Saturday
Into the Crystal Ball? Drama in the LBC, Edition
Source: https://anotherindycarblog.wordpress.com/2012/04/12/into-the-crystal-ball-drama-in-the-lbc-edition/
Michele Alboreto Jean Alesi Jaime Alguersuari Philippe Alliot
Video: 2013 Scion FR-S Hits the Dyno
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The Toyota GT 86, Scion FR-S, and Subaru BRZ are inching closer to getting a release date, and the lucky dogs over at Edmunds managed to get their hands on an FR-S a little early. Being the true car buffs that they are, what?s the first thing they did with it? They threw it on the dyno, of course!
You may be alarmed wondering why they are dyno testing a car that we all know produces 200 horsepower. Well, that?s not always the case. See, 99.9 percent of the time, automakers release horsepower numbers based off of the engine?s power, not the entire car. On average, you can expect to lose 10 to 20 percent of the horsepower through the driveline ? transmission, driveshaft, and differential.
So what was Edmunds? final determination of its horsepower? It was nothing short of impressively consistent. It repeatedly produced 173 horsepower at roughly 7,000 rpm and 143 pound-feet of torque at about 2,800 rpm. Not only were the peaks identical, but the horsepower and torque curves were nearly identical on every run.
To have that kind of consistency in a car is a testament to just how much engineering went into it. This also proves that the 2.0-liter flat-four that Subaru and Toyota collaborated on is truly a work of art to crank out 173 wheel horsepower. There are not too many sub-$30K four-bangers hitting that kind of horsepower consistently without the use of some forced air.
There is one very odd thing in this engine that again shows how much engineering went into it. At about 4,000 rpm you will see a 14-percent drop in torque, which the Subaru and Toyota engineers intentionally did to allow greater torque on the lower rpm range. Our collective hats go off to the team of engineers that developed this car. Now, can we just get a hold of a turbocharged model, please?
Video: 2013 Scion FR-S Hits the Dyno originally appeared on topspeed.com on Friday, 13 April 2012 16:00 EST.
Source: http://www.topspeed.com/cars/car-news/video-2013-scion-fr-s-hits-the-dyno-ar127946.html
After a Week of Rumors, Rossi Tells Italian TV He Will Remain With Ducati
Valentino Rossi's litany of complaints about the Ducati Desmosedici GP12 given live on Italian TV after the Qatar round of MotoGP triggered a wave of speculation. For the first time, Rossi had openly complained that Ducati had not given him the bike that he believes he needs to go fast, and that he had felt like pulling in before the end of the race. That, combined with an interview Rossi also did with the Italian magazine Motosprint in which he implied that Ducati Corse boss Filippo Preziosi was failing to provide the help that he and the other Ducati riders needed caused a massive reaction throughout the media and across the web.
Some reaction was amusing, such as the Downfall parody on Youtube, discussing Rossi's poor qualifying at Qatar. Others were more serious, including an article on the Spanish website Motocuatro.com suggesting that Rossi could try to get out of his contract before the year was over and wait for 2013, when, the article suggested, he could obtain a satellite Yamaha M1 to compete with, with the blessing of Dorna. Rumors quickly started to grow that Rossi's relationship with Ducati could be over, and sooner than anyone expected.
Christian Danner Jorge Daponte Anthony Davidson Jimmy Davies
Friday
Denny Hamlin teaches us all to Dougie
Some fun awkwardness from the Bristol driver intros: Denny Hamlin, showing us all how to Dougie. Work it, white boy, work it!
I'm thinking the dance portion of the intros should become a mandatory component of every race's pre-race extravaganza. Who'd be the best with the moves, you think?
Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nascar-from-the-marbles/denny-hamlin-teaches-us-dougie-011629859.html
Video: Stavos Grillis is a 9-year old stud drifter
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Most nine-year olds are happy with their toys, video games, or iPads. But for the select few young ones that prefer something that’s reserved for somebody much older, they can take a cue from 9-year old Stavros Grillis.
Despite not yet hitting 10 years of age, Stavros Grillis is already an adept drifter. You read that right, folks. The kid has not only taken mastery of actually driving a car - let alone one with a stick shift on it - but he can also drift the wheels out of ’em.
Stavros lives on the island of Kos in Greece and as the video will show you, the kid has all sorts of ridiculous talent. It’s hard enough to learn the use of a laptop at the age of 9, but this little tyke has not only taken a car that he’s technically still not allowed to drive, but he’s also managed to be a pretty sick drifter.
And here’s the best part: Stavros has been drifting cars since he was 7.
Talk about talented beyond his years.
Video: Stavos Grillis is a 9-year old stud drifter originally appeared on topspeed.com on Friday, 13 April 2012 02:00 EST.
Mercedes in the grey
Source: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2012/04/13/mercedes-in-the-grey/
Thursday
Porsche Purchases Nardo High-Speed Testing Track
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What is sports car manufacturer Porsche to do when it becomes bored with its own testing grounds, Weissach, and the N�rburgring just doesn?t allow its cars to reach their full potential? Buy a new testing facility, silly? Yup, Porsche lumped down an undisclosed sum of money ? which is certainly more than we could imagine earning in a lifetime ? to purchase Europe?s longest circular track, and everything else that comes with it.
That?s right; Porsche has officially purchased the Nard� Technical Center in Italy, which houses not only a 7-mile, four-lane oval track whose banks allow for speeds of up to 240 KM/h (149 mph), but also seven additional tracks that test various parts of vehicle, including: dynamics, multiple pavement response (cobblestone, potholes, uneven, etc.), high-speed noise, handling, off-road performance, and braking.
This really puts Porsche in a position to not only beat out its competition while saving money on testing fees, but it also allows it to better hone other brands that it is linked to, like Volkswagen, Lamborghini, and Bugatti. This also gives Porsche yet another revenue stream, as Nard� is one of the more popular testing tracks in Europe.
The thing about Porsche vehicles is that though they are much faster than your average cars, they are not about top speed, when compared to the likes of Lamborghini, Ferrari, and McLaren. Could this mean that Porsche may start pushing the limits on its upcoming vehicles and maybe flirt with the 200 mph mark? Not likely, but it is definitely a sweet idea to consider. Likely, this track is going to be the testing home for racing models, but we may catch the occasional 911 stretching its legs a little.
Porsche Purchases Nardo High-Speed Testing Track originally appeared on topspeed.com on Thursday, 12 April 2012 17:00 EST.
Source: http://www.topspeed.com/cars/car-news/porsche-purchases-nardo-high-speed-testing-track-ar127880.html
2012 Qatar MotoGP Saturday Round Up: Of Cheshire Cat Smiles, Chatter, and the Italian Tragedy
On the evidence of qualifying at Qatar, we're in for a cracking MotoGP season. A very tight battle for pole settled in the final minutes, a surprise front row sitter, and plenty of on-track action are the ingredients for a great QP session, and the changes the sport have undergone are overwhelmingly positive. The same was true in Moto2, where a smart strategy outwitted a late last lap, and Moto3 saw another battle that went down to the wire.
In the Moto3 class, the leveling effect that the new rev- and price-limited bikes have had is plain, just as it was when the Moto2 class replaced the 250s back in 2010. To see the names of Sandro Cortese and Maverick Vinales in 1st and 2nd on the grid is no surprise, but Louis Rossi in 3rd is a bit of a shocker. The Frenchman has spent most of his career on third-rate 125s, and qualified mainly between 10th and 20th in 2011. Since climbing aboard a Moto3 bike, he has been a top 10 regular throughout testing and featured prominently at Qatar. A front row start is richly deserved, and with the front three close, and the top 10 all having been somewhere near the front at some point in the weekend, the inaugural Moto3 race promises to be as good as the 125s it replaces, despite the fact that the times are over a second slower than last year.