DTM Racing 

The “Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft,” or German Touring Car Championship, begins April 29^th at the Hockenheim ring in Germany. It’s a ten-race series pitting Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz touring cars against one another. The series includes a show in Munich on July 14 and 15. I’m looking forward to covering this series since several DTM cars are featured in Forza 4. Let the German- manufacturer rivalries begin! Any favorites or thoughts on who will dominate? Comment in the RVM thread.

Check out the full DTM series schedule.

Aussie V8 Supercars 

For those of you new to Aussie racing (like me), there are two races for each event, one Saturday and one Sunday. With two race weekends already past, Jamie Whincup has taken first in three of the four races with Wil Davison and Ford Performance Racing taking a win in Sunday’s opening weekend Clipsal 500 in Adelaide. Combined with his second place on Saturday, Davison won the Adelaide Clipsal 500. Whincup and his Vodafone Holden took first in both races at the following week’s Tasmania Challenge, giving him the weekend win despite an early race spin on Sunday.  Davison currently leads the championship overall by 18 points.

This Thursday, Nissan will be unveiling their Altima-based V8 Supercar competitor for the 2013 season at the New York Auto Show. Check it out if you get a chance.

Here is the Aussie V8 Supercars championship event calendar.

NASCAR 

A crash on lap 498 at the Goody’s Fast Relief 500 in Martinsville took out race leaders Jeff Gordon and Jimmy Johnson. Ryan Newman, driving the #39 Outback Steakhouse Chevrolet, saw his chance to take the lead and he ran with it. He battled clean, final laps with A.J. Allmendinger in the #22 Dodge, who was happy to score a second place standing--his best so far--as a NASCAR driver. Newman was blamed by some to have caused the wrecks that took out the leaders, but several replays of the event show he was not. Clint Bowyer’s #15 Toyota clearly caused the wreck by going wide into the tight corner and bumping Jeff Gordon’s #24, who then slid into Jimmie Johnson’s #48. After the race, according to Newman, Gordon came up to Newman and hit him. Newman kept his cool and felt no reason to apologize for the incident. Third went to Dale Earnhardt Jr., who holds second place in the point standings behind Greg Biffle. Do you agree that Newman won cleanly? Comment here.

Community Racing 

Community Bounty, “Panda’s Slide Castle” 

Last week’s Community Bounty was greenPandaMeow. He is a talented painter, who recently won our race-replica paint contest. His event is, the Sachs Kurve Drift Rivals. Known more for his painting than his drifting, Panda concedes that many will beat his score, a fair 22,522, as of writing this. He also brought several side challenges to the table. Side challenge winners will receive cool custom liveried rides from Panda. His first side challenge, “Name the Event,” was won by TheBR0WNbandit for his submission, “Pandas Bearly Drift.” Other challenges offered were: Match Panda’s Score challenge, Best E28 drift score, and Panda’s Big Throwdown, a chance to boast about how badly you would beat Panda’s score. Thanks to Panda for all the fun extras, cool prizes, and a strong effort on his part. Look for the next Rivals Community Bounty victim tomorrow.

Race with Dev Recap 

We held our first Game with Devs event in several months last Thursday and it was my first one ever. A good time was had by all and we gave out almost 400 unicorns, the most ever in Game with Dev history. Each of us had their own approach to the event, Mechberg T10 did circuit racing in a variety of classes, phREDESIGN had soccer going, and Ayo Jube had some crazy events that were all his own. For my part, I offered A-class circuit racing against my tricked and tuned VW R32. While I didn’t win any races, several people did comment on how fast my ride was. Sadly, my driving just wasn’t up to par. In circuit racing, we tried to race clean and in soccer Fred learned that simulation damage doesn’t go too far with front-engine cars. Brian, found out more than he needed to know about why anyone would use the Gamertag DiarheaRobusto (you’ll have to ask him, I just can’t go there). Bacon was also a popular topic of discussion.  Mmmmmm! Bacon!

How often would you folks like to see these events? Even though we would love to, every day is probably not going to happen. Post your thoughts in the RVM thread.

Hot Wheels and Matchbox in Forza  

I love Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars, I always have. So, I have been building a collection of cool die-cast rides for my boy. That way, I get to buy the cars I like and say they are for him. While shopping, I thought of Forza and wondered just how many Hot Wheels and Matchbox models are in the game. Has anyone else ever followed this tangent before? Which cars have you seen or purchased that are in Forza? I’m buying all I see and going to line my desk with them. Tell me what you’ve seen in the RVM thread.

Desert 100 – Washington’s Premier Desert Race 

While Brian and many others were at Emerald City Comicon in Seattle, I was out in eastern Washington, with my dirt bike living in the sagebrush desert and participating in the Ironman Poker Run at the Desert 100. The Desert 100 is an open-desert motocross race with classes for any type of rider. The Ironman is a 70-mile course that is non-competitive but grueling nonetheless. You get a poker card at each of the five checkpoints and the best hands win trophies. This was my tenth year and my third trophy. It also included my first crash in six years and I have a nice bruise and limp to show for it. Do you think the concept of a Poker run could work in a Forza race? I think it’s a cool idea and would love to see somebody employ it.  Think point-to-point. How would you deploy cards at check points? Discuss, in the RVM thread.