AEM just dropped a sleek new EMS earlier this week. The new “Series 2″ EMS has a whole textbook’s worth of extra features over the original EMS. Despite the extras the unit itself is actually 26mm shorter than the previous EMS which can make mounting the unit a little easier. Right now the new Series 2 EMS is only available for the Toyota Supra Turbo and non-turbo but I’d expect AEM to roll out more applications in the near future.
Now, if you have 10 minutes to kill you can check out the video below that details all the new features of the Series 2 narriated by a very nice monotonic man.
Yeah, I know this news is breaking a little late but we had to make sure we didn’t spoil it for anyone waiting for the re-airing of the race. So as you can see in the picture above Mr. Dario Franchitti took the checkered flag at the Toyota Grand Prix Of Long Beach last Sunday.
The race started with Will Power (top qualifier) up front and as usual with the top qualifier at Long Beach he lead a good portion of the race. However his team had problems with their radio and telemetry which threw them off just enough for Dario Franchitti and Danica Patrick to cycle their way to the front with pit strategy and a few full course cautions. By lap 55 of 85 Dario captured the lead and held onto it for the remainder of the race.
This is the first time Indy Car ran the Toyota Grand Prix Of Long Beach and I have to admit I was a little skeptical of it since I was so used to the turbo V8s of Champ Car running the streets but I’m glad to say that Indy Car did not dissapoint! If you haven’t been to this race yet I highly reccomend you come to Long Beach next year and check it out.
So the first day is wrapped up and I’m already tired! It was pretty eventful with Indy Car practice and qualifiying for two different events (ALMS and Pro Celebrity). I tried my best to keep up with Indy Practice via the MotorworldHype twitter page but my phone got a little dicy. I should do better tomorrow.
In some other Indy news it was announced that Paul Tracy would join the KV Racing team for the Indy 500 with backing from Geico insurance.
Also on the menu today was Toyota Celebrity (AKA demolition derby) qualifying. Its so fun to watch these people pinball around the track! Some of them did pretty well though all things considered. Heck, Farnsworth Bentley qualified 3rd among the celebs despite bouncing off concrete and tires earlier in the day. Pro-skater Danny Way qualified first with Keanu “Neo” Reeves qualifying second. Make sure to stay tuned to the MotorworldHype twitter page tomorrow at 11:40am california time as I’ll be tweeting the race live.
On the American LeMans (ALMS) tip the P2 Mazda Lola coupe was only a few tenths off from the Fernandez racing Acura. It looks like its going to be a tight race between the only two Japanese manufacturers in the Series. The Rahal BMW M3s qualified 4th and 5th respectively in the GT2 class while Falken Tire’s Porsche 911 RSR qualified 8th in GT2 just ahead of Boris Said in the Riley Corvette.
Tomorrow is race day for ALMS and I might be in Mazda’s pit box tweeting the race live. I’ll give you guys a heads up on that tomorrow.
For now check out some of my day 1 pictures. There will be much more tomorrow!
This is a bit late but if you don’t have any plans tomorrow morning head over to Universal Technical Institute in Rancho Cucamonga tomorrow as all the teams in Formula D will be heading over there to get their official pre-season tech inspection. All the big and small teams will be there! It starts at 10am and goes on until 4.
Try to show up early as rumor has it that most of the big teams (Mopar, AEM/Rockstar, RMR/Red Bull, NOS Drift, Burgenholtz) will be showing up early and possibly leaving early as some of them need to get back to the shop to finish their cars before the big day!
You can get more info about the event HERE. Or click the thumbnail below to see the full size flyer.
I found this for all the Hachi-Roku heads out there. If you’ve gone crazy with the engine and have a high power, high-revving set up you’re going to need a proper clutch to get all of that power down. TODA Racing has a clutch kit specifically balanced and designed for high power 4AG applications.
A classic ball design like this never goes out of style. If you’re feeling it then you should get to the clicking post-haste. HKS only did a limited run of these shift knobs and I’m sure once they’re gone, they’re gone.
Every year during the LA Auto Show a contest is held for transportation design students and other artists to create a future concept around a given theme. Usually its something boring like “urban living” or “mobile entertainment.” This year its finally getting exciting as this time around the theme is racing. The task for the contestants is to design cars for the 2025 race season. So far my favorite is from the Audi of America Design center. They’re concept dubbed the “Audi R25″ is a LeMan’s inspired work and it looks fresh! It reminds me of Ridge Racer from back in the day. If you want to see the rest of the entrant’s design pieces then check out the LA Auto Show later this month.
Press Release:
LOS ANGELES - Oct. 20, 2008 - Today’s race cars have ground-breaking technology to improve speed, power, performance and safety but what a difference 17 years into the future can make. Imagine race cars that go beyond the expectations and challenges of racing today, such as never needing to stop for re-fueling or collision avoidance assistance technology for enhanced safety.
Nine of Southern California’s automotive design studios did just that, predicting how auto racing will change by the year 2025. The designs are part of the fifth annual Los Angeles Auto Show’s Design Challenge, where studios including Audi, BMW, GM, Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota and Volkswagen are pitted against each other to showcase their talents and further explore new ideas in automotive design.
“Automotive designers have always been fascinated with Motor Sports and this year’s Design Challenge has provided them with the opportunity to use their creative talent to look at these cars with new eyes, using innovative technologies and approaches,” said Chuck Pelly, director of Design Los Angeles and partner in The Design Academy, Inc. “This adds to the excitement, interest and personal involvement in the sport that has thrilled people of all ages for many years…and many more years to come.”
Entries in this year’s Motor Sports 2025 Design Challenge include:
Audi of America Design Center California: The Audi R25 incorporates innovative features such as high-velocity banks and tunnels, which allow cars to race “inverted” and the opportunity to pass anywhere with aerodynamic racecars.
BMW Group DesignworksUSA: The BMW Hydrogen Powered Salt Flat Racer reuses existing, ordinary and mundane materials such as old oil barrels and BBQ lids to whimsical and sustainable by employing goldfish as “co-pilots” to ensure that the vehicle is running clean emissions.
General Motors Advanced Design: The GM Chaparral Volt collects and generates its own energy from three different clean, renewable and abundant California resources: Earth, Wind and Fire to create an entirely new category of racing - the eco-triathlon.
Honda Research and Development, North America: The Great Race 2025’s sonar/echolocation sensors are able to detect changes in speed, terrain, and altitude, allowing it to switch to any configuration to circumnavigate the globe in 24 hours on land through the U.S., by sea through Asia and by air over Europe.
Mazda R&D of North America: The MAZDA KAAN is an electric race car that has a patented electronic tire system to reach 250 mph with no harmful emissions. The vehicles are piloted by individual drivers but teams are made up of thirty cars, all on the track together.
Mitsubishi Research & Design of North America: The MMR25’s multi-terrain, omnidirectional wheels consist of eight independently-controlled motors, allowing for “8 x 4″ wheel drive so that the car can be driven forward while pointing in any direction.
Mercedes-Benz Advanced Design of North America: Luxury racing arrives in the Formula Zero Racer by incorporating the thrill of Formula One, the track dynamics of the bobsled or luge, and the grace and efficiency of yacht racing.
Toyota’s Calty Design Research: The Toyota Le Mans Racer is the ultimate race car that never needs to stop. Powered by highly efficient hydrogen fuel cell electric motors, each of its body panels is embedded with photovoltaic panels to supply electricity when extra energy is needed.
Volkswagen of America Design Center: In the Bio Runner, the rider is positioned inside a protective cage on a motorcycle-like saddle with controls attached to the hands and feet. These controls manipulate all wheels via synthetic muscle-based suspension which offers unparalleled control and traction.
Entries will be judged by Tom Matano of San Francisco’s Academy of Art University, Imre Molner of Detroit’s College for Creative Studies and Stewart Reed of Pasadena’s Art Center College of Design. Daniel Simon, an established car designer and founder of Cosmic Motors, is the special guest judge this year. Simon began his design career at Volkswagen and recently published his first book: Cosmic Motors-Spaceships, Cars and Pilots of Another Galaxy.
The winning design will be announced at the Design Los Angeles conference Nov. 20 at the Los Angeles Auto Show.
About the Design Challenge
The Design Challenge is part of the Design Los Angeles automobile designers’ conference that has evolved into an integral element of the Los Angeles Auto Show. Entering its fifth year, Design Los Angeles provides designers with leading design speakers and the opportunity to address common issues. More than 500 designers attended last year’s event.
In a hard fought season between Robert Kubica, Kimi Raikkonen, Felipe Massa, and Lewis Hamilton a conclusion was finally reached over the weekend in Brazil. As Formula 1 2008 came to a close Kubica and Raikkonen were mathmatically out of the championship chase and it came down to Felipe and Lewis.
As the points stood Lewis only needed to net a 5th place finish to lock out Felipe and secure the title. However it looked as if the Vodafone McLaren team over compensated by litterally setting up the car and their strategy as a 5th place contender. The plan worked out for most of the race however towards the end it began to fail as Red Bull bad-ass Sebastien Vettel snatched 5th place away from Lewis during the last 3 laps while Massa was in first place.
Due to extremely worn and graining tires combined with a wet track Lewis struggled to take 5th back from the blazing fast German but was fading fast. Salvation came for Lewis in the last lap when Toyota driver Timo Glock fell back from 4th place also due to worn tires which allowed both Vettel and Hamilton to blow by. This controversial occurance placed the Brit back into 5th place thus securing his championship crown as he crossed the line.
I couldn’t help but hurt for Massa as he and his team were litterally informed at the last possible moment that they had not won the championship. Cameras captured the very moment when Felipe’s father was jumping up and down cheering then the imediate drain of joy from his face and the other red coats as they were told the unfortunate news that Lewis swooped the title away.
I also couldn’t help but get a tad emotional as I saw Lewis take the title and celebrate with his team, family, and friends. A while back it had been a dream of mine to be the first African American in Formula 1 and to win the title. Obviously that isn’t going to happen now and even though the media has generally tried to keep the issue of race out of the amazing story that is Lewis Hamilton I can’t help but feel proud that history was made. If I couldn’t do it I’m happy that Lewis could. Congrats!
I don’t have a ‘86 corolla but if I did I gurantee you this wheel would be among the three sets I alternated on! The MA86 is another set from Weds Sport and its absolutely sick! Seven spoke wheels do not fail!
In what was shaping up to be a whirlwind weekend for Formula Drift actually turned out to be somewhat anti-climatic. Goinginto Irwindale there were 4 drivers mathmatically alive for the series title with Tanner sitting on top of the points and Sam Hubinette was just behind him with Rhys Millen following closely in third. The situation was smilar to last year when Tanner was locked in a tight points battle between Chris Forsberg and Dai Yoshihara.
With things so tight in the standings and Dai still having an outside shot the fans were expecting some tooth and nail battles when it came time for the top 16. The key word in that last sentence was “expecting”, what the fans actually got was an elimination of points contenders and teammates Rhys Millen and Dai Yoshihara in the top 16 due to what I’d say were questionable calls by the judges.
Fans were shocked again when they saw two-time champ Sam Hubinette basically take himself out of contention by making a highly uncharacteristic spin against Takatori in the Great 8. Sam’s stumble automatically handed the series title to Tanner Foust. Once that happend a handfull of fans picked up and left since they knew it wouldn’t come down to the wire like 2007.
However most of us stayed behind to watch how the rest of this round would play out. Especially since Drift Alliance member Justin Thomas Pawlakwas on fire and taking names all night as he brought down Taka Aono and Robbie Nishida to move onto the final four where he fell to Tanner Foust.
When all the tandem dust settled it came down to Tanner and JR Gitten (Gitten defeated Bill Sherman, Miki Ryuji, and Takatori to make it to the final two) for top spot on the podium for the last round. Although Tanner probably still hugely excited from his championship was just slightly off point and he fell to Gitten who won his first round of Formula D competition all season.
Congrats to Tanner and to JR! Also I want to personally give a big thanks to Formula D and the staff for bringing another year of action, fun, controversy, and another motorsport to follow all year!
Oh, and one more thing…don’t be too bummed out about the season being over yet. There is a HUGE drift event coming up just next month on the docks of Long Beach remember? Don’t forget to mark your calandars for the Red Bull World Drifting Championship.
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