BMW 7 SERIES :New Babe Around

The new BMW 7 Series. Yes, new. And the UK won't get the 750d xDrive, featuring the most interesting engine BMW currently builds: that triple-turbo straight-six diesel masterpiece.

This engine in the M550d recently - a car we also won't get - and found it to be quite brilliant. It's a 3.0-litre six-pot diesel with three turbochargers strapped to its sizeable heft; the first spools up at just over idle, the second - a larger, higher pressure turbo - kicks in at 1,500rpm to provide lots of torques, while the third starts blowing at 2,700rpm.

The result is 381hp, 546lb ft of torque and a 0-62mph time of just 4.9 seconds. Oh, and 44.1mpg and emissions of just 169g/km of CO2.

Anyway, now that we've told you what you won't get in the UK, here's what you will: a 544hp, 6.0-litre V12 petrol in the 760i (0-62mph in 4.6 seconds), a 450hp petrol V8 in the 750i (0-62mph in 4.8 seconds), a 3.0-litre six-pot petrol in the 740i with 320hp, and a pair of diesels (3.0-litre producing 313hp in the 740d, and 258hp in the 730d).

There's even a Hybrid 7-Series, featuring the straight-six petrol from the 740i (320hp), together with an electric motor, lithium-ion battery and power electronics. Total power sits at 354hp and 369lb ft of torque, helping the Active Hybrid 7 accelerate to 62mph in 5.7 seconds, while posting 41.5mpg and emissions of 158g/km. Though if and when we ever get it, this model might become redundant, what with that TRIPLE TURBO offering more or less the same economy. All are fitted with an eight-speed auto as standard.

Visually, the Seven gets a new set of LED headlights, a slightly larger chrome surround on the grille and a face-lifted front apron, and some of the company's engineers appear to have taken on board Jeremy and James' concern over ride quality: they've fitted modified rubber bearings, new dampers, self-leveling air suspension, modified ball joints and "carefully tuned elasto kinematics" that have helped on board comfort levels.

Obviously, you get lots of toys to play with inside too; 10.25 inch screen, 3D graphics, 1,200-watt B&O system, and newly-designed seats.

Which is all fine and dandy, but could you really sleep at night knowing you might not ever taste the all-wheel-drive charms of that triple-turbo in something other than the X5 and X6?

Hello Kitty: Jaguars New F Type

Powerful, agile and distinctive, F-TYPE is a true Jaguar sports car, engineered for high performance and instantaneously responsive handling - the latest in a distinguished bloodline. Supercharged engines, lightweight aluminium body construction and advanced driving technologies deliver an experience that is intuitive, instinctive and alive.

F-TYPE’s beating heart is supercharged. Power is delivered from a range of three highly advanced engines – 3.0 V6 340PS, 3.0 V6 380PS and 5.0 V8 495PS. Each features a Roots-type twin vortex supercharger mounted on the ‘V’ of the engine to maintain its compact dimensions. Jaguar is a leader in Supercharged induction technology – it provides a linear delivery of performance and high levels of torque at all engine speeds, minimising the gap between the driver’s demand for power and the engine’s response.

F-TYPE roars right from its heart. Its Sports Exhaust growls powerfully from start up building to a race-car inspired crescendo. An Active Sports Exhaust - standard on F-TYPE S and optional on F-TYPE - uses active bypass valves to allow exhaust gases to exit more directly for a deep, dramatic sound. A Switchable Active Exhaust, allowing manual control of the system, is available on every model.

F-TYPE’s Quickshift transmission is both lightning-fast and superbly refined. Using eight closely-spaced gears, the engine is kept in its most effective rev range to deliver optimum power and torque at all speeds. The selectable Dynamic Mode adds adrenaline to your drive by altering the throttle response and gearshift programmes to further emphasize the car’s sporting character.

F-TYPE’s lightweight aluminium body structure with high torsional rigidity is the ideal platform for a convertible sports car, and is fundamental to the way it performs, handles and feels. This strong, stiff structure provides an inherently stable platform for precise, agile handling and is the perfect complement to the high-performance engine range. Together they produce exceptional power-to-weight and torque-to-weight ratios - the real world measures of sports car performance.

Balanced and capable, F-TYPE’s exceptional handling starts with its physics. Its centre of gravity is as low as possible. Its even weight distribution has been meticulously engineered, right down to the locating of the battery and washer bottle at the rear. Length defines a car’s agility, its width affects stability.

F-TYPE’s 4,470mm by 1,923mm dimensions have been precisely engineered to optimise its outstanding driving dynamics.

At one with the car, the wheel and the road - you and F-TYPE connect from the moment the start button is pressed and the engine roars into life. The driver-focused interior combines intuitive technologies and functional ergonomics with a unique sporting style.

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Sebastian Vettle’s Winning Secret …..

Just how is it that a single driver with less than five years in Formula One was able to dominate the field in such a devastating way in 2011, a field which includes drivers like Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso? It’s his brains 

Vettel’s dominant season is mostly explained by his intelligence, and the way he’s used it to adapt to the new Pirelli tires and the tricky Red Bull car.

Managing tires during qualifying and the race was a major component of the way he built up such a massive margin in the first half of the season.

It’s not only about being fast. Everyone who drives a Formula One car for a living is ludicrously fast. If you’d put any of the 24 drivers racing in Formula One in the RB7, he would probably get very close to Vettel’s pole position times within a few hours.

But can you think about your tires while you’re driving that one lap? Can you think about the entire car and pick up details about the way it behaves that can be used by the engineers as feedback to develop car? Can you do this in a race? Can you do it in a race where the pressure is on you to perform? Can you think about your fuel load while you’re doing that? Can you do it for an hour and a half? Can you do it in the rain? Can you do it on a track which is half wet, half dry? Can you do it on a day where you don’t particularly feel like doing anything? Can you do it every other weekend between March and November? Can you stay after the race and go over pages and pages of data for hours? Can you do it for years?

His brains were needed to get the most out of Adrian Newey’s Red Bull RB7, a car which the equally fast Mark Webber managed only three pole positions and one win with.

The intelligence of a Grand Prix driver is like the layers of an onion. The more he has, the more he’s able to adapt to the ever-changing conditions of Formula One to edge out those other guys whose driving talents are all within one percent of his. Have enough layers and his name is Juan Manuel Fangio, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna or Michael Schumacher. In a few years, we’ll see if anyone from the current generation has quite as many.