Articles by Paul Gover

For the second straight year, the German carmaker has topped the best of the best to claim the Carsguide Car of the Year award.  This time it's the baby Polo that has done the job, trumping the top 10 contenders and finishing ahead of the Kia Sportage and Skoda Superb wagon. In the end the Polo scored a convincing win, not because of its $16,690 starting price but because of its impressive safety, quality, comfort and driving enjoyment.  Look no further - the Golf's little brother is the worlds best small car," says Paul Pottinger, one of the Carsguide COTY judges.  The battle for the 2010 COTY prize began with a cull of more than 100 new arrivals in Australia through the year since the Golf claimed its COTY trophy. The eventual contenders cover every class and price category, from the baby Hyundai i20 through the luxury BMW 5 Series and the E-Class from Mercedes-Benz. The only homegrown finalist is also the only hybrid - the Toyota Camry hybrid.  The Carsguide COTY contest is a national award which draws its judges from News Limited papers and websites from coast-to-coast, with former rally star - and current economy champion - Ed Ordynski also joining the panel for 2010. The judges are led by managing editor Ged Bulmer, who is joined by Carsguide chief reporter Paul Gover, Karla Pincott of Carsguide.com.au, Neil Dowling of the Sunday Times in Perth, Stuart Martin of The Advertiser in Adelaide, Craig Duff of the Herald Sun in Melbourne, Paul Pottinger of the Daily Telegraph in Sydney, Peter Barnwell of news suburbans and Mark Hinchliffe of the Courier Mail, Brisbane. Together they put the 10 finalists through two gruelling days of tests, from track laps to back-seat measurements, but concentrating on real-world driving in all conditions from stop-start city traffic to deserted gravel roads. More on Carsguide Car of the Year 2010  

The sub-Cayenne family wagon is well into development and is likely to be followed by a smaller Porsche sports car to bring more new buyers to the brand. Confirmation on the Cajun - currently short for Cayenne Junior, although the name already fits Porsche's showroom naming policy - comes right from the top. "It's a real Porsche. You can believe me. We can bet about that" Matthius Muller tells Carsguide. But he refuses to confirm a production start-up or an onsale date. "I have talked about the Project Cajun. We are analsysing the package of the car and the technical solution. Also the design is very well. So I think we can decide the project at the beginning of next year." The size of the Cajun is likely to be similar to the Audi Q5 and Muller admits that Porsche could dip into the Volkswagen Group parts bin to help with development. "The opportunity we have for the future is to step into the modular system, to take some parts or other solutions. I think it's a big opportunity for us." He admits there is also an opportunity for a sub-Cayman sports car to bring younger buyers, but refuses any commitment. "That could also be a solution. We have to analyse the market and we have to talk to our customers, (ask) whether they have an interest in a smaller sports car. "I think if it could be successful we have some technical solution to do that." Volkswagen is also considering a compact convertible, slightly bigger in size than a Mazda MX-5, along the lines of the Bluesport Roadster concept it starred at the Detroit Motor Show in 2009. Muller will not confirm any link but European sources believe Porsche and Volkswagen are working on a joint project. Regardless of the SUV and roadster plans, Muller says the worldwide recovery from the Global Financial Crisis is giving Porsche a fresh opportunity for growth. The company intends to double it sales to more than 150,000 vehicles a year by 2014. "The markets are strong. We are looking forward that the markets will increase," Muller says. "We in Porsche have very convincing solutions for sports cars, and I think it is the right timing to analyse the product strategy of Porsche and to create a new cycle plan for the products for the next decade."

The show is upbeat and impressive, with a huge range of preview cars and newcomers. The stands have everything from a new price fighter at Hyundai to a wide range of plug-in electric cars, a couple of serious exotics and even Sharon Stone as the superstar guest at Lotus. It's a massive contrast to 2008, when opening day in LA coincided with the first serious bankruptcy moves involving the Big Three in Washington. On that day, Chrysler could not even afford to turn the lights on at its stand and the whole show looked like a ghost town.   There was doom and gloom with capitals all around. At the time, few people could see any sort of future for the American carmakers, even if Ford has already done a very smart re-structure and was free of debut. General Motors and Chrysler were expected to collapse. This time, the opening in LA coincides with a successful share float for New GM and Chrysler is pumped by new products and a partnership with Fiat that finally promises the sort of cars and trucks that people want in the USA. Sales are up across the board from the disastrous rout in 2009, which cost GM its number one slot to Toyota and made China the world's biggest new-car showroom. There is still plenty of concern about the future in the USA, but it's not just among and about car brands.The overall economy is very weak, although at least people are buying cars again and have recognised that something needs to be done. Even the cars from Detroit have changed. GM still has the sexy new Chevrolet Camaro convertible on its stand in LA but the real feature is the Volt, the world's first workable range-extender hybrid. It has just won Car of the Year honours from the highly-rated Motor Trend magazine and people are queuing to buy one. Some people are saying LA in 2010 is the start of the serious electrification of the automobile. Nissan and Mitsubishi are pushing their plug-ins, there is a car called the Coda that marries California and China for battery power, and the number of hybrids - from Porsche and Benz at the top end to a future Hyundai at the bottom - is serious and impressive. But it's never over. Right now there are just over six weeks to the first major motor show of 2011, in Motown. The Detroit Motor Show is already shaping as the biggest and best for a decade, which is why Carsguide will be there.

STEVE Owen is set for his second Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series crown in Sydney in two weeks after victory at Sandown at the weekend. Owen won his sixth race of the season on Saturday and finished fifth in the reverse-grid race on Sunday to take the round. He now has a 218-point lead over David Russell with 300 points on offer in Sydney but will drive conservatively in the final round. "We were in this situation in '08 Fujitsu Series where we had a really big points lead and had mechanical problems in Race 1 of the final round," he says. "We'll be a little bit conservative, I'd imagine, in the first race of Sydney and have a bit of a go in the last race on Sunday and try to wrap up the round. The last thing we'll want to do is wind up with a DNF, which could cost you the championship, which is our number one priority." Owen partnered Jamie Whincup in the endurance rounds, with a win in the Gold Coast 600. THE V8 Supercar driver's championship is yet to be resolved, but TeamVodafone has wrapped up the team championship with one round to go at Homebush in Sydney in two weeks. The team of drivers Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup has scored 5446 points ahead of Jim Beam Racing with 4708 and Ford Performance Racing on 4159. ON the same weekend he was named fourth greatest Australian touring car driver, Jim Richards stamped his racing authority with a round win in the Touring Car Masters at Sandown. He also reclaimed the championship lead in his Falcon Sprint with his second pole position of the season and a first and second place in the three races. The second race was red flagged and declared a non-race. John Bowe won the first race and failed to finish the third race with a broken accelerator cable, dropping him to third place in the title behind Gavin Bullas. Leanne Tander sidelined her Falcon with engine failure in qualifying, ending her weekend and dropping her from fourth to fifth in the standings. The championship will go down to the wire at Homebush in two weeks with Richards only 20 points in front of Bullas and Bowe another 54 behind. MARCOS Ambrose is still confident of starting the 2011 NASCAR season in Daytona in February despite financial troubles with his new Richard Petty Motorsports team. "I'm hungrier than ever to succeed with my new team," the Australian says. He finished his fifth year in the championship in 26th place after another 26th in the final round in Miami at the weekend. In a thrilling finish for the season, Jimmie Johnson came from behind to finish second to Carl Edwards and wrap up a record fifth straight NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title. PORSCHE Carrera Cup returns next year with the first race at the Australian Grand Prix in March. Porsche Cars Australia boss Michael Winkler says they have "substantial interest from a number of teams and the full support of the Porsche factory". Others who have signed up for next season are Mark Cini and 2008 Porsche Carrera Cup Australia champion Craig Baird. The 2011 racing calendar is yet to be confirmed. ALMOST 30 drivers have declared they will compete in the return of production car endurance racing next year. The new Australian Endurance Championship will run under AASA regulations and will include cars not previously eligible under CAMS rules. Each race is a day-night six-hour enduro, starting at Calder in April. Other rounds will be held at Winton in June, Ipswich in August and Wakefield in October. AMERICAN rider Josh Hansen won both motos in the fifth round five of the Australasian Super X on a wet and slippery Dunedin track in New Zealand at the weekend. The Kawasaki open rider scored both holeshots and stayed clean out the front of the pack. He leads the championship with two rounds to go ahead of Jay Marmont (Yamaha) and Jake Moss (Suzuki). Moss's brother, Matt (Suzuki), was the overall winner in the lites category and leads the series. The penultimate round will be held at Parramatta Stadium on Saturday, 27 November 2010. DAVID Wall has scored back-to-back Australian GT Championships, even though his Porsche Cup S, came in underweight at the end of race one at Sandown at the weekend. That put him at the rear of grid for Sunday's race. Both races at the weekend were won by veteran Queensland campaigner Tony Quinn who also set the fastest lap of the second race in his Mosler. CHAZ Mostert has completed a record-breaking Australian Formula Ford Championship season with a triple win in the final round at Sandown at the weekend. The Brisbane driver has beaten Steven Richards's 1994 tally of 13 race wins in a season and sits equal fourth of all-time race winners in the 41 year history of national competition. Mostert, who wrapped up the championship at the previous round in Tasmania, is tied on 15 wins with Ash Walsh, who'll join him at Miles Racing in the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series next season. B8 SUPERCAR driver Jason Richards has undergone successful surgery to remove a tumour from his abdomen and is now recovering in a private Melbourne hospital. Tests are being carried out to establish what type of tumour it is; results are not expected until next week. Richards has pulled out of the last two rounds of the season with his Brad Jones Racing seat taken by Andrew Jones. SYDNEY teenager Pierce Lehane, crowned CIK Stars of Karting Series Champion earlier this year, recorded the best finish by an Australian junior driver in the 10-year history of the Rotax Max World Challenge Final in Italy at the weekend. The 14 year-old finished third in the event which attracted 250 drivers from 55 countries in identical Rotax-powered 125cc karts. Fellow Aussies Jonathon Venter and James Macken, finished 21st and 23rd. For the first time Australia had two representatives in the main event with Victorian Matthew Wall and Queenslander Kel Treseder lining up against world karting champions and IndyCar driver Raphael Matos. Treseder finished 14th and Wall 20th.

A blue-light special of a very different kind will dominate Porsche sales in Australia in 2011. The new item in aisle 911 is a tweaked and tizzied Carrera GTS model that does two jobs, firstly farewelling the current-generation 997- series 911 and then also pointing the sort of value and standard equipment that will come in the next all-new 911 in 2012.The newcomer is priced from $270,100, a lot of money for most new-car buyers in Australia but a relative bargain for Porsche and against its rivals.The upgrade pack for the GTS starts with more power and bigger wheels, runs to the wider body from the Carrera 4, and includes a classy alcantara leather interior. European cars lose the back seats to save weight, and can be ordered with an optional 90-litre tank, but Australian buyers are expected to specify four spots in the cabin and the tank does not fit for right-hand drive."The GTS is a stand-alone model. It fills the gap between the Carrera S and GT3 and is for people who like the standard comfort features but crave GT3 performance. So it's a step up from the S," says Michael Winkler, managing director of Porsche Cars Australia."There is nothing cynical about it. It's stuff we've wanted to do for a while. The minute you launch one car the engineers are a fair way down the path on the successor."VALUEThe GTS starts from $270,100 as a coupe and $288,700 as a cabriolet and will land in January. There is obvious mechanical stuff to justify the hike over a regular Carrera S, and some minor cosmetic tweaking including badges and trimming, but Porsche says the price increase is far less than it would cost to upgrade an S."If you took a normal S and added all the features you'd end up at a price that's slightly higher than the cost of the equipment. But you're not just getting that, you're also getting all the improvements to the body and engine," says Winkler."The standard S costs about $245,000, so the GTS is about $25,000 extra. But it's between $35,000 and $40,000 better value. The importance of the 911 is obvious. It will fundamentally consolidate the performance of the 911 segment. We've basically managed to come out of the global financial crisis unscathed. We're now in a lifecyle situation where the 911 is close to the end, and this model will keep it fresh," says Winkler.TECHNOLOGYThe obvious change to the GTS is the tweaking of its 3.8-litre flat six to take power to 300kW. It's done with a new variable intake system using that moves the peak from 6500 in the S to 7300 revs, as well as boosting torque by six per cent in a fatter spread from just over 1500 revs.Porsche says the benefits of the engine work mean more power in the medium speed ranges and less gearchanges.The 0-100km/h time is trimmed slightly to 4.6 seconds - or 4.2 with PDK and Sport Chrono package - and fuel economy is not affected. The suspension picks up wider front and rear tracks with the Carrera 4 body and the tyre package is upgraded to 235x35 at the front and 305x30 at the rear, running on unique 19-inch alloy wheels. And there is a switchable sports exhaust.DESIGNThe look of the GTS is very much Carrera 4, thanks to the wider guards. The black-laquer alloys also give it a bit more impact in traffic. The nose is a little more striking with big air intakes and a black- painted spoiler.Inside, the Alcantara gives a slightly more upmarket look and feel, but it's not a giant change.The badges - the GTS has only been used in the past for a sixties racer, a 928 and a Cayenne - help it stand out just a little, but mostly only to other 911 buyers."I think the the GTS name goes back as the 904 in the sixties. GTS is reserved for the high-end naturally aspirated performance version of any range, save for the track-oriented cars like the GT3," says Winkler.SAFETYThere is nothing to report, although the wider wheels and grippier tyres probably improve braking performance slightly.DRIVINGThe GTS is a 911 with a little more. There are worthwhile improvements and it feels a bit chunkier and more responsive at the wheel. I arrived late at the world preview of the GTS and missed the really good driving roads in the hills around Palm Springs, but still had time for a thrash and a dip into the car's improvements.It definitely looks more aggressive than a Carrera 2 but the best look will be reserved for the showroom sticker. The steering feels a touch sharper with the wider track and upgraded wheel-tyre package, and the bi-modal sports exhaust - which you can switch to loud any time - is a fun tweak that also makes the car sound just that bit more special.The cabin, too, is a step up from the 2 without costing a fortune for the normal Porsche options.So the GTS is better, and worthwhile, but not a giant leap forward. We'll have to wait until much later in 2011 to see what Porsche is doing on the all-new 911, and until 2012 before it hits the road in Australia.VERDICTA big value boost will win 911 buyers.

"Yes, you will see it there. We cannot wait," HS Lee tells Carsguide.The Veloster is a funky two-door coupe that first appeared as a concept at the Seoul Motor Show in 2007. Since then it has been semi-revealed at a press event in the USA and test cars have been caught  many times by Carparazzi.Lee confirms the basic details of the Veloster but not the critical price or powerplant. But Hyundai USA says it will have fuel economy better than 6.0 litres/100km as it moves to improve its fleet average to 4.7 litres/100km by 2025.The Veloster is expected to be revealed in Detroit alongside a re-styled Accent and several new i45 models - the car is still called Sonata in the USA - including a hybrid and a turbo.

Company chief Matthias Muller tells Carsguide there is not enough return on the spending for a grand prix program.  "Look at Abu Dhabi. Sebastian Vettel wins, Red Bull wins. We need Porsche to win," Muller says. There have been persistent rumours in the Formula One paddock for the past six months about a Porsche comeback as an engine supplier.  The company won with McLaren in the 1980s, with a V6 turbo it designed for badging as a TAG V6, in the time when Niki Lauda and Alain Prost fronted the team.But it also made a disastrous comeback attempt in the 1990s with the under-funded Footwork team, using a 3.5-litre V12 engine that was  overweight and underpowered.Porsche has been much more successful at Le Mans, where its sports cars are the most successful of all time with a win record stretching back to the 917 in the 1970s."But there is Audi," says Muller.  So Porsche is looking at its motorsport choices, but it yet to make a final decision."The only thing is that Porsche is very successful in motorsports... and, of course, we would be able to step into the top level of motorsport, but that is not just Formula One."

GARTH and Leanne Tander's TanderSport operation will make its debut in the final round of the Formula Ford Championship this weekend at the V8 Supercar round at Sandown. Tander has recruited West Australian Pete Major to drive the car and signed him for 2011. He will drive a new Stealth S311D chassis, designed and built by Brett Lupton's Fastlane Racing.Major's last national event was the Targa West where he won ahead of Jim Richards. Tanders said their company wanted to develop young talent. "And there is no better category than Formula Ford to achieve that," he said.SEBASTIEN Loeb capped off a dominant World Rally Championship season with yet another win in his Citroen in the final round in Wales at the weekend. Loeb beat Jari-Matti Latv's Ford Focus by more than 100 points for the drivers' title and the Citroen C4 WRC finished its career with its 36th win in 56 events to win the manufactures' title also with a 100-point margin. Loeb won points in every round, averaging 21 points per event, to claim his seventh WRC title in a row and his 62nd round victory in Wales. "This is the perfect way to end the season," he said.AUSTRALIAN Marcos Ambrose battled bad handling in his Camry to finish 22nd in the penultimate NASCAR Sprint Cup round in Phoenix at the weekend. He started in 13th and had run as high as ninth but the car's handling degraded toward the end of the race pushing him back in the field before regaining positions as several cars ran out of fuel. The race was won by Carl Edwards, taking a sweep of the Phoenix NASCAR Nationwide and Sprint Cup races for the weekend. Sprint Cup Series leader Denny Hamlin (Toyota) ran low on fuel, finished 12th and now leads by just 17 points from Jimmie Johnson (Chevrolet) with the final round in Miami this weekend.HEAVY rain brought the Rally Victoria to a premature halt at the weekend. The final round of the Australian Rally Championship was won by Glen and Matt Raymond in a Mitsubishi Lancer, 40 seconds in front of Justin Dowel and Matt Lee (Lancer) who were 30 seconds ahead of Mark Pedder and Lee Tierney (Lancer). The last five forest stages were cancelled to prevent road damage in the wet conditions. The ARC was won by four-time champions Simon and Sue Evans (Suabru) and the manufacturer title by Mitsubishi.AMERICAN riders continue to dominate the Super X championship with Josh Hansen winning three of four races in the fourth round at North Harbour Stadium in Auckland at the weekend. The only Australian to win a round so far has been Chad Reed in the first event in Newcastle before he flew overseas to sort out his 2011 American ride. Hansen leads the series with his first win and three runner-up finishes. Australian Jay Marmont (Yamaha) won the final moto and came second for the round ahead of Jake Moss (Suzuki). The series heads to Dunedin for the fifth round this Saturday. (NOVEMBER 20) ITEM SOUTH Australian driver Scott Pye will again compete in the New Zealand Toyota Racing Series he competed in last year. The five-round series runs from January to March, after which Pye expects to return to the UK to compete in the British F3 Championship having won last year's British Formula Ford title.AN endurance component has been added to the five-round Australian Manufacturers Championship next year. The Production Car Australian Endurance Championship will comprise a six-hour race at Phillip Island on May 28-29 and eight hours at Eastern Creek Raceway, Sydney, on December 10-11. The endurance title will have a separate champion, while dovetailing into the manufacturer championship. The Australian Endurance Championship will make up more than 70 per cent of the total distance of the Production Car Championship. Organisers expect 25 Gp3E production cars in the endurance field.BRISBANE teenager Chaz Mostert clinched the Australian Formula Ford Championship in the seventh and penultimate round of the series at Symmons Plains at the weekend. Fellow Queenslander Geoff Uhrhane finished second despite winning the round in tricky wet conditions. The final round of the series will be held this weekend at Sandown. Mostert will move to the V8 Supercars development series next year.THE 24th annual World Series Sprintcars Championship starting in Brisbane on Saturday (NOV20) has been thrown open with the withdrawal of defending champion Brooke Tatnell. The eighth-time titleholder is unavailable for the first four rounds because of family commitments in the US. His seat in the Krikke Motorsport car will be taken by World Of Outlaws regular Jason Sides from Tennessee. Top title contenders include seven-time champion Max Dumesny, American Darren Pittman who won in 2002/03 and five-time runner-up Robbie Farr of NSW.PERTH rider Bryan Staring weathered appalling conditions at Symmons Plains at the weekend to become the first to win three national motorcycle road race titles in different categories. Staring only had to finish the last race of the Australian Superbike season to claim the historic triple crown. He braved a breath-taking moment in lapped traffic on a slippery wet Tasmanian track to finish eighth. The final race was won by fellow Honda rider Wayne Maxwell who needed Staring to fail to finish to claim the title. Staring won the 125cc title in 2004 and Supersports title in 2009.A CRUSTY Demon hopes to drive a V8 Supercar in next year's Gold Coast 600. American freestyle motocross rider Brian Deegan says he would like to compete in the race as one of the invited international drivers. Deegan is no slouch on four wheels having won the American off-road truck series in his debut season last year and hoping to back it up this year before moving on to V8 trucks next year and possibly NASCAR. "I've been on four wheels more than two lately," he said. While in Australia for a Crusty Demons tour, Deegan said he talked with teams about lining up a test in a V8 Supercar.THE American IndyCar series will add a manufacturer competition in 2012 with Chevrolet returning to the series. Chev will introduce a new twin-turbocharged, direct-injected V6 racing engine running on E85 fuel. Chevrolet last competed in Indy car racing as an engine manufacturer in 1986-93 and 2002-05 with V8 engines, winning 104 races, powering six driver champions and scoring seven Indianapolis 500 victories. They join Honda who will build a new V-6 engine. Next year's rules limit manufacturers to six cylinders and 2.4-litre displacement, but they will be turbo charged produc ing up to 522kW of power.BRISBANE driver Andrew Hagen will race a full season in the American Must See Racing Extreme Sprint Series next year. (MSRXSS). The 24-year-old will race a Wilshe Motorsports sprint car in the 10-round short-track speedway series. "I was fortunate enough to race in the last two winged sprint car events of 2010 and I was hooked straight away," he said. "The cars are phenomenal."

The retired racer and tyre tycoon has led a very colourful life and his most-recent family feud has been dragged through the courts and splashed over every area of the media.  Now we're going to see the full inside story, complete with a set of family interviews with all the major players, thanks to a new program on ABC television. It's called Family Confidential and the Bob Jane episode, called The Janes, airs next Monday night (November 22) at 8pm.  It promises plenty of early background on Bob Jane, who dragged himself out of the Depression and the mean streets of Brunswick to become a champion bicycle racer, touring car king, car dealer and then tyre tyro. But the real meat is the recent stuff, including his latest marriage - to a woman who was 40 years younger - and its disastrous disintegration through a series of nasty court appearances.  The show promises to be more like a train wreck than a snuggly family story like The Waltons, but should be compelling stuff. The ABC is already touting some of the headlines from the show, such as Bob's own words.  "Shit happens, as they say. I suppose without being pathetic, I am a victim of it," he says. Then there is ex-wife Geraldine, who says "He loved us all, but he gave very little of himself."  For someone who knows Bob Jane, and has followed his story for more than 30 years, the idea of a television show is no surprise. But there will be plenty of surprises in the show. It will be good to see and hear the truth, or their version of it, from the Jane family.  Even so, the program could raise just as many questions as it answers. Bob is now 80 and confesses he is "a bachelor again" but there is no sign of him running out of steam. He is still working hard, stirring the pot on the motorsport scene, and has big new plans for his Calder Park race base.  I have a sneaking suspicion that the The Janes will be one more chapter, and definitely not the final chapter for big Bob.

But Carparazzi ensures we don't need to wait until 2011 to see what the 2012-model A6 will look like.  It's easy to see that the next model is more angular and aggressive than the current A6, which has always struggled to make a major impact against the 5-Series BMW and Benz's E Class.A6 mules have been testing for around a year but the real cars are out now, with heavy camouflage during the day and boring black bodywork for after-dark work.  The frontal treatment is obviously new, with angular headlights cutting across the nose and a deeper front spoiler.New doorhandles and side mirrors are also obvious in the pictures of the prototypes.  But the biggest change to the twenty-twelve A6 is under the bodywork, where the `top hat' is fitted above an all-new Audi chassis package.Carparazzi says the current car is built up from the C-chassis used by the Volkswagen Group but the new car will used Audi's own MLB modular aluminium chassis.  The petrol engine range should include the supercharged 3.0-litre V6 and a new 4.0-litre V8 Audi is currently working on with turbodiesel choice as well.Two new transmissions will be fitted to the next A6 an eight-speed automatic and a seven-speed dual-clutch manumatic.  Production should begin in the first half of 2011 at Audi's factory at Neckarsulm in Germany, with a public preview likely at the Geneva Motor Show in March.