Year: 2011

Categories
Audi

Audi RS1 is getting warmer

Audi RS1 prototype

At this year’s Wörthersee show Audi unwrapped the awesome 370kW A1 clubsport concept car. Not long after they told us Ingolstadt referred to the car as the RS1. Now we have some proof that the car is genuinely being considered.

The car you see above was photographed at Audi headquarters. If you follow the source link below you’ll see more pics. Okay, sure, it’s probably nothing more than an Audi Exclusive creation. But, it does have a quattro drivetrain (as evidenced in the pics) and, well, the rear sway bar wears a sticker with “RS1” on it (see inset).

Of course, there’s nothing official from Audi at the moment, but we very much like the idea of a hi-po RS1 pocket rocket so we’ll take any chance we can to believe such a car will be made.

At the recent Frankfurt Motor Show it was revealed by Volkswagen they would power their new Polo R WRC with a new 300hp 1.6 litre engine. And we reckon right about now you’re thinking what we’re thinking.

[Source: audi4ever via Fourtitude]

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Categories
Subaru

Subaru BRZ spied at the Nürburgring

Subaru BRZ prototype

The ‘baru’ part of the ‘Toybaru’ sportscar has just been seen in action at the Nürburgring. Officially called the Subaru BRZ the heavily disguised prototype, unsurprisingly, shares its basic proportions with the Toyota FT-86 II Concept. Although, the Subie does appear to be a little more conservative as far as the front spoiler goes. Hmm, more conservative than Toyota—that can’t be good.

When it goes on sale the BRZ will be the only Subaru on offer that is not all-wheel drive. It will keep a familiar four-cylinder boxer engine layout, which will power the rear wheels.

The BRZ is expected to be revealed at the Tokyo Motor Show in early December. This recent sighting also gives us an opportunity to catch up on some material from Frankfurt which we missed last month and that’s available for you now after the break.

[Source: WCF]

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Categories
BMW

BMW F30 3 Series to be revealed this Friday

BMW F30 3 Series

BMW has confirmed the wraps will officially come off its new F30 3 Series at a special launch event this Friday, 14 October.

The event will be streamed live from Munich via the BMW Group Facebook page. For those of us living on Australia’s eastern seaboard, we’ll need to wait until 1am on Saturday 15 October.

Categories
Holden Motorsports

What happens when a NASCAR driver turns right?

Darrell Waltrip with Jason Bright

Darrell Waltrip is a three time NASCAR champion. He was at Bathurst last weekend to cover the Super Cheap Auto 1000 for US television channel Speed. Jason Bright was kind enough to strap Waltrip into his Holden V8 Supercar and take his guest for a quick spin around the mountain. You can see the clip after the break and we can assure you that when a NASCAR driver turns right it’s not pretty.

The real shame of the video is the audio and visual are not in sync. More’s the pity we didn’t get to see Waltrip’s reaction the first time he started the descent at Skyline at full speed; to be fair if he’d never been around Mount Panorama before that would be quite hairy.

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Categories
F1 in pictures Ferrari Lotus McLaren Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing Renault

2011 Japanese Grand Prix in pictures

2011 Japanese Grand Prix

Here’s the pics from Suzuka where Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel were the stars at the 2011 Japanese Grand Prix. It’s one of AUSmotive’s biggest F1 race compilations ever, with 109 images for you after the break. There’s some fantastic shots in there too; the late afternoon light was captured perfectly by the world’s best photographers.

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Ferrari Formula 1 McLaren Red Bull Racing

2011 Japanese GP: Post-race press conference

2011 Japanese Grand Prix

Today’s Japanese Grand Prix was a story of two winners that almost ended in tears before the first corner. Sebastian Vettel had put his Red Bull on pole position ahead of Jenson Button’s McLaren. When the lights went out to start the race Button very nearly got past Vettel into the first turn. Perhaps he might have too had Vettel not squeezed Button onto the grass. The stewards looked at the incident and deemed it a fair move.

From that point on Vettel looked as though he would claim his second drivers’ world championship with a race win. However, a Safety Car period and a conservative approach conspired to push the 24-year-old back to third following sterling drives from Button and Fernando Alonso (Ferrari). Of course, third place was more than enough for Vettel to etch his name into the record books as the sport’s youngest ever dual-champion. And, in truth, the race win was just reward for Button who has been snapping at the heels of the Red Bulls for a few races now.

Seeing a Ferrari on the podium added some welcome colour, too. We expect the final four races will become something of a travelling carnival now. While there’s still likely to be a tight scrap for second place in the drivers’ title race—between Button (210pts), Alonso (202), Webber (194) and Hamilton (178)—it won’t quite have the same intensity as chasing the main prize.

For the Australians, Mark Webber drove a reasonable race, with good pace in the middle stages, to finish in fourth place. Two places better than his P6 starting position. While Daniel Ricciardo once again finished ahead of his more experienced HRT teammate, although that still amounted to second last.

Words from the first three drivers after the break. You may need to indulge Vettel, too, who had quite a lot to say about his second world crown.

[Pics: Red Bull/Getty Images]

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Categories
Formula 1 McLaren Red Bull Racing

2011 Japanese GP: Qualifying press conference

2011 Japanese Grand Prix

Red Bull Racing has hung onto its 100% pole position record for 2011 by just .009 seconds when Vettel went quickest in qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix. Today’s final qualifying segment was turning out to be a bit of a non-event—three drivers chose to conserve tyres for the race and did not set a time—but the closing few minutes had enough drama to keep chins wagging for some time.

The McLarens have been sharp all weekend, consistently topping the time sheets. Lewis Hamilton was shaping as the best threat yet to break Red Bull’s qualifying dominance. In the end, though, Sebastian Vettel found something within and claimed pole with a best time of 1:30.466. Jenson Button was ever so close behind, his time was 1:30.475.

For Lewis, who held provisional pole after the first run in Q3, it was a case of tough luck. Seven drivers went out for a late run with Hamilton, Mark Webber and Michael Schumacher at the end of the tail. With seconds remaining until the chequered flag fell for Q3, Lewis slowed to find a clear gap bewteen himself and Button ahead. In doing so Mark Webber pounced and overtook Hamilton with Schumacher following Webber through.

Only Webber managed to cross the line in time to set a final fast lap. No live footage of the incident was shown, but Hamilton’s ire was clear for all to see after he stepped out of his car. He elaborates a bit more in the press conference text available below. For his part, Mark has said the incident was nobody’s fault.

Vettel only needs to finish the race tenth or better to wrap up his second world drivers’ championship.

[Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

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Categories
Accessories & Tech Top Gear

Jeremy Clarkson tells you where to go

TomTom Top Gear limited edtion

TomTom is currently offering a Top Gear themed satnav system. The system is available in Australia for $299 and includes a Jeremy Clarkson voice option (audio samples below). Also offered is a Stig “silent mode” although we rather think a better option may have been some of his choice tunes or an audio book, perhaps. More details from TomTom can be read after the break.

[audio:http://www.ausmotive.com/audio/TomTom-Jeremy-Clarkson-01.mp3]
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Categories
Holden Hyundai Kia Toyota VFACTS reports

New vehicle sales report – September 2011

FCAI banner

Despite the demise of the Rick Damelian empire, one of Sydney’s largest dealership networks, new vehicle sales were buoyant last month. A total of 86,819 sales were registered, an increase of 1765 (2.1%) on the same month last year.

Year-to-date a total of 752,128 new vehicles have been sold and the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries remains hopeful 1 million sales can be reached for the fourth consecutive year.

New FCAI chief executive Ian Chalmers says, “Reduced sales in the second quarter of 2011 have set a challenging target for the final three months of the year, but industry resolve is high

“Sales stimulus by means of competition in the marketplace saw the third quarter end strongly, and we are now looking toward continued growth through to the end of the year.”

Toyota, Holden and Ford were the highest selling brands for September. While Corolla, Commodore and Hilux were the most purchased model lines.

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Categories
Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Red Bull still rooting for a Webber win

2010 Hungarian GP

While it is only the formality of a solitary point separating Sebastian Vettel from his second world crown, Red Bull Racing wants to see Mark Webber win at least one of the five remaining races in 2011.

“All of us want to see Mark get a victory before the end of the year, and we want to see him achieve the runner-up spot,” said Team Principal, Christian Horner.

“If we could convert both titles, and with both drivers at the top of the drivers’ championship, that for us would be an absolutely perfect year.”

Despite the brilliance shown at times by Webber in 2010 he still only finished third in the title race after a poor final race in Abu Dhabi. Plus, it’s now 14 months since Mark registered his most recent win, at Hungary.

Despite this Mark has shown he can win at some of F1’s greatest tracks, with wins at Monaco and Silverstone under his belt. No doubt he would like to add Suzuka to that list too.

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Categories
Lamborghini

Batman’s daily driver seen in Gotham

Lamborghini Aventador

Thanks to VadGTI from the The Car Lounge we can bring you these pics of Bruce Wayne’s Lamborghini Aventador. The Lambo was spotted on the set of The Dark Knight Rises, the latest Batman movie. Not too much else to add other than Wayne has good taste in cars. Actually, an Aventador would make quite a nice base for a bona fide Batmobile, don’t you think.

[Source: The Car Lounge via carscoop]

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Categories
Formula 1 Lotus Mercedes-Benz

2011 Japanese GP: Take a lap around Suzuka

Ahead of this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix we bring you two videos to refresh your memory of the legendary Suzuka layout. The first is onboard with Michael Schumacher in his Mercedes GP from 2010. Then, after the break Team Lotus puts Jarno Trulli into their simulator. It’s a bit low rent, to be honest, but the commentary from Trulli and the Renault F1 engineer offer a small insight into the 5.8km track.

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