Anybody that has ever been a fan of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb will attest that the event holds a unique place of its own amid the races in a calendar year.
For French automaker Peugeot, 1988 and 1989 were special years, as it scored back to back triumphs with Ari Vatanen and Robby Unser. The two drivers won Pikes Peak while driving a Peugeot 405 T16 Grand Raid, a car that gained notoriety for having a wheel steering system on top of its prevalent use of carbon Kevlar variant on its body to go with a new chassis made of sheet steel and tubular steel.
In tribute of those two successful runs at Pikes Peak, Peugeot released a special tribute video directed by Jean Louis Mourney called “Climb Dance”. Well, for those that haven’t seen the video, Peugeot has digitally-remastered the film, which not only means you can watch the whole thing over again, but you’re watching a version that’s more appropriate to the high-definition times of today.
Click past the jump to check out Peugeot’s new ride for the 2013 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb
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As promised earlier this year, Michael Schumacher ran a demonstration lap around Nürburgring behind the wheel of a 2011 Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 W02.
For those of you who have missed the run, Mercedes has unveiled a video featuring Michael Schumacher, current Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 driver Nico Rosberg, Bernd Schneider, Bernd Mayländer, and Karl Wendlinger driving some pretty cool Mercedes-AMG cars around the Nordschleife racetrack.
This was Schumacher way to say "Thank you!" to his fans for their years of loyal support during his F1 career. We have to admit, it is a nice way to thank your fans, but it would have been even better if the demonstration lap would have turned into a new lap record around the `Ring. But even so, the video is a must see for all the racing fans out there, and not only!
e’re pretty sure Mercedes will release more video of the run in the future, so stay tuned for more info.
Several years ago, rumors were circulating that Chrysler was considering building a super-high-output supercharged V-8 engine to help the company hang with the likes of the 2013 Camaro ZL1 and 2013 Shelby Mustang GT500. With these two models pumping out 580 horsepower and 662 horsepower, respectively, the 470-horsepower 2013 Challenger SRT8 just doesn’t cut it.
Well, now this rumor is reportedly confirmed, per Automotive News, by an unnamed source within Chrysler. The report claims that this 6.2-liter supercharged engine is set to produce up to 640 horsepower, which will put is about on par with the SRT Viper’s 8.4-liter.
Supposedly, this engine will find its way into the next-generation Challenger, which is slated to arrive in the 2015 model year. So, why is Chrysler just now working on this engine? Well, the report claims that the unnamed leaker said this is Chrysler’s “last hurrah” in the muscle car realm before the stricter CAFÉ standards take hold.
Stay tuned for more updates on the “Hellcat” 6.2-liter engine. We certainly can’t wait to see Chrysler finally compete with the top-performing muscle cars on the market again.
Click past the jump to read more about the 2013 Dodge Challenger SRT8
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Earlier this year, BMW and Toyota signed an agreement that will bring a new sports car to each companies’ lineup. It looks like even though the partnership was signed in January 2013, the two companies have been working on the new sports car for quite some time now.
It looks like the new sports car has received the green light from the same person that developed the Toyota GT86: chief engineer Tetsuya Tada. According to him, the two companies are hoping for a "product that none of us could have imagined; something more than anyone expects."
The new sports car will be built on a heavily modified version of the GT86 platform and will likely be powered by an in-line four-cylinder engine from BMW. The two companies are considering naturally aspirated, supercharged and turbocharged versions of this engine, but these are unlikely to come to fruition, as these technologies will not mesh well with the two electric motors that the companies are planning to use with the gasoline engine.
It is rumored that the first concept version will be unveiled at the 2013 Tokyo Motor Show, with a production version to arrive in the next two years.
Click past the jump to read more about Toyota’s last jointly developed sports car, the Toyota GT86.
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Things went pretty great for Aston Martin during this weekend: next to unveiling the CC100 Speedster, the company also obtained a record auction price for a unique DB4GT. The car was part of the Aston Martin Centenary Sale at Aston Martin Works on 18 May 2013, which totaled a record total of over £10 million (more than $15 million), with every lot sold.
The DB4GT was auctioned for an impressive amount of £3,249,500 (a little over $4,9 million) - the highest ever price paid for an Aston Martin at auction.
However, this is not a regular DB4GT: it is nicknamed "The Jet" and was the last DB4GT to be built. The model is a one-off edition and has been designed by the Italian design house Bertone. The model was unveiled at the 1961 Geneva Motor Show.
This unique DB4GT won a total of 12 awards, including first in class at Pebble Beach and the Hurlingham Club, and best in show at Villa d’Este.
Click past the jump to read more about the Aston Martin DB4GT.
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Jaguar F-Type arrives in U.S. showrooms this month and, in order to promote the sports car the company launched a global advertising and marketing campaign called "Your Turn." It will include span across TV, cinema, print, digital, mobile and tablet, as well as experiential and social media. The first commercial aired a few days ago during the season finale of ABC’s ’Once Upon A Time’.
Jaguar is also offering you the possibility to test drive the new F-Type sports roadster, so if you want to be among the winners, go on Jaguar USA’s Facebook page and let them know why you should be one of the first to win a test drive in the all-new Jaguar F-Type!
Four winners will be selected based on their submission and the test drives will be held in different regions of the country: New York, Los Angeles, Miami and Chicago. The drives will be filmed and shared across Jaguar USA’s social channels.
Click past the jump for one more video.
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Imagine the Lamborghini Aventador, Ferrari FF, Aston Martin One-77 and Chevrolet Camaro SS all in one place. No, we are not talking about the cars that would occupy our dream garage; we are just talking about the cars from the insane Dubai Police fleet. To make it even crazier, another supercar has just joined the lineup: the Bugatti Veyron.
So, let’s figure out how many horsepower the fleet now has at its disposal to catch bad guys. there’s 700 from the Aventador; 660 from the FF; 750 from the One-77; 426 from the Camaro SS; and 1,001 from the Veyron. That gives the Dubai police force a total of more than 3,500 horsepower! Hopefully it has a very large stable and a stacked bank account to go along with it.
The problem with the Veyron is that the police officers could be forced to end a chase early, considering the huge gasoline appetite the Veyron has.
We’re just wondering what’s next on the force’s list; can you guess?
Click past the jump to read more about the Bugatti Veyron.
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Hot Wheels, the company that specializes on building miniature toy cars, has been regarded as a company that loves to think outside the box.
Whether its commissioning world-record stunts, or building tracks with double loops, the toy manufacturer has proven time and again that it can think of just about anything to promote and market itself to its demographic of choice.
This time, it’s done it again, except in a totally different way.
It made a movie - a 22-minute short film, to be exact - to find out the World’s Best Driver. In what can be best described as a novel approach in its goal, Hot Wheels commissioned different teams - aptly named Red Outrageous, Yellow Powerful, Blue High Tech and Green Superfast - to compete in a series of challenges at the Hot Wheels test facility in an undisclosed location.
We’re not going to keep you waiting any longer because the movie definitely warrants your time. Be advised, though, the kind of racing you see in it isn’t exactly the kind you’d want to do on any normal race track.
Just sayin’.
Click past the jump to watch more of Hot Wheels’ stunts over the years
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A lot of folks expected Pagani to introduce a new model at the Geneva Motor Show. But that didn’t happen. Instead, the Italian automaker showcased a new and extremely expensive option that customers can add to the Pagani Huayra.
Collaborating with Sonus Faber, Pagani introduced the custom Huayra sound system that was designed by the two companies to fit perfectly in line with the lightweight philosophy of the Italian supercar.
The overall setup is pretty remarkable for a sound system. It comes with carbon-fiber speaker cones, which is no small feat for those who designed and developed it.
In addition, the sound system also comes with neodymium magnets and an advanced amplifier system that results in a staggering 1,200 watts of power - three times as much as the "regular" sound system already installed in the Huayra.
That’s a lot of audio power to complement a car that already boasts of a 6.0-liter twin-turbo V-12 engine that produces 700 horsepower and 730 pound-feet of tire smoking torque.
Click past the jump to read about the Pagani Huayra
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If you have no plans for the weekend, we might have an idea for you; the "BMW - The Ultimate Driving Machine"exhibition will open this weekend and will feature some of the coolest BMW models out there. Andy Warhol’s 1979 BMW M1 Art Car will be the center piece of the exhibition and next to it you will also see the BMW 3.0 CSL that won the Daytona 24 Hour race in 1976, plus tons of other road cars, motorcycles and race cars.
Andy Warhol was the first to paint the entire car himself, as previous BMW Art Car artists prepared a draft version on a scaled-down model and then moved that on the real car by assistants to the painter.
"This exhibition at the Saratoga Automotive Museum will provide visitors a great look at BMW’s long heritage and provide a sense of how the company has evolved to become the leading premium automobile and motorcycle manufacturer in the world," said Ludwig Willisch – President and CEO of BMW of North America. "It will also show just how integral motorsports has been throughout the company’s history."
Don’t worry, if you don’t have the time to go this weekend, the exhibition, will run until November 3, 2013.
Click past the jump to read more about Andy Warhol’s 1979 BMW M1 Art Car.
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