TME Zaventem Proving Ground – Click above for high-res images
When we went by the European headquarters of in Zaventem, Belgium, to the then still under development, the Japanese automaker was in the middle of a vast expansion plan. A year later and after two years of construction, Toyota Motor Europe (TME) has completed its new test facility, and released details of all that it encompasses.
The new Zaventem Proving Ground includes a 0.8-mile banked oval, a 300-foot skidpad plus test roads to evaluate and fine-tune everything from ride comfort to brake performance.
All in all, the proving ground alone takes up 700,000 square and cost some $67 million to construct. The facility will allow Toyota to conduct much of its own R&D on-site at Zaventem, instead of booking time at the massive test track owned by in Lommel or a similar complex.
for the full press release and scope out the aerial shots of the new facility in the high-res image gallery.
CNBC will air an hour-long program this Wednesday on the brand behind the roundel called “BMW: A Driving Obsession,” which the news channel bills as “the fascinating story behind a once small, struggling company that transformed itself into a global luxury car powerhouse.” The four featured highlights will take looks at BMW World, art cars, the BMW tech center and .
The page’s breathless descriptions – “…where every dimension of the cars and company is engineered in search of perfection” – make us think this might be more for the casual car follower, not the enthusiast, but it’s safe to say our DVRs will be reporting for duty come showtime.
The program gets four airings this Wednesday, July 13 starting at 9 p.m.t EST, but you can get previews now with a few extra-feature videos already on the CNBC site.
Ken Block is coming to a town country near you, and he’s bringing the world of Gymkhana with him. Block has decided to bring Gymkhana to the people with a three-stop tour that will see his Ford Fiesta going through a lot of rubber around the world.
The Monster World Rally team will first head to Vienna, Austria, where the Gymkhana World Tour kicks offs on July 10. A live audience will be treated to a Gymkhana run that will in turn be filmed for a new soon-to-be-YouTube-sensational video.
From Austria, Ken Block and his crew will move to Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California. This July 23 stop on the tour is the week prior to X Games 17, after which Block will stick around to try and pilot his Fiesta to Rallycross gold. Following that, the Gymkhana tour heads Down Under to bring tire-smoking antics to the birthplace of Hoon. Ford Australia will welcome Block in Melbourne for the weekend of September 2-3 just prior to Rally Australia.
This is going to be a smokey summer for Ken Block, and an expensive one for his tire sponsor, Pirelli. for all the details in the full press release.
Brabus 800 E V12 Cabriolet – Click above for high-res image gallery
Black Series? Who needs one when you’ve got Brabus? Try this on for size: 0-62 in 3.7 seconds and a top speed of 231 mph. In a four-seat .
So, how did the German tuning house manage to convert a boulevard cruiser into a certified bruiser? Well, for starters, they took the V12 from the , gave it a whole mess of new moving parts and breathing gear, quad intercoolers, bored it out from 5.5 liters to 6.3 and dropped it into the E-Cab’s engine bay.
The result is 800 metric horsepower (788 by US standards) to make this the most powerful and the fastest four-seat convertible on the market. Of course it’s a rather lofty market, at €478,000 ($680k), but with all that power and attention to detail to go with it, can you really be surprised? Not as surprised as the owner of that Black Series AMG will be when you and three of your best friends go ripping by in the left lane. Check it out in the high-res image gallery and the post-jump press release.
It’s hard for the Top Gear team to surprise us with outrageous tales since the show itself could almost be considered behind-the-scenes footage of some other, more traditional program. But producer Andy Wilman reveals , and it’s hard not to be a little surprised at some of them.
Like #8, for example, about trying to get James May to chauffeur a Bengal Tiger in a range Rover Evoque through Death Valley. Or #1, in which he says, “I don’t think anyone realises how much work goes into making these three look like f—wits.” We’d never have guessed. You’ll find the rest of Wilman’s words .
ADAC GT Masters crash at the Nürburgring – Click above to watch the video
Tire barriers at race tracks are there for a reason. Namely, safety. But they can’t protect against every scenario. Say, going airborne over said tire barrier and hitting a hapless porta-potty. That’s exactly what happened at the Nürburgring this weekend during the fourth round of this year’s ADAC GT Masters championship.
Towards the start of the race, one Alex Plenagl (22, of Ebergberg, Bavaria) crashed his Alpina B6 GT over the barrier, sending it careening straight into a BMW sign and a trackside porta-potty. Fortunately, no one was in the johnny-on-the-spot at the time of the impact, and Plenagl himself reportedly escaped serious injury.
Sir Jackie Stewart once dubbed the Nürburgring as “The Green Hell” due to the frequency and severity of the accidents that occurred around the infamously difficult road course, and the name has stuck ever since. We dare not ask what sort of nicknames the track might get from this incident, but you can watch the video and see for yourself.
Sketches of the HBH supercar based on the V12 Vantage – Click above for high-res image gallery
HBH stands for Hermann, Brandt, Hartwig, the surnames of three Danes who have had hands in cars like the , and Zenvo ST-1. The partnership specializes in assisting other companies develop projects, but now HBH has one of its own: build a one-off, mid-engined concept based on the .
It has no name yet, but it does have sketches. The , looking much like a Noble, is a touch more refined, a bit less bulldog than the newly unveiled chalked-out version, and we think we like the latter better. Speaking of bulldogs, the when talking about a precedent for changing the engine layout of the V12 Vantage, and said that with the HBH car they want “to create a car that has the Le Mans racing pedigree but at the same time, from a styling viewpoint, is in complete harmony with Aston Martin’s design heritage.”
In addition to the new location, the 6.0-liter, 510-horsepower V12 will be supplemented by two superchargers of HBH design. That could be good for somewhere around 700 horses, enough to take the V12 Vantage from Roman candle to Bunker Buster. Only one car is slated to be made, but if (rich) people begin lining up, we image that number could grow. A little.
Lotus Evora Type 124 – Click above for high-res image gallery
has a lot planned for the coming years, but before its next generation sports cars comes along, rumor has it some significant revisions are planned for the current .
Among the 147 upgrades reportedly planned are a revised interior, a new exhaust and a sharper transmission. Convertible and plug-inhybrid versions are also reportedly under consideration, but Lotus is said to have another trick up its sleeve.
Taking a page out of the “more power, less weight” playbook used on the likes of the Ferrari 430 Scuderia, and , a hardcore Evora GT4 or Type 124 racer for the road could be in the cards. In the process, the 345-horsepower supercharged V6 in the current Evora S could get tuned up to 400 hp. Those are some changes we could get behind.
Synth pop project Owl City, the brainchild of Minnesota’s own Adam Young, recently released the video for its new single, “Deer in the Headlights.” In addition to some pretty cool CGI, the video resonates with us because in it, Young pilots the Back to the Future DeLorean.
Time travel doesn’t happen until the end, when he inexplicably goes to 2015 and meets an alien. Other than that, the video is just a dude singing to himself tooling around in a time machine. It’s not , but it’s still pretty cool. Check out the video .
2011 British Grand Prix – Click above for high-res image gallery
Unlike racing series like IndyCars or Le Mans, the Formula One championship isn’t built around any specific race. But even though each grand prix carries the same weight in the standings, some are – symbolically speaking – more important than others. While Monaco is clearly the most exciting and emblematic of the series as a whole, we’d argue that none are as important to the teams as the British Grand Prix.
Since more teams are based in the UK than anywhere else, the race as Silverstone is considered home turf for about half the grid – not to mention the spiritual home of grand prix racing. So with the British Grand Prix unfolding this weekend, who took top honors? Follow the jump and we just might tell you.
Abarth Punto Evo EsseEsse – Click above for high-res image gallery
With the getting the lion’s share of the attention, it’d be all too easy to forget about the Punto. But offers more than one model, and so does its tuning division, Abarth.
The Grande Punto has been around since 2005, and was updated in 2009 as the Punto Evo, something of a stopgap until its eventual replacement comes along. Abarth offers its own version of the Punto Evo for those who find the 500 either too small or too cutesy, and has now rolled out an even more powerful version of the Italian performance hatch.
Instead of the 165-horsepower turbo four in the existing , the EsseEsse version gets a more promising 180, thanks to revised ECU programming and bigger turbocharger. The brakes are also upgraded, as are the springs, dampers and wheel/tire package. The result is a 7.5-second sprint to 62 and a 134 mph top end.
Best of all, the modifications in the EsseEsse kit can be ordered and installed from the dealership up to a year after the car was purchased. Although the model was nearly a year ago in Paris, it’s only just hitting the market. Read more about it in the press release after the jump.
While cigarette-brand logos once adorned most of the Formula 1 cars on the grid, tobacco sponsorship in F1 has been banned for years. The last holdout was , but even that’s been scaled back to oblivion over the past few seasons.
As countries hosting races gradually banned tobacco advertising, Ferrari was forced to remove the Marlboro name and logo from its cars at some grands prix. Eventually, it was removed altogether in favor of the that was, according to some, designed to evoke the Marlboro logo while skirting the sponsorship rules. Last year, even that was after controversy erupted over the issue.
The last vestige of the collaboration between Ferrari and Philip Morris remained in the team’s name, but reports now indicate that’s over. The team is reverting from Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro to Scuderia Ferrari. This change comes after the two outfits recently announced a renewal of their contract, but you to wonder what Philip Morris is getting out of its multi-million-dollar sponsorship deal at this point, and by extension, how much longer it will last.
Jeff Zwart’s 2011 Porsche 911 GT2 RS at Pikes Peak – Click above to watch the video
Last month we showed you a video in his quest to break his own 2WD Time Attack record in a stock Porsche 911 GT2 RS. The second video, showing Zwart’s run up the mountain, has now been released. The footage of the attempt is excellent.
While Zwart didn’t manage to come up home with the title, it would be difficult to not consider his drive a success. He smashed the Pikes Peak record for stock production cars, and his time of 11:07.869 bested his previous attempt in a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race car by 24 seconds. Only Zwart’s good friend Rod Millen was able to top him on the day, albeit by a mere three seconds and with a fully-prepped race car producing over 700 horsepower.
You can watch Zwart drive his 911 GT2 RS up Pikes Peak in the video .
2009 Lamborghini LP640 Star Wars – Click above to view video
Brian Zuk wrapped a with a vinyl skin for this year’s Gold Rush Rally 3. Verdict? We like.
The wrap featuresClone Wars-era Jedi Order crests on the passenger side, Galactic Republic/Galactic Empire crests on the driver’s side, and an overhead view of an R2 unit on the car’s roof (very handy for repairing the V12’s hyperdrive). If nothing else, this Lambo’s a lock to score one of the prime valet spots outside Jabba’s palace. to watch video of it in action.
Perhaps there was once a time when the Chinese citizenry couldn’t tell the difference between a and a . In today’s car-crazy China, however, this is clearly no longer the case. That didn’t stop police in Fangchenggang (part of Guangxi Province) from performing a low-tech badge swap on a Mercedes-Benz ML350 in a bid to make it look like a run-of-the-mill Honda, right down to CR-V emblem on the rear liftgate.
Car News China reports that the police did it to fool taxpayers into thinking that the department didn’t spend big bucks on a Benz. An ML350 reportedly costs around 900,000 yuan ($139,000 USD), which is a lot more than , which runs around 200,000 yuan ($30,000 or so). As you may have guessed, the ridiculous (and failed) cover-up attempt by the cops angered residents whole lot more than if they’d simply rolled out, baller style, in the Mercedes from the beginning.
DiRT 3 Monte Carlo Track Pack – Click above to watch video
If you’re a fan of racing video games, you might have purchased a copy of DiRT 3. The game features a variety of machines and tracks, yet some might still want more. Codemasters aims to please with its latest downloadable content add-on: the Monte Carlo Track Pack.
The Monte Carlo pack will cost Xbox users 800 Microsoft points. PS3 users need to shell out $9.99. Either way, that buys you eight new rally stages filled with hairy, snow-covered mountain passes in the Alps, including the legendary Col de Turini.
Bulgarian customizer Vilner is known for creating luxurious passenger cabins. We’ve seen its crew apply their talents to the , and , and now they’ve turned their attention to ’s crossovers.
Since the press release after the jump offers little in the way of details, we’ll let the images of the nautically inspired interiors in these and CUVs speak for themselves.
Unless you’re into robot spotting, it doesn’t take many factory tours before you punch the ‘Been There Done That’ card. Of course, there are exceptions, such as when AMG bundles tours of its Affalterbach facilities with excursions like jazz concerts, golf, and driving its growling wares over the rivers and through the mountains of Bavaria and Switzerland… or Hockenheim.
Called the Spirit of AMG – Emotion Tours, there are eight packages that encompass everything from fine wines to the finish line. Each of the three lifestyle packages starts in Affalterbach, then transitions to real drive time, piloting AMG products to other destinations: the Montreaux package takes in jazz in Switzerland, the Golf package goes for links in Munich with Robert Baker and Bernd Schneider, and in case you do want to see a real factory, the Spirit of SLS AMG package will trundle you off to the plant in Sindelfingen.
For hairier-chested adventures, try the DTM or driving packages. The first will put you behind the wheel of an AMG in Affalterbach, then you’ll drive to a DTM race in Munich or Hockenheim as a guest of Mercedes. The other three packages are the German equivalents of our own AMG Driving Academy, but instead of Lime Rock and Road Atlanta you’ll be throwing SLS GT3s at top-level around European tracks such as Le Castellet, the Nordschleife, the Sachsenring and Spa-Francorchamps.
Prices start at €570 ($828 USD) for Spirit of SLS AMG and go up to €6,280 ($9,122 USD) for Pro Training with a rented SLS AMG. And there’s no need to wait until Christmas; tours are underway this month.
Man vs MiTo – Click above for high-res image gallery
Pitting a car against a runner along busy city streets is something you’d expect to see on an episode of Top Gear. This time, however, it’s Alfa Romeo that challenged athletes to a four-mile race through downtown London.
The contest pits Ivan Thomas, a 400-meter championship sprinter, against a 285-horsepower Alfa MiTo 1.3 JTDM driven by hurdle runner Andy Turner and navigated by long jumper Chris Tomlinson.
The race has already taken place, but Alfa hasn’t announced the winner yet. It’ll tease the results in a series of films while asking the British public to guess the outcome.
Those who guess correctly will be entered into a contest to win an Alfa Romeo mountain bike. Follow the jump for the details in the full press release and check out the images in the gallery for a closer look.
Ford Mad Max Interceptor Concepts – Click above for high-res image gallery
If you were unlucky enough to find yourself in the middle of a post-apocalyptic dystopic world where gang violence and a complete lack of any real human society were the norm, there’s only one vehicle you’d want the keys to: a matte black Ford Falcon coupe. Don’t believe us? Apparently you’ve missed out on the Australian cinematic masterpiece that is Mad Max.
Besides launching Mel Gibson’s acting career (we’re not touching that one with a ten-foot pole), the film and its two sequels were famous for the outlandish cars and motorcycles used to rundown unsuspecting prey and their precious last drops of gasoline. And no single machine from the film was as memorable as Max’s Pursuit Special, a 1973 XB Falcon GT351.
In case you didn’t know, the Mad Max series is . Tentatively due to hit theaters sometime in 2012, Mad Max: Fury Road is set to star Tom Hardy, Teresa Palmer and Charlize Theron… but, of course, the real stars we’re most interested in will be the cars, which are currently being designed.
Two of the leading candidates for the hero car have been created in roughly 40-percent size and are on display at the Australian International Motor Show in Melbourne. See the two scale models along with a slew of other potential designs in our high-res image gallery below. We also suggest you to check out a quick video of the concept on the show floor in Australia, along with the related press release.
