4th
August
2008
Mark Winterbottom has extended his V8 Supercar championship lead.
The Ford driver Posted his second round victory of the year in round seven at Queensland Raceway yesterday.
Winterbottom won races two and three after finishing second in race one on Saturday to secure the overall round win from Holden’s Russell Ingall and Ford’s James Courtney.
The Ford Performance Racing driver now holds a 122-point lead over defending V8 champion Garth Tander in the series, with the Holden driver fourth on the weekend.
Winterbottom was flawless all day yesterday, setting up his triumph by surviving a race two crash-fest to win the middle peg of the three-race sprint round.
He got the better of fellow Ford driver and Saturday’s race one winner Courtney off the grid and also won the battle of the pitstops.
Then Winterbottom held off Ingall at the start of race three and didn’t give anyone else a sniff to close out the victory.
Ingall, with a second and two thirds for the weekend, finished second overall to post his best result since moving to the Supercheap Auto team at the start of this season.
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- The Australian
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4th
August
2008
Maserati is looking closely at a concept wagon shown by Italian design studio Carrozzeria Touring.
The five-door is one of two wagons presented by Italian styling studios. The previous effort was the Maserati Cinqueporte (five door) by StudioM of which a single unit costing $580,000 was built for a Middle East client.
Carrozzeria Touring will make 25 Quattroporte wagons — called Maserati Bellagio Fastback Tourings — for about $350,000 each. The Bellagio adds rear sheet metal and a folding rear seat to a standard Quattroporte. Power comes from a standard 295kW 4.2-litre V8 and though the extra metal adds about 50kg, Touring claims it will still
run to 100km/h in the same 5.6 seconds time as the standard sedan. Meanwhile, Maserati, riding high in its most profitable period for decades, is about to launch a third model. The company is playing the new model very close to its chest, even to the point of denying certain aspects. But within 12 months there will be a convertible version of the GranTurismo.
“A third model is possible but I have no news,” says Maserati product manager Paolo Quattrino. “It is important that Maserati retains its exclusivity so any new model will be looked at carefully.”
But an insider at the launch of the new Quattroporte in Austria says he has seen the convertible undergoing tests.
The convertible is likely to be a 2+2 seater — because of the extra room needed for the folding roof — which is a departure from the company’s desire to suit the family buyer.
However, it sees potential on the same chassis — indeed, the four-door Quattroporte model sits on a near identical platform — and sees a niche for a convertible.
Unknown, however, is what type of material will be used for the roof.
It is expected to be fabric to keep the car’s weight down and reduce manufacturing costs.
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- The Daily Telegraph
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4th
August
2008
Turns out TTAC isn’t alone with its Tesla Death Watch and Volt Birth Watch series: Toyota has its own going. EV World’s (sub) Bill Moore got this and a few other juicy tidbits from a casual conversation with Toyota’s “grumpy old man” Bill Reinert, National Manager of the Advanced Technology Group. Toyota has a Death Watch going on Fisker , Tesla, and…the Chevy Volt. Toyota doesn’t think any of them will ever be built in large volumes, because their Li-Ion batteries are simply too expensive to be cost-effective. He also cited concerns over global supplies of lithium. Meanwhile, Toyota is hard at work on next-generation batteries , especially air battery chemistry, including zinc-air, as well as stepping up production of NiMH packs and starting Li-Ion factories. What’s the line about not “having all your eggs in one basket”? Reinert also thinks it’s unrealistic to expect owners of plug-in to only tap the mains at night. Utilities are going to have to step up capacity. And forget about all the 2010 Prius spy shots floating around the web, they’re just cobbled-up mules based on the current Prius. Toyota is famous for keeping their final products under wraps (just one of the many differences with GM). And one more goodie from the grumpy Toyota brain trust: “liquid peak” (every conceivable liquid fuel from petroleum, coal and biofuel) arrives in 2018. That’s when global demand will outstrip capacity to produce them all.
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4th
August
2008
Spy photographers caught Ferrari’s replacement for the F430 out testing. According to AutoBild the new model will be launched in 2009. It should be powered by a five-liter engine that will deliver 500 hp, and the power increase should also see the name changed to F500.
The new model is designed to take on the Porsche GT2 and will be priced below 200,000 euros (about $310,000).
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4th
August
2008
Over the weekend at AutoblogGreen we got word that the 2009 introduction of Mercedes-Benz first two-mode hybrid application, the ML450 hybrid could be threatened by the problems at battery supplier Cobasys. Chrysler on the other chose to source batteries from Panasonic for its Aspen/Durango Two-Modes that are now in production and going on sale in the next few weeks. Another company that gets hybrid batteries from Panasonic is Toyota who are now challenging Segway in the personal transporter market.
…more stories after the jump…
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4th
August
2008
DENVER - I’m in the airport here, waiting to take part in a Motor Trend project. There’s a Crocs store near the wired-up food court, full of unsold plastic clogs in a variety of colors. The Crocs booth reminds me of a Chevy or Ford or Dodge dealership overflowing with colorful Silverados and Tahoes, F-150s and Expeditions, Rams and Durangos. Except that you don’t need to take out a loan to buy those shoes, which like the trucks are quickly falling in popularity.
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4th
August
2008
General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. are discussing a possible collaboration to develop new engines and other powertrain technologies, according to sources at both companies.
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4th
August
2008
Volkswagen brand head for technical development Ulrich Hackenberg seizes any opportunity to promote the new Scirocco. For example, Hackenberg recently drove a high-performance Scirocco in a 24-hour endurance race at the Nuerburgring in Germany.
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4th
August
2008
It’s the age-old question – Lamborghini or Ferrari? Ferrari or Lamborghini? Now that the Raging Bull has revised its entry-level offering, it seems as good a time as any to pit the Gallardo against the Prancing Horse’s baby.
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4th
August
2008
The Corvette ZR-1Â recently robbed the Nissan GT-R of its production car lap record at the Nurburgring. Not to be outdone, or to disappoint hundreds of hardcore Godzilla fans, Nissan is preparing a very special GT-R.
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Called the V-Spec, the tweaked GT-R is expected to dump the rear seats and boast other weight-saving changes to cut the kerbweight by 90kg. And while the weight comes down, power outputs go up. In V-Spec trim, the twin-turbo 3.8-litre V6 should produce a stout 520bhp and 440lb ft, up from 473bhp and 432lb ft.
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To see the Nissan GT-R V-Spec testing at the Nurburgring, click on the video player below. And you can browse CAR’s growing library of spy videos by scrolling through the bar on the side of the player below.Â
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