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Seat officially unveils new Toledo

One week after leaked images appeared online and just a few days after its sister car, the Škoda Rapid, was revealed, the Seat Toledo has taken a bow. Expected to "write a whole new success story" for the Seat, the five-door and its "timeless personality" has a mission to be "a great car for a great price." All of which sounds like the Spanish marque really has very little to say about their new model, eh?
In contrast to the Škoda's seven powerplant options, three will be on the Seat menu at launch: two petrol-flavored offerings in the form of a 1.2-liter, 73-horsepower TSI and a 1.4-liter, 119-hp TSI, and an oil-burning 1.6-liter, 102-hp TDI. Next year, a less potent 1.6-liter, 88-hp diesel will be added to the range.
We'll have live shots of it from the Paris Auto Salon floor later this fall, after which it will appear in Spanish and Portuguese showrooms before exports expand to other parts of the world. Prices will be announced closer to launch, so scroll down for a presser with the other details on Seat's new baby.

McLaren P1 LM is the world's most extreme, exclusive supercar

As fast as it is, and as deep as its manufacturer's roots may run in motor racing, the McLaren P1 was designed from the get-go as a road-going supercar. The subsequent P1 GTR adapted it for use exclusively on the track, but now Lanzante has put it back on the road in the form of the new P1 LM. For those unfamiliar, Lanzante is the outfit that campaigned the original McLaren F1 GTR to such great success at Le Mans back in 1995. Following the 28 examples of the F1 GTR, McLaren built another six examples of the F1 LM, kept one and sold the other five – each based on the GTR's specs but modified for road use. Now Lanzante has unearthed that playbook again with the release of the new McLaren P1 LM. Among the steps Lanzante took in transforming the P1 GTR to road spec involved retuning the hybrid powertrain to keep the output at 986 horsepower while running on 99-octane pump gas and at higher temperatures. The automaker saved a good 130 pounds compared to the GTR by ditching the onboard air-jacking system, fitting polycarbonate windows, refabricating the exhaust and cat pipes out of lightweight Inconel and the bolts out of titanium. It even insulated the engine bay in gold leaf – just like the original F1. Lanzante also fitted an exposed carbon-fiber roof, new rolling stock and steering wheel (replete with switchgear like a modern grand prix racer's). It trimmed the interior in Alcantara, and mounted a bigger front splitter and rear wing to increase downforce by 40 percent. The result ought to make for one frighteningly extreme ride, likely to be capable of embarrassing just about anything else on the road or track. We'll try not to be too tempted, though, as Lanzante – mirroring the original – will only make six examples and sell five: one in dark gray (like the prototype pictured) and another four in orange. Given the extensive modifications and the $2 million or so McLaren charged for the P1 GTR in the first place, we don't even want to know how much it would cost to put one in our driveway. We'll be watching, though, to see it run up the hill at Goodwood tomorrow at the hands of McLaren factory driver (and former Indy 500 winner) Kenny Brack, who'll also set up each of the customer examples at the Nurburgring. Related Video: THE McLAREN P1 LM Background Lanzante Ltd. first became globally synonymous with the McLaren name when it ran the semi-works McLaren F1 GTR that won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1995.

2015 Japanese Grand Prix is a little Mercedes, a lot of zen

Just one week on from the issues in Singapore Mercedes-AMG Petronas appeared to have solved its clamp problems and everything else. Daniil Kvyat at Infiniti Red Bull Racing took the two Free Practice scalps on Friday, but when it came time for qualifying the front of the grid looked really familiar: Mercedes' Nico Rosberg took his second pole position of the season, Lewis Hamilton next to him in second. Kvyat had a hand in that, too, the Russian getting into a big accident in Q3 when he put two wheels on the grass heading into the hairpin and veered into the tire wall so hard that he flipped. That ended qualifying before a number of drivers had a chance to improve their times, Hamilton among them. That's how Valtteri Bottas got in third for Willliams ahead of Sebastian Vettel fourth for Ferrari. Felipe Massa had the second Williams in fifth, ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in the second Ferrari. Daniel Ricciardo lined up sixth for Infiniti Red Bull Racing, a team we're going to have to enjoy watching for the rest of the season since it might not exist come 2016. Romain Grosjean gave Lotus some good news by getting into eighth, the team so strapped for cash that it couldn't get into its hospitality area, so it held press conferences outside and ate at Bernie Ecclestone's Paddock Club. Sergio Perez took ninth for Sahara Force India, and Kvyat slotted into tenth after not setting a time. The Russsian's race would begin from the pit lane once his mechanics rebuilt his car. It wouldn't be a Formula One start lately without someone at the front having clutch problems. This time it was pole man Rosberg, whose power unit got too hot and put him a few horsepower down on Hamilton through Turns 1 and 2. That's half of how Hamilton took the lead from the lights going out, and the Brit kept it throughout the race. Rosberg, however, said his race was lost when Hamilton pushed him wide through Turn 2, a move Hamilton defended. Rosberg finished almost 19 seconds behind his teammate, a gap that probably isn't fully explained by that opening incident. Hamilton's race was so uneventful that we almost never saw him on camera – that is, we saw him so much less than we usually see him when he's out in front and unpressured that Nikki Lauda said he'd ask Ecclestone why the cameras avoided him. The conspiracy theory holds that FOM was punishing Mercedes for not supplying Red Bull with engines next year.