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TOYOTA Motorsport GmbH’s Zaps a 7:22 Record on the Nürburgring Nordschleife

TOYOTA Motorsport GmbH’s Zaps a 7:22 Record on the Nürburgring Nordschleife
TOYOTA Motorsport GmbH (TMG) continued its record-breaking success with the TMG EV P002 by setting a new electric record on the legendary 20.8km Nürburgring Nordschleife circuit in Germany.

Using TMG’s motorsport-tuned electric powertrain, driver Jochen Krumbach set a lap time of 7mins 22.329secs, breaking the electric record set by TMG last August by over 25 seconds.

This achievement marks the second milestone for TMG’s electric powertrain this year following its new record at Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in Colorado, United States.

As with the Pikes Peak success, TMG’s latest electric milestone used pioneering off-board battery-to-battery charging technology.
Continue reading TOYOTA Motorsport GmbH’s Zaps a 7:22 Record on the Nürburgring Nordschleife

ADAC Eifel Rennen 2010 – Ford GT40

This weekend at the ADAC Eifel Rennen there was many old marques of distinction taking on the historic Nurburgring in Germany, one of the cars and my personal favorite was the Ford GT-40 and still today a very modern looking car.

Going back to the 60’s, Henry Ford head of The Ford Motor Company wanted to improve the image of Ford to the younger generation. He decided that Ford should set out to win both The Indianapolis and the Le-Mans 24 hour race in France, as they were the two major motor races.

After a failed attempt to buy Ferrari, who held dominance over the Le-Mans race, Ford decided to go his own way and to win Le-Mans with a new Ford GT car.

Ford’s Company approached various people to design the new Ford GT can They decided upon Eric Broadley of Lola Cars, who had just produced for racing a Lola GT mid-engined car powered by the Ford 4.2 Ltr engine and driven through a Colotti type 37 transaxle.

It was in August 1963 that John Wyer received an invitation to join Ford’s new GT40 prototype development team. Ford Advanced Vehicles Limited was formed with new premises at Slough and the set-up was managed by John Wyer. Throughout 1964 John Wyer was responsible for the racing programme of the GT40, but at the end of that year Ford decided to split the racing activity between Carrol Shelby, a new Ford racing subsidiary in Detroit. John Wyer and the Slough works were to be responsible for the development of the existing model and in due course to build production road cars.

By April 1964 the first GT40 prototype was completed. The first engine in these prototype cars was a 4.2 Ltr Ford V8, both block and heads were of aluminium, the engine was dry sumped, with IDA Webber carburettor. In this form the engine produced 350 BHP at 7,000 RPM and 275 lbs.ft of torque at 5,600 RPM and weighing dry [no driver]:- 1,835 lbs, or with liquids [no driver] 2,450 Ibs a four speed.

During 1964, The prototype testing began and it became known that the rear of the car was very unstable at speed, after two cars crashed they were repaired and taken to MIRA for the tail lifting problem to be remedied, Bruce McLaren and Roy Salvadori were the test drivers, who found that contrary to earlier wind tunnel test results a spoiler across the width of the tail, forced the rear end down and cured the instability problem. Over the twelve months to 1965 Le-Mans, they tried 289 c. i. and 325 c. i. engines, improved brakes, early ZF transaxles etc and finally the definitive nose cone was confirmed.

By mid 1965 Ford decided that the GT40 had reached a sufficiently designed car to go into a limited production run and build 50 GT cars to qualify them for the Production Sports Car Category.

The right amount of success eluded the early Mk1’s which used the 289 c.i. [4.7 Ltr] engine, 48 IDA Webber carbs, ZF transaxle 5-DS-25/11 5-speed plus reverse with synchromesh and Boroni wire wheels. Ford decided that even after extensive development the Mk1 would not remain competitive in the GT category, so work started on a new prototype design called the GT40 MK2 with a 427 c.i. [7 Ltr] engine, which had been successful in American Saloon Racing Series.

In the Mk2 car this engine produced 485 BHP at 6,200 RPM and 475 Ibs.ft of torque at 4,000 RPM providing a driver with a wide and useful power band, together with a new Ford designed transaxle to handle the extra power. Again they had to alter the bodywork and scoops were added to cool the rear brakes, improved ducting for the radiator and carburettor and ventilated disc brakes were added. First time out in 1966 the Mk2 won at the Daytona 24 hour endurance race – finishing First, Second and Third.

The ultimate challenge was the Le-Mans 24 hour race. The event had GT40 Mk1’s and Mk2’s seeking to challenge the dominance of Ferrari. By the end all the Mk1’s were out, only four Mk2’s were left, but they couldn’t have done better finishing First, Second and Third. Ferrari failed to finish. Ford had finally beaten the italian Ferrari team in the world’s only 24h endurance motor race.

During the early Mk1 years Ford produced a GT40 MK3 to comply for road use, especially in America. These cars differed from the Mk1’s by two pairs of round front headlamps, a longer rear body to accommodate a luggage box of six square feet, the interior was functional, adjustable seats, centre floor mounted gear-lever, [other GT40’s had right hand gear-levers] sound and heat insulation, moving the water pipes from the centre to the sill, softer springs and shockers, and a 4.7 ltr engine with a single Holley Four- choke carburettor. This engine produced 306 BHP.

During 1966-67 there was a new GT40 designed, the J-Car. The J-car was designed mainly from Ford’s styling department than by wind tunnel work. This resulted in aerodynamic problems which together with other teething problems kept the J-car from competition.

The J-car was developed further by Kar-Kraft in Dearborn U.S.A. during the winter of 1966-67. The car now benefited from wind tunnel testing with its improved aerodynamics and a much improved chassis. Again, for Ford the highlight of 1967 was Le-Mans, where they finished 1st and 4th with Ferrari 2nd and 3rd.

Ford now bowed out of GT racing, having achieved its goal of beating Ferrari at Le-Mans. Ford had done it two years running and proved their mastery in a very demanding sport. This left John Wyer with no works cars to compete, so with sponsorship from Gulf Oil he further developed the Mk1 for the 1968 and 1969 seasons.

These developments included wider rear bodywork to accommodate wider racing tyres, with six spoke magnesium knock on wheels, more efficient Girling brakes, a very strong engine:- 400 BHP at 6,500 rpm and 385 lbs.ft of torque in 1968. In 1969 this was raised to 425 BHP at slightly lower revs of 6,250 and 396 lbs of torque at 4,750 rpm with a 302 ci. engine plus other improvements.

The Ford GT40 again won Le-Mans in both 1968 and 1969, the remarkable fact was that the same chassis, P1075 won in both years. This was the very first time that the same car had won Le-Mans twice and the feat was not repeated until the 80’s when a Porsche 956 matched the record.

Speeds of 217 mph were recorded for the Ford GT40 at Le-Mans, which in 1969 was staggeringly fast – a lot of normal road cars did not get to 90 mph then, yet the road version of the Ford GT40 was capable of 165 mph.

In order to curb the high speeds of GT racing new rules governing engine size were introduced at the end of 1969 and so the GT40 was beaten by the rules, not the opposition, It left whilst in command at the top, leaving a fine history by Mk1’s, Mk2’s and Mk4’s, winning Le-Mans in 1966,1967, 1968 and 1969.

2011 Mercedes ML 63 AMG

Mercedes unveils its updated exterior on the ML 63 AMG, featuring a powerful 375 kW (510 hp) AMG 6.3-litre V8 engine, takes on a more attractive appearance thanks to some subtle but effective changes.

From the front, the eye is immediately drawn to the new bonnet with power domes, and the darkened bi-xenon headlamps with active light function. The rear, meanwhile, also contributes appropriately to the new look: the performance SUV now features darkened tail lamps incorporating a clear-lens design and LED technology. The subtle changes to the exterior coordinate perfectly with the high-gloss, chromed front and rear underguard, and afford the ML 63 AMG an even more powerful and distinctive appearance.

Still boasting a power output of 375 kW (510 hp) at 6800/rpm as well as 630 Nm of torque, the ML 63 AMG is capable of accelerating from 0 to 100 km/h in 5.0 seconds, and achieves a top speed of 250 km/h (electronically limited). At the renowned International Engine of the Year Awards in 2009, the AMG 6.3-litre V8 engine took the top places in both the “Best Performance Engine” and “Above 4 litres” categories.

As before, power transfer is taken care of via the AMG SPEEDSHIFT 7G-TRONIC automatic transmission with three drive modes. The permanent all-wheel drive is decidedly sporty: the power is split asymmetrically 40:60 between the front and rear wheels to provide optimum agility. The AMG sports suspension, based on the AIRMATIC package with air suspension, adaptive damping system ADS and automatic level control all-round, provides dynamic performance combined with the hallmark Mercedes long-distance comfort. The generously dimensioned AMG high-performance braking system, which features internally ventilated and perforated brake discs all-round, ensures short braking distances and optimum resistance to fading.

The ML 63 AMG comes with 5-spoke AMG light-alloy wheels, which are painted titanium grey with a high-sheen finish and fitted with 295/40 R 20 tyres on the front and rear. As an optional extra, titanium-grey-painted, high-sheen twin-spoke AMG light-alloy wheels fitted with 295/35 R 21 tyres are also available.

As usual, the interior of the ML 63 AMG is both functional and high-quality: electrically adjustable AMG sports seats finished in nappa leather upholstery, with Alcantara inserts in the shoulder areas and multicontour function and heating, are complemented by the AMG sports steering wheel with AMG aluminium shift paddles and perforated leather on the specially-shaped grip area. A nappa leather-trimmed dashboard is also available as an optional extra.

The updated ML 63 AMG is available to order with immediate effect and will be delivered to customers from July 2010. It carries a price tag of 105,077 euros (incl. 19% VAT).

See Attached Press and Prototype Pictures:-

Record of the Ferrari 599XX at the Nürburgring announced in Beijing

After the Pistonspy got exclusive shots of the Ferrari 599xx Hot Lapping the Nordschleife it looks like Ferrari did more than confirm it Lap time it made the lap record with a time of 6:58:16 seconds. (If Production Derived is allowed)

This was achieved on the 21-04-2010 after only 2 laps of the Nordschleife that day!

Also worth mentioning is the Radical got a time of 6m 48s and the Gumpert 7:11 so it is up there with the best times.

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Heres the Press release:-

Beijing, 23 April – The Ferrari 599XX is the first ever production-derived sports car to break the 7-minute barrier on the classic 20.832 km Nordschleife circuit, lapping in 6 min 58.16 sec.

The 599XX, which inspired the 599 GTO, is an extreme berlinetta designed for track but not official competition use, and is a veritable technological laboratory incorporating a number of innovative solutions. Some of these will remain the exclusive preserve of the 599XX while others have already filtered down to the 599 GTO, introduced today at the Beijing Motor Show. These include the wheel doughnuts of F1 derivation which serve two purposes – to reduce turbulence and thus drag, and improve brake cooling.

Powered by a development of the V12 engine used by the 599 GTB Fiorano, the 599XX features Ferrari’s High-Performance Dynamic Concept, a novel integrated design and chassis set-up that uses sophisticated electronics to govern the mechanical limits of the handling for maximum performance.

On the aerodynamics front, the car sees the introduction for the first time of the Actiflow™ System that increases downforce and/or cuts drag depending on the car’s trim during cornering. This, together with other careful detailing, ensures that the 599XX boasts extraordinary levels of downforce – up to 630 kg at 300 km/h.

Fundamental to the performance of the car was the development of specific components undertaken together with our technical partners: Brembo for the carbon-ceramic brakes, Michelin for the tyres and Shell for the fuel and lubricants.

Also worth mentioning that I was the only person reporting on the story who was actually there as seen below.

Pistonspy on the Official Ferrari 599xx Laprecord
Ferrari Official Video captures the Pistonspy

11-04-2010 Nordschleife Touristen Fahrten Photo’s

The Nordschleife Photographs were taken from Pflanzgarten to Schwalbenschwanz, The day started off showing signs of rain and was a very bitter cold day didnt get over 8 degree’s, but gladly kept rain free to the latter parts of the afternoon.

There wasnt many stoppages just one round lunch time, A very Good selection of cars arrived at the northloop about 12-13 Ford Focus RS were on a forum ring trip, But once again there was a lot of Porsches including the first generation VW Beetle to the latest GT3RS in its renault livery. So lets see a selection of some of the Porsches seen
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Click Here For The Gallery