The Lancia Stratos was once one of the most dominant forces in the World Rally Championship, as it took home the championship in three consecutive seasons – 1974, 1975 and 1976. After the 1976 campaign, however, the Stratos was pulled out of the WRC.
In 1979, the Stratos wound up with a private racing firm and dominated the 1979 Monte Carlo Rally. The legend of the Lancia Stratos continues amongst rally enthusiasts. The Stratos was not only a rally machine, as Lancia did manufacture a small number of street versions of its rally champ. Unfortunately, with its popularity in the Rally realm, many of the street-version, known as the “Straddles,” Stratos have been converted into rally cars or modified into replicas of the WRC Champion car.
Thanks to the folks at RM Auctions you may be able to own one of the few near-mint condition 1976 Lancia Stratos ’Straddles’ left in the world. This beautifully restored classic is set to go to auction on May 11th or 12th in Monaco.
You may be wondering how well restored is this classic car or maybe if it is worth its asking price? Maybe you haven’t even heard of this car and would like to know more about it before considering shoving off to Monaco.
Click past the jump to read our full review to get a better feel for this car.
Many years ago, you may recall hopping in grandpap’s Eldorado, Fleetwood, or Deville and taking a nice cushiony ride on the highway. When the Northstar engine came about in the mid-1990s we all started to see Cadillacs actually putting out some respectable performance numbers to go along with their couch-like ride. The lid started coming off of the Cadillac performance sedans in 2003, when the automaker released the CTS. In 2004, when the 400-horsepower CTS-V came out, all hell broke loose.
By the 2012 model year, the CTS-V had morphed into a 556-horsepower, supercharged sub-supercar. For some people, however, 556 horsepower just isn’t quite enough. This is where the Cadillac tuners at D3 come into play, literally. They took two CTS-Vs and converted them into 1,500-horsepower supercars that are primed to bring havoc upon any road they are on.
So what does D3 do? They hand the keys to INDY Car driver J.R. Hildebrand and Formula D driver Tyler McQuarrie, of course! These two racers took these 1,500 horsepower luxury cars down to the Long Beach street circuit and stretched out these Caddy’s legs a little.
By stretching their legs we mean smoldering the tires to oblivion and getting it on video (above). The tire smoldering and supercharger whining is aplenty in these videos, but there is one thing that is slightly more impressive. An amateur video was also released that showed the cameramen filming these two Caddys and watching these dudes put their bodies at risk just to get a good shot. That takes a rather big brass set, if you ask us; an even bigger set than playing with a few CTS-Vs on ‘roids.
Click past the jump to see the amateur video of the cameramen.
In the 1950s, Ferrari was all about racing and built a wide range of vehicles to participate in varying classes. One of the more rare models was the Ferrari 225 Sport, which only had 20 total units built until 1952. This model also acted as the stepping stone toward Ferrari’s leap in to the famed 3.0-liter V-12 engines.
Even rarer is the 225 Sport Spyder ‘Tuboscocca’ whose body was manufactures by the esteemed Alfredo Vignale. Not only is the body very much functional for racing, but it also screams sheer elegance. What’s even more impressive is that only 12 of these 225 Sport Spyders ever existed.
This retro racer has a storied racing history dating back to its first race on October 11, 1952 at the Bologna-Raticosa hill climb, where it took home 1st place. After its 2nd place run in 1963, this 225S Spyder went into storage for 17 years until it was exported to Italy, restored in 1983 and began racing in vintage races around the world.
The 1983 restoration was its final one, as it is currently being offered for sale via RM auctions in Monoco. It is due to be sold on May 12, 2012 and will likely fetch a rather pretty penny.
UPDATE 05/16/2012: The 1952 Ferrari 225 Sport Spyder Toboscocca was sold in Monaco for an impressive €2,520,000 (about $3.2 million).
Click past the jump to read our full review and see how much this car will fetch.
Having grown up in Washington, PA, just 10 miles from Canonsburg, PA – the home of famed Chevy builder Yenko – I have grown rather attached to these models. So any time I see one, I cannot help but drool and chuckle over the fact that a little town like Canonsburg can produce monsters like these.
I get even more excited when a really rare Yenko goes up for sale. Something like a Stage II 1981 Camaro Yenko Turbo gets me all riled up, as there were only three of them ever built. In total there were two stages – I and II – and a total of 19 within all of the stages.
Not only is this vehicle absolutely rare, but it is also the final true Yenko Camaro ever built. You may be wondering about the 2010 Yenko Camaro, but Don Yenko has nothing to do with it, as Chevy laid claim to the “Yenko” name in 2009.
Another cool thing is that, in 1981, the Camaro was in a real dark area, as emission regulations had strangled the LM1 350 c.i. V-8 down to a paltry 175 horsepower. In the Stage II model, Yenko strapped on Turbo International turbocharger that pumped 7 psi into the intake, special decals, Kamp leather seats, leather racing steering wheel, “Turbo Z” floor mats, Koni shocks, stiffer stabilizer bars, modular wheels and Goodyear Wingfoot tires.
Though Yenko never released the horsepower specs and they are non-existent on the Interwebz, we can take a nice stab and say it’s somewhere in the 210- to 225-horsepower range. That’s not much for this massive sled, but you’re getting one of the rarest cars in the world, if you are willing to pay the $179,900 “Buy it Now” price on Ebay.
Ferrari has always had a famed bloodline of racecars, but few hold the amount of clout of the 1957 625 TRC Spider. There were only two of this famed roadster ever built, chassis 0680 MDTR and 0672 MDTR. If you so happen to have a large chunk of money laying around, you can own a piece of racing history in the form of chassis 0680 MDTR, as RM Auctions has just listed it for their 2012 auction in Monaco.
In August of 1957, this Ferrari and its owner, Johnny von Neumann, ventured to Austria, Germany and took 1st place in its class in just its first time on the track. In its second race, at Laguna Seca, the 625 TRC took 2nd place. In all of the 11 races it ran in the 1957 to 1958 season, this Ferrari took 1st place three times, and landed in second or third place four times. It continued on to have a prolific career, even in vintage races all the way up to 2011 Montery Historic Races.
UPDATE 0516/2012: The 1957 Ferrari 625 TRC Spider was sold in Monaco for a staggering €5,040,000, or about $6.4 million, a record for this particular model. This was the first time in 30 years that this model was available for auction and it is one of the only two models ever built.
Last month, the black cloud over Toyota Racing’s head reared up again in the form of one of its drivers crashing the TS030 Hybrid at Paul Ricard circuit bad enough to render it useless. This forced Toyota Racing to cancel the T030’s debut at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.
It appears as if the black clouds have cleared up again, as Toyota Racing has announced that a new monocoque is complete and testing will resume almost immediately. This also puts the team on pace to hold true to its promise of debuting on June 16th for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
We’ll be honest in saying that we had our doubts that Toyota could get a monocoque built in time to test before the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but Toyota Racing certainly stepped up to the task and pumped out a replacement vehicle. The issue now is that the monocoque the team is testing was slated to be a spare, and now there is no spare. We’re willing to bet that the brass at TR are telling the drivers to mind their Ps and Qs while testing. According to Toyota’s press release, however, TR will be entering two T030s into 24 Hours of Le Mans, so a second monocoque must be in the works.
With only a little more than a month of testing and tinkering to do, this really leaves Toyota with very little time to really adjust the car and allow the drivers to get a feel for it. Yes, it is the same build as the original TS030, built as with all cars, there is a little variance between each build.
We’re all pulling for Toyota to make a clean return to Le Mans from here on out.
Click past the jump to read Toyota’s press release.
If you have ever enjoyed a sweet horror flick, especially vampire, zombie, or werewolf ones, you are likely familiar with fact that the villain just never seems to die. He always comes back for a little bit more. One of my all-time favorites, Zombieland, actually teases about this by the “double-tap,” which is rule No. 2 in surviving a zombie outbreak.
Well, it appears that Mazda didn’t get that memo with the RX-8 zombie. Just like a bad case of zombification, this thing just keeps coming back for more. Mazda recently announced that it has extended the final production of the “Spirit R” version of the RX-8 – thankfully only available in Japan – for an additional 1,000 units.
In addition to its 232 horsepower that are only attainable at engine speeds not many are comfortable with and its lackluster 159 pound-feet of torque, you also get larger brakes with red painted calipers, piano-black transmission tunnel trim, Recaro Sprint R seats, a leather-wrapped steering wheel, and a revised traction control system.
It’s really curious to see just how much mud Mazda can drag the “RX” nameplate through before it finally takes it behind the barn and puts it out of its misery. We still have a lot of love for the RX lineup as a whole, but the RX-8 really tested the patience of RX lovers. Here’s to hoping this is the one and only time that Mazda decides to extend the life of this beautiful ride turned zombie and focuses more on releasing a new RX that will pay the proper respect to the name.
According to the press release, which you can read after the jump, this charade thankfully comes to an end in July of this year.
Click past the jump to read Mazda’s press release.
It’s rather obvious that we love cars, duh… But do you know what we love more than normal old everyday cars? We love custom monsters that make us go “what the?” What we love even more than that are factory-produced models that give us those same feelings, like the Morgan 3 Wheeler company.
Morgan manufactures three different 3-wheel cars – Standard, Bespoke, and Superdry Edition – and each one is cooler than the one before it. The standard Morgan 3 Wheeler is pretty slick on its own, featuring a 1,990 cc V-twin engine that propels this three-wheeled contraption to 60 mph in about 4.5 seconds and to a top speed of 115 mph.
It’s sweet enough to just talk about these beasts, but it’s even more fun to watch them in action. We don’t mean a leisurely Sunday cruise with grandma and the kids. Nope, we mean screaming this bad boy through Goodwood hill, breaking the ice land speed record, and doing a massive burnout. Okay, the first video is, in fact, a more leisurely Sunday drive, but it has some awesome V-twin audio and some really nice shots of the car to compensate for the lacking adrenaline.
Regardless of the video type, any car/motorcycle buff will not only love these videos, but will likely need a tissue to wipe the drool from his or her computer screen. What’s best about these awesome machines is that they are actually fairly affordable, as the Standard model bases out at just £25,000 ($40,345) plus VAT.
So crank up those computer speakers and enjoy the sights and sounds.
Ferrari has already confirmed two things for its future. The first to come was the fact that it will soon feature a V-12 hybrid drivetrain dubbed the HY-KERS system. The second thing that Ferrari confirmed was the fact that a new Enzo-like vehicle will debut in the coming years boasting this HY-KERS system as its power plant.
Some snooping around also produced that this new “Enzo” may bear the F70 name. Currently, the details on this upcoming F70 are scarce, at best, and all we have seen in the form of visuals on it are some spy shots of its testing mule, which looks more like an Italia 458 with poorly placed metal slabs bolted onto it. The same rings true for the interior. What we do know is that in an effort to reduce weight, the F70 will include some carbon-fiber panels.
We also know a good deal about the 6.3-liter V-12 HY-KERS (Hybrid-Kinetic Energy Recovery System) that will power it. Starting with the internal combustion side; this engine will be as efficient as possible, using multi spark technology – a series of cooler sparks as the piston travels upward – that assures that no fuel goes to waste by the spark plug igniting multiple times before the each cylinder hits top-dead-center. This combustion engine links to a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission.
On the electrical side, you have a series of components working together for optimal efficiency. On the backside of the seven-speed trans, you have a high-power traction motor. This motor electrifies the seven-speed trans, adding to the power the engine delivers to it. Attached to the gasoline engine is an auxiliary generator that charges the batteries, as needed. Lastly, on top of the transmission is the hybrid power unit, which features two inverters and a smart cooling system.
All of this crazy technology plops down a whopping 920 combined horsepower and a 0 to 200 km/h (124 mph) time of 6.5 seconds. This also drops the CO2 emissions by a whopping 40 percent, 10 percent more than the initial tests.
We will continue to keep you updated with additions to this review, as more info becomes available, so stay tuned!
For those of us fortunate enough to live in the U.S. or U.K., we are all aware that there is no such thing as a debtor’s prison, regardless of what some overzealous collections agent trying to hit their monthly bonus number might say. Well, in Dubai things are a tad different, as people who cannot pay their debts get thrown into the slammer.
This results in expats that fall into debt problems in Dubai fleeing the country and leaving their indebted property to bake in the not-so-pleasant desert sun. That is exactly what happened in the case of this $1.6 million Ferrari Enzo. The British expatriate purchased this machine and, according to reports, ran into issues with traffic citations that he couldn’t afford, so he fled the country, leaving the Enzo to bake for about 20 months in a parking lot.
Dubai authorities finally found the vehicle and impounded it faster than it can hit 60 mph. Now this million dollar supercar is heading off to the Dubai police auction, along with 23 other luxury cars, and will like fetch a nice sum of money for the Dubai authorities. The other 23 cars have fines attached to them ranging from Dh98,300 to Dh100,000 ($26,766 to 27,229), meaning the highest total the fines can be is $626,267. It is more than likely that the Enzo alone will sell for enough scratch to cover that amount. Sounds like a sweet business move, huh?
How can they do this? Well, in Dubai, the police have the right to seize and auction any car that is abandoned for six months. Chances are, they focus mostly on luxury cars, leaving rotting and sunburned econo-boxes to continue to take on more sand and sunlight. But, who are we to judge?
So, if you would like to snag up a sunburned and sandblasted 1-of-399 Enzo, just head on over to Dubai and get a 30 day visitor’s visa (free for U.K. and U.S. passport holders), pay the Dh110 ($29.95) fee to get into the auction, and bid away.
UPDATE 04/30/2012: Sorry, folks, but this dusty Ferrari Enzo is NOT for sale. Dubai police have spoken to Emirates 24/7 and have stated that the cars "have been seized as part of evidence from various crimes such as robbery, and are not for sale."
