Subaru is out!

[gregbbear]

What a shame about Suburu...

Makes you wonder what the state of motorsports would be if Fox hadn't bought Speedvision, hmm....

As for racecars resembling cars, there is series called American Iron. It is a series based on production Mustangs, Camaros, and Firebirds sanctioned by NASA. There are three classes with different levels of modification. With weight, and hp/wt ratios limited by rules, plus a spec tire and wheel size, costs are kept down. I've only read about it in Hot Rod, and the different Mustang mags. Grass Roots Mototsports has a sentence or two here and there. Other than not enough domestic content for me, GRM is a good mag. Oh yeah, www.maximummotorsports.com has some in-car footage of their "shop car" at Willow Springs. I highly recommend watching these clips. I haven't looked in youtube, but I think I will. The AI cars are a showcase for the aftermarket. If they would only televise it!

We have a whole channel devoted to the automobile, and all we get is stupid bling shows!

Check it out.

Cheers,

Greg

[RyanSilva]

What a shame about Suburu...

Makes you wonder what the state of motorsports would be if Fox hadn't bought Speedvision, hmm....

As for racecars resembling cars, there is series called American Iron. It is a series based on production Mustangs, Camaros, and Firebirds sanctioned by NASA. There are three classes with different levels of modification. With weight, and hp/wt ratios limited by rules, plus a spec tire and wheel size, costs are kept down. I've only read about it in Hot Rod, and the different Mustang mags. Grass Roots Mototsports has a sentence or two here and there. Other than not enough domestic content for me, GRM is a good mag. Oh yeah, www.maximummotorsports.com has some in-car footage of their "shop car" at Willow Springs. I highly recommend watching these clips. I haven't looked in youtube, but I think I will. The AI cars are a showcase for the aftermarket. If they would only televise it!

We have a whole channel devoted to the automobile, and all we get is stupid bling shows!

Check it out.

Cheers,

Greg

I love that series! You can check out Griggs racing also, for some good footage too. They like Maximum motorsports make some top of the line road racing mustang parts.

[Nick F40]

50's-60's NASCAR yeah, me to but that'll never happen. I agree with what Chris said, some are more showe and entertainment then actual implication to the street, and boy do I wish for a Porsche LMP1 Coupe!

What a shame about Suburu...

Makes you wonder what the state of motorsports would be if Fox hadn't bought Speedvision, hmm....

As for racecars resembling cars, there is series called American Iron. It is a series based on production Mustangs, Camaros, and Firebirds sanctioned by NASA. There are three classes with different levels of modification. With weight, and hp/wt ratios limited by rules, plus a spec tire and wheel size, costs are kept down. I've only read about it in Hot Rod, and the different Mustang mags. Grass Roots Mototsports has a sentence or two here and there. Other than not enough domestic content for me, GRM is a good mag. Oh yeah, www.maximummotorsports.com has some in-car footage of their "shop car" at Willow Springs. I highly recommend watching these clips. I haven't looked in youtube, but I think I will. The AI cars are a showcase for the aftermarket. If they would only televise it!

We have a whole channel devoted to the automobile, and all we get is stupid bling shows!

Check it out.

Cheers,

Greg

That right there sums it up, I'm glad you like GRM, it is a special group of enthusiasts, thats for sure and i'm proud to say i'm a part of it.

NASA is the new hope of Trans Am

[Art Anderson]

This is an excerpt from my “Revell dropping NASCAR post from Dec 8th…

“Ok, it is not just the professional ball teams. Honda announced that they are dropping out of F1. Sure, F1 teams come and go as everyone wants a piece of that pie, but even Bernie said that if they don’t begin to lower the costs (they can’t and won’t) the sport is in major trouble. No kidding…all of the sports that rely on corporate sponsorship are going to get hurt. Look, Buick had to cut Tiger Woods loose for lack of capital. Cadillac will no longer sponsor the Masters Tournament, and if you are a golf fan, that is the Holy Grail. Golf in general is going to be hurt…they can not keep supporting the huge purses each week for the players if the corporations can’t pony up the cash and many can’t in this economic climate.

Toyota said they are still in but, they will keep a careful eye on cost and if it continues to escalate, there will be cut backs. Ford, GM and Chrysler, with the government breathing down their necks, will have to watch every penny they spend on advertising…you know the cuts are coming. The major sponsors are all cutting back. Nascar will be hurt tremendously because there are so many teams and so many races. The cost to field a Nascar team is crazy…F1 is ten times as crazy. So in an effort to help the France family Great Great Great Grand Children’s trust funds, they slap a licensing fee on the plastic kit manufacturers because they use the “likeness†of their race cars. Give me a break!!!â€

Get used to this situation happening time and time again…..there is not money in the smashed advertising budgets for the frivolity of racing. Factory sponsored race teams will, I believe, be hurt the most. Advertising money not spent will go directly to the bottomline, if not gobbled up for officer compensation, but either way, the atmosphere in the business world will be to horde as much cash as possible as lines of credit continue to dry up.

It's happened before, and it will happen again, with periods of flush times in between. In motor racing, the first big drop in factory participation happened with the onset of WW-1, of course, then factories and/or big dollar sponsorship returned in the early 20's. With the looming recession of 1929 (the Depression began with a recession, BTW), the entry list at Indianapolis dropped below 30, not all those cars made the show), for example.

But, in the early 30's, with the return of small, amateur teams, entry lists at Indy climbed to heights that rivaled the 50's through the 80's.

Similar to today in the US was 1974, with a recession in the land, and the "energy crisis", but racing rebounded. Same too, with the recessions of 1981, and 1988, even the short, but sharp one in 2001-2002.

Art

[gtlm2000]

Honda also quit Super GT. They stop to develop next NSX model.

GT500 is only Lexus and Nissan in next year.

[gtlm2000]

I saw Subaru Impreza WRC 2008 at Tamiya fair in November.

Edited December 18, 2008 by gtlm2000

[Nick F40]

Honda also quit Super GT. They stop to develop next NSX model.

GT500 is only Lexus and Nissan in next year.

Did not know that but thats cool, will they be back? So it's just Nissan and Lexus......

I personally like the Scooby WRC.

[gasman]

another one bites the dust

Chevrolet not running LeMans

[Nick F40]

That really doesn't surprise me. It will be weird without the C6Rs but it will make the others have some good competition. Reducing of the racing budget and introducing the GT2 car in the second half of the 2009 season, man.

Although, the road racing boss said it wasn't final.

[PatRedmond]

Detroit Grand Prix weekend cancelled this morning it was announced.

DGP

IRL and support races on Labor Day Weekend. Darn.

Edited December 19, 2008 by PatRedmond

[Brendan]

Detroit Grand Prix weekend cancelled this morning it was announced.

DGP

IRL and support races on Labor Day Weekend. Darn.

Hate to say this but I'm kind of glad that race is gone. It never provided much excitement; just turned into a crash fest for the races. The last couple of years the ALMS has raced there, it was the most boring race of the entire season. Both the IRL and the ALMS are just too fast for that track. It would be good for other racing. That's just my opinion.