Formule 1 news Canada news

Toyota may finally be unveiling a production version of its new Supra sports car at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in the U.K. mid-July.
The closest we’ve come to glimpsing the street car’s final form so far has been a race car concept unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show, but a tweet from Toyota Europe suggests the covers will be pulled off some time during the July 12 thru 15 event.
The tweet featured an image of the car – designated the “A90” within the company &nda

Oklahoma’s Classic Restorations will become one of the first custom-car builders to accept payment in cryptocurrency, letting customers fork over fees in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other digital monies in exchange for one of the company’s modified Mustangs.
“Cryptocurrencies have come a long way and continue to solidify themselves as a legitimate currency on the global market,” Jason Engel, the owner of CR, was quoted in Digital Trends.
“The true beauty of accepting cry

A Porsche 959 rally car that competed in the 1985 Paris-Dakar off-road endurance race is crossing the auction block late October with an estimated $4.34 million price tag attached to it.
The 959 was engineered in the early ’80s to race in the famed Group B rally series, which had unfortunately been shuttered by the time development was complete.
Porsche decided to make the best of the investments it’d already sunk in a 959 homologation road car and enter its race-car in the 9,600-km

You want a Volvo XC40: It’s hard not to blame you, so alluringly attractive is Volvo’s smallest SUV. Not quite as provocative perhaps as Range Rover’s Evoque nor as overtly sporty as Porsche’s Macan, the XC40 is cuter than both and is one of the baby sport brutes that looks good all in white. A solid nine from the Russian judge on exterior looks, then.
He’d find it hard to deduct any more points in the powertrain department. Like so many in this segment, the XC40 is

Doing more with less has become an art form. Turbochargers and direct fuel-injection systems have helped squeeze more power from smaller engines, but it wasn’t always that way. In the late 1980s and the early 1990s, well before the term “downsizing” entered industry jargon, automakers sought ways of doing more with more. Mercedes notably considered one-upping rival BMW’s experimental V16 by building an 18-cylinder engine for a line of flagship cars that would have jettiso

With labour rates approaching $200 per hour in some areas, any type of repair involving diagnostics can send shockwaves into the sturdiest budgets. One of the biggest time-clock culprits is a job not all shops want to tackle in the first place — water leaks.
In fact, this task is so universally hated, a whole host of companies have sprung up that only deal with water leaks. Mainstream shops have moved away from this due to complaints from technicians working in tight quarters — no on

Volkswagen executives are reportedly mulling over a new version of the Beetle based on their MEB electric vehicle platform, according to rumours from Autocar.
That would turn the Beetle into a rear-wheel-drive car again, like the original, but also a battery-powered vehicle, which it’s never been before. The new car would also move to a four-door layout as opposed to a two-door, the rumours suggest.
Fueling the rumours are statements from VW chief Herbert Diess saying he wants the automake

Volvo launched its all-new M brand on July 4, an app-based car-sharing service providing “dependable, on-demand access to cars” in lieu of traditional car ownership or leasing.
It’s not clear exactly how M will provide that access or fulfill Volvo’s new mission of offering its customers “Freedom to Move” other than that it will use “proprietary learning technology” to better understand users’ specific needs.
What is clear is that Volvo will l

McLaren specialists Lanzante may be building three special-edition P1 Longtail GTs as a throwback to the trio of F1 GT homologation cars McLaren itself built back in 1997, reports Road & Track.
The British tuning company teased two images of the upcoming car – a sketch of the long-tailed car’s silhouette and a peek at the nose of a car painted Silverstone Green like the F1 GT prototype – ahead of its reveal at the Goodwood Festival of Speed on July 13, but otherwise details

It’s July 1st. Canada’s birthday. It’s sweltering, with the temperatures soaring into record setting territory, the humidity chasing all but the youngest, fittest, and perhaps most inebriated, indoors. It’s hot outside. I’m melting. I think back to being a kid in a house with no air conditioning, and remember that thing about being the youngest. My father fought against central air, no doubt because he was the most inebriated.
The day before in identical temperature

Mid-sized crossovers are the workhorses of the greater SUV segment — not as flashy as the luxury-oriented units, yet also not the personal transportation that compact models have popularly become. They are the family haulers, a function that was once the purview of station wagons and, later, minivans. Nor are they particularly sexy, their strengths are size, cargo capacity and (often) third-row seating.
Want to see a cross-section of them? Just drive by any elementary school during morning

Of all the auto ventures that might have been, few measure up to John DeLorean’s stainless-steel sports car. The story seems more fiction than fact: a “bad-boy” exec with no use for rules; an unusual car that couldn’t find its footing; and a narcotics sting some believe was a last grasp at success.
John Zachary DeLorean was born in Detroit in 1925 to factory workers, and earned degrees in mechanical and automotive engineering. He began his career with a short stint at lux

CALGARY, Alberta — Volkswagen’s 2019 Jetta should appeal to all demographics. At least, that’s what VW’s latest TV commercial would have you believe – that’s the one where Dad sneaks out in Junior’s car and takes his senior friends for a midnight joy ride.
“With the BeatsAudio sound system and the custom ambient lighting, it seems the car would suit a younger generation of drivers,” says Richard Phillips. “But if you prefer a smaller se

Ontario’s new government officially ended the province’s cap-and-trade “carbon tax” program June 2, killing off by proxy the electric vehicle rebate program funded by it and lifting a 4.3-percent tax on gasoline.
“Every cent spent from the cap-and-trade slush fund is money that has been taken out of the pockets of Ontario families and businesses,” Automotive News Canada quoted Doug Ford, the province’s new premier, from a news release.
“We believe

Silicon Valley automaker Tesla said Monday that it has built 5,000 of its Model 3 electric sedans in a single week, a long-delayed goal and major milestone for a company pushing to prove it can mass-produce electric cars.
Tesla chief executive Elon Musk had originally set the 5,000-a-week benchmark for production of its battery-powered car for the end of last year, but later postponed it until the end of June following a series of manufacturing problems during what Musk called “production

Fortunately, low-tech windshield washer systems seldom give us drivers headaches. But when they do, it always seems a waste to pay a licenced tech to fix a simple problem. Truth be told, most washer woes are an easy DIY repair.
Nozzles are the most common failure on just about any type of vehicle. These little plastic squirters spend their lives basking in the sun and that’s the key to their downfall. Over time, the resins in the plastic will ‘dry’ out, leaving the nozzle extre

AIRDRIE, Albert — There’s a children’s camp song about a little wagon – where ‘the front seat’s broken and the axle’s draggin’. Fortunately, that’s not the case with Paul Tait’s 1999 Honda Accord SiR wagon.
Although it’s been customized and slammed to the ground, the Airdrie-based builder says his daily driver rides like a champ.
“I drive it to work and I drive it to shows,” Tait explains. “And with two kids in t

Ah, the summer silly season is upon us. It will be the best of times, it will be the worst of times, but it will always be interesting.
My son’s friend was an hour late leaving work the other day, as he desperately tried to get a groundhog out of his engine compartment. The creature had taken up residence sometime in the day, and no amount of banging on the hood or blasting the horn was convincing him to go find a different Critterbnb. As friends helpfully texted suggestions (“if he

The Toronto-native has spent most of motor racing career competing in Europe, and now stands on the threshold of both F1 and, potentially, championship glory in Formula 2. It’s not been the easiest of climbs to the top, however.
Behind the helmet specifically painted pink for this free practice outing, there’s an enormous smile plastered on Nicholas Latifi’s face. He’s rolling down the pit lane at his home Grand Prix in Montreal in only his third official test session for

SPARTANBURG, South Carolina – BMW introduced the mid-sized X4 in mid 2014 and has since sold more than 200,000 units worldwide. Since its introduction it has been selling at a steady pace in Canada, with more than 1,100 units sold here each full year since its arrival, totalling almost 4,400 units to date. The 2019 BMW X4 marks the second generation of the popular crossover, and as with all generational upgrades, the German ‘sport activity coupe’ has grown in size and gets a fr

Nissan’s GT-R turns 50 this year, as does Italdesign, the styling firmed founded by the legendary Giorgetto Giugiaro (and now owned by Audi).
To celebrate, the two companies decided to collaborate on a one-off Nismo-based sports car, the GTR-50, with a tuned 720-horsepower engine underhood.
The radically styled super-sports car was penned in-house by Nissan European and North American design teams, with Italdesign instead handling development, engineering and production.
A million minor tw

The new 2019 Chevrolet Volt electric vehicle has nearly halved the time it takes to charge its batteries, with a full recharge good for 85 km now requiring just 2.3 hours, or about two hours and twenty minutes, when using a 240-volt outlet and the proper supporting hardware.
That’s thanks to a 7.2-kW charging system, standard in the Volt Premier trim and optional on the base LT (a 3.6-kW charger is standard on that spec.)
The Volt returns the equivalent of 2.22 L/100 km, Chevrolet says, bu

Timo Bernhard set a new record for the fastest lap ever of the Nürburgring Nordschleife on June 29, completing the well-known 20.8-km circuit in just 5 minutes and 19.55 seconds in a Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo race car.
The numbers work out to an average speed of 233.8 km/h, and saw Bernhard break the old record, set by Stefan Bellof 35 years ago, by almost a full minute.
(Bellof had also set the record in a Porsche race car, though on a slightly shorter version of the circuit, and during compe

Tesla has invited all Model 3 reservation holders in the U.S. and Canada to confirm their orders.
That’s welcome news for customers, many of whom placed US$1,000 deposits to reserve the electric sedan in the spring of 2016—and have been fretting about which color to choose ever since.
It’s even more welcome for Tesla’s balance sheet. When a customer confirms their order, they pay another US$2,500 before the company begins building their car.
Say, for example, 100,000 peop

Though I have sometimes decried the use of today’s ever-increasing crop of crossovers as little more than suburban mall assault vehicles, I now realize they also serve a higher purpose, one that has nothing to do with off-road adventure-seeking that is the heart of the various automakers’ marketing and advertising departments. No, the true focus of these all-wheel-drive vehicles is to triumph over the mean streets — the chewed up, potholed, patched, bumpy tarmac that is the con

As it turns out, Rafaela Vasquez, the “backup” driver of Uber’s self-driving Volvo XC90, was streaming Hulu just before striking and killing Elaine Herzberg as she was walking across Mill Avenue in Tempe, Arizona. Now, never mind that, according to the Tempe Police report, Vasquez has been streaming video for some 42 minutes prior to the crash or that the show she decided was worth somebody’s life was The Voice (you know how very important it is to catch the future #83, i

If you’re a fan of the cars turned out by General Motors – the company’s Chevrolets, Pontiacs, Buicks, Oldsmobiles and Pontiacs – the GM Nationals held annually in Carlisle, Pennsylvania is a place you want to be.
Intermittent rain put a damper on the 2018 event, but hundreds of models from each brand still rolled onto the show field angling to nab top prize in their class.
This year highlighted 100 years of Chevrolet trucks; 60 years of the Chevrolet Impala; and 50 years

If you’re a fan of the cars turned out by General Motors – the company’s Chevrolets, Pontiacs, Buicks, Oldsmobiles and Pontiacs – the GM Nationals held annually in Carlisle, Pennsylvania is a place you want to be.
Intermittent rain put a damper on the 2018 event, but hundreds of models from each brand still rolled onto the show field angling to nab top prize in their class.
This year highlighted 100 years of Chevrolet trucks; 60 years of the Chevrolet Impala; and 50 years

If you see an old yellow Cadillac filled with people waving Canadian flags, it will be the Jarin family from Maple Ridge celebrating Canada Day in their special way.
At the wheel will be Jonathan Jarin who is celebrating the realization of two dreams: bringing his wife and three daughters from the Philippines to Canada for a successful life and the acquisition of his long-sought 1953 Cadillac Coupe de Ville. That dream started long ago in Jarin’s native Philippines where all vehicles impor

Honda’s entering the summer with refreshes of its popular Pilot and HR-V SUVs, which see a facelift and new trims and tech, respectively.
The 2019 Honda Pilot’s update is apparent from a glance, with more aggressive exterior styling complementing practical changes like a new hands-free tailgate and a refined version of its nine-speed automatic transmission.
Inside the eight-passenger SUV gets 4G LTE, Apple Carplay and Android Auto integration, and a new touchscreen system with a long

CHELSEA, MI — Somebody call Sergio Marchionne. Somebody needs to urgently let the CEO of FCA know the people in charge of Dodge have gotten hold of the keys to the high-performance lockers and are running completely wild. How else to explain the newest Challenger, the 2019 SRT Hellcat Redye with an eye-popping 797 horsepower?
That is no typo. At 797 horsepower, the 2019 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Redeye becomes the most powerful mass produced V8 in the world now that the 840-horsepower a

A Finnish rock festival has launched the world’s first taxi that runs on singing—as long as you keep belting out tunes, your shuttle keeps moving.
The Turku, Finland-based Ruisrock festival’s brightly coloured “Singalong Shuttle,” a BMW i3 compact, isn’t actually powered by singing, of course.
It’s an electric vehicle that will take singing as its only form of acceptable payment. The driver will turn down your credit card or cash, but asks you to carry a

WINDSOR, Ont. — Listen. Hear that? It is the sound of silence hindered by just a whiff of wind tumbling over the big mirrors in our Canadian-exclusive 2019 Ram 1500 Sport. Traveling at 100 km/h, even without the benefit of noise-reducing wheel-well liners, the new truck is quieter than a barn full of hay. The smoothness that compliments all this quiet almost makes the truck feel like an EV. Or a tall Bentley.
Aside from the silence, the 2019 Ram 1500 gets a long parade of advancements over

Dodge is shuffling the Charger lineup around a little for 2019, with perhaps the most exciting news being the fact the Hellcat trim will now borrow some pieces from the SRT Challenger Demon.
The Charger Hellcat’s 6.2-litre V8 still makes 707 horsepower, but like the Demon it will now come equipped with launch assist and line-lock, plus an After-Run Chiller (to cool the supercharger after the car’s shut down) and torque reserve (to pre-load the supercharger for more torque when launch

McLaren pulled the covers off of its 600LT late June, a new limited-production version of its entry-level supercar with more horsepower, less weight but, contrary to its name, no long tail.
Yes, the carbon-fibre bodywork on the car does see it gain close to three inches in length over its Sports Series siblings.
But outside of an extended rear diffuser and fixed wing, this LT – the fourth-ever McLaren to wear the “Longtail” name – has a rear end that looks a lot like a 57

Not that long ago if you wanted to get into the fifth wheel/gooseneck travel-trailer game, the price of admission was a three-quarter ton truck at a minimum. And depending on your taste for not roughing it in the woods, you might have had to step up to a full one-ton unit with dual rear wheels; a real ouch on the wallet. Now with lightning speed advancements in both truck and trailer technology, it’s possible to have a castle on wheels capable of being towed by a half-ton truck with plenty

Graeme Fletcher combines manufacturers’ incentives from Unhaggle.com with resale value, dependability and overall ratings to find you the best deal for your money in new cars. This week, we look at full-sized, four-wheel-drive pickups. The hot deals are on the 2018 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 LTZ Z71 Crew Cab, Ford F-150 Lariat SuperCrew and Nissan Titan Pro-4X Crew Cab.
Chevrolet Silverado 1500 LTZ Z71
Chevrolet Silverado 1500 LTZ Z71.Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price: $57,575Chevrolet Can