After igniting the war with the first iteration of the 350hp naturally aspirated E55 AMG, upping the game from the first BMW M5s, Mercedes-Benz’s in-house tuning arm, AMG, has decided to turn with the tide and call an end to the horsepower wars, with the division boss Volker Mornhinweg saying, “We are going to use other ways to extract better performance, including weight saving, engine optimization and alternative technologies.”
So how are they going to keep from sullying the good name of AMG? Getting the most out of the least. AMG is going to do that by losing weight, installing tech like the SL63 AMG’s wet clutch gearbox on the coming E63 AMG, and possibly re-engineering Mercedes’ diesel, hybrid, and four-cylinder engines for AMG duty.
One of the best parts about BBC’s show Top Gear is trying to figure out Who is “The Stig?” Well, It turns out it’s Ben Collins! But who is Ben Collins you ask? And, how was he outed at an art gallery?
For starters, Ben Collins is one of those guys who’s work you’ve seen, but face you haven’t. (ahem, like the stig.) For one, he was Daniel Craig’s stunt double from the recent 007 movie, Quantum of Solace. But are we sure Ben Collins is really the stig? Well, it seems Collins revealed his secret identity to a Bristol art gallery owner in order to commission an artwork commemorating his exploits on Top Gear. In 2002, Perry McCarthy revealed he was the black Stig, prompting his firing from the series. It’s believed that Collins could now suffer a similar fate. Read the rest of this entry »
At the 2009 Detroit Auto Show, Audi unveiled the much anticipated V10 variant of their R8 Supercar. And what a huge veil it had to be in order to contain the new 517HP V10 shoehorned into the Porsche 911 killer. Specs on the Audi R8 5.2 FSI are a 0-60 time in 3.9 seconds, and nearly 200 MPH and she looks damn good in black red to boot.
As the big daddy to the 4.2-liter V8 R8, the V10 makes 105 more Hp, uses a different set of air intakes and different rear features. And for those who are aware that there’s more to life than horsepower, don’t worry, the new Audi V10 R8 also develops 395 Lb-Ft of torque, 78 more than the v8.
So who really needs to hear about the details of the upcoming Fast and Furious movie? Especially with such a high-octane trailer for the 4 film in the series reminding us the plot is just there to get us from one tire-squealing explosion to another.
When Fast And Furious 4 is released on April 3, 2009 expect legions of teenagers amped up about wildly painted cars and shirtless guys. while we weren’t the biggest fans of the last 2 movies, the combination of the series’ best characters, Vin Diesel’s Dom Toretto and Paul Walker’s Brian O’Connor, with the arguably the best director, Justin Lin of Tokyo Drift, could be a winning combination for the franchise.
The 2009 Mercedes BenzMcLaren SLR Stirling Moss has just been unveiled here at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show, and with only 75 copies of the $1.01 Million boutique supercar being produced, it’s a fitting start for the 2009 Detroit Auto Show.
The SLR Stirling Moss acts as the finale for the SLR supercar, and, of course, a tribute to one of histories greatest race car drivers. In the Stirling Moss variant, McLaren has boiled the driving experience down to its rawest form — a carbon fiber chassis, completely exposed to the elements, at one with the wind in your face, breathing in the smell of the side-exit exhaust pounding from the 650-hp supercharged 5.5-liter V8. Read the rest of this entry »
