The men and women of the IRL are ready to start their engines for the beginning of the 2009 IndyCar Series that kicks off on April 5, 2009 at the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg race in St. Petersburg, Florida, but April is still far away for many racing aficionados holding Indy Racing League (IRL) tickets. All has not been quiet on the IndyCar front since Target Chip Ganassi's Scott Dixon snagged the IndyCar Series title in 2008, and 2009 has already brought several changes from last year's racing league.
In the 2008 IndyCar Series, Scott Dixon edged out Helio Castroneves for a first place finish on the season, while Tony Kanaan came in a close third and Dan Wheldon and Ryan Briscoe rounded out the top five, respectively. Danica Patrick, Marco Andretti, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Oriol Servia and Hideki Mutoh finished in sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth (respectively) in 2008, and while all these drivers set their sights on the 2009 series title, quite a few things have changed in the last several months, putting a brand new spin on things in the upcoming racing season.
First and foremost, Team Penske's No. 3 driver Helio Castroneves is still an iffy prospect to racing in this year's IndyCar Series, as he is currently tied up in legal woes battling the Miami judicial system after being accused of tax evasion. Aussie Will Power is set to take the reins for Castroneves in his absence, and the fate of these two drivers for Team Penske still hinges on the outcome of this lawsuit. Penske's other driver Ryan Briscoe, in the meantime, is staying consistent with his testing, leading the rest of the IRL in speed after a two-day testing period at the Homestead-Miami Speedway in February.
Coming in second after the two-day testing run at the end of February was defending IndyCar champion Scott Dixon, whose racing position with Target Chip Ganassi Racing still stands solid. The Chip Ganassi team endured some changes after the 2008 season, however, losing Dan Wheldon to Panther Racing in the offseason while gaining Dario Franchitti, winner of the 2007 IndyCar Series who briefly left the IRL in 2008 for a stint with NASCAR before coming back to open-wheel racing. The Franchitti-Dixon double-threat is expected to be a powerful force on the IRL scene for Target Chip Ganassi Racing in 2009, but that's not the only team roaring toward a fierce start to the season.
Andretti Green Racing welcomes back drivers Tony Kanaan, Marco Andretti, Hideki Mutoh and Danica Patrick, all of whom were top 10 finishers in the 2008 championships and have been active in the offseason. Patrick especially has been the vixen of media coverage since having an explosive year in 2008, and she has recently made a splash as one of the handpicked female figures posing for the 2009 swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated.
Andretti Green looks to go strong into 2009, and another team ready to spice things up in the upcoming months is KV Racing Technology, which recently picked up Brazilian driver Mario Moraes. Moraes raced with Dale Coyne Racing in his inaugural IRL season last year, and he looks to be an absolute asset to KV in '09. Fellow Brazilian Vitor Meira also made team changes over the past year, switching from Panther Racing to A.J. Foyt Enterprises, where he will spend 2009 trying to beat his 13th overall standing from last year.
While several changes have taken place over the last year with the IndyCar Series of the Indy Racing League (IRL), one thing remains consistent: these 29 drivers of the open-wheel racing league are revved up and ready to go for the 2009 season, so get racing tickets online and head down to the nearest speedway for a taste of this year's high-flying IRL action.
About the Author
This article is sponsored by StubHub.com. StubHub is a leader in the business of selling Indy Racing League (IRL) tickets, sports tickets, concert tickets, theater tickets and special events tickets.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Cars and future technology involved
Human race has undergone a tremendous transition in the past century with computers breaking every limit and making every dream a possibility. The flexibility of this micro processor driven machine has brought an enormous technological advancement in all the fields that we can imagine off. No wonder that it also has brought plenty of advancement to the automobile industry which stands a pioneer for technological advancement.
Starting from steam powered vehicles to the present hydrogen cell cars; sky is the limit for automobile manufacturers. However, automobile industry underwent some bad times between the years from 1960 to 1980, where all the car manufacturers used the same technology, almost the same designs. They just concentrated on making money from their new cars without investing anything in to research and development. This attitude of the manufacturers slowed down the technological advancements in the new cars and it even came to a halt at some point of time. Computers, with a globalized market turned the table for the new car companies and it revolutionized the automobile industry.
Now, new car companies have realized that by investing a considerable amount in the development of future technologies, they will be able to bring stability to their business model which automatically increases the profit of these new car manufacturers.
Each and every automobile company who manufactures new cars and services used cards is working towards one common goal, it is to develop a car that is eco friendly, which is more efficient, and which is totally safe.
As a result of hard work done by the research and development teams of every automobile company, we already have a glimpse of some wonderful inventions that can be used for both used cars and new cars.
Below given are the details of some real inventions that will be imparted in our future cars and also in the used cars that we have now.
· Regenerative breaking is a technology where in the wasted heat , which is produced while applying breaks is again in converted to usable energy, thus by increasing the energy efficiency of the vehicle . This technology can be imparted in both new and used cars.
· Researchers at the Brunel University( United Kingdom) has developed a hybrid engine which compresses the air, converts it to a form which the engine can use, thus by reducing the fuel consumption of the engine to 30%.This technology can be imparted to both new and used cars.
· Automobile giant BMW has developed a technology called the "Turbo steamer" which helps to harness the heat expelled by the internal combustion engines and generates mechanical energy from it. This technology can mostly be imparted in the new cars than the used cars.
· Carbon Nano tubes will replace steel, which makes the car safer and more energy efficient. This technology can only be used in the new cars.
· Nano technology will also be imparted in the engines of the car, giving the driver options to change the engine type. With some basic alterations, this technology can be adopted in the used cars also.
These are tip of the iceberg that automobile industry is about to unravel in the future. With new technology coming up every day, automobile giants are getting set to change the conventional transport system throughout the world, forever!
About the Author
Nigel Daurahttp://www.deal-autos.co.uk/
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
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