#Race

Volkswagen won’t be competing in the 2012 Dakar Rally, but the company will still provide support vehicles to event organizers.

Circuit of the Americas is halting of the Formula One circuit in Austin, Texas, effective immediately.

Maybe you can’t choose between the 23 different Porsche 911 variants currently listed on the German automakers website. Maybe none of them suit you perfectly. Well there is some good news, add a twenty-fourth variant to that list. Brumos Porsche of Jacksonville, Florida, confirmed today that five rare, factory-built 911 Carrera GTS B59 Edition Coupes will be produced. It’s a tribute model to Hurley Haywood, who the Daytona 24 Hours four times in the 1970s and once again in 1991 while driving for Porsche. Since only five examples will be produced, costing a whopping $133,540 a pop, buying one will be tricky.

In this 14 minute video, Audi takes the viewer through all that goes into competing and winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans race. The video takes an in depth look into the all-new sophisticated R18 TDI race car and all the people working for the Audi racing team. The video is very entertaining whether hearing from Audi’s top executives or the race car drivers themselves and features some great slow motion shots of the Audi race car going airborn and some terrific angles of Le Mans car crashes.

Check out the video after the jump!

Porsche has released a unique application called the Porsche 360° app for the iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch. This app allows for an up-close driving experience without actually sitting inside one of the sports cars.

The app allows users to ride shotgun, alongside Porsche driver Jeroen Bleekemolen for a lap around the Zandvoort circuit. While in the simulator, the user can choose any viewing angle by moving the Apple product into the according direction.

This app is currently only available in The Netherlands, but is also in the App store in co-operation with Porsche AG.

Check out the Porsche 360° video after the jump!

Mitsubishi is becoming much more aggressive regarding future EV sales in its home market of Japan. Currently Mitsubishi’s i-MiEV sells for 3.98 million yen which equals $49,200. Government subsidies bring the price down a million yen equalling $36,900. The i-MiEV’s chief rival, the  Nissan Leaf costs 3.76 million yen which equals $46,500 before subsidies and is the more popular choice compared to the Mitsubishi.

Subaru’s version of the Toyota FT-86 front-engine, rear-wheel drive sports coupe will finally debut at this December’s Tokyo Auto Show. Toyota will sell its version as a Scion in the U.S. As for the Subaru model, well, according to the latest reports, there won’t be a powerful, turbocharged STI version.

The Romanian racing company Dacia famous for winter racing has joined Renaultsport, and a number of independent firms to build the Dacia Duster. The “No Limit” race car driven by Jean-Phillipe Dayraut was built for the Unlimited class at Pikes Peak.

The Reagan Library located in Simi Valley, California, will debut an exhibition on May 27th called Start Your Engines: American Race Cars at the Reagan Library. This exhibit will feature race cars and other racing memorabilia. This exhibit will be featured at the Reagan Library, because of the former President’s interest in racing.

BMW put this video together regarding  a duel held between Nico Bastian in his E92 M3 and Rico Penzkofer on his 1000cc BMW RR motorcycle. The two friends bet one another that both were faster then each other around the track.  The race was set up with both drivers on opposite sides of the track to see “who would catch who first”.

See for yourself in the video after the jump. You won’t be surprised.

Still, this electric vehicle has achieved many milestones in its short life, and now it seems to have its sights set on a peak. Pikes Peak to be exact, which is undoubtedly the most famous hill climb event in North America, probably even the world.