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Tesla has named Aston Martin's vehicle engineering head, Chris Porritt, as its new vice president of vehicle engineering.

California Mille founder Martin Swig loved his modest Italian cars, and he loved driving them fast.

A hidden perk of automotive journalism is that sometimes you get to ride with really good drivers. I've been chauffeured by Formula One racers, a couple of

In-car infotainment is broken. The best that can be said of the finest systems on the market is that they generally do what one asks of them and don't induce fits of rage.

EDITOR WES RAYNAL: Few people I know like full-size pickups more than me. I would happily own a Chevrolet Silverado or a

Mercedes and Bosch have developed a 'SplitView' TFT display screen that uses different viewing angles to display two different programs on one monitor simultaneously.

News 7 May, 2013

Audi Connect service shows the nearest petrol stations as well as prices

News 9 May, 2013

The Rapid Sport concept has made its debut at the Worthersee GTI event

The media day for the Barcelona motor show was 9 May. Our preview list is now republished as an historic record of the vehicles which were global debuts.

The media day for the Barcelona motor show is 9 May. Our preview list is updated every time a vehicle or concept world premiere is confirmed for this event.

News 7 May, 2013

The new 325bhp SEAT Leon Cup Racer is set to debut at the Worthersee GTI festival later this week

Ferrari Chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo has lived through many highs and lows, both on the racetrack and at the office. Times are good now. Last year, the automaker had record sales of 7,318 supercars and an operating margin of 14.4 percent.

Ferrari Chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo has lived through many highs and lows, both on the racetrack and at the office. Times are good now. Last year, the automaker had record sales of 7,318 supercars and an operating margin of 14.4 percent.

From GMM

The new Miss Finland is Lotta Hintsa and she is known in Formula 1.

The election of a Miss usually wouldn't make F1 headlines, but the 24-year-old blonde beauty's father is Aki Hintsa, team McLaren's doctor.

Finnish media reports say Lotta Hintsa, now eligible to represent Finland at the 2013 Miss Universe, is studying business and economics at Finland's Jyvaskyla University.

She also had a brief relationship with Lewis Hamilton in 2006.

Lotta Hintsa, Miss Finland 2013. (Photo: Lotta Hintsa/Facebook)

Indian billionaire, Dr. Vijay Mallya saluted the efforts and strong results of one of his drivers at Sahara Force India, Paul di Rests.

“Overall the balance is extremely positive for Sahara Force India with our best ever start to a season. We've been up at the sharp end fighting with the big teams,” Mallya said in a team press release.

“Looking at our drivers, the performances of Paul Di Resta confirm just how much he has matured as a driver,” the Team Principal and Managing Director continued.

Paul Di Resta, Sahara Force India (Photo: Sahara Force India)

“He's delivering consistently every week and we are reaping the rewards of all his hard work. He suffered a difficult end to the 2012 season, but he's shown great mental strength and determination to regroup over the winter and recapture his best form. He's pushing the team on and demanding the best from everyone, which is what we need”.

“Having come so tantalisingly close to the podium with Paul last time out, we head to Barcelona full of optimism. The hard work everyone is putting in is paying off and we hope to see the rewards this coming weekend,” Mallya ended.

“We've got to feel very happy with how things are going and I want to congratulate everybody in the team,” said Di Resta.

“We took a very sensible approach to the winter and focussed on understanding the key areas that drive performance, which seems to have paid off. It's important to pick up good points early in the season against our competitors and to be ahead of McLaren after four races is a credit to the team and a nice feeling. Of course we want to be on the podium and it was very close in Bahrain, but I'm sure it will come soon enough,” the Scot said.

From GMM

One year ago, Pastor Maldonado was on top of the world in F1, having broken through for his first formula one win.

Now returning to Barcelona in 2013, Williams has suffered a major performance slump, and - backmarkers Caterham and Marussia aside - is the only team yet to score a single point this season.

Podium Barcelona 2012.(Photo: WRi2)

"At the moment we are living hard moments," Venezuelan Maldonado, 28, said.

But after the first four 'flyaway' races of the season, the Spanish grand prix is traditionally the scene of a performance jump for many teams, as major upgrade packages are added to the cars.

And Williams - and other underperforming teams like McLaren and Sauber - have higher hopes than most that they can make a big step forward this weekend.

But Force India team boss Bob Fernley is not so sure.

"Apart from McLaren, who we know will come back and be as strong as always, for the rest of the teams there is not much (development potential) left in these cars," he told PA Sport. "We've been pretty stable (with the regulations) for the last few years, so there are not big leaps."

Maldonado agrees that Williams' task is more complicated than simply bolting on some 'go faster' bits.

"I think we need some time," he said. "The problems we have got are quite big but hopefully step by step we're going to get there."

He is not hiding the obvious pain that Williams' 2012-2013 decline is causing, having cut a noticeably downbeat figure in the paddocks so far this year.

Photo: Williams F1 Team

"Sometimes you don't feel very happy," Maldonado admitted, "but this is racing, you know. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's not and we need to do our best when it's like that to try to improve, to try to survive."

This weekend is also the one year anniversary of Williams' Barcelona pit fire, and one team member - mechanic Martin 'Barney' Betts - is still yet to fully recover from severe burns.

"Barney, with the injuries he sustained, has had to have a significant time off but it is important that he comes back and is well looked after," deputy team boss Claire Williams told the Sun newspaper.

Canadian, Jacques Villeneuve, the 1997 Formula 1 World Champion, has decided to give his career a new swing. This season, he will race against his former BAR Formula 1 teammate, Olivier Panis, in the French GT Championship.

Olivier Panis, Hugues de Chaunac, Jacques Villeneuve. (Photo: DPPI)

Last winter, Villeneuve confirmed to Auto123.com that he had sold -- or was in the process of selling -- his property located in Quebec, and that his family was going to live in Europe.

The winner of the 1995 Indianapolis 500 is now the teammate of Eric Cayrolle in the French GT series, driving a Ferrari F458 Italia for Sport Garage of Christian Petit.

“I did some ice racing with Sport Garage [in the Andros Trophy], and [team boss] Christian Petit told me about the possibility of racing in the French GT series,” Villeneuve said.

Photo: DPPI

“I really enjoy working with this team. The Ferrari F458 is a good car, Eric Cayrolle is a good teammate and finally we are supported by national and international partners. It is a very professional project. I also had the opportunity to work alongside the engineer I had in ice racing. That's crucial for me,” Villeneuve explained.

Villeneuve also explained how he decided to close the NASCAR book to focus on GT racing: “I contested one GT race last year in Baku. The cars were pretty similar to the French series' cars, and I have some experience in endurance racing from Le Mans,” Villeneuve added.

Photo: DPPI

“I know the two drivers must be well balanced. It's important for me to be able to rely on my teammate, and I think it will be the case with Eric Cayrolle. When it's just a one-off race for fun, like in Baku, it's a different story,” Villeneuve explained.

The Canadian is happy to (finally) drive a Ferrari -- and a red one! -- despite the fact that it is not a Formula 1 car.

Photo: DPPI

“For me, the most important thing is to be driving a fast car! Yes, it is stimulating to be driving for a car manufacturer such as Ferrari. The only Ferrari I ever drove in my life was the old F1 car my father used to race,” concluded Villeneuve.

From Rally America

Subaru Rally Team USA dominated the Oregon Trail Rally to win the third round of the Rally America National Championship held in Portland and Hood River, Oregon on May 3-5.

The British duo, David Higgins and co-driver Craig Drew, never relinquished their lead from the start and drove a masterful race to establish a 2 minute window over their competition and enough breathing room to drive the last day without difficulty.

However, the team nearly ended their event when Higgins struck exposed bedrock at high speeds that tore through their Subaru Impreza WRX STI suspension on stage 16. Higgins gingerly drove through the last stage of the day as the car severely pulled to one side and just made it back to service for repairs.

Photo: Aaron Kathman

This Oregon Trail Rally victory marks the third event win in a row for Higgins and Drew, and the fifth Oregon Trail Rally overall win for Higgins in his career. Higgins extends his Rally America National Championship lead in the standings with 61 points.

Hoonigan Racing's Ken Block and Alex Gelsomino persevered through multiple mechanical difficulties to salvage second place in their 2012 Ford Fiesta.

Indonesia's Rifat Sungkar amazingly completed the podium in third place in his Rally America debut with co-driver Marshall Clarke.

Disappointingly, top Rally America contenders Antoine L'Estage and Nathalie Richard from the Rockstar Energy Rally Team crashed hard their Mitsubishi WRC on stage 9 when L'Estage misheard a navigation note and launched off the road into a tree.



In the Super Production (SP) Class David Sterckx and Karen Jankowski reinserted themselves into class contention with an SP victory.

The fourth round of the Rally America National Championship takes place at the Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally in Wellsboro, Penn. on May 31-June 1.

This weekend's Grand Prix of Spain will mark the first Formula 1 race to be held in Europe this season.

The Circuit de Catalunya is one of the most demanding F1 circuits of all. It requires a very good engine, a well-balanced chassis and excellent aerodynamics.

Barcelona statistics
Length (km) : 4.655
Average Speed (km/h): 192
Top Speed (km/h): 323
% of lap at full throttle: 55
Fuel consumption per lap (kg): 2.1
Fuel consumption (l/100km): 64


Barcelona: three corners in detail (from Renault Sport F1)

Turn 1 to 3
The first corner comes at the end of the 1km pit straight on which speeds will peak at well over 300kph. The car and engine are therefore subject to heavy braking loads as the driver scrubs off 50% of that speed to take the first corner at approximately 140kph. Halfway through Turn 1, drivers start to accelerate into Turn 2 and Turn 3 (also known as Renault) but as the circuit starts to climb a car will have a tendency towards ‘snappy' oversteer. Having a delay in engine response or an overshoot in torque delivery will only confirm this trend, thus increasing tyre wear as the car tries to slide to one side and subject the tyres to lateral g-force.

Turn 10
Once through Turn 9 the track begins to descend into Turn 10. The braking zone for this corner is the hardest one of the track, as the cars arrive at 300kph and take the turn at just over 70kph. To give the right stability engineers work very hard on the overrun settings, trying to give neutral engine braking when the driver is off the throttle. In parallel engineers will try to make the downward gear shifts as smooth as possible so the torque gradient change is ironed out and not too aggressive. Giving smooth downshifts and the right level of overrun will result in a better balance, thus helping to control wheel lock and minimize tyre wear. By the end of the corner the driver is down in first gear but needs to accelerate back up the hill. This sends huge loads through the tyres so pedal maps are often designed with just this corner in mind.

Turn 14 to 16
The chicane on this track is very slow and needs, again, the right amount of engine torque, not only at the entry of the corner but in the midpoint of the chicane. In fact the driver will just blip the throttle between the entry and the exit of the chicane as he changes direction. Even if he is only on the power for a millisecond balancing the car on this knife edge is critical to keep the car balanced, minimize wheelspin and ultimately gain lap time. Once the cars exit this chicane traction is very important as the speed will be carried through turn 16, with the driver ultimately going flat out using KERS onto the pit straight.

“The pit straight gives the opportunity for a fully charged KERS to be deployed twice as the KERS energy counter resets on the start/finish line,” said Remi Taffin, Renault Sport F1 Head of Track Operations.

“While a double KERS release in the race is useful to overtake, it puts a lot of stress on the KERS cooling system. We don't think it will be a major problem for us as cooling efficiency is a key element in our package, but it does need to be carefully monitored. Setting up the right top gear in these conditions is then quite a big challenge!”

“The undulating nature of the track also puts the engine internals under pressure so every element of the engine gets a full workout here. The first corner is quite representative of this as the driver accelerates as the track goes uphill. In addition to monitoring the fluid systems, we also need to deliver a smooth torque curve to give controlled power to counter the high Gs,” Taffin explained.

The Allgäu-Orient Rally, which is not only regarded as an exceptional adventure for fans of vintage cars and modern classics, but also as a particularly creative charity campaign, caused a stir in Istanbul, Turkey, when 274 out of 350 participants formed the world's longest ever convoy of children's cars.

The MINI Baby Racers had been handed out to all participating teams at the start of the rally in Oberstaufen, Germany. Then, they set off for southeastern Europe with the little cars stowed in the luggage compartment or strapped to a roof rack.

Many rally racers said they have been approached by locals, tourists and even border agents keen to buy a MINI Baby Racer off them. But the teams did not give in -- after all, the goal was to set a record and then watch children's eyes light up with joy.

The MINI Baby Racers will be donated to toddlers from families in need at one of the subsequent stages along the rally route in Jordan. What's more, all the “standard” rally cars will be auctioned off to raise money for charity.

Photo: MINI