Just mere hours ago, Honda have just announced that the company will make a return to Formula One starting from 2015 and guess who will be their partner when that moment take place? The answer is the team that Honda have shared some F1 history together: McLaren.

You read that right: McLaren Honda will be racing together once again. According to the press statement by Honda, the Japanese automotive giant will be change of development, manufacture and supply for the engine as well energy recovery system for the team. On another hand, McLaren will be responsible for the chassis together with the management aspect of  the new McLaren Honda team.

Since 2014 will mark the arrival of 1.6-litre turbocharged V6 engine due to new regulations instead of the existing 2.4-litre V8 engine, their timing to return to F1 once again couldn’t be better. It is even more interesting to see if McLaren Honda are able to repeat the glory of their previous outing back in 1988 to 1992.

[Source: Honda. Image: Wikipedia]

Today, the folks at Sony Computer Entertainment and Gran Turismo team are celebrating the 15^th anniversary of the famed racing game series for PlayStation consoles in Silverstone Racing Circuit. Among many agendas that they have include in the event’s schedule is an announcement by Gran Turismo’s producer Kazunori Yamauchi about the future of the series.

True enough, the producer has officially announced that the team is currently developing Gran Turismo 6 which has been scheduled for release during the holiday season later this year. It seems that the platform of choice for the game is still PlayStation 3, with no mention of PlayStation 4 or PlayStation Vita during the GT6 announcement by Yamauchi.

We’ll be discussing more about Gran Turismo 6 (based on the information that SCE provided to us) in a separate post soon. For the meantime, check out the trailer for the game below…and please wipe your computer/phone’s display after watching.

[Source: PlayStation Europe @ Twitter. Image: Toyota Europe @ Twitter]

If you have been following the Iron Man movie series since the first movie back in 2008, then you might have realized that Tony Stark (you know who he is, don’t you?) is very fond of Audi R8. As the third instalment of the hugely successful movie franchise has just been released in cinemas throughout the world, it is not a surprise that Audi has decided to take advantage of the occasion.

One of method that the company have used is by draping an Audi RS 5 DTM in Iron Man 3 livery at the recent DTM’s (German Touring Car Championship) season opener at Hockenheim. But Audi didn’t stop there though as they even had Alpinestars, Bell and Uvex came out with matching Iron Man themed gears for the driver (Adrien Tambay) and crew members.

We wonder if Alpinestars, Bell and Uvex have plans to offer those Iron Man gears for budding motorsports and Iron Man fans out there…well, ring us first then!

[Source: Alpinestars and Audi Sport]

One would usually associate the word “KTM” with the train service but for some, they would immediately recognize it as a motorcycle manufacturer hailing from Austria. Well-known for their dirt bikes as well as the hugely successful Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto3 team which include our own Zulfahmi Khairuddin as one of the their rider, KTM also has an assembly factory right here in Malaysia (specifically in Jitra, Kedah) that currently in charge of KTM Duke 200 and Duke 690 for the Asean market.

That being said, this particular bike is nothing that KTM is usually associated with. It is a scooter. An electric scooter, nevertheless.

Called E-Speed, it is actually KTM’s second full electric motorcycle after its electric dirt bike – the Freestyle E – which will be released to the public next year. Apparently, KTM is so pleased with the reaction that E-Speed has received at its unveiling in Tokyo Motorcycle Show last month to the extent the company has recently announced that they are working to put the scooter into production by 2015.

According to the official stats, the KTM E-Speed prototype is powered by an 11kW liquid-cooled permanent-magnet synchronous motor that produces 36Nm of maximum torque and able to gives the prototype a maximum speed of up to 85km/h. The 4.36kWh battery that is equipped into it is able to last for around 60km (40 miles) and takes around two hours to be fully charged via standard 220V power socket.

While full electric vehicles still have not reach mainstream status yet but with E-Speed’s fierce design and the reputation that KTM has, we think there might be a number of willing buyer here. Just that you might want to keep the scooter just for short journey unless KTM is able to equip higher capacity battery to the mass produced version of the bike.

[Source: KTM]

We’ve seen car manufacturers like BMW and Mercedes integrate Apple’s products into their vehicles, like Siri Eyes, but Apple and Volkswagen has taken things a step further by developing the iBeetle. Unveiled at the on-going Auto Shanghai 2013, the iBeetle features a newly developed iPhone dock for the iPhone 5 and comes with a new iPhone interface specially developed for the Beetle.

What makes this partnership unique is the Beetle app called Volkswagen Car Net The Beetle. When launched (either wirelessly or by docking it), the iPhone will turn into a mobile navigation system with a menu that lets users access specific features like Spotify, Expert, Trainer, Reader, Postcard, Photo, Post and Milestone. Users can use Spotify as a music streaming service, use Reader to read out messages pulled from social networks or SMS, and use Postcard or Photo to share current location and photos onto social networks.

The Expert mode allows users to use the iPhone as an extended dashboard to see information such as G-meter, oil and coolant temperature gauge for the engine, a chronometer, and a compass. Trainer mode will keep track of driving times, distance and fuel economy values for different routes between 2 destinations; users can also opt to share these information onto Twitter and Facebook.

Any rich Apple fans here willing to buy this vehicle built specially for the iPhone?

Visit Volkswagen for more information.

(Source: Mashable, Volkswagen)

This weekend, Forumla 1 moves to Shanghai! Will Infiniti Red Bull Racing be able to maintain their 1-2 winning ways for the Chinese Grand Prix? The great guys at Red Bull Europe have given us a race cap signed by Mark Webber himself to give out to 1 lucky (and slightly clairvoyant) F1 fan! All you need to do, is tell us where you think Seb and Mark will place in this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix! We will then choose at random from all the correct answers and send you the cap, perfectly in time for the next race!

Here’s what you need to do

1. Download The Red Bull Racing Spy App (iOS & Android)
2. Head On To Our Webform HERE (One entry per person!)
3. Cross your fingers and hope you are more clairvoyant than you think!
4. CLOSING DATE BEFORE THE RACE FLAGS OFF ON SUNDAY!

Good Luck!

Last weekend seems to be a rather busy period for motorsports as there are a number of major events happening throughout the scene including the first round of 2013 Autobacs Super GT at Okayama International Circuit in Japan. The event saw the victory of Takuya Izawa and Takashi Kogure with their No. 100 Raybrig Honda HSV-010 GT race machine in GT500 class as well as Katsuyuki Hiranaka and Bjorn Wirdheim in GT300 class through their No. 11 Gainer Dixcel Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3.

Meanwhile, the Super GT action will soon arrive in Malaysia as Sepang International Circuit (SIC) will be hosting the third round of the series on 15 and 16 June. It is going to be a special occasion once again as it is the only full-fledged round in Super GT calendar to be held outside of Japan. Of course, Super GT is not foreign to SIC and Malaysian motorsports fans in general as the circuit has been hosting the series since 2000 when it was still known as the All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship.

According to JPM Motorsport (the organizer of Super GT’s Malaysian leg), the tickets will be made available to fans very soon. So, keep a look at the event’s official channels such as www.supergt.com.my and www.facebook.com/supergt.my for further updates.

Aimed for the new generation of enduro customers, BMW Group Malaysia has recently announced the arrival of two new BMW Motorrad models – the BMW F 700 GS which now replaces the BMW F 650 GS, and the newly refreshed BMW F 800 GS. Being part of the long-running BMW GS series, both bikes are designed to cater the demands of daily riding as well as the rough environment of off-roading.

While both BMW F 700 GS and F 800 GS might share the same 798cc liquid-cooled 4-valve 2-cylinder engine together with electronic fuel injection, closed-loop catalytic converter and a 6-speed gearbox, the power output for each bike are actually different at 75hp and 85hp respectively. Other differences between both of them also include front wheel size, wheels’ design, suspension travel distance and weight. Both bikes comes standard with anti-lock brakes (ABS) though.

Both bikes are readily available at BMW Motorrad dealers near you with a price tag of RM 79,800 for BMW F 700 GS while the BMW F 800 GS is priced slightly higher at RM 89,800. To learn more, head on to www.bmw.com.my.