Car Parts 2011

Sponsorship plays a key role in modern motorsport.  It takes millions of dollars just to put a vehicle on the grid.  Nevermind the extra development costs throughout the season to stay competitive.  Without sponsorship dollars, racing would be a whole lot different and our Sundays would probably be a bit more mundane (or productive).  So we'd like to acknowledge some of the big name sponsors that have given our favorite sport a shot in the arm.

seriouswheels.com

Red Bull is a company that needs no introduction.  Their product has become the Kleenex of the energy drink world.  Instead of needing just an energy drink, people say they need a Red Bull specifically.  In 2004, over $600 million was spent on sponsoring athletes and events.  $100 million alone went into F1 to form the Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso teams.  Add in the two USGP for Motogp, a two car team in Nascar's Sprint Cup Series, the Red Bull Air Race, as well as the huge number of drivers and riders in all forms of motorsport and we've still just scratched the surface of Red Bull's far reaching contribution to racing.













Sources: formula1onlive.com, theracinggeek.com, 2wheeltuesday.com, autowallpapers.net, worldcarfans.com, thenerdinsurance.us, mxlarge.com, airportjournals.com, ultimatemotorcycling.com, levinmedia.com,

I'm done with midterms! Sunny 73 degrees! Wow, it's as if I've forgotten what 73 degrees feels like.

Though this would be the first weekend I'll get to enjoy the warm weather, the race season has already begun without me last week.

Bahrain kicked off a season that looks to be more dramatic than the season before (for all the good reasons). A significant rule change in F1 dictates that teams are no longer permitted to refuel after the start of the race. In the past, both teams and F1 fans could have calculated pit times to predict where each team will eventually finish. However, Last week displayed blazing pit stop times of less than 4 seconds on average for the replacement of tires only and losing only 2 positions in the process. To that end, where the driver will join and reform from exiting the pits is no longer significant.

Other than the redesigned rule for this season, we now see that there are four teams vying for the championship-- Ferrari, Red Bull, McLaren, Mercedes Benz. Let's hope tight racing continues for the rest of the season.

The other racing series I'm excited about is ALMS this weekend at 12 hours of Sebring. The last few years have displayed some outrageous racing in the closing laps, most notably with the GT class Porsche Flying Lizard Team. Will they win again?