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From GMM

Heikki Kovalainen has revealed he could have avoided racing straight to the back of the grid after losing his top McLaren seat at the end of 2009.

In fact, the Finn signed on with the (then Lotus) Caterham team, whose only real opponents in the last three seasons have been the other 2010 startups Marussia and HRT.

"I had other options, but not with any big teams -- teams that were in the middle of the pack," Kovalainen told Brazil's Totalrace.

"I didn't see any great opportunity and so I preferred to go with a brand new team," he added.

It is a vastly different approach to that which might be taken by Felipe Massa, who after seven seasons with fabled Ferrari has ruled out moving to a small team in the event he is dropped at the end of 2012.

"It (signing with Caterham) was a risky move, but I don't see I would be in a much better situation had I chosen a middle team," Kovalainen explains.

"I chose to restart from scratch, changing many things -- my routine, my training, everything basically.

"For me, choosing to start with a new team made me a better person, a better driver. Maybe Felipe's situation is different to mine, I don't know if my plan would work well for him."

Kovalainen said he is yet to start talks with Caterham boss Tony Fernandes about staying for the 2013 season.

"At some point we'll have that conversation," he insisted.

"For me personally, I want to go back to always fighting for the podium, but I don't know what the future is for me. I don't have much to say about it (now)."

The assets of the defunct A1GP series are for sale, and it seems that at least two bidders have shown interest in purchasing the equipment to bring back the series to life.

The “World Cup of Motorsport” as it was called then lived for a few years and shut its doors after the 2008-2009 season (the series ran during the winters). In this series, drivers represented countries rather than teams or themselves.

The Ferrari-powered single seaters were run by professional race teams and raced under the colours of a country. A shareholder purchased the rights to run the cars under the colours of a specific country.

Loic Duval, Team France, 2008 (Photo: WRI2)

Griffins Insolvency Practitioners, the administrator of A1GP Operations has confirmed that two bids have been made for the assets, which include the fleet of single seaters. Both bidders are known to be looking to use the cars to revive a series that went bust in the wake of its fourth season.

Reviving the series will be difficult. Most shareholders never managed to attract sponsors to help pay the bills. During the last season, cars of the USA, Canada, France, the Netherlands and others ran without any sponsorship. And that was four years ago when the global economy was in much better shape than it is today.

Introduced for the 2005 model year, the current-generation Pathfinder is seriously starting to look and feel old. The competition (read: Honda Pilot, Chevrolet Traverse and Ford Explorer) has improved since then, offering more interior space, better ride quality, more modern looks, and better fuel economy.


For the 2013 model year, Nissan will serve up an all new Pathfinder. Not only will it boast new sheet metal, but the big SUV will shed its body-on-frame structure for a unibody platform and, technically, the right to be called a crossover vehicle. It will be built in Tennessee.



The biggest improvement is that the 2013 Nissan Pathfinder will weigh some 500 pounds less than the old model, which is a significant number; less mass normally means better handling and better fuel economy.

Gone is the squared-off, boxy look of the current-gen Path; the new model boasts a more aerodynamic shape, smoother flowing character lines and a less SUV-like appearance.

The 2013 Nissan Pathfinder will weigh some 500 pounds less than the old model. (Photo: Nissan)

Gone is the squared-off, boxy look of the current-gen Path; the new model boasts a more aerodynamic shape, smoother flowing character lines and a less SUV-like appearance.

Replacing the old 4.0L V6 will be the brand's ubiquitous 3.5L VQ engine mated to a continuously variable automatic (CVT) transmission, good for 260 hp and 240 lb-ft of torque. The driver will also be able to select one of three modes offered by the all-wheel drivetrain: 2WD, 4WD or Auto.

Nissan claims the seven-passenger Pathfinder will still be able to tow up to 5,000 pounds, while fuel consumption for the 4WD version (we'll assume the 2WD Pathfinder likely won't be offered in Canada) is rated at 10.8/7.9 L/100km, city/highway, respectively.

The new Pathfinder will feature many of Nissan's new features such as the LATCH AND GLIDE system which allows access to the third-row seat without needing to remove a child seat strapped to the second-row bench.

It will also offer a panoramic dual-panel sunroof, a navigation system, a 360-degree camera system, an intelligent key system, Bluetooth phone and streaming audio connectivity, a 13-speaker Bose stereo, heated and cooled front seats, a remote engine starter, and a DVD entertainment system.

The new Pathfinder will feature the LATCH AND GLIDE system which allows access to the third-row seat without needing to remove a child seat strapped to the second-row bench. (Photo: Nissan)

If all this sounds familiar, it's because the new Pathfinder will be very similar to the recently introduced, 2013 Infiniti JX.

The 2013 Nissan Pathfinder will be on sale this fall, available in four trim levels: S, SV, SL, and Platinum. Pricing has not yet been announced for Canada, but since the JX starts at $44,900, we'll go out on a limb and guess that the Nissan will start at about $36,000, or roughly $2,000 below the 2012 model's MSRP.

Moments after he crossed the line in third place at the NASCAR Nationwide race in Montreal last Sunday, Canadian Jacques Villeneuve flew to Australia to contest his last race this season in the V8 Supercar series.

The 1997 Formula 1 World Champion and Indy 500 winner will be again behind the wheel of the Kelly Racing Pepsi Max Crew Holden Commodore at this weekend's Sydney Motorsport Park 360 at Eastern Creek.

Jacques Villeneuve, Commodore (Photo: Kelly Racing)

Villeneuve is driving in place of injured New Zealand veteran Greg Murphy who continues to recover from major back surgery.

The Canadian has already expressed a desire to secure a full-time drive in V8s if one became available.

The Sydney Motorsport Park 360 will feature a 140-kilometre (36 lap) race on Saturday and a 220-kilometre (56 lap) race on Sunday with both soft and hard tires used in each race. The circuit is 3.93-km long and turns anti-clockwise.

The drivers and team principals of every Formula 1 team were asked to take a photograph of their chosen subject to support an innovative new project in aid of the renowned Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity (GOSHCC).

Zoom is a unique concept that has never been done before in F1 or in any other sport. It brings new insight into the world of F1 through a collection of photographs taken by celebrated names from the sport.

The Zoom auction includes images taken by some of F1's biggest names, including Fernando Alonso, Ross Brawn, Lewis Hamilton, Kimi Raikkonen, Martin Whitmarsh and Sir Frank Williams.

Here is the photo taken by Peter Sauber.

"This is one of my favourite views in the world." (Photo: Peter Sauber)

"This is one of my favourite views in the world. I took this photo from the living room of my weekend cottage in Switzerland, which is located in the Kanton Grabünden (which is also known as Canton Grisons). The mountains are called the Signina group,” Sauber said.

Every image has been signed by the contributor and will be auctioned off by renowned motorsport auction specialists, Coys. Proceeds go to Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity (GOSHCC), the official charity of the British Grand Prix.

Former Formula 1 driver Nelson Piquet Jr. caused a huge controversy in motorsport when he apparently declared that "Someone like Ayrton Senna would not have won anything in F1 today” to Terra.

Piquet is not only a NASCAR driver these days but also a columnist at Yahoo! Brazil.

In his column published Wednesday, Piquet Jr says that he was wrongly quoted by “some members of the Brazilian medias who are more interested in creating controversty than to inform their readers”.

In the original interview, Piquet compared two different eras - when his father raced in F1 and when Ayrton Senna raced.

“In the '70s and '80s, the drivers played a very important role on the mechanical side of things,” Piquet explained.

“My father helped develop the tire warmers, the active suspension, the BMW utrbo engine and other great technical innovations. (Ayrton) Senna arrived later in F1, and by that time, the cars were reliable and fully developed. It was no longer necessary to be good at developing a car.... Ayrton's concern was just to drive fast. He was indeed super fast, but he did not have the same technical background as my father and he didn't have to save the engine, the gearbox and the tires during the race. Simple as that. No controversy.”

From GMM

Williams' radical improvement this year, after the 5-point debacle of 2011, has much to do with Renault.

That is the view of the famous British team's former co-owner and technical chief Patrick Head, who is no longer involved in the design and development of the Grove-made cars.

"I always have a good look at what they're doing," he recently told Brazil's O Estado de S.Paulo, "but I am concerned with other things now."

Last year, the Cosworth-powered FW33's best finishes were a pair of ninths, achieved by Rubens Barrichello.

Now with the title-winning Renault V8, the new FW34 has already scored 53 points, including Williams' first race win since 2004.

Head told journalist Livio Oricchio that the better "aerodynamic design" of the FW34 has been possible largely due to the "characteristics of the Renault engine".

Oricchio said the radiators can be smaller, with the Renault generally smaller and lower than the Cosworth.

"We could make a car with better aerodynamics and weight distribution. It (the Renault engine) was the strongest influence on the efficiency of this year's project," said Head.

NASCAR officials announced that Aaron Fike, a driver in the Truck Series who was suspended for drug use in 2007, has been reinstated.

"NASCAR has reinstated driver Aaron Fike upon his successful completion of NASCAR's Substance Abuse Policy Road to Recovery Program. Fike had been indefinitely suspended from NASCAR July 11, 2007 for actions detrimental to stock car racing," according to a statement issued by the sanctioning body.

His suspension arose out of an arrest in a parking lot in Kings Island, an amusement complex in Ohio. According to an ESPN.com article a police search turned up black tar heroin.

"I think people will say, 'Good.' That he cleaned up his act and got his life back in order and they will be very happy for Aaron," Tom DeLoach (Fike's former team owner) said in a NASCAR.Com interview. "I think there's a very positive humanitarian side to this that you can't disregard.

The 29-year old Fike has no offers for a future drives, but, NASCAR anti-drug abuse officials told NASCAR.com that he would be “aggressively tested,” as required by the Road to Recovery Program.

Thirty-eight drivers and crew chiefs have had their licenses suspended while 16 (including Fike) have been reinstated. Very recently driver AJ Allmendinger was one of those 38 and he has started to participate in the Road to Recovery Program.

From GMM

F1 has returned to work.

Spain's Mundo Deportivo reports that, still amid the rare month-long gap between Hungary and Belgium, most teams have now reopened their doors following the 14-day factory shutdown.

Caterham staff have a brand new home, after moving into the former Arrows and Super Aguri facility at Leafield.

And Spanish journalist Raymond Blacafort says Fernando Alonso is back from a jet-skiing vacation.

The Spaniard returned to Ferrari's Maranello headquarters on Tuesday for a sequence of meetings and a session in the driver simulator.

The forthcoming Belgian and Italian grands prix, at fabled Spa and Monza respectively and the last European races in 2012, will be staged back-to-back.

Nissan released pricing for the 2013 Rogue crossover on Aug. 20.

Four upstate New York Chrysler dealers are suing the automaker in federal court for granting a dealership to a local auto group and allegedly putting their sales at risk.

As promised, Autoweek captured Friday night and Saturday at the

Also in this episode: Fisker recalls the Karma plug-in hybrid over fire concerns, and Volvo looks into developing smaller vehicles.

First Drive: Mercedes-Benz A45 AMG Prototype

Big AMG power in a small Benz package.

Mercedes-Benz will likely charge into the American-market compact-luxury party in 2014, several years tardy but with no shortage of enthusiasm. The incursion kicks off with the swoopy CLA-class sedan and will eventually include a sub-GLK crossover and an electrified B-class. The company's U.S. stewards are also considering the A-class hatchback as a fourth small offering, but the car on these pages is significant even if Americans never have a chance to buy one. This A45 AMG prototype packs the same hardware that will power the CLA45 AMG sedan that arrives in U.S. dealerships in 2014.

Photo Gallery: First Drive: Mercedes-Benz A45 AMG Prototype - Automobile Magazine

Photo Gallery: First Drive: Mercedes-Benz A45 AMG Prototype - Automobile Magazine

First Drive: Mercedes-Benz A45 AMG Prototype | Digg It | Add to del.icio.us

From our friends at Bring a Trailer, we bring you news of a 1956 Lancia Aurelia B24 Spider currently listed on eBay.

News 21 Aug, 2012

New Fiat 500 Street offers lots of kit, and is available from £11,360

Pictures 21 Aug, 2012

News 23 Aug, 2012

Sporty and convertible versions of the Kia Soul confirmed

Pictures 23 Aug, 2012

When we're not feverishly pounding the keyboards here at One Autoweek Tower, we talk a lot about fast cars, race cars and which fast cars would make good race cars.