Year: 2013

Categories
Porsche

Porsche Macan details leaked and more

Porsche Macan leaked slide

Jalopnik brings word of a series of leaked slides, allegedly from a Porsche dealer function in Atlanta, Georgia. First up is info on the Macan SUV.

From that info we get a re-confirmation that the Macan will be revealed at the LA Auto Show in November. But we now know (or think we know) the Macan will enter the market with a 3.0 litre V6 for the Macan S and a 3.6 litre six-cylinder for the Macan Turbo. Presumably the engine in the Turbo will be V6 too. US pricing for the S will kick off at $52,000, while the Turbo will be priced from $75,000 (yeah, it sucks to be Australian sometimes!).

Get this, for added confusion, both of these engines are said to be turbocharged.

Casting some doubt over the legitmacy of this info, perhaps, is the fact the image of the Macan in the slide above is not an official Porsche photo, rather a rendering from German rag AutoBild.

The Cayman and Boxster get in on the gossip too, with suggestions there will be GTS models added to each range. Expect a launch in April next year and an extra 15hp and new 20″ alloys among the headline features.

Also included in this leaked info is word on the new 911 Targa, available in either Carrera 4 or 4S designation, which is said to have an auto roof function. Will be fun seeing that in action with the usual Targa rollover hoop, but we’re sure Porsche can find a way.

There is a chance all this info is unreliable, so we’ll just have to sit tight and see what Porsche has to say over the coming months.

[Source: Jalopnik]

Categories
Bathurst 12 Hour Motorsports News

The Grid shows some love to Mount Panorama

Jenson Button at Mount Panorama in 2011

The television program Mobil 1 The Grid has made available its mini-feature on Australia’s most famous race track, Mount Panorama in Bathurst. It really is a special place and it’s nice to see an international audience given an insight into our very own tarmac temple.

Even better your favourite AUSmotive editor can be seen in the image above, taken on the day Jenson Button and Craig Lowndes drove an F1 car around the track.

Continue reading “The Grid shows some love to Mount Panorama”
Categories
BMW

VIDEO: Now you can see and hear the new M3/M4

BMW M3/M4

BMW has released a series of official test videos showing the new M3/M4 prototypes being put through their paces around the Nürburgring. Also along for the ride was reigning DTM champion Bruno Spengler. Amazingly for a BMW driver Spengler says he’d never been to the Ring before. He is Canadian so we’ll be kind and cut Spengler some slack.

We sourced these videos via BimmerPost and the BMW blog network brings us another preview of the new F80/F82 hero models in the form of an audio soundtrack we first heard over at BimmerFile.

The audio track was published by Road & Track and is said to be an M4 being revved while at standstill. It sounds alright too.

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Categories
Formula 1

Australian GP expecting 2016 contract extension

2013 Singapore Grand Prix

As you may have noticed Ron Walker, Chairman of the Australian Grand Prix Corporation, was in Singapore last weekend chewing the fat with Bernie Eccelstone. Despite past opposition from the current Melbourne Lord Mayor, Robert Doyle, Ron and his buddies must have made good progress while they had Bernie’s ear.

Australian GP organisers say they are expecting a contract renewal beyond the current 2015 expiry date. “We have two events still go, but we are starting to look at the future,” said Andrew Westacott, AGPC CEO. “We have been working with them for 18 years and there is a good desire from both parties to continue.”

Remember, Bernie has said in the past he loves Melbourne and would happily sign a 50-year deal if he could. While there is ever increasing demand for places on the F1 calendar local F1 fans will be hoping Australian GP management can keep in Eccelstone’s good books for a while yet.

[Source: Autosport | Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

Categories
Accessories & Tech Porsche

Michelin rides the Porsche 918 gravy train

Porsche 918 Spyder

When you’re a part of history you want the world to know all about it. Sometimes when you’re bragging about your special talents that can be tiresome. But other times, even though the viewer knows they’re being sold a product, the content of the message excuses the otherwise cynical intent. This video is one such instance of that.

We all know the Porsche 918 Spyder lapped the Nürburgring in 6 minutes 57 seconds. An amazing lap, we’re sure you’ll agree. What you probably didn’t know is that time was all down to the specially developed Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres. Well perhaps not, but Michelin would love it if you thought that was the case.

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Categories
BMW

BMW M4 technical animation

2014 BMW M4

If you missed Wednesday’s release of technical guff for the new BMW F82 M4 you can see it all presented here in this whiz bang animation.

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Categories
Lamborghini

Lamborghini Cabrera caught on video

Lamborghini Cabrera prototype

Following yesterday’s update on the all-new Lamboghini Gallardo replacement, the Cabrera, here’s a couple of videos for you. Both were filmed trackside at the Nürburgring and the second clip has a small bonus for Porsche fans as well.

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Categories
Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

How to make an F1 car: part 2

Red Bull Racing's carbon fibre cooker

It’s week two of Red Bull’s four part lesson in how to make a Formula 1 car and this week they’re teaching us all about composite materials. In this case, of course, the composite in question is carbon fibre. The material has revolutionised the sport in the 30 odd years since it was first introduced, so take the jump and learn all about it.

Continue reading “How to make an F1 car: part 2”
Categories
Ferrari

LaFerrari latest hybrid hypercar to attack Nürburgring

LaFerrari

The 708kW LaFerrari is the latest in the triumverate of hybrid hypercars to attack the Nürburgring Nordschleife.

It joins the brief video we’ve seen of the McLaren P1, with a rumoured 7:04 lap time, and the apparently all-conquering Porsche 918 Spyder. Of course, the 918 grabbed headlines recently when Porsche announced it had broken the 7-minute barrier with a 6:57 lap time.

We shall have to wait and see what the Ferrari marketing department deems worthy of publishing in future to see if the 918’s time in the sun is about to be over.

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Categories
Volkswagen

Volkswagen planning to revive its mighty VR6

Volkswagen Passat R36 engine

For Volkswagen fans this is a story you’re going to like. Word is Volkswagen is working on an all-new 3.0 litre narrow angle V6 engine. With a 15° angle, suitable for transverse mounting, this marks a return to its much loved VR6 engine, first seen with a 2.8 litre capacity in the Mk3 Golf VR6 of the early 1990s.

Last seen in the Passat R36, with a 3.6 litre capacity, the VR6 was thought to be banished forever in favour of more efficient and lower emitting four cylinder units.

The news of the VR6’s return gets better, too. Fritz Eichler is the man in charge of the new engine and in a former life he had a role in the development of AMG engines for Mercedes-Benz.

But there’s still more! Cast your mind back to May this year when Volkswagen revealed its Design Vision GTI at the 2013 Wörthersee show. It was powered by a 370kW (500hp)/560Nm engine. That’s a lot for a GTI, right. So what sort of engine had VW dreamed up for this creation? A 3.0 litre V6 with twin turbochargers.

And therein lies the secret to its probable return. The benefits of turbocharging, fuel efficiency and lower emissions, look like giving the narrow-angle V6 a new future. Expect production engines to have somewhere around 250–335kW.

While the addition of turbocharging may rob the VR6 of some its rorty induction sound we’re pretty sure most fans will accept that as a small price to pay.

Let’s hope improvements in production techniques also result in a lighter weight engine, thereby removing one of the old VR6’s major flaws where the heavy engine mounted on the front axle increased the tendency to understeer.

Thinking further ahead, though, a next-gen Scirocco with a 250kW+ VR6? Sign us up!

To remind you all what a well-sorted VR6 engine sounds like we’ve added one of our favourite YouTube clips after the break.

[Source: AutoWeek | Thanks to SlyOne for the tip]

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Categories
Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Christian Horner is the best Team Principal in F1

2013 Singapore Grand Prix

Noted F1 photographer Darren Heath reminds us in his latest blog why his thoughts are essential reading. Heath starts off by giving an insight into the behind the scenes discussions over cost saving in the sport:

Laying a barely concealed trap for the hapless team heads, the F1 supremo’s tactical play ensures that the teams can hardly complain about having more races if they are quite prepared to spend many millions of dollars – which they supposedly haven’t got – on engineer-pleasing but essentially unnecessary testing. Agreeing with Bernie, Franz Tost – in his typically practical Austrian manner – argues well that having more races is preferable to testing. Far better to spend budgets on races, and earn money as a result, than to see no financial return from extended and lonely trips to Jerez, Barcelona, Bahrain, Dubai et al.

Before sharing an opinion on Christian Horner many will not have concluded themselves, declaring the Red Bull Racing boss is “streets ahead of the competition”:

He doesn’t harp on about money-saving measures. No – he gets on with doing his job, playing the game, walking a clever political path, ensuring that everything is as it should be for his mechanics, his engineers, his designers, his strategists, his multi-title-winning driver, and ultimately his Austrian paymasters.

Make sure you note the singular use of the word “driver” too.

[Source: Darren Heath | Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

Categories
Ferrari Formula 1 McLaren

VIDEO: Driving the F1 cars from the ‘Rush’ era

Ferrari v McLaren 1970s

With the movie world descending into the 1970s through the imminent worldwide release of Ron Howard’s F1 movie Rush, Martin Brundle and Karun Chandok have put together a timely feature for Sky Sports where they drive the 1974 Ferrari 312 B3 and the 1977 McLaren M26.

Ferrari and McLaren are two giants of Formula 1. It’s certainly interesting to hear two former F1 drivers, from separate eras, discuss what it’s like to drive these 1970s icons. And to illustrate just how much of a momentum shift the sport has seen in recent years Karun Chandok signs off by saying, “These were the Red Bulls of the 70s.”

Forty years ago, who would have thought the established Ferrari and emerging McLaren would be shown up in F1 by a marketing company whose stock in trade is soft drinks!

Continue reading “VIDEO: Driving the F1 cars from the ‘Rush’ era”