Fancy a gander inside a secret BMW production line where all new prototypes are hand built? Lucky for you BMW USA has lifted the lid on this once secret facility, known as Plant Zero.
It’s a little bit nerdy, but hey, if you’re reading AUSmotive there’s every chance you’re a proper car nerd anyway.
We just want to know how they make that crazy 3D puzzle camouflage that you first see at around 2:15 in the video above. That looks pretty wild!
Things didn’t go too well for Jimmy Keeney at the Global RallyCross Championships in California on the weekend. As you can see he made a bit of a hash of it. The accident happened after a jump, which seemed to go very well; until he landed.
The good news is that Keeney and his co-driver were unharmed. The Subaru WRX, on the other hand, suffered multiple cuts and abrasions. Keeney’s worst fears were confirmed when doctors advised the damage wouldn’t buff right out.
Check out video footage of the crash after the, erm, jump, I mean, break. Oh, that doesn’t work, either.
[Source: Autoblog]
Portuguese driver Armindo Araujo created headlines by mixing it with the higher spec WRC cars on the first day of competition at Rally Portugal. Araujo had the honour of making the competition debut in the MINI John Cooper Works S2000 in the event.
By the end of Day 1 the Portuguese was sitting pretty in seventh outright, just 97 seconds behind fifth place. From there, though, a combination of bad luck and mechanical gremlins conspired against hopes of moving further up the time sheets.
Speaking after the event Armindo said, “Obviously I am sad not to have completed the rally in front of my home fans. Despite this I am extremely optimistic looking ahead.
“The set-up of the car was fantastic. Punctures are part of rallying, and the engine has been sent off for analysis. I am certain we can solve the problem quickly. We have plenty of time before the start of the Rally d’Italia on 5th May.”
It’s in Italy, too, that the MINI WRC will make its race debut with Briton Kris Meeke and Spaniard Dani Sordo at the wheel.
[Source: MINI Motorsport | Pic: Brian Butcher via Rally Buzz]
The other Sebastien at Citroën has made up for his disappointment at Rally Mexico by claiming a comfortable win at Rally Portugal on the weekend. Ogier drove a tactically astute race and finished more than 30 seconds ahead of his more decorated compatriot and DS3 WRC teammate Sebastien Loeb.
Ford driver Miko Hirvonen finished fourth, allowing him to cling onto the championship lead with 58 points, although he now shares that honour with Loeb. Fellow Ford competitor Jari Matti Latvala sits in third on 48 points, while Ogier is fourth with a tally of 41 points.
The next rally will take place in Jordan during mid-April.
There’s more from Citroën after the break.
Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher unsurprisingly star in this new promo for Mercedes GP. However, it’s a cameo performance from two-time F1 champ Mika Hakkinen that steals the show. It’s not the first time Mercedes has used Mika in an ad, but this time he delivers a much better punch. Who said the Germans don’t have a sense of humor!
[via Motorcentral]
Making a return to AUSmotive in 2011 is our Grand Prix in pictures series. To kick it off here’s 93 images from the Australian Grand Prix to get you back in the mood for what will be a long and, no doubt, intriguing Formula One season.
Sebastian Vettel capped off a dominant qualifying display with a matching performance in the main race today. Put simply, the Red Bull driver was unstoppable.
Perhaps the most telling demonstration of this lies in the tale of the pit stops, where Vettel required just two stops compared to his teammate, Mark Webber, who munched his way through four sets of the new Pirelli rubber. Off the pace and one extra stop left the hometown hero falling well short of expectations back in fifth place.
Lewis Hamilton finished where he started, which is to say he put in a strong performance and brought his McLaren home in a comfortable second place. This despite a broken undertray which must have caused instability through corners.
Coming home in third was a super impressive Vitaly Petrov in the Lotus Renault GP machine. In many ways the Russian had the quietest race of all, nestled in between his more fancied rivals. It was a great effort and it’s also the first time we’ve seen a Russian on the podium in Formula One.
In breaking news the strong debut performance from Mexico’s Sergio Perez has been thrown into chaos following a decision to disqualify both Sauber C30s for a technical infringement concerning their rear wings. Perez and teammate Kamui Kobayashi finished the race in seventh and eighth places respectively. Perez needing just one tyre stop.
The full transcript from the post-race press conference featuring the first three men can be read after the break.
[Pic: Red Bull Racing/Getty Images]
A sublime qualifying performance from Sebastian Vettel has left Mark Webber bewildered ahead of the 2011 Australian Grand Prix. The Red Bull Racing duo were expected to close out the front row, but McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton had other ideas splitting the pair on the way to second on the grid.
Vettel’s lap time of 1m 23.529s is the fastest ever lap around Melbourne’s Albert Park circuit. It was also a staggering eight tenths quicker than the best Lewis Hamilton could muster (1m 24.307s). Meanwhile, Webber was close to Lewis, but not close enough in third (1m 24.395s).
The times posted by Red Bull Racing are cloaked with intrigue after it was revealed neither driver had used KERS at all during qualifying. Webber added to the mystery when he stated, “We didn’t run it [KERS] today for reasons we will keep in the team.”
You can read the full transcript from the post-qualifying press conference featuring all three drivers after the break.
[Pic: Red Bull Racing/Getty Images]
In the second part of our “Nowhere man” special you’ll read all about Tom’s on-track action, after he was given the chance to share the limelight with the celebrities at the 2002 Australian Grand Prix.
We watch the F1 cars do their qualifying sessions and have lunch with the celebs at the BMW facility. We get a great pit walk, seeing all the F1 cars up close, as well as the absolute extravagance of the teams. The weather is not good all day and the F1 cars have a tough time in their sessions. I am pretty happy, as my third place is fine, but the thought of trying to go fast in the wet is making us all very nervous. Geoff Brabham informs us in the briefing that we’re going onto the track no matter what the conditions.
In the build up to tomorrow’s Grand Prix here is a tale that will warm the hearts of most readers. It tells of the chance given to a regular guy, called Tom Browell, to participate in the celebrity race at the 2002 Australian Grand Prix. It’s a long piece so it’s been split it into two parts. It’s a lot of fun, though and definitely worth reading…
I arrived home on Sunday (17th February) to find an unusual message on the answering machine left by “Sherryn from Qantas corporate marketingâ€. I thought it was just someone doing a survey, but my wife Zoë asked if I had entered any contests. I remembered entering something on the Qantas web page, “To win a MINI, I think?†I called Sherryn back who said, “Do you remember entering a competition on the Qantas web site? You are one of five finalists.†I had to ask, “A finalist in what?†and Sherryn started to explain the prize: fly to Melbourne, participate in the MINI Celebrity Challenge driver training at Sandown raceway and maybe get picked for the celebrity race at the Australian Grand Prix. In any case, I’ll stay the week and go to the Grand Prix with corporate hospitality for two people. All the while, I’m giving Zoë the thumbs-up and she thinks I’ve won a new MINI.
Hats off to Vodafone Australia for releasing this on board footage on YouTube showcasing Jenson Button’s 1:48 lap around Mount Panorama last Tuesday. That’s a great lap time, of course, but how quick could a fully prepped F1 car go around the 6.2km track? It seems a widely held belief the four-year-old McLaren MP4-23 was running at about 85% of its full potential.
Button has said breaking 1:40 is achievable. That’s another 8 seconds cut from an already impressive time. We reckon there’s a full 10 seconds to be had though.
[Thanks to Al for the tip]
Jethro Bovingdon, Car magazine journo, has shown the pitfalls of video reviewing. Well, actually, his editors have, perhaps, unkindly shared with the world the very painful moment where Bovingdon crashed into a kerb in a brand new Ferrari FF. Fortunately it was nothing too serious, and, really, a good way to promote the full review that Car will publish next week.
[Source: Car]