Mercedes Set to Take Over McLaren F1 Team?

2007 was arguably one of the most controversial seasons in McLaren F1 history capped with no drivers championship, being thrown out of the constructors championship and a $100 million fine. Far from acceptable for engine partner Mercedes-Benz who are reported to be negotiating to take a majority stake in the British team, a deal that would likely signal the end of Ron Dennis as team boss.

According the German magazine Auto Motor Und Sport, Mercedes want to have more control over the British team to eradicate errors made during the drivers title run in and are not happy with the crisis management at the height of the spying scandal. Negotiations are reported to have been ongoing since October last year.

Does this mean we will hear the German national anthem when/if we see Lewis Hamilton or Heikki Kovalainen takes the chequered flag this year?

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McLaren F1 Apologizes to FIA and Ferrari

Aston Martin DBR9 in Gulf Livery

Defending Le Mans title

Last year at Le Mans Aston Martin saw the checkered flag first, while 30 years ago Gulf Oil was able to mark its first Le Mans victory into its history books.

Since both companies have something to prove this year they have decided to cooperate resulting in a smoking hot Aston Martin CBR9 race car in the classic and world famouss Gulf Oil racing colours. The numbers on the side of the car are arguably the best, namely 007 and 009.

“This is arguably the most important year ever for Gulf in motorsport.The coming together of two great automotive names, for what I hope will be a long and fruitful partnership,” said Alain Dujean, Gulf Oil vice president international.

David Richards, chairman of Aston Martin, said: “Endurance racing is engrained in the heritage of both Gulf and Aston Martin and we have also both been intrinsically linked through Le Mans for many decades.”

Nissan GT-R GT500 Unveiled at Tokyo Auto Salon

Race ready

They say all good things come in small packages, and Nissan takes this message to heart when it comes to letting go of information on its highly anticipated GT-R GT500 race car.

Last week we brought you the description of the new GT500 racer and a video of the 'taped-up' GT500 on its first test run on the track. Today we can add some high resolution photos to the list.

Late January Nissan will finally release technical specifications of the most powerful GT-R, together with Nissan's full range of global motorsports activities. Can we silently hope for a Nissan GT-R GT500 type car in Europe or North America?

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Team Lexus IS-F to Enter GT2 Le Mans Series

Lexus not to compete in DTM

This Friday at the Tokyo Auto Salon Lexus will pull the covers off their latest IS race car. The IS 350 GT2 is powered by a 470+ hp V6 engine and will compete in the American GT2 LeMans Series and not in the German DTM series as many had hoped here in Europe.

The Lexus IS 350 GT2 will make its first appearance at the Twelve Hours of Sebring in Sebring, Fl this March 15-18. Competition will be stiff with the likes of the Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, Panoz Esperante, Ferrari F430 GT, Dodge Viper Competition Coupe and BMW M3.

“Developing and racing two brand-new cars in a new category will be a major challenge, but one that we relish,” said Team Lexus owner/driver Chuck Goldsborough back in 2005. Originally Lexus was planning on entering the GT2 ALMS class back in 2006.

We hope to have more accurate information by the end of the week.

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Lexus IS-F Racing Concept at Tokyo Auto Salon

Ferrari Unveils 2008 Formula 1 Car

Massa gives it two thumbs up

Ferrari's 54^th single seater will be competing for the 2008 Formula One championship, where Kimi 'Iceman' Raikkonen will be defending his crown and Felipe Massa will be looking to beat his teammate to the punch. Obviously the entire Ferrari team is poised to stay ahead of McLaren, BMW and the rest of the Formula One teams.

2008 will bring a host of changes to F1, amongst which the new SECU (Standard Electronic Control Unit), gearbox rules (must now be used for four consecutive events), safety (higher side protection around the driver's helmet), materials (limit to type of composites that can be used) and the much talked about loss of traction control. Aerodynamicly the car has been totally revised and will be totally changed again before the season starts in March at the Australian Grand Prix.

Kimi Raikkonen said: “The most dangerous competitors? McLaren will be there for sure. And then there's BMW. It will be a difficult year.” Traction control is one of the systems the FIA has ruled out for the competition, Kimi said: “It will be much more complex to drive, that's for sure. Especially on wet tracks. But it will be also much more fun."

Felipe Massa gave the new 2008 Ferrari two thumbs up. “The first impression of the car is that it is really beautiful. Just like every other Ferrari. The looks are important, but the performance and the reliability are even more important.” he said. In response to the loss of traction control Felipe said: “When there's less grip you can use the tyres much better. It really is different now. You have to take care of the accelerator; even more than of the brakes. The driving style has to be softer and less aggressive.”

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McLaren Unveils MP4-23 for 2008 F1 Season

McLaren Unveils MP4-23 for 2008 F1 Season

Championship race is on

Yesterday the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Formula One team revealed their new car for the 2008 F1 Championship, hours after arch-rivals Ferrari released their car. The McLaren MP4-23 will be powered by the Mercedes-Benz FO 108V engine, which is based on the flawless 2007 FO 108T. Last season's engine did not experience any failures during the 17 race weekends. The 2008 engine specifications will now be frozen until the end of the 2010 season, just like all the other 2008 F1 entries.

The new rules set by the FIA of course include the new Electronic Control Unit (ECU), developed by McLaren Electronic Systems for the FIA, which eliminates driver's aids such as traction control.

The 2008 season will also include the first night-time race, it will be driven in Singapore and Lewis Hamilton is looking forward to it. He said: “I think it will be wicked. In all my years of racing I have never competed in a night race, apart from indoor karting, so it will be something new for all the fans to watch and definitely exciting for the drivers.”

New-to-the-team Heikki Kovalainen responded in regards to the Singapore race: “It’s a good thing to do as long as everything is safe and the lights are very good, Formula 1 is quite different to football and it will have a much bigger effect if a light fails.”

The first race of the season will take place in Sydney, Australia in March 2008.

Press Release

The Formula 1 engine regulations for the 2008 World Championship season represent a continuation of the basic rules which were introduced for 2006 based round the fresh concept of 2.4-litre 90-degree V8 power units succeeding the 3-litre V10 engine regulations which had been in force for 11 years.

The new Vodafone McLaren Mercedes MP4-23 will be powered by the Mercedes-Benz FO 108V, which has evolved from last year's engine. However, under exacting rules in place since 2007 the engine specification has now been homologated by the FIA to a substantially fixed level, which will be frozen until the end of the 2010 season. The final specification of the new FO108V engine has been based on the FO108T, which was very reliable, as reflected by the fact Vodafone McLaren Mercedes did not experience any engine failures during the 17 race weekends which made up the 2007 season.

New to the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes MP4-23, as well as to any other cars competing in the 2008 Formula 1 World Championship, will be a standardised Electronic Control Unit (ECU) for powertrain control and data logging. This ECU has been developed by McLaren Electronic Systems together with its Technical Partner Microsoft on behalf of the FIA and must run FIA-approved software. One of the main technical features of the new ECU is the elimination of all driver aids, including traction control, which allowed maximum traction without wheel spin. Without traction control the driver’s abilities to control the car become even more significant.

Other engine regulations have remained unchanged. The 19,000rpm operating limit for the engines has been effective since 2007. Since then, basically anything which is inside the FIA seals cannot be changed, but ancillaries outside, for example the fuel system, airbox or other elements of the engine which will affect its packaging in the chassis can be altered. So there is still a degree of scope within which Vodafone McLaren Mercedes can operate from the standpoint of engine development. Also the rule requiring one engine to be used on two consecutive race weekends remains in place for the 2008 season.

The present engine rules place tight restrictions on the manufacturers in terms of dimensions, materials and components. Mandatory are: the V-angle of the cylinders (90 degrees) and the use of a maximum of two inlet and exhaust valves each; an engine minimum weight of 95 kilograms; a maximum cylinder bore of 98 millimetres; the position of the engine's centre of gravity and crankshaft centre-line. Alloys for the manufacturing of engine components are also defined tightly and specifically.

Norbert Haug, Vice President Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: "The development process of the new Mercedes-Benz FO 108V V8 engine for the 2008 Formula 1 World Championship started on 16th April 2007 and on 29th November the engine’s first run on the dyno took place. The FO 108V has a good heritage as our 2007 engine was running without any failure throughout the season. The engine rules restrict the possibilities for further development to an absolute minimum and there is only a small scope for exploiting a performance edge with regard to improvements from air intake, fuel injection, exhaust system, lubricant from our partner ExxonMobil and auxiliaries which our specialists have been pursuing energetically. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes’ target for 2008 is very clear – we want to do one better than last year.”

MP4-23 Specifications:

ENGINE
Type	Mercedes-Benz FO 108V
Capacity	2.4 litre
No. of cylinders	8
Max. rpm	19,000 (FIA regulatory limit since 2007)
Bank angle	90°
Piston bore maximum	98 mm (FIA regulation)
Number of valves	32
Fuel	Mobil 1 Unleaded (5.75% bio fuel)
Lubricants	Mobil 1, newly developed 2008 formula for lower friction and better wear resistance
Engine	95kg (minimum FIA regulation weight)

TRANSMISSION
Gearbox Speeds	Seven forward and one reverse
Semi-auto	Yes
Driveshafts	McLaren
Clutch	Hand-operated

Chassis	McLaren moulded carbon fibre/aluminium honeycomb composite incorporating front and side impact structures. Contains integral safety fuel cell
Front Suspension	Inboard torsion bar/damper system operated by pushrod and bell crank with a double wishbone arrangement
Rear Suspension	Inboard torsion bar/damper system operated by pushrod and bell crank with a double wishbone arrangement
Suspension Dampers	Koni
Electronics	McLaren Electronic Systems control units incorporating electronics for chassis, engine and data acquisition. McLaren Electronic Systems also supplies the electronic dash board, alternator voltage control, sensors, data analysis and telemetry systems
Bodywork Construction:	One-piece engine cover; seperate side pod covers. Separate floor section, structural nose with integral front wing.
Tyres	Bridgestone Potenza
Radios	Kenwood
Race Wheels	Enkei
Batteries	GS Yuasa Corporation
Steering	McLaren power-assisted
Instruments	McLaren Electronic Systems

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2008 Nissan GT-R GT500 Ready to Tokyo

In new Nissan Works livery

This Friday, January 11 2008, Nissan will reveal their 2008 Nissan GT-R GT500 race car at the Tokyo Auto Salon, alongside a few more concepts and tuning packages (which now also include a Nismo Tiida S-Tune Proto, more info in Japanese here). The new GT-R GT500 will be shown in the new Nissan livery, which has been designed as a collaboration between Nissan, NISMO (Nissan Motorsport) and feedback from members of the 'Club NISMO' fan club.

The brush stroke design motif will remain in the livery due to the fact that motorsport fans from all over the world immediately associate that with Nissan. Otherwise the car will mainly use red (signifiying racing passion) and black (signifiying high performance), swiping forward from the rear.

There are no new images available of the GT-R GT500 but we have managed to dig up a video of the GT-R GT500 on the race track during its first outting back in November 2007.

Press Release

Debut at Tokyo Auto Salon 2008 and Osaka Auto Messe 2008

The GT500 specification Nissan GT-R racing car, which will vie for the 2008 SUPER GT series, will make its public debut at the upcoming "Tokyo Auto Salon with NAPAC" (January 11-13, 2008 at Makuhari Messe), followed by the "Osaka Auto Messe 2008" (February 9-11, 2008 at Intecks Osaka), the country's two largest annual custom car shows.

The new works livery - which will be featured across Nissan motorsports activities during the 2008 season - will be unveiled on the race car. Nissan will vie for the SUPER GT Championship, one of the world's most demanding GT race series, with the new machine built on the same multi-performance super car concept of the Nissan GT-R road car.

The new livery resulted from close collaboration between Nissan's design team and NISMO, its motorsports affiliate company, and incorporates feedback from members of the "Club NISMO" fan club.

The signature wide "brush stroke" design motif, synonymous with the current Fairlady Z race car, was carried forward into the new GT-R racing car as Nissan's racing fans worldwide could immediately associate with the design. The livery design swipes forward from the rear in bold red and black - the red symbolizes the passion for racing, while the black signifies the high performance of the new Nissan GT-R.

Further details of the GT500 Nissan GT-R including technical specifications will be announced on January 31st, as well as Nissan's full range of global motorsports activities for the coming season.

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Nissan at 2008 Tokyo Auto Salon

Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT2

Aston Martin Racing has revealed the first impressions of its new GT2 racing car.

Known as the Vantage GT2, the new car is based on the V8 engined Aston Martin Vantage road car. The new car will mean Aston Martin is the only manufacturer to offer cars in every GT racing category: GT1 – DBR9; GT2 – Vantage GT2; GT3 – DBRS9; GT4 – Vantage N24.

For the first time, Aston Martin Racing is designing this car to run on either standard race fuel or E85 bio-ethanol (where regulations allow). In 2007, Aston Martin Racing successfully converted a standard DBRS9 to run on E85.

Robin Brundle, Aston Martin Racing’s new managing director, said: “The new Vantage GT2 completes our product portfolio for 2008 with competitive cars now available in every category. Thanks to our experience with the DBRS9, we have been able to develop a bio-ethanol fuelled version, which will be eligible to compete in an increasing number of series now accommodating this greener fuel, including the American Le Mans Series.”

Aston Martin chairman, David Richards, will be announcing Aston Martin Racing’s 2008 plans at the Autosport International show on Thursday 10 January at 10.45 am.