Top Gear Ferrari 458 italia Review

The M Festival

When BMW returned to the 24h race at the Nürburgring last year, competition was fierce but the BMW M3 GT2 set out to continue the legendary performance and finished first. The BMW team secured not only the overall victory but ten class wins. Out of 198 cars lining up, 63 were BMWs.

Time for us to celebrate BMW’s outstanding performance at this prestigious race!

Therefore, we would like to invite you to merge into the world of M and come and see the backyard and playground of our M engineers. Every M car is developed and tested on the Nürburgring – the “Green Hell” – to meet the requirements for a race car suitable for everyday life. 

The M Festival, http://www.m-power.com/the_m_festival . Join the BMW M community event for M drivers and M fans, 23-26 June 2011 @ 24h race Nuerburgring, Germany. Save your tickets now.

2011 BMW M5

This is the fifth generation of the BMW M5. It comes with a world premiere: a newly developed high-revving 4.4-litre V8 engine with M TwinPower Turbo package. It's a perfect combination of a sports car and a business car. BMW also significantly improved the balance between performance and fuel consumption. But let's stop talking and watch this exceptional BMW M car...

Challenge to find Driving Heaven

Hammond May and Clarkson go on a hunt to find the World's best roads in some of the world's best supercars. Lightweight cars are the winners, James May has a rough ride and Hammond finds a gem of a road in Switzerland. 

The hills are alive to the sound of horse power. Clarkson Hammond and May pack their suitcases and their Lamborghini Aston Martin and Vanquish supercars on an epic journey to find the best driving road in the world. Amazing views and fantastic driving terrain in this clip from BBC's Top Gear.

2011 Falken Porsche GT3 RSR Testing - Sebring, FL

Falken Tire tests their 2010 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR at the 2011 American Le Mans Series Winter Test in Sebring, FL at the historic Sebring Raceway. In a few short weeks this course will host the season opener of the 2011 American Le Mans Series with a grueling 12 hour endurance race.

Team Falken Tire, along with team manager Derrick Walker and drivers Bryan Sellers and Wolf Henzler hope to improve on their performance from last year with new slick compounds and a newly managed team.

Derrick Walker's background includes open-wheel racing such as Formula One and Indy Car.

Ford Fiesta Rally Cross storms Pikes Peak

Ride along with rally champion Marcus Gronholm as he storms up the Pikes Peak course in the Ford Fiesta RallyCross in an homage to the famous Climb Dance Pikes Peak run.

Ken Block 2009 Highlights Slo-Mo & Hi-Def

Monster Energy Presents: Ken Block 2009 Highlights Slo-Mo & Hi-Def

This exclusive high definition viral film features the very best shots of Ken Block, captured during 2009, including  the Northstar at Tahoe shoot, the Gymkhana Two photo shoot at the Salton Sea, the 2009 Rally America National Championship season, Gymkhana Two: The

Informercial, the SCORE Powerdays 300 race, Ken's appearance on Top Gear and The Nitro Circus TV Shows, Gymkhana 2.1 featuring Rob Dyrdek, and  testing his 1978 Ford MKII Escort rally car. The footage was shot by Mad Media on RED, Phantom, and HD cameras.

The film is edited to "Mad World", written by Roland Orzabal and performed by Gary Jules and Michael Andrews as featured on the "Donnie Darko" soundtrack, and appears courtesy of Everloving Records. For more amazing clips and information on Ken Block visit:
www.monsterenergy.com

Ken Block vs Kimi Raikkonen - Rally Portugal

Everyone's favourite shoe salesman takes on f1 champ and ties! WTF! SHould have been in a subaru!

KEN BLOCK'S TRAX STI CAR

On the heels of Ken Blocks insane Gymkhana videos and the groundbreaking snowboarding/rally part to close out DCs MTN.LAB 1.5 video, the DC Co-Founder and Rally Team Driver has joined with Subaru to make the worlds fastest cat track operation automobile for backcountry access for snowboarding. Dubbed the TRAX STI, this is a new teaser video from the test session for the highly-modified, snow-ready (to say the least) car. Full specs and the full story at dcshoes.com/auto.

Top Gear - Richard Hammond struck by lightning in car - BBC

Ariel Atom - No Door No Roof Just Purists Insanity

Cars don't get much more hardcore than this. You need to have a biker's attitude to dressing for driving, but the reward is superb.

The Ariel Atom is a high performance sports car made by the Ariel Motor Company based in Somerset, England. The car is also manufactured under licence in the United States, originally by Brammo Motorsports, currently by TMI AutoTech Inc.

There have been four Ariel Atom incarnations to date: Ariel Atom, Ariel Atom 2, Ariel Atom 3 and Ariel Atom 500 V8. The current model is the Ariel Atom 3 which is also the most powerful of the three.

The Atom 500 V8 is a limited production model with a Suzuki Hayabusa - derived 500 bhp (373 kW; 507 PS) V8 engine.

Ken Block Airfield Rallying

Rallying and stunt-driving legend Ken Block joins James May on a rather quiet airfield in California. Quiet that is until he turns the airfield into a playground and shows off his Sabaru-sliding skills against dirt-biking champion Ricky Carmichael!

Rally star Ken Block to drive Formula One car

Tyre manufacturers Pirelli have announced ’Gymkhana’ legend and World Rally Championship star Ken Block is to be given the chance to drive their Formula One test car. Block will get behind the wheel on August 5 for a one-off drive at the famed Monza circuit in Italy.

“I’ve been lucky enough to do some pretty spectacular stunts in my career so far, but this is something else,” he said. “Everybody talks about Formula One being the pinnacle of world motorsport so I can’t wait to discover it for myself.

“I’m very grateful to Pirelli, which has been one of my partners since 2010, for this amazing opportunity. These cars are so specialised that I need to be realistic about what I can do, but I know that it’s going to be a lot of fun and take hooning to a whole new level…”

Pirelli's test car was used in competition throughout the 2009 Grand Prix season but has since undergone aerodynamic and weight distribution modifications to simulate the latest Formula One regulations, which Pirelli's current PZero tyres are designed for.

Button takes last minute win in Canadian GP epic

Jenson Button made sensational amends to McLaren, having inadvertently taken team mate Lewis Hamilton out of a chaotic Canadian Grand Prix on the eighth lap on Sunday, by snatching victory from Sebastian Vettel halfway round the final lap.

The disjointed race began behind the safety car due to heavy rain, started to dry, then got much worse as the rain returned and refused to abate.

Things went bad for McLaren by the second corner as Hamilton tapped Mark Webber into a spin and attracted the attention of the stewards yet again. But that was nothing compared to the bad news that lay ahead for McLaren…

Here’s how not to jump on your Lamborghini

Intoxicating beauty of Le Mans cars at sunset

The sun has already rising on Le Sarthe, but the cars looked amazing as twilight gave way to no light. How is it that Gulf Oil livery looks better as the sun goes down?

Second Audi R18 crashes at 24 Hours of Le Mans

Another massive accident has marred Audi's 79th running of the Le Mans 24 Hour race. Just hours after Audi's Allan McNish suffered a heavy shunt, the sister R18 of Mike Rockenfeller, who had been running second at the time, was involved in an enormous crash between Mulsanne and Indianapolis.

Race control immediately sent out the safety car and recovery trucks and ambulances were quickly on the scene of the accident, which had strewn debris over a wide area.

Allan McNish Huge Crash 2011 Le Mans 24 Hours

The first major accident of the day with the #3 Audi R18 of Allan McNish crashing into the #58 Ferrari 458 Italia in ridiculous fashion. McNish went in too fast, smashed the Ferrari, and went tumbling into the tire wall. Everyone's ok but, warning, it's horrific.

Le Mans 2011 - The New GT Cars

With great fanfare, a bulk of the fan focus for this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans will zoom in on Audi’s and Peugeot’s new prototypes expected to battle for the overall victory. Since each of the two powerhouse manufacturers first launched diesel-powered cars in 2006 and 2007, respectively, they have never gone into Le Mans with new cars at the same time as they are this year.

In the class where production relevance is more evident, GTE Pro, it’s worth noting a number of cars have also gracefully ridden off into the sunset while newer, hungrier cars take their place. 

The biggest one, of course, is the new Ferrari F458 Italia, the replacement for the F430 GT. Visually stunning, the 458 in race trim features a modified nose and front hood with a trio of inlets, far curvier sides, and a fiercer rear body.

2012 Opel Astra GTC preview

Opel has revealed the all-new Opel Astra GTC in Europe. According to the company, it will be the most dynamic car in its class when it hits the market towards the end of this year.

The GTC will rival the likes of the Renault Megane Coupe and the Volkswagen Scirocco, with its three-door coupe layout, based on the five-door Astra. Every aspect of the GTC is said to have been re-engineered above the five-door model, except for the door handles.
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What is Apples iCloud ??

iCloud stores your music, photos, apps, calendars, documents and more. And wirelessly pushes them to all your devices - automatically. Its the easiest way to manage your content. Because now you don't have to.

Your content. On all your devices.

iCloud is so much more than a hard drive in the sky. It’s the effortless way to access just about everything on all your devices. iCloud stores your content so it’s always accessible from your iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Mac, or PC.* It gives you instant access to your music, apps, latest photos, and more. And it keeps your email, contacts, and calendars up to date across all your devices. No syncing required. No management required. In fact, no anything required. iCloud does it all for you.

Free gets you alot

When you sign up for iCloud, you automatically get 5GB of free storage. And that’s plenty of room, because of the way iCloud stores your content. Your purchased music, apps, and books, as well as your Photo Stream, don’t count against your free storage. That leaves your mail, documents, Camera Roll, account information, settings, and other app data. And since those things don’t use as much space, you’ll find that 5GB goes a long way

Car companies do not have to keep up with the rest of society in making it easier to access social media, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is arguing.

 
In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, LaHood said he is urging auto companies that report to the Department of Transportation to not add features to computers in their new cars that make it easier to distract drivers. Some car companies have added applications for social media websites to onboard computers that are often used for navigation and performance monitoring.
"There's absolutely no reason for any person to download their Facebook into the car," U.S. LaHood said in an interview with the newspaper. "It's not necessary."

LaHood said that BMW has agreed to launch a public service announcement campaign to discourage not just texting, but tweeting or facebooking, behind the wheel. Subaru has also made a similar agreement, the newspaper reported.

Beyond the Blueberry filled horizon with TDK

As always the due to some TECHnical problems we have been a bit delayed in getting going with what ís still fresh (for today) in the land of gadgetry and technology.

Hoping to give you the first look at one of the coolest devices hitting the markets and show you a world beyond the Blueberry filled horizon.

On that note, the first thing Id likes to bring up is TDK'S solution to Text Walking accidents. No more walking into poles and such whilst texting.

TDK have introduced a Transparent OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) screen, this obviously is a relatively old (couple of months) release but they have announced that it is set to be introduced into its first mass production device.

The key to the success of this is the fact that Lenovo has put much of its effort in designing the display so that it ensures privacy for the user, allowing the user all of the obvious advantages of the transparent screen preventing observers from viewing the contents of the screen from the reverse side.

At this stage, with a size of only 2.4 inches and a resolution of 240x320 (QVGA) it is unlikely to make it onto the of high end android and apple devices, but itís a step in the right direction, a clearer future!

Dice fall perfectly for Vettel and Red Bull Racing

Seems like luck has always played a big part in winning in the gambler’s paradise that is Monte Carlo. And on Saturday it was very much on Sebastian Vettel’s side, as the Red Bull driver emerged triumphant in a qualifying session that was rendered something of a lottery by Sergio Perez’s dramatic accident in the Sauber (from which the Mexican mercifully escaped without serious injury). With a grid that may well not represent their true Monaco form, we take a look at each team’s pre-race fortunes…

Full Grid Classification:

Sunday, 29 May 2011

Conditions: Sunny

Position	Country	Driver	Car number	Team	Qualifying time
1	Ger	Sebastian Vettel	1	Red Bull-Renault	1:13.556
2	GB	Jenson Button	4	McLaren-Mercedes	1:13.997
3	Aus	Mark Webber	2	Red Bull-Renault	1:14.019
4	Spa	Fernando Alonso	5	Ferrari	1:14.483
5	Ger	Michael Schumacher	7	Mercedes GP	1:14.682
6	Brz	Felipe Massa	6	Ferrari	1:14.877
7	Ger	Nico Rosberg	8	Mercedes GP	1:15.766
8	Ven	Pastor Maldonado	12	Williams-Cosworth	1:16.528
9	GB	Lewis Hamilton	3	McLaren-Mercedes	1:14.275
10	Mex	Sergio Perez	17	Sauber	1:15.482
11	Rus	Vitaly Petrov	10	Renault	1:15.815
12	Brz	Rubens Barrichello	11	Williams-Cosworth	1:15.826
13	Jpn	Kamui Kobayashi	16	Sauber	1:15.973
14	GB	Paul Di Resta	15	Force India-Mercedes	1:16.118
15	Ger	Adrian Sutil	14	Force India-Mercedes	1:16.121
16	Ger	Nick Heidfeld	9	Renault	1:16.214
17	Swi	Sebastien Buemi	18	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:16.300
18	Fin	Heikki Kovalainen	20	Lotus-Renault	1:17.343
19	Ita	Jarno Trulli	21	Lotus-Renault	1:17.381
20	Spa	Jaime Alguersuari	19	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:17.820
21	Ger	Timo Glock	24	Virgin-Cosworth	1:17.914
22	Bel	Jerome d'Ambrosio	25	Virgin-Cosworth	1:18.736
23	Ind	Narain Karthikeyan	22	Hispania-Cosworth	No time
24	Ita	Vitantonio Liuzzi	23	Hispania-Cosworth	No time

Hamilton had qualifying time deleted for cutting a chicane; Perez does not start following accident.

Ken Block's Dirt 3 Gymkhana: Battersea Power Station, London

Gymkhana pioneer Ken Block is, as you can see, back! This time doing promos for DIRT 3 at London's iconic Battersea Power Station in his specially prepared Ford Focus. According to the breathless marketing spiel, those who watch the vid will "witness a masterclass in multi-surface car control as he drifts and donuts around a course based on the DC Compound - a Gymkhana stage set around Battersea Power Station in the forthcoming DiRT 3 videogame"...

Battersea Power Station, transformed for one day only into a hoonigan's paradise, DiRT 3 Technical Consultant Ken Block hits the dirt hard in his specially prepared Ford Focus. Witness a masterclass in multi-surface car control as he drifts and donuts around a course based on the DC Compound - a Gymkhana stage set around Battersea Power Station in the forthcoming DiRT 3 videogame.

In DiRT 3's new Gymkhana mode you can jump, powerslide and spin-dry your way through obstacle filled arenas at stunning locations across the globe - then share your runs with the world by uploading your highlights direct to YouTube.

Express yourself with Gymkhana or take on the most Rally content in the series by joining Ken Block, Kris Meeke and Tanner Foust in DiRT 3 - racing into stores worldwide on May 24th on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

Come play in the DiRT.

Lotus Elan Production delayed till 2016

Lotus has finally made it clear that their Elan variant will be delayed to 2016. Though Lotus escaped without giving an explanation on the delay, reports from authentic sources say that the company has decided to allow a more traditional life-cycle for Evora.

The original Elan was introduced in 1962 as a roadster, although an optional hardtop was offered in 1963 and a coupé version in 1965. The two seat Lotus Elan replaced the elegant, but unreliable and expensive to produce Lotus Elite. It was the first Lotus road car to use the now famous steel backbone sub frame with a fibreglass body. At 1,500 lb (680 kg), the Elan embodied the Colin Chapman minimum weight design philosophy.

198-horsepower Honda CR-Z Mugen concept

The 2011 Honda CR-Z found itself on the receiving end of much criticism from the automotive press and enthusiasts, when it launched last year. Greenies didn't like the hybrid's merely average fuel economy, and enthusiasts chided its less-than-hard-core performance.

This is where Mugen, Honda's sometimes-official tuning division comes into the picture with its CR-Z Mugen concept, set to debut in July at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July.

Honda and Toyota Inventories take a drastic drop

"Toyota and Honda dealers are starting to run low on stock"

Their vehicle inventories on May 1 had plunged by a third since the week before the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The quake has halted or curtailed auto production there and in North America, especially for Toyota and Honda.

Output for other automakers also was affected by a quake-related parts shortage from Japanese suppliers. But outside Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. and American Honda, industry inventory was flat March to May.

Aaaand It's Go Go Go!

Ta Da, and with a few clicks, the AutoTechnics website is alive and kicking.  Content being a little on the thin side for now, however my team and I will be adding the latest and greatest in the worlds of automotive news, motorsport, car styling, technology and much much more on a regular basis.

So where to from here?


The future is looking bright for AutoTechnics and we would love to see comments and conversations below each of our news posts, as well as reader submissions, so  spread the word, tell everyone about AutoTechnics. We would love to showcase their latest cars, products and industry news.
This is our Passion and this is how we roll. The Floris Boys!