Honda’s recently appointed CEO Takanobu Ito has stated that Formula 1 has become an unattractive option for the company and that a likely return in 2010 is not in the cards.

The Honda F1 racing team withdrew from the series due to poor season performances and a lack of financing and was bought out by Brawn F1. Since then, the team has been leading the charts with new management, and a new Mercedes engine under the hood.

Ito has stated that the 2009 season rules have put a lot of restrictions on innovation and expansion due to lots of standardization.

Also, considering that Honda’s focus now is on “going green”, maybe F1 may not be the right medium anymore to promote the vision of the company.

Via: Autosport | Image: Getty

Former Ferrari F1 team principal Jean Todt has confirmed that he will be running for the candidacy of FIA Presidency. This comes one day after the current president Max Mosley recommended that he be the successor to the position. Todt sent in his letter of candidacy to the board, now making him a competitor to Ari Vatanen.

He had this to say:

Read more

Yes folks, Carthusiast is now on Facebook. We made this page especially for you all who never close the Facebook tab in their browser, because now you can receive direct links to all our interesting news stories on the site via the fan page (and your homepage feed). We will keep the page updated with lots of discussions, videos and images, links to auto related stories from the site and much more.

Subscribing to the Carthusiast page allows you to have our post feeds display on your Facebook home page. There is no need to go anywhere, once you log in, our recent posts will be displayed among your other feed stories.

So head over and become fan at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Carthusiast/105503481524.

A Brazilian driver has been killed in a car accident at the VW test track in Ehra-Lessien, Germany. On Sunday evening (12th June), the 42-year old driver has lost control and skidded off the track because of the heavy downpour of rain. He did stop just short of the barrier, but his luck ran out when a second car driven by a 27-year old also skidded off and ran right into him.

As a result, he was pinned in his car and eventually died of his injuries. The other driver was taken to a nearby hospital in Wolfsburg.  Police have since filed an investigation to find out the full details of the crash.

Via: Manufacturing | Image: Google Maps

Car designer Iulian Bumbu has come up with a revolutionary design called the BMW S.X. Concept. He is a graduate of the Transportation Design Course at the Scuola Politecnica di Design (SPD) in Milan and has done other interesting designs such as the Lamborghini Insecta. At first when I saw these screens, I thought BMW had finally stopped designing those ugly cars (5 series GT, 7 series) and headed back to something that looked very decent. Too bad this is not the case.

Looking at it, the S.X. has a very aggressive and low look from the front end, with very sleek and slim lights at the back. It looks somewhat like what the future Z4 or 6 series could look like. There are more picture below, so enjoy.

Read more

Here is an interesting replica. Under the shell of this Ferrari 360 body was once a 1995 Toyota MR2. It features a very good shell, lambo-style doors, and a redone interior. However, under the engine is a 4 cylinder engine, so no nice Ferrari noise. Here is the description.

Read more

Turn10 has released 22 new screens from Forza 3, showing off the Luxury line of vehicles including the BMW M5, Audi Q7, Chrysler 300C, Range Rover Vogue and a few other top names. They certainly look great, but maybe they should have kept some of their factory sports rims (e.g. X5, Touareg rather than those custom rims?) Anyway, check them out below.

Read more

Audi Le Mans racer, Alan McNish believes that Audi needs to allow them to drive the new R15 more, because they need the chance to learn to car in an effort to possibly reclaim the title from the current champions, Peugeot. He says this after their few test runs were curtailed because of weather conditions, basically putting them at a serious disadvantage.

Read more

A Chinese truck drivers has been fined after police discovered him having a bath while driving a semi load of goods to another city. The cops initially saw water leaking from the driver’s cab and pulled him over in fear that something might have been wrong with the truck itself. However upon closer inspection, they saw a sprinkler system wrapped around the driver pouring water down his body, in what was his makeshift bath. They also saw his wife holding a piece of plastic over the dashboard to prevent the important gauges and switches from getting wet.

Apparently his air condition had broken down, so they devised a way to keep him cool. Innovative…maybe…but practical…well no. He was slapped with a fine and faced more trouble if they found him doing it again.

Via: Ananova | Image: DPA

Here are some comedic pictures for VW and Audi owners to enjoy. Everyone (well almost everyone) knows that VW AG owns Audi AG, so a lot of the parts in both vehicles are the same. With this in mind, there are the few who always bicker about which is better. The VW owners tell Audi owners that their cars is a waste of money because it’s just a VW with a big brand name and then their are the Audi owners who say VW is the cheap version of their car. Anyway, check out the picture by clicking the Read More link. Thanks to Ray Mitchell for being bored enough to make these (but seriously, thanks).

Read more

If you were listening to last week’s episode of Top Gear, they mentioned the announcement of a new Lamborghini called the Gallardo LP550-2 Valentino Balbon. This special edition supercar was built in dedication to their recently retired test driver, Valentino Balbon. The 550bhp, rear wheel drive monster will feature a white stripe (with a tinge of black to the side) along the center of the car and will come in a few colors such as Bianco Monocerus, Verde Ithaca, Arancio Borealis and Nero Noctis. Above is the first spy shot of it being delivered to a Zürich dealership.

Via: Autogespot | Image: Mario @ Autogesport

Our fuel problem has been solved! Or has it? Ohio State University professor Gerardine Botte and her team have developed a nickel-based electrode that is able to oxidize urea [(NH2)2CO] that will help in assisting with the extraction of hydrogen atoms. Because the hydrogen atoms are less tightly packed than in a water molecule [H2O], extraction is much cheaper as well since it requires much less electricity per extraction cell.

Hydrogen is one of the most common elements in the world that can be used as fuel, but its current methods of extraction have limited its use. According to the university, it takes 1.23 volts to extract that hydrogen atom from the water molecule, while with pee, it only takes a tiny 0.037 volts, which is a big savings on power. Also, storing hydrogen in its pure form is costly because it requires tanks to keep it highly compressed under very cold conditions.

Read more