In Norway the Alm brothers are true heroes. Kenneth and Flemming Alm are true die-hard Audi enthusiasts. They race across of Scandinavia with their Audi S4 and Audi S2 cars in drift competitions.
Here are three great videos featuring the Alm Audi cars from the Hesleskaug Video channel on Youtube. No commentary, no music, just the lovely sound of the monstrous Audis.
More information about the Alm Racing team can be found on their official Facebook Page here.
This weekend marked the return of Doug “Hollywood” Gore in and the ATL Automotive ABT-Audi TT-R in Jamaica. The ex-ABT Sportsline DTM race car arrived in Jamaica during 2011 and competed successfully until an accident at Dover last May. The accident caused a lot of damage to the car’s chassis. The damage put the car out for the rest of the 2012 season as it went back to Germany for repairs. It was uncertain if the car would return to Jamaica, but luckily at the beginning of 2013 it was confirmed that the car would return. It had undergone a thorough ABT rebuild and received new bodywork from the SVC team in the Czech Republic, more can be read HERE and HERE.
The car was re-launched at an ATL press conference last week, shortly after clearing customs upon its arrival back in Jamaica. The new look and livery were revealed at the press conference, more can be read HERE. Following the launch, the ATL Racing team was hard at work as the first race meeting was only a few days away. Jamwest, a new racing facility in Jamaica, played host to the first motorsport event of the year. Jamaica now has two race tracks, Dover and Jamwest. Shortly after the launch Doug Gore made it clear that the ATL team aims to rule both circuits by reclaiming the lap record at Dover and beating the existing record when they debut at Jamwest.
The team was out testing at Jamwest before the race weekend, the day after the launch. No official times were shared, but the Audi was reported as being very fast on the new track. The existing lap record was held by Mr Zoom Zoom, Peter Rae, in his Mazda at 1 minute and 10 seconds.
Admittedly, there was a small entry list at Jamwest, but the headliner was that Doug Gore would face off against Peter Rae in his Mazda, one of the top competitors in Jamaica. David Summerbell and his Mitsubishi Evo, the current Dover lap record holder, did not attend this event.
The big news began in qualifying when Doug Gore took pole position by setting a new lap record at 1:08.396. Peter Rae had been experiencing problems during the morning and would start from the back of the grid. The first race began with Gore leading the field off the line, but Rae was the big mover by moving from seventh to second on the first lap. Rae then continued to set a tremendous pace and began reeling in Gore, setting a fastest lap of 1:08.450. This lap time stunned everyone at the track. Gore may still have held the overall record, which he set in qualifying, but Rae had put in a stormer during the race and was knocking on the door of reclaiming it. Doug Gore maintained the lead, despite Rae’s pace, and won the first MP class race of the day. Gore did win the race, but in contrast his fastest lap was 1:09.256, nearly a second slower than Rae, which became the talking point at the circuit.
For race two Gore and Rae were both on the front row, and the scene was set for the race of the day. The two drivers ran in close proximity during the opening laps with Doug maintaining the lead. Both drivers improved their best laptimes during the second race. Rae dropped to a 1:07.723 whereas Gore pulled out a flyer by setting the new lap record at 1:06.946. The pace was clearly very fast at the front but Gore maintained the lead and took his second race win on the day. It was later reported that Rae had developed a puncture during the closing stages of the race.
The day’s proceedings came to a close with a staggered race, where the fastest cars started at the back with time delays based on pace. Only four cars competed the race with Rae suffering a retirement and Doug ultimately finishing third, but he was lapping almost ten seconds a lap faster than the cars in front of him.
It was a successful return for Doug Gore and the ATL Automotive ABT-Audi TT-R. Two race wins and the new lap record meant it was a case of mission accomplished, but the real test will come at the next event. The Jamaican motorsport brigade will next compete at Dover, the annual Carnival of Speed. All the top contenders, including Gore, Summerbell and Rae, will be there, all aiming for the top spot and the lap record.
The ATL Automotive TT-R was re-launched in Jamaica yesterday. The team held a press conference at ATL where they revealed the car’s new look and the new livery. During the early 2000s the ABT-Audi TT-R race cars were a formidable force in the German DTM championship. The cars were finally replaced at the end of 2003 when the Audi A4 DTM R11 was introduced, however one TT-R made one final DTM start at the 2004 Shanghai DTM event. Along with the TT-R’s DTM career the cars also competed at the 2003 and 2004 Nürburgring 24 Hours, these cars being built to a more robust endurance specification.
ATL team launch 2011
After the cars were officially retired a number of the TT-Rs were sold to private teams, all in the endurance specification. They have been seen racing all over the world from Brazil to Europe and even Hillclimb racing. During 2011 one of these ABT-Audi TT-R cars was sold to the ATL Automotive group in Jamaica. They acquired the car to compete in both Jamaica and the Caribbean. Doug Gore was, and still is the driver for the ATL TT-R. The team achieved much success during 2011 and were allowed special dispensation to run in the 2012 Caribbean Motor Racing Championship (CMRC). The car was not allowed to compete in the CMRC during 2011 due to being lighter than the minimum weight of the championship. The scene was set for a tremendous 2012 season with Doug Gore and the Audi competing in the CMRC. However tragedy struck at the first corner of the very first race. Doug was involved in an accident which sent the car hurtling off the track, causing damage to the chassis. The damage resulted in the car being out for the season as it headed back to Germany to be repaired at the ABT Sportsline workshops.
2012 SVC ABT-Audi TT-R
At the beginning of 2013 it was confirmed that the car would be back and that the repairs had been finished. Read more about that HERE. Many photos of the repair appeared online which revealed new bodywork for the TT-R. The new bodywork resembles the appearance of a Mk2 Audi TT. The new design was developed by the SVC Vitver Racing team from the Czech republic. During 2012 the Czech team developed the new bodywork and competed in the FIA Hillclimb Cup with their TT-R driven by Vitver Vláďa, more can be read HERE. The ATL team purchased the new front end and rear wing from SVC and had them fitted by ABT in Germany.
As was the case with ATL the SVC also experience a large crash during 2012. The crash occurred whilst the team was testing for the final 2012 Hillclimb event, and also caused a lot of damage to their car, more can be read HERE. However the SVC team have worked very hard and the car will be ready for the 2013 Hillclimb season.
The ATL Automotive car was revealed yesterday ahead of its first 2013 race meeting this weekend. The team will be competing at the Jamwest Speedway Circuit Attack. We have included more photos from the launch below, showing the new car’s new look. It is great news to hear that both the ATL and SVC TT-Rs will be back in 2013 following their accidents in 2012.
The ABT-Audi TT-R of Doug Gore is back in Jamaica. The ATL Automotive sponsored machine has undergone a thorough rebuild at the ABT Sportsline workshops in Germany. The rebuild was necessitated after a crash at the Dover Circuit in Jamaica last year. The crash occurred during the first Carribean Motor Racing Championship (CMRC) round of 2012. The car suffered a lot of damage, especially to the chassis. The damage meant that the car was out for the rest of the 2012 season as it needed to go home to Germany for repairs. More can be read about the repair HERE. The absence of Doug Gore and the Audi was a disappointment for the 2012 season, as the ever present clash of the titans between Doug Gore and David Summerbell could not take place. The Carribean fans are delighted to know that Doug and the Audi are back in 2013. The car arrived in Jamaica this week and will soon be on display. The car will be on show on Thursday 28 February ahead of its first 2013 race meeting. The 2013 Circuit Attack at Jamwest Speedway is taking place this weekend, and the ATL Automotive TT-R will be there.
The car will be featuring new bodywork, similar to that used by SVC Vitver Racing from the Czech Republic, which resembles the appearance of a Mk2 Audi TT. More can be read about the SVC TT-R HERE:
The scene is set for the highly anticipated return of Doug Gore and the Audi. We wish the best of luck to Doug Gore and the ATL Automotive team for the Jamwest race meeting.
Coventry in Britain hosted the 2013 International Historic Motorsport Show, or simply "Race Retro," this weekend.
Very iconic and legendary race cars were on display at Stoneleigh Park, from single seater Grand Prix cars, to sportcars, rally and touring cars. Among the stars there were some Audi quattro racers. Our friend Phil Laughton was on site and took some beautiful photos. You can see his full photo gallery from the event right here.
By Tarek Ramchani After two great endurance events, the Dubai 24 Hour and the Bathurst 12 Hour races, the next 24H Series event is the Hungary 12 Hour race in Budapest. A single Audi car is so far listed on the provisional entry list. An Audi R8 from the Dutch team, Red Camel-Jordans.nl. The car is not a factory built Audi R8 LMS from quattro GmbH. This R8 racer from Holland was privately built by Creventic, and named the CR-8. Two of these cars have been built and competeting since 2008. The car will be in the SP2 class. The driver line-up will be announced later.
An Audi won the event overall back in 2010. The victory came with an Audi R8 LMS from the Austrian based team, Lechner Racing. The 2013 Hungary 12 Hour race is set for April 6th. We wish the best of luck to Red Camel Racing and their R8 effort. Photo credit and more information: 24H Series official website
By Johan Laubscher The new Audi Gebrauchtwagen Zentrum Müchen will be the largest Audi used-car dealership in Germany, set to open during the summer of 2013. This week Timo Scheider, Audi factory race driver and two-time DTM Champion, starred in a new promotional video.
The new 2013 Audi R8 LMS ultra has already taken its first victory, but not quite where you would expect. The 2013 Shell Carrera Cup, a slot car series, got underway with the Shell 20 Minutes in Hamburg, Germany. Slotcar racing is a very popular activity amongst the Audi Sport personnel, who often take part in these events.
Their weapon of choice is normally the 1:24 scale Audi R8 LMS slot car. These R8 LMS slot cars have been upgraded with the new 2013 Audi R8 LMS ultra style rear exhausts and rear wings, featuring the swan-neck design. Thus for all intents and purposes, these 1:24 slotcars are representing the appearance of the new 2013 Audi R8 LMS ultra.
It was a victorious debut for the 2013 Audi R8 LMS ultra as well, with the victory coming down to the very last minute of the event. The driver pairing of Mr Thomas Voigt and Mr Helmut Schmid emerged victorious with their new R8 LMS ultra in the recognisable green and yellow livery. This certainly marks, unofficially in a fun way at least, the first victory for the new 2013 Audi R8 LMS ultra design. Furthermore the victory comes only a day after the first 2013 Audi R8 LMS ultra was spotted in public, you can read about that HERE.
We hope that this victorious start to the new R8 LMS ultra will continue when the new cars debut in reality later this season.
More photos from the event can be seen on Speedpool’s flickr page via the link HERE.
By Johan Laubscher The Audi TT RS pairing of Matt and Casey Close achieved another sensational result in the Australian Targa Championship. They finished second overall for the second consecutive event. The latest event was the Targa Wrest Point and as per usual the TT RS team faced fierce competition from other high powered entries.
The Audi has proven to be a great package on the Australian stages, further enhanced by the new S-Tronic double clutch gearbox which was fitted before the previous round. We have included the event review videos below, which have been produced by Other Side Productions. Enjoy the sights and sounds from Targa.
The 12 Hours of Bathurst is the next big endurance event of the 2013 season. The Audi squad will be very well represented with no less of the seven Audi R8 LMS and ultra cars at the challenging Mount Panorama event. Seven Audi cars with some great names from around the world. The latest addition is the 2012 FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) champion, Rob Huff from the UK. The British touring car ace is set to drive for Peter Conroy Motorsport #14 Audi R8 LMS. Huff won the demanding WTCC world title with a factory Chevrolet Cruze, beating teammate and arch rival Yvan Muller. At Bathurst he will be joined by team owner Peter Conroy and James Winslow in the Melbourne Performance Center supported R16.
Rob Huff joins other touring car aces at Audi for Bathurst, which includes V8 Supercars legend Craig Lowndes and the 2012 STCC and Superstars Series champion, Johan Kristoffersson from Sweden.
The very talented people from Simbin, who are behind the popular and successful GTR series, just added the all conquering Audi R8 LMS ultra to their "RaceRoom Racing Experience". Looking at the screenshots from the game, the R16 GT3 racer looks very nice. Photo credit and more information: RaceRoom Racing Experience
Since last year there has been a lot of talk about the possibility that Audi plans to build a GTE version of the all conquering Audi R8 LMS for both the Le Mans 24 Hours and FIA World Endurance Championship. We at Audi Motorsport Blog have already given our thoughts about this possibility of seeing the Audi R8 LMS ultra at La Sarthe with the current set of rules, you can read that right here. Now things are more clear from the Ingolstadt brand, and there will be no Audi R8 LMS ultra GTE spec. Our friends from Endurance-Info had a talk with Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich, head of Audi Motorsport, who confirmed that Audi has no plans for such a development. This means that the Audi "R16" will stay available in two version, the GT3 version with the LMS ultra and the Rolex Grand-Am series with the R8 GRAND-AM in America. Thus Audi will not follow the steps of BMW, who recently introduced the BMW Z4 GTE, an evolution of their E89 GT3 racer. The Audi R8 LMS will only show up at La Sarthe when / if a new set of regulations allowing full FIA GT3 spec cars to compete comes into effect.
For the 2013 season Audi Sport customer racing is really busy. Firstly that have updated and improved the American R8 GRAND-AM, with very positive performances at the Daytona tests. The R8 LMS ultra will have further improvements as well to help Audi customer teams to fight against the growing and competitive rivals from other brands, more about the 2013 ultra here.
In the past ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport, the FIA GT1 World Champions, announced that they were interested in building an Audi rallycross race car. The team have been seen in the German Rallycorss Championship with a Skoda in recent years. This week the team have released the first images featuring the build of their new Audi S3 rallycross car, being called the S3 SuperCar. We have included the photos below. It will be great to see this car competing in the series.
