A few months ago, McLaren revealed that they were in the process of producing three vehicles in the coming future, one of which would be the likely successor of the McLaren F1. We all know that one of the three cars on tap to go on sale is the soon-to-be-released MP4-12C, leaving us with two more vehicles to speculate on. So, with speculation comes imagination, and for those with the skills to render a visual interpretation of a car, their imaginations are naturally shot to overdrive.
Coventry University graduate Matt Williams put is to good use when he created his interpretation of what the F1’s successor would look like. Calling it the McLaren LM5, Williams took elements from the original supercar including the unique three-seat layout with the driver seat on the center and the two other seats on both sides. To add more space to the interior, as well as reduce the overall weight of the car, Williams designed all three seats to be slim-as-can-be and in an apparent homage to McLaren’s rich F1 history, Williams also did away with standard seat belts and opted to use racing-style four-point harnesses for all three seats.
As far as the car’s engine is concerned, Williams decided to import an engine from BMW for his creation. Instead of a McLaren-developed powerplant, the young designer opted to use a BMW M5/M6 V10 engine that produces as much as 700 horsepower, giving justice to a car of McLaren’s stature.
The former Formula One racecar builder and makers of the famed McLaren F1 super car recently revealed the MP4-12C, a two passenger super car that will provide the performance of a Ferrari, the style of a Lamborghini and the desirability of an Aston Martin while maintaining a much more reasonable cost. Aside from the fixed roof version, McLaren automotive has also announced that they will also be coming out with an open air spider version as well. This image you see above is the first rendering of the drop top McLaren MP4-12C that is to be unveiled as a production vehicle sometime in the next two to three years. When it finally does come to fruition, the MP4 spider will compete head to head with other high end exotics like the Ferrari 458 Italia Spider, Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder and the forthcoming Mercedes SLS AMG Cabriolet.
The McLaren MP4-12C will be powered by the same twin turbocharged 3.8 Liter V8 and seven speed Seamless Shift dual clutch gearbox (SSG). An interesting fact about the super car power train is that the boosted eight cylinder engine offers the highest horsepower to CO2 ratio of any internal combustion car on the road today, including hybrids. The piston pumping V8 produces around 600 HP and 433 lb-ft of torque and will allow the future McLaren spider to sprint from 0 to 60 MPH in less than 3.5 seconds and reach a top speed in excess of 200 MPH.
You all remember Emil Baddal? If you don’t, then here’s a refresher: he was the guy we talked about around a month ago for his ingeniously designed BMW concept supercar, the 250tti.
Now, he’s at it again.
This time, the subject of Baddal’s creative juices is Porsche after the Iranian CGI designer released renderings of a still-to-be-named Porsche concept supercar. He didn’t give out any further details about the car except for the photos but then again, you know what people say: pictures are worth a thousand words.
We have to give Baddal his due as one of the most creative up-and-coming designers we’ve come across recently because the Porsche supercar looks like a finely-crafted work of art. Baddal designed it in such a way that it reflects a sexy look for the Porsche yet still maintaining the same classy and elegant aura that Porsche has come to be known.
Baddal gets an ‘A’ from us for this freestyle design exercise.
In today’s world of digital technology, it seems that - now more than ever – there’s an increasing number of young designers that are slowly getting into digital car design.
With the advent of computer softwares that specialize on virtual design, young students like Niels van Roij have been given the opportunity to showcase their works beyond their own classrooms. As part of his final project at the Design Academy Eindhoven in the Netherlands, Roij squeezed juices to come up wth a design proposal for a new TVR sports car.
Calling his creation the ‘TVR Artemis’ - if you know your mythology, Artemis is the goddess of hunt, childbirth, virginity and fertility - Roij created a sports car that comes with a clean and sleek design. Unlike other car designs that we’ve seen in the past that have the propensity to go over-the-top, Roij’s design doesn’t lend itself to exaggerated styling gimmicks and instead sticks to a clean and classy look that maintains the standard design of what a TVR sports car looks like.
We don’t know if TVR is willing to pick up Roij’s design for the Artemis, but if the struggling British sports car maker is looking to bring in fresh ideas to their fold, then taking Roij’s styling into consideration might not be that bad of an idea.
Now that the fuel efficient Japanese automaker Toyota has officially announced that the FT-86 Concept will bring the highly anticipated AE-86 successor to life, we are eager to see what the other half of the Toyobaru alliance has planned for the new sport compact. We know that Subaru must have some iteration of the new two door sports coupe awaiting in the in the wings and the rumors are saying that their in house tuner Subaru Technica International is working on something special for 2011.
While the Toyota is powered by a gas sipping 2.0 Liter flat four that makes 150 HP, the STI version will be powered by Subaru’s 2.5 Liter EJ25 turbocharged boxer engine that will be tuned to around 250 HP. It is also expected that the new car’s design will be heavily inspired by the current Impreza WRX STI with wider front and rear fenders to house wider rubber and an increased track along with an STI tuned suspension as well as a unique front bumper and a bespoke rear wing.
As a short reminder, the Flash Red FT-86 Concept is inspired by the Toyota Corolla based AE-86 sports coupe from the 1980s. The car’s rear wheel drive layout, lightweight construction and economy car status made it the vehicle of choice for both grip and drift drivers alike and is one of the few cars today that is worth more currently than it did when it rolled out of the showroom.
When BMW decided that the next-generation M5 would cease the use of that unmistakable V10 engine and instead drop it to a twin-turbo V8, the public outcry could be heard miles and miles away.
After all, the V10 engine and the M5 have become synonymous with each other, and not being able to hear the same power come out of the M5 will definitely take some getting used to.
Recently – and amid the camouflage it came with – BMW took the new 5-Series out to the Nurburgring for some laps of testing. It’s hard to make out what the car looks like but for those who are worried that the new 5-Series would lack the bite of its V10 predecessors, we invite you to watch the video of the camouflaged 5-Series and listen to that unbridled roar from the engine. You can’t tell much of a difference, can you?
The recent unveiling of the Mercedes Benz SLS AMG Gullwing has been met with universal acclaim, so much so that talks of future Mercedes models being modeled after the car has began to circulate in and around a number of auto circles.
While nothing has been confirmed, it hasn’t stopped people from speculating as to whether the rumors have any weight on them. One car that’s been the subject of this constant speculation has been the next-generation Mercedes-Benz SLK, the brand’s ultra-chic compact hardtop-roadster. According to some people, the new SLK will bear styling similarities to that of the SLS AMG Gullwing and some others have – think creative visual artists – even gone to greath lengths to create a rendering of what they expect the new SLK will look like.
One such artist that has created his own take on the new SLK is Theophilus Chin with his work already being touted as a ‘mini SLS AMG Roadster’. Check out the photos and see for yourself Chin’s take on what the new SLK would look like.
At first glance, doesn’t this car look strikingly similar to a hippopotamus?
Jokes aside, though, this car is a design created by a Russian student from the Moscow University of Industrial and Applied Arts. As part of his conceptual design study for a school project, Fedor Stetskevich created a visual rendering of an old and legendary Italian car brand: the Iso Rivolta.
Now, we’re not trying to slam Stetskevich’s work; after all, the porporsal for the Iso Rivolta Marella – as he calls it – is still leaps and bounds better than some that we’ve seen in the past, especially considering that he used a pretty awesome car – the Chevy Corvette ZR1 – as one of his pegs.
Despite that, we still can’t take the picture of an African hippo out of our heads when looking at the car, especially at those two huge vents at the nose of the car, which, if your imaginations are working, looks a lot like the snout of the huge animal.
The Porsche 911Carrera is a car that can never die. The soul of the classic sports car from the German automaker has been on the road since the days of the original Volkswagen. The iconic shape of the backwards engineered performance car with a pair of round headlamps staring at you brilliantly, a sloping roofline that makes room for a powerful boxer engine and hips that stick out far enough to cover the wide rear rubber that it takes to make the sports car work. After a brief departure from the norm with the 996’s interesting headlights, Porsche’s latest model took the car closer back to its original shape and it looks like things will be staying that way into 2011.
Thanks to our friends at World Car Fans, we can see that Porsche’s next drop top sports car will receive a slight restyling from today’s model. It looks like the driving lights have been tweaked and the front end is flatter thanks to a larger chin spoiler while they do keep with the circular headlamp theme. The roofline doesn’t appear to be as high as the current car, perhaps part of the automaker’s plan for a more streamlined 911. Meanwhile the cutouts in the rear fenders hint at a pair of turbochargers hiding underneath all that sheet metal. If this is the case then the next iteration of Porsche’s high performance sports coupe should be a dream, especially with the wind in your hair.
In a world that’s long had its fair share of supercars prowling around our roads and highways, there aren’t a lot that have been shrouded in mystery quite like the Aspira F620.
Of course, given the rather infinitesimal size of the company relative to its super car brethren, the UK-based niche supercar brand doesn’t have the clout that the more established brands have. So when word spreads that the company is on the cusp of releasing a new car, not a lot of people find out about it.
But fortunately, our friends over at Pistonheads know one when they see one, and they did see one - an in-the-flesh F620 taking in a couple of test runs at the Leighton Buzzard IVA centre. Rumors surrounding the F620 have long been floating around but not a lot of people have been fortunate enough to lay their eyes on one.
We did know that the F620 carried with an LS376 GM V8 engine, which, if you’re curious to know, is a ramped-up version of a 6.2-litre LS3 V8. With that much power sitting under the hood, the F620 is rumoured to have over 500 horsepower, ready to churn out a top speed of over 200 mph.
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