div class="image-right"a href='http://lemanssportscars.com/features/prosport/files/BIGflashimages1.jpg.jpg' rel='zoom' title='flashimages1'img alt='flashimages1' class='imageStyle' src="http://lemanssportscars.com/features/prosport/files/flashimages1.jpg" width="120" height="80"//a/divOur first feature story was posted late last year, but may have slipped under the radar for some visitors. The article profiles the ProSport Race Cars manufacturer, particularly featuring the outstanding ProSport Evolution.br /br /a href="http://lemanssportscars.com/features/prosport/index.html"To read the full article, please click here/a.br /br /To access the Feature Story page, a href="http://lemanssportscars.com/features/stories.html"please click here/a, or use the "Feature Stories" button above.br /br /To submit an idea (or your car/company) for a feature story, a href="http://lemanssportscars.com/contactus/samdale/index.php"please Contact Us here/a.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1769145307337288125-7792060961380912852?l=lemanssports.blogspot.com'//div

Le Mans Sports racer, Scott Bingham, has provided some excellent onboard footage from Oran Park.br /br /object width="480" height="385"param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/1yTwBLM-RNghl=enfs=1rel=0color1=0xe1600fcolor2=0xfebd01"/paramparam name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/paramparam name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"/paramembed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/1yTwBLM-RNghl=enfs=1rel=0color1=0xe1600fcolor2=0xfebd01" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"/embed/objectbr /br /object width="480" height="385"param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/hRBvw5xEsvchl=enfs=1rel=0color1=0xe1600fcolor2=0xfebd01"/paramparam name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/paramparam name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"/paramembed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/hRBvw5xEsvchl=enfs=1rel=0color1=0xe1600fcolor2=0xfebd01" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"/embed/objectdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1769145307337288125-8694538912008302011?l=lemanssports.blogspot.com'//div

a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.irace.net.au/admin/entryforms/round1.php"img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="http://www.irace.net.au/news/files/entry.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5294030582485488386" //aEntries are open for Round One of the 2009 Independent Race Series.divbr //divdivAll entry forms for 2009 will be available to complete online. (We'll still need competitors to sign a printout of the data you entered during your scrutineering administration at the circuit, but this will be provided for you.) Those who prefer the old method will still be able to use a hardcopy form for mailing or faxing in.br //divbr /Entrants who use the online system will have the option of paying by cheque/money order (by post), credit card (by fax, telephone or post) or via the secure online PayPal system.br /br /a href="http://www.irace.net.au/admin/entryforms/round1.php"The Online Entry Form for Round One is available by clicking here/a.br /br /a href="http://www.irace.net.au/admin/assets/EntryFormR1.pdf"The old-school PDF for printing and posting/faxing is available here/a.br /br /As always, all of our forms and administration are available from the a href="http://www.irace.net.au/admin/index.html"Admin page of the site - irace.net.au/admin/abr /br /h2Rewards Available/h2As a celebration of our brand new sytem, and to encourage competitors to get their entries in early, we also have another exciting announcement: the person who submits the first paid entry for each round will receive half price entry for the following round. (There are a couple of conditions: 1) each competitor may only win once during the year, 2) the half price entry is only available at the following round - ie; the first paid entrant for round 1 will be eligible for entry at half price for round 2 only.)divbr //divdivh2Small Request/h2/divdivEntries have already started rolling in, so if you haven't entered for Round One yet, you'll have to wait for the opening of Round Two entries to be in the running for your shot at a half price entry./divdivbr //divdivTo those competitors who have already submitted their entry via the online system, we've had a very small glitch. Any forms that were submitted that were not 100% complete did not make it through. It seems that you would have still received the "Success" message, but unfortunately the entry has not been transmitted to the database. The problem has now been corrected, but if you submitted an entry at the beginning of the week, and you think this may be you, please either a href="http://www.irace.net.au/admin/entryforms/round1.php"complete the form again/a (we'll delete any duplicates), or a href="http://www.irace.net.au/admin/contactus/webenq/index.php"get in touch via email/a to check if we've received your entry. Our iRace robot apologises for the inconvenience!/divdivbr /Round One of the Independent Race Series will be held at Morgan Park, QLD, 20-22 March 2009./divdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1769145307337288125-695146817799640811?l=lemanssports.blogspot.com'//div

embed src="http://blip.tv/play/AeWNNwA" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="640" height="390" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"/embedbr /Video footage from the Oran Park round 11 October 2008.br /br /This is a raw cut, not quite the polished product you can expect for 2009, but uploaded so you all get to see it asap, there's no commentary as yet. We've been considering running a competition... Best user-contributed commentary gets added to the video. Contact us a href="http://www.lemanssportscars.com/contactus/samdale/index.php"here/a to find out how to send your commentary in.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1769145307337288125-7631099953872702306?l=lemanssports.blogspot.com'//div

a href="http://www.lemanssportscars.com/news/assets/Test Drive Minetti SS-V1 (Info Kit).pdf" rel="self"img class="imageStyle" alt="testdrivead" src="http://www.lemanssportscars.com/news/files/testdrivead.png" width="600" height="438"//aThe Le Mans Sports Series has joined with Minetti Sports Cars to offer the opportunity to test drive a Minetti SS-V1.br /br /The SS-V1 is an Australian-made, high performance sports car, that represents and excellent way to test your skill, and evaluate the possibility of entering the series.br /br /The test day includes driver instruction, and participating drivers will receive their iRace Circuit Racing Licence at the completion of the day.br /br /Further information on this opportunity is available in a href="http://www.lemanssportscars.com/news/assets/Test Drive Minetti SS-V1 (Info Kit).pdf" rel="self"this Information Kit/a.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1769145307337288125-6270206705288856250?l=lemanssports.blogspot.com'//div

Below is a short iRace highlights video from the Oran Park round. The video features all the categories that competed at the round, including Le Mans Sports - check back in the new year for a full package on the Le Mans Sports versus Formula Tasman battle.br /br /embed src="http://blip.tv/play/AeKlRpKyRg" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="640" height="390" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"/embeddiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1769145307337288125-7850105218872166861?l=lemanssports.blogspot.com'//div

Aaron Steer has won the exciting opening round of the Le Mans Sports Series at Sydney's Oran Park.br /br /div class="image-left"a href='http://www.lemanssportscars.com/news/files/BIG_MG_8050.JPG.JPG' rel='zoom' title='Steer leads Laucke'img alt='Steer leads Laucke' class='imageStyle' src="http://www.lemanssportscars.com/news/files/_MG_8050.jpg" width="246" height="164"//a/divMark Laucke (Laucke Flour WEST) looked like the dominant force early in the round, setting the pole position time in qualifying. Steer had telegraphed his intentions early though - fastest in the morning practice session. Next quickest behind the WEST-mounted pair was Scott Bingham in the Minetti, followed by Greg Steer, Rick Otten, Bruce Burchett and Bob Townsend.br /br /The first race was a standing start affair, and Aaron Steer managed to get ahead of Laucke in the early laps. Laucke took the lead back on the fourth lap, and retained it until the finish at the end of lap 8. The pair crossing the line only a second apart. Bingham took out third place, ahead of Burchett, Greg Steer, Rick Otten and Bob Townsend.br /br /div class="image-right"a href='http://www.lemanssportscars.com/news/files/BIG2937458132_e82f61e53d.jpg.jpg' rel='zoom' title='2937458132_e82f61e53d'img alt='2937458132_e82f61e53d' class='imageStyle' src="http://www.lemanssportscars.com/news/files/2937458132_e82f61e53d.jpg" width="250" height="150"//a/divThe second race was a rolling start, and this time Laucke retained his lead, managing to keep steer behind for the entire 15 lap distance, although this time the pair were separated by just 2 tenths of a second as they took the chequered flag! In third this time it was Greg Steer, followed by Burchett, Otten, Bingham and Townsend.br /br /The third and final race was a 24 lap affair, but it was held in two parts due to a mid-race red flag. The extended distance saw a number of retirements (some no doubt due to "fuel pressure" problems ie; not quite enough fuel in the tank to cover the additional laps associated with the red flag). Retirements included Mark Laucke, Greg Steer, Bruce Burchett and Bob Townsend. div class="image-left"a href='http://www.lemanssportscars.com/news/files/BIG_MG_8159.JPG.JPG' rel='zoom' title='_MG_8159'img alt='_MG_8159' class='imageStyle' src="http://www.lemanssportscars.com/news/files/_MG_8159.jpg" width="246" height="164"//a/divThis left Aaron Steer effectively unchallenged to take the race win. He finished nearly 30 second ahead of Scott Bingham, with Rick Otten in third.br /br /The final race win was enough to give Steer the round win. Laucke had done enough in the first two races to secure second place outright, and Scott Bingham took third.br /br /Class winners were: Oxygen - Aaron Steer, Radon - Scott Bingham, Neon - Rick Otten.br /br /a href="http://www.lemanssportscars.com/news/../results/index.html" rel="self" title="Results"For full results from this round, click here./abr /br /a href="http://www.lemanssportscars.com/news/../gallery/round1/index.html" rel="self" title="Round 1"For the full photo gallery from the round, click here./abr /br /The next round of the Le Mans Sports Series will be held at Queensland's Morgan Park, 15-16 November, where Mark Laucke is bound to be aiming to redress the result from Oran Park.script src='http://www.lemanssportscars.com/news/files/FancyZoom.js' type='text/javascript'/scriptscript src='http://www.lemanssportscars.com/news/files/FancyZoomHTML.js' type='text/javascript'/scriptscript type='text/javascript'var zoomImagesURI = 'http://www.lemanssportscars.com/news/files/';setupZoom();/scriptdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1769145307337288125-1553471038806255452?l=lemanssports.blogspot.com'//div

img class="imageStyle" alt="12_image1_L" src="http://www.lemanssportscars.com/news/files/12_image1_l.jpg" width="200" height="200"/a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_stJI4TOqv_4/SO3HPs3mwCI/AAAAAAAACbI/SmELmYKOaQE/s1600-h/12_image1_L.jpg"br //abr /Italian watchmakers Anonimo Firenze have been appointed as the official timekeepers of the Le Mans Sports Series.br /br /Anonimo are continuing their proud tradition of supporting motorsport with quality and precision timepieces. Anonimo was founded in 1997, and has very quickly gained a reputation for producing extremely attractive and functional watches. More information on Anonimo can be found at the official website: a href="http://www.anonimo.com.au/"www.anonimo.com.au/abr /br /The Le Mans Sports Series fires into action this weekend at Sydney's Oran Park Raceway, with three races to be held on Saturday 11 October. As a demonstration of their commitment to the category, Anonimo are offering a 25% discount on their entire range to all Le Mans Sports Series VIP guests.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1769145307337288125-2469931715411552102?l=lemanssports.blogspot.com'//div

a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_stJI4TOqv_4/SO2_ml7z9RI/AAAAAAAACbA/L8jVm0gGdbQ/s1600-h/drewer.jpg"img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_stJI4TOqv_4/SO2_ml7z9RI/AAAAAAAACbA/L8jVm0gGdbQ/s320/drewer.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5255067009950151954" //abr /Australia’s Tom Drewer wins 2008 IMSA Lites L2 Championship at Petite Le Mans at Road Atlanta in USA.br /br /Young rising Australian driver, Tom Drewer has won the 2008 IMSA Lites L2 Championship with a clean sweep at Petit Le Mans, Road Atlanta, Georgia, USA.br /br /Drewer, driving his Daily Planet Racing WEST, won both Round 9 (yesterday) and Round 10 (today) of the Championship taking maximum points, and clinching the title prior to the season finale at Laguna Seca in California in two weeks time.br /br /Drewer’s North American Championship VICTORY has come after race wins at Sebring (Florida), Miller Motorsport Park (Salt Lake City, Utah), Lime Rock (Connecticut), and Mosport (Toronto, Canada) in his first year racing overseas.br /br /The Adelaide born driver who won last year’s Thundersports Australian Championship has graduated from karting, through Formula Vee, Saloon Cars, and a one-off drive last year in the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series before moving to the USA to drive for the factory WEST race team. br /br /His Championship winning event at Road Atlanta was virtually perfect, setting the fastest L2 time in qualifying for pole with a new qualifying lap record and then breaking the Road Atlanta race lap record in race 1 and lowering that time again in race 2 with a time of 1 minute 22.03 seconds. His average speed around the undulating 4 kilometre circuit was 180kph. br /“Leading into this weekend we knew we should be able to clinch the title but its motor racing and anything can happen. My Daily Planet WEST has been fantastic all year and I want to thank everyone at WEST Race Cars, especially my engineer Jake Randels, for all their hard work. br /br /Then yesterday something went wrong with the shift mechanism half way through race 1 and I was having a lot of trouble going up through the gearbox. It was nothing we could have prevented. The team put in a lot of effort to solve the problem and in the end we replaced the entire electronic shift module and actuator. Today the car was back to its best and we just set about having a clean, trouble free race to bring the Championship home.br /br /It really was a case of keeping it clean. There was chaos on a re-start in race 2 when the field checked up, and crashed into each other, and it was a shame that my team mate Eric’s (Vassian) race really ended there. I avoided that and the incident that caused the safety car in the first place.br /br /I set about achieving a good pace early on, but kept it well within the limits. In the end though we closed the gap to the top L1s and I think it really shows again just how fast these WEST’s are given how much extra horsepower and torque the L1s have.br /br /I showed a little emotion on the podium today. This is a long way from my home-town Adelaide, in Australia. There has been so much effort behind the scenes this year. I really wish both my father Mike and mother Jacquie could have been over here to see this. They have sacrificed a great deal so that I could achieve this. br /br /I also truly want to thank John Trimble and the Daily Planet for all their support this year. br /br /I want to also thank each and everyone who has helped me to get to this point. Terry Little for having so much faith in me, Randy Aust (race engineer), Greg Steer from WEST Race Cars Australia, everyone at WEST Race Cars America and everyone who has put their names and messages on the rear bodywork of my car. I’ve been racing for all of you. Thanks for being a part of the team. This Championship is for you too, Dad, Terry, John, everyone, we did it!br /br /I’m just looking forward to driving Laguna Seca now, and I hope that my performance and consistency this year can lead onto bigger and better things next season. We have already had some exciting offers and testing opportunities present themselves and I’m hoping we can get the backing for the right option to race in America again next year.”div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1769145307337288125-7959035092117501044?l=lemanssports.blogspot.com'//div

Since racing at Calder in April, the Gibson Racing Team has been working hard to repair and improve the engine after retiring from the last race with difficulties.br /br /Driver Michael Gibson says the engine is undergoing a complete rebuild and is confident that it will produce more horse power and reliability. The team has also made a lot of small improvements in the car since its debut meeting.br /br /The Gibson Racing Team is planning to run at Morgan Park this year followed by a hectic test program over the off season ready for next year’s LeMans Sport Championship.br /br /Gibson Racing Team is also pleased to announce that they have gained a new sponsor in Deniliquin InfoTech Solutions. Both Michael and InfoTech Solutions are wrapped in the deal and very excited about the season ahead.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1769145307337288125-7150900222593081034?l=lemanssports.blogspot.com'//div