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Kia has taken the wraps off it’s latest concept at the Seoul Auto Show today. The VG concept presents the new direction of design that reflects the style of the upcoming near-luxury Kia sedan, which is scheduled to go on sale in Korean market in September this year.

Designed under the guidance of Peter Schreyer, the VG concept sports an elegant, yet sporty exterior design. Front VG fascia features Kia’s latest family-look and a radiator grille based on a symbolic representation of a tiger’s roaring countenance. It’s refined side profile reveals a strong side character line ending at striking rear lights equipped with latest LED technology.

The 4,945mm long concept car is sitting on 20-inch large-diameter alloy wheels and is equipped with the panorama sunroof, which extends seamlessly from the front windshield to contribute to its open and sleek facade.

The Kia VG concept is a front drive vehicle, outfitted with a 3.5L V6 Lambda engine and produces 277 horsepower. The gasoline powered powerplant is mated to the six-speed automatic transmission with manual shift capability.

The VG show car is a near-production concept vehicle, that will go into production later in the year. Initially, the car will only be available in South Korea, but plans to expand it’s sales to international markets, including US, where it will be replacing the aging Amanti sedan.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Now that Scott Pruett has turned 50, his fellow competitors in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 may be hoping that the 23-time overall race winner and two-time Daytona Prototype champion may be ready to cut back his racing schedule and spend more time working in his new winery.

Fat chance.

Coming off a victory in the Grand Prix of Miami with Memo Rojas in the No. 01 TELMEX Chip Ganassi with Felix Sabates BMW Riley, Pruett has no plans to slow down in the foreseeable future.

"I enjoy racing in GRAND-AM," said Pruett, who shares a six-point lead with Rojas atop the Daytona Prototype standings entering the Porsche 250 at Barber Motorsports Park on April 10 (1:30 p.m. ET, SPEED, live).

"I think I have a couple of good races left in me and I'm just having fun," Pruett said. "I really enjoy the competition. I enjoy getting out there and racing hard with all of the competition, no matter what age or what team."

Pruett opened the season with a second-place finish in the Rolex 24 At Daytona for the second consecutive year in the event he has won overall three times. While Hurley Haywood - the all-time Rolex 24 overall winner with five victories - retired after the 2010 event, Pruett shows no sign of letting up.

"First and foremost, the biggest thing with any athlete is attitude," Pruett said. "I absolutely still love the driving. I started when I was eight. Now I'm in my 42nd year of racing, which is incredible, but I still love it, and I think I love it even more as the years go by. I still feel like I'm a student of the sport and I'm still learning from every test, from every race, from every qualifying session, you learn more about the cars and how to set them up and find what you're looking for. My first focus is getting in the race car and to keep going out and competing. You absolutely have to have that passion and that love, and then everything else falls into place."

Pruett continues to work out every day, although he admits to spending more time working in his vineyard instead of the gym.

"We are introducing the first Pruett-labeled wine at the Pebble Beach Food and Win Festival the same weekend as the Porsche 250," Pruett said. "I've been training heavily, whether it's at my home gym or at the club or on a simulator. The simulator and the wine side of it has got me incredibly busy this year."

The Ganassi team also isn't sitting still, switching to a Dinan-prepared BMW engine for 2010.

"That's been a great change for us," Pruett said. "Steve Dinan has been just incredible and has given us good reliability and an engine that we feel has given us very good compatibility."

Pruett and Rojas have enjoyed success at Barber, winning there during their 2008
championship season. After running at the circuit in mid-90-degree temperatures in recent season, both drivers welcome racing there in more enjoyable conditions in April.

"You've got to be on your game all the time at Barber," Pruett said. "It's going to be great going there when you're not focused only on surviving the heat, but going racing. With the cooler conditions I think we're definitely going to see some higher speeds."

Practice for the Porsche 250 begins at 2:55 p.m. ET on Thursday, April 8, with qualifying Friday at 11:40 a.m.

Photos and news used with permission from Grand Am.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Bennett Racing will join the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 in April, entering the No. 56 South River Marina & Mercruiser Ferrari 430 Challenge in the April 24 Bosch Engineering 250 at Virginia International Raceway.

This will be the third new team to debut in the Rolex Series GT class in as many races. Lou Gigliotti LG Motorsports first raced in the Grand Prix of Miami at Homestead-Miami Speedway, while Marsh Racing joins the tour with a Corvette in the April 10 Porsche 250 at Barber Motorsports Park.

Skip Bennett owns the No. 56, and will co-drive for the Annapolis, Md.-based team with Mike Skeen at VIR as the first step in a planned assault on the 2011 Rolex 24 At Daytona. They expect to run with fellow NASA Spec E30 drivers Chris Cobetto, Mike Davidson and Jon Allen at Daytona. That series features close competition among 160 HP 1987-1991 BMW 325is.

Bennett began his racing career in 2005 at a Summit Point Raceway driving experience. His first race was a NASA event at VIR in 2006, driving a Porsche 966, and he also ran in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge that year at VIR, going from last to 28th in a field of 55 cars. He finished fourth overall in the USA Ferrari F430 Challenge series in 2007, and has raced in the NASA Spec E30 Series the past three seasons.

"We're looking forward to joining the Rolex Series and racing at VIR," Bennett said. "I've spent a lot of time at that track and am very familiar with it. Depending on how we do, we also hope to run at Watkins Glen and the Daytona race in July, and are also considering New Jersey Motorsports Park."

Skeen, who starred in the 2008 edition of Setup on SPEED, won the 2008 NASA Spec E30 national championship as well as two regional series titles. He raced in SCCA Muscle Milk Trans-Am action last season, going from last to second in his debut race at Road Atlanta - earning him the Hard Charger and Star of the Race awards. He has two starts in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge, competing in 2008 at VIR with Freedom Autosport.

"This grassroots effort has developed very quickly, and our crew has put in a lot of hard work to make this possible," Skeen said. "I'm sure we will learn a lot at VIR to help us prepare for future events."

Practice for the Bosch Engineering 250 begins at 9:30 a.m. ET on Friday, April 23, with qualifying at 3:45 p.m. (SPEEDtv.com, live). The two-hour, 45-minute race takes the green flag at noon ET on Saturday (SPEED, 2 p.m.) and will be followed at 3:30 p.m. by a Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race.

Photo and news used with permission from Grand Am.

BMW has just released some new pictures and pricing information for their new 2011 335si coupe and convertible models. According to their reports the coupe will start from $50,525 including destination while the convertible model will carry a price tag of $59,075.

Koenigsegg
Koenigsegg
Koenigsegg
Koenigsegg
Koenigsegg