Super Cars

Porsche 9FF GT9

2008-05-12T09:44:00.000-07:00

It’s not every day that you climb into a £350,000 car dubbed the Veyron killer and get invited to put your foot down on Britain’s fastest test track. Naturally you don’t ask too many questions in case the owner changes his mind or the rain starts again. Or the health and safety people hanging around in high-vis jackets slap a speed restriction on the circuit.

With hindsight, it would have been wiser to have waited for a briefing on some of the car’s more eccentric features. For example, it has no electronic stability program or traction control, which means there’s nothing to stop the wheels spinning on a wet track. Also, it lacks the kind of safety features you’d expect in a supercar. Airbags? No. Wing mirrors? One. Crumple zone? At 250mph, that would be the driver. In fact this is not so much a car as a bomb with some wheels and carpet attached.

Officially known as the GT9, it’s called a Veyron killer because in tests it has reached 300kph (186.41mph) in just 17.6sec, 0.6sec quicker than the Bugatti, and its top speed is claimed to be 254.77mph, a shade faster than the 253.81mph Veyron.

On inspection, its 4 litre engine appears to have been assembled from elements of the periodic table from aluminium through to zirconium, including a 24-carat-gold air intake (to keep the ingoing air cool, the designers specified a metal with particular thermal properties, which happened to be gold). It produces 987bhp – nearly twice the power of the ultra-light Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera. And thanks to a carbon fibre and Kevlar body it weighs the same.

When you press the throttle and lift your foot off the clutch – which is custom-built to withstand the forces let loose – it feels as though a large sumo wrestler has appeared from nowhere and sat on your chest. The engine is housed in a glass-topped bay inches behind your head and the sound is deafening. You could scream for help and no one would hear you – and by the time you’ve finished driving you probably will. But the striking thing is that the rate of acceleration doesn’t diminish as it does in most fast cars; it increases. Just as the sumo wrestler has stood up, the twin turbos burst into action at 2500 revs and he sits back down again. At this point the scenery outside starts rushing backwards and you can almost see the bow wave of air in front.

Obviously you’d expect wheelspin in first gear in a car such as this. But in second, third, fourth and, er, fifth? I was still being pushed back in my seat as the digital speedometer showed 282kph (175mph) and the long straight at the Millbrook track, in Bedfordshire, ran out, pitching me onto a banked curve.

For a moment the steering went soft and the tyres lost grip. I had a vision of careering into the barrier and splintering into a thousand pieces. Treasure-hunters would have had a field day finding bits of gold and platinum along the trackside. A moment later the car corrected itself and slowed to a comfortable 75mph.

To understand just how crazy the GT9 is you need look no further than the CV of Jan Fatthauer, the man who created it. A professional auto-engineer, he trained with RUF, a German company that tunes Porsches to trouser-igniting performance levels. After a while, he decided that RUF’s Porsches weren’t daft enough so in 2001 he branched out on his own and named his new company 9ff after his wife, Frauke Fatthauer.

So far, 9ff has built three GT9s and has 17 more on order. Most have been bought by the kind of playboy Russian gas barons who you know will crash them into a palm tree in Monaco on their first outing. He plans to build no more than 20. “Any more and it would no longer be an exclusive car,” he says. Really? A car this absurdly quick will always be in a class of its own, it seems to me.

The GT9 is not an official Porsche product and, if asked, the car maker will distance itself. Privately, though, it takes a close interest in 9ff’s engines because of the kind of tolerances they are built to and the stresses they can endure (“You made a titanium con rod that can withstand what?”). The company is located in Dortmund, in Germany’s industrial heartland, which is convenient because its engineers have only to pop next door to one of the hundreds of auto-component factories and ask Herr Müller or Herr Schmidt to knock up, say, a diamond crankshaft.

The GT9 is loosely modelled on a Porsche 911 GT3 but the similarity is superficial – it shares only 2% of the components. It’s lower than the GT3 and longer and the engine is in the middle of the car instead of the rear for better weight distribution.

There’s no doubt that Fatthauer and his team have built one of the world’s fastest cars. I ran out of road, and nerve, long before I got it to its claimed top speed but, judging by its performance, I have no doubt it could achieve it. In a way, though, it’s an academic point.

The Shelby Supercars Ultimate Aero reached 256.18mph on part of a closed-off public highway in Washington last October, beating the Veyron’s 253.81mph top speed in the process, and taking the Guinness record for the world’s fastest production car.

The rivalry among car makers, large and small, has turned into a global arms race. Ever since the Veyron was launched in 2005 it has given every backstreet workshop a target to aim for and suddenly everyone’s making supercars. The question is, by building a car that can beat the Veyron, have you produced a Veyron killer? The answer is, technically yes but practically no.

Guinness defines a production car as “one of a batch built for sale” so the GT9 does technically qualify but when most people think “production” they are really thinking “mass production”. None of the challengers to the Veyron, GT9 included, will be produced on the same scale as the Bugatti, which will run to 300 cars, half of them already sold.

The Veyron is designed as a 250mph-plus road car from its first bolt to its last rivet. The chassis, the tyres, the transmission, the cooling system – all were tested with the kind of rigour you’d expect for a Volkswagen Golf. If you bought a GT9 you’d need to give it the kind of love and attention that only an enthusiast could afford.

That doesn’t mean the GT9 is not as good as the Veyron to drive. In some ways it’s more fun. The Bugatti is so smooth and soundproofed you could pop to the shops and forget you were driving a supercar. The GT9 is a frenzy of noise and excitement. Plus for the price of a Bugatti you could buy two GT9s and have enough change for a Rolls-Royce Phantom.

So all credit to Fatthauer. He’s given me an itch I want to scratch. There’s no track in Britain fast enough for the GT9 to be tested to its limits. In fact 9ff uses the A44 autobahn between Dortmund and Kassel for routine speed trials, at night. It’s perfectly legal, apparently – there are no speed restrictions – though the section of road is long enough only to get the car to 236mph. All the same, it might be wise to avoid that stretch after dark.

To experience the car at full speed, Fatthauer has invited me to the ATP track at Papenburg, northwest Germany, which is used by Mercedes-Benz for developmental testing. The high-speed circuit there is an oval with two 2.5mile straights and curves banked at such a degree that you hardly need turn the wheel. You just drive as if in a straight line. “You can reach 300kph on the banked sections,” Fatthauer says. “Then you just push it a little bit more on the straights and it will happily exceed 400kph.”

Er, right. It’ll be a piece of cake.

Vital statistics

Model Porsche GT9, made by 9ff

Engine type 4 litre flat six twin turbo

Power/torque 987bhp/711 lb ft @ 5970rpm

Transmission Six-speed manual

Fuel/CO2 5.2mpg to 25.9mpg / n/a

Performance 0-60mph: 4.2sec. 0-186mph: 17.6sec

Top speed 255mph

Price £350,000

Source: http://driving.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/driving/new_car_reviews/article3334657.ece

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2008-04-29T13:22:00.000-07:00

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Shelby Super Cars (SSC)

2008-04-27T03:23:00.001-07:00

Shelby Super Cars (SSC) is an American automobile manufacturer of exotic supercars based out of the Tri-Cities in Washington State (cities: Kennewick, Pasco, and Richland). The company is owned by Jerod Shelby, no relation to Carroll Shelby.

They build the SSC Aero, equipped with a twin turbocharged General Motors pushrod engined V8s. Its turbocharged 6.35 liter (387.2 cubic inch) V8 produces 1,183 bhp (882 kW), which makes it the most powerful production car in the world, beating the Bugatti Veyron's 1001. On September 13th, 2007, the "Ultimate Aero" also took the title of fastest production car from the Bugatti Veyron.

In order for the achievement to be official under the Guinness World Records’ guidelines, a vehicle testing for the top speed record must race down the course, turn around, and make a second pass in the opposite direction within one hour. The vehicle’s ‘top speed’ is calculated by averaging the top speeds of each pass in order to negate any favorable road or weather conditions. The Ultimate Aero posted a top speed of 257.11mph (413.83km/h) on its first pass and 254.55 mph (409.71 km/h) on its return pass to set the new top speed record of 256.15 mph (412.233 km/h). The speeds, on a closed stretch of highway in Washington State, were recorded using a series of satellites and several on board sensors, with independent firm Dewetron on hand to monitor progress. Studies have shown that the car could even go faster. NASA put the car in a wind tunnel testing facility and proved that the SSC Aero could be aerodynamically stabile enough to reach speeds up to 273mph (439.3 km/h).

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelby_Super_Cars

Ferrari F250 Concept

2008-04-24T08:44:00.000-07:00

This year’s edition of the Paris Motors Show already has its main attraction: a new entry level Ferrari model that, meanwhile, is being called Dino, not only because it will be the cheapest option the Italian automaker will offer, but also because it could have a V6 engine. If this information was confirmed, this is what the car could look like, according to the New Zealand’s designer Idries Noah. And he has named it the F250 Concept.

The 250 of the name is no homage to Ford’s F-Series, but a reference to the engine Noah has imagined for the car, a 2,5-litre V6 that also runs on ethanol (a real possibility, considering Ferrari’s F430 Spider Bio Fuel Concept), and a reference to the 250 GTO. Our sources inform that the car will use another engine, though: a V8 pumping out 400 hp.

If the engine happens to be different from what Noah has imagined, most of the other ideas will surely be the same, such as the mid-rear engine position and the rear wheel drive propulsion system. Since the F250 Concept is a product of Noah’s imagination, the real vehicle will possibly look very different from this one, but it is nice for us to have a glimpse of the many appearances it may have. This one would surely honor Ferrari’s fame for beautiful cars. Let’s hope the real thing does even better.

The Ferrari Ginger Concept

2008-04-24T08:39:00.000-07:00

Is not it looks Cool! ;)

2008 Gemballa Avalanche GTR 800 EVO-R

2008-02-03T13:02:00.000-08:00

First launched in 2006, the Gemballa Avalanche was a visual and performing sensation. Not resting on their laurels, the company has now decided to launch an even more outrageous version called the GTR 800 EVO-R.

This new model is the result of extreme tuning that takes the Flat-6 turbocharged engine to 850 bhp. New Garret T035 turbochargers help produce this power along with GT3-R cylinder heads and a whole new bottom end.

To match this power, Gemballa has showed no restraint in designing a radical body kit. From the front, the much larger air intakes dominate the fascia while new front projector-beam headlights stand out like a sore thumb.

A huge side scoop is accented with two-tone paint--in this case white on black. The theme is extended to the front hood, roof and double vane rear wing. The whole package is much wider to accommodate Yokohama AVS Sport tires and custom 19 inch wheels.

Suspension and braking systems get a comprehensive upgrade. H&R help the former with their adjustable coil-overs while Gemballa source their front brakes from an unnamed source.

With this type of performance we expect to hear of a more powerful Gemballa Mirage in the near future.

Pagani Zonda F

2007-10-21T13:04:00.000-07:00

Pagani Zonda F

Any supercar that can drive around the infamous Nurburgring Nordschleife will become a legend but only one will hold the top title - fastest production car. This title will give the supercar fame and recognition - that is until someone comes and knocks it down.
The Pagani Zonda F, named after F1 driver Juan Manuel Fangio, is a supercar that has taken this record to new heights and set a new laprecord for Supersportcars at the famous Nürburgring Nordschleife race track. The Pagani Zonda F Clubsport has shaved nearly two tenths of a second off the Carrera GT’s time to post a sizzling lap in 7:27:82. It may not sound like much of a margin, but when you’re in the stratosphere, every inch counts.
For those of you not familiar with the Zonda it is made up of more carbon fiber than most Formula 1 cars. The Zonda F has proven it’s the ultimate race car for the street. Statistics like 1.5G lateral acceleration - thanks to its massive downforce generation, a 7.3L V12, and 2700 man-hours to complete construction. This supercar sprints through the 0-62 mph mark in a staggering 3.5 seconds, has a top speed over 214 mph (possibly 220+ with a downforce adjustment).
But all that work was worth it in the end when it became the fastest production supercar. Maybe we can even get our hands on it ourselves and take it for a test drive. Maybe then we could be ‘King Of The Road’. That’ gonna be tough though, as only 25 Zonda F cars were slated to be built, still not US compatible.

FERRARI F50

2007-10-21T12:58:00.000-07:00

FERRARI F50

For the celebration of the 50th birthday of the car manufacturer Ferrari, the company released on the market in 1995 a sport car, two doors, two seats with a convertible hard top. This F50 Ferrari had of course an V12 engine inspired from Alain Prost’s 1990 Ferrari 641/2 F1 racecar, with 60-valve.This super car had to be an limited edition to continue with the company’s myths that not everyone that wants a Ferrari can also have it. The model of F50 produced, the number 349, was made in Italy in 1997.One of this model of super car also manage to get a fabulous owner: the Sultan of Brunei ordered a Ferrari F50 in 1998, it was a custom model made especially for him.With a weight of 2976 lb., this super car has a length of 176.4 in., a height of 44.1 in., and a width of 78.2 in can reach a maximum power of 513 bhp @ 8000rpm and a mximum torque of 347 lb-ft @ 6500rpm.At a price of 569,690$, Ferrari F50 can reach the speed of 100 km/h in just 3.7 seconds.

Hummer H3

2007-10-21T12:50:00.000-07:00

Hummer H3

The newest addition to the Hummer family is the Hummer H3 and this car is also the smallest of the family members. Compared to its predecessors, the Hummer H3 is less of an extreme car and more of an ordinary SUV – at least to the naked eye. The Hummer 3 - H3 has however received standing ovations for its capacity in rough terrain; this car will take your kids to soccer practice even if you have to driver through a flooded field in Uzbekistan to get them there. The H3 is equipped with a 3.5-liter 5-cylinder engine that can develop 220 hp and 225 foot-pounds of torque and its road handling capabilities are excellent. On the downside, the Hummer H3 is uses up a lot of gas compared to other SUVs. The Hummer H1 and H2 are both infamous for their fuel consumption and the H3 will do not better than 18 miles per gallon on the highway. The MPG for city driving is 14, which is not very impressive. Another difficulty noted by some Hummer H3 drivers is poor visibility. This is not a problem if you are fairly tall, but shorter persons can have a hard time keeping an eye on certain angles while driving your H3. This is naturally a problem for road safety, especially when driving in areas with a lot of bikers and pedestrians.

2007-10-19T13:09:00.000-07:00

2007 Honda CR-Z Concept
Among many companies, Honda is one of the most recent to release Tokyo plans. They arrive at the top of our list with the CR-Z Concept. It has a shape harking back to the popular CRX and looks tremendously better than the Remix we saw from LA.
Micro boxes seem to be a popular trend for the show. Honda has the PUYO Concept, a seamless box with zero overhang and huge doors. Nissan is on board with the R.D/B.X. Toyota have taken the micro theme and extended it to the imperial-looking Hi-CT Concept as well as the RiN Concept. Toyota's third release is a see-through sedan that weighs only 970 lbs (420 kgs) - that's less than an original Fiat 500.
Australia is celebrating their International Motor Show. A subsidiary of Ford called FPV has the new GT Cobra on display in both Coupe and Ute configuration. Bonhams is also opening the doors to a corresponding auction. Among the lots is one of Australia's first muscle cars: an exquisite Falcon GT-HO Phase II.