Race track

Unlike some of the other teams with different livery for each car according to the driver, I think we will be trying for a uniform team image.Vodafone is pulling out of a lot of its sponsorship commitments at the end of the season, so we have to find another major sponsor for next year. Our team principal, Roland Dane, plays his cards close to his chest but he must be closing in on a deal because he cancelled his trip to Italy last week to watch Casey Stoner race the MotoGP at Mugello.He's a big fan of Casey, motorbikes and Mugello so this must be important. Roland's prime focus at the moment is making sure we get another sponsor. I'm sure having separate car sponsors and different colours is an option, but understanding Roland his priority decision is a single replacement sponsor for both cars.It makes the team look sharper and cleaner. From a practical point of view it's also a lot easier to carry spare body parts when you have the same colours. Speaking of Casey, my race engineer, Jeromy (CORRECT!) Moore or "JJ", was at the Mugello race and I've seen the Facebook photos of him riding on the back of Casey's pit bike.Since Casey tested one of our cars last year the whole team has kept in touch with him. I'll be keen to catch up with JJ when he gets back to see if he has any insight into Casey's plans for next year since he's announced he's retiring from MotoGP.We're currently in the middle of a four-week break between the Townsville and the Ipswich rounds and we don't start testing and preparing for QR until next week. Meanwhile there's been a lot of talk about the incident at Townsville where Paul Morris took advantage of a loophole in the rules to run a combination of soft and hard tyres on Steve Owen's car.I think it was quite clever of him and quite sloppy of the rule writers. Paul was good at keeping it a secret until he needed to use it and good luck to him. We found a similar loophole last year where we ran our used soft tyre and it worked to our benefit.The officials again were quickly on to the loophole and closed it for the Sunday race, but the loophole shouldn't have been there in the first place. We're over halfway through the year and it's just too late in the season to be having rule changes.

So I'd like to invite the new Premier to come to Townsville this weekend to see for himself how popular this event is with motorsport fans in the north.I'll even strap Campbell Newman into my car for a hot lap to fire up his support if he comes long. There is some fear that the new government will axe funding for the event, but I think the north of the state is starved for this level of entertainment and it would be unfair for our fans to be deprived.The 150,000 fans expected over the three days of the event come from far and wide. There is also talk of maybe Cairns or Mackay getting the event, but I don't mind so long as it stays in north Queensland. The Townsville fans will certainly be in for some acton with former F1 champ Jacques Villeneuve driving Greg Murphy's car while he's injured. I grew up watching him race and it will be great to rub fenders with him again. He got used to the cars pretty quick when he raced at the Gold Coast event a couple of years ago, so he only needs to familiarise himself with this rather unique track. Townsville is more like the Melbourne Grand Prix circuit because it goes around a park, but it's a semi-permanent track that is a hybrid of circuit and streets designed by Mark Skaife.The biggest challenge for Jacques will be getting his head around how much kerb you can use in the corners. We have our cars pretty well set up for this circuit and pulled off a one-two there last year. I also had pole on the Sunday, so we're going into the round with some confidence. We also have some momentum behind us after Darwin where we halted the dominance of the Falcons.But we can't be too cocky. It's difficult to get momentum, but it can be pretty easy to lose it. Last year we did well because we were the only team to use the loophole they had where we could re-use our soft tyres from the previous race. The team took the gamble and was quite smart about that, but it will be a level playing field now with the other teams working out tyre wear on the circuit.Format wise, it's two 200km races with a shootout on the Saturday, a mix of hard and soft tyres like in Darwin and a minimum of two stops per race. The weather and the track conditions will be different to Darwin so we just have to make sure the car is good enough on the hard tyre. Hopefully it's nice and hot so FPR melt their tyres again, although I'm sure the teams will have done some research over the short break to get better soft tyre life. If we can qualify in the top five we will have a shot at winning and pegging back the points gap to the top three. 

Unlike conventional combustion engines which lose power on the ascent, the fully electric drivetrain of the new Toyota EV P002 racecar maintains full power even in the thin air of the hill climb's 19.9 kilometre course.The race begins at an altitude of 2,862 metres and finishes at the 4,300-metre Pikes Peak in Colorado Springs, US. The TMG EV P002's twin axial flux motors deliver a combined output of 350kW, which is expected to propel the vehicle to a top speed of 240km/h.The advanced electric motors also deliver 900Nm of torque through a single gear transmission. Toyota engineers have spent the past six months developing the Radical chassis-based EV P002, which is a development of the street-legal TMG EV P001 that broke the electric car lap record at the Nurburgring Nordschleife in 2011.The EV P002 electric powertrain produces more power and is more durable than its predecessor following a comprehensive testing program. Multiple Japanese rally champion Fumio Nutahara will drive the EV P002 in the event, also known as the `Race to the Clouds', on July 8. This year's race will have 16 classes and a field of 200 competitors. 

Webber's experience and guile at the wheel of his Red Bull car kept the Mercedes of German Nico Rosberg at bay in a race that saw a start-line collision, penalties, further crashes and was twice hit by rain -- including over the final laps.It was Webber's second win in the glamorous Mediterranean principality - he also was victorious there two years ago, when he fought for the world championship to the final round - and it has made him a strong title chance this season.It was the eighth GP victory of Webber's F1 career and he is now just three points off the championship lead.Read full story here. 

I didn't know until I was told. It's amazing how fast the time has gone. These days it's easier to rack up the races as there are more rounds now.The biggest change over the years hasn't been in the technology, but the fitness of the drivers. That's led to longevity in the sport that you don't get in other sports like footy.People used to think racing wasn't physical and that we just sat on our backsides, but these days you have to be fit to do as many races as we do in often hot conditions and with punishing G forces.I've had to put in a huge effort at fitness in the past few years to keep up with the younger drivers. As you get older you have to work harder to keep your fitness up.That level of fitness is also filtering through the whole team. For example my race engineer, Jeromy Moore, is a dedicated and super-fit mountain bike rider like Mark Webber.He needs to be fit to retain a high level of concentration throughout a round and this weekend will place extra stress levels on us all with three qualifying sessions, one for each of the races.Qualifying is a problem at Barbagallo because each lap is under a minute and it's difficult to find clear space for a good run.This circuit is also hard on tyres because the sand that blows across the track acts like sandpaper on the rubber. That means we will be changing tyres more often than we need to fill the tank, so this won't develop into an economy run like the past couple of rounds.It will be interesting racing because we have to use hard and soft tyres in each race. Last time we switched to soft tyres early, but we got swallowed up because the track chewed the tyres quickly and we lost pace.Each driver will have to manage their tyre wear carefully and teams will employ a lot of different strategies about when they pit for new rubber. It should be a fantastic round with teams battling right up to the chequered flag. 

Last year a few critics complained that TeamVodafone dominated and it was a two-horse race between my teammate Jamie Whincup and myself. But going by the first two rounds in Adelaide and Melbourne, it will definitely not be a two-horse race this time.I still think we are the team to beat, but the Holdens won't have it all their own way this year with the Falcons of FPR and Stone Brothers really starting to show good speed.There is a big possibility there are going to be three or four teams bidding for the championship, but it will really depend on professionalism, consistency and reliability throughout the year not just starring in a couple of rounds.For the fans, it's definitely a promising start to the season with about six cars vying for the championship. It's only early stages yet, but the way it is shaping up it is going to be a very tough season for us and we'll have to make sure we do all the little things right all the time.The Australian Grand Prix weekend was disappointing for Jamie and me, but it wasn't a total disaster. Certainly it wasn't the result we were looking for in front of our sponsors. However, there are a few positives we can take away from the weekend.The first is that we now have two reasonably straight cars to take to Tassie next weekend. The cars are on the transporter back to Brisbane where we will have only a little bit of work to do on them before turning them around and sending them off across Bass Strait.Jamie's car needs a bit of TLC on the passenger's door after Saturday's accident, but that's about it. Another positive we can take from the weekend is that when we weren't having engine or brake troubles, we showed pretty good speed.With our engine problems in the first race and the way each race determined the grid position for the next race, we were shuffled back in the pack with little hope of winning, so we turned our focus on testing.Because it wasn't a championship points round and we get so few test days during the year, we had a good opportunity to trial a few things such as suspension settings. We've also come away with some useful data on soft tyre degradation.It was the first time we have used the soft tyre this year and we learnt that if you are a bit kinder to the tyre when you first leave the pits, you can get more out of it. I'm not sure whether it cures, but it definitely lasts a lot longer with a three-quarter pace at the start, rather than trying to get 100 per cent out of it from the first lap.That info will be important when we go to Tasmania next week. One thing my mentor Peter Brock taught me is to respect the history of our sport. So it's pleasing to me to see my old Betta Electrical Ford Falcon getting some TLC in our Brisbane workshops.It's chassis number 10 and the first car I drove after joining the team in 2005. It's also the car Jamie and I drove to the first of our trifecta of wins at Bathurst from 2006. The car also has great sentimental value to our team boss, Roland Dane, and I believe he is rebuilding it with a plan to take it to the Goodwood Festival of Speed in the UK in June.I'd love to go to Goodwood and have a look at the classic cars, but to also drive the Betta car again would be fantastic. As we are starting to build the new race cars for next year's series, it's interesting to look back at the old Falcon and see how far we've come.It still has the H-pattern gearbox and obviously everything was first class, but to see the development and progression since then is amazing.

It could very well alter the face of endurance racing and is arguably the most radical motorsport project of its time. The DeltaWing will be powered by a highly-advanced and efficient 1.6-litre engine when it fires its first shot in anger at the legendary Le Mans 24 Hours (16-17 June).  But it will not be classified this year because the rules are behind the times. Nissan is instead looking to showcase the pioneering technology that will show one potential direction for the future of motorsport. It will feed into the research and development of future technologies that then filter down to Nissan's road car product range. The race-prepared, 1.6-litre, four-cylinder engine features direct petrol injection and a turbocharger. The car itself is half the weight and has half the aerodynamic drag of a conventional racer. Nissan was invited into the DeltaWing family by the existing group of core partners US-domiciled British designer Ben Bowlby, American motorsport entrepreneur Don Panoz, the All-American Racers organisation of former US Formula 1 driver Dan Gurney, Duncan Daytons two-time championship-winning Highcroft Racing team and Michelin Tyres North America.The engine, badged DIG-T (Direct Injection Gasoline Turbocharged), is expected to produce around 300hp, sufficient to give Nissan DeltaWing lap times between LMP1 and LMP2 machines at Le Mans, despite having only half the power of those conventional prototypes. It features the same technology found in Nissan road cars.As motor racing rulebooks have become tighter over time, racing cars look more and more similar and the technology used has had less and less relevance to road car development. Nissan DeltaWing aims to change that. DeltaWing embodies a vast number of highly-innovative ideas that Nissan can learn from. Nissan DeltaWing concept originator and designer, Briton Ben Bowlby, said "Nissan has provided us with our first choice engine. Its a spectacular piece.We've got the engine of our dreams: its the right weight, has the right power and its phenomenally efficient. Nissan DeltaWing is unlike any other racing car currently on track.The driver sits well back in the car, almost over the rear axle and looks ahead down a long, narrow fuselage to narrow twin front tyres, specially created for the car by tyre partner Michelin.With a rear-mounted engine, the car has a strong rearward weight bias, which makes it highly manoeuvrable, while its light weight and slippery shape make it far more efficient.The Automobile Club de lOuest (ACO), organisers of the famous Le Mans 24 Hours, invited the car to run in this years race from Garage 56, the spot in the pitlane reserved for experimental cars.As it doesnt conform to any existing championship regulations. The first two Nissan DeltaWing drivers to be confirmed are British Sportscar racer Marino Franchitti and Nissans reigning FIA GT1 World Champion Michael Krumm.The car will make its first public demo laps at Sebring, Florida, at 12.30pm local time on Thursday, March 15.

The move would follow plans to build similar circuits in the US and China. Porsche already offers Aussie customers high performance driving days through its lease of the Queensland government owned driver training facility at Mt. Cotton. However, the local arm is keen to establish its own centre and is looking hard at possible sites in the Sunshine State, Porsche Australia spokesman Paul Ellis says. “Queensland is the logical place for Porsche to look at creating a driving centre as a large percentage of our drive day participants come from Asia and they tend to package their Porsche driving days with holidays,” he says. Two similar tracks are planned for the Atlanta and Los Angeles in the US, which is Porsche’s biggest market with 29,093 sales for 2011 - an increase of 15 per cent over 2010. However China was screaming up close behind with 24,340 sales, which was a massive increase of 64 per cent over 2010’s 14,785 sales (itself an increase of 63 per cent over the previous year). “The market in China will possibly overtake the US very soon,” suggests Porsche’s global head of product and technical press, Thomas Becki. He says Porsche already hosts drive days and training in China (at Shanghai’s Tianma track), but with the planned new one “we will own it and we will control it.” But it’s not about megalomania, it’s about money. There’s a strong business case for owning the facility, Becki says.  “Once you buy your Porsche sports car and you want to do training days, it will be worth your while to pay for them to get the full Porsche experience,” he says. In addition, there’s the potential to increase the bottom line by leasing the facility out. “We don’t do these things just for the sake of it,” Ellis says. “We do them because it’s a business and it’s also about giving customers the opportunity to experience their cars in a safe and entertaining environment.”

The one-time V8 Supercars firebrand, and three-time runner-up in the Bathurst 1000, is now a lifetime member of the team at Brad Jones Racing.Richards is commemorated with a small star on the door pillar of the three cars that will compete in this year's V8 Supercars championship and team manager Kim Jones says his star will always shine on their cars."He will be part of the family forever. He was like a third brother to Bradley and me," he revealed yesterday."It makes Bradley and me feel better to have him along as part of the group. He only raced with us for three years but he became a member of our family."The Richards star was revealed yesterday at a pre-season function attended by his widow Charlotte. "I think it's great," she said.Jones said the team considered a number of designs for the tribute before settling on a star."It's what he was. We made a star with JR's logo in the middle of it. We looked at all sorts of things, like incorporating his logo into our logo, but we think this is the best end result."A number of V8 Supercars teams have displayed short-term tribute messages, most notably to former Ford Australia president Geoff Polites, but this is the first long-term commitment.The Jones brothers - sometimes known as the Dodgy Brothers - have been racing together since time on motorcycles, then a broad spread success in other classes up to V8 Supercars."We started pushbikes before that. It's been a long time," Jones said. "How long will we keep going? I don't know. But while we enjoy it we'll keep doing it and JR will be with us."