2011 Sebring Preview

With the first official practice sessions over it's time to preview the upcoming 59th running of Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. This year's edition of one of the most grueling races in the world is filled with exciting new changes.This year Sebring is not only the opening round of the American Le Mans Series, it also serves as the opening round of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, an international series centered around the 24 Hours of Le Mans. At the top of the 56 car field significant changes make P1 racing as open as it has been in years. New regulations have resulted in brand new machines from Peugeot, Aston Martin, and Audi. Unfortunately only Peugeot has its new race car, the 908, at Sebring. Audi is racing an updated version of last year's Le Mans winner which they are calling the R15++. Joining the P1 ranks this year is the Honda Performance Development effort. Peugeot and Audi have traded posting fastest times in the first few sessions with Honda and Aston Martin closely behind. New rules for 2011 have slowed down the diesel competitors creating close competition at the top. With the ACO closely watching all lap times and ready to slow down cars that are too quick it we might not see the true pace of some of the front runners until the green flag drops.

Regulation changes have resulted in a significantly larger gap between P1 and P2 categories, nevertheless the Nissan powered Oreca has enjoyed a sizable advantage in early testing over the Honda powered Lola.

The GT field this year looks to be as close as ever with Ferrari (represented by the new 458 Italia and the old 430), Porsche, Covette and BMW posting very similar times through the early sessions. As in P1 a true favorite might not emerge until the race begins.

This year Sebring will be streamed live in its entirety on ESPN3 and the ALMS website. Live coverage begins Friday for qualifying at 2:55PM (EST) with the race coverage starting at 10:115 AM Eastern time on Saturday.

Automotive Power Rankings Geneva Motorshow Edition

For those of you that follow sports you know that power rankings is all about the teams that are at the top of the game. With that in mind let's take a look at the first installment of Kill It With Fire power rankings. In this edition we'll rank the brands solely based on their performance at the Geneva Motorshow and ignore for a moment their sales, recalls and comparison tests results. These rankings are based on the impact, style, and "wow" factor of both production and concept debuts in Geneva. In other words the winners are the ones that made the most noise in Geneva.

1	Lamborghini	Lamborghini takes first place with its show stopping Aventador LP-700-4. 700 horsepower from a brand new V12 and incredible styling make Lamborghini the undisputed Geneva winner.
2	Volkswagen and Audi	The Golf convertible and Tiguan debuts weren't the greatest but the Bulli, A3 and Guigaro styled concept gave VW and Audi a great Geneva portfolio.
3	Koenigsegg	The Agera looks poised to be a legitimate Veyron challenger, the available ski box is an interesting touch.
4	Ferrari	The FF is Ferrari's first hatchback, patented all wheel system with two gearboxes is intriguing.
5	Alfa Romeo	The 4C's lightweight and great styling would be a great launch product when Alfa comes to the states.
6	Saab	The PhoeniX Concept features great styling and proves that Saab is looking ahead.
7	Nissan and Infiniti	The Nissan Esflow and the Infiniti Etherea feature adventurous styling perfect for an autoshow. On the production front the Micra features the return of the Miller cycle engine.
8	Morgan	The Threewheeler is a great blast from the past.
9	Toyota	Toyota is taking its time developing its new coupe but the second generation FT-86 looks great.
10	Renault	The Captur and R-Space continue Renault's great concept car lineage.
11	Bertone	The vintage styled X-Type looked intriguing but isn't likely to see production from Jaguar.
11	Aston Martin	The Virage looks great like all other Aston Martins before
12	Jaguar	The XKR-S celebrates the 50th anniversary of the E-Type
13	Rolls-Royce	The 102-EX is a Phantom with batteries under the hood and electric motors in place of the fuel tank.
14	Maserati	The Grancabrio gains a Sport version that adds additional performance to the standard great looks
15	Mazda	Mazda will get its styling mojo back if it can translate the Minagi CUV concept to reality with minimal changes.
16	Mercedes-Benz	The C-Class coupe features a classy if somewhat traditional coupe design.
17	BMW	The ConnectedDrive concept is the high-tech take on the roadster
18	De Tomaso	Will De Tomaso make a comeback with the Deauville? Only time will tell.
19	Ford	Neither the Ranger nor the B-Max will be coming to the states.
20	Hyundai	The i40 continues Hyundai's expressive styling momentum. It is essentially a Sonata Wagon that's not cleared for US sales yet.
21	Chevrolet	GM is clearly saving its best for domestic auto shows as the Cruze hatchback is little to get excited about.
22	Kia	The Rio and Picante look good for compacts but aren't terribly exciting.
23	Lancia	The Ypsilon loses out to its corporate cousin the Fiat 500 in styling and the rebadged Chryslers look exactly like rebadged Chryslers.
24	Skoda	The Skoda Design Concept is too subtle for a concept.

February 2011 Sales Recap

With gas prices surging upwards the conventional thinking would have car sales falling, yet the complete opposite was true in February. As a whole the auto industry recorded a 27% improvement over February of 2010 and posted a 13.4 million sales pace for the year. The best performing brands all posted unheard of improvements of over 70% compared to last year. Fueled by an almost doubling of pickup sales the Ram sub-brand posted an 81% increase in sales. As a whole Dodge was up 22%. February was an exceptionally strong month for General Motors. Its luxury oriented Buick brand was up 73% while Cadillac up by 70%. Chevrolet was up 43% to lead the biggest sellers with Toyota right behind with a 41.8% improvement. Toyota's luxury division Lexus did not fair as well only managing a 0.2% improvement. Of the remaining mainstream brands only Lincoln and Chrysler posted declines for the month. It will be interesting to see how the sales trend progresses over the next few months and if the rising fuel prices take a toll on sales.

As before Kill With Fire will continue to monitor sales of electric vehicles, Chevrolet sold 281 Volts and Nissan delivered 67 Leafs to customers.

A3 Sedan Concept

A few days ago Audi released some sketches of its Geneva A3 "nothcback" concept but now it's time to take a look at the actual concept along with a few additional specs. Audi says that the 408 horsepower 2.5 liter turbo 5 cylinder will propel the A3 to 60 in only 4.1 seconds or about as quick as the current TT-RS. A low weight of only 3,395 pounds helps achieve the acceleration figure as well as contributing to a 26 combined mpg rating on the European fuel economy tests. Using our propriety estimation techniques we guesstimate that such an A3 would achieve around 18/28 mpg on the EPA test. Take a look at the photos of the concept below.

Volkswagen Microbus Concept Reborn as Bulli

Volkswagen has reprised its well-liked 2001 Detroit Microbus concept in the form of the 2011 Geneva Bulli concept. During its 10 year autoshow absence the original concept has shrunk considerably to 156 inches in length or about 10 inches shorter than the Golf. It also gains a 113 horsepower electric motor and a 40 kilowatt-hour battery pack that's good for 186 miles before needing a charge. The Bulli, which is what the original Volkswagen Bus was meant to be called, stays true to its 2001 version style-wise for the most part but features sharper lines and creases. Inside the Bulli features a minimalistic interior that uses an iPad instead of a traditional console. While Volkswagen missed a great opportunity by not producing the Microbus concept it has a chance to redeem itself by greenlighting the Bulli into production.

Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4

Another day and yet another Geneva debut, this time its the official debut of the Lamborghini Aventador. Featuring a brand new 700 horsepower V12 engine coupled with a 7 speed quick shift transmission, carbon fiber monocoque and pushrod suspension front and rear the Aventador promises tremendous performance. And it delivers with a 0-60 time of only 2.9 seconds and a top speed of 217 mph while reducing fuel consumption by about 20% compared to the Murcielago. While the incredibly high performance was a given the pressing question was always going to be the Aventador's styling. Considered by many to be the definition of supercar styling Lamborghini had a reputation to uphold. The Aventador does not dissapoint with a blend of Gallardo, Reventon and Estoque concept elements. The Estoque's influence is most visible in the rear taillight design. As with the Murcielago air scoops and vents play a prominent role in exterior styling. Inside the Aventador uses a TFT-LCD display in place of a traditional speedometer and tachmoeter, a separate 7 inch display is used for navigation and multimedia through a Human-Machine Interface (HMI) system. The interior design is dominated by a prominent central console and is clean and luxurious.

Like previous Lamborghinis the Aventador is named after a fighting bull, a particularly famous one that won the "Trofeo de la Pena La Madronera" for its courage in 1993. Click on the image below to see the Aventador in its full glory.















Specifications

Horsepower: 700 hp @ 8,250 RPM

Torque: 509 lb-ft @ 5,500 RPM

0-62: 2.9 seconds

Top Speed: 217 mph

Engine Weight: 518 lbs

Gearbox: 7 speed ISR with 50 millisecond shift times

Length/Width/Height: 188.19/88.98/44.72 inches

Wheelbase: 106.29 inches

Dry Weight: 3,472 pounds

Price: 379,700 US dollars

Geneva Motorshow Concepts

We've taken a look at some of the upcoming Geneva production debuts and now it's time to look at some of the most exciting concepts at the show. Since you have already seen the sketches of the A3 Sedan Concept let's move on to two of Geneva's most anticiapted concepts: the Subaru and Toyota rearwheel drive coupe twins. Both Subaru and Toyota will show close-to-production concepts of their coupes. While Subaru and Toyota will show nearly prodcution looking concepts others will be more adventorous in style and reason. The BMW ConnectedDrive concept is a modern take on the classic roadster meant to showcase the upcoming possibilites of auto tech. Another concept to watch for is the Bertone B99. It's the Italian design house take on the much talked about upcoming 3-series/A4/C class size Jaguar. Infiniti will be presenting its Etherea conecpt which gives the Genevav audience a preview of how an upcoming compact Infiniti might look like. Nissan will also present an electric sports car featuring a mix of 370Z and GT-R styling cues and the Leaf's battery pack. And Geneva Motorshow would not be the Geneva Motorshow withous a Rinspeed concept. This year the Rinspee Bamboo is an electric powered retro-styled summer beach cruiser.

Click on the photo to start the Concept Gallery.