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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.
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.
Chris Cunningham
Contributing WriterChris is 20 years old, and recently moved to Charlotte, NC during his sophomore year in college to feed his need for speed. More than just an auto racing enthusiast, Cunningham has risen through the ranks of BMX Racing, Sailboat Racing, and Cycling. Cunningham recently took up go karting, and qualified as an alternate for the 2011 Red Bull Kart Fight at the PRI expo. Aside from racing, Cunningham has recently picked up the hobby of competitive eating (Ranked #7 Collegiate Eater in the country!), and competes all over the east coast in various contests. Chris also enjoys sim racing, writing, playing the drums, and enjoying college at UNC Charlotte.
Tim Doyle
Contributing WriterI've been a race fan since before I can remember, going to dirt tracks around the Washington, DC area since the early 70's with my parents. I got away from racing during my school years but in 1989 a friend and I went to a race in Hagerstown, MD and from there my life was all about racing. I currently live in Winchester, VA and while Dirt Late Models is my favorite form of racing, I also enjoy many other forms such as F1, IndyCar, 410 sprint cars on dirt and (probably more than anything) sim racing. My favorite driver is Ayrton Senna.
I was introduced to sim racing in 1989 when a friend turned me onto Indy 500 The Sim by Papyrus. It took me a few years to own my own PC but once I did, all I wanted to do was sim race. I tried to race my friends as much as possible via modem racing back in the 90's before joining TEN in 1998. From there I devoted a lot of time to online racing enjoying every minute of it. I was able to meet a lot of my competitors from all over the world at LAN events and races I went to. Being able to call some real world drivers friends as a result of sim racing is probably the neatest part of this whole deal!
David Roberts
Contributing WriterDavid lives in Brisbane and is a former Australian National Formula Ford Champion who now owns his own marketing and design company. After racing in Europe, David returned down under to swap a career behind the wheel for a career in the creative department. He now has three children, an ongoing love affair with the good ol’ days of motor racing, and just enough spare time left to enjoy a bit of sim-racing with a few of his old mates.
Ben Rothberg
Contributing WriterI was born and raised in the south eastern suburbs of Melbourne where I still am situated. I am currently at University studying for a Certificate in Motorsport and hoping I will be able to achieve my top goal and become a part of a race team. In the sim-racing world, I won an rFactor V8 Supercar season and also was awarded with Best & Fairest award. I am now situated with the best simulation in the world (iRacing.com!) and love every minute of it. I currently race in the V8 Supercar Online Series and finished 16th overall in 2012 Season 1.
Dylan Sharman
Contributing WriterI was born in Adelaide and we moved-out for Angle Vale for a few years until I was about 7 years old, when we moved to the Barossa Valley where I live now. I'm 19 years old and currently traveling back and forth weekly as I’m studying for a Diploma of Furniture Design and Technology.
I’ve always had a love for racing as my close family did some racing and we were always out at the local dirt track. I joined iRacing back in 2010 and slowly but surely got the hang of it as this is my first experience with sim racing and am loving it each time I race. I’ve won two SK Modified titles (almost had three in a row but finished P2 in 2011 S4), an inRacingNews Challenge championship (2012 S1 Mazda) and was also an AustralAsian Intel GT Series Finalist.
Q and A with Stephane Ratel
February 5th, 2010
Conducted and provided by the GT1 World Championship press office.
A new chapter in the history of sportscar racing begins this year with the launch of the FIA GT1 World Championship. Former French racer, Stephane Ratel, 47, is the long-time promoter of GT racing and has spent the past year envisaging a new world championship which evolves from the European-based FIA GT Championship.
Ratel speaks ahead of the official launch of the 2010 FIA GT1 World Championship which takes place in Paris on March 1st.
Q. What have motorsport fans to look forward to in GT racing this year?
Stephane Ratel: I am hugely passionate about the new FIA GT1 World Championship and I truly believe sportscar racing has massive potential to become more popular around the globe. The championship will feature the most iconic marques including Aston Martin, Lamborghini, Corvette, Maserati, Ford,and Nissan who will race the best looking and sounding cars in the world! They are truly inspirational cars – the ones everyone dreams of owning.
Renowned motorsport teams have signed up to race and they will compete with the most talented sports car drivers around. The cars are extremely similar in performance so it is down to the driver and his team to make the difference on the track.
GT1 will also visit some of the world’s most legendary and iconic circuits including Spa-Francorchamps, Interlagos, Silverstone, Nurburgring and the incredible Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi, to name a few. Overall, the new GT1 world championship will be ground-breaking, truly global, prestigious, and technically innovative.
Q. What were the key steps taken to create FIA GT1 World Championship?
SR: There were some key steps that needed to be taken to develop a successful platform for the new GT1 world championship. Firstly, we needed at least 10 races in three continents for the FIA to grant us world championship status. We secured 10 events on four continents. The FIA also asked us for 18 cars and we secured a 24-car grid with 12 teams and six supercar brands.
We worked hard to upgrade the technical specifications of the cars to meet strict FIA regulations set for the new GT1 world championship. Thankfully Max Mosley granted us FIA approval before he left office last summer which cements GT1 as the fourth FIA-sanctioned world motorsport championship.
Q. What major changes will we see to GT racing in 2010?
SR: GT racing will see some major changes for the better in 2010. We have shaped the new FIA GT1 World Championship with the aim of making GT racing more fan and media friendly. Before, the racing consisted of long-distance racing, a mix of GT-spec cars in the same race, teams competing with a different number of cars – it was all very confusing to follow.
The GT1 championship will run one-hour races, 12 independent teams with two cars each in the same livery. Only Formula 1 has achieved this simple two-car team set-up in a world motorsport series. The European-based FIA GT2 and GT3 championships will support the GT1 events in their own individual races.
Q. What is your ambition for the FIA GT1 World Championship?
SR: My ambition for the new GT1 world championship is huge. It draws on SRO’s 15-year heritage of promoting sportscar championships around the world and we must continue to build from the strong foundations we have set. I feel we are now ready to showcase the pinnacle of sportscar racing in a single world championship and become one of the ‘big four’ international motorsport series recognised by the FIA.
Q. How have you developed sportscar racing over the past 15 years?
SR: The development of sportscar racing has been a gradual process. My first major role was as founder of the BPR Endurance Series which revived GT racing worldwide with the first ever international races in 1994. I then partnered Bernie Ecclestone in creating the FIA GT Championship which became too dependent on manufacturers to survive long-term.
I then helped develop the LG Super Racing Weekends platform with Eurosport. The inclusion of Touring Cars and single seaters at race meetings helped to increase the profile of GT racing around the world. Since then SRO has focused on taking the FIA GT Championship to new heights.
Q. What was Bernie Ecclestone like to work with?
SR: Bernie Ecclestone is a very inspirational figure for any business person working in motorsport. I worked with him for three years when we developed the FIA GT Championship and I think he is a brilliant personality for this business.
Q. How secure is the long-term health of GT racing?
SR: We now have a clear and marketable product for the fans and media to understand. SRO is supported in this venture by reputable commercial and technical partners including global TV partnerships and I have all the confidence the new GT1 championship will be a huge global success.
The championship will be organically grown and its growth will rely on our own resources which we have developed over the past 15 years in going sports car racing. A key factor for the long-term health of GT racing is not to become dependent on direct manufacturer involvement. We have seen the risks of this in the past in GT racing and more recently in Formula 1. We will learn from this.
It takes time for any sports series to become well established but GT racing will take a major step forward in becoming one of the major world motorsport championships in 2010.
Q. GT racing has a big focus on exotic car brands – what are their expectations for the new-look championship?
SR: All the brands currently signed up to GT1 fully endorse the new-look championship and everyone involved is extremely excited about 2010. GT racing has always provided a platform for the cars and prestigious brands to shine.
Sportscar racing is the perfect commercial platform for these brands to show off their production machinery to the world – it does this better than any other motorsport series. The global exposure that GT racing brings to the manufacturers is excellent value for money and I am confident that the GT1 championship will attract more brands to compete in the future.