Drivers, what's in your stars?

t's a New Year full of hope and potential. At this time, it's important to remember that the road is a field of chance. Fortune favours the brave and those with winter tires. In an effort to keep Globe Drive readers apprised of what the annum may hold, Road Sage presents your motoring zodiac forecast for 2010.

With which cars are you most astrologically compatible? What is your optimum cruising speed when you factor in Mars's transit through Leo? Should you have your oil changed during a full moon?

Keep your head to the sky. All will be revealed…

Capricorn (December 22-January 19): The sea goat. Like most sea goats you are over-achieving and stubborn and enjoy wearing pinstripes. In 2010, avoid turning signals. Avoid turning. Drive as straight as possible. Danger lies around the bend. During the late winter months you will be blinded by sunsets when driving west. Capricorn, use only Burger King drive-thrus, even at breakfast. Consider buying a Lexus, but then buy a Hummer.

Aquarius (January 20-February 18): The water boy. In 2010, think hybrid. Buy a Prius and drive around to show everyone how ecologically friendly you are. Feel the sanctimony. That light that keeps going off on your dashboard? Look into it. Go ahead, read a book while driving. Do it. You are least likely to be cut off by a Libra.

Pisces (February 19-March 20): The fish. The zodiac sign most loaded with Omega 3. For the last decade you have been under the sway of the Andromeda constellation. Take heart! The year 2010 is the year you finally buy a van, line it with shag carpet; and install an eight track stereo full of April Wine tapes. Now drive to Cape Breton.

Aries (March 21-April 19): The most “Ram Tough” of all the signs of the zodiac. Your hooves make steering very difficult. Because of your horns no cop will ever give you a breathalyzer. Buy a Buick Lacrosse. Begin legal action against Dodge for appropriating your name.

Taurus (April 20-May 20): The bull. Beefy and dangerous. At least once a redheaded guy in a Hyundai Genesis will cut you off while merging onto the highway. Each time you will not believe this guy did that. You are most compatible with people who own cars that are worse than yours. The year 2010 will be stressful. Purchase an old Impala and take a sledgehammer to it.

Gemini (May 21-June 20): The twins. Duplicity is your middle name. You favour yellow lights. You own two cars. Sell one and then buy a Mazda MX-5 and move to California. Try acting. Land a small role on the new season of Scrubs. Meet actor Zach Braff. Be unimpressed.

Cancer (June 21-July 22): The crab. Your hard shell hides a soft narcissistic inside. Now that the Moon is in Eta Piscium it's time to admit that you don't know how to drive stick. Get ready Cancer: 2010 is the year you finally leave your house! Celebrate by leasing a Smart Car. Congratulations, you're still a loser.

Leo (July 23-August 22): The Lion. Astrology's second banana. The Andrew Ridgely of the Zodiac. Your best friend George Michael owns a Ferrari 599. All you have is an Audi Q5. Your insurance will go up for no reason. You will pay it anyway. You will take a lover who owns an Acura TSX. You will fall madly in love and be surprised by the fuel economy. Be sure to end this relationship on August 23.

Virgo (August 23-September 22): The virgin. You will be offered a lift in an Aston Martin DB9. If you take it you will need a new astrological sign.

Libra (September 23-October 22): The Scales Thing. You enjoy looking in the rearview mirror in order to judge the quality of your hair. Mars and Venus will align to cause the iPod accessory you got for Christmas (the one that is supposed to allow you to listen to your iPod through a radio channel) to be really staticky and never quite work yet function well enough so that you can't really take it back to the store. Do not hurl it from your car. You will hit a 2003 Pontiac Sunfire.

Scorpio (October 23-November 21): The Scorpion. Smallest sign in the zodiac. Thanks to Jupiter's transit through Uranus, the year 2010 is the year you stop driving slow in the middle lane of the highway. Just move over to the right lane. You can do it. While rolling up the rim you will cut your lip. If you wait until your birthday to renew your licence you will disappear.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21): The Liar. While commuting, every time you wear a white shirt you will spill coffee on it. Consider brown or black shirts. Sagittarius, 2010 is the year you can get away with stealing a car. Be judicious in your selection.

Intervew With Jay Rogers, CEO of Local Motors

This is Part One of a three part interview with Jay Rogers, CEO of Local Motors. They recently displayed their Rally Fighter at the 2009 SEMA show and look to change the way cars are designed, and built.

Next week the Detroit Auto Show will kick off the North American International Auto Show circuit. Over 700 cars will be on display, including several concepts such as an electric Fiat 500 (which will share booth space with Maserati and Ferrari). Only a handful of these cars will make it to production as companies go back to the drawing board to come up with a “winner” they hope the public will buy.

Jay Rogers, CEO of Local Motors, is trying to change all that. Instead of designing a car he hopes people will buy, he is gathering a community of enthusiasts to design a car they want to buy. The result is the Rally Fighter, an off-road car/truck (cruck? trar?) that can get over 30 mpg with 425 ft-lbs of torque that sets a new standard for car design.

When we talk about the future of the automobile, we are usually talking about alternative fuels like electricity, hydrogen, or natural gas. Rarely do we consider just how our cars are conceived, designed, and built. It usually involves an army of engineers, accountants, and executives who will put out a concept car during the auto show circuit, gauge public reaction, and take it back to the drawing board before it hits showrooms. Sometimes the car stays original to the concept (i.e. the 2010 Camaro) becoming a huge hit. Other times it becomes an entirely different and often ugly beast (Pontiac Aztek).

Jay decided to do things differently. He calls the process “co-creation”, and has enlisted car design enthusiasts from around the world to help him design cars. “There is real art being created everyday in our community,” he says. “We want to create a connection with the customer.” Jay has always loved cars. He is an equal opportunity aficionado, as big a fan of the modern Ford GT as the classic Bugatti Type 57, and has owned an impressive collection himself. But he never imagined he’d own his own car company.

The first Rally Fighter rendering, by Sangho Kim

Jay served as an Infantry Company Commander in the Marines that included several tours in Iraq. While he was there, he came to understand the precarious position our dependency on oil has created. When his tour was up, he enrolled in Harvard Business School where he got his MBA. “I never graduated from cars though,” he said, and decided to enroll in the Art Center College for Design. While there, he came to learn that there was an entire community of people who shared a similar passion for car design. That was his “Ah ha” moment. He decided he was young enough to try something crazy, and formed a car company that would enlist all the unspent talent worldwide to design cars people wanted to drive. Thus, Local Motors was formed.

“We make cool cars,” Jay says. While he is a fan of driving fast, he isn’t so much a fan of racing, so he knew he wanted a car that could keep up with his speed needs. “But when you design a car, there are a lot of questions to ask. Does fuel efficiency matter? We think so, so we want our cars to be light and simple. It sure would be nice to have a lower impact,” he continues. So now you need a fast, light, simple, yet practical car that looks cool and gets good gas mileage. How do you get amateur car designers to fill such a tall order?

The answer is surprisingly simple. Local Motors holds design contests on their website. Would-be designers put up their ideas, where other community members vote on designs. The website is set up so you can see the car design evolve from a simple sketch to a fully fleshed out rendering. It really creates a sense of community around these cars, as well it should. The vibrant, active community is the heart and soul of Local Motors, and the competitive environment has produced literally thousands of designs. While there are several cars under consideration, thus far only one has made the transition from paper to fully functioning product; the Rally Fighter.

Check back later in the week as Jay takes us behind the design and build process of the Rally Fighter.

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Domenicali against Ralf, Piquet, Briatore F1 return

Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali is pulling few punches as 2010 gets into gear, arguing that Ralf Schumacher, Nelsinho Piquet and Flavio Briatore should not be permitted to return to F1 Normally renowned for his calm, measured leadership approach a world away from the political maelstrom that has all-too often bedevilled Ferrari in decades gone-by, Stefano Domenicali nonetheless is pulling no punches as he looks to F1 2010 – arguing that Ralf Schumacher, Nelsinho Piquet and Flavio Briatore should remain figures of the past rather than of the present or future. Schumacher departed the grand prix scene at the end of 2007 after his move to Toyota failed to yield the hoped-for results, but following two distinctly underwhelming campaigns spent in pan-European touring car series the DTM, the German has held talks with a number of F1 teams regarding a possible 2010 comeback. Piquet and Briatore, meanwhile, both left with their tails between their legs in the wake of the explosive 'Singapore-gate' race-fixing scandal that very nearly saw Renault banned from the sport outright, with the former assuming the role of whistle-blower and the latter chief protagonist. In all three cases, Domenicali contends, the closed chapter should not be re-opened. “I prefer to look to the future and find new talent,” he told Italian newspaper La Stampa, when asked about Schumacher Jnr. “F1 should not reduce itself to a world of nostalgia. It's not right that Piquet should be allowed to return after what he did, and Briatore will not [be back] in the same capacity; people don't like re-heated soup – he will have to find another opportunity.” Revealing that Ferrari's F1 effort is now self-sufficient after decades of hefty expenditure, Domenicali added that the likelihood of further changes to the top flight's scoring system before the Bahrain Grand Prix curtain-raiser in mid-March is high, with a proposal to reward pole position and fastest lap, and the possibility of two tyre stops being permitted in a race rather than just one. With less than a month now remaining until the group test in Valencia at the beginning of February, all of the teams are up against it, with the Italian explaining that the refuelling ban is the major complication, with cars due to run practically empty during qualifying and then fill up to the brim for the start of the grand prix. Establishing the right compromise for tyre and brake wear during Friday practice sessions will be 'crucial', he insisted. Going on to opine that a similar situation to the double-diffuser controversy that saw some teams begin 2009 with a significant head-start over others would be 'disastrous', Domenicali acknowledged that McLaren-Mercedes, Mercedes Grand Prix (formerly Brawn GP) and Red Bull Racing are all likely to be phenomenal competitors once more in 2010 – and that the Scuderia has 'learned' its lesson from a harsh season that resulted in just a sole victory and 'will not make the same mistakes again'. The 44-year-old also waxed lyrical about the Prancing Horse's new driver line-up of double F1 World Champion Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa, who he confirmed is now fully recovered from his terrifying, high-speed Hungaroring qualifying accident last summer – and expressed his conviction that Ferrari's fans will ultimately forgive record-breaking legend Michael Schumacher for what they have regarded as his 'betrayal' in jumping ship to Mercedes. “My role requires me to remain rational,” Domenicali reasoned. “If for just one second I had considered myself to be the cause of the problems, I would have acted accordingly. We mustn't forget that in 2005 – which isn't a century ago – Ferrari had won five consecutive world championships, and I was amongst the group that achieved that.

Report: '09 F1 participants needed to sell more than 25000 cars to break even ...

on Jan 4th 2010 at 9:29AM

Melbourne, Australia newspaper The Age has a story on the break-even point for automakers in Formula One. The numbers are based on research done by Formula Money, a company devoted to detailing the financial goings-on in F1 – however, they don't make much sense at first glance. According to The Age, F1's manufacturer-backed teams "Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Renault and Toyota spent €608 million ($970 million) on Formula One racing" last year. To recoup that total investment they needed to sell at least 25,000 cars, combined, at an average price of $38,800.

The questions arise when it is claimed that Ferrari "makes €275,000 ($393,643 U.S.) per car sold, and so only needs to sell 153 vehicles to break even on its €42 million ($60 million U.S.) investment in F1." We can hardly believe Ferrari spent just $60M on F1 last year; if so, that would have left the other four teams to spend an average of $227.5M apiece based on a total spend of $970M.

According to F1 Fanatic's team budget numbers for 2008, Ferrari spent $414.9 million, and going by F1 Network's numbers for 2009, Ferrari spent $365 million last year. We don't know where the truth is among the numbers in The Age's report. What we do know, however, is that no matter what the real numbers are, they never added up for BMW, Renault or Toyota.

[Source: The Age]

Is Formula One too expensive for car makers?

Could Formula One prove more expensive than its worth? That is a question that car manufacturers must ask themselves after new research revealed the true cost of being involved in the sport.

The five car manufacturers that owned Formula One teams last year needed to sell more than 25,000 cars just to break even on their investment according to industry monitor Formula Money. It found that Ferrari, Mercedes, Renault, BMW and Toyota spent a total of £539million on F1 but in the year to date they sold 1.7million fewer vehicles than in the prior year leading to BMW, Renault and Toyota cutting their involvement in the sport.

Research calculated the number of cars the manufacturers would need to sell to cover the cost of competing. Ferrari leads the field when it comes to covering costs – it makes €275,000 per car sold and so only needs to sell 153 vehicles to break even on its €42million investment. In the nine months leading to September 2009, it had sold 4,680 cars – even though this was a fall in sales of 6.9 per cent it was the smallest among any of the car manufacturers that owned F1 teams.

By sharp contrast, it’s easy to see why Toyota has moved away from the sport. Its latest quarterly figures for the six months to the end of September 2009 show it sold 1.1million fewer cars compared to the same period in the previous year – the biggest drop of any of the car manufacturers involved. It was previously pouring around €178million a year into F1 meaning it would need to sell more than 9,700 cars, more than any of its rivals, to cover its costs.

Mercedes is one of the few manufacturers to buck the trend – it sold its stake in McLaren and then bought into the world championship winning Brawn team. Even though its latest results show a 20 per cent fall in unit sales it receives €37,797 in revenue per car sold – that’s more than any other manufacturer with the exception of Ferrari.

Rossion Q1 Supercar Heads to Ferrari, Italy

Europe is about to turn into a battleground – American super car, Rossion Q1 has landed for a tour in the proclaimed land of Ferrari, Italy. It was almost as if Rossion was challenging Ferrari as it steers its way along the Italian roads, during a promotional campaign announcing its distribution by Hybrid UKGARAGE of Bergamo.

Sporting a 450 hp, 3.5 liter bi-turbo V6 engine, the car can reach 60 mph in 3.1 seconds while it can touch 100 mph in a mere 7.7 seconds. The Ford engine pumps out 530 Nm torque and the car can cover a quarter mile in 11.3 seconds. Top speed is rated at 189 mph. Transmission is via a manual Getrag six-speed. A Quaife limited-slip rear differential is also used in the Q1. Based on the Noble M400, the Q1 is put together by 1G Racing and Rossion Automotive.

Though based in the M400, the styling is quite very different and a gigantic rear spoiler attached to the Q1 makes it look more distinct. The car is quite handsome though the 96 inch wheelbase makes it look smaller. It also takes care in its interior refinements. Rossion has comfy, leather coated, four-way adjustable carbon fiber seats. Almost all the inside is covered either in leather or aluminum. The pedals are aluminum, and the steering wheel is leather wrapped.

The Q1 had already proven its worth in Florida with the testers quoting that “to call the Q1 quick is like saying water is wet.” That single statement alone was enough to prove to the Americans what the Rossion’s worth is. Will it capture Europe as it did to America and that too, in Ferrari’s homeland? Well, keep your fingers crossed, anything can happen anytime.

Source: [worldcarfans][Autoblog]

Tags: News

Ferrari, Maserati will display vehicles at Chrysler's stand in Detroit

While Chrysler Group LLC has no plans to hold a press conference at the 2010 Detroit Auto Show, the Auburn Hills automaker will still have strong presence at Cobo. Joining an electric Fiat 500 and a Lancia-based Chrysler concept will be Fiat SpA’s Maserati and Ferrari brands.

At previous Detroit auto shows, high-end luxury brands like Lamborghini, Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Porsche and Ferrari have rented out their show-floor space. Last year, Ferrari (along with many others) was a no show; however, this year Chrysler has formed a partnership with Fiat, which owns Ferrari and Maserati.

Spokesman or NAIAS, Sam Locricchio has confirmed that Maserati and Ferrari will display their new vehicles at the Chrysler stand. Both plan on showing the Maserati GranTurismo Convertible (known as GranCabrio in Europe) and the Ferrari 458 Italia.

Chrysler’s show space is currently being redesigned so that all brands are presented as a part of the Chrysler family.

- By: Omar Rana

Source: Detroit News

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