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Audi R18 E-tron gets new livery, mixes it up in city traffic [w/video]

The 24 Hours of Le Mans is still months away, but Audi Sport apparently can't wait to get started. It has just debuted the new livery for its 2014 R18 E-tron Quattro with a public drive through the streets of the town of Le Mans, while simultaneously announcing that it has a new, larger engine.
Factory driver Tom Kristensen piloted the prototype about six miles from the cathedral in the city center to the famous race track and completed a lap of a shortened version of the course. The car wears a new color scheme, which is similar to what it has raced with in the past, employing a combination of white, silver and red, plus a touch of black. Portions of the car are also reflective to show up better at night. The last time we saw the R18, it was displayed in a black and red livery. The team has also revealed that the 2014 will be powered by a new 4.0-liter diesel V6, an increase of about 300 cubic-centimeters from last season.
Audi Sport said that the stunt was inspired by the classic days of the race when drivers used to arrive to the city in the same cars they were going to race. Even back then, it's doubtful they arrived several months early, though. The 2014 R18 will make its competition debut on April 20 at the Six Hours of Silverstone. Scroll down to watch a video of it making the drive through town and read the full press release.

300-HP 2013 Audi S3 Sportback unwrapped

Not content to let Volkswagen have all of the fun with its GTI and Golf R, Audi is rebooting its five-door S3 Sportback with rather monstrous power. Headed for an official unveil at this year's Geneva Motor Show, the new S3 rolls out with a 300-horsepower, 280-pound-feet of torque turbocharged 2.0-liter TFSI engine under the hood. The four-cylinder powerplant is strong enough to shove the Sportback to 62 miles per hour in just 5.0 seconds when connected to the optional S-Tronic gearbox, or 5.5 seconds with the traditional manual transmission. Top speed is said to be an electronically governed 155 mph. Almost as impressive as those performance figures are the fuel economy ratings: the S- S3 is said to average 34 miles per gallon.
All S3 Sportback models offer Quattro all-wheel drive, ride on a sport-tuned suspension tuned to a lower ride height (about one inch) versus the standard Audi A3. 18-inch wheels with 225-section tires are standard equipment, and 13.39-inch front brakes should offer serious stopping ability.
Audi has done a lot of work shedding pounds from this latest MQB-architecture S3, as well. The car has a curb weight of roughly 3,186 pounds, or some 154 pounds less than the outgoing model. 11 of those pounds were cut via weight-saving measures in the 2.0-liter engine.

Delphi plans automated-driving journey across the United States

Delphi is attempting to become the first company to pilot an automated car across the United States. The global automotive supplier will start a cross-country journey from a location near the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco starting on Sunday, March 22, and cover approximately 3,500 miles on a trip to New York, where it will arrive sometime during the New York Auto Show. Along the way, Delphi engineers will gather data on how the car, an Audi SQ5, performs in a variety of road and weather conditions that the company says could only be tested in a real-world environment. "Delphi had great success testing its car in California and on the streets of Las Vegas," said Jeff Owens, the company's chief technology officer. "Now it's time to put our vehicle to the ultimate test by broadening the range of driving conditions." A formal announcement is expected tomorrow during the SXSW festival in Austin, TX. The company recently demonstrated many of its advanced-safety and automated driving technologies during CES, driving in Las Vegas. The cross-country trip will include tests on its radar, vision and advanced-drive assistance systems, certain vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications, and intelligent software, which includes automated highway pilot with lane-change technology, automated urban pilot and automated parking functions. Though a driver will be behind the wheel throughout the journey, Delphi says its active safety technologies can make complex decisions, like stopping and proceeding at four-way stops, timing highway merges and calculating safe maneuvers around bicyclists. While California has certain motor-vehicle laws that help regulate autonomous vehicles, it was unclear whether Delphi needs special arrangements or permission from other states to conduct automated-vehicle testing elsewhere – or if those concerns might be negated by an active driver. Earlier this year, Audi turned heads at CES by driving an A7 from San Francisco to Las Vegas in a similar display of automated-driving technology. Related video: Image Credit: Delphi CES Audi Technology Emerging Technologies Autonomous Vehicles