What do you do with a Porsche GT2, a Corvette Z06, and an abandoned aircraft runway? That's obvious: you line both cars up, nail the throttle and crown the victor. Thankfully, that's exactly what the chaps at Autocar did when they pitted the new GT2 against the Z06 on a long piece of straight pavement. No timing lights, no start/finish line, just two guys with heavy right feet and a camera crew to capture the action.
To refresh your memory, the GT2 is the hottest car currently in Porsche's inventory. Under its decklid, a 3.6-liter twin-turbo six-cylinder powerplant pumps out an impressive 530 hp and 500 lb.-ft. of torque. The Chevrolet Z06 has been in showrooms a bit longer, but nothing holds back its 7.0-liter eight-cylinder engine packing a 505 hp punch with 470 lb.-ft. of torque. Oh yeah, we should mention (before you all point it out) the German costs about twice as much as the American.
We won't tell you who wins the Porsche vs. Chevrolet battle, but we will say the contest will be significantly more "balanced" when the blokes can bring the upcoming 620 hp 2009 Corvette ZR1 to the tarmac. Thanks for the tip Mike!
It's always nice when money gets thrown at making epic videos of cars, and this one is so beautifully produced that it obviously cost a bundle. What could be more epic than a couple of Ferraris being treated like the rentals Rowdy and Cole duked it out with in Days Of Thunder? Okay, Ferrari and NASCAR, ne'er the twain shall meet, but what we do have here is a fantastically beautiful video of a Ferrari 599 showing the F40 what an old man it's become. Let's see, do we want to take the comfortable, easy-driving, fighter-jet fast GT, or would we prefer the raucous, painful, finicky throwback that's nearly as fast but is probably more exhilarating due simply to the cacophony behind your head? Either could be fun - follow the jump to see for yourself. Thanks for the tip, Johnny!
Formula 1 will hit the BBC air waves in 2009 after a long run on ITV. The move will require new figureheads to sit at the desk, and London's Times has said that Top Gear's Richard Hammond is the top man for the job. Economics at least partially drove ITV's decision to withdraw from F1 coverage. The coverage is expensive, so making money is challenging, even with newly rising star Lewis Hamilton making F1 more interesting for UK viewers.
Hammond's presence might help broaden the appeal beyond just racing fans, as would guest appearances by Jeremy Clarkson and James May, Hammond's cohorts on Top Gear. Letting Clarkson and May prowl the paddock could offer priceless moments of color commentary that would set YouTube alight. The BBC also plans to update the look, feel and pace of its coverage, and fans will be able to get at the presentation more easily with races going out across broadband digital outlets in addition to the standard radio and television. Thanks for the tip, Eric!
[Source: Times Online, Photo by Getty Images/Getty]
Just like in the '60s, some people will take their new 2008 Dodge Challengers to the drags. Chrysler is reportedly ready to make this very easy for new Challenger owners. Allpar is reporting that within a few weeks, there will issue forth from Chrysler a Super Stock special version of the Challenger. The intended application is Stock Eliminator drag racing, and the cars get their own VINs and lots of lightening. Powering drivers down the strip will be versions of the Hemi and 5.9 liter Magnum V8s, twisting through manual or automatic boxes.
Jettisoning things like wipers, HVAC, sound deadening and seats make for a Challenger that's definitely not road-ready, but much lighter for track applications. 800 pounds have reportedly been trimmed out of the car through the omission of equipment and special composite body parts. Mechanicals have been modified to better suit the use, too. The main body unit gets tweaks, and the front crossmember is modified to a drop-out unit. Front brakes are largely unnecessary when the nose is in the air for part of the run, so lightweight units have been fitted. The fascia support and cooling system also get the slim-fast treatment. More information will supposedly arrive soon, but a 1,320-pounding neo-E body pony car appears close at hand.
The Veyron was a pet project of former VW Group CEO Ferdinand Piech, who remains chairman of the VW supervisory board and is said to be keen on moving ahead with a follow-up to the Veyron. When Martin Winterkorn took over, however, he was reported to have shelved any plans for an additional model, prompting Bugatti CEO Thomas Bscher to resign. Bugatti then shifted to the control of Bentley CEO Franz-Josef Paefgen, who, after shoehorning the Veyron's engine into a Bentley Arnage luxury sedan, revealed last September that there would be an additional Bugatti coming.
Reports are now surfacing which indicate that the new model could be an even more expensive, even faster supercar than the Veyron. Whereas the Veyron, for all its enormous, time-bending power and speed, was designed as a comfortable grant tourer, the new model would be a tighter, more track-focused supercar. Power would likely come from a retuned version of the Veyron's 8-liter quad-turbo W16, which was long reported to be under-rated in its power production of 1000 hp, and is tipped to produce 1175 hp in the new version. Artistic renderings from German magazine Auto Motor und Sport depict the car with styling more akin to a Le Mans racer, with a protruding front splitter and an enormous rear wing.
The vehicle, currently rumored to be code-named "Project Lydia" after Ettore Bugatti's wife, would exceed the 400km/h top speed of the Veyron in pursuit of a Nurburgring lap time of 6 minutes and 40 seconds. While these reports could very well turn out to be no more substantial than previous ones, if Bugatti did built Project Lydia in a reported run of 70 examples for a whopping Є2.5 million apiece, it would easily eclipse anything else out there.
With revenues and attendance declining, Merlbourne's Albert Park circuit is in danger of losing the Australian Grand Prix to another venue Down Under, but the organizers aren't giving up without a fight. With cash from title sponsor ING, which has been pouring big bucks into its F1 sponsorship program, the 2008 Australian Grand Prix is gearing up to be a huge spectacle that will include a V8 Supercars race and even a two-hour KISS concert in addition to the headline Formula One contest. Now the organizers have added another supporting event that will mark the first time the Fiat 500 will be raced.
The race-prepped retro-minis will be the car of choice for the Celebrity Challenge, which pits local Australian celebrities against each other on the race track. Although no information has been provided on what sort of race preparation the Fiats will undergo for the event, we wouldn't expect the modifications to go far beyond basic safety equipment, like a roll cage and racing buckets with competition harnesses visible in the photos.
In addition to being the 500's racing debut, the event will also mark the car's unveiling for Australia and New Zealand, as well as the debut of the right-hand-drive version of the tiny Fiat.
Scheduling conflicts between the Grand Prix and the V8 Supercars series were reconciled to allow the two races to take place together, while race officials denied rumors that they were intent on following Singapore's lead in changing the Australian Grand Prix to a flood-lit night race.
Check out the images in the high-resolution gallery below, and the full press release after the jump.
Click on the image above to view additional images
It was only a matter of time. Audi unveils the R8 supercar, and somebody wants to take it racing. Leave it to the Dutch to pick up the slack, as Netherlands-based Creventic BV is preparing the "CR-8" for an assault on endurance sportscar racing.
Thus far, Creventic has been cautious with its modifications. The current CR-8 benefits from a remapped engine management system to produce 430 hp (ten horses over the stock 420) and the removal of the factory-installed low-gear restrictor, as well as a host of baubles and bolt-ons to the body to bring it up to race spec. 18-inch BBS competition rims wrapped in Toyo racing slicks are put in place, a 90-liter racing fuel tank installed and AST suspension components mounted at all four corners. Creventic is also working on squeezing more power out of the RS4-derived V8 engine, a race-spec sequential gearbox and carbon fiber body panels, among other competition modifications.
The first pair of CR-8s will be shown next month at the Dubai Autodrome in the United Arab Emirates for a race-track shakedown and public unveiling, with the first customer cars to be delivered shortly thereafter.
Check out CR-8.com for more details, and the gallery below for a whole mess of pics.
Every year the Race of Champions makes for an enjoyable spectacle. The event, set to take place this year on December 16 at a tarmac-filled Wembley Stadium in England, pits drivers from all different forms of motorsport against on another to determine who is the best of the best, alongside a second competition, the Nations Cup, in which two drivers from each participating country strive for the glory of their homeland.
The team to watch this year is Germany, which puts together one of the most promising young drivers with the most decorated old champion. Sebastian Vettel, who recently left his test seat at BMW-Sauber for an impressive race debut with the erstwhile back-marker Scuderia Toro Rosso, will be teaming up with seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher.
It's not the first time the two have crossed paths, but it is the first time the two will be racing together. Aside from both driving Ferrari-powered F1 cars for Italian teams, the two played together in the Nazionale Piloti soccer tournament in Italy, and Schumacher presented an up-and-coming Vettel with the trophy at a karting race years ago. Schumacher made his F1 debut when Vettel was only four years old, and it'll be interesting to watch the two race back to back for victory at the settling of the drunken bar bet of the year.
Fans had been looking forward to it for years, and now it's come to a close. For 2007, Formula One stepped out of the dominating shadow of seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, the first season since his retirement, and came to today's final race of the season in a close three-way battle between Ferrari's "iceman" Kimi Raikonnen and McLaren's feuding fraternity of defending champion Fernando Alonso and amazing rookie Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari's brave Brazilian Felipe Massa having fell out of contention earlier in the season.
The 2007 Brazilian Grand Prix was a thrilling end to a thrilling season and a gripping race in its own rite. SPOILER ALERT: Follow the jump to find out who won the race, who took the title and how it all went down.
Posted Sep 14th 2007 1:10PM by John Neff Filed under: Etc.
Our favorite rodent host of Top Gear, Richard "The Hamster" Hammond, was involved in an on-track collision last Saturday during an endurance race at Silverstone behind the wheel of a BMW 330 DTi Sport. Hammond, of course, was almost killed last September when he lost control of a jet-powered dragster at 288 MPH. This time Hammond merely collided with a car that was trying to overtake him. Reportedly traveling around 100 MPH at the time, he was able to limp the BMW off the track and wait for a tow to the pits where the car was repaired so he could continue racing. Fellow hosts Jeremy Clarkson and Jay Mays, as well as their mystery driver, the Stig, were also taking turns with the BMW last weekend.
The one-year anniversary of Hammond's near death experience in a jet car is September 20th. While his most recent incident is hardly newsworthy in and of itself, the fact it's his first since the jet car accident and comes almost exactly one year later makes it an interesting piece of news. Hammond, however, doesn't think there's much to report here, saying ""Reports of my shunt this weekend have been greatly exaggerated." Regardless, no one can say that Richard Hammond doesn't lay it on the line for his craft, that's for sure.
Officially Official: New Ferrari California exposed!
Tweaked 2009 Ford Focus Coupe debuts
Subaru Exiga heading to production, teaser leaks out
Racer dies at Altamont 24 Hours of LeMons
VIDEO: Danica Patrick hits crew member on pit lane at Indy
Future Classic: 1984 Chrysler Minivans
Autoline on Autoblog with John McElroy
First Drive: 2009 Volkswagen Jetta Sportwagen
Project Track Slut, Part One: Pick a weapon on the cheap
By the Numbers: April 2008
_thumbnail.jpg "Lamborghini Reventon unboxed in Las Vegas")
