Year: 2011

Categories
Volkswagen WRC

Experience top priority for Volkswagen WRC

Volkswagen Polo R WRC

Volkswagen is expected to name drivers for the development of its Polo R WRC program before the end of this year. That will allow the team to start testing in January. Dual-world rally champ and 2010 Dakar winner Carlos Sainz says experience is key. But with VW not actually starting competitive racing until 2013 that might be a tricky situation.

“It is important to get someone who has experience—the more experience the driver has the better it is for us,” Sainz explained to Motorsport News.

“It’s not just about getting lots of testing kilometres, they need to be quality kilometres. The problem is most drivers want to race so it’s not easy to find somebody who wants to take a whole year off to do some testing,” he said.

If you’re a young rally driver with sights on the WRC, don’t fret, Volkswagen might still have a spot for you too. “We have to make sure whoever we get is the best possible option for the team. Getting two drivers with experience will be our top priority, but we will plan for taking on at least one young driver,” said Sainz.

[Source: WRC]

Categories
BMW

BMW M3 with not one, not two, but three turbos

F30 BMW M3

This is a prototype model of the next BMW M3. While the test mule is a four-door sedan it’s understood the next M3 will be offered initially a traditional two-door coupé layout only. Slow sales of the current M3 sedan have made BMW think twice about repeating the experiment. It’s not been scrapped officially as best we can tell, but perhaps the next time we see four doors on an M3 it might be a fancy ‘coupé’ body style.

However, it’s so early in the development cycle that BMW doesn’t even have an F32 coupé mule to test with. Part of the reason for starting to push the M3 prematurely is the fact it looks likely it will be powered by a tri-turbo engine. That’s right, three turbochargers. Starting to look a bit like men’s razors where marketing teams add more and more blades by the day.

The base engine will be the familiar N5x 3.0 litre six cylinder twin-turbo, but in this more extreme state of tune, with the third turbo to be electrically powered, power numbers as high as 335kW (450hp) are being touted. That’s an impressive 85kW (115hp) increase on the numbers produced by the awesome 1M.

We thank F30post for the image and we recommend you follow the source link below for lots more.

[Source: F30post]

Categories
Bentley

Somebody, please, make it stop!

Bentley SUV rendering

“If Bentley were able to sell an SUV with the same level of craftsmanship as a Continental or Mulsanne, we could have an interesting success on our hands.

“I believe our version of the Cayenne could become our biggest selling vehicle… With an SUV, Porsche doubled in size.”

They are the harrowing words of Bentley CEO Wolfgang Durheimer. The worst part is, he is bloody right, too.

Yep, by 2014 the Volkswagen Group will have another marque flogging off an overpriced, underused SUV.

The irrepressible onslaught of the urban behemoths carries on. Nothing, it would seem, can be done to stop this progression of unnecessary excess. Peak oil? No. Global Financial Crisis? No. Sales just keep on climbing. Manufacturers keep on indulging our demands.

Sure they’re actually not too bad to drive. And in the small percentage of cases a luxo-SUV is actually fit for purpose it can be quite a rewarding experience. But, most are just a big hunk of metal that scream, “I’m loaded, now piss off!”

As a learned friend of AUSmotive has described this latest talk from Crewe like this, “The Bentley SUV is a Volkswagen Touareg with £100K of mesh on the front.”

[Source: Car | Thanks to Mark and Matt for the tips]

Categories
Accessories & Tech BMW

You probably would if you could

Imagine you are buying a BMW and you had the chance to take delivery of your new car direct from the factory in Munich. The opportunity to drive your pride and joy on some of the world’s greatest roads would be hard to pass up.

Strictly speaking, European Delivery is not something normally available to Australian customers. However, to see what we’re missing out on here’s a nicely made amateur video showing the roads that can be experienced.

From the YouTube description:

1100 miles of driving bliss through the Alps. Gliding through few of the world’s best roads with breathtaking views via Grossglockner Pass, St. Gotthard Pass, San Bernardino Pass, Flüela Pass, Munt La Schera, Umbrail Pass, Stelvio Pass to name a few.

After the break, the technically and gadget minded can see the camera set-up used to produce the clip.

[Source: E90post]

Continue reading “You probably would if you could”
Categories
Audi Holden Mazda Toyota VFACTS reports

New vehicle sales report – July 2011

FCAI banner

A total of 80,991 new vehicles were sold last month according to official VFACTS numbers. That represents a small drop of 1.7% compared to July 2010.

Steve Payne, FCAI Acting Chief Executive, explains the year-long trend is lower again, “While the drop in sales in July is small compared to the same month last year, the overall drop in sales for the year to date of 5.9% indicates that consumers are continuing to delay new vehicle purchases.”

The apparently unstoppable growth in SUV sales continues, with the segment up 1.8% against July last year. While the luxury end of the SUV market is up 17.4% on year-to-date figures.

Toyota returns to top the charts for the month (12,980 sales), with Holden (10,819) in second and Ford (7769) holding off Mazda and Hyundai.

Continue reading “New vehicle sales report – July 2011”
Categories
BMW

VIDEO: A transpotter’s guide to the new BMW M5

F10 BMW M5

A little while back BMW held a special event at its Nürburgring test centre to offer a closer look at its new V8-powered M5. Luckily for those of us who weren’t there, BMW allowed filming and photography. After the break you’ll see three videos from the preview.

Doing the talking are Albert Biermann, Head of BMW M engineering, and Bernd Limmer, engineer and test driver at M. Two pretty good hosts that know this car inside out.

The quality of the clips, especially the audio, is not fantastic, but for a first hand account of Munich’s new über saloon they will certainly satisfy your inner anorak.

[Source: BMWblog via Autoblog]

Continue reading “VIDEO: A transpotter’s guide to the new BMW M5”
Categories
Audi Green Machines

Audi says 1+1 equals ‘urban concept’

Audi urban concept

Audi has just released these sketch drawings of what they call the ‘urban concept’. Basically they’ve taken the Volkswagen XL1 and given it a personality. It looks pretty cool too, don’t you think.

The issue of whether a 1+1 seater electric powered city car is a genuinely practical proposition is another question altogether. Then there’s the free-standing wheels. They look great, but not sure they would make it into final production.

The ‘urban concept’ is powered by a pair of e-tron motors, one for each axle we assume. We also assume we’ll be seeing more of this car at Frankfurt next month.

Residents of Berlin were given a very brief preview of the car during a film shoot in Potsdamer Platz on the weekend. You can see a couple of YouTube clips after the break. It’s actually quite helpful to see the car in a real-world context. It’s not quite as small as you might think.

Continue reading “Audi says 1+1 equals ‘urban concept’”
Categories
BMW

BMW 1M smiles for the camera

BMW 1 Series M Coupe

After having two drives of the BMW 1M we can safely say we are big fans of the car. We know lots of you are fans, as well. BMW Australia is keen to try and secure more cars for local sale, but so far nothing has been confirmed. For now, if you don’t have a confirmed order, you’ll just have to make do with a few pics from Facebook.

Categories
Audi

2012 Audi A3 prototype spied

2012 Audi A3 prototype

Your looking at a prototype model of the next-generation Audi A3 which has just been spotted in Argentina. So far details have been pretty fluid on what to expect from the four-ringed Golf. We’ve seen a few sketches, some amateur renderings and even an official concept model. Until now, though, we’ve not seen anything real.

The pic shows a few obvious cosmetic changes to the front end with a revised bonnet, grille and lighting treatments. LED daytime running lights look like they could be moving out of the headlight cluster down where we’ve become accustomed to seeing foglights. Aside from that it’s a clear progression from the A3 we’re seeing on the streets today.

The development model seen above is a three-door and while we have seen three-door A3s kick off the new range in Australia in the past, don’t expect that to be the case third time around. If Australia does get a three-door it’s likely to be the available as an S3 only. It is understood Australia will get the full complement of five-door models.

[Source: Kilometer Magazine]

Categories
Ferrari Formula 1 McLaren

Hunt–Lauda contest to be made into F1 film

James Hunt

Academy Award winning movie director Ron Howard is in the early stages of bringing Formula One to film. This won’t be a documentary in the style of Senna, rather a big budget production with all the Hollywood trimmings. The movie will centre around the 1976 Formula One season.

That year saw an epic battle between loveable larrikin James Hunt and austere Austrian Niki Lauda. It was the year Lauda had his horrific crash at the Nürburgring Nordschleife and signalled the end of F1 races at the ‘Green Hell’.

Prior to the crash Lauda had already notched up five wins for the year and was fast heading towards his second world championship. Despite missing just two races as a result of his injuries the courageous Lauda would not win another race for the year.

In the latter stages of 1976, including the German Grand Prix, Hunt won four races of his own, giving him six victories in all for the year. It was enough to give the Briton his only world title by the narrowest margin possible, just one point.

Continue reading “Hunt–Lauda contest to be made into F1 film”
Categories
Jaguar

Jaguar XF Estate bringing cool to 2012

Jaguar XF estate rendering

After driving the Jaguar XF last year we learnt the prestige buyer need not head straight for the established German marques. The XF has sent Jaguar on a new journey, managing to throw away its sometimes staid past in favour of a style and sophistication found only in Modern Britainâ„¢. News that an Estate version is on the way only heightens our appreciation for the car. As the astute reader knows station wagons set the intellectual apart from the hordes of SUV lemmings.

The only sad news is that we only have this rendered image to go on for now. While the XF Estate is due for launch next year, it’s not expected we’ll see an official concept or pre-production version anytime soon.

[Source: Car]

Categories
Lamborghini

Last goodbye for Gallardo at Frankfurt?

Lamborghini Gallardo Super Trofeo

Last week Lamborghini told us they will be bringing a new “super sports car” to the Frankfurt Motor Show. They only teased us, of course, and the immediate speculation was the car in question could be a production version of the Sesto Elemento. A sub-1000kg 570hp beast revealed in concept form at last year’s Paris Motor Show.

Now, AutoExpress in the UK are saying they’ve been told the mystery model will be an extreme Gallardo honouring the machines used in the Super Trofeo one-make racing series.

Starting with a Gallardo LP560-4 as a base it’s reckoned Lambo will strip 110kg from the standard car’s weight. At 1300kg the model will be a further 40kg less than the ‘lightweight’ Superleggera.

Also expected to feature are a radically styled front splitter and rear wing. The final Gallardo will still source its power from the familiar 5.2 litre V10. Whether Lambo can find more than 570hp from the engine is unknown.

[Source: Auto Express]