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Bathurst 12 Hour Nissan Video

Onboard the Nissan GTR Nismo GT3 at Bathurst

Rick Kelly, Nissan GTR Nismo GT3

The #32 Nissan GTR Nismo GT3 has just set the fastest time in Practice 3 at the Bathurst 12 Hour. At the wheel for this afternoon’s flying lap was Bathurst rookie Alex Buncombe who set a time of 2:06.5958. That’s a bit off this morning’s pace when David Russell set a GT3 practice record with his 2:05.9397 lap during Practice 2 in the #23 Lamborghini Gallardo.

From that morning session here is an onboard video with V8 Supercar ace Rick Kelly driving the GTR. He lapped in the low 2:07s and said it was his second fastest-lap ever around the 6.2km Mount Panorama circuit.

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Bathurst 12 Hour

2014 Bathurst 12 Hour race program

Bathurst 12 Hour trophy

A full race program including all support categories can be found on the Bathurst 12 Hour website, but here’s the key times for the main runners.

Aside from the race itself the key timeslot will be 2:20pm tomorrow where the Class A runners will be let off the leash for a frantic 15 minute qualifying session. For the first time the GT3 runners won’t be cobbled by a time ceiling, they’ll be going as fast as they dare with expectations a new course record could be set.

Friday 7 February

0745–0845: Practice 1 (Classes C, D, E, F & I)
0855–0955: Practice 2 (Classes A & B)
1305–1405: Practice 3 (All classes)
1615–1715: Practice 4 (All classes)

Saturday 8 February

0900–1000: Qualifying 1 (All classes)
1330–1410: Qualifying 2 (All classes)
1420–1435: Qualifying 3 (Class A only)

Sunday 9 February

0615–1815: 2014 Bathurst 12 Hour

[Pic: Race Torque Media]

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Bathurst 12 Hour

2014 Bathurst 12 Hour live streaming guide

2013 Bathurst 12 Hour race start

Live coverage for the 2014 Bathurst 12 Hour will be available throughout the weekend, culminating with SBS TV covering the final three hours of the race across the nation.

Live streaming and live audio (via Radio Le Mans) will do the bulk of the work prior to the race climax on televsion. If you can’t see the live stream here at AUSmotive then keep an eye on the official race website.

Lap times for practice, qualifying and the race can be monitored on the NatSoft website too, just select the Bathurst 12 Hour entry and follow the relevant links.

You can also keep up to date with on track and behind the scenes action by following the Bathurst 12 Hour on Facebook and twitter (use #B12hr hashtag).

[Pic: Race Torque Media]

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Audi

Near naked 2014 Audi TT prototype spied

2014 Audi TT prototype

The public reveal of the next-gen Audi TT is scheduled for the Geneva Motor Show in March. This doesn’t leave much time for Audi to be out and about testing prototypes, but that’s exactly what they’re doing.

As you can see this near naked TT looks pretty much like the first two generations, with a more refined bodystyle following on from the current model’s approach.

Audi has already showed us inside the TT, with its nifty TFT dash display doing away with a centre console screen. And now we’ve got a pretty good handle on what the outside looks like too.

[Source: WCF | Pic: Automedia]

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MINI

The F56 MINI in detail

MINI Cooper S (F56)

The new MINI was revealed in November last year, but it’s just been give its full media launch. Which means you’ve got another chance to pore over details of the all-new F56 range.

As is the norm these days the new MINI has grown and it’s now a little bit longer (98mm), a little bit wider (44mm) and a little bit taller (7mm) than the model it replaces. MINI will be hoping it’s a little bit better as well.

It will be interesting to sample the lower-spec models which use 1.5 litre three cylinder engines. The Cooper S employs the biggest engine in a MINI yet, a 2.0 litre turbo four cylinder. Turbocharging features across the MINI range now in the chase for low down torque and fuel efficiency.

New pics and press material are all yours after the break.

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Audi Bathurst 12 Hour BMW Ferrari Fiat Ford Lamborghini Lotus McLaren Mercedes-Benz Porsche Seat Subaru

Best ever field to take on 2014 Bathurst 12 Hour

2014 Bathurst 12 hour

Just a a couple of days from this weekend’s 2014 Bathurst 12 Hour race now is a good time to cast an eye over the official entry list. And what an entry list it is too!

There’s six classes in all, with the overall race winner expected to come from the 14-strong field of Class A (GT3 Outright) competitors. The #1 Erebus Motorsport Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 is back to defend its 2013 crown. Only Bernd Schneider returns for driving duties with Erebus, he will be joined by Maro Engel and Nico Bastian. Erebus will run a second SLS AMG GT3 (#63) to be crewed by Will Davison, Jack LeBrocq and Greg Crick.

Audi will have four representatives in Class A headlined by the #3 Phoenix Racing entry of Rahel Frey, René Rast and Laurens Vanthoor. Former winner Christopher Mies joins Marc Cini in his #9 R8 LMS Ultra along with Mark Eddy. The #5 Audi will be shared among a strong local crew of Jason Bright, Warren Luff, Rod Salmon and Liam Talbot. United Autosport rounds out Audi’s GT3 entrants in the #25 car driven by Marcus Winkelhock, Mark Patterson and Eric Lux.

Ferrari will be represented for the third year in a row by the #33 Clearwater Racing entry of Mok Weng Sun, Craig Baird and Matt Griffin. They’ve finished the race in third (2012) and second (2013) so will be hoping for another year of progression up the podium. The #88 Maranello Motorsport 458 GT3 will again attract attention with this year’s line up consisting of Craig Lowndes, John Bowe, Mika Salo and Peter Edwards.

Tony Quinn’s diversity in exotic racing ownership has extended to a McLaren 12C GT3 (#37) and he’ll be making that car’s debut in the Bathurst 12 hour with his son Klark and Andrew Kirkaldy.

Also making its B12hr debut is the #32 Nismo-backed Nissan GTR to be driven by Rick Kelly, Katsumasa Cyio, Alex Buncombe and Wolfgang Reip.

Class B (GT3) is dominated by Porsche 911s, with 10 of the 14 entries coming from Stuttgart. These cars are older-spec GT3 machines and two Audi R8s and a pair of Lamborghini Gallardos round out the category.

The stand out crew here is the #12 McElrea Racing 997 GT3 Cup (2012) driven by well-established racers Patrick Long, Alex Davison and David Calvert-Jones. A touch of Hollywood is represented by Eric Bana who is sharing the #99 Gallardo with mates Peter Hill and Simon Middleton.

A small field of three forms the Class C (GT4) field, including a Ginetta G50, a Lotus Exige Cup R and a Lotus Exige S.

Class D (Invitational 3001cc+) is headlined by the #7 Dean Herridge Subaru WRX STi, which will face stiff competition from a mixed bag of makes and models including a BMW 335i, a BMW E46 GTR, a BMW E92 M3, a Daytona Coupe and a pair of Seat Leon Supercopas.

Class E (Invitational up to 3000cc) consists of three Fiat Abarths, so if nothing else the Italian manufacturer is assured of a class win! Similarly, Class I (Invitational, non-production) is made of up of three Ford Focus GTCs and will see Grant Denyer at the wheel of the #70 entry.

All going well there’ll be 54 cars on the starting grid on Sunday morning, with the late withdrawal of the Vita4One Racing BMW team being the only downer, in what shapes as the most exciting and competitive Bathurst 12 Hour race yet.

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Audi

Audi S1 to be launched on 12 February

2014 Audi S1 teaser

Audi has released a couple of teaser videos to YouTube in recent days announcing the arrival of an all-new model and is playing the deliberately coy approach of the car being a mystery.

All they have told us, in words, is that the car will be launched in South Africa next week, on 12 February, and that the model name includes a number (so it’s not the new TT).

The second teaser video gives us some visual clues and with some still shots and some investigation via Photoshop we reckon it’s pretty clear the new car is going to be the S1, the go fast version of the A1.

The two-door body style and mirror shape in the above pic look A1-based and inside we see the car has a 6-speed manual transmission and bright yellow seat backs with “quattro” badging. Very similar to the limited edition A1 quattro released in 2011, itself based on the 2011 A1 clubsport Wörthersee special.

Recent speculation suggests the S1 will feature a 170kW 2.0 TFSI engine, quattro all-wheel drive system and a manual transmission. See, we can join dots too!

You can watch the reveal next week via Audi MediaTV. Bring it on.

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Porsche

Always a frown with gold and brown

911 Turbo by Porsche Exclusive

Hot on the heels of Audi’s awesome Nogaro Blue revival comes word via the Porsche Facebook page of a new 911 Turbo by Porsche Exclusive. The special creation is painted in Lime Gold Metallic and we really want to hate it. But on the outside, at least, the unique colour is not that bad.

The subtle gloss black details complement the very nice alloy wheels really well and overall the outside does look quite good if you take the time to appreciate the finer points.

Inside, though, we’re not fans. The 911 starts with a brown interior—why is that even a option?—and is then festooned with gold bits all over the place. It just looks horrible.

In Porsche’s own words:

Since 1986, Porsche Exclusive offers almost endless possibilities to personalize your Porsche. One of the latest examples is this 911 Turbo in Lime Gold Metallic. As you can see in this gallery the exterior colour is not its only special feature.

“Special feature”? Well, we do suppose the reaction of a sharp intake of breath followed by the words, “My god that’s awful” could be considered a special feature.

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Audi

Because Nogaro Blue

Audi RS4 Avant Nogaro selection

If you’re an Audi fan the colour Nogaro Blue will do exciting things to your nether regions. Not least because it was the hero colour of the fearsome RS2 estate, Audi’s first ever RS model, but also because it’s just a shit hot colour.

For some reason Audi stopped offering the colour. Perhaps so they could charge more to put some pretty sparkles in the paint instead. Sprint Blue, a metallic colour, became Audi’s S/RS hue of choice for a while, but it’s not got the purity of Nogaro Blue. The last time we saw Noggy Blue in Australia was on the first-gen S3 and S4 models, around 10 years ago now.

The RS2 celebrates its 20th anniversary this year and to mark the occasion Audi will be launching an RS4 Avant Nogaro selection at the Geneva Motor Show next month. As the name suggests the car will be painted in Nogaro Blue and will include blue interior highlights. We could live without the splashes of blue inside the car to be honest, but they’re a small price to pay for bringing one of the world’s best exterior colours back to life.

It’s the perfect birthday present for one of the motoring world’s most underrated cars. Bravo Audi, bravo!

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Mercedes-Benz Video

Chris Harris says goodbye to the M156 V8

Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG 507 Estate

The normally aspirated V8 engine found in the C63 was first launched back in 2007. Since then it has powered AMG-enhanced C Class coupes, saloons and estates to the top of many people’s wish lists. The M156 V8 has been AMG’s stock-in-trade in recent years, beating away in plenty of other models too.

Approaching the end of its life, and for the great benefit of us all, Chris Harris takes a brief moment to say goodbye to the one of the world’s great V8 engines. The arrival of a new C Class will usher in a new turbocharged more fuel efficient era. Mercedes promises the C63 badge will remain, but it won’t really be the same.

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Subaru

Wake up Jeff!

2015 Subaru Liberty/Legacy

Here’s some leaked images of the all-new Subaru Liberty/Legacy, which is due for its official reveal in Chicago next week. Subaru hasn’t delivered a decent looking Liberty since the fourth-gen. What’s going on? We think the bloke who designed it must be called Jeff and it’s all his fault.

Wake up, Jeff, everybody’s struggling
Wake up, Jeff, they’re really pissed at you
Wake up, Jeff, you’re looking like a bum now
Wake up, Jeff, before your job’s through

What’s that sound?, I can hear somebody snoring
What’s that sight?, its not pretty or good
Is anyone awake, Subarus look so crap now
Oh my goodness, it must be Jeff!

(You can sing along if you like.)

[Source: Jalopnik]

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Formula 1 McLaren Video

VIDEO: 2014 F1 steering wheel display

McLaren MP4-29 steering wheel display

The Racer’s Edge (aka Peter Windsor) YouTube channel brings us video of the steering wheel display from the McLaren Electronics PCU-8D. It forms part of the the standard ECU used across all teams. There’s no commentary, but it’s still worth watching the display scroll through a series of demonstrations.

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