FastMotoring Motor News In Speed

In the new 2013 F1 season, Mercedes-AMG deployed the SLS AMG GT with 591hp and the C63 AMG Estate with 487hp at the direction of Race Control officials usually when weather or incidents are considered to impact on the safety of a race. The two AMG high-performance cars had their first appearance at the opening race of the F1 season in Melbourne last weekend for 2013 F1 ROLEX Australian GP. The 2nd race of the F1 season, the 2013 Petronas Malaysia Grand Prix will take place this weekend.

The main reasons for intervention by the Safety Car are poor weather conditions or accidents. The Official F1 Safety Car is driven by Bernd Mayländer from Germany and his co-driver, the FIA‑employee Pete Tibbetts from Great Britain.

Bernd Mayländer: “We are on standby in the pit lane in the Official F1 Safety Car, waiting for a radio message from Race Control.” When the need arises, the aim is to guide the field safely around the track until the danger no longer exists. The racing driver from Schorndorf has been the official driver of the Safety Car for the FIA since 2000. As a former DTM driver he is also active as an instructor for the AMG Driving Academy and as a Mercedes-Benz brand ambassador at selected events.

The new season of Porsche Carrera Cup Asia 2013 will be kicking off this weekend as part of the 2013 F1 Petronas Malaysian GP in Sepang International Circuit.

The 25-strong field of Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars will take to the track for the first of the 11 races which make up the 2013 calendar, which will see the intriguing entry of successful professionals and fascinating young talent compete across the region for two championship titles, including eight drivers from eight Porsche China dealer teams: Team Jebsen, PICC Team StarChase, Team Betterlife, Team Kangshun, Team C&D, Team Eagle, Team Yongda Dongfang and Basetex racing.

Fresh from his first appearance in the 12 Hours of Sebring at the weekend, where a strong performance saw the team lead the GTC class before mechanical glitches struck, reigning Porsche Carrera Cup Asia champion Alexandre Imperatori will be back at the wheel of his PICC Team StarChase entry.  He will get his title defense underway against one of the strongest fields in the series’ history, which includes last year’s runner-up and 2011 champion Keita Sawa of Japan in the LKM Racing Team car, Team Jebsen’s Rodolfo Avila of Macau, and Austrian talent Martin Ragginger of Team Eagle.

Another former Formula 1 test and reserve driver, Tung Ho-Pin of China, made a strong entrance to sportscar racing with the series last year. Tung will compete with Kamlung Racing this season, and retains his backing from Budweiser in 2013. Other hot favorites include Frenchman Benjamin Rouget with Team Yongda Dongfang, Zhang Da Sheng of Team Basetex, and Team Betterlife ace Wang Jian Wei. From Singapore comes one of Asian racing’s best known names, Ringo Chong, with Team Kangshun.

New racers for the season include New Zealand’s Earl Bamber with Nexus Racing, quick in testing at Sepang earlier this month and who, at just 22 years-of-age, comes with an impressive single seater career.  Also amongst the professionals making their first appearances are Tung’s team mate, Peter Li Zhi Cong, together with Jason Zhang Zhi Qiang entered by Team C&D.

The 2013 entry is almost evenly matched between the professionals and the Class B category for non-professional drivers, with last year’s champion Wayne Shen moving up to compete for the overall title for the first time per series regulations.

A hot favorite in Class B this year is Francis Tjia of OpenRoad Racing, second in the standings last season, but he can expect a fierce challenge from Switzerland’s Egidio Perfetti in the Mentos Racing entry. Class B debutante Malaysia’s Alif Hamdan, also 22, is the second of three Nexus Racing entries, with fellow countryman and team mate Adrian Henry D’Silva and guest driver Fauzy giving the local crowds a trio of drivers to cheer.

The 10-lap Round 1 of Porsche Carrera Cup Asia 2013 will be held on this Sunday with qualifying session today in Sepang.

2013 Porsche Carrera Cup Asia 

Provisional Entry List

*Non-series registered

Porsche Carrera Cup Asia 2013

Provisional Race Calendar 

* subject to confirmation of commercial agreement.

If you are one of the petrol head that wind down your car window when a sports car cruise by to feed your eyes with some V10,V12 or boxer engine orchestra, this is for you. Audi just release a video of a stripped down Audi R8 V10 Plus strapped to the dyno machine to record the purest and clearest engine and exhaust sound of the vehicle. The sound, or rather engine,exhaust orchestra in our term is produces by a 5.2L V10 engine tuned to push 550hp with 398 ft of torque in the latest Audi R8 V10 revision. So put on your headset for better Audi audio experience and hit play on the video below.

The Malaysia Grand Prix season is back for 2013. Before the race in the second venue starts, Infiniti Red Bull Racing and former F1 driver David Coulthard gave local Infiniti owners a truly special experience today in Kuala Lumpur.

During the event, the 13-time Formula One Grand Prix winner gave insights into the life of a Formula One driver and took owners closer than ever to Formula One with a sneak peak at the workings behind the scenes of Infiniti Red Bull Racing. He shared his experience in performance driving and the importance of not just speed but precision handling and teamwork to achieve success in Formula One.

The highlight of the event was the opportunity for Infiniti owners to drive with Coulthard, who personally led a convoy from the Infiniti Center, Bukit Bintang to Cyberview Resort & Spa (Cyberjaya). It was a thrilling moment for Infiniti owners as they also got the opportunity to have their photograph taken alongside the FIA Formula One Constructors’ World Championship Trophy.

Infiniti has been an active participant in Formula One since 2011. Since that inaugural season the technical collaboration with three-time FIA Formula One Constructors’ World Champions has deepened. Infiniti starts the 2013 season as Title Partner and Vehicle Performance Partner of the renamed Infiniti Red Bull Racing with shared engineering expertise and deepened collaboration across people, processes and technologies.

“It is a great way to be associated with the high technology and performance required by the Formula One standards. It was truly an honor to have David Coulthard spend time and share his Formula One experiences with our valued Infiniti owners” said Senior General Manager of Inspired Motor Sdn Bhd, Christopher Tan.

Global Director of Infiniti Formula One, Andreas Sigl commented: “We’ve established a number of workstreams which are already underway to build our technical collaboration across the specific areas of people, processes and technologies. Our aim is to have a team of engineers working with the Formula One programme, helping us bring Infiniti Red Bull Racing’s ways of working and performance expertise to our road car operation. The collaboration will also enable us to bring Formula One-inspired technology to our road cars.”

Photo Gallery: Infiniti Red Bull Racing in Malaysia