Simona Alina
Filed in: Mclaren Mercedes | F1

“We had a number of options open to us and as always we want to make sure that we have the most competitive driver line-up and I think that Lewis and Heikki will be a formidable combination,” said Martin Whitmarsh. “Both enjoyed great rookie seasons in 2007 and share a genuine passion for winning and being the best. Heikki made a strong impression and Lewis’ performance so far has been outstanding and speaks for itself. I am confident that they will push each other on track and work well together off track.

Norbert Haug, Vice President, Mercedes-Benz Motorsport commented: “Heikki is a talented driver who showed his skills during his debut season in Formula 1 this year. Heikki’s most impressive performance was at the Japanese Grand Prix at Fuji where he finished second behind Lewis in extremely treacherous wet conditions. He is not only a quick driver but also one of the most consistent having finished in every Grand Prix except the last which puts him in the top five together with our drivers who covered most laps in 2007. Everybody in the team is looking forward to a very fruitful co-operation. Lewis and Heikki will form one of the youngest driver line-ups, and I am convinced that both will be very strong and at the same time co-operative competitors.”
 
26-year-old Heikki, who made his Formula 1 race debut last year with Renault, joins the team on a long-term contract and will commence his on-track programme in early January.
 
“I am so excited to join a team like Vodafone McLaren Mercedes,” said Heikki. “So far I have been blown away by the dedication and commitment to winning which is clear through the entire organisation and I am really excited about our joint future. As a Finn it’s an honour for me to follow in Mika and Kimi’s footsteps. I haven’t really spent a lot of time with Lewis so far but from what I know I think we will work well together and do our best for the team.”
 
Lewis who enjoyed the most successful rookie season in the history of the Formula 1 World Championship with consecutive podiums in his first nine races is looking forward to the 2008 season.
 
“As soon as the chequered flag went in Brazil I began to count down the days until Australia,” said Lewis. “I am really looking forward to 2008 and working with Heikki as my team mate. Together with the team we will do everything we can to ensure that our Championship challenge is as strong and focused as possible. My first year in Formula 1 was incredible and I was so fortunate to spend it with Vodafone McLaren Mercedes and I hope that Heikki will enjoy his first year with the team as much as I did mine.”
 
The Vodafone McLaren Mercedes MP4-23 is scheduled to commence its on-track testing programme at an exclusive test at the Jerez circuit in Spain during the second week of January 2008. There are currently no plans for a launch presentation but the team will provide the media with photographs and further details about the car when it runs.

Source: Internal

Source: Heikki Kovalainen joins Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

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Making their debut at the 2008 Tokyo Auto Salon next January alongside the Mazda Atenza MAZDASPEED Concept (click here), are three special versions of the new Demio – Mazda2 hatch. Each version carries on the exterior color theme (red, green and blue) in the interior with matching seats, door trim, leather steering wheel, gearbox and center console detailing. -More pics after the jump

Source: Mazda Demio (Mazda2) Red, Green & Blue Versions

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Lascelles Linton
Filed under: Mitsubishi

Add Mitsubishi to the list of carmakers going to Thailand to make green cars. Mitsubishi will spend 20 billion yen (US$179 million) to produce some 100,000 cars cars a year with small engines, high MPG and low CO₂ emissions (this means engines that are 1.3 liters or smaller, vehicles that get 20km per liter (56.6 MPG) and emit less than 192 grams of CO₂ per mile (120 g/km)). We told you Toyota intended to submit the application November 30th and now, we have news Toyota has submitted their application as well to join the Thai eco-car program and will invest 17 billion yen.

The Thai government program involves giving tax breaks (a 50 percent cut in the excise tax, no income tax for 8 years and machinery imports duty free) to car makers to build eco-cars in their country, if they invest a significant amount in a plant. Thus far, the program has attracted Toyota, Honda, Suzuki, Nissan and even Ford is rumored to join the program. Honda has already invested 6,700 million baht (about $220 million US) in Thailand auto production facilities. Suzuki and Nissan are expected to invest 9,500 million baht ($313 million) and 5,550 million ($183 million). Thailand has also invited smaller car companies like Tata to make the air car in Thailand for a paltry $39M investment.

I guess this proves, finally, that big corporations like giant tax breaks.

Related:

• Low Taxes for Eco-Car Makers in Thailand
• Toyota likes free money, signs on to Thailand’s eco-car plan
• Suzuki and Nissan benefit from Thailand’s low taxes for building cleaner cars

[Source: Asia Pulse]

Source: Mitsubishi joins Thailand’s eco-car project, Toyota submits application

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The Auto Channel recently reported that Volkswagen will be producing its DSG, direct-shift gearbox, in China’s northeastern city of Dalian next year.

Western China City Daily, a local newspaper, reported that the said gearbox will feature “the future version of Volkswagen’s Magotan 2.0 TSI and Tiguan vehicles.”

The DSG gearbox is installed on many Volkswagen models, such as the Golf GTI, Audi TT and Audi A3.
According to Volkswagen, the DSG has the convenience of an automatic car as well as the “the efficiency and flexibility of a manual.”

Volkswagen’s DSG has two clutches in one gear instead of the traditional gearbox with only one clutch. Another significant difference is that the DSG has the next gear pre-selected. According to the report, “When the gears need to shift, the second clutch takes the load, while the first pre-selects the next gear. The whole process takes no more than three to four hundredths of a second.”

“DSG transmissions also have a ‘tiptronic’ function, allowing gears to be manually selected. There are several benefits of the system. These include improved acceleration and refined uninterrupted driving.”

News from: http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2007/12/13/073426.html

Source: Volkswagen’s DSG to be produced in China

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Eric

The good folks at www.woot.com are quickly gaining notoriety for offering desirable products for very cheap prices.  The catch?  They only offer one product per day.  Furthermore, once their supply of the product runs out, that’s it. 

So if you want to make sure to get in on the woot bonanza, you have to start checking the website at midnight when each new product launches.  That brings us to their most recent offering, the Dyson DC14. 

The Dyson DC14 is Dyson’s latest upright vacuum cleaner and it’s making Germans hot this Christmas. “Za Dyson is za gold standard by vitch ozur vacuums are measured,” said one teary-eyed frau upon learning that she was a new Dyson owner thanks to Woot.

The Dyson DC14 never stops sucking up dirt because it is engineered to avoid the loss of suction power that plagues lesser brands.  Nor does the Dyson DC14 require replacement filters.  You just pop out the dirt collecting canister, empty, return, and go.

The main negative about the Dyson DC14 (or any Dyson product for that matter) is the price.  It is not unusual to see the Dyson DC14 listed for upwards of $500.  Granted, in the long run the Dyson DC14 is probably worth the cost because it will outlast lesser brands.  However, many people just have a problem with shelling out $500 for a vacuum cleaner no matter how good the Dyson really is.  Enter Woot.

In today’s offering, www.woot.com lists the Dyson DC14 for the somewhat outrageous price of $249.99 (plus $5 shipping).  At this price, many are sure snap up these remanufactured Dyson DC14s. 

A word of warning to my male counterparts out there: Do not even think about giving this to the wife/girlfriend for Christmas.  Even if her letter to Santa specifically asks for the Dyson, don’t go there. Buy it, and give it to her after Christmas, or just toss the old vac, and leave the Dyson where she can find it. Vacuums are great but unless you want to be explaining your marital problems to Dr. Phil, don’t go the Dyson as Christmas gift route. 

Instead, look go for something that will give her an unforgettable experience…without resorting to the engineering marvel of a filterless vacuum that cleans up dog hair that your Australian Sheppard has not even shed yet….

She has a favorite elegant dining spot. Why not take her on a date and rent a classic car? She will love being squired in a classic Corvette Convertible or an elegant 1955 Mercedes. I know that the local Alamo Car Rental might not be able to deliver on a special car for your special date, but fear not. An online directory, such as Rentexoticcars.net can help you find a specialized car rental agency with the right car to make your evening together perfect. If you happen to live in Dallas-Fort Worth, make a rental car reservation at DFW Elite Auto Rental to reserve the perfect car for your gift experience.

If the lady in your life shares your passion for luxury cars, why not surprise her with a gift certificate for a full day dream driving tour! A Couple’s Tour from DFW Drive Your Dream (www.dfwdriveyourdream.com) will allow both of you to drive a Rolls Royce Silver Seraph, Mercedes SL500 Convertible, Porsche 911 Cabriolet, Land Rover, and Mercedes SL550 Sedan on a day that includes lunch and instruction in the finer points of driving some of the best luxury cars on the road.

To see what a Drive Your Dream Tour is like take a peak at this video of a recent fantasy car driving tour. (Turn the sound off on your PC if you’re sneaking a peak at work unless you work at a place where Speed Racer music does not indicate non-work related Internet surfing…) For tour dates, visit http://www.dfwdriveyourdream.com/calendar/list.php.

Written by G.D. Gregory.  If you are interested in having me write stories for you or seeing my portfolio, please contact me at ggpsu@yahoo.com.

Source: WOOT.COM VAULTS DYSON DC14 VACUUM CLEANER INTO THE HOLIDAY SHOPPING FRENZY, SORT OF

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2008 Land Rover Range Rover Sport TDV8 08MY Review

“Almost as quick as it’s supercharged sibling, but with staggeringly low fuel consumption, the Range Rover Sport TDV8 has been graced with one of the finest diesel engines on the planet”

Test model: 2008 Range Rover Sport TDV8 MY08

Source: 2008 Range Rover Sport Review (TDV8)

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What eye-candy poster was pinned up on your bedroom wall when you were thirteen? A black Lamborghini Countach sprouting numerous spoilers? Farah Fawcett-Majors with blindingly-white teeth? Metallica? KISS? What I gazed lovingly upon– whilst sprawled across my bed– was a giant detailed cross-sectional drawing of a Chrysler hemi engine. Thus was the spell that the mythical engine had on me.

I spent days painstakingly making the icon myself, recreating an image from a library book unto the large poster board with nothing more than a ruler, pencil and magic marker. It was my masterpiece, my Mona Lisa. I had finally and fully unveiled the mystery beneath those giant valve covers. The hemispherical combustion chambers, complex valve train and gracefully curving ports were revealed in graphic detail, as explicitly on display as Miss April in the Playboy centerfold under my mattress.

In earlier years, I would peer endlessly into any open engine compartment. Although largely ignorant of the actual thermodynamic differences, I had intuited a distinct pecking order for the distinctive cylinder head configurations: flathead, conventional overhead valve (OHV) and hemi-head. Flatheads spoke old-school; big rectangular lumps of cast iron, almost lost in the depths of the deep engine compartments of the times. And once having seen that slab of a flathead cylinder head removed, the torturous path afforded the intake and exhaust gases was obviously inferior.

The usual OHV configuration– with valves lined up side-by-side under their narrow valve covers– spoke of modernity, efficiency and the ability to make decent power in Detroit’s postwar generation of V8s. But one glance at those huge wide valve covers perched on Chrysler’s FirePower hemi V8 inspired awe. I instantly knew that it was designed for one thing, and one thing only: power.

With valves canted some 60 degrees, they could be bigger. Intake and exhaust ports were both a straight shot into their respective manifolds, dramatically improving breathing. I knew Chrysler hadn’t invented the hemi. The 1912 Peugeot grand prix engine had them (as well as DOHC and four valves per cylinder). Hemis were common in Europe, and used on the Miller/Offenhauser racing engines. But Chrysler was the first to adapt them to the sedate, slow-revving Yank tank engine bays.

Starting with a mild 180hp in 1951, Chrysler quickly began to develop the hemi’s potential, and soon dominated the horsepower war of the fifties. The crowning glory was the 1955 Chrysler 300, the first production vehicle to sport the eponymous amount of horsepower. It would top 130mph straight off the showroom floor. The 1957 300C’s 390hp represented a doubling of power in just six years– and then some. It was a milestone. An instant classic.

Hot rodders knew a winner when they saw it. The hemi quickly became the ticket on the drag strip. With a giant blower forcing a nitro mixture into massaged hemi heads, thousands of horsepower could be extracted. That seemed miraculous to me, given that our elderly neighbor’s 1956 Windsor generated all of 225p. No wonder I stared reverently as he burbled down the street at 20mph; I knew the awesome potential that was waiting to be unleashed under that long hood.

Unfortunately, the hemi’s capabilities carried a penalty. The complicated engine was expensive to build, and heavy. By 1958, Chrysler pulled the plug.  The company developed a completely new hemi– the 426 — for NASCAR racing in 1964. It was never intended as a production engine; Chrysler was forced to adapt it for civilian use when NASCAR threatened to ban it otherwise. The hemi was reincarnated, in even more mythical form.

Although 426 hemis terrorized the stock car circuits and drag strips, they were not exactly common on the street. But thanks to my first job at fifteen, pumping extra-high-octane Sunoco 260 gas, I had regular close encounters of the hemi kind with a Plymouth GTX.

I couldn’t wait to pop the hood to gaze reverentially on that huge orange and crackle-black icon. As an ex-altar boy, my instinct was to genuflect, especially when that heady incense of hot oil and crankcase vapors hit my nostrils. I felt privileged to check its vital fluids, and eventually, screwed up the courage to ask if I could check the air filter. The owner obliged, even though he knew it was just a ruse to see the two enormous four-barrel Carter carburetors in their naked splendor.

Tempus fugit. Those days of heady hemi horsepower are long gone. You know it’s a different age when Chrysler files a trademark on the hemi name– boldly emblazoning it on cars and trucks with oversized HEMI badges– even though the engine powering them isn’t really a hemi (it’s more accurately a “pent-roof”). It’s no wonder the wonder’s gone, genuine hemis are notoriously “dirty” but it’s sad nonetheless. That thing got a hemi? Not really, no.

Source: Hemi Love

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Simona Alina
Filed in: Honda | 2008 | Geneva Motor Show | honda Accord

Honda has announced that the production version of the Accord Tourer Concept unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show will come in March 2008 at Geneva Motor Show. It will be unveiled in both Saloon and Tourer version.

The announced has been made by Honda UK, who this year celebrates its the 30th anniversary. The first Accord went on sale in the UK in 1977 after being initially launched in the US and Japan. Seven generations on, Accord has evolved into a significant corporate model equipped with the latest advanced technology, great driving dynamics, an acclaimed diesel engine and a steadfast reputation for reliability.

Source: Internal

Source: Honda Accord Tourer to be unveiled at Geneva Motor Show

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Toyota has announced the recall of 15,600 2007 Toyota Tundra pickups due to a transmission part problem. According to Toyota, the recall stems from a faulty rear propeller shaft on four-wheel drive Tundras. The defect could cause the joint to separate, although no accidents or injuries have been reported because of the faulty shaft.

“The front joint on the rear driveshaft may have been improperly heat treated by our supplier,” a Toyota spokesman said. “In the worst case, the shaft may separate at the joint.”

According to Automotive News, the flaw was discovered by a customer complaining of a noise coming from the rear shaft.

The Tundra has faced a number of problems this year, although not all were recalls. Several Tundra customers complained of a "rumble strip" sound coming from the truck's transmission, which was chalked up to a faulty torque converter and replaced by Toyota.

Toyota also replaced the entire engine on some Tundra trucks due to faulty camshafts.

There have also been several complaints about the Tundra's tailgate failing, although Toyota has yet to address the issue.

Source: Toyota recalls 15,600 Tundra pickups

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