Sebring International Raceway has announced the 2008 inductees into the Sebring Sports Car Racing Hall of Fame. American Le Mans Series team owner Roger Penske, Derek Bell, Hans Stuck, David Cowart and Audi will join the prestigious Hall of Fame during ceremonies on Friday, March 14, the day before the 56th annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida. Image Credit: Dan Boyd, American Le Mans Series
American Le Mans Series Goes Cellulosic
North American racing enthusiasts have long known the benefits of using the renewable energy fuel, Corn Based Ethanol … beginning with CART (when open-wheel racing was unified) and its current form Champ Car World Series and Indianapolis Racing League. Its main benefit as a racing fuel is that the fuel can be diluted with water, making it much easier to control should a spill happen through the action of a pit stop.
Newman/ Haas/ Lanigan Racing’s #2 DP01 race car in technical inspection on day two of qualifications for the 2008 Long Beach Grand Prix. The car driven by Graham Rahal, son of racing legend Bobby Rahal, is one of two American-born drivers to compete in the Champ Car World Series for 2008. The other driver is Alex Figge driving car #29 for Pacific Coast Motorsports. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (… notes from The EDJE) - 2007
This year will see the first series to introduce the exclusive use of a greener form of Ethanol. The American Le Mans Series full bodied sport car racing series that will be here for their third race of a twelve race season, at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, April 18-20, 2008, will run the full year on Cellulosic Ethanol.
Cellulosic Ethanol, while chemically the same as ethanol made from a food source (Corn), uses fermented and converted fiber material from grasses, landscape yard waste, twigs, and the waste husks from Corn to make a more efficient form of biofuel. Many believe that this process approach will become the future biofuel process to allow reduced dependence on petroleum based fuels for everyday use.
Cellulosic Ethanol is just what Corvette Racing will be using to power their C6.R racing cars this season. The C6.R competes in the GT1 class, which features production-based sportscars that have then been highly modified. Image Credit: ARS Technica
This excerpted from ARS Technica -
Cellulosic ethanol makes its racing debut By Jonathan M. Gitlin Published: February 12, 2008 - 03:01PM CT
It might seem odd for someone who writes about climate change to be a racing fan, but no one ever said life was uncomplicated. Concern for the environment and a desire to see cars run flat out around a track aren't necessarily mutually exclusive, as car companies and racing teams test new automotive technology in the crucible that is the race track.
Most major racing series, mindful of the need to put out a more green image, have plans in the works to make their industry a little more environmentally friendly. ---- But if you're looking for a racing series that best advances automotive technology, you need to be watching the American Le Mans Series.
A series that runs in the US with rules (mainly) written by the organizers of the 24-hour race at Le Mans, the ALMS is a series for sports cars, from the production-based GT1 and GT2 classes to the exotic, carbon-fiber bodied P1 and P2 prototype classes. Audi and Peugeot have been contesting the P1 class with a pair of prototypes (the R10 and 908) that both feature V12 diesel engines, and most other competitors are using a biofuel ethanol/gasoline blend.
However, although corn's use as a biofuel has been touted frequently by politicians (who may or may not have been campaigning in Iowa), it is becoming more and more obvious that corn-based ethanol is not the panacea once thought. Cellulosic ethanol, on the other hand, doesn't involve taking food and converting it to fuel. And that's just what Corvette Racing are going to be using to power their C6.R racing cars this season. The C6.R competes in the GT1 class, which features production-based sportscars that have then been highly modified. Earlier today, I got a chance to speak to team boss Doug Feehan about the fuel switch for 2008.
Feehan explained to me that they feel cellulosic ethanol, supplied by KL Process Design Group, represents the second generation of biofuels, and the team wants to be on the forefront of the industry as they move away from corn-based biofuels to more environmentally sound sources. The C6.Rs will use the biofuel in the ALMS series, but not at Le Mans this summer, where they hope to make last year's Aston Martin victory a one-off. The seven-liter V8 engines are quite happy using the E85 fuel, but fuel consumption is around 20-25 percent worse than gasoline. It is expected that the sport's sanctioning body will require GT cars that aren't using E85 to fit smaller gas tanks to compensate.
You'll be able to see for yourself how the switch is going at the first race of the season, The 12 Hours of Sebring, which will be held March 12 through 15, and later in the season, we hope to have a look at the car in person and report how they're getting on. For racing to continue to be relevant, it has to respond to the world around us, and, as far as the ALMS goes, it seems to be responding well. Reference Here>>
The La Salle Bank Grand Prix of Cleveland held on the runways and taxiways of the Burke Lakefront Airport, downtown Cleveland. Image Credit: Getty Images via CBS Sportsline
Champ Cars Take Flight In Cleveland (Television Broadcast - CBS June 24, 1:00 pm ET)
The long, flat airport taxiways and runways make for one of the most exciting driver skill contested venues for an open-wheel event in Champ Car to be staged this year.
In Cleveland, the race is held on a working (but shut-down for the week-end) private aircraft airport right on the lakefront that the City of Cleveland resides on.
From Burke Lakefront Airport, the Cityscape of Cleveland acts a jewel of a backdrop with the Rock-N-Roll Hall Of Fame as a centerpiece.
The biggest attraction of the race venue has to be the track itself ... and in particular, Turn One on ANY start and restart.
The strightaway leading to the approach to Turn One is as wide as any concrete eight to ten lane freeway. The turn itself circles back to the other direction about 315 degrees onto a crossover to another runway heading back to the oposite direction.
As the Champ Cars and drivers head into Turn One, many are tempted to cut the corner short and take the shortest route to the apex, while others take a much higher line which allows one the hit the apex of the turn at a higher rate of speed.
The cars and drivers fan out and hope for the best. If a driver gets it right, they pass a few cars for position and get away clean ... if a driver gets it wrong? ...
... Well, here is the start of the race from last year where A.J. Allmendinger (currently racing in NASCAR) is able to just get past Sebastian Bourdais to maintain the pole starting position - Position One, while others will need assistance for a restart.
2006 Cleveland Grand Prix Race Start This year may actually be the last race from Burke if some people in Cleveland have their way - and this would be very sad indeed. The Cleveland Grand Prix is one of just a few races that helped to define what it ment to BE a Champ Car venue. Really, it is right there with Long Beach, Elkhart Lake, and Toronto.
The Burke Lakefront Airport circuit in Cleveland, Ohio offers a challenging 2.106-mile, wide-open 10-turn race track. This will be the 26th time that the Champ Cars "Roar by the Shore". This event is the longest tenure of any temporary race venue on the Champ Car circuit.
Is it possible that the race in Cleveland will go the way of other great venues that were Champ Car staples like Ohio and Vancouver?
Excerpts from the Cleveland Plain Dealer -
What to do with Burke? Its past as landfill complicates future UPDATED: 10 :30 a.m. EDT, June 20, 2007 - Joan Mazzolini - Plain Dealer Reporter (originally published - Monday, April 23, 2007)
The vast expanse of land that makes up Burke Lakefront Airport has tantalized residents for decades as the last, best hope to give Cleveland a real lakefront, akin to Chicago, Milwaukee or Toronto.
And with two underperforming local airports -- Burke and Cuyahoga County -- the refrain from various quarters has long been to close Burke and merge operations.
But the hurdles to use Burke's 450 acres for a commercial center or housing or even a massive park are greater and more expensive than many realize.
While often called prime lakefront land, the reality is very different.
Most of Burke sits on garbage and dredge material. In fact, a Cleveland city dump since the time of horse-drawn wagons was located there and the garbage was burned until the 1950s.
Workers doing any digging on or near Burke are required to wear environmental hazmat suits because of the contamination, which includes PCBs, methane, oil, car tires and other debris.
Image Credit: Google Maps
Mike Hoyle, chief executive of Business Aircraft Group Inc., an aircraft management and sales company at Burke, doesn't believe the airport can be closed, both for the economic benefit it brings to Cleveland and for the simple reason that turning the land into a park would be too expensive.
City officials and others estimate that Burke contributes at least $100 million a year to the economy.
"You dig 4 feet and you're in sludge," Hoyle said. "My building sits on 6-foot-wide footers and it has settled 9 inches. You can't build a high-rise here." ---- But long before any new use of the land can even be considered, another question must be answered.
Can it be done? Can Burke, in fact, be closed?
That may be finally answered, with a master plan of the airport that Burke Commissioner Khalid Bahhur expects to be complete later this year.
It would finally answer the question of "does Burke stay or does it go?"
"If it stays, we'll be able to say here's why, and if it goes, here's why," Bahhur said. ---- If Burke goes, and the process could take years, a big question is where do the hospital helicopters, the Federal Reserve flights, the flight schools, corporate jets and others that use Burke go?
Some say other close-by reliever airports, such as Cuyahoga County, Lost Nation and Lorain County, could take portions. Of those, only Cuyahoga County has a control tower. ---- To close Burke, Cleveland would probably have to repay the Federal Aviation Administration $4.1 million in grants it received for airport upkeep.
But it might not be that simple.
The FAA could require Cleveland not just to move all operations to other airports, but could also require the city to reproduce Burke and its acreage at a different location.
"It's more than simply repaying the money," said FAA spokesman Tony Molinaro. "We would do an airspace study . . . to see what the consequences are and does this create more congestion.
"We can say 'No, you can't close this.' "
Longtime Burke Commissioner Mike Barth, who left to run Lorain County airport, said he believes you can give people more access and keep the airport.
Barth, who left in 1999 after 28 years at Burke, including 10 as the airport's commissioner, said dredged material should continue to be dumped at Burke, which would ultimately allow a runway to be added to the north. ---- "We all know the lakefront would be really prime land. We could have parks, entertainment, housing and retail," Dimora said.
"What land in the county isn't contaminated? You'll have to build with pilings," he said. "It's more difficult, more costly. But it's more desirable." Read All>>
Hey! ... and then there is the Cleveland Grand Prix and all the commerce and attention this event brings into the Cleveland economy every year for the last 26 years ... where is the mention of this little tidbit of information?
Long live the Cleveland Grand Prix at the Burke Lakefront Airport circuit...
The sights, the sounds, the unique vantage points, all of which make up the premiere closed course temporary street circuit race in the world.
From the top of the Wells Fargo Building at the corner of Ocean Blvd. and Pine Ave., to the Fountain Corner at the aquarium, ending up at the General Admissions grandstands located on the southern end of the front straightaway grandstand bank ... This IS Champ Car! ... This IS The 33rd Addition Of The LBGP!
I am an Inner Circle Champion because there is absolutely nothing like the thrill of competition on the "EDJE" (pronounced edge)!
Winner Will Power shares podium with P2-Robert Doornbos and P3-Paul Tracy. Will celebrates by sailing a hat into the crowd. Image Credit: Jalopnik's Las Vegas local, Curtis Walker
Bets Placed, Cards Played, Will Power Takes The Pot!
The race starts on a clear, sunny Las Vegas spring day with the temperature in the mid to upper 80's.
The attitude of game was made at the very beginning of the race when it saw Paul Tracy pass pole winner Will Power and take the lead of the race from the very first turn.
Bobby Rahal's son, Graham, did not fair so well in that he found the wall before he was able to make it to the Start-Finish line.
By lap 11, Will Power found his legs and took the lead back in a clean but contested pass. What would one expect from Tracy?
The races for Champ Car this year are all "timed" races, in that the cars race for a specific period of time as opposed to a specific distance regardless of time.
Las Vegas is a great street course - it has every thing - A wicked fast, curved, 195 MPH front straightaway - Elevation change - Tunnels - Rhythm corners - A great mix of professional international experience rookies and series regulars - Lots of room to pass. The new DP01 car looks very racy as well. The louvered ground effects air escape ports just in front of the rear wheels look intimidating.
At lap 28, Tracy and Power pit while being very close to each other - Tracy played it straight and took full fuel ... Power out a little earlier and may have taken a little less on board to insure a quick turnaround.
Lap 32, after suffering three cut tires early on, Sebastian Bourdais (three time series Champion) goes out after he clips a wall and tucks his wing under the driver’s side front wheel. With that, CCWS' winnings team, Newman-Haas, folds for good.
Doornbos and Tracy speed past the parked and damaged McDonald's DP01 of Bourdais. Image Credit: Jalopnik's Las Vegas local, Curtis Walker
Tracy in for additional fuel on lap 34 - telemetry indicated that he did not get a full tank. This will put him back but the question remains ... Did Will Power get enough fuel? Reports are that he did.
Lap 40 - Alex Tagliani leads but is getting ready to pit.
Paul Tracy navigates the Las Vegas Grand Prix street course with the Stratosphere looking over his shoulder. Image Credit: Jalopnik's Las Vegas local, Curtis Walker
Lap 41 - Power, Doornbos, Jani, Junqueria, Tagliani, and Tracy
Will Power in the pits on lap 45 so it turns out he did not get a full load of fuel last time in. Power has a sloppy pit stop. These new pit stops on the DP01 car are a lot slower than the previous cars the Champ Car World Series ran last year. What used to be quick 7 second fuel fill-up is taking at least a third longer and it is confusing some of the members of the pit crew. It was causing the pit "captains" to wave drivers out before they were full of fuel.
Lap 50 - Finds Junqueria in for a pit stop and the fuel man indicated that the valve in the fuel tool never opened – Bruno’s Sonny’s BBQ White & Red DP01 is out of contention with a second fuel stop. Paul Tracy leads followed by Power, Tagliani, Doornbos, and Brit Kathryn Legge.
Will Power is fastest on the track and is pacing about one second per lap faster than leader Paul Tracy.
Tracy in on lap 55 for his final fuel with Power taking the lead at 18 minutes left in the race. Power may or may not need fuel to the end.
Tagliani in on lap 59 after 18 laps on the tank. Reports state that Power is running with 13 laps on his tank at this time. Telemetry shows that Paul Tracy is good to the end.
So this is the bet on the table - Does Will Power and the Aussie Vineyards Green & Yellow painted livery have enough to hold off the rest of the field ... Robert Doornbos' Black & Red Muermans machine, Paul Tracy's Dark Blue & White fully fueled Indeck DP01, and Alex Tagliani's Black & Red at eight minutes to go.
Bets placed, cards played, and Aussie Will Power takes the pot and his first win for CCWS 2007 season in the Inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix temporary street race course!
Next week, the granddaddy of all temporary street race courses, The 33rd Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. It will be a rockin' party in LA ... especially if the teams can sort out the fueling procedure required for the new DP01 formula Champ Cars!
Excerpts from Champ Car World Series, Eric Mauk - Sunday, April 8, 2007 -
QUOTES FROM THE TOP THREE FINISHERS
Will Power: After that, I mean, I was pretty much alone. I caught Katherine Legge for a while, she held me up. But after that, it was a pretty cruisy race really. We had a good car. It handled well all day. The only issue I had was a really long brake pedal at the end of the race. But we had an 18-second lead, so we just brought it home and brought Derrick Walker his second win since '99. It's his birthday. So a pole and a win, I think that's a pretty good present for him.
Robert Doornbos: No, I really enjoyed it. A great start to the weekend. Already yesterday to have qualified in the top three, we couldn't have dreamed of a better start really. Was a bit worried this morning because it's a different routine that you have than in European racing with these rolling starts. I'm so pleased for everybody, especially for my sponsors here, they come all the way from Holland. It's been a long winter. Really a good decision to go racing in Champ Car.
Paul Tracy: It went really well. Obviously, to lead the beginning of the race, I made a good start, was able to get by Will on the start. We spent a lot of the first part of the race under yellow. We came in and did our first pit stop. The car didn't take any fuel for us. We spent 15 seconds and ended up getting like four laps of fuel. We came back out and chased, then had to come straight back in and take fuel again. That really took the fight out of the race I think for Will. I think we could have put a lot of pressure on him. It was a good day for the Forsythe team and Monster Energy.
NOTEWORTHY
· Will Power becomes the first Australian driver to win a Champ Car race. Geoff Brabham held the previous mark, having finished second on three occasions, the last of those being at Road America in 1987.
· Robert Doornbos is the first driver to score a podium finish in his Champ Car debut since Nigel Mansell won his debut in 1993.
· Both Roberto Doornbos and Tristan Gommendy made their Champ Car debuts with top-five finishes today, marking the first time that has happened since Jim Crawford (4th) and Emerson Fittipaldi (#5th) turned the trick at Long Beach in 1984. Reference Here>>
CCWS - New Year, New Chassis, New Venues, New Logo
(revisited, originally published at MAXINE January 24, 2007)
Well, here we go!
The first offical time trials of the 2007 season are underway and the Champ Car World Series, North America's premiere open-wheel racing series is off to a blazing start.
Sporting a new chassis, a new logo, and having added six new venues (two of the venues in Europe) to a 17 race season, the Champ Car World Series (remnants of the old CART) looks to be set for one of the most exciting years yet.
Excerpts from two stories found at CCWS -
CHAMP CAR WORLD SERIES UNVEILS NEW LOGO FOR 2007 SEASON
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
The Champ Car World Series enters a new era in 2007 with six new venues, a number of new drivers and the brand-new Panoz DP01 chassis.To go along with the new-look series, Champ Car today unveiled its new logo that will be featured prominently on the cars, the driver and official uniforms as well as the new-look television package.
The logo is a sleeker, racier design than that of the past, and features the new DP01 on the right side of the layout. The traditional Champ Car colors of orange, silver and black are featured, and the style of the logo includes a chicane-like quality that stylizes the road and street courses that make up the 2007 Champ Car schedule.
---- “This new logo portrays many of the things that makes Champ Car special and unique and does it in an effective and stylish manner,” said Champ Car President Steve Johnson. “Having the DP01 in the logo is also a key for us, as it displays what Champ Car racing is all about.”The logo will begin to be displayed on the cars as early as tomorrow in the first of the year’s three open test session, which is taking place at Sebring International Raceway.
Further tests will take place at MSR Houston in February and at Laguna Seca in March as teams prepare for the 2007 season opener, April 6-8 in Las Vegas. Read All>>
CHAMP CAR WORLD SERIES ANNOUNCES THE ADDITION OF TWO EUROPEAN EVENTS TO THE 2007 CALENDAR
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
The Champ Car World Series today announced that it will return to Europe for the first time since 2003 with inaugural races in Holland and Belgium.
Events added to the Champ Car World Series calendar will take place September 2 at the TT Circuit in Assen, Holland and September 9 at the Zolder circuit in Belgium. It will be the first time that Champ Car has raced in either of the two European nations.
"2007 continues to shape up as one of the most exciting in recent memory for Champ Car and today's announcement raises the anticipation level even higher," said Champ Car President Steve Johnson. "We considered a number of options for our return to Europe and these two events will prove to be very successful for our teams, fans and sponsor partners.
"The Assen circuit, long fabled for hosting exciting Grand Prix motorcycle events, underwent major modifications for the 2006 season, resulting in a 4.5-kilometer track that will provide a stern challenge for the Champ Cars.
Zolder is a 3.977-kilometer circuit which also underwent safety renovations for the 2006 season, after hosting Formula 1 events in the 1970s and 80s. The track will carry the process a step farther for the 2007 Champ Car visit, making further improvement to ensure a safe and challenging event.
"We are excited to bring the American equivalent of Formula 1 racing to Europe," said event promoter Bart Rietbergen. "Champ Car provides close racing that is easy for European fans to understand, and they will be very impressed with the access that they will have in the Champ Car paddock.
"The addition of the two European events brings the number of races on the 2007 Champ Car schedule to 17, marking the most races on a Champ Car calendar since 2003. The last time that the series went to Europe served as the coming-out party for three-time Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais, who took his first series victories by sweeping races in Brands Hatch and EuroSpeedway Lausitz. Read All>>
Newman/ Haas/ Lanigan Racing’s #2 DP01 race car in technical inspection on day two of qualifications for the 2008 Long Beach Grand Prix. The car driven by Graham Rahal, son of racing legend Bobby Rahal, is one of two American-born drivers to compete in the Champ Car World Series for 2008. The other driver is Alex Figge driving car #29 for Pacific Coast Motorsports. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (… notes from The EDJE) - 2007
Cellulosic Ethanol is just what Corvette Racing will be using to power their C6.R racing cars this season. The C6.R competes in the GT1 class, which features production-based sportscars that have then been highly modified. Image Credit: ARS Technica
