In one of the cooler promo clips we’ve seen in a while, BMW has organised a ‘Drift Mob’ to lay rubber all over downtown Cape Town. The video launches the brand’s new ‘BMW Stories’ online communication platform.
There’s no real plot to speak of, but there is some very impressive driving, with a quintet of M235is engaging in carefully choreographed manoeuvres. Such high-risk sideways action required some serious driving talent, with professional stunt driver Rhys Millen joined by drift champions Samuel Hubinette, Conrad Grunewald and Daijiro Yoshihara and stunt driver Rich Rutherford.
BMW quote Millen as saying “It’s amazingly simple to do a clean drift in this car”, but UK automotive website Pistonheads reports it wasn’t quite that easy. Being prototype vehicles, the cars weren’t fitted with the optional M Performance limited-slip differential, which made holding the extended slides difficult.
When playing with tyre pressures failed to produce the desired effect, the cars were taken to a local garage and the open differentials welded up. Yep, when it comes to controllable oversteer antics, it’s difficult to beat a locker.
As well as the main clip, BMW also uploaded a behind the scenes video and a short ‘How to Drift’ tutorial with Rhys Millen, which are arguably more entertaining than the main shoot. Still, well done to BMW for promoting the art of skidding to the world.
VIDEOS: HOW TO DRIFT | BEHIND THE SCENES
In one of the cooler promo clips we’ve seen in a while, BMW has organised a ‘Drift Mob’ to lay rubber all over downtown Cape Town. The video launches the brand’s new ‘BMW Stories’ online communication platform.
There’s no real plot to speak of, but there is some very impressive driving, with a quintet of M235is engaging in carefully choreographed manoeuvres. Such high-risk sideways action required some serious driving talent, with professional stunt driver Rhys Millen joined by drift champions Samuel Hubinette, Conrad Grunewald and Daijiro Yoshihara and stunt driver Rich Rutherford.
BMW quote Millen as saying “It’s amazingly simple to do a clean drift in this car”, but UK automotive website Pistonheads reports it wasn’t quite that easy. Being prototype vehicles, the cars weren’t fitted with the optional M Performance limited-slip differential, which made holding the extended slides difficult.
When playing with tyre pressures failed to produce the desired effect, the cars were taken to a local garage and the open differentials welded up. Yep, when it comes to controllable oversteer antics, it’s difficult to beat a locker.
As well as the main clip, BMW also uploaded a behind the scenes video and a short ‘How to Drift’ tutorial with Rhys Millen, which are arguably more entertaining than the main shoot. Still, well done to BMW for promoting the art of skidding to the world.
VIDEOS: HOW TO DRIFT | BEHIND THE SCENES
TALK about pressure. After a dismal start to 2014 (sales are down 34.1 percent for the first six months of 2014) Honda is pinning its hopes for a sales resurgence on this – the new third-generation Jazz.
Launched today on the Gold Coast, Honda hopes to sell “at least” 800 of its made-over city hatchbacks a month, a big ask given the current car moved just 144 units in June.
Lucky, then, the new Jazz is up to the task.
Built on a lighter and more rigid platform (Aussie models are pieced together in Thailand), Jazz builds on its predecessor’s successful mix of practicality, keen pricing and fuel efficiency.
Think of it as a distillation of the Jazz recipe, rather than a radical rethink.
All models now offer the naturally aspirated 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol (the old entry level 1.3-litre petrol engine is gone) that carries over from the previous Jazz and produces 88kW/145Nm.
However, it has been given a thorough makeover to reduce friction and, when paired with a continuously variable transmission, improve fuel use to 5.8L/100km. A replacement for the Jazz Hybrid is planned but will not arrive here until 2015.
Three model grades are offered; VTi ($14,990), VTi-S ($19,790) and a range-topping VTi-L ($22,490), with all variants bar the base VTi fitted exclusively with a retuned, lighter CVT automatic that replaces the five-speed automatic transmission of the previous model.
It’s a drivetrain that’s smooth and suitably refined about town, but similar to most Hondas, the petrol engine likes to rev and can get a bit raucous under hard acceleration.
New electric power steering is light but not completely lacking in feel, while the levels of noise, vibration and harshness are impressive about town and on the freeway thanks to increased sound deadening – although tyre noise can become obtrusive on coarse-chip surfaces.
It’s the interior, though, that really sets the Jazz apart. The old Jazz was renowned for its clever packaging, but Honda has managed to boost interior space in this new model by a remarkable 135 litres.
A longer wheelbase, up 30mm, has helped to increase rear knee room by a hefty 115mm, with the Jazz’s interior easily able to carry four adults over long distances.
The seats are clever, too, and can fold, lift and join in 18 different configurations, including a flat rear floor for added practicality.
Letdowns include hard plastics on the dash and doors in the base VTi (the range topping VTi-L has softer dash plastics), and while the Jazz’s new seven-inch touchscreen looks impressive and is simple to navigate, it can be frustratingly slow and clunky.
All Jazz models are well equipped, with the base VTi boasting a reversing camera, 15-inch steel wheels, six airbags, Bluetooth phone connection, LED headlights, turning lamps and tail-lights, cruise control and a hill-hold function.
It’s a hefty bag of standard equipment, but one that struggles to make sense at the top of the range. VTi-L models add leather-trimmed seats, parking sensors and 16-inch alloy wheels, but cost a whopping $7500 more than the base VTi. Little wonder Honda says the VTi will account for half of the Jazz’s sales.
Still, this third-generation Jazz is an improvement on what was an already a very capable and versatile city car. Excellent packaging and a keen entry price are major strengths and bolster Honda’s hopes of selling 800 units a month.
If only the new Mazda 2 wasn’t lurking just around the corner.Click here to read the full range review of the Honda Jazz.
At 13, most Aussie kids are swapping Pokémon cards and cramped over X-Box controllers. But in Finland? They go rallying.
Kalle Rovanperä is one kid who’s a better driver than you. And, as this video attests, better at scaring passengers, too.
But Rovanperä is hardly some young punk show-off behind the wheel. His old man is ex-Peugeot WRC driver Harri Rovanperä, which means Rovanperä junior has practically been in and out of rally machines since he was swimming DNA. He’s also Finnish which, in the world of rallying, means he’s a weapon behind the wheel.
At least, that’s what a mystery female passenger thought as she strapped in to a Citroen C2 rally car beside Rovanperä for an on-the-limit thrash through a European forest. Which, as you’re about to see, was something she probably regretted. Enjoy.
HONDA is considering a harder, faster RS version of its Jazz city car to take on the Ford Fiesta ST and Volkswagen Polo GTI.
The performance-focused hotter hatch, which is already on sale in Japan, would likely get a light engine tune, bolstered sports seats, unique suspension and a more aggressive body kit similar to the Mugen Fit RS shown at January’s Tokyo Auto Salon.
Japanese-spec RS variants use the same 1.5-litre atmo four-cylinder engine as the regular Jazz (which in standard spec produces 88kW/145Nm), mated to a six-speed manual.
“Look, there’s a market for it and I think it’d make sense here,” Honda Australia director Stephen Collins said. “We haven’t decided anything, but we could possibly do a limited run of them or something like that.”
Collins hinted that prices for the RS could start in the mid-$20,000 bracket, putting it head-to-head with Ford’s Fiesta ST, but pricing it below the more expensive Volkswagen Polo GTI, which starts from $29,540.
“[Pricing would] have to start with a two,” he told Wheels at the launch for the regular, third-generation Jazz on the Gold Coast this week. “Personally I love sports cars and I love sporty cars so it’s definitely possible, we’ll have to wait and see.”
A Jazz RS would make sense for Honda. After a flat start to 2014 – Honda sales are down 31.4 percent year-on-year for the first six months of 2014 – Collins says the brand needs an injection of excitement.
“We’re trying to bring in more sporty cars and more excitement to the brand,” he said. “We want and we need more sporty cars and we’re going to deliver on that. We’ve had some ups and downs, which have been very well documented, but we have a very clear path now to address that and really get our mojo back.
“My job is to make sure we get that back and get it back in spades. So over the next few years what you’re going to get from Honda is going to be very exciting.”
Collins also revealed the revived NSX, which recently burst into flames while testing at the Nurburgring, will not go on sale in Australia until at least 2016.
“It hasn’t been confirmed but what I do know is it won’t be 2015 for us,” he said. “I’m still waiting on confirmation but hopefully it won’t be too far after that.
“We want it as soon as we can get it. Everyone asks about pricing and I truthfully answer I have no idea what it’s going to cost. I wouldn’t want to guess because I’d be wrong.”
Performance-focused models, though, are not the only way Honda will target new, younger buyers, Collins said.
“Sporty cars is one thing with the new NSX and our return to F1, but the other youthful injection we’re trying to deliver is with things like connectivity and standard reverse cameras,” he said.
“This is the type of thing young buyers want, particularly the connectivity that’s very important. It’s not just about sportscars, but it’s about delivering the technology young buyers want.”
The third-gen Honda Jazz, which boasts even greater packaging, a new platform and thriftier engines, is now on sale. Prices range from $14,990 for the base VTi and stretch to $22,490 for the range-topping VTi-L.
A marque built on motorsport should be in motorsport, right? Even if it was nearly a century ago. But for Bentley – fresh from Top-20 finishes for both its Continental GT3 cars in last weekend’s 24 Hours of Spa, yet still clinging to David Brabham’s win at Le Mans in 2003 – the time to expand its racing portfolio is now. And the Bathurst 12-Hour is well and truly in its sights.
Just hours after a Bentley board meeting discussing the brand’s involvement in motorsport, chairman and CEO Wolfgang Durheimer raised the subject of the Bathurst event over dinner and drinks, commenting on the 12-hour enduro’s increasing global profile and the high-end manufacturers it attracts.
Being the only Australian at the table, Durheimer turned to me and asked a serious question: “Should we be at Bathurst?”
I responded with equal seriousness. “F#$k yeah.”
He seemed pleased.
What it boils down to is this – Bentley has a fresh and competitive GT3-spec race car which it calls the, er, Bentley GT3 (though it’s Continental based) that it launched in Abu Dhabi last November. And it is serious about bolstering its brand image through motorsport, which gels nicely with Durheimer’s plans to “contemporise the brand”.
So far, only a handful of GT3 Bentleys are tackling the global motorsport circuit – a privateer team run by David Appleby, with his son James and Steve Tandy behind the wheel, plus a US-based Dyson Racing team, and the cars run by Malcolm Wilson’s M-Sport that contested Spa. But Bentley expects that number to grow.
In conjunction with M-Sport, Bentley’s motorsport team builds the cars and shares its expertise and data with the privateers.
While a definite decision has yet to be made on Bentley’s Bathurst appearance, Durheimer’s responsibility for motorsport planning across the entire VW Group and his obvious enthusiasm for the event mean that Bentley is “very confident” it will have at least one GT3 car on the grid at the Bathurst 12-Hour next February. There’s even hope that a Bentley GT3 will contest the Australian GT3 championship in 2015.
In the meantime, a road-going V8S-based version “inspired” by the race car and dubbed GT3-R, had its first public showing at Goodwood in June. Aimed at wealthy collectors who might want to do track days, and neatly complementing Bentley’s return to motorsport, the GT3-R’s build number will be capped at just 300 cars.
THE new generation D23 Navara will be launched in Australia early next year, with a 2.3-litre four-cylinder diesel. Some 200cc smaller than the previous generation D40 diesel engine, Nissan must convince Australians it’s tough enough despite the capacity cut.
This is a new generation of the Nissan/Renault alliance engine and will also be used in Renault vans. The 2.3-litre unit will be available as a twin turbo, producing 140kW and 450Nm, or as a single turbo delivering 118kW and 403Nm. For the record, the twin-turbo 2.3L matches the power and torque figures of the previous D40’s 2.5 litres but with a steeper torque curve.
While the D40 Navara was also available with a rip-snorting 550Nm V6 diesel, there are no V6 plans this time around. However, Nissan insiders say a larger capacity four-cylinder turbo diesel is under development – thanks largely to a push from Nissan Australia – and the Thai-made D23 will be available with a 2.5-ltre four-cylinder petrol unit, producing 118kW and 231Nm.
Wheels tested the four-wheel drive high output diesel crew cab Nissan Navara in Thailand, with both the six-speed manual and seven-speed torque converter automatic, and there’s a lot to like.
The D23 is vastly better than the D40, which was introduced all the way back in 2005. Its chassis frame is carried over, as is the front suspension, but Nissan has introduced a multi-link coil-sprung rear for crew cab versions, with a steel tub. It is the first volume-selling workhorse ute to offer this; the more basic cab chassis and regular single cab models still get a leaf-sprung tail.
The multi-link rear handled some pretty bad roads very well and the engine offered ample torque, albeit unloaded and not towing.
It also did extremely well off-road, with very few kickbacks or jolts coming through the steering wheel. The steering itself is from the same school as Nissan crossovers – heavy and not keen on precise corrections – but that’s not a deal-killer in this segment.
The twin-turbo 2.3-litre diesel is a marked improvement over the old 2.5, which always sounded like it was working harder than it should. Low-down torque is excellent and it was able to pull up some steep hills in third gear. The manual is a quality unit, probably the best in class, with a pleasantly light clutch.
But city slickers or those heading off road should consider the seven-speed automatic, which is heaps better than the sloppy five-speeder of the old Navara.
The only problem is its tendency to hit a super-high gear at lower speeds to aid fuel economy – it can sound unpleasant at around 1200rpm.
Nissan hasn’t locked in the towing capacity for the new Navara in Australian spec, but is gunning for the 3500kg bar set by the best in class and it’ll need that in order to be taken seriously. The payload for all Navaras will be more than 1000kg.
The 220mm ground clearance is good, while a wading depth of 600mm seemed decent until the Ford Ranger and Mazda BT-50 managed 800mm.
The 4WD models run a part-time centre-locking all-paw system, and off-roaders will be able to opt for an electronic locking rear differential.
Safety systems include six airbags, with curtain ’bags to protect rear passengers, plus Electronic Stability Control, while a rear camera will be available in some markets.
Nissan hit the design jackpot with the D40, the clean and muscular look staying fresh for a long time. For this generation, the designers have come up with a truck that has presence but also looks a bit generic. It does, however, look better than the BT-50, as it should.
Inside, it’s a massive jump up from the dated D40 cabin, with essentially the same dash and layout as the X-Trail and Pathfinder. The only differences are the hard plastic surfaces, but the design and layout would impress passenger car customers.
Interior space is similar to the previous model, despite a wheelbase reduction of 50mm. The rear seats are comfortable and rear passengers get their own vents and cupholders.
We’ll have to wait for a local test to rate it against the class-leading Ranger and Volkswagen’s 2.0L Amarok, but first impressions suggest it will be near the pointy end of the pack.
CRAIG Lowndes was bubbling after scoring a class podium at this weekend’s eventful Spa 24-hour race in Europe, the V8 Supercar star’s first 24-hour endurance event.
Driving a Ferrari 458 fielded by AF Corse, Lowndes and team-mates Steve Wyatt, Michele Rugolo and Andrea Piccini took third in the Pro-Am class, and an impressive eighth overall.
“It’s amazing; Spa has always been one of my top three or four tracks,” Lowndes told Wheels after finishing the action-packed endure.
“To go up Eau Rouge and get that right is just an incredible feeling. It’s like Bathurst on steroids.”
The Aussie ace was surprised by some of the driving, particularly in the early stages, when a number of heavy crashes brought on safety car periods.
“It’s more aggressive than I’m used to racing in Australia. I couldn’t believe how desperate people were at such an early stage in a 24-hour race.
“The team had a strategy worked out, but all the safety cars just threw that out of the window. I didn’t know when I could sleep, and I ended up first driving much later than I thought, from 11pm to 1am, and only got three hours sleep after that.
“At a 12-hour race like Bathurst, you’re switched on all day, but you can sustain it. That’s not possible for 24 hours; you’ve got to get some sleep.”
Lowndes last raced at Spa during the 1997 European Formula 3000 season, and had previously driven the number 52 Ferrari with fellow Australian and gentleman racer Steve Wyatt at the Bathurst 12 Hour earlier this year. But it was teammate Michele Rugolo who undertook qualifying duties, putting the 458 sixth in class and 16th overall.
During the race, Lowndes’ fastest lap was 2m23.7s, just over a second adrift of his experienced Italian teammates around the 7km Belgian circuit.
Lowndes said the Ferrari is easier to drive than a V8 Supercar, but he nonetheless had some difficulty adapting after only a handful of laps before the race.
“I’m ramping the braking up like in the V8s, because I’m not used to having ABS,” he explained early in the race, “but the others are just stamping on the pedal. I’m at the same brake pressure, but I need to hit the pedal harder and faster.
“And we deliberately didn’t have too much traction (control) on the car at Bathurst, because I find relying on my instincts is better, but round here I’m not comfortable enough to be able to turn it off, either, so I do rely on it a little. I had a spin in the warm-up, on the slowest corner of the track!”
After his night stints, Lowndes was more comfortable, but not entirely happy with the car’s balance, complaining of understeer, especially as dew coated the circuit during an early morning stint. But by the time he got back behind the wheel with a couple of hours to run, the 458 was settled in a solid eighth position, which Lowndes maintained with an error-free double stint to the chequered flag.
Lowndes has his eye on further European endurance races, while maintaining his commitment to V8 Supercars.
“What I’ve done in Australia doesn’t mean a lot over here,” he said. “You need to come over and be part of this; it was no different when I came here in ’97. We won a touring car championship (in Australia) in 1996, but unfortunately didn’t have the performance we needed to stay in F3000 the following year.”
For now, Lowndes is happy to keep a relatively low profile while he builds experience in 24-hour events, but he’s ultimately targeting a prototype LMP drive at Le Mans.
“I always like to reduce the elements of your unknowns. My dad was a big advocate of it, and I’m the same. For me to go to Le Mans next year with an unknown car and an unknown circuit would be a huge learning curve. But to go there with AF Corse and a Ferrari GT3 or GT2, you’ve got 90 percent understanding of the car, so all you’re doing is focusing on the track. Then hopefully by year two or three you’re looking in the prototype area, because you know the track, you just need to learn the car.”
Overall victory went to the pole-winning #1 Audi R8 LMS. Read our full Spa 24 Hour report here.
NISSAN’S born-again Datsun 1600 will have to be cheaper than the Toyota 86 to make it into production, according to Nissan’s global product planning chief, Keno Kato.
He told Wheels that the budget rear-drive sports car, showcased by the IDx concept car at last November’s Tokyo Motor Show, is currently under “preparation and development.”
However, Kato added that the new hero model is by no means certain to make it into production.
“It is 50/50 until we reach some kind of milestone,” he said.
Hopes the IDx could make it into showrooms soared on the back of comments in January by Nissan product chief, executive vice-president Andy Palmer, that appeared to confirm its production future, but Nissan Americas product planning vice-president Pierre Liong more recently raised doubts about whether it would ever be made.
For his part, Kato, who ranks in between the two executives, says the IDx would have to be considerably less expensive than the Toyota 86, which has found plenty of fans in Australia, along with its Subaru BRZ twin, but has been less successful in other countries such as Japan.
“It is not a criticism of Toyota, I respect the company, but sorry, the 86 costs too much,” Kato said.
“For us (young people in Japan), the (original) AE86 was totally different, it was truly affordable. The 86 it is not a car for the youth.”
Making the IDx cheap enough could become an insurmountable problem, but Kato says the company would not produce a lesser car to get a result. He insists it must have an engine in the front and send its power to the rear.
“FR (front/rear) is a must,” he says.
This is despite the fact that Nissan engineers know a front-engine/rear-drive layout is not necessarily the quickest.
Kato used the example of the tail-happy S15 200SX (Silvia), on which he worked.
“We took a Silvia up a mountain road and it is so far behind a (front-drive) Honda Civic Type R, but nobody cares because the Silvia is so much fun,” he says.
Kato remains open to platform-sharing with another brand to get the IDx up at a reasonable price, be it Nissan’s sister company Renault or another marque, and is also open to sharing components such as the engine.
There is no word on which engine could power the IDx, but Kato believes either a naturally aspirated or turbo engine could do the job, though there could be a difference when it comes to the exhaust note.
“The only problem with a turbo is the exhaust (sound),” he says.
“Within legal (noise) limits, it is fine, but if someone puts a nice exhaust on it, the sound can be a problem.”
IT’S BEEN said many times; if only it rained during every Formula One race.
The Hungaroring is supposed to be one of the more boring F1 venues, with lots of corners and not enough lengthy straights to provide an abundance of overtaking.
But Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix turned it on, mainly due to the rain that drenched the track before the start, and some subsequent gambling on slick tyres while the surface was still damp.
Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo and Red Bull conjured their second grand prix victory of the year, blending driving brilliance and smart, opportunistic strategy to upstage the dominant Mercedes.
On a wet track, championship leader Nico Rosberg drove away to open a handsome early gap.
Then on lap nine came a shunt and a safety car; Dan and the team made the instant call to get off the wets early and were rewarded with a lovely leapfrog from sixth to the lead.
The weather and crashes threw the whole contest into pandemonium.
In the shake-out, Rosberg found himself back in the pack with Sebastian Vettel and also Lewis Hamilton, who made up a lot of ground despite starting from the pitlane, and spinning on the first lap.
A few others crashed and others, as the track dried, looked for advantages with enterprising tyre choices.
A Ferrari (Fernando Alonso) even led. Twice. It was that kind of strange yet enthralling race.
Ricciardo held sway for a big lump of the middle stages of the race while trying to possibly stretch his stint on fading soft tyres all the way to the chequer. But with 15 laps remaining, there was no alternative but to pit for fresh boots, dropping the Aussie to fourth behind Alonso, Hamilton and Rosberg.
When Rosberg went looking for better tyres, Dan inherited third and was looking menacing. Ahead were two world champions.
With 10 remaining, the gaps between the top three – Alonso to Hamilton, Hamilton to Ricciardo – were compressing tantalisingly, and Rosberg was carving huge chunks out of the front trio as he chased down a podium.
With not even four to go, Dan imperiously swooped around the outside of Hamilton. Second!
Three to go and our Dan charged beneath the struggling Alonso, and made the pass look simple. And that was the ball game, by 5.2 seconds. His second grand prix win, with the accolades flowing from team boss Christian Horner and anyone who saw it.
“Winning this today, it honestly feels as good as the first,” enthused Ricciardo. “It sank in a lot quicker this one, so crossing the line today I knew what was going on a bit more and it’s like I could enjoy it immediately rather than it being delayed.
“It was awesome. To have to pass guys again to win the race, as I did in Canada, makes it a lot more satisfying, knowing that we did have a bit of a fight on our hands – you beauty!
“In this environment now, I feel I am a different driver and in a way a different person, a different sportsman than I was last year. I’ve got a lot more belief in myself and it’s cool; I definitely feel like I belong here now and I’ve got confidence.
“We’ve converted two races into wins this year so far and I think that confidence is showing.”
Alonso tenaciously hauled his slip-sliding Ferrari to second, holding out the equally grip-challenged Hamilton, with Rosberg right there in fourth.
A grand prix classic.
In the title chase, Rosberg is still ahead of Hamilton, 202 points to 191, with Ricciardo third on 131.
For more motor sport news read the Monday Motor Sport Report here.
