Articles by Paul Gover

By Sunday night he will either have joined Sir Jack Brabham and Alan Jones on the honour roll of Australia's Formula One world champions, or not... Either way, Webber is a champion. The way he has behaved through the 2010 season, in a team that is clearly backing Sebastian Vettel against him, has been amazing. There  have been no public tantrums, nothing unprofessional or nasty, just a down-the-line performance by a man who has worked hard for everything in his life. Alright, there was his line about "Not bad for a number two" after the finish of the British Grand Prix, but winners can afford to be grinners. Occasionally. Lots of people lost faith in Webber during his troubled time in Formula One. Some were never believers. Yet Webber has lifted to every challenge, from his first start in Albert Park with Minardi, through the tough times at Jaguar, then the awful realisation that Williams would not be able to giving him a winning car. When Webber joined Red Bull he had to prove himself against David Coulthard, a proven race winner. When he finally got the right car for the job, but he also got Vettel as his team mate. But enough of the future, because there is plenty to celebrate in Webber's past. I can clearly remember the night of the Australian Grand Prix ball when he went around and introduced himself to all the powerbrokers in F1, in an example of cold calling and successful selling that trumps anything by the Mormons. Then there was the time his Mercedes sports car backflipped at Le Mans and tried to kill him. Twice. And what about his comeback last year from the mountain bike crash in Tasmania that could also have killed him? This year Webber has been in his prime, bagging pole positions and   winning races in a Red Bull RB6 that matches his skill and commitment.  Most people expected Vettel to wipe him but Webber has been brilliant. Will he win this weekend? Perhaps. Maybe. We hope so. Most likely Webber will need some special help from Red Bull and   Vettel but, even if it comes, it will leave a bitter taste at the end of a vintage year. And that's not a good thing for anyone. Alan Jones thinks Webber has done a great job and deserves the championship. The Carsguide crew agrees and, even better, I will be trackside at Abu Dhabi this weekend for a chapter of motorsport history. It promises to be a very special weekend.

The vario-roof, introduced on the original SLK as a folding metal hardtop, is going all glass with a switchable blackout system. The new development is called Magic Sky Control and is confirmed by Benz just this week.But Carparazzi has more than just a tease on the 2012 SLK, as it has caught the complete car with barely any disguise. The upcoming SLK is pictured at Daimler's proving ground at Sindelfingen in Germany, where the brand does much of its basic test work, as well as the roads close to the brand's headquarters.The pictures show a car which is slightly larger than the current SLK, as well as more masculine in its basic lines and beefed-up with a CLS-  style nose and lamps similar to the coming tweak to the compact C-Class.Carparazzi expects the SLK to go public early next year, most likely at the Geneva Motor Show in March, with sales from the final months of   next year as a 2012 model. The car is likely to continue with V6 engines and small petrol and diesel turbos, but there is also talk of a hybrid power pack and a 3.5-litre twin-turbo V6 for the AMG model.

The first five contenders are on the starting grid for the Carsguide Car of the Year contest of 2010, all aiming to succeed the 2009 winner -- Volkswagen Golf - as the COTY champion. They range from a sub-$20,000 European hatch to a pair of $100,000-plus luxury contenders from two of the best-known brands in the business. The field will be filled next week with the announcement of the final five, as well as the contenders for the Best Green Car award and the People's Choice judging. The 10 finalists for the COTY contest have been culled from more than 100 new models that hit Australian showrooms over the past year and represent every major class and category, from baby fuel misers to sports cars and SUVs. The first five are the BMW 5 Series, Mercedes-Benz E-Class, Peugeot RCZ, Suzuki Kizashi and Volkswagen Polo. Their final ranking in the top 10 will be decided by nine Carsguide judges from across Australia, who have more than 100 years of combined experience in driving and assessing new cars. For 2010 there is also a Carsguide guest judge, fuel economy champion and retired rally star Ed Ordynski. The criteria for the COTY contest is simple: each car is measured against an overall standard of excellence in everything from safety and design to comfort, quality and economy, as well as its class rivals. Go to Car Of The Year 2010  

The all-new Rio, with a European design focus, is into final testing in Germany and is already confirmed for Australian sales midway through 2011.  The Rio is caught during testing in Germany where the five-door hatch - one of three models in the UB development program - shows a trendy style with an upmarket drive including alloy wheels. The five-door Rio will be the first car into Australia, with the three-door hatch and four-door sedan to follow later.  "We are expecting an official reveal of the UB early in 2011. We will be launching the car here in the middle of next year," says Kevin Hepworth, spokesman for Kia Australia. He agrees that the apparent growth in the five-door hatch’s length may not all be down to camouflage padding.  “If it has grown, that would open up the sub-compact category as a future possibility for Kia,” Hepworth says. The design chief of the new Rio is Massimo Frascella, formerly at Aston Martin and Ford, who was also responsible for the body of the good looking new Sportage SUV. He works from Kia's design studio in California. The mechanical package of the UB is completely new and Kia stresses it is not shared with anything in the Hyundai family, and definitely not the latest i20 baby car. Frascella talked openly about the UB project during his visit to New Zealand this year for the Australian press preview of the Sportage, and insiders say a clay model of the car has already been previewed in Europe. But Kia Australia has no information yet.  However, it confirms the car will be built in Korea for sales in Australia despite a plan which will see European cars built at one of the brand's European factories. The new Rio is likely to be unveiled in Europe early in the new year, which points to a preview of the five-door hatch at the Geneva Motor Show in March.

Mining magnate Nathan Tinkler has withdrawn his $4 million offer for a half stake in Dick Johnson Racing, ending months of negotiations with Johnson's current racing partner, Charlie Schwerkolt. Yesterday's development re-ignites a long running dispute between Johnson and Schwerkolt over the future of DJR that partly turns on the driving career of Steven 'Junior' Johnson.  But both sides are back in negotiations that could either see Schwerkolt take complete control of the Gold Coast racing operation or walk away to concentrate on his Melbourne-based multi-million dollar forklift empire. Schwerkolt was not available for comment yesterday and Johnson said it was "business as usual" after the collapse of the Tinkler bid.  Johnson also said reports of Courtney leaving were "totally incorrect". But the ownership of the company is critical, since Courtney is currently tied to DJR and could switch to another team for 2010 if the ownership changes.  Courtney currently leads the V8 Supercar championship heading to the next round in Launceston this weekend and his manager Alan Gow yesterday denied rumours that he might drive for the Holden Racing Team in 2011. "Enough is enough. James remains 100 per cent focused on winning this year's championship, and delivering more race wins for both his team and Ford fans who have supported him for many years," Gow said in a statement from his office in England. "Let me be very clear on this; James is contracted to Dick Johnson Racing and that is the only contract or agreement in existence for him to drive in the V8 Supercar Championship. I really can't put it any more plain than that." While the DJR situation is as confused and confrontational as ever, four-time Bathurst winner Greg Murphy has confirmed he is quitting his current ride with the Paul Morris team. Castrol, Murphy's backer this year, has also withdrawn its support. Murphy is unlikely to get a fulltime drive for 2011 but is believed to be chasing a co-driving seat for the long-distance races at Phillip Island and Bathurst.  "I am not retiring," Murphy said. For Johnson, the ownership dispute threatens to overtake his team's championship bid but he is putting on a brave face.  "We're carrying on as we have and focussing ahead to the Tasmanian round, then Sandown and then Homebush and winning the championship,"  Johnson said. "Hopefully we can wrap it up before the last round."  Courtney has been backed by Ford since he came to V8 Supercar racing from Japan and the company's motorsport manager, Chris Styring, admitted he was keen to keep him. But Styring also said "there is a bit too much speculation at the moment".  "People are making fantastic summations and guesswork about what he's doing, but he's still driving for Ford at the moment," Styring said, while refusing any comment on the DJR ownership.  "We've sort of let Dick get on with that."

Red Bull Racing, the team that has dominated Formula One through 2010 with Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel, is claiming the prize with its X1 Prototype.  The X1 has a top speed of 450km/h and can generate eight times the force of gravity during cornering, a figure that rivals frontline jetfighters. But there is a catch. The X1 Prototype is not real.  Instead, it's an ultimate dream machine spawned from the fertile imagination of Red Bull's chief designer - and former McLaren and Williams championship winner - Adrian Newey, to run in Gran Turismo 5. "It is about devastating speed coupled with real handling control," says Newey.  His own garage houses an RB5 racecar, a classic Jaguar E-Type lightweight and an original Ford GT40 and Newey is a regular in major historic races. He accept a challenge from Polyphony Digital to create the X1 and the virtual car has been through virtual tests at the virtual Suzuka F1 track with real-world Vettel as the driver.  Red Bull even used Hangar 7, the toy store of its owner Dietrich Mateschitz, for the virtual unveiling of the X1 Prototype. Newey's team says the starting point for the car was a low-drag, single-seat wing car with a glass canopy and covered wheels, powered by a forced induction engine. The early results included 1100 kilowatts of power at 15,000 revs and six Gs of lateral cornering grip. But then Newey got involved, bringing ideas for fan-forced aerodynamics - banned from F1 in the 1970s after early successes by the Brabham team - to suck air from beneath the car. The result was the 450-plus top speed and eight Gs in corners, right on the limit for human endurance. “The results were thrilling. X1 is about evolution. Delivering the optimum combination of tested technologies in a single integrated design,” says Newey.  “This would be the future of racing were we not bound by regulations, but one that is achievable today." Testing of the virtual car at Suzuki, with Vettel driving, proved the X1's pace with a laptime a full 20 seconds below the track record.  According to Kazunori Yamauchi, the X1 joins the virtual and real worlds. "The X1 Prototype Project has been motivated by curiosity and passion, powerful forces that brought together the best the world has to offer in design, physics simulation, racing car product technology and driving," he says. The X1 Prototype is one of more than 1000 cars that are included in Gran Turismo 5 and, although the game is running late, it is expected to be fastest of all.

There have been books before on the late-and-great race ace but they have mostly focussed on his years at the top of Australian motorsport and his legendary following as Peter Perfect. This time there's a new book, one that could easily be called 'The Early Years'. Road to Glory, from Allen &Unwin, goes back to the beginning and does a great job of telling the story of Brock's youth, his first experiences in cars, his time in the army and his start in racing with a Holden-powered Austin A30. The book wraps in 1972, after rolling through his start with Harry Firth at the Holden Dealer Team, following his first win at Bathurst in a Torana. Colin Fulton did the words and has created an enjoyable, flowing yarn that covers all the characters and fills in a lot of the gaps from earlier books. He has done plenty of research and brings a real warmth to his story. But the thing that makes the book is the classic pictures, including some truly great images, shot by Terry Russell. The book is worth buying just for the pictures, which include wonderful images of track action in the 1960s and 1970s. The whole package hangs together impressively and it's a book to savour, not just speed-read looking for the juicy bits and the crash pictures. You can tell that Fulton was passionate about the project and Russell's pictures are more special because he was Brock's brother-in- law through his first wife, Heather. The book costs $49.99 and is definitely one to have. But it's not the only impressive motoring book in shops today, or in the near future. Bob Watson has done a terrific job on the history of the Light Car Club of Australia, called Phillip Island to Fangio, and deserves to do well at $30 through www.bobwatsonrally.com.au We're also still waiting for the first Craig Lowndes book, written in a collaboration with the very talented Mark Fogarty. It promises an exclamation mark at the end of a year that has produced some memorable and essential reading.

IF new cars sold only because of the way they look the Alfa Romeo MiTo would be a showroom champion.It competes in the baby-car class against a wide range of rivals, led by the Volkswagen Polo and upcoming Audi A1, with a distinctive style that shouts Italy and promises something special. The QV model of the MiTo also comes with a breakthrough Fiat 'Fire' engine that makes 125 kiloWatts with brilliant economy and emissions.But the numbers tell the story, as only 174 MiTo deliveries have been made in Australia during the first nine months of this year. That compares to 674 for the Peugeot 207 that leads the upper price bracket of the baby class, athought it is third behind the Fiat 500 on 265.The relatively slow sales rate explains a new two-model approach and the loss of the previous starter car, with only 88 kiloWatts.VALUE The MiTo is now priced from $29,990 or $34,990 for the loaded QV, although it's still possible to jump over $40,000 on the road with the $2500 leather cabin, $1950 glass sunroof, $1990 adaptive suspension and $790 metallic paint that are on the list of optional equipment.The change was made to boost the car's competitiveness and cashes-in some of the recent gains in the Australian exchange rate. But it still makes the MiTo more costly than the Volkswagen Golf, which is a class bigger and the real benchmark for European hot-ish hatches.And the spelling of its name? MiTo is a combination and contraction of Milan and Turin.TECHNOLOGYThe big brag for the Mito QV is the 'Fire' engine, which uses Fiat's multair technology to deliver plenty of kiloWatts but claimed economy of 6.0 litres/100km and CO2 emissions of just 139 grams/kilometre. It's all done with very carefully controlled air injection and variable valve timing, as well as a stop-start engine system.The QV is also available with adaptive damping, claimed as a first in the class, with three settings for different conditions and driver demands.DESIGNThe MiTo is a baby hatch that stands out in a crowd of cars like the Mazda2 and Honda Jazz, but still doesn't have the trendy pulling power of the Fiat 500. So it's a good looker but not an outright star. The shape is great - although not for rear vision - and the nose is one of the most distinctive since Alfa's own 147.Inside, the look is clean and modern, with dress-up kit including a carbon fibre look to the top of the dashboard. The seats are also well shaped, the dials are sporty and clear, and all the controls are easy to use.SAFETYThe MiTo is a five-star safety car, so no surprises on the airbag-ABS-stability control front. But the seven airbags are boosted by an active head restraint that works to cut whiplash injuries.The MiTo also hits its hazard flashers during emergency braking, a system becoming more common on European cars.DRIVING: Paul GoverThe MiTo is good but not great. And if you forget to trip the switch that takes the turbo engine to dynamic response then it can feel quite dowdy, although it's good for the 1.4's economy.The MiTo QV is comfortable and well equipped, good looking and nicely finished.But the whole time I'm driving the car I compare it with a Golf - even though it's a class bigger - and find the Italian car comes up short. It does better if you use the Polo as a rival but people who buy chic hot hatches are not usually buying just on price.The MiTo gets along very nicely with full power engaged, the gearbox is great, it has good brakes and the cornering balance is also good. But the ride suffers over sharp bumps, when the rear suspension gets all bouncy and unsettled.There is plenty of standard equipment, the trip computer is good and the sound system has plenty of punch.Yes, I like the look of the MiTo and the idea of an Alfa that combines go with green, but I cannot warm to the car.SHE SAYS: Alison WardThe whole time I was driving the MiTo I was thinking about the Mini, and I prefer the Mini.The MiTo looks great and it's comfy, but it doesn't have any zoom-zoom unless you push the special button. It goes nicely then but it should be the standard setting, not something you have to turn on. I know it makes the engine greener, but . . .I like the stop-start system to save fuel but I've seen that in other cars, including a Fiat.For me, the MiTo costs too much and is not special enough. Yes, there is a cheaper model but I can only go on the QV I got to drive.VERDICT: A great looker but not a standout in 2010Alfa Romeo MiTO QVPRICE: $39,440 as tested (sunroof, leather)ENGINE: 1.4-litre turbocharged four cylinderPOWER: 125kW/5500revsTORQUE: 230Nm/2250rpm (Normal),250Nm/2500rpm (Dynamic)ECONOMY: 6.0litres/100kmCO2 EMISSIONS: 139g/kmTRANSMISSION: Six-speed manual, front-wheel driveBODY: Three-door hatchSEATS: FiveDIMENSIONS: Length 4063mm, Width 1720mm, Height 1446mm, Wheelbase 2511mmTRACKS: front/rear 1475mm/1469mmSTEERING: Electric power-assisted rack-and-pinionSUSPENSION: Front MacPherson struts, rear torsion beam axleFUEL TANK: 45 litresFUEL TYPE: UnleadedWEIGHT: 1145 kgSPARE TYRE: Space SaverBRAKES: ABS four-wheel discsWHEELS: 17x7 alloyTYRES: 215x45SAFETY: Front-side-head-knee airbags, ABS, stability control, active head restraints, emergency brake lights

MARCOS Ambrose has led two consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Races for only the second time in his career. However, luck was against him again with a 34th place at Talladega Superspeedway, Alabama, at the weekend. He was running competitively throughout the event, but a late race bump sent him into a spin, damaging his car, and any chance of victory. Clint Bowyer claimed victory from his Chevrolet teammate Kevin Harvick, in a race that featured 87 lead changes. There are three races left with Denny Hamlin and Harvick within striking distance of series leader Jimmie Johnson.AMERICAN riders continue to dominate in the Australian Super X series. Justin Brayton, Josh Hansen and Kevin Windham again claimed all podium positions in round three at Launceston at the weekend. Brayton won three of the four seven-lap sprints with Hansen winning the third race and remaining on top in the standings. Top Australians were Yamaha rider Jay Marmont, fourth, and Suzuki's Jake Moss who had the fastest lap time of the night and finished fifth. The next round is in Auckland on November 13.AUSTRALIA'S top kart racers are heading to Las Vegas to compete in one of the world's biggest karting events, the SuperNationals. Winner of this year's CIK Stars of Karting Series, Matthew Wall, of Victoria, received funding towards the trip. He will be accompanied on the 40-kart international grid by second-placed Kel Treseder of Bundaberg. They will race in the main event that last year attracted seven-time world Formula One Champion Michael Schumacher, F1 drivers Sebastien Buemi and Nelson Piquet Jnr and world karting champions Marco Ardigo, Bas Lammers, David Fore and Jonathan Thonon. The CIK Stars of Kartin Series was the starting point for racers such as dual V8 Supercar Champion Jamie Whincup and IndyCar Series star Ryan Briscoe.JOHN Bowe is in a race against time to have his classic 1969 Ford Mustang repaired for his home event at Symmons Plains, Tasmania, next week. A major engine failure sidelined him from the Bathurst round of the Touring Car Masters. He has since had difficulty sourcing replacement engine parts. Bowe is in third place in the series.

The mainstream Camry is set for a complete re-make, the baby Yaris will be renewed and the funky FJ Cruiser will add some Gen-Y impact to local showrooms.But there is much more in 2011 - including the preview of the production version of the make-or-break FT-86 sports car - from Toyota.Among the likely previews are a set of Prius hybrid spin-offs led by a people mover and a coupe - and perhaps including a pickup - and a late-year showing of the next Corolla, most likely at the Tokyo Motor Show."Toyota policy is we don't comment on any potential future product," says Mike Breen of Toyota Australia. "We have three major launches next year."He stonewalls on anything beyond the big three, even though leaked plans from the USA highlight the amount of new product coming from the world's biggest carmaker.The RAV4 is set for a remake in 2012 following a preview in '11, probably with some sort of hybrid drive system, while the Kluger could also get a facelift later next year."The years following 2011 will see us start to introduce new models. it's not going to all come at once, it will happen over a couple of years in a gradual process," says Breen."The only model we can talk about is FJ Cruiser, which will be launched in March next year, that's already on the record."The update on the Yaris will bring a six-speed automatic gearbox and probably a 1.5-litre starter engine, with a hybrid model also on the cards.The Camry will be completely new and much bolder than the current car and will continue to be build at Altona in Melbourne, with a hybrid model.The other crucial model is the next Corolla, set for a preview late in 2011 and sales in 2012. Toyota extended the life of the current model so the next change is likely to be a big one.