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News

2008 MINI CHALLENGE – Round 8 wrap up

Neil McFadyen - 2008 MINI CHALLENGE champion

As reported earlier this morning, Neil McFadyen has been crowned the first Australian MINI CHALLENGE winner, seeing off a late season charge from DecoRug racer Paul Stokell. The Round 8 winner, Jason Bargwanna, showed magnificent pace after joining the series mid-season claiming a series high ten race wins. Oran Park was no different for the former Bathurst champ as he strolled home in the last race this morning by a lazy 11 seconds.

McFadyen ended up winning the Series over Stokell by just 24 points after a tense final race. Although the Sydney-sider in the Industrie Clothing MINI was playing the conservation game, he survived a scare on the final lap when the close following Gary Young received contact from Barry Sternbeck—almost taking out McFadyen in the process. However, he completed his lap and took the series win.

On claiming his title McFadyen paid tribute to his team, “I really have to give this up to the M3 Motorsport team. They have lived and breathed MINI Challenge since the Series was first announced and for some of them even to the detriment of their own businesses. It’s been a tough year for us and I’m really happy to be crowned a national champion once again. MINI CHALLENGE has been a fantastic series to be a part of and I’m sure it will only grow from here.”

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BMW

BMW confirms 330d sedan for Australia

BMW 330d Sedan

BMW Australia has confirmed news that the 330d will be available here in 2009. While exact dates and pricing are yet to be confirmed, the all new 180kW 6-cylinder diesel will be in showrooms sometime after April.

The use of turbo technology gives the oil burner a massive 550Nm of torque, available from just 1750rpm. The 330d will be available with a 6-speed automatic transmission only and the economic fuel consumption of 6.8l/100km will see the car benefit from a higher $75,000 Luxury Car Tax threshold.

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Seat

SEAT León Linea R

SEAT Leon Linea R

It’s fresh, it’s funky, it’s fast, and its not available in Australia! This is the SEAT León Linea R. Okay, so the Linea R range is not much more than a fancy body kit, and it’s only fast if you tick the 147kW 2.0 TSI engine option from the three choices available—but it does look the business. The other engines have been raided from the VAG parts bin and include the 125kW 2.0 TDI (as seen in the Golf GT) and the 118kW 1.8 TSI (as seen in the Audi A4).

The León Linea R also gets a bunch of goodies thrown in such as 18″ ‘Supercopa’ alloys, dual zone climate control, TCS (traction control), ESP and, of course, the funky body kit, complete with Linea R badging.

While the exterior of the León Linea R makes you take notice, the inside is not quite up to Golf standards. It looks sporty enough, but the fine detail is just not there and the low placement of the Sat Nav unit is questionable, to say the least. Never mind that, SEAT’s generally drive just as well as their Volkswagen cousins, and normally offer more bang, for less buck. You gotta be happy with that!

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MINI Challenge

2008 MINI CHALLENGE – Round 6 wrap up

MINI CHALLENGE crash at Bathurst

Hard to go past the most spectacular imagery from this round, Ryan McLeod and Darren Berry’s accident. The incident has been covered here (including a MINI CHALLENGE press statement on Darren’s condition). The good news is, despite the horrific looking wreckage above, Darren Berry’s injuries will not be long term.

Back to the racing and it was the familiar story of Jason Bargwanna at the head of the field. His domination since joining the field full time seems to know no boundaries, even dual British Touring Car champion Matt Neal couldn’t match Bargs—who started from pole, scorching around the Mount Panorama circuit in 2:31.1762, some 1.25 seconds faster than Neal. The Brit grabbed his second place in the dying seconds of qualifying snatching a front row position from the other Team Bargwanna entry of Scott Bargwanna.

Jason Bargwanna felt his V8 Supercar experience at the track gave him an edge, “I came down the mountain at the end of the session and saw the 97 and 79 one and two on the scoring board, which was a very exciting thing to see! Although Matt pipped Scotty, it’s still a great result for us. Personally, the extra 50kg (success ballast) that I’m carrying definitely makes a difference under acceleration. I think the miles I’ve done around this place may have contributed to the result!”

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Audi

Audi gives A4 engine range more puff

Audi adds three new engines to A4 range

Audi have just added three new engines to its Australian A4 model range. A 3.0 TDI is now available with 176kW and, crucially, a 6.9l/100km fuel consumption figure, enabling the car to qualify for a lighter hit of Luxury Car Tax. Also joining the A4 range are two versions of the ever versatile 2.0 TFSI, one with 132kW, the other tweaked to produce 155kW. These engines supplement the existing 1.8 TFSI and 2.0 TDI engines already in the line up.

For AUSmotive’s first impressions of the new A4, read our Drive Thru report. Full pricing and Audi’s press statement are listed below.

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Lamborghini

I owe you a 10 second car

…so here it is.

A twin turbo Lamborghini Gallardo, with a dyno-proven 765kW/1099Nm at the wheels, no less. The car was built by Underground Racing in North Carolina. The Gallardo only tells half the story about what these guys can do, so check out their website for more of their custom projects.

Source: autoblog

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Audi

carsguide drives the Audi TTS

Okay so the video itself may not be the sharpest clip you’ll see, but these guys have driven the stunning Audi TTS and I haven’t!

Categories
MINI

MINI John Cooper Works

MINI John Cooper Works

UK press details of the new MINI John Cooper Works have just been released. See below for more images and snippets from the very lenghty press document. Quite a few reviews of the car have popped up on the net recently and these can be accessed via MotoringFile.

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MINI

MINI John Cooper Works pricing and delivery confirmed

MINI John Cooper Works

The launching of John Cooper Works as a BMW owned brand is virtually complete with the announcement of pricing for the MINI John Cooper Works models. As expected, pricing for the hardtop and Clubman models has been confirmed at $48,800 and $51,300 respectively. Also confirmed is the good news that Australian deliveries are expected in August this year. “These are the fastest cars yet that MINI has brought to Australia but it is not their outright performance alone that will endear them to our customers. The cars are the complete package with bigger brakes, sportier exhaust, and an even higher degree of exclusivity,” said Justin Hocevar, National Manager for MINI.

Full details are listed below in MINI’s press release, but the basics are the John Cooper Works models—based on Chilli specification—feature a revised 1.6 litre turbocharged engine producing 155kW with a maximum of 280Nm of torque. Both the hardtop and Clubman are capable of reaching 100km/h in under 7 seconds. The engine modifications are based largely on the power plants used in the race cars from the MINI CHALLENGE series which has been impressing competitors and fans alike across the country since the series launch in March this year.

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