auto racing
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Gear up to go racing with Tracktivity
If you are an auto racing fan or an enthusiast who likes to me more involved that just watching races, you should check out Tracktivity. This free universal app runs on iOS 7.1 or later and will help you be better informed and keep up to speed on the auto racing activities in your area. Tracktivity has information on thousands of race tracks in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand including major NASCAR and IndyCar facilities like the Daytona International Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, and Phoenix International Raceway. You will also find all the local tracks including go-karting facilities, quarter mile dirt tracks and the small tracks that run a variety of races on weekends. The app provides details on the type of track, oval, road course, karting track, etc. plus what type of surface they race on, when the track is open, the web site URL if the track has one, and the types of races they hold. You can also check to see if the track is available for rental or for other racing enthusiasts like yourself to get out and take a few laps either as part of an organized event or perhaps a local racing or driving school. Additionally you can find out if they have spectator seating, parking for cars or RVs, if garage space can be rented, what fuel is sold at the track, and even if they have a garage area to repair your car if something happens while running. If you are just interested in watching others race, you can do a search to find racing events that might be taking place anywhere near your location. The event listing provides the date and time of the event, what activities are taking place, contact information to obtain the specific details about registering to participate or admission costs plus the costs associated with participating. Tracktivity has formed partnerships with a number of the tracks, mostly smaller ones but also some of the major venues like Bristol Motor Speedway. Through the app's Race Control section, the tracks will send out notifications with information on the latest track news, invitations, offers, and promotions at the track, last minute schedule changes and even results once the event is completed. And if you are in an unfamiliar area and not sure where the track is located, users can get navigational assistance directly from the app with turn by turn directions using Apple Maps. Tracktivity developers claim the app contains information on more than two thousand tracks currently with more to come and in more countries. During my use of Tracktivity, I found a lot more tracks without partnerships than those listed as partners so getting updates from your favorite track isn't a sure thing. However, I did find a large amount of information contained in Tracktivity that I believe will be useful to racing fans and enthusiasts including listings for tracks I didn't even know existed within a few miles of where I live. So as the year progresses and racing season gets underway, you should add Tracktivity to your device and take advantage of all the information it contains.
The yellow flag is out for the motorsport.com app
If you are an auto racing enthusiast, regardless of what form of racing you follow, the motorsport.com app is one you should check out. The free universal app requires iOS 7.0 or later and is a winner is some areas but comes up short of the finish line in others. This app is a one stop location for news, photos, and videos of Formula 1, NASCAR, Indy Car, endurance racing, drag racing, dirt track events, motorcycles, and dozens of other racing series here in the United States and around the world. The app opens with the latest news from all of the various racing series. You can then slide the title bar to the left to choose specific series including all the ones named above. The web site employs its own staff and all the stories I read came from members of the staff likely using a variety of services and their own sources for the information. Some of the categories were up to date with new stories but in others I found no new stories posted for more than six weeks. Drag racing for example had a story from November 26th but the next story was dated back in July, then one in June and then the next story was posted way back in January. So it appears some racing series are covered more thoroughly than others. One area I did find appealing is the selection of photos available. You will find more than one million photos posted in the app covering races and events going back to 1921. Users can utilize a search function to narrow the vast number of photos to a more workable amount. For example I did a search for the Michigan 500 and found more than three hundred photos. Another search for Al Unser Jr. found just under a thousand photos. Users can share the photos easily through the app with friends and followers via Facebook and Twitter. You can also upload your own photos to the web site and app if you have pictures from a race, an event featuring a driver, or just about anything else to do with racing. In the video section users will find a large number of available videos from all the racing series. The videos include stories about drivers, races, technical changes, and a variety of topics. You will also see interviews and news conferences plus highlights for specific drivers or races. I even found the complete two hour plus Indy Car race from Sonoma. There is no shortage of material here. For the most part the motorport.com app mirrors the web site. I did a check though and found more news stories on the web site. To be sure you are getting the latest information the web site is the best bet but for pictures and video the app works just fine. So for now we will wave the Caution flag on the app until they get the same news updated to the app that is on the web site.
100 straight, October 4, don't cut: WRC schedule for HD Theater revealed
We finally know exactly when Discovery HD Theater will deliver the rally racing action it promised now that the official schedule has been revealed. Our friends at Autoblog have plenty of pics to gawk over while we mark off the days, check after the break for the PR with dates and times, plus a preview trailer. We're not sold on how the new NA engines in WRC may sound in 5.1, but we'll always take more HD racing action, you hear that Bernie?
GTS World Racing on sale
One of my favorite racing games for iPhone / iPod touch is GTS World Racing from Handmark and Astraware. If you haven't loaded this fun app on your pocket pal, you might want to race over to the App Store before October 19th since GTS World Racing is on sale (click opens iTunes) for $2.99.This action-filled race game features a number of different cars, countries, and tracks, and uses the accelerometer to control the speed and direction of the car. It's a much more realistic racing game than Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D or Cro-Mag RallyFor more info about the app, including a movie showing the game in action, check out our August preview of GTS World Racing.
If FOX really got HD, the US GP would be in HD today
While some networks seem to lead the way in HD, -- like CBS producing the very first NFL game in HD almost 10 years ago -- other networks just can't stop dragging their feet. Sure FOX shows up sometimes, -- like producing 6 NFL games a week in HD, even if they don't look that great -- but they still confuse consumers with their "FOX Widescreen" and there are still many events that deserve the HD treatment, but don't get it. Sure F1 racing isn't very popular in the US, but it is just a kick in the head to every US F1 fan when FOX down-grades the signal here, because they aren't willing to pay a dime extra to F1 to upgrade the signal. So while the rest of the world at least gets widescreen coverage, US fans will have to settle for 4x3 SD. The economics of a single event aside, the overall image of the network is diminished when they fail to deliver on a major worldwide event like the US GP. **UPDATE** FOX did step up and at least present the race in EDTV, which we are grateful for, but it still isn't HD -- lucky for us, the US Open is.
