basZero's Racing World

Mountain Legend

basZero — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 20:15:27 +0000

Targa Florio 1965: This movie only features original footage of the 1965 race of Targa Florio that has never been released before. The movie has been produced in 1994. The full review can be read here.

Added screenshots of DVD Battle of la Sarthe (Strakka Racing)

basZero — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 18:19:27 +0000

I just added some screenshots of this quite good movie telling the story of Strakka Racing at Le Mans 2010.

Check it out!

24hours

basZero — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 20:44:21 +0000

I am very much excited about this upcoming movie. Check out the press text and some screenshots!!

Screenshots of Senna added

basZero — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 20:04:01 +0000

Just added some screenshots from the movie Senna.

Check it out:
http://baszero.ch/racing/2011/10/senna/

Senna

basZero — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 19:08:39 +0000

An interesting and very exciting movie about Ayrton Senna! Formula 1 at its best and many surprising backstage sequences… If you have forgotten the battles between Ayrton and Alain Prost, this is the best occasion to recap those… All thumbs up!

Schweizer in Le Mans aktualisiert mit 2011 Einträgen

basZero — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 18:59:49 +0000

Time is rushing away, never had the chance to update the Swiss overview page.

Now the Le Mans 24 Hours Overview Page of Swiss Entries contains the 2011-Entries, check it out:
http://baszero.ch/racing/le-mans/

Cheers
Balz

Aston Martin AMR-One

basZero — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 20:37:31 +0000

Aston Martin has finally uncovered their brand new prototype racer that will start at Le Mans 2011! For the first time since 1989 this is a 100% Aston Martin Racing car named “AMR-One” (relating to the last prototype AMR1 from 1989).

Click here for more details and many high-res images!!

Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 2011

basZero — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 21:54:35 +0000

Although I hoped that the Porsche GT3 Hybrid will replace the GT3 RSR, Porsche adds another round to the RSR series by introducing the heavily updated 2011 model.

All details here.

To get an overview of all cars sorted by the year of introduction at Le Mans, click here.

Jo Siffert

basZero — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 20:01:24 +0000

Ed Heuvink, author of the very interesting book about the Swiss racing team Scuderia Filipinetti, brings out his latest work about the most famous Swiss race driver ever: Jo ‘Seppi’ Siffert.

The first question I asked myself was why did no Swiss author ever write such a book? Why is it a motor enthusiast from Holland?
The introduction by the author himself says: He discovered motorsports in the mid 60s and he quickly became a fan of Jo Siffert. He met Jo Siffert several times between 1969 and 1971. He collected everything he found about Joseph Siffert. One day a friend of Ed Heuvink (Reinhard Klein) asked him whether he would write the text for one of his photo book about Jo Siffert: the book was born.

The book itself is not only based on the material Ed collected, he actively started to meet important persons with a strong relation to Joseph Siffert and his family: Philippe Siffert (son of Jo), many drivers that drove with or against him, Adriano Cimarosti (a well known journalist who covered the full history of Siffert in the 60s) and many others.

The book contains more than 300 photos and the text is always available in 3 languages. The paper quality is very nice and the book has a good size (a bit larger than A4).

For people who have some racing books at home about the Swiss motorsports history (like “Die Aussenseiter”), this is certainly a very very nice addition to their collection. You really get to know Jo Siffert from all his aspects, starting with a photo as a Communion child…

Audi R18 TDI 2011

basZero — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 19:54:15 +0000

Finally! Nearly a week ago, Audi presented its next racer for Le Mans 2011: The Audi R18 TDI! I only wish that it stays that black… That would be amazing.

Click HERE for all the details about this racer and many many pictures.

Les Suisses au Mans 2010 (Tome 5)

basZero — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 21:43:15 +0000

I discovered the first books [Tome 1 and Tome 2] of this series in the beginning of 2009, it was hard to find them as there is not much about them in the internet and the books are fully written in french so there is probably no single review in english out there…

This year I got an invitation by the primary author himself (Jean-Marie Wyder) to join the event at the Speedy Garage in Lausanne, Switzerland, where the fifth volume (Tome 5) was presented to the public. The event was really nice and very special as it took place at the home town of the former “Speedy Racing Team Sebah” now called “Rebellion Racing”.

Race driver Marcel Fässler joined the party too and signed some books if you were quick enough to catch him. We also got introduced to former Formula 3 Swiss champion Beat Blatter.

It was also nice to finally see Jean-Marie Wyder in person, to talk to him and hear his ideas about future projects… All the other authors were there too of course: Christian Borel, Mario Luini, Gérard Vallat and Benoît Wyder.

The book not only covers 2010. It goes back to the past again and picks out interesting stories from the past decades…

Merci beaucoup à Jean-Marie Wyder pour l’invitation! Et continuez à écrire ces tomes! C’est fantastique!

Have a look at some sample pages and the nice cover!

A personal introduction by Jean-Marie Wyder in my book (THANKS!!!!)

As written above, Marcel Fässler also got my pen to sign the page about his profile in the book:

Amazing photographs…

There is nothing left untold… Of course the 100% female Swiss race team from Matech Racing is also introduced in detail.

Half of the book is about interesting stories from the past… And it also contains many great photos from famous race drivers like Jo ‘Seppi’ Siffert:

Please enjoy the photo gallery about the event at Lausanne:

Encyclopédie des 24 heures du Mans

basZero — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 20:20:38 +0000

Focus of the book: Coverage of the full history of the Le Mans 24 Hours race from 1923 to 2010, each car, each driver, each team and each detail about the track and its surroundings in a never seen detail… 1500 pages, 15kg… What else?? :-)

The book is released on December 15th, I ordered one of the 3000 copies early this year… So once I have it, more details will be updated here!

Visit the Facebook Fan Page

Two Encyclopedias of Le Mans coming up: 1923 – 2010

basZero — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 20:11:30 +0000

The race season is definitely over as books and movies are relased nearly every week now… Two really interesting books are just about to be released:

1) The official chronicles of Le Mans published by the A.C.O. (2 Volumes, 750 pages)
and
2) The “über”-Encyclopedia by Vif-Argent (3 Volumes, 1500 pages, 15kg !!!, 3000 copies only worldwide)

I will write in-depth reviews of both chronicles as soon as I get them…
Cheers
basZero

Weekend of a Champion

basZero — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 21:36:33 +0000

Just recently I had good friends at our place for dinner and I have to say that I never expect guests to bring some gifts with them but everytime I enjoy it of course when they bring something along… so this time, instead of bringing flowers for my girlfriend and a bottle of wine for me (which I usually like a lot!) my girlfriend got the bottle of wine and I … well I got an original poster from 1972 showing the movie announcement of “Weekend of a Champion”: a movie by Roman Polanski about the very famous Formula 1 race driver Jackie Stewart!! I must say: I was absolutely surprised and very excited! As I did not know that Roman Polanski was best friend with Jackie Stewart nor that he would have produced a movie about him, I had no other choice than to add it to my collection so that YOU know about this movie too!

Follow the link to see some other posters and some screenshots of this movie!

Official Yearbook: Le Mans 24 Hours 2010

basZero — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 18:43:09 +0000

The official annuals of the Le Mans 24 Hours get bigger and bigger form one year to the next one.

This annual of the 2010 edition start on Sunday, 1 week before the end of the race with 40 pages about scrutineering and administrative checks. Nice photos in this chapter!

Some pages are dedicated about the “Golden Ages” and the Porsche 917 LH.

More than 20 pages are about the champions at the parade.

After that, nearly 100 pages follow about the race, hour by hour.

Just a few photos of the book:

The comeback of BMW to Le Mans is of course an important topic throughout the whole book:

Each team is documented in detail with team photography including portrait of each driver:

Each chapter starts with the ROLEX watch indicating the hour of the chapter:

As usual, the appendix is full of interesting lists and statistic graphs:

Die Aussenseiter

basZero — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 15:58:03 +0000

Focus of the book: This book is a true treasure when it comes to summarize the Swiss history in Motorsports from 1950 to 2006: Carefully researched and written in great detail, interesting also for non-Swiss race enthusiasts as it tells many stories around famous races in that time range. Thanks to Nina and her father for signing it, and many thanks to Mitch!

About the book: “Die Aussenseiter” is probably best translated by “Underdogs”: The relationship between Switzerland and car racing is characterized by a certain ambivalence. Since the tragic accident at Le Mans in 1955, in which 80 spectators were killed, racetracks got forbidden here in Switzerland, until today. The racing scene of international events has been exclusively abroad since then. That is why Swiss race drivers have not found great support in their own country and were indirectly put into this “outsider” position.

Nevertheless, there they are: steadfast Swiss race drivers who have dedicated their lives to the pursuit of fame and glory. Since the beginning of the modern Formula 1 in 1950 some 20 of them have taken part in a Grand Prix, another dozen have won at well-known long-distance mountain races and several teams and technicians have many years of experience in the racing scene: Not only famous people such as Jo Siffert, Clay Regazzoni, Marc Surer and Peter Sauber have left their marks.

For many years, there is a history of Swiss people on race tracks in other countries. This is best proven by having a quick look at the complete Swiss history at Le Mans. And all of them tell their own story – of success and failure, episodes that are reflected in the race’s results tables.

The book “Die Aussenseiter” contains many portraits and little stories of Swiss key players in the racing scene. It is certainly not only a book for Swiss citizens! Too many stories are of international importance and are interesting for every motorsports enthusiast!

Just recently, a special event called “Wall of Fame” was held in Switzerland to honor the most important Swiss race legends. Read the details about this event at the recently launched web site called Zwischengas.

Mentioned persons:
The list of described persons is really long! Take a look at the following decades:

From the 50s:
-Emmanuel de Graffenried
-Toni Branca
-Rudolf Fischer
-Peter Hirt
-Max de Terra
-Albert Scherrer
-Benoît Musy
-Ottorino Volonterio
-Willy-Peter Daetwyler
-Michael May
-Harry Zweifel

From the 60s:
-Peter Monteverdi
-Heini Walter
-Edgar Berney
-Heinz Schiller
-Tommy Spychiger
-Jean-Claude Rudaz
-Charles Vögele
-Arthur Blank
-Karl Foitek
-Scuderia Filipinetti
-Joseph Siffert
-Edi Wyss
-Jürg Dubler
-Silvio Moser
-Xavier Perrot
-André Wicky
-Herbert Müller
-Dieter Spoerry
-Gianrico Steinemann

From the 70s:
-Peter Schetty
-Bruno Pescia
-Claude Haldi
-Jo Marquart
-Jo Vonlanthen
-Clay Regazzoni
-Loris Kessel
-Manfred Schurti

From the 80s:
-Marc Surer
-Mario Hytten
-Walter Brun
-Team Brun
-Heini Mader
-Franco Forini
-Peter Sauber and his race cars
-EuroBrun
-Gregor Foitek

From the 90s:
-Philippe Favre
-Andrea Chiesa
-Jean-Daniel Delétraz
-Alain Menu

And many more…:
-Fredy Lienhard
-Enzo Calderari & Lilian Bryner
-Mario Illien
-Team Sauber Petronas: Formel 1
-Marcel Fässler
-Neel Jani

Le Mans 2011 Entry List

basZero — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 16:18:49 +0000

It is 6 months after the Le Mans 2010 race, most race series have finished or are heading towards the last round (e.g. the WTCC is having the final round this weekend)… it is time to prepare for the next season!

Peugeot just did the first step and uncovered its new LMP1 racer for the upcoming season!
Have a look at all “known” entries and the new class structure for Le Mans 2011!

Cheers,
basZero

Battle of La Sarthe

basZero — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 21:03:48 +0000

What about 6 records in a single race at Le Mans 2010? Strakka Racing did that!

- Finishing best in LMP2 on the team’s LMP2 debut
- Taking pole
- Leading every lap
- Setting a new lap records in the LMP2 class
- Covering the greatest distance EVER made by an LMP2 car
- Crossing finishing line in the highest overall position for an LMP2 car

If these aren’t enough reasons for you to watch this DVD, you’re not a Le Mans fan… you’re not a Petrol Head… look for another passion, Dude! :-)

Le Mans 2010

basZero — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 20:45:06 +0000

What an exciting year! The Le Mans 24 Hours Race was amazing this year! The A.C.O. has just released the book and the DVD about the event. Read more about the DVD by clicking on the title or here.

Le Mans 1992

basZero — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 20:36:50 +0000

After a very long break, DUKE Video is bringing out more year reviews of Le Mans 24 Hours on DVD now. The first two reviews are 1991 and 1992. As soon as I have seen these two I’ll add more infos and screenshots!

Le Mans 1991 (DVD)

basZero — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 20:20:49 +0000

Walter Röhrl

basZero — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 18:55:30 +0000

An absolutely amazing DVD. Just watch two examples on youtube and see all the screenshots and more details on the movie review page.

Grand Prix – Fascination Formula 1

basZero — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 20:07:26 +0000

The book contains the most famous photos of photographer Rainer W. Schlegelmilch and covers about 25 years of Formula 1. The texts in the book have been written by Hartmut Lehbrink while the preface has been authored by Ayrton Senna.

Schlegelmilch’s signature in his photos is that special ‘panning’ technique which is very unique and most probably extremely difficult to do.

The book is divided in chapters as follows:
- Grand Prix 1969 – 1993
- The Drivers 1993 – 1969
- Design
- Technology
- Tyres
- Faces / Helmets
- Bosses
- Advertising
- Women
- Fans
- Snapshots

Soon a new book will be released by Schlegelmilch: Golden Age Formula 1 published by TeNeues (end of 2010).

Some sample images (all © Copyright by Rainer W. Schlegelmilch):

Le Mans 2007

basZero — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 17:39:33 +0000

The LMP1 class saw the first competition between the new diesel engined Peugeot 908 prototype and the diesel Audi R10 TDI (which won already in 2006). However, I have not seen the movie yet… Once I saw it, more comments and screenshots will be added as usual.

FIA WRC – ADAC Rallye Deutschland 2010 – Fotos

basZero — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 19:09:06 +0000

For the first time I was live at a Rallye event: the FIA World Rallye Championship in Germany!
The combination of racing and being in a stunning nature with beautiful landscapes was just amazing!

You can see all my photos via the following links. Be aware that all links except the last one require Adobe Flash in your browser:

Fotos Best Of
Fotos of Historic Rallye Cars
More Fotos
All fotos on FLICKR (does not require Flash)

Ferrari F458 GT 2011

basZero — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 20:37:38 +0000

It is still a rumour but the probability increases from month to month: The successor of the F430 GT is maybe driving at Le Mans 2011!

Click here for more details!

Mercedes back to Le Mans by 2012?

basZero — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 11:30:45 +0000

The brand new Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 will have its first debut on a race track in 2011 at the 24h of Dubai. But the main focus to get the victory is set for the 24h of Nürburgring 2011.

Mercedes did not decline that the GT3 could be modified into a GT2 racer being compliant to the ACO Le Mans regulations… First rumors tell that after 60 years of Mercedes’ double victory at Le Mans 1952 with the Mercedes 300SL, Mercedes will return back to Le Mans in 2012 and strive for the GT class win to celebrate the 60th anniversary!

© Image Copyright by Mercedes

Le Mans 2010 Pictures

basZero — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 20:01:08 +0000

All pictures from Le Mans 2010 are now available on a single page, set by set. Enjoy!

http://baszero.ch/racing/le-mans/le-mans-2010/le-mans-2010-pictures/

Added Screenshots for Le Mans 2004 DVD

basZero — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 14:11:23 +0000

Enjoy more than 100 screenshots of this movie!

Porsche 996 GT3 R 1999

basZero — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 00:43:49 +0000

This was the beginning of the GT3 R series. At its first introduction, Porsche has won the GT class battle. See more details here.

Porsche 996 GT3 RS 2001

basZero — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 00:05:23 +0000

Just entered the third model of the Porsche GT3 series in the Car Overview page: Check out 2001, 2004 and 2007.

You can easily navigate between them by clicking on successor or predecessor link.

- Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 2007
- Porsche 996 GT3 RSR 2004
- Porsche 996 GT3 RS 2001

More to come…

Porsche 996 GT3 RSR 2004

basZero — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 23:15:44 +0000

Just added the predecessor of my current favorite LMGT2 class. Click here!

Added screenshots of Le Mans 2003 DVD

basZero — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 21:48:59 +0000

In 2003, after 73 years since Bentley’s last win at Le Mans, two Bentley Speed 8 entered the epic 24-hour endurance race in the LMP1 class with the only target to win the overall victory!

A great movie that really transports the energy of Le Mans! The best as appetizer for the real race in a week!!! …. IN A WEEK!!! Oh my god… :-)

For all SCREENSHOTS click here.

Making Of Le Mans

basZero — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 14:32:17 +0000

Today I found a 15 minutes “Making Of” movie of the most famous Le Mans movie by Steve McQueen. I was not aware of these circumstances under which the movie was made… Impressive!

Click here for details.

Added screenshots of Le Mans 1993 DVD

basZero — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 14:23:25 +0000

I finally watched this DVD and added many many screenshots as this movie is really cool!

Click HERE !

More details for Le Mans 2010

basZero — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 17:59:20 +0000

The media guide has been released by the ACO and I found some new highlights of this year’s 24 Heures du Mans 2010!
There is now also a detailed schedule for Saturday’s happenings on the 2010 Summary Page.

Schedule for Le Mans 2010:

Friday: Driver’s parade: 18:00 – 19:00 at Le Mans (Start at Place des Jacobins, Finish at Cathedrale)
Saturday:
07:40 – 08:15 : Club Lotus
09:00 – 09:45 : Warm-Up 24 Heures Du Mans
10:00 – 10:40 : Porsche Carrera Cup
11:05 – 11:50 : Group C Race (Entry List)
12:10 – 12:30 : GP ELEC : See press release about this GP for electric cars and see the list of all entry cars here
12:45 – 13:45 : Opening of the pits
13:45 : Official Photo and Ceremony
14:22 : Herringbone style Start!
15:00 : START

Highlights:

Last battle of Audi versus Peugeot under the “old” regulations before they completely change in 2011
Audi returns with the updated R15 TDI plus! Peugeot bets all on the old horse 908 HDi FAP!
Porsche celebrates the 40th anniversary after the first overall win in 1970:
Hans Herrmann and Richard Attwood in the Porsche 917K.
BMW never started again after their overall victory in 1999. This year they return in LMGT2 with the BMW M3 GTR
Another newcomer in LMGT2 is Corvette. Since regulations changed in the ALMS, Corvette decided to convert their GT1 racer!
Strong Swiss participation at Le Mans 2010!
Swiss Female Power: Three young ladies build one of the Matech Racing Teams!
Natacha Gachnang (Cousin of Sébastien Buemi), Cindie Allemann and Rahel Frey
Corvette provides 300m2 of exhibition area where 8 different Corvette models are presented!
… but the No#1 highlight for me this year is: Jochen and myself got approved the official accreditation request for “Track Access” !!!
... more highlights will be added after the race! ;-) CU THERE!!

Le Mans 2010 and 2011

basZero — Mon, 31 May 2010 21:07:39 +0000

Le Mans gets closer, 11 nights to sleep until we travel to the Sarthe…
Time to wrap up what is expecting us!!

Have a look at both restructured pages:
- Le Mans 2010
- Le Mans 2011 (yes, you can already register the RSS Feed for Le Mans 2011 news as there are already a few of them :-)

The History of Le Mans – an overiew

basZero — Sat, 29 May 2010 15:40:17 +0000

I collected some info since I started this page and put them now together on a single page, showing some milestones in Le Mans’ history!

Click HERE to see it.

GT-Racer : Season 2

basZero — Sat, 29 May 2010 07:36:34 +0000

This movie is really just awesome! I have never seen so many different vintage race cars in a movie and never in such a beautiful scenery like Le Mans and in Mexico (Carrera Panamericana). If you like classic race cars, this is a movie made for you! … and much much better than Season 1. Click here for the details and many many many many screenshots! :-)

La Suisse au Mans – Switzerland at Le Mans 2010

basZero — Fri, 28 May 2010 09:19:51 +0000

On May 20th, 2010, the A.C.O. communicated the official entry list for Le Mans 2010!
Time to look at how Switzerland is engaged in this year’s race:

Year	Team	Drivers	Car	Class	Comments
2010	REBELLION Racing #12	Neel Jani Nicolas Prost Marco Andretti	Brand new Lola B10/60 REBELLION	LMP1	Rebellion Racing was formerly known as Speedy Racing Team Sebah. Neel Jani was born in 1983 and was quite successful in A1GP races the last two years. Le Mans 2010 is a premiere for him!
2010	REBELLION Racing #13	Andrea Belicchi Jean-Christophe Boullion Guy Smith	Lola B08/60 REBELLION	LMP1	The second team of REBELLION Racing is starting with last year’s model B08/60.
2010	Matech Competition #61	Natacha Gachnang Cyndie Allemann Rahel Frey	Ford GT	LMGT1	This new Ford GT model was actually designed for the brand new FIA GT1 Championship, but has been accepted for Le Mans as well! Very special is the driver line-up as it consists of female race drivers only and all of them are Swiss (wow!!) :-) I wish all the best and good luck for these hard 24 hours!
2010	Matech Competition #60	Thomas Mutsch Romain Grosjean Jonathan Hirschi	Ford GT	LMGT1	Romain Grosjean was born in 1986 and did not yet prove himself to be a successful race driver (in my opinion), maybe he does show his skills this year: he drives the full FIA GT World Championship in addition to the Le Mans race. Jonathan Hirschi was also born in 1986 but has even less experience than Romain Grosjean. For both of them, Le Mans is a premiere!
2010	Race Performance AG #28	Ralph Meichtry Pierre Bruneau Marc Rostan	Radical Judd SR9	LMP2
2010	Audi Sport Team Joest #8	Marcel Fässler André Lotterer Benoît Treluyer	Audi R15 TDI plus	LMP1	Marcel Fässler was born 1976 in Einsiedeln, Switzerland. He became famous in 2000 as driver at the DTM for Mercedes where he finished on overall 4th place. He left DTM in 2005 and drove endurance races in 2006 (LMS) where he also had his premiere at Le Mans. Since then he became very famous in the endurance racing motorsport world.
2010	Aston Martin Racing #007	Harold Primat Adrian Fernandez Stefan Mücke	Lola Aston Martin	LMP1	Harold Primat was born in 1975 and drives endurance races since 2004. He drove at Le Mans in 2005 for the first time with a Dallara-Nissan LMP1. After two years driving for Pescarolo at Le Mans, he is driving for Aston Martin including this year!
2010	Larbre Competition #50	Gabriele Gardel Roland Berville Julien Canal	Saleen S7-R	LMGT1	Gabriele Gardel was born in 1977 and has experience as driver in the FIA GT series as well as the Le Mans Series (LMS). He starts at Le Mans for the first time this year!

The complete list of “Switzerland at Le Mans” from 1923 to 2010 is available here (… and still in progress).

Hybrid and Electric Racers at Le Mans 2010 !

basZero — Thu, 27 May 2010 19:28:35 +0000

When I read about the GP ELEC for the first time taking place at Le Mans this year, I really wondered what cars would be chosen for this future oriented occasion. Today, the A.C.O. announced the list of cars that will take 2 laps around the most famous endurance racing track in the world: Le Mans ! As summarized on the 2010 page, the race starts at 12:10 on Saturday, right after the Group C race.

And here is the list:

PORSCHE 911 GT3 R Hybrid
AUDI e-Tron
PEUGEOT RCZ HYbrid4 Concept
The electric FERRARI 599XX HPDC
The electric TESLA (which model?)
The hydrogen MAZDA RX-8 RE
The hydrogen BMW
The natural gas VOLKSWAGEN Scirocco
The electric SECMA F16
and the electric ANDROS

And in pictures:

PORSCHE 911 GT3 R Hybrid:

The AUDI e-Tron:

The electric FERRARI 599XX HPDC:

The hydrogen MAZDA RX-8 RE:

I don’t know why A.C.O. also sent a picture of the Mini E RACE car (as it is not on the starter list), but however it looks promising too:

The PEUGEOT RCZ HYbrid4 Concept:

TESLA will bring one of their own known cars or a brand new concept car produced together with their new partner Toyota?

BMW with their H2R concept car:

… just kidding, BMW will start with their BMW Hydrogen 7 Concept car:

The electric SECMA F16:

And the electric ANDROS (not sure if it will be exactly this model…):

The new 2011 ACO regulations make provision for smaller, lighter engines producing less CO2. Hybrid engines recovering electrical energy thus generating significant fuel savings will appear in the race with real chances of victory. Other technologies: 100% electric engines, engines running on natural gas will, in the future, give rise to fresh battles between manufacturers on the Sarthe circuit.

These different futuristic technologies will be presented to the public and the media at the Le Mans 24 Hours by the ACO in agreement with the major manufacturers. The first demonstration will take place on the Le Mans 24-Hours circuit on Thursday 10th June from 21h15 to 21h35.

The Le Mans-24 Hours race will continue to distinguish itself as the event enabling the most innovative manufacturers to prove themselves on the most demanding, revealing circuit in the world.

Happy Birthday Le Mans!!!

basZero — Wed, 26 May 2010 11:18:14 +0000

Happy Birthday “Les 24 Heures du Mans” !!

Today is a special day for Le Mans: on May 26th, 1923, the first 24 hours race started at 4pm originally called “Grand Prix d’Endurance de 24 heures” !

33 cars started at that time where 30 reached the finishing line!
Read more about the race at wikipedia.

Updated details for Lola B10/60

basZero — Sun, 23 May 2010 16:50:05 +0000

As the season 2010 is now in action, I updated the details of the brand new Lola racer B10/60 which is run by the Swiss racing team “Rebellion Racing” both in the LMS and the 24 hours of Le Mans.

Click here for the details. More images will be added after the 24h of Le Mans!

All about ALMS Laguna Seca: tomorrow!

basZero — Fri, 21 May 2010 08:12:10 +0000

Here is a short summary of resources that might be useful for tomorrow’s race!

Spotterguide:

Watch it LIVE on the brand new ALMS broadcast service (limited number of registrations!):
http://americanlemans.com/primary1.php?cat=live
Race starts at 2.30pm PDT (for people in CET timezone: 23:30)

Have Fun!

Corvette – Racing Legends

basZero — Wed, 19 May 2010 21:08:42 +0000

Focus of the book: This book was made with love, with true love for the Corvette racing history especially the L-88, as driven by the Scuderia Filipinetti from 1968 to 1969 at Le Mans!

The Content:
14 years of research have gone into this book and all of it was done by an NCRS member (National Corvette Restorers Society) who has had hands on experience with 427 Corvettes since 1976: Dr. Peter J Gimenez.
When you start reading the book you instantly see and feel with what great care and love it had been written and structured…

All of the photos contained within “Corvette Racing Legends” are original photos from the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s! There are no photos from modern or current vintage racing events within this book. These rare photos have been obtained from the archives of collectors and enthusiasts who photographed these fantastic L-88 Corvettes at the tracks when these Corvettes originally raced: Daytona, Sebring, Le Mans, Watkins Glen, Riverside, Road Atlanta and others.

About the L-88:
The book tells the story of how the Corvette began its humble racing career with a small block Chevrolet engine back in 1956, and how it progressed through the Corvette SS, Sting Ray racer, the Z06 Sting Ray and the Grand Sport prototypes.
The L-88 option package for the Corvette was the result of years of developmen work which resulted in a factory racing option package that could be ordered from Chevrolet in a brand new Corvette. The L-88 option was only available for three brief model years from 1967 through 1969. The L-88 Corvette was so potent, that it could not only allow the new owner or driver to win a race in local competition, but it also could propel a properly prepared Corvette to stunning finishing positions in world class International races, such as the 12 Hours of Sebring and the 24 Hours of Daytona.

Le Mans 1960:
First row, left to the right: #1 Corvette of Briggs Cunningham and William Kimberly, #3 Corvette of John Fitch and Bob Grossman, #4 Camoradi Corvette of Fred Gamble and Lou Lilley, #8 Aston Martin DBR1 / 30 of Ian Baillie and Jack Fairman.
Picture bottom right: Stingray racer at Watkins Glen in 1960.

Top Left Photo, left to right: Augie Pabst, Roger Penske, Dr. Dick Thompson and Jim Hall leaning against Jim Hall’s #65 Corvette Grand Sport 003 (photo top right).

12 Hours of Sebring March 27, 1965: Hot lap 3 min 13 sec.

Top Left Photo: The #6 Penske Sunoco L-88 Corvette with George Wintersteen.
Bottom Left, left to right: George Wintersteen, Dick Guldstrand, Ben Moore and Roger Penske.

Prototype entry #10 Corvette Grand Sport at the 12 Hours of Sebring on March 26th, 1966:
Just awesome!!!!

Top Left and Bottom Right: #3 factory L-88 Corvette of Dave Morgan and Hap Sharp.
Bottom Left: #4 L-88 Corvette at 12 Hours of Sebring on March 23rd, 1968.

Left: 1978 Corvette Indy Pace Car at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Right: The former #77 tube-frame Greenwod Corvette revised as the #6 Pickett Racing Team Corvette in the pits at the 6 Hours of Endurance at the Watkins Glen New York on July 8th, 1978.

Le Mans 1960 – 1969

basZero — Mon, 17 May 2010 20:38:07 +0000

Focus of the book: An officially licensed book by the Automobile Club de L’Ouest (A.C.O.) summarizing a whole decade. This is the first book from an upcoming series by author Quentin Spurring: 8 Volumes are currently planned in order to cover the whole history of Le Mans in great detail: 1923 – today.

The book is structured as follows:
- All 10 official posters
- The track (Circuit de la Sarthe) in each of the years
- Huge chapter per year: Entry List, Statistics, Race Results
- Many large photos (black & white as well as color)
- Key facts of the race

From the same series:

- Le Mans 1960 – 1969
- Le Mans 1970 – 1979 (pre-ordered)

Chapters start like this:

Facts and great large photos:

Interesting statistics of the whole decade as well as of each year:

Roadmap of baszero.ch

basZero — Mon, 17 May 2010 20:11:45 +0000

As I reached milestone 3 by end of March and am currently working on “Swiss History at Le Mans“, I thought I’d share my roadmap also for documenting the development of this site.

It all started probably after my first visit to Le Mans in 2008 where I crawled the web for information about Le Mans and endurance racing in general. I found quite a bunch of really nice sites, but it took also quite a while to find them and to actually find the information I was interested in. Nowhere I found a decent summary of really nice books, or “must have” movies about Racing….

After Le Mans 2009 I was even more into information and into good overviews about Le Mans: Books, Movies, Introduction of Cars, Engine Sounds and so on… and so this is why I kicked myself up to create my own site, my view and discoveries about Le Mans. Few months later a registered the domain and started to draft the concept of the site: Information Categories, data capture templates and the meta data that I would need to dynamically group information together of a certain category…

And here I am after nearly one year of development and data capturing of what I already had stored in my shelves…

And today I thought I would share the roadmap with you, looking forward to Milestone 4 !

Click the following image to enlarge!

New: baszero.com

basZero — Mon, 17 May 2010 18:00:06 +0000

As a safety act, baszero.com is now also under my control and currently gets redirected to baszero.ch automatically.

Updated News Page

basZero — Mon, 17 May 2010 15:50:09 +0000

I just updated the News Page where you can easily find all the news channels as RSS/XML feed or as a nice HTML page.

Added screenshots

basZero — Wed, 05 May 2010 21:43:16 +0000

Just added some screenshots for the movie “Le Mans Phenomenon“.

All movies can be found here.