Racing

  • The carbon fiber monocoque from a modern F1 car

    Of all the safety advances achieved in F1 racing over the years, the development of the carbon fiber monocoque is among the most significant. Not only is carbon fiber incredibly light, it’s also incredibly strong, which is a good thing when it comes to protecting the driver. In fact, it may be better to think of the monocoque as the driver’s safety cell, instead of just as part of the car’s chassis. In the event of a crash, components such as the nose assembly are designed to crumble and dissipate energy, reducing the amount of force transmitted to the monocoque (and...

  • Patrick Racing Le Mans Prototype Challenge race car
    Patrick Racing To Bring Natural Gas Race Cars To American Le Mans Series In 2013

    With the big-dog Le Mans 24 hour race just in the books for 2012, the American Le Mans Series has kicked up its program for the rest of the year, which will climax at the Petit Le Mans this fall. But the series is already looking to next year, too, with an announcement today that natural...

  • 2012 Chevrolet COPO Camaro drag race car. Images via The Block.
    2012 COPO Camaro Build Process: Behind The Scenes

    Chevrolet's COPO Camaro drag racer is under construction, and this is an inside look at the cars as they undergo conversion from run-of-the-mill Camaro bodies-in-white into full-on race cars. The photos, from The Block, a Chevrolet Performance website, show the cars in various states of completion...

  • Tyrell P34
    All Three Six-Wheeled F1 Cars To Gather For First Time At Goodwood

    The Goodwood Festival of Speed is a nearly religious experience for the dedicated motorsports fan, and this year, it will feature a holy trinity of its own: three of the six-wheeled F1 cars, gathered in one place for the first time in history. Three six-wheeled F1 cars, you say? Why yes, though...

  • The full Nissan DeltaWing team - Anne Proffit photo
    Nissan DeltaWing Driver’s Two-Hour Struggle To Get Back In Le Mans: Video

    When it comes to endurance racing, the emotional strength and will to succeed is often the edge teams need to come out on top. Satoshi Motoyama, one of three drivers that piloted the Nissan DeltaWing in last weekend’s 80th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, has shown us just how powerful...

  • Hot Wheels double loop-the-loop stunt planned for X Games 18
    Tanner Foust Teases X Games 18 Parallel Double Loop-The-Loop: Video

    Continuing his somewhat unlikely but nevertheless awesome partnership with Hot Wheels, Tanner Foust is preparing to do something even crazier than his life-sized toy car jump: a parallel double loop-the-loop. Coming on the heels of Top Gear Live's successful sequential double loop-the-loop, the...

  • Toyota TS030 hybrid Le Mans prototype flying through the air at 24 Hours of Le Mans

    The number 8 Toyota TS030 LMP1 being driven by Britain’s Anthony Davidson suffered a major a crash just before the five-hour mark of the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race taking place this weekend. As the video shows, the Toyota hybrid came into contact with a Ferrari 458 Italia competing in the GTE class and being driven by Piergiuseppe Perrazini at the time. Davidson appears to have been attempting to pass Perazzini on the approach to Mulsanne Corner, before the crash ends up sending his Toyota through the air and eventually into a tire barrier. The Ferrari then crashed just a few...

  • Loeb to race at 2012 X Games rallycross
    Sebastian Loeb Rises To Pastrana's Challenge, Will Compete At X Games RallyCross

    The ultimate WRC champion Sebastian Loeb will be at this year's X Games in Los Angeles. Why? Because Travis Pastrana invited/challenged him to show up. Why would Pastrana, a favorite to win or place in the competition, make his own job exponentially harder by inviting Loeb? Because he wants to race...

  • 2012 Lexus IS F CCS-R race car
    Lexus IS F CCS-R And Ken Gushi Take Final Test Run Up Pikes Peak: Video

    It's incredible that Pikes Peak exists as a public road. It's even more incredible that people race up it--the narrow two-lane surface, now mostly paved, is still free of guardrails over much of the perilously long, steep drops. Nevertheless, people flock to the mountain every year to try their...

  • Travis Pastrana jumps his Dodge Dart rallycross car at Texas Motor Speedway. Image via Facebook.
    Travis Pastrana At the Global RallyCross Texas Motor Speedway Event: Video

    You've already seen Travis Pastrana at the wheel of his new Dodge Dart rally/rallycross car. Now you can see the car in wheel-to-wheel action against the best in the business as they take to the track--and the jumps--at Texas Motor Speedway. The Global RallyCross Championship, if you're not...

  • Photo courtesy Corvette Racing
    Corvette Racing 'Flat Out' For Le Mans: Episodes 1-3

    The Corvette Racing team heads to Le Mans for the world-famous 24-hour race. This video series documents the effort required just to get there--before the racing even starts.

  • Crash at Rally de Catamarca
    Ford Fiesta Flies Off Side Of Mountain In Crazy Rally de Catamarca Crash: Video

    Rally is dangerous. This is known. But when the danger becomes reality and it's captured on video, it's spectacular--especially when the driver and navigator come away unscathed. This crash, with Nicolas Diaz at the wheel of a Ford Fiesta rally car during the Rally de Catamarca in Argentina...

  • Photo courtesy DeltaWing

    With the daunting task of preparing the Nissan DeltaWing for its racing debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans this weekend almost complete--but the whole race ahead--the team has taken a moment to explain its complex steering wheel, through the eyes of Marino Franchitti. If the Franchitti name is familiar, but Marino isn't, you're probably an IndyCar fan. Marino is Dario's brother (and cousin to F1's Paul di Resta), and a very fast racecar pilot in his own right. He'll be taking the wheel of the DeltaWing as it leaves the experimental 56th garage at this year's race at the Circuit de la Sarthe...

  • Carroll Shelby and Roy Salvadori at the 1959 24 Hours of Le Mans
    1959 Aston Martin DBR1 To Honor Shelby, Salvadori At Le Mans

    The 24 Hours of Le Mans runs this weekend, and as part of the festival that accompanies the event, the 1959 Aston Martin DBR1 will return to the scene of its victory in the hands of Carroll Shelby and Roy Salvadori. Shelby and Salvadori both passed away in the past several weeks, along with the...

  • Ford's F-150 FX4 NASCAR pace truck
    2013 Ford F-150 FX4 EcoBoost Announced As NASCAR Pace Truck

    If you think full-size pickups are just for tradesmen, ranchers and those needing to haul boats, trailers or race cars, think again. Proving that pickups can also haul something else, Ford has announced that the official pace truck of Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Race at Michigan International...

  • Sebastian Vettel in New Jersey
    Sebastian Vettel Takes Time Out To Go On Letterman: Video

    Two-time defending Formula 1 World Champion Sebastian Vettel has been in North America for the past several days, initially competing at the Canadian Grand Prix before heading to the site of next year’s inaugural Grand Prix of America for a trial run. He also happened to take some time out to...

  • Sebastian Vettel, loose on the mean streets of Weehawken, New Jersey
    Sebastian Vettel Shows Up Early For New Jersey F1 Race: Video

    The Grand Prix of America isn’t on the Formula One schedule just yet, as the first race isn’t penciled in until June of 2013. That didn’t stop current F1 World Champion Sebastian Vettel from giving the temporary street circuit a go, substituting an Infiniti G37 Coupe for his Red...

  • 2013 SRT Viper GTS-R race car
    2013 SRT Viper GTS-R Completes First Track Session: Video

    The racing version of the new 2013 SRT Viper, the Viper GTS-R, has completed its first shakedown ahead of its American Le Mans comeback later this year.

  • McLaren's Lewis Hamilton on the podium at the 2012 Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix

    We now have seven different winners from the seven races contested so far in the 2012 Formula 1 World Championship, with the latest being McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton who took out a thrilling Canadian Grand Prix yesterday. The race started with all drivers posting very, very close times and ended with race strategy once again being a key determining factor, in particular tire strategy. Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel got a clean start from pole and looked set to cruise on to victory, though Hamilton and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso weren’t far behind in this initial part...

  • Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, home of the Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix
    Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix Weather Forecast

    Though we saw some light rain during practice, weather conditions for the 2012 Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix appear to be fine and sunny. The current temperature at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal is 59 degrees F (15 degrees C) and there is barely any cloud scatter. Temperature during the...

  • Sebastian Vettel
    Sebastian Vettel On Pole For Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix

    Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel has secured pole position for the 2012 Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix taking place this weekend at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal. Vettel was on fire at qualifying today, managing to set the quickest time in all three sessions. His best time was an...

  • Isle of Man 2013 Subaru BRZ drive
    Lapping the Isle of Man TT course in the 2013 Subaru BRZ

    Updated: Upon further consultation with Simon Crellin of the Isle of Man TT press office and Subaru of America's Dominick Infante, some of the statistics acquired from my previous sources have been called into question. Where there is a conflict between official TT facts and figures not available...

  • Lotus at the 2012 Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix
    Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix Preview

    This weekend Formula 1 is at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal for the 2012 Canadian Grand Prix, and the question on everybody’s lips is whether we’ll be seeing a seventh new winner crowned in this very exciting season. At the last race in Monaco it was Red Bull Racing’s...

  • Toyota Motorsports EV P002 Pikes Peak electric hill climb car
    Toyota Motorsports EV P002 Electric Pikes Peak Car: Video

    Electric cars are taking over Pikes Peak, or threatening to, with Monster Tajima among the contenders. The latest entry to get some video detail is the Toyota Motorsports EV P002 prototype car. Based on the familiar Radical sports car chassis, the car is predicted to reach a top speed of 149 mph...

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