Vauxhall launches new 195-HP turbodiesel Astra GTC together with refresh - Autoblog
2012-06-15
- Brit-built Astra Hatch and Sports Tourer get new, bold look
- New GTC BiTurbo diesel becomes most powerful non-VXR Astra model
- All Astras now available with range of new options, including Front Camera System
- Underpins Astra success as best-selling British-built car in UK
Luton – These are the first official pictures of the new-look Astra Hatch and Sports Tourer, along with the latest addition to the GTC range, the 195PS BiTurbo diesel model.
Available to order now, with first deliveries in September, the refreshed design of the Astra Hatch and Sports Tourer – both of which are built at Vauxhall's Ellesmere Port plant in Cheshire – gives the cars a more bold and aggressive appearance. Both body styles get a new front grille, with repositioned logo-bar in the upper section and a re-styled lower section too. New front indicator lamps and a new design of fog lamp (where fitted) complete the front-end revisions.
The rear of both models has also been refreshed, with new rear-panel styling complemented by a chrome lower moulding.
New-look Astra pricing remains unchanged from the previous model.
Also available to order from today is the Astra GTC 2.0 CDTiBiTurbo, which will become the most powerful non-VXR model in the range, producing 195PS and 400Nm of torque. And while the extra power and torque give it a healthy lift in performance with 0-60mph arriving in just 7.8 seconds and a top speed of 139mph, the BiTurbo still achieves a combined 53.3mpg and C02 emissions of 139g/km. All BiTurbos receive Vauxhall's Start/Stop system as standard.
Uniquely in this class, the GTC uses a sequential turbocharging system, with the smaller turbo accelerating quickly at lower speeds to eliminate 'lag', providing 350Nm of torque from just 1500rpm. In the mid-range, both turbochargers work together providing maximum torque of 400Nm between 1750-2500rpm.
The Astra GTC BiTurbo enters the range at £23,925 – a premium of £995 over the GTC 2.0 CDTi 165PS model – but in addition to extra power and torque, receives: bespoke 18-inch alloy wheels, Electronic Climate Control, 6mm lower ride-height, a new body-kit and 'Track' interior trim, with a flat-bottomed leather steering wheel.
Enhancing the appeal of all Astra models still further is the introduction of a raft of options previously unseen in the range. Customers can now order the Driver Assistance Pack, which for £750 includes features like Forward Collision Alert, Lane Departure Warning, Traffic Sign Recognition and Following Distance Indicator.
Other new options for the Hatch and Sports Tourer only include a Rear View Camera Pack, Winter Pack (heated steering wheel and seats for £345) and LED daytime running lights (£145). Three new colours – Sculpture Bronze, Phantom Grey and Deep Sky – have also been introduced, while the Astra's standard DAB radio has been upgraded to a DMB (Digital Media Broadcast) system across the range.
As with all Vauxhall passenger cars, Lifetime Warranty is standard, giving first owners the peace of mind of a warranty that literally lasts the car's lifetime, up to a maximum 100,000 miles.
Car chase caused girl's death, court told - thisissomerset.co.uk
A 13-year-old schoolgirl was mown down and killed during a dangerous 80mph “game of chase” between two racing drivers, a court heard yesterday.
Amy Hofmeister died when a speeding Vauxhall Vectra hit a kerb, flipped over and ploughed into her and a pal, as they rode their bikes in a cycle lane.
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Amy Hofmeister
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Leanne Burnell is charged with causing the death of schoolgirl Amy Hofmeister
Vectra driver Leonard Jones, 42, had overtaken a Ford Focus driven by his girlfriend Leanne Burnell, 21, when he crashed at 50mph over the speed limit, the court heard.
The pair started the high-speed game – which forced other drivers to swerve to avoid being hit – after Jones yelled “I’ll catch her, I’ll catch her” to a friend, a jury was told.
He later admitted causing death by dangerous driving, but his girlfriend Burnell denied the same charge and faced a trial at Taunton Crown Court yesterday.
William Hunter, prosecuting, said: “Just over a year ago to the day 13-year-old Amy Hofmeister was with her friend Lucy Hawkins, riding their bicycles on a cycle path.
“A Vauxhall Vectra mounted the pavement and overturned, hitting both cyclists. Amy Hofmeister was killed.
“The Vauxhall Vectra was Leonard Jones’. He has pleaded guilty to the death of Amy Hofmeister by dangerous driving.
“He was driving too fast because, the prosecution say, he was playing a high-speed game of chase – or racing – with another car. He was winning that game. He had just overtaken that other car. That Ford Focus was being driven by the defendant.
“The prosecution’s case is that by playing this high speed, dangerous game on a built up road, where the speed limit is 30mph, Amy Hofmeister was killed.
“The defendant was playing games with Leonard Jones and is jointly responsible for the death.”
Taunton Crown Court was told that Amy, who dreamed of becoming a school teacher, died in the collision on Blackbrook Way, in Taunton, Somerset, at 7.30pm on June 15 last year. Her friend Lucy Hawkins was also injured, but survived.
The jury was told that Jones and Burnell, both from Taunton, had gone to eat at the nearby Harvester pub at around 5pm – leaving just before the crash.
Witnesses described seeing Burnell speed off in her Ford Focus, with Jones and friend Larry Grant following behind the Vectra. CCTV pictures showed the cars accelerating out of a Murco garage, next-door to the Harvester, before entering a bus lane and careering down the road.
Witness Sharon Symonds described the two cars as “playing games with each other”, the court heard.
Mr Hunter told the jury: “She says she saw the defendant turn around to the car behind her and smirk – showing, the prosecution says, that they were playing games with each other.”
The cars continued to race down the road, crossing a roundabout before turning onto Blackbrook Way, where Jones overtook the Ford Focus, the court heard.
Oncoming driver Tina Beckhurst later told police she was forced to slow down and swerve out of the way, as Jones passed the Ford Focus on a bend.
Vectra passenger Larry Grant, giving evidence, told the court the car reached 80mph in the “chase” and estimated Burnell’s Focus would have been travelling at around 60mph. The witness, who was also injured in the crash, said Jones had told him “I’ll catch her, I’ll catch her” as he sped towards Burnell.
He said: “I told him to slow down. I was panicking because of the speed he was driving – it was reckless. We hit the curb and flipped over. I can’t recall seeing anything.”
Jones was arrested at the scene – but lied to police and told them another friend, who had fled, was driving. Burnell was arrested later that evening and also lied to the police.
She claimed to have only been travelling at between 20 to 25mph and had not gone on the same route as her boyfriend. But CCTV pictures, shown to the jury, showed her car just in front of Jones’ vehicle shortly before the crash.
Investigators calculated her average speed to be around 65mph, while the Vectra was estimated to be doing around 81mph.
The trial, expected to last for four days, continues.
London 2012: Legacy chief to stand down after Games - BBC News
The chief executive of the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) is to leave his post with the future of the Olympic Stadium still uncertain.
Andrew Altman was appointed three years ago and tasked with finding a legacy for the stadium and other Games venues.
He will leave on 15 August. He said the job had been a "tremendous honour".
The future of the stadium is not yet clear, with the bidding process for tenants having had to be scrapped and relaunched due to legal challenges.
Mr Altman said: "It has been a tremendous honour to lead this once-in-a-lifetime project that will transform the face of London and will be a spectacular example of city building the world over.
"I am proud to have been able to set the table with a clear vision, resources and commercial investment. It is now the perfect time to transition the project to one focused on construction, so there will be no disruption after the Games in implementing the legacy vision we have crafted."
During the recruitment process to find a replacement, Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) chief executive Dennis Hone will make himself available part-time on an interim basis.
Daniel Moylan, the incoming LLDC chairman, said: "Andy Altman has made a huge personal contribution to the future of the Olympic Park and we thank him for putting us in such a strong position."
In March, the LLDC, which was then operating as the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC), confirmed four bids from firms wanting to become tenants of the Olympic Stadium were being considered.
West Ham United, which won the now-disbanded process to move to the stadium in Stratford after the London 2012 Games, is one of the bidders.
Essex County Cricket Club has also submitted an application.
West Ham United has applied for a 99-year lease of the stadium, which is reported to have cost £486m to build.
In May, the LLDC said it was extending the deadline for submitting bids by eight weeks to ensure the process was "as competitive as possible".
London Games to be first social media Olympics - The Guardian
STEPHEN WILSON
Associated Press= LONDON (AP) — Tweet this: The London Games will be the first Olympics told in 140 characters or less.
The London Games will be the most tweeted, liked and tagged in history, with fans offered a never before seen insider's view of what many are calling the social media Olympics, or the "socialympics."
Hash tags, (at) signs and "like" symbols will be as prevalent as national flags, Olympic pins and medal ceremonies. Some athletes may spend more time on Twitter and Facebook than the playing field.
Mobile phones have become smarter, laptops lighter and tablet devices a must-have for technology lovers — meaning social-savvy fans, whether watching on television or inside the Olympic stadium itself, will be almost constantly online.
Organizers expect more tweets, Facebook posts, videos and photos to be shared from London than any other sports event in history. The 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver offered just a small glimpse of what's to come.
"Vancouver was just the first snowflake," said Alex Hout, the International Olympic Committee's head of social media. "This is going to be a big snowball."
Twitter is already braced for a surge of traffic. Launched in 2006, it has become a key outlet for sports fans to trade messages during live events.
Users sent 13,684 tweets per second during a Champions League soccer match between Barcelona and Chelsea in April, a record volume of tweets for a sporting event — busier even than the 2012 Super Bowl. Chances are good that will be one of the records broken in London.
"It could be the 100-meter final or something unexpected," said Lewis Wiltshire, Twitter U.K.'s head of sport.
At the last Summer Olympics in Beijing in 2008, Twitter had about 6 million users and Facebook 100 million. Today, the figure is 140 million for Twitter and 900 million for Facebook.
"In Sydney (2000) there was hardly any fast Internet, in Athens (2004) there were hardly any smartphones, in Beijing hardly anyone had social networks," said Jackie-Brock Doyle, communications director of London organizing committee LOCOG. "That's all changed. Here, everyone has all that and will be consuming the games in a different way."
Later this month, at trials in Calgary for Canada's Olympic track and field team, athletes will even wear Twitter handles on their bibs — encouraging fans to send messages of support as they race.
Sponsors have also taken their Olympic campaigns online. Coca-Cola, Cadbury, Visa and BP are among those using Facebook to reach younger consumers. Samsung is even offering to paint the faces of Internet users with their national flag — virtually, of course.
"They key difference from four years ago is that now almost everyone has a smartphone, which means everyone can participate in real time," said Adam Vincenzini, an expert at Paratus Communications, a London-based PR and social media marketing agency. "You used to have to be sitting at your desk to access various social media platforms. Now you can have your phone or tablet on your lap while you watch, whether that's at the pub or the stadium."
The IOC, with 760,000 Twitter followers and 2.8 million on Facebook, will host live chats from inside the Olympic village with athletes, allowing the public to pose questions using social media accounts. It has already created an online portal, called the Athletes' Hub, which will collate posts from their Facebook and Twitter accounts.
Under IOC rules, athletes and accredited personnel are free to post, blog and tweet "provided that it is not for commercial and/or advertising purposes" and does not ambush official Olympic sponsors and broadcasters. Social media posts should be written in a "first-person, diary-type format."
What about spectators using their phones and iPads to take photos and video?
"There is no problem with photo sharing," Hout said. "We encourage it. But monetizing is not allowed."
"People are allowed to film. They're allowed to do that on their phones," he said. "The thing that we ask is that content is not uploaded to public sites."
The reason is to protect the exclusivity of the broadcasters who shell out big money for the rights. NBC, for example, paid more than $1 billion for the U.S. rights to the London Games.
"We encourage the use of social media. We encourage athletes to engage and to connect," Hout said. "There are some rules to follow, there's no question about it. But we don't police the fans, we don't police the athletes. We don't do that. What we do is we engage."
Facebook launched an Olympic page on Monday that groups teams, sports, athletes, broadcasters and in one place. The site has pages dedicated to specific Olympic sports and links to Facebook sites for 60 national teams and 200 athletes, including Michael Phelps, LeBron James and David Beckham.
LOCOG also plans to announce new Olympic tie-ups with Twitter and Google.
But London Olympic organizers have drawn up strict rules for their employees and the 70,000 Olympic volunteers. They have been told not to share their location, any images of scenes in areas that are off limits to the public, or details about athletes, celebrities or dignitaries who they find themselves in contact with.
"We are not stopping people from using social sites," Brock-Doyle said. "We say there are lots of things about your job — procedures, places you'll be and do — that remain confidential. There are elements of your job you can't share with wider groups of people."
Athletes, too, will need to navigate the social media world carefully.
Australian swimmers Nick D'Arcy and Kenrick Monk have already been punished after posting photos of themselves on Facebook in which they cradled pump-action shotguns and a pistol in a U.S. gun shop.
The Australian Olympic Committee ordered them to remove the photos immediately. The swimmers have been banned from using social media for a month starting July 15 and will be sent home the day the Olympic swimming program finishes.
The British Olympic Association has offered advice to its own athletes, suggesting that "a few smiley faces and LOL's (online speak for laugh out loud) will make you seem more approachable and encourage more people to talk and ask you questions." What not to do: "Don't get into disputes with your audience."
British swimmer Rebecca Adlington, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and a leading medal contender in London, has spoken out about abuse she has received about her physical appearance from some users on social media sites. She has already blocked the worst offenders from being able to contact her, but insists she won't stop using Twitter, where she trades dozens of messages a day with more than 50,000 followers.
"I'm insecure about the way I look and people's comments do hurt me," Adlington said in a message posted on Twitter.
While some athletes prefer to tune out from social media to concentrate on their competition, others embrace the opportunity to interact with their fans.
"Letting people know what I'm eating, how I'm sleeping, what the venues are like — people want to know what we're going through," U.S. gymnast Jonathan Horton said. "They want to know what it's like going through the experience and what we're up to."
All in 140 characters.
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Follow Stephen Wilson on Twitter at http://twitter.com/stevewilsonap
Follow David Stringer on Twitter at http://twitter.com/david-stringer
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AP Sports Writer Nancy Armour in Chicago contributed.
London 2012 Olympic Games legacy: Jowell and Jenkins - BBC News
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US markets watchdog hits at ‘risky’ London - Financial Times
June 19, 2012 8:09 pm
Investing in the legacy of the London 2012 Games - The Independent
Since day one, Cisco has anticipated with pleasure, the mammoth task of providing the network infrastructure for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Not least because the legacy of this investment will benefit London and the UK for many years to come.
Part of this legacy is already under way in the form of the Cisco Networking Academies. This is a global, online education programme that teaches students how to design, build, troubleshoot and secure computer networks, giving them access to career and economic opportunities they would never otherwise have had. Between now and 2013 Cisco aims to open 30 new Cisco Networking Academies in East and South-east London, capable of improving the prospects of more than 4,000 students in the next five years.
Cisco will equip selected Networking Academy schools and colleges with technology, ITE and Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) online training and lab equipment. However, the academies are not restricted to traditional schools, colleges and universities. Cisco has run successful academies in places as diverse as community centres, football clubs, prisons, military bases and even homeless shelters.
To demonstrate the potential of the programme, Cisco is staging the Inspiration Roadshow. Roger Black, winner of Olympic silver and World Championship gold, will inspire young people to consider careers in networking, and encourage schools to become Networking Academies. With him will be Sean Kelly who, with the help of the Networking Academy, turned his prison sentence into a lifechanging career opportunity. Kelly is a perfect example of how Cisco’s Networking Academies can change the lives of young people in London.
In years to come, the 30th Olympic and Paralympic Games will be remembered not only for breathtaking feats of athleticism, but also for the event that launched a new era in education. Students in East London and across the UK will be able to create their own life changing experiences, through Cisco’s Networking Academies.
To find out how Cisco could help prepare your students for the future, visit: www.ciscolondon2012.co.uk/learn/cisco-academy
In association with Cisco, Official Network Infrastructure Supporter for London 2012
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Interest from local community is key to enduring legacy of Olympics Many organisations involved in the Games are already looking ahead to the legacy they'll leave behind.
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Hammerson sells London offices portfolio for £518m - Daily Telegraph
Brookfield hired Mr Jepson to lead an expansion in London and has been scouring the market for months a deal.
Mr Jepson said: “The acquisition of this portfolio is in keeping with our previously stated strategy to expand in the UK and reaffirms our commitment to building a platform in London.
“This unique portfolio provides Brookfield Office Properties with opportunities to create value through leveraging our leasing, asset management and development expertise.”
David Atkins, chief executive of Hammerson, said: "I'm delighted that we have been able to achieve our goal of becoming a pure retail business earlier than anticipated by arranging a single transaction for the majority of our London offices which secures excellent value for shareholders."
London getting more competitive for leased-line fibre, says Ofcom - zdnet.co.uk
Hai Jamie, Nice reminder of my own camera's possibilities :-) Anyway, about the multiple pictures selection issue, I'm sure you know that when...
8 hours ago by pvdm on Pentax Optio WG-2 GPS and digiKam - Part 2
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