Category: Service

Audi Sport has announced plans to compete in the 2022 Dakar Rally and has also revealed its intention to return to World Endurance Championship circuit racing. This news is accompanied by a restructuring of Audi Sport’s upper management and the closing of Audi’s Formula E campaign. 

For the Dakar, Audi Sport is building a Rally Raid-style car, rather than a WRC-style production car-based machine. It will be designed specifically to survive the Dakar’s famously tough conditions, with drive coming exclusively from electric motors powering all four wheels. The electric powertrain will be supplemented by a small turbocharged petrol engine, which will act as an on-board generator to charge the batteries and enable the car to cover the vast distances required each day during the event.

This will be the first electrified Dakar racer from a large-scale manufacturer, and as with Audi’s past efforts in WEC racing will position the company

The Porsche 911 Turbo could rarely be considered short on power, with enough straight-line performance to upset considerably more serious and expensive machinery. Yet despite its already physics-defying performance, TechArt has felt the need to take it one step further, increasing performance and fettling the aero of the latest iteration.

A new aerodynamics kit replaces a number of factory components with TechArt’s own components. The kit includes a brand new front splitter and intake surrounds, new carbonfibre wing mirrors and redesigned side skirts, while the rear features a new high-mounted roof spoiler that directs air towards the enlarged rear wing. There’s also a new diffuser, exhaust surrounds and TechArt badging replacing the factory Porsche logo.

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TechArt’s modifications under the skin include its ‘Techtronic’ ECU module, increasing power from the twin-turbocharged 3.8-litre flat-six to 700bhp and 663lb ft of torque – more

The Ford Mustang Mach-E GT made its debut in September, promising more of the performance expected from some of its long-standing internal combustion counterparts. Expanding the range yet further is the GT Performance Edition, bringing more torque and tweaked aesthetics to the all-electric SUV. European availability is yet to be announced, however first cars are set to be available in late summer 2021.

As with the standard GT, the model pairs an 88kWh battery with an electric motor on each axle for a combined output of 459bhp. This is significantly more than the most powerful Mach-E so far which produces a more demure 332bhp and 429lb ft for reference, and is more powerful than an actual Mustang GT, which produces 444bhp from its 5-litre V8. Torque is where the Performance Edition pulls ahead, with an additional 34lb ft giving it an impressive output of 634lb ft of torque – for

Jaguar’s Special Vehicles Operations has revealed its updated F-Pace SVR, which adopts the recent styling and tech changes debuted on the standard model earlier this year. Its core mechanical components remain mostly unchanged though, meaning the SVR remains a welcome contrast to its predominantly turbocharged V6 rivals at its sub-£80k performance SUV price point. 

The powertrain is the familiar 5-litre supercharged V8, still producing 542bhp and 516lb ft, but engineers have worked on its engine mapping, broadening the torque curve farther across the rev band. The eight-speed automatic transmission has been given a more thorough update, with a new torque converter borrowed from the XE Project 8, which should result in snappier, more aggressive shifts. 

SVO’s engineers have also been working on the steering, damper and rear differential calibrations, with a sustained effort to further differentiate the SVR’s Dynamic mode, providing more of an edge to its

Mini has announced that it will launch a hot version of its all-electric Mini, joining a traditional petrol-powered JCW version of its next generation model. 

Given the inherently modular nature of different electric motors, and the platform ready to accept them that’s already in development, a high performance all-electric derivative is now a priority according to Mini boss Bernd Körber, saying “With the MINI Electric, we’ve shown how well driving pleasure and electric mobility can be combined. Now’s the time to translate the performance passion of the John Cooper Works brand to electromobility. So we’re working hard to develop concepts for John Cooper Works models with electric drive.”

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Alongside the announcement, Mini has released images of an electric prototype with bodywork shared with the current Mini JCW GP. While no official specifications have been released, the