MINI Challenge cars are very, very cool. Take one road-going JCW hardtop, rip its guts out and turn it into a bona fide racecar. Do that a few times over and put them all on a track and you have a recipe for fun and rubbing doors.
The 3rd-gen MINI Challenge car is ready to terrorise circuits around England. We trust you’ll enjoy this video brought to us by Xcar.
Mazda has just thrown the keys to a base model pre-production MX-5 to a handful of motoring journos. The MX-5 is never going to win any horsepower wars and the test cars have been powered by a 1.5 litre/130hp normally aspirated engine which eschews the car’s raison d’être.
The MX-5 is about being nimble, basic and a hoot to drive. This fourth-gen iteration is smaller than its three brethren and weighs just 1000kg. So has Mazda put it all together and nailed its brief? Watch the clips below to find out.
[Thanks to Wayne for the tip]
Chris Harris and mates at Portimao with his favourite cars from 2014. There’s no agenda, no forced result to pick a winning car. It’s simply a recipe for fun. Enjoy!
[Thanks to Richard for the tip]
Someone at McLaren has forced Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso to play it up on camera for a pre-season promo. At least we hope they were forced to take part in this Back to the Future spoof.
It’s a bit of harmless fun, of course, and let’s hope the McLaren-Honda partnership is more than a nostalgic memory. Also worth noting the black and silver clothing worn by the leading men.
We’re about to see a whole bunch of reveals from F1 teams as they get ready for the opening pre-season test at Jerez on 1 February. McLaren-Honda will reveal their new car on 29 January and have started to pull at the heart strings with this promo.
And, yes, a retro-imspired red and white delivery would be the duck’s guts!
[Thanks to Wes for the tip]
Sebastien Loeb may well be the best rally driver the world has ever seen, but we reckon Francois Delecour is the coolest rally driver to ever grace the gravel, tarmac and ice.
His manner seems to make you think he just doesn’t give a f#@k, but when he’s behind the wheel he gets the job done.
Below you can see the 52-year-old at the wheel of the Tuthill Porsche 911 RGT in preparation for this weekend’s Rallye Monte Carlo.
[Thanks to Chris for the tip]
To know the Tuthill Porsche is to love the Tuthill Porsche. Take one off the shelf 997 911 GT3 Cup car and adapt it to perform on the world rally stage in the RGT class and, well, what’s not to love?!
In the eyes of Chris Harris he couldn’t find anything to dislike. The best car he drove in 2014 he reckons. Watch the clip below to see why.
[Thanks to Tim for the tip]
Honda, or more accurately Acura, has taken the covers off the production-ready NSX. It’s sharp, refined and looks pretty good, we think.
While we have new pictures giving us a good look at the latest “new sports experience” from the boffins at Honda we can’t bring you a lot of technical detail.
Power from the twin-turbo 75° mid-mounted V6 engine? No.*
Power from the independent electric motors driving the front wheels? No.
We can tell you the NSX has a 9-speed dual clutch transmission. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9 gears. Overkill perhaps?
The Sport Hybrid system—which has three electric motors in all, two at the front, one mounted between the engine and transmission—uses its electric power to provide “zero delay” launch performance. We don’t know how fast yet, but this is going to be a fast car. It will handle well and it will reset benchmarks from what you can expect from the iconic NSX nameplate.
The new NSX will be assembled at a dedicated plant in Marysville, Ohio by 100 specially trained workers. Production commences in the third quarter of 2015 with initial deliveries before the year is out.
We’d like to know more about this car and we’re guessing you would too. For now, you’ve got everything we can get our hands on waiting for you after the break.
*We’ve been told total power is beyond 550hp/410kW during the car’s presentation at Detroit, which you can see in the videos below.
If you’re missing Formula 1 action during the off season here’s video from the Hungarian Grand Prix that will allow you to cram in four times the action in one go.
Starting from top right and moving in a clockwise direction we’ve got Jenson Button, Nico Rosberg, Sergio Perez and Marcus Ericsson. The footage was filmed during qualifying and it’s no surprise to see who was fastest.
[via WTF1]
The Ferrari 458 Italia is a pretty quick car, right. In a straight out drag race there’s not many cars that can beat it. Surely a miserly four-door Tesla Model S can’t do it?
Well, off the line, yes, it can. And by some margin. This is thanks to the Tesla’s near-instant torque and all-wheel drive grip.
And the Tesla’s not just happy hosing Ferraris off the line either. See below for more.
[Thanks to John for the tip]
Due to the recent inactivity on AUSmotive it’s clear we’ve been having fun and enjoying the festive season. Thankfully, our good pals Nik and Richard from Bad Obsession Motorsport have been working their arses off to bring you a new episode of Project Binky for your enjoyment.
And it’s another ball-tearering episode too. Yep, a real rip snorter. You’ll be wowed by door details, panel gaps and a downright clever removeable front-end. Remarkable stuff, as always.
Let’s hope the lads find some time to enjoy a well-earned rest.
For those about to ute, he salutes you!
Earlier this year Chris Harris took some time off and came to Australia. Turns out he got himself a little bit of play time at the wheel of a 430kW/740Nm HSV GTS Maloo while he was here. All that power being sent to an unladen pair of rear wheels, an empty race track, what do you think happened next?
And Chris, for next time, a male sheep is called a ram. Of course, he would be a wether if his ghoulies had been snipped.
[Thanks to Stu for the tip]