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Formula 1

Will F1 have another unwanted finger in 2014?

Finger nose drawing by Craig Scarborough

Last night’s teaser image from Force India has given us hope that the days of ugly Formula 1 cars are behind us. However, seen only in profile form, even with that pic we still need to be prepared for the worst. Late last year Craig Scarborough warned us of “the finger nose”, shown in his illustration above.

The finger solution is due to the new 2014 regulations which prescribe a high chassis and low nose. The regs specify a relatively narrow width for the nose tip which teams will want to adopt in order to achieve the maximum possible airflow under the car.

More recently, Caterham F1 boss Cyril Abiteboul, has been more direct, drawing inspiration for his description from Hollywood.

“It is going to be ugly,” Abiteboul warned. “I think F1 is still show business and it should still be attractive to people.

“Kids should be dreaming when they see an F1 car—I don’t know about the dream or nightmare you will be having when you look at those cars.

“It does remind me of the ‘Alien’ film with it coming out the mouth.”

[Source: Autosport | Pic: Craig Scarborough]

UPDATE: Scarbs has posted a sketch of the VJM07 nose to twitter (see below).

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Citroen Ford Hyundai Volkswagen WRC

Sebastien Ogier wins 2014 Rallye Monte Carlo

2014 Rallye Monte Carlo

Sebastien Ogier overcame a poor tyre choice on Day 1 to fight back and win the Rallye Monte Carlo in style, getting his world championship defence off to a near perfect start.

To rack up his first Monte win Ogier had to reel in an impressive Bryan Bouffier in his first outing at the wheel of a privately entered Ford Fiesta RS WRC. Bouffier’s name may be familiar to you, he was one of the test drivers who helped develop the Hyundai i20 WRC, so his second place result will be extra sweet after missing out on official driving duties with the Korean team this year.

Conditions during the rally were extreme and presented the drivers with all kinds of hazards, from ice, “shiny” wet patches on slippery tarmac, heavy rain and a snow storm just to top things off.

Kris Meeke took a big step in repaying Citroën’s faith and was delighted to overcome those difficulties unscathed on his way to satisfying third place. He leaves Monte Carlo with increased confidence, acknowledging he has no issue with raw pace, but has in the past made too many silly errors.

Robert Kubica may need to take a few notes from Meeke. The former F1 star was sure fast enough during the rally and was easily mixing it with the established WRC front runners. Yet, he still found his way off course and crashed into a bridge in a manner perhaps only Robert could. Thankfully the impact was at relatively low speed and he was in no real danger of any injury.

Jari-Matti Latvala finds himself in Ogier’s shadow once again, although he lost a bit of time on Day 2 with an annoying puncture. Latvala did register a small win over his teammate when he beat him to first place in the Power Stage by 0.2 seconds. Judging by the look on Ogier’s face immediately afterwards the world of motorsport has another Seb who doesn’t like losing one little bit!

Of course, Hyundai’s return to the WRC spotlight didn’t quite go to plan and they’ll be hoping for more in Sweden next month.

After the break there’s Volkswagen’s official word along with pictures and videos from the leading WRC teams.

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Formula 1

2014 Force India VJM07 previewed

2014 Force India VJM07

Force India has given us the first look yet at Formula 1’s new world order by releasing this image of its 2014 F1 car, the VJM07.

On this evidence fears that the new regulations would result in yet another round of ugly duckling cars seem unfounded. Although, full judgement will need to wait until we have more than a simple side profile shot.

You’ve probably also noticed the change in livery for Force India with what was a predominantly white car in 2013 now having a black base. There’s a bunch of new sponsors too and you can read about them in the official statement after the break.

For now, though, we’re giving the 2014 F1 car a qualified tick of approval. There’s more big reveals scheduled for the coming days, including McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull. We can’t wait to see more.

UPDATE 28 January: See more pics of the VJM07 here.

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Caterham Formula 1

Tony Fernandes delivers Caterham ultimatum

Tony Fernandes

While announcing the new drivers for the 2014 F1 season Caterham owner Tony Fernandes delivered his under-performing team a sharp and direct ultimatum: Get better or I’ll quit!

“My message to the 250 people here [at the factory] is we have to go for it this year,” Fernandes said. “This is it—the final chance. We’ve given you the best infrastructure, the best potential drivers but it is now down to all of you to go and do it.”

And then came the threat that the Malaysian entrepreneur is willing to leave F1.

“If we’re at the back I don’t think I’m going to carry on,” claimed Fernandes. “Nothing is set in stone but after five years with no points there is a limit to one’s patience, money, motivation, etc, so it’s an important year.

“I need to feel like we’re going somewhere. If I feel we can compete, then great but if we’re not competing then we have to seriously examine ourselves and ask ‘does this make sense?’ If we’re not competing, two seconds behind everybody else, then we haven’t made any progress.”

So, no pressure on F1 rookie Marcus Ericsson and the returning Kamui Kobayashi to deliver some strong results, then.

Fernandes also took the opportunity to pass comment on the introduction of double-points status for this year’s final race in Abu Dhabi.

“That is a fake fix,” Fernanded added. “What’s better is to solve the issue and make the racing more compact so a Sauber, a Lotus or a Force India could cause an upset.

“That’s what people like to see, what people like to watch, and that is what is missing in Formula One. The gaps between the haves and the have-nots has made racing boring.”

[Soure: The Guardian]

Categories
Formula 1

Who’s ready for the 2014 F1 season?

Formula 1 2014

The first public signs of the 2014 Formula 1 season coming to life will start in the coming days as teams begin to unveil their new cars ahead of the first winter test to be held in Jerez (28–31 January).

Here’s a brief fan video from the maker of the Racing In Slow Motion series to whet your appetite for the year ahead.

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Chevrolet Holden

Chevrolet gives V8 Commodore SS hope post-2017

Holden VF Commodore SS

According to the motoring.com.au website the V8-powered VF Commodore SS may have a life beyond the closure of Holden’s local production operations in 2017:

Holden fans will still have the chance to drive a rear-wheel drive V8 sedan with the Lion badge on the nose after the death of the VF Commodore in 2017 if a General Motors plan to build a second generation Chevrolet SS gets the green light.

GM is currently studying the feasibility of developing and building the next SS in the USA, taking over from the current Commodore VF-based version that is built in the doomed Elizabeth plant.

If the business case does stack up it will definitely be exported to Australia and sold as Holden.

Keeping the SS alive would also provide a lifeline for Holden Special Vehicles (HSV), which is facing an uncertain future without a rear-wheel drive Commodore to hot up into Clubsport, GTS and the like post-2017.

If you read the full article you’ll see there’s still quite a bit of water to pass under the bridge to make this happen. But if you like your Aussie V8s maybe you can still just want one.

[Source: motoring.com.au]

Categories
Porsche WEC

Doesn’t he look dashing!

Mark Webber, Porsche factory driver

Porsche has updated its Mission 2014 microsite with bios for all six of its LMP1 factory drivers. This gives us one of the first chances to see Mark Webber in his new racing suit. And doesn’t he look smart. Mum and dad will be so proud!

Categories
Formula 1

Kobayashi and Ericsson get Caterham call up

Kamui Kobayashi and Marcus Ericsson

The absence of the popular Kamui Kobayashi from Formula 1 is over with confirmation the 27-year-old will race for Caterham in 2014. He will be joined by 23-year-old Swede Marcus Ericsson.

“I’m delighted that we’ve been able to bring Kamui back,” said Cyril Abiteboul, Team Principal and CEO, Caterham F1 Team. “He is a very popular driver and it’s very good for the whole team that we’ve been able to attract such an exciting driver to join us at a critical point in our development.

“His pace speaks for itself and his extensive experience of developing cars, particularly in his years with Toyota, will be incredibly important for us as we tackle one of the most challenging seasons F1 has ever embarked upon.”

Ericsson will make his F1 debut after progressing from GP2. As you’d expect he has a history of success in the junior categories and first tested an F1 car with Brawn GP back in 2009. He’s the first Swede to race in F1 since Stefan Johansson in 1991.

“He [Ericsson] started his single-seater career by winning Formula BMW UK in 2007 and rose through the ranks to GP2,” Abiteboul added. “Last year he won in Germany, scored two poles, three fastest laps and five podiums.

“He’s physically and mentally prepared for what lies ahead, and he will have all the support we can give him across the team to help him fulfil his obvious potential in Formula One.”

Robert Frijns and Alexander Rossi will be Caterham’s F1 reserve drivers. Rossi will double up his duties with Caterham during the 2014 GP2 season, where he will be joined by Rio Haryanto.

Caterham’s full statement can be read below.

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BMW

More BMW M2 speculation

BMW M2 rendering

We all know that BMW will make an M2 when the time is right. So let’s just play along with these little games and pretend that we don’t know it’s coming.

At the recent media launch of the M235i hacks from Auto Express got talking to “BMW insiders” (we love those guys) and were told a range-topping M2 “makes a lot of sense” (no shit, really).

Where it does get a bit more interesting is when the conversation turned to the very cool track-only M235i Racing and a brief flirtation with making a road going version. The insider said BMW decided no to do that because it would “step on the toes of something else higher up the range.”

And what do you think that might be boys and girls? That’s right, the M2!

We know it’s coming, of course it will be, the real question is when? Not in the immediate future, best to place an each-way bet on 2015 and 2016.

[Source: Auto Express | Rendering: Bimmerpost]

Categories
Audi

Audi S1 coming to Geneva, this year!

Audi S1

And on the eighth day God created the Audi S1. That’s not to say this hitherto mythical S1 hot hatch will be the best example of its genre, not at all. It’s just that the gestation of this little fighter has been going since the big guy in the sky started getting creative. But now, we are told by Auto Express, the Audi S1 will be unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in March.

Supposedly it will have around 170kW (230hp) being produced by a 2.0 litre turbo (that’s a Golf GTI engine to you and me) and will boast quattro all-wheel drive as standard. There’s no surprise to learn that a 6-speed S tronic transmission will be available, but we’re still hoping a trad manual box will be on the cards too.

Given the long haul creation of the S1 anything could change between now and March, so let’s cross our fingers and hope for the best. All while not trying to think how much this hot hatch will cost if and when it lands on our shores.

[Source: Auto Express]

Categories
Top Gear

Top Gear Season 21 returns on 2 February

Top Gear, Season 21

Season 21 of Top Gear returns to BBC2 on Sunday 2 February

It should be no surprise that Jeremy didn’t really know the exact date of Top Gear’s return to UK TV screens, but now we know it’ll be back in juts under two weeks.

To preview the next exciting series of Top Gear the BBC has released three new previews to its YouTube channel. There’s one clip each for Jeremy, James and Richard and we can see we’ll be learning a lot about trucks, servicing and lollies. What joy!

[Source: Final Gear]

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Categories
Alfa Romeo Porsche Toyota

VIDEO: Alfa Romeo 4C v rivals

Alfa Romeo 4C

Not content with thrashing about in the McLaren P1, Steve Sutcliffe from Autocar kept in touch with the common man by thrashing about in an Alfa Romeo 4C on the track with two of its natural rivals, the Porsche Cayman and Toyota 86.

It turns out you may not have your pre-conceived ideas altered, but we expect you’ll still enjoy the journey to having your thoughts confirmed.

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