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News 7 Feb, 2014

New Subaru Legacy saloon officially revealed at Chicago Motor Show, to go on sale in the US first

Pictures See all 6 pictures 7 Feb, 2014

Aston Martin estimates that its recall of accelerator pedals in 17,590 sports cars will result in a cost of 1.5 million pounds ($2.45 million). The cost is a blow to Aston, which is struggling to fund development of new cars.

Car sharing in Europe went mainstream in 2013 as consumer awareness snowballed and more global automakers joined the sector.

Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche says the loss of long-serving executive Andreas Renschler offers new chances. Wolfgang Bernhard is set to benefit most from these changes after many setbacks.

Joe Hinrichs, president of Ford's Americas unit, took Japan and specifically Toyota to task for benefiting unfairly from currency manipulation.

Mahindra and Mahindra, India's largest SUV maker, and subsidiary SsangYong will launch their first jointly developed engine in the first quarter of 2015, a senior executive of the Indian company said.

GM CEO Mary Barra has been named the world's most powerful woman in business by Fortune magazine in its inaugural list of the 50 Global Most Powerful Women in Business.

U.S. Porsche sales, with an expected lift from the Macan compact crossover due at dealerships in late spring, are likely to approach 50,000 units in 2014.

Federal-Mogul, which counts on Europe for nearly half of its sales, said one of its co-CEOs is stepping down. It is the third time in less than two years that there is a new person in the job.

Two Chinese-backed companies are locked in a bidding war, culminating next week, to take over bankrupt carmaker Fisker Automotive. The prize is 18 patents and a possible toehold in the U.S. and Chinese markets.

Japanese car manufacturer, Honda says it is making ‘steady progress' in developing its new V6 turbo hybrid power unit ahead of their return to Formula 1 racing in 2015 with McLaren.

Honda made and supplied a V6 turbo engine in F1 back in the ‘80s, supplying engines to teams such as McLaren, Lotus, Williams and Tyrrell.

The Japanese engine powered the McLaren team to four consecutive championship doubles between 1988 and 1991.

Honda has already set up a European headquarters for their F1 operations, in Milton Keynes in the UK, where installation of test benches and assembly facilities will be completed in June.

It follows the establishment last month of a new Honda motorsports base in Japan, with the move to the new location in Sakura City, Tochigi, designed to further strengthen the famed car manufacturer's F1 development organization.

From press release

Eddie Cheever's racing days began as a young boy in Italy and led him to Victory Lane of the Indianapolis 500. Now his son, Eddie Cheever III, is ready to pursue his dreams.

The 20-year-old aspires to drive in the Daytona 500. And for the second-generation driver who was born and raised in Rome, Italy, the next step to fulfilling that dream is the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series.

Eddie Cheever III (Photo: NASCAR Whelen Euro Series)

The younger Cheever announced Friday that he will run for the Elite Division championship for Italian-based CAAL Racing in 2014.

Cheever began racing karts at age 12. At age 15, he graduated to open-wheel competitions, racing in professional series in Italy and throughout Europe winning the 2012 Italian F3 European championship.




Last December, he tested a Ferrari GT3 with the Italian team AF Corse. His goal, however, has always been to be a professional race car driver in the U.S.

And NASCAR has been his primary focus.

“I really like the NASCAR style of racing,” Cheever said.

“There's more action and more things a driver can do. The driver seems to have a bigger input in NASCAR than open-wheel racing. You feel like you're more in control. I like both kinds of racing, but I think the right thing for me at this point is to focus on NASCAR”.

Cheever's teammate Simone Laureti who will run in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series' Open Division. The season will open on April 12-13 at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia, Spain.

From GMM

Mercedes is being touted as the early 2014 favourite, but Ferrari is reportedly also ahead of the game as F1's new V6 era dawns.

The German-language Speed Week reports that, when Ferrari-powered cars decelerated at the recent Jerez test, they sounded "very different" to their Mercedes and Renault-equipped counterparts.

Ferrari F14-T. (Photo: WRi2)

Rumours in Italy say engine designer Luca Marmorini has devised an unique system that stops the flow of fuel when the driver is not accelerating, improving not only fuel consumption but also the effect of engine-braking.

Also attracting attention at Jerez were Ferrari's airboxes and sidepods, amid suggestions the Italian marque is ahead of the game in the challenging area of cooling the all-new engine, turbo and energy-recovery systems.

Ferrari F14-T. (Photo: WRi2)

When asked about the Ferrari layout, Mercedes' engine boss Andy Cowell told Auto Motor und Sport: "Cooling has become such an important issue, both for power and for the aerodynamics, so a lot of research has gone into this field."

Meanwhile, McLaren's Jenson Button has said he was impressed with how all the Mercedes-powered teams - including Sahara Force India, Williams and the Brackley based works outfit - have worked together in the new V6 era so far.

"While we are here to fight each other as teams," he is quoted by the Mirror, "the more information we can share in the next weeks or months can really help us.

"So we are all in good shape if we continue like that," Jenson Button said.

Former Minardi F1 team owner, Gian Carlo Minardi said in an interview that he thinks the 2014 turbo hybrid F1 cars are dangerous, but no one seems to care.

After the first winter test session at Jerez, Minardi focussed on the dangers of the noses if the new cars, especially in the case of a side collision or, even worse, in case of rear-end impact.

“What about Formula 1 safety today? Today, I heard people talking about new turbo engines and reliability, but only Adrian Newey talked about safety,” Minardi said in a press release posted on minardi.it.

“What I'd like to understand is whether everything is under control and I'd like to hear that from FIA. Formula 1 introduced many major changes, which can turn to be dangerous. It's the case of the new batteries which, if they overheat, can set off unexpected blazes”, said Minardi.

The former team owner added that he is not convinced that the track workers are sufficiently trained to deal with a turbo hybrid car that has stopped. Each car sports a set of colored lights to tell the workers if it safe to touch it.

“Do they know exactly what to do? Do they know what kind of LED light allows them to touch the car?” Minardi questioned.

“Not to mention also shipping problems. In the past, batteries, which were smaller and technologically less advanced, were shipped inside bespoke boxes. Now they have to be put inside special boxes both in the case of air way and roadway shipping”, he concluded, adding that this goes against the costs limitation.

Enstone, UK's Lotus F1 Team is to shakedown its new and controversial E22 today, Friday February 7 at Jerez de la Frontera, Spain.

Lotus new recruit, Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado - who has left Williams at the end of last year - will be driving the Renault-powered E22 in this promotional filming day.

Nose of the Lotus E22. (Photo: Lotus F1 Team Twitter)

F1 teams are allowed two 100 km promotional days during the season. However, cars must be shod on hard demonstration tires only during its time on track.

"Finally back to the track work, planning a filming day in Jerez today," Maldonado wrote on his Twitter account.

"Looking forward to drive the new E22."

Lotus even tweeted pictures of the E22 from the garage at Jerez, including the E22's eye-catching twin-tusk nose arrangement and the new steering wheel.

Steering wheel of the Lotus E22. (Photo: Lotus F1 Team Twitter)

Having the Duck Dynasty folks as a three-year sponsor of the April NASCAR Sprint Cup race is another coup for Texas Motor Speedway.

The track's president, Eddie Gossage, could be called a modern day P.T. Barnum for getting his Texas-sized race in the news all the time.

And that's a compliment.

Although Barnum, a 19th century circus impresario, is known for some derogatory remarks about his customers; it would be a mistake to leave it at that.

As he once said “without promotion, something terrible happens... nothing!”

While it's true that the entire staff of the parent Speedway Motorsports Inc. works hard at getting their venues in the news another cliché, “everything is bigger in Texas,” still applies.

New Duck Commander 500 sponsorship and trophy at Texas Motor Speedway. (Photo: TMS PR)

Charlotte Motor Speedway, the mother ship of the company, started a competition with the “World's largest HD television.” Completed in 2013 it had a 16, 000-square-foot screen.

Around 90 days after the CMS TV was fired up Gossage responded that TMS was building its' own 20,000 square-foot television to be completed this spring and claim the title as largest HD televisions.

The television size competition pales in comparison to last year's controversial race sponsorship, by the National Rifle Association. TMS gained media coverage nationwide if not globally. The NRA is both a well-funded and politically powerful lobby in Washington, D.C. for pro-rifle politics.

Coming on the heels of front page gun violence the sponsorship was lightning rod for controversy.

Gossage defended it. He said that he only received seven complaints about it. He added that there were more complaints about the food vendors. He told the Dallas Morning News “who determines what's controversial?” he asked. “Is there a board somewhere that says this is controversial and this isn't? ... The media loved it and wanted to make it controversial.”

In fact, there were neither demonstrations at the Speedway nor any disruption by protestors who had previously voiced opposition in verbal form in various traditional and social media.

But NASCAR, the sanctioning body did react. It now requires that it must approve naming sponsors of races. Gossage said it could be called the “Gossage Rule.”

While Duck Dynasty is a pop culture/reality television phenomenon, the show, which reaches over 11 million viewers edged over into the controversial news category when family patriarch, Phil Robertson, made anti-gay remarks and denied maltreatment of minorities in the South (prior to the Civil Rights Act) in a magazine article.

The A&E Network suspended Robertson - even though the taping of this season had completed. Around one million Facebook users demanded his re-instatement and the family said they wouldn't work without their founder.

The cable network caved within days.

Whether you call these sponsorships controversial or not; that's not what's going on.

Gossage and Texas Motor Speedway remain in the news for weeks leading up to the big event.

P.T. Barnum would approve.

From WTCC

Honda has released images of its 2014 Civic WTCC works car, taken during its first test session at Motorland Aragón in Spain, earlier this year.

The pictures were unveiled today in Tokyo, on the occasion of Honda's annual motorsport press conference.

The design of the new look Civic WTCC reflects the latest technical regulations and shows the subtle style of the wheel arch extensions, 18” wheels, sleeker aero package and extended rear spoiler.

2014 Honda Civic WTCC (Photo: WTCC Eurosport)

In Tokyo, Takanobu Ito, President & CEO of Honda Motor Co. Ltd, outlined Honda's ambitions in the Championship this year: “We achieved four victories and captured the Manufacturers' title in 2103 that was our first year of full-participation in WTCC. In the upcoming season we will strive to win the double title for Drivers' and Manufacturers' fielding a total of four cars run by three teams.”

Under the banner of the ‘Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team', Honda will enter two works cars, driven by Gabriele Tarquini and Tiago Monteiro and run by J.A.S. Motorsport.

Private outfits Zengö Motorsport and Proteam Racing will also compete with one car each, driven by Hungary's Norbert Michelisz and Morocco's Mehdi Bennani respectively.

2014 Honda Civic WTCC (Photo: WTCC Eurosport)

From press release

This weekend, racing fans who visit the Canadian Tire display at the Canadian Motorsports Expo in Toronto will have an opportunity to sit in the No. 22 Canadian Tire Dodge replica of three-time Canadian National stock car champion Scott Steckly.

Last fall, Steckly earned his record setting third NASCAR Canadian Tire Series title, racing against the country's best NASCAR racers. In addition to the No. 22 car, Steckly's Championship Trophy will also be on display in the Canadian Tire booth.

The CME takes place February 7, 8 & 9 in Hall 5 of Toronto's International Centre, across from Pearson International Airport.

From 10:45 a.m. to 11:25 a.m. on Sunday, February 9 racing fans will also have the opportunity to meet Steckly at the Canadian Tire booth where he will be signing autographs.

He'll also take to the CME Stage at 11:40 a.m. that same day to be part of an announcement regarding his upcoming racing season.

The Canadian Motorsports Expo opens at 1 p.m. on Friday and at 10 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday. The first 25 people who show Canadian Tire Money or a Canadian Tire Options MasterCard at the neighbouring Canadian Tire Motorsport Park booth, on each day of the CME, will receive a $10 voucher valid to use on merchandising at CTMP on the Victoria Day SpeedFest Weekend.

Canadian Tire is also supporting the CME's Canadian Short Track Night of Champions presentations that will take place starting at 5 p.m. on Saturday, February 8 on the Inside Track Stage. The awards will honour the 2013 Ontario champions from every stock car series and short track - dirt and asphalt. In addition to plaques and other prizes, Canadian Tire will contribute 100 $25 Gift Cards to the attending champions.

The all-new 2015 Subaru Legacy made its global debut today at the Chicago Auto Show, barely two months after the company introduced the Legacy concept in Los Angeles.

The launch of the sixth-generation Legacy marks the sedan's 25th anniversary. More athletic and more refined than the outgoing model, the 2015 Subaru Legacy sports a body-integrated hexagonal grille and hawk-eye headlights. LED lamps are employed for the tail and brake lamps, and optimal light distribution has improved night visibility.

The roomy interior of the 2015 Subaru Legacy was designed to offer maximum comfort on long trips, including extra legroom in the back. On the dashboard, the head unit has an available navigation system and audio with intuitive touch operation. A wide, flat centre display is employed to allow passengers to enjoy various media and provide them with various information.

As for powertrains, the 2015 Subaru Legacy will use a 175-horsepower, 2.5L, DOHC, horizontally opposed, 4-cylinder engine or an optional 256-horsepower, 3.6L, DOHC, horizontally opposed, 6-cylinder engine. Both are mated to a Lineartronic CVT.

Stay tuned for pricing and on-sale dates.

Photo: Subaru