Double the excitement as Audi will be making a debut of the R8 GRAND-AM customer sport race car on the 50th running of the Daytona 24 Hours. Two teams, APR Motorsport and Oryx Racing will have the privilege to race their own LMP Audis in the GT class of the endurance race which kicks off on the 26th of January.
“We are proud to be part of the action for the first time at the event’s special anniversary,” said Werner Frowein, Managing Director of Quattro GmbH, which has developed the Audi R8 GRAND-AM. After the debut, the R8 is set to take part in the other 12 challenges of the GRAND-AM series. Let us remind ourselves that back in 2008, Audi was represented in the United States for a whole season with a factory commitment featuring the Audi R10 TDI LMP1 sports car and proceeded to win the title in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS). Now the APR Motorsport and Oryx Racing customer teams are going to take part of their own commitment.
APR has a reputation of playing with Audis as it is known as one of the most active tuners of the car make. They are based in Opelika, Alabama and headed by Jeff Mishtawy. Hopes fall on a lineup of 5 drivers: The Americans Ian Baas and Dr. Jim Norman, Nelson Canache from Venezuela, Dion von Moltke plus the legendary (former now) Audi factory driver Emanuele Pirro from Italy. The other team, Oryx Racing, is headed by Humaid Al Masaood (UAE) as he also plays the role of a driver. Hist two other team mates are Saeed Al Mehairi and Steven Kane (UK)
“We’re entering a new car in a series that’s new to us. It was important to us to be involved in the project right from the beginning and help continue to develop this fascinating customer racing car from Audi to become as competitive as possible.” comments an enthusiastic Al Masaood. Despite the fact that the team is from UAE, they also have a base in the US, West College Corner near Indianapolis.
The “Rolex 24 at Daytona” ranks as one of the finest international motorsport events. Attenders are in for a treat as a champions party with numerous racing legends, an exhibition of historic overall-winning cars, a carnival complete with a Ferris Wheel, a 5-kilometre run on the track for all sports enthusiasts on Saturday before the race, autograph sessions and pit walks are just some of the attractions featured on the last weekend of January. The GRAND-AM Audi will be competing against approximately 30 more contenders which fall into the category of GT LMP1 vehicles. After a qualifying session on Thursday the race will start on Saturday (January 28) and end on Sunday (January 29) at 15:30, local time (21:30 Central European time).
Source: Audi
Volkswagen brought the Middle East some German engineering by presenting the VW Passat at the Qatar Motor Show. Although, widely popular in Europe and North America, the Passat made its debut on Middle Eastern soil.
Attenders at this month’s Qatar Motor Show are in for a treat because a Pininfarina Alfa will be taking part as an exhibition. It is the truly delightful Alfa 2uettottanta concept – a familiar face not only because it has been around for a while (barer of the 2010 Car Design of the Year Award) but also because it is a direct descendant to the historic Pininfarina Alfa Romeo Spider, also known as “Duetto”
New teasers coming from Pininfarina about their Cambiano concept and the prognosis is looking good. We still can’t be sure however, that this will be a whole car for so far we have only seen halves of it. No worries though, because what we see here leaves a decent amount of space for pondering and speculation.
A very special Chevrolet “Military Tribute Camaro” has been auctioned at Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction. The Achilles Freedom team will benefit from the final bid which reached $175,000. It is an association that helps wounded war veterans to overcome their physical and psychological trauma by engaging them in various sports activities, athletics and marathons.
We have all been there: it’s minus 15 Celsius outside, snow chunks fall down on you like there’s no tomorrow and you can’t call anyone because your cellphone is dead. It wasn’t dead 3 minutes ago. In fact it had 2 lines of battery on the screen but now it’s over because the reality of the situation is that weather does affect the efficiency of Li-ion batteries. It’s the same frightening story with electric vehicles – what if I run out of juice in the middle of nowhere? Well Nissan are painfully aware of this issue and have gathered members of the media and the public in northern Japan to demonstrate how the LEAF tackles cold weather with a few tricks up it’s sleeve.
VOGTLAND is a company with a long lasting experience in suspension tuning and coil-spring production. Now they have a new product exclusively for vehicles with air-suspension chassis as standard. It is an electric module that basically overrides the function of whatever the air suspension and the user has a more viable access to vehicle height control.
With numerous cabin sizes and a variety of engine choices, the Ram Ttruck has a lot to offer in terms of versatility and character. But those who want that extra something on top or they just fancy a hunt should turn to Mossy Oak Graphics. It is a company that has formed a close collaboration with Ram (separate from Dodge) with the end result being the Ram 1500 Mossy Oak® Edition – a camouflaged, army green, four-door pickup truck.
Opel are now diversifying their EcoFlex range with with two new, LPG adapted (Liquid Petrolium Gas) additions. The Astra 5-door hatchback and the Astra Sport Tourer will get the more grunty engine while the Meriva will keep it simple with a less powerful and less thirsty version of the former.
Ford have announced that the 2013 Ford Shelby GT500 durability car (the prototype that was used to develop the production series) is to be auctioned at the 41st Annual Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction Saturday in Scottsdale, Ariz. The reason is also a just one – bidding money for the car will go for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF).
Opel is preparing to celebrate 150 years of business this year and to do it properly they are planning to release special “150 years Opel” edition of the Corsa, Meriva, Astra and Insignia line. The cars will come with additional equipment and styling that would normally cost much more as an option (one can save up to 2100 euros). An even more festive jubilee trim package – “150 years Opel” – will guarantee exclusivity and character.
