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Watch some vintage F1 cars blast up a Japanese mountain road

It's a rare treat to see classic Formula One cars racing anywhere, but watching them on a Japanese mountain road is absolutely sublime. The folks behind Motorhead from Japan took over the toll road's twisting stretch of tarmac to turn this impossible dream into a reality. The unusual opportunity of a closed mountain road would be a waste for only two vehicles, and there were plenty of drivers in amazing machines that wanted to blast up the hill. After the vintage F1 cars got their turn, some drifters in a Nissan GT-R and a Toyota GT86 added some tire smoke to the misty mountain air. A couple more GT-R racecars and some modern sports cars eventually joined them. Before the rain hit, this team had quite a party going on. This video features amazing camera work, but the music unfortunately drowns out the chance to hear these amazing racecars. If watching this leaves you wanting more, Motorhead released a video last year of another group of impressive performance vehicles on the mountain road.

Renault-Nissan alliance reboot will kick off with five projects

Renault SA and Nissan Motor Co. are moving ahead with a plan to recalibrate a two-decades-old alliance that had weakened over time, starting with a range of industrial projects alongside an agreement to rebalance capital ties, according to people familiar with the situation. Top executives from the alliance partners held an operating board meeting on Thursday, giving a nod to bringing Nissan and Renault’s cross shareholdings to an equal level, as well as common projects as part of the reshaped cooperation, the people said. The partners also agreed on an alliance event to be held on Feb. 6 in London to present details of the plans, the people added, declining to be named discussing details before they are public. Under the landmark plan, Renault is expected to cut its 43% stake in Nissan to 15% via an orderly disposal of shares over time to eliminate lopsided capital ties that have been a source of friction for years. The tentative agreement comes after years of tension that at one point spilled over into Japanese-French politics when Renault-NissanÂ’s then-leader Carlos Ghosn weighed to merge the two companies.   The partners also agreed to continue collaborating on various industrial projects, a condition that was crucial for Renault to obtain approval for the rebalancing from its most powerful shareholder, the French government. Media representatives for Renault and Nissan declined to comment. The boards of directors of the respective companies will have to approve the agreement in meetings to be held in coming days, the people said.  Code name: ‘ReloadedÂ’ The redesigned alliance will allow Chief Executive Officer Luca de Meo to move on with a complex split of Renault into five separate businesses, including carved-out electric-vehicle business Ampere and to deepen ties with a series of other partners, including ChinaÂ’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Co. and Qualcomm Inc., the people said. “The interest for each of the partners is now to be able to move forward without, for example, RenaultÂ’s management getting distracted in endless trans-national politics,” says Stifel analyst Pierre-Yves Quemener. Failure of the talks would have been “a negative,” Quemener said.  Renault, Nissan and junior partner Mitsubishi Motors Corp. will embark on roughly five projects initially, codenamed “Reloaded,” with others to follow, the people said.

Kayaba, Sumitomo to pay millions for price-fixing in US

Kayaba Industry Co, which does business in the US as suspension parts maker KYB, and Sumitomo Electric Industries are facing payments in the millions to settle price-fixing cases about the components that they make. As part of the Department of Justice's ongoing crackdown of price fixing in the auto industry, KYB agreed to pay $62 million and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to set the cost of shock absorbers from the mid '90s through 2012. The company allegedly worked with co-conspirators to keep the cost of the parts high, and those components then made it into vehicles from Honda, Kawasaki, Nissan, Subaru, Suzuki, and Toyota. "Any collusive agreement among competitors to restrict price competition undercuts our free enterprise system and violates the law," said Carter M. Stewart, US Attorney of the Southern District of Ohio, in the DoJ's announcement. Over the past few years, the DoJ has brought cases against 37 parts suppliers and 55 executives, leading to over $2.6 billion in fines. The investigations haven't always been so successful – some of the Japanese execs fled from the US to avoid prosecution. Critics allege that price fixing is simply how business is done. According to Automotive News, Sumitomo Electric Industries is also facing a $50 million settlement in a civil lawsuit that's related to price fixing of parts like wiring harnesses and heater control panels. The plaintiffs include owners and dealers that purchased vehicles with these parts. The company asserts that the violations are from before 2010, and it now has different process in place to avoid further violations. KYB Agrees to Plead Guilty and Pay $62 Million Criminal Fine for Fixing Price of Shock Absorbers Kayaba Industry Co. Ltd., dba KYB Corporation (KYB) has agreed to plead guilty and to pay a $62 million criminal fine for its role in a conspiracy to fix the price of shock absorbers installed in cars and motorcycles sold to U.S. consumers. According to charges filed today, KYB conspired from the mid-1990s until 2012 to fix the prices of shock absorbers sold to Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. (manufacturer of Subaru vehicles), Honda Motor Co. Ltd., Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd., Nissan Motor Company Ltd., Suzuki Motor Corporation and Toyota Motor Company, including their subsidiaries in the United States.