WRC Mini Concept (2010) first official pictures

While the Mini Countryman might be destined for suburban mumsville, BMW has confirmed the new model will also terrorise the countryside in the form of the WRC Mini from 2011, with IRC champ Kris Meeke at the wheel. Officially launched at the 2010 Paris motor show in concept guise, the WRC Mini will be engineered and run by motorsport doyen Dave Richards and his Prodrive outfit, although customer packages will be available too, allowing independents to compete in the car. Not so much – this is no time for misty-eyed Paddy Hopkirk odes.

'Gran Turismo' pays tribute to Senna with 'Ayrton's Wish'

Back in October, "Gran Turismo" announced a partnership with the Ayrton Senna Institute. We're finally starting to see the fruits of that labor -- a Senna-edition Playstation 3 bundle in Brazil notwithstanding. The first element of a month-long tribute from publisher Polyphony Digital is the above 20-minute film, "Ayrton's Wish." Two months before Imola, Ayrton told his sister Viviane that he wanted to give back to the country that so idolized him.

Audi TT Roadster

Following the launch of the new TT earlier this year comes its open sibling, the TT Roadster. Continuing to rebuke the trend for folding hard-tops despite even Mazda providing such an option on the MX-5, the TT Roadster perseveres with a cloth roof instead. Not only saving weight, this also means no visual mass protruding over the belt-line, though like its predecessor the roof adopts a more abrupt profile when raised than the fluidity of the coupe's profile.