Tag: 2011

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Porsche Targa Tasmania

Porsche takes a look at Targa Tasmania 2011

Targa Tasmania 2011

At this year’s Targa Tasmania rally Porsche was celebrating two anniversaries, the first being the 20th running of Tasmania’s ultimate tarmac rally, the second being the 60th anniversary of Porsche in Australia.

The Porsche Musuem shipped over at least four cars to Australia to run in the event, including the iconic 911 SC to be driven by Walter Röhrl and Christian Geistdörfer; just as they did at the 1981 San Remo rally. There was even a Carrera GT road car on the Apple Isle during Targa. Clearly then, Porsche was taking this event very seriously.

You get the sense they were hoping Röhrl would write a fairytale story by winning the classic outright category, with Jim Richards to join in the winning fun in modern outright at the wheel of his 911 GT2 RS. In the end a driveshaft problem for Röhrl and a blown hose for Richards put paid to those hopes.

However, Porsche did have cause to celebrate when Rex Broadbent piloted his 911 Carrera RS to a fifth consecutive classic outright Targa Tasmania title.

After the break you can see how the Porsche media team captured the event over the course of the rally, as well as downloading three bonus AUSmotive wallpaper-friendly images. Simply click on any of the pics to view them in 2000px sizing.

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MINI WRC

MINI WRC Team officially launched

MINI WRC team launch

The MINI WRC Team was officially launched in Oxford overnight. To celebrate the occasion, one of the team’s works drivers, Kris Meeke, took to the Plant Oxford forecourt and performed a motorkhana display in his new MINI John Cooper Works WRC. Amateur video footage of that run can be seen below.

It’s all about development for the MINI WRC in 2011 and they will take part in a reduced program competing in just six of the 13 rallies on the WRC calendar. From 2012, though, the MINI WRC Team will be hoping the lessons learnt this year will allow them to challenge the established teams from Ford and Citroën. Meeke will be joined by Spanish rally ace Dani Sordo, so the driving roster should be up to the task at hand.

Rally Jordan takes place this weekend, then in early May, the MINI WRC will debut at Rally d’Italia in Sardinia.

David Richards, Chairman and Chief Executive, Prodrive Group, can’t wait for the team’s first race, “We have been working towards this moment for more than two years and it is truly exciting to be launching the MINI WRC Team and what I believe is the most stunning car in World Rallying, the MINI John Cooper Works WRC. We have an experienced team, a talented driver pairing and, most importantly of all, a strong partnership with MINI. We are now eagerly looking forward to demonstrating the performance of the car on its debut in Sardinia in just a few weeks.”

More detail below from MINI motorsport, including a link to download the team’s full media kit. There’s over 30 pages of info to keep you interested. You can also keep abreast of MINI motorsport activities by checking out their website, which includes links to various social media.

[Thanks to Aaron for the video tip]

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Nissan Targa Tasmania

Targa Tasmania 2011: Day 4 & 5 update

Targa Tasmania 2011

Tony Quinn and Naomi Tillett today held on to win their second Targa Tasmania rally in three years. In their Nissan GT-R the 2009 champs carried a comfortable lead into the final day and drove well to secure victory by 3 minutes and 39 seconds.

Wet weather on the last two days certainly provided tough conditions for all competitors and many found their limits. Yesterday, especially, claimed many competitors with the heavy rain in the afternoon.

Second in the modern outright placings was Dean Herridge (Subaru WRX STi), almost two minutes ahead of Matthew Sims (Nissan GT-R).

Winner in the classic outright category was Rex Broadbent (Porsche 911 Carrera 911 RS), from David Cooper (Holden Torana A9X) and Nick Ellis (Porsche 911 Carrera). This makes it five wins on the trot for Broadbent in the classic competition.

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Formula 1 Lotus

Team Lotus reveals 2011 F1 car

Team Lotus T128

Team Lotus (formerly Lotus Racing) has taken a rather unconventional approach to unveiling their new F1 car. It was first revealed in the launch issue of Team Lotus Notes, the team’s new magazine (hmm, do we sense another copyright drama ahead).

You can see a few pics of the car right here (there’s more after the break) but we would encourage you to check out the Team Lotus website and download the newsletter for yourself.

The T128 (or the TL11, it seems we can take our pick) will source its engine from Renault and its transmission from Red Bull Technologies. Chief Technical Officer, Mike Gascoyne, reckons this will help them move up the grid in 2011, “I think that basically this car looks like a front-running car in every area. We said very clearly that we want to start challenging the established teams and I think that’s very achievable.”

Remembering the whole Team Lotus v Lotus Group kerfuffle, things have been made even more confusing by Team Lotus listing the tech specs of this car (available after the break) under the heading Lotus Renault T128.

In case you were wondering, the other Lotus Renault will be revealed later today as well.

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Ferrari Formula 1

Video highlights from Ferrari’s F150 launch

Ferrari has published plenty of video highlights from the launch of its 2011 Formula One car, the F150, to its media portal and we’ve been adding them to the AUSmotive YouTube channel. To begin with you can see Team Principal, Stefano Domenicali, explain the thinking behind the F150 name, before expanding further on the team’s plans for the upcoming season.

Also interviewed are Chief Designer, Nikolas Tombazis; Technical Director, Aldo Costa and Engine and Electronics Director, Luca Marmorini. You can see those clips after the break.

There will be further video added to this post later in the day, so make sure you check back.

In the meantime, why not read this excellent analysis the F150 from well known F1 writer Craig Scarborough.

UPDATE: Three further clips have been added. The first is a general highlights clip from the launch. This is followed by a couple of clips featuring Luca de Montezemolo, then drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa.

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Ferrari Formula 1

Ferrari unveils 2011 F1 car

Ferrari F150

Ferrari has taken the lead in the 2011 Formula One season already by being the first team to launch its new car. Ferrari have labelled this one the F150; no, it’s not an old Ford pickup, but a 21st century racing machine.

Out go the blown diffuser and “F-duct” rear wings and back comes KERS along with the addition of adjustable rear wings. A ban on engine development means the 2.4 litre V8 fitted to this car is the same unit used in last year’s F10.

More photos and press material from Ferrari, including a video walk around of the F150, can be seen after the break. Remember, too, 2000px wallpaper-friendly images can be accesed by clicking on any of the pics.

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Motorsports Volkswagen

Volkswagen Motorsport: 2011 Dakar photo gallery

Volkswagen Motorsport - Dakar 2011

It’s about a week or so since Nasser Al-Attiyah and Timo Gottschalk claimed victory in the 2011 Dakar Rally. If you missed the action, or would simply like to see what the lads got up to, then here’s a photo gallery sourced from Volkswagen Motorsport showing the mighty Race Touareg 3 in action. There’s over 100 pics, so you might want to put the kettle on first!

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Motor Shows Volkswagen

Detroit 2011: Volkswagen Passat (US market)

Volkswagen Passat (US market)

Bigger is better. At least that’s what Volkswagen is telling its North American audience after creating a unique Passat just for them. To clear any confusion the European Passat is our Passat and should be in Australian showrooms sometime after March. Meanwhile, the ‘mericans will have to wait until August to get their hands on their Passat.

The Euro Passat, revealed last September, is too slim for the Yanks. This New Midsize Sedan, then, gets 91mm added to its wheelbase, an extra 13mm to its girth and a whole lot more bland added to its styling. And that’s saying something; the Passat is hardly the most exciting model Volkswagen has ever produced.

If anything their Passat looks like an upsized Jetta. And, let’s face it, if it has been upsized, it must be better. That said, their Passat has also been produced to a price. Starting from US$20,000 their Passat is several thousand bucks cheaper than the old model. Partly helped by the fact their Passat will be made in the US at Volkswagen’s Chattanooga plant.

Actually, when you consider the current market rates, maybe the joke is on us. We can’t imagine getting our Passat on the roads here for anything less than about AU$45K.

More after the break. Including a really weird video—that fireball is straight from the Jeremy Clarkson school of daft marketing.

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Volkswagen

Has Volkswagen pulled a New Mediocre Stunt?

It's just a Passat folks!

Last week Volkswagen released a new teaser to let us know they would be unveiling a New Midsize Sedan at Detroit. Word has come through today that this car will be badged as the, wait for it, Passat. Yeah, that’s right, the same name it’s called everywhere else in the world.

So, we went and found a profile pic of the European Passat and placed it over Volkswagen’s teaser image and guess what—it’s a perfect fit!

Until official details are known (possibly later today) let’s give VW the benefit of the doubt and let them think we’re expecting some new details. But, at this stage, it’s looking like any differences between the US Passat and the real Passat are likely to be cosmetic only.

[Source: Autoblog]

UPDATE: Check out Motor Authority for a gallery of leaked images. It’s a super-sized Passat in Jetta clothing.

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MINI Motorsports

MINI All4 crashes out of Dakar

MINI All4 Racing

Word has come through via twitter that the MINI Countryman All4 has crashed out of the 2011 Dakar Rally. Ironically the race-ending incident happened during a test run on the rest day.

Despite suffering technical problems on the first day of racing and dropping to 78th, the MINI had been making good progress since then and had consolidated a top ten outright position.

It’s understood that while driver Guerlain Chicherit was kept under observation following head trauma, he was not hospitalised and no major injury was suffered.

UPDATE: Picture of the crashed MINI added—look at the state of it—courtesy of the Stage 7 Dakar update (see below).

[via MotoringFile]

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Volkswagen

New Volkswagen sedan coming to Detroit

VW US NMS teaser

In the last six months Volkswagen has revealed a new Jetta and an all-new Passat. Both are Only the new Jetta is available for sale in the United States. But, that’s not enough for Volkswagen US who have announced, via their website, they’ll be showing off a “New Midsize Sedan” at the NAIAS in Detroit next week. It will replace the outgoing European-sourced Passat, which is considered expensive and hasn’t exactly lit up the sales charts.

This new toy has been designed with the US market in mind. So expect comfy seats and lots of supersized cupholders, then. It will be built at Volkswagen’s Chattanooga facility, although it will be destined for overseas markets as well, and is expected to be sold for several thousand dollars less than the old Passat.

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Motor Shows Porsche

Porsche to start 2011 with world debut at Detroit

Porsche 918 Coupe rendering

Porsche has confirmed it will be bringing “an important show debut” to the NAIAS in Detroit later this month. What we don’t know for sure is what that model will be. Current speculation says it will be a 918 Coupé; a model sitting above the 911, but below the 918 Spyder, which debuted at Geneva last year.

AutoBild has published a couple of renderings showing what the 918 Coupé might look like. Obviously there is a strong link to the stunning Spyder on which it is based. Reports say the Coupé version could be powered by a twin-turbo V8 with 600hp+ on tap. Nice!

The 918 Coupé should be just the thing to get Porsche into a ringside battle with the Ferrari 458 Italia and imminent McLaren MP4-12C. Just a shame we probably won’t see a production version of the new Porsche until 2014.

We should have all the answers on Porsche’s new model once the NAIAS news breaks in a bit over a week from now. More after the break.

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