Car News Articles

The next BMW Z4 will have a folding hard-top. Snapped here testing in Germany the next-generation will also feature BMW’s Efficient Dynamics technology, twin-turbo engines, the M3’s V8 and possibly even diesel power

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Denny Hamlin didn’t realize how much he was feeling the pressure to perform in front of his hometown crowd until he was hurtling around the track in qualifying.
“I knew I was under pressure because my heart was beating out of my chest during my lap,” Hamlin said after his fastest lap at 126.198 mph gave him his sixth career pole and second at Richmond.
He’s from Chesterfield, about a 15-minute drive from Richmond International Raceway.
“When your foot is shaking on the gas pedal, the nerves are starting to get to you,” Hamlin said. “I don’t know why. It’s just a starting position for us, but it’s something special about this race track. When you perform well, it just gives you that extra boost of confidence.”
Hamlin’s Toyota will have the Chevrolet of Mark Martin on the outside for Saturday night’s Crown Royal 400, with the Chevrolet of Martin Truex Jr. and rookie Patrick Carpentier’s Dodge in the second row. The Dodges of Reed Sorenson and Juan Pablo Montoya are next. A complete lineup can be found here.

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Our friends at Volvo are on a quest to create an injury-proof car. This may sound like oh-so-many concept cars that appear really cool but never actually make it to production, but Volvo has given this mission some teeth by announcing a 2020 deadline for the car’s production. Among the features in development are a steering and braking system that can take over if a driver doesn’t react quickly enough.

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It was Honda heaven this Sunday. I headed out to Tsukuba Circuit to have a look at the first round of the Mugen Circuit Challenge series. Of course Mugen needs no introduction, as its name is found on everything from Super GT and Formula Nippon race cars to cheap knock off “tuner” parts around the world.

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Sorry about that. But I spent a good part of today listening to two of my young daughters singing songs carefully selected to rattle around my brain like a marble in a glass jar. It left me with a strange desire to infect others with any piece of music with more hooks than a bridge full of anglers. It’s a world of laughter, a world of… Oops! And that TV ad really bothers me– not just because a Vegas-class hypnotist would have trouble extracting the tune from my subconscious. Or the fact that there’s no such thing as a free anything. But what really annoys me: the ad’s anti-hero bemoans the fact that his failure to check his credit report means that instead of “a cool convertible or an S-U-V,” he ends up “driving off the lot in a used sub-compact.” I’m thinking this ad is WAY out of whack with the times, as plenty of SUV drivers would dearly love to ditch their gas-guzzlers for a compact car. Unfortunately, depreciation means it’s harder to get out of an SUV loan than stop hearing that damn song. 

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Critics have long maintained that “safety cameras” (a.k.a. no-armed bandits) cause crashes. Unsuspecting drivers stumble upon a camera, hit the brakes hard and BAM! Rear-end collision. This is especially likely for motorists who suddenly catch sight of camera vans (a.k.a. “Talivans”). Well duh. The whole point of these infernal machines is to catch motorists “off guard.” Otherwise, well, they wouldn’t make any money catch any speeders, would they? But scientific studies and common sense will only take you so far, hearts and minds-wise. What could really turn the tide is a video of a Talivan-caused crash. And the BBC had just such a video. Only they pulled it. Which has pissed off the Association of British Drivers no end. “The video was first shown on BBC News 24 on Monday 21st April when it was bizarrely used to illustrate a misleading story claiming that ’speeding’ is by far the biggest cause of accidents. The video later appeared on the BBC News website at this address: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7358372.stm, but by the next day it had mysteriously disappeared.” ABD member Keith Jones said Auntie Beeb told him that the video is missing from their website “because of a technical problem.” They don’t know when it will be fixed and “do not provide feedback on progress.” So much for tax-payer funding guaranteeing the BBC’s editorial independence, transparency or accountability. Not that it ever did, mind. 

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The DOT wants to raise CAFE standards even higher. To meet the new standards, automakers will have to downsize and lighten everything they offer. However, their expertise (and profit) is in large trucks/SUVs. Whatever will they do? Well, there’s always China. The Associated Press reports China’s nouveau riche auto buyers think size does count. They’re going for gas guzzlers like large SUVs and luxobarges; they’re the fastest-growing market segments in the People’s Republic. And the automakers know it. The star of the GM display at the Beijing Auto Show is the Escalade, which they’ll introduce to the Chinese market next year. Mercedes says China is the second-largest market for the S-class (the U.S. is the largest), R-class sales are up 110 percent in the first quarter and the M-, G- and GL-class sales are up 100 percent. Remind me again why we’re raising our mileage standards to cut fuel consumption here? Oh yeah. We’re giving up our gas guzzlers so the most polluted country in the world will have plenty government-subsidized fuel for theirs. Got it.

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FIAT, the parent company of Alfa Romeo, is considering launching its return to North American soil using Ontario as its home base. So says CTV News, though FIAT chairman Sergio Marchonne has not acknowledged any talks with Ontario’s government– but has set a goal of building a New World Alfa Romeo by 2012. Ontario can bank on a small home-field advantage; Marchionne was raised and educated in the Toronto area. A joint venture is possible, given that any Alfa will initially be a low-volume niche vehicle. Ford, Chrysler, Toyota, General Motors and Honda are all well-established manufacturers in Ontario. The downside: most of these Alfas are destined to be sold in the U.S. Building cars in Canada is a mighty pricey proposition. Besides, could a car built by a bunch of overall-wearin’, double-double-drinkin’ Toronto Maple Leafs fans named “Duggie” and “Murray” still have what pistonheads refer to as “Alfa-ness?” Che macello!

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Last year, the Canadian government initiated an “aggressive push” to produce fuel from crops. The 2007 federal budget included a C$2.2b support package for biofuels. According to a report in the Globe and Mail, “political consensus in favor of biofuels is suddenly breaking down.” Member of Parliament (MP) Keith Martin thinks it’s time to step back and “put a moratorium on it now so people can actually wrap their heads around the facts; the current biofuel strategy is deeply misguided.” The president of the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association claims “the issues that come up have nothing to do with food supply.”  Gord Quaiattin says concerned Canadian should blame rising oil prices for food costs. “Everybody’s screaming about ‘food for fuel’; it’s too bad we can’t have a rational debate in this country,” sighs MP David McGuinty. Still, it may be too late to shut the door: the government has poured billions into a biofuel facilities fund. Fourteen plants are running already and six more being built- so this horse may have already left the barn.

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I trundled the car around a corner of the deserted little island car park Audi had found in Miami and as soon as I was out of sight of Thomas, Justin’s head snapped back and his lens almost smashed through the firewall behind us as I nailed that 6.0-litre V12 diesel’s throttle pedal all the way to the carpet and let the thing rev. Sorry, Thomas.

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