In 1961 Bentley’s first official styling department was established in Crewe by the gifted John Blatchley. It was the place where the 1950s Bentley Continentals models were designed. To honor the year, Bentley will unveil at the Frankfurt Motor Show a special edition Continental GT and GTC.
The new Continental Series 51 model will feature a highly-distinctive interior color palette and unique exterior design cues. The GTC version displayed in Frankfurt will feature a Imperial Blue as a main and secondary hide, Linen seat and door inserts and Newmarket Tan as the accent color.
Both GT and GTC version will feature 20” 14-spoke polished Diamond wheel with a dark centre cap provides Series 51 cars with a purposeful and stylish appearance. The cars will be further distinguished by a signature ‘51’ badge on the front wings.
While we continue to ait word on whether or not Audi is unveiling the RS3 in Frankfurt, we do know that the folks from Ingolstadt will be bringing with them the new R8 Spider. That fact alone should make Audi fans salivate at the prospect of seeing the roof-less supercar in all its glory.
But since the Frankfurt Motor Show is still a week away, we believe that new spy shots of the car will do – for now. A number of new spy shots of the R8 Spider were revealed recently, giving everyone more reason to look forward to its official unveiling.
We know that spy shots are all well and good, but with the Frankfurt Motor Show less than a week away, we understand if a lot of you are already gnawing at the idea of seeing the R8 Spider in the flesh. We know we are.
The American aftermarket parts manufacturer Hurst Performance Vehicles is one of the most recognized and revered names in the history of hot-rodding and have long been synonymous with speed and high performance vehicles. Throughout the years Hurst has come up with a host of proven special edition racers and quite a few memorable pace cars. This modified 2010 Ford Mustang will continue the tradition when it leads a pack of purpose built Mustangs around Miller Motorsports Park on September 19th for the Ford Racing Mustang Challenge.
The special edition BFGoodrich/Hurst Mustang pace car has been beefed up with a Roush supercharger that breathes in through a high flow K&N air filter and breathes out though an unrestricted Magnaflow stainless steel exhaust system that work together to increase the pony car’s output to 435 HP and 400 lb-ft of torque. Underneath the 2010 Mustang makes use of a Hurst-tuned Eibach Suspension complete with a fully adjustable set of coilovers and a set of thicker sway bars to keep all four of the Mustang’s hoofs planted as it goes around the bends. The Hurst Mustang Pace Car rides on a set of stunning 20 inch Hurst polished, forged aluminum wheels wrapped in a set of the obligatory BFGoodrich g-Force T/A KDW tires and wears the signature Hurst gold paint scheme complete with bold stripes running down the length of the body.
Inside the Mustang convertible comes with a Hurst Competition/Plus short-throw shifter with a gold anodized T-handle. The seats are covered with white Katzkin leather with black inserts and gold details. After the pace car has served out its Mustang Challenge duties, the white and gold drop top pony car will participate in numerous parades and even make an appearance at SEMA before being auctioned off for charity next January, with all proceeds benefiting the newest Victory Junction Camp in Kansas City.
Fresh off the heels of delivering their first truly all new car in years, the Evora, and the release of a hard core track tuned Lotus Exige Cup, the lightweight English sports car builder has just revealed another version of their compact thrill machine. The Lotus Elise Club Racer is a very simple and straightforward sports car that borrows a few shades of paint from Colin Chapman’s personal pallet from the 1960s, colors like Elite Yellow, Carbon Grey, Sky Blue and Old English White.
According to the Director of Lotus Cars, Luke Bennett, "Special Editions of the award winning Elise have always proved popular with our customers around the world, and I expect the Elise Club Racer to be no different. We have taken colour schemes from our past, used on the Elite and Elan in the 1960s and cleverly brought them up to date with a modern feel to the interior. The whole design package is modern with a classic twist, which of course matches the peerless ride and handling of a Lotus and the convertible experience of the Elise perfectly."
Called the Elise Club Racer, the new lightweight English sports car is based on the 134 HP version of the Lotus Elise S and is scheduled to arrive in showrooms on September 15th and go on sale for around $40,000. The car makes use of silver and black highlights in the interior as well as an anthracite anodized gear knob and handbrake with the Club Racer "CR" logo embroidered everywhere. The Lotus engineers even saw fit to incorporate a smaller diameter steering wheel and a set of lightweight six spoke alloys for that extra sporty look and feel.
Maserati will unveil at the Frankfurt Motor Show the Convertible version of its successful GT sports car. Called GranCabrio is Maserati’s first four-seater convertible. Sales will begin in March of 2010.
The GranCabrio is powered by a 4.7 liter V8 engine that delivers 433bhp at 7000rpm and 362lb ft at 4750rpm and is the convertible with the longest wheelbase on the market. The GrandCabrio is slated to run 0-60mph around the 5-second mark and carry speeds of up to 180 mph.
The GranCabrio represents the very essence of Maserati in terms of open-top cars. It’s a Maserati in the purest sense of the word: from the unmistakable style by Pininfarina to the spacious interior, from the craftsmanship of each detail to the driving pleasure and performance. The Maserati GranCabrio enriches all five senses in a shared open-air experience, without sacrificing comfort and performance.
Volvo will unveil a revised version of the C70 Convertible at the Frankfurt Motor Show this September. The C70 is the first model from the Swedish automaker to feature design elements from the S60 Concept Car that was unveiled earlier this year.
Making up the restyled Volvo C70 includes a set of redesigned front fenders, a much more wedge shaped nose, new crystal like headlamps and some new trim surrounding the foglamps and the lower grille. For 2010, the C70 Convertible is being offered with three gas burning and two diesel engines: first is the T5 turbocharged five cylinder making 230 HP, the 2.4i pumping out 170 HP, the 2.4 cranking out 140 HP. The diesel mills consist of the D5 making 180 HP and the 2.0D that produces 136 HP.
The new Volvo C70 has been engineered to be one of the safest convertibles on the market, with regards to both active and passive safety. The car has an advanced body structure and several solutions that are unique to the C70 in the world of open top cars. The lack of a fixed roof doesn’t compromise the convertible’s structural integrity and has been compensated for by structural reinforcements and other sophisticated technology.
The 9ff GT9R is most likely the fastest Porsche GT3 at the moment. But while the tuner only offered details on the coupe versions, rumors say the German tuner is also taking orders for a speedster version of the GT9R.
We expect for the cabrio version to use the same 4.0-litre flat six, mid-mounted engine that thanks to massive twin-turbo is able to produce 1120bhp and a peak torque of 774 lb ft. The coupe version was named by its producer ’the world’s fastest street-legal car: it sprints from 0 to 60 mph in 2,8 seconds and can hit a top speed of 257mph are on tap.
This rendered appeared on the 9ff United Arab Emirates (UAE) official page and comes with the message: "Fastest Car in the World - 257 MPH - Now available as Coupe OR Convertible."
We travel down under for this latest set of spyshots about what looks to be a batch of freshly rolled out 2010 convertible Camaros.
The photos, which were photographed by a Camaro5 forum member, show a number of soft-top silver Camaros in all their undisguised glory at the GHM Holden’s e Fisherman’s Bend production facility in Melbourne, Australia.
GM has been on thrown on the hot seat by a lot of anxious customers regarding the scheduled release date of the convertible Camaros, a date General Motors has pushed back repeatedly over the past. The Camaro Convertible comes with either a V6 or V8 engine has been one of the most eagerly-anticipated cars in America, so you can imagine the general public’s growing aggravation over the continuous delays GM has been making on the release of these cars.
But we’re confident that whatever frustrations people may have over GM, the mere sight of these mouth-watering Camaros should all appease their anxieties - even for just a bit.
Chevrolet has only made the Grand Sport option available two other times in the Corvette’s history. The original Grand Sport was a track-only special with a 550 hp V8, and the 1996 version was the only Corvette to use the LT4 engine. So our biggest concern when we heard rumors of the return of the Corvette Grand Sport was that Chevrolet was not going to be able to deliver a car that lived up to the historic name. For the third edition Chevrolet reached into the Corvette part’s bin and pulled out sort of a “best of” package for the standard Corvette.
This iteration of America’s favorite sports car becomes even more desirable by combining styling cues from the much more expensive Z06 and ZR-1 super cars with the availability of creature comforts like an automatic transmission or even a drop top convertible Corvette. The body is one of the main differences between the Grand Sport and the standard C6 is the car’s wide stance and flared fenders as well as a larger wheel and tire package and a set of 6 piston brake calipers up front and a pair of 4 piston clampers out back. The body incorporates an air intake in the hood, gills in the front fender and a small scoop in the rear quarter all in an affordable package. Join General Motors employees Harlan Charles, the Corvette Product Marketing Manager and Corvette Chief Engineer Tadge Juechter as they tell you a little more about their latest creation.
Continued after the jump with Launch Control video.
The Dutch super car builders from Spyker were keeping the theme of high-end debuts going at Pebble with the unveiling of the Spyker C8 Aileron Spyder. The drop top super car is based upon the exact same aluminum space frame chassis as the fixed roof version that made itself known to the world earlier this year at the Geneva Motor show replacing the long running C8. The Spyder is powered by the same 4.2 Liter Audi sourced V8 as the hard top and should be pumping out somewhere around 400 HP and for the first time is offering an automatic gearbox.
Aside from the beautiful new bodywork that hints at the automaker’s aviation heritage, the Spyder wears the company’s motto “Nulla Tenaci Invia Est Via” on the tonneau cover that hides away the semiautomatic soft-top that is capable of sealing off the cabin in just 20 seconds. The unit is also covered in quilted Hulshof leather, the same as the Aileron’s interior, surrounding a wing shaped piece of travel luggage upholstered in the same quilted leather and resting on the CNC-machined aluminum luggage rack.
The C8 Aileron Spyder’s chassis was designed to be much more rigid than the outgoing C8 which will work wonderfully with the vehicle’s new suspension that was designed and supplied by Lotus to make this a very capable super car. Adding a bit of bling to aviation inspired road rocket are a set of 19 inch Aeroblade wheels housing a set of massive AP Racing brakes. Spyker expects that half of all C8 Spyders produced will end up here in America, so what better place to unveil the new open air machine to the U.S. market. With a move like this, Spyker is living up to their motto inscribed on the shoulders of the car, ”For the tenacious, no road is impassable.”
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