Video – Driving.co.uk from The Sunday Times

Video: A closer look at Ferrari’s racing car for the road, the extraordinary SF90 XX Stradale

Will.dron@sunday-times.co.uk — Thu, 17 Aug 2023 11:04:08 +0000

The SF90 XX Stradale is the first model from Maranello since the marque achieved its historic outright win at this year’s 24 hours of Le Mans — and arguably its most extreme road car ever.

It’s a new concept for Ferrari, combining the ultra-exclusive Special Series road cars with the track-only XX track program to create Ferrari’s most extreme road-legal car ever.

Some 233hp of the 1,030hp on tap from the F1-derived hybrid powertrain comes from the electric motor, though plenty has been done to the petrol engine to increase performance over the regular SF90, and the result is 0-62mph in just 2.3 seconds.

But the XX version is all about lap times rather than acceleration or top speed, with significant bodywork updates to help it grip the track. The aggressive look includes dual S ducts that channel hot air up and away from the car, while underneath the floor has been smoothed out to improve ground effect.

And most obviously, round the back is the first fixed wing on a Ferrari since the F50, and before that the legendary F40. It’s needed for the downforce but also acts as a statement of intent. There’s no doubting what the SF90 XX Stradale is all about.

Inside there are all-new seats — the lightest-ever from Ferrari and a 10kg saving over the SF90, which doesn’t sound like a huge amount but shaving any extra weight off a trim, extreme model such as this is welcome. The total dry weight of the SF90 XX is quoted at 1,660kg.

The rest of the interior is very similar except for a new boost level feature, which can be set to 30 increments of extra power when you need it. It’s a “token you can spend” as you make your way around the track, Raffaele de Simone, Ferrari’s chief test driver told me.

There’ll be 799 Ferrari SF90 XX Stradale coupés made, priced at €770,000 (£658,000), plus 5999 convertible Spider versions, costing €850,000 (£726,000).

Ferrari really seems to running on a high at the moment, especially after that Le Mans win, and this extreme latest model gives mere mortals the closest chance yet to feel Ferrari’s extraordinary racecar pedigree in road-legal form.

If you enjoyed this video of the Ferrari SF90 XX Stradale, take a look at David Green’s Porsche 911 Dakar video review … on snow
Also check out F1 legend Alain Prost’s signed Ferrari F40, which wa s expected to fetch up to £2.6m at auction
And don’t miss Lamborghini’s Le Mans hypercar with which the famous rival plans to take on Ferrari in 2024

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Giorgetto Giugiaro on cars as artworks and finally bringing his 1974 Hyundai Pony Coupé concept to life

Will.dron@sunday-times.co.uk — Fri, 04 Aug 2023 11:05:51 +0000

If Giorgetto Giugiaro had made it into art school, the Volkswagen Golf might never have been created, James Bond might never have had a submersible Lotus Esprit, Marty McFly might never have travelled through time in a DeLorean and Hyundai might never have made cars.

But Giugiaro failed to make art school and so, reluctantly, went into car design instead. He’s now, aged 84, arguably the greatest living car designer with a host of truly memorable, groundbreaking and beloved vehicles to his name.

He is still designing and creating cars, and recently helped create a running version of his classic 1974 Hyundai Pony Coupé concept, powered by an 80bhp 1.2-litre four-cylinder petrol engine, almost 50 years after it was unveiled at the Turin Motor Show.

But painting is his true joy and passion as the video I filmed with him shows, and the interview below explores in more detail.

Oddly, asked which artist Giugiaro would like to have collaborated with to make a car, he did not say one of the Renaissance masters such as Da Vinci or Michelangelo; instead he picked Dutch post-impressionist Vincent Van Gogh. That gives an insight into the style of this master of car design.

Jeremy Hart: What was your reaction when you were approached to rebuild the Pony Coupé, since the 1974 original no longer exists?

Giorgetto Giugiaro: It is interesting and also a bit strange to recreate a design from about 50 years ago. Fortunately, I still have some drawings. However, certainly the spirit is different: I am a different age, there is no longer the enthusiasm of youth, my point of view has changed.

Also, technologies have changed; at that time there were very few of them. Doing by hand today what was done back then is more difficult, because all that craftsmanship of those who made the models (e.g., the beaters) has disappeared. Today it is more difficult to do the “old” things, while it is easier to do the overall work thanks to all the computer apparatus.

So, this request surprised me but I’m also happy at the idea of still being able to do such work again.

JH: Do you remember how the phone call went that started the project?

GG: I was in my office with Fabrizio. Of course, I was surprised and a bit displaced. The idea of going to the archive searching for drawings, original photos to reconstruct something that is no longer there immediately won us over.

JH: In general, is there a car that has particularly excited you in so many years of work?

GG: Certainly. The 1955 Citroën DS 19. At that time I was a student, and it was the car that made me finally decide to get involved in car design. It struck me in a special way because it was completely different from all the other cars. To me it is still today a unique car in architecture; it is inimitable.

‘The 1970s was a time when the engineering side had to give way to the vision of designers’

JH: From Lotus to Alfa Sud, you have created so many cars. Where do you place the Hyundai Pony Coupé in this landscape?

GG: Let’s say first of all that the Pony Coupé was born out of research work to show, starting from a widely used car like the sedan (saloon) version, how it was possible to create a product that was more hedonistic and not simply tied to Korea’s needs of the moment.

This coupé gave shape to a vision; the one of a country that with the sedan was beginning to have an original mass-produced and popular product, and that for this reason could also begin to think of other, sportier, more fun products.

I believe it is a project that tells the story of the transformation of a country with a great desire to produce, which — after the necessary — also began to look at pleasure.

JH: If you had to rank them, what place would Pony Coupé occupy in your works?

Being in a non-performance niche, the Coupé was aimed at those who wanted something sporty, brilliant in the aesthetics but on a “normal”, non-performance car. I would not rank it; I see it as a project that looks at sports cars without being a sports car. It is the form of an idea, an attitude.

JH: When Hyundai called you in ’74 to build the Pony, you had to start from scratch — it was all a blank sheet of paper. What was it like to work with nothing behind you? Where did you find the inspiration?

GG: Working on a project means first of all understanding the context in which you operate. In this case, it was a country that wanted to enter such an important sector as the automobile industry with a car of its own design and which started from a base, from an already existing chassis (Mitsubishi’s).

There was a series of industrial constraints to be taken into account: what could be done with what was available in terms of suppliers in a context in which there was no automobile industry with its own established supply chain. So the project was determined by these starting conditions.

When this project was presented, there was also a certain amount of surprise because it was not as advanced as others I had overseen, but obviously it was not possible to make a comparison: the European automotive industry had a history and means at its disposal that could not be those of a fledgling industry.

Pony responded to a need for ease, it had to be comfortable in terms of interior space and trunk space, but it had to be an easy car to assemble because it didn’t have an established organisation behind it.

It was not an easy project to realise but it was very consistent with the needs and the context in which it was to fit.

JH: How do you feel now looking at Hyundai? You participated in the birth of the brand as we know it today, how do you look at your role in this history?

GG: I have always followed them closely, and today they are among the world’s leading manufacturers. I consider it a privilege to be part of such a beautiful and successful story, to have seen its origins.

And of course, it was a great satisfaction to know that the current management wanted to celebrate the beginning of this history and therefore my work. It is not taken for granted that after so many years there is still so much focus on the past and the projects and people who were part of it.

It is also satisfying to still be in business to take an active part in this celebration.

JH: The 1970s: these were special years from the point of view of fashion, music and culture. A great ferment everywhere. What was in the air and what was the automotive world like?

GG: It was a time of creative explosion everywhere, in all directions. In the design field in general it was an effervescent time. It was a time when the engineering side had to give way to the vision of designers, with products driven less by technique and economics and more by creativity. It was a beautiful time, there were social problems, struggles for rights but so much creative momentum in music, theatre, culture and therefore also in design.

JH: In fashion everything is cyclical, so we saw styles from the 1960s and 1970s coming back. How is the automotive world in this respect?

GG: I would say that certain aspects of the past return but they are always revisited, re-read in the light of the present. Also in relation to the technological evolution of the industry; the technological leap we have made does not allow us to go back but the thought, the form, the idea remain.

I think that’s how it is in every industry in the end: taking the best of a certain period and actualising it, contextualising it, while respecting functionality and in a continuous mediation between the inspiration of the past and the needs of the present.

JH: Where do you get inspiration from at the beginning of a project? One designer at Jaguar, for example, said he looks to the female form. Others look to art and the forms of nature. What inspires you?

For me it’s more an ongoing process where you have a dialogue with the past in search of your own originality. With the support of technology that makes possible today things that maybe once were not.

The inspiration is to do something different. There is also an egoistic motion, in a way: to do something that differentiates you from others.

There is also something unconscious in inspiration — all the inputs, the suggestions that come from what is around us — and we assimilate without realising it. And always without realising it we transfer them into what we draw.

JH: All your designs hark back to the Pony style. What was it due to?

GG: One thing you always have to remember about a project is that it is destined to become a product to be marketed. Therefore, it cannot be something too far from expectations, it has to be understandable, recognisable. There is always a product logic that drives everything.

Some people say that Pony is similar to the Delorean. Sure, like I am similar to you. But it is the proportions that make the difference, just like the proportions of the faces that make us all different, even though we all have a nose, two eyes and a mouth.

JH: But Pony was the first car with this design, and it inspired other models such as the Delorean.

GG: I would like to make a small point: a car if it is not produced is not seen. Making a concept for an auto show, as was the case with the Pony Coupé, still means getting this model seen by a small number of people: the insiders; the journalists. Recall that the car then never went into production. Selfishly, when a project is not developed the designer tends to revive it in other contexts.

JH: Hyundai supports the arts with its Art Lab. How do you see the dialogue between art and automobiles, and how does technology integrate with them?

GG: It depends on what we mean by these terms. ‘Art’ is a magic word, it is creativity at the highest level. When I see a structure — the complexity of the mechanical — I think it is unrecognised art. Because for us, art means Picasso or Raphael or other big names. Industrial production has an art content, on the other hand, because there is the same magic that is found in so much canonical artwork.

I am sure that, sooner or later, there will be a discussion about whether it can be considered as an artistic strand. Art, it is true, is a much-exploited word — often misused — but I can say that, in its being beautiful, strong, both feminine and masculine, it is part of the automotive world.

JH: Can you imagine one of your cars displayed in a major museum? The Guggenheim, for example?

GG: I don’t deny that it would be a great privilege but there have been many creative minds in the history of the car who, before me, would deserve to receive this recognition on an artistic level.

Compared to “traditional” works, we have the great privilege that our art is able to move around the world, without the need to go to a museum, being able to be seen simultaneously in Italy, in Japan, in Germany. What artist can boast of a work that travels?

‘Imagining what will happen in the next few years is bordering on the presumptuous’

JH: If Michelangelo and Warhol had been designers, what do you think they would have created?

GG: What a difficult question! Every historical period, even from the point of view of design, has been influenced by so many factors, social and otherwise. What Egyptian architects accomplished in their time, for example, would be unthinkable today.

Today creative processes are much more democratic and collective, especially subject to a set of norms and rules that do not allow absolute individualism. Michelangelo certainly did not need a team of technicians like me! Perhaps from a logistical point of view, but it was he alone who decided the forms his work would take.

JH: If you could choose one artist you would have liked to work with, who would it be?

GG: It is difficult to decide, having knowledge of different eras. The Renaissance is a period that I feel remarkably close to for personal reasons, but at the same time I love Impressionism. It is such a different painting style from the others.

And so brave, because to achieve it, in my opinion, you need to disconnect from the time in which you live, from reality. Van Gogh did not sell a painting in his time, his vision was understood only after his death, and now his works are worth a fortune.

By the way, I am a failed painter, I was one step away from going to art academy, I didn’t want to go into the automotive industry.

JH: In your opinion, how will automobile design evolve in the next 15 years, considering the electric transition?

GG: Imagining what will happen in the next few years is bordering on the presumptuous, because man is capable of devising innovations — more and more amazing technologies. But at the same time, there are other factors, such as war, as we are seeing in these years, that can cause the current progress to change.

At the beginning of my activity as a designer I had seen some American illustrations that proposed a vision of cars in the year 2000: if you took these old sketches from 1955 and compared them with the cars of the year 2000 you would see that there is no comparison. It is difficult to predict human progress.

What I can predict is that man will not physically change and that cars will always be made to suit him.

Jeremy Hart is a long-time contributor to the Sunday Times and is a former presenter of World Rally Championship for Channel 4 and the Dakar Rally. His production company, Timbuktu Content, makes news films including the one provided above.

If you enjoyed this Q&A with Giorgetto Giugiaro you might like to read our 2013 interview with Frank Stephenson, who at the time was McLaren’s chief designer
Also check out this chat with Ian Callum, Jaguar’s former head of design, on customisations, autonomous vehicles and cars all looking the same
And don’t miss our review of the Hyundai Ioniq 6, an electric saloon car influenced by classic streamliners

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Jann Mardenborough: Leaving my fatal Nurburgring crash out of Gran Turismo movie would have been disservice to audience

Will.dron@sunday-times.co.uk — Thu, 03 Aug 2023 08:04:00 +0000

The man whose extraordinary gamer-to-racer life story has been adapted for the cinema believes that not including his horror crash at the Nürburgring, which killed a spectator, would have been a disservice to the audience.

Ahead of the release of the Gran Turismo movie next week, Jann Mardenborough told Driving.co.uk that the accident was a part of his life and therefore had to be part of the film, too.

Mardenborough, 31, was racing a Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 on the Nordschleife section of the 12.9-mile circuit in 2015 when his car became airborne at the notorious Flugplatz, which translates as “airfield” or, more literally, “flying place”, due to the undulation of the track that can result in cars leaving the asphalt. When Mardenborough’s car did so it flipped in the air then crashed through the fencing and into the spectators, one of whom was killed. Several others needed to be hospitalised as a result of their injuries.

Rather than shy away from this tragedy, Gran Turismo makes it a key part of the narrative. Mardenborough, who was heavily involved in the production from the planning stages right through the production and post-production, said he wanted to include the accident in the film — though only if it was handled with care.

“It’s my life; it’s part of my story,” Mardenborough told us (see video interview below). “So I feel it would have been a disservice for the audience for that not to be in there.

“I made sure all of us that were with the production — the producers, Jason the scriptwriter — that that was how it went down. Because it needed to be correct, because somebody lost their life in this accident. And the movie does a great job of that.

“It shows as well the deep dark moments of my life when I was in the hospital by myself. You know, the mental aspects to such an event, and in life as well: what can happen; how you can get out of that; how can you rebound and achieve something — achieve greatness — off the back of that. And so it had to be in there.”

Mardenborough became a racing driver for real after winning the Nissan/ PlayStation European GT Academy competition in 2011, and has gone on to score wins in single seaters and sports cars, including a podium for Nissan in the LMP2 class at the 2013 Le Mans 24 Hours race. The Gran Turismo movie explores that story.

Mardenborough, who was as a co-producer, stunt driver and consultant during filming, is played by Archie Madekwe (Midsommar). Other stars including Orlando Bloom (The Lord of the Rings), David Harbour (Stranger Things), Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond) and Geri Halliwell Horner (the former pop singer who is married to Red Bull F1 team principal Christian Horner).

Gran Turismo is released in cinemas on August 9. Read our review of the film here.

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If you were interested in Jann Mardenborough talking about his Nurburgring crash ahead of the release of Gran Turismo, you might be interested in our interview with him from 2014.
Also check out our Gran Turismo 7 video game review, which we called a triumphant return to form
And don’t miss this story about plans for Gran Turismo to be made into a television series

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Cost of living crisis creates ‘crash for cash’ epidemic (video)

Will.dron@sunday-times.co.uk — Wed, 21 Jun 2023 10:49:31 +0000

A doubling in reports of “crash for cash” incidents in the first half of 2023 is the result of the cost of living crisis, according to a leading dash cam manufacturer.

Crash for cash schemes are fraudulent insurance claims for motor collisions. They involve scammers faking collisions either on paper or physically, and can involve pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists or drivers engineering the collisions with innocent third party motorists in order to extort money. Some real world examples can be seen in the video above.

British firm Nextbase, which provided the footage and data to Driving.co.uk, says it has seen a two-fold increase in cash-for-crash videos being shared through its app to insurers in the first six months of the year, compared with the same period in 2022.

The company believes that the continuing economic hardships endured by many in the UK could mean that the sharp increase in such reports is just the beginning.

“We’re seeing a serious rise in pedestrians, cyclists and moped users attempting to fake an incident with a vehicle in order to extort money from motorists or their insurers,” said Nextbase head of road safety Bryn Brooker.

“Given the extremely grim economic picture we predict that these cash-for-crash incidents will continue to grow.”

The Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB) has launched an urgent appeal to raise awareness of the issue, so that motorists can learn the signs of a scam. It said such fraud is worth around £27m in claims and noted more than 2,200 victims in London alone in the last two years, where investigators said the fraud has reached epidemic levels.

The IFB particularly highlighted a rise in crash for cash schemes involving mopeds (low-powered scooters), and it believes many of the scammers are couriers delivering items such as takeaway meals.

Crash for cash moped scams in the capital has now grown to become the IFB’s biggest ever investigation, according to Sky News.

Ursula Jallow, director at IFB, said: “”Crash for cash moped scams have become epidemic in our capital. These dangerous fraudsters are driving head-first into unsuspecting motorists, leaving countless victims terrified and insurers facing millions of pounds in bogus claims.”

One way drivers can help protect themselves from claims is to use a dash cam, Brooker pointed out. Referring to the video claims submitted via the Nextbase app, he said: “Luckily, everyone who is uploading this footage has clear evidence from their dash cam that they are not at fault in the incidents.

“This worrying rise in criminal behaviour underlines the absolute need for drivers to get a dash cam to protect themselves.”

Follow @wdron Tweet to @wdron

Please note: Driving.co.uk’s editorial is independent but the website may earn affiliate revenue if you click links to external sites and make purchases.

If you were interested in the cost of living crisis creating a ‘crash for cash’ epidemic, you might want to read this article from 2014 about Vauxhalls being the most likely cars to be involved in such scams
Also check out fake online car dealers that ‘clone’ genuine retailers and lure victims with bargains
Worried about the cost of living crisis? Here are 12 ways to save money on your car insurance

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Eurocrash: The Grand Tour releases trailer for new Eastern Europe special

Shane.odonoghue@sunday-times.co.uk — Tue, 06 Jun 2023 16:50:53 +0000

The Grand Tour is set to return to television screens this month and the first trailer has now been released showing Clarkson, Hammond and May setting off on a 1,400-mile journey through Eastern Europe.

Starting in the Polish city of Gdansk, the presenters make their way through Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia – with a typical array of challenges along the way.

“We’ve done another Grand Tour”, Clarkson announced on Twitter earlier today, alongside a link to the episode’s official trailer.

We’ve done another Grand Tour.
Eurocrash | Official Trailer | Prime Video https://t.co/Tr6TtynZbz via @YouTube
— Jeremy Clarkson (@JeremyClarkson) June 6, 2023

The trailer begins with James May attempting to board a moving plane in a 1947 Crosley Convertible, immediately setting the tone for the trio’s latest encounter – their sixth stand-alone special since jumping ship to Amazon.

The camera then cuts to a high-budget aerial shot, showcasing the locale of the special, before Jeremy Clarkson cuts in: “We’re going behind what used to be the Iron Curtain,” he says, as the camera shows plenty of Soviet-era iconography and aircraft.

The trailer also presents us with the cars the trio will be driving over the course of the special. Accompanying May and the Crosley, a small American family car built in Marion, Indiana from 1946 to 1948, is Richard Hammond in a 2005 Chevrolet SSR. With V8 power and rear-wheel drive, it’s shown to be quite tail-happy over the course of the trailer, and slides and squeals around corners in the hands of Hammond.

The third pick is a Mitsuoka Le Seyde, driven by Jeremy Clarkson, and arguably the most obscure car of the special. Based on the S13 Nissan Silvia, Clarkson describes the oddly-proportioned Mitsuoka as giving “a good Cruella vibe.”

The rest of the trailer promises much of the usual Grand Tour fare – including the presenters trying their hands at “the Soviet Union’s answer to Formula One”.

Hammond’s open-wheel exploits are on full display in this challenge – he rockets away at the start, before a plume of white smoke explodes from his engine, sending the smallest presenter into a wild spin. Business as usual, then.

The trio also end up in the wax museum of Krakow, Poland, where they come across a particularly unconvincing model of Formula One’s 1992 champion, Nigel Mansell.

Amid a cacophony of laughter and heavy West Midlands accents, Hammond ends up leaving the museum with the waxwork, hauling it through the narrow and twisty Krakow streets.

We’re then treated to a view of both up-to-date supercars and classic racing cars being driven to their limits, captured from every angle by fast-moving camera shots.

Armoured horse riders then make an appearance – shooting hordes of arrows at the presenters’ cars, which are looking heavily battle-scarred at this point in the trailer. “Make it end!” yells Clarkson.

“Europe gets a culture crash”, the trailer promises, with a few other tantalising clips including a flying car of some description and another potential crash on a steep grass hill.

The first stand-alone Grand Tour Special – the aptly-named ‘Seamen’ – arrived in December 2019. A break from the typical Grand Tour format, this special featured the presenters buying three used boats and making their way through the rivers of Cambodia and Vietnam – it was positively received.

Since then, the trio have released four more specials, with the latest, “A Scandi Flick”, revolving around rally-inspired saloons, with each presenter driving their chosen car across a Nordic environment.

The Grand Tour: Eurocrash will be available on Amazon Prime Video from June 16.

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Watch Gran Turismo movie trailer ahead of August premiere

Shane.odonoghue@sunday-times.co.uk — Tue, 02 May 2023 15:49:59 +0000

Nearly a decade after a film adaptation of the Gran Turismo video was first mooted, Sony has released the forthcoming movie’s official trailer and confirmed it will hit cinemas this August.

As previewed, the film is based on a true gamer-to-racer story rather than on the plotless 26-year-old Gran Turismo PlayStation game series.

Star actors include Orlando Bloom (Lord of the Rings series), Archie Madekwe (Midsommar), David Harbour (Stranger Things) and even Geri Horner, the former Spice Girl (and wife of Red Bull F1 team boss Christian Horner).

The Gran Turismo film follows the tale of Darlington-born Jann Mardenborough, a British gamer who made it into real world racing thanks to the GT Academy. This was a televised project — created by Nissan and Sony — to give skilled players of the Gran Turismo game the chance to prove themselves in the real world. The series ran from 2008 to 2016.

Meet Jann Mardenborough, the video gamer who might just be the next Lewis Hamilton… for real

In 2011 at the age of twenty, Mardenborough became the third — and youngest — winner of the competition. He won a drive for Nissan at the Dubai 24-hour race and has continued in motor sport ever since.

The new film dramatises Mardenborough’s progress through the GT Academy and into the very real world of motor sport.

The dramatic trailer starts with the portentous (and arguably trite) words by Harbour’s character in his position as trainer of the gamers: “If you miss the line in the game you reset. If you miss it on the track… you could die.”

It’s clear that he’s sceptical from the start of the merits of the concept, suggesting that the “scrawny gamers” can’t hope to compete with professional racers that are in effect elite athletes. A smiley and intense-looking Bloom, playing the series director, quips “that’s where you come in” before we see the young gamers going for a run.

Harbour’s character’s scepticism continues as he berates the gamers: “must be a new experience for you, moving your legs.”

After an apparently rocky start — we see a large spin into the tyre wall at the wheel of a Nissan GTR — the trainer eventually is impressed by Mardenborough’s ability.

Aside from the GT Academy progression of Mardenborough, the film delves into his private life, where his parents — played by Horner and Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond; Captain Marvel) — criticise their son’s obsession with video game playing and make it clear that they don’t have the money to fund a racing career.

There’s a hint of a love story in the trailer, too, but the star of the movie is shaping up to be the filming of the racing action – especially the live-action sequences.

Directed by South African Neill Blomkamp (District 9), the film was partially created using the Sony Rialto camera extension system. This separates the lens and light sensor from the main camera body so that filming in tight spaces is possible — e.g. within a race car.

The trailer shows plenty of on-track racing action, off-track rivalry and the inevitable dangerous-looking crash, but you don’t need to know about Mardenborough’s subsequent racing career and success to guess how the film goes.

Fans of the Gran Turismo game series that love the option to take the (virtual) wheel of a wide variety of machinery — old and new — may not be completely overjoyed by the trailer, as it focuses heavily on racing cars (and Nissan ones at that) rather than quirky road models, but the fast-paced soundtrack and what appears to be intense and realistic racing action may be enough to win them over.

After reading about the new Gran Turismo film, you might also want to know how to watch F1 in the UK
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Watch Hyundai’s high-performance Ioniq 5 N electric car in action on ice

Shane.odonoghue@sunday-times.co.uk — Fri, 31 Mar 2023 00:03:10 +0000

Hyundai has teased its new high-performance electric hatchback, the Ioniq 5 N, in a snow-covered winter testing video.

Shot in Arjeplog in northern Sweden, the footage shows the Ioniq 5 N prototype wearing dazzle camouflage while driving alongside Hyundai’s i20 N rally car.

In the film, both cars are seen drifting through forests and over frozen lakes, sometimes in close formation. Although there’s little detail of how the Ioniq 5 N will look, the video does at least give us an insight into how the car will sound, as the video leaves us with the electric motors’ howl.

The video was shot during what’s called the ‘blue hour’, which is the dusky period after sunset but before night has truly fallen. According to Hyundai, the blue tinge is meant to signify the high-performance N division’s shift from petrol power to electric propulsion.

“Just as our N models are honed at the sharp corners of the Nürburgring, our N models are also honed at the sharp corners and icy surfaces of our proving ground in Arjeplog, ensuring maximum performance in the most extreme winter conditions,” said Till Wartenberg, vice-president of N brand management and motorsport sub-division at the Hyundai Motor Company.

As well as producing the video, Hyundai has revealed a handful of details about the Ioniq 5 N’s underpinnings, including some insight into the car’s all-wheel-drive system.

That system will include the ‘N Drift Optimizer’ that distributes torque (twisting force) between the front and rear axles, as well as tweaking steering effort and the electronic limited-slip rear differential (e-LSD), which controls torque distribution between the rear wheels, to create a driving mode “dedicated to drifting”. Designed to help “drivers of all skill levels”, the system is particularly geared up for those trying the sport for the first time.

According to Hyundai, the e-LSD will be a particularly important component for other driving situations, too, allowing the car to ascertain when a wheel needs extra torque to enhance overall traction. That, in theory, means the car should handle better during cornering and at high speeds, as well as in adverse conditions including snow and ice.

The new Ioniq 5 N is set to draw inspiration from other Hyundai concepts, including the Veloster N ETCR touring car, which is based on the existing, petrol-powered Veloster N TCRs that are already racing. The electric variant, however, swaps the existing petrol engine for a mid-mounted electric motor that drives the rear wheels.

The Ioniq 5 N will also take some cues from the RN22e concept, which is based on the Ioniq 6 road car. That concept, which also uses two electric motors and has the same drift mode, was built as a rolling test bed for the technology that will be used in future N performance models.

“Our electric transition was spearheaded by the race-proven Veloster N ETCR and we sought to bridge motor sport technology to the road with the RN22e,” said Albert Biermann, executive technical advisor for Hyundai Motor Group.

“Now it is time to bring all this promise to our beloved customers and I am confident Ioniq 5 N will be able to deliver. We’ve been able to demonstrate the Ioniq 5 N’s capability to provide driving fun even in the harshest conditions of Arjeplog, Sweden.”

With these concepts and the N Vision 74, which combined hydrogen fuel cells and a rechargeable battery with Lancia 037-esque looks, Hyundai has been teasing the prospect of electric N performance cars for some time.

The Ioniq 5 N is set to be the first of these cars to enter production, with the market launch expected later this year.

After watching the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N drift around on ice, you might also enjoy our guide to what to do if your car gets stuck in snow
If you’re planning a trip to the Alps in your car, here’s what you need to know about driving in Europe after Brexit
Also, check out this near-miss of a bus that lost grip on ice

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The post Watch Hyundai’s high-performance Ioniq 5 N electric car in action on ice appeared first on Driving.co.uk from The Sunday Times.

Watch Waymo self-driving car navigating San Francisco in heavy rain

Shane.odonoghue@sunday-times.co.uk — Wed, 01 Mar 2023 13:33:05 +0000

The autonomous driving technology company Waymo appears to be making considerable progress when it comes to dealing with one of the biggest challenges facing self-driving cars — inclement weather.

In videos posted to Twitter and YouTube by Daylen Yang, an engineer for the firm, one of Waymo’s fleet of autonomous Jaguar I-Pace test cars can be seen navigating the busy streets of central San Francisco in what Yang describes as “significant” rain.

The video may go some way towards addressing criticism of autonomous vehicle technology companies for only testing their vehicles in sunnier climes such as California, Arizona and Texas, where systems have fewer weather-related difficulties to contend with.

Critics have argued that if the technology were tested in places such as the UK or Germany, where constant drizzle, mud and snow are regular climactic features, and where wide grid-like streets aren’t as common, a less favourable picture of self-driving technology would likely emerge.

As Yang’s video proves, however, the San Francisco Bay area does receive variable weather, with not just rain but also frequent heavy fog.

Weather mapping and lidar

One of the bases on which Waymo’s self-driving systems works is a weather map, created by networking data from the rest of the cars in the local Waymo fleet that are fitted with sensors, to detect the intensity of the weather through which they’re driving. That way, the company says, it’s able to glean a much more granular image of localised conditions than by just by relying on data from nearby airports or weather stations.

Waymo cars are also fitted with an array of lidar, radar and other sensors along with video cameras to help them navigate through traffic, adverse weather and times of low light.

The firm’s advances come at a time when Tesla, one of the self-proclaimed leaders in self-driving vehicle technology, is abandoning even ultrasonic sensors (fitted on many less sophisticated cars for parking proximity alerts, though also useful for detecting objects around a car while driving). Instead, Tesla now favours an entirely camera-based system that relies on machine-learning data gathered from owners “beta-testing” its cars on the public road.

Tesla is the only major manufacturer pursuing such an approach to advanced driver assistance and safety systems. Last month it was forced to “recall” 362,000 cars with the Full Self Driving Beta option after the US vehicle safety administration NHTSA concluded that it increases the risk of crashing. The required fix involved an over-the-air software update.

Tesla recalls 362,000 cars after regulator said ‘Full Self Driving’ increases crash risk

In addition to the Bay Area, Waymo (a company originally spun-off from Google) also tests its systems in the state of Michigan where snowy, wet and slushy conditions are common in winter and enable engineers to develop more resilient and versatile systems.

It has also floated plans to test its systems in the state of Washington in the Pacific north-west, an area known for its constant rain.

"this is definitely significant rain" @Waymo pic.twitter.com/sLYFkxX7WR
— Daylen Yang (@daylenyang) February 28, 2023

Are self-driving cars legal?

But what of the legality of testing autonomous vehicles on the public road, particularly in the UK where medieval streets, congestion and a wide variety of weather types could present serious difficulties for the emerging technology?

At present, Waymo and another firm, Cruise, have licences to operate paid “robotaxi” services in parts of California. The conditions of both companies’ permits vary.

Cruise’s robotaxis are allowed to operate completely without a back-up driver, though only between the hours of 10pm and 6am, only at speeds of up to 30mph and only in specific areas of San Francisco.

Waymo’s taxis do require a back-up driver, but can operate in a wider area at speeds of up to 65mph.

Both companies must suspend their services in anything more than light rain or fog, though it is understood that in the video posted to Twitter by Waymo’s engineer, because the Jaguar was not operating in its capacity as a taxi, it did not require a driver behind the wheel and was allowed to drive in heavy rain.

In the UK, licenced self-driving trials on the public road are permitted, but vehicles must have a back-up driver behind the wheel able to take control of the vehicle at a moment’s notice.

Those rules mean that the use of certain advanced driver assistance features in the UK such as Mercedes Drive Pilot — an SAE Level 3 system that in a limited set of circumstances allows the driver to take their hands off the wheel and let the car take over control — is not yet legal on the public highway.

The UK isn’t exactly a laggard in the field though; only a few locations internationally such Germany and the US state of Nevada permit the public use of Level 3 systems without a specific licence and even then only at speeds of up to 30mph making it more useful for stop-start traffic than high-speed driving.

The vehicles operated by Waymo and Cruise are classified as having Level 4 autonomy meaning that they can potentially operate anywhere without a back-up driver as, in the event of a system failure, the car should be able to come to a safe halt on its own. Level 4 cars may also only operate within certain designated areas.

Such Level 4 technology could be coming to UK roads soon though, albeit with a back-up driver behind the wheel.

The online grocery delivery firm Ocado has invested some £10m in the British autonomous vehicle start-up Wayve, with plans to test self-driving delivery vans on the streets of London.

The trial will see Wayve’s hardware and software fitted to some of Ocado’s delivery vehicles, which will be tested in complex urban scenarios in the UK where they will be faced with congestion, narrow streets and pedestrians.

Similar to Tesla’s approach to self-driving, Wayve’s technology primarily relies on cameras, eschewing the expensive laser-based lidar systems favoured by autonomous driving companies such as Waymo, and learns how to deal with different scenarios through AI machine learning.

The trial with Ocado is expected to provide Wayve with a wealth of new data and experience when it comes to applying its technology in challenging, “last mile” real-world situations.

The start date for the UK trial has yet to be confirmed, though it still looks to be decades rather than merely a few years before such Level 4 technology could enter widespread use as a feature on private cars in the UK.

After reading about Waymo’s latest developments, you may want to read about Tesla scrapping ultrasonic sensors
Don’t miss this video of the Tesla-rivalling Lucid Air with 1,111hp recording a 2.88sec 0-60mph time
It’s also worth noting that a Tesla Autopilot report recently showed an improving safety record

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The post Watch Waymo self-driving car navigating San Francisco in heavy rain appeared first on Driving.co.uk from The Sunday Times.

Watch: The best car ads of Super Bowl LVII

Will.dron@sunday-times.co.uk — Mon, 13 Feb 2023 14:24:53 +0000

The annual extravaganza of advertising and American Football that is the Super Bowl was unusually light on car adverts this year, with just four manufacturers opting to air an advert during one of the commercial breaks.

Carmakers have historically been among the biggest advertisers during the Super Bowl. With their lavish budgets and celebrity appearances, the TV adverts are often as much of a talking point as the football itself.

But with costs for one of the coveted ad slots now approaching some $7m (£5.8m), experts believes manufacturers are choosing instead to either invest in electric vehicle development or conserve cash for a projected economic downturn.

Last year saw the automotive industry make up the largest percentage of Super Bowl ads, with companies such as Toyota, Hyundai, Kia, Polestar, Nissan, BMW and Audi all taking the opportunity to advertise directly to a captive audience of around 100m viewers.

Although in 2023 we also got some cracking car ads, this year only three car manufacturers — General Motors, Kia and Stellantis — were represented during the Super Bowl LVII ad breaks.

“This has less to do with the Super Bowl itself and more to do with individual issues within the automotive industry,” Eric Haggstrom, director of business intelligence for Advertiser Perceptions, told CNBC.

“The auto industry has been battered by supply chain issues, inflation eating into consumer budgets, and rising interest rates that have made car payments dramatically more expensive.”

Haggstrom said carmakers are asking themselves: “What is the value of advertising today? How does that affect my top line. How does that affect my go-to-market.”

He added: “We’ve seen a general trend in accountability in consumer advertising.”

As well as the manufacturer ads and a trailer for the next Fast and the Furious film, there was another unusual one too taking direct aim at Tesla and its controversial “Full Self-Driving” system.

Kia ‘Binky Dad’

In Kia’s ad for its Telluride (not sold in Europe) a family is about to check-in to a hotel when the mother in the group realises that they’ve forgotten their baby’s “binky” — that’s a dummy/ soother/ pacifier/ whatever else you call them — forcing Dad to jump in the family SUV and return home.

Set to Bill Conti’s theme from Rocky, the minute-long ad sees “Binky Dad” careering across snowy landscapes, building sites, football pitches and Los Angeles storm drains to retrieve the dummy, only to return to the hotel to find that, of course, he’s picked up the wrong one.

Ram ‘Premature Electrification’

Stellantis is the huge automotive conglomerate which includes brands such as Fiat, Vauxhall, Peugeot, Citroën, Jeep and, in the United States, Dodge, Chrysler and Ram, the latter a big-selling pickup brand.

A cheeky spoof of American pharmaceutical ads, Ram’s ad for its first electric vehicle, the 1500 REV (due in 2024) features a series of “unsatisfied” couples worried about “premature electrification”. It’s one of the most amusing ads of the bunch, but arguably GM managed to outdo Ram with its effort (below).

Jeep ‘Electric Boogie’

Stellantis’ second Super Bowl advert was for the Jeep brand, focusing on the electrified 4xe versions of its Wrangler and Cherokee models.

The ad features a bunch of dancing animals, happy-looking people enjoying the off-road performance of their Jeeps and a soundtrack by the veteran Jamaican-American rapper, Shaggy. Off road and off the wall.

General Motors ‘Why not an EV?’

General Motors’ big-budget advert starring Will Ferrell was a collaboration with the streaming service Neflix, following the latter company’s announcement that it would feature more electric vehicles in its shows.

The ad features a number of GM’s electric vehicles from its Chevrolet, Cadillac and Hummer brands shoehorned into mocked-up scenes from popular Netflix programmes such as Squid Game, Stranger Things and Bridgerton.

“If you’re going to get swarmed by an army of the dead,” asks Ferrell, a Super Bowl ad veteran, “why not get swarmed in an EV?”

Quite.

The Dawn Project’s anti-Tesla ad

“Tesla Full-Self Driving will run down a child in a school crosswalk,” says the provocative attack ad by The Dawn Project, a group dedicated to getting Tesla’s erroneously-named Full Self-Driving cruise control system banned.

The 30-second ad wasn’t aired nationally but rather in a few select locations such as Washington DC and some state capitals (to target US law-makers), and is the brainchild of a group founded by billionaire Dan O’Dowd, CEO of Green Hill Software, a company developing its own automated driving systems. Impartial, it isn’t.

The ad calls on the US National Highway Transportation Safety Agency (NHTSA) to immediately ban Tesla’s Full-Self Driving system from use on public roads, claiming that it will kill children, swerve into oncoming traffic and ignore stop signs, showing the company’s cars smashing into several child-sized mannequins.

The Dawn Project has been a long-time critic of Tesla, with the car-maker having issued a cease-and-desist letter following videos last year, again showing Tesla cars in Full-Self Driving mode hitting child-like dummies.

Tesla is currently under investigation by regulators in the US due to claims that its driver assistance systems played a part in causing a series of crashes and that exaggerated marketing hype around those systems may have led drivers to overestimate their cars’ autonomous capabilities.

When The Dawn Project posted the advert on Twitter, the social media platform ⁠— which is now owned by Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk ⁠— sought to add balance with several points of “added context” and links to articles that counter the accusations.

These include that O’Dowd owns a company that is developing competing self driving software, that other tests show The Dawn Project’s FSD claims have been debunked and that the system has resulted in more than 55 million miles of driving without reported injuries.

Fast X trailer

The new trailer for Fast X was shown during the Super Bowl, too. If you like modified cars, creaky scripts, ridiculous action set-pieces and ageing actors with CGI-dewrinkled faces, you’ll probably like it.

After watching the 2023 Super Bowl car adverts, you might like to check out The five best car adverts of Super Bowl 2021
Jeep pulls Super Bowl ad after Springsteen drink driving charge
Five of the best car TV adverts ever shown in the UK

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The post Watch: The best car ads of Super Bowl LVII appeared first on Driving.co.uk from The Sunday Times.

Porsche 911 Dakar video review: Getting to grips with off-road 911 on snow

Will.dron@sunday-times.co.uk — Fri, 10 Feb 2023 11:35:58 +0000

Nearly 40 years after Porsche astonished motorsport fans with outright victory on the 1984 Paris-Dakar, the most gruelling rally on the planet, having entered off-road versions of the 911 sports car, the company has created a new model inspired by that legendary desert-conqueror — and we’ve driven it.

The new Porsche 911 Dakar, which is limited to 2,500 examples, sits 50 mm higher off the deck than a 911 Carrera S (fitted with sports suspension), giving it the ground clearance necessary for off-road driving. A lift system can raise it another 30mm when needed, at speeds of up to 106 mph, for the absolute roughest terrain, as well as particularly nasty approach and departure angles.

The Dakar gets the familiar 3-litre six-cylinder biturbo engine with 473bhp and 420 lb ft of torque, which allows 0-62mph in 3.5 seconds, though the top speed is limited to 149mph — the maximum for the all-terrain tyres.

All-wheel drive and Porsche’s semi-automatic eight-speed transmission comes as standard, as does rear-axle steering. Along with dynamic chassis control, which includes two new driving modes — Rallye and Offroad — Porsche claims the Dakar can be as at home on a circuit as on a rally stage. 911 Dakar being just as capable on sand and gravel as it is on the Nordschleife.

Grip as standard comes from specially developed chunky Pirelli Scorpion All Terrain Plus tyres, though buyers can also opt for P Zero summer and winter tyres — the latter as fitted when Times Luxury’s David Green took the car out on ice.

Check out his video review above, and stay to the end for a rather special lap with German rally ace Walter Röhrl.

After watching our video review of the 2023 Porsche 911 Dakar, check out what we had to say about the 718 Cayman GT4 RS.
Porsche Vision 357 concept pays homage to legendary 356 sports car
Porsche steps closer to securing future of combustion engines as Chilean e-fuel plant opens

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The post Porsche 911 Dakar video review: Getting to grips with off-road 911 on snow appeared first on Driving.co.uk from The Sunday Times.

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