**just Serviced**brand New Smg Pump W/ Wrnty**19 Whls**hrmon Krdon**htd Seats on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Mercedes chief invites Audi, BMW to compete in F1

Mercedes-Benz didn't just win the Formula One World Championship in 2014 – it positively dominated it. The team won all but three of the grands prix this season, scoring a one-two finish at more than half of them and landing at least one car on the podium at every race without exception. It goes without saying, then, that the German automaker thrives on competition, but now it's welcoming even more. Speaking with Germany's Sport Bild at its homecoming celebration in Stuttgart, Daimler chief Dieter Zetsche welcomed Mercedes' biggest rivals Audi and BMW to join it on the F1 grid. Noting that the three German brands share some 80 percent of the market for luxury automobiles, Zetsche said that F1 would make a natural arena of competition for Mercedes, Audi and BMW to fight for top bragging rights. The three currently compete against each other in front of home audiences in the DTM touring car series – effectively Germany's equivalent to NASCAR – but of the ten races held this year, the majority were in Germany itself, and all of them took place in Europe. BMW last competed in F1 when it bought the Sauber team in 2006, but withdrew from the series in 2009. Despite its progenitor Auto Union having fielded the famous Silver Arrows in pre-war grand prix racing, Audi has never been a player in modern F1 racing, though recent rumors have linked it to a potential foray – spurred by the arrival of sister-company Porsche on its home turf at Le Mans, the departure of several of its key endurance drivers and the hiring of former Scuderia Ferrari chief Stefano Domenicali. Porsche had similarly considered an F1 program before getting the go-ahead to compete with Audi at Le Mans. As for the prospect of Mercedes competing in other international racing series, Zetsche added that year-long preparations for 24 hours of racing at Le Mans didn't present a good cost-benefit ratio in his estimation, but that Formula E (where Audi currently supports a quasi-works entry) would be worth a closer look.

Beverly Hills road rage incident ends with BMW driver ramming bicyclist

An instance of road rage turned mortally dangerous in Beverly Hills, CA, recently, when an incident between a cyclist and a BMW driver took a scary turn in front of a rolling security camera.
LA Weekly reports that the person on the bicycle and the driver of the 2008 BMW 328i in the video had some kind of altercation, resulting in the cyclist punching the driver. The driver then followed the biker to an alley on the 9000 block of Wilshire Blvd and, according to the Beverly Hills Police Department, "Intentionally rammed the bicyclist with his vehicle pinning him to a metal rolling trash bin."
That the act was intentional is clearly evident in the video footage below, captured on a security camera. Police have published the video in the hopes of tracking down the driver, who is said to be in his mid-30s with dark hair, dark eyes and a thin build. BMW owners across the country can thank him - for reinforcing certain stereotypes - by helping to turn him in. Do your part, Bimmer Nation.

McLaren shoehorned the F1's V12 into a BMW M5 wagon test mule

Automakers are known to utilize preexisting vehicles as test beds for major research and development purposes. But some of the zombie mashups produced in-house can result in pretty interesting combinations. Case in point, when McLaren was developing its BMW-sourced naturally-aspirated 6.1-liter V12 for the legendary F1, the company put the engine in … a BMW M5 wagon? Yup, you read that correctly. ItÂ’s no mystery that the legendary F1 came with a BMW-sourced V12. That "M70" V12 originated from its placement in the E32 7 Series and E31 8 Series “50” models in the 1980s up through the 1990s. The version that went into the F1, however, is more closely related to the M-tuned "S70" V12 found in the E31 850CSI, which was the pseudo M-variant to the 8 Series that wasnÂ’t officially designated an M model. But it did feature full-fledged tuning from the M Division. On "Top Gear" presenter Chris HarrisÂ’ podcast, "Collecting Cars", Harris interviewed David Clark, the former director of McLarenÂ’s cars for both the road and motorsports between 1994 and 1998. Clark revealed that they took an E34 BMW M5 wagon and shoehorned the S70 V12 into its engine bay as the mule for testing the F1Â’s engine. Clark even said he drove the car himself as they were fine-tuning the V12Â’s engine output. YouÂ’re probably wondering, how the heck did that thing fit? But it isnÂ’t that surprising. The E34 5-Series was designed to house either the BMWÂ’s venerable straight-six or the new-at-the-time V8. And there was room enough to house the V12 as well, particularly since BMWÂ’s V12 was essentially two of its “M20” straight-sixes bolted together at the crank in a vee. When Clark was testing the S70 V12 in the wagon, he and his team ended up with the 627 horsepower and 479 pound-feet of torque the F1 became known for. ThatÂ’s nearly twice the power the production M5's 311 hp and 266 lb-ft at the time. Clark also divulged that the actual prototype mule still exists, but itÂ’s in BMWÂ’s secret collection of prototypes, and itÂ’s never been revealed to the public. He does, however, hope that one day, BMW will open its doors and show off the incredible mashup of an automobile. Until then, youÂ’ll have to rely on the few custom engine swaps done by owners to get a taste of what a V12-powered E34 M5 is like. Rumor also has it that McLaren could be working on a new direct F1 successor with help once again from Gordon Murray.