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Showing posts with label rally. Show all posts

News: Ireland's Craig Breen takes rally top spot with Peugeot

Posted by Alex Bale Tuesday, January 22, 2013
 
Craig Breen, Super World Rally Championship winner 2012, will race in eight European Rally Championship (ERC) events this year and has landed the new Peugeot Sport Factory Rally Driver title. Craig's first rally event for 2013, competing in the colours of Peugeot Sport, will be at the Rally Liepaja-Ventspils, Latvia 1- 3 February.



Craig, Irish International Driver of the Year 2012, has long been loyal to Peugeot and is already very familiar with the 207 Super 2000, having driven it during many IRC events. The Rallye du Var, France, formed a fitting 2012 finale for Craig in his Peugeot 207 Super 2000, when the newly crowned SWRC Champion showcased all his capabilities and climbed from 6th to seize third podium position.

The performance rounded off a sensational 2012 season for Craig, who hails from Waterford,  and now his allegiance to Peugeot Sport continues.

Under his new Peugeot Sport partnership, Craig has been selected to take his place alongside two other young rally stars, Jérémi Ancian and Stéphane Lefebvre, at a new Peugeot Sport Rally Academy.

When not competing in the Peugeot 207 S2000, Craig will lead an intensive test programme for the new Peugeot 208 Type R5, destined for the ERC scene in late 2013.

On the announcement from Peugeot Sport, Craig Breen said, "This is incredible and beyond my dreams. I am really excited to work with a manufacturer like Peugeot Sport."

Craig has also contributed to the development of the Peugeot 208 R2, and he drove the "zero car" at the Ulster Rally in 2012. Peugeot Sport has confirmed 56 orders for the Peugeot 208 R2 across 14 countries, including one unit destined for Ireland later this month. Tipperary man, Andrew Slattery, will run the car in six events here in Ireland in 2013.


News: Renault & Caterham team up to revive Alpine

Posted by Alex Bale Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Renault is going ahead with its revival of the classic Alpine sports car brand, and it's bringing in sports car specialists (and burgeoning F1 team) Caterham to help it out.
The Alpines which came from the original factory in the French seaside town of Dieppe were rallying legends back in the seventies, especially the achingly pretty A110 (pictured, bottom) which won the Monte Carlo Rally. The Alpine team was also instrumental in Renault's 1978 Le Mans 24hrs win, even though by then, the process to turn independent Alpine into wholly-Renault-owned RenaultSport had already begun.

Alpine's days as a road car maker ended in the mid-nineties when the little-seen A610, a rival for the Porsche 911, went out of production and the brand has been dormant since, even though its Dieppe home-base has still been busy with RenaultSport projects, including the much-loved hot versions of the Clio and Megane.

Now though, the Alpine badge is going to be revived for a series of road cars, which Renault teased earlier this year with a concept, based on the Dezir sports car concept (above). And to help it get future Alpines designed and into production, Renault has brought Caterham on board.

Caterham is well known to motoring enthusiasts as the makers of the long-lived Caterham 7 sports car, a no-frills, back-to-basics two-seater that generally regarded as one of the best-to-drive, and fastest, cars around. The two companies, Renault and Caterham, already have a connection as Caterham's Formula One team uses Renault F1 engines. Caterham was bought last year by Malaysian businessman Tony Fernandes, who owns the Air Asia airline and who brought the Lotus name back into Formula One three years ago, only to buy up Caterham following a gruelling court battle that saw Lotus Cars take the name back off him. Now, Caterham doesn't just have its small sports car factory and its F1 team, it also has CTI, Caterham Technologies International, which is the bit that Renault is interested in – CTI's expertise in low-volume designs and carbon-fibre construction is just the ticket to get Alpine back on the road.

So what can we expect? Well, Alpine's traditions are based around mid-or-rear-engined sports cars, using relatively simple, low-powered (compared to some of the competition) Renault engines and majoring on light weight and agility. The hefty-looking concept version, which was based around the engine and chassis of a Megane race car, will likely not make it through to production.

“This innovative partnership with Caterham embodies a longstanding ambition: the creation of a sports car with the Alpine DNA. It carries both opportunities for the Dieppe plant and the development of its historic know-how" said Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Renault.

“I have not felt as excited about a new venture since I launched AirAsia in 2001 and I want to thank Carlos Ghosn and Carlos Tavares and everyone in our new Renault family for having the belief in Caterham Group to create this partnership" said Tony Fernandes. "Many people doubted us 11 years ago when we launched our airline and I am sure that there will be doubters again this time, but we will not fail your trust. We know the markets we are going into and, particularly in my playground in Asia, there is a huge opportunity to replicate the AirAsia model and give consumers access to exciting, affordable products that marry our interests in F1 and technology and help make their dreams come true.”





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