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MINI Challenge

2010 MINI Challenge – Round 3, Queensland Raceway

2010 MINI Challenge - Australia

At the end of an action packed Round 3 Chris Alajajian still leads the 2010 Australian MINI Challenge. But he didn’t have it all his own way. A qualifying infringement cost Alajajian points and sent him to the back of the grid for Race 1.

Alajajian made good progress in the opening race to finish in sixth place. Defending MINI Challenge champion Paul Stokell crossed the line first, but it was that spectacular accident from Kain Magro that grabbed the headlines and made news clips around the world. Magro’s car rolled seven times, leaping into the crowd on its journey. Amazingly just two spectators suffered minor injuries. Magro also walked away from the crash unscathed.

The second race returned to normal on track action and was won by a fast charging Alajajian. Race 3 was red flagged following Sarah Harvey’s rollover. It happened on the same corner as Magro’s crash the previous day. Despite heavy contact with the tyre wall, Harvey suffered no serious injury. These MINI Challenge racecars are tough little buggers it would seem.

Races 3 and 4 were both won by Alajajian, with Warren Luff and Stokell sharing the podium. In fact, Luff and Stokell finished in the top three placings for all four races over the weekend. Even though Luff didn’t win a race, his consistency and Alajajian’s lost qualifying points ensured Luff claimed the round win. Stokell finished the round in second place and in the process moved up the points table from fifth to second, cutting Alajajian’s overall series lead by four points.

Television highlights, driver quotes and the current championship table can all be seen after the jump.

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Categories
Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Mark Webber claims pole for Spanish Grand Prix

Mark Webber, Red Bull Racing

Mark Webber has set pole position for tomorrow’s Formula One Grand Prix in Spain after he steered his Red Bull Racing RB6 to a scintillating time of 1:19.995. He was the only driver to break the 1 minute 20 second barrier in the final session of qualifying. It is Webber’s third career pole, following the Malaysian Grand Prix in April and last year’s German Grand Prix.

Teammate Sebastien Vettel will start the race alongside Webber after setting the second fastest time, some 0.106 seconds behind the Australian. There was a big gap of 0.728 seconds back to Lewis Hamilton, who qualified his McLaren in P3.

Webber topped the times in all three qualifying segments and speaking after claiming pole he told he is enjoying Red Bull’s current good form, “Christian Horner (Red Bull team boss) told me before the session ‘you probably won’t get to drive a car like this around this track very often – so go and enjoy it!’

“Well, I did. It was a sensational quali session for me. Now I just have to go and complete the job. It has been a terrific effort by the whole team on both sides of the garage.”

The omens for a race win are good for Webber. The previous nine winners of the Spanish Grand Prix have all started from pole position. Conversely, this is the third 1-2 qualifying result for Red Bull Racing in 2010 and in all three of those races the pole sitter failed to win. Here’s to Mark putting that record right tomorrow night.

A complete list of qualifying results for the Spanish Grand Prix can be seen at Formula1.com.

[Pics: Getty Images]

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Categories
Aston Martin

Aston Martin Rapide image gallery

Aston Martin Rapide

Deliveries of the Aston Martin Rapide have just begun. It’s a big few days for the Rapide, which makes a debut of another kind at next weekend’s Nürburgring 24 hour race. To celebrate these events AUSmotive presents a massive image gallery showcasing the Rapide in four colours; Magma Red, Hardly Green, Quantum Silver and Silver Blonde.

There’s over 70 images in all, so keep a note of this URL for future reference. As is usual with AUSmotive image galleries all pics can be accessed in 2000px super image sizing by simply clicking on each photo.

Some other numbers to keep in mind while looking over the pics—12, 350, 600 and 366,280. That’s the number of cylinders in the 6.0 litre engine, its peak power in kilowatts, the peak torque in Newton metres and the last number is the pre-delivery list pricing of the Rapide in Australian dollars.

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Categories
Volvo

Crash test dummy

Volvo S60

Sometimes you just shouldn’t get out of bed in the morning. That was probably the conclusion Thomas Broberg, Senior Safety Advisor at Volvo Cars, came to after a demonstration featuring the new S60 saloon went a little bit pear shaped.

Assembled media and onlookers were supposed to see how the svelte looking S60 could avoid a rear end accident thanks to its collision warning system. As you can see from the image above things didn’t quite go to plan. Fortunately there was only a crash test dummy at the wheel of the car at the time of the 35km/h impact.

You can see a video of the incident below and listen to a red-faced Broberg explain what went wrong. If you can speak Swedish you might even understand him. (As of Monday 10 May the video has been removed from YouTube, an animated GIF below shows what happened). Apparently a battery failed causing the system to remain inactive. Volvo say had a human been at the wheel of the car they would have realised the system failure and had time to take evasive action.

[via World Car Fans]

UPDATE 10 May: It would seem Volvo are keen on removing footage of this oops crash from the interwebz. For now, a new video can be seen at the end of this article sourced from a Swedish news report, which starts off explaining how the system should work.

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Bugatti News

Son gets daddy’s Bugatti Veyron impounded

Bugatti Veyron 16.4

A 20-year-old Dutchman has had his father’s Bugatti Veyron impounded after doubling the posted speed limit in Rotterdam last month. The Veyron belongs to wealthy businessman Michel Perridon, who is a director of Trust International, former sponsors of the Red Bull Racing and Spyker Formula One teams.

His son, Thomas, was caught doing 160km/h in an 80km/h zone. Strict laws in Holland mean cars can be impounded indefinitely following a serious speeding offence. At this stage it would appear Perridon’s Veyron is no closer to being released. I’m guessing family dinners around the Perridon dining table have been a tense affair of late!

[Source: SMH | Pics: via Autocar | Thanks to Jim for the tip]

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Categories
Volkswagen

New Volkswagen Polo – Australian pricing & specs

Volkswagen Polo

The new Volkswagen Polo—current European and World Car of the Year—has just been released to the Australian market. List pricing starts at $16,690 for the entry level Trendline, fitted with a 63kW 1.4 litre engine. Sitting in the middle of the range is the 77TSI Comfortline featuring a 1.2 litre turbocharged engine producing 77kW. Its list pricing begins at $19,850. Topping the current Australian range is the 66TDI Comfortline model, which starts at $22,350. The Comfortline models are available with a five-door body only, while the Trendline is a three-door only.

Larger and and safer than the previous model the new Polo can be bought with either manual or 7-speed DSG transmissions. The manual is a 6-speed on the 77TSI, while the Trendline and 66TDI come with a 5-speed manual. Those wishing to go for the excellent DSG box will need to add a further $2500 to the list pricing given above.

All models are fitted with ESP technology and the Polo has been awarded a five-star crash rating under the new tougher EuroNCAP testing regime. This rating has been honoured by the Australian authority, ANCAP, as well.

Overall the new Polo represents a forward step over the model it replaces. This is immediately noticeable with the Polo’s interior, which now has a quality feel more comparable with its larger Golf sibling.

I suspect a lot of readers will have their eye on the new Polo GTI and its 132kW twin-charged 1.4-litre engine. With a confirmed kerb weight below 1200kg this should be one feisty pocket rocket indeed. Volkswagen Australia have confirmed the Polo GTI will be on sale before the end of 2010.

A full list of specifications and pricing for the current Polo range is available below, along with a few extra goodies.

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Categories
Audi Video

VIDEO: An Audi R8 V10 and an empty airstrip

CraneCar - Audi R8 V10

CraneCar have published this nifty YouTube video of the Audi R8 V10. The clip was produced by The Famous Group and features numerous stunning fly over angles of Audi’s supercar. You can see a pic below from the CraneCar website showing the rig used to capture all those crazy angles. Take the jump now to see the video.

[Source: The German Car Blog]

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Categories
Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz

VIDEO: SLS AMG Gullwing – F1 Safety Car

Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Gullwing

MercedesBenzTV have just released a new video on their SLS AMG Gullwing F1 Safety Car. Bernd Mäylander, official Safety Car driver, tells us what all the buttons do. Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg also pop in for a chat to tell us what a great car the Gullwing is. Remember, if you take $464K from under your bed you can have a Gullwing all of your own.

Check the clip in full below.

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Categories
Motor Shows Volkswagen

Golf GTI adidas coming to Wörthersee

Golf GTI adidas

Volkswagen will be showing two new special Golf GTI models at the annual Wörthersee Tour in Austria. The first will be known as the Golf GTI adidas and will feature a number of cosmetic tweaks, including unique alloy wheels and adidas styled interior trim.

Also included in its list of standard equipment will be bi-xenon headlights and LED rear tail lights. It’s unlikely that any right hand drive models will be made and a limited run of 4410 will go on sale in Europe later this year. At this stage that’s pretty much all we can tell you. There’s only the one image you see above. Expect more from Wörthersee soon, then.

The next model, the Golf GTI Excessive, has even less info available. There’s no pictures at all. And apart from telling you the car is likely to have a number of modifications, including an extreme body kit I can’t really say much else, except keep an eye out for details. Also expected on the Excessive is uprated suspension, brakes and exhaust.

[via World Car Fans]

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Categories
Audi

VIDEO: Another RS5 review

Audi RS5

Jethro Bovingdon forged his reputation with Evo magazine and then the ill-fated Drivers Republic website. Now, he finds himself on staff at Car magazine and, of more relevance to us right now, he is behind the wheel of the Audi RS5. Check out his video review after the jump.

[Source: Car]

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Categories
Audi

Audi R8 GT – wallpapers and audio

Audi R8 GT wallpaper

Audi Germany have come to the party with nine new wallpapers of the R8 GT. You can access all of them right here on AUSmotive in 1920x1200px sizing by simply clicking on the images you want.

These new pics give us a bit more of a look inside Audi’s latest supercar, including the engraved model number detail on the shifter of the R tronic gearbox. Also available for download at the Audi site is a screensaver and some MP3 files, which you can hear below.

[Source: Audi.de]

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Categories
Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Mark Webber drives virtual lap of Barcelona

Mark Webber, Red Bull Racing

Mark Webber is back in his fancy Red Bull Racing computer game thingy. This time he’s giving us a preview of what to expect from this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix. Well, apart from lots of fans for Fernando and a tough race for car and driver.

You can see the video below after the break.

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