It’s been a few months now since the launch of the Porsche Panamera. And while the reviews might be promising, it seems this is one car that will continue to polarise opinions. Well, at least this ad for the Panamera is pretty cool.
Porsche, it seems, are confident the Panamera will hold a special place in the company’s family lineage, as this claim from the ad states, “Since then every Porsche has answered a dream of one kind or another.” See if you can spot a Cayenne!
There’s a couple of very tidy bits of footage after the jump, giving further glimpses at some of the most desirable Porsches ever made.
Mark Webber will drive for Red Bull Racing in 2010. Not only does Webber have a contract that says so, he also has his team boss singing his praises and confirming his position with the team is secure.
Speaking after Webber’s dominant win at the Brazilian Grand Prix, Red Bull Racing boss Christan Horner scoffed at rumours that Kimi Raikkonen would be stealing the Australian’s drive, “That’s a rumour that does not exist within our team.
“We all know where we stand with Mark next year, and he does too.
“He’s a great team player, we’re very happy with his performance, so there is no doubt that Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber will be our race drivers next year.”
Of the eight seasons Webber has competed in Formula One, this year has already been his most successful, and by a comfortable margin. His current points tally, with one race remaining, is 61.5 points. His previous best season was in 2005, with Williams, when he scored 36 points. He finished tenth in the driver’s championship that year. In 2009, regardless of what happens in Abu Dhabi, Webber will finish the season in fourth.
In the 16 races to date he has completed 14 of them, scoring points in nine races. Mark’s points tally so far in 2009 includes two major highlights—his first Grand Prix victories in Germany and Brazil. In addition to those wins Webber has stood on the podium in China, Spain, Turkey, Great Britain and Hungary. Not a bad year for a bloke who started the season with a busted leg.
It’s also not a bad year for someone who has been described as an F1 journeyman. Which everyone knows is a polite way of saying he’s good, but not that good. So, things are looking up for Webber and Red Bull Racing. Here’s to them capping off a solid year with another great result in Abu Dhabi, before mounting a serious title challenge in 2010.
The Mail Online reports that British television show Fifth Gear has been cancelled. The Channel Five program aired its sixteenth season earlier in the year and, according to the Mail report, Fifth Gear failed to rate in the channel’s top 30 programs.
However, recent tweets from one of the show’s stronger presenters, Jonny Smith, would indicate that no official announcement has been made, “Thanks to everyone for your compliments and words of encouragement. Remember, FG isn’t OFFICIALLY finished. Don’t (ever?) believe The Mail.”
Fifth Gear emerged when the original Top Gear format was cut by the BBC back in the early 2000s. Given the almost over the top production that Top Gear has become, it is not really fair to compare Fifth Gear with the best James, Jeremy and Richard can offer. Yet, the comparisons are inevitble. And, lately, Fifth Gear has fallen even further behind Top Gear.
For this viewer, Tim Shaw has signalled the death knell of the program. He is just an annoying twat, basically. Mine is not an isolated view either, so the fact he has been retained by the show’s producers for so long possibly indicates they have lost sight of what the viewer wants.
Whatever happens, what Fifth Gear did best was car reviews. In Jason Plato and Tiff Needell Fifth Gear possessed two very talented drivers who you knew were capable of wringing every last horsepower out of the cars they were testing. Even if Tiff was a bit too try hard at times. So, in a possible sign off for Fifth Gear, what better way to honour what was, generally speaking, a pretty damn good show than to enjoy Jason Plato’s review of the Ford Focus RS, which originally aired in February this year.
UPDATE: I shot off an email to Channel Five execs earlier today seeking confirmation of this report. They confirmed the rumours are true—Fifth Gear has been cancelled—and had this to say: “Five is proud of Fifth Gear’s contribution to the channel but after 16 series, feels it’s time to try something new.”
Sadly, the Red Bull Racing media portal doesn’t have as many action shots or images of Webber arriving back in pitlane as last time. With any luck some new images will be added at a later date.
Indeed, I was amazed listening to local Canberra radio reports this morning that mentioned Webber’s win with little to no fanfare, as if this was something that happens every day. It certainly didn’t garner the enthusiasm deserved for a guy winning such a race on the world stage who hails from the region the station was broadcasting from.
With just the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix remaining, Webber, currently on 61.5 points, will finish the season in fourth position in the driver’s standings. Jenson Button (89 points), Brawn GP, will be the world champion, of course, but second and third placings are still up for grabs. Webber’s Red Bull Racing teammate Sebastian Vettel (74 points) is just ahead of Brawn GP’s Rubens Barrichello (72 points).
Amazing results from the Brazilian Grand Prix this morning have seen Mark Webber claim his second victory in Formula One and Jenson Button clinch the driver’s and constructor’s championships for Brawn GP.
The race had a dramatic opening sequence which included three cars crashing out, Kimi Raikkonnen lose his nose cone, drivers fighting on the side of the track, a safety car and a fire in pit lane. Unusually, for Formula One’s unluckiest man, Mark Webber’s start from the front row of the grid ensured he missed all the dramas. He then combined with his Red Bull Racing team to get past race leader, and pole sitter, Rubens Barrichello after the first round of pit stops.
From there Webber completed the race mostly unchallenged and he claimed the chequered flag more than seven seconds ahead of BMW’s Robert Kubica. Of course, this is Webber’s second career win after he won his first Formula One race at Germany in July this year.
Webber’s victory caps a triumphant weekend of motorsport for Australian competitors with Casey Stoner winning his third Australian MotoGP and Jason Crump winning the World Speedway Championship.
Full race reports from the Brazilian Grand Prix can be read at Formula1.com and BBC Sport. Selected driver quotes are available HERE and a picture gallery showcasing Webber’s victory will be posted later today.
UPDATE: Pics from Webber’s victory are now available.
Back in the 1970s Volkswagen made small hatchbacks fun when it introduced the Mk1 Golf GTI. Some 30 years later manufacturers across the globe have followed suit producing “hot hatches” that can trace their roots back to the 1976 GTI. Now, the quirksters at Volkswagen in Sweden have had a crack at making walking up and down stairs fun. Yes, stairs.
It’s all part of a study to see if it is possible to alter human behaviour by making things fun. Not content with stairs, the “Funtheory” crew also tried to encourage people to throw away their rubbish using sound effects to entice passers by.
But there’s still more! The third installment of fun theory is a glass recycling bottle bank inspired by an arcade game. Nice!
Presumably these theories will somehow funnel their way back into the production and design of the next generation of Volkswagen’s product lineup. Or maybe it’s just a bit of a wank. What do you reckon?
European readers delight, you can now order the hottest new R models in Volkswagen’s lineup—the front-wheel drive 195kW Scirocco R and the all-wheel drive 199kW Golf R.
German pricing for the Scirocco R starts at €33,475 (AU$54,500 on current exchange rates), with the Golf R a few grand more at €36,400 (AU$59,200). To put that in some perspective an Audi S3 retails for €37,650 in Germany.
The good news for Aussie readers is that we should be able to get our hands on the Golf R in June 2010. Sadly, though, as many of you are aware, the Scirocco (in any form) looks to be a pipe dream for Australian buyers. Although, if you’re an eternal optimist, like me, you still haven’t given up hope that, maybe, this top of the line Scirocco might find its way to Australian shores.
In other news concerning the Scirocco R, its recent iPhone app knocked up more than 1 million downloads in less than a month. Very loosely based on the Scirocco R’s exploits at the Nürburgring 24 hour race the game reached the number 1 app spot in 32 countries around the world.
Last Friday a spectacular temporary exhibition at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart came to an end. The exhibition featured Mercedes’ new über car the SLS AMG “Gullwing”. Apart from the car itself there’s nothing too special about that. Until you see the car was on show on the museum’s roof, some 42 metres from ground level.
German engineers usually do think of everything, but, strangely, they did not think of installing a car ramp leading to the musuem’s summit. An oversight that meant the 1620kg SLS AMG had to be lifted by crane onto the roof.
Like me, you probably missed all the fun. But, fear not, here is a video and some pics of the installation process. Sure, countless more astounding engineering feats are probably completed every day, but there’s something quite cool about seeing one of the world’s most desirable cars hanging from the sky.
A young family in the Sydney suburb of Parklea were lucky to escape uninjured after this freak accident. The incident happened at 2am this morning and Police understand the car lost control, ran over a median strip, then launched into the air over nearby landscaping before crashing into the roof of the home on Guernsey Way, which backs onto busy Sunnyholt Road.
Two male occupants, aged 24 and 21, were initially trapped inside the Holden Commodore before being rescued by emergency services. The residents of the home, two adults and three month old baby were uninjured.
Given the state and position of the resting vehicle it is unsurprising that Police are speculating that high speed was a major contributor to the accident.
Blacktown Police Local Area Command Inspector Adrian Grech said, “I have been to some pretty bad accidents, but this is genuinely a different and strange accident. To have an accident which starts 90m away and actually gets a vehicle airborne, there would have been substantial speed involved.”
Mark Webber claimed a vital front row grid position for Red Bull Racing after Formula One’s longest ever qualifying session early this morning. Finishing second behind Brawn GP’s Rubens Barrichello, the rain affected qualifying period ran for two hours and 41 minutes and was marred by a series of red flags and track closures.
Mark acknowledged the difficult conditions, and hopes there is more to come in tomorrow’s race, “I would have liked to have had another crack at being on pole, but I made a mistake. I think it wasn’t easy to knit six perfect laps together in those conditions, but I’m very happy with how I drove and the guys in the garage did a great job. Congratulations to Rubens for his pole here at home; we’ll give him a race tomorrow.”
Webber is no stranger to good results in wet conditions, of course. His first, and, to date, only Grand Prix victory came earlier this year in the wet at the German Grand Prix.
The good results posted by Webber and Barrichello could be matched by their respective teammates who were caught out in the dreadful conditions. Sebastien Vettel could do no better than 16th in his Red Bull machine, while championship leader Jenson Button qualified his Brawn-Mercedes back in 14th position and looks to have dashed his hopes of following Lewis Hamilton to be the second Briton in two years to claim the world driver’s title from a challenging Brazilian.
With just one more race remaining this season, Button, 14 points ahead of Barichello, would need to claim fourth or better and hope that Barrichello does not score any points to seal this year’s crown. Meanwhile Red Bull Racing’s challenge for the manufacturer’s title seems forlorn. With just 40 36 points up for grabs, they are 35.5pts behind Brawn GP.
A full report on qualifying can be read at Formula1.com.
Reports are emerging that gymkhana phenomenon Ken Block and Australian rally driver Chris Atkinson are set to join a new Ford WRC team backed by Monster Energy drinks. This could explain why the two guys were recently filmed behind the wheel of an old skool Escort.
The deal is expected to be finalised before Christmas and should be a three-year agreement. Block’s high profile would be a welcome introduction for the WRC and should help the category establish itself in North America, where it is currently barely heard of.
WRC promoter Simon Long was quoted by Autosport as saying, “Ken Block is an iconic figure in US motorsport and a major box office personality. It wouldn’t get much better than this for the WRC going into North America.”
Should the deal come to fruition Block and Atkinson would most likely compete in around half of the events scheduled for 2010, possibly in 2009-spec WRC Focus machines, before launching an all out assault on the 2011 season.
Audi specialist website Fourtitude have been thrown the keys to a pretty special little car—the Audi A3 24h Street. The car is so named because it is based on the A3 used in the 2008 Nürburgring 24 hour race. It’s a bit of mish-mash of parts, it has to be said, and in very basic terms the car is a track focused front-wheel drive S3.
The diet enforced upon the A3 24h Street has saved an impressive 265kg over the weight of a standard road going S3. This fact is made even better when you consider that power has been upped by almost 30kW, from 195kW up to 223kW (300bhp). Torque has also increased somewhat, up 40Nm to 390Nm.
Helping to keep things under control are a 6 speed DSG transmission, an Audi Sport mechanical locking differential and, judging by the pics, uprated brakes sourced from the R8.
So, have these tweaks come to any good? Yes, it appears they have, with the Fourtitude report saying, “Upon acceleration, torque comes on immediately and this car easily keeps pace with the full production spec TT RS pace car.
“This test isn’t extensive, so we’ve neither performance numbers nor lap times to share. The quick drive serves its purpose though and it is easy to see just how much can be saved in a typical race-spec transformation, even when applied to a production car like the S3.”
Now, if only Audi got fair dinkum and built a limited run of these cars. That would be pretty damn good!
