Tony Fernandes' Caterham F1 Team Unveils New Logo

You would have known by now that the Lotus vs Lotus naming row is over, and in 2012 Lotus Renault GP will race as ‘Lotus’ while Tony Fernandes’ Team Lotus has changed its name to Caterham F1 Team. The AirAsia boss and friends bought over British sportscar maker Caterham back in April.

Caterham F1 Team has unveiled its new logo for the 2012 F1 season, which uses a familiar green background with yellow accents. Tony Fernandes explains that the name change makes perfect sense for him.

“With Team Lotus, I would have battled to the end if I felt it was the right thing to do, but when you take a dispassionate look at where we were it made absolute sense to start with a clean sheet, and Caterham has given us that chance,” he told the team’s magazine.

“It’s the best possible solution for where we want to go – partly because it gives us complete control over everything we do and, obviously, because there’s simply no point racing to promote a road car company I don’t own. The road car business has always been a sector I’ve wanted to explore and so here we are.

“But I can’t stress enough; this is a serious business venture for us. If I just needed a new name, I could have called it anything, but the synergy with Caterham works better – and it’s what I do – take a small business with the correct core values and purpose and expand it and grow it into the global marketplace.”

Subaru BRZ GT300 Race Car - Tokyo Motor Show 2011

Subaru BRZ coming to Malaysia next year!

We’re in Bangkok now for the year ending Thailand International Motor Expo, and yours truly picked up a pleasant surprise. No, the show girls did not offer to follow me home, but Motor Image is set to bring the just launched Subaru BRZ to Malaysia! Unveiled at the ongoing Tokyo Motor Show, the BRZ is Subaru’s version of the Toyota GT 86, which it helped develop.

The BRZ is mechanically similar to the new hachi-roku but sports minor styling differences. It is powered by a 2.0-litre naturally aspirated four-cylinder boxer engine with 200 hp and 205 Nm of torque, with drive going exclusively to the rear wheels. A six-speed manual is the natural choice of gearbox, but there’s an auto box for those who can’t DIY.

Estimated date of arrival? According to Gleen Tan, Executive Director of Tan Chong International and head of Motor Image, they will be trying hard for the second or third quarter of 2012, with a possible launch time that coincides with the Super GT race (the BRZ will be competing next season in the GT300 category). Trying hard because worldwide demand for the BRZ is expected to be great and there are many higher priority markets to satisfy.

Bugatti Veyron vs Nissan GT-R (Including deleted scenes)

800ps MINE'S R35 GT-R

Supercar crash in Japan has created an estimated £2m of scrap metal

HKS R35 GT-R

HKS and Taniguchi have for years been a winning combination, setting records wherever they go. Time attack has always helped push the tuning envelope further, as extreme parts and modifications eventually trickle down and are able to be used on street applications. This is what will eventually happen with the R35 GT-R. HKS definitely have something up their sleeves as we all saw at the recent R's Meeting event

Once Taniguchi pitted after his second track session I went to take a closer look at the R35. The temperatures on the screen showed that a good thrashing was given but they weren't as high as I've seen on these new GT-Rs so I'm guessing that whatever cooling upgrades they have carried out, are working efficiently. 

Then came the big surprise as I glanced at the HKS lap timer. While most tuners were out for nothing more than a few demonstration laps, HKS was out to break records! On the second outing Taniguchi managed a best lap of 1'45"82, the fastest an R35 has ever gone around Fuji. The top speed, 300 km/h (186 mph)!

That puts the R35 in hot pursuit of established older GT-Rs like the Autech Tsukada ATTKD BNR34 and Auto Gallery Yokohama BNR32 which both lap in the 1-minute 43-seconds (on street-legal, semi-slick tires)

HKS, up until late last year, were using the stock radial tires on the R35, managing a best of 1'48"94 before switching to slicks. Their first attempt on the sticky race tires yielded a best of 1'47"126 with Orido behind the wheel. You can see the video of the lap here. Now with the new 20-inch Advan A-005, the time has dropped further.

The very loud titanium exhaust.

Behind the 20-inch Yokohama AVS Model F7s are serious Endless brakes, forged monobloc 6-pot calipers front...

...the laptop to be connected, making last minute ECU program alterations quick and easy.

The dry carbon wing has been bolted down directly to the trunk lid... 

...the aluminum stays allowing 9 different angles to be selected.

Taniguchi looking through his lap times on the HKS Circuit Attack Timer module.

The R35-specific EVC boost controller is fitted in front of the gear selector along with the HKS AFK A/F meter.

I would personally love to see what the HKS R35 would be able to do around Tsukuba, with and without the slick tires. The bar has obviously been raised, so it will be interesting to see how all other R35 tuning shops will respond.

R35-only time attack even at Tsukuba anyone?