Motorsports

'Video-game-like' is how we've heard the Nissan GT-R driving experience described on many occasions.

The insanity of Ken Block's Gymkhana video series has gone beyond jumping the shark and reached self-awareness. This is a shark jumping a pyramid of sharks on shark skis.More precisely, it's a custom-built -- and wickedly powerful -- turbo AWD Ford Fiesta EcoBoost rally car four-wheel-drifting around the 'ultimate gymkhana grid obstacle course'. That means: through teeth-grittingly tight container tunnels and overpasses, under construction equipment, around a spiked wrecking ball, around a couple of moving Lamborghini Aventadors, around a couple of cops on Segways, and off of a bunch of low ramps -- while filling the circuit with smoke.The car does 0-100km/h in 1.9 seconds, and Block puts that acceleration potential to good use in raising the madness bar and managing to one-up himself again in No 6.Watch Ken Block's Gymkhana 6 video on our desktop site here.www.motorauthority.com

In the lead-up to this weekend's Gold Coast 600 V8 Supercars round, Red Bull has put the tourist destination's famous beach to far better use than working on a cancer-incipient tan.They've sent their star driver Jamie Whincup -- who could pick up his fifth V8 Supercar championship this year -- out for some sand training against an aerobatic stunt plane. Also watch: HSV Gen-F GTS v HSV VX GTS 300 v HRT V8 Supercar video And it's a close race. Very close... with the plane's deft pilot Joel Haski buzzing Whincup's V8 Supercar near enough to drift smoke across the roof.The V8 Holden wouldn't be your first choice for beach driving, and Whincup shows some spectacular skills in trying to keep it on the line in the slippery sand. Still, all good practice for the GC600 -- the first of the year's three final rounds in which he'll be looking for points to add a fifth crown. Watch the Red Bull V8 Supercar v stunt plane video here. This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott 

Special on-track speed comparison at Mount Panorama sees three HRT drivers -- Garth Tander, Greg Murphy and James Courtney -- pit their skills against each other in a HSV Gen-F, HSV VX 300 GTS and an Holden Racing Team V8 Supercar.Murphy pilots the 2002 VX -- the most powerful Australian car of its time. Tander takes the wheel of the new HSV Gen-F GTS, and Courtney helms the HRT V8 Supercar.Watch HSV Gen-F GTS v HSV VX GTS 300 v HRT V8 Supercar video here. 

It's that time of the year again and it's going to be big. Fire up your engines with Nick Walshaw's A-Z guide to Bathurst.It's a crazy place up on the mountain and we want to make sure you're right across everything, whether you're a hardened V8 Supercars fan or want to pass yourself off as one for this weekend. From Brocky to Tricky Dicky to J-Dub, we've got you covered.A IS FOR ALCOHOL LIMITOn the mountain they say it’s a carton, per man, per day ... perhaps.B IS FOR BROCKLittle bloke who went so well up this way, his name is now etched onto that trophy drivers risk their lives trying to win.C IS FOR THE CUTTINGStops more cars than an RBT on New Year’s Day. Good luck getting through.D IS FOR DEITYOne of whom you are guaranteed to meet should you drive a Daihatsu Charade onto the mountain campground.E IS FOR ESKYAnd if it hasn’t got four wheels and the towing capacity of a John Deere tractor, forget it.F IS FOR F-BOMBUsually deployed by drivers moments before careening into one of those giant concrete barriers.G IS FOR GRID GIRLSPut the phwoar into Phwoard versus Holden.H IS FOR HOLDENThe most successful brand at the Bathurst 1000. Also where most Aussies enjoyed their first shag.I IS FOR ICE BATHSDrivers have been known to take them and, occasionally, a power kip during breaks from the car.J IS FOR JOHNSONYes, there’s Dick, but did you know pit crews also coat their windscreens with Johnson & Johnson baby shampoo? Stops them fogging up apparently.K IS FOR KANGAROOSOnly animal that truly believes it can stare down anything from V8s to road trains.L IS FOR LOWNDESIf you’ve tried keeping pace with this driver when he walks the track every morning before dawn -- as we have -- you’ll know why he’s such short odds the moment he steps inside a car.M IS MOUNT PANORAMAClimb, descend, repeat. Easy.N IS FOR NISSANNo, really. Back for the first time in 15 years.O IS FOR 05Like Bradman’s 99.94 or Wally Lewis and that No.6, the figure is forever tattooed to the legendary Peter Brock.P IS FOR PIT TOILETSThursday, great. Friday, slightly disturbing. Saturday, you’ll need a tetanus shot afterwards. Sunday, you’ll want to hold it.Q IS FOR QUIRKY FACTSLike that a fuel stop takes 28 seconds, a brake pad change 18 seconds and driver change 15 seconds. Driving through pit-lane takes 32 seconds . . . driving to Bathurst hospital, seven minutes.R IS FOR ROCKFor more information, see Dick Johnson.S IS FOR ESSESBoasts more twists than The Usual Suspects, yet still needs to be attacked at speed.T IS FOR TRUE STORIESStart with Bill Brown who, in 1971, flipped into the crowd, survived, then told fans trying to right his car: “Ah, could anyone smoking please move away”.U IS FOR YOU’LL BE RIGHTProbably.V IS FOR VICTORYIt may not be the race that stops a nation but it comes bloody close. Win here and you’re guaranteed a place among the Gods.W IS FOR WHINCUPReigning champ who finished last year’s race with enough fuel to fill a can of Coca-Cola. Or as his sponsors would prefer it written, a can of Red Bull.X IS FOR X-RAYWhat the doctors will do while killing time between your MRI and CT scans. Important for both drivers and car surfers.Y IS FOR YOUTUBEIf you think the action on track is insane, try “Bathurst 1000 Camping”. Ease yourself in with the fire jumping clip.Z IS FOR ZZZZZWhat we think of any activity not involving a thud-thud-thudding V8 this weekend. Brush them all.www.dailytelegraph.com.au 

He's mastered the mountain five times before, but never has Craig Lowndes had to be wary of a Nissan or Mercedes popping into his rearview mirror during a Bathurst 1000. Sunday's Great Race will be the Red Bull Racing pilot's 20th start at Mount Panorama and 500th race in the V8 Supercars/Australian Touring Car Championship. Yet the always-smiling Lowndes admits he still gets that "funny feeling" in his stomach whenever he sees the famous mountain. "I don't think it matters how many times you come here, you still get that same feeling," he said yesterday. Lowndes, who sits second on the 2013 championship standings just 96 points behind his teammate Jamie Whincup, has finished on the podium eight times at Mount Panorama in the past 10 years. One more podium finish will tie him with legends Peter Brock, Larry Perkins and Jim Richards (12) for the record of most podium appearances in the history of the Bathurst classic. But for each one of those races, Lowndes has had to deal only with a rival Holden or Ford. His Bathurst debut came in 1994 -- the last time a Mercedes-Benz lined up on the grid and two years after Nissan quit the category.  Come Sunday, the 39-year-old expects to be somewhat nostalgic when the two manufacturers hit the track for the first time since they returned to the sport at the start of the year. "It's almost like the old days when I used to sit at home watching it growing up, hoping one day to be there," he said. "So it'll be quite a spectacle to see the Nissans and Mercedes running around the mountain again." Lowndes said his second-place finish last round at Sandown had provided a timely shot in the arm for himself and the RBR Holden team, after a poor weekend at Winton in August. "It gave us massive confidence," he said. "But Bathurst is the one we all really want to win."

This year’s Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 sees Mount Panorama notch up 40 years of 1000km racing, with the Bathurst 500 (miles) changing over to the Bathurst 1000 in 1973. To highlight the landmark year, Irwin Racing’s Lee Holdsworth and Craig Baird hit the vintage wardrobe – complete with tacky wigs -- and take a wander through track history at the National Motor Racing Museum. They give us potted versions of their knowledge about some of the key exhibits – and a cheeky swipe at retiring legend Russell Ingall. Watch the National Motor Racing Museum video here.

F1 fans have had it pretty good for the last few years, with racing powerhouse Codemasters taking over the franchise. Sony's efforts had been lacklustre and only available on the PlayStation. Codies, as they're affectionately known, has done a solid if unspectacular job with what is, to be fair, a difficult arena in which to innovate, with restrictive and expensive licensing tying the developer's hands. F1 2013, however, finally breaks out of the box. While the games have been good technically, there hasn't been much to entice buyers into annual iterations. This year, buyers have the choice of the usual yearly update but a few well-chosen treasures as well. There's challenge and scenario modes, with the Challenge mode being the most interesting - the object is to steal another driver's seat by beating him in a lesser car. For a bit of extra cash, however, comes the really good stuff - F1 Classics. This, as the name suggests, adds Classic F1 cars, tracks and drivers. The pre-release build we got had a pair of classic Williams (FW07B and FW12), a pair of Lotuses (98T and 100T) and a Ferrari F187-88C. Drivers such as Alan Jones, Alain Prost, Emerson Fittipaldi and Damon Hill feature, with their helmets and sometimes faces making appearances. The full game release of Classic will add the Ferrari F92A, F310 and F399, the Willimes FW14B, FW18 and FW21. Classic tracks include the full Brands Hatch, Jerez, Imola and the much-missed Estoril circuit in Portugal. The Classics are a lot of fun - they rev much lower, handle completely differently (and far less competently) and even sound brilliant. Classics adds some desperately-needed depth to the game and gives you plenty more to do. Back to the present and the Career mode has been overhauled and split up. When you first enter the game (get yourself a cup of tea/cold one, it takes forever to install on PS3), you can choose to go to the Young Driver test at Abu Dhabi and complete a series of challenges. The more challenges you complete, the better the team you can join in your first career season. About twenty minutes worth of challenges will get you into a mid-field Force India or Sauber. You can also go into the Proving Grounds and play the twenty different scenarios, which graduate from Rookie, through to Team Mate Battle, Championship Title and Final Year tests. Proving Grounds also includes Time Attack and Time Trial for modern and Classic cars. Technically, the game isn't significantly better than F1 2012. There's still pronounced frame slowdown on some tracks (I'm looking at you, Monaco) and while every iteration has delivered a better look, there's still the impression that cars aren't necessarily on the track surface. Some sacrifices have been made to achieve the overall look, meaning shadows are a little cross-hatch-ey and some of the close-up detail is a bit ordinary. This is a minor quibble, though. The weather effects are spectacular, especially the rain. A wet race is terrific to look at, with raindrops hitting your view and massive rooster tails pouring from the rear of each car. The lighting is great, too, helping provide a sense of place - the sunlight in Melbourne is different to Abu Dhabi is different to Silverstone. Little details like this really help with the overall feeling that you're on a world tour. The tracks are inch-perfect, of course, all built with the help of GPS and sat-nav as well as co-operation from the various teams and the FIA. Naturally, a game like this has to be all about the driving. And this is where it runs into a little bit of trouble. With a controller, on the PS3 at least, this is not an easy game to master. This is partly to do with the analogue sticks on the controller not being particularly helpful for games like this, nor are the triggers which are used for acceleration and braking. It's a bumpy experience and not a lot of fun. I can't recommend it. What I can recommend is plugging in a decent wheel and pedal combination. This brings the game alive and easily lopped four seconds a lap from my times while actually making the game fun. You can catch slides, modulate the throttle and braking in a far more natural way. It means you can get a much better idea - although it's clearly still a mere inkling - of what it's like to command one of these machines. The tyres go off, the aero changes make a genuine difference and the options for changing engine and braking add to the overall strategic nature of the game. KERS and DRS are there, too, as is the Safety Car. A crucial element to F1 - the noise of the cars - is first-class, with environments deciding what you hear. Sadly still present is the lunkheaded penalty system which still dishes out penalties with all the consistency of the real world stewards, so at least it's true to form there. VERDICT The one thing Codemasters needed to do was make this game worth buying. Next year will be a no-brainer with all the new rules coming into force, so the team had to come up with something interesting. And they've nailed it. What's good about F1 2013 is that it's not just worth buying simply because you can play as an Eighties or Nineties hero. Both modern and Classic driving modes are well-implemented and look great, too. It also makes sense that a sport so rich in history gets a game that understands that history and celebrates it. Watch the F1 2013 video here.  

The tiny British sports car company that will help bring Alpine back from the dead is finally accelerating into the 21st century. Caterham cars is now planning a model range that will include SUVs and city runabouts alongside its traditional 1950s-inspired sports cars.It is also well advanced  with its work on a joint venture with Renault that will revive the Alpine name in 2016 on a sports car to be shared between the companies, in a deal similar to the one that spawned the Subaru BRZ and Toyota 86.Caterham has just shown its newest model, the AeroSeven Concept, but it's the model expansion that's the real news. "In the very near future, the Caterham name will sit proudly on crossovers, city cars as well as a range of sports cars for everyone," says Tony Fernandes, the co-chairman of the Caterham Group."Caterham will show itself to be a progressive, open and entrepreneurially-powered car brand that will deliver and surprise in equal measure. It has been a British institution for the last 40 years, and automotive secret in many ways."We may be a small voice now, but we're on our way to engineering a decent set of lungs." Caterham is best known as the modern maker of the old-school Seven that was originally designed and developed by Colin Chapman, the brilliant engineer who was the driving force for the Lotus team in Formula One and road cars.The AeroSeven Concept picks up the original thinking from Chapman's time and drives it forward in a car that still has a front-mounted engine and rear-wheel drive, even if it's the first Caterham with techno tweaks including traction and launch control.Fernandes says the AeroSeven pulls technology from throughout the company, including the carbon fibre expertise of the - tail-ender - Caterham F1 outfit. There is no production plan for the AeroSeven yet, and the Australian boss of Caterham says he has only just heard about the SUV and city car projects."It's exciting news. It's just nice to see there are development funds," Chris van Wyk tells Carsguide. "It used to be a case of survival, but all of a sudden there are doors opening everywhere. I don't think people understand the breadth of the company yet. They are even making airline seats out of carbon fibre using Formula One technology."Fernandes is the driving force behind the AirAsia airline, now claimed to be the most profitable in the world, but is also devoting plenty of effort to Caterham. "The joint venture with Renault to produce an all-new sports car for both the Alpine and Caterham brands demonstrates our clear intent on doing this right, doing it sensibly, but above all, doing it the Caterham way," Fernandes says."And, because we're a flat company, we're a quicker company. When we say we're going to do things internally, we do them. We don't procrastinate and lose momentum through legions of middle-management decision makers, we just do it."This reporter is on Twitter: @paulwardgover 

Historically, car-related movies are more hit-and-miss than most genres, and can generally be categorised into one of two camps. In one corner, you’ve got examples that lack the factual fortitude to impress proper car nuts; with the six Fast and Furious movies (to date) as Exhibit A, and Sylvester Stallone’s Driven (Rocky V on wheels) a very firm Exhibit B.  On the other hand, you’ve got movies such as Steve McQueen’s Le Mans or Steven Spielberg’s Duel that lack the narrative to engage a mainstream audience. However, you occasionally get one that impresses on both levels, and Rush is one such film. With Ron Howard as director and a screenplay by Peter Morgan, this pairing gives Rush the same fundamentals that earned Frost/Nixon five Academy Award nominations in 2008. Rush is centred around the 1976 Formula 1 One season, when the intense rivalry between F1 legends Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl) and the late James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) reached its climax, and  Hunt (spoiler alert) ultimately emerged as world  champion. Lauda is the focused, motivated professional, who is destined to conflict with the roguish playboy antics of Hunt -- with whom he shares an immense talent behind the wheel.   We are also shown how the two diametrically-opposed characters first met while competing in Formula Three, and despite graduating to Formula One via similarly opposing channels their on-track rivalry only intensifies.  The racing scenes are very well shot, with excellent attention to detail that serves as a great reminder of the grit of 70s-era Grand Prix racing. Anyone who observed Howard’s constant Twitter updates during the film’s production will understand the level of detail involved in creating Rush, so its relieving to see that it’s been strung together so effectively. From a non-F1 trainspotter’s perspective, you do catch the occasional glimpse of modern race circuit catch fencing, close-ups of actuating valves that show a combustion chamber devoid of spark-plug, and the Lincoln Town Car Hunt emerges from at the end wasn’t built until 1981, but that’s nit-picking.    Rush’s greatest success is its depiction the fiery near-fatal accident that left Lauda with his now-trademark scarring. The scenes that follow his crash are the most compelling of the film, preparing the audience well for the awe of his return to the track just weeks later. Bruhl’s performance itself is a highlight, and while Hemsworth’s greatest asset is his visual likeness to Hunt, Rush is a far better reflection of his acting talent than his previous work as Thor. The real-life story of rivalry, sex, danger, and tragedy gave Howard a leg-up in creating Rush, but the film’s tempo and balance between on and off-track narratives should endear it to racing fans and mainstream audiences alike. Rush is destined to join Senna as one of the great car flicks, and opens in Australian cinemas on October 3.   This reporter is on Twitter: @Mal_Flynn