Saturday, November 24, 2007

Nissan GTR vs Dodge viper

Dodge viper competition coupe.
Dodge viper

Type: V10
Top speed: 309km/h
0 to 60 mp/h: 3.7 sec
bhp: 520
Dodge viper



Nissan GTR
Nissan GTR

Type: Twin turbo v6
Top speed: 340Km/h
0 to 60 mp/h: 3.7~(sec)
bhp: 473
Nissan GTR

Edwards explains Schumacher speed

 Schumacher speed

How did Michael Schumacher lap just five seconds slower than the MotoGP lap record?

Colin Edwards has explained how he believes it was possible for former seven-times F1world champion Michael Schumacherto ride a MotoGPbike just five seconds off the Valencia lap record.

Schumacher set his stunning time during the press and guest day immediately after the season-ending grand prix - and despite only limited sportbike experience. The test was also the German legend's first on an 800cc Ducatiand just his second ever MotoGP ride.

Suzuki couldn't wait for 2008

Suzuki

There's still over one month of 2007 remaining, but development of the new 2008 Suzuki is already well advanced.

By Peter McLaren

The 2007 MotoGPseason was still underway when Suzuki gave a prototype version of the 2008 GSV-R its race debut, at the hands of test rider Nobuatsu Aoki in last month's Malaysian Grand Prix- and by the time the team returned to Sepang for testing last week the '08 was already around half a second quicker than this year's model.

"We started the test on the '07 and then took the settings from that over to the '08 and it worked really well," Chris Vermeulen told Crash.net at Sepang. "Loris [Capirossi] said the same. We have a new chassis that makes the bike easier to turn at various lean angles - something both John [Hopkins] and I had asked for. We will get the full version of the new engine later. Aoki has been testing it and is not quite happy with it yet. We're really lucky to have someone of Nobu's experience; it really speeds up the whole development process."

Renault tell Alonso: 3 years or no deal.

Alonso

Is expected deal about to fall flat after persistent stalling over length of contract..?
Fernando Alonso's much-vaunted return to Renaultfor the 2008 Formula 1season could have hit yet another hitch over the length of his contract, with reports suggesting the team will settle for nothing less than three years.

Reports from both Alonso's homeland of Spain, and Renault F1boss Flavio Briatore's native country of Italy, are adamant what was believed to be as good as a done deal is anything but. Daily Spanish sports newspaper Marca claims although Briatore is happy to accept the double world champion's demands for a one-year agreement, the Régie's president Carlos Ghosn is insisting on three years – take it or leave it.

Alonso is keen on signing for one year only, as he has his eye on a subsequent move to Ferrarialongside Kimi Raikkonenin 2009, with some Italian sources convinced that is already a certainty. Wire service Agenzia Giornalistica Italia, however, quotes Ghosn as saying: “It's three years or nothing.”

Switzerland again, but this time with feeling

A1GP


Neel Jani surges to a dominant feature race pole position at Sepang with an immense final effort.

Having eased to pole position for the sprint event, Neel Jani did it again when deciding grid positions for the A1 Grand Prixfeature race at Sepang, yet this time he did it with a gap of almost a second over his rivals.

His fourth pole position around the Malaysian circuit in four attempts, this one will probably go down as one of the finest qualifying efforts seen in A1 GP yet as Jani flexed his inspiration around Sepang's twists and turns.

Indeed, Jani was never topped throughout the day, going fastest in the first of the two mini-sessions to decide the grid positions for the feature race. Even then, that lap was good enough to cement another pole position for Switzerland, as their rivals got near but not close enough to overhauling them

Prodrive admit F1 dream has hit skids

Prodrive

World's leading private motorsport concern acknowledges aim to break into the top flight next year now little more than a pipe dream.
Following months of speculation, Prodrive has finally conceded its ambition to enter Formula 1in 2008 has failed to get off the starting grid, confirming there will remain just eleven teams in the sport next year.

According to Canadian sports website TSN, the Banbury-based outfit's chairman David Richards admitted to German publication Auto Motor und Sport that Prodrive's plans to break into the top flight as F1's twelfth team have been put indefinitely on hold, until a new Concorde Agreement is finalised and agreed upon. The current agreement is due to expire on 31 December, 2007.

“We asked the FIAto be able to start midway through the season,” Richards is quoted as having told the magazine, “and our request was rejected, so for 2008 there is not a realistic chance of there being a Prodrive F1team.”

Prodrive – already heavily involved in world rallying, touring cars and sportscars for more than two decades – was picked from almost two dozen applications to be F1's twelfth team back in April this year, with Richards making no secret of the fact he intended to take advantage of new rules allowing the use of customer cars, to avoid having to build everything from scratch. A new £200 million, 200-acre motorsportcomplex nicknamed ‘The Fulcrum' has been planned for the outfit's second base near Warwick.

Prodrive was expected to tie up a chassis and engine deal with McLarenuntil several teams – most prominently Williams and Spyker(now Force India) – challenged the eligibility of customer cars under the present Concorde Agreement, constraining Richards to put any further progression on hold until a new ruling is made.

“Our ambition is still to be in F1,” he asserted. “There was the risk of legal procedures because we wanted to use a customer car. As a result, our entire business plan was put into doubt, so we have chosen to re-group instead of simply race ahead blindly.

“We must wait for the new Concorde – only then can we fully assess our options.”

Leaked info to spell end of Renault in F1?

Renault

Third team implicated in F1's 2007 spy row saga rocked by latest revelations ahead of FIA hearing.

Renault's Formula 1 team has been dealt a hammer blow in the latest revelation in the sport's ongoing spy row, with leaked legal documents painting a bleak picture for the French squad ahead of its pivotal World Motor Sport Council hearing early next month - the outcome of which is likely to determine its future in the top flight.

Renault was first named as being implicated in the espionage saga a fortnight ago. It will consequently appear before the FIA in Monaco on 6 December to answer a charge of being in unauthorised possession of documents and confidential information belonging to McLaren. It is a similar offence to that of which McLaren was found guilty during the summer, when the Woking concern was proved to have illegally received 780 pages of secret Ferrari data – and for which the team received a $100 million fine, disqualification from the 2007 constructors' world championship and a high degree of scrutiny over its 2008 model.

According to British daily newspaper The Times, the latest assertions – allegedly leaked to PA Sport from McLaren's submission to the world council in a bid to ramp up the pressure on Renault – imply the Enstone-based outfit benefited significantly from the aforementioned data, which includes, the FIA has confirmed, the layout and critical dimensions of McLaren's F1 car, fuelling system, gear assembly, oil cooling system, hydraulic control system and a novel suspension component used by the 2006 and 2007 machines.

“It is clear that McLaren's confidential design information was knowingly, deliberately and widely disseminated and discussed within the Renault F1 design and engineering team,” read a statement from McLaren's solicitors, Baker McKenzie, “thereby providing them with a clear benefit and unfair