Washington ups GM bailout loss estimate to $11.2B

Apparently, the cost of the US Treasury's bailout of General Motors is still being calculated. A new report from the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, which oversees the TARP initiative, found that the US government has lost more money on its investment than previously believed.

The report shows that the Treasury actually lost about $11.2 billion in selling the automaker's stock, up from the roughly $10.3 billion that was previously estimated. Auditors found that the department wrote off an "administrative claim" tied to the bailout worth $826 million, which increased the cost, according to The Detroit Free Press.

At one point, the US Treasury owned 60.8 percent of GM stock, or about 912 million shares. It slowly sold the stake over the course of years, and GM even bought some of the shares back. The government finally divested itself of all of GM in December 2013. Towards the end of the sale, the Treasury predicted it would lose about $9.7 billion on the $49.5 billion investment, but apparently that estimate has proven to be optimistic.

 

News Source: The Detroit Free Press

Trident Inceni stakes claim to world's fastest diesel sports car, will come to US

It was back in 2006 when we first came across Trident and its plans to create a diesel-powered sports car. The prototype was up and running a couple of years later, and it debuted at the Salon Privé in London a few years after that. It's now been the better part of two years since its debut – and eight years since the project first surfaced – but Trident Sports Cars says it's finally ready to launch the vehicle it called Iceni.

Billed as "the world's fastest and most fuel efficient diesel sports car," the Trident Inceni is styled in the grandest of British tradition. But it's what's under that classical sheetmetal that makes it stand out. Where you'd expect to find a gasoline-burning engine, the Trident Inceni packs a 6.6-liter turbodiesel V8 good for an entirely respectable 395 horsepower and a time-bending 700 pound-feet of torque. Mated to a six-speed automatic transmission (there aren't a lot of gearboxes out there, after all, that could handle that much twist), the Inceni is said to be good for a 3.7-second 0-60 time and a top speed in excess of 190 miles per hour. All that with a range of 2,000 miles and the ability to run on mineral or bio-diesel.

Not enough? On top of the £96,000 ($160k) base price, you can opt for the £11,300 ($19k) Performance Pack that increases the output to 430 hp and – get this – an unfathomable 950 lb-ft of torque. Still not enough? The optional £30,875 ($52k) Track Pack ups the output even further to 660 hp and 1,050 lb-ft. That's more power than a Corvette Z06 and the better part of twice as much torque. Fortunately carbon-ceramic brakes are available to keep all that muscle in check (and come standard on the Track Pack).

There's a Premium Pack and Lux Pack available for those inclined as well, and buyers will have the choice of three bodystyles: the roadster, Magna fastback and upcoming Venturer shooting brake. In correspondence with Autoblog, Trident confirmed that all three versions are offered for export in left-hand drive and will be available in North America, with Federal type-approval process commencing this summer, although US pricing has yet to be announced.

News Source: Trident

Aston Martin confirms new platform under development

It's been thirteen years since Aston Martin introduced the original V12 Vanquish. The model was effectively been replaced twice over by the time it reached its Bar Mitzvah, but its underlying platform is still around. And not just around, either: it underpins everything Aston makes and has made ever since it came on the scene, save for the Cygnet and the One-77 supercar. That includes the V8 and V12 Vantage, the short-lived Virage, the new Vanquish, the DB9, DBS, V12 Zagato and even the four-door Rapide. But while it may seem like forever that Aston's been using the VH platform, it won't be around forever more.

In announcing its positive financial results for 2013, Aston Martin CFO Hanno Kirner confirmed: "We are engineering a completely new architecture and technologies to ensure that our next generation of sports cars is at the forefront of design, performance and technology." The new platform is expected to underpin the next generation of Astons Martin, and will be powered by a new V8 engine being developed by Mercedes-AMG, similar to the arrangement that sees V12s furnished to Pagani for the Huayra.

Whether an AMG-developed V12 is also in the cards for Aston Martin remains to be seen – the company ran on V8 power alone from the mid 70s (when its six-cylinder engine was retired) until the Ford-developed DB7 brought six- and then twelve-cylinder power. That aging but glorious 6.0-liter engine, by the way, still powers the vast majority of the company's lineup.

The platform and associated technologies are being funded by the influx of capital from shareholders Investindustrial, Primewagon and Adeem Investment and by a 13-percent increase in revenue due to the launch of the new Vanquish Volante and V12 Vantage S, as well as the company's expansion into new markets like Mexico and Thailand.

It wasn't long ago that upon spending a week with the company's Vanquish coupe that we fell just short of love, wondering aloud how long Aston could weather its uncertain financial picture while still relying heavily on elderly technology and drivetrains cradled in elderly platforms. We now appear to have our answer, and we like what we're hearing.

World's Best Dad invites Lamborghini owners to son's birthday party

The resulting unalloyed joy, as you'll see in the footage below, is priceless. 

 

 One of my defining moments as a budding car enthusiast came the first time I got to see a Lamborghini up close. I was out in Los Angeles visiting a relative with my mother and sister, and I took the change of scenery as an opportunity to look for more exotic cars than my middle-class Midwestern upbringing would usually encounter. We were on a walk, when off in the distance I saw – and heard – something extraordinary: An early '80s Lamborghini Countach, black with those bronze five-hole wheels, pulling into a parking spot. My mom still takes great joy in periodically retelling the events of that day, and as the story goes, I joyfully took off without warning, chasing the car down the street shouting "Lamborghini!" "Lamborghini!!" in my best eight-year-old Italian accent.

I must've still been adorable, because the owner not only let me sit in his car, scissor door open and ridiculous grin on my face, he left me playing around in its interior, nonchalantly telling me to shut the door when I was done. Just like that, he left, disappearing into a shop across the street. I can't tell you how long I sat in the car, or how many photos I demanded my mother take of me with my borrowed Bell and Howell, but I can remember being astounded at how low it was – I could crouch as if sitting on the bumper and still see over it! That was around 30 years ago, and I still have a couple of those dog-eared pictures.

Funnily enough, my memorable Lamborghini encounter is pretty similar to that of the young boy featured in this video. At age seven, however, Jacob is clearly ahead of the curve. As the story goes, his father left a message on Lamborghini Los Angeles North's Facebook page, asking if someone with "a kind heart" would help him help make his Lamborghini-fanatic child's birthday wish come true. And "come true" it did, with the dealership helping organize not just a ride-along in an Aventador, but also a small cavalcade of other Lambos, all of which all showed up unannounced at his house on Jacob's birthday. The resulting unalloyed joy, as you'll see in the footage below, is priceless.

As car enthusiasts, most of us have been lucky enough to have memorable defining car experiences, those fleeting moments in our personal back catalogs that have come to mean so much more than they first appeared to be. Thanks in part to the kindness of Lamborghini-driving stranger several decades ago, I still make a point of inviting onlookers of all ages in for a closer look whenever I am fortunate enough to have the keys to something nice.

I suspect after his grand, Lamborghini-filled birthday, young Jacob will grow to do the same when he's an adult... because that's how new enthusiasts are born.

News Source: Lamborghini North Los Angeles via YouTube

 

VW Group profits rise 27%, Americas still lag

Financially, things are looking up for Volkswagen Group overall, yet deliveries are still falling in the Americas. Worldwide, the automotive giant's profits after taxes rose 26.8 percent in the first quarter of 2014 to 2.47 billion euros ($3.4 billion). Total sales revenue was up 2.7 percent to 47.8 billion euro ($66 billion).

Worldwide, across all of VW Group's brands, excluding its Chinese joint ventures, sales were up 7.9 percent to 2.56 million units and production was up 7.4 percent to 2.565 million vehicles. Deliveries were up 7.4 percent in Europe and 13.7 percent in the Asia-Pacific region. China is an absolutely massive market for the company now, with 879,898 cars delivered in the first three months of the year alone, up 14.5 percent.

While VW Group is doing quite well in some regions around the world, things in North and South America are not so rosy. North American deliveries fell 4.4 percent to 194,606 units and market share fell to 4.5 percent, compared to 4.8 percent in Q1 of last year. US deliveries were down 6.5 percent to 133,481 vehicles compared to last year, and Canada fell even further, down 8.4 percent to 16,694 vehicles. However, Mexico was up 4.2 percent, with a total of 44,431 sold. South America also fell 22.4 percent to 141,589.

Overall, the VW Group's biggest profit drivers weren't vehicles from its namesake division. Rather, luxury marques Audi and Porsche carried the day for the conglomerate, with the Four-Ring brand contributing 1.3 billion euros ($1.8B) to the coffers and the House of Stuttgart chipped in a further 698 million euro ($964M).

Volkswagen predicts an increase in deliveries by the end of the year and a three-percent increase in sales revenue, which it appears to be on track for. 

 

News Source: Volkswagen Group via The Detroit News

Tesla making plans for Gigafactory in at least two states

Ever since February, when Tesla officially announced that it would build a gigafactory to make the incredible number of lithium-ion batteries it expects to need to power its electric vehicles, we thought it would be located in one of four states. Those four states – Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada – have been lobbying the automaker ever since, hoping to hear that the new, $5-billion plant and its 6,500 jobs would set up shop within its borders. Turns out, two of them might get some good news soon.

"We want to minimize the risk timing for the gigafactory to get up and running" – Elon Musk

CEO Elon Musk said Tesla will announce locations in "at least two" states where it could build the gigafactory, according to Bloomberg. He said, "What we're going to do is move forward with more than one state, at least two, all the way to breaking ground, just in case there's last-minute issues. The number one thing is we want to minimize the risk timing for the gigafactory to get up and running."

This isn't to say that Tesla will actually build two gigafactories (at least, not yet, but Musk hinted there may come a day when the automaker will need a second one), just that it is going to make sure there is no hiccup in the supply of lower-cost battery packs for the upcoming lower-cost Tesla EV, sometimes referred to as the Model E. The gigafactory is expected to not only produce more li-ion cells than were made globally in 2013 but also to reduce the cost of the overall pack by 30 percent, setting the stage for the $35,000 Tesla EV (estimated) to appear.

 

News Source: Bloomberg

Ayrton Senna – His simple grave a constant magnet for fans 20 years on

30 April, 2014

The last resting place of Brazil’s most charismatic Formula 1 champion is marked by a brass plaque on a circular lawn, surrounded by almost identical plaques laid into the ground.
There is no headstone and just a handful of flowers in plastic pots. The only indication someone special lies there is the reverential stream of pilgrims who regularly stand over it.
“I come here every week or so,” said Joao Antonio Castro, a car mechanic and salesman. “We still miss him terribly. That timid way of his, that desire he had to win, it captured us all. There was no one like him.”
There are other famous people buried in Sao Paulo’s Morumbi Cemetery, an oasis in the south of the city bordered by slum dwellings on one side and luxury high rise apartments on the other.



But comparatively few visitors make a pilgrimage to see singer Elis Regina, fashion icon and TV star Clodovil, or singer-songwriter Wilson Simonal.
Senna was always special to Brazilians and the triple champion remains so today, 20 years after his fatal accident at the San Marino Grand Prix at Italy’s Imola race track. He was only 34.
“Schools bring kids on excursions,” said Alan Estevao, a cemetery security guard who lives at Interlagos, where the annual Brazilian Grand Prix is held and where Senna was triumphant in 1991 and 1993.
“Lots of Japanese stop here. Some people even come direct from the airport before they see the rest of the city. If you come to this cemetery, even to go to someone else’s funeral, you go see Senna’s grave. It’s almost automatic.”



People often leave pictures, messages or other mementos at the grave but they are quickly gathered up by cemetery administrators, to be passed on to the family or otherwise disposed of.
There is little space between the plots and the officials do not want Senna’s grave to become a shrine, any more than it already is.
But although there is little to mark it – the plaque says simply in Portuguese ‘Nothing can separate me from the love of God’ – Senna remains an idol to millions who recall a man who represented a different Brazil and a different era.
His state funeral in Sao Paulo brought the nation to a standstill, televised live while a million people – many more according to some estimates – lined the route of his cortege to pay their respects.



Three days of national mourning had been declared and images were broadcast around the world, making headlines even in places where the sights and sounds of Formula One normally had little resonance.
“You have to remember the situation Brazil was in at the time,” visitor Mariane Kido explained.
“We had hyperinflation. We were still getting over the impeachment of the president. Even our football team hadn’t won the World Cup since 1970.
“Brazil needed someone and along came Senna. He really believed in Brazil and he made us really believe in Brazil, too. He was all we had at the time.” (Reuters)

Ayrton Senna – Adrian Newey speaks about the crash that killed the legend

This report was first published on 1 May 2012.

Last year, around this time, Adrian Newey for the first time publicly revealed his emotions and the deep felt trauma surrounding Ayrton Senna’s death, 18 years ago at Imola, while driving one of the cars designed by Newey, saying that the tragedy changed his life forever – the F1 design genius recalled the dark period in the aftermath of the accident that robbed F1 of it’s favourite superstar.
Speaking to the Guardian, Newey – the architect of the Williams FW16 – revealed that he was physically affected in the wake of the Senna’s fatal accident at Imola, “The little hair I had all fell out in the aftermath. So it changed me physically. It was dreadful. Both Patrick Head [the Williams technical director] and myself separately asked ourselves whether we wanted to continue in racing. Did we want to be involved in a sport where people can die in something we’ve created? Secondly, was the accident caused by something that broke through poor or negligent design? And then the court case started.”
The acknowledged Formula 1 design genius, when asked if he thought of quitting the sport at the time confirmed: “Yes. For the whole team it was incredibly difficult. I remember the day after the race was a bank holiday Monday and some of us came in to try and trawl though the data and work out what happened. They were dark weeks.”



Newey believes that the exact cause of the accident will never be ascertained, “The honest truth is that no one will ever know exactly what happened.”

He asks the question: “There’s no doubt that the steering column failed and the big question was whether it failed in the accident or did it cause the accident? It had fatigue cracks in it and it would have failed at some point. There is no question that its design was very poor. However, all the evidence suggests the car did not go off the track as a result of steering column failure.”

Newey, who is now technical boss for world champions Red Bull, has his own theory of what caused the Williams FW16 to plough into the wall at Tamburello that fateful day, saying the car “stepped out, the right rear tyre probably picked up a puncture from debris on the track. If I was pushed into picking out a single most likely cause, that would be it.”

When asked if he had seen the recently released Senna movie, Newey said, “No. It would not be an easy thing to do.”
Subbed by AJN

Top Gear LaFerrari: the official verdict

The 950bhp hyper-hybrid son of Enzo is here at last. And we’ve driven it. Charlie Turner reports

 

What is it?
It's the one we've waited a long, long time for. Ferrari's successor to the Enzo, its ultimate distillation of speed, its magnum opus. LaFerrari.

Easy to get your hands on, then?
Not so much. With a price tag of over £1m apiece, all 499 LaFerraris were sold before the car was first unveiled at the Geneva Motorshow last year. This despite the fact that to simply be considered LaFerrari ownership material, you needed (a) at least five Ferraris in your collection and (b) a first-name-terms relationship with Ferrari Chairman Luca Di Montezemolo, who personally approved all 499 owners. And thankfully let us have a shot, too.

So how does it work?
Ferrari heralds its creation as a rolling showcase of the limits of road-going possibility. Having sat through a three-hour technical presentation in which Ferrari's finest engineers attempted to explain degree-level theorems involving complex maths, physics, chemistry, aerodynamics and materials science, Top Gear has to agree with this assessment.
So here's the shorthand version. At LaFerrari's heart lies a 6.3-litre V12, which fires 789bhp through a seven-speed dual clutch gearbox to the rear wheels. And what an engine: arguably the greatest V12 in Maranello history, a twelve-cylinder heart that revs to a staggering 9250rpm redline.
In any normal game of supercar Top Trumps, 789bhp would be sufficient for victory, but in the hypercar stratosphere defined by the P1 and 918, that's merely the down-payment. Pinching tech from its F1 outfit, Ferrari has added a Hy-Kers hybrid system to the V12, not just to improve its green credentials but to make an already ballistically fast car even faster.

Tell me about the electric bits.
The Hy-Kers system provides an additional 161bhp - or very nearly a Fiesta ST's worth - of instant power through the electric motor mounted to the back of the gearbox. Unlike the 918 and P1, you cannot plug LaFerrari into a wall, nor cruise silently in all-electric mode - the e-motor is there to add punch to the petrol engine, not replace it.

And what punch it adds. The Hy-Kers fills out the bottom end of the torque curve of the viciously high-spinning V12, meaning an utterly constant, stupefying surge of power from anywhere in the rev range to literally anywhere else.
Stats? With a total combined output of 950bhp, LaFerrari will get from 0-62mph in 2.9 seconds, hit 124mph four seconds later, and top out ‘in excess' of 218 miles an hour.

OK, got it. It's very exclusive, very complicated and very powerful. But what's it actually like?
As you open the front hinged swan doors and drop into a cockpit decked wall-to-wall in carbon fibre and leather, the first thing you notice is the seat adjustment. Or, rather, the lack of it.
The seat forms an integral part of the LaFerrari's tub, so each owner will have their own set of seat pads tailored for them before delivery. To get comfy, you pull a lever below your right thigh to release the pedal box and adjust the pedals to the perfect distance, race car style. Shut the door with a hefty thud, adjust the steering wheel, insert the key - yes, it still has one of those -and watch the TFT screens blink into life. Thumb the ‘Engine Start' button. Instantly, the V12 soul of LaFerrari barks into life, a sound that talks of pedigree, potential, and power. This is it.
Truth is, even if you're lucky enough to have driven supercars before, nothing quite prepares you for a moment like this. Emotions? Excitement, no question. Privilege, too. But mostly fear. Quite a lot of fear.

So it's scary to drive, then?
No. Strangely, it doesn't take many minutes on the road before the fear melts away. Supercar rules dictate that size matters, so you expect it to be vast, but LaFerrari despite its complex drivetrain is actually 40mm narrower than the Enzo. Which is a good thing, given we're trying to explore the ultimate Ferrari's road car potential on a narrow ribbon of rutted, hairpin-riddled Italian B-road.
But rather than a hair-raising, sweary sweat-fest, the LaFerrari is surprisingly... easy. The seating position, visibility and scale of the car allow you to place it neatly on the road - an unusual sensation in any hypercar. The steering serves up high-definition feedback without ever turning hyperactive, while there's a suppleness to the suspension that allows the LaFerrari to slip over the worst the broken Italian highway can throw at it.

And when you put your foot down?
Forget all you know about fast: this is a whole new stratosphere of performance, a relentless accumulation of speed accompanied by the greatest automotive soundtrack in the world. You don't so much accelerate in LaFerrari as warp scenery. As the V12 screams its way to the 9250rpm redline, the Italian countryside is hauled back and fired out of the rearview mirror.
Read our in-depth Porsche 918 review
As the LaFerrari pours down this tight and broken strand of tarmac, there's a hypnotic violence to proceedings: second, third, fourth, brake hard, down two gears, dual clutch box firing ratios faster than you can process, accelerate, third, fourth, repeat...
It's violent, visceral, synapse snapping, and utterly, utterly addictive.

Does the hybrid-stuff work?
Seamlessly. Some worried that the integration of hybrid technology would blunt the Ferrari experience, but the Hy-Kers system dovetails immaculately into the drivetrain, simply adding yet more sharpness to the big V12. It's so seamless that you're unaware of the e-motor even doing its thing, your senses overloaded by your right foot's connection to what feels like the most instantly responsive V12 in history.

And what about on track?
Again, not half so scary as you might expect. Yes, the LaFerrari will do sideways if you've got the talent - not to mention a wallet big enough to cover the repair bill should things go wrong - but keep it pointing forwards and you'll discover a massively fast, surprisingly accessible track car. Within just a couple of laps, it's clear LaFerrari has a depth of ability you would never grow tired of discovering, encouraging you to push ever faster and exploit its genius to the very limit.

So it's a bit good, then?
More than a bit good. LaFerrari is an intoxicating blend of earth-shattering performance and confidence-inspiring technology.
A 950bhp hypercar shouldn't be easy to drive, but this one is. That's the genius of LaFerrari, which takes the concept of driver aids that heighten rather than blunt the experience and propels it into a new dimension, which grafts F1 tech to a vast, traditional V12 to showcase the very best of Maranello old and new.
Put it this way. Christening this car ‘The Ferrari' was a high level gamble that could have backfired horribly. But really, the LaFerrari is just that. The Ferrari.

Issues?
Just one. So exhilarating, so extreme is the LaFerrari that it feels more an end rather than a beginning. With legislation strangling the upper reaches of the automotive performance envelope, are we living in the final, ultimate age of hypercars? Where can fast possibly go from here?

IndyCar Live Timing - Practice results Jacques Villeneuves - Kurt Busch

Busch, Villeneuve get acclimated to Speedway

By Dave Lewandowski

"Go out and have fun," Andretti Autosport engineer Craig Hampson relayed to Kurt Busch mid-morning at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Indeed, the Nevada native heeded the advice on the 2.5-mile oval during a special Rookie Orientation Program arranged in conjunction with his schedule that will get more hectic during May. Jacques Villeneuve, the 1995 Indianapolis 500 winner, was the other driver on the track during the day by going through a refresher course.
Busch, 35, will attempt to become the fourth driver to attempt the "double" -- competing in the 98th Indianapolis 500 and the evening stock car race in Concord, N.C., on May 25. He won the latter in 2010.
John Andretti, Robby Gordon and Tony Stewart have each done it, with Stewart -- co-owner of Busch's No. 41 Sprint Cup car at Stewart Haas Racing -- becoming the first in 2001 to complete all 1,000 miles.

"This attempt is something serious," said Busch, who is scheduled to join other Indy 500 rookies May 5 at the Speedway for more laps. "It's an amazing challenge."
Busch was off to a quick start learning the Honda-powered No. 26 Suretone car, with a stiff headwind entering Turn 1 of the iconic oval.
"I want to work the bugs out and go from there," he said after his initial run.
Because he tested last May on the oval last year in an Andretti Autosport car, Busch was required to complete the second and third phases of the formal Rookie Orientation Program. In addition to demonstrating car control, placement and consistent driving pattern, the phases consist of 15 (Phases 1 and 2) and 10 laps (Phase 3) at designated speeds based on track and weather conditions.
“I think we’re going to be strong in the race and I think we’ve showed that the past couple of years,” said Verizon IndyCar Series driver James Hinchcliffe, who made reconnaissance laps with Busch in a passenger vehicle. “He has more professional races under his belt than the rest of the field combined with as many races as NASCAR runs and I’m sure he’s going to adapt pretty quickly.”

Busch's May itinerary:
May 11 -- Opening of practice for Indianapolis 500 (day after the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Kansas Speedway)
May 12-16 -- Practice at the Speedway, fly to North Carolina for practice May 16
May 17 -- First day of Indianapolis 500 qualifications, fly to North Carolina to qualify for All-Star race and compete in non-points race
May 18 -- Second day of Indianapolis 500 qualifications
May 19 -- Race set-up practice at the Speedway
May 20 -- In New York for media
May 23 -- Miller Lite Carb Day practice (11 a.m.-noon) at the Speedway
May 24 -- Public drivers meeting, autograph session at the Speedway; IPL 500 Festival Parade
May 25 -- Indianapolis 500 (11 a.m. ET on ABC) , fly to North Carolina for second race

This is your new favourite race series - Coming to Canada this summer !

Welcome to the FIA’s World Rallycross series: big names, big power and big jumps. Who needs F1 anyhow?

 

Jean Todt has given the raucous Rallycross circus the green light to go global, with the series running as an FIA World Championship for the first time this year.

This has watered down the Gary-quotient quite considerably. Names on the driver roster this season include former F1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve, former WRC Champion Petter Solberg, BTCC Champion Andy Jordan, DTM Champion Mattias Ekström, GRC Champion Toomas 'Topi' Heikkinen and X-Games Champ Liam Doran. Not too shabby.

With this year's F1 rules taking the pinnacle of motorsport into a new, more efficient, quieter direction - there's never been a better time for Rallycross, to quite literally bring the noise. And trust us, it does.

For the uninitiated, Rallycross (or RX, if you're down with the kids) is a circuit racing mixtape of all the best bits of motorsport blended together.

The top tier cars are 600bhp four-wheel-drive monsters cloaked in carbon fibre silhouettes of everyday superminis like Citroen DS3s, Peugeot 208s, VW Polos and Audi S1s. It's quite obvious they're not your everyday city cars as soon as drivers line up on the grid. With a flick of a switch and a hefty prod of the throttle, turbos spool up and anti-lag systems kick in, filling the track with a din like an arson attack on a firework factory. Then, with the release of a handbrake, 0-60mph is hit in 1.9 seconds, pace that'd leave Lewis Hamilton's F1 car lagging behind.

But the start is just the, erm, start. Once the pack of seven cars has completed the drag race to the first corner, they have to get round it. Which is an entertaining affair as the cars are set up for bumpy gravel sections and smooth tarmac. This means they wobble round on their axles like jelly on a Power Plate, cocking wheels as they shift from power understeer to power oversteer while belching flames out of the exhaust onto the bumper of the car behind.

With just four to six laps to a race depending on the circuit, the racing is insanely action-packed. And, as you can see here, potentially very crashy.

No surprise it's a sport that's drawing in more spectators by the year. RX events are now beamed into the televisions of some 816 million homes in 100 countries, making the sport very attractive to manufacturers and brands.

This year, Ford, VW and Peugeot are backing teams, and big sponsors like Monster, Red Bull and Total are getting on board - bringing lots of cash into the sport. But, being relatively cheap by top level motorsport standards, veterans of racing like Petter Solberg and Mattias Ekstrom are going rogue and setting up their own Rallycross teams.

Canada, Argentina and Turkey have now been pinned on the map, and there are 12 races in total, hopping from France, Norway, Sweden, Belgium and Germany, to U.K.

Understanding where Rallycross has come from, and that privateers have kept it afloat, the people pulling the puppet strings of RX have pledged to keep it true to its roots. Which is a good thing.

So if you're baffled by the new rules and lack of noise (and indeed jumps) in F1, we'd recommend checking here to see if there's an RX round near you. Trust us, you won't regret it.

Source: Top Gear

Jaguar SUV mule doing Ring testing in Evoque clothes

Jaguar has moved its Range Rover Evoque-bodied tests of the production C-X17 Concept from icy streets to the legendary Nürburgring, as work continues on the brand's first SUV.

Really, there's not a great deal of new stuff here. Based on the number plates, this is a different vehicle from the one we saw back in March, which we originally identified as the upcoming replacement for the Land Rover Freelander/LR2. The details, though, appear largely the same. The biggest distinction we can see between the March tests and this are the US-spec headlights, which add amber reflectors at their sides. Based on these shots, it does seem as if the C-X17 should be a fairly poised road vehicle, as the engineers hustle it around the 'Ring.

Of course, as soon our spies can capture images of a production-bodied C-X17, we'll be sure to pass those on to you. 

Smartphone battery backup that will jump start your car

Since we carry and deal with more and more items that need batteries, we have to figure out better and mobile ways of charging those batteries - at least until John Galt arrives and shows us how to harness electricity from the air. In the meantime, the Jumpr from Juno Power is one of those chargers trying to make our lives easier by being able to both charge your small portable electronic devices as well as your car battery.

There's a 6,000 mAh battery in that sky blue case, which Juno Power says is also good for a 12-volt boost at 300 amps. The company says it's robust enough "to jumpstart almost all four-cylinder and six-cylinder engines," but in case you're wondering how 300 amps can run safely through those tender cables in the image above, it's possible that Juno Power is playing casual with the meaning of "jumpstart;" elsewhere on the product page we're told that the Jumpr " is capable of jumping a completely dead car battery in minutes." So it sounds like this is less of a jump for your car and more of a series of quick, restorative hops of electricity - or, in other words, something we call "charging."

There are other devices that do the same thing (like this and this, two more expensive options) or you can get two specific tools for each job (like this and this, which together cost the same as the Jumpr). Not that it matters - you won't care to argue semantics or originality if the Jumpr can keep you from being stranded outside that Swedish death metal concert at 2:00 AM. It goes on sale on May 1 and costs $69.99.

 

News Source: Juno Power via Gizmodo

Rimac secures funding to bring Concept_One electric supercar to market

Output figures are what make headlines, but for the real gear heads, it's just as interesting to know how that power is made. Cars like the Koenigsegg Agera and the SSC Ultimate Aero use V8 engines with twin turbochargers, while the Bugatti Veyron essentially uses twice that cylinder- and spool-count, but in the end they're all about conventional, internal combustion. The latest breed of supercars like the Ferrari LaFerrari, McLaren P1 and Porsche 918 Spyder combine an internal-combustion engine with an electric assist for hybrid propulsion. But the next generation of supercars may very well go all-electric.

That's the realm of Rimac, the Croation startup that unveiled the Concept_One at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show. Styled by a team of designers who used to work at Pininfarina and with an interior by Vilner, the Rimac Concept_One packs an electric motor into each wheel to produce 1,088 horsepower and rocket the world's greenest supercar from 0-62 miles per hour in 2.8 seconds. Ever since the vehicle's reveal almost three years ago, Rimac has been working at putting it into (limited) production, and now it seems to have the backing in order to do so.

According to tech.eu, Rimac has secured four sources of funding. One source is advanced customer orders; down-payments placed by buyers eager to get their hands on a vehicle that could, at least theoretically, keep pace with a Bugatti but on electric power alone. Another is a loan Rimac obtained from the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Sinocop Resources, a natural resources company based in Hong Kong, signed a non-binding agreement last month to buy 10 percent of Rimac Automobili for 7 million euros. Finally, and perhaps most crucially, is the backing which Rimac has received from Frank Kanayet Yepes, a Croatian-Columbian, green-energy investor who knows a thing or two about cars. Yepes is the Colombian importer for Ferrari and Maserati, is part of Ferrari's exclusive 599XX program and is one of the investors behind the Formula E electric racing series starting up later this year.

With the financial backing in place and a burgeoning global network of backers, it may now only be a matter of time before the Rimac Concept_One materializes from fantastical vaporware into an electrifying reality.

 

News Source: tech.eu via Motor Authority

VW Bus-based Dub Box

Whether known as the Transporter, Kombi or simply the Bus, the Volkswagen Type 2 became almost as much of a style icon as the Beetle, but it just went out of production. However, a couple in England is keeping the design alive with its Dub Box camper. Mixing the classic, '60s VW look with retro interior design and some modern features, the result is a very attractive little trailer. For about the past year, they have also been available in the US.

With an insulated interior, gas stove and electrical hookup, the Dub Box has everything you would need for a fun weekend of camping or tailgating. The body is made from fiberglass and rides on a steel frame, and they can even be specified with a pop-up roof and a double bed. The standard Dub Box (pictured above) is just about 16 feet long, a little over 6 feet wide. Prices start at around $22,000 in the US. There is also a food cart version starting at about the same price that offers a really cool available power-extending roof.

Dub Box USA produced its first trailer at its Oregon factory in January 2013. The company offers similar products as in the UK, but they are entirely made in America. According to Shane Medbury, one of the people who founded the US arm, the food cart market has been the most successful here. He told Autoblog that it already sold around 20 carts. Its success seems to be growing because it also has 20 pending orders. "We've shipped them all over," he said, including to Michigan, New York, Ohio and more. 

News Source: Dub Box USA, Dub Box via YouTube [1], [2], [3]

Mercedes-AMG considering turbo fours, hybrid sixes for future performance sedans

Think of the letters AMG and you'll probably end up picturing a performance sedan with a big V8. Such has become, after all, the Mercedes turning division's calling card. But with the introduction of its 2.0-liter turbo four, AMG is working at turning that notion on its head.

The highly potent engine produces 355 horsepower and is presently installed in the A45 AMG hatchback, CLA45 AMG sedan and GLA45 AMG crossover, giving Benz's smallest family a full range of performance models. But that might not be the full extent of the high-strung four-pot's use.

Speaking with AMG boss Tobias Moers, Britain's What Car? magazine reports that Affalterbach is considering slotting the same engine into larger models, particularly performance sedans like the C-Class. As we recently reported, Mercedes is already preparing to up the power from the turbo V6 in the C400 to slot a C450 Sport in below the C63 AMG. The C450 is expected to offer around 367 horsepower where the CLA45 AMG et al pack 355, but the lighter weight of the four-cylinder engine would likely offset the truancy of those extra dozen horses. Of course such a prospect would be much further down the pipeline than the C450 Sport which is expected to arrive much sooner.

Another possibility Moers mentioned as a future powertrain possibility for AMG would be a roadgoing derivative of the turbocharged, hybrid V6 developed by Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains. The outfit in Brixworth, England, was once known as Ilmor and develops engines for Formula One. Now that the team's new engine is out there dominating the sport and development is frozen, the AMG road car division could tap the talents of their racing counterparts to develop a similar engine for the road.

What Moers denied, however, was the prospect of AMG doing a performance diesel. Apparently the market for such models is too small and the benefits over a gasoline engine too negligible for AMG to consider going the same route that BMW's M division and Audi Quattro GmbH – not to mention the likes of Porsche and Maserati – already have.

 

News Source: What Car? via World Car Fans

Google's self-driving car gets better at navigating city streets

Google's autonomous car technology is constantly improving. After thousands of miles of testing, the company claimed that the driverless vehicle was safer than conventional, piloted cars. However, it previously only really worked on highways. Now, the the search engine giant is improving the tech even further to be able to drive on busy city streets.

The latest evolution of the system comes after driving its autonomous car around Mountain View, CA. The software can now detect hundreds of moving objects simultaneously and actually react to them. Google claims that the patterns are actually fairly predictable for the programming. As the car met various situations, the engineers built models of how to react.

Unfortunately, Google's autonomous software is only trained for Mountain View at the moment, and it wants to test the system on more streets there before trying the system in other towns. Still, the company believes that building a fully autonomous car is an achievable goal. 

 

News Source: Google via YouTube

 

Factory Five Racing 818 Electric ushers in new era of EV builds

 

"It's the most fun car I've ever driven!" Michael Bream's enthusiasm about a particular Factory Five 818 came through the phone loud and clear, despite the several thousand miles separating us. It's a pretty big statement too, considering the co-founder of EV West – an electric conversion shop located in San Marcos, CA – has a battery-operated BMW M3 race car that puts out 420 horsepower and a very scary 850 pound-feet of torque. Naturally, we hoped there was video taken of the newly built kit car in action to back up the gushing. There was.

"It's the most fun car I've ever driven!" – Michael Bream

Now, there was a time when America was littered with kit car companies offering the DIY crowd the opportunity to drive 1952 MG TD and Ford GT40 replicas built on the bones of VW Beetles. That era has mostly passed and the somewhat meager component car industry, as it prefers to be called, is now dominated by one firm: Factory Five Racing.

This outfit has come to the fore by offering not only a select group of standard classics, but also a couple designs of its own. The most recent in that latter category is the performance-oriented 818, and it's turning out to be a blank canvas upon which electric vehicle enthusiasts can work their black arts. Of the several builds that we know of in the works, the one Bream was boasting of is the only example that has its wheels turning. And by turning, we mean sliding around asphalt, plastering broad smiles across the faces of the select few that have driven her

 

News Source: EV West

Long Beach rejects switch from Indy back to F1... for now

The term "grand prix" gets thrown around a lot. It typically applies to Formula One, but Indy uses it too (as does MotoGP and Formula Three). The difference (in nomenclature, anyway) is typically that while an F1 grand prix uses the host country's name, an Indy street race uses the specific location's name. Take Long Beach, for example.

The celebrated street race in Southern California has been a staple of the American racing calendar since 1975, when it started out with the bonkers Formula 5000 series. The following year it switched to F1, under whose auspices it ran as the United States Grand Prix West for eight seasons before switching to CART and then to the IndyCar Series of which it is still part today, known since 1986 as the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

There was talk recently of the race switching back to F1 – joining the United States Grand Prix in Austin, TX, and the still-up-in-the-air Grand Prix of America proposed for New Jersey on an expanded F1 calendar – but those prospects have now been dismissed. At least, that is, for now.

In a recent meeting, the Long Beach City Council unanimously voted to extend the contract with the IndyCar Series for a further four years, guaranteeing that methanol will be the fuel of choice for racing around the venerable street circuit at least until 2018. After that, however, all bets are off. According to ESPN, the council has instructed city management to solicit proposals for switching the race to another series after 2018.

That could mean staying with Indy, switching back to F1 or even going with another series entirely. The nascent Formula E championship, for example, is set to race on the streets of Los Angeles next year, but there's no telling how much popularity it could gather in the following years before Long Beach needs to make the call.

 

News Source: ESPN F1

Roland Ratzenberger: Gone but never to be forgotten

Perhaps Roland Ratzenberger was always destined to be an understudy, as a Formula 1 driver and a man, however, he more than deserved his share of the limelight.
Twenty-fours hours after Ratzenberger was killed during practice for the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, three-times world champion Ayrton Senna died in the race and, in the outpouring of grief for the Brazilian which followed, the Austrian was almost forgotten.
“Ratzenberger…was more tragic to me than Ayrton because he’d come up by his own efforts and the help of his family,” Max Mosley, President of ruling body the FIA at the time, told Reuters.
“He’d no money, he’d done it by his own work and he was a thoroughly good person.
“Ratzenberger’s death would have been a very big thing except Senna’s came the next day.”
Mosley had to make a decision about which funeral to attend.



“I went to Ratzenberger’s funeral rather than to Senna’s where all the great and good of Formula One were because I felt somebody needed to support him and his family,” Mosley said.
Ratzenberger, who died at the age of 33, had to work hard to fulfil his dream of becoming a Formula One driver.
He started out in German Formula Ford in 1983 and after spells in British Formula Three and the Touring Car championship, he moved to Japan in 1990.
He enjoyed only moderate success in the Formula 3000 Championship but did enough to earn a five-year contract with the Simtek Formula One team in 1994.
Ratzenberger failed to qualify for the Brazilian Grand Prix but finished 11th in Japan before arriving at the Imola circuit in Italy.



During Saturday’s qualifying session, the front wing of his car was damaged after he went off track but he carried on driving because he was so desperate to claim the last spot on the grid.
The front wing broke off and lodged under the car. Ratzenberger was unable to make the turn into the Villeneuve corner, named after the late Ferrari great who had died 12 years earlier in Belgium, and piled into the wall at 314.9 kph.
He fractured his skull and was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital.
Twenty-four hours later Senna lost his life. In the wreckage of his car, investigators found an Austrian flag he had been planning to wave at the end of the race.
“It’s always Ayrton but then you can understand why it’s always Ayrton because Ayrton achieved what Ayrton achieved,” former driver Johnny Herbert, a good friend of Ratzenberger, told Reuters.



“Roland is almost forgotten. Whenever I talk to people I never say Ayrton’s weekend…it’s always Ayrton and Roland. And I’d never forget that and I don’t want other people to forget it either.
“We lost a really nice guy in Roland who worked very hard to get himself in that position of being a Formula One driver. We got robbed of Ayrton, but we got robbed of Roland the day before. A really nice guy. It was very rare to see him not smiling.”
Herbert was adamant that Ratzenberger was not the journeyman driver he is often portrayed as.
“He didn’t have a background of money and the early days was transit van and a trailer,” Herbert said.
“But he won one of the biggest races in a young driver’s career, the Formula Ford festival, and then he did Japan. But he always produced the goods. Sadly we never really saw the best of Roland. He wasn’t a journeyman type whatsoever, he was a very talented man.”


Former world champion Damon Hill also paid tribute to Ratzenberger.

“He was someone I respected because he had pretty much followed a similar route to myself,” Hill told Reuters.
“He’d got into Formula One at 31, quite late in his career, but he’d stuck at it. He’d clearly got talent but he didn’t shine like a Senna or a (Lewis) Hamilton. He was a guy who loved being a racing driver. He was talented, able and very competitive.”
Ratzenberger will also be fondly remembered for his personality.
“He was a wonderful man,” Herbert said. “He had a really nice, wicked sense of humour. You could always have a laugh and a giggle with him.”
Ratzenberger finished only one Formula One Grand Prix while Senna topped the podium 41 times, third on the all-time list, and will go down as one of the finest drivers in history.
“It was desperately sad because he (Ratzenberger) hadn’t had what Ayrton had,” Mosley said. “At least Ayrton had had the success, the brilliant recognition worldwide, the state funeral in Brazil and so on.
“Ratzenberger was just as dead and it was just as sad for his family but he’d never experienced all that.” (Reuters)

Hakkinen: Alonso is utterly dominating Kimi and the difference is not small

Kimi Raikkonen must quickly get on terms with the pace of his Ferrari teammate, according to countryman and fellow Formula 1 world champion Mika Hakkinen.
When Hakkinen left McLaren at the end of 2001, he urged Ron Dennis to sign the young Sauber driver Raikkonen, famously telling Ron Dennis: “If you want to win, get the Finn.”
Indeed, Raikkonen went on to win 20 career grands prix and the title for Ferrari in 2007.
But since he returned to Maranello for 2014, the now 34-year-old has struggled at the wheel of the Formula 14-T car, also piloted by Fernando Alonso.
“Kimi has problems and they need to be resolved,” Hakkinen told Hermes.
“At the moment Alonso is utterly dominating him — the difference is not small,” 45-year-old Hakkinen, the title winner in 1998 and 1999, added.



“There have been four races and I would have expected him to settle in by now. His car is not so catastrophically bad that he can’t do anything about Alonso,” he continued.
“Kimi needs to do something, and he needs to do it very soon.”
Notoriously, Raikkonen is no fan of driving simulators, but Ferrari’s new facility is state of the art and Hakkinen urged him to use the gap between China and Barcelona wisely.
“The simulator is a good tool,” he said. “You can try out all sorts of setting changes.
“But I don’t want to be giving Kimi advice, because I’m assuming that a world champion is already concentrated on solving his problems so that he can beat his teammate and deliver decent performances,” said Hakkinen. (GMM)

Aussie Ford Falcon GT shows its rear end to Lamborghini Gallardo

When Ford Australia announces, as it did recently, that it wants to celebrate the end of its Ford Performance Vehicle division with a Falcon FPV GT-F that celebrates big-bore origins of the nameplate, it's talking about the kind of car in this video.

At some point the classic Falcon GT – said to be an XY series – was invited to a test of acceleration against a Lamborghini Gallardo. At the very least, the Falcon GT had a 351 cubic-inch motor and 300 horsepower, but whatever this guy's got under the hood of his yellow sedan makes has him so confident that he his passenger doesn't even move his elbow from its resting place on the door.

You'll find a reminder of Ford Australia's heyday, a raucous exhaust note and some NSFW language in the short video below.


Youtube Video

Toyota restructuring US operations, possibly moving to Texas

According to multiple sources familiar with the matter, Toyota is poised to announce Monday that it is restructuring its US operations, which may include plans to relocate some of its operations to Texas. Toyota Motor Sales has been located in California since 1957, and is responsible for North American sales, marketing, and distribution for Toyota, Lexus and Scion. According to Toyota literature, its Torrance operations presently employs 6,156 workers and represents a $2.3-billion investment.

Workers in Toyota's Torrance offices were abuzz about the possible relocation to Texas. One young offspring of a Toyota employee even posted to Twitter that her parents warned about the upcoming move, and she said she's refusing to go.



Rumors at one point had Toyota settling in Richardson, TX, just outside Plano. But Autoblog talked to Richardson Mayor Laura Maczka, who said she would be thrilled if that were true, but has not heard anything on the subject. Autoblog also emailed with Bill Sutherland, a city councilman in Torrance, CA, who said, "To date the only info I have is what I have read in the paper expecting a press release Monday."

If the automaker moves its operations to the Lone Star state, the transition is expected to take place in waves over two to three years. It is not immediately clear when the transition will begin, or if Toyota Financial Services also plans to relocate its operations – a division that employs a further 3,286 workers. It is also unknown how many employees will be offered assistance packages, should this move to Texas actually happen.

If the automaker moves its operations to the Lone Star state, the transition is expected to take place in waves over two to three years.

The reason for the potential relocation remains unclear, but a new address in Texas would likely bring with it major operational cost savings. It could also bring improved contact with its US manufacturing operations, which are increasingly located in the South, including major plants in Huntsville, AL; Blue Springs, MS and San Antonio, TX.

This would not be the first time an automaker has abandoned the Golden State to find cheaper real estate. Back in November of 2005, fellow Japanese automaker Nissan made a similar move, announcing plans to relocate its headquarters from Gardena, CA, to Nashville, TN, with CEO Carlos Ghosn admitting that a primary objective was to lower costs.

Jim Lentz, Toyota North America CEO, is expected to make an announcement to the staff in Torrance on Monday morning, possibly from a remote location.

Word of Toyota's move has come to Autoblog from multiple sources, including anonymous contacts within the corporation familiar with the matter. Autoblog has attempted to reach out to the company through multiple official channels, but has yet to hear back as of publication time. We will update this story when we learn more.

Image Credit: Reed Saxon / AP

Marchionne to make Alfa Romeo a separate company within Fiat

According to a report in Automotive News that quotes "people familiar with the matter," the next big play in Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne's plan for Alfa Romeo is to break it off from Fiat Group Automobiles and set it up as a separate company within the Fiat empire, giving it the same structure as Ferrari and Maserati. The idea, say the sources, is that a transparent, standalone Alfa Romeo that has to justify its every move could clearly prove its success in the public financial statements it would have to report, finally achieving Marchionne's aim of making Alfa Romeo "a credible business proposition."

That, of course, assumes that Alfa Romeo will make a success of it. The brand hasn't made a profit in any year of Marchionne's decade at the helm; sales last year fell to numbers not seen in almost half a century and its new product offensive might not include the two vehicles currently responsible for 99 percent of its sales. We're told that the brand's six new models will begin arriving in 2016 - a roadster, a midsize sedan and large sedan, a compact SUV and large SUV, and a large coupe.

Marchionne aims to expand Alfa's global appeal in several ways, the first by stressing that they are Italian products that 'belong' to Italy. This is the stance that appears to have put the kibosh on the roadster twinned with the coming Mazda MX-5/Miata. Alfa Romeos will all be made in their home country, and if they take off they'll help bandage Fiat's problem with underused plant capacity, a bugbear that is just as problematic culturally and politically as financially. Top-tier trims would use V6 engines developed by Ferrari, and global access would get a boost by selling Alfa Romeos in Jeep's 1,700 international dealerships.

Some observers suggest Marchionne is preparing Alfa Romeo for sale to Volkswagen, which seems a crazy long shot in light of what Marchionne thinks of VW's business tactics. Still, the rumors won't die. Harald Wester, presently the CEO of Alfa Romeo and Maserati, would run the standalone company. Detroit, May 6 is where and when Marchionne will deliver the details of his plan to executives at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and the finance folks will expect to find out how the highly indebted Fiat plans to pay for the move. 

News Source: Automotive News Europe - sub. req.

Mitsuoka Orochi marks the end of the ugly with Final Edition

Think of Mitsu and you're bound to think of Japanese cars, but Mitsubishi isn't the only one. Lesser known is Mitsuoka, a small automaker based in Toyama that mostly rebodies existing Japanese cars to look like old English ones. Its most outlandish creation, though, is surely the low-slung Orochi. And now the model appears to be endings its production cycle.

Originally built on an Acura NSX platform, the Orochi is widely regarded as one of the strangest-looking vehicles on the road with four elliptical eyes, a pursed-lips grille, portal vents up the hood (even though the engine is in the back), Lamborghini-style scissor doors, McLaren F1-style side windows and a rather bizarre confluence of curves that looks like something we might have drawn in our notebooks when we were in elementary school. Named after a mythical dragon, it was originally unveiled in 2001 and entered production in 2007, powered by a 3.3-liter V6 supplied by Toyota, producing just 233 horsepower and mated to a five-speed automatic transmission and sold in "limited" numbers.

Little wonder then that the Orochi is now reportedly sailing off into the sunset along with all the other Speed Racer extras. But before it does, Mitsuoka is reportedly building one last run of Final Editions. Bearing, for better or worse, all the hallmarks that made the Orochi stand out when Top Gear went to Japan, the Final Edition gets unique 19-inch modular alloys, a front splitter, rear winglets and a choice of either Fuyoru blackberry or light gold pearl paint.

 

News Source: AutoWeek.nl

This awesome Terrafugia electric vehicle will fly, someday

We're trying to figure out how the term "range anxiety" will apply to the Terrafugia TF-X flying car. Is it going to be applicable to the pilot or to others in the sky? The reason we ask is because the vehicle is a plug-in hybrid, so those batteries better well be charged up. But, according to the potential manufacturer, flying the vehicle will require only five hours of training, so getting too close could produce a different kind of anxiety.

Massachusetts-based Terrafugia says the four-seater plug-in hybrid plane, despite what we think are some awful short wings, will be capable of vertical take-offs and landings, Design & Trend reports. It will have two 600-horsepower electric motors and a 300-horsepower fuel engine that should give it a range of at least 500 miles. The company says only five hours of pilot training will be required because of the plane's connection to a data network that will essentially control the aircraft's flight path. Either way, the plane will fit in a single-car garage. Which is nice.

The name Terrafugia should be familiar because we've been covering the company since the first prototype was announced in 2006. The company made news last year with a test flight demonstration for its Transition flying car. That model is supposed to start sales in 2015 or 2016 carrying an estimated price tag of $279,000. While we wait for that, you can check out a nicely CGI'd video of the TF-X hybrid below.

News Source: YouCar via YouTube

Former Porsche boss Wiedeking won't face criminal charges over VW bid

Hedge fund managers have been suing Porsche for years now, alleging that the car company lied about its intentions during its failed attempt to take over Volkswagen, a gambit that caused them billion in losses. Over the same period, authorities in Stuttgart built a criminal case against former CEO Wendelin Wiedeking (above, left) and Chief Financial Officer Holger Härter (right), filing charges in December 2012. When those fund plaintiffs lost their most recent court case, one of the dimming lights in the dark and receding tunnel was that the criminal investigation might unearth more evidence about Porsche's actions that could help the plaintiffs in pending litigation.

Bloomberg reports that another light has gone out, though, with a Stuttgart court dismissing the market manipulation case before going to trial because, as a court spokesperson said, "there wasn't enough evidence backing up the charges." When prosecutors get the files back from the court, they have a week to decide to refile, but unless they've been sandbagging evidence that could bolster the case, the only lights at the end of the tunnel will be those welcoming Wiedeking and Härter back to the world of legally unencumbered men.

 

News Source: Bloomberg

Wealthy industrialist backing de Silvestro and Sauber test

(L to R) Imran Safiulla, Keith Wiggins, Simona De Silvestro, John Herron and Olivier Picquenot

Simone de Silvestro’s debut Formula 1 test for Sauber at Fiorano was funded by wealthy industrialist Imran Safiulla.
At the weekend, the Swiss team headed to engine supplier Ferrari’s private test circuit, Fiorano, to give the “affiliated driver” her first Formula 1 experience.
Over the two days and an impressive 180 laps, the 25-year-old was at the wheel of a 2012-spec Sauber C31, but it was not wearing the Hinwil based team’s usual dark grey livery.
In fact, it was Sauber’s very first outing at Fiorano since 2005 with Jacques Villeneuve.
The man paying for de Silvestro’s Formula 1 programme is Imran Safiulla, according to the Swiss newspaper Blick.
It emerges that de Silvestro will actually do no fewer than 10 test days this year, with the next outing to take place at Valencia, Spain.
“It’s not the cheapest thing in the world,” said Safiulla, “but we can build something for the future.”
Safiulla is a wealthy industrialist who has supported de Silvestro’s racing efforts since 2006, including buying into the Indycar team KV.
At Fiorano, Sauber’s 2012 car was painted in a special white, blue and green livery, with ‘Clean Air Energy’ and ‘Hybrid’ decals, although the car was V8-powered and not equipped with KERS. (GMM)

Montoya says DRS has killed the art of overtaking in F1

Juan Pablo Montoya scored his final grand prix win at Interlagos in 2005

Seven times grand prix winner Juan Pablo Montoya says that DRS in Formula 1 has devalued the art of overtaking.
Introduced to Formula 1 in 2011 the Drag Reduction System (DRS) is now part and parcel of the sport and credited with livening up the spectacle. However Montoya believes the gizmo has a downside too.
He said on Peter Windsor hosted Racer’s Edge, “It is good for the [Formula 1] show, it makes a better show because people pass people, but I think overtaking is an art. And now it’s like giving Picasso Photoshop.”
The popular Colombian, who is still missed by many fans in Formula 1, departed the pinnacle of the sport in 2006 and has spent the past several years in NASCAR with moderate success.
This year Montoya makes a return to open wheel Indycar racing. He was the 1999 CART FedEx Series Champion and Indianapolis 500 winner in 2000.
His gave take on the challenge and art of overtaking is as it was in the past, “You had to think and you had to risk a lot. You don’t have to fight for the positions now.
“You come into the straight and if you are close enough you have DRS and you’ve cleared the guy by the next corner,” explained Montoya.

Ecclestone: It feels as though the vultures are circling

Bernie Ecclestone arrives in Munich for his trial

Troubles continue to mount for beleaguered Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone.
According to Formula 1 business journalist Christian Sylt in the Telegraph, court papers in Munich show that, since the Formula 1 chief executive divorced from his wife Slavica, she has paid him an incredible $100 million per year.
“The duration of the payments from the divorce decree is not known,” the indictment confirmed.
Apart from demonstrating the 83-year-old’s incredible wealth and income, the news could tie in with other reports of a ‘secret’ deal with the British tax office.
BBC current affairs programme Panorama claims that HM Revenue and Customs ended a long investigation into Ecclestone’s tax affairs when the Formula 1 supremo reached a $17 million settlement.

Slavica Ecclestone with Gerhard Gribkowsky on the Monza grid ahead of the 2005 Italian GP

Ecclestone has claimed that he paid the alleged $44 million bribe to jailed Gerhard Gribkowsky not to affect the sale of the sport, but to stop the ex-banker from revealing details about his tax affairs to British authorities.
Ecclestone told the Times: “It feels as though the vultures are circling. The trouble is that vultures are usually around for dead people and I am very much alive.”
He insists there is nothing sinister about his British tax affairs.
“I could control the business from anywhere I like,” said Ecclestone. “I could go to Monaco or Switzerland and still run Formula 1 quite happily. I don’t.” (GMM)