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Carlsson turns Mercedes-Benz SLK into 610-HP hill-climb clawer

Carlsson's race-tuned versions of the Mercedes-Benz SLK have been taking checkered flags for years, and we won't be surprised if its SLK 340 hill climber fares any different. Developed by multiple German and Swiss hill climb champion Reto Meisel, the carbon-bodied SLK 340 with lightweight brakes and a closed underbody weighs 1,716 pounds. Propelling that tiny bit of weight is a 3.4-liter V8 from Judd with 610 horsepower, and it rolls on 18-inch wheels shod in Avon tires.
It will debut at the Geneva Motor Show before beginning its racing campaigns in the summer. This one won't just tear up roads in Europe, though - Meisel says he plans on bringing it to the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. The press release below has more details.

Why all of this year's F1 noses are so ugly [w/video]

If you're a serious fan of Formula One, you already know all about The Great Nosecone Conundrum of 2014. Those given to parsing each year's F1 regulations predicted the strong possibility of the so-called "anteater" noses as far back as early December 2013. Highly suggestive visual evidence first came after Caterham's crash test in early January, with further proof coming as soon as Williams showed a rendering of the FW36 challenger for this year's championship. That car earned a name that wasn't nearly so kind as "anteater."
Casual followers of the sport - or anyone who gets the feed from this site - probably don't know what's happening, except to wonder why the current year's F1 cars are led by appendages that would make Cyrano de Bergerac feel a whole lot better about himself.
The short answer to the question of ugsome F1 noses is "FIA regulations and safety." The reason there are various kinds of ugsome noses is simpler: engineers. The same boffins who have given us advances including carbon fiber monocoques, six-wheeled cars, double diffusers and Drag Reduction Systems are bred to do everything in their power to exploit every possible freedom in the regulations to make the cars they're building go faster - the caveat being that those advances have to work within the overall philosophy of the whole car.

Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, and Audi announce Takata recalls

Daimler, Volkswagen, and Audi will recall nearly 1.7 million total vehicles in the US to replace their Takata airbag inflators. The Japanese parts supplier and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced in late January that several automakers would need to fix around five million more vehicles, and the various companies have been releasing the details since then. Daimler has a recall for 841,000 vehicles in the US, including 705,000 from Mercedes-Benz and 136,000 from the company's van division. Reuters reports the affected models consist of 2005-2014 examples of the SLK-Class, C-Class, E-Class, M-Class, GL-Class, R-Class, and SLS-Class. The vans comprise the 2007-2014 models of the Dodge, Freightliner, and Mercedes Sprinter. Autoblog reached out to Mercedes USA to confirm these details, and we're awaiting a reply. Daimler expects the repair campaign to cost 340 million euros ($382 million at current rates). The company will book the costs as part of its financial year 2015 results, and net profit for that year will fall to 8.7 billion euros ($9.8 billion). Volkswagen's recall covers 680,000 vehicles in the US to replace their driver side airbags. The affected models have Takata's SDI and PSDI-5 inflators, which could rupture in an crash, but the automaker isn't aware of any explosions for these parts in its products. This campaign includes: 2006-2010 Passat Sedan and Wagon (German Production) 2012-2014 Eos 2010-2014 Golf 2010-2014 Jetta SportWagen 2012-2014 Passat (U.S. Production) 2009-2014 CC There are also 170,000 Audi vehicles with the SDI and PSDI-5 inflators in the US, but there are no reports of the parts rupturing in the company's models. The affected products are: 2005-2013 A3 2006-2009 A4 Cabrio 2009-2012 Q5 2010-2011 A5 Cabrio VW and Audi are still working to identify the specific VINs for these vehicles. Afterwards, they will notify affected owners. Ford, Mazda, and Honda already announced details for their new round of Takata repairs. VW and Audi also recalled a small number of Tiguans and Q5s to replace their side airbag inflators from the Japanese company. NHTSA still expects BMW and Saab to detail expanded safety campaigns.