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.
British Touring Car Championship
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The British Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing series held each year in the United Kingdom, currently organised and administered by TOCA. It was established in 1958 as the British Saloon Car Championship and was renamed as the British Touring Car Championship in 1987. The championship has run to various national and international regulations over the years including FIA Group 2, FIA Group 5, FIA Group 1, FIA Group A, FIA Super Touring. A lower-key Group N series for production cars ran from 2000 until 2003, the championship was initially run with a mix of classes, divided according to engine capacity, racing simultaneously. The new one-class system was popular with manufacturers from the beginning with six manufacturer supported teams from BMW, Ford, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Toyota, to this day, the super touring era during the 1990s is still looked at as the most successful period of the BTCC. The high number of manufacturer-backed teams provided very close competition, close and hard fought racing on track, in order to reduce the costs to compete in the championship, the organisers introduced new regulations for the 2001 season. The BTC Touring regulations cut costs dramatically but both manufacturer and spectator interest was low, however, the Super 2000 rules were observed for the overall championship from the 2007 season. The 2000s saw cheaper cars than the later Supertouring era, with factory teams. In 2009, the BTCC released details of its Next Generation Touring Car specification, the NGTC specification also aimed to cut costs by reducing reliance on WTCC/S2000 equipment, due to increasing costs/complexity and concerns as to its future sustainability and direction. Currently, the cars used are a mix of 2, S2000 cars continued running in the Jack Sears Trophy until the 2014 season. BTCC teams are a mixture of manufacturer entries and independent teams such as BTC Norlin, in 2010, following Vauxhalls decision to pull out of the series, there were two new works teams, Chevrolet, run by RML, and Honda, run by Team Dynamics. This included finishing all 30 championship races that year, something no other driver has achieved before or since and this ended Vauxhalls run of 4 victories in the drivers and teams championships between 2001 and 2004. Neal and Dynamics were also victorious in 2006, before Vauxhall won the 2007 title with Italian Fabrizio Giovanardi. Team Dynamics also achieved the first overall race win in the Supertouring era when Neal won a round of the 1999 BTCC at Donington park. These cost reductions saw a rise in independent entries – teams or individuals entering cars purchased from the teams when they update their chassis. With the introduction of the NGTC rules, all share a number of common components provided through a contract with RML Group. This has allowed many independent teams to enter without the need for manufacturer support, and negating the need to source ex-works cars. Teams can install an engine from their marques broad family of cars, or opt to lease an engine from TOCA, to further keep costs in check, the BTCC uses a single tyre supplier, with Dunlop the current supplier of rubber to all the teams
3.
Martin Brundle
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Martin John Brundle is a British racing driver, best known as a Formula One driver and as a commentator for ITV Sport from 1997 to 2008, the BBC from 2009 to 2011, and Sky Sports from 2012. Brundle contested the 1983 British Formula Three Championship, finishing a second to Ayrton Senna. Brundle failed to win a race at the top level of single seater racing and he was the 1988 World Sportscar Champion, with a record points score, and won the 199024 Hours of Le Mans race for Jaguar Cars in a Jaguar XJR-12. Brundle had a route to Formula One. He began his career at the age of 12, competing in grass track racing. In 1975, he moved to Hot Rod racing and received Star grade status, in 1979, he started single seater racing in Formula Ford. During this time he also raced Tom Walkinshaws BMW touring cars and he won the BMW championship in 1980, and partnered Stirling Moss in the TWR-run BP/Audi team during the 1981 British Saloon Car Championship season. In 1982, he moved up to Formula Three achieving five pole positions and he won the Grovewood Award as the most promising Commonwealth driver. The next year, he competed with Ayrton Senna for the Formula Three championship, in 1984, he was offered a Formula One entry. His Formula One career began with the Tyrrell Racing Organisation in 1984 and he put in a number of aggressive and fast drives, finishing fifth in his first race in Brazil and then second in Detroit. While Brundle did recover, the damage would leave him with permanent injuries, preventing him from running, later in the year Tyrrell were disqualified from the World Championship due to a technical infringement and Brundles achievements for that season were wiped from the record books. For the next two seasons he remained with Tyrrell, and despite the switch from the Cosworth DFV to the turbocharged Renault engines in mid-1985. He scored only eight points in his time with Tyrrell, all in the 1986 season. In 1987 he left Tyrrell and moved to the struggling West German team Zakspeed, the Zakspeed 871 car was unable to compete with the front runners. The two points scored by Brundle in 1987 were the points the Zakspeed team scored in their five-year run in Formula One. Ironically, the driver he replaced at Zakspeed, fellow Englishman Jonathan Palmer, four years of Formula One racing for underfunded teams led Brundle to seek a new challenge, and thus in 1988 he took a year out. Brundle had been associated with Jaguar since 1983, when he drove TWR-prepared Jaguar XJS touring cars in the European Touring Car Championship, from his two starts with the Jaguar team Brundle took two victories, the second in partnership with TWR owner Tom Walkinshaw. When Jaguar decided to return to the World Sportscar Championship and the American IMSA championship, in partnership with TWR, the team performed well in the 1988 World Sportscar Championship season, and Brundle won the world sportscar title with a record points haul
4.
Matt Neal
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Matthew Neal is a British motor racing driver. Neal is a triple BTCC Champion having won the British Touring Car Championship in 2005,2006 and 2011, Neal is also a record 6 time BTCC Independents Champion having won the title in 1993,1995,1999,2000,2005 and 2006. He is also a winner in the European Touring Car Championship. He is 66 tall, making him almost entirely unable to race single-seaters and he is also the Group Marketing Director at Rimstock, the alloy wheel manufacturer founded by his father Steve. Neal started out in Motocross but moved into cars in 1988 and he was the British Group N Champion in 1990 and 1991 he also co-drove a BMW M3 to victory at the 1990 Willhire 24 Hour race at Snetterton. Neal made his BTCC debut with Pyramid Motorsport at the Silverstone round of the [[1991 British Touring Car Championship|1991 BTCC season driving a BMW M3. He finished 13th in his first race before returning to the two rounds later at Oulton Park with the Auto Trader Techspeed Team in another BMW M3. After that race he would race for the two rounds later at Donington Park. He won the Total Cup for drivers without manufacturer support in 1993 and he rejoined Dynamics for 1995, remaining for several years and he occasionally humbled the big names, as well as winning the Independents title three further times in 1995,1999 and 2000. In 1999 he caused a sensation by winning a race at Donington Park in a Nissan Primera and he took a further win a year later. The championships regulations changed for 2001, and Neal briefly joined Peugeot Sport UK before sitting out most of the season to race in the European Touring Car Championship. He finished the championship placed 14th in the standings on 266 points. He returned with egg, sport in 2002 driving a Vauxhall Astra Coupé alongside Paul ONeill and he finished 3rd in the championship, ahead of his team mate on 145 points. A one-off appearance in the ASCAR championship at the end of 2002 saw him running as team mate to his future rival Jason Plato, for 2003 he switched to Honda Racing to drive a Honda Civic Type R, the start of long and mainly undisturbed relationship with Honda. Once again he finished 3rd in the championship ahead of team mates Tom Chilton, Neal rejoined Team Dynamics, finishing 5th in the overall Drivers Championship and 4th in the Independents Championship. Dynamics, as Team Halfords also clinched the Teams and Independent Teams Championships, Neal finished every single race in the points, the first driver to do so since the calendar expanded to 30 races per year. In 2006, Neal drove the No.1 Honda Integra and captured the championship again with a string of consistent finishes, after 2 years without a mechanical failure, Neal had a suspension failure before the start of the final race. BTC-spec cars such as the Integra were no longer eligible for the main 2007 title, so Dynamics switched to a Honda Civic, using some of their running gear
5.
Auto racing
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Auto racing is a sport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Almost as soon as automobiles had been invented, races of various sorts were organised, by the 1930s specialist racing cars had developed. There are now numerous different categories, each with different rules and it was won by the carriage of Isaac Watt Boulton. Internal combustion auto racing events began soon after the construction of the first successful gasoline-fueled automobiles, the first organized contest was on April 28,1887, by the chief editor of Paris publication Le Vélocipède, Monsieur Fossier. It ran 2 kilometres from Neuilly Bridge to the Bois de Boulogne, on July 22,1894, the Parisian magazine Le Petit Journal organized what is considered to be the worlds first motoring competition, from Paris to Rouen. One hundred and two competitors paid a 10-franc entrance fee, the first American automobile race is generally held to be the Thanksgiving Day Chicago Times-Herald race of November 28,1895. Press coverage of the event first aroused significant American interest in the automobile, brooklands, in Surrey, was the first purpose-built motor racing venue, opening in June 1907. It featured a 4.43 km concrete track with high-speed banked corners, One of the oldest existing purpose-built automobile racing circuits in the United States, still in use, is the 2. 5-mile -long Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana. It is the largest capacity venue of any variety worldwide, with a top capacity of some 257. NASCAR was founded by Bill France, Sr. on February 21,1948, the first NASCAR Strictly Stock race ever was held on June 19,1949, at Daytona Beach, Florida. From 1962, sports cars temporarily took a seat to GT cars. From 1972 through 2003, NASCARs premier series was called the Winston Cup Series, the changes that resulted from RJRs involvement, as well as the reduction of the schedule from 48 to 31 races a year, established 1972 as the beginning of NASCARs modern era. The IMSA GT Series evolved into the American Le Mans Series, the European races eventually became the closely related Le Mans Series, both of which mix prototypes and GTs. The best-known variety of racing, Formula One, which hosts the famous Monaco Grand Prix. In single-seater, the wheels are not covered, and the cars often have aerofoil wings front, in Europe and Asia, open-wheeled racing is commonly referred to as Formula, with appropriate hierarchical suffixes. In North America, the Formula terminology is not followed, the sport is usually arranged to follow an international format, a regional format, and/or a domestic, or country-specific, format. In North America, the used in the National Championship have traditionally been similar though less sophisticated than F1 cars. The series most famous race is the Indianapolis 500, the other major international single-seater racing series is GP2
6.
Austin Metro
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The Metro is a supermini car that was produced by British Leyland and, later, the Rover Group from 1980 to 1998. It was launched in 1980 as the Austin miniMetro and it was intended to complement and eventually replace the Mini, and was developed under the codename LC8. The Metro was named by What Car. as Car of The Year in 1983 as an MG, during its 18-year lifespan, the Metro wore many names, Austin Metro, MG Metro and Rover Metro. It was re-badged as the Rover 100 series in January 1995, there were also van versions known as the Morris Metro and later, Metrovan. At the time of its launch, the Metro was sold under the Austin brand, from 1982, MG versions became available. During 1987, the car lost the Austin name, and was simply as the Metro. From 1990 until its withdrawal in 1998, the Metro was sold only as a Rover, although the R3 generation Rover 200 had originally been designed as a replacement for the Metro, it was not marketed as such after its launch. The Rover 100 finally ceased production in 1998, being out-lived by the original Mini that it was meant to replace,2,078,218 Metros of all types were built. On 8 October 1980, BL introduced the Austin mini Metro, the roots of the Metro lay in an earlier project denoted as ADO88, which was intended to be a direct replacement for the Mini. The revised project was given the new designator LC8, and the definitive Metro design would emerge under the leadership of BLs chief stylists David Bache. The Metro used the Hydragas suspension system found on the Allegro, the hatchback body shell was one of the most spacious of its time and this was a significant factor in its popularity. Initially, the Metro was sold as a hatchback only. The name was chosen through a ballot of BL employees and they were offered a choice of three names, Match, Maestro or Metro. Once the result was announced, the manufacturer of trains and buses, Metro Cammell, the issue was resolved by BL promising to advertise the car only as the Mini Metro. A two-door saloon model was included in the Metros development, which would have similar in concept to the Vauxhall Chevette saloon as well as the Volkswagen Polo based Derby. However, by the production of the Metro began, it was decided not to include a saloon version. BLs last all-new mass-produced car before the Metros launch was the 1976 Rover SD1, one of the consequences was that there was enormous public interest in the car from well before its launch. The company chose to stage the launch presentations for dealers and major company car buyers on board a cruise ship, the news broke in the national newspapers a full year ahead of the public launch with The Sun, among others, carrying the story
7.
Mazda
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Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly referred to as simply Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker based in Fuchū, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. In 2011, Mazda was the fifteenth biggest automaker by production worldwide, Mazdas company website states that its name is derived from Ahura Mazda, the Avestan word for God, which is also the name of God to Zoroastrians. Specifically, the states that The name was also associated with Ahura Mazda. The company website further notes that the name derives from the name of the companys founder. Mazda began as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co, Ltd, founded in Hiroshima, Japan,30 January 1920. Toyo Cork Kogyo renamed itself to Toyo Kogyo Co. Ltd. in 1927, in the late 1920s the company had to be saved from bankruptcy by Hiroshima Saving Bank and other business leaders in Hiroshima. In 1931 Toyo Kogyo moved from manufacturing machine tools to vehicles with the introduction of the Mazda-Go autorickshaw, Toyo Kogyo produced weapons for the Japanese military throughout the Second World War, most notably the series 30 through 35 Type 99 rifle. The company formally adopted the Mazda name in 1984, though every automobile sold from the bore that name. The Mazda R360 was introduced in 1960, followed by the Mazda Carol in 1962, both piston-powered and rotary-powered models made their way around the world. The R100 and the RX series led the companys export efforts, during 1968, Mazda started formal operations in Canada although Mazdas were seen in Canada as early as 1959. In 1970, Mazda formally entered the American market and was successful there. To this day, Mazda remains the only automaker to have produced a Wankel-powered pickup truck, additionally, it is also the only marque to have ever offered a rotary-powered bus or station wagon. After nine years of development, Mazda finally launched its new model in the U. S. in 1970, Mazdas rotary success continued until the onset of the 1973 oil crisis. As American buyers quickly turned to vehicles with fuel efficiency. Combined with being the least-efficient automaker in Japan, inability to adjust to excess inventory and over-reliance on the U. S. market, the company suffered a huge loss in 1975. Fortunately, the company had not totally turned its back on piston engines, the smaller Familia line in particular became very important to Mazdas worldwide sales after 1973, as did the somewhat larger Capella series. Mazda refocused its efforts and made the engine a choice for the sporting motorist rather than a mainstream powerplant. Starting with the lightweight RX-7 in 1978 and continuing with the modern RX-8 and this switch in focus also resulted in the development of another lightweight sports car, the piston-powered Mazda Roadster, inspired by the concept jinba ittai
8.
Turbocharger
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Turbochargers were originally known as turbosuperchargers when all forced induction devices were classified as superchargers. Nowadays the term supercharger is usually applied only to mechanically driven forced induction devices, compared to a mechanically driven supercharger, turbochargers tend to be more efficient, but less responsive. Twincharger refers to an engine with both a supercharger and a turbocharger, turbochargers are commonly used on truck, car, train, aircraft, and construction equipment engines. They are most often used with Otto cycle and Diesel cycle internal combustion engines and they have also been found useful in automotive fuel cells. Forced induction dates from the late 19th century, when Gottlieb Daimler patented the technique of using a pump to force air into an internal combustion engine in 1885. During World War I French engineer Auguste Rateau fitted turbochargers to Renault engines powering various French fighters with some success, in 1918, General Electric engineer Sanford Alexander Moss attached a turbocharger to a V12 Liberty aircraft engine. Turbochargers were first used in aircraft engines such as the Napier Lioness in the 1920s. Ships and locomotives equipped with turbocharged diesel engines began appearing in the 1920s, turbochargers were also used in aviation, most widely used by the United States. During World War II, notable examples of U. S. aircraft with turbochargers include the B-17 Flying Fortress, B-24 Liberator, P-38 Lightning, and P-47 Thunderbolt. Turbochargers are widely used in car and commercial vehicles because they allow smaller-capacity engines to have improved fuel economy, reduced emissions, higher power, in contrast to turbochargers, superchargers are mechanically driven by the engine. Belts, chains, shafts, and gears are common methods of powering a supercharger, for example, on the single-stage single-speed supercharged Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, the supercharger uses about 150 horsepower. Yet the benefits outweigh the costs, for the 150 hp to drive the supercharger the engine generates an additional 400-horsepower, a net gain of 250 hp. This is where the principal disadvantage of a supercharger becomes apparent, another disadvantage of some superchargers is lower adiabatic efficiency as compared to turbochargers. Adiabatic efficiency is a measure of an ability to compress air without adding excess heat to that air. Even under ideal conditions, the compression process always results in elevated temperature, however. Roots superchargers impart significantly more heat to the air than turbochargers, thus, for a given volume and pressure of air, the turbocharged air is cooler, and as a result denser, containing more oxygen molecules, and therefore more potential power than the supercharged air. In practical application the disparity between the two can be dramatic, with turbochargers often producing 15% to 30% more power based solely on the differences in adiabatic efficiency. By comparison, a turbocharger does not place a direct mechanical load on the engine, although turbochargers place exhaust back pressure on engines, in contrast to supercharging, the primary disadvantage of turbocharging is what is referred to as lag or spool time
9.
Daily Express
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The Daily Express is a daily national middle market tabloid newspaper in the United Kingdom. It is the title of Express Newspapers, a subsidiary of Northern & Shell. It was first published as a broadsheet in 1900 by Sir Arthur Pearson and its sister paper The Sunday Express was launched in 1918. As of December 2016, it had a daily circulation of 391,626. The paper was acquired by Richard Desmond in 2000, hugh Whittow has served as the papers editor since February of 2011. The papers editorial stances are often seen as aligned to the UK Independence Party, in addition to its sister paper, Express Newspapers also publishes the red top newspapers the Daily Star and Daily Star Sunday. The Daily Express was founded in 1900 by Sir Arthur Pearson, Pearson, who had lost his sight to glaucoma in 1913, sold the title to the future Lord Beaverbrook in 1916. It was one of the first papers to place instead of advertisements on its front page along with carrying gossip, sports. It was also the first newspaper in Britain to have a crossword puzzle, the Express began printing copies in Manchester in 1927 and in 1931, the publication moved to 120 Fleet Street, a specially commissioned art deco building. Under Beaverbrook, the newspaper achieved a high circulation, setting records for newspaper sales several times throughout the 1930s. Its success was due to its aggressive marketing campaign and a vigorous circulation war with other populist newspapers. Beaverbrook also discovered and encouraged an editor named Arthur Christiansen who, at an early age, showed talent for writing. Christiansen became editor in October 1933, under his editorial direction sales climbed from two million in 1936 to four million in 1949. The paper also featured Alfred Bestalls Rupert Bear cartoon and satirical cartoons by Carl Giles which it began publishing in the 1940s, on 24 March 1933, a front page headline titled Judea Declares War on Germany was published by the Daily Express. During the late thirties, the paper was an advocate of the appeasement policies of the Chamberlain government. The ruralist author Henry Williamson wrote for the paper on many occasions for half a century and he also wrote for the Sunday Express at the beginning of his career. In 1938, the moved to the Daily Express Building. It opened a building in Glasgow in 1936 in Albion Street
10.
Esso
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Esso /ˈɛsoʊ/ is a trade name for ExxonMobil and its related companies. The name is a version of the initials of the pre-1911 Standard Oil. In 1972 it was replaced in the U. S. by the Exxon brand after it bought Humble Oil. In most of the world, the Esso brand and the Mobil brand are the brand names of ExxonMobil. In 1911, Standard Oil was broken up into 34 companies, Standard Oil Company had the rights in that state, plus in Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and the District of Columbia. By 1941, it had acquired the rights in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Arkansas, Tennessee. In those states, it marketed its products under the brand Esso, the phonetic pronunciation of the letters S and O. It also used the Esso brand in New York and the six New England states, where the Standard Oil Company of New York had the rights, but did not object to the New Jersey companys use of the trademark. However, in the states, the other Standard Oil companies objected and, via a 1937 U. S. federal court injunction. In most states the company used the trademark Enco, and in a few Humble, the other Standard companies likewise were Standard or some variant on that in their home states, and another brand name in other states. Esso ranked 31st among United States corporations in the value of World War II production contracts, during the years of racial segregation in the United States, certain Esso franchises gave out The Negro Motorist Green Book, An International Travel Guide. In 1973, Standard Oil of New Jersey renamed itself as the Exxon Corporation and it retained the Esso brand in Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands until 2008, when it sold its stations there to Total S. A. The Enco brand name was used on locations in the Midwest until 1977 when they were sold to Cheker Oil Co, Exxon continues to have a presence in southern Ohio today, though Mobil is the companys primary brand in the Midwest. In 2016, ExxonMobil successfully asked a U. S. federal court to lift the 1930s trademark injunction that banned it from using the Esso brand in certain states. By this time, as a result of mergers and rebranding. ExxonMobil cited trademark surveys in which there was no possible confusion with the Esso name as it was more than seven decades before. BP also had no objection to lift the ban, in 1888, the Anglo American Oil company opened its head office in London, which eventually became a part of Esso. In August 1998, Tesco announced a partnership with Esso, opening chains of Tesco Express stores located within forecourts, in February 2000, the two companies were opening one new store a month, creating 4,000 jobs
11.
Ford Sierra RS Cosworth
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The Ford Sierra RS Cosworth is a high-performance version of the Ford Sierra that was built by Ford Europe from 1986 to 1992. It was the result of a Ford Motorsport project with the purpose of producing a winner for Group A racing in Europe. The project was defined by Stuart Turner in the spring of 1983 and he had recently been appointed head of Ford Motorsport in Europe, and he realised right away that Ford was no longer competitive in this area. Turner got in touch with Walter Hayes, at the time the vice-president of public relations at Ford, Hayes found the project very appealing and promised his full support. This was a cam, 16-valve engine based on Ford’s own T88 engine block. This prototype proved an almost ideal basis for the engine Turner needed to power his Group A winner, therefore, an official request for a turbocharged version capable of 180 HP on the street and 300 HP in race trim, was placed. Cosworth answered positively, but they put up two conditions, the engine would produce not less than 150 kW in the street version, Turner’s project would only need about 5,000 engines, but Ford nevertheless accepted the conditions. The extra 10,000 engines would become one of the reasons Ford also chose to develop a four door. To find a suitable gearbox proved more challenging, the Borg-Warner T5, also used in the Ford Mustang, was chosen, but the higher revving nature of the Sierra caused some problems. Eventually Borg-Warner had to set up a production line for the gearboxes to be used in the Sierra RS Cosworth. Much of Fords external documentation for customer race preparation indicated developed for the XR4Ti when describing parts that were Sierra Cosworth specific, roushs suspension and aerodynamics engineering for the IMSA cars was excellent feedback for Ford. Some production parts from the XR4Ti made their way into the Cosworth such as the speedometer with integral boost gauge, in April 1983, Turner’s team decided on the Sierra as a basis for their project. The Sierra filled the requirements for rear drive and decent aerodynamic drag. A racing version could also help to improve the unfortunate, and somewhat undeserved, lothar Pinske, responsible for the car’s bodywork, demanded carte blanche when it came to appearance in order to make the car stable at high speed. Experience had shown that the Sierra hatchback body generated significant aerodynamic lift even at moderate speed. After extensive wind tunnel testing and test runs at the Nardò circuit in Italy and this was based on an XR4i body with provisional body modifications in fibreglass and aluminium. The car’s appearance raised little enthusiasm, the large rear wing caused particular reluctance. Pinske insisted however that the modifications were necessary to make the project successful, eventually, the Ford designers agreed to try to make a production version based on the prototype
12.
Silverstone Circuit
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Silverstone Circuit is a motor racing circuit in England next to the Northamptonshire villages of Silverstone and Whittlebury. The circuit straddles the Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire border, with the current main circuit entry on the Buckinghamshire side, the Northamptonshire towns of Towcester and Brackley and Buckinghamshire town of Buckingham are close by, and the nearest large towns are Northampton and Milton Keynes. Silverstone is the current home of the British Grand Prix, which it first hosted in 1948, the 1950 British Grand Prix at Silverstone was the first race in the newly created World Championship of Drivers. The race rotated between Silverstone, Aintree and Brands Hatch from 1955 to 1986, but relocated permanently to Silverstone in 1987, the circuit also hosts the British round of the MotoGP series. However, the Donington Park leaseholders suffered economic problems resulting in the BRDC signing a 17-year deal with Ecclestone to hold the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Silverstone is built on the site of a World War II Royal Air Force bomber station, RAF Silverstone, the airfields three runways, in classic WWII triangle format, lie within the outline of the present track. Silverstone was first used for motorsport by an ad hoc group of friends who set up a race in September 1947. One of their members, Maurice Geoghegan, lived in nearby Silverstone village and was aware that the airfield was deserted and he and eleven other drivers raced over a two-mile circuit, during the course of which Geoghegan himself ran over a sheep that had wandered onto the airfield. The sheep was killed and the car written off, and in the aftermath of this event the race became known as the Mutton Grand Prix. The next year the Royal Automobile Club took a lease on the airfield and their first two races were held on the runways themselves, with long straights separated by tight hairpin corners, the track demarcated by hay bales. However, for the 1949 International Trophy meeting, it was decided to switch to the perimeter track and this arrangement was used for the 1950 and 1951 Grands Prix. In 1952 the start line was moved from the Farm Straight to the straight linking Woodcote and Copse corners, for the 1975 meeting a chicane was introduced to try to tame speeds through the mighty Woodcote Corner, and Bridge Corner was subtly rerouted in 1987. The track underwent a major redesign between the 1990 and 1991 races, transforming the ultra-fast track into a technical track. The reshaped tracks first F1 race was perhaps the most memorable of recent years, following the deaths of Senna and fellow Grand Prix driver Roland Ratzenberger at Imola in 1994, many Grand Prix circuits were modified in order to reduce speed and increase driver safety. As a consequence of this the entry from Hangar Straight into Stowe Corner was modified in 1995 so as to make its entry less dangerous, in addition, the flat-out Abbey kink was modified to a chicane in just 19 days before the 1994 GP. Parts of the circuit, such as the grid, are 17 metres wide. After a new pit building, the Silverstone Wing, was completed in time for the 2011 race, almost flat out, the right-hander of Abbey leads immediately into the left-hander of Farm before cars brake heavily into the second gear, right-handed turn three, Village Corner. Turn 6, the left hander of Brooklands, is taken by drivers in second gear and leads immediately into Luffield, another second gear curve, a right-hand hairpin
