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Motor Shows News Nissan

Nissan 370Z UK specifications

Nissan 370Z

Okay, the UK specs of Nissan’s stylish 370Z may not be of great use to Australian readers, but the car looks pretty damn good and these details will give an indication of what to expect when the new Zed hits the Australian market in May.

NOTE: Australian readers can see the 370Z for themselves at the upcoming Melbourne International Motor Show (27 February–9 March).

The 370Z is 32kg lighter than the outgoing 350Z and with a smidge over 240kW it isn’t likely to hang about once you press the loud pedal. As to be expected with any new Japanese sportscar there is some pretty nifty technology inside the 370Z. New features such as Synchro Rev Control, which matches revs automatically on gear changes for the 6 speed manual, are sure to delight the boy racer inside all of us. The 7 speed auto also has a similar feature, well actually, it’s probably pretty much the same thing, but Nissan have called it something new anyway, Downshift Rev Matching. While those opting for the optional 19″ RAYS forged alloy wheels will encourage nods of approval from the JDM crowd.

If you want to knock around looking at more pics, downloading stuff and checking out official videos then take a look at www.nissan-370z.co.uk. In the meantime you can enjoy plenty of pics and read the Nissan UK press release below.

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News Nissan

Nissan GT-R hit by falling Aussie dollar

Nissan GT-R

According to a report on the GoAuto website new buyers of the Nissan GT-R will be stung for a price rise if they don’t already hold an order. While nothing official has been released, it seems as though the falling Australian dollar is behind Nissan’s economic revision. The increase will take effect before the GT-R’s Australian launch in April.

Original pricing from Nissan Australia was released in October last year, and at that point, the pricing was set at $148,800 for the entry level GT-R, while the Premium model would be an extra $4000. Now, though, those prices are expected to be just over AU$150K and AU$154K respectively.

Nissan Australia spokesman Ross Booth claims they have 140 orders for the GT-R on their books, and despite the economic downturn, none have been cancelled. Existing orders will not be affected by the price rise.

In relative terms this rise is very minor and one can’t imagine it would deter any prospective purchasers. Certainly wouldn’t stop me, that’s for sure!

Source: GoAuto

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Motor Shows News Volkswagen

Golf VI to be launched at Melbourne International Motor Show

Volkswagen Golf VI

Volkswagen’s new Golf VI will make its Australian debut next month at the Melbourne International Motor Show (27 February–9 March). In further good news for prospective Golf customers, VW Australia sources have confirmed with AUSmotive that the car will be available for purchase at Volkswagen dealers immediately after the Melbourne show.

Presumably, there are already a number of Golf VI models in the country, with a couple of models being spotted recently in Perth.

The new Golf may not be a radical departure in looks from the outgoing Golf V, but there are quite a lot of new goodies thrown into the new model that should see the Golf keep its customary position at the top of its class. There’s a new 7-speed DSG, revised engine lineup, Adaptive Chassis Control, park steering assistant and an improved ESP system to name a few. The basic underpinnings of the Golf V chassis also remain, which means the new Golf should remain an engaging and dependable drive. Safety has also been assured with the Golf VI already achieving a 5-star Euro NCAP rating.

The Golf V has proven to be an outstanding sales success for Volkswagen Australia and there should be no reason why the Golf VI cannot continue this trend.

Volkswagen Australia is still a bit coy when asked about the new GTI and its Australian release. Current speculation suggests it will be available around October this year. We shall have to wait and see.

More news on the official launch for the Golf VI as it comes to hand. In the meantime, check out this earlier post on the Golf VI which includes more images and information released last August prior to the car’s international launch.

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Honda News

Honda Accord Euro wins Wheels COTY

Honda Accord Euro - Wheels COTY 2009

I know the Aussie car mags cop a lot of flak out there in readerland, but for mine, they do a better than half reasonable job of catering to what may be considered our narrow local market, while still giving good coverage of activities beyond our shores.

To that end the Wheels Magazine Car of the Year award lays claim to being the world’s longest continuously running COTY award. That’s pretty cool I reckon, and also says a fair bit about the longevity and relevance of motoring journalism in our country.

Okay, enough pontificating, and onto the news that the second gen Honda Accord Euro has been named this year’s Wheels COTY winner. The mag, perhaps not doing anything to placate their critics, announces the award on Channel 9’s A Current Affair these days. Sure, that gets them a great TV audience, but, to me, does little to enhance their reputation as the country’s leading car mag. ACA is mostly a disgrace that does little more than whip its audience into a lather about the latest terrorist “threat” and the current must do diet craze.

Wheels, you owe yourself a greater show of self-respect than your affiliation with ACA offers.

So, about that pontificating. Yes, erm, anyway, back to the car gong, Honda Australia, obviously, was chuffed to claim the award and Mr Yasuhide Mizuno, Managing Director and CEO said, “This is fantastic result for a fantastic car that epitomises every element of Honda’s DNA. It’s fun to drive nature combined with quality, safety, value and sporty styling is what the second-generation Accord Euro is about.”

Good for Honda. For more on the Wheels COTY check out their website.

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Holden Motorsports News

Mal Rose Racing at the 2009 Dubai 24 hour

2009 Dubai 24 hour race

A quick shout out to Mal Rose and his team for their recent efforts at the 2009 Dubai 24 hour race (8-10 January). Mal Rose Racing took an ex-Garry Rogers Motorsport V8 Supercar and a duo of Mitsubishi Mirage Cup cars to the race. Mal’s team was the only Australian representation at the race in 2009.

Mal shared racing duties in the V8 Supercar with Peter Leemhuis and Tony Alford (who debuted a Nissan GT-R at the 2008 Targa Tasmania). Competing against touring cars and GT specials from manufacturers such as Porsche, Ferrari, BMW, Aston Martin and Audi, to name a few, Mal’s team had their Aussie V8 Supercar leading their class, and as high as third place outright, before mechanical issues spoiled the fun.

They were holding a solid top ten position as far as 14 hours into the race before diff troubles saw the team spent two hours in pit lane. Despite these issues the team got the car back on the race track and set their best times. Mal’s best time of 2 minutes 8.5 seconds was virtually matched by Peter Leemhuis (2 minutes 8.7 seconds).

Mal spent time early on in the race dicing with F1 engineer Adrian Newey (currently with Red Bull Racing) who was driving a Ferrari F430. In the stifling conditions Newey was treated for heat exhaistion after his stint and Mal was pretty chuffed with his fitness, stating, “I am now 46 years old and feel very race fit!”

In their third Dubai 24 hour race, the team completed 494 laps, finishing fifth in class and 33rd outright. Overall, this was a great effort by the team in what is a true privateer outfit. It’s great seeing guys like Mal having belief in themselves and getting out there and having a great time.

Film maker Stuart Greaves from Adrenaline Video was there making another doco, following on from his 2007 release, Mal’s Big Green Hell. So expect a new release soon!

The next event for Mal Rose will be with Peter and Tony in the Donut King Monaro at the Bathurst 12hr in mid February. Their next international events will be the Nürburgring 24hr in May then Spa 12hr in June 2009.

(A few more pics sent in from Mal can be seen after the jump.)

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Motorsports News Volkswagen

Volkswagen Touareg TDI wins 2009 Dakar Rally

Volkswagen wins 2009 Dakar Rally

The Volkswagen Race Touareg claimed a series of firsts in this year’s 2009 Dakar Rally in Argentina and Chile. Including the first that counts the most, with outright success going to the South African-German pairing of Giniel de Villiers (driver) and Dirk von Zitzewitz (co-driver).

It was the first time the race had been held in South America. It was the first time a diesel powered car won overall honours. And, with American Mark Miller’s second position, it was also Volkswagen’s first quinella at the Dakar. Volkswagen have one previous Dakar win, the 1980 Paris-Dakar won by Sweden’s Freddy Kottulinsky in a Volkswagen Iltis.

The 280bhp TDI Race Touaregs dominated the rally winning 10 out of 13 stages, and it was a sweet taste of victory for the de Villiers-von Zitzewitz combination after the duo piloted a Touareg to second in the 2006 race. Volkswagen also claimed a third position in the top ten with sixth place going to the German duo of Dieter Depping and Timo Gottschalk .

De Villiers was elated with the win, “I’m so happy about having clinched this exploit for Volkswagen. This victory is worth more than any of the titles I won in touring car racing. The Race Touareg was running absolutely like a charm, and at such a tough edition of the Dakar Rally at that. That was the key to success. I want to thank everyone at Volkswagen for this.”

It was a bitter sweet rally for high-profile driver Carlos Sainz who looked set for victory until a nasty accident on the twelfth leg, but he was happy for the team success, “We set the pace for a long time at the Dakar Rally and led it for a long time as well. That’s why it was a particularly bitter pill for my co-driver Michel Périn and me that we were forced to retire after an accident on the twelfth leg. One must never underestimate the Dakar Rally and prevail against it before being able to win. I congratulate my team colleagues Giniel de Villiers and Dirk von Zitzewitz on their ‘Dakar’ victory. They deserved winning this tough rally.”

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Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz News

McLaren launches title defence with MP4-24

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes MP4-24

Team Vodafone McLaren Mercedes launched the title defence of Lewis Hamilton’s world championship by revealing their 2009 car, the MP4-24. This is the first McLaren to wear the number 1 since Mika Hakkinen in 2000, following his 1999 championship.

With limits on in-season development during the 2009 season, Ron Dennis explains some of the challenges in building the car, “The biggest problem is the concept of the car because if you have the wrong concept you are locked into an uncompetitive car.”

Lewis Hamilton is refreshed heading into the new season, “I feel more relaxed going into the season simply because I’m come off a great season. I feel I have reset my goals, and reset my targets back to when I started in Formula One. I want to be world champion. I don’t sit here saying I am world champion; I sit here saying I want to be world champion.”

Heikki Kovalainen, too, is ready for the challenges ahead, “Well obviously there are many big changes coming to the season and there are still a few unknown things like the qualifying format that could spice up the things. But I think it is a big challenge for everybody. The cars will feel a little bit different and we need to adjust and adapt the driving style a little bit. Maybe the set-up will be a little bit different, and there are a lot of questions we need to answer before Melbourne.”

More images below and full media access on the launch of the MP4-24 is available at the McLaren website.

Categories
Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz News

Ron Dennis to step down as McLaren team principal

McLaren's Ron Dennis hands over to Martin Whitmarsh

Yesterday, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes launched their new car for the 2009 F1 season, but perhaps the biggest news from this event was nothing to do with the cars at all. Ron Dennis announced that he would be stepping down as Team Principal, effective from 1 March. The position will be filled by Martin Whitmarsh, currently McLaren’s Chief Operating Officer.

Ron Dennis: “Let me make one thing clear: this is very definitely not retirement. In fact, I intend to work even harder from now on. And it’s because I intend to work even harder … that I’ve decided to pass the role of Team Principal of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes to Martin.”

Martin Whitmarsh: “Ron and I have had many discussions about this over the past few weeks and months, but eventually it became clear that Ron’s decision was final. Everyone knows what an incredible career Ron has had to date; his legacy is huge. As such, I remain hugely mindful of the responsibilities I assume as team principal – it’s a daunting yet exciting prospect.”

Full release below.

Source: McLaren.com (Thanks to Dylan for the tip.)

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Motorsports News

A1GP dashboard – live telemetry in your lounge room

A1GP Dashboard - live telemetry

A1GP’s new ‘Dashboard’ feature is set to bring a new dimension to following motorsport. ‘Dashboard’ will be accessible via A1GP.com during pratice and race sessions. It allows users to select any car on track and follow its progress via a live telemetry feed (see example above).

Live timing on the internet is nothing new, but user defined access to live telemetry is. And it promises to be very cool. The feature has already been trialled during last year’s round at Malaysia, with plenty of positive feedback from A1GP Fanzone members, despite some initial teething problems.

Pete da Silva, CEO of A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, said: “This is an excellent new feature which fans of international motor racing have never been able to access before. We are sure it will make watching our races on TV even more exciting, giving an added dimension to following the action of a race for every fan. It also adds to our impressive profile of free online content on A1GP.com, including our live video streaming, highlights videos, live positioning timing as well as our exclusive columns and news.”

You can try it out for yourself next weekend during the New Zealand round (23-25 January). Full details listed below.

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Lamborghini News

Runout of the bulls

Lamborghini OC - Stealer of the year!

Lamborghini OC in the United States was the country’s largest Lambo dealer, and counted A-list celebs among its clientele, until it closed down suddenly last November. The cause was thought to be the financial crisis, but new court documents seem to uncover the real story. Okay, so it may not be news to anyone that some car “stealers” have shady reputations. But these guys took the “stealer” label just a bit too seriously.

The cowboys at Lamborghini OC are alleged to have been knocking out deals that were too good to be true. Indeed, the deals were so good they sold over 50 cars in just 8 days. The proceeds came to around US$12M. That’s some runout sale!

There was just one problem, the cars which had been sold by the dealer were originally financed by Volkswagen Credit, and, you guessed it, they’ve not seen one cent of that $12,000,000. Understandably, they’re a bit upset with the current situation and are suing the owners of the dealership, the Keuylian family.

Turns out the Keuylians appear quite adept at not paying bills, with the East-West Bank wondering where their US$3M in loan repayments have gone. Also in their repertoire is exchanging cash for cars, whereby they take the car, but forget to pay the cash. Nice work if you can get it, I suppose. But it all catches up with you in the end, even if you are driving a Lamborghini.

The Volkswagen Credit case is scheduled for hearing on 22 January.

Source: OCregister

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News

Pininfarina – When too much red is enough

Ferrari P4/5 by Pininfarina

Italian company Pininfarina has been forced to hand over control of its business to banks after being overcome by crippling debt. Sadly, red ink to the tune of almost €600M (AU$1.1 billion) will do that.

Pininfarina was established by Battista “Pinin” Farina in 1930 after he returned to Turin following a short stint under the tutelage of Henry Ford. The company is famous for designing some of the world’s most beautiful cars. Sure, the one-off Ferrari P4/5 pictured above may not be one of them, but it achieved a certain notoriety and was a perfect showcase of the businesses strengths.

Along with Ferrari, Pinifarina also penned designs for the likes of Alfa Romeo, Cadillac, Ford, Jaguar, Maserati, MG, Peugeot, Volvo, Lancia and more.

In addition to designing cars, Pininfarina also built cars under contract to leading manufacturers, including Ford (StreetKa, Focus cabriolet) and Alfa Romeo (Spider). It was this aspect of the business that floundered as sales fell sharply in the spiralling global financial crisis.

2008 was something of an annus horribilis for Pininfarina which also suffered the shock death of then CEO Andrea Pininfarina in traffic accident last August.

Source: TimesOnline and autoblog

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McLaren News

Dream car sells for dream price

McLaren F1 sells at auction for £2.5M

Bit of a catch up post this one. Last October this 1997 McLaren F1 sold at auction in London for £2.5M (AU$5.4M). The sale price was a new record for a McLaren F1 and almost double the estimated sale price. Given the doom and gloom that has followed since you’d reckon the result should remain a record for quite some time.

I’m sure I’m not alone in holding the Macca F1 up as one of the greatest cars ever made. When the car was released I was seduced by its looks, its performance and its aura. Little has changed in the decade and a half since. The F1 still has awe inspiring performance that few cars can match.

I was holding off on posting this article on the off chance my wife had bought it for me for Christmas. Maybe the car has been held up in customs?

Source: autoblog and RM Auctions