Raikkonen still undecided

After nine years in Formula One, Kimi Raikkonen faces an uncertain future as the former world champion has yet to put pen to paper on a deal for next season.

Having opted to leave Ferrari a year early, Raikkonen said farewell to the Scuderia at last weekend's season finale in Abu Dhabi. However, it remains to be seen whether it was also his goodbye to Formula One.

The 30-year-old, who turned down an offer from Toyota prior to the team's withdrawal from the sport, has on numerous occasions stated that he will only race for a team capable of winning the world title. More to the point, he'll only race for McLaren.

And although he had been talking with the Woking team, reports claim the negotiations broke down due to Raikkonen's salary demands.

Despite the reports, though, the 2007 world champion it not at all anxious about his future.

"It's hard to believe that I have been in Formula One for nine years already," Raikkonen told his official website.

"I am very motivated to win races and a championship again and will only remain in F1 if I can race for a team that can give me a car to fight at the front.

"Let's wait and see what happens."

And although Raikkonen has already stated that rallying or even a year on the sidelines are options, the Finn would like to tackle Formula One's new 2010 regulations, which include a ban on refueling.

"Everybody can focus on next year like Ferrari have done already many weeks," he said. "Is it going to be different? At least there are not so many changes next year.

"No refueling and smaller front tyres are the main things. At the start of the race the cars will feel very difficult to drive with so much fuel on board, so preserving the tyres will play a part.

"Qualifying is now like the old days where we do not use fuel so that will be more fun."

The car in front is no longer a Toyota

Toyota's Jarno Trulli crashes at the start of the Spanish Grand Prix. Photograph: Albert Gea/Reuters

Jarno Trulli says he was not in the least surprised by Toyota's sudden withdrawal from Formula One on Tuesday. In which case, he was almost alone among more than 800 team members, led by John Howett, the president of Toyota Motorsport. When interviewed by the BBC during qualifying for the Brazilian grand prix on 17 October and asked about his driver line-up for 2010, Howett said: "We've made an offer to Kimi Raikkonen. We think it's fair. We've got a good track record looking after Scandinavians who like to enjoy themselves."

Howett was either deliberately misleading the Ferrari driver, not to mention the television audience, or he did not have the faintest clue about the thunderbolt that was about to travel from Tokyo and impact on the team's headquarters in Cologne. Given the 57-year-old Englishman's status as one of the most honest and uncomplicated men in the paddock, it was undoubtedly the latter. The fact that the sole person responsible to the board of the largest motor company in the world did not see this coming says everything about the dangers of a relatively small business such as Formula One not so much embracing motor manufacturers, but allowing itself to be sucked in by their profligate ways.

Formula One only has itself to blame for expanding rapidly with highly paid technicians and making the payroll a significant item of expenditure. That figure accounts for at least 30% of the Toyota team's $330m (£200m) 2009 budget, into which the parent company paid $214m, the rest coming from sponsorship and television fees. And this was a substantial reduction from a €390m ($580m at today's rate) budget in 2006.

It will have mattered little to the Toyota board that their team ranked fourth in the spending chart behind Ferrari, BMW and McLaren-Mercedes or that the Formula One investment – and that is the correct word given the global profile and accelerated technical feedback provided for the road car division – would not have scratched the surface of an ashtray redesign on the Yaris. The company will lose an estimated $8.3bn and something had to be seen to be done. The board, many of whom would have known little about Formula One and probably cared even less, had no alternative. Their best intentions were crushed by a global recession the scale of which was beyond the imagination of even the shrewdest company accountant when Toyota committed to Formula One in 1999. No one in the sport should be in the least surprised.

Trulli's wise-after-the-event analysis was prompted less by clever forecasting and more by the thought that Toyota were unlikely to re-employ him after another mediocre season. The Italian's frequently excellent qualifying runs were not matched in the races, to such an extent that rival teams, when planning pit-stop tactics, would go to great lengths to avoid having their drivers stuck behind the Toyota in what became known as the "Trulli train".

True to form, Trulli qualified sixth in Abu Dhabi last weekend and finished seventh, his lacklustre showing being exacerbated by Kamui Kobayashi as the novice, in yet another feisty drive, leapfrogged his team-mate while moving from 12th to sixth. Kobayashi is one of the many unfortunate victims of the withdrawal since he had done enough to warrant a full‑time drive with Toyota in 2010. It will be no surprise if one of the four new teams snaps up the 23-year-old Japanese.

Either way, early reports of Formula One's death are exaggerated as the sport regroups. The disappearance in 11 months of Honda, BMW and Toyota could be seen as the tipping point as the emphasis returns to compact and efficient teams with racing as their core business.

Regardless of the structure of the entry for 2010 and beyond, the processional race in Abu Dhabi – enriched only by a superb fight for second between Mark Webber and Jenson Button during the closing laps – demonstrated that you can spend millions on a facility that wants for nothing, but which is meaningless if the cars cannot run in close company and the track design, despite being brand new, incorporates chicanes that throttle the life out of wheel-to-wheel racing.

The in-tray of Jean Todt will be filled with legal correspondence over Toyota suddenly quitting despite having committed to Formula One until 2012. The new FIA president needs, as a priority, to examine why teams such as Brawn and Toyota were able to legally introduce the double diffuser at the back of their 2009 cars, thus negating at a stroke the valuable work of the so-called Overtaking Committee and making the aerodynamic device de rigueur at the expense of overtaking on new tracks with their cardboard cutout, standard‑issue corners. Not, of course, that the double diffuser did Toyota any good as the Formula One team failed to score the maiden win that might, just might, have kept them in the sport. 

Behind the Wheel | Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport

This removable-roof version of the Veyron coupe costs 1.4 million euros, or roughly $2.1 million. I say roughly, because the Bugatti’s price can fluctuate about $14,000 a day simply from one-cent adjustments in exchange rates.

For that price, a rare species of car owner gets a rocket that gleams across the planet’s surface faster than any true production automobile that has come before. The Bugatti shifts occupants around like a Star Trek transporter: from a standstill to 60 miles per hour in 2.7 seconds, to 125 m.p.h. in just over 7 seconds and on to a top speed of 253 m.p.h. — though 401 kilometers per hour has a better bullet-train ring to it.

Particulars include 1,001 horsepower, 16 cylinders, 8 liters of engine displacement, 4 turbochargers, all-wheel drive and a dual-clutch automatic transmission. Only 150 Grand Sports will be built, tacked onto 300 editions of the Veyron coupe, making the Bugatti the automotive equivalent of a Fabergé egg. A $450,000 deposit gets that egg rolling at Bugatti’s atelier in Molsheim, France.

As a fast-car fanboy, this is where I should need a squeegee to wipe the drool off the page. But while the Saudi sheiks who’ll buy the Grand Sport want my advice as much as they want electric cars, the Bugatti ultimately doesn’t do it for me.

Though I generally test cars for a week, I was granted barely an hour’s audience with the Bugatti. But as with my previous test of the coupe, my impression was of a car so overqualified for public roads that even the ultra-rich would be better off with a more approachable sports car.

Bugatti’s main achievement was making a car that weighs nearly 4,400 pounds — 1,100 more than a Corvette or Porsche 911 — accelerate and handle so well. The second achievement, and no small feat, is how a midengine exotic with more power than a Formula One racer manages to feel comfortable and pliable even in city traffic. With just a little instruction, your grandmother could drive this car at 150 m.p.h. while knitting a Nomex racing suit.

Press the gas pedal, thwack the paddle shifters and the next thing you know the aero wing emerges from the rear deck — a sign that you’ve already crested 137 m.p.h.

To run safely at speeds above 233 m.p.h., drivers must insert a second, special key that lowers the body and closes the front diffuser flaps Batmobile-style. That key, I might add, stayed hidden in the pocket of John Hill, Bugatti’s American market manager, who rode shotgun with me.

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The convertible buttresses the lost roof with reinforced doors and carbon-fiber bracing, including supports in the roof-mounted air intakes to bolster rollover protection. With near-zero storage space (and nary a cup holder), the removable transparent hardtop must be stashed in a garage, perhaps on a chinchilla throw. The carries a flimsy canvas roof for sudden downpours, but it’s not recommended above 100 m.p.h., lest it fly off like a bad toupée.

I definitely prefer the targa-top Grand Sport to the Veyron coupe, because it lets you hear the 16 cylinders churning behind your head, along with the quad turbochargers slurping air and burping off the excess.

The car comes with a great cocktail-party boast: if your Veyron, at rest, were passed by a $500,000 Mercedes McLaren SLR doing 100 m.p.h., you could floor the accelerator and still reach 200 m.p.h. before the Mercedes could match its speed.

That kind of physics-textbook problem is where my issues begin. At speeds where cars from a $40,000 Nissan 370Z to a $90,000 Porsche 911 become your wingmen, delivering pure blasts of driving joy, the Bugatti feels bored to death. The artillery-shell acceleration is diverting, but the Bugatti leaves you nowhere else to go, except directly to jail.

Many Bugatti buyers surely have access to racetracks, yet I’m equally sure that 90-some percent of them won’t have nearly enough driving talent to exercise this car. Mostly, I picture Euro-poseurs needing valet assistance to back up the Bugatti in Monaco, while jaws drop and the owner barks orders into his diamond-encrusted cellphone. When your car makes a Lamborghini seem tasteful, there’s a problem.

As with the New York Yankees or most Picasso paintings, I respect the Bugatti as an engineering exercise and a conglomeration of overpriced talent. Yet I might argue that any $2 million car should be powered by hydrogen, electricity — even nuclear fusion — not a gas engine blown up to overkill proportions. The Bugatti isn’t the future of the fast car; it’s the past writ in extra-large type.

I try to avoid the pointless game of adding up the many cars you could have for the price of one exotic. The truth is that the exotic-car buyer is quite proficient at math. He wants what he wants, and he can afford it.

But this time I’ll make an exception. For half the Bugatti’s price, one could buy four genuine exotics that I find better looking and more rewarding: the Ferrari F430, Lamborghini Gallardo, Audi R8 V-10 and Aston Martin DBS. That would still leave $1 million for a 10-car garage filled with classics like a Jaguar E-Type and a Corvette Sting Ray fuelie.

But once again, why would a Bugatti prospect care what I think? I’d be the guy tracking exchange rates on the Veyron, hoping to save enough to get a free Hyundai.

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INSIDE TRACK: Right at home on a richer planet.

Next Article in Automobiles (3 of 27) » A version of this article appeared in print on November 8, 2009, on page AU2 of the New York edition.

PF1's Prediction Bloopers & Troopers

PF1's Michelle Foster, Frank Hopkinson and Pete Gill, plus Skybet's Dave Pilgrim and Autotrader's Keith Collantine looked at their crystal balls at the start of the season. Some were dustier than others...

01. Who will win the Drivers' Championship?Jenson Button won the titleMF: Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn is determined to bounce back from last year's humiliation and I'm confident he can do it. - 0FH: Robert Kubica - Now that we've dispensed with that pesky driver-with-the-most-wins formula, Kubica has an ever greater chance of taking his maiden title. He has Schumacher's (that's Michael not Ralf) Terminator-like ability to never give up. Even with a slower, less-developed car he was able to challenge till late in the 2008 season. His biggest hazard will be Nick Heidfeld taking points away from him. - 0PG: Kimi Raikkonen. It's make or break time for the Finn. And I reckon it might - hopefully - be the making of him. - 0DP: Robert Kubica - the young Pole was arguably denied a realistic shot at the title last season after BMW chose to develop the 2009 car primarily, and they could find themselves among the quickest cars this time around. - 0KC: I've been watching F1 for 20 years and I've never known a season that's been harder to predict. BMW have looked consistently strong throughout testing, made an early start on the F1.09 and got a lot of mileage in. So I'm going to say Robert Kubica. - 0

02. And the Constructors' will go to?Brawn GP the titleMF: Ferrari. Naturally. The Italian outfit has a great car and two strong drivers. McLaren, though, have only one strong driver in Lewis Hamilton so once again Heikki Kovalainen will cost them the Constructors' crown. - 0FH: BMW. They have spent the most development time on KERS and have experienced fewest pre-season problems of the Ferrari-McLaren-BMW triumvirate. That's not to say that Toyota, Renault and Brawn won't win races in 2009, but last season's top three can be relied on to keep the car fast over the course of a season. - 0PG: Ferrari. - 0DP: Ferrari - Two experienced drivers who both know how to win, and positive noises coming from the Maranello outfit. - 0KC: BMW. Reliability will play a big role and theres has been outstanding in recent years. - 0

03. Who will score more points - Button or Hamilton?Jenson Button scored 95 to Lewis Hamilton's 49MF: Hamilton. I can't for the life of me see Brawn GP matching McLaren. - 0FH: Hamilton, but not at first. Button's early season success will be dependent on the Brawn diffuser not being deemed illegal. If they have to radically alter the back end of the car with limited on-track testing then that picture could change radically. - 0PG: Button will start the season with the fastest car and as there's no guarantee that McLaren will be able to recover what they've lost then it's only sensible to back Button here. - 1DP: Tough one given the early testing times, but I'm going to say Lewis by a narrow margin. McLaren may find themselves playing catch-up but they have the experience to fight at the front once they get the car sorted out. - 0KC: Hamilton. Brawn are fast now but will they still be halfway through the season? - 0

04. Who will be in pole position in Melbourne?Jenson Button took pole position in AustraliaMF: Ferrari. - 0FH: Jarno Trulli. He's good on the streets and the Toyota is in spanking form. That doesn't mean to say he'll win, though. - 0PG: Jenson is probably the favourite so I'll take an outside shot with Rubens Barrichello. - 0DP: Button looks to have as good a shot as anyone, and I'd not be surprised to see him pip Felipe Massa to pole. - 1KC: Button. - 1

05. And who will suffer the first retirement of the season?Heikki Kovalainen retired on lap 1 in Melbourne due to a broken front suspensionMF: It will be one of the Toro Rosso drivers. They've barely tested and I think they will pay the price come Australia. - 0FH: If it's for a mechanical reason then the gods always favour Red Bull. Let's just hope it's not Mark Webber at his home GP. If it's for a pushing-too-hard reason then it could well be Lewis Hamilton. The barriers are close in Albert Park and the McLaren MP4-24 isn't as fast as he wants it to be. - 0PG: Considering their lack of testing, either a Force India or Toro Rosso. Seb Bourdais doesn't seem to be one of life's lucky men so he'll be my pick. - 0DP: Much depends who chooses to run KERS, but I'm going to have a stab at Force India who haven't had a lot of testing time. - 0KC: Mark Webber, luck running true to form. - 0

06. Who will cause the year's biggest scandal?Renault did with their Singapore GP race-fixingMF: Well here's hoping Max Mosley stays out the headlines (I'm still having nightmares over that) but alas I think it will be him but in his capacity as head of the FIA. In fact the FIA have already caused a scandal with their rather daft 'winner-takes-all' scheme, which has now been pushed back to 2010. - 0FH: It looks like the FIA and FOTA are heading for a showdown over budget caps. There could be significant fall-out. It's hard to tell if this barking idea from Max is yet another of his negotiating points or he really is sincere in the belief that what F1 needs to attract more people to watch it is a set of incomprehensible technical rules. - 0PG: Tamara Ecclestone. Well, we can but hope. - 0DP: I'm going for the Diffuser Row which threatens to over shadow the beginning of a cracking season. - 0KC: Max Mosley, again. - 0

07. Which driver will be replaced before the year is out?Renault replaced Nelson Piquet Jr and Toro Rosso, Sebastien BourdaisMF: I think all the drivers will see out the season. Given the new in-season test ban it would be one hell of a risk to bring someone else in during the year who hasn't had time in the car. - 0FH: None. They'll all have too much fun for that. The only rookie, Buemi, looks like the real deal, the only replacement might come through injury. The drivers who might go at the end of the season are Fisichella and Barrichello. But if Rubens has a good year who's to stop him going on? - 0PG: Nelson Piquet jr. Another humiliation awaits. - 1DP: I think the same 20 drivers will complete the season this time around, but Nelson Piquet Jr needs to improve his stock if he is to ensure a full season in F1. - 1KC: Nelson Piquet Jnr, for Romain Grosjean. - 1

08. Raikkonen or Massa?Kimi Raikkonen won the Ferrari battle as Felipe Massa was injuredMF: Raikkonen. As said earlier I think he will win the title. - 1FH: Raikkonen. Massa works best when he's got pole position and a clear track and he can just wind out faster and faster laps. It looks like they'll be less chances of that in 2009 thanks to the progress of Toyota, Brawn and BMW. Raikkonen can mix it in the pack and still come through and so he's a much better driver for a slower Ferrari. - 1PG: I've backed Kimi for the title so I'll have to back him here as well. But I do consider Felipe to be the most under-rated driver in the sport. - 1DP: Massa - showed maturity in 2008 and can kick on from there with another good season. - 0KC: I'm not going to make the mistake of underestimating Massa yet again - but I think Raikkonen will be closer this year. - 0

09. Will the season prove Brawn's winter testing pace was real?It did, especially as they won both titlesMF: Hmm, I'm in two minds about this. Yes and no. I think Brawn's winter pace is in qualifying trim, so give them points for qualifying near the front of the pack. But I think in grands prix they may suffer from a lacking of mileage. - 1/2FH: Yes. Providing they don't have to redesign the back end of the car around a different diffuser. It looks like there will be protests over their interpretation of the 2009 regs in Melbourne. - 1PG: Why wouldn't it be? They were consistently quick throughout testing and have been working on that car for over a year. Honda should be kicking themselves. - 1DP: Yes. I was initially sceptical about the pace, but it looks genuine and they will start the season strongly. Whether they can keep improving ahead of their rivals is probably the bigger question. - 1KC: They will be quick (though not whole seconds per laps quicker than the opposition) early in the season, but I suspect most of their rivals will develop their cars more quickly. - 1

10. Will this be Toyota's breakthrough year?Nope, it fact it was the year Toyota announced they're quittingMF: They had better otherwise it seems Toyota could withdraw from F1. But will they? I don't think so. - 1FH: Yes (but see above). It has to be. The world's car giant is not immune from the massive emergency stop that has happened to car sales. They should come away with at least a couple of victories and it might be Glock that does it for them. - 0PG: If by 'breakthrough' we mean race wins then I still suspect they will come up just short. - 1DP: No. I don't expect a great deal form the Japanese outfit despite upbeat talk from the team. - 1

11. Will Force India score any points?Force India bagged 13 points, including two podium finishesMF: Yes, not many, but yes they will. - 1FH: Yes - with all the front wing carnage that's going to happen, being tucked away at the back of the grid is going to be a good option for them to come through. They won't win from pole, though. - 1PG: Nope. - 0DP: Yes, I think we could see some unexpected results this year, and Force India can capitalise with the odd point here and there. - 1KC: Yes, when it rains. - 1

12. Lewis Hamilton will first be punished by the stewards/summoned to appear in front of them at which grand prix?Hamilton was punished post-Melbourne in the liargate scandalMF: It won't happen before the half-way stage of the season and the title race starts to heat up. So lets go with... - 0FH: Melbourne. Lewis will tread on a crack in the pavement and that will be enough to haul him in. - 1PG: Melbourne. - 1DP: Monaco always throws up controversy so lets go for that one! - 0KC: Monaco. - 0

13. Will Max Mosley be re-elected as FIA President?Max didn't even stand, Jean Todt was elected presidentMF: Geez I was seriously surprised that he was given a vote of confidence. But given the way he's pushing for cost-cutting measures I'll say yes. - 0FH: Max doesn't want to go when there's unfinished business and it's highly unlikely that he'll be able to wrap up an agreement on budget caps before the end of the season. Despite all the lurid revelations in the press, the latest mistake about the driver points system might hurt him most. It was an embarrassing slip up, compounded by the explanations afterwards. Max says he "was told by Bernie" that the teams had agreed it. What a casual way to make rules. Considering FOTA had trumpeted their new points scoring system which the FIA considered and rejected how could they possibly think that FOTA were in agreement. It's not even a sensible excuse. Max will stand again but he won't be re-elected. - 1.2PG: Rule number one: Never, ever underestimate Max Mosley. So that's a 'yes'. - 0DP: No. Time for a change, and there are better men for the job in my opinion. - 1KC: Inevitably. - 0

14. Which grand prix will learn they've been axed during the course of the season?Although the Brit GP was held at Silverstone, new home Donington got the bootMF: Hungary. Please, please drop Hungary. - 0FH: Turkey. (Though Donington is the obvious answer) - 0PG: Great Britain. - 1DP: Spa and Monza could be under threat if Bernie continues to hike prices. - 0KC: Germany. - 0

15. Kubica or Heidfeld?Nick Heidfeld beat Robert Kubica by two pointsMF: While Heidfeld's smaller stature will count for a lot with the cars fitted with KERS, I reckon Kubica is heads and shoulders above the German. - 0FH: Kubica, but it will be closer than 2008. - 0PG: Nobody could back Heidfeld over Kubica, could they? - 0DP: Kubica. No contest. - 0KC: Kubica. - 0

16. The biggest disappointment of the season will be...The new technical regulations failing to make good race ranks at the topMF: KERS. It won't have the desired effect of increasing overtaking. If both drivers push the button, well that negates it. And as for those front wings... all they are going to do is increase the number of accident. - 1FH: Red Bull. The 'clean sheet of paper' was going to be just what Adrian Newey needed to show that he was the pre-eminent F1 designer, but it'll be the engineering side of the operation that lets the team down. Heikki Kovalainen should also be in a position to battle it out with Lewis Hamilton. And won't. - 0PG: Seeing Fernando Alonso in an uncompetitive car. Then again, I wouldn't write him off for somehow salvaging a few decent results from a bad job. - 0DP: For us personally it will be the day we payout on Button for the Drivers' Championship, but assuming we avoid that day, I'll predict Hamilton's defence of his title if McLaren don't get their act together quickly. - 1KC: See question 13. - 0

17. In what month will the first 'Alonso to Ferrari' story be published on the site?They started when the year began and finally ended with the confirmation in SeptemberMF: Haven't we published it already? - 1FH: The moment that Renault start to look like non-contenders in the Championship race, or the second that Raikkonen or Massa falls behind their team-mate. - 0PG: April. As I have the publishing rights, this is one prediction that I can guarantee will be prescient. - 1DP: April. - 1KC: You mean it hasn't been already? - 1

18. Will 2009 be Rubens or Fisichella's last season?Rubens will move to Williams next season, Fisichella is out of racingMF: Hey I'm surprised Barrichello even made the grid this year! - 0FH: Fisichella's for sure. He was a lucky boy to be racing in 2009. As a big Rubinho fan I can see him going on like Celine Dion. - 1PG: Hopefully both. I'm a fan of neither. - 1/2DP: Yes, both will hang up their gloves come the end of the season I think. - 1/2KC: Fisichella. - 1

19. Biggest surprise of the year?Brawn GP pulled off the surprise of the seasonMF: Nothing actually changes. Despite all the new regulations, blah, blah, the order will remain the same. No one is going to pull of a surprise and hit the front when they aren't expected to and McLaren and Ferrari won't be finishing last. - 0FH: Flavio Briatore will walk away from the sport. Once he knows for certain that Alonso is off to Ferrari in 2010 then he'll call it a day. - 1/2PG: Timo Glock. - 0DP: Brawn GP - 1KC: Jarno Trulli. - 0

20. Biggest mistake of the year?The 2009 Championship was a year full of mistakes from all quartersMF: McLaren sandbagging in winter testing because it's going to cost them when they head to Melbourne and realise they actually are not that fast and could have rather used the time doing something productive - like working on their pace. - 1FH: Has already happened. The FIA's failure to read their own rulebook and try and implement a rule without checking with the teams - going on the nod of the person whose idea the whole thing was - is verging on the ridiculous. No slip-up under pressure, no missed red light, no errant wheel, no wrong strategy call, no poor overtaking move, no refuelling disaster can come close to the utter stupidity of it. All the face-saving bluster just makes it worse. If you want something that's yet to happen, then we'll have some stewarding decisions on the epic scale of Mount Fuji 2008. - 1PG: Probably my endorsement of Kimi and Timo... - 1DP: Not sure, but it will involve decision making, the Stewards and the FIA... In no particular order. - 1KC: Putting green paint on half the tyres. Ugly as sin, blatant greenwash. - 1

ResultsMF: 6 1/2FH: 7PG: 9 1/2DP: 10 1/2KC: 7

Congrats to Dave... good thing he's the betting man

The car that's a breathtaking work of art

hen it comes to choosing a career, they say “do you something you love and you'll never work a day in your life.” I'm very fortunate that I fit into the category of people who, quite literally, were able to make their dreams come true.

When I was young I dreamed of being a racecar driver. I think that every five year-old boy, when they grow up, wants to be a fire fighter, an astronaut or a racecar driver. I guess I just never grew up because several years on, I am incredibly fortunate to be a driver in the Indy Lights series. I'm sure you've all heard of IndyCars, and to put things in perspective, Indy Lights is to IndyCars what OHL is to NHL, or what college football is to the NFL.

Now that you understand a little bit about who I am and what I do, I hope you can appreciate that cars and driving are passions of mine and my goal through this column is to share some of my experiences and thoughts of road cars and the goings-on of the automotive world.

James Hinchcliffe

Being someone who races cars for a living, I get the opportunity to drive a lot of road cars. I have had the chance to drive everything from family transporters to exotic super cars. One of the perks of the job. A common question I get asked is this: What do I think is the best car on the road?

This is a tough question to answer because the auto industry does this pesky little thing called designing new cars. That means that what you think is your favourite car today could be easily usurped by the latest creation from Ferrari or Lamborghini tomorrow. New cars come out so often, with the expectation that they will be better than their predecessor, that it is rare that one car will hold the top spot for too long.

I was a victim of this phenomenon for a while. The Ferrari F355 was followed by the Aston Martin Vanquish was followed by the Porsche Carrera GT, all in quick succession. There was always a new car to shock the senses and win over the masses.

Then I started driving them.

I'll never forget the first Ferrari I got to drive, or the first Porsche, or the first Lambo. Actually getting to drive these cars, rather than forming opinions based on looks and 0-60 times, changed my perspective dramatically. Yes, they are beautiful. Yes, they are fast enough to scare you. However, they were pigs to drive at low speed, the electronics often got in the way, the seats were great for the track but not comfortable for a drive to work. Unless you only owned one for track days, they simply weren't practical. Beautiful, but not practical.

I started to think that maybe that's just what super cars are all about. You had to be willing to sacrifice a smooth ride, a reasonable clutch and some creature comforts to drive something that sounded like an eight-cylinder orchestra and looked like Angelina Jolie on wheels. They didn't have to be practical.

That was until Audi packed on some pounds and entered the ‘heavy weight' class of the automotive world; this class is known as the super car. It is not hard to find a car that looks beautiful. To find a car that is beautiful, drives well, sounds great and will not cost you an arm, leg and first-born child is tougher than getting your money back from Madoff.

Audi did the impossible with the work-of-art-on-wheels they call the R8. In a class of car that includes the Ferrari Enzo, Porsche Carrera GT and Bugatti Veyron, they created a car that ticks every single box you could possibly imagine. And some you hadn't thought of yet.

When you think “super car,” you think “fast.” The R8 certainly doesn't slack off in this category. With 414 hp and a 0-100km/h time of 4.4 seconds, this German goddess keeps up with its greatest rivals from Italy, America and Japan. Going fast is something all super cars do well. What makes the R8 the valedictorian of the super-car class is how comfortable it is when driving slow.

This car can cruise around town effortlessly and is even a dream in bumper-to-bumper traffic! If you didn't know that you were sitting in a super car, it would be easy to think you were driving a luxury sedan. The ride is a dream, the finish is top class and it has all the bells and whistles you could want in a ride. And then, just when you think you are getting comfortable, you step on it, and instantly this car turns into more racecar than should be legal.

I have never driven a car that is so easy and forgiving to drive around town, but can still hold its own when being put through its paces. On top of that, the look of this car is breathtaking. It bucks the trend of wedge shaped, rear-engine cars and went the way of curvy lines and soft edges without losing that sexy, aggressive look. It's such a unique look that it won't be mistaken on the road.

Top all that off with a price tag of around $160,000, a fraction of most of its immediate competition, and the bang-for-buck ratio is unmatched on the road today. The industry will keep on making new cars, but I feel like the R8 will sit atop my list for quite some time.

America's dirtiest vehicles: Fuel economy isn't everything

Friday Nov. 6, 2009 4:39 PM ET

Just because a car has low fuel efficiency doesn't mean it's the worst polluter on the road. The Chevrolet Suburban and Dodge Challenger are some of the biggest gas-gulpers available, but they don't cause quite the environmental harm other cars do.

That title is reserved for vehicles that combine their poor gas mileage with high tailpipe and greenhouse gas emissions. Think along the lines of some of the bulkiest cars on the road, like the Jeep Grand Cherokee, Chevrolet Trailblazer and Dodge Dakota.

While fuel economy is linked to emissions, it's not the only factor. Pollution levels also have to do with the type of fuel being used and the age and condition of the engine, among other things.

"You can have a really fuel-efficient, dirty vehicle and a really clean, not-so-fuel-efficient vehicle," says Karl Simon, a director of compliance and innovation for the EPA's Office of Transportation and Air Quality. "It really is pretty wide open from a technical perspective."

Behind the Numbers

To determine the dirtiest cars on America's roads, we used air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The EPA rates air pollution on a scale of 0 to 10; the score reflects the amount of tailpipe emissions a vehicle releases. Vehicles that score 10 are the cleanest--they don't emit pollutants like hydrocarbon, nitrous oxides, particulate matter, carbon monoxide and formaldehyde. Greenhouse gas levels (carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane) are based on the vehicle's fuel economy and are evaluated on the same 0-10 scale. That score represents the "relative global warming potential of each car," the EPA says.

For our list, we combined air pollution and emissions scores and then chose the vehicles with the smallest results (the greater the score, the more environmentally friendly the car). We broke ties by evaluating the combined fuel efficiency of each vehicle. (Driving a car that gets 25 miles per gallon rather than 20 mpg will prevent 10 tons of carbon dioxide from hitting the air over a vehicle's lifetime, according to EPA data.) We did not evaluate models that will end production after this year, like the Bentley Arnage and Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster, or vehicles classified as "heavy duty," like the 3500 series of the Dodge Ram, which are exempt from federal fuel economy requirements.

We also deliberately omitted some vehicles that rated higher on the particulate-emissions scale, including exotics like the Ferrari F430, uber-luxury cars like the Bentley Continental Flying Spur, and high-performance variants from Mercedes-Benz's AMG line. Those cars have marginally worse emissions ratings than some of the entries on our list but are produced in such small quantities and driven so infrequently--on weekends or on racetracks--that they often don't contribute much to air-pollution problems.

Lonnie Miller, an automotive analyst for R.L. Polk, says it's OK that performance and design dictate the aim of those vehicles, while others emphasize fuel economy and practicality. There's a place in the market for each type, he says.

Repeat Offender

Even had we included those supercars, though, the Jeep Grand Cherokee still would have topped the chart. It scored a paltry three out of 10 for air-pollution ratings and two out of 10 for greenhouse gas emissions. The flex-fuel engine--prized because it uses a renewable resource that reduces dependency on traditional gasoline--on the Cherokee was even worse: three out of 10 and one out of 10 for the air pollution and gas emissions, respectively.

In terms of finger-pointing, however, it's not just Jeep maker Chrysler that needs to clean up its act. In all, cars and trucks account for almost one-third of the total air pollution in the United States. And while EPA emission standards have gotten increasingly strict since they first were instituted in the early 1970s, there's still a long way to go, especially at home: 60 per cent of the entries on our list are from domestic automakers. The remainder are German; no Japanese or Korean cars make the list.

Of American automakers, though, Chrysler is the worst offender, with six vehicles on last year's "dirtiest" list (the Jeep Commander, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Dodge Durango, Chrysler Aspen, Dodge Ram 1500 and Dodge Dakota), and five this year.

It's important to note that each of the cars on our list are street legal--and much cleaner than anything on the road years ago.

"We continue to drive our fleet average even lower," Chrysler spokesman Nick Cappa said in a written response to the rankings. "Chrysler Group products are 99 per cent cleaner than vehicles of 30 years ago and meet or exceed United States federal emission standards, the most stringent in the world."

Going Clean

Many auto manufacturers are making concerted efforts to produce models that are easier on the environment; most offer hybrid, compact or turbocharged 4-cylinder versions, all of which record low pollutant scores. Next year will see the long-awaited arrival of several low- and emission-free options, like the compact but "ecoboosted" Ford Fiesta and the plug-in electric Chevrolet Volt.

Some high-end carmakers are making considerable emissions efforts as well, but don't look to them for the latest in high-volume electric technology. It's prohibitively expensive and technologically difficult to get anywhere near the same performance out of an electric motor as a combustion engine, and aside from notable entries from Tesla and (perhaps) Fisker, it will be years before any meaningful amount of electric motors find their way into high-performance and luxury cars.

Besides, there's much to be done to improve the combustion engine, engineers from Bentley, BMW and Porsche say, either through increasing its efficiency or developing alternative fuels. Bentley developed the flex-fuel-capable, US$245,000 Continental Supersports coupe for that very reason.

"We believe bioethanol is a really good alternative to reducing CO2 emissions," says Brian Gush, Bentley's director of chassis and powertrain engineering. "This is a renewable source, which will be growing into the future."

Simon at the EPA says emissions levels have indeed improved significantly over the last 20 years and will continue to do so. But with 40,000 Jeep Grand Cherokees sold this year so far, there's a long way to go.

Methodology

To determine the dirtiest cars on America's roads, we used air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA rates air pollution on a scale of 0 to 10; the score reflects the amount of tailpipe emissions a vehicle releases. (Vehicles that score 10 are the cleanest--they don't emit pollutants like hydrocarbon, nitrous oxides, particulate matter, carbon monoxide and formaldehyde.) Greenhouse gas levels (carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane) are based on the vehicle's fuel economy and evaluated on the same 0-10 scale. For our list, we combined air-pollution and emissions scores and then chose the vehicles with the smallest results (the larger the score, the more environmentally friendly the car). We broke ties by considering the combined fuel efficiency of each vehicle.

States With The Most Expensive Cars

Experian analysts tallied the number of registrations of all new models sold in the 50 states and the District of Columbia for the reporting period of September 2008 to August 2009. The numbers reflect individual registrations, not fleet or business sales.

Such data help manufacturers know their strongest markets--and learn where they can improve. The information helps automakers define and satisfy their customer, says Jeff Anderson, director of consulting and analytics for Experian Automotive--which is especially important in such a loyalty-driven industry.

Almost 70% of consumers purchase the same make or brand as their current vehicle, according to an Oct. 28 study by the global consulting firm Capgemini. That number is up from 61% last year. A full 63% of respondents said they would purchase from the same dealer where they bought their current car. Its a sign of the times, says Joseph Oddo, a senior manager at Capgemini.

"There is an uptick as far as brand loyalty and as far as consumer satisfaction with the buying process," he says, noting that luxury dealerships do particularly well at creating repeat customers.. "You go to a brand you know, that you can trust--especially with high-ticket items like a vehicle."

Pockets of Luxury The big three sellers on our luxury list are Lexus (153,809 units sold nationwide), BMW (144,472 units sold nationwide) and Mercedes-Benz (131,146 units sold nationwide).

In California, consumers tend to buy German: Drivers there are more than twice as likely to buy a BMW than any other luxury brand. In fact, the big two German automakers made the No. 1 or No. 2 slots in all 10 states that landed on our list. California, Florida, New York and Texas--in that order--were the top-selling states for each of those brands.

Florida is the standout, as it has a smaller population than both New York and Texas (18.3 million compared to 19.5 million and 24.3 million), but it outsells both of them when it comes to luxury cars. Almost 14% of all cars sold in Florida are from luxury brands, versus 11% in New York and just 6% in Texas--which is even more remarkable because the median income for Florida last year ($48,095) was less than that of New York ($51,763).

It could be partly because Miami in particular is experiencing a cultural renaissance. Sissy DeMaria, the president of Kreps DeMaria, a Miami-based marketing firm, says Latin American developers--who have escaped the recession largely unscathed--have dramatically boosted the local economy by investing heavily in luxury hotels, retail outlets and million-dollar homes around the city. “Miami is for sale,” DeMaria says. That influx of funds likely applies to cars as well.

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The northern U.S. tells a different story. German automakers BMW and Mercedes sell many more units in Los Angeles than in Detroit: "Domestics and Japanese reign supreme in Motown," says Mike Caudill, an automotive expert for the vehicle data Web site NADA Guides. Cadillac sold 3,000 more cars in Michigan than any of its luxury competitors.

Maserati topped the list among brands that sell 1,200 models a year or less in all but three states: New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Drivers in those states seem to prefer their cars to be of British heritage--Bentley registered 63 units in New Jersey and 20 in Pennsylvania. Aston Martin registered 20 cars in Virginia, which Anderson says makes sense when you consider that the staid wealth that has accumulated around the nation's capital is likely to prefer an understated vehicle, rather than something flashier, like a Ferrari.

And while neither appears on the final list, two other European brands-- Rolls-Royce ( RYCEY.PK - news - people ) and Maybach--reported disproportionately high (albeit extremely exclusive) registration numbers in Nevada. That's thanks, no doubt, to the real estate titans and entertainment moguls in Las Vegas, Anderson says.

So why are Lamborghinis so popular in Missouri? For the same reason they are anywhere else a Lambo dealership opens.

"It's the bravado of the Lamborghini, the attraction," Burks says. "The extreme aggressiveness of the car basically just draws people to the brand." Even in a state where most people drive a Chevy.

In Depth: States With The Most Expensive Cars