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Mercedes AMG Formula 1 team's director of engineering, Aldo Costa has signed a new contract to remain a key member of the design team of the German team.

Costa accepted to will stay at Mercedes AMG for an additional five years.

The Italian began to work in Formula 1 in 1988 with Minardi.

He moved to Ferrari in 1996 and designed Michael Schumacher's championship-winning cars. He was fired from the Scuderia in May 2011.

A few months later, he took the job of director of engineering at Mercedes and worked alongside another former Ferrari man, Ross Brawn.

The UberX ride-sharing service made its debut in Toronto on September 8th after launching in other Canadian cities including Montreal.

Users love it, but taxi drivers and local authorities are angry as they lose money to a new form of competition.

Following the lead of Germany, the state of California decided to ban Uber. Actually, the service is illegal where two distinct riders pay separate fares to share one car. In other words, one passenger is legal.

The state's Public Utilities Commission has informed Uber that it can seek to change the law. However, the PUC won the right in court to require any ride-sharing company to ensure its drivers are appropriately insured from the moment they turn on the app.

Source : ici.radio-canada.ca

The members of the FIA World Motor Sport Council approved the 2015 World Rally Championship calendar during a meeting held Friday in Beijing, China.

The 2015 season is expected to begin January 25 with the prestigious Rallye Monte-Carlo.

2015 World Rally Championship (WRC):

25 January Rallye Monte-Carlo *
15 February Rally Sweden
8 March Rally Mexico
19 April Rally Argentina
24 May Rally Portugal
14 June Rally Italy
5 July Rally Poland
2 August Rally Finland
23 August Rally Germany *
13 September Rally Australia
4 October Rally France *
25 October Rally Spain
15 November Rally Great Britain

* Subject to Promotion Agreement

Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport, said he was worried about the implications of the radio instructions' clamp down imposed by the FIA.

As we explained yesterday, it means that the Formula 1 teams will no longer be allowed to tell their drivers what to do to alter their speed, and how to modify the settings of their cars.

A Formula 1 engineer also confirmed Auto123.com that the teams will no longer be allowed to tell their drivers how to adjust the buttons and knobs located on the steering wheel to change the settings of the car.

“It has been confirmed that we will now see less radio traffic,” Wolff said.

“This is a complex and controversial decision which will require a significant effort from the teams to understand how best we can work around it”, the Austrian explained.

“The directive is not yet fully clear and there will inevitably be some controversy, so it will need further clarification as to how much the essential on-track procedures will be affected - particularly before the start of the race,” Toto Wolff added.

UPDATE

Formula 1 teams will not be allowed to issue coded messages to drivers as a way of getting around the clampdown on team radio instructions.

Here are some example of what will be alloweed, and not:

Allowed

- Telling a driver when he is allowed to or meant to stop for new tires

- Team orders in terms of overtaking or letting a teammate past

- Warning a driver about the traffic situation during qualifying and the race

- Safety warning relating to yellow flags or dangerous situations on the track

Not allowed

- Informing a driver to change any settings on his car to improve its performance

- Informing a driver about his fuel consumption and how to manage his pace

- Informing a driver about his own performance in sectors and where he can improve

- Informing a driver about the condition or state of his tires

- Informing a driver how best to approach the formation lap or setting changes to make better start

Paddy Lowe and Toto Wolff, Mercedes AMG. (Photo: WRi2)

From press release

The Toyo Tires F1600 Championship Series will crown the “A” and “B” Class Champions this weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park during the annual BEMC Indian Summer Trophy Races, the final two rounds in the series.

The “A” Class has been dominated by Eureka, MO's Tristan DeGrand for most of the season, racking up an impressive string of wins and making very few mistakes. He comes into the final round with 940 points.

His closest rival all year has been Brampton, ON's Chase Pelletier. His 762-point tally has come from a string of consistent finishes. Pelletier's shot at the crown will take some very exceptional circumstances to become a reality, but, he has been here before and knows all too well that you do not stop pushing until the last lap of the season.

Pelletier and DeGrand were the top two protagonists in the new F1600 Super Series decided a few weeks ago at the Grand Prix de Trois-Rivieres.

Tristan DeGrand (Photo: Michael Haley)

DeGrand was in a similar position, just needing to have a quiet day and close out his season. Pelletier needed to have the weekend of his life to force the issue and take all of the points. Both happened. DeGrand crashed out of the first race of the weekend, then raced his way back into contention in race 2 only to have a mechanical failure seal his fate. Pelletier won both races and emerged the surprise champ.

Third place in points is Craig Willis with 612. He has had an incredibly impressive season. The 2013 “B” Class Champion made a bold move to bring his small family run program to the ultra-competitive “A” Class fight. The youngster didn't even make the start of race 1 on the opening weekend after crashing in qualifying and having to make a trip back to the shop to try and repair the car for race 2. He did, and finished on the podium, setting the stage for what would be a great story of what can be achieved in this sport with very little.

The Willis effort is based on a well-proven 24-year old chassis with the less popular Ford Kent engine option, however, he has excelled with this package. Granted, Dad is a world class race mechanic and engineer for the AIM Tudor Ferrari team, but, Dad has not been present for some of Willis' best finishes - Mom has.

The “B” Class has been a similar story. Connor Wagland, the charismatic son of a former F1600 Champion, has really come into his own in his second season of competition. He won his first race earlier this year and it was a popular one. Since that day he has looked like a Champion each and every time out. He comes into the final two rounds with 852 points.

Second in the “B” Championship is another series favourite, Amy Castell. The Waterloo native snagged an incredibly popular first career win on the streets of Toronto at the Honda Indy. Much like Pelletier, Castell will need some drama to befall Wagland but she has shown great pace all year long and will be putting the pressure on the point's leader.

“Iron Man” Mike Lee sits comfortably in third with 702. Lee has had yet another solid season of consistent finishes in his much older car against his two younger competitors and is ready to pounce should the pressure of a Championship weekend wreak havoc on them.

Last month, Squamish, B.C., became the first Canadian city to receive a Supercharger from Tesla. And on Thursday, Toronto (York) and Cornwall (near Highway 401) got theirs.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk wants to give Model S owners the ability to drive from Detroit to Quebec City without stopping for long hours to charge their car.

Drivers with an 85 kWh battery can complete a trip from Toronto to Cornwall (436 km) and Cornwall to Quebec City (372 km) without any other stop along the way — provided they maintain a reasonable speed, of course.

Model S cars with a 60 kWh battery, however, have a range of just 335 kilometres according to the EPA.

In Quebec
Tesla will soon begin installing Superchargers in Quebec, starting with the city of Drummondville, about halfway between Montreal and Quebec City. Other locations across the province have yet to be determined.

FYI, these Superchargers can charge a Model S back to 50% in as little as 20 minutes.

Photo: Tesla

From Pirelli

At last weekend's Italian Grand Prix in Monza, the Red Bull Racing RB10 of Daniel Ricciardo reached 362.1 km/h (while slipstreaming) on the main straight.

At this speed, the wheel is rotating around 2800 times every minute, or just under 50 times every second.

Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing. (Photo: WRi2)

These extreme speeds have a serious effect on the tires. At full speed, which is frequently the case during a lap of Monza, an F1 tire is often subjected to a downforce load up to 1000 kilograms. Another important aspect is that the high speeds generate a huge centrifugal force on the tire itself.

Because of these loads, the footprint of the tire increases and the part of the tire against the ground is subject to a lot of deformation, as shown in illustration 1 below. The structure of the tire has to be incredibly strong and elastic to cope with this constant flexing.

In red: beyond 350 km/h, the part of the tire in contact with the asphalt undergoes notable deformations.

At the same time, the upper section of the tire (which is not in contact with the ground - illustration 2) is subjected to a big centrifugal force, but despite this the shape of the tire does not change much: stretching by just 1%. This is due to the low weight and extremely high stiffness of the materials developed by Pirelli for Formula 1.

Beyond 350 km/h, the highest part of the tire only changes shape by 1%, despite being subject to an enormous centrifugal force.

The F1 tires are designed precisely with these extreme forces in mind: during laboratory testing, before they even see a race track, the tires are exposed to higher loads and forces than they would normally experience, and accelerated to speeds of up to 450 km/h. Not only that, but they are also fired into solid surfaces at speeds in excess of 250 km/h: simulating the impacts with kerbs for which Monza is also famed.

Local Motors recently announced the Strati, the world's first automobile to be 3D-printed.

Unlike a conventional car that uses around 2,000 parts, the Strati will boast just over 40. A specially trained staff will assemble the various printed parts, which are made of carbon fibre and plastic, in an estimated time of 44 hours.

We're not talking about a scale model, here, but rather an actual car with seating for two. An electric drive system borrowed from the Renault Twizy will provide motivation.

While the Strati is still a prototype, Local Motors hopes to bring it to market within the next few months.

Pricing and global availability have yet to be determined.

Source : techno-car.fr

General Motors is issuing two more recalls, both on the 2015 Chevrolet Corvette, according to stop-delivery orders sent to dealers today. The recalls, GM's first in more than a month, bring its total number for the year to 67.

Federal auto safety regulators have received more than 100 complaints about engine stalling from owners of Chrysler minivans from model years 2004-2007, according to a Reuters analysis.

Hertz Global Holdings reached an agreement in principle with billionaire investor Carl Icahn to appoint three directors to the board of the rental-car company in place of current members.

Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk can add another accomplishment to his resume today: Vanity Fair has named him the top disrupter in its New Establishment list of influential players in technology, entertainment, finance and politics.

The Kia Soul EV, Hyundai Motor Group's first all-electric vehicle, will cost $33,700 before shipping and government incentives when it arrives in U.S. dealerships this fall.

Toyota recalling 130,000 2014 Tundra pickup trucks in the United States to correct a problem with side airbags, the automaker's sales arm said today.

The aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks swept through the auto industry, from the executive offices to the plants to the dealer lots. At the time, there were more questions than answers in a shaken nation #8211; and a global industry.

Dealers who buy almost any vehicle at a Manheim auction location also can purchase the right to return those vehicles for any reason for up 21 days or 500 miles, whichever comes first.

Dealers who buy almost any vehicle at a Manheim auction location also can purchase the right to return those vehicles for any reason for up 21 days or 500 miles, whichever comes first.

Faurecia has announced its 38th North American plant, a seating factory in Simpsonville, Kentucky.

Ford has made its three millionth small-capacity diesel engine at its Dagenham 'diesel centre'.

Features 11 Sep, 2014

We look at hi-tech mileage correction companies in the UK - and ask if what they do is really legal