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Daimler hopes to make its Smart small-car unit sustainably profitable by offering the same car in two sizes: the two-seat ForTwo and the four-seat ForFour.

Daimler hopes to make its Smart small-car unit sustainably profitable by offering the same car in two sizes: the two-seat ForTwo and the four-seat ForFour.

UK supercar maker McLaren promoted Robert Melville to the post of chief designer, reporting to the company's design director, Frank Stephenson.

Acura has come out swinging in its marketing push for the new NSX.

From GMM

Five hosts on this year's 20-race F1 calendar will see their respective grands prix start earlier than usual in 2015.

After Jules Bianchi's horror crash at Suzuka in fading light late last season, the FIA vowed to look into ensuring races are no longer started too close to dusk.

The trend outside of Europe in recent years has been for later race starts, to create better television viewing times for the sport's bulk European audience.

But it emerged last week that Melbourne, whose season opener at Albert Park usually starts at 5pm, had received a request to reverse the scheduled start time by several hours.

It also emerged that Malaysia and Russia would similarly have earlier race start times this year.

Now, in a document released by the Bernie Ecclestone-run Formula One Management, it has been confirmed that five races - Australia, Malaysia, Russia and also China and Japan - will all see their grands prix start one hour earlier than in 2014.

From GMM

Lotus could be a third team set to make a major livery change for the 2015 season.

It has already emerged that reigning champions Mercedes could switch from silver to chrome this year, taking over from McLaren whose new partnership with Honda could see the move to predominantly white colours.

And when asked on Twitter to talk about the new Mercedes-powered E23, Lotus driver Romain Grosjean answered: "I can't even reveal the colour yet!"

It is already rumoured that Lotus' conditional place on the 2015 entry list could be because the Enstone team is preparing a fundamental name change.

Lotus has said the E23 has passed its mandatory FIA crash tests, and the switch from Renault to Mercedes power could ensure a more competitive 2015.

"Yes, but it's not just about the engine," Grosjean insisted. "It's everything."

The Frenchman at least revealed that the end of the 2014-style walrus-nose means that, "compared to last year's" car, the E23 "looks beautiful".

Grosjean's controversial teammate Pastor Maldonado also took to Twitter for an interview with fans, where he defended his reputation as a regular crasher.

"In a car that's not very stable," the Venezuelan argued, "it's hard to get it back once it goes off. And it's not just me (crashing)," he insisted.

From GMM

Stoffel Vandoorne insists he is not worried Kevin Magnussen's demotion at McLaren has also put his own F1 hopes in reverse.

Heading into last year, Belgian Vandoorne had become the McLaren-backed junior poised to break into F1, hot on the heels of colleague Magnussen's grand prix debut for the grandee British team.

But after just one season, Dane Magnussen has been sidelined for 2015 as McLaren kicks off its new works Honda partnership with Fernando Alonso alongside Jenson Button.

Kevin Magnussen (McLaren) leading his future replacement Fernando Alonso (Ferrari). (Photo: WRi2)

The 22-year-old has been slotted into the reserve role -- a seat Vandoorne might otherwise have expected to occupy in 2015 given his runner-up position in the GP2 championship.

It means Vandoorne, also 22, has instead been signed up to do another season in GP2 this year.

"There's no point beating around the bush," he told the Belgian newspaper L'Avenir. "I only want the (GP2) title."

Vandoorne insisted he is not wasting any energy worrying that Magnussen's setback may also be bad news for his own McLaren hopes.

"I only want to focus on what I can do, which is GP2," he insisted. "Everything else is in the hands of McLaren and my management. I hope that if I win the title, my career will make a step for next year."

Stoffel Vandoorne did say, however, that Magnussen's demotion may actually help his own quest to join the F1 grid in the near future.

"For me it (Magnussen's demotion) changes almost nothing. I think I'll be spending just as much time in the simulator so I am still very actively involved," he said.

"And who knows, maybe Magnussen taking a step back is a chance for me, because everyone knows that when you come in for one season and then disappear from view a bit, it is very difficult to come back.

"If I win the (GP2) title, then I'll be in a different situation.

"Who knows? I am confident, but formula one is a very complex world and the title does not guarantee anything. But of course you still need to work hard.

"Maybe Honda will supply engines to other teams, so for me it may be a chance if Button and Alonso stay at McLaren" beyond 2015," Stoffel Vandoorne added.

From GMM

Monza insists it would survive even without the iconic Italian grand prix.

Bernie Ecclestone said last year that the current contractual terms with the fabled Autodromo Nazionale are "a disaster", warning that "after 2016, bye-bye".

It then emerged shortly before Christmas that the new, so-called 'stability law' passing through parliament could cost Monza up to about EUR 20 million in tax exemptions.

But Francesco Ferri, the new director of the Monza race organiser Sias, insists the famous circuit would survive even without formula one.

"2017 will arrive anyway, with or without Bernie Ecclestone," he is quoted by the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

"If we do not extend the contract that expires next year, we have prepared a 'plan B' for the maintenance of the circuit, a number of competitions and the development of complementary activities," Ferri insisted.

The report said F1 supremo Ecclestone is asking for about EUR 20 million per year for the new race fee.

When asked about those demands, Ferri answered: "We look with great interest to the experience of the sponsor (Red Bull) who revived the Zeltweg circuit" in Austria.

In a narrow and quiet little street of the 16th Arrondissement of Paris is located a formidable research tool that has been used for almost a century. It is hard to believe that it is still utilized to design some of the most advanced race cars!

The aerodynamic laboratory of Mr. Gustave Eiffel has been sited at 16 rue Boileau for more than 100 years. Eiffel was not just a brilliant engineer. At an age when many people now retire, and using his own funds, Eiffel built and operated some of the finest aeronautical research tools of his day.

Photo: René Fagnan/Auto123.com

The story begins with the construction of the famous Eiffel Tower for the 1889 world exposition. Originally, the tower was to be dismantled after a few years. To save it from destruction, Eiffel found essential uses for his 300-foot tower, the tallest man-made structure in the world at the time.

The tower turned into a weather station, a radio antenna and an aerodynamic research tool. Eiffel was fascinated by the first planes that were designed, built and flown in the United States and Europe.

In 1903, Eiffel built a device to test the drag on various bodies by dropping them along a vertical cable hung from the second level of his tower. The device recorded the time and distance traveled on the graph, so it was easy to compute the magnitude of the constant speed for each test. He tested about 40 shapes this way over the next three years. But the drop-test machine was not performant enough.

Rear section of the wind tunnel with the electric motors. (Photo: René Fagnan/Auto123.com)

Eiffel then built his first wind tunnel on the Champs-de-Mars near the foot of the tower. The tower had a generator to produce electricity that powered the tower's elevators and lights, so he could use power from it to drive the tunnel's blower.

In 1909, Eiffel lost the commercial license of the tower and was forced to find a new test ground.

Eiffel, aged 76, selected a location on Boileau Street in Auteuil, then a suburb southwest of Paris, for his new laboratory. There he erected a substantial building with offices and a large hangar.

While the hangar included some shop space for model construction and test preparation, its dominant features were two wind tunnels, one with a one-meter-diameter test section, and a larger one with a test section measuring two meters in diameter. These tunnels shared a common experimental chamber. The first test was performed in March 1912, most than 100 years ago.

Eiffel's test chamber allowed either jet of air to flow across the closed room and past a test object without interference from sidewalls, improving accuracy over earlier designs. Flared inlet and outlet ducts improved the efficiency of these tunnels and minimized their power requirement. These two features were adopted in many later wind tunnels. The smaller tunnel was dismantled in 1933, but the larger one remains, making Auteuil the oldest surviving aeronautical laboratory with its original wind tunnel intact.

Citroën Xsara WRC (Photo: Laboratoire aérodynamique Eiffel)

The tunnel was donated to the French government (Services Techniques de l'Aéronautique) in 1920 when Eiffel was 88-year-old. It has been operated without interruption since its inauguration and continues to be used for testing airplanes, buildings, and racing (F1) cars. It has been designated a French National Monument.

The seven-ton, 4-metre in diameter and 23-blade fan has not been changed over the years, just the electric motors. At a rotating speed of 280 rpm, the fan generates a wind of 100 km/h.

The Eiffel wind tunnel is still used to design some of the most advanced race cars. “Several planes of the WWI and II were designed here. But from the 60s, the tunnel was used a lot by the automobile industry.

“Porsche used it to design his gorgeous 917 Le Mans car,” told us Benoit Blanchard, the manager of the Eiffel wind tunnel.

“Audi also did a lot of aero testing here, including the design of its original model of the Quattro in the late 70s. We still work with Peugeot Sport and Citroen Racing. Robert Choulet redesigned the Le Mans-winning Peugeot 905 of the early 90s here in just two months. I worked during several long nights in this room with Robert. We also worked on the bodywork and aerodynamics of the Ligier and Alfa Romeo Formula 1 cars,” Blanchard added.

Cooling test on a truck for the Dakar. (Photo:Laboratoire aérodynamique Eiffel)

“More recently, we have worked on the Peugeot 206 WRC as well as the Citroen Xsara and C4 WRC. Some parts of the new Citroen DS3 world rally car have been designed here. It is not uncommon to perform aero tests on certain specific components such as air ducts for the brakes, radiators and aerofoils,” Blanchard told us.

Blanchard explained the success of this 100-year old facility. “The wind tunnel is extremely accurate and we get exceptionally reliable results. We are four people working full time here and we get new customers on a regular basis. Our main advantage over the competition is our responsiveness, our very vest experience and to be open-mindedness. We sometimes come up with very innovative solutions to problems, and that pleases our customers.

Mr. Eiffel must be proud to see that his aerodynamic laboratory is still being used in 2010 to design some of the hottest and most successful race cars of the 21st century!

Japan's Daicel said it would boost production of airbag inflators to meet demand for the component at the heart of rival Takata's quality problems, which have led to the recall of more than 24 million vehicles worldwide since 2008.

Ford and Lincoln will not run Super Bowl commercials this year, a spokeswoman confirmed today, as more automakers sit out the game. So far, 6 brands plan to run ads this year compared with 11 last year.

Hyundai posted the biggest gains in the number of patent filings over the past five years, narrowing the gap with industry leader Toyota, according to an analysis of global patent applications released today.

India's Mahindra and Mahindra group is planning major investment and an unprecedented influx of new models for its troubled Korean offshoot, SsangYong Motor, in an effort to help it survive. There will also be increasing collaboration between Mahindra and SsangYong on powertains and platforms.

The Nissan Leaf beat its own sales record with a 33% increase in European sales in 2014 over the previous year, taking more than a quarter of the electric car market with 14,658 sales.

Owners of the Hoegh Osaka say the "vast majority" of the 1,400 cars on board the ship are above the waterline as optimistic forecasts pinpoint either this Wednesday (21 January) or Thursday as most likely dates to tow the stricken ship back to Southampton.

Renault will make "massive investments" in China where it sees its market share rising as high as 6 percent after the company ramps up sales of locally-built vehicles in the world's biggest car market.

Renault will make "massive investments" in China, where it sees its market share rising as high as 6 percent after the company ramps up sales of locally built vehicles in the world's biggest car market.

Renault will make "massive investments" in China, where it sees its market share rising as high as 6 percent after the company ramps up sales of locally built vehicles in the world's biggest car market.

Cheap gas may make electric cars an even harder sell, said a top executive at BMW, the German luxury automaker that's aiming for plug-in versions of all its top models.

Features 19 Jan, 2015

Our quick guide to Category D - or Cat D - cars, plus what to look out for when buying one