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Goodwood Festival of Speed 2011 preview

Lord March has kicked off the countdown to the 2011 Goodwood Festival of Speed at the annual press preview. The theme is Racing Revolutions - Quantum Leaps That Shaped Motorsport. Lord March said it meant a mouth-watering array of cars, celebrating tech advances such as 4wd, carbonfibre and monocoque construction. Naturally, there are a number of anniversaries to celebrate: the centenary of the Indianapolis 500 race, 100 years of Chevrolet, the Jaguar E-type's golden birthday and 110 years of Skoda motorsport involvement.

Dual-clutch transmission put on hold at Chrysler

Chrysler Group has delayed introduction of a fuel-saving automatic transmission so it can make the shift patterns more palatable to U.S. drivers--the latest sign that a key tool in automakers' plans to meet tougher fuel-economy rules needs some fine-tuning. Two weeks ago, Ford Motor Co., which uses a similar dual-clutch transmission in its Fiesta and Focus, took a hit in Consumer Reports' annual reliability survey because many drivers complained about balky shifting.

Audi shifts to eight-speeds for most models

A formal press conference probably won't happen until this summer, but we hear that Audi dealers have received their 2011 order guides, and it looks as though the company will be going from 0 to about 70 percent of U.S. sales being eight-speed automatic transmissions. Beginning this fall, the eight-speed will replace today's six-speed automatic in the A4 2.0-liter turbo sedan and wagon, the A5 2.0-liter turbo coupe and cabriolet, the Q5 2.0-liter turbo, the Q7 3.0-liter turbo, the Q7 diesel, the Q7 with the 3.0-liter supercharged V6 and the all-new A8 and A8L with the 4.2-liter V8.