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Filed under: Motorsports , Hybrids/Alternative , Sedans/Saloons , Green , Ford Click above to enlarge the 2010 Ford Fusion hybrid pace car For the first time ever, a NASCAR Sprint Cup event will be paced by a hybrid, Ford's fresh-faced 2010 Fusion Hybrid to be exact. The race is scheduled to take place this Sunday at the Homestead-Miami Speedway. The box-stock Fusion hybrid will be able to travel on electricity alone for up to 47 miles per hour, which isn't quite fast enough to kick off the race, so this one will be burning some gas. One thing that the hybrid can do that the Sprint Cup cars only wish they could is travel up to 700 miles per tank of fuel. Anyway, the leafy-camouflaged hybrid will lead the race cars to the green flag (waved by none other than Mark Fields) to kick things off, after which a 2010 Ford Fusion Sport will pick up the mantle as pace car for the rest of the event. Both the 2010 Fusion hybrid and Fusion Sport will see their formal debut at the LA Auto Show...
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Filed under: Aftermarket , Concept Cars , Motorsports , SEMA , Tuners , Sedans/Saloons , Volkswagen , Special/Limited Editions Click above for a high-res gallery of the Jetta TDI Edition Street Concept The Jetta TDI Cup Series did so well this year that Volkswagen is expanding the series from eight to ten races next year. And now non-racers may have a chance to live the diesel racing dream, and if they do, it will look very similar to the Jetta TDI Cup Edition Street Concept unveiled at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas today. The diesel-powered sport sedan gets upgraded sway bars and brakes, along with some cosmetic enhancements including a three-spoke steering wheel, sill plates, and Interlagos sport seats. This is one of those, "If we get the right response we'll might make it" deals, but VW is so open to producing this sport version of the Jetta TDI that it even has a price point already established: under $30,000. So have look at the high-res gallery of images below and let...
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Filed under: Motorsports , SEMA , Sedans/Saloons , Rolls-Royce Click above for high-res gallery of world's quickest Rolls-Royce No, it's not a chop. It's a 1970 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow built by Joe's Street Rod Shop. Poking out of the hood behind the Spirit of Ecstasy is a blown 572-ci Chrysler Hemi that is bottle fed to a more-than-adequate 1,350 horsepower. The car has all of the luxury touches you would expect from a Roller, including full leather, Vintage Air A/C, four TVs and a jar of Grey Poupon. Underneath it's a full tilt boogie runner with a Chris Austin chassis, Air Ride, Wilwood brakes, full tubs and Billet Specialties Riviera wheels. It even has a leather-swathed trunk with matching coverings for the batteries, fuel cell and bottle. Notice the leather wrapped roll cage inside as well, a very elegant touch, and one that sums this sophisticated beast up perfectly. Gallery: SEMA 2008: Worlds quickest Rolls Photos copyright (C)2008 Frank Filipponio/Weblogs...
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Filed under: Aftermarket , Concept Cars , Motorsports , SEMA , Tuners , Sedans/Saloons , Honda Click above for high-res gallery of the Honda Civic HFP Concept Honda's F1 team might not be about winning, but it is all about green and dreams of the Earth. In another triumph of race tech trickling down to the masses, Honda unveiled the Civic HFP Concept to show regular folks like you and me that we can have performance and good gas mileage. Developed by Honda Access America, the automaker's in-house factory accessories maker, the Civic HFP is based on the Civic Si Sedan and features a next-generation HFP body kit with additional aero enhancements, super light alloy wheels with aerodynamic covers, a super light HFP exhaust and upgraded HFP suspension. Honda doesn't mention what gas mileage you might expect from the HFP Concept, but we'd venture a guess that it's more fuel efficient than a stock Civic Si Sedan. You can read the press release after the jump and check out the...
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Filed under: Motorsports , Sedans/Saloons , Mitsubishi , UK Click above for a high-res image This weekend, Mitsubishi will return to the circuit with a race-prepped Evolution X competing in the 24-hour Britcar Championship and piloted by former BTCC ace James Kaye, along with two other unnamed drivers. The Evo has been given its competition work-over with the help of ADR Motorsport, the same firm that currently campaigns two works Mitsubishis in the British Rally Championship. A number of undisclosed tweaks have pumped up the 4B11T/C, delivering around 400 hp to the Evo's all-wheel-drive system. If the ADR Evo meets expectations, Mitsubishi would consider making a dedicated Evo X series. According to Paul Brigden, General Manager for Ralliart, "Mitsubishi UK has not been involved with circuit racing for many years, so this new initiative is a great opportunity for us." Racing will get underway on Saturday, and Kaye plans to compete in the full 2009 Britcar Championship, along...
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Filed under: Motorsports , Hybrids/Alternative , Sedans/Saloons , Green , Lexus , Canada At last year's Targa Newfoundland , driver Mark Lachapelle brought his Lexus GS 450h -- yeah, that's a hybrid -- home 18th overall, and sixth in his division. This year he'll return to the 2,200-kilometer race which runs over six days through the central and eastern part of the island. The 339 hp Lexus is the only one of last year's hybrid contestants to return, and is kitted for duty with just a safety cage, performance exhaust and upgraded shock absorbers. Slotted into the modern division, this year's race will pit the Japanese hybrid against big bore Americana: among other competitors, Ralph Gilles and Karen Wagner are scheduled to drive a Dodge Challenger SRT in the same class. Targa Newfoundland runs from September 13-20, and if you want to keep up with the action in a timely manner, check out Autonet.ca . For you French speakers, go to the French version of Autonet.ca , or...
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Filed under: Motorsports , Sedans/Saloons Imagine all the exotic locals where international motor racing has taken place over the course of modern history and Morocco might not show up on your radar. But back in the era of Casablanca , the North African country, just across the Straight of Gibraltar from Europe, hosted the Moroccan Grand Prix, starting with a touring car race in 1925 and culminating with an F1 grand prix in 1958 won by (spoiler alert!) Stirling Moss. Now, after fifty years have passed, the racing scene is set to return to Morocco for a World Touring Car Championship race in Marrakech. Instead of using the old Ain-Diab circuit, construction of the new street circuit is scheduled to begin later this month. Race organizers expect to draw a crowd of 100,000 fans when the race kicks off on May 1, 2009, but after the cancellation of the nearby Dakar Rally due to terrorist threats from Al-Qaeda, we would hope that race organizers will take serious security precautions. [Source...
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Filed under: Motorsports , Sedans/Saloons , Volkswagen Click above for high-res gallery of race action from Jetta TDI Cup The first race of the first all-diesel, road racing series in America took place this past weekend at VIRginia International Raceway, and we were there, or rather AutoblogGreen was there , to watch it go down. The gorgeous VIR long course proved to be a great setting for the opening round of Volkswagen's new Jetta TDI Cup series . The new series is both a continuation of VW's history of grassroots racing, as well as promotion for the new Jetta TDI that launches this summer. Volkswagen had an open casting call earlier this year for young amateur racing drivers and picked the 30 best to run in the promotional series. Prior to arriving at VIR for Friday's first practice, the drivers had one day of actual running in the Jettas during the driver selection process at the beginning of April. Though the Jetta TDI race cars were slightly modified from their production...
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Filed under: Motorsports , Sedans/Saloons , Mercedes Benz Click above for a high-res gallery of the M-B C63 AMG DTM safety car. The Mercedes-Benz SL63 might have the honor of being picked as the official safety car for Formula One, but the equally badass, slightly more affordable and dangerously practical C63 AMG has been chosen to run ahead of the DTM racers, minus its 250 km/h speed limiter. While the DTM safety car might look exactly like its production counterpart, save the roof-mounted lights and decals, the suspension, brakes, cooling system and exhaust have all been modified. To help keep the stock 457 hp, 6.2-liter V8 from running too hot while trying to avoid a DTM car-shaped enema, the radiator has been upgraded, along with a larger transmission oil cooler and two engine oil coolers mounted behind the front bumper's large air dams. Additionally, the rear axle cooling fins have been optimized to provide better airflow and benefits from a remote oil cooler. The AMG C63 DTM safety...
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Filed under: Motorsports , Sedans/Saloons , Euro , Mercedes Benz , AMG People hold all sorts of unsubstantiated opinions. That's how we know there must be some people out there somewhere who still think that Ralf Schumacher is as talented as his brother. Those people were shown otherwise this past Sunday when the junior Schumi made his race debut in DTM, the German touring car series. In the DTM season opener at Hockenheim, Ralf came in fourteenth place, well behind returning champion Mattias Ekstrom's new Audi A4 racer and that of team-mate Timo Scheider, completing a one-two finish for Ingolstadt. Ralf-boosters can blame the unfamiliarity of the C-Class race car which he was driving, but the track itself should have been familiar territory for the flunked-out former F1 driver. Compare that with his brother Michael who's been burning rubber and taking names on motorcycles altogether and it becomes all that much clearer who wears the racing overalls in the Schumacher family...
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Filed under: Motorsports , Sedans/Saloons , Trucks/Pickups , Marketing/Advertising , Toyota Click above for high-res gallery from Kobalt Tools 500 Toyota is hoping that there is some life left in the old adage, "Win on Sunday, sell on Monday." While we can't imagine many NASCAR fans driving off the showroom floor in a brand new Camry because of Toyota's 1-2 finish at the Kobalt Tools 500, they do have a few full-size Tundra pickups that could use some help rolling out of dealer's lots. Toyota realizes this, and Les Unger, national motorsports manager of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., notes that there are upcoming NASCAR races in pickup-rich areas like the Midwest, Southeast and Southwest, and Toyota also competes in the Craftsman Truck Series. We can expect to see plenty of NASCAR-specific marketing coming out of Toyota in the near future to promote its historic win, and with industry-giant Joe Gibbs behind Toyota's future NASCAR success, expect to see more of the...
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Filed under: Motorsports , Sedans/Saloons , Geneva Motor Show , Euro , Audi Click the images to view the new Audi A4 DTM in hi-res The Audi RS4 is a pretty badass car any way you look at it, but put it next to the A4 DTM and it looks remarkably pedestrian. With torquey turbodiesel versions of the R8 supercar, TT range and Q7 sport-ute all making their debuts at the 2008 Geneva Motor Show, Ingolstadt chose the most extreme racing version of its A4 to highlight at its press conference. Unveiled by Dr. Martin Mühlmeier, Head of Audi Sport Technology; Audi Motorsport chief Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich; and reigning champion driver Mattias Ekström; the "project R14" A4 DTM represents over a year of development. The racing formula governing the DTM German touring car championship precludes Audi from showcasing any of its trademark technologies - like FSI direct-injection, TDI diesels or quattro all-wheel-drive - but that didn't stop Audi's racing engineers from working their...
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Filed under: Motorsports , Sedans/Saloons , Geneva Motor Show , Euro , Audi Audi A4 DTM from last season Audi Sport will be keen to defend its title against Mercedes newcomer Ralf Schumacher in the DTM touring car championship this season, and on March 4th at the Geneva Motor Show , it'll give us a chance to see the car with which they aim to repeat last year's success. At that time, Audi's two-time champion Mattias Ekstrom will unveil the new A4 DTM, codenamed R14, along with Audi Motorsport chief Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich.. Ingolstadt's touring car engineers have been hard at work on the new A4 DTM for a year now, and following its unveiling to the press, the car will be rushed back to Germany to prepare for the DTM test at the Mugello track in Italy. We'll be on hand to get all the details and angles, so stay tuned, racing fans. [Source: Audi] Continue reading Audi Sport to unveil new A4 DTM racer in Geneva Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Filed under: Motorsports , Sedans/Saloons , Japan , Lexus , Toyota , Tokyo Auto Salon click above for high-res images of the IS F Racing Concept from TAS Lexus quietly trotted out its IS-F Racing Concept last week at the Tokyo Auto Salon, but despite the official unveiling, more questions than answers remain about the future of the DTM-inspired sedan. According to Winding Road , the racer was the brainchild of the IS-F's chief engineer, Yukihiko Yaguchi, who wanted to create a vehicle that further expanded the credentials of the IS-F. Unfortunately, when Peter Nunn questioned the Toyota folks about what plans it had for the concept, he was met with resounding silence. Rumors are swirling that this particular concept is nothing more than a design study, with no intention of campaigning a similar IS-F competitively. However, Lexus is supposedly working on an IS-F to campaign in the SuperGT GT300 series in Japan, with the SC430-based racer soldiering on in the GT500 class. More surprising...
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Filed under: Motorsports , Sedans/Saloons , Euro , Lexus , Tokyo Auto Salon click above to view more high-res images of the Team Lexus IS-F No single car better demonstrates the determination of Lexus to stick it to the Germans than the IS-F. The high-performance sports sedan gives the BMW M3, Mercedes C63 AMG and Audi RS4 a real run for their deutschemarks euros. But Lexus isn't about to let it rest there. That is, not if the rumors are to be believed. A few days ago we brought you a preview image of the IS-F Racing Concept , which Lexus is bringing to its home-court Tokyo Auto Salon later this week. But while it certainly looks the part, emerging reports now suggest that the concept is no mere concept at all, but that Lexus is actually planning on using it to compete in Germany's domestic (and both highly popular and ultra-competitive) DTM touring car series. The rumors are fueled by the image you see above, posted mysteriously on TeamLexus.com . If the reports turn out to be...
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