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British fans get first look at Superleague Formula |
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Friday, 11 January 2008 |
With
Donington Park scheduled to host the opening round of the inaugural
Superleague Formula championship, British fans will get their first
opportunity to see the 750 horsepower V12 powered cars at this weekend’s
Autosport International – the Racing Car Show at Birmingham’s
National Exhibition Centre.
Located only 34.5 miles away from the NEC, Donington Park will host
the first of six 2008 events in Europe for the championship that
will feature the colours of the world’s leading football clubs
doing battle on track. The UK event will be staged on August 30-31.
Autosport International is the biggest motorsport show in the world,
featuring more than 850 exhibitors. Last year’s show attracted
more than 50,000 public visitors and 27,000 trade visitors.
Dutch football champions PSV Eindhoven and Brazilian greats Flamengo
will be represented with their cars on display at the Superleague
Formula stand #9230 in hall 9 at the NEC.
These two clubs join AC Milan, Borussia Dortmund, Olympiacos, RSC
Anderlecht, FC Basel and Galatasaray SK in the championship. Portuguese
club FC Porto will actually be officially launched this weekend.
With nine clubs already signed, a second Brazilian club is next
to be announced. A UK-based team has also been signed and will follow
shortly after. Superleague Formula has also agreed terms with clubs
from Spain, France, Mexico, Korea, Portugal and the United Arab
Emirates and these are scheduled to be announced during the next
weeks.
“We are thrilled to open our championship at Donington Park
next year and the Autosport International Show is a brilliant venue
for us to showcase the championship and give the fans an idea of
what they will see next year,” Superleague Formula President
and CEO, Alex Andreu said.
“Negotiations are continuing with a number of clubs to fill
the final 3 places and we are planning to add a second UK club to
our roster by the time we hit the track for the first time.”
Race fans will get to see the Elan Motorsports Technologies-built
cars on Saturday and Sunday of the NEC show, January 12-13. Media
and trade representatives had their first viewing today and tomorrow
(January 9-10).
Joining Elan Motorsport Technologies and engine supplier Menard
Competition Technologies (MCT), Superleague Formula today also announced
Pi Research as the chosen electronics supplier for the championship.
Pi Research has been selected to supply the entire electronics solution
for the Superleague Panoz DP09B car. The system will be based around
the company’s successful Sigma logging and control platform
that has been employed in Formula 1 and Champ Car.
In
addition to providing data acquisition, a Pectel SQ6M Engine Controller
and standalone gearbox controller will be included to manage the
MCT V12 engine and Hewland paddle-shift semi automatic gearbox.
Pi Research is the industry leader in data acquisition and analysis
software for all categories of motorsport. Its solutions are designed
to appeal to professional teams and club racers.
“Our goal for Superleague Formula is to have a car that provides
extremely high performance, sounds fantastic and is technically
advanced yet extremely reliable,” Superleague Formula Operations
Director, Robin Webb said.
“Pi Research are a market leader in their sector of the industry
and we are delighted welcome them to the championship. With Elan,
Menard and Pi, we are confident we have a very strong group of suppliers
that will provide us with a great end product.”
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