From GMM
Lewis Hamilton has said farewell to McLaren ahead of his final four races with the famous British team.
Before setting off to India and then Abu Dhabi, the US and Brazil for the final 'flyaway' phase of the 2012 season, the 2008 world champion made an "emotional" speech to staff at McLaren's Woking factory, the
Sun newspaper reports.
Lewis Hamilton had intended to farewell his McLaren teammates during a night of ten-pin bowling in Japan recently, only to find they were already committed to a 'fun run' with Jenson Button.
So the 27-year-old told them last Friday: "I've spent half my life at McLaren. The team, the cars, the place, the people -- they'll always be special to me.
"The Mercedes building definitely isn't as spectacular as the MTC (McLaren technology centre)," he smiled.
"I hope to bring great success to Mercedes, but McLaren will always have a special place in my heart," added Hamilton.
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| MTC, McLaren Technology Centre. (Photo: McLaren) |
Following the lead of the Golf,
Jetta,
Passat, and Touareg, the 2013 Volkswagen Beetle is set to add a TDI Clean Diesel engine to its lineup.
Expect the diesel-powered Beetle to deliver excellent acceleration while burning as little as 4.8L/100km. The TDI will be available with a 6-speed manual gearbox or 6-speed DSG.
The 2013 Volkswagen Beetle TDI Clean Diesel will start at $24,175 in Comfortline trim, and $26,625 in Highline trim. The top-of-the-line Sportline model will stick to gasoline engines.
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| Photo: Sébastien D'Amour |
From GMM
Ferrari have admitted they are concerned crucial upgrades to the F2012 car will not work as expected.
Team boss Stefano Domenicali has said the Italian squad needs
to find at least 2 tenths of a second to boost Fernando Alonso's chances of competing for the title against Red Bull's on-form new championship leader Sebastian Vettel.
With tester Davide Rigon at the wheel, Ferrari - with its 2012 car featuring a number of upgrades - reportedly ran a "secret" straightline aerodynamic test at the Idiada facility in Spain last Thursday.
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| Rear wing of the F2012. (Photo: Ferrari) |
Alonso's teammate Felipe Massa admitted the team has had problems this year with the correlation of the data produced by its Maranello wind tunnel, which will be closed for a time during the winter for repairs.
"We are working on a lot of things in the development of the car," the Brazilian is quoted by
Totalrace. "(But) we have had some problems with parts we have brought to the last few races not working when we go onto the track."
Totalrace said Ferrari is already working and checking data in Toyota's state of the art Cologne wind tunnel.
Stefano Domenicali, however, said he does not want the news to be interpreted as an "excuse" for Ferrari's recent development problems.
"That's part of the development process we are doing to improve the team, but I don't want to hear that it's an excuse for this championship. We need to keep pushing to make sure Fernando has the best car for the end of the season," he added.
Subaru is developing a turbocharged variant of the 2.0L engine that currently sits under the hood of its new
BRZ sports coupe,
Automotive News reports.
It will use a single twin-scroll turbocharger and
direct injection to generate 280 horsepower (+80) and more than 250 lb-ft of torque.
Expect the turbocharged Subaru BRZ to debut as a 2014 model.
Source: Automotive News
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| Photo: Sébastien D'Amour |
DTM organizers have released the 2013 calendar, with the first appearance of a race contested in Moscow.
The 2013 DTM calendar will feature eleven races instead of ten rounds so far, with the addition of this new destination, which had been already planned back in 2005 before the project was finally cancelled. The race will be presented on the brand new Moscow raceway.
The second important element of this calendar is the cancellation of the non championship round presented in 2011 and 2012 in the Olympic Stadium in Munich. The organizers, who aimed to award points in this event, finally could not realise their project.
The spanish round, presented in Valencia last season, should be located in Barcelona, but that point is still to be confirmed.
Hockenheim will again host the opening round and the final round of the championship, that will end on 20 October.
A race in circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in Montreal is still in talks for 2014.
2013 DTM calendar:
5 may: Hockenheim (Germany)
19 may: Brands Hatch (England)
2 june: Spielberg (Austria)
16 june: Lausitzring (Germany)
7 july : Norisring (Germany)
21 july: Zandvoort (Netherlands)
4 august: Moscow (Russia)
18 august: Nürburgring (Germany)
15 september: Oschersleben (Germany)
29 september: to be confirmed (Spain)
20 october: Hockenheim (Germany)
From GMM
Sebastian Vettel may be on form and at the wheel of the fastest car, but the 2012 championship is not settled yet.
That is the warning of F1 legend Niki Lauda, despite German Vettel recently managing to track down Fernando Alonso's big championship lead to now top the championship with just four races to go in the currently dominant Red Bull.
"At the moment everything is going in Vettel's favour, but it would be premature to celebrate the world championship yet," triple world champion Lauda told
Osterreich newspaper.
"Not long ago Alonso looked like the safe world champion, but he was shot down twice. It shows how fast things can turn around. So Vettel needs to be careful," he added.
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| Sebastian Vettel, winner in Singapore. (Photo: WRi2) |
Romain Grosjean, the French driver for Lotus, thinks Vettel is the favourite now.
"I've always said this season that Fernando Alonso is the favourite," he is quoted by
RMC, "but you have to change your tune now because Sebastian Vettel has taken a step ahead of everyone.
"They (Red Bull) are almost unbeatable in the race -- very fast," added Grosjean. "It will be difficult to beat them before the end of the season."
Rennteam.com forum member Rossi has posted what looks to be leaked details of the
At a recent Autoweek staff convocation, a mildly pro-street 1967 Chevy Nova pulled up.
The Porsche Panamera is already one of the top executive sedans on the road today.
Wild concepts during auto shows are nothing new, especially from Nissan.
EU regulators rejected France's demand to monitor imports of South Korean cars more closely. European carmakers opposed the agreement, saying it would give an unfair edge to Hyundai and Kia.
Also in this episode: VW debuts the Taigun concept in Brazil, and Chevy talks shop at SEMA
Volkswagen is exporting cars to China and expanding factories in Brazil in an effort to offset declining demand in Europe.
China's second-largest auto group by sales, Dong Feng Motor, has signed an agreement to take a 70% stake in Swedish company T Engineering, its first overseas acquisition.
Nissan is recalling 13,919 copies of the Altima sedan from the 2012-2013 model years to fix improperly installed bolts on steering and suspension components.
Sales of Hyundai's Sonata are projected to hit a record high in the US this year having sold 175,436 units in the first nine months this year.
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