Hasegawa-san dreamed of building the ultimate racing engine, but found the environment at Yamaha too constrictive. Helped by funding from tuning pioneers Sigma Automotive, he was able to start a business of his own to fabricate the engines and performance parts major manufacturers could not or would not produce themselves.
Read MoreWhile filling out the car’s homologation papers, CAMS officials made a small typo which would do wonders for the project. Instead of entering T02, they filled in a certain box with T03. This denoted the specific type of Garrett turbocharger allowed on the car. Thanks to the typo, that turbine was now a damn sight bigger than it normally would have been.
Read MoreLuckily, Maurice Philippe had just that in mind. In order to give Tyrrell an aerodynamic advantage, he not only though out of the box, he stomped on it and threw it in the trash. Realizing a conventional wing could only do so much with the maximum width given by the FIA, he set out to maximize the surface area within the available space.
Read MoreThe possible impact of the Haas-Maserati partnership
Read MoreTo this end, Mazda elected revamp an existing campaign. Through race engineering firm SpeedSource, the company had been running a 20B-powered version of the RX-8 in the Rolex Sports Car Series, the premier category sanctioned by the Grand Am Road Racing Association. For 2013, Grand Am added the Grand eXperimental class, a category intended to showcase alternative drivetrain technologies in the traditionally V8-dominated series.
Read MoreHoping to steal the Italian’s thunder, Opel employed the services of multiple Le Mans winning team Joest Racing. Joest was tasked with the development and running of the ambitious project, ensuring a professional and methodical approach to Opel’s biggest racing effort yet.
Read MoreAt Matra, designer Bernard Boyer reached the same conclusion. Under his direction, work started on a four wheel drive development of the concurrent MS80. In order to get a head start, Boyer contracted Ferguson itself to develop the car’s drivetrain. The biggest issue with creating the innovative machine was the position of the engine.
Read MoreOwing to the much larger V10, the car’s chassis had to be stretched substantially. This coincided with Hezeman’s plans for the body, which would sport larger front and rear sections in order to generate more downforce. Lotus designer Martin Ogilvie was drafted in for a few days to realize this concept in a more professional manner.
Read MoreThe car’s undeniable star power raised expectations, but the team swiftly found out the Torino didn’t exactly take kindly to the French countryside. As expected, the car was right at home on the 6 kilometer (3.7 mile) long Mulsanne straight, but found itself agitated on any section of track even slightly twistier than that.
Read MoreUnsurprisingly, the world looked on in awe when Hyundai presented the heavily mutated WRC-form of the Accent to the public. Developed and built by British specialists Motor Sport Development, the Accent WRC2000 looked like serious business.
Read MoreIf the saying 'The first blow is half the battle' is even remotely true, it's honestly surprising to see that this latest DLC expansion for Assetto Corsa is not laying six feet under as I'm writing this.
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