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Archive for October, 2007

Laguna Seca: Audi qualifies 5th and 7th

Published October 20, 2007 in ALMS, Audi, Audi R10 TDI, LMP1, Racing and TDI. 0 Comments

The Audi drivers are facing a difficult task in the finale of the American Le Mans Series at Laguna Seca (US state of California). As expected the lighter LM P2 sportscars dominated qualifying. Team Audi Sport North America’s two Audi R10 TDI prototypes will start Saturday’s race as fastest LM P1 cars from fifth and seventh positions on the grid.

The 2.238-mile long track in the hills near Monterey is ideal for the LM P2 sportscars which weigh 150 kilograms less than the cars of the LM P1 top class. Furthermore, the track has traditionally little grip due to the sandy surroundings. This makes it difficult to take full advantage of the high torque of the 650-hp TDI engine.

Nevertheless the 0.7-second gap to pole position was smaller than calculated in simulations. Fastest Audi driver was Allan McNish (Scotland) who was able to beat the existing track record for LM P1 sportscars by more than 2.5 seconds. Mike Rockenfeller (Germany) was just 0.5s slower than his experienced team-mate on his ALMS debut with the second Audi R10 TDI.

The race at Laguna Seca starts on Saturday at 2:43 PM PDT and runs for a duration of four hours. Last year, Audi achieved a 1-2 victory with the R10 TDI – from lower positions on the starting grid.

Continue reading ‘Laguna Seca: Audi qualifies 5th and 7th’

Herr Tops Morning Practice at SPEED Touring Car Finale

Published October 20, 2007 in Audi, Audi A4, Racing, Speed WC Touring Car and SpeedTV. 0 Comments

MONTEREY, Calif. (Oct. 19, 2007) - Chip Herr, of Lititz, Pa., topped the time sheets in morning practice for Round Ten of the SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge Touring Car Championship. Peter Cunningham, of Grafton, Wis., and Brandon Davis, of Denver, Colo., were second and third fastest, respectively, at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

Chip Herr was the fastest SCCA SPEED Touring Car in morning practice at Laguna Seca (Weber image).

Herr hit the top of the timing monitors early and continued to whittle down his time throughout the 20-minute practice session. By the end, a 1:35.929 was the (83.987 mph) was good enough to keep the No. 17 STaSIS/Clear Capital/Nalley Audi A4 on top.

“We made some really great changes,” Herr said. “We put a stiffer bar on the car that we’ve never used before. Yesterday, I tested it and today I think we proved it”s going to work for qualifying at least.

“We haven’t historically done well here. I finished fifth here last year and I qualified 10th. I don’t know if I’ll be able to pass a bunch of cars again on the start like I did last year. There’s a lot of people here battling for Championships so it’s going to be tough. I don’t want to be in the midst of it, but I’m going to be there.”

Four-time World Challenge Champion Cunningham ended the session second fastest in his No. 42 Acura Certified Pre-Owned/RealTime Racing Acura TSX. The winningest driver in series history entered a time of 1:36.450 (83.533 mph). Teammate Davis in the No. 43 Acura Certified Pre-Owned/RealTime Racing Acura TSX completed the top three with a time of 1:36.478 (83.509 mph).

Currently second in the Drivers’ Champion, Randy Pobst, of Gainesville, Ga., was fourth on the time sheets, turning a 1:36.538 (83.457 mph) in his No. 73 MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development MAZDA6. Defending SCCA SPEED Touring Car Champion Pierre Kleinubing, of Coconut Creek, Fla., made it three Acuras in the top five, clocking a 1:36.804 (83.228 mph) in his No. 1 Acura Certified Pre-Owned/Real Time Racing Acura TSX.

Driving last year’s race-winning car, Kuno Wittmer (Acura RSX) was sixth, followed by Ian Baas (Audi A4), Nick Esayian (Acura TSX), Jeff Altenburg (MAZDA6) and Charles Espenlaub (MAZDA6).

The second SCCA SPEED Touring Car practice session is scheduled for 5:05 p.m. (PDT).

SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge

Technorati Tags: Chip Herr, SPEED Touring Car, SCCA Pro Racing, STaSIS,

Flying Lizard Qualifies Third and Fifth at Laguna

Published October 20, 2007 in ALMS, Flying Lizards, GT2 and Porsche. 0 Comments

October 19, 2007 — Salinas, California — Joerg Bergmeister qualified the Flying Lizard No. 45 Porsche third and Darren Law in the No. 44 was fifth in today’s qualifying session of the ALMS season finale at Laguna Seca.

“Both Lizard Porsches were fast in qualifying today,” said No. 45 Porsche engineer Stefan Pfeiffer. “In the No. 45, we had some technical issues this morning, which kept us from running in this morning’s session. We only had this afternoon’s session to complete our setup and multiple red flags in the session didn’t give us much time to work with. But the team did an outstanding job in getting the No. 45 on track this afternoon and getting to a solid race setup for tomorrow.”

After 11 races, the 2007 ALMS GT2 championships are still undecided and will come down to one final race — the four-hour season finale this Saturday at Laguna Seca. With their recent win at the 1000-mile Petit Le Mans in Atlanta, the Flying Lizard No. 45 Porsche rebounded from a string of bad luck, keeping both the No. 45 drivers (Johannes van Overbeek and Joerg Bergmeister), the team, and Porsche within striking range of the GT2 championship titles. For Saturday’s race, van Overbeek and Bergmeister in the No. 45 will be joined by teammates Seth Neiman, Darren Law, and Lonnie Pechnik who will share driving duties in the No. 44 Porsche.

In the team championship, Flying Lizard is 13 points behind Risi: if a Flying Lizard car wins and Risi does not finish above sixth, Flying Lizard wins the team title. For the drivers’ championship, van Overbeek and Bergmeister are 22 points behind Mika Salo and Jaime Melo of the Risi No. 62 Ferrari. To win the drivers title, Johannes and Joerg have to win and the No. 62 not score any points.

Race Details
The race begins at 2:45 pm PT on Saturday, October 20 and will be broadcast on SPEEDTV. American Le Mans Radio and IMSA Live Timing and Scoring will be available at www.americanlemans.com.

Fans can follow the Lizards’ race progress through their live team radio transmissions and real-time race blog. Details at www.lizardms.com.

Technorati Tags: ALMS, American Le Mans Series, Laguna Seca, Porsche, Flying Lizard Motorsports, oneighturbo

ALMS: Two RS Spyders in the first grid row

Published October 19, 2007 in ALMS, Flying Lizards, GT2, Porsche and Racing. 0 Comments

Stuttgart. At the season final of the American Le Mans Series in Laguna Seca/California two Porsches occupy the first row of the grid. Sascha Maassen (Germany) secured pole position with a new lap record in the number six RS Spyder which he shares with Ryan Briscoe (Australia). The second quickest qualifying time went to Timo Bernhard in the number 7 sister car of Penske Racing. He and Romain Dumas (France) had already claimed the driver championship title in the LMP2 class at the penultimate round of the season in Road Atlanta.

Laguna Seca/California two Porsches

On the swift and challenging circuit, the Porsche pilots easily dominated not only their class opponents, but also again beat the Audi R10 cars, which are more than 200 hp more powerful and, starting in the LMP1 class, hold a clear advantage. With eight overall victories this season, Porsche is the most successful manufacturer in this race series with the world’s fastest sports cars and was able to clinch all four championship titles in the LMP2 class before the end of the season.

“I“m absolutely thrilled about my first pole position of the year,“ said Sascha Maassen. “My first lap was very quick but towards the end I noticed that the tyre grip was still good. So I put in another flying lap, although they were telling me over the radio to come into the pits. That was my pole-setting lap.“

Hartmut Kristen, head of motorsport at Porsche, was also satisfied with the excellent grid positions of the two RS Spyders for the four hour race on Saturday. “Congratulations to Penske Racing,“ he said. “The small time difference though indicates that tomorrow’s race will be extremely exciting. Like in qualifying there is bound to be the odd safety car phase. Our pit stop strategy will therefore play an important role.“

At the wheel of the number 20 RS Spyder fielded by the US privateer team Dyson Racing, Guy Smith (Great Britain) and Chris Dyson (USA) qualified for the fourth grid row. Sitting one row behind are team mates Andy Wallace (Great Britain) and Butch Leitzinger (USA) in their number 16 race car.

In the GT2 class for slightly modified production sports cars, title defender Joerg Bergmeister (Germany) turned the second quickest time in his Porsche 911 GT3 RSR run by Flying Lizard Motorsports.

The race on Saturday takes off at 2.45pm local time (11.45pm CEST) and runs over four hours.

Grid positions

1. Maassen/Briscoe (D/AUS), Porsche RS Spyder (LMP2), 1:10.952 minutes
2. Bernhard/Dumas (D/F), Porsche RS Spyder (LMP2), 0.125 behind
3. Herta/Kanaan (USA/BR), Acura ARX (LMP2), 0.385
4. Brabham/Johansson (AUS/S), Acura ARX (LMP2), 0.573
5. Capello/McNish (I/GB), Audi R10 (LMP1), 0.647
6. Fernandez/Diaz (MEX/MEX), Acura ARX (LMP2), 0.676
7. Rockenfeller/Werner (D/D), Audi R10 (LMP1), 1.148
8. Dyson/Smith (USA/GB), Porsche RS Spyder (LMP2), 1.563
9. Wallace/Leitzinger (GB/USA), Porsche RS Spyder (LMP2), 1.971
10. Manning/Chilton (USA/GB), Zytek 07S (LMP1), 2.257

- Porsche AG Press

Technorati Tags: ALMS, American Le Mans Series, Porsche, Porsche RS Spyders, Fying Lizard Motorsports, oneighturbo

MKV R32 goes up in flames

Published October 19, 2007 in R32 and Volkswagen. 0 Comments

Man this sucks for the owner and Volkswagen!

MKV R32 goes up in flames

Oh here is the story:
Yep it was just sitting in the parking lot at work and caught on fire. I am still at work and the car is at the dealer. Dunno what is going to happen right now besides the VW people are coming to look at it soon. It had been sitting idle for over 6 hours when it happened. This Sucks.

Click link for more pictures

VWvortex Forums: My R Caught on fire today

Flying Lizard Prepares for Laguna Season Finale

Published October 18, 2007 in ALMS, Flying Lizards, GT2, Porsche and Racing. 0 Comments

The family will all be wearing our Flying Lizard shirts this weekend! Even my 2 year old has hers ready! I am pumped for the team to overtake the Risi Competizione Ferrari’s and win the GT2 Championships!

With a 179pts .vs 157pts, the Lizards will need the win to capture the Driver’s championship. The Manufacturer Championship is a small 10pt difference with Ferrari leading Porsche. Then in Team, Risi leads Flying Lizard 200 > 187.

GT2 Championships Still Undecided

October 18, 2007 — Salinas, California — After 11 races, the 2007 ALMS GT2 championships are still undecided and will come down to one final race — the four-hour season finale this Saturday at Laguna Seca. With last week’s win at the 1000-mile Petit Le Mans in Atlanta, the Flying Lizard No. 45 Porsche rebounded from a string of bad luck, keeping both the No. 45 drivers (Johannes van Overbeek and Joerg Bergmeister), the team, and Porsche within striking range of the GT2 championship titles. For Saturday’s race, van Overbeek and Bergmeister in the No. 45 will be joined by teammates Seth Neiman, Darren Law, and Lonnie Pechnik who will share driving duties in the No. 44 Porsche.

“Heading into Petit, it was really a long shot to still be in contention for the championships at this point,” said Lizard chief strategist Thomas Blam. “Winning in GT2 at Petit was great motivation to keep us pushing through the season. We’ll give it everything we have here at Laguna. In the team championship, we are 13 points behind Risi: if we win and Risi does not finish above sixth, we will win. For the drivers’ championship, we are 22 points behind Mika Salo and Jaime Melo of the Risi No. 62 Ferrari. To win the drivers title, Johannes and Joerg have to win and the No. 62 not score any points. So we have our work cut out for us.”

In the No. 44 Porsche, Neiman, Law, and Lonnie Pechnik finished fifth after a strong but slightly disappointing run at Petit. Team manager Eric Ingraham added, “It was a tough break at Petit for the No. 44. We had such a great race a few weeks before in Detroit and finished second — our second podium this year. Then at Petit, we were doing really well and it looked like we had a strong shot at a podium until Darren was hit on track by a prototype, requiring a lengthy repair and pushing the No. 44 back to fifth. The No. 44’s focus on a strong finish here at Laguna to help the team and the No. 45 in our battle for the championships.”

Race Details
The race begins at 2:45 pm PT on Saturday, October 20 and will be broadcast on SPEEDTV. American Le Mans Radio and IMSA Live Timing and Scoring will be available at www.americanlemans.com.

Fans can follow the Lizards’ race progress through their live team radio transmissions and real-time race blog. Details at www.lizardms.com.

Technorati Tags: ALMS, American Le Mans Series, Laguna Seca, Porsche, Flying Lizard Motorsports, oneighturbo

Audi creates phone

Published October 18, 2007 in Audi, Misc and Watched. 0 Comments

Interesting concept here. The product design and UI could use a ton of help but having a unit plug directly into your vehicle is kinda cool. Doesn’t seem like it could do more than that of bluetooth in terms of phone aspects but if it could allow you to diagnostics like a VAG-COM, that would rock! The feature list sounds great!

It definetly needs more of an award winning, Audi interior feel. I’m not saying it’s fake but it just doesn’t seem like it came from Audi’s design team.

Oh, and just because it’s got a similar CoverFlow function/look doesn’t mean it’s obviously stolen. Apple purchased the company that made that in the first place.

Audi phone concept/

One of the most intriguing aspects of the Audi metroproject concept was the the iPhone-like device that slots inside the dash. Imaginatively titled the “Audi mobile device,” it functions as an access authorization system for the vehicle, mobile phone, navigation unit and audio and video player all in one. The menu is modeled on the Audi MMI interface used inside high-spec Audi models.

Equipped with both Wi-Fi and 3G UMTS technology, the Audi phone allows the driver to interface with the car and use the device as a MP3 player or input tool for the nav system. It can even be used to turn on the vehicle’s heating systems before you leave your house, making cold mornings a little more bearable. You won’t have to fumble for your keys in the cold either, as the phone can open and close the car for you.

The touch-sensitive screen is capable of recognizing both Latin and Japanese characters, and is even able to decipher handwriting. As if the device wasn’t already on your wish-list, it can also store images taken by your Audi’s on-board cameras, so your car can snap pics of a would-be intruder and send you a mugshot via the wireless connection. Then it will switch on the car’s tracker to keep you apprised of the car’s location. Yep, it’s a LoJack too.

With an interface obviously stolen derived from the Apple iPhone (check out the cover-flow style album art if you don’t agree with us), the Audi mobile device has just four main softkeys for accessing all the main features. Though it was released as a concept only, we can see carmakers developing such devices in the future as automotive electronics systems keep advancing. Pretty soon, it won’t be the key that lets people know what you drive, it’ll be your phone.

- Motor Authority

Technorati Tags: Audi, iPhone, Motor Authority, oneighturbo

BI-TURBO POLO VR6

Published October 18, 2007 in Other's Mods, Racing and Volkswagen. 0 Comments

Amazing. I don’t even know what to say. It run’s a 10.6! OUCH!

Regular readers will remember we brought you a clip of this superb little monster from Germany. The crazy Polo is powered by a twin-turbocharged VR6 engine and has AWD to thank for its suction-like grip. Well, we’ve found another clip of it in action. Enjoy.

BI-TURBO POLO VR6 - German Car Scene

Technorati Tags: VW, Volkswagen, Polo, VR6, Bi-Turbo, GermanCarScene, oneighturbo

365 days of Porsche captivation next year

Published October 18, 2007 in ALMS, Misc, Porsche and Racing. 0 Comments

Stuttgart. Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG is once again offering an attractive range of calendars for the coming year, including three large-format wall calendars and a date planner.

The official 2008 Porsche calendar invites you to take a journey back through time to mark the 60th anniversary of the Porsche brand. Current Porsche models take center stage, accompanied by twelve classic vehicles. They are set in locations, each of which is connected with a well-known event from the classic vehicles’ year of manufacture. For example, February features the current Boxster together with the classic 550 A Spyder, in front of the Stuttgart television tower, which opened in 1956. That same year, the Porsche 550 A Spyder was voted “vehicle of the year”. The calendar is 59 x 55.5 centimeters and is traditionally sold with a collector’s coin. It costs 34.51 Euro*.

The Porsche calendar<br />

In 2008, the historical calendar presents the legendary 917-type racing cars at their various development stages from 1969 to 1972. In 1970, a 917 secured the first overall victory for Porsche in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and thus made motor-sport history. A spiral binding divides the 30 x 42 centimeter large historical calendar (60 x 42 centimeters when opened out) vertically down the middle. When placed in the slip case provided, the calendar becomes an illustrated collectors’ book that will long outlast the year 2008. Again, it costs 34.51 Euro*.

Porsche - The historical calendar

The style calendar was created by the designers in the Porsche Development Center in Weissach. This year, 13 themes use current and classic vehicles to show the typical Porsche design line. This 70 x 50 centimeter calendar comes with a CD-Rom with a striking screen saver. This calendar costs 55.93 Euro*.

Porsche - The style calendar

The lavishly produced Porsche Design Driver’s Selection date planner contains illustrations of the current Porsche RS Spyder racing car competing in the American Le Mans series. In addition, the date planner provides background information on the racing car’s development and technology. This A5 spiral-bound planner costs 34.51 Euro*.

The Porsche Design Driver’s Selection date planner

The three calendars and the date planner can be ordered over the Internet at www.porsche.com and will also be available from Porsche centers. Some of these products may be available only in certain countries.

*The stated prices are non-binding recommended selling prices for Germany that are inclusive of value added tax.

- Porsche

Technorati Tags: Porsche, Porsche AG, 2008 Porsche calendar, 550 A Spyder, Porsche RS Spyder, oneighturbo

Volkswagen Tiguan awarded a maximum five stars by Euro NCAP

Published October 16, 2007 in Tiguan and Volkswagen. 0 Comments

The new Volkswagen Tiguan has been awarded a maximum five star rating for occupant protection by Euro NCAP ahead of its launch in the UK next year.

In addition the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) awarded the Tiguan four stars for child safety and two stars for pedestrian protection.

Volkswagen Tiguan awarded a maximum five stars by Euro NCAP

The new Tiguan benefits from an extremely rigid body structure to afford as much protection as possible for the passenger safety cell. Constructed out of high tensile steel the Tiguan features panels designed to deform in the event of the accident to soak up the energy of an impact. Despite the keen focus on the strength of the Tiguan, Volkswagen engineers also reduced the potential mass of the chassis to bring the overall kerb weight of the vehicle to as little as 1,451 kg.

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