Blog Archive

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The TAG Heuer Carrera Sport Chronograph reimagines a true racing legend

It’s a big year for TAG Heuer – the storied Swiss watchmaker has turned 160 – so it’s no surprise that it has put the Carrera centre stage. While its portfolio includes a number of spot-it-across-the-room pieces, the Monaco in particular, the Carrera stands apart. In a sense, its heritage tells the story of the company’s modern era.

Think TAG Heuer and you immediately think motor sport. The origins of that association are to be found in the early 1960s, when the dial name was simply Heuer. The company had been forged in the world of timers and stopwatches, devices which had since been migrating onto wrists. So when Jack Heuer, the founder’s great grandson, took the reins in 1962, he decided to create a chronograph specifically for racing drivers. Drawing on the Bauhaus-like sensibilities he had acquired as an engineer, he determined its design should be clean, efficient and

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Car
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Lewis Hamilton’s Next Adventure Is an Electric Off-Road Racing Team

Lewis Hamilton is officially joining the club of successful Formula 1 racers turned team owners. However, unlike Bruce McLaren, Alain Prost, Jackie Stewart and other famous names that came before him; Hamilton’s chosen to put his millions not in F1, but in the newly-founded Extreme E.

The electric off-road racing series announced Tuesday morning the debut of the X44 racing team, founded and financed by none other than the six-time F1 world champion. According to the official announcement, the team is expected to make its debut in early 2021 along with other squads owned by the likes of United States’ Chip Ganassi Racing and Andretti Autosport, as well as others from Europe and Asia with previous Formula E experience, such as Abt and Techeetah.

Hamilton will not be involved in the day-to-day operations of X44 due to his commitments to F1 and various sponsors, but claims to look forward to

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Automotive
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Ferrari to drop appeal against Racing Point F1 brake ducts – F1

Ferrari has withdrawn its appeal against Racing Point’s Formula 1 brake duct copying case verdict, becoming the final team to drop its opposition to the penalty levied by the FIA.

Having originally submitted a notification to appeal the decision made against Racing Point’s brake ducts, Ferrari’s withdrawal from the appeals process means that the case will not go to the International Court of Appeal, and is effectively over.

The original verdict announced by the FIA stewards at Silverstone will stand.

Racing Point will retain the penalty of a €400,000 fine and 15 constructors’ World Championship points.

The team will also continue to be reprimanded by the stewards at every race where it uses the contentious brake ducts.

McLaren, Williams and Renault had already dropped the matter and, earlier on Sunday, Racing Point confirmed that it would also not continue with its appeal, which was intended to clear its name.

Ferrari

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Automotive
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Ask Tim: Why the FIA was right and wrong on Racing Point – F1

Racing Point claimed it received a set of 2019 Mercedes rear brake ducts as spares for its RP20 car for pre-season testing. How is it possible for the 2019 Mercedes brake ducts to be used on the RP20 car if the brake ducts Racing Point claimed to have designed itself for the 2020 car are not identical and a complete copy?

Justin Mayberry, via email

To answer the first part of that, the fixings where they attach to the uprights or suspension can be interchangeable with the Mercedes, as Racing Point has the Mercedes rear suspension components anyway given they’re non-listed components. So that’s how the RP20 could theoretically accommodate the rear brake ducts from last year’s Mercedes, as they become part of the suspension upright.

I understand that Racing Point was supplied with all the CAD drawings of the 2020 rear brake ducts, so it could adapt those to

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Automotive
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Ferrari will withdraw Racing Point appeal if F1 car copying rules change – F1

Ferrari has indicated that it will withdraw its appeal against the Racing Point copying case decision if the FIA produces definitive Formula 1 regulations against car copying for 2021.

Last month Racing Point was handed a 15-point penalty and a €200,000 fine for using a brake duct design copied from the 2019 Mercedes W11.

In addition race stewards have issued reprimands at all events where the Silverstone team uses the contentious ducts.

Ferrari was one of five teams to submit a notification of intention to appeal the original stewards’ decision.

McLaren, Williams and Renault all subsequently dropped out, leaving the Maranello outfit as the only rival to Racing Point still challenging the scale of the punishment.

On the other side of the case Racing Point also appealed in order to clear its name, and thus the matter is still scheduled to go to the Court of Appeal.

Subsequent to the

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Automotive
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Perez: Racing Point must take F1 podium chances when Red Bull fails – F1

Sergio Perez says Racing Point must grab podiums when Red Bull slips up if it is to earn third place in the Formula 1 constructors’ championship.

Racing Point currently sits in fourth place, two points behind McLaren and five clear of Ferrari following its 15-point deduction in the constructors’ standings, after Perez and team-mate Lance Stroll finished in the final two points places at last weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix.

While the Racing Point car has been the third fastest on the grid on several occasions, the team has sometimes underperformed in races and is yet to record a podium finish, while both McLaren’s Lando Norris and Ferrari Charles Leclerc have secured rostrum results this season.

Perez says the team has to “minimise the damage” at tracks that are less favourable to the RP20, and he expects to see an improvement in form at Monza.

“I think we should be better

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Automotive
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Auto racing roundup: Tennessee driver’s bid to repeat as IndyCar champ gains hope with win

MADISON, Ill. — Josef Newgarden raced to his second IndyCar victory of the season Sunday, holding off rookie Pato O’Ward before the event at World Wide Technology Raceway finished under caution — one week after Takuma Sato won the Indianapolis 500 in the same fashion.

In the second of two weekend races at the short oval just outside of St. Louis, it was Sato who brought out the caution with four laps remaining when he hit the wall. With no time for a restart, O’Ward was denied a chance to challenge the reigning series champion for the win.

Newgarden, in a Chevrolet for Team Penske, won for the 16th time in his career, and the Hendersonville, Tennessee, native closed the gap on championship race leader Scott Dixon — who won Saturday — in the season points standings.

Dixon has won four of IndyCar’s nine races so far this season.

Newgarden

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Automotive
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Renault pushing for Racing Point to lose all points for protested races – F1

Renault is calling for Racing Point to lose all points scored in races where its brake ducts were protested as the Formula 1 controversy prepares to go to court.

Racing Point was docked 15 constructors’ championship points and fined €400,000 after it was deemed to have breached the sporting regulations in the design of the rear brake ducts for its RP20 car.

But Racing Point is permitted to continue using the brake ducts for the remainder of the 2020 season, with the FIA deeming it cannot unlearn the designs it was judged to have copied from Mercedes.

The sanction is subject to three appeals that will be taken to the FIA’s International Court of Appeal, with both Renault and Ferrari bidding for a harsher penalty.

Renault team principal Cyril Abiteboul feels Racing Point should be excluded from the results of every race where its cars were protested for using the

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Automotive
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Browning brilliant in British F4 on a busy weekend of national racing – National

First it was Jamie Caroline. Then it was Zane Maloney. And now Luke Browning can add his name to the very short list of British Formula 4 drivers to have won all three races in a weekend.

Considering the partially reversed-grid middle race makes perfection so hard to achieve, it was a special performance. Both of the other two drivers to have completed the hat-trick went on to become champion and Browning’s has propelled him to the top of the standings.

Each of his three Oulton Park triumphs relied upon a different key skill and, if he continues to display these for the rest of the season, he will be very tough to beat.

Race one: a fast start. the Fortec man’s getaways are often good and that was the case in the opener. From second, he powered alongside polesitter James Hedley and grabbed the lead around the outside at

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Automotive
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FIA car copying clampdown has ‘zero impact’ on Racing Point team model – F1

The upcoming clampdown from the FIA on car copying in Formula 1 will have “zero impact” on Racing Point’s business model, according to Otmar Szafnauer.

The FIA has confirmed will be tweaking the regulations from 2021 to clamp down on car copying, preventing teams from reverse engineering other designs through photography.

It comes in the wake of the controversy surrounding Racing Point’s design approach for the RP20 car, which was based on the title-winning Mercedes W10 from 2019.

Racing Point was found to have illegally copied the rear brake duct design of the 2019 Mercedes, earning a 15-point deduction in addition to a €400k fine, but will fight the case in the FIA’s International Court of Appeal.

Both FIA head of single-seaters Nikolas Tombazis and secretary general for motorsport Peter Bayer have confirmed they will put an end to car copying by updating the regulations for next year.

But Racing

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Automotive