Looks like a BMW, only smaller

Author: vehiclevoice
Added: Tue, 27 Nov 2007 11:13:06 -0800
Duration: 192

The BMW 1 Series looks just like a BMW, only smaller. Its shape, its interior, its leg room, and even its trunk make you think of a much larger car. But unlike larger BMW's, the 1 Series starts at less than $30,000.

Best Practices Masami Kuwashima

2012 Calendar Approved by FIA World Council

Channel: Saloon Cars/Trucks	Class: WTCC
The calendar of the 2012 WTCC was approved today by the FIA World Motor Sport Council during the meeting in New Dehli.

Source Videos Stefan Dorflinger

2012 iRacing.com Grand Prix World Championship Series Preview: Watkins Glen

The third annual iRacing.com World Championship Grand Prix Series gets underway on Saturday with cash and prizes valued at more than $20,000 on the line, and a live broadast on iRacing.com at 5 PM EST/22:00 GMT.   The 16 race series looks set to be its most competitive so far, with several names carrying viable claims to the 2012 title, including inaugural champion Greger Huttu and reigning champion Hugo Luis. The excitement starts at Watkins Glen, a 3.4 mile, eleven-turn course in New York’s scenic Finger Lake region that has been lovingly recreated with millimetre precision on the iRacing Motorsport Simulation service. Looking to make his mark in the first outing of the 2012 season, Pablo Lopez will be hoping his first Watkins Glen appearance in the iWCGP will yield [...]

Picture of The Day Jeff Emig

Casey Stoner sizes up the 1000s

The 2011 World Champion shares his views on the 1000cc Repsol Honda heading into the 2012 season, the year that will see the MotoGP™ class returning to the high powered machines.

How is the 1000 different from the 800 on corner entry, mid-corner, exit?
"Well, it’s not so much a difference between the 1000 and the 800, but just an improvement that we've made with Honda, is braking stability. The wheelbase is maybe a little different and when we go on the brakes we've got a bit more stability entering the corner. The rear does not want to hop as much and we can actually sink our hands into the brakes a lot harder. So it's actually changing the braking points by less than what we'd expected, because our bike has improved quite substantially in that point. I'd say corner entry is exactly the same. Everything from that point on is very similar. I think it's mainly just chassis-wise that we've improved. The weight of the bike is exactly the same, the way it's going to react is very similar, if not the same.

The weight's the same?
"It was quite recently that they decided to add four kilos, but I think the extra weight isn't changing much. If it were 20 kilos, it might be different. At this point it just feels similar to the 800. The only thing that's different is how the chassis feels. And corner exit, we're able to use that power a lot better, we're able to get more torque out of the engine and have a lot more control with the engine because it's not so peaky. And actually I've found a lot more traction-because of the extra torque and control, it wants to drive out of the corner a lot longer before it spins."

Can you be less precise with the 1000 and still get away with it?
"I'd say no. In a small way, because of that extra torque you can square the corner off and shoot it out. But the 800s already had a lot of power. You've still got to ride them in a similar manner-very accurately. Everyone's just trying to massage out the bugs at the moment."

If you make a mistake, is it less forgiving than the 800?
"No, I think it's very similar. With the 800s you were carrying a bit more corner speed. With the 1000s, especially on a small track with a short gearbox, it just wants to wheelie quite a lot. So they did turn a little bit harder and you keep a little bit more throttle in the middle of the turn really. But such a minute amount. You can still ride them in exactly the same way. I was watching some of the lines others were taking and looking at some of the black marks. They're using the whole track still. I'm using less and less of the track, because I'm happy with that extra bit of torque. But in general you can still ride them in both ways."

You've won a title before. Is it harder to win a title or defend a title?
"I think there is no defending a title. You don't go into a season with a points advantage over anyone. So I don't think it's ever a title defense. I think you've got a different number on your bike, if you choose, but everyone starts at zero again. Especially this year; we're going from 800s to 1000s, so there's nothing similar to the past year except we're running tyres on bikes and we're doing the same kind of championship, but it’s a completely different category now. So, I don't think you ever go into a season trying to defend your championship. I think you're going out trying to attack for another one."

The year after you won your championship you had a number of problems, which made keeping the number one plate more difficult.
"I think we didn't start out so great with the 2008 bike. We struggled with it quite at the start of the season. We were having a lot of pumping issues and trying to figure out the chain tensions, small things like that to try to stop the pumping problems we had. But then we had a camera come off and flap around my bike in Estoril, and we had an engine go in Le Mans. Then we had major issues at the end of the year with my wrist falling to pieces, but everyone just remembers me losing the title. But I think we put up one hell of a fight considering the year we had. And I think I proved to everybody that we had every right to be champion again that year, but it wasn't to be. Same in 2009- We were leading the championship when my lactose issue started to play havoc. It was pretty much only 2010 that we didn't have any excuses. We didn't have the bike, we didn't have the equipment, we didn't get it sorted quick enough. We made mistakes. Pushed too hard in places we maybe shouldn't have. And things just didn't go well from there. But at the end of the season once we got everything sorted, we showed that we still had the speed and came out on a bike that hadn’t given us everything we wanted, and sort of showed everybody what we could do again."

Wayne Rainey famously said that with each passing championship he felt he had to win and that there was no settling for second place.
"I think this championship's changing quite a lot. Wayne was the benchmark so he had nothing really to chase, but I suppose you can always win more races during the season, you've always got goals. But for me, it's a problem the way the championship is heading and the way there are always rule changes. There are always excuses and it doesn't seem to be about racing as it was in those days and there's more to it than just going out and having a good scrap. It sort of makes me unhappy looking at the direction the championship, the way that it's going. But at the same time I've still got goals that I can set and try to fulfill, but if I can't, I've got to be happy with the career I've had."

One of his problems was that by winning so often, there were few improvement to his machinery. That doesn't seem to be a problem with Honda.
"With this team, every bit of input I give, I see it motivating them to try to do better. With Honda, you see that they just want to keep improving. They don't ever want to sit still. Now that there's a 1000 here, straight away there's a lot of input going into it and they're trying to sort out all the small gremlins."

At Laguna Seca, you had one of your most frustrating races in 2009 and last year you had one of your greatest races there.
"I think everyone can appreciate now that maybe the race wasn't so easy on a Ducati. That maybe it wasn't as clean cut as everyone thought it was. I rode my butt off in that race and things didn't work out. I forgot about that shortly after but nobody else did. So it's not my problem anymore."

The pass that you made on Jorge Lorenzo, how far ahead did you plan that?
"A few laps to be honest. Not in that exact spot; I just thought if the opportunity arose then I wouldn't have any doubt doing it. I've always been good in the last sector of Laguna- I was fast on the Ducati. It's all about getting the gear shifts right to keep the front down, because it's such a short track. On the laps previous to that I was catching Jorge every time in that spot. And I thought if I got close enough and he just made a small slip-up with shifting, it would be just enough. And it happened. If you watch, you'll see me all of a sudden get acceleration, but it was the fact that he held that wheelie a bit too long. And that allowed me to carry that momentum around the outside."

Some believe that was the turning point in the championship? Do you agree or disagree?
"No, I completely disagree. There are turning points constantly in the championship. Just let every race be a different turning point in the championship. There's always different moments and you just need to let them flow."

Source: Heikki Kovalainen

Seven days to Lima

Channel: Rally amp; Off-Road	Class: Paris/Dakar amp; similar
Halfway through the Dakar each of the four titles at stake, motorcycles, cars, quads and trucks, remain well and truly up for grabs.

Best Practices Kenichi Yoshida

Circuit stats set to change in 2012

Channel: Motorcycle	Class: Superbike
In 2012 World Superbike will embark on some new adventures, just like it does every season, but there will be one particular novelty which will be brand new on more than one level.

Source Videos Heikki Mikkola

NASCAR-CUP: Edwards fields questions from the PIR media after 1st practice

Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Subway Ford Fusion, joined members of the media after the first practice session at Phoenix International Raceway Friday afternoon. Edwards, who has five wins at PIR across the NASCAR Nationwide and Sprint Cup series’ and discussed what it will take to add to that total this weekend.

Carl Edwards, Roush Fenway Racing Ford

Photo by: Action Sports Photography

TALK ABOUT HOW PRACTICE HAS GONE FOR YOU AND WHAT YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT HERE THIS WEEKEND. “Practice went really well for us. This is obviously a huge weekend for us with the Subway Ford being that it is the Subway race. We would really like to win this one for everybody there. Practice went really well. I think we have a very fast race car. It looks like Biffle is extremely fast as well, so we will lean on him a little bit between practices and then try to get the car tuned in for the next practice. It is really weird to see the 60 car drive by, by the way. It is like a dream when you are missing school or something. You forgot that test paper. I am driving it via Trevor.”

YOU ARE ONE OF THE HANDFUL OF DRIVERS THAT DOESN’T TWEET. YOUR REACTION TO WHAT HAPPENED WITH BRAD MONDAY NIGHT AND ARE YOU GOING TO JUMP ON THE TWITTER TRAIN? “No, I am not going to jump on board the Twitter train but I think that anything that gets the fans excited it good. I didn’t realize we could have our phones in the car but honestly I won’t be taking my phone in the car during the race. I will just say that. If it gets the fans excited, if it is something they enjoy, then I think the more power to the guys that are doing it. I think that is cool.”

THERE WERE 200 GALLONS OF FUEL IN THAT JET DRYER AT DAYTONA. YOU ARE A PILOT, DO YOU HAVE ANY SUGGESTED CHANGES TO THAT? “I think we could all sit here and come up with things that would have been good in that situation to have done. I think that NASCAR will certainly look at the situation and come up with a plan. I am sure it will involve those guys at least wearing a fire suit and helmet. It is just a reminder that things like that, freak things happen, and it reminds you how many different ways you can have things go wrong at a race track. There is a lot of energy in those race cars and a lot of potential for trouble. At the very least it reminds everyone how big of a problem a fire can be. You don’t realize how much energy is in that fuel until you see it all on fire. I trust that NASCAR will address it so that we will probably never have something happen like that again.”

IN DAYTONA, HENDRICK LOST A TON OF RACE CARS AND HAD ONE DECENT FINISH. YOU GUYS WON THE RACE AND A BUNCH OF MONEY AND MAYBE LOST ONE CAR. WHAT DOES ALL THAT MEAN GOING DOWN THE ROAD FOR THE OTHER PLATE RACES. DO YOU HAVE A BIGGER ADVANTAGE WITH MORE CARS STILL IN THE STABLE? DOES EVERYBODY HAVE FEWER PLATE CARS THIS YEAR BECAUSE OF THE SWITCH OVER NEXT YEAR? “Those are all really good questions and I don’t know the answer to all of them. I think we all forget, especially us and you guys that cover the sport and us drivers that show up and drive the car, we forget how much energy goes into these cars to build them. When you see cars torn up it is just hundreds and hundreds of hours of work that has to be done. I can tell you that I haven’t seen Jack Roush much happier than he was after that race Monday night or Tuesday morning. He was very, very happy. Thinking of it in terms of that he might have been real happy they didn’t tear up all that stuff. There is a lot of money and time that goes into those. I don’t know how it sets us up for the next restrictor plate race. With all the cars being rebodied for 2013, I don’t know how it fits everybody’s plan. We were trying specifically not to tear up the car. I tore mine up a little bit but we are going to run that car again at the next speedway race. That is our plan.”

WHAT IS YOUR PERSPECTIVE ON PENSKE COMING OVER NEXT YEAR? “I asked Jack that. I asked him if it was a good thing or a bad thing and he said it was neutral. The Ford folks are excited about it and Ford wants to win that manufacturers championship and they want to win races and they deserve to. They have put a ton into this sport and their business is going really well. If Ford is happy then I am happy. I think it will be neat to have more Ford’s out there winning races.”

HAVE YOU GOTTEN ANYMORE REACTION FROM PEOPLE OR FANS ABOUT LAST WEEK? “We definitely kept it exciting last week and people were talking about it. I think that everywhere I went this week it seemed like the only frustration I heard out of people was that they couldn’t stay up that late to see the end of it. It didn’t seem people were upset about the racing or the delay. I think NASCAR did a really good job. From all the feedback I got, the people watching the race were really happy that NASCAR started the race later so they could come home and watch it and we can say it looking back with that fire and craziness that it was such a unique race that I think people were entertained by it. In the end one of the fastest cars won with Matt and he earned it. Overall, looking back on it, I would say it was a good event. Taking everything into consideration it was a great event.”

WITH THE MOVE FOR FORD, DO YOU THINK YOU WILL HAVE THE SAME SORT OF RELATIONSHIPS WITH BRAD AND AJ THAT YOU DO WITH THE RPM TEAM? “I don’t know. Jack started to talk about that a little bit with me and he said we would just have to see. I think Jack and Mr. Penske have worked together in the past on some different engine stuff and different projects and I am sure if Ford had their way they would work together on everything and that is what we would do. I just don’t know what is going to happen yet. I know that all of us at Roush really respect the Penske organization. Their drivers and everybody do a really good job and I think they feel the same way. Like I said earlier, if Ford is pumped and it raises the level of our competition at Roush because we have another Ford team over there either sharing information with or just competing with, because there is always competition when you are racing the same manufacturer, either way I think it will be good for us.”

YOU’VE HAD YOUR MOMENTS WITH BRAD. IS THAT ALL WATER UNDER THE BRIDGE NOW? “Yeah, to me it is. I think they were pretty much resolved there at the race track. This sport moves fast and at the end of the day you have to go every week and race as hard as you can. I learned a long time ago not to hold onto that stuff and just go racing and treat people how they treat you. Lately that has been going great.”

HAVE YOU EVER HAD A WEEKEND LIKE DANICA HAD, WRECKING IN THREE CONSECUTIVE RACES, AND HOW DO YOU COME BACK FROM THAT? “I don’t know that I have wrecked in three consecutive races in the same weekend. That is tough. Anytime that kind of thing happens it takes the wind out of your sales. It is easy to get frustrated. All you can do is go next week and that is one of the fortunate things about our sport. No matter what happens you get to go to the race track next week and your crew has a beautiful race car for you and you get to go. The worse one I had was my first race in the Cup series at Atlanta we won it. The very next week I felt like a hero and I was walking around the garage with my chest puffed out. I shifted into third gear pulling out of the pits on my qualifying lap and I spun out and wrecked the car. I went from hero to zero really quick. I realized how quickly things can change. For her sake, I hope she turns it around.”

DO YOU WANT YOUR PEOPLE PUSHING TO THE LIMIT LIKE THE 48 TEAM? “Of course. I want my crew and all my guys at the shop to push the limits of everything with the cars, with all the rules, to bring the absolute fastest race car out here. If you don’t, someone else is. You are trying to do that so you can gain points and get an advantage. If you get caught with something and you lose points then all that is right out the window and you have to start all over again. It is tough. That has to be really, really frustrating.”

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Ryan Dungey - Another KTM Video

Gotta love KTM, without question the best Motorcycle company when it comes to making great media information. Here is another cool video of Ryan Dungey on his all new KTM 450cc machine. As always it's loaded with comments from the AMA hero.

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Video: SportsTalk: Daytona's wild Monday night

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The Scrub

Watching the pros, you can guarantee that every rider is going to scrub.  Even amateurs are perfecting the “Bubba Scrub.”  This is not just something they do for fun.  This is a technique that can help you stay lower in the air and get back on Mother Earth and on the gas.  If you see [...]

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