Categories
Formula 1 News

Reports of protest death in Bahrain ahead of Grand Prix

2010 Bahrain GP

Sadly we bring news of more trouble in Bahrain, less than three weeks from its scheduled return to the Formula One calendar. UK newspaper The Telegraph reports of a youth being killed by Bahraini police after being shot in the leg while protesting in the Shia village of Salmabad.

While ESPN F1 says the fatal shot was fired from a civilian vehicle following closely behind police.

The victim’s family are refusing to sign the 22-year-old’s death certificate as they dispute the official cause of death, which does not list the shooting.

“We will receive his body when they change the report. The police have pressured us to take him, but we said no,” the victim’s sister claimed.

A video statement posted online says: “We (object to) holding a sports race that belittles the sacrifices of our children and ignores our suffering and wounds.

“Do not tarnish the reputation of the respected auto sport with the blood of Bahrain victims.”

Protestors continue to communicate their views to the world via twitter using #BloodyF1 and #NoF1 hashtags.

It’s understood an increased security campaign is being mounted by race officials to protect the Bahrain International Circuit and hotels accommodating F1 teams free from protesters.

Protesters are promising to disrupt the race any way they can and will target the circuit and central Manama to voice their concerns.

[Source: The Telegraph & ESPN F1 | Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

Categories
Volvo

Volvo Australia dances to Polestar tune

Volvo S60 Polestar

Back in January Volvo Australia officially announced the local release of the S60 Polestar (apologies for missing it at the time). Those playing at home will recall the Polestar name, which has a long association with Volvo, mostly due to racing and motor sport activities.

However, it was the crazy 405hp C30 Polestar Performance Concept in 2010 which really gained worldwide attention for the brand.

The S60 Polestar isn’t quite as extreme as that, offering a revised engine tune resulting in a more modest increase of 18kW/40Nm over the standard S60, boosting peak numbers to 242kW/480Nm. Enough to shave 0.3 seconds from the 0–100km/h time, down to 5.8 seconds.

Due to the success of the S60 Polestar, Volvo Australia will be adding Polestar engine tuning to the R-Design versions of the C30 T5, V60 T6, XC60 D5 and XC60 T6 as standard specification.

The S60 Polestar (pictured) also featured cosmetic enhancements, exclusive alloy wheels and a modified exhaust system from Heico Sportiv. It was limited to 50 models and when launched carried a $10,000 premium over the standard S60 R-Design.

Under Volvo’s new pricing structure (70kb PDF) the S60 R-Design will be priced from $75,490 (up $2500) and does not include the Heico Sportiv mods from the limited S60 Polestar.

The best news is fuel economy remains unchanged across the board and all Polestar enhanced models will feature a full three-year factory warranty.

Polestar performance enhancements

  • C30 T5 R-Design – 184kW/370Nm (was 169kW/320Nm)
  • S60 T6 R-Design – 242kW/480Nm (was 224kW/440Nm)
  • V60 T6 R-Design – 242kW/480Nm (was 224kW/440Nm)
  • XC60 D5 R Design –169kW/370Nm (was 158kW/440Nm)
  • XC60 T6 R-Design – 242kW/480Nm (was 224kW/440Nm)
Continue reading “Volvo Australia dances to Polestar tune”
Categories
Citroen WRC

Hirvonen stripped of Rally Portugal win

Mikko Hirvonen, Citroen World Rally Team, 2012 Rally Portugal

Almost as soon as the e-ink had dried on our WRC article informing of Mikko Hirvonen’s win at Rally Portugal word arrived informing he had been disqualified from the event; now we know why the official results have been slow to update.

In post-race scrutineering officials found Hirvonen’s Citroën DS3 WRC had differences between the homologation sheet and the clutch and the turbocharger. A statement from Citroën can be read in full after the break.

“We had no intention whatsoever to cheat and the decision appears out of proportion,” claimed Yves Matton, Citroën Racing Team Principal.

“Given the fact that the reported differences didn’t bring us any advantage, we’ve decided to appeal.

“At the moment, most of all I feel sorry for Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen, who produced a superb performance on a particularly difficult rally. They really deserved their first win with us.

“All I can do, on behalf of the entire team, is offer my sincere apologies for this situation. I hope that Mikko and Jarmo will have the chance to top the podium again very soon. ”

The changes in final classification mean the win is handed to Ford Fiesta WRC driver Mads Ostberg, his first ever WRC victory. Although, with Citroën’s announcement that they will be appealing the decision, we dare say Ostberg won’t be popping any champagne corks just yet.

It’s always a shame when race wins are fought out between teams and officials well after the cars have crossed the finish line.

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Categories
Audi

Audi Q3 – Australian pricing & specs

Audi Q3

Are you an ‘Urban Navigator’? If so it’s your lucky day because not only has Audi created your very own label, they’ve created a car just for you. Of course that is the Q3 you see here. First announced around this time last year, the Q3 is now available in Australian dealerships.

So just what is an Urban Navigator? According to Audi you fall into the following categories: successful young professionals (30-39), a recreational middle-aged couple or family, or active empty-nesters and wanting to show-off to your neighbours. Okay, maybe we altered that last descriptor a little bit.

Anyway, the Q3 is a smart looking crossover that’s sure to find a willing clientele. In Australia you can choose from either petrol or diesel power, both turbocharged four-cylinders and both available in two different states of tune.

Starting the range at $44,800 is the 103kW 2.0 TDI with a 6-speed manual transmission. It’s the only model in the local range not to feature a quattro all-wheel drive system. You can opt for a 130kW 2.0 TDI with quattro and a 7-speed S tronic transmission. That’ll cost you $54,500.

Petrol power comes in the familiar form of a 2.0 TFSI engine with your choice of 125kW or 155kW. If you go for the lower engine output you can choose between a 6-speed manual box or the 7-speed S tronic. Pricing starts at $47,000, with a $1950 premium for the double-clutch gearbox. While the top-of-the range model is priced from $56,000 can only be had with the S tronic.

Rear cargo space is 460 litres, or 1365 litres with the rear seats folded down. Or more use, perhaps, is the 64 litre fuel tank. With consumption figures ranging from 5.2l/100km (103kW TDI) to 7.7l/100km (155kW TFSI) that will offer a noticeable difference in range compared to a similarly specced hatchback.

As you’d expect the Q3 is reasonably well appointed with a tailored ESP system, Bluetooth for your phone and streaming audio as well as all the drive assistance features you could hope for. The Q3 can also be optioned with Audi drive select, which allows you to choose from dour different driving modes on the fly (Comfort, Auto, Dynamic and Efficiency). To finish things off there are 12 exterior body colours to choose from as well.

There’s more from Audi Australia after the break, including a short press release. If the Q3 has raised your interest we suggest you download the detailed PDFs we have for you at the end of the article.

Continue reading “Audi Q3 – Australian pricing & specs”
Categories
Citroen WRC

Mikko Hirvonen wins 2012 Rally Portugal (or not)

Mikko Hirvonen, Citroen World Rally Team, 2012 Rally Portugal

Finnish driver pairing Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen won the 2012 Rally Portugal on the weekend. It was their 15th career win and their first since joining the Citroën World Rally Team in the off-season.

It’s unusual, it seems, not be reporting on another Sebastien Loeb victory. It’s even more unusual due to the fact the eight-time world champion crashed out early on the first day.

“We came to a crest which started with a short left-hand turn followed by a longer right-hand turn. Daniel gave me the right pace note, but I continued to turn to the left,” Loeb explained. “I tried to correct, but my DS3 WRC skidded into a big ditch and we were thrown into a roll. The damage wasn‘t that too bad… except for the roll cage, which did its job and ended up bent.”

Hirvonen had a battle with the Ford Fiestas of Jari-Matti Latvala and Petter Solberg on day one and emerged on top with a 30 second lead. He wasn’t challenged from that point on and won the event by almost two minutes.

“I am very proud of this result, and it’s just rewards for the work done by the team in the last few months,” Hirvonen said after the rally. “This win means I now lead the Drivers’ Championship, but it also means that Citroën extends its lead in the Manufacturers’ standings.

“It was quite a strange rally, the way worked it out, because I haven’t had to push hard since Friday. We managed to control from the front pretty easily, and just kept increasing our lead.”

For some reason the official WRC championship leaderboard hasn’t updated with the Portugal results, but Hirvonen now sits atop the table with 75 points, ahead of Loeb (66) and Solberg (59). Citroën holds a comfortable 42 point lead over the Ford World Rally Team in the manufacturers’ title.

There’s more from Citroën after the break, including a brief highlights video. Rally Argentina is the next event on the WRC calendar and will take place at the end of the month.

UPDATE: Word has just come through that Hirvonen has had his win stripped due to homologation irregularities concerning the clutch and the turbocharger. Full statement to follow.

Continue reading “Mikko Hirvonen wins 2012 Rally Portugal (or not)”
Categories
BMW Green Machines

BMW i8 Concept Spyder revealed

BMW i8 Concept Spyder

BMW has today revealed photos and information for the i8 Concept Spyder. This, we’re fairly certain, is not an April Fool’s Day gag. The i8 Concept Spyder is based on the i8 hardtop (aka Vision Efficient Dynamics).

Like its sibling the i8 Concept Spyder features an ‘eDrive’ hybrid drivetrain, combining a 164kW three-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine (at the rear wheels) and 96kW of electric power (powering the front wheels) to offer a total of 260kW. And with 550Nm of torque on tap there’s enough to get up and go to take the 1630kg eco-sportscar to 100km/h in 5.0 seconds.

Zero-emissions travel is limited to a modest 30km or so, but is offset by a reasonably quick recharge time of less than two hours. On the plus side you can use a domestic plug to recharge. So, if you do insist on all-electric power you’ll be limited to city commuting. But you have to start somewhere.

We reckon the electronic instrument cluster and central info display look pretty nifty, too, and expect it won’t be too long before we’re seeing technology like this in more mainstream BMW models.

The i8 Coupé is due for release in 2014 so it’ll probably be some time before the i8 Spyder makes the transition from concept to reality.

Continue reading “BMW i8 Concept Spyder revealed”
Categories
BMW News

Not sure if serious

Today is April Fool’s day. This video, featuring BMW Group Australian Managing Director, Phil Horton, was uploaded to YouTube a few days ago. However it was brought to our attention today thanks to a tweet from the official @bmwau twitter account.

In the clip Horton delivers a stinging attack on Australia’s Luxury Car Tax. In his message Horton says, “it might surprise you to learn that the brand with most cars falling over the Luxury Car Tax threshold isn’t BMW, or Mercedes, or even Porsche. Actually, it’s Toyota.”

He goes on to add, “As far as I’m concerned the Luxury Car Tax is nothing more than an April Fool’s Day joke. So, that’s what I’d like to call for—the abolition of a misguided and counter-productive and antiquated tax.”

The BMW Group Australia twitter feed goes on to claim that they will be exempt from the LCT.

That’s clearly a gag. Horton’s message, though, is that a case of many a true word is spoken in jest?

Categories
Motorsports Toyota Video

There’s no replacement for displacement

Max Orido's Toyota GT86 V8

The advent of the tuner’s blank canvas that is the Toyota 86 hasn’t taken long to be exploited. In fact, all that’s left of this one is the outer shell, pretty much. Gone is the pissy 147kW 2.0 litre four cylinder boxer engine, replaced by an altogether meatier 311kW 5.0 litre V8 from a Lexus IS-F.

Yep, that’ll void the warranty. And it’s the most extreme Toybaru we’ve seen so far.

Japanese SuperGT driver Max Orido is the man behind this creation and it seems he’s also pretty serious about his drifting. There’s three videos for you after the break. The in-car footage is pretty amazing to see, and best to start at around 5:50 we reckon. If you want more check out the build thread from Tune86 using the link below.

Enjoy!

[via Tune86]

Continue reading “There’s no replacement for displacement”
Categories
Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

“One does not expect a professional sportsman to be such a cry baby”

Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull Racing

Cast your mind back to the closing stages of the Malaysian Grand Prix, when Sebastian Vettel, in fourth place, and Narain Karthikeyan, running second last, made contact. In the incident Vettel’s left rear tyre was punctured. His immediate response in the car was one of frustration and TV replays clearly showed him giving the bird to Karthikeyan.

The resultant pit stop pushed Vettel out of the top 10; no points. The 24-year-old dual world champion was not happy and he didn’t care who knew.

After reviewing replays, race stewards gave Karthikeyan a 20-second penalty, enough to relegate him to last place. A little harsh, we thought at the time, but that was the decision made. And that’s when the war of words started.

“As in real life, there are a few cucumbers on the road,” has become the accepted translation of what Vettel told German TV immediately after the race.

Happy to ensure nothing was lost in translation Vettel made the following comment to the BBC: “Like on normal roads, you have some idiots driving around. It seems there is also one driving here.”

After the race Karthikeyan defended himself telling reporters, “With Vettel, I got on to the marbles and the car had a lot of wheelspin. I had to jink to get out of it and unfortunately he was there.

“What else I could I do?”

Continue reading ““One does not expect a professional sportsman to be such a cry baby””
Categories
BMW

BMW M135i gets busy at the Nürburgring

BMW M135i prototype, Nurburgring, March 2012

The Industry Pool has been in full swing all week at the Nürburgring and one of the cars seen in development is the upcoming BMW M135i.

BMW revealed the M135i Concept last month and told us it will feature a 3.0 litre six cylinder turbo charged engine (it’s the N55 unit from the old 135i for those playing at home). Although, we can expect the new M135i to better the 225kW offered by the E82 135i.

You’ll notice the car above is in 3 door guise (F21), which hasn’t actually been released by BMW yet. If you need more doors, it’s okat, the M135i will be available in the regular 5 door body (F20) as well.

BMW has yet to announce when they will launch the M135i, but the 2012 M Festival in June shapes as a pretty good bet.

There’s more pics available from the link below, or you can see video of the M135i and standard 135i in action around the Ring in a short video after the break.

[Source: 1addicts]

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Categories
Top Gear Toyota

Top Gear special coming to outback Australia?

Toyota Hilux prepared for TopGear

Top Gear and Toyota are shouting about some newly modified Hilux models prepared for the show. Of course, it’s a successful combination that has conquered the north pole and that volcano in Iceland which nobody can pronounce.

We’ve thought for a while that the last remaining frontier for the Top Gear specials was the Australian outback. We’ll find out for sure where these new Hilux creations are heading next month when all is revealed in Top Gear magazine.

Look, there’s not really much to go on to think the Top Gear lads are headed down under, but a couple of possible clues are revealed with the ARB stickers and the off-ground sleeping accommodation.

ARB is an Australian company specialising in 4×4 modifications which began in the mid 1970s, their website says: “Back then, 4WDers relied on home made or ill fitting equipment that was not designed for extensive Outback expeditions. Endless corrugated roads, extreme temperatures, and the heavy loads carried by Australian travellers were extremely punishing on vehicles that regularly tackled these kinds of conditions.”

We also know that James, Jeremy and Richard are not particularly fond of creepy crawlies, not to mention slithery snakes; we do some pretty nasty ones here in Australia. So having sleeping accommodation that is off the ground is probably a wise idea.

They’ve also ensured the roof rails are strong enough to carry extra fuel. Something that is essential with the outback’s immense distances where it can be days between one town and the next.

We may be way off the mark here, but we reckon the Top Gear blokes are coming down under and we welcome them with open arms. And redback spiders. And tiger snakes. And hungry crocodiles. At least they should be pretty safe from great white sharks.

[Source: Top Gear & Toyota UK | Thanks to Wes for the tip]

Continue reading “Top Gear special coming to outback Australia?”
Categories
Toyota

VIDEO: First peek at the Toyota 86 TRD in action

Toyota GT 86 TRD performance line

We must have been napping in January when the Tokyo Auto Salon was on and the Toyota GT 86 TRD Performance Line was first shown. Three images and a few paragraphs from a press release gave us the first look back then.

Now we have the first video of the TRD GT 86 in action. You can watch that after the break and wonder what it would be like to drive the TRD enhanced 86 on the tight slalom course shown.

Here’s the relevant text from January’s presser, which explains more about the TRD GT 86:

Even in showroom guise, the new GT 86 has the looks and performance to command attention. The Tokyo Salon shows that package taken to another level in two new styling interpretations from TRD and Modellista that make full use of modified parts and accessories.

Key handling features added to TRD Performance Line GT 86 include a reworked suspension with new front and rear anti-roll bars, a carbon front strut, rear diffuser, additional cross-bracing and a high-response exhaust system. Finished in Satin White Pearl, the coupe gains a full body kit with skirts and spoilers, 18-inch alloy wheels and sports seats and meters in the cabin. Likewise, the Modellista interpretation of the “hachi-roku” (eight-six) shows some of the customisation possibilities the car offers.

These versions are shown alongside the Gazoo Racing FT-86 which competed at the Nürburgring 24 Hours in 2011. The team has announced it will return to the event this year with a specially prepared GT 86.

Continue reading “VIDEO: First peek at the Toyota 86 TRD in action”