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Post by Momoko Murasama on Jul 27, 2022 0:10:02 GMT -5
 New Proposals for Race Format Changes in the J-Speed GT Masters for 2022?By: J.R. O'ConnellySince the series' inception in 1995, the J-Speed GT Masters' traditional main event format has a 300km "grand prix" for the majority of its races on the calendar. Even with the escalating costs from the GT Racing Exodus of the late 90s, this was one element of the championship that remained a static fixture. "Back in the day, it was a test of endurance for the race-tuned production super cars", ex-team principal Haruna Tsukishima remarked. "It is clear however, that GT racing must evolve with the passing of time; we live in an age of reliability, and thus our idea of endurance racing's spirit must change too." Despite openly advertising itself as a league for pure spectacle, the J-Speed Association has always been deliberate and cautious in maintaining a balance between entertainment and technological relevance. This balance is one of several factors as to why the premier Asia-Pacific racing series has reserved format changes for special events, such as the Starlight 1000km finale. In the latest J-Speed Association Teams Alliance meeting however, two new and potentially serious proposals were discussed. The first of these is an increase of 50km for all current 300km rounds, except for Hokkaido, which could be increased to 400km. Yasline Marina, the founder of NISMO Frontier Autosport, stated that "The goal of lengthening the standard race length is to place greater emphasis on efficiency. Currently, the series' relatively short standard races do not reflect our cars' true on-track capabilities accurately. Longer races promote an emphasis on tire conservation, consistency, and stint quality, and we firmly believe this can be accomplished without compromising the wild racing that our beloved league is famous for." The latter of these proposals takes a different path, and is considered much more radical; backed primarily by Ai Tsukishima (of Tsuchigami no Kyojin) and Kyoko Kokobun (of Moriyama Speed Shrine), it suggests that fuel capacity be reduced by staggering 20 to 30 percent. Current GTE PROs competing in the GT Masters are restricted to a fuel capacity of 63 liters, about 25% smaller than the 85 liters considered the class standard in all other GTE PRO championships. The proposed fuel tank capacity for a 350km race would be cut down to a mere 42 liters, half of the class standards' maximum capacity. "The two proposals are not mutually exclusive, but we believe a reduction in fuel capacity will allow for a greater diversity in race strategies regardless of any changes to race length." Should either of these proposals go through, it could be the biggest change to a GT Masters' race weekend since re-establishing the two class format in 2003. A follow-up official meeting between the Teams Alliance and the J-Speed Association regarding the changes is scheduled for July 29th, before the penultimate round of the current season. |
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robkta
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Post by robkta on Aug 4, 2022 10:17:45 GMT -5
Bobster: Garnier's Third Driver gossip quelled as Endurance Driver announced for the British Blues coverage by Nathan Navarini
  (top) Lisa Garnier guest during OBC NEWS SPORTS Nightline last Wednesday (bottom) From left to right, Bobster Racing Systems' engineer intern Marie McLaren, PR Representative Alice Harvie, first driver Rebecca Speed, Chief Strategist Lisa Garnier and the new third driver Palmira Sanmarino.
Shizuoka, Japan - Passed the Ogami thunderstorm, got Reckless Bex back behind the wheel and after a more than ideal 5th place at Autopolis which solidified their position in the Top 10 in the standings, the British Blues, Bobster Racing Systems, have been on the hunt for a new third driver to aid the team in the now impeding Endurance round, planned for September in Suzuka; as soon as the news broke, a Seddit post claiming that Lisa Garnier, former Rebecca Speed's Best Frenemy, could cover such position spread like wildfire and fueled hopes of an old style BRS Dream Team among the fans, just to have Lisa Garnier herself, on live television, to debunk the theory entirely, not without getting a chuckle out of it.
"I'll be honest with you" she said on OBC NEWS SPORTS "nobody more than me would love to have one more stint like in the Formula days with Becca. Once we dug the war axe after Donington 1993, we have became best friends til today. However, while she has the fire, the determination to carry on behind the wheel, I am aware that is not the same for me; I went back to Stock Cars after 1995, won a lot, then discovered the passion for modeling and music. I think that honestly I feel pretty comfortable behind the scenes" and she added "We found the missing piece of the puzzle, a driver that has the right style and approach to complement both Alister and Rebecca and will aid the team in Suzuka. Is a young Italian prodigy, Palmira Sanmarino: I noticed her during a supporting event here at Fuji and I have to say I was hit by her driving style and attitude."
Palmira Sanmarino was born in Florence, Italy in 1997 and has been dabbling with various sports including MMA, Kick Boxing and Basketball before starting a motorsport career at the age of 16, mostly in regional Italian minor series. According to Garnier, Sanmarino has "determination, strength, consistency and a good dose of wittiness which is always a welcomed quality at Bobster Racing".
Sanmarino has been welcomed officially in the team today and will start a series of test with the BRS GT-86 today, at the Fuji Raceway circuit.
BLU SPORTS NEWS © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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robkta
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Post by robkta on Oct 10, 2022 9:55:32 GMT -5
 BREAKING - DOS SANTOS CONFIRMED ALIVE AND WELL
The Paulista is currently under observation at the Mie Prefectural Medical Center. "I was terrified, but I am glad I am alright".
coverage by Roberto Bazzoni
pictured above: a screenshot from the RHU broadcast showing the Bobster Racing's GT86 mid-flip in air
Suzuka, Japan - Certainly not the season finale that Bobster Racing had in mind for the Suzuka 1000 km round, especially after seeing the blue Toyota GT-86, with Alister Dos Santos behind the wheel, pulling to the side before hitting the wall and ultimately being sent into a spin in mid-air. The Brazilian driver, though, despite the scare, seems to be alright, getting out of the car with relatively minor injuries. "I can't really say I wanted to become an air force pilot" he joked from the Mie Prefectural General Medical Center during an interview for the Brazilian TV "but I am absolutely glad to be alright. Not gonna lie, I really had massive scare". Dos Santos is being currently kept under strict observation by the doctors as a precaution, but he should be released within a week or two.
As for the cause of the crash, Bobster Speed stated: "An independent enquiry has been carried out and has been concluded that a simultaneous catastrophic failure of both steering and suspensions took place. Apparently the parts weren't able to withstand the massive solicitations of the race". Minutes after the statement, the chief mechanic, Daniele Gilbert, stated he is considering resigning from his position as he claimed: "I didn't do my duty properly and this failure is only my fault". This crash definitely pulled the curtain over Bobster's 2021 J-Speed effort, after a season made up of very few highs and significant lows, however the team doesn't seem to be discouraged by the conclusion; Rebecca Speed stated: "This is exactly not how we wanted to finish, we really gave our best. But nobody of us could really predict this eventuality. When we saw the car flying... oof... that really made us bloody pale. We thought for the worst, but I was so relieved to see Alister was okay, even though a bit shook. I hope he's able to get back racing soon enough. We will do our best to prepare for next season and do better"
And the British Blues really need to do better and seek major support, especially after the whole controversy involving Rebecca's speeding antics in London or the alleged sabotage efforts involving Luka Ogami and Neucom, now departing main sponsor. But for one door that closes, a gate may open up: it appears that Alberto Bista, CEO of the Monegasque Investments firm of the same name, is in talks with the supremo Bobster for a "long-term Support and sponsorship agreement" which would also involve, among other things, the switch to a much more competitive Honda NSX, even though all this is just mere paddock talk and nothing concrete is on the table yet.
For now the sure thing is, the Bobster Blues for now need to stop, and think how to do better next year.
pictured above: how the Italian "Giornale dello Sport" portrayed the accident of Dos Santos on front page on Sunday
BLU SPORTS NEWS © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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maikoheart
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Post by maikoheart on Aug 4, 2024 17:24:56 GMT -5
Endurance Racing Weekly - November 2021 PWRBand Technica to field single car for 2022, switching to BMW support After a rather lopsided performance from the California based team Nina Bridgehampton has reached out to ERW reporter Gerry Goodwill in regards to her decision to pivot back to a single car operation in the upcoming season. "It was a tough decision to make in the run up to the finale," Bridgehampton said, "but ultimately we believed that to keep ourselves competitive our team would do best focusing on one single car in the GT Suzuka class for next year. There have been too many cases where we were clearly overwhelmed by having to manage two squads at once, and whilst our performance overall has been stellar for the first car, there were times that the team were stretched too thin and it cost us overall. "Sebring was a great example of this. We had huge issues getting both cars prepped for the race and I feel like a lot of that was down to our rather small personnel number. There was no way we were going to diagnose the handling problems we had quick enough before the race start; at that point it was basically minimizing the damage and keeping a close eye on the Aleph group." Whilst there have no reports of engineers and staff being released, PWRBand have decided to have May Yumizuka take on only endurance duties for the 2022 season. "May is a fantastic driver. I have not lost any faith in her in the past year. Unfortunately this reshuffling did leave her in an awkward position, but I do wish to still have her within the team in some form next year. Our efforts to find a second driver that fit our criteria just didn't pan out. Just another reason why we decided to downsize to simply one car." Another key development throughout the last week has been the team's switch to BMW power, boasting a full factory programme with Risa Aoyama entering the BMW factory driver stable. Ryoko Maruyama has elected to decline the factory offer and will allow her contract to run out to the end of the 2022 season. "The decision to move to BMW was quite a simple one. We were simply customers under the Porsche banner. I had time to think about how a few teams had a rather poor showing this season and how much they'll be looking to make up for it two-fold next time out. This is my way of making sure we're ready for whatever comes our way." |
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jeracerx
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Post by jeracerx on Oct 17, 2024 0:41:01 GMT -5
J-Racing Adventures Unveils New Grand Touring Suzuka EffortIn-house developed car a first for the successful team
  It is our pleasure at J-Racing Adventures to announce our advancement into the GT Suzuka class for the 2022 IMAS GT Championship season. Current GT Daytona champions Jason Oakley and Didier Wieth will take their next step along with their team in a unique, built from the ground-up car designed and built by the extremely talented J-RA staff.
The cars, known in-house as the Mosler JRA900 GTP, is a license-built development of the tube frame MT900M. The chassis has been redesigned wholesale by Ricky Álvarez to bring it up-to date for the demands of the modern GTE PRO regulations, including the adoption of a tube-frame and carbon fiber construction. Power is provided by an in-house development of Ford's 5.2L flatplane crankshaft Voodoo engine seen in the Mustang GT350. The team at J-RA has gone through great lengths to ensure that this engine will be a powerful yet reliable engine in order to tackle the season. Coupled with this powerplant will be a hybrid system adapted from last year's Mustangs, further upgraded to provide more additional boost to the engine and better fuel economy. Rubber will, as ever, be provided by Nashville, continuing a long and successful history with the company.
Testing has shown that the car is already off to a great start, with the car covering many miles in order to dial it in before the season. The public debut of the the car will be at the Roar Before the 24 on the weekend of January 22nd and 23rd, where we'll get our first taste of on track comparing with the established players in GT Suzuka. This year will also double as a development year as J-RA works towards the possibly of building customer cars for teams also dipping their toes into the waters of GT PRO racing, be it domestically in IMAS or internationally. In addition we will work on providing engine deals with any team running our car, or can help in the process of getting their desired engine homologated.
So that's it from us, be ready to see us on track for what proves to be the most hazardous, and dangerous, and greatest adventure of which J-Racing has ever embarked. |
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maikoheart
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Post by maikoheart on Oct 22, 2024 19:26:27 GMT -5
246 Press Racing Bunnychan Rennsport Penalized After Roar Test Session Usually the Roar Before the 24 is not known for producing the same amount of drama as a regular race weekend would, but during the second practice session on Sunday Bunnychan Rennsport found themselves in the middle of what would become a chaotic affair after a gearbox failure. Theodora Inaba piloting the car at the time encountered the issue coming out of the International Horseshoe as the car refused to shift out of second gear, limiting them to a slow crawl around the race track. In a frenzy the team attempted to diagnose the issue throughout the rest of the lap, but failed to find the culprit. Many teams out on the circuit expected the KTM X-Bow to make its way down pit road to go back behind the wall and fix the issue in the garage, but in a shocking twist Bunny Chan urged Inaba to continue circulating the track in an attempt to find a way to reset the car's gearbox system in preparation for the same issue popping up during the 24 Hours. "It's a test session," Bunny Chan emphasized after the conclusion of the second session, "so we should be able to test out our fail safes!" After making another slow circuit around the track the Aleph Toyota Supra being driven by Adrian Ragus at the time of the incident encountered the slow KTM exiting the infield. In an effort to dodge the car he attempted to go around the inside, but was thus forced into the tire barrier and suffered major damage to the front end that would see them spending the rest of the day in the garage. "This behavior is absolutely unacceptable," stated IMAS head steward Justin Rodriguez Jr., "and we urge teams that cannot get up to racing speed to pull out towards the many escape roads Daytona has to offer. "Bunnychan Rennsport and Bunny Chan must clean up their act or else they will face further consequences." A fine of $10,000 was issued to Bunnychan Rennsport after the violation of racing regulation. Bunny Chan is currently attempting to appeal the penalty. |
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maikoheart
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Post by maikoheart on Nov 10, 2024 23:33:18 GMT -5
246 Press Racing Scuderia Pergusa Dominate With Strategy Masterclass, J-Racing Adventures Take Home First 24 Win by Ruby Mitsumine Ford Performance come away from Daytona Beach the happiest bunch as both of their teams took home the title honors for the MAG-Emile 24. Scuderia Pergusa who started from 16th on the grid climbed out of an unlikely predicament via their unmatched fuel mileage that saw them stay out of the pit lane for longer than any other of their GT Suzuka counterparts, opening up a comfortable 36 second lead to runners-up Northern Wolf Core Technologies in their Corvette to take the teams' first ever Daytona 24 victory. Yuyuko Maeda's standout stint in the early morning hours was the key to their success, as not only they had the longevity but the pace to go along with it as CoreTech driver Donnie McAllister failed to close the gap in what turned out to be a crucial moment of the race. CoreTech aren't to be disappointed with their result however, as their pace on the hard compound proved to be just as rapid, if not even better than the eventual race winners. After falling down the order in the first hour of the race the aggressive squad picked their way through the running order to find themselves fighting for the lead against Aleph, Himmel and Pergusa. They were able to make it to the end on their final stop, guaranteeing their second place finish. Aleph Racing Developments looked to be the team to beat once again this year, but their pace faltered in the later half of the race. The Zenshin medium compounds couldn't last the distance compared, and as a result had to tack on one more stop and wound up about a minute behind the leaders. GT Daytona saw J-Racing Adventures in their Mustang GTC win themselves a MAG-Emile watch after Ricky Alvarez masterfully conserved fuel, squeezing every last drop in their fuel tank. Star Autosport found themselves benefiting the most from J-RA's potential collapse, but Ana Gonzalez waited for an event that never came to fruition. Strangely enough, this race's finishing order strongly mirrors the championship battle fans saw last season -- whether or not round 2 is truly underway is something that will have to be figured out throughout the 2022 season. Aces High Racing found themselves on the podium after 24 hours, a nice change from their rather dismal showing last season. Michael Hoshi, Tsubaki Kogasa and Simon Hunt had a quiet but effective race on the hard compound and pulled off a masterful third place finish. The race for the final step of the podium was quite close throughout the race however, as multiple teams including Acerola, Bunnychan Rennsport and NME Enterprises found themselves in the mix multiple times. Acerola Speedworks were the closest to finding success, but their long-run strategy didn't prove quite as effective as the GTS winners' as they found themselves stuck battling multiple cars throughout their stint. Bunnychan Rennsport retired very late into the race as their KTM machine could not last the full 24 hours. PWRBand Technica found themselves tantalizingly close to a podium in the classic, but were a lap off in their fuel calculation and wound up having to take a splash of fuel, finishing 11th in the end. Ryoko Maruyama reportedly stormed to the infield towards her motorhome and locked herself inside after the race, seemingly inconsolable as she was the driver of the #24 at the time. Himmel Rennsport nearly lost out on vital points with their miscalculation, but were able to bounce back to fourth. The Porsche squad are no doubt happy about their debut as they can pride themselves on beating their BMW rivals. J-Racing Adventures in GTS had a successful outing even if their results don't quite show it -- ninth after many questions over the car's viability in the class is nothing to laugh at. Especially with their competitiveness battling against a few other GTP cars, they could be in with a shot at the title if they play their cards right. The biggest accident of the day came in the early stages of the race. Julien Hartwell-Noble became the first retirement of the day after his Nissan suffered a brakes failure coming into turn 1. The rear end of the car broke loose, barrelling him towards the pit wall divider at the exit of pit road. Despite the car suffering quite a bit of damage, Hartwell-Noble came out of the infield care center with only bruises moments later. Steel Angel Rebellion have yet to update if their chassis is suitable for racing for the next round in Argentina. Scarlet Devil Raceworks failed to finish after a very similar accident occurred to Renee Scarlet in the late night. Scarlet Devil have cited a "suspension failure" as the cause of the accident, with many speculating it to be due to their experimental DCU that they scrambled to get working in time for the 24. Whether this turns out to be true or not will most likely be a mystery to the media. A few notables in the running order: - The #12 Raiden Motorsport squad finished sixth after suffering from pace and handling issues all throughout the day. - IMAS newcomers Crows Nest finished in seventh, with drivers Mirai Okakura, Asuka Kousaka and owner-driver Judy Draven putting on a great show for their debut. - Racing Lab Sector-7 with Karyl Mercury, Henry Watson-Dearborne IV, Periwinkle Falcon and former Thunder Alley champion Wyatt Jones finished in... seventh! - Matilda Cadwell's first race in North America didn't fare so well -- her #33 Third Eye World Motorsport team retired after a brakes failure in the early morning sunrise. The team are currently contacting their brakes supplier to pinpoint the issue. Other news during the weekend: - BMW take the IMAS Super Production honors in GT Sprint with their M4 GT-R, whilst Tourer Lights was won by a Nissan Altima -- the oldest car in the class. - Kessoku Band played their first concert overseas on Friday night to a record Daytona 24 pre-race concert attendance. - Maserati revealed their MC20 GTP just before the race start, planned to be racing in 2023. It would be their first GTP car since the MC12, which dominated in Europe and came close to title honors in the J-Speed GT Masters in 2006. |
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