 |  |  |  |  |
 |
2008 Dallara Rahal Letterman Racing Indycar news, pictures, and information | ||
| Tweet | ||
The headquarters of Rahal Letterman Racing is one of the finest race shop facilities of its type in the world of motorsports. Encompassing nearly 60,000 square feet of space in suburban Columbus, Ohio, it houses, in two adjacent buildings, all of the personnel and equipment necessary to develop, field and maintain Rahal Letterman's IRL IndyCar Series and American Le Mans Series programs and in the past has housed the team's Champ Car, Atlantic, Indy Lights and Formula BMW programs.
The building provides space for 65 race team members and associates attending to Rahal's non-racing-related business enterprises. Each building features a lobby, which houses a retired car from the team's livery and many of the trophies and images commemorating past triumphs. Individual areas of the shop are specialized for the preparation and maintenance of the race cars: the main race shop, located in the new building, is where mechanical work on the IndyCar program is done; the composites area, where body panels are molded and created; the machine shop, where tools and parts are made; the fabrication area, where sheet metal parts are formed; the shock room, where suspension testing and production are completed; and a paint booth, where the cars are finished and decaled.
Though purpose-built to house a state-of-the-art race shop, the original building was not always home to Rahal Letterman Racing. Built in 1984, the facility originally was designed for the Hilliard, Ohio-based Truesports Racing team whose driver, ironically, was an Indy Car youngster by the name of Bobby Rahal.
When the Truesports team disbanded in 1992, a then-new team owner/driver Rahal coincidentally was lòòking for a permanent home for his new racing operation he had inherited from the purchase of Indianapolis-based Patrick Racing. He leased the building and promptly moved his fledgling team there in November of that year.
Rahal Letterman Racing broke ground in 2001 on a multimillion-dollar, state-of-the-art 22,000-square-foot race shop adjacent to the original location. The new race shop is the first phase of a planned 50,000-square-foot expansion that will comprise the team's headquarters for years to come.
It is from this campus that Rahal Letterman Racing has carved a niche as one of the prominent teams in North American open-wheel racing.Source - Rahal Letterman Racing
The building provides space for 65 race team members and associates attending to Rahal's non-racing-related business enterprises. Each building features a lobby, which houses a retired car from the team's livery and many of the trophies and images commemorating past triumphs. Individual areas of the shop are specialized for the preparation and maintenance of the race cars: the main race shop, located in the new building, is where mechanical work on the IndyCar program is done; the composites area, where body panels are molded and created; the machine shop, where tools and parts are made; the fabrication area, where sheet metal parts are formed; the shock room, where suspension testing and production are completed; and a paint booth, where the cars are finished and decaled.
Though purpose-built to house a state-of-the-art race shop, the original building was not always home to Rahal Letterman Racing. Built in 1984, the facility originally was designed for the Hilliard, Ohio-based Truesports Racing team whose driver, ironically, was an Indy Car youngster by the name of Bobby Rahal.
When the Truesports team disbanded in 1992, a then-new team owner/driver Rahal coincidentally was lòòking for a permanent home for his new racing operation he had inherited from the purchase of Indianapolis-based Patrick Racing. He leased the building and promptly moved his fledgling team there in November of that year.Rahal Letterman Racing broke ground in 2001 on a multimillion-dollar, state-of-the-art 22,000-square-foot race shop adjacent to the original location. The new race shop is the first phase of a planned 50,000-square-foot expansion that will comprise the team's headquarters for years to come.
 | Vital Stats |
| Engine : 3.5 L., 8-cylinder Power: 670 hp | |
|  |  |
Ryan Hunter-Reay
Bursting onto the IndyCar scene in dramatic fashion in 2007, Ryan Hunter-Reay is making his first full-season run in the IndyCar Series in 2008, driving the Ethanol-sponsored machine for Rahal Letterman Racing.Ryan joined the team in the middle of 2007, literally stepping into the cockpit at Mid-Ohio without ever turning a single lap of practice in an Indy Car. Únaffected, Hunter-Reay carried the car to a seventh-place finish on the tricky road course, one of three top-seven finishes that he would earn over his six-race stint wîth the team.
His strong finish to the season earned him the Bombardier Rookie-of-the-Year award, setting an IndyCar Series record for fewest races run by a ROY winner. He qualified fifth on the temporary road course at Detroit's Belle Isle Park, marking the team's best road-course starting spot in three seasons.
Karting provided the first step toward open-wheel stardom for Hunter-Reay as his successes there earned him the Skip Barber Big Scholarship, which included an entry to the Barber Dodge Pro Series as one of its rewards. Two years of BDPS competition groomed him for Toyota Atlantic action, where he scored three wins in his only season in the developmental series.
In 2003 he moved up to Champ Cars, where he became the first American-born rookie in 20 years to win a series event when he took the checkers at Surfers Paradise. He moved to Team Herdez in 2004 for his most successful Champ Car season, winning from pole at the Milwaukee Mile where he set a series record by leading all 250 laps of the race.
He has proven to be one of the more versatile racers in the country in the last few seasons, running not only in Champ Car and IndyCar, but also in sportscars and off-road vehicles. He held the lead in this year's 24 Hours of Daytona at the midway point of the race and has also competed in the grueling Baja 1000.
He is also a leading spokesman for the Ethanol movement, carrying the vital message of Ethanol and its environmental and performance benefits to the world through the #17 Ethanol-sponsored Rahal Letterman Racing Indy Car program.
• IndyCar Series Rookie of the Year - 2007
• First American Rookie in over a decade to earn a Podium (Mid-Ohio 2003)
• First American Rookie in over 20 years to Win a Champ Car Race (Surfers Paradise, Australia 2003) • Holds the record for the most laps lead (250) in a single race (Milwaukee 2004)
• Second youngest driver to ever Win a Street Race, youngest American to ever Win an Oval Race
• Recipient of the Greg Moore Legacy Award (2004) Source - Rahal Letterman Racing
Rahal Letterman Racing Battles Back To Finish 10th at Mid-Ohio
Fight the good fight every moment/Every minute, every day – TriumphMuch like in yesterday's qualifying for the IndyCar Series' Honda Indy 200 Presented by Westfield Insurance at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Rahal Letterman Racing and Ryan Hunter-Reay (#17 Ethanol Dallara/Honda/Firestone) found themselves stopped ankle-deep in the gravel trap at the beginning of their session.
But unlike yesterday, the team and its' second-year IndyCar star salvaged a strong ending to the day, coming from nearly two laps down to finish 10th, scoring the team's sixth top-10 finish of the season.
'These guys called some great pit strategy and we caught one yellow right at a time that helped us,' Hunter-Reay §äid. 'The Firestone tires really held up when we needed them to and it's great to come away wîth a top-ten finish after the start we had to the day. We couldn't afford to leave many more points on the table.'
The race took on a strange personality from the start as a summer downpour washed the track just before the start of the race, forcing everyone to start the event on treaded rain tires. Starting 15th, Hunter-Reay made up two spots on the first lap, but ended Lap 10 in the gravel trap as his inside move on Enrique Bernoldi sent both of them spinning off course.
The #17 car lost a lap as it was lifted out of the gravel, but Hunter-Reay was undaunted in his efforts to rejoin the fray. He climbed from 25th to 21st by Lap 29 and then got back on the lead lap by staying out during a Lap 38 caution for Milka Duno's spin, moving all the way around to the back of the pack when leaders Justin Wilson and Dan Wheldon pitted for fuel. (concept carz)
He and the team caught the break it needed on the subsequent restart as Hunter-Reay dove for pit lane on the restart for fuel, which would have allowed him to get fuel and tires and still stay on the lead lap, but as he did, Wilson triggered a five-car crash that essentially gave the team a free pit stop while also moving him up to 15th.
Pitting off-sequence from the rest of the leaders allowed him to climb to sixth by Lap 58 when he came in for his final fuel stop, just as Graham Rahal came to a stop after going off course. The fuel service set the #17 car up to go the remainder of the scheduled 85-lap distance without stopping and was designed to move the blue-and-green machine into the top five, but Hunter-Reay was called for a pit-lane speed violation upon leaving the pits, wîth the penalty calling for a low-speed drive-through trip to Pit Lane.
Mario Moraes' spin four laps later brought the field back together, allowing Hunter-Reay to close back on the rest of the field as he took the restart in 11th. He stretched the life of his Firestone tires for 42 laps and found his way to 10th when Bruno Junqueira pitted for fuel wîth 13 laps to go, earning his third Mid-Ohio top 10.
'We caught a break but then it got thrown in the trash by the speeding penalty,' Hunter-Reay lamented. 'But we stayed in the top 10 in the points and we'll go after it again next week.'Source - Rahal Letterman Racing
| Honda Chases 10Th Consecutive Indy Triumph | |
| 05/21/2013 - TORRANCE, Calif. An accomplished 16-driver lineup, including two previous race winners and 11 graduates of open-wheel training-ground series, make up the Honda-powered effort for the 2013 Indianapolis 500, as the company seeks its 10th consecutive '500' victory – and fourth-in-a-row with engine-manufacturer competition. In 2012, Target Chip Ganassi Racing's Dario Franchitti scored his third Indy triumph in a thrilling battle to the finish with fellow Honda drivers Takuma S...[Read more...] | |
| BMW TEAM RLL QUALIFIES 5TH AND 8TH FOR ALMS MONTEREY | |
 | Woodcliff Lake, N.J. – May 10, 2013 . . . BMW Team RLL will start in the fifth and eighth positions in tomorrow's four-hour American Le Mans Monterey race at Laguna Seca, the third round of the 2013 American Le Mans Series. Maxime Martin, driving the No. 55 Z4 GTE, set his quickest time in this afternoon's 15-minute qualifying session on his seventh lap of the 2.238-mile, 11-turn circuit. His lap of 1:22.990 minutes was only 0.258 seconds from the class pole time. Class co-leaders in D...[Read more...] |
| LONG BEACH NEXT FOR BMW TEAM RLL Z4 GTE DEBUT SEASON | |
| BMW Team RLL travels to Long Beach, California on April 20th for the second round of the 2013 American Le Mans Series season and the next act in the debut season of the BMW Z4 GTE. The new machines had an excellent first race at the season-opening 12 Hours of Sebring in March. Running competitive lap times at the sharp end of the GT field for the first two-thirds of the race, the team ultimately finished fourth and seventh after mechanical problems hindered any chance at challenging for the p...[Read more...] | |
| DEBUT FOR THE BMW Z4 GTE AND THE NEWLY STRUCTURED BMW TEAM RLL | |
| •Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts on board as Premium Partner again in 2013 Daytona (US), 12th February 2013. BMW is embarking on a new chapter of its motorsport commitment in North America: after four successful years with the BMW M3 GT, the new BMW Z4 GTE will take over at the head of the manufacturer's campaign in the 2013 American Le Mans Series (ALMS). On Tuesday, BMW Motorsport and BMW Team RLL presented the car and drivers for the new season at the 'Daytona International Speedway'...[Read more...] | |
| Skilton, Honda Performance Development Desert Pilot Celebrate Baja 500 Class Victory | |
 | was a very happy birthday for California Race & Rally driver Gavin Skilton, who drove his Honda Performance Development Desert Pilot to the Class 6 Unlimited 6-cylinder Trophy Truck victory in Saturday's 44th running of the Baja 500. Co-developed by the engineers at Honda Performance Development and California Race & Rally, the HPD Desert Pilot is a single-seat, tube-framed racer powered by a mid-engine, production-based Honda V-6 engine and featuring replica Honda Pilot bodywork. Developed ...[Read more...] |
| View more IRL vehicles |
| View more IndyCar vehicles |
| View more Indianapolis vehicles |
2008| Similarly Sized Vehicles from 2008 |
| Acura ARX-01B |
| Acura MDX |
| Aston Martin DBR9 Gulf Livery |
| Audi Q7 |
| Audi Q7 V12 TDI Coastline Concept |
| Audi R10 |
| BMW 528i |
| BMW 528xi |
| BMW 535i |
| BMW 535xi |
| Dallara: 2001-2010 |
| Similar Automakers |
| Dallara History |
| Other models by Dallara |
| Manufacturer Website |
| Related Articles and Event Coverage |
| Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio |
