LaFerrari leaves Steve Sutcliffe speechless. And so are we.
Just a reminder, Laferrari is a 949 Hp beast combining 160 Hp of pure electric power with a 6.3-liter V12 producing 789 Hp. When it comes to performance, the Enzo replacement sheds 5 seconds off its predecessor's time around the Fiorano test track, which is a lot since we are talking about a 2.9 km (1.86 miles) long circuit.
Introduced earlier this year at the Wörthersee Tuning Festival, the Volkswagen Golf Design Vision GTI concept is less mad than the Golf GTI W12 Concept which was powered by a 6.0-Liter twin-turbo W12 producing 650ch and based on the previous generation (mk6) Golf . But it's still a brilliant machine that hints at future technology that could be used in the upcoming GTI models.
The Design Vision GTI concept is powered by a 3.0-Liter twin-turbo VR6 engine producing 496 Hp and 413lb ft of torque. The engine sends its power to all four wheels through a six-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.
The car is able to hit 100 km/h (62mph) in 3.9 seconds and has a top speed of 300 Km/h (The W12 GTI: 3,7 seconds and 200 mph). If you'd like to know what it feels like to drive it, head on to Autocar where the guys had the chance to take the car for a ride at Los Angeles. Enjoy the high res pictures in the gallery below!
Very unusual pairing from Autocar here: a mid-engined RWD supercar versus a 4WD rally car. The Noble M600 is powered by a 4.4-liter twin-turbo Volvo V8 producing 650 Hp that makes it capable of accelerating from 0 to 100 Km/h in 3 seconds with a top speed exceeding 362 km/h (225 mph). The Skoda Fabia Super 2000 on the other hand, is powered by a 2.0-Liter four cylinder engine producing 265 Hp.
You might think that the Skoda Fabia, being a race car, is a much lighter machine but you'd be wrong! At 1,200 Kg, the two cars weight exactly the same. Does the Skoda rally car have what it takes to keep up with the 650 Hp supercar? Steve Sutcliffe from Autocar will find out for you. Very entertaining to watch with some surprising results. Video after the jump
The Ferrari F12 Berlinetta is the fastest, most powerful road going Ferrari ever built. It's also one of the most beautiful. British car magazine AutoCar got their hands on the Italian beauty to test it on the road and on the track in Italy, for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!
Autocar describes the BAC Mono as the first car they've tested that really produces the single-seater experience on the public road. And i think it's also one of the most beautiful ones. Check ou the video after the jump to see the car being reviewed by Steve Sutcliffe and leave your impressions in the comment section.
The latest model to carry the Raging Bull badge named the Aventador LP700-4 is powered by a fire spitting 6.5-litre V12 good for 691 Hp. The symphony making engine allows the Murciélago replacement to reach the 100 km/h (62 mph) mark in less than 3 seconds and have a top speed of 349 km/h (217 mph). This significant increase in performance has been achieved thanks to the intensive wheight reduction that allowed the car to have a dry weight of just 1574 Kg (3,472 lbs) compared to the Murcièlago's 1665 Kg (3,671 lbs). Weight distribution is 43 percent front and 57 rear, which means it's also good at going sideways.
The Aventador's styling is largely inspired by the Sesto Elemento and the Estoque concept cars. You can contemplate the Italian beauty in the gallery below before you watch it going sideways in the hands of Autocar's driver Steve Sutcliffe in the video after the jump.
According to Jamie Corstorphine, the Porsche 911 GT2 RS betters even a Ferrari 599 GTO. Well, that would've been a much more interesting battle to see. Instead, we have a comparaison with the entry level 911 Carrera S. But we're not going to complain! Video after the jump.
This time it's Steve Sutcliff's turn to drive another very exclusive supercar, the Bugatti Veyron SuperSport. My favourite quote from this video is this one: "How ever fast you think it's gonna be, double it, add sixty and you might just be about there...". If you hear that from a guy who's already driven the Ferrari 599XX, 599GTO and the Audi R8 LMS, then you'd know that this car is really faster than the fastest. Don't expect to see the 1.6 Million car powersliding but the video is still worth your time. Click after the jump to see the video.
I know, this is nothing new. But hey, this isn't the place to go if you're looking for automotive news! But if you are looking for a good dose of engineering perfection here it is, and it's brought to you by the well respected UK car magazine AUTOCAR. This time Steve sutcliffe takes you for a spin around the Silverstone circuit with the Audi R8 LMS GT3 racer.
The Audi R8 LMS uses the same Lamborghini V10 that you can find on the road going R8 V10 but in order to meet the regulations of GT3 races, the car has 18 Hp less. If you are willing to participate in a GT3 race or maybe next year's 24 hours of the Nurburgring, the R8 LMS is yours for 300k £ otherwise you can still watch this video to get a glimpse of what it feels like, no power sliding this time, but hey that's not the fastest way to go round corners.
After driving the 599XX, Autocar driver Steve Sutcliffe shows you what it feels like having the best job in the world by driving the road legal version, the 599 GTO. I can't find the adequate words to describe this car, what do you think of: Engineering Perfection? The sound of the car is just another proof that nothing can beat a prancing horse's exhaust note. Just listen.
Skillful autocar test driver Jamie Corstorphine takes you for a road and track test of the latest Gallardo Superleggera. It's a short but entertainting and informative video that's totally worth your time. I couldn't agree more with him when it comes to the sound of the car, it's epic, just like all the other Lambos. The lightweight Gallardo goes through some well controlled powerslides on the track and screams its V10 louder than ever. For more information about the Italian beauty you can go back to this post.
Until we get to see the 599 GTO on a proper road test, Autocar mag got its hands on the stripped out version of the 599 GTB for the track, the 599XX. The GTO badge has been used two very special times in the history of the prancing horse. First with the immortal 250 GTO then with the 288 GTO (commonly known as the GTO). Seeing that the original 599 GTB weights more than 1690 KG, one can wonder how much its GTO variant will weight, knowing that the fourty years old 250 GTO was just over 900 KG. The 599 GTO surely won't be able to match that figure, but it's going to be an epic car anyway. In fact it can be described as a road legal version of the 599XX and Autocar test driver Steve Sutcliffe had the priviledge to take you on board for four laps on the Fiorano test track, enjoy!
Normally i don't do automotive news on this blog, there are plenty of exellent automotive sites on the web that are doing the job (Autoblog, Jalopnik, Carscoop..) and they are doing it quite good, so there is no need for another automotive news site... But don't be surprised to see some car reviews by here anyway!
However, Something caught my attention today and i want to share it with you: i came across what must be one of the very first reviews of the Ferrari 458 Italia by someone else than Ferrari. The fllowing is a review made by AUTOCAR. Whatever you were thinking of the Italia when it first came out in pictures, i want you to sit down, load the full HD video and watch one of Ferrari's prettiest achievements in the 21st century. Yes, i did say that. Maybe because it has something else in common with my all time best (the F40): the triple exhausts...
For all my friends here and all the viewers who have "technical issues" with youtube here is another link, to AUTOCAR's review of the 458 Italia, enjoy!
