Dakar / Dubai Recaps, Green Racecars, WRC Preview - SHAKEDOWN

This is Shakedown on DRIVE, home for your auto racing
info, analysis, opinion, attitude,
and dare I say, fun--
Monday and Friday.
Monday's Shakedown is the racing recap show.
So today we close out the Dakar Rally and the Dubai 24
and share some news about 2012 race cars.
And I finally was going to do my Chris Harris joke that got
left out of an earlier show.
But for logistic reasons, it's not going to happen today
again, either.
See, we did an earlier Shakedown comparing cornering,
drifting versus racing.
Then our DRIVE partner Chris took it to Chris Harris
extremes with his space-saver donut driving experiment.
So I had a comment.
Well, maybe some day.
But check out both shows anyway.
In fact, just subscribe to youtube.com/drive.
So with no Chris Harris, I scoured the news for a new
story to start the show.
Maybe something serious, like an analysis of the new Lotus
F1 anti-dive front brake system that's already this
year's F-duct blown diffuser tech spec to have.
No.
But for sure, in a future Shakedown when the F1 cars
debut in February, we'll cover it.
And then I found the story.
Danica Patrick is looking for a NASCAR nickname.
She likes Honey Badger, because to quote Danica, "The
honey badger doesn't give a crap, takes whatever he wants,
and that's how I'm going to be going this year, like a honey
badger." Wow.
Shakedowners, we can do better.
So let's start the show with a call for your suggestions for
Danica's 2012 nickname.
She deserves the best creativity
Shakedown can give her.
Hey, I've got one.
Tim Tebow.
[CAR ENGINE]
OK, speaking of name calling, what do you call an engine bay
when it has no engine?
Look at this, and tell me what's going on with this car.
Figure it out?
It's the all-electric Drayson Lola LMP.
And that's the battery pack where the internal combustion
engine's supposed to be.
Drayson launched at the Birmingham, England Autosport
Racecar show.
The car will race in the 2013 FIA Formula E world
championship.
Four electric motors give it 640 kilowatt, 850 horsepower.
Car with driver weighs only 1,085 kilo.
60 miles an hour in three seconds, 100 in five, a top
speed of 200 mile an hour plus.
Three battery packs with inductive charging.
No plug-in, just roll onto the charger plate,
and it charges up.
Also at the Autosport show was a Quimera AEGT electric.
Quimera and the American Le Mans Series announced a
partnership to develop the next generation of green
motorsport, working together, as the press release says, to
prepare investors, the public, media, and sponsors for
motorsports' impending embrace of clean technology.
Translation, listen up you cynical,
future-fearing bastards.
In 2012, the all-electric AEGT is is, quote, "expected to
make demo runs at select ALMS races." By 2013, Quimera and
ALMS will launch an international electric vehicle
series they say will be the first clean-tech
championship--
well, other than the FIA Formula E, unless both groups
are talking about the same series and taking credit.
Then the PR gets more confused, as it suggests the
series will have a ton of car classes, including open wheel,
a tie-in with TTXGP, the electric bike series, and what
the hell, drifting.
The only electric tech not mentioned here are those
Trojan vibrators.
And I'm not going to get into that.
I don't want to have this electric
racing discussion now.
But we're going to have to in a future Shakedown.
And I'm not against new tech.
I'm loving all the Porsche, Audi, Peugeot, Toyota-- all
the hybrids coming to racing, including this Prius race car
for Japan Super GT, the GT300 class.
But what do you think?
Is green tech best showcased racing itself in a separate
series, or put up against the current race cars and may the
best tech win?
Hey, didn't I promise to do a race recap news today?
So here we go.
Dakar finished.
MINI won.
Stephane Peterhansel got his 10th Dakar win, his fourth car
victory following his six motorcycle wins.
And this was the first Dakar for MINI.
Stephane and MINI were in control for most of the rally,
despite some tire punctures and getting
sand-bogged near the end.
The race controversy was, of course, our US
bad boy, Robby Gordon.
Peterhansel and Gordon had an on-course coming together.
Robby challenged Stephane's sportsmanship.
And then the legality of Gordon's Hummer was also
challenged.
So Robby disconnected the questioned tire inflation
system and told the inspectors to kiss his ass.
Robbie would have given them the finger, but out of respect
for world superbike racer John Hopkins, who gave up his
finger to race this year, Robbie did not.
You know what?
Google around to get that joke.
Or watch FLD.
Derek's got that story today.
In bikes, Cyril Dupre took the win for KTM, the
brand's 11th in a row.
In trucks, Gerard de Rooy, with his Iveco.
The Dubai 24 race was the other recent race of note.
Mercedes took a podium-sweeping one, two,
three victory.
The Ferrari front row and all the BMW Z4, Lamborghini, Audi,
Porsche, Nissan, GTR competition fell to the
horsepower and pace of the SLS.
The PlayStation GT Academy team made it to the podium.
United Autosport made it into the headlines troubleshooting
their electrical system problems via,
of all things, Facebook.
And a certain Z4 racer, Faisal Binladen, tried to keep his
family name out of the news.
No, he didn't crash into anything.
And yes, it's that Binladen family.
Some other racing news quick shifts.
Ferrari F1 announced hiring an ex-Bridgestone tire engineer
to fix their troubles, getting the Pirelli tech to work on
the Ferrari.
Then Ferrari suggested the new car will be ugly due to the
new rules, lowering the nose height but not the tub height.
Thanks scarbsf1.com for the rendering.
Ford's been testing their Focus WTCC car, a bit more
racy than the ST-R we saw in Detroit.
And in Detroit, I was told that Ford was offered the
opportunity to power the DeltaWing Le Mans car and
politely said no.
So any guesses as to who should provide the motor for
this Delta?
Sidebar, we asked SRT boss, Ralph Gilles about racing the
upcoming Viper in ALMS and at Le Mans, whereupon he paused
and gave us a smiling, no comment.
Which prompted me to retort, you just did, and I'll look
for the cars.
Back to Ford, who showed their world rally car
paint job for 2012.
Finally, more Ford blue in this scheme.
But you know what?
I liked the Death Star black of last year.
Monte Carlo World Rally Championship is this weekend.
Everyone's been tested.
And there's footage on YouTube that I can't show you unless
you go off playlist.
So we'll put some links in the description.
See you Friday, or on Drive Central or Road Testament.
And you know what?
Before I go, thanks for all your comments on YouTube,
@DriveTV, and @LeoParente.
I'm reading them all, liking your suggestions.
Keep going, and thanks.
Now go watch your WRC car prod.
[MUSIC PLAYING]