BLOG: Ashley Van Dyke on NASCAR Action @ Phoenix International Raceway

It's been a while, but our USA correspondent, Ashley Van Dyke, is back in the saddle – with a a nice NASCAR feature for us lucky folk from Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale. 

She says...

Hi Roadies! 

Top NASCAR Sprint Cup driver, Jeff Burton and the throbbing No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet SS from the Richard Childress Racing stable have just returned to Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, AZ for the second scintillating stop of the year. This stunning southwest desert race track nestled in the desert sun next to the stunning Estrella Mountains is always a pleasure to attend – but especially for the roar of NASCAR!
This will be Jeff Burton’s 28th start at Phoenix International Raceway and he's had a hell of a career here –  sporting two wins in 2000 and 2001, seven top-five finishes, and 14 top-ten finishes. Plus, he's led a total of 222 laps at the one-mile facility. More importantly, this event marks a milestone in Burton’s career making it his 1,000th career NASCAR start. Congratulations Jeff!
"Phoenix International Raceway is a really fun race track, I enjoy going there. We had a top-10 finish in March and I fully expect to go there and contend for the win again," said Jeff. 

"It's definitely another track that is in a transition phase. As the fresh asphalt from the recent repave goes through some of those hot, Phoenix summers, the grip level is starting to fade. That's a good thing though because the tire that Goodyear was taking there made it so difficult to get going on restarts. Now you can take right off and go fast. I think it will be a better race because the restarts will be more aggressive."
On Friday, Burton qualified in 15th position with a best time of 26.153 and best speed hitting 137.652 mph average in his two qualification laps. NASCAR is a fast sport folks! His practice times were timed consecutively at 26.354, 26.703, and 26.964 over the course of the weekend. 

The NASCAR Sprint Cup race got started Sunday afternoon where the No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet crossed the finish line in 17th position, after a typically rough, tough race.
No. 99 Ford driver Carl Edwards was leading at the White Flag but ran short of gas on the last lap and No. 29 Chevrolet driven by Kevin Harvick took the easy pass over Edwards for the win and scored the 200th victory for the Richard Childress Racing organization.
Five drivers have amassed at least 1,000 career NASCAR national series starts in their careers: Richard Petty (1,185), Mark Martin (1,141), Joe Nemechek (1,073), Michael Waltrip (1,062) and Terry Labonte (1,013), and now Burton with 1,000.
Another great NASCAR race over at Phoenix International. Always a buzz. See you soon for more USA reports Roadies. 

Ashley x

Main photo credit:

Photo by TheHotLap.com and caption: Burton making the pass on Danica Patrick at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Advocare 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.

VIDEO: Loeb Smashed Pikes Peak Record

Quelle surprise... the world's greatest rally driver ever has blitzed the 2013 Pikes Peak event, by an unreal margin – setting a new course record of 8min 13.878sec for the 12.4-mile course, in his epic 900bhp Peugeot 208 T16... some 95 seconds faster than the existing record! It seems highly unlikely anyone will ever get up the 'race to the clouds' faster. There's only one Sebastian Loeb eh?! What a legend! The superb Colorado course, rising overs 5000 feet and with just shy of 160 testing corners was no real challenge for superman Loeb, who made it look easy in his epic T16 and brought back fond memories of Ari Vatanen's legendary cloud dance run in the 405 T16. The amazing 208 T16 was created using many components from the 908 Le Mans car, was created in under four months and uses a 900bhp mid-mounted 3.2-litre twin-turbocharged petrol V6, a six-speed four-wheel-drive transaxle and a state of the art steel spaceframe chassis with a torsion-bar double wishbone suspension set up and trick front and rear and carbon fibre racing brakes and aero pack. The ballistic power-to-weight and grip netted 0-62mph in 1.8 seconds and 0-150mph time in just 7.0 sec! Peugeot said: After months of anticipation, Sébastien Loeb has shattered the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb record with a breath-taking time of 8m13.878s in the Peugeot 208 T16 Pikes Peak. The Frenchman negotiated the 12.42 miles and 156 corners of the mountain at an average speed of 87.471mph. Loeb’s time blitzed the previous best of 9m46.164s, set by Rhys Millen last year, with the top three finishers all beating the 2012 record. “For me, this was the race of the year,” said Loeb at the finish, at 4,300 metres high in the Rocky Mountains. “At the beginning of my run there was a bit of pressure for sure because I knew there was so much work and investment from Peugeot and all the partners. Now, after all the practice, it was just down to me and I had to perform.” Loeb started first of the Unlimited class cars, unleashing his 875-horsepower car onto the mountain this morning after all the motorcycle competitors had passed through. However there were a number of delays before he started, which meant that the team began to worry about bad weather: a common feature of Pikes Peak at high altitude. “When I was on the start line waiting to go, I could actually see the clouds closing in at the top of the mountain,” said Loeb. “I remember thinking that if we didn’t get going soon, it would be really difficult.” As it was, Loeb blasted his 208 T16 Pikes Peak through the clouds in a time that was even quicker than Peugeot Sport’s computer had thought was possible. The ideal theoretical time – calculated using data from Loeb’s practice runs up the Colorado mountain – was 8m15s. The nine-times World Rally Champion somehow managed to shave two seconds off that. “I’m really happy as that was a very good run in the end,” said Loeb. “I really didn’t expect anything better than 8m15s, so to do 8m13s was fantastic. Before the start I didn’t really know if I should push absolutely to the maximum or if I should just push to a comfortable pace, in order to make sure of the victory. In the end, I decided to push to the limit.” The result was spectacular, with Loeb now joining the pantheon of Pikes Peak winners; nearly one year to the day after he first conquered America by winning the rally cross finale of the X-Games on 1st July, 2012. Despite his flat-out approach, the multiple champion didn’t even report any major moments, while his Peugeot has been completely reliable throughout the entire month it has been in America. “It was good, all under control from start to finish,” he concluded. “Apart from the potential of the weather turning bad, we didn’t have any worrying moments.” The scenes of success at Peugeot were reminiscent of 1988, when former World Rally Champion Ari Vatanen broke the Pikes Peak record for the French manufacturer exactly 25 years ago, with the 405 T16 Pikes Peak. Back then the benchmark was 10m47.220s on gravel roads – a sign of just how rapidly technology has evolved. In second place on the 91st ‘Race to the Sky’ this year was former record-holder Rhys Millen in his all-new Hyundai RMR PM580-T, 49 seconds behind Loeb with a time of 9m02.192s. Nonetheless, the New Zealander beat his own record – and he says that he’s determined to break the nine-minute barrier next year. “I think it’s fair to say that we were racing for second place today,” said Millen. “Romain Dumas and I had been really close throughout practice, but then I heard that his engine had unfortunately broken at the start. I knew I wasn’t going to beat Sebastien’s time, so I just decided to take no risks. You have to hand it to Loeb and Peugeot Sport: they were unbeatable. That time they set was simply incredible. When will it be beaten? It might never be…” For Loeb and Peugeot Sport, it was the end to a remarkable one-shot adventure that had taken them from early tests of the 208 T16 Pikes Peak at Mont Ventoux in France to the untrammelled mountains of Colorado: officially America’s highest state. Pikes Peak is a legend: the second-oldest car race in America after the Indy 500. And now Loeb – the new King of the Peak – and the Peugeot 208 T16 Pikes Peak car are part of American history. Bravo to Peugeot for building such an amazing racer in such a short time, setting their stall out and surpassing even their expectations – making history. And a special thanks has to go to fellow French firm, Citroen for letting him do it! Sebastian Loeb, we salute you – again! Now, please come to Wales Rally GB!!!

VIDEO: Pat Doran Pikes Peak Off 2013

Pat Doran's 925bhp RS200 Pikes Peak proves to be a bit of a handful in qualification yesterday. Ouch! Thank God it happened in the trees, not up the top. The cars are Q-U-I-C-K this year. SO quick!

BLOG: Pirelli World Challenge by Ashley Van Dyke

Our USA correspondent, Ashley Van Dyke reports on the double top 10 finishes at the newly re-vamped Circuit of The Americas for JCR Motorsports' Audi R8 LMS in the Pirelli World Challenge.

Ashley says:
Jeff Courtney and the No. 99 Kenda/RecStuff.com Audi R8 LMS rolled into the newly built Circuit of The Americas feeling confident coming off a very successful test just a few weeks prior to the event. Thursday allowed for more testing and Courtney was showing great pace heading into the Pirelli World Challenge race weekend, which was a scorcher – with temperatures reaching the high 90’s. And on Friday afternoon Courtney qualified the car P10 on the starting grid for Round 4.
"The car was great and I think we could have qualified near the front of the field had I not had a slight bobble on my best flyer lap," stated Courtney. "The lap times are so close from the session that less than half a second splits us from P3."
Courtney had a well-executed standing start in Round 4 and was able to get a pass in before the first red flag caution came out. When the field came to take the restart, Courtney started to experience overheating issues with the No. 99 Kenda/RecStuff.com Audi R8 LMS that would continue throughout Saturday’s race.
"The crew did a good job keeping my head in the race as it was very frustrating having to short-shift and find clean air to keep the car at a temperature that would allow us to finish the race," said Courtney.
The No. 99 Kenda/RecStuff.com Audi R8 LMS was able to withstand the 50 minute sprint race, despite overheating issues, and score a Top 10 finish.
The crew worked hard to make changes and best cool the car for Sunday’s race. Another strong start allowed for Courtney to jump from P14 to P11 by Turn 1.
"We had a great car again on Sunday," said Courtney. "For the first part of the race we were able to push hard up to P7. Unfortunately, we started experiencing overheating issues again and from that point forward it was just a matter of trying to hold our position."
Courtney finished P7 in Round 5. Watch the Pirelli World Challenge Live Stream from Rounds 4 & 5 here, www.world-challengetv.com.
Check it out!

BLOG: Driver Focus: Pirelli World Challenge Racer, Jeff Courtney

Our very own USA correspondent, Ashley Van Dyke (pictured below) gives us an insight into Audi R8 LMS driver, Jeff Courtney, racing this year in the thrilling Pirelli World Challenge. 

Jeff Courtney entered the road racing scene at a fast pace by first enrolling in the Panoz Racing School in 2003, immediately entering into their amateur series, and winning the 2005 Panoz Winter Series Championship with multiple podium standings and two race wins. Simultaneously, Jeff was also competing in the SCCA Club division and SCCA Pro-Mazda series. Now, having had several wins under is belt, Courtney was ready for bigger and better competition.

In 2006 Courtney signed up for Touring Car and joined the Pirelli World Challenge Series, competing in an AWD Audi with STaSIS Motorsports. He was awarded Rookie of the Year honors after a very successful season where he posted four top 10 finishes, one top-five finish, and one top 10 start. The following year proved to be even more successful with the entry into World Challenge GT series. Courtney joined Woodhouse Performance in the No. 99 KendaTires/ProMPI Dodge Viper Competition Coup. It was with the No. 99 Dodge Viper that earned him four top-10 finishes, the Hard Charger Award at the Long beach Grand Prix, and was the top placing Viper in the overall championship.
Beginning in 2012, Courtney’s JCR Motorsports teamed with TruSpeed Motorsports to campaign the #99 Kenda/RecStuff.com Porsche 911 GT3. He finished the season in Sonoma showing strong 10 ten finishes throughout the year but also dealing with an onslaught of mechanical setbacks.
Now, fast forward to the 2013 season where Kenda and RecStuff.com are returning to support Courtney along with STaSIS, JG Wheels, Speed Seat Factory, Oakley and GoPro. In a last minute off-season decision, JCR Motorsports decided to switch brands from the Porsche 911 GT3 to the Audi R8 LMS and a significant amount of effort was put into preparing the car for the season opener in St. Petersburg. The Streets of St. Petersburg double-header allowed the team to get the kinks in order to prepare themselves for being competitive in the new car. Jeff Courtney could not be more enthusiastic to continue the 2013 Pirelli World Challenge Championship series and see how far the Kenda/RecStuff.com Audi R8 LMS can go with JCR Motorsports driver Jeff Courtney behind the wheel. More information on Jeff and JCR Motorsports can be found at www.jeffcourtneyracing.com and @JeffCourtney99 on Twitter.

VIDEO: Pirelli World Challenge - Mid-Ohio 2012 Round 10 Highlights

Bit of video to bring to life the story of the incredible K-Pax Volvo S60's featured by www.ashleyvandyke.com in the latest issue of www.roadmagazine.co.uk. Great racing in the Pirelli World Challenge at Mid-Ohio. Read all about it here: http://www.issuu.com/roadonlinemagazine/docs/road_28/1

VIDEO: "Monster" Tajima @ Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, EV-style

The wonderful, weird-sounding, wacky-fast world of EV motorsport is here to stay, so get used to it folks... and here's something that should help make it sexy – GoPro superhero Nobuhiro "Monster" Tajima aiming to beat his record of 9:51.278 in his all electric hill climb car in the 2012 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in Colorado Springs. This is his qualifying run from Friday on the 12-mile crazy hill climb course of all hill climb courses. Ok, it's not Walter Rohrl in a turbocharged, flame-spitting T16, but hey... life moves on and this is still scary, skilled stuff...

The video was shot on the new HD HERO2® camera from ‪http://GoPro.com. Check out pals at DogCam for offers: http://www.dogcamsport.co.uk/

VIDEO: Pikes Peak Lexus ISF CCS-R - First Test Run

It's Pikes Peak this weekend in Colorado Springs, and Lexus will be competing for the very first time in the all-new, 416bhp IS F CCS-R V8 race car. Here it is in action for the very first time, with Brian Smith, VP Lexus Marketing, discussing the engine and modifications to the ISF CCS-R. The Lexus IS F CCS-R will be lining up against 200 other entrants at the start line of the 90th running of the iconic event, held in the USA on Sunday 12 August. Known as ‘the race to the clouds’ it takes place on a 12.42-mile track that features 156 turns and rises a total of 4,720 feet to the finish line at the summit of Pikes Peak in Colorado. Decked out in eye-catching orange mica and black, the Lexus IS F CCS-R uses a modified 416bhp version of the 5.0-litre V8 engine used in the road car, twinned with an eight-speed semi-automatic gearbox. The CCS-R first appeared at the the Tokyo Auto Salon in Tokyo, in 2011. In a race where the thin air at the top of the mountain can cut performance by up to 30 per cent, weight saving is critical – so carbon fibre is used for the bonnet, doors, dashboard and even the door handles. The windows are made from a lightweight polycarbonite material as well. It's a serious machine.
To find out more:
Go to Lexus website: http://www.lexus.com/
Find Lexus on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lexus
Follow Lexus on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/lexus
Lexus Drivers: http://drivers.lexus.com
L Studio: http://www.youtube.com/user/lstudiopresents
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/lexus
Best of luck to the beast and all at lexus _ we love it at Team Road. And we will be reporting back on how they get on at Pikes Peak here and in www.roadmagazine.co.uk Lexus & Toyota special, later this year.

BLOG FEATURE: Pirelli World Challenge by Ashley Van Dyke

Here's another fabulous blog feature by our talented USA correspondent Ashley Van Dyke () – coming from the awesome Pirelli World Challenge at the Mid-Ohio circuit. Ashley says: "Hey Roadies! I've just returned home from a long trip over to the Mid Ohio Sports Car Course for the Cadillac Grand Prix Presented by StopTech. It was an eventful weekend with 100 plus degree temps and then thunderstorms. Crazy to imagine going from being too hot to needing a jacket and experiencing rain the very next next day! (Try any meet in European motorsport AVD, Ed). It was sure a lot for the teams and drivers to manage and try to call the right race strategy.
The double-header weekend saw no shortage of excitement. The fans were out in full force and the venue was jam-packed... just like the Pirelli World Challenge paddock. Randy Pobst stole the show winning the race on Saturday and Sunday in the ace K-Pax Racing Volvo S60 (pictured). He was so fast and the car was hooked up really well. Behind Posbt the action was hot battling it out on track for position. The series only has one more event now leading into the final championship round and will head to Sonoma August 24th. Congrats to Cadillac for sealing up the manufactures championship win! More to come on that... 

Meantime, you can watch the fabulous races from Mid Ohio on www.world-challengetv.com and follow them on Facebook and Twitter (@WCRacing) to stay updated and in the loop! There will be a juicy article on the recap of the entire weekend coming out in the next issue of www.roadmagazine.co.uk. Stay tuned!" Thanks AVD! 

Oh, and if you can't wait to see more of Ashley in action on our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/roadmagblog. Please like & share us... and follow us on Twitter @roadmagazine.

NEWS: Ashley Van Dyke's New Website

Our talented, glamourous USA correspondent, Ashley Van Dyke has launched a new AVD Motorsports website – check it out here: http://www.avdmotorsports.com. She says: "The first step in any client engagement is to lay out the objectives, scope and measureable business results of the project. These goals are defined through an intensive, cross-functional, cross-hierarchical process that AVD Motorsports calls 'fusion.' We go beyond the initial scope to forecast and look out for the long-term interests of our partners and clients. AVD Motorsports is consistent with client-focused delivery; we amaze our clients with the business value we deliver and their positive experience working with us. We create maximum value by deploying innovative ideas and approaches. We inspire exceptional results from every member of the team and maintain an open and honest work space between employee and client relationships." Ashley and team offer:
• Motorsports Marketing
• Brand Management
• Public Relations
• Event Planning
• Viral Advertising
• Social Engineering
• Mobile Applications
• Digital Communications
• Multimedia Production
• Experiencial Marketing

We recommend her work highly at Road HQ. Get involved... 

BLOG FEATURE: Ashley Van Dyke NASCAR Action

Big thanks to our USA correspondent, Ashley van Dyke and her snapper, Hannah Ross for this original Road Magazine blog feature on this weekend's NASCAR action in Fontana, California, hosted by The Auto Club Speedway, attracting up to 50 teams and top NASCAR drivers, taking part in the Auto Club 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. The lovely, NASCAR-mad, Ashley Van Dyke says: "Nationwide race on Saturday saw great racing weather and had a very exciting shoot out in the front of the pack for the final 30 laps. The action ended with checkard flag in hand for Joey Lagano. He was piloting the #18 car from the Joe Gibbs Racing stable. Mr. Gibbs was on-site at Fontana and was a very happy man standing in victory lane with Joey and the hard working team. 

"After being unsure of how this NASCAR weekend would turn out due to a chance of rain on Sunday, the crews and fans awaited early morning with clear skies to get the Sprint Cup Series Auto Club 400 started. The driver introductions took place as it was sunny and appeared to be good to go for a full race of 400 miles. Fan favorites like Dale Earndhart Jr. and Jeff Gordon made their way on to the grid for opening ceremonies as the Three Stooges gave everyone the starting commands. Pole sitter Denny Hamlin looked confident before the race as he started in the number one spot in his #11 Fedex Camry next to teammate #18 Kyle Busch.
"The beginning of the NASCAR Sprint Cup race started off strong for the two Toyota drivers but slowly and surely, the Chevrolet cars were coming up the pack toward the front. With the rain coming, the crew chiefs and teams had to be prepared for all or nothing. When to pit and how long to stay out quickly became the deciding factors in what the outcome would be for the Auto Club 400.
"Some rain drops came and the race went yellow. Unsure if it would let up or not, Tony Stewart ended up winning a race shortened event as NASCAR made the decision to call the race, as it was over the half way mark. Victory lane took place under the walkway to the garage as everyone was trying to stay dry. It didn't stop raining for the rest of the day.
"Second place behind Tony in the Auto Club 400 was #18 Kyle Busch, third was #88 Dale Jr., #29 Kevin Harvick followed in fourth, and #99 Carl Edwards completed the top five. The action was up and down with drivers focusing not only on their cars, but also on the rain. Everyone was glad this race didn't get pushed to Monday and was completed with no delays. Now, off to Martinsville and then the teams will have a week off for Easter." Thanks to Hannah and Ashley for that. See more of Miss Van Dyke at www.ashleyvandyke.com. Loving the NASCAR report... 

VIDEO: Neil Cole's "The Grid" – Episode II

Our new Road Magazine columnist, rallyist, comedian, writer and all-round top guy, Neil Cole – http://www.neilcole.org – has a new show on Sports Tonight Live... "The Grid." It's a motorsport fan's dream, with all the latest news, gossip and more, chatted about in a very relaxed, happy format, with Skype chats from various contributors. This is the second episode with Neil and Kevin Shepherd talking Sebastian Vettel and F1 testing, Juan Montoya and his spectacular crash in NASCAR at the Daytona 500, as well as IRC and BRC with Andrew Coley. You can follow them on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/#!/STL_TheGrid
And you can read all three of Neil's latest columns for Road Magazine here:
http://issuu.com/roadonlinemagazine/docs/road_22_small/1
http://issuu.com/roadonlinemagazine/docs/road_23_subaruspecial/1
http://issuu.com/roadonlinemagazine/docs/road_24s/1

VIDEO: 2012 Daytona 500 Multi-Car Crash

So Daytona 500 2012 was a bizarre, action-packed affair – with rain and fire (Juan Pablo Montoya crashed into the 'safety' fire truck) causing over hours of delays! The all-American event was eventually won by Matt Kenseth for the second time at the iconic Daytona Interantional Speedway. But what we all cue up for with the 500 is multi-car crashes, and here's a cracker, on lap two, when Elliott Sadler gets into the back of Jimmie Johnson and sends him hard into the outside wall. Jimmie Johnson also collects David Ragan, Danica Patrick, and Kurt Busch. 2011 Daytona 500 champion Trevor Bayne was also involved in the wreck. Awesome!
Here are the results for the Daytona 500:
1st: Matt Kenseth
2nd: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
3rd: Greg Biffle
4th: Denny Hamlin
5th: Jeff Burton
6th: Paul Menard
7th: Kevin Harvick
8th: Carl Edwards
9th: Joey Logano
10th: Mark Martin