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David Phillips
Editor and ChiefDavid Phillips is a long-time contributor to print and electronic publications in the U.S. and abroad, including Racer, Autosport, AutoWeek, Motor Sport and SPEEDtv.com, oversees the daily updating of news stories and assigns, edits and contributes feature material for inRacingNews.com.
Chris Hall
iRacing.com Series WriterChris Hall has been writing since the nineties and moved into motorsports reporting in 2005, covering series such as ALMS, British GT, FIA GT, Le Mans and 2CV racing for Full Throttle magazine, Motorsport.com, The-Paddock.net, GTGateway.com, L' Endurance and, of course, inRacingNews. During 2008 and 2009, he worked with the RSS Performance Porsche Carrera Cup Team (and former British GT(C) champions) as a data engineer for a variety of drivers and models of 997s.
Jameson Spies
Contributing Writer19 years old, Jameson Spies lives in Quartz Hill, California. He grew-up surrounded by racing. His mother raced late models throughout Southern California while his father built and setup the car. Not surprisingly, Jameson began racing go-karts at the age of 13, and is now racing Spec Trucks at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale. He has a passion about all forms of racing and hopes to make a career out of it.
Jason Lofing
iRacing.com Series WriterJason is 21 years old and was born and raised in Elk Grove. California. A big time NASCAR fan, he hasn’t missed a race on Sunday in years. Lofing is also a huge San Fransisco Giants fan and tries to take in at least a couple games a year. Other than sim racing, his biggest (and far more expensive!) hobby is photography. Although he is rather new to sim racing, Lofing has already accomplished some pretty impressive results, qualifying for the 2011 iRacing Oval Pro Series in Season 1, 2011, winning the inaugural Landon Cassill Qualifying Challenge and finishing runner-up in the second one.
Ray Bryden
Technical contributorRay grew up in Nova Scotia, which means he’s a hockey nut, but in Nova Scotia’s two non-winter months he had to find other diversions, which meant watching F1 racing on weekends with his dad and brothers. Without the resources to get started in racing, he gravitated to computer versions of racing – first Atari games like Pole Position, followed by PC racing games like Indianapolis 500: The Simulation. Dozens of others came and went, until Grand Prix Legends came along and he decided sim-racing was his official hobby. Years were spent enjoying this both offline and online until a few years of fatherhood took priority. When free-time reappeared he heard about iRacing and signed up in 2008 and became so involved in the service that he wrote one of the first books on the subject of sim-racing, iRacing Paddock. When not writing for inRacingNews.com, his main occupation is as a research associate with Saint-Gobain working on advanced ceramic materials.
Patrick Atherton
Contributing WriterPatrick Atherton, originally from Adelaide in the state of South Australia, currently resides just outside of Melbourne, Victoria with wife of 17 years and 3 kids. A business manager by profession, but also dabbles with blogging, cartooning and fine art, having been published both as a writer in a short-lived South Australian motorsport yearbook and later as a cartoonist in a niche trade magazine. At the age of 19 he competed in club circuit events in an Austin Healey Sprite, later indulging in sprint karts between 1994 and 2000. Following the move to the State of Victoria he raced Road Race Karts (“Superkarts” as they are known in Australia) in the popular Rotax class, competing at Phillip Island, Oran Park, Mallala, Wakefield Park, Eastern Creek, Calder Park, Sandown and Winton. It was during this time he met former Australian F2 champion and inventor of Australia’s first, and most prolific race simulator rig, Jon Crooke. This culminated in an introduction to Papyrus’ legendary NR2003 simulation, and the subsequent sim racing addiction which brought him to iRacing.
Tim Terry
Contributing WriterTim Terry, aka the voice of Maritime stock car racing, fell in love with sim racing in 2004 after he joined the Sim Racing Network crew as a pit reporter. From October 2004 to SRNtv’s closure in June 2007, he’s covered prestigious races and leagues such as the Online 500, FLM Fall 400, Real Racing Online and the DMP Racing League – each as the lead broadcaster for the company. At the same time the wheels started to turn in another direction as he began announcing stock car racing locally. Terry became the assistant announcer at Scotia Speedworld in May 2007 and took over full duties in May 2009 when long-time voice Mike Kaplan retired from the track. Terry also became the series voice of the Parts For Trucks Pro Stock Tour in ’09 and continues to hold down both posts in 2011. He has also announced races for the Pro All Stars Series, Atlantic Open Wheel and Maritime League of Legends tours and has called races at six different Atlantic Canadian tracks. Terry can be heard online at WebRacingNetwork.com, RLMtv.com and OLRtv.com covering sim races. He also makes occasional appearances on PSRtv.com. In addition to inRacingNews, his articles and columns can be read on ScotiaSpeedworld.ca, MaritimeProStockTour.com and his own website at timterryonline.com.
David Allen
Contributing WriterNorth Carolina born and raised with over 15 years of computer/IT experience, I combine two of my biggest hobbies -- racing and technology -- here at inRacingNews. In my spare time I run a Nascar fan site and cure my own need for speed riding atvs. If it involves technology or racing I'll be there, but combine the two and I'll be looking a front row seat. Stop by and say hello anytime!
Allen Krier
Contributing WriterAllen was born in West Palm Beach, Florida but grew up in Atlanta and attended Georgia College and State University where he received a BS in Information Systems. Currently a resident of Albany, GA, he started sim racing in 2008 while in college when iRacing was first released to the public. Since then, Krier has been a two time iRacing Pro Series driver (2009 and 2010), picking up one Pro Series win at Daytona in ‘09. Besides sim racing, Allen’s other hobbies include RC Car racing as well as “attending and watching any sporting event that I can including going to the local dirt track.
Manor boss positive about F1′s future
November 22nd, 2009
The end of the manufacturer era and the arrival of more independents in Formula 1 is proof that the sport is heading to the future in good shape, reckons incoming team boss John Booth.
Although the decisions by Toyota and BMW to leave F1 this year prompted fears about the state of grand prix racing, Manor Grand Prix chief Booth says he is far from concerned about what state the sport is in.
“I think that for the long term health of F1 there had to be change,” he said at the Macau Grand Prix, where he is taking part in his last race prior to next year’s Bahrain season opener. “The budgets that the manufacturers were spending were unsustainable – and were obscene, if I can use that word.
“Funnily enough, I was watching on the plane over here a documentary on Stirling Moss, and it was fascinating how you had the independent teams back then. Someone would buy a car from a manufacturer and run it themselves, and it was great. It will never be the same again, but it is heading that way again.”
He added: “It was only six months ago that FOTA was almost a manufacturers’ club, but now it is going to be in control of independents. And now you have to call McLaren an independent as well.”
Booth believes that there is enough impetus from the teams, and newly elected FIA president Jean Todt, to bring down costs that will make the sport sustainable for non-manufacturer teams.
“I think some things that Jean Todt has said, it sounds like he wants to encourage cost restriction,” he explained. “With the majority of teams now being independents, we have every chance of pushing that to the targets that have been set for 2012.”
Booth has said Manor GP is ahead of target with its preparations for next year, and it is expected to confirm its commercial tie-up with Virgin within the next fortnight.
“I think we are all a little bit in front of where we hoped to be,” said Booth. “The start-up [of the car] is scheduled for January 24. The shakedown is on January 29. That side is the calmest area of all, which is incredible. Nick and the guys at Wirth have done an incredible job.”
On the driver front, Booth says the arrival of Timo Glock has been a big boost because of the valuable F1 experience he has.
“The wonderful thing about Timo was that he came over to meet everybody and it was not hours and hours of negotiation and selling to him what we could do,” he said. “He just bought into the concept straightaway – and made his decision almost immediately.
“We had to finalise contracts and things, but he liked what he saw and wanted to be part of it. So somebody of his experience and quality, wanting to be part of it, not just an employee, is great. He wanted to build a team around him is as he put it. It is a fantastic boost for Timo to believe in us like he does.
“It is massive for us. Massive. Throughout the seat fitting, which we are doing at the moment, his knowledge even now is helping us plan for the first test.”
Lucas di Grassi is expected to get the second seat at the team, with a decision expected within the next fortnight. Booth admitted that the Brazilian would be a good addition.
“Lucas would be great for a number of reasons,” he explained. “He is an ex-Manor driver anyway. He won here in Macau for us. It would be great for us to have Lucas, and he has F1 testing experience as well in F1. Somebody like Lucas would be perfect.”
And Booth admits that the team is keeping its ambitions in check for next year – with it well aware of how tough it will be to challenge more established outfits.
“Our target, as all the new teams are saying, is to be the best of the new teams,” he said. “That is what we are aiming for. But my ambition is to go out there, perform professionally, and earn the respect of our peers – as you are not given respect, you have to earn it.
“We want to conduct ourselves in the correct way. If we get to the end of next year having performed professionally and done a good job then I will be happy.”
When asked if he felt there would be two tiers in F1 next year – with the new teams behind the more established outfits, he said: “I think realistically the gap won’t close for three years.
“That is our time frame to start to become competitive. There are some very bright guys in F1, the Adrian Neweys and the Ross Brawns – and you think what they have achieved. They are the benchmark that you have to aspire to. If you think you are going to come in and be competitive in one season, you are kidding yourself.”