Daily Archives: June 19, 2012

Council rediscovers 298 Toyota Prius models lost for six years

June 19, 2012   simon   No comments

You know when you buy something at the shops, bring it home and then can’t remember where you put it? How about doing that with 298 brand new cars – for six years? In the USA, the county of Miami-Dade bought all those Toyota Prius models in 2006 and 2007, parked them neatly together – and then forgot about them. The story was broken by a local TV channel, and then picked up by local paper El Nuevo Herald (itself a marvellous example of Spanglish – The New Herald). It appears that the cars were parked in a municipal facility upon delivery, and they never moved until the media got interested.

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Audi announces SQ5

June 19, 2012   simon   No comments

Audi used the Le Mans weekend to announce it hot diesel SUV – the 309 bhp SQ5. It has exactly the same power as the Range Rover TDV8, but of course in a much smaller package, being an astonishing 900 kg lighter.

As well as 309 bhp, the 3.0 twin turbo engine produces 650NM of torque (pulling power) between 1450 rpm and 2800 rpm. Channelled through an eight-speed tiptronic automatic transmission it is good for a 0-62mph time of 5.1 seconds and a governed 155mph top speed. Official fuel consumption is a surprisingly benign 39.2 mpg, although Audi says, “up to 39.2mpg is possible according to the combined cycle test”, which does not sound like the company expects that to be a common experience.

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Sebastian Loeb heads for X-Games

June 19, 2012   simon   No comments

Sebastian Loeb, the 300-time* World Rally Champion, is to enter the X-Games Rallycross event in Los Angeles from 28 June. The idea is for Loeb to race against American Travis Pastrana, a hero of the US Rallycross scene. Loeb said of the new challenge: “I love racing and I’m always interested in trying out new categories. A week after the New Zealand Rally has finished, I’ll be in Los Angeles to take up the challenge set for me by Travis! Rallycross here in Europe provides some very spectacular racing, but the American version seems to be even more extreme. So, I didn’t need to be asked twice when the opportunity arose to race against drivers like Marcus Grönholm in a 545bhp Citroën DS3!”Citroën
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Goodwood Festival of Speed’s stellar line-up

June 19, 2012   simon   No comments

Goodwood has announced the list of drivers appearing at this year’s Festival, and it might be easier to say which top drivers are not there.The line-up includes Sebastian Vettel, Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton, Alain Prost, Nico Rosberg, Mark Webber, Kenny Roberts and James Toseland, while Grand Prix teams present will include Red Bull Racing, Ferrari, McLaren, Lotus, Mercedes and Caterham. In addition, the leaders of Red Bull Racing, Christian Horner and Adrian Newey, will drive up the 1.16-mile Goodwood hillclimb.

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