Safety cars are an integral piece of motor racing, so much so that a lot of racing series have gone the route of building specific safety cars exclusively for their use. The Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) - that’s the German Touring Car Masters - has unveiled their official safety car for the 2012 race season and to no one’s surprise, they picked a local vehicle in the BMW M3.
The M3 DTM Safety Car is actually based on the M3 GTS and just like any other safety car used for racing purposes, this one was specially modified by BMW M GmbH with plenty of enhancements, including unique bodywork painted in Aline White with a special safety car livery, a modified CFRP engine bonnet with vents, a slew of BMW M Performance Accessories on the gurney and flaps, a new orange roof light unit, and a new set of 19" competition wheels wrapped in 255/35 and 285/30 tires with a fixed-caliper system and Stahlflex brake hoses. Meanwhile, the interior of the M3 DTM Safety Car gets new Recaro seats, three and six-point harnesses, and a new steering wheel straight out of the BMW M Performance Accessories catalog.
Under the hood, the M3 DTM Safety Car is powered by a 4.4-liter V8 engine that produces 450 horsepower at 8,300 rpm and is mated to a 7-speed M dual-clutch transmission with Drivelogic capabilities. These figures allow the car to hit 0-60 mph in just 4.4 seconds with an impressive top speed of 189 mph.
The holidays are always a time to gather your closest family and friends to rejoice and celebrate. Of course, sometime celebrations get a little out of control and Johnnie Walker - yeah, the high quality whiskey brand that just hooked up with Porsche for the Porsche Design Johnnie Walker Blue Label Private Bar - wants to ensure that a night of good times doesn’t turn into a night of debacle. They reached out to race car drivers like Mika Häkkinen and Jenson Button to take part in the most powerful autograph they could sign: a pact to not drink and drive.
The unusual and spectacular thing about these signatures is that they were made not by a pen, but by a Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG. That’s right, the drivers signed their names on the asphalt by doings donuts to the shape of their signatures. The sheer control needed for such a task is incredible, as these drivers will tell you in the video. Everyone needs to use that same amount of control when they decide it’s time to head home.
We don’t know if it’s something in the water, or if maybe some automakers are just jumping the gun without enough testing, but there have been a number of big-ticket vehicles recalled lately, only shortly after debuting. The Ferrari 458 Italia had to be recalled because several vehicles inexplicably caught fire, then the McLaren MP4-12C followed with some software problems, and now it seems the Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4 may be following the same trend. No official details have been released as of yet, but there’s a rumor that the few units of the Aventador currently cruising the streets will need to swing by the dealership as soon as possible for some sort of fix.
The rumor basically began with a game of he said/she said. A Luxury4Play Forum member saw a message on a Aventador owner’s Facebook page stating that all Aventadors have been recalled and should head to their dealerships immediately. No specific explanation was given, but one member says that there are just some campaign & software updates that the company is offering. As of right now, we don’t believe any of this holds any water, so Aventador owners should rest easy and keep enjoying all 700 HP shooting out of the 6.5-liter V12 engine. We’re sure that if Lamborghini had to recall any car, they would do so with a little more tact.
UPDATE 12/20/2011: Cars UK is reporting that the Aventador will indeed be recalled due to software issues with Lamborghini’s new seven-speed single clutch automated manual gearbox. Apparently, the British magazine knows of some owners and dealers experiencing this problem and have been since November when the Aventadors were late in arriving to customers.
Issues with new technology isn’t a new thing, though. Every automaker with a new feature tends to have a problem here or there when adapting it to the real driving world. Luckily, this seems to be an easy fix so anyone with an Aventador should head down to their local dealer so they can check it out.
A few months ago, the Ferrari 458 Italia had serious problems with spontaneously catching fire. Luckily, only a handful of Ferrari’s latest sports car experienced a fiery death before the company recalled the lot and had them fixed. That’s just one instance of a few that have spontaneously erupted during the course of the past year, so when we see images of this Range Rover Evoque experiencing some pyrotechnics of its own, we can help but think an issue is sure to develop.
This burning Evoque was seen in the middle of the day on a highway in Dubai. Now, the accident could have been driver error, but with the automakers’ histories in the past year, we feel it necessary to explore all of our options. Feel free to comment or send us a tip if you have any further details of this situation!
This is what you call dedication and drive! Tasmanian driver, Jason White, was about four seconds behind in the final stage of the Targa High Mountain when he knew he had to put the pedal to the metal and make up time. White took his Lamborghini Gallardo Super Trofeo Stradale to its limit where it literally burst into flames. While others would pull over and take care of the safety issue, White sped on knowing exactly the time he needed to underscore the team who was driving a Nissan GT-R.
Despite his fiery experience, White still took the top spot at the race, achieving a full ten seconds ahead of the pack. Luckily, the race ended right in front of the Mt. Buller fire station and his Lamborghini only suffered minor damages.
