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Top 5 Car Photo Galleries of 2012 – topped by 2013 Range Rover

We take a look at the Top 5 photo galleries viewed on Cars UK during 2012 – a good indicator of the most interesting cars of the year. There have been lots of interesting car news stories on Cars UK during 2012, but are the stories themselves a true indicator of how interested you, dear reader, are in the news that’s happening in the car world, or is it how much additional information you seek out on a story that’s the reality of just how much interest there is? We decided the amount of times a gallery of photos of a new car is viewed is probably more indicative than the story itself, so we’ve dug through our stats to see what floated your boat most in 2012.

2012 Mercedes SL 65 AMG at New York Auto Show?

Are Mercedes planning a new SL 65 AMG (old model pictured) It looks like Mercedes-Benz has decided that the world still needs a V12 SL and are planning to reveal the 2012 Mercedes SL65 AMG at next month’s New York Auto Show. As you can’t have failed to notice, with a few exceptions from Italy, big cylinder engines are on the way out in favour of more efficient, and more frugal, forced induction engines with fewer cylinders. But it’s starting to look like Mercedes may be bucking the trend with slightly surprising plans to take a V12 version of the new SL to the New York Auto Show next month – the Mercedes SL 65 AMG.

Peugeot Unveils Hybrid Le Mans Racer

By Ben Whitworth Motor Industry 07 October 2008 13:03 Peugeot used the final round of this season’s Le Mans Series at Silverstone this weekend to show off its new hybrid-powered 908 HDi FAP racer, which features a similar kinetic energy recovery setup to next year’s Formula 1 system.The 908’s ‘HY’ undertook a number of demonstration laps in front of the packed grandstands and showed how Peugeot’s passenger car technology is filtering through to its motorsport activities.Over the weekend, the Automobile Club de l’Ouest – the company that runs the Le Mans series – announced a raft of aerodynamic and air-intake changes to next year’s regulations to even out the advantages of diesel over petrol. But rather frustratingly for Peugeot, there were no moves to incorporate hybrid powertrains in the 2009 season.But Peugeot claims that it will enter the 908 HY into next year’s Le Mans Series as a ‘Double Oh’ non-competitor to further evaluate the car’s hybrid technology.The HY’s layout comprises three key components - an 80bhp gear-driven electric motor-generator which replaces the conventional starter motor, 10 lithium-ion battery stacks to store the recovered power (six in the cockpit instead of the conventional battery and four on the left-hand side of the floor pan) and an electronic power converter, located in the rear part of the front left wing, which controls the flow of energy between batteries and motor.The result is a 3-5% mechanical energy recovery – and the associated economy and performance benefits. Over a single lap of Le Mans, for example, the system will recoup lost energy for up to 30seconds.This is then converted into a 20second 80bhp kick can either be meted out automatically by the car’s electronics to bolster acceleration throughout the lap or be selectively used by the driver using a ‘push to pass’ boost button.The additional and modified components add a further 65kg to the car’s weight, but Peugeot’s engineers claim the racecar will still easily meet the minimum regulated weight. “As a car manufacturer we can use motor sport as a research and development tool for the Peugeot brand as a whole,” said Michel Barge, Peugeot Sport’s director.