1.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
2.
2013 FIA World Endurance Championship
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The series was open to Le Mans Prototypes and grand tourer-style racing cars meeting four ACO categories. World Championships were awarded to drivers and to LMP1 category manufacturers, the eight race championship began in April at the Silverstone Circuit and ended in November at the Bahrain International Circuit. The season was marred by the death of Allan Simonsen in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, an initial calendar was published by the FIA World Motor Sports Council on 28 September 2012. Seven of the eight races on the schedule are carried over from 2012, the 6 Hours of Silverstone now begins the season in April before Spa in May and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June. In order to save costs and utilize shipping by sea instead of air, são Paulo remains as the first post-European event, while the new 6 Hours of Circuit of the Americas replaces the 12 Hours of Sebring as the American round of the series. Fuji and Shanghai are moved forward on the calendar, leaving Bahrain to now close the season in November, an additional World Cup was awarded for the 2013 season, with drivers in both LMGTE categories having a unified championship. Further, the LMP2 and LMGTE Am categories had FIA Endurance Trophies awarded for their drivers, the qualifying format of the race weekend wasalso changed, with teams requiring two drivers each to set two timed laps. The qualifying results were determined based on an average of the four total laps, the new qualifying format has been met with much criticism from drivers. The pre-race warm-up session has also eliminated from the series. The LMP2 category saw several changes in order to lower costs. Diesel engines were allowed in the LMP2 category for the first time, limits on tyres was also be set in the LMGTE Am category. Two LMP2 teams, Starworks Motorsport and HVM Status GP later withdrew their full-season entries citing a lack of funding, the highest finishing competitor entered in the World Endurance Championship is listed below. Invitational entries may have finished ahead of WEC competitors in individual races, entries are required to complete the timed race as well as to complete 70% of the overall winning cars race distance in order to earn championship points. A single bonus point is awarded to the team and all drivers of the pole position car for each category in qualifying, for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the race result points allocation was doubled. Due to the 6 Hours of Fuji not completing 75% of the race time, four titles are awarded to drivers in the 2013 season. A World Championship is reserved for LMP1 and LMP2 drivers, a World Cup is available for drivers in the LMGTE categories. Further, two FIA Endurance Trophies are also awarded to drivers in the LMP2 and LMGTE Am categories, Allan McNish, Tom Kristensen and Loïc Duval won the Championship at the 6 Hours of Shanghai. Gianmaria Bruni won the FIA World Endurance Cup for GT Drivers at the 6 Hours of Bahrain, bertrand Baguette, Martin Plowman and Ricardo González earned the Trophy for LMP2 Drivers at the 6 Hours of Bahrain
3.
American Le Mans Series
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The American Le Mans Series was a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada. It consisted of a series of endurance and sprint races, and was created in the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the American Le Mans headquarters was in Braselton, Georgia, adjacent to Road Atlanta. In 2014, the merged with the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series to form the United SportsCar Championship. The series was created by Braselton, Georgia-based businessman Don Panoz, Panoz created a partnership with the Automobile Club de LOuest, the organizers of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, to begin a 10-hour race in the spirit of Le Mans, dubbed the Petit Le Mans. The inaugural Petit Le Mans took place in 1998 as a part of the Professional SportsCar Racing series, for 1999, the series changed its name to the American Le Mans Series, and adopted the ACOs rulebook. The partnership with the ACO allowed ALMS teams to earn automatic entries in the Le Mans 24 Hours. This was a practice that began with the inaugural Petit Le Mans, a practice that continues today, the ALMS race at Adelaide in 2000 also received automatic entries. Invitations were extended to the series beginning in 2003, for the 2004 race. The ACO has always given high consideration to teams competing in ALMS races, the series began with eight races in 1999, beginning with the 12 Hours of Sebring, and ending at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The schedule expanded to 12 races in 2000, including two races in Europe, and one in Australia, in subsequent years, the European races disappeared, with the creation of the short-lived European Le Mans Series, and later the Le Mans Series. The series also began to move away from the rovals, road courses in the infield of large superspeedways, at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Las Vegas, and Texas Motor Speedway. Lately, the series has visited more temporary street courses, many in conjunction with the Indy Racing League, at such as St. Petersburg, Florida and Long Beach. The series has raced at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Mosport, Road Atlanta, from 2011 until the series folded, ALMS competed on a street circuit through the Inner Harbor coinciding with the Grand Prix of Baltimore, Maryland over the US Labor Day weekend. In 2010 the American Le Mans Series signed its first title sponsorship agreement, the American Le Mans Series used essentially the same rules as the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Like the 24 Hours of Le Mans, there were 3 primary classes, the former GT1 category was abandoned after 2009 season. In 2012, the Le Mans was dropped from the names of the prototype categories, each car is driven by multiple drivers, and all cars compete together simultaneously. P1 generally contains factory teams while P2 contains privateer teams, in ACO-sanctioned racing all of the drivers are professional in GTE-PRO, while in GTE-Am,1 or 2 amateurs are allowed to race with a professional driver in support. However, since ALMS uses only one GTE category and combines the PRO/AM classes, the two Challenge classes were formula-based, and were designed for privateers or rookies to have an easier time entering the series
4.
FIA World Endurance Championship
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For the FIA World Endurance Championship contested from 1981 to 1985, see World Sportscar Championship. The FIA World Endurance Championship is an auto racing championship organized by the Automobile Club de lOuest. The World Endurance Championship name was used by the FIA from 1981 to 1985. World champion titles are awarded to the top scoring manufacturers and drivers over the season, while other cups and trophies will be awarded for drivers and private teams. The calendar includes four races in Europe, two in the Americas, two in Asia and one in the Middle East, with a future expansion. Six titles are awarded each season based on total point tally, the GTE Pro class champion are awarded a World Cup, while the leaders in LMP2 and GTE Am are awarded a Trophy. The final Trophy is awarded to the best privateer team amongst all four classes, the points system is similar to that used in the FIAs other world championships, awarding points to the top ten finishers on a sliding point margin scale from first to tenth. Cars finishing the race but classified eleventh or further are awarded a half point, double points are awarded for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. WeatherTech SportsCar Championship European Le Mans Series FIA GT1 World Championship FIA World Endurance Championship Automobile Club de lOuest Fédération Internationale de lAutomobile
5.
24 Hours of Le Mans
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The 24 Hours of Le Mans is the worlds oldest active sports car race in endurance racing, held annually since 1923 near the town of Le Mans, France. It is one of the most prestigious races in the world and is often called the Grand Prix of Endurance. The event represents one leg of the Triple Crown of Motorsport, other events being the Indianapolis 500, since 2012, the 24 Hours of Le Mans has been a part of the FIA World Endurance Championship. In 2017, it will be the round of the season. The race has over the years inspired imitating races all over the globe, popularizing the 24-hour format at places like Daytona, Nürburgring, Spa-Francorchamps, and Bathurst. The American Le Mans Series and Europes Le Mans Series of multi-event sports car championships were spun off from 24 Hours of Le Mans regulations. At a time when Grand Prix motor racing was the dominant form of motorsport throughout Europe, Le Mans was designed to present a different test. Instead of focusing on the ability of a car company to build the fastest machines and this encouraged innovation in producing reliable and fuel-efficient vehicles, because endurance racing requires cars that last and spend as little time in the pits as possible. At the same time, the layout of the track necessitated cars with better aerodynamics, while this was shared with Grand Prix racing, few tracks in Europe had straights of a length comparable to the Mulsanne. Additionally, because the road is public and thus not as meticulously maintained as permanent racing circuits, racing puts more strain on the parts, increasing the importance of reliability. The oil crisis in the early 1970s led organizers to adopt a fuel economy formula known as Group C that limited the amount of each car was allowed. Although it was abandoned, fuel economy remains important as new fuel sources reduced time spent during pit stops. Such technological innovations have had an effect and can be incorporated into consumer cars. This has also led to faster and more exotic supercars as manufacturers seek to develop road cars in order to develop them into even faster GT cars. Additionally, in recent years hybrid systems have been championed in the LMP category as rules have changed to their benefit. The race is held in June, leading at times to very hot conditions for drivers, particularly in closed vehicles with poor ventilation, the race begins in mid-afternoon and finishes the following day at the same hour the race started the previous day. Over the 24 hours, modern competitors often cover distances well over 5,000 km, the record is 2010s 5,410 km, six times the length of the Indianapolis 500, or approximately 18 times longer than a Formula One Grand Prix. Drivers and racing teams strive for speed and avoiding damage, as well as managing the cars consumables, primarily fuel, tires
6.
Porsche
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F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche AG, is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans. Porsche AG is headquartered in Stuttgart, and is owned by Volkswagen AG, Porsches current lineup includes the 718 Boxster/Cayman,911, Panamera, Macan and Cayenne. Ferdinand Porsche founded the company called Dr. Ing. h. c, F. Porsche GmbH in 1931, with main offices at Kronenstraße 24 in the centre of Stuttgart. Initially, the company offered motor vehicle development work and consulting, One of the first assignments the new company received was from the German government to design a car for the people, that is a Volkswagen. This resulted in the Volkswagen Beetle, one of the most successful car designs of all time, the Porsche 64 was developed in 1939 using many components from the Beetle. During World War II, Volkswagen production turned to the version of the Volkswagen Beetle, the Kübelwagen,52,000 produced. Porsche produced several designs for heavy tanks during the war, losing out to Henschel & Son in both contracts that ultimately led to the Tiger I and the Tiger II. However, not all work was wasted, as the chassis Porsche designed for the Tiger I was used as the base for the Elefant tank destroyer. Porsche also developed the Maus super-heavy tank in the stages of the war. At the end of World War II in 1945, the Volkswagen factory at KdF-Stadt fell to the British, Ferdinand lost his position as Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen, and Ivan Hirst, a British Army Major, was put in charge of the factory. On 15 December of that year, Ferdinand was arrested for war crimes, during his 20-month imprisonment, Ferdinand Porsches son, Ferry Porsche, decided to build his own car, because he could not find an existing one that he wanted to buy. He also had to steer the company through some of its most difficult days until his fathers release in August 1947, the first models of what was to become the 356 were built in a small sawmill in Gmünd, Austria. The prototype car was shown to German auto dealers, and when pre-orders reached a set threshold, production was begun by Porsche Konstruktionen GesmbH founded by Ferry, many regard the 356 as the first Porsche simply because it was the first model sold by the fledgling company. After the production of 356 was taken over by the fathers Dr. Ing. h. c. In 1952, Porsche constructed a plant across the street from Reutter Karosserie, the main road in front of Werk 1. The 356 was road certified in 1948, Porsches company logo was based on the coat of arms of the Free Peoples State of Württemberg of former Weimar Germany, which had Stuttgart as its capital. The arms of Stuttgart was placed in the middle as an inescutcheon, on 30 January 1951, not long before the creation of Baden-Württemberg, Ferdinand Porsche died from complications following a stroke. The 356, however, had several stages, A, B, and C, while in production
7.
Toyota
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Toyota Motor Corporation is a Japanese automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota, Aichi, Japan. In March 2014, the corporation consisted of 338,875 employees worldwide and. As of 2016, Toyota is the worlds second-largest automotive manufacturer behind German Volkswagen Group, Toyota was the worlds first automobile manufacturer to produce more than 10 million vehicles per year which it has done since 2012, when it also reported the production of its 200-millionth vehicle. As of July 2014, Toyota was the largest listed company in Japan by market capitalization, Toyota is the worlds market leader in sales of hybrid electric vehicles, and one of the largest companies to encourage the mass-market adoption of hybrid vehicles across the globe. Cumulative global sales of Toyota and Lexus hybrid passenger car models achieved the 10 million milestone in January 2017 and its Prius family is the worlds top selling hybrid nameplate with over 6 million units sold worldwide as of January 2017. The company was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda in 1937, as a spinoff from his fathers company Toyota Industries to create automobiles. Three years earlier, in 1934, while still a department of Toyota Industries, it created its first product, the Type A engine, and, in 1936, its first passenger car, the Toyota AA. Toyota Motor Corporation produces vehicles under five brands, including the Toyota brand, Hino, Lexus, Ranz, TMC is part of the Toyota Group, one of the largest conglomerates in the world. Toyota is headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, the main headquarters of Toyota is located in a 4-story building in Toyota. As of 2006, the office has the Toyopet Toyota logo. Vinod Jacob from The Hindu described the headquarters building as modest. In 2013, company head Akio Toyoda reported that it had difficulties retaining foreign employees at the due to the lack of amenities in the city. Its Tokyo office is located in Bunkyo, Tokyo and its Nagoya office is located in Nakamura-ku, Nagoya. In addition to manufacturing automobiles, Toyota provides financial services through its Toyota Financial Services division, since 1950, the two entities had existed as separate companies as a prerequisite for reconstruction in postwar Japan. Shoichiro Toyoda presided over Toyota Motor Sales in preparation for the consummation of the merger occurred in 1982. Shoichiro then succeeded his uncle Eiji as the President of the organization that then became known as Toyota Motor Corporation. Announced the appointment of board members, this was a first for the corporation. Additionally, Vice Chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada replaced Fujio Cho as chairman, Toyota is publicly traded on the Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka, and Sapporo exchanges under company code TYO,7203
8.
Audi
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Audi is a German automobile manufacturer that designs, engineers, produces, markets and distributes luxury vehicles. Audi is a member of the Volkswagen Group and has its roots at Ingolstadt, Bavaria, audi-branded vehicles are produced in nine production facilities worldwide. The modern era of Audi essentially began in the 1960s when Auto Union was acquired by Volkswagen from Daimler-Benz. After relaunching the Audi brand with the 1965 introduction of the Audi F103 series, Volkswagen merged Auto Union with NSU Motorenwerke in 1969, the company name is based on the Latin translation of the surname of the founder, August Horch. Horch, meaning listen in German, becomes audi in Latin, the four rings of the Audi logo each represent one of four car companies that banded together to create Audis predecessor company, Auto Union. Audis slogan is Vorsprung durch Technik, meaning Advancement through Technology, however, since 2007 Audi USA has used the slogan Truth in Engineering. Audi, along with BMW and Mercedes are among the luxury automobile brands in the world. Originally in 1885, automobile company Wanderer was established, later becoming a branch of Audi AG, another company, NSU, which also later merged into Audi, was founded during this time, and later supplied the chassis for Gottlieb Daimlers four-wheeler. On 14 November 1899, August Horch established the company A. Horch & Cie. in the Ehrenfeld district of Cologne, three years later in 1902 he moved with his company to Reichenbach im Vogtland. On May, 10th,1904 he founded the August Horch & Cie. Motorwagenwerke AG, after troubles with Horch chief financial officer, August Horch left Motorwagenwerke and founded in Zwickau on 16 July 1909, his second company, the August Horch Automobilwerke GmbH. His former partners sued him for trademark infringement, the German Reichsgericht in Leipzig, eventually determined that the Horch brand belonged to his former company. Since August Horch was prohibited from using Horch as a name in his new car business, he called a meeting with close business friends, Paul and Franz Fikentscher from Zwickau. At the apartment of Franz Fikentscher, they discussed how to come up with a new name for the company, during this meeting, Franzs son was quietly studying Latin in a corner of the room. Horch. in German means Hark. or hear, which is Audi in the imperative form of audire – to listen – in Latin. The idea was accepted by everyone attending the meeting. On 25 April 1910 the Audi Automobilwerke GmbH Zwickau was entered in the register of Zwickau registration court. The first Audi automobile, the Audi Type A 10/22 hp Sport-Phaeton, was produced in the same year, followed by the successor Type B 10/28PS in the same year. Audi started with a 2,612 cc inline-four engine model Type A, followed by a 3,564 cc model and these cars were successful even in sporting events
9.
Joest Racing
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Joest Racing is a racing team that was established in 1978 by former Porsche works racer Reinhold Joest. The headquarters are in Wald-Michelbach, Germany, as a combined driver/team owner, Reinhold Joest first began to race a Porsche 908/3 in the European Sportscar Championship, winning the drivers title. He then switched to Porsche 935s, winning the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1980, the team won the DRM back to back with driver Bob Wollek, in 1982 and 1983. During the 1982 season, whilst the Porsche 956 was only available to the works team and they would race the car into the 1983 season until they took delivery of their 956 prior to Le Mans. This would make them the team to score back to back wins with the same car. In 1986,1988, and 1989 Joest won the Supercup title for teams and they also took the Interserie title for drivers with Winter in 1985 and Bernd Schneider in 1991, and the teams title in 1991. In 1989, FIA introduced the new 3.5 litre Formula One engine rule to Group C, which not many teams were happy about, because few, if any, such engines were available to privateer teams like Joest. The team would compete in the IMSA GTP category beginning in 1990, winning the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1991 with Wollek, Pescarolo, Frank Jelinski, Winter. With their Porsche 962 now being outmoded by the Nissans, Jaguars and Toyotas, in 1993, the Nissan and TWR Jaguar team had withdrawn, and the AAR Eagle Toyota would continue to dominate the series final year. Joest managed to score the cars last IMSA victory at the Road America 500, in the 1990s, the team also had a successful career developing and racing an Opel Calibra in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft. They first won the ITR Gold Cup at the Donington Park round in 1994 with Manuel Reuter driving and they would continue to have a successful career there by the time the series became a full-fledged international championship, winning the title for the final year in 1996 for Opel. In late 1995, Tom Walkinshaw Racing were commissioned by Porsche to produce a WSC car to compete in the 1996 Daytona 24-hour race, the resulting Porsche WSC-95 was based on the TWRs 1991 Jaguar XJR-14 chassis, with the roof removed and a flat-six Porsche engine fitted. The car was withdrawn because of a rule change. For 1996 the concept was revived and Joest were chosen to run the WSC-95s at Le Mans as backup for Porsches own team of works 911 GT1s, Joest won the race with Davy Jones, Manuel Reuter, and Alexander Wurz. They returned in 1997, this time without support. The winning pilots were by Michele Alboreto, Stefan Johansson and Tom Kristensen, as with the #7956 of the 1980s, Joest attempted for a third straight win, although without success, as neither car finished, while Porsche itself prevailed in the 1998 race. In 1998, after being associated with Porsche for many years, Joest helped them build and develop the Audi R8R. Audi, not being sure which concept was the one, also supported an LM-GTP entry
10.
1998 24 Hours of Le Mans
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The 199824 Hours of Le Mans was the 66th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 6 and 7 June 1998. 1998 saw a significant increase in manufacturer involvement, Porsche and Mercedes-Benz remained, with upgraded cars in both GT1 and LMP. Toyota sent three of their new, extremely fast GT-One racing cars, while BMW, in association with WilliamsF1, nissan sent 4 of their new R390 GT1s. The United States was also represented properly with a two car team from Panoz, with Ford powered Esperante GTR-1s, Porsche won the race as the faster cars from Mercedes, BMW and Toyota retired with mechanical difficulties and accident damage. The remaining Nissans and outdated McLarens were unable to match the pace of the upgraded 911 GT1s, following this race, Porsche went into a sabbatical, rumored to be part of a plan to allow Porsches partner Audi to develop their own sportscar without competition from within the alliance. Porsche would return to Le Mans in 2014, they would win the 2015 race. The GT2 class win by the Chrysler Viper GTS-R was the first GT class win for an American made car since the Shelby Daytona Coupe won in 1964. Pole Position - #35 AMG-Mercedes -3,35.544 Fastest Lap - #28 Toyota Motorsport -3,41.809 Distance -4783.78 km Average Speed -199.324 km/h Highest Trap Speed — Toyota GT-One -345 km/h
11.
2008 24 Hours of Le Mans
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The 200824 Hours of Le Mans was the 76th Grand Prix of Endurance, taking place on 14–15 June 2008 at the Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, France, organised by the Automobile Club de lOuest. The test day was on June 1, the race was attended by 258,000 spectators. The Audi teams progress and victory was documented in the 2008 film Truth in 24, on 20 December 2007, the ACO confirmed the previously announced rule changes for the 2008 race and 2008 Le Mans Series season. Petrol engined Le Mans Prototype cars received a 3% larger air restrictor to increase power output, the ACO also added rules regarding the types of engines and fuels which can be used. Production engines which meet the GT1 and GT2 class regulations can now be installed in LMP1, the use of biofuels will also be allowed in the prototype categories, with petrol engines allowed to run 10% ethanol, and diesel teams allowed to use biodiesel. The GT1 and GT2 categories remained unchanged in the new rules, the official list of automatic invites was published by the ACO on 16 November 2007, with confirmation of entries accepted by teams published on 18 January 2008. On 19 February, the ACO published their full list of fifty-five entries plus eight reserves, the fifty-five main entries were required to appear at the Le Mans test day in order to compete. Eight cars were granted reserve entries, if any selected team from the main entry list withdrew, a reserve entry would take their place. On April 10, the #81 Tafel Racing Ferrari withdrew and was replaced by the #4 Saulnier Pescarolo-Judd, although several teams withdrew their reserve entries, none of the remaining reserve entries were promoted to the primary entry list. On Tuesday, June 10, Racing Boxs Lucchini-Judd failed official scrutineering and was withdrawn, the first remaining reserve, Epsilon Euskadis second entry, was allowed to take its place at the start of Wednesday qualifying. Drivers, team, and equipment for fifty-five cars arrived at the Circuit de la Sarthe on June 1 to participate in a mandatory test session, two sessions were held running four hours each, with an hour break for lunch. Rain dominated the weather during the two sessions, with the drying out only for brief periods of time before heavy rains dampened the circuit once more. Stéphane Sarrazin, in the #8 Peugeot, was able to set the fastest lap during a dry period in the second session. By the end of the test day, Sarrazins time remained unbeaten, and was in nearly four. Several hundredths of a second slower still was the #1 Audi, the fastest car not running a diesel engine was the #17 Pescarolo, recording a time of 3,33.939, over eleven seconds behind the overall leader. The other Porsche RS Spyder of Team Essex was second fastest, the Grand Touring categories were led by the previous years winner in GT1 class, the factory Aston Martin squad. The #009 DBR9 set a lap time of 3,53.531, larbre Compétitions Saleen set the second fastest lap in the class, nearly two seconds behind. The two factory Corvettes were third and fourth, with the #64 team a few tenths faster than the #63, for the GT2 class, American teams lead the session
12.
2013 24 Hours of Le Mans
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The 201324 Hours of Le Mans was an automobile endurance race held on 22–23 June 2013 at the Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, France. It was the 81st edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans motor race organised by the Automobile Club de lOuest, the race was the third round of the 2013 FIA World Endurance Championship. The race was won by Dane Tom Kristensen, Briton Allan McNish and Frenchman Loïc Duval, of Audi Sport Team Joest, the victory marked Audis twelfth win in fourteen years, as well as Kristensen extending his own record for the most wins with nine. OAK Racings Morgan-Nissan won the LMP2 category, while Porsche AG Team Manthey secured the LMGTE Pro class, the race was marred by a fatal accident in the first ten minutes when LMGTE Am driver Allan Simonsen crashed heavily into the barrier at Tertre Rouge. The impact was enough to crush part of the roof. Simonsen was treated at the scene of the accident before being taken to the medical centre where he later died from his injuries. The ACO granted 56 invitations to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, entries were divided between the LMP1, and LMP2, LMGTE Pro, and LMGTE Am categories. By 16 January, deadline for entries,71 applications had been filed with the ACO, some second-place finishers are also granted automatic entries in certain series. Entries are also granted for the winners of the Michelin Energy Endurance Challenge in the FIA World Endurance Championship, a final entry is granted to the champion in the Formula Le Mans category of the Le Mans Series, with the winner receiving their invitation in LMP2. For the first time, champions in the American Le Mans Series or at the Petit Le Mans do not automatically receive an entry, instead, the American Le Mans Series is given three at-large entries, which the series will award to teams interested in participating at Le Mans. As automatic entries are granted to teams, the teams are allowed to change their cars from the year to the next. However, automatic invitations in the two GTE categories are able to be swapped between the two based on the driver line-ups chosen by these teams, on 14 November 2012, the list of automatic entries was announced by the ACO. The ACO continued the Garage 56 concept, started in 2012, Garage 56 allows a 56th entry to the race, using the rigors of the 24 Hours of Le Mans to test new technology. The ACO announced during 2012 that the Swiss-developed GreenGT vehicle had been granted the Garage 56 entry for 2013, the GreenGT LMP-H2 utilizes a hydrogen fuel cell to run electric motors within a Le Mans Prototype style body. Three weeks before the race, GreenGT withdrew their entry, citing a lack of time to complete the complex fine-tuning of the fuel cell system. No reserve was available for the 56th garage, in conjunction with the announcement of entries for the 2013 FIA World Endurance Championship, the ACO also announced the full 56 car entry list for Le Mans, plus ten reserves. On 1 March, Extreme Speed Motorsports withdrew their LMGTE Am Ferrari, the Aston Martin was also allowed to change from the LMGTE Am category to LMGTE Pro per request. Two weeks later, Sébastien Loeb Racing withdrew their LMP2 Oreca-Nissan, starworks Motorsport, defending champions of Le Mans and the FIA World Endurance Championship in LMP2 category, withdrew their HPD-Honda entry on 9 April, promoting Morand Racings Morgan-Judd
13.
Formula One
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Formula One is the highest class of single-seat auto racing that is sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de lAutomobile. The FIA Formula One World Championship has been the form of racing since the inaugural season in 1950. The formula, designated in the name, refers to a set of rules, the F1 season consists of a series of races, known as Grands Prix, held worldwide on purpose-built F1 circuits and public roads. The results of each race are evaluated using a system to determine two annual World Championships, one for drivers, one for constructors. The racing drivers are required to be holders of valid Super Licences, the races are required to be held on tracks graded 1, the highest grade a track can receive by the FIA. Most events are held in locations on purpose-built tracks, but there are several events in city centres throughout the world. Formula One cars are the fastest road racing cars in the world. Formula One cars race at speeds of up to approximately 375 km/h with engines currently limited in performance to a maximum of 15,000 RPM, the cars are capable of lateral acceleration in excess of five g in corners. The performance of the cars is very dependent on electronics – although traction control and other driving aids have been banned since 2008 – and on aerodynamics, suspension, the formula has radically evolved and changed through the history of the sport. F1 had a global television audience of 425 million people during the course of the 2014 season. Grand Prix racing began in 1906 and became the most popular internationally in the second half of the twentieth century. The Formula One Group is the holder of the commercial rights. Its high profile and popularity have created a major merchandising environment, since 2000 the sports spiraling expenditures and the distribution of prize money favoring established top teams have forced complaints from smaller teams and led several teams to bankruptcy. On 23 January 2017 it was confirmed that Liberty Media had completed its $8 billion acquisition of Delta Topco, the Formula One series originated with the European Grand Prix Motor Racing of the 1920s and 1930s. The formula is a set of rules that all cars must meet. Formula One was a new formula agreed upon after World War II during 1946, the first world championship race was held at Silverstone, United Kingdom in 1950. A championship for constructors followed in 1958, national championships existed in South Africa and the UK in the 1960s and 1970s. Non-championship Formula One events were held for years, but due to the increasing cost of competition
14.
Toyota Racing
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Panasonic Toyota Racing was a Formula One team owned by Japanese car manufacturer Toyota and based in Cologne, Germany. Toyota announced their plans to participate in F1 in 1999, and after testing with their initial car, dubbed the TF101. The new team grew from Toyotas long-standing Toyota Motorsport GmbH organisation, which had competed in the World Rally Championship. Despite a point in their race, Panasonic Toyota Racing never won a Grand Prix, their best finish being 2nd place. Toyota drew criticism for their lack of success, especially after the 2006 Formula One season, Toyota was a well-funded team, but despite this, strong results had never been consistent. On 4 November 2009, Toyota announced its withdrawal from Formula One. Toyota made an entrance into motorsport when a Toyopet Crown entered the Round Australia Trial in 1957. The Formula One teams roots can be traced to a development in 1972. The team was later renamed Toyota Team Europe and then, after being bought by Toyota in 1993, the rally team won four World Rally Championship drivers titles, most notably with Carlos Sainz, as well as three constructors titles. The FIA banned the team competition for 12 months in 1995 for running illegal parts. Toyota continued to win rallies after their return in 1997, in 1997 the team moved into track racing with a sports car project, twice failing to win the Le Mans 24 Hours. On 21 January 1999 Toyota announced its move into Formula One, the company ended its rallying program in order to concentrate on Formula One. On 30 June 2000 the team secured its place as the 12th entry for the 2002 Formula One season, originally intending to enter F1 in 2001, Toyota forfeited an $11Million deposit by delaying their entry. Unusually, Toyota opted to start their own works team rather than partner with a specialist race team, the team was also set up away from Formula Ones traditional manufacturing centre in Motorsport Valley in the United Kingdom. During 2001, Toyota tested with their prototype TF101 car and drivers at 11 F1 circuits, the idea was to gain telemetry data for the races, which allowed them to make aerodynamic changes for the TF102, and for the drivers to experience the tracks in the new cars. Finn Mika Salo, who can communicate in Japanese, and Scotsman Allan McNish, Toyota F1 made their Formula One debut in 2002, with McNish and Salo driving the Toyota TF102, designed by Gustav Brunner. Despite reportedly having one of the biggest budgets in Formula One and their first point was scored in their first race, the Australian Grand Prix, when half the field was eliminated by a first corner accident caused by Ralf Schumacher colliding with Rubens Barrichello. The team could have scored another point in the race at the Malaysian Grand Prix, but Salo suffered an electrical misfire
15.
2002 Australian Grand Prix
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The 2002 Australian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 3 March 2002 at the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit. It was the first race of the 2002 Formula One season, the 58-lap race was won by Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher after starting from second position. Juan Pablo Montoya finished second in a Williams with Kimi Räikkönen third for the McLaren team, the Grand Prix was contested by eleven teams, each of two drivers. The teams, also known as constructors, were Ferrari, McLaren, Williams, Sauber, Jordan, BAR, Renault, Jaguar, Arrows, Minardi and Toyota. Heading into the new season, several teams opted to keep the same line-up as they had in 2001, One of the main driver changes involved Sauber driver Kimi Räikkönen, who signed for McLaren for the 2002 season, replacing Mika Häkkinen who opted to take a sabbatical. Defending Drivers Champion Michael Schumacher stayed at Ferrari after his title-winning campaign, as in 2001, eleven teams took to the grid for the start of the new season. Four practice sessions were held before the race, two sessions held on Friday and two 45 minute sessions on Saturday. The Friday sessions were held in damp and wet conditions with scattered sunshine, Michael Schumacher, the reigning champion, set the sessions fastest lap with a time of 1,28.804, three-tenths of a second faster than Barrichello. Giancarlo Fisichella was two and a second off Barrichellos pace, followed by Ralf Schumacher, Felipe Massa. In the second session, Michael Schumacher set the quickest lap of the day. Saturdays weather was damp and wet, where grip was poor. The session was disrupted by an accident involving Jordan driver Takuma Sato, saturdays afternoon qualifying session lasted for an hour. During this session, the 107% rule was in effect, which necessitated each driver set a time within 107% of the quickest lap to qualify for the race, each driver was limited to twelve laps. Barrichello achieved his first pole position of the season, his first in Melbourne and he was joined on the front row by Michael Schumacher who was five thousands of a second slower. The race was heavy on attrition in the first lap, with eight cars eliminated in a multi-car pile-up at the first corner, Ralf Schumacher had made the best start from third on the grid. He passed his brother Michael and was looking for a way to take the lead from Barrichello when things went wrong, Rubens weaved one way and then went the other way. Ralf went back for another try and as they arrived at the area he seemed to brake too late. The result was that Ralf went into Barrichellos car and took off, but behind Ralfs Flying Circus there was a considerable mayhem as Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen both went off onto the grass
16.
2002 Japanese Grand Prix
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The 2002 Japanese Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Suzuka on 13 October 2002. It was the seventeenth and final round of the 2002 Formula One season, the 53-lap race was won by Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher after starting from pole position. Rubens Barrichello finished second and Kimi Räikkönen completed the podium, in third place and this was the last race for Eddie Irvine, Allan McNish, Alex Yoong and Mika Salo. With both drivers and constructors title already decided, the fight in the championships now concentrates on the lower ranks, David Coulthard has a slim chance of winning 3rd place but that can only happen if he wins the Japanese Grand Prix with Montoya finishing 3rd or lower. Coulthard could take 4th in the Championship by finishing 4th and ahead of Ralf Schumacher, further down, a number of drivers will have a chance to improve their final ranking but it will all depend on whether they can actually score points. In the Constructors Championship, Ferrari, Williams and McLaren have secured 1st to 3rd, Ferrari are expected to dominate this race. And, if he finishes the race on the podium, he will have finished on the podium in every race of the season, the fight between Williams and McLaren will be very close. Williams will benefit from their BMW power but McLaren have been improving, both teams have suffered from engine failures lately and that could influence the outcome of this race. Behind the top 3, Renault continue to score points left over from the top 3 teams while Sauber continues to struggle in the face of the tough competition. Jaguar struggled at the United States Grand Prix but they should do better here, in 2001, Michael Schumacher won the race starting from pole with Juan Pablo Montoya finishing a strong second while David Coulthard finishing in 3rd. Mika Häkkinen, Rubens Barrichello and Ralf Schumacher made the top 6, the top 3 teams took the top 6 places. A number of teams were testing the previous week before the Grand Prix, McLaren, Williams, Toyota and BAR were at Barcelona and McLaren test driver Alexander Wurz broke the lap record there. Ferrari were testing at Mugello with Sauber and at Jerez and Fiorano while Renault, the teams concentrated on set-up for the Grand Prix as well as testing components for the 2003 season. Michael Schumacher grabbed his 7th pole position of the season and the 50th of his career ahead of team-mate Rubens Barrichello, Kimi Räikkönen was 4th ahead of Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya. Takuma Sato managed 7th and his best ever qualifying ahead of his team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella, jacques Villeneuve was 9th with Jenson Button wrapping up the top 10. The session was interrupted for over 75 minutes after Allan McNish appeared to have lost control of his car, the back of his car was destroyed, luckily though he didnt sustain any major injuries. He qualified in 18th, however was unfit to start the race, the fight for pole turned to be a no-contest with Michael Schumacher convincingly faster than anyone else here including his team-mate. The fight at the front was really between the other 5 drivers of the top 3 teams, behind the top 3 teams, the Jordan team took the honours of the best of the rest thanks to a more powerful Honda engine
17.
Dumfries
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Dumfries is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth, Dumfries was a civil parish and became the county town of the former county of Dumfriesshire. Dumfries is nicknamed Queen of the South, people from Dumfries are known colloquially as Doonhamers. There are at least three theories on the etymology of the name, One is that the name Dumfries originates from the Scottish Gaelic name Dún Phris which means Fort of the Thicket. Another is that it comes from a Brythonic cognate of the alleged Gaelic derivation, No positive information has been obtained of the era and circumstances in which the town of Dumfries was founded. Some writers hold that Dumfries flourished as a place of distinction during the Roman occupation of North Great Britain. This is inferred from the etymology of the name, which, Dumfries was once within the borders of the Kingdom of Northumbria. The district around Dumfries was for centuries ruled over and deemed of much importance by the invading Romans. The Romanized natives received freedom as well as civilisation from their conquerors, late in the fourth century, the Romans bade farewell to the country. According to another theory, the name is a corruption of two words mean the Friars’ Hill, those who favour this idea allege that St. In the list of British towns given by the ancient historian Nennius, the name Caer Peris occurs, twelve of King Arthurs battles were recorded by Nennius in Historia Brittonum. The Battle of Tribruit, has suggested as having possibly been near Dumfries or near the mouth of the river Avon near Boness. It has been argued, the town thus characterised must have been Dumfries, however, against this argument is that the town is situated eight to nine miles distant from the sea, although the River Nith is tidal and navigable all the way into the town itself. Although at the time 1 mile upstream and on the bank of the Nith from Dumfries. The abbey ruins are on the site of the Bailey of the very early Lincluden Castle and this religious house was used for various purposes, until its abandonment around 1700. Lincluden Abbey and its grounds are now within the Dumfries urban conurbation boundary, William the Lion granted the charter to raise Dumfries to the rank of a Royal Burgh in 1186. Dumfries was very much on the frontier during its first 50 years as a burgh and it grew rapidly as a market town and port. Alexander III visited Dumfries in 1264 to plan an expedition against the Isle of Man, previously Scots, a royal castle, which no longer exists, was built in the 13th century on the site of the present Castledykes Park
18.
Association football
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Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball. It is played by 250 million players in over 200 countries and dependencies making it the worlds most popular sport, the game is played on a rectangular field with a goal at each end. The object of the game is to score by getting the ball into the opposing goal, players are not allowed to touch the ball with their hands or arms while it is in play, unless they are goalkeepers. Other players mainly use their feet to strike or pass the ball, the team that scores the most goals by the end of the match wins. If the score is level at the end of the game, the Laws of the Game were originally codified in England by The Football Association in 1863. Association football is governed internationally by the International Federation of Association Football, the first written reference to the inflated ball used in the game was in the mid-14th century, Þe heued fro þe body went, Als it were a foteballe. The Online Etymology Dictionary states that the word soccer was split off in 1863, according to Partha Mazumdar, the term soccer originated in England, first appearing in the 1880s as an Oxford -er abbreviation of the word association. Within the English-speaking world, association football is now usually called football in the United Kingdom and mainly soccer in Canada and the United States. People in Australia, Ireland, South Africa and New Zealand use either or both terms, although national associations in Australia and New Zealand now primarily use football for the formal name. According to FIFA, the Chinese competitive game cuju is the earliest form of football for which there is scientific evidence, cuju players could use any part of the body apart from hands and the intent was kicking a ball through an opening into a net. It was remarkably similar to football, though similarities to rugby occurred. During the Han Dynasty, cuju games were standardised and rules were established, phaininda and episkyros were Greek ball games. An image of an episkyros player depicted in low relief on a vase at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens appears on the UEFA European Championship Cup, athenaeus, writing in 228 AD, referenced the Roman ball game harpastum. Phaininda, episkyros and harpastum were played involving hands and violence and they all appear to have resembled rugby football, wrestling and volleyball more than what is recognizable as modern football. As with pre-codified mob football, the antecedent of all football codes. Non-competitive games included kemari in Japan, chuk-guk in Korea and woggabaliri in Australia, Association football in itself does not have a classical history. Notwithstanding any similarities to other games played around the world FIFA have recognised that no historical connection exists with any game played in antiquity outside Europe. The modern rules of football are based on the mid-19th century efforts to standardise the widely varying forms of football played in the public schools of England
19.
Nottingham Forest F.C.
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Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottinghamshire, England. The team play in the Championship, the tier of English football. The club, often referred to as Forest, have played matches at the City Ground since 1898. Founded in 1865, Forest were founder members of the Football Alliance in 1889, since then, they have mostly competed in the top two League tiers, bar five seasons in the third tier. Forest won the FA Cup in 1898 and 1959, Forest were founded in 1865 as Nottingham Forest Football and Bandy Club by a group of shinty players shortly after their neighbours Notts County, in 1862. They joined the Football Alliance in 1889, and won the competition in 1892, in their early years Forest were a multi-sports club, as well as their roots in bandy and shinty, the baseball club Forest deployed were British champions in 1899. Forests charitable approach to the sport helped teams like Liverpool, Arsenal, in 1886, Forest donated a set of football kits to help Arsenal establish themselves – the North London team still wear red. Forest also donated shirts to Everton and helped secure a site to play on for Brighton, Forest claimed their first major honour when they won the 1898 FA Cup, beating Derby County 3–1 at Crystal Palace. However, for much of the first half of the 20th century the club spent life in the Second Division and had to seek re-election in 1914 after finishing bottom. In 1949 the club were relegated to the Third Division, but were promoted back two years later as champions having scored a record 110 goals in the 1950–51 season. They therefore became the first team to defeat the Wembley hoodoo, by this time Forest had replaced Notts County as the biggest club in Nottingham and went on to become runners-up in the First Division and FA Cup semi-finalists in 1967. However, after a successful period for the club, Forest were relegated from the First Division in 1972. Clough became the most successful manager in the history of Nottingham Forest, cloughs first game in charge was the third round FA Cup replay against Tottenham Hotspur, a 1–0 victory thanks to a goal by Scottish centre-forward Neil Martin. Nottingham Forest became one of the few teams to win the First Division Championship a year after winning promotion from the Second Division and they also won the European Super Cup and two League Cups. The club reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup in 1983–84 but were knocked out by Anderlecht in controversial but uncertain circumstances. The case was dismissed and Anderlecht was acquitted from all charges Nottingham Forests next major trophies came in 1989 when they won the Football League Cup. Cloughs side retained the League Cup in 1990 when they beat Oldham Athletic 1–0, in Forests team that day was young Irish midfielder Roy Keane, who had joined the club the previous summer. In the summer of 1991, Brian Clough broke Forests transfer record fee by signing the top scorer, Millwall striker Teddy Sheringham
20.
Queen of the South F.C.
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Queen of the South Football Club are a Scottish professional football club founded in 1919 and located in Dumfries. The club currently plays in the Scottish Championship, in the tier of Scottish football. They are officially nicknamed The Doonhamers but are referred to as Queens or QoS. Their home ground since their formation has been Palmerston Park, Queens led Scotlands top division up until New Year in season 1953–54 and the clubs highest finish in Scotlands top division was fourth in season 1933–34. The club reached their first major cup final in 2008 when they reached the final of the Scottish Cup, gary Naysmith is the current club manager, having been appointed on 1 December 2016 and John Rankin is the current club captain, having been appointed on 7 January 2017. Robbie Neilson, the current manager of MK Dons, said about Queens from his period at the club in 2002, Its a well-run club. In the 2008 UEFA Cup qualifying trip to Denmark Queen of the South fans were hailed as a great credit both to their club and to Scotland by Danish police, about 850 supporters of the Dumfries club travelled to Denmark to watch the UEFA Cup clash with FC Nordsjaelland. Despite the fact that their team was eliminated, local police said their behaviour was impressive. Insp Rune Hamann said, It was a pleasure hosting such a visit by Queen of the South whose supporters were well behaved. Copenhagen was particularly busy in the build up to and after the match with a carnival, I look forward to welcoming Queen of the South and their terrific supporters back in Denmark in the future. Ch Insp Mickey Collins from Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary said the fans were a pleasure to work along with and he added, Despite the huge numbers of supporters who travelled to Denmark there were no arrests, incidents or issues of any concern. Great praise should be passed on to those fortunate enough to be at the match, the club mascot is Dougie the Doonhamer, a human sized border collie dog. The character has been played for many years by supermarket worker Brian Harkness. Queen of the South are often cited as the only league club in the United Kingdom to be mentioned in the Bible. Luke 11,31 states The Queen of the South shall rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation, Queen of the South is similarly quoted under Matthew 12,42. In the biblical quote the Queen of the South is considered to be the Queen of Sheba. P, Queens played for 78 minutes with 10 men after goalkeeper George Farm was injured in the 12th minute and was carried off. Dundees Alan Gilzean scored 7 of the goals, Dundee were reigning Scottish League Champions at the time and would make the European Cup semi-finals that season where they lost to eventual winners AC Milan. Highest free standing floodlights in Scottish football, Queens floodlights were first used on 29 October 1958, to mark the occasion Preston North End sent a team north for a friendly match. First Queens players to four senior Scottish football medals while playing for the club, Jim Thomson
21.
Kart racing
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Kart racing or karting is a variant of open-wheel motorsport with small, open, four-wheeled vehicles called karts, go-karts, or gearbox/shifter karts depending on the design. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, Karting is commonly perceived as the stepping stone to the higher ranks of motorsports. Karts vary widely in speed and some can reach speeds exceeding 260 kilometres per hour, American Art Ingels is generally accepted to be the father of karting. A veteran hot rodder and a car builder at Kurtis Kraft. Instantly popular, Karting rapidly spread to countries, and currently has a large following in Europe. The first kart manufacturer was an American company, Go Kart Manufacturing Co, in 1959, McCulloch was the first company to produce engines for karts. Its first engine, the McCulloch MC-10, was an adapted chainsaw two-stroke engine, later, in the 1960s, motorcycle engines were also adapted for kart use, before dedicated manufacturers, especially in Italy, started to build engines for the sport. The chassis are made of steel tubing, there is no suspension, therefore chassis have to be flexible enough to work as a suspension and stiff enough not to break or give way on a turn. Kart chassis are classified in the USA as Open, Caged, all Commission Internationale de Karting - Fédération Internationale de lAutomobile or CIK-FIA approved chassis are Straight and Open. Open karts have no roll cage, Caged karts have a roll cage surrounding the driver, they are mostly used on dirt tracks. In Straight chassis the driver sits in the center, Straight chassis are used for sprint racing. In Offset chassis the driver sits on the left side, Offset chassis are used for left-turn-only speedway racing. The stiffness of the chassis enables different handling characteristics for different circumstances, typically, for dry conditions a stiffer chassis is preferable, while in wet or other poor traction conditions, a more flexible chassis may work better. The best chassis allow for stiffening bars at the rear, front, braking is achieved by a disc brake mounted on the rear axle. Front disc brakes are used in most shifter kart classes and are popular in other classes, however. Shifter karts have dual master cylinders, one for the front, professionally raced karts typically weigh 165 to 175 lb, complete without driver. Avanti, Tony Kart, Trulli, Birel, CRG, Gillard, Intrepid, Kosmic, Zanardi or FA Kart, emmick, Coyote, Bandit, Shadow, MGM, Titan, PRC and Margay are American companies producing kart chassis. Amusement park go-karts can be powered by 4-stroke engines or electric motors and they are adequate for racing and fun kart applications
22.
Dumfries and Galloway
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Dumfries and Galloway is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland and is located in the western Southern Uplands. It comprises the counties of Dumfriesshire, Stewartry of Kirkcudbright and Wigtownshire. The administrative centre is the town of Dumfries, following the 1975 reorganisation of local government in Scotland, the three counties were joined to form a single region of Dumfries and Galloway, with four districts within it. Act 1994, however, it has become a local authority. For lieutenancy purposes, the counties are largely maintained with its three lieutenancy areas being Dumfries, Wigtown and the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright. To the north, Dumfries and Galloway borders East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire and South Lanarkshire, in the east the Borders, and to the south the county of Cumbria in England, to the west lies the Irish Sea. The Dumfries and Galloway Council region is composed of counties and their sub-areas, Dumfries and Galloway covers the majority of the Western area of the Southern Uplands, it also hosts Scotlands most Southerly point, at the Mull of Galloway in the west of the region. This road leaves the A714 at Bargrennan, Water of Ken and River Dee form a corridor through the hills called the Glenkens which carries the A713 road from Castle Douglas to Ayr. The Galloway Hills lie to the west of route through the hills. River Nith rises between Dalmellington and New Cumnock in Ayrshire and runs east then south down Nithsdale to Dumfries, Nithsdale carries both the A76 road and the rail line from Dumfries to Kilmarnock. It separates the Carsphairn and Scaur Hills from the Lowther Hills which lie east of the Nith and this gap through the hills separates the Lowthers from the Moffat Hills. River Esk enters the Solway Firth just south of Gretna having travelled south from Langholm, the A7 travels up Eskdale as far as Langholm and from Langholm carries on up the valley of Ewes Water to Teviothead where it starts to follow the River Teviot to Hawick. Eskdale itself heads north west from Langholm through Bentpath and Eskdalemuir to Ettrick, the A701 branches off the M74 at Beattock, goes through the town of Moffat, climbs to Annanhead above the Devils Beef Tub before passing the source of the River Tweed and carrying on to Edinburgh. Until fairly recent times the ancient route to Edinburgh travelled right up Annandale to the Beef Tub before climbing steeply to Annanhead, the present road ascends northward on a ridge parallel to Annandale but to the west of it which makes for a much easier ascent. From Moffat the A708 heads north east along the valley of Moffat Water on its way to Selkirk, moffatdale separates the Moffat hills from the Ettrick hills to the south. There are three National Scenic Areas within this region, Nith Estuary - This area follows the River Nith southward from just south of Dumfries into the Solway Firth. His mausoleum is in St Michaels graveyard, criffel offers the hill walker a reasonably modest walk with excellent views across the Solway to the Lake District. The house of John Paul Jones founder of the American Navy is also open to visitors near Kirkbean, East Stewartry - This takes in the coast line from Balcary Point eastward across Auchencairn Bay and the Rough Firth past Sandyhills to Mersehead
23.
David Coulthard
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David Marshall Coulthard, MBE, known as DC, is a British former Formula One racing driver turned presenter, commentator and journalist. He was runner-up in the 2001 Formula One World Drivers Championship, Coulthard began karting at the age of eleven and achieved early success before progressing to car racing in the British Formula Ford Championship and the Formula 3000 series. He first drove in Formula One with Williams F1 in the 1994 season succeeding the late Ayrton Senna, the following year he won his first Grand Prix in Portugal, and then for the 1996 season he moved to McLaren. After winning two races in the 1997 season, he finished 3rd in the World Drivers Championship in the 1998 season and he won five races throughout 1999 and 2000 before finishing 2nd in the Drivers Championship to Michael Schumacher in 2001. Two more victories followed between 2002 and 2003 before he left McLaren at the end of 2004 and he moved to Red Bull in 2005 and secured their first podium a year later. Coulthard retired from Formula One racing at the end of 2008, after retiring from Formula One Coulthard continued working with Red Bull as a consultant and joined the BBC as a commentator and pundit for their coverage of Formula One. He returned to motorsports in 2010 joining Mücke Motorsport in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. Coulthard has also participated in the Race of Champions, finishing runner-up in the Drivers Cup in 2008, since 2016 he has worked as a commentator and analyst for Channel 4 after they took over the BBC’s terrestrial television rights. Coulthard was born on 27 March 1971 in Twynholm, Kirkcudbrightshire and his family was connected to motor racing, his grandfather competed in the Monte Carlo Rally and his father drove karts, becoming Scottish National Champion. From an early age motorsport was where his interest lay, later listing Formula One World Champions Jim Clark, Nigel Mansell, Coulthard was educated at Kirkcudbright Academy, achieving eight O Grades. Coulthard began karting when his father presented him with his first kart for his eleventh birthday, Coulthard graded each race he entered on a scale of 1 to 10, with an additional column headlined Performance. He later gave credit to David Leslie, senior and junior for allowing his career to develop, in 1990, Coulthard travelled to Belgium to compete in the EFDA Nations Cup for Great Britain and was partnered with Nicky Hart, where they finished 9th. During the year, Coulthard was selected by Vauxhall Motorsport to race in an appearance in the British Touring Car Championship at Brands Hatch. He did not return to the series after suffering a leg injury in a Formula Vauxhall race at Spa-Francorchamps, for 1991, Coulthard signed with Paul Stewart Racing to compete in the British Formula 3 series, taking five victories and finishing second in the Championship behind Rubens Barrichello. Coulthard won the Macau Grand Prix and the Masters of Formula Three and he later traveled to the Fuji Speedway to compete in the annual Formula Three Fuji Cup, taking pole position and finished second behind Jordi Gené. In 1992, he moved to the International Formula 3000 series, for 1993, Coulthard joined Pacific Racing, taking one victory and finishing third in the series. He entered the 24 Hours of Le Mans alongside John Nielsen, the trio won the GT Class, although they were later disqualified for a technical infringement. He moved to the Vortex team in 1994, which received investment from a private investor, in his first and only race for the team held at Silverstone, Coulthard finished third
24.
Dario Franchitti
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George Dario Marino Franchitti, MBE, known professionally as Dario Franchitti, is a retired British racing driver. He is a four time IndyCar Series champion, a winner of the Indianapolis 500 as well as a winner of the 24 Hours of Daytona. Franchitti started his career in his native United Kingdom in the early 1990s, competing in Formula Vauxhall and Formula Three and was also the winner of the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award in 1992. After Franchitti did not secure a drive in 1995, he was contracted by the AMG team to compete in touring cars in the DTM. Despite 2 seasons with relative success, the series folded at the end of the 1996 season, Mercedes placed Franchitti in CART in 1997 with the Hogan Racing team. Team Green moved to the IndyCar Series for the 2003 campaign, Franchittis first season for IndyCar was disrupted by an injury, but won his first races the following season. His breakout year came in 2007, when he won the rain-shortened Indianapolis 500 as one of 4 victories in his route to a first career title in a final-race title decider with Scott Dixon. At the end of the season, Franchitti was named as BBC Scotlands Sports Personality of the Year, after an ill-fated move to NASCAR in 2008 Franchitti returned to IndyCar in 2009, driving for Chip Ganassi Racing. Franchitti won on his 2nd start back in the series, and eventually took 5 wins as he won a 2nd championship, again in a race championship decider against Dixon. A new car was introduced for the 2012 season, in which Franchitti only scored 1 victory – in the Indianapolis 500 – to become the 10th driver to win at least 3 Indianapolis 500s during a career. On 6 October 2013, Franchitti was involved in a crash in the Grand Prix of Houston. Franchitti suffered 2 fractured vertebrae, an ankle, and a concussion in the crash. Later he would learn that he had some of his past. Franchitti was born in Bathgate, West Lothian, Scotland, while attending Stewarts Melville College in Edinburgh, he became interested in karting. Allan McNish credited a large part of the given to himself, Franchitti. Franchitti won the Karting Scottish Junior Championship in 1984, the British Junior Championships in 1985 and 1986 and he progressed to Formula Vauxhall Junior where he won the championship with four victories in 1991. He moved up to Formula Vauxhall Lotus in 1992, where he joined Paul Stewart Racing, in his first year, he finished fourth in the overall championship, and was named the McLaren/Autosport Young Driver of the Year. Staying with the team for the season, he won the championship in 1993
25.
David Leslie (racing driver)
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David Leslie was a British racing driver. He was most associated with the British Touring Car Championship, in which he was runner-up in 1999 and he was particularly noted for his development skill, helping both Honda and Nissan become BTCC race winners. He was born in Dumfries, Scotland, Leslie was Scottish karting champion 5 times before switching to cars, winning the Formula Ford title in 1978. He later moved to the British Formula Three Championship from 1981 to 1984, with Ecosse, he moved to the World Sportscar Championship, driving to multiple C2 class victories and helping the team earn the 1986 championship. Leslie himself would earn second place in the Drivers Championship in 1987 alongside teammate Ray Mallock, Ecosse eventually took over the Aston Martin sports car program before Leslie departed in 1990 to become part of Tom Walkinshaws Jaguar team. Leslie maintained his links with Ecosse when the team moved to the British Touring Car Championship in 1990 and he competed on a partial schedule for the first two seasons before becoming a full-time driver for Vauxhall in 1992. He took his first win a year later, and earned a total of six pole positions over those two years, both of which ended in top 10 championship placements. 1994 was a season in a Mazda, but for 1995 he joined Honda as they entered the series for the first time. The car was late getting onto the track in pre-season, and reliability was initially poor, for 1997 James Thompson and Gabriele Tarquini raced the Hondas and Leslie switched to Nissan alongside Anthony Reid. Again the car was uncompetitive, and much of the credit for its eventual success is widely attributed to Leslie. The company pulled out after that, and Leslie did only occasional races in 2000, for the past 3 years, he had been lecturing Motorsports Management, part-time at Swansea Metropolitan University. Allan McNish credited the start he, David Coulthard, and Dario Franchitti were given at the start of their careers as largely to Leslie, Leslie died on 30 March 2008, when the private jet he was travelling in crashed into a housing estate in Farnborough, Kent. He was flying with fellow racing driver and team owner Richard Lloyd and they were travelling to the Nogaro Circuit in France to test for Lloyds Apex Motorsport in preparation for the FIA GT3 European Championship. Races in bold indicate pole position Races in italics indicate fastest lap * signifies that driver lead race for at least one lap ‡ Endurance driver BTCC pages profile David Leslie Online Memorial
26.
David Brabham
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David Brabham is an Australian professional racing driver and one of the most successful and experienced specialists in sports car racing. He has won three international Sports Car series and is one of four Australians to have won the Le Mans 24 Hour sports car race, Brabham won the American Le Mans Series in 2009 and 2010. He also competed in Formula One, racing for the Brabham, Brabham is the youngest son of three-time Formula One world champion Sir Jack Brabham. Brabham, who was born in Wimbledon, London, spent his childhood in Australia, despite his fathers motor racing fame he took little interest in motor racing until after he left school. As a child he played the more accessible sport of football up until the age of twelve, Brabhams professional racing career began in Australia in 1983, racing karts for two years, after which he moved into the Ford Laser one make series for 1985. In 1986 he switched to Formula Ford 1600 and subsequently to Australian Formula 2, winning the 1987 Australian Drivers Championship in that category. The 1987 ADC was, unlike previous years, only held as a race rather than a series of rounds and was run as a support category to the 1987 Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide.7 second victory. He also competed in the New Zealand Formula Atlantic series, the American Formula Atlantic series, a move from Australia to Europe under sponsorship from Camel in 1989 saw him joining the Bowman team and winning the British Formula Three Championship. Brabhams break into Formula One in 1990 with the Brabham team met with little success and he had raised a considerable amount of sponsorship to join the team bearing his family name but financial constraints hindered the team all season. While David had been hired to drive ahead of the season he requested to skip the first two races to prepare himself, Gregor Foitek taking the seat instead and his first outing with the team was the 1990 San Marino Grand Prix where he failed to qualify. His first Formula One start came at the race in Monaco where his father Jack had won in 1959. In 14 races he only managed to qualify the uncompetitive Judd-engined car six times and this, and David being unable to raise the reported $3m needed to keep his place in the team, led to him being replaced at the end of the season. Brabham joined the Tom Walkinshaw Racing Jaguar team in 1991 and also in that year won the Spa 24 Hours driving a Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R alongside Naoki Hattori, Brabham returned to Formula One in 1994 with the under-funded Simtek team after his father brought shares in the team. The second seat was to be filled by paying drivers, with Roland Ratzenberger taking the first five races before Jean-Marc Gounon took over. The S941 chassis was overweight, used a manual gearbox as opposed to the semi-automatic types used by most teams. Despite this Brabham qualified for round of the series. The team suffered the blow of the death of Roland Ratzenberger during qualifying for the San Marino Grand Prix. Traditionally the other team driver would withdraw in such a situation, in Ratzenbergers memory the team made a collective decision to see out the season, with Brabhams strong leadership often cited as a key factor
27.
McLaren
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McLaren Racing Limited, competing as McLaren Honda, is a British Formula One team based at the McLaren Technology Centre, Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor but has competed in and won the Indianapolis 500. The team is the second oldest active team after Ferrari and they are one of the most successful teams in Formula One history, having won 182 races,12 drivers championships and eight constructors championships. The team is an owned subsidiary of McLaren Technology Group. Further American triumph followed, with Indianapolis 500 wins in McLaren cars for Mark Donohue in 1972, the combination of Prost and Senna was particularly dominant—together they won all but one race in 1988—but later their rivalry soured and Prost left for Ferrari. Fellow English team Williams offered the most consistent challenge during this period, however, by the mid-1990s, Honda had withdrawn from Formula One, Senna had moved to Williams, and the team went three seasons without a win. Ron Dennis retired as McLaren team principal in 2009, handing the role to longtime McLaren employee Martin Whitmarsh. At the end of 2013, after the teams worst season since 2004, McLaren announced in 2013 that they would be using Honda engines from 2015 onwards, replacing Mercedes-Benz. The team raced as McLaren-Honda for the first time since 1992 at the 2015 Australian Grand Prix, Bruce McLaren Motor Racing was founded in 1963 by New Zealander Bruce McLaren. Bruce was a driver for the British Formula One team Cooper with whom he had won three Grands Prix and come second in the 1960 world championship. In 1964 and 1965, McLaren were based in New Malden, then Feltham, during this period, Bruce drove for his team in sports car races in the United Kingdom and North America and also entered the 1965 Tasman Series with Phil Hill, but did not win it. He continued to drive in Grands Prix for Cooper, but judging that teams form to be waning, Bruce made the teams Grand Prix debut at the 1966 Monaco race. His race ended after nine laps due to an oil leak. Neither car brought great success, the best result being a fourth at Monaco, for 1968, after driving McLarens sole entry for the previous two years, Bruce was joined by 1967 champion and fellow New Zealander Denny Hulme, who was already racing for McLaren in Can-Am. That years new M7A car, Herds final design for the team, was powered by Cosworths new and soon to be ubiquitous DFV engine, Hulme also won the Italian and Canadian Grands Prix later in the year, helping the team to second in the constructors championship. The year 1970 started with a place each for Hulme. After his death, Teddy Mayer took over control of the team, Hulme continued with Dan Gurney. Gurney won the first two Can-Am events at Mosport and St. Jovite and placed ninth in the third, but left the team mid-season, and Gethin took over from there
28.
Benetton Formula
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Benetton Formula Ltd. commonly referred to simply as Benetton, was a Formula One constructor that participated from 1986 to 2001. The team was owned by the Benetton family who run a chain of clothing stores of the same name. In 2000 the team was purchased by Renault, but competed as Benetton for the 2000 and 2001 seasons, in 2002 the team became Renault F1. The Benetton Group entered Formula One as a company for Tyrrell in 1983, then Alfa Romeo in 1984 and 1985. Benetton Formula Ltd. was formed at the end of 1985 when the Toleman team was sold to the Benetton family, the team began with BMW engines and then later switched to Ford then Renault and finally Playlife. The team was managed by Flavio Briatore from 1990 until 1997, in about 1991, TWR acquired a one-third stake in the team, bringing in Tom Walkinshaw and Ross Brawn to run the engineering operations. Rocco Benetton, the youngest son of Luciano Benetton joined the team as Chief Executive in 1998 and he replaced him with Prodrive boss David Richards, who lasted only for a year when he too was fired, due to a disagreement with the Benetton family about future strategy. Following Richards departure, Rocco Benetton managed the team for three years until its sale to Renault, the Benetton team is best known for its success with Michael Schumacher, who accounts for 19 of the teams 27 career victories and their 2 drivers championships. After switching to Renault engines, they won the constructors championship in 1995 with Schumacher. After 1995, Schumacher moved to Ferrari along with Ross Brawn, on 16 March 2000, the team was sold to Renault for $120 million US. As part of their restructuring, Renault brought back Flavio Briatore as team manager, the team still used the Playlife engines they had been using for the last two years. The drivers were Giancarlo Fisichella and Alexander Wurz, the team scored 20 points, as well as 3 podium finishes in 2000 at Brazil, Monaco and Canada. During their final season in 2001 the drivers, Jenson Button and this was in part attributed to the new 111-degree wide angle engine. But continued development allowed Benetton to leave Formula 1 on something of a high, Button and Fisichella scored 10 points for the team, including a podium finish for Fisichella in Belgium. During the 1994 season, some teams claimed Benetton had found a way to violate the FIA-imposed ban on electronic aids, including traction control. On investigation, the FIA discovered start sequence software in the Benetton B194 cars, FIA had no evidence the software was ever used, so teams found with the software received little to no punishment. No traction control software was found to be in the Benetton cars, Flavio Briatore, Benettons chief in 1994, said in 2001 that Our only mistake was that at the time we were too young and people were suspicious. During the 1994 season Benetton removed a fuel filter from the rig used during pit stops
29.
Jackie Stewart
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Sir John Young Jackie Stewart, OBE is a British former Formula One racing driver from Scotland. Nicknamed the Flying Scot, he competed in Formula One between 1965 and 1973, winning three World Drivers Championships, and twice runner-up, over nine seasons. In the United States, he worked as a commentator on television broadcasts at the Indianapolis 500, Daytona 500. He has also been a spokesman for Ford, Rolex and Moët, between 1997 and 1999, in partnership with his son, Paul, he was team principal of the Stewart Grand Prix Formula One racing team. Stewart was born in Milton, West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, a village 15 miles west of Glasgow, Stewarts family were Austin, later Jaguar, car dealers and had built up a successful business. Jackie attended Hartfield primary school in the town of Dumbarton. Stewart was unable to continue his education past the age of 16. He was not actually diagnosed with dyslexia until 1980, when his oldest son Mark was diagnosed with the condition. He has said, When youve got dyslexia and you find something youre good at, you put more into it than anyone else, you cant think the way of the clever folk, so youre always thinking out of the box. At the age of 13 he had won a clay pigeon shooting competition and then went on to become a member of the Scottish shooting team, competing in the United Kingdom. He won the British, Irish, Welsh and Scottish skeet shooting championships and he competed for a place in the British trap shooting team for the 1960 Summer Olympics, but finished third behind Joseph Wheater and Brett Huthart. He took up an offer from Barry Filer, a customer of his family business, for 1961, Filer provided a Marcos, in which Stewart scored four wins, and competed once in Filers Aston DB4GT. In 1962, to if he was ready to become a professional driver, tested a Jaguar E-type at Oulton Park. He won two races, his first in England, in the E-type, and David Murray of Ecurie Ecosse offered him a ride in the Tojeiro EE Mk2, then their Cooper T49, in which he won at Goodwood. For 1963, he earned fourteen wins, a second, in 1964, he again signed with Ecurie Ecosse. Jackie came down for the test at Goodwood, taking over a new, soon Stewart was bettering McLarens times, causing McLaren to return to the track for some quicker laps. Again, Stewart was quicker, and Tyrrell offered Stewart a spot on the team, in 1964 he drove in Formula Three for Tyrrell. His debut, in the wet at Snetterton on 15 March, was dominant, within days, he was offered a Formula One ride with Cooper, but declined, preferring to gain experience under Tyrrell, he failed to win just two races in becoming F3 champion
30.
Stewart Grand Prix
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Stewart Grand Prix was a Formula One constructor and racing team formed by three times Formula One champion Jackie Stewart and his son Paul Stewart in 1996. The team competed in F1, as the Ford works-supported team, the 1999 season was by far its strongest, yielding one win and one pole position en route to finishing fourth overall in the Constructors Championship. At the end of 1999, Ford bought the team outright, in 2004 Jaguar Racing was sold to energy drink company Red Bull and was rebranded Red Bull Racing in 2005. The teams origins are traced back to 1988 when Jackie Stewarts son Paul set up Paul Stewart Racing at the end of 1988 when he bought the Gary Evans Motorsport Team and his team entered the 1989 British Formula 3 season with a workforce of 10 employees. The team attracted the sponsor Camel, Paul Stewart had driven the car alongside German Otto Rensing. The teams first season had not been successful with a sole win for Stewart at Snetterton. In 1990, the team expanded with a move to their headquarters in Milton Keynes and was divided into three sections, preparation for European Formula 3000, Formula 3 and Formula Vauxhall Lotus. Within a few years, the team enjoyed success in Motor Racing by winning 12 titles and 119 races in various categories. Ford had been in a deal as an engine supplier to Sauber before this. The team would be based in the United Kingdom with finance from Malaysia as a promotion for the country in general, Stewart were in consultation with John Barnard about a business plan with a budget of £24 million. The first car named the Stewart SF01 was launched on 19 December 1996, with backing from Ford, Stewart GP entered the 1997 Australian Grand Prix with drivers Rubens Barrichello and Jan Magnussen. The only success of their first year came at the rain-affected Monaco Grand Prix where Barrichello finished second, Magnussen in the second car finished just outside the points in 7th after losing his front wing at the chicane. Elsewhere, the cars were consistent midfield runners and Barrichello was often in a position to challenge for points, Stewarts reliability was poor, as the Ford Zetec-R V10 engine installed in the SF01 chassis proved to be extremely fragile. This restricted the team to just eight classified finishes out of a possible thirty-four,1998 was a struggle for the team, with neither driver able to step onto the podium. In the end the driver change did not seem to make a difference as Verstappen also struggled with the car. At the end of the 1998 season, technical director Alan Jenkins left Stewart Grand Prix, after Ford acquired Cosworth in July 1998, they risked designing and building a brand-new engine for 1999. The SF3 was quick out of the box, however for Ford both cars over-heated on the grid of the first race, the Australian Grand Prix, after qualifying competitively and this put Herbert out instantly and made Barrichello start from the pit lane. Barrichello received a penalty during the race and finished 5th
31.
Vincenzo Sospiri
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Vincenzo Sospiri is an Italian former racing driver. In 1981, at the age of 15, Sospiri started racing in the Italian 100cc karting championship, in 1988 Sospiri progressed to Formula Ford, before working through to Formula 3000 in 1991, as team-mate to Damon Hill in the Middlebridge Lola T91/50 Cosworth. In an uncompetitive car, he was capable of 9 points all season. He stepped back down into the Italian F3 series in 1992, before making a return to Formula 3000 in 1993 and he moved to the Super Nova team for 1994 and mounted a challenge for the championship despite not winning any races, eventually finishing fourth. He stayed at Super Nova for 1995 where he won three races and beat his team-mate Ricardo Rosset to the F3000 title. He had tested for the Simtek Formula One team at Estoril in 1994, despite winning the Formula 3000 title in 1995, very few options were available for Sospiri, so he chose to take the role of official Benetton test driver for the year. Sospiri finally got his chance to race in Formula One with the MasterCard Lola project in 1997, Sospiri hoped to return to the grid in Brazil, but the team was withdrawn due to the massive debts incurred by its failing Formula One effort. After the collapse of Mastercard-Lola Sospiri turned his attention to the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series where he signed on with Team Scandia to race in the 1997 Indianapolis 500. Sospiri put the Scandia Dallara-Oldsmobile third on the grid in his first IndyCar start. Later that season he finished second at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway and he finished 21st in the championship despite only competing in six of the ten races of the 1996-1997 season. In 1998 Sospiri was brought on to Dan Gurneys All American Racers team as a replacement for P. J. Jones. He had a best finish of 15th at both Houston and Surfers Paradise and failed to finish in the points as the struggles continued. He was named to an ISM Racing entry for the 1999 Indianapolis 500 but the car was driven by Brian Tyler instead, in 1998 and 1999, he won the Sports Racing World Cup with a Ferrari 333 SP, teaming up with Emmanuel Collard. This resulted in a drive in the lead Toyota at the 199924 Hours of Le Mans with Collard, unfortunately, frequent gearbox problems and a puncture while Brundle was driving took the polesitter out of the race. He retired from racing in 2001 and is now the manager for the Euronova team in Italian Formula 3000. Sospiri was an inspiration for Michael Schumacher. In a Q&A session with F1 Racing readers in 2012, when asked about his heroes, Schumacher replied, To start with. Those two guys inspired me big time while I was karting
32.
Mark Blundell
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Mark Blundell is a British racing driver who competed in Formula One for 4 seasons, sports cars, and CART. Most notably, he won the 199224 Hours of Le Mans and he was a Formula One presenter for the British broadcaster ITV until the end of the 2008 season when the TV broadcasting rights switched to the BBC. Blundell was born in Barnet, London and he first dabbled in motor racing at the age of 14, racing motocross bikes across England. He was an success, eventually becoming one of the top-ranked riders in Britain. At the age of 17 he made the switch to four wheels in Britains Formula Ford, again, he was rewarded with instant success, and in his first season he placed second in both British Junior Formula Ford Championships. The following year, Mark won both the Esso British and Snetterton FF1600 crowns, the next year, he upgraded his ride to the more powerful FF2000 category, and promptly won the BBC Grandstand series. He even returned to FF1600 for the European Championship racing, taking pole, with 1986 came another championship in FF2000, this time the European title. At this point in his career, Blundell decided it was time to take his continuing success and he bypassed the traditional stepping stone of Formula Three and started racing in Formula 3000. Despite having to cope with an underfunded and underpowered car, he showed incredible talent and he even started a few races at Formula Three for TOMS-Toyota, showing ability there as well. 1988 meant a switch to the works Lola team in F3000, in a closely contested season, Blundell managed a very respectable sixth place in the final standings. The following year, he made a deal with the sports car team at Nissan and he also managed a test drive with one of the top teams in Formula One – Williams. By 1990, Blundell had abandoned F3000 to concentrate on sports cars and that same year, he earned pole position at the prestigious Le Mans 24 Hours race driving a Nissan R90CK. Blundell became the youngest driver to achieve pole position at the Le Mans 24 Hours, the year 1991 marked Blundells transition into Formula One. His debut season saw a place in Belgium with the Brabham Yamaha team. He also maintained his testing deal with Williams, the following season however, he was not retained by the cash-strapped Brabham team, and was left without a race seat in Formula One. He did, however, sign a deal with McLaren. Whilst being a full-time tester for McLaren, he continued to race sports cars. That year, with the factory Peugeot outfit, he won the Le Mans 24 Hours,1993 saw the return of Mark Blundell to the pinnacle of motorsport
33.
Champ Car
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Such racing had been sanctioned by the AAA, USAC, SCCA, the CRL, CART, and IndyCar. In its most popular and recent contemporary usage, Champ Car was the given to a governing body formerly known as Championship Auto Racing Teams. The CART series was founded in 1979 by team owners who disagreed with the direction, at the height of the popularity of the series in the late 1980s and early 1990s, it was known as the CART/PPG Indy Car World Series. The term Champ Car temporarily disappeared from use, with the more marketable term Indy Car being utilized, in 1996, the open wheel split saw the CART series take a different direction from the newly created Indy Racing League IRL and the Indy 500. Thereafter, it re-branded itself as CART again, and re-booted the term Champ Car as the moniker for the machines used, the series was advertised as CART FedEx Championship Series from 1997 to 2002. CART went bankrupt at the end of the 2003 season, a trio of CART team owners acquired the assets of the sanctioning body and renamed it as the Champ Car World Series, again highlighting the historic Champ Car term. In 1905 the AAA established the national driving championship and became the first sanctioning body for auto racing in the United States, the AAA ceased sanctioning auto racing in the general outrage over motor racing safety that followed the 1955 Le Mans disaster. In response, Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Tony Hulman formed USAC to take over the sanctioning of what was called championship auto racing, USAC sanctioned the championship exclusively until 1978, when a split between USAC and some of the car owners prompted the formation of the rival CART series. The split from USAC was spurred by a group of activist car owners who had grown disenchanted with what they saw as a sanctioning body. Gurney took his inspiration from the improvements Bernie Ecclestone had forced on Formula One with his creation of the Formula One Constructors Association. The White Paper called for the owners to form CART as a group to promote USACs national championship. The group would work to negotiate television rights and race purses. USACs rejection of the led the owners to form a new series in late 1978 under the principles laid out in the Gurney White Paper. The first race was held in March 1979, the newness of the organization, however, prevented it from being recognized by ACCUS, the United States representative to the FIA. An arrangement was reached such that the SCCA would act as the body for the new series. This would allow the events to be listed on the International Motorsports Calendar, the new series quickly gained the support of the majority of team and track owners, with the only notable holdout being A. J. Foyt. This meant that the front and mid-pack teams would be racing in the new CART series, of the 20 races held in 1979,13 were part of the 1979 CART Championship. Of the 10 tracks to host races, five would host CART events exclusively and one, Ontario, by 1982, the CART series was almost universally recognized as the American national championship
34.
Porsche 911 GT1
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The Porsche 911 GT1 was a car designed for competition in the GT1 class of sportscar racing, which also required a street legal version for homologation purposes. The limited-production street-legal version was labeled the 911 GT1 Straßenversion, the engine was making about 600 PS. In comparison, the 993 generation 911 GT2, which was otherwise the companys highest-performance vehicle and they followed up by winning at Spa and Ralf Kelleners and Emmanuel Collard triumphed for the factory team at Zhuhai. This compares favourably in that race, with the 1996 Ferrari F40 GTE II, in 1997, the new Mercedes-Benz CLK-GTR was successful in the new FIA GT Championship that replaced the BPR, as it was developed for racing. Mercedes did not enter Le Mans yet with their new car, the Porsche did not prove to be as fast in the FIA series, and failed to win a single race, first against the McLaren F1 GTR, and then against the new CLK-GTR. Towards the end of the 1996 season Porsche made revisions to the 911 GT1 in preparation for the 1997 season, the front end of the car was revised including new bodywork which featured headlamps that previewed the all-new 2nd generation Porsche 911 which would appear in 1997. The revised car was known as the 911 GT1 Evo, for the 1998 season Porsche developed an all-new car, the 911 GT1-98. As per the regulations a street-legal version of the 911 GT1-98 was spawned, the Michelin tyres of the factory team and especially the Pirelli of the private Zakspeed team were also considered inferior to the Bridgestone of Mercedes. At the 1998 Le Mans however, it was a different story, the BMW V12 LM retired with wheel bearing trouble, and the Mercedes CLK-LM vehicles had oil pump troubles in the new V8 engines that replaced the former V12. The Toyota GT-One, which was considered to be the fastest car, the GT198 was set up with higher downforce in the race than the previous two years, which reduced its race maximum speed to 310 km/h. However, in the 1998 Le Mans 24 Hours test days, with Mercedes dominating FIA GT1 in 1998, all other entries including Porsche withdrew for 1999. The GT1 class was cancelled, and the FIA GT Championship was contested with GT2 cars, Porsche could have entered at Le Mans, but chose not to try to defend the win of 98 against new machines from other factories. Following Champions purchase of a 911 GT1 Evo for 1999, Gunnar Racing offered a race car to the team with intentions to race in 2000. The car, known as the Gunnar G-99, was a custom-built 911 GT1 with an open cockpit, the chassis was made from scratch yet remained nearly identical to the 911 GT1 mechanically, even using the bulk of the bodyparts. A large rollbar was put over the cockpit to help protect the driver. A3.6 litre flat-6 from a Porsche 911 GT3 was used in place of the standard 911 GT1 unit, however, Champion would instead turn to buying a Lola B2K/10, so the Gunnar G-99 was temporarily abandoned. The car would resurface in the Rolex Sports Car Series in 2002, therefore, Gunnar Racing rebuilt the car with a near identical GT1 roof, and briefly competed in 2003. The car would take a best finish of second in class twice before being retired due to lack of funding, regulations for the GT1 category stipulated that to be eligible, a total of 25 cars must be built for road use
35.
2007 24 Hours of Le Mans
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The 200724 Hours of Le Mans was the 75th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place at the Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, France from 16–17 June 2007. Four classes of cars raced together, with each class having honors for its highest finishers, the faster LMP1 and LMP2 classes were for custom-built Le Mans Prototypes, and the slower GT1 and GT2 classes were for modified grand tourer road cars. There was heavy attrition in the LMP2 class, in only two competitors finished the race. In the GT1 class, Aston Martin achieved its first win over the Corvette since returning to the event in 2005, the GT2 class was a battle between Ferrari and Porsche, won by Porsche. The race was attended by over 250,000 spectators, between the 2006 and 2007 races, the Circuit de la Sarthe was upgraded, most obviously by the reprofiling of the Tertre Rouge corner. The new corner was moved inward, to create a long flowing curve instead of the single point apex it had been previously, a new pedestrian tunnel – below the Mulsanne Straight, immediately after Tertre Rouge – was also built. The work had been planned to be carried out before the 2006 event, nine new garages were built at the end of the pit lane, replacing the four temporary garages that had been built a few years earlier. The additional garages allowed the ACO to increase the number of entries it could grant from 50 to 55, the paddock behind the garages was also re-organized with more facilities added for spectators, including more shops, new landscaping, and the Audi Tower monument. The public roads from the Indianapolis corner to the Porsche Curves were re-surfaced and this also increased safety by allowing the cars to slow themselves more efficiently using their brakes and tyres on tarmac. LMP1s with petrol engines kept their 90 litre tanks, LMP2, GT1, and GT2 class cars had to be fitted with 5% smaller air restrictors than they had run in 2006, in order to decrease power. GT1 and GT2 classes were allowed to run ethanol and other alternative fuels if approved by the ACO, the International Motor Sports Association initially decided to not abide by the LMP2 restrictor change for the American Le Mans Series, although that decision was reversed following Le Mans. SERO decided not to conform to the new ACO regulations in the Japan Le Mans Challenge until 2008. The ACO also announced rule changes specific to Le Mans, The number of invited entries was increased from 50 to 55, all entries had to run Shell fuel in either diesel or petrol form. The temperature inside closed-cockpit cars was not to exceed 32 °C in cars with air conditioning or 10 °C above the ambient air temperature in cars without, the ACO would monitor cockpit temperature, and stop any car in which those limits were exceeded. Noise level regulation was revised, the noise emitted from the car had to be less than 113 dB, older LMP900 and LMP675 class prototypes were not allowed to be entered. Only newer LMP1 and LMP2 class cars were allowed to compete. It was also decided that the race would start at 3,00 pm local time, one hour earlier than the normal 4,00 pm, teams earned automatic invitations to the event from the ACO for winning certain races and championships in their respective classes. Teams were limited to no more than two entries, if a team had already earned its two entries, additional invitations were extended to the next best-performing competitor
36.
Tom Kristensen (racing driver)
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Tom Kristensen is a former Danish professional racing driver. He holds the record for the most wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with nine, all of his wins since then have come driving an Audi prototype, except in 2003, when he drove a Bentley prototype. In both 1999 and 2007 Kristensens team crashed out of leads in the closing hours of the race. He is considered by many to be the greatest driver ever to have raced in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, elsewhere Kristensen also holds the record for most wins at the 12 Hours of Sebring with a total of six. In August 2014, Kristensen was appointed Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog by the Queen of Denmark and his career began in 1984, winning several karting titles. He raced in Japan in the early 1990s, concurrently in Formula 3 and he was German Formula 3 Champion in 1991, Japanese Formula 3 champion in 1993, and runner-up in the Japanese Touring Car Championship in 1992 and 1994. He was 3rd in the STW Cup in Germany in 1999, 7th in the British Touring Car Championship in 2000, on 22 April 2007, Kristensen was involved in an accident while racing on the Hockenheimring race course in Hockenheim, Germany. The crash resulted in a break from training for Kristensen. However, Kristensen recuperated quickly, and was cleared by the Le Mans doctors to start the race and it was reported that a new type of collar may have prevented him suffering a broken neck in the crash. In 2003, he won the race with Bentley, in 2004, he equalled Ickxs record of six Le Mans victories in Team Gohs Audi R8. 2005 saw Kristensen win a time with an American R8 entry. The 2006 race saw Kristensen finishing in place in the new diesel-powered Audi R10. Kristensen did not finish the 2007 race following Rinaldo Capellos crash while the car was leading the race by four laps, Kristensen returned in 2008 to claim an eighth victory and extend the record for most wins. In 2013, he took his victory at the event, extending his record. Also he has received nickname Mr Le Mans because of the record of winning Le Mans 9 times total, on 19 November 2014, Kristensen announced at a press conference in Copenhagen that he was retiring from motorsport at the end of the current World Endurance Championship season. 1 – A non-championship one-off race was held in 2004 at the streets of Shanghai, † — Retired, but was classified as he completed 90 per cent of the winners race distance
37.
Rinaldo Capello
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Rinaldo Dindo Capello is an Italian professional racing driver. Born in Asti, Capello started his career in 1976, driving go-karts. 1990 saw Capellos first major victory, winning the Italian Supertourismo Championship in a Volkswagen Golf. He won the championship again in 1996, but in an Audi A4 this time,1997 saw Capellos first major endurance victory, at Vallelunga, in the Vallelunga 6 Hours, driving a Volkswagen Golf again. Capello was selected for the 2000 Le Mans race by the Audi Sport Joest team, driving the Audi R8 - the team finished in third place. Capello was on the team in both the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2003 and 2004, driving a Bentley Speed 8 and an Audi R8 respectively. Capello also won the 12 Hours of Sebring in 2002 and 2012 and he holds the record of most Petit Le Mans victories, having won in 2000,2002,2006,2007 and 2008. Capello was vice-champion of the 2000 American Le Mans Series, winning 6 races, in both 2006 and 2007 Capello finished as champion alongside Britains Allan McNish in the Audi Sport North America run R10. Capello crashed the Audi R10 TDI at the 2007 Le Mans, the Audi nr.2 was leading the race comfortably at the time, and the crash ended the cars quest for another Le Mans win. However he returned to the race in 2008 to win again, Capello officially retired from prototype racing on 23/07/2012 after hinting that he may not return to Le Mans in 2013. Audis statement confirmed that Capello would continue to race in GT3 with the Audi R8 LMS Ultra,1 - A non-championship one-off race was held in 2004 at the streets of Shanghai, China. Dindos official website Interview with Dindo Capello Interview, Dindo Capello
38.
Audi R10 TDI
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The Audi R10 TDI, usually abbreviated to R10, is a racing car from the German car manufacturer Audi. The car is a classic at Le Mans, winning every year since its introduction until it was replaced by the R15. It is designed and constructed for car racing in the Le Mans Prototype LMP1 class of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The car was unveiled 13 December 2005 at 12,00 CET and it was the first diesel-powered car to win either of those events. This is the most ambitious and the most expensive ever undertaken by Audi Sport. In response to the new level of competition, the development of a successor was necessary, though it does show a strong resemblance to the previous model, it is a new design. The aerodynamics package is in compliance with the new regulations, a second rollover hoop is added, and the wheelbase is lengthened to accept the new, longer V12 TDI TDI engine. The design and aerodynamics were developed by Audi, utilising the Fondtech wind tunnel, the monocoque is built by Audi 90% and Dallara 10%, as well with various suppliers manufacturing all the components and subassemblies. The cars are then assembled by Audi at Ingolstadt, at the beginning of the 2006 season, homologation rules for Le Mans Prototypes cars were changed, for the LMP1 class, an increase in minimum weight from 900 kg to 925 kg was mandated. While officially this was to allow closed top prototypes to run with air-conditioning, the R10 TDI in the 200612 Hours of Sebring was overweight at 935 kg, preventing engineers from using ballast to optimize handling and balance. Unlike most racing cars competing in the LMP1 series, the R10 TDI is powered by a diesel engine, the engine block has a displacement of 5. 5L in V12 configuration made of aluminium, employing common rail direct fuel injection technology. The turbochargers are supplied by Garrett AiResearch, with 39.9 mm restrictor plates mounted in front of the intake, the engines weight was too heavy for a race car at this level. The latest Audi 3.0 L V6 TDI weighs 220 kg, the V12 is rumored to weigh more than 200 kg. This is inferior to the 130 kg of a concurrent Judd V10, Audi engineers say that the weight per cylinder is the same as the preceding 3. 6-litre FSI V8 of the Audi R8. The wheelbase has increased over the R8 to 2,980 mm to accommodate the longer engine. Even with a restrictor plate, the car is rumoured to produce 700 hp in qualification. This output cannot be maintained in races because it may cause a clogged particulate filter, the peak pressure in the cylinder is probably around 200 bar, compared with 85 bar for an atmospheric petrol engine. Audis decision to use a diesel engine emphasizes the commercial success of Turbocharged Direct Injection turbodiesel engine on Europes roads and it is not, however, the first diesel to be raced at Le Mans
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12 Hours of Sebring
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The event is the second round of the United SportsCar Championship and in the past has been a round of the now defunct World Sportscar Championship, IMSA GT Championship and American Le Mans Series. In 2012, the race was the event of the FIA World Endurance Championship. The track opened in 1950 on an airfield and is a racing course styled after those used in European Grand Prix motor racing. The first race was a race on New Years Eve 1950. The race is famous for its once around the action, starting during the day. In its early years, the Sebring circuit combined former airport runways with narrow service roads. The 1966 event was a point in Sebring history, as the facilities. Five people were killed during the race, which was more people killed than in the races prior 15-year history combined, bob McLean crashed while approaching the hairpin, his car rolled several times, struck a utility pole and then exploded, landing in a ditch and killing McLean. The circuit was made safer and there were no fatalities until 1980 and it is known as preparation for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, as the tracks extremely bumpy surface, combined with south-central Floridas perennial hot weather, is a test of a cars reliability. In recent years, six victories have been achieved by the Audi R8. Tom Kristensen has won the more times than anyone else, with six victories – in 1999–2000, 2005–2006,2009. The 1966 race had Dan Gurney leading at the last lap, Gurney pushed his car over the finish line, beaten only by Ken Miles and Lloyd Ruby. However, his actions were ultimately determined to be against the rules, Corvette had dominated the class the past three years with its previous generation C5R. The all-new Audi R10 TDI won the 2006 edition of the race, the victory set the stage for an even more momentous win by the R10 in its next race, the Le Mans 24 Hours later in the year. The much-hyped Porsche RS Spyder campaigned by Penske Racing dropped to take 2nd place in its LMP2 class, behind the Intersport Lola car. The GT1 Corvette C6R team got their revenge against the Aston Martin, in addition to an overall win, Audi also set a track record in 2007 with Marco Werner behind the wheel in qualifying. ^A The car was in fact, a Porsche 935 K3 that has been modified with a single cylinder head. ^B These races were stopped for a period of due to heavy rain and/or accidents
British
Audi Sport North America
Rinaldo Capello
ADT Champion Racing
Tom Kristensen
Lucas di Grassi
