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Posted
Oct 14 2010, 09:10 PM
by
John Brooks
with 33 comment(s)
Looking through the archive on a hunt for Bob Wollek images. I came across this piece of history from 1998, the road going version of the Mercedes Benz CLK GTR, round the Place des Jacobins at Le Mans. Not only that but I am getting the thumbs up sign from all round good guy and, if there is any justice in the world, 2010 Formula One Champion. It is Mark Webber, who would not know me from a bar of soap these days but back then he was about the only friendly face at AMG Mercedes. Him and Klaus Ludwig...
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Posted
Jun 04 2010, 09:15 AM
by
John Brooks
with 5 comment(s)
20 years ago Jaguar were about to win Les Vingt Quatre Heures du Mans, one lap to go. The faithful came tumbling over the fences, across the wire, down to the Armco, anticipating their heroes' arrival on to the pit straight. #3 never did cross the line as the hordes engulfed the XJR12 of the mighty John Nielsen, never mind, the victory went down in the record books, Jaguar's seventh. The pandemonium offended the French so much that laws were passed promising grave sanctions against facteurs...
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Posted
Apr 28 2010, 07:30 PM
by
John Brooks
with 21 comment(s)
When contemplating our lives, personally and professionally, there are areas that all of us prefer not to dwell on. Failures, accidents, disasters are generally airbrushed out of our memories and our CVs, the past is held to be a happy place Corporate bodies are no different, being essentially an extension of human activity, so it should come as little surprise that a car as successful as the AMG Mercedes Benz CLK GTR and its successors is, for the most part, ignored by its parent. There is virtually...
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Posted
Apr 17 2010, 09:47 AM
by
John Brooks
with 17 comment(s)
Every now and then a car makes an appearance and you just go WOW! You know it has attitude, class, speed and just a whiff of danger. Back in late 1997 Toyota unveiled their latest weapon in the continuing quest to take overall victory in Les Vingt Quatre Heures du Mans and the motorsport world took a step back in amazement. Now on the eve of the opening round of the new GT1 World Championship, it is a very SpeedHunters move to look back at the most extreme GT1 car of them all. After the dark days...
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Posted
Dec 27 2009, 02:15 PM
by
John Brooks
with 14 comment(s)
So 1995 saw a top ten finish at Le Mans for the NISMO run Nissan Skyline GT-R LM, how would it fare twelve months down the line? At first glance the car was largely unchanged, only the most observant would see the new rear wing, struts and endplates. However under the skin there were many developments. The engine was now 2800cc as the stroke had been increased on the RB26DETT to give even more power. The Garrett twin turbo arrangement set at around 1.4 bar now gave a quoted figure of over 600bhp...
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Posted
Dec 24 2009, 06:15 PM
by
John Brooks
with 21 comment(s)
After the demise of Group C and IMSA GTP in 1992 it was clear to all that endurance racing would have to go back to its road car roots. And so it proved, in 1994 Stephane Ratel, Jurgen Barth and Patrick Peter formed an alliance and created the BPR Series. They ran a number of of races that were for racing versions of street legal sportscars, mainly Porsches but also Ferraris, Venturis and even a Callaway Corvette. By the time that the 4 Hours of Spa rolled round that year there was a reasonable field...
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Posted
Dec 20 2009, 02:12 PM
by
John Brooks
with 14 comment(s)
In 2009 Le Mans Series the prototype numbers held up well, from a high of 32 at Spa to a still respectable 22 at the Algarve. The same could not be said for GT1 which only had two season long entries with a straggler or two joining in along the way. It was a class that should have been culled from the first event. However the new rules for the GT1 World Championship would appear to have breathed life into this category. For Maserati, Ford and Nissan to gain the desired, prized invites to Le Mans...
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Posted
Dec 18 2009, 09:34 PM
by
John Brooks
with 5 comment(s)
2008 had been a great year in the world of endurance and GT racing, factory participation was everywhere, competition was fierce and grid numbers were good. In the back ground however, was the global financial turmoil that was bringing the entire economy of the world to a standstill, particularly in the automotive segment. Programmes that had seemed solid suddenly disappeared as budgets were annihilated and marketing took a back seat to fighting for survival. In Formula One Honda bailed out, subsequently...
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Posted
Dec 02 2009, 07:19 PM
by
John Brooks
with 15 comment(s)
A new year brought fresh inspiration to the Nissan and TWR R390 project. The disaster of the 1997 Le Mans race was analysed and the car underwent a transformation. The R390 grew by 13 centimetres, the rear wing was repositioned and the aerodynamics were altered to improve airflow over the rear. Most importantly the transmission was changed. The X-Trac casing was retained but all the intenals were now from Nissan themselves. The brakes were also new including an ABS system. There were three 98 spec...
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Posted
Dec 02 2009, 02:56 AM
by
John Brooks
with 6 comment(s)
Fastest in the PreQualifyiing Weekend, the mood in the TWR Nissan camp would have been quietly confident. Or it should have been, those of us on the outside would have heard that there had been a successful three day test at Magny Cours, all was plain sailing. The more observant, not me I hasten to add, would have questioned why the exhaust system had been re-routed from back to side, not something lightly undertaken. The answer lay with annual dust up between the ACO and TWR over interpretation...
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Posted
Dec 01 2009, 07:00 AM
by
John Brooks
with 15 comment(s)
The announcement that Nissan will, all other things being equal, return to the Le Mans 24 Hours next year with the GT1 GTR prompted me to have a look back at the last time Nissan competed in the GT1 class. Way back to 1997 and 1998 with the amazing Nissan R390. After the demise of Group C and IMSA GTP there was a plan to make the GT category more in tune with road cars, so the Japanese manufacturers responded by building GT versions of the Skyline GT-R, NSX and of course the Supra. In fact we looked...
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Posted
Oct 09 2009, 03:30 PM
by
Rod Chong
with 3 comment(s)
Ok, let's pick up the story of Klaus Ludwig and see what he's been up to from 1984 until present. At the end of Part1 , his fortunes were starting to flat line just a little bit. Klaus had chosen to race for Zakspeed Ford racing team instead of Porsche a few years previously, and it was becoming apparent that this perhaps was not the best long term decision for a 1980s sports car driver. As the Group C and IMSA GTP eras entered their third year in '84, Porsche was the sports car to have...
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Posted
Sep 11 2009, 11:38 PM
by
Rod Chong
with 12 comment(s)
Around the office at EA, the Speedhunters audience is always referred to as "the hardcore" ... That is, you guys are so much more than casual automotive fans; you eat, sleep and breath this stuff... But among automotive enthusiasts there are the hardcore and then there are the REAL hardcore . People whose automotive knowledge reaches encyclopedic depths in whatever area they've chosen to specialize in. One genre of these car culture extremists are people who specialize in the cataloging...
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Posted
Sep 09 2009, 11:21 AM
by
John Brooks
with 22 comment(s)
It happens only rarely but when it does you know, just know, with absolute certainty that a car is right when you first look at it. One such instance was back at the beginning of 1997 when the McLaren F1 GTR "Longtail" appeared. The original McLaren F1 GTR was a thing of beauty and as such normally should have been left alone and not "improved", at least that would be conventional wisdom. However the dictates of competition meant that 'something must be done' so remarkably...
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Posted
Sep 04 2009, 01:00 PM
by
John Brooks
with 10 comment(s)
There are times when the features that I write for SpeedHunters develop a life of their own. In this case what started out as a quick look at the BMW V12 LMR's victory at Le Mans back in 1999 has turned into something a little bigger than that. The events from that week in June 1999 still echo around racing today in physical and commercial terms and looking back has brought me face to face with those issues. One thing that is certain, it is doubtful that we will ever see the 1999 scale of manufacturer...
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Posted
Sep 02 2009, 12:36 PM
by
John Brooks
with 14 comment(s)
Party like it's 1999 !!! OK the year was given some special significance in some areas and by most folks as it marked the end of a century, whether the sense of fin de siecle was real or induced mattered not, change was going to come. I mean, "Things can only get better" so the politicians' siren song went. The Le Mans 24 Hours was subject to the same forces that assaulted us all that year, a physical manifestation of this was the presence of brand new pits, paddock and administration...
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Posted
Sep 01 2009, 01:26 PM
by
John Brooks
with 12 comment(s)
It is received wisdom amongst the cognoscenti who infest the La Sarthe department of France each June that it takes three attempts for a manufacturer to win the big race, Les Vingt Quatre Heures du Mans. Ask Peugeot who will tell you through gritted teeth of the blood, toil, sweat and tears expended in pursuit of victory, that was finally achieved earlier this year. It is not enough to be fastest around the track, you have be strongest as well. Ask Nissan or Toyota, who despite being the favourites...
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Posted
Jun 18 2009, 06:50 PM
by
John Brooks
with 11 comment(s)
Ok let's jump straight in and look at the dramas from further down the field at the 2009 Le Mans 24 Hours. Behind the diesel class, here was another prototype race going on, that of those powered by petrol. Although a factory effort in name, the Lola Aston Martin team is closer in resource terms to the best of the privateers. A titanic battle ensued between the two quick AMR cars, the ORECA's, the Pescarolo and the Speedy Lola. This was resolved in the 007 Lola Aston's favour which had...
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Posted
Jun 18 2009, 07:00 AM
by
John Brooks
with 26 comment(s)
When two tribes go to war, one is all you can score.............................. Well they finally did it, Peugeot won the Big One. The 2009 24 Heures du Mans. The Lion has roared. The number 9 Peugeot 908 Hdi-FAP driven by Alexander Wurz, Marc Gene and David Brabham covered 382 laps of the 13.629 kilometre circuit, 5206 kliks in total or 3,235 miles. The average speed was a tad under 135 miles per hour, a sobering thought. The winners were one lap up on their team mates Stephane Sarrazin, Franck...
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Posted
Jun 12 2009, 10:25 AM
by
John Brooks
with 14 comment(s)
Anniversaries are tricky things, looking back tends to fade the negative and accentuate the positive. Nostalgia for a safe past rather than the uncertain present or unknown future. But the years do rattle past quickly so some form of marker post is necessary if only to give focus to the things to come. Back in 1984 I never imagined that I would be still be following the circus some 25 years later. Although in my twenties I still had no clue as to what the future would bring, I was between careers...
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