No official statement. No press conference. Not even a short press release. When Acura made the decision to stop selling the RSX (more significantly, the heir to the original Acura: the Integra) it was mentioned casually in the second paragraph of a letter sent to dealers.
It read: "In our quest to provide you and our customers with the very best and most appropriate Acura models, we've decided to eliminate the RSX from the 2007 line-up, thus streamlining our product offering to better fit with Acura's evolving and more upscale image. We have also dedicated additional research and development resources to create future models which will continue to move Acura even further ahead of our luxury competitors."
We can't say we're totally surprised. Starting with the TSX launch and through comprehensive redesigns of the TL and RL sedans, Acura has progressively been moving the brand image up-market. In a lineup of sedans offering performance and luxury, the RSX was starting to look like a fish out of water. With Honda's launch of the Civic Si, offering increased performance for less money, it was only a matter of time.
Sales of the RSX through the end of April were down by eight percent in comparison to the previous year, while TSX sales increased 17 percent over the same time period. Early rumors suggest that Acura will add a TSX coupe to the lineup, though, for the time being, that is simple auto-journo speculation.
We do know from good word inside of Acura that a new NSX has the green light, confirming recent remarks from Honda senior management, and that Acura is reassuring its dealers that losses from RSX sales should be offset by the forthcoming turbocharged RDX.
The Formula 1 season has returned to Europe, closer to Honda F1 headquarters. But even on home turf, it's been the same situation. Fast in qualifying, slow when it counts. At Imola, Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello qualified second and third on the grid. A terrible pitstop mix-up cost Button a chance at the podium and he finished seventh. Barrichello fell backward to 10th. The situation was reversed at the next race at the Nurburgring. Barrichello qualified fourth, Button sixth.
"I got a strong start," said Button, "and had a good tussle with Raikkonen through turns 1, 2 and 3 before I got ahead of him to take 4th."
But on lap 29, Button's engine gave way and he pulled off the track. Meanwhile, Barrichello lost places off the grid and was running seventh. A swift pitstop put him back out on track in fifth position.
Sporting director Gil de Ferran tried to find the silver lining after the European Grand Prix. "Rubens drove a good race, battling hard all day and especially at the end, to score his best finish for our team yet," he said. "Unfortunately, we had an engine failure with Jenson and he was unable to capitalize on a good start and first half of the race. Generally speaking, we lacked pace with both cars."
Michael's son graduated early. Let's check on the grades."It's definitely going to be tough. You can always test by yourself and think you're getting the limits out of the car, but when you match up with everyone else, it's an eye-opener, and it tells you how it's going to be."
So says Marco Andretti, the most heavily hyped rookie to come into IndyCar racing since Danica Patrick last year. So far this season, the young Andretti has had more problems with his car than the opposition.
At the opener in Homestead-Miami and the following street race at St. Petersburg, the NYSE-sponsored IndyCar suffered mechanical failures. But at Twin Ring Motegi in Japan, Andretti found better luck and finished 12th and a lap down.
Despite the streak of bad luck, Marco Andretti sits atop the Rookie of the Year standings with 48 points and is four points ahead of PJ Chesson. Jeff Simmons, the only other rookie in the series, has 12 points.
Not a Good Ide after AllMontagny replaces Japanese GT driver at Super Aguri.Just prior to the European Grand Prix at the Nurburgring in Germany, Super Aguri F1 replaced Yuji Ide with its test driver, Franck Montagny. Not long after that, Ide was stripped of his F1 Super License by FIA due to an incident with Midland F1 driver Christijan Albers.
Poor guy. We feel for Ide. Dude gets the opportunity of a lifetime (a freakin' Formula 1 seat!), only to get stuck in a four-year old car and run four to six seconds slower than his teammate Takuma Sato, himself a second or two shy of the usual field of backmarkers.
During the Imola race, Ide got on the brakes far too late going through Turn 6 and rammed into Albers, sending the Dutch driver tumbling end over end, landing upside down in the gravel. FIA officials were not amused. At first, Super Aguri team principal Aguri Suzuki accepted the FIA's advice and relegated Ide to Friday testing duties. But after further investigating the Albers incident, the FIA took the final step, knocking Ide out of F1 until next season at the earliest. Ide has skills behind the wheel, having raced successfully in JGTC/Super GT, but couldn't quite make the F1 adjustment, not this year anyway.
Montagny comes to Super Aguri from Renault, where he had been their third driver. Prior to that, he won the Nissan 2002 World Series.