There's nothing quite like the sound of a screaming Italian engine, but that's put Maserati into a pretty pickle as several of their upcoming models are slated to use diesels.Enrico Bertaggia Ferrari Spider Tony Bettenhausen Mike Beuttler 458 Italia
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The automotive world is full of trends and copycatting, so it is not uncommon to see drivetrain modifications start off small and explode as the years progress. If you think back, you will find one of the slower growing trends in automotive history was fuel injection, as it dates way back to 1925, then by 1940 it was first made electronic by Alfa Romeo engineers. In 1952, it became commercially available via Bosch, but only a few automakers made use of it. By the early-1990s, all but a handful of cars had electronic fuel injection of some sort.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, in terms of rate of growth, is the elimination of V-8 engines in favor of more practical turbocharged V-6 engines. The Ford F-150 has been on the front lines of this V-8 abandonment front and it all began with the elimination of all but two V-8 engines in 2011 ? the 5.0-liter V-8 and 6.2-liter V-8 were the only 8-cylinder engines available ? and replacing them with a series of V-6 engines, including: a high-output non-turbo, a 302-horsepower 3.5-liter, a 302-horsepower 3.7-liter, and a 365-horsepower twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V-6 engine.
Since this successful introduction of forced-induction V-6 engines by Ford, seemingly every company is working on a hot turbocharged V-6 to replace their V-8 engines. The most notable is General Motor?s work on a 3.0-liter turbocharged V-6 for its upcoming Escalade redesign and the new Silverado and Sierra. There are also whispers of a twin-turbo V-6 for the Camaro. Dodge has fallen behind, but has turned its focus more toward making its existing V-8 powered trucks more economical, but will eventually have to switch to turbo power to keep pace.
So the question on everyone?s mind is how do these turbo charged V-6s stack up to the aging and fuel-hungry V-8s?
Click past the jump to read our comparison between the two options.
Comparison: V-8 Engines vs. Turbocharged V-6 Engines originally appeared on topspeed.com on Thursday, 31 May 2012 19:00 EST.
George Abecassis Kenny Acheson Andrea de Adamich Philippe Adams Mercedes Benz
 Scarecrows adorn the entrance to a barren Korean International Circuit |
Source: http://blogs.espnf1.com/paperroundf1/archives/2010/12/journalists_shocked_at_korea_a.php
Skip Barber Paolo Barilla Rubens Barrichello Michael Bartels Edgar Barth
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Formula1Fancast/~3/WvCtgq-iUMQ/webber-will-threaten-vettel-in-2012
Ferrari Spider Tony Bettenhausen Mike Beuttler 458 Italia Birabongse Bhanubandh
Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne has revealed plans to drop the Jeep Compass and Chrysler Town & Country in 2014.Michael Andretti Keith Andrews Elio de Angelis Marco Apicella Mário de Araújo Cabral
Source: http://f1fanatics.wordpress.com/2011/02/06/robert-kubica-hospitalised-following-rally-accident/
Erwin Bauer Zsolt Baumgartner Elie Bayol Don Beauman Karl Gunther Bechem
A group of selected journalists have been invited to an event in Shaghai on Thursday when the full details will be revealed.Lotus Mini Cooper S Jean Alesi Jaime Alguersuari Philippe Alliot
There are, it turns out, two Kimi Raikkonens.
The public face of the 2007 world champion, who has returned to Formula 1 this season after two years in rallying, is of a monosyllabic, monotone, unsmiling figure, energised only the moment he steps into a racing car.
The one who emerges in private is very different - a talkative, jocular man, who can happily sit and shoot the breeze like anyone else.
As Lotus trackside operations director, Alan Permane has worked closely with Raikkonen since he joined the team last November.
Kimi Raikkonen has been perceived as cold and uncommunicative. Photo: Getty
The 32-year-old Finn, Permane says, "is happy to sit and talk, not only about technical stuff, but laughing and joking and talking rubbish with his engineers about all sorts of stuff".
He is just not interested in any of his dealings with the media and, unlike his rivals, doesn't bother to hide it.
Permane worked with Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso through the title-winning years with the team formerly known as both Benetton and Renault. He has been impressed with Raikkonen from the start.
Raikkonen first drove one of the team's cars at the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia in late January. Straightaway the team knew they had something special.
He had not driven an F1 car since the 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and had no experience of the Pirelli tyres he was using. Yet, after a single installation lap to check the car's systems were working, his first flying lap was within a few 10ths of a second of the fastest lap he would do over the next two days.
The good impressions did not go away.
Permane said, "He has never driven a car with a full load of fuel in it.
"We went from 30-160kg [of fuel load in Valencia] to show him that's the sort of difference you can expect - certainly from qualifying to race it's even bigger than that.
"We calculate the lap time difference the fuel load will make and his first lap was absolutely spot on that difference. That is impressive."
After that, Raikkonen did another 20 laps, each one exactly 0.1secs slower than the last - the lap time lost by tyre degradation.
There is a widespread belief that Raikkonen is as unforthcoming in his technical debriefs as he is in public, but that, too, appears to be a fallacy.
Lotus have found his comments in debriefs to be not only lengthy but very perceptive, too.
He was slightly quicker than new team-mate Romain Grosjean throughout pre-season testing, so it was a surprise that he was about 0.2secs slower than the Franco-Swiss semi-novice in the practice sessions in Melbourne.
Equally, the errors Raikkonen made on his qualifying laps that left him down in 18th on the grid betrayed a certain ring-rustiness, as well as perhaps the pressure he was feeling from Grosjean's pace.
In the race, though, something of the old Raikkonen returned as he fought back up from his low starting position to take seventh place by the end.
Clearly, though, there is more to come.
Raikkonen is not entirely happy with the feel he is getting from the Lotus's steering, but Permane plays down the significance of the problem.
"He's very particular," Permane says. "He knows what he wants and it's not quite to his liking. It's not a million miles away, but we'll get it there."
Raikkonen can drive perfectly well with the steering as it is, but the problem probably does mean that he is driving a little below his maximum.
The question now is, at what level is his maximum?
The reason Raikkonen left F1 in the first place was because he performed for Ferrari for much of 2008 and 2009 way below the level expected of him.
Ferrari, in fact, terminated Raikkonen's contract a year early and paid him not to drive in 2010 so they could bring in Alonso.
The Spaniard has since out-performed Felipe Massa, the man who generally had the better of Raikkonen from the start of 2008 until fracturing his skull in an accident in Hungary in July 2009.
Does this mean Alonso is that much better than Raikkonen? Or that Raikkonen in 2008-9 was a long way below his best? Or that Massa is not the driver he was?
No one knows for sure, but for Raikkonen's comeback to be considered an unqualified success he will have to be able to match his new team-mate's pace.
The fact Lotus have regrouped over the winter and produced one of the year's fastest cars only increases the pressure - it's not so bad to be beaten by a team-mate when you're battling to get into the top 10; but a very different matter when you're fighting for the podium.
That, it appears, is what Lotus are in a position to do.
"We screwed up with the car last year," Permane says, "and we know we've done a lovely car this year, not only aerodynamically, but we've done a nice package mechanically."
So pleased are Lotus with the new E20 that Permane says he "dared to compare it with 2005", when Alonso won the first of his two titles.
That is not so much a measure of Lotus's realistic hopes as a reflection of how much the drivers like the car, and how well it responds to changes.
Nevertheless, the team are confident they can keep up with the break-neck development pace of the likes of McLaren and Red Bull and hold on to their position.
For Raikkonen, the requirement now is prove that he can go with them. So far, the signs are positive.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/03/the_two_kimi_raikkonens.html
Tony Bettenhausen Mike Beuttler 458 Italia Birabongse Bhanubandh Lucien Bianchi
Gday guys, I must say this is a brilliant kit! Anyway just a few pics of my nearly completed Dart built box stock except for wiring, plumbing and some turned aluminium velocity stacks, painted in red as per box art, but the next time I tnink I will shorten the diff and drop it.
Adam
Source: http://cs.scaleautomag.com/SCACS/forums/thread/1018627.aspx
Mini Cooper S Jean Alesi Jaime Alguersuari Philippe Alliot Cliff Allison
Source: http://f1fanatics.wordpress.com/2011/01/07/button-steps-up-pre-season-training-with-lance-armstrong/
Philippe Adams Mercedes Benz Walt Ader Kurt Adolff Fred Agabashian
Audi design chief Wolfgang Egger has revealed some new details about the 2014 Audi A4. He said it will have muscular styling and improved aerodynamics.Richard Attwood Manny Ayulo Luca Badoer Giancarlo Baghetti Julian Bailey
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The way I feel at the moment, why stop? I do it because I enjoy it. And yesterday is gone. I don't care what happened yesterday. What else would I do? People retire to die. I don't get any individual pleasure because we don't win races or titles in this job. I'm like most business people. You look back at the end of the year and you see what you've achieved by working out how much money the company has made. That's it.
Source: http://blogs.espnf1.com/paperroundf1/archives/2010/10/bernie_ecclestone_no_plans_to.php
Lorenzo Bandini Henry Banks Ferrari Enzo Fabrizio Barbazza John Barber
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The Audi, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW rivalry has always existed, but has rarely ever been as fierce at it his right now. Not only are all three manufacturers competing in DTM racing for the first time in history, but the three are also jostling over the Chinese market in order to become the country?s largest manufacturer of luxury vehicles.
With Volkswagen confirming its plans to help increase the popularity of Audi in China, BMW has announced that it plans to triple output across its Chinese production facilities to 300,000 units annually in line with the opening of the new Tiexi production facility. This facility will soon start production of the X1 in the coming weeks.
However, not everything coming out of this announcement is positive as there?s a risk BMW could be putting too much faith into the Chinese market and risk overdependence on its sales in order to boost profit levels.
A research analyst from Frost & Sullivan pointed out that, ?There are no other regions that can provide for such massive numbers of sales as China can,? he said. ?In the event of economic turmoil in China, most German automakers could end up with hundreds of thousands of unsold cars.?
Just like most economies operate, China faces its fair share of good and bad patches and right now the Chinese economy is booming which can only mean one thing. If the U.S. and the Eurozone are anything to go by, China?s growth may slump in the next few years and this would obviously hamper European firms entering the market.
Conversely however, Audi and Mercedes-Benz will also be in similar boats if it all goes bottoms up but for BMW?s sake we wish them all well with this expansion.
BMW planning to triple production across Chinese market originally appeared on topspeed.com on Wednesday, 30 May 2012 04:00 EST.
Mike Beuttler 458 Italia Birabongse Bhanubandh Lucien Bianchi Gino Bianco
these are 3 of the new bodies I've done for myself, just basic hacking and wacking of styrene
Source: http://cs.scaleautomag.com/SCACS/forums/thread/1018533.aspx
Fernando Alonso Giovanna Amati George Amick ferrari 458 Red Amick
Ferrari Spider Tony Bettenhausen Mike Beuttler 458 Italia Birabongse Bhanubandh
Two-way tie as Predictions Championship closes up is an original article from F1 Fanatic. If this article has been published anywhere other than F1 Fanatic it is an infringement of copyright.
How did you do in the Monaco Grand Prix round of the Predictions Championship? Find out here.
Two-way tie as Predictions Championship closes up is an original article from F1 Fanatic. If this article has been published anywhere other than F1 Fanatic it is an infringement of copyright.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/f1fanatic/~3/T6WjtUpVTGs/
Zsolt Baumgartner Elie Bayol Don Beauman Karl Gunther Bechem Jean Behra
Source: http://f1fanatics.wordpress.com/2011/01/13/formula-one-goes-high-definition/
Red Amick Chris Amon Bob Anderson Conny Andersson Mario Andretti
