commadore183

1996 all over again... As much as I hate how the FIA have been changing the rules each and every year (and it seems like every race, too), I do not want a breakaway series (*points to USAC/CART and CART/IRL in 1978 and 1996, respectively). We all see and saw what the damage was done by the CART/IRL split, so hopefully cooler heads will prevail at the proverbial eleventh hour. Right now, it looks like the teams mentioned are going to participate in this breakaway series, with maybe the addition of privateer teams. Williams and Force India may be forced to find a new engine supplier, as Toyota and Mercedes-Benz will most likely go to the FOTA championship. Another issue would be, what circuits would the FOTA championship race at? I'm sure that the FOM contracts with the circuits in the current season would forbid a rival series to F1, so that leaves FOTA trying to negotiate a deal with the non-F1 circuits to race there. If there were to be a FOTA-backed championship, here are some of the tracks that could be replacements to this year's circuits: *Australia: no clue, maybe go back to Adelaide? *Malyasia: don't think they have another Grade 1 circuit there, so that race may be dropped. *China: Maybe the Zhuhai International Circuit? *Bahrain: again, not sure if they have another Grand 1 circuit, so another dropped race, maybe *Spain: Jarama, Jerez are the circuits off the top of my head *Monaco: No other circuit, so I'm afraid that may be dropped. *Turkey: dropped, no other Grade 1 circuits *Great Britain: as this year is Silverstone's final race in F1 for a while (the British GP will be going to a revised Donington Park next year), Silverstone might have an opening for FOTA championship *Germany: AVUS!!!111! () but seriously, Oschersleben, or maybe EuroSpeedway Laustiz (oh, God, a roval, what has this world come to ) *Hungary: again, dropped, no other Grade 1 circuits *European: maybe back to Jerez for them? Or maybe they can fix up the A1-Ring and return there? *Belgium: Zolder *Italy: Imola *Singapore: dropped, unless they want to run on Thomson Road? *Japan: Twin Ring Motegi road course? *Brazil: the Brasilia circuit? The one in Rio de Janeiro is being demolished to make way for Brazil's bid for the Olympics. *Abu Dhabi: dropped, no other Grade 1 circuit. That makes about 10 races on the FOTA championship calendar. Races that I want to see return are: *United States: right now, only Indy is capable of top flight road racing, as it is already has everything need for when F1 came to town. If not Indy, then maybe Sebring, Long Beach, or maybe even a return to Watkins Glen, even thought it might need some upgrades for safety. *Canada: Circuit Gilles Villeneuve (Montreal), or Mosport International Raceway. *South Africa: Kyalami Circuit *Portugal: Estoril *Dutch: Zandvoort *Detroit: yes, off the wall, I know, but I just like the thought of a Grand Prix very close by *France: Magny-Cours (obviously), or maybe the Bugatti Circuit at Le Mans? With my additions, that makes it 17 races, the same as this year's championship. It adds three races to North America (if you include my hare-brained Detroit GP), and a return to France, South Africa, Portugal, and Holland. I'm sure there are other good circuits to add (don't be afraid to do so). Granted, this is based on if the FOTA championship will run on FIA Grade 1 circuits (although there are some that aren't Grade 1, but should be close enough). If the FOTA championship decided to race on circuits other than Grade 1, then that opens a lot of doors for them. One of the things that can hurt a breakaway series for FOTA would be the television exposure if they can't secure a good TV deal. I hope that this doesn't come to fruition, but if it does happen, I'm gonna be disappointed, but will watch, as I would want them to succeed. Thoughts?

The race will be held on June 13th and 14th and the legendary Circuit de la Sarthe, part permanent race circuit, part temporary street circuit, over 8 miles of high speed racing per lap for twenty-four hours. It's where manufacturers such as Ferrari, Porsche, Ford, Audi, and Chevrolet, among many others, have been driven by legends like Mario Andretti, AJ foyt, Derek Bell, Tom Kristenssen, and Jacky Ickx claimed overall victory. Since 1923, it has been the race manufacturers want to win. Today's Le Mans race will involve 55 cars from 4 different classes (LMP1, LMP2, GT1, and GT2) competing for overall and class victory. Invites (by class): LMP1 #1 Audi Sport Team Joest, Audi R15 TDI #2 Audi Sport North America, Audi R15 TDI #3 Audi Sport Team Joest, Audi R15 TDI #4 Creation Autosportif, Creation CA07-Judd #6 Team LNT, Ginette-Zytek 09S #7 Team Peugeot Total, Peugeot 908 HDi FAP #8 Team Peugeot Total, Peugeot 908 HDi FAP #9 Peugeot Sport Total, Peugeot 908 HDi FAP #10 Team Oreca Matmut AIM, Oreca 01-AIM #11 Team Oreca Matmut AIM, Oreca 01-AIM #12 Signature Plus, Courage-Oreca LC70E-Judd #13 Speedy Racing Team Sebah, Lola B08/60-Aston Martin #14 Kolles, Audi R10 TDI #15 Kolles, Audi R10 TDI #16 Pescarolo Sport, Pescarolo 01-Judd #17 Pescarolo Sport, Peugeot 908 HDi FAP #23 Strakka Racing, Ginetta-Zytek 09S #007 Aston Martin Racing, Lola B09/60-Aston Martin #008 AMR Eastern Europe, Lola B09/60-Aston Martin LMP2 #5 NAVI Team Goh, Porsche RS Spyder #24 OAK Racing, Pescarolo 01-Mazda #25 Ray Mallock Ltd, Lola B08/86-Mazda #26 Bruichladdich Bruneau Team, Radical SR9-AER #30 Racing Box, Lola B08/80-Judd #31 Team Essex, Porsche RS Spyder #33 Speedy Racing Team Sebah, Lola B08/80-Judd #35 OAK Racing, Pescarolo 01-Mazda #40 Quifel ASM Team, Ginetta-Zytek 09S/2 #41 GAC Racing Team, Zytek 07S/2 #44 Kruse-Schiller Motorsport, Lola B07/46-Mazda GT1 #55 IPB Spartak Racing, Lamborghini Murcielago R-GT #63 Corvette Racing, Chevrolet Corvette C6.R #64 Corvette Racing, Chevrolet Corvette C6.R #66 Jetalliance Racing, Aston Martin DBR9 #68 JLOC Isao Noritake, Lamborghini Murcielago R-GT #72 Luc Alphand Aventures, Chevrolet Corvette C6.R #73 Luc Alphand Aventures, Chevrolet Corvette C6.R GT2 #70 IMSA Performance Matmut, Porsche 911 GT3-RSR #75 Endurance Asia Team, Porsche 911 GT3-RSR #76 IMSA Performance Matmut, Porsche 911 GT3-RSR #77 Team Felbermayr-Proton, Porsche 911 GT3-RSR #78 AF Corse, Ferrari F430 GT2 #80 Flying Lizard Motorsports, Porsche 911 GT3-RSR #81 Team Seattle/Advance Engineering, Ferrari F430 GT2 #82 Risi Competitzione, Ferrari F430 GT2 #83 Risi Competitzione, Ferrari F430 GT2 #84 Team Modena, Ferrari F430 GT2 #85 Snoras Spyker Squadron, Spyker C8 Laviolette GT2-R #87 Drayson Racing, Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT2 #89 Hankook Farnbacher Racing, Ferrari F430 GT2 #92 JMW Motorsport, Ferrari F430 GT2 #96 Virgo Motorsport, Ferrari F430 GT2 #97 BMS Scuderia Italia, Ferrari F430 GT2 #99 JMB Racing, Ferrari F430 GT2 Reserve Entries 1st, LMP2, Barazi-Epsilon, Sytek 07S/2 2nd, LMP2, Gerard Welter, WR LMP2008-Zytek 3rd, GT2, Team Felbermayr-Proton, Porsche 911 GT3-RSR 4th, GT2, Snoras Spyker Squadron, Spyker C8 Laviolette GT2-R 5th, GT1, Larbre Competition, Saleen S7-R Wikipedia page Last year, in LMP1, we saw the final Le Mans win for the venerable Audi R10 TDI, the best diesel powered car to lap the circuit, and Audi has returned to defend their title, this time with the new R15 TDI, which won its first time out at the 12 Hours os Sebring in March. Hot on their heels will be the French mark Peugeot with their 908 HDi FAP, another diesel powered car. The French nearly took the win from Audi, but the German team beat them out with strategy and good old fashion reliability. Can the R15 keep Audi's Le Mans winning streak going? In LMP2, the Porsche RS Spyder, of Van Merksteijn Motorsport, claimed its class victory over the other Porsche RS Spyder of Team Essex by 7 laps. Van Merksteijn Motorsports did not accept their invitation for this year's race, so can Team Essex give the RS Spyder another class victory? Will previous race winner Team Goh take that honor from Team Essex in the same Porsche? Or will one of the other LMP2 cars spoil their party? GT1 saw Aston Martin Racing take another Le Mans win from the factory Corvettes. With the Le Mans race being the last of the GT1 Corvettes, can they finish out its illustrious run with the top step of the podium, or will the Lamborghini or Aston Martin put a damper on it? GT2 sees the defending race winner, Risi Competizione, take on 5 Porsches, 9 Ferraris (including their other car), an Aston Martin and a Spyker, all fighting to be the top of their class. With 15 other cars in their class, it will be a tall order for the Risi boys to see victory again. Qualifying will be on June 11th. SPEED Channel will carry live coverage of the race, but not the full 24 hours. I'll post their schedule as soon as it comes out.

The Peugeots finally win a race at Le Mans! They've spent the past 2 years trying to beat the Audis, but through either stupid mistakes or reliability issues, they've failed to get the top spot on the podium. Now, the Peugeots, in a 3 year old design (with upgrades), beat out the vaunted Audi teams (in the new R15 TDIs), with their superior aerodynamics and Audi's reliability issues of their own (had to blow out their radiators several times over the 24 hours). The diesels still reign supreme at Le Mans, but the petrol (gasoline) cars are closing in (with help from the ACO). Several cars have had big problems over the race. The #2 Audi R15 TDI spun out at the entry of the Porsche Curves, terminally damaging the car at about 6 hours in. The #009 Lola-Aston Martin smacked into the side of the #26 Radical at the entrance to pitlane, causing severe damage to the car. Stuart Hall, the driver of the Lola-Aston Martin at the time, was excluded from the race as a result of the crash (the Lola-Aston Martin would later crash heavily in the Porsche Curves about 6 hours from the end of the race). The #17 Pescarolo-run Peugeot 908 HDi FAP car crashed in a big way at the 13 hour mark, causing the driver to take a trip to the hospital to be checked out (he was okay). The final big moment was when the #5 Porsche RS Spyder lost it under braking for the first chicane, smacked the right-side guardrail, then deranged one of the tyre rows in the runoff area. The driver was fine; the car, not so much. Narain Karthikeyan, driver of the #14 Audi R10 TDI car entered by Kolles, fell off of the pit wall before the start of the race and dislocated his shoulder. He went to the hospital to have it relocated. The doctors at the hospital cleared him to drive, but the ACO doctors said he couldn't race, so the car was ran by only two drivers, a big feat. Below are the class winners: LMP1: #9 Peugeot Sport Total Peugeot 908 HDi FAP, driven by Marc Gene, Alexander Wurz, and David Brabham LMP2: #31 Team Essex Porsche RS Spyder, driven by Casper Elgaard, Emmanuel Collard, and Kristian Poulsen GT1: #63 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C6.R, driven by Johnny O'Connell, Jan Magnussen, and Antonio Garcia GT2: #82 Risi Competizione Ferrari F430 GT2, driven by Jaime Melo, Pierre Kaffer, and Mika Salo Below are the final class results (from the Le Mans website, in .pdf format): http://www.lemans.org/24heuresdumans/chron...Race_clah24.pdf And the overall results (again, in .pdf format): http://www.lemans.org/24heuresdumans/chronos/24h.pdf

They're not testicles in the traditional human sense in hockey. You see, they are actually a storage place for Win, something everyone on the Red Wings team has plenty of. Hell, Lidstrom has so much win he has trouble putting his cup and pants on. Rumor has it that Yzerman had to have his pants custom made to fit his Jupiter-sized testicles. I'm not surprised that you don't know that, seeing as virtually no one on the Penguins have either testicles or any amount of Win, as well as you, Miss Prick.

Qualifying results for tomorrow's 24 Hours of Le Mans race (bold are class leaders): Color code: LMP1, LMP2, GT1, GT2 1) #8 Team Peugeot Total, Peugeot 908 HDi FAP 2) #1 Audi Sport Team Joest, Audi R15 TDI 3) #7 Team Peugeot Total, Peugeot 908 HDi FAP 4) #17 Pescarolo Sport, Peugeot 908 HDi FAP 5) #9 Peugeot Sport Total, Peugeot 908 HDi FAP 6) #2 Audi Sport North America, Audi R15 TDI 7) #3 Audi Sport Team Joest, Audi R15 TDI 8) #007 AMR Eastern Europe, Lola B09/60-Aston Martin 9) #008 Aston Martin Racing, Lola B09/60-Aston Martin 10) #13 Speedy Racing Sebah, Lola B08/60-Aston Martin 11) #23 Strakka Racing, Ginetta-Zytek 09S 12) #16 Pescarolo Sport, Pescarolo 01-Judd 13) #15 Kolles, Audi R10 TDI 14) #14 Kolles, Audi R10 TDI 15) #10 Team Oreca Matmut AIM, Oreca 01-AIM 16) #11 Team Oreca Matmut AIM, Oreca 01-AIM 17) #009 Aston Martin Racing, Lola B09/60-Aston Martin 18) #6 Team LNT, Ginetta-Zytek 09S 19) #4 Creation Autosportif, CreationCA07-Judd 20) #31 Team Essex, Porsche RS Spyder 21) #5 Navi Team Goh, Porsche RS Spyder 22) #12 Signature Plus, Oreca 01-Judd 23) #33 Speedy Racing Sebah, Lola B08/80-Judd 24) #25 RML, Lola B08/86-Mazda 25) #40, Quifel ASM Team, Ginetta-Zytek 09S 26) #30 Racing Box, Lola B08/80-Judd 27) #41 GAC Racing Team, Zytek 09S 28) #35 OAK Racing, Pescarolo 01-Mazda 29) #32 Team Barazi Epsilon, Zytek 07S 30) #39 KSM, Lola B07/46-Mazda 31) #63 Corvette Racing, Chevrolet Corvette C6.R 32) #64 Corvette Racing, Chevrolet Corvette C6.R 33) #26 Bruichladdich Bruneau, Radical SR9-AER 34) #66 Jetalliance Racing Gmbh, Aston Martin DBR9 35) #72 Alphand Aventures, Chevrolet Corvette C6.R 36) #24 OAK Racing, Pescarolo 01-Mazda 37) #73 Alphand Aventures, Chevrolet Corvette C6.R 38) #80 Flying Lizard Motorsport, Porsche 997 GT3-RSR 39) #77 Felbermayr Proton, Porsche 997 GT3-RSR 40) #82 Risi Competizione, Ferrari F430 GT2 41) #99 JMB Racing, Ferrari F430 GT2 42) #97 BMS Scuderia Italia, Ferrari F430 GT2 43) #76 IMSA Performance Matmut, Porsche 997 GT3-RSR 44) #78 AF Corse, Ferrari F430 GT2 45) #92 JMW Motorsport, Ferrari F430 GT2 46) #87 Drayson Racing, Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT2 47) #89 Hankook-Farnbacher, Ferrari F430 GT2 48) #85 Snoras Spyker Squadron, Spyker C8 Laviolette 49) #84 Team Modena, Ferrari F430 GT2 50) #83 Risi Competizione, Ferrari F430 GT2 51) #70 IMSA Performance Matmut, Porsche 997 GT3-RSR 52) #75 Endurance Asia Team, Porsche 997 GT3-RSR 53) #96 Virgo Motorsport, Ferrari F430 GT2 54) #81 Advanced Engineering, Ferrari F430 GT2 55) #68 JLOC, Lamborghini Murcielago R-GT Here in the states, pre-race for the 24 Hours of Le Mans is on at 7:30 EDT AM on SPEED Channel, with the race starting at 8:30 AM EDT or so. SPEED will broadcast the race from 8:30 AM to 12 PM EDT, when the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice at MIS will air. SPEED will return with the coverage of the race at 4:30 PM EDT until 10 PM EDT, and back on at 12 AM EDT until the end, I guess. For those outside of the US, check your programing guide for information on race coverage.

Provisional 2010 entry list: Entrant: Constructor-Engine -Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: Ferrari -Scuderia Toro Rosso: Toro Rosso-TBA -Red Bull Racing: Red Bull-TBA -AT&T WilliamsF1 Team: Williams-Toyota -Force India Formula One: Force India-Mercedes -Campos Grand Prix: Campos-Cosworth -Manor Grand Prix: Manor-Cosworth -Team US F1: Team US F1-Cosworth -Vodafone McLaren-Mercedes: McLaren-Mercedes* -BMW Sauber F1 Team: BMW Sauber* -ING Renault F1 Team: Renault* -Panasonic Toyota Racing: Toyota* -Brawn GP Formula One Team: Brawn-TBA* The TBA after the chassis constructor means, basically, that an engine deal hasn't been finalized. Also the teams with an * next to them are conditional entries. The teams will continue to be in talks with the FIA until June 19th, where the five teams must either drop the conditions or pull out of the championship, I think. Source: FIA Press Release

Well, at least we'll win the Cup at home. Shame that Ozzie's effort was wasted.

LET'S GO RED WINGS!!! LET'S GO RED WINGS!!! GO WINGS GO!!!

LET'S GO RED WINGS!!! LET'S GO RED WINGS!!! GO WINGS GO!!!

LET'S GO RED WINGS!!! LET'S GO CLEARY!!! LET'S GO OZZIE!!! LET'S GO DRAPPER!!! LET'S GO RED WINGS!!! GO WINGS GO!!!

Capitalize on this, Wings!!! LET'S GO RED WINGS!!! LET'S GO CLEARY!!! LET'S GO OZZIE!!! LET'S GO DRAPPER!!! LET'S GO RED WINGS!!! GO WINGS GO!!!

Blah, got one good chance, but that's it LET'S GO RED WINGS!!! LET'S GO CLEARY!!! LET'S GO OZZIE!!! LET'S GO RED WINGS!!!

I'm calling Osgood for the tying goal! LET'S GO RED WINGS!!! LET'S GO CLEARY!!! LET'S GO OZZIE!!! LET'S GO RED WINGS!!!

OMG DRAPPER!!! 2-1 Penguins. Get more like that, Wings!!! LET'S GO RED WINGS!!! LET'S GO CLEARY!!! LET'S GO OZZIE!!! LET'S GO DRAPPER!!! LET'S GO RED WINGS!!!

Blah, Wings defense fell apart again. 2-0 Penguins. Still plenty of time left in the game to tie it up! LET'S GO RED WINGS!!! LET'S GO MULE!!! LET'S GO OZZIE!!! LET'S GO RED WINGS!!!

LET'S GO RED WINGS!!! LET'S GO CLEARY!!! LET'S GO OZZIE!!! LET'S GO RED WINGS!!!

LET'S GO RED WINGS!!! LET'S GO CLEARY!!! LET'S GO OZZIE!!! LET'S GO RED WINGS!!! Mule for the tying goal, and Cleary with the Cup winning goal! The Wings will also add more goals to their total! LET'S GO RED WINGS!!! LET'S GO CLEARY!!! LET'S GO OZZIE!!! LET'S GO RED WINGS!!!

The Wings need to come out in the 4rd, put pressure on the Penguins, put puck on the net (good things happen when you shoot the puck ), be tidy defensively, and above all, win. The Wings will win this!

I want the pressure the Wings put on the Penguins to be so intense that you can make a diamond from a lump of coal at the Mellon Arena. LET'S GO RED WINGS!!! LET'S GO CLEARY!!! LET'S GO OZZIE!!! LET'S GO RED WINGS!!!

LET'S GO RED WINGS!!! LET'S GO CLEARY!!! LET'S GO OZZIE!!! LET'S GO RED WINGS!!!

We will win this game! Just a matter of getting everything together! LET'S GO RED WINGS!!! LET'S GO CLEARY!!! LET'S GO OZZIE!!! LET'S GO RED WINGS!!!

LET'S GO RED WINGS!!! LET'S GO CLEARY!!! LET'S GO OZZIE!!! LET'S GO RED WINGS!!!

LET'S GO RED WINGS!!! LET'S GO CLEARY!!! LET'S GO OZZIE!!! LET'S GO RED WINGS!!!

LET'S GO RED WINGS!!! LET'S GO HOSSA!!! LET'S GO CLEARY!!! LET'S GO OZZIE!!! LET'S GO RED WINGS!!!

Blah, that sucks. Oh well, we'll get it back, and in spades too! LET'S GO RED WINGS!!! LET'S GO HOSSA!!! LET'S GO CLEARY!!! LET'S GO OZZIE!!! LET'S GO RED WINGS!!!