Mad About Cars

WRC Round 4 of 12 – Rally de Portugal sponsored by Vodafone is set to kick off at the beginning of April 2^nd – 5^th and is the first pure gravel rally of the season for 2009.

Based on the West Coast of Portugal, this Rally is one of the world’s classic rallying fixtures, predominantly a centre for many of the most nail biting events in the history of Sport.

The event has been re-born in the Algarve – a change from its usual legendary spot on Portugal’s West Coast. Its base is set in Faro with stages creeping above the town into the hills, fast open roads and hard tracks which are more abrasive.

Since 2007, there are 2 new stages and now a Super Special Stage that opens and closes the event on Thursday evening and Sunday afternoon.

Drivers will tackle 18 stages in total at a distance of 361.36km….

So, the level of CO2 emissions spat out from your car will now determine how much tax your going to pay on it! As millions of pounds are set into incentives and directed at companies obtaining cars with key CO2 targets, choosing cleaner vehicles isn’t just beneficial to the environment!

Company car drivers will pay

Tax allowance on such vehicles is now catastrophic! So much so that it would almost be worth the value of a second ‘premium’ company car!

Will it be better now to reimburse for business fuel and ditch the free fuel, as only people with high private mileages will benefit otherwise – the experts say so!

Well then, look at this!

Yes, we have a new site for Girl Racers! About time if you ask me!

This is what all girls with a passion for life, Motor-sport, and all things fast!, have been waiting for!…

The Girl Racer website is engineered especially for the likes of us girls who love to drive fast and take part in Extreme Sports around the globe. With its main focus being Racing and Rallying, this site offers more than you can imagine from A GR Motor-sport Academy, Racing Tuition, Events and Days Out, Clubs, Forums, News, Advice, Features, Road Tests, and even Girl Racing Apparel and more!!!…

So Garry Raggit Girlies….. what you waiting for!

Fleet industries across the nation could benefit from the new ‘Scrappage System’ if the Government decide to go ahead with the scheme.

The British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association state that by scrapping older cars, it will increase the residual values of fleet vehicles and encourage the public to purchase newer, fleet cars and vans that are one, two and three years old.

Manufacturers say that this action will boost the motor industry which has recently been affected by a huge plummet in sales due to the credit crunch.

But new incentives must be put in place in order for the public to be confident about buying these better, newer, and more ‘expensive’ fleet vehicles…

Sebastien Buemi has been confirmed as a Toro Rosso driver for 2009. At just 20 years of age, the Swiss driver looks set to be one of the youngest drivers on the Formula One grid in 2009, whilst also being one of the youngest drivers in Grand Prix history. In a country where motorsport was banned for many decades following the 1955 Le Mans disaster, the young Buemi spent much of his early career competing outside of his homeland, establishing himself as one of the leading drivers in the German Formula BMW series. Following a stint in the Formula 3 Euroseries, along with driving for Team Switzerland in the A1 series, 2008 saw Buemi complete a full season in GP2, the feeder series to Formula One. With many of the world’s up and coming drivers competing in the series in 2008, Buemi finished sixth in the series with wins in France and Hungary. 2008 also saw Buemi feature as a test driver for the Red Bull team, whilst at the Japanese Grand Prix he also drove the Formula One medical car.
For 2009, Buemi will join Red Bull’s ‘junior’ team, Toro Rosso, replacing the German driver Sebastien Vettel, who moves to the Red Bull team. Buemi will become the first Swiss driver to compete in Formula One since Jean Denis-Deletraz, who competed in a handful of Grand Prix between 1994 and 1995.