Car News Articles

It was Jamie Whincup Day as Ford ran supreme at Sandown.

Team Vodafone star Jamie Whincup was last night crowned the Midas 400 champion as Ford battered Holden at the Melbourne round of the V8 Supercars.

Whincup led the charge for the Blue Oval, winning two out of the three races, as Holden slumped to their worst defeat of the year.

In a crushing win at Sandown raceway, Ford took out the top four spots for the round, with veteran driver Russell Ingall flying the flag for Holden in fifth spot (212 points).

A disappointing round also saw Holden Racing Team star Garth Tander lose the championship lead to Ford Performance Racing driver Mark Winterbottom.

A highlight of race three was Whincup producing the first sub-1min 10sec lap.

“That lap I probably won’t forget for a long time. I’ll probably never forget it. It has been a fantastic day,” he said.

The Sandown V8 Supercar event exploded to life on the final day with Ford superstar Craig Lowndes dramatically failing to start race three after snapping an axle during a warm-up lap.

After winning race two, the three times Bathurst champion sustained fatal damage while breaking into a corner and surrendered his pole position.

“We went out, went through turn one and it went bang,” Lowndes said while stranded in the garage.

“It started going left and I knew it was an axle.”

With Lowndes out of the race, his Team Vodafone teammate Whincup became embroiled in a three-way battle with fellow Ford drivers Mark Winterbottom and James Courtney.

On a slippery track, the star trio fought for position but it was a stunning Team Vodafone pit-stop that put Whincup in the lead.

“I am just glad we had the best team in the pits today,” Whincup said. “I had a great battle with Mark but it became a battle of the pit-stops. We came out in front and I held it together to win.”

The event marked the arrival of rookie driver Shane Van Gisbergen. Touted as a future champion, the Kiwi teenager lived up to the hype with a second in race two.

Winterbottom was delighted after securing the series lead.

“It is the first time ever for FPR,” Winterbottom enthused “We are excited about how we are going and to lead the championship is a big achievement.

“The car was close to good enough but Jamie had a solid weekend. We just couldn’t bridge the gap.”

Glamour team HRT had major set-up issues with Tander and veteran Mark Skaife both failing in the wet. They weren’t alone with Holden cars in general struggling to make the most of the conditions.

“The Falcons, for some reason, seem to dial into the wet a little bit better,” Ingall said.

“Having been in one myself it seems that way. They are a bit softer and absorb it a little bit better. But it is horses for courses.”

The Super Cheap Auto driver said he was ready to challenge the more “experienced” Holden team (HRT) after his surprise result.

“Yeah, we won the Holden race but that isn’t the one we want to win,” Ingall said. “We want to win overall.” ——- Midas 400 V8 Championship, Sandown — V8 SUPERCARS AUSTRALIA ——-

1 … Jamie Whincup …………. (Ford) ……. 47min:20.7150sec

2 … Mark Winterbottom ……. (Ford) ……. 47:22.8980

3 … James Courtney ……….. (Ford) ……. 27.5762

4 … Shane Van Gisbergen … (Ford) ……. 47:38.7479

5 … Todd Kelly ……………….. (Holden) … 47:39.1517 ————— Championship (after five of 14 rounds) —————

1 … Mark Winterbottom … (Ford) ……. 1124 points

2 … Garth Tander ………… (Holden) … 1072

3 … Jamie Whincup ……… (Ford) …… 1062

4 … Rick Kelly ……………. (Holden) … 1028

5 … Craig Lowndes ………. (Ford) …… 897

- The Daily Telegraph

Honda FCX Clarity points to petrol-free future.

Honda’s new zero-emission, hydrogen fuel cell car rolled off the production line this week to a star-studded greeting. The FCX Clarity, which runs on hydrogen and electricity, emits only water and none of the noxious fumes believed to induce global warming.

It is also two times more energy efficient than a gas-electric hybrid and three times that of a standard gasoline-powered car.

Honda expects to lease about 70 units, principally in Hollywood, this year and about 200 units within three years. The car is available on a three-year lease costing about $600 a month, including maintenance and accident insurance.

Among the first customers are actress Jamie Lee Curtis and filmmaker husband Christopher Guest, actress Laura Harris, film producer Ron Yerxa, as well as businessmen Jon Spallino and Jim Salomon.

“It’s so smooth,” says Harris, who played villainess Marie Warner on the hit TV drama 24. “It’s like a future machine … but it’s not.”

Yerxa says he’s excited to show off the garnet-coloured, four-door sedan and says there is plenty of interest in the car.

The FCX Clarity has a range of about 435km per tank with hydrogen consumption equivalent to 3.1 litres per 100km, according to the carmaker. The 1630kg vehicle can reach speeds up to 160km/h. It is powered by a fuel-cell stack that uses an electrochemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen to convert chemical energy into electricity to power the motor.

It is an improvement of its previous-generation fuel cell vehicle, the FCX, from 2005. A breakthrough in the design of the fuel cell stack, the unit that powers the car’s motor, allowed engineers to lighten the body, expand the interior and increase efficiency, Honda says. The fuel cell draws on energy synthesised through a chemical reaction between hydrogen gas and oxygen in the air, and a lithium-ion battery pack provides extra power.

Honda has been working on fuel cell systems since 1989.

It was the first manufacturer to receive commercial certification for a fuel cell car and has 10 previous-generation fuel cell vehicles in experimental use around the world.

However, the company’s short-term focus is continued development of its petrol-electric hybrid vehicles.

Honda Australia senior director Lindsay Smalley has called on governments to offer incentives for hybrids.

“As with any new technology, it will take time for hybrids to be widely accepted,” he said.

“Honda believes abolishing federal import tariffs and cutting stamp duty and registration on hybrid vehicles would greatly assist their presence on our roads and give consumers a wider choice of hybrid motoring options.”

Honda was the first to sell hybrids here with the Insight in 2000. It now sells the Civic Hybrid, but another hybrid vehicle is expected next year.

This new car is smaller and is expected to cost about two-thirds of the Civic price, making it the cheapest hybrid on offer in Australia.

AutoWeek recently attempt a Porsche focus group in California. in there they find out that Porsche is working on a diesel and a targa top version for the future Panamera sedan.

If approved, the diesel engine will be borrowed from Audi’s powertrain portfolio, which includes a 3.0-liter V6, a 4.2-liter V8 and a 6.0-liter V12 found in the R8 TDI Le Mans concept. With performance in mind, Stuttgart will likely choose between the V8 and the V12.

Porsche also showed renderings of a Panamera with a three-panel targa roof, suggesting the likelihood of another Panamera trim level in keeping with the German sports-car maker’s 911 model strategy.

When you’re winging a vehicle as expensive and powerful as a purpose-built Dodge Viper drift car, being fearful will only lead to a bad ending. Sam Hubinette doesn’t have any such compunctions while sliding sideways at 90 miles per hour. Should he inadvertently hit the wall, whoops. Fretting over potential contact will likely only make it inevitable. The hairy-chested car guys over at 0-60 were hanging out at the third round of Formula Drift competition in Englishtown, NJ, and caught up with the Skidding Swede for a few minutes while shooting a larger video of the competition. The smoky event saw Hubinette’s Viper place second to Tanner Foust’s Nissan 350Z. Foust, you’ll recall, is one of the hosts of NBC’s domestic “Top Gear.” Good to know he can drive. Now’s your chance to take shots at drifting and complain about how it’s not racing, and doesn’t require any skill, though we assure you it is, and it does. You still don’t have to like it. Video posted after the jump

[Source: 0-60]