won.
The win vaulted Stewart up seven spots in the standings, seating him at eighth with a win in his pocket earlier than at any time in his career. Clearly, the good times aren't yet done for Smoke.
Michael Andretti Keith Andrews Elio de Angelis Marco Apicella
Who?s got Montoya?s wreck from the Daytona Explosion? Dale Earnhardt Jr., of course
Like many race fans, Dale Earnhardt Jr. is a fan of NASCAR history. Unlike most race fans, Earnhardt has the means and connections to get his hands on actual pieces of that history. And there's no more historic piece of NASCARiana in recent years than Juan Pablo Montoya's fireball-sparking 42 from this year's Daytona 500.
Guess what's now sitting in Junior's backyard?
"I got about 50 or 60 cars out there and I didn't buy any of them," Earnhardt said. "We get a forklift or a tractor with a forklift or front-end loader and just carry it into the woods and just set it out there somewhere." (Why is it no surprise that Earnhardt's backyard is like some backwoods version of the warehouse at the end of "Raiders of the Lost Ark"?)
So where does the Montoya car rank among Junior's collection?
"That one's good," he said. "That one ranks right up there.� I've got the car (Dennis) Setzer flipped when he was driving for Keselowski at Talladega so that was pretty cool, but it ranks right up there.� It's one of the top two or three."
Of course, the Montoya car is only half the Daytona Explosion equation. To complete the set, Junior needs to get his hands on the jet dryer, right?
"I'd like to have it, but I don't know where it is," Earnhardt said. "It's probably somewhere in Daytona or NASCAR might be studying it somewhere. I think we'll just stick to race cars out there."
Two words, Junior: tour groups. You'll never have to drive a lap again.
Wednesday
Fan yells at Brian McKnight?s son to take off hat before performing national anthem
R&B singer Brian McKnight and his sons sang the national anthem before Sunday's Sprint Cup Series race at Phoenix International Raceway, and his son Niko was, uh, not-so-kindly told to take his hat off before the anthem started.
The request to "take that [stuff] off your head" was audible on the race broadcast, but it's really only understood if you are paying close attention for the request. We certainly didn't notice it as it happened live.�(Note: the video above is uncensored and contains adult language.)
And yes, Niko McKnight did oblige, and removed his hat and acknowledged the area the request came from.
(H/T to The Sports Grid)
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Felipe Massa: ?I was struggling completely with the balance?
Felipe Massa was in dire need of a good start to the 2012 season, given his poor recent form and the obvious question marks hanging over his future. Alas his year got off to a terrible start after he beached … Continue reading 
Source: http://adamcooperf1.com/2012/03/18/felipe-massa-i-was-struggling-completely-with-the-balance/
George Connor George Constantine John Cordts David Coulthard
Danica Patrick to compete in Tony Stewart?s Prelude to the Dream
Danica Patrick is jumping into a dirt car for charity.
Patrick has signed up to compete in the Prelude to the Dream charity race put on by her NASCAR Sprint Cup Series owner (and teammate) Tony Stewart on Wednesday, June 8th at Eldora Speedway.
Stewart owns the dirt track and the Prelude regularly features NASCAR and other major series stars with all of the proceeds going to charity. After racing in a team format for children's hospitals, this year's Prelude is the Feed the Children Prelude to the Dream, with all proceeds benefiting FeedTheChildren.org.
According to Patrick, this will be the first time she's raced on dirt since she was 10 years old.
"I raced on dirt once before in a go-kart when I was young, but that's about it. It's going to be a challenge for sure, but I know Tony has offered to help in any way possible. I'm excited about it, but I'm also nervous," Patrick said in a release. "It's a totally different style of racing, so I'm not sure what to expect. But it's for a great cause with Feed the Children benefiting from the money raised this year, so I'm ready to give it a shot."
Clint Bowyer, who won last year's race, will be joining Patrick and Stewart and 15 other announced drivers, including Justin Allgaier, Aric Almirola, Dave Blaney, Kurt Busch, Ron Capps, Ty Dillon, Bill Elliott, Ray Evernham, David Gilliland, Jimmie Johnson, Tony Kanaan, Bobby Labonte, Ryan Newman, Cruz Pedregon and Kenny Wallace. Six more drivers will be announced next week.
The Prelude to the Dream will once again be televised via HBO Pay-Per-View.
Tuesday
Caterham principal aims for ?fresh impetus?
Caterham team principal Tony Fernandes has spoken about the decision�to axe�Jarno Trulli in favour of�Vitaly Petrov for the 2012 season. Go here for Red Bull v Cowboys! You heard right! Trulli was under contract for the team, but his future in Formula 1 now looks uncertain after being replaced by the Russian. Speaking about the [...]
The Last CRT Bike Takes to the Track: Pirro to Shake Down Gresini FTR Honda At Imola
After the Suter BMW of Forward Racing, the FTR Kawasakis of BQR and the Aprilia ARTs, the last of the CRT bikes will get its first run out on track today. San Carlo Gresini's Michele Pirro will take the Honda-powered FTR out at Imola for a preliminary shakedown test today, Friday, with two more days of testing to follow for Gresini's CRT machine. According to GPOne.com, the bike will only get an hour of track time on Friday, to test that everything is working correctly.
The bike had initially been due to make its debut at the Aragon CRT test earlier this month, but a shortage of parts - the seat unit and subframe were not yet ready, according to GPOne.com - meant that the debut had to be delayed. Given the cold and windy conditions at Aragon, which saw the bikes which did attend confined to their garages for much of the time, the Gresini team did not lose out too much by not attending the test.
Source:
Enrico Bertaggia Tony Bettenhausen Mike Beuttler Birabongse Bhanubandh
Elliott Sadler won?t be driving for Michael Waltrip after all
Hours after winning his first Nationwide race since 1998, Elliott Sadler's agreement with Michael Waltrip Racing to drive in five Sprint Cup Series races this season was a no-go.
Sadler and Nationwide car owner Richard Childress met after Sadler won at Phoenix on Saturday, and Sadler said that the two decided that Sadler would be better served focusing on the Nationwide Series title race. Sadler finished second last year to Ricky Stenhouse in NASCAR's No. 2 series.
"I was going to drive the 55 car for five races for MWR, but actually, after the race on Saturday, after Victory Lane, Richard and I went to his bus," Sadler told SPEED.com. "And I think Richard, along with some of the executives that he has, have just decided that it's probably not in our best interest to do that right now."
Sadler said that manufacturer conflict -- he drives a Chevrolet for RCR and MWR drives Toyotas -- wasn't an issue at all with the nixed agreement.
MWR still had the fall New Hampshire race, the second race of the Chase, slated without a driver, so now it's back to having six races to fill. Brian Vickers has been mentioned as a possibility to fill those six races. Vickers is currently without a ride in any of NASCAR's three series.
Monday
Tony Stewart finishes 22nd after car doesn?t refire under caution
Much of the talk around the entrance of the 2012 season was NASCAR's switch to electronic fuel injection from the standard carbureted engines that have been a staple of the series since its inception. And for the most part, drivers and teams said that not much would be affected when it came to to performance and on-track activity.
On Sunday, we might have seen the first glimpse at how electronic fuel injection could impact a race, and it came at the expense of Tony Stewart.
Stewart, perhaps the best driver in the series at saving fuel, flipped off his engine when a caution came out with 66 laps to go in the Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix. It was a standard fuel-saving practice: shut the car off, let it coast for a bit, and then refire it and sped up. Rinse, repeat as often as necessary, and voila, gas is saved. Stewart said he practiced the standard method on Monday at Daytona with no issue
However when Stewart went to refire the car on Sunday, it didn't start. Cars passed him under caution. It still wouldn't start. It coasted towards pit road. It still didn't start. Finally, after being pushed into his pit box by a wrecker and after going two laps down, the car started. Stewart didn't have time to make up those laps. He finished 22nd.
"I just shut the car off like we we did at Daytona to save fuel and turn it back on and it never refired, that's all I can tell you," Stewart said after the race. Finishes of 16th and 22nd to start the season have him in 15th in the points standings.
Crew chief Steve Addington said that the team had a circuit breaker turn off, which prevented the car from firing. Rodney Childers, crew chief for Mark Martin, tweeted that a breaker popped on the No. 55 car, and it impacted the team's fuel mileage significantly.
Yes, that's right, a circuit breaker. Have we ever talked about a circuit breaker as a culprit for ruining a good finish before? While we don't know how much EFI had to do with the issues that Stewart and Martin had right now, the rest of the garage will probably be looking closely to see what answers each team finds. And in Stewart's case, if fuel conservation methods will have to be adapted.
2012 Australian Grand Prix in pictures | F1 pictures
2012 Australian Grand Prix in pictures is an original article from F1 Fanatic. If this article has been published anywhere other than F1 Fanatic it is an infringement of copyright.
The 2012 F1 season got off to an exciting start at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. Check out the pictures from today's race.
2012 Australian Grand Prix in pictures is an original article from F1 Fanatic. If this article has been published anywhere other than F1 Fanatic it is an infringement of copyright.
Source: http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2012/03/18/2012-australian-grand-prix-pictures/
Bentley Continental GTC V8
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Bentley put a hold on developing any new models in order to work on a new 4.0 liter, twin turbocharged V8 engine that we already expected to see in the Continental GT V8 at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show. Details for the Coupe model were already revealed to that effect, but now that the auto show has opened its doors, the new Continental GTC V8 was there, welcoming the auto industry with open arms with its new engine and a total of 500 HP and 487 lb ft of torque. In Europe, the GTC V8 is priced at ?149,600 - or about $191,000 at the current exchange rates. Prices for the North American market will be announced at a later date.
"With the new 4.0 liter V8 engine we are widening the appeal of the latest generation of Continentals, introducing a completely new driving experience. The new engine will have all the exhilarating power, drama and performance you would expect from a V8 engine sporting the famous Bentley wings, effortlessly delivered with our characteristic ?wave of torque?. This is complemented by innovative powertrain technology that delivers exceptional fuel efficiency and emissions," said Wolfgang D�rheimer, Chairman and Chief Executive, Bentley Motors.
UPDATE 02/20/12: Bentley has released a new crop of images for the Continental GTC V8, all of which you can check out in the gallery below!
UPDATE 03/19/12: Bentley has unveiled a very cool promo video for their latest Continental GTC V8. Enjoy!
Hit the jump to read more about the new Bentley Continental GTC V8.
Bentley Continental GTC V8 originally appeared on topspeed.com on Monday, 9 January 2012 14:00 EST.
Source: http://www.topspeed.com/cars/bentley/2013-bentley-continental-gtc-v8-ar122843.html
You beauty! Pretty cars lead the way
Ugly is out. The McLaren team has the nicest looking car of 2012 and in the finest tradition of Formula 1 the best looking cars turned out to the fastest cars as Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button qualified 1-2 for the Australian Grand Prix. There was then a gap of three-tenths of a second back [...]
Source: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2012/03/17/you-beauty-pretty-cars-lead-the-way/
Sunday
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