April 11, 2012

(Chrysler)

Editor-in-Chief's Note: Scott Atherton could barely contain himself before the Viper media unveiling at the New York Auto Show because he knew that SRT was also going to announce that the Viper would be returning to American Le Mans competition in the GT classification. That's a very good thing for the sport of road racing in the U.S. and it's a very good thing for the ALMS. Does it solve the overarching issue of dueling road racing series in this country? No. Not by a long shot. I would love to see the ALMS just go rogue and put on a premier all-GT series but it's never going to happen. In the meantime all the Viper racing enthusiasts have every right to be jacked. And if the ALMS GT class gets even more cutthroat competitive - if that's possible - then that is fantastic. We'll take the little victories in the sport of road racing in this country whenever and wherever we can get them. - PMD

Editor-in-Chief's Note: Norton Commando Transformer? Watch this. - PMD

(Highcroft Racing)
European testing kicks off next week for the revolutionary Nissan DeltaWing, and a new online film series highlighting the development of the innovative Le Mans 24 Hours entry has begun. Commissioned by Nissan and hosted at the Nissan in Europe YouTube page, the multi-part series will highlight different aspects of the car’s development and show the challenges of getting such a leading-edge project to its current stage and the huge task the team faces to compete at the Le Mans 24 hours. A Nissan film crew has followed the development of the unique racer, filming every move of Nissan DeltaWing designer Ben Bowlby and his engineering team as they have built the car, as well as documenting how Nissan’s 1.6-litre DIG-T engine has been developed for the project.
 
When the car races at Le Mans it will be thanks to a number of key partners in the project. In addition to Nissan and Bowlby, project managing partner Don Panoz has been key to the car’s development, Dan Gurney and his All-American Racers organization built the prototype car in California and Duncan Dayton’s Highcroft Racing outfit and Michelin have also been heavily involved. The first video in the series highlights the wind tunnel work on the car, carried out at the Windshear facility in Charlotte, North Carolina.
 
Ben Bowlby said: “We’ve had the Nissan film crew following our every move throughout the development of the car over the past few months and this will give the fans a great insight into the creation of the Nissan DeltaWing. At first it was a bit strange to be filmed 'reality TV' style as we worked to create the car, but after a while the camera crew were just part of the team."
 
To watch the series of films, visit http://www.youtube.com/user/nissanineurope

(Dennis Ashlock)
Bobby Rahal, Brian Redman, Sandy Hall, Jim Hall, Roger Penske, Gil de Ferran and Johnny Rutherford pose for a photo at the Road Racing Drivers Club tribute to Jim Hall on Thursday evening, April 12th. Hall, internationally renowned as an ingenious designer, engineer, championship racer and innovator in the sport of auto racing - and one of America's true racing icons, was honored by close to 350 of his peers and racing elite at the RRDC Evening with Jim Hall presented by Firestone. This was the fourth annual Road Racing Drivers Club West Coast banquet, held prior to the running of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. The dinner was also supported by Chevrolet and Honda.

Hall, whose accomplishments ranged from the 1960s, with the remarkable series of Chaparral race cars he built, to the 1970s, ‘80s and ‘90s as an IndyCar team owner, was interrogated in the style of the Late Show with David Letterman by RRDC president Bobby Rahal. Rahal coaxed many an interesting story from the usually reserved Hall, who retired from racing in 1996. From his initial encounter with Chevrolet engineers and executives who partnered with him to help create such advanced race cars as the “vacuum cleaner” Chaparral 2J, to his experiences as a team owner and co-driver with racing champions Roger Penske, Johnny Rutherford, Brian Redman and Gil de Ferran, Hall entertained the crowd with accounts never before chronicled.

Rutherford, Penske, Redman and de Ferran related their own tales of their history with Hall, while Mark Kent, Director of Chevrolet Racing, presented him with a plaque recognizing his “tremendous contribution to auto racing.”

“It was a magical evening,” said Rahal. “Jim Hall is an icon in this sport, and it was a pleasure to sit down with him and listen to the recollections of an extraordinary visionary from such in important era in our sport.”

“It’s fabulous to be honored by your peers,” said Hall, with wife Sandy at his side. “And that’s really what it is here tonight. There are so many of the real racers here and I’m honored to be with them, and It’s terrific to follow the three guys who were previously recognized by the RRDC (Dan Gurney, Parnelli Jones and Roger Penske – all in attendance). And to see so many of the other people in the sport who were willing to come here and support this event just makes you really proud. I’m excited about it.”

Past Indy 500 winners were present, including the aforementioned Rahal, Jones and Rutherford, along with Rick Mears, Dario Franchitti and Danny Sullivan, accounting for 13 Indy 500 victories among them.

Other contributors to the evening included Bernardus Vineyards and Winery, and Adobe Road Small Lot Handcrafted Wines. In assembling photos from Hall’s career, the RRDC has received invaluable assistance from David Friedman, Road & Track, LAT, Michael Keyser and Peter Biro. Steve Earle provided vintage video and motorsports artist Randy Owens donated art for the silent auction.

The dinner's proceeds will help support the RRDC’s young driver initiatives, including its groundbreaking www.SAFEisFAST.com program and the Team USA Scholarship, which the RRDC has backed since 1997. (AE thanks Judy Stropus for the account from the evening.)

Editor-in-Chief's Note: Check out Michelin's racing website - "Michelin Alley" - and get in on all of the behind-the-scenes buzz. Go here. - PMD

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