While in Melbourne for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, Red Bull Racing’s Mark Webber drove himself around town this Australian-built 310kW F6 FPV (Ford Performance Vehicles).

Webber, who last drove a Ford when he was with the now defunct Jaguar team, reluctantly handed back the keys ton Tuesday morning before jetting off to KL for this weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix.

“What a great car,” he enthused.“The is what I miss in Europe… awesome Aussie muscle cars.”Webber was almost certainly more comfortable in the borrowed F6 than he was in the Renault-powered Red Bull Racing F1 car on Sunday. Webber was clobbered by Rubens Barrichello’s Brawn in the first corner and struggled with an aill-handling car for the rest of the 58-lap Australian Grand Prix.

The Brawn GP team didn’t exists in February, not in name anyway. And on March 29, Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello – two men who a few weeks earlier had good reason to fear for their racing futures – stormed to a remarkable, emotional quinella in the 2009 ING Australian Grand Prix.

Honda’s decision to exit grand prix racing at the end of ’08 meant a buyer needed to be found for the Honda F1 team, or mothball the operation.

At the 11th hour, Ross Brawn and Honda agreed to buy/sell terms and the announcement that Brawn GP would contest the 2009 world championship came on March 6.There was just enough time for Brawn GP to secure a Mercedes-Benz engine deal, order some simple team uniforms and squeeze in a few days testing.No one could quite have predicted what followed.It was at the test sessions that it became obvious that the Brawn cars had a comfortable margin over the opposition. The Brawns were rockets straight out of the crate. But would they be as quick in competition and would they be reliable?The answers came on the other side of the world at the weekend at Albert Park, when Button and Barrichello clinched the front row, and then took the first two places in the 58-lap race.The Brawns are fast, undoubtedly, but also strong judging by Barrichello’s pace even after hitting and being hit.Across the line third was the Toyota of Jarno Trulli, who started from pit lane after he and teammate Timo Glock were relegated to the rear of the grid after stewards judged their rear wings breached technical regulations. Then soon after the race, the hapless Trulli was pinged 25 secs for passing Hamilton during the final safety car period. This pushed the Italian back to 12th.The diffusers (on the rear of F1 cars and key to the aerodynamic package) on cars from three teams – Brawn, Toyota, and Williams – attracted the wrong kind of attention from rival teams in the lead-up to the AGP. Ferrari, Renault and Red Bull protested these cars before track action began but Brawn, Toyota and Williams were cleared to compete.The appeal is set for April 14th, after next week’s Malaysian Grand Prix.Brawn, Toyota and Williams certainly uncorked some serious pace during the race and depending on the outcome of an appeal against the decision on the diffusers, other teams will certainly be burning the midnight oil to introduce similar designs to their cars as the season unfolds. This is not easy and demands are wholesale re-design of the rear of the car.The race, the opening round in the world championship, met all the expectations of the people who pushed through the new sporting and technical regulations which ushered in low-aero cars, brought back slick tyres after a decade of treaded rubber, and introduced optional kinetic energy recovery systems – KERS.No one, including those teams that invested millions in KERS, could suggest the new push-for-power package was a resounding success.The best placed KERS car was Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren Mercedes, who was officially third, after starting 18th.At BMW, Robert Kubica ran without KERS; Nick Heidfeld used the system. Heidfeld finished 10th while Kubica challenged hard up front and but for a rush of blood while trying to overtake the slowing Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull two laps from the flag, would have snatched second at least.Vettel was later deemed the guilty party by stewards and fined $50,000 for continuing (on three wheels) after the crash.Kubica escaped official sanction but Wheels found him guilty of abject stupidity for a rash overtaking move which almost certainly could have been easily managed soon after had he employed a modicum of patience and common sense. It was a case of Poland invading Germany and it didn’t come off…Mark Webber left Albert Park frustrated and annoyed after being embroiled in a contre temps in turn one on the opening lap and damaging his Red Bull. He struggled to the chequer one lap down and the last man, running in 13th.But he and the Red Bull team could take some comfort from the pace of Vettel’s healthy car. When the grid is back on a level playing field by mid season, the Red Bull cars should be rockets.For the moment, we can say that the new regs have led to a change in the pecking order, a fairytale debut for Brawn GP, and the prospects of some unusual results, even if it looks like the Brawn GP drivers can raffle the early races among themselves.The soft and hard compound slicks appear to be unnecessary novelties, but F1 seems infatuated by the need for unpredictability.And, by the way, was that Button or Coldplay’s Chris Martin who won at Albert Park?

After 154 starts; in a car Honda abandoned, in a new team that came together with barely six weeks to prepare, with Mercedes-Benz engines and a last-minute sponsor in Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson, Brit Jenson Button capped a Brawn GP 1-2 with team-mate Rubens Barrichello in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne today.

It was an action-packed start and finish.

Barrichello, the man with the most starts in the history of F1, had a miserable start to the race; his clutch safety pack preventing a decent start and triggering a pile-up on turn one as he dived down the inside. Aussie Mark Webber, along with McLaren driver Heikki Kovalainen and Force India’s Giancarlo Fisichella, were forced back into the pits to repair the damage, while Barrichello forged on at the request of team boss Ross Brawn despite a damaged front wing.Massa was forced to retire, leaving Hamilton and both Toyota cars – starting from last and pit lane respectively – to claw back positions and points in the championship.Button was untouchable, despite a safety car mid-race compressing his lead from seconds back to tenths. And the fight for second and third behind him imploded with three laps to go.Webber’s Red Bull team mate Sebastien Vettel and Williams’ Robert Kubica came together in the stoush for second: neither wanted to yield coming in to a corner, and the ensuing contact took them both out of the points race. Ironically, Brawn’s Barrichello moved from fifth into second, and Toyota veteran Jano Trulli slotted into third.The safety car peeled off two laps later, leaving just two corners left in the opening round. The positions remained: Button and Barrichello became the first team to debut and take the first race win since 1954 ( a car which also ran a Mercedes engine…) ,Trulli ducked and weaved through the field from a pit lane start to third; defending McLaren champ Lewis Hamilton moving from last to fourth, and Timo Glock – also from pitlane – finished in fifth.Two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso finished in sixth ahead of Nico Rosberg. F1 rookie, 20-year-old Sebastien Buemi, had qualified almost two-seconds shy of the leading Brawn cars, but scored a point on debut for Toro Rosso , finishing in eighth place.Ironically, Mark Webber – who must certainly be the most unlucky man in motorsport – finished in 13th…

A new era in F1 has well and truly begun.

Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello have brought Brawn to the front of the F1 grid in Melbourne – the first time a new F1 team has done so since 1970.

With new platinum sponsor Sir Richard Branson of Virgin looking on (he cut short a family holiday to attend the race), Jenson Button clocked a 1m 26.202s in the final lap of the third qualifying session to take pole, crushing both his critics and the sceptics who gave the ex-Honda team little chance in the lead-up to the 2009 season.Though Nico Rosberg showed dominance through Q1 and 2, Brawn team-mate Rubens Barrichello, the most senior driver in F1, backed Button up with a 1m 26.505s to take P2 ahead of both Williams cars (Rosberg, P5 and Kubica, P4) and Red Bull’s Sebastien Vettel (P3).

Button celebrates P1

“The last five or six months for (the Brawn drivers) have been so tough, going from not having a drive or any future in racing to putting it on pole here is just amazing,” said Button after Q3.“It has been a long time since we had a car that has been competitive. I put it on pole here in 2006 – it has been very tough and there are a lot of people who stand by you which is fantastic, but there are obviously a few people that don’t and they forget and they don’t believe.“The important thing is that the people within team believe and that is all we care about. You can say it is a very good car but you still need to get the laps in and make it your own. This is a great moment, but obviously not the most important moment of the weekend.“We didn’t know what other people’s pace was and you don’t until you get to qualifying. They seemed to be a little bit closer than I thought actually in Q1 and Q2, they were one or two tenths behind but I was struggling on low fuel for some reason. I just could not get the car working right, but when we put fuel in it, it felt a bit more normal and in a way that is a good thing as it should help us out in the race.“This morning (Saturday) the pace seemed to be pretty good on both tyres (medium and super-soft), and I was reasonably happy.“I have to give all credit to the team and Ross (Brawn) and Nick (Fry) for making this happen. This is where we deserve to be after the tough times we have had.Barichello was equally appraising of the team’s efforts to get the cars to the grid on time.“First of all, I just want to emphasis what Jenson said that it has been a critical three or four months back home waiting for news,” he said.“Everyone who has touched this car needs a credit because it is a really good car. My car was fantastic on low fuel, it was really, really good and as you could see I put that fastest lap but then in Q3 for some reason I developed some understeer on the car and we tried to move the wings a little bit more to add a little bit more front wing but that car kept going to understeer, so I was very limited but it was difficult although I think the first row for both is a credit and we must be happy.”The youngest driver in F1 history to take pole position, a podium position, and a round win, Sebastian Vettel, brought Red Bull Racing in to third at 1m 26.830s.His Aussie Red Bull team mate Mark Webber clocked the fastest lap in the first half of Q3, but was beaten back to eighth by the end of the session.Though the legality of the controversial rear diffusers of Williams, Toyota and Brawn will be examined at an official hearing at FIA’s Court of Appeal in Paris on April 14, both Toyotas were sent to the rear of the grid after the rear wings of the TF109s were deemed to have ‘extreme flexibility’ and in contravention of the rules. They had qualified in sixth and eighth.Williams withdrew their protest over aero on Ferrari and Red Bull’s cars, deciding ‘it wasn’t in the interests of the sport’ to continue.A gearbox penalty had also sent defending champ Hamilton from 15th back to last, but Toyota’s tap on the wrist saw him gain two places back. He will start in P18, and promising some exciting overtaking manoeuvres throughout today’s race.Hamilton said: “It’s a problem, but we just have to get on with it. I am still confident in the team, as always, and I am sure we will have some fun starting back there in the middle of the field.”“Of course, we have to fix it (the gearbox). We actually survived Q3, which was very pleasing! We are working to fix it – and if we don’t, well, we won’t be racing tomorrow…”The coverage of the race has improved tenfold with open broadcast of the driver-team radio chatter, and publishing the official starting weights of the cars. The cars were weighed after the third round of qualifying ( those who did not participate in Q3 declared their starting weights to officials). See below for full details.Melbourne’s weather forecast for today’s race is a perfect 25 degrees with clear skies, though drivers are complaining of disconcerting shadows across the track due to the late race start. The AGP will be broadcast live on Channel 10 from 5pm today.STARTING WEIGHTS – AGP1. Jenson Button, Brawn GP, 664.5kg 2. Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP, 666.5 3. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 657 4. Robert Kubica, BMW Sauber, 650 5. Nico Rosberg, Williams, 657 6. Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 654 7. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 655.5 8. Mark Webber, Red Bull, 662 9. Nick Heidfeld, BMW Sauber, 691.5 10. Fernando Alonso, Renault, 680.7 11. Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren, 690.6 12. Nelson Piquet, Renault, 694.1 13. Giancarlo Fisichella, Force India 689 14. Kazuki Nakajima, Williams, 612.5 15. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso, 675.5 16. Adrian Sutil, Force India, 684.5 17. Sebastien Bourdais, Toro Rosso, 662.5 18. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 655 19. Timo Glock, Toyota, 670 20. Jarno Trulli, Toyota, 660

Q3 QUALIFYING – TEAM RESULTS

Brawn Jenson Button, 1m 25.981s, P3/1m 26.202s, P1 Rubens Barrichello, 1m 26.348s, P6/1m 26.505s, P2 Barrichello set the pace in the first two qualifying sessions, but as he found his BGP001 starting to understeer with its race fuel load, so Button found his handling with the edge and poise it had lacked on low fuel. The result was the Englishman’s fourth pole, but Barrichello was also fast enough to take the other front row slot. It was the perfect start for Ross Brawn’s squad.Red Bull Sebastian Vettel, 1m 27.009s, P13/1m 26.830s, P3 Mark Webber, 1m 26.355s, P7/1m 27.246s, P10, will start P8 Vettel had a problem with a wheel nut which hampered his morning running, but in qualifying he banged in a great lap which showed the true promise of Adrian Newey’s ‘conventional’ car. Webber was not happy with his final lap of Q3, as he found his RB5 unsettled in the bumps of Turn Nine.BMW Sauber Robert Kubica, 1m 26.514s, P9/1m 26.914s, P4 Nick Heidfeld, 1m 26.555s, P10/1m 25.504s, P11, will start P9 After struggling for grip on Friday the Swiss-German team made good progress and Kubica was able to put some strong laps together, but even he admitted that fourth was better than he expected. Yet he lost grip on his second Q3 run after Rosberg threw dirt on to the track in Turn 14, otherwise he thought third was possible. Heidfeld, meanwhile, was happy enough until he encountered too much oversteer in the final corner and lost his chance of making it through to Q3. He is hoping KERS (which Kubica does not have) will give him an advantage in the race.Williams Nico Rosberg, 1m 25.808s, P1/1m 26.973s, P5 Kazuki Nakajima, 1m 26.078s, P5/1m 25.607s, P13, will start P11 It was tempting to feel disappointed for Williams to start only fifth courtesy of Rosberg after all his practice speed. He said his FW31 was still nice to drive, and was quite happy, suggesting that the team believe some of their rivals to be running lighter on fuel (though it turns out those ahead largely are not). Nakajima looked okay in Q1 and Q2, but made a crucial error that left him stranded in Q2. Again.Toyota Timo Glock, 1m 26.410s, P8/1m 26.975s, P6, will start P19 Jarno Trulli, 1m 25.811s, P2/1m 27.127s, P8, will start P20 Toyota had expected better than sixth and eighth on the grid, but were still fine-tuning the balance of their TF109s right through to Q3. Glock was nevertheless quite happy, while Trulli found qualifying harder than he had anticipated and was ultimately disappointed. His main problem was generating sufficient heat in his Bridgestones when it really mattered. The team was struck a serious blow later in the evening, when the stewards deemed that their rear wings were too flexible and moved both TF109s to the back of the grid. Toyota opted not to appeal.Ferrari Felipe Massa, 1m 26.020s, P4/1m 27.033s, P7, will start P6 Kimi Raikkonen, 1m 28.801s, P20/1m 27.163s, P9, will start P7 Massa said he could not feel satisfied with seventh place, having aspired to fifth, but that it was the best he could wring from his F60. Raikkonen lost time with a hydraulic problem in the final practice session, which reduced his running time. Both drivers think they are in good shape for the race, and hope that their KERS systems could confer a significant advantage at the start.Renault Fernando Alonso, 1m 27.357s, P17/1m 25.605s, P12, will start P10 Nelson Piquet Jnr, 1m 27.739s, P19/1m 26.598s, P17, will start P14 Almost tongue-in-cheek, Alonso allowed that the plan to fight for the podium might not happen on race day, but explained that a mistake in the penultimate corner may have cost him the chance of fifth or sixth place overall after he failed to make it through Q2. Piquet simply struggled.McLaren Heikki Kovalainen, 1m 26.652s, P11/1m 25.726s, P14. will start P12 Lewis Hamilton, 1m 26.714s, P12/no time, P15, will start P18 As they had expected, McLaren struggled in Melbourne. Kovalainen said his MP4-24 was well balanced, but it still lacked grip. Hamilton had the same problem, and another. Fourth gear broke on his second flying lap of Q1, and though he made it through to Q2 he did not run as the team changed the gearbox. That, of course, incurred a penalty, so he was due to start from 20th place until the exclusion of the Toyota moved him back up two spots.Toro Rosso Sebastien Buemi, 1m 27.192s, P16/1m 26.503s, P16, will start P13 Sebastien Bourdais, 1m 27.152s, P15/1m 26.964s, P20, will start P17 Buemi was quite happy with the job he did first time out in a full-blown qualifying session, while Bourdais admitted to a mistake on his second run in Q1 and then to failing to get his tyres up to full temperature during his run three out lap.Force India Giancarlo Fisichella, 1m 27.492s, P18/1m 26.677s, P18, will start P15 Adrian Sutil, 1m 27.062s, P14/1m 26,742s, P19, will start P16 Ultimately, Force India’s position was established in qualifying after the fast runs Sutil appeared to have done in practice. Fisichella still had some brake locking problems, while Sutil rued lack of downforce as the VJM02’s main shortcoming.

Scrutineering

After a hearing that ran late into the night, stewards have dismissed protests over the legality of the bodywork of the Formula One cars entered by the Brawn, Williams and Toyota teams and their six cars are now free to race in the 2009 ING Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park this weekend.

The Ferrari, Red Bull and Renault teams had all separately protested the legality of all three teams’ cars, specifically the diffusers which are a critical part of the rear bodywork of any F1 car.The three teams that filed the protests felt that Brawn, Toyota and Williams had been a little liberal in their interpretation of the rules.A panel of stewards of the race meeting handed down decisions in each individual case was handed down shortly before midnight last night.The stewards found that the cars in question complied with the appropriate 2009 Formula One Technical Regulations and rejected the protest.The teams which lodged the protests have each exercised their right to appeal the stewards’ decision.Those appeals will now go to the FIA’s Court of Appeal in Paris at a date expected to be after the second round of the 2009 Formula One world Championship, the Malaysian Grand Prix on April 5.Williams’ Technical Director Sam Michael said, “We are pleased with the stewards’ decision and we have no further comment to make.”In a statement, Toyota Motorsport said it has “studied the wording of the new 2009 regulations in precise detail to ensure that we have interpreted them correctly”.Toyota Motorsport Chairman Tadashi Yamashina went on to state: “We are pleased with the decision of the race stewards but we prefer not to comment further on the situation. This weekend promises to be a tremendously exciting Australian Grand Prix so we are now looking forward to starting the competition on track with the first practice sessions on Friday.”

Just a few months ago, McLaren Mercedes fielded a fast and reliable Formula One car that won the title for Lewis Hamilton.

But the 2009 McLaren has appeared uncompetitive in pre-season testing – in real terms around 1.8secs slower per lap than the pace-setting headline-making surprise packet, the Brawn (nee Honda F1) BGP 001 rocket.

With the 2009 world championship looming large, every driver, designer and engineer in Formula One has been sweating the impact of new technical regulations on the 20 cars on the grid for the Australian Grand Prix.Heikki Kovalainen is no exception. He admits the two McLaren Mercedes cars are not quick enough.While Hamilton admits he’ll struggle to get into the points on Sunday, Kovalainen says he can’t concern himself with the others and that he and the team are instead concentrating on doing their best to crank more speed from the McLaren Mercedes.The (northern) winter testing has been a notoriously unreliable guide to real form for decades. There was a time – before Michael Schumacher’s dominance – when Ferrari would shine on the test tracks and then perform poorly when the racing beganSome rival team bosses have had the temerity to suggest that McLaren is sandbagging – deliberately running slowly, and F1 ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone is of the same view.We’ll be wiser on Sunday evening.McLaren is insisting it has some catching up to do.Kovalainen signing autographs at the AGP “All we can do is focus on the job and improve out performance as a team,” Kovalainen said. He didn’t sound like a man expecting to spray the champagne on Sunday evening. But he also said he knew the team would soon get back on the pace. McLaren is like that. He is reassured by history.“Our performance was not what we were hoping for during testing. But I have no doubt we will be back on top. We are a winning team.“Expectations are always very high that McLaren will be successful. We will recover from this situation.”

Toyota’s talented German star Timo Glock is confident that the only Japanese team remaining in Formula One will be a strong contender this year after the cars were fast and reliable in winter testing.

But he has joined a chorus of drivers who sense that the new Brawn GP cars of Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello should be way too quick in Sunday’s season-opening ING Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park.

“There’s probably a question mark over where we sit among the teams on speed; it’s all quite close, except that the Brawns seem very quick,” he told wheelsmag.com.au this week.He doesn’t feel the Brawns were up to any tricks to try to impress potential sponsors.“For me, the Brawn team will have both cars on the front row in qualifying,” he declared.“I think their speed has been a true reflection of their true pace. Ross Brawn isn’t a guy who would get up to any funny business. His cars were very strong over one lap or on a full run.“You have to remember that development on that car started very early because Ross decided to divert the effort from the 2008 car to the 2009 car.”After tomorrow, the world will know if Glock has an accurate crystal ball.

The Japanese call it Obakemono – the monster. No wonder. It’s an arsenal on wheels powered by a twin turbo straight six producing 209 kW close to the old 300 horsepower mark -with four wheel drive and four wheel steering as part of the package.

Take a good look, because this car will become a familiar sight on Australian racetracks next year. It’s a Nissan – the new Skyline GT-R – and depending on your attitude, it’s either a street racer or Godzilla-on-wheels.

The GT-R spearheads a completely new Skyline range in Japan, the product of a concerted Nissan push for technological leadership by the 1990s. Although not due for release until next month, the GT-R is already grabbing headlines in Japan, where the Skyline has long been a performance cult car.We’ll see the GT-R here in Australia early next year as part of Nissan’s on-going Group A racing program. With a reputed 410 kW on tap the racing GT-Rs look set to challenge the dominance of the Sierra Turbos. Nissan product planners are also looking at the possibility of importing limited numbers of road versions.In a land where technological overkill has become the norm, the GT-R pulls no punches. The 2.6 litre twin cam 24 valve engine under the bonnet is all-new, and is said to develop 209 kW at 6800 rpm with the help of twin ceramic turbochargers and an intercooler. Torque peaks at 360 Nm at 4400 rpm.It might even do better than that, though Nissan isn’t saying. Sheer grunt is the latest craze in Japan, with Nissan, Honda, Mitsubishi and Mazda all chasing 224 kW – 300 horsepower. But the Japanese transport authorities are apparently doing their best to defuse the power race on safety and ecological grounds. Cars with engines producing more than 224 kW are now being frowned upon…Nissan is therefore being cagey about releasing performance figures for the GT-R, but the quoted standing 400 metre time of 13.9 seconds suggests a top end of at least 235 km/h and a 0-100 km/h time in the low six second bracket.A four speed auto transmission is available on lower spec Skylines, which also have viscous coupled limited slip differentials, but the GT-R relies on a heavy duty five speed manual and a mechanical limited slip rear axle.Maximum in-gear speeds are 71 km/h, 117 km/h, 174 km/h and 225 km/h. In top, assuming it could reach the 8800 rpm red line, the GT-R would qualify at no less than 310 km/h!Local Nissan engineers who drove a heavily disguised prototype of the car here last year describe the performance as sensational. And the handling is alleged to be right up in the supercar class. Chassis spec includes sophisticated multi-link suspension front and rear, and massive brakes – 296mm diameter, 32mm thick drilled and vented discs with four piston callipers up front and 297mm diameter, 18mm thick discs with two piston callipers at the rear.The GT-R is the first to get Nissan’s new Atessa ET-S variable torque split four wheel drive system. At the heart of the system is a computer controlled multi-plate clutch which automatically varies the front to rear torque split depending on vehicle speed and, uniquely, lateral force.The split varies constantly to suit driving conditions, but what sets this system apart from all the others is that drive to the front wheels is reduced as lateral acceleration increases, thus giving traditional rear wheel drive handling characteristics combined with the stability and traction of four wheel drive. Nissan says the system is also the first to combine variable torque split control with ABS braking.Also new on the GT-R is Super-HICAS four wheel steering. It’s not the advanced system talked about last year which worked both the front and rear axles. That, according to a grinning Nissan technical man, is still to come…Previous Nissan 4WS systems have turned the rear wheels up to a maximum angle of one degree in the same direction as the fronts above 80 km/h. That was fine for high speed manouevrability and stability, but now the rears initially turn in the opposite direction, like the 4WS Honda and Mazda, for improved low speed handling.This speed-sensing version of HICAS works by hydraulic pressure, with the angle of the rear wheels determined on the speed and angle through which the steering wheel is tumed. And it’s standard on all Skylines but the base model.The new Skyline, which is available in two door coupe and four door hardtop body styles and with a range of engines from a 1.8 litre four through a brace of two litre straight sixes to the 2.6 litre GT-R powerhouse, is the third in Nissan’s quartet of anti-Cressida sedans, joining the Laurel and Cefiro in a determined Nissan drive to capture 50 per cent of Japan’s lucrative 1.8 to 2.0 litre segment.Intended as a Japanese market car only, the new Skyline is slightly smaller than the model it replaces. The sedan loses 80mm in length and 45mm in height, but retains the same 2615mm wheelbase, while the coupe is a further 50mm shorter and 15mm lower. Compact rather than bloated, the new Skyline comes across as a kind of Japanese 3-series BMW.Smaller size is one reason why Nissan Australia is gearing up to produce the front wheel drive Matilda sedan instead in the 1990s. But the main reason is that it’s almost impossible for the Skyline pillarless hardtop, the only four door bodystyle in the range, to meet ADR side impact requirements.So when the current locally built cars go out of production, the highly successful Skyline nameplate will all but disappear from the Australian market. That’s a worrying prospect for some local Nissan product people who at one stage drew up plans for a reskinned, wide bodied Skyline based on the existing running gear…There is a chance the Skyline GT-R may be brought into Australia on a very limited basis, however, Nissan product planners believe there’s a tiny but lucrative market for a high tech, high performance, high priced sports coupe. Obakemono qualifies handsomely on all three counts.

Ford just can’t seem to catch a break – unless you’re talking about its brake hoses…

Ford Australia has found a problem with the front brake hoses on the Aussie-built Ford Territory. Apparently, it occurs in less than two percent of vehicles sold since February 1, 2004 to December 31, 2008, but the automaker has taken the safe (and expensive) step to call the cars back in to have it replaced.The issue was discovered after Ford investigated recent complaints and observations regarding front brake fluid leakage.According to Ford, cars that are driven hard and constantly turned at full lock could wear down the front brake hose and develop a leak, reducing the effectiveness of the front brakes. Ford was swift to note that the rear brakes could bring the vehicle to a full halt as per ADR requirements, and there is an in-dash driver warning light which is triggered when the front brakes decline.The Territory Turbo, Territory Ghia Turbo and the FPV F6X are not included in the voluntary recall as their front brake systems are different, and buyers of the facelifted MkII generation, which debuted at Melbourne this year, are also in the clear.Ford sold 85,573 Territory models (including Turbo) up to December 2008.Customers affected by the recall should contact their nearest Ford Dealer to have the front brake hoses replaced free of charge.Ford Australia could not be reached for further comment at the time.

Hyundai has revealed first pics of a new plug-in hybrid concept, the ‘Blue-Will’, which will be unveiled at Seoul Show on April 2.

Despite the fluffy name tag, the hybrid is a genuine advancement for the strengthening Korean company, incorporating its 1.6-litre direct-injection petrol engine and CVT with a 100kW electric motor and Lithium-Ion battery pack.translucent solar cells scattered through in the panoramic glass roof give the battery extra charge.Further green kudos is gained with headlamp surrounds made from recycled soft drink bottles, and plant-derived bio-plastics feature in the interior (polylactic acid) and engine cover (PA11 poly). Hyundai claims both are biodegradable, but there is conjecture over the breakdown of PA11…The Elantra LPI Hybrid goes on sale in Korea in July this year, making the Blue-Will a realistic next-step showcase.Apart from being Hyundai’s first hybrid, the car will introduce new Lithium-polymer battery technology, and it runs on cheaper LPG, not petrol. LPG promises lower emissions than petrol and the new batteries are said to be more energy efficient, less costly to make, more resistant to damage and able to be charged and discharged more often than existing lithium ion batteries.The car will at first be built only for the Korean market, but Hyundai has said export markets will follow.