The 1966 Ferrari 206 SP Dino is one of the rarest cars in the world, as Ferrari only built a total of 18 of these sweet machines. Well, the rarer the car, the more likely enthusiasts are to start replicating them, so seeing a replica of this famous car is to be expected. However, a high-quality replica is much less common.
A recent beauty popped up on eBay and it is likely one of the best recreations of a classic Ferrari we have ever seen. This replica 1966 Ferrari 206 SP Dino is about as close to 100% perfect as you can get. It has a custom-built alloy body with a 1,987 cc V-6 engine from a Ferrari Dino 206 GT. It may not crank out the 215 horsepower that the 206 SP’s 1,999 cc engine cranked, but the Dino 206 GT’s engine was rated at a respectable 176 horsepower (1967 model year). Driving this mid-mounted engine’s power to the rear wheels is a magnesium gearbox, which is likely a five-speed configuration.
Being the party poopers that we are, we had to examine this replica closely and see what differences we could find between it and the original. The first thing that stands out is the parked positioning of the wiper blade. The replica’s wiper blade is parked on the driver’s side of the vehicle. On the original, the wiper blade parks almost in the middle of the windshield.
The second thing is that the cutout in front of the windshield is several inches too close to the windshield. The original 206 SP Dino’s cutout is at least 8 inches from the windshield and the replica’s cutout is about 3 inches from the windshield.
Lastly, the driver’s side window frame on the original is unpainted, whereas the replica’s is painted red. All of that said, for a starting bid of “only” $89,100, this is not a bad deal, given an original 206 SP Dino fetched $3,267,000 at an auction in 2007.
In 1984, the late Ayrton Senna made his debut in F1 racing by taking second place in a rain-shortened Monaco Grand Prix while driving a Toleman TG184-2 open-wheel racer. You can see this exact car overtaking second place at the 2:33 mark in the above video. Ten years later, in the 1994 racing season, Senna’s life ended abruptly during a freak accident at the San Marino Grand Prix. The legend of this three-time F1 World Champion lives on, as Silverstone Auctions has announced that the Toleman TG184 that Senna made his debut in is coming to auction on May 16, 2012.
Despite the age of this race car, its 1.5-liter engine is still a highly technical piece of machinery that produces horsepower in the range of the 2.4-liter V-8 engines used in today’s F1 series. Though this vehicle is not one that is setup for road driving, it is something that would be neat for a collector to have in his garage. However, it is not without its flaws and uncertainties.
Hit the jump for more details on Ayrton Senna’s F1 race car.
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Olav Glasius will be auctioning off his impressive Lotus collection on Friday, June 29, 2012 at the Bonhams Goodwood Festival of Speed. His collection includes 24 vehicles starting from 1953 to the present day and he hopes to raise an impressive £1.5million by selling them all.
His collection includes racing cars ranging from Mark VI through Marks VIII and IX, Team Lotus Le Mans Type 11s, Formula Junior Lotus 27, and ex-Formula 1/InterContinental Lotus Type 18. Next to these impressive racing cars, the collection includes road-going supercars from the Lotus Elite Series II to a Lotus Esprit Turbo, and a trio of prototype and one-off concept cars.
Doug Nye, Bonhams Motoring Historian and author of some 70 books including several on the Lotus marque, said, "There are few teams that encapsulate the romance of the ‘little guys beating the big guys’ better than Team Lotus and Olav Glasius’s remarkable collection, which he has assembled with such love and painstaking care over so many years, truly embodies the essence of what Colin and his successors have been all about."
It took a lot longer than we all expected, but finally, one of the most famous names in the history of the auto industry now has a museum to call its own.
Enzo Ferrari, the founding father of the brand that we have come to know as Ferrari, has his own museum called the "Museo Casa Enzo Ferrari." The museum was built in Modena, Italy - the town where Enzo Ferrari himself was born - and cost a ridiculous sum of €18 million - $23.6 million based on current exchange rates - that was mostly funded by local leaders in Modena in an effort to drive up tourism in the area.
Spearheading the building of the museum was renowned architect, Jan Kaplicky, who began the project in 2003. Unfortunately, Kaplicky passed on in 2009, leaving the project in the hands of Andrea Morgante, a former colleague in the design firm, Future Systems.
The building covers 54,000 square feet of floor space and will feature plenty of exhibits, including a gallery of classic Ferraris, historical artifacts, and memorabilia. There will also be a significant amount of space allotted to Enzo Ferrari’s own personal belongings, as well as a variety of never-before-seen documents and drawings that encompass the rich and storied racing history of Modena, Italy.
Despite not being an officially licensed project by Ferrari itself, the Museo Casa Enzo Ferrari is still expected to draw throngs of visitors. The museum is open every day with the only exception being Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. The doors open from 9:30 am to 6:00 pm or 7:00 pm depending on the calendar date.
Hit the jump for details on the Enzo Ferrari Museum’s first exhibit.
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Honda brought back the NSX name this year at the Detroit Auto Show with the unveiling of the Acura NSX Concept, but the history of the NSX begun back in 1990 when the first generation was unveiled on the market. Today, the company has unveiled a very cool video that presents a tribute to the NSX - both past and future.
The NSX was offered with a choice of two engines: a 3.0 liter V6 with 270 HP and a 3.0 liter V6 with 252 HP and 210 lb.-ft. of torque. With the new generation, Honda promises to impress the masses even more than they did with the first model. Rumors state that the new NSX be a hybrid sports car that combines a 3.5-liter V6 engine with a unique 2 Electric Motor Drive Unit with a bilateral torque adjustable control system. This system allows the car to instantly generate negative or positive torque to the front wheels during cornering. This setup will be just enough to deliver a total of 400 HP.
Mercedes just released the new generation SL-Class out on the market, but the road to this moment has been really long. The history of the Mercedes SL began in 1954 and has lasted through six generations. A history that long deserves recognition, so Mercedes has released this video that explains the many years of the SL-Class’ success.
The first Mercedes SL-Class was powered by a four-cylinder engine, but a lot has evolved since then and now the SL is powered by a V8 engine that pushes out a total of 429 HP and 516 lb-ft of torque (top version).
While describing the video, Mercedes said: "For 60 years the Mercedes-Benz SL has been an automotive icon, synonymous with outstanding innovation and refined athleticism. Take a look through the evolution of a car that continues to set standards for what a car should be."
Launched in 1992, the XJ220 was the fastest Jaguar ever produced. 20 years later, it still maintains the title, making it an iconic vehicle to be celebrated. And as part of its 20th anniversary celebration, Jaguar has released a number of images to show it off.
The Jaguar XJ220 started off as a concept in 1988 designed by Keith Helfet and was never intended for production. However, after an overwhelming response at the auto show, Jaguar went on to see its viability as a production model. What they ended up with was a limited run of 350 units. The first customer car was completed in June 1992 with a retail price of £470,000 (about $737,000 at the current exchange rates). The XJ220 remained in production until 1994.
The Jaguar XJ220 was powered by a 3.5-liter, twin turbo V6 engine that delivered a total of 550 HP and 475 lbs-ft of torque. The engine was mated to a five-speed gearbox and an AP Racing twin-plate clutch. This amount of power was enough to sprint the car from 0 to 60 mph in under 4 seconds. Also, with an impressive top speed of 213mph, the XJ220 had the highest maximum speed of any production car at that time.
Of all the automakers that have participated in the legendary 24-hour race at Le Mans since 1923, German automaker Porsche holds the distinction of being the most successful marque in the history of the racing series. Truth be told, Porsche has a record 94 class wins and 16 overall victories, highlighted by a dominant stretch from 1981 to the 1987 when it scored the title for seven straight years.
Lately, Porsche has ceded control of Le Mans to the likes of Audi and Peugeot, scoring its last overall victory in 1998 with the 911 GT1-98. After years of toiling in the shadows, the German automaker is getting ready to return to Le Mans in 2014, determined to return back to the throne it previously occupied.
Preparations are in order for the first LMP1 prototype to be developed soon, and knowing Porsche’s history in Le Mans, we expect nothing less than a car that can contend for the the Le Mans title when it returns to the track.
Speaking of its history, the German automaker has prepared a number of videos detailing the company’s history in Le Mans, going all the way back from its early years to its recent dominance in the 90’s.
Check out the rest of the video series from the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s after the jump.
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Volkswagen unveiled the Golf GTI for the first time back in June 1976 and currently, the model is in its sixth generation. Many may consider the fourth generation Golf to be the very best of all, but without all six generations going toe to toe, it may be difficult to make such a decision, Enter Volkswagen.
The brand poised to dominate the auto world has put together a video with all six generations of the Golf, totaling more than 35 years of its GTI history. From the first generation’s 110 HP 1.6-liter inline four cylinder engine evolving to the sixth generation’s 207 HP turbo engine, all six were there to represent for their time period and all six were put to test on the race track, and while this video is not very long, it sure provides an idea on the classics vs. moderns dilemma.
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...
