More Audi A1 video now, this time it’s an official clip showcasing an A1 competition kit. Audi have splashed some colour around the place, inspired by previous Audi motorsport achievements. Apart from a few pics, there’s not much other information around at the moment. You can watch the video after the jump.
Sebastien Vettel and Mark Webber will start tomorrow’s Australian Formula One Grand Prix on the front row after posting the fastest ever times recorded at the Albert Park track.
Webber desperately wanted to claim pole position but it was his younger German teammate that claimed the prize with a blistering lap time of 1:23.919. Vettel was the first, and to date, only driver to break the 1:24 barrier at Albert Park. However, local hopes remain high for Webber who was at the pointy end of the field all day. He was quickest in Free Practice 3, and qualified second with a time of 1:24.035.
Both Red Bull men were under Michael Schumacher’s previous lap record at the Melbourne street circuit of 1:24.125 set in 2004.
Tomorrow represents Mark Webber’s best chance yet to win his home Grand Prix and speaking after qualifying he was disappointed not to have claimed pole, “I would love to be on pole, it is good for the team both of us are up there, but there is always a bit where you can get a bit more out of it, overall it would be nice to be one place further up,” he said.
Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso will be the first of the non-Red Bull challengers, followed by McLaren’s Jenson Button and second Ferrari driver Felipe Massa.
[Pic: Getty Images]
Mark Webber has followed his Bahrain preview with a virtual lap of the Albert Park Grand Prix circuit behind the wheel of the Red Bull Racing simulator. Mark has just set the fastest lap time so far this weekend in Free Practice 3. Qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix is about to start. Can Webber maintain his pace and claim his first Melbourne pole position?
It’s about six weeks now since the Audi A1 was first seen in official images. But speculation over a cooking S1 model has been around for well over 12 months. And here’s some more S1 educated guesswork in the form of a Photoshopped rendering. After the jump you can see a video of how this car was “made”. It’s a fascinating look at some mad PS skillz.
[Source: TopGear]
At Mark Webber’s civic reception earlier this week the point was made he likes to remind people he is from Queanbeyan and not Canberra. Well, it seems if Canberra Milk is writing the cheque that Webber’s loyalty can be shifted.
After the break—pardon the pun—is a 30 second television commercial currently on high rotation during Southern Cross Ten’s Formula One coverage in the Canberra region. It’s all a bit of fun and kudos to Webber who has no doubt appeared in this ad for much less than his international profile might demand.
Doing a few burnouts at the 2009 Goodwood Festival of Speed is one thing. Doing them in Victoria’s nanny state during Grand Prix week is a different proposition altogether. Just ask 2008 F1 World Champ Lewis Hamilton who was busted fishtailing his Mercedes road car yesterday evening on Fitzroy Street in St Kilda.
Senior police constable Scott Woodford said the 25-year-old’s car had “accelerated heavily and lost traction to the rear wheels.”
Woodford continued, “It’s fair to say that he was disappointed with the whole incident but I must say he was extremely cooperative throughout.”
Hamilton will be charged with improper use of a motor vehicle and the car will be impounded for 48 hours.
A statement released by McLaren quotes Hamilton as saying, “This evening, I was driving in an over-exuberant manner and, as a result, was stopped by the police. What I did was silly, and I want to apologise for it.”
[Source: ABC | Thanks to Mick for the tip]
Following Wednesday’s spotting of a 3dr Volkswagen Golf R in Fremantle comes these new pics of another 3dr Golf R from Port Kembla, south of Sydney. The model shown appears to have leather seats and I’ve been informed it has a DSG transmission.
The very interesting thing here is that, despite photo evidence of two three door models no on local shores, it seems almost certain that Volkswagen Group Australia will not be offering a three door option on a permanent basis.
Quite why these cars are remains uncertain. A mixed up order, promotional purposes? There’s any number of theories and we may never know the true story. The AUSmotive tip of the day would be, if you are sweating on the arrival of a Golf R and want it with three doors, instead of five, then get on down to your Volkswagen dealer and start asking some questions.
For the moment Volkswagen Australia press officers are remaining tight-lipped on these cars and are maintaining a mid-year launch date for the R. If any new information comes to hand you will read it on AUSmotive.
More pics after the break.
[Source: Recode]
The fun and games are now over for Mark Webber. The Australian Grand Prix is now officially underway with Free Practice 1 currently under green light conditions. Keep up with all the action via the AUSmotive F1 list on twitter. There you can access all the latest tweets from all the major players in the F1 world. You can also access live coverage from the likes of BBC, F1fanatic and Autosport. Of course, there’s also the live timing available via Formula1.com (check out their free app via iTunes too). If you want to join in the discussion on twitter make sure you use the #ausgp hashtag.
The Porsche Boxster Spyder is a car well worth waiting for. Start with a razor sharp Boxster S, give the 3.4 litre flat six a bit of a nudge to 235kW, knock 80kg off its weight, bringing it down to 1275kg, and you can see why the Spyder is worth the wait. The good news is, it won’t be too long before the car is in customer’s hands.
Helping build the anticipation is a new suite of images and press material from Porsche UK. It’s reasonably detailed, too, listing a number of the weight saving measures taken by Porsche engineers. For example, the fuel tanks has been reduced to 54 litres, down from 64 litres, which saves 7kg. Take a few more steps like this, and you soon have you 80kg.
The goodies can be found after the jump.
UPDATE 27 March: Over 40 new images added!
Yesterday was Steve McQueen‘s 80th birthday. He was the King of cool, thanks largely to his starring roles in movies like Le Mans and Bullitt. Seemingly, he had it all. But apart from the obvious perks of fast cars and women, McQueen had style and class. May he rest in peace.
[via Motor Morph]
One of the best places on the net to source great photos of great cars is My Car Portal. Today they have a series of pics featuring the awesome Porsche Carrera GT. Not sure about you, but the Carrera GT is on my top 5 list. The sound from the 5.7 litre V10 engine is sublime, one of the best engines notes you will ever hear.
The images have been sourced from Dejan Sokolovski, and you can see the full set by following the link below.
[Source: My Car Portal]
It is two years ago today since AUSmotive began. The past twelve months has seen many articles published, including a world exclusive spy pic of the new Hyundai ix35, the first pictures of the Audi RS5 published on a motoring-based site and AUSmotive was the first Australian website to bring you news of the Volkswagen Scirocco import plans, as well as yesterday’s revelations concerning the Volkswagen Golf R.
Site traffic has continued to grow every quarter and numbers have tripled on last year’s stats. In the coming months AUSmotive 2.0 should be coming to a screen near you. If you’ve got any suggestions on what you would like to see in this upgrade, it’s not too late, so please post your ideas in the comments section below.
For now, though, I wish you happy and safe motoring from AUSmotive and, remember, keep it shiny side up.