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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Day One in the run up to the 2009 Le Mans 24 Hours...............stars of the show for Monday were Audi with their trio of diesel powered R15 prototypes and making the last appearance in their stellar career, Corvette with a brace of C6.R s. The "Verifications Administratives et Techniques 24 Heures du Mans" is perhaps a unique occasion in