This weekend in beautiful Daytona Florida on the East Coast, The Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona is being held and million dollar machines are being flogged around the track by celebrities like Patrick Dempsey.

Also this weekend in the desert of Southern California on the West Coast the ChumpCar World Series is being run at the Streets of Willow Springs and $500 machines are being flogged around the track by people you’ve probably never heard of.

Speed Sport Life is going to try to give you live updates of both races as the weekend unfolds.
Continue reading Two Days, Two Coasts, Two Men, Two Races

After a full day of racing its time to rebuild brakes, tell tall tales, and swap motors for the next ChumpCar race, a seven hour enduro on Sunday at Infineon.

Continue reading Saturday Night at ChumpCar

Rain is falling on the track at Infineon (making those shaved tires a bummer of a tire choice). Cars are a slippin’ and a slidin’. Leading the race handily right now is a second generation Camaro which is currently having the wheels driven off of it. Can they stay on the track in the rain and pull of a win? We’ll know in just a few short hours (or long hours if you’re standing in the rain).

The green flag has dropped at Infineon Raceway for the ChumpCar World Series. The Krider Racing / Speed Sport Life Nissan (shod with Carbotech brake pads) was off to an early lead (and also set the fastest lap of the day -so far). Will their luck hold out? Only the rain, the head gasket and the ghost of Smokey Yunick knows that. Stay tuned.

Breaking News: 24 Hours of LeMons chief perpetrator, Jay Lamm, announced that Reno-Fernley Raceway will sadly be closing its doors which means the 24 Hours of LeMons event scheduled for May 8-9, 2010, with the “real” 24 hour race format will be cancelled.  The good news for crap car race teams is that the event will be moved to Thunderhill Raceway Park in Willows, California, on the same weekend, however, there will be no nighttime racing so the event will not have the true 24 hour format like Le Mans in France. 

This is a huge disappointment for most California LeMons teams who have been waiting to run a “real” 24 race but haven’t had the chance on the left coast.  But don’t fret, ChumpCar World Series is running a true 24 hour race format at Willow Springs International Motorsports Park in Southern California, January 30-31, 2010.  The race begins at noon on Saturday and ends at noon on Sunday.  What happens in between with a field of $500 cars, is anyone’s guess.

Entry deadline for the event is January 2, 2010.  Go to www.chumpcar.com for more details.

Franck Montagny and Stephane Sarrazin gave Peugeot its first American Le Mans Series victory on Friday, winning a weather-shortened 12th annual Petit Le Mans powered by MAZDA6. Race officials, citing hazardous conditions due to torrential rains that fell at Road Atlanta just past the four-hour mark, called the race at eight hours, 44 minutes running.

Peugeot’s two diesel-powered factory prototype coupes finished 1-2 with the pole-sitting 908 HDi of Pedro Lamy and Nic Minassian in second. The first of Audi Sport Team Joest’s Audi R15 TDIs placed third, the car driven by Allan McNish and Dindo Capello. The Peugeot-Peugeot-Audi finish mirrored the end result at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June, and it ended Audi’s nine-year unbeaten streak at Road Atlanta.

“We only did three races this year,” Montagny said. “We missed Sebring by only 22 seconds, and it was a win for the Peugeot team at Le Mans and a win here. I think if we had a full time we really would have battled it out with the Audis.”

Continue reading 2009 Petit Le Mans Wrap-Up

Corvette Racing’s next-generation C6.R will make its racing debut August 6-8, 2009 in the American Le Mans Series event at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The next-generation C6.R, which will race in the GT2 category, is based on the Corvette ZR1 supercar. The updated C6.R utilizes the ZR1’s body design, aerodynamic package, aluminum frame and chassis structure, steering system, windshield, and other components. C6.R #3 will be driven by Johnny O’Connell, Jan Magnussen, and Antonio Garcia. C6.R #4 will be driven by Oliver Gavin, Olivier Beretta, and Marcel Fassler.

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Please welcome a new writer to the Speed:Sport:Life, Rob Krider.  Rob was the staff writer for NASA NorCal last year, and has been published in AutoWeek and MotoRacing Magazine.  Rob currently is a columnist for the Santa Maria Sun but wants to share his adventures and knowledge with a great group of car guys such as the readers of Speed:Sport:Life.  His column, Racer Boy, will be running bi-weekly and will cover every type of racing that us normal guys can possibly get involved in…from Pinewood Derby to the Demolition Derby.  This week Rob covers Solo 2 Autocross.  Please welcome Rob to the S:S:L team! — Zerin

One of the easiest/cheapest/safest ways to get into some type of motorsports is Autocrossing, otherwise known as Solo 2. Autocrossing is a timed event where an individual car maneuvers around a coned off twisty racecourse which is usually located in a large parking lot or abandoned air field. Each entrant gets three to five shots at going around the course as fast as possible and the fastest time wins. Motorsports glory is yours to be had.

Continue reading Racer Boy: Autocrossing 101, or How to Kill Cones

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Let’s get something straight right away: There are only two reasons to participate in motorsports. The first reason is to impress and seduce women, and this applies when you are single. The second reason is to escape your wife, and this applies when you are married. The Cannonball One Lap of America is a miserable failure when it comes to Reason #1. After all, women only know about two kinds of racing: NASCAR and Grand-Am. They know about NASCAR because it’s on TV, and they know about Grand-Am because Patrick Dempsey races in it.

Therefore, if you want to impress women, you’d better be a NASCAR driver, a Grand-Am driver, or a club racer who is willing to blur the barrier between racing an old Neon in the rain and the 24 Hours of Daytona. The One Lap of America, like autocross, rallycross, rallying, drag racing, and the Red Bull Air Races, does not impress women. Don’t bother to try.

It is a fantastic way to get away from your wife, however, which covers Reason 2 and accounts for One Lap’s popularity, waning though it may be. Your humble author is a former One Lap champion, although that, ahem, “championship” came in an uncontested class at the wheel of a diesel Mercedes. For that reason, I feel eminently qualified to make authentic One Lap predictions. We’re also trying to throw Brock a bone here: nobody’s cared about One Lap for years, and we’d like to change that. So, without further ado…

Continue reading 2009 One Lap Of America Preview and Predictions

If you are as obsessed with anything Le Mans related like we are, you have probably heard about Audi’s award winning documentary,  Truth in 24.  This documentary was produced by NFL Films and follows the Audi Motorsport team as they chase the checkered flag at the 2008 24 Hours of Le Mans.  If you missed it on ESPN last week, Audi has good news for you by way of a free iTunes download.  This film is a must see for ANYONE who is even remotely interested in racing, and we promise there are parts that will leave you with goosebumps. 

If you’ve already seen the film, please feel free to leave your thoughts on it in the comments.  Enjoy!

Download Truth in 24 from iTunes

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