For the uninitiated among you, The Goodwood Festival of Speed (FoS) is an annual hill climb featuring historic motor racing vehicles, held in the grounds of Goodwood House, West Sussex, England, every June/July. Visitors can expect to see lots of cars and motorbikes from over 100 years of worldwide motor racing history as well as newer models take a shot at the hill run. An immensely popular event, 1,50,000 people regularly attend the FoS. Here are some of the newer cars which were seen at the 2013 FoS, which was held over the last weekend.

Peugeot RCZ R

The Buddh International Circuit (BIC) has started an ‘Arrive & Drive’ program in association with Volkswagen Motorsport India. As a part of the program, one can drive the older-spec Volkswagen Polo R Cup TDI race car, which was phased out last year.

Every Saturday from 9am – 6pm, customers can walk into the circuit and hire the 1.6-litre, 130bhp race car for anything from a three-lap taxi drive to a whole hour of self drive around the 5.14-km circuit.

The BIC launched track days late last April, where enthusiasts were permitted tho thrash their own cars around [...]

Audi’s highly regarded head of R&D, Wolfgang Dürheimer, has been fired by the German manufacturer, ahead of the revered 24 hour of Le Mans race this weekend. The story was broken by German magazine Der Spiegel and has been corroborated by several high-ranking Volkswagen Group sources.

Dürheimer had been appointed Audi’s R&D boss in September 2012 following a management shakeup within the Volkswagen Group in mid-2012. Prior to then, he had served as the head for Bentley, restructuring the brand and spearheading their effort to bring an SUV to the market. He has also held the same position at Bugatti, and was formerly the development chief at Porsche (where [...]

The Skoda Octavia vRS is back and its better than ever. The third generation of the Octavia vRS is the fastest production Octavia ever and it ticks all the right boxes with distinct styling and a range of fuel-efficient engines. It will be available both in sedan and station wagon ‘Combi’ bodystyles.

The 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine is the same as that used in the international Volkswagen Golf GTI, and puts out 217 bhp. It will allow the Octavia vRS to sprint for 0 to 100 kmph in 6.8 seconds and will hit 248 kmph flat out. Another option is the 2.0-litre TDI diesel unit from the [...]

Volkswagen has launched a performance variant of its popular Polo hatchback called the Polo GT TSI. However the steep price of Rs. 7.99 Lakh may turn customers away from what is an otherwise excellent small car.

At its heart is a potent 1.2-litre turbocharged, direct injected TSI engine which produces an impressive 103 bhp and 175 Nm of torque. The power is sent to the front wheels through a seven speed dual clutch automatic gearbox. However there are no paddle shifters behind the wheel and no manual transmission on offer. Volkswagen claims that the Polo GT TSI can go from 0-100 km/h in 9.7 seconds and on to a top speed [...]

The annual Vienna International Motor Symposium showcases some of the up-and-coming technologies in the automotive industry. This year, Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn revealed that Volkswagen is working on a 10-speed dual clutch automatic gearbox. It was also confirmed that a high-performance diesel engine was being developed which would produce a staggering 134 bhp per litre. The diesel engine will feature “variable valve-train assembly, a high-pressure injection system at up to 3,000 bar and combined charging with the innovative e-booster (an electric turbocharger)”.

Since the year 2000, we’ve reduced the [...]

We saw some pretty high-profile reveals along with an array of launches by Chinese manufacturers over the weekend in Shanghai. Here’s our pick of the best on display.

 MG CS Concept

One of the bigger stars of the Shanghai Motor Show was also one of the biggest surprises. MG unveiled its CS Concept SUV, adding to the competition in the compact SUV segment. However, the production model is at least 2 years away, and in all probability won’t look as flashy as the concept. Still, we like MG’s new direction, and can’t wait for more details about the CS to be [...]

We as Indians love hatchbacks. We love how they are practical and economical. We love how they can be easily manoeuvred out of any traffic jam and parked in the tightest of corners, doing all this while not emptying our bank accounts. Here are 5 hatchbacks we’d love to see on Indian roads (only if they were assembled here, of course).

1) Volkswagen Golf

The quintessential hatchback, the VW Golf is one of the all-time best selling cars, and has graced international ‘car of the year lists’ time and again. The newest iteration is [...]