In motorsport, when your last name is Senna, you have a lot to live up to. Bruno Senna, Nephew of the late great Ayrton Senna, has dealt with this looming over him for the entirety of his career. Very much to his credit, he has made his own name in racing, seeing seat time in Formula 1 for teams like Williams and Renault. This year, he joins McLaren as part of the automaker’s GT factory driver program.
The former F1 driver’s duties will be assisting in the development of the 650S GT3 and 650S Sprint, as well as fielding a GT3 in certain races.
“I am looking forward to working with the team at McLaren GT who I had a chance to get to know when I raced at the Spa 24 hour a couple of years ago, and I am really looking forward to getting behind the wheel of the new 650S. A lot of effort has gone into the development of the car since the 12C GT3, which I raced, and it made a big impression on its debut at the end of last season. It is shaping up to be a big year ahead,” Senna shared in a statement.
The 650S GT3 is the car that takes over for McLaren’s previous car, the 12C GT3. It houses a 3.8-liter twin turbo V8 that’s married to a six-speed sequential transmission. Power is regulated by FIA regulations to under 500 horsepower, all of which is directed to the rear wheels.
McLaren has recently re-signed Formula 1 driver Fernando Alonso, who left McLaren in 2007 after one controversial season. With his return and now the sports car company seating another Senna in its car, it looks like they’re looking to the past for further success in the future.
BYD has launched the third-generation Qin Plus DM-i in China, and the first thing that caught my eye is its price. According to CarNewsChina, the plug-in hybrid sedan starts at 79,900 yuan, which is about $11,980. That’s an incredibly low price for a brand-new car, especially by US standards.
What’s even more impressive is the range. The Qin Plus DM-i can drive up to 137 miles on electricity alone, which should cover most people’s daily commutes without using a drop of gas. Once the battery runs out, the 1.5-liter engine takes over. Thanks to its 17-gallon tank and roughly 91 mpg with a drained battery, the combined range reaches up to 1,423 miles.
Apple won the PC market’s worst quarter, but that’s not the entire story. It won the race by stumbling less than everyone else.
PC makers shipped just 57 million computers worldwide in Q3, which might look good, but it’s a 21% year-over-year plunge (via Counterpoint Research). And despite Apple’s Mac shipments falling by 11%, to 5.6 million, its market share rose from 8.7% to 9.8%. How did that happen?
Update (October 22 23:54 PT): In response to our query, GM clarified that offline recording support is already available on eligible vehicles. Like Tesla's Sentry Mode, it requires owners to connect a USB drive to save incident recordings, which can be viewed on the vehicle's infotainment screen. The upcoming Connected Cameras feature will build on this by giving owners remote access to these recordings via the revamped OnStar app, allowing them to check footage without walking out to their car.
General Motors has announced plans to add a new Connected Cameras feature to its OnStar service starting next year, giving drivers a way to monitor parked vehicles remotely and capture footage of certain incidents.