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Alfa Romeo TZ3 Corsa race car by Zagato

April 27, 2010 at 10:13 am By Danny Tan Filed Under Alfa Romeo, Cars, International News

This is not a concept car like the Alfa Romeos we saw in Geneva, namely the 2uettottanta roadster by Pininfarina and the outrageous Pandion by Bertone, but a real race car. It was commissioned by Alfa collector Martin Kapp (you can see the German’s name on the car) who owns rare stuff like the SZ coda tonda, SZ coda tronca, TZ and TZ2, Junior Z and S.Z, among others.

Zagato says that the TZ3 Corsa honours 100 years of racing and winning in the 20th century. Alfa and Zagato has a long history together, from the Mille Miglia victories of the 1500 6C, 1750 GS and 8C 2300 Zagato to the Formula 1 championship of Juan Manuel Fangio, aboard his Alfa 159 bodied by Zagato. In the 60s, they conqured the 12 hours of Sebring, Targa Florio, Nurburgring and the 24 hours of Le Mans together.

Powered by the 8C Competizione’s V8, the TZ3 Corsa is based on a monocoque carbon fibre tubular chassis, coupled with a tubular frame and a lightweight aluminium body. It comes with goodies from OMP and Pirelli. Check out the gallery after the jump.
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Formula One to go turbo and direct injection in 2013?

April 27, 2010 at 9:39 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Formula 1, Motorsports

Formula One may be going back to smaller displacement turbocharged engines from 2013! It’s really a wonder why they didn’t do this earlier as it is one way to move the sport closer to mainstream automobile R&D relevance. Perhaps manufacturer teams will be encouraged more to spend dollars on their F1 teams this way. The rest of F1 has little to do with mainstream automobiles right now, and more of finding loopholes and grey areas around the rules of the sport.

Spain’s El Mundo Deportivo reported that the 2.4 litre normally aspirated sky-high revving V8s of today will be replaced by 1.5 litre twin-turbocharged direct injection engines – and apparently they will only have four cylinders? The cylinders will be larger now so redlines will undoubtedly drop, but the forced induction will make up for it.

“If F1 has to develop something helpful for real (road) driving conditions, then the best solution is for an engine that is turbocharged with gasoline direct injection. That is what we would support,” said Ferrari CEO Amedeo Felisa to Autocar at Auto China 2010, which is fully considering Ferrari has no turbocharged engines in its road car line-up now. Perhaps it is a hint of a turbocharged Ferrari engine to come? If F1 really goes forced induction, Ferrari will undoubtedly go for turbos as well, to maintain a psychologically similiarity with its F1 cars and its sports cars.

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Volkswagen: China vital to the success of EVs

April 26, 2010 at 8:34 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, China, Hybrids and Alternative Fuel, International News, Volkswagen

The Chinese market has become so important for world automakers that Volkswagen is betting the success or failure of the electric car on how well it is received by consumers in China. It has displayed an electric version of the Volkswagen Lavida in China called the E-Lavida and will also be reportedly showcasing an electric Golf next week in Shanghai. The Chinese government is supportive of EVs – it will start an EV funding initiative in July, and charging stations will be built within the next few years.

“China is the most important market worldwide for the Volkswagen group, and the success of e-mobility in China is decisive for the global execution of the e-mobility strategy,” said Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn in a media statement. Volkswagen intends to start selling EVs in China in four years time. It will be investing over US$5.9 billion in China over the next few years, hoping to ride on the Chinese market boom. Volkswagen already expects that China will overtake Germany as the company’s largest market this year.

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Limited edition Ford Fiesta S1600 revealed in the UK

April 26, 2010 at 8:26 pm By Harvinder Sidhu Filed Under Cars, Ford

Ford has announced a sportier variant of the Fiesta supermini for the UK market. Called the S1600 it is inspired by the previous Fiesta Zetec S and is offered with two engine options from both ends of the fuel spectrum.

The petrol unit is a 120 PS 1.6 litre Ti-VCT Duratec while the diesel front is made up by a 95 PS 1.6 litre Duratorq TDCi. These engines can be tuned up further via Mountune, Ford’s performance tuning partner although the press release did not mention anything about potential power figures.

The Fiesta S1600 can be treated to either Frozen White with blue stripes or Performance Blue with white stripes. There is a body kit that includes a unique front bumper with flared lower valence panel, extended side skirts, large rear spoiler and a rear diffuser. The petrol model features 17 inch alloys while the diesel unit gets 16 inch wheels.

Inside you will find heated sports seats with side airbags, leather steering wheel, and hand brake cover and gear knob along with Motorsport-branded floor mats and scuff plates.

As stated in the title the S1600 will be based on a limited production run where only 650 units will be made available. Each is priced at £16,665 OTR. More images can be found after the jump.
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Brand new Fiat Uno revealed thanks to leaked images

April 26, 2010 at 10:52 am By Harvinder Sidhu Filed Under Cars, Fiat

This is the all new Fiat Uno which is expected to go into production in 2012. Images of the new Uno were leaked out and we can now have a full view of it. The design is all right to me although it looks like it’s sitting a little too high – or does this mean that there could be a crossover variant?

Rumor has it that this new model utilizes a shortened version of the platform used in the Grande Punto. It should be as long as a Mazda 2. The new Uno will be first built at the company’s Betim plant in Brazil. Continue reading to view another image.
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Stefan GP is really serious about Formula 1 – Plans to build a circuit in Serbia!

April 26, 2010 at 10:23 am By Harvinder Sidhu Filed Under Formula 1, Motorsports

Remember Stefan GP? The Serbian-based squad that was trying to get into Formula 1 but was not allowed to even when US F1 announced its withdrawal? The team even went on to secure parts and equipments from Toyota, a company that is no longer in Formula 1.

Well the team’s interest in Formula 1 is even greater now than ever. Not only it has submitted an application to the FIA for a participation in 2011 the team which is run by Zoran Stefanovic revealed plans to build the “Stefan Technology Park” near Belgrade, Serbia.

This technology park is expected to house the team’s headquarters and a Formula 1 circuit that will be “suitable for competition”. Stefan GP announced that an agreement has been signed between the team, AMCO Corporation and the Mayor of Stara Pazova (Stara Pazova is a town in Vojvodina, Serbia).

It has also launched its official website and you can even see a countdown timer which indicates the team’s next event which is of course the 2011 Formula 1 World Championship. Will we see a Serbian Grand Prix sometime in the future? The team is definitely ambitious and I hope that it can turn its plans into reality.

But first things first, it has to secure a Formula 1 entry. The team will now compete against Epsilon Euskadi and Durango for the 13th team slot and has said that it wishes to join the sport with 1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve. It is also in talks with other drivers such as Kazuki Nakajima, Narain Karthikayan, Ralf Schumacher and rally driver Sebastien Loeb.

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Volkswagen E-Lavida concept at Auto China 2010

April 26, 2010 at 9:56 am By Harvinder Sidhu Filed Under Cars, Concept Cars, Hybrids and Alternative Fuel, Volkswagen

Volkswagen arrived in Beijing for the Auto China 2010 event with the E-Lavida concept which is essentially an electric version of the Lavida, a Chinese-market sedan that is based on the Volkswagen Golf. The E-Lavida is the company’s first electric car that was completely designed and built in China with the help of SAIC of course. The concept is expected to go into production by 2013.

Unfortunately technical details are still limited regarding this ‘greener’ Lavida. The introduction of the E-Lavida is part of Volkwagen’s move to capitalize on low-emissions motoring in the country. “China is one of the most important auto markets in the company’s global strategy,” said Martin Winterkorn chairman of Volkswagen.

“Success in China has a significant meaning for Volkswagen in achieving its electric car strategy worldwide,” he added. China’s National Development and Reform Commission includes low-carbon targets in its 12th five-year plan between 2011 and 2015.

The Chinese government also aims to increase the proportion of non-fossil and renewable energy including wind, solar, biomass, geothermal and nuclear into the energy mix to 15% by 2020.

Continue reading to check out an image gallery.
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Hyundai’s new GDI engines revealed in Beijing

April 26, 2010 at 9:19 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Hyundai, International News, Koreans

Other than the new Verna, Hyundai has a few other interesting announcements made at Auto China 2010. First is a new 1.6 litre engine packed full with tech such as direct injection, dual continuously variable valve timing, and a variable induction system.

Everything is in including efficiency tech such as CrN Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) coating, Diamond Like Carbon (DLC) coating and water jacket inserts to enable a stable temp balance between the upper and lower blocks. The only thing missing is turbocharging. But thanks to all of this technology the engine manages to make 140 PS (138 horsepower) while keeping to the latest emission standards. That’s just about 22 horses short of 100 horsepower per litre of displacement.

Next is a direct injection version of its Lambda V6 engine of 3.3 litre displacement – as a result peak output is 300 PS (296 hp), also from a normally aspirated engine. GDI will later also be added to the 3.8 litre Lambda model. Hyundai also reveals that it will be adding a third variant to the Lambda family – not sure if it will be smaller than 3.3 litres or larger than 3.8 litres. Hyundai also displayed a self-developed 8-speed automatic transmission.

Look after the jump for a video presentation of the new 1.6L GDI.
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Formula Drift Singapore 2010: Joy for Djan, despair for some

April 26, 2010 at 4:07 am By Danny Tan Filed Under Motorsports

For a moment, the dark clouds looked like they had gathered from afar, planning to rain on the parade that is Formula Drift Singapore 2010. The fact that it didn’t happen was perhaps something good, as many of the 42 participating drifters already found the tight course challenging without the rain. Which was why instead of the traditional top 32 shootout on race day, FD Singapore started off today with a “top 26″ battle – yesterday’s top three qualifiers Ryuji Miki, Atsushi Murata and Tengku Djan were given byes in the first knockout round (29 qualified in total).

While Saturday qualifying is done solo, Sunday’s knockout format requires drifters to race side-by-side in tandem battles, with the top qualifiers going up against the bottom in the list. At this stage, Team Goodyear Malaysia’s Michael Gan limped home with a mechanical failure (broken LSD) when fighting with fellow Malaysian Ivan Lau, who went on to to lose a quarter final battle between teammate and eventual runner up Tan Tat Wei.

Continue reading and see the gallery after the jump. Day 1 gallery and report is here.
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Tengku Djan wins Formula Drift Singapore 2010!

April 25, 2010 at 8:04 pm By Danny Tan Filed Under Motorsports

We just got back from a long and blazing hot day at Singapore’s F1 pit building, where Formula Drift Singapore 2010 took place over the weekend. Malaysia’s Tengku Djan beat the rest of the 42 drivers to be crowned champion at Formula Drift Asia’s season opener. He beat Bridgestone teammate Tan Tat Wei in an all-Malaysian final. Goodyear’s Daniel Woolhouse a.k.a. Fanga Dan from New Zealand was third in his Nissan RB-powered Holden Commodore.

Today’s top 29 (supposed to be 32 but there were too many drifters with zeros yesterday) saw Team Goodyear Malaysia’s Michael Gan and Hanizam Bin Hamzah (also known as Loyai) taking part. The former bowed out with mechanical problems but Loyai was my star driver of the day, and could have been FD Singapore’s giant slayer, if not for a judges decision I feel was unbelievable.

For the full report and gallery, click here.

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