This vehicle’s been around but we couldn’t believe that it fell through the cracks without much of a notice from us. But hey, better late than never, right? This is the Tiger Aviator, an advanced, road and track racer straight from the world of the Caterham 7 and the Irmscher i-SELECTRA. These three models may look the same, but there are plenty of differences that come with the Aviator, most specifically its cheap price compared to its contemporaries.
Sure, it might not be as powerful - or has an electric powertrain like the i-SELECTRA - as its contemporaries, but it does offer plenty of qualities that should make the purchase, if you intend to buy one that is, well worth the money.
And hey, if for nothing else, the car looks the part of a retro roadster that offers plenty of bite to go with all the options it comes in based on customer preference.
Details of the Tiger Aviator can be found after the jump.
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"1,200 horsepower is too much, but more than 1,001 is absolutely possible."
These were the words spoken by Bugatti CEO, Wolfgang Durheimer, just last week when discussing a future special edition of the almost put to rest Bugatti Veyron. He was talking about the possibility of a Super Sport package for the Veyron Grand Sport model - the Veyron’s open top model - but while we were convinced such a vehicle would be nowhere near ready for the line, our spy photographers have snapped a few pictures of the actual vehicle almost entirely free of its camouflage.
From these images we can see that the NACA air ducts that usually are on the Super Sport model have been changed for the normal Grand Sport air intakes. This is due to the fact that the NACA air ducts will not work with the open top aspect of the vehicle. Some changes might also be hidden under the minimal camouflage found on the front bumper, but only time will tell what those may be.
The Bugatti Veyron line all carry the same 8.0 liter W16 engine, but the SuperSport’s output is much higher (1200 HP) compared to the Grand Sport’s (1001 HP) due to the use of four enlarged turbochargers and bigger intercoolers. We expect Bugatti to follow along this same turbocharged path for the Grand Sport Super Sport, albeit in a tamer way.
Expect the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Super Sport’s price tag to fall somewhere in the middle of the Grand Sport ($1.9M) and the Super Sport ($2.4M).
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Porsche can’t seem to shake the lemons off it’s model tree. Once again the Stuttgart manufacturer has been forced to issue a recall, this time centering on 235 2011-2012 models which may have had defective seat belts installed. According to Inside Line, the models that are affected include the 2012 Porsche 911 Carrera 4, 2012 Porsche 911 Carrera 4 GTS, 2012 Porsche 911 Carrera 4S, 2012 Porsche 911 Carrera GTS, 2012 Porsche 911 Carrera S, 2011 Porsche 911 Speedster, 2012 Porsche 911 Targa 4, 2012 Porsche 911 Targa 4S, 2012 Porsche 911 Turbo, 2012 Porsche 911 Turbo S, 2012 Porsche Boxster S, 2012 Porsche Cayman, 2012 Porsche Cayman R, and 2012 Porsche Cayman S. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration points out that these defective seat belts are centered on the mounting holes in the seat belt anchor plates fitted to the vehicle being too small. If the hole diameter is too small, the anchor plate may not be able to rotate about the fastening bolt as designed. Should this occur, the seat belt may not be routed optimally around the occupant, or may potentially loosen at some point in the future increasing the risk of injury during a crash. Although this problem is serious, it is noted by the NHTSA that no deaths or injuries have resulted from these defective seat belts. Porsche also says this defect stems from a "manufacturing issue" at their seat belt supplier.
We don’t think this will affect Porsche at all. We still look at Porsche cars as the one of the finest sports car manufacturers in the world.
In the gear head community, the arrival of a new Shelby GT 500 Mustang is always eagerly awaited. The 2013 Shelby Mustang is no different and this anticipation has been exaggerated because of rumors of a new power plant.
Car and Driver points out that, initially, a turbocharged engine was rumored to be under the hood, but Ford has confirmed that the 2013 Shelby Mustang will keep its supercharged V8. This supercharged V8 will reportedly put out 600 horses. There’s been no word on the price of this top-end pony car, but it will most likely remain in the $50-60K range.
This latest Mustang will face stiff competition from its muscle car rivals from Chevy, Dodge, and Chrysler. The list of rivals from these manufacturers include the Camaro ZL1, and the Dodge Challenger and Chrysler SRT-8, if they get the addition of a supercharger.
This is another example of the renewed Detroit civil war and this "conflict" is pushing innovation and engineering to the forefront again in a cut throat competition for the toughest crowd of all: automotive enthusiasts.
Adam Carolla may be in the hot seat for some "decorated" commentary during the Adam Carolla Show podcast, but The Car Show can still forge ahead, hopefully without a loss of viewers. This week’s episode finds the hosts testing the Mercedes SLS AMG against the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1, Dan Neil strolling through the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, and an interview with the outstanding Jason Castriota.
Usually a nice segway into the other, more important segments of the show, this week’s mini segments were a bit on the disappointing side. There was a "prank" type video showing us the World’s Worse Valet which had its funny moments, but fell short of what we expected. Then there was the biggest waste of time to date, the Great Car Knack. This mini segment has Adam dressed to the hilt in a cheap fortune teller costume while telling the people in the audience their future. It sounds ridiculous and, well, it was.
Full details on the The Car Show: Season 1 Episode 6 after the jump.
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