Ford has been doing a lot of factory approved drag racing recently. They’ve been selling lots of “for the strip only” cars, and now it looks like veteran Ford guy, and NASCAR super-team owner Jack Roush is getting into the act, and, surprisingly, getting in a rather green way.

Roush does more than just NASCAR and the occasional drag car though. He is involved in a wide variety of auto-related ventures, most of them seemingly involved in the building of very quick Ford powered vehicles. His Roush Engineering business, for example, does a lot of prototype build and development work for a number of different client companies. And most recently Roush Engineering has been working on, and building propane-fueled conversions of Ford F-150 pickup trucks that are especially useful to fleet customers.

So why not dive into making propane-fueled drag cars, huh?

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David Richert in Volkswagen Factory in Dresden, Germany

A race car driver’s perspective…

Over the last few years I have had the opportunity to experience things which many can only dream of doing. Though the path has been filled with many risks, trials and a lot of hard work, it’s moments like these when I realize how incredibly fortunate I am.

Over the last 2 years I have been driving race cars for Volkswagen in the Jetta TDI Cup. I was fortunate enough to earn a spot as a driver in the series and then was even more fortunate to be able to win the coveted Public Relations Contest in both years as well.

Last season the prize for winning was an all expense paid trip to race at the world-famous Hockenheimring for the Volkswagen Polo Cup event in Germany. This season, the prize was an all expense paid trip to Volkswagen headquarters in Wolfsburg to attend the North American media launch of the 2010 Golf and Golf TDI together with dozens of this continents most influential automotive and lifestyle journalists.

Sitting in Executive Class on my return trip, I have had a short chance to reflect on the whirlwind events of the last few days. I was given a very unique opportunity to experience the life of an automotive journalist and also take a glimpse behind the scenes at what makes Volkswagen so special. Continue Reading…

There was a farce comedy movie back in the 60s called “The Great Race”. It starred Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood, Peter Falk, Keenan Wynn, just about anybody who was farcical comedies back then. It was a fake movie, more or less based on real events, the actual 1908 New York-to-Paris race, and Tony Curtis’ ride, “The Leslie Special”, was a loose interpretation of the 1907 Thomas Flyer that won the real race.

That move, and the real race, is what popped into my mind when I read that an eco-bent Swiss teacher was planning on staging a round-the-world race for EVs.

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Here’s something that has been a long time coming, even if it is only a prototype/design study from a German Technical college. Rolled out at this year’s Frankfurt Auto Show, the E-Wolf e1 is an all electric formula style racer that is completely electric. To say that this is something that should have been done decades back would be an understatement. And to say that we’ll all benefit if something like this takes off is an understatement as well. The old saw is that ‘racing improves the breed’, and if we want to have enjoyable EVs that are fun to drive, then we should all be pulling for the E-Wolf to be made by the score, raced all over the world every weekend, and for that technology to make it into our future cars.

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I am often asked how I prepare myself for each race weekend. We have already discussed the many business, fitness and media aspects that fill a race car driver’s day; however, there is still something to be said for preparing your actual driving for each race.

The hardest thing I come up against in this area is that the Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup only receives a very small amount of track time at each race event. At each race weekend all I receive is 30 minutes of on track practice and then it’s straight into qualifying. The half hour practice session means you really only have about 15 laps to (a) learn the track (b) shake off the rust from being out of the car for weeks (c) decide how to approach qualifying. Sometimes, should you have fresh brake pads, the first few laps are wasted trying to properly put the new pads through a heat cycle. Continue Reading…

We’ve already looked at the financial aspect of auto racing and how extremely important it is for every driver to look at their career as a business first and foremost. Far too often drivers put all of their energy and efforts into what takes place on the track, but neglect to focus on Media Relations. The media is one of our primary sources in drawing attention to those partnering with us and providing our opportunity to go racing at the highest level possible.

The Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup does a fantastic job addressing this important reality of racing and encourages each driver to focus on strengthening their abilities in this area. The press can be our greatest friend or our worst enemy, depending on how a driver chooses to act. We recently had the Executive Editor of Car & Driver, Mark Gillis, competing with us as a guest driver in Ohio. Mark verified this notion and said a driver’s attitude towards the press will determine if the story will be positive or negative. Continue Reading…