Bit of Renault PR but not a bad watch anyway.  Red Bull's Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel as well as Renault's Nick Heidfeld (now ex-Renault) and Vitaly Petrov hit the track with Lotus compatriots Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen.  The Renault powered F1 drivers were unleashed on the Nürburgring in various Renault cars, both concept and current.  The current offerrings are from the RenaultSport division comprising of the Clio and the Megane.  The Twizy also gets a run around the track believe it or not as well as a futuristic electric concept vehicle.

My motorbike ride home from Spa to Norfolk on Sunday night after the Belgian Grand Prix was very therapeutic.

I can listen to music in my crash helmet and so some Clapton was called for - it was great to see Eric on the grid - and then plenty of Deep Purple and a little Led Zep before migrating to my background music playlist.

Through all of that, I frequently thought about Mark Webber's pass around the outside of Fernando Alonso in Eau Rouge at 170 mph during the race.

How did he do it? Why did Alonso yield? Is Alonso thinking: "Next time, buddy, you'll be in the hedge"?

What would have happened if they had touched? Is there any point in my career where I would have done that? Would Webber have done it without modern safety cells and large run-off areas at the top of the hill?

Whichever way you look at it, that pass was spectacularly impressive, skilful, and brave.

Webber may not have won a race for more than a year but he won my eternal respect for that one.

I almost closed my eyes when I saw what was going down. The replay only made it worse when you realised how close the two were to banging front tyres. It's the kind of move which will be referenced for years to come, particularly when we revisit Spa.

The start of the race weekend was dominated by the news of Gachot’s conviction. “There was a great hullabaloo when we turned up because all the attention was on Gachot not being there,” says Gallagher.

“All the drivers were wearing white T-shirts with protest messages: ‘Let Gachot go’ and ‘Let Gachot out of jail’.” Similar messages had been scrawled by fans on the track.

Trevor Foster asked de Cesaris to take his new team-mate around the track in a road car, showing him the lines and when to change gear. De Cesaris never did find the time for his new team-mate, so Schumacher got a fold-up bike out of the boot of his car and set off around the track.

After two laps of the track under pedal power, Schumacher and his manager headed off for the evening. No accommodation had been provided for them so they stayed at a youth hostel just outside Spa.

Friday practice came and Schumacher was immediately on the pace. He ended the day eighth-fastest on a track he had never driven before.

The following day Schumacher qualified eighth, behind Ayrton Senna, Riccardo Patrese, Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell, Gerhard Berger, Jean Alesi and Nelson Piquet. Patrese’s time was disallowed when the scrutineers found his reverse gear wasn’t working, which promoted Schumacher to seventh.

He was also two rows ahead of his veteran team-mate. Gallagher says, “That was notable because, obviously, de Cesaris was no slouch. And for Michael to arrive at a driver’s circuit like Spa and do such a good job was terrific.”

A good read for Michael Schumacher fans and F1 fans in general. You can see he loves the Spa circuit with his tremendous drive from the back of the grid on the weekend.

BMW spokesman Piers Scott says the cut-price new 116i model will attract a new range of buyers who may otherwise be considering a VW Golf or Audi A3.

"I was a little bit surprised that we'd managed to get it so well under what the previous model was," Scott says.

"And then it undercuts even the entry-level A3 [priced at $39,990] by a few grand, and so I would think we're able to look at maybe even luring Golf customers into a 1-Series for the first time.

"It's the only rear-wheel-drive car in the luxury hatch segment as it stands currently, and it's bigger and more spacious than the outgoing one. So we're pretty excited about that," he says.

Some rather sharp pricing for the BMW at $36,900. You'd have to wonder what has been left out as standard equipment, but for the brand conscious this perhaps isn't such a big deal. It will be interesting to see if the BMW will really lure customers away from potential VW Golf sales as the previous 1 Series wasn't the most practical of cars. The new model has said to improve on the last's short comings in this regard, but we'll have to wait for the first reviews to see if it is enough to make the difference.

The irony of it all is that those the car will appeal to will likely not care if it has rear-wheel drive or not.  People instead will likely gravitate towards the brand and so adding to the practicality will likely not phase people.  What is even more ironic is that it is the fact that the car is rear-wheel drive that makes it less practical due to the increased rear end equipment needed which robs the cabin of boot space and rear leg room.  So the potential customer won't care that it's practical or rear-wheel drive and yet BMW have spent a great deal of time pointing out these two features. 

So to summarise, we have a desirable brand selling a car which is desirable because it is seen as a driving enthusiasts car due to it being rear-wheel drive who have improved their car by making it more practical.  However, the typical buyer doesn't care if it is practical or rear-wheel drive and the driving enthusiast won't buy it because if it's lack of power.  It's a funny world we live in.  Of course in Europe the equation is a bit different, but over here it's nothing but amusing.

German Nick Heidfeld has been dropped by the Renault team in favour of Brazilian Bruno Senna for this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix.

Renault made a promising start to the 2011 season but their form has slipped amid rumours of funding shortages, which the team have denied.

While Heidfeld is on a salary, Senna, Renault's reserve driver, comes with several million pounds of sponsorship.

It will be Senna's first race since last season, when he drove for HRT.

The 27-year-old nephew of the late Brazilian legend Ayrton Senna is expected to race for Renault in the eight remaining races this season alongside Russian Vitaly Petrov.

It will be interesting to see how he goes in a better car because he didn't really sit the world on fire at HRT even when compared to his team mate.

Evo get in an early look at the mighty Pagani Huayra.  The sound from this thing is really something to behold.

Pagani have stuck with their AMG engine roots with a 6.0-litre biturbo V12.  The new unit produces 522 kW and 737 Nm.  The power comes out the back through a 7-speed sequential XTRAC transmission mounted behind the engine.  All this accelerates the 1,350 kg supercar from 0-100 km/h in just 3.3 seconds and on to a top speed of 370 km/h.

 

“I would demand less pit-stops,” he underlines. “More attacking and pushing the cars to the edge; more racing and less strategy. Bring back refuelling; it is better to drive cars that are lighter – [and engines with] 1,300 horsepower. Big engines and big noise – that is what fans relate to F1.

“The 1980s [were] dangerous, so drivers needed big balls – it was the era I watched on TV when I was little. To be honest, the 1950s and 1960s were a little bit extreme; the 1980s were the right time – the right balance between safety and extreme.

“I always liked going to Imola, but of course the memories of many in F1 of going there are probably not so good. In some ways, it is a bit of a 'dark track' after what happened there. Obviously, it is not the luckiest venue, but I think a lot of drivers would love to go back there for the atmosphere.

“To be honest, I always liked going to Magny-Cours, too. Even though many complained that it is in the middle of nowhere, the track layout was very nice – and I liked it because there were no groupies and no clowns walking around in their suits, it was just racing!”

The lack of refuelling is something fans like myself are missing. Drivers are having to be far too calculating and reserved in the early stages of the race to avoid damaging their tyres when the cars are full of fuel. While the racing has improved recently, it is simply down to the tyres and in some places the DRS system. We are seeing teams getting on top of the new tyres which degrade more quickly and as a result, they are getting increased milage from them. I tend to believe that if refuelling was reintroduced with the current regulations, we'd see racing improve to an even higher level.

Power was vocal in his criticism of IndyCar supremo Brian Barnhart.

"I was begging him not to go green. It was too slippery," he said.

"There’s no use. He makes such bad calls all the time. They cannot have this guy running the show. He put so many people in danger - It was no condition to race in shame on him.

"I saw Danica spin and I reacted, then I got hit by three or four people, that hurt too.

"I can’t believe they make decisions like that. What are those guys doing?

"I know I lost my temper but I couldn’t help it. We had such a good day, and we begged them, begged them not to do it."

Within an hour of the race finish, IndyCar boss Barnhart announced a remarkable re-set of the finishing positions, giving Power back his 20 points and closing the championship lead.

"It was a mistake on the race official’s part, and obviously the only fair thing to do is go back to the running order before that restart."

Franchitti had led much of the race in Loudon, including some 30 laps under the safety car as rain interrupted the race, and looked certain to claim a commanding win until contact with Takuma Sato pitched him into the wall.

"Takuma came into my right rear on the straight. I don’t know what the deal is," Franchitti said.

"It’s not the first time and probably not going to be the last time with him."

Takuma Sato took the blame for the crash.

"It was my fault," he said.

"I had some debris in my eyes, there were tears. It's not an excuse but it was my fault."

Meanwhile Tony Kanaan has led a chorus of drivers showing support for Power, tweeting "I'll pay your fine. #YouRock," to the Aussie while other drivers took to the social media platform to criticise IndyCar.

Power's compatriot and teammate Briscoe joined the fray with "Who enjoyed us making restarts in the rain today?? I think every driver including myself was on the radio saying it was too wet. #dumb".

And you thought F1 had problems! This is the most bizarre motorsport story we've heard in a very long time.

Good to see Takuma Sato has taken his F1 talents to IndyCar as well.  Taking out other drivers seemed to be his speciality.

Audi is about to launch a 1.8-litre petrol turbo engine that challenges the best turbodiesels in terms of power outputs, fuel economy and CO2 emissions.

The new 1.8 TFSI engine displaces the same 1798cc as the regular Audi 1.8 TFSI engine but delivers better power and torque figures, consumes less fuel and produces less CO2 – all by significant margins. Audi says it is more efficient than many hybrids currently available.

Comparisons with similar-capacity turbodiesels are encouraged by not just the torque – it makes 320Nm on a flat band extending from 1400rpm to 3700rpm – but also by the revs at which maximum power is produced.

The new engine develops its maximum 125kW at a super-low 3800rpm – actually better than Audi's own 2.0 TDI turbodiesel which develops 103kW at 4200rpm. The 2.0 TDI produces the same 320Nm of torque as the new 1.8 TFSI, but at higher revs and is less sustained throughout the rpm band. The TDI's maximum comes in at 1750rpm and peters out past 2500rpm.

The closest turbodiesel in terms of capacity is Mitsubishi's 1.8-litre Di-D (direct injection diesel) engine used in the ASX compact SUV, where it produces 110kW at 4000rpm and 300Nm at 2000rpm.

The power and torque figures are not the only impressive aspects of the new Audi engine: Installed in the A5 Sportback, it returns a combined fuel economy figure of 5.7L/100km, along with CO2 emissions of 134g/km and a zero to 100km/h acceleration figure of 7.9 seconds.

This isn't the first time Audi/VW have challenged conventional wisdom on the diesel vs petrol argument. Volkswagen's 1.4 Twin-charge TSI offerred the similar promise of petrol characteristics with the fuel economy and off idle torque of a diesel. It seems Audi are taking the concept even further this time.

Audi have come at the problem from a different angle. Instead of trying to make their diesel offerrings more petrol like by making them peakier and more revable just like a petrol engine (diesel motors tend to max out at about 5,000 rpm whereas your typical petrol motor will climb closer to 7,000 rpm), Audi have instead made their petrol engines more diesel like with a lower torque band. This has the benefit of aiding fuel economy and makes the car typically better to drive in normal conditions.

If you are interested in more details, follow the link below.

Car buying sucks but Nissan is trying to make it suck less by putting QR codes on vehicle window stickers. The thought is that buyers might want a little more info than the Maroni providers, and these QR codes are a direct link to Nissan. Jon Brancheau, Nissan’s VP of of Marketing calls the On Vehicle Graphics QR codes a “silent salesperson” but it’s more like a trustworthy salesperson. Amirite?

Don't you hate it when you wander around a car dealership having done your research only to realise it's not so easy to pick which spec model is actually sitting on the showroom floor? And aren't you frustrated when you can never seem to strike the balance right between when you want to be left alone and when you actually need the sales people's help? Well life might be about to get a lot easier. Soon you'll simply be about to pull your smartphone out and scan the QR code attached to the car which should instantly pull down the specifics about the car. Imagine seeing a demo sale and being able to scan a code to work out exactly what options have been added, allowing you to quickly make the call as to whether it has what you need and whether the savings are worthwhile.

Now it won't just be motoring enthusiasts who know more about the car than the sales person!

Last Sunday, an episode of Top Gear showed Jeremy Clarkson and James May setting off for Cleethorpes in Lincolnshire, 60 miles away. The car unexpectedly ran out of charge when they got to Lincoln, and had to be pushed. They concluded that "electric cars are not the future".

But it wasn't unexpected: Nissan has a monitoring device in the car which transmits information on the state of the battery. This shows that, while the company delivered the car to Top Gear fully charged, the programme-makers ran the battery down before Clarkson and May set off, until only 40% of the charge was left. Moreover, they must have known this, as the electronic display tells the driver how many miles' worth of electricity they have, and the sat-nav tells them if they don't have enough charge to reach their destination. In this case it told them – before they set out on their 60-mile journey – that they had 30 miles' worth of electricity. But, as Ben Webster of the Times reported earlier this week, "at no point were viewers told that the battery had been more than half empty at the start of the trip."

It gets worse. As Webster points out, in order to stage a breakdown in Lincoln, "it appeared that the Leaf was driven in loops for more than 10 miles in Lincoln until the battery was flat."

When Jeremy Clarkson was challenged about this, he admitted that he knew the car had only a small charge before he set out. But, he said: "That's how TV works". Not on the BBC it isn't, or not unless your programme is called Top Gear.

Oh dear, "that's not gone well". May and Clarkson were highlighting the issues associated with living with an electric vehicle. While they should have pointed out they departed with less than half a charged battery, their points are still valid.

The outback proves a bit tough for some of Germany's best off-road warriors.

Mercedes-Benz has launched a rescue mission to one of the most remote sites in Australia after six of its military-style wagons broke down.

Corrugations along one 70-kilometre stretch of the Canning Stock Route burst the shock absorbers on six of the seven vehicles attempting to make what the German car maker claims is the first full crossing of the 1900-kilometre route through outback Western Australia by a car manufacturer.

Five "normal" versions of the G-Class off-roader - and one military-specification ute - started to burst mainly rear shock absorbers while travelling along stretches of the stock route extending from Well 33 to Well 35.

Fourteen people, including two Mercedes-Benz technicians and one Drive team member, are stranded at the remote site, part of an attempt to publicise the off-road credentials of the recently introduced, rugged off-road G-Class range.

Oh dear, that's not gone well. Still, one would imagine the G-Class will be stronger for it once Mercedes get a chance to analyse the problem.

Arturas Zuokas, 43, took the drastic action after becoming infuriated with motorists parking their luxury cars illegally around the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius.

The flamboyant politician decided to take the novel approach of fighting illegally parked cars by driving over them in a Russian tank.

He said: ”I wanted to send a clear message that people with big and expensive cars can’t park wherever they feel like and ignore the rights of pedestrians and bike riders.

I wonder if this is re-election material?

Talk about cutting out the middleman. A mind-reading device that taps into a driver's brain can recognise and act on the brain signals to stop the car precious milliseconds before the signals become leg movements.

Some cars carry systems to detect traffic danger, and will then stop the vehicle the moment the driver touches the brake. Stefan Haufe from the Berlin Institute of Technology in Germany says plugging into the driver's thoughts could make response times even faster.

With colleagues, he wired 18 volunteers to an EEG headset, a non-invasive way to measure brain activity, and asked them to drive at 100 kilometres per hour in a car simulator, closely following the car in front.

The EEG measured patterns of brain activity as drivers were forced to brake suddenly. It recorded three distinct patterns, which the team were able to use to detect the intention to brake before the driver moved, says Benjamin Blankertz, also at TU Berlin, who co-led the study. Sensors on the drivers' legs to monitor muscle tension provided another way to confirm the intention to brake.

Not only will you get to wear fancy headwear (because we all know people who drive in hats are safer drivers) but this means you'll be able to tailgate closer than ever!

“Obviously we haven't sat down and signed the contract, but ultimately I expect that to be a formality. I am very happy with the two drivers we have. They push each other hard and I can't imagine any other driver in our car, or Mark Webber in any other team's car next year,” said Horner.

Other than that, the RBR boss claims that Webber and Vettel are the two strongest drivers on the grid at least for the team and one has to admit that both of them do have this certain ‘chemistry’ as a result of which, they push the other drivers to improve even more.

“The dynamics between them tells us so. They push each other harder then perhaps some others, so we are very happy with that combination. They are now together in their third year and it is logical that we are looking to extend that,” he said.

The writing looks to be on the wall. Perhaps this will suit the timing of Ricciardo stepping up into the main event after a season and a half getting himself up to speed with HRT and Torro Rosso.