G-forces do remarkable things to racing drivers, but perhaps never has there been so much attention on a racer’s right arm during pre-season testing.
Robert Kubica, the softly spoken moon-faced man from Poland who was such a feature of the F1 circus a decade ago has made a remarkable comeback, confirmed as Williams’ lead driver for the 2019 season, alongside F2 champ George Russell.
At 33, he’s not over the hill. But he has been away from Formula 1 for many years now and had a nasty crash and lengthy recovery process in the meantime. To say his return to the grid nearly 10 years after he left is unlikely is possibly understating things a bit.
His right hand and forearm were partially severed in a rally crash in 2011.
Emergency services took over an hour to extricate him from the car. It was a sudden halt to a promising career, as Kubica had always seen as an under-rated talent by the F1 paddock at large and he had racked up 12 podium finishes within a few short seasons during the late-2000s.
The retirement of BMW from the championship in 2010 left him without a seat and he sped off towards other forms of motorsport. Now he’s back driving for a team boasting similar colours to his old BMW Sauber team.
And we’re glad to see him. Whether he extends his reach beyond the midfield remains to be seen, but we’re looking forward to some duels between Kubica’s Williams and the Renault of Daniel Ricciardo.
Honda Urban EV spied: exciting but underwhelming
Ah, Honda. You had one job to do ...
The Honda Urban EV concept shown off a couple of years back was perhaps one of the coolest concept cars to come out of a Japanese car giant in a decade.
It was simple and retro-looking, with clean hatchback-y lines, thin pillars and the unmistakable vibe of early Honda Civic and even first-gen Volkswagen Golf about it.
Praise be, Honda even stipulated little would change when the car eventually goes into production in 2019.
Well, the manufacturer appears to have kept its word as far as the launch date goes. The production version of the Honda Urban EV does look on track to make an appearance next year.
And look, we’re still excited about the diminutive city car’s arrival. But the first spy shots of disguised prototypes testing out in the real world are underwhelming.
It looks like many of the great concept elements will be watered down. For a start, the car seen out in the wild this week is a five-door, meaning the short wheelbase of the three-door concept has been stretched out.
Those thin a-pillars have gone, as have all those flat surfaces. The car looks dumpier; more like an Audi A1 or — ugh — Nissan Micra than the retro-tastic silhouette the show car exhibited.
We do applaud Honda for appearing to stick with the idea of door-mounted cameras replacing rear vision mirrors. This feature is bolstered by a single shot of the interior (through a firmly closed driver’s side window) that shows little monitors bookending each side of the dashboard. Far more low-tech but no less cool, the doors appear to be frameless, too.
It looks like the concept car’s big round headlights remain as well, so well done Honda on that score.
What does the rest of it look like? We’ll have to wait until next year to find out. We hope a few further nods to the amazing Urban EV concept car remain underneath all that camouflage tape.
The Tesla of utes? Keep talking…
These days using the phrase “electric vehicle start-up” in an opening sentence is like anti-clickbait. We’ve heard all the stories, seen all the amazing-looking renders and (eventually) read about all the financial fallout.
Rivian, however, is an EV-themed start-up that caught our attention. Because this company wants to build an electric ute. What’s more — and yes, this is probably the part where we fall head-over-heels for the glossy renders — the Rivian R1T looks awesome.
The truck has been launched at the Los Angeles Motor Show and, before you get too excited, looks to be designed primarily with the American pick-up truck market in mind.
In saying that, Rivian has already mentioned plans to sell into Europe, however.
So once someone within the organisation twigs to the appetite for well-side utes in the Southern Hemisphere, who knows.
What do we know about the R1T? It will be offered with three battery sizes — 105kWh, 135kWh and 180kWh — and the manufacturer reckons in top battery trim, this 5.5m-long, 2.6-tonne truck will be good for a 0-100km/h sprint time of only three seconds.
It is estimated the R1T could boast a battery range of between 370km and 640km depending on the battery size. If spot on, that could make it a practical work tool for servicepeople or those in the trades.
Speaking of tools, we imagine you’ll be able to recharge your battery-powered drills, circular saws and other items straight from your truck’s onboard supply.