As the final curtain of the 2009 season comes down, BMW closes its paddocks one last time and bids goodbye to a sport that it has been an integral part of for a decade.
Despite not winning the World Championship since it re-entered Formula One in 1999, BMW – which returned as the BMW Williams F1 Team - closes the latest chapter in their storied F1 history with a resume that includes ten wins, 17 pole positions, and 45 podium finishes from 2001-2005.
After 2005, the team became BMW Sauber F1 and since then has accumulated over 300 World Championship points, including the team’s first-ever win at the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix. This year – the team’s final season in Formula One – BMW Sauber F1 finished a disappointing sixth in the Constructor’s Championship after an off-season that saw the team as one of the upstart challengers to the supposed Ferrari-McLaren tug-of-war.
Now that the season has come to end, BMW’s tenure in Formula One closes along with it. It’s been a great ten-year run, to say the least. And while we won’t be seeing BMW in the pit lanes in the foreseeable future, we’re not closing our doors to the day when BMW makes another comeback in Formula One.
Do you want to know what Chevrolet has in store for us for the upcoming SEMA Auto Show in Las Vegas?
Well, it might just be half-a-minute long, but if this teaser video is any indication, then it looks like Chevrolet is set to bring a bevy of special editions and custom packaged Corvettes and Camaros over to the annual congregation of fine tuners and custom-makers. What’s especially interesting the video is the sneak peeks of what looks like a custom Synergy Green Camaro that has long been rumored to make an appearance at SEMA.
Since the opening of the show is just a few days away, consider this teaser video as an appetizer of sorts for what Chevrolet has in store for us when the bright lights of Vegas once again welcomes the 2009 SEMA Auto Show.
You know you’ve made it big when a parade of some of the world’s most exotic cars runs in and around your streets.
That’s exactly what happened after over 100 Ferraris, including the newly-released Ferrari California - paraded around the streets of the UAE before ending up at the brand-new Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. The parade was part of the inaugural opening of the new Ferrari dealership in Dubai, which, incidentally, is said to be the largest Ferrari dealership in the world.
Among those participating in the parade included no less than some of the most important and influential personalities in Ferrari, including company chairman Luca Di Montezemolo, seven-time F1 champion, Michael Schumacher, current Ferrari drivers Kimi Raikkonen, Felipe Massa, and Giancarlo Fisichella, and the region’s ambassador to Italy, Claudio Doniosi.
The parade around the UAE is the latest example as to how serious Ferrari is in establishing a strong footing in the local market. Nobody can blame them either, especially since a lot of the world’s richest fellows have permanent residences in the area.
This is incredible video shows off a super car lineup that any automotive enthusiast would feel privilege to witness first hand, leading up to one of the most expensive sidewalk displays of all time. The list includes an Aston Martin, Ferrari 612, Ferrari 430, a trio of Mercedes SLR super cars, a Pagani Zonda, a Ferrari 360 and a gold Bentley Continental GT.
We recently found ourselves in the paddock at the Homestead Miami Speedway Speedjam, and like almost all racing events, there were plenty of high performance machines running laps on the track and there were some pretty high dollar exotics sitting in the infield. This particular quartet of super cars must have either been the property of a few of the Rolex Grand Am and IRL drivers or some other big ballers that were in attendance.
Yesterday, we talked about a group of scientists from Stanford’s Volkswagen Automotive Innovation Laboratory that have been working on an robotic Audi TTS and their ambitious attempt at running the fully automated vehicle at the Pikes Peak climb.
It turns out that the Audi TTS isn’t the only car these geniuses have been working on. In addition to the Audi TTS, the scientists also have a standard-looking VW Passat in tow, and while it looks unspectacular, to say the least, the Passat also comes with the some highly-advanced computer gear in the trunk that allows the car to park itself without any manual assistance.
Amazing as it sounds, the technology does have a few catches of its own. For the technology to show off its true worth, the car needs to have a layout of the area where it’s parking and, in addition to that, the computers inside the Passat have no means of detecting outside forces that may obstruct the car from parking on its own.
Nevertheless, a car that parks by itself is still something none of us have in our garages and it’s worth noting that in the event the technology goes mainstream in the future, you should know that the whole genius of an idea was made to fruition by these guys over a Stanford.
In the F1 world, Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen is also known by a nickname that seems to suit his personality and driving style. Dubbed as the ‘Iceman’ by his peers, Raikkonen’s calculated and unflappable demeanor on and off the track
At this year’s Brazilian Grand Prix, Raikkonen gave new meaning to his nickname, after an overzealous Heiki Kovaleinen drove off his scheduled pitstop prematurely and taking part of the fuel rig with him along for the ride.
With gasoline pouring all over the pitlane, Raikkonen – which was behind Kovaleinen as they were exiting the pits – drove into the fuel and, for a split second, engulfing his Ferrari into a ball of fire. While other drivers would surely have panicked under similar circumstances, Raikkonen merely shrugged off the episode and, as soon as the flames disappeared, went about his merry way back on track.
If that doesn’t define Kimi as one cool customer, we don’t know what will.
Apparently, even celebrities – you know, those people who seem to have everything - can still wish for something and have them come true.
Ford’s ‘10 Unleashed’ promotion found itself with an unlikely individual wishing to get a chance to sit behind the wheel of a 2010 Ford Mustang GT: Queen Latifah.
The comedienne/musician used the 10 Unleashed promo to ask Ford if she could use the Mustang GT as part of her latest music video for her new song ‘Fast Car’. As we can imagine, the free advertisement the music video would give Ford was enough reason for the company to grant Queen Latifah’s wishes. The go-ahead from Ford even prompted her to take driving lessons from NASCAR driver Colin Braun on how to tame the thoroughbred engine sitting under the hood of the Mustang GT.
And now, we’ve finally gotten our hands on the ‘Fast Car’ music video where, as promised, the Mustang GT played a pretty prominent role. Check it out.
As expected, the Cadillac CTS-V dominated the challenge that bears its own name after seven of the top 12 fastest laps recorded came from the CTS-V.
Guess that means GM boss Bob Lutz will have to eat crow at another day.
The CTS-V’s dominance was apparent from start to finish. Six of the top seven cars were CTS-Vs, with the notable exception being a BMW M3 Sedan owned by one Michael Cooper, which placed fourth in the overall standings. Bagging the top spot was former GM Performance Division Executive, John Henricy after posting a lap time of 2m and 46.56s.
As for Bob Lutz, his lap time earned him a seventh place finish with a fastest lap time of 2m and 56.231 seconds, although it’s worth mentioning that out of all the CTVs that finished in the top 12, his finished second to last, beating the CTS-V driven by Chris Fairman (10th overall) with a fastest lap time of 3m 14.292s
Then again, BMW has been known to adhere to the mantra of ‘thinking outside the box’ and their latest campaign sure sounds like it came straight out of left field.
For this photo shoot, BMW decided to bring in model Sylvie van der Vaart for a photo shoot to see how her hairdo can stand up to the fierce winds generated by the wind tunnel. We told you the idea was out there.
In this behind the scenes video, van der Vaart – an absolute bombshell, if there was one - begins the shoot behind the wheel of a 1987 3 Series Convertible where – thanks to the powerful wind tunnel – her hair begins flying off everywhere. But later on, van der Vaart props into a 2009 3 Series Convertible and with the same wind blowing in their direction, her hair remains inexplicably intact.
Is it a product of a more powerful hairspray or just the fact that the aerodynamics and air turbulence difference between the ‘87 3-Series and its 2009 counterpart is beyond obvious? Judging from the fact that we know who BMW is, then we’re inclined to believe it’s the latter.
Even van der Vaart was impressed with the striking difference. "What a difference from the older model! I couldn’t feel the wind at all in the new model," she said. "I even had to check to see if they’d even turned it on."
Post a comment
RSS -
Webmaster free news |