Nother CarGuy

Mercedes has been supplying F1 with official safety cars for over 20 years now, with all of them being eminently fast and powerful. This one however is the most powerful yet. It’s a new Mercedes-AMG GT R that’s been outfitted to set the pace this year, replacing the GT S that has filled the position until now. The top version of Affalterbach’s dedicated sports car packs the same 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 as so many other AMG-tuned models. But in the GT R, it’s tuned to deliver 577 horsepower and 520 lb-ft of torque. That’s enough to send the Porsche 911 rival rocketing to 60 in 3.5 seconds. Like most other pace or safety cars, this one’s been fitted with all manner of extra equipment. There’s racing harnesses, a roll cage, radio communication equipment, and flashing lights. The GT R also bears the series’ new logo on its hood and doors. “I am very much looking forward to my new company car,” said F1’s official safety car driver Bernd Mayländer. “It is an absolute h...

Ahead of the Abu Dhabi season finale, two-time F1 champion Fernando Alonso unveiled his very own eSports racing team. The Spaniard joined forces with McLaren sponsor Logitech and professional outfit G2 in order to tackle the world of competitive gaming. Meanwhile, his team will be known as FA Racing G2 Logitech. "I am a team principal finally," said Alonso during the launch of the team. "There will be no meetings very early. We will change completely the way we work!!" According to Autosport, the McLaren driver was approached by Logitech and G2 a few months ago, and thought this was the right time to get involved in the business. "It is very exciting, and it's a completely new thing to discover. I think eSports in other formats has been very successful but in racing, it is at the very beginning, and huge potential will come." "I am happy to be one of the first investing in this direction and I think good and fun times are coming - not...

After a long period of teasing and playing with shadows, the new Mercedes AMG Project One finally made its world debut as the world’s first road legal car with a Formula 1 powertrain. Power comes from a reworked version of the hybrid system found in the W08 F1 car, including the turbocharged 1.6-liter V6 engine and no less than four electric motors. The two front electric motors are state-of-the-art units, being capable of revving up to 50,000rpm when the current best motors in the market rev up to 20,000rpm. The third electric motor is integrated into the turbocharger while the fourth one is mounted directly on the combustion engine. Each one of the front motors are producing 160hp (120kW), with the electric motor on the engine making the same amount of power and the one mounted on the turbocharger being a 120hp (90kW) unit. Total power output is "over 1000hp". Mercedes AMG claims that turbo lag isn’t just eliminated with this setup but the response ti...

Mercedes-AMG has released one final teaser image of its Project One hypercar before the Frankfurt Motor Show. This teaser is the most revealing to date and shows off most of the F1-powered road car’s rear-end. As previous images have revealed, the Project One will feature a large roof scoop while it’ll ditch a rear window in favor of two massive NACA ducts and air vents over the Formula One-derived 1.6-liter turbocharged V6 engine. Elsewhere, the teaser offers a glimpse of the hypercar’s taillights and just like a current Formula One car, it features a single central exhaust pipe and two smaller exhausts dedicated for the wastegates. As we’ve known for some time, the Project One’s F1 engine will be mated to the same energy recovery systems as the race car. Power will soar above 1,000 hp and just 275 units will be produced worldwide. Carscoops

The FIA has revealed that safety cars could become autonomous in the future. During an interview with Motorsport, the head of technical development for the sport, Marcin Budkowski, said that discussions have been held about a driverless safety car created to promote self-driving technologies. “Let me give you an example, but it is not the only one: we have spoken about an unmanned safety car. It would promote a technology about which there is a bit of scepticism and, instead, it could be shown that it works. “The safety car driver would no longer be essential, because it would leave the controls to the computer. But we must be aware of the attraction of [F1] race cars without drivers: the engineers would love it, but not the fans,” Budkowski said. Despite his openness to implementing self-driving technologies into the sport, Budkowski cited the upcoming Roborace championship as an example that autonomous championships probably won’t spark the interest of fans but that they c...

Sauber has announced that its planned technical partnership with Honda for the 2018 F1 season has been cancelled. In April, Sauber made the surprising announcement that it would switch from using Ferrari-sourced engines to Honda ones in 2018 but on the back of the Japanese company’s consistent issues, the deal is no more. In a statement, Sauber team principal Frederic Vasseur said “It is very unfortunate that we have to discontinue the planned collaboration with Honda at this stage. “However, this decision has been made for strategic reasons, and with the best intent for the future of the Sauber F1 Team in mind. We would like to thank Honda for their collaboration, and wish them all the best for their future in Formula One.” General Manager of the Motor Sports Division of Honda, Masashi Yamamoto, said the partnership was cancelled due to differing plans for the two parties. “We had built a good relationship with Sauber, and had been looking forward to entering the 2018 F1 ...

The FIA has confirmed that the controversial halo cockpit protection will be introduced for the 2018 season. The decision comes just days after Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel tested the shield during practice at the British Grand Prix and said it made him feel dizzy. SkySports reports that a meeting of F1’s Strategy Group was held on Wednesday when the final decision was made. It is reported that most of the sport’s teams voted against the implementation of the halo but that the FIA is pushing ahead with the plan on safety grounds. In a statement, the FIA said “Following the unanimous agreement of the Strategy Group, in July 2016, to introduce additional frontal protection for Formula 1 and the repeated support from the drivers, the FIA confirms the introduction of the Halo for 2018. “Having developed and evaluated a large number of devices over the past five years, it had become clear that the Halo presents the best overall safety performance." Formula One’s 10 teams wil...

Renault will reveal the new Megane R.S. for the first time in public this Friday, on May 26, at F1’s Monaco grand prix and with Nico Hülkenberg behind the wheel. Renault’s new flagship hot hatch will sport a yellow and black livery for the occasion as the company celebrates 40 years of involvement in Formula 1. “Renault Sport’s staff are continually exploring new frontiers when it comes to providing customers with exceptional suspension and engine performance, along with aerodynamics honed for efficiency and the best of F1 technology”, the company said in their press release. The new Renault Megane RS is expected to remain front-driven, with a turbocharged 2.0-litre petrol engine producing around 300hp. The chassis is likely to get a bespoke rear-wheel steering system to make the new hot hatch feel more agile and stable, depending on the driving conditions. A six-speed manual gearbox is going to be offered as standard, with a dual-clutch automatic offered as an option for th...

Is this what F1 cars will look like in a decade? Well, Renault seems to think so, taking the wraps off the RS 2027 Vision concept at the Shanghai Auto Show. The French brand has outfitted the RS 2027 Vision concept with a drivetrain that consists of a turbocharged V6 engine and a two-part kinetic energy recovery system that alone delivers 500 kW (670 hp). The V6 then increases total power to 1,341 hp (1 megawatt) while the incredibly minimalist body means the concept only weighs 600 kg. This results in a power-to-weight ratio of 2,235 kg/ton, about 1,000 hp/ton more than 2017-spec F1 cars. Beyond its even more capable powertrain, the design of the RS 2027 Vision looks dramatically different to the F1 cars we are familiar with. Looking beyond the radical new aerodynamic elements, the biggest change is the implementation of a fully-enclosed cockpit not too dissimilar to the cockpit of a jet fighter. In the midst of ongoing debates about head protection in F1, this is one possible ...

Developed in close collaboration with the Renault Sport Formula One Team, Project Black S represents a radical reinterpretation of the Infiniti Q60 Coupe, while exploring hybrid power and new aero features. The whole idea behind the Project Black S is to eventually enhance performance and dynamics for Infiniti production vehicles, using Renault's Formula One technology. For example, the Project Black S features a performance hybrid powertrain with an energy recovery system (ERS) unlike anything you'll see in a current road car. The system works by harvesting energy before deploying it in order to boost power and torque, in turn leading to instant, lag-free acceleration, according to the automaker. Also, the new 'Black S' grade could in turn represent a so-called maximum level of performance and dynamic ability in an Infiniti road car. In other words, 'Black S' could offer enhancements such as higher power and torque, new or uprated suspension systems,...

IndyCar is considering adopting an F1-style windscreen or cockpit deflector to protect drivers says the  series’  vice president of competition and race engineering, Bill Pappas. While speaking at the Performance Racing Industry show in Indianapolis, Pappas said “Some sort of windscreen is currently the one we’re researching the most. We think if we can get something that gets the driver’s head below whatever we have in front of them – a windscreen – that should act as a deflector. “If you think about  Justin  [Wilson]’s accident, it was such a one-in-a-how-many-millions chance, but then you look back at Felipe Massa’s accident [in practice for the 2009 Hungarian GP], if he would have had some sort of screen in front of him, it probably would have deflected the spring. So, we’re looking at that as a more likely solution.” Further detailing possible solutions IndyCar could adopt, Pappas said that it is looking at the high-strength cockpits used by jet fighters and ...