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Mercedes fued fuels F1 interest

IT REMAINS far from being Senna/Prost, Mansell/Piquet, Hunt/Lauda, but Formula One again has a rivalry to stir the senses and excite the masses. If Bernie Ecclestone was starting to grow anxious about the decline in global television audience figures, the feud between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton is manna from heaven for the sport's supremo. Prior to Sunday's controversial collision in the Belgian Grand Prix, and the explosive remarks from Hamilton that followed, the head-to-head had resembled nothing more than a playground squabble.

BMW ‘reveals’ new EfficientDynamics prototype

BMW has established a Web site called www.dontblogabouthis.com with the express purpose of revealing a prototype being used to test a new gasoline-electric driveline earmarked for a future sports car. It’s expected to be launched in 2012 as part of BMW’s EfficientDynamics program. Featuring two short videos and four photographs of a 6-series based prototype, the Web site provides no additional information about the prototype other than to suggest that the car in question is “more than a 6-series”and is “not in its final stage.” Close inspection reveals the matte black BMW mule has a new front end resembling that of the one-off EfficientDynamics concept revealed at last year’s Frankfurt motor show.

CES: Cranking up Harman's QuantumLogic 3D surround-sound system

Yesterday we reported how Audi was readying a lavish 3D sound experience with 23 speakers and 1,400 watts of goosebump-inducing audio power. Not to be outdone, Harman had been quietly developing a system of its own: Quantum Logic 3D brings together 25 speakers and more than 2,000 watts of Tubthumping power to a new car near you, like driving inside Phil Spector's Wall of Sound. Sitting inside the demonstration BMW 7-Series that Harman painstakingly lifted into the Studio at the Palms, Global Audio Engineering vice president Phil Muzio explained, "great music is delivered in stereo, yet our consumer research indicates that people enjoy surround sound." QuantumLogic 3D's surround sound expands beyond the boundaries of the vehicle's cabin, providing "a sense of detail and spatial placement that you don't get in stereo." Five height component speakers mounted in the corners of the headliner, and above the rearview mirror, elevates audio beyond the confines of the roof, "almost like you're in a convertible," said Muzio.