Aston Martin has pulled back the sheets on the first images of its production V12 Zagato. The road car is headed for an official debut at this year’s Geneva Motor Show in March.
Following in the tradition of the automaker’s ultra-exclusive One-77, the V12 Zagato will take more than 2,000 man-hours to manufacture thanks to hand-hewn body panels, including the hood, roof and doors. Not surprisingly, Aston Martin has committed to building just 150 examples. The V12 Zagato will also make extensive use of carbon fiber, with the front and rear fenders, trunk lid and door sills all constructed from the composite.
It’s been almost a year since we last wrote about the BMW i8 being winter-tested and here it is again — this time in production prototype form — doing donuts (!) in the snow. This plug-in gasoline electric hybrid vehicle started life as the Vision EfficientDynamics, promising sub five-second 0 – 60mph times while still achieving an impressive 87mpg (2.7 liters per 100km). We last saw the i8 concept at the Frankfurt Motor Show but the sporty coupé with the funky gullwing-like doors isn’t expected in BMW showrooms until sometime in 2014. So for now just sit back, relax and check out the video above.
Always wanted to buy a Nissan GTR R35 but banned by the missus due to it being only 2-doors? Well too bad Nissan said their Juke-R35 is only a non-production fun project. But what if we have a four door sedan with the powerful 3.8-litre twin-turbocharged VR38DETT V6 engine as the heart?
Well here it is dear gentlemen, and of course our lovely petrol-head ladies all over the world. Let me introduce you to the dream sedan of many, the four-door Nissan GTR-R35. Of course, this beauty started life as a Nissan Teana.
If only they had used the original JDM rims. Those deep dish VIP style rims with low profile tyres totally spoil the beauty of this thing.
It’s not every day that Ferrari unveils a new model. And most of the time, when it does, it’s a variant of an existing one. But when the doors open at the Geneva Motor Show next month, word has it that the House that Enzo Built will be showcasing an all-new front-engined V12 GT to replace the long-serving 599.
Dubbed F620, the all-new supercar is expected to pack a 6.2-liter version of the direct-injection V12 from the FF into an aluminum chassis. Expect the usual smattering of carbon fiber bits, but don’t expect to see the costly material being used for structural components: Ferrari has discounted the application due to its high cost to manufacture and repair. Also off the table for this model is the part-time all-wheel-drive system from the FF, as the F620′s anticipated 700 horsepower will drive the rear wheels through a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox.
Gianpiero Moretti, driver and founder of race equipment manufacturer MOMO, passed away in his home in Milan this month after a lengthy illness. The 71-year-old began making steering wheels in his 20s, eventually translating his business into international success after Ferrari factory driver John Surtees adopted a MOMO wheel in his 158 F1 racing car in 1964. That car went on to carry Surtees to his only Formula One title, but Moretti’s success blossomed. He opened a factory in Verona in 1966 and ran MOMO for three decades before selling it to a larger supplier.
In the interim, Moretti tried his hand at both the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Daytona 24 Hours, campaigning multiple Ferrari and Porsche models but only managing to take the checkered flag once. In 1996, he came within a minute of victory at Daytona, but lost to the Riley & Scott team. Moretti returned in 1998 to seal the deal on his 15th attempt.
Moretti has left behind an indelible mark on the motorsports industry. His humble steering wheel operation grew into a mammoth race supply operation with everything from racing suits to shift knobs and the MOMO brand is synonymous with quality and style even now.
When McLaren released the MP4-12C, there were some questions about the distinctiveness of its styling, but not about whether the engineers at Woking had extracted every bit of performance they could from its 3.8-liter twin-turbo V8 engine. John Hennessey and company, however, think they can do better. That’s why Hennessey Performance Engineering has targeted the 12C for its latest tuning package.
Traditionally, Hennessey usually starts by bolting on a pair of turbos to whatever car it can get its hands on. But McLaren has already done that, so Hennessey has fitted new ones, and along with it, upgraded the intercooler, intake, exhaust, electronic control modules and transmission. It’s also fitted a CarbonAero body kit, new wheels with Michelin Pilot Super Sport rubber and a redone interior swathed in carbon, leather and Alcantara.
The result is 800 horsepower, up from 592 stock. What Hennessey hasn’t touched, however, are the MP4-12C’s suspension and brakes, which the Texas-based tuner didn’t feel it could improve upon. Whether the rest is advisable is up for debate, but that’s never stopped the Texas tuner, should any McLaren owners inexplicably feel their 12C is just too slow.
It was hinted not long ago that Lamborghini would be bringing a couple of brand new baubles to the Geneva Motor Show. Speculation was that one would certainly be the Aventador Roadster, but the other was more difficult to predict – the standard cries being a production version of the Sesto Elemento, a new sedan or a crossover. Well, we still can’t be sure what else is coming to Geneva, but if the magazine scan at the Teamspeed forum can be believed – it comes from Italian mag Quattroroute – a new crossover will be heading our way shortly after the Switzerland expo.
According to the article, Lamborghini will be getting an SUV based on the Audi Q7 platform (just like sister-brand Bentley is expected to do), and it will be revealed at the Beijing Auto Show in April. The ostensible codename is LB 736, and while the official engine spec hasn’t been nailed down just yet, we hear it’ll be a V10 or electrically assisted V8 with somewhere around 700 horsepower.
The body is reportedly standard Lamborghini-issue aluminum and carbon fiber, with aims of a curb weight under 2,000 kilograms (4,400 pounds), and the completed project will go on sale in 2015. There’s a suggestion that it might also come to Geneva instead of Beijing, but since the image is a Photoshop – and, frankly, most of this is speculation – don’t be suprised if what we see now is not exactly what we ultimately get… whenever it debuts.
Starting in 2013, Audi AG will use Nvidia’s quad-core Tegra 3 to power its new Visual Computing Modules (VCM). Designed specifically for automotive applications, these modules are computer subsystems that come equipped with the Nvidia SoCs, memory and I/O controllers crammed onto a 3 x 3-inch automotive-grade board.
According to Nvidia, the VCMs will be utilized by in-vehicle infotainment systems as well as digital instrument clusters — the latter of which will replace traditional dashboard gauges — across Audi’s full line of vehicles worldwide. By utilizing VCMs, Audi will be able to quickly and easily incorporate the newest Tegra visual computing technologies into their vehicles.
“The tight integration of these systems with the vehicle, as well as their simple user-interface and realistic graphics, will enable safer, more intuitive driving by providing critical information that can be easily understood with a quick glance,” Nvidia said on Wednesday.
The partnership was first revealed this week during Audi’s press conference at CES 2012. Ricky Hudi, head of Audi’s electrics/electronics development, indicated that the Tegra 3′s low-power requirement was one of its key attractions. He also said the SoC’s secret fifth core will enable cars to sync data like music, weather forecasts and map destinations when the engine is actually switched off.
“Audi stands for progressive luxury and our new aim is to adopt the benchmarks of consumer electronics,” Hudi said.
Psychology researchers at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management in Illinois have discovered a funny thing about podium finishers. Often, the happiest person on stage is the one with the bronze medal around his or her neck. Despite having missed first place by two spots, competitors on the lowest rung of the podium tend to find themselves deep in the throes of counterfactual thinking. They aren’t focused on how close they were to winning an event; instead, the third-place competitors are thinking about just how close they came to missing the podium entirely.
That may help explain why Lucas Ordonez, Jordan Tresson, Bryan Heitkotter and Jann Mardenborough are so thrilled at the moment. The four drivers helped bring RJN Motorsport a third-place finish at the recent 24 Hours of Dubai. That’s no small feat for any professional race team, which makes the win even more unbelievable. The four drivers aren’t pros in the normal sense. Each driver started his career behind a controller as part of the Nissan Playstation GT Academy.
Heikotter and Mardenborough had less than a year to transform themselves from gamers to racers. The two won the most recent GT Academy competitions in the U.S. and Europe, respectively.
Last year at IFA, we witness a preview of the beta version of Gracenote’s MoodGrid, an Android tablet app that automatically creates a music playlist using a 10×10 grid with Positive, Energentic, Calm and Dark criteria placed on each axis. Select a place on the graph and it automatically creates a playlist based on your mood. Now, the app has been scaled down and ported into a Garmin head unit, which means MoodGrid could be coming to a major OEM as soon as sometime this year.
As shown at CES, the updated MoodGrid app has been halved, with a five-by-five display with the same four musical dispositions. Based on where you place the dot, it dials up the tunes to suit your mood, utilizing the tracks on your iPhone, iPod or Android device. Another tablet-based version was on hand that can also tap into subscription music services like Spotify, Rdio and MOG, making music discovery even more robust. Check out our brief hands-on video after the break.
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