Hit the Pace Car

An auto racing blog.

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20 years ago today, we lost Ayrton Senna

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20 years ago today, we lost Roland Ratzenberger

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Reaction to Pastor’s crash

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He is just so done.

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Trading one safety hazard for another. Photos from Australian GP reveal what is being called a "submarine" risk with the current spec of Formula 1 car. The new, lower noses were created to prevent a nose from puncturing the side pod in the event of a front-to-side impact. However, it has created a a brand new issue where the nose effectively turns into a wedge in a front-to-rear impact, lifting the car in front into the air.

As long as these cars are built to go so fast and handle the way the way they do, with open cockpits, it is impossible to make them 100% safe. I feel like any issue you try to fix will just result in creating a new issue, just like this has. It's hard to come to terms with, but this spec of racing is just dangerous and it will always be dangerous. The safety improvements will come from the chassis, not the aero. Just let the designers be free to design a race car around general safety guidelines in the tub. The end result will be better looking, faster cars, which are probably just as safe as they are right now.

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Lewis Hamilton, 1995

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That helmet and number combination looks awfully familiar.

This is why I love when world-class drivers are free to pick numbers for themselves, whether it's in F1, NASCAR, where ever. And the fact that 44, no matter what team he drives for, will be Lewis until the day he reties is even better.

I feel like doing this brings drivers back to the days when racing was just something they did for fun.

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[x]

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So glad I saw this live. Absolutely hilarious.

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Verizon becomes title sponsor for IndyCar

The deal is supposedly for 10-years and Verizon will continue to sponsor Team Penske for Will Power and Juan Pablo Montoya.

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Oh dear lord. She's wearing a Sauber firesuit you guys!

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The moment when we all hold our breath in anticipation

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"Lights out and away we go!"

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I honestly just got really tense when I scrolled down and came to this on my dash. 

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The sexiest livery in racing is back in F1. Williams reveals its 2014 livery, sponsored by Martini.

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Porsche reveals the livery for their new LMP1 contender, the 919. 

I honestly like the idea of this design, it'll be cool to see the helicopter shot of this car going down the long stretch at Le Mans. But the execution is absolutely terrible. The words are cut off, which I don't understand. It's supposed to read "Porsche Intelligent Performance", but all you can read is "Porsc Ntell Perf", so it completely negates the point. I like the look of it from an angle, because you can't tell that that's what's going on, that's good, that's the way it should be. But just white and metallic grey? C'mon Porsche. And not to mention not even attempting to do anything on the sides of the car. Using the same idea, they probably could have made something pretty trippy looking, perhaps using the shield emblem with the horse being on the roof or something. But this is just kind of disappointing. 

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OFFICIAL: Kurt Busch to attempt Memorial Day double

#DoubleOutlaw

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There's only 3 days in a year when I plan out food and do some real cooking, and one of them is coming up on Sunday

This year it's going to be some real Carolina Pulled Pork sandwiches. Done right, with the pork cooking in the crock pot for 12 hours. With a side of baked mac and cheese with real cheese, no box or packets. 

What about you guys? What are you eating for the 500? Do you have a tradition or do you just wing it every year?

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So Simona is now a Sauber driver, you guys!

She's not going right to F1, she doesn't even have her super license just yet. And she's only an "Affiliated Driver" at this point. But, the outline that is in place has the target for her getting a race, not an alternate, but a race seat for 2015.

Excuse me while I go breath in a bag for a few minutes, because this is happening, like, for real.

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A bit of a continuation from earlier: Andretti Autosport unveil's Scott Speed's VW Beetle, with sponsorship from 7up,