PEUGEOT JOINS LE MANS INTERCONTINENTAL CUP

In a major boost for the ACO’s new Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, Peugeot have announced that they will join Audi in committing to the new series. The French manufacturer and defending Le Mans 24 hour champion will enter two Peugeot 908 HDI FAP racecars for the new series. The series which aims to revive the golden days [...]

WILD SPECIAL SALOONS FROM EUROPE

TURBOS BACK IN FORMULA ONE ?

On a night when a 30 year old TV show made it's return to Australian television screens, now comes a report that Formula One may soon return to the days of the 1.5 litre turbocharged engine. According to the popular motorsport website Pitpass, serious consideration is being given to introducing a four cylinder 1.5 turbo engine for F1 from 2013. The 1.5 litre turbo era saw some of the most powerful and fastest F1 cars ever built with some engines claimed to be putting out well in excess of 1000 BHP. The cars were however often unreliable and very expensive to build and maintain. What do you think? Would you like to see a return to the turbo era of F1? That, and many other issues will be just one of the subjects we'll be talking about in our In Pit Lane Live Forum Thursday April 15 at 8.30 pm Australian EST here on the In Pit Lane website. To join just check out the chat box on the right hand side of the page and enter your email to register. It's free, and we hope it'll be fun.

CLASSIC LIVERY FOR LIMITED LOTUS

Lotus Cars Australia has announced that it has secured three Exige S limited edition vehicles for the Australian market, the Lotus Exige S Type 72. The limited edition Exige S celebrates the most successful F1 car of all time, the Lotus Type 72 Formula One car, which achieved 20 Grand Prix victories between 1970 and 1975. The Lotus Type 72 was driven by such Lotus greats as Jochen Rindt, Emerson Fittipaldi, Ronnie Peterson and Jacky Ickx and won three Formula One Constructors’ Championships (1970, 1972 and 1973) and two Drivers’ World Championships (the first being won by Jochen Rindt in 1970 and the second by Emerson Fittipaldi in 1972). The Type 72 features a number of enhancements that draw on the history of Lotus racing.

IT’S FAST, BUT IS IT ART ?

BMW have announced that the the latest addition to their famous Art Car project will race at this year’s Le Mans 24 hour race. The car, created by acclaimed modern artist Jeff Koons, is the 17th car in the project which has featured works by such artists as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and even Australia’s Ken [...]

BRILLIANT BRADLEY BRAINS ‘EM IN SEPANG

Rookie Richard Bradley scored an emphatic win in the opening round of the 2010 Formula BMW Pacific season at Malaysia’s Sepang International Circuit, with a faultless run from pole to chequered flag. The UK-born Singapore driver got a superb start off the line, thanks to a ‘secret’ starting technique he had practiced only once, and never looked back, building up a comfortable lead at the front and controlling the race for the full 10 laps. “I knew I had the speed off the start, and confidence in my ability." said Bradley. "The plan was to build up a bit of a gap, and my engineer kept telling me how big that gap was, so the lap times changed accordingly. I had quite a scary moment when I came out of Turn 2 and there was a rainstorm, but I just kept going flat." Formula BMW Junior and guest driver Carlos Sainz Junior also didn’t put a wheel wrong on the way to second place in his first Formula BMW race, but he was never able to seriously challenge Bradley.

SARRAZIN JOINS ORECA-MATMUT FOR PAUL RICARD

Experienced works Peugeot driver Stephane Sarrazin will join Team ORECA-Matmut for the 8 hour race at Le Castellet next weekend. Sarrazin brings plenty of experience to the team having driven the 908 HDI FAP since 2007. Sarrazin joins Olivier Panis and Nicolas Lapierre on the Paul Ricard HTTT circuit while Loïc Duval, the third driver in the Le Mans 24 Hours race, will take part in private testing. Duval will also contest the Spa-Francorchamps 1000kms in May. Sarrazin  has scored three consecutive pole positions in the Le Mans 24 Hours at the wheel of the Peugeot, and has finished second on two occasions at Le Sarthe. “This decision was taken after a discussion with Olivier Quesnel,” explains Hugues de Chaunac of Team ORECA-Matmut.