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The FIA has introduced a series of small but crucial changes to the Formula 1 rules and regulations. Let's review what's new for 2013.

From Formula1.com

DRS use
For safety reasons, in 2013 drivers are only be able to utilise the Drag Reduction System (DRS) overtaking aid within the designated DRS zones during practice and qualifying. Previously drivers had been free to deploy the system as they pleased in these sessions.

Photo: WRi2

Active double-DRS systems outlawed
In 2012 Mercedes developed a clever concept whereby air was channelled through an opening in the rear-wing endplate when DRS was activated and then fed through the car to help stall the front wing. For 2013 active drag reducing systems involving the DRS, such as this, have been banned.

Stepped noses
Teams have the option of tidying up the aesthetics of their cars in 2013 with the introduction of new regulations aimed at improving the look of ‘ugly' stepped noses first seen in 2012. A small piece of laminate - nicknamed a ‘modesty' or 'vanity' panel - may now be used to smooth the nose section.

Crash testing
To make F1 cars ever safer, tougher new tests on roll structures and the survival cell have been introduced for 2013. Furthermore, every chassis that a team produces, as opposed to just one, will now be subject to a static load test of the survival cell.

Curfews
The team personnel curfew - which prevents team members from being in the paddock during specified periods - has been extended from six to eight hours on Thursday nights for 2013. The number of exceptions allowed during a season has also been reduced from four to two.

Front wing tests
For 2013 front wing deflection tests will be more stringent to lessen the possibility of flexible bodywork being used to enhance aerodynamic performance.

Photo: WRi2

Minimum weight
The minimum weight of the car and driver has been increased from 640kg to 642kg to compensate for the slightly increased weight of Pirelli's 2013 tires. The mandatory weight distribution has also been adjusted accordingly.

Force majeure
The ‘force majeure' allowance relating to when a car stops on the track during qualifying has been deleted from the regulations. For 2013 any car that stops on the track must have enough fuel for the mandatory one-litre minimum sample plus an additional amount proportional to the amount of fuel that would have been used in returning to the pits (determined by the FIA).

Qualifying
Not an actual regulation change, but as the official 2013 entry list comprises 22 cars - two fewer than in 2012 - six cars rather than seven will now be eliminated at the end of both Q1 and Q2.

Championship entry fees
Championship entry fees have been revised. Red Bull, as constructors' champions, were required to pay US$500,000 plus US$6000 for each point gained in the 2012 World Constructors' Championship to enter the 2013 championship. Every other team was required to pay a basic fee of US$500,000 plus US$5000 for each point scored in 2012.

Toyota is still dogged by a sales crisis Japanese carmakers are suffering in China as a result of a territorial row between the two countries but December sales proved "surprisingly resilient", a senior Toyota executive said.

ASSOCIATE EDITOR JAKE LINGEMAN: I had the 2012 Kia Rio SX sedan for the night and could not find a comfortable seating position.

BMW will cut back on sales discounts in Germany and focus on maintaining profit margins rather than market share, CEO Norbert Reithofer said.

I always preach that having no expectations leaves little room for disappointment. Clearly, I should listen to myself more often.

I had high expectations for the nifty-looking 2013 Hyundai Veloster Turbo, and those expectations rose even higher when I saw the test vehicle role up in uber-hot, super-relevant matte grey wrapping with a bright red "turbo" badge on the back. How could I not enjoy my week behind the wheel?

I just wasn't as impressed as I'd wanted to be. I wanted to like this car so much... and I just didn't. Before you think it was all bad, read on.


A break from the usual
More than anything else, the Veloster looks different. There are very few cars on the road today that can be compared to the Hyundai Veloster in the looks department. For some, this is a good thing. Others will think it's a bit too much. I, for one, commend Hyundai designers on the Veloster's funky, modern lines and cool facial expression.

Full of interesting lines, angles, and nooks and crannies, the 2013 Hyundai Veloster is not your average hatchback when it comes to exterior design. From the gaping front grille (thankfully not as insane-asylum as the Mazda3), to the eye-socket-like taillights and dual-mounted exhausted (hot, by the way), the Veloster is a looker.

Now, wrap those design elements in matte paint, and you've got a real stunner. If you've not heard about the matte-paint trend in the auto industry then shame on you (and you call yourself a car enthusiast?). From Plasti Dip to matte wraps, cars across the globe are going flat and it's just phenomenal.

My 2013 Hyundai Veloster Turbo's matte grey coat was factory installed (and cost $1,000) and came with a list of restrictions, limitations and care instructions. Long story short: It can only be washed with pure water, faery dust and unicorn hair. Anything else will ruin it. Just an FYI.

Full of interesting lines, angles, and nooks and crannies, the 2013 Hyundai Veloster is not your average hatchback when it comes to exterior design.(Photo: Sébastien D'Amour)

Thinking outside the box on the inside
When it comes to the interior of the 2013 Hyundai Veloster, I was quite pleased and surprised. This is, after all, an "economy" car despite the turbo badge. At just under $26k (without the matte paint job), this is a highly affordable ride for someone looking for a vehicle with attitude on the road and a bit of bite behind the wheel (more on that in a bit).

Inside, the 2013 Hyundai Veloster Turbo sports faux-leather, blue-trimmed sports seats. Blue accents adorn the rest of the interior, most notably on the oversized, in-your-face door handles. I wasn't taken with this, and think the interior could have looked better had the blue been replaced with a carbon-fibre weave of sorts.

The middle console is fantastic. Everyone who sat in the car was duly impressed with the onboard entertainment system as well as the gauges and steering wheel. This is a properly equipped ride with all the gadgets and fixings, and the layout is extremely user-friendly. Storage in the front is ample, with plenty of space for coffee, iPhones, iPods and anything else you want within arm's reach.

I'm going to go all mummy on you for a moment (sorry): When it comes to the Veloster being a family car I, again, was hesitant. I know what it's like to have very little room in a car thanks to the WRX. So, when I decided to use the Hyundai to take my 8-month-old son (plus everything that comes with him) to my parent's house for the weekend, I had my doubts.

However, I was pleasantly surprised. From putting the baby seat in the back (piece of cake) to fitting the running stroller in the trunk plus four overflowing bags of food, diapers, toys, etc., the Hyundai Veloster swallowed it all up with ample room left over. And putting my son in his car seat was easy as well thanks to the nifty third door.

The only fault I can find with the 2013 Hyundai Veloster Turbo (from a mother's point of view) is in the window configuration in the back seat. If you're a crazy protect-your-kid-from-the-sun-at-all-times kind of mum, you're going to have a hard time finding sun visors that fit in the rear windows of the Veloster (there are four, all different sizes and all strange shapes). Good luck.

Inside, the 2013 Hyundai Veloster Turbo sports faux-leather, blue-trimmed sports seats.(Photo: Sébastien D'Amour)

Left wanting more
So, storage and looks aside: How does the 2013 Hyundai Veloster Turbo drive? That's the million dollar question and one I thought I already had the answer too. When I drove the non-turbo version about a year ago, I had hopes that the Turbo version would be that much better and solve any bits that bothered me on the base version.

That's what I get for having high expectations.

It's not that the Hyundai Veloster Turbo was horrible to drive -- far from it, actually. It had kick, but only in a very small band on the rpms. The lag associated with the 1.6L turbocharged engine was noticeable to a fault. Torque steer is apparent, and you may find yourself squealing the front tires leaving stops if you want to leave quickly.

The drive felt soft, too. I wanted sharper steering, and it felt a bit loose. Driving a hatchback means you get to be light and nimble, but when the steering doesn't match that tight, nimble feel of the car's size, something doesn't line up.

The suspension was also quite soft, again, to a fault. The body roll around corners was more than I liked, and the bounce over uneven surfaces was unpleasant.

As a sporty, turbo version I would have liked the suspension to be tuned as such, if only just a teeny bit stiffer to keep me grounded during spirited driving and not feeling like the car was going to bottom out over bumpy road surfaces.

Overall, the 2013 Hyundai Veloster Turbo is a lot of fun to drive and a practical car, and for the price it will satisfy young families looking for a fun-to-drive car that's easy to drive in the city, peppy on open roads and still has room for a weekend away with the kid (singular).

This 2013 Hyundai Veloster Turbo review was originally published on Auto-Venus.com.

From Best-of-Rallylive.com

Carlos Sainz (Buggy) started the 2013 Dakar, which runs from Lima (Peru) to Santiago de Chile, on the right foot, grabbing at the end of day one his 25th stage victory at the prestigious rally raid.

Lucio Alvarez (Toyota Hilux) crossed the finish line second, followed by Guerlain Chicherit (Buggy) and Nasser Al-Attiyah (Buggy), ex aequo.

Participants only faced 13 kilometres of competitive stage, yesterday. Nevertheless, Robby Gordon (Hummer) found a way to already hurt his chances by getting stuck in the sand.

Furthermore, his deficit was tripled by the organizers, who want to discourage competitors from slowing down on purpose to avoid opening the road.

Defending champion Stéphane Peterhansel (MINI ALL4 Racing) came home eighth, right behind his teammates Holowczyc et Novitskiy, respectively sixth and seventh.



Classification after day one:
1. Sainz/Gottschalk (Buggy)
2. Alvarez/Graue (Toyota Hilux) + 24s
3. Chicherit/Garcin (Buggy) + 30s
3. Al-Attiyah/Cruz (Buggy) + 30s
5. Chabot/Pillot (Buggy) +36s
(...)
8. Peterhansel/Cottret (MINI)

Team Sahlen bumped Michael Shank Racing off the top of the time sheet, during day two of the final pre-season test before the 24 Hours of Daytona, at Daytona International Speedway.

Team Sahlen may be new to Daytona Prototype, but not to Grand-Am racing: the team has been around the series for over a decade. Saturday, it put its experience to good use, driver Dane Cameron lapping faster time than Michael Shank Racing's Michel Valiante

Cameron, in the No. 42 BMW/Riley, clocked a 1min42.101s, and Valiante, in the No. 6 Ford/Riley, a 1min42.160s.

Patrick Long topped the sheet in GT, thanks to the 1min48.569s he bagged aboard his No. 73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche GT3.

Napleton Racing was again the quickest team in the new GX class. Shane Lewis logged a 1min56.167s in the same No. 16 Porsche Cayman co-driver David Donohue drove yesterday.

Jan Kopecky (Skoda Fabia S2000) got the best of Bryan Bouffier (Peugeot 207 S2000) at the European Rally Championship (ERC) season-opening Jännerrally, in Austria.

Kopecky had to overcome a puncture, in the earlier stages of the rally, to eventually beat Frenchman Bouffier.

Photo: Best-of-rallylive.com

Nevertheless, in the end, he came through... by only half a second, it must be said.

The tough winter conditions offered a perfect setting to Kopecky's heroic run through the field.

Raimund Baumschlager (Skoda Fabia S2000), the 53-year-old 10-time Austrian rally champion, completed the podium.

The BBC captured these images of Ferrari F1 drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa trying out the world's fastest roller-coaster.

The day was November 11, 2010, three days before the Formula One season finale at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Fernando Alonso, who at the time was still in the running for the drivers' title, and Felipe Massa embark on the Formula Rossa, the world's fastest roller-coaster.

The Formula Rossa is part of the Ferrari World amusement park, in Abu Dhabi.

It reaches its top speed of 240 km/h from a standing start in just 4.9s.

It generates up to 4.8 Gs.

Its sharpest turn has an angle of just 70 degrees.

Enjoy.



Source: BBC

'Push-to-pass' and hybrid systems are just two of the technical innovations that could be introduced in 2014, when a new wave of regulations hits the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC).

"After 11 years under the same set of rules a face-lift was needed," admits WTCC promoter Marcello Lotti on the series official website.

The "face-lift" Lotti is referring to is aimed at luring new manufacturers to the championship.

Photo: WTCC.com

Citroën is already queuing to jump aboard in 2014, with the help of nine-time WRC champion Sébastien Loeb. Renault is reportedly also in line.

The said face-lift would not only include the 'push-to-pass' technology (a system such as the ones seen in Champ Car and IndyCar racing), and a common hybrid system.

Lotti also promises "an increase of power and sound, a reduction a weight, bigger wheels and more aggressive look", as well as more freedom in homologating suspensions, to avoid technical waivers.

EXECUTIVE EDITOR BOB GRITZINGER: Has the world caught up to

BMW, VW and Mercedes are all likely to post record sales for 2012 even as demand for cars in Europe has tumbled. Deutsche Telekom is partly to thank for that.

GM is sticking with its decision to introduce a new, more environmentally safe refrigerant in its vehicles despite claims by Daimler that it may cause fires in an accident.

BMW, VW and Mercedes are all likely to post record sales for 2012 even as demand for cars in Europe has tumbled. Deutsche Telekom is partly to thank for that.

AJ Allmendinger and Andy Lally, who won the 2012 24 Hours of Daytona in Daytona Prototype and GT respectively, topped the first day of action at the 2013 Roar Before the Rolex 24 testing, yesterday at the Daytona International Speedway.

Photo: Brian Cleary via Facebook.com/Grandamroadracing

AJ Allmendinger, returning to the wheel of his No. 60 Michael Shank Racing Ford/Riley turned a lap of 1min42.918s, edging ahead of the two BMW-powered Ganassi entries.

Lally, back in the cockpit of Magnus Racing's No. 44 Porsche 911 GT3 clocked a 1min49.322s, which Alex Job Racing's Marco Holzer just couldn't match.

Photo: Brian Cleary via Facebook.com/Grandamroadracing

David Donohue, in Napleton Racing's No. 16 Porsche Cayman, topped the new GX class with a 1min57.466s.

All three drivers set their best lap in the afternoon, when the damp track was starting to come around.

Photo: Brian Cleary via Facebook.com/Grandamroadracing

Teams are still testing today, and tomorrow as well.

American Le Mans Series and Grand-Am Road Racing officials have announced the class structure they will use for the 2014 and 2015 seasons, when the two series are set to merge.

The first step in merging the two championships was to delete the P1 class, the fastest prototype category of the ALMS.

Organizers then proceeded by mixing together the ALMS' P2 class and Grand-Am's Daytona Prototype category. This class will also feature the revolutionary DeltaWing car.

Prototype Challenge (PC) competitors will keep racing separately, as they are right now in the ALMS.

As far as the GT cars where concerned, it was decided to let classes from each series continue racing separately among the field.

That being said, the ALMS' GT Challenge class (GTC) could blend with Grand-Am's half of the GT runners, or form a class of its own.

The GX class, debuting this year in Grand-Am, is facing the same situation; it could race on its own in 2014, or fuse with Grand-Am's half of the GT cars.

Class names have yet to be decided.

Starting today, AIR MILES card holders in Canada will receive reward miles when purchasing or leasing a vehicle at any Chevrolet, Buick, GMC or Cadillac dealership.

''Our customers are our number one priority and this partnership with AIR MILES will provide even more value with the purchase or lease of a new Chevrolet, Buick, GMC or Cadillac vehicle,'' said Marc Comeau, vice-president of sales, service and marketing at General Motors of Canada.

All Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac dealerships across Canada are participating in the AIR MILES partnership.

Three-time F1 world champion Niki Lauda has walked away from his managerial role at Air Berlin to focus on his new job at Mercedes GP.

Lauda, a 63-year-old Austrian, had been mixing work in motorsport and aerial transportation for a while now. On top of winning three world championships as a driver, he also headed at different point in time his own airline companies, and Jaguar's F1 team.

Most recently, Lauda became involved in Mercedes' Formula One effort, already making an impact on the team by helping recruiting Lewis Hamilton from McLaren.

Lauda reportedly left Air Berlin to focus on helping Ross Brawn and the whole of the Mercedes F1 team, who lost in December the input of Norbert Haug, get to the top.

"The Board thanks Niki Lauda for his commited, stimulating work for the benefit of the company," said Air Berlin's chairman Dr Hans-Joachim Koerber, as quoted by Autosport.com.

Ferrari has lend two of its factory drivers to AIM Autosport for the 51st running of the 24 Hours of Daytona, Giancarlo Fisichella and Toni Vilander.

The Italian and the Finn will partner Jeff Segal and Max Papis aboard AIM Autosport's second entry, the No. 61 Ferrari F458, backed by Remo Ferri, the same man who owns the Ferrari of Ontario, Ferrari of Toronto and Ferrari of Alberta dealerships.

"I'm looking forward to the Daytona Rolex 24 this year," said Ferri. "I feel we have the best chance to win it."

As it happens, AIM Autosport Team FXDD won the Grand-Am GT championship in 2012, with Jeff Segal and Emil Assentato. The addition of Fisichella and Vilander to the mix will certainly not hurt their chances.

Fisichella is well remembered for his former GP career, which lasted 223 races, of which he won three.

Vilander too is known for his quick hands. He never made it to F1, but still, his resume includes a class victory at the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Sauber has announced it would launched its 2013 car, the Ferrari-powered C32, on February 2, at its Hinwil factory, in Switzerland.

The team's two new drivers, Nico Hülkenberg and Esteban Gutiérrez will be on hand when the car they will race next year is unveiled, two days before the start of pre-season testing, in Jerez, Spain.

In 2012, with Sergio Pérez and Kamui Kobayashi, Sauber finished sixth in the constructors' championship, scoring 126 points.

McLaren and Force India are the only two other teams to have announced when they would launch their new cars.

The 2013 McLaren contender will make its first public appearance on January 31st, whereas the 2013 Force India will be launched the day after, on February 1st.