It's interesting that Mosley is promoting energy-efficient programs as the future of F1 racing, and it shows quite a bit of foresight. After all, kinetic energy recovery as developed under grueling race conditions has a good chance of resulting in improved systems for road-going cars. The question is, will race fans give a damn about how one team's KERS system is giving them an extra second per lap, or would they rather hear a tiny pneumatic-valve V8 spinning at 10,000 RPM as the driver bangs through a seven-speed sequential 'box? [Autosport.com]

The race has been held at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Quebec since 1978 (with a year off in 1987). That was back before the track was even named after the late Canadian racer, who died in 1982. It used to be known as the Circuit Île Notre-Dame. Prior to that, the Canadian Grand Prix was around since 1961 (with a year off in 1975) at Mosport Park and Mont-Tremblant. [gridcrasher, globesports] (Thanks Richard, Greg, and Jon!)

image copyright: AFP/ Getty Images

Mosley's Case: British laws protecting the rights of individuals against the press extend to him and this was a completely private affair.

News Of The World's Case: Mosley is a public figure and he committed a serious act of "depravity" and the public has a right to know about it.

X Factor: The witness who was the biggest part of the setup, Woman E, was supposed to testify that there was a specific request for a Nazi theme. She never showed up.

Jalopnik Snap Judgement: Because British laws are so strong on this point, we're pretty sure NOTW is going to lose this case. But it isn't going to make problems like this go away.

[NY Times]

In his libel suit against NOTW for publishing the story, Mosely told the judge:

"It's just more - fun is probably the wrong word - but it's much better if accompanied by something which seems to justify what is going on."

Don't you see everyone? We're the sick ones. The prison uniforms, the SS-style guard uniforms, the speaking in a weirdo German accent. How dare we think that's in any way related to Nazism! [SkyNews]

Dean Attew, who The Times describes as a "London-based business intelligence consultant", uncovered the plot. Attew formerly assisted Ecclestone with "a wide variety of issues concerning...business and family affairs," and still feels some loyalty to the Formula One owner. Now employed by Titon International, the company that was employing ex-KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko when he was poisoned and in whose office traces of Polonium-210 were found, Attew was approached to assist in the plot to bring down Mosley by unnamed parties. Fearing that the plot could harm his former boss as well, he then brought that information to Ecclestone.

"Dean, you are not going to find anything because there's nothing there - he's Mr Boring in that sense," Ecclestone told Attew upon learning of the plot. Since the release of the Max Mosley sex video, Mosley has done nothing to address suggestions that Ecclestone was involved with the attempt to publicly discredit him, leaving Attew to feel under-appreciated for his efforts. [via The Times]

ADAC - Germany

With regret and incomprehension, the ADAC has learned from the decision by the General Assembly of the FIA in Paris to confirm Max Mosley in his function as president of the FIA. For Europe's largest motoring club, this is a reason to put down all its functions and the involvement in the global organisation of motoring clubs with immediate effect and to step down from the globally active FIA working groups. The ADAC will stick to this attitude as long as Max Mosley will be on duty as president of the FIA."

Well, we've known Max for a long time. He is always pushing the arguments against him away and he is promoting his own arguments. And he has a lot of contacts with the smaller clubs and what we have seen in the general assembly is that more or less the smaller clubs are in favour. But when you look to the bigger clubs, the AAA (USA), the triple A in Australia, the JAF (Japan) of 70 million members, the ADAC in Germany, the NWB in the Netherlands, they all are against. So when you count the members behind the members then I don't think he will succeed."

The Motor Sports Association respects the decision of the FIA General Assembly concerning President Mosley and considers that it is now time to move on and for the sport to pull together. The Motor Sports Association looks forward to continuing to work constructively as an important member of the FIA in the future."

(Big Heads Up To PhkMark)[Photo: Getty, F1-Live]

Letter From Mosley To Clubs

Dear Presidents

Thank you for your letter of 28 May.

I will use your numbering in this reply.

1. I did not accept the proposal from some (but not, as you incorrectly suggest, all) members of the Mobility World Council because it was the worst possible solution. I would have resigned, yet still spent the summer carrying out all the day-to-day work with neither the time nor the authority to complete the major outstanding tasks. Better to stop immediately than accept this muddled compromise.

Your suggestion of a "crisis" is nonsense. Although I am personally embarrassed and greatly regret that this affair has become public, no one fails to call for roadside assistance because of it.

As I said in my earlier letters, the communications I received from club presidents were overwhelmingly in favour of my remaining as president. I therefore had no choice but to submit the question to the FIA membership as a whole. I certainly could not have simply ignored the majority and resigned.

2. Some of the larger clubs among those who have signed your letter have previously contradicted their claimed commitment to the FIA. See the sample responses of the AAA, ADAC, ANWB, JAF, and TCS to the FIA Survey of 5 February 2008 attached. These same clubs have, of course, been trying to change the structure of the FIA since well before the events they now seek to exploit.

As stated in my letter of 23 May, several of these same clubs have formed groups separate from the FIA from which the wider FIA membership is excluded. Worse, they have obstructed our efforts to improve cooperation between all clubs. Combined with a complete lack of transparency, I believe these activities are contrary to the interests of the FIA.

3. Mr Ecclestone is willing to continue working with the FIA because he has a binding contract to do so. In his letter to the clubs, he says he is now willing to live with this contract. That is a sudden and major change in position.

Together with other member clubs of the FIA you will be free to express your views to the Assembly next Tuesday.

In the interest of transparency, I am sending a copy of your letter together with this reply to all the member clubs of the FIA.

Yours sincerely

Max Mosley

FIA SURVEY

The FIA launched the first major online survey of its member clubs on 5 February 2008. The survey received a very positive response to its detailed questions from 57 leading clubs around the world.

The majority of the responses endorsed the FIA's plans to improve cooperation and coordination throughout the FIA club network in both motoring and motor sport, for example, 87 per cent agreed that the FIA brand added value to member clubs and 82% also agreed that sport can be used to promote mobility issues.

However, a small minority of clubs, representing the major individual membership markets of America, Germany, the Netherlands and Japan demonstrated a consistently negative view to their involvement and interaction within the FIA community.

The following are some examples of the negative responses made to the member survey. They highlight a disagreement with some of the fundamental objectives set by both World Councils following the merger of the AIT and the FIA.

When asked if the FIA was the best forum to bring together the policy expertise of clubs worldwide, the ADAC disagreed.

When asked if FIA Sport could help to promote FIA Mobility issues, particularly in terms of safety and the environment, the ADAC disagreed.

When asked if the promotional links between the sporting side of the FIA and the non-sporting side should be strengthened, the ANWB, the ADAC and the TCS disagreed.

When asked if your club would be interested in more active support from the FIA in developing and communicating policy campaigns the ADAC and the ANWB disagreed.

When asked if a Working Group with representatives from all FIA Regions would help to strengthen the link between the sporting and mobility sides of the FIA and its sister organisations, JAF, the ANWB and the TCS disagreed.

When asked if your club would like to use the FIA brand on its website and other external communications material, JAF, the AAA and the ADAC disagreed. (Emphasis in original)

He then ended the letter with "Zank You Very Much!"

[Autosport]

Just as a little background, Bernie Ecclestone is the commercial rights holder to Formula One and he's been trying to get more control of the sport from FIA. Obviously, FIA wants to be able to maintain some control of the sport. But we think it's maybe taking it a bit far to say that Mosley is the only person that can stop Ecclestone, that he actually cares to stop Ecclestone or that Ecclestone can be stopped at all. And now, for your Nixon-speak:

"Anyone could stand and there would be no list to stabilise the process and ensure that each candidate had the support of a real cross-section of FIA member clubs. During the two to four month election period, the complex negotiations (with Ecclestone/CVC) ....would necessarily slow or even cease. A new president would then take over with no knowledge of the background and, worse, might perhaps have been elected with the support of the very people with whom we are negotiating."

"I have been determined to fight for the rights and role of the FIA in F1 and it is possibly for this reason that the media have been encouraged by those who have an interest in undermining my Presidency."

"I believe, therefore, that whatever the Extraordinary General Assembly decides, it should not reward those who have deliberately set out to destabilise the FIA at such a crucial time in its history."

"This will give me the time I need to progress the current negotiations to the point where proposals safeguarding the fundamental interests of the FIA can be submitted to the WMSC (World Motor Sport Council) and the General Assembly."

"It will also give me time to pursue the legal proceedings I have started against those who have caused so much unnecessary trouble and embarrassment. Above all, it will allow a smooth and orderly transition to a new presidency satisfactory to the membership as a whole."

"I have earned every cent. And in all of my years of public life I have never obstructed justice. People have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook. I've earned everything I've got."

(h/t PhkMark) [A full account at Autosport.com]

Mosley will still probably attend the actual race at Moncao, but in no official capacity. In fact, the Monaco Royal Family has pretty much made clear that they're happy with the idea of old Max keeping his distance from parties, paddocks and especially princes. This effectively means that Mosley won't be acting as the head of the FIA, though he still doesn't seem to be poised to resign. We guess that it's the whole stiff upper lip (and whatever else) thing going on. (h/t PhkMark) [F1 Live]

The Times goes on to report that "the clear majority of team managers" think that Mosley's refusal to resign is hurting the sport. According to the paper, the Monaco Royal Family have expressed similar concerns. Mosley was ordered by the Royal family of Bahrain not to attend their F1 round, didn't attend the Spanish Grand Prix for fear of embarrassing King Juan Carlos and the Turkish Prime Minister's office approached Bernie Ecclestone to ensure their boss wouldn't encounter the besieged FIA President.

FIA's general assembly will meet on June 3rd for a vote of no confidence in their President. [via The Times]

"I watched the WRC Mexico highlights last night and I have to voice my opinion on the poor appearance of Sebastien Loeb on WRC-TV," wrote Surinder Thatti, Chairman of the Confederation Of African Countries in Motorsport. ""He was unshaven, scruffy looking and with unkempt hair!! It is wrong...when the FIA gives him global TV coverage to millions of viewers and to many children worldwide he is a hero and role model...I know there is a level of personal freedom one is allowed but I feel he is taking this too far and someone should talk to him or his team about this."

"Yes I watched the same as you did...Unfortunately it is not a problem that is unique to our sport as the same happens in football and other "male" sports," Chandler wrote in response. "My only solution is that we suggest to ISC that the camera does not cover them close up."

We're just glad FIA can't see us in our bedrooms office. (h/t Placebo, who is scruffy in a good way) [via AutoSport]

According to ESPN, Mosley said regarding his attraction to motorsports "nobody cared about your background, race, gender or religion. All that mattered was how quick you were." Those nice words by Mosley, but we would imagine the Jewish fans would disagree (it took him five hours, as well).

The campaign includes the Everyrace.net website that has a neat morphing faces image and a way for the fans to "Pledge Your Support," which entails providing the FIA with a name and e-mail address. Sadly, the logo was stolen from Ferrari. [ESPN]

The LED-flag system has been in development for 10 years now because of very strict regulations put in place by the La Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, or the FIA, the governing body for motor racing events, including Formula 1. This is surprising because the president of the FIA is generally known to be pretty loose.

Valerio Maioli, the same design firm handling the ridiculous lighting for the event, was behind the creation of the LED flags. September can't get here soon enough. [Motor Authority]

The friend goes on further for The Times:

"Max is not an individual who runs away from problems and he will solve the problems in the way he thinks is right. He is a fighter and he will fight," the friend said.

[Times Online via HuffPo]

First, the ADAC (Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club) called for the embattled president to "reconsider his role." And this isn't like the Springfield Spitfire Enthusiasts asking, the ADAC is the largest automotive club in Europe with 15 million members and is a significant part of the FIA. Second, KNAF, the Dutch motorsport organization, was even more direct telling a reporter that they plan to go to the FIA meeting about Mosley's position and vote for his resignation.

WIth the meeting coming up to decide Mosley's fate, the question is how many of the 222 organizations that make up the FIA can reasonably vote in his favor? [SkySports, WorldCarFans, BBC Sport]

Statement to FIA from Max Mosley

From information provided to me by an impeccable high-level source close to the UK police and security services, I understand that over the last two weeks or so, a covert investigation of my private life and background has been undertaken by a group specializing in such things, for reasons and clients as yet unknown. I have had similar but less well-sourced information from France.

Regrettably, you are now familiar with the results of this covert investigation and I am very sorry if this has embarrassed you or the club. Not content with publicizing highly personal and private activities, which are, to say the least, embarrassing, a British tabloid newspaper published the story with the claim that there was some sort of Nazi connotation to the matter. This is entirely false.

It is against the law in most countries to publish details of a person's private life without good reason. The publications by The News of the World are a wholly unwarranted invasion of my privacy and I intend to issue legal proceedings against the newspaper in the UK and other jurisdictions.

I have received a very large number of messages of sympathy and support from those within the FIA and the motor sport and motoring communities generally, suggesting that my private life is not relevant to my work and that I should continue in my role," he continued, answering to the calls for his resignation coming from various sources, including Holocaust-awareness organizations. "I am grateful and with your support I intend to follow this advice. I shall now devote some time to those responsible for putting this into the public domain but above all I need to repair the damage to my immediate family who are the innocent and unsuspecting victims of this deliberate and calculated personal attack.

You can, however be certain that I will not allow any of this to impede my commitment to the work of the FIA.

[SpeedTV/Racer.com]

Ecclestone went on to say that he doubted Nazi overtones were included in the video. "Knowing Max it might all be a bit of a joke rather than anything against Jewish people." That must be that famous British humor, eh? Like Ecclestone's own sexist remarks to Danica Patrick? But it's all about the racing. Right?

[Story: Telegraph, Photo: The F1 Blog]

The orgy characterized by NOTW as having a "Nazi theme" took place on Friday at a $4 million apartment-cum-dungeon near Mosley's home in London's upscale Chelsea neighborhood.

As President of FIA, Mosley is responsible for overseeing international motor sports, including Formula One. He enjoys a close relationship with F1 Supremo Bernie Ecclestone.

Mosley's father Oswald was a notorious fascist and Hitler supporter. Max has been controversially linked to his father's beliefs.

Kicking off the orgy by playing a detainee, Mosley had both his genitals and head inspected for lice, in a way reminiscent to portrayals of incoming concentration camp detainees, before lying to the hookers to purposefully bring about a severe beating. After the session ended, the girls enjoyed a glass of wine. Mosley was offered one as well, but turned it down in favor of a cup of tea. It's not known what ramifications this will have on Mosley's career or the sport he governs. [Via News Of The World]

UPDATE:Mosley got to keep his job despite acknowledging he participated in an encounter with sex workers in a basement apartment in London. On top of that, Mosley also headed to the UK courts to claim characterizations of Nazi overtones by NOTW were completely invalid, and even if they were valid, it was done in the privacy of someone else's home.

UK High Court judge David Eady apparently agreed on both of those counts. In a ruling hailed by the former Archbishop of Canterbury as a 'dangerous precedent' undermining public morality, the News of the World must now pay Mosley $120,000 in damages, plus legal costs of an estimated $1.7 million, for making the claim. Thanks to legal threats from Mosley's attorneys waving about Eady's ruling, we've removed the NOTW video from our own site, or else face similar attacks on our own free speech.

Of course, McLaren was heavily fined and kicked out of the constructors' championship. So the damage has been done there. Hopefully, everyone will tone down the stealing and focus on important things, like developing new engines... oh, wait. [Canadian Press]

Renault, obviously, is quite relieved. Not to be complete pansies, the FIA did say that there could be facing severe punishment if fresh proof emerged. Of course, the people at Renault aren't idiots and have promptly destroyed all fresh proof by now. [Reuters]

We again missed the Barcelona motor show due to a mixup between our trophy wives and the Spanish embassy, which wasn't anything a few hundred thousand 10-year Spanish government bonds couldn't fix. As such, we missed eyeballing Spanish motorsports firm Sunred's prototypical GT1-class racer — the SR08 — in the flesh. It's powered by a V10 producing 500 hp, with zero to 62 mph (100 km/h) taking only 3.5 seconds. Estimated top speed is 186 mph. It's a good time to be one of the Spanish Bourbon royals; the SR08 is going into production next year. A run of 10 will be built to satisfy FIA homologation rules. [Grazie to Stefano for the tip.] – Mike Spinelli

[via Omniauto.it]

Related:
Barcelona: Come For the Food, Stay for the World's Cutest Garbage Trucks [internal]

FORD MUSTANG FR500 dominates tracks in usa; READY TO TAKE ON EUROPE * Mustang, arguably with more racing wins than any other Ford nameplate in North America, may be ready to take on the best of Europe. * Ford Racing Mustang FR500GT and Mustang FR500C race cars being homologated for racing in Federation Internationale De L'Automobile (FIA) GT competition. * Interest from teams in Europe may have Mustang racing soon on some of world's great race tracks.

DEARBORN, Mich., March 16, 2007 - The world's most popular "pony car," the Ford Mustang may soon make its European road racing debut. Ford Racing Technology confirmed today that it has begun the process of homologation of both its Mustang FR500C and FR500GT race cars for FIA competition.

The Mustang FR500C, a championship-winning entry in the U.S.-based, Grand Am KONI Challenge Series, is being homologated for FIA GT4 competition, while the new Mustang FR500GT, which has not been in competition yet, is being homologated for FIA GT3 competition.

"Mustang has been a winner, both on the track and in the marketplace since it made its debut in 1964," said Dan Davis, director of Ford Racing Technology. "We have always said that Mustang was 'born to race,' and it has been a championship-winning car for Ford in such places as IMSA, SCCA, NHRA and now Grand-Am."

The Mustang FR500C just started its third year of competition in the KONI Challenge Series, where it has already captured seven wins and the 2005 championship. Fourteen Mustang FR500C race cars lined up on the grid in the 2007 season-opening race at Daytona.

"With that kind of success, we're excited about the prospect of both our Mustang FR500 race cars being approved for FIA GT competition," said Davis. "Based on interest we've seen from teams in Europe, we see this as an excellent commercial business opportunity to sell additional complete, ready-to-race Mustangs."

The Ford Mustang is, and always has been, a uniquely American product that has worldwide appeal, and it has a proven racing heritage that makes it even more attractive to teams and race fans.

Davis emphasized that the homologation of the two Mustang products is a Ford Racing North America project, although Ford's European racing operations, led by Jost Capito, are aware of, and support, the program.

"Much like our successful Grand-Am KONI Challenge Series program, we see this as purely a customer program for private teams that want to race competitive Mustangs," said Davis, who noted that this is not a first step for Ford to go "factory" road racing in Europe. "The success of the Mustang FR500C has shown that we can design and build ready-to-win race cars for customers."

The homologation process is being handled by Ford Racing Technology's partner in the Mustang FR500 race cars project, Multimatic Motorsports of Canada. Multimatic currently has versions of each of the cars in Europe undergoing thorough testing, with a goal of final sign-off by the FIA in April.

FR500C - "Boy Racer"
The popularity of road racing at a grassroots level has soared in the last few years and to the Ford enthusiast few vehicles make better racecars than Mustangs. For those enthusiasts looking to take their first step into professional road racing, Ford Racing has your needs met with the new 2005 Mustang FR500C.

The FR500C features the following ...

* Ford Racing designed body, which has been seam welded, and Grand-Am approved roll cage that includes all the attachment points and enclosures specifically for racing.
* Ford Racing 5.0L "Cammer R50" engine, which is mounted to a unique Tremec T56 transmission.
* Ford Racing brake and suspension upgrades
* PRICE — $125,000

FR500GT - "Man Racer"

Encouraged by the first-year dominance of its 420-horsepower stock Mustang race car in the Grand-Am Koni Challenge Series Ford Motor Company has developed what it describes as the ultimate Mustang showroom stock race car. Code-named "Man Racer," the new 550-horsepower Mustang follows on the heels of the highly successful FR500C, also known as the "Boy Racer."

"Man Racer represents the reincarnation of the Trans-Am Mustang from the 70s, which was the most powerful showroom-looking pony car at the time," said Dan Davis, director, Ford Racing Technology. "This car has amazing output from a normally aspirated engine, and the chassis is specially tuned for high-speed performance and handling."

This concept racer is outfitted with Ford Racing Performance Parts and was featured in the October issue of Car and Driver magazine.

Apparently the FIA has something against Colombia and its special brand of marching powder. While in pre-European Mexico, it was just fine for Montezuma to lay on the shore with his coca leaves and pearls, it is apparently not — in the sport-arbiting organization's estimation — okay to drive a racing car with traces of cocaine in one's system, something that Luca Moro found out the hard way after testing positive post-Spa 24 Hours.

We too, are against pre-race coke snorting. Instead, we think the FIA should mandate that F1 drivers take a big hit of the crack rock out of a shattered Xenon bulb on the starting line and then run on a World of Outlaws-spec dirt track for 10 laps. Now that would put the energy back into Formula One! Bill France, Jr., you steal this idea and you're through. Through y'hear? – Davey G. Johnson

Drug bust in GTs [GrandPrix.com via Autoblog]

Related:
Honey, I Shat the Yacht Bed: F1, Coke 'n' Hookers in Monaco [Internal]

Jaguar and motorsports have — of late — combined like cats and 220v power lines. Having smothered Jackie Stewart's former F1 team under a deluge of Ford bux earlier in the century, the company's coming back with a new FIA GT3 racer it hopes will reclaim the Jaguar racing heritage. A joint venture with Apex Motorsport, the new XKR GT3 will compete in the FIA GT3 European Championship — a relatively new sports car series, whose entries include the Aston Martin DB9, Corvette Z06, Ferrari F430, Lamborghini Gallardo and Maserati GranSport. It's not a factory team, though Jag is greenlighting Apex's efforts and providing it with XKR models powered by the company's supercharged, 4.2-liter V8. Apex upclocks that powerplant to 475 hp, and inserts a Hewland six-speed sequential gearbox and tri-plate carbon racing clutch in place of the six-speed ZF automatic. Shakedown testing will come next month at Monza, where we'll get final specs. – Mike Spinelli

Related:
Aston to Offer Race-Ready Vantage V8 [internal]

Addressing the media in Munich this week, FIA prez Max Mosley, again assuring fans that F1 would keep up with all the gee-wiz, high-tech innovations coming out of the auto industry, said forced induction engines could return to the series as early as 2011. It would be the first time turbocharging was allowed in F1 since the late-1980s, when teams were given a choice of a 1.5-liter turbo or a 3.0-liter natural breather. It's also the latest from Mosley on making F1 more environmentally friendly — mentioning the word "hybrid" a couple of months ago was another, as was the use of "biofuel" in a sentence earlier this year. All that's fine, but why go through all that effort, when he can just make it so boring no one will spare the energy to watch it. Oh, wait. – Mike Spinelli

Turbos may return to F1 by 2011 [internal]

Related:
Racing Green: F1 to Get Hybrids in 2009, Sort Of [internal]

The viscounts of Formula One have spoken: There shalt be hybrid propulsion systems, beginneth in the year of our Lord two thousand and nine. Make the seven-figure checketh out to "FIA." Seriously, hybrids are probably coming to F1, though we're not sure what form they will take quite yet. Check out the crazy FIA's UN-style wording, via Speed TV's interpreters:

The governing body and the squads agreed on the FIA preparing draft regulations for the recovery and reuse of energy (hybrid systems) for introduction in '09, the manufacturers to prepare draft regulations for devices to use waste heat and exhaust gases to assist the engines in propelling the cars, and the establishment of a working group to discuss means to restrict the use of wind tunnels, simulators (test rigs), simulations and where appropriate, the numbers of personnel.

Everyone got that?

F1: Teams, FIA Agree on Races, Engine Freeze for '07 [Speed TV]

Related:
Green Goes Mean? Motorsports Firms to Build Hybrid F1 Car [internal]

JCB's construction equipment may be slow, but its Dieselmax racer fulfilled boss Sir Anthony's dreams of speed. Anthony wanted to make a statement regarding the extreme performance of his hardware. That desire led to the Dieselmax project, which led to yesterday's FIA-observed run on the Bonneville Salt Flats by commander Andy Green, who set the international speed record for a diesel-powered car of 328.767. It shattered the existing record, allegedly set by trucker BJ McKay, who according to TV viewers in 1979, gave Sheriff Lobo quite a run somewhere in rural Georgia. Ok, ok. The previous record was actually set at Bonneville by the Thermo King Streamliner — piloted by Virgil W Snyder — in 1973 (235.756 mph).

JCB Dieselmax breaks the record [PistonHeads]

Related:
More on the Dieselmax [internal]

Supposedly in order to cut costs and promote fuel-efficiency, the FIA has decided to freeze engine development at 2006 F1 specifications, a mere year after cutting the number of cylinders in cars from 10 to 8. We think this is a bad idea. F1 engine development has been at the bleeding edge of technology for years, which is part of the series' appeal. Do things to the bodies to keep the cars competitive, but to kill the technical innovation inherent in Formula One engine development seems like a desperate bid to us, as well as closing off an important proving ground for the manufacturers. Why not just throw in production-block-based pushrod motors at this point? It seems to have worked for the France family.

F1 engine freeze in 2007 [TVNZ]

Related:
Anarchy in the UK: Jenson Button's Wild Ride [Internal]

Oh momma. Ferrari has a new toy for privateer racers of the Prancing Horse persuasion. It's the F430GT, created with Ferrari tuning shop Michelotti. Based on the F430 berlinetta, the GT racer has been stripped of the showroom pony's opulence, and has gotten an infusion of more carbon fiber, nomex and kevlar than a team of black ops commandos — leading to a reduction in weight from the factory model's 3,197 lbs to a track-ready 2,425 lbs. With a more rigid chassis than the previous 360 Modena racer, and with a 4.0-liter V8 that's been reduced in capacity from the factory 4.3-liter mill per FIA regs, the F430GT will take on various and sundry Porsches in upcoming GT2 races.

Ferrari F430GT [Italiaspeed]

Related:
Frankfurt Wrap-up: Ferrari F430 Challenge [internal]

Once Aguri Suzuki came up with his $48,000,000 bond and got the other teams to sign off, most pundits expected that the Super Aguri F1 team would be allowed to race this season. And indeed they shall be. With their '02 Arrows cars powered by Honda's new V-8s, Suzuki's team will fill the grid to a full 22 cars for the first time since 2002 Arrows' last season in the series. They expect to debut their own chassis midseason.

FIA confirms Super Aguri F1 entry [TSN]

Related:
This Super for Aguri Again? Team Will Likely Race in '06 [Internal]

If you're waiting anxiously for Mitsubishi to launch its new WRC car for 2006, you'd better just grab an OxyContin and a bottle of Old Grand Dad and make an evening of it. The company is giving up on the 2006 rally season to get its financial ducks in a row. The company announced today it was suspending participation in the FIA World Rally Championship until at least 2008 so it can "focus management resources" on its three-year revitalization plan. (Mitsu is still participating in the 2006 Paris-Dakar.) Still, the company hasn't won a manufacturers' title since 1998, nor a drivers' title since 1999, so maybe a break will give it a chance to get its shie e together. Press release after the jump.

Press Release:
Mitsubishi Motors to Suspend Participation in the FIA World Rally
Championship Series.

— Starting with an overall championship in the Safari Rally in 1974, the Mitsubishi WRC Team has accomplished a spectacular 34 wins in the WRC series. The team won the drivers' title 4 consecutive years from 1996 to 1999, and won the prestigious manufacturers' title in 1998.

Related:
Ford Launches New WRC Focus in Bologna [internal]

C'mon people, what's more important, ad space, race drivers' safety or the excitement of the sport? (Yes, you can give us an answer in the morning.) The FIA has proposed a new wing design (pictured) that will keep F1 cars from losing downforce when attempting a pass, thus making for more successful overtaking of cars during races. (According to the FIA, 94% of the viewing public wants to see more overtaking.) Most aerodynamic wing design, the group says, focuses on improving performance in "clean" air, not while operating in another car's wake. The new design would render a car attempting a passing move more slippery, thereby improving its chances to get by the leader. We haven't thought about it much, but we'd be in favor of nearly anything that would make F1 more interesting to watch. As for the reduction in ad space — it's not our problem.

New FIA wing for 2008 [Fast Machines]

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Subaru released pictures of and info on its new Impreza WRX STI spec C, which the company will submit for FIA rally (Group N) homologation. Within Group N, or FIA's production-car class, a car's engine cannot be moved and the suspension and brakes must be stock. In addition, according to Sport Compact Car magazine, the FIA Group N rules (for 2005) allowed Subaru's Japanese-only 2.0-liter EJ20 engine, not the 2.5-liter EJ25 found in US-bound STis. While Subaru hasn't announced which engine the new WRX STi spec C will have, it did announce it will produce the Group N minimum of 1,000 units in 2005. The new car is lighter than the previous model, though the body has been reinforced for more rigidity, while improvements to the turbocharger and intercooler, the company says, will make the flat-four more stable and reliable. Click through for more pics.

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