Auto News 5

After taking delivery of her torch-red 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Z51 at an Ohio dealership this month, Elizabeth Farrar had plenty of time to bond with it on the drive home. That's because she lives in Meridian, Miss.

Automakers are likely to face spot shortages of parts next year if North American vehicle production tops 16 million units, a new survey of suppliers concludes.

Infiniti is considering a sporty four-door coupe flagship in the mold of the Porsche Panamera.

From GMM

Fernando Alonso is pushing ahead with his plans to set up a world-class professional cycling team.

Recently, the Spaniard announced he was buying the embattled Spanish team Euskaltel-Euskadi, but the advanced negotiations broke down late last month.

The Ferrari driver, however, said he would set up his own team for 2015 instead.

Tour de France 2013 (Photo: A.S.O/letour.fr)

Alonso's manager, Luis Garcia Abad, has now told Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport that the 32-year-old's plans are already well advanced.

He said "some agreements with sponsors are already signed", while the launch date for the 2015 project is already set: "The first rest day of the next Tour (de France)," Abad announced.

"Fernando has said he wants to bring the best of formula one to cycling, and vice versa," he added.

"This means technology, research, marketing, promotion, new tools such as telemetry, a medical centre.

"The intention is to do something new and avoid the problem of doping," Abad explained.

He also said the sponsors of Alonso's team will be new to cycling, but denied speculation the Ferrari sponsor Banco Santander is one of them.

"It's better to keep the business of F1 and cycling separate," said Abad.

From press release

American Le Mans Series (ALMS) competitors decided to honour driver Sean Edwards during this weekend's season finale at Petit Le Mans.

Edwards, 26, was killed Tuesday in an accident during a private driving training session at Queensland Raceway in Australia.

“Sean was a rising star in sports car racing who found success in the United States and around the world. We will remember him as a driver and a human being with so much potential. He will be dearly missed,” said Scott Atherton, president and CEO of ALMS.

Photo; Grand-Am.com

In tribute to Edwards' memory, a memorial decal has been created for all cars competing in the ALMS season finale. The decal design was created from an illustration of Edwards' helmet by renowned motorsports artist Andy Blackmore.



Edwards is still fourth in the 2013 ALMS GTC class point standings. He earned seven podiums in 10 career ALMS starts, including a win earlier this season at Long Beach on April 20.

He also competed in the two previous GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series' Rolex 24 At Daytona endurance races. Among Edwards' many racing accomplishments was winning the 2006 FIA GT3 European championship. He was the son of former Formula One driver Guy Edwards.

Dylan Kwasniewski won the Road Atlanta 115 and claimed the 2013 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East championship, but Andrew Ranger finished fourth after having had to start from the 24th spot.

Kwasniewski, who became the youngest champion in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West last year, became the first driver to win both titles.

Ranger had quite a battle on his hands because the rain cancelled qualifying. The starting order was set per the series rule book, therefore placing the Canadian back in 24th.

The 18-year-old started from the pole position and dominated the series' inaugural visit to the 2.54-mile road course by leading wire-to-wire for his sixth win of the season. 

Daniel Suárez crossed the line in second, in front of Bryan Ortiz, Andrew Ranger and rookie Cole Custer.

Kwasniewski also became the second driver ever to notch championships in two different series in consecutive years.

Canadian Bruno Spengler has claimed pole position ahead of the 2013 DTM championship finale in Hockenheim.

The 2012 champion beat Team Schnitzer teammate Dirk Werner by .303 second around the 4.574-kilometre track, under a clear blue sky. Andy Priaulx and Timo Glock finished third and fourth respectively to make it a BMW 1-2-3-4.

Bruno Spengler, BMW M3 DTM (Photo: René Fagnan)

Priaulx was .638 second slower than Spengler in Q4.

Earlier in the session, Adrien Tambay (Audi RS 5) posted the fastest time in Q1, while Mattias Ekström (Audi RS 5) and Glock went fastest in Q2 and Q3 respectively.

Timo Glock, BMW M3 DTM (Photo: DTM.com)

The former F1 driver was third at the end of qualifying, but the stewards pushed him back one spot because he overstepped the track's marks in his ultimate flying lap.

Toronto native Robert Wickens was the fastest Mercedes driver. He will start 13th tomorrow.

Robert Wickens, Mercedes C-Coupe (Photo: DTM.com)

John Z. DeLorean, who founded the DeLorean Motor Company, was arrested on October 19th, 1982, on charges of drug trafficking. He reportedly tried to smuggle 25 kilos of cocaine worth $24 million.

DeLorean once worked at both Chrysler and General Motors, and he's actually responsible for the Pontiac GTO and Firebird. The car he's famous for, though, was the DeLorean DMC-12, which didn't enjoy much success given that it cost $25,000 (compared to $10,000 for the average car, and $18,000 for a fully equipped Corvette).

DeLorean's lawyers claimed the FBI had tricked their client, since they knew he would do just about anything to save his struggling company. He was found not guilty because of entrapment in August 1984.

DeLorean died from a stroke in March 2005 at the age of 80.

Source: Wikipedia

Photo: Wikipedia

From GMM

F1 rookie Esteban Gutierrez has revealed the extent of his struggle for form this year.

The 22-year-old Mexican has struggled for much of 2013, but an improved Sauber and boosted confidence led to his maiden points - 6 of them - at Suzuka last weekend.

His chances of staying at the Swiss team for a second season have therefore been radically boosted.

"Coming up in formula one is not easy, you have to go step by step," Gutierrez told the French magazine Auto Hebdo.

Esteban Gutierrez (Photo: Sauber F1 Team)

"I made some mistakes early in the season, like all rookies, but then it was a matter of putting in place all the pieces of the puzzle.

"The team knows how hard I've worked, and am still working, to get everything in place to grow as a grand prix driver, and to grow with the team."

A major piece of the puzzle, Gutierrez revealed, was adjusting to his new fame.

"Many things changed for me," he said.

"We have a big family in Mexico, and the life of each member, not only mine, was affected radically, and in a really fast way.

"Inevitably, this has created tensions.

"This is not something I've ever mentioned or shown in the media, but it was unavoidable -- and it has an impact," added Gutierrez.

Beyond 2013, he admitted that his future is essentially "not in my hands".

Team Penske's Will Power took pole position for Saturday's IndyCar season finale at Fontana, while both title contenders Helio Castroneves and Scott Dixon (Ganasi) finished respectively 2nd and 7th.

But Castroneves and Dixon will start only 12th and 17th, as both were hit by 10-place grid penalty for unapproved engine changes.

AJ Allmendinger, called in by Penske to drive a third car, finished third fastest despite not having driven an IndyCar since Detroit in June.

Sebastien Bourdais (Dragon Racing) set the fourth fatest time in front of Ganassi's Charlie Kimball and Rahal Letterman Lanigan's James Jakes.

Alex Tagliani, who is standing in for the injured Dario Franchitti at Ganassi, posted the 13th fastest time.

IndyCar Fontana round - Qualifying results
Pos Driver Team/Engine Speed
1. Will Power Penske/Chevy 220.775
2. Helio Castroneves Penske/Chevy 219.677*
3. AJ Allmendinger Penske/Chevy 218.894
4. Sebastien Bourdais Dragon/Chevy 218.513
5. Charlie Kimball Ganassi/Honda 217.986
6. James Jakes Rahal/Honda 217.979
7. Scott Dixon Ganassi/Honda 217.979*
8. Marco Andretti Andretti/Chevy 217.958
9. Ed Carpenter Carpenter/Chevy 217.932
10. Josef Newgarden Fisher/Honda 217.871*
11. James Hinchcliffe Andretti/Chevy 217.798
12. Tony Kanaan KV/Chevy 217.566
13. Alex Tagliani Ganassi/Honda 217.419
14. Carlos Munoz Andretti/Chevy 217.050
15. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti/Chevy 216.898
16. Simon Pagenaud Schmidt/Honda 216.447
17. Oriol Servia Panther/Chevy 216.213
18. Graham Rahal Rahal/Honda 216.106*
19. JR Hildebrand Herta/Honda 215.967
20. Tristan Vautier Schmidt/Honda 215.207
21. Simona de Silvestro KV/Chevy 214.679
22. Sebastian Saavedra Dragon/Chevy 213.262*
23. Justin Wilson Coyne/Honda
24. Pippa Mann Coyne/Honda
25. Takuma Sato Foyt/Honda*

*Will get a 10-place grid penalty

Auto123.com Racing is providing motorsport fans with a live description of the qualifying session of the final race of the 2013 DTM season held at the Hockenheimring, Germany.

QUALIFYING SESSION TIMETABLE:
In Europe: from 2:40 pm to 3:50 pm
In Montreal and the East Coast: from 8:40 am to 9:50 am

For technical reasons, the commentaries are provided in both English and French.

Simply click on the box below to access the Live Coverage.

Baltimore's port, a gateway for autos from BMW and Mazda, partially reopened with car shipments still idled even as striking longshoremen resumed work on container vessels.

The trust responsible for paying the health-care costs of some union retirees of Chrysler Group faces $3 billion in unfunded obligations as it works to get the most for its stake that Fiat wants to buy.

Lapo Elkann, the brother of Fiat Chairman John Elkann and an heir to Italy's biggest industrial dynasty, said in an interview published on Friday that he was sexually abused as a teenager while at boarding school.

Lapo Elkann, the brother of Fiat Chairman John Elkann, said he was sexually abused as a teenager while at boarding school.

VL Automotive, a Detroit venture backed by former General Motors' vice chairman Bob Lutz, is moving ahead with plans to convert

With its successor set to bow at the Detroit auto show in a couple of months' time, word's come down from

The global transmissions market has changed rapidly in the recent past. The requirement for greater fuel efficiency in particular has brought a great deal of dynamism to the global transmission market. In this month's management briefing we bring you selected extracts from just-auto QUBE's research service, Global light vehicle transmissions and clutches market, starting with an overview of the market.

VL Automotive, a Detroit venture backed by former General Motors' vice chairman Bob Lutz, is moving ahead with plans to convert Fisker Karmas from hybrid power to Corvette power.

News 18 Oct, 2013

Here's our handy round-up of the biggest new stories to break this week