Audi has used its Le Mans winning R18 e-tron quattro to promote the RS6 Avant, which is not a hybrid, not a V6 and not a diesel. And yet, by taking the LMP1 racecar off the track and placing it in situations that are suited to the abilities of the RS6 Avant, they have created a very cool ad indeed.
[Thanks to Steve for the tip]
Matthew Brabham, grandson of Sir Jack and son of Geoff, has added to the family trophy cabinet by taking out the 2013 Pro Mazda Championship. Young Brabs secured his latest title with a pair of victories at the Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières in Quebec on the weekend.
It’s a fitting result for the Andretti Autosport driver who has compiled an impressive haul of 11 wins this year, an all-time record for the category (previously known as the Star Mazda Championship). Included in his collection of wins this year Brabham had a run of seven straight victories as well.
“I am absolutely speechless. To get two wins and the championship makes this just an unbelievable weekend, and I couldn’t think of a better place to win the championship, it has been so much fun here in Trois-Rivières,” said a jubilant Brabham. “I can’t thank everyone who supported me enough—Mazda, for giving me the opportunity to have this wonderful year, Cooper Tires and AFS Racing for coming in at the end. Andretti Autosport has been fantastic all year, so a big thanks to them.
“At the start of the season, I couldn’t have predicted that I would have a year like this. I am just so, so happy.”
The Pro Mazda Championship is a third tier category sanctioned by IndyCar as an official pathway to the senior category. Thanks to his championship success, Brabham will progress through to the second tier Indy Lights series in 2014.
“I am definitely looking forward to the future,” Brabham added. “The United States has been wonderful for me. It was the perfect move for me at this point in my career and I am really looking forward to moving up to Indy Lights next year. I remember when I first went to St Petersburg and I saw the Lights cars on track and I thought these cars are really cool and I want to get in one of those.”
Brabham’s win was no fluke, either, in 2012 he was crowned USF2000 champion. We wish him well for 2014 and beyond.
[Source: IndyCar]
Ron Howard has used twitter once again to promote the latest trailer for his F1 movie Rush. This one is a short preview, less than a minute, which introduces us to eventual world champion James Hunt.
Rush will screen across the globe from 27 September.
As part of the formalities for the naming of the Stefan-Bellof-S corner at the Nürburgring, Porsche legend Derek Bell was on hand to drive the 956.007 around the Nordschelife. A teaser video has been posted to Facebook, with the promise of more to come.
In the meantime, why not check out the video after the break where Bell talks us through a lap of the Nordschleife filmed during practice for the 1983 1000km race. Incidentally, the lap time from Bell was 6:37, some time off Bellof’s 6:11 record, but it is believed to be the fastest full lap recorded on camera.
[Pic: Frozenspeed]
UPDATE: A number of amateur videos of Derek Bell’s Porsche 956 drive at the Nürburgring have been added below.
We love fast Euro estates here at AUSmotive. Absolutely love ’em! As it happens so does Chris Harris and he brings us two of the very best in his latest video. It’s the Audi RS6 Avant up against the Mercedes-Benz CLS63 AMG Shooting Brake. Wagon versus wagon. V8 versus V8. And, tellingly, all-wheel drive versus rear-wheel drive.
And that’s probably all the introduction you need. The rest is perfect Sunday afternoon fodder.
Peugeot Australia seems very pleased with itself now that the 208 GTi is on our shores. And with a starting price of $29,990 for this pugnacious hot hatch it’s easy to see why.
The 1.6 litre turbo offers 147kW/275Nm and with only 1160kg to move around it can reach 100km/h in very respectable 6.8 seconds. It has a proper manual gearbox along with stacks of standard kit, including sat nav with a 7″ touch screen, Blutetooth, dual zone climate control, cruise control and more.
There’s lots of GTi-specific trim and badging as well, to remind you that you’re in the halo model.
We think this car offers a lot of potential and like the Golf GTI has often spent its life living in the shadow of the original, the 205 GTi in this case. We hope that the 208 GTi can live up to its reputation.
Sebastien Ogier won the 2013 Rally Finland last weekend and is now starting to talk about the world championship. And why wouldn’t he, it was his fifth win for the year and he enjoys a 90 point lead over his nearest rivals and seems unstoppable.
“It is impossible to describe how I feel! This win here in Finland is a dream come true for me,” said Ogier. “And to win in Sweden as well this year—it is a great feeling to win these two rallies this year ahead of the Nordic guys like Mads Østberg, Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala.”
In second place, over 36 seconds behind Ogier was promising Ford driver Thierry Neuville, who also claimed maximum points in the power stage; the first non-Volkswagen driver to do so this year. Claiming the final podium step was Neuville’s Ford teammate, Mads Østberg.
Jari-Matti Latvala had high hopes coming into his home rally, but made a mistake on the opening day resulting in damaged suspension and the end of his hopes for victory.
Rally Finland means one thing: lots of jumps! There’s video and more photos for you after the break, which capture the air time very well. These are complemented by Volkswagen’s official word from the event.
Porsche has released a highlights video from the 2013 Goodwood Festival of Speed showcasing its Le Mans heritage. It got us thinking, in Australia, the mainstream media just doesn’t seem to understand what a big deal it is that Mark Webber will be part of the iconic company’s return to LMP1 racing at Le Mans next year.
Of course, Formula 1 is the pinnacle of motorsport, we understand that. But Webber’s current employer Red Bull Racing, for all of the amazing thing it has achieved, is a minnow on the motorsport landscape when compared with Porsche.
Porsche is racing.
As the legendary Jacky Ickx, a six-time Le Mans winner himself (four with Porsche), says at the end of the video, “They make the soul of motor racing.”
Mark Webber will never be an F1 world champion, and that’s a shame for all Australian motorsport fans. And yet, by moving to Porsche, he has the chance to join the likes of genuine motor racing legends such as Derek Bell, Jacky Ickx, Hans Stuck and many more. All achieved so much with Porsche.
The best years of Webber’s career could still be ahead of him.
It’s only a week since Chris Atkinson was officially announced as a test driver for the Hyundai WRC team and already he has plenty of development miles behind him. Atkinson and fellow development drivers, Juho Hänninen and Bryan Bouffier, have been gathering dust in the i20 WRC in preparation for Hyundai’s WRC assault in 2014.
Team boss, Michel Nandan, says he is happy with the team’s progress. “We have had a very solid month of testing and learned a lot about the performance potential of the new Hyundai i20 WRC in a range of conditions,” he explained.
“We have signed three very competent development drivers in Juho, Bryan and Chris, and the balance of the last month of testing has, for me, been positive.
“We have had a lot of work to do in a short space of time, but I can sense we are working well as a unified team. We have hit every target so far and I am proud of the entire team effort. We look forward to our next phase of development with optimism.”
Oh, as a sidenote, we haven’t forgotten that Sebastien Ogier won Rally Finland on the weekend, either, an update including several photos of the spectacular air time enjoyed by the drivers should be up soon.
Hot on the heels of its i3 city car, BMW has given an official preview of its i8 plug-in hybrid sportscar ahead of its debut at next month’s Frankfurt Motor Show. The rear wheels are powered by a 170kW/320Nm 1.5 litre three cylinder turbo and the front axle is powered by a 96kW/250Nm electric motor. The total combined output of the i8 is 266kW/570Nm.
Weighing in at around 1490kg, BMW says the i8 can accelerate to 100km/h in around 4.5 seconds and has a top speed limited to 250km/h. In full electric mode the i8 is limited to 120km/h and has a predicted range range of around 35km. Its overall range will be closer to 500km, thanks largely to the three cylinder petrol engine sipping fuel at the rate of just 2.5l/100km on the combined cycle.
A reliance on carbon-fibre reinforced plastic and aluminium has helped keep weight down, which has been distributed at close to 50:50 over each axle. Slick aerodynamics result in a drag coefficient value of 0.26, which is pretty good.
The i8 can trace its roots back to the spectacular Vision EfficientDynamics, first shown in 2009. Now, almost ready for production, BMW describes the i8 driving experience by saying:
Variable front-rear power splitting in line with changing driving conditions makes for excitingly dynamic cornering. On entering the corner, the power split is biased towards the rear wheels to improve turning precision. For more vigorous acceleration out of the corner, the powertrain controller returns to the default split as soon as the steering angle becomes smaller again.
You can read more about the BMW i8 by downloading the abridged press release (295kb PDF) and we’ll bring you full details at Frankfurt Motor Show time.
MINI has announced its all-new F56 model will be revealed on 18 November, the 107th birthday of the original Mini creator Sir Alec Issigonis. The initial unveiling will take place at Plant Oxford, with a launch party in London to follow that evening.
Subsequent launch events in Los Angeles and Tokyo will usher in MINI’s new era prior to the F56 taking pride of place on MINI’s stands at the LA Auto Show and Tokyo Motor Show from 20 November.
MINI says the F56, built on BMW’s UKL1 platform, will bring “a new era of driving excitement, in-car-infotainment and premium quality in the small car segment.”
We’ve already been given a sneak preview of the F56 through some spy shots and com-gen renderings. So far the jury is out on the looks of this new MINI, we’ll have to wait and see how much of the recently released Vision concept makes it into the production model.
Despite this announcement we’d not be surprised if MINI pulled the trigger on pics for the R56 a day or two before 18 November.
Last month Aston Martin held its Rally to London drive across Europe as part of its centenary celebrations. They’ve published a short clip to YouTube to show us what we’ve missed out on. And while it looks like it was more a social event than a pure driving event we’d very much like to have joined the ride:
Beginning on the shores of Lake Como the rally took in St Moritz, the Black Forest, Aston Martin’s Nurburgring test centre and Château de Cocove before crossing the Channel to join a celebration of Power, Beauty, Soul.
One of the participants has documented the experience via his personal blog. All those Astons, all those classic European sights and roads. It would have been fun!