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Renault F1 with MOV’IT

Mar 11

Posted by Insider in F1, Renault

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Only a couple of days before the start of the new season, Renault F1 Team received another boost (financially speaking) by signing a new partner. We’re talking about German company MOV’IT, a worldwide player in high-performance brake systems for sports, racing and security vehicles.

We weren’t given the full details of the new agreement, but we believe it will extend for the duration of the upcoming season only, with the company’s logo due to be painted on the nose of the Renault R30 starting the very Bahrain Grand Prix this weekend.

“One of the primary motivations for our investment in Renault F1 Team was to use the sport as a powerful business-to-business platform and create synergies between different companies within our partner network,” said the Enstone based team owner Gerard Lopez.

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Schumacher Facing Understeering With W01

Mar 11

Posted by Insider in F1, Mercedes-Benz

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Michael Schumacher is yet to get comfortable with the Mercedes W01, despite the 7 or 8 days of testing during the month of February. According to both the team’s boss Ross Brawn and Schumacher’s little brother Ralf, it seems that Nico Rosberg finds it more natural to drive the 2010 challenger than the 7-time world champion.

“Nico (Rosberg) has felt a little better in the car (than Schumacher) in his test days,” said Brawn in recent days, echoing the comments of Schumacher’s long-time manager Willi Weber - who was replaced by Sabine Kehm in that position a few days ago - who revealed that his former client doesn’t like his car’s tendency to understeer.

However, this is not a fresh problem for the cars built at Brackley, as the predecessor of the W01, the Brawn BGP01, had the same problem throughout the course of last season. However, the racing styles of both Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello made it easier for the car to be controlled at performing levels during the races.

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Kicherer E 50 Coupe

Mar 11

Posted by Insider in Mercedes-Benz

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Kicherer has developed a tuning program for the Mercedes E-Klasse Coupe 500, offering a decent power increase and a discreet styling tweak.

The car’s naturally aspirated 5.5 liter V8 engine has received a high performance exhaust system and an ECU remap. These offer a 42 HP and 15 lb-ft (20 Nm) of torque premium, bringing the engine’s total output to 430 HP and 406 lb-ft (550 Nm) of torque. Kicherer has removed the coupe’s electronic speed limiter and the tuner claims that the car’s speedometer (this ended the fun at 250 km/h) now climbs up to 330 km/h. However, the tuning house did not provide any exact performance specification for the vehicle.

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Jordan Think Schumacher Can’t Win The Title

Mar 10

Posted by Insider in F1, Mercedes-Benz

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BBC pundit Eddie Jordan - formerly a team owner inside the Formula One Championship - said that Michael Schumacher must be “out of his mind” to return to the sport that turned him into a 7-time world champion. Speaking his mind about Schumacher’s chances of making a difference in the 2010 championship, Jordan believes the German made a terrible mistake returning in F1.

“If I was his father I would have said to him, ‘Son, why? Why?!’ Seven times a world champion - he must be out of his mind! In life, you - as an individual with that sporting legacy - have to give your sport up, not the sport give you up, and he’s putting himself in that position,” said Jordan during a pre-season BBC discussion this week, according to crash.net.

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Mazda Gets Brake Override Systems

Mar 10

Posted by Insider in Mazda

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Toyota’s devastating recall that affected millions of cars sold all over the world scared the hell out of several other automakers which were more or less involved in this serious problem. Some others have already confirmed that their cars are also affected by Toyota’s glitch, including Peugeot and Citroen, while other brands are trying to avoid such an embarrassing and money-losing situation straight from the assembly lines.

This is exactly the case of Mazda, the Japanese manufacturer that recently decided to install brake override systems on all new models. This basically means that in case a near-death experience (to be read “a stuck accelerator pedal”) occurs, the vehicle will give priority to the brake pedal and not to the accelerator.

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Unichip For Subaru Impeza Diesel

Mar 9

Posted by Insider in Gadget, Subaru

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Unichip Europe has developed a new dynamic plug and play “U-connect” piggy back upgrade for the all wheel drive Subaru Impreza equipped with the 150 HP 2.0 boxer diesel unit. The product is available on the UK market.

The “piggy back” system works by intercepting the signals from the vehicle’s factory stock sensors and channeling them through the custom pathway. The new product performs minor electronic modifications to the engine’s fueling and boost parameters in order to increase performance while maintaining the fuel economy and reliability of the unit. Read the rest of this entry »

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Lotus F1 Looking Forward To Bahrain

Mar 9

Posted by Insider in F1, Lotus

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A few weeks ago, the technical director of Lotus F1 Team, Mike Gascoyne, insisted that his aims for the upcoming season is to become the best of the newly entrant teams of F1 and, by mid-season, start seeing some points on the scoreboard from one of its two drivers, Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen.

As far as the first goal is concerned - out-bettering HRT F1 and Virgin Racing - we can all agree that it’s more realistic than the second. One proof is that the Malaysian backed team’s aim for the season opening Bahrain Grand Prix is simply to finish the race with both cars.

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Mercedes’ Driving Academy 2010

Mar 9

Posted by Insider in Mercedes-Benz

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US driving enthusiasts have another opportunity to improve their skills, as the AMG Driving Academy opens its gates once again. This year, there has been another level added to the experience: the Pro Level. Classes are still being carried out under the supervision of professional instructors. AMG vehicles including the new SLS AMG are available for all students.

The Academy, which was originally founded in Germany back in 2007, was launched in the US in 2009. Last year, more than 600 people finished the advanced classes and now have the opportunity to attend an advanced three-day Pro Level program at the Road Atlanta circuit. The participants will get behind the wheel of several AMG models including the E63 AMG, SL63 AMG, C63 AMG, SLK55 AMG and SLS AMG.

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BMW X1 Made in China

Mar 8

Posted by Insider in BMW

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BMW will assemble a series of models in China, via its joint-venture with Brilliance Auto. The cars built in China will include the BMW X1 compact SUV, the BMW 1 Series and the stretched version of the BMW 3 Series, as Gasgoo reports.

Last week, during the Geneva Auto Show, BMW chairman and CEO Norbert Reithofer announced that the X1 would be the third model to be built at the joint business’ Chinese factory.

At the beginning of the year, BMW Brilliance paused the 3 Series’ production to expand the production site’s capacity and compensated by importing the model. The plant is scheduled to resume production soon, and will use updated production lines that will allow it to assemble a fresh range of models, including the X1 SUV.

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Audi Evolution-Version R8 LMS

Mar 8

Posted by Insider in Audi

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According to Audi, its new GT3 customer sport program has reached a new milestone. The German car manufacturer says that by the middle of April it will hand out 20 Audi R8 LMS cars to teams competing in various national and international racing series, including the two 24-hours races at Nurburging and at Spa-Francorchamps this season.

Audi wants to offer its customers the best car possible, so the automaker will obtain FIA homologation of an evolution-version of the R8 LMS. Previous vehicles will be brought up to date with the help of a kit.

“During our evolution project we primarily focused on service life and maintenance- friendliness,” explains Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. “All the experience we gathered last season with the help of our partners has been fed into the evolution-version. We’re convinced that we’re handing over a reliable and easy to handle vehicle to our customers that embodies the high quality standards of the Audi brand.”

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