Categories
Formula 1

The wheels have fallen off

Sebastien Buemi, Chinese GP practice 2010

Toro Rosso driver Sebastien Buemi got the shock of his life during Free Practice 1 at the Chinese Grand Prix on Friday. As you can see from the image above the wheels literally fell off his Formula One car in a spectacular incident. Luckily the only damage was to the car and Buemi did not suffer any injuries.

Speaking after the crash he said, “There’s not much to say about what happened in FP1. I braked, the wheels came off and that was it. Physically, I was fine though.”

Fine, yes, but not happy, “But I have to say, I am extremely disappointed that, once again, through no fault of my own, I have been unable to run for almost all of the three hours available. I will have to try and catch up on Saturday morning and we will be relying on Jaime’s data from today to see which way to go.”

A bit surly perhaps? The team’s Technical Director, Giorgio Ascanelli, explained fixing the cause of Buemi’s accident was straightforward, “Sebastien’s accident this morning was down to a technical problem on the right hand upright, which proved simple to identify once we got the car back. We have resolved the problem, which the many laps completed by Jaime this afternoon confirms.”

If you have not seen any vision of the incident, you can see a video clip below. Like the cat, I expect you will be amazed, too.

Meanwhile, Red Bull Racing duo have once again hogged the front row all to themselves with Sebastien Vettel snatching a last gasp pole position from Australia’s Mark Webber in yesterday’s final qualifying session. Best of luck to both for this afternoon’s race.

[Thanks to Chris for the tip]

Categories
BMW

New BMW 5 Series – Australian pricing

BMW 5 Series

The new F10 BMW 5 Series will go on sale in Australia this June. At initial launch there will be a four-pronged model line up, consisting of six cylinder 528i and 535i models, as well as a V8 powered 550i. A four cylinder turbo diesel 520d will join the range in September. Those wanting more space from their 5 Series will have to hold on a bit longer for the October release of the Touring version.

Manufacturer’s list pricing starts at $83,300 for the 520d; $99,900 for the 528i; $128,900 for the 535i and tops out at $178,900 for the 550i. More detail is available below in BMW Australia’s press release, and they have also included this handy spec comparison PDF (60kb) which highlights the increase in spec of the new 5er over the outgoing E60 version.

Categories
Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Mark Webber drives virtual lap of Shanghai

Mark Webber drives virtual lap of Shanghai

Here is the latest installment in the Red Bull Racing Grand Prix previews for the 2010 season. This time Webber is driving the Shanghai circuit in the Red Bull simulator. At the Chinese Grand Prix Mark thinks of millions of people, a nightmare drive to the the track and a fantastic circuit.

At last year’s Chinese GP Red Bull Racing achieved its first pole position, first race win and first one-two race result. Here’s hoping the team can repeat those efforts, with Webber out in front, of course.

Check the full video of Mark’s Shanghai preview after the break.

Categories
Audi

Audi Centre Canberra acknowledged for excellence

Audi Centre Canberra

The Audi Mark of Excellence awards were held earlier this month and Audi Centre Canberra was named the Metropolitan Dealer of the Year for 2009. This is the third major award for the Canberra dealership after winning the Provincial category for 2007 and 2008. Audi Centre Canberra happens to be my local dealership and after adding one sale to their tally last year I can say that Richard and his team do a great job servicing the Canberra region.

Audi Centre Townsville took out the Provincial award for 2009, a great boon for the dealership after opening a new showroom just over 12 months ago.

Further details after the jump.

Categories
Aston Martin

Rapide ready for Nurburgring 24 hour race

Aston Martin Rapide

Aston Martin’s new four-door saloon, the Rapide, will be racing at this year’s Nürburgring 24 hour race. As usual Aston’s CEO Dr Ulrich Bez will be at the wheel of the Rapide for the race, despite having the choice of the Vantage V12 as well.

The Rapide will hit the track as close to production trim as possible and Dr Bez explains this is a great test for his machines, “This race represents the ultimate final engineering durability test for any sports car – it subjects the car to the toughest possible assessment under public scrutiny.”

Aston has a pretty handy record at the 24 hour race, winning out the SP8 class for the last two years. Good luck to them adding a new car to their honour board in 2010.

Full press release available after the jump.

Categories
MINI Challenge

2010 MINI Challenge – Round 1, Adelaide

MINI Challenge, Rd1, Adelaide

The Australian MINI Challenge has been underway since mid-March, and the 2010 version is showing mixed signs. On the plus side the series has two title sponsors in Hertz and Pizza Capers. On the down side there are only six confirmed races, with the Gold Coast SuperGP only pencilled in at this stage. As yet there are no confirmed slots for live television coverage either.

Round 1 action was part of the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide and a highlights package went to air nationally yesterday afternoon. Paul Stokell is back to defend his 2009 title and Chris Alajajian looks to be his main threat in 2010.

You may recall the series got of to a spectacular start during Friday practice when emerging racer Chris Wootton made a MINI Challenge debut he would rather forget. I’m sure things will only improve for Chris throughout the rest of the year.

Over the rest of the weekend the racing in Adelaide was some of the best seen yet in the MINI Challenge. Although, there was a lot of contact between the cars and a lot of damage suffered as a consequence. As exciting as that is to watch from the comfort of one’s lounge room it must make for extreme discomfort in the hip pockets of the drivers and team managers.

Chris Alajajian managed to fight his way to top spot on the podium in Round 1 to get his 2010 campaign off to a great start. You can see video and pictures of the action after the break. Once you’ve watched the footage see if you agree with me in thinking the MINI Challenge organisers may not be so quick to invite Robbie Maddison back for a third appearance in the Uber-star car.

[Pics: Spherix]

Categories
Chevrolet

Chevrolet Camaro – World Car Design of the Year 2010

Chevrolet Camaro

Has the world gone mad? Did pigs just fly by my window? An American car acknowledged on the world stage for its design. Surely there must be some kind of mistake, great automotive design comes from Europe, doesn’t it?

Apparently not, as jurors for the World Car Awards have seen fit to bestow the Camaro with the honour of World Car Design of the Year. One of the judges, Sam Livingstone, Associate Editor of Car Design News, praised the Camaro for its “innately seductive exterior and interior.” He went on to say, “It’s well resolved and I’d argue evidence that General Motors strikes a better balance than Ford and Chrysler do in their pony cars.”

The Camaro pipped the Citroen C3 Picasso and the Kia Soul to earn its stripes. According to ex-pat Aussie Mike Simcoe, who now holds the position of Chevrolet Design Director, it was passion that inspired the retro coupé, “In recreating this modern sports car, we have proven that people are just as passionate about Chevy as ever. We have been delighted about the strong reaction to the Camaro—even in markets that are new to Chevy, it has been creating an emotional appeal for the brand.”

Categories
Audi Motorsports

Audi refreshes R15 Le Mans racer

Audi R15

Audi Sport is in full swing with its preparations to win back the Le Mans 24 hour race. However, rather than boasting of new technical changes, or improvements to Team Joest’s R15 racer, they are announcing the car has a new paint scheme. Along with the image shown above, there are detail images shown after the break.

Supposedly the new paint job demonstrates “pleasure in efficiency”. Markus Auerbach and Tobias Drews from the Audi Design Team tell us, “We wanted to add a dash of surprise when the Audi leaves the pits at Le Mans. We practically opened up the bodywork and are exposing the light-weight construction and its uncompromising technical development – and with a little rock’n’roll for good measure.” Okay, then. Moving right along.

The R15 will continue its development during an 8 hour race at Paul Ricard later this week, so we can expect to see more of this car soon. In the meantime, check out the teaser pics below along with Audi Sport’s press release.

Categories
Audi

Audi R8 V10 – World Performance Car 2010

Audi R8 V10

In further news from the World Car of the Year awards the Audi R8 V10 has been named 2010’s World Performance Car. The R8 has double dipped with this title after the R8 4.2 V8 was awarded the same honour back in 2008.

The R8 knocked off some very stiff opposition to win this award, too. Joining the Audi in the final three was the Ferrari California and the Porsche 911 GT3.

The V10 powered R8 is fitted with a 5.2 litre direct injection engine, closely related to the powerplant used in the Lamborghini Gallardo. The unit develops and impressive 386kW and the car can reach 100km/h in under four seconds. Readers are invited to send in next week’s lotto numbers to AUSmotive HQ at your earliest convenience.

Categories
Ferrari Formula 1 Lotus Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing Renault

2010 Malaysian GP in pictures

2010 Malaysian Grand Prix

After an unfulfilled Australian Grand Prix local hope Mark Webber felt he had something to prove in Malaysia. Webber dared to dream by making what proved to be an inspired tyre choice during a rain sodden qualifying that allowed the Australian to claim pole position. Could he win his third Formula One race?

No, sadly. An overly cautious start by Webber left the door open for a fast charging Sebastien Vettel to take the inside line into turn 1 and that was pretty much that. Webber’s cause wasn’t helped by a clumsy pit stop from his Red Bull team and the young remained unchallenged on the way to his German his sixth race win. Webber strolled home in a comfortable second place and, finally, Red Bull Racing delivered a result befitting their early season pace. In a minor consolation for Webber he set the fastet lap of the race on lap 53.

Nico Rosberg, who started from P2 on the grid, finished the race in third place, and in doing so earned the first podium finish for the newly formed Mercedes GP team. A nice collect for the bookies, there no doubt, with the early season money surely resting on Schumacher.

Following a dreadful qualifying for McLaren and Ferrari leaving all four drivers starting from P17 or behind, they were able to restore some pride, with Lewis Hamilton the pick crossing the line in sixth place. Hamilton was followed by current championship leader Felipe Massa and his McLaren teammate Jenson Button. Fernando Alonso finished outside of the top 10 and failed to add to his 2010 season tally. A full list of results is available at Formula1.com.

After the jump you will see more than 85 images from Sepang, all (except a couple of the Lotus pics) accessible in 2000px wallpaper-friendly sizing by clicking on the photo you want.

Categories
Volkswagen

Blue is the new green

VW BlueMotion range - World Green Car 2010

The good news keeps coming for Volkswagen with the announcement that its BlueMotion range has been granted the World Green Car title for 2010. The BlueMotion line up consists of Polo, Golf and Passat models and employs various fuel saving methods, aligned with diesel power to offer class-leading economy.

Volkswagen’s BlueMotion range was honoured ahead of the Honda Insight and Toyota Prius. WCOTY jurors spoke glowingly of VW’s TDI technology, stating, “It is not necessary to add an electric motor and a heavy battery pack to achieve class-leading efficiency. Based on Volkswagen’s common-rail diesel engines, the BlueMotion models are among the most fuel-efficient vehicles on the market. In fact, the Passat BlueMotion can travel just about 1,000 miles on one tank of fuel in the European cycle. As far as internal combustion engines go today, these models are the ultimate you can get.”

As far as local availability of BlueMotion range goes, Volkswagen Australia has this to say, “BlueMotion models are currently not available in Australia but are under consideration for introduction in the future.”

Categories
Formula 1

Mark Webber drives virtual lap of Sepang

Mark Webber drives virtual lap of Sepang

Mark Webber gives his regular preview of upcoming Grands Prix with a look at Malaysia’s Sepang circuit from the seat of the Red Bull Racing simulator.

In Malaysia Mark thinks of hot humid weather, a lot of thunderstorms and a very tough race for the driver. Which is a good thing because the weather predictions are for another downpour.

You might remember the 2009 race was total chaos thanks to torrential rain. The race was stopped after just 31 of the scheduled 56 laps and half points were awarded.