Wheels: Monday Motorsports: Vettel, Johnson, Castroneves Score Weekend Racing Wins

Rogerio Barbosa/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Sebastian Vettel leading the race at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal on Sunday.

Sebastian Vettel made easy work of the competition to win Sunday’s Formula One race in Montreal. Vettel’s victory extended his lead in the championship points standings over Kimi Raikkonen, who finished ninth after a trouble-plagued race. Fernando Alonso finished second and also moved ahead of Raikkonen in points. Lewis Hamilton was third.

Hamilton led three early laps, when Vettel made a pit stop. Otherwise, the race was all Vettel.

After the race, it was announced that a course worker had been killed during the event when a recovery vehicle removing a disabled car from the course ran him over.

In other racing news:

• Jimmie Johnson proved unstoppable Sunday in the Nascar Sprint Cup event at Pocono Raceway in Pennsylvania. Greg Biffle said he considered himself fortunate to finish second, 1.2 seconds behind. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was third and Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman rounded out the top five.

It was Johnson’s 63rd career victory in the series, and helped him pad his lead in the points standings as he campaigns for a sixth championship. Only Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt, with seven championships each, have won more titles.

• Helio Castroneves, known for climbing the fence between the race track and the grandstands after his victories, was up to his old routine again after winning Saturday’s IndyCar series Firestone 550 at Texas Motor Speedway.

It was first victory of the year for Castroneves, but his consistency through the eight races in the series so far this year has him atop the point standings, ahead of Marco Andretti, who came in fifth at Texas.

Ryan Hunter-Reay came in second Saturday, followed by Tony Kanaan and Ed Carpenter.

Jean Francois Monier/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images The Audi R18 E-Tron Quattro Hybrid driven by Loïc Duval competes during the test day of the 90th Le Mans 24 hours endurance race.

• Loïc Duval, driving an Audi R18 E-Tron Quattro, was fastest Sunday in a two-segment practice day at the Circuit de la Sarthe in Le Mans, France. The practice was a major tune-up for this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, which will be held June 22-23.

Duval crashed in the morning session, but came back in the afternoon stint to post a stunningly fast time. He was three seconds faster than the next driver on the time sheets, Lucas di Grassi, who was also driving an Audi. Third quickest was Andre Lotterer in another Audi.

No further on-track activity is scheduled for the entries until the days immediately preceding the classic endurance event, which in 2013 is celebrating its 90th anniversary.

• The noted land speed racing pioneer Walt Arfons, who also developed jet-powered race cars as well as the parachutes needed to stop them, died June 4 at age 96 in an Akron, Ohio, hospital, a family member confirmed last week.

Arfons, who, along with half-brother Art and later with Craig Breedlove, traded many speed records in the 1950s and 1960s, was a self-taught engineer and inventor. His fascination with speed led him purchase a war surplus jet and try to adapt its power to land speed racing. It was a dangerous endeavor that resulted in many crashes, injuries and scrapes with death, but his so-called “Green Monster” cars became racing icons.

His perfection of jet engine use in racing also led him to adopt the now widely used drogue parachutes that safely stop drag racing machines.

Art Arfons, with whom Walt Arfons had a falling-out over safety concerns in their head-to-head duels, died in 2007. Walt’ son, Craig, was killed going for a speed record in a powerboat in 1989.

Behind the wheel. 2013 Honda Civic: a meat well cooked-Over triggers the final score

In 1990, when it turned out that the mirror in the shiny, new, freshly Orbiting Hubble Space Telescope is brilliant precisely the right way, the Space Agency began to work on a solution. In December 1993, this fix, Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial replacement, called Costar, was launched aboard the space shuttle Endeavour and, in a major calls for service of all time, has been installed in the Hubble. The telescope has been look at the edge of the universe since then.

The 2013 non-toute new Honda Civic is the 2012 Civic with Costar. It is a version sharper, more focused, more user-friendly for the Civic, even if they are basically the same car, powered by the same engines 4 cylinder feeding the same transmissions.

To distinguish the Civic version 2012 2013 sedan dull, Honda has summarized the front end with a new chrome trim grille and bumpers, replaced the rear bumper and lights back and bolted on new wheels. Single steel sheet which has changed is the hood, which has a slightly stronger form.

Honda says the look is more 'chic' and 'premium', which is a way bias say that it is not as cheap or as bland. And the changes have left the Civic looking more like his brothers and sisters more large, redesigned and well-received 2013 Agreement.

While the two-door Civic sharing other revisions with the sedan, its outward appearance has not changed. This is the other revisions that make up the substance of the improvements for 2013.

The front structure has been revised in order to better perform in the offset crash tests. In fact, next Thursday the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety announced that the cut Civic 2013 and sedan got Top Safety Pick more, its highest rating, indicating that they performed well in all tests, including a new small lag before crash test.

In addition, suspension and steering electrical systems have been adjusted for better responsiveness and other noises of material has - more obviously as a buffer to the inside of the trunk lid. Even window glass is a little thicker to remove noise.

In the Department of gadget, a rear backup camera is now standard on all versions, as well as a cell phone Bluetooth and audio integration. Pandora Internet radio and SMS text messaging interfaces have been added alongside USB and standard iPod interfaces.

The biggest improvements, however, are the materials revised inside cabin. A new star feels thick and rich to the touch; the door panels seem better padded. More impressive is the refilling of the dashboard, which has a better texture, is softer to the touch and simulated sewing.

Dashboard in two fundamental levels did not change, but the austerity of the 2012 Civic, which had all the charm of a plastic bucket, has disappeared. The Interior of 2013 is among the most pleasant found in any compact car.

Banned from the programming of the Civic sedan is the base model DX, a leader of loss that virtually no one bought anyway. But that still leaves seven variations of the civilian sedan and four cups.

Sedans, four versions use the same 140-horsepower, 1.8-liter engine. The least expensive is the LX $18 955 public with a manual 5 speed and tires and 15-inch steel wheels. Adding an automatic transmission 5 speeds nudge prices upwards of $800.

A notch above which is the $21 605 EX, which mounted on 16-inch alloy wheels and is only available with automatic transmission. The former has an air-conditioning, a more powerful stereo system, four-wheel disc brakes and a sunroof.

For $23 055, the EX - L adds leather trim. The two EX versions can be done with a navigation system with voice command for another $ 1,500.

For mileage-obsessed, there is also the HF model for $20,055, which has an automatic transmission, lightweight wheels of 15 inch and low rolling resistance tires; HF also fails the spare wheel to save weight and economy a little better: 29 miles per gallon in the city and 41 MPG on the road, against 28/39 for the automatic LX and EX. My test car was an EX with fabric upholstery, but without the navigation system.