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Ferrari Fury: Novitec’s Near-900-Hp 599 GTO

Chris Weiss — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 23:47:05 +0000

Back when the 599 GTO came out, Ferrari called it the fastest road-going Ferrari ever. Of course, that designation didn’t take extreme tunes into account. And when you take the fastest Ferrari ever and put it through an extreme tune, you have a beast of a car.

Novitec Rosso used two supercharges, a modified exhaust system, an air-to-water intercooler and custom intake manifolds to achieve 888 horses and 636 lb-ft (up from 671 hp and 457 lb-ft) in its 599 GTO tune. That equipment chops .15 seconds off the 0 to 62 mph, which is brought down to 3.2 seconds, and adds 3 mph up to a 211 mph top speed.

Other equipment includes lowering springs, a front-end lift and forged wheels, 21-inch in front and 22-inch in back. The car gets a silver with yellow stripe paint job and includes blacked-out lights.

The Novitec 599 GTO will join a tuned 458 and California in Geneva this week. [via Automobile]

Video: The Ferrari FF Goes Everywhere

Chris Weiss — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 23:49:19 +0000

Last week, Ferrari held an official unveiling of the FF concept for VIP types. It also provided Web access to the event. Frankly, I thought Ferrari already held a Web unveiling last month, but I guess this one was different.

One way it was different is that it brought the best video clip of the FF yet. A three-minute segment that shows the concept barreling through just about every type of terrain you’d drive on–snow, wet pavement, dirt road, sand, etc. It also shows the FF in a few new colors. It’s a great piece of video that begs to be watched. Jump and it’s all yours. [via Inside Line]

Leaky Lambo Aventador Strikes Again

Chris Weiss — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 21:50:59 +0000

Three more pictures. That’s today’s bounty. We now have a much better look at the Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4 thanks to a profile and angled front-end picture that originated on Jalopnik yesterday. We see the masterful balance of big curves and sharp lines that Lamborghini combined to make an absolutely stunning flagship. The pictures appear to be out of the same magazine as the first leaked picture from earlier this week.

All we need now is a photo of the rear. Take a good hard look and decide for yourself if it’s not the next logical step forward from the Countach, Diablo and Murcielago. [via Jalopnik]

Another Teaser For The Gumpert Tornante?

Chris Weiss — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 02:02:28 +0000

Speculation has it that this here is a second teaser picture of the Gumpert Tornante. While no one seems to know the exact origin of the photo, the car’s overall shape does look a lot like that of the first Tornante picture that we saw. And the clean taillights certainly look like they’d complement the smooth curves around the body. Of course, the lines are a little sharper in this particular picture, but the first picture was a rather abstract illustration, so that doesn’t necessarily convince us that it’s not the Tornante.

I suppose we’ll know for sure when Gumpert unveils its new Touring Superleggera-designed tourer in Geneva next week. [via Motor Authority]

Bertone-Designed Jaguar B99 Concept

Chris Weiss — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 23:39:38 +0000

Another sexy Geneva debut, the B99 is designed by Italian design firm Bertone in cooperation with Jaguar. The concept is meant to give us a look at the possible direction that Jaguar could take with a new small sedan that it is planning for 2013/2014.

Bertone sought to compact the dimensions of the sedan, while maintaining an equal weight distribution over the wheels. So, instead of designing a rear-oriented fastback, Bertone cut out the B-pillar and made reverse rear doors. This structure gives the B99–which is named for Bertone’s 99th anniversary–the shorter dimensions that Jaguar is looking for, with a look removed from fastback models like the XJ and XF.

Bertone design chief Mike Robinson said of the B99′s future: “After Geneva, if they like it, we hope to present our designs to Jaguar.” [via Autocar]

Dog Sledders Film Ferrari FF Testing

Chris Weiss — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 22:44:12 +0000

There’s most certainly a joke about the FF being a dog in here, but I think the story about the best footage yet of the Ferarri FF coming from a dog-sledding duo really outshines any attempt at such a comparison. So right to the story…

Somewhere in the mountains of Europe, Ferrari was doing some testing of its first-ever 4WD, and dog sledders just happened to be passing by and they just happened to have a video camera filming the FF’s every move. While they only got about 30 seconds worth of footage, it’s some of the cleanest shots yet that we’ve seen of Ferrari’s shooting brake. Who knew it would come from mushers?

Hit the break and see what these resourceful sledders were able to come up with. [via GT Spirit]

Bentley Continental Supersports Is the Fastest Car on Ice

Chris Weiss — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 23:23:57 +0000

Bentley may come up a little short when it comes to a list of the world’s fastest cars, but it does have one speed record: fastest speed on ice. Bentley announced this week that a Continental Supersports piloted by Juha Kankkunen hit a world-record-breaking ice speed of 205.48 mph. Bentley took the record from itself: Kankkunen set a 199.83 mph ice record in a Continental GT in 2007.

The record was set on a frozen piece of Baltic Sea off the coast of Finland. The Bentley team shoveled out a straight track, and Kankkunen took his out and back laps to put the speed in the books.

Bentley did its best to complete the task in a minimally modified Supersports, but it did add Pirelli winter tires, a bumper-mounted parachute, front and rear spoilers for stability, and a heavy duty roll cage.

To celebrate the achievement, Bentley is debuting a special edition that it calls the “most powerful model ever to bear the famed Winged B emblem” at the Geneva Motor Show. It only plans to produce 100 examples of what is hopefully called the ‘Continental Supersports Ice Edition’. [via WCF]

McLaren Releases Official Specs For the MP4-12C

Chris Weiss — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 22:49:35 +0000

It kind of took forever, but McLaren has come clean with the official performance specs of the MP4-12C, now that production is underway. The 3.8-liter twin-turbo V8 will pump out 592 horses and will push the coupe to 62 mph in 3.3 seconds. Drivers will be able to shave .2 seconds off that time in optional Corsa tires, and will be able to double that speed in 9.1 seconds (8.9 with Corsa tires). Top speed won’t come until 205 mph.

And to think, the MP4-12C will just be the entry-level supercar of the McLaren family… [via WCF]

Lamborghini Teases Aventador LP700-4

Chris Weiss — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 23:15:21 +0000

With just three more weeks to go before Geneva, Lamborghini has released a teaser picture of a camoed-up Aventador. The picture doesn’t give us anything that spy photos haven’t, but it’s certainly a good look at the overall shape of the new top Bull. We expect to see a few more official teasers from Lambo over the next few weeks.

Recap: The Aventador LP700-4 will carry 691 hp and 509 lb-ft of torque in an all-new 6.5-liter V12 engine. It’s expected to hit 62 mph in 2.9 seconds and top out at 217 mph.

Lambo will pull all the covers off on March 1. [via InsideLine]

New Tesla S Alpha Video Released

Chris Weiss — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 23:31:28 +0000

Tesla plans to get its first sedan out next year and it has begun testing the first of two prototypes: the Model S Alpha. The new Model S shows a few slight design variations from the versions that we’ve seen in the past at auto shows, including a new front fascia with air intakes in the bumper.

Tesla released some video of its hot, electric sedan so you can give it the full eye over. Excuse the cliche, but it’s definitely not your daddy’s family sedan.

The Model S will offer a range of up to 300 miles while delivering performance of 5.6 seconds to 60 mph. It’s scheduled to debut next year at a price of $57,000–before tax breaks. After the Alpha, Tesla will test out a Beta version before building the final production model.

Check out the Alpha below. [via WCF]

Audi A3 e-tron Gets Charged Fast, Gets There Slow

danseitz — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 20:00:08 +0000

Electric vehicles are starting to catch on with automakers, especially since the millionth Prius rolled out in the U.S. The Nissan Leaf, aimed squarely at urban drivers who don’t need a lot of range, is showing promise and more electrics are aimed squarely at that market, especially with gas hitting $4 a gallon and threatening to cross the $5 barrier.

Including Audi’s e-tron, which has a big advantage…and a big disadvantage.

First, the disadvantage: at 130 horsepower, this is no drag racer or otherwise remotely impressive, taking eleven seconds to get up to 60 miles per hour. This was rather obviously not designed to impress anybody except those looking to save some serious money on gas: it’s entirely battery powered.

On the other hand, the charging time is one of the fastest for a plug-in hybrid we’ve seen. With the special 400-volt charger, the e-tron can be fully charged in four hours. But if you don’t want to shell out for a special charger and just want to plug it into the wall, that will run a painful…oh, wait, it’s nine hours.

Audi was smart with this. It’s a commuter car. Plug it in when you get home, make dinner, get some sleep, then drive to work in the morning. We think Audi’s going to see a lot of green with this.

China Doesn’t Like The Jeep Wrangler?

danseitz — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 17:00:12 +0000

Want to hear something funny?

China has vehicle safety standards! No, really! The same country that gave us the Chery Amulet, a car that crumples like a tin can at forty miles an hour during impact tests! There are cars they won’t accept!

In this case, the Jeep Wrangler, because it keeps catching on fire for some reason.

The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine can’t do their job with products made within China, apparently, but they can with imported products. They claim to have received several reports of imported Wranglers catching fire thanks to faulty automatic transmissions. So, until Chrysler fixes the problem, no Jeep Wranglers can be imported into China.

Could this actually be a problem? Maybe. Companies have a long record of offloading defective products on countries with low consumer quality standards, and China fits that bill. On the other hand, China also has a long history of punishing companies it doesn’t like, or that some state sponsored body is about to flagrantly rip off, by claiming their products are terrible and keeping them out of China’s market. Considering this is the first we’ve heard of Wranglers catching fire, we’ll withhold any opinion until more information becomes available.

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