Steve Parker Motoring / The Car Nut: WORST SECRET IN F1 REVEALED; TOYOTA TO POWER WILLIAMS

EXCLUSIVE PHOTO ALBUM! 2009 GUMBALL RALLY 3000

See Steve's exclusive Gumball Rally video from NBC-TV's Whipnotic website (copy and paste): http://www.whipnotic.com/videos/viewvideo-558.html Over 120 gas-guzzling super-exotic sports cars, Hummers, Cadillac Escalade SUVs and an occasional interesting older car roared on May 2, 2009, from a California beach-side parking lot directly onto I-10, the Santa Monica Freeway, also known as the Christopher Columbus Transcontinental Highway, for the start of this year's Gumball Rally. The world's most politically-incorrect automotive street event, the Gumball Rally 3000, left Santa Monica (CA) Pier on Saturday, May 2, 2009 and headed toward its ultimate destination of Miami, FL eight days later. Participants reportedly paid $44,000 per car/team to enter the event. Though the Gumball stresses the skills of its drivers (and their cars) there are only two race track "special section" stops scheduled for the 3,000-mile long event, which will be run on public roads with all entrants subject to all highway rules and regulations. All photos (c) 2009 by www.SteveParker.com

July 28, 2006

WORST SECRET IN F1 REVEALED; TOYOTA TO POWER WILLIAMS

It's ALL finally official! Danica Patrick goes to Andretti/Green racing for 2007 in the IRL (unless her father can pimp her up a NASCAR ride for some real money), Juan Pablo Montoya will drive for Chip "Biggie" Ganassi in NASCAR starting this season (and perhaps get Chip to drop a few, uh, kilos), and now the last best-known secret in motorsports (this week, at least) is revealed: Toyota will supply engines for WilliamsF1 in 2007.

Toyota Motor and WilliamsF1 announced Thursday, July 27, that Toyota will supply engines to the WilliamsF1 team for the next three years, beginning in 2007. The agreement explicitly states that WilliamsF1 will use "the same specification of engine as Panasonic Toyota Racing," ensuring a level playing field for all concerned, and putting even more heat on Toyota's "factory" team to produce race wins, after years of big budgets and mediocre results.

Toyota will continue at least for the next year with their own in-house F1 team, constructing their own engines and race chassis. However, this deal leaves Toyota with a convenient exit strategy if they do decide to abandon their underperforming factory team in favor of a support deal with WilliamsF1. (Photo: Frank Williams).

And Sir Frank Williams gets access some of the best engines in all of Formula 1, and at a considerable saving over his outright purchase of engines from Williams' current engine supplier Cosworth.

The announcement also means Cosworth may be without a team for 2007, although the engine plans of the other "non-factory" teams, Red Bull Racing, Torro Rosso and MF1 (Midland) are yet to be finalized, and David Richards' new Prodrive team is also a potential customer.