I certainly have a thing for companies that take classic models of a particular car, and re-create them for the modern age. Not only are they fascinating from an engineering perspective due to the hundreds upon hundreds of hours that go into recreating them, they are also drop-dead gorgeous.
So for your viewing pleasure, here is one of my favourite examples of such a car: The Eagle E-Type Speedster.
Simon Davis, June 2014.
Personally, Ive never really understood car modification. In my mind, why would you bother spending thousands of pounds making a shitty little rot-box go a bit faster? Why not save the money and spend it on a nicer car?
So, you can imagine my bewilderment when I came across this video of a supercharged, methanol-injected V8 Commodore performing what is arguably the world’s most ridiculous burnout. Not only did the owner spend said thousands of pounds on modifying this rot-box, he then destroyed it by strapping on some cheap tires and over revving the engine until it caught fire.
What a bell-end.
Simon Davis, June 2014.
BMW’s M Division, yes, the same people shoe are responsible for the amazing M3 and M5 models, have announced recently that they are going to focus on removing weight from their cars, rather than adding more power. This move comes as a result of the need to increase power-to-weight ratios, but without adding more power, something that is becoming increasingly difficult as a result of tightening emissions regulations.
“We want to be in a different league for power-to-weight,” says Carsten Pries, the head of M product management, “but we prefer to have a car that weighs 1,000kg rather than one with 1,000 horsepower.”
This trend can already be seen in the latest models of the M3 saloon, and the M4 coupe. Whilst both of these cars are more powerful than the models that they replace; the increase is only 3 per cent, from 416bhp to 427. Weight, on the other hand, has dropped by up to 80kg, or 6 per cent. Already, the benefits of this move can be seen, with fuel consumption and CO2 savings of up to 28 per cent. Or, in English, potentially another 100 miles on a full tank of fuel.
Adding to the weight-saving crusade is the fact that the front ends of both models are now almost exclusively built from light-weight aluminium, with carbon fibre and magnesium sections in the drivetrain and structure. Further contributing to the regime is the of improved economy and reduced emissions is a new twin-turbo six cylinder engine to replace the older V8 from previous models, and the availability of a double-clutch gearbox.
This desire to save weight is the primary reason why BMW M have decided to ditch the xDrive all-wheel-drive system in favour of rear-wheel drive. “What is the point of taking out 80kg if you are going to put 75kg back through xDrive?” says Pries.
“It does not mean that we will not have xDrive in an M model in future. On Thursday I am going to a customer event in Istanbul, and sometimes these give us early indicators of changing preferences. But many M3 customers like to take part in track days, and they prefer the feeling of rear drive.”
The new M3 and M4 go on sale on June 21 priced from £56,175 and £56,635 respectively. In September a new M4 Convertible, costing from £60,745 and exhibiting a similar weight loss to the saloon and coupe, will join the range. BMW expects to sell around 5,000 M3 and M4 cars over their lifetime, with a peak of 1,200 next year.
Simon Davis, June 2014.
With age, comes wisdom.
As I have been ageing through out my 21 years on this planet, I have gained much wisdom about many interesting things. In fact, the depth of my wisdom is so extensive, that I am not going to go into detail about all of it here. It would just go on for ever, and I only have 500 words.
However, there is one insight that I will share with you today. It is to do with the incredibly exciting topic of police speed cameras. Having seen many speed cameras on the road during my time as both a driver, and a passenger, my intuitions have lead me to one conclusion regarding the subject.
It reads as follows: speed cameras are installed for the sole function of generating money by catching out unsuspecting motorists who may not even be driving dangerously in the first place. I guess you could also add to that the idea that they are some sort of sick joke; implemented by the government to infuriate motorists, while not necessarily saving lives.
I have come to this conclusion by using my deep wisdom to analyse the real life facts. Whenever I see speed cameras, especially at home in New Zealand, they are almost always put in places where the police will know that people will be going a tiny, microscopic bit over the speed limit.
Passing lanes, the bottom of hills, long stretches of straight road. All of these places fall within the sights of this particularly money-grabbing arm of the police/government. Whilst I don’t disagree that people do tend to drive a bit faster along these certain pieces of road, what I do disagree with is the idea that these pieces of road are more dangerous than windy, narrow pieces of roadway.
I think what really grinds my gears is the fact that while you will almost always see a speed camera at the end of a passing lane; I can almost guarantee you that you will never see one in the aforementioned windy, and narrow pieces of road. I think this is due to the fact that traffic officers are particularly sadistic, and gain infinite amounts of pleasure by pulling people over for speeding.
I mean, what else is there to do when you’re sat on the side of the road in your patrol car all day? Jerk off? Maybe it’s this repressed urge to masturbate that causes traffic cops to pull people over at the drop of a hat; they need some excitement in their lives, and this is where they get it.
Anyway, the point I’m trying to convey here is that you will almost never see traffic cops on stretches of road that would actually be considered to be dangerous, or hazardous. I guess they have cottoned on to the fact that there is no money to be made on speeding tickets in these areas, mainly due to the fact that anyone who has half a brain would be travelling well under the speed limit anyway. Either that, or they had too big of a problem with patrol officers amusing themselves in other ways.
I’m not against the idea of speed cameras, I just hate the idea of them being used for revenue gathering, rather than for saving lives.
So, I’ll leave you with this pearl of wisdom: I would like to see speed cameras being moved away from areas where motorists are easy prey for speeding tickets, and into areas where they could better fulfil their purpose of saving lives. Maybe around schools, in town centres, or — god forbid — in well known accident black spots.
Just some food for thought.
Simon Davis, June 2014
When I was growing up, I was obsessed with my Dad’s copy of the video game Need for Speed 2. Many hours of my youth were spent (or wasted) in front of the computer screen, racing around in what were at the time a collection of the most powerful, and exotic cars in the world.
Of all the cars that you could race in on this game, and there were quite a few, my standout favourite was always the Mclaren F1. Now, because I was 6 at the time, the Mclaren was my favourite simply because it was the fastest car in the game. It was also, conveniently, the fastest car in the world as well.
But, because I was more concerned with beating my mates in two-player mode so that I could subsequently rub their faces in it when they lost; the performance figures of the Mclaren in real life always played second-fiddle to the in-game performance figures. In this car, I was a winner, and my mates were all sissy-girls.
It is for immature reasons like this that I find myself drawn to certain supercars. Take a look at the Lamborghini Aventador for example, that has a flame thrower for an exhaust pipe. And it looks like a bright orange jet-fighter. I mean, what more do you need?
Now I must confess, whilst cars like the Mclaren F1 and the Lamborghini Aventador do excite my inner six-year-old for incredibly juvenile reasons, the same cannot be said of every single super car in existence today.
Funnily enough, the Mclaren cars that are around today do not excite me as much as the F1 from my childhood. The problem here is that they all seem to be named after fax machines. Take the Mclaren MP4-12C for example; who in their right mind thought that a name like that sounded sexy? For some odd reason, whenever I hear that model name an image of a balding fat bloke, standing at the office photocopier pops into my mind. It is all a bit disturbing, really.
I do hate to go on about Mclaren, but they just seem to be repeat offenders when it comes to giving their cars particularly uninspiring names. Their newest model, which is still under development has the code name “P13”. It sounds more like a coordinate on a Battleships board than a name for a new super car.
Im sure there is logic behind the way in which they name their cars at Mclaren, with careful board meetings at every turn. I just cannot help but get the impression, however, that any form of flamboyance is forbidden. That seems ridiculous for a company that is supposed to be making on-the-edge-of-your-seat racing cars for the road.
The Italians seem to have a better idea of how to name a car. Take the new Ferrari LaFerrari for instance. It is a stupid name, since it essentially means Ferrari TheFerrari. But, because it’s Italian, it sounds great. They also have all the of Lamborghini’s that have ever existed. My personal favourite is the Lamborghini Diablo. How badass does that sound?
If Mclaren want to rekindle their appeal to the inner-child, they are going to have to start naming their cars things like the “Rambo”, or the “Killer”. Something along those lines anyway.
If such a day ever comes, Mclarens will again be my favourite cars. But until then, I guess they are just going to sound a bit dull. I can think of one quick fix however; and that would be for me to be able to spend a day tearing around a racetrack in one of their fax machines — ahem, I mean, cars. I’m sure that would more than bring my inner six-year-old out of hiding.
So, Mclaren, are you listening?
Simon Davis, June 2014.
Bad news! Ferrari have recently announced that the successor to the awesome 458 Italia will be receiving a turbo-charged engine.
The move has inevitably come about as a result of the increasingly stringent, and frugal emissions regulations placed on car manufacturers by governments and committees around the world. Whilst Ferrari may be seen by 9 year-old boys as being a company that gives the middle-finger to rules regarding what they can and can’t do when it comes to building a car, the fact of the matter is that if they don’t meet new emissions quotas; they may find themselves in a spot of bother.
It is indeed very, very sad that the world will no longer be graced with the presence of the absolutely mental, naturally aspirated V8 that is found in the current 458 Speciale once the updated model is unveiled. But, failure to adopt the industry trends of smaller capacity, turbo-charged engines will see any manufacturer of supercars fall behind competitors not just in terms of sales, but also in terms of performance.
The maths behind the move towards turbo-charging is simple: emission regulations are requiring car manufacturers to reduce the amount of CO2 produced by their cars; the most efficient way to do this is to reduce engine size, and strap on a few turbos. Whilst a company like Ferrari isn’t required to meet the same figures as large scale manufacturers such as Ford or Fiat — because of special small-manufacturer exemptions — if it fails to show a downward trend, they run the risk of having this exemption being pulled.
Not to worry though. While the engine in the 458 successor may lose a bit of the pantomime and panache of the previous models, it is important to remember that Ferrari is not new to the game of turbo-charging. Two of what are the arguably ‘most epic’ models in the company’s history — the F40 and the 288 GTO — both featured twin-turbo charged V8 engines, and both were fire-spitting, road monsters that were crazier than Jim Carrey on LSD. They were fast cars not only by the standards of their time, but by the standards of today as well.
We also shouldn’t forget the fact that the recently released California T also features a turbo-charged V8. It has 560bhp. That is a lot of power in any car, let alone a car that is designed to be a relaxed, comfortable grand tourer. The naturally aspirated engine in the 458 Speciale has already taken the 458 family to over 600bhp. One can only imagine that the replacement turbo-charged V8 that will feature in the 458 replacement will be even higher than that again. A rough estimate might suggest that power will be over and above the 650bhp mark, due to the fact that that is what Mclaren’s new 650S model produces from its turbo-charged V8.
So, while it will be sad to say goodbye to the wild, howling 4.5 litre V8 that currently exists in Ferrari’s 458 family, we can remain safe in the knowledge that the replacement turbo-charged V8 will be just as, if not more wild than the current model. We are talking about the Italians here after all, and Italians don’t really ‘do’ boring.
Simon Davis, June 2014.
It is no secret that Hollywood is a fame-machine; raising the international status of anyone — or anything — that features in one of its many productions, to stratospheric levels.
In the same way that Walker, along with actors Vin Diesel and Michelle Rodriguez, were catapulted into stardom following the success of the 2001 release of The Fast and the Furious, so too were the cars that featured in the ever-expanding list of movies that make up the franchise.
Nissan GT-Rs, Dodge Chargers, Mitsubishi Evos — all at some point or another have starred along side these actors; and have subsequently captured the imaginations and hearts of tuners, movie-goers, and twelve year olds alike.
Now, at least for some of you more cashed-up readers of FastCar, the opportunity to own a piece of Hollywood — and motoring — history has presented itself.
The R34 Nissan Skyline GT-R that was one of the ‘hero-cars’ featured in the action-packed Fast and Furious IV, is up for sale in Germany. In the hands of Paul Walker’s character, Brian O’Conner, this mighty machine stood up to Dominic Toretto — played by Vin Diesel — in more than one adrenaline-fuelled street race.
Whilst the GT-R has been on sale for a few years now, the untimely death of lead actor, Paul Walker, has more than doubled the asking price to a mental €1,000,000 (£814,700). Not exactly pocket-change, but for that figure you do get a pretty ridiculous piece of kit to show off to your mates.
With a standard R34 GT-R boasting a not-to-be-sniffed-at 2.6 litre, twin-turbocharged straight-six engine, with a 0-60mph time of 5.4 seconds; it is hard to imagine this heavily tuned Fast and Furious GT-R to be anything but electric when it comes to performance.
Boasting features such as upgraded Nismo suspension, a Nismo NE-1 exhaust system, a Rotora Big Brake kit, Momo steering wheel, custom Volk wheels, and of course that iconic Fast and Furious styling, this car is nothing short of a tuners wet-dream. Yours truly is nursing a semi just thinking about it.
Whilst £814,700 does seem to be a ridiculous figure for a GT-R, even one that starred in theFast and Furious franchise, one can find solace in the knowledge that around 50% of the proceeds made from the sale of this car will go towards Walker’s charity — Reach Out WorldWide.
So, if you do choose to fork out big sums of cash in order to buy this car, not only will you come home with the feel-good factor that I can only assume comes with owning a car famous in the petrolhead world; you will also come home with the feel-good factor of providing relief to victims of natural disasters around the world.
Talk about a fulfilling experience!
Simon Davis, June 2014.
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