http://inpitlane.com In Pit Lane Fri, 30 Jul 2010 08:11:02 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 en http://inpitlane.com/archives/12171 http://inpitlane.com/archives/12171#comments Thu, 29 Jul 2010 07:04:33 +0000 Brett Ramsey http://inpitlane.com/?p=2171 The famous Mount Buller Sprint is ready to run, but only if competitors are ready to support it. The eighth annual race to the summit of the mountain in Victoria's alpine region is scheduled for September 3 - 5th, but organisers say it will only run if the tarmac rally community comes to the party. The Buller Sprint will again use the famous sixteen kilometre stretch of road from the foot of Mt Buller to the luxury resort centre on top of the mountain. With more than 132 corners separated by short bursts of straight and cambered tarmac, the sprint is arguably Australia's premier hillclimb and draws competitors from all over the country. The 2010 event has gained valuable sponsorship from Pacific Hire and RDA Brakes and is open to both Classic cars (pre-1982) and Modern cars (1982 onwards).]]> http://inpitlane.com/archives/12171/feed http://inpitlane.com/archives/12168 http://inpitlane.com/archives/12168#comments Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:54:44 +0000 Brett Ramsey http://inpitlane.com/?p=2168 The NASCAR future of Australian Marcos Ambrose is up in the air after the announcement that the Tasmanian will leave JTG Daugherty Racing at the end of the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. “It has been a great five year journey for me and JTG Daugherty Racing,” Marcos Ambrose said. “I am proud of being their driver and of what we have been able to accomplish together. " Ambrose said that the decision to leave had been his as “After five years, I personally felt it was time for a change. Ambrose said that he had no firm plans for next year and has not ruled out a return to Australia and V8 Supercar competition. “I would like to continue in NASCAR and finish off what I started, but I have not discounted returning to Australia.]]> http://inpitlane.com/archives/12168/feed http://inpitlane.com/archives/12165 http://inpitlane.com/archives/12165#comments Mon, 26 Jul 2010 12:47:58 +0000 Brett Ramsey http://inpitlane.com/?p=2165 http://inpitlane.com/archives/12165/feed http://inpitlane.com/archives/12142 http://inpitlane.com/archives/12142#comments Sun, 18 Jul 2010 10:25:56 +0000 Brett Ramsey http://inpitlane.com/?p=2142 Team Mitsubishi Ralliart Australia has dominated the innaugural Australian Six Hour Production Car race at Eastern Creek Raceway in Sydney. Warren Luff and Stuart Kostera dominated the event, starting from pole and leading home a Evo X one-two. The winners finished two-and-a-half laps clear of Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X stable mates Inky Tulloch and Steve Jones, with third place going to Peter Conroy and Mark Brame in another EVO X. Incredibly, the six hour long marathon went caution free, with the lack of a safety car intervention allowing the winning duo to walk away from the field. “It was a great day start to finish,” Warren Luff said.]]> http://inpitlane.com/archives/12142/feed http://inpitlane.com/archives/12132 http://inpitlane.com/archives/12132#comments Sun, 18 Jul 2010 10:01:33 +0000 Brett Ramsey http://inpitlane.com/?p=2132 The feud between Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski — dormant since Atlanta in March — erupted like an angry volcano at Gateway International Raceway. In a duel to the finish line, Edwards sent Keselowski hard into the outside wall on the way to winning Saturday night's Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 Nationwide Series race at the 1.25-mile track. As Edwards took the checkered flag two car lengths ahead of runner-up Reed Sorenson, Keselowski careened into the inside retaining wall and took a vicious shot from Shelby Howard's Chevrolet just short of the finish line. Less than a lap earlier, Keselowski had bumped Edwards in Turn 1 in an attempt to take the lead after a restart on Lap 199 of 200. Edwards' Ford and Keselowski's Dodge raced side-by-side for most of the final lap. With Keselowski edging ahead as the cars approached the stripe, Edwards turned Keselowski's Dodge, igniting a multicar pileup on the frontstretch. "I just couldn't let him take the win from me," said Edwards, who drew a three-race probation in March for unabashedly turning Keselowski in a Sprint Cup race at Atlanta, with the unintended consequence of sending the No. 12 Dodge upside-down into the frontstretch wall. "My guys work way too hard for that.]]> http://inpitlane.com/archives/12132/feed http://inpitlane.com/archives/12082 http://inpitlane.com/archives/12082#comments Mon, 05 Jul 2010 03:21:49 +0000 Brett Ramsey http://inpitlane.com/?p=2082 The push towards high performance all electric vehicles takes another step forward as Mercedes Benz announces the SLS AMG E-CELL. With 392 kW and 880 Nm of torque, the car offers exceptional performance. The gullwing with electric drive is part of the company strategy entitled "AMG Performance 2015" which aims to continually reduce fuel consumption and emissions. With the SLS AMG E-CELL, Mercedes-AMG is providing a glimpse of its latest development project – a powerful and locally emission-free super sports car. Finished in fluorescent "AMG lumilectric magno" paint, the gullwing offers the prospect of a possible small series production run and at the same time reflects the innovative strength and development competence of the AMG performance brand. "We take social responsibility very seriously and with the SLS AMG E-CELL we are demonstrating a further milestone in our "AMG Performance 2015" strategy. It is our goal to continually reduce the fuel consumption and emissions of new models in the coming years, while at the same time enhancing the core brand value of performance", explains Ola Källenius, chairman of the board of Mercedes-AMG GmbH.]]> http://inpitlane.com/archives/12082/feed http://inpitlane.com/archives/12055 http://inpitlane.com/archives/12055#comments Sat, 03 Jul 2010 03:37:55 +0000 Brett Ramsey http://inpitlane.com/?p=2055 Dale Earnhardt Jnr. has taken an emotional victory at the Nationwide Cup round at Dayton Speedway. Driving the Number 3 made famous by his late father, who died in an accident at the same track, Earnhardt gave Chevrolet the perfect debut for their next generation Impala. Wearing the original blue & yellow livery of his fathers car, “Junior” held his nerve and his twitchy car to just edge out the Toyota of Joey Logano. Rookie driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was third in the new Ford Mustang. “A win was the only acceptable result.” said an emotional Earnhardt after the race. “if we hadn't of won then everybody would have been saying 'what's the point'.]]> http://inpitlane.com/archives/12055/feed http://inpitlane.com/archives/12049 http://inpitlane.com/archives/12049#comments Thu, 01 Jul 2010 13:07:11 +0000 Brett Ramsey http://inpitlane.com/?p=2049 It's ironic that the National Association of Stock Car Racing race a brand of car that is anything but stock. Yet there was once a time when at least the cars had some passing resemblance to the sort of machine that US buyers could find in their showrooms on Monday morning. That all changed when NASCAR adopted it's new regulations rather amusingly dubbed "The Car of Tomorrow". Apart from the fact that anything powered by a six litre carburettor fed pushrod V8 could hardly be looking towards the future, the fact is that they were just plain ugly. It was as if, inspired by their cousins at the Grand-Am, they set out to create a car even less aesthetically pleasant than the awful looking Daytona Prototypes. But this weekend at Daytona all that changes.]]> http://inpitlane.com/archives/12049/feed http://inpitlane.com/archives/12029 http://inpitlane.com/archives/12029#comments Wed, 30 Jun 2010 00:11:22 +0000 Brett Ramsey http://inpitlane.com/?p=2029 It was to be the heavyweight title fight of international hillclimbing. In the red corner from Japan The Monster Nobuhiro Tajima and in the blue corner from New Zealand "Son of a Gun" Red Bull Rhys Millen. On paper it looked like a battle for the ages, the defending champion in his wild looking Suzuki based special up against Millen's even more extreme off road prototype powered by Hyundai. In the end though it became a no contest. Mechanical problems plagued the challenger leaving the 'Monster' as King of the Hill once again. The win to the Japanese driver was his 5th consecutive at the peak with a fastest time of 10:11.490. Both Tajima and Millen had hoped to break the magic 10 minute mark but neither really got close.]]> http://inpitlane.com/archives/12029/feed http://inpitlane.com/archives/12019 http://inpitlane.com/archives/12019#comments Tue, 22 Jun 2010 06:54:12 +0000 Brett Ramsey http://inpitlane.com/?p=2019 It's been described as one of the worst mistakes in NASCAR history, In Australia it has prompted comparisons with Greg Norman's finest choking efforts. What Roy & HG will make of it I can't wait to find out. Yes our DNF Maestro Mark Webber has nothing on this one. Just as he looked set for his long awaited NASCAR Sprint Cup maiden victory, Marcos Ambrose blew the biggest win of his career by stalling his car during a safety car period. Called on to save fuel Ambrose coasted down hill with the engine off, but when he couldn't get the Toyota to restart, it was back to eighth place on the restart and a win for Jimmie Johnson. (As if he needs any more)]]> http://inpitlane.com/archives/12019/feed