Kia’s California design centre team enthusiastically took on the project, led by Chief Designer Tom Kearns. “Concept cars are icing on the cake,” said Kearns. “They allow KMA’s design team to dream about what could be. Whether that dream becomes a reality or not is a separate question.”

That’s a shame because it would finally move Kia into the category of ‘serious car maker’, at least for us Europeans who place so much emphasis on brand’s motorsport pedigree.

“The idea was to make the Track’ster tough looking, like a bulldog,” said Kearns. “But the car had to be approachable as well. We wanted to base the car in reality so people instantly knew it was a Soul, but with a lot of attitude. It had to be a bold interpretation that would change people’s conceptions of what a sporty Kia could be.”

Flanked by over-sized LED driving lights with billet aluminium surrounds, the Track’ster’s lower intake grille scoops in plenty of air to keep the engine running cool even under the most gruelling conditions. The lower valance, trimmed in carbon fibre and accented with Inferno Orange, rides just inches off the ground and lends to the car’s menacing stance.

The Track’ster ‘rolls’ on custom HRE-K1 monoblock billet performance wheels that were a joint effort between Kia’s California design team and HRE. The wheels are wrapped in 245/40 x 19″ Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 tyres at the front and 285/35 x 19″ at the rear.

A 2.0-litre turbocharged in-line-four cylinder engine powers the Track’ster, putting its 246 bhp to the road via an electronically controlled four-wheel-drive system. With a short-throw six-speed manual transmission and a lowered sport suspension, Kia are confident their new concept will “make car enthusiasts salivate”. Really?

There’s frequent mention within Kia’s press release of the Track’ster Concept’s Inferno Orange colour scheme, which is apparently synonymous with racing.

Blimey, somebody better tell Adrian Newey that he’s been handicapping young Vettel with the ‘wrong’ colour car..

Gallery

When she says, “..take me for a ride”, maybe she actually means ‘to the shops’ rather than around a race track.

You will probably have already seen the first of these videos from 2008 showing ex-F1 driver Riccardo Patrese and his wife in a Honda Civic Type-R around Jerez circuit, Spain.

There are several priceless moments, including the hand signal from Italian-speaking Mrs P that needs no translation.

At last weekend’s Daytona 24 Hours the wife of Portuguese racing driver, João Barbosa, made the same mistake of trusting her dignity to a husband with a wicked sense of humour.

Strapped into a 2-seater Prototype, the 2010 Rolex 24 Daytona champion takes his wife on a 185 mph ride around the International Speedway, with inevitable consequences.

Assuming their relationship survived beyond the journey back home, perhaps the lesson to be learned is to wait until there’s a ring on her finger before subjecting your loved one to such a test. Especially if you then intend to post the evidence of her distress on YouTube for all her closest friends to see..

This week I’ll explore the subject a little further, using the latest Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Caption Competition as the case in point.

The competition is built around the team’s F1 world champions, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, and encourages participants to have fun writing captions for a gallery of behind-the-scenes photographs of the lads and their engineers at work. To provide some creative inspiration a series of viral videos have been produced, which you can take a look at below.

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes – Cap Signing. Ever wonder what Jenson gets up to when he’s not racing?

Hosted on the Vodafone Racing Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/vodafoneracing, fans are invited to choose a photo then add a witty caption, after which they can vote on other captions from the 800 or so already added.

Some of my favourites include a picture of Lewis saying, “I left Massa this much room and he still hit me..”, or one where Jenson is looking at a magazine with his engineer and says ‘..at least I’m sexier than Vettel in the latest Pirelli photo shoot..”. You get the idea.

The App can prove quite an addictive experience, especially once you realise there are prizes on offer. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes merchandise (including caps and t-shirts signed by either Lewis or Jenson) will be given to the highest points scorer each week, but the grand prize is a meet and greet for the main winner (and a friend) to visit either Lewis or Jenson at the McLaren Technical Centre in Woking, tour the facilities and pick up a signed copy of their winning caption. The team will even lay on flights and accommodation if the winner lives outside the UK.

The campaign which has been running since late July, has earned Vodafone over 500,000 views on YouTube (300,000 of those in the past month) but perhaps more importantly has fed plenty of positive social conversation about the playful side of the team and its drivers.

Now you might be thinking it’s easy for Vodafone, with access to two F1 world champions and a marketing budget equivalent to the gross domestic product of a third-world country, but there are in fact several lessons that can be applied to every campaign.

Gamification

A few years ago we ran a campaign with Volkswagen & Tribal DDB, called GTI Project, a Scaletrix-themed driving game with its own microsite supported by a series of cryptic display ads. You can still play the game today (http://www.gtiproject.com/), but make sure you’ve got plenty of spare time available – it’s thoroughly addictive.

I remember measuring yield figures 60 times that of other campaigns and it went on to win several well-deserved awards.

The lesson learned was that a successful social campaign should focus on the viewer’s needs more so than the brand, and that play (just as it was for all of us at one time) is the best tool for learning.

An article published on Mashable earlier this year – Gamification: How Competition Is Reinventing Business, Marketing & Everyday Life – provides a more in-depth look at the mechanics of the approach, but in simple terms the use of gameplay for non-gaming applications plays on our intrinsic desire for reward and recognition amongst our peers.

From a behavioural standpoint it also lowers our guard, sustains participation over a much longer period and builds a shared experience, which as anyone involved in team building will know is crucial to the success of relationships in a group.

And of course groups of supporters and advocates are the goal of nearly every social campaign, so it makes sense for companies to start a campaign considering how they can facilitate the growth of these social groups using their brand as the catalyst. Gameplay is by far the best way to achieve this.

Content

Success in all of our relationships, hinges on the conversations we participate in and this is never more obvious than in the relationship between a brand and its customers online.

The problem as many brands have discovered, is without a constant flow of engaging content, audiences will swiftly move off topic, or worse, start talking about the brand negatively. Facebook pages become customer complaint forums and suddenly all those ‘fans’ turn from being an asset into a liability.

This is where content marketing comes into play. If gameplay is the mechanism, then content is the raw material which feeds it. Content won’t cover up a PR or customer service blunder, but it will provide the means to build a positive relationship with an audience and in many ways this is the main benefit of campaigns such as Vodafone’s Caption Competition.

It’s fun, it’s inclusive and brings us a little closer to the team which Vodafone are helping to sponsor.

There are plenty more examples in this sector which show how gamification can be used to great effect, including:

- MINI’s Getaway Stockholm challenge – where the City of Stockholm provided the backdrop for the world’s largest reality board game. [Link]

- Volkswagen’s The Fun Theory (The Speed Camera Lottery) – which tested the hypothesis, “Can we get more people to obey the speed limit by making it fun to do?” [Link]

- Ford Focus Rally – an interactive pan-American cross-country road rally with the grand prize of $100,000 and a brand new 2012 Ford Focus. [Link]

- Citroën DS4SEEKERS Competition – an online and mobile competition in a multi-player game of hide and seek for a chance to win a New Citroën DS4. [Link]

If you haven’t already scrolled past all the marketing speak, then take a look at the remaining viral clips featuring Lewis and Jenson overdubbed with the voice of an actor. They might just inspire you to create the perfect caption that wins you a visit to the most impressive F1 facility on the planet.

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes – Hands Up

Just how hot does Jenson look in his new uniform?

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes – Coin

What does Jenson keep in his pockets when he’s driving?

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes – Jenson Excited

Ever wondered what goes through Jenson’s mind when he’s driving?

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes – Lewis Solo

Ever wondered what Lewis and Jenson chat about on the phone?

Disclosure: This article is sponsored in part by Vodafone, however all views expressed within are entirely our own. We’ve used it to illustrate our wider feature on digital marketing within automotive and motorsport. Sponsored articles are accepted at our own discretion and only where we believe such additional focus or analysis will benefit our readers. If you have any questions or would like to discuss this article further, then get in touch via email or using the contact tab on this page.

Following a 12 year stint in F1 from 1989 to 2001, Alesi moved onto DTM racing and then last year made his most recent competitive race appearance in the Le Mans Series. In January 2011 he joined Group Lotus as a brand ambassador and development consultant on the F1 customer race car, the T125. Although never straying far from the race track, the Indy 500 and oval racing represent completely new challenges for Jean.

Commenting on the announcement Jean Alesi said: “I’m thrilled that Lotus has given me the opportunity to compete in such a world famous race. It’s going to be a very special experience for me but I also know that I have a lot of hard work ahead. I’m very focused on the task I’m facing – I’m taking my training very seriously, I have some amazing support on this front from a ‘comeback’ expert and of course I will be testing extensively. I’m really excited about the race.”

Jean’s development role with Group Lotus will stand him in good stead as he prepares for his new challenge as he will be competing in a Lotus powered by the new Lotus IndyCar engine. Development of the 2.2-litre twin turbocharged V6 is going to schedule with the first engine fire-up set for mid October and track testing planned to commence in December.

Group Lotus Director of Corporate Operations Gino Rosato said: “IndyCar racing represents a really important element of our overall motorsport program. The Indy 500 is the highlight of the race calendar, the atmosphere is always incredible and having Jean racing for us there will make it extra special.”

With the 9th generation Civic soon to be revealed at Frankfurt, Northampton-based MUGEN Euro have worked their magic again, producing a final version of the MUGEN Type R with even more power and torque.

The cylinder bore and stroke have been increased to create an overall capacity of 2,156cc, so the car has been christened the Honda Civic Type R MUGEN 2.2.

The result of the change is a boost in engine output from 237 to 256 bhp, and additional torque throughout the rev range. Peak torque is now 240Nm at 6,000rpm and compared to a standard Honda Civic Type R, both power and torque are up 30 per cent.

When coupled to the host of motorsport-derived components created exclusively by MUGEN – including sports suspension, uprated brakes and a stunning performance bodykit the Type R MUGEN 2.2. is the most extreme expression of the Honda Civic Type R philosophy.

As well as marking a swansong for the 8th generation Civic, it has also been created as a fitting tribute to the highly successful Honda K20 2.0-litre petrol engine, which has ceased production in Japan. Homologated by MUGEN as an FIA Group N race series engine, the K20 has become one of the most admired naturally aspirated performance engines and has provided the basis for almost 400 race and rally competitors around the world.

Hiro Toyoda, vice-president of MUGEN Euro, commented: “Environmental pressures mean naturally aspirated engines are rapidly being superseded by other engine architectures and technologies. We may never see the like of the K20 in a mainstream production car again, so felt it only fitting we mark the occasion with this special 2.2 version of the Honda Civic Type R”.

Unusually, plans for the 2.2 car have yet to be finalised. MUGEN Euro may invite buyers of the original 2.0 MUGEN Type R to return their cars for an upgrade, or offer the new 2.2-litre package within the four remaining cars from the original production run.

At the £38,599 price charged for the original version, we’re not surprised only 16 cars found a home, but perhaps this final edition might tempt a few more of you.

Gallery

A decision on these two proposals is expected shortly.

The power increase of the rear-mounted, 4-litre flat six engine was achieved through optimisation of the intake system. The gearing of the sequential six-speed dog-type gearbox was adapted to the increased power. In order to improve traction, the 911 GT3 R has featured a sophisticated ex-works traction control system since the 2010 model year.

If you’re confused about the hierarchy of Porsche’s customer racing vehicles, the 911 GT3 R represents the ‘mid-range’ model. The 911 GT3 Cup, as used in the many Porsche Carrera Cup series around the world is the ‘entry level model. Then ranking above the 911 GT3 R is the 911 GT3 RSR, built for GT2 racing, which competes in series like the American Le Mans Series, the Le Mans Series and at the Le Mans 24 hour race.

The new Porsche 911 GT3 R will be delivered to teams from November 2011 and will cost 304,500 Euro plus the value added tax of respective countries. The Porsche 911 GT3 R from the 2010 and 2011 model years can be upgraded to the 2012-spec and an upgrade kit is available from Porsche Motorsport for 43,100 Euro.

David Coulthard, a 13-time Grand Prix winner and former Red Bull Racing driver, served as Cruise’s instructor for the day with support from a 12-person crew, who flew in from the team’s base in the UK.

Before the event Coulthard said, “We’ve come to America to help promote Grand Prix racing coming back and it will be in Austin, Texas next year. We had the chance to bring the car here and to do some laps with Tom Cruise. Anyone who follows the movies will know that he’s got a lot of track experience and it was an opportunity for him really to just find out what a Formula One car can do.”

Cruise was a good student and impressed DC with his eagerness to listen. Coulthard’s advice was simple, “The only thing that’s different from normal performance cars is having the clutch on the wheel but it literally is just like a motorbike. Release the clutch gently like you would on a motorbike.”

When Cruise asked how much throttle to give it, DC told him to just “..cover the throttle. The idle of the engine is about 6000 rpm, so you literally need to just add a millimetre of throttle to move forwards.” Sounds easy eh?

After just a few laps Cruise was able to bury the throttle and reached a top speed of 181 mph (291 km/h) around the 2.5 (4km) mile circuit – just 4 mph off the top speed of his instructor.

DC said, “For someone who is so skilled in his main career he is able to take in information very quickly and then go and replay that on the racetrack. He’s been to a lot of tracks and done a lot of laps so he’s got the visual, he understands about how you take a car around a racetrack.”

At the end of the session Coulthard was full of praise for his illustrious student, “For the amount of laps he actually did it was remarkable how quickly he got up to speed. Yeah I’ve got no doubt and I’m not being kind here, I have no doubt that if he wanted to put some serious time in to driving most types of cars, you know with a few days of proper running, he could be running some really good times.”

It wasn’t all plain sailing though, at one point Cruise pushed a little too hard and left the circuit but still had time to make a humourous quip, “It’s not as good off-road as it is on the track.” The adrenaline fuelled actor had this to say after getting out of the car, “It’s so smooth that thing is unreal. I was just really getting a feel for the braking a little bit, I was like alright. That was so much fun.”

After his impressive turn behind the wheel, Cruise jumped into the Red Bull aerobatic helicopter with ace pilot Chuck Aaron for a few more thrills, performing loops and rolls above the circuit.

The Red Bull F1 car has been appearing across the U.S. recently to mark the stateside return of Formula 1 racing in 2012 at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.

Images: Red Bull

Gallery

The first documentary, produced by leading short film label, Future Shorts, will be released in late August, ahead of Rounds 19-21 of the BTCC at Knockhill.

To give you an idea of what to expect, we’ve got hold of a trailer for the series of shorts..

The team is heading to Snetterton this weekend (6/7 August) for Rounds 16-18 of the championship with its driver pairing, Matt Neal and Gordon ‘Flash’ Shedden, currently in first and third position in the drivers’ points.

At the halfway point of the year the team are looking to extend their championship lead over the remaining 15 rounds.

Neal explains: “Our Civic is one of the best handling cars on the grid, but you can always keep refining things and that is what we did at the test. We were chipping away at the suspension settings trying to find an extra edge. Although there has been a seven-week break in the championship, our team never stands still in the quest to make the Civic even stronger.”

A rule change from the championship bosses will peg back Neal’s and Shedden’s cars and force them to run with less turbo boost pressure this weekend but Neal says that the homework done by the team should keep the car at the front.

Snetterton – a new track for the BTCC

The Snetterton circuit has been completely remodelled since last season and now features a new three-mile configuration with a demanding infield section. ‘Flash’ Gordon says that the challenge will be ramped up for everyone.

“It is like going to a totally new track,” says Flash. “It has new sections that are twisty, but there are still the long straights and they will play into our hands.”

“My prime target is to cut the gap to Matt at the top of the points standings. The championship has been so tight and competitive this season and we have already seen that it can alter dramatically over the course of any given weekend. If I can leave Snetterton having narrowed the gap to Matt and made Honda one-two in the drivers’ points, then I will be happy.”

The first of the weekend’s three races kicks off at 12.10am on Sunday and the entire day’s action will be shown live on ITV4.

Six customer teams will be lining up on the North Loop with the racing version of Mercedes’ gull-wing model, including 3 cars from Black Falcon while Mamerow Racing, Heico Motorsport, Horn Motorsport, ROWE RACING and Race & Events GmbH will be at the starting line with one SLS AMG GT3 each.

Besides the performance of Mercedes gull-wing supercar, development has focused strongly on meeting the stringent safety standards of the championship as well as using the SLS AMG GT3 as a test bed to improve the already high standard of Mercedes race cars.

One prominent feature in the interior of the SLS AMG GT3 is the bucket seat, which is positioned within a safety cell of high-strength CFRP (carbon-fibre reinforced plastic) as in Mercedes’ DTM cars. And thanks to its special shape within the safety cell, which is bolted to the rollover cage and the aluminium space-frame, it provides considerably higher protection for the driver’s shoulders, hips and legs together with the HANS system (Head and Neck Support).

You may be surprised to hear that the racing GT3 model retains the gull-wing doors of its road going sibling. Like the production SLS AMG, the GT3 version is equipped with four pyrotechnical elements on the hinges of the gull-wing doors. These allow a rapid exit for the driver, or fast access by emergency personnel, should the vehicle be lying on its roof after an accident.

They are activated by the driver, using a switch on the centre console. Should he be incapable of doing this himself, the emergency personnel are able to pull on a ring easily located on the lower edge of the windscreen and marked “Emergency Exit”. The four pyrotechnical elements are then triggered, and release two roof hinges retaining each of the two gull-wing doors.

In addition the SLS AMG GT3 has polycarbonate side windows which can be easily removed by the driver or emergency personnel after an accident. The crash-protected location of the battery next to the centre tunnel, as well as the interior and exterior switches cutting off the power circuit, further demonstrate the efforts made for the greatest possible protection of the SLS AMG GT3′s driver.

VLN races at a glance:

• 2 April 2011: 58th ADAC Westphalia race
• 30 April 2011: 36th DMV 4-hour race
• 14 May 2011: 42nd Adenauer ADAC Circuit Trophy
• 28 May 2011: 53rd ADAC ACAS H&R Cup
• 11 June 2011: 51st ADAC Reinoldus endurance race
• 30 July 2011: 34th RCM DMV Grenzland race
• 27 August 2011: ADAC Ruhr Trophy six-hour race
• 24 September 2011: 43rd ADAC Barbarossa Prize
• 15 October 2011: 35th DMV 250-mile race
• 29 October 2011: 36th DMV Münsterland Trophy
• 10 December 2011: VLN annual prizegiving

Gallery

If you thought Marussia Virgin Racing was just another plaything for some football-club-owning Russian oligarch, then think again – there are real enthusiasts behind the team and an emerging automotive brand that disillusioned Lotus fans might find rewarding to support.

First, a little bit of history..

If you’re familiar with F1, then you’ll know that Richard Branson’s Virgin Group became involved with Formula 1 in 2009, partnering with the Brawn GP team to secure the F1 world championship that year with Jenson Button. It came as something of a surprise thereafter that Virgin chose to form its own team in 2010, taking over the 2009 entry made by Manor Grand Prix and changing the team’s name to Virgin Racing.

Manor Grand Prix was a tie-up between Manor Motorsport and Wirth Research and it was Nick Wirth (previously of Simtek Grand Prix) who took over the role of Technical Director in the subsequent Virgin Racing team. Interestingly Simtek Research which preceded the GP team, was founded by Wirth and ex-FIA president Max Mosley, together with investment from legendary F1 world champion Jack Brabham and sponsorship by the music station MTV Europe. Simtek was also the team which experienced the tragic death of F1 rookie Roland Ratzenberger at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix – the same event which claimed the life of Ayrton Senna.

Virgin Racing began the 2010 season together with a number of key partners including Bridgestone, Carbon Green, Lloyds Banking Group, Clear, CSC, Kappa, FXPro, Oxygen and Russian sports car manufacturer Marussia and in November 2010, Marussia acquired a controlling stake in the team taking over the stake held by Lloyds.

Marussia Virgin Racing’s new engineering director is Nikolai Vladimirovich Fomenko, president of Marussia Motors and a well-known Russian musician and comic actor. Fomenko is also an experienced racing driver, with a career spanning FIA GT and Le Mans Endurance Series championships, including the 24 hours of Le Mans and Daytona and the 12 hours of Sebring. He was also chosen as the host of Top Gear Russia, when it was launched in 2009.

So rather than being another Russian industrial oligarch, Nikolai is without doubt a real ‘car-guy’ with a passion for racing and a solid ambition to build the Russian equivalent of Ferrari, both in terms of road car and racing prowess. His team of Russian investors are similarly idealistic but also intellectual in nature – a technologist, social thinker and brand strategist are perhaps not the kind of profiles you would have expected underpinning Russia’s second ever F1 team.

With the Russian GP set to join the F1 calendar in 2014, there’s still plenty of time for Marussia Virgin Racing to become a competitive team on the grid.

Marussia Motors

If you’ve never heard of Marussia Motors, then don’t worry you’re not alone. Marussia are a new car maker founded in 2007, producing its first design – the mid-engine B1 – in 2008 and the aggressive Marussia B2, which was launched at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2009.

In September 10, 2010 the first Marussia Motors showroom opened in Moscow and the company plans to open two new showrooms in 2011 – in London and Monaco. But it’s not just supercars that will form the Marussia product range, the company plan on revealing 7 new models in 2011 including a new sports coupé, luxury SUV, luxury sedan and a small city car.

The current models also seem surprisingly well priced for the sector they compete within – a starting price of around 100,000 Euros puts the B1 on a par with a Porsche 911.

Marussia are clearly a business with a long-term plan and a team who have now positioned the brand in the most visible form of motor sport on the planet. Let’s hope they succeed where similar car makers such as Spyker failed, but first they’ll need to rise up the grid and compete with Team Lotus, Force India and Torro Rosso in 2011.

In today’s second practice in Melbourne, drivers Timo Glock and Jerome D’Ambrosio were some 2 seconds behind the Lotuses, so despite Marussia’s obvious enthusiasm for the sport there’s still plenty of work to do.

Just 10 days ago the global TV network CNBC announced a commercial media partnership with Marussia Virgin Racing, aimed at developing B2B (business to business) opportunities between MVR’s existing partners using the reach of CNBC’s worldwide TV network and CNBC.com – so expect to see plenty of new F1-related programming and creative ways in which the Marussia brand develops.

Hopefully, like me, you now feel slightly better informed on just who Marussia Virgin Racing are and what to expect in 2011. It will be tough for the team in 2011, given the advances made by other teams during the off-season, but we’re sure they’ll be plenty to keep your eye on, so make sure you check out the team’s award-winning website and the regular magazine features and podcasts produced throughout the season.

Gallery