E9. No, we haven’t sunk your battleship. We just wanted to remind you of one the greatest models ever. BMW wants to jog your memory, too, which is why it put together a short video documenting the E9’s history, with a specific focus on the 3.0 CSi.
Approximately 8,359 examples of the stylish two-door were built from 1971 through 1975. The car’s fuel-injected 3.0-liter inline six produced 200 horsepower, enough giddyup to propel the CSi down the road at 140 miles per hour. for a closer look at this BMW icon.
The repo business is tough, therefore America needs a bunch of unwatchable TV “reality” shows about it. Spike’s trying to put an intriguing spin on this unfortunate genre with its new game show, Repo Games, in which .
It’s not without its risks. As production wrapped on a recent episode, a nearby resident decided he was sick of waiting for the crew to move a vehicle. He told them move along, using a few more colorful words. Apparently, the crew didn’t act quickly enough.
A gun was pulled, shots were fired, and fortunately, no one was hurt. To the likely delight of the producers, however, the incident was caught on tape. Check out the clip by clicking .
is planning a full-on in 2014, and while the German marque may be the most successful in the iconic race’s history, the last time it took an overall victory there was in 1998 with the GT1.
The regulations for the GT1 class at the time mandated a limited run of homologated street versions, and that’s what you see here. Called the Straßenversion (that antiquated ß character in the German alphabet substituting for a double S), only 25 examples were made, and one’s up for sale.
As a street-legal road car, the 911 GT1 Straßenversion followed the 959 and preceded the Carrera GT at the top of Porsche’s lineup. While most were fitted with a version of the competition-spec 3.2-liter flat six with 536 horsepower, the seller of this particular example says his has been re-tuned to 690 hp. The car’s asking price is €1.2 million (about $1.7 million), and it’s currently located in Japan.
put Jay Leno behind the wheel of the company’s newest heathen – the XKR-S – for a handful of quick laps around the fabled Nurburgring, and Leno, thankfully, brought along a production staff to record the occasion.
The comedian was able to squeeze in a few lead-follow laps with Sascha Bert on point and eventually worked his speed up to a best time of 8:41. Not too shabby for a guy who’s used to putting along under steam power. It’s clear from the clip that Leno holds the Nurburgring to be sacred ground.
Leno doesn’t spend too much time pontificating on the merits of the XKR-S. While we’re treated to plenty of great shots of the car dancing around the track and the sound of its vicious dual-exhaust, the clip is absent any real driving impressions. Still, that’s just fine by us. We already know all about . Click to check out the latest episode of Jay Leno’s Garage.
We’re quickly becoming big fans of Josh Clason and his Depth of Speed video series. We when his lenses trained on . Clason then , and from there he switched to German steel in .
Now, he’s sticking with Germany but trading the roundel for VW. More specifically, Clason caught up with enthusiast Craig Johnson to capture the beauty of his T1 Transporter.
What We Like: Going to back when Toyota launched its very amusing campaign for its “” TV ad and Youtube videos, the Japanese automaker has been looking for ways to engage consumers by not taking its very practical models so damn seriously. The Prius is an unabashed market success. It defines the hybrid segment. And it is the market leader in fuel economy. It does everything but run on actual crunchy granola in the gas tank. Prius ads do not need to play up the fact that they are super fuel efficient. Everyone knows. So, , turning to this approach of having NBA star Steve Nash talk about how driven he is, as if it was a Nike ad, is a creative homerun. His deadpan monologue about how competitive he is, talking about making constant adjustments and improvements to his game, while driving a Prius and finally edging out a grandma for a parking space is a way to stand out from the usual hybrid ad that merely screams the highway fuel economy rating. Gotta love Nash’s trash-talk dance at the end too.
What We Don’t Like: Tough one here. The agency nailed it.
Strategy: Prius has owned the hybrid market. But it is undeniable that and the Dearborn, MI automaker’s coming all hybrid brand will begin to cut into Prius’s perceived leadership. If there is a weakness in the Prius brand at all, it is that it is widely viewed as a car for celery eaters. Honestly, the current Prius is a bit bloodless to drive. Pumping some hemoglobin into it via clever advertising that doesn’t take the car so deadly serious seems like a decent idea for a brand that is this mature.
You expect to hear about ultra-rare fetching record prices at auction. Pre-war , too. But this $11 million beast is a .
And not just any Jaguar, either. This 1956 long-nose D-Type, arguably the most beautiful creature ever to leave the gates at Coventry, was driven by Ivor Bueb and Duncan Hamilton to a win at Reims in 1956 before placing sixth at Le Mans and third at Sebring with Bueb and the legendary Mike Hawthorn, the British driver who went on to win the F1 championship for Ferrari before retiring only to die in a crash behind the wheel of another Jaguar while suffering from kidney failure.
Jaguar took 393RW out of its archives earlier this year to run it at the Mille Miglia revival race, but it needed a little work. So rather than undertake the restoration in-house, they turned to the JAGtechnic department at the Harvington Motor Company, which rebuilt the engine, overhauled the brakes and suspension and generally got it up to spec for the event.
to see the result and take in that delicious raspy burble as it glides across the English countryside.
We love a good crash-testvideo as much as the next auto-obsessive website, and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is chock full of them. Unfortunately, the insurance watchdog used a video player system most likely designed back when Geocities was an Internet staple. Now, however, the IIHS has launched an updated player, and the videos are arranged neatly for your viewing pleasure right on the Consumer Reports website.
After first selecting a make, you can filter by model before selecting the video you want to see. for a sample, then head over to the .
We’ve seen some pretty strange races in our days. From pitting cars against and the London public transportation system to skydiving maniacs and jet fighters, nearly every hair-brained race you can think of has been put to the test for the public’s enjoyment. Now we can add one more to that list.
EVO Magazine recently took the time to pit the against an Extra EA-300LP stunt plane in a race around the Bedford Autodrome. Did we mention that the guy in the sky is none other than former Red Arrow pilot Myles Garland?
While the prop plane is only good for 296 horsepower, it can also comfortably pull plus or minus 10 g while turning the pilot into a floppy rag doll. The , meanwhile, comes to the fight bearing 562 ponies and the miracle of all-wheel drive. Who comes out on top in such a ludicrous shoot out? You’ll have to click to watch the video and find out for yourself.
The crew from EVO magazine managed to talk their way into a ride in the newest piece of insanity from Pagani. The Italian automaker is currently in the midst of endurance testing the Huayra for U.S. certification, and as a result, five of the cars are currently frolicking around Europe racking up precious kilometers. Pagani recently hosted a few of the company’s customers at Sardinia, and EVO’s Harry Metcalfe jumped into the passenger seat of the carbon fiber creation for a quick blast down the road. Fortunately for all of us, Metcalfe taped the whole experience.
The video shows the best look yet at the vehicle’s adaptive aerodynamics, complete with plenty of active flaps that pop and dance as the Huayra builds speed. There’s also the delicious sound of the supercar’s twin-turbocharged 6.0-ltier V12 barking out 720 horsepower, too. The noise is nothing if not intoxicating. to check it out for yourself.
, but he can’t teach the Dark Knight how to drive it. Murray’s latest automobile was created for the new Batman Live show, a stage production that tells the story of how Batman and Robin came to team up. Murray’s take on Bruce Wayne’s iconic ride plays a major role… during an early live rehearsal, that role included crashing into a Bank of Gotham set piece.
There were no reports of any injuries, and a stand-by Batmobile was ready to fill in. Batman Live will make its way stateside later this year. In the meantime, at least one Batmobile is currently undergoing repairs in the Bat Cave.
to see some video of Murray’s Batmobile being unveiled.
We’ve seen many cars take on Germany’s famed Nürburgring, and it seems that automakers the world over enjoy using the Green Hell as a torturous test bed for new products. Drivers attempt to tackle 13 miles and 154 corners as quickly as possible. Cracking the 10-minute mark means you’re not entirely ham fisted. Want to go even faster? Things start to get exponentially more difficult, but the world’s fastest production sports cars run in the low- to mid-seven-minute range.
Not as well it seems, thanks in part to the bumpy surface and varied paving materials. That doesn’t mean motorcyclists can’t lay down impressive lap times, and one anonymous person in particular decided to see just how fast they could go.
Despite the traffic on the road, this skilled rider ripped off a rather impressive lap time. Starting the clock at the bridge, the clock was stopped at the gantry just seven minutes and 26 seconds later. to check out the video.
When the crew at Mugen finally got around to turning out their take on the , we all got pretty excited. With 200 horsepower from the same 1.5-liter IMA engine and motor combination, 100 pounds less weight and a buffet of aftermarket go-fast, stick-hard and brake-harder goodies, the car looked to be what the CR-Z was supposed to offer from the get-go. Honda recently tossed the keys to the good people of Fifth Gear who set to putting the car through its paces in the rolling English countryside.
What’d they find out? While the Mugen CR-Z is decidedly quicker than its factory counterpart, the hatchback is also a bit more of a pain to live with. Stiff springs, an overzealous limited-slip differential and a buzz-happy exhaust make for a car that’s more content on the race track than on public streets. Even so, there’s little arguing with 200 horsepower in a flingable machine. to check out a video of Fifth Gear’s impressions for yourself.
If the Italian Polizia di Stato (state police) need to get somewhere in a hurry, they’ve got a . But what about the national Carabinieri? Not about to left behind, the para-military police turned not to one of their own domestic sportscar-makers, but to the UK. (Or to a foreign-owned automaker based there with mostly Italian management.)
The Carabinieri have taken possession of not one , but two. One will be stationed in Milan and the other in Rome, but both are fitted with all the latest equipment, including a portable refrigerator for the rapid transportation of organs and blood for medical emergencies.
The hand-over at the Carabinieri headquarters in Rome followed advanced driver training at Lotus headquarters in Hethel, England, and the two cars are on loan to the service for two years. for the press release and trio of videos, and check out the images in the high-res gallery for a closer look.
Discovery is launching a new cable network to cater specifically toward well-moneyed male auto enthusiasts. According to the network, Velocity is set to serve up around 400 hours of programming that includes a mix of new shows as well as reruns of old favorites. Some of those will be pulled from HD Theater, including Inside West Coast Customs, Mecum Auto Auctions, Cafe Racer and Chasing Classic Cars. So far, it’s unclear exactly what new shows will surface on the fledgling network, but given that the channel is aimed toward luring in the “upscale men’s market,” America may be safe from more NASCAR replays – at least in the beginning.
Instead, word on the web indicates that Velocity will spend at least some of its air time covering the Mille Miglia North America tribute in the U.S. this October. The three-day event will spend its time frolicking around California, and Velocity will feature a 1-hour special on the race. to check out an introductory video on the rest of Velocity’s programming as well as a press release on the network.
The Do Not Try This At Home folder is a constantly expanding trove of items that you really shouldn’t attempt. We have a new one to add, and it involves a bout of two-wheeled lunacy, a racetrack and a rider’s head. Said head probably lacks the internal jelly responsible for keeping his body parts intact, which is why the rider behind was able to capture the following clip.
You’ve heard about scraping pegs? This person decided to test the limits of adhesion by scraping his helmet. to check it out.
Next year, an underground museum commemorating the attacks on 9/11 will open on the site that once held the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in Manhattan. And it just got one of its first exhibitions.
A crushed 30-ton fire truck, draped in a white covering and American flags, was lowered by crane down into the site yesterday. The truck carried eleven firefighters to Ground Zero, all of whom died trying to save victims of the monumental terrorist attack. It’s a fitting memorial to those who gave their lives to save others, and you can to watch the brief clip from CBS News.
Over the last several weeks, there have been a number of involving the . Thanks to a number of reader tips, Autoblog was the first news outlet to inquire with Ford about the matter. After launching its own investigation into the claims centering around one particular organized Raptor Run in Nevada with 14 participating vehicles and 10 bent frames, Jamal Hameedi, a 20-year Ford veteran and SVT’s Chief Nameplate Engineer, agreed to talk exclusively with Autoblog.
AB: When did you first become aware of these Raptor frame claims?
Hameedi: We monitor all the blogs – I think there are three or four different versions of Raptor online forums. We saw that there was one particular run where several Raptors bent their frames on the same obstacle.
AB: How many Raptors have been reported with frame damage?
Hameedi: We have four nationwide since the beginning of production.
AB: It sounded like there were more than four vehicles damaged in this individual run alone – are these not included in that total?
Hameedi: I think we’ve been reading that there are ten trucks in question [in that run].
“We have a pretty firm understanding of what’s going on.”
Jamal Hameedi, SVT Chief Nameplate Engineer
AB: So the four trucks you mentioned – those are just the ones that have been directly reported to Ford dealers?
Hameedi: Yes.
AB: Have they all been bent in more-or-less in the same way?
Hameedi: The ones on the run, I think there are varying degrees of how [badly] they are tweaked, but generally we have a pretty firm understanding of what’s going on.
Ken Block is on a quest to destroy tires on every patch of land on this planet. His latest conquest is the driveway belonging to one Charles Henry Gordon-Lennox, Earl of March and Kinrara. He also goes by Lord March, and his driveway happens to play host to the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Block was in attendance with both his Gymkhana-prepped and Fiesta WRC ultra-hot hatch. Many a donut was turned, lots of smoke was generated and it appears that serious sideways fun was had by both Block and the few lucky folks who got to ride shotgun on Block’s passes… including Lord March’s own son.
For the second year in a row, Lord March has handed down a hooning award to Ken. Check out the Goodwood action, the trophy and the unique way Ken decides to celebrate the victory by watching the clip posted .
just got a major thumbs up in the safety department. Both the National Highway Traffic Safety Institute and Insurance Institute for Highway Safety have stated that the automaker’s City Safety technology helps reduce, and even prevent, low-speed collisions. In fact, the IIHS noted that users of City Safety wind up filing nearly 30 percent less at-fault claims.
The system, which is available on the , works by monitoring traffic in front of the vehicle. When driving at a speed of between two and 19 miles per hour, the car can apply the brakes should forward traffic suddenly do the same. When the difference in speed between your car and one in front of you is nine mph or less, the Volvo will brake quickly enough to avoid an accident. Above that threshold and you’re most likely going into the car in front of you but the damage will be greatly reduced compared to an accident involving cars not utilizing the City Safety System.
We , and our own Dan Roth escaped without putting a dent into his bosses . Check that clip out for yourself , and be sure to read the full press releases while you’re down there.
AB: When did you first become aware of these Raptor frame claims?
