The Atlantic Championship--A Racing Legacy

All about the IRL Indy Pro Series and the Atlantic Championship

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Julian Mayo
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Post by Julian Mayo » Mon Aug 29, 2005 10:47 am

mlittle wrote:4th, Julian. Legge finished 4th.

Well done , Katherine. F1 in2007?
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Post by mlittle » Mon Aug 29, 2005 11:00 am

Nah, I see...at least a half-year in Atlantics, then maybe a few ChampCar races. Perhaps her and Danica will fight for the 2007 Indy 500; then, maybe they'll fight for F1 supremacy....you get the idea.
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A Look Back...and A Look Ahead

Post by mlittle » Sat Sep 03, 2005 12:47 pm

With last Sunday's Toyota Atlantic race in Montreal, the 18-yr. era of Toyota's involvement in the series came to an end as the engine maunfacturer begins its' long good-bye from NA open-wheel motorsports. In 2006 a new era begins as the Atlantic series will begin using 300-hp, 2.3 liter Cosworth-powered, Swift 016.a chassised racecars. With at least 30 packages(car/engine) ordered for 2006, there's the heightened expectation of full(20+ car) fields in Atlantics as the current C1 and C2 classifications are phased out. Although the talent level in 2005 was not quite was it has been in years, it was still a challenging field for the front-runners, led by 2005 Atlantic champion and Atlantic rookie of the year Charles Zwolsman, who came to North America after racing in Europe's Formula 3 series for the past 3 yrs. Although he had little pre-season testing and preparation, he soon became the man to beat, winning three races, won five poles and led more laps than anyone this year. With his series title, the "Flying Dutchman" earned a spot on the grid for ChampCar's season finale in Mexico City this Nov. and, with luck, should be in a ChampCar next year.

Now, the series runner-up this year, Estonian-born Tonis Kasemets, is no slouch either. In his second Atlantic season, he also won three races and, like Zwolsman, is a veteran of the European racing circuits, but also made his way through the U.S. Formula Ford and FF2000 series' before his debut in 2004. Unlike Zwolsman, Kasemets is expected to take one more year in Atlantics before jumping up to the next level, although some of the mid-pack teams have taken an interest in him. Meanwhile, the biggest surprise in the Atlantic championship fight this year came from Silverstone, England's Katherine Legge, who became the first woman to win a major-level open wheel race in Long Bech back in April. She went on to add two more victories in Edmonton and San Jose, and has all but committed to one additional season in Atlantics next year before moving up to ChampCar, a step she has indicated will be taken in 2007.

Finally, I'd like to digress from this subject for a moment. Since the CC race, there have been rumors floating around that the ChampCar race at Gilles Villeneuve might be dropped after 2006. It'd be an awful shame if it is, but...there are alternatives. Just as Indianapolis is the spiritual home for American open-wheel fans, Quebec is the spiritual home for Canadian open-wheel fans, and there are two possible alternate venues that the CCWS could use in 2007. The first is the historic St. Jovite circuit in northern Quebec, about 90 mins. north of Montreal which hosted F1 races in 1968 and 1970, but it would require major renovation and changes before ChampCar could return there. The second is another historic venue--Trois Rivieres. This street course about 60 mins. east along the St. Lawrence River which has hosted the Atlantics from the late 1960's(prior to the Atlantics' itself) up until 2003, when Canadian anti-tobacco laws forced the race's major sponsor, Player's, to drop its' support of the event. Although the track would need repairs, like St. Jovite, it could host ChampCars. Whichever course they pick, either could be a viable alternative to Gilles Villeneuve. Let us hope it doesn't come to pass, though.
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Post by Julian Mayo » Sat Sep 03, 2005 12:53 pm

Mfer, what configuration is the 2.3ltr cosworth?
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Post by mlittle » Sat Sep 03, 2005 1:12 pm

Like its' ChampCar version, the Cosworth engine they'll use is a 2.3-liter, 300-hp V8 engine. However, it will be, from what I've heard, a normally-aspirated(non-turbo) engine.
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Post by Julian Mayo » Sat Sep 03, 2005 1:14 pm

mlittle wrote:Like its' ChampCar version, the Cosworth engine they'll use is a 2.3-liter, 300-hp V8 engine. However, it will be, from what I've heard, a normally-aspirated(non-turbo) engine.
I suspect that might make Cosworth the leading Race V8 producer in the world :lol:
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Post by mlittle » Sat Sep 03, 2005 1:21 pm

All I know is that they're going to be very busy over the winter and into 2006. Let's see....they're building the V8's for Williams in F1, the 2.65L XFE-2's for ChampCar, the engines for Atlantics and possibly, if needed, Cosworth might be building 3.0L normally-aspirated engines for the IRL. Like I said, they're going to be very busy engine builders.
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Post by Julian Mayo » Sat Sep 03, 2005 1:28 pm

mlittle wrote:All I know is that they're going to be very busy over the winter and into 2006. Let's see....they're building the V8's for Williams in F1, the 2.65L XFE-2's for ChampCar, the engines for Atlantics and possibly, if needed, Cosworth might be building 3.0L normally-aspirated engines for the IRL. Like I said, they're going to be very busy engine builders.
I would imagine there would be a common engine block for a number of applications.
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Post by mlittle » Sat Sep 03, 2005 1:42 pm

Chances are, julian, there probably are. Other than the turbo that ChampCar uses, there's not much difference between the four engines mentioned.
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Zwolsman, Others Awarded at Season-Ending Banquet

Post by mlittle » Tue Sep 06, 2005 2:47 am

Several of the drivers in the 2005 Atlantic Championship season were honored at the series' season-ending banquet at the Casino de Montreal. Three of the awards went to Condor Motorsports and to racer Charles Zwolsman. The "Flying Dutchman" won both the series title and the series rookie-of-the-year award, both won after a hard-fought season. In addition, the team's chief mechanic, Gustavo Gaston, won the Snap-On Tools Top Wrech Award, for his efforts as Condor's chief mechanic. There was also a celebration for Condor's owner, Carlos Bobeda, as it was his second win as a team owner...Lee Bentham, back in 1998, won the team's first series title.

The series' team of the year award went to Brooks Associates Racing and to co-owners John and Sue Brooks, whose driver Andreas Wirth, won the team its' first-ever Atlantics win in 11 yrs. of racing at Denver earlier in the year. The Gilles Villeneuve Award, presented to the driver who best repesents the sportsmanship, dedication and perserverance in racing that exemplified the great Canadian racer, was presented to Polestar Racing's Antoine Bessette. The Quebecois native capped off the season with a win in Montreal in front of the hometown crowd. His teammate at Polestar, British racer Katherine Legge, who emerged as one of the sport's rising young guns, was awarded the BBS Rising Star Award for her efforts this year, including three wins, the first time any woman has ever won an Atlantics' race in the series history.

Here's a list of the other awards given at the banquet this year....

Yokohama C2 Cup Championship:Justin Sofio, Mathiaisen Motorsports
Jovy Marcelo Sportsmanship Award:David Martinez, US Racetronics
Michael Rosen Award:Kyle Kelley, McAtee Motorsports
Lincoln Electric Mechanic of the Year:Randy Bryan, Brooks Associates Racing
Engineer of the Year:Alan O'Leary, Dan Cobb Racing(race engineer for Tonis Kasemets)

At the end of the banquet, Les Unger, director of Toyota Racing Development, was honored for his unwavering support for the Atlantic Championship, which Toyota has sponsored since the late 1980's. Both TRD and Hasselgran Electronics were honored, as both are leaving the series after this year. Congratulations to all the racers this year, and good luck to Charles Zwolsman as he prepares for his ChampCar debut in Mexico City in Nov. 2005.
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Transnet Racing to Return to Atlantics in 2006

Post by mlittle » Thu Sep 15, 2005 9:29 am

Tuesday, 13 September, Transnet Racing, which had competed in the Atlantic Championship series from 2002 to mid-2004, announced at their Morrow, Ga. headquarters that they will field a two-car effort in 2006, said team owner Alex Garcia. When asked why they were returning, Garcia said that, "Returning to the Atlantic Championship after the substantial improvements to the series announced by Champ Car a few weeks ago is a good reason," referring to the new Cosworth-powered Swifts the series will use in 2006. In making the announcment the team stated that they were in the process of ordering enough cars to field a two-person team and that to coordinate their return, that they had hired former F1 driver Allen Berg as the team's manager.
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Hearn Racing to Field Atlantics Team for 2006

Post by mlittle » Thu Sep 15, 2005 10:10 am

Former ChampCar and IndyCar driver Richie Hearn announced at his team's Nevada facilities that Hearn Motorsports would be fielding a two-car Atlantics team in 2006, along with teams in both the Star Mazda and Formula BMW series'. Hearn, who raced in both CART and the IRL from 1995 to 1999(w/1 IRL victory, in Las Vegas-1996), stated in his announcement that he would be fielding at least 7 cars in the three series(2-Atlantics, 3-Formula BMW, and 2-Star Mazda), making Hearn's team, formed in 2004, one of the largest teams in AOWR. On the practical side, Hearn's team could potentially do what only big-budget teams(like Penske, NHR or Rahal-Letterman) could do....bring a driver in at the ground floor, hone his or her skill(their "racecraft") in the lower-level series, advancing up to the Atlantics and eventually up into ChampCar. He stated, when asked about what he sees in the 2006 season, that, "With the $2 million prize, the new car and the chance for a one-off Champ Car ride, I want to be a part of it. I consider the years I was in Atlantics one of the best times I had as a driver. The cars were fun to race and the drivers there were great to race with. It would be awesome to go and win (an Atlantics championship) as an owner, having done so as a driver."(NOTE=Hearn won the Atlantic Championship in 1995.)

He also hinted that within a few years, he would seriously consider moving up to the ChampCar series, similar to when Carl Russo moved his RuSport team w/A.J. Allmendinger from Atlantics to ChampCar. "Originally, in 2004, I didn't consider owning an IndyCar or ChampCar team. But now, doing an Atlantics program, it would be the next step. If the right pieces come into place, I can see me jumping into a higher level after a few years. (It's) definitely a possibility down the road."
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2006 Atlantic Championship Schedule

Post by mlittle » Fri Sep 16, 2005 1:28 pm

CCAC officials announced today the 2006 Atlantic schedule, as the series begins a new era of operation. For the second straight year, the schedule contains no ovals, but there will be at least one doubleheader on the program. Here is the 2006 schedule(the season finale still TBA)....

NOTE:all Atlantic races will coincide with the ChampCar schedule

Rd. 1--Long Beach
Rd. 2--Monterrey, Mex.
Rd. 3--Houston, Tx.
Rd. 4--Portland, Ore.
Rds. 5 & 6--Cleveland, Ohio
Rd. 7--Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Rd. 8--Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Rd. 9--San Jose, Cal.
Rd. 10--Denver, Col.
Rd. 11--Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Rd. 12--TBA(*)

*--to be announced by early October
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Tentative Atlantics Team List-2006(unconfirmed)

Post by mlittle » Fri Sep 23, 2005 10:13 am

Today at ChampCar HQs in Indianapolis, Atlantic Championship officials released a tentative list of teams either certain to or in preparations to compete in 2006. The list, as presented on the Atlantic Championship website, www.champcaratlantic.com (click on the teams link, then click on the line "2006 teams"), goes as follows:

ArmsUp Motorsports, Atkins Racing, Bite Racing, Brooks Associates Racing, Condor Motorsports, Conquest Racing(CCWS), Dan Cobb Racing, Dyson Racing(ALMS), Forsythe Championship Racing(CCWS), Hearn Motorsports, Ishikawa Racing, Jensen Motorsports, McAtee Motorsports, MJ Motorsports, Olsson Engineering, P-1 Racing, Polestar Racing Group, PR1 Motorsports, The Room Store, Sierra Sierra(S-2) Enterprises, Transnet Racing, US Racetronics, and Walker Racing(CCWS).

By this list(as of 22 Sept. 2005), there are 23 teams listed. Assuming about half field 1-car teams, this yields a total of about 30-35 cars for 2006.

Surprisingly, three teams were absent from the list:Rahal-Letterman Racing(IRL), Newman-Haas Racing(CCWS), and Panther Racing(IRL). Judging from the way the rumor mill's been swirling, I believe that all three should be in, making the car count possibly 30-40 for 2006.
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Post by Julian Mayo » Fri Sep 23, 2005 10:44 am

Damned computer wouldnt go past certain photos :lol:
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