Samstag, 30. April 2011
Robert Kubica Could Be Ruled Out For At Least A Year Following Accident
Polish racing driver Robert Kubica will spend at least one whole year recovering from a rally crash he suffered this morning, according to his surgeon. Kubica, who races for Renault Lotus crashed the Skoda Fabia rally car this morning and was airlifted to hospital suffering serious injuries. He has spent many hours in surgery, with [...]
Land Rover Defender Vineyard by FuoriSerie Torino
Envisioned as the perfect wine-making mobility device, the Defender has a leaf camouflage exterior with teak accents and a yellow roof.2012 Chevrolet Corvette - official details released [video]
Following a leak earlier this week, Chevrolet has released official information about 2012 Corvette.Freitag, 29. April 2011
AUTOS: Ford Truck Torture Test
Test Drive on SPEED teams up with Ford as they wring out F-150 pickups and engines to see much they can handle Saturday at 7:30 pm ET.
Source: http://automotive.speedtv.com/article/autos-ford-truck-torture-test/
SX: Emig Handicaps The Title Contenders
Former SX/MX champion Jeff Emig knows what it takes to win a title, and he's offering up his advice to the four men battling for the 2011 Monster Energy Supercross crown.
Source: http://moto-racing.speedtv.com/article/sx-emig-handicaps-the-title-contenders/
Ralph Lauren classic car collection on display in Europe for first time [videos]
Renowned fashion designer Ralph Lauren is also one of the world's most established car collectorsZagato TZ3 Stradale
The XII Villa D?Este Concours d?Elegance which took place in April 2010 gave way for Andrea Zagato to present the first step of his "Project TZ" with the 2010 Alfa Romeo TZ3 Corsa. This project was set in motion to honor 100 years of production and the long tradition of race Alfas with Zagato bodies. Fast forward to this year’s Pebble Beach Concours and Zagato is back with the second step of the "TZ Project", the Zagato TZ3 Stradale. The Stradale will be based on a 2010 Dodge Viper by utilizing its rolling chassis, engine, gearbox, suspension, etc. It is completely road legal, but will never get to see the production block.
The original TZ3 Corsa was originally built for German Alfa Romeo Zagato collector Martin Kapp while he was attending the Zandvoort Tribute. The Stradale is in no way related to the Corsa, except for the fact that they are both part of the "TZ Project." The TZ3 Stradale features a carbon fiber body with the same dimensions and weight of the Dodge Viper. It will be powered by a 4.2 liter V8 engine.
Before the car’s official debut at the Villa D’Este, Zagato has revealed the first details on the TZ3 Stradale, a vehicle that will be limited to only 9 units worldwide.
UPDATE 04/28/2011: This review has been updated with the official images and details. Hit the jump for the full details.
Zagato TZ3 Stradale originally appeared on topspeed.com on Thursday, 28 April 2011 10:00 EST.
Source: http://www.topspeed.com/cars/zagato/2011-zagato-tz3-stradale-ar107344.html
Donnerstag, 28. April 2011
BMW Z2 roadster could debut in 2014 - report
German car magazine Auto Bild says BMW is working on the model and offers up a few choice details.Mercedes C63 AMG DTM Safety Car revealed
Mercedes has unveiled the new C63 AMG Safety Car for the 2011 DTM racing season. Details insideZagato TZ3 Stradale details and real photos released
Based on the Dodge Viper ACR, the TZ3 Stradale features a carbon fiber body with a Kamm-tail that pays tribute to the original TZ and TZ2.Top Five Conclusions ? Chinese Grand Prix
Now the dust has settled on a manic yet�thrilling�Chinese Grand Prix, Formula1 Fancast is here to bring you the last word on a race that saw Lewis Hamilton described it as his best ever, Jenson ...
Mittwoch, 27. April 2011
1955 Chevy Bel Air
Not sure if I've already posted this one... So here it is...
Here's my 1955 Chevy Bel Air. Built stock with the exception of the paint job that is Satin Silver with White Pearl.
This is one of my favorite builds. Everything came out looking good.
Source: http://cs.scaleautomag.com/SCACS/forums/thread/954863.aspx
Lotus F1 row takes new twist
A new twist in the long-running row over the use of the Lotus name in Formula 1 has emerged with the announcement that the owners of Team Lotus have bought niche sportscar manufacturer Caterham.
Tony Fernandes and his partners see Caterham, which makes replicas of the old Lotus Seven two-seater open-top sportscar, as a company with historic links and "synergies" with Team Lotus that allows them to realise their ambition of diversifying into making road cars.
Their original plan was to do that with Group Lotus, the company that markets Lotus sportscars, but as Fernandes puts it: "That obviously didn't turn out very well."
What the Malaysian businessman, and owner of budget airline Air Asia, is referring to is the increasingly bitter dispute between him and Group Lotus that has ended up in the High Court.
When Fernandes and his partners first set up what was then called the Lotus Racing F1 team last year, it was with the blessing of Group Lotus, which licensed them the name. But in the course of 2010 Group Lotus's new chairman Dany Bahar decided he wanted to go his own way in F1.
He terminated Fernandes' licence, and switched instead to a sponsorship deal with the Renault team. Fernandes, seeing this coming, bought the rights to the historic Team Lotus name as a fall-back.
Both issues - the termination of the licence and the ownership of the Team Lotus name - are wrapped up in a court case that was heard last month, with a verdict expected early in May.
Fernandes is widely expected to win the rights to continue to use Team Lotus. He bought it legitimately from its previous owner, David Hunt, brother of the late world champion James, and Group Lotus has always acted in the past as if it knew it did not own the name.
Nevertheless, buying Caterham does provide Fernandes with an interesting fall-back option should the court case go against him. Now he owns his own car company, he could re-name the F1 team after it should he want to.
Team Lotus owner Tony Fernandes now has Caterham in his business portfolio
For now, though, he says that is not an option. Fernandes told BBC Sport that he is "absolutely not" going to change the name of Team Lotus. Although he does add: "Obviously we have to wait for the verdict to see exactly what has been decided. But we see a very natural link between Team Lotus and Caterham, and they can be synergistic and promote each other, and there is some DNA between the two anyway. It's not like we've bought a brand that has no association with Team Lotus at all. It's just the opposite."
The Caterham name will, though, soon appear on the Team Lotus F1 cars - although exactly when and how has yet to be decided - and the company will eventually contribute to the Lotus budget as a sponsor.
Assuming he retains the rights to Team Lotus, that still leaves Fernandes in the sticky position of providing free promotion to a company with which he is in dispute and has no links.
Unsurprisingly, he did not want to get into that on the day of his big announcement, but he could not resist a little snipe or two at Bahar.
Fernandes says he sees Caterham as very much following the legacy of the late Lotus founder Colin Chapman. "In some ways," he says, "we have reunited the Chapman history. Lotus is all about lightweight, more is less. That is all the terminology we like, and it fits with F1. We feel there is a huge opportunity for Caterham in a market no one is really looking at right now."
By that, he means lightweight, affordable sportscars that are within reach of ordinary people. This was Chapman's approach, and one which, Fernandes says, "certain people have abandoned". That is a reference to Bahar's plans to take Lotus upmarket and challenge Porsche and Ferrari with his mooted five new Lotus models by 2015.
So far, the dispute between the two Lotuses has not reached the race tracks of F1.
Team Lotus started this season with chief technical officer Mike Gascoyne setting ambitious targets of catching Renault by the end of the season, but that looks out of reach for now - Renault have started the season strongly enough to set their own difficult goal, of beating Ferrari to third place in the constructors' championship.
But Team Lotus have also started the season well. The car has had reliability problems, but it also has underlying pace, and in the last race in China they beat established teams for the first time since entering F1 at the beginning of last year, with Heikki Kovalainen finishing ahead of a Sauber and a Williams.
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Kovalainen's performance is a clear indicator that Lotus's more realistic target, of scoring points and mixing it with the established teams, is achievable.
Fernandes himself has his feet firmly on the ground. "You build things properly and with the right structure and things will fall into place," he says. "My target this year was to maintain 10th, and hopefully sneak a few points along the way. That is still my target.
"It is beginning to feel more realistic now, but one can't build a challenging F1 team in two years. We are competing against guys who have been there for 30 years but obviously the team smell big steps of improvement. They smell points.
"I never want to kill confidence, I encourage it, but I am also a realist and we are competing against nine guys who have been doing it for years and are very good at it.
"But if you'd asked me do I think at Turkey (the next race on 8 May) you'd be where you are, I wouldn't have believed it.
"We've got a good package and good people, we have put all the infrastructure in place.
"We're working on a new wind tunnel; that's the last piece of the jigsaw puzzle, and I think if you put all the pieces of the puzzle together then the results will come in good time."
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2011/04/lotus_f1_row_takes_new_twist.html
Volvo flagship not coming anytime soon
Volvo is downplaying speculation about a flagship model, following the introduction of the Universe concept at the Shanghai Auto Show.Gritty Webber on the comeback trail
At Sepang, Malaysia
There was only ever going to be one way for Mark Webber to prove he is capable of renewing his fascinating rivalry with his Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel in 2011 and that is on the track.
After a lacklustre weekend in Melbourne - where Webber qualified 0.8 seconds behind the German world champion and finished fifth in a race Vettel won easily - the Australian showed the first signs of a return to form by setting the pace on Friday in Malaysia.
Webber had arrived in Kuala Lumpur in an unusually monosyllabic mood, especially when he was asked for a post mortem of just what went wrong at the first race.
"I'm not going to make a meal of what happened in Melbourne, let's just talk about Malaysia," he warned the media throng.
The message from the no-nonsense Webber - who uses the alias Aussie Grit on social networking website Twitter - is that he was not looking for excuses for his damp squib of a start to the season.
As it happens, the Australian had a pretty good excuse. It emerged in Malaysia that he hauled his Red Bull around Albert Park with a broken rear suspension.
"There were some issues post-race with the car and the guys found a few things they weren't happy with," Webber told the BBC in an exclusive interview which will be aired during Sunday's race show on BBC One.
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"Seb and I have been covered by a fag packet here and there over the course of past sessions so I'm hoping - and looking to make sure - that Australia was my worse performance of the year. It just has to be. We cannot continue like that, being that far off."
Webber may have topped both practice sessions around Sepang's demanding curves and long straights but it is still too early to know whether he can make his advantage count on the circuit's unforgiving asphalt and under Malaysia's unpredictable skies.
Last season, Webber grabbed his first of five poles in Malaysia, only to hand Vettel victory at the first corner when, erroneously thinking he was clear of the field, he left the door open and his team-mate slipped into the lead.
Vettel is again breathing down his neck in Sepang, ending Friday just 0.214 seconds behind him, with McLaren drivers Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton separating him from Webber.
Intriguingly, F1 insiders say the Red Bull rivals are protective about showing each other their true pace on Fridays, much to the chagrin of team boss Christian Horner, and only reveal which of them has the upper hand during qualifying.
Nonetheless, Webber will take a psychological boost from beating his team-mate on paper. Like last year, Red Bull once again have the fastest car and, if they can convert that pace into spoils on Sunday, the two team-mates could make it a private fight for the drivers' crown.
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There were times last season when the pendulum swung in Webber's favour. He won four races and led the championship three times, only to finish third as Vettel conjured a breathtaking finish to take the title at the final race.
As Webber prepares to rejoin battle, the 34-year-old is drawing inspiration from last season's battle scars.
"It can only help only having a year that I went through," said Webber. "A lot of positives happen but of course it was very, very disappointing not to win the championship. A mountaineer could have a similar experience, to get so close to the top but not to look over the top.
"It takes time and reflection to get over that [but] if it doesn't make you stronger I'd be surprised."
The full interview with Mark Webber will be shown during BBC One's race programme on Sunday which begins at 0800 BST
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/sarahholt/2011/04/webber.html
1960 Ford Starliner
My new project is a '60 Ford Starliner. The kit has been in the stash for a few years and it is time to build it.
I am going for a tu-tone paint scheme on this one. I was originally planning on a white top and green body and interior, but I have decided on a Tamiya TS-26 white top over Model Master Acapolco Blue Metallic body with a Model Master Federal Standard Blue interior.
A few mold lines to content with and then it's off to the paint booth!
More to come...
Source: http://cs.scaleautomag.com/SCACS/forums/thread/954486.aspx
Ecclestone softens on F1 sale
Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has hinted that he would be prepared to move away from the sport in the face of a consortium bid led by Rupert Murdoch? News Corp and the world?s richest man Carlos Slim.
Reports emerged last week that the pair were ...
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Formula1Fancast/~3/hpsdoCohtV4/ecclestone-softens-on-f1-sale
Di Resta takes praise in his stride
In Shanghai
Rookie Paul di Resta has been the subject of high praise in the Formula 1 paddock in Shanghai after scoring a point in each of his first two races.
The Scottish Force India driver was even likened by one journalist to French legend Alain Prost, another rookie who collected points on his debut.
Praise does not come much higher than that - Prost, who first burst on to the F1 scene with McLaren in 1980, went on to win four world championships and 51 grands prix.
But Di Resta is refusing to get caught up in the hype bubbling around him because he views his performances in Australia and Malaysia somewhat differently.
"All I can say is that we expected a bit more but for whatever reason it didn't quite come," Di Resta told BBC Sport.
"It's nice to get [my first points] out the way at the first and second grands prix.
"But that is the job we're out there to do and it has been a realistic target on both occasions."
Talking to Di Resta in Shanghai, I was impressed by his aura of almost palpable steeliness mixed with calm. Here is a man with a definite plan.
If the main priority on his F1 tick-list was collecting his first F1 points, then the second is beating the man in the same machinery.
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Di Resta, who was signed by Force India in January after learning the ropes last season as the team reserve, has already out-qualified team-mate Adrian Sutil twice and finished one place ahead of the German in Malaysia.
He had also been ahead of Sutil in Melbourne but the pair swapped places in the pits because they were running on different strategies and Di Resta crossed the line just behind Sutil in 10th.
"You can gauge yourself against your team-mate," added Di Resta. "And I've got a lot of respect for Adrian.
"I'd like to keep it where it's been and through the races I'm gaining more confidence. I did get the better of him in Malaysia but it's not always going to be like that.
"I wouldn't say he has to be afraid. Adrian is very quick and he's established, all I can say is that our performance has been comparable."
Winning a place in F1 has also given Di Resta, who is the cousin of the three-time IndyCar champion Dario Franchitti, a second chance to test his mettle against his former rivals Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton.
In his junior career, Di Resta raced against the future F1 world champions, notably beating his then team-mate Vettel to the Formula Three Euroseries crown in 2006 when the German was already dipping his toe into F1 as a tester for BMW Sauber.
Now he has returned to competition with his teenage rivals, does Di Resta think they have grown beyond him in terms of talents?
"They've got good equipment and they're good drivers but at the same time I don't think that anybody's special," he added.
"It's been good [to be competing against them] but at the same time they are a little bit up the end of the grid.
"I'd like to be racing against them. One day I'm sure we will be but I'm not going to compare myself against Sebastian when I'm not in the same car."
Di Resta has out-qualified his experienced team-mate in both races so far. Photo: Getty
And what if Di Resta was alongside Vettel in the second Red Bull?
"I'd be hopeful I'd be as competitive as Sebastian," he added.
"How much he has developed and how much I've developed from 2006 no-one will ever now until we are in the same position again."
Di Resta is refreshingly clear and open about where he finds himself in his fledging F1 career and where he wants to go.
But there are two points on which the Scot would not be drawn; what his ultimate aim is for 2011 and what difficulties he is contending with.
"I've tried not to think about personal targets at the moment," added Di Resta, whose preparations for the Chinese Grand Prix were hampered by a fuel-pressure problem that kept him consigned to the pits for second practice on Friday. "It's too early to do that.
"I'll take it week by week but what I've achieve I want more now of - and you keep wanting more until you've got it.
"I'm not going to speculate on what [I find difficult] as there are people who will pick up on it and I believe that on the outside you need to show you're strong.
"That is the whole idea of competitive nature, you pick someone's weak bits and you bounce on top of it."
There is one wish, however, that Di Resta is happy to talk about and that is the treat he would like for his 25th birthday, which he celebrates this weekend.
"I'd like some more points," he says instinctively. "I'd like some nice cars but there is plenty of time later in life for that, so I'll take some more points."
POST-QUALIFYING UPDATE, 1100 BST, SATURDAY 16 APRIL:
Di Resta's quest to end his birthday weekend on a high with more points to add to his tally was given a nice boost by a career-best qualifying performance in Shanghai.
The 25-year-old had not done any qualifying simulations during his limited running on Friday but he battled his way into the top-10 shoot-out for the first time and claimed eighth on the grid.
Di Resta, who passed Nico Rosberg of Mercedes in Malaysia and almost got the better of Michael Schumacher's Silver Arrow in a battle for ninth place, is now feeling confident he can move forwards during the race.
"Our race pace doesn't seem to be too bad," said Di Resta. "So fingers crossed we can pick up some points again."
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/sarahholt/2011/04/di_resta_takes_praise_in_his_s.html
Team Lotus principals buy Caterham ? confirmed
There is a rumour that Tony Fernandes has bought Caterham Cars… A quick check in Companies House reveals that Kamarudin Meranun and Anthony Francis Fernandes were appointed directors of Caterham Cars Group Ltd and Caterham Cars Ltd a little more than a week ago. There is a glorious sense of balance in the news as [...]
Source: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2011/04/22/team-lotus-principals-buy-caterham-confirmed/
Dienstag, 26. April 2011
BMW 1-Series M Coupe
BMW has just released some new information about the long awaited 1-Series M Coupe, including engine information, release dates, and the toys it will carry.
Under the hood will be the twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six with 340 horsepower. That motor will be connected to six-speed manual transmission. There will no automatic option with this vehicle. That motor should be more than enough to haul around the car’s 3,307-pound weight.
The M1 will feature a chassis, braking system, and rear differential similar to the M3. In total, that power and these tweaks have made the M1 faster than the E46 M3 around the Nordschleife.
UPDATE 03/10/2011: BMW has placed an online configurator for the 1-Series M Coupe, the perfect opportunity to play a bit with the options offered for this amazing car. From this configurator, we were also able to get the pricing on all of the options offered. Hit the jump to check them out in our price section.
UPDATE 04/26/2011: When BMW unveiled the 1-Series M Coupe, there were some people that suggested a small car like this could never deliver the same performance numbers as the BMW M3. German sports car magazine, Sport Auto, took that as a challenge and took the coupe to Hockenheim where it clocked a lap time of 1:14.1. This final number is slightly better than the 1:14.2 time obtained by the BMW M3, but not as good as Porsche Cayman R’s PDK time of 1:12.4 or the BMW E46 M3 CSL’s 1:13.5. Still, not bad for a small car, eh?
Hit the jump to read more about the new BMW 1-Series M Coupe.
BMW 1-Series M Coupe originally appeared on topspeed.com on Tuesday, 26 April 2011 12:00 EST.
Source: http://www.topspeed.com/cars/bmw/m-series/2012-bmw-1-series-m-coupe-ar98020.html
Hey, Grandpa, your handbrake's on! [video]
Man driving his VW Polo on the street with rear wheels locked and burning rubber.
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