McLaren is aiming to decide its 2015 driver lineup before the chequered flag waves in Abu Dhabi next month.
That is the claim of boss Eric Boullier, after the Woking team's lead driver Jenson Button revealed that as recently as the Suzuka race he was "annoyed" McLaren is leaving its decision so late.
"It is getting so close to the end of the season, it is actually getting funny (now)," the 2009 world champion added in Russia.
McLaren MP4-29-Mercedes. (Photo: WRi2)
It is not only 34-year-old Button's future that remains unclear, but also that of his rookie teammate Kevin Magnussen, as McLaren obviously negotiates with Fernando Alonso.
"It's true that it's taken a bit more time, but it (the 2015 lineup) is still on course to be announced before the end of the season," Frenchman Boullier told reporters during a team phone-in on Tuesday.
He acknowledged Button's frustration but insists the Briton - easily the most experienced active driver in F1 - does not have to prove he deserves a race seat in the remaining three races of 2014.
"We know the value of Jenson," said Boullier. "He is a world champion, and a world champion class driver.
"We don't need him to deliver next time on track to, let's say, save his job."
Keiko Ihara participated in the 6 Hours of Fuji, Round 5 of FIA World Endurance Championship on October 12, where she finished in 3rd position and climbed the podium at the Fuji Speedway as the first woman driver in the World Championship race.
Ihara has raced in European Le Mans series (ELMS) and Asian Le Mans series (AsLMS) as well as the World Endurance Championship series (WEC) including the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The No. 35 Morgan-Judd car run by the OAK Racing started the race from the 27th grid due to a mistake using a non-approved component.
The car crossed the line in third place in LMP2 class, and 9th overall.
Ihara commented about her dream to climb the podium of the World Championship race: “It is fantastic to be on podium in my home country! It's quite tough for a woman to drive a race car in one of the top categories. Thanks to great support by OAK Racing and supporters in Japan, however, I finally arrived here. I really appreciate to all for their help so far. I got 2 podium finishes in a row from the AsLMS race in August. So, I will try to get on the top of the podium at my next WEC race in Bahrain.”
Keiko Ihara standing on the podium in Fuji (Photo: John Rourke/AdrenalMedia.com)
Former Ferrari driver Gerhard Berger says he is surprised world champion Sebastian Vettel is joining Ferrari.
The great Austrian told Germany's Sport Bild he thinks the long-time Red Bull driver's chances of repeating his recent successes at the beleaguered Italian team in the coming years is "50-50".
"The challenge Sebastian is taking on is one of the biggest you can have in formula one," said Berger.
"Even Fernando Alonso, one of the best in the business, has not become world champion there," added the 55-year-old, who had two stints at Ferrari in the 80s and 90s but is also close to Red Bull mogul Dietrich Mateschitz.
Gerhard Berger continued: "In my opinion, the situation at Ferrari at the moment is a little too turbulent. I simply would not have believed that Vettel would go there at this time."
Christian Horner and Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull Racing. (Photo: WRi2)
Infiniti Red Bull Racing Formula 1 team has announced a new partnership agreement with EXNESS, one of the world's largest retail Foreign Exchange Brokers.
The association will formally begin on January 1st, 2015 and the logo of the new team partner will feature prominently on the cockpit surrounds of the RB11.
“We are very proud to become a Team Partner with Infiniti Red Bull Racing,” said Petr Valov, director of EXNESS.
“Red Bull and Formula One are two of the strongest and most exciting brands in the world, and our philosophy is very similar to that of Infiniti Red Bull Racing - we are both young teams and very ambitious, and we share the same values of freedom and drive.”
“We are delighted that EXNESS is joining our team next year,” added Infiniti Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner.
“Our approach as a team is to do things differently, with a strong commitment to quality and excellence. These are principles we share with EXNESS and we greatly look forward to our partnership during the upcoming season.”
This announcement by EXNESS follows a period of outstanding growth by the company and expansion across the globe. In September this year, EXNESS' trading volumes exceeded US$190 billion. Over the past two years, EXNESS has won awards for the best broker in Asia, Russia, the Middle East, and the UK.
Nissan Canada and JD Motorsport today announced the launch of the 2015 Nissan Micra Cup in Quebec, an exciting new racing series featuring exclusively Canada's most affordable vehicle.
The new Nissan Micra being track tested. (Photo: NIssan Canada)
"The Nissan Micra Cup offers competitors the one of-a-kind opportunity to push the limits and hit speeds they never thought they could behind the wheel of Canada's most attainable vehicle, the Nissan Micra," says Christian Meunier, president of Nissan Canada Inc.
"Nissan's heritage is intrinsically connected to motorsports and dates back to the 1930's. Therefore, we are proud to return to our roots in such a unique way, and in Canada! Through this collaboration with JD Motorsport Organization we have developed a highly accessible and extremely fun series for the Canadian motorsport enthusiast who has a dream to compete."
The inaugural season will take place over the course of five weekends starting in May 2015. The race vehicles will all use the Micra's stock 1.6L DOHC 4-cylinder engine and 5-speed manual transmission, complete with the following modifications:
NISMO S-Tune Suspension Kit;
FIA-approved racing seat;
5-point harness;
Fire extinguisher;
Modified exhaust;
High-performance brake pads;
Safety cage;
Driver protection net;
Front and rear towing hooks;
Stylized Fastwheels wheels with Pirelli low-profile, high-performance tires.
More than 25 Nissan Micras will compete on each race weekend which will include two hours of track time consisting of a 30-minute practice session, a 30-minute qualifying session, and two 30-minute races.
Each car competing in the Nissan Micra Cup will be prepared by the Motorsports in Action (MIA) team in St-Eustache. Everything in the interior of the vehicle will be removed: seats, floor, door panels, steering wheel, etc., to install the aforementioned features and transform it into the race version.
A race-ready Nissan Micra will be available by special order to JD Motorsports for the final price of $19,998.
What happens when a tuning enthusiast lets his talented wife draw on his silver-coloured Nissan Skyline GTR with a Sharpie pen? You get this!
You see, the man (who is a member of the U.S. Military), hated the car's paint. One day, he agreed to let his wife camouflage a few scratches on the bumper; as soon as he saw how cool the result was, he decided to give her carte blanche.
It took about 100 hours of work and several clear coats to protect the design, but the whole thing looks absolutely amazing.
NASCAR has assessed behavioral penalties to drivers Brad Keselowski and Tony Stewart for their involvement in post-race incidents on Oct. 11 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Keselowski has been fined $50,000 and placed on NASCAR probation for the next four NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship events through Nov. 12.
Stewart has been fined $25,000 and placed on NASCAR probation for the next four NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship events through Nov. 12.
"These penalties are about maintaining a safe environment following the race," said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR senior vice president, competition and racing development.
"We knew that the new Chase format was likely going to raise the intensity level and we want our drivers to continue to be themselves. However, the safety of our drivers, crew members, officials, and workers is paramount and we will react when that safety could be compromised."
While General Motors initially said that 13 people directly died from an ignition switch defect in its vehicles, the victims' compensation program has approved 27 payouts as of Oct. 10th for cases of death.
At least 151 other fatality claims are under review.
The faulty switches could be inadvertently shut off when jarred, cutting power to the engine and deactivating airbags. However, GM took too much time to issue a recall.
Last July, GM created a fund of $400 million to $600 million to pay victims and their families. There have been 1,371 claims so far, including 1,193 for non-fatal incidents.
Kenneth Feinberg, the lawyer in charge of running the fund, plans to take applications through the end of the year. Most claims will be processed within 90 days, he said. It will take 180 days to work through more complicated cases.
Some hot items used for the filming of Ron Howard's RUSH movie about the 1976 Formula 1 battle between Niki Lauda and James Hunt are now auctioned!
There are several items offered for sale, but here are the coolest ones.
Niki Lauda's Prop Ferrari 312T2 F1 car The custom-built car is based on a Mygale chassis with a fibreglass body, aluminium front and rear wings, 2-litre Duratec Ford engine with a dry-sump lubrication system and a Hewland FT200 H pattern gearbox. In running condition. Estimated price: $30,000-$50,000
Niki Lauda's Ferrari F312T2. (Photo: PropStore)
James Hunt's Prop Hesketh 308 F1 car The custom-built car is based on a Reynard Opel Lotus chassis with a fibreglass body, 2-litre Vauxhall engine with a dry sump oil system and a Reynard gearbox casing with Hewland 5-speed H pattern internals. In running condition. Estimated price: $30,000-$50,000
James Hunt's Hesketh 308. (Photo: PropStore)
Niki Lauda replica helmet 1976 Niki Lauda's (Daniel Brϋhl) racing helmet from RUSH. Brϋhl wore this helmet in scenes set during his time with Ferrari, and it screen matches to shots just prior to Lauda's crash during the fateful German Grand Prix. Estimated price: $3,000-$5,000
Niki Lauda's helmet. (Photo: PropStore)
James Hunt replica racing suit 1976 James Hunt's (Chris Hemsworth) racing suit. This suit was worn by Hemsworth in the scenes when James Hunt was a McLaren driver. Estimated price: $2,200-$4,000
Attention, autonomous-car enthusiasts: Audi has developed the world's sportiest piloted driving vehicle. The RS 7 piloted driving concept car will demonstrate its dynamic potential and driverless capabilities for the first time on the Hockenheimring during the season finale of the German Touring Car Masters (DTM) championship.
With 560 horsepower and a top speed of 305 km/h, the Audi RS7 piloted driving concept car uses specially corrected GPS signals for orientation on the track. Accurate down to a centimetre, these differential GPS data are transmitted to the vehicle via WLAN according to the automotive standard and redundantly via high-frequency radio.
Photo: Audi
Parallel to this, 3D camera images are compared in real time against graphical information stored on board. The system searches in each of the countless individual images for several hundred known features, such as building patterns behind the track, which it then uses as additional positioning information.
"We are pressing forward with one of the most important trends in the automotive world with our technical solutions for piloted driving," says Prof. Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg, Board Member for Technical Development at Audi AG. "The utter fascination of this development will be put on display at the DTM race in Hockenheim. A lap time of just over two minutes and lateral acceleration of up to 1.1 g speak for themselves."
The lap by the RS 7 piloted driving concept car can be followed via live stream (http://www.audimedia.tv/en). The broadcast begins at 12:45 p.m. on October 19th, 2014.
Various world premieres for the 2014 São Paulo Motor Show have been announced and ongoing updates are being made to the list. Media preview days are 28 & 29 October.
Various world premieres for the 2014 São Paulo Motor Show have been announced and ongoing updates are being made to the list. Media preview days are 28 & 29 October.
Various world premieres for the 2014 São Paulo Motor Show have been announced and ongoing updates are being made to the list. Media preview days were 28 & 29 October.
Various world premieres for the 2014 São Paulo Motor Show have been announced and ongoing updates are being made to the list. Media preview days were 28 & 29 October.
The media preview days of the 2014 São Paulo Motor Show were 28 & 29 October. Here follows a list of vehicle and concept global debuts.
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