Automotive

One of the greatest accomplishments in motor racing history will most likely be achieved on Sunday and the statisticians of the autosport world appear to have missed it. Currently, three men have designed cars that have won seven world F1 constructors titles. Last year Red Bull's Adrian Newey joined the other two (can you name them?) with his seventh title (Williams FW14B of 1992, Williams FW15C of 1993, Williams FW16 of 1994, Williams FW18 of of 1996, Williams FW19 of 1997 and McLaren MP4/13). On Sunday, Red Bull needs to score just one point more than McLaren for Newey to take his eighth title with the 2011 Red Bull RB7. Two of the top four designers in F1 history are British, and two hail from South Africa. Read More

Nissan Motor yesterday revealed a new Fuel Cell Stack for Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEV) that packs 85 kW-h into a 34-liter package. Through improvements to the Membrane Electrode Assembly and the separator flow path, Nissan has improved the power density of the Fuel Cell Stack to 2.5 times greater than its 2005 model, and in so doing has created a world’s best 2.5 kW.h per liter power density. Similarly, by reducing the need for platinum by 75 percent, manufacturing costs have been reduced by 85 percent. Read More

Last year, GM unveiled its EN-V (Electric Networked-Vehicle) concept in three flavors conceived by design teams around the world. In an effort to ascertain the real-world practicality of the two-seat, electric urban mobility concept, GM has begun work on the next-generation EN-V concept vehicle that the company plans to test in pilot demonstration programs in megacities around the world. Read More

After announcing this week that the Spark mini car that is already sold in markets around the world will be available in the U.S. and Canada from next year, Chevrolet has revealed that an all-electric Spark will hit showrooms from 2013. Modeled after the Chevrolet Beat concept that appeared at the 2007 New York Auto Show, the Spark is a five-door, four-passenger hatch designed for urban environments that Chevrolet claims will offer more interior room than other mini cars. It will also be the smallest Chevrolet available in the U.S. and Canada. Read More

While the thought of building a worldwide infrastructure of charging stations for electric vehicles may seem daunting, you know what would make it even more challenging? If each station had to separately cater to each make of EV on the road – think of how many different styles of mobile phone chargers are currently out there, for instance, and then picture that applying to cars. Fortunately, however, a consortium of automakers has developed the Combined Charging System – it will allow any one vehicle to charge its batteries using a variety of different charging methods. Read More

If there are two obstacles that are still keeping the general public from embracing electric cars, those would have to be the vehicles’ limited driving range and long charging times. Well, Nissan has achieved a major milestone regarding one of those two problems – last week, Japan’s Nikkei news agency reported that the automaker has developed an experimental system that can fully charge an EV battery in just ten minutes. Read More

A few days ago deep in the historic Teuteborg Forest of central Germany, the first stone was laid in the construction of an intriguing project. For twenty years until 1993 The 80 hectare (200 acre) site was a massive NATO ammunition depot, supplying the British Army of the Rhine during the Cold War. After eighteen years of disuse and six years of planning the extensive sturdy warehousing and road network is to be converted into the Bilster Berg luxury "drive resort" and automobile testing facility. Considering who's involved, the new racetrack should be a pretty spectacular experience. Read More

Sebastian Vettel won his second World F1 drivers championship today, and although only taking third place in the Japanese Grand Prix, he is still on track for the most dominant season in F1 history. His third place at Suzuka gave him 324 of the 375 points on offer – a stunning 86.4% of available points and still ahead of Michael Schumacher's best during his reign with Ferrari. Like most other records in F1, Vettel is once again the youngest to achieve the feat. For Red Bull Racing, it's the team's second drivers title and it is closing in on the constructors title with a lead of 130 points and just four races to go. Perhaps more ominously, the team it has assembled, and the relationship with both Infiniti and engine-suppliers Renault looks more than capable of sustaining the success. Read More

The historically-significant 1884 De Dion Bouton et Trepardoux Dos-a-Dos Steam Runabout which we wrote up a few weeks back has sold at auction for US$4.62 million. Apart from being the winner of the first automobile race in history, it's also the world’s oldest running motor car, and now also the most valuable early motor car yet sold at auction. Read More