In its latest promotion for new customers, Honda is giving U.S. buyers a chance to win a ride with Mario Andretti in a two-seater IndyCar at the Grand Prix of Sonoma at Infineon Raceway. According to the Japanese automaker, the winner will ride in the IZOD IndyCar during the parade laps, and be on course for the start of the race.To create a bit of a buzz around the contest, Honda released this commercial with Mario Andreti. Sounds interesting, but it isn't. See why in the video after the jump.
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Designed by American artist Jeff Koons, it is based on the BMW M3 GT2 racer that took first place at this year's Nurburgring 24 Hours. It will compete with this unique and expressive livery at the famed 24 Hours of Le Man that runs from June 12 to 13.
The seller claims that the car, which is powered by a 3.5-liter V12 engine linked to a seven-speed gearbox, was used in the 1991 Formula One season by French driver Jean Alesi who had then just signed for Williams Ferrari.
After being replaced by the Tipo 643, this car was rebuilt and prepared for private sale by the Ferrari factory at the end of the same season. Now it could be yours for a 'mere' US$700,000 or about �565,000 at today's exchange rates. More details and pictures after the jump.
According to the seller's description, this 1971 car was actually a 1970 racer that was re-bodied as a '71. After a 2nd-place 1970 season, Penske must have thought they already had a good thing in the chassis.
For the 1971 season, the Javelin got wider fenders and a new spoiler in order to help dominate the track.
One of two only official MGB rally cars built in 1964, the specific example made its racing debut in the Spa-Sofia-Liege rally in August 1964. It then went on to race another five times as a works entry, at the Tulip Rally, The Acropolis Rally, Geneva Rally, the Castrol Danube Rally and the RAC Rally, all in 1965.
Stuttgart-based Porsche finally debuted its much-hyped GT3 R Hybrid (more details here) on the track, but the car gave out 22 hours and 15 minutes into the race. Just because the end result was a DNF does not mean that it didn't put up one hell of a show, holding the lead for eight hours.
Porsche factory driver Joerg Bergmeister says he "heard a loud noise at the rear of the car and suddenly the power went."
This will be the first time in the history of the 24-hour race at the N�rburgring that an Audi will start from pole position.
Three-time Le Mans winner Marco Werner finished first in an Audi R8 LMS run by ABT Sportsline. Werner broke the existing lap record for the current N�rburgring circuit layout by almost two seconds with a lap time of 8 minutes and 24.753 seconds.
As you can for yourselves in the video after the jump, the Auckland rally driver lost control of his Mitsubishi Lancer EVO racer when an unknown individual flashed his crack (33 seconds into the video) ahead of a tight corner causing him to crash and rollover the car.
The "Black Current" bug is powered by a pair of forklift truck motors with 60 12 volt batteries and a Gearvendor over/under drive unit. This set-up is said to produce around 1200lb/ft of torque offering the Beetle EV a 0-60mph time of around 3 seconds.
To celebrate, the company photographed one of the rare 158s which competed in this historic race alongside the latest Alfa to bear the motorsport inspired Cloverleaf badge, the MiTo QV sport hatch.
That's good enough to propel the standard production car from zero to 100km/h (62mph) in 6,8 seconds and on to a top speed of 242 km/h or 151 mph.
According to Darren, "Forty-two drivers...from Asia-Pacific countries such as Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand and New Zealand took part." Some even used smoke screens to mess with the competition's heads.
When perusing the gallery below, keep an eye out for this year's champion, the FX Formula Bridgestone Tandem Assassin Nissan 200SX driven by Tengku Djan Ley.
Built to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Brock Racing Enterprises' (BRE) win at the SCCA National Championship at Road Atlanta with a 240Z in 1970, the specially modified Nismo 370Z racer features the classic vintage red, white, and blue BRE paint scheme.
Remember the Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid that was revealed at the Geneva Motor Show this past March? Well, Porsche has released a new video of its hybrid racer with which it will compete at the N�rburgring 24 hour race on 15/16 May.Williams Formula 1 pilot Nico H�lkenberg tested the orange and white liveried 911 GT3 R Hybrid on the Nordschleife in the lead up to the third round of the VLN Long Distance Championship. Check out the video after the jump.
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As Zagato pointed out, the car is not a design exercise but a one off racing special that was commissioned by German collector Martin Kapp who owns, among other Alfa Romeos, an SZ coda tonda and SZ coda tronca, TZ, and TZ2, Junior Z and S.Z.
Inspired by its 1960s predecessors, the original Alfa TZ and TZ2, the TZ3 Corsa is based on a mono shell carbon fibre tubular chassis, coupled with a tubular frame and a lightweight aluminum body.
Together, the five racing aces have started 343 Formula 1 Grand Prix and won the Dakar Rally, two World Rally Championship titles, the Sportscar World Championship, the German DTM championship, the British Touring Car Championship and the Le Mans 24-hour race a total of 11 times.
