That’s right, the girl who grew up playing “Mario Kart” is turning polygonal in Activision’s slick new racer “Blur.” Patrick plays one of nine rivals in career mode and according to her at least, “My character will do whatever it takes to put you in your place.” The game features over 50 licensed cars, from the Audi R8 to the Corvette ZR1, and if you beat Patrick’s character in the game, you can swipe her ride for use in both single and multiplayer levels. What she’s driving in “Blur,” though, Patrick won’t say. “We don’t want to spoil it before the game comes out,” she says. “It’s a little bit of a secret, but as you can imagine, I’m a good driver.”
As for her favorite part about virtual racing? “When you crash you can keep going,” Patrick laughs. “You can also hit people, and there’s the ability to fix your car on the go with a mechanic button. You can even shoot off bombs at cars and use boost.Read More
Leading British female motor sport driver Alice Powell today won the 4th round of the Formula Renault BARC Championship at Silverstone, becoming the first female to win a Formula Renault race in the UK.
Alice took the checkered flag a massive seven seconds ahead of the field for her second podium of the Championship, having finished second in the 3rd round of the season earlier in the day.
Alice says: “It has been a fantastic start to the season – the win is a credit for all the hard work put in by my team Hillspeed and engineer Sarah Shaw from Manor Competition. Qualifying was great with second on the grid for round 3 and pole position for round 4.”Read More
SI.com chatted with IndyCar darling Danica Patrick about her upcoming voiceover work in Bizarre Creation’s new racing title Blur. But lending her voice to the game hasn’t been the only thing IndyCar’s most famous face has been up to. After a disappointing finish in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, Patrick reflects on her performance, what she hopes to improve on at Kansas and her go at stock-car racing in NASCAR.
SI.com: Let’s start with a little racing news. How did Long Beach treat you last weekend? What went well, what didn’t go so well?
DP: Unfortunately, it didn’t go so well. It was a tough weekend. We just didn’t get the car dialed in the way I wanted it to be: comfortable and fast. It wasn’t like I was all that far off when it came to qualifying, but it’s just so close that if you’re not there, you’re not there at all.
The whole field is covered by a second, which is like, what? A blink. It’s so, so, so close and tight it’s probably twice as hard as it used to be. There are so many good race car drivers in the IndyCar Series now, especially on road courses because we’ve become primarily a road course series. It’s kind of surprising because we just started it. Only five years ago, when I came into the series, there were only three road courses on the schedule. So things have changed a lot but you just have to raise your game.
SI.com: Is there anything you’re planning on taking from Long Beach with you to Kansas? Any new pit strategies you’re eyeing?Read More
LOS ANGELES, CA (May 1, 2010) – IZOD IndyCar driver Milka Duno was having a great run in today’s Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 at Kansas Speedway when a pit lane incident resulted in mechanical issues that ended her day early.
After exiting her pit during a yellow-flag pit stop and entering pit lane, Duno’s #18 CITGO/CANTV Dale Coyne Racing entry was squeezed by the #4 and the #5 car into a double-spin with the #5 car.
Duno would make two more pit stops immediately after the incident to determine why the car was ill-handling after the contact. After inspection by the team the damage was determined to be either in the upright or the gearbox and would end what was looking like a very promising day.Read More
Today we chose Ms. Leilani to spotlight as our video of the day.. As a well know racecar driver she is also known for other things. Leilani is a huge supporter of the Environment. She left today to head down to New Orleans to help with the clean up of the recent oil spills that are damaging many natural habitats in the area. Please see our post from earlier about the clean up efforts. We have contacted her to see if there’s anything anyone can do to help. Here at FRN we want to do everything within our power to help! You can keep up with Leilani through her website CarbonFreeGirl.com or Follow her on Twitter, @LeilaniMunter.
Race Car Driver Heads for Gulf Coast to Volunteer with Oil Spill Clean Up
May 1, 2010
Hello everyone,
I am headed to New Orleans in the morning to volunteer to help clean up the oil spill. Likely I will end up working with the wildlife since I have a background in wildlife rescue from college.
This spill is on track to become the largest man made environmental disaster in history. The oil is gushing out at 200,000 gallons per day, nearly 10 times what they had originally estimated and it’s seems to be increasing in flow. It is a mile below the surface and they don’t know how to stop it, it could be leaking for months.
It couldn’t have happened at a worse time. Pelicans, shrimp, alligators and dolphins in the coastal gulf are giving birth or preparing to. There are four species of endangered sea turtles in the area that will likely never recover now. Shrimp are in grave danger which is devastating not only for the shrimp, but also to all the larger species of fish like red snapper and yellowfin tuna which feed on the shrimp. And while some fish may have the ability to flee from the oil, it is a much more difficult proposition for dolphins who have to surface to breath air and will be inhaling the toxic fumes. This is truly a colossal tragedy of epic proportions.
I will be there with Larry Schweiger (President and CEO) and Jeremy Symons (Senior Vice President, Conservation and Education) from the National Wildlife Federation. Right now my plane ticket flies me home next Friday morning (May 7) because I have to come home to go to Dallas for a speech I have scheduled at the International Stadium Managers Conference. I don’t know what my cell service or internet connection will be like. The area I am going – Venice, Louisiana – is on the coast and about 100 miles from New Orleans. I will try to post updates to my facebook and twitter if I have a connection. I will be documenting this trip with video and photographs that I will post on Carbon Free Girl from the gulf coast if I can and if not, when I get home.
Wish us luck. If anyone wants to join me as a volunteer, please contact the Deep Water Horizon response team at 1-866-448-5816. We need all the help we can get.
(April 28, 2009) Race car driver and environmental activist Leilani Münter is featured in the new tv series “Fast Forward” on Discovery’s Planet Green Network. The series tells the stories of thirteen unique visionaries in their quest to build a greener and healthier future for our planet.
Whether it’s a community advocate finding ways to make organic foods more accessible to everyone, an entrepreneur developing biofuels for air travel, or a star athlete determined to green her sport, Fast Forward provides an intimate look into the environmental projects of these passionate individuals. Filmed on location, we learn firsthand about the adversities, triumphs and driving forces behind their exceptional work.
Episodes are only 1 minute and 30 seconds in length so they play on Planet Green throughout the day. The first two episodes of the series began airing in late April and can also be viewedon Planet Green’s website. Leilani’s episode will begin airing in the coming weeks and once it airs on the network it will also be available online.
So be inspired, and see how we can all be a catalyst for positive change. Learn more about the “Fast Forward” tv series at PlanetGreen.com.
IZOD IndyCar Driver Milka Duno’s race at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach ended prematurely due to handling issues. The 85-lap race on the streets of downtown Long Beach, CA was Duno’s fourth race of the 2010 IndyCar season on a track that she had yet to compete on in an Indy car.
Pippa Mann scored a season-high eighth place in the Firestone Indy Lights, Grand Prix of Long Beach. Climbing four spots from the start of the race, Mann put in a strong performance at the Californian event, to take her first top ten finish of the year.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Danica Patrick knows she can’t supply crowd-pleasing excitement or deliver top-five finishes every time she hits the track.
Sure, Patrick’s picture has been rotated around the city on three billboards for months ahead of the inaugural Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, one encouraging locals to “See Danica Drive.” Certainly, she’ll be the most recognizable name — and face — running at a venue smack dab in NASCAR country.
For her part, Patrick isn’t promising to remain the center of attention once the racing begins Sunday.
“I’m not always going to have an exciting race, and I know that,” she said Friday. “It’s good when I do, because it’s good for me, it’s good for the sport, it’s good for everybody. If I don’t have an exciting race, I don’t. There’s nothing I can do about that, and that’s fine. I think the series is doing a good job of trying to make other drivers popular. I think that’s important. I don’t really feel any pressure.”
Patrick isn’t off to a drama-packed start. Her best finish in three Nationwide Series races was 31st. She was 15th out of 24 in the IndyCar opener in Brazil.
Patrick fared much better in St. Petersburg two weeks ago, maneuvering from 21st to seventh.
Danica Patrick, video game boss?
