A little over a week since we saw a Porsche 918 Spyder in monochrome Martini livery, Porsche has gone the full monty by revealing four pics of the 918 in classic Martini Racing team colours.
We’re going to forget the specs of this car for a moment. And we’re not even going to mention the sub-7 minute 22 second Nürburgring lap time Porsche has in mind.
We’re just going to leave you alone with this spectacular looking piece of automotive design.
UPDATE: Four new pics have been added below.
Ever wondered how fast a modern F1 car is compared to one from the 1980s? Wonder no more as this video compares two of the best one-lap exponents from each era: Ayrton Senna at the 1986 Monaco GP in the Lotus 98T and Sebastian Vettel from the 2011 race in the title-winning Red Bull RB7.
If you look closely at the black veil on this next-gen F80 BMW M3 prototype you’ll soon form an idea of what the car’s front-end will look like. We can tell that by referring to the air curtain on the 1M and also the front-end of the M6. Indeed, we expect the M6 (pictured below) will provide much of the inspiration for the new M3’s front apron.
BMW’s air curtain is an aerodynamic aid designed to help improve the air flow around the front wheels. They first employed the concept on the 1M and described it as such:
The in-flowing air is routed into two ducts by means of openings in the outer section of the front apron. These openings are designed so that the air flows along the inside of the front apron in a closed duct to the wheel arches, where it is discharged through a very narrow opening at high speed, just passing the outer wheel flanks. The escaping air stream covers the side of the front wheels like a curtain, thereby reducing aerodynamically unfavourable turbulence around the wheel arches.
Thanks to the series of images posted to Bimmerpost we can also see the ‘power bulge’ in the bonnet will carry over from the previous-gen M3.
The new M3, to be powered by a turbocharged inline six based on the N55 engine, is still around 12 months away, so expect to see a few more images of camouflaged prototypes before seeing anything official from BMW.
[Source: Bimmerpost]
Back in May we saw the awesome video from the Sauber F1 Team showing their F1.08 cut in half. Chief designer, Matt Morris, was on hand to guide us through the maze and at the time we declared it the “coolest behind the scenes F1 video you will see all year.” Nothing we’ve seen since has changed our view.
Now, we must thank the Sauber F1 Team again for making wallpaper-friendly still images of the F1.08 cutaway available. In all we have 14 photos for you, all available as 2000px super images. In case you missed it the first time we’ve added the video after the break as well.
Before you go, here’s a few words from Sauber about the project and the F1.08:
When mechanics at the Sauber F1 Team set about slicing a Formula One car down the centre line, they were embarking on a labour of love. The idea – hatched in late 2009 – was the brainchild of Sergio Bonagura, a former car chief for the race team. Mechanics at the Sauber factory created the exhibit over a period of two years, investing a fair amount of their downtime and demonstrating the precision of true craftsmen and impressive attention to detail in the process. Since this was not something anyone had done before, the team had no template to follow. And yet, come spring 2012, the model was complete and the cameras were ready to roll.
The car in question is a BMW Sauber F1.08. The 2008 season was the most successful yet for Sauber. At the Canadian Grand Prix that year Sauber celebrated its first, and so far only, F1 victory, Robert Kubica taking the win and Nick Heidfeld following him across the line to wrap up a one-two finish. In total the F1.08 recorded 11 podiums, one pole position (Kubica in Bahrain) and two fastest race laps (Heidfeld in Malaysia and Germany).
Following our earlier story about the rumoured increase of MINI JCW GP2s coming to Australia we thought it was worthwhile bringing your attention to MINI’s Facebook competition on the car titled The Source.
After the break we have a total of four videos on the car, the first is a behind the scenes look at how the image above was created. The second is a too short highlights clip confirming MINI’s claim that the GP2 can lap the Nürburgring in 8 minutes 23 seconds. The latter two concentrate on the GP2’s carbon fibre body parts and aerodynamics.
If that takes your fancy then you should follow the source link below for new images and further information.
[Source: Facebook]
Good news for fans of the second coming of the MINI John Cooper Works GP. After official confirmation that 20 GP2s will be coming to Australia, word has come our way suggesting the actual number of Australian-bound GP2s will now total 30 cars.
Remember worldwide production of the new GP is only 2000, so if MINI Australia has increased their allocation by 50% we reckon they deserve a pat on the back.
And if you think that’s good, wait until you hear the price. Our source says the GP2 is expected to be priced around $60K, plus on roads. True that’s not cheap, but it’s not too bad for a limited-run model very likely to gain cult status.
We expect MINI Australia to remain quiet for a while yet. The JCW GP isn’t due to arrive down under until early next year, so we don’t expect to hear any official confirmation of pricing and local spec until late this year at the earliest.
Here’s your pictorial update from the Hungarian Grand Prix. It’s the last recap you’ll get for over a month, so we hope you enjoy the 80+ photos on offer.
Thankfully for McLaren fans, given Hamilton’s win, they’re back in the game with high-res images; just click on the pic you like to load a 2000px super image.
We bring you the transcript from last night’s Hungarian Grand Prix. Interestingly the text does not include the Placido Domingo podium interviews. With any luck the FIA will realise that approach needs some work.
With the benefit of hindsight a two-stop strategy was the quickest way, as Hamilton explains below. Meanwhile, Mark Webber was left to rue his decision to three-stop: “We were hoping people would be in a bit more trouble with their tyres at the end. We were in fifth place and had a nice cushion, but we’ve had plenty of times this year where the tyres had stopped working towards the end of the race,” he explained.
“Today it didn’t really work out that way and we lost places through trying something different. I was quicker in the closing stages, but it’s hard to overtake here and I couldn’t get the job done. Still, we moved up three places from the start, we have good points and it’s very open for the rest of the year.â€
According to Christian Horner, Webber developed a “differential issue” on lap 45.
Lewis Hamilton didn’t need to make excuses and this thoughts, along with the Lotus duo, can be read after the break, thanks to the FIA.
[Pic: Lotus F1 Team/LAT Photographic]
Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) has capped off a great weekend by winning the 2012 Hungarian Grand Prix. Starting from pole position, Hamilton secured his 19th career win without being seriously troubled, despite having Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus) sniffing around his gearbox in the closing stages of the race.
Romain Grosjean ensured Lotus enjoyed two steps on the podium by finishing third. On another day Lotus may well have broken through for their first win of the year.
Hamilton’s victory adds to his win at the Canadian Grand Prix and makes him the season’s third multiple winner behind Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber.
Tonight’s race was reduced by one lap from the planned 70 laps after a somewhat confusing aborted start. In the wash up Michael Schumacher (Mercedes AMG) started from pit lane. It was a dirty day for the former champ; he qualified a lowly 17th and eventually retired from the race on lap 58.
Mark Webber (Red Bull) made a great start from P11 and was in P7 by the end of the opening lap. He’ll be a little disappointed that his three-stop strategy did not yield a better finishing position than P8. He remains second in the drivers’ championship, but dropped points to all those in the running for this year’s title.
Thanks to Webber’s relatively poor result, Fernando Alonso (Ferrari), who could only manage to cross the line in P5, can consider himself lucky to have increased his championship lead to 40 points. However, a pack is bunching up behind Webber (124pts). Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull, 122) and Hamilton (117) are sandwiched between Webber and Raikkonen (116), meaning just eight points separate positions two to five.
Further down the field Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) managed to overcome his lower starting position and finish ahead of his teammate, Jean-Eric Vergne. Although, as seems typical for these two, they finished one behind the other with not much daylight in between.
It’s worth noting Alonso’s championship gain has not been matched by his Ferrari team. Strong results for McLaren and Lotus sees them leap frog the red team in the constructors’ race. Updated tables and the final finishing order from Budapest can be seen after the break.
For the trivia buffs, we once again saw the post-race interview carried out on the podium. We can’t say we care too much for this arrangement, despite the pedigree of former interviewers Sir Jackie Stewart and Niki Lauda at the British and German races respectively. But we were further taken aback to see Spanish tenor Placido Domingo behind the mic in Hungary tonight.
The F1 circus now enters a month long mid-season break and will return for the Belgian Grand Prix on 2 September.
In 2010 Lotus launched a five-model offensive that we shall call the Bahar bonanza. Then CEO, Dany Bahar, was the star of the Paris Motor Show with his ambitious strategy to spectacularly relaunch the Lotus marque, which included the return of iconic models such as the Elan and Esprit.
Since then Lotus’ parent company, Proton, has a new owner and early last month Dany Bahar was officially suspended from his role and ultimately sacked. The Bahar bonanza, then, is officially over.
It’s understood Lotus will rewrite Bahar’s vision which could include reducing it from five models to three. Speaking to The Star, a Malaysian-based website, RHB Research analyst Alexander Chia claims, “The revised plan is likely to be much more realistic.”
Further watering down the Bahar bonanza, it’s been suggested Lotus should rely more on its in-house knowledge. “DRB-Hicom should make greater use of the engineering expertise and skill sets at Lotus,” Chia explained. “That could help shorten the development time of new models, engines and drivetrains.”
The new owner, DRB-Hicom, has reportedly injected £200m into Lotus since their buyout of Proton and will increase that by another £100m if required.
RHB Research submitted a report to DRB-Hicom about renergising the Proton and Lotus brands. A new plan is expected to be finalised by early–mid 2013.
[Source: The Star]
German magazine Auto Motor und Sport brings us the best look inside yet of the new F56 MINI platform. Above you can see the new style toggle switches and an increase in black plastic interior trim. Eagle eyed observers will also note there are no longer toggle switched for the windows in the central stack.
It’s all part of the apparent maturation of the MINI brand and, we think, some of the brand’s playful character is being lost. This is further evidenced by the removal of the centrally-mounted speedometer. The speedo will now sit atop the steering column, with a smaller dial beside for the rev counter (see image below).
An infotainment screen, mounted inside a circular shape, will sit in the middle of the dashboard where the speedo used to be placed. It follows a similar look to current generation MINIs that are equipped with either satellite navigation or Visual Boost. Although, there’s no speedo around the outside, of course.
[Source: Auto Motor und Sport via MotoringFile]
Lewis Hamilton has dominated this weekend’s proceedings at the Hungarian Grand Prix, culminating with pole position after last night’s qualifying session. The resurgent McLaren driver wasn’t troubled in Q3 and finished four tenths quicker (1:20.953) than Romain Grosjean (Lotus, 1:21.366). Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull, 1:21.416) was close behind and rounded out the top three.
It was a bad night for the Australians with Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) narrowly missing progression through to Q2. Afterwards the 23-year-old said: “It’s frustrating and a bit disappointing not to have made the cut to Q2, as this is the first time I’ve been stuck in Q1 all season and it would have been nice to keep that sheet clean.”
Ricciardo added, “I’ll try and make up for this disappointment tomorrow.â€
It was a similar tale for Mark Webber (Red Bull) who was knocked out of Q3 at the death by 0.018 seconds thanks to Bruno Senna (Williams). It was a bitter blow for Webber who was the quickest man in Practice 3, and the only driver so far this weekend, to head Hamilton at the top of the timesheets.
“I was happy with the car this morning, I was quick in P3, but I didn’t feel happy on that last set of soft tyres in Q2 and struggled against my scrub time, which is a bit bizarre,” Webber bemoaned. “The field is tight at the moment and it’s disappointing to qualify in P11 obviously. Our race pace should be okay tomorrow.
Hamilton’s pole position is the 23rd of his career and the 150th for McLaren. You can read what Lewis, Grosjean and Vettel had to say after quali in the full transcript available below, thanks to the FIA.
[Pic: Vodafone McLaren Mercedes]