Danica's Debut Marred By Pile-up

IndyCar driver and commercial darling Danica Patrick made her NASCAR debut at Daytona on Saturday, moving up and down the driver rankings before getting caught up in a 12-car pileup that effectively ended her day.

NASCAR may not have much of a following across the pond from the U.S., but Patrick’s debut was marked by a full-scale coverage blitz by almost every media outlet, the equivalent of Sky Sports showing a full length story of a GP2 racer.

Sponsorships are no longer guaranteed in either NASCAR or F1 because of the economic climate, and it will be interesting to see Patrick’s progress, and whether any private F1 teams will take advantage of a similar driver to offset developmental costs next season.

Training is number one in any sport, and auto racing is no exception. Dutch firm Cruden has the bases covered when it comes to NASCAR, Formula 1, and WRC–they supply teams with their very own, and supposedly dead-accurate race car simulator. Only previously available to race drivers, Cruden has now made their machine available to the public for a cool $200k. You’ll need some space to go along with that hefty bill, as the machine comes in at 7.5 by 10 feet in diameter; though we don’t think that you’d be limited on space if you can afford that kind of bill.

Three plasma screens, 5.1 surround sound, seat belt tensioners and six massive hydraulic struts are employed to make it seem real as possible. Us? We’d take a GT3 cup car instead, thank you very much.