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Aston Martin won’t release EVs until it’s financially stable
Aston Martin has officially delayed the launch of all of its electric vehicles while it attempts to get back on solid financial footing. On Friday, the automaker said it plans to take up to £500 million (approximately $659 million) in emergency funding from a group of investors led by Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll. As part of a new financial plan, it now plans to focus on its gasoline cars before manufacturing any EVs. It's therefore delaying the Rapide E, what was supposed to be its first EV, indefinitely, and pushing back the relaunch of its all-electric Lagonda sub-brand to sometime after 2025.
Formula 1 targets carbon neutral racing by 2030
Formula 1 is known for noise, horsepower and burning fuel, but the racing league wants to add a new, unexpected description: eco-friendly. Formula 1 plans to have a "net-zero carbon footprint by 2030," including the cars, on-track activities and operations, the FIA ownership body announced.
The yellow flag is out for the motorsport.com app
If you are an auto racing enthusiast, regardless of what form of racing you follow, the motorsport.com app is one you should check out. The free universal app requires iOS 7.0 or later and is a winner is some areas but comes up short of the finish line in others. This app is a one stop location for news, photos, and videos of Formula 1, NASCAR, Indy Car, endurance racing, drag racing, dirt track events, motorcycles, and dozens of other racing series here in the United States and around the world. The app opens with the latest news from all of the various racing series. You can then slide the title bar to the left to choose specific series including all the ones named above. The web site employs its own staff and all the stories I read came from members of the staff likely using a variety of services and their own sources for the information. Some of the categories were up to date with new stories but in others I found no new stories posted for more than six weeks. Drag racing for example had a story from November 26th but the next story was dated back in July, then one in June and then the next story was posted way back in January. So it appears some racing series are covered more thoroughly than others. One area I did find appealing is the selection of photos available. You will find more than one million photos posted in the app covering races and events going back to 1921. Users can utilize a search function to narrow the vast number of photos to a more workable amount. For example I did a search for the Michigan 500 and found more than three hundred photos. Another search for Al Unser Jr. found just under a thousand photos. Users can share the photos easily through the app with friends and followers via Facebook and Twitter. You can also upload your own photos to the web site and app if you have pictures from a race, an event featuring a driver, or just about anything else to do with racing. In the video section users will find a large number of available videos from all the racing series. The videos include stories about drivers, races, technical changes, and a variety of topics. You will also see interviews and news conferences plus highlights for specific drivers or races. I even found the complete two hour plus Indy Car race from Sonoma. There is no shortage of material here. For the most part the motorport.com app mirrors the web site. I did a check though and found more news stories on the web site. To be sure you are getting the latest information the web site is the best bet but for pictures and video the app works just fine. So for now we will wave the Caution flag on the app until they get the same news updated to the app that is on the web site.
BBC's Sport apps now deliver real-time F1 notifications
It's been almost six months since the BBC updated its iOS and Android Sport apps to deliver real-time football notifications, giving fans the ability to receive goal updates while on the move. However, football isn't the only sport the Beeb allocates a huge amount of resources to: it also shares live Formula 1 coverage with Sky. In an new update today, the BBC Sport team is giving F1 fans some mobile love by extending push notifications to cover practice, qualifying and results for the remaining F1 races of the 2014 season. Out for the day for the final double-point race in Abu Dhabi at the end of the month? The BBC now has you covered.
Codemasters restructuring, reports suggest 80 layoffs
Grid and Dirt developer Codemasters is consulting "affected employees" as part of a restructuring process, with 80 people reportedly being laid off as a result. A "strong source" told GamesIndustry International the figure, saying the majority of those layoffs are being made at the company's global headquarters in Southam, England.A Codemasters spokesperson told us there is no confirmed number of affected employees, referring to numbers reported elsewhere as "speculative." Codemasters' official statement says the restructuring is "not companywide," and that the process isn't expected to affect development of "core console and PC titles" like Grid 2 and this year's Formula One game.Codemasters' official statement reads: "As the Company realigns its operations to focus on areas of increased strategic importance and decrease resources in areas that are not delivering value for the business, the Company has proposed the restructure of certain aspects within its digital development and publishing units in line with future product strategy. As a result of the proposed restructure, the Company has therefore entered into a period of collective consultation with the affected employees. The restructure is not companywide and is not anticipated to impact the development of its core console and PC titles such as Grid 2 or its annual Formula One title."
Visualized: the history of the Formula 1 car in 60 seconds (video)
Formula 1 car technology has come a long way since it first hit the asphalt banks 62 years ago. It's been hard to convey the sheer amount of change in a succinct way, but Rufus Blacklock may have nailed it in exactly one minute. Abstract versions of the cars show us the progression from the bullet-shaped cars of the 1950's through to the low-slung, wing-laden beasts we know today. If the clip is a little too F1-fast, there's also an infographic that details exactly when certain technology changes came into play, starting with the first wings in 1968 through to modern (and at times controversial) introductions like KERS in 2009. Click past the break for the video, and check out the relevant source link for a quite literal big picture.
Angry Birds Heikki: because F1 and fort-breaking games are like peanut butter and chocolate
We've seen Angry Birds go into strange places both figurative and literal, but Formula 1 racing? That's a less natural mix than a peanut butter cup. As a way of backing race driver and fellow Finland native Heikki Kovalainen, Rovio has crafted Angry Birds Heikki, a free web game themed all around its namesake's escapades during the F1 race year. The gameplay changes are more cosmetic than functional, although that leaderboard matters a little more in spirit than it might otherwise. Perhaps the biggest draw is simply that your gameplay schedule is intrinsically linked to Heikki's: new sections only unlock as the real-world races get near, so you'll have an incentive to keep coming back until the Sao Paulo race determines the F1 championship on November 21st. Let's just hope that there aren't too many road hogs spoiling either Heikki's fun or our own. [Thanks, Rodrigo]
Visualized: Sauber F1 cutaway car is half the vehicle it used to be (video)
Ever wondered what goes on inside a Formula 1 car? No, we're not talking about Jenson Button's delicate elbow movements, we mean inside the car. Well, it turns out that we're not the only ones, and fortuitously for us, some people with the actual means to find out -- the Sauber F1 team -- have done the noble thing, and cut one in half. Yes, a real F1 car. Cut in half. It took two years to achieve, but from tip to tail, it's all there on display. That precious steering wheel you see drivers carry with them? Halved. Clever layered fuel system for lower center of gravity? Carved open. They even bring a driver in, the only thing to remain intact. Race on past the pit stop break for the visuals.
Autocar takes Gordon Murray's T.25 and T.27 city cars for a spin, gives us its impressions
When he isn't tinkering around with McLaren F1 supercars and Batmobiles, Gordon Murray is working on fuel-efficient -- or even fuel-independent -- city cars. Autocar just got its hands on the gas-powered T.25 and battery-powered T.27, and reports a pleasant experience with the three-seaters. We already knew that the T.27 crashes well and offers efficiency comparable to an astounding 350MPG, but we learned even more info today. The 74MPG T.25 will cost £6000 ($9467) should it ever go into production, while the T.27 would theoretically run you a grand more, but also get you 100-130 miles between four-hour charges. The body and interior is simple and innovative which becomes evident before you even get inside -- stepping behind a windscreen that pivots forward on struts. Neither travels at high speeds (90mph for the T25 and 65mph for the T.27, though it's faster off the mark), but these cars don't aspire to compete with Formula 1 racers; they're going for efficiency and simplicity -- and evidently doing it pretty well.
Rovio sponsors Formula 1 driver Heikki Kovalainen
We're starting to wonder what "limited resources" actually means over at Rovio. If you've got enough cash to send your product into space itself, and then turn around and also sponsor a Formula 1 driver's head, we get the feeling our definitions of "limited" vary by a few billion dollars.Heikki Kovalainen, a Finnish F1 driver that races on the Caterham F1 team, will now blast around Monte Carlo and various other worldly locales sporting the above Angry Birds crash helmet. Call us superstitious, but were we to drive around at several hundred miles an hour in an open-air vehicle, we wouldn't want to make ourselves look like something renowned for crashing into things and exploding at high velocity. [Image source: @MyCaterhamF1]
Sky Sports dedicated F1 HD channel coming next season
The 2011 Formula 1 racing season just wrapped up in Brazil, but Sky is already breaking down what it will bring to the series as it takes over UK coverage next year. Launching in March, Sky Sports F1 HD will be a channel dedicated to round the clock coverage of the world's most technologically advanced racing series including every race, practice, and qualifying session. Sky customers with the Sports and HD packages will see the HD channel appear at number 408 on the dial, although there's no word yet whether or not it will be available on BT Vision or Virgin Media. Other tidbits include a promise of Sky Go access, and that despite the broadcaster's big 3D push, there's no such coverage planned for 2012. Seeing how long it took for true HD broadcasts from F1 we're thinking that could take a while, but here in the US we'd simply settle for a promise of no more tape delayed broadcasts on Fox (and some competent challengers for the Red Bull team while we're asking) for next season. Until then, check out this brief video trailer, plus a press release with all the details after the break.
Thrustmaster's Ferrari F1 Wheel Add-On takes you from zero to hero in $200
You may never get the chance to join Ferrari's Formula 1 team, but indulging your imagination is about to get a lot easier, now that Thrustmaster has unveiled its new Ferrari F1 Wheel Add-On -- a life-sized replica of the wheel you'd find within the 150° Italia. Announced yesterday, this rubber-textured wheel features a full slate of professional-grade rotary knobs, switches and action buttons -- including two rotary encoder switches, eight push-buttons and a set of "push and pull" sequential shifters that, true to form, are attached directly to the wheel face. Designed to seamlessly attach to your T500 RS, the accessory will be available in two models: a PC- and PS3-compatible mode, with 13 action buttons and three D-Pads, or an advanced PC-compatible mode, with 25 action buttons and one D-Pad. No mention, however, of that And if you look in the upper left corner, you'll even find your very own boost button. The Add-On is slated to start shipping in early October for $200, so buckle up and steer past the break for more details, in the full PR.
Codemasters announces F1 Online: The Game
As if fantasy football wasn't enough of a workplace distraction, Codemasters has recently announced F1 Online: The Game, which is, as you may have guessed, a free-to-play, browser-based Formula 1 racing game/management simulator. Set to launch sometime in Q1 2012, F1 Online allows players to race as their favorite real-world teams, or as a fictional team of their own creation. Full-scale World Championships and Grand Prix events will be available, qualifying runs and all, and social networking integration means you'll be able to immediately notify your friends upon beating Cyber-Alonso's lap record by 0.000001 of a second. For the more managerially-minded among us, team-management functionality will let the player "manage the commercial, research, production and race crew functions required for success on track," meaning that those reports you needed to finish totally won't get finished. McLaren-Mercedes, Williams, Lotus-Renault, and Force India are all present and accounted for, and with the inclusion of world-famous circuits like Monaco and Silverstone, F1 Online: The Game looks to be the racing enthusiast's ideal time-waster.
Visualized: Porsche's GT3 R Hybrid has its very own boost button
Sure, it may seem like any old Formula 1 steering wheel, but take a closer look. See that big red button sitting on the left side, just begging to be pressed? That, friends, would be a boost button, capable of giving this Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid racer an extra burst of acceleration. Unlike most battery powered hybrids, both the 911 GT3 R and the 918 RSR run on an inertial flywheel that's spun by the momentum generated whenever the car brakes. All it takes is one tap of the boost button, however, for that momentum to be instantly converted into a potent jolt of KITT-like horsepower. We still don't really know what we'd do with all the other buttons, but we definitely know which one we'd keep our thumb on.
Formula 1 cars set to go all electric in the pit lane from 2013 onwards, racing purists outraged already
Formula 1, the pinnacle of gas-powered racing, is more often at odds with the eco-conscious electric car movement than in tune with it, but here's an exception to that rule. The FIA, the sport's governing body, announced back in December of last year a move to a hybrid four-cylinder turbocharged engine, which is still on track to be introduced in the 2013 season, and Williams boss Adam Parr has now enlightened us on some of the benefits of the new power setup. Noting that future cars' kinetic energy recovery system will be four times as powerful as on current models, Parr says enough electric juice will be available to power each one-seater through its journey into and out of the pit lane. That would mean that at least for the tame, speed-restricted portions of a race, the F1 gas guzzlers you know and love will be humming along in almost perfect silence while using good old electricity. Unfortunately, it's exactly that lack of vroom vroom that old timers like Bernie Ecclestone and Ferrari chief Luca di Montezemolo are afraid of, describing the new hybrid stuff as sounding "terrible" and insisting on the sport sticking to its V8 roots. Then again, as Parr says, if you don't move with the times, the times leave you behind.
Official F1 Timing App 2011 for iPhone and iPad, is it worth $33?
Formula 1 has always been the pinnacle of the FIA's motor racing roster. It's the most technologically advanced motor racing championship on Earth, with the teams and drivers pushing their cars to the absolute limit every time they hit the track. Everything on the cars is monitored remotely via a wireless data link; Formula 1 isn't a solo effort by the racing driver by any stretch of the imagination, it's most certainly a team game. From sector split times to track position, the amount of G experienced in the corners to the tire pressure and brake temperature, the team monitors it all from the pit lane wall and in the garage. But what about the fans? How can they get a bigger slice of the data-pie when it comes to the race? That's where the officially licensed, universal Formula 1 Timing App 2011 for iOS comes in. %Gallery-121202%
Free and paid apps for Formula 1 racing fans adding features for the 2011 season
We're just a few hours away from the start of the 2011 Formula 1 season and while the technologically advanced series seriously lagged in adding high definition broadcasting technology, app developers are filling in on the mobile front. This year's version of the official Formula1.com app is available for the first time on Android (in addition to Blackberry, J2ME and iOS) and has also added push notifications (iOS only so far) to tell you when the race is about to start -- convenient for the Australian GP's 2 a.m. EST start time. If you're looking for an upgrade as a viewing companion, the F1 2011 Timing App Championship Pass pulls in live stats and indicators of where each racer is on the track, as seen in the iPad version pictured above, and can even pause or replay the info later if you're watching on DVR. It runs about $30 on the iTunes and Android app stores, check it out at the links below or the press release after the break, or just poke around the app stores yourself for a few other options.
Ecclestone proclaims no 3D broadcasts for F1 as the sport prepares for HDTV this weekend
If you thought that the upcoming debut (delayed after Bahrain withdrew due to unrest in the region, leaving Australia on the 27th) of Formula 1 racing in high definition this weekend would finally put an end to Bernie Ecclestone commenting about broadcast technology, you were wrong. According to PitPass, the F1 chief said "I've always said 3D will never be used," when asked about it recently. This, despite LG's tests of the technology last year and curious declaration by Korean provider SingTel that it will actually broadcast races in 3D this year, according to Crave Asia. Of course, this is the same guy who claimed we would have to wait until 2012 for HD, but the article also notes he may have a personal objection to the technology due to being blind in one eye. We haven't seen any footage of F1 action in 3D yet, but after the long, long wait for F1 HDTV broadcasts, we wouldn't expect it to lead the way in other formats regardless of any potential health issues.
Formula One Management makes it official: 2011 season will be the first in HD
After many years of waiting we'll finally get to experience Formula 1 racing the way we should, in high definition. Sky Deutschland and the BBC have already confirmed they will carry the new HD feed, and formula One Management has confirmed it will be available to all host broadcasters and will include all track sessions in 42 Mb/s MPEG-2 form. The widescreen PAL feed we've been watching has been good enough to fool a few into believing what they saw on Speed HD and others was true HD, but we can't wait to see the difference when the season kicks off. Update: Speed TV has also officially announced it will carry the HD signal for US viewers this season starting with the opener in Bahrain March 13 and installing 'continuous fiber service' to guarantee the best picture quality.
Formula 1 could see high definition broadcasts (except for in-car cameras) next year
In our last crazy Bernie Ecclestone update, the F1 boss had suggested we could be two years away from high definition Formula 1 broadcasts, but since then he's apparently indicated it could happen as soon as next year. Last week, he apparently told German media that he's "not sure" whether the series will be in HD next year, citing problems fitting HD cameras on the cars. That other series like IRL have no problem squeezing the cams in has apparently gone unnoticed. At this point, we don't expect anything better than the current widescreen feed until well into the era of Super Hi-Vision, but just in case things change, we'll keep you posted
