General Motors has just announced the X06 Carbon Chevrolet. It features a lightweight body with 7.0 liter engine.
The Z06 Carbon was created to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first appearance of the Corvette at the 24 Hours of Le Mans when John Fitch and Briggs Cunningham won their class and finished eighth overall. The Carbon edition is essentially a Z06 with a ZR1 chassis and some of the carbon skin. When production starts this fall, only 500 examples will be made and they will only come in two colors, Inferno Orange and Supersonic Blue. All examples get black-painted wheels and a black interior upholstered in leather and suede.
It’s nice for you guys living on the opposite side of the pond. Want a delicious estate like the S4 Avant? Done. The RS6? Same thing.
On this side, we don’t get a lot of toys. Evidently our hands are too cramped by fiddling for the McDonald’s. Some of us though, some of us want these beautiful cars, and it took a Canadian to make it happen.
Distributors at Horchaus are federalizing the Avants along with other R models. Even better, the models may be tuned for more horsepower, in some cases up to hundreds of horsepower more. That also includes a twin turbo V10 for the RS6 in the 700-HP range, and a Q7 with a 12-cylinder diesel.
So, from the States, we say thanks. We missed the nice wagons and small cars you guys made great. We appreciate you sharing them now.
That car staring at you right now is the Peugeot ZR1 concept car, and while it doesn’t have the cartoonish grille openings of a Mazda, it does have quite the little grin to show off to Geneva Motor Show attendees.
Normally, combining that with engineers who are hyping the virtues of a hybrid powertrain would make for a yawn and a turn back to the fantastic 2011 Lotus Elise. But then you see the power numbers.
313 brake horsepower drive all four wheels, with fuel economy at roughly 20.5 km/L. All four wheels steer, too, and that combined with the ability to shunt power to either the front or back makes the ZR1 a worthwhile proposition.
So maybe the hardtop tourer is staring at you with a toothy grin. It’s more like one from the cat that ate the canary, and we’ll be looking forward to seeing the performance bits show up in other models.
There are a lot of amazing cars at this years Chicago Auto Show. One of them, the 2011 Shelby GT500, with its aluminum V8, represents precisely what we want automakers to build. Lighter! Faster! More sexy!
I have been very keen to have a good look at the 2010 FIA GT1 world championship car and here are some awesome pictures.
600hp and 479 lb.-ft of torque from a N/A 5.5L V8 (although restricted) will thrust the 2755 lb. GT1 Nissan towards the world championship for 2010. Though based on the road going GT-R, the two share little in common apart from looks, the basic monocoque and McPherson struts at front and double wishbone in back.
The all-wheel drive system has been replaced for a rear-wheel setup and sequential 6-speed gearbox. Braking will be ceramic composite, while the outside features side exhaust, new rear wing, vents and ducts galore.
No word on drivers yet but when they’re announced we’ll send them your way.
The Detroit Auto Show’s more than just cars. It’s also goofy faux-bots, giant foosball tables, handicapped-van rodeo, VW super-villain thrones and Hardigree expressing his disappointment of the CR-Z in a chipmunk voice. This is all of it in 60 seconds.
The 2010 Dakar (née Paris-Dakar) Rally is well under way. The race began on January 1st and is scheduled to end on the 16th. Thanks to security concerns, the Dakar Rally no longer runs, as its name once indicated, from Paris to Dakar. The event now takes place in Argentina and Chile, and while it’s nowhere near as epic as before, it’s still nothing to sneeze at — some stages encompass up to 550 miles of off-road travel and include everything from desert terrain to dense forest.
We thought we would just post some pretty cool pictures of the Dakar 2010 on Trickshift, but Im sure you can find many other pictures from the rally across the web.
The first electric vehicle was designed by a Hungarian inventor, Ányos Jedlik in 1828 – and while this first incarnation was in no way capable of carrying people, the electric motor quickly developed and was for a while more powerful and commonplace than the petrol motor: in fact the Jamais Contente, an electric car, was the first to break the 100km/h mark.
The development of the electric motor was surpassed by the internal combustion engine, the indisputable champion of the 20th century, but now as we move into the 21st things look as though they might come full circle, with some of the most desirable, powerful cars around being built to run on battery power rather than fossil fuels. There is definitely something appealing about the idea of letting your sports-car charge up from a windmill, or a solar panel. Indulge this fantasy by browsing through the following electric vehicles, some of which you can buy now, some of which will be available in the next few years.
1) The SUNNev Pickup. Even for the bargain price of $5279, you might think this looks like a metal box with some bicycle wheels nailed on the sides. And you’d be right; it is a metal box with some bicycle wheels nailed on the sides, but critically, it also has a solar panel and an electric motor nailed in there too, meaning it can do 35mph over a 30 mile range, and be left out on the driveway to charge up (sadly not overnight!), or hooked up to a windmill generator, meaning that you’ll never have to pay for fuel again, even if you do look like a bit of a wally driving to the shops and back. In the event there’s no sun or wind to charge your batteries you can plug it into the wall socket, and with the right batteries you’re going to get 5,000 charge cycles, giving you about 150,000 miles per battery change. An unglamorous entry into the world of electric motoring, but an efficient and affordable one.
2) The Reva G-Wiz. Only slightly less uncool looking than the SUNNev, this little vehicle is might get you looks on the street, but the Nelson “Haw Haw” is more likely to follow than a woman in a red dress leaping into your passenger seat. If you can get over the looks, £8,700 ($14,200) buys you a 50 mile range, a top speed of 51mph, two year battery life, and leather seats! Note that direct transmission means you can’t push the little brute off the road if you run out of battery power on Shepherds Bush Green though. I know becuase I’ve tried.
3) Smart ForTwo ED. A big step up in sophistication, the Smart ForTwo has been running around London with the Metropolitan Police behind the wheel for more than a year now, and a limited number will be released for public sale in early 2010. The little car has a 41hp motor, a top speed of 70mph and a range of around 72 miles. A full charge of the battery takes about 8 hrs from a wall socket. Price hasn’t been announced as yet, but look for them in the region of $16,000-$20,000.
4) Subaru G4e. Still at the concept stage, but a likely candidate for production, give Subaru’s traditional focus on small urban cars. Powered by a Lithium Ion battery that does 200km (125 miles) per charge, the most impressive thing about this car is that an 80% charge of the battery can be achieved in 15 minutes – if this were coupled with power outlets around cities and in motorway car-parks then we could see a viable roll-out of electric vehicles nationwide. A charge that takes you 150 miles in the time it takes to drink a cup of coffee would mean that you could do motorway length trips in an electric car.
5) The Aptera 2e. With the entry model aimed at a cost of $20,000, the space egg, C5 looking Aptera 2e is striking and efficient. The range and charge time is similar to a ost of the vehicles we’ve looked at already at about 160km (100 miles) on an 8 hour charge, but it’s the futuristic looks and the amount of attention to detail that’s going into the design of the car (they’re doing extensive saftey testing and consumer surveys) that set it apart. The tree wheel design means it’s likely to be classified as a motorcycle in both the UK and US, meaning road tax will be lower than a standard car, but one that you can get 15 bags of groceries or two surfboards into the boot of. You can reserve an Aptera for a fully refundable deposit of $500.
6) Volvo ReCharge – Slated for a full release in 2012, Volvo’s electric version of the C30 has four motors directly attached to the wheels, with four independent throttles controlled by an onboard computer. At the moment the range is listed as only 100km, but look for that to increase before the car is launched. We’re getting into more serious money here though, the ReCharge will likely set you back €40,000 ($60,000).
7) Tesla Roadster. This has got to be one of the sexiest cars on the road at the moment. The car is in it’s second phase of development, Tesla having delivered about 700 of them in the US and Europe already. The thought of leaving an M3 in your dust at the traffic lights, zooming off in an eerie silence is pretty cool – and this puppy is definitely more lady-in-red than Nelson Muntz. The 0-60 time of 3.9 seconds and the 240 mile range don’t come cheap though; expect to find a $100k sized hole in your bank account before you find one of these in your garage.
Chrysler Circuit. This electric version of the Viper was a long way through its development when the American car industry suddenly found itself plunged into the current financial crisis. If they can manage to negotiate a financial support package from Fiat then it might make it back down from the shelf it currently resides upon. The currently quoted 0-60 of 5 seconds isn’t quite as fast as the Tesla, but then the Viper has got a tractor engine in it, and I’d still buy one for the sheer throbbing joy of it.
9) MEV R2 Electric. Seen here in it’s early stages of construction, this is exactly what I fantasised about when I was driving my remote controlled car as a kid – a stripped down, no frills kit car built for no other reason than to move quicker than hot greased weasel shit on ice. 0-60 in 4.5 seconds is slightly slower than the tesla, but I’d be willing to bet this little electric rocket would beat it round any track you’d care to name, and cost a good chunk less then $100k, if the current petrol kit price of £4,500 is any indication. It would involve you being handy with a spanner though…
10) The Eliica. Give up hope of owning one of these 8 Wheeled mostrosities right now. The only one ever to be made was clocked at 250mph round Italy’s Nardo test track, but even though it’s faster over a quarter mile than a Porsche 911 turbo whilst having an interior spec more like a Maybach, the university team that built it can’t bring the estimated production price for the first run of 200 cars under $225,000. For that price you could buy two Ferraris and offset the carbon emissions by planting a forest!
At the Essen Motor Show, its been reported that Brabus the German tuner has officially launched its B63 S performance package for 6.2 litre V8. The upgrade consists of dual “sport” air filters, high-flow catalytic converters, and revised program for the engine and results in a 30 horsepower increase.
Brabus is also offering other modifications for the E63 AMG as well, including a carbon fiber aero kit, wheels in 18 to 20-inch sizes, and various interior trim pieces like stainless-steel scuff plates, a new 225 mph speedometer, and wood or carbon fiber inlays.
4) Subaru G4e
Chrysler Circuit
