FOX Sports and IMSA (International Motor Sports Association) have announced a five-year multi-media rights deal that solidifies United SportsCar Racing’s home on television through the 2018 season.
 
The announcement, which comes on the heels of recent news that FOX Sports will broadcast NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races through 2024, bolsters FOX’s expansive motorsports coverage.

The agreement also includes coverage of IMSA’s Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge for five years. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
 
In September 2012, GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series and the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón announced the two entities were merging in one of the most significant developments in the history of sports car racing in North America.

Later named United SportsCar Racing, sanctioned by IMSA, the premier new sports car racing series begins its next chapter with the Rolex 24 At Daytona in January 2014.
 
With the 2014 schedule still being finalized, exact distribution plans currently are being determined, but a mix of races likely will be available on both FOX Sports 1 and FOX Sports 2.

Under the new arrangement, FOX Sports also has the right to stream all IMSA races as part of its FOX Sports GO product. IMSA retains additional digital rights including alternate camera angles and full race replays.
 
Following is a brief summary of FOX Sports’ exclusive rights:

·         2014-2018: Entire United SportsCar Racing and Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge seasons
·         2015-2024: First 16 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points races of each season, including the Daytona 500
o        Nine on FOX Sports and seven on FOX Sports 1
·         2015-2024: First 14 NASCAR Nationwide Series points races of each season
o        Fourteen races on FOX Sports 1
·         2015-2024: NASCAR Sprint Unlimited, The Duel at Daytona and NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race
·         2015-2024: All NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races

The World Karting Association Board of Trustees has voted unanimously on a rule change for the RLV Tuned Exhaust Products Gold Cup Series, allowing CIK-style karts with a 50mm rear axle and maximum 55 1/8” width to compete in the series for the remainder of the 2013 competition season and the 2014 season.

Starting with the August 23-25 GT Machine Grand Nationals at Pittsburgh International Race Complex, CIK-style karts with 40mm or 50mm axle karts will be legal in the Gold Cup.

These karts must adhere to all rules in Section 200 Manufacturers Cup Regulations of the 2013 WKA Tech Manual. Manufacturers Cup rules will be strictly enforced, including frame dimensions, bodywork, wheels and seat.

All conventional WKA karts (non CIK style karts) competing in Gold Cup are still limited to a 40mm axle running at a maximum 50” width.

Maximum width of wheel / tire is mandatory for any kart that applies to the 55” wide CIK kart. Maximum wheel and tire width for a 4.50 tire is 5 5/8”, maximum wheel and tire width for a 6.00 tire is 7” and maximum wheel and tire width for a 7.10 tire is 8 5/8”.

This rule change takes place to make a broader range of kart applications legal in the Gold Cup Series with hopes to increase kart count and competition level moving forward. The allowance of CIK-style karts in Gold Cup will also give more kart shops, chassis builders and importers another national series to target and sell product.

The effects of this rule change will be continuously monitored by WKA, the Board of Trustees and the Gold Cup Series Competition Committee.

For more information, contact WKA at 704/455-1606.

Racetech Manufacturing Limited, the New Zealand-based designer and manufacturer of race seats and more, has established a subsidiary company called Racetech USA Ltd based in Mooresville, North Carolina.

A worldwide exporter of FIA-approved seats and associated safety products, Racetech Manufacturing has established a well-regarded presence in the US market over the past 12 years.

“We have strong commercial relationships direct with OEM vehicle manufacturers and we also distribute our range of race seats and other product through various distributors, the latest being RT North America Ltd based in Sparks, Nevada," said David Black, Managing Director of Racetech Manufacturing Ltd and President of the newly established Racetech USA Ltd.

"This distribution relationship was terminated at the end of 2012 and the new subsidiary established to enable our US business to grow further.”

A new warehouse and sales facility is currently being established in Mooresville based on its proximity to a large proportion of the US racing population and the strong motorsports and racing community in the area.

“We are also pleased to advise that Brian Oleshak, who has been the National Sales Manager at Racetech North America, has now been appointed in a similar role with Racetech USA Ltd. Brian will soon relocate his family to North Carolina and, with the support of our entire Racetech team in New Zealand, is sure to continue his excellent work with race teams and vehicle manufacturers across the US.

The Racetech range of race seats are used in many forms of motorsports, such as drag racing, ALMS, World Challenge, Grand Am, V8 Supercars, drifting, autocross, dessert trucks, jet sprint boats, sprint cars, offshore power boats and rallying.

For more information, visit www.racetech-usa.com.

The Advanced Engineering Technology Conference is partnering with Motor State Distributing to present their 24th Annual Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana.

This is the fifth year that Motor State has presented the Conference, which will precede the 2013 Performance Racing Industry Trade Show on December 9-11 at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis.   

“The insight and technical details that the speakers of AETC provide help keep Motor State on top of new technology and trends in racing. Our involvement with the Conference helps us to be better prepared with the latest solutions and products for engine builders,” said Mark Kostrzewa, Motor State’s Product Manager of Engine and Drag Racing performance parts. “Also, it is a great opportunity to meet and talk with many of our manufacturers and customers. AETC is really what Motor State is all about.”

Since 1964, Motor State Distributing has set the pace for worldwide distribution of high performance automotive components for racing, street and off-road use. Motor State, which serves speed shops, auto parts merchants, machine shops, and chassis and engine builders around the world, is located in the town of Watervliet in southwest Michigan.

Each year AETC brings together engine builders, racers, engineers and media members from around the world to exchange information on the day’s most popular engine-building topics.

For registration information, speaker updates, news and more about the AETC, go to www.aetconline.com.

Dover International Speedway will again honor the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks with its annual 9/11 Memorial Blood Drive on Wednesday, September 11 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Diamond Room in the Dover Downs Hotel & Casino.
 
The event began in 2006 when the Monster Mile, Dover Downs Hotel & Casino and the Blood Bank of Delmarva started the noble cause. Each year the event has improved, and this year will include a special guest that will surprise donors sometime during the day—a still-to-be-determined driver, who is in the top-12 of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings and a member of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup field.
 
The mystery driver will visit donors to thank them for giving blood and talk about the upcoming 10-week pursuit of a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship. Week number three in that journey will come through Dover, Delaware, for the September 29, 2013, “AAA 400.”
 
In addition, every interested donor at the blood drive will have the chance to take a pace car ride around the one-mile, concrete oval with Track Historian George Keller. Keller has not missed a single NASCAR race weekend or other motorsports event at the Monster Mile since the track opened in 1969.
 
The 9/11 Memorial Blood is open to the public. To make an appointment, visit www.DelmarvaBlood.org or call 888/8-BLOOD-8, and be sure to reference the Dover International Speedway drive. Although appointments are strongly encouraged, walk-in donors are welcome and will be taken if time permits.

The Williams F1 Team recently announced the appointment of Pat Symonds as Chief Technical Officer.

Effective August 19, Symonds joins Williams from the Marussia F1 Team, where he held the position of Technical Consultant.

Symonds’ 30 year Formula One career has seen him achieve success with some of the sport’s most accomplished teams and drivers. Having started his career at Toleman, it was with Benetton and subsequently Renault that he achieved extraordinary success.

His partnerships with Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso produced 32 race wins, four Drivers’ World Championships and three Constructors’ World Championships. 

Since 2009, he has run his own high technology and motorsports consultancy in addition to acting as a Technical Consultant to the Marussia F1 Team.

Speaking about the appointment, Williams F1 Team Founder and Team Principal Sir Frank Williams said: “I’m delighted that Pat is joining the team. His technical capabilities and sporting successes speak for themselves and I’m sure that his knowledge and leadership will contribute considerably to the success that all of us at Williams are working hard to achieve.”

Added Symonds: “Williams is a team steeped in success and engineering excellence and I’m honoured to be asked to play a role in returning the team to its rightful place at the pinnacle of Formula One. Sir Frank, Mike and Claire have put in place the foundations for success and I’m immensely excited to begin this new challenge.”

Honda Performance Development, the racing arm of American Honda Motor Co., Inc., is continuing its commitment to customer LMP1 endurance sports-car racing with the 2014 introduction of an all-new, turbocharged V6 engine, to be followed in 2015 by a range of bespoke energy recovery options, for FIA World Endurance Championship competition.

After several successful seasons supplying the normally aspirated Honda LM-V8 engine to private teams in both the WEC and American Le Mans Series, HPD engineers and designers made the decision to offer their partner teams access to updated technology, which the company believes will be necessary to successfully compete on the world stage, under the ACO's new LMP1 energy-based power train regulations.

The new engine, to be designated the Honda HR22T, is based on the same architecture used in the Indianapolis 500-winning, 2.2-liter direct injection turbocharged V6 engine used in IZOD IndyCar Series competition since 2012, designed to be coupled with a new energy recovery system developed in concert with HPD technical partner Magneti Marelli.

"This is an exciting new program for HPD and our customer teams in the World Endurance Championship, as it brings manufacturer-level engine technology to privateer teams," said Steve Eriksen, HPD Vice President and COO.  "A small-displacement, direct injection, turbocharged engine with a range of energy recovery options will provide private teams with the technical sophistication they need to compete under the challenging new LMP1 regulations."

A completely revised rules package being introduced for the WEC in 2014 opens the door for HPD to introduce this new powertrain system, specifically tailored to meet the needs of private teams engaged in top-level endurance sports-car racing competition.

Starting in 2014, rather than any set engine displacement or air inlet restrictor limits, the technical regulations for the series will specify a maximum fuel-flow rate into the engine, with or without energy recovery systems.

"The new rules say that if you are a private team, you can either run without energy recovery systems or choose to add the level of energy recovery that best suits your needs. This will allow our customers to choose the ERS solution that meets their needs – everything from no energy recovery up to the full eight Megajoule maximum," Eriksen said.  "This new regulation direction that is more conscious of environmental technologies will encourage HPD to participate from the perspectives of both developing future technologies and nurturing engineers."

HPD's highly successful LMP2 program will likewise continue in 2013 with the cost-capped ARX-03b chassis and production-based Honda HR28TT twin-turbocharged direct injection V6 engine, the only engine in its class to feature such production-relevant technology. 

The engine/chassis package remains eligible to compete in both the WEC and the newly combined United Sports Car Racing series in North America.

In addition to the new engine and its energy recovery system, HPD and chassis technical partner Wirth Research are also developing a coupe version of the successful ARX chassis series that will provide a fully integrated solution for the new V6 Honda powerplant and ERS.

Located in Santa Clarita, California, HPD is the technical operations center for high-performance Honda racing cars and engines. For more information, visit hpd.honda.com.

Esteemed race engineer Claude Rouelle from OptimumG will once again offer in-depth instruction on vehicle behavior, including measurement tools, aerodynamics, tires, weight transfer, tuning and more during a three-day event at the 2013 PRI Trade Show.

Sessions for the Vehicle Dynamics & Data Acquisition Seminar, scheduled for 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., December 9-11, in Room 244 of the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis, will cover every aspect of vehicle dynamics, and wrap up with data acquisition and analysis.

“Our composite audience includes amateurs, students, aerodynamics, data acquisition, tire people, etc.,” said Rouelle. “Our attendees learn not only from me, but from each other. It’s not just about science, but about perspective.”  

Indeed, the seminar is designed for multiple skill levels, whether you’re a seasoned veteran in the field of vehicle dynamics, just starting out, or anywhere in between. It’s intended to push participants beyond experience and intuition, and allows them to interact with each other, watch live demonstrations, and ask questions to get collaborative feedback.

“It’s highly informative and extremely in-depth,” said Kevin VanCleave, owner of KSV Inc. and formerly a technician at RSR Motorsports who attended the 2012 seminar at PRI. “Claude’s developed a seminar based on developing a methodology to work with your race car instead of a recipe. Everything is interconnected—if you have one thing go wrong, everything falls apart. With Claude’s system, the more you learn, the more questions you have. It’s connecting dots and then creating new openings. It’s worth every penny.”

Topics to be covered include:

Tires: The only elements of your race car in contact with the ground, understand why and how much the grip, balance and performance of a car is decided by the contact patch forces and deflections. We will also cover tire testing, analysis and how to use tire data in race car design and setup.
Aerodynamics: After a review of aerodynamics basics, we’ll focus on the understanding of aero-maps, wings, gurney flaps, static and dynamic ride height settings, and how to integrate them into the design of a suspension.

Kinematics: See why poorly designed kinematics cannot be “patched” by springs, antiroll bars and shocks. And why, from the design to on-track testing and racing, understanding the effects of kinematics is essential to the efficient use of race tires. We’ll also explain the essential differences between kinematic and force roll centers, as well as kinematic and force pitch centers.

Steady State Weight Transfer: Understand, step-by-step, the weight transfer calculation in steady state. See the influence of springs and anti-roll bars on weight transfer distribution, as well as the influence of tire vertical stiffness and chassis torsional stiffness. You will get a guided exercise on weight transfer calculations under combined lateral and longitudinal accelerations.

Shocks, Ride & Transient Weight Transfers: After a brief description of damper technology, we will focus on the damper settings’ influence on tire load, tire load consistency and race car performance. A guided exercise related to spring and damping calculations, as well as selection and fine-tuning of these suspension elements will help you to considerably diminish the amount of time spent in testing and improve your understanding of simple simulation tools.

Data Acquisition: Hear both technical and practical aspects of data acquisition used to develop race car and race driver performance. This knowledge will help you to appreciate the challenges and the satisfactions you face with data acquisition system understanding, choice, installation and calibration, as well as efficient data analysis. We will focus on mathematical data analysis and its direct application to race driver performance, and race car tire performance and endurance evaluation.

Car Design, Tuning Modification And Chassis Setup: Young and experienced race car engineers alike have gotten new ideas, new engineering principles and new perspectives related to car design and testing due to this seminar. You will receive practical information and perspectives on in-shop and on-track car setup. Our “tips and tricks” focus on engineering and constitute a practical application of vehicle dynamics knowledge.

For additional information on attendance, fees, scheduling and more for the Vehicle Dynamics & Data Acquisition Seminar, call 303/752-1562 or visit www.optimumg.com.

Max Papis will drive the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet in relief of injured Tony Stewart in the Cheez-It 355 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race this weekend at Watkins Glen International, SHR has announced.

Papis, 43, a road-course ace, tested the No. 14 Chevy for Stewart-Haas on July 30 at Road Atlanta.

Stewart broke his tibia and fibula during a sprint car race August 5 at Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa. After being transported to a local hospital in an ambulance, Stewart underwent surgery, the team announced in a statement Tuesday morning.

Stewart remains hospitalized under observation pending a second surgery, according to the team. There is currently no timetable for the three-time champion's return to competition.

According to NASCAR policy, a driver must be cleared by a specialist in the specific area of an illness or injury before returning to competition. The specialist can be a doctor of the driver's choosing.

A full-time competitor in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2011, Papis is winless in 92 combined starts in NASCAR's top three national series. He has 35 NASCAR Sprint Cup starts to his credit, most recently in August 2010 at Michigan.

Papis notched his lone top 10 in the Cup series at Watkins Glen in 2009. He has three top fives to his credit in the Nationwide Series, the best a second-place run in 2010 at Montreal, where Papis lost a drag race to the checkered flag to Boris Said by .012 seconds.

The Italian-born driver has three Champ Car wins to his credit, two on road courses (Portland and Laguna Seca). Papis also started seven events in Formula One in 1995, with a best finish of seventh at Monza.

Most recently, Papis teamed with Jeff Segal in a Ferrari 458 to win the GRAND-AM GT classification in the July 26 Brickyard Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway's road course.