Car FYI

Photo Credit: General Motors This weekend kicks off the official start of the auto racing season in North America for 2017. The 12-turn, 3.56-mile road course within the Florida motorsport complex called Daytona International Speedway hosts a large field of teams and drivers competing for a once around the clock event. The debut race of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the 2017 Rolex 24 at Daytona is a fresh opportunity to ring in a new year on a highest note. For 2017, big changes to the Prototype and GT Daytona class for the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will create some new sights to behold for race fans. Thanks to a series of rules designed to make competition vehicles comply closer to the regulations of international racing sanctioning bodies such as the ACO and FIA, some new pieces of motoring technology are incorporated within the grid. Debuting in the top class for the 2017 Rolex 24 at Daytona, DPi (Daytona Prototype international) features race cars sh...

Photo Credit: Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images The first 200 laps of competition for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series 2016 season took place at the crown jewel of stock car racing. A facility recently renovated under the Daytona Rising initiative focused on greater fan comfort (a plan also including the reduction of seating from the 2014 capacity of over 145,000 to approximately 101,000), the track configuration contributing to high-speeds and multi-car drafting remained the same. This year's Daytona 500 saw the race decided in a matter of less than half the distance of the 2.5-mile track on the final lap. Before the Green Flag Since 1982, the Daytona 500 has been the stage to start of the Cup Series season. Ahead of the green flag for the 58th annual 500 mile race at the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway oval, several radical changes have been instituted for the new Sprint Cup Series season. A new charter team structure guarantees 36 teams will start every race this seas...

Photo Credit: Honda Considered the officially awakening of the North American, the staple Rolex 24 at Daytona sports car endurance event is a non-stop challenge placing some of the world's most exotic race cars and skilled drivers in a battle consumed within a 24-hour clock. At the end of the 2016 edition of the prestigious competition, the Daytona International Speedway was a sight of some intense action, heartbreak and some strong showings from some newer vehicles. Last year, a Ligier-powered Honda in the hands of Michael Shank Racing demonstrated pole-winning speed but lost the test of endurance over 24 hours. For 2016, the Ligier chassis and Honda engine went the distance in the hands of Tequila Patron ESM. The second fastest prototype entry after the sports car race's qualifying session, the black and green #2 car promptly took the lead on the first lap. Leading the 2016 Rolex 24 at Daytona's initial 26 laps, Tequila Patron ESM race car was a steady frontrunne...

Photo Credit Ford Motor Company Now in a new year, the traditional auto racing calender gears for a complete reset. New races, new championships and new possibilities all exist in the motorsport world. Canadian Formula 1 prospect 17-year-old Lance Stroll will start his 2016 season with an entirely foreign experience. Just barely old enough to possess a driver's license in most parts of the world, Stroll will participant in driving one an IMSA prototype machine at this year's Rolex 24 at Daytona. A 2014 Formula 4 Italian Championship title winner and winner in Formula 3 this year, Stroll is quickly asserting himself as one of Canada's most promising young talents. Observing the progression of a rising star, Lance Stroll ended last year signing as development driver with the Williams Martini Racing Formula 1 team. For 2016, the teenage driving prospect will compete in his first major sports car event with Chip Ganassi Racing. Stroll will be competing in the prestigiou...

Photo Credit: 304945 Matt Sullivan/Getty Images Earlier this year at the Daytona International Speedway, NASCAR's Speedweeks opened on a controversial note. For the 2015 Daytona 500, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series adopted a multi-car group qualifying style that had debuted last season for most races. Designed to provide a more dramatic and faster-moving method departing from the single-car qualifying fashion used for decades, the new method for deciding the pole position as well as the positions for the Budweiser Duel 150 races definitely caused buzz. Unfortunately, much of the reaction after the qualifying concluded was not favourable. A Daytona 500 pole qualifying consisting of two groups of cars, it was a bizarre spectacle to watch as some vehicles drove through the infield grass to immediately to placed with a drifting partner and competitors waiting for the last possible moment to set a fast lap. This...

Photo Credit: 304336 Richard Dole LAT Photo USA for IMSA Celebrated as the start to the professional yearly motorsport in North American, the Rolex 24 at Daytona is a daylong test of some of the world’s greatest sports cars. The 2015 edition of the endurance classic on Daytona International Speedway’s 3.56-mile road course collected 53 cars in four classes controlled by drivers from various countries and motorsport disciplines. In addition, the opening round of the new Tudor United SportsCar Championship, the Rolex 24 at Daytona presented the opportunity to start a new season on a high note. At the front of the 53-car grid in pole qualifying, Michael Shank Racing with Curb/Agajanian newly acquired Honda-powered Ligier JS P2 driven by Oswaldo Negri took the top spot overall. The #60 Honda Ligier was one of the fastest cars in the prototype category leading up to the start of the 24-hour race. However, as the clock ticked through the course of the 2015 Rolex 24 at Daytona, the ...