Motoring News
Yesterday, 14 August 2016BTCC Knockhill: action-packed day yields three different winners
Rob Collard holds onto championship lead despite wins from Jason Plato, Matt Neal and Mat Jackson
Jason Plato, Matt Neal and Mat Jackson were the winners of today’s eventful British Touring Car races at Knockhill.
The first race of the day was pole-sitter Plato’s 500th BTCC start, and he grabbed the perfect result with a commanding lights to flag victory. His dominating performance emphasised the increasingly strong pace of his BMR Racing Subaru Levorg, although his race wasn’t without its challenges.
Not only did the 95-time race winner have a safety car period to contend with, but his mirrors were also filled with the BMW 1 Series of late charger Jack Goff. Goff trimmed Plato’s lead to cross the line just five tenths down on the winner, and Colin Turkington was only a further five tenths back from that in the sister Levorg.
Despite his perfect result, Plato remained calm after the race and reflected on the passing of such a large milestone: “Before this weekend I wasn’t getting caught up in any of the numbers,” he said. “You cast your mind back to where it all started – struggling in single-seaters with no money, and doorstepping Sir Frank Williams. 500 races later and we’re still winning.”
Race two saw Matt Neal storm through from eighth on the grid, taking advantage of tussling leaders in the Subarus and BMWs to slip through the order. Once in front, the Honda Civic-driving Halfords Yuasa
read moreMercedes-Maybach concept teased again ahead of Pebble Beach
Six-metre long coupé could hint at a more sporting future for Maybach or more one-off models; new picture suggests it's petrol-powered
A Mercedes-Maybach concept has been teased for the second time ahead of its world debut at the Pebble Beach Concours event next weekend.
The new picture shows the concept coupé’s nose, revealing a large front grille that suggests a large petrol powertrain is under the bonnet.
The first teaser image (shown below) was released earlier in the week and showed the car's silhouette. The body is almost six metres long, making it close to 1.5 metres longer than an AMG GT and 80cm longer than an S-Class.
The Pebble Beach model is a pure design concept so won’t directly spawn a production car, but its two-door coupé body suggests that the Mercedes-Maybach division will one day start to produce more sporting vehicles.
Currently, the Mercedes-Maybach line-up consists of a single S-Class-based model, the S 600.
Mercedes has been tight-lipped about its plans for Maybach’s future, but sales boss Ola Källenius suggested to Autocar earlier this year that the brand would follow its parent company in the pursuit of a zero-emission future.
He said: “Mercedes i
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read moreNew Infiniti engine to make Paris motor show debut
Infiniti's new 2.0-litre petrol engine promises significant economy gains for future models, and could make its way into the Q30 hatchback and QX30 crossover in time
Infiniti will become the world’s first car maker to sell an engine with a variable compression ratio when its new VC-T unit goes on sale in 2018.
The all-new 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol unit promises “diesel economy and V6 power and smoothness”. It will, in effect, replace a 3.5-litre V6 in future Infiniti transverse-engined models.
It’s expected to make its debut in the upcoming GX80, a global mid-sized seven-seat crossover. In time, the engine could also be fitted to the compact Q30 and QX30 models. The engine will be shown in public at the Paris motor show in October.
Infiniti engineers say the production turbocharged unit develops around 270bhp and 288lb ft of torque while being around 27% more economical than an equivalent conventional petrol engine. That makes it roughly as frugal as a typical 2.0-litre diesel unit.
Infiniti engineers told Autocar the new engine’s NVH (noise, vibration and harshness) characteristics are similar to a petrol V6’s. Autocar understands the VC-T is also cheaper to build than a typical Euro 6-compatible diesel unit.
The VC-T has two parallel fuel injection systems, one direct and one into the intake manifold, a
read moreAlex Zanardi on F1, CART and the Olympics
From racing star to paralympic para-cycling champion, Alex Zanardi tells Autocar about his hopes for the Rio Paralympics and his racing future
Alex Zanardi knows the topic is going to come up in any interview he gives. The accident.
It’s probably one of the first things that comes to your mind too: the crash 13 laps from the end of a CART (later Champ Car) race at Germany’s Lausitzring in 2001 that required the Italian, one of the best drivers of his generation, to have both legs amputated.
“I opened my eyes and I was happy to be alive,” recalls Zanardi of the immediate aftermath. “All I wanted was to have the same quality of life back, or the best I could reach.”
So popular was Zanardi and so inspirational was his tale in simply surviving the crash that many journalists were among his visitors at his hospital bedside in Berlin.
“It might not be their first question, but I always knew it would come up: ‘Would I ever race again?’ For me it was not physiological. I knew 100% that if I could find a way to solve the technical issues, there was no doubt.
“But it wasn’t my priority; that was to regain what it would take to live a self-sufficient life. I couldn’t even take a leak on my own.”
This is when the story gets really inspirational. In 2003 he was back at the Lausitzring in a Champ Car with hand controls to complete the 13 unfinished laps of 2001’s fateful race. His pace would have qualified him fifth for that weekend’s Champ Car race, and it encouraged him to go on to a successful five-year career in the World Touring Car Championship.
“Being Alex Zanardi, my name makes a difference these days,” he says. “It’s a privilege;
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