Random Thoughts... (Motorsports Edition)

Donington said:
Croatian WTCC driver Marin ?olak has been injured in a motorway crash. He was not wearing a seatbelt as he crashed his Ferrari and was thrown from the burning vehicle. Apparently a 20-year old female fashion model he had as a passenger was killed, trapped in the car as it burst into flames.
Click to expand...

Fucking idiot.
 
http://jalopnik.com/5686703/pastrana-out-at-subaru-heading-to-nascar

Rally champ and hoon king Travis Pastrana left the Subaru team today to drive for Michael Waltrip's NASCAR team in the Nationwide Series. What, too many right turns in rally?

Here's Pastrana's tale of the tape with Subaru: Four national rally championships, 22 race victories, 40 podium finishes and more than 150 stage wins. He's also set the record for climbing Mt. Washington, jumped his Subaru 269 feet into Long Beach Harbor and can beat you at Big Buck Hunter.

Luring Pastrana to NASCAR counts as a marketing coup for the Daytona Beach crowd, showing that whatever some racing fans may think of carbureted, ugly template cars running in endless lines, NASCAR can still draw the world's best drivers.
Click to expand...

I'm honestly not surprised. They were saying he was moving to NASCAR about 2 months ago and look, he did. I think he's going to get really bored though, if he was bored of Rally cars and Motocross... There's no way he'll find NASCAR -that- entertaining. (Left turns, and all.)
 
Then again, he has won everything there is to win in american rallying and the only way forward would be a jump to WRC, and since Subaru has no WRC car for the new rules he would need to find a new team to drive in. Mind you, it would be awesome if Travis did follow Ken Block to WRC...

NASCAR should be an interesting challenge for Pastrana. It might only be turning left but doing that at 180mph while surrounded by 42 other stock cars should be a pretty good thrill, at least for a while.
 
Yeah, the guy doesn't seem to be able to stay on one thing does he? Of course, he is also good at many different things, but not THE BEST.

If only he would jump to WRC. I think he would do well once he got used to it and learned from the masters.

I was kind of disappointed when I heard he was moving to NASCAR though.
 
GT VIRUS said:
I'm starting to develop an irrational hatered towards the person who invented the rotax 125cc engine.... i keep seeeing the low(ish) costs of running one in superkarts and keep telling myself it wont be that expensive....
Click to expand...

i was in a cartshop yesterday (need new calipers for my quad), and found myself looking at one
it was a 250cc 4-stroke, and looked awesome. the pricetag of 9000? was less awesome though :shock:
 
GT VIRUS said:
I'm starting to develop an irrational hatered towards the person who invented the rotax 125cc engine.... i keep seeeing the low(ish) costs of running one in superkarts and keep telling myself it wont be that expensive....
Click to expand...

It's not expensive.

But you'll pay the price in exit speed. They just don't accelerate. And then you'll hate them even more.
 
MadCat360 said:
It's not expensive.

But you'll pay the price in exit speed. They just don't accelerate. And then you'll hate them even more.
Click to expand...

They run as a one-engine class here on full-size tracks, so at least everyone else will not be accelerating as well. However after seeing one end up on its lid last weekend, i might go find something with a roll-bar and harness's.....
 
Porsche seem to be thinking of organising a "World Cup" uniting all the one-make Porsche championships running around the world for one 6-lap race. Why 6 laps? They reckon they can count on around 200 entries... and the race will be on the Nordschleife (albeit extended with the GP track), on the week of next year's Nurburgring 24h race. http://www.endurance-info.com/version2/actualite-endurance-5684.html
 
vikiradTG2007 said:
Porsche seem to be thinking of organising a "World Cup" uniting all the one-make Porsche championships running around the world for one 6-lap race. Why 6 laps? They reckon they can count on around 200 entries... and the race will be on the Nordschleife (albeit extended with the GP track), on the week of next year's Nurburgring 24h race. http://www.endurance-info.com/version2/actualite-endurance-5684.html
Click to expand...

Now that's what I call a World Final!

avidvideo said:
How was the other driver?
Click to expand...

Both drivers were fine. Pretty lucky, they were doing waay over 200kph when they hit the wall...
 
Welp, I just wrecked my first car this morning. Took a Spec Miata (AKA Spec Pinata) out for a test at Infineon.

5 laps into my first session I forgot where the turn 11 pit wall was and clipped the left front into it, massively bending the suspension and denting a few of the panels. Also took the wing mirror off. 900 bucks after all is said and done.

Turns out the owner of the car was pretty cool about it and didn't shout at me. I feel like a total pillock though. I just drove into a wall at 95 MPH.
 
At least you are up and walking around! That's the most important thing!
 
Yeah, it is. My new HANS worked really well. Barely felt a thing. My shoulder still felt weird for a week or so after. Made odd pops and things.

The last 4 days have been really fun participating in the Skip Barber shootout. I didn't win anything, though I felt like I was close. My interview with Bob Varsha was a little sketchy (I called Mazda Raceway simply Laguna Seca, on camera, right in front of Mazda's communications manager), and I probably could've used one of those nice Skip Barber/Mazda/BFGoodrich shirts a lot of the other drivers had. But I still walked away with a lot of advice and feedback I can use going forward. The competition was extremely fierce and I gained a new perspective on where I am as a driver, on and off the track.

You can bet your ass I'll call it Mazda Raceway from now on. :lol:

EDIT: Here we are (all 44 of us): I'm 2nd row, 6th from the right in the gray suit.

ksoclass2.jpg
 
Last edited:
RIP Tom Walkinshaw, he passed away because of cancer today at the age of 64. Can't forget the TWR cars. Favorite one of mine, the XJR-10 from IMSA GTP:


62824_448038986274_362331586274_5788340_6443346_n.jpg
 
Also the man behind the iconic Jaguars, Rovers and the Volvo 850 estates in european touring car racing and Holdens in Australia and, of course, one of the leading characters behind Benetton's rise to F1 limelight and later Arrows which sadly never became a success story. The man did a lot in motorsport for his career, it's a sad loss for the racing world.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top