Road Atlanta Unkind to CunninghamRoad Atlanta is one of America's finest and most dramatic road courses. It's also one of P.D. Cunningham's favorites as he's won a total of nine races there during his professional career. So he was eager to bring his Sport Compact Car-sponsored TeamRTR Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec V to this Georgia track in September for the ninth and next-to-last race in the 2004 Speed World Challenge Touring Car series.
Cunningham's comfort at Road Atlanta showed in qualifying as he put the Sentra on the pole just ahead of Pierre Kleinubing's RealTime Racing Acura TSX. Competition adjustments made to the once-dominant BMW 3 Series machines seemed to do just as they were intended, as the front of the starting grid included Bill Auberlen's and Bob Stretch's BMWs in third and fourth, respectively, and Shauna Marinus' Mazda6 placing a strong fifth.
The race was frustrating for TeamRTR. Cunningham led a few laps, dueled early with Kleinubing and was running second at about the halfway mark when the Sentra's shifter's tower roll pin snapped off and forcing him to glide down into the pits for a fix. By the time the Nissan got out of the pits the field was long gone and he settled in with the backmarkers to finish 22nd. Kleinubing went on to take the win followed by five BMWs in second through sixth.
With just the race at Laguna Seca left, many competitors are already lining up their programs for the 2005 campaign. "There's been some frustrations to go along with the good things that happened throughout the year," says Cunningham. "Normally we'd be closer to the top in the points race, but that's just not going to happen." As this is written Cunningham stands sixth in points with BMW pilot Auberlen at the top and four BMWs in the top five.
The Nissan has only been getting stronger and stronger as the year goes on," Cunningham explains. "And we'll be in a good position to start out the 2005 season." The Sentra they've been racing this year is well sorted and in good shape, so TeamRTR hasn't decided yet if it'll build a new car for next year. There's also a chance a second car could be added to the program if Nissan ultimately decides it's worthwhile to do so-and Cunningham would like a second car in the stable.
A move into the top five after the race at Laguna Seca would close out TeamRTR's 2004 season on a high note. But it's poised for a stronger 2005.
A Chevy For World Touring Car?With GM pushing Chevrolet as a world brand, what better way for it to get some attention than to go racing in the FIA's 2005 World Touring Car Championship? Well, even if there are better ways, racing in the WTCC is what it's doing.
Chevy's weapon of choice for the WTCC is the Nubira sedan that's built by Daewoo in South Korea and sold in some markets as the Lacetti. The race version will be prepped by Britain's RML (Ray Mallock Ltd), which has campaigned Opels and Vauxhalls in the British Touring Car Championship, among other things. The team plans to field three Nubiras at first and hasn't announced drivers as this was written.
The WTCC replaces the European Touring Car Championship and will feature 10 races starting in April at Monza in Italy. Subsequent races will be run in France, Britain, the Czech Republic, Mexico, Belgium, Germany, Turkey, Spain and China.
Much of the front-drive Nubira racecars will be directly related to the street machine with power coming from a revised version of Daewoo's 2.0-liter four making 270 hp feeding a sequential six-speed gearbox. While the structure is reinforced and everything tweaked, the MacPherson strut front and dual-link rear suspension remain in place.
Does this mean we'll see a Cobalt in Speed World Challenge Touring Car up here in the United States? Who knows? But why not?
Rumors&Lies* A 1968 Chevrolet Camaro once owned by David Koresh, the leader of the Branch Davidian cult destroyed after a 1993 FBI raid on their compound in Waco, Texas, sold at auction in September for $37,500.
* Kumho is developing a Formula One tire that should debut in competition by 2007.
* Meanwhile, on the other side of the motorsports universe, Kumho tires were on 23 class winners at September's Tire Rack SCCA National Solo Championships in Topeka.
* VW is considering building some Bentley models in Germany.
* Wednesday, September 22, was World Car-Free Day. We didn't get our free car and we're pissed
WebsideWe need Web sites. You know of some Web sites. You tell us what those Web sites are. We put them here. It's all so simple. But nothing happens until you send us an e-mail at SCCNews@Primedia.com.
Dukes of Hollandfun.diadiktyo.netThis link was sent to us by a friend and though we were able to find "The Dukes of Holland" short film on the site one day, we haven't been able to again. So you may just have to Google "The Dukes of Holland" in order to find this Oscar-worthy gem.
Proving that American culture kicks ass and is spreading, The Dukes of Holland is basically some guys who painted an old BMW 3 Series like The Dukes of Hazzard's General Lee and then jumped it across some sort of median in some Dutch town somewhere in Holland. Of course it's insane behavior and completely anti-social, but it's also so wonderfully dumb that we played it on a continuous loop for two weeks on our computer.
If you know who these guys are, tell them we'd like to shake their hands and congratulate them on their survival. And we'd prefer it if they stayed away from our hometowns.
Readers Recommend:Accordingly Donewww.accordinglydone.com* "One of the fastest growing and premier sites on the Web dedicated to every generation of Accord."
Prelude Powerwww.preludepower.com* "It covers every Prelude model from 1979-2001."
High-Altitude Importswww.highaltitudeimports.com* "High Altitude Imports is a great site to see what's going on up in the clouds (Colorado). The altitude does suck but we have adapted and overcome."
Ohio DSMswww.ohiodsms.com* "This site is by far not just about DSMs and features all sport compacts. Read for yourselves." You should, however, at least like Ohio a little.
Team XXX Racingwww.teamxxxracing.com* "We're a racing club that enjoys going to the track-but not street racing-and improving our vehicles' performance in a safe environment. So far we have participated in every event in the Northeast and are currently looking for more members and even have a spot for models." Do they mean va-va-voom models or scale models?