Nico Rosberg from Mercedes AMG has taken time out to talk to about the features of his helmet. It’s short and sweet and you might even learn something!
[Source: Wired]
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McLaren P1 gets hot under the collar
Leaving speculation over Nürburgring lap times aside for a moment, McLaren has touched base to bring us what’s likely to be their last update before the production-ready P1 hypercar is revealed in full. Indeed, the pics you see here are of a “production-intent” P1.
Earlier in the year McLaren told us about the cold weather testing the P1 had endured, now it’s all about thrashing the car through Arizona, California and Nevada in temperatures beyond 50°C. A mix of road and track testing was undertaken and we do hope Ron let the guys behind the wheel have the air conditioning on.
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Rumour: McLaren P1 laps the Ring in 7:04
A couple of weeks ago a McLaren P1 was seen circulating around the Nordschleife with a film crew in tow. The interwebz is now suggesting the P1 lapped the Ring in a very fast 7 minutes 4 seconds.
Of course, a 7:04 lap time is bloody quick, but it’s not the sub-7 minute time Ron Dennis has promised in the past. So is this rumour accurate, or is it a ruse to build up publicity before an official time is announced at next week’s Frankfurt Motor Show?
Unofficial lap times for “street-legal” cars
- 6:48 – Radical SR8 LM (2009)
- 6:55 – Radical SR8 (2005)
- 7:11 – Gumpert Apollo Sport (2009)
- 7:12 – Dodge Viper ACR (2009)
- 7:14 – Lexus LFA Nürburgring Package (2011)
[Source: Bridge to Gantry & Piston Spy | Pic: Ring Bilder]
Toyota has used the famous Spa-Francorchamps racetrack as a backdrop to bring us new images of the 309kW Yaris Hybrid-R concept. There’s 11 new images in all, available at a maximum size of 1800×1200 pixels.
If you thought the Mercedes-Benz CLA 45 AMG was pretty cool, you’re going to love this Racing Series concept. At this stage it’s little more than a litmus test to see how interested the customer racing market responds to the car.
Technical specs for the CLA 45 AMG Racing Series are being kept deliberately flexible for now, but it starts with the same 265kW/450Nm 2.0 litre turbocharged four cylinder engine from the road car, along with the 7-speed DCT gearbox.
It can be prepared with all-wheel drive or brought back to front-wheel drive if category restrictions applied. As an example, the car could race in the VLN series around the Nürburgring.
The body panels of the Racing Series are made from CFRP and the wider track results in aggressively flared wheel arches along with the handling benefits that come with such geometry changes. The interior of the car is fully race prepped, including racing buckets seats and a roll cage.
AMG brand ambassador Bernd Schneider was involved in the development of the concept and we hope to see this model flying around the world’s racetracks very soon. If nothing else, we’d expect Mercedes to enter a couple in next year’s Nürburgring 24 hour race.
The Caterham Seven 620R, it weighs a shade over 500kg and is powered by a 230kW (310hp) supercharged 2.0 litre Ford engine. It’s got a sequential gearbox and you have to control the power with your right foot and the rear wheels. It doesn’t get much more basic or enjoyable than this.
Steve Sutcliffe from Autocar has a crack at explaining the experience for those of us unikely to have the good fortune of trying a 620R for ourselves.
Ron Howard’s F1 movie Rush doesn’t officially open in Australian cinemas until early October. But, if you can get yourself to Sydney on 30 September you could be in with a chance to beat the, erm, rush to see the film.
To do that head on over to MotorSportRetro.com and enter their comp to win one of 50 double passes to a preview screening at 7:30pm on Monday 30 September.
[Source: MotorSportRetro | Pic: Hopscotch Films]
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Audi Sport quattro concept revealed
Wow!
Here is the Audi Sport quattro concept. We knew it was coming, but it’s still amazing to see it in this handful of computer-generated pics.
Based on the 2010 quattro concept we loved so dearly and honouring the Ur-quattro, this 2013 concept model is powered by 4.0 litre twin turbo V8 and a single electric motor placed between engine and transmission. All up there’s 515kW (700hp) and 800Nm for you to play with.
Unusually for Audi in this day and age the concept features an 8-speed tiptronic transmission (ie. not double clutch). There is, of course, a quattro all-wheel drive system sending power to the road. Put it all together and mashing tour right foot will send you to 100km/h in only 3.7 seconds.
Drive like good citizen and you’ll sip fuel at the miserly rate of just 2.5l/100km and emit only 59g/km of nasty stuff from the exhaust. In full electric mode you have up to 100kW/400Nm at your disposal and can travel around 50km on a single charge.
We don’t care too much for the Energy Yellow paint colour, but we do love, absolutely love, the look of this Sport quattro concept. From the front, the back, the side, it doesn’t matter, we cannot get enough of this car. Even the inside looks fantastic.
Practically speaking you can expect to see more of the hexagonal single-frame grille, which Audi says “provides a first glimpse at the future design of the sporty production models”.
We just hope that this concept does become reality and we can’t wait to see more when the car makes an appearance at the Frankfurt show next week.
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VIDEO: Experiencing the power of balance
Porsche UK recently held a day out for a bunch of competition winners to show them how good the new Cayman really is. A day thrashing the Cayman about at Silverstone is something we’d very much like to do!
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Volkswagen Golf VII R photo gallery
Volkswagen has belatedly confirmed its new Golf R will be on show in Frankfurt next week and with the announcement comes 24 new pictures of the car. Featuring a 221kW/380Nm 2.0 litre four cylinder turbo and Haldex V all-wheel drive system the Golf R can accelerate to 100km/h in 4.9 seconds.
The Mk7 Golf R will go on sale in Australia in the first half of next year and we do expect it’s engine will be detuned to 206kW for our “hot climate” market, in line with the Audi S3. Like the S3, the Golf R will only be available in Australia in five-door configuration.
UPDATE: You can use Volkswagen’s Golf R visualizer to view the car in different colours etc (our tip: get the 19″ Pretoria alloys).
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BMW 4 Series Gran Coupe spied
Now that we have the new 4 Series Coupe, with the convertible version to follow in Frankfurt next week, BMW can focus on extending the range further with the four-door Gran Coupe.
As you can see from this recent spy shot, the look is very much in line with the regular coupe version and so long as rear seat headroom isn’t completely pointless the Gran Coupe could end up being a fine option for those wanting to stand out from the 3 Series saloon crowd.
It’s expected the 4 Series Gran Coupe will debut later this year, possibly at the LA Auto Show in November.
[Source: World Car Fans | Pic: Automedia]
The i8 hybrid sportscar will be one of the stars on the BMW stand at the Frankfurt Motor Show. And at 11,000m2 it’s going to be some stand!
BMW has set up a dedicated blog to bring us closer to the creation of their mega display, including a number of pictures of the build. Construction of the stand began back in July and has involved over 350 people.
Wolfram Greiner, manager for BMW Group trade fair presentations, tells us more:
After the round track in 2009 and 2011, we decided to take the presentation to a new level with our the concept of “infinite driving pleasure†as a figure 8 or lemniscate. With this track form we create a direct experience of the products on the 70-meter long straight at the visitor’s platform. In doing so, two stages emerge. A large stage for emotional images and the so-called BMW i lounge in which innovations and functions of the BMW i vehicles will be presented in a moderated format. In addition, our new BMW product geniuses are a novel new way to present the vehicles in a completely new way, the focus this time being on our BMW i Series.
[Source: IAA blog]