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From Formula1.com

McLaren racing director Eric Boullier says Mercedes AMG are catchable, despite the German team's dominant start to the 2014 season.

Mercedes AMG has taken three pole positions and three wins in the three races so far this year, but though it enjoyed a substantial pace advantage over the rest of the field in Bahrain, Boullier says it's not too late for McLaren to bridge such a deficit.

Asked during a McLaren-Mercedes teleconference if it was realistic to think that the gap could be closed to Mercedes, Boullier answered: “To be honest, I think it is. It's true that the gap is huge now, but a one-second gap is catchable. I know a lot of areas we can work on and improve, so I think they can definitely be caught.

Eric Boullier with Jenson Button, McLaren (Photo: McLaren)

“We are aggressively developing now to make sure we can catch up with them (Mercedes AMG)," he added. "We don't know if we will have caught them by the European races, but we'll definitely try to close the gap as much as possible.”

McLaren suffered a double retirement in Bahrain with both Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen both suffering clutch problems - a situation Boullier described as “a one-off”.

The former Lotus man also supported Jenson Button's post-race assertion that after Mercedes, McLaren are the next fastest team.

“I believe that if you look at the performance graph from Jenson (in Bahrain), we had the potential to finish in front of the Force Indias,” Boullier said.

“I agree with Jenson that we could be the second-fastest team - the best of the rest - but it is very, very tight with everybody.”

From GMM

Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg have been told the 'rules' for their future wheel-to-wheel battles.

The Mercedes pair thrilled the F1 world last Sunday with their duel for victory in Bahrain, despite bosses urging them to "bring both cars home".

It was rumoured that the team denied the drivers ignored team orders for appearance only, and would quietly curb that sort of behaviour behind the scenes ahead of future races.

The fight in Bahrain was also timely for F1's 'show', in the wake of hefty criticism of the controversial new rules.

"I am so happy the race was so well received by the fans, because the welfare of the sport is very important to me," said German Rosberg.

"In my eyes, the criticism of the new regulations was very unfair, especially so early on, and the negativity was getting louder and louder. For me, there was no better way to silence it than to deliver one of the most exciting races in the history of formula one," he added.

The two Mercedes drivers racing each others in Bahrain. (Photo: WRi2)

But team director Toto Wolff insists Bahrain was not simply a one-off.

"They can fight against each other," he told Sport Bild magazine, "so long as there are no harakiri-manoeuvres.

"So you're not driving with the same aggressiveness against your own teammate as you would against the others," Wolff explained.

He said Mercedes' attitude to 'team orders' is important, given that both Hamilton and Rosberg are conferred equal status inside the Brackley based team, whose W05 car is currently utterly dominant.

"We are here to race," said Wolff, "we have two really good drivers who can win races and deserve to be world champion."

Christian Danner, a former driver turned commentator, says Mercedes' approach will be welcomed by many.

"Mercedes is very dominant," he told German television n-tv, "but in contrast to what we have seen over the years with Ferrari and Red Bull, Rosberg and Hamilton can race freely.

"This is not only a very brave decision, but also the right decision for the sport," he applauded.

From Honda Performance Development

Honda Performance Development will offer customer teams around the world the very latest in LMP2 closed-cockpit sports car technology next year, with the unveiling of its new HPD ARX-04b LMP2 Coupe.

The new design is a result of the continuing teamwork between California-based HPD and England's Wirth Research.

ARX-04b LMP2 Coupe. (Photo: Honda Racing/HPD)

The ARX-04b sports car is fully compliant with the new ACO LMP2 regulations, and exceeds the latest safety standards of the new enclosed-cockpit configuration.

The proven 2.8-litre twin-turbo, direct injection, production-based Honda HR28TT V6 powerplant now includes a regulation compliant drive-by-wire throttle system and fresh air valve system, eliminating turbo lag and providing improved reliability and performance.

ARX-04b LMP2 Coupe. (Photo: Honda Racing/HPD)

Mazda Canada has announced two separate recalls on the 2014 Mazda3 and Mazda6, one related to the electrical circuit and the other to the fuel delivery system.

On 759 vehicles equipped with Mazda's i-ELOOP regenerative braking system, a fault could cause the charging system to malfunction, which would display the charging system malfunction warning light and error message. Continued vehicle operation in this state could result in an engine stall and a loss of propulsion, so Mazda dealers will reprogram the powertrain control module.

Meanwhile, on 3,567 vehicles, a defect in the fuel tank venting system could allow the fuel tank to be overfilled, causing fuel to enter the charcoal canister and possibly resulting in a fuel leak. Dealers will affect repairs accordingly.

Source: Transport Canada

The fuel-sniffing spiders are at it again: After forcing Mazda to recall 65,000 copies of the 2009-2010 Mazda6 in Canada and the U.S. three years ago, they're now targeting 42,000 units from 2010-2012.
Talk about a creepy love story...

It appears the yellow sac spider is attracted to the smell of gasoline and likes to nest around the fuel tank pressure flap, causing leaks and potentially fires.

A software update will be applied to recalled cars to monitor the pressure level and warn drivers of any danger.

Source: auto.lapresse.ca

Kelley Blue Book has just announced its top 10 used cars under US$8,000 from a list of all 2004-and-newer cars and trucks.

The selection is based on a variety of factors including brand reputation and desirability.

Kelley Blue Book's top 10 used cars under US$8,000:

• 2007 Honda Civic
• 2011 Hyundai Accent
• 2005 Honda Accord
• 2005 Toyota Camry
• 2007 Mazda3
• 2007 Chevrolet Silverado 1500
• 2005 Honda Pilot
• 2004 Toyota Prius
• 2007 Ford Escape
• 2005 Volvo S60

Source: Kelley Blue Book

Volkswagen has just told its Canadian and U.S. dealers to stop selling the 2014 Jetta, Passat, Beetle, and Beetle Convertible equipped with a 1.8L engine due to potential automatic transmission fluid leaks that could result in a fire.

The affected vehicles were built after February 1st, 2014. They amount to roughly 2,000 in Canada and 25,000 in the U.S.

Volkswagen is working with authorities on how to fix the cars that have been sold, including replacing the defective parts.

Source : globalnews.ca

The Belgian Institute for Highway Safety released the following video to encourage drivers to slow down. How? By inviting people who are supposed to meet up with a friend to attend their own funeral.

It's been watched more than 1.6 million times since Monday.

Cars have personalities. I don't care what you say, it's true. Like pets and humans, cars have character. From the way they're designed to their engine and exhaust notes, they are individuals, which also means they have a perfect match in a driver somewhere.

The key is to find that match.

Now, when it comes to the 2014 Scion FR-S, I am not a match. While we had a fabulous week together and share some really cool experiences (laughed, cried, screamed, giggled), I know the FR-S is not for me and vice versa. However, the Scion FR-S is undoubtedly packed with personality, and for that I would recommend it to a few of my vehicularly single friends.


What is the Scion FR-S?
Born of a joint venture between Toyota and Subaru, the Scion FR-S is a lovechild of great sport coupe proportions. New to the automotive scene, the Scion FR-S, known as the Toyota GT86 outside of North America, only appeared a few short years ago, and it hit the ground running.

Much anticipated, the FR-S/BRZ twins were designed and engineered by Toyota and Subaru combining the two company's expertise. With a Subaru BOXER engine, Toyota transmission and Subie suspension, this truly is a joint venture.

2014 Scion FR-S Price and Specs
Like any good sports car, the 2014 Scion FR-S comes with very few options and only one engine and drivetrain set-up, at a starting price of $26,450. Extras and options include things like fog lights, a rear spoiler, and TRD (Toyota Racing Department) exhaust system and 18” alloy wheels.

The 2014 Scion FR-S' 2.0L 4-cylinder Flat-4 BOXER engine is a gem, producing 200 horsepower and 151 lb-ft of torque. Mated to a 6-speed manual transmission (there is an autobox available, but why would you care about that?), the 2014 Scion FR-S is the ideal weekend track monster (and gives the Mazda MX-5 a serious run for its money). Power is sent out the rear wheels, as it should be.

Driving the 2014 Scion FR-S
With 20cm of fresh snow on top of already icy road conditions, my week behind the wheel of the 2014 Scion FR-S was spent sideways more often than not -- and that's just grand.

This is not a fast vehicle. Sure, it's got 200 horses and only weighs about 2,700lbs, but there are times when more torque would be nice. What the Scion lacks in power, however, it makes up for in eagerness. This ride is eager to please, eager to swing the rear out, and eager to make a racket (in a good way) while doing it. The wail of the BOXER engine is music to the ears, and the 6-speed is a pleasure to manipulate.

The suspensions eats up corners and can feel harsh on rough surfaces, but is stellar otherwise. The 2014 Scion FR-S feels squat and close to the road surface at all times, no matter how you throw it about.

With six gears working for me, I think a taller 6th gear would have made sense; while cruising at around 110-115km/hr on the highway, revs sit at 3,000 rpm and that makes for a bit of a noisy journey as well as being a bit of a gas-burner.

Speaking of gas burning, over a week of combined highway and side-street hooniganisms in the snow I averaged just under 9L/100km. Scion claims the FR-S can do 8.2L/100km combined, which is almost spot on. Clearly, they know how their customers will be driving their car...

Inside and Out of the 2014 Scion FR-S
Look at it. The Scion FR-S (and by association the Subaru BRZ) are perfect. The proportions are spot on, the edges, angles and body lines ooze sex appeal, and the stance is mean.

Step inside the 2014 Scion FR-S and things are a little less perfect. I'm a smaller individual, so I'm quite at home in the cramped, tight cockpit of the FR-S, however, such is not the case for most. The racing seats are wonderfully supportive, but not everyone is taken with the red inserts.

Oh the stereo. Best just to leave it off and not bother with it. It is, by far, the worst HMI I have ever used, and the speakers themselves aren't particularly good either; best just to listen to the engine and exhaust note.

While this is considered a 2+2, the rear seats are more than a little cramped. A compact child seat fit well, and my 2-year-old was comfortable, as long as no one was in the passenger seat in front of him, in which case he lost all available legroom.

There is also very little trunk space with just 196 liters available. Travel light and all will be fine.

Comparing the 2014 Scion FR-S
Luckily, we were able to put the Scion FR-S through its track paces when it was first launched and we pitted it against the likes of some other hot rides like the Mazda MX-5, VW GTI and Hyundai Genesis.

Of course, the Scion's twin wasn't far behind it. The Subaru BRZ is its biggest competition, and with near identical set-ups, it's the price, suspension calibration and brand loyalty that will swing a buyer's favour.

From GMM

Romain Grosjean is apparently becoming more and more frustrated with the situation at troubled Lotus this season.

Before the season, video footage circulated on the internet depicting the Frenchman slamming his hand on a tool bench as the serious problems with the new E22 car became clear.

Grosjean played that down. "It was a joke with the mechanic and a camera took the picture and it went everywhere," he explained at the time.

Romain Grosjean, Lotus E22-Renault, in Bahrain. (Photo: WRi2)

But now at the post-Bahrain grand prix test, after teammate Pastor Maldonado suffered Renault "power unit-related" issues on day one, Grosjean's mileage on day two was limited to just 16 laps, again with "power unit failure".

The 27-year-old is sounding increasingly frustrated.

"I hope Renault will improve in terms of reliability and performance," he is quoted by France's Auto Hebdo, "because today was not acceptable.

"We are expecting more," Romain Grosjean added. "Renault has said that in China and Barcelona there will be changes, so we wait."

From GMM

Bernie Ecclestone has agreed to race formula one into the digital age.

Early this week, Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali urged the F1 chief executive to embrace the internet, as the "young generation" does not want "to see an entire race for one and a half hours".

A report by the Bloomberg news agency said the official F1 website is only the 39th most popular among rival sports, worryingly outpaced by the likes of Egyptian soccer and American entertainment wrestling.

The report said chief executive Ecclestone has until now resisted embracing the internet to protect the huge revenue stream of exclusive television rights.

Now, Bloomberg reports that F1's media strategy will get a modern facelift as quickly as June of this year.

Photo: Formula 1.com

The report said the sport will have a new website and 'app' that offers subscription-only video options, improving on the current three minute race highlights edit put to music.

"We're planning a new app; it's a decent-size project," Ecclestone confirmed. "It's something that we are working to get right."

The 83-year-old warned, however, that television will continue to be the "mainstay" of F1 coverage.

And he said fans will be charged for the new 'app'.

"We don't do things for free," said Briton Ecclestone.

From GMM

Jean Todt has vowed to "think about" some of Red Bull's criticisms of the current rules.

That is the claim of the reigning world champion team's Dr Helmut Marko, who said one of his concerns was how harshly Daniel Ricciardo was punished following the pitstop incident in Malaysia.

"Poor Daniel did nothing wrong," he told Austrian Servus TV.

When the Australian driver was released from a pitstop with a loose wheel, he had to serve an in-race penalty but then also a ten-place drop on the grid for the subsequent Bahrain grand prix.

Dr Helmut Marko insists: "There is a constructors' championship and a driver's championship -- as a team we should have had points deducted, or a fine. In my eyes it was not even an unsafe release. As Daniel drove out he said 'Hello, my wheel is loose' and so we pushed him back. There was no danger."

Daniel Ricciardo's pitstop in Malaysia. (Photo: WRi2)

Another of Marko's concerns is the new and unseemly noses, after the FIA changed the rules over the winter for safety reasons.

But in Australia, the first-lap incident between Felipe Massa and Kamui Kobayashi showed that the new layout might be even more dangerous in the event of one car 'submarining' underneath another.

And Marko claims that Esteban Gutierrez's rollover shunt in Bahrain, when he was struck by Pastor Maldonado, was also caused by the new front noses.

"You can see that the nose is so low that it can go underneath the other car, lift it up and roll it over," he said.

"Unfortunately we cannot change it during the season because it is about the chassis, but we need to respond as quickly as possible for next season," Marko insisted.

"Maybe we can do something at the same time for the aesthetics of these noses," he added.

The Red Bull RB10 nose. (Photo: WRi2)

Helmut Marko said he spoke with FIA president Todt about his concerns in Bahrain.

"He took a position on various issues and promised that he would think about carrying through with the requested changes," he revealed.

From GMM

Robert Kubica has revealed his physical limitations are still standing in the way of his return to formula one.

The Pole, now 29, was regarded as one of the most talented drivers in F1 ahead of his sixth season.

But in the 2011 pre-season, he was almost fatally wounded in a rally crash that has left him with only limited mobility in his right arm and hand.

Kubica now drives competitively in the world rally championship, and he has dabbled with circuit racing with a highly-competitive DTM test, and regular stints at the wheel of Mercedes' sophisticated F1 simulator.

Robert Kubica, Ford Fiesta M-Sport. (Photo: WRC)

But there are also things he can no longer do. Germany's Welt newspaper reports that, once right-handed, Kubica has had to learn to write with his left hand since the crash.

He even prefers to drink a cup of coffee with his left hand nowadays.

"The limitations have made my life more difficult," Kubica admitted.

The most difficult of all, he said, is that a return to F1 is currently "impossible".

"Not now. With my limitations, it is impossible, but maybe one day I will be there again," he said.

The only problem, he said, is that the small F1 cockpits make it difficult for him to turn the steering wheel in the way he needs to -- with his elbow and shoulder rather than his forearm and wrist.

"Some tracks are not a problem," Robert Kubica explained, "like Montreal and Barcelona. But the hairpin in Monaco, with my hand, is not easy."

Eye-popping speeds were posted on Wednesday at the two-mile Michigan International at a Goodyear Tire test.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. this year's (and two-time) Daytona 500 winner scorched the track traveling in excess of 215mph in a Chevrolet. The fastest official lap recorded in the premier stock car series was 212.809mph in 1987 at Talladega Motor Speedway. Because this was a test the laps were not official for purposes of setting a speed record.

After Bobby Allison's car went flying into the catch fence at Talladega, in 1987 the sanctioning body adopted carburetor restrictor plates, in 1988, which reduced horsepower down to 450 hp robbing 300-400hp from the engines. The goal was to keep speeds under 200mph at the longest tracks at Daytona and Talladega.



Earnhardt Jr said he was hitting speeds between 212-215 mph on the straightaways and about 180 mph in the turns.

"This is one of our better tracks, and our fans will probably say the same," said Earnhardt, who has won twice at Michigan. "I enjoy racing here. It's a fun track. The asphalt is really aging well and it's just going to keep getting better and better over the next couple of years."

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Photo: NASCAR)

Earnhardt, Clint Bowyer, Greg Biffle, Ryan Newman and Trevor Bayne are taking part in the second of a two-day Goodyear Tire test at the 2-mile track.

Bowyer was even faster than Earnhardt reaching 217mph at times. "That's white-of-your-eyes-fast," he said.

Newman and Biffle agreed, adding the winter has aged the track, making the super-smooth surface less oily, and creating additional grooves.

"I think (Michigan) will be a good race; I really do," Biffle said.

Speedway President Roger Curtis certainly did not object to the speeds but said passing and fierce competition is what makes great racing.

"The drivers are posting 200 mph. That's awesome. The fans get very, very excited about that. But at the end of the day, on Sunday when the green flag drops, the numbers 'two zero zero' (200mph) they're not anywhere in the fans' minds. It's lead changes, it's the competition."

Previously, NASCAR officials said that they are looking at ways to reduce speeds in 2015. Although no rules changes have been announces it's likely that there will be smaller displacement than the current 5.8 liter engines.

Federal lawmakers investigating General Motors' slow recall of 2.6 million cars are zeroing in on engineers and others who may have been aware of problems with ignition switches linked to at least 13 deaths.

Ally Financial raised $2.38 billion in its initial public offering after pricing the shares at the bottom of the proposed range.

Automotive exhaust and HVAC supplier Eberspaecher North America is investing $122 million to expand operations in Michigan.

In Ford's five-year effort to strip weight from the 2015 F-150 pickup, some ideas were considered just too big of a stretch, chief engineer Pete Reyes said today.

The UAW better be careful what it wishes for.

Self-driving cars may take another decade to hit roads in the United States, but their sales then will expand quickly due to new safety mandates, predicts IHS Automotive.