The Return of the American Supercar

For Ford, 2016 marks the 50th anniversary of the first of four consecutive wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This is to date, one of Ford's greatest racing achievements.

In 1966, Ford set out to build a car the that would not only compete, but destroy the competition.  One company in particular, that Ford wanted to feel its wrath, was Ferrari.  The whole reason Ford wanted to race in the first place, was because Henry Ford II hated Enzo Ferrari.(A bad business deal)  Yep, you've heard that name before on this blog, same guy that called Ferruccio Lamborghini farm trash.  With the help of the late Carol Shelby, Ford built the car that would finally give America its first win in Le Mans' history, the Gt40.

GT40

Gt40

Given this name because, GT stood for grand touring, and the number 40 represented how tall the car was, 40 inches. The car went on to win three more races at Le Mans.  

Fast forward almost 40 years later in 2005 Ford released the ford GT  to commemorate the Gt40's birthday.

Ford GT

Ford GT

Now, rumors are floating around that Ford is developing a successor to the Ford GT.   We might get to see the car hit showrooms in 2016. But there is also a chance a race car might be in development as well.  The car would mark the return to Le Mans, for Ford, in over 40 years.

Rumors also suggest that we might see a prototype of the new car at the upcoming Detroit Auto Show, witch starts in January of next year.

Fingers crossed.




Picture Credit: in order of appearance
http://www.roadandtrack.com/racing/racing-news/more-signs-point-to-ford-le-mans-program-and-ford-gt-revivalhttp://www.netcarshow.com/ford/2006-gt/800x600/wallpaper_03.htm

New Lamborghini Unveiled

Making its debut at the Paris Motor show, and......it's a hybrid......I know I'm surprised too.  But it's true the Lamborghini Asterion concept is in fact, a hybrid.  Yes, the the Toyota Prius, and the new Lamborghini finally have something in common. Both cars produce power from two types of engines, electric and gas.  But that is were the similarities end, thank god. (No offense Prius owners)

Lamborghini is keeping with tradition of naming their cars after bulls.  Asterion is the proper name for minotaur. In greek mythology,  minotaurs are part man, part bull.  The name also plays on the notion of the vehicle being a hybrid, and having two engines, well four kind of.

The four engines combined produce a whopping 897 hp.  The 5.2 liter V-10 engine produces 602 hp by itself.  On top of that, there is an electric motor mounted between the V-10, and the seven speed dual-clutch transmission.  The transmission is located at the back of the car this time around.  There are also two smaller electric motors mounted on the front axil.  The motors send power to each individual front wheel.  All together the electric motors produce 295 hp.  The Asterion has three driving modes, the first is EV. Which, is pure electric mode.  The electric motors in the front two wheels are the only thing driving the car.  The car can run for 31 miles in this mode before it will need to charge its batteries.  The second is Termico, Italian for thermal, in this mode you have the full power of the V-10 engine.  The third and final mode is Ibrido, which is Italian for hybrid.  This Mode gives you all four engines, and the full 897 hp to play with.

This is not the fire breathing super car that we are used to Lamborghini designing.  The Asterion is being built as a luxury hyper gran tour.  The styling of the car, is not the wedge shape of current Lamborghinis.  This car has a taller roof line that allows the seating position to be higher.  The car is built to be comfortable on long trips, and every day driving.  But you have almost 900 hp there if you need it.

Lamborghini has stated that the car is not for sale, and is just a concept.  From experience though, I know that car companies don't usually spend this much effort on concepts unless it's going to production.  We might not see the Asterion on the streets but, I guarantee you that its hybrid technology will make it to one of Lamborghini's future vehicles.

Photo Credit "in order of appearance"

http://image.motortrend.com/f/future/concept_vehicles/1410_lamborghini_asterion_concept_first_look/82380471/lamborghini-asterion-concept-front-three-quarter.jpg

http://image.motortrend.com/f/future/concept_vehicles/1410_lamborghini_asterion_concept_first_look/82380483/lamborghini-asterion-concept-side-profile.jpg

http://image.motortrend.com/f/future/concept_vehicles/1410_lamborghini_asterion_concept_first_look/82380561/lamborghini-asterion-concept-front-three-quarter-07.jpg

http://image.motortrend.com/f/future/concept_vehicles/1410_lamborghini_asterion_concept_first_look/82380573/lamborghini-asterion-concept-rear-end-02.jpg

The American takes the Gold

The winner of Motor trend's Best Driver's Car competition is........**drum roll**

The 2014 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28
The track day special of GM's pony car has beat out nine of the years best performance cars. Which included two BMW's, a GTR and the previous winner the Porsche 911, pretty impressive.

If you have an hour to kill....and who doesn't?  You might want to check out Motor Trend's video they posted to Youtube.  They break down each test of each car and explain how they came to their decision.

Contenders and Placement

1st Place: 2014 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28

Second Place: 2015 Alfa Romeo 4C

Third Place: 2014 Porsche 911 Turbo S

Forth Place: Nissan GT-R Nismo

Fifth Place: 2014 BMW M4

Sixth Place: 2014 Ford Fiesta ST

Seventh Place: 2015 Subaru WRX STI

Eighth Place: 2015 BMW i8

Ninth Place: 2015 Jaguar F-Type R Coupe

Tenth Place: 2015 Volkswagen Golf GTI

Photo Credits: "in order of appearance"
http://www.chevrolet.com/camaro-z28-track-car/exterior-pictures.html
https://4c.alfaromeo.com
http://www.porsche.com/usa/models/911/911-turbo-s/gallery/?gtabindex=1#
http://image.motortrend.com/f/roadtests/coupes/1408_2015_nissan_gt_r_nismo_first_test/63366825/2015-nissan-gt-r-nismo-front-three-quarters.jpg
http://www.bmw.com/com/en/newvehicles/mseries/m4coupe/2014/showroom/gallery/index.html#mediaID-3
http://www.ford.com/cars/fiesta/gallery/photos/
http://www.subaru.com/vehicles/wrx/photos-videos.html
http://www.bmwusa.com/Standard/Content/Vehicles/2014/i8/BMWi8/MediaGallery.aspx
http://www.jaguarusa.com/all-models/f-type/gallery.html?nojs=false
http://www.vw.com/models/gti/?cid=ssem_4begOEGL_57735352807_c

New Lamborghini?

http://jalopnik.com/theres-a-brand-new-lamborghini-and-we-dont-know-what-it-1635815770

Lamborghini just released this teaser image for an upcoming concept car that will debut on October 2nd, at the Paris Motor Show.

There is tons of speculation on what the car is going to be. Is it going to be a hybrid, a four door sedan, a hatch back, who knows.  I'm going with a four door sedan, because of the tagline that was released with the teaser image.  The tag line reads "Once perfection is achieved, you can just double it."  So I'm thinking double the doors, it's got to be a four door sedan.  One thing that is guaranteed, if the past is any indication of what this car will look like, it's going to be insane.

Here's some examples

The Lamborghini Egoista Concept

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2013/05/lamborghini-egoista-001.jpg

http://cheapcarcareproducts.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/lamborghini-2013-wallpaper2013-lamborghini-egoista-wallpaper---freak-wheel-tberung9.jpg

The 4 Million dollar Lamborghini Veneno

http://www.lamborghini.com/en/masterpieces/veneno/gallery/#!image/5354

http://www.lamborghini.com/en/masterpieces/veneno/gallery/#!image/5359

Best Driver's Car

Tomorrow, monday September 22, marks the beginning of Motor Trend Magazine's Best Driver's Car Week.

Motor Trend has always held competitions.  One of the most famous, and prestigious awards a car can win, is Motor Trends Car of the Year.  If you watch tv, you've probably heard of that award before. Because once a car wins that award, the company makes sure to plaster it on every advertisement, and commercial it can.

Randy Pobst

Well about four years ago, Motor trend introduced a new competition, Motor Trends Best Driver's Car.  The competition pits all the best performance cars released that year against one another.  Motor Trend has all of its editors drive the cars through a number of test.  The test include, driving the cars on real world roads, and race tracks.  Then the cars are handed over to race car driver, Randy Pobst.  Randy does a hot lap in each car, at one of America's most famous race tracks, Mazda Leguna Seca.  After Randy sets the fastest lap he can, the editors converge at the end of the week for final deliberations.  The editors all compare notes, praises, and complaints about each car, until they reach a verdict.

Also at the end of the week Motor trend realeases a Youtube Video called "World's Greatest Drag Race", to celebrate the end of the competition.  They line all the cars up and race them, I mean who can say no to a drag race?

Heres the drag race from 2012.

Photo Credit: http://image.motortrend.com/f/wot/downshift-episode-5-best-driver’s-car-part-2-–-motor-trend-youtube-channel-173865/59237161/2011-best-drivers-car-randy-pobst.jpg

All Hail The New Merc

Ladies and gentlemen, 

introducing the new Mercedes AMG GT

The car was entirely developed by AMG, Mercedes' in house performance division.  It is the first car in the company history to drop the "Benz" moniker.  The AMG GT will be offered in a "base" and "S" model.  Both models with come equipped with a brand new 4.0 liter twin turbocharged V8.  The base GT model makes 456 hp, and can sprint from 0-60 in 3.9 seconds.  The second model, the GT S makes 503 hp and can hit 0-60 in 3.7 seconds, and will keep on going to a top speed of 193 mph.

With this car, Mercedes is diving head first into the sports cars arena.  Its a competitive segment and Mercedes has its work cut out for them if the want a part of the mind share. Because there are 3 very capable cars in the segment that a ready for new meat.

The first, is the undisputed sports car king, the Porsche 911.  The 911 has held the sports cars crown for over 50 years.  Porsche has no plans for losing that title, any time soon.  Porsche has had 50 years of design and engineering that have gone into this car.  Which is why it is the titan, it is today.

The second is america's darling, the new Corvette Stingray. If anyone can take the 911's title it's this car. Not only does the corvette match or  best the 911 in some aspects of performance, it does it for half the price.  With a base price of 53,000 the corvette is the best bang for your buck when it comes to sports cars.

The last, but certainty not least is the beauty queen, the Jaguar f-type.  Arguably the best looking car released this year, the brit has taken the car world by storm.  One because of its movie star good looks.  Second is because the car goes like a bat out of hell, and sounds like thunder as it drives by.

We will find out next year, when the car is released, if Mercedes has what it takes. Can Mercedes build the sports car to rule them all? We will have to wait and see.  Until then we can all watch the new AMG GT tear up the track and drool. 

        

Photo 1 credit: http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/coupes/1409_2016_mercedes_amg_gt_first_look/photo_55.html 

Photo 2 credit: http://www.porsche.com/usa/models/911/911-carrera-s/ 

Photo 3 credit: http://www.chevrolet.com/2014-corvette-stingray/exterior-pictures.html 

Photo 4 credit http://www.jaguarusa.com/all-models/f-type/gallery.html?view=overlay&carouselIndex=1&nojs=false&prevPage=

The Birth of the Supercar

A little bit of a history lesson this week. I know, but bear with me.

Back in 1966 at the Geneva motor show Lamborghini changed the game.  But before we get into that lets talk about the man with the master plan, Mr. Ferruccio Lamborghini.

Ferruccio Lamborghini was a wealthy tractor builder.  Who in his wealth developed a love for expensive luxury cars.  One of the cars that Ferruccio owned was in fact a Ferrari, which was the crem de la creme of italian sports cars.  Ferruccio armed with the knowledge from his tractor engineering felt that his Ferrari could have been built better.  He felt the need to tell the company head, and founder, Enzo Ferrari, the way he felt.  Lets just say that the meeting didn't go great and Enzo wrote Ferruccio off as a lowly farm boy.  So in spite of Enzo, Ferruccio decided that it was time to start building cars that could give Ferrari a run for their money.  So in 1963 the car company Lamborghini was born, and the rivalry between Ferrari and Lamborghini was forever cemented into the world of cars.

Now lets fast forward three years after Lamborghini opened its doors.  The year was 1966 and it was the year that everything changed for cars.

The supercar story starts here, with the Lamborghini Miura.

Cars before the Miura had been fast, had been beautifully designed, and had insane performance specs.  But only one car manufacturer decided to put it all together, and that was Lamborghini.  The Miura came equipped with a fire spitting V-12 engine, wrapped in a light weight aluminum and steel body.  The car could rocket to a top speed of 175 mph, which is fast even for todays standards.  The car became an instant hit for Lamborghini, and changed what it meant to be a sports car, or now, a supercar.

Ferruccio Lamborghini set out to beat Ferrari at his own game.  In doing this he created a new class of automobile.  One that would cover the walls of car enthusiast for years to come.  The DNA of the Miura is present in every super car built after 1966, the genesis of supercars started here, thank you Ferruccio Lamborghini.

Photo Credit 
1.  http://www.lamborghini.com/en/people/ferruccio-lamborghini/
2.  http://www.lamborghini.com/en/masterpieces/miura/