Tag: Nurburgring

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Aston Martin

Stunning Aston Martin V12 Zagato revealed ahead of race debut

Aston Martin V12 Zagato

Wow!

Aston Martin promised a new collaboration with Zagato was coming and now that they’ve delivered we must simply say, “thank you.”

Aston has taken the already stunning V12 Vantage handed it over to Zagato and said, do your thing chaps. And the Italian masters have delivered an absoulte gem, this V12 Zagato is car porn it is purest form.

It has great proportions. It looks aggressive. It looks purposeful. It looks like it was made to race. And that’s exactly what it has been made for. In a little over a week from now the V12 Zagato will make its competition debut in a four-hour VLN race at the Nürburgring. Then, in late June, two of these beauties will be ripping it up on the North Loop during the 24 hour race.

The best part, well for those lucky enough to afford one, the V12 Zagato will be built in limited numbers for the road, as well. No specific details have been given just yet, but Dr Ulrich Bez, Aston Martin CEO has confirmed if you have the cash, they will have the car.

“The task for us has been to create a concept that is a natural successor to those iconic cars that have gone before. Matching the technology of the age with the traditional skills vital to deliver such a bespoke and exclusive sports car will lead to a strictly limited run of road going V12 Zagatos,” explained Dr Bez.

We can’t wait. More pics and material from Aston after the break.

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Ferrari Motorsports

P4/5 Competizione to be diesel powered?

P4/5 Competizione

On the weekend the P4/5 Competizione had its second and final race at the Nürburgring before the 24 hour race in June. James Glickenhaus and his team will continue testing, most likely at the Hungaroring, to finalise their N24 preparations.

Mike Frison, respected Nürburgring blogger, and lately Save the Ring activist, caught up with Glickenhaus at the race and had a good chat. Two of the more notable points to emerge from that discussion were plans to race the P4/5 Competizione at Le Mans and Sebring in future.

Makes sense, really, you put all that money into making a racecar, you probably want to tale it around the world.

However, it was the revelation that Glickenhaus would also like to convert the P4/5 Competizione to run a diesel engine to help improve performance. That’s likely to cause a few disturbances of the force down Ferrari-way.

[Source: Mike Frison | Pic: Facebook]

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Green Machines Peugeot

Peugeot EX1 sets new electric record at the Ring

Peugeot EX1

This crazy looking electric powered Peugeot EX1, complete with 250kW, has set a new lap record on the Nürburgring Nordschleife for an electric powered car. It didn’t hang about, either, posting time of 9:01.338—oh so close to breaking the 9 minute barrier—at an average speed of just over 138km/h for those slow with their calculators.

Stéphane Caillet, from Peugeot’s Research & Development Centre, was the man behind the wheel and we reckon he deserves a big pat on the back. He knocked some 50 seconds off the lap record, previously held by the MINI E.

The official word from Peugeot, plus a brief video clip, can be seen after the break.

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BMW

BMW M Festival in June to debut two models

BMW Concept M5

In an interview on the BMW M-Power website Dominique Gargiulo, head of marketing for M automobiles at BMW GmbH, brings word the upcoming M Festival, to be held during the Nürburgring 24 hour race weekend in late June, will provide a chance for them to show off a couple of new cars.

Gargiulo states, “we will be taking the opportunity to exclusively present two brand-new M automobiles for the very first time – for the enjoyment of our most faithful customers and fans.”

The reveal is scheduled for the Friday evening prior to the race start. Educated speculation leads us to believe the two cars will be a lightweight CSL-inspired M3 EVO saloon and a production-ready M5, which has only been shown in “concept” form to date.

The Nürburgring 24 hour race is already a great landmark on the motoring calendar, and now it looks like there’s even more to look forward to.

[Source: M-Power]

Categories
BMW

BMW 1M Coupé begins to make its mark

BMW 1M Coupe

The highly anticipated BMW 1 Series M Coupé is starting to find its way into the garages of some very chuffed new owners. Australian buyers have to wait until June for their own 1M experience, but those on the waiting list will be encouraged by a couple of stories that have come our way via Bimmerpost.

First 1M story off the rank, so to speak, centres around one very lucky Canadian buyer who took the European Delivery option for his 1M. This is something not generally open to buyers down under and we recommend you put aside some time to read the excited tale of 1addicts poster WLKSFTLY. Well, wouldn’t you want to collect your 1M by having a chat with the M GmbH engineers who helped create the car and then cap it off with a few laps at the Nürburgring if you could?

The Alpine White 1M you see above belongs to a Swedish buyer and he has also been on a tour of sorts, knocking out laps at the Ring, as well as Spa and now Dutch circuit Zandvoort. While in the Netherlands Driving Fun had a crack and wrote a review of the car. Of course, they wrote their thought in Dutch, so we only have a crudely translated para to share with you:

“On the circuit. With over 240km/h approaching the next corner. Short and hard braking, submit, and in passing through the apex challenge your right foot off the engine again. On the adjacent straight feel the adrenaline flowing through your body—a pleasant tingle.”

Dr Segler’s goose pimples we presume? Follow the links below for more.

[Source: Driving Fun via Bimmerpost]

Categories
Red Bull Racing Video

Adrian Newey talks about the Red Bull X1

Red Bull X1

Adrian Newey is shown here talking about his Red Bull X1. It’s an imaginary racer created for Sony Playstation hero game Gran Turismo 5. The brief to Newey was build the fastest car you possibly can, with only the laws of physics to provide the boundaries. No limits on downforce, no limits on engine type or any other rules to follow.

Of course, Newey came up with 3.0 litre V6 engine. Boosted by two turbos and with a 15,000 redline, the X1’s alleged power is over 1100kW (1483hp). It’s allegedly bloody quick, too. How does 0-200km/h in around 3 seconds sound? Or a 450km/h top speed.

In theory the X1 would only exist in the virtual world. However, for promotional purposes the Red Bull team created a life-size version of the car.

Check out the clip after the break. And, to prove how absurd this whole made up this thing really is you can also watch a clip from GT5 showing the X1 doing a sub 3:30 lap of the Nürburgring Nordschleife.

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Categories
Aston Martin

Aston Martin makes a Top Gear video

Aston Martin V8 Vantage N420

Aston Martin has gone all Top Gear on us with this new video of the V8 Vantage N420. It’s very much in the theme of the closing piece Jeremy did on the V12 Vantage to close out Series 13. This version from Aston is a perfectly brilliant way to start the day, so crank up the volume and enjoy!

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Categories
BMW

New BMW 1 Series (F20) hatch under development

BMW 1 Series (F20) hatch

Development of the next generation (F20) BMW 1 Series hatch is well underway as this video from the Nürburgring shows. There appears to be at least five development cars at the company’s Nürburg facility.

Aside from the evolutionary development of the love it or hate it five door hatch body style there’s not much else to learn from this clip. BimmerFile tells us the F20 1er will be seen in or near production ready form by the end of next year.

Check out the clip after the jump.

[Source: AutoWeek.nl]

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Categories
BMW

BMW unscripted: Sabine Schmitz

BMW unscripted: Sabine Schmitz

Everyone’s favourite taxi driver, Sabine Schmitz, is featured here in unscripted, a new promo series from BMW. “No script, just real people,” says the marketing blurb.

This episode with Sabine gives a great, albeit brief, look at her history with BMW and the Nürburgring Nordschleife. For more on Sabine take a trip down memory lane and check the AUSringers interview from 2008.

Sabine’s unscripted clip can be seen after the jump.

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BMW

BMW M5 prototype sounds a bit better now

BMW M5 prototype

Back in September we brought you video of the latest BMW M5 test mule undergoing testing at the Nürburgring. Aside from the fact it’s always good to see a new M5 on the way the sound from the car in last month’s video was, well, quite disappointing, really. Never mind, though, as this new clip from Car magazine shows that BMW has started to put things right. The twin turbo 4.4 litre V8 is sounding much nicer now!

Reportedly, the M5’s V8 will be good for 578hp, a slight 22hp increase on the 555hp found in the X5 M’s 4.4 litre heart of gold.

It’s understood we’ll see an M5 concept at Geneva next March, with the production ready model on show at Frankfurt in September 2011.

[Source: Car via BimmerFile]

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Categories
Audi Motorsports

Raeder Motorsport Audi TT RS

Raeder Motorsport Audi TT RS

This is one of the most extreme Audi TT RS examples we have seen yet. And for very good reason. It has been prepared by German outfit Raeder Motorsport and will be competing in a couple of VLN rounds at the Nürburgring later this month, starting this weekend in fact.

There’s not a lot of technical info about for this car, apart from a few mentions of using bits and bobs from the R8 LMS. We know the car will be entered in the SP4T class at the Ring this weekend, so we can assume it uses a 2.5 litre petrol powered inline five turbo like the road car (although there are reports the engine is diesel powered, too). When more details come to hand we’ll bring them to you.

UPDATE 21 October: Hi-res pics can now be accessed at AUSringers.

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Subaru

MY11 Subaru WRX STI information

MY11 Subaru WRX STI

Subaru UK has released new info on the 2011 WRX STI. We’ll update you with local details as soon as Subaru Australia has something to say, but for now you can check out the UK release after the break.

The key points with the MY11 WRX STI are a stiffer chassis, a lower ride height with “Spec C” suspension improvements, lighter alloy wheels and enhanced exhaust note. The 300PS 2.5 litre boxer engine now meets Euro 5 emissions standards, as well.

Cosmetic changes have been made to the bumpers and the rear quarter panels have been beefed up a bit more. Inside the car, Subaru say they have improved the quality of materials along with adding some new Recaro bucket seats.

And, of course, the new WRX STI (yes, they have intentionally dropped the Impreza badging) is fast. It currently lays claim to being the fastest four-door production car around the Nürburgring Nordschleife.

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