Year: 2013

Categories
Ford News

Want to live out your Mad Max fantasy?

1974 Ford Falcon XB Coupe 'V8 Interceptor'

If you’re a fan of the Mad Max trilogy—let’s face it, who isn’t—we’re guessing you have a broad grin on your face right about now.

Up for sale in England is this 1974 Ford Falcon XB GT Coupe V8 Interceptor. It’s understood to be one of six cars used in the filming of the movies. The attention to detail is first class and for £79,995 (AU$136,000) this car can be yours. But you don’t have long, the seller says the car will be withdrawn from sale by 1 October.

Some research tends to indicate there may have been only one V8 Interceptor with that car being sold by its UK owner in 2011 to the Dezer Collection in Miami. You can read more about that theory on the Mad Max Movies website (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4).

Either way, we don’t see any reason why the buyer of this car shouldn’t don some black leather and start chasing the Nightrider!

[Source: Pemberton Cars & EDP24 | Thanks to Dale for the tip]

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Ferrari Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Webber’s free ride costs him 10 places

2013 Singapore Grand Prix

Following his frustrating final lap retirement from the Singapore Grand Prix, Mark Webber hitched a ride back to pitlane on Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari. At times he looked a little precarious on the F138’s sidepod and it was a sight race stewards were not too happy with.

Officially both Webber and Alonso were reprimanded for the incident, but as this was Mark’s third official talking to for the year he will have a 10-place grid penalty kicks for the next race, the Korean Grand Prix.

Mark was actually charged with entering the track on foot without permission from marshals. Pedantic, or a good reminder in track safety for Mark? Video of the incident, available here, shows it was probably the latter.

[Source: Formula1.com | Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

UPDATE: Video and a few relevant tweets from F1 journos added below.

UPDATE #2: CCTV from the Marina Bay circuit showing Mark running onto the track can be viewed after the break.

Continue reading “Webber’s free ride costs him 10 places”
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Ferrari Formula 1 Lotus Red Bull Racing

2013 Singapore GP: Post-race press conference

2013 Singapore Grand Prix

After winning the Singapore Grand Prix with ease Sebastian Vettel faced many questions about his lead in the championship and was once again asked if he dislikes being booed.

Fernando Alonso was praised for his never say die attitude and Kimi Raikkonen’s sore back became a pain in the neck, such was the amount of questioning he suffered.

As we know the two Australian drivers had races they’d rather forget. Daniel Ricciardo crashed out before half-way and Mark Webber’s engine failed on the final lap.

“I think I did pretty much everything I could today,” Mark said. “We had pace in the car when we needed, we managed the tyres and made a very good undercut on Nico, I was really happy with that lap. Then six laps from the end, the guys were getting worried about the car.

“So, yeah, it’s annoying but someone’s had a tougher day than me somewhere and that’s the way it goes. I was having to short shift, but then, unlike Monza, we started to lose a lot of power. We were just trying to get home at that point but then on the last lap we caught fire.”

Daniel wasn’t looking for excuses to his early race exit. “The crash was my error, trying to make up for lost ground,” he said. “At the start, my car just seemed to sit there without moving off the line. It was very frustrating to lose so many places right away. I think I went down five places from ninth on the grid to fourteenth.

“In the second stint, my engineer came on the radio and said ‘the pace is good, keep pushing.’ I was aware that for the pace we had, we were not doing too badly and maybe at the end I was just trying to get too much out of it and made that mistake. It’s a delicate corner with not much run-off and I went too deep into the apex. I then braked a bit harder, locked a wheel and went into the wall. It’s not a mistake I’m used to making. I will learn from this.“

The full transcript of the post-race press conference featuring the first three drivers can be read after the break.

[Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

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Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Sebastian Vettel wins 2013 Singapore GP

Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull Racing

Sebastian Vettel toyed with his peers on the way to a 32 second victory in tonight’s Singapore Grand Prix. The Red Bull driver was challenged off the line by Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) and lost the lead for a few seconds. After that, though, Vettel totally outclassed the rest of the field.

The demanding streets of Marina Bay often serve up a Safety Car or two and such intervention was desperately needed to brig Sebastian back to the pack. Inevitably the Safety Car was out but it was of no consequence to Vettel. From the restart he quickly re-established his lead and cruised to victory.

Perhaps the stories of the day were found in the minor podium positions. As is customary and indeed expected Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) shot off the line from P7 and found himself in P3 once the field settled down. Quickly in to take advantage of the Safety Car on Lap 25 Alonso was able to make his tyres last until the end of the race and with that he earned a secure second place.

Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus) followed Alonso’s strategy and overcame his troublesome back to fight his way to P3 from all the way down in P13. A great drive from the 33-year-old Finn.

The Aussies had a forgettable day. Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) was the man responsible for the Safety Car after he locked up and sent himself into the wall.

The lengthy Safety Car period did throw pit stop strategies all over the place and while many drivers came in for new tyres, Webber, Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) all stayed out on track. When the trio inevitably came in for fresh tyres they had some work to do, but fresh rubber on which to do it.

Webber had his eyes set on P3 and managed to work his way from eighth into fourth and he looked to have the speed to challenge Raikkonen. Alas, as soon as Mark found his way to P4 he was getting messages from his team to short shift. It wasn’t long before he saw the two Mercedes AMGs sail past, and then Felipe Massa (Ferrari) as well. Webber crossed the line to start the final lap, his car sounding terribly off note and it was no surprise to see his engine let go before he could complete the lap.

Once again Webber had to suffer the frustration of a mechanical failure while his teammate racked up yet another grand prix win, the 32nd of Vettel’s career. The young German’s dominance since the mid-season break has made a fourth world title look increasingly likely.

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Categories
Peugeot

Peugeot 308 GTi spied

Peugeot 308 GTi

Peugeot is continuing to revive its GTi range with the 308 model soon set to join its smaller 208 GTi sibling. Spied recently for the first time, if you think the 308 GTi looks a little bland fear not, it’s expected model-specific styling cues will be added to the car before its expected launch in 2014.

Of course, Peugeot has its wild looking 308 R Concept on show in Frankfurt right now and we reckon the GTi will be a watered down version of that car. The concept car boasts a healthy 200kW (270hp) from its 1.6 litre four-pot turbo. Don’t expect those numbers in the GTi, best you wind back your expectations to somewhere around 147kW (200hp).

Although, given the 208 GTi already offers up 147kW we’ll forgive you if you think Peugeot would be nice enough to give the bigger car bigger power!

[Source: World Car Fans | Pic: Automedia | Thanks to Stu for the tip]

Categories
Porsche

A brief history of the Porsche 911 Turbo

Porsche 911 Turbo

With its all-new 911 Turbo enjoying the limelight at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show Porsche has taken the opportunity to bring us up to speed on the history of its iconic Turbo range.

The first 911 Turbo was released in 1974 under the watch of Ernst Fuhrmann (Porsche chairman 1972–80). In the press release below it’s stated: “Fuhrmann insisted the character of the Turbo – quiet, relentless, enormous power – lent itself to a true high performance GT with every creature comfort Porsche could conjure, and at a premium price tag. This ‘turbo template’ has been followed for every generation of 911 Turbo since.”

Porsche 911 Turbo

  • 1974 – (930) 3.0 litre, 190kW
  • 1977 – (930) 3.3 litre, 220kW
  • 1990 – (964) 3.6 litre, 235kW
  • 1995 – (993) 3.6 litre, 300kW (all-wheel drive introduced)
  • 2000 – (996) 3.6 litre, 309kW (twin-turbo and water cooling introduced)
  • 2006 – (997) 3.6 litre, 353kW
  • 2013 – (991) 3.8 litre, 383kW
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Categories
Formula 1 Lotus Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing

2013 Singapore GP: Qualifying report

2013 Singapore Grand Prix

Sebatsian Vettel has once again shown his and Red Bull’s dominance over the rest of the field by claiming pole position for tonight’s Singapore Grand Prix. The three-time world champion played with his contemporaries by choosing to set just one flying lap in final qualifying (1:42.841) and despite some tense final moments it proved enough to give him P1.

Vettel has been quick all weekend and is chasing a third successive win at Marina Bay, so claiming pole was no surprise. However, Mark Webber wasn’t happy to have qualified fourth (1:43.152), behind Nico Rosberg (Mercedes AMG, 1:42.932) and Romain Grosjean (Lotus, 1:43.058).

“I’m a bit disappointed to be fourth,” Webber said, “It’s quite tight and there were some good lap times being set. We’re on the second row, it would have been better to have been on the front row, but it’s a long race tomorrow and we can do something from there. We’ve got a very good race car. It was hard to match Seb in the last sector; he’s always been strong in Turns 20 and 21.”

Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes AMG, 1:43.254) will start from the third row, with Felipe Massa (Ferrari, 1:43.890) alongside him. We’re quite sure Fernando Alonso (Ferrari, 1:43.938) won’t be quite as amused as us to see he will start the race behind his teammate, from P7. Although, we’re also quite sure Fernando will finish the race ahead of Massa.

Esetban Guiterrez (Sauber) was the star of Q2, comfortably getting himself into the final qualifying session. But he figured his job was done and he did not set a time in Q3 and will start from P10.

Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso, 1:44.439) once again edged his car into Q3. He’ll start from ninth, three places ahead of teammate Jean-Eric Vergne.

“That was not an easy session and we had to work harder here to get to Q3 than we did in a few other races where we have managed it,” explained Daniel. “I was a bit disappointed not to get a little bit more time out of my lap in Q3, with Jenson a couple of tenths ahead and it would have been nice to get that.

“As for the race, the guys who went out in Q2 might have a little bit of a tyre advantage, so let’s hope that doesn’t have too much influence tomorrow. We will race as hard as we can and hope to stay in the points.”

Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus) was perhaps the surprise of qualifying, missing out on Q3. He’s down in P13 and can put his woes down to a bad back apparently.

The full transcript from the post-quali press conference can be read after the break.

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Categories
Saab

Saab lives on (again)

NEVS Saab 9-3

The rebirth of Saab under the ownership of National Electric Vehicle Sweden AB (NEVS) has taken its first material step with word of 9-3 pre-production models rolling off the factory floor.

News of the first NEVS-built 9-3 was kept secret and secret and the only media invited to the internal launch was the SaabsUnited blog.

NEVS is still a few months away from their scheduled launch date of full production 9-3s and is currently checking everything still works in the previously dormant Trollhattan assembly hall. Of course, new components have also been added to the line in order to usher in the 9-3’s new electric drivetrain.

[Source: SaabsUnited | Pic: SaabsUnited]

Categories
Jaguar Random wallpapers

Random wallpaper: 1966 Jaguar XJ13

1966 Jaguar XJ13 prototype

It’s been a long while since we brought you a random wallpaper, an image we offer up for no other reason than the car in question must be shared with you. So when this image of a 1966 Jaguar XJ13 prototype came our way we knew exactly what we had to do.

Those of you who know your Jags will know the XJ13 was never raced and that the prototype in these pictures is the only one ever made. And if you really know your stuff you’ll know the XJ13 was crashed in the early 1970s and sat in storage for a couple of years before it was rebuilt.

We’ve been a little cheeky and copied and pasted a slab of text from the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, accessible via the Wayback Machine, which details the story of this remarkable looking car.

By chance, if you happen to be reading from England you’ve got a chance to see the XJ13 in action at the 2013 Kop Hill Climb which is on this weekend.

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Categories
Formula 1 Video

David Coulthard: Make opportunities happen

David Coulthard interviewed by Mario Muth

“If you look at my career, I would say that I had speed but I didn’t have consistency. So, I would say I was good, but not good enough.”

With that quote from David Coulthard documentary maker Mario Muth takes us on a 30 minute journey of honesty and insight into the career of the likeable Scot who won 13 grands prix.

Muth has a wonderful ability to encourage his subjects to speak freely and with only audio from the interviewee it’s almost as if you’re in the room with them.

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Safety Issues Video

And there was heaps of bananas

NZ drug driving ad

Driving when you’re stoned, or blazed even, is not a particularly good idea. Sure you might get a few laughs, but deep down you know it’s pretty stupid. As these three Kiwi kids show.

Continue reading “And there was heaps of bananas”
Categories
Alfa Romeo

The good, the bad and the beautiful

Alfa Romeo 4C

The Top Gear website brings us one of the first proper reviews of the highly anticipated Alfa Romeo 4C. After a long gestation period the 4C now has to deliver upon its undeniable good looks. So, how does it fare?

The good: Its unassisted steering is terrific, its Brembo brakes are fabulous, and it has a colossal amount of grip. Turn-in on those relatively skinny 205-section tyres (235 on the rear) is also sensational. Snap the throttle shut abruptly on a high-speed corner and the 4C’s mid-engined configuration means that it’ll oversteer readily… On the endless up- and downhill hairpins of the Aosta valley, where we spent most of our time, it’s mostly well balanced and engagingly neutral, with some understeer to warn the unwary, and generally rides well, too.

The bad: The engine still feels strangely uptight, and simply doesn’t generate the sort of grunt the figures suggest… Throttle response is also frustratingly soggy… The ’box is even more distracting. Quite simply, you have to drive round it to wring the best out of the car rather than working with it.

The beautiful: There are no bad angles on this thing, and several bracingly good ones – head on it looks lower and meaner than the pictures suggest, while the rear three-quarters showcase a typically Italian interplay of curves and sinuously sculpted elements. A chap called Alessandro Maccolini designed the 4C, a name worth keeping an eye on.

Hmm, it’s not what you’d call the most enthusiastic response to a car the whole world wants to love. And we left out the disparaging comments about build quality.

We recommend you take the time to read Jason Barlow’s full review by following the source link below.

[Source: Top Gear]