Rumormill: The FIA to Forbid its Drivers Form Competing in Global RallyCross

There are tons of racing circuits in the world right now, but the fastest rising one in the U.S. is the Global RallyCross Championship circuit. You have super-fast cars on multiple surfaces (dirt, mud, sand, pavement, etc.) with little room to maneuver, plus they throw in obstacles and and ramps. No, we don’t mean relatively cushy dirt jumps in regular rally circuits. We mean ramps with huge gaps between them. So, who can blame us for falling in love with it?

It looks like the FIA is a little envious of the GRC and is planning to start its own international global rallycross circuit. With this potential entry into globalizing its rallycross circuit, the FIA is rumored to have forbid its drivers to participate in GRC. This would take some pretty high-level names out of the GRC, like Ken Block, Sebastien Loeb, Tanner Foust, and Liam Doran. To make matters worse, Tanner Foust is actually the points leader in the 2012 season, so that would be a major shakeup if the ban comes mid-season.

As we said, these are just rumors right now, but with multiple sources spreading the same whispers, there is likely some truth behind it. We have shipped off an email to GRC to get a quick statement and to see if there is any truth behind this, but we really doubt that they will confirm or deny the rumors.

For now, we just have to kick back and wait to see if the FIA follows through with this ban and if it’ll affect the 2012 season.

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2012 Nissan GTR P600 PKG by Switzer

Switzer Performance has unveiled quite a few tuning packages for the Nissan GT-R, and it seems they won’t be slowing down anytime soon now that Nissan has inadvertently announced another generation for the sports car. Their latest package is called the P600 GTR PKG and delivers an astounding 600 HP, up from the standard 545 HP.

In order to obtain this amazing power increase, the tuner has added Switzer-specific high-flow filters, Switzer’s own high-performance ECU software, and the free-flowing SS90 exhaust that not only helps increase power, but also improves the 3.8L twin-turbo V6 engine’s sound. This allows the P600 GTR to get from 0-60 mph in just 2.6 seconds (one second faster than the standard model) and make it from 60-130 mph 2.5 seconds quicker than the stock car.

Switzer’s main focus was the power increase, so no major aesthetic changes were made to the vehicle. The only change they made was the addition of a new set of new Switzer Signature series lightweight forged aluminum wheels with Michelin Pilot Supersports tires.

The absence of exterior and interior modifications doesn’t affect the price, however. The P600 PKG by Switzer will set Nissan GTR owners back $12,990.

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As Expected, Audi Planning to Use Digital Rear-View Mirrors in Production Models

Back in May, we announced that Audi was eliminating the traditional rearview mirror from its R18 Le Mans cars, due to its lack of rearward-facing glass. We also made it clear that a lot of additions to new cars come from successful experiences in the racing world. Well, the R18s ended up garnering a 1-2-3 finish in that race.

As expected, with success comes commercialization, and Audi has announced that its upcoming R8 e-tron will boast this digital mirror technology. This system will consist of a 7.7-inch AMOLED screen mounted in the traditional mirror’s spot. The “mirror” uses a rear-mounted camera to send a video feed, giving the driver a slightly wider field of vision than the average rearview mirror.

Here’s the issue though, the NHTSA’s law book still requires a mirror made from reflective glass to be mounted to all passenger cars. The law specifically states “Each passenger car shall have an inside rearview mirror of unit magnification” and it defines a “unit magnification” as “a plane or flat mirror with a reflective surface through which the angular height and width of the image of an object is equal to the angular height and width of the object when viewed directly at the same distance except for flaws that do not exceed normal manufacturing tolerances. For the purposes of this regulation a prismatic day-night adjustment rearview mirror one of whose positions provides unit magnification is considered a unit magnification mirror. ”

The issue is in the verbiage is that the phrase “ a plane or flat mirror with a reflective surface...” eliminates an LED screen, as it is not a reflective surface. Now, the law becomes nullified is the car comes with side-view mirrors that have 49 square-inches of reflective surface and offer a complete view of the rear end of the vehicle. Those mirrors would be huge for this supercar, so we doubt that exemption will be valid.

We’ll have to see exactly how Audi plans to get around this, or if the NHTSA makes adjustments to its laws.

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Mecedes-Benz Celebrates AMG’s 45th Birthday by Reviewing its History

AMG has been around since 1967 – we bet you didn’t know that – and its success story is amazingly interesting, mostly due to the immediate success it had. The AMG project actually began as a side job for Hans-Werner Aufrecht and Erhard Melcher. The two gained notoriety by modifying the 300 SE’s engine into quite the racer, by installing direct fuel injection back in the mid-1960s.

In 1967, Aufrecht and Melcher left Benz-Daimler and started AMG in a small workshop in a barn. The real success came in the 1970s when AMG developed a 300 SEL 6.8 like no one had ever seen before. It was tuned up to 320 ponies at 4,750 rpm and 541 Nm (399 pound-feet) of torque at 3,500. This allowed the heavy 300 SEL to hit 100 km/h (62 mph) in just 6.5 seconds, and easily win its class at the 24-hour race in Spa Francorchamps and take a second place overall finish.

The history lesson that Mercedes-Benz gives us on the AMG brand is available online in its fullest and progresses through each decade and even gives us a look at what the future holds for AMG. It outlines the AMG E-Cell and talks about its racing future too, which continues to look rather promising.

So head on over to Mercedes-Benz’s site and have a look at the history of AMG. It’s a pretty easy read and is broken down into small, easy-to-understand sections. Happy B-day, AMG, we hope to see 45 more from you!

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