An unmistakable silhouette and exceptional technology for its time is typical of the Bugatti Type 57 SC Atlantic of 1936 (center gallery). The creator of this stunning vehicle was Jean Bugatti, the eldest son of the brand's founder Ettore.

Jean Bugatti was born in Cologne on January 15, 1909, the eldest son of the brand's founder Ettore Bugatti. His full name was Gianroberto Carlo Rembrandt Ettore Bugatti, in honor of his father's Italian roots, from whom he later took the French call sign Jean.

Important name in the automotive industry
Jean became interested in cars as a child and in the business of his father, who opened his manufacturing plant in Molsheim in January 1910. Jean spent most of his time in the workshop and in the production facilities of the young company.

Soon the combined expertise of Jean and Ettore Bugatti made the company one of the most important names in the automotive industry. At the age of 27, Jean then took over the management from his father.

Passion and flair for shapes and aesthetics
In addition to automotive engineering, Jean's particular passion was design. With a keen sense of form and aesthetics, he created models that would influence the automotive industry for decades to come. He designed the first Bugatti models at the age of 21.

With the Type 41 Royale, Ettore Bugatti presented the most powerful, largest and most luxurious car in the world in 1926. Two years later, Jean Bugatti designed the six-meter-long, two-seater Type 41 Royal Roadster Esders convertible.

Monument on the Bugatti site in Molsheim
ean Bugatti died on August 11, 1939, at the age of only 30, in a car accident in Duppigheim, not far from the Bugatti factory. Today, a small monument stands in his honor at the site of the accident.

However, the legacy of Jean and his father Ettore lives on to this day at the Château St. Jean and the Bugatti site in Molsheim.

bugatti.com

Impressive scenes from the penultimate and most difficult stage from Toyota Gazoo Racing's point of view.

Since the short starting leg on January 1, Nasser Al-Attiyah in the Toyota GR DKR Hilux T1+ with V6 turbo engine has been leading the overall classification. The desert fox from Qatar did not primarily impress with his speed, but with his consistency and serenity.

Al-Attiyah was content with the best times on the two-part first stage and on the fourth leg of the day. After that, he focused his race entirely on his fast pursuer Sébastien Loeb in a BRX Hunter Buggy constructed by Prodrive in England.

 Error-free in all areas
While Nasser did not make a single gross driving error, his French co-driver Matthieu Baumel navigated him just as flawlessly through all the difficulties in the terrain. The technology of the Hilux developed by Toyota Gazoo Racing in South Africa also functioned almost flawlessly despite all the hardships.

Thus, Nasser Al-Attiyah clinched the first Dakar victory in Saudi Arabia and the fourth after three successes in South America.

Nasser Al-Attiyah: "This victory is very important for me because I come from this region. After two second places I achieved my big goal, but this was only possible because everything in the team worked perfectly. I only ever took as many risks as I needed to in order to reach the respective daily goal without losing too much time. You have to treat the Dakar Rally with respect."

Loeb narrowly misses out on first Dakar win
Record rally world champion Loeb was beaten by a mere 27 minutes in the end. The Alsatian thus equaled his best result of 2017 to date - the first Dakar triumph is his last great career ambition.

Following the podium ceremony, Loeb immediately headed to Europe to prepare for the Rally Monte Carlo, which he will contest next week in a new Puma Hybrid Rally1 with the M-Sport Ford World Rally Team.

Saudi Yazeer Al Rajhi, navigated by British professional Michael Orr, took third place on the podium in last year's Toyota Hilux with a V8 engine. He was a credit to the host country.

Audi shows its potential
With one stage win each for all three drivers in the second rally week, Team Audi Sport underlined the potential of the RS Q e-tron. On the almost 400-kilometer SS8 of January 10, Ekström, Peterhansel and Sainz even took 1st, 2nd and 4th place.

Without the enormous time loss due to navigation problems on the second day of the rally, Mattias Ekström as the best of the Audi trio could have finished third instead of ninth overall.

Challenging route
The Dakar Rally covered a total of 4120.9 kilometers. In addition to dunes of every variety and fast sand tracks, the program also included trial-like scree sections, winding gravel paths through canyons, fesh-fesh and camel grass.

Many valleys and canyons, numerous parallel and intersecting paths presented the co-drivers with tricky tasks - frequent wayfinding was aided by inaccurate roadbooks.

The complete ranking list and all results of the individual stages and categories are available on the official homepage.

dakar.com

Audi, BMW and Mercedes drop out, Maserati joins: From 2023, the sports car brand from the Stellantis Group will take part in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship. The first Italian car brand in the racing series for all-electric vehicles intends to compete in season 9 with the Gen3 monoposti, the most powerful Formula E racing cars to date.

Perfect platform
For Maserati CEO Davide Grasso, the Formula E World Championship offers the perfect platform to showcase the brand's racing heritage with the new "Folgore" electric mobility concept. Accordingly, all new models from the Grecale, GranTurismo and GranCabrio to the MC20 super sports car will be available as fully electric versions.

Davide Grasso: "We are very proud to return to where we belong as protagonists of the racing world. It's not for nothing that our motto is: Powered by Passion. Innovative by Nature. We look back on a long history of excellence in competition and are prepared to continue to perform in the future."

The gallery shows three successful racing models from Maserati's long motorsport history.

maserati.ch

The official teaser for the 24H Dubai 2022 and the field of participants once again lead us to expect a lot of action on and around the race track.

The Gulf 12H Abu Dhabi already took place on January 8. But the two-part half marathon was quantitatively weakly occupied and counted to no championship.

With second place overall and class victory for a Mercedes-AMG GT3 driven by Christoph Lenz, among others, and third place for the Ferrari 488 GTE entered by Kessel Racing, there were at least two successes with Swiss participation.

Strong season opener
The starting position is different and more difficult this week for the Swiss teams and drivers at the 24 Hours of Dubai. Since 2006, the endurance race in the United Arab Emirates, which is part of the popular 24H Series organized by the Dutch agency Creventic, has been the traditional international season opener with massive participation by teams and drivers from all over the world.

This year, on Friday, around 80 GT and touring car teams (see provisional start list of January 11) will be at the start. Around 20 pilots and two teams come from Switzerland.

Two Swiss Dubai overall winners there
A good two dozen GT3 teams with strong drivers are in the running for the overall victory, with a number of Swiss drivers in the field. Daniel Allemann from Solothurn, for example, last finished second overall at the inaugural 24H Sebring in Florida in November with his trusted German teammates in a Porsche 911 GT3 R and won in Dubai five years ago.

Rolf Ineichen also knows how to do it. But since the sensational coup of the Swiss Porsche club racers with Stadler Motorsport eight years ago, the Lucerne native has been chasing another Dubai triumph. With canton colleague Adrian Amstutz and two professionals as partners (with whom he has already won at the 24H Daytona) on a Lamborghini Huracán from England, the probably fastest GT3 gentleman racer from Europe may have justified hopes.

Among the topshots is Raffaele Marciello from Ticino in a Mercedes-AMG GT3, who has held an ASS license since 2020 but continues to appear as an Italian according to the entry list.

The Italo-Swiss quartet of Mauro Calamia, Stefano Monaco, Roberto Pampanini and works driver Matteo Cairoli also have an outside chance in their Italian-driven Porsche.

Common cause of the Porsche Juniors
Keyword Porsche. With two of its own 992 GT3 Cup cars of the latest counter-ration, which were used for the first time last time, Fach Auto Tech from Sattel is back in the game after an absence of several years. At the last appearance in 2018, the team from Schwyz managed a class win, which is also the case now.

The all-Swiss driver quintet of Alexander Fach, Dominik Fischli, Peter Hegglin, Jan Klingelnberg and Marcel Wagner will attempt this in the 992-Am class, while five customers from Brazil will strive for this in the 992-Pro class.

For the two official Porsche juniors Fach and Fischli, it is a joint premiere at a 24-hour race (see Report from December 2, 2021) after battling each other for the title in the Swiss GT3 Cup over the past two years.

A world champion at Autorama
The Swiss contingent in the touring cars, which are no less strong, is also sensational and explosive. Last year's 24H Dubai ended with a sensational triple victory by TOPCAR sport and Autorama Motorsport by Wolf-Power Racing. While last year's winners from Uetendorf will not be on the grid this time, the Zurich-based team supported by the Schwyz technicians will be fielding three TCR cars.

In the champion car with starting number #111, Jasmin Preisig and Fabian Danz take turns with 24H TCR champion Constantin Kletzer (A) and newcomer Paul Siljes (NL). In the second VW Golf GTI TCR, Gustavo Xavier, another Swiss with Brazilian roots, will make an appearance.

A novelty is the use of a brand-new Audi RS3 LMS Gen2 for German customers. They will receive professional driving support from the Briton Rob Huff. Huffy" is none other than the 2012 World Champion and 29-time WTCC/WTCR race winner, whose immense experience will help with rapid vehicle set-up.

Switch to the opponents
One of the toughest opponents of the three-time 24H overall winners from Wetzikon is the Audi from AC Motorsport, which recently won at Sebring. What is now explosive is that with Yannick Mettler and Miklas Born, two of Autorama's best drivers to date are making common cause with the Belgians.

Finally, another Swiss pairing is made up of dad and son Patrick and Steve Zacchia on a Ligier JS2 R in the GTX class.

Live on the Internet
The race will take place on Thursday, January 13. Both free practice and qualifying will then take place. The starting signal for the 24-hour race will be given on Friday at 3 p.m. local time (12 noon CET).

The entire event will be shown in the race series livestream on the YouTube- and Facebook channel will be broadcast live. Likewise, there is a livetiming.

24hseries.com/races/hankook-24h-dubai-2022

facebook.com/24hseries

In the short video in English, the technical advantages of the new Toyota Hilux V6 of the current rally leader are explained.

The sixth stage marked the end of the first half of the 2022 Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia on Friday, January 7. From the start, Nasser Al-Attiyah leads the overall classification in a Toyota Hilux with a V6 biturbo engine fielded by Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa.

Consistently fast and unerring
The desert fox from Qatar is not primarily amazed by his speed, but by his consistency. The reigning FIA World Cup winner is not aiming for best times, but for the most flawless drives possible over sand and gravel.

His French co-driver Matthieu Baumel, who has so far guided him confidently over the special stages of up to 465 kilometers, has just as great an influence. Since setting the fastest times on the first two half stages on January 1, the duo has been in the lead, which it has now extended to around 50 minutes by the rest day on January 8 with a driving time of almost 21 hours.

Only Loeb can hold a candle to Nasser
The fastest pursuer since the start of the rally has been Frenchman Sébastien Loeb (gallery, left) in a BRX Hunter four-wheel-drive buggy with a Ford EcoBoost V6 turbo engine built by Prodrive in England. After his 15th stage win in a Dakar Rally on the second leg, his gap to the leader was just over nine minutes.

When the record world champion experienced technical problems the other day, his gap to Nasser, who is focusing his race entirely on Loeb, grew to over 37 minutes. Since then, the leader has been managing his lead and steadily extending it.

Fast local
On the sixth stage, Loeb's new co-driver Fabian Lurquin experienced navigation problems that cost them more than twenty minutes of time loss. For this reason, Saudi Yazeer Al Rajhi, navigated by the British pro, moved past Loeb into second intermediate place in a Toyota Hilux. Both will start the second rally week on Sunday separated by only six seconds.

So far, around 2150 kilometers have been completed on best time. The finish after a further 1000 or so planned SS kilometers is on Friday, January 14. If Nasser Al-Attiyah remains in front, it would be his first Dakar victory in Saudi Arabia and the fourth after three successes in South America.

First stage win for Audi
All the highs and lows of the world's most difficult cross-country rally have been experienced by Team Audi Sport so far. On the third stage on January 4, the Spaniard Carlos Sainz ensured the first triumph of a hybrid model with his Audi RS Q e-tron (Gallery right). For Audi, it was the first since 1985 with the Quattro in Africa.

However, technical problems, which so far have not affected the complex electric drive, and difficulties with navigation threw all three Audi teams out of the running for a top spot. In 13th place, Mattias Ekström, who managed the second-best time on Friday, is best placed before the rest day.

Highlights on TV or the Internet
On the YouTube channel of the Dakar Rally, you can watch the daily highlights of the stages so far with French and English commentary. The free TV channel Eurosport summarizes the action every evening from 9 to 10 p.m. with German commentary.

dakar.com

Frédéric Neff secretly embarked on this ambitious project three years ago. Now the 48-year-old from Bernjurassier in Moutier is letting the cat out of the bag via AutoSprintCH.

Performance in abundance
The Swiss touring car mountain champion of 2017 and 2018 presents a newly built 997 GT2 R Porsche. Installed in the rear is a turbo engine prepared by Eggenberger Motorenbau in Lyss. Exact performance data can only be guessed at as it has not yet been determined on the engine test bench.

It is quite possible that Neff will keep it to himself afterwards, as Ronnie Bratschi does when asked about the Egmo power in his Mitsubishi. Depending on the boost pressure, between 650 and 900 hp are possible. Austrian Herbert Pregartner always claimed 911 hp for his comparable 911 GT2 RSR.

Still in Group IS
This is not the only thing that matters, as with all high-performance production and racing vehicles, it is primarily their drivability. The new engine is therefore accompanied by engine electronics developed by Egmo, traction control and a sequential racing gearbox.

Neff will therefore be driving in Group IS (InterSwiss), in which he was never beaten in the three years before the pandemic with the Porsche 996 Cup with naturally aspirated engine. He also holds the IS records on five Swiss hillclimb circuits (Gurnigel, Hemberg, Paccots, Reitnau and Le Rangiers).

First starts abroad
To acclimatize to the new racing car, Neff will start in the spring at the Abreschviller hill climb in France and Eschdorf in Luxembourg.

Frédéric Neff: "I hope, but don't believe, that all the technology will work perfectly right from the start. That's why these start-ups make sense before I go to Hemberg. Especially as we also have a lot of setting options in terms of boost pressure, traction control and driving mode, which we first have to optimize with the help of Egmo."

Please do not expect too much straight away
Neff is therefore deliberately not making any predictions. After all, two years off, during which he only kept himself going by karting, will not leave him unscathed. Especially as he now has a different caliber in his hands than before.

Frédéric Neff: "I now have a lot more horsepower and twice the torque at my disposal. Everything will come at me much faster than ever before. I've always taken a certain amount of risk in the past, but I also need a certain amount of time to get used to so much power, which I only have to master with rear-wheel drive."

Third SM title in sight
For this reason, the potential successor to the last mountain champion Andy Feigenwinter (who will not be defending the title he won in a Lotus Exige) is not putting himself under any pressure. Although his long-term goal is to win a third mountain championship title - if it doesn't work out in 2022, it will be 2023 or later.

Frédéric Neff: "The important thing is that I get to ride often. The times come naturally, and so do the results. A championship title always involves work and practice."

facebook.com/frederic.neff.92

At the end of the first season in the ETCR, Mattias Ekström and Cupra Racing were jubilant. But before that, there were hair-raising scenes.

In the beginning, there was the vision of making motorsport more sustainable. In addition, there were the goals of emotionally charging electromobility, being innovative and, of course, also fast and successful. After the first seasons in the PURE ETCR and Extreme E racing series, the first conclusion is clear: mission accomplished.

Consistency at a high level
In the inaugural season of the PURE ETCR for all-electric touring cars, a Cupra driver was crowned "King of the Weekend" on three out of five race weekends. The Spaniard Mikel Azcona was the fastest man twice, Mattias Ekström once, who also surfed onto the podium three other times.

In the end, consistency at a high level also tipped the scales in favor of the Swede. Ekström, who drove the e-racer with up to 500 kW (680 hp) for Cupra Racing, won the drivers' title and was crowned "King of the Season. Ekström, Azcona and their two teammates Jordi Gené and Dániel Nagy also clinched the manufacturers' title with the Zengő Motorsport team against competition from Romeo Ferraris (Alfa Romeo Giulietta ETCR) and Hyundai (Veloster ETCR).

A success all along the line that also helps Cupra with another pillar of the company: electromobility.

Head of Development Xavi Serra: "Our victories in the PURE ETCR allow us to show the world that electric technology can generate competitive and exciting touring car races. Furthermore, they allow us to continue learning and developing the technology we will see in road cars in the future."

A tree for every kilometer
For Cupra, however, the PURE ETCR, which will have FIA World Cup status from 2022, is not just about performance on the track, but also about sustainability in motorsport. For example, the PURE ETCR and the participating manufacturers have committed to planting a tree for every kilometer driven in the past season.

A total of 4691 trees were thus collected. This step was taken as part of the so-called Canopy Project, a global reforestation program of the "Earthday.org" initiative.

Ups and Downs in Extreme E
Cupra has also achieved some goals in the Extreme E, which is also being held for the first time. The racing series for purely electric SUVs aims to draw attention to the consequences of climate change by holding races at special locations around the world. In 2021, races were held in Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Greenland, Sardinia and the United Kingdom.

Each race weekend therefore focused on different climate change issues. The participating brands such as Cupra and the ABT Cupra XE team with the two drivers Jutta Kleinschmidt and Mattias Ekström campaigned for sustainable projects on site.

For example, the finale in southern England helped the British Army reduce its carbon footprint as it aims to become carbon neutral by 2050 and stand for more sustainable military operations. Furthermore, Extreme E supported the charity "National Trust" with the "Dorset Legacy Programme".

On the 2022 title hunt with the Tavascan
The former Dakar Rally winner and the former rallycross world champion and DTM champion were always competitive in the 400 kW (544 hp) e-Cupra ABT XE1, but unfortunately not always blessed with the necessary racing luck.

The duo reached the semi-finals in four of the five races, and in Sardinia in October they finally won their first trophy with second place. In the final standings for the season, ABT Cupra XE finished fifth.

In 2022, Cupra wants to compete for the title. This year with an evolutionary stage of the electric SUV, the Cupra Tavascan Extreme E. The driver has not yet been determined.

Successful customer athletes
In other global racing series, Cupra teams and their drivers achieved the best customer sport results in the brand's history. In total, they scored 94 victories, 59 of them in the new TCR model Cupra Leon Competición. Eight drivers' titles and four team titles were the result.

The spearhead was Mikel Azcona, who competed as a regular driver in several racing series. In the PURE ETCR, the Spaniard finished third overall; in the WTCR, the FIA Touring Car World Cup, he finished seventh overall with one victory and four further podium places; and in the TCR Europe, he crowned his personal season with the title, although he was only able to compete in eleven of 14 races due to scheduling conflicts.

24-hour victory for Bern team
Incidentally, the first major international victory of the season last year came from a Swiss team. TOPCAR sport from Uetendorf won the hotly contested TCR category at the 24 Hours of Dubai on January 15-16, 2021, with a proven Cupra TCR DSG. At the wheel, the Swiss Fabian Danz, team boss Ronny Jost and Adrian Spescha alternated with the Germans Benjamin Leuchter and Patrick Sing.

As every year, the race counted as the first and most important round of the 24H Series, which was later won by another Swiss team, Autorama Motorsport by Wolf-Power Racing, as in 2019 and 2020 with a different corporate brand (Volkswagen) and thus related technology.

cupraofficial.ch

On June 7, 2018, a regulars' table of VaterlandTV took place in the restaurant Schäfle in Triesen FL. Manfred Schurti was one of the four guests and interview partners from Ländle. He tells about the past and today.

Career start on two wheels
Born on December 24, 1941 ennet der Ostschweizer Grenze in Lustenau in Vorarlberg, Schurti moved with his family to the Principality of Liechtenstein and obtained citizenship of the sixth smallest state in the world.

He starts his motorsport career on two wheels during his training as a car mechanic and driving instructor. As a 21-year-old, he becomes Swiss champion in motocross in the 250 cc category.

Manfred Schurti: "My passion has always been motorcycling. When I drove a car for the first time one day at the Hockenheimring, I quickly realized that I had no idea about it. To get my license, I had to attend a course whose director attested to my talent. But with success, I really got a taste for it."

Works driver at Porsche
In 1966, he entered Formula Vee and continued his career on four wheels with a Swiss license. In the process, Schurti competed against the likes of Harald Ertl, Niki Lauda and Helmut Marko.

In 1972, he won the European Cup in Formula Super V and the Castrol Trophy Formula Super V. A year later, Schurti signed a works driver contract with Porsche. He raced for the sports car manufacturer from Zuffenhausen or for private teams until 1981.

With various racing cars, Schurti also sporadically takes part in races for the Swiss Automobile Championship, as well as in Formula 2 races. He is even no stranger to hill climbs. In recognition of his successes, in 1976 he was the first and only non-Swiss to receive the BP Racing Trophy, which was awarded by a jury every year from 1965 to 2003.

Victories on famous race tracks
The Liechtensteiner contested many major endurance races from the mid to late 1970s alongside Jacky Ickx, Jochen Mass and Rolf Stommelen. Several victories and podium places at world championship races at Watkins Glen (gallery on the left), Brands Hatch, Nürburgring and others adorn his palmarès.

Only at Le Mans did he never manage a podium, which he narrowly missed in 1976 when he finished fourth with Stommelen in the works Porsche.

In the legendary German Racing Championship, Schurti drives and wins for the private teams of Max Moritz (center gallery) and Georg Loos. In the gallery on the right, he stands in an orange overall next to Stommelen and Wollek amidst officials on the podium of the Bilstein Super Sprint Nürburgring 1977.

Concentration on the profession
Manfred Schurti is considered the fastest non-professional driver of his time and is held in high esteem at Porsche, especially as a test and development driver. From 1976 to 1979, Schurti finishes 24 races in the Porsche 935 Turbo on the podium. He achieves all his successes after his time in formula racing cars with racing sports cars based on the Porsche 911 Turbo of type 930.

From 1980 onwards, the jubilarian, who was always a fighter on the racetrack but also a modest personality, concentrated on heading the Liechtenstein motor vehicle inspection department. Even tempting, lucrative offers were no longer able to change his mind - career and family took precedence.

The most successful racing driver ever from the Principality of Liechtenstein celebrates his last great triumph at the race in the legendary BMW M1 Procar Series in 1980 on the Avus in Berlin. After one last start at the 24 Hours of Daytona in January 1982, Schurti ends his active racing career.

AutoSprintCH congratulates Manfred Schurti on his 80th birthday on Christmas Eve and wishes him only the best for the future!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manfred_Schurti

In the first episode, Zhao Hongyi takes his family to discover the wild beauty of Xinjiang.

Filming for the documentary "Ducati Multistrada V4 Silk Road Grand Tour" took around two months. During this time, the Multistrada V4 riders covered more than 10,000 kilometers, crossing five provinces in China.

While each of the five episodes features a special rider's travel story about regional traditions and the unique landscapes of China, each also highlights a particular aspect of the Multistrada V4.

Charity project and celebrities
In the first episode, Zhao Hongyi takes his family to discover the wild beauty of Xinjiang. He was the first Chinese driver to complete the Dakar Rally.

In the second part, Wen Congping and nine representatives of Chinese Ducati dealers travel from Wuhan to Suizhou to take part in a charity project.

In the third episode, the Multistrada V4 is ridden by Xu Qun, an expert in the automotive industry, on the mountain roads around the city of Chongqing.

In the fourth episode, we go to the tropical forest of Yunnan with influencer Chen Zhen.

Finally, in the last part, Luo Hao and the singer Mao Chuan cross the vast grasslands of Inner Mongolia.

ducati.com

The team from the Rapid has taken on a special project. See more in the video.

The foundations for the small car were laid by the Austro-Hungarian engineer Josef Ganz even before the Second World War. The aim was to make a small car affordable for everyone.

As a Jew, Ganz was harassed and arrested from 1934. He was later able to escape to Switzerland, where the Zurich employment office and Rapid Motormäher AG took up his idea again.

With a lot of hard work and financial support from the state, a total of 36 units of the small Voiturette R were produced in two series in the Rapid production halls in 1946.

No chance against Fiat and VW
However, interest in the minimalist car was small, since small cars such as the Fiat Topolino or the VW Beetle could already be purchased for only a little more money. Production was therefore discontinued again.

Three of the Rapid cars are still on the road today. One was restored by the Rapid and given to the Swiss Museum of Transport in 1969, and an unrestored model is in the Louwman Museum in Holland.

Mower electric drive for the car
To mark the 75th anniversary, employees of Rapid Technic AG have produced another vehicle in around 1000 hours of work based on the original drawings that still exist. Instead of the original four-stroke opposed-piston engine, modern electric drive technology (3.1 kW) is now used.

The drive train installed in the all-electric Rapid Uri single-axle truck is used. The energy comes from a lithium-ion exchangeable battery.

rapid.ch