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Ford to reopen GT application process later this year

Motor Authority has learned Ford will begin taking new applications for the 2019 Ford GT in the fourth quarter of this year. After the Blue Oval extended production to October 2020, this year will be the third out of four years for GT builds. Applicants who haven’t been approved previously are welcome to update their applications, and new customers are welcome to apply.

The survey questions remain the same as at launch. Hopefuls will still need to show their Ford connections and possible Ford collections, and then they can take the optional freeform step of a publicly accessible 60-second video showing “Your Style.” There were a number of videographic gems among the first batch of applicants, when 6,506 people with $450,000 to spend tried to prove they would be the ultimate Ford ambassador.

The carmaker’s sticking to the application schedule even though supplier Multimatic is behind on the overall build schedule. Multimatic needed more time than expected to ramp up to producing one car per day, so instead of the 250 coupes promised for the 2017 model year, Multimatic built 138. Ford said it is committed to the quota of 1,000 units, so delivery times might have shifted a tad, but all deliveries will be made.

It’s expected that the plummy Heritage Edition will introduce a rare, sincere use of the famous Gulf livery. After the black and silver-striped 2017 Heritage Edition celebrated the 1966 GT40 Le Mans winner, the red and white-striped 2018 Heritage Edition celebrated the 1967 GT40 Le Mans winner, deduction would dictate the 2019 Heritage Edition will come dressed in the blue and orange Gulf colors flown by the No. 9 GT40 that won Le Mans in 1968.

For the newly rich who have more funds than followers, you probably have a couple of months before the window opens to blow up your social media accounts and build a pristine collection of Escorts and Probes. A one-way ticket to Kentucky and a paper copy of AutoTrader is probably the best place to start.

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July 17, 2018 / Comments Off

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McLaren to go full hybrid by 2025 as part of plan for 18 new models and derivatives

A few months ago, McLaren Automotive CEO Mike Flewitt provided some insight on the future lineup at the English carmaker. He told Autocar we could expect the next generation of sportscars to feature hybrid powertrains and some measure of self-driving capability. In comments this weekend at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, Flewitt appears to expand on and clarify a few aspects from the earlier report, based on updates to the company’s business plan. First, instead of the earlier report that the Super Series and Sports Series would go all by hybrid by 2022, that won’t actually be complete until 2025.

As with the ubiquitous 3.8-liter V8, a single hybrid powertrain will come in different outputs in different models. Flewitt wouldn’t confirm whether the hybrid would be based around a V6. He did say, however, that the system is “designed… to have more differentiation than we have had out of the current package,” and performance variety would come from tweaking the electric portion of the powerplant, not the ICE. He didn’t expand on that point, but that could mean a wider range of driving characteristics within each series, or a greater power spread between series’, or both. The carmaker’s working on batteries that can do 30 minutes of track use, suggesting a potent pack with a high degree of tunability.

The 2025 deadline for hybridization could be due to a rollout of 18 new models and derivatives. Right now, McLaren makes six cars, five in the entry-tier Sports Series, the lone 720S in the Super Series; we don’t count the Senna because it’s sold out. Even overhauling the entire lineup, and counting the BP23 and the P1 successor in 2025, that still leaves ten new and offshoot models in the next seven years. Whatever they are, they’ll help McLaren reach its increased target of 6,000 sales a year by 2025.

Flewitt also took the chance to swap the word “autonomy” for “augmentation” when speaking of future driver assistance technology. In the Autocar report, the CEO said the lineup would need autonomous features “designed in for safety, legislation, and emissions.” At Goodwood, he recast the driver aids as “‘augmentation’ technology,'” the focus on helping the driver be better behind the wheel instead of taking the wheel for him. “Imagine,” said COO Jens Ludman, “having a virtual coach who could show you how to improve on a track.”

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July 15, 2018 / Comments Off

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New Nissan GT-R aims to be ‘fastest super sports car in the world’

The automotive press has spent five years hypothesizing about the next-generation Nissan GT-R, and the prognostications won’t stop soon. Autocar spoke to Nissan head designer Alfonso Albaisa, who revealed that the design team hasn’t yet begun working on the car in earnest because the powertrain isn’t decided. There’ll be a new platform, and there are exterior sketches, but until the internals get locked in, the shell remains a mystery. The most important consideration, Albaisa said, is that the next GT-R be “the fastest super sports car in the world.”

How will the GT-R achieve that? The designer would only say the new coupe would “play the advanced technology game,” adding, though, that said game didn’t necessarily mean hybridization. It’s possible Godzilla could omit an electric motor. However, we’d be shocked if that happened when the primary competition — the Porsche 911 and even the C8 Chevrolet Corvette — have hybrid options planned or rumored over the lifecycles of their next-gen models, and super sports cars like Lamborghini and Ferrari are already confirmed for hybrid conversion.

Years ago, during the dark days of the LMP1 GT-R LM NISMO, sabers rattled about the next GT-R getting some version of the 3.0-liter V6 in the race car, and assumed electric assistance. Former Nissan EVP Andy Palmer said there was the “very real prospect of enhancements coming from [the race car] and ending up on a sports car like the Nissan GT-R,” and, “I’d expect to see some form of hybridization on the next generation of car.” The design would be a toned-down version of the 2020 Vision Gran Turismo, and power would stand at around 786 horsepower and 737 pound-feet of torque, shifting through a new eight-speed dual-clutch. But the race car died an awful death, Palmer’s now the head man at Aston Martin, and the Vision Gran Turismo never left the video game.

Even more confounding, Albaisa’s comments make it sound like the new GT-R might need to overcome its own bodywork on its way to being “the quickest car of its kind” and owning the track. The new coupe won’t shrink from its heavyweight stance, with Albaisa saying the visual mass and “audacity” will need to communicate that “It’s an animal; it has to be imposing and excessive.” We should expect a cohesive design that does its aero work without a lot of extra appendages. Said the designer, “It’s the world’s fastest brick, really. And when I review sketches for the new car, I say that a lot: ‘Less wing, more brick.'”

A 2016 report from Autoevolution ties into Albaisa’s comments. We were told not to expect major weight loss, with GT-R father-figure Kazutoshi Mizuno suggesting in interviews that the coupe’s corpulence “ensures a correct level of handling for all customers.”

So all we think we know now is that we’ll get 2+2 seating, a twin-turbo V6 in front, a transaxle layout, and an all-wheel-drive powertrain. And based on this latest insight, and what the competition’s doing, we can probably expect a healthy price increase for the standard model whenever it finally gets here.

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July 14, 2018 / Comments Off

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Aston Martin Valkyrie could beat that new Nurburgring record, Red Bull F1 boss says

During last weekend’s Austrian Formula 1 Grand Prix, Race Fans asked Red Bull F1 team principal Christian Horner about the Aston Martin Valkyrie. The question was whether the coming hypercar, a collaboration between Red Bull and title sponsor Aston Martin, could beat the stunning lap record around the Nürburgring just set by the Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo. Horner’s answer: “I’m not sure a Formula 1 car could actually do it, but I think that the Valkyrie — certainly the track version of the Valkyrie — could be a contender.” That’s a qualified endorsement, but it still counts as support merely putting the Valkyrie AMR Pro in the conversation.

Let’s compare, shall we? The 919 Hybrid Evo is based on the 2017 World Endurance Championship-winning 919 Hybrid. Freed from motorsport regulations, Porsche Motorsport upgraded numerous performance bits. The 2.0-liter, turbocharged V-four-cylinder went from 500 hp to 720 hp. The two KERS units went from 400 hp to 440 hp. We don’t have a figure for downforce, but items like active aero, a larger front diffuser, optimized turning vanes, and larger rear wing increased downforce by 53 percent over the WEC car, at the same time being 66 percent more aero efficient. It weighs 849 kg dry, or 1,868 pounds because Porsche threw out everything that didn’t contribute to speed.

The Valkyrie specs we know of so far state a weight of 1,000 kilograms, or 2,200 pounds. Powering that is a custom, naturally aspirated, 6.5-liter AMR Cosworth V12 with more than 900 horsepower, augmented by a kinetic energy recovery system contributing around 230 hp. According to Autocar’s sources, the Valkyrie could generate up to 4,000 pounds of downforce at an aerodynamically-limited 225 miles per hour. That boggling number comes courtesy of Adrian Newey’s prowess at making changes such as openings between the front wheel arches and the cockpit that work the front wing harder. The two-seater coupe’s unrestricted top speed is 254 mph.

Note, though, that the Valkyrie AMR Pro will be more powerful, lighter, and could have even more downforce. And since Aston Martin and Newey continue to work on the hypercar, specs could get even better before deliveries begin. Right now, Horner’s suggestion doesn’t seem all that outrageous.

We’ll also wait to see if the Mercedes-AMG Project One pokes its nose in the ring, too. Not long ago, AMG chief Tobias Moers said it’s “reasonable to speculate” the F1-inspired hypercar could claim an absolute lap record around the ‘Ring. But that was before Porsche went ahead and did it. Even if Aston Martin and Mercedes-AMG don’t put up an official challenge, we’ll probably get an idea of what’s possible when the FIA’s new “Hypercar” class begins racing in 2021.

July 2, 2018 / Comments Off

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SpaceX option package for 2020 Tesla Roadster could add more performance

Seems a detail escaped our story on Tesla’s Annual Shareholder Meeting last week. Company CEO Elon Musk said the Roadster and semi introduced last year are merely the base versions, and that their production units would offer more performance. Concerning the open-top, Musk said, “What we unveiled with the Roadster was the base model performance. It’s going to have a SpaceX options package. It’s crazy.”

The comment adds more detail to a few tweets Musk wrote in November last year, one saying, “There will be a special option package that takes it to the next level.” Following tweets added, “Not saying the next gen Roadster special upgrade package *will* definitely enable it to fly short hops, but maybe …,” and, “Certainly possible. Just a question of safety. Rocket tech applied to a car opens up revolutionary possibilities.”

Some believe the SpaceX package could be no more than special badging and the Midnight Cherry color matching the Roadster Musk recently sent into space. However, the betting line leans heavily toward an even more potent Roadster. We’ve already been promised a 0-60 mile-per-hour time of 1.9 seconds – likely using the four-seater’s Plaid Mode, a quarter-mile time of 8.8 seconds, a top speed beyond 250 mph, and 620 miles of range on a single charge. That’s hypercar performance for around $200,000 to $250,000, less than one-sixth the usual hypercar price.

Yet Musk wants no question about the Roadster’s superiority, telling the audience at the shareholder’s meeting, “It’s important for us to show with the Roadster that an electric vehicle can outperform a gasoline car in every way. Because gasoline cars still have sort of a halo effect, and I think if we can show an electric car can outperform a gasoline car in every way, then we sort of get rid of that halo effect of gasoline cars.”

The semi and the Roadster are expected in production next year, so it shouldn’t be too long before we find out what the SpaceX package entails — perhaps a faster form of ground-based flight, or something with a bit more altitude.

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June 9, 2018 / Comments Off

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Ultimate mid-engined C8 Corvette a 1,000-hp, all-wheel-drive hybrid?

Car and Driver apparently has a little black book of notes on the next-generation, mid-engined Chevrolet Corvette, and recently published a few of the meaty bits. Even though Chevrolet is moving the required V8 to a space between the passenger and the rear wheels, The Bowtie doesn’t want the Corvette to leave the realm of affordability.

To that end, C8 body panels will be mainly fiberglass, laid over a spaceframe that’s mainly aluminum, and the initial coupe will launch with an evolution of the current 6.2-liter LT1 V8. The article says weight should be “a bit heavier than the current car’s roughly 3,500 pounds” (Chevrolet lists the base Stingray at 3,298 pounds), but horsepower should also climb to about 500, and CD expects the entry-level C8 to be quicker than an entry-level C7. The follow-up engine will be a 5.5-liter DOHC V8 with at least 600 hp that can spin its flat-plane crankshaft to 9,000 rpm, although the usable redline will be a few hundred rpm lower. Sometime after that, Chevy will roll out a twin-turbocharged version of that 5.5-liter, said to be worth around 800 hp.

Here’s where things go berserk: After an interval long enough to give the world time to appreciate Chevy’s work, CD says the carmaker will add a 200-hp electric motor to that twin-turbo 5.5-liter V8. The 200-hp electric appendage will sit up front and power the front wheels, creating a mid-engined, all-wheel-drive, all-American sports car with roughly 1,000 hp. Sold at dealerships next to the Malibu and the Trax. With a traditional carmaker warranty. Which, if it comes true, is bonkers. And then some.

Elsewhere around the car, a front end designed to inhale as much cooling air as possible will be stuffed with intercoolers, and vents under the taillights will provide escape for engine heat. Active aero devices include the C8 Corvette using the front-axle-lift system to vary the coupe’s angle of attack, and a powered spoiler will sit on the rear decklid. Tailpipes move to the edges of the rear fascia instead of being lined up in the center, and coil springs replace transverse composite leaf springs.

But there won’t be a manual. The magazine says an eight-speed dual-clutch gearbox developed with Tremec will be the only shifting option.

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June 3, 2018 / Comments Off

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One-off Koenigsegg Agera RS Gryphon supercar crashes again

Almost exactly a year after a rare $1.5 million-plus Koenigsegg Agera RS crashed during testing in Sweden, it’s happened again. To the same, repaired supercar.

Swedish outlet Teknikens Varld reports the crash happened last week after the Agera RS crashed into a ditch in a rural area near the National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS) headquarters where Koenigsegg test-drives its cars. It confirms it’s the same vehicle that crashed in May 2017 after the driver lost control of it on the wet track.

Ännu en #Koenigsegg har kraschat i Trollhättan.

Detta hände för bara några timmar sedan, ett stenkast från #Nevs testbana. Exklusiva bilder på https://t.co/QtUCusXkcZ #crash #thn pic.twitter.com/xQ2WJRi1zK

— Teknikens Värld (@teknikensvarld) May 17, 2018

According to The Drive, it’s an Agera RS Gryphon, an all-carbon fiber, 3,075-pound beast with 24-karat gold leaf trim that does a ridiculous 1,360 horsepower and 1,011 pound-feet of torque. It was originally built for U.S. car collector Manny Khoshbin before it wrecked last year shortly before delivery.

The Swedish supercar maker reportedly set to work on a replacement Gryphon following that wreck while pledging to repair the crashed model for use as a factory test and demonstration car.

It’s not clear what caused the most recent crash. The reader who submitted the photo said it was clear from skid marks the car had been on both sides of the road. It also wasn’t clear whether the driver suffered any injuries.

Teknikens Varld says it’s believed to be the first time the repaired car had been driven in the open since the 2017 crash.

The Agera RS is the world’s fastest production car.

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May 22, 2018 / Comments Off

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Lamborghini confirms next-gen Aventador and Huracan to be PHEVs

It’s official, Lamborghini CEO Stefano Domenicali confirmed to Top Gear magazine that the next-generation Aventador and Huracán will get plug-in hybrid powertrains. Autocar reported last October that the next Huracán would get “next-generation” batteries to aid its naturally aspirated V10 when it debuts around 2022. The fate of the Aventador S’s successor, however, was unclear beyond the certainty of it featuring a mid-mounted V12. Now we know it will get a naturally aspirated V12 with electric help when it arrives in 2020 or so, and both cars will boast a small all-electric range.

Top Gear imagined how much each coupe could gain — both in weight and in power — by mating each car’s current engine with the 134-horsepower electric motor and 14-kWh lithium-ion battery pack from the Porsche Panamera Turbo S e-hybrid. TG figures the Aventador S replacement would go from 730 hp and 508 pound-feet of torque to 860 hp and 566 lb-ft. That’s the good news. The bad news is that Porsche said the hybrid system adds 661 pounds to the weight of the Panamera. Tack that onto the Lamborghini, and an Aventador S goes up a weight class to 4,354 pounds. The new Huracán output stretches from 602 hp and 412 lb-ft to 728 hp and 471 lb-ft, and 3,796 pounds.

Judged on the results of that purely imaginary fancy, Top Gear says the numbers “well and truly stack up.” We think that given the chance to add 130 horsepower at the price of putting a Harley-Davidson Fat Boy in the trunk — or the weight of second complete engine — we might ask if there were other tradeoffs available. We’re certain Lamborghini’s working all the angles, though, and confident the Sant’ Agata carmaker will translate its actual figures into another duo of brutal, bewitching sports cars.

The brand is looking beyond the near-term hybrids to what could come after, as well. Domenicali said he doesn’t believe there will be sufficient potential in electric powertrains until 2026, but he’s ready with concepts like the Terzo Millennio whenever the powertrains are. Lamborghini’s also working with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to “write an important page in the future of super sports cars for the third millennium,” suspected to center on lightweight materials, solid-state batteries, and alternative fuels. On that last note, Domenicali’s already eyeing the potential of using hydrogen fuel cells in the distant future.

Note the absence of the word “turbocharger” from any discussion of the brand’s future out to the 2030s. Said Chief Technical Officer Maurizio Reggiani, “As long as I’m technical director, our super sports cars will not have a turbocharged engine. It’s about emotion. If you don’t have emotion, then you have nothing.”

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April 24, 2018 / Comments Off

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McLaren EV supercar: Here’s the math that says it’s 5-10 years off

It emerged last December that McLaren had built an all-electric testbed for a future EV supercar, to go along with the English automaker’s $1.4 billion investment in electrified powertrains. But as we told you a few weeks ago, McLaren CEO Mike Flewitt said that such a car was, as a practical matter, years away from production. Now COO Jens Ludmann has put some numbers to the carmaker’s quest, saying, “[The] Senna has 800 PS [Pferdestärke] on 1,200 kg, that’s about the power to weight that we’re looking for.” He’s talking about 789 horsepower in a package lighter than a base Honda Civic Coupe.

The issue isn’t energy capacity, it’s energy density. Said Ludmann, “[The] battery technology should achieve 500 watt-hours per kilogram. That is a level where it really makes sense. Today we are around 180 watt-hours per kilogram.” McLaren Engineering provides batteries for Formula E rated at 216 Wh/kg, but those packs aren’t suitable for a consumer road car. According to what the company’s learned from the battery industry, we’re 5 to 10 years away from 500 watt-hours per kilogram for a roadworthy vehicle.

In 2015 Rimac unveiled a battery it made for the Koenigsegg Regera. Said to be the most energy-dense car battery at the time, it boasted a power-to-weigh ratio of 60 Wh/kg. Figure that the battery industry’s adding 40 Wh/kg per year — which gets us from 2015 to Ludmann’s 180 Wh/kg current state of affairs. Using that measure, we’re 8-10 years away from 500 Wh.

McLaren wants its theoretical EV owner to be able to do 30 minutes or 10 hard laps at the track, be “as exciting as a 675LT,” and recharge in 30 minutes for another half-hour track session. That battery would need exceptionally high energy density, and the cells and electronics would need to stand up to constant high power output and extreme discharge cycles. To enable that with today’s battery tech, you’d end up with a vehicle that could do 500 miles in everyday road use, be far too heavy for McLaren’s aims, and take far too long to charge.

Ludmann told Wheels magazine everything else about the EV supercar is “all resolved — easy.” While we dig in for what could be a lengthy wait, we’ll have to be satisfied with the McLaren hybrids that should start showing up in a couple of years.

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April 9, 2018 / Comments Off

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No Audi R8 planned after current generation ends

Another Volkswagen Group icon looks headed for the River Styx. A few days after Autocar reported that the VW Beetle won’t live past the current generation, Car and Driver reports “there are no current plans for a direct replacement” of the Audi R8. That information came after chatting to Audi R&D boss Peter Mertens at the Geneva Motor Show. Responding to a suggestion that the carmaker didn’t have a next generation planned for the striking supercar, Mertens replied, “I would say so.”

That doesn’t mean imminent demise. Audi just released the rear-wheel drive R8 RWS, and there’s a V6-powered R8 on the way. That car will use the 2.9-liter, twin-turbo six-cylinder already working for the RS4 Avant, RS5, Porsche Panamera and Cayenne. That’s why Mertens also said, “It has a long life, and it’s doing OK.” The sales success of the V6 trim might decide the definition of the word “long,” but no matter what, “long” probably won’t mean the same 10-year span of the first generation. Audi has a bunch of other plans to flesh out and pay for, and a fading star that can’t spread development costs doesn’t make sense.

This isn’t the first account of the R8’s demise. Last December, Automobile reported that the R8 would be “phased out in 2020” as the new Lamborghini Huracán arrives; the R8 and Huracán share the same platform and are built alongside one another in Audi’s Neckarsulum, Germany, plant. Then, the 650-horsepower RS Q8 would take over as the new conventional flagship for Audi Sport, while the E-Tron GT four-door due in 2020 will make all-electric waves.

The R8 moved 772 units in the U.S. last year, placing it only just ahead of the more expensive and more exotic McLaren 570S, and just behind the more expensive and more exotic twin-brother Lamborghini Huracán. In the competitive set, the Mercedes-AMG GT sold 1,609 units. The Porsche 911 Turbo drubs them all.

If any car can be said to have done its job as a halo offering, though, the R8 is that car. The first R8 put all eyes on a brand that sold half as many cars in 2006 as it does today. The V8 coupe mixed everyday manners with supernatural high-speed handling, the V10 gave up a few tenths in suppleness in return for bonus payouts of sound and fury. The coupe was also stupendously efficient at winning races the world over, both for factory teams and privateers who might soon struggle to find an equivalent replacement. And we wouldn’t have the word “sideblades” without it.

Mertens did make sure to caution, “Never say never; performance cars are good for Audi.” But if you look at the sales numbers and Audi’s planned future, and then look at the wall … you’ll probably see some writing.

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March 15, 2018 / Comments Off

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McLaren granted trademark for ‘McLaren GT,’ but is even a car?

Last year McLaren Automotive Limited applied to trademark the name “McLaren GT” in the U.S. and the UK. Last week the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted the request. It’s tempting to wonder if we’re looking at the name of the new McLaren monster car, the three-seat road-going Ultimate Series offering so far known as BP23. McLaren has, after all, called the coupe a “Hyper-GT” in an official press release.

There are two hitches to making that connection, though. The first and weakest hitch is that last month, Autocar reported that McLaren CEO Mike Flewitt said he wanted proper names for the company’s Ultimate Series cars, “rather than an alphanumeric designation.” The Senna was the first under that regime. Yes, we could consider “GT” a name, and there are no numbers involved. Yet that would be a pretty bland follow-up to the Senna, especially a follow-up that’s meant to be the new capstone on what McLaren can do, faster than the 243-mile-per-hour F1 and more powerful than the P1.

The second, more compelling hitch comes in the line describing what the trademark is for: “Retail store services featuring motor land vehicles.” That pinpoints a different use than a road car trademark. McLaren’s P1, 650S, 12C Spider, Spider, and Longtail trademark applications are all for “Motor land vehicles, namely, automobiles, and structural parts therefor.” McLaren GT, on the other hand, appears to be some kind of storefront that will sell those cars. The trademark for “Jaguar Racing” is also for stores selling cars, among other things, and the trademark for McLaren Qualified applies to “Retail store services featuring pre-owned vehicles.” Perhaps this is part of a future dealer initiative or rebranding effort. Or maybe it’s nothing, you know how trademarks go.

Does this mean the new hypercar won’t be called “McLaren GT?” No. But we’ll need more clues and a stronger case to make the call either way.

March 13, 2018 / Comments Off

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Aston Martin working on mid-engine Valkyrie ‘brother’ to rival McLaren P1

We know about the Aston Martin Valkyrie and the Valkyrie AMR Pro (pictured). And we know Aston Martin is planning a mid-engine rival for the Ferrari 488 and McLaren 720S. Now Autocar reports that the English luxury maker is working on yet another mid-engine model, a hypercar to outdo the McLaren P1 and Ferrari LaFerrari and stand up to the coming McLaren BP23. The newest addition to the small carmaker’s grand plans is said to be known internally as “brother of the Valkyrie,” and came about because of the sellout success of both the Valkyrie and Valkyrie AMR Pro.

Both “brother of Valkyrie” and the 488 competitor are expected to use a carbon monococque with aluminum subframes. Both will use lessons from Aston Martin’s tie-up with the Red Bull Formula 1 team, especially in packaging. Both are due to hit the market around 2021. And both will be products of the carmaker’s Performance Design and Engineering Centre, a base of 130 engineers set up at Red Bull F1’s Milton Keyes headquarters. However, the former car will fight in the £1M-plus price bracket ($1.4M-plus) where various manufacturers have made amazing hay with warp-speed daily drivers, and will be a limited edition “in order to add to its desirability.”

We remain in the dark on powertrains for both cars, but outsiders expect both to use a V8. When it comes to the “brother” car, Aston Martin’s working relationship with Mercedes-AMG means it could tap the 4.0-liter V8 used by the DB11 and the Vantage. Apparently that engine can be wrung out to 800 horsepower with help from an ultimate EQ Boost setup. That still wouldn’t be enough to compete in the segment, though, so the “brother” could become a demonstrator for Aston Martin’s electric know-how — a rolling showcase that could turn its halo light on a potential electric sports car. Or perhaps there’s another option that turns to Cosworth, the company helping develop the 1,000-hp 6.5-liter V12 in the Valkyrie.

Aston Martin boss Andy Palmer wouldn’t say much more about the junior supercar powertrain than, “In our portfolio today, we don’t have an engine capable of giving us the output we require. Whether through collaboration with AMG or whether by ourselves, we have to find an answer.” He told Australian outlet Motoring that it would involve hybrid assistance with power as the aim and “a fringe benefit on efficiency.” That sounds a much more likely case for the AMG motor, where an 800-hp ceiling gives Aston Martin room to tone things down and still bare fangs at rivals. As an aside, the Vanquish is expected to “move into true front-engined supercar territory,” which will make brand space for every offering in the lineup.

Aston Martin raided its main competitors’ personnel departments last year to give it the best chance of beating those competitors. Last year Max Swaj, who was head of innovation and body structures at Ferrari and Maserati, and Joerg Ross, who was head of advanced engines at the two Italian camakers, jumped ship for England along with a third, unnamed engineer. Then it nabbed Chris Goodwin, McLaren’s test driver of 20 years, to provide the kind of feedback that’s made superstars of the 675LT and 720S, and who was last photographed in the McLaren BP23 due next year.

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March 12, 2018 / Comments Off

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AMG Project One could claim Nurburgring lap time record, says AMG boss

Speaking to Autocar, typically understated AMG head honcho Tobias Moers said it’s “reasonable to speculate” that the Mercedes-AMG Project One would take the absolute lap record at the Nürburgring. That means he’s not talking about beating the 6:47.25 lap the Porsche 911 GT2 RS set last September. Nor is he talking about the 6:43.22 lap the McLaren P1 XP1 LM Prototype set in May 2017. Apparently Moers means beating one of two lap records set 35 years ago, both of them by Stefan Bellof in a Rothmans Porsche 956.

During qualifying for the 1983 Nürburgring 1000 KM, Bellof ran the 20.832-kilometer Nordschleife in 6:11.13. In the race that weekend, Bellof clocked a 6:25.91. Moers wouldn’t divulge anything else about the Project One ‘Ring attempt, but Autocar says AMG has studied both of Bellof’s lap records in detail, and the biggest challenge to making the dream come true is “finding the right driver.”

The Porsche 956 and the AMG Project One have a few things in common. The Project One exists as a result of Formula 1, Porsche used a 956 chassis as testbed for the TAG-branded F1 engine that would power McLaren to three F1 Driver’s Championships and two Constructors Championships. The 956 and Project One specialize in aero; the 956 was one of the first Group C racers to employ ground effects aero, the even sleeker Project One will generate aero downforce equal to half the car’s body weight. Regarding technology transfer from racing to road cars, the 1982 Porsche 956 switched to digital fuel injection that used less fuel but maintained horsepower and increased torque, and the 1983 Porsche 956 was the first race car to use a double-clutch transmission. The Project One represents the wholesale transfer of F1 tech to road use.

Where the two differ greatly are amenities and power. The 956 needed “the strength of a bear and a lot of courage” to drive, and Bellof’s 956 made around 630 hp in its most powerful guise from a 2.5-liter, twin-turbo V6. Moers said the 1.6-liter V6 hybrid power unit in the Project One is already showing 1,000 horsepower on the dyno, and will probably come in somewhere closer to 1,100 hp by the time customers take delivery.

That sounds like plenty of firepower to lay on the target, but there’s a reason Bellof’s record has stood for so long that some believe it won’t ever be broken. The 956 was so fast that when Bellof’s teammate, Derek Bell, ran a practice lap with camera equipment for a TV segment, Bell did a 6:47 — and got passed by a screaming Jacky Ickx on a qualifying lap in another 956. No one’s been within 30 seconds of Bellof’s qualifying time since 1983.

If AMG does find “the right driver” and the Project One is the right car, said driver will not only cut a fat hunk of time off the nearest comparable benchmark, that of the McLaren P1 Prototype, he (or she) will shame everything else out there. In a car with an airbag, infotainment system, and a phone charger. Stay tuned.

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March 9, 2018 / Comments Off

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Porsche 911 hybrid will be ‘most powerful 911 we’ve ever had’

Looks like we need to revise our idea of the coming Porsche 911 hybrid. In January, an article in Automobile reported that the electrically assisted 911 due around 2023 could produce around 485 horsepower and 561 pound-feet of torque. There could be such a 911 hybrid among the lineup — Porsche has fit its E-Hybrid system to two models in various outputs. But company CEO Oliver Blume told Autocar that the hybrid 911 “will be the most powerful 911 we’ve ever had; 700 bhp might be possible.”

Without qualifiers, we’d assume Blume’s actually thinking of a number beyond 700 hp, because the 911 GT2 RS already makes seven centuries of ponies. If we qualify the statement to standard series models, then engineers only need to beat the 607 hp in the Porsche 911 Turbo S Exclusive Series.

A couple of items lead us to believe the plug-in 911 will go to the other side of 700 hp. First, a Motor Trend report from four years ago predicted it, telling us to “expect hybridized, plug-in 700-plus-hp versions of both the Panamera Turbo S and the 911 Turbo S” by 2017. Those two vehicles would begin to showcase everything Porsche created and learned with the 918 Spyder and 919 Hybrid Le Mans racer. The timing was a tad off, the sentiment apparently spot on.

Second, the present Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid already makes 680 hp with the help of a 136-hp electric motor. True, the Panamera uses a 4.0-liter V8 making 550 on its own. However, with the 3.8-liter flat-six in the Turbo S Executive at 607 hp, slipping the e-motor into that car would surpass the target right now. The question now is whether the 911 hybrid becomes the new Turbo S, or if it commands the new, higher top step. Blume also said the electrified coupe will contain “a special button for the electric punch.” We hope that button is mounted on the steering wheel.

The 911 plug-in comes “a couple of years” after the next 911, which could mean an unveil at the end of 2020, with deliveries toward the end of 2021.

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March 9, 2018 / Comments Off

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McLaren’s electric supercars are not quite there yet

While Rimac is all about electric supercars and has just revealed its outrageous-sounding 1,914-horsepower C_Two car at the Geneva Motor Show, McLaren is cautious about producing an EV quite yet. Hybrids are far more suitable for McLaren’s immediate need than launching a full electric vehicle, says McLaren CEO Mike Flewitt.

In an interview with Autocar, Flewitt says McLaren’s electric portfolio is still very much in development, and that one in two McLarens sold in 2022 is to be a hybrid. But it wouldn’t be right for the brand to launch a half-baked, full-electric supercar, and McLaren’s standard is that any EV would have to offer performance equal to its existing cars. “It’s a challenge for us to produce the same engagement as with the P1, the Senna and the 675 LT,” says Flewitt.

Earlier, he has stated that for an electric supercar to match the P1’s performance, it would have to weigh two tons.

EV development, however, is still on track, and McLaren has “an electric mule running around.” For the company, getting the desired electric performance in a production-viable package is still at least five years away, Flewitt says. “It’s not in [the Track22 plan] because we don’t have an answer yet.”

McLaren is a lot more positive about hybrids. Flewitt says hybrid tech is a lot easier to integrate into a powertrain design, making it integral instead of bolt-on. As he said a month ago: “Hybrid design is part of the next platform. It is designed-in from day one rather than having to adapt an existing chassis.”

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March 7, 2018 / Comments Off

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Hennessey planning Venom F5 speed record assault

New details are emerging from Geneva about Hennessey‘s ambitions to claim the record for world’s fastest car, including the V8 powertrain that will drive the upcoming Hennessey Venom F5 toward its promised 301 mph top speed benchmark.

Founder and CEO John Hennessey told “Top Gear” the hypercar will have “a completely bespoke, 8.0-liter twin-turbo V8” that will hit no less than 1,600 bhp, which equates to around 1,622 horsepower. But he said he’s contemplating slapping on a couple more turbos and expects to decide before the Pebble Beach Concours in August.

Hennessy first revealed the supercar at the SEMA show last November. There, John Hennessey told Autoblog that he wasn’t necessarily aiming to set a record at the Nürburgring, just to do a lap in under seven minutes, a feat notched by cars like the Lamborghini Huracán Performante and the Porsche 918 Spyder. He also talked about how the car’s design was meant to look like a peregrine falcon. But at the time, the V8 engine specs were still being kept under wraps.

Hennessy unofficially had the title of world’s fastest car in 2014 after the 1,451-hp Venom GT hit 270.49 mph. That’s of course since been eclipsed by rival Koenigsegg, which raced an Agera RS helmed by Swedish race driver Niklas Lilja to an official top speed of 277.87 mph on a closed highway in Nevada in November. When it comes time, Hennessey told “Top Gear“ he may make the attempt in Texas, or return to the same road in Nevada traveled by the Agera RS.

But he insists the Venom F5 will be more than just a straight-line track monster. “Could we build a high-downforce version with the massive splitter and massive wing and lots of downforce? Maybe we’ll do that later,” he said. “For now, [the F5 is] a proper road car that can be driven at crazy speeds in a straight line but still go around turns and stop.”

The company plans to make just 24 examples of the Venom F5 and sell them at $1.6 million apiece.

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March 7, 2018 / Comments Off

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Want a New MAT Stratos? Get a Ferrari F430 Scuderia donor car and a lot of money

The new MAT Stratos has a price: €500,000 plus the price of a Ferrari F430 Scuderia donor. In money terms, that’s about $624,715 at today’s rates, plus an estimated $175,000 for a US-spec F430 Scuderia, so figure $800,000 before you append a single option. In car terms, you could buy a $315,000 Ferrari 812 Superfast, option it like that Russian guy who said “Opulence, I has it,” buy a Lancia Delta Integrale Evoluzione for about $85,000, and still have six figures left over to take both cars racing, accompanied by your baby giraffe. Oh, and for comparison, the original Lancia Stratos won three World Rally Championships. The Lancia Delta won six.

As others have pointed out, you could buy a ListerBell Stratos or a Hawk HF 3000 for about $36,000 and revel in the knuckle-busting joy of building it yourself. But the Earth is awash in money — it’s said that China mints a new billionaire every three days — so we don’t expect MAT Stratos buyers to worry about such either/or scenarios and comparison shopping.

When the New Stratos drove its blunt black wedge into our hearts in 2010, it did so because it was practically, well, practical. Sure, birthing a New Stratos required euthanizing a healthy Ferrari F430, but that was a trifle for the chance to own limited-edition fabulousness. Relatively speaking, the investment bankers now bogarting supercars didn’t lust after the F430, and the Stratos’ rough MSRP of €400,000 ($540,000 at the time) — which included the price of the donor car — didn’t compel anyone to pop Prinivil.

Now that MAT requires one of the 1,200 F430 Scuderias that Ferrari originally made, instead of a standard F430, the price and the specs have gone up. The MAT Stratos shortens the wheelbase by nearly eight inches, moves the radiators, and changes the 4.3-liter V8’s intake and exhaust to goose horsepower from 510 hp to 540 hp. Buyers can run the dyno up to 600 hp if they pay for a tuned ECU and other mechanical changes. A six-speed sequential transmission turns that engine wail into tire squeals.

With a stated production cap of 25 cars, MAT says customers have already ordered 12. The production version of the daily driver version will go on display at the Geneva Motor Show next month, flanked by renderings of the GT race car and Safari models. And perhaps a sign that says, “Bring money.”

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February 16, 2018 / Comments Off

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Rimac Concept Two packing a 120-kWh battery and Level 4 autonomy

Autocar reports that Rimac, the Croatian electric hypercar maker, has moved the goalposts for its coming Concept Two. Apparently, after hearing Tesla CEO Elon Musk quote specs for the 2020 Tesla Roadster of 0-60 miles per hour in 1.9 seconds and a 250-mph top speed, Rimac went back to its electric cauldron so it could add more Eye of Newt to the Concept Two. However, we didn’t know the Rimac’s claimed performance specs previously, and Autocar didn’t mention how far Rimac had pushed them.

What we do know is that the Concept Two will get a 120-kWh battery. That’s a fair bit less than the 200-kWh battery in the coming Tesla Roadster, but a healthy leap beyond the 82-kWh battery in Concept One. The Concept One, with two electric motors at the front axle pumping a combined 671 horsepower, plus two electric motors at the rear good for 804 hp, could do 0-60 in 2.5 seconds, had a claimed top speed of 221 mph, and lasted 205 miles on a charge. The Concept Two should beat all of those numbers handily, as promised, but we’re guessing it will still be a few tenths behind the Tesla.

The other treat coming in the necktie-inspired coupe is Level 4 Autonomy. The SAE describes Level 4 as “High Automation,” different than the “Full Automation” of Level 5. In Level 4, the vehicle is designed to drive itself and not need any human intervention because the vehicle provides its own emergency fallbacks, but only in specific driving scenarios. Think of Level 4 as part-time Level 5. It’ll be neat to see how Rimac pulls that off, though – or where the Concept Two is programmed to allow Level 4 driving – since no other carmaker offers Level 4 autonomy yet. They could mean, a la Tesla, they’re installing the software that will make the Concept Two capable of Level 4 autonomy one day. We’ll find out at the Geneva Motor Show next month.

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February 11, 2018 / Comments Off

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Future McLaren cars will be hybrids and autonomous

You may want to look away supercar purists, McLaren views its future as partially electrified and autonomous. Autocarreported today that McLaren’s CEO Mike Flewitt wants to bring in hybrid technology for next-generation McLaren sports cars, with the electrified tech baked in from the beginning rather than adding it on after the fact.

“Hybrid design is part of the next platform,” Flewitt said. “It is designed-in from day one rather than having to adapt an existing chassis.”

The British manufacturer would even offer hybrid-only models in most product lines, rendering conventional, non-hybird McLarens as limited editions only. The powertrain in the strongest-selling hybrid cars would feature a turbo V6, reports Autocar. The upcoming BP23 hypercar will already have an electric motor and a battery pack backing up its 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8.

Flewitt also confirms that future McLaren cars will have autonomous capabilities, which is certainly an interesting move by a driver-centric specialty car manufacturer. Flewitt acknowledged this, but noted that “Autonomy in its own right isn’t that appealing to our customers, but we need to have capabilities designed in for safety, legislation and emissions.”

The first model to be replaced with a hybrid successor would be the entry-level 570S, reportedly by next year. The electrification would then continue until the 2022 replacement of the 720S.

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February 6, 2018 / Comments Off

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Bugatti EB 110-based SP-110 Edonis is back from the dead

When Bugatti went belly up in the mid 1990s, a group of former employees founded B Engineering. At the time, Bugatti was building the EB 110, a supercar whose performance and power ratings would shame most cars on the road today. Just 139 EB 110s were built between 1991 and 1995, but now the car has made a return. Sort of. Casil Motors has announced a 15-model run of the SP-110 Edonis Fenice, a EB 110-based supercar with sleepy-eyed styling and an updated powertrain.

The history of the car is a bit convoluted. In the late 1980s, Bugatti was purchased by Romano Artioli. By 1991, the company was back to producing cars with the EB 110. It was a monster that was about as far ahead of its contemporaries as the Bugatti Chiron is today. The EB 110 packed a 550 horsepower quad-turbo 3.5-liter V12. It sent power to all four wheels through a six-speed manual transmission and hit 60 mph in just 3.2 seconds on the way to a top speed of 216 mph. Few cars short of the McLaren F1 could touch it.

The car wasn’t enough to prevent Bugatti from filing for bankruptcy by 1995. Volkswagen purchased it in 1998. Artioli and a group of former engineers eventually founded B Engineering. They purchased the remaining EB 110 components and revealed the EB 110-based Edonis on Jan. 1, 2000. It ditched the all-wheel drive and increased the power, but further details on changes are vague. The car never made it to production. Recently, Las Vegas-based Casil Motors stepped in to finish what B Engineering started. The car you see here is called the SP-110 Edonis Fenice.

Underneath the aluminum bodywork you’ll find the carbon-fiber monocoque from an EB 110. The engine is a 3.8-liter version of the EB 110’s V12. It has been cranked to 720 horsepower, and the quad-turbo setup was ditched for two large-displacement turbos. Casil Motors says the car can hit 60 mph in 3.4 seconds (slower possibly because of the rear-drive setup), 100 mph in 8.2 seconds and has a top speed of more than 220 mph. It still uses a six-speed manual transmission.

Casil Motors is offering a range of options, from a stripped-down track version to a kitted-out luxury model. The optional Rinascita Aero Package fixes some of the car’s questionable styling choices.

Only 15 will be built. Pricing hasn’t been announced, but Casil Motors is requiring a $2,500 deposit. Don’t expect this to be cheap. A clean EB 110 GT is going up for auction in March for nearly $1 million. While this isn’t an original Bugatti, it does have genuine Bugatti credentials.

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January 25, 2018 / Comments Off

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