Auto News 5

Sales of new light passenger vehicles in China increased by 10.1% to 1,881,835 units in January, from 1,709,230 units a year earlier, according to data released by the China Passenger Car Association.

News 14 Feb, 2014

The Lexus RC 350 F Sport will be unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show, with sporty new styling

PSA's China joint venture with Dongfeng Motor will recall 9,285 cars due to contaminated brake fluid, China's quality watchdog said.

If you have an hour of free time and an irrational fondness for

-- Orange Coast Magazine has a profile on the mysterious Lynsi Snyder, CEO and heiress to the greatest hamburger in America, In-N-Out Burger. (If you dispute this, I will come to your house and stomp on your perennials.

Though we're very happy that no one was hurt when a sinkhole opened up beneath the Bowling Green, Ky.

News 14 Feb, 2014

Jaguar's head of design, Ian Callum, reveals F-Type Targa is being considered

News 15 Feb, 2014

The Mitsubishi Evo X is coming back to the UK for a limited Mitsubishi 40th anniversary run

There will be more Google in your next car. That was the clear message automakers gave at the recent International CES, the world's largest consumer electronic fair in Las Vegas.

There will be more Google in your next car. That was the clear message automakers gave at the recent International CES, the world's largest consumer electronic fair in Las Vegas.

A strong increase in January car sales in Germany bodes well for western Europe as a whole for 2014, according to market analyst LMC Automotive.

Chinese brands will be "killed in the cradle" if the government allows foreign automakers to become more independent from their domestic partners in the world's biggest car market, the country's main auto group warned.

The UAW union in the U.S. is following the same road map at the Mercedes plant in Alabama that it used to reach its historic vote to represent VW employees in Tennessee.

Sanctions have barely been eased on Iran and the Detroit 3 are being beaten back to the market by French rivals. This is not surprising as the U.S. still keeps businesses and individuals shackled by stricter trade restrictions.

Honda will stop selling its Insight and CR-Z gasoline-electric hybrids in Europe because of weak demand. Honda was the first automaker to sell a mass-production hybrid in Europe when it introduced the two-seat Insight in 1999.

From GMM

Data from the first winter test tend to suggest that Ferrari was sandbagging at Jerez.

Germany's Auto Motor und Sport on Friday revealed that, having studied the data from the recent opening winter test, the top five places in terms of top speed were occupied by Mercedes-powered cars.

Topping the lot was the newly Mercedes-powered Williams' Felipe Massa, who tripped the radar at 286 km/h on the front straight, and 307 km/h on the fastest part of the southern Spanish circuit.

In contrast, the nearest Ferrari-powered car was the works F14 T driven by Kimi Raikkonen, with just 268 km/h on the straight and a top speed of 289 km/h -- a difference of 18km/h down on the leading Mercedes-Benz machine.

Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari F14 T. (Photo: WRi2)

Fastest lap time of the Mercedes-powered car:
Kevin Magnussen, McLaren-Mercedes: 1m23.276
Fastest lap time of a Mercedes AMG W05:
Lewis Hamiton: 1m23.952
Fastest lap time of a Ferrari-powered car:
Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari F14 T: 1m24.812

Auto Motor und Sport's Michael Schmidt said Ferrari has admitted it did not deploy full power at Jerez, where the all-new and sophisticated V6 'power units' were getting the first real running.

Mercedes' Niki Lauda, however, said there was no sandbagging in the silver camp.

"We went to the limit that we could, as it makes no sense to go deliberately slowly. You learn nothing (from that)," said the great Austrian and Mercedes team chairman.

From IMSA press release

Drivers and teams in the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama will zero in on the impending 2014 season during testing Feb. 24-25 at Sebring International Raceway, site of the opening race March 13-14.

The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) unveiled an eight-venue, 16-round schedule for the 2014 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama.

The Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge by Yokohama features semi-professional drivers racing head to head in matched Porsches in the largest single-make series in North America.

Powered by one of the world's most successful race cars, the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car, the multi-class structure of the series teaches drivers essential skills for an eventual career in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship.

The three class divisions are Gold Cup, Platinum Cup and a Masters Championship (for drivers 45 and over). Each class is awarded with its own podium at the end of every race and individual champion at the end of every season. Points are awarded by finish in class.

2014 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama Schedule
Date Venue
March 13-14 Sebring International Raceway, Sebring, Fla.*
May 3-4 Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Monterey, Calif.*
May 24 Lime Rock Park, Lakeville, Conn.
June 27-28 Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen, N.Y.*
July 12-13 Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, Bowmanville, Ontario*
Aug. 9-10 Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis.*
Sept. 19-20 Circuit of the Americas, Austin, Texas*
Oct. 2-3 Road Atlanta, Braselton, Ga.*
*In conjunction with IMSA TUDOR United SportsCar Championship events

From GMM

Renault Sport F1 on Friday played down the seriousness of its early season engine crisis.

Addressing publications on Friday, Renault's engineering chief Remi Taffin said the speculation about the French marque's problems is overblown.

"The problems are worse from the outside than they are from the inside," he said.

"It's a difficult moment but we will get through this."

Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing, Jerez (Photo: WRI2)

It was believed Renault had come some way in fixing the problems struck at Jerez, when Lotus debuted its new E22 without trouble just a week ago.

But it subsequently emerged that a 'filming' day at Misano for the similarly Renault-powered Toro Rosso did not go so well.

Taffin said the Toro Rosso issues were "not a surprise -- we knew what we had in the car and we thought we would get away with it, but obviously not".

The Frenchman said the major problem at Jerez was hardware and software, and that he is confident Renault will arrive for next week's testing in Bahrain "without all these issues".

Still, there is no guarantee, as he said Renault is still working on the software problems.

"We are trying to do everything at the same time, but then sometimes we have to prioritize so it's not easy to have everything altogether at once," said Taffin.

While admitting Renault is obviously behind schedule, he denied it will take "months" to catch up, insisting all the actual parts of the power unit are sound.

"We are at least where we would have sought to be for the first test, so maybe now we are three weeks behind, and now we are on a recovery plan," said Taffin.

From GMM

German daily newspaper Bild writes Friday that Michael Schumacher has won his fight against pneumonia.

Yesterday, the manager of the seven-time World Champion, Sabine Kehm published an official statement that played down rumours the lung infection had interrupted efforts to wake Schumacher from his long coma.

She said the German champion "still is in a waking up process".

Today, Bild says its sources indicate pneumonia is no longer posing "an acute danger" to the former Ferrari and Mercedes driver's health.

"Schumacher has already won the fight against pneumonia," the report claimed.

From press release

A four-season “veteran” at just 10 years of age, third-generation driver Treyten Lapcevich is no stranger to turning heads and breaking records.

The Grimsby, ON youngster - son of NASCAR Canadian Tire Series star Jeff Lapcevich - first turned a wheel aboard a Quarter Midget at 4 and a half, and began competing at age 5.

Treyten Lapcevich (Photo: Lapcevich Racing)

"Racing has always been such a huge part of my family. It started with my father and he passed it down to my brothers and I, and it wasn't long until my kids started showing interest in it as well. It's in their blood" explained Jeff Lapcevich.

Treyten's Quarter Midget credentials are unquestioned, in 4 seasons of competition, the grade-school student has earned over 100 feature wins, including a trio of QMA Grand Championships in Michigan, Alabama and British Columbia. Recently, Treyten became the first driver in the 60-year history of the Jr. Honda class to sweep all 6 heats and feature races at the Columbus Indoor Winternationals.

"We're gonna start Treyten off slow. Sunset has never had a Mini Stock competitor this young, so we'll begin with some practice sessions, monitor his progress and go from there. He won't see a green flag until our entire team feels as though he's ready"

Lapcevich's Fastline Motorsports team has acquired Mini Stock veteran Dave Bailey's championship winning chassis for Treyten to pilot, and are hard at work to have the car ready for Treyten to practice as soon as the Spring temperatures roll in.

Fastline Motorsports is actively seeking a primary sponsor for Treyten's record-breaking freshman season, and would like to thank Tim Hortons, Springers Meats, Castrol, Cathcart Trucking and Troy Cove Marine for their continued support.