It wasn’t too long ago that we were reporting about the all new American super car, the Devon Motorworks GTX set the single lap record for a production car at the historic Laguna Seca circuit in Salinas, California with a time of 1:35.075. Justin Bell, the owner of Devon, might have offended a few people at Chrysler when he gave them a low ball offer to purchase the Viper brand, because earlier today the American automaker tackled the infamous Corkscrew and managed to shave over a second off of the GTX’s lap time with an all new 2010 Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR and Chrysler engineer Chris Winkler behind the wheel. The hard core track tuned Viper unofficially clocked in at 1:33:915, not only good enough to reset the record, but bring a bit more value to Chrysler’s halo car.
Video game season is fast approaching and you can bet your bottom dollar that gamers of all shapes and sizes are lining up their pockets for a chance to get first dibs at the latest games to drop on shelves in the coming weeks.
One of the video game genres that is expected to receive a throng of new games is racing, thanks in large part to the eagerly-anticipated releases of Gran Turismo 5 for the Playstation 3 and Forza 3 for the Xbox 360. But if there’s one game that has gone under the radar because of, well, the overwhelming hype surrounding the GT5 and Forza 3, it’s Need for Speed SHIFT.
Arguably the most successful – and longest running – racing game franchise, Need for Speed gave us a taste of how real video game auto racing can get with its latest offering, Need for Speed SHIFT. Developed by one of the foremost authorities in video gaming, Electronic Arts, Need for Speed SHIFT produces an unparalleled glimpse of three of America’s most hallowed racing circuits namely, Laguna Seca, Road America, and Willow Springs. The game goes into full detail of each track and gives gamers an unprecedented – and realistic – racing experience.
When we showed you the $8 million 1958 Ferrari 250 TR hit the tire wall at Laguna Seca over the weekend, all our evidences were constricted to photographs. But now, thanks to videos captured by those who were at the race, we now have video evidence of exactly what happened to David Love’s obscenely expensive ride.
We’ve seen a lot of cars that crash in races over the years but not to the extent of this one. And it’s not because of the damage either, which if you look at the photos we showed, isn’t all that much – a few detailing tweaks here and there and banging sheet metals should do the trick. This car crash is significant because, well, the car that got introduced into the tire wall is one of the most expensive cars in the history of the world. One even got sold a few months ago for a cool $12 million!
While the video does give chills down our spines, we’re still compelled to show this to you guys. After all, how often do you see a car that can be sold for about four Bugatti Veyrons skirt the gravel and crash into a tire wall?
The Laguna Seca hosted a number of impressive race cars over the weekend, some of them thrilling fans with their sheer speed, while others making them cringe for crashing into tire barriers. Lost in the hoopla of the vintages and exotics that drove around Seca was a car that could very well be the future of sports cars: the Fisker Karma hybrid.
The Karma – we love the name, by the way – made its driving debut at the Seca last weekend as part of the Monterey Historic Automobile Races and by any and all indication, impressed the gathered crowd by attaining speeds in excess of 100 mph without using a drop of gasoline. The hybrid sports car is unique for its twin-electric motors – which are capable of producing as much as 403 hp and 959lb/ft of torque – are connected to a 200kW lithiuim-ion battery pack that allows the car to travel by as much as 8o kmh.
The car’s performance at the Seca re-affirmed the growing belief that ‘green’ sports cars are more than just a pipe dream now. Henrik Fisker, the CEO of the company was on-hand for the demonstration and made no bones about the Karma’s impressive showing. “This demonstration represents a significant milestone for Fisker Automotive and PHEV (Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle) technology,” he said.
Our friends at Autoblog were fortunate – or unfortunate, depending on how you can stomach a multi-million dollar car getting gslammed in a tire wall– to capture a staggeringly expensive Ferrari 250 TR run a few laps at the Laguna Seca Speedway.
For those who don’t have any idea just how expensive a Ferrari 250 TR really is, consider that just a few months ago, one such model was sold at an auction for over $12 million dollars, making it the most expensive car in history. So you’d expect that the owner of this particular 250 TR would be extra careful running it around Laguna Seca’s notorious track, maybe take it out for a leisurely cruise in front of gawking spectators.
Apparently, the owner had other ideas in mind. Whether or not he was just showing off his car or he completely lost his mind, the tore up the track and ended up ramming his $8 million dollar ride into a tire wall. We’re beyond speechless.
