Previously available only to premium Race2Play members, the official ISI Panoz car add-on for rFactor can now be downloaded by the unwashed masses. The mod includes four configurations of the Panoz including the GTS, the Esperante, the ALMS GT2, and the Panoz GTR-1. You'll find a list of download mirrors below. For Panoz setups, head over to rFactorCentral. The guys did a great job with this add-on and it's nice to see an officially licensed car like the Panoz make its way to rFactor.

"By acquiring the Esperante license, we're able to bring rFactor players the thrilling experience of driving this acclaimed auto with a level of accuracy not found anywhere else," said Gjon Camaj, Vice President of Product Development at ISI.

rFactor Panoz Addon Download Mirrors (96MB):
rFactor.net
Rapidshare
Mediafire
RacingFR
Local Mirror

2009 Update: Acura is footing the bill once again for live streaming video from the 12 Hours of Sebring. You can view the feed at SpeedTV. You may need to use Internet Explorer to see the video and I'm not sure if it will work for those of you outside of the US. Of course you can also see most of the race on TV via the Speed Channel but they'll be breaking away for a couple of hours to cover Nationwide Series qualifying and Sprint Cup practice at noon EST. We wouldn't want to miss that would we?

Just a quick note for you sports car fans. SpeedTV is providing free streaming video from the 12 Hours of Sebring via their Onboard Pass service. It's normally a premium service but Acura is picking up the tab today so it's available to everyone. Most of the race will be broadcast on the Speed Channel itself but there will be a 3 hour break mid-day for some NASCAR Busch Series coverage (don't get me started ...) so this will be a nice option for the non-NASCAR fans. Here's a link to the Speed Onboard Pass page where you can view the feeds. You will have to register (it's free) and if you have trouble getting the site to work in FireFox, switch to Internet Explorer and you should be fine.

I just noticed that NASCAR is providing a live video stream of the Busch Series road course race at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez this afternoon. The green flag drops at approximately 2:00PM EST but the online broadcast starts at 1:30. Of course it will also be available on ESPN.

Just in time for the start of NASCAR season, The Pits have released their highly anticipated Stock Car Challenge mod for rFactor. Here's a local download mirror (94MB) for the main mod and the 2006 Nextel Cup HiRes Carset (54MB). More download mirrors can be found in this thread at The Pits forum. There are tracks, setups, templates and low res skins available so head over there and check it out. The Pits also recently released a video preview of the mod.

Patch 1.1 Update: There is now a 1.1 patch (33MB) available for the TPSCC rFactor mod. For a list of changes, visit this thread at The Pits forum.

ISI has released their latest update for rFactor. You can download v1250 from this local mirror (11MB) or from the list of links provided at rFactor.net. For a list of changes and fixes included in the v1250 patch, head over to rF Central. You'll need to have v1150 already installed in order to apply the latest patch. Probably one of the biggest changes you'll notice is the new spotter. Just in time for that highly anticipated stock car mod? Let's hope so =)