Life is indeed imitating art in the case of Robert Downey Jr.
No, he hasn’t turned his Hollywood gig of a full-fledged super hero into a real life career, but what he did do is attend the Avengers premier in Hollywood the only way his on-screen alter-ego, Tony Stark, knows how: in grand style.
Instead of being driven in a limousine that is pretty much SOP with premieres, Downey, together with his wife, decided to drive the $9 million Acura NSX Roadster to the premiere at the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood.
Sticking with the movie, the NSX Roadster was accompanied by a number of Acura models bearing the S.H.I.E.L.D emblem, possibly to keep Downey Jr. safe in case Loki comes out and tries to eviscerate him.
For a man that revived his career with one hit after another, Downey could very well end up becoming associated as Tony Stark - and for some hard core fans, Iron Man - in the real world.
And if you’re going to try to fit into those shoes, you might as well do it looking ridiculously cool behind the wheel of a $9 million movie/superduper car.
As much as we try to resist talking about every single celebrity’s car, there are some cases where a celebrity car also happens to be 100% ridiculous. In those cases, well, we just can’t help ourselves. Enter in, Justin Bieber’s 2012 Fisker Karma.
We aren’t reporting on the fact that this teen pop idol is being environmentally friendly, nor that he was handed the keys to this beautiful black Fisker Karma free of charge. Nope, that’s not the story. The story is that this 18-year-old pop sensation turned this beautifully sculpted ECO-supercar into a rolling mirror, literally.
We are cool with a little chrome, but there is a point when it becomes excessive. Mr. Bieber, you hit that point of excess, then broke through the barrier and tossed a live grenade at the remainder of that barrier to make sure it can never be crossed again.
This young man chromed out the entire car, not just a few accents here and there, the e-n-t-i-r-e car. Top to bottom coated in shiny, sunlight-reflecting chrome. Now, if he lived somewhere that the sun wasn’t excruciatingly intense, that might be cool, but this dude lives in California. As you can see from the above video, the sunlight creates a nearly blinding reflection on the car’s surface, which we would assume is illegal.
Um, nope, according to California law, a fully chromed out car is perfectly legal, but those pretty little mood lights under the front bumper are not legal. I remember getting pulled over repeatedly in Pennsylvania for my Camaro’s exhaust being too loud, that monstrosity of a Karma is louder than my Camaro’s exhaust could have ever been.
Hit the jump to see this beautiful machine before Bieber ruined, err, customized it.
According to his official blog, all Olsson wanted to do was add "a nice little spoiler on it and do a nice little "quick" pimp," but PPI kind of ruined his plans. They added a full carbon fiber body kit that weighs only 600 grams. Knowing about his passion for skiing, PPI also added a ski box at the top of the R8.
The standard PPI Razor GTR features a normally aspirated V10 engine that provides over 601 hp at 7,400 rpm and a maximum torque of 416 lb-ft at 6,400 rpm. However, from what we know about Olsson’s rides, we wouldn’t be surprised to see at least 700 HP under this hood.
There are very few stunts in this world that can compete with a car driving along a wall without the aid of any Hollywood magic. But for those talented enough to pull of such a feat, it makes for some sick viewing.
In this video, we find ourselves in the Demon Drome Wall of Death with no less than Dynomite Dave, the man who has made an art form out of mastering the Drome. For this particular stunt, Dynomite Dave demonstrates his incredible skill at conquering the Wall of Death, and he does so not with a bike but with an actual Mazda2.
As incredible as this all sounds, it’s even more impressive when you watch the video for yourself. And for those thinking that they could pull off this stunt on their own, consider the fact that Dynomite Dave knows what he’s doing inside that wall. So for the sake of your health and finances, leave the stunts to the experts.
We’re positive that we have all seen Eric Clapton’s one-off Ferrari 458 Italia by now, but up until this point we’ve only seen blurry images and a less-than-exciting video shot by YouTube personality ‘Shmee150’. However, now we can show you the official patented drawings for the car which were constructed well in advance of the car actually being made.
The original pictures published make the incredible supercar look relatively odd. It’s likely fitted with a lifting system and we wouldn’t be surprised if that was activated throughout the event it debuted in. Furthermore, it’s quite hard to actually pick the lines of the 458 Italia of which it’s based off, but these high quality drawings do give us a clear indication of the styling direction Clapton chose for the car.
The car has a much wider stance than the regular 458 Italia, and this makes it look quite reminiscent of the legendary Ferrari Enzo, and of course, the Enzo headlights help finish off the aggressive look. The most interesting part of this particular car, however, is its under tray.
We’ve yet to see any real pictures showcasing just how the regular car looks from underneath, but Clapton’s SP12 has a very smooth under tray to improve airflow with its aggressive rear diffuser helping to add even more downforce to the driven wheels.
Initial reports suggested that the SP12 would feature the V12 from the now-extinct 599 GTB, but it was later confirmed to have retained the standard 4.5-liter V8 producing a little over the standard 570HP.
For "normal" folks like us, making a six-figure purchase is tantamount to being kicked out of the house and forced to sleep on the curb. But for people like professional basketball player, Kobe Bean Bryant, $329,000 is pretty much chump change.
Sure, his recent divorce cost him half his fortune, but Kobe’s still got plenty of Benjamins coming his way, which makes his recent purchase of a 2012 Ferrari 458 Italia not much of a big deal to the Mamba. He paid for it full, too, with a check, which pretty much tells you that this is like buying groceries for this guy.
The price Kobe paid for his 458 Italia is about $100,000 more than the MSRP price of the Italian supercar, which leads to speculation - at least from our end - that he probably tricked out his new toy with plenty of additional options.
Either that or Kobe just got hosed for 100 grand by the dude who sold him the car.
In deference to the man, we’d prefer to believe the former since Kobe has never been shy about his growing fleet of exotics, particularly those with Italian heritage to it.
The love of fast cars must run through the Ecclestone blood line. Not only is billionaire Bernie Ecclestone the president and CEO of Formula One, but in a not-so-surprising turn, his daughter seems to love them just as much. These images show off a sexy Tamara Ecclestone as she poses next to her $600K Ferrari 599 GTO. It’s not the new F12Berlinetta, but the 599 still knows how to command attention, as does Ms. Ecclestone.
Aside from a love of fast cars, Tamara has also inherited her father’s business sense, but she has a little more to play with than dear old Dad. These images were released to promote her new reality TV show, Billionaire SS Girl on Channel V- yes, everyone now has a reality TV show - and show off just how compatible the 599’s sleek body is with hers.
The Ferrari 599 GTO is powered by a V12 engine delivering a total of 670 HP at 8250 rpm with a maximum torque of 620 Nm at 6500 rpm. It rockets the car from 0 to 60 mph in just 3.35 seconds, while top speed goes up to 208 mph. It is limited to only 599 units.
Young or old, American or European, every man in this world know who Pamela Anderson is, and more importantly how she looks like. She is, or was at some point, the dream of every man out there. But the distance from being a dream girl to owning a personal race team is very long. Unthinkable in fact! But Pamela Anderson did it: she launched her own personal race firm called Downforce1 and announced she will have cars competing in the European Le Mans Series as well as the International GT open series. At this point we are not very sure is she will actually drive any of these cars, but for sure that will be something we will want to see.
Apparently, next to silicone, Pamela is also a huge fan of NASCAR and F1 racing series, and now she wants to take her passion to a next level: "Fast Cars and Fast women go together and here we are surrounded by men I love it.” said Pam on the sidelines of a NASCAR race.
European Le Mans Series will be the first race to compete in. Her team will enter with an Aston Martin Vantage GT2 with Markus Fux, the marketing chief and team coordinator of the team, behind the wheel.
"I’m so proud of the Downforce 1 team. These gentlemen have achieved the impossible and built up a team in just four months, so I cannot wait to see my cars on the racetracks it’s hard to believe until I see it. Look for us in white and blue - my signature color" said Pamela Anderson.
She also announced that by the end of 2013 she will also have a team ready for Nascar. Can you guess the mascot of that team?
Out of the enormous shadows of the 2012 Geneva Motor Show, Italian tuner Fenice Milano is preparing a sick program for the Rolls-Royce Ghost. And if there’s one thing we know about these dudes, the word "bland" is not part of their vocabulary.
Fenice Milano actually dropped the renderings for this particular Ghost called "Paris Purple" with the intent of getting somebody to dig into their pockets and order the custom luxury car. And now that a "very exclusive client" has given the green light to have it ordered, Fenice Milano is set to work on what can only be described as a pretty radical Ghost.
The unique purple paint finish is the first of many eye-catching things you’ll notice on the car, hence the name "Paris Purple." The car is also set to carry carbon wheel rims and 24-karat gold on the bonnet, the window frames, the radiator cowling, and the exhaust pipes. Yep, 24-karat gold on a car. That’s just how Fenice Milano rolls.
And, by the way, that’s just the exterior of the car. Inside, the Ghost also gets a significant make-over, thanks to plenty of leather, carbon, and gold details that we expect will be just as extravagant as that outside.
So who exactly is the celebrity that signed off on this project? Fenice Milano is keeping that a secret for now, but rest assured, we’ll find out who it is sooner rather than later.
Whereas other car companies are making do with creative Super Bowl commercials, Honda is doing it with a lot of star power. We’ve seen Matthew Broderick bring his Ferris Bueller role back to life for the Honda CR-V and now, Honda’s sister company, Acura, has upped the ante with Jerry Seinfeld and Jay Leno.
Granted, the car being featured in the ad - the new NSX - is being touted as the next great Japanese sports car so it figures that Acura would go all out in promoting the car during the Super Bowl.
In the ad, Jerry Seinfeld goes through extreme lengths to convince the one guy that’s going to get the NSX before him to switch places with him. He brings him an alien in a body bag, he does a stand-up routine over a family dinner, and he even brings back the last "supposedly dead" munchkin to life.
And just when he thought that he had finally convinced the guy to hand over the number 1 spot, Jay Leno comes from out of nowhere riding a jet pack and promising a flight from New York to LA in just 20 minutes.
