Yahoo Autos Are Prototype Race Cars About to Look Cool Again?
Welcome to The Grid, R&T's quick roundup of the auto industry and motorsports news you should know this morning.
They Should Bring Back GT1
With the exodus of manufacturers from the top LMP1-H category, the WEC has been looking for a way to bring back interest from automakers. One idea that has emerged fro the 2020 season is a great one: make the top class cars look like the brand's road cars.
It's a great idea, especially because the GT1 era of Le Mans was one of our favorites. This plan would let automakers style race cars that have an actual connection to the cars on the road, not just a badge on the nose and a corporate paint scheme. It doesn't sound like there will be GT1-levels of road car resemblance, but we can dream, right?
Toyota Mazda Plant Location
Toyota and Mazda are planning to build a new plant in the US. This is a good thing, and now the companies are close to choosing a final location. The location for the $1.6 billion project seems to be between Alabama and North Carolina. The companies are supposed to announce the location of the plant early next year and it will open in 2021.
Alonso Is Still Complaining
If you haven't heard, Fernando Alonso isn't thrilled with the Honda power unit in his McLaren. So not thrilled that McLaren dropped Honda for 2018 and will be getting a customer supply of Renault engines. But that switch hasn't stopped Alonso from lamenting the team's performance this year.
Alonso calls the power deficit "alarming," especially because Felipe Massa was able to pull away from him in Brazil, even when his DRS was open. The good news is that we only have to hear Fernando complain about Honda for one more race, and then we can wait till 2018 when he starts complaining about Renault.
Clean BMW
BMW has made the decision to only use clean energy starting in 2020 to power the company, just not every car it builds. It plans to stop using coal and to use all renewable power, like solar, instead. It also has one plant in South Africa that'll run on cow dung and chicken poop.
Nice.
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