Work is under way to develop a hotter version of Ingolstadt's sports coupe, one packing 280 hp. Likely to be badged the TTS, it promises to be a real alternative to the Porsche Cayman when it goes onsale in 2008 for around 50,000 Euros ($73,000 USD).

The TTS will use the same 2.0L TFSI engine from the Audi S3, but will get bumped up to 280 hp, channeled through Audi's full-time AWD Quattro system and a six-speed manual. The DSG dual-clutch system will also be available as an option.

Expect sporty styling with bespoke wheels, alloy-effect door mirrors, aggressive bumpers, S-batches on the brakes and sill extensions.

Filler for eNews

Filler for eNews

California filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for failing to act on the state’s tailpipe emissions waiver request. Earlier this year, Governor Schwarzenegger notified the federal government that a lawsuit would be filed if the EPA continued to delay action on California's request for authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions for cars and light trucks sold in the state. Fourteen other states are expected to join the suit, including Massachusetts, New York, Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Pennsylvania.

Under the Federal Clean Air Act, California has the right to set stricter vehicle emissions standards if state officials obtain a waiver from the EPA. The waiver request was made in response to legislation enacted in California to establish new standards for motor-vehicle greenhouse gas emissions beginning in model year 2009, with the goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions from new vehicles by nearly 30% by model year 2016.

For details, contact Steve McDonald at stevem@sema.org.

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) approved an expanded strategy for curbing greenhouse gas emissions. CARB agreed to develop six new proposed rules that must be in place by 2010 and five new proposed measures that must be implemented by 2012. The Board also directed staff to develop policies that encourage businesses to voluntarily reduce the emissions linked to global warming.

Among other things, the new proposed measures would require big trucking rigs to be retrofitted with devices that reduce aerodynamic drag and increase fuel efficiency; reduce the use of propellants in certain aerosol consumer products, such as tire inflators and products for cleaning electronics; and require automobile service centers to ensure tires are properly inflated when servicing vehicles.

For details, contact Steve McDonald at stevem@sema.org.

SEMA-model legislation to create a vehicle registration classification for street rods and custom vehicles and provide for special license plates for these vehicles was approved by the Massachusetts Legislature’s Joint Transportation Committee. The chairman of the committee indicated that the bill will be fast-tracked through the process.

The bill allows kit cars and replica vehicles to be assigned a certificate of title bearing the same model-year designation as the production vehicle they most closely resemble. The bill was amended in committee to eliminate the minimal one-time registration fee provision to accommodate current state law governing antique vehicles. The bill next heads to the Ways and Means Committee.

For details, contact Steve McDonald at stevem@sema.org.

Filler for eNews

One of the highest honors a car builder can receive these days is inclusion into the best-selling racing video game franchise, Gran Turismo. Marcel Horn’s 2007 Audi TT will be the latest to enjoy a coveted place in the game as a feature vehicle that enthusiasts can select and race.

Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc., publisher of the Gran Turismo series, awarded Horn, president of British Columbia-based HPA Motorsports, both the Best European Import and coveted Best in Show honor at its fifth annual Gran Turismo awards held in conjunction with the 2007 SEMA Show. This year's event featured a distinguished lineup of automotive entries from top SEMA Show exhibitors representing five categories.

"The 2007 Gran Turismo Awards showcases the collaboration between the automotive culture and the gaming industry," said Kazunori Yamauchi, creator of the racing franchise and president of developer Polyphony Digital, Inc. "We are proud to honor auto enthusiasts for their passion of cars and to celebrate the automotive lifestyle that Gran Turismo embodies." 

Horn’s Audi TT will feature, along with last year's Best in Show award-winning '60 Chevrolet Corvette, in Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, available on Playstation 3 in North America in 2008.

Prior to the SEMA Show, exhibitors are invited to register their car for the Gran Turismo Awards, which honor five automotive categories including Best Domestic, Best European Import, Best Hot Rod, Best Japanese Import and Best Truck/SUV. The winners of each category go head-to-head in a final round of competition for Best in Show.

The judging panel consists of respected automotive journalists who have been chosen for their individual expertise to evaluate contestants. Best of Class winners are determined by each judge solely on their choice for the vehicle with the most well-balanced performance, style and speed. The Best in Show award is selected from the five category winners by Gran Turismo creator Yamauchi. 

This is Horn’s second Best in Show award; his Volkswagen R32 took top honors in 2004 and can be seen in the current Gran Turismo 4 game.

Other category winners included:
Best Domestic Automobile: Gary Cheney, 2007 Factory Five GTM
Best Hot Rod: Jim and Mike Ring, '67 Ford Mustang Fastback
Best Japanese Import: Michael Chung, 2007 Nissan 350Z
Best Truck/SUV: Mike DeFord, 2007 Dodge Ram

Best of Show winner Marcel Horn hoists his trophy—a custom-designed Playstation3 console—alongside Gran Turismo creator Kazunori Yamauchi.

For more information, visit www.playstation.com

For the first time in its history, Hot Wheels has invited outside artists to design and create an original Hot Wheels vehicle. The company says that its inaugural “Hot Wheels Designer’s Challenge” is a way for the brand to honor its automotive partners and get them to participate in its 40th anniversary celebration in 2008. Selected designs will form the basis of a new 40th anniversary Designer's Challenge product line to hit store shelves in spring 2008.

"This is the first time in Hot Wheels history that we've turned outside the company to seek new car designs,” said Geoff Walker, vice president of wheels marketing, Mattel Brands. “Who better to go to than our automotive partners who have been a part of Hot Wheels history for the last 40 years? We couldn't be more thrilled with the results of this program, and we're anxious to see the designs come to life as 1:64-scale models."

Automotive manufacturer participants in the Hot Wheels Designer's Challenge—Dodge, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Lotus and Mitsubishi—were tasked with designing a car that captured the die-cast brand's core essence of speed, power, performance and attitude, while encompassing the distinct attributes of each company's automotive brand values. Each car also had to perform a loop on a classic Hot Wheels orange track.

The top three designs from each automotive manufacturer were selected and presented to a panel of judges that included editors from the Los Angeles Times, Car and Driver, and Men's Journal, along with Hot Wheels designers and executives. 

The designs selected for the Hot Wheels Designer's Challenge line include:

Dodge XP-07 (Dodge, designed by Marc Reisen)

Gangster Grin (Ford, designed by Steve Gilmore)

Chevroletor (General Motors, designed by Amaury Diaz-Serrano)

Honda Racer (Honda, designed by Guillermo Gonzalez)

Lotus Concept (Lotus, designed by Steven Crijns)

Mitsubishi Double Shotz (Mitsubishi, designed by Gary Ragle)

HW-40 (Hot Wheels, designed by Jun Imai)

NEWS NUGGETS

NHRA POWERADE SERIES AWARDS CEREMONY ON ESPN2: The 2007 NHRA POWERade Series Awards Ceremony, held at the Westin Bonaventure in downtown Los Angeles on November 5, will air on ESPN2 on Sunday, November 18, at 11:00 a.m. The one-hour show will feature highlights from the gala event where Tony Schumacher, Tony Pedregon, Jeg Coughlin and Matt Smith were crowned NHRA POWERade Series world champions in their respective categories.

WILKERSON CLAIMS $25,000 MOTEL 6 WHO GOT THE LIGHT? AWARD: Funny Car racer Tim Wilkerson won the $25,000 Motel 6 Who Got the Light? award for the 2007 season with his .0013-second margin of victory over Tony Pedregon during the second round of eliminations at the Torco Racing Fuels NHRA Nationals, October 7, at Virginia Motorsports Park near Richmond, Virginia.

Wilkerson and Gary Scelzi tied for recording the overall narrowest margin of victory for the season, both with a .0013-second margin of victory.  Wilkerson's victory for the season-long title was determined via tiebreaker, which awards the title to the driver with the lowest average margin of victory for all elimination rounds during the 2007 season. Wilkerson, from Springfield, Illinois, drives the Levi, Ray & Shoup Chevy Impala and is the second Funny Car driver to win the season award. Cruz Pedregon claimed it in 2005. All other season winners have been Pro Stock drivers: Richie Stevens Jr., Steve Johns, Scott Geoffrion, Larry Morgan and Jim Yates.

KRAWIEC SIGNS EXTENSION WITH VANCE & HINES: Eddie Krawiec has signed a contract extension and will continue to be part of the Screamin' Eagle/Vance & Hines Motorsports Pro Stock Motorcycle team for the next two seasons.  Krawiec joined the team in February—just in time for the March season opener in Gainesville, Florida. Krawiec earned a trip to the semifinals in that first race with the team. He went on to finish in seventh place in the 2007 NHRA POWERade Pro Stock Motorcycle standings, making two final-round appearances this season.

“Eddie was a great addition to the team this year," Harley-Davidson Racing Manager Anne Paluso said. "He had great riding capability before he joined the team, and they just improved each race. He was a great asset to the Screamin' Eagle team, and we're excited about him staying with the program for the next two seasons."

COMING ATTRACTIONS

CARQUEST AUTO PARTS WINTERNATIONALS, AUTO CLUB RACEWAY AT POMONA, FEBRUARY 7–10: Kick-off the 2008 NHRA POWERade Series Countdown to the Championship at the historic track where last year’s winners included J.R. Todd, Gary Scelzi and Greg Anderson.

HE SAID, SHE SAID

SCHUMACHER SAYS COUNTDOWN PRODUCES DRAMATIC FINISHES: Tony Schumacher pulled off another last-round dramatic performance to win the 2007 POWERade Top Fuel world championship. This time he became the inaugural winner of the POWERade Countdown to the Championship, NHRA’s first championship playoff system. Schumacher, whose first four championships came under the old points system, says he likes the new format’s unpredictability.

"The Countdown was designed to slow down teams like ours,” Schumacher said. “The NHRA didn't want big teams clinching the championship with half a dozen races left. They wanted it to go down to the end and it did. It's a lot more fun this way. I wish everyone that wins a championship would win it at the end. And it's a lot better to get it by winning the rounds you need instead of waiting on the sidelines for someone else to lose."

WHO’S HOT!

COUGHLIN GOES 7–1 IN COUNTDOWN TO ONE: Jeg Coughlin produced an amazing 7–1 eliminations record during the Countdown to One—the best of any racer in any category—to earn the 2007 NHRA POWERade Series world championship in Pro Stock. Coughlin posted a runner-up finish in Las Vegas and then drove his Jegs.com Chevy Cobalt to victory at the Auto Club NHRA Finals in Pomona, California, to earn the championship trophy. It is Coughlin’s third POWERade Series crown, as the Delaware, Ohio, native also earned series titles in 2000 and 2002.

"The excitement of the Countdown was impossible to ignore,” Coughlin said. “The media coverage was better than it's ever been before. I think we're really onto something here, and I'm darn proud to carry the title of POWERade champion again."

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

87: The number of days remaining for NHRA race teams to fine-tune their machines in preparation for the 2008 NHRA POWERade Countdown to the Championship. The season kicks off at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, California, with the CARQUEST Auto Parts Winternationals, February 7–10.

DRIVERS TELL ALL

FULLER HAS KNEE SURGERY: Top Fuel runner-up “Hot Rod” Fuller underwent successful surgery last Friday to repair a damaged knee that he hurt in Norwalk, Ohio, when he attempted to jump over a fence in the staging lanes. Dr. Vern Prochaska, a noted orthopedic surgeon in Henderson, Nevada, performed a total reconstruction of the knee that took nearly three hours to complete.

"It turned out the ACL was totally ruptured and had to be replaced with a donor ACL," Fuller told Rob Geiger of NHRA.com. "Plus, because I was walking around on it for six months, the medial and lateral tendons were damaged also. It was a real mess." 

Fuller will be on crutches for at least six weeks, and it may take up to a year for him to fully recover.

"The main thing is that my body accepts the donor ACL," Fuller said. "It's pretty wild that we did all that work promoting Donate Life (shareyourlife.org) a few years ago and then I end up needing something myself. We talked about being a donor and how it can help someone else's quality of life, and now I'll be living proof of that. I'm glad to be done with it. My knee's been hurting for so long now. I'm not going to have much fun this off-season but by testing I should be feeling great. It's been really cool to receive all the e-mails and calls from everyone. Please let them know I'm doing fine."

For more information, visit www.nhra.com.