Shelby Super Cars (SSC) produces the world’s fastest road-going car, the 255 mph Ultimate Aero, but SSC isn’t going to cool its record-stetting heels. For 2009 SSC has decided to upgrade the the ultra-rare supercar’s twin-turbo V8 from 1183 hp to 1287. This kind of power also has SSC setting the bar for a new world record: 270 mph.
Besides the impressive output, the Ultimate Aero also gets a redesigned frontal area with enhanced aerodynamics, as well as carbon fiber louvers on the side intakes draw in 20 percent more air into the radiators. SSC is also introducing a system called AeroBrake, which will alter the angle of the rear spoiler during hard braking (similar the system is used on the Mercedes SLR).
Although 2009 pricing has not been announced, the 2008 model is priced around $650,000. So if the cost doesn’t change too much, that’s a paltry sum to be the fastest person on your block — no matter where you live.
Pilot lights and a waiting for water to boil seems more like kitchen stove concerns than cars. That’s why steam engines have not been in vogue since the early 1900s, but they can still be a novelty. Just ask Jay Leno, he owns and drives multiple brands of steam cars. But one thing that hasn’t been tried in a while is going fast with there land-locomotives.
It seems that the British want to be the fastest people on earth, after announcing plans to build a rocket car to go 1000 mph, a separate British team has assembled a car to break an over ninety-year old steam record. The aptly named British Steam Car is built to go 170 mph, which will shatter the 121.57 mph record set by a Stanley Steamer Rocket in 1906. If all goes right, British Steam Car could be making runs t the record by this spring.
RM Auctions sold a 1997 McLaren F1 for £2.530.000 (about $4.12 million at current rates). Although this does not come close to the all time record set by a Ferrari GTO for $28.5 million, it does set a new record for McLaren F1 prices and is about four times the origional sales price a little over a decade ago.
The McLaren F1 is powered by a BMW sourced 6.1-liter V12 engine that delivers 627 hp at 7,400 rpm. In March 1998, the F1 hit a record speed of 240.14 mph. It held this record until February 2005 when it was broken by a Koenigsegg CCR going 242.2 mph.
The F1 wasn’t the only high dollar car of the day. The auctions sold a 1965 Ferrari 250 LM Berlinetta and a 1959 Ferrari 250 GT Tour de France each for a price of £2,255,000. A 1938 Horch 853 Special Roadster was sold for £1,127,500 and a 1938 Bugatti Type 57C Atalante for £660,000.
What better way to remind the world that there still is fun to be had from cars than to try a set a new landspeed record? This is not an execerise to get a few more MPGs, but instead be the first to break 1000 mph on land.
The Bloodhound SSC and was designed and will be built by current land-speed record holders Richard Noble and Andy Green. In 1997 RAF pilot Green went 763 mph driving Noble’s design called the ThrustSSC. Now the team is back to break the four-figure speed. While the design and mechanicals may be different, the basic idea remains the same: strap a man to a rocket, and strap the rocket to wheels. A scale model of the Bloodhound SSC will be unveiled today at the London’s Science Museum.
The plan calls for the car to be propelled by a jet engine which was designed for use in the Eurofighter military aircraft. After reaching 300 mph the propulsion is transferred to an experimental hybrid rocket and the driver will be submitted to 9.8m/s of acceleration force until he reaches 1043 mph.
Be warned, it’s not longer an insult to call an erratic driver "blind" because some have probably gone faster than you. At an airstrip in France, Belgian Luc Costermans broke the world blind road speed record by going 192 mph in a Lamborghini Gallardo. He shattered the three-year old record held by Mike Newman of Britain — 166 mph in a BMW M5.
Costermans, 43, was blinded in an accident four years ago. He hit the top speed in two runs in the borrowed Lambo. He dedicated his effort to the Formula 1 racing driver Philippe Streiff, who has been a tetraplegic since suffering an accident in a Grand Prix in Brazil in 1989.
This isn’t Costermans only dabble in sports usually reserved for the sighted. Two years ago, he completed a tour over France piloting a light airplane. He was accompanied by an instructor and a navigator.
A new record was smashed today. Five supercars, Enzo Ferrari, Koenigsegg CCX, Maserati MC12, Pagani Zonda F Clubsport and Porsche Carrera GT got together at the Nürburgring Nordschleife to see if any could set a new production car lap record around the 12.8 mile long circuit.
And the winner was Maserati MC12 with an incredible 7:24.29, not only fastest of the group but also setting a new production car lap record in the process. The MC12 was the heaviest car of the group, with ‘old fashioned’ steel brakes and conventional dampers, yet took them all on, and triumphed convincingly.
Second quickest was the Pagani, a bespoke creation of a small Italian niche builder, its enormous 7.3 liter Mercedes engine contributed to a remarkable time of 7:24.65.
Third quickest was the Enzo Ferrari, with a very impressive 7:25.21. It might have been able to go quicker – but the electronic dampers at the rear of the car stopped working, on two separate laps on different days.
Volkswagen is using their clean diesel Jetta TDI in an attempt o break the current world record for lowest fuel consumption across the 48 contiguous United States. The car will be driven by the world’s most fuel efficient drivers, John and Helen Taylor. The Jetta TDI are fueled by Shell’s best diesel fuel.
The couple will drive on a counter-clockwise route and plan to pass through these cities: Chantilly, Va.; Rutland, V.T.; Toledo, Ohio; Des Moines, Iowa; Spearfish, S.D.; Missoula, Mont.; Winnemucca, Nev.; Santa Monica, Calif.; Durango, Colo.; Oklahoma City, Okla.; Mount Vernon, Ill.; Ponchatoula, La.; and, Beckley, W. Va. Some of the Shell FuelStretch tactics the Taylors will employ on the road include: avoiding idling and higher speeds, minimizing vehicle drag and performing regular vehicle maintenance.
Well if the Viper is for sale, the price may have just gone up. On August 18, Dodge Viper ACR established a new Nurburgring record (unofficial) with a time of 7:22, coming in front of the Corvette ZR1 and Nissan GT-R.
The man who established this result is FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) driver Tom Coronel, who pilots a Leon TFSi for SEAT Team Holland. On his fourth attempt, he established an amazing 7:22.1 (first two laps-a 7:42 and a 7:35 and third 7:24).
Until someone else will have something to day about it, the Viper ACR is the most lethal "ringer" around.
Steve Burgess, a 53 year old British Angus Beef farmer, has triumphed where famed explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes failed, by becoming the first person to cross the Bering Strait in a land vehicle. The trip began 10,379 miles away at his farm near Huddersfield in West Yorkshire and ended in Wales, Alaska. Using a Land Rover Defender fitted with a propeller and motor, he and his team drove from England, in the middle of winter, and then waited for the sea ice to thaw. The expedition was sponsored by the Cooper Tire and Rubber Company Europe, who provided Discoverer STT tires for the Land Rover’s land journeys. > More
Picture Gallery
Post a comment
RSS -
Webmaster free news |