Auto News 5

Opel plans to move some production of its Astra compact car to Poland from one of its German plants, a newspaper report said.

More product-sharing ventures are cooking between Daimler and Nissan, beyond the entry-level Infiniti based on Mercedes-Benz front-wheel-drive architecture that Nissan is preparing to create.

Daimler has released details of its Mercedes-Benz Citan delivery van, ahead of its unveiling at the IAA commercial vehicle show in Hanover, Germany, in September. The van is the first vehicle to result from two years of cooperation with Renault.

Ferdinand Piech's recent retreat from the limelight might be seen as a sign the Volkswagen chairman might step back from leading the carmaker that aspires to be the world's biggest.

Ferdinand Piech's recent retreat from the limelight might be seen as a sign the Volkswagen chairman might step back from leading the carmaker that aspires to be the world's biggest.

The MINI Inspired by Goodwood special edition is on display in a front window at London's famous Harrods department store. Taking inspiration from the design team at Rolls Royce, the car is touted as MINI's “most ambitious and luxurious” special edition to date.

Photo: BMW

Brompton Road passers-by will see a quintessentially English manor house and gates as a backdrop to the MINI. Inside the store, display screens provide information and a selection of swatches and samples are available to show off interior trims. A MINI staffer from the brand's Park Lane flagship showroom is on hand in case shoppers get the itch to order.

The Goodwood features a dashboard, centre console, air vents, carpets, heated leather seats, roof lining, doors and interior cladding finished in Rolls-Royce's exclusive colour Cornsilk. The dashboard and door handle surfaces are Walnut Burr, a premium, custom Rolls trim.

The exterior is finished in Rolls Royce's Diamond Black metallic.

The phrase “1 of 1000” will be projected onto the pavement outside the store window, and the whole works on display until Sunday.

Ford will debut an all-new pony car its staffers are calling Mustang III in mid-2014, just in time for the nameplate's 50th anniversary. If artist Sean Smith has it right, the new generation will eschew retro styling for a look based largely on the Evos concept, minus the gullwing doors.

Ford Evos Concept (Photo: Ford)

With the model planned to go global, marketers are looking to broaden the car's nostalgic appeal with a slicker look, leaner weight, and underpinnings from an all-new platform.

Rumour has it this ‘Stang will at last make the switch to fully independent rear suspension, the better to compete with Chevy's hit Camaro.

Power will likely come from a variation of the brand's EcoBoost engines, with a V8 iteration a possibility.

The Mustang III will likely debut this time next year in New York.


_{Source: The Detroit Bureau}

With sales plunging 41% in the region since 2007, Toyota is taking a three-pronged approach to get back into the European game: a leaner executive suite, new models, and a new partner in BMW.

“It's unacceptable for Toyota to be at this volume level in Europe,” said Didier Leroy, Toyota's European chief, in an interview with Bloomberg.com. Leroy said they had cut management layers to streamline decision-making over the past two years.

Photo: Toyota

Toyota will roll out a Yaris hybrid, Europe's first hybrid subcompact, and the GT86 sports coupe. Yaris production started in northern France earlier this week, following an investment of $33 million in the company's Valenciennes factory.

The GT86, geared to compete with VW's Scirocco and Peugeot Citroen's RCZ, gets up to 100 km/h in a hair over eight seconds. Toyota is targeting just 15,000 units of the sporty coupe; their overall goal for Europe, Russia, Turkey and Israel is a cool million next year, 20% higher than their 2012 target.

BMW starts delivering diesel engines to Toyota in 2014; diesels are less taxed than gasoline engines in many European countries.



_{Source: Bloomberg}

As they grapple with high rates of kidnapping, murder and robbery, Brazilians are starting to turn to an option formerly reserved for diplomats and rap stars — armoured cars.

DuPont in 2008 introduced its bulletproof Kevlar fibre and SentryGlas car kit, Armura, to middle-class Brazilians for installation on their Chevys, Hondas and Kias.

Now, the chemical company wants to bulletproof taxis that will shuttle visitors between events at the 2014 World Cup soccer championship and 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.

The Brazil-only Armura protects against bullets up to .38 calibre; sales in Brazil were up 70% in the first quarter this year over last year. DuPont says its annual sales of Armura amount to “tens of millions” of dollars, but didn't offer more specifics.

Armura sells for about $12,000 and weighs about 90 kg. DuPont-approved technicians replace the car's windows with SentryGlas and put Kevlar panels behind the door panels. It's currently available on 11 models including the Toyota Corolla and Chevy Cruze.

The largest private guards' union in Brazil estimates that residents spend about $8 billion on private security each year.


_{Source: Reuters}

2012 marks the 30th year since Formula One Ferrari legend Gilles Villeneuve's fatal crash during qualifying of the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix. Here is the latest piece of our special feature on this special hero, from the mouth of Richard Spénard.

After a successful 1973 season spent in F1600, the young Gilles Villeneuve decided it was time to pack his things and move on to the next level: Formula Atlantic.

Richard Spenard (left) in conversation with Gilles Villeneuve. (Photo: Richard Spenard's Archives)

At the time, Europeans knew very little about the North American series. Still, the single seaters, propelled by a 1.6-litre atmospheric engine, were doing well to attract the young and bright talents of Europe, maybe because of the wings and slick tires they featured. Keke Rosberg, Patrick Depailler, Jacques Laffite, James Hunt, Riccardo Patrese and Didier Pironi all had a go at it.

1974 - Villeneuve's first season in Atlantic - saw the Canadian break a leg at Mosport. He came back in 1975 and earned his first triumph, through the rain of Gimli, in Manitoba. Soon after that, driving the March 76B that now sits at the Berthierville Gilles-Villeneuve museum and then Écurie Canada's 77B, Villeneuve won the 1976 and 1977 championships.

Partnering him through these successful times was fellow up-and-coming Quebec native Richard Spénard - a future F2000, Porsche Cup and GM series champion and 24 Hours of Le Mans racer. Today, the 58-year-old is still active as a Ferrari Challenge coach and remembers very well his first meeting with Gilles Villeneuve.

"I met him for the first time in the spring of 1975, in a restaurant. I was coming up from Formula Ford, he already had a season of Atlantic under his belt. What stood out of that meeting was how, three weeks before the start of the season, Villeneuve had no deal at all. He was looking for a drive," Spénard remembers.

Gilles Villeneuve, Écurie Canada ( (Photo: René Fagnan's Archives)

"And for him to get a seat, he would have to do all the work associated with it. I mean all the work, from preparing to driving the car," he told Auto123.com.

"So I partnered him at Écurie Canada through 1977. There I saw how big the gap was between him and the rest of us."

"By that, I mean he was already top-notch, professional in his approach because of all his snowmobile years. Building, developing and testing new parts was nothing new for him. Those technical abilities he had were what set him apart from us, who knew little about running a race car.

"We sat in and drove. He worked non-stop with the engineers to improve whatever could be improved. Hands on he was, indeed. [...] He also did all those exercises away from the track to improve his field of vision and that sort of things. Being in the same team as him also meant that if he crashed his car, he was allowed to take mine."

Other memories of Spénard being Villeneuve's teammate include watching future F1 world champion Jacques grow, sitting duck in a Ford Mustang and off-roading in Berthierville.

"Gilles' family was very much with him at the track. I remember watching Jacques, growing up from breathing and living in the paddocks."

Gilles Villeneuve sitting in Richard Spenard's car (Spenard is seen on the left, sitting on the concrete wall). (Photo: Guy Bellerive)

"On the road, I was a very disciplined driver because, ironically, I wasn't much of a car guy, not a nutcase anyway - unlike Gilles who always had either a wrench or a wheel in his hands. If he was not souping up his cars, he was driving them. In his Mustang V8 for example, it was pedal to the metal... all the time. 'I just don't know how to slow down,' he told me once. Speed was in his blood."

"Once I also went off-roading with him in Berthierville. I had no experience in that field, and stayed stuck a couple of times. Good thing he was there to fish me out. The funny thing is, he didn't even remotely care about whether I damaged the engine or the differential of his pick-up. But I had to watch out for the body.

"He could change the motor in a flash, but didn't like doing bodywork. That's just the way he was."

The ongoing evolution of Big Bird is not only being chronicled on "paper", we be doing some videos as well.

The first in the series is on my visit to Fastco to get my wheels and tires installed. Fastco, the wheel manufacturer, agreed to participate in my little project. Let me tell you that they can do some magical things with the right tools, skills and know-how.

In the following video, I tell you why I picked the wheels and tires and then we get to see how it all comes together.

If you know a little about the wheel and tire businesses, you will recognize that Fastco's tooling is at technology's leading edge and that few if any other Canadian wheel manufacturers go to such great lengths to ensure perfection, or damn as near close to it as possible.

Next, I'll have some footage on Big Bird getting its brakes done and then I plan on putting together some track footage.

From Audi Motorsport

Spaniard Marc Gené will be available to Audi as a reserve driver, standing in for Timo Bernhard in the Audi R18 ultra as early as at the second round of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) at Spa-Francorchamps on May 5.

Audi R18 (Photo: Audi Motorsport)

This year, Audi again decided to sign a reserve driver for the Le Mans 24 Hours. Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich selected Marc Gené for this role, a very experienced sports car racer who brings long-standing Formula 1 experience to the team as well.

The 38-year-old Spaniard has been under contract as a test or race driver with Formula 1 racing teams since 1999. He also contested the past five events of the Le Mans 24 Hours for Peugeot, clinching overall victory in 2009.

After Timo Bernhard was injured in a testing accident that was no fault of his own in mid-March at Sebring and is still recovering, Gené will be sharing the No. 3 Audi R18 ultra with Frenchmen Romain Dumas and Loïc Duval at Spa.

Does your car make you cringe in a fingernails-on-chalkboard kind of way every time you hit the brakes? Maybe it vibrates in an annoying little way too, making you feel like you're not in complete control? Has the brake-pedal position changed? Do you need to press down harder on said pedal, or did you feel a twinge of worry the last time you had to resort to an emergency braking manoeuvre?

Those are all excellent signs that it's time to get those brakes fixed!

When trying to determine exactly what ails your car so you can replace the correct parts, it's important to take the above symptoms into consideration.

If there's a wheezing sound but no vibrations, the brake pedal doesn't respond as well, and you can't remember the last time you serviced the brakes, you need to change the pads. The noise is caused by a manufacturer safeguard designed to warn the driver that it's time to replace them. Don't wait too long, because the noise will grow fainter and you'll be caught of guard when the brakes fail to respond correctly and the components overheat because the pads are now bare.


Is something vibrating? That means it's time to have the discs “turned” or simply replaced. Some discs are thicker and can be re-machined to obtain a smooth surface again. The discs become warped over time, during heavy emergency braking or because of a stuck calliper that applies constant, uneven pressure on the pads. Changing the discs? Might as well do the pads as well!

Now for the callipers. Generally speaking, you know the callipers need to be swapped when you start having problems with the discs. Do you detect vibrations, constant brake pressure, the smell of something burning? Take the car out for a short jaunt, then check the temperature of your brakes with your fingers. If they're warm, all is as it should be. They're hot? The wheel itself is hot too? Don't waste another second.

Contrary to discs and pads, which come in packs of two, you don't have to change both callipers at the same time. If you return the defective part, you can get a credit on the purchase of a new one. You can put off replacing the part by cleaning the guide pins and applying a generous dollop of grease to the calliper, which you can buy in small packets. One should do.

So you've been over everything and it looks good, but when you drive you feel that the pedal doesn't respond they way it used to. The only culprit left is the hydraulic system, which sends the signal from the pedal to the callipers. The system includes a cylinder at pedal-level, a fluid reservoir and a series of hydraulic lines.

Open the brake fluid reservoir - your owner's manual will tell you which one - and check the level of the fluid. If it's normal, that means something else is wrong. But if it's low, there's a leak somewhere. Break out your flashlight and look for traces of oil and rust on the lines, especially around the kinks and connectors. Check if there's oil on the master cylinder too. And don't forget to take a peek under the car, since the lines reach all the way back to the rear brakes.

From GMM

Ferrari is looking ahead to Barcelona next month, as the famous Italian team plans to begin putting a difficult start to the 2012 season behind it.

Test driver Marc Gene, who is travelling to the grands prix this year, said the F2012 was "born well" but fell behind the other leading teams as the winter pre-season progressed.

"From here it will take time to improve it," he told the Spanish newspaper Diario Sport. "The next big developments will arrive in Barcelona, although at every race the team is making improvements and we know already that the main problem is aerodynamics. It's a car that also has its virtues, as it adapts well to the wet and also warms up the tyres well, but it is a car with a lot of 'drag'; we need better top speed and traction."

Photo: Pirelli

He said, however, that with at least an eight-tenth per lap dry circuit deficit to the ultimate pace, the F2012 is not likely to step to the front of the grid even with a big raft of developments for the Spanish grand prix.

"I have to admit that it (eliminating the entire gap) would be the most dramatic improvement I've seen in the 13 years I have been in formula one. (Improvement) throughout the season is much more feasible. I know that we are working on a very big package and even more positive is that we have the test at Mugello beforehand."

Marc Gene said the best car in the field at present is the McLaren.

"That is the car that works best if you take together all the different elements. Maybe not the fastest in qualifying, nor in the wet, but today it's the best car on the grid," he said.

Fernando Alonso said he is hoping the F2012 becomes "3 or 4 tenths" better at Barcelona.

"All the teams will bring updates," he is quoted by Finland's Turun Sanomat, "so if we could improve 5 or 6 tenths, while the others get only a couple of tenths, it will be better for us."

And Spain's Marca quotes Felipe Massa as saying: "I do expect a much better car in Spain; faster, better balanced and better traction."

The controversial Grand Prix of Bahrain, Round 4 of the 2012 Formula 1 World Championship, is sceduled for this weekend at the Bahrain International Circuit located near the capital, Nanama.

All times are local.

Thursday April 19
15:00: FIA press conference

Friday April 20
10:00 - 11:30: First free practice
14:00 - 15:30: Second free practice
18:30: FIA press conference

Saturday April 21
11:00 - 12:00: Third free practice
14:00 - 15:00: Qualifying
18h00: FIA post qualifying press conference

Sunday April 22
15:00 - 17:00: Bahrain GP
17:00: FIA post race press conference

Last podium in 2010. (Photo: WRi2)

From GMM

Sebastian Vettel's 2012 struggle looks set to continue for now.

It has emerged that, despite the reigning back-to-back champion preferring the launch version of the RB8, Red Bull has decided that Vettel will drive the latest specification of the car's exhaust layout in Bahrain this weekend.

In China, the team allowed Vettel to go back to the previous spec, while Mark Webber qualified better and finished higher with Adrian Newey's latest developments.

"He can't get the confidence he needs with the car," admitted Dr Helmut Marko on Austrian Servus TV, "and this makes him make uncharacteristic mistakes."

Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull RB8. (Photo: Red Bull Racing)

Nonetheless, Red Bull has decided that the 'Webber-specification' exhaust is the right way forward.

"We will go on with the Mark Webber car," Marko confirmed.

As for why the team's Australian driver feels more comfortable in the updated car, Marko surmised: "Mark is less sensitive to the (car's) behaviour. He just needs four wheels, but it's different for Vettel."

From GMM

Statistically, the Chinese grand prix raced straight into the history books as one of the most exciting formula one events of all time.

"For me, we are having some of the best races in formula one history," agreed Jenson Button after finishing Sunday's Shanghai race behind Nico Rosberg.

Finland's Turun Sanomat newspaper reports that only three grands prix in the history of the sport played host to more individual overtaking moves.

The report said there were 72 passes in total on Sunday, not including the first corner of the race. Seven of the moves were on Kimi Raikkonen on one lap, after the Lotus driver's Pirelli tyres gave up the ghost.

Last year in Shanghai, there were 63 passes. So far in 2012, there were more overtaking moves in China, Malaysia and Australia compared to the same races last season.

First lap of the Chinese race. (Photo: Pirelli)

Canada 2011 still stands as the site of the most passes during a single grand prix, at 89.

In second place are the 1983 US grand prix and the 2011 Turkish grand prix (79 passes), followed by China last weekend.

McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh is celebrating the spectacle of the 2012 season so far.

"Who's going to predict who will win?" he said, referring to this weekend's grand prix in Bahrain. "I won't. We've had three very different races and I think we are going to have potentially 20 very different races this year."

From GMM

Two F1 journalists tried their hands at war reporting after touching down in Bahrain ahead of this weekend's controversial grand prix.

"I had a duty as an experienced journalist to see such an incident with my own eyes," said PA Sport's Ian Parkes, who filed a detailed account of a protest about ten kilometres from the capital Manama on Monday.

"We're journalists at end of day. That's our job," he said, also referring to the Daily Mirror's Byron Young, who accompanied him to the non-F1 related protest.

Parkes detailed an account of violence in Bahrain, with Young revealing on Twitter that he "smelled Molotov cocktails and tasted teargas, wondering what the hell F1 is doing in Bahrain".

Parkes, however, said that when they returned to the capital Manama there was "normal life. Virtually nobody here would know what has just occurred".

Photo: Lotus F1 Team

Bahrain's F1 track boss Zayed Alzayani said he thinks other journalists will see more 'normal life' when they arrive throughout this week.

"I think seeing is believing," he told the Bahrain news agency BNA. "I just talked to (Red Bull's) Christian Horner and he has a team there already, and things are normal. They went out for dinner last night and everything is ok."

Staff working for Formula One Management have been in Bahrain for several days and "Bernie (Ecclestone) said everything is fine", added Alzayani.

The Times correspondent Kevin Eason is also already in Bahrain, and he said he counted more than twenty police vehicles on the highway to the Sakhir circuit.

"Protesters will be lucky to get near the formula one circus," he wrote, revealing that the military has been seen this week at Sakhir "complete with body armour and high-velocity weapons".

"No one here is taking a chance with the Bahrain grand prix," said Eason.

"We have not seen anything," agreed team member John Ayers, who along with Nathan Japp is helping to set up Red Bull's garage.

"There is obviously a lot of security around the circuit and you can see the big hotels where the VIP guests will be staying have stepped up their efforts. They are really on their guard. Apart from that, it is all quiet. We have not seen or heard any disturbances, although we know things go on in the villages at night," he explained.

Vicky Piria, Carmen Jorda and Alice Powell are three female drivers who will compete in the GP3 series this season.

Eighteen-year-old Italian Vicky Piria will contest the 2012 season with team Trident Racing. Piria started her racing career in 2009 in Formula 2000 Light Italia, before moving to Formula Abarth in her country in 2010 and 2011, where she was classified 18th overall.

Vicky Piria. (Photo: GP3 series)

Nearly 24-year-old Carmen Jorda from Spain will also make her GP3 debut this season. She started her career in Master Junior Formula in her country in 2005, and then ran the Spanish Formula 3 championship (F3 Open) in the « Cup » category from 2006 to 2009.

In 2010, she moved to the United States to compete in the Indy Lights series, where she was classified 16th at the end of the season. She will run the GP3 championship for team Ocean Racing Technology.

Carmen Jorda. (Photo: GP3 series)

Nineteen-year-old Alice Powell, from Oxford, England, ran in the Formula Renault UK series for three years, and also secured the Formula Renault BARC title in 2010. She struck a deal with Status Grand Prix for the 2012 GP3 season.

Alice Powell. (Photo: GP3 series)

The opening rounds of the GP3 championship will be held in Barcelona, May 12 and 13.

From GMM

Lewis Hamilton has hinted again that he sees his future with McLaren.

Just prior to the new season, the 2008 world champion indicated he would like to renew his deal with the Woking based team in the early phase of this year.

Hamilton's current contract runs out at the end of 2012.

Asked by British publications if he is being persuaded by his boss Martin Whitmarsh to stay, the 27-year-old answered: "I don't need persuading. The team are doing fantastic. I could not be happier in the team."

Also asked if it would be hard for him to leave the team he has spent his entire career with, Hamilton admitted: "Yeah. I don't feel like walking away."

Lewis Hamilton aboard the MP4-27 in the McLaren garage. (Photo: WRi2)

The Briton had a tumultuous 2011 season, but so far in 2012 he has appeared happy as he raced onto the podium at the end of every grand prix.

"Everything is better this year," said Hamilton. "The team is better. The car is better. I am a lot better. I have got my dad here (in China) and that is not fake; we have a real, real good bond now. Things are great and that's reflected in my performances."

Jenson Button, who already has a deal in place for 2013 and beyond, indicated he would like Hamilton to remain his teammate.

"It's good to have competition, it drives the team forward," said the 2009 world champion.

As for when the new deal might be done, Hamilton said the timeframe for talks is open "so long as it is before next year".