There was more racing this weekend than you could reasonably shake a stick at. With F1, NASCAR, WEC, IndyCar, V8S, WTCC, ELMS, IMSA, PWC, and VLN, could there really be any more acronym racing series available for the weekend? Everywhere you turned, there was more racing going on, and it was awesome. Personally, I got up hella early on Sunday to watch the WEC race from Silverstone, and I’m really glad I did, as it was awesome. Whether factory-based or privateer, there were some excellent teams out on circuit this week, and the racing could not have been better. There were, however a lot of penalties and race-exclusions this weekend, so we’ll talk a bit about that as well.
The racing will only continue to get hotter from here, so we’ll do our best to help keep your finger on the pulse. Just be aware of the fact that this post is filled with spoilers. Giant carbon-fiber, multi-element, DRS-equipped, Gurney-flapped, Spoilers! (This normally runs on Mondays, but this week I was late because I drove to Los Angeles to attend the Porsche-centric Luftgekuhlt show. It was rad, but I was driving home until midnight, so I didn’t have time to get this done for Monday. Sorry it’s late, it’ll probably happen a couple times here and there.)
Formula 1 Speaks Chinese
WEC Endures Silverstone
NASCAR Chases Its Tail In Tennessee
European Le Mans Series Plays Silverstone Second Fiddle
IndyCar Packs Sunscreen For Long Beach
IMSA Crashes In Your Long Beach Pad
PWC Sprints Along The Long Beach
VLN Nurburgring Qualification Race 
WTCC Goes Slovak
V8 Supercars On The Island
What’s The Deal With All The Exclusions?
Press Releases
Cool Race Cars For Sale
& MORE!

Formula 1 – China

Ex-Glamour Model, Rowboat Enthusiast, and Alleged Santaria Practitioner, Nico Rosberg, took another commanding victory in the Chinese Grand Prix, continuing his perfect season stroke of good luck. With this win, and Lewis Hamilton’s bad luck scoring him minimal points, Rosberg has opened up a 36 point lead over his teammate in the World Driver’s Championship. The race that unfolded has been described as chaotic, but I think we can do better.  Topsy-Turvy? Pandemonial? An Omnishambles?
Rosberg led away at the start from pole, but it was Daniel Ricciardo who beat all comers into turn one from second on the grid. Vettel was squeezed by Raikkonnen and “madman” Daniil Kvyat, forcing Kimi wide off of the circuit. Raikkonnen then was forced to pit for repairs. Critically Acclaimed Broadway Musical, Hamilton, was forced to start from the back of the grid thanks to a hybrid system failure in qualifying, and was working his way back through the field. He’d already made up five positions at the start, but into turn one he hit debris from Raikkonnen’s incident, and was run into by Felipe Nasr, which destroyed Hamilton’s front aero in a non-repairable fashion, making recovery much more difficult.
On lap three, from the lead of the race, Ricciardo’s rear left tire exploded due to a debris puncture. The further debris caused by the Red Bull’s shredded rubber made a call for the Safety Car to come out for 5 laps.
After the Safety Car returned to the pits, the race was a walk in the park for Rosberg and a strategy gamble for the rest of the field. Rosberg won the race, Vettel who had at one time been as low as 15th recovered to finish second, and Red Bull Racing’s Daniil Kvyat finished in third as the team was on high form at the weekend.
Alonso, who finished out of the points, blames a lack of speed in the McLaren Honda cars, rather than team strategy. Both seems a possibility to me.

Vettel Is A Little Whiner Who Holds Grudges

Vettel bitches at Kvyat for making an overtaking maneuver into turn 1 that was perhaps a low percentage pass. Meanwhile, later in the race, Vettel himself does this…

You be the judge.

WEC – Silverstone

This was an amazing and interesting race. I had to wake up at 3 O’clock in the morning on Sunday to watch it, and I’m exceedingly glad that I did. There was drama, there was strategy, there was a whole lot of excellent driving, and there was a whole lot of less-than-excellent driving.
The Race in LMP1 –

Audi started from pole, but Mark Webber moved his Porsche into the lead before the end of his first stint. Webber handed the car over to Brendon Hartley and he ran a flawless stint, pitted and retained the lead. During his second stint, after having stretched out nearly a full minute gap to second place, the shit in that video went down. It was a botched pass on a GTE car that took his #1 car out of contention.
During that full-course yellow, the #8 Audi suffered a hybrid drive system failure that left the car stranded on track. That car could not get back running, and was retired.
One of the Toyotas had a rear tire failure that shredded the bodywork trying to get the car back to the pits. The car was repaired and did make it back into the fray, but several laps down. And just like that, the 6-car LMP1 field was cut in half.
In a two-car battle at the front between the #2 Porsche and the #7 Audi, it was cut and thrust, parry and riposte. The strategy involved was intense, and it was exciting to watch if you’re a numbers nerd like me. With the amount of yellow flag action that the race had seen, it looked like Porsche might be able to get away with one fewer stop for fuel than the Audi.
On their penultimate stop, Porsche gambled for track position by fitting just left side tires and chucking it full of fuel. They managed to gain more than 10 seconds on the leading Audi with this strategy, but it was all bungled up on their outlap as the car presumably picked up some carbon shards from the Toyota’s explosion, and the right front tire had a puncture. Pitting two laps in a row is less than ideal, and saw the Porsche over a minute behind the Audi. Audi needed a full fuel stop, and Porsche ultimately just needed a splash and dash stop with 10 minutes left in the race. That was where they would finish, however, with Audi ahead of Porsche.
That is, until the Audi was excluded from the results for having their front undertray worn down too much. By running their ride height too low and executing too much downforce, the car was allowed to bottom out too much on the circuit, and the front of the car received more than 5mm of wear, which is the regulated wear allowance. With the exclusion, Porsche won the race, Toyota finished in second, and the Rebellion privateer LMP1 finished in third, some 11 laps in arrears.
The Race in LMP2 – 

One of my new favorite drivers, Pipo Derani, had a cracking race that ended in a second place finish. Paired with Chris Cumming and Ryan Dalziel (A.K.A. Razzle Dazzle), the ESM drivers worked diligently to run at or near the front all day. In the end it was the Mexican entry, RGR Sport by Morand, that took the victory. LMP2 was an exciting race, and probably some of the best driving of the weekend was done in this class.
The Race in GTE Pro – 

The Ford GTs made their WEC debut ahead of an assault on the 24 Hours of Le Mans this June. It was obvious from the start that they were running this race as an extended race-conditions test for the cars, never really playing into the running. The cars were running minimal downforce, and the team was double-stinting both drivers and tires even though they did not need to. Testing the long-run traction on worn tires is much more important for Le Mans than it is for Silverstone. It’s obvious that Ford is putting all of their eggs in the LM basket. I wish them luck.

Raj Nair, Executive VP and CTO Global Ford Product Development had this to say:
“Considering it was the first race with a new car and a new team we had a clean run. We’re very happy that the car ran well mechanically.
We had a couple of issues; we were caught out on safety car timing and we lost radio with Olivier towards the end of the race, which had an impact on strategy.  This is a great start though and a good stepping stone to the Le Mans 24 Hours.”

The race winners in GTE Pro were the Ferraris of AF Corse, who cleaned up this weekend with a 1-2 in the Pro category. Their new 488 GTE served well, and ran great all weekend. After qualifying, the #51 Ferrari of Bruni and Calado had to change their engine, and as such received a 3-minute penalty during the race, pushing them a couple of laps down. The duo raced their hearts out and fought back to finish in second. Their team-mates Davide Rigon and Sam Bird were the race winners.
The Race in GTE Am – 
AF Corse also won the Am category with a 2015-spec 458 GTE car. The trio of Francoise Perrodo, Emmanuel Collard, and Rui Aguas won by some ten seconds over the Aston Martin V8 Vantage of Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy, and Mathias Lauda.
Porsche’s Highs and Lows – 
Porsche may have had the worst weekend of all in the GTE categories. Three of their four cars (Dempsey-Proton, Abu Dhabi-Proton, and KCMG) suffered the same front right upper wishbone failure, forcing lengthy repairs. The fourth car, the Gulf Racing Porsche, was taken out in that smashening with Hartley’s LMP1. They ended up winning the race overall, but lost four GTEs and one LMP1 in the process.
For more on my take on Porsche’s weekend, see my race recap for FlatSixes.com.

NASCAR – Bristol

Carl Edwards did his signature back flip at Bristol following a domination victory over ‘Little E’. After leading 276 of the 500 laps in the race, Edwards won the whole shootin’ match. Behind him, many of the more seasoned drivers had issues, and populated the top 10 with an unlikely band of ragamuffins.
Dale Jr. finished second and contended for the lead, losing out by just fractions of a second. Chase Elliot improved his career best 5th at Texas with a 4th at Bristol. Trevor Bayne finished 5th, giving him his first top-five since his rookie Daytona 500 winning run in 2011. Matt DiBenedetto finished 6th, and I’ve never heard of him. Clint Bowyer ran a few laps down at the start, and rallied to run 8th at the flag.
Interesting stuff. Compelling stories.

European Le Mans Series – Silverstone

Harry Tinknell, Simon Dolan, and Giedo van der Garde won the wet race at Silverstone in dominant fashion. Tinknell started the race from 4th on the grid, and within a handful of laps was leading the race and pulled out a 25 second lead in just the first 18 laps. Tinknell did a double-stint leading into another double-stint from Simon Dolan. van der Garde took over the car with 40 minutes remaining and won his very first endurance sports car race. They were briefly hassled by the Panis Barthez Competition Ligier, but that car would suffer from intermittent electrical issues.
United Autosport took a 1-2 race finish in the LMP3 class, taking the victory by a wide margin over third. In GTE, it was the Ferrari 458 of JMW Motorsport taking the win over the Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage.

IndyCar – Long Beach

This is a pretty good recap. Race control bungled their call, and it handed the victory to Pagenaud. I like Pagenaud, but his move was worthy of penalty, as framed by IndyCar themselves. Oh well, lets get on with it.
Pagenaud fought a late race charge from Scott Dixon to take the victory by just three tenths. Pagenaud was able to take the lead over Dixon by stretching his third pit stop just a little longer than Dixon and rejoined the race ahead of him. The move in question here, was when Pagenaud rejoined the track, and crossed the pit-lane blend line with three of his four wheels.

Dixon had this to say:
“The rules clearly say that if you put two wheels over the line you will get a penalty. He got a warning. There’s meant to be no warnings, so I don’t know what that’s all about. That was our race, man. It is what it is.”

IMSA In Long Beach

The race was won at the front with a trio of Corvette DPs, but that’s not really important. LMPC was REALLY not-important. The important bit was what happened in the factory-backed GTLM category.
GTLM was dominated all day by Porsche and Corvette, who were practically in a class of their own. The Porsches had led early, but both were penalized for pit-lane speeding incidents. As they worked their way back to the front, it was the two Corvettes leading in lock-step at the front.
With about 9 minutes remaining, the #3 Corvette (Antonio Garcia at the time) spun. He said there was contact from behind, but the video shows that to be a mis-truth.

A few laps later, the #4 Corvette of Milner ran slightly wide at the hairpin, and Porsche’s Fred Makowiecki made a low-percentage divebomb to the inside to try to take the lead. Unfortunately, he realized too late that there would not be enough room to the inside, and locked up his brakes, smashing into the rear quarter of the Corvette. Mako’s move ended with Milner spun, and him facing the Corvette bumper-to-bumper. This allowed the third placed Porsche of Nick Tandy to pass both of them to inherit the lead, and one lap later, he took the class win. Fred Mako was penalized for avoidable contact, and finished 7th in class. You can say in hind-sight that you would not have made that move if you were in Mako’s seat, but is that really true? If he’d made that stick, he’d have been a damn hero.
Mako later took ownership of the incident in a press release from Porsche’s PR department. I do hope that Fred would have the courtesy to call Milner to apologize for wrecking his race. Having met Fred, it’s more likely he would call to invite Tommy out to a strip club one evening.

For more on my take on Porsche’s weekend, see my race recap for FlatSixes.com.

PWC In Long Beach

The GT categories of PWC arrived in Long Beach to run a single sprint race on Sunday morning. The weather was excellent, and the racing was even better.
On lap 1, Alvaro Parente pushed O’Connell into a light brush with the wall at turn one, and led the race for the first 14 laps. Bryan Heitkotter’s Nissan ran into the tire barrier at Turn 1, bringing out a yellow. At the restart on lap 15, that’s when the gloves were removed and the real shuffle began. O’Connell completed the pass at turn 1 on the restart, and never looked back.
Johnny later complimented Alvaro on his smooth driving style. Saying also that the racing in Long Beach was “fun”. At the end of the race, it was Patrick Long’s EFFORT Racing Porsche finishing out the podium.
The following day, however, O’Connell’s car was demoted to second with a 10 second penalty for a technical infringement. Cadillac Racing responded by saying that the post-race tech inspection showed two traction-control related turbo boost spikes that were outside of the regulations.

O’Connell had this to say in a statement:
“In post-race tech they found we had a few boost spikes that were not to their liking. From what I understand these were when we were in traction control situations, so not a speed advantage at all. But rules are rules. A second place finish does not take away from the accomplishment of Cadillac Racing today. I am proud of the team.”
Parente responded by saying this:
“I have mixed emotions about winning the race this way. I would have liked to have won the race on the track. We had a near-perfect weekend with winning the pole position and racing for the win. It’s too bad that Johnny was penalized because we had a great race today. But I am happy to win at a famed track like Long Beach in my first appearance. I’m happy for the KPAX team and McLaren and I look forward to racing next week at Barber.”

V8 Supercars – Phillip Island

Race 1 –
Volvo’s Scott McLaughlin won the opening race of the weekend by sprinting away from the pole position, and gaining a one-second lead by the end of lap 2. He stopped on lap 6 for a compulsory fuel up, and continued on his way, never losing the lead. Whincup tried to run him down, having started fourth and passed Winterbottom first and then Chaz Mostert to move into P2. The closest he got was 1.2 seconds back.
Race 2 –
McLaughlin pulled off the double with a second victory in the weekend ender. The start was a wild one, with McLaughlin and Whincup running side-by-side through turn 1 with Scott making the best of it and pulling into the point. The pair were driving in tandem, and could never make any inroads on the other until the first round of pit stops.
The Volvo took less fuel at the first stop, and came out with a 7 second gap. At the second stop, however, they closed up a bit as McLaughlin then had to take a heavier load of fuel while Whincup could take less. A safety car shortly thereafter saw Whincup close the gap completely.
When the race went green again, the fans were excited for a 6-lap battle between the two lead cars. Unfortunately, Whincup went wide on the first of those laps, and fell well back in the order, losing both his chance at the lead, and his spot on the podium that was nearly guaranteed.

McLaughlin had this to say in an interview with Fox Sports:
“I was yelling that much under the helmet, I lost my voice. To these guys and girls at GRM, thanks for sticking by me through thick and thin and giving me a great car. We’re coming back. I think we’ll have a good one this year.”

VLN 24 Hour Quali Race – Nurburgring

So this happened. Ouch.
I *think* the HTP Mercedes team won the qualification race, but I can find no proof of that anywhere on the internet. Hopefully in the coming days a race report will be released.

ADAC GT Masters – Oschersleben

This was the first race for the new Calloway C7 GT3 car. The car finished in 7th across both races.
Race 1 –
Won by the AMG Team Zakspeed car of Sebastian Asch and Luca Ludwig.
Race 2 –
The Zakspeed team that won race 1 looked poised to lock up the win in race 2 as well. Asch was the first to cross the line, but was later handed a 30 second penalty for improper conduct behind the safety car. The race was handed to the GRT Grasser Racing Lamborghini Team of Christian Engelhart and Rolf Ineichen.

Rolf Ineichen:
“Thanks first of all to my GRT Grasser Racing Team and to my team-mate Christian Engelhart. Without their preparatory work, this brilliant victory would not have been possible. When I was in second place towards the end of the race, I gave it everything I’d got to defend the position against Connor (De Phillippi). If I’d made the slightest mistake, he would have overtaken me. The late safety car deployment obviously played into our hands. As regards the penalty imposed on Sebastian Asch which handed us the race win, I only heard about it by radio after I’d crossed the finish line. To have clinched the overall victory in such a strong series as the ADAC GT Masters despite being first and foremost a Trophy contestant makes me very proud.”
Christian Engelhart:
“What a sensational win. I would never have expected such an outcome. Hats off to Rolf for putting in this really strong performance on his first ever ADAC GT Masters race weekend. Clearly, the circumstances with the safety car and the penalty for Asch and Ludwig played into our hands. I was a bag of nerves right up until the end. My first-half stint had its ups and downs. I was involved in the collision at the start but then managed to make good a few positions. I was ultimately happy about going into the driver changeover in P4.”

WTCC – Slovakia

Race 1 – 
Tiago Monteiro won the race for Honda with a late race dive pass. Monteiro trailed Mehdi Bennani for much of the race, but was able to make the pass stick at the Turn 8 hairpin on lap 9 to claim the lead and win. This was Tiago’s first victory of the season.
Race 2 – 
Citroen was returned to victory in race 2 with Jose Maria Lopez at the front of the pack. JML took the lead in the opening laps, but Nicky Catsburg moved to the point with an excellently executed switchback move. Lopez stayed behind, but worked with Monteiro behind to reel in Catsburg’s lead. Catsburg’s Lada was eventually passed by both the Citroen and the Honda on the penultimate lap, and that is how they finished.
Volvo Team Excluded From WTCC Results
Polestar Volvo’s Thed Bjork has been excluded from both races at the Slovakia Ring. His air restrictor was too large.

BTCC – Donington Park

Race 1 – 
Mat Jackson won his first BTCC victory in a Ford Focus. He sprinted from 3rd on the start into the lead, blowing by the two front-row MGs. Once he had broken the tow to second place, he ran away with it and didn’t have a chance to look back.
The race was punctuated by the Subaru fire you see above. The Levorg had been misfiring, but the team decided to continue. Once the flames started, driver James Cole pulled the car to the pit-lane exit and the extinguishing began.
Race 2 – 
Rob Collard became the 5th different winner in 5 races of the BTCC when he drove his WSR BMW 125i M Sport to victory in the second race at Donnington. After running third behind Mat Jackson and Tom Ingram, he slowly plotted his move. At 2/3rds race distance, the pass was made on Ingram on the back straight. Four laps later, Collard moved into the lead, passing Jackson at the chicane.
Finale – 
Matt Neal leads a Honda 1-2 victory home in the Donnington Park finale race. Neal won the race over team mate Gordon Shedden, as the pair brought their Honda Civic Type R racers across the line in formation. The race was initially led by a pair of BMWs on softer Dunlops, driven by Sam Tordoff (pole sitter) and Jack Goff (yes, his actual name). As the rear-drive cars slowly wore off their tires, the Hondas made their move. Matt Neal moved into the lead with 3 laps remaining, and Shedden made his move the following lap.

Neal said:
“It was our plan to wait until the BMWs faded, but plans don’t always come together. I was worried that Tordoff’s tyres were hanging on and hanging on, and I wondered whether the race would come back to me – but thankfully it did.”

Jorge Lorenzo Leaving Yamaha For Ducati At The End Of The Season

It’s been rumored for a while, but now it is official. Not really surprising. Go where the money is.

Things You Should Read

Lucas di Grassi writes for Autosport why Roborace can be a good thing.
Roadkill tells us why the EASY 908/14 is an awesome LeMons racer.
Speaking of the EASY 908/14, I drove that car once, it was awesome.
Robin Miller of Racer.com has some awesome insight and great photos from Dan Gurney’s 85th Birthday Party.

Press Releases

McLaren would like you to know that they won in Long Beach. Also, their 570S GT4 made its debut in the British GT Championship, finishing 6th in class. (Sorry I don’t have further Brit GT coverage…)
The FIA World Rallycross Championship would like you to know that Petter Solberg won the season opener in Portugal. (Sorry I don’t have further WRX coverage…)
Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus would like you to know that they are set to make a three-car debut at the Nurburgring 24 hours race this year. Here is the full release, it’s kinda interesting.

Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus (SCG) has succeeded in its objective of ensuring that it is prepared for the epic Nurburgring 24 Hours, which is due to take place at the end of May, after entering three cars for the first time.

The team also took the opportunity to test some new components, and allow the crews – including two new guest drivers – to familiarise themselves with the machinery.

For the first time in nearly three years, the famous P4/5C was entered, now in Mk III specification. This latest version benefits from a modified energy recuperation system and other revisions, and it will be driven at the Nurburgring 24 Hours by Top Gear television presenter Chris Harris and Evo journalist Jethro Bovingdon as part of the line-up.

The experienced Manuel Lauck was the first driver to give the car an outing and concluded: “For a first race after nearly three years, it was really positive. We’re still only at the beginning of this story.”

Also entered for the Nurburgring qualifying race were the two SCG003Cs numbered Macchinauno and Macchinadue, driven by SCG’s regular driver line-up. All nine drivers, including Harris and Bovingdon on their P4/5C debut, were on the pace, while the cars completed some useful preparation work, with the SCG003Cs both running easily in the top 10 during the race.

Some technical issues prevented the cars from finishing, but this was not a major concern as a key part of this weekend was evaluation of new components. The main priority was to ensure that all the drivers were match-fit.

Jeroen Bleekemolen, who started the race in Macchinauno, said: “The car felt very quick: it was fun to keep up with the top guys. With this sort of pace, I’d say we’re in a strong position.”

Jeff Westphal was the starting driver for Macchinadue, and concluded: “It was a lot of fun. The weather conditions were really variable, but this at least gave us an opportunity to experience everything.”

SCG Programme Director Paolo Garella concluded: “We have a clear direction as we finalise our preparations for the 24-hour race, but the problems that affected us today were human factors – not on the part of the drivers – that were avoidable. Of course we will take those as a learning experience.”

Jim Glickenhaus, who created the SCG brand, commented: “Racing is tough and it was a tough day for us today. We elected to retire the P4/5C due to a water pump cooling issue that affected the KERS unit, but it’s not a problem for the N24, where we will be back even stronger. The SCG003C cars showed top-five pace, which is very encouraging for the races ahead.”

SCG’s next outing will be the second round of the VLN Series in two weeks’ time, when the team will conclude its testing programme for the Nurburgring 24 Hours.

The team’s race at the endurance classic this year will be dedicated to the memory of Jim Glickenhaus’s father, who passed away last night. All three cars carried ‘Honoring Seth Glickenhaus, 1914-2016’ decals today, as a tribute.

Cool Race Cars For Sale

1. Elva Courier MK4 T vintage racer

THE FRESH RACE PREPARED ENGINE IS A MGB 5 MAIN BEARING WITH CARRILLO RODS, JE PISTONS, CROSS-DRILLED KNIFE EDGED NITRIDED CRANKSHAFT AND SPECIAL GATED OIL PAN.  THE TRANSMISSION IS A 4 SYNCHRO MGB CLOSE RATIO WITH SYNCHRO LOW AND MODIFIED GEARS FOR A BETTER RATIO.  CARBURETORS ARE TWO 1 3/4 INCH SU’S WITH A SPECIAL INTAKE MANIFOLD.  THE CARE HAS AN INDEPENDENT REAR SUSPENSION AND A LIMITED SLIP DIFFERENTIAL.  BOTH FRONT AND REAR SUSPENSIONS HAVE BEEN UPGRADED WITH DOUBLE ADJUSTABLE SHOCKS, HEAVY DUTY SPINDLES, UPRIGHTS AND STUB AXLES.  THE BODY IS FIBERGLASS.  IT HAS A DOUBLE WIDTH ROLL BAR WITH SIDE BARS AND A BAR UNDER THE DASH.  THERE IS A FIVE GALLON FUEL CELL MOUNTED IN THE TRUNK AND AN ON-BOARD FIRE SYSTEM INSTALLED.
THE CAR HAS BEEN RACED WITH CSRG, HMSA AND SOVREN.
MANY SPARES COME WITH THE CAR INCLUDING A SET OF PANASPORT WHEELS.

See the listing here on eBay.
2. Triumph Vitesse Small Bore Trans Am Race Car

THIS IS THE ORIGINAL KASTNER-BROPHY RACING TRIUMPH VITESSE THAT WAS SPONSORED BY BRITISH LEYLAND AND PREPARED BY KAS KASTNER FOR THE 1971 TRANS-AM SERIES.
With plans to import their new 6 cylinder Triumph Vitesse to the United States, British Leyland thought it was great when Kas Kastner approached them with his idea to build a car for the Trans-Am series to compete with the Datsun 510, Alfa’s and BMW’s.  The Triumph factory helped with the purchase of a Vitesse in England and British Leyland paid to have the car flown over to the new Kastner-Brophy race shop in Southern California.  The in-line six cylinder engine with three Weber carburetors gave the Triumph more than enough power to be competive.  Carl Swanson who was a successful Triumph racer was drafted to drive the car.  It made its Trans-am debut at Road America in July of 1971 where it qualified 6th and finished in 11th place.  Unfortunately, that was the only finish credited. Three other Trans-Am races were entered, but Olathe Kansas, Riverside and Laguna Seca were all shown as DNF’s.  The car was very fast and qualified well with a 1st at Riverside, but had problems with rear tire wear and engine failures.  There was enough power to light up the rear tires and require a pit stop for a tire change.  Playing catch-up after the pit stop helped along the engine failures. With less than impressive results and the decision not to import the Vitesse into the United States, the factory withdrew their support before the car could be fully sorted.  That ended the Trans-Am effort for the Kastner-Brophy Vitesse which was also known as the “Candy Box” because of it’s colorful paint scheme.  It was later sold to Rick Cline who took the car to Florida where he ran the car in SCCA races as a B sedan.  It qualified for the National Championships in 1973, 1974, 1975 and 1976 with the best finish a 3rd place.  It was successfully raced as a B Sedan in the Southeast from 1973 until 1986 by Kline and later Arno Frosh.  In 1988 it was sold to Ralph Thomas from North Carolina, who ran it in Vintage events on the east coast.  The car was returned to California when it was purchased by Butch Gilbert in 2009.  Between 2009 and 2013 it was run at the Monterey Historic’s in 2010 and other races at Laguna Seca, Portland, Lime Rock, Road America and Coronado.
The Vitesse currently has a fresh TR6 2.5 liter race engine with a forged crankshaft, Carrillo rods, JE pistons and a special gated oil pan installed. It also has a fresh Housman transmission and a Limited Slip Differential in the car.  An upgraded Triumph front suspension and independent rear suspension help cure the cars past failures.  There is a fuel cell with new foam, a fire system and new race seat. The windshield glass was replaced with a custom Lexan windshield after losing the new hard to find glass in the first session on the track.  The carburetors are three impressive Weber 45DCOE’s which provide the memorable sound and once tuned resulted in a chassis dyno result of 211 HP to the rear wheels.  Brakes are the period correct Jaguar Disks front and rear and wheels are 13 inch Panasports.  The spares include a fresh GT6 2000cc race engine and a Triumph transmission with a Dolomite close ratio gear set.  Also included is a second set of Panasport wheels. some body parts and other miscellaneous parts.

See the listing here on eBay.
3. 2007 Pescarolo 01 LMP1 Car

Here is a great opportunity to acquire a legendary race car that competed at the 24h of Le Mans twice.
First: the Man:
Henri Pescarolo is a former racing driver from France. He competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans a record 33 times, winning on four occasions, and won a number of other major sports car events including the 24 Hours of Daytona. He also participated in 64 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, achieving one podium and 12 championship points. Pescarolo also drove in the Dakar Rally in the 1990s, before retiring from racing at the age of 57. In 2000 he set up his eponymous racing team, Pescarolo Sport then renamed it Pescarolo Team in 2011, which competed in Le Mans until 2013.
Second: The Car:
First chassis ever built (out of 9 car produced) by Pescarolo Sport in 2007 This car ran endurance championships from 2007 until 2011, Delivered here with the latest aero evolutions in 2011 of Pescarolo Team.
History :
2007
– Le Mans Series
— 1000 km Monza : Primat-Tinseau : 4th
— 1000 km Valencia : Primat-Tinseau : 6th
— 1000 km Nürburgring : Primat-Tinseau : DNF
— 1000 km Spa : Primat-Tinseau : 4th (3rd LMP1)
— 1000 km Silverstone : Primat-Tinseau : DNF
– 24 Hours of Le Mans : Primat-Tinseau-Tréluyer : 13th (6th LMP1)
2008
– Le Mans Series
— 1000 km Barcelone : Boullion-Collard : 4th
— 1000 km Monza : Boullion-Collard : DNF
— 1000 km Spa : Boullion-Collard : 5th
— 1000 km Nürburgring : Boullion-Collard : DNF
— 1000 km Silverstone : Primat-Tinseau : 3rd
– 24 Hours of Le Mans : Boullion-Collard-Dumas : DNF
2009
– Le Mans Series
— 1000 km Barcelone : Barbosa-Jouany : 6th
— 1000 km Spa : Barbosa-Jouany : DNF
2011
In this season this car was the backup car of chassis #8 which did the entire season of Le Mans Series and 24h of Le Mans.
2015
– Classic 24h of Daytona: 3rd overall. Video of the race: https://youtu.be/nZyanrZD40I
Pescarolo 01 – Chassis #1,

• Body : Carbon, X-track 6 speed sequential gearbox with power changing, Megaline automated control on the steering wheel, Double wishbones, pushrods, horizontally located, Ohlins spring damper units (on the front body and on the gearbox in the rear),
• Wheels : BBS 18 rims,
• Brakes : AP-Racing discs and pads Messier-Bugatti 15 in the front and 15 in the rear,
• Tires : Michelin for races but delivered here with Dunlop,
• Steering : KAYABA powered

– Dimensions : 4483 mm Length x 1998 mm Width x 2795 mm Wheelbase
– Kerb weight : 900 kg
– Fuel tank : 75 liters
Engine JUDD V10 GV 5 liters :

• Capacity : 4995 cc
• V angle : V10 at 72°
• Weight : 121 kg
• Dimensions : 622.5 m Length x 411 mm Height x 569 mm Width
• Power : 550 hp at 7100 rpm with 32.9 mm inlet restrictor
• Torque : 57 mkg with Le Mans 30.3 mm inlet restrictor
• Management system : EFI Euro 12 system

This car runs great, the engine has reached only 50% of its time potential, and it is supplied with spare parts : 2 extra sets of wheels, full transmission spare kit, rear and front drive trains, front hood and undertray.
This race car is eligible to vintage races like HSR, HMSA, SVRA.

See the listing here on eBay.

Combos