Certain videos, when the protagonists speak a foreign language, don’t need subtitles: Mexican telenovelas, dolphins in love and auto racing are but three. Although the narration is in Spanish and there isn’t any racing in this video of former WRC Champion Carlos Sainz and current DTM driver Miguel Molina lapping the Autódromo Terramar, the action needs no translation.
Terramar, in Spain, is the second oldest racing track in Europe after England’s Brooklands, built in 1922 to host Grand Prix cars. Its owner’s vision stretched further this his financial backing, so the two-kilometer oval track with 60-degree bankings hosted only one sanctioned race in 1923. After that, it was used sporadically, holding its last event in 1950. It is now part of land used for a chicken farm.
That didn’t stop Sainz and Molina from seeing how fast they could lap the 80-year-old circuit in a Red Bull Racing Audi R8 LMS. The video is a bit long, but it’s well-shot and definitely worth watching for the high banking and bumpy airborn shots alone. Check out the action by to watch the video.
By all accounts, Marussia is just another exotic automaker hoping to sell a few supercars but just as likely to disappear into obscurity. Except that it hasn’t, and may not for some time.
Having potentially overextended itself by buying the majority of a Formula One racing team from Virgin, the Russian upstart needed its newest product – dubbed the B2 – to be the runaway success that the (relatively) less dramatically-styled B1 wasn’t. And so it appears it will be as reports indicate that Marussia has sold out its entire production run of 500 vehicles.
In order to keep up with demand, production is reportedly shifting from Marussia’s own facility in Moscow to Valmet in Finland, the same place where the is built now and the and were before it. Cosworth will then be shipping the 3.5-liter V6 that provides between 300 and 420 horsepower (depending on customer specification) to drive the 2,425-pound lightweight supercar to 60 in as little as 3.2 seconds.
Check out the pair in the fresh image gallery above for a closer look.
Typically when an automaker wants to roll out a new car, it does so at one of a dozen or so major auto shows held throughout the calendar and around the world. But with the bulk of the show season on break for the summer, rumor has it that Renault is planning a more glamorous location to unveil its latest.
Speculation has been mounting for years that Renault was preparing to revive the Alpine nameplate with a new sports car sometime soon. And with the 50th anniversary of the legendary A110 (pictured above in the 1971 Monte Carlo Rally) coming up, the latest suggests that is exactly what the French automaker has in store for the Monaco Grand Prix, scheduled to take place in short order on the streets of Monte Carlo.
Just what the new Renault Alpine will amount to, if anything, remains to be seen, however. Some forecast that it could be based on the same platform as the from allied automaker , while others anticipate an electric sports car of some sort.
One way or another, it won’t be the only Renault present for the most iconic of grands prix: eight out of the 24 F1 cars on the grid this year are powered by the same Renault RS27 engine that powered Sebastian Vettel to the last two world championships.
The American Le Mans Series headed to Monterey, CA this weekend for the third round of the season following Sebring and Long Beach. The annual race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca is normally scheduled as the season finale in October, often leading to nail-biting finishes. More often than not, though, the team and drivers’ championships were wrapped up before the last event, meaning that the Laguna Seca was essentially inconsequential. The schedule change to an earlier spot in the year ensures that each and every team fights for points.
With a highly competitive GT field – perhaps more than ever – spectators were almost ensured fantastic racing from the likes of Corvette, Porsche, Ferrari, BMW and Aston Martin. We can’t wait until the new is thrown into the mix as well. BMW and Corvette split the first two races of 2012, although it seems that any team and any car could pull out a win at any time.
It’s a different story in the prototype classes, where the Honda HPD ARX-03a run by Muscle Milk Racing looks to be the runaway favorite in the P1 class. The team lost out at Sebring due to fueling problems, but had a dominating performance in Long Beach. Likewise, the Honda HPD ARX-03b of Level 5 Motorsports has swept the first two races of the season and look like the team to beat. However, the big news in Monterey for the prototype classes was the debut of Dempsey Racing’s new closed-cockpit Lola B12/87 running in the P2 class. Patrick Dempsey himself would be making his ALMS debut.
to read more about the American Le Mans Series race in Monterey.
Depth of Speed is Josh Clason’s video series that cosses the country looking for cool automotive stories to tell. He found another one in Utah at . They let Clason take one of their vintage Skyline GT-R projects out on track for some sunset lens time, and the result is nothing less than you’d expect from Clason.
On a side note, while the current is totally awesome, we wish it had a bit more of this car’s cool vibe. for the video.
Kei cars may be small in size, but they’re big business in Japan. The latest arrival to the category is the little hatch you see above, the Pixis Epoch.
It’s the fourth vehicle produced by the Daihatsu division but sold under the Toyota brand. As with other keis, power comes from a 660cc engine. It’s mated to a continuously variable transmission driving either just the front wheels or all four. In both configurations, the Pixis Epoch features a stop-start system that helps its emissions and fuel efficiency figures come in well below even the Japanese government’s stringent standards.
The whole package measures just 3,395 mm (133 inches) long, 1,475 mm (58 inches) wide and 1,500 mm (59 inches) tall, but offers a relatively spacious and utile interior, plus a tight turning radius of just 4.4 meters. Pricing ranges from 795,000 to 1.2 million yen – that’s less than $10,000 (and no more than $15k). Further details in the press release after the jump.
Kei cars may be small in size, but they’re big business in Japan. The latest arrival to the category is the little hatch you see above, the Pixis Epoch.
It’s the fourth vehicle produced by the Daihatsu division but sold under the Toyota brand. As with other keis, power comes from a 660cc engine. It’s mated to a continuously variable transmission driving either just the front wheels or all four. In both configurations, the Pixis Epoch features a stop-start system that helps its emissions and fuel efficiency figures come in well below even the Japanese government’s stringent standards.
The whole package measures just 3,395 mm (133 inches) long, 1,475 mm (58 inches) wide and 1,500 mm (59 inches) tall, but offers a relatively spacious and utile interior, plus a tight turning radius of just 4.4 meters. Pricing ranges from 795,000 to 1.2 million yen – that’s less than $10,000 (and no more than $15k). Further details in the press release after the jump.
It’s darn near impossible to overemphasize the impact that has had on the automotive world as we know it today. Born in 1923, Shelby took part in his very first race, a quarter-mile drag, in 1952. Later that year, he’d go on to win his first road race in an MG-TC. By 1956, Shelby had garnered enough race wins to earn the title “Driver of the Year” from Sports Illustrated. He would win that award again in 1957.
Carroll Shelby was nothing if not a keen businessman. In early 1957, Shelby opened his first car dealership in Dallas, Texas. Bolstered by his success behind the wheel – Carroll won the 24 Hours of in 1969, driving an – Shelby went on to build the iconic using a chassis built by in England and powered by a V8 engine. Officially homologated in 1962, the Cobra Roadster won its first race in January of 1963.
Driven by legendary drivers like Phil Hill, A.J. Foyt and Dan Gurney, the Shelby Cobra and its aerodynamic Daytona Coupe sibling won the Sports Car Club of America’s A-production title and the United States Road Racing Championship in ‘63. The following year brought with it the big-block 427 Cobra, and the machine went on to deal serious blows to , the dominant sports car manufacturer of the time.
Shelby began his long-running relationship with the Ford factory in 1965, as the Shelby GT350 hit both the street and the race track. That year, Shelby secured the FIA World Championship of GT cars. In 1966, a Shelby-backed Ford team finished in first, second and third place at Le Mans; this was the first time an American team claimed victory in the historic race, but it would not be the last – Shelby’s team would go on to win Le Mans again in 1967. The Ford GT40 ended up in first place four straight years from 1966-1969.
The Shelby GT350 claimed the Trans Am racing title in 1967, and in that year, the very last 427 Shelby Cobra was built. In 1970, Ford ended its partnership with Shelby, and the man would remain mostly quiet in the automotive industry until the 1980s, when approached Carroll about building high-performance versions of products. The Omni and would Go Like Hell for several years, embarrassing V8-powered Mustangs and Camaros along the way.
Carroll Shelby received a heart transplant in 1990 and would go on to reintroduce Cobra 427 S/C continuation cars and 4000-series cars throughout the 1990s. Shelby was also involved heavily with both the and programs. No wonder why Carroll Shelby was inducted into the International Motor Sports Hall of Fame in 1992.
Today, the name Shelby may be most often tied to the latest and greatest models from Ford, but it’s clear that the man has impacted the performance world for decades. While he may no longer be alive, there can be little doubt that Carroll Shelby’s influence will be felt by enthusiasts for as long as cars move us from one place to another.
We’ve collected a couple of videos that we thought were a fitting tribute to Shelby’s unending legacy. Join us in watching them by .
The crew from Cool Hunting finally got around to stopping by the Icon headquarters for a little chat with founder Jonathan Ward. The man has made a name for himself by crafting some of the most detail-oriented interpretations of classic cars on the planet.
The Icon Bronco features all of the vintage style of a late ’60s SUV with a hand-built frame, modern running gear and electronics underneath. We are, needless to say, smitten with the creation. Ward gave Cool Hunting the complete tour, including showing off a number of Icon Bronco models in various stages of completion.
Ward brings up an interesting point about modern vehicles about halfway through the clip. He says that with manufacturers continuing to pile on unnecessary technology, today’s machines are almost guaranteed to be obsolete in five years or so. In contrast, Ward says he builds each Icon to be durable enough to last decades without needing serious revision. We like his style. to watch the video.
There are a handful of countries where you’d expect most any supercar to come from. Italy, Germany, England… and even these United States have produced their fare share, and there’ve been a handful from Japan. Even France and Sweden have produced some notables. But Poland?
Hardly the first country that would come to mind, but the folks behind Arrinera Automotive aim to fix that. We first reported last year on the supercar the Polish outfit has been developing, and now they’ve released a whole slew of details – including specifications and pricing.
The as-yet unnamed vehicle (aside from the Arrinera marque, anyway) is powered by a 6.2-liter V8 that’s been supercharged up to 650 metric horsepower (641 by our measures) and 605 pound-feet of torque, driving through a Graziano gearbox for a 3.2-second sprint to 100 kilometers per hour (62 miles per hour) and a claimed 340 km/h (211 mph) top end.
Lee Noble – the talented engineer behind supercars marketed under the Ultima, Ascari, Rossion, Fenix and Noble names – has set up the suspension, with 380-millimeter brakes providing the stopping power up front and 350-millimeter discs in the back. The 1300-kilogram (2866-pound) package is made up of a high-strength steel frame with bodywork that’s carbon-intensive and similar in appearance to a Lamborghini, but that’s no bad thing.
Production is slated to begin later this year, with pricing starting at £100,000 (about $160,000 at current exchange rates). Scope it out in the extensive and fresh gallery of high-resolution images above.
How much is a Pebble Beach ‘Best in Show’ car worth? We’re about to find out. A 1938 Horch 853A Erdmann & Rossi Sport Cabriolet (that’s quite a mouthful) is looking for a new home and is headed to auction at RM’s Monterey sale in August. The car underwent an extensive restoration in 2001 and debuted at the 2004 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance where it took home first prize. Since then, the Horch has gone on to win many other accolades including the Best in Show at the New York City Concours (2005), the Meadow Brook Concours d’Elegance (2006), the Glenmoor Gathering (2008), and the Ault Park Concours (2009).
So what makes this particular car so special? Horch, one of the original four German automakers of the Auto Union that lives on today as , produced some of the most luxurious vehicles in the early part of the century. The 853A Cabriolet, one of the company’s last efforts, is widely considered one of the most beautiful cars of its era and came with many modern features including vacuum-boosted hydraulic brakes, overdrive in all four gears, and a unique hydraulic jacking system. This particular example features unique coachwork by Erdmann & Rossi and is one of just three known to currently exist.
You can read more about the 1938 Horch 853A Erdmann & Rossi Sport Cabriolet and the auction in RM’s press release , and you can see our photos of the car at the 2004 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in the gallery above.
When it comes to supercars, the sky is the proverbial limit. You can literally spend millions. And with vehicles like the , and , you can spend hundreds of thousands on a top-of-the-line luxury sedan, too. But when it comes to SUVs, prices seldom if ever breach the $100K mark fetched by the likes of the and the .
There are a handful of automakers aiming to break that barrier though. Like the upcoming SUVs from and , the on-again, off-again Spyker D12, and this, the FX Sebastian Vettel Version.
Based on the , the Vettel edition has had the output from its 5.0-liter V8 upped to from 390 horsepower to 414 for a 5.6-second sprint to 60 and a 186 mph top speed. The suspension is said to have been set up by the reigning two-time world champion himself, with the carbon fiber aero kit developed by his Red Bull Racing team. The only change we’ve heard of from the concept car pictured above to the production version will be a more conventional pearl white paint job instead of the matte white of the show car.
Only 200 examples will be produced, with 50 earmarked for continental Europe, and most of the rest likely heading to the Middle East. The price for such a high-end performance crossover? 120,000 euros, or about $155,000 in American greenbacks (if it were actually offered here). Of course if that still seems too slow and too cheap, you could always order a custom Juke-R from Infiniti’s parent company and smoke some supercars in the process.
Here’s one from the unsurprising file: The Consumer Electronics Association has written the National Traffic Safety Board in opposition to the .
According to The Detroit News, CEA is all for efforts to create technological solutions to the distracted driving problem, which makes perfect sense, as those products or features would be one more thing for its member firms to sell. To its credit, CEA did write that it supports banning texting and restricting phone use by young drivers.
But the organization insists that there is no “real-world evidence” to support prohibiting all phone use in vehicles, according to the report. In support of its position, it played the makeup card, saying that other distractions like “eating, drinking, applying makeup and engaging with children” would also need to be banned.
The to ban hands-free calling is somewhat peculiar in that it would ban calls through a paired cell phone, but not calls through a phone built into the vehicle, like the OnStar system from General Motors. The recommendation has been controversial, with even Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood with the idea.
Business has been good for . Thanks in no small part to expanding its activities in developing markets, the racing team turned automaker raked in 556 million euros in revenues to generate 42.1 million euros in profit in the first quarter of this year alone – an increase of 13.2 and 17.2 percent, respectively. Those figures are driven by increased sales that amounted to 1,733 units produced and delivered in the first quarter out of an exciting model range that includes the and , the recently revised , the innovative and the brand-new F12 Berlinetta. But the House that Enzo built is not about to stop there.
Buried deep within the company’s financial report (which you can delve into after below the fold should you be so inclined) comes confirmation direct from the company’s affable chairman (and possible next Italian prime minister) Luca di Montezemolo: “At the end of the year, we’ll also be unveiling the new , a limited series model and our first ever hybrid car.”
So there we have it, straight from the proverbial lion’s mouth and in no uncertain terms. Before we flip the calendar to 2013, we’ll have the latest in the long line of earth-shattering supercars that started with the 288 GTO, continued with the legendary F40, through the open-top F50 and on to the radical Enzo. And yes, it will be a hybrid, coupling an electric motor to a revised version of the V12 in the new F12 Berlinetta, as Ferrari at the .
and have spent the past two years becoming BFFs under the covers of their small cars. In addition to the production version of the Infiniti Etherea using the and Nissan in Tennessee, two years ago it was reported that the next Infiniti G would get engines from the German automaker. As the launch draws nearer, a report in Autocar indicates that Mercedes four-cylinder gasoline and diesel engines will be under the hood from the beginning.
Infiniti has been investing heavily in growing the brand across the world, especially in Europe. The G range had no four-pot in the lineup, and without that, few buyers would even consider it. Having economical engines right from the start will at least give purchasers a reason to cross-shop the G with the and , its target market. It will need that expanded consideration to move from 2011’s 145,000 global sales to the 500,000 sales it seeks in 2016.
If you’re wondering why Mercedes would provide engines and know-how to an entry-level luxury car that competes against the 3 Series, one of Mercedes main rivals, Renault- CEO Carlos Ghosn said . “People buying Infiniti or Daimler, they don’t cross-shop between the two brands…. We came to the conclusion that Mercedes collaborating with Infiniti will not be hurting each other.”
has posted two teasers to YouTube, previewing M Performance versions of both the and . These look to be specially produced for the UK market, and limited to just 30 units of each model in either red, white or blue.
Little information accompanies the low-res videos, saving that each of the cars is being fitted with “an impressively high specification of standard equipment” and that the 30 cars will be split up into 10 of each color. All three hues will feature BMW’s “frozen” paint, the matte finish we’re familiar with from the .
to watch both videos and their accompanying dubstep soundtracks.
Jerry Seinfeld may be planning to stage a return to television. The comic and car fanatic has been dropping hints about a new project tentatively called “Comics and Cars.” Details are iffy at the moment, though the premise seems to circle around Seinfeld and his wealthy friends hanging out and talking about various vehicles.
Names like Alec Baldwin, Ricky Gervais and Larry David have all surfaced as potential candidates, though it’s unclear if Seinfeld will rely on a regular panel of hosts or a slurry of rotating guests. Seinfeld has tried his hand at reality television in the past, though without much success.
The comic’s last project, The Marriage Ref, bumbled along for two seasons on NBC before being canceled. There’s no doubt that Seinfeld is both funny and a genuine car guy, but if shows like Top Gear USA and The Car Show have proven anything, it’s that it takes more than those two elements to succeed.
Sportsmen – whether you’d classify them all as athletes or not – are some of the wealthiest people in the world. And every year, The Sunday Times puts out a list of the richest among them. The list takes all their assets into account – including salaries past and present, endorsements and other investments – and ranks them by their net worth. So who comes out on top?
Golfers, if you can believe it. Tiger Woods tops the Top 20 list worldwide at £538 million (~$870M), joined by Arnold Palmer at No. 4 with £230M ($370M), Greg Norman at No. 9 with £174M ($280M) and Jack Niclaus at No. 11 with £158M ($255M). But just behind them are the racing drivers.
Michael Schumacher just trails Tiger with £510 million ($824M), making him the second richest sportsman in the world, by far the wealthiest racer, and within reach of becoming the first billionaire driver in the world. Little wonder, as he’s the most decorated driver the world has ever known.
Also on the list are Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen, who tie for eighteenth place (together with baseball’s CC Sabathia) at £100 million ($160M) apiece. But in between these Formula One drivers sits one Dale Earnhardt, arguably the biggest name in NASCAR, who ties basketball star Kobe Bryant at sixth place with £185 million ($300M) in assets.
Now if only someone paid us that much to drive around in circles, well…we’d still probably be blogging about cars, only we’d be doing it from onboard our own mega-yachts somewhere a lot more glamorous.
As automotive enthusiasts by profession, there’s nothing we love here at Autoblog quite as much as cars. But a distant second for many of us comes watches. Fortunately, there’s no shortage of automotive-inspired timepieces out on the market, but the unfortunate reality for many is that the correlation is just too forced. That’s what we love about Officine Autodromo.
Rather than amp up their octane count with branding associations or glossy carbon-fiber components, Autodromo takes a deliciously understated approach with minimalist designs that take their inspiration from the tachometers on Italian racing cars from the 1960s and 70s and their names from famous Italian racing circuits.
We reported on Autodromo’s first collection upon its launch back in November, and now the upstart has followed up with a chronograph version of its slick Vallelunga timepiece. Upgrading on the simplicity of its lug-less case design, the Vallelunga Chronograph features the stopwatch and 30-minute counter sought by many drivers looking for more timing functions out of their wristwatch. It’s powered by a a Swiss-made Ronda quartz movement, housed under K1 anti-glare crystal, affixed to the wrist by a perforated leather strap and available with either a white face and brushed stainless steel case or in black on black.
You can find further details in the press release , but the high-res image gallery is worth checking out just for the photo shoot orchestrated in France behind the wheel of four classic Alfa Romeos and a vintage Eleven.
Bloggers we may be, but we’re still fans of good old fashioned long-form journalism – or what passes for it in this day and age. Yes, digital attention deficit disorder and the failing fortunes of print publishing have combined to largely neuter the art form, but there are still some publications willing to think high concept and go out and spend some shoe-leather on stories.
Here’s a good one: Car and Driver buys a used-up car to take to the auto recyclers, then traces the derelict vehicle’s progression through the process of being reduced to its elements.
The magazine’s choice, a 210,000-mile 1993 , is a brilliant way get us emotionally involved. The E36 is one of those cars that is just so likable, a product that was head and shoulders better than anything else in its time, that we can’t help but care what happens to it once it’s cast into the clutches of the salvage yard.
The story is fascinating in the way it focuses our attention on things we rarely think of when we ogle sheet metal and obsess over the performance profiles of new models. The numbers are all there too – who knew that a scrap catalytic converter was worth $250?
But enough with that, just go read it for yourself at C/D’s .
