…they just race in the invitation-only Boss GP series. And that’s exactly what two 2011-spec HRT F1 cars will be doing in 2013.
Spanish businessman Teo Martin bought the left over bits of HRT after they folded at the end of the 2012 F1 season. Martin has teamed up with fellow Spaniard, Carlos Mollá, who will prepare the cars for racing.
All they need now is a couple of drivers. Got any spare time?
[Source: BossGP]
A more extreme Mk7 Golf GTI, possibly a preview of a 40th anniversary model, is on its way to the annual Wörthersee show, Car reports. The special GTI to be revealed next week will be labelled as a concept model, but it’s expected it could give us the first look at the 2015 Edition 40 GTI.
While not a lot of detail has been given, Volkswagen’s R&D boss, Dr Ulrich Hackenberg, told Car that the new XDS+ “e-diff” in the new GTI is not at its maximum limit and can handle more power. Hackenberg also mentioned a carbon fibre roof could save 8–9kg over the regular body panel, hinting that this could find its way onto the concept model.
We can live in hope that Volkswagen may follow the path of the Audi TT ultra quattro and strip over 150kg of weight from the regular model. The 228kW engine would be nice too, although that may be more power than the XDS+ diff can handle.
The Wörthersee show kicks off in the middle of next week so we don’t have too long to wait for all to be revealed.
[Source: Car]
Media leaks have revealed that Holden’s upcoming range topping Gen-F HSV models will be powered by a stonking 430kW/740Nm supercharged 6.2 litre V8. That’s more than the new BMW M5 (412kW/680Nm) and heaps more than the Audi RS4 (331kW/430Nm). Crikey!
Such a shame that nobody is buying Holdens any more.
[Source: carsales | Thanks to John for the tip]
With the limited running of Sebastien Loeb for Citroën this year the big story in WRC has been the immediate success of the other Sebastien in the new Volkswagen Polo R WRC. In the four rallies to date this season Ogier has finished no worse than second, to Loeb in Monte Carlo, before stringing together a run of three rally wins in a row (Sweden, Mexico and Portugal).
It’s already been a stunning debut year for Volkswagen, with Citroën seemingly floundering without their all-time legend at the wheel. But what of Ogier’s teammate, Jari-Matti Latvala?
To be frank, he has struggled, especially in the first three events. Finally, in Portugal Latvala began to show his promise by finishing third and achieving his best result for the year.
Moving on to Rally Argentina, which is currently underway, Volkswagen will no doubt be pleased to see Latvala set the fastest time in qualifying, making sure the ground he gained in Portugal has not been lost.
Even better for Latvala, Argentina is one of the few races in which Sebastien Loeb will be donning his Citroën race suit, so not only has Latvala out qualified his teammate, who was third, but he’s beaten the world’s best ever rally driver in quali as well.
Latvala revealed the secret to his qualifying success lay in his previous experiences with Ford. “In Portugal the confidence started to come. I started to feel and understand how much I could push into the corner and how well it will stay on the ground,†he said Latvala.
“I was a little bit suffering with the braking in Portugal and I knew that coming here I had updates on the differentials to make them a bit more similar under braking to my previous car (Ford Fiesta RS).
“It gives me more confidence so that I can go deeper into the corners under braking and the wheels don’t lock so easily. This was the change we did here and in qualifying it felt good.â€
A promising start in South America for the 28-year-old Finn. Although, with SS1 already done and dusted Ogier leads the way, from Dani Sordo, Loeb and Latvala. With less than four seconds covering the top four let’s hope we’re in for an exciting rally all the way to the end.
[Source: wrc.com]
Dr Ulrich Bez, Aston Martin CEO, is expected to stand down at the end of this year to take on a less demanding ambassadorial role. The 70-year-old has driven the recent success of the company since taking charge in 2000.
Aston Martin hasn’t officially confirmed this rumour, but it is expected a replacement will be appointed in the coming months to allow for a suitable handover period.
Meanwhile, it’s also understood that Chris Porritt, one of the key men behind the development of the One-77 has left the company for a new role with Tesla.
We’ve often admired the way both men have stood behind their products on the racetrack, in particular at the Nürburgring 24 hour race, and wonder if we’ll still be seeing Aston Martin executives trading their tailored suits for racing suits.
[Source: Autocar]
Despite a disappointing sixteenth place finish at the Bahrain Grand Prix, Toro Rosso driver Daniel Ricciardo has risen to the top of the ‘most likely to replace Mark Webber in 2014’ list.
Speculation has previously suggested Kimi Raikkonen could be the man to replace Webber should he depart the team at the end of this year. However, Ricciardo’s rise up the ranks follows an interview with Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko by the APA news agency. “Many drivers want to drive for Red Bull, and we have two very good juniors [at Toro Rosso],” Marko said. “I’m not worried that we will have something other than two top drivers in the end.”
Marko then added that our Daniel is currently the chosen one from the current Toro Rosso pairing. “Ricciardo is currently the better one. Vergne is too impetuous, asking too much of these sensitive tyres in qualifying,” added Dr Helmut.
Marko also poured cold water on the suggestion that the Webber-Vettel relationship is untenable. “They work constructively together, and that’s enough,” he said. “As long as it stays that way, we don’t have to worry. They’ve never been great friends, but they have a working relationship that still works.”
Meanwhile Ricciardo knows he has to add to his career-best seventh place finish in China if he’s to get the Red Bull chocolates. “I know that I need to do more if I want to have a good chance of getting the place at Red Bull,” the 23-year-old Australian said. “I have to show that it wasn’t just a flash in the pan.”
“I see it as an incentive, not a burden. My goal is to get the promotion, and I know that a lot is expected of me. It’s up to me to get the results.”
[Source: Motorsport.com | Pic: Toro Rosso/Getty Images]
Robert Kubica has confirmed he has spent time in the Mercedes AMG F1 simulator, although he remains coy on the finer details of his experience.
“I can say yes, I was there. But I cannot say how many times or how many laps I did,” Kubica said. “But there is this rumour to which I say, yes, I was in the Mercedes F1 simulator in the past.”
The test is likely to have come about thanks to Kubica’s relationship with Toto Wolff, head of Mercedes motorsport. Wolff arranged for Kubica to test a Mercedes DTM car in February as well.
Kubica isn’t sure, or at least isn’t saying, if he has any future test sessions in the simulator planned.
Last November Kubica said he was uncertain if he would ever be able to recover sufficiently from the injuries he sustained in February 2011 to drive an F1 car again. But he now thinks he has the required strength to drive some of the less physically demanding F1 circuits.
[Source: Autosport]
Here’s the latest summary of things to expect when the 991-based Porsche 911 Turbo is unveiled later this year.
[Source: Road & Track]
For a while there it seemed we couldn’t go more than a few days without featuring some Porsche 918 content. Well, this is just the second post on the 918 for the year. This rather spectacular looking 918 Spyder was in Monaco recently for the Top Marques festival and thankfully a few people were on hand to film the car being driven around the principality’s famous streets.
[Thanks to Richard for the tip]
McLaren is milking the launch of its P1 hypercar with great success. Already the car has premiered twice at the Paris (in concept form) and Geneva motor shows. And now, for our viewing pleasure, they’re showing a development mule being thrashed on a frozen lake in the Arctic Circle.
They say the P1 will be “the best driver’s car in the world on road and track.” To support that aim McLaren reckons the P1 will be the fastest ever production car around the Top Gear test track and it will be able to lap the Nürburgring Nordschleife in less than 7 minutes.
And, after watching this new video and its accompanying wallpaper-friendly images, we think you’ll agree the P1 actually looks half decent as well.
We’ll be seeing more of the P1 when at the Goodwood Festival of Speed (11–14 July). We just wish we were one of the lucky 375 folk to get their very own 916PS hybrid hypercar to play with.
Bernie Ecclestone is reportedly leading a charge to bring Formula 1 back to the west coast of the United States. If successful it could mean the US has as many as three F1 races each year.
In the late 1970s Formula 1 ran a street race in Long Beach, California. Officially it was called the United States Grand Prix West and it ran from 1976–1983. In recent times top flight open wheel racing has still taken place at Long Beach, although it’s been the domain of the home-grown IndyCar series (and its various iterations).
Motor Sport magazine reports that television audiences for IndyCar are in decline and describes the sport by saying: “Outside the city of Indianapolis, the series has little or no identity and sadly has become one of America’s smallest, most irrelevant sports.”
Hence the impetus for the alleged triumverate of Bernie Ecclestone, F1 sponsorship guru Zak Brown and Long Beach founder Chris Pook to open discussions about bringing F1 back to California. The IndyCar contract with Pook expires in 2014 thereby opening the door for F1 to replace the fledgling series.
Michael Andretti, one of a few racers to compete in both F1 and IndyCar, doesn’t think it will happen. “Why would they sell it?” he asked. “It runs along every year, making enough money. They have things in place; it works. I don’t think it’s a headache for them at all.”
Significant investment would be required to bring the facilities at Long Beach up to scratch, which Andretti says is unlikely. “They’d have to spend $100 million to bring it up to where F1 would want it,” Andretti said. “No one would do that.”
However, long-time Motor Sport correspondent Gordon Kirby says discussions between Ecclestone and Bob Foster, Long Beach Mayor, will take place in June during the Canadian Grand Prix.
Former Ferrari and McLaren driver Stefan Johansson reckons F1 at Long Beach would be a great idea. Johansson has lived in Los Angeles for the last 20 years and maintains an active role in motorsport by managing Scott Dixon. “It would be fabulous!†said Johansson. “They’d have to spend a lot of money, but they could make it the race. It would be great for F1 and great for motor racing in America.â€
[Source: Motor Sport & GrandPrix.com]
Audi plans to defend its 2012 Le Mans crown with a long-tail version of its R18 e-tron quattro. To help prepare for Le Mans Audi will race one R18 ‘long-tail’ at the 6 Hours of Spa this weekend. And to prepare for Spa they took a ‘long-tail’ to Monza for high speed testing.
The R18 ‘long-tail’ isn’t necessarily chasing outright success at Spa, rather Audi says, “The comparison, however, is not focused on absolute lap times. Instead, the team will analyze the time differences to be expected between both models on individual track sectors. In addition, practical aspects of using the second body version will be reviewed and data generated for the fielding in the race at Le Mans.”
You can see unofficial video of the R18 ‘long-tail’ at Monza after the break. To further imitate the long straights of the famous La Sarthe circuit Audi ran at Monza without using the chicane at the end of the main straight, meaning the ‘long-tail’ could turn into the curva grande at full throttle. Entry speed has been estimated at around 340km/h. Plenty fast in other words!