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Nio will run its EP9 electric supercar at Goodwood Hillclimb

Chinese electric carmaker and NextEV brand Nio says it will show its Performance Program vehicles for the first time in Europe, including entering its EP9 electric hypercar in the hillclimb challenge during the Festival of Speed at Goodwood next month in England.

Scottish race driver Peter Dumbreck will helm the EP9 in the Goodwood Hillclimb challenge after breaking the lap record at the Nürburgring Nordschleife last year. Nio also plans to display a new EP9 chassis and its Nio 004 Formula E Gen2 car during the festival, which takes place July 12-15.

The EP9, first unveiled in 2016, boasts a megawatt of power, or 1,360 horsepower, with four electric motors, four gearboxes, a 0-60 mph time of 2.7 seconds and a top speed of 200 mph. The EP9 also set a record for fastest autonomous car last year in Texas.

“Whilst we have competed in the FIA Formula E Championship since its inception and have showcased NIO’s single-seater EV technology through fierce competition on the world’s city streets, this will be the first time that anyone has seen the Nio EP9 Supercar run in anger,” Gerry Hughes, head of Nio’s performance program and Formula E team principal, said in a release.

In last year unveiled its EVE concept as a volume sales model at SXSW in Austin. It also launched the ES8, a 644 hp seven-seat crossover, late last year in China.

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June 18, 2018 / Comments Off

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2019 Ferrari 488 Pista Piloti Ferrari is only for people racing Ferraris

Ferrari revealed an interesting special edition car, the 2019 Ferrari 488 Pista Piloti Ferrari. Part of what makes it interesting is that it doesn’t matter how much money you have, you probably can’t get it. That’s because this version was created to celebrate Ferrari’s motorsports teams and the car that won its class in the 2017 World Endurance Championship. As such, this car is only available to people “involved in the company’s motorsports programs.” We’re guessing it’s aimed at drivers of Ferrari race cars, but we bet that managers and other members of Ferrari race teams with enough scratch could get one, too.

Besides the exclusivity, Ferrari spruced up the 488 Pista Piloti Ferrari with a number of unique features. It has a special paint scheme with a center Italian flag stripe inspired by the championship winning 488. On the passenger side of the car is the WEC logo, and on the driver’s side is the word “PRO” indicating the class of the winning car. On each side, the owner can choose a custom number that will also be placed on the steering wheel. In the case of the show car, it has the number 51 for the aforementioned race car.

Inside, the car features black Alcantara everywhere. There are also a few Italian flag tributes. The seat backs have the Italian flag colors fading as they head to the top of the seat. The same colors are also found on the shift paddles. Red stitching also helps break up the black interior.

Nothing has been changed mechanically about the Piloti Ferrari, which means it still has the 711-horsepower turbocharged V8. But we suspect that none of the customers will be complaining about it being too slow, and the exclusivity is pretty cool. Plus, we’re sure plenty of these customers will at least have access to a race car if they need something more hardcore.

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June 15, 2018 / Comments Off

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McLaren reveals top-exit exhaust of new model, announces launch date

McLaren just released some more tidbits of info about its next car, including a new teaser image. This one explains the lack of the exhaust in the last photo: The exhaust comes out of the top of the engine cover. Two big outlets sit at the back and center of the engine cover, and it looks like they’re just ahead of the retractable rear spoiler. They certainly look cool, probably sound cool, and we wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a performance reason behind this placement.

Besides the sneak peek at the exhaust, McLaren made a few broad statements about the car. It said that it will be more powerful and lighter than whatever it’s based on.The company also indicated earlier that the car will be very hardcore and uncompromised. From the previous teaser, we’re fairly certain the car is based on the Sports Series McLarens that include the 570S, 570GT and 570S Spyder in the U.S., and the 540C in other markets. Since the names of the cars are based on horsepower, and this one will make more than the current 570 models, it probably won’t use the 570 moniker.

We also won’t have to wait too long to see the car revealed. The company will show it off on June 28 at 7 a.m. Eastern time. We’ll then get to see it in action when it heads up the hill at Goodwood Festival of Speed on July 12.

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June 13, 2018 / Comments Off

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FIA introduces ‘Hypercar Concept’ for World Endurance Championship

One of the most common jabs at hypercars is the question, “Where can you drive them to their potential?” Imagine the answer being: to the checkered flag in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. We’re not there yet, but the FIA World Motor Sport Council took a step closer to the possibility during its second annual meeting in Manila, the Philippines. One of three initiatives the WSMC announced for the 2020 World Endurance Championship was “Freedom of design for brands based on a ‘Hypercar’ concept.” This “Hypercar concept” would replace LMP1 as the premier class in the WEC.

The dream, of course, would be seeing racing versions of the AMG Project One, Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR Pro, Bugatti Chiron, Koenigsegg Regera, McLaren Senna GTR, Pagani Huara BC, and the rest of the gang trading paint and carbon fiber through Dunlop in a heinously expensive version of “Buy on Sunday, sell on Monday.” The reality is that we don’t have all the details yet on the set of regulations called “GTP,” but the FIA wants race cars more closely tied to road cars, albeit with the performance level of today’s LMP1 cars.

Exterior design freedom would shelter internals designed to reduce costs, the FIA planning to mandate less complex hybrid systems and allow the purchase of spec systems. One of the FIA’s primary goals is lowering LMP1 budgets to a quarter of their present levels. Audi and Porsche budgets exceeded $200 million, while Toyota – the only factory LMP1 entry this year and next – is assumed to have a budget hovering around $100 million. Reports indicated that Aston Martin, Ferrari, Ford, McLaren, and Toyota sat in on the development of the proposed class. If the FIA can get costs down to around $25 million, that would compare running a top IndyCar team and have to be hugely appealing to the assembled carmakers.

The initiative represents another cycle of the roughly once-a-decade reboot of sports car racing to counter power or cost concerns. The FIA shut down Group 5 Special Production Sports Car class in 1982 to halt worrying power hikes, and introduced Group C. In 1993, Group C came to an ignoble end over costs; manufacturers were spending $15 million on a season, back when that was real money and not one-fifth of a Ferrari 250 GTO. Then came the BPR Global GT Series that morphed into the FIA GT Championship, which would see the last not-really-a-road car take overall Le Mans victory in 1998, the Porsche 911 GT1. That era would be most aligned with a future hypercar class. After that, the FIA created the LMP classes that would take those previous stellar budgets supernova.

We’ll get more details on the proposal next week when the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, the Le Mans organizer that worked with the FIA on the ideas, hold’s its pre-Le Mans press conference.

Elsewhere on the WMSC docket, the FIA approved aero changes to 2019 Formula 1 cars to improve overtaking. An even bigger shock: the FIA World Rallycross Championship will go electric-only from 2020. The WRX will use silhouette cars provided by Oreca, powered by two 500-kW electric motors sourced from Williams Engineering, and a common battery. Ex-World Rally Championship maestro Sebastien Loeb, now a World Rallycross team owner and driver, said of that move, “We don’t dream about electric cars, but if the future for all cars is to be electric then it’s normal that we’d make the swap. And in this case I think Rallycross is the best series to do it because it’s very short, you have a lot of power, very fast cars and an intense fight…”

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June 10, 2018 / Comments Off

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Porsche Mission E’s official name: ‘Taycan’

Porsche has been using the Mission E codename quite publicly for a couple years now, since the concept’s first debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2015. Now, as we get closer to the launch of the production version of the electric sports car next year, Porsche is ready to let us get used to the car’s actual name. Today, the German automaker has announced that the Mission E will be sold as the Porsche Taycan.

The origin of the name can be seen in the Porsche crest, which features a leaping horse borrowed from the city of Stuttgart’s coat of arms. The name “Taycan,” Porsche says, translates to “lively young horse.” It’s an apt title for the freshest model in Porsche’s stable. “Our new electric sports car is strong and dependable, said Porsche Chairman Oliver Blume. “It’s a vehicle that can consistently cover long distances and that epitomizes freedom.”

In addition to naming and dealer preparations, Porsche is undergoing expansion in order to build the Taycan. Porsche is setting aside a dedicated assembly for the EV at its Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen headquarters, as well as a new paint shop and a conveyor bridge to move the painted bodies and drive units to final assembly. The engine plant there is expanding to house electric motor production, and Porsche is planning a new body shop. The Taycan will be responsible for 1,200 new jobs in Zuffenhausen, and Porsche plans to invest more at its Weissach Development Center.

That investment is part of a larger plan to spend more than €6 billion (about $7.1 billion) in electrification by 2020. €500 million ($589 million) of that will be dedicated to other variants and derivatives of the Taycan. €1 billion ($1.2 billion) will go toward electrifying current products, while €700 million ($824 million) will go toward “new technologies, charging infrastructure, and smart mobility.” Another several hundred million will go toward expanding production facilities.

Porsche says the Taycan will do 0-60 miles per hour in “well under” 3.5 seconds, thanks to two motors providing more than 600 horsepower. It’ll offer a driving range of over 300 miles, at least on the generous European driving cycle.

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June 8, 2018 / Comments Off

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McLaren 675LT gets paint scheme from its dad

The McLaren 675LT was designed as a lighter, faster version of the 650S, and it gained a lengthened tail section, hence the LT designation. This longer design was partly inspired by the McLaren F1 GTR “longtail.” That race car also featured a longer body. One 675LT customer decided bodywork wasn’t enough of a connection to the famous ’90s racer, so he commissioned the race-inspired paint scheme you see above.

The paint job is a rendition of the 1997 Le Mans GT1 class-winning F1 GTR, which sported a livery based on main sponsor Gulf Oil. It’s not a simple design, and it’s one that McLaren completely painted. There are no stickers here. And it took a lot of work to complete. McLaren says the whole car took 1,000 hours to finish, and 800 of them were spent on the paint. The company even had to ask Gulf Oil permission to use the color scheme again. But the end result is a convincing facsimile of the old race car, particularly with those almost glowing orange wheels.

Aside from the striking paint, the car has a few exterior changes. It has vented front fenders, a more prominent roof scoop, and a visible carbon-fiber rear air brake. Inside, the car features black upholstery with contrasting orange and blue stitching, orange vent surrounds and seat belts, and blue handling and powertrain switchgear.

The only things left unchanged are the performance numbers. It doesn’t weigh any less than a normal model. It also makes the same 666 horsepower and 516 pound-feet of torque as the regular 675LTs. But that should still be plenty of fun to play with, and surely the paint job makes it feel a lot faster.

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June 1, 2018 / Comments Off

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2018 Bugatti Chiron Lego Technic kit is amazingly detailed

Lego has finally followed up its amazing Porsche 911 GT3 Technic kit with a kit that’s arguably more amazing, and certainly has more pieces. It’s the 2018 Bugatti Chiron, and the 1/8 scale kit features 3,599 pieces, which is nearly 1,000 more than the 911.

Those pieces make up an impressively detailed model just on looks alone. The blocky LED lights up front, the wide light bar at the rear and the trademark horseshoe design elements all translate surprisingly well to the Lego format. The interior has detailed seats and instruments, and there’s even some Chiron luggage that fits under the trunk where there exists a unique serial number.

But the really impressive stuff is under the plastic skin. Moving piston engines aren’t new to Technic, but it is cool to see that Lego managed to create a tiny version of the W16 engine. You can clearly see each bank of narrow angle V8s and watch all the pistons dance. The engine is even hooked up to a real 8-speed sequential transmission. The transmission can be shifted via paddles in the driver’s side footwell. The rear wing moves up and down, too, and is lowered for high-speed mode with a key you build out of Lego pieces.

You’ll want to make sure you have plenty of space on your table top for the finished product, since it’s nearly two feet long. And budget plenty of time for assembling those thousands of pieces. But once you’re finished, you’ll have your own Bugatti Chiron with many of the same functioning features for so much less money.

On that topic, the Chiron kit will cost $349.99, which isn’t entirely cheap, but it is coming with a lot of parts and functionality. It’s available through Lego stores both physical and online right now, and hits other stores on August 1.

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June 1, 2018 / Comments Off

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Ferrari SP38 is the latest one-off creation from the Prancing Horse

Ferrari has unveiled its latest one-off creation, called the SP38, a road- and track-going car built for “one of Ferrari’s most dedicated customers” who has a “deep passion for racing.” Swathed in a three-layer metallic red paint finish for its all-new body, the SP38 is built on the chassis and running gear of a donor 488 GTB and took its twin-turbo, twin-intercooler influence from the F40.

Stylistically, the car concentrates its visual mass over the rear wheels, with a rear spoiler and engine cover reminiscent of the F40, with a wedge shape that narrows toward the front. “In plan view, the strongly tapered nose expands towards muscular wheel arches, giving the car potency and agility,” Ferrari says.

The engine cover sheds its rear glass and is a flip-up assembly done in carbon fiber, with three transverse slats to siphon off engine heat. At the back, the trailing edge of the rear spoiler “links seamlessly with the wing and with the aerodynamic diffuser at the bottom to create a suggestive frame surrounding the tail volume.”

Up front, inset headlights were designed to be as thin as possible, with daytime running lights relocated to a slim bumper lip similar to the 308 GTB.

No word on the SP38’s powertrain, but it seems likely that it’s the 488’s mid-engine 3.9-liter twin-turbo V8, which makes 660 horsepower and 560 pound-feet of torque.

It’ll go on display to the public on Saturday, May 26, at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este on Lake Como in Italy.

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May 23, 2018 / Comments Off

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Shelby unveils 1967 GT500 Super Snake continuation — and a new roadster

Shelby American is reviving the legendary 1967 Ford Shelby GT500 Super Snake, planning an exclusive run of just 10 examples of the fastback and culminating what it calls the “unfinished business” of the muscle car’s parents, Carroll Shelby and Don McCain. Shelby also unveiled a new ultra-lightweight Series 2 roadster supercar at an event at its Southern California headquarters that boasts eye-popping output of more than 800 horsepower.

But let’s focus first on the Super Snake and its backstory.

The Super Snake and its big-block 427 cubic-inch V8 borrowed from the Ford GT40 Mk II race car originated in 1967 as an engineering study for high-speed tire testing by Goodyear. The modified engine raised output to 520 horsepower, and Shelby added heavy-duty front disc brakes, a Detroit Locker rear end, rear traction bars, Goodyear Thunderbolt tires and a redesigned grille for improved air cooling.

McCain, a former Shelby American employee, reportedly wanted to do a 50-car run of the muscle car, but the idea was ultimately scrapped as being too expensive. In more recent years, McCain worked with the Shelby engine division and pushed again to rebirth the Super Snake, signing 10 dash plates for the cars along with Carroll Shelby. McCain passed away a few years ago.

Shelby helmed the Super Snake at Goodyear’s test track in San Angelo, Texas, and pushed the car to 170 miles per hour. It later set a new top speed world record for its class.

But until now, a second example was never built, and the lone Super Snake prototype changed hands several times, selling at auction most recently in 2013 in Indianapolis for $1.3 million.

The new continuation versions will be built from original donor ’67 Mustangs with factory VINs and original titles and a Shelby serial number for the official Shelby registry. The cars will be stripped to bare metal before undergoing transformation. Customers can also opt for an original donor Shelby GT500 for the Super Snake transformation.

True to the original, Shelby will fit it with a race-inspired big-block 427 cubic-inch V8 from Carroll Shelby Engine Co., available in both aluminum and cast-iron blocks, only output shoots up to more than 550 horsepower. Power will be mated to a four-speed transmission, with disc brakes and the fastback’s original triple-stripe design. The muscle cars will be built to order and start at $249,995.

Series 2 roadster

Turning to the Series 2, Shelby dubs the convertible roadster a “clean sheet” car — all-Shelby and not based on an existing model or chassis — and successor to the 2,850-pound Series 1. It’s the result of an agreement between Shelby and Wingard Motorsports, which purchased the remaining Series 1 chassis and parts several years ago, to create a limited number of sports cars available in aluminum, carbon fiber or one of the first titanium car bodies.

“Working with Shelby, founder Bob Wingard revised the car to reduce weight by maximizing the integration of billeted aluminum and carbon fiber components,” Shelby American President Gary Patterson said in a release. “He further refined the suspension, braking and drivetrain to allow an increase of more than twice the horsepower of the original car. The Series 2 is now more than 12 percent lighter and will support over 800 horsepower.”

Yowza. The standard drivetrain is a five-speed ZF transaxle torque tube coupled to a multi-disc clutch system powered by either a Shelby 427 FE V8 or 427 Windsor motor, although other engines can be accommodated.

The car is built on the original aluminum honeycomb monocoque frames and uses an inboard cantilevered front and rear suspension design to minimize the sprung wheel weight, plus suspension fine-tuning courtesy of Penske Shocks. Braking comes from six-piston calipers on each corner and custom 19-inch monoblock performance wheels fitted with Michelin Pilot Cup 2 tires. No cupholders, however.

Each commissioned Series 2 will be unique and one-of-one, with custom interiors, carbon fiber seats and aluminum bodies available in brushed, polished or painted finish with Shelby racing stripes. They’ll come with a one-year warranty for parts and labor and painted finishes. Just four will be available per year, though pricing wasn’t disclosed. If you order one, Shelby says it will offer a weekend training session at Spring Mountain Raceway near Las Vegas to bring you up to speed.

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May 17, 2018 / Comments Off

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Aston Martin V12 Vantage V600 sends old model out with 600-horsepower bang

Time is nearly up for the outgoing Aston Martin Vantage coupe and convertible now that the new model has been released, but thanks to one fan of the car, it’s going out in style. The company has created a special version of the Aston Martin V12 Vantage called the V600 at the request of a customer, and it will build just 14 of them, seven in each body style.

It’s apparently a tribute to the 1998 V8 Vantage V600, which had a supercharged V8 making 600 horsepower. Under the hood of this new iteration is a 600 horsepower naturally aspirated V12, which is even more potent than the V12 Vantage AMR. It’s also exclusively paired to a seven-speed manual transmission.

But the powertrain isn’t the only unique aspect of the car. The hood is given a menacing bulge, and the louvered vents of the regular V12 Vantage have been replaced by more subtle circular holes arranged in a shape similar to the standard vents. The vents in the fenders have been changed as well, this time to something similar to those of the new Vantage. Up front, a grille shaped like that of the Rapide AMR replaces the normal one, and it has a unique mesh insert. In the back, the V600 gets a custom diffuser and quad exhaust tips. The interior features loads of carbon fiber, dark anodized aluminum trim and leather.

Aston Martin didn’t announce pricing for the V600, so it’s fair to assume it’s a lot. These special-edition cars are still available to purchase, though, unlike many special supercars that sell out before they’re revealed. The company expects to deliver the cars in the third quarter of this year.

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May 9, 2018 / Comments Off

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Brabham BT62 supercar and its naturally aspirated V8 revealed

Brabham, a name long associated with racing, has just revealed its new supercar, the BT62. And from the looks of it, it’s pretty typical modern supercar design. There are all manner of cavities from scoops to vents, channels to grilles. It’s a very swoopy, curvy design that almost looks like a Lamborghini from a world where the company focused on curves instead of angles. Inside looks very purposeful but well crafted. Everything is in carbon fiber, and the seats are incredibly close together. Ahead of the racing-style steering wheel, complete with all sorts of knobs and buttons, is a screen for instruments, and in the center stack is a screen for other funtions.

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Under the carbon fiber skin is a naturally aspirated 5.4-liter V8 making 700 horsepower and 492 pound-feet of torque. That engine sounds pretty remarkable, too, based on the sound sample the company released earlier. It’s paired to a six-speed sequential transmission, and it powers the rear wheels exclusively. An enormous rear wing is capable of providing 2,646 pounds of downforce, which is over 500 pounds more than the car’s curb weight of 2,143 pounds. Stopping the featherweight supercar are disc brakes with six-piston calipers at all four corners.

Brabham will only build 70 of these cars, and they’ll sell for about $1.4 million.

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May 2, 2018 / Comments Off

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Like dragons? The 2018 McLaren 570GT Cabbeen Collection is for you!

McLaren must be doing good business with its McLaren Special Operations (MSO) special edition supercars because it has just released another, and like with the Canada Commission, this one takes its inspiration from a specific country, namely China. It’s called the 2018 McLaren 570GT Cabbeen Collection, and was developed in conjunction with a Chinese fashion designer simply referred to as Mr. Cabbeen. We suspect that it received the name “collection” because of the connection to fashion, despite the special edition being just one model.

The 570GT Cabbeen Collection is instantly recognizable by its black paint scheme with gold wheels, gold brake calipers and gold dragons painted in the intake scallops. It does revive memories of the garish Jeep Wrangler Dragon Edition, but the McLaren is admittedly much more tasteful. It also boasts some fine craftsmanship, since the dragons are hand painted.

Inside, the theme continues with gold dragons embroidered into the center tunnel and the cargo area. They are done in an embroidery style specific to China known as Chao, and they were put in by the Director of the Professional Embroidery Committee of China’s Arts and Crafts Institute (now that’s a job – Ed.). This is all a far cry from cheap stickers and color-coordinated stitching.

Unlike the McLaren 570S Spider Canada Commission, the 570GT Cabbeen Collection will be available globally. But if you want one, speak up quickly, because only five will be built. Pricing was not revealed, but expect something well into the six figures.

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April 25, 2018 / Comments Off

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Brabham BT62 will have 700 horsepower, debuts in two weeks

After nearly three decades away from motorsports, Brabham is back from the dead. David Brabham, son of company founder and namesake Jack Brabham, announced in February that he has plans to return to Formula 1. In addition to a new F1 car, the company will be building a new roadcar. Two weeks ahead of its debut, we get some of the big specs and a single teaser image of the Brabham BT62.

The new car will be powered by a 700 horsepower, naturally-aspirated 5.4-liter V8. The car will have a dry weight of just 2,142 pounds and put down 2,646 pounds of downforce thanks in part to a massive rear wing. Weight savings comes in the form of carbon, including six-piston brakes both front and rear. Other details remain a mystery for now.

The Brabham BT62 will be limited to just 70 units. Even with a base price of $1.4 million, we don’t expect it to take too long to sell out. We just hope that this helps fund future development of both road and race cars, similar to McLaren’s current lineup.

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April 19, 2018 / Comments Off

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Mahindra’s Automobili Pininfarina now officially a standalone EV brand

We first got word last month, and how we have the official announcement: Indian automaker Mahindra has launched Automobili Pininfarina as a new standalone sustainable luxury vehicle brand, with plans for a new electric hypercar in 2020.

The company will be a client of Italian design house Pininfarina SpA, known for its work with Ferrari and more recently for designing battery-electric concept vehicles for Hong Kong-based Hybrid Kinetic Group. Mahindra acquired a controlling stake in Pininfarina in 2015. It will be led by Michael Perschke, a 25-year auto industry veteran who was formerly managing director of Audi in India and a member of the management board of Volkswagen Group Sales India. Automobili Pininfarina will be based in Rome.

First up will be an electric car flagship that will go from 0-62 mph in less than 2 seconds and have a range of more than 300 miles, according to Automotive News Europe. Codenamed PF-Zero, its price will approach €2 million (U.S. $2.5 million). Mahindra says the new brand will borrow from its experience in the Formula E electric-car racing circuit.

Motor Authority reports the hypercar will also use technology developed by Rimac and that it will boast output of 1,500 horsepower, rivaling the Bugatti Chiron. It’ll be built in limited numbers, though future models, including SUVs and sedans, will be built in higher volumes.

Pininfarina most recently has been seen designing concept vehicles under the Hybrid Kinetic brand, most recently teasing the H500 sedan and K350 crossover ahead of their debuts in Beijing.

Separately, Pininfarina plans limited production of 12 units of its H2 Speed, its 653-horsepower hydrogen fuel cell track car that goes from 0-62 in 3.4 seconds, reportedly this year.

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April 16, 2018 / Comments Off

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Brabham reveals name and exhaust note of new sports car

Last month, racing driver David Brabham, son of successful racer Jack Brabham, announced that he had some big plans for his family name, including returning it to an F1 team and starting a road car company. The latter is named Brabham Automotive, and its first car finally has a name: BT62. It’s not particularly exciting, but that seems to be the case with British racing firms that build road cars, just look at McLaren.

Perhaps more exciting than the name is the way the car sounds. The company released a sound clip that can be heard in the embedded video above. It’s mostly of the car at idle, with a couple of light blips, but it sounds serious. We can make out some lope in the exhaust note, and it sounds as though it’s barely muffled, if at all. We can’t wait to hear it at full throttle.

We shouldn’t have long to wait, either. The company’s homepage has a countdown to the car’s reveal that, as of the publishing of this post, has just 51 days left. That puts the reveal at the start of May.

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March 12, 2018 / Comments Off

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Italdesign Zerouno Roadster headed for Geneva Motor Show

It’s not often that Italian design houses sell cars under their own name. Sure, the name Zagato has been tacked onto Aston Martin, Alfa Romeo and Lancia coupes, but it’s rarer for the design house to act as the manufacturer. The last Fiat X1/9s were sold as Bertones, and late, 1980s 124 Spiders were sold as the Pininfarina Spidereuropa, but Italdesign hasn’t sold any cars of their own – until the Zerouno, that is. The company wants to introduce an own-brand model every year on from 2017; the coupe version of the Huracan-related Zerouno was the first.

Italdesign has now confirmed that there will be a convertible version of the Zerouno, and that it will be seen at the Geneva Motor Show. The coupe was only made as a five-unit production run, and it’s likely that there won’t be too many topless versions built. Italdesign is 50 years old this year, and it’s up to the Zerouno roadster to be displayed as a celebratory model. Pricing hasn’t been confirmed either, but reports say the base price is likely to top $1.8 million, and it’ll easily go past two million dollars nicely equipped.

For that money you get exclusivity as well as a 5.2-liter V10 engine good for 205 miles per hour and a 3-second 0-60 blast. Zerounos are all-wheel-drive, with Audi/Lamborghini DNA baked in thanks to the company’s ties to Audi-owned Lamborghini.

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February 21, 2018 / Comments Off

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Ferrari makes 488 Pista official with 711 hp, racing tech, photos

Instead of letting the internet get the best of its new V8 Special Series coupe, a day after images leaked Ferrari released a batch of details and photos on its 488 Pista track-day weapon. The twin-turbo 3.9-liter V8 produces 720 of France’s Cheval Vapeur, which equates to 710 of our U.S. horsepower, while torque churns in at 568 pound-feet. Those numbers outdo the 488 GTB by 50 hp and eight pound-feet, and will get the 488 Pista in its lightest guise from a standstill to 62 miles per hour in 2.85 seconds, with 124 mph arriving in 7.6 seconds. Maximum velocity tops out at 211 mph.

We say “in its lightest guise” because Ferrari records the 488 Pista’s weight as 2,821 pounds dry, but with an asterisk that explains said weight can only be achieved “With optional lightweight features.” As of now we have no idea what those features are, but along with other lightweighting efforts like the carbon floor, they help amputate a total of 198 pounds compared to the weight of the standard 488.

Ferrari says the goal was to make the upper reaches of the new Special Series V8 “easier to reach and control,” so engineers poured the brand’s racing toolbox over the 488 Pista. The front S-Duct and diffuser mimic the ramp angle on the 488 GTE World Endurance racer. The sixth evolution of Side-Slip Angle Control that oversees the electronic differential, the magnetorheological suspension, and the F1-Trac stability control, now incorporates Ferrari Dynamic Enhancer software that varies the brake caliper pressure. Even the livery was created to enhance the coupe’s raciness, as if such ornamentation were needed.

We’ve heard rumors that 488 Pista can lap Ferrari’s Fiorano test track faster than the LaFerrari. A better comparison — one we’re more eager to see, and one with a much better chance of happening — is that between Ferrari’s latest and the McLaren 720S. Their specs are nearly identical. The McLaren produces 710 hp and 568 lb-ft from a 4.0-liter, twin-turbo V8, weighs 2,828 pounds in its lightest fitment, sprints to 62 mph in 2.9 seconds, to 124 mph in 7.8 seconds, and has a top speed of 211 mph. Things that make you go, hmmm…

We’ll be at the Ferrari booth at the Geneva Motor Show as soon as the lights go up on this one.

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February 21, 2018 / Comments Off

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Enzo Ferrari would have turned 120 yesterday

Former race driver-turned company founder Enzo Ferrari was born 120 years ago Sunday, and the Italian sports car maker is celebrating the anniversary with a photography exhibit of his life at the Enzo Ferrari Museum, on the site of his birthplace in Modena.

The exhibit includes images of il Commendatore during various stages of his life, from childhood to his career as an Alfa Romeo race driver, then a manager and manufacturer. Ferrari died Aug. 14, 1988 at the age of 90.

Born outside of Modena, Italy in 1898. His father, Alfredo, owned a small metal engineering shop that built bridges and roofs for the state railway. Enzo started out as an Alfa Romeo racing driver in 1924 but quickly transitioned to his true talent, preparing the race cars under the Scuderia Ferrari name. He ran Alfa Romeo’s factory team before striking out on his own, first under the name Auto Avio Costruzioni in 1939, then as Scuderia Ferrari, which he founded in 1929 in Modena, fielding mostly Alfa racing cars and motorbikes. The 125 S was the first official car to bear his name in 1947, powered by a V12. Ferrari under his watch went on to produce other classics including the 288 GTO, the Dino series and the 365 Daytona.

The iconic businessman reluctantly agreed to start producing street cars only thanks to the pleading of his accountants, who argued for the need for revenue to cover the overhead of racing and two different factories destroyed during World War II bombings.

18th February, 1898.
His love still leads us day by day. #EnzoFerrariDay pic.twitter.com/zv6zRPHj2N

— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) February 18, 2018

According to a 1979 People Magazine profile, he once reacted indignantly to the distraught wife of a Ferrari race team driver who was anguished over her husband risking his life “for a hunk of iron.”

“It’s not just a hunk of iron,” Ferrari replied. “It has a heart and soul, and I give if life.”

Nowadays, Ferrari is looking to expand its product portfolio to hybrids and an SUV, the latter of which might’ve made Enzo squirm. “He was a man with extraordinary vision and ability to manage people and resources as well as a strong entrepreneurial spirit and exceptional courage,” current Ferrari Chairman and CEO Sergio Marchionne said in a statement. “One wonders what he could have achieved if he had had access to today’s technical resources and knowledge.”

For those of us who aren’t likely to make it to Modena, there’s always the dueling Enzo Ferrari biopics to look forward to — the Michael Mann version starring Hugh Jackman and reportedly set for release in 2019, and the Robert De Niro vehicle, though details about that project have been scant since it was first announced in 2015.

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February 19, 2018 / Comments Off

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Watch a next-gen Tesla Roadster rocket down a test track

Tesla was recently spotted testing its next-generation Roadster on the test track at its factory in Fremont, Calif., and now we have footage of the supercar’s vaunted launch capabilities. Twitter user Shehryar Khan posted the following video last week complete with an adoring, all-caps tagline (beware the salty language at the end).

ROADSTER I LOVE ELON MUSK pic.twitter.com/YAzS9WBjw1

— Shehryar Khan (@khannzilla) February 14, 2018

In the video, you can see the car’s windows are down, and a ringing brake squeal is audible as the Roadster pulls up to a stop before launching. Then the tires squeal as the driver floors the accelerator and the Roadster positively screams off the line.

The video, of course, is too short and unscientific to serve as validation for Tesla’s claims that the supercar will be the “quickest car in the world” and do 0-60 mph in 1.9 seconds and reach 100 mph in 4.2 seconds. But it’s clear the Roadster will be more than peppy off the block.

The all-wheel-drive, four-seat Roadster will be powered by a 200kWh battery pack that Tesla says will give it a 620-mile driving range, plus three electric motors — one on the front and two on the rear. Base price on the new Roadster will be $200,000 when it hits the market in 2020, assuming Tesla can make good on its claims and conquer everything else on its considerable to-do list.

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February 19, 2018 / Comments Off

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Aspark Owl EV supercar launch videos claim 62 mph in under 2 seconds

At last year’s Frankfurt Motor Show, we were introduced to the Aspark Owl, yet another electric supercar (so it gives a hoot and doesn’t pollute), this time from Japan. And like so many of these upstart electric sports cars, it combines striking styling with pretty outrageous claims. The calling card for the Owl was a claimed 0-62 mph time of just 2 seconds. Now, Aspark has released a couple of videos showing the car launching in real life. The company did two launches, and claimed that the car hit the benchmark speed in less than 2 seconds in each run. In the one shown above, it took 1.87 seconds, and the run below was 1.92 seconds. Those match claimed times for the next-generation Tesla Roadster.
As with the reveal in Frankfurt, we’re maintaining a healthy level of skepticism of the Owl. For one thing, we don’t see any shots of the speedometer or any time or speed recording displays. For another, the location seems oddly small to be hustling a car to about 60 mph and back down. It looks like a parking lot behind a warehouse, and though the claimed times would maybe make the feat feasible, we’d be nervous going that fast in a short parking lot that ends in a grassy upward hill.

Despite this skepticism, we’re also not going to brush off the Owl altogether. These videos definitely prove the company has at least one running prototype, and we’re impressed to see the company showing a running car just a few months after the inital reveal. That’s more than could be said about Faraday Future. And while there’s nothing in the video to truly confirm the Owl’s performance, we can tell the thing launches really hard. So overall, we’re cautiously optimistic about the Owl, and if the company keeps rolling out info and video like this, the ratio of caution to optimism will probably shift to optimism’s favor.

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February 16, 2018 / Comments Off

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