• NASCAR settles racial and sexual harassment lawsuit
• Mecachrome seeks protection from creditors
• Corvette Racing says Le Mans participation in not in question
• Detroit Grand Prix cancelled
• Cricket chairman criticises BBC Formula One deal
• EEMS hybrid seminar a success

US stock car racing sanctioning body NASCAR has settled the $225 million racial and sexual harassment lawsuit that was brought against it by a former employee.

The lawsuit filed in June by former NASCAR technical inspector and race official Mauricia Grant named at least 23 NASCAR officials and claimed that over a three year period from her hiring in 2005 she was subjected to an alleged pattern of comments and behaviour that created a hostile work environment.

Part of the agreement is to settle the suit is that the terms of the settlement will not be made public. Neither Grant nor NASCAR admitted liability or wrong doing in the settlement.

The Canadian headquartered company Mecachrome International Inc, which includes a French division that supplies manufacturing and engineering services to motorsport organisations including the Renault Sport Formula One team, has sought and obtained protection from it’s creditors in a Canadian court under the country’s Companies' Creditor Arrangement Act.

A statement issued by Mecachrome’s president and chief executive Christian Jacqmin said, "Our goal is to allow Mecachrome to continue to operate as a going concern for the benefit of all those affected, including our many loyal employees, customers and suppliers."

In November the company posted a 20.9 million Euro loss for the third trading quarter of 2008 and issued a statement expressing, “substantial doubt about the Company's ability to continue as a going concern.”

Mecachrome said its French subsidiaries have obtained similar protection from creditors in France.

Mecachrome International, which operates 11 plants in France and Canada, moved its head office to Montreal from France five years ago and became a public company in 2007 at which time its shares were trading at $14 each. Following this most recent development Mecachrome shares were being traded at 10 cents on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Members of the General Motors factory backed Corvette Racing team have denied reports that its participation in the 2009 Le Mans 24 hour race is in question.

Corvette Racing has competed in GT1 class of the Le Mans 24 hour race and the American Le Mans Series sportscar racing championship since 1999 winning GT1 at the race on five occasions and the winning the GT1 class in the ALMS eight times.

GM road racing manager Steve Wesoloski, told the American magazine Autoweek, "It's not true. We are still going ahead with our plans for a reduced program of Sebring, Long Beach and Le Mans. No one has come knocking to tell me otherwise. "We are, of course, prepared for all eventualities. It all hinges on what happens in Washington [with financial bailout talks]."

Corvette Racing team manager Doug Fehan told the UK’s Daily Sportscar website, “I can assure you, we will be racing the GT1 Corvette at Sebring, Long Beach and make its final appearance at Le Mans as announced.”

Following the 2009 Le Mans race Corvette Racing will concentrate on the development of a new GT2 racecar.

The 2009 staging of Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix race meeting, which was scheduled to take place next September and feature rounds of the IRL Indy Car series and the American Le Mans Series, has been cancelled.

IndyCar Series team owner Roger Penske is the chairman of the Downtown Detroit Partnership which organises the event. He told the American magazine Autoweek that the recently announced withdrawal of the factory backed Audi and Porsche teams from the ALMS was an influencing factor in the cancellation decision. He said, "Obviously, it's something we're disappointed in, but as good businessmen we've got to make a call. We have the assets to continue on, but there's no reason at this point to have an event that wouldn't be first-class.

"This is a real economic time of distress for everyone and we couldn't sit here and count on a lot of things happening that we know weren't going to happen, especially knowing we live in such a distressed area with unemployment and all the other things going on. We had to make the decision."

The chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board has criticised the BBC’s deal to broadcast coverage of the FIA Formula One World Championship in the UK in 2009 rather than making a bid for the rights to broadcast test match cricket.

In the Wisden Cricketer magazine ECB chairman Giles Clarke said, "It was extraordinarily disappointing that we should end up with a situation where tax-payers' money is being spent to pay for tax exiles to drive around a motor track on the other side of the world. I think it is thoroughly unattractive.

"Is that what tax-payers' money should be spent on? I don't think so and, as I have said, how many people [take part in] Formula One? The BBC could have used that money to buy two Twenty20 internationals a year."

In the 2004 the ECB signed an exclusive deal for live coverage of test cricket with the satellite television company Sky.

The Hybrids in Motorsport seminar organised by Motorsport Development UK’s Energy Efficient Motor Sport initiative, that was held at the Silverstone Innovation Centre earlier this month, was voted successful, informative and thought provoking by the EEMS Campaign Partner delegates who attended.

The day featured four detailed presentations and a panel discussion, with plenty of time allotted for networking opportunities. The first speaker was John Hilton of Flybrid Systems, who explained the attributes of the flywheel variant of Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS), which he contrasted with electric hybrid systems and detailed their possible uses and comparative performances in F1.

Paul Andrews from Oaktec gave the second presentation on their Oaktec Hybrids for Motorsport project, which has received EEMS support. Working on hybrid modelling with Warwick University's hybrid group, the Honda Insight and Civic hybrid rally cars have scored podium positions and class wins in national rallies, as well as running a trial in a circuit saloon car race. Now, Oaktec is forming new R&D alliances with Lotus Engineering and Bosch. John Poxon of Warwick Manufacturing Group joined Paul and presented the hybrid work undertaken at Warwick University on electric hybrid systems

Finally, David Hemming, Head of Engineering at Prodrive, focused on the factors that will drive hybrid development and the current relationship between the automotive industry and motorsport. A panel discussion ensued, covering how hybrids might be used in competition, how regulations affect development and future opportunities for the motorsport sector.

All seminar presentations are available for delegates to download from the EEMS website. A summary of the discussions will be made available to Campaign Partners.

Dates for the next two EEMS seminars will be announced shortly. Campaign Partners will be offered a 48 hour preferential booking period after which booking details will be available on the seminar website www.eems.delegate-management.com

There will also be a link from the EEMS website eemsonline.co.uk/events