BRITISH FANS SCORE FIRST LOOK AT SUPERLEAGUE FORMULA CAR
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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