Coultard being a `tard at Monaco 2007

Monaco, by far the most chi-chi race in the world, but without a doubt the one I want to see most. I'm a fan of the Red Bull team, especially my Boy Speed (congrats on 9th!!!), but man David just about pulled a Schumacher this year in second round Qualifying on Renault. Now he claims that is was an honest mistake and that his team was telling him Kovalainen wasn't on his hot lap, but still, this is down right wrong.

[Watch Video Coultard in Q2]
[Discuss in the Racing Forum]

First time in 31 years, a modern F1 race car takes on the Nurburgring Nordschleife

Here are the raw un-edited press videos from Nick Heidfeld's attack of the Nurburgring Nordschleife. It's been 31 years since a modern F1 car hit the full ring. Note: At first the time of 8:34 appears slow, only 1 second faster than e36 M3, so I have to wonder if Nick did a full uninterrupted lap. The in-cockpit video is the fastest I've ever seen the ring fly by so I can only imagine there is a reason the BMW Sauber F1 car was two minutes off the track record.... surely this was the best opportunity to set a new record.

From the Press Kit

BMW SAUBER F1 TEAM - NURBURGRING NORDSCHLEIFE
04/30/2007

"I'll never forget today as long as I live"

Munich/Nürburgring, 28 April 2007. BMW has written another chapter in motor sport history on the legendary Nordschleife at the Nürburgring. Today, Saturday, a modern Formula 1 vehicle was driven round the 20.8 kilometre race track for the first time in 31 years in front of a crowd numbering 45,000 BMW Sauber F1 Team driver Nick Heidfeld was extremely enthusiastic after three laps in the F1.06: "This drive was simply incredible. I thought it would be great to drive on the Nordschleife before I started out. But it was even better than I had expected. This racing track is the best in the world. I'd really like to have emptied the tank. It was a very special moment when I left the grand prix circuit in the direction of the Nordschleife. I was really shaken up at the Bergwerk section and on the Döttinger Höhe. I'll never forget today as long as I live. Another particularly special experience has now joined the many fantastic childhood memories and racing successes."

BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen said: "We wanted to give fans a special treat. And I believe we have done this with the entire BMW motor sport programme. The BMW M3 GTR that Olaf Manthey presented today was welcomed like an old friend. The car is actually much too athletic for the museum. Naturally, the high point was Nick's drive with the F1.06. We had implored him to be careful. The day was a homage to the fans and to this unique circuit in the world of racing. For once, the lap times were a secondary consideration."

Despite unusually hard demonstration tyres and short transmission ratio, Heidfeld notched up a top speed of 275 km/h on the long straight called the "Döttinger Höhe". The second lap was his fastest lap and took 8:34 minutes. A camera car took shots of the 29-year-old on some sections of all three laps and Heidfeld slowed down for the photo calls.

The F1.06 was adjusted for maximum ground clearance to drive on this uneven traditional circuit - four centimetres at the front axle, eight centimetres at the rear axle. No other modifications were carried out on the vehicle. One special measure was necessary for wireless communication. Team Manager Beat Zehnder travelled with the camera helicopter in order to secure the radio link over the entire distance instead of sitting on the pit wall as usual.

As far as BMW is concerned, the Nürburgring is rather like a second home, not simply because of numerous past successes - including 18 overall victories at 24 hour races and a one-two Formula 1 win. BMW Motorsport is also the partner for the VLN endurance championship at the Nürburgring, with one of the races being held today (Saturday). BMW Driver Training, BMW Ring Taxis, the BMW Performance Centre and a permanent racing-car exhibition in the "Erlebniswelt" leisure park are fixed institutions at the Eifel circuit.

In addition to the BMW Sauber F1 Team with Heidfeld and test driver Sebastian Vettel and the BMW M3 GTR, the BMW works drivers from the World Touring Car Championship (FIA WTCC) guaranteed lots of exciting action , as well as talking to fans and signing autograph books. Two-times world champion Andy Priaulx (GBR) and Jörg Müller (DEU) also played taxi driver on the Nordschleife, as did Augusto Farfus (BRA). The BMW motor-sport fleet was out in force on the legendary circuit. There was Formula 1 and the BMW M3 GTR, the BMW 320si WTCC to the BMW Z4 M Coupé. Even the smallest of all BMW racing cars put in an appearance: In the morning, Heidfeld took the inspection lap in the Formula BMW packing 140 hp.

[Watch Videos]

Blast from the past, the 1961 French Grand Prix of Rheims

How far we have come! After seeing the Malaysia Grand Prix last weekend this video really takes you back to a simpler time when teams would drive their Grand Prix cars into town, crews would drink and smoke around the pit lane, and fans would sit ten feet off the track. What really makes this a great video for me, was getting to meet Dan Gurney in LA recently. He is still just as passionate about the sport as when he was a driver. Great video, really enjoyed this one!

[The 1961 Rheims Grand Prix]

StreetFire talks to the Chairman of Eibach Springs

Last year we met the folks at Eibach Springs at NOPI, and formed a great partnership when they decided to help our little community grow by becoming one of our sponsors. This gave us a chance to see behind the curtain, visit their factory in Corona California, and meet some of the people that help shape this company. One such person we met was Wilfried Eibach, Chairman of Eibach springs and son of the founder of the company. Wilfrief told us a bit of the history of the company and how today his family extends to everyone that works for Eibach Springs.

[Watch Video interview with the Chairman of Eibach Springs]
[Direct Download High Quality Version on iTunes]

Today Eibach Springs is celebrating an incredible 2006 Motorsport Season, and an anniversary as well. Just to give you an idea of their commitment to our Sport, here is a list of their 2006 Motorsport achievements.

2006 Team winners using Eibach Springs

Formula 1
Nearly 100% of all the teams that use coil springs—use only Eibach! (Including the Champion)

World Rally Championship
1st Manufacturer Championship, Ford – M-Sport.

NASCAR
Nextel Cup
1st Jimmie Johnson # 48 Hendrick Motorsports
2nd Matt Kenseth #17, Roush Racing
3rd Denny Hamlin #18, Joe Gibbs Racing

Busch Series
1st Kevin Harvick #21, Richard Childress Racing
2nd Carl Edwards #60, Roush Racing
3rd Clint Bowyer #2, Richard Childress Racing

ARCA ReMax Series
1st Frank Kimmel #46, Tri-State Motorsports

USAR Hooters Pro Cup
1st Clay Rogers #44
2nd Shelby Howard #20
3rd Woody Howard #55

USAC
National Midgets
1st Jerry Coons Jr, Greg Wilke Racing
2nd Josh Wise, Tony Stewart Racing

National Sprints
1st Josh Wise, Tony Stewart Racing
2nd Levi Jones, Tony Stewart Racing

Western Sprints
1st Tony Hunt, Alan Kaiser Racing

Champ Car World Series
1st Sebastien Bourdais, Newman Haas Racing.
2nd Justin Wilson, RuSPORT
3rd A.J. Allmendinger, Forsythe Championship Racing

Indy Racing League
1st Sam Hornish Jr., Team Penske Racing
2nd Dan Weldon, Chip Ganassi Racing
3rd Helio Castroneves, Team Penske Racing

Grand American - Rolex Series GT
1st Andy Lally and Marc Bunting, The Racers Group

SCCA Speed World Challenge - Touring Car
1st Pierre Kleinubing, RealTime Racing
3rd Peter Cunningham, RealTime Racing

NHRA Drag Racing
Pro Stock
1st Jason Line, KB Racing
1st Greg Anderson, KB Racing Pontiac

FIA GT1 Manufacturers Cup
1st Aston Martin

British GT Series
1st Tim Mullen, SCUDERIA ECOSSE

SCSA
1St Olie Payne, Team West-Tec

British Pickup Racing Series
1St Nic Grindrod, Vitac Transmission

Recaro Formula-3 Cup
1st Ho-Pin Tung, JB Motorsport

Seat Leon Supercopa
1st Florian Gruber, Team LogiPlus powered by Konrad Motorsport
2nd René Rast, GAG Racing Team
3rd Fredy Barth, Fischer Racing

Ford Fiesta ST Cup
1st Carsten Seifert, Racing Team East

ADAC Rallye Masters
1st Hermann Gassner/´Siggi Schrankl, Gassner Motorsport

Deutsche Rallye Series Group N
1st Hermann Gassner/Karin Thannhäuser, Gassner Motorsport

HJS Diesel Rallye Masters
1st Markus Moufang/Hartmut Walch, BMW 120d

Australia Fujitsu V8 Supercars Series
1st Adam Macrow, Howard Racing

Australian Sport Sedan Series
1st Dean Randal

Australian F3 Championship
1st Ricky Ochipinti

Australian Formula Ford Championship
1st John Martin

Australian Rally Championship
1st Simon & Sue Evans, Toyota

SCORE/Tecate Baja 1000
1st Overall 4-Wheel Robbie Gordon/Andy McMillan, Red Bull Chevrolet Trophy Truck

Congratulations to the entire Eibach team!

[StreetFire.net Racing Forums]

Direct Download of the Day, StreetFire Tribute to the 2007 F1 Season

Direct Download on iTunes

Streaming version on StreetFire

Okay I was a bit lax making blog posts last week, but we did a couple of releases on the podcast. If you were subscribed to the feed you got `em! This little video montage is something we just threw together. Its based on some footage given to us by Bridgestone and with Music provided by Ray. If you're not aware of Ray's story, Then ZeFrank can show you how the remixes started. Sort of a funny story, but there are 200 remixes of this song out on the Interent, here is Ze's explanation.

So this is the mother of all race weekends with openers of F1 and ALMS with a whole mess of Atlanta stock car racing thrown int he middle to spice things up. Know what that means? It means I'm taking a break and drinking beer and watching TV all weekend so forgive me if you don't see any more blog or forum posts till Monday. Have a great weekend!

[Direct Download on iTunes]
[Watch Streaming Version]
[Download Soundtrack, Ray Goose Remix][Original]
[Comment on our Racing Forum]

New Forum Section: Racing News and Talk

As we move back into the season, the Auto News section has been filling up with all sorts of racing announcements. The solution? New section! So for you racing fans out there, you now have a section all your own on StreetFire Forums.

Some recent threads

• Le Mans: Porsche delivers first RS spyder
• Diesel in F1? Ferrari driver thinks so
• Schumacher offered open invitation to drive a NASCAR
• NASCAR finds illegal substance in a Toyota
• F1: BMW Testing results in Barcelona
• Nissan shoves a V8 into their SuperGT Fairlady

[Go to the Racing News and Talk Forum]

Podcast #010: BMW takes an F1 car out in the Snow.

Ever wondered what it would be like to off-road an F1 car? How about doing doughnuts on a frozen lake? A week and a half ago, BMW was at the "White Turf" horse race in San Moritz Switzerland and decided to have some fun.

BMW driver Nick Heidfeld took the car out with minimal modifications, thanks to a specially prepared set of Bridgestone Potenzas. Here is an excerpt from the Bridgestone press Release.

Bridgestone Produces Limited Edition F1 Snow Tyre for St. Moritz White Turf Demonstration Run






Bridgestone Motorsport has produced a special Limited Edition F1 Potenza Snow Tyre at the request of the BMW Sauber F1 Team which will this Sunday [4 February] be conducting a demonstration run of their F1.06 car at the prestigious White Turf horse racing event at St.Moritz, Switzerland.

The BMW Sauber F1 Team is running the car at the request of team sponsor Credit Suisse, who are main sponsors and partners of the event which is this year celebrating 100 years of international horse racing at St.Moritz.

Due to the extreme conditions in which the BMW Sauber F1.06 will run, the special F1 snow tyres, produced by Bridgestone Motorsport’s Technical Centre in Tokyo, feature 420 studs on each of the front tyres and 588 studs on each of the rear tyres. It took two Bridgestone technicians over 16 hours to manually insert all 2,016 studs into the double layer of tread compound on one set of tyres alone. Similarly, the horses racing on the frozen lake at St. Moritz will also have four studs and a rubber plate attached to each of their front and rear shoes.

Made from tungsten and embedded in aluminium casings, Bridgestone’s studs have been designed to specifically provide reliable grip on ice and hard-packed snow, exactly the conditions which can be expected at the event where night time temperatures have recently been dropping to approximately
-15°Celsius.

A similar set of tyres was also recently produced for the Scuderia Ferrari F1 team for their pre-season event on the slopes of Madonna di Campiglio in Italy.

By utilising the tread design of Bridgestone’s Potenza F1 extreme weather tyres, the irregular placement of the studs in the tyre tread blocks is intended to maximise performance of each stud in the harsh conditions. In reverse to the policy of transferring technology from F1 tyre development to road car tyre development, Bridgestone has transferred its knowledge of road car winter tyre tread compounds to the F1 snow tyres, using a soft, high-grip compound which will enable the tyres to work at a much lower working temperature range to that normally experienced by an F1 tyre on a race circuit.

The Bridgestone Corporation manufactures both studded and studless road tyres for use by the general consumer. The Bridgestone Noranza studded tyre provides exceptional grip on the ice, without sacrificing comfort, handling and quietness and with its irregular placed aluminium studs was instrumental in the philosophy behind the Limited Edition Bridgestone Potenza F1 snow tyre.


From Bridgestone’s range of studless tyres, and more suited to Continental European winters, is the Blizzak LM20. After comparative tests by a leading European automotive magazine this tyre was “highly recommended” for its outstanding all-round capabilities and described as “a very well-balanced tyre: top-class on dry, very good on wet and ice, with good snow and wear performance”. The Blizzak LM20 utilises a compound with high silica content, similar to that used by the Bridgestone Potenza F1 snow tyre.

The BMW Sauber F1 Team demonstration run is scheduled to take place with German F1 star Nick Heidfeld behind the wheel at 14:00hrs on Sunday 4 February.

In summation, a lot of work for a lot of fun. Check out the Video.


[Download High Quality Version on iTunes]
[Comment on Episode #010]
[Streaming Version]
[More Info on our Podcast]

Featured Creative Commmons Artist:
Greg Baumont
Album: Wood
Song: Why (Trans Remix by Llya Malyuev)
[Download it here]

F1 Testing in Valencia

I took my normal mid week trip across the pond to TopGear.com today (got to get my mid week fix prior to weekend video release ya know)....and I saw story about the F1 testing in Spain that made me proud, my boy Alonso is cleaning it up in his new McLaren Seat! I was a bit worried about him leaving Renault...and more importantly Falvio Briatore's side...but in the first test of the 2007 F1 Kit, Alonso paced Valencia a full second faster than the rest of the field.

Anyhow, jump over to TopGear.com for the full story.

[TopGear]
[Discuss]