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From GMM

Yet another war front has opened for F1's embattled chief executive Bernie Ecclestone.

As the trial brought by a German media company started in London on Tuesday, 83-year-old Ecclestone was accused of being "corrupt" by lawyers for Constantin Medien, who are seeking $171 million in damages.

Not only that, Briton Ecclestone is still waiting to see if German prosecutors are going to push their similar, albeit criminal charges to a trial, relating to the $44 million payment made to Gerhard Gribkowsky, allegedly as a bribe.

And it now emerges that Swiss authorities have opened their own criminal investigation into the same matter relating to the sale of F1's commercial rights some years ago.

Following a report in the Financial Times, the Bloomberg news agency quoted a spokesman for the Geneva prosecutor's office as saying: "A criminal investigation has been launched."

The spokesman said the investigation follows a request made by Constantin.

"We have to establish the veracity of the facts and whether these would constitute a criminal violation," he added.

Photo: WRi2

From GMM

German Formula 1 driver Nico Hulkenberg looks set to miss out on the Lotus race seat for 2014.

Team boss Eric Boullier has admitted the German is his preferred choice to replace Kimi Raikkonen.

But, because Hulkenberg is basically unsponsored, an actual paid deal between the 26-year-old and the Enstone based team has been pending the sale of a 35 per cent stake in Lotus to a group of investors known as Quantum.

It seems the deal may have fallen over.

Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber (Photo: Sauber F1 Team)

Germany's Auto Motor und Sport said Pastor Maldonado, whose lucrative Venezuelan backers PDVSA have been negotiating their exit from Williams, has leapt to the front of the queue to replace Raikkonen.

"Some say the deal is now done," said correspondent Michael Schmidt.

Schmidt said Williams, who would be compensated by PDVSA for ending the contract, is likely to replace Maldonado with Ferrari refugee Felipe Massa, who is said to be backed by the Brazilian oil company Petrobras.

It is believed Hulkenberg is unlikely to stay at Sauber next year, which could mean a return to Sahara Force India for the German, whose F1 career was rescued by the Silverstone based team after he lost his Williams seat in 2010.

Eddie Jordan, with a solid reputation for usually getting his stated predictions right, said earlier this month he is "certain" Hulkenberg will race a Sahara Force India in 2014.

However, team supremo Vijay Mallya threw a spanner in Jordan's theory this week when he named Hulkenberg as the "only driver" who has ever "expressed the desire to leave" Sahara Force India after just a single season.

"Other than that all the other drivers have always been very happy to stay," he told F1's official website.

Mallya said the team will not name its 2014 driver line-up until December.

From GMM

Former F1 doctor Gary Hartstein has slammed suggestions even formula one is not immune to doping.

From 2003 to 2005, Marc Sanson was head of the conseil de prevention et de lutte contre le dopage, or the French anti-doping council.

This year, the French senate revealed an explosive report about doping, with particular attention to the troubled world of cycling.

But Sanson was quoted as saying: "For many years, (F1) drivers have used tacrine, a product used in the treatment of diseases such as Alzheimer's, in order to remember the circuits more easily."

According to The National newspaper, former F1 doctor Hartstein hit back angrily at Sanson's claims.

He said the comments smack of a "loudmouth know-nothing looking for a headline", adding that "tacrine is not and has never been on the prohibited list".

But Gartstein said that even though tacrine is not prohibited, he doubts F1 drivers take it anyway because "it has tons of side effects".

"You may get a performance advantage, you may die, any number of things might happen, but it's not doping -- maybe stupid, but not doping," he insisted.

The second biggest story, after Jeff Gordon's win at Martinsville on Sunday, was Gregg Biffle's post-race confrontation with Jimmie Johnson in the pits.

Biffle was angry with the five-time champion for tearing off his rear bumper, or so he thought. After the race he caught up with Johnson who was in the middle of doing a radio interview. In the last two days Biffle has been on a damage control mission.

“It was multi‑layer,” Biffle said. “The biggest thing was I was getting a lot of hate mail on Twitter from all the 48 fans about the way I reacted. So I was apologizing to the fans, not Jimmie Johnson at that point. My apology to Jimmie Johnson was on the telephone. I know that's old‑fashioned, a lot of people don't do that anymore.

I was apologizing for probably the way I handled it. When I was walking over there, I was furious. We had a great car. Nobody knows this, but we had the fastest car the last 65 laps of that race. We closed in on the leader by five seconds from the start of that run to the end of it. We closed in on the 24 (Gordon) car by that much. I had to start to the back and drove to ninth.

The other misconception was that everybody said, ‘You should be mad at the 88 (Dale Earnhardt Jr.), he ripped your bumper off.' We came in and fixed it and started at the back. The 48 (Johnson) car ran square in the back of my car, not inside of me, like his claim when I came up and talked to him about it.

I probably should have grabbed him by the arm maybe and voiced my displeasure. I wasn't going to do the old patented Jeff Gordon two arms to the chest. He's kind of got that one. But I was upset that I had to start at the back. I had a good opportunity to get a top‑three finish at Martinsville for the first time. Quite honestly after that thing was over, maybe a chance to battle for the win.

It just didn't transpire and I was a little upset about that. So I should have handled that a little differently with Jimmie. I didn't realize he was in the middle of his interview. I thought he was talking to some print reporters when I first went over there. I didn't realize he was on camera. I apologize for that. I should have maybe waited till he was done and then had my conversation with him in private with no cameras or media around.”

From GMM

Adrian Newey has admitted Pirelli's mid-season tire specification change helped the quadruple back-to-back world champions in 2013.

Sebastian Vettel, who clinched his fourth title in India last weekend, had already won races this season at the time of the tire-exploding British grand prix, where after Pirelli came under pressure to revert to last year's kevlar-belted construction.

Red Bull lobbied hard for the change, and car designer Newey has now admitted that the 2012 tires gave the team a performance boost.

"Going back to the 2012 tires clearly helped us," he is quoted by France's L'Equipe. "Our car works very well in fast corners, which is where the 2013 tires suffered most. They were pretty easy to damage, so we couldn't really use this advantage that we had over the other teams."

Although Vettel's name has been under the title spotlight for the past four seasons, many in the paddock believe Newey to be the real champion of that period.

Adrian Newey at work, Red Bull Racing. (Photo: WRi2)

But Adrian Newey insists that Vettel has grown into the role of a truly top F1 driver, since lifting his first title in a head-to-head with teammate Mark Webber in 2010.

"His driving has gone from very talented but slightly raw at times in, let's say, 2009, to incredibly well rounded now," he told the Guardian.

"In 2009 and 2010 you could occasionally criticise him for making slightly ill-judged moves and hence having accidents. You could criticise him, possibly, for not being able to overtake. I think some people, possibly, felt that, if he didn't start from pole and control the race from the front, then he was not so good," added Newey.

"You really can't make those criticisms any more. It's difficult to see a chink in his armoury."

Vettel's fellow four-time world champion Alain Prost agrees: "He doesn't make stupid mistakes anymore," he told Germany's Sport Bild.

So as the podium boos of recent races now fade, Vettel's four titles - surpassed only by Juan Manuel Fangio (5) and Michael Schumacher (7) - have gained him a new level of respect.

Ferrari test driver Pedro de la Rosa said: "Vettel has been magnificent in his work," he told Marca, "and he stands out with Alonso, Kimi and Hamilton. It is impossible to take any merit from his successes."

On October 30th, 1963 at the Turin Auto Show, Lamborghini introduced the 350 GTV, the concept version of its first-ever production automobile, the 350 GT. Equipped with a 360-horsepower, 24-valve V12 engine, it reached speeds of 280 km/h during track tests.

The 350 GT, meanwhile, was produced from 1964-1967. Only 120 units made it out of the factory at $13,900 USD apiece.

Source: Wikipedia

Photo: Lamborghini

The Yas Marina circuit of Abu Dhabi will feature a slightly longer first DRS zone at this weekend's Formula 1 Grand Prix.

The DRS (Drag Reduction System) zones at Yas Marina are on the two back straights. The first zone has a detection point 40m before Turn 7, with activation 390m after Turn 7. This means that the DRS zone will be 80m longer than last year.

The second zone's detection point is 50m after Turn 9 with activation at the apex of Turn 10.

Additionally, speed bumps similar to those used around the first chicane at Monza have been installed two metres from the track edge around the outside of Turns 8 and 11.

Abu Dhabi Yas Marina circuit (Image: FIA)

From United SportsCar

The 2014 Rolex 24 at Daytona begins the quest for the first TUDOR Championship title, and also kicks off the North American Endurance Championship.

The Rolex 24 at Daytona is annually anticipated as the first major event on the North American motorsports calendar - and the beginning of a new season in sports car racing.

The 2014 event takes on additional importance as the opening of a new era in the sport. The GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series and American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón have come together as one organization under IMSA sanction with the debut of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship.

The Rolex 24 begins the quest for the first TUDOR Championship title, and also kicks off the North American Endurance Championship, which now includes the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring and Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta in addition to the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen as North American sports car racing is unified for the first time since 1997.

The season opener traditionally attracts the best drivers from various disciplines of the sport - including the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, IndyCar and international sports car competition. This year will be no exception, with stars of all forms of the sport looking to be part of this history-making weekend.

The TUDOR Championship will have four classes of competition.

The lead Prototype category pairs the Daytona Prototype from the Rolex Series with the P2 from the ALMS, bringing together the best from both divisions. Also competing is the revolutionary DeltaWing coupe, which will be racing at Daytona for the first time.

Making its Daytona debut is the ALMS' Prototype Challenge presented by Continental Tire (PC), virtually unchanged from 2013.

The ALMS GT division - recognized as the best GT competition in the world - continues as the GTLM (GT Le Mans) class. The Rolex Series GT continues as GTD (GT Daytona), also including the former ALMS' GTC class.

The weekend also includes the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge, with the series returning to the same sanction as its debut in 1985 as the IMSA Firestone Firehawk Endurance Championship.

Fans can attend the three-day test for the season opener, "The Roar Before the Rolex 24," on January 3-5. Activity for the Rolex 24 event weekend - including night practice - gets underway on Thursday, January 23. When the green flag waves for the Rolex 24 on Saturday January 25, a new chapter in North American motorsports begins.

Nissan says sales of its Rogue compact crossover will show a big increase in the United States when October sales close this week, even as the automaker prepares to roll out a redesigned version.

2014 Chevrolet Camaro

Just how many variants of the 2014 Chevrolet Camaro does the world need? In addition to the base six-cylinder Camaro and the V-8-powered Camaro SS, we also have the supercharged Camaro ZL1 and convertible variants for all three models.

New For 2014

The Z/28 model is a new addition to the 2014 Chevrolet Camaro lineup. Pricing has yet to be announced but is expected to be a bit higher than the $56,000 price tag of the ZL1. All other 2014 Chevrolet Camaro models gain new front and rear styling, save for the ZL1, which keeps its old nose.

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2014 Porsche Boxster

The Porsche Boxster doesn't have quite the lineage of the more famous 911, but it is fast becoming a legend in its own right.

New For 2014

The Boxster enters 2014 with virtually no changes, having been redesigned just last year. The 2014 Porsche Boxster rides on an aluminum-intensive architecture shared with the new 911, features more efficient and more powerful flat-six engines, and wears more aggressive styling. It also has a roomier, more luxurious interior.

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2014 Porsche Panamera

There are lots of four-door vehicles that claim to be sports cars. The Porsche Panamera actually means it.

New For 2014

A plug-in hybrid called the 2014 Porsche Panamera S E-Hybrid joins the lineup, replacing the conventional hybrid Porsche introduced just two years ago. The 2014 Porsche Panamera S also becomes more efficient, as a supercharged V-6 replaces the old 4.8-liter V-8. A long-wheelbase body style is now offered for 4S and Turbo models. All Panameras benefit from a mild face-lift.

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A beach-ready Ram 1500 pickup with a surfboard rack and an onboard shower leads a fleet of customized vehicles Chrysler Group will take to the 2013 Specialty Equipment Market Association show next month in Las Vegas.

Spanish site diariomotor.

A dispute between TRW Automotive and General Motors may end a $700 million brake component contract, sources told Crain's Detroit Business.

2015 Aston Martin V12 Vantage S First Drive

Indulgence and hardship.

Palm Springs, California -- Docking the key of the 2015 Aston Martin V12 Vantage S in its receptacle brings this supercar to life in the same way as an orphanage on the morning when all the children have spilled their orange juice. The ominous hubbub would make any headmaster wince. Events from this point forward could be very hard to control.

Photo Gallery: 2015 Aston Martin V12 Vantage S First Drive - Automobile Magazine

Photo Gallery: 2015 Aston Martin V12 Vantage S First Drive - Automobile Magazine

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We're sure many of you have read Orson Scott Card's award-winning science fiction novel "Ender's Game," but we're pretty sure that few of you ever imagined an

Aston Martin's Julian Jenkins stopped at Jay Leno's Garage on Sunday to show off some of the newest hardware from the British brand.

Johnson Controls said it would explore various options for its unprofitable automotive interiors unit, including a divestiture.

Mitsubishi Motors today said that its net income jumped 56 percent in the fiscal first half ended Sept. 30 to 46.73 billion yen ($475.8 million), as revenue rose 8 percent to $9.46 billion.