DECEMBER 7, 2016

(John Thawley ~ Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com ~ 248.227.0110)
Editor-In-Chief's Note: We were pleased to feature the work of photographer extraordinaire - John Thawley - in AE again this year. John is a gifted talent who captures the images of major league sports car racing like no other. You can see John's entire "Best of" the sports car racing year gallery here, plus you can see more images in Fumes. Wordgirl and I are deeply grateful to John for allowing us to feature his exceptional work in the pages of Autoextremist.com. -PMD

Editor-In-Chief's Note: Yes, the rumors are flying that Sergio Marchionne, FCA's Dictator, is contemplating bringing the Dodge brand back to NASCAR. The bad news? I'm sure Brian France & Co. will interpret this development as a sign that everything is perfectly fine in NASCAR's world and that they don't need to change one damn thing. So the downward spiral of reduced in-person attendance, plummeting TV ratings, and the death-march of a schedule (the most ridiculous schedule in all of sports; and when you take the NBA and the NHL into account, that's really saying something) will continue on unabated, apparently. -PMD

(John Thawley ~ Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com ~ 248.227.0110)
Corvette Racing has confirmed that its full-season driver roster will remain unchanged for the upcoming 2017 racing season. Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen will be in the NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R; and Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner will wheel the NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R during both the IMSA season and the 24 Hours of Le Mans, pending invitations for the annual French endurance race. This will mark the sixth consecutive year that the full-season lineup features the same four drivers. In their combined Corvette Racing history, they have combined to win 105 races and 10 Driver’s Championships in IMSA competition. Corvette Racing also has amassed an IMSA-record 102 race victories. Corvette Racing swept all six GT Le Mans titles in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in 2016, while winning five times. The two Corvette C7.Rs will participate at an upcoming preseason test Dec. 13-14 at Daytona International Speedway. The team recorded a 1-2 finish in GTLM at last year’s Rolex 24 At Daytona with the two cars separated by just 0.034 seconds. Gavin and Milner used that as a springboard to three additional wins and the GTLM Driver’s Championship. Garcia and Magnussen were part of the runner-up entry at the Rolex, won overall at VIR and placed third in GTLM points.

(Ford performance images)
Ford Performance has unveiled an all-new, track-ready, non-street legal Shelby Mustang racing machine at the 2016 Performance Racing Industry show in Indianapolis. The Shelby FP350S - designed for road racing sprint events in classes including, but not limited to, Trans Am (TA3 and TA4), NASA and SCCA club racing (T1 and T2) - is the latest offering from Ford Performance, which has previously released a long line of turn-key race cars that include the FR500C, BOSS 302R and 302S, and most recently, the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge championship-winning Ford Shelby GT350R-C and GT4, unveiled at SEMA this year. Highlights of the all-new Shelby FP350S include:

• 5.2-liter four-valve-per-cylinder V8 engine prepared by Ford Performance Parts
• Modified unibody chassis with seam welding
• Six-point FIA-compliant roll cage
• Performance-oriented oil pan and oil cooler
• Tremec 3160 manual transmission with integral oil pump, shifter, 3.73 rear final drive ratio
• Racing exhaust system
  
• Racing tuned suspension components including electric steering calibrations, ultra-high-performance brake system
• 19 x 10.5-inch front,19 x 11-inch rear wheels
• Optional forged 18 x 11-inch race wheel package
• Optional Shelby FP350S custom graphics
• Ford Performance splitter and carbon fiber-construction adjustable rear wing
• MOTEC data acquisition system
• Sparco FIA-compliant racing seat, quick-release steering wheel

The all-new Shelby FP350S will be available to order at Ford Dealerships throughout the United States soon. For more information, go to https://performanceparts.ford.com.