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Posted
Oct 26 2009, 11:59 AM
by
John Brooks
with 8 comment(s)
Minutes, hours, days, months, seasons, years, decades, centuries...........all will pass eventually, so too for motor sport. It seems only yesterday that I was heading for Germany and the first round of a brave new Championship. Hockenheim was the location and April 1997 was the time. Well like me the FIA GT Championship has got a little older, if not wiser and yesterday, after 132 races and 13 seasons the affair ended. For next year it will be all change but for now let's have a quick look at...
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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
Oct 08 2009, 10:12 AM
by
Rod Chong
with 10 comment(s)
As I look back into some of my favourite bits of motorsports history, one name keeps cropping up over and over again: Klaus Ludwig. I'm not necessarily a big fan of the man himself, but I have an immense amount of respect for what he's achieved over the course of his long and varied career. Some race drivers fade away after a decade or so of active racing, but not Klaus Ludwig. He's made car racing a lifelong habit... and all the power to him for doing so! As I've put this gallery...
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Posted
Sep 10 2009, 01:00 PM
by
John Brooks
with 26 comment(s)
In his masterpiece, The Waste Land , TS Eliot asserted that "April is the cruellest month". Back in 1997 it must have seemed so to those of us anticipating the opening round of the FIA GT Championship to be staged at the HockenheimRing. For the teams there were days without end as they struggled to get their new cars ready for the contest, parts to be assembled, tested and refined and hopefully, made fast and reliable. April had been a cruel time at Hockenheim in Aprils past, 1968 saw the...
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Posted
Sep 09 2009, 11:21 AM
by
John Brooks
with 19 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
Aug 01 2009, 10:00 AM
by
Rod Chong
with 14 comment(s)
The fourth Driver's Experience film was originally going to be shot at the Nurburgring 24Hs with the NFS Speedhunters Porsche Carrera Cup car but due to some scheduling and production problems we had to very quickly find another driver, racing team and race series to work with. A phone call to the Speedhunter John Brooks netted the suggestion for us to work with Andrea Bertolini, Maserati, Vitaphone Racing and the FIA GT race series. We then had to pour all of our efforts into attaining permission...
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Posted
Jul 26 2009, 10:03 AM
by
John Brooks
with 6 comment(s)
In conditions that ranged from monsoon to the height of summer via cold spring mornings, the 2009 edition of the Spa 24 Hours followed the usual pattern of the event in trying to bring a year's worth of weather to 24 hours in the Ardennes. The race was expected to be a run in the park for Vitaphone Maserati who have proved to be the dominant force in the Spa Enduro during the past few years. The swansong parade of the MC12s was ruined by the Pekaracing Corvette Z06 of Mike Hezemans, Jos Menten...
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Posted
May 28 2009, 11:10 AM
by
Dino Dalle Carbonare
with 7 comment(s)
For the final installment from Adria I've prepared some of my favorite images from the night race. Within the first few laps from the rolling start the already low sun quickly set behind the horizon, and the circuit's illumination was flicked on. It didn't take long for the GT1 cars to pull away from the slightly slower GT2 class, leaving a second tightly packed group fighting fiercely for the lead. Here is the GT2 class doing their own thing... ...while Andrea was pulling away from everyone...
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Posted
May 27 2009, 02:30 AM
by
Dino Dalle Carbonare
with 6 comment(s)
As the sun began to set on race day at Adria the FIA GT cars started to line up on the grid. You could feel the tension in the air as the drivers were getting ready and the mechanics doing final checks on the cars. It would have been rude not to take a few snaps of the pit girls which were loving the attention from the cameras. Take a look at the BMW V10 powered Wiesmann GT MF5 safety car, sounded amazing out on track and looked very nice in the evening sun with its yellow on black motif. It's...
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Posted
May 26 2009, 06:00 AM
by
Dino Dalle Carbonare
with 5 comment(s)
On race day at the FIA GT in Adria it was the GT4 guys that got their racing on first, and what a battle we witnessed! GT4 is open to production cars, which have been prepared for competition. Performance is equalized by various measures (air restrictors and so on) to make sure that all the cars perform roughly the same. However, I couldn't help feel that the Ginetta was a tad more extreme, as it's hardly a proper production car. It was even running a straight cut gearbox, you could hear...
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Posted
May 25 2009, 08:21 PM
by
Dino Dalle Carbonare
with 21 comment(s)
I though it would be good to take a brake from all the drifting in Odaiba and head back to Italy to see some more action from the FIA GT week-end. As you may remember the idea of holding the race at Adria was to take advantage of the excellent illumination and to hold most of the action at night. For the start of the first practice session Rod and I headed to the top of the control tower where we got an amazing view down on to the whole track, in particular the final corner before the main straight...
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Posted
May 21 2009, 03:49 AM
by
Jonathan Moore
with 4 comment(s)
Something for the desktop of every fan of flames and Aston Martins: the overrun flame-out from the #04 Hexis Aston at the opening round of the 2009 FIA GT3 championship. Here's hoping its big brother, the Le Mans prototype, can get in amongst the diesels at this years 24 Hours. It's going to be some race this year! As usual you'll find both widescreen and standard formats in the desktops section. Jonathan Moore FIA GT Sillverstone Tourist Trophy Silverstone Coverage on Speedhunters
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Posted
May 19 2009, 06:00 PM
by
Dino Dalle Carbonare
with 10 comment(s)
Before I show you guys action from the night FIA GT race I thought I should concentrate on the GT3 class. For me at least, these groups of cars were by far the most interesting. I think it may have to do that they are more closely related to their road going counterparts, well for the most part! Seeing it's VAG month I definitely think the Audi R8's deserve special mention, one of the coolest looking cars out on track. Highlighting their already unique lines were a series of very sedate yet...
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Posted
May 18 2009, 02:58 AM
by
Rod Chong
with 26 comment(s)
It's hard to believe that Dino and I have been in Italy almost a week, and our journey is starting to wind down... As I type this blog post, I'm sitting in a hotel next to Monza circuit.... The bar man tells me that this chair I'm sitting on was occupied by a certain Michael Schumacher three years ago.... perhaps if I sit here long enough I'll absorb some of his greatness.... or not hahaha.... Anyway, let's have a look back through the past few days of Speedhunting in Italy.......
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Posted
May 17 2009, 03:16 PM
by
Dino Dalle Carbonare
with 10 comment(s)
The schedule over the last few days has been pretty demanding, and I'm glad I finally grabbed some time tonight to check over what I have shot at Adria. After our little visit to the circuit on day one to meet with the Vitaphone Maserati team, I was really looking forward to seeing some action. After all, what is the point of feasting your eyes on such exotic racing cars without seeing them blast past you. Sound is as important as the visual aspect of racing and there is plenty of it in FIA GT...
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Posted
May 14 2009, 07:30 PM
by
Dino Dalle Carbonare
with 11 comment(s)
Our Italian Speedhunting tour proceeded today with a slight move north into the Veneto region, more specifically Adria circuit, for the FIA GT race. After meeting up with the film crew at the Hotel it was a "quick" 2 hour Italian lunch to sample some local delicacies and then off to the track. The last time I came to Adria it was filled with drift cars but as you can see the scene was looking very different today. This is the first time I get so close to FIA GT cars, and it was a very intense...
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Posted
May 06 2009, 04:53 PM
by
Rod Chong
with 7 comment(s)
John Brooks 500mm camera lens is currently undergoing repair work, so he drafted in his partner-in-crime David Lister, to handle the manly shooting duties this weekend. This magical image was the result... Great shot David! Pick it up in the Desktops section.... :R
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Posted
May 06 2009, 08:15 AM
by
John Brooks
with 15 comment(s)
Last weekend the 2009 FIA GT Championship had its first round, on the Silverstone Grand Prix track. It was also the debut race for the Nissan GT-R, R35 model. On SpeedHunters we have written about this project which is in preparation for the 2010 FIA World GT1 Championship. The car has created considerable interest so we thought it appropriate to bring the loyal SpeedHunters' readers a gallery to see how the car looked in action. The first thing to keep in mind is that the car is running to 2010...
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Posted
May 05 2009, 03:45 AM
by
Jonathan Moore
with 11 comment(s)
FIA GT3 is the sportscar category that seemingly laughs in the face of the global recession. Since its launch in 2006, the grids have been packed and the racing has been frantic: not surprising with almost 40 cars on track for most rounds. Whereas the grid of ground-shaking monsters in the current GT1 category has withered (and died completely in North America) due to manufacturer pull-outs and spiralling costs, and GT2 grids have yo-yoed up and down, how's this for the list of manufacturers...
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Posted
May 04 2009, 09:43 AM
by
John Brooks
with 9 comment(s)
Round One to Karl Wendlinger and Ryan Sharp in the K plus K Motorsport Saleen S7. Starting from pole position and clearly having the legs on the opposition it was a deserved win for the new team. It was the second time that the pair will get their name engraved on the famous RAC Tourist Trophy, having won in the Jet Alliance Aston Martin DBR9 last year. The only time that their victory looked seriously threatened was when a full course caution mid race fell the wrong way for the Saleen and this put...
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