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News 28 Nov, 2012

We get a look around BMW’s new project ‘i’ carbon-fibre plant in Washington

Saab AB's receivers are auctioning off a number of cars including models of which only a few were made, as well as those the defunct automaker began to produce but which never made it to market.

Pictures 28 Nov, 2012

Pictures 28 Nov, 2012

Russian carmaker Avtotor Holding Ltd. and Magna International have announced full details of a cooperation agreement in Kaliningrad, Russia, to establish an automotive manufacturing cluster. Avtotor and Magna executives were joined by Russian government officials for the official signing of the agreement.

Russian carmaker Avtotor Holding Ltd. and Magna International have announced a cooperation agreement in Kaliningrad, Russia, to establish an automotive manufacturing cluster.

From press release

The Williams F1 Team is pleased to announce that Pastor Maldonado and Valtteri Bottas will be the team's race drivers for the 2013 season.

2013 will be Pastor's third season with the team and comes on the back of a successful 2012 that saw him win the Spanish Grand Prix in commanding style. Valtteri has been the Williams F1 Team's test driver since 2010. In his role as reserve driver Valtteri has taken part in a number of this season's Friday practice sessions, impressing with his pace and maturity from the outset.

Commenting on his contract renewal for 2013, Pastor said: "I'm really enjoying my time with Williams and I was obviously very happy when I was told that I would be continuing with the team in 2013. 2012 was a memorable year for me with the win in Barcelona and we made a big step forward in terms of performance."

Pastor Maldonado, winner of the Spanish Grand Prix this season. (Photo: WRi2)

Speaking about his new role, Valtteri commented: "It has always been my life-long dream to compete in the Formula One World Championship. To do so with one of the most legendary teams in the sport is incredibly special. I've really enjoyed my three years with Williams so far and feel very at home here so my goal was always to stay for 2013 and progress to a race seat."

Valtteri Bottas and Toto Wolff. (Photo: Williams F1 Team)

Sir Frank Williams, Founder and Team Principal, said: "In Pastor and Valtteri we have two of the most exciting talents in motor racing and I am especially excited about what 2013 can bring for Williams. Pastor has always demonstrated remarkable pace and this year has seen him mature as a racing driver. Valtteri is quite simply one of the most talented young racing drivers I have come across and we expect great things from him in the future. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our departing driver Bruno Senna for his hard work over the past year and wish him the best of luck going forward."

The Harper administration wants to be on the same page as the U.S. when it comes to vehicle fuel consumption, which is why it yesterday proposed new regulations for passenger cars and light trucks from model years 2017 to 2025.

As reported earlier this month, the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards in Uncle Sam's land will increase to 54.5 mpg (4.4L/100km) by the 2025 model year.

"These new regulations improve fuel efficiency so that by 2025 new cars will consume 50% less fuel and emit 50% less GHGs than a similar 2008 model, leading to significant savings at the pump," said Environment Minister Peter Kent. "At today's gas prices, a Canadian driving a model year 2025 vehicle would pay, on average, around $900 less per year compared to driving today's new vehicles."

Meanwhile, the Canadian government has included greater regulatory incentives for advanced technology vehicles such as EVs and plug-in hybrids for model years 2011 to 2016.

From MF2

Bruno Senna was aware of the team's long term plans for some time already, and he accepted the choice of Williams F1 driver line up for the next season which was announced earlier this morning in Great Britain.

The teams confirmed Pastor Maldonado and Valtteri Bottas for the 2013 F1 season.

"Since the beginning of my program with Williams I accepted that I had to share the car with Valtteri Bottas in 15 Fridays as a part of his preparation for a likely debuts in 2013", Bruno explained.

"It has been extremely satisfying to be the team's most regular point scorer and for me to demonstrate my pace in all 20 races. I have learned a lot and improved considerably through the season. I have had a relatively short career so far and feel as though I have come a long way in just a few years".

Photo: MF2

Senna showed a special gratitude to Sir Frank Williams, a name strongly linked to Formula 1 history.

"I would like to thank the whole team and particularly Frank for giving me the chance of completing my first full season in F1. It has been extremely rewarding to develop the Williams FW34 into a consistently competitive race car and cracking the challenge of the Pirelli tires has been just one of the satisfying points,” the Brazilian driver added.

After fullfilling a busy sponsors agenda at the beginning of the week, Senna returned to Europe last night convinced that today he is a much better driver than the one that started the championship in March in Australia.

"I had some notable achievements this year, such as the fastest lap in the Belgian GP, my favourite track, scoring points on a regular basis and making up many many places through the races. Regularly racing in the top ten has certainly been a step forward in my still relatively short career and has allowed me to further sharpen up my race craft. Working with a competitive and supportive engineering team like Williams has left me well prepared for the next step in my career", Senna said.

Bruno Senna will confirm his Formula 1 plans soon.

Boucherville Mitsubishi recently sold the 200th i-MiEV in Canada to a lucky couple from Beloeil, Quebec. François Carignan and Josée Giroux will use their brand new Ocean Blue all-electric car for their daily commutes around the Greater Montreal area.

''Mitsubishi is a pioneer of mainstream electric vehicles in Canada. We were not surprised to learn the 200th sale occurred in Quebec, a province that is both an early adopter of electric vehicles and supports the strongest demand for i-MiEV,'' said Tony Laframboise, vice president of Sales and Marketing at Mitsubishi Motor Sales of Canada.

Mitsubishi has 43 certified i-MiEV dealerships across Canada, serving electric car buyers in all provinces except Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island.

The Mitsubishi i-MiEV achieves the equivalent of 1.9L/100km (city) and 2.1L/100km (city/highway). EnerGuide projects its annual energy costs at $449. By comparison, the average new vehicle is rated at 10L/100km and requires $12,600 to fuel over five years.

Photo: Mitsubishi

Wednesday morning, Williams F1 Team announced that Finland's Valtteri Bottas is their new race driver alongside Pastor Maldonado for the 2013 Formula 1 World Championship. Who is this newcomer?

Bottas was born August 28, 1989, in the city of Villädhe, Finland.

The teenager started his career like most other aspriring drivers (in karting), winning the ICA Viking Trophy in 2005.

He began racing cars the following year in the Formula Renault 2.0 category in Great Britain.

Valtteri Bottas, GP3 Champion in 2011. (Photo: GP3 Series)

Bottas' big break came in 2008 when he won the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup, where he took five wins, and also claimed the title in the British NEC FR 2.0 series as well.

Bottas then moved up to the Formula 3 Euroseries where he ranked third overall in 2009. He also won the F3 Masters at Zandvoort, one of the most prestigious races of the year in F3.

In 2010, Bottas was named Wiliams' official test driver while he continued to race in the Euro F3 championship.

The Finn claimed the GP3 series' title the year after, taking four wins with team Lotus ART.

Valtteri Bottas driving the FW34 in Malaysia, during the Friday morning session. (Photo: WRi2)

In 2012, Bottas was Williams' reserve driver and piloted Bruno Senna's FW34 on 15 Friday free practice sessions. His career is managed by Christian “Toto” Wolff, a shareholder of the Williams F1 Team.

A recent survey by Goodyear revealed that North American drivers may not be well prepared for the upcoming winter. Now, the Rubber Association of Canada (RAC) and the Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF) have both published a report to confirm the importance of winter tires.

The RAC points out that, since the government of Quebec made winter tires mandatory in 2008, the number of accidents with injuries in the province has dropped by 5%.

Meanwhile, according to the TIRF, the benefits of using winter tires are not understood by many Canadian drivers. More effective than all-season tires when temperatures drop below 7 degrees Celsius, winter tires shorten braking distances by up to 30% whether the road surface is dry, slushy, icy or covered in snow.

Nationally, a mere 52% of drivers use winter tires. Many others believe that these tires are only useful in regions with lots of snow, or on vehicles without ABS or all-wheel drive. However, these systems require sufficient traction to be effective, and winter tires provide that needed traction.

So, what are you waiting for?

Photo: Matthieu Lambert

On Wednesday, the Caterham Technology director Mike Gascoyne began his first solo transatlantic crossing.

The British engineer, who is sailing a class 40 racing yacht, left the harbour of Cascais, Portugal, and expects to reach Grenada in 16 days (depending on the weather conditions) for a total distance of 5,000 km or 3,200 miles.

Photo: Caterham Group

Mike Gascoyne, who is the former technical director of several Formula 1 teams, including Renault and Toyota, is a sensation seeker. He raced old F1 cars in the BOSS Championship in the past, and has also climbed some high altitude summits.

Image: Caterham F1

Gascoyne prepared his first transatlantic crossing attempt with a crew from Caterham Composites as well as members from Alex Thomson racing team -- Thompson currently competes in the Vendée Globe, a prestigious solo race around the world that began November 10.

Photo: Caterham Group

From GMM

Heikki Kovalainen is a candidate to replace the fast but inconsistent Romain Grosjean at Lotus, the Finnish broadcaster MTV3 reports.

The highly rated Finn Kovalainen is on the market because Caterham is reportedly considering signing the pay-driver Giedo Van der Garde.

However, MTV acknowledged that Frenchman Grosjean, despite Lotus' deliberations and the 26-year-old's numerous incidents in 2012, is "more likely" than Kovalainen to line up alongside Kimi Raikkonen next season.

Romain Grosjean's seat is coveted. (Photo: Lotus F1 Team)

But Germany's authoritative Auto Motor und Sport said there is truth behind reports Lotus is seriously considering ousting Grosjean.

"Many suspect that Gerard Lopez will persuade Grosjean's sponsor Total to spend more money," read the report by correspondents Tobias Grunen and Michael Schmidt. "But even Total has a problem with this protege. The French oil company has a safety campaign for public roads, and the face of a 'crash driver' doesn't fit."

High-intensity discharge or “Xenon gas” headlights are present on many high-end vehicles on the road today, and are rapidly gaining popularity.

High-intensity discharges (or HID headlamps) are available in many different lighting levels. The brilliance or strength of the emitted light is a product of the temperature created in the bulb, which is expressed by Kelvin degrees (0º Celsius = 273,15º K).


The Xenon gas contained in the bulb is heated to a high degree, thus producing photons (light) in order to dissipate the surplus energy provided. The light wave which is produced by this process is visible to the human eye, and follows a color curvature that is demonstrated by the chromatic diagram below.

There is a wide selection of bulbs on the market ranging from 2,200K to 12,000K, going from slightly rosy to pure white, and up to a very light bluish tint. There are tints which do not correlate at all with the intensity, but are more a by-product of different gases and chemical salts that were inserted into the bulb (purple, green, blue, etc.)

Although frequently installed for their distinct style, most consumers appreciate the increased visibility that the HID headlamps provide. Unfortunately, the glare and distraction they sometimes produce irritate other drivers, and raise questions as to their legality.

HID, or “Xenon” headlights, respect Transport Canada regulations and are perfectly acceptable as an OEM add-on. Subsequently, fines ranging from $100 to $200 can be given to offenders who install these systems on vehicles that were not designed for their use.

HID headlights can easily be found on the internet or in many local specialized shops, in spite of the legal threat.. These kits include the bulbs, ballasts and modulators. HID headlamps are dependable and long-lasting when correctly installed.

HID headlamps are not to be confused with bulbs claiming to be 30% brighter which are often used as replacement bulbs for your car. These bulbs do not require any modifications to the headlamp electrical circuit.

There are a wide variety of different bulb holders which need to be selected and matched to your vehicle. The installation requires more than just popping in a bulb. You need to reroute the lighting harness through the ballast and attach the assembly to a small metallic box the size of a deck of cards, which then needs to be solidly fixed to the car.

HID kits run anywhere from $80 to $150, depending on your choice of supplier. You need to add the price of labour to this total if they are installed by a professional.

If you decide to run the risk of bending Transport Canada regulations (if your vehicle was not originally designed for HID lamps), you should at least adjust the bulb angle correctly. Go out after dark and park your car in front of a wall in order to adjust the bulbs to a reasonable height. Be sympathetic to those who will be meeting you head-on.

We've all experienced driving head-on towards a HID equipped vehicle that's left us blinded

Adapted from GMM

There is still a chance the Nurburgring will host the German grand prix next year, and the sports daily L'Equipe says there will be no French grand prix in 2013.

German Grand Prix
With the famous Nurburgring circuit now in an insolvency process, an official said recently there is little chance a formula one race will be held there in 2013.

But SID news agency reports that the Nurburgring has in fact been empowered to negotiate with F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone.

"Now we have to make progress in the talks with Bernie Ecclestone and make a contract," said managing director Thomas Schmidt.

French Grand Prix
There had been moves afoot to revive the country's defunct grand prix, at either Paul Ricard or Magny Cours.

But L'Equipe said the French sanctioning body FFSA had not, by Tuesday's deadline, received a request to apply to be added to the FIA's 2013 schedule.

The deadline was in place ahead of the forthcoming World Motor Sport Council meeting in early December, which is the last chance to make changes to the provisional 2013 race calendar.

Malaysian Grand Prix
Razlan Razali, the boss of the Malaysian grand prix, has admitted that 2015 could be the Sepang circuit's last formula one race.

He told Isportconnect it is "too early to even think" about whether the existing contract will be extended.

"I think for the event to be successful and to even consider the event going beyond 2015, and paying lots of money to formula one, FOM must help the circuit to try and allow us to do as much as possible to get spectators to come to the circuit," said Razali.

He said another issue is the race's late start time.

"Put it this way," said Razali, "in the event that we decide to go beyond 2015, there are various key points that we insist upon changing before we even talk about (it), including the starting time."

Cars and motorcycles make me giddy. Perhaps that's a good thing since I live and breathe them on a daily basis.

But not all cars or motorcycles generate the same amount of giddiness. There is a hierarchy. That's not to say I can't get excited about a subcompact vehicle - because I have and it's kind of a rush - but I tend to save my schoolgirl-like hysteria and high-pitched "eeee-ing" for a certain breed of automotive product, namely electric cars. Heck, I'm going to make noise even if the car doesn't!

A recent test drive with the 2012 Tesla Model S had me pretty stoked. After all, I love performance vehicles. But combine that with a car that goes from 0-100 km/h in 4.4 seconds, has zero emission and room for up to seven individuals, and it's all pretty dang awesome.

Photo: Alexandra Straub

As a fan of ‘alternative fuel,' - which can range from diesels, to fuel cell vehicles, to hybrids and electric vehicles (EV) - it's been fascinating, to witness how they've evolved over the years.

A major issue that a lot of people have with cars powered by electricity is range. How far can it go without having to be recharged? It has an estimated range of 480 kilometres, so any of that anxiety people may have melts away faster than gelato on a hot summer's day.

With the Model S, there are three battery pack options available. There's a 40 kWh (kWh meaning kilowatt hour - unit of energy used when referring to battery backs of EVs), 60 kWh and the impressive 85 kWh. The latter was the Model S I drove.

Aside from not having to check how many clicks I have left on the charge, this EV drives like a car. Sometimes people tend to think and EV is like something from ‘The Jetsons,' but it's not.

It has the capabilities of a performance sedan, thanks to its dynamic ride quality and great steering feel. It's firmly planted on the road and is a hoot to take around hairpin turns and even straight stretches.

But enough about the tech stuff. It's this sedan's pep that really had me howling. Since there's no gasoline engine, torque is available from the get go. Press the foot on the accelerator and you literally feel like you're about to take flight. It's totally fun and you don't even need a pilot's licence. Bonus.

And when I wasn't thoroughly enjoying my time driving, I was navigating my way through the 17-inch touch screen that acts as "Command Central" to the Model S. It controls functions such as suspension settings, opens the door to the charge port, allows you to browse the web and much more. It has both the goods tech-toy lovers and car enthusiasts will appreciate.

At the end of our test time together, I really didn't want to give it back. Then again, I technically could keep it... If I handed over a cheque for $114,300!

Photo: Alexandra Straub

This blog was originally published on Auto-Venus.com.

From GMM

Kamui Kobayashi has already raised more than EUR 600,000 as he bids to pay for a formula one seat in 2013.

Having lost his Sauber seat, the Japanese set up a website asking for donations from his fans.

He wrote on Twitter on Tuesday that, in the first few days of the kamui-support.com website being live, he has already raised much more than half a million euros.

"Thanks so kindly for the support," Kobayashi wrote in Japanese.

Kamui Kobayashi's Twitter account.

From GMM

A video has emerged that clearly depicts Sebastian Vettel overtaking under yellow flag conditions during Sunday's Brazilian grand prix.

It is a separate incident to the 2012 world champion's pass on Kamui Kobayashi at Interlagos, which turned out to have actually taken place under yellow and orange caution flags.

The new video, showing Vettel passing a Toro Rosso with yellow lights flashing beside the track and also in the cockpit of his Red Bull, can be seen at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZHaBuaA9oQ

Only after the yellow lights begin flashing and Vettel completed the move does the 25-year-old driver pass the green lights.

Caption: FOM

"It shows that Vettel should have been penalised," said the Spanish newspaper El Mundo.

A penalty might have made the difference between title victory and defeat for Vettel and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.

El Mundo added: "Now the Scuderia (Ferrari) has until November 30 to appeal."

Fernando Alonso late on Tuesday alluded to the controversy by saying in Spanish on Twitter that there are "no miracles", only "rules".

Italy's Corriere dello Sport, however - citing Ferrari spokesman Luca Colajanni - said the Italian team is not planning to lodge a protest.

From GMM

The incoming mayor of Sao Paulo wants to keep formula one at Interlagos.

Bernie Ecclestone has warned that, without substantial upgrades to the ageing Brazilian grand prix venue, he might not extend the city's race contract.

But the German-language Speed Week reports that the demolition equipment will soon arrive at Interlagos to raze the old buildings, with new ones to be built at an estimated cost of EUR 60 million.

"The future mayor, Fernando Haddad, is confident that (Ecclestone's) conditions will be fulfilled for an early renewal of the Brazilian grand prix contract," read the report.

Fernando Haddad is quoted as saying: "I will do everything so that the grand prix stays in our city. In the coming weeks we want to sign the new contract until 2022."

Pit of Interlagos. (Photo: Pirelli)