MOTORSPORT: Winds of change howling

Tis the season of change in motorsport.

As Formula 1 prepares for one of its ‘Grand Slam’ grands prix at Silverstone (UK) this weekend, there are moves to bring back serious exhaust noise next year and wider tyres, with freer choice of compounds, while driver aids and “coaching” from the pitlane will be curbed in the next few weeks.

Already special exemption has been granted to allow McLaren stars Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button an extra Honda power unit each without penalty after the disastrous start to that technical alliance this year.

Formula 4, the new international junior wings-and-slicks open-wheeler category, is only a week away from its Australian debut in Townsville, as part of the V8 Supercar Championship round in that Queensland city.

F4 will become one of only four Australian circuit racing championships next year – along with the V8s, GTs and an as-yet-unspecified endurance series – under a controversial reclassification of categories by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS).

Drag racing too is undergoing a revamp, with major venues and professional racers forming a new entity to run and promote events, which they say will have the sanction of the existing ANDRA.

On the driver front, 21-year-old Matt Brabham – a two-time champion in the junior ranks of America’s Road to Indy program but out of money and out of a drive at the minute – is intent on racing in the 100th Indianapolis 500 next May.

It’s there that his grandfather, late triple F1 world champion Sir Jack Brabham, started the rear-engined revolution more 50 years ago and where his father, Geoff, raced 10 times – with a best finish of fourth.

The third-generation Brabham did his first IndyCar test with Andretti Autosport midweek at Iowa Speedway, a 1.4km tri-oval near Des Moines.

“I had an absolute blast Definitely different to what I’ve been used to – the speed, power and downforce were a big jump,” Brabham said.

IndyCar doctor Tony Trammel estimated Aussie driver Ryan Briscoe withstood around 50g in his spectacular, carthwheeling crash last weekend at California’s Fontana Speedway. Briscoe, who escaped with only stiffness and bruising, praised the strength of the Dallara DW12 chassis and the HANS device that protected his neck.

An eight-time IndyCar race victor, Briscoe claimed he had “a really good chance” of winning the Fontana race and is confident he can triumph in the Honda-powered Schmidt-Peterson Motorsport in which he will continue to deputise for the injured James Hinchcliffe for the rest of the season.

Australia’s reigning IndyCar champion, Will Power, who was crashed into a wall by Japanese driver Takuma Sato within 10 laps of the finish at Fontana, has been fined US$25,000 and put on probation for the rest of the year for shoving a member of the safety crew.

“I apologise. I shouldn’t have pushed him. I’m sorry for that. I was extremely upset, but I know that’s no excuse,” Power said.

IndyCar chief executive Mark Miles admitted that the downforce levels that came with the aerodynamic kits for that race, which contributed to great excitement but re-created dangerous pack racing, may have been “a step too far”.

Lites entry for Extreme Rallycross Championship
Alister McRae, the Australian-based brother of late and legendary Scottish world rally champion Colin and a noted rally driver in his own right, has committed to the new Extreme Rallycross Championship starting at Brisbane’s Lakeside Park in two months.

McRae will drive the Ford Fiesta Super Lite he tested at the launch and test day for the series at Sydney Motorsport Park two months ago.

But McRae is the only confirmed entry in the top category for four-wheel-drive, naturally-aspirated 2.4-litre cars. Extreme Rallycross organiser David Ridden told us a couple of weeks ago that Lites – with 220kW, 300Nm of torque, six-speed sequential SADEV gearboxes and tubular spaceframe chassis – would need to be ordered from manufacturer Olsbergs MSE in Sweden by about now to be delivered in time for the start of the scheduled seven-round series.

Ridden said today that several potential Lites competitors were keen to run but had been waiting to see who else entered.

Chris Atkinson, Australia’s former World Rally Championship star, has regularly been touted as a likely participant.

“I’m not sure how many we will have at the first round, [but] the other two classes [for turbocharged four-wheel-drive cars and naturally-aspirated two-wheel-drives] are filling fast,” Ridden said.

A shakedown event has been scheduled for Lakeside on August 15.

This weekend’s World Rallycross Championship (World RX) round is at Holjes in Sweden, where versatile Swede Mattias Ekstrom – of DTM (German Touring Car Championship), IROC (International Race of Champions) and Bathurst 1000 fame – won last year.

Reigning World RX champion Petter Solberg leads again this season in a Citroen DS3 by 35 points from Swede Johan Kristoffersson in a Volkswagen Polo.

Niclas Gronholm, son of dual world rally champion Marcus, will make his Supercar debut at Holjes at the wheel of an Olsbergs MSE Ford Fiesta.

The French manufacturer has won 17 driver and manufacturer titles since entering the WRC in 2000 and has dominated the WTCC for the past 18 months.

Becoming a powertrain developer in the second season of the Formula E electric open-wheeler series expected to start in October, Citroen chief executive Linda Jackson said it would be involved in either the WRC or WTCC from 2017.

“We’re looking for something with 12 or 13 races, including China. We would want a presence in China – that’s our first market,” Jackson said.

“Whichever discipline we go to, we need to make sure we can work on the same budget – or less. Citroen Racing and sport is important for us, but it would have to be within the budgets we have already got.”

There was not one Citroen in the top 10 of Rally Poland after the first stage overnight. The manufacturer’s Northern Irish driver, Kris Meeke, stalled on the start line. His DS3 had been repaired after it rolled seven times on the morning shakedown.

The recent winners of the International Rally of Queensland, Swedes Pontus Tidemand and his co-driver Emil Axelsson, were second in WRC2 on that opening stage in a Skoda Fabia R5 – and eighth outright.

Australian rally champion Scott Pedder and co-driver Dale Moscatt were 16th in WRC2 on that first stage in a Ford Fiesta R5.

Drivers tonight face 150km of competition on sandy, super-fast roads without the opportunity for service until the end of the day’s competition.

Renault hot for Formula E
Like Citroen, Renault will be a Formula E powertrain manufacturer next season – and it’s putting great emphasis on that project.

It played a central role in the control powertrains in the first season (which ended last weekend), overseeing the integration of electric motors and associated electronics from McLaren Electronics and batteries from Williams Advanced Engineering.

It was most closely involved with French team e.dams, which won the teams championship and almost took the drivers’ title with Swiss pilot, Sebastien Buemi.

It will be even more closely associated with e.dams, for which Alain Prost is the figurehead, while Citroen is linked to Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Racing.

Six other entities will be producing powertrain packages.

The 10 team that participated in the first season have committed to next season.

Team China Racing won the drivers’ championship with Brazilian Nelson Piquet Junior – by one point.

The chief executive of Renault Sport Technologies, Patrice Ratti, said the company was “doing Formula E to be consistent with our strategy in electric vehicles – and because we think it’s the future to help grow the technology, and also show people that EVs are not only good for the environment but they can be exciting and fun”.

While Renault’s future in Formula 1 is under consideration, the company’s chief executive, Carlos Ghosn, said that “everything we are seeing in Formula E is encouraging us to invest more”.

“We are encouraged by the acceleration of the growth of EV sales globally,” Ghosn said.

“In Europe Renault’s E sales were up 72 per cent in May versus May 2014, supported by strong government incentives – particularly in France. I am not going to speculate about how big F1 and FE are going to be [comparatively]. These are two different events with two different technologies for different kind of people.”

Renault is unhappy at being an engine supplier to F1 teams Red Bull and Toro Rosso – especially at the criticism it has received from Red Bull chiefs as its V6 hybrid power unit has become increasingly uncompetitive against the Mercedes and Ferrari units.

The French company is considering whether to return to F1 team ownership, pull-out or – least likely – remain simply a supplier.

“When you are a developer and seller of engines you have the privilege to be forgotten when you win and to be highlighted when you lose,” Ghosn said.

“We can be out [of F1]. We can, less likely, continue to be only an engine developer. Or we can own a team. So all the options are open... And we are analysing all the different options for the future,” Ghosn said.