After 2 years away from Formula One, Kimi Raikkonen is back. Making his return with Lotus-Renault, Kimi took his first spin in the new car last weekend in Valencia, Spain. Initial tests appear to have gone well, but we will have to wait until the season opener in March to see if he is back up to competition form.
Author: Joe Gustafson (Page 5 of 20)
Little was known about the sub-Boxster model Porsche was planning to produce. Some, like myself, saw it as a successor to Porsche’s 550 Spyder and 356. Others pointed to the parts sharing between Porsche, VW, and Audi, and saw the car as a successor to the dreadful 914. We may never know how good it may or may not have been however, since reports out of Germany say that Porsche is stalling its development.
Porsche CEO Matthias Mueller sat down with German business magazine Wirtschaftswoche to discuss the automaker’s future. When pressed about the 550 successor he stated, “Possibly we need to wait until the next generation of customers before the idea of a small roadster will work for Porsche,” and that it would “dilute the brand image.” This reason is complete nonsense. He might have well said, “These are not the droids you are looking for.”
Today in Chicago it’s freezing cold and old man winter is about to punish us with snow. Naturally, driving is not the most fun right now. However, give me a Fiesta WRC to drive in these conditions and I would happily change my tune. Tearing up the streets with flames shooting out the back while SUVs are stuck in the snow is my picture of heaven.
If you’re also being pimp-slapped by the cold, take a look at the footage of Ford putting their new Fiesta WRC contender through its paces in Spain and imagine for yourself how awesome that car would be when the snow comes.
And Ford, Monte Carlo? Seriously? It’s too warm there. I know the WRC race there is coming up, but maybe hand over the keys to me for a bit. I’ll put the car through a real test here in the Windy City. No take backs though, sorry.
Let’s say you have $100,000 to spend on a car, any car. The obvious choices are simple: Porsche 911, GTR, maybe some second-hand Ferrari (to ratchet up the douche status), but those choices are obvious and boring. The world can go without another Porsche 911 owner stereotype. What if, instead, you bought a Focus. Not just any Focus of course, but the race-ready Focus ST-R. Not only will you not be another financial banker clown, but you would be one step closer to becoming a racing superstar. Not really, but one can pretend right?
So, if you’re still not convinced on how to spend your imaginary stack, check out the video of Tanner Foust putting the new ST-R through its paces.
In a leak on Twitter by Toyota’s PR rep Scott Brownlee, Dashboard has our first look at Toyota’s re-entry into LeMans competition. Yes, re-entry. Toyota has raced the 24hr long race before in the early 1990’s with modest success, but the program only lasted a few years. Last October, Toyota announced that they are planning to race at LeMans once again, but until now details have been slim.
For their second try at the race, Toyota is bringing a hybrid-equipped race car to fight against Audi’s incredibly successful, diesel powered R18. We can’t tell much from the leak other than that the car looks competition ready, but hard facts on power weight, and engine specs (the stuff that wins races) is yet to be released. The green flag has a whole new meaning now that two environmentally friendly challengers are in the race.
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