My thoughts on all things motoring, press releases, reviews & techie stuff, from around the world.
Please note that the pictures of vehicles within this blog are used as examples of the specific press releases, on occasions, due to the lack of available official pictures, examples are re-produced.
ANY AND ALL PROFANITIES WILL BE REMOVED AND THE PERSON/S RESPONSIBLE WILL BE BANNED, NO EXCEPTIONS.
Purpose
I will try my best to provide detailed info on various cars and what is like to live with them, I have already produced a few for Jaguar-car-forums, I will do my best to be unbiased, but it will be hard for some cars. I will re-produce press releases and copy from other motoring news.
Kit Harington, Emmy-nominated actor stars in new INFINITI Q60 film
One-minute short film showcases INFINITI and Harington’s shared ability to deliver an exhilarating performance
INFINITI marks the launch of the dynamic INFINITI Q60 with a film starring one of the world’s most talked about actors, Kit Harington. Emmy-nominated Harington is a fearless craftsman who has risen to prominence through his much-lauded recent performances on stage and screen. Now, he stars in an exhilarating short film for INFINITI’S Q60 titled Tyger.
The one-minute film opens with Harington striding towards the Q60. He settles in the car and dramatically begins reciting William Blake’s primal poem, The Tyger. Harington’s intense performance is awakened as he takes both the Q60 and the poem for a visceral, winding drive. The film ends with an effortless stop from the Q60 and a knowing glance by Harington.
“What inspires me personally in my life, is a beautiful piece of writing. Something which is specific, delicate and beautiful,” says Kit Harington. Blake’s The Tyger is an inspiring reflection of such writing and also captures the high performance empowerment of the Q60 – they are both an exploration of aesthetic beauty, primal ferocity, ambition and seduction.
Melissa Bell, INFINITI’s Senior Director of Marketing said; “Kit Harington is a unique and refined talent. He is performance orientated with intelligence and a passion for his artistry and the Q60 has inspired a powerful performance from him in Tyger. In this one-minute drive we’re thrilled to take viewers on a test-ride through multiple emotions. The Q60 is a dynamic automobile, driven by one of the world’s best actors – a winning combination.”
Harington’s Tyger film is one of three new films being released to mark the launch of the Q60. INFINITI are due to release web films in the coming weeks of Audio Engineer and Music Technologist Young Guru and Sneaker Designer Sophia Chang.
The Q60 featured in this film is a premium sports coupe that combines expressive design with exhilarating performance and dynamics. The taut, muscular lines of the exterior hint at the Q60’s considerable performance potential –enhanced with the all-new 3.0-liter V6 twin-turbo engine.
Supermodel Derek Zoolander returns to the big screen in a FIAT 500X for the eagerly-anticipated Zoolander 2 sequel
At a special screening of “Zoolander 2” on January 30 in Rome, Main Partner FIAT Chrysler Automobiles was present on the red carpet with a FIAT 500X
The collaboration between FIAT and Paramount Pictures has also generated the new "Selfie" advertisement, starring Derek Zoolander, the FIAT 500X and a special camera
The FIAT 500X rolls onto the big screen in Zoolander2, the eagerly-anticipated movie sequel coming soon to cinema screens all over the world and featuring supermodel Derek Zoolander. At the fan screening of “Zoolander2”, which took place on January 30 in Rome, FIAT Chrysler Automobiles was present as a Main Partner on the red carpet, with a FIAT 500X in its special Tri-Coat Yellow livery.
Produced by Paramount Pictures and shot predominantly in Rome, the film brings the FIAT 500X together for the first time with one of the most famous film and fashion characters.
The collaboration between FIAT and Paramount has also produced the new FIAT 500X advertisement called "Selfie".
Shown for the first time at the Golden Globes Awards ceremony, the advertisement shows Zoolander fooling around with a rather special camera: a safety camera. Driving his yellow FIAT 500X, he poses for photos by the safety camera as though he were on a fashion shoot, showing off his best expressions, especially the mythical "Blue Steel" pose.
It’s an unconventional fashion shoot which Zoolander thinks shows him at his dazzling best but which is ultimately interrupted by the police.
The creative aspect of "Selfie" is a product of Testa and Partners, Armando Testa's Los Angeles-based group, which adds this commercial to the recent success achieved with other recent movie-tie campaigns for FCA brands.
A very personal film, made in collaboration with Credit Suisse, has revealed new insights into the extraordinary life of motorsport icon Sir Stirling Moss.
The 85-year-old race ace, who dominated the international scene in the 1950s and early-60s, chats candidly ahead of the 18th running of the Goodwood Revival at the circuit where he achieved so much success in his 15-year professional career.
Talking at his London home with motorsport journalist, broadcaster and Goodwood commentator Henry Hope-Frost, Sir Stirling reminisces about his remarkable life on the race track.
He talks fondly about Goodwood, the circuit that bookended his career via a 500cc Formula 3 win at the opening meeting in September 1948, when he was just 19, and the Glover Trophy Formula 1 accident at Easter in 1962 that put an end to his career.
With 2015 marking the 60th anniversary of his victories in the three big sportscar internationals – the Mille Miglia, the Tourist Trophy and the Targa Florio – and his breakthrough win in Formula 1 at the British Grand Prix, Sir Stirling also reflects on arguably his greatest competitive season: 1955 with Mercedes.
He also touches on his failure to add Le Mans 24 Hours victory to his tally in the wake of the infamous accident that led to Mercedes withdrawing from the race when Moss had a comfortable lead.
With priceless props to illustrate the story-telling, including the actual wood-rimmed, three-spoke steering wheel with which he took all four wins, and an exact replica of the paper roll in a box from which his co-driver Denis Jenkinson navigated the 1000-mile Mille Miglia route, Sir Stirling offers never-seen insights into his mastery aboard the Mercedes 300 SLR sportscar and W196 Grand Prix racer and relives these historic moments on camera.
Sir Stirling Moss will be involved in a number of important events during the Revival, including the 6th Credit Suisse Historic Racing Forum.
He will once again join three fellow Credit Suisse ambassadors – five-time Le Mans and double world sportscar winner Derek Bell, Grand Prix and Le Mans winner Jochen Mass, and former racer, constructor and team owner Alain de Cadenet – to debate the theme ‘Historic Racing Culture: Europe v America.’
They will be joined by two special guests: four-time IndyCar champion and triple Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti and former Grand Prix driver, Le Mans winner and Can-Am champion Jackie Oliver, with Henry Hope-Frost in the moderator’s chair.
The Forum takes place at 9 a.m. on Saturday, September 12, 2015 in the Credit Suisse Race Control building and is open to Goodwood-accredited media.
On the Sunday morning of the Revival, event host Lord March and racer Karsten Le Blanc from Credit Suisse will present Sir Stirling with a personalized memento of his 1955 ‘quadruple win’ on the lawn next to the Credit Suisse Race Control building.
An incredible weekend of historic racing and celebration is in store.
The 1,000 mile tour, which is a celebration of ‘The World’s Most Beautiful Race’, captures the feedback from the high profile line-up of drivers that accepted invitations from Jaguar to partake in the epic drive event across Italy.
In the seats of three stunning examples of the Jaguar XK120 were driver pairings of Sir Chris Hoy and Andy Wallace; Daniel Day Lewis and Jim Gianopulos and David Gandy partnering Yasmin Le Bon.
The cavalcade of official Jaguar Heritage Racing cars in the event was doubled in size by the entries of three remarkable C-Type sports cars. Driver double-acts in lightweight C-Types included Jaguar Regional Director for Europe Bernard Kuhnt and actress Hannah Herzsprung, Alex Buncombe with Chris Harris, and Salvatore Ferragamo Jr. alongside Michael Quinn – the grandson of Jaguar founder Sir William Lyons.
More than 400 classic race and road cars of unique heritage were entered into the Mille Miglia this year. The record number of entries meant that the Jaguar drivers – of which only Jim Gianopulos and Bernard Kuhnt have previous experience – were jostling on road with some of the most significant sports cars ever built by the world’s most prestigious manufacturers.
Sir Chris Hoy, an Ambassador of the Jaguar Academy of Sport, said: “Being asked to drive with Le Mans winner Andy Wallace in the Mille Miglia was a privilege and I was delighted to take part. It is a technical event that participants take very seriously – I enjoyed its deeply competitive nature and I’m delighted to have made my debut with Jaguar.”
Globally-recognised supermodel David Gandy commented: “The Mille Miglia is an event like no other. It was on my ‘bucket list’ and despite gruelling hours spent on the road each day in difficult weather conditions, the reaction to our car from thousands of fans across Italy and the euphoria Yasmin and I experienced crossing the finishing line made it all worthwhile.”
Jaguar is committed to celebrating its unique, rich heritage as the company continues its recent exciting growth. Bernard Kuhnt said: “Our presence at the Mille Miglia was particularly significant this year as we are launching the new F-TYPE sports car across the world. To bring together the finest Jaguar cars ever made, with some remarkable characters behind the wheel, and to have five F-TYPEs chasing them throughout beautiful Italian countryside was a sight to behold.
“I am extremely thankful to the drivers in our team for spending their valuable time with Jaguar and I am grateful to the Mille Miglia organisers for allowing us the opportunity to enter this spectacular celebration of classic motorsport.”
Daniel Craig drives the All-New Range Rover Sport in live reveal through New York
Manhattan comes to a standstill as spectacular drive closes down the city’s streets
New York is Range Rover Sport’s biggest metropolitan market and the US its best selling country
The All-New Range Rover Sport is the fastest, most agile and technology packed Land Rover ever
British actor stars in short film by acclaimed Hollywood director Jonathan P. B. Taylor
In a scene reminiscent of a Hollywood movie, actor Daniel Craig revealed the all-new Range Rover Sport as part of a dramatic drive through one of the world’s most dynamic cities.
The fastest, most agile and responsive Land Rover to date was put to the test by the British actor, who was entrusted to deliver the vehicle for its first unveiling to the world.
After skilfully handling the car and driving it through closed off streets, Craig delivered the all-new Range Rover Sport to a packed crowd of guests including Zara Phillips MBE, Jade Jagger and Yasmin Le Bon at the Skylight at Moynihan Stationon 8th Avenue, where the vehicle was officially revealed for the first time.
The dynamic and thrilling drive was filmed as part of a short film titled ‘The Delivery’. It was broadcast live by Land Rover at www.newrangeroversport.com and saw the British brand stage a global reveal live on the streets of its biggest market.
Directed by action film 2nd unit director Jonathan P B Taylor, lauded for his work on Fast & Furious, Spiderman, Captain America and more recently Die Hard, the film tells the story of a driver tasked with delivering a top secret package. Starting at the Land Rover manufacturing plant in Solihull, UK, the car is shipped under the cover of darkness in a large container over to Manhattan. It is then unveiled and driven expertly through the streets of the city, over Manhattan Bridge and through a closed off tunnel, in a bid by its driver, Daniel Craig, to get it to the launch venue on time.
Craig was attracted to working with Land Rover not only because of his love for the British brand and its vehicles – but also because both he and the brand share a link with the charity S.A.F.E., of which he is a patron. Land Rover, having previously donated a Land Rover Defender to the Kenyan NGO and UK Charity 4 years ago, is delighted to continue its support and is donating an additional vehicle to the charity later this year.
The donated Land Rover will be used by the S.A.F.E. team to assist in accessing hard-to-reach areas to educate, inspire and deliver social change. Using accessible, mobile street theatre and community programmes, S.A.F.E.’s team of local professional performers educate their communities on an array of issues, from HIV to female circumcision to safe drinking water. S.A.F.E. founder Nick Reding attended the event in New York with Craig to talk about the charity and said: “Land Rover has generously given us a vehicle in the past, and this event is a great global platform for us to reach out and talk about our work. Land Rover is helping us get the message about what we do and why it works out to so many more people around the world than we could usually hope for.”
Speaking ahead of the official world premiere at the New York International Auto Show, Land Rover Global Brand Director John Edwards said:
“The All New Range Rover Sport is an extraordinary car and we have revealed it in an extraordinary way – live on the streets of its biggest selling market. It turned heads and it stopped traffic in one of the world’s most dynamic cities in the world.
The new Range Rover Sport represents a step change in engineering and technology; it is almost half a tonne lighter resulting in significant CO2 savings and its faster, more agile and more dynamic than ever.”
The all-new Range Rover Sport will go on sale during the third quarter of 2013. Full information including the full film ‘The Delivery’ is available to view at www.newrangeroversport.com now.
All-new Range Rover Sport
Developed alongside the highly-acclaimed Range Rover, the all-new Range Rover Sport now delivers the brand’s best-ever on-road dynamics together with class-leading, genuine Land Rover all-terrain capability, while presenting customers with a more assertive and muscular exterior, more luxurious interior and the flexibility provided by the option of occasional 5+2 seating.
Exploiting Land Rover’s breakthrough lightweight suspension design and innovative dynamic chassis technologies, the new Sport’s all-new, first-in-class aluminium architecture achieves a weight saving of over 500kg (comparing four cylinder petrol with current V8 petrol).
Designed and engineered at Land Rover’s development centres in the UK, the new model will be produced in a state-of-the-art low-energy manufacturing facility at Solihull, UK.
The all-new Range Rover Sport will ultimately be introduced in 169 markets worldwide.
Jonathan P B Taylor – 2nd Unit Director
Jonathan Taylor has spent a lifetime in the movie business. Starting in the camera department, he rose quickly through the ranks to become a world-leading Director, specialising in action unit work. He has worked extensively on over 50 major action movies and has a long-standing partnership with action unit Director, Vic Armstrong – best known for his Indiana Jones and James Bond films. Since 2009, Jonathan has performed the role of Director and Director of Photography in the action units for all the films Armstrong has worked on. Jonathan created the storyboard and coordinated the whole Monaco sequence for Iron Man 2, and conceived and directed all the complex action sequences for Captain America. In the recent Die Hard movie, Jonathan ran the complete action unit responsible for all the major set pieces. Jonathan was also responsible for major action scenes in Fast and Furious, and the iconic ‘fight on the train’ scene in Spiderman.
Jaguar XFR-S makes its European debut on the Geneva showstand
F-TYPE celebratory speed run in Jabbeke, Belgium, covering the 0-179-0mph sprint in less than 2 miles
Full trailer of Desire film released featuring Damian Lewis and the Jaguar F-TYPE, with the soundtrack by Lana Del Rey
XFR-S European Debut
The Jaguar XFR-S, the fastest and most powerful saloon in the company’s history, makes its European debut at the Geneva Auto Salon today.
Using the same highly-acclaimed 550PS 5.0-litre supercharged V8 engine as the XKR-S, the new sports-saloon is capable of reaching 100km/h in 4.6 seconds from a standing start and can go on to an impressive 300km/h top speed.
On unveiling the XFR-S Adrian Hallmark commented: “This is the fastest and most powerful saloon Jaguar has ever produced, and today we're delighted to share its European debut with you. This is a car of incredible potency, with a visceral blend of power, driver involvement and control.”
The XFR-S is available to order now, priced in the UK at £79,995.
Jabbeke
In 1953, Jaguar’s legendary test driver Norman Dewis drove a modified Jaguar XK 120* to a new world record average speed over a flying mile of 172.4mph.
Sixty years later, on Saturday March 2nd 2013, Jaguar returned to Jabbeke** for another sprint test, this time with a new Jaguar F-TYPE V8S and 1988 Le Mans 24 hour race-winning driver Andy Wallace. With just two miles available to Wallace to explore the F-TYPE’s straight-line speed from a standing start, and bring it to a stop again, the car hit almost 180mph*** and achieved 0-62mph (0-100km/h) in an impressive 4.2 seconds.
Marking the return of Jaguar to the Belgian proving roads, Adrian Hallmark, Global Brand Director, said: “The original Jabbeke sprint runs marked the start of an exciting chapter in our history. The XK 120 combined seductive design and innovative technologies with incredible sporting performance, as Norman Dewis proved on that famous day in 1953.
“Those core elements of our DNA are embodied in the new Jaguar F-TYPE, and I can think of no more fitting way to pay tribute to the achievement of one of our most famous roadsters than to return to Jabbeke to celebrate the successful test and set a new Jaguar benchmark.”
This celebratory event marked the beginning of an epic drive event in which classic Jaguar XK 120, C-type, D-type and E-type sports cars joined the new 495 PS F-TYPE in a ‘Jaguar Bloodline’ sports car convoy en route to Geneva, Switzerland, prior to this year’s 2013 Auto Salon, where the new F-TYPE takes pride of place on the Jaguar stand.
Over the course of the journey from Jabbeke to Geneva, an identical F-TYPE V8 S to the one used for the speed run was driven the 519-miles (835km) by a specialist in frugal driving, recording an impressively low average fuel consumption of 35.6mpg (7.9l/100km)
Desire
To help celebrate the arrival of Jaguar’s first new sports car in more than 50 years, a unique cinematic collaboration has been created, produced by Ridley Scott Associates and soundtrack performed by Lana Del Rey.
The film, co-starring Emmy and Golden Globe award winning actor Damian Lewis, is entitled ‘Desire’: the emotion you feel when you encounter the new F-TYPE.
