Nice work from the boys at SEAT!
Jason Plato continues to lead the BTCC after a bruising race meeting at Snetterton. But only the toughest survive in touring car racing, and having been hit off the track at the first corner of the opening race, Jason recovered from 17th to finish 8th, scored a podium in Race 2 and challenged for the lead in Race 3 before finishing 4th. His SEAT Leon showed the battle scars of a hard-fought day but, most importantly, Jason maintains his lead in the Drivers’ standings.
Darren Turner ran as high as 2nd and scored three top 10 results, but also ended the day with a war-damaged Leon. Their combined points tally over the weekend has nevertheless enabled SEAT Sport UK to maintain its lead in the BTCC Teams’ Championship and keeps SEAT’s strong challenge alive in the Manufacturers’ table.
A monster start-line crash in the second Blaupunkt SEAT Cupra Championship race eliminated seven cars. That race was won by Carl Breeze, but there appears to be no stopping Jonathan Adam’s title charge, as he won the first race to extend his New Leon Class lead. Ian Churchill and Harry Vaulkhard shared victories in the Leon Cupra R class.
In a rainy Sweden, the diesel-powered Leon made a very encouraging WTCC debut, with Yvan Muller scoring points on the SEAT Sport Leon TDI’s maiden race. After qualifying on pole, Tiago Monterio finished 2nd.
Technorati Tags: BTCC, British Touring Car, SEAT, Jason Plato, oneighturbo
I ride on Eibach/Koni setup but these are damn light and would put my stance right where I want it.
H&R continues its innovative design and manufacture of new suspension technologies with the introduction of Premium Performance Coil-Overs. These new coil overs feature Aluminum front struts that significantly reduce unsprung weight. Weight is reduced 30 to 40%over stock struts. Reduced unsprung weight improves suspension articulation resulting in optimized performance and ride. The Aluminum struts are black hard anodized for strength and beauty. All other features are the same as the famous H&R Street Performance Coil Overs.
The new Premium Coil Overs are available for popular Audi, BMW, and Volkswagen applications. Featuring H&R’s exclusive damper technology, each shock is specifically engineered to work smoothly with the progressive rate springs. The new H&R Coil-Overs will give your car superb comfort, performance and German style.
Like all of H&R’s products, H&R Coil-Overs are 100% made in Germany and use inductively tempered spring steel for unparalleled tensile strength and resiliency, allowing the use of a smaller wire diameter for reduced unsprung weight. H&R Coil-Over shocks are hand made monotube gas charged dampeners to maximize service life and performance. H&R is an A1 level product supplier to the automotive industry.
Contact:
H&R Special Springs
(888) 827-8881
www.hrsprings.com
info@hrsprings.com
H&R Releases Ultra-light Premium Coilovers
Technorati Tags: H&R, H&R Springs, H7R Coilovers, vwvortex, oneighturbo
Hot on the tails of yesterdays Audi A1 sketches comes the Car Magazine niujas again with the targa topped Audi R8. Not bad with a bit of Carrera GT thrown in… I’ll take mine with a hardtop.
Audi is lopping the top off its R8 supercar - and CAR Online has the exclusive proof. This official design sketch leaked from the company’s Ingolstadt design studios shows exactly how the open-air R8 will look when it goes on sale in 2009. It follows our scoop on the Audi A1 yesterday, and we have more Audi news to come tomorrow.
This drawing reveals the R8 targa for the first time, with twin speedster humps incorporating breathing vents for the mid-engined V8 behind the two-seater cockpit. The doors are deeply scalloped, as on the coupe, but this time there’s a shortened, stumpier aluminium-look blade just ahead of the rear wheels. Tone down the cartoony feel of this sketch (just look at the liquorice-wrapped, deeply dished alloys) and this is the final production car.
This picture confirms CAR Magazine’s scoop (October 2006) that the R8 will have removable targa panels, rather than a space-gobbling removable fabric roof or folding hard-top. Fact is, most buyers of this £85k roadster will live in hotter climes like Florida, where a fiddly targa top won’t be a problem.
Audi R8 Spider - First Official Pictures - Carmagazine.co.uk
Technorati Tags: Audi, Audi R8, Car Magazine, oneighturbo
The ninja’s over at CAR Magazine seemed to snag a few sketches of the new Audi A1. Looks pretty good. As one commenter said, “VAG is late to the game, again“. This will go up against the Mini Cooper which is far into it’s life, has a driver base etc.
We always knew that CAR’s Georg Kacher is one of the best connected motoring journalists in the world. But even we were surprised when he rang the office with news that he’d ‘obtained’ official design sketches of Audi’s new Mini, the A1. Forget the artist’s impressions you’ll find elsewhere, CAR Online has three sketches smuggled out of Ingolstadt’s design HQ that show exactly how Audi’s baby will look.
It’s been a few years since the A2 ceased production, and Audi is chomping at the bit to join the ranks of the premium superminis. You can’t blame them after jealously eyeing five years of BMW success with the pricey Mini. Audi’s own supermini will be a classy hatchback laced with the brand’s design flourishes - and will form a crucial plank in its strategy to become the world’s biggest premium car maker by the middle of the next decade.
The A1 will also be among the first VW group models built around its new MQB formula (that’s platform boffin-speak for modular transverse matrix). Sounds a bit dull, but the important thing is this: it will also underpin the next A3 in 2010 and other minis elsewhere in the group, and it’s designed to be cheaper to build, easier to assemble and more flexible to drop in different modules to tailor the spec for different brands. Audi reckons it’ll be $1000 cheaper per car than today’s small-car architecture.
Audi A1 - First Official Pictures - Carmagazine.co.uk
Technorati Tags: Audi, Audi A1, Car Magazine, oneighturbo
