Video: BMW security vehicle test site and defensive driving skills.

BMW has released a new video onto its YouTube channel outlining some of the processes and drills of the BMW security vehicle driver’s training program. The test site is based on one of the world’s biggest military airports that was around during the Cold War, in East Germany.The video runs through various testing drills, such as the Fake Accident, Road Block, Convoi Attack and the Road Explosion. BMW offers special training for high security vehicle drivers, and suggests different tactics for overcoming some of the common scenarios.
The high-security vehicle market is quite a big one, even our federal government uses five heavily amoured BMW X5s for commuting the Australian Federal Police and VIPs. The market is so big, BMW has a separate security vehicle manufacturing plant that was specifically built in Mexico in 1995 to feed the demands of the security vehicle market.
Take a look at the video below for some of the training procedures, it’s very interesting.
Caution: Some BMWs were harmed during the making of this footage.

Valentino Rossi back on track

73 days after an operation to his right shoulder, Valentino Rossi has returned to the track at Misano Adriatico aboard a Ducati 1198 Superbike.

On November 14 at Cattolica's Cervesi hospital, the Italian had undergone surgery on the supraspinatus tendon and the long head of biceps tendon, as well as cartilage in the Glenoid Labrum.

His first day on track was sunny but chilly, with a maximum air temperature of 10º C and a maximum track temperature of 15º C. At around 2pm, he turned the first laps aboard the 1198 to test the status of his shoulder which, though recovering nicely, is still quite painful, just a few days ahead of the first test in Malaysia with the Desmosedici GP11.

After the session, Rossi said: "The track more or less confirmed what we expected: the shoulder is painful - especially under braking, when the front area hurts, where they stitched the tendon. Movement is stable enough, and we're also doing not so bad with endurance, but apart from that, it hurts a lot and isn't very strong.

"Let's hope it gets a little better in these next few days before the test in Malaysia. Once we're there, we'll work with the riding position in an effort to make the most of the situation and collect important information with the Desmosedici, even though I'm not in top form.

"Today I did a total of 25 laps on the 1198 Superbike, which is sort of a 'historic' motorcycle for Ducati: beautiful and fast. I liked it!"

Toyota recall includes local Avensis

Following yesterday's news that Toyota is recalling a further 1.7-million cars globally over concerns about potential fuel leakages, Toyota has responded to our query about local cars and it's emerged that certain South African Avensis models are involved in the recall.that means since all of the available Avensis sold by Toyota East Africa are assembled in South Africa,there is a high likely hood  they might be affected by the worldwide recall.

Toyota's statement refers to it as a "special service campaign" (amusing the words they'll come up with to avoid that dreaded 'r' word, although other carmakers are guilty of this too).

Anyway, this campaign "will seek to proactively correct possible weakening of the fuel line and of the fuel pump check valve," said the statement.

The recall, um… campaign, involved 3516 previous generation Avensis vehicles fitted with the 2.0 and 2.4-litre petrol engines.

Owners of these vehicles are requested to visit their nearest Toyota dealer for a preventative check, in which the fuel line and check valve will be inspected and replaced at no cost.

The reason behind the recall, says Toyota, is to address the possible appearance of small cracks on the fuel line of affected Avensis models. A separate inspection will be done on the fuel pump check valve to inspect the sealing gasket.

These cracks have appeared on a small number of vehicles internationally although, to anyone's knowledge, no accidents have occurred as a result.i just hope that local Toyota dealer would follow suit and recall the Avensis currently plying our highways.

RWD Toyota FT-86 coupe (partly) revealed

It appears that Toyota is changing its tune slightly on the styling of its eagerly anticipated rear-wheel drive FT-86 sport car.

This teaser shot shows the frontal design of what Toyota calls the FT-86 II concept car, which will make an appearance at the Geneva Motor Show in March. This latest concept builds on the original concept car and gives a clearer idea of how the production sports car will look.

There appears to be much truth in Toyota's statement that this car embodies the company's reborn passion for sports cars. The FT-86 production car is due to be revealed at the end of this year, its aim being to provide the world with a relatively affordable, rear-wheel drive Toyota sports car.

Subaru is also in on this project, its version also being rear-wheel driven, and it is speculated that the pair will offer a choice of engine derivatives ranging from naturally aspirated Subaru boxer engines at the bottom of the range to the WRX's turbocharged unit for performance models.

Don't know about you, but we can't wait for this development to unfold further, but let's just hope they get the pricing right (as in somewhere on the good side of reasonable).

Engineering reshuffle at McLaren

McLaren announced an engineering reshuffle on Thursday with Paddy Lowe promoted to fill the vacant role of technical director at the Formula One team.

Lowe was previously engineering director, a position now handed to chief engineer Tim Goss. Neil Oatley remains as director of design and development programmes. The three men have a combined 62 years of service at McLaren.

The team, who present their new car in Berlin next week with drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, said in a statement that the reshuffle was expected to have numerous long-term benefits.

“Paddy will continue to lead our technical strategy in his own quietly authoritative way, but his new role will afford him even greater levels of focus as he will be spearheading new and innovative technical projects relating to our Formula One future,” McLaren added.

Lowe said he and Goss would alternate their attendances at races, with the season now extending to a record 20 rounds.

“It's very important to have senior technical management at the racetrack, because that's where you score the points, but, equally, if you spend all your time away then you risk overlooking some of the hard work that happens back at the factory,” he said.

Goss had previously shared his workload with Pat Fry, who left last year to join rivals Ferrari as assistant technical director at the Italian team.

“Now I've taken on both roles but there's obviously been some shifting of responsibilities within the team as, clearly, I can't do the work of two people,” he said.

“As director of engineering, my role will be to co-ordinate a small team of project engineers who are responsible for the specification, design and development of our cars.”

2011 Lamborghini Aventador to get pushrod rear suspension

It’s certainly not revolutionary, but Lamborghini’s next flagship model, to be called the Lamborghini Aventador, will use a race car-inspired pushrod rear suspension set-upMany other supercars have had it for years – such as the Enzo Ferrari and Porsche Carrera GT – but it hasn’t been until now that Lamborghini has adopted the performance-oriented set-up. Using just two coilover suspension absorbers, the set-up is praised due to its precise response offering superior handling characteristics. It is also very light compared with other systems like multi-link, double wishbone and even MacPherson strut types.
.Another positive aspect to the new suspension is that it doesn’t take up much room, and, resting at the very top of the engine bay, it’s also easily accessible if adjustments are going to be made regularly.

Lamborghini has also announced the new model will get six-piston brake calipers clamping new 400mm brake discs on the front and four-piston calipers and 380mm discs at the rear.
Since the Lamborghini Aventador will use an all-new 515kW V12 engine along with these revisions, it’s likely the new model will be an absolute cracker of a car. Stay tuned for our coverage of its Geneva Motor Show debut on March 1.

Honda Accord gets midlife 2011 makeover

You may disagree, but somehow the latest generation Honda Accord never seemed as crisp in its overall appearance as its sporty predecessor.

Honda seems to have addressed that to an extent with the Accord sedan and estate's midlife makeover, the new model set to be revealed at the Geneva show in March and in addition to subtle styling enhancements, the Accord benefits from numerous improvements beneath the skin.

On the styling front, the headlights now boast a cleaner appearance with clear indicators and there's a bolder grille in place. What's more, flagship models now have bi-xenon headlights with an active cornering function. These 'Active Cornering Lights' provide enhanced illumination when the vehicle is turning.

Another new lighting technology for Honda is the High Beam Support system (on bi-xenon models). This system is controlled by a CMOS camera fitted to the windscreen in the area of the driver rear view mirror. The camera detects oncoming headlights or the taillights of a vehicle in front and automatically dips the headlights onto their normal setting if they are on high-beam.

At the rear, subtle colour changes to the lights join a light chrome number plate garnish on the sedan (dark chrome on the Type S).

Inside, most models get new seat materials and door linings, while the Type S version gets additional sporty touches.Beneath the bonnet, the 110kW 2.2-litre i-DTEC diesel engine has had internal frictional losses reduced to improve efficiency and emissions, the result being a 9 g/km drop in CO2 emissions for the manual sedan and an 11 g/km reduction for the automatic.

These internal changes have been combined with a host of underbody aerodynamic aids, including a larger front air dam and covers for the underfloor and rear subframe. Honda's engineers have also put effort into reducing the frictional losses in the wheels and tyres with low friction wheel bearings and reduced rolling resistance tyres.

Accords equipped with automatic transmission have also benefitted from minimised frictional losses in the gearbox and optimised ratios to improve economy and emissions.

As a result of all these changes all engines in the range now boast better efficiency and lower emissions but, of course, it's the diesel model that rules the roost in this respect with its 138 g/km CO2 emissions rating.

Noise, harshness and vibration levels have been further reduced with the adoption of higher density foam in the under bonnet and dashboard areas and improved underfloor insulation.

Engineers have also fine-tuned the dampers to better suit vast range of road conditions found in Europe. Says Honda, detailed refinement of the dual mode dampers has given improvement in both high speed stability for highway driving and a significant improvement in ride quality, even over poor road surfaces.

Looking ahead: The F1 car of 2020

Formula 1 car design will undergo more radical change in the next 10 years than in the last decade, according to F1 Racing magazine, of the UK.

The magazine recently teamed up with Renault F1 chief designer Pat Symonds to give motorsport fans a glimpse of what the F1 car of 2020 will look like and how it will perform.

Low-profile tyres on bigger wheels, the return of ground effects aerodynamics, kinetic energy recovery systems (KERS) that produce 186kW and a standard, non-downforce rear wing will all be components, according to Symonds.

The article theorises on how future regulation changes could lead to radically-different F1 designs. The results take into account the likelihood of future rules on fuel consumption and CO2 emissions but assume that F1 will remain an open-wheel, open-cockpit formula.

F1 teams have already been instructed to reduce their fuel consumption by 35% in future generations of racing cars, while a more environmentally-friendly 1.6-litre turbo engine will be introduced for the 2013 season.

Symonds said: "Taking into consideration all the variant motivators that drive regulations, I expect that the F1 car of 2020 will demonstrate much more change than has been seen over the past 10 years."A few simple assumptions can determine the basic architecture of the car," he explains. "By the time we add a few changes, such as larger wheels and low-profile tyres, we start to get a fairly clear picture of what the car might look like.

"The illustrations we've produced are certainly an artistic impression, but they capture the essential characteristics of a car that will be contesting the Formula 1 World Championship in 2020."

Official: 702 BHP, 1350kg Pagani Huayra

Wave goodbye to the insane Pagani Zonda and say hello to its replacement, the even more superlative Huayra. On Monday we brought you two leaked images revealing it in the flesh for the first time, but now Pagani has made it official by releasing information and a gallery on its all-new supercar.

The new gullwing monster looks every bit as outrageous as the Zonda and is thus just as likely to split opinion. It's not pretty by any means, but its designers surely never intended it to be.

The body is made from carbonfibre and fits around a new carbon-titanium frame which, together with a glut of light materials, results in a kerb weight of just 1350kg, about the same as a Ford Focus.

Emulating the wings of an aircraft, each corner of the supercar has a moveable flap to maximise aerodynamics at every possible speed.

As was speculated, the rear-mounted engine is an AMG-sourced twin-turbo V12, basically an updated version of the engine that powers the Mercedes-Benz SL 65 AMG.

The Pagani version displaces 5980cc and shoves out more than 515kW and 1000Nm. This urge is sent to the back wheels via a seven-speed robotic sequential transmission with paddle shift functionality.Although Pagani has not released performance figures yet, its 0-100km/h sprint time can only be around the three-second range, while the top speed is surely well into the 300s. The company will inevitably release more information closer to the car's Geneva Motor Show debut in early March.

With 56 percent of the weight sitting on the rear axle, and the remaining 44 percent over the front, the Huayra has an ideal weight distribution. The suspension system is based on the double wishbone design that was found on the Zonda R.

The interior also marks a step forward, with more space, extra gadgets (including touch-screen navigation) and improved comfort.

The price is expected to hover around the 1-million-Euro mark, so that's around KSH100-million in your and my money.

Yet another Toyota recall

Toyota has announced that it will recall 1.7-million vehicles worldwide over concerns about possible fuel leakages, the latest setback for Japan's troubled car giant.

The move will see the world's largest automaker pull 1.28-million vehicles in Japan and 421 000 overseas, Toyota and the Japanese Transport Ministry said.

The news sent shares in Toyota tumbling and they ended 1.87 percent down in Tokyo.

The ministry said: “Slight cracks may appear on the engine fuel pipes. If it continues to be used, the crack may be widened and there may be risks of fuel leakage.”

The recalls include around 245 000 of Toyota's luxury Lexus vehicles in the United States over faulty fuel pressure sensors connected to engine fuel delivery pipes, it said.

Toyota will also pull 74 590 Lexus, Crown and other cars in Japan over similar leakage fears. Domestically, 19 models such as Noah, Voxy, Caldina and Isis produced between 2000 and 2009 will be affected. No accidents have been reported out of more than 140 cases, it said.

In 2008 Toyota ended General Motors' 77-year reign as the world's largest automaker but the road has been a bumpy one for the Japanese giant, facing the impact of the economic crisis, recalls and recently a strong yen.

Previously lauded for its vehicles' safety and reliability, a US recall of around four million vehicles in late 2009 swelled to nearly nine million units by February 2010 for brake and accelerator defects blamed for dozens of accidents.

As criticism mounted of its slow response and bureaucratic inflexibility, Toyota tightened its recall policy and by November last year had pulled nearly 13-million vehicles over a range of issues.

This latest recall adds to the tally and may also increase pressure on the carmaker as it battles to retain market share in the United States where it is losing ground to re-energised rivals such as General Motors, say analysts.

“The recall is sizeable and it may further damage Toyota's brand image and put trust in its technology in doubt,” said industry analyst Tatsuya Mizuno.

“The timing is bad as Toyota is barely recovering from the previous massive recall.”

Mizuno also noted that with car parts increasingly globally standardised, worldwide recalls were more likely once defects come to light.

On Monday Toyota said its global group sales rose eight percent in 2010, enabling the firm to narrowly retain the title of world's biggest automaker despite its recall crisis, although a revitalised GM has narrowed its lead.

2011 Ferrari F1 car honours Italy

Ferrari's new Formula One car that will be unveiled this coming Friday (28 January) will be called the F150 in honor of the 150th anniversary of Italy's unification. Luckily there will be no confusing it with Ford’s full-sized American pick up truck.

The Italian flag will also feature prominently on the cars driven by Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa.

Ferrari president Luca Cordero di Montezemolo told the ANSA news agency that all Ferrari workers “share the honor and responsibility of representing our country in the world and it's with this spirit that we wanted to dedicate this car to such an important event for all of Italy.”

Italy President Giorgio Napolitano was informed of the decision on Tuesday and wished the team good luck for this season, which opens with the Bahrain Grand Prix on March 13.

Watch this space for pictures and details when the car gets unveiled on Friday.

GM kills Daewoo name, replaced by GM Korea, Chevrolet

The Daewoo name will cease to exist in the automotive world by the end of March, with General Motors announcing its Korean arm will come into line with the rest of its global operations.GM Daewoo Auto & Technology Co. (GM DAT) will be known as GM Korea Co. as of April 1, and all new product introductions and refreshes in the local market will be launched with the Chevrolet bowtie badge.
President and CEO of GM Daewoo, Mike Arcamone, said the restructuring decision was designed to strengthen the GM brand in the Korean market.Chevrolet’s launch in Korea will be spearheaded by eight new models, beginning this year. Among those will be the Camaro and Aveo (new Barina), as well as a new SUV and a new premium midsize sedan.
More than 4.25 million Chevrolet vehicles were sold around the world in 2010 – which GM says equates to about one every 7.4 seconds. One in every four Chevys currently produced is made in Korea.
GM Daewoo played a significant role in the design, engineering and manufacturing of the Cruze, Spark and Aveo.
The Daewoo name (Korean for ‘Great Universe’) was first used by Daewoo Group in 1967. Before the Asian Financial Crisis of 1998, Daewoo was the second-largest business in Korea (behind Hyundai, ahead of LG and Samsung) with around 20 different divisions.The roots of the automotive business can be traced back even further to 1937, with the launch of Shinjin Motor, which made a name for itself by rebuilding scraped US military vehicles. After a brief collaboration with Toyota in 1965, it was purchased by General Motors and, interestingly enough, renamed GM-Korea for four years.
The Daewoo Group took control of the automotive business in 1982 and expanded throughout the world in the early 1990s.
GM again took a majority stake in 2001, forming GM Daewoo, which has lasted for the past 10 years.

Lexus LFA rolls off production line for first time

The mighty Lexus LFA has been tested and tortured by many driving experts and journalists around the world since its debut in 2009, but it hasn’t actually gone into production until now. Lexus has announced the first production model has just rolled off the line.Production was initiated in Toyota City, in Japan on January 15 and it has taken two days for the first example to be built. Lexus says up to 15,000 different aspects of the car have to be assembled to complete the building process, and the majority of those aspects are put together by hand.

We must remember many elements of the Lexus LFA supercar are made of lightweight composite materials and loads of carbon fibre. These materials need to go through a special bonding process to ensure a thorough finish. All in all, it means up to 170 workers need to be employed to make the production process efficient.

The same goes for the engine. It’s a hand-built 4.8-litre V10 that has many intricate details. The engine is also very light and small, taking up about as much room as a conventional V8 and weighing around the same as a conventional V6.

On top of this, each car is built using a 3500-page journal that records each account of the building process, and then another 300-page journal that keeps records of the assembly process. These journals are assigned to each car and can be used as a reference if any customers place an inquiry.

AUDI MOCKS

Audi A8 mocks the Mercedes S class

2014 Bugatti Veyron successor on the way

Rumour has it Bugatti is thinking of making a Bugatti Veyron successor with even more power and more speed. The new model will also feature an all-new body said to be inspired by the original Bugatti Veyron concept of 1999. This concept was designed by the current head of Bugatti design, Walter de Silva – former SEAT head of design.The new car will have a top speed of 434km/h… in case the first edition wasn’t fast enough with its 408km/h top speed. The engine will be based on the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport’s 8.0-litre quad-turbo W16 motor, showcasing around 895kW of power and 1500Nm of torque.
Reports also say the next-generation Bugatti Veyron will be lighter than the current model, featuring more carbon fibre composite structures, thinner glass and lighter wheels which will help bring down the car’s overall weight by around 100kg; all helping the car achieve 0-100km/h in under 2.5 seconds.
Since its launch in 2005, around 304 Bugatti Veyrons have been sold. The sales figure is deemed high enough to prompt a second generation by the sounds of it.
The new Bugatti Veyron will supposedly debut in 2013 and then go on sale some time in 2014.

2012 BMW 3 Series rendered

set to make its world premiere at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show in September, the new 2012 BMW 3 Series has been rendered in an image by Schulte Design.The sixth-generation 3 Series (codenamed the F30) will be influenced by the current 5 Series and 7 Series.
The rendering above reveals a clean design with wider kidney grilles and a pushed out snout.
The bonnet draws inspiration from the 5 Series and the Z4, and overall the vehicle has a slimmer more athletic appearance.
The sedan, wagon, coupe and convertible body styles will carry over, while a five-door hatch similar to the 5 Series Gran Turismo is also expected to join the line-up.
A new family of aluminium four-cylinder direct-injection turbocharged petrol engines will make its debut in the range joining the traditional six-cylinder units, while a hybrid model is also expected to join the 3 Series range for the first time

F1 in High Definition this year

SuperSport has announced that it will be broadcasting the entire Formula One series in High Definition from this season.

This follows Bernie Ecclestone's confirmation that an HD feed will be available to all of the sport's host television broadcasters.

F1 attracts more than 500 million television viewers globally and Bernie's company, FOM, made the decision after extensive research and investment.

SuperSport will now follow suit, adding to its already-extensive HD sports coverage.

Unfortunately, F1 qualifying and practice sessions will continue to be broadcast in normal definition (SD) due to capacity constraints.

SuperSport's head of channels, Tex Teixeira exclaimed: "We're thrilled to be broadcasting F1 in HD. It's what viewers have been waiting for and will reaffirm SuperSport as the continent's leading sports broadcaster."

2011 F1 CALENDAR:

March 13 - Bahrain Grand Prix, Sakhir

March 27 - Australian Grand Prix, Melbourne

April 10 - Malaysian Grand Prix, Sepang

April 17 - Chinese Grand Prix, Shanghai

May 8 - Turkish Grand Prix, Istanbul

May 22 - Spanish Grand Prix, Barcelona

May 29 - Monaco Grand Prix, Monte Carlo

June 12 - Canadian Grand Prix, Montreal

June 26 - European Grand Prix, Valencia

July 10 - British Grand Prix, Silverstone

July 24 - German Grand Prix, Nürburgring

July 31 - Hungarian Grand Prix, Hungaroring

August 28 - Belgian Grand Prix, Spa-Francorchamps

September 11 - Italian Grand Prix, Monza

September 25 - Singapore Grand Prix, Marina Bay

October 9 - Japanese Grand Prix, Suzuka

October 16 - Korean Grand Prix, Yeongam

October 30 - Indian Grand Prix, New Delhi

November 13 - Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Yas Marina

November 27 - Brazilian Grand Prix, Interlagos

Rumours rife as McLaren pushes foward launch date

McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh is hoping to avoid any embarrassment when his team's new car makes its debut in February. Unusually, McLaren will be one of the last teams to launch ahead of the new season, with its planned reveal scheduled for February 4 in Berlin - after the first test in Valencia that same week.

That has prompted speculation from a number of its rivals that the team might have a trick up its sleeve they want none of the others to see at the Ricardo Tormo circuit over February 1-3.

Whitmarsh, however, maintains it’s nothing as sinister as that. He said: “The car is on schedule, and that is to launch on February 4, ahead of the second test at Jerez, from February 10-13.McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh is hoping to avoid any embarrassment when his team's new car makes its debut in February. Unusually, McLaren will be one of the last teams to launch ahead of the new season, with its planned reveal scheduled for February 4 in Berlin - after the first test in Valencia that same week.

That has prompted speculation from a number of its rivals that the team might have a trick up its sleeve they want none of the others to see at the Ricardo Tormo circuit over February 1-3.

Whitmarsh, however, maintains it’s nothing as sinister as that. He said: “The car is on schedule, and that is to launch on February 4, ahead of the second test at Jerez, from February 10-13.

2011 Prius gets bigger and smaller

The Toyota Prius hybrid, currently a single model, is turning into a family of derivatives and Toyota's Detroit Motor Show effort saw the company release bigger and smaller versions of the Prius.

While the smaller version, dubbed Prius C, is strictly a concept car at this stage, the Prius V is a full production model and it's bigger and more practical than the conventional Prius.

Prius V uses the exact same platform and Hybrid Synergy Drive system as the Prius, with an electric motor mated to a 1.8-litre Atkinson Cycle petrol engine to procure a total system output of 100kW.

The difference is in the packaging, where the V's more practical, MPV-like design results in over 50 percent more boot space than in the Prius, according to Toyota. Unfortunately, it remains a five-seater although Toyota does claim very generous rear legroom.

Sliding second row seats allow for easier ingress and egress and rear-storage flexibility, with a 45-degree recline for greater comfort. The 60/40 split, folding rear seats present four different seat arrangements and a fold-flat front-passenger seat accomodates extremely long cargo.

Also available, and a Toyota-first, is a resin Panoramic View moonroof (with power retractable sun shades) that’s 40 percent lighter than normal glass roofs and it also claims to provide excellent heat insulation.

Ford Vertrek hints at future SUV

The European Ford Kuga and American Ford Escape are two completely different vehicles that present Ford's answer to the Toyota RAV-4 and friends in those respective markets, although for some very strange reason Ford has never seen fit to bring either one of them to kenya.

Soon both of the aforementioned will be replaced by a single vehicle as part of Ford's one-world-one-Ford global strategy and the concept car you see here is said to strongly hint at that replacement, which will be built on the Focus platform.

Don't hold you breath about it coming to Kenya, but it would be a great move.

In Ford's own words, "the Vertrek concept previews the company's ambition for a next-generation, global compact SUV that could lead the industry in both design and fuel efficiency." The latter aspect is sorted by a 1.6-litre EcoBoost turbo petrol engine and stop-start technology.

The Vertrek is also fitted with a regenerative charging system and in addition to the aforementioned turbo petrol engine, Ford says that the production version will also offer the expected diesel derivatives for the European market.