Baltimore’s Grand Prix, an IndyCar Series race, is in great jeopardy when the city terminated its contact with the organizers of the race. The city has been warning Baltimore Racing Development that they would terminate its five-year contract if BRD failed to pay the $1.5 million owed to the city by the end of 2011.

Now it’s 2012 and BRD hasn’t paid up, forcing Baltimore to pull the plug, opening the door to others interested in continuing the race in future years. BRD was responsible for organizing the Baltimore Grand Prix and their duties ranged from bringing the fencing to line the course to selling sponsorships and tickets to the event.

The Mayor of Baltimore, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, had hoped that the BRD would restructure in order to pay their debts before the end of the year as the Grand Prix had generated $47 million in economic impact for Baltimore. ”The event, if conducted responsibly, has significant economic value to potential investors and the City this year and in future years,” said Rawlings-Blake.

BRD currently has almost $600,000 in unpaid taxes along with lawsuits from investors and vendors.

[Source: WTOP via Autoblog]

Lotus Motorsport achieved a couple of major milestones recently, firing up their first ever IndyCar engine while also giving their Exige R-GT Rally car its first shakedown runs – both of which occurred within 24 hours.

On December 22nd at Dallara’s headquarters in Varano Melegari, Palma, Lotus successfully started up the first official IndyCar engine while under the observance of Group Lotus Director of Motorsport Claudio Berro and his team’s technicians. Once they were satisfied with the overall results from the engine, the team began preparations to have the powerplant and car shipped to the United States where full testing will begin in January.

“The fire up in the car went really well, there were no nasty surprises and I think our partners are going to be very happy with the results. It was only October last year that we announced that we would become an IndyCar engine supplier and just 12 months on, we had an all new Lotus engine and three teams signed up – Bryan Herta Autosport, Dreyer and Reinbold Racing, and HVM Racing. We’ve still got a lot of work to do ahead of the start of the 2012 IZOD IndyCar season but so far I’m very encouraged by what I see”, said Claudio Berro.

Lotus also had their first shakedown runs in their Exige S R-GT Rally car in Turin with the team delighted with the results. Testing on the rally car will continue in the new year in preparations for the 2012 FIA World Rally Championship where the Exige will compete in the FIA GT category. It’s powered by a 3.5L, supercharged powerplant and looks to be a formidable race car in the series.

GALLERY: Lotus IndyCar Engine and Exige R-GT Rally

IndyCar has released the cause of Dan Wheldon’s death as a non-survivable injury when his head hit a post in the fencing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The two-time Indianapolis winner was killed in a 15-car accident at the October 16th race when his car was launched into the catch fence.

Beyond that, details were light and unfortunately no one reason could be singled out as the cause of the accident – making it difficult for Las Vegas Speedway to potentially make any changes in order to make the track safer. Investigators referred to the accident as a “perfect storm” and IndyCar said that ”impossible to determine with certainty that the result would have been any different if one or more of the factors did not exist.”

IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard reiterated that the size of the field and the banking itself were not the sole responsible for the accident.

[Source: Fox News]

In the wake of the tragic crash that caused Dan Wheldon’s unfortunate passing, the IndyCar Series has decided to remove the Las Vegas race from its 2012 schedule. 2011 was the first year Las Vegas Speedway’s oval was used for open-wheel racing since 2005, and a massive 15-car accident was the result, involving the death of Dan Wheldon (above).

Currently officials have been testing at the Vegas track to see what can be done, if anything, to make the oval safer. But for now, IndyCar plans to stay away from the track.

[Source: Autoblog]

With 2012 just around the corner now, Chevrolet is hyping up its return to IndyCar where they haven’t been racing for six years. Their return also means the development of a new engine for the racing series, where they hope to take what they learn on the track and apply it to their passenger vehicles.

Their upcoming IndyCar campaign will be powered by a brand new, twin-turbocharged, direct-injected V6 powerplant that runs on renewable E85 ethanol fuel. The excitement and buzz surrounding the program couldn’t be more optimistic, as Chevrolet hopes to transfer a lot of that technology to the street in their upcoming production models.

And if their proven success with their ALMS Corvettes is any indication of what’s to come in production tech-transfer, most of us will be wishing Chevy didn’t take a six year hiatus from IndyCar.

Check out a video after the break showing off what Chevy has in store for the 2012 IndyCar season.

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The IZOD IndyCar Series will be brought to China for the first time in a race scheduled on August 19, 2012.

Held in Qingdao, China, located between Beijing and Shanghai, this coastal city has previously hosted the 2008 Summer Olympic sailing competitions. Until finances can provide for a proper racing circuit to be constructed, a 6.2 kilometer street course will designed for the event for the time being. Unfortunately, the addition to the IZOD IndyCar racing schedule will knock Japan’s Motegi circuit, previously the only race in Asia to hold a major American open-wheel series, off the list.

Motivation for IndyCar’s new schedule for next season has a lot to do with up-and-coming talent, Ho-Pin Tung, the first Chinese racing driver to participate in American open-wheel racing.

[Source: Autoblog]

Finishing runner up two years in a row, Dan Wheldon topped the podium at the Indy 500 earlier this year. Wheldon’s life ended tragically today during the final race of the 2011 IndyCar season.

The British-born driver of the Bryan Herta Autosport car was involved in a terrifying 15 car accident during the Las Vegas 300. Airlifted to hospital he eventually succumbed to his injuries.

Wheldon’s career highlights include another Indy 500 win back in 2005.

Born in 1978 Wheldon leaves behind his wife Susie Behm (whom he married in 2008), as well as his two sons, Sebastian (born on February 1 2009) and Oliver (born March 19th of this year). Our thoughts and prayers go out to them.

In NASCAR they always talk about “The Big One”. But it was this weekend’s series finale of the IndyCar Series that saw a catastrophic crash totaling 15 cars. Included in the mess was Indy 500 winner Dan Wheldon who suffered what could be serious injuries and has been airlifted to hospital.

Other drivers involved in the pile-up that saw several vehicles take flight at 200-mph include James Jakes, Wade Cunningham, Paul Tracy, Vitor Meira, JR Hildebrand, Townsend Bell, Jay Howard, Tomas Scheckter, Charlie Kimball, EJ Viso, Alex Lloyd, Pippa Mann, Will Power and Buddy Rice.

***UPDATE: Dan Wheldon has died. Click here for full story ***

Watch the video after the jump:

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The world of Formula One has been flipped upside down by new regulations approving the switch from current V8 engines to V6 turbos. The rev limiter has also been lowered from 18,000 rpm to 15,000 as a major change. As a result, many companies associated with the commercial side of the sport are very concerned about a decline in popularity. Renault and the FIA want to see F1 become more environmentally active while Ferrari and Bernie Ecclestone feel that abandoning what F1 has become known for will affect ticket sales.

In fact, some companies and race promoters are becoming antsy and are threatening to move to IndyCar racing instead. Promoters feel that the signature engine note produced by the V8, V10 and V12 engines will be lost, and with it, a major part of Formula 1′s branding. Bernie Ecclestone cannot blame the companies and could hardly hold the race promoters at fault. Switching to V6 engines may prove to be trickier than imagined because the F1 is a bigger spectacle these days than it was in the past, when the racing itself mattered more than the commercial aspect.

[Source: Autoblog]

The outrageously dramatic last lap of the Indianapolis 500 will be talked about for years to come. JR Hildebrand, in a freak accident lost first place and $1.5 million in the last mile of the race. On the final turn of the last lap Hildebrand, overtook a slower car and slammed into the safety wall, allowing Dan Wheldon to win the Indy 500 on the 100th anniversary of the race.

Wheldon received $2,567,255 for his victory while Hildebrand coasted his dying race car into second place to win $1,064,895.

“It came down to a split-second decision,” Hildebrand said. “Am I going to go for it here and go around and try to make this work on the high side, or am I going to risk slowing down significantly in into a corner to stay behind the 83 (Charlie Kimball), who was trying to get out of the way as much as possible? But it is, as Mr. Unser so eloquently put it, a one-groove track.”

Hildebrand said he learned a hard lesson about racing that day and can be seen very clearly in the video.

“Sometimes, this race, you need a little luck,” he said. “The stars need to be aligned for you to go through 500 miles, and it was not our day.”

Watch the spectacular win after the jump!

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