Mercedes CLS Grand Edition

Mechanically identical to a normal Mercedes {link} CLS the Grand Edition is an expression of style from Stuttgart's largest car company.
Destined for delivery from march of this year (2009) the CLS Grand Edition comes in a choice of colours, including matt platinum. Chosen to show the design features of the CLS body the matt paint is said to be at least as durable as the gloss, standard paint used on non-Grand Edition CLS cars.
Additional (less striking) features of the Grand Edition are body coloured radiator grille, Bi-Xenon headlamps with smoked lenses, 18" AMG Grand Edition wheels, tilt and slide sunroof, leather/alcantara upholstery, velour Grand Edition foot mats, subtle Grand Edition exterior badging, brushed aluminium pedals as well as wood, stainless steel and aluminium styling throughout the interior (including on the steering wheel).
Prices start around £67,000 and orders are being taken (in Europe) now.

Porsche Panamera

Porsche's new model, the Panamera is being launched at the Shanghai Motorshow {link} in April of this year.
The V6 and V8 powered four-door sports Coupe is a bold move in these uncertain economic times and the launch venue may give clues to where Porsche {link} expect the majority of the Panameras to be sold.
most mouth watering of the Panameras must be the twin turbo V8 range topping Turbo version which is expected to offer excellent performance with practicality not normally associated with a non-SUV Porsche.

Zauber ZR1

Weighing a mere 520kgs (excluding driver) and boasting 290PS from its 1400cc engine the Zauber ZR1 {link} is a highly entertaining drive. Designed to be fun, fast and realistically priced the ZR1 definitely succeeds at being fun and fast.
2009 sees Zauber organising the Top40 race series for identical ZR1s. Aimed at drivers over 40 the series hopes to offer exciting racing without young "hotshots" and their associated hype and accidents.
As is to be expected the ZR1 comes with a full safety cage, Schroth {link} 6 point harness, fire extinguisher and carbon crash structure. the car also comes with adjustable aerodynamics front and rear plus adjustable dampers and ride height, allowing driver to tailor their car to their very own driving style.

Dakar top 15 after stage 2.

Volkswagen team mates Carlos Sainz, Michel Perin and Giniel De Villiers, Dirk Von Zitzewitz moved into the top 2 places of this year's Dakar yesterday on the Santa Rosa de la Pampa to Puerto Madryn stage. Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah, Tina Thorner in their BMW X3 CC have dropped from 1st overall to 4th overall.
With another 13 stages to complete through some of the toughest tourain in South America the final leaderboard will most likely look completely different, it is nice to see German manufacturers doing so well at present though!

1.	Carlos Sainz, Michel Perin	Volkswagen Touareg
2.	Giniel De Villiers, Dirk Von Zitzewitz	Volkswagen Touareg
3.	Stephane Peterhansel, Jean-Paul Cottret	Mitsubishi Racing Lancer
4.	Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah, Tina Thorner	BMW X3 CC
5.	Joan "Nani" Roma, Lucas Cruz Senra	Mitsubishi Racing Lancer
6.	Luc Alphand, Gilles Picard	Mitsubishi Racing Lancer
7.	Mark Miller, Ralph Pitchford	Volkswagen Touareg
8.	Orlando Terranova, Alain Guehennec	BMW X3 CC
9.	Krzysztof Holowczyc, Jean-Marc Fortin	Nissan Navara
10.	Robby Gordon, Andy Grider	Hummer H3
11.	Guilherme Spinelli, Marcelo Vivolo	Mitsubishi Pajero
12.	Leonid Novitskiy, Oleg Tyupenkin	BMW X3 CC
13.	Peter Van Merksteijn, Eddy Chevaillier	BMW X3 CC
14.	Thierry Magnaldi, Guy Leneveu	SMG Porsche
15.	Balazs Szalay, Laszlo Bunkoczi	Opel Antara RR

Volkswagen Roadster.

This months Detroit Motorshow {link} sees Volkswagen's Concept R design return as the Volkswagen Roadster, a virtually production ready show car instead of a design study.
The mid-engined V6 two seater sportscar is expected to feature many of the ground breaking elements showcased by the Concept R including LED front and rear lights (front lights similar to the those on the new Audi R8 V10), seating position and mounting.

For the conspiracy theorists amongst you this Roadster could well prove to be the link between Volkswagen {link} and Porsche's Boxster/Cayman platform.....

Dakar leaderboard after stage 1

The top 10 positions in this year's Dakar rally (after stage 1) are as follows:~
1. Al-Attiyah, Thörner BMW X3CC 2h36m15s
2. Sainz, Périn Volkswagen Race Touareg + 2:17
3. de Villiers, von Zitzewitz Volkswagen Race Touareg + 2:40
4. Miller, Pitchford Volkswagen Race Touareg + 4:21
5. Alphand, Picard Mitsubishi Racing Lancer + 4:44
6. Peterhansel, Cottret Mitsubishi Racing Lancer + 4:54
7. Terranova, Guehennec BMW X3CC + 5:09
8. Roma, Cruz Senra Mitsubishi Racing Lancer + 5:11
9. Holowczyc, Fortin Nissan Navara + 7:44
10. van Merksteijn, Chevaillier BMW X3CC + 10:39

Dieter Depping and Timo Gottschalk in their Volkswagen Race Touareg are 80th overall an hour and 31 mins behind the leader after a first stage filled with enermous highs and lows. Having lead for most of the way an electrical fault struck their Touareg abd sent them spiralling down the leader board. A philosophical Depping said "The start of the first stage ran positively. We found our pace quickly and were able to maintain it. I felt very comfortable in the Race Touareg again. However, 80 kilometres before the finish we had a technical and obvious electrical problem. The engine wouldn´t rev above 2,000 rpm anymore and so we lost an hour. Some of this also because we attempted to repair the problem with what we had on board and lost additional time as a result. However, all is not lost. The Dakar Rally still has a lot of challenges in store for us and our rivals."

Stage 2 Santa Rosa de la Pampa to Puerto Madryn starts today and offers over 235 kms of competitive driving to the teams. Volkswagen are hoping to capitalise on their excellent start (Depping will be hoping to claw some time back!!) whilst Nasser Al-Attiyah & Tina Thörner in their BMW X3CC will be hoping to extend their lead over former World Rally Champiuon Carlos Sainz.

Audi R8 V10

With the dawn of 2009 the launch of Audi's range topping R8 V10 draws ever closer. Due to be one of the major stars of this month's Detroit Motorshow {link} the V10 engine is expected to propell the Audi {link} R8 into the supercar class with exceptional perfromance (power to weight ratio of 324PS per tonne) and high desireability too.
The 5204cc V10 engine produces 525PS and 530Nm of torque ~ in both cases an increase of atleast 100 over the V8 model. This extra power will allow the V10 R8 to reach a top speed of 198mph and sprint from 0-62 mph in a mere 3.9 seconds.
The 4 wheel drive aluminium space frame sports car will have the world's first all LED headlamps as standard, continuing the R8 tradition of innovation and cutting edge technology.

Dakar 2009

Tomorrow sees the start of the 2009 Dakar {link}.
German manufacturers are well represented on the entry list with the works Volkswagens starting the event as joing favourites for outright victory. Below is a list of the top 20 starters (in the car section) plus other notable German powered vehicles.

Cars in bold are pictured in this post, underlined means there's a link through to the team's website.

300	Stephane Peterhansel Jean-Paul Cottret		Mitsubishi Lancer
301	Carlos Sainz, Michel Perin		Volkswagen Touareg
302	Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah, Tina Thorner		BMW X3 CC
303	Luc Alphand, Gilles Picard		Mitsubishi Lancer
304	Joan "Nani" Roma, Lucas Cruz Senra		Mitsubishi Lancer
305	Giniel De Villiers, Dirk Von Zitzewitz		Volkswagen Touareg
306	Guerlain Chicherit, Matthieu Baumel		BMW X3 CC
307	Dieter Depping, Timo Gottschalk		Volkswagen Touareg
308	Mark Miller, Ralph Pitchford		Volkswagen Touareg
309	Robby Gordon, Andy Grider		Hummer H3
310	Hiroshi Masuoka, Pascal Maimon		Mitsubishi Lancer
312	Christian Lavieille		Proto Dessoude
313	Miguel Barbosa, Miguel Ramalho		BMW X3
314	Stephane Henrard, Serge Bruynkens		Volkswagen Buggy HRT TDI
315	Orlando Terranova, Alain Guehennec		BMW X3 CC
316	Leonid Novitskiy, Oleg Tyupenkin		BMW X3 CC
317	Krzysztof Holowczyc, Jean-Marc Fortin		Nissan Navara
318	Peter Van Merksteijn, Eddy Chevaillier		BMW X3 CC
319	Jean De Azevedo, Youssef Haddad		Mitsubishi Pajero
320	Thierry Magnaldi, Guy Leneveu		Buggy SMG Porsche
325	Yvan Muller		Buggy SMG MONO Porsche
329	Balazs Szalay, Laszlo Bunkoczi		Opel Antara V6 RR
330	Rene Kuipers, Filipe Palmeiro		BMW X3 CC
335	Alfie Cox, Jurgen Schroder		Buggy SMG Porsche
347	Ricardo Leal Dos Santos, Filipe Palmeiro		BMW X5 CC
360	Erik Van Loon, Marc Wams		Volkswagen Buggy HRT TDI
361	Albert Michiels, Cedric Legein		Volkswagen Buggy HRT TDI
381	Jean-Pascal Besson, Yves Kornstein		Mercedes M Class
385	Etienne Smulevici, Jean-Jacques Martinez		Buggy SMG Porsche
386	Christian Barbier, Jean-Michel Richaud		Mitsubishi Pajero
387	Eric Bernard, Jean-Noel Cornuaille		BMW X3
395	Javier Herrador, Victor Vico		BMW X5
417	Werner Zoetaert, Katrien Boussier		Audi TT Buggy
455	Mark Dutton, Simon Dutton		Buggy Bremont Audi
492	Daniel Saskin, Damir Bruneruan		Opel Antara V6 RR

Mercedes SLR Stirling Moss

As Limited Editions go the Mercedes SLR Stirling Moss is pretty spactacular! 200 kilos lighter than the SLR it is a special version of the Stirling Moss harks back to the era of the 300SLR and Sir Stirlings Mille Miglia victory. Whilst its appearance harks back to the golden age of road racing the technology is ery cutting edge. With the current SLR as a starting point there is now doubt that the owners of the 75 Sitrling Moss editions are going to benefit from breath taking performance:~ 0-62mph in 3.5 seconds with a top speed of over 210mph all with the wind rushing round and through the driver's hair.
The SLR Stirling Moss will start production once the current run of standrad SLRs is concluded in the second third of 2009, strictly limited to a production run of 75 it reamins to be seen whether the worldwide economic crisis will leave enough people with the finances avialble to pucrhcase this £600,000 plus supercar.

New (old) Porsche Estate.....

A mere 18 years after the original 10 DP Motorsport {link} dp44 cargos were produced the final 5 are entering production. Based on a Porsche 944 with some Volkswagen derived parts added the dp44 Cargo retained the handling of the 944 whilst becoming a reasonably practical estate car, all finished to the excellent quality standards associated with DP (the same company who made the road legal version of Porsche's ubiquitous 956/962 race car).
Suitable for any (roofed) 944 the conversion uses various VW Passat derived parts that result in a very smart, almost manufacturer appearance and (more importantly) a proper 4 seater 944 with boot space too. The latest production models will be fitted with coilover suspension, 993 turbo brakes and 18" wheels as standard thereby improving their road performance over the original production models.
The dp44 is still a great drive, the majority of extra bodywork being high quality glassfibre. The 944 (and follow on 968) was an acclaimed performance coupé and when the dp44 rear conversion is fitted to a 944 S2 its sprigthly performance is still enjoyable nearly 20 years after its orginal conception.
Cost (excluding donor car) for the conversion are around £16,000 but with the production run planned to stop at 5 demand is expected to outstrip supply considerably!

Volkswagen Scirocco Studie R

Volkswagen used this month's Bologna Motor Show to give a very serious glimpse of what the R20 Scirocco will look like. Based on the, very successful, Scirocco GT24 racing car (pictured below) the Studie R benefits from an impressive power hike over the range topping GT, offering an impressive 266PS.
To cope with the extra power the Studie R has 4-pot front brake calipers protected from the tarmac by 5 spoke, heavily detailed 19" wheels. The suspension has also been adapted to handle the extra performance of the Studie R.
Styling is more aggressive in a definite nod to the GT24 as well as practical performance requirements. A deep front bumper/spoiler combination provides extra cooling air as well as combating lift whilst the rear roof spoiler also combats lift but less subtly!
The interior's acres of carbon fibre was more for the Bologna show, than any production model, as were the red and green details on the show car's white exterior (including the Italian tricolore and Bologna 08 for those who weren't sure where they saw the car.....)

4WD for the VW Golf 6

Volkswagen {link} are offering a 4Motion version of the Golf 6 (hatchback and Estate) right from the outset. normally VW have launched four-wheel-drive models much later into the model life, many times waiting until high performance models require a 4WD system to cope with the extra power on offer. This time VW have decided that a 2 litre TDI 4Motion model will be available as of now in Germany and a few other European countries - whether this model appears in other markets depends largely on importer decisions which may not bode too well for the UK
Whether the new Golf Plus Cross (pictured below) will get a 4Motion model remains to be seen.

BMW M3 GT2

As Audi withdraw from the ALMS and Porsche take a sabbatical BMW increase their involvement! Having formed a partnership with Rahal Letterman Racing {link} in America BMW are preparing for their first full season of ALMS competition with the latest M3.
The project was launched at the Chicago Motorshow in February this year and has now completed over 1000 miles of testing at various circuits in America. The new M3s will face stiff opposition from European manufacturers Ferrari and Porsche plus various American manufacturers like Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford and Panoz.
The 2009 ALMS GT2 championship looks likely to be the most interesting and hotly contested for a while with BMW and Rahal Letterman Racing aiming to be in the mix right from the start.

The first round of the ALMS {link} is the Mobil Twelve Hours of Sebring {link} on March 21 2009.

Insignia by Steinmetz

Steinmetz {link} have debuted their tuning package for the new Opel (Vauxhall) Insignia and it looks stunning! Whilst offering nothing revolutionary the Steinmetz package certainly adds more style to the standard car.
By lowering the Insignia and fitting some highly attractive 20" wheels (available in either white or anthracite with polished spokes and rim) Steinmetz have made the Opel (or Vauxhall) look more purposeful and dramatic immediately. Add on the deep front spoiler and large black badgeless grille and the end result is most impressive.
Along the side of the Insignia Steinmetz have opted for subtle but effective styling touches, using pinstripes to great effect.
The rear of the Steimetz Insignia benefits from a new twin pipe (left and right) exhaust back box which offers better sound quality, a little extra performance and a far sportier appearance.
With the insignia being such a new car tuners have had little time to develop a complete package for the car and Steinmetz are exactly the same. Expect them to add new products for the Insignia for many months to come.

2008 DTM final standings

Driver Championship

1. Scheider 75

2. Di Resta 71

3. Ekström 56

4. Green 52

5. Spengler 38

6. Schneider 34

7. Tomczyk 32

8. Kristensen 27

9. Paffett 13

10. Prémat 10

Team Championship

1. Mercedes-Benz Bank AMG Mercedes 109

2. Audi Sport Team Abt 102

3. Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline 88

4. Salzgitter/Original-Teile AMG Mercedes 86

5. Audi Sport Team Phoenix 15