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16 April 2003: The very first round of the promising 2003 British Touring
Car Championship takes place this coming weekend. Mondello, in the Republic
of Ireland has been gifted with the season opener, and what a season it
looks to be. Vauxhall are aiming for a record third championship in their
new "VX Racing" livery with a three-car team of works drivers (Thompson,
Muller and O' Neill). MG hope to spoil those plans with their superb X-power
liveried ZS shown over also driven by three works drivers (Warren Hughes,
Anthony Reid and Colin Turkington). Much development has been done on this
car in the off-season and wins are promised. Honda too are to be taken
seriously, with three Civic Type Rs lining up. Proton will retain a two-car
team and are hoping to improve on their performance last year. We are currently seeking reporters to
cover this series for us. Send an email to the editor if you are
interested.
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16 April 2003: Chrysler revealed the latest concept car showing the way
forward for near future Chrysler production cars. The 300C, pictured over,
paves the way for an all-new rear wheel drive luxury saloon in 2004. It is
as yet unknown if this car will make it to the UK in right-hand drive form.
The concept car, shown today at the 2003 New York International Auto Show,
is powered by a 5.7-litre Hemi V8. There is no new technology as such, but
the car's proportions and detailing certainly point to Chryslers of the next
few years. Already we have seen this style used with the Crossfire coupe,
Pacifica MPV, and the Airflite concept shown at the 2003 Geneva Motor Show.
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16 April 2003: Hyundai have announced that they will release their Terracan off-roader in the UK this summer. The full-sized SUV has been on sale in the rest of Europe since 2001, but with such a strong market in the UK for this market segment, Hyundai thought it prudent to start selling the Terracan. The only engine option will be the 2.9-litre common rail turbo diesel unit, which pumps out 148bhp and 247lb.ft of torque. The car is full-time four wheel drive and is available with a five-speed manual or four-speed automatic. Prices vary from £19,000 to £21,000.
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14 April 2003: A Land Rover Discovery is being driven by The Car Enthusiast this week. The
TD5 engine did not impress us on first acquaintance. It is noisy and
unrefined, not particularly powerful yet quite thirsty. However, the
Discovery is actually good on the road thanks to its sophisticated
suspension and superb brakes. The automatic gearbox works very well too.
With all that space in the back, and seats for seven people, the Discovery
may be the perfect car for many people (if not me). I'd recommend opting for
the V8 though, or waiting until the diesel engine is updated. The full review will be online shortly on the main Road Tests page.
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14 April 2003: On Friday, the FIA announced that the results of the Brazilian GP were to change. It turns out that the celebration in the Jordan garage was not so premature after all, as the race win did indeed go to Giancarlo Fisichella. Obviously the team is ecstatic, as is Fisi - this is his first F1 win after all. The McLaren team took the news gracefully, congratulating Fisichella and the Jordan team. If you didn't see the race, you missed a cracker. The weather spiced things up even more than the new qualifying rules did. Even Schumacher was caught out by the conditions. Unfortunately, Mark Webber also fell foul, from a possible podium position in the Jaguar, causing Fernando Alonso to have a massive shunt in his Renault. The race was red flagged, and in the confusion, Kimi Raikkonen was awarded the victory. He was subsequently demoted to second place. However, he still leads the world championship by 9 points from David Coulthard. Click here for more details.
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