Auto News 5

Johnson Controls has opened a new manufacturing plant in Queretaro, Mexico, producing moulded polyurethane foam for automotive seats.

Henniges Automotive Holdings says it has acquired the remaining 40% of Beijing Wanyuan-Henniges Sealing Systems from its Chinese joint venture with China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT).

News 18 Feb, 2014

You could soon be able to buy winter tyres with metal studs that deploy at the push of a button

The

Lexus has announced that they'll be unveiling the 2015 RC 350 F Sport at next month's

News 4 Mar, 2014

Vauxhall reveals new Adam Rocks at Geneva Motor Show, a more rugged version of the Adam city car

News 18 Feb, 2014

Gas-powered Audi A3 Sportback g-tron arrives in showrooms in Germany, but no plans to bring the technology to the UK

PSA/Peugeot-Citroen and Dongfeng have signed a memorandum of understanding to proceed with a planned 3 billion euro ($4.1 billion) capital tie-up, a source said. The deal was signed after PSA's board approved the tie-up.

PSA and Dongfeng will agree today to a capital tie-up as part of a broader 3 billion euro fundraising that will end the Peugeot family's control of the 200-year-old French company, a source said.

European new-car sales rose for a fifth consecutive month in January as the start of an economic recovery in countries sharing the euro encouraged purchases. Registrations increased 5 percent, industry association ACEA said.

Chevrolet gets emotional in the newest spot to crack our weekly auto brand viral video rankings.

After particularly strong Q3 gains, automakers, suppliers and retailers saw further improvements in the final quarter of 2013, as measured by the ANE/PricewaterhouseCoopers Transaction Services Shareholder Value Indices.

From press release

Williams F1 team Tuesday announced that it has signed a new multi-year partnership agreement with Brazilian multi-national energy company Petrobras.

Williams and Petrobras have had a history of technology collaboration dating back to 1998 when the team started using Petrobras' fuel for the first time in a partnership which lasted for 11 years.

This new agreement will see the Williams and Petrobras technical collaboration continue once more as the two parties work together to develop a new specialist motorsport fuel for use by the team starting in the 2015 season.

With new engine regulations coming into effect from 2014 that require teams to use more efficient fuels, Petrobras' expertise will ensure that the team is well placed to meet the demands of greater energy efficiency within the sport.

Petrobras will use the global platform of F1to further brand awareness through the placement of its logo on the side of the Williams Mercedes FW36 chassis and across the team environment and apparel.

Williams will run Brazilian driver Felipe Massa this season alongside Valtteri Bottas of Finland.

Nico Rosberg, Williams, 2007. (Photo: WRi2)

From GMM

The latest driver in Red Bull's single seater talent programme was plucked out of the world of video gaming.

22-year-old Briton Jann Mardenborough honed his skills on the Playstation game Gran Turismo, winning the Nissan-sponsored virtual competition GT Academy and then moving into real-life GT, Le Mans and F3 single seaters.

"The traditional route to F1 of karting and single-seaters is a tried and tested success, but Nissan and Playstation have gone down a very different road and started to find some very talented drivers who have been doing all their practising on a games console," said Red Bull driver development chief Andy Damerum.

Jann Mardenborough has been signed up by the energy drink company, and in 2014 he moves into the third-tier F1 feeder series GP3 with Christian Horner's Arden team.

Jann Mardenborough, Arden, at Abu Dhabi. (Photo: GP3 Series)

It is the very seat that last year was occupied by Russian Daniil Kvyat, who has leapt straight into formula one for 2014 with the energy drink company's second team Toro Rosso.

"This season is my opportunity to impress more people in the sport who make the decisions on who makes it into F1 and who doesn't, and I'm going to give it my best shot," Jann Mardenborough said.

Driving the iconic No. 3 Chevy, Austin Dillon won the pole for the 2014 Daytona 500 Sprint Cup Series race at Daytona International Speedway with a speed of 196.019mph.

Dillon is the fifth rookie driver to win the Daytona 500 pole [Danica Patrick, Jimmie Johnson, Mike Skinner and Loy Allen] and the fourth driver to capture the Daytona 500 pole running the No. 3 car [Buddy Baker-1969, Ricky Rudd-1983 and Dale Earnhardt-1996].

Martin Truex Jr won the outside pole and will start the race second this Sunday.

QUALIFYING RESULTS (odd qualifiers start in 1st Duel, even qualifiers in 2nd Duel)

1) No. 3-Austin Dillon 196.019mph - locked in, pole winner
2) No. 78-Martin Truex Jr. 195.852 - locked in, outside pole winner
3) No. 16-Greg Biffle 195.818 - locked in Daytona 500 at least by speed
4) No. 99-Carl Edwards 195.712 - locked in Daytona 500 at least by speed
5) No. 31-Ryan Newman 195.707 - locked in Daytona 500 at least by speed
6) No. 2-Brad Keselowski 195.296 - locked in Daytona 500 at least by speed
7) No. 88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. 195.211 - locked in Daytona 500 at least by owners points/provisional
8) No. 24-Jeff Gordon 195.042 - locked in Daytona 500 at least by owners points/provisional
9) No. 17-Ricky Stenhouse Jr 195.004
10) No. 27-Paul Menard 194.919
11) No. 9-Marcos Ambrose 194.894
12) No. 22-Joey Logano 194.852
13) No. 33-Brian Scott 194.776
14) No. 43-Aric Almirola 194.658
15) No. 48-Jimmie Johnson 194.637 - locked in Daytona 500 at least by owners points/provisional
16) No. 13-Casey Mears 194.582
17) No. 20-Matt Kenseth 194.574 - locked in Daytona 500 at least by owners points/provisional
18) No. 7-Michael Annett 194.574
19) No. 5-Kasey Kahne 194.544
20) No. 15-Clint Bowyer 194.523 - locked in Daytona 500 at least by owners points/provisional
21) No. 18-Kyle Busch 194.502 - locked in Daytona 500 at least by owners points/provisional
22) No. 11-Denny Hamlin 194.477
23) No. 4-Kevin Harvick 194.422
24) No. 42-Kyle Larson 194.410
25) No. 10-Danica Patrick 194.380
26) No. 21-Trevor Bayne 194.334
27) No. 47-AJ Allmendinger 194.108
28) No. 41-Kurt Busch 194.078 - needs to race in via Budweiser Duel, no regular provisional available, BUT could use past champ if not used
29) No. 36-Reed Sorenson 194.066
30) No. 51-Justin Allgaier 193.815
31) No. 38-David Gilliland 193.736
32) No. 40-Landon Cassill 193.732
33) No. 30-Parker Kligerman 193.594
34) No. 66-Michael Waltrip 193.428
35) No. 14-Tony Stewart 193.365 - locked in Daytona 500 at least by past champions provisional
36) No. 35-Eric McClure 192.905
37) No. 55-Brian Vickers 192.798
38) No. 1-Jamie McMurray 192.695
39) No. 26-Cole Whitt 192.538 - needs to race in via Budweiser Duel, no provisional available
40) No. 34-David Ragan 192.328
41) No. 95-Michael McDowell 192.291 - needs to race in via Budweiser Duel, no provisional available
42) No. 32-Terry Labonte 192.135, could use past champions provisional if needed and not used
43) No. 98-Josh Wise 192.061
44) No. 52-Bobby Labonte 191.493 - needs to race in via Budweiser Duel, no regular provisional available, BUT could use past champ if not used
45) No. 87-Joe Nemechek 190.480
46) No. 83-Ryan Truex 190.347
47) No. 23-Alex Bowman 189.685
48) No. 93-Morgan Shepherd 189.542 - needs to race in via Budweiser Duel, no provisional available
49) No. 77-Dave Blaney no speed - needs to race in via Budweiser Duel, no provisional available

From GMM

Adrian Newey has admitted his rush to design Red Bull's title-defending car for 2014 was a cause of the early-season technical crisis.

Much of the blame for the team's situation, where the RB10 struggled merely to run at the recent Jerez test, has fallen on troubled engine supplier Renault.

But Adrian Newey says Red Bull must also take the blame.

"What stopped us at Jerez - on our side as opposed to Renault - was a problem where the bodywork local to the exhaust was catching fire," he is quoted by the Daily Star.

Red Bull RB10. (Photo: WRi2)

"It was really a lack of time. It was something we could have proved out on the dyno if we had managed to get everything together earlier. But Renault have been up against it in terms of their use of the dyno; we have been up against it making the parts in time," Adrian Newey added.

"So had we been a couple of weeks further ahead then that could all have been done in private on the dyno. But unfortunately it was done in public. Hands up on our side, that was a Red Bull problem," the Briton said.

With both Red Bull and Renault taking fixes to this week's Bahrain test, world champion Sebastian Vettel will be first at the wheel on Wednesday and Thursday.

And the last two days of the initial Bahrain test will be conducted by the German's new teammate, Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull confirmed.

From press release

Gymkhana star, Ken Block is the latest driver to announce he will join the all-new FIA World Rallycross Championship presented by Monster Energy after the American star has confirmed he will compete in a minimum of three rounds in 2014.

Ken Block's Ford Fiesta. (Photo: World Rallycross Championship)

Block - who will drive a Ford Fiesta as part of the Hoonigan Racing Division - will begin his World RX campaign in Hell, Norway from June 14-15, and will also compete in Loheac, France (September 6-7) and Istanbul, Turkey (October 11-12).

This latest news follows on from last week's announcement that former Formula 1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve will compete on the World RX grid which boasts a truly international and star-studded line-up.

“I'm stoked with how the new liveries for my Ford Fiestas have turned out, as well as the race schedule we've been able to put together for 2014,” said Ken Block.

“Once again I've been fortunate enough to put together a highly diverse schedule that has me going around the world... and, most interestingly, racing in three of the World Rallycross Championship rounds for the first time ever. I'm pretty sure nobody has a better job than me this year!”

From press release

Tagliani Autosport and popular Canadian IndyCar/NASCAR and SportsCar racer, race winner and Indianapolis 500 pole sitter Alex Tagliani, and three-time and defending NASCAR Canadian Tire Series champion Scott Steckly, announced an alliance for Tagliani to drive a 22 Racing prepared Dodge Challenger in a return to the Series for the 2014 season.

A long tradition of excellence in preparation, presentation and performance is what brought 22 Racing, Driven Motorsport and Tagliani Autosport together to strike up the partnership to drive the Tagliani Autosport/Team EpiPen/Dicom Express No. 18.

"I'm very excited to have Alex drive out of our 22 Racing stable this season," stated team owner/driver Scott Steckly.

"Tag is a proven professional that will make our team even better with his passion and grit to be the best at what he does. He will bring another level of competition to the Series, so that means we will all have to race harder for wins and the championship with Alex out there," Steckly continued.

Alex Tagliani at the Canadian Motorsports Expo (Photo: Pfizer Canada)

"I have long respected Scott Steckly's racing operation and their high degree of success in The NASCAR Canadian Tire Series," Tagliani boasted.

"They are so professional as a team working with their sponsors. I cannot think of a better partnership to create a lasting bond in this series to provide the best service and effort possible for our sponsors and partners going forward. I am very excited with this new alliance, "Tagliani added.

"Alex and Tagliani Autosport are going to be a tremendous addition to our team as we prepare for a long term relationship," offered Linda Jones, President, Driven Motorsport Innovations. "Alex is a consummate professional, aiming for the top in everything he does. As a group, we plan to roll out some exciting activation programs for our partners this season," Jones added.

Fifteen-year-old Canadian, Lance Stroll captured pole position for the first race of the fourth and last round of the Ferrari Florida Winter Series.

Behind the wheel of his No. 5 Tatuus FA10B, Stroll set a 1m19.159 on lap 5 at the average speed of 166.3 km/h on the Miami-Homestead road course.

Stroll, fresh out of international karting, clinched his maiden pole in this series, qualifying ahead of Antonio Fuoco and fellow countryman Nicholas Latifi of Toronto.

A field of 12 cars will take the green for this race of 30 minutes plus one lap of the 3.657km circuit.

Stroll qualified second behind Fuoco for Race 2.

German car manufacturer, Porsche AG makes a welcome return to endurance racing and at Le Mans in 2014 with a new race car, the 919 Hybrid LMP1.

Two 919s will contest the FIA World Endurance Championship and the famed 24 Hours of Le Mans in June.

Porsche LMP1 (Photo: Porsche AG)

Porsche AG has finally confirmed that the 919 is powered by an unusual two-litre V4 petrol engine.

It had previously only been announced that the car, which first ran in June last year, was powered by petrol and was turbocharged.

Porsche confirmed that the stiff V4 engine can be bolted as a stressed member to the monocoque, something that cannot be done with an in-line four engine.

Additionally, torque is also plentiful from the turbocharged 16-valve 2.0 liter direct-injection 4-cylinder engine. Also, lower cylinder count will reduces weight and improve fuel efficiency.

Porsche LMP1 (Photo: Porsche AG)

The turbo V4 engine is responsible for driving the rear wheels only, while an electric system drives the front. Two energy recuperation systems, KERS and ERS, are installed on the car.

The KERS system harvests kinetic energy from the brakes while the ERS harvests energy from the turbochargers. The batteries on board are lithium-ion units supplied by U.S.-based A123 Systems.

However, the exhaust-driven energy-retrieval system developed by Porsche is distinct from that used by Audi and in Formula 1.

Rather than running off the turbocharger, the motor-generator unit on the Porsche is driven by a separate turbine in the exhaust system.

Porsche LMP1 (Photo: Porsche AG)

Porsche LMP1 (Photo: Porsche AG)

Porsche LMP1 (Photo: Porsche AG)