New BMW X6M 2015

On Board Cadillac CTS V at Circuit of The Americas

Mclaren P1 at Circuit of The Americas

Amazing race cars at Circuit of The Americas

Lexus files to copyright LC 500 nameplates

Some automakers already slap a production-ready name on their concepts, but not Lexus. The Japanese automaker typically labels its show cars with the letters LF-XX. So when we heard that Toyota had green-lit the LF-LC concept for production, we naturally started wondering what name the production version would carry. But if the latest intel is any indication, we can stop wondering.

According to Lexus Enthusiast, the automaker has filed to trademark the names LC 500 and LC 500h in a variety of markets – including the United States, Canada and Australia. The application tells us a number of things: first of all, that the LF-LC will retain that second set of letters along the road to production (like theNX but unlike other recent Lexus concepts). And secondly, it indicates what engines we can expect to find under the hood.

The 500 designation would seem to suggest that the base version of Lexus' upcoming halo sports car will pack the 5.0-liter V8 from the RC F. The bigger question mark is over the hybrid version. Current gasoline-electric models in the company's lineup include the RX 450h (based on a 3.5-liter V6) and the LS 600h (with a 5.0-liter V8). For the LC 500h, Lexus could be planning a more potent electric motor to mate to the 3.5L V6, or planning a new powertrain altogether.

News Source: US Patent and Trademark Office (1), (2) via Lexus Enthusiast

Skullcandy: Robbie Maddison’s Drop In

CRISIS? WHAT CRISIS? F1 DIGS HEAD IN THE SAND

Formula 1 is a money drain

Talk of financial crisis in Formula 1 is nothing new but the absence of back-markers Caterham and Marussia from this week’s United States Grand Prix after they went into administration has concentrated minds.

For the first time since 2005, there will be only nine teams in the paddock and some of them are competing in straitened circumstances.

It is a long-standing joke that the best way to make a small fortune in Formula 1 is to start with a large one, but securing even a basic budget is proving increasingly difficult in a sport that burns through cash at eye-watering speed.

Sauber have made no secret of their problems while Force India owner Vijay Mallya continues to make headlines after being declared a willful defaulter last month by state-run lender United Bank of India.

Speculation has also swirled around Lotus, who have had serious financial problems. The signs of trouble have been there for years, with regular warnings and calls for cost caps along the way. The plight of Caterham and Marussia, who are both hoping to find a buyer, comes as no surprise.

End of the road for Caterham

“It seems that the chickens have come home to roost,” Max Mosley, the former president of the governing International Automobile Federation, told the Times newspaper on Monday.

Mosley helped three new teams into the sport at the start of the 2010 season, after a manufacturer exodus, with a promise of budget caps and regulation tweaks to ensure they could compete on a level playing field.

The $64.55 million annual budget cap never happened, with the big teams refusing to countenance such a measure, and by the end of the 2010 season Mosley spelled out the risks implicit in that rejection.

“For 2011, you need $100 million, with $30 or $40 million from Bernie Ecclestone and perhaps 20 to 25 million from sponsors or the drivers,” he declared at the time. “I’d say six teams are wondering where the rest is coming from. It’s quite possible we will lose two or three teams.”

The Briton’s words would have been just as valid now, “The budget cap was absolutely the right thing to do. Clearly no sport can survive properly when some teams are spending four and five times more than the smallest. There cannot be proper competition that way.”

End of the road for Marussia

Caterham, which started life as Lotus Racing under Malaysian entrepreneur Tony Fernandes, was supposedly sold in July and went into administration last week amid a paper storm of accusations and counter-claims.

Marussia, which made its debut in 2010 as Virgin Racing, followed on Monday for financial reasons. Spanish-based HRT folded at the end of 2012.

The U.S. Grand Prix will be the first race since 2009 without any of those new teams and risks being remembered as the end of a bold experiment that might have succeeded but ultimately was doomed by vested interests and a lack of vision.

Of the three, only Marussia ever scored any points and that was in May when French driver Jules Bianchi finished an astonishing ninth for a team so hard up it could not afford celebratory champagne.

Bianchi now lies critically injured in a JAPANese hospital after an horrific crash in Japan three weeks ago, a personal tragedy that was also a disaster for the team.

HRT long gone

Even without the nightmare of Suzuka, Marussia were on borrowed time with the team desperately trying to stay afloat in a very deep ocean.

Their budget of about $80.69 million was generally regarded as the smallest of all the teams and compared to $200 million plus for the likes of Mercedes and Ferrari.

Formula One has seen more than 120 teams come and go, with Ferrari the only one to have stayed the course since the championship started in 1950. Some 51 never scored a point.

To some, that is the nature of a sport that carries no passengers and in which only the fittest survive. Just as the graveyards of Europe are filled with indispensable men, so too the Formula One scrapheap is piled high with illustrious names once considered immortal.

But there are many who question whether teams should still be folding in a sport with an annual turnover of more than $1.5 billion and an annual prize fund of more than $750 million.

Formula 1 grid shrinking

Part of the problem lies in the distribution of that fund, with the big teams taking the lions’ share and some, such as Ferrari, getting additional special bonuses.

“In every industry, successful companies stay in the market, and less successful ones disappear,” said Paola Aversa of London’s Cass Business School.

“However, if we consider that in F1 on average one company goes under every year…and that even the successful firms struggle to break even, we must wonder whether the business model of this industry is actually sustainable.

“We should ask whether the distribution of wealth is proportionate to a point that allows all the players, both administrators and teams, to get a fair share of the pie and thus achieve a reasonable turnover.”

Aversa pointed to the major American sports as an example of a business model that ensured even small teams could compete. Whether Formula 1, where a small team’s engine supply alone costs around $20-million a year, has the will to change remains another matter.

The talk now is increasingly about the big teams possibly running three cars rather than two, a move that would only increase the problems of smaller outfits that risk being squeezed even further out of the points.

The FIA has made no substantial headway in reining in costs. Now under former Ferrari boss Jean Todt, the governing body announced last year that a cost cap would be introduced for 2015.

In April, Todt said the plan had been dropped because the leading six teams did not believe it was viable. (Reuters)

FORMULA 1 SET FOR THREE-CAR TEAMS AS CRISIS LOOMS LARGE

Three car teams might become a reality in 2015

Formula 1 is rapidly sliding into crisis and having to reinvent its very DNA as struggling backmarker teams begin to succumb to collapse and more could well follow suit.

HRT folded in 2012, and now Formula 1’s two other newest teams Caterham and Marussia are in the throes of financial administration and oblivion.

Organisers of next weekend’s United States Grand Prix look set to welcome just 9 teams to an 18-car grid, unprecedented since BAR-Honda was banned for a time almost a decade ago.

“It’s a fantastic sport,” departed Caterham founder Tony Fernandes said on Twitter at the weekend. “Bernie (Ecclestone) has done an amazing job but it needs to relook at itself.”

And former HRT driver Narain Karthikeyan added: “Formula 1 just too expensive and completely unsustainable for minnows.”

Max Mosley, the former FIA president who warned of a looming crisis in Formula 1 years ago, quietly pointed a finger at his successor Jean Todt.

HRT went bust at the end of the 2012 season

“It seems that the chickens have come home to roost,” Mosley is quoted by The Times.

For now, Formula 1 and its race promoters will have to cope with a diminished grid as big teams are promised at least two months notice before having to field three-car teams.

Dipping below 20 cars is the trigger for the three-car stipulation, giving Ecclestone a buffer so as not risking his contractual promise of at least 16-car grids to the big-paying race promoters.

But with Caterham and Marussia looking set to fall, it now appears possible Formula 1 will lose even more small-sized independent teams, particularly after the sport baulked earlier this year at introducing radical cost-cutting or even a cost cap.

“Formula 1 is not so great that it cannot fail,” Sauber team boss and co-owner Monisha Kaltenborn is alarmingly warning, according to Italy’s La Stampa.

It is not only the Swiss team that is worried. Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport claims that Force India needs to make an engine payment to Mercedes by Monday or risk joining Caterham and Marussia in missing the US Grand Prix.

F1 grid shrinking

And Force India deputy boss Bob Fernley admitted more teams are in danger of collapse, “We’ve had three new teams since 2010, and all three have collapsed. The writing was on the wall from the beginning.

“Only five teams have a say in the running of Formula 1 — we’ll lose more teams if we carry on like this,” said Fernley.

If the Formula 1 grid keeps diminishing, three-car entries are inevitable. Auto Motor und Sport said Ferrari, Red Bulland McLaren are lined up by Ecclestone as first in the queue to start supplying third cars.

If any of that trio declines, Mercedes is reportedly the next in line. Ferrari and Red Bull have apparently already given Ecclestone the green light, while McLaren for the moment is hesitating, perhaps due to uncertainty about who should pay for the third car — Ecclestone or the team.

Red Bull’s Helmut Marko told Sport Bild he does not see a problem, “We have the capacity at Milton Keynes, and it would also solve our luxury problem of having too many good drivers for too few cars.”

And Karthikeyan, who only drove for backmarker teams in his Formula 1 career, thinks the slowest cars will not be missed, “18 cars in Austin, but sadly no one will miss the absentees once the opening lap is completed without incident. That’s the truth.” (GMM)

LOTUS SPONSOR: FERNANDO WILL LOOK GOOD IN BLACK & GOLD

Fernando Alonso in black & gold as tweeted by Burn

A major sponsor of the Lotus team has stirring up Formula 1 silly season natter and compounding the already confusing speculation about Fernando Alonso’s next move.

Most insiders believe the Spaniard and Ferrari have already dissolved their contract, paving the way for Sebastian Vettel to join Kimi Raikkonen at the Italian team in 2015.

Alonso’s future, however, remains unclear, amid claims he will either switch to McLaren-Honda for a year before bidding for a Mercedes seat in 2016, or simply take a sabbatical.

But it may not be as simple as that. Marca claims the delay in an official announcement by Ferrari is because the only way Maranello can clear Alonso’s seat for Vettel is by paying the Spaniard $50 million to compensate for the remainder of his deal.

The latest reports are that, with Stefano Domenicali already headed to Ingolstadt, Audi could be set to quit Le Mans and start up a Formula 1 team centred around Alonso in 2015.

Fernando Alonso has history with Enstone

France’s Auto Hebdo quoted a spokesman for the VW-owned marque as playing down the reports.

“These reports have been around for several years,” the spokesman said. “It is still only pure speculation without any foundation. We are engaged in the WEC, DTM and GT, and we will add the Audi Sport TT Cup to our programme in 2015.”

Meanwhile, although Lotus says it on the verge of re-signing Romain Grosjean for 2015, the Enstone team’s Coca Cola-owned energy drink sponsor Burn is now getting mischievously involved in the Alonso speculation.

“We think Alonso could look great in black and gold, don’t you?” Burn said on Twitter, having photoshopped an image of Alonso wearing Lotus Formula 1 overalls.

Notably Alonso’s career has been intrinsically linked with Enstone, where Lotus are based, as he won the 2005 and 2006 Formula 1 world titles when the current team’s ancestors – Renault – were still in Formula 1 in a works 

McLaren M1B at Goodwood Revival

ECCLESTONE HITS BACK AT TEXAS SPEEDWAY BOSS CRITICISM

Formula 1 freight in transit

Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has hit back at Eddie Gossage, the president of Texas Motor Speedway, after the latter made disparaging remarks regarding the clash of dates between the grand prix in Austin and a NASCAR race at TMS.

Ecclestone told PA Sport, “We’ve a small problem that [NASCAR] don’t have – we have six jumbo jets to move around all our equipment, and we have to find the most sensible way to use them to do that.”

Earlier this week Gossage attacked Ecclestone with regards to the clashing dates in Texas, “I absolutely think it’s foolish. Nobody wins. It’s a shot fired by Formula 1 at NASCAR. I can’t say that I was surprised because Bernie Ecclestone does a lot of foolish things.”

“It’s just not smart. There are 52 weeks in the year. But that was the only weekend that F1 could make it work in Austin, Texas? Give me a break. It wouldn’t have happened if [the US GP organisers] had the strength and the fortitude to stand up and say no,” added Gossage.

Ecclestone explained the situation from an F1 perspectve, “The race prior to the one in the US is in Russia, in Sochi. We’ve never been before, and we have to get out of there and into Austin. That is probably a lot easier than trying to get into Brazil, and then we have to get out of there [Sao Paulo] to go to Abu Dhabi.”

“So he [Gossage] is extremely lucky he doesn’t have to do what we have to do. I’ve also spoken to the people that run the race at COTA {Circuit of the Americas} and their position is that they believe the NASCAR crowd is a different crowd to F1, different people, different customers.”

“At the end of the day they run a domestic series in America – we run a World Championship,” concluded Ecclestone.

The United States Grand Prix weekend takes place at Circuit of the Americas, in Austin, from 31 October to 2 November. On the same weekend the AAA Texas 500, the eighth race in the Chase for the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup, takes place at Texas Motor Speedway.

Vintage Sports Car Race at Circuit of The Americas 2014

Sochi FP2: Hamilton leaves them in his dust

 

10 October, 2014

 

Lewis Hamilton fastest on day one at Sochi

Lewis Hamilton is on a roll, with a hat-trick of wins behind him, he is hunting his fourth victory in a row and ninth of the season as he tackles the spanking new Sochi Autodrom, venue of the inaugural Russian Grand Prix, starting his quest by stamping his authority on proceedings in emphatic fashion.
The championship leader’s best time of 1:39.630 in Free Practice 2 was a massive 0.894 of a second faster than his closest rival, during the afternoon session, and almost a second up on title rival and Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg who ended the session fourth fastest.
Earlier Rosberg made history as the first Formula 1 driver to set a timed lap at the inaugural Russian Grand Prix in the morning session.
The Briton, who leads Rosberg by 10 points in the world championship standings after winning the last three races, went top of the timesheets in a slightly shortened session – the red flag came out eight minutes from the end when Australian Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull halted with a power unit failure.

Kevin Magnussen second fastest

Mercedes are expected to wrap up the constructors’ championship on Sunday with three races to spare, having won 12 of the 15 so far with eight one-two finishes.
McLaren‘s Jenson Button was the early pacesetter as drivers got to grips with a layout compared to the former Valencia street circuit and Singapore, with the 2009 champion ending the morning as the third fastest.
He also collected two fines totalling 1 100 euros for pitlane speeding and was sixth fastest in the second session.
Ferrari‘s Fernando Alonso was fourth and third in the two sessions, with Danish rookie Kevin Magnussen, Button’s teammate, fifth and then second in the afternoon.
The only Russian regular, Toro Rosso’s 20-year-old rookie Daniil Kvyat, followed up seventh in the morning with eighth after lunch.
That was still ahead of both Red Bulls, his 2015 employers, with four times champion Sebastian Vettel ninth after reporting a loss of power on the straight and Ricciardo 13th.

Fernando Alonso was third fastest

He was joined for the first session by 19-year-old compatriot Sergey Sirotkin, making his debut at a race weekend in the Sauber usually driven by Mexican Esteban Gutierrez.
Williams had a disrupted opening session when a problem with a tyre blanket damaged a set of Valtteri Bottas’s tyres, limiting his running.
All drivers took to the track with stickers of support for Jules Bianchi, Marussia’s French driver who was severely injured in a crash in Japan last Sunday and remains in critical condition.
Marussia announced before the session that they would have only one car running this weekend, with Bianchi’s assembled and left in the garage as a mark of respect.
Chilton ended the first session with the slowest time but picked up speed in the afternoon, “I don’t know how to put into words how truly devastated I am by what has happened to Jules.”
“It is going to be a very emotional weekend for the whole team, but we will try to get through it and keep praying for Jules.”
Russian Grand Prix, Free Practice 2 at Sochi Autodrom – Friday, 10 October 2014

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:39.630		27
2	20	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:40.494	0.864	32
3	14	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1:40.504	0.874	32
4	6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:40.542	0.912	30
5	77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	1:40.573	0.943	33
6	22	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1:40.718	1.088	32
7	19	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	1:40.731	1.101	30
8	26	Daniil Kvyat	STR-Renault	1:41.108	1.478	32
9	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing-Renault	1:41.396	1.766	30
10	25	Jean-Eric Vergne	STR-Renault	1:41.531	1.901	33
11	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:41.630	2.000	24
12	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	1:41.677	2.047	27
13	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-Renault	1:42.061	2.431	25
14	11	Sergio Perez	Force India-Mercedes	1:42.090	2.460	29
15	99	Adrian Sutil	Sauber-Ferrari	1:42.233	2.603	31
16	8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	1:42.892	3.262	30
17	13	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus-Renault	1:42.905	3.275	33
18	21	Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber-Ferrari	1:43.055	3.425	33
19	9	Marcus Ericsson	Caterham-Renault	1:44.135	4.505	22
20	4	Max Chilton	Marussia-Ferrari	1:44.530	4.900	29
21	10	Kamui Kobayashi	Caterham-Renault	1:44.952	5.322	27

McLaren 650S at Circuit of the Americas

Ducati On Track Experience at Circuit of the Americas

Rousing double win - Audi captures championship lead

F.I.A WEC Lone Star LeMans Podium Celebration

FIA WEC Lone Star LeMans 2014

The New Mercedes-AMG GT at the "Circuit of the Americas"

FIA says FRIC no to trick suspensions in F1

By  Noah Joseph

There are few fields in the world where you'll find engineers working as feverishly as they do in Formula One. With races sometimes won and lost by fractions of a second, every little bit counts, so each team retains legions of engineers, all dedicated to finding the tiniest performance edge... without running afoul of the ever-constricting regulations.

This season, one of the most controversial advances has been known as FRIC, and while it's been effectively sidelined for the last few races, reports from the motorsport press indicate that is has now officially been banned by the FIA.

So just what is FRIC? It stands for Front and Rear Inter-Connected suspension. Now, if you're thinking that independent suspensions are the most advanced form available, you're right, but F1 teams have been toying for years with ways to interlink the suspensions at each wheel. Why, you ask? For a number of reasons. For one, it allows for redistribution of suspension dive at the front or rear, which means that under hard braking or acceleration – when the car would either pitch back or forward – the car can be kept more stable. That, in turn, means not only are all four tires loaded evenly and optimally, but the team can also run a more aggressive aero package. It also means that the car can be set up with a softer suspension, allowing the driver to attack the curbs more aggressively, without sacrificing underbody aerodynamics.

Several teams had been running FRIC systems that move hydraulic fluid between the front and rear suspensions, but voluntarily agreed to cease using them for the last two races at Hockenheim and Budapest. Now, the FIA, having apparently deemed FRIC an unfair advantage in contravention of the sporting regulations, has reportedly banned the system altogether. So while those cars may not be running on an even keel any more, at least they'll all be on an even playing field.

Xcar takes a closer look at the electrifying Renovo Coupe

By  Jonathon Ramsey 

Xcar Films went to Pebble Beach and gave ex-Intel engineer and Renovo Motors CEO Christopher Heiser a platform to talk about his new electric supercar based on the Shelby Daytona Coupe. The relevant nuggets: 500 horsepower and 1,000 pound-feet of torque from direct-drive twin sequential axial flux motors powered by a lithium-ion battery, 0 to 60 in 3.4 seconds, top speed over 120 mph, 2,500 pounds, $529,000 to purchase.

While Heiser spends almost six minutes talking about the car and what it means to him, almost all of it is information we already know. When he gets to the bits that perk our ears, like when the mentions of advanced technology and upgraded parts, he skips the details. After four years of having to drive it at night to keep the secret, we don't even get to see more of what's inside, much less a daytime run with the Xcar chaps.

So we'll look forward to the next installment. In the meantime, this one's another beautiful entry in the Xcar catalog.

2015 Chevy Corvette Z06 priced at $78,995

By  Noah Joseph 

Want to get your hands on the most powerful vehicle GM has ever made? It may be time to call your bank manager, financial adviser and whoever else helps you get your monetary ducks in a row, because Chevy has now revealed pricing information for the new 2015 Corvette Z06.

Pricing starts at $78,995 for the coupe and $83,995 for the convertible. Both those figures include destination, but don't include things like tax, title, license and optional equipment. And as we revealed when the order guide surfaced, there is some enticing optional equipment on offer.

An extra $2,995 will get you the Carbon Fiber Ground Effects package with enhanced aero. $7,995 will get you the Z07 Performance Package with Brembo carbon-ceramic brakes, upgraded tires and even more aggressive aero. There are three trim levels available and a host of other packages and options you can read all about in the press release below, from the Premium Package leather trim to the Performance Data Recorder.

No matter which way you set it up, though, you're getting a 6.2-liter supercharged V8 with 650 horsepower and just as much torque. And though the price of entry may seem high, it comes down to a downright steal compared to the six figures Chevy got for the previous ZR1 (whose place the new Z06 effectively takes) and which Dodge gets for a new Viper.

Volkswagen considering a four-door, four-seat XL1

By  Jonathon Ramsey

Posted Aug 22nd 2014 10:15AM

According to a report in Autocar, Volkswagen might have more in mind for the XL1 than mining it for advances to grace the next-generation Golf. Aiming to fight the Honda FCEV due for public consumption next year, we're told VW executives have put a four-door, four-seater version of the XL1 - it could be called XL2 - on the drawing board. The impetus is said to come from the top, with VW Group chairman Ferdinand Piëch intent on staying in the deep end of "super-efficent vehicles."

Autocar suspects the necessary changes could raise the weight of the car from 1,749 pounds to 2,068 pounds, which would make it four pounds less than the 2,072-pound Up! we drove a few years ago. Crucially, however, the mag thinks the extra capacity wouldn't change the two-seater's 310-mile-per-gallon rating, with tech tweaks and the aerodynamic benefit of a longer car offsetting the weight. Speculation is that the back seats would be staggered like the fronts in order to maintain the XL1's overall profile.

We recently heard about another XL1 variant that's gone off the radar entirely, the Ducati-engined XLR that we thought we'd see at the Geneva Motor Show and that was said to be going into production, so this one could go the same way. The biggest hurdle to making such an idea a reality, though, could be the price: the current XL1 costs 110,000 euros ($146,116). If VW really is going to compete with the Honda FCEV and the Toyota FCV - $70,000 in Japan - that might be where it wants to start.

2015 Chevy Corvette Z06 price and power compared against rivals

Ranking Z06 With Porsche, Ferrari, GT-R, Hellcat, Etc.

By  Greg Migliore 

Posted Aug 22nd 2014 4:30PM

The 2015 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 is the most powerful production car ever from General Motors, and it's a technological landmark in the long lineage of Corvettes. It's also more affordable than you might think.

The 2015 Z06 starts at $78,995* – not chump change, but well below the price ranges of key competitors.

As was announced earlier today, the 2015 Z06 has a starting price of $78,995 for the coupe and $83,995 for the convertible, *including $995 in destination charges. That's not chump change, but it's well below the price ranges of several of its key competitors.

The Corvette has long been compared with the Porsche 911, but the Z06's 650 horsepower and 650 pound-feet of torque easily eclipses the most powerful 911, the Turbo S (560 hp, 516 lb-ft). The Z06 also costs less than half as much, as the Turbo S has a starting MSRP of $182,700, and then tacks on a $995-shipping charge.

A closer comparison – pricewise – would be the Porsche Cayman GTS, which comes in with an MSRP of $75,200 – that's $2,800 cheaper than the Vette. Thing is, it has 310 fewer hp.

The Audi R8 is a slightly more formidable competitor to the Z06 based on pure power. The V10 Plus has 550 hp, and its mid-engine configuration is a better layout for pure driving dynamics. But, its pricing starts at $173,500, not including a $1,250-destination charge. The base R8 with its 430-hp V8 begins at $115,000.





Then there's another long-running Corvette rival, the Dodge Viper SRT, and its 640-hp V10 engine. For 2014, the Viper costs $99,885, which is up $2,000 from 2013. Add in $1,995 shipping (your Viper does come in an enclosed trailer), and the total comes to $101,880. The price listed on the SRT website is $102,485, which includes the gas-guzzler tax, but not shipping. Regardless, it's about $22,000 more than the new Z06.

The all-wheel-drive Nissan GT-R, meanwhile, dials up 545 hp from a turbo V6 for $101,770, which rises to $103,365 with shipping.

The Z06 also grades out well in the world of exotics. The Ferrari FF produces 651 hp from its V12, which edges out the Z06 (barely), though the Ferrari only makes 504 lb-ft – all for a sticker of about $300,000 – though it does offer all-wheel drive.

Flipping the script on the Z06, the 2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat pumps out 707 horses for a price tag of $59,995 and a $995 destination charge brings the sticker to $60,990. That's more power for less money than the Corvette, but the Challenger is also a much larger car, and it's more of a muscle car than a sports car.

In this age of gaudy horsepower figures and prices, the Hellcat vs. Z06 is a fitting example of how modern sports cars are not all created equal. While the Hellcat can blow the doors off of the Vette with its power specs, the Z06 is assuredly a better track car. Porsche and Ferrari loyalists will naturally gravitate to and pay more for products from their brands, and no horsepower figure or "low-low" sticker price will change that. Plus, the sports-car segment is small enough in terms of sales so as to seemingly play by its own rules. No matter how much horsepower the Corvette has, it won't do much to erode GM's Corporate Average Fuel Economy standing.

While the Hellcat can blow the doors off of the Vette with its statistics, the Z06 is assuredly a better track car.

Still, the Z06 creates a seriously compelling value case for enthusiasts in search of power for a competitive price. Corvette spokesman Monte Doran reminded Autoblog that sharing parts and technology among Chevy vehicles has allowed the brand to keep prices of its high-end sports cars relatively low. The 2015 Chevy Corvette Z06 is the first Z06 to use a supercharged engine, the first to have a true convertible variant and the first to offer an eight-speed automatic transmission.

"Chevrolet has developed a successful model for sharing components with Corvette and other models in the portfolio," he said. "For example, the eight-speed transmission was designed for Z06, and will also be used in full-size trucks with the 6.2L; the carbon-ceramic brakes are shared between the Camaro Z/28 and Corvette Z06. This enables Chevrolet to offer stratospheric-levels of performance without stratospheric prices."

Dave Sullivan, manager of product analysis for AutoPacific, an automotive research firm, concurs:

"By sharing parts and components with higher-volume vehicles, GM can keep the price down on the Corvette," he said. "The Z06 could prove to be one of the memorable bargains of the century."

Sullivan expects the horsepower wars to continue, which is only good for enthusiasts.

"Look at the Ford GT a decade ago," he said. "It was about $150,000 for 550 HP and 0-60 in 3.7 seconds. For a little more than half that, you can get more power, better performance, and a car that the manufacturer is committed to building for many years to come. Inflation? What inflation?"

Singer 911 - Porsche 911 Tribute - Top Gear - Series 20 - BBC

Tribute from Top Gear to Porsche 991 and Singer

SVRA US Vintage Racing National Championship revised overview video @ COTA

Kimi Räikkönen races Sky F1 on lawn mowers

Unplugged Performance sweetens the look of your Tesla Model S for around $6,000

Tesla electric vehicles are no strangers to the tuner set. Saleen is working on a modified Model S. Brabus once offered neon for your Roadster. And new we find a number of body panel upgrades for the Model S from Unplugged Performance.

Unplugged Performance has its offices right by the Tesla's Supercharger in Hawthorne, CA, and sales manager Mark Borushko told AutoblogGreen that Tesla employees often express their appreciation for what UP has done to change the look of the Model S. The upgrade parts are made in the US and were designed in-house by an ex-Ferrari guy, Borushko said.

What upgrades are there? There's the front spoiler and diffuser (starting at $995), the rear spoiler and diffuser ($1,550), trunk spoiler ($895), side skirts ($1,450) and the Complete Front Fascia System ($1,000). Those prices are all for the unpainted parts. Add a few hundred bucks to each to upgrade to matching paint colors or carbon fiber parts. Borushko said that in the year that Unplugged Performance has been around, they've sold about 30 kits – meaning one of everything – worldwide. There are people who just buy just the trunk spoiler, for example, he said, but about 90 percent of UP's customers opt for the full kit. Borushko said UP will have to see if there's interest in a kit for the Model X, but there likely will be.

Unplugged Performance is a part of Bulletproof Automotive, which offers upgrades for all sorts of vehicles. The Unplugged Performance phone number is the same as the one for Tesla Everything, so we're pretty sure someone over there is a big Model S fan.

News Source: Unplugged Performance via Teslarati

Lamborghini Aventador art car features every color of the rainbow

With a catalog packed with shades of orange and yellow, the Lamborghini Aventador doesn't shy away from bright colors. But the stock palette still pales in comparison to this latest art car.

This technicolor Aventador Roadster was created by Franco-American artist and musician Duaiv, who previously applied his talents to Ferraris like the FF and 458 Spider. Lamborghini Miami, a division of Prestige Imports in North Beach, Florida, applied the evidently very successful artist's painting to a vinyl wrap and fitted to the Lambo along with a Novitec rear spoiler to create a one-of-a-kind supercar that is anything but a sleeper. You know, just in case an Aventador didn't already stand out enough.

2015 Acura NSX burns to the ground at the 'Ring

Assuming all goes to plan, automakers test their vehicles to the breaking point in the months and years leading up to that vehicle's actual release into the public. Which is good, because it's much better for a car to break in glorious fashion in the hands of the company that produces it than in the driveway of an owner who just spent their hard-earned cash to get it.

Such was the case with this production-guise Acura NSX prototype that we saw running around the Nürburgring just the other day. We can't be 100-percent certain, but the burned-out carcass is wearing the same number plate as the car that was spotted earlier, so it's likely the very same NSX. We have no idea what was the cause of the blaze that turned this Acura into the car-b-q you see pictured above, but our spy shooters on the ground in Germany say it was not involved in any collision, having caught on fire all on its own with engineers behind the wheel.

The good news is that nobody was hurt, though the car is quite clearly a complete loss. We're sure there's another ready to to test in the burned car's place... just as soon as the engineers at Honda figure out exactly what went wrong. Have a look at the smoldering aftermath up above.

2015 Ford Expedition

Blue Oval 'Burb-Fighter Boasts Turbocharged Boost

Vital Stats

Engine:

Twin-Turbo 3.5L V6

Power:

365 HP / 420 LB-FT

Transmission:

6-Speed Auto

Base Price:

$40,000 (est)

As-Tested Price:

$58,000 (est)

While the tide of bigger-is-better SUVs has been in recession since, well, the recession, fullsize utes are still very much with us. Conservative creatures that have been loathe to evolve, fullsize SUVs nonetheless remain enduringly popular among large families, livery customers, and anyone with lots of friends, relatives, and toys to tug around. With respect to Toyota and Nissan, the only players that really matter in the segment are the new-for-2015 Chevrolet Tahoe/Suburban, the GMC Yukon/Yukon XL, and this truck: the Ford Expedition.

 

Unlike the General Motors utilities, the standard Expedition and the long-wheelbase Expedition EL are not all-new, but rather are heavily refreshed versions of the same basic truck Ford started selling way back in 2007. The front fascia is where most of the exterior update happens for 2015, with a new three-bar grille design, halogen projector headlamps, and new bumper design with available LED foglamps. Despite all the new bits, the facelift breaks exactly zero ground in terms of design; in fact, it already looks dated, and will only look older once the macho 2015 F-150 bows later this year. Even less has changed out back, where the tailgate gets a wide chrome band spanning the taillamps and a new chrome exhaust tip. Other exterior changes are generally limited to colors and an all-new wheel lineup that includes a gleaming set of six-spoke 22-inch polished wheels on high-end models.

Speaking of high-end models, a new Platinum trim is positioned above the cowboy-spec King Ranch model for 2015. Both the Platinum and King Ranch get their own color combos and exterior trim finishes (satin metal for the Platinum, chrome everywhere and ginormous badges for the King Ranch) and posh, leather-lined interiors with their own aesthetic. The Expedition family also now includes a price-leading XL model, as well as XLT and Limited grades.

That's nice and all, but we didn't fly to Appalachia to ogle new headlights and caress leather seats. The real draw was to see how the Expedition fares after making the switch from its outgoing V8 to turbocharged V6 power, the only way it will come henceforth. The change makes sense on paper, given that the turbo six – the same engine found in the F-150 EcoBoost – simply trounces the old V8 with 365 horsepower and 420 pound-feet of torque, compared to the outgoing 5.4's 310 hp and meager 365 lb-ft of torque. Notably, the EcoBoost V6 also outmuscles the 355 hp and 383 lb-ft of torque produced by the 5.3-liter base V8 in GM's portfolio, though it comes up shy of their forceful – and thirsty – optional 420-hp, 460 lb-ft 6.2-liter V8.

Newest and Greatest from Porsche at Circuit of the Americas

Selling the Porsche 918 with leather, driver coaching and other special wishes

Last week, Porsche released the greatest car ever made by God or Stuttgart, the 918 Spyder, into the wild. The Spyder produces nearly 900 hp, 286 of them from electric motors paired to the finest V-8 engine on earth. It maxes out at a mild 217 mph and is the only production car with factory-fitted tires to ever run the Northern Loop of the Nurburgring in less than seven minutes. Also, it gets 67 miles to the gallon, a number that even the world hypermiling champion, driving a Prius C around a grocery-store parking lot, couldn’t achieve. The car has universally and rightly been proclaimed as a miracle of engineering, and maybe the savior of an entire industry.

Also, it is a convertible. You’d think it wouldn’t be too hard to sell.

But it costs $865,000. And they're building 918 of them, unlike the more exclusive LaFerrari (499) and McLaren P1 (375). You can’t exactly slap a zero-percent financing sticker on it and put up TV ads for a 4th of July sale. Getting the Spyder in the hands of people who both can afford it and appreciate its majesty has been a multi-year process. Porsche has done everything it can, short of performing the Dance Of The Seven Veils, to seduce its potential buyers.

Every one of those 918 will be pressed to order and for those who signed up early, the wait is over. “Ralph Lauren got his car,” someone from Porsche told me. “Penske got his car. Seinfeld got his car.”

But there are still plenty available. In order to move their stock of The Greatest Car Ever Told, Porsche has been sending invitations out to people in its VIP program, potential customers who are either already high-end Porsche owners or owners of other supercars. This program is called “Porsche Exclusive,” though it used to be called “Special Wishes.” The name got changed, for obvious reasons. If wishes were Porsches, rich people would ride.

These are the kinds of customers who travel to Germany to consult on specs, or go to a dedicated Porsche design office in Beverly Hills. If they pay, they get whatever they want. One buyer is waiting until car number 666 rolls off the bespoke production line. I’m hoping its Ozzy Osbourne, though no names were revealed. (The top exhaust pipes would make terrific devil horns).

 Of late, exclusive customers have been getting access to track days at five locations around the country, which includes a walkaround of a pre-production Spyder, plugged into a wall unit like an ordinary Chevy Volt, some light catering, a couple of runs around the track in a quotidian 911 Turbo, and, finally, a few laps in the Spyder itself. The appointments are spaced out 45 minutes apart, to give the illusion of exclusivity. Everyone is allowed to bring one guest.

Porsche set up shop earlier this month for a couple of days at the Circuit Of The Americas in Austin. There, I met David Donohue, former champion of the GT2 class at the 24 Hours Of Le Mans. As of now, he’s also Porsche’s in-house 918 Spyder consultant, available at all times to any owner who needs his help and advice. “When these customers call,” he said, “I can’t say, ‘sorry, I’m on a race weekend.’”

Donohue has a long history working with Porsche, but he says he was drawn to the Spyder not only because of its performance, but also because of the technological advances it represents. The fact that it’s the fastest consumer car in existence, and also the most fuel-efficient hybrid, represents good news for car lovers who are feeling buffeted by the winds of climate change. “CAFE regulations and environmentalists are making us drive neutered cars,” Donohue told me. “And this is how Porsche responds.” It is sweet revenge.

I spent several hours at COTA, watching VIPs stagger around in shock after driving the Spyder, and did my own share of staggering after taking my laps. Shelby on a Popsicle stick, what a car. But that didn’t mean they were flying off the virtual lot. Most everyone else seemed exist in “I have to think about it” mode. They were wealthy, but not Jay Leno wealthy. One guy sat a table, looking through colored leather samples as desultorily as though he were picking out a new couch.

But I did meet one bona fide 918 Spyder owner. Dean Rogers, retired from the recording-studio business, had come down to Austin from Santa Fe, N.M., along with his garage manager, who helps maintain his dozen cars of various vintages. Rogers put down his deposit three and a half years ago, the day Porsche announced the Spyder on Dec. 3, 2010. “What they were claiming at the time seemed totally impossible,” he said. “It was a leap of faith. No one had ever done it before. But if you’re gonna have faith in a car company, have faith in Porsche.”

Rogers went to Stuttgart to see early models. The exhaust originally came out the side. (Now it comes out of the rear, through twin pipes.) It had tiny cameras instead of side mirrors. The steering wheel came off. It all seemed kind of weird.

“But I stayed focused on it,” he told me. “I was offered a P1 by McLaren, and I turned it down. I was offered a (Bugatti) Veyron, turned it down. The Spyder ended up being even cooler than the concept. I feel very fortunate to be able to drive this car, to even have the opportunity. It’s like a miracle.”

And that was before he’d taken his spin around the world’s most state-of-the-art racetrack. When he got out of the car, Rogers was almost quaking with excitement.

“The power was unbelievable,” he said. “I did the back straight in race mode. As far as traction and grip, it’s unlike anything else I’ve driven. It feels like I’m ten years in the future. At least ten. Everyone said Porsche couldn’t do it. But they did it. They really did it.”

Rogers said he plans to drive the Spyder in the Dust Bowl Rally, an exclusive drive of 30 cars, from Austin to Chicago in August. He’ll have some time to noodle around at home in it before then. Porsche was going to drop off his Spyder last week. His special wishes have come true.