Friday, January 30, 2009
RSR Motorsports
RSR Motorsports was well represented at the KONI season-opener. Three cars with new paint schemes, a full RV and trailer layout in the paddock, and one more RV in the infield as part of the support operation, not to mention six quick drivers. Unfortunately the weekend didn't turn out as hoped for, as the "...rabbit out of a hat..." top ten finish was thwarted by a halfshaft problem.
Riley Scores Fifth
The Rolex 24 battle saw Riley Technologies score an amazing fifth in a row as the Mooresville-based manufacturer locked out the Daytona Prototype podium once again in Daytona...
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Riley TDC
At $185,000, track day car lets fans join fun
Larry Edsall / Special to The Detroit News
Later this month, 20 cars are expected to be on the starting grid for the 47th annual 24 Hours of Daytona sports car race. Those cars will be powered by Porsche, Pontiac, Lexus, Ford and BMW racing engines.
Of those 20 cars, a dozen or more will be Riley chassis, designed and built in Mooresville, N.C., by Riley Technologies, a company that traces its heritage to famed Indycar and aerospace engineer Bob Riley.
More here as Detroit News talks Track Day Car...
Mustang Champ shows speed and poise on the high banks...
Caddell Strong in KONI Challenge Debut at Daytona
Impressive performance before procedural penalty sets Champion back
Daytona Beach, FL (23 January 2009) – 2008 Ford Racing Mustang Challenge Champion Andrew Caddell showed his championship credentials on the big stage Friday as he posted a strong performance in his Grand-Am KONI Sports Car Challenge GS Class debut in the Fresh From Florida 200, co-driving a Ford Mustang FR500C with fellow Mustang Challenge racer Jim Click to a tenth place finish. The race outing came as part of the Ford Racing Champions Prize for the Mustang Challenge Champion as Caddell converted his strong season-long performance in Mustang Challenge competition into the chance to race the Ford Mustang FR500C at the “World Center of Racing.”
Read the rest here
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Bummer ending....
After leading and running strong with both cars, Michael Shank Racing withdrew from the Rolex 24 At Daytona after encountering problems in the drivetrain. Read here
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Marks Take
Mark Patterson is as skilled with the Blackberry as he is with the race car, as he tells some fantastic first-person tales of what it's like behind the scenes of Rolex Sports Car Series racing. Read about it here...
Race time...
One more thing...and then racing...
Three more in the books
SGM was involved with three more press conferences on race day morning as Spirit of Daytona (SGM News) announced a new partner, Coyote Cars discussed the status and plans for the chassis manufacture and development plans, and Oswaldo Negri also participated in the Homestead press conference about the Championship weekend in October.
Why, yes, I am the champ...why do you ask?
Busy Friday
There was a buzz on Friday leading up to the Fresh From Florida 200 to kick off the 2009 season. Adam Burrows and Trevor Hopwood were in full swing, signing autographs before taking to the high-banks for their first race with RSR Motorsports.
Things didn't turn out as planned, alas, as a drivetrain problem stopped them short of a top-ten, which would have felt like a win given the MINI's liking of tighter tracks. On to Homestead....
Now THAT's a Debut!
SGM racer Matt Bell made a great KONI Challenge GS Class debut on Friday in the Fresh From Florida 200 as he started from third, ran as high as second, and kept the car in the lead pack to turn over to Bill Auberlen, who brought the Turner car home in first at the checkered flag.
Bell has long looked up to Auberlen, and getting the chance to race with him is the fulfillment of a dream of sorts. Clearly, he held up his own end of the deal and will be a talent to keep an eye on...
Read more about the race here...
Bitchin' Camaro
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Mustang Challenge Press Conference Success
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Wednesday
Monday, January 19, 2009
Weather watch
Daytona can be an fickle place, requiring winter jackets one day, sunsreen the next, and an umbrella hours later. And this can obviously factor in when it goes green for race time...
Keep posted on the weather here...
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Friday, January 16, 2009
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
This Week In Ford Racing with Mike Shank...
Michael Shank, owner of Michael Shank Racing, is hoping to start the famed Rolex 24 at Daytona with both of his cars in the front row for the second consecutive year when the Grand-Am Rolex Series holds its season opener in Daytona, Fla., on January 24-25. Shank’s No. 6 Ford-Riley Daytona Prototype clocked the second quickest time during January Test Days, while his No. 60 Ford-Riley Daytona Prototype held the sixth quickest.
Michael Shank – owner, Michael Shank Racing – LAST SEASON, YOU WERE ABLE TO PLACE BOTH OF YOUR CARS IN THE FRONT ROW. IT’S VERY TOUGH, BUT DO THINK THAT YOU MIGHT HAVE A SHOT AT STARTING IN THE FRONT ROW AGAIN? “We, for sure, have a shot at doing it again this year, there’s no question about that. Both cars have really good speed. It’s just a little bit of a luck factor; everything aligning correctly like it did last year. What I mean by that is that nothing goes wrong in the practices leading up to it and the cars are pretty much unscathed heading into that 15-minute qualifying session. If that happens and the cars are unscathed and have no mechanical issues up to that point, there’s definitely an opportunity there for us to repeat that. The trick for this year is that there are five cars on top of ours that are much better than they were last year, so it’s going to be much closer at the top and there are more people that can take that away from us, for sure. We’ll see where that ultimately ends up, but I think we can start both cars around the top five, which is plenty for a 24-hour race. It would just kind of be cool to be able to that again.”
YOU ALWAYS HAVE A GOOD GROUP OF DRIVERS FOR THIS RACE. HOW DO YOU GO ABOUT CHOOSING YOUR DRIVERS? “What I chose to do this year is really go after guys that are very good Daytona Prototype drivers with lots of experience. So instead of getting somebody like a Kyle Busch, who I had the opportunity to get, we went with guys whose names aren’t quite as big as that, but they are fantastic Daytona Prototype drivers. So we chose performance over press, I guess you could say, all in an effort to just win the thing because that would be the best press for us.”
NOW THAT YOU HAVE BEEN WITH FORD FOR A YEAR, WILL IT BE ANY EASIER AT THE BEGINNING OF THIS SEASON SINCE THERE ISN’T A LEARNING CURVE? “When we got to Daytona last year for the race, we were ready to win it. The No. 6 car was in a position to win it when a suspension part failed – nothing to do with the motor. The Ford Racing engineering guys have helped us a lot since then. That’s the biggest difference. The Ford Racing engineers have now had the opportunity to work with us for a year, so the engineering side of it is much more prepared than it was last year. So different systems and different strategies and all that has now been fully affected by the engineers up in Detroit.”
WHAT DO YOU WORRY ABOUT MOST GOING INTO A RACE LIKE THIS? “There are a couple of areas on the car that we worry about. The axle systems are always a worry for us. We think we are in pretty good shape there. We made a huge effort last year to get on top of that and we think we’re better now with that. I always worry about other people’s mistakes that can take us out, meaning a GT car or another DP car having an altercation and us not being able to avoid it. That’s another worry of mine. Those are the biggest ones.”
Bell Tabbed for Turner Ride with Auberlen...
http://grand-am.com/koni/news/index.cfm?cid=20340
Matt Bell Rejoins Turner Motorsport for 2009 KONI Challenge
Leading BMW tuner and championship-winning racing organization brings Bell up to GS Class to team with Auberlen
Contact: Matt Cleary, Sunday Group Management
media@ sundaymanagement.com
(317) 908-2975-Mobile
(13 January 2009)—Matt Bell knows that any successful recipe requires the right ingredients, and he can not be blamed for looking forward to what is cooking next in his career after Turner Motorsport announced that he has been signed to co-drive the No. 96 H&R Springs/StopTech Brakes BMW M3 with Bill Auberlen for the 2009 Grand-Am KONI Sports Car Challenge season. The package has all the right ingredients, as Bell will team with a championship-winning team, championship-winning co-driver, and a proven and fast platform in the BMW M3.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Speed picks up MSR
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Roar
Saturday, January 3, 2009
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