Grip Drift Motorsport Grip and Drift Blog

In an interview with Japanese show “Love Cars!”, Yamauchi hinted at updates to*GT5’s damage modeling:

“In GT5, NASCAR cars will able to smash into little pieces – some the size of a bolt.”

This sounds like a significant progression from what we’ve seen on the WRC cars so far, and it actually isn’t the first time he has mentioned a more violent damage model. He also states he will be able to reveal the release date of the game “soon” (presumably at E3 in June). The problem is that this interview is on video, so we can’t rely on bungled Google translations to see if there’s any other tidbits that we might be missing. You can see the full unedited clip right here, so if you speak Japanese, please check it out and let me know if you hear anything else of interest.

Thanks to Denur for the tip, and Famine for the clarified translation above!

Related posts:

1. More Gran Turismo 5 Damage, NASCAR Details
2. All Cars Get “Damage” in Gran Turismo 5
3. New Gran Turismo 5 NASCAR Video

NOTE: This post is from GT Planet.

Formula D Long Beach 2010 – Beat It

One of the Formula Drift video releases from Long Beach from one of the best video editors in drifting right now. Abbitt puts this video together with Beat It! Check out his compliation of how he witnessed Formula Drift Long Beach.

Watch the video: http://www.wreckedmagazine.com/watchvideo/formula-d-long-beach-2010—beat-it

NOTE: This post is from an outside source.

Last night was an absolute blast; we got to hang out with a lot of great racing fans and boy were there a lot of you guys. It was great to see new faces and also hop in with forum regulars that we recognized. I hope you guys had fun, and I’m sorry to the players that didn’t have a chance to join in on the fun. We got a lot of cool messages throughout the night and I will be uploading pictures from the night in the discussion thread which can be found here. If you have any cool or interesting pictures like Phredesign stalling out at the strip while typing, or me running wide on Mugello at the final turn(I thought I had that one) please share them, fun night overall. For Euro Forza we’ll have something to get you guys in next time we had to do this after work this week so the time was limited to after work hours. Here’s a little recap of how the night went for us.

You guy’s figured out pretty quickly where I was going to be hangingout in as I’m currently hooked on multiclass racing. So I started outheading straight to B & F for my multiclass experience, ran into acouple of UK and American gamers (thanks for showing up Euro-Forza, weknow it’s crazy late where you are) and actually managed to come infirst in my B class Holden. That didn’t last long as the next set ofMulti-class rooms saw me getting whooped around for 4-5 laps.

Image by o9k baconstrips - See this in more in the Community Gallery

After spending the first hour in Multi-class I ventured into Cat & Mouse, ran into a few forum regulars (porsche9146, Slab of Bacon) and we were paired against a racing club (HDR). The game was long but intense as Slab and I ganged up on HDR Mopar while Porsche blocked our mouse with his 2-11. Great fun and great clean racing (aside from the cat and mouse games haha) all night, sure some accidental hits and crashes but all in all a wonderful time. The absolute highlight of the night for me was racing in multi-class, after lagging behind Johanp78 for 3 laps on New York I made up enough time on the final two turns to edge out a win, the battle cry I let out sure got a lot of weird looks around here haha.

If you didn't run into me last night then you probably ran into Phred,Ayrton2222 or Turntenstudios. Phred was all over the hoppers last nightpicking up wins and according to some people, a couple of losses aswell (we need proof)! Still it was all for the sake of fun and he had agreat time playing last night. You might have run into him if you werein the Drag, stock car, Circuit D & E or tag rooms. He spent a lotof time shooting the breeze in the drag and stock rooms trying to raceas best as us painters can!Landinwas the mystery staffer playing under the Gamertag “Turntenstudios”. Sticking to Tag tonight the yells from his office were hilarious tolisten to, lots of noise going on over here throughout the night and alot of laughter both here in the studio and in game chat.

Image by sh0rtkid - See this in more in the Community Gallery

This event is separate from what we did with the Turn 10 game night, but the Xbox Ambassadors will be playing Forza Motorsport 3 online next week. If you are new to Forza or are looking for some friendly competition you join the Xbox Ambassadors this Tuesday. The Xbox Ambassadors are community members who have been around the block and enjoy showing new members around. They have Ambassadors in over 18 countries speaking more than 30 languages. If you’re interested you can check out the blog post here for more information, this event kicks off on May 4th.

It’s been a long (but fun) road for this month’s Road & TrackDLC. The pack brought along with it a slew of contests and a car packwhich came equipped with fan favorite Holden HSV W427 and the FordTaurus SHO. Two weeks passed and over 500 art submissions and 8thousand lap times were set on the Mini coupe concept racing overLaguna Seca. The time trial was really intense, thanks to the guys overat Fanatec we gave away four Fanatec Porsche 911 Turbo S wheels, 3 ofwhich went to some of the fastest times to grace Laguna Seca. ForzaRacing club V12 secured two podium spots in the time trial, V12 BackONEAbS RSI, Motorsport, V12 SGATTO. Congratulations guys, we know you willmake great use of your new Fanatec racing wheels!

Image by gamster15 - See this in more in the Community Gallery

The turnoutfor the Fantasy Cover, Photo Mode and Livery Design competitions wasimpressive. The folks at Road & Track had a tough time choosingbetween all of the entries especially in the Fantasy Cover competition.In the end they did finally narrow down the winners in all threecompetitions, to see if you were one of the winners you can check outthe Official Winners Announcement over at roadandtrack.com.VIP car battles are back after a break and will resume on Monday,May 3rd with a special Alan Wake livery from Phredesign. There isanother change in schedule allowing for more time at the polls. Votingwill begin on Monday and go throughout the week closing on Thursdaywith the special time trial going up for it. Car’s will be announcedon Monday, be on the lookout for a discussion thread and news article(with the poll) then.

This week we rolled out a storefrontchange you may not have noticed but one many of you have requested.Effective now, tunes, pictures, liveries and layer groups must now beviewed or downloaded for the rating to count. There is no warningmessage that pops up, but rest assured the rating is not counted. Thedays of someone rating your item a zero for no reason other than to doso are over. This will hopefully get rid of the problem some of youhave experienced with unfortunate abuse wreaking havoc on yourstorefront items.

Image by evomunk - See this in more in the Community Gallery

Last night we confirmed via twitter that May 11th's DLC isindeed a car pack. Unfortunately that’s all the reveal that we have fortoday but I can say it is quite a unique pack. As usual, we will berunning a spy shot contest for this set of ten cars. As Che mentionedon twitter this car pack is crazy, I already have a ton of favoritesthat will definitely be in my garage rotation, I can’t wait to takethem the online track! That brings this week in review to a close, hopeyou guys have a great weekend! See you online!

Week 17 – 911 GT1 on Catalunya

What: Official Turn 10 Featured Time Trial Challenge

When: Now until Friday May 7th at 12:00PM PST

Where: Time Trials in Forza Motorsport 3.

Track and Car: Circuit de Catalunya – Porsche 911 GT1 Strassenversion

How: Navigate to the “Leaderboards” menu and scroll down to “Time Trial”. Scroll down to “Road & Track Time Trial” and “Press A to Start Race” at the top of the leaderboard. Set your best possible lap time!

Image by Apex Omega - See this in more in the Community Gallery

REPLICA Painter's Competition - Voting Thread
This painting competition we have featured before has come to a close and needs your help in securing votes. The submissions are in place and a verdict is required. Check out this thread to vote on this very interesting paint competition.

Muscle car cruise
Take a joyride in classic muscle with friends in search of good conversation, photographs and enjoyable scenery. Everyone is invited; if this is something that you think may interest you, check out the thread here.

Painters World Series final 12
This competition is no stranger to the community update section of our Pitpass and makes a return as the Final 12 entries have been chosen. The end is near for the community organized World Series. A lot of great work inside definitely worthy of a look.

Image by hlr marty vdubz - See this in more in the Community Gallery

IFCA GP2Replica Series 1
Racing on Tuesdays, drivers will race in spec-built cars with limited tuning across a 2 race format with partial reversed grids, giving you that extra chance for a great race result! The racing will begin on the 11th May and run for 8 weeks. Check out the thread here.

IFCA JGTC Series 10
Racing on Sundays, the high speed world of the Japanese SuperGT is brought into your homes! Limited assists racing in authentically liveried R2 cars has never made the experience so involving! The series will begin 9th May and features 8 rounds! Check out the thread here.

Silhouette photo comp
The multimedia section usually has great events and competitions going on and this idea is no exception. The contest revolves around snapping a shot of your cars silhouette using the in-game Photomode. A lot of great submissions in the thread so far, the competition just opened up so there is still time to get in on the fun.

NOTE: This post is from Forza Motorsport.

Check out the latest video from Redline Time Attack and see exclusive interviews with COBB Tuning Motorsports drivers Brian Lock and Cameron Benner as well as new footage of the cars on track!

NOTE: This post is from the Cobb Tuning Blog.

Filed under: Motorsports, BMW, Racing

It's official, they're finally here: Racers of the roundel can buy BMW Motorsport parts at four locations in the U.S. The catalog selection includes the 2008 BMW Z4, 1995-2010 M3, and the 3 Series sedan from 2006 onward. You'll need to get yourself to Illinois, Atlanta, New Hampshire, or Solon, Ohio to pick your parts by hand... but you want to win, don't you? Follow the jump for the press release from BMW.

Gallery: BMW Motorsport parts available in the U.S.

[Source: BMW]Continue reading BMW Motorsports parts now available in the U.S.

BMW Motorsports parts now available in the U.S. originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 30 Apr 2010 11:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Always good to get a look at the finished product, after first hearing about Darton having sleeves for the VR38DETT some time back now, here’s the first photos I’ve personally seen of them actually fitted up.

These photos are courtesy of Jotech Motorsports based in Texas who are now offering the sleeving service for $1,100 in labour plus $1,325 for the sleeves themselves provided you deliver them your OEM block. If you want them to provide a block it’s another $3,231 on top.

Hit up their website for their contact details linked below…

Link: Jotech Motorsports Website

View Entire Article: Jotech Gives us a Peek at a Darton Sleeved VR38 Block at GTRBlog.comOriginally appeared on and © GTRBlog.com. 2010. | Read comments.

NOTE: This post is from an outside source.

Don't blink, or you may just drive past the sign (like I did) that marks the entrance to the track.

Last week I was “burdened” with the task of scoping out the brand new racetrack that has surfaced in Desert Station, California. Chuckwalla Valley Raceway (CVR) has been a long-time dream of owner and company president Micky Grana, and as of April of this year, it’s now as real as sand in a desert with 2.68 miles of flawless asphalt and newly painted black and yellow concrete roll curbing accenting the track’s 17 technical turns.

Not that we don’t have any good tracks around here already, but the surfaces of some of the existing local tracks in Southern California are beginning to show their age. Bumps and crack sealant present new challenges when they appear mid corner, and if you’re running on two wheels (as in motorcycles), it makes things even hairier.

Turn 4

CVR’s desert location within the Chuckwalla Valley offers plenty of safe runoff area, not to mention available real estate (1,100 acres I’m told) with which to expand. Future facility plans include 2 additional racetracks (tracks 1 and 2 will be a linkable to form a 4.3-mile course), hot pit and storage garages as well as an 18,000 sq.-ft. clubhouse with observation deck. If you hadn’t guessed it, CVR is also offering track memberships akin to what we experienced during our nationwide Audi R8 Odyssey.

A glimpse at the CVR's generous paddock space

As of right now, there’s little more than a front office building, a few port-o-potties in the paddock area and the nearest gas station is roughly 25 miles away (though there is some fuel available on site with an on-site fueling station in the works), but I suspect those things are small sacrifices to make for any track junkie that shares my excitement for this sort of stuff.

The majority of my 8-hour visit was spent squealing tires in a Subaru WRX STI Special Edition around the track’s only configuration (though it’s designed to run in both directions) and I instantly became a fan. The track spans 40 feet with an imperceptible 1 degree of banking at 10 of the 17 turns. The slight elevation changes throughout make many of the turns blind and the track seem narrower than it is.

To be quite honest, a car that is less prone to understeer would’ve been a better choice for this track, though the STI’s all-wheel drive stability did offer some advantages in the sections that soon became my favorites. Turn 9 (in the clockwise direction) is an off camber (by -2 degrees) uphill left turn that crowns in the middle. It’s the 2nd turn in a series of 3 that follows the 3rd longest straight of the track. If you’re not careful, it’s one of the easier places to spin (as a Nissan 300ZX demonstrated right in front of me), and if you apex it too early, there’s a good chance you’ll drive off the track at turn 10. The Subaru actually benefited from the off camber slant of this turn, as it helped me rotate the car over the crest and set up for the entry to turn 10.

View from the top of turn 12 heading into the 10-degree banked bowl of turn 13

Turns 11 and 12 were where I had the most fun in the Subie. Both turns are banked at 3.5 degrees with a total elevation drop of 18 feet. Here, I could just throw the STI sideways “rally style” and let the camber of the road slow my slide down with plenty of run out to spare.

In the bowl (turn 13)

In the Bowl (turn 13)

I could go on and on about CVR’s specific track elements, but I fear I’ll lose the rest of you who’ve actually made it this far through the blog. I’m also thinking that you’d rather drive it for yourself than to hear me babble on about how fun it is, so go here to find more information on available track dates.

For those of you who actually want more, I just happened to bring a video camera with me that day. You can watch my in-car lap right here.

No related posts.

COBB Tuning has just released an AccessPORT firmware update for the 2004-2007 STI, 2006-2007 Subaru WRX, 2004-2006 Forester XT and 2005-2006 Legacy GT (AP-SUB-002). This update repairs a minor bugs with the AccessPORT, adds new functions and streamlines the menu screens. This update supports v2 and v2b units, meaning that both versions use the same firmware release: 1.6.0.0-12852. In addition, all “BETA” versions have been consolidated into this update. The bug fix in this release resolves the AP slowdown associated with extensive use.

The “About” screen on both v2 and v2b has been simplified for easier interpretation and support and the “Change Map” feature has been updated for both units to give an explanation for any gray-out “locked-out” maps.

This update is available immediately through AccessPORT Updater and requires no other updates to maps or tuning software be performed. Further information can be found on our Firmware Information Page.

NOTE: This post is from the Cobb Tuning Blog.

Following an impressive finish at the Redline Time Attack season opener, Takata Time Attack was anxious to carry the momentum to another strong finish in Las Vegas for Redline’s second west coast event. The LIC Motorsports crew made small adjustments to the Takata Impreza prior to the event including a new set of Black and Green Rota wheels from Wheeldude to match the new livery, as well as a new Aeromotions widebody wing.

“Our car was very reliable for the first event”, said Noah Levy of LIC Motorsports. “Many cars at the first event had failures and we were able to capitalize because our car was reliable and consistent, despite the fact that James had never driven the car. The only significant issue we had was problems with the brakes overheating and locking up under heavy braking.”

For the second event, the bulk of Saturday’s practice session was spent experimenting to improve the braking system. After collaborating with Brembo Brakes via phone, the swap to a different brake pad compound yielded dramatic results. With confidence restored in braking, James immediately dropped over 3 seconds a lap, putting him in the hunt for a podium finish.

“I can easily say that driving the LIC Motorsports powered Takata Impreza is the best driving I have ever experienced. Even with 550 wheel horsepower on tap, the powerband is so smooth and responsive that it is fun and confidence inspiring to drive. Many heavily boosted cars buck and jerk at anything less than full throttle, but such is not the case with the LIC built engine and tuning provided by Cobb. With our braking problems out of the way, I see incredible potential for this car.”

Things were looking up for Takata Time Attack until a blow off valve line burst shortly into the first Time Attack session, giving James a significant power handicap. The line was easily repaired in time for Session 2, but with track conditions much deteriorated it was not possible for James to match the times posted earlier in the day when the conditions were ideal. Despite the 4th place result, James and LIC crew are excited about the progress made in car development and look forward a better finish at the next event.

NOTE: This post is from the Cobb Tuning Blog.

We know the GT Academy 2010 Silverstone finals were intense, but what was it really like? For those of us who couldn’t make it (or were geographically excluded from the competition…), here’s the complete experience on video, showing what the competitors went through during each day of the finals. Watch all of the clips below, and don’t forget to check out video from the first GT Academy finals as well!

Related posts:

1. GT Academy 2010 Silverstone Finals: Day 1 Pictures, Results
2. GT Academy 2010 French/Swiss Finals Video
3. GT Academy 2010 Finals: Day 2, The Field Narrows

NOTE: This post is from GT Planet.