Following last year’s Peugeot RCZ Asphalt, the company has now opened its ordering books for the 2011 RCZ Asphalt LE. What’s the difference? This new model is limited to just 75 right-hand-drive units for the UK as opposed to the 500 units offered last year. Each model will be priced at £29,995 - or around $48,000 at the current exchange rates.
The new Asphalt LE edition will be distinguished by a special matte Telluric - that’s fancy for gray - body and can be ordered only with the top-of-the-range GT trim version. The Asphalt package also includes a black roof, "Asphalt’ badging, and 19" Solstice black alloy wheels complimented by matching black brake calipers. For the interior, the package adds bespoke "Asphalt" branded and stitched Nappa leather trim, an Alcantara / leather steering wheel and gear stick, and bespoke "Asphalt" sill covers and floor mats. The list of standard equipment includes front and rear parking aids, auto lighting (with approach and follow me home modes), Peugeot Connect Media Navigation, and a top-of-the-range JBL sound system.
The RCZ Asphalt LE will be powered by the standard 1.6-liter THP petrol engine producing 200 HP and 188 lb-ft of torque. This power is good for a 0-60 mph sprint time of 7.6 seconds.
UPDATE 08/29/11: Peugeot has announced that in addition to the new HX1 Concept, their booth at the Frankfurt Motor Show will also carry the RCZ Asphalt Limited Edition. The special edition RCZ was introduced back in July, but will only make its public debut in Frankfurt in the coming weeks. Be on the look out for the car because, according to Peugeot, only 75 models will be released.
The Hennessey Venom GT may not look the part of a Veyron-slayer, but we’ve always come to realize not to judge cars by their outward appearance.
This little monster is the perfect example of what we’re talking about.
The Lotus-derived, American-tuned supercar packs plenty of punch with its 6.2-liter LS9 V8 engine that produces an insane 800 horsepower. And if you just happen to be spending your time at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, you can get a chance to see the Venom in all its glory.
As a preview of the Hennessey madness that will befall all of us come Goodwood, the American tuning company has released a video featuring the Venom GT partaking some test runs to stretch its proverbial legs leading up to the Goodwood Hill Climb in just a few days.
In this video, the Venom GT is being driven by John Heinricy as he tries to corral a traction control-disabled 800-horsepower bullet on a wet track doing some cursory track time ahead of its Goodwood appearance. Enjoy the reel and make sure to mark your calendars for this weekend’s event!
Typically, automakers don’t create vehicles just for the sake of making them weekend riders, but that’s because many of us can’t afford to buy a car just to use it two days out of the week. Rolls Royce owners, on the other hand, can have a different car for every day of the week and it wouldn’t matter. Maybe that’s why the British luxury automaker decided to offer its British customers a very special Phantom Drophead Coupe that "was designed to capture the essence of a perfect weekend get-away, offering drivers and their passengers the ultimate luxurious and relaxing experience in roof-down motoring."
This one-off Phantom model will be painted in a Mazarine Blue - a color inspired by the Mazarine Blue butterfly - and will also receive a one-off Asprey jewelery box, housed discretely in the glove compartment. Think of it as the perfect place to store rings, cufflinks, earrings, and while you’re at it, throw in your diamonds too. Other features of the interior will include a luxurious natural-grain leather in a Seashell color contrasted by Navy Blue floor and door panels with embroidered R-R logos finished in the headrests. There is also a yacht-inspired teak decking, with mother-of-pearl inlays throughout cross-banded Santos Palissander wood veneers. And as a final touch you will also get white instrument dials, rotary controllers, and a clock finished in mother-of-pearl.
Season 17 of Top Gear has finally arrived and as expected, there’s been a lot of buzz as to what the troika of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May have in store for us. Now we’ve already seen the previews of Season 17, but now that the first episode has finally aired, we can take a look back at what transpired in those 60 minutes.
Certainly, there were plenty of things talked about on the first episode, not the least of which include a hulking piece of four-wheeled monstrosity from South Africa, a review of BMW’s latest pride and joy, a race between a new rally car and a smoking hot Olympic gold medalist, and a certain American rock legend trading in his shock-rock world for the driver seat of a Kia Cee’d hatchback.
Highly entertaining as always, the 17th season of Top Gear is now here.
Check out a review of the first episode after the jump.
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For the past eight years, Audi has created a special model to be auctioned off at the EJAF White Tie & Tiara Ball. Last year, Elton John’s charity was able to pull in £350,000 (about $522,500 at the current rates) by auctioning off the pink Audi A1 designed by renowned British artist Damien Hirst. This year, Audi doubled its efforts by providing not one, but two one-off chromed R8 Spyders for the auction, one from Audi Group Germany and one from Audi UK. In total, the two cars were auctioned off for an impressive £620,000 - or almost $1 million at the current exchange rates.
The chrome look is something we’ve seen before on an Audi R8. The German automaker brought a chrome-domed R8 5.2 FSI V10 coupe to the Frankfurt Motor Show back in 2009. It received plenty of attention at the auto show, so we’re not surprised it was such a rousing success at the charity event.
"We are absolutely delighted to have been instrumental in raising such a magnificent sum for Sir Elton’s charity," commented Jeremy Hicks, Director of Audi UK. "We couldn’t, of course, have done so without the incredible generosity of Sir Elton’s guests, to whom we owe an enormous vote of thanks" he added.
Two teaser trailers for the upcoming 17th season of the best car show ever just weren’t enough to satiate our impatience for the real thing. Lucky for us, Top Gear knows a thing or two about trailing a carrot and have released a series of preview images for their first episode that fill in more of the gaps left by the teaser videos.
In the first episode, Jeremy Clarkson celebrates the 50th birthday of the legendary Jaguar E-type by driving a modern, half a million pound interpretation of this classic sports car, followed by a typically low key birthday party involving live music, classic fighter planes, and a group of Royal Marines. Meanwhile, Richard Hammond is in South Africa to test a bigger, even more rugged alternative to the famous Hummer whilst James May meets up with gold medal winning British Olympian, Amy Williams, for a wintry test of the latest Mini rally car. Plus, the power crazed BMW 1-series M slithers around the test track in a cloud of tire smoke and Alice Cooper takes his place in the Reasonably Priced Car. Oh yeah, Alice Cooper.
The 17th Season of Top Gear airs this Sunday, June 26th, at 8pm on BBC Two and BBC HD. If you missed the first two teaser videos, check them out here - trailer one - and here - trailer two.
The days before the 17th season of Top Gear are slowly ticking away and BBC is lessening our pain with yet another trailer for the highly anticipated car show. The second trailer is loaded with more images for the upcoming season and also confirms the season opener date: Sunday, June 26th.
The list of supercars presented in the show will include the McLaren MP4-12C (driven by Jeremy Clarkson), the Ferrari 458 Italia (driven by Richard Hammond), and the Aston Martin Virage (driven by James May). A Porsche Boxster, a Citroën DS3 Racing, and an Abarth 500C will also be making their appearances, as well as a series of classic Ferrari models and a a short trip to Monte Carlo.
So, don’t make any plans for this Sunday because Top Gear has planned something big for us and we’re only five days away! Stay tuned for more details.
The first episode of Top Gear Season 17 is set to be aired on June 26, but for all of those fans that cannot wait another moment to see the Top Gear UK trio at work, BBC has been kind enough to release a teaser trailer of what to expect.
The trailer will refuel your Top Gear obsession by showing clips of Jeremy Clarkson driving the McLaren MP4-12C, James May riding around in the Mini WRC racing car, and Richard Hammond cruising in the Dartz Prombron through city streets. A Porsche Boxster, a Citroën DS3 Racing, and an Abarth 500C will also be making their appearances, plus a short trip to Monte Carlo will help to wrap things up.
We may still have to wait 11 days for the full episode to grace our television screens, but this teaser trailer just cements the fact that Top Gear 17 is starting and will be better than ever.
One thing we ought to know about world records is that at some point in time, somebody’s going to beat them. It may not happen for a while, but sooner or later, there’s going to be someone - or something - that will eclipse it.
Currently, the record for the world’s longest drift sits on the mantle of Vaughn Gittin Jr’s study. The drift champion set the record back in December 18, 2008 with a run of 1,914.15 m (6,280.01 ft) at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas. It’s said that Gittin Jr. could have done longer had the threads on his tires not gotten completely eviscerated.
Fast forward to today and word has it that Mercedes-Benz is planning on besting Gittin Jr.’s record. The man for the job is Mercedes demonstration driver, Mauro Calo, who not only wants to break the record the same way Gittin Jr. did when he broke the previous record of 4,137 feet, but wants to reach 10,000 feet, which is a little under two miles long.
While the task seems to be far easier said than done, Calo is confident that the record will be his after his attempt at Surrey, England while using either a Mercedes C63 or E63 AMG. Calo’s attempt will be made exceptionally more difficult considering that he plans to attempt it on a perimeter track that’s barely ’as wide as a car length’.
No timetable has been set on when this attempt will take place, but seeing as news of it is going around, we won’t be surprised if it takes place before the year ends.
Whatever the case may be, we’ll be sure to give updates when the day for the record-setting attempt draws near.
The Isle of Man’s 37.75-mile, 200-turn Mountain Race Circuit is one of those tracks that test a person’s endurance over a pretty long distance. It’s a little more than two-and-a-half times the length of the Nurburgring so you can expect it to be as daunting as any race track in the world, even for the standards of superbikes that race in the circuit every year.
That’s why we found it surprising to find out that a Subaru Impreza WRX STI broke the lap record for a four-wheeled vehicle in the track after the record stood for 21 years.
Driven by former British Rally champion and WRC veteran Mark Higgins, the Impreza WRX STI clocked an impressive - by its standards – time of just under 20 minutes, with an average lap speed of 115.356 MPH, breaking the previous lap record by more than two minutes. Late rally veteran Tony Pond set the previous record back in 1990 while driving a Rover 827 Vitesse.
Congratulations to both Subaru and Mark Higgins for the new record and here’s to hoping that we won’t have to wait 21 years for this record to be broken.
UPDATE 06/23/2011: Subaru has released a 5 minute 25 second video highlighting rally driver Mark Higgins’ lap that averaged 115.356 MPH. Towards the end of the video, Higgins tells the tale of when he lost and then regained control of the Subaru.
Hit the jump for details on the Subaru WRX STI Isle of Man and to see what Higgins has to say about the record breaking lap.
UPDATE 11/07/2011: The WRX STI Isle of Man TT Mark Higgins has been displayed at this year’s SEMA Show and this was the perfect opportunity for us to give you some live pictures of the car. We hope you will enjoy them. Check the picture gallery to see them.
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