Ayrton Senna Documentary Receives Positive Reviews at Sundance Film Festival [with Video]

Seventeen years after the great Ayrton Senna died, the documentary about his life, aptly named 'Senna', was shown at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival last week and was met with critical acclaim. The work of British director Asif Kapadia and screenwriter and executive producer Manish Pandey, Senna tells the story of one of the greatest drivers who ever lived exclusively through archive footage.

That means that all the great racing sequences are there, showing incredible overtaking maneuvers, spectacular crashes and some of the greatest rivalries that Formula 1 has ever seen.

According to the LA Times, the documentary not only shows Senna’s incredibly competitive personality, but also his spiritual side.

“Though he drove like the devil, he was a spiritual person who believed deeply and profoundly in a higher power. A philosophical mystic with a jewel thief's nerves and a poet's sensitivity (and good looks), Senna was an altogether remarkable human being”, the review states.

The Brazilian pilot entered the world of racing driving karts and at the height of his career he won 33 races and three Formula 1 World Championships. Senna died aged 34 in a crash at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.

The official trailer of the Senna documentary is available below.

By Csaba Daradics

Source: LA Times via Autoblog

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VIDEO: First Official Trailer of Fast and Furious 5, aka "Fast Five"

It's been long in the making, but here's the first official trailer of the next chapter in the Fast and Furious franchise. The fifth installment of the car-crazy film, which is being marketed as "Fast 5", brings back together many familiar faces from the previous movies including Vin Diesel as ex-con Dom Toretto, Paul Walker as former cop Brian O'Conner, and Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, as well as some fresh faces such as Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson who plays the role of federal agent Luke Hobbs.

This time the team of car bandits heads to Rio De Janeiro in Brazil. The film is set to be released on April 29, 2011. You can watch the official trailer right after the break and tell us what you think about it in the comments section below.

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Video: Top Gear Releases Trailer from "Christmas Specials 2010" Episode

Set to air on December 26, Top Gear’s [the original] newest Christmas Special will see Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May take the role of the three wise men, as they celebrate Christ’s birth in the Middle East (see a video shoot from Israel here). Other highlights of the show will be drag races between the Mercedes SLS, Porsche GT3 RS and Ferrari 458 Italia, set in the Big Apple. According to BBC’s Youtube channel, Danny Boyle will be the next star in the Reasonably Priced Car. Follow through the break for the video clip.

By Csaba Daradics

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Transformers 3 "Dark of the Moon" Trailer goes Live

Get ready for the third installment of Michael Bay's Transformers franchise as the first trailer of the upcoming new movie called Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon, has hit the air. Being that Megan Fox abandoned the series, we're somewhat less excited about this one, and the new trailer, which gives a fictional twist to Neil Armstrong's 1969 moon landing, ain't helping much either. In any case, you can watch the clip right after the break.

Via: Jalopnik

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Caterham Retires The Stig's Superlight R500 [with VIDEO]

The Caterham Superlight R500 took the world by surprise in 2008 with its 263 hp 2.0-liter naturally aspirated four-pot and sub-3.0 seconds 0-60mph sprint time. The same year it was launched, Top Gear’s racing driver, The Stig, drove it around the show’s test track completing a lap in just 1 minute and 17.9 seconds. That's the seventh fastest official lap time ever recorded on the show, putting to shame “heavyweights” like the Bugatti Veyron.

But everything comes to an end, and today, Caterham announced that the special model is making its final journey next week before being retired from active service.

Caterham Cars’ marketing manager, James Drake, commented: “The white and orange R500 has already claimed its place in motoring history. It’s worked hard since the new R500 was launched in 2008 and we feel it’s now time to let it have a rest. It will still be available as a static display car, but its hard driving days are over. We’re stopping short of wearing black armbands in the office, but it’s still going to be a sad day when its final public engagement is over”.

This will happen after it’s going to be displayed at the Marks & Spencers store in Kent, with the purpose of promoting a new range of remote control R500s. These motorized scale models will be available in the classic color scheme (white with orange stripes), and also in red with white stripes.

It seems that Caterham has no intention of selling the car, so Top Gear enthusiasts will have to be satisfied with the “regular” R500. Those who can’t afford the £40,200 price tag for the real deal, can check out M&S stores this Christmas, where they will be able to buy the RC for just £19.50.

By Csaba Daradics

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Oprah Teases 2012 VW Beetle on Show, Hands Out Free Cars to Audience [with Video]

Love her or hate her, Oprah is one of the most influential women in the USA, and a mere mention of a product on her show can send masses running to buy it. Volkswagen took advantage of Oprah's ability to sway viewers by choosing her show to reveal the design silhouette of its all-new 2012 Beetle. And if that wasn't enough, the TV persona surprised her audience by giving each and every one of them a 2012 Volkswagen Beetle. Well, not now, but when the car comes out in May of 2011.

"Oprah Winfrey and the Volkswagen Beetle are two American icons, so when the "Oprah" show approached us with this incredible opportunity to share her Beetle experience with deserving viewers, we instantly wanted to be a part of it," said Jonathan Browning, President and CEO, Volkswagen Group of America.

"Our all-new 2012 Beetle exemplifies power, styling and sophistication, and is an automotive icon reinvented to create the new shape of performance," he added.

In addition to the styling tease, VW released a statement saying that the "2012 Beetle will be a true, performance driving machine perfected by German engineering, offering a wealth of technologies that will provide a heightened driving experience over the previous generation."

The German company added that the New Beetle's successor, spy pictures of which you can check out below, will offer dual exhaust, 19-inch wheels, sport seats and new, sleeker styling, as well as numerous available features such as touch screen radio, high-grade audio speaker systems, navigation and unique ambient lighting .

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VIDEO: Top Gear Shooting in Israel with BMW Z3, Mazda MX-5 and Fiat Barchetta

Thanks to one of Carscoop's commentators, we can now show you a video of Top Gear's trio of power obsessed presenters -that would be Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond- filming an episode in the Holy Land. As noted in our previous article with the scoop pictures, the cars of choice for Top Gear's latest escapade, are a trio of older generation roadster models - the BMW Z3, Mazda MX-5 and Fiat Barchetta.

There's also a guy with a white racing helmet driving what looks like an old Suzuki Alto, but we're not sure if he's part of the Top Gear crew or if some fans of the show decided to make fun of The Stig. As always, any help with the translation, would be welcome. Watch the video after the jump.

Hat tip to 'Mako'!

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Top Gear Caught Filming Battered Up BMW Z3, Fiat Barchetta and MX-5 at Israel-Jordan Borders

The crew from Top Gear [the original, not the US clone that some are persistently trying to shove down our throat - we get it, it's coming...], was snagged chilling at the border between Israel and Jordan.

According to one of our tipsters, Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond drove their specially modified BMW Z3, Fiat Barchetta and Mazda MX-5 roadsters from Jordan to Israel and their next stop will be at the Golan Heights and at Nazareth. Maybe we'll get some new photos from the shoot, but for now, enjoy some high-res pics after the jump.

Hat tip to Ran!

Source: Hwzone

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Bumblebee Camaro Crashes into Real Cop Car During Filming of Transformers 3

BUMBLEBEE is racing down a side street to catch up with the other AUTOBOTS, who have found another piece of the ALLSPARK. Suddenly, a DECEPTICON POLICE SUV appears and cuts BUMBLBEE off!

Well, not really, but it sure looks like that in this video. According to The Washington Post, the story goes that a Metropolitan Police SUV was on its way to investigate a suspicious package in the D.C. area when it strayed onto the Transformers 3 set.

Just at that moment, a yellow Chevrolet Camaro a.k.a. "Bumblebee" rounded a corner and slammed into the right side of the police vehicle in the sort of scene you previously would only have seen in a Michael Bay movie.

District Police spokeswoman Tisha Gant told The New York Times that the officer driving the SUV was taken to a local hospital and that the driver of the Camaro was uninjured.

The Camaro seems to be the worst off of the two, having sustained damage to its front end up to the wheel wells. All of us here at Carscoop are hoping and praying that Bumblebee will be okay...

By Tristan Hankins

Via: The Washington Post

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Vin Diesel's 1970 Dodge Charger RT from Fast & Furious Movie Up For Sale

The Volo Auto Museum in Illinois has put up for sale this matte gray 1970 Dodge Charger RT, which it claims was one of the cars driven by Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto in the 2009 Fast and Furious movie. The muscle car has all the expected custom touches like a sports steering wheel, stripped and customized interior and massive bonnet scoop.

There isn't much information on the dealer's site, other than the fact it's an automatic V8 and that the appraised value is US$200,000. That's rather high, given that Hemmings values a 1970 Dodge Charger RT around the US$28,995 to $74,900 mark. Then again, those vehicles didn't make it to Hollywood.

Fortunately, this one is selling for the low, low price of $129,998, or about $55k over a pristine non-movie car for the privilege of owning a vehicle that may or may not have had its seats caressed by Vin Diesel's tushie.

Link: Volo

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