racing – Pulpaddict

RACING TO END ALZHEIMER’S

Over 180 names will adorn the RACING TO END ALZHEIMER’S No. 43 Porsche in the weekend’s Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America doubleheader at the Brickyard.

Driver Mark Kvamme leads the series’ Am class – part of IMSA’s TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks – with six wins in 10 races behind the wheel of the No. 43 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car. But for Kvamme, the most important part of the season is the chance to make a difference in the fight to end Alzheimer’s.

“I’ve been fortunate to be able to use the car to help fund research to end Alzheimer’s,” said Kvamme. “Our goal is to raise $250,000 this year. I’m honored to have put the names of friends, parents, and other loved ones on the car and to help raise awareness and funds for care and research. We have to end this horrible disease.”

The No. 43 Porsche gives families the chance to honor loved ones who have suffered from Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia. For a http://$250 donation, the family member’s name and hometown is placed on the car, and their photo can be posted on the R2EndAlz website’s tribute page. All donations are matched, with 100% going to the Nantz National Alzheimer’s Center at Houston Methodist Hospital and the UCLA Alzheimer’s and Dementia Care Program.

Phil Frengs began the Racing to End Alzheimer’s program to make a difference for other people going through the same difficulties that he has for the past 10 years, since his wife Mimi was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s. From being the designated “chief hugger” as fans come to share their own stories of love and loss to being the main conduit of Alzheimer’s information, Frengs feels that his involvement with the Porsche series has made a difference in so many lives.

“This gives me some purpose,” said Frengs. “Watching someone go through this disease, the two things that come to mind are how helpless you feel and how hopeless you feel. So, I feel this is my calling and my opportunity to do something, to help families honor affected loved ones in a uniquely joyful and memorable way.

“The battle against Alzheimer’s is engaged on many fronts,” continued Frengs. “It is our honor and privilege to contribute to that effort in the best way we know how: by racing our hearts out to help fund leading Alzheimer’s treatment, services and research, and by paying loving tribute to those whose lives have been impacted by this insidious disease.”

The famed Brickyard is the latest in a series of legendary racetracks at which the team has competed this year – some that are new to the series, including the Miami Grand Prix and Circuit of the Americas, to go with Watkins Glen, Road America and Sebring. The weekend marks a chance to talk to a new audience, something Frengs eagerly anticipates.

“The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is always an inspiration to us,” said Frengs. “The 110-year-old Brickyard is one of most famous venues in sports. Its long history is simply unmatched. We feel the magic, the drama and the sense of place every time we race there. We can’t wait to get ‘home again!”

The Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America doubleheader takes place September 15-17 as part of the IMSA Battle on the Bricks at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Race one takes the green flag Saturday at 2:30 p.m. EDT, with race two Sunday at 9:40 a.m. The races will be broadcast live in the U.S., on IMSA.tv, the NBC Peacock streaming app and http://PorscheCarreraCup.us In 2013, Phil Frengs’ wife Mimi was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s Disease. Their experience with the disease led Frengs to a seminal moment: his company, Legistics, had long sponsored a team in IMSA sports car racing and he realized an opportunity to raise money and awareness for the fight against the disease. In 2017, he formed Racing to End Alzheimer’s, giving fans the opportunity to honor loved ones by putting their names on the race car via donation – with Legistics matching each donation. 100% of those donations go to the two organizations the team supports:

To date, Racing to End Alzheimer’s has donated nearly $800,000 to those two programs, along with Alzheimer’s organizations near the team’s races in Toronto and Quebec. For more information about this program, please visit https://www.r2endalz.org/

Twin Turbo Audi R8 Is Wicked Quick With 1,400 HP on Tap

A pair of turbos are essentially all this Audi R8 needs to run 8s in the quarter-mile and go over 200 mph in the half-mile.

As most are aware by now, slapping a pair of turbos on an Audi R8 is one seriously quick and easy way to make huge power – not to mention transform the already capable supercar into a straight line dominator. That’s precisely why we see so many of them at TX2K, where the Officially Gassed YouTube channel spotted this twin turbo Audi R8 – owned by a fellow named Jared – and needless to say, it perfectly sums up why so many people build these cars the way they do.

What makes this particular combination a bit more interesting than most is that this is an Audi R8 Spyder, which one might think is a bit of a disadvantage, given its extra weight. That’s precisely the case here too, as the addition of the big turbos, a water tank, and the driver all push the car’s track weight up to around 4,300 pounds. Regardless, it also has 1,400 wheel horsepower pushing it around, so it’s still awfully quick.

To be more specific, this R8 has done over 200 mph in the half-mile, and runs the quarter-mile in the high eight-second range – numbers that certainly aren’t anything to sneeze at. Breathing through a gorgeous titanium exhaust, it’s a real looker as well – not the type of car that hides its intentions, given the exposed hardware out back. The owner lives in a warm climate – which means cooling is a bit of a concern – though an Interchiller connects the intercoolers directly to the air conditioning system to solve that little problem.

Of course, throwing this kind of power at a bone stock transmission is a recipe for disaster as well, so Jared has beefed it up with a billet 9×9 Dodson Pro Max clutch with a cover, which he notes is critical when you’re making over 1,100 horsepower. Otherwise, the engine and the rest of the mechanicals have been pretty much left alone. The result of this particular combination is a car that reportedly drives quite nice and even returns decent fuel economy, but as our host quickly finds out, laying into the pedal unleashes an entirely different kind of animal.

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1,200 HP Audi TT RS Takes on Wicked RX-7 in Intriguing Drag Race

This heavily modified Audi TT RS proves to be a close match for the equally wicked Mazda, making for some exciting action.

Outside of our world, the Audi TT RS is somewhat of an unknown, a special performance machine that few are aware of, which is obviously a shame. We’ve always felt like the high-performance version of the already-cool TT is an amazing all-rounder, one that delivers a muscle car experience in a comfortable, luxurious, and handsome package. However, if you throw a couple turbos at it, the Audi TT RS can be taken to the next level, as we can see in this new video from Hoonigan’s This vs, That series.

The Audi TT RS in this video has been modified in a number of ways, giving its 2.5-liter inline-five cylinder powerplant a rather hefty output of 1,200 horsepower. Built by Iroz Motorsport, the little Audi features the company’s IMS 1000 kit, a huge air intake, billet manifold, nitrous, and some massive 2600cc injectors. A pair of carbon fiber seats help shed some pounds, along with a rear seat delete, but the stock dual-clutch transmission handles all that extra power with no modifications, while the suspension gets KW lowering springs.

In the other lane on this particular day is an equally wicked Mazda RX-7 powered by a billet four rotor rotary powerplant with a 94mm Garrett turbo, sending its 1,000 horsepower to all four wheels (thanks to an AWD conversion) via a sequential six-speed transmission. The addition of that extra gear does give the RX-7 a bit of a weight penalty, however, as it tips the scales at 3,500 pounds versus the TT RS at just 3,000 pounds.

So how does all of this translate to straight line performance? In the first race from a dig, the Mazda uses its traction advantage to get a jump on the Audi, which hangs right with it until the very end, though it ultimately loses out by a small margin. The rotary-powered beast isn’t quite as lucky in round two, however, as the Mazda struggles to find traction and the TT RS takes an easy win, setting up the third and final showdown to determine a winner.

This time around, it’s no contest, as the Audi TT RS rockets out to an early lead and holds it to the finish line, winning by the largest margin of the day. But these Hoonigan-hosted races are rarely this close, nor do they require a tie-breaker, so we can’t help but be impressed by how well these two very different machines match up.

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Tags: 2023, audi, Drag Race, Mazda, News, racing, RS, RX-7, TT, Twin Turbo, video

Is the Audi RS Q e-tron a Test Bed for the activesphere Concept?

Audi RS Q e-tron

Is Audi just playing in the sand? Or can we expect to see some real-world application of rally tech in the future?

Last week, I was traveling when Audi released details on the latest version of its RS Q e-tron E2, which will eventually compete in the 2023 Dakar Rally. Due to the remote nature of the competitions it’s designed for, the electric off-roader uses an onboard internal-combustion engine as a generator to charge the batteries. It’s basically an entirely new machine from the version Ingolstadt entered last year, which made history by becoming the first electric-powered vehicle to take a stage victory.

Twist still comes from a dual motor setup, which features one at each axle. But revisions to the bodywork have improved the drag coefficient by a whopping 15 percent, and great pains were taken to reduce the overall weight of the rig, which was already north of the class minimum. Along with saving weight, the new carbon fiber fenders were also designed to help speed tire changes. Plus, engineers also made changes to the engine management and air conditioning systems to ensure no precious energy goes to waste.

Now, we’ll have to see how well the RS Q e-tron E2 does when it enters next month’s Morocco Rally. But looking at this beast of a machine made me wonder if this is the kind of set up we’re going to see on the activesphere concept Audi teased late last month. Because while I still believe the world doesn’t really need an Audi truck, the idea of an electric vehicle with rally-proven race technology is an attractive one indeed. And given the growing popularity of off-roading? It seems like it could prove a massive hit.

Another factor to consider is what exactly the point of the whole Dakar exercise is, if not to provide technology that will trickle down to the consumer market. After all, Audi was very clear that changing engine requirements, which included more robust electrification efforts and a focus on sustainability, were a key factor in why it will be entering Formula 1 for the 2026 season. But what do you think? Will the activesphere concept be a “road-going” version of the RS Q e-tron? Hit me up and let me know!

Photos: Audi

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Veteran Driver René Rast to Leave Audi Sport

Rene Rast Leaving Audi Sport

Active with Audi since 2011, ace shoe Rast says he “still has a few goals in motorsport that I want to achieve.”

Audi Sport driver René Rast has announced his intentions to leave the team at the end of the 2022 DTM season. That means his final appearances for the Four Rings will be October 8th and 9th for the finale at Hockenheim. Rast has been with Audi Sport since 2011, and has been a fantastic performer for the squad, notably winning three DTM championship titles in four years. Here’s what he had to say about the move:

“This decision was anything but easy for me,” says René Rast. “Audi has been my life over the past few years. We’ve worked fantastically together and celebrated many great successes. I’ll never forget these moments, nor the many great people who made my victories and championship titles possible.”

Along with his three DTM championships, those great successes include winning the title during his rookie season, a 2014 ADAC GT Masters championship, and multiple victories at 24-hour endurance events like the Nürburgring (2014), Daytona (2014, 2016), and Spa (2012). In 2015, he also drove a Audi R18 e-tron quattro to a top ten finish at the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans. In response, Oliver Hoffmann, Board Member for Technical Development at Audi, said “René Rast will always remain a friend”

Of course, while Rast and Audi Sport had plenty of good years, the German driver was often victim of bad timing during his tenure, as he touched upon in his statement:

The Class 1 era in the DTM was the absolute highlight for me. The Audi RS 5 DTM, with its four-cylinder turbo engine, was a fantastic race car. Unfortunately, this era came to an end far too quickly. In both the Le Mans prototypes and Formula E, I also had the misfortune of having just joined the team when the programs ended. That was a real shame. I’m enjoying the DTM with GT3 race cars much more than I could ever have imagined. But I still have a few goals in motorsport that I want to achieve.

At this point, the smart money says that Rast will head back to Formula E, where he campaigned for Audi between 2019 and 2021 seasons, to drive for the new McLaren team. Until then, however, he’ll be focused on trying to win another DTM championship, for which he’s very much still in the running. Watch the video below to hear Rast describe some of his accomplishments in his own words, and keep your fingers crossed for him going into the last eight races!

Photos: Audi

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