Aston Martin could race an adapted version of the Valkyrie at Le Mans if the regulations are rewritten to allow race-modified versions of hypercars to compete at the top level of the sport, according to CEO Andy Palmer.

Speaking to our sister publication, Autocar UK, Palmer said he had been consulted by motor racing’s governing body, the FIA, on future regulations for sportscar racing.

The sport is currently in a state of flux because Toyota is the only works team confirmed to compete at the top LMP1 level following the withdrawal of Porsche, Audi and Nissan in recent years.

When asked directly if Aston Martin would compete with the Valkyrie if the rules were changed, Palmer said: “Watch this space.”

The Valkyrie is the result of a collaboration between Aston Martin and Red Bull Racing, with the technical design led by renowned Formula 1 designer Adrian Newey. The partners have already confirmed that they will develop a race version with less weight and more power than the road car for a launch in 2020, although it is thought that a sportscar racing version would have to be more extreme again.

The Valkyrie AMR track model, of which just 25 will be made, costs more than £3 million – around £1m more than the standard road Valkyrie – with all cars already sold out. Aston Martin famously won Le Mans outright in 1959, when Carroll Shelby and Roy Salvadori took victory in the Aston Martin DBR1.

Courtesy :  Autocar

The Honda FCV Clarity is the first fuel cell vehicle I’ve been around and I can’t seem to understand what the fuss is all about. I’m to be driven around a short course before taking the wheel myself a few minutes later, but from whatever I’ve seen of the car in action at Honda’s R&D headquarters in Tochigi, Japan, it doesn’t seem like a science experiment on wheels. Even when I get inside, I find that the doors shut with a nice thud, the rear seat has space for three (a big deal, as I learn later) and though the seating position on the rear bench is a bit knees-up, it’s quite a comfortable place to be. It’s so, for a lack of a better word, normal; the fact that the Clarity feels like this actually means a job well done by the team responsible for the car. Feedback from FCX Clarity (predecessor to the FCV Clarity) leasers was for a car that was as practical as a like-sized petrol-powered sedan.

Honda has been working on fuel cell vehicles for over two decades and the FCV Clarity that was launched in Japan, and parts of Europe and USA last year, marks a big step in the journey. Like on other fuel cell vehicles, here too hydrogen stored onboard reacts with oxygen in a cell, creating electricity which powers the drive motor, with water being the only by-product of the process. The big breakthrough on the Clarity, however, has been in reducing the size of the fuel cell stack while increasing its volumetric power density. The FCV Clarity’s fuel cell stack is a third smaller than the FCX’s and the smaller size has allowed it to be positioned under the bonnet rather than in the centre tunnel, making a middle rear seat possible. The entire fuel cell powertrain comprising the fuel cell stack, hydrogen and air supply system, and drive mechanism are now combined in one package that is similar in dimension to a petrol V6. Peak power is 130kW or about 177hp. Two high-pressure tanks of differing sizes store the hydrogen while a lithium-ion battery pack under the floor stores electricity generated from the fuel cell and regenerative braking.

Driving the Clarity feels like driving a standard battery-electric car. Initial acceleration is strong and the Clarity responds well to throttle inputs on the go, but power also tails out quite soon. Expectedly, there’s little noise except a mild whirr from the air compressor force-feeding air to the fuel cell stack. It’s an unemotive means of transport, really. Actually, make that unemotive means of long-distance transport. Honda claims a filling time of 3min and a cruising range of as much as 750km. Sure beats charging a battery electric vehicle every other day.

So the Clarity has a long range, emits only water and uses hydrogen, only the most abundant element on earth. Sounds too good to be true? There is a catch. Hydrogen is generally found in compounds with other elements (including in fuel) and separating it is an expensive process and, depending on the method used, also polluting. Storage and distribution are other roadblocks which is why the availability of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles is so far restricted to small pockets the world over. For us in India, the closest hydrogen pump is a few thousand kilometres away.

You can safely rule out fuel cells coming to India in the next decade or two but who knows FCVs like the Clarity could just become the new normal elsewhere in the world in the very near future.

Courtesy : Autocar

Five years on from its rule-breaking P1 hypercar, McLaren has unveiled a second member of its range-topping Ultimate Series in London last week. Named after the grand prix team’s greatest champion, Ayrton Senna, the new 800hp hypercar has been dubbed an “ultimate road-legal track car”.  McLaren Senna is the first model from Woking to have styling described by its creators as “brutal” and “unforgiving”.

Revealed at an exclusive launch, the Senna's unique looks result largely from the extreme active aerodynamics that sprout from its basic teardrop shape. The car has a huge rear wing and front splitter (both with active elements) plus straight flanks, exotically shaped wheel arches, air-gulping scoops and inlets, and more subtle air dams and strakes.

According to the Ultimate Series' vehicle line boss Andy Palmer, the Senna’s engineering and design team spent two years adapting McLaren’s now familiar-recipe of a carbonfibre chassis and panels, compact, mid-mounted twin-turbo V8, race-bred interconnected suspension and electrohydraulic power in an effort to create the most extreme McLaren since the company’s modern era began, in 2010.

The result is a car with the unprecedentedly low dry weight of 1,198kg (undercutting the already light 720S by 220kg). Throw in a 9 percent power hike for the 4.0-litre engine and the Senna has an eye-watering power-to-weight ratio of 669hp per tonne. It is not surprising that the factory claims it’ll turn in the quickest lap times of any production McLaren, yet.

McLaren won’t be declaring the Senna’s official performance figures until January; but it is already clear that the car will have P1-level straight-line performance, with probable 0-96kph acceleration in 2.5sec and a top speed well beyond 322kph.

Unlike other McLarens, which claim a breadth of capability, the Senna focuses squarely on lap times, offering “the purest connection yet between driver and car of any road-legal McLaren”. Besides, while the P1 was a hybrid (as half of McLaren’s production cars will be, by 2022), the Senna is a solely fossil-fuelled car whose lack of electrification is one reason for its amazingly low weight.

Courtesy : Autocar

Volkswagen has revealed the 2018 Polo GTI that is based on the new sixth-generation Polo. Both are underpinned by the VW Group's new MQB AO platform. This makes its future in India uncertain. The current GTI, which is also sold in India as a CBU import, is based on the older PQ25 platform.

The 2018 Polo GTI will be powered by Volkswagen's new EA888 engine series. Under the hood, there is a 2.0-litre four-cylinder direct injection turbo-petrol engine which will replace the previous 1.8-litre unit. This engine churns out 197hp at 6,000rpm (up by 5hp) and 320Nm of peak torque (up by 70Nm) at 1,500rpm to 4,400rpm. As a result, the 0-100kph time has marginally improved by 0.05sec at 6.7sec. The top-speed, too, at 237kph sees a small bump of 5kph.

The engine will be mated to a six-speed dual-clutch automatic (DSG) which will be followed by a six-speed manual transmission, a year later.

For the first time, the Polo GTI features fully digital instruments. Along with these come a host of driver-assistance systems like Front Assist with City Emergency Braking and Pedestrian Monitoring, Blind Spot Monitor, proactive occupant protection system and Automatic Post-Collision Braking System.

The 2018 Polo GTI will get a 6.5-inch touchscreen infotainment screen and a 300W sound system from Beats as standard. An 8.0-inch touchscreen option is also available. In addition to MirrorLink, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, it also gets the Car-net application that gives the driver access to all the Google media apps.

The Polo GTI is also the only Polo to get ‘sports running gear’ as standard – which includes special tuning of the springs, auxiliary springs, shock-absorbers and anti-roll bars – with the body lowered by 15mm.

Along with the GTI, VW has also showcased the Polo GTI R5, designed for motorsport series like the WRC. The GTI R5 is powered by a smaller 1.6-litre engine (to meet the prescribed configuration of the WRC) but produces 268hp and 400Nm of peak torque. It is mated to a close-stepped, sequential, 5-Speed racing gearbox and is equipped with a permanent four-wheel drive system. The car can clock 100kph from zero in just 4.1sec. The GTI R5 will be manufactured in Pamplona, Spain and is strengthened with roll cage and other safety features, as per FIA regulations.

Courtesy : Autocar

What you see in the photos is the FT-AC that expands to the ‘Toyota Future Adventure Concept’. As the name makes amply clear, it points to a future SUV from Toyota. The concept demonstrates how a high-tech SUV can be used to support active lifestyles.

The model incorporates Toyota’s design language to a rugged, off-road platform equipped with features like removable cameras and lights. These features can also be attached to a bicycle. The car can be connected to a user’s smartphone, tablet or laptop to transfer the footage of a journey or livestream videos directly on social media.

Toyota North America vice-president, Jack Hollis said, ”FT-AC is perfect for those outdoor enthusiasts who want to dial-up the adventure on their weekend getaways.”

The concept features skidplates to protect its underside, as well as wheel arch protectors and off-road tyres wrapped around its 20-inch wheels. The SUV also gets roof racks and a retractable bicycle rack.

The FT-AC is likely to get a petrol engine — although the specifications for the car have not been disclosed. Toyota has also mentioned the possibility of the production FT-AC getting a hybrid powertrain. Drive is sent to all four-wheels with torque vectoring technology that independently controls each wheel to enhance traction and off-road capabilities

Courtesy : Autocar