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Adapted from press releases

The Marussia F1 Team and Scuderia Ferrari announce the agreement of a new technical partnership, while Pat Symonds and Marussia reached another agreement for Pat to relinquish his responsibilities of the team with immediate effect.

Ferrari engines

As a Scuderia Ferrari customer team and within the terms of the 2014 regulations, the Marussia F1 Team will receive the supply of an Internal Combustion Engine and Energy Recovery System, full transmission and all related ancillary systems.

Andy Webb, CEO, Marussia F1 Team: “The Marussia F1 Team is delighted to be entering into a technical partnership with Scuderia Ferrari for the supply of a full powertrain from 2014. The importance of this development to our Team cannot be overstated. We look forward to working with Scuderia Ferrari during this exciting new era of Formula One competition. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank Cosworth, with whom we have partnered since our debut season in 2010. We have shared an important part of our Team's journey together and Cosworth have been an integral part of our clear progression. We will continue to work together during the latter half of the season to ensure we all achieve our combined objectives before Cosworth leave the sport.”

Photo: Marussia F1 Team

Pat Symonds

Marussia F1 Team reach agreement with Technical Consultant Pat Symonds to relinquish his responsibilities to the Team with immediate effect.

Pat began working for our Team on a consultancy basis in the spring of 2011, the start of our second season of competition. This arrangement has continued since that time. 

During the course of the past two and a half seasons, Pat has overseen the implementation of a technical team for the future, blending incumbent personnel with new team members from within the sport to create what is now a very robust technical structure with real strength in depth in all key areas.



With Pat moving on to explore new opportunities, the Marussia F1 Team looks forward to announcing its own plans for the continued development of its growing technical operation in due course.

Pat Symonds. (Photo: Marussia F1 Team)

John Booth, Team Principal, Marussia F1 Team: “We have some very talented design and engineering groups in place who have achieved great things over the past few seasons and who are excited about maintaining our current positive trajectory, boosted of course by our new powertrain partnership with Scuderia Ferrari. We would like to thank Pat for the contribution he has made to the development of that structure. We look forward to announcing plans for our continued growth when it is appropriate to do so.”



Pat Symonds, Technical Consultant to the Marussia F1 Team: “I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with the Marussia F1 Team over the course of the past two and a half seasons. The Team has developed immeasurably during that time and it now has all the right people and resources in place to achieve great things in the future. I wish the Team the success it so richly deserves.”

From GMM

Honda has categorically denied reports it will build a test car in order to get track running of McLaren's 2015 engine off to an early start.

We reported last month that work on a Honda test car could start this year, long before the Japanese marque is bound by F1's regulations governing its 2015 foray.

"This (report) is untrue," McLaren spokesman told us at the time.

Honda has now issued the same denial.

"We will not build such a vehicle," Speed Week correspondent Rob La Salle quoted Honda chief Yasuhisa Arai as saying.

"The first track testing will happen during the winter testing ahead of the 2015 season," he announced.

Arai said Honda's test benches in Tochigi, Japan, are so good that building a bespoke test car is not necessary.

"I've heard the rumours," he admitted, "but we have no such plans."

Hyundai Motorsport press release

Hyundai Motorsport has announced that French rally ace Bryan Bouffier has joined the team as part of its test driver line-up for 2013.

The news comes just one week after confirmation that Finnish driver Juho Hänninen is contributing to Hyundai Motorsport's development programme with the new i20 WRC this year.

Bryan Bouffier. (Photo: Hyundai)

Bouffier is a three-time Polish Rally Champion and was crowned French Rally Champion in 2010. He also won the iconic Rallye Monte-Carlo (Intercontinental Rally Championship) in 2011 and more recently dominated the legendary Tour de Corse (European Rally Championship). His vast experience as a test driver and expert analysis skills will be essential to help grow the team and to further assess and develop the i20 WRC.

While Hänninen drove the i20 WRC for the first time back in May, Bouffier had his own taste of the car on monday. The two will be Hyundai Motorsport's main test drivers for 2013, along with a number of other drivers who will support them during the rest of the year. Hyundai Motorsport aims to derive the full benefits from the wealth of different rally experiences that each driver brings in order to make the i20 WRC the most complete package possible.

Hyundai Motorsport Team Principal Michel Nandan commented: “I'm happy to have Bryan on board. He adopts a very professional driving style and can give detailed technical feedback as well as being a very consistent driver, which are all very important attributes for a test driver. Together with Juho's experience of WRC events and his speed on all terrains, I am sure we have a strong and well-rounded line-up for our testing programme.”

Bryan Bouffier said: “I'm pleased to be joining Hyundai Motorsport's test programme and to be part of the team for this year. It's true that there is a lot of work to do but the team is in place and the facilities are impressive, so we have good foundations to build upon. This is an exciting programme and I'm sure the summer time will be very busy and hopefully just as productive.”

Lexus will unveil its replacement for the IS retractable-hardtop coupe with a pure coupe in November at the Tokyo Motor Show, and will give the car a new name -- the RC.

Geoff Day, director of communications for Mercedes-Benz USA for nearly a decade, is leaving the company on Aug. 1.

A federal jury awarded $2 million in damages to automotive entrepreneur Malcolm Bricklin's firm V Cars after a former employee of V Cars undercut a deal with China's Chery Automobile to bring luxury vehicles to the United States.

The Michigan factory where Henry Ford's moving assembly line was born would be a destination for tourists and car enthusiasts alike if plans by a local historic preservation group come together.

If there is anything approaching a critical mass of Rover cars somewhere in America, it's arguably in Fitchburg, Mass.

2013 Nissan Juke Nismo Driven

The latest Nissan sporty coupe is an atomic frog.

You might think that roaring around Nashville Superspeedway in the 2014 Nissan 370Z Nismo and the 2014 Nissan GT-R Track Edition would get a little old. Apparently so did the Nissan representatives in pit lane, who keep gesturing at us to come in from the track.

Photo Gallery: 2013 Nissan Juke Nismo Driven - Automobile Magazine

Photo Gallery: 2013 Nissan Juke Nismo Driven - Automobile Magazine

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This week in 1988 finds us piloting the thrill-inducing Lamborghini LM002 -- aka Rambo Lambo -- for a drive review.

GMC, the National Football League's official automotive sponsor, has teamed up with video game company EA Sports to feature its vehicles in Madden NFL 25.

The launch of the Nissan Versa Note this month will take Nissan North America into some unfamiliar marketing waters.

Codemasters' and#8220;F1 2013and#8221; will be out this fall for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Windows PC with a new game mode featuring classic Formula One cars on legendary F1 tracks.

Gooding and Co. is gearing up for its

Jeff Zwart: A Driver's Point of View

Jeff Zwart uses the lens of a camera to find the visual representation of speed.

If you've ever found yourself unable to turn away from a car commercial on television, you're probably looking at the work of Jeff Zwart. Highly regarded as a director of fast-action TV commercials, this fifty-eight-year-old from Los Angeles has been behind the camera for a number of advertising spots that people still check out on YouTube, like "Still Building Rockets" for Corvette, "Family Tree" for Porsche, and, most recently, "Cadillac ATS vs. the World" for Cadillac. At heart, Zwart is simply one of us, a driving enthusiast mesmerized by the experience of speed. We interviewed him at his shop in L.A., where an array of Soap Box Derby race cars from past decades hangs on the wall above file cabinets brimming with thousands of photographic images from a career that began in 1979.

Photo Gallery: Jeff Zwart: A Driver's Point of View - Automobile Magazine

Photo Gallery: Jeff Zwart: A Driver's Point of View - Automobile Magazine

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Ford will be reducing the price of its Ford Focus electric by $4,000 for the 2014 model year,

Hennessey Performance and its gang of Texas tuners are planning upgrades for the

2013 Honda Civic Si Sedan

The Civic Si is still a singular joy to drive.

I should start my review of the Civic Si by saying that the more expensive, more luxurious Acura ILX 2.4 to which this Honda is related is a perfectly fine automobile. The ILX is a Civic Si for grownups who would like to have their stick-shift fun in a middle-management friendly package. And this is fine, except the Civic Si is a better car.

Photo Gallery: 2013 Honda Civic Si Sedan - Editors' Notebook - Automobile Magazine

Photo Gallery: 2013 Honda Civic Si Sedan - Editors' Notebook - Automobile Magazine

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Awards 31 Jul, 2013

18 class winners, 36 commended cars, 8 Special Awards and the 2013 Auto Express Car of the Year – it's all here

Eight years after MG Rover, once owned by BMW, collapsed, accountants Deloitte will next week return before a British tribunal which is assessing whether it failed to manage conflicts of interest in its advice to MG Rover and the so called 'Phoenix Four' directors who bought the company from the German firm before it collapsed.