Nardo

The naturally aspirated V12 sounds pretty good, too.

The first test the Jaguar F-Type has to pass will be administered at the Paris Motor Show, and while we've seen its skin, we still can't say for sure what's under it. After that, when drivers get behind the wheel, the examinations get a lot harder. Ten-hour-per-day cramming sessions have been held at the Nardo test circuit Jonathon Ramsey

There's a reason the speedometer on the 2013 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 reaches all the way to 220 mph. By all accounts, Ford poured a substantial amount of development resources into the supercharged creation by running it through the ringer at some of the world's most hallowed courses. Those include the infamous Nürburgring and Italy's

If Porsche wants to test out a new vehicle at speed – and you can usually bet that at any given time Porsche will be testing a new vehicle at speed – it's got miles and miles of Autobahn at which to do it. Not enough? There's the Nürburgring and all of its myriad turns and changes in surface. It's also got its own facilities at Weissach

Established supercar manufacturers like Ferrari and Lamborghini have their own test drivers on permanent retainer, and have legions more on call should the need arise. But who does an upstart exotic automaker call when it needs to set up its new machinery? Loris Bicocchi. He's largely responsible for the dynamic performance on such exotica as the Koenigsegg, Pagani Zonda and Bugatti EB110 and Veyron. He's been doing it for decades, but now that he's turning 50, Bicocchi has come to the realizati

Smokey Nagata took a Supra to Nardo to flog it around the track and remind Toyota about what it could be doing with its time. Now, a freethinking designer with some serious rendering skills has upped Smokey's Supra by kitting out an LF-A in a similar garb. The result is this, the TOP SECRET LF-A Nardo 400 Supercar Concept.

Smokey Nagata likes to smoke his tires on freeways all over the world. While his stunts may not be lawful or even sane, he continues to find new territory in which to get his thrills. After being arrested in England and New Zealand, he has finally taken his action off the streets and onto the Nardo Ring test track in Italy. Reportedly, the twin turbo V12 Top Secret Supra, driven by Smokey,

Only days before heading to bankruptcy court, Italian engineering firm and carrozzeria Bertone revealed that it was about to pull a last-minute trick out of its sleeve in an announcement later that day. But when the announcement didn't come, the industry was left wondering if, after 95 years in business, Bertone was about to slip away.

Click the image above for more shots of the GP3.10 hammering around Nardo.

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."