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!
Almost six months after revealing its new four-door coupé model Mercedes has now taken the wraps of the CLS 63 AMG version. With a beefy 5.5 litre V8 biturbo this beast has 386kW (525hp) to throw around. Driven by 700Nm of torque it’s sure have more than enough pace for its owner.
Or does it? Apparently not, as there is an optional AMG Performance pack. Here, the engineers have turned the wick on the M157 V8 biturbo from 1.0 bar up to 1.3 bar, resulting in peak numbers of 410kW (557hp) and 800Nm.
Zero to one hundred can be reached in just 4.3 seconds. Surely that’s enough pace for this four-seater. Amazingly, despite such prodigious performance, if you behave yourself, Mercedes reckon you can sip fuel under 10l/100km; just.
So, check out the gallery of pics after the break. There’s also a promo video and the official press release, of course.
[Source: Daimler AG]
Back in July BMW released a press statement to acknowledge the 25th anniversary of their almighty M3. AUSmotive followed by trawling through BMW’s press archives to bring you an image gallery befitting such an occasion. Now, BMW has just released a new video to its official YouTube channel which celebrates, yep, you guessed it, 25 years of the BMW M3.
Check it out after the break.
Volkswagen Australia has just released pricing and specifications for its newest hot hatch, the Polo GTI. There’s good news, too, as the pre-delivery list pricing comes in under $30K and both 3-door ($27,790) and 5-door ($28,990) versions are available.
Standard equipment includes a 132kW twincharged 1.4 litre engine, a 7-speed DSG transmission, an XDL electronic diff, ESP with Hill Start Assist, six airbags and 17″ alloys. For the first time on a Polo model xenon headlights with LED daytime running light can be added as an option ($1600). Unfortunately, there is no option for a manual transmission at this stage.
The usual GTI colour palette is offered with two flat colours Candy White and Flash Red (pictured). While an extra $500 will get you pretty sparkles in your Shadow Blue, Reflex Silver or Deep Black Pearl Effect colour options.
Performance is both brisk and efficient, with the baby GTI matching its larger Golf GTI cousin by reaching 100km/h in 6.9 seconds. While the 6.1l/100km fuel economy rating is first class for a car in this segment.
Press statements from Volkswagen Australia are available after the break, including a gallery of 24 local images.
UPDATE: Thanks to Corey_R who has left a note in the comments section that all Polo models in Australia can be ordered with a Panoramic Glass Sunroof. This will be a $1700 option and will be available from January 2011 build. There is nothing official from VW Aus just yet, but the information comes from a credible source.
Lamborghini recently released information on its new Gallardo LP 570-4 Spyder Performante, the soft-top sibling of the Superleggerra. The Sant’Agata engineers have used plenty of Carbon Fibre Reinforced Plastic to help keep the weight down. This approach managed to shed 65kg and the final weight of the Spyder Performante is a respectable 1485kg.
The 5.2 litre V10 produces, as the name suggests, 570bhp (419kW) and can do the 100km/h dash in under four seconds. With a top speed of 324km/h (201mph) this is one rapid convertible. Might mess your hair up a bit, don’t you think!
More pics and full details from Lamborghini after the break. Make sure you take the time to appreciate the Alcantara interior. It’d probably be a bitch to live with long-term, but it is simply beautiful to look at.
Here is our last image gallery from the 2010 Formula One season. Bringing you these pics has been a fun, albeit labour intensive, addition to the AUSmotive routine and we look forward to bringing you more great pics in 2011.
For now, though, here are 101 photos from the 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. It is Sebastian Vettel’s time to shine; Mark Webber fans – you may want to look away now.
The Brazilian Grand Prix has been run and won. Red Bull Racing have taken the last of the lollies from the Constructors’ jar; well done them, it’s a ripping effort. Sebastien Vettel’s win at Interlagos made sure the Drivers’ race will go right down to the wire, with Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso his most likely barriers between world title success.
Truth be told, the biggest excitement in Sao Paulo last weekend involved poor old Jenson Button and some masked men. The race itself largely sorted itself out after the novelty of Nico Hülkenberg’s pole position had passed.
You can relive the event after the jump. Unfortunately the pics from McLaren are not available in 2000px super sizing. The good news is, all the others are, so get clicking.
Now, bring on Abu Dhabi!
While over at Winding Road reading about Jack Brabham we also came across this great image gallery of the Ferrari 458 Italia. The pics were taken by Chris Amos and they’re bloody good too. Amos has captured just about every visual detail you could hope for. Follow the source link below for more.
This is the second 458 photoshoot we have linked to this month. If you missed the first one, check it out here.
[Source: Winding Road]
“Our Mark” binned it! Can you believe it. It was a race that promised so much; an opportunity for Webber to really intensify the pressure on his rivals. Instead, on a dramatic and soaking wet afternoon in Yeongam, Mark put it into the wall and he walked away empty handed. Pressure does strange things and amplifies the tiniest of indiscretions. It was a mistake that needn’t have happened. Webber cracked on Sunday.
Worse, it looked like his fiercest rival, Sebastien Vettel, was going to rub his nose in it with a comfortable victory. A win that would have put the young German 11 points ahead of Webber and the shift in power across the garage would likely have been irreversible. For Mark, at least, fate dealt a helping hand when a dominant Vettel was robbed of certain victory after his Renault engine disintegrated with no apparent warning.
Only too happy to watch the imploding Red Bulls ahead of him Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso was there to pick up the pieces. He drove solidly and mostly kept himself out of trouble, despite the woeful light conditions towards the end of the race. Amazingly, he now finds himself 11 points ahead of Webber in the drivers’ title race. A few weeks back he was the fifth man in the chasing pack.
With just two more races to go, can Fernando hold off the inevitable challenge from those closest behind? Brazil is next and Webber is the defending race winner. How he would love an encore performance in two weeks time.
For now, though, catch up on all the drama from last weekend with 80 pics from the inaugural Korean Grand Prix.
Here is the AUSmotive photo gallery from the Australian International Motor Show industry day. There are 128 photos in all and you can simply click on each thumbnail to access a 2000px super image.
Highlights include a couple of track specials in the form of the awesome Porsche 911 GT3 Cup and the rear-engined V6 Renault Megane Trophy. Others to look out for are the Toyota FT-86G concept, the Ford Focus RS, a trio of Lamborghini Gallardos and the highly desirable Audi R8 V10 Spyder, which looks great in all white.
Dedicated articles on the following cars can be access by clicking on the links below:
A big thank you to Daniel McKenna who joined the AUSmotive crew at AIMS and brought you many of the pictures you see here.
Formula One action was all go on Sunday in Suzuka. Thanks to the rained out qualifying session the day before racegoers got to see a full qualifying session and a race all in the one day. What they saw was an unassailable Sebastian Vettel who topped all three quali sessions and led the race virtually from start to finish.
Our boy Mark Webber maintained his championship lead with a solid second place. The Red Bull duo still can’t shake of a persistent Ferrari challenge from Fernando Alonso, who also finished on the podium. McLaren’s Jenson Button was fourth, able to take advantage of more frustration for Lewis Hamilton; this time in the form of another dodgy gearbox.
However, aside from Sebastian and Mark, this race was all about fighting for the scraps. A couple of brain farts at the start ensured there were a few more scraps too, with Virgin Racing’s Lucas di Grassi reportedly crashing on the warm up lap. Vitaly Petrov made a mess of his Renault at the start—that’s him above, on the grass with half his car missing. And Felipe Massa continued to flounder by barely making it into the first corner. It’s a shame the latter two took some Force India and Williams collateral damage with them, too.
Local lad Kamui Kobayashi in his Sauber went on a late charge and provided plenty of entertainment and loads of heart-in-mouth overtaking moves. He made them all stick, though, and continues to show he has raw pace by the bucketful.
Relive the race for yourself by checking out our gallery below, with thanks to the F1 teams who offer great access to some fantastic photography.
It would be out of the ordinary for AUSmotive to feature an image gallery on a Grand Prix weekend before the race had been run. It would be out of the ordinary for qualifying to be cancelled due to heavy and persistent rain. But these extraordinary events have happened today, and when you see the pictures, mostly taken during this morning’s Free Practice 3 session, you will see why.
Heavy rain started to fall this morning at the Suzuka circuit and barely abated all day. Despite several delays to allow conditions to improve qualifying was eventually called off and is now scheduled to be run tomorrow morning at 10am Japan time (midday AEDT). The race will go ahead as scheduled at 3pm (5pm AEDT). Weather conditions are expected to improve.
As well as the pics below you can also read the concise and somewhat humourous qualifying report from Lotus Racing.