Just days after we brought you news of a 2013 BMW M5 crashing on the autobahn, we have yet more bad news from what seems to be a haunted-stretch of road. Not only has one supercar crashed on the Autobahn in recent days, four high supercars were actually totaled on the same stretch of German highway in just a few days.
This horrific chain of events all started last week when a luxurious, silver Maserati GranTurismo crashed on Wednesday while in the hands of its brand new owner. Arguably the most expensive car to crash out of the lot was a grey McLaren MP4-12C] which was wiped out on Friday, after its 27-year-old owner lost control but fortunately managed to escape the incident uninjured.
The following day, the two remaining supercars were involved in separate incidents with the first car of the two to be written-off being an extremely exotic Dodge Viper ACR which had only been rented for the weekend with the renter having only been in possession of the 612 horsepower behemoth for just three hours. Unless the car was insured from the rental facility, the driver could be looking at an extremely hefty bill.
And finally, the forth supercar to crash along the same stretch of Autobahn was a silver Chevrolet Corvette Z06, which met its untimely demise by sliding off into an embankment.
Thus far, only the McLaren has been confirmed as a write-off while the Dodge Viper ACR and GranTurismo aren’t far off needing entire re-builds. It’s currently unclear if the German police are investigating these incidents and possibly looking into any faults in the road surface which may have played parts in each of the crashes.
We all love the BMW M lineup, and we are particularly fond of the brand new 2012 Ms, which punches 560 horsepower and 502 pound-feet of torque from a TwinPower Turbo 4.4-liter V-8 engine. According to our report in January, the 2012 M5 can hit a top speed of 190 mph, and a driver on the Autobahn decided to test this spec.
This 60-year-old man pushed his fresh-off-the-showroom-floor 2012 BMW M5 all the way up to an estimated 186 mph. As he approached a merging vehicle he swerved to avoid it, sending this machine into ping-pong ball, as it careened back and forth between the left and right guardrails. The M5 then flipped several times before coming to a rest in the grass to the side of the high-speed highway.
Miraculously, the driver, his 20-year-old passenger, and his dog all survived the crash, though severely injured. This clearly shows how advanced the BMW’s safety features are. Judging by the images (hat tip to Bimmerpost for the images) if this were any other car, the results would have been more tragic.
This just goes to show that just because you own a car that will do 190 mph and are on a section of the Bundesautobahn (Autobahn for short) that has an unregulated speed limit, does not mean you should push the car to its limits. By all means, stretch its legs when it’s safe, but don’t max the thing out. We should all use the tragic death of this brand-spankin’-new M5 as a lesson in how not to drive. Save that craziness for the racetrack.
Anderson Germany has a way of turning less glamorous vehicles into pieces of tuning art. Their latest project involving the Lincoln Navigator is proof that they’re tuning talents cover just about any vehicle they can get their hands on.
Similar to most of their programs, Anderson Germany decided to give the Navigator the all-black treatment, or in this case, a hyper gloss black finish. The German tuner also went bananas with carbon fiber, fitting the Navigator with the high-end material on the door mirrors, the bonnet insert, the wheels, and even some parts of the interior.
Speaking of the interior, Anderson Germany matched the carbon fiber on the steering wheel, dashboard, door covers, with a comprehensive leather dress-up on just about every corner of the Navigator’s cabin. Heck, it even has a Playstation 3 console at the back!
No details on any mechanical upgrades were divulged, but even if the powertrain remains untouched, the sheer class and elegance of the aesthetic upgrades is more than enough for us to say that Anderson Germany has worked some magic once again.
Let this serve as a warning to anybody who thinks they can get away with trademark infringement, especially when it comes to building replica models of classic vehicles.
Over in Germany, a replica Mercedes 300 SL was confiscated by customs officials after learning that it was built without the consent of Daimler. Considering that the German company has already stamped the trademark for the model and is considered as a "work of applied art," any and all replica models of the classic Mercedes would be in violation of Daimler’s trademark on the car.
So what exactly happened to the seized replica 300 SL? In order to send a clear and stern message to anybody looking to build their own 300 SL, German authorities set out and destroyed it.
The first thing they did was to separate the chassis from the body with the Mercedes-Benz used-parts center taking care of destroying the body on behalf of Daimler AG courtesy of two presses, each applying over 30 tons of pressure. Seeing as the replica had a fiberglass body, it wasn’t hard for the presses to smash the body into bits and pieces.
And to add insult to the car’s shameful end, the body was officially documented with a signed and stamped ’confirmation of scrappage,’ which is pretty much like a scarlet letter in its own right.
Check out the press release after the jump
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At this time of year, snow is definitely a problem in many parts of the world. Some wish they had some, and others wish all of the snow would just melt and disappear. But for some, snow can actually amount to a lot of fun, even behind the wheel of an F1 car, or especially behind the wheel of an F1 car.
Germany is one of the many countries that have seen plenty of snow this winter, and with the entire being blanketed in snow, the Nurburgring was not spared. Chief Instructor of the Nürburgring Driving Academy, Andy Gülden, decided to take full advantage by hopping in a Formula One car and gliding his way to the snow and ice on the Green Hell. He slapped on a different set of tires, strapped on some cameras, and put the pedal to the floor, skillfully gliding around the track.
Enjoy the video and let us know if snow driving doesn’t really look like fun?
Right before Christmas, German magazine Autobild gave themselves a little present: they took all of the current BMW M models and tested them on the circuit to see which one was the fastest. All of the tests were done on the Sachsenring circuit in Germany and, surprising or not, the fastest model turned out to be the M3 CRT (E90). In fact, according to Autobild, not only was it the fastest from all the models tested, it was also the fastest M Car they have ever tested on the Sachsenring.
The M3 CRT lapped the circuit in 1:38.87 , closely followed by the M5 with a lap time of 1:38.90 and the 1-Series M Coupe with a time of 1:40.18. The list continues with the M3 in coupe, sedan, and convertible forms and ends with the X6M and X5M. Both SUVs were faster than the old E60 M5.
And just for fun, Autobild also brought a Porsche Panamera Turbo S and a Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG to the test. Hit the jump to see the official lap times.
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The Race of Champions (ROC) is an international motorsport event where members of Formula One, World Rally Championship, NASCAR, sportscars, and touring cars race to the finish line in hopes of being crowned number one. The 2011 ROC marked the 24th year running of the race, held in Düsseldorf, Germany’s Esprit Arena. The event ended with Sébastien Ogier claiming his first individual ROC crown. The Nations Cup went to Team Germany’s which consisted of Formula One stars Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel.
Cars like the Audi R8 LMS and the KTM X-Bow were the stars of the event, and this video provides the opportunity to see some of the greatest moments from the ROC.
"I’m so happy," said Ogier in an interview with Autoweek. "It was a very nice weekend, and it was already great to be in the final at my first time. There are a lot of cars to learn here and the track as well. But I didn’t do too badly, and I pushed hard all the way. Tom is a really good driver, but to win this race is amazing."
Hold on to your seats, Porsche fans. There may be something brewing in Stuttgart that will completely change the landscape of Porsche in the coming years.
According to the German site, AutoBild.de, the German automaker is working on a completely new model called the Porsche 961. By now bells should be ringing in the heads of hardcore motorsports fans who remember a certain 961 racer that did a brief stint in the 80s. The old 961 only ran a total of three races - 24 Hours of Lemans, Camel GT Championship, and Lemans once again - before it experienced some technical difficulties and was laid to rest in the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart.
The 961 racer from the 80s was modeled after Porsche’s 959 sports car, but the newest rendition is rumored to be a V8-powered flagship car that takes after the Porsche 918 and will be slotted above the iconic 911. Details are still sketchy at this point, but rumors are that the 961 has been tagged under the internal code ’9X1’ and in addition to having a powerful engine, the car could also be built as a hybrid, with an electric motor providing additional power to the car to the tune of somewhere around 600 horsepower.
Rumored price tag for the upcoming Porsche 961 has been pegged at somewhere in the neighborhood of €200,000, which is a little under $300,000 based on current exchange rates. The flagship coupe is also expected to make its official debut in 2013, giving us enough time to digest all this information and build up the hype of what is you can bet is going to be Porsche’s new crown jewel.
UPDATE 09/27/2011: British magazine, CAR, has set up some new rumors about the upcoming Porsche supercar which will be placed between the current 911 and the upcoming 918. It seems that the new Ferrari 458 Italia competitor will be codenamed project 960 and will be built on Volkswagen Group’s new Mimo platform. The new 960 will have nothing in common with the 918 Spyder and will use the same components as the future facelifted 911. You won’t see a twin-turbo V8 engine under the hood either; instead Porsche will use a twin-turbo 3.8-liter boxer engine with an output of about 600bhp and 550 lb-ft of torque. Porsche will offer both coupe and roadster versions and prices will start from €200,000, or $270,000 at the current exchange rates. (CAR)
