A Tennessee-based Ford dealership specializing in Roush-tuned Mustangs has developed a real corker to celebrate this year's 50th anniversary of when a GT40 in Gulf Oil livery won the 24 Hours of Le Mans. That was back in 1969, though the same car, also wearing the Gulf Oil livery, was also a winner at the 1968 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The special Mustang honoring those wins has been developed by Brown Lee Ford of Nashville, Tennessee. It's called the Brown Lee Performance Gulf Heritage Mustang, and just 119 examples will be built, each priced from $139,995.
That's a steep price to pay for a Mustang, especially with the Shelby GT500 offering up 760 horsepower for just $73,995. Well, Brown Lee Ford's Mustang goes further with an output of 808 horsepower and 677 pound-feet of torque generated by its 5.0-liter supercharged V-8. Paired with a 6-speed manual transmission or 10-speed automatic, the engine will rocket the car from 0-60 mph in as low as 3.3 seconds and past the quarter-mile in under 10.7 seconds.
Beyond the supercharger, the Brown Lee Ford team upgraded the fuel injectors and added high-flow intake and exhaust systems, as well as intercooler. There's also track-tuned suspension, carbon fiber aero elements including a wicker bill spoiler, a few unique interior appointments, and of course the famous Gulf Oil livery. And for a bit of peace of mind, the car even comes with a 3-year/36,000 mile limited warranty.
“We are incredibly proud to have this opportunity to honor the Ford and Gulf racing legacy in such a special build,” said Brock Patterson, Brown Lee Ford's global specialty vehicle manager. “With over 800 horsepower carrying this licensed icon from 0-60 mph in under 3.5 seconds, the Gulf Heritage Edition Mustang pays homage to the accomplishments of the Ford and Gulf racing teams from 50 years ago, on all levels.”
The Brown Lee Performance Gulf Heritage Mustang will be presented on August 18 at the 2019 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. The event caps Monterey Car Week which is currently under way. For our complete coverage on the event, head to our dedicated hub.
According to PapadakisRacing, the answer is yes. And they reckon that the B58 is capable of pushing out 1,000bhp. Yes, the tuning company plans to take the Supra's 3.0-litre turbocharged six-cylinder to such extreme outputs and for them to get there, they have to strip it down to see what it is made off.
The B58 engine has been in existence since 2015 and has since proven itself to be easy to work with. A tune on the B58 engine could see a BMW 340i's horsepower numbers jump from the factory's 326bhp to well over 420bhp.
Here is another reason to start owning an electric vehicle in Britain. The amount of charging stations has surpassed petrol stations in Britain.
According to Nissan U.K., the country has around 9,300 locations where EV owners can charge their cars and out of those, 1,600 of them has the ability to fast charging, which can bring up a typical battery’s capacity from 0 to around 80 percent in less than an hour, in cars that support it.
With the introduction of the Ultra-Low Emission Zone in London, car owners are switching to EV as solutions for their daily commute, with the demand of battery-powered cars increasing by 158.1% this month alone.
While EV stations have increased by quite a bit since 2011, petrol stations have been slowing decreasing and the currently count stands at 8,400.
A software engineer has successfully implanted into her forearm her Tesla Model 3's keycard chip. she can now enter her car by simply waving her arm near the car’s sensors.
The YouTuber, who goes by the alias Amie DD, is no stranger to ‘body modification'. A couple of years ago, she an RFID tag inserted into her arm so that she could open the front door at her house. Being a software expert, there were probably other things she could do with the chip in her arm too.
So when her Tesla Model 3 arrived, she though that her car's keycard would use a similar RFID technology that would allow her to simply transfer the data from the card to her existing chip. However, it didn't work out hence she had to remove the chip from the card and insert it into her arm.
For those of you who aren't afraid of seeing blood, you can watch her other video whereby she shows us how the chip is inserted into the her arm.
Since then, she has managed to get it to work, as long as her forearm must be about 25 mm from the car’s center console before it will start up.
There might be times when you feel like you don't want to spend too much on tyres, or if the workshop you are in does not have the tyre size you need, which could then lead or force you to pair budget tyres with expensive ones on your car.
Is it ok to do so? Will it affect your car's handling?
Watch Tyre Review's video as they switch on one end of the car with a premium brand (Michelin) rear tyre, then a midrange kumho rear tyre, then a budget rear tyre to find out how it changes the car.
Deliveries of Mercedes-AMG's hypercar, One has been reportedly delayed till 2021 as there are ongoing difficulties in making the engine suitable for street use.
According to Auto Motor und Sport, some parts of of the One’s powertrain is in need of refinement as engineers underestimated the difficulties posed by using such an highly-strung engine.
One of the most significant challenges includes making the Formula 1-inspired 1.6-litre turbocharged V6 pass its WLTP emissions regulations. The Germany company has also been reported to face issues in making sure that the engine doesn’t require electric pre-heating before it turns over, like a race engine does. With such a high power output targeted by the company, the engineers also realised that squeezing more than 650bhp from the 1.6-litre engine could make it a tad fragile.
The hypercar is set to have a combined output of more than 1,000bhp thanks to the help of four electric motors. This would allegedly be enough to send the hybrid hypercar to 200 km/h in less than six seconds and through to a top speed over 350 km/h.
As one of the manufacturers that make their cars some of the fastest in the world, Alpina is against possible end of de-restricted autobahns.
In an article published by Which Car, its Chief Executive Andreas Bovensiepen has expressed its concerns about the introduction of speed limiters and the detrimental effects it will have on the industry.
“Initially we’d expect a dip in sales (if such legislation was put in place). In the first place it will hurt every fast-car manufacturer… but I think ultimately people will still want to buy performance cars. It’s like buying an expensive watch; I think people will always enjoy buying expensive, fast cars,” he said.
He further explanined that such laws are unlikley to kill of the high-performance segment of cars but stressed that speed limits could discourage car manufacturers from investing heavily in new and innovative suspension and tyre technologies.
“If there are speed limiters I think the majority of cars will get a much lower quality in suspension,” he said. “The German manufactures will say ‘oh, why should we invest so much money in suspension if there’s hardly any difference if you can go no faster than 120km/h’. In that case you don’t need five-link suspension etc.”
“If we have lower speed limits then the focus of tire tech could shift to be entirely more on durability and not grip. So they’ll make harder compounds with less rolling resistance, but with less grip on a wet surface. So maybe you have more accidents,” Bovensiepen explained.
Do knee airbags provide any safety benefits to the drivers and front-seat passengers? Not really, says America's Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).
According to the safety organisation, it compiled crash reports for more than 400 frontal accidents across 14 states in the U.S.A and compared the injury risk in vehicles with knee airbags to vehicles without them. They then concluded that
“Knee airbags had only a small effect on injury measures recorded by dummies in IIHS driver-side small overlap front and moderate overlap front crash tests. In the small overlap test, knee airbags were associated with increased injury risk for lower leg injuries and right femur injuries, though head injury risk was slightly reduced. The airbags had no effect on injury measures in the moderate overlap test.”
Adding on, it stated that knee airbags only reduced the overall risk injury from 7.9% to 7.4%, a not very significant improvement statistically wise.
That said, it is possible knee airbags would be more effective in preventing injuries of those not using seat belts, but the IIHS study did not go into this area of research.
Jonny Smith of The Fully Charged Show has been given the chance to behind the wheel of the new first Porsche all electric car - the Taycan.
Set to go into production in September, Porsche has already collected 20,000 orders for the car.
As for the drive at an airfield, Porsche wanted to show show off the Taycan’s ability to pull consecutive launches from zero to 200km/h and be able to sustain its straight-line performance, even after 30 back-to-back launches. FYI, its sprint to 200km/h takes less than 10 seconds thanks to a combined output of over 600bhp from its motors.
Top speed is limited to 250km/h while its century sprint is in the lows 3 seconds range. While its sprinting timings isn’t as fast as, say, a Tesla’s, Porsche preferred a more stable performance instead of participating in the headline-grabbing numbers’ game.
The range-topping Taycan, which will probably be named 'Turbo', can go more than 500km on a full charge thanks to its liquid-cooled 96kWh battery pack. The batteries can also be charged till 80 percent full in about 40 minutes.
In the near future, buyers will be able to choose from lesser powered variants featuring one electric motor and rear-drive at a lower price range.
With the McLaren 720S variant a couple of years old and probably halfway into its product life cycle, there is talk that the British company is working on a Longtail (LT) version of it.
Little is known about the car but according to Piston Heads, the new supercar will be launched next year and follow in the footsteps of the other Longtails a.k.a the 600LT and 675LT.
Of course, the new car will be lighter and feature the use of lightweight materials such as carbon fibre. It will also likely get new a aerodynamic parts, a revised suspension setup and a refreshed interior.
Power wise, the car should also get more power with an estimated horsepower figure of 740-750bhp versus the standard car's 710bhp.
For those who can afford the new LT, the car is could debut at the Geneva Motor Show next year.
The new Mercedes-AMG A 45 S is not going to be the most affordable hot hatch on sale when it comes into town. So is it better than before?
When the first A 45 AMG went on sale in 2013 locally, it was the fastest hot hatch in the market and everyone took notice. Fast forward to the present, Mercedes-AMG has launched the second generation A 45 AMG globally and CarWow had the opportunity to test it against its older generation.
With 415bhp being churned out from its 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder, the new car was always going to be faster than its 360bhp pre-facelifted predecessor. But is it also better to drive and live with?
Audi has released a teaser image showing six upcoming models in celebration of the 25th anniversary of its RS models.
With Audi not saying what these car shadows could be, we are guessing the first two to be the new RS6 Avant and RS7 Sportback. They are expected to use the familiar 4.0-litre V8 turbocharged engine that will have more than 600bhp.
The next two is a mystery but it does look like it could RS Q3 and RS Q3 Sportback. Expect the compact SUVs to be equipped with a turbocharged 2.5-litre five-cylinder engine that produces more than 400bhp.
Next up is also a wild guess but we are betting it to be the new facelifted RS4 Avant. It will likely be using the same turbocharged 2.9-litre V6 engine that develops 444bhp in the current model.
Finally, the largest shadow is probably the RS Q8, a sister car to the Lamborghini Urus. It remains to be seen on whether it will have the same power output as the Urus but is likely to use the same 4.0-litre V8 turbocharged engine present in the Lamborghini SUV.
This might be the first few photos of the actual car shot without its camouflage on. The car was photographed recently at its own commercial shoot.
As reported on Carscoops, the new Golf Mk8 seen here is painted in the same color as recent prototypes, confirming that the many renderings previewing the latest Golf’s design have been spot on.
Design wise, it is still unmistakably a Golf and that is no bad thing. While the guys here don't think that it is the prettiest Golf (that goes to the Mk5) ever produced, it still is no plain jane.
Inside, the car will have a fully-digital gauge cluster and a large touchscreen for the infotainment system in the center of the console. It will also support over-the-air updates, which has made VW ensure the car’s software remains safe from cyberattacks by featuring over 100 million lines of code, versus the 10 million needed by a new car a decade ago.
The new Golf is expected to be revealed officially in October.
The most modern technology used in internal combustion engines currently is Variable compression ratio engine ( VCR ).
As the name suggests, the motor may alter the compression ratio under operating circumstances. The technology had existed as a prototype for the previous few years. Currently, Infiniti (the luxury brand of Nissan) is prepared to display its VCR engine, the first ready-to-produce VCR engine, to be exhibited in the 2016 Paris Motor Show.
2016 Paris Motor Show by Maxime Joly, on Flickr
Why need a VCR engine?
Generally, a traditional petrol engine makes more power from a specified engine size using a turbocharger. In a Diesel engine, Turbocharging's approach looks excellent, as they operate heterogeneously injecting more fuel into denser air.
On the other hand, petrol engines do not have the flexibility like diesel engines; a petrol engine's mixing power impacts engine efficiency. Detonation and knocking prevail when the turbocharger boosts over specific concentrations as the general compression ratio rises (piston compress + turbo-added pressure).The first solution to the issue may be to use a reduced engine compression ratio so that more dense air can deliver to the turbo. However, the downside is that lowering the percentage of compression can affect the economy of petrol.
Hence the designer must trade-off some Compression ratio for power and rest for the economy.
A variable compression ratio engine
The main characteristic of the engine is to use a compression ratio of 14 at the lower throttle and low speeds while cruising. So you can achieve the highest fuel economy. The compression ratio of the cylinder falls to about 8:1 during acceleration or high-velocity acceleration, this is also the case when the turbo kicks in. Turbo, therefore, rams more air into the engine, making it more powerful.
Infiniti patented such systems at the end of 2001. It is also possible to operate the VC-T (Variable Compression Turbo) motor on Atkinson cycles.
Currently, the VC-Turbo engine is paired in INFINITI QX50, a luxury compact SUV that can rival the likes of Lexus NX, Volvo XC40 and Mercedes Benz GLC.
"It's currently one of the most affordable premium mid-sized SUV in the market right now" - Julian Kho, Editor of sgCarMart.
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Jaguar has published the onboard video of its recent record-breaking XE SV Project 8 Nurburgring lap.
With a lap record of 7 minutes and 18.361 seconds, the XE SV Project 8 is still the world’s fastest four-door production car around the Naordschleife, improving its own time by 2.9 seconds and making it 7 seconds faster than the second-best rival.
Driven by Belgian racing driver Vincent Radermecker, the car is no track special and is a production-specced car. With the help of some new sticky Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R tyres and the Track Pack, Radermecker manages to do better than its previous lap record.
Other than the Track Pack that removes the rear seats in favor of a roll cage, the car also had its adjustable suspension set to its ‘track’ ride height and the front splitter and rear wing set to their maximum downforce position for the lap record attempt.
Thanks to its supercharged 5.0-litre V8, the 592bhp car can do the century sprint in 3.3 seconds and hit a maximum speed of 320km/h.
Porsche says its Taycan can do 30 consecutive launches with no issues
Here are some more updates for fans of the BMW M3. BMW M boss Markus Flasch has confirmed that the car will have the same new S58 engine that the German company is using in its X3 M and X4 M.
According to Car Magazine, this would mean that the sports sedan would have 473bhp in the standard model and 503 hp in the Competition variant thanks to a 3.0-litre turbocharged six-cylinder engine.
Compared to its most obvious rival, the Mercedes-AMG C63 and the C63 S variant, they both have similar power figures with the C63 pushing out 469bhp while the S variant outputs 503bhp.
That said, the M3's torque figures still aren't a match as the C63 S variant has an impressive 700Nm while the M3 Competition variant 'makes do' with 599Nm.
Other than the all-wheel drive drivetrain that has been mentioned some time back, Flasch also mentioned that they "will also do rear-wheel drive cars, purer [editions] ones and have a manual stick shift.”
The French outfit has reached the four-figure horsepower mark for its Formula 1 car in qualifying trim.
As reported by Auto Motor und Sport, Renault engine head Remi Taffin revealed that his company is able to produce more than 1,000bhp in specific circumstances
“There are only certain performance peaks in qualifying,” he said. “We can not always get that performance. It depends on many factors. For example, the distance and the outside temperatures.”
Interesting, Renault is keen to announce how much horsepower its 1.6-litre turbocharged V6 hybrid powertrain can make unlike Mercedes or Ferrari, which aren’t so forthcoming and won’t disclose how much their own engines put out.
While it is not clear if the other teams actually have more power than Renault or not, power is not everything as Renault is still lagging behind the likes of Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull Racing with its results.
The president of the FIA, Jean Todt, has revealed that Michael Schumacher is making good progress in his recovery. The champion had a near-fatal skiing accident in 2013.
This is a surprising news as Schumacher's family has been very private about his health updates. However, The Sun, revealed that Todt often visits Schumacher and watched the recent German Grand Prix with him on TV.
“I’m always careful with such statements, but it’s true. I saw the race together with Michael Schumacher at his home in Switzerland,” Todt said. “Michael is in the best hands and is well looked after in his house. He does not give up and keeps fighting.”
Sadly, Todt revealed that Schumacher has problems communicating with him.
“His family is fighting just as much and of course our friendship cannot be the same as it once was. Just because there’s no longer the same communication as before. He continues to fight. And his family is fighting the same way.”
Unfortunate news for the fans of Mercedes-AMG's intoxicating exhaust note. The German company has admitted that its future performance cars won’t be as loud as those in the past as noise regulations kick in.
In the article, sound regulations in Europe make sure that the car's exhaust sound output is measured in its loudest setting, rendering exhaust systems that have switchable butterfly valves not much of a use.
As reported by Motoring, the head of Product Planning for the smaller AMG cars, Bastian Bogenschutz, said that cars sold outside Europe will also come with the same restrictions.
“It’s coming from the European regulations. We can [design specific exhausts] but it’s too expensive for every market to do it, it’s pretty difficult,” Bogenschutz explained.
To counter that, Bogenschutz said that Mercedes-AMG have to rely on sound enhancement systems that channel exhaust sound into the cabin.
“The regulations were getting pretty difficult for the sound to just come from the exhaust system. So we added the AMG pure performance sound, there we take the real sound from the exhaust system, the pulsation of the real sound and move it inside the car. It works together with the exhaust system.”
With a a drag coefficient of 0.29 and a frontal area of only 2.13 square metres, the new Opel Corsa is the most aerodynamic car in its segment.
In its sixth-generation, the supermini has a frontal area that is significantly smaller than its predecessor’s, allowing the new car to improve its fuel consumption and emissions to new levels.
Things that helped achieve the those impressive drag coefficient numbers include the use of an flat underbody panel that covers the engine compartment to the rear axle and a roof spoiler which improves airflow and reduces drag-inducing turbulence. The aforementioned spoiler has also been worked on to cut aerodynamic lift on the rear axle, thereby improving high speed stability on the Autobahn.
Last but not least, the Corsa has also been equipped with an active grille shutter that is usually seen on more expensive cars from higher segments. When the engine is cooled sufficiently enough, the front grill closes which in turn redirects airflow around the front of the vehicle and down the sides, rather than through the engine compartment. The decision to open or close the shutter is made automatically, depending on engine coolant temperature and speed.
General Motors has fitted the new Corvette with a brake-by-wire system that allows its owners to adjust the braking feel according to their moods.
Making use of a brake-by-wire system, this setup has allowed engineers to combine the braking master cylinder, vacuum booster, vacuum pump, and electronic brake control module into one single unit, thereby also allowing them to tune the amount of braking force needed to be applied on the pedal when stopping the car.
According to its press materials, the drivers have a choice of three different modes, Tour, Sport and Track. In Tour mode, drivers will not need to apply a lot of force to stop the car and will have a comfortable brake feel for everyday driving. Sport will give a more immediate and stronger-biting feel while in Track, the braking will be more linear while still having an aggressive feel at the limit to allow drivers to trail-brake during hard driving.
That said, the Corvette is not the first nor only car to have such a feature. BMW's M8 is touted to have such a similarly advance braking system.
Kia Motors U.K. has decided to save a pre-production homologation Stinger GT S from the scrapyard and turned it into a 422bhp 'track day monster' instead.
So why did the company decide to save this particular unit? As it turns out, this was actual car used for final testing and tuning in the U.K., as well as being a press car that appeared in many U.K. car magazines and TV shows such as Top Gear and The Grand Tour. Impressed by the car’s pedigree and the fact that it had clocked up an impressive (for a homologation vehicle) 16,093 km, Kia UK decided to turn it into a track car.
With the help of Hyundai Motor Europe Technical Centre, they worked on the Stinger420's 3.3-litre turbocharged V6 by adding HKS M45il spark plugs for enhanced combustion, a K&N sports air filter, and a lightweight Milltek Sport quad-exit exhaust system with catalysts deleted and so on. It power output now stands at 422bhp and 560Nm of torque, up from 365bhp and 510Nm.
Drivetrain wise, the gearbox was also treated with a six-row cooler in place of a four-row item to prevent overheating on the track. Additionally, the gearbox software was recalibrated to provide quicker shifting characteristic in Sport and Sport+ modes.
Being a track car also meant that all unnecessary weight-adding stuff thrown out of the car including the seats and belts, airbags, sound system, interior trim, and rear window regulators, engine cover, undercovers, parking sensors, boot and bonnet dampers, and rear bumper beam and foam were also taken out. Adding on, the rear windows were glued into place and lightweight door cards were installed.
After the sunroof was removed and replaced by a steel panel, the total weight savings amounted to 150kg. The savings does include the installation of the roll cage, Sparco race seats, belts, fire extinguisher, and underbody stiffening.
Handling wise, the guys Eibach Pro lowering springs and anti-roll bars, wider OZ Racing Leggera rims shod with Pirelli Trofeo R tires (235/35/R19 at the front and 265/30/R19 at the rear), and uprated Brembo front brakes.
Lastly, to make it look faster, a Stillen front splitter and rear diffuser plus a rear spoiler by Air Design was installed.
Thankfully, BMW has confirmed that its upcoming M3 sedan and M4 coupe will be available with a manual transmission.
As reported by BMW Blog and Carscoops, BMW M Chief Executive Markus Flasch announced the news when he was asked in an interview whether or not there will be any surprises for BMW fans with the new M3 and M4.
It’s a bit early to disclose all the details but something I want to highlight is that we will have a manual stick shift,” he said. “We have already disclosed we will have the option of four-wheel drive. We’ve not decided which variant, which system, but everything that’s on our current lineup; think of the M5; can be made available. The M3 and M4, I’ve driven the pre-production cars already and they’re fantastic.”
Flaschadded on, “Manual is very important. The manual stick shift is not a performance-bringer, because an automatic transmission is just faster, you can ask any race driver,” he said. “But it gives the vehicle character and I kind of compare it to people who love mechanical watches; it isn’t more precise and it doesn’t have any advantage at all but it’s a character feature. So is a stick shift.”
There is no confirmation on whether the M3/4's all-wheel drive system will have a rear-wheel drive mode like the M5, but we would be surprised if it didn't.
We know Mazda has said that it will not be producing any rotary-engined sports car but once again, Mazda is teasing us with these RX-8 mules.
These prototypes were spotted at the Nurburgring undergoing tests, with one painted blue while the other is finished in black and wears the RS trim bodykit. Interestingly, the blue unit features a piece of black and white camouflage across its front fascia which is odd to say the least. Both also sounded different from each other as they went past the camera.
Without any info on what is happening, we can only guess that Mazda might just be testing the rotary engines that are meant to work with the electric motors in a future vehicle...
Following the likes of Milltek Sport and HKS, Akrapovic has launched its own exhaust system for the new Toyota Supra.
According to the exhaust company, the entire system is made from lightweight titanium, meaning after extended period of use, the tailpipes will likely turn into a violet-blue hue as the heat of the exhaust react with titanium. It is not known how much lighter the system is compared to the stock set up. Of course, with a freer-flowing exhaust, power output is also expected to be increased.
As an option, the exhaust system can also be fitted with an optional Sound Kit which will allow drivers to adjust the volume of the sound on the fly.
For those who want to make even more power, adding the company's stainless steel Evolution link pipe set might free up some more horse.
