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DETROIT - Off-road racing legend and Team HUMMER owner Rod Hall, Reno, Nev., entered the record books once again as he earned his record-breaking 18th career Baja 500 win in the 2008 SCORE International Baja 500. Hall and Mike Winkel, also of Reno, piloted his Rod Hall Racing HUMMER H3 to first place in the Stock Mini class in a time of 14:42:54.

Hall, 70, finished an hour and a half after his youngest son Chad Hall, also of Reno, won the Stock Full class in the #862 H3 Alpha for Team Hummer in 13:09:53 for his first win in the Tecate SCORE Baja 500 and second class win this season. The H3 Alpha was the first production vehicle to cross the finish line.

“The entire team did a fantastic job preparing these trucks for this race and it showed in the results,” said Rod Hall. “It was an honor to earn my 18th Baja 500 win behind the wheel of the H3 and with the members of Team HUMMER.”

The 2008 Baja 500 was the third consecutive Baja 500 Hall has won the stock mini class and is the 7th consecutive SCORE International race that Hall has piloted the H3 to a class win.

The 2008 Baja 500 marked the 40th anniversary of the grueling off-road race and covered 441.15 miles around Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico, May 31, 2008. It also was the second Baja race that the H3 Alpha and H3 were the first production class vehicles to finish the race. The Team HUMMER H3 Alpha and H3 were the first production class vehicles to finish in the 2007 40th Anniversary Baja 1000.

“It was a great course this year and the H3 really excelled in the rugged terrain,” said Chad Hall. “We ran the entire race without any problems and the Alpha really gives us an edge on the competition.”

Team HUMMER races in the SCORE International full and mini stock classes which feature production-based vehicles with stock frames, stock suspension designs and production-based engines. With 18 entries, the 2007 race boasted the most stock class vehicles in the history of the 1000 and included models from seven different automakers.

Two other HUMMER entries did not fare as well, as the Team HUMMER stock full H2 SUT and the Robby Gordon Off-Road HUMMER trophy truck ended their races early due to electrical and mechanical part failures.

Team HUMMER’s next race is the Best in the Desert Vegas to Reno, August 21-23, 2008.

About HUMMER

HUMMER is a division of General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM), the world’s largest vehicle manufacturer, which employs about 321,000 people globally. HUMMER is a premium off-road vehicle manufacturer with sales in 37 countries and a product line-up that consists of the H2, H2 SUT, H3, H3x, and award-winning H3 Alpha. Information on HUMMER products is available at www.hummer.com.

Robby Gordon Motorsports is based in Huntersville, N.C., and owned by Gordon. In addition to its Dakar effort, the team focuses its attention on competing in America’s biggest racing series - the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series. The team has run numerous seasons in various racing series, including CART, the Score International Off-Road Series, the NASCAR Busch Series, the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series and several one-off efforts in the famed Indianapolis 500, with Gordon enjoying success at every level of his storied career as an owner and driver. He prides himself on his meticulous nature, which includes building cars, trucks and other racing machines that are among the best in their respective disciplines. For more information visit www.robbygordon.com.

KARLSBAD, GERMANY - Harman/Becker Automotive Systems, a unit of Harman International, (NYSE:HAR) announced today that its latest generation MMI 3G infotainment system will debut in the new Audi Q5 compact crossover vehicle during the fall of 2008. The launch continues a close relationship between Harman and the German luxury automaker that began in 1989.

“The exceptional performance spectrum of this new platform is a tribute to the cooperation and team spirit between our two companies’ specialists,” said Dinesh C. Paliwal, Harman Chief Executive Officer. “We are delighted to apply our leading-edge technology with Audi to create an exciting new experience for drivers.”

The Harman/Audi platform sets new benchmarks for automotive navigation, communication and wide-screen entertainment. A high-performance NVIDIAr graphics processor ensures that navigation map images transition smoothly, even when the vehicle quickly changes direction. Driver orientation is enhanced by a three-dimensional landscape view that reproduces true-to-scale terrain. Photorealistic depiction of points of interest allows visual matching of key landmarks to the in-car display, and identification of commercial points of interest is enhanced with well-known brand logos. The display offers a bird’s-eye view of more-distant destinations and features automatic close-up zoom at intersections.

Available map media cover 43 European countries, the United States and Canada. Precise audio route instructions and voice commands for audio, telephone, address book and navigation functions are supported in eight languages. The system supports connection of external devices such as USB storage media or an Apple iPod; a jukebox function allows for creation of personal music playlists. The digital radio accepts both European Digital Audio Broadcast signals and U.S. satellite services. An integral four-band GSM cell phone supports Bluetoothr connection and accepts a SIM card from a driver’s personal phone.

More than 250 Harman International personnel from Germany, the U.S. and Canada contributed to development and systems integration of the platform.

Harman/Becker is the automotive division of Harman International Industries, Incorporated (www.harman.com) which designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of audio and infotainment products for the automotive, consumer and professional markets. Harman International maintains a strong presence in the Americas, Europe and Asia, and employ more than 11,000 people worldwide. The Harman International family of brands includes AKG, Audioaccess, Becker, BSS, Crown, dbx, DigiTech, Harman Kardon, Infinity, JBL, Lexicon, Mark Levinson, Revel, QNX, Soundcraft and Studer. Harman International’s stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “NYSE: HAR.”

Valeo announces that it has strengthened its role in the management of Ichikoh Industries Ltd., a leading Japanese manufacturer of automotive lighting in which Valeo holds almost 32% of the capital, through a new agreement on the corporate governance and management of Ichikoh.

Under the terms of this agreement Ichikoh will be managed by two Representative Directors with equal management power who will be nominated respectively by Ichikoh and Valeo and chosen from the Board of Directors.  The proposed Valeo Representative will be Kazuo Kawashima, currently Group Quality Vice President. The number of Board Members will also be reduced from nineteen to nine, with six proposed by Ichikoh and three by Valeo. 

In terms of operational management, Valeo managers will be in charge of quality, electronic engineering, purchasing, financial control and several of the industrial sites.

The appointment of the new Board of Director members will be submitted to the Ichikoh annual shareholder meeting on June 27, 2008.

The 2009 Lincoln MKS was developed to deliver a luxury driving experience unlike any other vehicle in its class.

“We took a more holistic approach in developing the Lincoln MKS,” said Jim Baumbick, Vehicle Development chief engineer on the MKS.  “We knew that to deliver a Lincoln with a ‘business class’ type of feel, that we had to have a total package that worked together in harmony to minimize the trade-offs between noise and comfort.”

The body structure of the Lincoln MKS was optimized for strength and stiffness.  Along with noteworthy crash performance the solid structure also delivers the smooth, quiet ride expected of luxury customers.

One key to the luxury ride is the new Independent Rear Suspension (IRS), designed specifically for the MKS.  The new suspension features an isolated sub frame and a design that places the shock absorbers out near the wheels, orienting them straight up and down.

“One of the most critical characteristics of suspension design is motion ratio,” said Baumbick.  “With this design, the shocks can manage all of the load and keeping the forces from entering the body structure.

“In many cases, stiffer springs and additional damping are used to achieve a more controlled ride,” Baumbick adds.  “That will only increase the amount of torsion to the body and result in an increase in structural-borne frequency, or road noise, that you can’t get rid of with sound package.”

The one-to-one motion ratio of the shocks optimizes the efficiency of the damping allowing engineers to make vast changes in the tuning of the suspension for comfort and control with no increase in road noise.

The front suspension was designed to work in harmony with the new IRS.  It also is mounted to a fully-isolated sub frame to further reduce road noise and help with the acoustic balance of the vehicle.

Tire and bushing development focused on tuning out low frequency road noise and vibration.

The high-end sound package centers on a new technology that’s a first for Lincoln and the MKS.  An injection-molded rubber dash panel runs from the floor, just under the carpet, up to the top of the dash and back over the cowl.  The injection-molded part fits snuggly to the steel dash panel to provide a barrier for unwanted wind and powertrain noise.  The same technology is used inside the rear wheel wells.

Expandable baffles, inserted into the rear of the front wheel wells, swell under heat (when the painted body is sent through the drying ovens) sealing tightly to the inner fender and under body structure to block unwanted road and wind noise.

Beltline baffles sit at the bottom of the A- and B-pillars.  The baffles serve two purposes, blocking noise and vibration from traveling up the pillars and entering the cabin and keeping the noise low and away from the side windows.

A six-millimeter-thick laminated windshield and laminated side glass, sound-absorbing carpeting and acoustic headliner round out the basic sound package.

The shape of the new MKS was massaged in the wind tunnel to help with airflow and reduce wind noise.

No detail was left untouched.

In fact, the team went through more than 50 iterations of the design of the sunroof until they had a unit that is the quietest in its class.

“We made sure that the MKS can cruise at significant speeds with the sunroof open and still allow you to listen to the radio or have a conversation with the person sitting next to you,” said Baumbick.

The Lincoln’s new 3.7-liter V-6 engine also plays an important role in the overall sound of the vehicle.

“It’s important to have harmony between engine sound and performance,” said Baumbick.  “When you give the MKS a throttle input, the car responds and there’s a corresponding change in sound.  In the Lincoln, those three elements are in harmony and intuitive.”

The Lincoln MKS tuned induction system maximizes air flow to the engine for optimal power and delivers a rich engine sound quality.  The exhaust system also has been tuned to deliver the Lincoln’s powerful, low-end growl. 

Going With the Flow

The 2009 Lincoln MKS has been fine tuned right down to each individual molecule of air that flows through the cabin.  The precise management of air flow is a critical step in assuring exceptional interior quietness and perceived quality.

“We’ve crawled through and accounted for every molecule of air that gets in and out of the car,” said Baumbick.  “We’re treating air leakage as an opportunity for noise to get into and out of the car.”

The management of air starts by pressurizing the MKS cabin and then every opening is scrutinized – every nook and cranny in the car, every hole, every weld, every sheet metal attachment – with the specific thought about where to accept leakage and where to reject it. 

“You can’t have zero leakage because you have to extract air to defrost and defog the windows,” said Baumbick.  “But we know where the leakage is, how it gets into the car and how it contributes to noise.”

Design changes were then made, if necessary, to adjust for sound flow, like fitting the glass front to the door channel, or optimizing or eliminating a pass through in the firewall.  For example, a pair of wire bundles can be designed to run through one hole instead of two.

In other cases, a specific strategy was incorporated to make sure the pass through is managed and sealed.

As an example, the MKS uses a new architecture for the steering column boot.  The bolt-on attachment has a clean sealed surface with very low leakage compared to the traditional snap-on unit.

“We specifically redesigned the steering column component for low friction and a high degree of noise attenuation to reduce unwanted powertrain noise from leaking into the cabin,” said Baumbick.

Managing airflow also contributes to quality.  The sound of a door closing is the result of proper air management.

 ”The right door closing sound enhances the experience and perception of the quality of the car,” Baumbick said.  “The Lincoln MKS feels tight.  The cabin has a vault-like feel.  That’s quality.”
from ford