Leading design magazine Wallpaper has taken a closer look at the Porsche Museum, which opened in Stuttgart last month. They have a basic interactive floorplan and cool slideshow as well. If you dig Ferry’s work, then the links are worth checking out. I bags the 1948 356/2.
If you’re looking for a new car at the premium end of the small-ish coupé segment, two of the stand out choices are the Audi S3 and the BMW 135i. The current generation S3 has been in Australia since 2007, while the 135i was launched here about 12 months ago. The MY09 S3 range brings with it a minor facelift which consists of mostly cosmetic changes, although the engineers have had tinker as well. There is also the addition of a new five door Sportback option for those wanting improved practicality.
In the time since the 135i was launched it has swept all before it, earning a raft of praise from the world’s motoring media. The S3, on the other hand, seems almost invisible by comparison. At least, it certainly hasn’t generated the hype the 135i has enjoyed.
So, which is best—the fancy pants Golf wearing Audi clothes, or the little Beemer that could? AUSmotive took both cars out on its preferred test route in a back to back comparo to find out.
Few cars have captured the public imagination or established a niche for a manufacturer as well as the original Quattro did for Audi. Indeed, now, the term quattro (with lower case ‘q’) is applied to any Audi with an all-wheel drive system. This, though, is the car that started it all for the Ingolstadt outfit.
Interest in the Quattro has been revived of late with the reveal of the TT RS, which has a punchy five cylinder turbo, just like the original. Both cars had their first public reveal at the Geneva Motor Show—the Quattro in 1980, the TT RS in 2009.
The Quattro was built from 1980 until 1991 and had three engine variations during that time. All featured the famous inline five cylinder turbocharged configuration, starting with a 2144cc 10v (1980–87), before getting a minor tweak to 2226cc (1987-89), which also improved low down torque. The final revision (1989-91) took the engine to a 20-valve DOHC setup, while keeping capacity at 2226cc.
While the road car in itself was something of a revolution, it was on the world rally stage that the Quattro really shook things up. Audi’s new technical masterpiece was able to exploit Group B regulations to their maximum, with the benefits of all-wheel drive pioneered by Audi leaving its rivals eating dust.
Like the road cars, the rally going Quattro received a number of updates throughout its life. Starting with the comparatively tame looking A1, A2 and Sport Quattro evolutions which helped bring back-to-back World Rally Championship success to Audi in 1983 and 1984. The follow up to these cars was the wild aero kitted Sport Quattro S1. In 1986 at the peak of their development the car was believed to have a power figure as high as 441kW (approx 600bhp). This is still considered to be the most powerful WRC car of all time.
The Audi factory team pulled out of WRC part way through the 1986 season, but the car continued to gain notoriety through its efforts at the famous Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in Colorado. Audi won the event three times on end from 1985 to 1987. This included world record times to Michèle Mouton (1985) and Walter Röhrl (1987).
To reflect on the Quattro one has to look past its awkward proportions and boxy shape and simply admire the technical prowess the car possessed. The Quattro has left a lasting legacy for Audi and the World Rally Championship.
To help further appreciate this legacy there are a number of images, YouTube clips and a few press releases from the Audi archives to boot. You might also like to check out the Ur-Quattro’s Wikipedia page for further detail.
UPDATE 4 April: A brief article on the Quattro appears in Issue 7 of Road Magazine.
It’s now a bit over two weeks since the TT RS was revealed in Geneva. Just in case you’d forgotten what all the fuss was about here’s a couple of dozen images and another sound bite to refresh your memory. As always in AUSmotive image galleries, click on each image to load your 2000x1320px wallpaper sized files.
The vital stats, of course, centre around the UR quattro inspired 2.5 litre five cylinder engine, which produces 250kW (340PS) and 450Nm of torque. The TT RS is expected to do the 100km/h sprint in the mid 4 second range, before topping out at 280km/h, if the option of removing the usual 250km/h speed limiter has been exercised.
The TT RS is due for European release in June. Australian readers will need to wait until the first quarter of 2010, or a little under 12 months from now. Australian pricing is currently a well guarded secret, but with the TTS list price hovering around the $100K mark, I reckon you’ll need to put aside at least $130K for the range topping RS. If you’ve got one on order, you might need to bookmark this page to help you get by.
More on the TT RS can be read here:
[audio:http://www.ausmotive.com/audio/TT-RS.mp3]
A road going BMW 135i will take on the best motor racing has to offer at this year’s Australian Grand Prix when it takes part in the Ultimate Speed Comparison. The 225kW1 Series Coupé driven by motoring hack Paul Gover will race against Greg Murphy in a race prepped V8 Supercar and Christian Klien in a BMW Sauber F1 machine.
The 135i will be fitted with parts from the BMW Performance range, including lightweight alloys, “uprated” brakes and a few cosmetic goodies, as well. Despite being described as “road going” you can see from the image above that the car is fitted with a roll cage. This doesn’t preclude it from road registration, of course, but it’s clearly not in showroom spec. The car will also be adorned with special livery and the iconic “tii” badging made famous by the spritual predecessor of the 135i, the BMW 2002 tii.
There’s plenty of opportunities for race goers to see this comparison with five exhibition races scheduled, including two on Thursday and one each on the remaining three days of the Grand Prix carnival. Each race will be a one lap dash with handicapping used to give each car a chance to win. Such events are usually quite popular and it will be interesting to see the final outcome.
More details below.
The famous Porsche 917 racing car turns 40 this year. Porsche will hold special birthday celebrations for the 917 at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed (3–5 July).
The theme for the FoS this year is ‘True Grit – Epic Feats of Endurance’. It is appropriate then that among the 917’s many achievements are back-to-back 24 Hours of Le Mans victories in 1970 and 1971. These results marked Porsche’s first successes at the world’s oldest sports car race.
The 1971 triumph set a new record for the fastest ever victory at Le Mans, the Martini Racing Team 917, driven by Helmut Marko and Gijs van Lennep, completed 397 laps, or 5335.313km (3313 miles), at an average speed of 222km/h (138mph). That record still stands. (HERE is a full list of Le Mans winners).
For more on this epic 12 cylinder powered legend described by British magazine Motor Sport as the ‘greatest racing car in history’, read the press releases below, or check out Wikipedia.
Six of the best hot hatches. An empty aerodrome all to yourself. How could you say no? Chris Harris from Drivers Republic certainly couldn’t, and he took the opportunity to see what’s what in the world of hot hatchery. The car’s on offer were impressive—Honda Civic Type R, Renault Megane R26.R, Ford Focus ST (XR5), Subaru Impreza WRX S, Vauxhall Astra VXR Triple Eight and a MINI Cooper S JCW.
So, which car came up trumps? The cars were taken to Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome to find out. You can watch video footage after the jump, or read the article in full HERE.
Dutch tuners Exclusive Tuning Worldwide have done something they perhaps shouldn’t have. You see, the Volkswagen GTI W12 650 concept car revealed at the 2007 GTI Festival in Wörthersee, Austria, was kind of cool. It had genuine cachet. The W12 650 was a crazy bonkers idea, in a world where crazy bonkers ideas never make it into production.
So, back to these crazy Dutchmen who have released a W12 replica bodykit for the Golf V GTI. It looks, well, not very special it has to be said. And the cost? I can’t read Dutch very well, but if you go to the trouble of downloading the brochure from their website it looks like pricing is north of AU$25,000. Yikes!
Of course, being a bodykit only, you get no extra grunt for all that extra weight. It’s just not a very good idea, is it.
A few extra pics below, including a picture of the real deal. See if you can pick the difference, haha.
Source: Exclusive Tuning Worldwide via autoblog
Under new rules released overnight the 2009 Formula One world driver’s championship will be awarded to the driver with the most wins, irrespective of points scored. Were these same rules in place for last season’s drama filled final race then Felipe Massa would have been the one celebrating in the picture above, having won six races to Lewis Hamilton’s five. Of course, Hamilton sensationally clinched the title in the last lap, securing the fifth position he needed to win the title by a single point.
The familiar 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 points system will be kept however, and will be used to determine the minor placings once the world champion has been decided.
The potential for farce is high with this system, although, such things usually have a way of sorting themselves out. That said, being used to the system that has decided the driver’s title for over 50 years it will be odd if the second placd driver in the 2009 season has a healthy points advantage over the driver with the most wins. Let’s hope natural justice sorts itself out and the right driver wins the title under the right circumstances.
However, if we cast an eye over all previous F1 seasons then this new system would have affected the results of no less than 13 seasons. Crucially, for Australian readers, Alan Jones would be a dual world champion having won the most races in 1979 as well as 1980, his world championship winning year. Thankfully the BBC has done the legwork for us and a full list of affected world titles can be read HERE.
In other F1 news, teams can opt to break free from the strict in-season testing freezes if they agree to limit spending in any one season to £30M. Hmm, can anyone see salary cap style rorting rearing its ugly head in F1?
Source: Formula1.com
Australian pricing for the MINI Cooper D was announced today, and its entry level figure of $33,750 completes a trifecta of benefits that leave the Hollywood hyped Prius in its dust.
We already know the Cooper D uses less fuel than Toyota’s hybrid. We already know the Cooper D emits less CO2 emissions. Now, we know it will undercut the Prius on price, as well (according to the Toyota website Prius pricing starts at $37,400).
On paper, at least, MINI shows you can have a fuel conscious car, with style, and driving enjoyment. As MINI puts it, yes, you can have your cake and eat it too.
Powered by a 1.6-litre turbocharged direct-injection four-cylinder engine the MINI Cooper D is fitted with a six-speed manual gearbox as standard. A a six-speed auto is available for $2350, if required.
Contributing to the Dooper’s impressive fuel consumption figure of 3.9l/100km is the Auto Start Stop function, where the engine switches itself off when stationary, thereby saving fuel. Other ‘MINIMALISM’ features included are Brake Energy Regeneration and a Shift Point Display that lights at the most optimum time to change gears. There is also a streamlined underbody reducing drag, and many of the car’s ancillaries, such as the power steering, operate only as demand dictates.
The Cooper D engine produces a modest 80kW but, as to be expected with diesel technology, it is the torque on offer—240Nm at a low 1750rpm—that makes cars like this driveable around town. With MINI’s now familiar overboost system torque can peak at 260Nm.
We should see the diesel MINI in showrooms in May this year. Brief discussions with my local MINI Garage indicate this model will generate plenty of interest, and, importantly, solid sales too.
Great news for MINI CHALLENGE fans with confirmation that Paul Stokell and Grant Denyer will be back chasing the 2009 title with DecoRug Racing.
Defending champion Neil McFadyen will have his work cut out with the fancied DecoRug duo determined to make amends for 2008’s promising, but ultimately disappointing, season.
Bill Gremos, DecoRug Racing team owner, is backing his charges all the way, “If Grant had remained fit, I have no doubt we would have won the Series and Paul would have finished behind him. We had a lot of bad luck throughout the year, but despite all of that, we led the Series for most of the way and Paul had a sniff at taking the Title at the final round. This time we want both cars to be at the front all the way through the year.”
It’s a great sign for Grant Denyer, too, now back to full fitness after his injury scare last year. “There is definitely some unfinished business I need to attend to in MINI Challenge and I intend to do that right from round one at the Grand Prix,” he said.
The 2009 MINI CHALLENGE begins in just nine days with practice sessions starting on 26 March as part of the Formula 1™ ING Australian Grand Prix. A full calendar of races can be seen HERE.
Ever since the official details of the Audi TT RS were revealed many have been wondering and hoping the 340bhp 2.5 litre 5 cylinder turbo might find it’s way into Audi’s S3 and morph into an RS3 hatch. That hope has been given a tasty turbocharged boost with reports claiming the RS3 is under consideration at Ingolstadt. The suggestion has been attributed to Michael Dick, Audi board of management for technical development.
The rendering above, which first surfaced on CarSpyShots last year, hints at expected RS styling cues with a deeper, more aggressive, front end capturing more air to feed the hungry turbo. While Audi RS cars are known for their flared guards, the ones above do seem a bit too overt compared to previous examples.
With the TT RS donating its 250kW/450Nm engine we can expect similar levels of performance, suggesting 0-100 times in the mid 4 second range with a possible top speed of 280km/h, if the usual 250km/h limiter is removed.
If the RS3 does go into production, it’s a safe bet to assume it will be a few years away yet. A new A3 is due in 2011 and it could be another two years after that before an RS3 would hit the streets. Until then we’ll just have to make do with hoping that Audi approves such a project.
Source: 4wheelsnews via WorldCarFans