Straight from the race’s official YouTube channel here’s a collection of videos bringing you the highlights from yesterday’s 24 Hours of Le Mans won by the #19 Porsche 919 Hybrid.
The first clip, a 20 minute special, includes podium celebrations from all four classes as well. Everyone’s a winner!
We don’t usually care too much about what happens in the world of IndyCar, but we must congratulate the man with the best name in motorsport, Will Power, who collected his maiden IndyCar title on the weekend.
The 33-year-old Aussie has been runner-up three times (2010–2012) and finally came up trumps this year thanks to a ninth place finish at the MAVTV 500, which gave him enough points to see off his Team Penske teammate Hélio Castroneves for the 2014 championship.
Starting from second last on the grid Power had a tough race before Castroneves made a crucial error resulting in a driver-through penalty. It was enough to give power some breathing space in the chase for the crown.
“That was one of the hardest races ever,” said Power. “Oh my God, I was crying over the line. It went on and on, and I slowly made up positions.
“I can’t believe it. I am so mentally exhausted now. That was mega.”
Congratulations Will on keeping the Australian flag flying high in international motorsport. Let’s hope he gets a chance to enjoy the win as much as his brother did.
[Source: IndyCar]
Like us you probably haven’t had a chance to duck over to Europe to check out the Geneva Motor Show. So here’s the first of a two part series bringing you a selection of the cars on show. Here we start with Alfa Romeo and go through to Lexus.
The 2014 NASCAR season has begun with the bizarre sight of the Chevrolet SS (née Commodore SS) Pace Car catching fire while it was leading the field around Daytona International Raceway.
“Tower, we’re on fire,” came the confirmation from Brett Bodine behind the wheel of the flaming Pace Car.
Feeling a bit sorry for the Pace Car, and perhaps Holden’s plight, racing legend Dale Earnhardt Jr came to the Chevy’s defence: “I guess it was the batteries in the back for the lights, because cars just don’t catch on fire like that,” Earnhardt said.
“It was pretty weird.”
A faulty battery pack to power the safety lights has been blamed for the fire.
The light-hearted incident was best summed up by Brad Keselowski who was the driver behind the Pace Car at the time: “When you think you’ve seen it all, then you see that!
“That was an interesting one; I just saw the whole back of the car on fire. I thought it was a race car, and then someone said it was the pace car and I just started laughing.”
You can see video of the incident after the break.
[Source: SB Nation]
According to the motoring.com.au website the V8-powered VF Commodore SS may have a life beyond the closure of Holden’s local production operations in 2017:
Holden fans will still have the chance to drive a rear-wheel drive V8 sedan with the Lion badge on the nose after the death of the VF Commodore in 2017 if a General Motors plan to build a second generation Chevrolet SS gets the green light.
GM is currently studying the feasibility of developing and building the next SS in the USA, taking over from the current Commodore VF-based version that is built in the doomed Elizabeth plant.
If the business case does stack up it will definitely be exported to Australia and sold as Holden.
Keeping the SS alive would also provide a lifeline for Holden Special Vehicles (HSV), which is facing an uncertain future without a rear-wheel drive Commodore to hot up into Clubsport, GTS and the like post-2017.
If you read the full article you’ll see there’s still quite a bit of water to pass under the bridge to make this happen. But if you like your Aussie V8s maybe you can still just want one.
[Source: motoring.com.au]
Those good ol’ boys at Chevrolet didn’t just stop with the road going version of the Corvette Z06. No siree, they kept the pedal to the metal and developed this all-new C7.R racecar.
And when Corvette goes racing you better stop and take notice because they do it bloody well. Since 1999 they’ve dominated the American Le Mans Series, with 90 race wins and 10 championships.
In 2014 the ALMS category has merged with the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series to form the Tudor United Sportscar Championship. The C7.R will debut in this series at the opening race, the Daytona 24 hour race on 25–26 January.
Race regulations prohibit the use of the 6.2 litre supercharged V8 from the production Z06. Instead the C7.R will use the drivetrain from the championship winning C6.R; a 5.5 litre normally aspirated V8 based on Chevy’s noted small block hardware.
A brief introduction video of the C7.R presented by Jim Campbell, vice president of Performance Vehicles and Motorsports, can be seen after the break.
This is the 2015 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 and with “at least 625 horsepower (466kW)” from its 6.2 litre supercharged V8 it’s sure to be as fast as it looks.
Known as the LT4, the new 6.2 litre engine has plenty of torque to go with all that power too. 860Nm+ of it! This thing will be brutal. Power is sent to the rear wheels, where else, via a 7-speed manual ‘box or an optional 8-speed auto.
There’s no claimed performance figures that we’ve come across yet. Suffice to say it will be frighteningly quick.
The Stingray on steroids is claimed to be the most track-capable Corvette, ever! You can add to that by ticking the Z07 Performance Pack option which gives you increased downforce, Brembo carbon ceramic brakes and super sticky Michelin Pilot Super Sport Cup rubber.
Limited technical detail is available in the press guff after the break, but stuff that. Just imagine having the window down, a wide open road ahead of you and nailing your foot to the floor and marvelling at the raucous noises being spat out of those quad-pipes!
Last year it was the regular old Stingray which got us excited, now it’s the all-new Z06. Go on, admit it, this looks pretty bloody awesome! Three images have been leaked (first by Left Lane News, then Jalopnik) ahead of its debut in Detroit next week, as you’d expect.
For now, at least, details of what lurks beneath that heavily sculpted hood remains a mystery. Well, it will be a V8, of course, and it seems as though the amount of horsepower it produces will start with a six. Perhaps as much as 620hp (462kW).
Oh yes!
There’s flappy paddles on the steering wheel, too. Surely we won’t be seeing an American muscle car getting giddy with the technology of a dual clutch transmission?
[Source: Autoblog]
The Americans are again keen to prove they have discovered corners by continuing to test their automotive products at the Nürburgring. And it turns out they’re getting quite good at making cars handle well, as this video from Chevrolet shows.
The 2014 Camaro Z28 has lapped the Nordshcleife in 7:37.47 and we have the visual evidence to prove it. There’s one or two loose moments and with rain beginning to fall late in the lap driver, Adam Dean, took a very ginger approach through Galgenkopf, leading onto the Döttinger Höhe straight. Indeed, Chevrolet is keen to highlight their claim that Dean cold have gone as much as six seconds faster if the conditions were dry for the full lap.
Powered by a 376kW 7.0 litre LS7 V8 the Z28 sounds fantastic, of course, although the audio in this video is sounds a little artificial to our ears. Have a look and see what you think.
The lights have been turned off at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show and the mammoth task of dismantling the huge displays has begun. To recap what you may have missed here’s a selection of 120+ pics reminding you what was on show.
It’s true we don’t always give a lot of focus to American cars on AUSmotive. It’s also true that there’s not many better sounds in the automotive world than a kick arse V8 at full noise. So when you have not one, but two of Amercia’s finest treading the tarmac theatre of the Nürburgring we figure it’s a mighty fine way to start the week!
The cars in question are the Chevrolet Camaro Z28 and the Corvette C7 aka the Stingray. And, yep, both sound pretty good.
The Geneva Motor Show is still underway over in Europe and while we’re sure almost all of our readers would love to be there we’re doing the best we can to bring you a little closer to the action. Here is the first installment of over 250 pictures from the show, from Alfa Romeo to Lamborghini, which includes some of the great and not so great models on display.
That Lamborghini’s not getting any prettier is it.