Speed

It’s been a long, arduous journey so far, with numerous setbacks along the way, but it’s looking like the Bloodhound SSC jet/rocket car will finally get to show what it’s made of next year.

Continue reading for the full story.

2018 was supposed to be the year that Bugatti finally unleashed the Chiron on an open race track to see how fast it can really go. That was the plan when the French automaker unveiled the hypercar in 2016. But, now that we’re here, it looks like Bugatti is having a change of heart. There’s a good chance that we won’t see the Chiron do a top speed run this year. Worse, we may not even get to see it at all because, according to new Bugatti CEO, Stephan Winkelmann, the top speed test is no longer “a priority” for Bugatti.

You would think that as somebody who has built a career as a judge, Fox News host Jeanine Pirro would be a stickler for the law. As it turns out, she’s just like the rest of us who have itches for speed that need scratching. The host of Justice with Judge Jeanine on Fox News Channel was caught speeding on Route 17 in western New York, going 119 mph in a 65-mph zone, according to the New York Daily News. A spokesman for the New York State Police didn’t disclose the fine that was handed to Pirro, but the state’s speeding laws indicate that going more than 41 mph - she was at 54 mph - over the speed limit could result in a ticket worth $600 and 11 points on your license.

Two-time World Rally Champion and Porsche development driver Walter Rohrl has seen it all. The 70-year old has had a sparkling racing career that stretches all the way back to 1973. If there’s a point of authority on matters involving speed and racing, it’s him. So it is a bit surprising that Rohrl actually admitted that today’s performance cars are getting too fast for the Nurburgring.

Speaking with Drive Australia, Rohrl opened up about the growing risks that drivers face when they drive a performance car at the Nurburgring. “You have no room for mistakes, that’s the bad thing,” he said. “On the speeds like in this car (Porsche 911 GT2 RS), you go Schwedenkreuz at 295km/h (183 mph) and Fuchsrohre at 270km/h (168 mph), and I know all the accidents which have been on these places in the last 20 years. If you come to Fuchsrohre at 270, I always think one of the test drivers from Bridgestone; he broke the wheel rim.” Rohrl added that the lack of downforce on a production car compared to a race car makes high-speed attacks more difficult and, for that matter, dangerous. His concerns aren’t unfounded as a number of crashes have taken place in the two specific sections of the track he alluded. One of the more prominent crashes occurred as recently as last year when a Koenigsegg One:1 crashed at the Fuchsrohre section of the track when one of its ABS sensors failed. Rohrl’s hesitancy to drive the 911 GT2 RS around the track came to a head when he declined the offer to set the sports car’s fast lap around the track. Instead, fellow development driver Lars Kern got behind the wheel of the 911 GT2 RS and set the lap record for a production car with a lap time of 6:47.23. It’s unclear if Rohrl could’ve posted a quicker lap than Kern with the newest 911, but with more and more cars breaking the seven-minute lap time barrier, the concerns raised by the two-time World Rally champion may have some merit to them.

Continue after the jump to read the full story.

A Georgia Police Officer got the chance to push her police-spec Dodge Charger to the limit this past weekend when a man in a McLaren 720S casually passed her doing north of 100 mph on a public highway. It didn’t take long for the officer to hit the blues and take chase. Nobody was injured in the chase that lasted just a couple of minutes, but the driver – a Dwayne Sherwood Pope – was charged with speeding, DUI less safe, reckless driving, failure to maintain lane, and – get this – driving with an expired tag.

All told, the dash cam video lasts nearly a half hour, but for the most part, the action is over with within a few minutes. The Dodge Charger which, in police-spec, has a top speed rating of 155 mph when powered by the 5.7-liter, HEMI, V-8. There’s no word as to what engine this officer put her foot into, but it did keep up with that McLaren 720S quite well. We’re still not sure why he stopped, considering the 720 S is rated up to 212 mph, it could have quite easily gotten away. Something tells us that the man was telling the truth about pulling over when he noticed the lights – after all if he did intend to run, that cop car really didn’t stand a chance.

Fortunately, for him, and anyone else on the road, that wasn’t his intention otherwise things could have been a lot worse than a DUI charge, had he really pushed it to the limit. After all, he did have “three drinks.” Check out the video below and let us know what you think.

With Chevrolet blowing the doors off to signal the arrival of the incredible Corvette ZR1, now the sole holder of the title “most powerful Chevrolet car in history,” we all knew that it would only be a matter of time before the discussion about the sports car turned to its possible exploits at the world’s most famous race track. It shouldn’t come as a surprise, then, that barely a few days have passed since the Corvette burst into our lives and yes, there’s already talk of it conquering the Nurburgring.

Corvette Chief Engineer, Tadge Juechter, broke the news to Road &Track, saying that Chevy will, in fact, attempt a flying lap around the 12.9-mile Nordschleife section of the ring with the goal of posting a lap time below seven minutes. Considering that only four street-legal, production cars - the Porsche 911 GT2 RS, Lamborghini Huracan LP640-4 Performante, Porsche 918 Spyder, Lamborghini Aventador LP750-4 Superveloce - have ever accomplished that feat, the Corvette ZR1 is most certainly shooting for the stars and making no apologies about it. Since that planned trip to Germany isn’t for another few months, expect the discussion surrounding the ZR1’s potential to build up ahead of its eventual run at the ‘Ring. Hopefully, that happens sooner than later because with what the ZR1 is packing - 755 horsepower and a menu of advanced aero tech - that goal appears to be there for the taking.

Continue after the jump to read the full story.

In 2005, the Bugatti Veyron became the world’s fastest production car, smashing the record set by the McLaren F1 all the way back in 1998. Five years later, the Veyron Super Sport improved on that benchmark, taking the record to 267.8 mph, a barrier that seemed unreachable for other carmaker. Seven years have passed since the Veyron Super Sport set its incredible record in 2010 and we may have a new candidate for the top spot. A Koenigsegg Agera RS achieved a two-way average speed of 277.9 mph in a closed road in Nevada, beating Bugatti’s record by more than 11 mph. Although this record has yet to be confirmed by the Guinness Book of records as of November 2017, it’s a good reminder that supercar automakers are looking to push performance to the limit with each new vehicles.

Having already posted a comparison between the Koenigsegg Agera RS, the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport, and the Hennessey Venom F5 — the latter said to attempt a record of its own — we will now have a look at all the important production vehicles that have set speed records in the past. These benchmarks have been documented for more than 50 years now and it’s a good way to see how production cars have become increasingly faster. From the first production car, which was capable of only 12 mph, and the first official speed record, set in 1949 at 124.6 mph, the performance automobile is now capable of mind-boggling speeds in excess of 250 mph. How did we get here? Find out below.

Continue reading for the full story.

Look, we know what you want. Burnouts. Lots of horsepower. High speed. Roaring supercharged V-8 engines. Wheelies. Danny Trejo being a badass. We couldn’t agree more, and as such, we’d like to present you with the following 3-minute video. Created by Supercheap Auto, a car parts company based out of Australia that should definitely consider getting into full-time video production, the video has all of the above and more, and is a seriously entertaining watch. The basics are straightforward – a group of enthusiasts are dropped via helicopter onto an abandoned island. There, they run into Trejo, who’s apparently the head honcho running the whole thing. The enthusiasts are then recruited to drive fast and burn rubber. No reason is given, but none is needed – you’ll be too busy enjoying yourself to ask questions. It’s like Fast & Furious meets Escape From L.A., plus an extra dose of tire smoke just for good measure.

No joke, we’ve watched this thing all the way through more than a few times now. We have no idea what’s going on, and we don’t care. Just hit play, sit back, and enjoy the show.

Ok, stop the presses for a second. As with teasers go, Hennessey has released an image suggesting that the Venom F5 supercar may have just accomplished the impossible. Look at the photo and the hint is clear: the Venom F5 may have just cracked the 300-mph top speed barrier. There’s no indication of it yet, bet the automaker said that an announcement is going to come shortly.

This is obviously big news. A bombshell, if you will. No production car has ever come close to reaching a top speed of 300 mph. The Bugatti Veyron Super Sport came the closest when it clocked a top speed of 267.8 mph back in 2010. Depending on who you ask, other supercars, including the Venom, have also managed to get to those numbers. But 300 mph? It’s never been done before, which is why this suggestive teaser is all anybody’s talking about now. We’ve been hinted at by Hennessey that the Venom F5 - the successor to the Venom GT - is better in every way than it’s predecessor so it’s reasonable to at least think that it could challenge the Veyron Super Sport’s top speed record. The Venom F5 does have 1,451 horsepower at its disposal and Hennessey has already made bold claims that the F5 can exceed 290 mph on the gun. But 300 mph? Well, we’re going to have to wait to get an answer, but the good news is that an answer - hopefully, at least - will come within the day. If the Venom F5 does crack 300 mph, today, October 19, 2017, is going to be one of those days that we’ll all remember years and decades from now. Stay tuned.

Continue after the jump to read the full story.

If you haven’t noticed yet, then you might start doing so now. We are in the golden generation of performance cars, and with the way the auto industry is unfolding before our very eyes, there is a hint of irony in the thought that we’re still a long way away from seeing the end of this blitzkrieg era. These days, supercars are being built at such a rapid pace that a six-year-old Lamborghini Aventador is already considered a “senior citizen” in the ranks, and the more exotics we get, the more these performance records will go by the wayside.

Take the all-too-important “acceleration time” as an example. We all know it to be the time it takes for a car to hit 60 mph (or 62.1 mph - 100 kph) from a standstill position. The 1995 McLaren F1 brought supreme importance to this performance time when it did it cleared a 60-mph sprint in 3.2 seconds more than two decades ago. Today, a 3.2-second, 0-to-60-mph car doesn’t even make it in a top 10 list of fastest accelerating cars. That’s not to say that the F1 is old news because that supercar, together with the Ferrari F40, will always be the industry OGs. But, the advent of the supercar era has also ushered in machines that are hair-raisingly fast to the point of disbelief. In line with that alarming realization, we’ve prepared a list of the ten fastest-accelerating supercars in the market today, ranking them from “slowest” to “quickest.

Continue after the jump to read the full story.

I don’t know how many times I’ve come to you guys with news that Elon Musk is changing the world and revolutionizing travel, and yet, here I am again with another new development. Okay, to be fair, this isn’t really a new development, but more like a refreshed idea based on other ideas that have already been partially set in motion. Call it an expansion of Elon’s mind and the answer the question we were left with earlier in the week when Musk mentioned he had recognized some “unrealized applications” of SpaceX technology. Well, today the man finally got to speak his mind at the IAC2017 (International Astronautical Congress), and his main talk involved the redefining of his first manned mission to Mars. We’ll talk more about that later, as there are some pretty cool things to discuss, but what’s more important is that Musk is – for once – thinking with a more down to earth approach.

So down to earth, in fact, that he’s talking about traveling anywhere in the world – that’s right; from any location to any location – in less than an hour. We’re talking about Hong Kong to Singapore in 22 minutes or Los Angeles to London in just 32 minutes. Hell, a trip from L.A. to N.Y. would take just 25 minutes. That’s right; we’re talking about crossing the country in less than a half hour and crossing the world in less than an hour – now that’s what I like to call fast. Apparently, this will be possible with Elon Musk’s theoretical rocket, dubbed BFR or “Big Fucking Rocket” (no, we’re not kidding about the name,) which will lift a SpaceX spaceship into orbit around the earth. The ship with then target its destination and begin its descent back to the planet, ultimately settling on floating pads near most major cities. Neither the rocket or spaceship exist at this time, but Musk claims construction could hopefully start within the next six to nine months. Want to learn more about it? Keep reading!

The race to be “the fastest and most powerful” is a real thing in the auto industry. But give me a car – the Bugatti Chiron, Koenigsegg One:1, or any of those hypercars – and I’ll raise you this water-powered rocket bike. If you want to talk about speed, this little devil goes in front of the line.

This bike is the creation of a Francois Gissy, who some of you may remember as the same person who once trashed a Ferrari 430 Scuderia back in 2014 using a similar rocket-powered bicycle. Well, Gissy’s back in the news with a new creation that makes the Chirons and One:1s of the world look like tortoises by comparison. The Frenchman even went to the Circuit Paul Ricard in France to test out his new bike and, boy oh boy, serious fireworks happened. Imagine this: the water-powered rocket bike accelerated from 0 to 60 mph in 0.55 seconds. 0.55 seconds! That’s almost four times faster than today’s fastest-accelerating supercars. That’s not all, either. Gissy also managed to cover a quarter-mile distance in 3.95 seconds, quicker than the 0-to-60-mph acceleration time of most of today’s sports cars.

Here’s the craziest part, though. According to Gissy, the bike’s ungodly acceleration time creates G-forces that are far more brutal to the body than what astronauts experience when they’re launched into outer space. Gissy claims 5.13 Gs, to be exact. These numbers delivered by the water-powered rocket bike are beyond belief. Seriously, they sound ridiculous to the point of cartoonish. The good news is that for those who are skeptical of what Gissy was able to accomplish, there’s video evidence of him actually putting his creation to the test. Trust me when I tell you, it gets all sorts of crazy.

It may not have succeeded in reclaiming the Nürburgring production car lap record from the Lamborghini Huracán Performante, but finally, the Dodge Viper got the proper send-off it so richly deserves, all thanks to the passion and determination of the Viper Owners Association. Relentless in their pursuit of Nürburgring glory, members of the group continued to bang in laps around the Nürburgring in an effort to unseat the Huracán Performante’s record lap time of 6:52.01. It failed to even get close, but that shouldn’t take away from the accomplishment of squeezing in a lap time of 7:01.3 around the 12.9-mile lap.

Yep. Against all odds, drivers Dominik and Mario Farnbacher and all the people involved in the endeavor managed to improve on its previous fastest lap of 7:03.23, coming a second over actually breaking the seven-minute barrier. The achievement is made even more impressive by the fact that these Viper owners had little to no help from Dodge or FCA to bring the Viper ACR to the famed German track. The collective relied on a fund-raising effort and a few sponsors to even come this far in their quest and while they did fall short of their ultimate goal (the Huracan was still nine seconds faster around the track) they have nothing to be ashamed about.

They did what FCA and Dodge should’ve done in the first place. They gave the Viper a proper tribute and had they not crashed out, who knows if they could’ve really broken that all-too precious seven-minute barrier. It doesn’t matter now, nor should it because the Viper Owners Association represented the Viper about as well as they could. Well done, guys.

In case you missed it, BMW just released details on the updated 2018 i3, and the big headline isn’t the tweaked exterior styling or new interior color schemes. For any reader of this website, the most important part of the refresh is the addition of the i3s, a slightly sportier iteration of the all-electric eco-box bearing a little more power (up 184 horsepower and 199 pound-feet of torque compared to the regular i3’s 170 horsepower and 184 pound-feet of torque) as well as a lowered, stiffer suspension, and more aesthetic aggression. While not exactly a game changer, it’s a good sign of things to come. You see, the world needs more EV performance, and even the greenest of EV revolutionaries should be pushing for more battery-powered speed machines.

“Why’s that?” you might ask. “I thought it was all about efficiency and hypermiling and responsible commuting with that crowd.” While all these things are indeed important in the EV community, a focus on speed brings with it all kinds of benefits. For starters, faster EVs naturally lead to further battery development. If you’re constantly on the go pedal, you’re gonna be draining the battery mighty quick, which means there’s further incentive to stuff more range into every pack. This is doubly so in something like an EV racing series, which is a natural progression when you’ve got tons of popular performance cars out on the road. Indeed, it’s something we’re already seeing with the Tesla Model S, which has thus far challenged the gas-burning competition at the drag strip and Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, and even gained its own racing series with Electric GT. The point is this – racing is good for the breed, no matter the end goal.

Furthermore, new EV performance cars also help to expand the segment, drawing in new customers and challenging preconceptions of what an EV “should” be. Just look at what Tesla did with the Model S. Now there’s proof EV’s can be quick, sexy, and luxurious, and additional performance EV’s would bring in even more of the traditional gearhead audience.

As they say, winning is winning, even if it’s by way of electrons rather than dino juice. We need more EV performance cars.