Autoblog

Gordon Murray has had his hands in a number of impressive projects over the years. Be it Formula one or the McLaren F1, if Murray is involved, you know it's going to light, balanced and fast.

One of Murray's more intriguing projects was the Rocket, a lightweight, road-going tribute to the open-wheeled racers of yesteryear. Originally equipped with a 143 HP Yamaha superbike engine, the Rocket was able to reach 60 MPH in a mere four seconds, primarily due to its minimalist design.

That was in the 90s. Now, Chris Craft, 24 Hours of Le Mans veteran and avid car collector, and his son Luke have decided to introduce a modern version of the Rocket, powered by a 1150cc Yamaha mill that makes up to 170 HP. Said engine will be nestled within the nuevo-retro body to create an 877-pound terror that might justify it's $100k price tag.

Only 10 Rockets will be produced each year, but with the new found popularity of lightweight track toys, we expect most to be spoken for as soon as the Craft's set up shop.

[Source: Inside Line]

These engineers at Brabus sure are tough guys to please. Apparently, the top speed record they set at Nardo with the Brabus Rocket wasn't good enough. Some of you may recall that back in June, we reported that the Rocket maxed out at 362.4 km/h (225.18 mph) on a top speed attempt at the Italian track. That was good enough to snare the uber-CLS the lofty title of "Fastest Sedan in the World."

But for some of the techs, this apparently wasn't enough. We can just envision the engineering team tossing and turning at night, knowing that the car's capable of even more than what it gave that day. (Not that it matters to customers, whose cars are limited to a mere 217 mph top end.) Ultimately, it was determined that the nagging feelings should be put to the test, and once again, the car and its support team trekked to Italy.

And you know what? The suspicions were confirmed, as the Rocket officially achieved a new top speed of 365.7 km/h (227.23 mph). Sure, no customer will ever take one that high, but knowing those extra 10 mph are in there somewhere adds to the sheer badassedness of the car. Heh. Like it didn't have enough of that already.

(Press release, additional photos after the jump)

[Source: Brabus]

Last summer Brabus built an E-Class sedan powered by a biturbo V12 that captured the honor of being called the World's Fastest Sedan by reaching a velocity of 218 mph. Brabus has just broken its own record using the Brabus Rocket, which we first met in Frankfurt last year. The Rocket is based on the Mercedes-Benz CLS and is also propelled by a biturbo V12 producing 730 hp, which was enough to power the big Benz to an incredible top speed of 225.19 mph. The Rocket was also able to snap off a 0-60 run in 4.0 seconds flat.

The Rocket is not just a one-off, either. You can buy your own from Brabus for EUR 348,000.

More pictures of the Rocket's record run and the full press release from Brabus can be found after the jump...

[Source: Brabus via eMercedesBenz]