Fuel protests halt Spanish car production

By Dimitri Pesin Motoring Issues 16 June 2008 10:25 Fuel protests in Europe triggered by the soaring cost of fuel have drastically reduced car production in Spain this month.  Last week's truck blockades and fuel depot pickets in Madrid caused car plants around the country to cut production. Seat, Citroen Peugeot, Ford, Nissan, Renault and Mercedes-Benz all have factories in Spain and most said they were affected.Seat production slashed by 40 percentSeat said its main Martorell plant was operating at 40 percent capacity, with production of the Leon and Altea models severely affected. However, the protests won’t delay sales of the new Ibiza, a spokesman promised, and assembly of cars in the factory is expected to return to normal this week.

Dodge Viper takes Nurburgring Record – sort of

Dodge Viper - new Nurburgring record Back in 2008, the Dodge Viper ACR went to the Nurburgring and proved that cars built in the former Colonies really can go round bends, even bends at the ‘Green Hell’ of the Nurburgring. Not only could the Dodge Viper go round bends, but it made a pretty good fist of blasting down the straights too, culminating in a record-breaking lap of 7:22.1. But since 2008 things have moved on, with even a Lexus LFA posting a ‘Ring time of 7:14.64, so the SRT has returned to the Nordschleife to set about squeezing a bit more out of the Viper.

MICHAEL SCHUMACHER JOINS MERCEDES GP PETRONAS – Press Release

Michael Schumacher joins Mercedes - Press Release Below With seven Drivers’ World Championships, 248 Grand Prix starts, 91 victories, 154 podium finishes and 68 pole positions, the 40-year old German needs no introduction following an illustrious and record-breaking Formula One career from 1991 to 2006 at the Jordan, Benetton and Ferrari teams. Michael’s return to racing with MERCEDES GP PETRONAS sees his return to Mercedes-Benz Motorsport where he began his racing apprenticeship as part of the Junior Programme in 1990, racing in Group C sports cars and DTM, and sees Michael renew his partnership with Ross Brawn with whom he won all seven of his World Championships. Today’s announcement confirms the MERCEDES GP PETRONAS driver line-up for the 2010 season with Michael partnering his compatriot, 24 year old Nico Rosberg, in the Silver Arrows cars.