Volkswagen Completes First Tests with New Polo R WRC [Video]

After making its motorshow debut in Frankfurt this past September, the new Volkswagen Polo R WRC completed its first laps today in the hands of two-time World Rally Champion and Dakar winner Carlos Sainz and Dr Ulrich Hackenberg, Member of the VW Board of Management for Technology.

The four-wheel drive WRC Polo R that is equipped with a 1.6-liter turbo engine delivering an output of about 300-horses was tested in the vineyards of Veldenz near Trier, which normally plays host to the ADAC Rallye Deutschland.

Hackenberg and Sainz, both with co-driver Timo Gottschalk on their side, were able to drive the car for close to 100 kilometers (62 miles) on the 2.8km-long tarmac circuit.

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Watch Mr. Bean's Hilarious Reaction to Lewis Hamilton's Crash at the Indian GP [Video]

While English comedian Rowan Atkinson hasn't quite managed to have the same success on the big screen as he did in his roles as Mr. Bean and the Blackadder on TV, he remains one of the most popular and brilliant physical comedians of our time.

In fact, Atkinson can be funny when you least expect it as proved by the following video that was filmed during the inaugural Indian Grand Prix this past weekend.

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2011 SEMA: Chevy’s COPO Concept Previews NHRA Drag Racing Camaro

Among other offerings, Chevrolet brought to Las Vegas the COPO Camaro, a racing car concept built according to NHRA Stock Eliminator drag racing.

Designed to be fitted with more than one engine options, the SEMA Show COPO concept models is powered by a supercharged 327 engine but can accommodate both the naturally aspirated 7.0-liter 427 (the same capacity as the original 1969 COPO) and the supercharged 5.3-liter 327.

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2011 SEMA: Kia Goes Racing with 2012 Rio B-Spec and Optima Hybrid USTCC Pace Car

Looking to further associate itself with the world of motorsports after the first two motorsports championships in company's history in the 2011 Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge (CTSSC), Kia today unveiled two more track-ready models at the 2011 SEMA Show, the 2012 Rio 5-door B-Spec racecar and the Optima Hybrid pace car.

Developed in partnership with Kinetic Motorsports, the new Rio 5-door B-Spec racer will compete in the newly established showroom stock racing class against various subcompact rivals such as the Mazda2, Honda Fit and Ford Fiesta starting from 2012.

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Formula 1: Indian Grand Prix Results

Niki Lauda may have been wrong in our opinion about Michael Schumacher’s return to Formula1, but as far as the latest world champion is concerned, his predictions appear to be spot on.

The Austrian had said that, given the right circumstances, Sebastian Vettel has the potential to match and even surpass Schumacher who so far, has broken nearly all records in F1.

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2011 Formula 1: Indian GP Qualifying Results

This weekend, India hosts its first-ever Formula 1 Grand Prix at the newly constructed, 5.1 km (3.17-mile) long Buddh track in New Delhi. Along with being a big event for the country it also marks a new record for this year’s world champion.

The unstoppable Sebastian Vettel scored his 13th pole position this year, matching Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost for most poles in a season. He needs just one more to equal Nigel Mansell’s 1992 record of 14 poles, while his team has already set its own record in F1 with is 16th pole position in a season.

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SEMA Preview: New Toyota Yaris Suits Up for Club Racing

The annual aftermarket extravaganza that is known as the SEMA Show will host the debut of Toyota Yaris B-Spec Club Racer that will compete in the SCCA B-spec class race category next year with Action Sports Star and BMX legend Jamie Bestwick behind the wheel. Read more »

What a Feeling: Carscoop Reader Takes Lexus LFA for a Spin around Silverstone

Say what you want about the Lexus LFA and whether or not it is worth the hefty $375k sticker price; if you're a true-blue petrol head and you were given the opportunity to get behind the LFA's wheel for a lap around a professional circuit, you'd do it in a heartbeat no matter what you thought about the car.

And that opportunity came for Carscoop reader Jean-Luc Cartwright from Britain who was able to drive the V10-powered Lexus LFA at the Silverstone racetrack in England.

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Watch a 2012 Porsche 911 and a Cayman R Chase Each Other on the Laguna Seca

Ever wonder what a 2012 Porsche 911 Carrera S [991] chasing a Porsche Cayman R and vice-versa on the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca looks like on film? Well, it's your lucky day as Porsche has released such a video, which was shot during the Rennsport Reunion IV.

The two drivers in question are Rolex Grand-Am GT Champion Leh Keen, in a Cayman R, and Porsche Works Driver Patrick Long in the new 2012 911 Carrera S. If you haven't done so already, skip the break to watch the clip.

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Twin-Turbo Ferrari 458 Italia Spanks Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4 in Race [Video]

Underground Racing is known for its radical supercar tunes that include insanely high-powered creations such as the bi-turbocharged Lamborghini Gallardo.

In this latest video, Underground Racing shows off it immensely powerful Ferrari 458 Italia Twin Turbo that stomps out 700 rear-wheel horsepower on 93-octane pump gas going against a stock Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4 in an on-the-road drag race.

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Skoda Wins Super 2000 World Rally Championship with Fabia

Skoda won last weekend’s RACC Rally of Spain and with it, the Super 2000 World Rally Championship – the first rally title in the company's 110-year old history.

Juho Hanninen and Mikko Markkula completed 18 stages and 406.5 km (252.6 miles), the longest event in the calendar, over both tarmac and gravel. After three days, they brought their Skoda Fabia S2000 to the finish line in first place in their class and 10th overall to win the title after their main rival, the Estonian Ott Tanak, retired on the first day.

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Nissan Launches Stripped Out 370Z NISMO RC Racer Ready for the Track

Ferrari and other luxury sports car makers aren't the only ones to offer race-spec variants of their series production models. Joining the club is Nissan with its newly revealed 370Z NISMO RC that is now available for customer orders.

The Japanese firm's track-ready racer is based on the street-legal 370Z NISMO but has undergone an extreme diet dropping the production model's luxury amenities. As a result, Nissan Motorsport engineers managed to shave more than 350 pounds off the 370Z NISMO RC, which tips the scales at just 2,954 lbs (1,339kg).

In addition to the crash diet, Nissan Motorsport also added numerous NISMO performance upgrades such as a race-spec exhaust system, a tuned ECM, a high capacity clutch, flywheel, engine oil, transmission and differential coolers.

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Caterham Cars Enters the Indian Market, will Assemble the Seven Locally

Launching a new brand in a country takes a lot of careful planning, and timing is crucial. If said brand is a sports car maker, there’s a perfect solution: do it on the weekend of the local Formula 1 Grand Prix.

So far this year, McLaren Automotive has done it three times at the GP's in Germany, Italy and Singapore. Now Team Lotus is following its example, as it will launch Caterham Cars in the Indian market at this weekend's inaugural Indian F1 Grand Prix.

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It’s Official: New Jersey will Host a Formula 1 Grand Prix in 2013

Korean GP organizers may be suffering huge losses after only two years of hosting a Formula 1 race and are already asking for a reduction in Bernie Ecclestone’s fees, but on this side of the world, things are quite different.

In August, we reported that the mayors of Weehawken and West New York in New Jersey were negotiating with investors led by former YES Network executive Leo Hindery, Jr., about the possibility of organizing a Formula 1 street race in New Jersey right along the Hudson River.

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Record-Setting Mercedes C-Class Bids DTM Farewell with One Last Win

After six years of competing in the German Touring Car Championship, most commonly known as the DTM, the Mercedes-Benz C-Class saloon turned its wheels in anger for the last time at last weekend’s Hockenheim race. Read more »

Test Run Shows the McLaren MP4-12C Lapping the 'Ring in 7:28, Faster than the Ferrari 458 Italia

Carmakers don't use the famous Nürburgring Nordschleife circuit only for testing prototypes, as you've seen many times in our scoop section, but also to time their cars and claim some bragging rights against their rivals.

This is one of those stories with the protagonist being the new McLaren MP4-12C sportscar that made its debut run on the Nordschleife with Horst von Saurma, Editor-in-Chief of German magazine Sport Auto, sitting behind the wheel.

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Mika Hakkinen Returns to Racing in the Cockpit of a Mercedes SLS AMG

Michael Schumacher isn’t the only Formula 1 champion who can’t live outside a racing car’s cockpit; after a four year absence, two-times F1 world champion Mika Hakkinen will sit behind the wheel of racing car for the final event of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, which will take place on November 13 at the Zhuhai track in China. Read more »

Tragedy Strikes MotoGP as Marco Simoncelli Dies in Sepang Race Accident [Video]

October has been a very bad month indeed for motorsport. Only one week after former IndyCar champion Dan Wheldon was killed in a 15-vehicle pileup at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, tragedy struck again, this time at the Moto GP race in Malaysia.

It was only the second round of the race at the Sepang track when Marco Simoncelli lost control of his Honda bike and fell on the tarmac. For unknown reasons, his helmet came off when he was struck by Colin Edwards on a Yamaha and compatriot Valentino Rossi on a Ducatti, both of which were very close and could not avoid the unlucky Italian rider.

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Formula 1: Loss-making Korean GP to Receive the Axe?

Just two years after entering the Formula 1 calendar, the future of the Korean Grand Prix looks bleak. The organizers are suffering heavy losses, most of which they attribute to the high fees paid to Bernie Ecclestone.

According to ESPN, this year's race that took place last weekend, cost around US$80 million– and the organizers lost US$56 million, which is very close to the fees paid to Ecclestone for the privilege to host a Grand Prix.

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Tanner Foust Takes 350HP Ford Focus RS500 for a Spin Around the 'Ring [Video]

Professional race car driver and American Top Gear host Tanner Foust was invited to Germany by Ford of Europe to try out the limited production Focus RS500 hot hatch on the famous Nordschleife circuit.

The refresh your memory, the RS500 was a special edition version of the standard Focus RS equipped with a modified 2.5-liter turbocharged inline-five delivering 350-horses to the front wheels through a six-speed manual gearbox. Ford only made 500 examples of the car available to the public and 12 units for its own use.

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