Author: Peter Anderson

Audi R8 Spyder

Audi R8 Spyder Review

The Audi R8 Spyder, like any topless supercar, comes in for the usual criticism of “being a bit soft.” With a chassis and driveline shared with the Lamborghini Huracan, it’s fairly unlikely you could ever accuse the R8 of being a bit weak. But, being the kind of people we are The Redline, we thought it worth investigating. And instead of going over the top and getting the R8 V10 Plus, we got the heaviest, lowest-powered R8, steel-braked R8.

History

Audi’s motorsport heritage stretches back before World War II. Without putting too fine a point on it, old Adolf was pretty keen on German domination in motorsport, so alongside Mercedes, the Auto Unions conquered races and records. Half a century later, the Audi R8 race car hit the track.

In between, Audi made some achingly pretty concept cars and had got cracking with the beautiful but dynamically uninteresting TT. The Audi Avus was a W12-powered supercar concept released in 1991. The TT owed the Avus much of its look but not the supercar performance. Between the Avus in 1991 and the release of the R8 LMP car in 1999, the Volkswagen Group bought, of all things, Lamborghini.

Within a year of its release, the R8 race car won Le Mans five times in six years from 2000-2005, with only Bentley ruining the party in 2003. Amusingly, Tom Kristensen drove to victory in all six races, including the one appearance for Bentley. Audi poached him back for the 2004 race.

Problem was, for all that motorsport success, all Audi had to offer go-faster fiends was a few S models and, eventually, the RS6. They were good cars, but they weren’t supercars. What Audi needed was a mid-engined supercar to top the range and lure buyers from Porsche. What to do?

Ingolstadt, sensibly, looked to Sant’ Agata Bolognese. That’s where Lamborghini’s wildly successful Gallardo came from, powered by a V10 engine and going out the door faster than any Lamborghini in history. And to keep everyone happy, for the first two years of production, Audi fitted their own 4.2-litre V8.

The R8 road car went into production in 2006 at a dedicated facility in Neckarsulm, Germany. In 2008, to much consternation from Lamborghini fans, the 5.2-litre V10 from the Gallardo went into the back of the Audi. While the V8 produced 309kW/414bhp, the V10 roared with 391kW/525bhp.

The second-generation, V10-only R8 superseded the first-generation in 2015 after almost nine years on sale.

Audi R8 Spyder

Image: Rhys Vandersyde, InSyde Media

The second-generation Audi R8 shares even more with the Huracan than the first did the Gallardo. That’s the reality. They are, however, very different cars. The R8 is more restrained inside and out and is all the better for it. The R8 has Audi’s excellent Virtual Cockpit dashboard, a much more coherent interior and even more comfortable seats, just to get going. It also feels better made and despite sharing a few bits and pieces from other Audis, that’s not different from the Lambo.

The only real let-down for me are the clack-tacky steering-wheel mounted paddles from a A3. I don’t care that they’re from an A3, but the Huracan’s paddle shifts are utterly glorious alloy units that look and feel amazing.

The R8’s lights reference the now-dormant Le Mans program, a victim of Volkswagen’s role in dieselgate. It’s very much sharp rather than sexy, but has some lovely detailing. You can also take it anywhere without attracting too much attention.

V10 Engine

This is how the engine looks…if you could see it…(image: Audi)

The Audi R8 comes in three flavours – V10, V10 Plus and RWS (Rear Wheel Series). The Plus is obviously the more powerful at 443kW (610PS, as in LP610-4) and 397kW (540PS) for the V10. The car we tested was the lower-powered car at 397kW, but not that you’d really notice. It still has a pretty decent 540Nm of torque to keep things interesting.

The power is fed through Audi’s newer – and much-improved – seven-speed twin-clutch transmission with a pretty nasty set of paddle shifters on the back of the steering wheel. At least the console-mounted shifter is seriously cool.

The gearbox ratios are different on the non-Plus version for fourth to seventh. The Spyder’s gears are more evenly-spaced where the Plus as shorter and four and five with longer sixth and seventh.

Chassis

Unlike the Huracan Spider we had, the R8 was all-wheel drive, using Audi’s famed Quattro drivetrain. Obviously it’s rear-biased so things are pretty lively.

Here on the non-Plus car, we missed out on the three extra Performance modes, but again, it’s not a huge loss in this heavier car.

Suspension is by double-wishbones front and rear, with magnetic damping that responds to the usual changes in driving mode. The basic steering is an excellent electric setup but you can step up to dynamic rack and just get annoyed with it.

On this car we had the eight-pot fixed caliper front brakes and four-pot rears gripping the rears. The rotors are those whacky wavy steel discs that Audi likes. Unless you’re planning on hitting the track, the steels are fine. They really are.

Driving

The Coupe is – truly – a masterpiece. It’s like Audi stripped away all the histrionics and (hugely enjoyable) nonsense of the Huracan to deliver a supercar that cuts the crap. You can drive around without too many double-takes, you can park where you like (it has a usable reversing camera) and it has brilliant manners in traffic. It even has stop-start.

It has a much friendlier cabin, too. While it’s basically the same architecture, the Audi’s is calmer and, bizarrely, cooler. The Virtual Cockpit is the RS version without the nutty design in the Lambo, but that means you can actually see the information without having to decode it. Yes, the Lamborghini is like that.

Above all, it’s more comfortable. All the better to wring its neck.

The steering in the R8 is close to perfect. Consistently-weighted, it’s hard to tell it’s electric rather than the purist-favoured hydraulic. It never gets too heavy, even in the highest drive mode. Pointing the R8 down a bendy road proves how good the steering is. Its composure and poise reminds you just how great a mid-engined car is. A V10 is heavy, so having it rammed up against the rear bulkhead means the weight is in the best place it can be.

Putting the weight there (and it’s low, owing to the engine’s dry sump) means the steering is marvellously uncorrupted, despite some of the power going through the front wheels. You won’t get any torque steer and you can trust the car will go where you point it.

Yes, there is understeer, but it’s nowhere near as catastrophic as people would have you believe and it’s the mildest of push – and rather better than oversteer. Oversteer is fun but undesirable on narrow roads with no run-off. Hell, there’s understeer in a Ferrari 488 and you don’t hear any complaints about that. It’s something people say because a car is all-wheel drive.

The way the R8 rides is phenomenal – unless the road is really bumpy, the tyres stay right where they should, hugging the road and channeling power to the road. The power-shuffling is completely unobtrusive and the attitude of the car can be adjusted with the throttle. And the grip – oh, the grip. Seemingly endless, secure on the loose and wet stuff, imperious in the dry.

Roof down it’s a sensory delight. I was burning to a crisp on the day we shot the video so the roof was up, but listening to that V10 sing is worth every single unit of currency you have to spend on this car. It’s utterly glorious and the punch is brutal when you want it and smooth when you need it.

The R8 is the superior car to the Huracan in almost every way. It’s more subtle (which isn’t hard, but maybe skip the yellow), more composed and easier to live with. It’s a GT car in comfort mode and a complete nutter in Dynamic. You don’t miss the extra power in the Spyder because the noise you hear makes you feel like you’re going faster. I’d still have a V10 Plus Coupe, but my goodness, this car is brilliant.

February 7, 2018
The Jaguar D-Type Returns

The Jaguar D-Type Returns

Hot on the heels of the “new” E-Types and Land Rover Defender Works V8, the British company is once again putting an old-stager back into production – the D-Type.

If you missed the oddball Grand Tour episode which pitted the D-Type against, of all things, a Civic Type R, this is news. But there’s more to it than Clarkson and company’s quick summary of the situation.

The planned production run for the D-Type was 100 cars but production came to a halt at 75. This new run will complete the ton, which is a kind of homage to the past, I suppose. Homages usually being to the past, but I’m sure you know what I mean.

What, How…

The D-Types will be built in the same Warwickshire factory as the six “missing” lightweight E-Types and nine XK-SSes, all under the watchful eye of Tim Hannig, director of Jaguar Land Rover Classic.

“The Jaguar D-type is one of the most iconic and beautiful competition cars of all time, with an outstanding record in the world’s toughest motor races. And it’s just as spectacular today. The opportunity to continue the D-type’s success story, by completing its planned production run in Coventry, is one of those once-in-a-lifetime projects that our world-class experts at Jaguar Land Rover Classic are proud to fulfil.”

Seems like third-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but really, who’s counting? It’s absolutely worth noting that the D-Type is a big deal – most of the plans went up in smoke after fire destroyed the original Browns Lane factory in Coventry.

…and Why?

These cars are cool. Jaguar will show a Longnose prototype at the Salon Retromobile (yeah, I’d never heard of it either). This one features the long nose and a set of quick-change brake calipers.

Jaguar says the cars will be “period-correct”, so forget airbags, ABS, catalytic converters or the ability to, you know, road register the car. Seems expensive, and according to the TGT story, will run into the millions of pounds/dollars/euros.

The cars will instantly be worth a packet, too, and the constrained production run will keep current owners happy.

The XK’s lovely straight-six returns, along with the four-speed manual. They won’t all be the same, though – the well-heeled customers will be able to choose from either long or short nose configurations for their D-Type. I have no idea which one will be the favourite, but I’m a fan of the short snout.

Austin Powers?

My favourite bit of the press release was this nugget – Jaguar’s competition manager in the 1950s was called Lofty England. You cannot make that up.

Kev Riches is the Engineering Manager at Jaguar Classic, so we’ll leave the last word to him. “Recreating the nine D-type-derived XKSSs was hugely satisfying, and an even bigger technical challenge than the six missing Lightweight E-types. Lessons learned from the XKSS project have given us a head start on the final 25 D-types. Each one will be absolutely correct, down to the very last detail, just as Jaguar’s Competitions Department intended.”

February 7, 2018
2018 Bathurst 12 Hour: A Day In The Pits

The 2018 Bathurst 12 Hour was a classic race, which given the event’s ability to serve up surprises, is certainly saying something. The Redline was given access to the Steve Richards Motorsport (SRM) team garage and we watched the race unfold, starting on Saturday afternoon and concluding at the race’s end on Sunday.

Disqualified from Qualifying

We arrived at possibly the most awkward moment you might imagine – in the lull between qualifying and the Top Ten Shootout, the SRM #100 car was excluded. A discrepancy in the boost pressures – the team said they were spikes in the boost on the in-lap – convinced the stewards the team had breached the regulations and tipped them out, condemning them to the back of the grid of over fifty cars.

Adding insult to the initial insult, the Schnitzer BMW team next door put the M6 GT3 on pole.

You might expect a team owner-driver like Steve to start throwing things, team members to be angry and just a general drama. But the awkwardness lasted just a few minutes. The three-week appeal process would be a waste of time, the stewards weren’t interested in hearing the team’s explanation and it was over. The team just got to work on the #100 car and the two M4 GTSes on the other side of the garage. Steve spoke to the media of his disappointment but declared Sunday to be another day and it was a long race.

Courtesy of a mega lap from Steve’s V8 Supercars colleague Chaz Mostert – himself a Bathurst 1000 winner – the Schnitzer BMW grabbed pole. The SRM team whooped and applauded. They didn’t have to, it wasn’t their car, it was just another BMW M6 GT3, but they were pleased for the Schnitzer boys.

2018 Bathurst 12 Hour Race

It’s just after 5:30am. It’s usually too early for anything but not for motorsport.

The race starts at the unearthly – and slightly strange – hour of 5:45am. That gives European and US viewers a good chance to watch the start at relatively sensible hours and also means that Australian viewers can watch the conclusion of the race before the host network urges Australians to turn over to watch the news.

The race start is epic – fifty cars rumble around the track in the dark behind the Safety Car, warming tyres and brakes, scoping the track for overnight changes.

They’re away behind the safety car #b12hr #b12hr2018 #cars #racing

A post shared by The Redline (@theredlineau) on Feb 3, 2018 at 10:47am PST

Down at the grid, it was cool but not cold but, but as we would later discover, it was quite cold at the top of the “mountain”. Soon after the start we headed up to Skyline. The race suffered its first Safety Car on the first lap after a privateer MARC car slapped the wall.

Skyline (corner) at dawn. Look closely and you can see our very own Rhys Vandersyde crouched on the other side of the fence.

An hour or so up there and we returned to the pits. The team was busy, a desk full of computer screens, Richards gliding around making sure everyone was happy, smiling and laughing as the car worked its way through the field, passing the slower Pro-Am, Class C and Class B cars unscathed.

Always a race of attrition, the #100 car’s progress was helped with Safety Car after Safety Car. That would also prove to be the first of two decisive moments for the two M6s.

I was initially a bit hesitant about spending twelve hours in the team “hot tub”, an area at the back of the pits for the team’s guests. While we stepped out for food and phone calls, it was absorbing. Watching a well-drilled team get on with the job of running and servicing a race car.

SRM also ran the new BMW M4 GTS. Sadly, it clouted the wall at Forrest Elbow, tearing off the right front wheel.

The M4 GTS in happier times

After a moment of disappointment, the car returned to the pits on a flat-bed truck and the team set about returning it to racing fitness. While the drama of the GT3 side of the garage unfolded, the GT4 crew worked for several hours – with half an eye on the team’s progress – to repair the damage.

The Race Unravels

The Schnitzer entry scored a drive-through penalty after an infringement on a Safety Car restart, but the worst for that car was yet to come.

The #100 continued to work its way forward, slowly but surely, leading the race on occasions and setting the team up for a possible podium. Both M6s were quick.

Quick until Chaz Mostert got himself in a silly situation. It’s a well-known rule that you don’t tangle with a Bentley at the 12 Hour – they’re built like tanks and have been driven like that – but Mostert did. He later admitted it wasn’t his finest hour but the damage was well and truly done.

“That didn’t need to happen”

Leading cars caught up in melee at at Forrest’s Elbow#B12HR pic.twitter.com/n1OFRE341W

— Bathurst 12 Hour (@Bathurst12hour) February 4, 2018

Unfortunately for the #100 car, there were other problems. The brake pistons had “cocked” in the caliper. Poor Timo Glock – who had driven impeccably – had to hook his foot underneath the brake pedal to pull it back from the floor. The team pitted the car twice under Safety Car to change the discs and calipers. Without divine intervention, the race was done.

Shoulders sagged but Richards remained upbeat. His time in the car was just as impressive as the younger internationals, pushing the car forward in his customary low-key manner.

As is now well-documented, the race ended after a horror smash involving three cars – a privateer MARC, one of the many Audi R8 GT3s and an AMG GT3.

A notorious section of track, the MARC hammered the wall and the R8 went with it, ending up stranded across the track with Ash Walsh at the wheel. Three cars avoided the stricken Audi but John Martin arrived at full speed. Martin threw the AMG into a slide, hammering the Audi broadside and throwing it into air. It was sickening.

A major crash has brought out the Safety Car at the #B12HR pic.twitter.com/5rhMCSB8xU

— Bathurst 12 Hour (@Bathurst12hour) February 4, 2018

At the risk of being slightly ghoulish about the situation, it was fascinating to watch the reaction in the SRM pit. As the team prepared themselves for an unlikely pit-stop – and activity that had become a reflex over the course of the day – all eyes stuck to the television on the wall. When Walsh climbed from the destroyed Audi the tension broke and polite, relieved applause broke out.

A Team Sport

The day in the pits was hugely instructive. GT3 teams are small. Compared to an F1 team, they’re microscopic. Steve had spend the last three months preparing his car and team for the day, working fifteen hours, being there for everyone and fulfilling all his duties as a team owner, driver and family man. His team are obviously inspired by him and co-drivers Eng and Glock in awe of his experience and professionalism.

The day is a busy one for the team, there was barely a moment where activity stopped. The constant interlopers in the hot tub couldn’t even distract or annoy them. Everybody had their job, they did it. When things were tight or difficult, plan B swung into action with a nod or a word. The only time I heard a raised voice was during an impromptu stop under Safety Car and the tyres were taking a while. And it wasn’t anger, it was encouragement.

The Bathurst 12 Hour is an absorbing race that never failed to entertain and terrify in equal measure. It’s a race of attrition, survival and speed. And a race for teams.

The Redline attended the 2018 Bathurst 12 Hour as a guest of BMW Australia. We drove there in the brilliant BMW M4 CS.

February 6, 2018
2018 Bathurst 12 Hour: Almost Five Hours Down

Anytime before 6am is early by anyone’s measure, but the Bathurst 12 Hour start time of 5:45am doesn’t seem to bother too many people. Particularly unbothered was pole-sitter Chaz Mostert, who according to his team was ready to roll almost three hours before race start.

With first light breaking in the east, the cars set off on the rolling start, lights blazing and ehausts flaming and popping madly in the dark. As a sound and light show, a fleet of GT3s and GT4s storming into Hell Corner at Bathurst is a sight worth rising early for.

The start was largely uneventful until the Safety Car boards slowed the field for a stricken car on Mountain Straight. The rest of the hour was fairly quiet unless you were a Schnitzer BMW fan, with the M6 GT3 pulling an easy twenty seconds out of the second-placed Audi.

Hour two started with Crampton’s KTM X-Bow walloping the wall at Forrest Elbow in a crash that looked like it would never end, never mind for the man himself behind the wheel. Mostert again went to work but was foiled by another crash on Mountain Straight, with Bagnall (Audi R8), Cini (R8) and Haber (MARC II V8) coming to grief in an awkward tumble.

The green flag returned on lap 51 and Mostert once again obliterated the pack with a commanding lead on the first lap. Ten laps later a slightly over-zealous race control put out the safety car for a beached Porsche that worked its way free. Perhaps to make the safety car worthwhile, Xavier West in the second of the SRM BMW M4 GT4s came to grief, his front right wheel rolling away down the hill.

This triggered more stops and again ruined Mostert’s lead. Time Slade stayed out in the #11 Objecive McLaren and took the lead.

Further frustration for BMW came when Mostert’s replacement, Marko Wittman, overlapped with a Marco on the restart, copping a drive-through penalty. Wittman stayed in for the next stop, with new tyres going on.

The SRM GT3 had, in the meantime, stormed through the field, taking advantage of all those safety cars. Having started last after being excluded from qualifying, running as high as third before settling into sixth place just with a brave pass on Frijns (Audi R8 #37) before the 5h00 mark.

The #58 Mclaren of Lowndes struck trouble, the 650S coming into the garage on lap 101 from just ouside the top ten.

February 4, 2018
2018 Bathurst 12 Hour: Top Ten Shootout

The Schnitzer BMW of Chas Mostert and Augusto Farfus will start the 2018 Bathurst 12 Hour on pole after an amazing lap from Mostert. The young Australian nailed a huge lap of Mount Panorama at the wheel of an M6 GT3, with a sub 2:02 lap, the only car to go that quickly.

Audi’s challenger, Kelvin van der Linde, settled for a second, nearly a quarter of a second off Mostert’s pace, heading another R8, the 74, which was another quarter second back.

The 100 BMW of Richards, Eng and Glock was disqualified after qualifying for a boost irregularity, leaving Mostert to carry the BMW flag.

The car that inherited the tenth slot vacated by the DQ, the Strakka AMG GT3, came home sixth. Luke Youlden wrestled the ageing Lamborghini Gallardo to fourth, ahead of the McLaren of Scott McLaughlin.

The race starts at 5:30am local time on Sunday 4th March.

February 3, 2018
2018 Bathurst 12 Hour Qualifying

Audi’s R8 LMS has topped the timesheets in the 2018 Bathurst 12 Hour Qualifying.

Audi and BMW have battled hard through every sessions, with the M6 GT3s initially placed second and third, with local heroes Chaz Mostert and Steven Richards in the driver mix. After qualifying, the second M6 GT3, that of Richards, Timo Glock and Phillipe Eng, suffered a disqualification for a technical breach.

The DQ will send that car to the back of the grid (pending any appeal) and the Strakka Mercedes AMG GT3 will move into the top ten for the shootout later this afternoon.

Further down the grid, the YNA McLarens found some speed with Scott McLaughlin (4th) Shane van Gisbergen (6th) at the wheel over the weekend.

The sole Porsche 911 GT3 in the top ten belongs to Matt Campbell (5th) and the big-banger Bentley Continental (always hilarious to watch and a crowd favourite) squeaking into tenth. The only Lamborghini to show is a long-in-the-tooth Gallardo with Bathurst 1000 winner Luke Youlden on board came in a very respectable ninth.

The Top Ten Shootout could see the whole thing upended, so keep up to date on Twitter @theredlineau

February 3, 2018
2018 Bathurst 12 Hour: The Hub of Battle

The Redline is at the 2018 Bathurst 12 Hour and we are in the heat of battle – the BMW SRM pit box.

We’ll be here for top-ten qualifying and all through the race to bring you the drama.

Use this page as the hub for all thing #b12hr and follow us on Twitter and Instagram for all of the photos and videos we get plus we’ll have some fun on YouTube for you to drink in.

So strap in – we’ve got access to drivers, cars, the works. Keep coming back to this page for updates or keep an eye on Twitter.

Qualifying report: 2018 Bathurst 12 Hour Qualifying

Top Ten: 2018 Bathurst 12 Hour Top Ten

A Day In The Pits: 2018 Bathurst 12 Hour Race

February 3, 2018
Lister Returns To The Road With Lister Thunder

Jaguar F-Type-based Lister Thunder hits the road.

Britain really knows how to do sports cars of a particular type. Then another British company takes that sports car and turns it into a total nutter. Lister is just such a company and almost thirty years since the mad 7.0-litre V12 XJS called the Lister Le Mans, they’re back.

The new car is a called Thunder. That’s appropriate before they throw a single spanner at the supercharged V8 F-Pace because as we discovered in our SVR review, that engine is possibly the most gloriously anti-social out there.

But throw spanners Lister did and the V8 now kicks out a massive 457kW (627bhp). That extra grunt cuts almost a second from the 0-100km/h (0-62mph) time which now stands at 3.1 seconds. Top speed is a whopping 335km/h.

It’s an F-Pace, but not as we know it

All that extra power obviously requires some modifications. Liberal application of carbon fibre not only drops a few kilos from the F-Type’s portly frame, but brings some good weight in the form of downforce.

The 22-inch wheels will likely make a mess of the ride but prevent you making a mess of yourself, with gumball Michelins painted on. Bigger brakes also help while the go-faster adjustable dampers will have the handling nerds rubbing their hands in delight.

You can take the standard interior or pay more and choose from 36 colours or go even madder and start specifying it yourself.

How many and how much and what is Lister anyway?

Lister might be back, but there’s only 99 available for the princely sum of £139,950, which is quite a lot of money but it is a lot of performance. Options include a carbon fibre bonnet but the lovely enamel Lister badge in the grille is part of the package.

And, if you’re interested, Lister says there is more to tell, so we’ll keep an eye on it for you.

If you’ve already got an F-Type, Lister will sell you a retro-fit carbon fibre body kit for a mere £19,950.

The Lister Thunder will be built alongside the Knobbly, which will be road-legal for the first time. The Knobbly uses a Jaguar D-Type 3.4-litre six-cylinder unit clothed in an aluminium body. Raced by Stirling Moss, it’s one of those famous classics that has kept the Lister name alive.

The company itself claims to bet the Britain’s “oldest surviving racing car company,” which Bentley might want to challenge, but we’ll let them have it.

Lister’s CEO, Lawrence Whittaker, is in charge of Lister’s comeback and is rightfully pleased with himself. “Like Brabus and AMG with Mercedes and Alpina with BMW, we are hoping to become synonymous once again with tuning Jaguar vehicles, giving customers new enhanced, bespoke performance and design alternatives to Jaguar’s acclaimed model programme. Although we are not directly affiliated with Jaguar Land Rover, Lister has a Jaguar tuning heritage dating back 65 years.”

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February 1, 2018
Lotus 2020: Two New Cars

The Lotus 2020 plan is out. Again.

The message from Jean-Marc Gales, Lotus CEO: Two new cars by 2020. And guess what? There’ll be an SUV as well. Some months after Chinese car company and Volvo owner Geely bought Lotus from Proton, Lotus’ future plans are out in the open.

Well, a bit.

Lotus 2020: Two New Cars

It won’t be a new Esprit.

Lotus made its name with sports cars, so by 2020 we’ll have two new cars.

The first will replace either the Evora or Exige. The Evora runs on the newest of Lotus’ platforms while the Exige rides on the Elise’s now 22 year old tried and tested hydroformed aluminium tub.

It seems weird that the Evora would be the first to be replaced (it’s only been around since 2009) but Gales is a smart fellow who seems to know what he’s doing. He had previously said that the Elise replacement would arrive in 2020, but that was before Geely turned up.

Gales told CAR Magazine that the new car won’t feature a hybrid powertrain, with Gales citing the weight of two engines.

Reading between the lines, it’s possible the Elise could get the chop. Gales said that there’s not much money in sports cars – they cost a lot to develop and you can’t sell too many of them. Either way, the Elise’s super-clever, iconic aluminium platform will live on doing what it does best – reasonably cheap to build, super-strong, super-light, easy to work with.

The second new car is the car I reckon Lotus should be doing – a carbon-tubbed track monster. That car can’t replace the Elise unless a financial miracle occurs (or Lotus works out how Alfa Romeo do it so cheaply in the 4C).

SUV

This is the car nobody really wants Lotus to make, but it has to. An SUV is the way to the market’s heart and a Lotus SUV should be something very interesting indeed. Gales promised that all future cars will stay true to the Lotus DNA of lightness. He wouldn’t be drawn on engines but did drop a heavy hint about an electric drivetrain being in the mix.

A Lotus SUV will be interesting, if nothing else. The less information I have makes me further intrigued…

Geely, Volvo and Lotus

There is finally new money flowing through Lotus, which also managed a profit in the last financial year. The production line has scored a cash injection and Lotus engineers have been on a parts-bin raid to update electrical and safety systems. We might finally see decent stereos, a sat nav and hopefully some new switchgear.

We won’t be seeing the big Volvo touchscreen (from experience, it’s way too big to fit in a Lotus) and it’s highly unlikely the SUV will be a rebadged XC-something. That’s good news, even though both of those things are excellent in their own right. They’re just not right for Lotus.

While the news isn’t that of a new sports car onslaught – and I’m a bit worried that the Elise may not live on – it’s great to see Geely money is flowing. In my head, Lotus could be almost a McLaren sub-brand, a harder-core drive-to-the-track sports cars that are more user-friendly than, say, an Ariel Atom.

For the full story without my bleatings, check out CAR’s story (which missed the bits about the previous plans).

January 29, 2018
Land Rover Defender Works V8 Is Bonkers

Land Rover Defender Works V8 Announced

Land Rover has gone a bit overboard in its 70th Anniversary year, producing the Defender Works V8.

As most of you probably already know, the Defender went out of production a couple of years back after many decades in service. Over the years it scored little in the way of creature comforts. Less attention was paid only to the styling, which barely changed. You can imagine the consternation in the Defender project corner every time a new homologation rule arrived in the mail. “We have to put indicators on?”

Defender Works V8

I’ve been to a few 70th birthday parties over the years, but none has been this stark raving mad. While dropping a V8 into the Defender isn’t new – the 1979 Series III Stage 1 started the trend – it’s not exactly commonplace. It’s not really part of the Defender’s charm to have a bellowing bent eight under the square-rigged bonnet.

The V8 develops a rather decent 297kW (481bhp) and 515Nm. The last Defenders to roll down the line were rather more sedate, with 90kW (145bhp) and 360Nm. Top speed wasn’t 170km/h and even if it had been, trying to hit it would have been madness. 0-60mph (98km/h) arrives in 5.7 seconds. Imagine the look on a quick 5 Series driver’s face. Ironically, you’ll both be using the same ZF eight-speed automatic transmission. The Defender even has a Sport mode. Hipsters the world over will be utterly furious.

To help tame the grunt, beefier springs, dampers and anti-roll bars help keep things on the road.

Further evidence of caution having been thrown to the wind is a distinctly un-Defender set of 18-inch diamond turned sawtooth alloys. While you can accelerate toward muddy ruts at great speed, these wheels will probably eject themselves to avoid certain ruination in the ruts.

The website says the production cars are “specially selected” but Twitter phenomenon Sniff Petrol spotted a set of partially assembled cars on a factory tour last year.

Seems these official Defender V8s will be brand new cars. When I went to see the last Defender come off the line in 2016 I spotted these new panel sets out the back of the factory and at the time I thought ‘now why would they need those…?’ pic.twitter.com/RkO9EnP9A5

— Sniff Petrol (@sniffpetrol) January 17, 2018

Why?

Well, turning 70 in any business is a gigantic achievement, triply so for a car maker. It’s a notoriously difficult business and Land Rover came face-to-face with ruin more than once over the years. So it’s worth celebrating, as Ferrari demonstrated last year.

The head of Jaguar Land Rover Classic, Tim Hannig, says the idea has been kicking around for a while.

“The idea of reintroducing a V8 Defender was something we were discussing as far back as 2014, when we were still building the Defender in Solihull. We knew the demand was there for a powerful and fast Defender; the Land Rover authenticity is the ultimate finishing touch for discerning clients purchasing these collector’s edition Defenders.”

Fair enough. They’ll be a collector’s item alright – just 150 will be available for purchase in either 90 or 110 versions. A 90 will cost a staggering £150,000, which will score you an Audi R8 Spyder in the UK.

If you want one, you better be quick and, basically, live in the UK. The press release carefully avoids mentioning countries outside of the kingdom except to say Middle East and North Africa region customers can grab one on a personal import basis.

If you fancy a closer look at the business producing the Defender Works V8, click here.

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January 17, 2018