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Pictures See all 6 pictures 3 Jun, 2014

A joyride and police chase in Syracuse, Utah, on May 31 ended with a jacked-up Ram pickup literally running over the fleeing

Toyota is recalling certain

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Audi has fitted the

Awards 3 Jun, 2014

Vote for your favourite car company advertising campaign in our poll. The winner will be crowned Auto Express Ad Campaign of the Year 2014

German supplier Osram has opened a plant in Wuxi, eastern China, to package LEDs in housings for automotive customers.

The French car market was flat in May (+0.1%) according to data released by the CCFA.

Automotive News Europe honors the winners of the 2014 Rising Stars awards. Every day through today a pair of the 14 winners will be featured. The Rising Star for Sales non-OEM is Robert Schnell of Faurecia.

Automotive News Europe salutes the winners of the 2014 Rising Stars awards. Every day through today two of the 14 winners will be featured. The Rising Star for Sales OEM is Lars Himmer of VW Group.

Google's promo for its self-driving car prototype that made headlines last week was a hit.

The UAW union will 'start anew' at VW Group's Chattanooga assembly plant in the U.S. to represent workers there, Frank Patta, the chief labor representative to VW's works councils worldwide said.

Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche's decision to expand Mercedes's compact lineup into a five-model range is capturing new customers for the brand -- and at minimal risk of diluting its premium positioning.

Here is the entry list of the 22 drivers who will contest the 2014 Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix this weekend.

The 70-lap race will be held Sunday at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Ile Notre-Dame near downtown Montreal.

Red Bull Racing
Chassis RB10
Engine: Renault
1
Sebastian Vettel
3
Daniel Ricciardo

Ferrari
Chassis F14 T
Engine: Ferrari
14
Fernando Alonso
7
Kimi Raikkonen

Mercedes AMG
Chassis W05
Engine: Mercedes
44
Lewis Hamilton
6
Nico Rosberg

Lotus
Chassis E22
Engine: Renault
8
Romain Grosjean
13
Pastor Maldonado

F1 drivers, 2014 season (Photo: WRI2)

McLaren
Chassis MP4-29
Engine: Mercedes
22
Jenson Button
20
Kevin Magnussen

Sauber
Chassis C33
Engine: Ferrari
99
Adrian Sutil
21
Esteban Gutierrez

Sahara Force India
Chassis VJM07
Engine: Mercedes
27
Nico Hulkenberg
11
Sergio Perez

Williams
Chassis FW36
Engine: Mercedes
19
Felipe Massa
77
Valtteri Bottas

Toro Rosso
Chassis STR9
Engine: Renault
25
Jean-Eric Vergne
26
Daniil Kvyat

Caterham
Chassis CT05
Engine: Renault
10
Kamui Kobayashi
9
Marcus Ericsson

Marussia
Chassis MR03
Engine: Ferrari
17
Jules Bianchi
4
Max Chilton

From press release

Friday, June 6th officials of the Grassroots Racing Series will unwrap a very exciting motorsports venture.

After sitting dormant for nearly the entire 2013 season, Kawartha Speedway - the province's premier auto racing facility - will once again roar to life with the sound of stock cars in a unique 8 race schedule, split equally between 4 Friday nights and Sunday afternoons. After nearly a year of hard work, organizer and promoter Andrew McFadden is excited to see the opening night and feels he has a solid team of experienced people in all the right places.

"I've been knocking on more doors and shaking more hands than most candidates in the upcoming provincial election," said McFadden with a smile. "Some excellent sponsors and marketing partners have stepped-up to the table to offer their support and many of the staff members who were part of the Kawartha Speedway team in the past will be back on board when we throw the first green flag. I think the series is in very good shape to get things rolling."

McFadden says that fans should expect strong car counts and full fields in each division during the calendar. Looking at the Late Model division as an example, just short of 25 teams have registered for competition in all 8 events. Kawartha favourites from past years, including names like Mercer, McHattie, Kimball and former general manager/promoter Derek Lynch are likely to run each show.

There will also be competitors from the Ottawa Valley, Western Ontario and well-known runners like Gord Shepherd and former track champion Chris Morrow who attended special events in the past. The Grassroots Racing Series team has been working hard to give the fans a memorable racing experience when they return to the Fraserville, Ontario 3/8th mile speedplant.

"I know there will be some opening night glitches along the way, but it's still very much a work in progress," said McFadden. "It'll take a bit of time to have all the pieces fall into place. More and more items get added to the raceday checklist every minute, but even so it's still possible that something can be overlooked. I'm hoping everyone will have a great time and be patient with us while we work out some of the kinks."

Pit gates are scheduled to swing open at 3pm Friday, June 6th with rotating practice session sessions - for Thunder Car, Mini Stock, 4Fun, Ontario Legend and Late Model teams - beginning at 4pm. Spectator grandstands will be unlocked at 5 pm, with the first round of qualifying heat race action taking the green flag at 6:30pm.

For complete Grassroots Racing Series news and information, check the series tab at www.kawarthaspeedway.com.

TomTom has just published its 2013 Traffic Index, and Vancouver tops the list of the most congested cities in Canada with an annual delay of 87 hours for the same 30-minute commute.

What's more, traffic shortcuts drivers take to avoid congestion are actually ''long cuts,'' adding 50% more travel time to journeys.

Around the world, commuters are spending an average of eight working days a year stuck in traffic, TomTom says.

"Traffic congestion is nothing new, and continues to be a global challenge. The traditional responses to congestion, such as building new roads or widening existing ones are no longer proving to be effective. Real time traffic information can help drivers find the quickest shortcut on their journey, and assist governments to make smarter decisions to improve traffic flow for their cities," said Harold Goddijn, CEO of TomTom.

Here are the seven most congested cities in Canada based on the 2013 TomTom Traffic Index:

1. Vancouver
2. Toronto
3. Ottawa
4. Montreal
5. Calgary
6. Quebec City
7. Edmonton

Source : TomTom

From GMM

F1's cost-saving efforts will shift into a higher gear in the month of May.

Ever since the powerful 'Strategy Group' teams nixed plans for a mandatory budget cap, the tension with the angry and disenfranchised small teams has been palpable.

FIA president Jean Todt wants to lock in some cost-saving regulations for 2015, but the final deadline is the end of June.

A few days before that, in just three weeks from now, the World Motor Sport Council would have to rubber-stamp any proposals.

So far, little progress has been made.

"I would think so far we've probably saved about 10,000 euros, but we're going in the right direction," said Christian Horner, boss of the big-spending reigning world champions Red Bull.

For the big teams in particular, the risk of failing to appease their struggling rivals by the June deadline is that the FIA will then be free to introduce whatever rules it likes in 2016.

Curiously, Horner suggested that is exactly what should happen.

"I think the promoter and the regulator need to get together and say 'This is what formula one is going to be', and then the teams have the choice of whether they enter the championship or not," he said.

F1 trucks. (Photo: WRi2)

But Monisha Kaltenborn, boss of the two-decades-old team Sauber that last year almost collapsed, hints that many in the second half of the grid cannot wait that long.

"It's not about us wanting to be equal, and not even an attempt to improve our competitive position," she insisted to Germany's Auto Motor und Sport. "It's about not letting formula one drift into an untenable financial dimension, so that the smaller teams are constantly wondering if they are still racing from one month to the next."

Monisha Kaltenborn is a staunch supporter of a budget cap, even if it begins with a high ceiling of EUR 200 million next year, and is then steadily tightened.

"Formula one has this image of a money-consuming machine," she said. "It puts sponsors off and in 2009 it drove the car manufacturers away -- because losing was too expensive. If a prestigious team like McLaren is still looking for a main sponsor, there must be something wrong."

An Israeli company named Phinergy has teamed up with Alcoa to unveil a new electric car powered by an aluminum-air battery. Its estimated range is a whopping 1,600 kilometres.

Fifty aluminum plates react with water and air within the battery to extract energy from the aluminum itself. A single plate produces enough energy to power the vehicle over a distance of 32 kilometres.

Phinergy claims this technology delivers significantly higher performance than current EV systems at roughly the same cost. CEO Aviv Tzidon believes it will solve the problem of range anxiety which has limited EV sales so far.

Source : ici.radio-canada.ca

Before flying to Montreal, Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso spent a few days in the factory at Maranello, helping the team prepare for the race. At the same time, his teammate Kimi Raikkonen was involved in sponsor work in Scandinavia.

“After Monaco I felt a good atmosphere in the factory,” said Alonso on Ferrari.com.

“Everyone is very motivated and hungry for good results. We are realistic and well aware of where we are at the moment, but from now on, we want to be in a position to get better results and enjoy our race weekends a bit more and everyone is working in one direction to improve the car”.

Most of the work was devoted to suit the Ferrari F14 T to the circuit Gilles-Villeneuve.

“We have been improving the car on the aero side, while in the simulator, we have done a lot of work on the set-up with the aim of arriving in Canada with a better car,” revealed Alonso.

“It has only six or seven corners, but each one has something special. They have an element of danger and getting them right brings you a lot of lap time. There is definitely no room for error, as all the walls are very, very close. You can feel the city of Montreal has a lot of passion for the race and everyone gets involved in some way,” Alonso explained.

From WEC

Aside from it being the biggest and most famous sportscar race in the world, the 24 Hours of Le Mans is for the third consecutive season the third round of the FIA World Endurance Championship.

As the longest race of the year, it carries a double allocation of points compared to the seven other rounds on the calendar, and success here can have a significant effect on a team or driver's world championship title hopes.

In LMP1, Toyota and its No. 7 driver line up of Davidson-Buemi-Lapierre are currently at the head of the World Endurance Championship classifications, with Rebellion Racing being uncontested in the bid for another FIA Endurance Trophy for LMP1 Privateer Teams.

G-Drive Racing, having won at both the 6 Hours of Silverstone and WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, lead the LMP2 standings with Rusinov-Pla-Canal all hoping that the 24 Hours will deliver as positive a result for them.

While the above-mentioned teams and drivers have a clear lead in their respective categories, the classifications for the LMGTE classes are a lot tighter.

Just one point separates Ferrari and challenger Porsche in the LMGTE Manufacturers' World Cup, and AF Corse's Bruni-Vilander pairing have a 3 point lead over Bergmeister-Pilet of Porsche Team Manthey in the GT Drivers' Championship. Drivers from Aston Martin, Porsche and Ferrari follow in close succession, and there's all to play for at Le Mans.

In LMGTE Am, Aston Martin Racing's Heinemeier Hansson-Poulsen duo hold a 9 point lead over AF Corse's Luis Perez-Companc-Cioci-Venturi but the challenges from Danes' Aston Martin Racing team mates is fierce.

The 24 Hours of Le Mans is notoriously challenging for both men and machines, but the rewards are high... not least in points towards a world championship title!