Automotive

Nissan’s gamer-turned-racer Lucas Ordonez scored a podium finish in his debut drive in the world’s highest profile motor race yesterday. Ordonez’ Signatech Oreca 03 Nissan team led the LMP2 class of the 2011 Le Mans 24 Hours early, but a puncture dropped it to fiftieth place inside the first hour of the race. Undeterred, the team worked solidly to work its way back to ninth place outright and second in the LMP2 class, despite a second puncture late in the race. It’s just three years since Ordonez won the Nissan Playstation Academy. Check the image gallery to see Lucas living the dream of a professional racer during race week in front of 250,000 fans. Read More

The move from concept vehicle to production vehicle is almost becoming standard practice for Mini. So much so that when the company first unveiled the Mini Coupé concept vehicle alongside the Roadster concept vehicle at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show, it was made clear the Coupé would be going into production. Mini subsequently announced a 2011 release date and, true to its word, the Coupé will be hitting showrooms this year, while the soft-top Roadster topless version is set to be released early next year. Read More

The 2011 Goodwood Festival of Speed kicks off at the end of the month and one of the vehicles on our "must-see" list is the Briggs Automotive Company (BAC) Mono. Making its public debut at the event, the BAC Mono is a single-seat, road-legal (in Europe), high-performance sports car that looks to just have the edge on its KTM X-Bow and Ariel Atom trackday rivals with the ability to go from 0-60 mph (96 km/h) in 2.8 seconds on the way to a top speed of 170 mph (273.6 km/h). Read More

One of the most frequently aired concerns when discussing electric vehicles (EV) is what happens when you run out of juice. Of course the obvious answer is that you break down, just like with a normal car - but with some forethought, you're not likely to let that happen. Should the unthinkable happen, however, some news from Japan may bring a little comfort to existing and prospective EV owners. The Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) and Nissan have just started testing a roadside service vehicle that's equipped with a charger to assist EVs. Read More

By now most people have heard the first installment of the remarkable rise to prominence of Spanish virtual-to-real racing driver Lucas Ordonez. Four years ago, Lucas was an MBA student who liked playing Gran Turismo on his Playstation. He entered a contest among Gran Turismo's 60 million players, won the opportunity amongst 20 others to drive a real race car and try out for a spot in the Dubai 24 Hour race. He won the challenge, and he's been on the podium in almost every race since, leveraged his opportunity into a full-time racing career. As I write this, they're warming up his car for the first practice session of the world's most famous race - the Le Mans 24 Hour. Whatsmore, based on his recent results, he stands a good chance of winning! That's him in the centre, with the big trophy. Geeks interested in following the fortunes of one of their own can follow the links to track Lucas in the weekend's big race. Read More

It may look like one of the most outrageous automotive concepts seen in many a year, but the Unimog 4WD Cabrio Truck concept created to celebrate 60 years of Mercedes Benz Unimog production actually has some basis in history - the very first Mercedes Unimog which rolled off the production line back on June 3, 1951 was also a cabrio, and it was also green, as has been almost every other Unimog in the intervening years. Based on the current Unimog U 5000 with its exceptional off-road capabilities, the Unimog Cabrio is apparently designed to bridge current and future Unimog design. Read More

It’s a sign of the times that Ford is gearing up to launch the smallest capacity engine, with less cylinders than any it has previously produced. The new 1.0-liter EcoBoost will be launched globally in all small Ford cars, and in addition to recognized technologies employed by Ford in its EcoBoost engines, such as turbocharging, direct injection and twin independent variable camshaft timing (Ti-VCT), the new three-cylinder engine will have an offset crankshaft for improved fuel economy, a split cooling system that allows the cylinder block to warm up before the cylinder head, and the exhaust manifold is cast into the cylinder head to lower exhaust gas temperatures and save weight. Read More

After spending 70 days driving through 14 countries on four continents, three Mercedes-Benz hydrogen cell vehicles have successfully completed their 30,000-kilometer (18,641-mile) F-CELL World Drive. The trio of B-Class F-CELL automobiles left Stuttgart on January 30th, along with an entourage of support vehicles. After traversing a variety of highways, city streets and even some unpaved country roads, they crossed the finish line in front of Stuttgart’s Mercedes-Benz Museum this Wednesday (June 1st). Read More

One of the most interesting supercars of recent years that has always bordered on the edge of vapourware, looks like finally becoming a reality. Fraught with on-again-off-again production arrangements, management-changes, restructuring, redesign and refinancing for almost a decade, the Trident Iceni is finally slated for launch at the UK’s Cholmondeley Pageant of Power on July 15. At the heart of the sleek Iceni is a modified 550 bhp GM 6.6 liter twin-turbo diesel V8 running bio-fuel, and according to previously released info, the Iceni will run to 230 mph, accelerate from 0-60 mph in under four seconds, and deliver 70 mpg at a constant 70 mph. It will also have 100,000 mile service intervals, and is expected to sell for around US$150,000. Read More