The guys at Fastlane, the Houston-area tuning shop that specializes in street trucks, have turned their attention to the R/T and made it go even faster. They’re calling the truck the Ram R/T 1500 Terramoto, or “Earthquake” for those of you who skipped out on high school Spanish.
The 1500 R/T will hit 60 mph in fewer than six seconds in 390-hp stock form, so with over 500 horses on tap, that number should drop considerably.
The ponies will hit the pavement through a set of astonishing (awful) 24×12-inch Assanti rims out back, and 22×10s up front. To augment the enormous wheels, the truck will be lowered between four and six inches, and get mini tubs to swallow the giant wheels.
Fastlane has adorned the truck with new bumpers front and rear to push the look closer to the turf, and embroidered the seats with custom R/T logos.
is kicking up its “Imported From Detroit” marketing campaign with a new logo featuring the Detroit Fist – a downtown monument to Joe Louis – surrounded by the Chrysler wings.
Chrysler is hawking $29 t-shirts, $48 hoodies, $55 zip-up sweaters and $20 beanies sporting the logo and the “Imported From Detroit” tagline, with proceeds being funneled to Detroit-area charities, including the Boys and Girls Clubs of Southeast Michigan, Habitat for Humanity Detroit and the Marshal Mathers Foundation. You can snatch up your own at .
2011 Porsche 911 GT2 RS – Click above to watch the video
The first 20 examples of the GT2 RS were delivered last month at El Toro Air Station in Irvine, California. Owners who picked up their cars at the event had the opportunity to log track time with Porsche driving instructors before being released on the streets with their new 620-horsepower terrors.
Porsche High Performance Cars manager Andreas Preuninger was on hand to oversee delivery of the car he spent the last four years developing as a skunkworks-style project. According to Preuninger, he and the engineers who developed the 997 GT2 and GT3 RS started the project during testing of the “regular” GT2 at the Nurburgring. Essentially, the design brief was to combine the stripped-down nature of the GT3 RS and the power of the GT2 to build the fastest 911 possible.
To get every detail nailed down, Porsche engineers logged nearly 435,000 testing miles and another 80,000 hours of engineering time.
The end result is a 620-horsepower lightweight Porsche 911 that set a 7:18 lap time around the Nurburgring. The most-powerful Porsche ever built, the 911 GT2 RS was designed not as a money-making venture, but an exercise in supercar muscle-flexing by Porsche. The fact that Porsche stuck with the project despite its dubious profitability makes it even more amazing. to watch video of the GT3 RS in action.
1976 Mercedes-Benz 450 SEL Sbarro Gullwing Coupe – Click above for high-res image gallery
Franco Sbarro apparently had a lot of orders for these wide-bodied modern gullwings back in the late ’70s. According to the eBay listing, Sbarro made 28 Gullwing Coupes in total, most based on a two-door chassis with either a naturally-aspirated or twin-turbo 5.0-liter V8.
The car you see before you, however, is among the rarest of these rare supercoupes. It’s based on a four-door 1976 450 SEL 6.9 chassis. Apparently one of six built for the new wife of an Arab prince, this car spent part of its life in the hands of an NBA star. (Shocker, we know.)
The custom gullwing doors look more than a little heavy and cumbersome, and must have taken weeks of careful figuring to get right. The details, however, are what really set this car apart. For starters, it’s been updated with chrome 20-inch Giovannas, to make add a contemporary to its bling. Then there’s the original-equipment Sbarro horizontal ‘phantom’ bar grille hiding the big Benz’s stock headlamps and marker lights.
Top all that off with a set of ridiculously-wide fender flares and a lowered roofline, and you have a delicious recipe for 1970s-style excess. The price for all this exclusivity and opulence? The “Buy It Now” option lists $49,995. Thanks for the tip, Csaba!
Nash Metropolitan Fire Truck – Click above for high-res image gallery
While keeping a fire extinguisher in your house or garage is never a bad idea, what do you do if things get a little too hot for your consumer-spec extinguisher to handle? Perhaps you might consider keeping this little gem in the garage as a backup. You’re looking at a 1960 Nash Metropolitan that has been converted into a fire truck.
Well, sort of. This machine was never actually meant to battle flames. Instead, the car was converted into an amusement park attraction by Overland Amusements of Lexington, Massachusetts. According to Hemmings, the company was responsible for all sorts of similar conversions in the ’50s and ’60s, though it tended to favor Crosley models for its fire trucks.
So, maybe you want to hang onto that kitchen fire extinguisher after all. There’s no indication that this Nash would be any help in an inferno, but it’s cool enough that we’re willing to give it a pass in the functionality department. If you like what you see, the seller is asking $29,500 for the pleasure of ownership. Head over to to .
Build your own bridge alternative – click above to watch video
What do you do when you need to cross a river, but don’t have a bridge? These folks in Bolivia offer a quick answer that involves a pair of boats and some makeshift ramps. Check out the video to see how a Toyota avoids fording a river. Pun intended. See how it all comes together .
A few videos of the new BMW i8 undergoing winter testing have managed to make their way to the web courtesy of YouTube. The clips surfaced after our managed to lay eyes on the greensupercar frolicking through the snow. The clips give us a good idea of what the i8 will look like in motion. We’re still not completely smitten with the roof-mounted sideview mirrors, and watching the i8 drive around on the ice and snow hasn’t done anything to sway our opinion. We can’t help but think that the pieces look like hippopotamus ears.
It’s impossible to tell whether the mule we see dashing through the snow is equipped with the same small-displacement diesel engine of the concept or whether this machine wears the turbocharged four-cylinder gasoline engine that’s rumored to debut with the production version. Either way, the clips are worth a look. to see BMW’s next flagship in action for yourself.
Sick and tired of getting pushed around by Ariel Atoms at your local track day? Briggs Automotive Company, who prefer the acronym BAC, are getting ready to produce the Mono. It’s a carbon-fiber shell wrapped around a single-passenger steel cell.
The BAC Mono’s 2.3-liter Cosworth four-cylinder engine makes 280-horsepower and 207 pound-feet of torque, and it’s mated to a Hewland six-speed sequential gearbox. Those power figures put it right in line with all non-. However, the BAC Mono weighs in at just 1,190 pounds – 160 pounds less than the Atom.
BAC plans to build just 35 examples of the Mono, and the first 10 are already spoken for. You better start saving your cash if you’re interested because the Mono will cost you £67,000, or about $108,000 USD, before tax.
Cup USA kicked off its 2011 season this weekend at Willow Springs Raceway in Rosamond, California. The weather was perfect for the season opener, and Jack Fried took the overall and 2-Eleven class victory in a battle that came down to the final lap of the feature race.
Andy Kern took the win in the time attack event with 1:29.473 in another Lotus 2-Eleven, but retired from the feature with mechanical issues. Fried was close behind Kern for second in time attack.
The Lotus Evora Experience kicked off at Willow Springs last weekend as well. The Evora Experience gives 12 VIPs seat time in the Evora, including track sessions. The next round of Lotus Cup USA racing is at Firebird International Raceway in Chandler, AZ the weekend of April 9 and 10.
The Federal Trade Commission will hold a series of roundtable discussions about car dealers’ business practices next month. The talks will be held across the country in an effort by the FTC to get a feel for how car dealers are conducting themselves and whether their practices are fair to the consumer.
The discussions kick off on April 12 at Wayne State University Law School in Detroit and are free and open to the public. The main topic will be dealer financing, which is almost always a confusing, complicated process that can wind up costing car buyers more money than they originally intended.
The FTC is in the process of identifying experts in the field to attend the talks, including auto industry representatives and consumer advocates. More meeting times and discussion schedules will be posted to the as they’re made public.
Formula Drift in Abu Dhabi – Click above for high-res image gallery
After wrapping up the 2010 Formula Drift season (Vaughn Gittin Jr. took the podium, with Tanner Foust and Ryan Tuerck second and third overall), a handful of selected professional drifters loaded their cars into steel 40-foot containers and shipped them to the Middle East for the inaugural Formula Drift UAE Invitational in Abu Dhabi.
While the locals in that part of the world aren’t strangers to wild car antics (as evident from those popular, yet crazy ), the Invitational was formatted to introduce the locals to professional drifting – in a safe and controlled manner. The chosen venue was the new Yas Marina Circuit, designed and built for Formula One (interestingly enough, the Formula Drift guys were the first to every lay “drifting” rubber down on its fresh surface).
In addition to the main event, there was a media day (with ride-alongs), a karting competition (Tanner Foust set the all-time lap record), a visit to and a drag competition with locals. And, to help the local competitors, Tony Brakohiapa and Michael Essa taught drifting techniques to ten drivers from the local SSK Drift Club (four were eventually chosen to participate in demo during the main event).
The next stop for drivers Chris Forsberg, Tanner Foust, Michael Essa, Tony Brakohiapa, Fredric Aasbo, Mike Whiddett and Daijiro Yoshihara is the Qatar Racing Club in Doha, Qatar, for the inaugural Formula Drift Global Challenge on March 18, 2011.
Gallery:
Photos copyright (C)2011 Formula Drift / Ashley Glover / Nick Richards
2012 Ferrari FF delivery – Click above to watch the video
To give journalists their first close-up look at the , Maranello has chosen Plan de Corones, a ski resort in the Italian Alps accessible only by ski lifts, as the venue. Why not a racetrack? Credit the car’s all-wheel-drive architecture and its main purpose as a grand tourer, not a sports car.
To get the FF media cars to the resort, Ferrari called upon the Italian Air Force to haul them up there using CH-47 Chinook and Augusta 205 cargo helicopters. This has to rank among the most badass ways a car has ever been delivered. The choppers were from the Italian Air Force’s Viterbo 1st Regiment Antares and 4th Regiment Altair, stationed in Bolzano. to watch the special delivery.
1987 Lamborghini Countach – Click above for video .
Cars have come a long way since 1987, when 60 Minutes sent its dour, gray-suit-clad crew from New York to Italy to have an extended look at the Countach. If nothing else, we’ve become jaded to how much car the Countach actually was, distracted by the fact that its brakes could have been sharper, its road manners more civil and its huge V12 less temperamental.
Yes, this video has made the rounds in years past, but it’s time to revisit it again. We love that Morely Safer gets squired around by a young-looking Valentino Balboni, who takes him to 180 mph on Italian public roads around Sant’Agata. We love that David E. Davis, Jr., then of Automobile Magazine fame, still looks much the same as he does today, waxed mustache and all. The video is strictly non-P.C., and that’s what makes it so good.
From Lamborghini factory drivers terrorizing public roads (they didn’t even have a test track), to its head of marketing breathlessly comparing the Countach to a “beautiful virgin,” the 60 Minutesfeature reminds us what Lamborghini should be. If, like some of us, you remember watching this the night it originally aired, will make for a welcome trip back in time.
Richard Hammond’s 2008 Morgan Aeromax – Click above for high-res image gallery
Richard Hammond pretty much gets to live every car guy’s fantasy: get paid an exorbitant sum to sample, drive and comment on dream cars. Hammond maintains quite a collection of his own exotics, which until recently included a that he waxed lyrical about on Top Gear.
Despite his purported love of BMW V8-powered Aeromax, he’s decided to sell it through Surrey, England’s . Being that it has celebrity pedigree, precious few babied miles, and is one of only six right-hand-drive manual cars, the asking price is a heady £99,950, or about $159,000.
The shark has finally surfaced – the has officially arrived. Its lines are tighter, its bite is more potent and it’s heading to your local dealership sometime this fall. Under the hood sits the same 4.4-liter twin-turbocharged V8 that our man . It produces 400 horsepower between 5,500 rpm and 6,400 rpm, and a stout 450 pound-feet of torque from 1,750 rpm up through 4,500 rpm.
That power is managed by an eight-speed automatic transmission, which can be controlled manually via a pair of paddle-shifters. Should you prefer to row your own gears in the more traditional manner, a six-speed manual gearbox will also be offered. The engine and both transmission options help propel the car from 0-60 miles per hour in just 4.8 seconds and on to an electronically-limited top speed of 155 mph.
In the cabin, the 2012 6 Series Coupe is filled with BMW’s latest gadgetry. A 10.2-inch high-definition screen serves as the nexus of visual information. This modern Sixer boasts available Lane Departure Warning, Active Blind Spot detection, Rear and Top View Cameras, a Parking Assistant and a three-dimensional heads-up display.
This is all just the tip of the iceberg for the 2012 BMW 6 Series Coupe. Don’t break out the checkbook just yet, because pricing hasn’t been announced. For now, check out the updated two-door in the gallery below. Also, be sure to to dive into the full press release.
Roland Sands, champion motorcycle racer and founder of Roland Sands Design, is turning his wrenches and sketchpad loose on the Ducati Desmosedici RR – the very rare and expensive street version of the MotoGP racer.
At $72,500 apiece, Ducati’s entire North American run of 500 bikes sold out in five hours. One of Sands’ customers has three in his collection, and one of those is getting a flat-track makeover.
The bike in question has zero miles on it, so performing this transformation is an act of sacrilege in the eyes of the Ducati faithful. The tear-down and fabrication process on the Desmo is only just underway. The final product will be either an amazing machine gone nuclear-hot or a trashed masterpiece. We can’t wait to see how things turn out.
already made it clear that it’s not interested in bringing the Bertone B99 Concept to life, but that hasn’t stopped Bertone from unleashing a barrage of images and details related to its mid-sized concept. The firm says that the B99 sports a wheelbase of around 9.1 feet, and that the bodywork would be all hand-formed aluminum. Something tells us that little detail would get the boot if the B99 ever made it to the production line.
According to CarBodyDesign, Bertone specifically wanted to abandon the typical wedge shape predominate among sports sedans in favor of a three-volume look that places the headlights and the taillights on the same plane.
While the interior features an assortment of high-tech goodies, Bertone says that buyers could expect to find an extended-range hybrid system under the hood, complete with twin electric motors and a range-extending internal combustion engine good for a combined 570 horsepower.
Of course, Jaguar would first have to greenlight the project, which doesn’t look to be happening. Ever.
IIHS roof test on 2011 Honda Odyssey – Click above for high-res image gallery
The has announced that the , , and GMC Acadia have all been namedTop Safety Picks, the organization’s highest honor.
The Odyssey is the second minivan to earn the award since IIHS added roof strength requirements to its criteria for earning the Top Safety Pick designation, the other being the . Since the minivan had already been tested and rated Good for front, side and rear crash protection, only the roof strength measurement was required this time around.
Similarly, the GMC Acadia was only tested for roof strength as it had already passed the previous crash-testing regimen. The Odyssey’s roof withstood a force more than five times the minivan’s weight; the Acadia managed four times its weight. To put this in context, a vehicle’s roof must be able to withstand 1.5 times its weight to pass the more lenient federal testing standards.
Because the Chevrolet Traverse and Buick Enclave share their architecture with the tested GMC Acadia, those vehicles were also awarded Top Safety Picks. See the photos of the roof testing below and the press release .
Mini Seven – Click above for high-res image gallery
We’re a little torn on this one. You’re looking at what could possibly be the most awesome go kart ever crafted by human hands: the Mini Seven. Mini is a company that specializes in high-end electric golf carts that vary from a proportionally-correct Hummer resort vehicle to a lookalike. This, however, is different. The Seven was built specifically with children in mind, and Mini says that the pint-sized interpretation of Colin Chapman’s wonder is safe for operation on tarmac or in fields. Powered by a gasoline engine, the car has a top speed of around 19 mph.
Four disc brakes with a fully-adjustable proportioning valve are standard, as are a set of four-point harnesses to keep your budding speed demon firmly planted in the optional leather seats. Even the pedals are adjustable to keep up with a kid’s growth.
Unfortunately, all of this unbelievable kit comes with a similarly eye-widening price tag. Expect to fork over £6,995, or roughly $11,305. Awesome? Sure. That awesome? Probably not.
2012 Fiat 500 Coupe Zagato – Click above for high-res image gallery
Among the concepts that Fiat took to Geneva, the most interesting was probably the ,which got the design firm’s famous low, double-bubble roof and teardrop-shaped windows. According to Fiat brass, the 500 Coupe Zagato is go for production in Mexico and in very limited numbers in Europe.
No word yet on pricing, but it looks like the Fiat 500 Coupe Zagato will come with your choice of the standard 500’s engine options, including the brand-new 105-horsepower turbo two banger. Whether Fiat plans to bring the Zag here remains a mystery, but we aren’t getting our hopes up.
is kicking up its “Imported From Detroit” marketing campaign with a new logo featuring the Detroit Fist – a downtown monument to Joe Louis – surrounded by the 
The Federal Trade Commission will hold a series of roundtable discussions about car dealers’ business practices next month. The talks will be held across the country in an effort by the FTC to get a feel for how car dealers are conducting themselves and whether their practices are fair to the consumer.
