Mohhamed Bin Sulayem é mais do que “apenas” o maior vencedor de rallys de todos os tempos e mais do que um simples transplantador de motores de SLR, ele é também o vice-presidente da Federação Internacional de Automobilismo (FIA) e um grande colecionador de carros raros e rápidos!

Pesquisando um pouco mais sobre sua carreira e conquistas após o post sobre a SLK/SLR, descobri também muitas fotos da coleção particular desse árabe aficionado por velocidade, se liguem:

Nessa foto dois Porsches: um 911 GT1 de 1997, 700cv e 25 unidades no mundo, e um 959 que não deixa de ser raro! Foi o carro feito pela Porsche pra bater de frente com a Ferrari F40 e usava tudo o que havia de mais moderno na época, possuindo tração integral e tudo mais, e um dos focos de seu projeto também foi a participação em provas de rally, no famoso e lendário Grupo B da época. Sendo assim, nada mais natural do que um piloto de rally possuir um desses. E uma garagem bem bagunçada pra guardar os dois alemães!

Aqui mais um carro de GT1 em versão de uso cívil, um Mercedes CLK GTR, também é mais um que teve apenas 25 unidades vendidas, hoje avaliadas em mais de 4 milhões de dólares. No entanto não é nem o valor de uma coisa dessas que me desperta atenção, é o fato de ser um carro completamente de pista liberado para andar na rua, não é como uma Enzo ou um Veyron que é um superesportivo todo produzido para lidar com as adversidades de rua transito e afins, é um carro duro nervoso sem a menor ajuda pra quem não tem o minimo de técnica em pilotagem emplacado pra ruas! Acompanhada de um igualmente arisco Jaguar XJ220, 350 unidades produzidas, 350 km/h de velocidade máxima (o carro mais rápido do mundo até o Mclaren F1 marcar quase 400 km/h), um carro tão adaptado das pistas para as ruas que utiliza lanteras de Ford Escort enxertadas para poder andar por aí sem problemas com as autoridades.

Não que as Ferrari não despertem a cobiça desse árabe também, e um Carrera GT de quebra marcando presença.Com toda essa frota e o assédio que sofre lá em Dubai, o cara utiliza para tarefas e deslocamentos mais corriqueiros esse C43 AMG preparado por sua empresa, a BSP, com potência de 600 cavalos. Coisa pouca! Pelo menos ele não matou mais uma SLR pra equipar o Mercedes.

falando em SLR o cara tem uma aí, com certeza usada de cobaia em sua oficina. Não garanto o mesmo a respeiro da Fireblade!

O cara é tão seguro das preparações que realiza que um belo dia decidiu testar o potencial de seu Ford GT em uma arrancada contra um Renault de Fórmula 1, modelo R28 da temporada de 2008. Dirigindo o Ford GT estava o campeão da  Fórmula GP2 asiática, Romain Grosjean. O resultado? Catastrófico como vocês puderam ver! Tudo bem que o cara se aposentou em 2002 e desde então tem mais afazeres políticos do que motorizados, mas mesmo assim foi uma infelicidade imensa! A galera do video não perdoa, e recolhe a velha máxima RaceInBloodiana: Habilidade? Não tem preço!

O fato é que esse cara construíu uma carreira incrivelmente vitoriosa e competente nos anos em que esteve em atividade (de 1986 até 2002), correndo no WRC e tudo mais, e um fato que me chamou atenção foi sua superioridade no FIA Middle East Rally Championship, o campeonato de rally do oriente médio: O cara faturou o titulo em sua primeira temporada e faturou novamente nos 13 anos que se seguiram, feito admirável!O legal de tudo isso é ver que não existe lugar nem religião que interfiram na meta de alguém, e fica de quebra os registros dos belos carros do cara, é esperar que ele não dê a eles o mesmo fim do Renault!

Thiago Marinelli

This morning I went on a business trip to Osaka!!!

I left by car and returned with Ms. Nozomi! <3 <3

It took 2 and a half hours to go… and 2 and a half hours to come back (including transfer time and other trains).

Is this, the fastest in the world!? No… it’s not… (but more on that next time).

Take a look at this.

Way to go, Middle East! Way to go Abu Dhabi police department! Way to go, Nissan UAE!

Nissan UAE recently announced that as of November 15th, they would be equipping the Abu Dhabi police force with GT-Rs as patrol cars. Is this to keep up with all of the Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Rolls Royces, Bentleys and Maybachs, perhaps?

Nissan UAE apparently commented that “no car will be able to get away from the Nissan GT-R patrol vehicle.”

And one more thing for today!!!

It’s Supercars of the World quiz time! (smile)

Do you know what the Zenvo ST1 is?

It’s a supercar based on a GM 7-liter V8, double-charged with a turbo and supercharger!!! Dishing out 1104ps of power at 145.8kg/m of torque!!! Those numbers best the Bugatti Veyron!!!

And, here it is…

What do you think? I personally really like it. It’s kind of like a R8/458/McLaren/LFA sort of style.

It’s our habit to review the first episode of Top Gear in a new season to see how well the formula is still working – and this time around we’ve come to rather a startling conclusion.

Increasingly, it’s all about James May.

Why on earth would we think this? Surely the peculiar geeky bloke can’t really be the centre of attention in the face of so much loud and testosterone-fuelled competition.

Well, for a start, watch the first episode of season 14. Who gets the most screen time? Eh? He even does the track test, which is not something you see every week, and subverts it very nicely while he’s at it.

And, for another thing, think about it all in a slightly broader context. The three presenters each have their well-established personalities that have developed over time.

Clarkson is the constantly-undercut gobshite who dominated at the beginning then plateaued – and now has restricted potential for character development, since he’s also thoroughly exploited the trick of being unexpectedly polite.

Hammond with his short bloke syndrome was (with unfortunate literality) catapulted into the public consciousness when he had his accident. The resulting wave of concern and hope for his sound recovery made him the star for the next few seasons.

But it’s May, the latest developer of all, that’s now coming into his own. It’s the ultimate tale of the patient geek come good – and we love him for it.

Here’s an idea about why. May is easily the most three-dimensional of the Top Gear presenters. It seems like he’s hardly off our screens at the moment, what with all those series about wine, space and toys.

Meanwhile Clarkson is contractually tied to only present Top Gear and Hammond has tended to get his most prominent exposure outside the programme’s studio by promoting a certain well-known supermarket brand.

May has also got a surprisingly passionate female following. While this is presumably also demonstrable for both Clarkson and Hammond, their appeal might be somewhat easier to understand.

But read the comments May routinely gets on his Telegraph column and you’ll soon learn he has an indefinable something all of his own and that there are plenty of takers for it.

Which seems like the perfect time to give a polite cough and move on to the actual episode

Another California, another trip to central Europe

What is it right now about driving supercars around Eastern Europe that seems to be fascinating motoring journalists? We imagine the answer to be a very successful promotional drive by Ferrari to promote its new GT model.

In the hands of the Top Gear producers, however, this proposition has become a completely, magnificently surreal road movie that takes up half the episode and proves that the programme certainly can still deliver 14 seasons in.

Notable is the confidence with which all this starts. There are few introductions, little more than a couple of sentences of banter (with Hammond threatening to hold his breath until he turns blue if he doesn’t get his own way) and then we’re off.

The gang has got its hands on two other supercars in addition to the California, which Hammond will be piloting. Clarkson is waxing lyrical about his lovely Aston Martin DBS Volante, definitely the car we would choose from the selection on offer. May, in an unlikely move, will be behind the wheel of a Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder.

Their mission is to take them to Romania in search of the world’s best road. We don’t have too many details about this at the moment, but the joys of discovery are to come.

First, the gang must take its collection of supercars across a country that has made a rapid journey from Iron Curtain dictatorship to paid-up member of the European Union in the course of just two decades – and they find a few of their assumptions about Borat-style Warsaw Pact countries and donkey carts busted on the way.

However it is, as we are reminded quite early on, the home of the oft-referred-to Dacia Sandero – and here is one, driving innocuously down a road. Also we have plenty of opportunities to laugh at presenters being baffled by the in-car gadgets, a silly nod to the idea that there’s a practical car review going on.

But easily the highlight of the first part of this film is the sheer joy with which the presenters drive their supercars around a network of tunnels underneath the national parliament, formerly the residence of Nicolae Ceausescu. “This is our best game yet,” yells Hammond, before putting down his foot and roaring off.

The bit in the middle

That’s it for the first part of the film and now we are into the programme regulars – the news segment, the track test and the star in the reasonably-priced car, all of which old favourites have made it into season 14. The first couple of items are a long way off being news and give the distinct impression of being chosen more for their humorous potential than their currency – the new McLaren supercar (cue jokes about dangerous prams) and Bathurst booze ban.

But then it veers off into complete surreality again with Porsche fan May rolling out what is said to be his only phrase of fluent German in the middle of an item poking fun at the new Boxster Spyder: “But then it veers off into complete surreality again with Porsche fan May rolling out what is said to be his only phrase of fluent German in the middle of an item poking fun at the new Boxster Spyder: “Aber ja, natürlich Hans nass ist, er steht unter einem Wasserfall.” (“Naturally Hans is wet, he’s standing under a waterfall.”) For some reason, this is laugh-out-loud funny, though it is hard to explain why

Then, in a moment of comedy gold, Clarkson is made to build a cardboard portable loo designed for roadside use with audience participation – which he then sits on and falls through. “Do you know what? Honestly? I think I would rather crap myself.” Hammond: “I think I just did.”

The track test is a comparison of discreet wallets on wheels, presented as a spoof consumer item for newly-rich bankers. It starts with the BMW 760LI (or “the BMW Move Over, Poor Person”) which gives us a rare glimpse of May out on the circuit: “It’s like swimming over a waterfall of double cream.” By the end of the film he’s sitting in the back demanding “dignified driving” from his hired chauffeur, on the basis that if he can afford the car then he can afford to have it driven for him. The Stig is not happy.

Next up is the Mercedes S63 AMG – May and Stig profess themselves unable to choose between the two and have to resort to a game of Top Trumps. Until Stig throws a tantrum and overturns the table. All they can do is race them – the Merc wins out on the track but, in May’s judgement, the Beemer would prevail overall if both cars weren’t completely pointless.

The star in a reasonably-priced car is generally one of our least-favourite bits – but tonight’s candidate is considerably more interesting than many. Aussie actor and racer Eric Bana (a Ford bloke, not a Holden bloke), a veteran of films such as Chopper, Black Hawk Down, Troy, Star Trek and The Time Traveller’s Wife, says the Bathurst beer ban is “a serious restriction – practically teetotal.” He gives Clarkson well and truly as good as he gets on the old England-Aussie rivalry. He’s a bit silent on the subject of the Ashes, however.

But he’s definitely one of the better reasonably-priced guests (and, let’s be frank, sometime you’d get them on for a fee of 50 pence) due to having a bit of a clue how to put the car around the track. The documentary he is here to promote, about racing his classic Ford that he’s had since his teens, also looks good.

“Nice, throaty little warble – a happy little car”

Then it’s back to Romania in search of the world’s best road. After covering all 143 alleged miles of Romanian motorways, and waxing lyrical about the pleasures of driving supercars (nice to know you don’t get blasé after 13 series and one episode) they present May with the keys to his very own Dacia Sandero, which he abandons his Lambo to go and drive.

“Nice, throaty little warble – a happy little car, the Dacia Sandero.”

But not for long. After what looks like a period of pure, unadulterated enjoyment during which he states his manifesto for uncluttered, gadget-free, basic motoring, he stops to rejoin the others in a car park – and an articulated lorry backs over it, destroying it as thoroughly as one of Clarkson’s Austins.

And you’d have to have a heart of stone not to be with May on this one.

Then it’s time to take a few supercars off-road (if you buy the myth that there’s not a comfy SUV full of handlers just behind the film crew). And to drive hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of automotive luxury over a couple of planks across a stream. And May gets his unspoken, subtle revenge by driving the Lambo into a local taxi. Top Gear – taking you where other motoring programs won’t venture.

At this point, locating the best road in the world looks set to be a McGuffin and the trio ends up parked on a dirt track, supposedly unable to find the hotel, low on fuel and drinking a paint-stripping liqueur that Clarkson found at a petrol station.

And when it comes to sleeping in the backs of cars, the 5ft 7in Hammond has a considerable advantage over the 6ft 6in Clarkson, as you might imagine. In fact, he gets wedged with his folded-forward driver’s seat jammed on the horn, which does not make him particularly popular with his colleagues.

And, wouldn’t you know it, come break of day they turn out to be parked at the bottom of a towering, disused, Communist-era dam. With just four and a half minutes of the programme left, they set out once more in search of the road they came all the way to Romania in three arse-tinglingly expensive supercars to find.

To be fair, when they do arrive at the Transfagarasan Highway, which we learn took 6,000 tons of dynamite to build and killed 40 people in the process, it is pretty special: “From above it looks like every great corner from every great racetrack in the world has been knitted together in one unbroken ribbon of automotive perfection.”

The programme winds up with the perfect feel-good ending with the three whizzing along in their cars, each opining that it is definitely the best one to have brought along.

You go all that way, take all that trouble… and then find yourself in convoy behind Captain Slow. Bloody typical. But even he’s inspired to put his foot down a bit on this occasion.

• Top Gear – Season 14, episode 1. Available on iPlayer until 9:59pm, Sunday January 10 2010
• Read our S13 preview here

Transfagarasan Highway: learn more

• View it on Google Maps
• Read about it on Wikipedia
• Get travel information from InYourPocket.com
• Read a blog post from a biker
• View photos on Flickr
• Read a Guardian article on Ceausescu’s Folly
• Check out videos on YouTube

While I was away visiting Northern Japan, at the SEMA Show there was a matte black LFA!!

I think everyone already knows that the 500-vehicle limited edition LFA will go on sale next year.

The LFA’s body colors will have 10 standard variations. There will also be 20 special colors for a total of 30, and this matte black is one of those special colors.

However! Cars painted with these special colors won’t be coming out of the factory until 2012!? They’re sure showing off early, aren’t they?

And if they’re going to have a lottery here in Japan just to decide who will be able to order the LFA…. what about the Sports version which rumor has it they’re going to release 2 years down the line….??? Where can people buy that, I wonder???

In what seems like an uncanny, unpossible chance of coincidence, there were some guys driving parallel to and videotaping the Bugatti when it crashed into the salty marsh.   From the video, it’s clear that the guys recognized the Veyron as being an exotic car, although they weren’t sure what kind it was.  As they were admiring the ulimate super car,  the Bugatti all of a sudden veers to the right and hits the drink!  The driver reported to the authorities that he swerved to miss a low-flying pelican, but I don’t see a pelican, do you?

But before we reserve judgment, lets review some freeze frames.  You can see there is a small white smudge in front of the Veyron, which could potentially be a Pelican.  However, the original report stated that the driver swerved to miss a low-flying Pelican… this smudge ain’t flying.  Even if the bird wasn’t flying, if a car came so close to it that the driver had to swerve to miss it, you would think that the bird would be startled enough to fly up in the air, at least a few feet, in an act of self preservation.  There are some strange details to the drivers story, but in a grassy-knoll kinda way, I’m not buying the idea that the white smudge is a pelican.

The sleuths over at AutoBlog did some digging around and discovered that the person driving the 16/4 was none other than Andy House, the owner-operator of Performance Auto Sales, the “leader in Exotic Salvage Restoration”.  So far, this doesn’t look good for Andy as it sounds like it was nothing more than a publicity stunt.  Although this notion is unconfirmed, but it is an unthinkable atrocity to crash an exotic car as rare as the Bugatti Veyron for some kind of business gain.  Sounds pretty bad, huh?

Here’s the crash video.  WARNING: EXPLICIT LANGUAGE, NSFW.

Photographed by VOD Cars

Going through time

– License

No it wasn’t me.

The Koenigsegg Trevita is a limited edition Koenigsegg CCXR featuring a new shimmering diamond carbon fiber finish and there are only three of them in the world (hence the name).

Given its ludicrous price tag of $5 million or R35 million its surprising that one would pitch up in Cape Town, and now rumours are circulating that Future Exotics at the Waterfront has sold the one it had in stock.

The specs are quite mental:

Future Exotics wont confirm whether the car has actually been sold.

Thats because i told them not to tell anyone.

Here’s a pic that i grabbed from their website…and proceeded to deface with my superb photoshop skills.

If anyone knows who actually bought the car please let me know..i may need a ride to Caprice tomorrow if the weather is good.

Last week been writing about 14^th TopGear season. Already… Again… One more time… And on Saturday, during MPH show, got my hands on the latest TG magazine issue. So what information been leaked and what TopGear office kept secret till the last minute?

A flying caravan shots been in papers earlier and, as you know, everything ended up good. Well, now one got injured… How it will come up on the telly – not yet known but it will be for sure later in the series.

The recreation of Italian job in Belfast was one of earliest gossips to float around. And that’s one of reason why Renault Twingo was in Belfast. Or it wasn’t about Italian job? Keep watching the 14^th season.

TopGear really isn’t a Green Peace heaven but TG boys gets their hands on environmentally friendly car. Is it fast? Is it really ‘green’? We’ll find that later in series.

As the biggest show about the cars, TopGear been filmed in most exotic locations. From dunes in UAE to North Pole – now Hammond will sort the airport transport. Easy to put on the start line, good in corners or rubbish in all that – all coming in 4^th episode.

There’s been not one and two really serious challenges. From epic trip to Botswana and concurring North Pole, TG office headed to South America. Trip to Bolivia’s Amazon basin with SUVs should bring a lot challenges and maybe a taste of success. Seems like no one have died in Bolivia so TG will run in full capacity.

I think that mentioning supercars on TopGear is most likely to be the same as talking about Gordon Brown eyes. And 14^th season won’t be an exception. I am talking about supercars… Couple seasons ago guys went to Italy and neighbour countries to find the best road in the world. Even seemed they found one – The Stelvio Pass – but looks like presenters got lost this time. Hammond, Clarkson, May and filming crew ended up in Romania with three supercars. They will name the funny moments and the names in the very first episode of the season – stay tuned.

And, even TG office was really keen on keeping all the information about the upcoming season under a big lock, but yesterday the new season recording took place in Dunsfold. Quiet a lot information was put on the TG web page and the first guest in a reasonably priced car is named – Eric Bana. Looks like one more true petrol-head was found!

If you’re not a fan of X-Factor – have pint of beer and get in front of telly at 9pm. If you’ll be watching the X-Factor – try not to hit your telly with anything hard.

I love supercars! Of course I do, I’m a man. Check that – I’m a boy. You see, I believe inside every man there is eternally a 13-year-old boy, which explains things like impractical sportscars, Playboy magazine, T-shirts for every occasion and the space race. There is this never-ending pissing contest between us that causes grown men to produce some amazing achievements, some astonishing failures – and sometimes a combination of the two.

It’s now Lexus’ turn at the urinal and I’m not sure what they hope to achieve. The new LFA has some stats that clearly show desire for supercar status. A $400,000 price tag and a limited production run of 500 sounds nice. An exotic V10 powerplant and a gaudy mix of carbon fiber, aluminum, and computers makes a strong case. Even after all of this effort, this slightly awkward coupe is still slower and less interesting than a Nissan GTR or Corvette ZR-1; plus both of those can be had for a fraction of the cost.

You might tell me the Lexus is more luxurious than either – and then I will suggest you get yourself a Bentley Continental Supersports.  It has exactly the same performance figures, bespoke tailoring and Bentley cache  – all at 5/8 the cost of the LFA.

I’m all for insane cars. My childhood bedroom walls were filled with pictures of  ‘em (and Christie Brinkley). They were made for enthusiasts by “mad scientists” like Porsche, Chapman (Lotus), Lamborghini, Murray (McLaren), and to some extent Ferrari. These were single-minded machines in the greatest pursuit of excellence. By contrast, the LFA seems like that famous “horse by committee. “  In their press info its designers admit that the LFA started life as a hardcore Toyota, then switched mid-stream to a Lexus project. So naturally it had to become softer and more docile – but then that’s not really a supercar.

There are some current machines that do fit the bill. The Bugatti Veyron is absolutely bonkers! It costs a million dollars and VW loses money on every one – but it’s the fastest sonofabitch on the planet. All of that is OK because the Veyron shows VW’s engineering heft and their ability to succeed where others don’t dare attempt. It is a true supercar.

So…the super Lexus is extravagantly expensive and a limited edition, but it’s not crazy fast and seems more like a niche filler in a market survey. That seems a long way off from finishing in first place. For an engineering staff that got their butts handed to them so badly in F1 that they left without a win, I struggle to see what’s so great about this “engineering exercise.”

Just a heads up to all the Top Gear fans, the boys back in action this Sunday.  I just checked BBC America’s TV schedule and it doesn’t look like they’ll be airing Season 14 any time soon, you’ll have to find other means of watch it.  What will they be getting themselves into this season? Trailer here.

Too far for me to go and have a look, those nice people at the BBC did a little report about some fast car on show…

It’s a pity they had to go some way towards wasting it, and let someone that thinks an over-loud raucous musical soundtrack was obligatory, had to accompany it get their way – mistake.

It’s funny how the arrival of the Veyron a few years ago, lifting the production car top speed to a demonstrable 407 kph (253 mph), has spawned so many challengers, and this report included a British candidate, which has a claim of 261 mph for the title of Fastest Production car.

I always wonder how practical these later challengers are. The Veyron story has been told in some detail, and the power/heat/tyre hurdles are significant, as are the reliability aspects.

Are these later claimants to the title able to do their speed runs with little or no special preparation, and then just carry on driving on the road as normal, as the Veyron has demonstrated it can, or are they highly strung special, in need of fettling before and during their high speed runs, and not really in any condition to carry on driving on the road afterwards?

The other thought that occurs to me relates to the ultimate capability of the Veyron. As noted, we know what’s in it, and the exotic technology that supports it and it 16-cylinder quad turbocharged engine.

Would it be so hard to wind it up a little more and add another 10 mph or so, or turn one into a record maker one day?

I’m sitting here (mostly confined to the motor coach) writing about the Chump Car race and waiting for some pizza and I notice something that had caught my attention a few weeks ago.  An unusually large number of people seem to find this blog while searching for “Emma Peel” – Dianna Rigg, the actress that played the part, is famous mostly for the role of Peel in the Television show “The Avengers”.  I had made a reference to her in an earlier post Supercars for the Proletariat - very un-Chump Car.

So two things – clearly I’m not the only guy that has had a thing for Diana Rigg (well, that was a safe bet and I grew out of it), and (as an experiment) I could do something to push my “Emma Peel” numbers up.

So, in the early 80’s there was a Seattle band called The Allies, and they had a song called Emma Peel.  I used to see them quite a lot.   I also think that the guy that wrote songs for that band has been popping up to play around Seattle again.  Anyway – below is the” Emma Peel” video.

…..but I’ll talk about the show tomorrow after I get all of my stuff unpacked. (meaning all my built up blog topics!)

Recently, someone complained to me that I’ve been devoting too much attention to raising ASI’s new child and not enough to our other projects (458).

(Note: I think most of you know already, but I’m talking about our junior brand, asi Green.)

Here’s a great video of an Ferrari 458 battle!

What a great video. Just what I would expect from Ferrari!

And speaking of Ferrari, what about Lamborghini?

America really has some power!

Heffner Performance, a tuner from Florida, has outdone themselves yet again!

1115 horsepower!!! A Lamborghini Murcielago twin turbo!

Look….!

(I’m posting too many videos today, maybe?)

The base vehicle is a 578 horsepower 4WD. But they cooked it up with a twin turbo to give 1115 horsepower to the rear wheels.

The result? The factory Murcielago accelerates from 100 to 200km/h in 9.5 seconds, but Heffner’s Lambo does it in 5.1!!! And when they measured the time the power was at 963 horsepower, so if they did it with the full 1115, it should be possible to get under 4 seconds.

Amazing!

But here I just want to say…

Come on, Japan! Don’t lose!

We need samurai!

I think I hear someone saying, “and how hard are you trying?” (^_^; )

And one more tidbit of information. Reiter Engineering’s Gallardo! Lookin’ good!

I’ll give blogging a rest here today before the post gets too long.

PS. Yes, ASI is working very hard!

First, I think that Ferrari road cars are generally the most beautiful and well engineered pieces of machinery to grace the planet (period).

And, when I was young and until I learned to know better, I was a huge fan of Scuderia Ferrari (the racing team).  Nike Lauda and Clay Regazzoni were the drivers then and would be two of my favorite racing drivers for the rest of their careers (specifically because they had been with Ferrari). 

Villeneuve having led his first lap of an F1 race

When I attended my first Grand Prix and saw my all time favorite racing driver, Gilles Villeneuve, take the lead of an F1 race for the first time, I was in the Ferrari grand stand at Long Beach.

Strangely, that would also be the location of the crash that would end Regazzoni’s career (two years later), and Villeneuve would also crash out of the lead of that 1978 race while lapping Regazzoni (I was always slightly irritated with Regazzoni about that…). 

The real reasons that I am no longer a Ferrari “fan” are kind of beside the point here, however.  Sitting in the grandstands near a sea of red and the ever present waving prancing horse flags (God help you if your seat is behind them), while the Ferrari cap wearing hordes clap politely (as if observing a putt for birdie at the British Open) does make me feel terribly embarrassed for them – okay, stupid.  Hint – sit with the Dutch or Welsh F1 fans, they’re a bunch more fun…  But, this is about a specific example:

the perfect compliment to a Ferrari Polo shirt - 34.5 lbs for $2,700

Today I came across this and nearly lost it… - Ferrari Bike Technical Specs.  They claim to sell out of these painfully overweight, $2,700 bicycles.  They claim to sell over 2,000 of them!!!  Who, but a lunatic Ferrari F1 fan would pay that for this kind of POS???  And then, what word would best describe the new owner..? 

Here’s the deal – if you’re some kind of euro-poseur wanna-be and must have a cool Italian bike, go pick yourself up a DeRosa or Colnago (for example).  Guido (who proudly pedals his ass around on a Colnago), doesn’t try to buy a Colnago car (even if Fiat did a spectacular job with the paint).  So, stop being a bunch of dorks – do it for Gilles.

But, hey, you say, it’s got (from the advert) “Pure Leather PEDALS” – well that changes everything…

Proof, again, that Ferrari fans are stupid.  Don’t shoot me, I’m just the messenger.

Welcome one and all to another burst of automotive news, straight from the broken faucet of the Internet and into your unsuspectingly open eyes!

Let’s start off with something sexy. Over the last couple of weeks, no fewer than three boner-inducing artist’s concepts have appeared for potential supercars from some of the world’s foremost makers of excitiong cars. Now, unfortunately, none of these are anywhere near cleared for production – they’re just artistic visions of potential supercars. But at least we can imagine ourselves in them – which is all most of us would be doing if they were real, anyway.

First up is a concept for a successor to the former fastest car in the world, the McLaren F1. McLaren recently unveiled their first all-new car since the F1; named the MP4-12C, it’s designed to fight in the highly competitive supercar middleweight category, against such Worthy Opponents as the Ferrari 458 Italia, the Porsche 911 Turbo/GT2, the Audi R8 5.2, the successor to the Lamborghini Gallardo, and Stephen Colbert.

McLaren has stated the MP4-12C (which sounds more like a submachine gun than a car to us) will occupy the middle of their three-supercar lineup, leaving room above and below it. With that in mind, Coventry University student Matt Williams whipped up this concept called the LM5, a hypercar to fit above the MP4 and challenge the Bugatti Veyron for global supremacy. (Imaginary power comes from a 700-horsepower version of the BMW M5’s V10.)

Next up comes a design for a potential Porsche supercar to succeed the Carrera GT of a few years ago. Crafted by an Iranian designer named Emil Baddal, this exotic-looking machine currently goes without any imaginary powertrain at all. (It also goes without a name, so I guess Baddal is one of those artists who likes to title his works “Untitled” because he thinks it’s avant-garde.)

Since Baddal apparently wants to leave the details up to the imagination, I’m going to call it the “Rapier,” after the runner-up name for the F-22 fighter, and pretend it’s powered by a 745-horsepower 6.8 liter turbocharged V12 based off the Panamera’s V8, connected to an all-wheel-drive system by a seven-speed PDK transmission. Then I will pretend to drive it across the country to Jennifer Aniston’s house and take her out for a fancy dinner before parking on Mulholland Drive and getting busy on the hood.

Baddal also brings us the third in our list of imaginary playthings, a real-life version of the BMW Vision EfficientDynamics concept from this year’s Frankfurt show. That concept was “propelled” by a 163-horsepower turbodiesel 1.5 liter three cylinder connected to a pair of electric motors; sources claim the production version, rumored to go by “Z10,” would run a 450-horsepower twin-turbocharged inline six-cylinder engine (also rumored to be the engine of the next M3). Combined with a low curb weight, the Z10 ought to be as ballsy as a triple shout of Jåger.

But enough fiction. If you’ve been following this site for a while, you’ve probably read our posts on the “Toyobaru,” the sport coupe under joint development by Toyota and Subaru. Well, the wraps have finally come off, and it looks pretty sweet.

Currently going by the name of the Toyota FT-86 Concept (excitement fail), the car is powered by Subaru’s 2.0 liter boxer four-cylinder engine, hopefully putting out at least 200 horsepower. Supposedly, the car will be rear-wheel-drive only; whether that’ll preclude it being sold as a Subaru in the States remains to be seen, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see an AWD system slung under there for the U.S. market.

The production FT-86 will reportedly be coming our way in 2011, hopefully priced around $20,000. RWD or AWD, it looks like it’ll be a great car – it’s about time manufacturers started making more small, fun cars for less money.

Vying for the FT-86’s recession-paralyzed youth, though, will be a similarly priced sports coupe from Honda – and it’s a hybrid, which scores you bonus points but means you have to scrape Ed Begley Jr. off your car more often. (He’s like a starfish!)

Successor to the beloved CR-X hatch of eons ago, the CR-Z (I guess CR-Y just sounded too sad) will only pack a hybrid powerplant, so don’t expect many smoky burnouts. Rumor has it the powertrain will be a 1.5 liter four-cylinder connected to Honda’s usual hybrid gear and your choice of six-speed stick or CVT automatic; expect somewhere around 125-150 combined horsepower, a 0-60 time of around seven seconds, and moderate-to-heavy smug levels.

But there’s more news from Subie-land these days – and this next tidbit is a bit…unexpected. Apparently, Motor Trend has named the 2010 Subaru Outback its SUV of the Year. To which we at CCO respond…really?

As readers know, we really like Subarus. They’ve been making tremendous strides in quality without sacrificing their core values, and remain some of the best cars in their price range. And the Outback, with its elevated stance and versatile AWD, does offer most of the ability of a sport-ute while retaining most of the virtues of a car.

But that’s because it is a car.

Now, I’m sure Motor Trend will say the line between cars and SUVs is blurrier than ever, and that the newest Outback features enough differences from the regular Legacy that it should qualify as a separate category.  Sorry, MT. We love ya, but the Outback is a car. To paraphrase our well-spoken president, you can put all the lipstick you want on a pig, but she’s still Sarah Palin – and you can put all the off-road trappings you want on a car, but it’s still a station wagon. In our minds, the winner should have been the Audi Q5.

Speaking of Audi, some good news from our friends in Ingolstadt. According to AutoExpress, Audi will be bringing the electric e-tron concept from the Frankfurt show to production as a new smaller sports car called the R4.

Reportedly, the R4 will be based on the production version of VW’s Concept BlueSport, a small diesel-powered roadster from this year’s Detroit show. No idea what sort of output we should expect from the production electric R4, but given that the concept’s 3,319 lb-ft of torque could probably fling the space shuttle into orbit, it’ll probably be a mite less when it lands on our shores around 2012. (There will likely also be gas-powered version, for those of us lucky enough to still have access to fossil fuels after the zombiocalypse of 2011 price of gas goes up.)

But if electric-powered sports cars aren’t your bag, how about a convertible Porsche Panamera? No, the Germans aren’t bringing back the four-door convertible. That’s not coming back until somebody goes back in time and saves JFK. But according to Automotive News, a topless two-door version of the Panamera will be hitting the streets sometime in the next couple of years. No word yet on whether they’ll also offer a two-door coupe version to combat the Mercedes-Benz CL and BMW 6-series, but given Porsche’s 928 filled a similar GT coupe role from 1978 to 1995, you’d probably be safe putting down a deposit…just in case.

Or, if you’d prefer something equally luxurious but a bit more insane sensible, Automotive News also says Aston Martin is considering putting its Toyota/Scion-based Cygnet runabout into production. For around $32,000, drivers could have an Aston Martin the size of a Smart car with the same Toyota suspension and drivetrain as the iQ upon which it’s based. Aston Martin engineers say they got the idea after watching Daniel Craig get whipped in the balls in Casino Royale.

"The world is gonna know you died designing a ridiculous car!"

Still, if you decide to spend your thirty-two grand on a Cygnet instead of, say, a Mustang GT, at the very least you’re less likely to see one of Chevrolet’s new Caprice police cars in your rear view mirror. For those of you who just exploded at the thought of a Chevy version of the wonderful Pontiac G8, sorry to burst your bubble, but the G8’s still marked for termination as of this writing.

Those of you who’re envisioning a four-door Camaro, though, are much closer to the mark – like the Camaro, the Caprice is based off GM’s Zeta platform. However, don’t get too caught up in dreams of drag-racing with the wife and kids; the Caprice will only be available to police here in the States. (It’s available for civilians in the Middle East, because apparently GM easily confuses that region with the Mid-West.)

Loaded with a 355-hp 6.0 liter V8 mated to a six-speed auto, the Caprice should run 0-60 in the mid five-second range while driving up police academy recruitment from Pennsylvania to Nevada. Expect to be checking your six for them in 2011; V6 powered versions will be available in 2012, but…why?

Lexus has officially unveiled their first supercar called LFA. A prototype of the two-seat LFA will be debut on passing now the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show. Only 500 units will be sold worldwide between the outset of production in December 2010 and when it tops in December 2012, and will be priced at US$375,000 (€250,720). A more hot-race model will be introduced in 2011.

The 2010 Lexus LFA is certainly powered by an easily aspirated V10 displacing 4.8 litre (4,805cc). Thanks to its aluminum alloy, magnesium alloy and titanium alloy construction it is actually lighter than a average V8 engine. The car has a an equal-length dual exhaust system and routed through a multistage titanium main muffler.

Read more (details + photos + video)!!

Maximum power is an assuring 412kW (560hp) made at a screaming 8,700rpm while summit torque is 480Nm at 6,800rpm. Ninety percent of torque is presented between 3,700rpm and 9,000rpm. It all goes to the rear wheels via a 6-haste ASG transmission featuring intense-function synchronizer rings and a newly urbanized gearshift actuator. A 0-100km/h time of 3.7 seconds is claimed while top rate is 325km/h (202mph).

The relatively low mass of 1480kg (3,263 lbs) was achieved through measures such as carbon fibre reinforced fake (CFRP) bungalow, said to be 100kg lighter than an equivalent aluminium one. Total vehicle length is 4.51m, width is 1.90m and height is a midget-sized 1.22m. It features an expand wishbone front suspension and a multilink structure at the rear. Brakes are carbons ceramic stuff to make stopping as briefly as workable. The LFA gets 265/35ZR20 (95Y) front tyres and 305/30ZR20 (99Y) types at the back.

Aerodynamic rudiments contain an emphatic underbody, a rear diffuser and a hurry-controlled rear wing. The interior can be custom-tailored to outfit buyers’ needs while viewing off a very high-tech instrumentation mean.

Lexus LF-A

Big news in the auto industry from the “Land of the Rising Sun.” Toyota has unveiled the production version of their long awaited supercar from their Lexus brand called the LF-A. The LF-A is powered by a high-revving 4.8-litre V-10 that cranks around 552bhp at 8700rpm and 354 lb-ft at 6800rpm. It takes 3.7 seconds to reach the 62mph mark – 0.2 more than the famed Nissan GT-R. Did I mention high revving? It’s capable of up to 9000rpm, and according to Chris Chilton of CAR Magazine the “noise” is incredible.

Disappointments? There are some big disappointments. First off, Toyota opted not to go with a dual-clutch system that is popular in many of today’s high-end performance cars (VW has them in some mass consumer cars even!). It’s been several years since dual-clutch systems have been around and there is no argument that the benefits outweigh the negatives. Another disappointment is that for all the aluminum and carbon fibre that was used in the car it is still porkier than one would expect weighing in at 1480kg. My personal disappointment of the LF-A is the interior trim of the car. Yes it looks definitely like the high materials that Lexus uses in their cars, but that’s about it. Don’t get me wrong Lexus is high quality, but for a supercar I’m expecting something different – something exotic. The biggest disappointment? The cost. So I personally was never a prospective buyer from a financial standpoint, but at £325,000 the price scares even the rich. Even Toyota acknowledged they would be losing money on everyone sold…

And that’s the problem, Toyota has touted the LF-A to compete against Ferrari and Lamborghini but it only competes with them in price. Ferrari’s new 458 and McLaren’s MP4-12C are nearly half the price of the LF-A. In fact it doesn’t even seem to compete against Porsche or even Nissan’s spectacular GT-R. If I had the money, LF-A would be on the short list.

Not convinced? CAR Magazine agree with me. Car & Drive disagree with me. You decide.