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News 23 Sep, 2013

Breaking Bad cars driven by characters go on auction ahead of season 5 finale

News 23 Sep, 2013

Porsche has unveiled open-top versions of the 911 Turbo and Turbo S ahead of an L.A Motor Show debut

How will tomorrow's car drive and what role will you play? Those in favour of autonomous driving are quick to point out the benefits, such as fewer accidents, reduced traffic congestion, improved fuel efficiency and, of course, relieving you the task of driving, parking and navigating the vehicle (something we all might especially appreciate as we live for longer). But not everyone likes the idea of driverless cars running around on our roads. A sudden malfunction could leave you powerless. For its part, Bosch used this year's IAA to display an avalanche of innovations to support autonomous driving. In this interview, Matthew Beecham talked with Michael Fausten, Head of Bosch project team Autonomated Driving.

How will tomorrow's car drive and what role will you play? Those in favour of autonomous driving are quick to point out the benefits, such as fewer accidents, reduced traffic congestion, improved fuel efficiency and, of course, relieving you the task of driving, parking and navigating the vehicle (something we all might especially appreciate as we live for longer). But not everyone likes the idea of driverless cars running around on our roads. A sudden malfunction could leave you powerless. For its part, Bosch used this year's IAA to display an avalanche of innovations to support autonomous driving. In this interview, Matthew Beecham talked with Michael Fausten, Head of Bosch project team Autonomated Driving.

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Porsche has revealed the new

German steelmaker ThyssenKrupp has described a magazine report that says it's preparing to sell its automotive division as ''nonsense.''

Webasto has reconfigured production at its U.S. plant in Michigan without incurring high costs in order to satisfy increasing demand for sunroofs.

From GMM

Sebastian Vettel's fourth consecutive title win moved a step closer to certainty on Sunday as he pulled 60 points clear of his nearest title rival.

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso can mathematically close the gap to the dominant Red Bull by November's Brazil finale, but he now admits it is more than unlikely.

"We don't need luck in Korea; we need luck in Korea, in Japan, in India, in Abu Dhabi... if we are one second off the pace, we need a lot of luck," said the Spaniard.

Photo: WRi2

Indeed, while Vettel cannot mathematically secure the title in Korea next weekend, from Suzuka onwards - five races to the end - it starts to become a possibility.

Undoubtedly, with reality now biting hard, it makes no sense to keep pushing the development of the 2013 car when Red Bull and Vettel are so far clear and superior.

And the huge challenge of the 2014 regulations is yet another argument in favour of downing tools on this campaign.

"Well, we start from zero next year so it's our best opportunity to close the gap. Really we will put all our effort and hopes into 2014," said Alonso.

Boss Stefano Domenicali also confirmed that "99 per cent" of Ferrari's focus is now on 2014. Alonso suggests the focus actually switched some time ago.

"When they (Pirelli) changed the tires, we said bye-bye," he said.

Also theoretically still in the hunt is Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton, but he admitted on Sunday that he is not even dreaming about tracking down a 100 point gap.

"We'll just try and catch Fernando somehow," said the Briton.

The fact the title is all but done-and-dusted with six races left to run might explain why Vettel was booed yet again on the podium on Sunday.

The championship leader blamed the Ferrari fans. "If you look at the grandstand, most of them are dressed in red," said the German.

Sebastian Vettel laughed off the Singapore crowd's reaction, but Red Bull boss Christian Horner suggested the 26-year-old was actually hurt.

"He's only human," he told Bild newspaper.

But Felipe Massa, a Ferrari driver for six more races, said F1 should expect more of the same as the 2013 season rolls on.

"We are seeing an end of the championship with nobody developing the current cars, so it (the results) will probably look something like this," he said in Singapore.

From press release

Tom Kristensen, Loïc Duval and Allan McNish drove a faultless race today in Austin, Texas to win the 6 Hours of the Circuit of The Americas, the fifth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship. 

Photo: Audi Motorsport

The Audi trio sealed their third victory of the 2013 season by 23 seconds over Toyota Racing and extended their championship lead over their team mates in the No.1 entry by 33 points.  The No.8 TS030 Hybrid of Anthony Davidson, Stéphane Sarrazin and Sébastien Buemi challenged the Audis throughout, and finished a lap ahead of the No.1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro which had a disrupted race due to incidents and accidents. 

The No.12 Rebellion Racing Lola Toyota of Nicolas Prost, Nick Heidfeld and Mathias Beche, unchallenged in the LMP1 Privateer category, finished in fourth place overall with another impressive display of reliability and consistency.

Photo: Audi Motorsport

The LMP2 class provided some very close racing in the first half of the race.  After leading for much of the race, victory for the No.26 G-Drive Racing ORECA 03 Nissan was fully deserved; its second consecutive victory for Mike Conway, Roman Rusinov and John Martin. 

A second place finish today for the No.49 Pecom Racing ORECA 03 Nissan entry of Luis Perez Companc, Nicolas Minassian and Pierre Kaffer was enough to give them the lead in the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMP2 teams, while the No.32 Lotus Praga T128 of Thomas Holzer-Kraihamer-Charouz claimed its first podium finish of the season. 

Fred Makowiecki and Bruno Senna put on a dominant display of driving in the No.99 Aston Martin Vantage V8 to claim victory in LMGTE Pro, despite being put under persistent pressure by the two AF Corse Ferraris.  

A late-race challenge for the lead by Jamie Campbell-Walter rewarded the No.96 Aston Martin Vantage V8 with its second LMGTE win of the year, the Briton sharing the cockpit once again with Stuart Hall. 

The next round will take place on the 20 October in Japan at the impressive Fuji International Speedway in the shadow of Mount Fuji.

Quebec driver Alex Guenette has won the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series' Rookie of the Year despite finishing 17th at the season finale presented at Kawartha Speedway on Sunday.

For his first time on the small oval, Guenette qualified 20th for the Pinty's 250 and had to work quite hard if he wanted to move upfront.

The 17-year-old driver was not help by a poor team strategy which made him run almost 235 of the 250 laps on the same set of right tires. An inspection after the race also revealed that his car was leaking oil which did not help.

« We still managed to win the Rookie of the Year title and I'm very happy. We also finished 10th in the championship which is pretty good considering the number of mechanical issues we've had all season long. » declared Guenette.

Because of his new title, Alex Guenette has been invited to the NASCAR Night of Champions Touring Series Awards that will be held in Charlotte, NC., December 14th.

Alex Guenette. (Photo: Serge Cantin, page Facebook Alex Guenette)