2009 Honda City

The all-new Honda City will make its European debut at the Istanbul Motor Show in October.

The compact sedan is a radical departure from the previous generation car, with a totally new exterior style, featuring some visual elements of the stylish Accord. The restyled exterior is joined by a new 1.4 i-VTEC engine, which gives the City significantly more power and better performance.

The new engine, which is also shared with the new Jazz is fitted with Honda's acclaimed i-VTEC system, which provides excellent performance and flexibility, without compromising fuel economy or emissions. The new engine gives the City 100PS, a healthy 17 PS increase over the previous model. This extra power helps the new City complete the benchmark 0-100 km/h in just 11.8 seconds for the manual version, an improvement of 1.6 seconds. The automatic version hits 100 in 14.7 seconds, almost half a second quicker than before.

The manual transmission for City is a modified version of the current gearbox, with carbon synchromesh for smoother changes, improved refinement and a new set of optimised gear ratios. The Automatic transmission is all-new and adds the option to shift gears with steering wheel mounted paddles for the first time. With a sport mode, improved shift logic and ratios the new transmission better compliments the new car's more powerful engine.

The all-new model has been further enhanced over its predecessor with a higher quality of materials, improved aesthetics and functionality. Increased storage capacity around the cabin including a bigger glove box improves practicality, while a new design of seats improves passenger and driver comfort.

The design changes are complimented by several improvements to the Noise Vibration and Harshness technologies applied to the car. A host of new features in the body, interior, suspension, engine and mountings have been included to bring further refinement to Honda's newest sedan. The NVH enhancements allow customers to make the most of the new audio system which offers iPod connectivity and better sound quality.

The New City is based on the platform of the award winning new Honda Jazz, and benefits from the many of the technologies seen in the new hatchback. The longer wheel base gives a significant improvement in interior space as well as the associated ride and handling benefits. Safety performance is also enhanced with the adoption of the ACE Body Structure (Advanced Compatibility Engineering), which better protects occupants of both cars in the event of a collision between vehicles of different heights.

The all-new City will go on sale from January in selected markets.

R8 beats the rest

Many publications were hailing it as the first car to truly be able to beat the Porsche 997 — considered by many[who?] to be one of the best sports cars ever made, and the leader in its class. Initial comparison tests have proven quite positive in this respect; Evo Magazine listed it as a "supercar", compared the R8 to the Porsche 911 Carrera 4S, Aston Martin V8 Vantage, and BMW M6 and after praising the R8's "amazing stability, traction and grip, unparalleled steering accuracy and bite, (and) its uncannily flat and disturbance-free ride", claimed that as a result of "the sublime effortlessness of it all", the Audi is a better sports car. The article concluded that "Audi humbles Porsche. A new dawn starts today".

Other publications have also written similar reviews of the Audi beating the Porsche in comparison tests.

Top Gear compared the Nissan GT-R to the R8, and remarked that the R8 was "simultaneously less impressive and yet somehow more involving". On the R8 they wrote that "it rewards driver input", calling it "fantastic in a way that will appeal more to true car enthusiasts" but also remarked that it was "much slower" and the GT-R was cheaper. On their test track, the car performed better than a Lamborghini Gallardo and an Aston Martin DB9.

First Audi R8 LMS Delivery

Audi Sport Italia receives the Audi R8 LMS with chassis number 101. The symbolic handover of the first customer car was made on Tuesday in the Audi Forum Neckarsulm. Emilio Radaelli, Team Manager of Audi Sport Italia, accepted the R8 LMS from Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich.

“In the future our new customer sport program represents Audi Sport’s third business field alongside our factory programs in the DTM and in sport prototypes,” explains Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. “2009 is a test and development year during which we aim to collect as much experience as possible with the R8 LMS. We are delighted to be able to do this with teams with which we are familiar and have established a solid partnership over the years.”

In the 2009 season, Abt Sportsline, Argo Racing, ORECA, Phoenix Racing and Team Rosberg also trust the new GT3 sports car from AUDI AG. Audi Sport will start the delivery to customers for the 2010 season from fall 2009.

The six customer teams plan to race in five European GT3 championships as well as in the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring for which Audi Sport has developed an endurance version of the R8 LMS.

Twelve R8 LMS sports cars will be in action in more than 40 events at almost 30 European circuits throughout the 2009 motorsport season. “This allows us to collect a lot of experience which will flow into the development of the R8 LMS,” says Oliver Straube who is responsible for marketing of the R8 LMS at Audi Sport.

With the GT3 race version of the R8, Audi Sport developed a racing sports car specifically for use in customer sport with the GT3 race version. Pure “factory” entries are not planned with the R8 LMS.

The assembly of the race cars including the body shells is made by quattro GmbH in Heilbronn-Biberach in a factory hall specifically for the customer sport program. The Audi factory in Györ, Hungary, deliver the V10 engines.

The new Audi R8 LMS competes in GT3 race series for the first time over the Easter weekend (10 to 13 April). The French GT Championship and the ADAC GT Masters start at the same time at Nogaro (France) and in the Motorsportarena Oschersleben (Germany).