Blog Archive

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Delage D12 marks the return of storied French race car brand

We’ve seen several ways so far of resurrecting a dormant car brand. There’s been the continuation build, like at Alvis, with period vehicles created from new-old-stock or parts created from original blueprints. We’ve seen brands wrap modern technology in historically-themed bodywork, as with the new Hispano-Suiza, or put that technology inside brand new bodywork said to channel the spirit of the original, as at Maybach or Bugatti. ü Called the Delage D12, CEO Laurent Tapie says it fulfills the dream of Adolphe Louis Delage, who campaigned a 2.0-liter V12 in the 1923 and 1924 Grand Prix seasons, supercharging the engine in 1925 and winning two races. Delage took the crown of World Champion of Car Builders in 1927 with the Type 15 S 8 and its supercharged 1.5-liter straight-eight, then returned to a V12 formula in 1938 in a car lost to fire before it could race.

The original Delage

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Car
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1989 Nissan 300ZX race car is a throwback to the automaker’s glory days

Nissan went all-in on IMSA sports car racing in the late 1980s and early ’90s, competing in the top GTP class for prototypes and campaigning the Z31-generation 300ZX in the GTO class. The 300ZX started racing in 1989, and one of the cars from that first season is for sale through Stratas Auctions.

Between 1989 and ’95 Clayton Cunningham Racing built and raced seven factory-supported Nissan 300ZX GTO race cars, according to the listing. This car—chassis 002—was raced in the 1989 season by Clayton Cunningham and John Morton, garnering seven top-five finishes, with a best finish of third at Mid-Ohio.

Chassis 002 is powered by a twin-turbo 3.0-liter V-6, which was rumored to have made about 700 horsepower in race trim. That power is sent to the rear wheels through a 5-speed manual transmission and quick-change rear end. Later cars had transaxles, according to the listing.

The 1989 season exposed

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Car
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Binder: Not focused on the title, taking things ‘race by race’

• South African rider Brad Binder is competing in his first season in MotoGP. 

• The KTM rookie won his first race at the third attempt and is currently fourth in the riders’ standings. 

• This weekend’s race is the San Marino Grand Prix in Misano. 

South African MotoGP rider Brad Binder admitted his focus is on taming the premier class bike each race weekend and not on the title race.  

The KTM rookie sits fourth in the standings after winning his first race in the Czech Republic after only three events. Fabio Quartararo leads Binder by 21 points heading into this weekend’s San Marino GP. 

Reigning champion Marc Marquez is out injured for the rest of the season following a fracture to his arm in the opening race in Jerez. This has opened up the championship for several riders to stake their claim at the title. 

Autosport reported that

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Automotive
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Lewis Hamilton forms team to race in Extreme E electric SUV series

Lewis Hamilton has formed a team to compete in the Extreme E Series, the environmentally conscious series that will race 550-horsepower electric SUVs next year.

The circuit will compete around the world in five locations threatened by climate change.

Hamilton’s team will be X44, a reference to the six-time Formula One champion’s Mercedes.

“Extreme E is an exciting new sustainability initiative, and this is a great opportunity to be involved from the outset as a team founder,” Hamilton said in a series release.

“Of course, my ambitions and commitments with Mercedes in Formula One mean that I won’t be operationally involved in X44, but I’m excited to play a different role in this new series, one that brings my vision for a more sustainable and equal world to life.

“Extreme E really appealed to me because of its environmental focus. Every single one of us has the power to make

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Automotive
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Williams family depature news a “surprise” and a “shock” to F1 race team



a person driving a race car on a road: Williams family depature news a

© LAT Images
Williams family depature news a

The Williams Formula 1 race team preparing for the 2020 Italian Grand Prix found the news that the Williams family would step away from the squad “surprising” and a “shock”.

The announcement that Frank and Claire Williams will end their involvement with F1 after this weekend’s race at Monza followed the sale of the squad to investment firm Dorilton Capital last month.

In the two weeks since the sale was revealed, the Williams race team has travelled to Belgium and Italy as part of F1’s latest 2020 triple header, with drivers George Russell and Nicolas Latifi discovering that the Williams family would be departing shortly before it was announced.

GALLERY: The Williams family bows out of Formula 1

The team’s head of vehicle performance, Dave Robson, explained how it had been received by the squad.

“So that news at the beginning of

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Automotive
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Hamilton launches X44 race team to contest maiden Extreme E season – Formula E

Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton has launched his own motorsport team – X44 – which will contest the maiden Extreme E season in a major coup for the electric off-road series.

The move marks Hamilton’s first role in team ownership, with the squad’s X44 name referencing the #44 race number that the Mercedes grand prix driver has carried in F1 since 2014.

Hamilton will not race for his own team, with X44’s driver pairing – one female and one male, as mandated by XE’s rules – yet to be announced.

Hamilton said: “It’s an exciting new project and it will be fun to have a different role from being the team driver.

“What is most appealing though, is that the Extreme E championship will be not only raising awareness of some of the most critical environmental issues facing our planet, but also doing something about it through working with

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Automotive
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F1 set to revisit reversed grid sprint race plan in wake of Italian GP – F1

Formula 1 is set to revisit running reversed grid sprint races at select race weekends in the wake of Sunday’s dramatic Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly scored a shock victory after Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton received a penalty and the other usual frontrunners hit trouble.

Gasly was joined on the podium by McLaren’s Carlos Sainz Jr. and Racing Point’s Lance Stroll, marking the first race since Hungary 2012 where no drivers from Mercedes, Red Bull or Ferrari finished in the top three.

Hamilton fought back from running 30 seconds off the pack to finish the race seventh, rising back up through the order after a stop/go penalty ended his win hopes.

The exciting race and surprise frontrunners reignited the debate about using reverse grid sprint race formats in F1 in the future.

The idea was proposed as an alternative to qualifying at select races in 2020, only for

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Automotive
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Ferrari set to use classic livery for 1,000th F1 race at Mugello

Ferrari is set to use a one-off Formula 1 livery to celebrate its 1,000th race at this weekend’s Tuscan Grand Prix.

Ferrari will become the first F1 team to have raced in 1,000 rounds of the world championship on Sunday, and is set to honour the landmark with a retro car livery.

Autosport understands that the Ferrari SF1000 cars raced by Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc will be painted in a darker shade of red for the Mugello weekend, matching the design used by Ferrari back in 1950.

It is a throwback intended to honour Ferrari’s F1 world championship debut at the 1950 Monaco Grand Prix, where it entered three Ferrari 125 cars to the second race of the season.

Alberto Ascari finished the 1950 Monaco Grand Prix in second place, marking Ferrari’s first F1 podium. Raymond Sommer crossed the line fourth, while Luigi Villoresi retired.

The move comes as

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Automotive
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NASCAR Darlington: Harvick wins opening race of Cup Series playoffs – NASCAR

Kevin Harvick won the opening round of the 2020 NASCAR Cup playoffs at Darlington as long-time race leaders Martin Truex Jr. and Chase Elliott hit the wall late on.

Truex had picked up both stage victories, though lost the race lead to Denny Hamlin at the start of the final stage.

Polesitter Elliot had started strong, finishing third in stage one, but fell backwards in a relatively uneventful second stage.

The Hendrick Motorsports driver was running an alternate pit strategy to those at the front of the field, giving him an advantage when a caution was brought out in the closing stages of the race due to debris on track.

Elliot led Truex at the final restart and the pair soon began to battle for position.

Both drivers rubbed against the wall, damaging their tyres in the process. Elliott dropped down the order while Truex was forced to pit with

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Automotive
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F1 Italian GP: Gasly holds off Sainz to score maiden win in red-flagged race – F1

AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly won a dramatic and disrupted 2020 Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix ahead of Carlos Sainz Jr, with early leader Lewis Hamilton penalised for a safety car infraction.

Sainz chased Gasly relentlessly over the second half of the race at Monza, which was red flagged when Charles Leclerc crashed heavily at the Parabolica, but he could not find a way by and finished a close second ahead of Lance Stroll’s Racing Point.

Hamilton dominated the early stages only for a 10-second stop/go penalty for pitting when the pitlane was closed, following a safety car to recover Kevin Magnussen’s stranded Haas on the exit of the Parabolica, to drop him to last and require a charge back to seventh.

At the start, Valtteri Bottas appeared to react slower than Hamilton on the front row and he was quickly passed by Sainz on the run down to Turn 1, where

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Automotive