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Toyota will introduce its TRD performance accessories for 86 in Paris
PetrolHead posted a blog entry in MyAutoBlog
While Borneo Motors have been retailing TRD performance parts for its Toyota range since June, Toyota will hold a premiere during the Paris motor show at the end of the month for the European release. TRD, an acronym for Toyota Racing Development, has been developing tuning parts for Toyota automobiles in Japan for more than 50 years, and soon will be available throughout Europe for the first time. In Paris, a GT86 (as its called there) fitted with select parts will highlight the exterior, interior and mechanical components that are available. The TRD parts will not be grouped into packages will be sold individually. On the outside, the TRD range spans a number of aero parts such as a front spoiler, side skirts, a rear trunk and under spoiler. They can be finished in either white and partial black, all black, or an unpainted, primer finish. Other available options are a metallic silver fuel filler cap, a stainless steel rear diffuser set and a choice of two, TRD 18-inch alloy wheels. Inside, TRD offers a center console-mounted button ignition, and a leather trimmed gear knob. Performance upgrades includes full-length ride adjustment shock absorber and spring suspension set among others. Braking can also be improved with a Monoblock Brake Kit that -
German tuners TC Concepts have laid their hands on the well received 458 Italia. The project has been dubbed 'General Consul' for unknown reasons. The latest tuning company to play with the 458 Italia, the General Consul kit starts with a Novitec body kit adding a front and rear spoiler, side skirts, front fender vents among other extras. The Novitec kit also increases the output to 609bhp. TC Concepts has basically darkened out the rear lamps and colour-keyed he prancing horse emblems. The car is mainly finished in a bumblebee friendly yellow and black which also continues in the cabin. Throw in a couple of ComfortDelgro logos and it will blend in well with the local cab population. The extended carbon front flaps looks like the 458 has been given a thin moustache and from reminds me of the Joker's scars from The Dark Knight. Like the 'yellow ring' they have added to the rims and the black as night emblem on a yellow background just looks sinister. Looks like a car fit for the Yellow Lanterns then. They are after all fuelled by fear.
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These are the first official photos of the 208 GTi before its world premiere at the Paris Motor Show on 27 September 2012. Subtle exterior updates includes a revised front grille, black rear diffuser that houses four trapezoid tail pipes, LED headlights and red GTI logo on the C-pillar. "The 208 was an excellent base for developing a sports hatchback," commented Marie Beaumont, 208 GTi Dynamics Manager. "We have worked with particular attention on the steering response, the chassis dynamics and the rigidity of the suspension. The 208 GTi successfully combines performance, safety and driving pleasure." The 208 GTI will be powered by a familiar 1.6-litre turbocharged
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While the term 'Gentleman's Racer' might sound like an oxymoron, that's exactly what the MC Stradale is. Maserati's edgiest drive is hardcore yet still perfectly chivalrous around town. When a car maker announces that they will be making a road-legal racecar, everyone sits up and listens. So it was with Maserati, when news of a stripped out, hardcore version of the GranTurismo was underway, the world (myself included) waited in anticipation to see what this manic italian beast was going to be like. Well here I am, strapped in by a 4-point harness onto light-weight carbon fibre seats, surrounded by racy blue alcantara, shifting gear upon gear in lightning speed (0.06 seconds to be exact), and accelerating into license-revoking speeds. But it's not the speed - blindingly quick it may be - that has got the hair at the back of my neck standing, but rather, it's the glorious symphony of camshafts, pistons and the combustion of compressed air that has got me all fired up! If you thought that the 'ordinary' Maserati GranTurismo was loud, this car is dialled up to eleven (going on twelve)! The sound of this thing is simply orgasmic, it is a good enough reason to go out and get one. This 'thing', is none other than the Maserati GranTurismo MC Stradale. Let's start with what this car doesn't have. Rear seats for one. The absence of rear seats contribute to the total weight reduction of 110kg, it also makes the MC Stradale the only two-seater in the current Maserati range. The use of carbon fibre (gorgeous) seats also help reduce weight. Now let's talk about what it has. The MC Stradale generates 10bhp more from the 4.7-litre V8 engine than the GranTurismo S. Torque is also up with a further 20Nm improvement at 510Nm. This allows the car to accelerate from nought to 100 km/h in 4.6 seconds, all the way to a 300 km/h top speed. Let this be official - this car is FAST! Maybe it's the sound that enhances the sense of speed, but the MC Stradale accelerates angrily through every gear and every rev input given. And it looks quick too, with a new front splitter, sleek bumper with a lower chin, vented bonnet, and even a new rear bumper, the hard-edged nature of the MC Stradale comes through perfectly. Sexy carbon fibre seats covered is racy blue alcantara leather adorn the interior. It may be a little loud for some, but I felt right at home. The brilliant thing about the seats is how they manage to be comfortable and grippy at the same time. The 4-point harness and roll-cage are not mandatory, standard issue is the regular 3-point seat belts. But if you're going to buy a car like that, please go for broke and get the full works. The 4-point belts even have the seat belt safety sensor. How cool is that? With advanced electronics, shift times from the upgraded MC Race Shift electro-actuated transaxle gearbox have been shaved to a mere 60 milliseconds. This is only possible in Race mode, in this mode, the exhaust valves open permanently and the already superb song this car sings becomes a No. 1 billboard chart hit! On the note of drive modes, three are available, Auto, Sport and Race, the latter is only found in this exceptional car. One thing I wished Race mode did as well was tweak the suspension - the car is just too soft. Which brings me to my point of this being a gentleman's racer. It's quite amazing how it can be so ferocious, yet it is really stress-free to drive. The trade-off is that the car won't satisfy hot-blooded trackies. Point the car into a corner and there is some apparent roll, but keep the steering input steady and the line will still hold, but the pitching doesn't inspire confidence. So with a charismatic engine like this, the driver is best left to cruise and mess around with the gears just to hear the snarling symphony of the revs going up and down. Is it worth it? I say with all my heart, YES! At approx S$500K, this awesome machine undercuts other exotic cars by a few hundred thousand quid! With other racy upgrades like Brembo carbon-ceramic brakes, custom-developed Pirelli tyres, bespoke light-weight 20" wheels as standard, the Maserati GranTurismo MC Stradale is a well equipped exotic that looks good, sounds great, goes fast and most importantly, allows the driver to do all this with much ease.
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Mazda UK used an MX-5 for competition in the Avon Tyres British GT Championship and the MX-5 takes on established GT cars from Lotus and Aston Martin. A race at Brands Hatch in the month of June brought the first podium finish (third place) for the team and in August, the team won second place in another race. Following the success of the Mazda MX-5 GT4 race car in the Avon Tyres British GT Championship, Mazda UK and Jota Sport will be building customer MX-5 GT4 race cars to order for use in the 2013 season. The Mazda MX-5 GT4 is built by Jota Sport costs around
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[extract] With the recent launch of the next generation Mercedes Benz A-Class (pictured above), Mercedes Benz is serious in getting into the luxury hatchback market segment and the German automaker
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The new Continental GT Speed is the fastest road-car to exit Bentley's factory in Crewe, U.K. and if you have the cash, place your orders with deliveries expected to start from October 2012. Bentley has released the full technical details for its new performance flagship, the Continental GT Speed that reaches a top speed of 330 km/h with power sent to all four wheels (60:40; rear biased). It will debut at the upcoming Moscow Motor Show on the 29th August. Pretty apt location for a luxury car. The GT Speed is powered by a monstrous 6.0-litre twin-turbo W12, developing 616bhp and 800Nm of torque. All the power is mated to a new ZF eight-speed close-ratio automatic transmission featuring
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[extract] Late last year, Nissan made an announcement that they will release a range of performance models which will be developed together with the company
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Talk about a Formula 1 car for the road, and I get instantly reminded of the Caparo T1. I mean it was designed by F1 designers and it does, mostly look like an F1 racer. Have you ever wondered what could be the end result if an F1 car got mashed together with a F-22 fighter jet? Well the Spanish have the answer. Meet the Advanced Design Tramontana, a car that weighs around, 1224kg, which feels a little heavy considering that it contains alot of carbon fiber and magnesium. Powering this road plane is 5.5-litre twin-turbo V12 sourced from Mercedes-Benz which is good for 750bhp and 1098Nm of torque. All that power moves the rear wheels through a six-speed gearbox. Now there is a newer faster version, the a.d. Tramontana XTR. The Spanish manufacturer has released a couple of renderings, besides info that the XTR will be powered by a new 5.5-litre twin-turbo V12 with 888bhp and 678 pound-feet of torque. A new "ultra-rapid competition gearbox," is rumoured to be installed as well. The mid-engined, rear-driven XTR has an enhanced appearance, and will be yours for 420,000 euros. Only a dozen units are expected to be built per year. Picture credit: Autoblog
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A tweaked Ariel Atom has enough power to tear your face
PetrolHead posted a blog entry in MyAutoBlog
Ariel Atom's are fun little stripped-down machines that are also crazy fast. Combining supercar performance in a go-kart package one can wonder how much power can it hold. I've got the answer. Ready? 700bhp. A tuning outfit known as DDMWorks from South Carolina, USA are the proud creators of this rocket. Adding both a turbo and supercharger, the engine has been heavily modified with better mid sleeves, ceramic-coated pistons, improved rods and ARP hardware. DDMWorks also installed new 275mm wide tyres for the rear and custom 17x9 wheels. Weighing only 657kg, but harnessing massive amounts of power; the power to weight ratio of this car is crazy, coming in at 2.07 lbs (1kg) per bhp which is much lower than most supercars including the Zeus of supercars -the Bugatti Veyron. Ok its time to put your jaw back in place now. -
The BMW 6 series Grand Coupe gets perfected by AC Schnitzer
PetrolHead posted a blog entry in MyAutoBlog
[extract] Brabus or ABT Sportsline tuners of BMW, AC Schnitzer have laid their hands on the new BMW 6-series Gran Coupe, BMW -
Mercedes has finally announced details on the top-of-the range CLS Shooting Brake model, the 63 AMG. Like the saloon version, the CLS 63 AMG Shooting Brake is powered by a 5.5-litre V8 bi-turbo engine that churns out 518bhp at 5,250 rpm with 700Nm of torque between 1,750 to 5,250 rpm. Century sprint time is quoted at 4.4 seconds. For those who hungers for more power, Mercedes offers the 'Edition 1' Performance Package that boost output to 550bhp and 800Nm, allowing the car to shave off 0.1 seconds in the 0-100km/h timing. The top speed of both the regular and the 'Edition 1' variants are electronically limited to 250 km/h. Power is transmitted to the rear wheels via an AMG SPEEDSHIFT MCT 7-speed sports transmission with four driving modes - Controlled Efficiency, Sport, Sport Plus and Manual. Power is nothing without control. The CLS 63 AMG comes fitted with a high-performance braking system with 360 mm ventilated and perforated brake discs all-round with an optional ceramic high-performance composite braking system that comes equipped with enlarged brake discs. Mercedes engineers also fitted the supercar with an AMG Ride Control sports suspension that comes with steel suspension struts on the front axle and air suspension struts on the rear axle. The system also comes with automatic level control and an electronically controlled damping system with either Comfort, Sport or Sport Plus mode. According to the German automaker, market launches of the CLS 63 AMG Shooting Brake and the CLS 63 AMG Shooting Brake "Edition 1" will begin in October 2012.
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[extract] The Toyota 86 is one of the most anticipated sports cars that came out from Japan in the past few years. But as soon as it was released, many complained about the lack of power and wanted more out of it. It seems that these clamouring have not gone unnoticed because Toyota will display a much more powerful 86 at the 2012 Goodwood Festival of Speed. Toyota will bring two special versions of the Toyota 86 at this year
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[extract] Many of us would know that the Nissan R35 GT-R is one fast automotive machine and ever since its release a few years ago, many tuning company or individuals have tried making it more powerful and faster. The guys at AMS Performance have refined the Godzilla and it is not for the faint hearted. The car you see here is the AMS Alpha 12 GT-R. It is one of the fastest R35 GTR that AMS Performance has ever built and even though they have the Alpha Omega GT-R which is said to be faster but let
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[extract] The management at McLaren could have felt embarrassed by the fact that their supercar, the MP4-12C, got trashed by the Lamborghini Aventador in episode 8 of Head-to-Head. Therefore, for the 2013 model year, the British race car maker decides to give the car a series of improvement, with the most significant upgrade being a 25bhp power bump. This brings the twin-turbocharged 3.8-liter V8's total output to a screaming 616bhp, but still fall behind the Aventador
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Mazda unveiled the MX5 Yusho prototype at the 2012 Auto Mobil International Show (AMI) in Leipzig, Germany. Named after the Japanese word for "Victory", the matte white finished sits on 17-inch anthracite grey alloy wheels wrapped by semi-slick 215/45 R17 tires. The prototype sits lower with a boot lid spoiler and a carbon-fiber rear diffuser with twin centre mounted exhausts. Under the bonnet, you can find a supercharged 2.0-litre four cylinder petrol engine, together with an intercooler, special Cosworth pistons and connecting rods. A custom exhaust system, reprogrammed software, fuel injectors, metal sport catalysts are connected to a transmission with a sports clutch. All the above mentioned and rather overhauled powertrain has a maximum output of 237hp and peak torque of 274Nm maxing out at 240km/h. In the cabin, you find a suede-trimmed steering wheel and leather/alcantara finished Recaro sport seats. To be honest we have no idea what is the motive of this prototype as Mazda hasn
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Porsche 911 Club Coupe Special Edition to mark 60th anniversary of the Porsche club
SYF77 posted a blog entry in MyAutoBlog
Porsche has announced a special edition Porsche 911 Club Coupe to mark the 60th anniversary of the Porsche Club. Only 13 units will be built as the number represents the 13 original Porsche drivers who founded the world's first Porsche Clubs in Germany. Out of these 13 units, one will remain with Porsche while the rest will be up for sale. All 13 examples of the 911 Club Coupe are painted in a classic SAF-approved "Brewster Green" hue and rides on 20-inch SportTechno wheels. They feature the standard Sport Design Package that adds a revised front bumper and a 'ducktail' rear spoiler. The interior comes with special decorative trim with lettering individually created for each customer as well as illuminated door entry guards bearing the model designation and anniversary logo. The special edition 911 is equipped with the Carrera S Powerkit that lifts the output by 30bhp to 424bhp. Coupled with the PDK double-clutch transmission, the 911 Club Coupe completes the century sprint in 4.0 seconds. The standard PASM sports suspension allows the driver to drop the 911's ride height by as much as 20mm. The Porsche 911 Club Coupe will make its debut in the Porsche museum for the "60 years of the Porsche Club" special exhibition. Porsche Club members have until 16 July 2012 to register their right to purchase one of these 12 unique vehicles at www.porsche.com/911-club-coupe. With the exception of China and India, the 911 Club Coupe will be offered in all markets. -
[extract] There is no doubt that the name Nismo is synonymous with Nissan
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Those that drive the very staid, sedate and most of the time dull Volkswagen Passat can now pretend their car can race, with the Volkswagen Passat R-Line. This is Volkswagen's answer to those that want a Passat that looks slightly sportier than usual. It also gives current Passat owners and the people who produce those knock-off and cheap body kits how to style their dull family sedan. It gives them hope. A hope that they can look cooler even though they are driving a Passat. Of course, a Passat is still cooler to drive than a MPV. Anyway, the Volkswagen Passat R-Line is a styling exercise that gives that extra Oomph to the Passat. It features new bumpers, side skirts, a bootlid spoiler and a rear diffuser. The R-Line package also includes sports tuned suspension which lowers the Passat by 15mm and 17 inch wheel and tyre combo. The interior gets some extra embellishments - two-tone sport seats, titanium silver trim, stainless steel pedals, sill plates and a flat-bottomed steering wheel. The Passat R-Line tuning package was recently launched in Europe and will make its way to our shores soon enough. Over there, Volkswagen will offer the R-Line package on its Comfortline and Highline variants. It will cost an extra
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In November 2011, Mazda announced the end of the RX-8 with the introduction of a special edition model, limited to 1000 production units. The demand is so high that Mazda decided to make an additional 1000 cars. The Spirit R, which is sold exclusively in Japan, is available in both manual and automatic transmissions. The six-speed manual model is proving to be more popular, accounting for 66 percent of the sales. Color choices are limited to aluminum metallic, sparkling black mica, or crystal white pearl mica. The second round of the Spirit Rs will be similar to the first production run. This means that they will include special features such as Recaro seats, 19-inch alloy wheels with bronze paint, a special aerodynamic kit and a re-tuned suspension with Bilstein dampers. The end of production of the RX-8 also signifies the end of the rotary-powered Mazda for now. Fans of the Renesis rotary engine need not feel sad as Mazda officials have hinted that it may make a comeback in the future. As of the end of March 2012, Mazda has produced a total of 192,094 units of the RX-8 since it went into production in 2003.
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[extract] Ford will unveil the production version of the Focus ST at the upcoming 2012 Beijing Motor Show. Under the
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Tunehouse, tuning company based in Sudney, Australia is one of the first tuning companies that has brought out details on what could be done to the eagerly awaited sports car. And it seems that Tunehouse is going the way of a complete engine change. Details are vague, but it isn't very surprising. Tunehouse (who seem to have upgrade kits for just about every brand sold in Australia) intends to throw away the Subaru BRZ's (seen in stock form right above) normally aspirated 200 of so bhp 2.0liter flat-four and replace it with a 2.6liter Cosworth tuned Subaru flat-four that would be good for over 330bhp. Going the way of the turbocharged engine makes the most sense if you wanted to make serious horsepower. The Cosworth powered engine would have more similarities with the Cosworth tuned Subaru WRX STI or the Litchfield Type 25 WRX STI
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[extract] What
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The triplet siblings of the Toyota 86, Subaru BRZ and Scion FR-S are the most anticipated Japanese sports cars in recent years. Why would I say that? Basically, Toyota has not offered a sports coupe model ever since the early 2000s and this has made JDM lovers more excited over it. Toyota has built desirable sport coupes since the 1960s, from the 2000GT to the Supra, and these cars are sought after by many enthusiasts all around the world. These enthusiasts love them not because of their performance but more on its simplicity and some would swear that these cars handle so sweetly. Enough talk about cars of the past and let us continue on what Toyota and Subaru has in store for the 86 and BRZ. Let
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After ABT Sportsline opened its first showroom in Singapore last year, our neighbours up North showed that they too, have a taste for fast, tuned cars. Reputed German supercar tuner, DMC, has just opened a new outlet in Selangor, Malaysia. As part of its expansion in South East Asia, DMC has appointed ATP Motorsports in Malaysia as its exclusive dealer. The grand opening of the showroom was graced by the presence of Aston Martins, Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Porsches and four Malaysian babes. And in a Chinese community, no grand opening is complete without lion dance for an added dose of good luck. According to a recent research, Asia-Pacific has become the world
