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McLaren confirms Alonso, keeps Button

Every year a big game of musical chairs breaks out in the Formula One paddock, as some drivers try to hold on to their seats, some try to grab new ones and others are left without a seat for the following season. McLaren has been extremely reluctant to announce who would be sitting in its carbon-fiber seats next season, but it's finally spilled the beans. McLaren was strongly rumored to have hired Fernando Alonso for next season, speculation over which was all but confirmed when the two-time world champion announced his departure from Ferrari. He's now been officially confirmed to be returning to Woking for next season. But the bigger question over who would be his wingman has now been answered as well, as the team has decided to keep Jenson Button on board for at least one more season. Long regarded as a top driver, Button started out with Williams back in 2000, then spent a couple of seasons in Enstone with Renault before switching to Honda in 2003, finally winning the championship in 2009 when the team went out on its own as Brawn GP (now Mercedes). He switched to McLaren in 2010 to form a dream team with Lewis Hamilton (who in turn left for Mercedes last year), but though Jenson has been unable to rack up another world title, he's remained a favorite especially of Honda's, which returns to F1 next season to rekindle its once-dominant engine-supply partnership with McLaren. Alonso, meanwhile, made his grand prix debut with Minardi (now Toro Rosso) just one year after Button, then switched to Renault first as a test driver and then got the race seat, winning back-to-back world championships in 2005 and 2006. He subsequently spent one tumultuous season alongside Hamilton at McLaren before going back to Renault and then to Ferrari, which which he spent five years, scoring eleven checkered flags to finish in second place in the standings, three times. Alonso's signing and Button's retention spell bad news for Kevin Magnussen, the young Danish driver who got his start with McLaren earlier this season after winning the Formula Renault 3.5 Series title last year. With all the other seats already spoken for, Magnussen was left with no choice but to accept a test-driver role with McLaren in the hope that he might be promoted back again in the future. McLaren-Honda prepares for 2015: laying the foundations for future domination McLaren-Honda is delighted to announce its new driver line-up for 2015: Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button.

Honda's I Like Sports ad will have you reaching for your pom-poms

Autoblog editor Greg Migliore recently wrote a great piece looking at the burgeoning re-emergence of Honda as the performance brand. Now, the company is showing some reasons why that really might be the case, with a short ad from Japan titled I Like Sports. The commercial acts as a showcase for Honda's performance prowess on the street and around the track from the recent past, present, and the near future. The spot gives the company's models a chance to show why they are worth getting excited about. There are glimpses of vehicles like the Japan-only S660, upcoming Civic Type R, S2000, the preceding and forthcoming NSX, the MotoGP bike, and Formula 1 car. Despite being just a minute long, the ad does a great job at hinting at a brand that can appeal to people who want a little excitement during a drive.

Buckeye Current back on track at Pikes Peak with new rider [w/video]

After suffering a major setback, the Buckeye Current electric motorcycle racing team of students from Ohio State University looks set to take on the 2015 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb on June 28. The squad's longtime rider Rob Barber suffered a crash on the bike during practice for the event. Now, three-time Pikes Peak 450 Pro Class winner Joe Prussiano (pictured above) has taken over to challenge the mountain for the group. In some ways, Buckeye Current is the scrappy underdog of the electric motorcycle racing world. The student team has definitely shown speed, though. In 2013 and 2014, its bikes took consecutive third place finishes in the Isle of Man TT Zero with Barber in the saddle. This year the squad's sights are set on Pikes Peak with a new bike called the RW-3, and the aim is for a possible overall motorcycle record. Utilizing a frame from a Honda CBR1000RR, the students created the 7.8-kWh battery pack, carbon fiber fairing, and electronics system. The team estimates the cycle is making over 134 horsepower and is capable of an average speed of 76 miles per hour up the hill climb. Following Barber's crash, the RW-3 had to be rebuilt, but it has now passed tech inspection to race up the mountain again. Scroll down and check out Prussiano's first ride of the RW-3 on America's Mountain. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. BUCKEYE CURRENT RALLIES TO COMPETE IN THE 2015 PIKES PEAK INTERNATIONAL HILL CLIMB Buckeye Current, the student electric motorcycle team at The Ohio State University, has completed its latest all-electric racing motorcycle. RW-3 will compete in the 2015 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb June 28. This follows on the success of the team's 2013 and 2014 Isle of Man TT Zero performances in which renowned rider Rob Barber piloted the team's RW-2 and then RW-2.X vehicles to third place victories, achieving the title of the world's fastest collegiate electric motorcycle two years in a row. After earning two podium finishes at the Isle of Man, the team was looking ahead to a new challenge. This year the team had to create an entirely new bike to conquer Pikes Peak. RW-3 is designed to average 76 miles per hour through the course with a top speed of 125 miles per hour. The battery pack holds 7.8 kilowatt-hours of energy on board and contains 972 individual 18650 cylindrical battery cells.