BMW’S top U.S. sales executive says he is disappointed in the 5-series GT, Automotive News reports. “The disappointment I have is that I thought a lot of our 5-series station wagon customers would go with the GT,” Jim O’Donnell says. “In point of fact, that is not happening. We have lost those customers to the competition — mainly to Mercedes-Benz.
With its ungainly lift back and high load floor, the 5-series GT produced a lot of comments along the lines of “What were they thinking?” when it was introduced two years ago, but now it is official: Even BMW makes mistakes.
Designing and engineering new models is part art, part science: a billion-dollar bet on what the car buying public will want for years into the future. The deepest pitfalls come in trying to head off in a new direction, like a convertible minivan or an SUV with a coupe body. Despite all the market research, focus groups, and educated guesses, car companies can get it wrong. The design fails to catch hold, the market doesn’t develop, competition proves stronger than expected. Bottom line: They blew it.
Herewith, ten of the biggest mistakes currently on the market — plus two lulus from years past. Read More
Even though J.R. Hildebrand was surely heartbroken after last Sunday’s disappointing finish in the 100th Indy 500, he was back to work on Friday. He has shown steady improvement every race in this his rookie year and it would not be a surprise to see him in victory lane before the end of the season. Here is some news from his team on his latest test session.
J.R. Hildebrand from Sausalito answering questions after his 2nd place finish in the Indy 500.
MILWAUKEE, Wis. – (June 3, 2011) – JR Hildebrand, the Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year and runner-up in the Greatest Spectacle in Racing, returned to the cockpit of his No. 4 NationalGuard Panther Racing machine during a one-day test at the Milwaukee Mile on Friday. The 23-year-old rookie, who has burst onto the open-wheel racing scene after the dramatics surrounding his last-lap crash at Indy last Sunday, spent Friday at the challenging flat one-mile oval for the first time in an IndyCar and turned a total of 99 laps.
The team conducted its first test with Hildebrand in December of 2010 at another difficult one-mile short track oval, Phoenix International Raceway.
Hildebrand currently ranks eighth in the IZOD IndyCar Series championship standings and leads fellow rookie James Hinchcliffe by 33 points in the chase for the series Rookie of the Year. In his five starts with Panther this season he has collected two Top Ten and one Top Five finish. Last weekend at Indianapolis he led the race on three separate occasions for a total of seven laps, his first career laps led as an IndyCar Series competitor.
The IZOD IndyCar Series is off this weekend before traveling to Texas Motor Speedway next Saturday night for the Firestone Twin 275s, a pair of exciting races on the high-banked 1.5-mile oval. Panther Racing has collected a total of five victories at Texas with three different drivers.
JR Hildebrand, No. 4 National Guard Dallara Honda:
“For everybody at Panther Racing it was refreshing to focus on something different and Milwaukee and Indy are so different it was nice to be in a new situation and start moving forward. It’s been a couple years since I’ve ran here in anything, but we rolled out and were up to speed right away. We got settled in pretty quick and from there it was just all of us trying to make progress on the day. There were a lot of things I was picking up on as we worked through the day. It’s a different place, but having ran two days in Phoenix in December prepared me for running at Milwaukee even though those two tracks are very different. I got a good feel for short oval racing those two days at Phoenix and that served me really well today.”
“Indianapolis was a big sigh or relief for all of us because now we know we can do this right and be competitive. And we’re definitely taking that with us as we move forward. If you would have asked me at the beginning of the year the tracks were we’d be strong I would have told you Indy, Texas, Milwaukee and Iowa. But then from an attitude perspective, for me it will make for less pressure on all of us going back to road courses because we’ve shown we can do this and that simplifies the process and helps you get back to basics.”
Because Mother Nature is having a hard time discriminating between Winter and Summer, Stockton 99 Speedway felt it was better to error on the cautious side and has decided to cancel and reschedule the SRL Race that was to be run on Saturday, June 4th. The Race Date has been rescheduled to Saturday, June 18th, same time/event schedule. However, due to the change, the Ford Focus Midgets have been canceled on this particular race card along with the Legends of the Pacific, the Legends due to a scheduling conflict. Not to worry, though, because a tentative date has been set aside for rain-out, make-up races which will fall on July 30th.
So, on June 18th, the new lineup for the event will be as follows: SRL Spears Southwest Tour Series Late Models, Western Late Models, Super Stock, Bombers and Mini Cup. Please take note, however, there will be no Heat Races that night. We will go straight from Trophy Dashes into the Main Events. We will post more information as it becomes available in the next week or so.
Also, there will be Wedding Bells Chiming in the Breeze as Stockton 99 Speedway’s own Richard Reese ties the knot with his lovely bride-to-be, Kelly Collins. This is going to be a great night of entertainment, so please don’t forget to mark those calendars.
The New Stockton 99 Speedway is located at 4105 N. Wilson Way, ¼-mile west of Highway 99. For more information on tickets and times, please contact the Speedway Office at (209)466-9999 or visit their Website at www.stockton99.com.
The New Stockton 99 Speedway is sponsored by Jackson Rancheria Casino Hotel, California Welding Supply, Budweiser, Alamo Alarm and Stockton Hampton Inn and Suites and Lodi Holiday Express.
The New Stockton 99 Speedway Media Release
Media Relations – David Holman
