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Win tickets to Rockingham's Mini 50th bash

By Ben Pulman Competitions 20 March 2009 09:30 The Mini will be 50 this year, and to celebrate Rockingham race circuit will hold a fantastic weekend of celebrations. On 18 and 19 April 2009, the Northamptonshire circuit will host the UK’s longest running single-make formula, the Mini Se7en Championship, as well as the modified 1300 Mini Miglia Championship and the Mini Cooper Challenge. Also on the cards is the Dunlop Sport Maxx Cup, along with race action from TVRs, Westfields, Radicals and more.

BMW X7 SUV confirmed to top BMW’s X Range

The BMW X5 Plug-in Hybrid will be built at Spartanburg along with the new BMW X7 The idea for BMW to build an SUV bigger than the X5 was put on ice when the world’s economy went in to meltdown in 2008, but the idea of a range-topping BMW X7 was back on the cards as long ago as 2010. Now, four years on, BMW has confirmed that they are planning an X7, that it will be built at their Spartanburg Plant in South Carolina and that it will arrive in 2017 or 2018. BMW aren’t prepared to divulge what platform the X7 will use, but it looks likely it will arrive on a revised version of the platform used for the next generation BMW 7-Series, a platform that will likely also be utilised for the new Rolls Royce SUV when that arrives, with the announcement of the X7 making a Rolls Royce SUV even more likely.

Webinars: Autodesk – Virtual Design Workflow in Automotive

The second complimentary Webinar from Autodesk, entitled ‘Virtual Design Workflow in Automotive', has taken place, led by Industry Specialist for Technical Surfacing/Styling Uwe Rossbacher. The design process in the automotive industry focused on virtual models/techniques along with physical 3D models. Each OEM tries to balance both processes in order to get the optimum in efficiency and styling quality.