Audi chief designer Stefan Sielaff is embracing the challenges that come with styling the cars of the future. He says that new powertrains and new materials are “revolutionizing” Audi. The 49-year-old German, who has been head of Audi design since 2006, says Audi has given him a bigger budget and a larger staff to help the company stay competitive. Sielaff talked with Pia Krix, a reporter with Automotive News Europe sister publication Automobilwoche.

What effects do alternative drivetrains have on design?

Design is facing a major challenge because of cultural and technological changes, but they also present us with a unique opportunity. We are in favor of a paradigm change in our layout, in our package configuration, and therefore in the overall proportions. New drivetrains, whether they are electric, hybrid or something else, are revolutionizing the entire company. And so far no one knows where it’s taking us.

How is lightweight construction changing design?

The choice of the material has an influence on design. An aluminum body does not have the sharpness of a steel body. In turn, I can make edges even sharper with carbon. You sense these effects in detail in the design language.

Will the toward greater environmental awareness continue?

I am convinced that this trend will even become stronger. And a growing number of people will ask themselves what they are lugging around and what is burdening their lives. In certain parts of the world, the saturation will grow to the extent that it will be a form of luxury to have as little as possible. I sense a certain purism among the very young people who join our design team. They laugh about our values.

What will future green cars for megacities look like?

Compact. Efficient. Lightweight. Pure. We designers want to satisfy the desire for authenticity: The car should mirror what it carries inside.

Will design be a key purchasing factor in the future?

To a great degree, design set the tone in the past. In the future, the strength will lie in the interaction and innovation of design, technology and production. A beautiful wrapping won’t be enough. Customers want a holistic product that answers all the environmental questions.

Are you getting a larger budget so you can handle fresh challenges?

Yes, I now have the opportunity to hire more people. We can only bring about a paradigm change if we take care of the product portfolio that we have built up and have time for research at the same time.

Does the auto industry have enough designers?

The lack of new talent is an important issue, and we have to brace ourselves for it. For demographic reasons, we are going to get fewer specialized staff. By contrast, young talent is on the move in other countries, in China and India. We are indeed an international company, but we have to position ourselves more globally in the future.

What role do women play in automotive design?

Compared with the overall auto industry, we are not understaffed when it comes to women. But a classic division prevails in our area as well: Women handle interior design while exterior design, with its technical requirements, remains a male domain. But it is absolutely important to know how what women respond to in a car. That’s why we want to form mixed teams. But as long as just a few women complete the training, we cannot recruit very many.
- Auto News

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When one talks about ultimate speed, tuning and Porsche, SharkWerks is one of those names that always comes up. “ZKERMIT” the 2007 997 GT3RS that pushes out 500hp or the 2009 997TT with EVOMSit ECU Tuning that hits 580hp on 91 octane are just a few of the outstanding cars to come out of the SharkWerks stable.

Our good friends over at Porsche Heritage had the great opportunity to interview Alex Ross, co-owner at SharkWerks. It’s a must read if you want to learn a bit more on one of the most respected Porsche tuners, worldwide.

Alex Ross of SharkWerks

- Porsche Heritage

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1. Interview with 2009 Porsche Supercup Champion and now Magnus Racing’s Jeroen Bleekemolen

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When the racing season comes to an end here in the U.S, we tend to get bummed out but before you know it the Roar Before the Rolex 24 is here. This year brings new teams, new faces and new cars to the Grand-Am Series. One team we will be watching is newly formed Magnus Racing out of Salt Lake City, Utah. We had the chance to sit down and catch up with Jeroen Bleekemolen (Dutch) in Daytona, yesterday.

First, congratulations on your 2009 Porsche Mobil1 Supercup Championship win. That was quite a battle with Rene Rast.

How was your winter, any rest for you and what did you do to keep in shape and focused for 2010?

My winter was still quite busy. In November I still had 2 races, one in Abu Dhabi and one in Kyalami. After that there were some talks for this season and the 3rd of January I already drove my 1st race of the year in the Netherlands in our winter GT series in a Porsche. The rest of the month is also busy with the 24 hours of Dubai and Daytona. I had 37 race weekends last year, so it was nice to have a few weeks of relaxing with Christmas. I went skiing in that period. Good training and a lot of fun on top of that.

When did the Magnus deal come about? Did Porsche Motorsport approach you about the Magnus opportunity?

I got into contact with Magnus Racing through Porsche. After winning the Supercup title twice they were out there to help me, because I really wanted to do Daytona and I’m really happy to join Magnus Racing.

With Magnus Racing being a new startup, how do you approach this and what do you bring to the table?

The team is new, but you don’t notice that in any way. I guess that’s because all the members are very experienced. Obviously I know a Porsche Cup car well and have a lot of 24 hour experience, so together we should be really strong.

We hear the guys at Magnus are a lot of fun. We saw it last year with Craig’s “Touch of Gray” livery. We also know Craig has a good bit up his sleeve? Have John or Craig pranked you?

Craig and John are great guys. The make a lot of fun, but can also be very serious when they have to. I’m also like that, so I’m happy to race with them. We just got to know each other, but I’m sure we’re going to have a great time together.

The Magnus Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car looks to be running good. In the second session we saw you running 11th about 3secs off pace. How is the car and what has been done to the old #67 TRG to get it ready for the season?

I only did a couple of laps so far, but the car seems to work ok. I’m sure there’s a lot more to come from us and we’ll be fighting at the front during the 24 hours.

With a 24 Hour of Le Mans win driving the LMP2 Van Merksteijn Motorsport’s Porsche RS Spyder, how would a 24 Hours of Daytona win feel?

To win Daytona after my Le Mans win would be fantastic. I race to win, so let’s hope we make it a nice one. I’m looking forward to it a lot.

You have both a background in endurance racing and shorter stuff like the DTM, Porsche Carrera Cup and others. Do you enjoy one format over the other and will we see you at Dubai, Le Mans or any other 24 Hour races in 2010?

I will do the 24 hours of Dubai and probably also Le Mans. If I have time I will also try to do the 24 hours of Nurburgring and Spa, but that depends on my other schedule. I love 24 hour racing, so hopefully it works out.

Thank you for your time Jeroen. Good luck with testing and we will see you at the 24!

Thank you for the support. Best regards, Jeroen

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The final race (watch our play-by-play) to the 2009 American Le Mans Series ended with a lot of controversy regarding the GT2 class battle between Flying Lizard Motorsports, Joerg Bergmeister and Corevette Racing’s Jan Magnussen. It is eerily reminiscent of Joerg’s loss to Rizi Ferrari/Melo in 2007 at Sebring but without the crash. We see it as racing with an unfortunate end, yet a thrilling one. If Jan had never bumped Joerg in the first place, would we be talking about this? Did it tarnish the sport? No. Did it tarnish ALMS? No. Will GT2 be all the rage in 2010? You can count on it!

Since we are both Porsche fans and big Flying Lizard fans, we’ve asked some of our motorsport friends to contribute their un-biased thoughts. We even went as far as inviting Keith Cornett of CorvetteBlogger.com fame! Rounding out the list, motorsport photographer, Darren Pierson, Riley Racing’s Jameson Riley, Chris Bailey host of fastmachines.com radio, professional driver Michael DeNino and last but not least, the Declan Brennan of Radio Le Mans. There’s even a special appearance by Oliver Gavin! They are in no particular order but Jameson Riley will be up first, since he started it!

Contribute to the discussion by adding yours in the comments! (Keep it clean)

    Bergmeister is an idiot… There is an un-said rule on the racing track for hitting or spinning someone: do it to someone, and expect you’re going to get revenge while still on track. Fair is fair. But this incident at Laguna Seca was over the line, and far beyond the “un-said rule”. Up to the finish-line incident, Bergmeister and Magnusson had a great battle with some aggressive, but fairly clean racing. Bergmeister was beat going up to the finish-line, and Bergmeister stupidly saw the “red mist”, drove Magnusson all the way to the wall, and then continued to push into him even after the Corvette was past the Porsche. The Corvette was obviously more than 3/4 past the Porsche, otherwise the Porsche would not have been able to spin the Corvette in the right-rear 1/4 panel. At some point, Bergmeister needed to stop driving Magnusson into the wall. What he did was stupid, dangerous, and uncalled for. Bergmeister had fairly lost the battle, and spinning someone into a very bad accident is not smart. Hence, why Bergmeister is an idiot. – Jameson Riley – Riley Racing

    Jan vs Joerg: For both professional reasons and personal and enjoyment, I have watched the last lap of Sebring 2007 about 3000 times. I would suggest, however, that Jorg Bergmeister has played it over in his head significantly more times than that. He has probably conducted more than one autopsy of the events that led to him being muscled out of victory through sunset on that glorious and thrilling March evening.

All of the memories and emotions of that last gasp defeat must have flowed through the German’s mind as soon as Jan Magnussen rear ended him at the climax of last Saturday’s race. The Dane’s actions simply did not belong at an ALMS or any sportscar event where ‘ rubbin’ aint racin’ ‘. Maybe the saddest part of the whole incident was simply how inevitable it was. Both Dorsey Schroeder on SPEED TV and John Hindhaugh on the American Le Mans Series Radio Network predicted that it would end with Magnussen doing something aggressive and ultimately stupid. Bergmeister’s retaliation was wrong but totally understandable based on what had gone before at Sebring, he should not be absolved from blame and both drivers are responsible for what happened. The crucial factor, however, is that the Corvette would not have been able to pull up alongside the Porsche as they headed to the line if not for a boneheaded and dirty move by Magnussen that would have been considered aggressive at Darlington let alone Laguna Seca. – Declan Brennan in the US Correspondent for ‘Midweek Motorsport’ heard every Wednesday at 8pm UK on www.radiolemans.com

    The last few minutes of the Monterey Sports Car Challenge at Laguna Seca featured some of the most exciting racing in ALMS history, bar none. Unfortunately, due to the outcome of the race that had one team crashing while the other claimed victory, fans from both camps are undoubtedly claiming it’s the other guy’s fault. I think that Magnussen clearly had the faster car in the final minutes and made multiple attempts to pass Bergmiester. Bergmister was driving defensively and rebuked Magnussen on several attempts at being passed by forcing Jan outside and off-track. I think most fans from both camps will agree that up to that point, it was hard but clean racing by both teams.

The real contention is what happened at turn 11 and then on the straight leading to the finish line. Magnussen claims that at turn 11, Bergmiester “parked” the car with a hard brake and that he (Mags) didn’t see it in time and the Corvette bumped the back of the Flying Lizards Porsche. With both cars now roaring down the straight, Bergmiester appears to have taken an unnatural exit line that pushed Jan towards the left wall. Magnussen had to be leading Bergmiester at the point in which contact was made as how else could the #3 Corvette spin out in front of the #45 Porsche if it wasn’t leading at the moment of contact.

Magnussen is quoted as saying “It was a drag race up the hill, and I managed to get ahead of him. Then he turned me into the wall, and he kept turning in. Then I spun around the nose of his car.” whereas the Flying Lizards press release says “The No. 3 moved to go past the No. 45, but without enough room to maneuver, the two cars made contact, sending the No. 3 spinning across the track in front of the No. 45, with a hard impact into the far concrete wall.” Race officials should look at the footage to determine who made the contact and if it was “unavoidable contact” that resulted in the Corvette being spun out into the inside right wall.

Corvette fans would probably be more fired up over this incident if Corvette Racing was competing for the Manufacturer and Driver’s championships. If you talk to anyone that’s covered ALMS and Le Mans, they all pretty much say the same two things: Corvette’s drivers are aggressive but very professional in their conduct. Although Gavin and Beretta both had their issues in the No.4 Corvette at Laguna Seca, this was the exception and not the norm. The real problem I have is the comments coming from the Porsche camp calling the Corvette Racing drivers thugs and unprofessional and making statements like “Oh, how wonderful GT2 was before the Corvettes showed up.” Well, sorry to break it to you, but the Corvettes are here, we are aggressive, and we are racing for the win. See you in 2010! – Keith Cornett – CorvetteBlogger.com

    A few likes and dislikes before I get started: I don’t like to see wrecked cars. I don’t like blocking beyond holding a wide line. I don’t like pushing cars out of the way when you can’t drive past. I do like aggressive driving within the boundaries of sanity.

The final turn at Laguna was a bit of all of the above. Since I cannot cite from memory any times when Joerg deliberately broadsided another car and have no proof that he has not, it might not be fair to mention that Mags did crash both his car and Max Papis out of a Grand Am race in Daytona a few years back. It happens.

I don’t buy Mag’s comment that Joerg “parked” the car in the last turn and that he couldn’t help running into the back of the Lizard. I don’t have the telemetry, so I can only go on the visuals. From the TV coverage, it seems pretty clear that the ‘vette was trying to spin the Porsche out of the last turn. It also seemed that Joerg forcing the Corvette over to the wall was an attempt to slow Mags down rather than crash him. From the way the Corvette shot across the track, the Porsche probably would have to have hit Mags in the rear corner.

To me, the end result was that both drivers did the same thing to each other, with Magnussen starting the process. I think Magnussen intentionally tried to spin Joerg and that Joerg spinning Mags was a byproduct of the angle towards the island wall. Whether I am right or wrong in those observations doesn’t really matter as both cars were guilty. The corvette guys and fans are mad because the Vette lost; that time.

IMSA seems to agree with me as both drivers have been give two race probation periods for next year. I can’t wait until Sebring! – Darren Pierson – http://www.dperceptions.com

    To be perfectly honest, I had a quick hit all ready to go about the GT2 finish at Laguna. I had to change it all up when news of the probations hit late today.

I think the action by IMSA is appropriate. Honestly though, I chalk the entire incident up to racing. Good ol’, hard fender-to-fender racing. Bergmeister was the victim of the same sort of thing in the finish at Sebring in 2007. I don’t think Joerg intended to put Jan in the wall. It was just tough racing that ended in a fender bang and extracurricular track activity. In this case, I agree with the idea of penalizing both drivers. The penalty sends a strong message that racing so hard is never safe, and will not be tolerated in the future. The entire incident could likely have been avoided if the same punishments were handed down in 2007. – Chris Bailey – host of fastmachines.com radio

    It’s difficult to tell from the camera angle exactly what happened. It appears to me that Magnussen turned to the right as Bergmeister was turning to the left and that is what spun him. It doesn’t look like he bounced off the wall into Bergmeister. Magnussen did hit Bergmeister coming out of the last turn, getting him loose. But you can also look back to the beginning of the last lap when Bergmeister slid into the Corvette as Magnussen was attempting to overtake on the outside. From the information I have and the footage I saw it was too close to blame one driver more than the other. – Michael DeNino – Michael DeNino Racing

IMSA’s penalties can be read here on Racer.com

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If your on twitter and an auto freak, check out the newest trend called carchat! It’s crazy fun and this weeks session includes Bob Lutz. Here is the how-to on connecting to carchat on twitter. Brought to you by vLane and Michael Banovsky.

Big news! Bob Lutz, General Motors Vice Chairman and marketing chief will be our featured guest on #carchat next week, at a special 3 PM EST to 5 PM EST time slot. Our topics will fall under a General Motors theme for obvious reasons…

Upcoming: #carchat 29; September 23 @ 3PM EST with Bob Lutz

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