The Infiniti Prototype 10 is the Japanese luxury maker’s Monterey show car. And, let’s be honest, it’s a cry for attention. Infiniti has struggled for the sort of success of compatriot Lexus, so the company has gone big.
The Prototype 10 is quite interesting. The Prototype 10 will grab some headlines because it’s quite striking. And kind of irrelevant – there is absolutely no way this car is going anywhere near a production line.
What is the Infiniti Prototype 10?
Following on from the Prototype 9, Protoype 10 is an electric speedster. Looking at it, it’s quite reminiscent of Mercedes SLR Stirling Moss. Except it has fewer seats, probably so Infiniti could use the term monoposto. So, uh, yeah, not super-practical. Gorgeous, though.
The new Infiniti Prototype 10 is the work of new Executive Design Director, Karim Habib. With a new design director comes a new direction, so the 10 is about introducing some new ideas. Infiniti poached Lebanese-Canadian Habib from BMW late last year. Habib also worked at Mercedes, so he knows his way around luxury cars.
Infiniti recently announced that from 2021 its cars will be either hybrid, range extender or pure electric. If that sounds a bit far-fetched, remember that Infiniti is part of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi giant.
“The Infiniti Prototype 10 echoes the layout and design of early speedsters. This period saw the creation of some of the most evocative car designs of all time, where power was celebrated through high-powered single-seat competition cars. Our new concept speaks of an electrified future, something which is reflected in its form and details.” – Karim Habib
Designed at Infiniti’s Californian design studio, the company reckons that made sense for a speedster. Something to do with the place being the natural home of the speedster. Mmkay.
This is the type of car Matt Hatton complained about, quite recently in fact. No specs, it doesn’t move under its own power. Most because it’s pretty, partly because it will annoy Matt, I love it.
As cries for attention go, it’s a good one.
Like our Pebble Beach coverage? There’s more here including the new BMW Z4, which is a real car you can drive.
BMW’s 2019 BMW Z4 is finally here in production form after a seemingly endless gestation. Co-developed with unlikely partner Toyota, the new Z4 replaces the gasping – or more accurately, dead – E89.
Yeah. Remember when BMW was still in the Es? They’re now well into the Gs.
The first cab(riolet) off the rank is the Z4 M40i First Edition. It’s an interesting start, an M Performance model. Then again, we’ve been waiting so damn long, it’s nice the wait is over.
BMW chose to unveil the Z4 Concept last year in at the Pebble Beach Concours so it made sense to bring the production car for its debut.
And as you can see in the photos, Frozen Orange is one of the colour options and it looks pretty good.
Drivetrain
The Bavarians aren’t mucking about with the First Edition – the 250kW (340PS) twin turbo straight-six. This is a terrific engine in the M140i so it’ll be brilliant in the Zed.
It’s one of BMW’s modular sixes and never fails to be brilliant. Irritatingly, that’s it for the info. We’re going to take a pot-shot on the transmission and say it’s a six-speed manual or the ZF eight-speed automatic.
Again, without much context, BMW says the Z4 M40i will hit 100km/h (62mph) in 4.6 seconds.
Chassis
The First Edition features adaptive damping, black 19-inch alloys, M Sport brakes and electronic M Sport differential.
If history is any guide – and it generally is – with that diff and that engine, this thing will be a dead-set rocket in a straight line and the corners.
As is legislated by the UN (it isn’t), the Z4 has a 50:50 weight distribution, so even in its least powerful form, it should be good fun. The press release says nothing about weight.
Interior
This is a fine-looking interior and it’s the first good look we’ve got at BMW’s new Live Cockpit. So far Munich has delivered a halfway house digital dash but this one is a proper slab of glass like Mercedes and Audi.
The FE has black leather, a trick Harmon Kardon system and a head-up display. BMW says the cockpit is driver-oriented, but the company says that about all their cars.
Having said that, the interior is not typical functional-but-dull – with the new Live Cockpit to start with, the fit-out looks all-new. The Z4 looks to be a taster for a new direction for BMW cabins and from what I can see, I’m in favour.
It probably doesn’t need to be said, but it’s a strict two-seater with an electrically-operated fabric roof.
We’ll learn a lot more at the Paris Auto Salon in October and the 2019 BMW Z4 will go on sale in the second quarter of next year.
The Aston Martin DB5 is one of most sought-after cars in the world. Which is odd, because by all accounts, it’s not a particularly good car. But it’s famous.
How is it famous? Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll know it was (for a number of films) the car of choice for Bond. James Bond. 007.
Connery and DB5.
Aston and Bond became synonymous and even though Lotus and BMW pushed their way in with a load of cash, Aston stuck. The DB5 debuted in Goldfinger (1964), with Sean Connery behind the wheel. The film also gave us Pussy Galore and Odd Job. And a million jokes for Austin Powers.
“The connection between Aston Martin and James Bond is something of which we are very proud and it is remarkable that the DB5 remains the definitive James Bond car after so many years,” said Andy Palmer, CEO of Aston Martin Lagonda.
Never a company to miss a trick, Aston last year built a run of DB4s, called the Continuation project. Everyone is getting into it, including Jaguar. With values of DB5s climbing ever upwards, the company is taking the opportunity to build a few more. And make a stack of cash, which is fair enough – beautiful things cost money.
DB5 Continuation Project.
Bond goes to uni for a bit.
The cars will look as they did in Goldfinger, finished in the iconic Silver Birch paint. Do not ask for another colour, you will not get it.
The work to build the new cars is down to Aston Martin Works, based at the company’s spiritual home of Newport Pagnell. Under the bonnet is a 3.0-litre straight six with 210kW (286PS) and 380Nm.
Aston reckons it will crack 98km/h (60mph) in 7.1 seconds and on to a top speed of 235km/h (148mph).
The DB5 popped up in Skyfall. Then got blown up.
Perhaps less impressively, EON’s involvement includes Chris Cobould, a special effects supervisor on eight Bond movies. That’s not necessarily a bad thing but…well…the car will have a series of…gadgets. Don’t blame me, it’s in the press release.
I reckon that sounds really naff, but hey, I’m an old stick in the mud.
Remember how I said there’s a problem? There are actually two.
First, the cars will each cost a staggering £2.75m. Not even going to convert that to other currencies. Second, they’re not road legal. So you can have a brand-spanking new DB5, you just won’t be able to drive it on the road.
The lucky loaded customers will get their hands on the cars in 2020. Hopefully we’ll see a few pics during the build and hope that most of the owners delete the…gadgets…
Except for the flipping number plate. Why? Oh, no reason…
UPDATE: I asked Andy Palmer if you can delete the gadgets:
I guess so – not a question I was expecting though!
So someone is on stage taking the cover off their brand new, very shiny concept car. The room is full of “ohh” and “ahh”. There’s talk of what this car can do. Endless electric range. 0-100km/h in the blink of an eye. Drives itself to pick up the kids from school. Here’s the thing, though.
Most of it is nonsense. And it’s not how you should concept car.
Cast your mind back to 2016. The very start of 2016, to be exact, and the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. You know the show. It’s a three day extravaganza of $15,000 televisions, iPhone accessories, “smart” appliances that serve no purpose and, in more recent times, cars.
Why cars are at CES I don’t think I’ll ever understand, but that’s a think piece for another day.
It had 1000 horsepower. A 0-60mph (0-100kmh, or close enough to it) time that was sub-three seconds. And its top speed was in excess of 200 miles per hour (320km/h-plus).
Looks…practical.
There was probably a claim that it could circumnavigate the world on a single charge as well, but Your Humble Correspondent couldn’t find that particular number.
It also looked like something that wouldn’t seem out of place on the grid of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, except that its cabin was made entirely of glass.
Even further back, October 2015, Mazda (yes, Mazda the actual car company) revealed the RX-Vision.
The gorgeous, carbon-free, engine-free Mazda RX-Vision.
The RX-Vision wasn’t electric, far from it. It was a reimagining of the Japanese marque’s famed Wankel rotary engine. Yeah. Rotary. Like the old RX-7 and, continuing on the Le Mans theme, the 787B that won the twice-around-the-clock race in 1991.
Unlike the FFZERO1, the RX-Vision was said from the outset to be a look into the future sort of concept car, not quite the “here is a car we’re definitely going to make” type.
But it suffers from the same problem as Faraday Future’s dream machine.
It’s not real.
None of it is real. Not a single thing.
The car Faraday Future showed off at CES does not have 1000 horsepower, a sub-three second sprint to 100 or a 320km/h top speed.
Mazda’s RX-Vision did not have under its bonnet a modern take on the rotary engine.
While you could walk up to, look at and maybe even touch these cars when they debuted, they were fake.
Well not fake, because they were quite definitely things that existed, but they were little more than 1:1 scale models of a car. They had no ability to propel themselves even slightly under their own power, let alone achieve what was claimed of them.
At the Tokyo Motor Show, the RX-Vision didn’t even have a bonnet you could lift up to see the engine bay. The whole front of the car was sealed up.
When you’ve worked in the motoring industry for a while, you start to tire of concept cars. Yes, they look cool. But rarely, if ever, do they live up to the claims made about them.
And it’s terrible.
It’s a terrible thing. Yes, sure, it gets you lots of gushing headlines about how your car is the Next Big Thing that is going to Blow Tesla Away (if electric) or Make Ferrari S**t The Bed (if not) and then a month later you’ve forgotten about them because, well, it was all smoke and mirrors and nothing about them was ever based in reality.
It’s now several years later and the only car that has ever driven bearing the Faraday Future name is the Formula E team they sponsored. Meanwhile, despite innumerable stories about just how close it is to being here, there’s still no sight of the Mazda’s modern rotary.
If you want to get people properly excited about your concept car, let’s see it do the things. Build one that works. Or, at least, when you take to the stage as part of a multimillion dollar production to show off how it looks, keep your talking points on just that and own the fact your science-fiction propulsion system is still a work in progress.
I’m done with full-size Matchbox cars as something I should get excited about. If it doesn’t move under its own power, it’s not a car. It’s a shell.
There’s nothing bold about simply writing a press release then filling in the technical specifications with the output of a random number generator. That’s not development. That’s crap.
PS: Tesla.
The Tesla Roadster actually exists.
I mentioned Tesla earlier, and you’re probably wondering why I didn’t include the Roadster or Semi as examples here. Well, they’re a bit different.
The Tesla Roadster 2.0 (or 2020, or just Roadster) will be Elon Musk’s sixth production passenger car when it launches in 2020, following on from the original Roadster of 2008, the Model S, Model X, Model 3 and Model Y. (Sidebar: Anyone who calls Tesla a “startup” when they’ve been making cars for a decade is wrong and should be ignored forever).
According to Musk, the new Roadster will have a 1000 kilometre range, achieve a top speed of more than 400km/h, do the 0-100km/h sprint in less than two seconds with the help of its electric motors which will put 10,000 newton-metres of torque through its four wheels.
To describe these claims as outlandish is probably an understatement.
But here’s the thing. The Roadster shown off wasn’t a concept. A prototype, sure, but not a concept. They’re going to make it (Maybe – Ed.). And the demonstration model revealed at the event moved. Quickly.
Tesla Semi. Also exists. A bit.
Will it do what Elon says it will? I’m skeptical. At the moment they’re still struggling to built Model 3s to the standard you’d expect of an early-90s Hyundai Excel let alone the “premium” product they’re promising. They’re also struggling to build them at a rate that will see them fulfil orders before the heat-death of the universe.
10,000 newton-metres is a lot of torque. I cannot for the life of me wrap my head around how that is going to be applied to the road without ripping the tyres to shreds. But they’ve still got the best part of two-years to sort that out. So maybe it will happen.
The point is, there’s more to believe about Elon’s claims (oddly enough) than there was about Faraday Future’s or Mazda’s.
The Honda Civic Type R is back. I mean properly back in its pre-millenial completely mad, in-your-face hot hatch form.
Honda used to be cool. I’m talking 1990s Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna duking it out cool. NSX, S2000, Prelude, Civic VTi-R – Hondas were prominent in Gran Turismo and for good reason. VTEC was a towering technological achievement. You could get Hondas with four-wheel steering. The Legend might have been an old man’s car, but it was fairly bristling with gadgets.
And then…it all went dark. Dull. Boring. The mid-2000s saw the Global Financial Crisis eat away at innovation, Honda turning to dullness to see it through. That’s fair enough, really, but the company forgot what Soichiro Honda said.
If Honda does not race, there is no Honda.Soichiro Honda
History
Okay, so Civic Type Rs aren’t racers, but without racy road cars, you don’t look like you race.
EK9 Civic
The first Civic Type R landed on driveways way back in 1997. The EK9 was the basis of first R, with iconic white wheels and huggy red seats. It was front-wheel drive and it was fun.
And a little bit bonkers.
Sporting a B16B from the Integra Type R, the 1.6-litre VTEC mustered 136kW (185PS) at 8200rpm and a piffling 160Nm at a stratospheric 7600rpm. Well, stratospheric for torque.
It was only around for a few years, but a stripped-out Motor Sports special edition with steel wheels and no air-con (or power windows, power steering or radio).
The Spoon Sports N1 racer increased the redline to a barking mad 11,000rpm.
EP3 Civic
Most of us more fondly remember the second R, the one-box block of Civic known as the EP3. Again, most were in the obvious white with red interior and it was this one that really lit the fire.
Made at Honda’s Swindon, UK factory, the EP3 packed a 150kW (200PS) K20A at launch, with a six-speed manual. The EP3 lost the mechanical LSD for the UK market, but the same factory shipped the cars off to Japan with that feature.
Yeah, that is weird. More irritatingly, the JDM model had more power, 158kW (215PS). Few other markets got an official EP3 R and the harder-core JDM model is the most-prized by grey-importers.
Again, GranTurismo made this car more famous than perhaps could have been expected.
FD2 FN2 Civic
The third Type R again split itself between Europe and Japan, with different codenames – FD2 and FN2. The FD2 Japanese domestic market (JDM) model again scored more power – 165kW (225PS) vs 148kW (201PS). Japanese drivers found their power at 8000rpm whereas Europeans at a more sedate 6100rpm.
If you had a JDM car you also had more torque, again 7800rpm vs 5600rpm – 215 vs 193Nm. Small, but telling differences. This time around the JDM cars came from Honda’s Suzuka plant while the Euro car continued on in Swindon.
Of course, the elephant in the room here is that instead of the three-door hatch, the FD2 sold as a four-door sedan. Hmmm. European buyers scored the wedgy FN2 hatch, a terrific-looking machine that even made its way to Australia and sold as an official Honda, rather than the grey import of previous generations.
After only selling the sedan in Japan, Honda relented and imported the FN2 as the Type R EURO, selling around 2000 units.
The pair died in 2011 due to tightening emissions regulations, particularly in Europe. That high-revving VTEC engine took its last breath. It was a sad moment.
FK2 Civic
After a long, long gap, the FK2 dropped at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show.
Sacrilege – it was a 2.0-litre turbo. The 8000rpm redline? Gone. The weak torque figure? Also gone.
Manufactured solely at Honda’s Swindon, UK, factory, Honda withdrew the Type R from a number of markets, including Australia. The FK2 was only around for a couple of years and polarised opinion.
As always, the anti-turbo brigade decried the engine – a 2.0-litre turbocharged unit developing a huge 228 kW (310 PS) at 6500rpm and a mighty 400Nm from 2500-4500rpm.
The engine, oddly, came from Honda’s Ohio plant before installation in England.
It was fast but it was ugly. It did have a limited-slip diff and a ton of comfort and safety features, but it probably won’t go down as a modern classic. It wasn’t around very long, the fans didn’t like the turbo. It was like the guy who replaced a long-running, much-loved game show host. Just not the same.
FK8 Civic Type R 2018
Let me take you back to the 2016 Paris Motor Show. I was there pounding the halls for carsguide.com.au, manically Instagramming all the new cars. Honda’s stand was a bit weird, a bit half-hearted but it was here the company decided we would first see the new Civic Type R.
The FK8 Civic is not a looker. As is the current trend in Japan, there’s just too much going on. The FN2 had been breathtaking in design and execution but the following FK2 and then the FK8 – not so much.
But the Type R was…well, it was tremendously unattractive. Finished in matt black and presented as a concept, it looked production ready. But covered with aftermarket-style silliness – where’s the real car under all that?
Turns out, that was it. It’s dramatic. And there’s a good reason for that, because the Civic Type R is an all-round dramatic car.
Civic Type R drivetrain
Having softened everyone up in the FK2, the FK8 lands with a 228kW (310PS) engine. If you live in the US or Asia, that is.
If you live in Europe and Japan, you are welcome to more power, the K20C1 tuned for 235kW (320PS). Torque is a colossal 400Nm between 2500 and 4500rpm.
On its way to the road, all that power passes through a six-speed manual gearbox and a helical limited-slip differential.
Civic Type R Chassis
As with all previous Types R, the FK8 is based on the standard Civic hatch. Blessed with five doors and Honda’s now-trademark cavernous interior, the whole shebang weighs close to 1400kg. An EK9 weighed in at around 1100kg (give or take).
A combination of 20-inch alloys wrapped in Continental SportContact tyres sticks you to the road and manages that stratospheric torque figure with the help of the LSD.
The steering is obviously way faster and the brakes bigger.
Key to the chassis, however, are the dynamic dampers. We’ll talk more about them next…
Driving
Yeeeeeees. I love hot hatches. You’re going to see a whole lot more of them on these pages soon, I guarantee it. I’m pleased that the first hot hatch to hit The Redline (see what I…?) is the Type R because it’s excellent.
I was lucky enough to drive it at the Australian launch over some Targa Tasmania stages as well as Hobart’s Baskerville Raceway. Not long before I had driven the Audi RS3 sedan at the same venue.
The Type R would leave the Audi trailing on the track. The Audi has the power advantage, a faster shifting DSG gearbox (and it sounds better) and is a better road car. For a lot more money.
But on that same track, the Civic is brilliant. Baskerville is tight and twisty, with big elevation changes but the Type R stayed planted and firm the entire time. The Audi’s power-on oversteer was a pain and required a heck of a lot more patience. It meant waiting, waiting, waiting, then go.
What was particularly heartening about the Civic was the way it handled my mistakes – the left-hander at the top of the hill sucks you in to braking too late. Often I did, but on turn-in, instead of ploughing into understeer, the rear would slide and then the front, giving you a controllable bit of four-wheel drift to help you gather it all together.
The key here is the chassis – yeah, a 2.0-litre turbo pumping out improbably amounts of power is a good laugh, but it’s nothing without a decent chassis. The Ford Focus ST is a good laugh partly because it’s so unruly. It hunts every bump and lump in the road and fights you even on a sedate run to the shops.
And that’s where the Civic could have gone completely wrong. Not everyone wants to put up with that anymore. Sure, you and I might but as a whole, our expectations of cars are much higher than even five years ago.
The three modes in the Civic are very different and for the first time, the Type R has a Comfort mode. And it’s good. It works. If you’re on a first date, you won’t look like a total tool in a too-hard hatchback. Well, as long as s/he can ignore the ridiculous looks, anyway.
Sure, it doesn’t ride like its HR-V stablemate, but that car is way too soft.
The engine behaves itself, the moderately loud exhaust quietens down and it becomes a firm hatchback with a ton of potential. It becomes a Civic with a terrific chassis and no CVT.
Dial it back up to R mode and you can have that hair-trigger throttle, giant-killing brakes and the dynamic damping is superb. And that’s where the Civic will keep up with the new Renaultsport Megane and next Focus ST and blats the boring Golf GTi Performance – even the R – into the weeds. As far as fun with security goes, anyway.
Want to know more? Check out the video at the top of the post.
Daniel Ricciardo is leaving Red Bull. This is proper bombshell stuff, the sort of thing that can really only happen in Formula 1.
It’s a bombshell because as late as last weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix, word was he was staying put. After Hamilton re-signed at Mercedes and Kimi Raikkonen’s oft-predicted ousting never happened, his options were gone.
Or so we thought.
Looking back at the Hungarian Grand Prix, a couple of fascinating things happened. They’re fascinating because we should have sniffed something was up.
Max Verstappen’s Renault V6 popped and both he and Horner raged about it publicly. Neither of them care particularly, Red Bull is off to Honda next year. Cyril Abiteboul responded to Horner’s particularly pointed comments carefully and icily.
Cyril knew what was about to happen. Probably nearly killed him to keep the secret that he was just about to steal Ricciardo out from under their noses.
Daniel Ricciardo on his way to his Monaco victory
You’re going to read a lot about about Ricciardo’s time at Red Bull, but just check out the tantrum behind Red Bull’s press release confirming his departure:
Having joined the Red Bull family in 2008 as a member of the Red Bull Junior Team, with whom he won numerous junior titles, Daniel made his F1 debut in 2011 at the British Grand Prix. After two seasons with Scuderia Toro Rosso, Daniel joined us in 2014 and to date has brought the team seven victories, 29 podium finishes, two pole positions and 904 championship points.
Wow. Daniel. After all we’ve done for you.
Commenting on Daniel’s decision, Aston Martin Red Bull Racing Team Principal Christian Horner said: “We fully respect Daniel’s decision to leave Aston Martin Red Bull Racing and we wish him all the best in his future. We would like to thank him for his dedication and the role he has played since joining the Team in 2014, the highlights of course being the seven wins and the 29 podiums he has achieved so far with us.
Again. Danny. Dude. After all we’ve done for you.
“We will now continue to evaluate the numerous options available to us before deciding on which driver partners Max Verstappen for the 2019 season. In the meantime, there are still nine races left in 2018 and we are fully focused on maximising every opportunity for Max and Daniel for the remainder of the season.”
Yeah, well, if there’s a choice between a Danny win and a Verstappen win for the rest of the season, I think we all know what’s going to happen. Which in a way is fair. He’s leaving. But he’s leaving for a reason.
Ricciardo has not had the relationship with this team that matches his talent and temperament. He saw off multiple world champion Sebastian Vettel. He has outgunned Max Verstappen over the time and has lost out to him more than once through strategy moves.
Verstappen’s first win was pure theft. Then the team managed to shaft him at the very next race in Monaco. It was Webber and Vettel all over again. Daniel isn’t an idiot and knows where Marko and Horner see the future of Red Bull. He saw what happened to Webber when the Bright Young Thing arrived.
Daniel Ricciardo overtaking everyone in Hungary.
The way the team failed to manage Verstappen’s wild on-track behaviour early in the season, particularly at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, is telling. Verstappen was over the mark. If he had been fighting any other car on the track, you’d call it good hard racing. But Ricciardo was faster, leaving racing room, trying to avoid an incident. But also not letting Verstappen get away with it.
Ricciardo has always been a team player and that just doesn’t work at Red Bull if you want to win. No doubt Verstappen will be pleased, he knows Ricciardo’s likely replacement is to be Carlos Sainz. I’m not sure Sainz will be keen to renew the working relationship. I know I wouldn’t want to join a team with Verstappen in the other garage.
Danny’s rocked the boat. Ocon’s mooted move to Renault is gone, leaving a scramble for Sainz to find a seat that isn’t Red Bull while LeClerc and Gasly stake their claim for a seat.
Either way, I think a Ricciardo-Renault deal is awesome for everyone. The team is on the way up with a massive investment program underway. The team is getting faster and better and will welcome the proven winner with a proper ticker-tape parade.
Ricciardo is no fool. I think he’s made the right choice.
Links We Like is a roundup of the stuff I’ve been up to around the traps as well as other people I like.
It has been a tad busy for me, what with a short holiday and then a quick trip for CarsGuide to France. So let’s get cracking on that, shall, we?
carsguide.com.au
Ford Australia invited us along to see the new Ford Focus a million years after everyone else saw it. Which is perfectly fine, because in Australia, we won’t see it until November. Anyway, if you’re not Australian, check out the story because I might have some fresh insights for you.
We’ll be keeping a very close eye indeed on the performance ST and RS versions (yet to be really truly confirmed) and I’ll do a story shortly on the ST-Line. I quite liked it.
SUVAuthority
Over at SUVAuthority (and I do mean over, he’s on the other side of the country to me), Karl has a lash at the 2018 Volkswagen Tiguan 110TSI. I’m a big fan of the Tiguan but I can’t ever say I’ve driven the 110TSI. It’s front wheel drive and possibly a bit gutless. And up against some seriously stiff competition in the Mazda CX-5.
He also had a crack at the chunky but pretty Jaguar E-Pace D180. I really liked that car when I drove it in top-power form over some Rally Corsica stages, but a slower diesel might make it a little bit unpalatable. See what the ever-tough-but-fair Karl thinks.
Autocar.co.uk
I quite like stories like this – Autocar have done a “How Today’s Cars Might Have Looked” post and I reckon it’s brilliant and eerily accurate.
The Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo has shredded the Nürburgring lap time set three decades ago by Stefan Bellof.
I mean, seriously. This thing is so fast it barely registered with me, I thought it was fake news. But it sunk in that the lap record for the Ring is now firmly in the low five minute range.
Porsche 919 Tribute
Porsche’s 919 Hybrid Evo is currently on something of a victory lap of the planet, knocking off records as it goes. Following Porsche’s withdrawal from the World Endurance Championship’s LMP1 class, the company is milking the 919’s fame without all the pesky expense of actually racing the damn thing.
The 919 took Porsche to three Le Mans 24 Hours wins in a row, three WEC Championships and three WEC Driver’s championships. It was fast, it was successful, it was dominant.
And, on its farewell tour, it’s made the biggest splash of all.
5:19.546 around the Nurburgring
This time will stand for quite a few years. That’s partly because, in true Porsche Ring-attacking fashion, the car isn’t “standard.” Before you kick off, I don’t mind that one little bit. It would still have knocked off the previous time, just not by as much.
Now that it doesn’t have to comply with pesky racing rules, Porsche has made a few choice mods. First up, it’s running 39kg under its racing weight at 849kg. Amusingly, some of the mods feel like the delete options from the 911 GT2 RS package that set the road car record. Out went the air-conditioning (no, really!), windscreen wiper and pneumatic jacks.
The engine is the same 2.0-litre V4, but without the fuel restrictor power jumped to 537 kW (730 PS). The electric system’s recovery rose to 8.49 megajoules meaning an additional 328 kW (446 PS). So it’s got around 1200PS, which is a lot more than the race.
And just to make sure, the front and rear wings are massive, along with a DRS-style system to reduce drag in a straight line – the 919 touched 370km/h at the Ring, which would never have happened with the standard aero.
So anyway. That’s enough from me. Watch Timo Bernhard take the Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo to the best Nurburgring lap time ever.
McLaren 600LT brings back an evocative name, pumping up the 570S for a hard core drive.
McLaren’s near-constant new model barrage continues with the 600LT. Tagged with “The Edge is calling“, the Woking team has amped up its core 570S, added some rear bodywork and, well, done a lot more besides.
The Longtail name was last seen on the 675LT before its replacement by the properly psycho 720S and it’s a name that means something. The first McLaren LT, the F1 GTR is a true icon, so the company has been careful not to splash it around too liberally.
McLaren 600LT
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As the name suggests, the McLaren 600LT packs a 600PS punch from its 3.8-litre V8 engine. Translating to 441kW, the seven-speed twin-clutch transmission also has to channel 620Nm to the rear tyres.
The new top-exit exhaust is apparently “more extreme” than the Senna’s and hopefully sorts out the lack of aural drama in the cabin. Unless you’re in a tunnel – then you can really hear the flat-plane crank’s glorious racket.
The twin-turbo 3.8-litre V8’s engine mounts are rather firmer, too. The 570S isn’t exactly the quietest of cabins to start with, so this one is definitely skewed to trackday use. That dovetails nicely into the announcement that a standard feature of the 600LT is a day of track tuition.
Aerodynamics
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The 570S is already an aerodynamic machine, with a beautiful set of aero devices baked into a curvaceous body.
The Longtail name physically manifests itself in a longer tail. The 600LT is 74mm longer, which aids high speed aero. That was the original point of the F1 GTR – more top-end for the long La Sarthe straights.
A bigger front splitter, extended diffuser and big fixed rear wing. That rear wing is actually rather modest when compared with the Senna’s mad 747-sized monstrosity. If you pulled a 570S and 600LT apart, 23 percent of the parts are different.
Chassis
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Straight off the bat, the 600LT is 96kg lighter than the 570S, which itself is hardly chubby. Standard weight saving includes carbon fibre body panels to replace the aluminium skins. Go hard on the MSO options list (seats, interior trim, deleting bits), you can get the weight down to 1247kg, or about 140kg lighter than a manual Lotus Evora.
Amusingly, the F1 GTR Longtail was just over 100kg lighter than the standard GTR, so the team got close to mirroring that figure. Obviously they locked marketing out of the engineering meetings.
Do that and you’ll have a power-to-weight ratio of 354kW/tonne (481PS/tonne), but you can’t go anywhere because there’s no fuel. Or oil. Or coolant. So dry weights are pointless. Still, that’s a good number.
Throttle, steering, brakes and suspension are all quicker to react and the Pirelli P-Zero Trofeos (same as the Huracan Performante’s Nurburging lap record tyres) are super-sticky. The same forged aluminium suspension carries over, but there’s nothing wrong with that to start with.
Can I get one?
We’ve only got British pricing, coming in at £185,500.
McLaren is unlikely to say no to you unless you live in North Korea, so yes. And no. Like the Senna, its numbers are limited, although one wonders if they’re not already sold out. McLaren says the production run is 12 months and 600LT production will be fitted in around existing orders.
Aston’s DBS Superleggera has dropped and it looks mighty.
Aston Martin’s Vanquish S is gone but it’s okay, everyone – the DBS Superleggera is here.
It’s been a while between drinks for the DBS name – it first made headlines in the late Sixties. The DB6 was getting on a bit and the William Towns-designed, straight-six powered S debuted as a fastback GT. A couple of years later the 5.3-litre V8 arrived with “the fastest four-seater in the world” tagline.
The DBS name returned in 2007 and – get this – replaced the first Vanquish S. It’s almost like there’s a pattern here. It hung around for a few years before it was displaced by, er, the Vanquish S. Both DBSes have appeared in James Bond films, so I wonder what’s going to happen next?
And Superleggera? Well, that’s Italian for super light. The term was first used by Italian coach builder Touring and has, as you are well aware, appeared on Lamborghinis every now and again. And the occasional Ducati.
DBS Superleggera
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The new DBS Superleggera gets its name mostly because the body is made from carbon fibre, saving 72kg alone. That cuts down a lot on that pesky mass that slows you down and chews your tyres. Underneath that stunning body is an extruded aluminium structure familiar to Aston fans.
The cabin is a classic Aston 2+2 and looks pretty good. I’m not completely in love with the slightly ageing look of the centre console, but the seats look incredible. Less incredible is the carbon fibre trim in the doors. I didn’t much like a similar treatment in the Huracan Performante and I’m similarly unsure about it in the DBS.
The new DBS’ looks continue “Aston Martin’s pursuit of highly individual designs for each of its models.” That’s press release talk for saying, “We’re not doing the same design in different sizes anymore.”
Driveline
Under that huge clamshell bonnet is a 5.2-litre twin-turbo V12 punching out 533kW (725PS) and a staggering 900Nm. All that somehow finds the road through the rear wheels via a rear-mounted eight-speed ZF automatic transmission. You can leave it in auto or change with a set of big, shiny fixed paddle shifters.
I like fixed paddle shifters. Don’t ask me why, I just do.
When the rear tyres aren’t frying under all that stress, Aston says you’ll streak to 100km/h (62mph) in 3.4 seconds and 162km/h (100mph) in 6.4 seconds. It will also accelerate from 80km/h (50mph) to 162km/h (100mph) in just 4.2 seconds.
The stainless steel exhaust system is a quad system and in Sport and Sport Plus modes will make a tremendous racket. Apparently this exhaust meant that Aston could go for “purity” in the cylinder firing order, which is an interesting detail. I wonder if Aston will do a titanium to knock off a few more kilos.
Like the body, the propshaft is made from carbon fibre, again to keep weight under control.
Chassis
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The Superleggera is clearly a driver’s car and the guts of it suggest it’s not meant to be a long-legged cruiser.
Front suspension is by forged double wishbones and the rear a multi-link setup. Adaptive damping stiffens up as you go to more aggressive modes. The Superlegga is 5mm lower than the DB11 and various detail changes such as increased camber front and rear further sharpens things up.
The brakes are a set of pizza-sized carbon ceramic brakes. The fronts measure 410mm and the rears 360mm. Those rear discs are also involved in the car’s dynamic torque vectoring system.
The 21-inch alloys are wrapped in the almost obligatory Pirelli P-Zeros – 265/30 at the front and 305/30 at the rear.
Aerodynamics
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The Superleggera’s body is bristling with aero cleverness.
At the front, the splitter and air dam generate real downforce while directing air to the brakes. A deeper slot behind the front wheels extract dirty air from the wheelarch to cut lift. Aston calls the the devices behind the front wheels the “open stirrup” and “curlicue” and says they’re from the Vulcan hypercar.
The rear end features a double diffuser and what Aston calls “Aeroblade II”. Along with various other measures, the DBS Superleggera generates 180kg of downforce, which is pretty good going for a roadgoing GT car.
Is it super light?
Uh…yeah? Kerb weight is 1693kg, which is not bad at all – for perspective, it’s lighter than either the F-Type SVR convertible or Coupe and not far off a Lamborghini Aventador S. So in the context of a 2+2 GT, yeah, it’s light. It’s not Lotus-light, though.
A DB11 AMR weights in at 1870kg, just for context.
Aston Martin DBS Superleggera Pricing
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Nick Knight DBS Superleggera Video
Missed our story about the Aston Martin Rapide AMR? Click here.
Like our Aston Martin coverage? There’s more here.
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