VIDEO: Falken Motorsport's Martin Ragginger In-Car GT3 R @ N24

Our pals at Falken Tyres made a few great movies of their N24 campaign, and here is one – featuring some stunning, uber-wet, in-car footage of factory driver, Martin Ragginger in action! It makes the perfect accompaniment to our 50-page, behind the scenes interview with the 911 GT3 R racing team (and others!) from the 41st (and their 14th) ADAC Zurich Nurburgring 24-Hour campaign in the latest issue of Road Magazine, FREE here.

VIDEO: Falken GT3 R @ N24

Our pals at Sweet Pictures created this ace film following the Falken GT3 R at the N24 this year. Check it out. It makes the perfect accompaniment to our N24 special of Road Magazine, with our behind the scenes tale of the ace Falken Porsche 911 GT3 R, which you can read here. Enjoy all this quality media, 100% FREE and please, don't be greedy, share us with your mates! Cheers.

MAGAZINE: N24 Special Of Road Magazine

Find 50-pages of ace design, cool pictures and quality journalism 100% FREE in our packed, N24 Special of Road Magazine. When you’ve experienced the Nürburgring 24-Hour – as a mentalist endurance racer or a forest dwelling fan – no motorsport ever comes close to exciting in quite the same, paradigm-shifting way. It’s the best circuit racing experience there is... end of story. It’s a couple of years since we last went out, so we were thrilled when Falken Motorsport (and Nick Bailey, Claire Dumbreck and Tiggy Atkinson of Propel Technology) invited us to sample the unique N24 delights again – and follow the fortunes of their all new Porsche 911 GT3 R. Our massive behind the scenes Falken feature in this N24 special of Road gives a true insight into what this unique racing challenge is all about. We also cover Aston Martin – in their 100th year – making history and breaking records with their Hybrid Hydrogen V12 twin turbo Rapide S and kicking ass in their Prodrive-built GT3 Vantage beast: Ground-breaking stuff. Then there’s the story of Mercedes-Benz’s first ever N24 win with the Black Falcon SLS and the other two Rowe Racing team cars that made the final five in the biblical, bionic SLS AMG GT3’s. And we share the full top 20 N24 results. Finally, we’ve got a round-up of some other items of special interest in the 41st ADAC Zurich Nürburgring 24-Hour – including the sparkling debut of Peugeot’s 208 GTi,Manthey Racing and Sabine Schmitz’s 911’s, the BMW Z4M GT3 beasts, our pal Tim Schrick and rapper, Smudo in a biodiesel Scirocco and the vast fleet of Toyota GT86’s that took part in the ultimate endurance racing challenge. Enjoy our N24 special, and share FREE Road magazine with your mates. See our Social Media for more!

BLOG: Falken Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R @ N24 Feature

The leading feature in our N24 special of Road Magazine is the all-new Falken Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R Type 997. Check out the behind the scenes feature 100% FREE here: http://issuu.com/roadonlinemagazine/docs/road_35_small
And see more great images of the Falken GT3 R – racing in its third N24, Falken 14th and in their 30th year of the brand – on our Facebook page.

VIDEO: N24 Preview With Falken Motorsports

We are on an unashamed N24 tip at the moment, leading up to the best race on the planet – ADAC Nurburgring 24-Hour – which kicks off in five days and seven hours time, as of right now, not that we're counting or anything! Road Magazine will be covering the event for you lucky peeps, across Facebook, Twitter, here on the blog and in the magazine. And one of the teams we will be focusing closely on is Falken Motorsport, who have an upgraded Porsche 911 GT3 R (Type 997) this year – still in the unmissable green and blue livery. They are aiming for a top five finish, possibly even up on the podium with the new GT3 R. And there's no reason why that's not possible, given the pace of the new car and the speed and experience in their retained driver line-up of Sebastian Asch, Peter Dumbreck, Wolf Henzler and Martin Ragginger. The new car features a raft of improvements over their past N24 cars – with a (N24 Green Hell critical) new aero package that includes wider wings, new splitter and double canards at the front with a larger rear wing to increase downforce, and there's enlarged cooling vents around both the front and rear arches, enabling the team to run wider 12” rims at the front (0.5” wider than last year), and fatter, new compound Falken tyres. And the new GT3 R sports a bank of four front headlamps/strobes and all – to get the slower traffic cleared and hopefully, avoid accidents. "We are gearing up to give it everything we've got for the fans and aiming for a top ten place in 24-Hour Race" says Austrian racer and Porsche factory racer, Martin Ragginger. Bring! It! On!

VIDEO: Falken Motorsports Wet Nurburgring Nordschleife Lap

We're off to the best race of the year, the epic Nurburgring 24-Hour in less than two weeks time now. And one team we will be paying very close attention to (bringing you the inside story) is the slick, experienced (and now armed with a brand new Porsche 911 GT3 R) Falken Motorsport's team. Always competitive and always wrapped in the outstanding blue & green Falken livery (not to mention the pit girls, see below), it's one to watch for the 2013 N24, as this wet lap in the VLN clearly shows, with ace Scottish racer, Peter Dumbreck at the helm. Lightning fast, stable and deeply impressive! Check it out! Naturally, we will be keeping you up to date on the race via our Facebook page & Twitter feed, here on the blog and with a special N24 issue of Road Magazine out in late May: Our homage to one of the greatest races ever... You going? Who's your top to win this year? Porsche? Audi? BMW?

NEWS: Falken’s 2013 VLN & Nürburgring 24 Hours 911 GT3 R Campaign

Our pals at Falken Motorsports have confirmed their 2013 Porsche 911 GT3 R and a retained driver line-up for their 2013 VLN and Nürburgring 24 Hours campaign – so good luck everyone & stay tuned here for updates throughout the season. 

The performance-upgraded 997 GT3 R, which will run on new Falken rubber this year, looks great. And the ace Falken Motorsports team drivers remain unchanged of Sebastian Asch, Peter Dumbreck, Wolf Henzler and Martin Ragginger – and are aiming for a top ten finish in the 24 Hour event.
Falken Motorsports, headed by experienced team principal Sven Schnabl, has upgraded the Porsche with a new aero package that includes wider wings, new splitter and double canards at the front with a larger rear wing to increase downforce. Enlarged cooling vents around both the front and rear arches has also been enhanced and the car is now able to run 12” wide rims at the front, 0.5” wider than last year. Crucial for a 24 Hour race, the 997 now sports four front headlamps.

In addition to the car upgrades, Falken’s engineers in Japan have developed a range of new tyres for this season with first track testing of the new covers set for the 16thMarch at the annual VLN Set-Up day.
Building upon the experience from last year, Falken Motorsports is retaining Peter Dumbreck, Martin Ragginger, Porsche works driver Wolf Henzler and Sebastian Asch. "After a really exciting 2012 season under our belts, it makes us all the keener to get start the 2013 season underway in a few weeks," says Austrian racer Martin Ragginger. "We are gearing up to give it everything we've got for the fans and aiming for a top ten place in 24-Hour Race."
Falken has also confirmed which rounds it will participate in the VLN calendar.
16.03.2013 VLN Set Up Day
23.03.2013 60. ADAC Westfalenfahrt
27.04.2013 55. ADAC ACAS H&R-Cup
17.-20.05.2013 41. ADAC ZURICH 24h-Rennen Nürburgring
22.06.2013 44. Adenauer ADAC Simfy Trophy
20.07.2013 53. ADAC Reinoldus-Langstreckenrennen
24.08.2013 6h ADAC Ruhr-Pokal-Rennen
12.10.2013 ROWE DMV 250-Meilen-Rennen

VIDEO: Falken Drift Show @ VLN Nürburgring

Really nice film from Falken (who have done some amazing viral videos this year), from a place they know very well – the Nürburgring. But this video is not about their amazing Porsche GT3 R race car doing the business in the VLN, but the Falken Drift Show instead. Great PR. Great video. Great guys! Oh, and great tyres too...  find out more at www.falkentyres-uk.com.

VIDEO: Falken Motorsports Porsche GT3 R Onboard NBR24 @ Dusk

Our pals at Falken know how to race the Green Hell, as this dusk footage from this year's 24-Hour clearly shows... in their Falken Motorsports Porsche GT3 R. Blindingly quick... and making it all look smooth and easy. Sweet!

VIDEO NEWS: Falken Motorsport 2012 Porsche RSR & GT3 R

Video update from Team Falken on their American Le Mans Series, brand new 2012 Porsche GT3 RSR chassis, with Jens Walther, CEO Porsche Motorsport North America. Also, the Falken Motorsports’ Porsche 997 GT3 R race car has received a number of key updates ahead of its 2012 campaign: Factory sanctioned upgrades including a switch to paddle shift gearbox and softer front anti roll bar are being fitted together with an engine upgrade by crack Porsche team Schnabl Engineering as the Falken team mounts a serious attack on both the VLN Championship and flagship N24 race in Europe and AMLS in the States. "The 2012 Porsche engine upgrade offers more power and better driveability," says team principal Sven Schnabl. :Together with the paddle shift to help our drivers avoid miss-shifts, we have a stronger package that should challenge for podiums."In addition to the upgrades, Schnabl Engineering is refreshing and servicing the gearbox, uprights, driveshafts as well as replacing ‘lifed’ components such as fuel filters and pumps. As a car specifically designed for long distance reliability, Schnabl claims that further modifications for the headline 24 hour race in May are surprisingly minimal. "We will simply be fitting additional lights and the illuminated side panels," claims Schnabl, "we don’t even need to lower the rev limit." The team will continue to use its own tyres, developed specifically for use on the Nordschleife, incorporating features to meet the specific requirements of an endurance race with exceptionally long laps. Examples include higher puncture resistance with the inevitable corner cutting and softer compounds for night time running. Drivers for the 2012 campaign have yet to be confirmed but the 2011 line up of Peter Dumbreck, Wolf Henzler, Martin Ragginger and Sebastian Asch is likely to feature during the season. 2011 was the first year that the Japanese tyre maker fielded a Porsche in Europe. After gearbox problems stymied the team’s hopes of a strong finish in last year’s round the clock race, the team returns confident that it will be competitive and reliable. "We have further tyre tests planned to refine the specifications and compounds to the 2012 chassis set up and softer front end," adds Schnabl. "With a good Balance of Performance package and a good tyre from Falken, we are in a strong position." The first test for the VLN Series takes place on 24th March, and we will have news and a video here soon...

NEWS: 2012 ALMS Falken Porsche RSR Breaks Cover

Falken Tyres have just unveiled their all-new for 2012 America Le Mans Porsche 997 RSR in its striking blue and green fresh livery – just ahead of its second Sebring test on the 28th and 29th February. Bryan Sellers will share the new for 2012 car with Wolf Henzler in the ALMS season opener at the Florida venue on March 17th. The 2012 event marks both the 60th running of the 12-Hour race at Sebring as well as opening the new FIA World Endurance Championship. Porsche’s 2012 911 GT3 RSR has both a wider front and rear track width along improved suspension geometry and aerodynamics and Falken’s is one of only four new race-designated Porsches in the U.S. "Clearly, expectations run high throughout the team, based on our strong showing last year and fourth place finish in the GT points standings," says Nick Fousekis, Falken’s Director of Motorsports and Consumer Events. "Team Falken was successful in 2011 as a result of brilliant race strategy by Derrick and the tremendous driving efforts of Wolf and Brian, and we fully intend to leverage that teamwork with this new race car as we commence our third full season of race competition." Looks good and you will be able to see and hear it go in testing and races here on the Road Magazine blog.