Autoblog

The "International Engine of the Year Award" is a big deal as far as bragging rights go in this industry. Think of it like the Academy Awards for engines. However, instead of members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voting, you have 62 renowned motoring journalists, from 30 countries, casting ballots for their favorite fossil fuel burner.

Last year's winner (pictured above) was BMW's twin-turbo 3.0-liter inline-6. This year's list of nominees includes Nissan's 3.8-liter twin-turbo V6 (found in the Nissan GT-R), Mitsubishi' 2.0-liter twin-turbo I4 (Mitsubishi EVO X), Audi's 5.2-liter V10 (Audi S8), Chevrolet's 6.2-liter supercharged V8 (Corvette ZR1), and BMW's 4.0-liter V8 (BMW M3). Let's sit back and listen to the orchestra for a bit... the winners don't get announced until May 7, at Engine Expo 2008, in Stuttgart, Germany.

Another installment of Consumer Reports annual automotive issue is close at hand. The yearly car issue crowns Top Picks in a variety of categories as well as offering up some solid alternative choices. Last year, we had the opportunity to peek behind the curtain at CR's huge auto test facility in Connecticut, and we were psyched to find out there's real car guys behind all those filled-in circles. Here's a sample of what CR's crew is likely up to right now, expending a huge amount of labor on careful research and evaluation. In a couple of months, we'll be able to raise a fuss when CR yet again passes over our favorite car and anoints something far more reliable and better built their favorite. Oh well, there's always next year.

click through to see the video

click above for more high-res images of the gorgeous Audi R8

It's that time of year where everyone's prognosticating like Nostradamus about what the coming year will hold. The authoritative ink slingers at Automobile magazine have decided that Audi's R8 deserves the dual honors of 2008 Automobile Of The Year and Design Of The Year, as well. While infused with the generous spirit, Automobile named General Motor's Two-Mode Hybrid rig Technology Of The Year.

The R8 is Audi's sports/GT that looks like a supercar and radiates a glow across the entire Audi model line. Not only does it have neck-snapping visual presence, with a 420 horsepower V8 between the axles, there's a deep well of accelerative force to go along with a finely-tuned AWD chassis that doesn't scramble the occupants. Park the R8 next to some rosso italiano, and the lithe German with its metal side blades, straked vents front and rear, and muscular stance might just steal all the thunder.

Big trucks that return 20mpg in the city have been about as realistic as Tinkerbell, until now. General Motors partnered with BMW and the artist formerly known as DaimlerChrysler to develop a flexible hybrid architecture for a wide variety of applications. The second-generation system, with lots more transmission trickery added to the bag of fuel-saving techniques, is allowing the GMT900 platform to post city EPA mileage numbers not far behind four-cylinder midsizers. Because of the system's joint development, we should start seeing this hardware popping up in a variety of different vehicles soon. We're sure that not everyone will agree with Automobile's picks, so fire away with your own suggestions.

Press release after the jump.

Gallery: 2008 Audi R8

Click on the images to view in high-speed and high-resolution

Remember the Maybach Exelero? The ultra-premium marque from Merceceds-Benz built it almost two years ago as a high-speed test vehicle based on its Maybach 57 luxury sedan, but unfortunately never offered production versions to the public. To the rescue comes Brabus, those whacky German tuners who give the go-fast treatment to everything produced by the three-pointed star, from the Smart ForTwo all the way up to this 730-hp limousine.

Like the Exelero, Brabus' monster is based on the Maybach 57 and was built in order to achieve the highest speeds attainable. To get there, Brabus tuned the Maybach's twin-turbo V12 to the same standard as the CLS-based Brabus Rocket speed record car: that means boosting power from 550 hp to 730, thanks to an increase in displacement from 5.5 liters to 6.3, coupled with a new crankshaft, pistons, cylinder heads... the works. The turbos were beefed up, and along with the intercoolers, a custom exhaust was installed and the ECU was reprogrammed.

The result is a top speed of 330.2 km/h (205.2 mph in American speak) achieved at the same Nardo test track in Italy where the Exelero was put through its places. A far cry from the 218.4 mph achieved by the Exelero, but not to shabby in its own right. And here you thought the S versions of the Maybach 57 and 62 were obscene enough....

Check out the images in the gallery below, and the press release after the jump.

[Source: Brabus]

Performance figures don't give an accurate picture of just how well a car performs overall. A given car may be the fastest to sixty, but that doesn't mean it has the highest top speed, tightest cornering or sharpest brakes. Lap times around a given track paint a more accurate, comprehensive picture of a car's abilities, but picking one track as the gold standard is dicey business. That's where Top Gear's Power Lap board comes into play.

Although weather conditions can vary, BBC's Top Gear puts all the cars through the paces at the same test track outside their studio, and what's more is that they're driven – or at least, so we're lead to believe – by the same driver: The Stig.

The latest high-performance supercar to make a run for the top of the record board is the Caparo T1, which, at 1:10.6, easily trounced the previous record holder, the Koenigsegg CCX, by an astonishing seven seconds. Unfortunately the Caparo was disqualified because, in its track set-up, it lacked the adjustable ride height to enable it to clear a requisite speed-bump. Caparo insists they deserve a second chance with a road-spec version. If the show's producers give the Ultima GTR an official run, meanwhile, the Caparo's reign as king of the Power Lap could be short-lived, adjustable shocks or not.

[Source: PistonHeads]

Ultima, one of several dozen independent British sportscar companies and makers of the GTR, could only take so much rejection. The cottage automaker claims it offered its road-legal race-car to the producers at BBC's hit TV show Top Gear several times, only to be repeatedly refused. So Ultima took things into its own hands, brought its latest fire-breather to the same converted airstrip that TG uses for a test track, retained a Stig of its own, and undertook to beat the fastest lap on the track.

Aside from the occasional exception like the Renault F1 car, the current record holder on Top Gear's power-lap board is the Koenigsegg CCX (which Top Gear can't spell). After the Stig famously spun the Swedish supercar off the track, the designers mounted a new rear wing to keep the tail planted, and the CCX set a fastest lap of 1:17.6, which was enough to beat the Ferrari Enzo, Maserati MC12 and Pagani Zonda that previously sat atop the chart.

Ultima drove the GTR720 to the track in full road trim and set a fast lap of 1:12.8, which easily beat the Koenigsegg. In fact, Ultima claims that at that rate, the GTR would lap an Enzo every 12 laps. Dang. Shame it would also beat the Ferrari in an ugly contest, though. Ultima says another visit in the more powerful 800-hp version is in the works.

[Source: PistonHeads]

Do you like outtake reels? Who doesn't! Do you like Top Gear? Well, if you're the kind of person who reads Autoblog, then chances are you do. In that case, have we got the video for you!

After the jump you'll find six minutes' worth of your favorite telemotive personalities (that's right, we just made up a word) fumbling over their lines, making each other laugh and cursing like longshoremen. Oh yeah, and plenty of breasts, 'cause what would a British men's "programme" be without that? Follow the jump to check out the Top Gear Boobers Bloopers video.

NSFW: If you work in a puritanical office environment, well... sorry for you, but you might want to wait 'till you get home to watch the video on account of the cleavage and bleeped-out naughty words.

[Source: German Car Scene]

In addition to hosting the world's most popular car show, authoring a library of books and writing regular columns for a variety of magazines and newspapers, celebrity automotive journalist Jeremy Clarkson has turned out a tall stack of DVD specials.

The video after the jump is a trailer of his latest video, called Supercar Showdown. In the new special, scheduled for a November 5 release, Clarkson takes to the road and the track in some of the most mouth-watering and earth-shattering supercars, including the Ferrari 430 Spider and 599 GTB Fiorano, Lamborghini Gallardo and Murcielago Roadsters, Bugatti Veyron, Audi R8, Porsche 911 GT3, Radical SR3, Aston Martin V8 Roadster and Ascari A10. Sabine Schmitz and The Stig also feature in a head-to-head in what looks to be a jaw-dropping orgy of Octane.

Click through to catch a sneak preview.

Kudos to Mike for the tip.

[Source: YouTube]

The BBC was reportedly evaluating producing an American version of its hit show Top Gear with the existing British cast. The show's star lead host Jeremy Clarkson, however, apparently having seen enough of the U.S. after filming the show's road trip through the South, has nixed the idea.

The proposal would have involved Clarkson, together with his co-stars Richard Hammond, James May and The Stig, flying stateside for four months to embark upon a hectic filming schedule, a prospect which didn't tantalize Clarkson, to say the least. On top of other concerns, Jezza reportedly wouldn't want to leave his family behind for such a long period of time.

For their part, the BBC hasn't given up, and will undoubtedly look at other possibilities, with or without Clarkson. Stay tuned.

Thanks for the tip, Derek!

[Source: The Sun via PistonHeads]

Some were better than others, but the Bond flicks get us going back to the theater every time. There's just something irreplicably stylish and enchanting about the entire series, and 007's rides make up a big part of that allure... at least for hopeless car nuts like us. But just like the acting and storyline vary with each production, so does the coolness of Bond's cars. So where does each one rank? Just prior to the launch of the latest installment with Daniel Craig in Casino Royale, the pundits at Cars.com convened two specialists to rank the top 7 of 007's cars.

Earning top honors was the classic '64 Aston Martin DB5 from Goldfinger (which we also got to see in its cameo encore appearance in Casino Royale), ahead of the '75 Lotus Esprit featured in The Spy Who Loved Me. Surprisingly, the '97 BMW 750iL from Tomorrow Never Dies started from the second row, out-qualifying the '85 Aston Martin Volante from The Living Daylights, the 1930's Bentley Mark IV (From Russia With Love), the 2002 Aston Martin Vanquish (Die Another Day), and the '99 BMW Z8 (The World is Not Enough). The experts also gave honorable mention to the markedly more affordable '61 Sunbeam Alpine from Dr. No.

For our part, we'd certainly have placed the Vanquish ahead of the 7-Series, and ahead of the '85 Volante, but the real question is where the specially-made Aston Martin DBS would slot into the list. (And for that matter, what will Bond drive in the next episode?)

[Source: Cars.com]