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.
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 2012 Olympic Games legacy: Jowell and Jenkins - BBC News
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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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London 2012 Festival Hits the Big Screens to Mark Opening Day - YAHOO!
The London 2012 Festival opens on Thursday 21 June and the London 2012 Live Sites, big screens in 22 towns and cities across the UK, will show festival films to mark the first day of the UK-wide celebrations and entertain thousands of people throughout the day.
(PRWEB) June 19, 2012
The London 2012 Festival opens on Thursday 21 June and the London 2012 Live Sites, big screens in 22 towns and cities across the UK, will show festival films to mark the first day of the UK-wide celebrations and entertain thousands of people throughout the day.-
London 2012 Festival films to be shown on London 2012 Live Sites across the UK throughout opening day of festival (21 June)
- Day to culminate with live BBC broadcast on the big screens of Gustavo Dudamel and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela concert from Stirling
The London 2012 Festival team have worked with the BBC to develop a programme of films that will run throughout the day on the permanent big screens in Belfast, Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Cardiff, Coventry, Derby, Dover, Edinburgh, Leicester, Leeds, Liverpool, Londonderry, Manchester, Middlesbrough, Norwich, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Swansea, Swindon, Waltham Forest and Woolwich.
The screens will show films from events in the London 2012 Festival, including the Tracey Emin Review Show interview, excerpts from previous BBC Proms, films made by young people through the Cultural Olympiad’s Film Nation:Shorts programme, excerpts from Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) shows for the World Shakespeare Festival, clips of female comedians performing from the BFI archive to celebrate the venue’s Britain’s Queens of UK TV Comedy programme, and a film about Sacrilege, the life-sized inflatable replica of Stonehenge by Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller that will pop up in places around the UK throughout the London 2012 Festival.
Yoko Ono’s worldwide initiative of anti-violence, IMAGINE PEACE, will be unveiled on the screens on the day, with the IMAGINE PEACE message translated into 24 world languages and repeated through the day.
For children and families there will be a screenings after school at 4.00pm and 6.00pm of the Guinness world record breaking and BAFTA winning film ‘The Itch of the Golden Nit’. The film, made through The Tate Movie Project as part of the Cultural Olympiad, is an animated adventure drawn and dreamt up by thousands of children across the UK and narrated by leading TV stars including David Walliams, Miranda Hart, Catherine Tate and Rik Mayall.
A celebration of the body in a variety of dance forms, often linked in film to athletics, has been a theme that has resonated in digital work across the UK. A selection of work from the North West and South West of England, the Midlands, London and Edinburgh, called The Moving Body, is scheduled to be showcased in two screenings on Thursday at 1.00pm and 5.00pm.
The big day on the big screens will culminate with a live BBC broadcast of The Big Concert from Stirling at 7.30pm with the Gustavo Dudamel and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela. The live broadcast will be preceded by a build up to the concert featuring footage from the Big Noise project, an orchestra programme that uses music making to foster confidence, teamwork, pride and aspiration in the children taking part and across their wider community in the Scottish community of Raploch, Stirling.
Ruth Mackenzie, Director, London 2012 Festival, said: ‘ I am thrilled that in addition to 10 million free opportunities to take part in London 2012 Festival, on June 21st, all the London 2012 Live Sites will give a taste of some of the great artists in the Festival, including a live transmission of the opening concert from Stirling, Scotland.’
Roger Mosey, BBC London 2012 Director, said, ‘We know a lot of people want to enjoy the summer of 2012 by joining together and sharing the biggest events, and that applies to the arts in the London 2012 Festival as it will for the Olympic Games themselves. The BBC is proud to be working with our partners to deliver the Live Sites alongside our TV, radio and online coverage.’
The London 2012 Festival, a 12 week UK-wide celebration for the Olympic and Paralympic Games which brings together leading artists from across the world with the very best from the UK, opens 21 June 2012 with a spectacular burst of events across the UK. This ‘once in a lifetime’ Festival features more than 25,000 artists from all 204 competing Olympic nations. Everyone will be able to join in the celebration with over 10 million free tickets and opportunities to take part in 12,000 events and performances at 900 venues all over the UK, including 130 world premieres and 85 UK premieres.
London 2012 Live Sites will be the destination in 22 towns and cities across the UK for friends, families and communities to gather together to witness unforgettable moments from the London 2012 Olympic Games on big screens this summer.
The Sites, run in partnership between London 2012, the BBC and local authorities, and supported by the National Lottery through the Olympic Lottery Distributor, partners BT and Lloyds TSB, and supporters Cisco and Cadbury, will be transformed from May with the screens being surrounded by London 2012 branding and seating provided at special events so crowds can watch the sporting action in style.
During the Games the sites will be the destination to experience all the biggest Olympic moments. Up to 500,000 people per day are expected to celebrate the Games at Live Sites throughout the country. Fully branded, there will be seating provided so crowds can watch the sporting action in style and watch the sporting action. The screens will show BBC One coverage, reflecting the best of the action every day of the Olympic Games and many Live Sites will also feature 'have a go' sessions for Olympic sports.
These sites will be the place to join with thousands of people to see every key moment, witness every Team GB medal winning performance and celebrate records being broken.
Notes to editors:
For further information please contact the London 2012 Press Office.
Find out the latest from London 2012 HQ - follow us on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/london2012 or download the Official London 2012 Join In app.
The Official London 2012 Join In app is a free mobile guide to help you plan, enjoy and share your Games experience. From the Olympic Torch Relay to the Olympics and Paralympics, the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, plus all the cultural, city and community celebrations happening across the UK, the Official London 2012 Join In App is your essential companion. It is available now at app stores and at http://www.london2012.com/mobileapps/
About the London 2012 Festival:
The London 2012 Cultural Olympiad is the largest cultural celebration in the history of the modern Olympic and Paralympic Movements. Spread over four years, it is designed to give everyone in the UK a chance to be part of London 2012 and inspire creativity across all forms of culture, especially among young people.
The culmination of the Cultural Olympiad will be the London 2012 Festival, the spectacular 12-week nationwide celebration bringing together leading artists from across the world with the very best from the UK, from Midsummers Day on 21 June and running until the final day of the Paralympic Games on 9 September 2012.
The London 2012 Festival will celebrate the huge range, quality and accessibility of the UK’s world-class culture including dance, music, theatre, the visual arts, fashion, film and digital innovation, giving the opportunity for people across the UK to celebrate the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Principal funders of the Cultural Olympiad and London 2012 Festival are Arts Council England, Legacy Trust UK and the Olympic Lottery Distributor. BP and BT are Premier Partners of the Cultural Olympiad and the London 2012 Festival.
For more details on the programme, to download the London 2012 Festival official guide and to sign up for information visit http://www.london2012.com/festival.
London 2012 Games partners:
The Worldwide Olympic Partners who support the London 2012 Olympic Games and the National Olympic Committees around the world are Coca-Cola, Acer, Atos, Dow, GE, McDonald’s, Omega, Panasonic, Procter and Gamble, Samsung and Visa.
LOCOG has seven domestic Tier One Partners - adidas, BMW, BP, British Airways, BT, EDF and Lloyds TSB. There are seven domestic Tier Two Supporters – Adecco, ArcelorMittal, Cadbury, Cisco, Deloitte, Thomas Cook and UPS. There are now twenty-eight domestic Tier Three Suppliers and Providers – Aggreko, Airwave, Atkins, Boston Consulting Group, CBS Outdoor, Crystal CG, Eurostar, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, G4S, GSK, Gymnova, Heathrow Airport, Heineken UK, Holiday Inn, John Lewis, McCann Worldgroup, Mondo, NATURE VALLEY, Next, Nielsen, Populous, Rapiscan Systems, Rio Tinto, Technogym, Thames Water, Ticketmaster, Trebor and Westfield.
There is one domestic Tier One Paralympic Games-only Partner, Sainsbury’s and two domestic Tier Three Paralympic Games-only Suppliers, Otto Bock and Panasonic. The London 2012 Paralympic Games also acknowledges the support of the National Lottery.
London 2012 Press Office
London2012.com
+44 (0)203 2012 100
Email Information
London Welsh appeal to block Premiership promotion delayed for seven days - Daily Mail
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London Welsh's appeal against the decision to block their promotion to the Aviva Premiership has been delayed by a week.
The case will now be heard on June 28 - it was originally scheduled for Thursday - under agreement by all parties involved.
The independent panel will compromise of James Dingemans QC (chairman), Ian Mill QC and Tim Ward QC at a venue yet to be confirmed.
Appeal: Welsh are hoping their recent victory isn't in vain
Welsh won this season's Championship after beating Cornish Pirates in both legs of the final.
But the Richmond-based club were told just hours before the first leg kicked off in Cornwall they did not meet minimum standards criteria set down by English rugby's Professional Game Board for entry to the Premiership.
The Exiles played the final's second leg at the Kassam Stadium in Oxford, which is thought to be their preferred venue should they gain top-flight status.
As things stand, Newcastle will remain in the Premiership next term despite finishing bottom by a point behind Wasps this season.
But should London Welsh succeed in overturning an original decision that went against them, then they will go up and the Falcons be relegated.
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.
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