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Peugeot is the first mainstream car manufacturer to join the series after a sweeping revamp of the technical regulations, and made its competition return this weekend at the 6 Hours of Monza, the 4th round in the 6-race 2022 WEC season. Its weapon of choice? The new 9X8 Hypercar. Here’s a video of its very first lap in action: It was initially hoped that the 9X8 could make its live debut at the 2022 Le Mans 24h, but the newly-formed Team Peugeot TotalEnergies elected to skip that and instead focus on further testing to ensure the car’s race-readiness. This included a 15,000km test session and a marathon 36-hour endurance run to put the crew and their processes through their paces before wading into battle.
Motorsports

The Peugeot 9X8 is the next Le Mans Hypercar contender

IN Peugeot, 9X8, Le Mans, WEC, Hypercar, Motorsports

The radical wingless racer made its race debut in the WEC this past weekend at Monza


And it’s getting serious, with many of the biggest car manufacturers throwing their hat in the ring. Take Porsche for instance. Back in 2017, it made the decision to leave the World Endurance Championship, which it had dominated for the prior three years, to focus on Formula E. And aside from running its two Porsche 99X Electric Formula E cars, it even has the Taycan Turbo S performing safety car duties for since the start of this season.
Motorsports

Here’s five reasons why you should check out Formula E

IN Formula E, Porsche, Motorsports, EV

A weekend with the TAG Heuer Porsche team at the Jakarta Formula E race taught us a thing or two about how this engine-less series is more exciting than you expect.


This isn’t an all-new car of course, nor is it even a facelift (that comes next year, when the Countryman gets new headlights and Union Jack-themed taillights just like the rest of the Mini range, as well as new digital displays). But though it looks no different, the 2020 Countryman JCW’s updates run far deeper than facelifts conventionally do. With 306hp and 450Nm now on tap, the new Countryman JCW has made gains of 75hp and 100Nm over the 2019 model - a full one-third more power and torque than before. That’s all courtesy of an updated version of the B48 2.0-litre turbo engine, which is now in the same spec as you’d find in the BMW M135i, M235i, and X2 M35i. As a result, the 0-100km/h time drops from 6.5 to 5.1 seconds, and it’s powerful enough flat-out to warrant a 250km/h electronic speed limiter. It’s rather a different beast to drive now, and finally feels special enough to justify its existence (and its price tag).
New

Rally the Troops | Mini Countryman John Cooper Works

IN MINI, Countryman, JCW, John Cooper Works, MINI Countryman, MINI John Cooper Works

The biggest and most expensive Mini you can buy gets a lot more power for 2020, finally giving it performance that’s worthy of the JCW name.


That’s where the S60 T8 R-Design comes in. It’s the most powerful Volvo you can buy today, with the sort of on-paper figures that might give warm sports saloons like the Audi S4, BMW M340i, and Mercedes-AMG C43 a right old scare: 402hp, 640Nm of torque and 0-100km/h in 4.4 seconds. Except, the S60 doesn’t follow your traditional sports saloon recipe. It’s a plug-in hybrid you see, which means a twin-charged 315hp 2.0-litre engine driving the front wheels, and an 87hp electric motor powering the rears. And that, I’m afraid, is the S60’s undoing as a performance car.
New

Plugged In | Volvo S60 T8 R-Design

IN Volvo, S60, Volvo S60, Hybrid, Plug-in hybrid, PHEV

402hp makes the new S60 T8 plug-in hybrid the most powerful Volvo ever sold in Singapore. But is that enough to make it compelling for keen drivers?


1. The last time Toyota made such a car was 20 years ago. The Celica GT-FOUR brought the company 30 rally victories, four drivers' championship titles and one manufacturers' championship. It remains one of the most iconic rally-bred cars the world has ever seen. In a reference to its illustrious predecessor and its all-wheel-drive technology, the Toyota GR Yaris will have a GR-FOUR logo on its tailgate.
Happenings

Five Fast Facts | Toyota GR Yaris

The world has been waiting for a car like this. Thank you, Toyota, for giving us a potential gem.


Flag off for the first race commences at 11:30 am on both Saturday and Sunday. There will be 8 races in total culminating in a podium presentation for the top 3 drivers at the end of each day.
Happenings

Asia Powerboat Championships Singapore 2019

IN Ignitionlabs, Evosg, Evosingapore, Apachampionship, Powerboats

We take a break from the roads this weekend and head to the waters for the 2019 Asia Powerboat Championships!


The new virtual competition is an extension of Sony PlayStation’s backing of GT Sport Motul Team RJN — the Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 customer racing team contesting the 2018 Blancpain Endurance championship. Lucas Ordonez and Ricardo Sanchez — who are among the 22 people who’ve graduated from gamers to racers through the GT Academy since the program began — will compete on track with GT Sport Motul Team RJN.For more information, visit www.nismo.com/nissangtsportcup
Motorsports

Nissan Searching For Gran Turismo Racer

IN Nissan, Sony Playstation, Playstation, Gran Turismo Manufacturers Series Championship, Nissan GT Academy, 2018

Think you’re fast enough on Playstation? Nissan wants you!


The centrepiece of the Blancpain GT Series, to be held on July 26th to 29th, marks the return of the NSX name to the Spa 24 Hours, a quarter of a century after Armin Hahne, Bertrand Gachot and Kazuo Shimizu started the 1993 race from pole position in a Honda Belgium-entered car which was also supported by Castrol. The NSX has achieved significant success in motor racing since its launch in 1990, including GT victory at the 1995 Le Mans 24 Hours and six titles in Japan’s ultra-competitive Super GT series.
Motorsports

Castrol Honda Racing Enters SPA 24 Hours

IN Castrol Honda Racing, SPA 24 Hours, Castrol, Honda, NSX, GT3, NSX GT3, Honda NSX GT3, Blancpain GT Series

… and this car utilises a twin-turbocharged V6 power plant


The 570 hp four-wheel drive powerhouse for the FIA World Rallycross Championship (WRX) has a new look, as well as optimised aerodynamics. The new exterior makes this year's Polo R Supercar easy to distinguish from its predecessor.
Motorsports

Polo R Supercar debuts

IN Volkswagen, VW, Polo R Supercar, Polo, Polo R, Volkswagen Motorsport, R, Volkswagen R, PSRX Volkswagen Sweden, 2018, FIA World Rallycross Championship, WRX

Volkswagen Motorsport's new Polo R Supercar has been unveiled in Autostadt Wolfsburg, for this year’s FIA World Rallycross Championship


McRae was the youngest and also the first British driver to win the World Rally Championship Drivers’ Title in 1995, making him a household name. Four years later, McRae joined Ford, who also unveiled a new car for the ’99 season — the Focus WRC. Tragically, McRae died in a helicopter accident in 2007.
Happenings

Colin McRae’s Focus Up For Grab!

IN Colin McRae, Colin, McRae, Ford, Focus, WRC, 1999, Ford Focus WRC, 1999 Ford Focus WRC, World Rally Championship

The 1999 Ford Focus WRC, chassis #68335, is estimated at between 120,000 to 140,000 Euros


Development of the new car was led by the engineers of Bentley Motorsport’s in-house team based in Crewe, together with designers and technicians at Bentley’s motorsport technical partner, M-Sport. The new Continental GT3 has been designed from the all-new Continental GT road car, utilising it’s mostly aluminium structure as the foundation to deliver a race-ready weight of significantly less than 1,300 kg and helping to deliver an ideal weight distribution for racing.
Motorsports

Bentley Reveals New GT3 Race Car

IN Bentley, Continental, GT3, Race car, Bentley Continental GT3, Continental GT, Bentley Motorsport, Blancpain, 2018

New Continental GT3 race car based on all-new Continental GT road car; Bentley Motorsport aims for Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup titles


Bentley’s Director of Motorsport, Brian Gush commented, “Securing the Endurance Cup Teams title is testament to the hard work that every single member of Bentley Motorsport and Bentley Team M-Sport has put in to this season. We’ll be back next year aiming to go one better and secure the driver’s title too.”
Motorsports

Bentley wins Blancpain

IN Bentley, Bentley Motors, Bentley Motorsport, Blancpain GT Series, Continental GT3

Bentley Motorsport wins the world’s toughest GT3 endurance title


Motorsports

Karter Conversations - Part 3

IN Go-kart, Kart, Karting, X30, X30 Southeast Asia, KF1, KF1 Karting Circuit, Jason Burns

In the final instalment of this three-part series, we speak to Jason Burns who competes in the Senior category of the X30 Southeast Asia Championship.


1. Who, or what started you on karting? I’ve always loved racing, when I went for F1 here a couple of times, I realized that it was one of my dreams, so I researched on what we could do to get there - that’s what got me into it and I’ve loved it ever since.
Motorsports

Karter Conversations - Part 2

IN Go-kart, Kart, Karting, X30, X30 Southeast Asia, KF1, KF1 Karting Circuit, Romain Leroux

In part two of this three-part series, we speak to Romain Leroux who competes in the Senior category of the X30 Southeast Asia Championship.


1. Who, or what started you on karting? I went for holiday in Phuket and visited a go-kart track with my dad who took me around on a two-seater kart. It was quite slow compared to the ones here, but I really enjoyed it and loved the speed even though my dad is quite a bad driver. I cried when we had to go, and really wanted to get my own (go-kart). When we got back to Singapore, he bought me a secondhand kart. From then on I just practiced a lot at the old track in Jurong — I did a lot of hours and really enjoyed it.
Motorsports

Karter Conversations - Part 1

IN Go-kart, Kart, Karting, X30, X30 Southeast Asia, KF1, KF1 Karting Circuit, Alex Brown

In part one of this three-part series, we speak to Alex Dimano Brown who competes in the Junior category of the X30 Southeast Asia Championship.


The new car will be based on the New Generation i30, which was launched last year. The racing version is designed to take advantage of the best qualities of the road-going model, which went through its own rigorous testing plan, including mileage on the Nürburgring Nordschleife circuit.Work on the design began at Hyundai Motorsport in September last year; building and development of the cars will also be completed at the company’s headquarters in Alzenau, Germany. The creation of this new project continues the work started by the Customer Racing department on the New Generation i20 R5 rally car which showed the high-performance, dynamic side of Hyundai to a wider audience.In line with current TCR regulations, the car will be powered by a two-litre turbocharged engine (from within the Hyundai range), and fitted with a six-speed gearbox and 100-litre fuel tank. The car is scheduled to begin testing in early April, while the first deliveries to customers are planned for December.
Motorsports

Hyundai to race

IN Hyundai, Hyundai Motorsport, I30, 2017, Customer Racing, Hyundai Customer Racing, TCR International Series, TCR, Racing, Motorsport

Hyundai Motorsport has announced its first project for circuit racing, a TCR-specification design based on the new-generation i30


For this test, the aerodynamics were closely scrutinised by the engineers. “The freedom allowed by the FIA regulations offers us a much larger range of possible solutions than before,” says project manager for the 2017 World Rally Car, Alexis Avril. “The bodywork of the WRC must entirely cover that of the original model and the maximum width is set at 1875mm. In this framework, we have a lot of freedom to design the wheel arches and bumpers. We can also create air intakes for re-cooling the rear brakes and add on a diffuser. Paradoxically, there are more restrictions for the design of the rear wing than today, but its efficiency will be increased tenfold by its further backed and raised positioning.”
Motorsports

Citroën Racing Tests Their 2017 WRC Car In Finland

IN Citroën Racing, Citroën, WRC, 2017 WRC, 2017 World Rally Car, FIA

Citroën Racing chose the roads of Finland for the third development test session of its 2017 World Rally Car; Kris Meeke and Craig Breen testing car's aerodynamic performance


BP — Would you be as effective with another driver or is there a sort of chemistry between you guys? MA — I think it depends mostly on how well you can cope with the system of a particular driver, because normally every driver has his own preference and the co-driver must adapt himself and understand what the driver needs. There are several co-drivers who have been successful with several different drivers, so I think that one driver can be successful with many co-drivers, but for a co-driver to be successful he needs a very talented driver. BP — Jari-Matti, has there ever been a case where you found yourself expecting more of Miikka? JML — No, not really. Its only been a few times where if Miikka has been a little bit late or going a little too early then I will just tell him to wait a moment, or just telling him ”next note, next note
Motorsports

An Intimate Interview with Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila | Part 1

IN VW, Volkswagen, WRC, Rally, World Rally Championship, Polo, Polo R, Motorsport, Latvala, Jari-Matti, Anttila, Miikka, Finland

Meet motorsport’s highest-flying Finns as they talk Group B, co-driving, and their intra-cockpit relationship.


You see, the 124 Spider is the result of an agreement formed between Fiat and Mazda about three years ago. Mazda would develop and manufacture both its new MX-5 and the Spider at its factory in Hiroshima, with the two cars featuring each brand’s own engines. So, whereas the MX-5 uses a naturally aspirated 1.5 or 2.0L Skyactiv engine, the Spider will come with a turbocharged 1.4L lump from the 500 Abarth.
Happenings

An Itsy Bitsy Spider

IN Fiat, Spider, 124, Roadster, Sports car,

Japanese engineering with Italian style. Fiat revives another iconic nameplate with this, the new 124 Spider.


Sadly, this, the Evo X Final Edition, will be the model's swansong. After ten, well, evolutions, its storied 23-year history will be coming to an end. There will not be a replacement for the current Evo X (which has been in production since 2007), as Mitsubishi wants to move towards increased electrification and hybridisation of its cars.
Happenings

The Final Evolution

IN Mitsubishi, Evo, Lancer, Lancer Evolution, Final

Break out the tissue packets and say a teary farewell; the Mitsubishi Evo as we know and love it is going the way of the dodo.



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