The Future Of Motoring

With the spiralling costs associated with motoring, many people are starting to consider what the future of the industry will be. The first public refuelling station was opened in Swindon this year for those who get around in hydrogen vehicles while Nissan have just unveiled new technology which the manufacturer hopes will be able to power homes.

There is so much talk about how motoring will look in the future, and how we will be able to fit renewable energy into this. Currently, energy that is renewable by definition is unreliable in terms of using it for our constant power source but there’s no doubt that the drive for a greener planet will see an increase in different technology.

That said, it’s not time to be writing off your current cars or stop searching the market for the best used cars. In fact, it may even be more of a reason to, because a shift in preference lends itself to a whole world of opportunity for the collector. Enough small talk, let’s have a look at the future motoring possibilities.

Nissan Leaf technology
We’ll start topically, with the latest far-fetched sounding idea. Electric cars have been produced by nearly every manufacturer in the last decade but it’s still unknown how it will work in the future. This technology is more inventive than you could ever imagine, with the Japanese company hoping that this car could do our washing or boil our kettles.

With many companies hoping for consumers to step away from using the main grid system and look for smarter ways to provide their homes with energy, this can be plugged into the house for that very reason.

It is believed that the 24kW per hour battery that the Nissan Leaf would have, can power the home for two days – that’s all the appliances like the fridge, television, fan and lights covered. Thousands of these cars have already been sold, and the box that will allow this energy usage goes on sale in March – although it is priced at more than £4,000.

Is this the end for electric and hydrogen concepts?
Of course not. The futuristic concepts of the motor industry have been around for many years, and all of these styles will be able to work alongside each other on the market. They all have their uses, and will make for a cleaner world in the long term.

One thing to consider is that electric cars still have a long way to go – they currently struggle to do more than 60 miles at a time, and while hydrogen cars are as easy to run as petrol or diesel they still struggle to build up a market share.

This article has been written by Mark Martin; a keen Motorsport and automotive industry enthusiast who currently works in the marketing department for MoneySupermarket

In terms of the fight for the championship, 2011 was not a classic year for Formula One. However the on-track action was probably the best that it has been for many years thanks to the introduction of the DRS overtaking aid and the new Pirelli tyres which have added another strategic element to the sport.

Vettel’s domination also doesn’t accurately reflect the strength in depth of the driving talent this season; with five World Champions and eleven race winning drivers all competing to be classed as the best of the best. But taking into account the performance differential between the cars, who is really deserving of this title?

10.Adrian Sutil

Season highlight: Stunning charge to 6^th in season ending Brazilian Grand Prix with knowledge that his career was on the line.

Season lowlight: Being generally outpaced by rookie team-mate Di Resta in first half of season

The fact that Sutil looks likely to lose his seat at Force India for 2012 is more a reflection of the wealth of driving talent Force India has on its books than indicating any below par performances on Sutil’s behalf.

Admittedly the first half of the season was somewhat patchy, but Sutil’s form in the 2^nd half was almost impeccable as he became the teams’ top points’ scorer. Indeed, the German seems to have thrived under the pressure of potentially losing his seat to produce some of the best performances of his career and seems to have tamed his once wild side. His drives in Germany and Brazil were particularly impressive, but he doesn’t seem to have out-performed rookie team-mate Di Resta by enough to warrant a contract extension with Force India next year.

9. Sergio Perez

Season highlight: Brilliant drive to 7^th in debut race in Australia prior to Sauber exclusion

Season lowlight: Embarrassing rookie error to collide with Sutil in China.

Perez wasn’t a stand-out performer in the junior categories like Hamilton. This combined with his limited pre-season testing programme meant that expectations were low for the Mexican rookie, which perhaps made it easier for him to impress.

However, this shouldn’t take away from the fact that Perez seemed to master the Pirelli tyres earlier than any of his rivals; producing a stunning drive to 7^th at his debut race in Australia prior to Sauber’s disqualification for an insignificant technical infringement. The Mexican also stood out on circuits or in conditions where driver skills are most tested. In particular, his performance over the Monaco weekend was superb prior to a heavy accident which took him up to nine weeks to recover from fully.

Ferrari has enough faith in his developing abilities to have signed him up to their young driver academy and offered him a test on their private facilities in the summer. Many insiders are tipping Perez as Massa’s replacement at the team for 2013.

8. Michael Schumacher

Season highlight: Fastest man during the most challenge period of the wet Canadian Grand Prix.

Season lowlight: Normally between 0.5-1 second behind team-mate Rosberg in qualifying

While Perez benefitted from low expectations, Michael Schumacher has suffered from the opposite problem since his return to the sport last season. Three years away from competition and the ban on in-season testing has left the German legend a shadow of his former self.

Nevertheless, there were clear signs of progress in 2011 with Schumacher often outpacing his highly rated young team-mate Rosberg in the races; particularly in the second half of the year. This bodes well for 2012, but Schumacher must first overcome his inability to extract the maximum from his tyres in qualifying trim; an affliction that has often left him close to a second adrift of Rosberg over one-lap. Is this due to a reduced lack of feel for the car resulting from Schumacher’s age or do the tyres simply not suit his driving style? This is a question which should be answered in 2012 once Schumacher has had the winter to analyse his technique and work on improvements.

7. Mark Webber

Season highlight: Brilliant move to pass Alonso through notorious Eau Rouge corner in Belgium

Season lowlight: Failing to match Vettel for pace 17 out of 19 times

Qualifying was also the bane of Webber’s 2011 season; with the Australian being out-qualified by team-mate Vettel on 16 occasions over the course of the year. This left the Australian losing time by battling it out with the Ferrari’s and McLaren’s rather than pulling away from the chasing pack like the German.

This has resulted in critics claiming that Webber has lost his form. However, this ignores the fact that Webber set more fastest race laps than any other driver in 2011. Like with Schumacher, if Webber can manage to overcome his inability to extract pace from the Pirelli tyres in qualifying then he will be far more competitive in 2012.

6. Heikki Kovalainen

Season highlight: Punching above his weight to finish above midfield runners in China, Singapore, Korea, India and Brazil

Season lowlight: Meaningless crash in Spain

It might seem to be a confusing move to place a man who hasn’t finished higher than 13^th in a race for the past two years to be classed as being the 6^th best driver of the season. However, this can be justified by comparing him to his race winning team-mate Jarno Trulli who is a renowned qualifying master. Kovalainen managed to out-qualify him 16-2 and was the only one of the two who proved to be a consistent headache for the midfield teams; putting his Team Lotus car into positions that it had absolutely no right to be in.

Beating both Sauber’s in a straight fight in Korea and Renault’s Vitaly Petrov in Singapore were particularly highlights, and makes one question why Kovalainen failed to shine alongside Hamilton at McLaren. The Finnish racer is putting this down to confidence; claiming that the atmosphere within his new team is allowing him to extract the best from himself as he now has more faith in his own abilities.

Despite offers from bigger teams, Kovalainen looks set to stay with Team Lotus (soon to renamed Team Caterham) for 2012; positioning himself as the man who this very promising team is developing themselves around. Expect them to make huge strides and take their first points with Kovalainen next season. Let’s just hope Kovalainen doesn’t turn out to be another Giancarlo Fisichella; a man who shone in uncompetitive machinery only to lose his head when in a front running team.

5. Nico Rosberg

Season highlight: Best of the rest behind the Red Bull’s in Turkish qualifying session

Season lowlight: Being inexplicably off the pace of Schumacher all weekend in Malaysia.

Rosberg became the first man ever to beat Schumacher over the course of a season in the same machinery in 2010; revitalising his reputation and establishing himself as Mercedes team leader.

Much was expected of him in 2011, particularly after the promising final pre-season test. However, Rosberg himself admits being disappointed with the pace of his machinery upon arriving for the first race and he completed the season 50 points down on his 2010 points total without even a single podium to his name. He still outperformed Schumacher, but not quite as convincingly as the year before.

This has raised many question marks about Rosberg’s ultimately potential; but Mercedes has shown sufficient trust in his abilities to sign him up until the end of 2014 in a big money deal. Let’s hope that he can finally get himself onto the winners step in 2012.

4. Lewis Hamilton

Season highlight: Scintillating victory in Germany; battling wheel to wheel with Webber and passing Alonso around the outside.

Season lowlight: The disaster that was Monaco

Say what you like about Lewis Hamilton, but no one can dispute the fact that he does bring a lot of drama to the sport; both off the track and on it. Just like Nigel Mansell or Ayrton Senna in days gone by, Hamilton is a constant draw of the television cameras attention regardless of whether he is battling for the lead or for 10^th place.

However, this year it was largely for all the wrong reasons, with the British driver becoming involved in numerous clumsy accidents with other drivers; colliding with Massa five times alone. Nevertheless, these incidents were as ever interspersed with some remarkable performances. His victories in China and Germany were particularly impressive with overtaking moves on Webber, Alonso and Vettel while fighting for the lead showing that Hamilton had lost none of his ability.

He ultimately finished the season lower down the points table than his team-mate for the first time in his career. Hamilton laid blame for this on being in a “bad place” mentally, with personal problems affecting his on-track form. He claims that his victory in the penultimate race in Abu Dhabi is proof that he is back on the right track. Let’s hope he is right, because if a man of Hamilton’s talent were to leave the sport with only one title to his name it would be a tragedy.

3. Fernando Alonso

Season highlight: Brilliantly in control victory at wet Silverstone

Season lowlight: Poor showing all weekend in China

Fernando Alonso has every right to feel upset about his career being at an apparent standstill. At the end of 2006, he headed to McLaren as the sports youngest ever double world champion; and with the retirement of Michael Schumacher he became recognised as the sports top performer. However, the subsequent emergence of Hamilton and Vettel, the fall-out at McLaren, some below par Renault’s and a poor strategy call in the final race of 2010 have resulted in Alonso failing to add to his championship tally.

This is no reflection on the Spaniard’s abilities, and in many ways he performed better than ever before in 2011. Managing to win a race in the F60 Italia and finishing 4^th in the championship race overall was no mean achievement. With a more ‘adventurous’ attitude being employed in the Ferrari design department and with the wind tunnel correlation issues which afflicted their 2011 car having been amended, expect to see Alonso back where he belongs challenging for the title once more in 2012.

2. Jenson Button

Season highlight: Stunning drive from last to 1^st in just 17 laps in Canada

Season lowlight: Colliding with Hamilton on the way to that victory

Button might not have won the title in 2011, but it was without doubt his best overall season in the sport; better even than his title winning year in 2009. He seems to have accepted that he doesn’t have the raw pace of team-mate Hamilton and has therefore been exploiting his tactical nous and unmatchable tyre management techniques to get the best result possible from each weekend. This is the kind of mature attitude which can only come with age and experience.

The British driver is also establishing himself as the new rain-master of F1; taking stunning victories in the wet Canadian and Hungarian grand prix’s; with the Montreal race being perhaps one of the greatest victories of all time as Button tore through the field from last to 1^st in the final 17 laps following collisions with both Alonso and Hamilton to take a famous victory.

Button has already done the unthinkable by displacing Hamilton as McLaren team leader. With this new mature attitude and the promise of a more competitive 2012 McLaren, it would be no longer be a surprise to see him claim a second title.

1. Sebastian Vettel

Season highlight: Any one of those 11 victories and 15 pole positions

Season lowlight: under par performance on home soil in Germany

There simply could be no other victor. 15 pole positions and 11 race wins from 19 starts marked one of the most successful campaigns of all time and established Vettel as the youngest ever double world champion. At the age of just 24, Vettel seems to have inexplicably managed to combine Ayrton Senna’s qualifying abilities with Michael Schumacher’s race management techniques to become a devastatingly dominant force. Baring a catastrophe in the Red Bull design department, there is absolutely no reason why Vettel won’t become the youngest ever triple champion in 2012.

The only aspect of Vettel’s abilities which have been in question in the past has been his overtaking skills and ability to fight his way up the field from the back like Button, Hamilton or Alonso. Despite spending the majority of the season up front, the German also seems to have addressed these criticisms in 2011; employing some remarkable overtaking manoeuvres over the course of the season when it has been required. His move on Alonso for the lead in Monza for instance was incredibly brave; as he kept his foot planted to the floor despite the Spaniard forcing hom to put one wheel on the grass at over 200 mph.

Sebastian Vettel’s remarkably dominant form in what is one of the sports most competitive eras surely marks him out as one of the greatest racing drivers of all time.

2011 saw the release of the Audi RS5 which boasts a 4.5 litre V8, 0 – 62mph in 4.6 seconds and a sleek, sporty design. Audi is all too aware that these cars are popular, and in the past they said they would never have more than one RS on sale at any one time, well luckily that is something that never came to frution as there are many new and used Audi RS models just waiting to be driven.

Perhaps it is the speed and maybe it is the sheer power of this beast; with it’s 450bhp and 317 lb-ft of torque. After all, the car has been slightly redesigned in the past 6 months since it’s release so if you don’t like the tweaked design of the headlights then you surely will still enjoy the overall driving experience. The moment you open the car door you will be greeted by perfectly sculptured racing-style seats which are crying out to cradle you as you start the engine. Prices for the new Audi RS5 may well be too much of a pinch, but browsing online for used Audis you will be sure to find your very own RS5 and enjoy many happy driving years together.

Get control of your running costs

Insurance premiums rose by an average of 10% as UK insurers suffered huge losses in 2010. Most firms have chosen to claw back costs from new policies and renewals, hitting motorists hard as they already suffer the reality of spiralling fuel prices.

Younger drivers are by far the worst hit. Reports have shown that insurance premiums for young “high risk” drivers have risen by more than 58% for fully comprehensive policies and over 70% for third party fire and theft cover. These prices have proved to be unaffordable for many young motorists who are choosing to either give up their cars or drive illegally without any insurance.

Drivers experiencing difficulty are advised to follow a few simple steps in order to ensure they are getting the best deals.

Reduce annual millage allowance

The less miles you travel in a year, the less likely you are to have an accident. Just remember to ensure you notify your insurer if you are likely to exceed your allowance as this may hinder your insurance void.

Compare car insurance

Motorists who compare car insurance premiums can often make savings over those who simply stay with one insurance provider. A huge range of comparison websites allow you to get the best deal from hundreds of difference companies.

Choose a car with a lower insurance group

Sport and luxury model car are seen as more of a risk by insurers. They often consume much more fuel and are statistically more prone to vandalism and theft.

Prices are not predicted to drop anytime soon, many insurance providers do not expect to “break even” until 2012 at the earliest.

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Ariel Atom build in 2 minutes

Well not actually in two minutes but with the marvels of modern technology, the time lapse video certainly makes it feel that way.

For those that havent seen the Atom before, they didn’t forget to put the body panels on, there arn’t any!

Enjoy the Video after the click through

I hope you all enjoy!

THE WORLD'S MOST POWERFUL NATURALLY ASPIRATED ROAD CAR ENGINE!

Aston Martin continues to march forward with its One-77. The soon-to-be-ultra-rare hypercar is closer than ever to production, and according to the minds behind its creation, when it hits the street, it will boast the world’s most powerful naturally-aspirated production car engine. With 750 horsepower and 750 lb-ft of torque, the 7.3-liter V12 is a marvel of automotive and acoustic engineering.

Despite the company’s plans to produce just 77 examples of its halo model, Aston Martin says that it’s bent on making sure that each and every one of the vehicles can stand up to the same level of abuse as the rest of its production fleet. That means that somewhere out there, a One-77 prototype is being flogged in the world’s most brutal climates.

Aston Martin has released the fourth installment of its video series on the One-77, complete with all of the long, slow-motion shots your little heart could possibly desire and a glorious soundtrack. If you’re lucky enough to have secured a One-77 for yourself, the company says that deliveries should begin during the first half of 2011

Read more the video of it in action and some burb from Aston

Source Autoblog

Press Release.

ASTON MARTIN ONE-77: FEATURING THE WORLD’S MOST POWERFUL NATURALLY ASPIRATED ROAD CAR ENGINE
21/09/10

Gaydon, 21 September 2010. Aston Martin’s ultimate expression of design, engineering and craftsmanship; the One-77 is being readied for production. The 7.3 litre V12 engine, as part of the development process, has been certified at 750bhp and 750Nm of torque, positioning it as the most powerful naturally aspirated road car engine in the world today.

In the fourth part of the One-77 film series which is released today, Dr. Ulrich Bez, CEO of Aston Martin and Marek Reichman, Director of Design discuss the fundamental elements of what makes the One-77 so unique. The film shows the first complete engineering car in motion on the test track.

The One-77, a sports car of unparalleled beauty with subtle aggression and performance to eclipse any previous Aston Martin road car will be built at the marque’s global headquarters in Gaydon, Warwickshire. Over the past nine months, the One-77 has been undergoing Aston Martin’s rigorous engineering test programme. The car, despite its exclusive volume of only 77 is being subjected to the same engineering development process as the current range of acclaimed sports cars. This includes extreme hot and cold testing plus sign-off at the Nürburgring Nordschleife; the world’s toughest and most unforgiving test track.

In April of this year the One-77 made its on-road debut as part of the Tourist Trophy where it led a parade of supercars taking the Trophy from London’s Pall Mall to the Silverstone circuit where it performed some hot laps.

Dr. Ulrich Bez, Chief Executive of Aston Martin said: “The One-77 is approaching a production reality and of course, there is considerable excitement in the project. Now the next steps are all about details and refinement to complete the composition. I know the final car will demonstrate what the Aston Martin team is capable of.”

Deliveries of the One-77 are expected to commence in early 2011. For access to the fourth part of the One-77 film series please visit the Aston Martin YouTube channel at: www.youtube.com/astonmartin.

WTF...6.95 ET @ 209 mph in a Nova?!? Not that kind of Nova!!

A quarter mile in less than 7 seconds is a mean feat for any car let alone a 3,500 pound street legal 1966 Vauxhall Chevrolet Nova.  Larry Larson’s  Nova is propelled by a   twin-turbocharged 565 cubic-inch big-block Bowtie V8 with  estimates putting it at more than 2,300 horsepower. With figures like that we are less than surprised that this automotive power house has been credited with the title of “The world’s fastest street car”. The only thing more impressive than reading this at the all new Turbo-Nutters site is seeing the amazing videos.

Read more to see Larry’s Nova in action. Again… speakers up!