So I usually try to make these ‘Monday Morning Rundowns’ at least interesting. It turns out that there isn’t exactly too much going on in the automotive world right now that is overly interesting it seems. That being said I have managed to scrape up a few things some may find interesting. Hopefully once the snow melts and spring rolls in things will change.
Here we go…..
XDC Round 1 is this upcoming weekend at the ‘House of Drift’ in Irwindale, California. XDC looks to be trying to take a piece of Formula D’s pie this year and it will be interesting how big that piece of pie is. Last year XDC served as a feeder series to Formula D and it handed out Licenses to event and series champions. This year they have replaced FD licenses with a lot of money.
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Speaking of XDC, Canada’s own Dave Briggs will once again be a series regular this year. Looking at his 2011 schedule it appears he will be partaking in both XDC and DMCC East along with the Top Drift Series by Justdrift at Willow Springs. It looks like Dave is going to have a busy year. You can follow his season at http://www.briggsdrift.com
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There is a new Japanese Drift series to mention. Drift Muscle will be opening it’s doors to drifting in Japan. There seems to be some confusion though. Some websites are claiming that this is Tsuchiya’s series and others are claiming that he is holding off until 2012 to start his series up. Also I’m not sure what the name is all about, surely it is just a weird Japanese translation or something.
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Sebastian Loeb took the big prize in Mexico this weekend with his Ford Fiesta. This win makes it number five in-a-row for Loeb in Guanajuato. Hirvonen and Latvala of the Ford Abu Dhabi Team rounded out the top three keeping Ford on top of Citroen in the Manufacturers standings. Next stop on the tour is the Rally Portugal March 24th – 27th
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Nasser Al-Attiyah is a name that Dakar followers will recognize. Nasser won the 2011 Dakar Rally in a Volkswagen Toureg. Nasser partook in the opening round of the S-WRC calendar this weekend in Mexico as well and thought he had cruised to an easy victory in the class until he was informed his fuel cell wasn’t vented properly. In the end he was excluded from the race results.
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The Ferrari F150 is no longer. Sorry truck lovers, you will have to stick with your Ford.
“In order to avoid the slightest risk of anyone confusing a Formula One car with a pick-up truck… the men from Maranello have decided that the car will lose the F that precedes the number 150 and which stands for Ferrari,” the team’s website reported a couple of days ago.
The car will now be known as the Ferrari 150th Italia.
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It was reported that Takata’s American offices in Michigan were raided this past week by the FBI in conjunction with an investigation of price fixing. It turns out those fancy green harnesses that everyone loves has nothing to do with the raid. Takata supplies OEM seat-belts and airbags to manufacturers like Honda and GM. For more visit: http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/news/region/oakland_county/fbi-raids-automotive-parts-supplier-takata-in-auburn-hills
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ARC International is reported to be bankrupt. ARC Int. is no longer accepting orders and all outstanding orders are being canceled. I have no idea if this means ARC Japan is dead also as their web page looks to be business as usual. I am sorry if you are one of our readers that isn’t going to be getting that $7000 cat-back they had on order. I am sure you could make do with an eBay special.