German Car Scene

Month: March 2012

  • Mercedes-Benz confirm Jamie Green for 2012


    Mercedes-Benz has announced that Jamie Green will continue his long-standing alliance with the company for 2012, piloting the beautiful DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupe.

    This will be the British driver’s eighth DTM season with Mercedes-Benz, and his fifth driving for the HWA team, but the relationship stretches as far back as 1997 when Green took part in the young driver development programme created by McLaren and Mercedes-Benz. He went on to drive a Dallara-Mercedes in the 2004 Formula 3 Euro Series, before moving to tin-tops in 2005.

    “I’m looking forward to bringing my experience from seven DTM seasons to bear on the development and set-up of our new car, which will play an important role in the fight for top positions. I hope I can start the new DTM era in Hockenheim where I left off last year,” said a positive Green.

    Powered by a 4.0-litre V8 unit, the Coupé is based around a carbon fibre monocoque with steel roll cage, and comes equipped with equipped with six – front, lateral and rear – energy-absorbing crash structures.

    The 11 race season begins in Hockenheim on April 29.

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  • SEAT releases Leon FR+ Supercopa


    SEAT UK has revealed its Leon FR+ Supercopa (Supercup) model just in time for the new 12 plate registration, acknowledging the company’s one-make race series.

    Visually the Supercopa wears a more purposeful body package designed by the SEAT Sport division, including totally restyled bumpers, side skirts and larger tailgate spoiler, and comes in a choice of three colours: Emoción Red, Speed Blue and Nevada White. Other components include twin chrome tailpipes and a set of bespoke 18-inch alloy wheels by BBS.

    Standard equipment includes SEAT’s Media System 2.2 which features a five-inch colour touchscreen, sat-nav with dynamic route guidance, DAB radio, Bluetooth telephone connection and an SD card slot. The car also gets bi-xenon headlights with AFS (Adaptive Front-lighting System) and rear parking sensors.

    The 155 kW (211 hp) 2.0-litre TSI and 125 kW (170 hp) 2.0-litre TDI engines are lifted straight from Volkswagen’s Golf GTI and Golf GTD, with prices starting at £ 22,530 RRP for the diesel version with a six-speed manual gearbox.

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  • F80 BMW M3 chased


    This German BMW fan was lucky enough to spot a prototype F80 BMW M3 whilst driving on the Autobahn. It was also fortunate that he happens to own a 1 Series M Coupe – tuned to 420 hp… The hot version of BMW’s recently released 3 Series is rumoured to be ditching that beautiful 4-litre V8 engine in favour of a twin-turbocharged 3.3-litre V6 unit. The cynics amongst us might think that this is simply a BMW-staged teaser, either way it’s still worth watching.

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  • Big save at Sebring


    The regulars amongst you will no doubt remember Sean Edwards’s jaw-dropping driving talents during last year’s Nurgburgring round of the Porsche World Cup. This new piece of footage shows Sean on a flying lap at Sebring, encountering a hairy moment with a 911 RSR braking on a flat-out section of the circuit.

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  • Hartge BMW 1 Series M Coupe


    Beckingen-based Hartge has revealed its new program for the BMW 1 Series M Coupe. Already producing 246 kW (335 hp) and 450 Nm (332 lb/ft) in factory form, the company’s engine conversion results in a figure of 295 kW (401 hp) and 530 Nm (391 lb/ft) from the twin-turbocharged 3.0-litre straight-six. According to Hartge that translates to a 0-200 km/h time of 11.34 seconds, but that would make it faster than a Pagani Zonda F. And given that the stock time is just over 17 seconds, we’re guessing that someone may have hit a wrong key somewhere.

    Other components for the 1M include a range of wheel styles, stainless steel rear silencers, a -30 mm suspension spring kit, roof spoiler, boot lid lip, velour floor mats and aluminium pedals.

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  • Audi S5 Coupe by Senner Tuning


    Ingelheim am Rhein-based company Senner Tuning has developed a program for the facelifted Audi S5 Coupe model.

    The power upgrade for the 3.0 TFSI, which involves a remap and stainless steel exhaust system with quadruple 100 mm tailpipes, sees output jump from 245 kW (333 hp) and 440 Nm (325 lb/ft) of torque to 277 kW (377 hp) and 500 Nm (369 lb/ft). Not only is top speed raised to 270 km/h (167 mph), but a power converter is also fitted to remove the delay that can sometimes be experienced with fly-by-wire accelerators.

    Other tweaks include a KW Variant 3 inox-line suspension kit, which is adjustable for ride height, rebound and compression damping, 8.5 x 20-inch Corniche Challenge wheels finished in black with red elements and LED indicators.

    Inside, there’s an Audi R8 steering wheel and carbon fibre dial surrounds. The conversion is priced at € 12,900.

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