Mercedes-Benz-Blog TRIVIA - A racing great: Juan Manuel Fangio

Juan Manuel Fangio, the racing legend of the 1950s, would have turned 100 on 24th June 2011. His undisputable driving abilities stood as the perfect basis for a series of unprecented performances for the Silver Arrows in the F1 season of the early 50s. The Argentinian built a special and strong relationship with his racing car, a 300 SLR of the W 196 R series, and fought hard to bring two important world championship titles for Mercedes-Benz in 1954 and 1955. Apart from the motorsport affiliation, Fangio was also recognized as a fine automobile afficionado, as he has already been running a Mercedes-Benz local dealer in Argentina since 1951. After retiring from Formula 1, Juan Manuel Fangio became brand ambassador and president of Mercedes-Benz Argentina S.A. until July 17th, 1974, when he sadly passed away in Buenos Aires, at the age of 64.

Read further interesting facts about the tremendous life of Juan Manuel Fangio:

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Miramar Speed Circuit, cart racing 5 minutes of exhilaration for 25 bucks, and worth it. Trouble is, you'll want to do it again.

The above shows a guy spun around, and the guy standig is trying to get everyone sorted out without any one crashing into each otherhttp://www.miramarspeedcircuit.com/ for all the info, but important to know is that it's one block North of Miramar Rd, closer to interstate 15 than the 805, East of the pyramid and West of Camino Ruiz. Take Cabot from Miramar Rd or Miralani from Camino Ruiz

MotorTrend Pits the Corvette Z06, Shelby GT500 and Nissan GT-R Against Each Other

What weights ten tonnes and costs more than US$240,000? If you said, “a gold plated bulldozer”, you’d be close but no cigar. The answer is three sub-100k supercars: the Chevy Corvette Z06, Ford Shelby GT500 and Nissan GT-R. These three industry titans, with nameplates stretching as far back as the 1960s, were the recent subjects of an epic comparison test by MotorTrend. Here are three

GP Organizers Cancel F1 Season-Opener in Bahrain Due to Protests

Formula 1 will not begin the 2011 season in Bahrain as planned, due to anti-government protests and unrest in the Gulf country. After a week of discussions and speculations, the inaugural race of the year has been cancelled, at the Bahraini Crown Prince's request. "We must focus on immediate issues of national interest and leave the hosting to a later date," said the king's son, Salman bin Hamad

VIDEO: Volkswagen's 440-horse Golf24 Endurance Racer on the Track

Last week, Volkswagen unveiled the Golf24 endurance racer with which it will compete in this year’s Nürburgring 24-hour race. This is the first time since 2007 that the Germans enter a Golf-based competition model in the event. Unlike its 300HP, front-wheel drive predecessor, the new model gets all-wheel drive and a 2.5-liter five-cylinder turbo engine cranking out 440 ponies and 540 Nm (398

Dynojet Toyota Avensis BTTC Racer to get 2.0-liter Turbo Engine with 300HP

The latest news to come out of Toyota's BTCC camp is that Dynojet Race Team’s Avensis racer will have under its hood a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-banger adapted from one of the Japanese firm's road-going range. The engine is currently under Toyota GB-funded development at the Northamptonshire laboratories of engineering consultancy X CTech. It will feature a turbocharger as well as a number of internal revisions, which will all help boost output from around 140bhp in road specification to 300bhp or more.

X CTech said it believes the racing car powerplant will be one of the lightest and most powerful engines on the grid of the British Touring Car Championship.

“The Avensis has been designed to the ‘Next Generation Touring Car’ rules, which means we could have opted for the stock TOCA engine, however we were enormously impressed by the plans put forward by X CTech R and felt that this was the right way for us to go, not least because it means our Avensis will be 100 per cent Toyota,” said Dynojet Race Team chief Frank Wrathall Snr.

The Dynojet Race Team’s Avensis BTCC car will be raced this season by Frank Wrathall Jnr. The opening rounds of the British Touring Car Championship are scheduled for 3 April at Brands Hatch, Kent.

Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 Takes Third Place in its First 24H Race

Mercedes-Benz completed the development and testing phase of its SLS AMG GT3 racecar last week by taking part in the Abu Dhabi 24-hour endurance race (January 13 to 15). All three participating teams managed to finish the race, with the number 7 Black Falcon vehicle driven by Thomas Jager, Jan Seyffarth, Kenneth Heyer, and Sean Paul Breslin claiming third place.

"It was a good team performance overall which was rewarded with a third place that we can be proud of," said Thomas Jäger. "Achieving a good finish for all three cars at the first attempt was an important affirmation for all those involved.".

The SLS AMG GT3 competing for Heico Motorsport with starting number 9, took seventh place overall, coming in 18 laps behind the winner, while Black Falcon's second gull-wing model finished 69 laps behind the winner to claim 24th place.

It's worth noting that all three SLS AMG GT3s in the 24H Dubai race sported the Ducati logo, which refers to the partnership agreed in November 2010 between Mercedes-AMG GmbH and Ducati Motor.

According to Mercredes-Benz, following homologation and specification of the balance of performance by the FIA worldwide governing body, delivery of the SLS AMG GT3 will commence at the end of February 2011 with the sales price set at be € 334,000 Euro (net) /€ 397,460 (incl. 19 % VAT).

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Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 Takes Third Place in its First 24H Race

Mercedes-Benz completed the development and testing phase of its SLS AMG GT3 racecar last week by taking part in the Abu Dhabi 24-hour endurance race (January 13 to 15). All three participating teams managed to finish the race, with the number 7 Black Falcon vehicle driven by Thomas Jager, Jan Seyffarth, Kenneth Heyer, and Sean Paul Breslin claiming third place.

"It was a good team performance overall which was rewarded with a third place that we can be proud of," said Thomas Jäger. "Achieving a good finish for all three cars at the first attempt was an important affirmation for all those involved.".

The SLS AMG GT3 competing for Heico Motorsport with starting number 9, took seventh place overall, coming in 18 laps behind the winner, while Black Falcon's second gull-wing model finished 69 laps behind the winner to claim 24th place.

It's worth noting that all three SLS AMG GT3s in the 24H Dubai race sported the Ducati logo, which refers to the partnership agreed in November 2010 between Mercedes-AMG GmbH and Ducati Motor.

According to Mercredes-Benz, following homologation and specification of the balance of performance by the FIA worldwide governing body, delivery of the SLS AMG GT3 will commence at the end of February 2011 with the sales price set at be € 334,000 Euro (net) /€ 397,460 (incl. 19 % VAT).

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VIDEO: Kawasaki ZX10 takes on Mazda RX-7 with Corvette V8 in Drift Challenge

Now here's something you don't see every day. Sent in by Carscoop reader Łukasz Ż, this enjoyable time-waster of the day pits a motorcycle against a rear-wheel drive sports car in an out of the ordinary drift challenge. In one corner we have Nick "Apex" Brocha of Icon Motorsports piloting a 2005 Kawasaki ZX10 with 175HP and an extended swingarm. In the other corner is professional racecar driver Jim Guthrie in a 1993 Mazda RX-7 powered by a 375HP Corvette V8 engine. The result? Follow the jump to find out.

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VIDEO: Kawasaki ZX10 takes on Mazda RX-7 with Corvette V8 in Drift Challenge

Now here's something you don't see every day. Sent in by Carscoop reader Łukasz Ż, this enjoyable time-waster of the day pits a motorcycle against a rear-wheel drive sports car in an out of the ordinary drift challenge. In one corner we have Nick "Apex" Brocha of Icon Motorsports piloting a 2005 Kawasaki ZX10 with 175HP and an extended swingarm. In the other corner is professional racecar driver Jim Guthrie in a 1993 Mazda RX-7 powered by a 375HP Corvette V8 engine. The result? Follow the jump to find out.

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James Glickenhaus’ Ferrari P4/5 Competizione Hits the Racetrack [with Video]

There’s still much to be discovered about James Glickenhaus’ Ferrari P4/5 Competizione racecar, but judging by the latest update on the dedicated Facebook page, the F430 Scuderia-based competition model has reached the final stages of its development, hitting the racetrack for the very first time.

The finished product is quite a handsome beast, boasting sharp edges and voluptuous curves, complemented by the large rear wing and exposed carbon fiber. When it makes its racing debut later this year, the P4/5 Competizione will most certainly adopt some kind of livery, but to be honest, we like its “natural” look.

Racing pilot Fabrizio Giovanardi and engineer Paolo Garella drove the P4/5 Competizione during the track test held in Torino.

“The test was fine, or better fantastic. The car is so easy to drive and all the controls light and very direct. The circuit was very short but I was able to go up to the 3rd gear. Engine and gearbox very light,” said the first test report, uploaded to Facebook less than 24 hours ago.

To see the P4/5 Competizione in action and hear its magnificent engine sound, scroll down and check out the videos.

By Csaba Daradics

Source: Facebook via Jalopnik

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