IndyCar: Aerokits…Ugly Duckling to Swan?

When the IndyCar ICONIC committee reviewed proposals from Dallara, Swift, Lola, and DeltaWing for the new IndyCar chassis, they were presented with a very intriguing idea from Dallara. They proposed a chassis with specific aero components that could be independently designed and applied to the chassis skeleton. Therefore, 1 chassis would be needed, but multiple “aero-kits”, as they’ve been referred to, could be utilized. In theory, engine manufacturers like Honda and Chevy could design unique kits for their cars. Corporations like Boeing, or even Wal-Mart if they wanted to could design, engineer, and sale aero-kits to teams. A large swath of IndyCar fans would get something they wanted desperately…differentiated looking cars. Now, in its second year, the DW12 still races with only the factory Dallara aero-kit available. What happened?

Credit IndyCar.com

Unfortunately, IndyCar team owners complained that the new chassis/engine combo was more expensive to maintain and race and they couldn’t afford the additional cost of aero-kits. Fair enough, but there was no set-in-stone agreement that if an aero-kit were offered other than the Dallara kit that you had to buy it. Can’t afford it? Don’t buy it. Many IndyCar fans, including myself, were quite peeved to hear the aero-kits would be delayed indefinitely.

The need for different looking cars has never been that important to me. The main issue is the Dallara aero-kit is so offensive to look at. I always maintained hope that a new kit by another company would at least look better. That’s all I really hoped for…nothing radical, but something not offensive. I get it though. Money is hard to come by these days and the racing is great. No arguments there. But, could this chassis end up helping IndyCar teams save money in the future?

IndyCar teams are struggling for sponsorship money and finding it hard to make ends meet. Meanwhile, in a quickly evolving world, old designs of anything wear quickly and often need freshening more often than in previous decades. Now, automobile manufacturers churn out redesigns of their products faster than ever due to the intense competition in the marketplace. And, let’s face it, we seem to have much shorter attention spans and love affairs with things than we used to. In a few years, IndyCar fans will be clamoring for the “next car”. Can IndyCar teams afford to buy new equipment every 5 years or so? No, they can’t. This is where the ugly-duckling Dallara comes in.

Credit IndyCar.com

The ability to engineer aero pieces for certain parts of the chassis to create a unique look can be used to, cheaply, update the chassis and keep it fresh. Maybe that wasn’t the original intention, but it could work. Would you rather spend $30,000 on an aero kit or $300,000 on a new chassis? It’s like giving your house a fresh coat of paint, doing some landscaping, and replacing some worn out trim instead of knocking the whole thing down and starting over. Just introduce a couple of new aero kits every year or so and, viola, you have a fresh IndyCar. Plus, it still allows the competition and differentiation aspect that was originally intended. On top of that, keeping a chassis for a longer period of time allows new or smaller teams to enter the series later in the life-cycle of the chassis through purchase of equipment from teams that may have come and gone or just needed to jettison some redundant items. It opens up more opportunity to have more than 33 entries for the Indy 500 (hello Bump Day!) and for event one-offs for up and coming drivers. Maybe a new aero-kit is released, a big team purchases it, and they have old kits they need to sell. This is a perfect opportunity for a small or new team to pick up some equipment at a discount price.

Credit IndyCar.com

No matter what happens, IndyCar just needs to piss or get off the pot about the kits. It was mentioned today that IndyCar is pondering committing to the kits, but only at the 3 superspeedway events next year. This is due to the fact that Honda doesn’t have a high-downforce kit ready. I say tough tits Honda. Your teams can use the Dallara kits if you don’t have one for the road courses. All I hope is that the new kits are more attractive. The DW12 needs a makeover already. She has an amazing personality, but she sure ain’t pretty. Come on IndyCar, allow some smart folks to turn this ugly duckling into a swan. Oh, and the kits may be the money saving savior you’ve been looking for.

Ross (@therossbynum)

Q4G Interview: Meet Race Car Driver Justin Mullikin

Credit: Mary Schill

Queers4Gears’ Adam Lovelace interviews NASCAR Grand National Sportsmen driver Justin Mullikin.

Meet 27 year old Justin Mullikin, of Holmen, Wisconsin. Justin is an out and open race car driver running in the NASCAR Grand National Sportsmen division, which falls under the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series, at Lacrosse Speedway in West Salem, Wisconsin. We caught up with Justin, whose season opens this weekend at Lacrosse Speedway, to get his story. Follow Justin and his season at his JM Racing page on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/mullikinracing

How and when did you get started in racing?

I started in 2005 on a whim. A close friend of mine raced in the 4-cyl Hornet class at LaCrosse Speedway and I started mostly to prove him wrong in that I could do better than him (which was no small feat. He was quite a well respected and tough competitor.) So I scanned the local papers and came upon a 1994 Nissan Sentra that was well rusted and had zero brakes (there is a story in itself on driving it home). After two seasons racing in that division I was able to amass an unheard of amount of top 3 finishes up until that point. I finished outside the top 3 twice over a two year span. For the record, both years there were over 110 individual drivers, with roughly 70 people racing on a weekly basis. At the end of the 2006 season I sold my car to another competitor (my $200 investment became a $1500 car based on what I was able to do with it) and purchased a Thunderstock which was the next division up from what I was running. That idea did not last long, it was a wreck of a car that I traded for an old non-running truck. This was the start of something I am known for, chassis work. I had that car for about 3 months, completely gutted, rebuilt and sold to a driver that traveled 3.5 hours to get the car. I purchased my first sportsmen car at that point and decided that I would go to the 3rd tier division and try my hand at transitioning from a front wheel drive class on a 1/4 mile track to a V8, rear-wheel drive class on a very fast 5/8 mile track. Lacrosse Speedway has a 5/8 mile outer track and an inner 1/4 mile track that utilizes a portion of the front stretch and turn one of the big track. Six years later I am on my third car in this division

Credit: Forte Design

Tell us about your stats: best finishes, awards, season ending standings:

Several wins, a number of top 5`s and top 10`s. I really don’t keep track of the number of each. This past season I was chosen, by the track officials and tech directors, for the Competition Achievement Award, which is basically an award for someone who had an outstanding achievement at the track, is well respected by competitors and has an overall positive impact on the speedway.

What racing series do you follow?

I follow all of the NASCAR series (top 3 and regional), and the Formula One Championship.

Who is your favorite driver?

Regan Smith, Jenson Button, Jeff Gordon, & Johanna Long.

What is your favorite track?

This is a hard one. I tend to prefer the short tracks, specifically Martinsville and North Wilkesboro; however, Texas, Rockingham, Charlotte and Infineon rank near the top as well.

Other than your own, do you attend any other races?

When my schedule permits I attend the local dirt track, a 1/3mile true oval about 30 miles north of here. This season I will also be attending a track that has recently re-opened, a 1/3 mile flat, tight, asphalt track.

What are your future racing plans? Anything in the works?

This season I am currently looking to get a few starts in a late model under my belt; beyond that, perhaps a full season in late models, or in a touring late model series. The ultimate goal would be to progress to a level where I could compete in the ARCA series and see where that might take me.

Do you find any difficulties in being a race car driver that happens to be gay?

For the most part I have not had any issues. There is the occasional comment that gets back to me; however I typically don’t care if someone who has no meaning to me has anything to say. I did have an issue early on in my racing with another driver who happened to be my best friend when we were children. That was resolved after a bit of rough driving on my part and a good friend of mine saying to him something to the effect of, “Have you seen the front end on his car? You’re going to lose this battle” (in reference to my being known for having the most durable overbuilt front ends on my cars, in the event I needed to assist someone to get out of my way).

Credit: Justin Mullikin

After you are a big time drive, will you always remember us here at Queers 4 Gears??

Of course I will. How could I forget this site, and the frequent references someone makes about Kasey Kahne?

Now for some VERY important questions

Favorite movie?

First and foremost, Casino, then Titanic (it’s perhaps the best done movie ever), The Underworld Series, Eragon, Silent Hill

Favorite TV show?

Rupaul’s Drag Race (I am a sucker for a hilarious competition), Finding Bigfoot

Do you ever smile for pictures? (Asked because I never see him smile for pictures)

Hilarious given the fact that I rarely do!

Ever gotten a speeding ticket?

Not a single ticket on my record

Your last concert?

Marilyn Manson at the Eagles Ballroom in Milwaukee

Do you untie your shoes when you take them off?

Nope. I rarely wear shoes, I am usually seen in flip flops (including at the track)

iPhone, Android, Blackberry, pager, or bag phone?

Iphone all the way

Two-car tandem or pack racing?

Anything is better than the 2013 Daytona 500. I tend to prefer pack racing, however the two car tandem was enjoyable to watch as well.

Follow Adam Lovelace on Twitter at @aclovelace

International News Briefs pic-less

As I sit here like a bum watching Grand-Am sportscars from Road Atlanta and IndyCar qualifying from the Long Beach GP, I figured I’d give y’all some updates from around the world of racing – now that I’m less swamped from finals!

F1 season results so far

Kimi Raikkonen won the opening Australian GP for Lotus ahead of Alonso’s Ferrari and Vettle rounding out the podium in the Red Bull.

Red Bull Racing had a dominant weekend in Malaysia taking the top two positions, followed by Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes.

The Chinese GP brought some struggles for Red Bull with neither car showing on the podium. The race was won by Alonso, followed by Raikkonen and Hamilton.

So far this weekend in Bahrain, the Mercedes team have continued their good form with Hamilton and Nico Rosberg showing well in practice, and Rosberg taking pole for tomorrow’s race in the gloriously unstable country. No threats to the safety of F1 personnel have been apparent, but some violent protests have occurred in nearby neighborhoods – and eery reminder of the things we’ve had in common with the Middle East this last week.*

Hamilton made a good move leaving McLaren

Everyone is in agreement now in their praise of Lewis Hamilton choosing to leave McLaren for Mercedes this year. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes is still struggling to get a handle on the quickly-degrading Pirelli tires. Both Lewis and Nico continue to fight for podiums if not wins week in and week out.

Kiwis dominate the V8 Supercar Series -results so far-

You’ll remember Craig Lowndes and Kiwi Shane van Gisbergen took the race wins at the season opening Clipsal 500, but the Kiwi domination continued at the Australian GP support races with the Giz, Fabian Coulthard, and rookie Scott McLaughin sharing the four race wins between them.

Round 3 at Symmons Plains Raceway saw the same pattern with Fabian Coulthard taking two of three race wins, and fellow Kiwi Jason Bright (of Darrell Waltrip’s Bathurst lap fame) taking his first win in a couple years in his Brad Jones Racing VF Commodore.

Last time out at Pukekohe Park in New Zealand (the series’ first time back in many years) only saw Jamie Whincup’s Red Bull Racing Australia Commodore and Will Davison’s Ford Performance Racing Falcon spoil the Kiwi party winning race two and three respectively. Scott McLaughin got his second win of his rookie year in race one, while Jason Bright continued his good run to win race four.

Nissan Motorsports and Erebus Racing both made some improvements at Pukekohe and actually began showing good lap times toward the front of the grid in practice.

Grand-Am and IMSA announce unified series

A while back, NASCAR-owned Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series and IMSA sanctioned American LeMans Series announced that 2014 would bring a unified sports car racing platform in the U.S. called United Sports Car Racing.

So far, Grand-Am’s Daytona Prototype Class will be combined with ALMS P2 category as the series’ flagship prototype class. LMPC cars will be kept as well, and both the premier GT classes from both series will be kept.

The organization is already working on class structure amendments for 2015 and rules packages for 2016.

There will be an upcoming article about Grand-Am and ALMS/World Endurance Championship season progress.

British Touring Car Championship stays consistent

MG KX Momentum and Honda Yuasa Racing have both gotten great starts to the season at Brands Hatch a few weeks ago with MG’s British touring car legend Jason Plato taking the first two race wins, and Honda’s own touring car legend Matt Neal taking race three.

This weekend the series is at Donnington Park. Honda Yuasa Racing’s reigning champion Gordon Shedden has pole for race one, and sister team Pirtek Racing (also running Honda Civics built by Team Dynamics, aka Honda Yuasa Racing) is pacing the field in practice.

Stay tuned for race updates later this weekend, as well as a profile of what the BTCC is all about later this month.

World Touring Car Championship sees consistency and drama

The WTCC has held their first round a couple weeks ago at Monza in Italy. Pacesetters and race winners are same-old same-old, being dominated by the Ray Mallock Limited Chevrolet Cruze team and driver Yvan Muller winning both races.

Drama occurred in qualifying when Lada driver Alexei Dudukalo made a huge mistake and outbraked himself going into the first chicane, crashing into his own teammate, touring car legend James Thompson. Thommo’s car was damaged so badly that both cars had to miss the races because the cars could not be repaired in time.

Dudukalo was soon fired by the Lukoil Lada team and replaced for the remainder of the season by Mikhail Koslovsky starting at round two in Marrakech, Morocco.

Marrakech saw drama as well, with multiple crashes happening throughout practice, qualy, and the two races due to the extremely fast, yet tight, nature of the street circuit.

Races were won by Michel Nykjaer’s privateer Chevrolet Cruze and Pepe Oriola’s Seat Leon.

Also stay tuned for a similar profile post about the WTCC later this month.

NASCAR: I Lost the Plot

Buckle up boys and girls, this could be a bumpy ride.

First, let me start by saying that I grew up a NASCAR fan. While IndyCar always interested me, it wasn’t my first love. On any given Sunday you would most likely find me on the floor of my parents living room watching a NASCAR race. I was a huge Bobby Labonte fan. His lime green (which is my favorite color) Interstate Batteries Pontiac Grand Prix was the coolest car ever in my eyes. Growing up all I ever wanted to drive was a 2-door Grand Prix GTP in red. However, after Bobby Labonte won his championship in 2000, I started to lose the plot in NASCAR. 13+ years later, I rarely watch NASCAR. What happened?

I asked myself this question after watching the end of last Sunday’s NASCAR race at Autoclub Speedway. Keep in mind, this was just after I watched the IndyCar season opener at St. Petersburg. As I pondered the question in my head, it all suddenly started to make sense.

I just don’t get NASCAR anymore. Period. The cookie-cutter tracks are boring. The races are too long. I have stuff to do and can’t spend 3 ½ hours in front of the television every weekend. The season is too long. You never have a chance to miss it because it never really goes away. Most of the drivers, save Tony Stewart and Brad Keselowski, have little to no personality. Jimmie Johnson is so inoffensive it offends me. Fans clamor over Dale Earnhardt Jr. who, until this season, had no reason, other than his last name, to be more popular than someone named Bob Smith. The on track retaliation is dangerous no matter how safe the cars may seem. Although IndyCar racecars are fundamentally different, IndyCar fans know the extreme danger of wrecks and don’t delight in seeing them, especially at an oval track. One would think NASCAR fans would feel the same after the death of Dale Earnhardt, the recent crash at Daytona, and the injury of Denny Hamlin at Fontana. Plus, the feuding between drivers is typically childish. I love to see drivers show personality, but fighting on pitlane? When did grown men turn into middle-school girls? The next thing I know they’ll be weave laying all over pitlane after the next scuffle.

The strange part is the crashing and fights is what is making NASCAR popular and the ratings go up. Nobody really seems to car that the racing is often times subpar. They are just waiting on the next car to smack the wall and fight to breakout. To me, this is no different from the WWE’s manufactured drama through violence. I love racing for the racing, so this doesn’t resonate with me.

To me though, there is a cultural difference between IndyCar and NASCAR. This is not meant to sound snooty. I grew up in the middle of redneck central…South Mississippi. My uncles raced at local dirt tracks, and when I think of the people that attended the races and raced, the things that got them fired up were typically crashes and fights. I’ve seen more guys that had fewer teeth than tires on their car try to beat each other up than I can count over something inane that happened on the track. Fans loved it. The fans at that local track are NASCAR fans. That’s not to say all NASCAR fans are rednecks, but I know for certain those folks aren’t watching IndyCar. The local NASCAR sanctioned short-track in Houston readily advertises the crashes. Actually, I’m not even sure they race. The whole commercial is a reel of spinning cars and tire smoke with some guy, who probably also does Monster Truck Rally commercials, saying random adjectives in an exaggerated voice like “THRILLS, CRASHES, SPEEEEEEED”. Oh, and Cokes and Hot Dogs are a dollar. He says that a lot. I just don’t get it anymore.

NASCAR will get tons of publicity from the fights, injuries, and crashes. Some say that all press is good press. I think Lindsay Lohan, for example, would tend to disagree. However, we somehow all know what Lindsay’s is up to. The bigger the train wreck she becomes, the bigger her name gets, but at the end of the day she’s worse off than she was despite all the publicity. I view NASCAR in the same light these days. All I hear about is everything but the racing. That’s not good, and I don’t think it’s sustainable long-term.

Don’t get me wrong, IndyCar has so many issues Vogue magazine is jealous. But, despite all the administrative drama and the childish team owners, the product on the track is great. It’s similar but different than NASCAR. IndyCar’s drama masks an awesome product while NASCAR’s drama masks a subpar product. The only difference is NASCAR’s drama gets people to watch.

Truth be told, I probably will never be a big NASCAR fan again. What the series would need to do to appease me they would never do in my lifetime, so I will be nothing more than a casual observer. But, if NASCAR continues down the path they’re on, I hope they do one thing…let Tony Stewart beat the shit out of someone.

Ross (@therossbynum)

Australian GP and V8 Supercar Support Race – Friday Report

Sebastian Vettle, Red Bull Racing RB9, 2013 Australian Grand Prix, Melbourne - The Guardian photo

F1 Practice Update – Who’s fast and who’s not

Practices one and two for the 2013 Australian Grand Prix are now complete at the Albert Park circuit in Melbourne and it’s status quo at the head of the field with Vettle posting the fastest time in both sessions. Red Bull Racing teammate Mark Webber posted P5 and P2 respectively (+0.2-0.5 compared to P1).

Mercedes has shown the same strong form seen in testing with drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg setting some good times hovering around P3 and P4 for the team’s fastest laps (+0.4-0.8 to P1) over both sessions.

Lotus (Raikkonen, Grosjean) and Ferrari (Alonso, Massa) are right there along with Mercedes as the consistently top-10 teams, all running about 0.5-1 second off the pace of the RBR squad.

McLaren (Button, Perez), however seems to be struggling. Both cars were roughly 1.5 seconds off the pace through both sessions.

Force India (DiResta, Sutil) is consistently mid-pack and actually running a bit quicker than the McLaren duo – impressive for them.

Nico Hulkenberg (teammate Gutierrez) set a great P10 time in the second session, taking his Sauber team firmly into the midfield, echoing the recent comments by other team principles about the promise the 2013 Sauber showed in testing.

Williams (Maldonado, Bottas) and Scuderia Torro Rosso (Ricciardo, Vergne) round out the midfield teams, pretty much where we expected to see them.

Backmarkers continue to be Marrusia (Bianchi, Chilton) and Caterham (Pic, van der Garde) – both seeming to be on par with each other almost seven seconds off the pace of the leaders.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W04, 2013 Australian Grand Prix, Melbourne - conceptcarz photo

Hamilton stuffs it while Rosberg halts

Mercedes’ good form was not without its issues though. Rosberg pitted in the second practice session with gearbox issues, and just moments later Hamilton went off at turn 6 damaging the car.

Reports say Hamilton was discharged from the pitlane after the crew had noticed a damaged splitter on the car’s undertray. Upon turn-in at the fast turn 6, Hamilton lacked front downforce and understeered off track into the tire barrier.

The team say Hamilton’s off came right as his engineer was about to relay the splitter information to him over the radio. Why he was discharged from pitlane with crippled front aero and not told about it immediately, the world may never know…

Fabian Coulthard, Lockwood Racing - Fox Sports Australia photo

Fabian Coulthard takes maiden V8 Supercar win

Fabian Coulthard of Lockwood Racing (Brad Jones Racing) took his maiden victory in the V8 Supercar series in the Australian GP support race one. He followed the feat by equaling the accomplishment in race two. His wins have established a trend of Kiwi domination since Shane van Gisbergen’s win at the Clipsal 500.

Coulthard is best known for his massive crash going into the Chase on the opening lap of the 2010 Bathurst 1000. Go to YouTube and watch it. You won’t regret it.

There are two more races (all of these are non-championship) to go on Saturday around F1 qualifying. Stay tuned for an update tomorrow on Saturday’s action!

-Cody @theSAABwriter

Pre-season Thunder, 18,000rpm Style!

OK, so I’ve caught you up on the goings on Down Under in the V8 Supercar series. Now it’s time for the gaynalysis of the FIA Formula One World Championship pre-season.

Silly-season seat swapping sexiness

Adrian Sutil, Sahara Force India Formula One Team, 2013 testing - BBC photo

The biggest bit of silly-season came to a close just the other day when the worst-kept secret of the off-season was confirmed: Adrian Sutil is back in F1 this year driving for Sahara Force India. Next to former F1 pilot Christian Klien, Sutil is by far the prettiest of recent grand prix drivers – I mean, look at the photo; the boy’s wearing a cardigan, so he’s either incredibly metrosexual, or… ya know…

Oh, and did I mention he’s also a highly talented, classically-trained pianist? And he can certainly hold his own in a bar fight (which is what got him booted from his last Force India F1 contract a couple years ago).

It’s good to see the gifted, good-lookin’ boy back!

Lewis Hamilton jumps ship to Mercedes, finds happiness at last

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team, 2013 testing - BBC photo

Lewis Hamilton made the shock announcement last year that he was leaving Vodafone McLaren-Mercedes, the team which groomed him through the ranks from the time he was a young karting star, for 2013. He signed a contract to drive for Mercedes, replacing Michael Schumacher who has since retired -again- in hopes of finding a better atmosphere and ~~more money~~ a new challenge~~, in addition to having a team that lets him keep his trophies.~~

I’ll be honest, I can support a guy who’s out to find a new challenge, but Hamilton has never actually had to develop a car to make it exponentially faster, which is what the Mercedes team has needed for years. Even the dynamic duo of Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg, backed by the brains of legendary team boss and technical man Ross Brawn, haven’t gotten a truly competitive car produced yet.

Testing times in the two recent pre-season sessions at Jerez and Catalunya have showed the 2013 Mercedes W04 has some good pace in spite of a crash by Hamilton (the result of brake failure so I’ve heard). Granted, the times many teams set in testing aren’t indicative of their true form because they could be sending out the cars on low fuel loads to set high times to impress the sponsors (or Mercedes F1 impressing their parent company which has had some doubts as to their continued support of the program) or even sandbag to not let out all their secrets. Only time will tell if this move has paid off for Hamilton or not…

In technical staff silly-season, a report on SPEEDtv.com today confirms that Paddy Lowe is indeed moving from his post at McLaren to join Mercedes along with Hamilton. Chalk up another worst-kept-secret…

In other news, Red Bull Racing and their three-time and reigning champ Sebastian Vettle have shown they’re still the class of the field. Legendary designer Adrian Newey will always churn out a good car, and this year looks no different. Many claim Red Bull have been sandbagging their times especially during the Barcelona test which just concluded today.

Felipa Massa, Scuderia Ferrari, 2013 testing - Wikimedia Commons photo

Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali doesn’t have a good outlook on their 2013 car already, saying they “are not the fastest car.” At least he admits it…

Lotus have also shown good good form during testing with Kimi Raikkonen acting very pleased in spite of some reliability issues.

Button and McLaren, on the other hand, have admitted to having a very “difficult” time with their new car.

The 2013 FIA Formula One World Championship kicks off in just under two weeks at Albert Park in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia with practice for the Rolex Australian Grand Prix on March 15.

*NOTE* Formula One coverage here in the U.S. has moved from SPEED to the NBC Sports Network with Leigh Diffey, David Hobbs, and Steve Matchett calling practice, qualy, and the races in addition to some extra studio features throughout the year. Diffey will also be calling play-by-play on NBCSN’s IndyCar coverage (win!). I don’t trust NBCSN, but at least they hired the best three commentators in the business for the job. Not to sell Bob Varsha short, because we all love him to death, but Varsha can now focus a lot of attention on other projects including Barrett-Jackson and, hopefully, the major endurance race broadcasts.

V8 Supercar Clipsal 500 Recap – and some scandal!

Lowndes nabs record-tying win

Craid Lowndes, Red Bull Racing Australia Holden VF Commodore, 2013 Clipsal 500 Race One winner - V8 Supercars photo

Race one of this weekends V8 Supercar Clipsal 500 in Adelaide saw Red Bull Racing’s Craig Lowndes draw abreast at the top of the number of all-time wins list with five-time V8 Supercar/Australian Touring Car champ Mark Skaife at 90 career wins. This year will undoubtedly see Lowndes surpass Skaifey’s record, which I’m sure we’ll hear no end of on Channel 7′s coverage, since Skaife has always had a reputation of being an egomaniac even in the Channel 7 commentary booth – but that’s why we love him!

The first 250k sprint also marked the first win by the Holden VF Commodore Car of the Future, continuing Holden’s (or at least RBR Australia-built cars) dominant form throughout the weekend.

Shane van Gisbergen dominates Qualifying and Race Two

Shane van Gisbergen, Tekno Autosport V.I.P. Petfoods Holden VF Commodore, 2013 Clipsal 500 Race Two winner - V8 Supercars photo

Shane van Gisbergen took both poles for each of the weekend’s sprints and took a flag-to-flag victory in Race Two. It’s van Gisbergen’s third career V8 Supercar win and comes on the heals of his rather unvonventional off-season:

Van Gisbergen decided during the 2012 season that he was no longer happy at Stone Brothers Racing. “There were a couple of clashes. It wasn’t a happy atmosphere and it was going to get more political with the takeover [by Erebus]. Just the big glitzy stuff with Mercedes. I want a fast race car. I want to race and have fun,” he told the Daily Telegraph.

Many were throwing around the word “retirement” for some reason. vanGissy said he never used the word, and throws all of that blame on the admin at SBR. Clearly there’s ample bad-blood between the parties involved, and I’ve personally gotten the impression that the tone of all the interviews and press releases I’ve seen over the off-season has been really awkward.

The plot has since thickened: When van Gisbergen left SBR, he apparently stated he wasn’t happy and wanted to take at least a year away from V8 Supercars and just have some fun drifting and racing the V8 Super Tourers series back at home in New Zealand. The problem is, van Gisbergen signed a non-compete agreement with SBR, but suddenly a few weeks ago stuns the community with his announcement that he “found the flame” again and signed a contract to race the V.I.P. Petfoods Commodore for Tekno Autosport. Now SBR is allegedly beginning legal proceedings to hammer van Gisbergen with breach-of-contract.

Gissy said he thought Tekno had a good atmosphere and he felt like he could win races and restart his career after his sophmore slump at SBR.

OK, look, I can understand van Gisbergen’s point of view here. I know how it feels to be in a slump and not happy with where you’re at in your job, or in life – that’s why I was gone from this site for a year, and now am back since I left my job in retail (a business I don’t particularly like). I’m dead broke, but I’m happier, and that’s what the Giz has been aiming for. Neither he, nor SBR, is handling this situation very well though. Is it Ross or Jimmy Stone doing the legal proceedings, or is it the new Erebus Motorsport team owner Betty Klimenko? (She does look kind of intimidating, I will admit – but chicks tend to scare me in the first place )

Only time will tell what will happen to van Gisbergen, his ride at Tekno, and Erebus Motorsport (SBR). All I know is, this situation is still casting a black cloud over what is a fantastic weekend for van Gisbergen, and Tekno Autosport (their first win).

Oh, and PS: Looks like Gissy made a good call jumping ship; Erebus was just happy to qualify at the very back of the grid and finish the races with their E63 AMGs…

Cody’s Back with International Updates!

That’s right gearheads, the Queers4Gears International Correspondent is back from his year-long hiatus being swamped with his college journalism and technical writing programs!

Look for regular updates in 2013 from the V8 Supercar Series, Formula One World Championship, Grand-Am and ALMS sportscar racing, and a smattering of some rallying, touring cars, and other interesting racing tidbits from the world over. He might even throw in some local drag racing photos from his two local Cincinnati-area drag strips – though, let’s face it, he’s about as straight as the Nordschleife.

2013 Update No. 1 – V8 Supercar season kicks off with all-new cars

Red Bull Racing Holden VF Commodore, aka Chevy SS, pre-season testing at Sydney Motorsport Park - Niel Winch photo

Australia – land of sand, surf and freakin’ hot men and women – is bringing major change to their premier V8 Supercar series this season with the Car of the Future.

No more unibody Holden Commodores and Ford Falcons
All cars run a spec spaceframe chassis just like American stock cars
Fuel tank moved to rear-seat area to prevent rear-end-collision fires the old car was so famous for
Rear suspension is now all-independent with a rear-mounted transaxle (a la DTM, German Touringcar Masters cars, and most racing sportscars)
Spec chassis means new manufacturers can join the series for the first time since the mid-90s.

Nissan joins with Kelly Racing

Nissan has now entered V8 Supercars with Kelly Racing, now known as Nissan Motorsport, with their Altima model. The car is simply stunning looking in James Moffat’s Norton 360 colors!

Nissan Motorsports Altima - RaceSimCentral photo

Mercedes-Benz’ AMG arm joins with Erebus and Stone Brothers Racing

Erebus E63 followed by Red Bull VF Commodore, Ford Performance Racing FG Falcon, and Nissan Motorsports Altima during pre-season testing at Syndey Motorsport Park - Canberra Times photo

Australian GT team Erebus Motorsport bought into Stone Brothers Racing last year and the new team is bringing the new E63 AMG to V8 Supercars this year, along with new driver Mauro Engel.

Now, much work had to be done over the winter by V8 Supercars to ensure parity between these new bodies – now 15 Holden VF Commodores (our Chevy SS in NASCAR), six Ford Falcon FGs, four Nissan Altimas, and three E63 AMGs. They are also contending with the Nissan and AMG engines being the first in the category’s history to be overhead-cam engines competing with the tried-and-true Ford and GM pushrod smallblocks. Erebus threw an even bigger wrench into the works in testing when the world came to find out their five-liter V8 has a flat-plane crankshaft in addition to being DOHC – and it makes a glorious scream when the cars fly past!

2013 Clipsal 500 this weekend

The V8 Supercar season has started off with a bang so far in Adelaide at the Clipsal 500. The status quo is the same: reigning champ Jamie Whincup and teammate Craig Lowndes are dominating practice and qualifying in their Red Bull Racing (formerly Team Vodafone) VF Commodores.

Pole for the first 250km sprint was nabbed by a bonzai lap from Shane van Gisbergen in his V.I.P. Petfoods VF Commodore, with the Red Bull cars close behind.

This Clipsal 500 is also the first race in the Dunlop V8 Series (their equivalent to the Nationwide series – running older hand-me-down V8 Supercars) for former MotoGP ace Casey Stoner. All eyes are on him this year, and many other Dunlop series drivers have said they’d like to be running nose-to-tail with Stoner’s Red Bull Racing VE-II Commodore just for the TV exposure to land sponsorship easier.

Stay tuned for an update after the Clipsal 500 has concluded for my take on how the CotF performed in its first race weekend, and who performed well inside and outside the cars.

Next up: 2013 Formula One World Championship testing recap, paddock scuttlebutt, and season preview

Cody (@theSAABwriter)

The Dudtona 500

Adam’s Daytona 500 rant.

The Daytona 500 has been here and gone and will likely only be remembered for Danica Patrick’s pole and good run, leading laps and running up front before finishing in 8th place. The TV ratings were up a good amount, but the race was not a sell out and the grandstands for all of Speedweeks had a LOT of noticeably empty seats. With empty seats and declining TV ratings we’ve been told it’s the economy, but I don’t fully buy that (other than your cable/satellite TV bill, it costs nothing to watch). Last year’s Chase started out with a fizzle and a major lack of action on the track, which was not unlike a large amount of the 2012 season. This year was going to be different. We were all looking forward to the build up to Daytona and the Gen 6 cars, which look great, but failed miserably to put on much of a show at Daytona. Four Sprint Cup races during the week, the Unlimited, the Duels, and the 500 itself resulted in four follow the leader duds. If I were not a fan or just a casual fan, I can tell you for a fact, that I would not have paid money to go watch races like that either. The opening race, the “Super Bowl” of our sport, millions of eyes watching and we give them a dud. As a long time follower of this sport, that I love by the way, I knew that the truck race and the Nationwide race would be the best races of the week and they were packed full of action, racing, & passing. If not for the final lap crash that injured fans on Saturday, I would say those two races overshadowed the big show in a big way!

Yes the cars are new and the drivers and teams will get it figured out, I get that, but it’s our biggest race of the year, our chance to grab new fans, get them interested in the sport to tune into the next 35 races. It should already be figured out. Don’t experiment on our biggest race of the year. We throw a party every year for the Daytona 500 and invite friends that follow the sport and other friends that don’t know what number Jeff Gordon’s car is. After Sunday’s race, I guarantee you those non-fans won’t be tuning into the next 35 races. On Friday I tried to get some other friends interested by having them tune into what I think is one of the best races of speedweeks, the truck race. The race was great, but during the whole race it was non-stop with the “R U Faster Than a Redneck?” promos. Really? I thought NASCAR wanted to get away from that image. We have that demographic wrapped up. Stop it already.

The last two days I’ve read many tweets from some prominent and not so prominent racing media condemning the fans that have complained about the racing and telling us how few cars finished on the lead lap 30 and 40 years ago. While true, NASCAR did not have a multibillion dollar tv deal then either, or any real tv deal for that matter. As a fan and being involved with this sport for 20 years, I know that not every race is going to be exciting all the time. So, I don’t know the answer to the cars at Daytona and I for one, will be tuning into the next 35 races and I know that these new cars have the potential to put on some great racing and I can’t wait to see it. But insulting fans and going after the same old demographic over and over is not the way to get more eyes on the sport. I don’t need to be convinced to tune in or go to the track, ~~NASCAR has my demographic wrapped up~~, err, trust me, I’ll be watching.

Here’s to a great 2013!!

Follow me on Twitter @aclovelace

Racing is Dangerous – for everyone

credit Terry Renta - AP

I’ve had this feeling before….. I was covering the INDY Car finale from Las Vegas when Dan Wheldon died. That day involved a lot of waiting with a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach and it returned today.

On the last lap of the Nationwide Race, Regan Smith did what ANY driver would do, making a move to block and protect his chance to win a race at NASCAR’s most hallowed track. Unfortunately, his block set off a wreck that launched Kyle Larson’s car into the catch fans injuring 28 people.

14 people were treated at the track’s infield care center and 14 others were taken to local hospitals. At the time of this post, 2 are in very critical condition: USA Today’s Jeff Gluck reported a hospital spokesman says one of the critically injured is a child.

One patient has life-threatening injuries at hospital. One patient is a minor.

— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) February 23, 2013

First all, I am sending all the positive vibes I can muster Daytona way…. this isn’t the way any fan needs to spend their weekend in Daytona.

But, this isn’t how NASCAR wants to make it as the lede story on the National News Casts. Mostly, because they don’t know what they are talking about. NBC news reported that Larry Stewart won the race after the crash and CNN’s Don Lemon brought all the knowledge to this story that I bring to stories about lady parts.

Racing is dangerous and the drivers have all accepted the risk. But as fans, we have to understand the risks involved too. American’s try to child proof society and insure saftey at every turn, but life doesn’t work that way. Have you ever watched a rally race from Europe or bikes race on the Isle of Man and seen thousands of fans standing feet off of the racing surface…..with nothing but air in between them and the racing danger? Those fans assume a much larger risk than we take on when attending a NASCAR race…. but there is only so much a track or NASCAR can do.

Point being, the catch fence did its job. NACAR could build a thirty foot wall around the track, but that would ruin your view. The current design did work and most of the debris that did make it through was caught up in the 10-foot buffer zone that separates the fence from the stands.

credit Chris O'meara - AP Sports

But if history is any lesson, this won’t stop NASCAR from analyizing this accident and making improvements. The current catch fence and SAFER barriers were developed out of tragedy and NASCAR will be looking for better solutions to fan saftey…. and they won’t stop there.

NASCAR will also study Kyle Larson’s car – I have never seen the entire front end detach from the car’s frame like that.

The bottom line is that right now there isn’t much anyone can do, other than send good thoughts to the people who were injured and let NASCAR do their job.