WOW! $400k tearup, nice [not] and still nobody putting their hand up for it. How much lower till somebody bites? Could have been worse, a Maybach! That's the *joy* of buying a premium luxo car......... J.A. G
Fiat 500 Declared 2009 World Car Design of the Year The Fiat 500 was presented with the 2009 World Car Design of the Year award at the New York auto show today. The winner of the award was decided upon by a distinguished panel of judges selected for their expertise in automobile design. The top three finalist were all European models and included the Citroen C5 sedan and C5 Tourer (together), the Jaguar XF, and, of course, the winning Fiat 500. Nissan GT-R Declared 2009 World Performance Car of the Year Nissan has bagged the 2009 World Performance Car of the Year award via the indomitable GT-R. The other two nominees were the Corvette ZR1 and Porsche 911 Carrera. Initially from a list of 23 contenders a panel of 59 international judges narrowed the list down to ten, then three and finally the winner. New VW Golf Awarded World Car of the Year The Volkswagen Golf VI has taken the 2009 World Car of the Year. This was announced at the 2009 New York International Auto Show. It was chosen over the two other finalists the Ford Fiesta and Toyota IQ. There are three other categories: Green, Design and Performance which saw other nominated vehicles such as the Audi A4, the BMW 7 Series, the Nissan GT-R, the Fiat 500 and the Jaguar XF included. The WCOTY Awards are adjudicated by a jury of 59 motoring journalists from 25 different countries around the world. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
The FIA GT1-spec Nissan R35 GT-R will use an engine rated at 600 hp, and it will have the torque to match. With 650 Nm, this car could be a front runner during the upcoming GT1 season. The GT-R gets all that power courtesy of the 5.6-liter VK56DE V8 engine, which pushes along the 18x13 Rays forged wheels. A detuned version also appears on the Infiniti QX56. But tweak the engine, and pair it with a Ricardo six speed transmission and you get a rear-wheel drive Godzilla. Carbon is used in more than a few parts, including the triple plate clutch, and six-piston caliper brakes. Nissan's first use of the R35 GT-R in the FIA GT1 class will be on 3 May 2009 at Silverstone. It will also be entered in three other races throughout the season and then enrolling for the full 2010 season. Source: FIA GT Championship via gtrblog.com Image Unavailable, Please Login
Reiter are building a new Murcie GT1 too, based on the latest SV version, 670 hp, 6.7 litre. http://www.crash.net/FIA+GT/News/145083/1/reiter_to_build_gt1_murcielago.html The FIA series Silverstone round is looking up in GT1. There'll be two Ford Teams, the Nissan, the Murcie (old and new), the Masers, 'Vettes and Saleens.
German auto maker shows off radical new W16 design concept for 2011 IRL The Indianapolis 500 will exclusively use VW power in 2011 Racecar can exclusivley reveal. VAG's new engines will be based on a revolutionary quad turbo W16 design. The two litre powerplants are said to be highly efficient and only use three quarters of the fuel used in the current IRL spec engines. Whilst all the engine blocks will be identical a number of different cylinder head and bottom end layouts are available, each is to be badged by a different part of the VAG company, most notably Porsche. The most interesting variant is the triple crankshaft Bugatti branded unit, which trades off incredile efficiency and marginally higher power against increased weight and a higher centre of gravity. From a short piece in RaceCar Engineering http://www.racecar-engineering.com/news/products/314759/volkswagen-indycar-engine-revealed.html Image Unavailable, Please Login
Dear me KTLA News April 12, 2009 CALABASAS -- Italian model Fabio Lanzoni wrecked a Ferrari Saturday afternoon near Calabasas after he took a turn too fast and lost control of the car, celebrity Web site TMZ reported. The pricey sports car, which was owned by World Class Driving, struck something off road, damaging the front and back of the car on the right side, according to TMZ. Fabio was not injured, TMZ reported. A representative for World Class Driving offered no comment, saying only, "We are not very proud of the fact that Fabio wrecked our car." No comment was available from Fabio's representatives
Looks like it's time for MHH to upgrade. For some drivers, it's not enough to arrive in a 600-horsepower luxury sedan, they've got to make sure that everyone knows it's a 600-horsepower luxury sedan. For these buyers, the facelifted 2010 Mercedes S63 AMG and S65 AMG are good news. As the flagship sedan has gotten updated for the new year, so has the high-performance version. Details have been leaked by Mercedes' German online configuration website, which has images of the S63 AMG and S65 AMG ahead of the car's official Shanghai Auto Show reveal. The new S-Class AMG models are more distinguished from the standard S-Class, with a larger front air intake below the bumper. The round foglights have been replaced by strips of LED lighting. There are LED taillights as well. The S63 AMG and S65 AMG get individual grilles to distinguish them--though, if you're good, you'll be able to tell them apart by the size of the quad exhaust outlets. Power remains impressive, with the S63 AMG's 6.2 liter V8 putting out 518 horsepower and 465 pound-feet of torque. AMG's seven-speed automatic transmission is used. The S65 AMG is the "Big Daddy" of the Mercedes sedan family, with a twin-turbo 6.0 V12 that's got 604 horses on tap. The S65's 738 lb-ft. torque rating requires a five-speed automatic to handle the torque, and offers more grunt than the competition from BMW. Mercedes' ESP stability control does its best to keep these super-sedans docile, though sometimes it's a losing battle. Source: caranddriver Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
The Novitec TuLesto hopes to be a supercar that's a little more subtle than some of those Frankensteinian monsters made up of a few muscle parts stapled together. Afterall, Novitec is a Ferrari tuner and is celebrating its 20th anniversary with this car. Oddly enough, though, in the press release on the TuLesto, Novitec doesn't say if or how much Ferrari content is in this thing. So we will have to wait for more details on that before we draw any conclusions. What we do know is that the TuLesto was designed with the help of Luca Serafini Stile, a design studio in Modena, Italy, and is built at Novitec's plant in Stetten, Germany in the province of Bavaria. It is a two-seater with a rear-mounted engine and...well, it looks a lot like a Ferrari. The engine is a 4.4 liter V8 with twin superchargers with an output of 777 hp (at 8,200 rpm) and 727 Nm of torque (6,300 rpm) coupled to a 6-speed, semi-automatic gearbox featuring an anti-slip differential. Weighing in at a mere 1,260 kg, it sports a whopping 1.62 kg/hp weight to power ratio. 0 to 100 km/h is 3.4 seconds and in 22.6 seconds the TuLesto is already humming along at 300 km/h (186 mph), still a jogger's pace for a car with a top speed of more than 350 km/h (217 mph). A first-rate suspension with double-wishbones front and rear and adjustable damping rates is guaranteed to make the ride tight and smooth. And if you need to clear a speed bump without holding your breath, one need only push a button to raise the car by 4 cm. Aside from the use of carbon fiber, aluminum and the ultra-light alloy 20 or 21-inch wheels to keep weight down, the inside of the cabin also features a carbon fiber finish on the dash, door paneling and central console. Want one? Well, they're only making 11 of them for "long-time customers," so have a look here...and that's it. Source: Novitec Rosso Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Yep, particularly that first photo. Also the position and styling of the exhaust looks very familiar.
You're obsessed with those aren't you. We have to have a test one day. I reckon "we" should take the 355 to Sandown and do 5 laps each.