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Formula One speeds towards radical thousand-horsepower shakeup

The teams, the drivers, the fans, the circuits... few, if any, were satisfied with how Formula One has shaped up since the current regulations took hold last year. But that doesn't mean they aren't working on it. At a recent meeting of the F1 Strategy Group, the leading parties in the sport outlined a new framework that would radically shake up the cars themselves while keeping costs in check. And the biggest change could see the engines producing around 1,000 horsepower. Although a proposal put forth by Ferrari to ditch the current V6 hybrid engines in favor of new twin-turbocharged units was rejected by Honda and Mercedes, the members of the group approved in principal to increase the fuel flow in the existing engines to dramatically boost output. As it stands, the current 1.6-liter turbocharged V6 engines develop around 600 horsepower, with an additional 160 or so kicked in by the electric Energy Recovery System, for a combined output of about 760 hp. What's not clear at the moment is whether the increased fuel flow would necessitate either the return of mid-race refueling (currently banned) or the installation of larger fuel tanks. Red Bull and McLaren also submitted proposals to radically redesign the shape of the cars as well, however a more evolutionary approach was adopted instead. Though far from finalized, the new design would keep the same basic form of the current chassis, but with adjustments to make them more aesthetically pleasing while producing more downforce. Wider tires are also said to be part of the mix. With more power and more grip from the tires and aero, the resulting cars would most certainly end up going much faster than the current ones, which are already starting to nudge the lap records at some of the circuits, many of which were set during the V10 era. The F1 Strategy Group is made up of representatives of the FIA, Formula One Management and six leading teams. The next step will be for the teams' technical directors to iron out how to implement what their bosses have agreed to. If they settle the details fast enough, the revised regulations could be pushed through in time for next season. News Source: AutosportImage Credit: Mark Thompson/Getty Motorsports Ferrari Honda Infiniti McLaren Mercedes-Benz F1

A car writer's year in new vehicles [w/video]

Christmas is only a week away. The New Year is just around the corner. As 2014 draws to a close, I'm not the only one taking stock of the year that's we're almost shut of. Depending on who you are or what you do, the end of the year can bring to mind tax bills, school semesters or scheduling dental appointments. For me, for the last eight or nine years, at least a small part of this transitory time is occupied with recalling the cars I've driven over the preceding 12 months. Since I started writing about and reviewing cars in 2006, I've done an uneven job of tracking every vehicle I've been in, each year. Last year I made a resolution to be better about it, and the result is a spreadsheet with model names, dates, notes and some basic facts and figures. Armed with this basic data and a yen for year-end stories, I figured it would be interesting to parse the figures and quantify my year in cars in a way I'd never done before. The results are, well, they're a little bizarre, honestly. And I think they'll affect how I approach this gig in 2015. {C} My tally for the year is 68 cars, as of this writing. Before the calendar flips to 2015 it'll be as high as 73. Let me give you a tiny bit of background about how automotive journalists typically get cars to test. There are basically two pools of vehicles I drive on a regular basis: media fleet vehicles and those available on "first drive" programs. The latter group is pretty self-explanatory. Journalists are gathered in one location (sometimes local, sometimes far-flung) with a new model(s), there's usually a day of driving, then we report back to you with our impressions. Media fleet vehicles are different. These are distributed to publications and individual journalists far and wide, and the test period goes from a few days to a week or more. Whereas first drives almost always result in a piece of review content, fleet loans only sometimes do. Other times they serve to give context about brands, segments, technology and the like, to editors and writers. So, adding up the loans I've had out of the press fleet and things I've driven at events, my tally for the year is 68 cars, as of this writing. Before the calendar flips to 2015, it'll be as high as 73. At one of the buff books like Car and Driver or Motor Trend, reviewers might rotate through five cars a week, or more. I know that number sounds high, but as best I can tell, it's pretty average for the full-time professionals in this business.

2019 Mercedes-Benz G-Class vs big luxury off-roaders: How they compare on paper

During our first drive of the 2019 Mercedes-Benz G-Class, the all-new SUV's product manager was asked to identify competitors that might have been benchmarked in its development. The look on his face was about the same as if someone had asked him to recite King Lear in Klingon. As far as Andreas Hoeppel was concerned, the G 550 and AMG G 63 doesn't actually have a rival, or at least something the engineers and designers thought to compare it against. The G-Class is a G-Class, who cares what the other guys are doing? Well, in case you care, we figured we'd plug the new G-Class' specs into the old Autoblog Comparo Generator 3000 (TM) to see how the G 550 and AMG G 63 compare to the Range Rover and its mightiest SVAutobiography Dynamic model, plus the Lexus LX 570 and Bentley Bentayga V8. Frankly, Heir Hoeppel was onto something as each of these is wildly different. But, they do share some common elements: giant size and weight, ultra-lux interiors, and far more off-roading capability than other luxury SUVs offer and any of its owners are likely to ever utilize. Sad. So enjoy this trip down specification lane, and if you're still left hungry, you can always check out our Range Rover comparison or create your very own comparo. Off-Road Clearances and Capability All the fancy off-roading software and special cameras in the world won't do you a lick of good if your SUV is too close to the ground or has low-hanging body work that'll get easily ripped off. As such, check out each of these uber-SUV's ground clearance, approach and departure angles, and wading/fording depths. In this case, the Range Rover has an advantage due to its air suspension that can raise itself into an Off-Roading height that's a whopping 2 inches higher than the new G-Wagen. Sadly for itself, Lexus only provides figures for its air suspension when in normal height. It could match or surpass the Range Rover for all we know (but doubt it). As Land Rover does provide figures for the Range Rover's approach and departure angles in normal and Off-Road height, you can get an idea of just how much clearance the new G-Wagen has without any fancy (and expensive to fix) raising and lowering air suspension hardware. In fact, its departure angle is better than even the Range Rover's Off-Road height. Bentley doesn't provide any such information despite touting the Bentayga's surprising off-roading talents.