On our way

i left my house this morning at about  7:00.  I am currently in PA near the amazing Susqehana river.  In PA, i have seen some cool signs.  One said "Buckle up, next million miles."  so that is basically what is happening.  we have been driving through snow and rain for a while.

Daytona 500 Results

The Daytona 500 was won by Matt Kenseth.  Probably the most interesting part of the race was Juan pablo Montoy's car breaking during a caution and slamming, at speed, into a jet dryer filled with 200 Gallons of jet fuel.  Unfortunately, all of this was lit on fire.  A gigantic fireball consumed the truck.  Luckily, everyone walked away

1st: Matt Kenseth
2nd: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
3rd: Greg Biffle
4th: Denny Hamlin
5th: Jeff Burton
6th: Paul Menard
7th: Kevin Harvick
8th: Carl Edwards
9th: Joey Logano
10th: Mark Martin
11th: Clint Bowyer
12th: Martin Truex Jr.
13th: Marcos Ambrose
14th: Bobby Labonte
15th: Dave Blaney
16th: Tony Stewart
17th: Kyle Busch
18th: Terry Labonte
19th: Tony Raines
20th: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
21st: Ryan Newman
22nd: Landon Cassill
23rd: David Gilliland
24th: Regan Smith
25th: Casey Mears
26th: David Reutimann
27th: Elliot Sadler
28th: Joe Nemecheck
29th: Kasey Kahne
30th: Micheal McDowell
31st: Jamie McMuray
32nd: Brad Keselowski
33rd: Aric Almirola
34th: AJ Allmendinger
35th: Trevor Bayne
36th: Juan Pablo Montoya
37th: David Stremme
38th: Danica Patrick
39th: Kurt Busch
40th: Jeff Gordon
41st: Robby Gordon
42nd: Jimmie Johnson
43rd: David Ragan

I am looking forward to the Subway FreshFit 500 at Phoenix on sunday.

1954-63 AC Ace

The racing driver Cliff Davis bought a Tojero chassis, put in a Bristol engine, and had a copy of the Ferrari 166 Barcheta body made.  He had a succsesful racing season with the car in 1953.  then, the car was shown to the Hurlock brothers, who decided to put it into production.  It had a twin tube ladder frame and independent suspension by double wishbones and tranverse leaf springs.  Earlier, the car was powered by AC's 1991cc straight  six engine, with 80 brake horsepower in 1954 and 102 brake horsepower in 1958.  The Ace was very successful in sports car racing.  It finished 7th overall, and 1st in its class at Lemans in 1959.  In 1958 John Tojero built a special Ace with a space frame, de Dion rear axle and a body that was styled by Cavendish Morton.  It ran twice, at Lemans where it finished second in class despite a rear suspension issue.  It also ran in the Tourist Trophy where it had cooling problems.

Today updates

The Daytona 500 is scheduled for 7:00 tonight.  I am still getting myself prepared for my first WKA national race this weekend.  I leave for Jacksonville Wednesday.  I will still post on the blog as i am bringing my laptop.

Bertone Nuccio

The Nuccio is a very wedgy shaped car.  It is supposedly a mid or rear engined car.  It is supposedly a futuristic Berlinetta (little sedan).  It will debut at the Geneva motor show

Volkswagen's EA211 Engine

Volkswagen's cars may share various platforms, but the enginesare going to all be pretty similar.  In Germany, Volkswagen is working on the EA211 to replace the EA111.  The EA211 range ranges from 1.0 L to1.6 L.  The engine has 16 Valves, direct injection and a turbocharger.  The 1.4 L variant is most likely the only one coming to the USA.  It will debut with the new Jetta hybrid.  It could also replace the 2.5 L in the Golf.  The 1.4 L has 140 HP and 184 lb-ft and it peaks at 1400 RPM.  The engine is casted in aluminum with iron liners.  This saves of 42 pounds.  This means, according to VW, will increase fuel mileage by 20%.  And, oddly, the engines camshafts are driven by a belt.  All four cylinderds are used for accleration, but when you reach "cruising speed" two cylinders stop.  The two cylinders stop when the engine takes no 74 lb-ft.  This causes some wierd gear changing operations, but in the manual option, the driver can look at a little gauge indicating the gear they should be in.

Infiniti EMERG-E unofficialy revealed

The EMERG-E has lots of large curves and sharp creases on its body styling.  There are Also large intakes over the rear fenders.the EMERG-E has a mid-mounted electric engine.  It's steering wheel also lives on the right side of the car.  It is thought that the car was built in cooperation with Lotus.  If that is true, The EMERG-E may be ut on an Evora platform.

This week in racing history

Number 1:  SCCA is incorported in Boston
Number 2:  2 time WSC Champion Colin Edwards is born
Number 3:  Richard Petty gets his first NASCAR win at the dirt track at the Charlotte Fairgrounds.
Number 4:  Tim Mayer dies in a practice crash for the Tasman seriesnrace at Longford, Tasmania.
Number 5:  Jody Sheckter drives a Tyrell 007 to the win in the South African Grand Prix.
Number 6:  Micheal Andretti drives a Swift-Ford to a CART  win at the Grand Prix of Miami.  This is the first CART win for Swift.
Number 7:  The Intrepid with Wayne Taylor at its controls makes its IMSA GTP debut and finishes second at West Palm Beach FL.

darn.

unfortunately for me and most people over 6 years old who wanted to watch it the Daytona 500 is cancelled until tommorow at noon.  i will be at school and most other NASCAR fans will be at work or school.  Thanks, Mother nature. Much arppreciated.

Rain delay continues

Rain is still delaying the 54th running of the Daytona 500.  Track dryers are still attempting to dry the track.  If rain does not return, NASCAR says it will most likely start at 6:30.

Ryan Briscoe fastest at Infineon Test

Ryan Briscoe was fastest at Infineon raceway INDYCAR testing.  Five other drivers completed a full day of testing.  Veteran Rubens Barichello was a  part of the action.  Briscoe posted a time of 1 minute, seventeen seconds point fourty-nine.  The event was attended by 1500 fans, the higest in test session history at Infineon.  The standings were:
1st: Ryan Briscoe
2nd: Will Power
3rd: Ryan Hunter-Reay
4th: EJ Viso
5th: JR Hildebrand
6th: Rubens Barichello

Tony Kannan replaces Barichello this afternoon

Atech CRS GP team in Gp3

the Atech GRS GP team had its first teamtest at Estoril track this week.  Driver Tamas Pal Kiss remained in the top 10 on tuesday and wednesday.  While newbie to Gp3 Ethan Ringel did very well.

Lotus F1 Suspension problems

Team Lotus's front suspension mountngs are having problems.  Kimi Raikkonen was never able to drive the car at Circuit de Cataluna.  It is said the problem may be traced back to the steering.

HRT in Barcelona

HRT racing's F1 campaign finnaly started when thier car passed the safety crash tests.  The HRT chassis previosly failed the test.  The Chassis is powered by Cosworth.  HRT's debut may be in the hands of supposed HRT driver Pedro De le Rosa.  Pedro's teammate is Narain Karthikeyan

Starting lineup

Just for those who are interested.....
1st: Carl Edwards
2nd: Greg Biffle
3rd: Tony Stewart
4th: Matt Kenseth
5th: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
6th: Regan Smith
7th: Marcos Ambrose
8th: Jimmie Johnson
9th: Jeff Burton
10th: Elliot Sadler
11th: Michael McDowell
12th: Joey Logano
13th: Kevin Harvick
14th: Kyle Busch
15th:AJ Allmendinger
16th: Jeff Gordon
17th:Robby Gordon
18th: Ryan Newman
19th: Jamie McMurray
20th: Kasey Kahne
21st: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
22nd: Mark Martin
23rd: Brad Keselowski
24th: Dave Blaney
25th: David Ragan
26th: Martin Truex Jr.
27th: Aric Almirola
28th: Kurt Busch
29th: Danica Patrick  (only the third women to start the Daytona 500)
30th:Clint Bowyer
31st: Denny Hamlin
32nd: Bobby Labonte
33rd: David Gilliland
34th: Joe Nemecheck
35th: Juan Pablo Montoya
36th: Casey Mears
37th: Paul Menard
38th:David Reutimann
39th: Landon Cassill
40th: Trevor Bayne
41st: Tony Raines
42nd: David Stremme
43rd: Terry Labonte



Drivers who failed to qualify:

Mike Wallace

J.J. Yeley
Robert Richardson
Bill Elliot
Micheal Waltrip
Kenny Wallace

another 500 update

Blowers are currently drying the track.  I predict we will see cars on track around 4:45 Eastern Time.  So, Carl Edwards is on pole and his teammate Greg Biffle is starting 2nd.  Last years winner Trevor Bayne is starting 40th.



Note: i would love to hear your feedback and suggestions so i cam make my blog better and more interesting.  Please Comment.  Thanks.

A 500 update

there really is not much to say.  Rain is constantly going over the race track.  The cars have yet to venture on to the track.  I will keep those of you who are interested up to date on the Daytona 500.



Note: starting tommorow everyday i post something i will do a sort of Biography on a car manufactured before 2011.

Results of the Nationwide race at daytona

well, another crash occured.  Unfortunately, Tony Stewart was involved along with Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Trevor Bayne, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and others.  this occured on the last lap.  James Beuscher was the winner.  Arrgh i am mad at Kurt Busch.  He tried to block the oncoming frieght train of Tony Stewart.  I look forward to the Daytona 500.

Another "Big One"

just a while after the first large crash, another on occured.  Some of the drivers involved were:
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Joe Nemecheck
Scott Speed
Sam Hornish Jr.
David Ragan

A NASCAR update

Just a while after i posted my first post about the Nationwide race at Daytone the "big one" occured.  Some of the drivers involved among many others were:
Justin Allgaier and Denny Hamlin

NASCAR Nationwide at Daytona

This weekend NASCAR is at Daytona (as you probably know).  Today the Nationwide series raced.  Danica Patrick got her first ever NNS (Nascar Nationwide Series) pole.  Unfortunately she was accidently spun by Cole Whitt.  After a while in the garage she returned to the track.  As of this writing they have not finished yet so i will give you an update on the winner tommorow.  One of the faster cars of Mike Bliss also crashed.  Kyle Busch got into Cole Whitt in the pits during a caution. Some of the favorites for the win in this race include Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Danica Patrick, Trevor Bayne and Sam Hornish Jr.  Personely i would like to see either Tony Stewart or Joe Nemecheck in victory lane.  I look forward to tommorow's Daytona 500.  I would also like to say that i am not just a oval racing fan, in fact i like sport car and open wheel racing as well.

Karting Update/Raccon

Ok, so by now you  may be thinking this is basically a racing news blog.  But i will also wright about interesting things going on in my life and my career in karting.
So, i am part of the WKA (World Karting Association) and i race in the Gold series. I also compete in my local karting club called GVKC  (Genesse Valley Kart Club).  In the WKA series, there are 5 races. Next weekend i will be racing at Jacksonville FL.  It will be my first WKA Race.  Last year i only competed in GVKC races.   I currently drive a Coyote Motorsports XP chassis with M&M bodywork.  The engine is a Baker.

Ok, so earlier i explained i would wright about many things.  Today i was down at Canandaigua Lake  (i live in New York) to spend the day.  While i was watching the NASCAR Nationwide race at Daytona, i spotted a small raccoon.  Of course, it was the middle of the afternoon, so i was worried he was sick.  I watched him walk around our cabin.  He climbed over our wood walland jumped down.  He did a little somersault when he landed.  After a little while he walked back up a hill.

Danica says no Indy 500 this year.

Danica Patrick said that instead of participating in IndyCarr's Indy 500, she will participate in NASCAR's Coke 600.  Patrick currently drives for Stewart-Haas racing.  Patrick's sprint cup adventure was made easier when Stwart-Haas got owner points from Tommy Baldwin racing's No. 36, which was driven in 2011 by Dave Blaney.  Danica will drive in 10 sprint cup races this yearalong with her full time Nationwide schedule.  David Reutimann will drive the No. 10 for the rest of the Sprint cup races.

World Endurance Championship takes a blow and gets some hope.

This year brought the shocking news that Peugeot was withdrawing its sports car racing program.  However, good things were still to come to the World Endurance Championship with the announcment of Toyota's new hybrid prototype.  Peugeot was Audi's main rival with thier 908 prototype.  They were racing the 908 in the 24 hours of Le Mans since 2007.  Peugeot blames the euro crisis for its withdrawal.

Toyota's TS030 Hybrid will make it's debut at Spa on May 5th.  Porsche also has a new prototype but it will not debut until 2014.

The TS030's powertrain is based around a 3.4 Liter V8.  It also uses super-capacitors instead of batteries to store energy from its regenerative braking system.  The drivers who participated in the testing for this car included Alex Wurz, Nicholas Lapierre and Kazuki Nakajima.  Toyota said the car demonstrated "a satisfying level of performance and reliability.

Some facts and quotes were found in Racer magazine.