2005 Audi A6 3.2l Quattro on 2040-cars

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Highlights from the Goodwood Festival of Speed, including the McLaren P1 and a Ford Transit running the hill

The sole purpose of this post is as a time-waster, and since you shouldn't have to work to waste time, we've done it for you. In the numerous videos below you'll find cars that have lately been in the news tramping all over the grounds of Lord March's estate in Goodwood, England.
There's the McLaren P1 heading up the hill, the Jaguar Project 7, then a casually-driven Porsche 917 followed by an even-more-casually-driven Porsche 956, topped off by a Porsche 936 that is anything but casually driven. The next round is the flame-spitting Peugeot 405 T16 Pikes Peak from Climb Dance, a camera mounted on the Peugeot RCZ R after it showing you what the whole, uninterrupted run up the hill looks like. For a real head-turner, we couldn't embed it but there's Andy Reid blasting up the hill in a Ford Transit Supervan with a Cosworth 3000 V6 engine.
The modern racing contingent has Allan McNish doing the hill in the Audi R18 e-tron quattro he used to win Le Mans and Lewis Hamilton making lots of tire smoke in the Mercedes-AMG Petronas MGP-W02. For comparison, that's followed by Nick Heidfeld's record-setting run up the hill in 1999 in the McLaren MP4/14 . The classic racing contingent is headlined by 71-year-old Giacomo Agostini on an MV Agusta.

2015 Audi Q3

There are two ways to approach a brand-new segment in the auto industry. First, an automaker can take a gamble and introduce a completely new vehicle, catering to the specific demands of the marketplace(s) in question. In the compact, premium CUV segment, we've seen Buick do this with the Encore, and Mercedes-Benz with the GLA-Class. The other option is to introduce a vehicle already sold in another market. Considering the amount of time it takes to bring a new vehicle from paper to production, there is plenty to gain in the short-term with this approach. It's not without its downsides, though, as we found after a week behind the wheel of the 2015 Audi Q3, a vehicle that was initially launched in 2011. Cute though it may be – it was referred to at least once by a passerby during our testing as "totes adorbs" – Ingolstadt's decision to introduce a vehicle that's already been on sale for four years, and is effectively approaching the last half of its lifecycle, leaves the Q3 at a significant disadvantage relative to the newer competition. Despite crossing its first auto show stage four years ago, the Q3 remains a handsome little bugger. Audi's designs, while conservative, tend to age very well, and the compact Q3 is no exception. It's like a scaled-down Q5 in most respects, although certain design pieces, like its more aggressively raked rear window and shorter front and rear overhangs, belie the significantly smaller Q3's figure. Due to its age, the Q3 was, fortunately, designed before the current A3 hit the market. That means it avoids the unattractive, minimalist dash of the A3, opting for a more traditional Audi design, with a strip of brushed aluminum on the passenger's side, a user-friendly center stack and a suitably large nav screen front and center. While the overall layout is attractive, the material quality is not what we'd expect of a newer Audi. There's nothing that feels exceedingly cheap – the plastics just feel old and too familiar. It's difficult to describe, but as soon as you climb in the Q3, things like the switchgear for the HVAC controls immediately remind you that this is a vehicle that's been on sale since 2011. While our definition of interior quality has evolved over the years, our idea of a driver-friendly cabin has not. The Q3 scores highly in this regard, featuring the elevated seating position that makes CUVs so popular with the general public.

2014 Audi S1 Quattro leaks ahead of reveal

Rumors have been swirling that Audi will unveil the next-generation TT at the 2014 Geneva Motor Show, but now it seems as if European hot hatch fans will be getting a car of their own from the German automaker. Images of the S1 Sportback Quattro have leaked out today, giving us our first taste of the real thing after seeing the camouflaged version a few months ago.
Audi may be planning to release official details about the S1 and refreshed A1 tomorrow and debut them publicly in Geneva. The S1 is expected to use the Volkswagen 2.0-liter, turbocharged four-cylinder with about 230hp, all-wheel drive and a choice of six-speed manual or dual-clutch transmission. It is basically supposed to be Golf GTI in a tiny package with all-wheel drive.
While it is highly unlikely we are getting any version of the A1 on these shores, it's always fun to see the cars lucky European enthusiasts enjoy.