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Video: F1 driver underestimates talent needed for wet-weather burnout

Filed under: Motorsports, Videos, Ferrari, Humor, Russia, Racing

Whoops. That’s a word nobody wants to hear in racing, and that’s especially true in Formula 1, where the cars cost untold millions to design, develop, build and operate. In other words, just about any ‘whoops’ is an expensive ‘whoops.’

Kamui Kobayashi, who made his F1 debut in 2009 driving for Toyota, has always been known as a bit of a wild card in the sport. He is notoriously difficult to pass, driving as he does with seemingly reckless abandon, and he’s not afraid to get tangled up with the world’s best drivers in the world’s fastest race cars.

That brash attitude sometimes serves him well. Other times… well, not so much. See what happens with Kobayashi tries to show off in a Ferrari F1 car for fans on a wet track in Moscow in the twin videos below.

Continue reading F1 driver underestimates talent needed for wet-weather burnout

F1 driver underestimates talent needed for wet-weather burnout originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 21 Jul 2013 19:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Watch Porsche’s 918 Spyder break a sweat while hot weather testing

Filed under: Coupe, Hybrid, Performance, Videos, Porsche

With five months left until the 2015 Porsche 918 Spyder enters production, Porsche engineers are still putting the hybrid sports coupe through a battery of last-minute tests. To give us new reasons to ogle over the car – as if we needed any more – Porsche has released a short video showing the 918 Spyder undergoing shakedown tests in the hot Nevada desert. And you can’t drive through Nevada without visiting Vegas, too, right?

Although there’s really nothing new to see in this video, it’s still fun to watch as Porsche approaches one million test miles logged on this exciting new high-performance model. One interesting part (at around the 0:37 mark) shows the car taking off under electric power and then transitioning to engine power, which results in a mix of whirs and growls as the 918 Spyder switches from a 127-horsepower electric vehicle to an 887-hp hybrid supercar. Scroll down to watch – and hear – Porsche’s latest creation in motion.

Continue reading Watch Porsche’s 918 Spyder break a sweat while hot weather testing

Watch Porsche’s 918 Spyder break a sweat while hot weather testing originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Spy Shots: Ford Focus ST caught cold-weather testing and track tuning

Filed under: Spy Photos, Hatchback, Ford

spy photos ford focus st

Spy Shots: Ford Focus ST test mule – Click above for high-res image gallery

We saw the 2012 Ford Focus ST in the flesh at the 2010 Paris Auto Show, but at the time, the hot-hatch unveiled to the waiting press was merely a close-to-the-real-thing concept version. The production Focus ST should be arriving at an auto show in the near future. Apparently it’s not quite ready, however, because our spy photographers managed to capture Ford engineers working over a mule-bodied example, both at the track and in the snow.

It may appear to be a standard Focus from the outside – note the standard front fascia instead of the show car’s more aggressive look – but a closer inspection reveals a few unique touches first seen on the concept. For instance, a centrally mounted exhaust outlet at the rear expels emissions from the 2.0-liter EcoBoost unit lurking under the hood. Speaking of which, power is expected to be up around 250 horsepower, and the engine will be paired with a six-speed manual transmission.

We hope to see the 2012 Focus ST hitting dealer showrooms by the end of 2011. We also hope to score some seat time before that happens. Until then, we’ll just stare at the spy photos in the gallery below, and dream about the sporty action going on under the suspiciously plain wrapper.

Gallery: Spy Photos: Ford Focus ST

Spy Photos: Ford Focus ST

[Source: CarPix]

Spy Shots: Ford Focus ST caught cold-weather testing and track tuning originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 11 Apr 2011 17:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: 2012 Porsche 911 spied cold-weather testing

Filed under: Concept Cars, Spy Photos, Coupe, Performance, Europe, Videos, Porsche

2012 Porsche 911

2012 Porsche 911 – Click above to watch video after the jump

The upcoming 2012 Porsche 911 has been caught cold-weather testing in preparation for the production car’s debut at September’s Frankfurt Motor Show. The big news with the 2012 911 is its slight increase in size, with the aim of aligning it more with its GT and supercar competitors.

The 998 Porsche 911 will be 2.2 inches longer than the current car, with the 998’s track a hair wider than the 997’s. Out back, there’s a 3.4 liter version of Porsche’s venerable flat-six, pushing out around 345 horsepower in standard form. That should mean a 0-60 sprint of 4.8 seconds, and a 180-mile-per-hour top end.

Click past the jump to see video of the 2012 Porsche 911 in cold-weather action.

Gallery: Spy Shots: Porsche 911 Coupe and Cabriolet

Porsche 911 Spy Shots

[Source: YouTube via WorldCarFans]

Continue reading Video: 2012 Porsche 911 spied cold-weather testing

Video: 2012 Porsche 911 spied cold-weather testing originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 21 Mar 2011 13:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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2010 Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup Edition: Cold Weather Start [w/video]

Filed under: Sedan, Performance, Volkswagen, Design/Style, Diesel, Long-Term Garage

2010 Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup Edition: Cold Weather Start

2010 VW Jetta TDI Cup Edition: Cold Weather Start – Click above to watch video after the jump

The 2.0-liter turbo diesel in our long-term 2010 Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup Edition is a very modern mill, so we were curious how it would handle starting in the frigid clime of northeastern Ohio this time of year.

Diesel engines typically have three vulnerabilities when it comes to cold weather starts: the fuel, the battery and their glow plugs. First, the new Ultra Low Sulfur diesel fuel we all use begins to gel at a higher temperature than the old fuel. Sulfur is also a lubricant, and with less of it, the fuel pump has to work harder in cold temperatures to keep the thicker diesel fuel flowing. Fortunately, most diesel fuel sold in colder areas has ant-gelling additives mixed in already.

Batteries are also less efficient when cold, while at the same time having to work much harder to crank the engine more times. Finally, diesel engines use glow plugs to heat the point of combustion in each cylinder, which is a much tougher job when the mercury drops below freezing. Optional block heaters can help a diesel engine start in cold weather, but Volkswagen has enough faith in its 2.0-liter TDI that it doesn’t even offer one.

So how did our Jetta TDI Cup Edition do when being started in 25-degree weather after sitting for over 24 hours? Follow the jump to see for yourself.

Continue reading 2010 Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup Edition: Cold Weather Start [w/video]

2010 Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup Edition: Cold Weather Start [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 13 Dec 2010 17:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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2010 Woodward: Classics make Dream Cruise worth the weather

Filed under: Misc. Auto Shows

Old School at Woodward

Classics: 2010 Woodward – Click above for high-res image gallery

There’s no doubt that classic cars make up the bulk of what keeps us coming to Detroit to cover the Woodward Dream Cruise year after year. But what makes a car a classic?

That question is as debatable as ever, but for the purposes of our coverage this weekend, we’re calling a classic anything built before 1964 or so. That’s around the first year you could buy a Pontiac GTO – what many consider to be the first true muscle car – and the end of what we’re calling our classic car era.

Yes, it’s a bit arbitrary to divide all these vintage vehicles into two groups, but there’s just too many for one gallery! So here’s the first, our gallery of pre-1964 (or so) classics. Post-1964 (or so) muscle cars will follow, so get through the gallery below and we’ll bring the muscle a little later.

Gallery: Classics: 2010 Woodward

1938 Chevrolet Coupe 1955-1957 Ford Thunderbird 1930s Ford Roadster Unidentifiable Rat Rod Custom Hot Rod

2010 Woodward: Classics make Dream Cruise worth the weather originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 22 Aug 2010 15:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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