Auto News 5

China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) continued to expand its anti-trust probe in the automotive sector, with Chrysler and Audi the most recent companies revealed to have come under scrutiny.

Russian car sales are expected to fall by between 8 and 12 percent this year, PricewaterhouseCoopers said. Russia's sharp economic slowdown and devaluation of the ruble will hit sales, PwC said.

If there is one thing that Audi's first-half results prove, it's that VW Group's premium brand earns so much cash it could easily swallow Fiat-Chrysler whole

Bosch will sell a laser-based radar known as lidar by 2020 to meet demand for high-tech sensors in autos. Auto companies have started using lidar to get the high-resolution images needed for self-driving cars.

Europe automakers are speeding up the introduction of alternative fuel powertrains in a bid to cut CO2 emissions ahead of tougher limits planned by the European Union.

From press release

The Formula 1600 Super Series combining the Quebec based Toyo Tires Formula Tour and the Ontario based Toyo Tires F1600 Championship wraps up this weekend at the 45th running of the Grand Prix de Trois-Rivieres.

Twenty-seven competitors from all over North America will take part in the oldest street race in North America and one of the favourites on the calendar. There is a great party atmosphere surrounding the entire event so it is a fitting choice as the final pair of races crowning the best formula car racer in the country.

Eureka, MO's Tristan DeGrand comes into the event with a near perfect record, 5 wins of 6 races. His only defeat coming at the hands of Brandon Newey in Toronto a few weeks ago when the pair locked wheels in a hard fought battle for the lead.

DeGrand has accumulated 540 points. He had a pair of podiums last year at this event and will look to take the top step and take maximum points away from his rivals.

Chase Pelletier, of Brampton, ON sits secondf in points with a total of 440, within striking distance of DeGrand and showing great pace in the last couple of rounds. He has challenged DeGrand this season, won a pole and led some laps so it will be time for him to go for it and force the issue.

Hot on Pelletier's tail is Olivier Bedard, of Terrebonne, QC. He will no doubt have the hometown advantage over DeGrand and Pelletier and sits solidly in third with 390 points. He has beaten DeGrand once this season in Formula Tour action but had some bad luck in Montreal and was not in his regular ride for the Toronto rounds. He will most certainly be one to watch this weekend.

There are a lot of very fast competitors entered this weekend that could factor into the outcome and play the spoiler. Michel Bonnet has been very quick all season. The 53-year-old competitor had a pole at Montreal and has run in the front group at every race entered this year. He also won both races here last year.

Didier Schraenen is always quick and has momentum on his side after a solid outing in Mt. Tremblant two weeks ago. Jayson Clunie is fresh off a Master's win in Formula Tour competition and was very quick in Toronto. He will be joined by Max Hanratty and Jeff Kingsley, a pair of fast youngsters as Exclusive Autosport teammates. In a surprise entry, F2000 regular Sergio Pasian has entered the event with Britain West and will most certainly be one to watch.

Pelletier is joined by five competitors under the Britain West awning, Yves Beaudoin, who grabbed his first career Master's podium here last year, Brian Fowler, Josiase, Gilain and Pasian.

The F1600 cars will take to the track on Thursday for practice and qualifying. There is no on track action Friday as the World Rallycross takes over the circuit. Saturday Race 1 will go green at 10:05 am for 30 minutes and Race 2, also on Saturday, will start at 4:50 pm, for 30 minutes.

From GMM

Officials of a German children's charity were completely surprised when it emerged Bernie Ecclestone would pay them $1 million.

The payment to the Deutsche Kinderhospizstiftung, a children's hospice foundation, is part of the F1 supremo's $100 million settlement reached with Munich prosecutors to end his high-profile corruption trial.

SID news agency said the payment is the largest in the charity's history.

"Three years ago, an individual donated 100,000 euros to us," board chief Margret Hartkopf told Tagesspiegel newspaper.

She said the foundation was "totally surprised" when the court announced that Ecclestone's settlement would involve the 83-year-old paying $99 million to Munich authorities and $1 million to the charity within one week.

While the payment will make Ecclestone a free man, however, that does not mean the Gerhard Gribkowsky corruption affair is over.

APA news agency reports that Ecclestone has also offered to compensate the Munich state bank to the tune of EUR 25 million, but first BayernLB must agree to the proposal by Friday.

The report said BayernLB, whose spokesman was not commenting on Wednesday, was earlier pushing for compensation in the realm of hundreds of millions of euros.

And DPA news agency reports that Ecclestone's $100m payment also does not include the settlement of related criminal proceedings against his former right-hand man, lawyer and F1 board member Stephen Mullens.

Prosecutors claim Mullens, who left F1 in 2011, helped Ecclestone to make the disputed millions in alleged bribe payments to the jailed Gribkowsky.

Entering the summer break, Force India F1 team has scored one podium and lies fifth in the constructors' standings, and - until Hungary - has scored points in every single race.

Force India chief operating officer Otmar Szafnauer says it was impossible to predict how the new Mercedes-Benz V6 power unit would perform.

“Until the first race, we didn't know, for example, who would do the best job at developing the power unit. That said, we did have a choice and we went with Mercedes because we thought they would do the best job, even if we didn't know by how much. But we started development early, in May, so our expectation was that we would perform well - we just didn't know how well,” said Szafnauer in an interview posted on Formula1.com.

Sahara Force India, VJM07-Mercedes. (Photo: WRi2)

Technically, moving away from the reliable, normally aspirated V8 to the highly complicated V6 turbo hybrid was a huge challenge.

“The big thing was cooling the power train. There are a lot of trade-offs between cooling the power train; between gaining horsepower and losing aerodynamics,” Szafnauer explained.

“You have to run those trade-offs in CFD [Computational Fluid Dynamics] and in the wind tunnel. If you over-cool you don't gain any more power, but you lose aerodynamic efficiency. If you go the other way, you're more efficient but you lose power. That is an iterative process: you learn it through a logical series of increments, not just up front.

“If you have a lot of resource, say 30 teraflops of CFD, 150 people in the tunnel and two tunnels at your disposal, you can do it quicker. But what you want to do is get it right, because if you get it wrong it has a big impact,” he continued.

Sahara Force India, VJM07-Mercedes. (Photo: WRi2)

So is it all about the power unit this year?

“I don't think so. To win you have to get it all right. Look at Mercedes - I believe that their car would still be good enough to win even with Renault or Ferrari power. They have a good aero package, good mechanical package, they understand the tires, have good drivers and strategy - they're going to win. Remove the powertrain and stick another one in and they'll still be competitive.

“Is it more of an engine formula this year? Maybe a bit more than in the past when the engines were all frozen. But is it a complete engine formula? No way. We have the same engine as Mercedes, so do Williams and McLaren - and they're not winning,” Szafnauer declared.

From GMM

Sauber has vowed to "stay together" with its troubled engine supplier Ferrari.

The Swiss team, already struggling financially, has not scored a single point so far in 2014 and therefore is in danger of being left outside the lucrative top ten positions in the constructors' championship.

Team boss and co-owner Monisha Kaltenborn admitted that Ferrari's troubled first turbo V6 design for 2014 is "one of the major factors" in Sauber's current situation.

"But I think it is too easy to say something is the fault of others," she is quoted by Italiaracing.

"We must always look first of all at what we do, be honest about it and say that this car is definitely not one of the best that we have produced."

Sauber C33. (Photo: WRi2)

But particularly in the sport's all-new 'power unit' era, the engine package is a crucial element and there have been rumours Sauber could soon become the first non-works customer of returning supplier Honda's latest F1 foray.

Kaltenborn admitted: "The engine is one of the major factors, especially from the point of view of driveability, but this is not the reason to give up.

"We have a long relationship with Ferrari and we have had our ups and downs over the years, but let's stay together and we will come out together," she added.

Kaltenborn played down any similarity between Sauber's situation and that endured by Red Bull and Renault, whose relationship has clearly been strained by the French marque's 2014 troubles.

"I do not know the situation between Renault and Red Bull," she insisted, "but we are very close to Ferrari and have a very open relationship.

"We have never pointed the finger. If there are times when things do not go as well, we say it openly and put the focus on everyone getting together in this situation.

"I'm quite sure that if I'm sad or unhappy, my colleagues at Ferrari are twice as sad or unhappy. The important thing is that they are on the right track, they know what to do and I have full confidence in their potential," said Kaltenborn.

From Albatec Racing

Albatec Racing has secured support from Canadian food giant St-Hubert for tomorrow's round seven of the FIA World Rallycross Championship at the Grand Prix of Trois-Rivieres.

St-Hubert will back the fledgling rallycross team comprising Team Principal Andy Scott and 1997 F1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve in a pair of 600bhp two-litre, 16v Peugeot 208 Supercars for the event, which takes place around a purpose-built rallycross track.

Jacques Villeneuve's Peugeot 208 Supercar (Photo: Albatec)

Founded in 1951 in St-Hubert Street in Montreal the restaurant's tradition is rooted in innovation. Offering free home delivery service and an avant-garde approach to advertising using radio and TV commercials to attract people to the restaurant, the Hélène and René Léger-founded St-Hubert eatery is now at the forefront of the Quebec restaurant industry.

“I am delighted to welcome St-Hubert aboard as a supporter for arguably the biggest event on the calendar for Albatec Racing' said Andy Scott, Team Principal, Albatec Racing.

“Aside from our own home event in Lydden Hill, the event here in Canada marks a huge weekend for Jacques and I'm very happy to be a part of the prestige event alongside one of the oldest, longest-running companies in Quebec.”

A new U.S. study published by Liberty Mutual Insurance and Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) shows that teenagers are not the only culprits when it comes to making risky decisions behind the wheel. Parents actually commit the same violations they warn their kids against.

What dangerous — and in some cases, illegal — driving behaviours are we talking about exactly? Here they are:

• Talking on cell phone while driving: 86%
• Speeding: 80%
• Texting while driving: 40%
• Driving after consuming alcohol: 34%
• Driving without a seat belt: 21%

What's even more alarming is that 83% of teens say their parents engage in unsafe driving behaviours with them in the car, and 41% report that their parents do not change their driving habits when asked to do so.

Some parents just don't want to admit that they're bad drivers. According to the study, 58% of teenagers say they have witnessed their parents texting while driving, but just 40% of parents plead guilty.

Do as I say, don't do as I do? That couldn't be more true in this case, it seems.

What about you? Are you a bad example for your kids when you take the wheel?

Source: Liberty Mutual Insurance

From Fox Sports

The National Guard said Wednesday it will end its sponsorship of NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. and IndyCar's Graham Rahal, but it is not clear when that goes into effect.

NASCAR's Hendrick Motorsports said in a statement it has a contract through 2015.

"We have not been approached by the guard about potential changes and plan to honor our current agreement," the team said.

Bobby Rahal, co-owner of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, said in a statement he learned of the guard's decision on Wednesday. He called it disappointing news "given the significant incremental brand exposure we have worked to produce for the National Guard in our first season together, including various off-track marketing and advertising programs focused on supporting the mission set forth."

The Guard said in a statement posted on its web site it spent $32 million on its NASCAR sponsorship and $12 million on its IndyCar sponsorship this year, and noted that "sports sponsorships have played an important role in helping the guard build strong brand awareness." But, the guard statement said its sponsorship contracts in NASCAR and IndyCar "are set to expire at the end of the current season," which contradicts the Hendrick claim.

"Significantly constrained resources and the likelihood of further reductions in the future call for more innovative and cost-effective ways of doing business," Maj. Gen. Judd H. Lyons, acting director of the Army National Guard, said in the statement.

Military funding has come under increased scrutiny in Congress as Sen. Claire McCaskill, has called the sponsorship "wasting a bunch of money on a very expensive sports sponsorship."

One of the most daunting corners in Formula 1, Monza's iconic Parabolica, has suddenly lost most of his appeal.

The 180-degree Parabolica, the final turn at the Autodromo Monza, has had a gravel trap after a section of grass to penalise drivers for running too wide.

Photos taken recently show that the owners of the circuit have altered the corner by replacing the gravel trap with asphalt.

Drivers are clearly unhappy with the change.

"So the Monza Parabolica now has Tarmac run off on the outside - another great corner that will lose it's challenge," tweeted Karun Chandhok.

"Parabolica will never be the same corner again," added Jerome d'Ambrosio.

Photo: Twitter/Karun Chandhok

Dearborn, MI -- Ford's second annual conference on trends centered on four areas: The series of sessions included “The Big Deal with Big Data” followed by “The Female Frontier” then “Sustainability Blues.” Number four on the hit parade was “Decoding Design.” Not in the program, but an experience that Ford made sure everyone had was entitled “Inside the Blue Oval.”

Decoding Design
As with many things, the last mentioned is often the most interesting. Participants were tantalized by virtual reality design checks on the quality of new model vehicles. After that, jaws dropped at the “Mobii” (short for Mobile Interior Imaging) display where a stereoscopic camera (necessary for 3D images) would focus on the driver and decide what the driver was allowed to do. If Mobii didn't know you, it would ask you to stop and it would send the owner a message saying that an unauthorized driver was in the vehicle. Mobii would then follow the owner's instructions.

Sustainability Blues
Reduced water consumption in manufacturing was the theme of “Sustainability Blues.” On a worldwide basis Ford believes that current water consumption is not sustainable, and while water is cheap at the moment, prices will not remain low for long. The smart thing to do is work on reducing consumption in facilities and in our personal lives before there is a shortage. India's average consumption is 4 litres of water per day, whereas here in North America we individually consume about 550 liters. Ford reduced its consumption by 62% between 2000 and 2012 or the equivalent of 10.6 billion gallons of water.

The Female Frontier
If you have no idea how women, as a gender, influence our daily lives then “The Female Frontier” was a must-attend event. A little light-hearted, but seriously meant comments such as “66% of women globally agree that the world would be a better place if men thought like women” provoked thought.

Conversations centered on women's changing roles at work and at home, as well as their increasing importance in the marketplace. This new female frontier has an impact on household dynamics and definitions of family worldwide. For example, more women are buying new cars around the world than men. This paradigm shift is indicative of what the near future in the car business holds, and Ford fully understands that.

The Big Deal with Big Data
The “Big Deal with Big Data” centered on the terra- and petabytes of information companies collect from each individual without gathering specific information. Companies such as MasterCard and UPS use this information to pick up on trends and buying habits of local populations to help their customers make better decisions based on data rather than “gut feeling.” Alan Mulally's motto is “The data will set you free.” This has helped the company reach new heights of success over the last few years.

Henry Ford used the early vestiges of this over 100 years ago when he told reporters why he never asked consumers about wanting a car. His answer was, “If I had asked consumers what they wanted, they would have wanted faster horses.”

The final goal
Ford may want to help improve the world, reduce consumption and lead the eco-soundness charge, but there is a good chance Ford intends to make a profit doing so. Profit is a good thing. If companies can make money being green, they will become green and we get a better world to live in while they're at it.

From GMM

Ferrari could learn from Williams' recovery from the doldrums of the British team's past few seasons.

That is the claim of Felipe Massa, Williams' new driver who moved to Grove for 2014 after a long Ferrari career.

Undoubtedly aided by the dominant Mercedes engine, Williams has been arguably the surprise team of 2014, having finished a woeful ninth in the 2013 constructors' table to now trail only the top three teams and proving a regular front row and podium challenger.

Initially, Williams seemed merely to be benefitting from superior horsepower in 2014, but now the FW36 is proving competitive even at twisty circuits like Hungary.

"Now we are competitive in the other areas too," confirmed Brazilian Massa in an interview with the latest edition of Italy's Autosprint magazine.

"It took a while but we did it. And there is still so much to improve," he added.

Personally, however, 33-year-old Massa is enduring a rough patch alongside the on-form Valtteri Bottas but he argues that his struggle is simply for a turn of luck.

"The important thing is that we have a competitive car," Massa insisted, "and that I am competitive myself. That's what I care about."

Rob Smedley and Felipe Massa, both axed by Ferrari in 2013 and now at Williams. (Photo: WRi2)

So when asked if he would have any advice to offer Ferrari if he was ever called back to race for his struggling former employer, Massa answered in the affirmative.

"Yes, but I won't say," he insisted. "I don't know if it will happen, but if one day I had to change teams again, I would take all of the experience that I have from Williams."

Indeed, with Ferrari notably struggling in 2014, Italy's influential La Gazzetta dello Sport reports that new boss Marco Mattiacci has headed into the summer break having identified the four major areas Maranello must focus on.

They are the V6 power unit, speeding up development response times, coordination between the engine and chassis, and better balancing reliability versus performance.

MINI has just launched a new app called JustPark allowing users in the U.K. to reserve a parking spot directly from their dashboard. It's the first car company to offer such an app, which can be downloaded from the Apple Store now.

No word yet on North American availability.

“Just as we use apps to order taxis and takeaways, parking is finally being brought out of the dark ages,” said JustPark founder Anthony Eskinazi.

JustPark-registered drivers can find, book and navigate to a parking space, choosing from over 100,000 spaces across the U.K.

Photo: MINI

More specifically, drivers can choose whether to input their final destination or search for parking around them while on the go. They then browse a selection of convenient parking spots, from car parks and hotels to homes and pubs. They can explore location details, pricing and reviews left by previous drivers.

Once drivers have chosen and paid for a parking space, they are directed to their destination by the car's navigation system. The JustPark app is designed to be used while on the move, having undergone extensive safety testing by BMW laboratories in Munich.

MINI wants to eliminate the time spent circling the streets looking for an available and suitable parking spot — an inconvenience that reportedly costs the average driver 106 days of their life.

Source : BMW Group

Infiniti Red Bull Formula 1 driver, Sebastian Vettel has bought a Ferrari road car.

The four-time World Champion was recently in Italy to take delivery of a Ferrari California.

He bought the car for his father, Norbert, a talented amateur race car driver himself.

The Italian car carries German licence plate HP N1 (for Heppenheim Norbert 1).

Photo: Instagram

Mazda is on a roll with its innovative SKYACTIV technology and hot new products like the award-winning Mazda3, whose striking design language speaks directly to a large number of car buyers.

Now, it appears the Japanese automaker wants to make an even stronger statement in the small SUV/CUV market by launching a CX-3, which would become the CX-5's little brother, likely next year or in 2016.

Martin Benders, managing director at Mazda Australia, told The Motor Report that compact SUVs are a compelling segment for the company.

“There's opportunity there, absolutely. We've made it clear that it's an area we'd like to be represented in,” he said while announcing that a new entry-level crossover is “not that far away.”

Expect an eventual Mazda CX-3 to be based on the upcoming Mazda2's platform and be an absolute thrill to drive.

2012 Mazda CX-7 (Photo: Mazda)

Will the CX-7 make a comeback?
In addition, Benders told Car Advice that Mazda may actually launch a next-generation CX-7 to bridge the gap between the CX-5 et CX-9. However, he remained evasive about the vehicle's size.

Could a new CX-7 offer three-row seating like the Mitsubishi Outlander and Kia Sorento?

“That would be interesting,” Benders reportedly said with a grin.

Source : caradvice.com.au

From GMM

Daniil Kvyat, the youngest rookie in formula one, has hit back at suggestions formula one drivers lack the hero status of the sport's past stars.

Amid the sport's struggle to fill grandstands and boost television ratings in 2014, many have pointed the finger at the drivers for failing to compete in the charisma and courage stakes with greats like Villeneuve, Senna and Mansell.

F1 legend Michael Schumacher's manager Willi Weber, for example, this week hit out at the "wimps" that today fill the grand prix grid.

20-year-old Russian rookie Kvyat, however, thinks it is wrong to suggest that today's F1 drivers lack courage.

"In my opinion F1 remains one of the sports in which courage is most relevant," he told Italy's Omnicorse.

"I don't like to hear that the modern driver is no longer a knight of risk -- that compared with the 80s we are not real men," the Toro Rosso driver insisted.

"That's all bullsh*t," said Kvyat.

"All that separates us from 340kph and the wall is our brakes and a hundred metres of asphalt," he exclaimed. "Risk in formula one cannot be erased, but it is right that we do everything possible to improve the safety of the tracks and the cars."

Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso) fighting against Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari), Valtteri Bottas (Williams) and Jenson Button (McLaren). (Photo: WRi2)

Another criticism made by Weber this week, and echoed by many others, is that greats like Schumacher, Senna and Villeneuve gave "their answer on the track" rather than to their engineers on the radio.

But Kvyat argues: "With the new regulations, the role of the engineer is essential -- the management of electrical energy cannot be controlled only by the driver.

"Let's clarify another thing," he added. "If there is the possibility to overtake, the driver must always try it. There is never the situation when the engineer tells you to forget it, to wait.

"But at the same time we need to adapt to the situation of fuel consumption and the wear of the tires."

As for the suggestion that the grands prix today are boring, Kvyat also argues his case.

"I don't know what people are expecting," he said. "I have looked at the grands prix and I have to say that the show is not bad at all.

"Sure, some races are more exciting than others, but if we go back to the races in the 2000s they were dominated by one driver -- what was so spectacular about that?

"Maybe the public has not understood the rule changes we have done, but I am sure we have taken the right path," Kvyat continued. "It took courage to change to experimental solutions in order to progress normal road cars."

Finally, when asked what rule change he would instigate immediately to improve F1, Daniil Kvyat answered: "I would wait a little longer. It seems to me that the package we have now is not so bad."

From GMM

McLaren's current car is a "rolling laboratory" for the start of the works Honda era beginning in 2015.

That is the news of team boss Eric Boullier, who arrived at Woking this year and is overseeing the British grandee's struggle to even stay in the top five constructors in 2014.

This season is the last in McLaren's long and successful partnership with Mercedes, even though the relationship is no more than a mere customer pairing in 2014.

McLaren lies behind its usual top-team protagonists at the mid-season point, but also behind Mercedes' other customers Williams and Sahara Force India.

Still, Frenchman Boullier said the team is not giving up on developing the MP4-29.

McLaren MP4-29-Mercedes. (Photo: WRi2)

"We see this year's car as a rolling laboratory for the coming season," he is quoted by Speed Week.

"What we do this year has great relevance, because according to the rules the mounting points of the engine and transmission are the same next year, even if you change engine partner.

"So most of our improvements this year will have a direct impact on the design of the next McLaren," Eric Boullier explained.