Motoring News

This morning an F1 mad co-worker of mine sent me a link to the BBC’s F1 site proclaiming “Proper Grand Prix on a proper racetrack.”.

Now, we have had several conversations in work lately about the quality of the tracks in the last few seasons of F1, with a number of newly designed tracks being included in the years line-up including the new track still being built in Abu Dhabi for this years Abu Dhabi F1 event. The discussions have included comments along the lines of “all of the new tracks are boring and have not been designed with passing in mind” etc.

So as i opened the link this morning i was not sure what i would be presented with, but to my surprise it was the BBC’s back log of Grand Prix highlights going all the way back to the 1979 French Grand Prix with the epic last lap battle between Gilles Villeneuve and Rene Arnoux.

Here is a couple of my favourates:

Is it a Bike?

Is it a Car?

No, its the new Peugeot BB1.

Sorry about that, i couldn’t help myself after reading the captions on Peugeot’s new BB1 microsite. The tag-line reads “It Father is a scooter. Its Mother is a car”, catchy indeed, but what does it mean?

The new BB1 is Peugeot’s latest go at a quiet, economic, funky little town car for the future. Peugeot state the idea for the car was to “brake conventions and establish frontiers to create a new type of vehicle”. The BB1 will be 100% electrically powered and will be able to seat 4 people, though stay only 2.5 metres long.

The BB1 certainly has a striking design, with a almost upright windscreen, bullish front end and suicide doors. The interesting design doesn’t stop when you move inside, with a control system which resembles what you would expect from a motorbike, the controls and dash are simplistic yet stylish.

If the BB1 does make its way onto the forecourts, I’m sure there will be plenty of changes to the design, but I like the overall idea and can’t wait to see what Peugeot have in-store for the micro town car.

New Peugeot BB1

Peugeot BB1 Interior

Peugeot BB1 Micro Town Car

Rumors are Circulating the net that VW could be looking to buy a stake of Suzuki motors by the end of this year. Pistonheads have reported that last week VW’s chief executive Martin Winterkorn stated that Suzuki’s competency in small cars would make them an “interesting partner”.

Automobilwoche, a popular German industry publication has claimed that they know the identity of the Suzuki executive that spilled the beans of the rumored partnership last week at the Frankfurt motor show. The source revealed that they “expect that there will be a basic agreement this year”.

After the battle with Porsche earlier this year, VW’s interest in Suzuki is a positive sign that their business account and business plans are getting back to normal and the German manufacture and that they are looking stronger then ever, even in the rough financial environment. If the deal does go through both companies will benefit, with Suzuki getting access to VW’s excessive parts bin for their cars and VW will get a solid supporting leg in India and Southeast Asia.

Maybe we’ll end up with a Suzuki GTI?

Suzuki GTI

Along with thousands of others of Internet users across the world I enjoy using Flickr to share my photos of pretty much everything. Unlike me, there are a number of people on Flickr who possess more talent in their little finger then i ever will when it comes to catching a great shot.

Some of these talented photographers share the same passion for motoring, giving us some stunning images of top motors in beautiful and  jaw dropping back drops locations. I have decided to share some of my favourite Flickr car photographers within this blog post, so enjoy.

Tom Edge

Mk2 Golf Rallye bay shot

Mk2 Golf hdr shot

Wills mk3 Cab

Chad Truss

VW Bora side profile shot

Corvette on the move

Stunning Saab 900 vintage style shot

Costas

Very nice rig shot of a moving Porsche

Rig shot of a 350Z and GTR

Mean looking Charger

Chris Brasher

Porsche Close-up

Ripple strip

Amazing coloured TTS

I must say thank you to all the photographers I have mentioned within this post, i love all of your work and I hope you all keep it up. If you would like me to take down any of the images i have used please let me know and I will respond.