The Bugatti Veyron Super Sport is once again the world’s fastest production car, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.
Last week Guinness stripped the record from Bugatti after complaints from rival hillbillies carmaker Hennessy claiming the Veyron Super Sport had its speed limiter removed and was therefore not “production” spec.
A statement from Guinness can be read after the break.
[Source: Autoblog]
Before we head off to Tasmania for a week to follow the close knit tarmac rally community here’s 93 photos from the Chinese Grand Prix. We hope you like them!
During its coverage of the 6 Hours of Silverstone Radio Le Mans announced that Mark Webber has signed a five-year deal with Porsche to join their World Endurance Championship assault. If the rumour is correct Mark will retire from F1 at the end of this year and start with Porsche in 2014.
Rumours of Webber joining Porsche have been simmering for some time but this is the first instance a firm contract has been mentioned.
The rumour was also posted to twitter by Radio Le Mans:
@AussieGrit signs 5 year deal to race with Porsche. Hey welcome back to sportscars, Mark! #greatnews
— Eve Hewitt (@radiolemans) April 14, 2013
When we asked Radio Le Mans for comment this was their reply: “Credible sources but I would not expect to see any confirmation until later in the season. Or could be bargaining chip.”
Let’s not lock this deal away just yet, but if, or when it happens, it clearly won’t be surprise to anyone. Indeed, the way it’s looking it will be more of a surprise if Mark stays in F1 beyond the current season.
[Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images | Thanks to Micky for the tip]
Here’s the full post-race press conference transcript from the 2013 Chinese Grand Prix, featuring interviews with race winner Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) and minor place getters Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus) and Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes AMG).
Before you get reading there’s some housekeeping from the race to cover. On lap 15 Mark Webber (Red Bull) collided with Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso). Stewards have apportioned blame for the incident to Webber and handed him a three spot grid penalty for the next race.
“I was coming from a reasonable distance behind, Jean-Eric was really wide,” explained Webber. “But when we came close to the apex he wanted to hit it, which he is entitled to do, but by then I was committed to the inside and the incident happened.
“It was a couple of laps before our pit stop window, so I had to come in early. The guys thought the tyre was fixed when we left the stop, but it came off on the out lap. We have had a few problems this weekend; I think we could have done something from our start position today, but it wasn’t meant to be.”
In happier news Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) reckons his seventh placing was well deserved. “The points are very welcome but the really good thing to take away from this is that I think we got to where we were with genuine pace,” he said. “I’ll have to look at a replay and see everything else that happened but I don’t think we benefited from getting lucky with strategy, I think the pace was there for us to finish seventh entirely on merit. And that’s a very nice feeling to take with me to Bahrain.”
[Pic: Ferrari]
Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) has made up for his first lap exit in Malaysia by collecting maximum points for the win at the Chinese Grand Prix.
Tyre strategy once again ruled the day and it was an odd race really. Nothing happened and everything happened. Drivers were asking their teams if they should be racing the car behind or letting it through, all due to tyre wear and their own individual strategies.
In the end the only real excitement was in the last few laps when Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull), running a brand new set of soft compound tyres, was taking seconds per lap out of Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes AMG) in the chase for the final podium step. Hamilton was able to hang on for third, but only by a couple of tenths from the charging Vettel.
Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus) was second and but for a mishap early in the race which left him with some minor damage to the front of his car he may have been able to put more pressure on Alonso who enjoyed victory with a margin of 10.1 seconds.
Mark Webber’s (Red Bull) horror weekend continued with his left rear wheel falling off as he was coasting back to pit lane with problems. This, after already being forced to start from pit lane due to his fuelling dramas from qualifying.
On the positive side for Australian F1 fans Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) took the six championship points on offer for seventh place. That’s a career best result for Daniel and we hope his improved form continues.
The stewards will be investigating a host of drivers after the race for using DRS in yellow flag conditions. Should that alter the race results we’ll be sure to let you know.
The F1 circus backs up next weekend in Bahrain. We’ll be away interstate at Targa Tasmania but will endeavour to cover proceedings as best we can.
The three-door version of the new Audi S3 has just been released in Europe. And while it is a little lighter and quicker than the S3 Sportback we’ll be seeing in Australia it’s still worth taking in the first impressions from those who attended the launch:
Autocar (Greg Kable): The Audi S3 is a very accomplished hot hatch—among the best in the business for pure ability, no less. It is terrifically fast, impressively agile and boasts loads of grip. But, that said, it isn’t as engaging to drive we had hoped. What it lacks in pure back-road excitement, the new S3 attempts to make up for in overall quality. In this respect it is better than any rival out there.
Auto Express (Jack Rix): The new S3 feels as crushingly fast as its predecessor in a straight line, but makes unexpected improvements in other areas. The bassy soundtrack is as close to a six-cylinder as a four-cylinder gets, it feels lighter on its toes in corners and the lightning-fast S tronic gearbox is a perfect match. Dial down the dynamic settings and it’s more refined and comfortable than ever, too. More feedback through the steering wheel would be appreciated, and ultimately the handling feels safe rather than lively, but Audi has done enough to make keen drivers think twice before buying the BMW M135i.
Car (Ben Pulman): The Audi S3 has always been a good all-round hot hatch, but this latest version has a broader repertoire: it’s more refined and the cabin is unmatched in this class, and it’s also more fun to drive hard. The S3 isn’t quite as involving as any of the Ford/Vauxhall/Renaultsport crowd, but I’m not sure that matters when the rest of the package is so complete.
Drive (Jonathan Hawley): As well as being feisty in a straight line the S3 is an agile handler with oodles of grip, the ability to find traction coming out of corners, and the steering is well weighted and precise.
Hmm, it’s a bit of a mixed bag really. Clearly the 8V appears better than the 8P model it replaces, but has it improved enough to mix it with the increased competition from Germany?
The review from Australia’s own Drive is so lacking in detail about the actual driving experience we’re inclined to ignore it. But, based on the other comments, and compared against the list prices of $68,400 for the M135i and $74,900 for the much more powerful A45 AMG, we can’t help but think, as good as the S3 might be, its mid-60s pricepoint might make it at least $5K too much.
The BBC brings us a short interview with Mark Webber. It was recorded before yesterday’s disappointing qualifying session, where his car ran out of fuel. Which is probably just as well.
As you’d expect the discussion centres around the intra-team controversy from the Malaysian Grand Prix. But it was when Mark was asked about the prospect of Helmut Marko’s claim there will be no more team orders that the Aussie delivered his typically laconic punchline.
[Thanks to Micky for the tip]
Lewis Hamilton claimed his maiden pole position for Mercedes AMG in qualifying at the Chinese Grand Prix earlier today. His time of 1:34.484 gave him a relatively comfortable margin of almost three tenths back to Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus, 1:34.761) and Fernando Alonso (Ferrari, 1:34.788).
The Mercedes duo have shown good pace all weekend and Nico Rosberg (1:34.861) may be a little disappointed to be starting on the second row.
Tyre strategy once again influenced the final qualifying session more than the FIA would probably like with no flying laps set until the closing minutes of the session and two drivers, Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) and Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber) failing to set a time at all.
You can add Jenson Button (McLaren, 2:05.673) to that list too. The only reason he completed his slow lap was to ensure he started ahead of Vettel. Both Vettel and Button will start the race on the longer wearing harder compound tyres (mediums), while all those ahead will be on the softs. Will Vettel’s sacrifice and lowly P9 grid position pay dividends?
It was a bit of a shambles for Red Bull today actually. Mark Webber managed just one flying lap in Q2 before being asked by the team to park his car due low fuel. He spent much of Q2 in the top 10, but as the track conditions improved those around him went faster and eventually bumped him down to P14. Worse was to come, though, and Mark will start the race from last place after being penalised as his car contained just 150ml of fuel, well below the one litre required for its mandatory sample.
In better news for Australian fans Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) made it into the top 10 and will start the race from P7. His teammate, Jean-Eric Vergne, could only manage a time good enough for P16.
It’s only a few days since the first official preview of Ron Howard’s F1 movie Rush came to light and already we’ve got a second clip to see.
As you can see from the recreation of the Nürburgring starting grid captured in the still image above the attention to detail from Howard appears first class. We just have to hope the balance between Hollywood blockbuster and bona fide F1 flick is right.
The advertised premiere date is 20 September 2013, we’ll have to wait and see if that includes Australia as well.
UPDATE: Ron Howard has just completed a Q&A session with fans via twitter, you can read what was asked and what was answered HERE.
Fans of immensely powered estate cars can rejoice in the news that the Audi RS6 Avant will arrive in Australia in November this year. That’s a bit earlier than previously expected too.
Audi Australia is keeping mum on exact specification details but says you should start to budget for a list price of around $230,000 for the RS6 Avant.
In return you’ll be blessed with 412kW of power and 700Nm of torque courtesy of Audi’s 4.0 litre twin turbo V8. If you’re running late getting the kids to school you can rest easy in the knowledge that you need just 3.9 seconds to reach 100km/h.
Yet, if you’re expecting the RS6 to have true sportscar pretensions Autocar says you may be best to look for alternatives:
If your relationship with cars (and roads) is a little less one-dimensional, a little less concerned with outright speed and a little more involved with the nuance, flavour and entertainment of actually driving, then, once again, your money is better parked elsewhere.Â
The duff Dynamic steering must shoulder some of the blame for this, but even beyond its ham-fistedness the RS6 does seem like a car intent on showing what it can do to you rather than what you can do with it.
The only thing we’d add to that is presumably any buyer out there willing to spend a quarter of a million bucks on a station wagon probably already has a more suitable and dynamic sportscar waiting for them in their garage. So, for a highway weapon able to chew up miles with ease, we think the RS6 Avant would be a fine option.
For his weekly video update Chris Harris spent some quality time with the Mercedes-Benz SLS Electric Drive. That’s an all-electric 552kW/1000Nm supercar, in case you’d forgotten.
Okay, the downsides are familiar, the range is no match for a conventionally powered SLS and at around 2200kg this car is a lot heavier as well.
But just as the Prius was a starting point for Toyota’s hybrid technology, the SLS ED is a starting point for the electric-powered hypercar of tomorrow.
Half of this review is filled with Harris chewing the fat with a Mercedes spokesman. If you’re a true car nerd you will love it.
It’s not all that long ago that the Audi S3 had the upper-end of the hot hatch market pretty much all to itself. But with the recent or impending arrivals of hyper hatchery from BMW and Mercedes-Benz the four-ringed posse has quite a fight on its hands to earn your custom.
With only 221kW and 380Nm to play with Audi cannot compete on outright performance and that just leaves price. And while it won’t be an outright bargain the new S3 Sportback should undercut the M135i and A45 AMG when it goes on sale locally in December. Audi Australia says the S3 will carry a $65,000–70,000 price tag and will include plenty of standard kit.
If you want the S3 sedan you’ll only have to wait an extra month or so, Audi has announced it will launch in the first quarter of 2014.
Audi knows the S3 is fighting in the toughest market it has ever faced. “It’s a highly competitive market place and we want the many Audi customers, both existing and new, to be delighted with their brand new S3 Sportback,” says Audi Australia’s managing director, Andrew Doyle.
Pleasingly, Doyle confirmed a proper gearbox will be offered this time as well. “We will offer our customers both a 6 speed manual and a 6 speed S tronic transmission when we launch in December this year,†he said.
We look forward to finding out more about the standard level of equipment the Australian-spec S3 Sportback will carry. It’s going to have to be good to compete with its German rivals.