I am very proud to announce that my brother in law Pierre Kleinubing secured his fifth World Challenge Touring Car Championship this Sunday at Laguna Seca.

MONTEREY, Calif. (Oct. 11, 2009)Pierre Kleinubing, of Coconut Creek, Fla., led Sunday’s Applied Computer Solutions Monterey Sports Car Championships Presented by Bondurant from start-to-finish and captured his fifth SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge Touring Car Presented by Toyo Tires Championship. Teammate Peter Cunningham, of Milwaukee, Wis., and James Clay, of Blacksburg, Va., completed the podium at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

Kleinubing started his No. 42 Acura/RealTime/Red Line Acura TSX on the pole, and knew he had to win if he was to have a chance to secure the Drivers’ Championship and the Manufacturers’ Championship Presented by RACER Magazine for Acura. He did just that, taking the lead on the standing start and leading every lap to secure his second win of 2009, the 29th of his career.

Kleinubing beat Cunningham to the stripe by 0.610-second, averaging 72.615 mph.

“The start was the best scenario that could have played out for us,” Kleinubing said. “Peter [Cunningham] is the master of numbers and I’m sure he was doing his math every lap out there, but I just kept my head down and didn’t pay any attention to him. I made a little mistake on lap two going into Turn 11 and I think that made me more alert for the rest of the race. I knew what I had to do. I had to win and everything else had to fall in place. It did and I’m surprised to [win the Championship], trust me.”

Kleinubing came into the race 54 points behind Jason Saini and Acura was one point behind Mazda. With the pole and Saini’s eighth-place qualifying effort, Kleinubing picked up 15 points on the leader. Saini needed to get into the top five in order to win the title, but finished eighth in his No. 74 MAZDASPEED/Stoptech/ProParts MAZDA6.

“I didn’t know the Championship scenarios, but everyone else on the team did,” Kleinubing said. “I just wanted to do my part. When we took the checkered flag, I waited a little bit until Turn Four, then I asked ‘did we win the Championship?’ You never know. Maybe everyone pulled over and let [Saini] by! I wasn’t thinking about anything other than winning the race.

“Coming into the weekend, I knew my chances were pretty slim. I was surprised at Jason [Saini's] pace this weekend. They missed something and we had a great handling car.

“This feels awesome. I’m not letting Peter [Cunningham] run away with all the records. I’m keeping it a tight battle with him. Now I’ve got one more pole and one more win, so I opened up a gap on poles and closed on him in wins. We’re saving money too, all we have to do is swap doors and hoods [for Kleinubing to take No. 1 and Cunningham to return to No. 42] and we’ll be ready to go next year!”

As the team owner of RealTime Racing, Cunningham’s primary goal was to secure the Manufacturers’ Championship for Acura, entering the weekend one point behind Mazda. Kleinubing’s pole tied the Championship, meaning whichever brand finished ahead would take the title.

“We knew what had to happen,” Cunningham said. “We honestly didn’t think, coming into the weekend, that [RealTime] had a shot at the Drivers’ Championship, but we knew that we had a shot at the Manufacturers’ Championship and that was our primary objective today. We knew that we had to stay clean at the start and stay focused to the end.

Clay started second in the No. 36 BimmerWorld/GearWrench BMW 328i, but struggled off the line, falling to fourth.

“My start was absolutely horrible,” Clay said. “I couldn’t get the line lock to come off of the car. I was sitting there, jiggling it, and went about 20 feet with the front wheels locked up before I finally got going. Luckily, I tucked in and managed to have a good race after that.”

From there, he waged a fierce battle with the No. 75 MAZDASPEED/Stoptech/ProParts MAZDA6 of Chip Herr. On lap eight, the two made contact, going into the Andretti Hairpin, allowing Nick Esayian to move past both into third place in the No. 34 BimmerWorld/GearWrench BMW 328i. A four-lap caution from laps eight through 12 bunched the group back up, and on lap 15, Clay was around Herr, taking third from his teammate Esayian two laps later.

“I knew I had brakes on Chip [Herr] and I had a faster car,” Clay said. “I was having difficulty getting around him. He picked a mid-line coming into Turn One and broke earlier than I’ve ever wanted to brake there. I couldn’t do anything, but I almost turned it around there.”

Clay was able to catch the leading Acura duo, setting the Debaufre Fastest Race Lap of 1:38.112 (82.118 mph) in the process. While he was able to catch Cunningham, he was not able to make a pass.

“I had a great car and I could turn fast laps,” Clay added. “Catching up to Peter [Cunningham] is one thing, but getting around him is another. I don’t know that it was one more lap and I would have had him, I strongly doubt that was the case, but I wouldn’t have minded a couple more laps to give it a try.”

“James [Clay] turned his headlights on, because I think there was a lapped car he was warning and he left them on after that and it was very annoying,” Cunningham laughed. “I was going as fast as I could. I wasn’t sure if I could hold him off and I wasn’t sure how many laps were left, so I knew I just had to keep going and eventually the starter would show the white flag. We were very close coming into Turn 11 on the last lap, but James didn’t dive-bomb me or pull any Hail Marys, so I was safe.”

Esayian finished fourth to earn his fourth top-five finish of the season. Making a cameo appearance, and his first start since the season-opener at Sebring, Herr was Mazda’s top car throughout the race, and finished fifth.

Charles Espenlaub (MAZDA6), Seth Thomas (BMW 328i) and Saini (MAZDA6) finished sixth through eighth.

Making his first-career World Challenge start, Graham Downey, of Morgan Hill, Calif., finished ninth in the No. 7 Redstone/Blacktrax Honda Civic Si, advancing four positions and earning the Sunoco Hard Charger award.

Patrick Lindsey, of Santa Barbara, Calif., completed the top 10 and took the AutoWeek Move of the Race for his pass of Espenlaub and Thomas for sixth on lap 21 in his No. 57 StreetUnit.com/Snapitt.com MAZDA6.

Kleinubing tied Cunningham and Michael Galati in securing his fifth World Challenge Championship, although all of Kleinubing’s have come in the Touring Car class while Cunningham and Galati have won in multiple categories. Kleinubing finished with 973 points to Saini’s 960. Defending Champion Cunningham finished third, with 921, followed by Thomas (878) and Espenlaub (847).

Acura earned its eighth Manufacturers’ Championship, the 13th for American Honda in total. It finished with 72 points to Mazda’s 65. BMW finished third, with 42.

“Going into the race we knew it was a possibility and we just had to perform,” Cunningham added. “Acura has been in the series since 1997 in Touring Car and this is their eighth Championship, which is unprecedented. We’re proud that we get to run those cars because of their speed, handling and reliability.”

Sunday’s race will be broadcast Tuesday, Nov. 3 at 2 p.m. Eastern, 11 a.m. Pacific on SPEED.

Ferrari put to rest all the rumors and speculation regarding the F430 replacement today by officially announcing the 458 Italia. The 458 Italia will debut this September at the Frankfurt Motor Show but Ferrari decided to release the official press details early today as seen below.

I’ve been a fan of the Hoyts for a long time now. I discovered their story when I first became interested in triathlons and needed a little push to get moving. I’ve been sharing it ever since.

As a father, there are few things in this world that have inspired me to my core as their story does. I am a firm believer that there isn’t a single thing we can’t accomplish with the right dedication and will. The greatest obstacle we face is to believe in the impossible. Team Hoyt proves that impossible is nothing. The first step is simply believing “yes I can”.

Anyone who appreciates automotive sculpture or classic cars in general would have to agree that one of the world’s best venues is the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Held annually on the 12,000 acre Goodwood estate in West Sussex, the festival is marked with a different themed sculpture honoring a featured marque. These sculptures are always the most impressive pieces of art you’ve ever seen if not simply for their massive scale alone. Imagine standing in the presence of a 40 ton, 135 foot tall ribbon of steel and cars. I don’t think there are any superlatives that could accurately convey the experience. Breathtaking would be an understatement.

Click here for a gallery of some of the past displays or read below for this year’s official press release:

VAST 35-METRE AUDI ‘MONUMENT’ TAKES CENTRE STAGE AT GOODWOOD

Audi Celebrates its Centenary at 2009 Goodwood Festival Of Speed

Every year since 1997, Lord March has surprised us all with ever more vast and spectacular centrepieces for the Festival of Speed at his home, Goodwood House in West Sussex. For 2009 the latest sculptural ‘monument’ will be unveiled for the start of the three day Festival (3 to 5 July), which is likely to entertain a record number of 130,000 visitors for this year.

The Festival’s work of art is the focus of Audi’s global centenary celebrations – a truly breathtaking 35 metre high automotive ‘monument’. The Audi ‘central feature’ art installation is one of the most ambitious and stunning sculptures ever constructed for Lord March’s unique and world leading annual Festival, representing the unique style of one of the world’s most progressive automotive brands.

The jaw-dropping 2009 Festival of Speed Central Feature actually marks the second occasion that Audi has chosen to celebrate a significant anniversary at Goodwood. In 1999, Audi was honoured with one of the most striking and memorable Goodwood central features to date for its 90th anniversary. The famous Avus race track banking was recalled in an astonishing installation that also included the iconic Auto Union Streamliner and a stunning Audi Avus quattro concept car perched high on the banking.

Designed by the award-winning Gerry Judah, Lord March’s evergreen creative collaborator, the sculpture features two Audi cars – the legendary 1937 Auto Union streamliner as well as the just launched R8 V10 sports car suspended in the air, at either end of a dramatic ’swoosh’ of tyre tracks, as if they are driving off into the sky. The sculpture is the latest in a grand tradition of central displays at the Festival. Each year Judah honours the featured marque with its own central display but this year’s is something very special.

“I wanted to design something iconic because this year is Audi’s 100th anniversary,” explains Judah. “The sculpture had to have a celebratory theme and it also had to encompass the qualities of the Audi brand: sporty, prestigious and progressive.

“I drew about 20 ideas and some had elaborate bridges with vaulted arches but somehow they didn’t have quite the right style. I then had a flash of inspiration and designed this ’swoosh’ with a car at either end to represent Audi’s 100-year history.

“It’s made entirely of steel and although the design looks simple, it’s actually extremely complex, because the structure has to be rigid and completely balanced without the need for hundreds of supporting props.”

The total weight of the structure is 40 tonnes – the equivalent of 40 small family cars. It took two 100 tonne cranes to erect the structure and four weeks for 12 men to fabricate, build and install the structure.

As well as the Audi sculpture, the Festival will showcase Audi’s most important cars and drivers from its illustrious century – from the days of the Grand Prix Auto Union ‘Silver Arrows’ of the thirties, through the ‘quattro years’ of the Eighties, right up to the present day.

Ten years on from its Goodwood debut, the Audi marque has progressed to become an even more significant player in the global premium car market, combining an enviable image for innovation and quality, and exhibiting consistent worldwide sales growth breaking the million global the widest and most comprehensive product programmes in the premium car sector, ranging from the hugely successful A3, right through to the pioneering R8, and including the Q7 V12TDI, with an engine directly developed from Audi’s all-conquering turbo diesel sales barrier last year.

The Festival is famously held on the hill climb course and the grounds of Goodwood House on Lord March’s 12,000-acre West Sussex estate.

I recently had a chance to read “The Art of Racing in the Rain” by Garth Stein on a flight to Boston from Florida. As both a racing fan and dog lover I found the book very enjoyable. It is an engaging, easy read that can be appreciated by everyone regardless of whether they like racing or not.

The book is currently listed #7 on the New York Times bestseller list and has gotten many excellent reviews. Here’s the synopsis:

“Enzo knows he is different from other dogs: a philosopher with a nearly human soul (and an obsession with opposable thumbs), he has educated himself by watching television extensively, and by listening very closely to the words of his master, Denny Swift, an up-and-coming race car driver. Through Denny, Enzo has gained tremendous insight into the human condition, and he sees that life, like racing, isn’t simply about going fast. Using the techniques needed on the race track, one can successfully navigate all of life’s ordeals.

On the eve of his death, Enzo takes stock of his life, recalling all that he and his family have been through: the sacrifices Denny has made to succeed professionally; the unexpected loss of Eve, Denny’s wife; the three-year battle over their daughter, Zoe, whose maternal grandparents pulled every string to gain custody. In the end, despite what he sees as his own limitations, Enzo comes through heroically to preserve the Swift family, holding in his heart the dream that Denny will become a racing champion with Zoe at his side.

A heart-wrenching but deeply funny and ultimately uplifting story of family, love, loyalty, and hope, The Art of Racing in the Rain is a beautifully crafted and captivating look at the wonders and absurdities of human life…as only a dog could tell it.”

Early Monday morning normally calls for a few cups of joe to get that day started and the blood pumping. Lucky for me I got this link in my email and didn’t need to brew a pot. Why bother when you can have Maranello’s finest?

I can’t afford it and I’m not skilled enough to really drive it the way you see here but I still want one. That’s Schumacher behind the wheel as a “guest” stig by the way. What a lucky bastard!

Enjoy!

What car nut doesn’t love Pixar’s movie Cars?

I can’t tell you how exactly many times my son and I watched that movie but it has got to be at least in the hundreds He went through a whole Cars phase when the movie was first released and still plays with the toys to this day. It is the one movie that I actually don’t mind watching over and over.

Logically, a sequel is in the works. Disney is teasing our appetite for more Cars hilarities in the interval by offering a series of shorts entitled Mater’s Tall Tales. They are every bit as creative and entertaining as the original film. The latest one named Tokyo Mater has got to be my all time favorite spoof on the Fast & the Furious.

These guys at Pixar undoubtedly have the greatest jobs on earth. I truly envy them.

Enjoy!

I believe there are very few objects in this world that are pure poetry in motion. A Ferrari V12 is surely among them. The soulful wail of all twelve cylinders near redline substantiates the existence of man made perfection. This video elegantly portrays the inherit art of the process that defines the very soul of Ferrari. It stirred my soul as I’m sure it will yours.

Enjoy!