TopSpeed Daily Update |  |
- Video: Hennessey Venom GT shooting flames at 2011 Goodwood Festival of Speed
- Video: Behind-the-scenes of the Huayra with EVO at the Pagani factory
- SEAT Ibiza by JE Design
- BMW ActiveE Project Car by Turner Motorsport
- Mercedes B-Class EV
- TopSpeed Rendering: 2013 Aston Martin Rapide S
- BMW M3 Lime Rock Park Edition Coupe
- Radical SR8 RX
- Subaru BRZ Turbo
- TopSpeed Rendering: 2016 Porsche Pajun
| Video: Hennessey Venom GT shooting flames at 2011 Goodwood Festival of Speed Posted: 07 Jul 2012 05:00 AM PDT
A notable absentee from the recently concluded 2012 Goodwood Festival of Speed was Hennessey. The American supercar manufacturer and tuner debuted the incredible Venom GT at the show in 2011, and prior to the conclusion of this year's event, company founder, John Hennessey was nice enough to post an awesome video capturing one of the Venom's many sprints up the famous hill climb. With a GoPro Hero camera mounted to the rear-end of the vehicle, Hennessey managed to capture the car's incredible exhaust note in all its beauty. If you listen closely, you'll hear the incredible sounds of the twin-turbochargers spooling up when the throttle is applied. However, the swan-song of this video comes in the final seconds where the Venom GT shoots some impressive flames after the hillclimb helping to exemplify just how mean this supercar is. Considering the Venom GT can deliver 1200bhp in top tune, it's little surprise that the car spits flames as easy as this one. This incredible peak horsepower output is achieved thanks to a Corvette ZR1 sourced V8 engine fitted with two turbochargers. As a result, the Venom GT is said to sprint to 60 mph in just 2.5 seconds and Hennessey quotes a top speed of 275 mph. Video: Hennessey Venom GT shooting flames at 2011 Goodwood Festival of Speed originally appeared on topspeed.com on Saturday, 7 July 2012 12:00 EST.
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| Video: Behind-the-scenes of the Huayra with EVO at the Pagani factory Posted: 06 Jul 2012 11:00 PM PDT
After Drive visited the Pagani factory in Italy a few weeks back, we were given a great in-depth tour of the facility as a whole. Now, the following video brought to you by EVO takes a look at Pagani's halo supercar, the Huayra in a great amount of detail. So for any budding automotive engineers out there, this video is perfect for you. During the clip, EVO founder Harry Metcalfe gets hands-on with the Huayra and looks at a variety of the small components which help make the Huayra as unique as it is. He goes on to reveal that, according to Horacio Pagani himself, the Huayra is constructed out of approximately 4,700 different components, while its predecessor, the Zonda, was built with 'just' 3,000 pieces. Additionally, the video aims to prove that the Huayra really is worth its incredible $1.3 million price tag, and after watching it, we're inclined to agree that the level of detail which goes into creating every Pagani far exceeds any other manufacturers we're aware of. As a quick refresher, the Huayra features an incredible twin-turbo, 6.0-liter AMG sourced V12 engine delivering an impressive 730HP and 730lb-ft of torque. This engine is then mated to an advanced seven-speed sequential transmission courtesy of Xtrac, and consequently, the Huayra can hit 60 mph in around 3.0 seconds before hitting an impressive top speed of 220mph. Video: Behind-the-scenes of the Huayra with EVO at the Pagani factory originally appeared on topspeed.com on Saturday, 7 July 2012 06:00 EST.
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| Posted: 06 Jul 2012 09:00 PM PDT
The SEAT Ibiza is not what most enthusiasts would qualify as a hot-hatch, except when fitted with the 1.4-liter TSI or 2.0-liter TDI engine, which produce 150 PS (147 horsepower) and 143 PS (141 horsepower), respectively. Leingarten-based custom auto enthusiasts, JE Design, has managed to turn even the lower-level Ibiza models into a semi-hot hatch, or at the very least, a sharp-looking and peppy hatchback. The 2012 SEAT Ibiza is available in three body styles, 3-door hatch, 5-door hatch, and station wagon. The JE Design kit is built to fit any of the body styles that the Ibiza comes in. The SEAT Ibiza itself starts at €9,995 and ranges up to €16,340. This upgrade kit, of course, goes on top of the cost of the car, but with the SEAT Ibiza’s low cost, the entire package becomes rather affordable. Click past the jump to read what JE Designs has done to make the SEAT Ibiza more stylish, comfortable, and even a little bit faster. SEAT Ibiza by JE Design originally appeared on topspeed.com on Saturday, 7 July 2012 04:00 EST.
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| BMW ActiveE Project Car by Turner Motorsport Posted: 06 Jul 2012 08:00 PM PDT
The BMW ActiveE is a car that’s pretty hard to get a hold of. There are only 1,000 units and the only way you can get your hands on one is through a lease. Having said that, noted BMW tuner Turner Motorsport somehow managed to get one and more importantly, they’ve been given free reign to work their tuning magic on it. As a brief refresher, the ActiveE is a BMW electric test car, capable of producing 168 horsepower and 184 lb/ft of torque with a range of around 100 miles. With those numbers in their head, Turner Motorsport went and looked for a way to get more out of it. Thus, the ActiveE Project Car was born. As quoted from BMWBlog, Jay Baier, Director of Marketing for Turner Motorsport, explained the rationale behind the project. "We are doing this to try to keep on the cutting edge of automobile and BMW technology, he said. "We have this project car to 'test the waters' to be ready for the release of new electric vehicles in the future. We want to have a step up in this area." For now, the project is still in development, but Turner did already put some tweaks to it, particularly the installation of Bilstein PSS10 coil overs to improve the car’s suspension. From there, Turner Motorsport will be looking at changing the tires on the electric car while also looking at ways on how to improve the car’s performance numbers. Considering that its a car with a completely different powertrain than what they’re use to, it’s going to be interesting to see how the ActiveE Project Car evolves from here. BMW ActiveE Project Car by Turner Motorsport originally appeared on topspeed.com on Saturday, 7 July 2012 03:00 EST.
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| Posted: 06 Jul 2012 07:00 PM PDT
  This is starting to feel like the early-1990s all over again, as flying cars and electric-powered cars are being talked about on a daily basis by about every automaker. Now it’s Mercedes’ turn. The B-Class has been a relative success in the U.K. and Mercedes has been planning an extended range electric model for the U.S., but recently decided that all-electric was the way to go. Mercedes has just announced that a Tesla-built battery, motor, and drive system will power the B-Class, so it is obvious that Mercedes' decision to go all-electric with the B-Class is based on the success of the Model S. If you are wondering why in the world Tesla would be open to providing Mercedes its technology, you likely were not aware of the fact that Daimler, Mercedes' parent company, holds 4.7 percent of Tesla stock, and part of the stock purchase was Tesla's agreement to provide future technology to Mercedes. The specifics of the engine and drivetrain are still unconfirmed, as is the exact design of this new EV. It's likely to vary slightly from the U.K. petrol model, in order to keep its range as high as possible. We can safely assume that this new EV will not don the drivetrain that gets the Model S to 60 mph between 4.4 and 6.5 seconds. The technology will likely be very similar, just drastically detuned, which may give this vehicle a range in excess of 300 miles, which would literally make every other EV on the market immediately obsolete. Mercedes-Benz will not totally detune the drivetrain, though, so you can expect the typical bit of oomph from any Benz. As of now, this is complete speculation, as the B-Class EV is still in development phase and Mercedes hasn’t released any official specs. The only bits of solid information we have now is the fact that Mercedes does anticipate the release of the B-Class in 2014 and that it will be available in the U.S. We'll continue to monitor this situation and add to this review as more info becomes available. Mercedes B-Class EV originally appeared on topspeed.com on Saturday, 7 July 2012 02:00 EST.
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| TopSpeed Rendering: 2013 Aston Martin Rapide S Posted: 06 Jul 2012 02:00 PM PDT
 Only days ago, we were showing off some newly uncovered spy shots of the soon-to-be-unveiled Aston Martin Rapide S, but with the bikini-style camouflage it was wearing, it was hard to tell what we were really in store for. To counteract this censorship by Aston, we turned to our crack rendering team to use those spy shots to whip us up a clear look at this new model. To be perfectly honest, according to the spy shots and our artist's rendering, there's really not too many outward differences between the 2012 model and this prototype. The first thing we notice is the addition of a front spoiler just below the grille. Speaking of the grille, it appears to be just slightly larger than the one on the 2012 model, as are the air intakes on the lower grille. On the back end, we can see that the spoiler boasts a new shape, as it angles upward at a steeper angle near the center. It's hard to tell on the spy shots what exactly is going on with the taillights, but given the fact that the camo cuts them off at one point, we can assume that they will be revised as well. The biggest revision to the Rapide S is something you will never see, but you certainly will feel. The 6.0-liter V-12 engine under the Rapide's sleek hood has been re-tuned to pump out an additional 40 to 50 horsepower, increasing its already impressive output numbers to somewhere between 500 and 520 ponies. With this increase, Aston also plans to keep the Rapide's fuel economy steady at its already wallet-draining 13 mpg city and 19 mpg highway. Then again, if you are snagging up a car that retails at more than $200K, gas mileage is likely at the bottom of your required features. We'll keep a close watch on this upcoming new Aston Martin and update you with any new information that comes up. TopSpeed Rendering: 2013 Aston Martin Rapide S originally appeared on topspeed.com on Friday, 6 July 2012 21:00 EST.
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| BMW M3 Lime Rock Park Edition Coupe Posted: 06 Jul 2012 01:00 PM PDT
BMW USA is continuing to expand its M3 special edition line-up with a new M3 Lime Park Edition Coupe. The new model was built as tribute to the historic Lime Rock Park racing circuit located in northwestern Connecticut and, as Skip Barber describes it, is "a classic car for a classic track." This new model is also a great way to send off the current M3, in preparation for the future generation. The BMW M3 Lime Rock Park Edition Coupe will be offered in a very cool Fire Orange exterior paint and comes standard with the Competition package, which includes 19" Style 359M silver wheels. The exterior package comes equipped with carbon fiber front chin splitters, a carbon fiber rear deck spoiler, a carbon fiber roof panel and a lightweight inconel-titanium exhaust muffler. For the interior, BMW is offering Anthracite and black cloth manual-adjustment seats with Nappa Leather trim, an Anthracite Alcantara steering wheel with flat-bottom design and a blue index stripe, and carbon leather trim. The BMW M3 Lime Rock Park Edition Coupe will be limited to only 200 units and will go on sale in September 2012 at a starting price of $70,995 including $895 Destination and Handling. The company only plans to build 25 units a week, meaning that in two months, the production for this limited edition will be over. Hit the jump for a list of optional equipment. BMW M3 Lime Rock Park Edition Coupe originally appeared on topspeed.com on Friday, 6 July 2012 20:00 EST.
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| Posted: 06 Jul 2012 12:00 PM PDT
Radical has become one of those car companies that just "gets it." They understand that not everyone is a multi-millionaire that can afford to drop several hundred thousand dollars on a racecar as an amateur. Radical-built sports cars like the SR4, PR6, and SR3 all come in at under $100K, so even a lower-budget racer can get into the sport. For those that are a little more seasoned in racing and have the extra capital to spend, Radical can certainly cater to you too. One model that caters nicely to this group of more affluent racers is the Radical SR8 RX. This model sits just below Radical's range-topping SR9, and is defines as "quite simply the world's fastest production sports car." The SR8 line is even the world record holder for fastest time around the famed Nürburgring, as its LM variant tackled the `Ring in just 6:48. So how does the SR8 RX stack up against the rest of the racing world? Click past the jump to find out. Radical SR8 RX originally appeared on topspeed.com on Friday, 6 July 2012 19:00 EST.
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| Posted: 06 Jul 2012 11:00 AM PDT
 The Subaru BRZ and Scion FR-S have been tearing up in sales lately, becoming the No. 1 and No. 2 selling cars, respectively. This comes as quite a surprise, considering they both were met with some minor grumbling over the fact that neither had any plans for a turbocharged model any time soon. That phrase "any time soon" really only applies to the BRZ, as Subaru and Toyota both have made it clear that customers looking to buy a Scion FR-S will not be likely to ante up the extra dough needed for forced induction, so they effectively eliminated the FR-S from the boost talks. The BRZ, on the other hand, is marketed to the higher-end customer that just might pony up some extra Benjamins for some spoolage. However, that term "any time soon" rears up again, and we are stuck wondering what Subaru's idea of "soon" really is. With the recent announcement from Subaru about the addition of a turbocharger onto the FA-20 engine – the engine that the FR-S and BRZ come with – and its use in the upcoming Legacy sedan and wagon, we are starting to think the any time soon period has officially ended. We anticipate seeing a BRZ with a turbocharger hitting showrooms in the 2015 model year, at the latest, but the paltry 296 horsepower that the current boosted FA-20 produces won't hold a candle to the version that the BRZ will see. Click past the jump to read our thoughts and ideas on what this 2015 Subaru BRZ will have to offer. Subaru BRZ Turbo originally appeared on topspeed.com on Friday, 6 July 2012 18:00 EST.
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| TopSpeed Rendering: 2016 Porsche Pajun Posted: 06 Jul 2012 10:00 AM PDT
 Porsche’s latest un-Porsche-like phenomenon, the Panamera, has enjoyed enormous success on the market, so it’s not at all surprising that the Stuttgart based company is offering an alternative for those looking for a smaller sedan with the same level of luxury. With this idea in mind, the company is now developing the Pajun (Panamera Junior). Rumors say that the next Pajun will most likely be a rear-wheel-drive model and will be offered with a choice of V6 engines, going from a standard 260 HP version up to a twin-turbo with 520 HP for the Turbo S version. Just like its bigger sedan brother, the next Pajun will also be offered with a hybrid version. The future Pajun will be built on the company’s new MSB platform and will be offered with some of the most impressive features on the market, like ceramic brakes, dual-clutch PDK transmission, air suspension, four-wheel drive, torque vectoring, and more. The only downside to this, other than the rants from people who do not approve of the un-sportscar models from Porsche, is that we are all going to have to wait until 2016 before the Porsche Pajun debuts. TopSpeed Rendering: 2016 Porsche Pajun originally appeared on topspeed.com on Friday, 6 July 2012 17:00 EST.
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