This is a classic ‘oops’ from Nick Heidfeld. Watch the clip above, where BMW have allowed Heidfeld to show off the BMW Sauber F1.08 at BMW’s Munich headquarters, all goes well and the usual burning rubber stunts keep the fans happy. But, at around 1:23 on the clip Heidfeld has his crash. It’s actually very tame, and nobody got hurt. But it is the lamness of the stack that makes this clip so good! We like Nick Heidfeld because he’s driven the Nürburgring in an F1 car, but bloopers like this show he’s just one of us after all.
Here is my first installment of Targa Tasmania articles. There’ll be a few popping up over the next few days—a few picture essays like this one, and I’ll finish the series with an account of my experience working as a service crew member for Andrew Robinson in his 2002 MINI Cooper S. In the meantime, please enjoy this selection of pictures taken from the George Town prologue on Day 0. The town stages were the only real opportunity for us to get a look at the cars in competition and I’ll also be posting up some images from the Longford town stage on Day 2.
Featured above is the Close/Close entry, a 2000 Porsche 911 Turbo, which took outright honours for the prologue in the modern category, completing the 4.81km course in 3:12.72. Very impressive indeed, considering the Richards/Oliver entry—making the world competition debut for the new 390kW Porsche 911 GT2—was back in third place with a time of 3:16.64. Other cars making their world competition debut were the new R35 Nissan GT-R—14th, 3:22.78—and the Corvette Z-06—51st, 3:34.16.
The fastest outright time in the classic category was 3:22.12 by the Pye/Geelan entry in a 1974 Porsche 911 Carrera RS. Unfortunately, this was as good as it got for car #531 as they encountered mechanical issues coming back into the service area, and their withdrawal from the event was confirmed when we saw the car parked on a trailer in our motel car park the next morning. Still, they fared a bit better than the stunning looking BMW 2002 which missed the first corner of the prologue and crashed out of the event with damage to the front left wheel assembly. Oops!
I hope you enjoy these pictures, as always you can click each image for a larger version, and keep en eye on the site over the coming days for more Targa Tasmania coverage.
The Herald Sun is reporting a story about Victoria’s fastest recorded speeding driver. Justin Pickering, a 20 year old P-plater driving a Subaru WRX STi, was clocked at 255km/h near Seymour, about an hour north of Melbourne—or a mere thirty minutes if you drive like the young bloke! But that’s not all, Pickering had been recorded at speeds of over 200km/h the previous day near Holbrook in NSW. The speed freak, already with multiple traffic offences to his name, took things a step further when he was initially stopped by NSW Police and he cheekily sped off as the Police officer got out of his car to approach Pickering. He was finally apprehended by Victorian Police in Melbourne’s outer suburbs the following day. He’s definitely not the messiah, and is definitely a very naughty boy. The offences took place in August 2007 and his sentence was handed down earlier today. Along with his jail term Mr Pickering will be without a licence for 5 long years. Will that be long enough?
Read the full Herald Sun article HERE.
The MY09 upgrades to the Audi A3 model range have been revealed. Headlining the news is the addition of a 5 door ‘Sportback’ option to the range topping S3, featuring a 188kW (Australian spec) 2 litre turbo engine with Audi’s renowned quattro drivetrain. Compared to the 3 door S3, the 5 door variant is 0.1 seconds slower to 100km/h, with Audi claiming a time of 5.8 seconds for Euro spec models (195kW engine).
Other additions to the A3 range include a new 7 speed double clutch transmission, known as S-tronic in Audi-speak, and the magnetic ride system, as currently available on the TT. Usual mid-cycle tweaks to the interior have been implemented, and Audi’s signature LED parking lights, first featured on the stunning R8, have also been incorporated into the 2009 A3 lineup. Australian deliveries of the range should be available before year’s end.
It will be the 5 door S3 that will excite Audiphiles the most, with many fans eagerly anticipating such an addition to the range. Read more to see more photos of the S3 Sportback, featured here in Sprint Blue metallic paintwork (click images for larger versions).
GoAuto is reporting that MINI Australia will introduce the MINI Cooper D within the next 12 months. Coupled with a 6 speed manual and a 1.6l 80kW/240Nm powerplant the Cooper D is said to be capable of consumption under 4l/100km. Add to that impressive emission figures of 104g/km and there’ll be a whole bunch of Hollywood actors realising they could have looked cool and still been green, instead of buying a Prius.
BMW Australia are anticipating that new sales growth will come from the diesel segment and as a further show of faith in that prediction they will also be introducing an all new diesel 7 series, expected for Australian deliveries in 2010.
The Australian introduction of the Cooper D is great news for MINI fans as it had long been believed, and confirmed from the inside, that a diesel powered MINI was virtually impossible for the Australian market.
You can read the excellent GoAuto article in full by clicking HERE.
Here’s a couple of YouTube clips that prove beyond any doubt that they don’t make cars like they used to.
While it may be feeble to compare two different crash tests filmed over with cars built 20 years apart (first clip an early 1980s Holden VB Commodore, second a Volkswagen Mk5 Jetta), the results shown are both shocking and confronting. In isolation, the second clip itself is still quite alarming, but comparatively, it is rather more reassuring.
Categories
Drive.com.au tests BMW 135i
Drive.com.au went along to the recent press launch of the BMW 135i held in the Snowy Mountains. Lucky buggers. Apparently the 135i “showed high levels of grip and an eagerness to turn into corners”. Look out for the car at your local BMW dealer in late May. Although, if you’re interested, you’d better get in quick. Last time I spoke to my local BMW Dealer Principal only 200 135is had been locked in for Australian delivery in 2008.
Read the full Drive.com.au article HERE.
Categories
Steve Glenney wins Targa Tasmania
South Australian Steve Glenney, driving a 2003 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX, has taken outright honours in the 2008 Targa Tasmania tarmac rally. Jim Richards was behind the wheel of the Porsche GT2 in it’s world racing debut and was able to steer his car into second place 1 min 31 secs behind Glenney. In third place was Western Australian Dean Herridge in a Subaru Impreza WRX STi. Uniquely, there was no rain at all during this year’s event and yet, all-wheel drive cars still dominated. Glenney’s result to hold off eight time winner Richards, in his rear wheel drive GT2, is very impressive.
“The event was very tough and we probably competed under conditions which didn’t suit our car, which has made the win all the more pleasing,” Glenney said. “Conditions have been hot and dry, which suits the Lamborghinis and Porsches, but we’ve been able to get away with a win, so we’re very happy.”
You can access a full list of results HERE. More detailed reports on the event can be read on the Wheelsmag and Mercury websites.
Postscript: As many AUSmotive readers are aware, I attended this year’s Targa as a member of Andrew Robinson’s support crew. Sadly mechanical issues saw us return home earlier than planned after withdrawing from the event on Day 4. This was Robbo’s first Targa Tasmania DNF in his fifth attempt. Keep an eye out for a more detailed report in the coming days.
UPDATE: YouTube clip added, see below…
Filming for the latest James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, took an unexpected twist recently when delivery of an Aston Martin DBS went horribly wrong. The official word seems to be that the car was being driven to the film set in Italy early one morning during heavy rain, the driver lost control and got a closer than expected view of Lake Garda. But, I dunno, that story sounds a bit fishy to me.
The driver is said to be okay while recovering in hospital.
Sources: BBC, Yahoo! News and WorldCarFans
Categories
AUSmotive heads to Targa Tasmania
One of the great things about being involved in the MINI community is meeting some pretty cool people. A few weeks ago I was asked to join Andrew Robinson’s team at the 2008 Targa Tasmania. He’s a privateer running a 2003 MINI Cooper S and has competed in the last few Targa Tasmanias. I’ll be the gopher in the support crew and am really looking forward to being involved. The event starts on Tuesday 15 April and Robbo is currently on his way to Launceston via the Spirit of Tasmania. A mate and I from Canberra will arrive in Tasmania tomorrow morning and begin our preparations with a chance to recce a few stages tomorrow afternoon.
Robbo’s car has undergone a bit of a rebuild lately, to put it mildly, and by all accounts it is putting out some really good power. Targa will no doubt prove to be a great test for his faithful MINI. The car has been prepped by Peak Performance and one of their mechanics will also be joining our crew which will be a big help should we need to get our hands dirty. Here’s hoping young Dave doesn’t have much work to do!
With thanks to Tim from Perfect Prints you can see a few images of Robbo’s car from last year’s Targa Tasmania. The MINI will be sporting the same number for 2008. So, wish us luck and keep an eye on the results to see how our hard working MINI Cooper S fares. And I’ll be back online in a week and a bit with updates and photos.
While attending the MINI Challenge at Wakefield Park last weekend I picked up quite a few snippets of information. One very tasty tidbit was in regard to the upcoming factory built MINI John Cooper Works. The car should, at the very least, be on show at the Sydney Motor Show in October and with any luck deliveries to Australian customers could take place before year’s end. But that’s not all, speculation that the car would have a list price of no more than AU$55K was all but confirmed. While a firm price was not mentioned by the little birdy I spoke to, I was told that the pricing should compare favourably to the previous R53 MINI Cooper S JCW. It is believed that Australian delivered JCW cars will be based on the Chilli spec of the regular R56 Cooper S. Now that BMW owns the John Cooper Works brand name they will be building on that by only releasing the hottest R56 Cooper S as an independent model line, akin to a BMW M3, and it won’t be available as a retrofit kit option like the R53 model. Visit your local MINI Garage for more details.
For a more comprehensive view on just what the MINI John Cooper Works will entail, apart from close to 160kW, read this excellent MotoringFile report. Keep in mind that the info in that article is based on US spec cars and some of the finer details may differ for the Australian market. Suffice to say the fundamental engine mechanicals will be largely the same.
Subaru Australia has released a statement announcing that abnormal wear on conrod big end bearings and could affect over 1200 Australian delivered vehicles, of which 171 have already been sold to local customers. The cars affected are all fitted with the 2.5 litre turbo engine. Further, production and sale of all vehicles with this engine has been suspended by the Japanese manufacturer. This comes as a bitter blow to Subaru, just weeks after their new Forester range and WRX STi have gone on sale.
Australian delivered cars affected are as follows:
- Forester XT – chassis 002070 onwards
- Impreza WRX and WRX STi – chassis 015006 onwards
- Liberty GT sedan – chassis 038385 onwards
- Liberty GT wagon – chassis 068148 onwards
Source: GoAuto