Top Gear comes back with season 14 on November 15th, 21:00 GMT on BBC Two. The new series is featuring Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May driving an Aston DBS Volante, a Ferrari California and a Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder on the Romanian road Transfagarasan.

Video: Top Gear Season 14 Trailer originally appeared on topspeed.com on Monday, 9 November 2009 15:01 EST.

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If you want to watch car races, you can’t get any better than having two heavyweights slugging it out. In this video, the Ferrari 599 GTB F1 takes on the Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4. It can’t get any more interesting than that.

Check out the video to see which Italian supercar took home the oh-so-important bragging rights.

Video: Ferrari 599 GTB vs Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 originally appeared on topspeed.com on Tuesday, 10 November 2009 11:00 EST.

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Lumma Design, in cooperation with G-Power revealed today the CLR 730 RS - one of the fastest limousine out there. The car is based on the M5 E60 and improves both performances and the car’s look.

The most amazing thing about the car is the 730 hp V10 bi-compressor engine developed by G-power. It is the most powerful engine ever used in a BMW. And the results are amazing: 0 to 60 mph in 4 seconds and a top speed of 228 mph.

The body kit includes: a hood, a trunk lid with integrated tearing edge, mirror caps, door handles, entrance strips and fenders - all made of carbon. The car sits on 21" wheels and features an original brake system.

The car’s interior is defined by a bicolor complete leather interior in red/white with stitched diamond patterns and white fancy seems.

Press release after the jump.

Lumma M5 CLR 730 RS originally appeared on topspeed.com on Tuesday, 10 November 2009 10:00 EST.

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One of three of Koenigsegg’s CCXR has found itself in South Africa and is now being sold for a “paltry” $5 million.

As eye-whopping as the number is, this particular Trevita CCXR is not like most Koenigsegg supercars you can find anywhere in the world – and even that is an understatement considering you don’t find a lot of these cars anywhere to begin with.

The reason for the exorbitant price tag is because this particular one – along with two others – comes with a diamond-coated carbon fibre finish, which, if you don’t know, is a unique carbon fiber technique where the individual fibers are coated in a diamond finish.

Combine that with the Trevita CCXR’s gargantuan capability to produce over 1000 horsepower and you have a car that is being sold for a cool $5 mil. The only thing Koenigsegg needs to worry about now is finding someone that’s prepared to shell out that kind of money for a shiny and glittering supercar.

Thanks to Mike S. for the photos!

Diamond-coated Koenigsegg Trevita CCXR up for sale in South Africa for $5 million originally appeared on topspeed.com on Tuesday, 10 November 2009 08:00 EST.

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Announced back in 2008, the British supercar Arash AF-10 is now official. It will go on sale at a price of 360,000 euro ($540,000 at the current rates). But if you want to buy one you better hurry up as there will only be 70 units produced in 5 years.

Under the hood the AF-10 is using a central-mounted 7,0 liter LS7 engine used on the Corvette ZR1. The engine delivers a total of 550 hp at 6200 rpm and a peak torque of 475 lbs-ft and it is mounted to a six-speed manual transmission type Graziano GT-ME1. The Arash AF-10 can hit a top speed of 205 mph.

The supercar is featuring a 100% carbon construction using aluminum honeycomb and nomex panels for better strength. The rear window and driver to engine compartment window are made of non shatter and scratch resistant plastic, while the front windows and side windows are constructed of laminated glass. All body parts have been constructed using the carbon autoclave process of eliminating excess resins via pressure and heat to make parts lighter and stiffer than ever constructed.

For those of you who need more than 550 hp, Arash announced there will also be a 800 and a 1000 hp version. Also there will be a smaller version, the AF-8 for those who don’t want to pay that much.

Arash AF-10 - 550 hp British supercar gets official originally appeared on topspeed.com on Tuesday, 10 November 2009 07:38 EST.

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First it was BMW. Then Toyota followed next. Now, it looks like Renault is headed out the door too.

Renault’s F1 team executives met in Paris recently and rumors have spread that the French-based company is contemplating on following Toyota in leaving Formula One.

After a tumultuous – and that’s an understatement – season that involved the sacking of team principals Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds, Renault is now looking at the possibility that participating in Formula One may not be in their best interests anymore.

Although the meetings have gone on continuously, an announcement is not expected in the coming days because the company, led by president Carlos Ghosn, is scheduled to have an event promoting the brand’s new direction in introducing zero-emission vehicles, as evidenced by the recent news that the Zoe Zero Emissions Concept will be launched in 2012.

In the event Renault does pull the curtains on their F1 tenure, it would make them the third team from the 2009 grid to leave Formula One, following the recent departures of BMW and Toyota.

By our count, that’s now four major teams – including Honda last year - that have left Formula One in the past year and we’re beginning to fear that this could be the beginning of what is already becoming a mass exit out of the sport.

Photo courtesy of Renault F1.

Renault might follow Toyota in exiting Formula One originally appeared on topspeed.com on Tuesday, 10 November 2009 07:00 EST.

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Autocar wasn’t the only one who brought the Ferrari 458 Italia out for a test run recently. This time, it was Chris Harris and EVO Magazine doing their best lap times on board the fastest ‘Prancing Horse’ to ever come out of Maranello in recent times.

In the video, Harris runs through a couple of laps on board the 458 Italia while working on two different set-ups: all systems mode and the simpler – and possibly more difficult – race mode. It’s a pretty attention-catching video, especially after Harris seems to have a more difficult time navigating the 458 Italia around the track when the chores of shifting gears are tasked on him.

Video: Ferrari 458 Italia laps around Fiorano race track originally appeared on topspeed.com on Monday, 9 November 2009 15:20 EST.

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Beginning last November 6 and ending today, November 9, BMW hosted a unique family activity at the Welt Center: build a BMW X1 out of LEGO blocks.

Yes; LEGO blocks.

As another ingenious product of BMW’s ‘Joy’ campaign, the car maker has invited families and children anywhere from age five and above to participate in building a full-scale X1 from 2,000 LEGO blocks, where, as part of Beamer’s CSR initiative, each LEGO block used in the event will correlate to a sum of money BMW will donate to the Munich Children’s Foundation.

As soon as the unconventional build is finished, the LEGO BMW X1 will be proudly displayed by the company alongside real life Beamers on the grounds of the BMW Welt Plaza.

The finished product

And if things start to get too complicated, educationally trained staff will help you with the construction – which will carried out according to an exact plan. The finished BMW X1 made of LEGO® bricks will then stand proudly as a real eye-catcher among the BMW automobiles on the BMW Welt Plaza.

BMW invites families to build BMW X1 out of LEGO blocks originally appeared on topspeed.com on Monday, 9 November 2009 18:00 EST.

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If you’re a speed freak that has dreams of sitting behind the wheel of a car that has Veyron-like speeds but don’t have the moolah to spend for one, we now have a much cheaper alternative that has roughly the same power of the Veyron at a little over one-eighth the price.

The folks from Ariel, creators of the ultra-fast Atom, have released the price tag for the V8 production-ready Atom. As it stands, each car goes for around €134,000. With the power coming from a V8 engine based on two Hayabusa motorbike engines, the Ariel Atom is the literal and figurative definition of a rocket on wheels.

The production version of the Atom V8 can accelerate from 0-100 km/h in just under 2.5 seconds, numbers that equal that of the more obscenely expensive Bugatti Veyron. For around €134,000, it’s a relatively cheap bargain for a car that’s not only obscenely fast, but extremely rare as well – only 25 units have been made with 19 already been sold.

So if you’re the lucky six that can pluck away the remaining Ariel Atoms, consider yourself lucky beyond measure.

Ariel announces pricing for Atom V8 originally appeared on topspeed.com on Monday, 9 November 2009 17:00 EST.

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GM has confirmed that the Cadillac Converj will be put into production using the same technology as the Chevrolet Volt. Even if the company did not announce an official date for its revealing, the Converj has been included into the company’s production plan.

At the 2009 North American International Auto Show where the Converj made its debut, Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said if the Converj was approved, the production model would resemble the concept, same as the Camaro did.

The Converj concept is a strict four-seater. While this is used to give this car a sportier image, this is also necessary because a big center section is taken up by the "T" shaped battery used to power the car. The battery pack contains more than 220 lithium-ion cells that can power the car for up to 40 miles. After the battery runs out, the electric will be replenished by a gas-powered generator. Just like the Volt, the car is designed to be fully charged after plugged in for eight hours on a normal household 120-volt outlet (three hours for 240v).

Cadillac Converj will go into production originally appeared on topspeed.com on Monday, 9 November 2009 13:53 EST.

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The Ford Mustang was built for muscle so it came as a surprise to us when J.B. Niday, managing director of Rally America and latest winner of Ford’s 10 Unleashed program, decided to turn his brand new 2010 Mustang GT into a rally car. But that’s exactly what he did after challenging two of his friends to a nice and dirty head-to-head race at the Ojibwe Forests Rally in Minesota.

To prepare for his Mustang rally debut, Niday configured his GT with all the necessary tools and safety equipment that is required in rally cars, including the installation of a roll cage, race seats, rally computer, off-road tires and HID light bars. After that, it was off to Minnesota to race against Mike Hurst and Mark Utecht with the winner taking home the Mustang GT itself.

Press Release after the jump

Ford 10 Unleashed: J.B. Niday turns 2010 Mustang GT into a rally car originally appeared on topspeed.com on Monday, 9 November 2009 15:30 EST.

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After struggling for the past year with sputtering sales, Chrysler has bounced back from its mediocre run and is looking to reinvent itself to once again become a major driving force in the US auto industry.

And according to patent filings done by the company at the US Patent and Trademark Office, it looks like one of the first steps Chrysler is taking towards the road to redemption is changing their company’s logo.

Over the years, the company hasn’t been shy in changing their logo. Before today, the last change occurred just last year after the company decided to tweak their previous logo to ‘The New Chrysler’. Less than a year after that logo was made, the company has decided to completely change it to a winged logo that has a blue emblem in the middle with the word ‘Chrysler’ spread across it.

Now, Chrysler has yet to confirm the change in the company’s logo, but they’ve also announced that there will be a press briefing tomorrow so you can expect that at some point during the whole event, the topic of the impending logo change will crop up.

In the meantime, check out the history of the Chrysler logo from its inception in the 1950’s to the latest one that will – supposedly – be announced tomorrow.

Chrysler to announce logo change? originally appeared on topspeed.com on Monday, 9 November 2009 15:00 EST.

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Not only the Murcielago LP640 had a bad week-end. A beautiful Creventic Audi CR-8 was also destroyed during a test drive. The car, which cost around 180,000 euro was being prepared for a race team. Both father and son took the car on the Oude Rijksweg highway. But the test drive didn’t ended as planned.

Apparently the father was driving the car, he lost control, crashed into a road sign and grazed a tree. The son ended with an injured leg.

According to police reports the car, the car was being driven with no more 30-40 km/h, so they have no idea yet of what might have happened. However, the car’s suspensions, rear wheel and spoiler are destroyed.

600 hp Audi R8 crashed in Netherlands originally appeared on topspeed.com on Monday, 9 November 2009 14:30 EST.

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In its standard version the Volkswagen Golf GTD is powered by a 2,0 liter TDI engine that delivers 170 hp. Not bad for a diesel car, no? But MTM decided it can do better. And with a few little modifications they managed to raise the engine’s output to 205 hp.

Besides that the MTM GTD also comes with a black paint, a new exhaust systems, performance brakes, sport suspensions and 19 inch bimoto sport alloy rims which underline the vehicles character and sporty look.

No words on how the car’s performances have been improved, but stay tuned and we will let you know soon!

Volkswagen Golf VI GTD by MTM originally appeared on topspeed.com on Monday, 9 November 2009 13:30 EST.

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Chevrolet’s SEMA experience was made successful, thanks in large part to a host of cars – including six Camaros – the company revealed in the annual auto show. Among those that generated an overwhelmingly positive response from those in attendance included the Jay Leno Camaro, the Camaro Synergy, the Corvette, and a revamped Silverado ZR2 Concept. was hardly a surprise, especially considering the line-up of Chevy cars

In this video, a number of Chevy designers – including Dave Ross, the design manager for the brands’ specialty vehicles - took time to talk about the creation of these accessorized vehicles.

Check it out.

Thanks for the tip Stefan!

Video: Chevy highlights from SEMA originally appeared on topspeed.com on Monday, 9 November 2009 13:00 EST.

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