Rolls-Royce is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Spirit of Ecstasy by introducing a series of bespoke Phantoms.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Rolls Royce announces the Phantom Spirit of Ecstasy Centenary Collection
Rolls-Royce is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Spirit of Ecstasy by introducing a series of bespoke Phantoms.
F1 gurus lead a revolution in car design
Formula 1 is undergoing a quiet revolution.
In two years' time, the cars that line up on the grid for the start of the 2013 season will be vastly different from those that raced in 2010.
Governing body the FIA has already announced that the current 2.4-litre normally aspirated V8 engines will be replaced by 1.6-litre turbocharged versions with integrated energy recovery systems.
Now, BBC Sport can reveal that, driven by this big change to the engine regulations, the cars will also undergo their own huge revisions.
To the casual observer, they will still look like F1 cars and, importantly, will still go like them. But within the limitations of an open-cockpit, single-seater racing car with exposed wheels, they will be very different from current machines.
Gone will be the huge, snowplough front wings that have been required since the last major change of rules. Gone will be the high, chunky rear wings. Gone, too, will be the high-revving shriek of the engines.
In their place will be a car with much smaller front and rear wings and the much flatter, lower-pitched sound of a lower-revving turbo.
And critically - although largely invisible - there will be a shaped underfloor, replacing the flat bottoms that have been on F1 cars since 1983.
The 1982 Ferrari - a 126C2 - also possessed a small front wing
These external changes reflect a major change in the philosophy behind the cars and, as with the turbo engines, it is a case of back to the future. As the 1980s dominate the latest High Street fashions, so F1 is borrowing from technologies last seen then and updating them for the 21st century.
F1 last saw turbo engines in 1988. The last time cars had shaped underbodies was 1982. Those were the days of 'ground effect', when designers created huge amounts of aerodynamic downforce - and high cornering speeds - by accelerating the air under the car through the use of curved underfloors to create a 'venturi effect'. This was enhanced by the use of 'skirts', which sealed the underbody and prevented air leaking out of the sides.
We are not talking about a return to those days but the general principle is the same. Just as the cars in the 1979-82 period had small front and rear wings, so will the cars of 2013 and beyond.
The difference now is that whereas in the late 1970s and early '80s aerodynamics in F1 cars were still relatively in their infancy and designers were simply chasing as much as they could, now they are highly refined. And the men behind the proposed new rules are using the underfloor of the car to create efficient - but strictly limited - downforce.
The FIA recognised that if it was to make such a major change to the cars, it needed to be done as effectively and credibly as possible. So to help draw up the new rules they asked two of the most respected and experienced designers they could find - Patrick Head and Rory Byrne.
Between them, Head, the engineering director of Williams, and Byrne, now retired but formerly of Benetton and Ferrari, have won a total of 17 constructors' titles and 15 drivers' titles. They were first approached by FIA president Jean Todt in March 2010.
Among the provisos Head and Byrne were given were: a) at the very least, make sure the changes did not make overtaking any harder than it already is; and b) make the cars a bit harder to drive - the target being for a driver to be able to be on full throttle for only about 50% of the lap, as opposed to the current average of 70%.
The new regulations are being fine-tuned by FIA race director Charlie Whiting this week before being sent to the 12 F1 teams for analysis. In the new year, they will be critiqued at the sport's Technical Working Group, a group of leading engineers who effectively define the technical rules.
Head says "sure as hell there'll be some small changes" there. The basic philosophy, though, is expected to stay the same, while Head says the shaped underfloor is "inevitable".
"It all starts with the fact that we are only going to have roughly 65% of the amount of fuel, and a (limited) fuel flow rate," he explains. "When you're very limited on fuel, it's very clear you've got to reduce drag enormously. OK, the tyres are a very high proportion of the drag but we decided not to put tiny skinny tyres on it because it's still required to go around corners quickly.
"So the next thing you turn to is the massive rear wing we're running at the moment and as soon as you replace that with a much smaller one, it's 'Oh, we've lost all our downforce, so what can we do?' So inevitably you end up with a shaped underside."
This idea has been around for a long time - as long ago as 1998, when another working group, led by the late Dr Harvey Postlethwaite, also suggested reducing the sizes of front and rear wings and re-introducing shaped underfloors. The idea was canned by then FIA president Max Mosley.
Back then, the motivating factor was to improve the racing. In theory, cars designed this way can follow each other more closely than modern F1 cars.
Currently, drivers experience a severe lack of grip when they get to within about a second of a car in front because the airflow to their cars, particularly over the critical front wing, is badly disturbed.
In theory, with smaller wings and a greater proportion of the total downforce coming from under the car, there is less disturbance in the wake of the car in front, so a following car loses less aerodynamic downforce. It therefore retains more grip, allowing drivers to get closer to the car they want to overtake, making passing easier.
Under these new rules, any benefit to the racing will be secondary. The first goal is improving the cars' efficiency.
But it's just possible that, in chasing a goal that is all about keeping F1 in step with a world of diminishing fossil fuels, the effect will be to make overtaking easier.
Chastened by years of rule changes aimed at making cars more raceable that made no discernible difference, those involved are cagey about that for now. But one senior figure will at least admit the thought is on their minds.
"One of the fundamental parts of this," he said, "was that it wouldn't make it worse. But we do believe that if you can ensure there's less disturbance in the wake, that's good."
HRT confirm Karthikeyan in team for 2011 | 2011 F1 season
HRT confirm Narain Karthikeyan will drive for the team in 2011.
wip- '57 chevy
I haven't done a car in a long time!.or finished one anyway
so here we go! I picked up the black widow. plan to make the street version also black and white. more of an everyday work car.
heres some progress on the engine
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Hyundai debuts Blue Link telematics platform at 2011 CES
Telematics system includes functions such as voice-activated web browsing, texting and e-mail, navigation and a restaurant finder. 
Life in the pit lane
 The Mercedes pit crew prepare for Michael Schumacher in Singapore |
These are not select millionaires but up to 16 ordinary, yet gifted, guys; team mechanics who have worked their way up the system and often migrate from team to team, are paid real-world wages of between �30,000 and �50,000 a year, are drilled to perfection ? and whose split-second synchronisation brings their teams huge rewards.
2012 Volkswagen NMS teased
Right on cue, Volkswagen has released a teaser image of the 2012 New Midsize Sedan (NMS). 
Miguel Ángel Guerra Roberto Guerrero Maurício Gugelmin Dan Gurney
2011 Chrysler 300 priced for U.S. [video]
Ahead of its debut at the North American International Auto Show, Chrysler has announced the redesigned 300 will be priced from $27,995. 
Jacques Villeneuve Jacques Villeneuve Sr Luigi Villoresi Emilio de Villota
Saturday, January 8, 2011
D?Ambrosio confirmed alongside Glock at Virgin
Jerome D’Ambrosio has been confirmed alongside Timo Glock at Marussia Virgin Racing for 2011. The GP2 veteran drove in the first Friday session for the team at four of the last five races of this season, and has also done … Continue reading 
More details/rumors on the upcoming BMW front-drive models
Outline for 3 new BMW front-wheel drive models emerge - a compact hatch, a compact minivan/MPV and a large crossover. 
DTM: Premat chasing BMW drive
Premat chasing BMW drive By Glenn Freeman Friday, January 7th 2011, 12:36 GMT Former Audi driver Alexandre Premat has targeted a drive with BMW when the manufacturer returns to the DTM in 2012. Related posts:- DTM: Premat edges Coulthard in DTM test Premat edges Coulthard in DTM test By Glenn Freeman and...
- DTM: Premat fastest in Friday practice Premat fastest in Friday practice By Glenn Freeman Friday, August...
- DTM: Premat dropped by Audi Premat dropped by Audi By Matt Beer Wednesday, November 17th...
Mopar previews 2012 Fiat 500 and Chrysler 200 for Detroit
Chrysler's aftermarket parts provider Mopar bringing several tuned models to the Detroit auto show next week. 
FIA Announce 1.6l Four Cylinder Engines From 2013 ? Team Orders Allowed From 2011
The FIA have today announced a range of new rules and regulations for the forthcoming seasons, the most notable of which being the new engine rules to take place from 2013. The current 2.4l V8 engines, already disliked by fans, are being dropped in favour of 1.6l 4 cylinder engines with turbochargers. �Reduced fuel flow, [...]
Ferrari offical plays down Rome race talk
Ferrari chief Stefano Domenicali has cooled talk that the Italian capital Rome could host a grand prix in the near future.
There have been calls for several years for an F1 race to be held in the Eternal City but plans have never really got off the ground.
Circuit designer Hermann Tilke did put forward a proposal that would have seen the race take ...
Renault changes name for 2011 season
Renault will be named Lotus Renault for the 2011 Formula One season after the car company sold its remaining 25% stake.
Renault sold 75% of its shareholding to private investment group Genii Capital ahead of the 2010 campaign. However, it has now relinquished its remaining share to Genii which will be taken up by Malaysian company Proton, which owns Lotus Cars.
As a result there will now be two teams in ...
Gribkowsky arrested
Gerhard Gribkowsky, once the chairman of SLEC, the Formula One group’s holding company, has been arrested in Germany. The news was announced by the Munich public prosecutor this morning. The former BayernLB Chief Risk Officer was arrested because he was unable to explain how $50 million appeared in an Austrian foundation under his control. There [...]
Friday, January 7, 2011
Red Bull stars on level playing field
Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel will be on a level playing field for the 2011 Formula One season, the Australian driver believes.
Webber felt like he was being treated as a 'second driver' last season by Red Bull as his German team-mate appeared to be given preference when it came to car parts and race tactics.
However, Webber has insisted that he ...
Kolles confirms Karthikeyan at Hispania
The HRT team has now officially confirmed that Narain Karthikeyan will drive this year, after the Indian driver told his local media yesterday. Karthikeyan, who turns 34 on January 17, last raced in F1 with the Jordan/Midland in 2005, and … Continue reading 
Ted Whiteaway Graham Whitehead Peter Whitehead Bill Whitehouse
Hobby Shop Visit
I went to my long time local hobby shop yesterday and something happened that has never happened before. I was not excited by the sight of all the kits, even the new ones. I just stood there looking at the kits on the shelves and nothing. No desire to pick a kit off the shelf and check it out. I admit the new prices have turned me off to most of the kits but I always get interested in looking at the new issues and reissues to see what they have done to the parts and to check the box art out.. The only kit that interested me was the 1/8th Revell- Monogram '32 Ford with the new hot rod parts and the flathead motor. But that kit is so expensive it is more than my total hobby budget for the whole year. I ended up just buying some plastic strips for some frame projects I have on my bench. This is the first time in almost 50 years that a visit to a hobby shop has left me cold and un-interested. I think it has a lot to do with my frustration at not being able to get good paint jobs and all the un-finished projects, at least 50, some over 30 years old, that I have in my stash. I admit since my 2 recent heart attacks and recoveries that some parts of my life are just not that important anymore. I hope my hobbies are not part of that. I will just wait and not do anything rash and see what happens in the coming months. I have had slumps before but not this bad. Any advice or comments greatly welcomed. Patrick
2012 Mercedes-Benz C-Class Coupe spied in California [video]
C-Class Coupe spied while being processed at Long Beach facility in California. Mercedes has hinted that it will bring the four-cylinder C250 Coupe to the U.S. market. 
Hans Joachim Stuck Otto Stuppacher Danny Sullivan Marc Surer
Toro Rosso Announce 2011 Launch Date
Scuderia Toro Rosso have announced that they will be launching their 2011 Formula One car on February 1st. The launch will take place at the Valencia Circuit on the day that official pre-season testing starts. �Swiss based squad Sauber are also launching their new car at the circuit. The Faenza based team will have Jaime [...]
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Pressure mounts on Webber most of all
Mark Webber, typically, cut to the chase when weighing up what could be the weekend of his life with a colleague.
"It's simple, mate," he said. "Put it on pole, then disappear!"
As long as Fernando Alonso, the championship leader, finishes third or worse behind the Australian in Sunday's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, it would be that simple.
Webber would be champion, with no need for a last-lap shuffle from team-mate Sebastian Vettel, and Red Bull would have completed a deserved double entirely in keeping with chief technical officer Adrian Newey's magnificent RB6 design.
But little in this switchback season has been straightforward - particularly at Red Bull, where Vettel could have wrapped up the title some races ago had he had greater reliability.
Instead, he and his older team-mate find themselves chasing Alonso who, remember, was 47 points off the lead following the British Grand Prix in July.
"All the pressure is on Red Bull this weekend," according to one team manager with recent championship success. "And the biggest load is on Webber.
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"He's not a young driver and you don't get many chances like this. Vettel will have many more days to challenge for the title. The team clearly back him."
"As for Fernando, he's been there already - twice."
Webber's outburst about his team's lack of driver equality before the last race in Brazil was interpreted by many as evidence that he's feeling the heat.
And those same observers viewed his quiet, reserved performance here in front of the world's media alongside his three rivals as another display of nerves.
Contrast his demeanour with Vettel's front row smiles, they were saying last night.
Consider Alonso's matter-of-fact handling of any barbed team orders related probing and Hamilton's back row cheeriness: "The guys in front of me have everything to lose, so for me I'm going to be flat out as always."
Hamilton's role could be a significant curve-ball if he can repeat his pole-winning lap of last year. But let's stay with Webber for the moment.
A one-time Jaguar official who worked with the Australian at the team and still works within Formula 1 gave me an interesting slant on his comments in Brazil.
"Mark seems to need to rev himself up, needs to feel he's got to fight something," my source said.
"He's a strong character and a good driver but for some reason he doesn't always show it unless he's gets himself wound up."
Will Webber keep his nerve in Abu Dhabi? Photo: Getty Images
His race-winning performance at Silverstone was a case in point. Vettel got the only new, surviving front wing off Webber's car before qualifying.
The Aussie got the hump. But he also got the victory - fast and furious to the end.
That was in the middle of his purple patch which continued until the Belgian Grand Prix at the end of August, when he was second to Hamilton.
Webber has not been on pole since then, and has not won a race since Hungary, the grand prix before Spa. He has been out-qualified by his team-mate at the last five events.
He lost valuable points by crashing in Korea, where he also lost the lead in the championship - which he had held for the longest period of anyone this season - to the driver he rates the strongest on the grid, Alonso.
So it is easy to see why so many in the F1 paddock believe Webber faces the greatest challenge of all the contenders this weekend to fulfil an ambition that's been losing momentum at the wrong time.
Essentially, it's now or never.
Even Webber admitted on Thursday that age is against him to enjoy more opportunities like this.
Indeed, one leading driver manager even suggested to me that, whatever happened this weekend, Webber's position at Red Bull was untenable.
"If he's champion, he should get out at the top. If he doesn't win the title, then why would he want to be in a team where he feels his team-mate is being treated differently?" he said.
By contrast, the Alonso Fan Club nodded sagely at the Spaniard's cool fatalism yesterday.
"I will not have anything to be disappointed about in 2010," Alonso said.
"This first year of the relationship we are fighting for the world championship in the last race against two Red Bulls who are dominating by far in terms of speed so overall I don't think it matters on Sunday."
Um, really?
Make no mistake, Alonso and Ferrari will be going all out to win the title on Sunday, however much they make out it would be an unexpected bonus.
But this chance has been as much to do with Red Bull's fallibility as Ferrari's remarkable recovery from a desperate mid-season slump which was threatening to turn the screw on team principal Stefano Domenicali.
If anybody can drive to a title-winning script on Sunday to join a select club including previous three time winners like Ayrton Senna, Niki Lauda and Sir Jackie Stewart, it is Alonso.
He is the man in front, with the experience of his 2005 and 2006 triumphs, seemingly able to work out the points as effortlessly as the strategy.
Above all, he knows that his rivals all have to beat him on the track to have a chance of the 2010 championship, whereas he could do the job even if he failed to finish through a mistake or a breakdown.
Vettel, who must have nightmares about that engine failure when leading in Korea, has appeared like a man who will be driving more in hope than expectation of coming first or second to have any chance of becoming F1's youngest champion.
The prospect of waving through Webber has not fazed him because both of them know their first priority is getting ahead, and staying ahead of Alonso before any switch comes into the equation.
And that is where Lewis Hamilton fits in.
He accepts that he is clearly the outsider of the four contenders; 24 points off the lead, he's all but written off his chances
But if the McLaren performs like last year - extra straight-line speed from the F-duct instead of last year's Kers power boost - on Abu Dhabi's two big straights, the 2008 champion could be the joker in the championship pack.
Hamilton gave a hint of what might be in the offing with his pace in second practice, especially in the final sector where he was supreme.
Another McLaren pole position backed up by race reliability, and those carefully prepared championship permutations at Red Bull and Ferrari will be crucial props in a juggling act which could keep us guessing until the final lap of the final race of this momentous season.
Pierre Levegh Bayliss Levrett Jackie Lewis Stuart LewisEvans
1/12 '69 Camaro
Hi everyone! Wanted to show you my current project. Finished somewhere around 1992, I recently rediscovered this model and decided to do an overhaul. In an attempt to make it look like the1:1 in my garage,
Hard time
Iam buildinrg a 87 buick grand and iam putting a v8but i want to make it a twin turbo how do i make the headers and turbos the car is tubed ive been working on this for a year and dont know how to do this any help will be awsome thank you everyone
Harry Merkel Arturo Merzario Roberto Mieres Francois Migault
Season Review: Force India
Since 2008, Force India have improved considerably year by year and the team can be very proud of what they have achieved in a short amount of time.
Yes they will have been disappointed not to have held onto sixth in Constructors this season. But 2010 ...
Jochen Rindt John RiseleyPrichard Giovanni de Riu Richard Robarts
McLaren lead the First Practice Session in Spanish Formula One Grand Prix
Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button gave a strong start to McLaren in the Spanish Formula1 (F1) Grand Prix at Circuit de Catalunya in Spain. Both the drivers topped the charts in the first practice session here in Spain. Lewis Hamilton topped the first practice session followed by team mate Jenson Button.
Mercedes, who have come up [...]
Mercedes, who have come up [...]
Vern Schuppan Adolfo Schwelm Cruz Bob Scott Archie Scott Brown
DRIVEN: Performance Sedans Compared
Ford Taurus SHO, Volvo S60 R take different roads to family-size style, drivability and finesse.
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