Dear Ultimatecarpage.com visitor,
In little over a week the 57th annual Sebring 12 Hours race will kick off. The season opening classic of the American Le Mans Series, ranks as one of the hardest races in the world. The very bumpy track puts man and machine through more abuse than in most races twice the length. We will cover 'Sebring' in detail for the first time this year and it promises to be an epic race. To warm you up before the event we today take a closer look at one of the former winners and a brand new challenger for the 2009 honours.
The Italian rivalry between Maserati and Ferrari in sports car racing during the 1950s brought about some fantastic machinery. Topping all of them is the ferocious Maserati 450S. Powered by a 4.5 litre quad-cam V8 engine, it remained the most powerful front-engined sports racer for many decades to come. Due to regulation changes, it was only eligible for the World Championship in 1957. In that year, a win in the Sebring 12 Hours was scored by Juan Manuel Fangio and Jean Behra and the 450S almost brought Maserati the World Championship. From 1958 the Works racers were all sold to the United States where they were raced with great success by the likes of Carroll Shelby and Jim Hall. Our exclusive 24-shot gallery depicts an amazing six of the seven surviving examples.
Together with Peugeot and Acura, Audi is one of the top contenders for victory this year. The German manufacturer has dominated the race in recent years with the R8 (6 wins) and the diesel engined R10 (2 wins). For 2009 they have developed the brand new R15 TDI, which is no doubt one of the most interesting new racing cars of the last decade. Other than the years of experience, very little was carried over from the R15's highly successful predecessors. The chassis, aerodynamics package and V10 engine are all brand new. The goal was to get a better balanced and more drivable car than the V12 engined R10 was. After one teaser shot a few weeks ago, Audi has now pulled the curtain off the R15 TDI
Enjoy the links:
2009 Audi R15 TDI - Images, Specifications and Information
1956 - 1958 Maserati 450S - Images, Specifications and Information
Regards,
Wouter Melissen