The Black Falcon team of Bernd Schneider, Sean Edward/Jeroen Bleekemolen/Nicki Thiim have won the 2013 Nurburgring 24 Hours with a incredibly tight margin of two minutes 39 seconds. It was the first ever win at the event for Mercedes after many races at the VLN improved the handling on the infamous circuit.
Heavy rain forced race control during the night to interrupt the race for more than nine hours. Numerous accidents caused a treacherous mix of oil, mud and rain water on the track.
Coming in second place was the BMW Z4 GT3 Driven by Maxime Martin (BE) who brought the number 25 BMW Sports Trophy Team car home. As well as Martin, Yelmer Buurman (NL), Andrea Piccini (IT) and Richard Göransson (SE) were also in action over the course of the eventful race.
After 88 laps of the 25.378-kilometre circuit, the runner-up car was 2:39.781 minutes behind the winning Mercedes SLS. Continue reading »
Motorists hate black ice like the devil hates holy water. No wonder, because when the going is icy, directional stability is all too often an unpredictable lottery.
With its Hakkapeliitta 8 studded tyre, Finnish tyre manufacturer Nokian, traditionally committed to this cold problem area, has provided impressive proof that it is possible to drive at blistering speed, under control and in a straight line even on an icy surface.
The Finn Janne Laitinen clocked 331.61 km/h on the thick ice sheet of the Gulf of Bothnia on 6 March 2011.
Armed with his speed record experience at Nardo – where the boss pushed his “RS 6 Nardo Edition” to a record of 362.5 km/h – Roland Mayer provided a new RS 6. Modified for a hot run in icy cold. Continue reading »
After the uber bonkers Audi A1 Clubsport which had 495hp Audi have been out testing the sensible Audi S1.
The changes from the regular A1 include 2 extra doors and more practicality than the current range topping 185ps 1.4 tfsi.
Audi was saving the Quattro all wheel drive transmission for this car and is rumoured to be a derived from the club sport obviously with less strengthened parts. Continue reading »
Has been in Taiwan filming with MTM Taiwan and their 472hp MTM Fettled Audi TT-R, and dubbed the film “The Beast”.
Powering the TTRS is a reworked 2.5 TFSI, the robust five-cylinder can reach 472 BHP and a maximum torque of around 600 Nm. A modified turbocharger gives the engine a high-powered air supply, and modified spark plugs ensure the optimal firing of the combustion chambers. Continue reading »
Audi have released the official photo’s and a video to reveal the 2013 Audi S3, Along with its 300hp all new TFSI Powerunit.
The S3 delivers impressive performance. The sprint from zero to 100 km/h (62.14 mph) is completed in 5.1 seconds when equipped with the S tronic gearbox and the manual is 5.4 seconds. Continue reading »
Throughout their storied histories, Audi and Ducati have forged legends racing up Pikes Peak. With the 90th annual running of the treacherous Pikes Peak International Hill Climb at hand, the two iconic brands chose to come together and pit today’s expressions of performance against the mountain that has crowned each with championship glory.
For Audi and Ducati fans in the U.S. there’s an added bonus: A chance to experience the power of the Audi RS 5 and the Ducati Multistrada together in an unparalleled ride and drive experience.
And to give back to the wildfire-ravaged community surrounding Pikes Peak, Audi is donating to and helping raise awareness for “Battle the Blaze,” a donation fund established by the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.
Audi AG is pleased to announce that they have managed to aquire the final Auto Union Type D ever made which was developed in the age of the “Silver Arrows” in 1939.
The ‘supercharger era’ was halted by World War II and after being occupied by the Soviet Army, Auto Union was pillaged. Russian occupying forces found the cars and they were carried back to the Soviet Union as part of German reparation payments, resulting in the loss of the cars.
In 1970, American classic car collector Paul Karassik began his search across Europe and finally managed to uncover remains of two dismantled Auto Union cars before successfully buying them. With the help of English company Crosthwaite & Gardiner, a single supercharger and twin supercharger cars were rebuilt to original spec. While Audi bought the 1938 single-supercharger machine, the 1939 twin was sold to a classic car collector.
The Auto Union car was the first manufacturer to place the engine behind the driver, apparently they was notoriously difficult to drive with its 6 litre v16 engine produced well over 500 bhp.
This fetched them a total of nine Grand Prix Race wins in 1935 and 1937.
The legend of the “Silver Arrows” actually began with the Mercedes-Benz W25 car at the the 1934 EifelRennen at the Nürburgring, it weighed in at 751kg which was 1kg to heavy.
Overnight the team manager Alfred Neubauer and driver Manfred von Brauchitsch, came up with a scheme of scraping all the white paint of the bodywork.
So back at the workshop of the Altes Forsthaus Hubertus the team removed all the paint and revealed the gleaming aluminium panels and passed the scrutineers weigh in for the race.
After a successful race where Manfred von Brauchitsch won the Eifelrennen, the car was dubbed by the media as a “silver Arrow”. So the Era of the silver arrows was born.
Mercedes-Benz & Audi AG have already confirmed that W25, W125, W154 will be present alongside Auto Union Type C and Type Ds at the Goodwood Revival on the 14-16 th September.
And of course you can always visit the Nurburgring Nordschleife Guest House and Garage where the Silver Arrows were born Altes Forsthaus Guesthouse
I must admit I am a fan of the Audi 90 Quattro and its historic prowess, and Audi of America have fetched us this excellent insight.
The film tells the story of the legendary longitudinally mounted Audi 5-cylinder racing engine used in the IMSA/GTO circuit in 1989 at Sears Point.
Audi driver Hans-Joachim Stuck focuses on the moment when this fire-breathing, aggressive five cylinder, with its characteristic wasteplate turbo chatter in mid shift, ushered the Audi team to victory.
The piece then links the motor sports moment of truth to a story of modern-day design and engine innovation in the 5 cylinder lurking beneath the hood of the TT RS and unavailable in the standard TT. quattro GmbH engineer Michael Ganz brings to life the visual technological advancements of the 5 cylinder engine at the quattro GmbH engine test bed, and through specific dynamic track footage of the TT RS.
Surprisingly omitted is any reference to the Audi RS3 which us Europeans have access to.
Which Car do you prefer over stateside the TTRS or the Audi RS3?
