Autoblog

Click above for gallery of the Uragano handbuilt supercar

Who doesn't dream of building his or her own supercar? It took four years for him to do it, but Filandri Moreno from Italy has inspirational neighbors such as Ferrari, Lamborghini and Pagani. Moreno possibly thought of famed supercar blowhards like Enzo and Ferrucio when naming his car the Uragano, which means 'Hurricane' in Italian, but blowing through 48 months is easy when you've got to design and fabricate a body and frame then populate it with the proper automotive subsystems. Rather than figure out how to set up a backyard foundry, Moreno borrowed an 4.2 liter bent eight from an Audi A8 for motivation and hung a large turbocharger off the rear for good measure. It's tough to say anything critical when someone's realized a goal that most of us will never achieve, but we're honestly underwhelmed by the look and quality of the Uragano's body fabrication. Not that we'd do much better than a lumpy C5 Corvette-looking thing that appears rendered in papier mache. Thanks for the tip, Trent!


[Source: PopSci]

Ferrari is looking to decrease its carbon footprint by 40% in time for stringent new European CO2 laws that come into effect in 2012, and even the Enzo replacement could receive a downsizing. We broke the news a couple months back about Ferrari looking into a twin-turbo V8 to replace the Enzo's 6.0L V12 powerplant, and Ferrari technical director Robert Fedeli told AutoWeek that the Italian automaker is developing both a V8 and a V12 to cover its exotic options.

The Italian automaker states that it is not interested in advancing the power wars, and that driving dynamics will take precedence over brute force. If our sources were right about the new force-fed V8 pumping 900 horses at the drivetrain, then we would be all for a four-cylinder diet for the top-end Ferrari. If Ferrari manages to keep the weight to 2,200 lbs. using technology hinted at with the FXX Mille Chile concept, then even the vaunted Veyron could have more competition than it can handle. Lets just hope featherlight weight and 900 HP comes with driving lessons, because otherwise we'll be doing a lot more Ferrari crash posts come 2012.

[Source: Auto Week via Winding Road]

click above image to view the Lamborghini Reventon in action

The Lamborghini Reventon is among the rarest and most exotic cars on Earth, and it's 650-hp V12 and lightweight components make it one of the best performers, too. Unfortunately, the Italian automaker has decided to produce only 20 examples of the $1 million supercar, and the closest we'll likely ever get to the stealth-inspired rocket is YouTube.

The scholastic studs over at Popular Science got time behind the wheel of the Reventon, and they had their cameras rolling. The sound of the V12 parked in the back of the Italian supercar will never be mistaken for anything built here in the States, as its eager whine sounds more like a crotch rocket than anything powering four wheels. The video can be found after the jump, and though the camera work may not be very good, we imagine it's tough to keep a steady hand in a vehicle that can surpass 200 MPH and hits 60 in just 3.4 seconds.

[Source: Popular Science]