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...

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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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.

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.

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.