Here’s the final episode in Red Bull Racing’s four-part look at how they made their soon to be championship winning RB9.
It’s all about assembly this week and while there’s not a lot of nuts and bolts shown we do get an insight into the massive behind the scenes operation a leading Formula 1 team is these days. It’s quite staggering to see the lengths teams go to to ensure each component is ready for assembly and competition.
BMW’s F33 4 Series convertible has been given an early viewing thanks to a series of images leaked by a Belgian source. Based on the F32 4 Series coupé there’s no real surprises here and you’ll get your official look at BMW’s latest convertible at the LA Auto Show next month.
Although, don’t be surprised if Munich responds in the next day or two with official images and information.
Like the old 3 Series convertible the 4 Series version sticks with a metal folding roof and Australian buyers should probably look towards the coupé for an idea of the likely engine line up and specs.
[Source: BMW Blog]
It’s just over a week since it became clear Ricky Muir had won a federal senate seat for Victoria under the banner of the Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party (AMEP). But already fractures are showing after the AMEP national executive sacked its Victorian executive on the weekend. Fairfax media reports:
The Queensland-based founders of the Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party have sacked the leadership of the Victorian arm of the party—effectively leaving the 32 year-old media-shy father of five representing a party that does not currently exist in that state.
That move was explained by Tony Standfield, AMEP chairman, as being necessary because: “The welfare of the AMEP has been compromised by sending conflicting messages to the public regarding AMEP’s opinion and stance on Road Safety initiatives.”
Further to that, Keith Littler, AMEP secretary, said: “The Victorian Federal State Executive has not been acting in the best interests of the party or the Senator-elect.”
That all sounds fair enough. However, the now former chairman of the Victorian executive, Scott McDonald, tells a different story: “They won’t allow Ricky to talk to anybody about anything. Not even his friends can get hold of him.”
McDonald adds the claim that Standfield and Littler want to “overpower Ricky”.
There’s suggestions the AMEP founders want to replace Muir with a new candidate. Publicly, though, the national executive is standing by its man, even though he currently has no staff in his home state.
“Of course he’ll take up the position. It’s his position, he won it,” Mr Littler said.
Littler explained Muir’s recent silence by saying the Senator-elect has been “very busy” and has been “undergoing training”.
It’s not the smoothest transition into political life for the AMEP. A week into its new political career, it looks as though the AMEP could be wearing L-plates for a little while yet.
[Source: The Canberra Times | Thanks to Stu for the tip]
Giorgio Sanna. Ever heard of him? He’s the bloke who replaced Valentino Balboni. If you haven’t caught on yet, that means Giorgio gets to test drive Lamborghinis for a living. He gets to do that on the racetrack, in competition, or with new prototypes on the road.
We can only think a bad day for Sanna would be turning to a new planning meeting where he has to utter to himself, “Not another bloody Gallardo!”
In the video oil commercial after the break Giorgio tells us all about the fun times he has playing with Italian supercars day after day.
While Matt Prior from Autocar presents a good case for the demise of lap times as a subjective measure in contributing towards a decision to purchase one car over another, Dale Lomas from Bridge to Gantry reports that Nissan is going all out with its latest Nismo GT-R:
The Nürburgring is always being used for something, but the prices to hire the track are so expensive that it’s very unusual to hear only one car going past every 7 or 8 minutes. It’s even more unusual for that one car to enjoy a compliment of safety marshalls and timing beacons in the industry/sport-auto positions (T13 start and end). But that’s what the Nismo GTR has this morning.
The GT-R has always been something of a giant killer at the Nürburgring and when the car was first released pretty much anything with a Porsche badge on it was firmly in Nissan’s sights. Porsche wasn’t always happy about that. At one stage Porsche even claimed Nissan cheated on its way to headline grabbing lap times.
Fast forward a few years and it’s quite something to see Nissan has booked the entire Nordschleife in what appears to be a determined chase for a super fast lap time. We’re not for one moment suggesting this Nismo GT-R will go faster the 918’s 6:57 lap time, but, well, you just never know with these things. As it stands Nissan claims its best time at the Ring with a GT-R is 7:18.
Let’s wait and see what happens next!
[Source: Bridge to Gantry]
We already know the next-gen RS3 is coming and that it will be powered by Audi’s charismatic inline five cylinder turbo. Yet in these early stages it’s still nice to see such things reconfirmed, as Autocar reports:
Audi has confirmed a successor to the current RS3 will be launched. Quattro GmbH chief Stephan Reil confirmed the decision to Autocar, saying the new model would rival the Merceded-Benz A45 AMG and would retain its predeccessor’s 2.5-litre turbocharged five-cylinder engine.
[Source: Autocar]
Audi Australia has announced initial pricing details for the RS Q3, which is due here in February 2014. And, in a roundabout way, we can thank Mercedes-Benz for Audi’s sharp pricing which will start at $81,900.
The RS Q3 is powered by a 228kW/420Nm version of the inline five cylinder turbo used in the 250kW/450Nm TT RS. The baby RS SUV can reach 100km/h in 5.5 seconds, thanks also to its quattro system and 7-speed S tronic transmission.
Audi Australia proudly boasts this is the cheapest RS model you can buy and say it’s already holding 70 orders for the car.
Preliminary specifications show the RS Q3 won’t be cynically stripped of goodies forcing buyers to tick lots of options, too. Satellite navigation, including a 20GB hard drive, and RS-specific nappa leather seats are a couple of the items included as standard equipment.
What we’re excited about though, is what this may mean for the new RS3, which we’re expecting to be sold in Australia for the first time. You can pencil in the five-pot engine, but you’d reckon it’s key stat will be north of 250kW.
As for the purchase price of the RS3, well, we’re a lot more comfortable now that there will one day be two RS models being sold for less than a hundred grand than we were yesterday.
While even his fellow drivers may be booing Sebastian Vettel’s latest win at the Korean Grand Prix, the race itself is under threat. Partly because of poor attendance and also due to the promise of a bumper 22-race calendar that nobody wants. One thing is sure, Mark Webber has plenty of fans in Korea, as you’ll see in the pics below.
Booing and Sebastian Vettel have been appearing in the same sentence, well, for years really, but especially in the last couple of months. Now, Mercedes AMG driver, Lewis Hamilton is joining in the chorus suggesting Vettel’s success may be sending fans away from the sport.
The 2008 world champion has drawn a new comparison with seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, referring to his early years following F1: “I remember waking up to watch the start of the race then going to sleep and waking up when it ended because I knew what would happen,” said Hamilton. “I am pretty sure a lot of people are doing that today.”
Vettel has won the last four grands prix in a row, bringing his season total to eight. In the other six races he has finished, third, fourth, fourth, second, DNF and third. He’s on track for a fourth consecutive world title and currently holds a 77 point lead over Fernando Alonso.
It’s possible for Vettel to be crowned world champion at Suzuka this weekend. If he wins the Japanese Grand Prix and Alonso is ninth or lower the drivers’ championship will be on the way to the Red Bull garage once more.
[Source: BBC | Pic: Mercedes AMG]
UPDATE: Lewis has taken to twitter to make it 100% clear he loves all things Sebastian Vettel. Check out his tweets below.
Sebastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia have capped off their world championship by coming from behind to claim victory in Rallye de France-Alsace.
After the euphoria of the opening day when their championship was finally secured in the Power Stage the leading duo made a poor start to the rally proper. They ended Day 2 down in fifth place and well off the pace.
Ford driver Thierry Neuville was looking good thanks to a wise tyre choice which allowed him to end the going fastest in all the afternoon stages. An unfortunate puncture on Day 3 ended Neuville’s hopes of a maiden victory. He has shown much promise in 2013 and his career is sure to reach greater heights in the coming years.
Dani Sordo was again showing Citroën he has the pace on tarmac and inherited the lead from Neuville, but by the day’s end Volkswagen’s Jari-Matti Latvala had carved out a narrow edge to head the field into the final day.
Day 4 shaped as a classic with the first four drivers—Latvala, Sordo, Ogier and Loeb—separated by just five seconds. In wet and muddy conditions Ogier’s class shone through. He ended the opening stage of the day with a seven second lead over Sordo, with Latvala a further six seconds behind the Citroën driver.
Sadly, for all-time greats and nine time world champions, Sebastien Loeb and Daniel Elena, their rally ended after Loeb lost control on a fast right hander, spearing off the road and into the bushes where the car came to rest on its roof. Thankfully both men were okay, but it was an unfortunate end to rallying’s best ever career.
Citroën had adorned their car with a great looking black and gold livery with the pair’s impressive statistics featured all over the car. While they did move their all-time tally of stage wins from 896 to 900, there were no additions to their 116 podiums or 78 rally victories. Still, it’s an amazing record, which is sure to remain unmatched.
Ogier was never really troubled for the remainder of the day and he took victory by 12.2 seconds from Dani Sordo. Jari-Matti Latvala was third, 19.5 seconds behind his teammate.
There’s nice symmetry in Ogier being crowned world champion in his home country as the title finally escapes Loeb’s clutches. The Alsace region is where Loeb grew up and while he’ll be disappointed to have ended his career upside down the crowd support he has enjoyed this rally will stay with him for years to come.
With two more events left on the 2013 calendar Volkswagen enjoys an 80 point lead over Citroën in the manufacturers’ championship and will be hoping it can wrap that title up at the next event in Spain later this month.
One of the nice things about a grand prix held at a more convenient time for those of us following Formula 1 from the southern hemisphere is that we can follow the post-race activities in real time. That means you can read the press conference transcript before you go to bed.
Before you do, here’s what the Aussies had to say. Mark Webber first: “The incident with Sutil was obviously the end of my race today. It was in Turn 3 on the restart, everyone bottles back up and I was looking for a big exit on the next straight to use some KERS on Daniel (Ricciardo) and the Williams. Then Sutil, I don’t know what happened, but obviously he hit me from the inside and that was that.
“There was quite a lot of damage at the back of the car and I hope it hasn’t gone towards the chassis—we will have to see before the next race. Before that I was very happy with how I drove and we’d got back to a very good position before I got the puncture. After the Pirelli tyre failure on Perez’ car, I was very lucky to miss the tread of the tyre that came off and then unbelievably I managed to get a puncture from going through the debris.”
For his part Adrian Sutil has both escaped penalty from the stewards and said sorry to Mark: “At the restart I lost the rear of the car under braking for turn three. I really don’t know why because I was not braking late and the car just snapped. I hit Webber so I apologise for ending his race. It’s a disappointing end to the race because I believe there was still a chance of a point.”
And Daniel Ricciardo: “I think we did all we could today in the race. I had a decent first stint and tried to run as long as possible on the Prime tyre. The car wasn’t perfect but it was good enough to be in a points position with a few laps to go and I was hanging on nicely to ninth.
“It’s déjà vu, as I had the same scenario here last year, when I came down to Turn 3 with a few laps to go, I braked and the car immediately shot to the left. That time it cost me one place. Once I got out of the cockpit this time, I could see there was a mechanical problem at the front left corner. Personally, I was really pleased with my performance in the car today. Maybe we didn’t have a top ten car but I was able to fight in the top ten. But for myself and the team it’s frustrating to get no reward. Now all we can do is look ahead to Suzuka.”
The full transcript of the post-race press conference featuring the first three drivers can be read after the break.
[Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]
Sebastian Vettel’s charmed run has continued at the Korean Grand Prix, where he has just collected his fourth consecutive race win. The Red Bull champ won by just over four seconds from the Lotus duo of Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean.
Vettel is very much on track to secure his fourth world title, his winning margin masks the comfort with which he won. Although he was helped by a pair of Safety Car periods, which extended his tyre life and brought the field together in what was a bizarre race at times.
The first Safety Car came out on Lap 31 after a severe flat spot into Turn 1 from Sergio Perez preceded a spectacular failure to his right front tyre on the main straight. An unlucky Mark Webber, who had just rejoined the track after pitting for new tyres, was the first on the scene and he picked up a puncture after having nowhere to go except over the debris left behind from Perez’s McLaren.
In effect the need to come in for new tyres ruined Webber’s race after he was making good progress through the field following his start from P13 due to his 10-place grid penalty. Alas, worse was to come.
On the first lap after the race restarted Adrian Sutil lost control under brakes into Turn 3 and spun putting his rear tyre into the sidepod of Mark’s car. Almost immediately Webber’s car caught fire and his race ended in flames for the second grand prix in a row.
In the aftermath of that event a fire marshal’s vehicle entered the track and interrupted the race before the Safety Car was deployed. There was potential for a nasty incident but thankfully, the fire marshal escaped incident. We suspect whoever was responsible for sending that car out on track won’t be working at an F1 race again anytime soon.
Once racing resumed we were treated to some first class action, sadly none of if centred on the first three and the two Lotus drivers were unable to challenge Vettel for the victory. The rest of the field, though, was fighting desperately for position and the action was exciting right to the end.
Unfortunately, it was a bad day for the Aussies with Daniel Ricciardo retiring from the race while he was in ninth position with only three laps to go. It’s not clear why Daniel had to park his car off to the side of the circuit.
Nico Hulkenberg drove a masterful race to finish P4, holding off Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Nico Rosberg.
Grosjean made a good start to earn himself P2 on the opening lap with a good move on Hamilton and he probably deserved better than P3 today. Although we’ll never know what might have been if the Lotus pairing were able to run longer on their tyres, it’s expected they might have given Vettel a tougher fight for victory.