Okay, so it may not exactly be appropriate to pick the best crash of the year, but considering many will be ringing in the new year in a drunken stupor, we think it best to remind everyone of the consequences of drinking and driving. Most of the drivers in the crashes we are featuring were not under the influence when these crashes occurred, but if these guys can get into a massive accident when they’re sober, chances are a drunk YOU will suffer consequences that are much worse.
This year actually brought out the worst in many drivers, some of which instigated accidents with multiple supercars, a vehicular dip into the Atlantic Ocean, and high speed rough and tumbles. Unfortunately, not all of these drivers survived these horrific crashes, which only drives home the point that we have to be extremely careful when operating our motor vehicles.
Remember to have a SAFE and fun New Year.
Hit the jump for the list of the most famous crashes of 2011.
Jay-Z is known to be a car addict, even though he’s trashed luxury cars in the past, but the latest vehicle on his wish list is more for protection than luxury or sport. The well-known rapper is in the market for an armored Dartz Prombron, not to protect him against the onslaught of fans that undoubtedly shower him with attention on a daily basis, but more than likely to protect his bootylicious wife, Beyonce, and their unborn child.
The Prombron is an armored SUV created by eccentric Latvian car maker Dartz that offers protection against AK-47s and rocket launchers. We sure hope Jay-Z isn’t letting his family get anywhere near this kind of danger, but it looks like the expectant dad is leaving no stone unturned in protecting his family. This vehicle offers multiple protection levels and, for aesthetics, a range of interior and exterior trims.
A standard Prombron comes with ten interior treatments, including a choice of snake, crocodile, whale, skat, chameleon, or elephant skins, and different "standard" carbon fiber or matte trims. The car is equipped with eight cameras and comes void of a door behind the driver.
Safety is obviously a big concern for the rapper, but we’d protect our families in the same fashion if we could, and we don’t have millions of adoring fans crowding us or our spouses.
The movie franchise may not have some of the most compelling story lines, but when it comes to raking in the moolah, NBC Universal’s Fast & Furious franchise is certified box-office gold.
Fans of F&F will then be ecstatic to know that producers are currently developing not just one, but two follow-up movies to Fast Five, which by the way grossed a delightful $626 million in the cinemas all over the world.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Dominic Toretto...err...Vin Diesel was quoted as saying that with the inclusion of new characters and the deepening plot line of the movie, there wasn’t enough space to fit everything together in the "sixth-quel," hence the decision to spread the story out to accommodate a "seventh-quel."
Though nothing has been finalized, screenwriter Chris Morgan is currently writing the storyline with the intention of covering two movies, giving director Justin Lin the option to shoot the two movies simultaneously.
Should this end up being the case, we expect a lot of the race boy fans of the Fast & Furious franchise to be jumping up and down right now.
Jesse James is well-known for his romantic rendezvous behind the back of his then-wife and actress, Sandra Bullock, but before his sexual trysts became a topic of media concern, James was better known as the builder behind West Coast Choppers. Now it seems as though James is taking a break from infidelity and motorcycle builds to take his Hennessey GT1000 Twin Turbo for a bit of a rougher ride.
On a road that has been dubbed a "super twisty lane" by a source that was at the location, Jesse James lost control of his 1000 HP supercar and crashed it into a neighbor’s yard near his house in Austin, Texas. The funny thing about the incident is that Hennessey seems to be pleased with the incident. They spoke with fellow automotive site, Jalopnik, and stated, "It’s nice to know that Jesse drives his Hennessey GT hard enough to find the limit. After all, if you don’t crash or break every now and then you’re not going fast enough."
Jesse James seems to take a lot of things to their breaking point. At least his Henessey GT1000 is covered by insurance.
Reminder: The Hennessey GT1000 Twin Turbo is powered by a 5.4-liter supercharged V-8 engine that produces 1,000 horsepower at 6,600 rpm with a 0-60 mph time of 2.8 seconds, a quarter-mile time of 10.6 seconds at 142 mph, and an increased top speed of 245 mph.
The evolution of the Lotus Evora GTE, most extreme Lotus vehicle ever, went by rather quickly. After debuting a concept version at the 2011 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in August, Lotus then went on to put out the production Evora GTE in September at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show. This quick turnover has now been followed up by a special edition GTE courtesy of Swizz Beatz.
Swizz Beatz is an American record producer, DJ, rapper, and painter, although some may only know him as the husband of R&B superstar, Alicia Keys. He, along with
Lotus Design, came together to create a special Evora GTE unveiled at Alvin Ailey’s Opening Night Gala in New York. This special edition is noted as such because it is finished in a chrome ruby red paint. Everything else is strictly standard GTE. It features the typical rear brake cooling ducts, modified rear wing, enlarged intake vents behind the B pillar, and intense use of carbon fiber for the roof, sill detailing, and other carbon accessories. These elements help reduce the Evora’s total weight by about 231 lbs.
Being since this was a creative collaboration, no changes were made to the power source of the Evora GTE. It is still working with a race-tuned 3.5-liter V6 engine that delivers a total of 444 HP, which still makes it the most powerful Lotus Evora road car ever built.
No details were given on the car’s prices just yet, but prospective buyers will surely have to dish out more than the $180,000 price tag of the standard Evora GTE.
UPDATE 12/06/2011: Brain Food Film has unveiled a video from the launch party for the new Evora GTE by Swizz Beatz. Special guests included Lotus CEO Dany Bahar, Alicia Keys, Russell Simmons, Stephen Baldwin, Carmelo Anthony, and a surprise performance from Swizz and TI. Video after the jump!
Steve McQueen was, and is still considered to be, one of the icons of the auto industry. Sure, he didn’t design cars, nor did he start an auto company, but his indelible mark on all of us was that he was one of those Hollywood royalties that also knew how to handle his business behind the wheel of a race car.
His legendary movie, Le Mans, will always be a conversation-piece for us so it figures that some of the items that were used in that movie would fetch a pretty dollar if they went up for auction. That’s where this two-piece Gulf Racing suit comes into the picture. Not only was this piece of fabric used in the movie, but it was actually worn by McQueen himself. After being donated by the Observer to a lucky fan back in 1972 - a 12-year old won it during a competition - the suit now finds itself as one of the prize catches at the Profiles in History’s "Icons of Hollywood" auction.
Remarkably, the suit remains in tip-top condition and comes with all the trinkets and sponsor patches that were used in the movie, including the American flag, the Gulf logo, Heuer Chronograph and Firestone sponsor patches, and even Michael Delany’s name stitched on the right hand side.
The auction will take place on December 15-17, 2011 and experts have priced the suit at around $200,000 to $300,000, a hefty price tag for a classic racing suit that has a pretty interesting story behind it.
We wonder if the suit still has McQueen’s sweat stains on it...
The Ferrari California isn’t the newest model in Ferrari’s line-up, so there typically isn’t any reason to splatter news about it on the front page. That is, until a celebrity decides to do a little Black Friday shopping in a Ferrari dealership.
Paris Hilton has chosen a bright red Ferrari California as an early Christmas present for herself and, although we think the 460 HP California is an amazing supercar, we have to wonder why she opted for this particular model and not for Ferrari’s newest roadster model: the 570 HP 459 Italia Spyder. Maybe she’s had her fill of the super speedy since she just received a 560 HP Lexus LF-A for her 30th birthday. Or maybe she just got a really good Black Friday deal. Either way, this beautiful, red Ferrari California has just joined the elite group of amazing vehicles owned by Hilton’s princess.
Mike Sorentino, better known in mainstream America as "The Situation," shot to fame with his role in the hit reality show Jersey Shore, so with a fattened bank account, Sorentino decided to buy himself a Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder. That’s a very nice car, no doubt about that, but what really caught our attention wasn’t so much the supercar itself but the personalized plate the supercar had.
The plate read three letters that pretty much describes Sorentino’s mantra: GTL.
If you’re not familiar with what that means, GTL is an acronym for "Gym, Tan, Laundry", which pretty much tells you where this man’s priorities lie.
We’re not sure what that message will read to today’s youth, but Sorentino has every right to put whatever he wants on his car. Lord knows, he earned it - for better or worse - and if he wants to display his mantra for all the world to see, then he’s entitled to that.
But knowing the kind of reputation he has, the ’GTL’ plate on a Gallardo Spyder just looks, for lack of a better term, out of whack. Kind of like The Situation himself.
It may not be a $2 million Bugatti Veyron or an $8 million Maybach Excelero, but Birdman has just dropped another boatload of cash on yet another supercar. Sources over at MediaTakeOut have reported that Birdman just spent $755,000 on a brand new Lamborghini Aventador. For anyone not good with numbers, that almost double the price of the usual asking price. We can only imagine the bells and whistles - more accurately, the "hoes and bitches" - that come along with the added benjamins.
And as it turns out, Birdman’s new Aventador will be delivered to him in December, right before Christmas. A 700 HP, carbon fiber supercar? Yeah, he’s pretty generous with himself, isn’t he?
As a reminder, the 2012 Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4 is powered by a 700 HP 6.5L V12 engine. It is the first all-new Lamborghini developed engine since the Countach and is be able to get the vehicle from 0-60 mph in just 2.9 seconds while blasting off a top speed of 217 mph. With a total weight of 1,575 kilograms (3,472 lb) it will deliver a power to weight ratio of 2.25 Kg/hp.
In the Philippines, "Bahala na si Batman" - translated, it means: "Leave it to Batman" - is a popular phrase people say when they’re in a conundrum. The whole premise of that quote is that whatever pickle we find ourselves in, Batman always has a solution.
What we found out earlier today unfortunately shattered that myth because even the Caped Crusader has no answer when it comes to changing a flat tire on his Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder.
The whole escapade happened in Maryland earlier this week when the Howard county Police department responded to a 911 call emanating from Route 29, north of Washington, D.C. The call, which came from a passing motorist, said: "There is a disabled motorist southbound on 29. He’s in the left lane, he’s in like a Lamborghini. He is dressed in a Batman costume and he is hanging out halfway in the roadway."
Knowing that people could still be on their Halloween hangover, the responding officers thought the call was nothing more than a prank. Then they got to the scene and saw the Lamborghini. And then they saw Batman.
As it turned out, the Dark Knight was on his way to a Washington hospital for an appearance when he blew out one of the tires in his Gallardo Spyder. After a short while, the Gallardo was eventually towed away and Batman was picked up by one of his buddies - we suspect it was Alfred - to drop him off at his appearance.
But that wasn’t before a Howard County officer took a posterity photo with Batman, probably to show his kids that at one point in his life, he was the one that came to the Caped Crusader’s aid.
