Author: Liam

Categories
Formula 1

Austrian Grand Prix back on F1 calendar in 2014

2013 Canadian Grand Prix

The Austrian Grand Prix is set to return to the F1 program next year at the Red Bull Ring. Under its former name, the A1 Ring last hosted F1 races between 1997–2003.

This is all good news for European F1 fans who’ve become accustomed to losing races to frontier countries. But will it come at the expense of the troubled New Jersey GP?

The New York race was originally scheduled to debut on 16 June this year, but was postponed until 2014 due to construction delays. That was the official word anyway, although financial issues have also hampered the race’s progress.

Clearly the financial might of Red Bull will ensure no such dramas befall the Austrian race which has been penciled in for 6 July next year.

It’s likely to be a packed schedule in the middle of next year. The FIA has confirmed the 24 Hours of Le Mans will be held on the weekend of 14–15 June and has mandated that no F1 race can clash with the event. That leaves the British, Austrian, German and Hungarian Grands Prix to fit in after Le Mans and before the end of July.

Even if the New Jersey GP falls through, when you factor in the debut of the Russian Grand Prix we could still be looking at a 21 race bonanza in 2014.

[Source: James Allan on F1 | Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

Categories
Jaguar

Awesome disguised as a Jaguar XFR Sportbrake

Jaguar XFR SPortbrak prototype

The joy of Nürburgring testing brings us this most awesome of things, the Jaguar XFR Sportbrake. Powered by a 5.0 litre supercharged V8 that can be tuned for a touch over 400kW, as seen in the XFR-S. As we’ve pointed out many times before high-powered Euro wagons are the coolest. So really, what’s not to like?

Well, Jaguar, that’s what’s not to like. Word is this XFR Sportbrake is nothing more than a test mule for the company’s Engineered to Order division. That’s to say there are no plans just yet to make this a bona fide production model.

And we think that’s a bit sad.

[Source: Autocar]

Categories
BMW

BMW 3 Series GT – Australian pricing & specs

F34 BMW 3 Series GT

The local launch of the BMW 3 Series Gran Turismo is drawing closer, and if you’re keen on this car the official word is you’ll have to wait until 1 September. But we think you’ll be able to find these cars in dealerships around the country before then.

Australian pricing for the F34 GT was first announced back in June and there’s been no changes since then. To quickly recap there will be three models offered to begin with: 320i GT ($69,500), 320d GT ($71,800) and 328i GT ($76,500). Like the regular 3 Series range, all GT models can be optioned with Modern, Luxury or Sport lines.

While the architecture from F30 saloon is the basis for the GT, it rides on a wheelbase that has been extended by 110mm in a body that is 200mm longer overall. Throw in an extra 81mm in height and you end up with the most spacious 3 Series variant you can get your hands on.

Full details from BMW Australia can be found below, including a 15 page specifications document available for download.

Continue reading “BMW 3 Series GT – Australian pricing & specs”
Categories
Top Gear

Some say… Gordon Shedden is The Stig

Gordon Shedden

Is this man the latest Stig? His name is Gordon Shedden and you may well have first heard of 34-year-old BTCC driver when we brought you news about the 210km/h Honda Mean Mower.

The mower was originally conceived by Top Gear magazine. Shedden has also appeared in the current series of the TV show after he won a World’s Best Taxi race in Episode 2. That’s enough for some to put one and one together and come up with “He must be The Stig!”

Supposedly Shedden has links to backroom staff at the show, as well as the main presenters Jeremy, Richard and James. That was enough for UK paper The Sunday Mail to front up and ask Shedden directly.

“I don’t think anyone can say that,” Shedden replied. “At the end of the day, it is just a person in a white suit. It’s more about the myth about Stig than who it is.

“It is like trying to find Santa Claus, isn’t it?”

If Shedden is The Stig he’ll do well to keep playing his cards close to his chest. Whoever the current Stig is, he only got the gig at the start of Series 16 after Ben Collins outed himself and was subsequently sacked.

[Source: Daily Record]

Categories
McLaren Mercedes-Benz MINI Motor Shows Nissan Pagani Peugeot Renault Rolls-Royce Skoda Toyota Volkswagen Volvo Vuhl

2013 Goodwood FoS in pictures – gallery 2

2013 Goodwood Festival of Speed

This is your second fix of images from the 2013 Goodwood Festival of Speed. We start with McLaren and take you all the way to Vuhl, plus a few bonus pics at the end.

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s final gallery which is a dedicated set of Porsche images.

See also: 2013 Goodwood FoS in pictures – gallery 1

Continue reading “2013 Goodwood FoS in pictures – gallery 2”
Categories
BMW

2014 BMW M5 – Australian pricing announced

F10 BMW M5 LCI

BMW has announced pricing for the facelifted F10 M5, now with extra grunt as standard provided by the Competition Package. The updated model will be on sale locally from mid-September and will be priced from $229,900. That’s $100 less than last year’s launch pricing.

As well as cosmetic changes to its exterior the M5 gets revised standard equipment, including the addition of adaptive LED headlights, auto soft-close doors, hands-free boot operation, digital radio, the ability to input charcters by hand into the sat nav using the touch controller and enhanced driver aids such as Lane Change Warning and Pedestrian Warning.

The Competition Package brings an 11kW to the table, for a new peak of 423kW, along with uprated suspension and sway bars for improved handling. Now sitting 10mm lower the Active M diff and steering have also been recalibrated for greater dynamics.

Continue reading “2014 BMW M5 – Australian pricing announced”
Categories
Lotus

DRB-Hicom signs off on new Lotus funding

Lotus Esprit

The future of Lotus Cars is brighter today thanks to word coming through that parent company DRB-Hicom has agreed to a new three-year plan. While the revised program isn’t quite as lofty as the five-model Bahar bonanza, DRB-Hicom says it will base its program around the Exige, Evora and Elise.

Hinting that the worst of the company’s financial woes are in the past, DRB-Hicom managing director, Tan Sri Mohd Khamil Jamil, told Malaysian media: “We have cleaned up and we are moving ahead.

“We are coming out with the variants based on existing products—variants with improved technology, improved performance, improved quality as well as improved costing.”

Sales for Lotus have also improved markedly on 2012 numbers which saw a paltry 80 cars sold in the entire year. In 2013 a total of 70 cars were sold to the end of May. Lotus is now expecting to build up to 40 cars per month with up to 85% set for export.

The all-new Esprit, pictured above, has not been given a green light just yet, but it was close to reaching sign-off before DRB-Hicom took control of Lotus. It’s been speculated that under the right circumstances the project could be revived without breaking the budget.

[Source: Autocar]

Categories
Alfa Romeo Aston Martin Audi Bentley BMW Caterham Ferrari Fiat Ford GM Honda Jaguar Lamborghini Lotus Motor Shows

2013 Goodwood FoS in pictures – gallery 1

2013 Goodwood Festival of Speed

It’s taken us a while to prepare, but here’s your first instalment in our 2013 Goodwood Festival of Speed image gallery. We’ve got more than 260 images in all which will be spread out over three galleries.

Presented in alphabetical order, this selection of photos starts with Alfa Romeo and ends with Lotus. And doesn’t that Alfa Romeo 4C just look sensational!

Stay tuned over the next two days for the remaining galleries to be posted.

Continue reading “2013 Goodwood FoS in pictures – gallery 1”
Categories
Ferrari Formula 1

Kobayashi hopes there’s no barrier to F1 return

Kamui Kobayashi crashes in Moscow

Kamui Kobayashi was the driver chosen to represent the Ferrari at the annual Moscow City Racing event held over the weekend. He was at the wheel of a 2009-spec F60 and in the wet conditions, well, things didn’t quite go to plan.

You can see an unofficial video after the break showing Kamui hitting the barrier. Ferrari’s Corse Clienti crew had a spare car prepared within 20 minutes enabling the Japanese driver to get back out on track and impress the fans.

“The track was very slippery and there was a marked bump at that point, which is why I hit the barrier,” Kobayshi said. “A shame, but I am pleased the team let me out again after a few minutes.”

Despite his bruised ego Kobayashi, who has been racing for Ferrari in the FIA World Endurance Championship, says he still remains hopeful of a return to F1 in 2014. And while you always need to be mindful of physical barriers in motorsport, Kamui says there may be some financial barriers he has to overcome.

“At the moment, there are many teams who prefer to choose their drivers based on how much money they can bring, rather than on their ability on track,” he said. “I hope this trend will change, because my aim is to be back there as soon as possible and I am working hard to succeed.

“Meanwhile, all I can do is give my all to Ferrari in the GT races and be available to the team for whatever they want me to do, such as events like this, or when they ask me to help with the development of the car by working on the simulator.”

We’ve got some official pics and statements to follow Kamui’s unfortunate accident.

Continue reading “Kobayashi hopes there’s no barrier to F1 return”
Categories
Alfa Romeo Chrysler

The best news you will hear from Alfa Romeo. Ever!

Alfa Romeo 4C

Car magazine brings word of some great news from Italian icons Alfa Romeo. In fact we’re not sure you’ll hear anything better than this as far as Alfa is concerned. Yep, it’s even better, on the whole, than anything to do with the gorgeous 4C.

Fiat-Chrysler CEO, Sergio Marchionne, hopes to reach 300,000 annual sales for Alfa Romeo and to achieve that he wants to lure buyers of traditional German saloons to the Italian brand. To do that he needs to get the driving dynamics of Alfa Romeos to compare favourably against BMW and Mercedes-Benz.

And here it comes.

To do that Marchionne wants to ditch front-wheel drive platforms from Alfa Romeo in favour of rear and all-wheel drive models. That’s right, no more FWD models from Alfa and in their place will be RWD models to take it up to the likes of the BMW 3 and 5 Series, and the Mercedes C and E Class.

Apparently Alfa plans to introduce four new models, two saloons and two SUVs, with a company insider telling Car: “Sure, design is important, Italian flair is important, top-notch quality is important. But it is impossible to challenge Audi, BMW and Mercedes if you cannot match the Germans in terms of vehicle dynamics and driving pleasure.”

Amen brother.

Continue reading “The best news you will hear from Alfa Romeo. Ever!”
Categories
Formula 1 News

CVC responds to Ecclestone’s indictment

Bernie Ecclestone

Formula 1 commercial rights owner, CVC Capital Partners, has issued an official statement in response to news that Bernie Ecclestone has been indicted by a German court over bribery claims.

Formula One Group Press Release

Wednesday 17 July 2013

The Board of Formula One Group* notes the following developments in Munich:

Mr Ecclestone, CEO of Formula One Group has now received a bill of indictment, in English, from the Munich Regional Court.

Mr Ecclestone has 6 weeks to provide a response to this bill of indictment, prior to a decision being made by the Court on opening proceedings.

The Board will continue to monitor developments in this situation accordingly.

* Delta Topco Limited

Clearly, the future of F1’s long-time supremo (does anyone other than Bernie get called a supremo?) hangs on the outcome of this little saga. Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo is one man you get the feeling would be quite pleased to see the back of Bernie.

Bernie is no stranger to controversy and Andrew Benson from the BBC has taken a look at the life and times of the most powerful man in F1. We think you should read it.

[Pic: Joerg Koch/AP]

Categories
Formula 1 Red Bull Racing Toro Rosso

Daniel Ricciardo tops lap times at Silverstone

Daniel Ricciardo testing for Red Bull Racing, July 2013

Day two of testing at Silverstone overnight was very fruitful for the Red Bull family. In the morning session Daniel Ricciardo drove for Toro Rosso and set the quickest time of the day (1:32.972). In the afternoon session he swapped cars, suited up for Red Bull Racing and posted the third fastest time of the day (1:33.187).

We can’t recall another time where a driver has tested two different F1 cars on the same day. Similarly, seeing Daniel’s name on the lap charts twice is a bit of a novelty.

Splitting Daniel’s two times was an impressive F1 debut for Carlos Sainz Jr in the Toro Rosso (1:33.016). The 18-year-old later described it as the “happiest day” of his life. That feeling may only last 24 hours, though, he’ll be driving for Red Bull later tonight.

Ricciardo’s status as a current F1 driver meant he was restricted to tyre testing as prescribed by Pirelli, whereas teams can make more changes to their cars when the nominated young drivers are at the wheel.

Clearly this was a big day for Daniel who hopes to be promoted from Toro Rosso to Red Bull at the end of the year. According to Christian Horner it’s a fight between Ricciardo and Kimi Raikkonen for the vacant seat.

Not long after Daniel set his fastest lap in the RB9 he had a minor off, but there was no damage done. Speaking afterwards the 24-year-old Australian said: “I did quite a few laps this afternoon, so I’m happy with that. I had a small off but otherwise it was a trouble-free day.

“It was a good opportunity to get behind the wheel and experience two different beasts today. In terms of the inevitable speculation, I think this test is something for Red Bull to look at, but there’s still the rest of the season with Toro Rosso to do, so I’ll switch my focus back to that and won’t get too caught up in any rumours.”

More importantly perhaps is the reaction from the team. Andy Damerum, RBR Race Engineering Co-ordinator, later said: “Daniel had only about 45 minutes to swap over from his morning tyre test to driving our car, a completely different machine, but he was up to speed very quickly. As ever his feedback was exemplary and he gave us a lot of information to go through.”

[Pics: Red Bull/Getty Images]

Continue reading “Daniel Ricciardo tops lap times at Silverstone”