Midweek motorsport report
July 11, 2007
Orion's race look revealed -- in Auto Action
Ford's new Falcon model is being slated for its race debut halfway through the 2008 V8 Supercar Championship -- and today's edition of Auto Action magazine has computer-generated images of what it will look like.
It will be "tougher, tauter and meaner than the BA/BF generation" Falcons, writes Auto Action editor-at-large, Mark Fogarty.
"Like the VE Holden Commodore, next year's Falcon will follow the latest 'techno-tough' look with a slab-sided appearance and a fastback-style roof line leading to a higher rear deck," Fogarty says.
He adds that the Orion, as the new Falcon has been dubbed while the official model designation is kept secret, "also has pronounced fender flares, although they're not quite as prominent as the VE's bulging front guards".
"The next-gen Falcon takes many of the styling cues of the latest mid-size Mondeo, which will be launched here later this year," Fogarty says.
"Broadmeadows designers have interpreted Ford's new global look with some significant adaptations, including inverting the headlights.
"Ford Racing Austalia is following the same path that Holden took with the VE racer by optimizing the Project Blueprint rules to design a more efficient race bodyshell that is easier and cheaper to build, and also a lot less costly to repair."
Ford motorsport manager Ray Price confirmed to Auto Action that final specifications still haven't been submitted to the Touring Car Entrants Group for approval, but that the aim is to have the new car ready for homologation on July 1, 2008.
"We're still in the design phase, but we have a design direction," Price tells the magazine.
But Price would not confirm that the racing version of the Orion's bodyshell will have to be "cut and shut" as the VE Commodore was.
Two Ford engineers are working on the Orion race car design with input from Ford Performance Racing, Triple Eight Race Engineering (Team Vodafone) and Stone Brothers Racing.
FPR is expected to begin building the test version of the Orion racer in October or November, with Triple Eight to handle the official testing and development.
Fogarty says that although Orion retains the basic architecture of the BF model it will look all-new thanks to a completely new "skin".
He says it will continue with the XR8 performance model's signature styling cues -- bonnet "power bulge" and quad headlamps.
Skaife-Walkinshaw deal still not final
As we strongly suspected, here we are in the second half of the year now and Mark Skaife and Tom Walkinshaw still haven't formalised the agreement to share ownership of the Holden Racing Team, Auto Action reports today.
"Many months after they settled their long-running financial dispute, the deal remains unsigned because the final details of Walkinshaw's 50 per cent stake in Skaife Sports (which owns the team's two V8 Supercar racing licences) are unresolved," Mark Fogarty writes in AA.
"An agreement in principle is in place and heads of agreements have been exchanged, but the contract isn't signed."
Fogarty notes insiders saying that both sides have been saying for the past three months that the agreement is close to completion. He writes that a source close to the deal is confident that Skaife and Walkinshaw are "on the verge of officially sealing their alliance".
Dunlop keeps V8 Supercar tyre contract
Dunlop has been awarded a contract to keep supplying control tyres to the V8 Supercar Championship Series until 2012.
Dunlop has been the sole supplier to the main V8 series and and the associated development series since 2002. It provides and services more than 9000 tyres a year.
The V8 tyres are made at Dunlop's specialist race tyre factory at Nagoya in Japan. Each tyre is said to take more than three hours of hand-crafting.
Ferrari pursues McLaren designer in court
Formula 1's espionage case has hit London's High Court this week, and McLaren chief designer Mike Coughlan's behaviour and that of his wife, Trudy, has been called "disgraceful" by a Ferrari lawyer.
It is claimed Coughlan received and then copied a huge dossier of secret information -- perhaps as much as 780 pages and two computer discs -- belonging to Ferrari.
Ferrari says it would have been "blissfully ignorant" that files had been taken from it if not for a "tip-off" it got from a worker at a photocopy shop near the Coughlan residence in Surrey in Britain who had noticed the Ferrari logo on documents that were marked confidential.
Coughlan was in the High Court yesterday but did not speak there or outside it. However, the judge says the Coughlans "conducted themselves in a highly co-operative and productive manner during the search" of their house after Ferrari initiated action. They have until today to present sworn statements detailing what they know about the stolen material.
The court has not been given any details about how Ferrari allege the Coughlans came to have the files, although the finger is clearly pointed at Ferrari's British former technical manager Nigel Stepney -- who was officially sacked last week.
It now seems that Coughlan was not the only person at McLaren who knew about the documents. The court has heard that McLaren managing director Jonathan Neale was also aware of them.
Ferrari says it has asked McLaren to clarify what Neale knew -- and when. It has also asked to see the contents of a computer, described as being owned by a "third party", that Ferrari believes was accessed by Coughlan.
New opening for F1's first black driver
F1 may soon have two black drivers.While Lewis Hamilton has been the season's sensation, on the podium at every race so far in his debut year with McLaren, India's Narain Karthikeyan could be racing in grands prix again soon.
Dutch team Spyker, which makes no secret that its drivers must buy their seats, has dumped Dutch driver Christijan Albers because his sponsorship money has not been paid.
Karthikeyan, who raced for Jordan in 2005 and has since been a test driver for Williams, is among those lining up to replace Albers, who got his start with Minardi under Australian Paul Stoddart in 2005.
Also in the queue are Austrian Christian Klein, a former Jaguar teammate of Mark Webber and now a Honda test driver, and experienced Spaniard Marc Gene, a long-time tester for Williams and more recently Ferrari.
Karthikeyan may have access to the biggest bundle of sponsorship dollars, while Klein is serviceable but has fallen short of expectations previously, and Gene may be aided by Ferrari being Spyker's engine supplier.
An outside chance with the next GP being at Nurburgring in Germany is Markus Winkelhock.
Spyker is yet to score a world championship point from nine races so far this year -- its other driver is German Adrian Sutil -- and its parent company, the luxury sportscar manufacturer of the same name in Holland has been reported to be in a financial squeeze.
The F1 team was previously, but briefly, Midland and originally Jordan.
Deadline looms for F1 in US
Tomorrow (Thursday, July 12) is meant to be D-day for F1 in the US. However, while there is talk the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone are closer to a new long-term deal there is no indication yet anything has been signed.
Bathurst 12-hour in February
The revived Bathurst 12-hour endurance race is moving from Easter to mid-February next year. Now slotted for February 15-17, it will be the first major national circuit race in 2008.
Craig Denyer, of the race's management company Spherix, says manufacturers and competitors were "more than happy with the base structure and eligibility of the 2007 event (won by a BMW 335i)".
"Therefore only minor changes to the class structure and rules and regulations, which we are currently framing, will be made," Denyer says.
"Essentially the class make-up will be those cars that are eligible for the Australian performance car and Australian production car championships, plus the addition of an eco diesel/hybrid class and a class for V8 utes.
"Also being investigated is a class for cars with automatic or semi-automatic transmissions.
"We are seeking expressions of interest from manufacturers or any other competitors for specific vehicles they would like considered for eligibility, with a draft eligibility and class structure released within the next two weeks."
Another negative review for Ambrose's team
We mentioned here on Monday that a mid-season NASCAR review in the Indianapolis Star newspaper described the Wood Brothers outfit with which Australia's dual V8 Supercar champion Marcos Ambrose is associated is "a desperate team" and gave it a D grading.
Now we note that American oval-track website troubleinturn2 says: "The next 18 races are crucial for the short and long term future of Wood Brothers Racing."
Ambrose is doing a creditable job in his quest to make it in NASCAR but we wonder whether he's going to have to get with a stronger outfit. We also wonder whether, despite Ford's victory in the Nextel Cup race at Daytona last weekend, he's with the right manufacturer for the long haul in NASCAR.
Dixon runs hot in IRL
New Zealand open-wheeler ace Scott Dixon's Indy Racing League victory at Watkins Glen in upstate New York this week is his first of the season, but his third straight at the famous road circuit that once hosted the US F1 GP and the seventh of his IRL career.
Dixon has narrowed Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti's series lead by 18 points to 47 and the Kiwi is the defending winner at the Nashville Superspeedway where the series heads this week -- although it's now Franchitti's home town.
Before this weekend's round IRL officials are expected to have imposed fines and possibly suspensions on Brazilian Tony Kanaan and Sam Hornish Junior, their teams Andretti Green Racing and Team Penske and crews -- and perhaps family members -- after an ugly fracas at the end of the Watkins Glen race.
Meanwhile, the winner at country music capital Nashville will get a hand-painted Gibson guitar.
Images supplied by Auto Action magazine. Ford 'Orion' Supercar image rendering by Iain Chandler.
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