Automotive News

Filed under: Motorsports, Time Warp, Videos

Click above for an endurance racing gallery from Goodwood

The longest of the video clips from the Goodwood Festival of Speed, this is a sort of catch-all for the other race cars that made it out to West Sussex this year. You’ll see a sampling of endurance, open-wheel, rally and dragstrip cars in this 9-minute video. Fans of Porsche can see a 917/30, 935, 956, 962 and RS Spyder. Ferrari is represented by their largest-engined car ever, the 712 Can-Am racer, plus a Daytona Comp, F40 LM and the immortal 330 P3. Audis from the Quattro S1 to this year’s LeMans-winning R10 can be seen tackling the hill. There are Jags and Astons, Benzes and BMWs, Peugeots and Allards, Toyotas and Mazdas, plus many, many more. Follow the jump for the YouTube clip produced and posted by our buddy over at SoCalSpeedZone. And if you haven’t seen them yet, don’t forget to check out our other posts from this year’s Festival of Speed.

Better quality vid available by clicking here.

Thanks, Duane!

Continue reading VIDEO: Goodwood - Endurance and other racers

 

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CHARLESTOWN, NH, July 18, 2007 – The Student Conservation Association (SCA) and Mazda North American Operations (MNAO) have launched a nationwide competition to discover the next big idea in conservation, with a top prize of a brand new MAZDA3 and $10,000.

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Filed under: Gadgets, Etc., Ferrari

If you already own a Ferrari laptop, Ferrari watch, Ferrari shoes, Ferrari pen, Ferrari speakers and Ferrari surfboard, then maybe you’ll be in the demographic for this new Ferrari Unica Home Gym. The Italian-bodied exercise equipment features 25 possible exercises (double-clutching is not one of them), a key card that stores a users’ data, and a built-in Wellness Mate computer that incorporates the aforementioned data and designs a personalized training plan. The price for this calorie burning machine from Maranello is actually quite reasonable for a Ferrari: €12,500 or about $17,250 USD. Here’s the link to the Ferrari Store description and order form.

[Source: Luxist]

 

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Filed under: Coupes, Sports/GTs, Etc., Porsche

The guy who pulled off this 2-part heist is probably now teaching cucumbers a thing or two about being cool, and instructing killer bees in the value of persistence. The unnamed — and uncaught — thief walked into a Porsche dealership in Malaysia nattily dressed and holding a checkbook. He asked if he could test drive a black 911. Once given the keys, he got in, started it up, and drove straight out through the dealer’s plate glass window. There was only one thing he didn’t realize: the car only had enough gas to go 2 km, so it took the police just 30 minutes to find it abandoned.

But this was no ordinary thief. When he abandoned the car, he took the keys. Then, when the police impounded the car, they put gas in it. Add it up… and you have the same Porsche stolen again, this time from police headquarters. You can read the first part of the heist here, the second, here. Neither the thief — whom we’ll call Cool Hand Ahmad — nor the car has been found.

Thanks for the tip, Demio121!

[Source: Malaysian Star]

 

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Filed under: Car Buying, Japan, Acura, Honda

It appears that Acura will remain banished from its homeland for the foreseeable future, despite Honda claiming nearly two years ago that it would begin selling its luxury brand in Japan by 2008. At the same meeting this week during which Honda CEO Takeo Fukui announced that there’d be a redesigned Fit come year’s end, he also revealed that an Acura would now not be sold on the nation island until around 2010, or “two years or so from its original plan of fall 2008.” It seems that with sales way off in the Japanese home market, Honda would rather focus its resources on aligning its current Honda dealerships into a better integrated network, as well as establishing larger dealerships in heavily populated metro areas, no doubt in order to move more of those popular minicars. We doubt larger vehicles like the MDX (shown above), would fare as well in Japan as they do in the U.S., anyway.

[Source: Ward’s Auto]

 

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Filed under: Sports/GTs, Supercars, Ferrari

In case you needed a reminder of just how fast the Formula One world spins, 7-time World Champion Michael Schumacher says he is already out of date after retiring at the end of just last season. Not that he’s complaining. Although he’ll be at the Nurburgring this weekend for the German European Grand Prix, he thinks he got out at the right time and doesn’t miss driving.

Michael has been to a few races this year, but doesn’t really see a future role with the Scuderia. Instead, he says, he would prefer to work on the road cars. He still refers to his function as an advisory role, despite the fact that some see him becoming the head of Ferrari’s road car operations somewhere down the road. Whatever his position, we can understand him wanting to work with the road cars. Who wouldn’t?

[Source: MotorAuthority]

 

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Filed under: Coupes, Sports/GTs, Euro, Mercedes Benz

In late June we showed you spy shots of the Mercedes-Benz SCL, what we believe will be Mercedes’ answer to the Audi R8. It seems that the new Merc will be armed with a new weapon when it enters the fight - a lower curb weight.

Just Auto is reporting that Mercedes has plans to build the SL model out of aluminum, much like Aston Martin, Audi, Jaguar and Rolls-Royce have done with some of their models. Expected to use an aluminum spaceframe and body panels, the new SL should be at least 10 - 15% lighter than the current model, the weight of which ranges from 3,860 lbs. to 4,500 lbs. depending on what model and options are chosen.

Not wanting an interruption in SL production when the new aluminum structure is phased in, Mercedes is planning the super coupe SLC as a car that will use the spaceframe but be produced only in limited numbers. The idea is to make sure all the kinks are ironed out of the new production process before it’s applied to the higher volume SL. Expect only about 3,000 to 4,000 SLC coupes to be produced, and you’ll be able to pick one up around 2010, two years before the new all-aluminum SL debuts.

The SLC, however, will not share a body panel with the SL, which means it could even be the retro “gull-wing” coupe at which insiders have been hinting. We’re also not sure if Mercedes will even continue to produce the SLC after the new SL arrives in 2012. At this point, there remains more questions than answers.

[Source: Just Auto - sub. req’d]

 

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Filed under: Gadgets, Tech, Cadillac

It looks like Cadillac will be the first company to offer the new Gracenote music library database in a car. Buyers of the new 2008 CTS will be able to get the system when the car goes on sale in August. Gracenote points out this will be the first time the MusicID database and Playlist products have been paired with an in-car entertainment system for the North American market. Sounds like a technicality, but it’s a pretty sweet system.

What this means is that you can load all of your CDs into the system, have them copied, and then during playback the unit accesses a huge database to add track info. Things like album, artist and track names are a given, but the Gracenote system adds additional proprietary data like genre, artist type, era and region of origin. And then your personal collection can be searched and custom playlists developed using the data. How very iPod. Similar systems exist, but none are quite like Gracenote, and none have been factory available in the States until now.

[Source: just-auto - sub. req.]

 

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Filed under: Car Buying, Jaguar

You have to hand it to the folks at Jaguar. In the face of sales dwindling to almost nothing, its dealers and service staff manage to still do their jobs well and delight their customers. In the 2007 Customer Service Index Study released by J.D. Power and Associates today, Jaguar was rated number one in customer service, scoring 925 out of 1,000.

Adding ammo to the argument that domestic automakers are making a comeback in significant areas like customer service, the top five spots in this year’s 2007 CSI Study are occupied by automakers from the U.S.A., not counting Lexus, which tied for third place with Cadillac. Buick came in second, while Mercury and Saturn earned the fourth and fifth positions, respectively.

One interesting finding of the study was that Toyota earned a relatively low score of 858 out of 1,000, which was only good enough for a three-way tie for 22nd place with Ford and Chrysler. All three were below the industry average of 876 points out of 1,000. While Ford and Chrysler placing so low could be explained by a number of factors, including the general feeling of malaise among their respective workforces in the face of each company’s financial troubles, Toyota’s placement might be explained by the fact it just doesn’t have enough service centers to adequately meet the demands of its ever growing customer base. Ford, at least, can be happy with the fact that today’s news may have increased the value of Jaguar, which is up for sale, by at least $50 or so.

[Source: J.D. Power and Associates]

 

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Filed under: Ford, Jaguar, Land Rover, Earnings/Financials

Up to six different potential buyers are expected to place bids for the Jaguar and Land Rover brands when the auction for the British automakers gets underway later today. In the running are private equity firms Cerberus, Ripplewood Holdings and One Equity Partners, plus new entrants Tata Motors and Mahindra.

Tata Motors is already in negotiations with Fiat over a deal to build Fiat cars in India, and together, the two may form a new joint-venture to finance the bid for the British marques. According to reports, Tata has instructed several merchant bankers to evaluate the possibility of a joint offer for Jaguar and Land Rover, and both Tata and Mahindra recently signed confidentiality agreements.

Automakers Renault and Nissan have reportedly dropped out of contention, as did Hyundai, which yesterday announced that it has no plans to acquire any companies in the near future.

It’s expected Ford won’t announce the winning bidder for several months as it will take time for all the companies to do their due diligence.

[Source: Forbes]

 

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