June 2011
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Latest news is at the bottom
Here is a  BBC documentary of the early 60's and 70's in
Formula One that brought on many deaths to drivers.

It is in 4 parts.
The DeltaWing Lives!
June 10 - The DeltaWing Lives, and the people behind the project
plan to take the revolutionary race car to the 24 Hours of Le Mans
in 2012

The wild-looking race-car concept--intended originally for the Izod
IndyCar Series--was first seen on Feb. 10, 2010, at the Chicago
auto show. It was created by a design consortium spearheaded by
team owner
Chip Ganassi and Ganassi Racing engineer Ben
Bowlby
.

While IndyCar ultimately elected to go with incumbent chassis
maker Dallara for its forthcoming next-generation car, American
Le Mans Series champion Highcroft Racing will partner with
Dan
Gurney's
All American Racers and DeltaWing Racing Cars LLC--
creating an all-American effort--to race the car at Le Mans next
year. American Le Mans Series founder
Don Panoz is listed as a
project adviser.

The effort is known as the Project 56 Group, because the ACO--
the Le Mans organizer--has agreed to give it a special Le Mans
entry invitation which will expand next year's full field from 55 cars
to 56. The 56th entry is reserved for “a technologically innovative
car to participate outside of the classifications.” In other words,
according to Project 56, “a vehicle showcasing new applications
and unique technologies previously unseen in the world's greatest
endurance race.”
Project 56 revealed that it is holding talks with potential engine
suppliers to provide a 1.6-liter turbocharged powerplant
producing about 300 hp. As noted previously, the car has a
slender nose with an extremely narrow front track that minimizes
the amount of horsepower needed to reach 200 mph. With its
conspicuous lack of traditional wings, the DeltaWing's contoured
underbody generates downforce solely beneath the car.
Construction of the new machine will begin in July at Gurney's
California facility. Highcroft will begin track testing it later this year.


“The secret to the DeltaWing car is simplicity and efficiency,”
commented Bowlby, a former chief designer at Lola Cars and the
brain behind various Champ Cars, Le Mans prototypes, touring
cars and other racing machines. “To achieve the dramatically
reduced carbon footprint, we have looked at ways to reduce
weight and drag, as well as the total number of components
required to build the car.

“Essentially, the car has a three-point layout with the narrow front
and wide rear track, as opposed to the rectangular layout of
contemporary racing cars. We have a delta-shaped car that
allows us to take a different route to achieving our performance
goals as well as enhancing driver protection.

“We need much less chassis torsional stiffness for handling
performance, so we don't need to use such stiff and brittle
materials in the chassis. We can use light, tough and energy-
absorbing materials instead.

“One of the attractions of Le Mans is the incredible variety of
vehicles in competition. With different fuel types, open and closed
cockpits, GT cars--there are lots of different solutions and they all
run together during the event."
Racing - The Sport For Kings
June 14 - Petra Ecclestone, the 22 y/o daughter of
British F1 tsar
Bernie Ecclestone, is buying the
most expensive house in America.  

The 57,000-square-foot Los Angeles mansion built by
the late TV producer
Aaron Spelling is selling for
$150 million.

Petra will be splitting her time between London and
Los Angeles after her planned August wedding to
entrepreneur
James Stunt.   She has a six-story
house in London's Chelsea neighborhood purchased
for $90.9 million.
The house was built in 1991 on 5 acres.  

It has 123 rooms,
parking for 100 cars,
a bowling alley,
a wine cellar and tasting room,
a library,
gym,
a dedicated gift-wrapping room,
a humidity-controlled facility for storing the family
silver.

The grounds are peppered with fountains, a
waterfall, a citrus orchard, tennis courts, two
swimming pools and a spa.

Yearly real estate tax is $350,000.
Dan Wheldon To Test New IndyCar
June 24 - Bryan Herta Autosport will be the official test team
for the 2012 IndyCar Series prototype chassis.

Why IndyCar chose a one-off team for this important task is
confusing, but I suppose it in some way makes up a little to
the reigning Indy 500 champion,
Dan Wheldon, to let him
stay apart of the IndyCar series, since he isn't racing.

Wheldon said, "For me to not be racing is obviously
something that I am disappointed about, but being able to do
the testing program will put me in a fantastic position for the
future and I am thankful to the IndyCar Series, Honda and
Firestone for the opportunity.”

On the plus side, both Wheldon and
Bryan Herta have
extensive time behind the wheel as IndyCar test drivers for
Honda in the past. Herta also was active in testing and
development for Acura’s sports car projects. Newey was
involved setting up the Firestone Test Team with Patrick
Racing for the tire manufacturer’s return to IndyCar racing in
1994.
This photo has nothing to do with the story.  It was weird and I wanted to
post it somewhere...  I believe that is Patrick Carpentier at Indy.
Marco Andretti Won Iowa IndyCar Race
June 25 - Marco Andretti won an exciting race at the 7/8th
mile oval in Iowa tonight where
Danica Patrick qualified next
to pole sitter
Takuma Sato.  

Dario Franchitti soon gained the lead as Patrick fell back
through the field.  Sato's teammate,
Tony Kanaan, started in
P3 and stayed up front, but said on the radio that he had
nothing for Franchitti.  But after one of the final a pit stops, all
that changed and he took the lead.

There was a bump on the track which helped send many
rookies into the wall.  Penske driver
Will Power also got
caught out there and crashed, however he already had some
car damage from an incident in the pits.  He sustained a
minor concussion.  He also lost the points lead to Franchitti.

Other than a lot of yellows, there was some exciting racing
and when Andretti and Kanaan got up in front of Franchitti,
the action really heated up with all three cars running close.

During the last 25 laps, Andretti and Kanaan raced hard,
swapping back and forth for the lead.  

Scott Dixon worked his way from the back of the grid to
finish third.  Rookie
JR Hildebrand finished fourth and
Franchitti took fifth and the IndyCar points lead.

Andretti's only other IndyCar win was back in 2006 at the
Sonoma road course.
RACE NEWS & VIEWS