Sports Cars
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“It’s a love affair with our own history and with our own car that we created 30 years ago. We’re trying to bring it back in a little bit more modernized way.” So says Alois Ruf Jr., about the fourth-generation Ruf CTR, a car that his company is building as an homage to the famed Ruf Yellow Bird from 1987. In 1987, the Ruf CTR Yellow Bird was a highly tuned version of the Porsche 911. It made a whopping 469 horsepower, weighed only 2,535 pounds, and could reach 210 mph, making it faster than just about all of the established supercars of the day. The new CTR, now in...
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How can we make auto racing an Olympic sport? Subaru has an ideaBobsleds don't have rearview mirrors. Turns out, Subarus about to run down bobsled tracks don't need them. But that's only one of the modifications made to the Subaru WRX STI prepped by rally specialists Prodrive to race down the mecca for bobsledders in St. Moritz, Switzerland. The others? A...
Aaron Cole -
Porsche to offer 911 GT2 with PDK only, manual as no-cost option on GT3There’s a new generation of the Porsche 911 brewing but the current 991 series still has some life left in it. In fact, it’s about to spawn a new GT2 variant. We’ve been spying prototypes for almost a year but now Porsche CEO Oliver Blume has dropped a few details. Speaking to...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Porsche engineer hints at mid-engine 911 road carPorsche broke with over 50 years of 911 rear-engine tradition when it rolled out the mid-engine 911 RSR race car at the 2016 Los Angeles auto show. The primary benefit of going with a mid-engine design is weight distribution, since you no longer have the heavy engine behind the rear axle. Keeping...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Tata reveals Racemo concept, forms alliance with VW GroupIndian auto giant Tata in February launched the Tamo sub-brand to serve as an incubator for potential new businesses and technologies and to develop exciting, low-volume models to help strengthen Tata’s image. Tata has marked the launch of Tamo with the presentation of the Racemo sports car...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Alpine A110 is France's answer to the Alfa Romeo 4C, Porsche 718 CaymanAs with most things that are good in the auto industry, Americans are getting hosed. That's as true of hot hatchbacks as it is of mid-engine sports cars. For the longest time, the Porsche Cayman/Boxster twins were the only option here in North America, unless you wanted to upgrade to a supercar...
Brandon Turkus -
Famous Porsche tuner Ruf has returned with a new generation of its CTR sports car, and the latest is the first car completely developed in-house by the still family owned business run out of Pfaffenhausen, Germany. On display this week at the 2017 Geneva auto show, the new CTR, the fourth in the line of CTR (Group C, Turbo, Ruf) sports cars that began 30 years with the famous CTR “Yellowbird,” is billed as the first car with a carbon fiber tub and rear engine mounting. Its engine is a twin-turbocharged 3.6-liter flat-6 that Ruf’s engineers have tuned to deliver 700...
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Kahn Design Vengeance Volante debuts in Geneva, limited to 3 carsAfter debuting the WB12 Vengeance coupe to critical acclaim at the 2016 Geneva auto show, British outfit Kahn Design unveiled a new convertible version of the car at this year’s running of the Swiss show. The Vengeance is a coachbuilt marvel based on a brand new chassis of a donor Aston...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Aston Martin launches AMR performance sub-brandAston Martin has a new performance sub-brand leveraging the expertise of the Aston Martin Racing motorsport department. The sub-brand will go by the name AMR and offer high-performance derivatives of each model in the Aston Martin lineup. Cars from AMR benefit from enhanced performance, sharper...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Porsche listens, reunites 911 GT3 and manual trans for 2018Porsche 911 GT3 owners had every right to be angry after the 911 R debuted at the 2016 Geneva auto show. Not only did the R get an extra 25 ponies via the GT3 RS's 4.0-liter, 500-horsepower flat-6, it had what numerous GT3 owners wanted in the first place—a 6-speed manual transmission. A year...
Brandon Turkus -
Porsche tuner Ruf to unveil standalone sports car in GenevaFamous Porsche tuner Ruf has dabbled in standalone sports cars in the past, though these have all been based on models from Porsche’s regular fleet—the most recent being 2011’s CTR 3. At the 2017 Geneva auto show starting tomorrow, Ruf will present a new standalone sports car, one...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Alpine reveals 718 Cayman rival, confirms A110 nameThe long road to the market return of the Alpine sports car brand is almost over. It was in late 2012 that French automaker Renault announced plans to partner with British track car specialist Caterham to develop a platform to underpin a future sports car for Alpine and a similar model for...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Genovation Cars is intent on proving that electric cars can perform. Last year, the Rockville, Maryland, company set the standing mile record for a street-legal electric car and then the land speed record. Now it's at it again. Running its prototype Genovation GXE based on a C6 Chevrolet Corvette, the company set a new standing mile speed record and a new land speed record last week. The hits just keep coming. Taking off from a stop, with just a whisper from its EV powertrain, the GXE reached 209.0 mph at the Kennedy Space Center's Space Shuttle Landing Facility in Merritt Island Florida...
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Honda files patent for car inspired by 2&4 track car conceptIt appears that Honda might be serious about its wonderful Project 2&4 concept. If you're not familiar, this was a roadster originally shown to the public at the 2015 Frankfurt auto show. Honda designers developed a concept vehicle that attempted to bridge the gap between the world of...
Jeff Glucker -
Mercedes-AMG GT C Roadster Edition 50 to debut in GenevaMercedes-AMG is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2017, and the Affalterbach tuner has numerous models planned to mark the milestone. The first of these was the GT C Edition 50 that we saw at the 2017 Detroit auto show. At next month’s 2017 Geneva auto show, AMG will introduce the...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Aston Martin reveals first Red Bull Racing special editionsIt was in March of 2016 that Aston Martin announced a technical partnership with the Red Bull Racing Formula One team, the crowning glory of which is the upcoming AM-RB 001 hypercar whose development is being led by Red Bull’s expert aerodynamicist Adrian Newey. The hypercar isn’t due...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
2017 BMW M2 Performance Edition amps up already great carYesterday, Bimmerpost and BMW Blog spotted order code ZL9 for the 2017 BMW M2 in the U.S. BMW dealership ordering system. It specifies the 2017 M2 Performance Edition. We reached out to a spokesman from BMW, who confirmed that this limited edition package is indeed available to order at this time...
Kirk Bell -
Cigarette Racing celebrates Mercedes-AMG’s 50th with GT R-inspired speedboatThe folks at Florida's Cigarette Racing build some of the coolest-looking speedboats in the business, and the coolest of them all is the Marauder series. Stretching 51 feet and 7 inches in length, these come with not one but two top-of-the-line Mercury Racing V-8 engines delivering a combined 3,100...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Britain’s BAC, maker of the street-legal, single-seat Mono track car, now has an official presence in the United States. The Mono has been on sale in the U.S. since its 2011 launch, though until now the cars were sold through Sector 111 and other importers. Sector 111 is also the importer of one of the Mono’s main rivals, the Ariel Atom. A new BAC USA division has been established in Sonoma, California and headed up by Mark Rayner. BAC USA will handle partial assembly of the cars as well as sales and maintenance services for customers in the U.S. No pricing details have been...
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Hardcore BMW M4 ‘CS’ spotted during photo shootWhen BMW in January announced its round of mid-cycle updates for the M4, many, including us, were disappointed to learn there were no real changes apart from some tweaks to the lights and new colors. That’s because BMW is saving the M4’s more substantial updates for a new model tipped...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Alleged brochure for new Toyota Supra is fakeUpdate: The alleged brochure for the new Toyota Supra has turned out to be a fake. After some further digging, 'Motor.es' discovered that the scan was compiled using the original brochure from the MkIV Supra as well as some enthusiast magazines from Japan. Our original post is below. An image...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Porsche dealer hints at Cayman GT4 RS with 4.0-liter flat-6There have been rumors for years of an extra spicy “RS” version of the Porsche Cayman GT4, and now one of the automaker’s dealerships may have just confirmed it. Porsche Centre Brisbane recently posted a photo of a Cayman GT4 on its Instagram page along with the message that a...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Jannarelly reveals flip-up roof option for Design-1 sports carSports car startup Jannarelly is bowing to popular demand for an enclosed version of its first model, the deliciously retro Design-1. The company, which is based in Dubai, has revealed the design of a hard-top roof option (HT) in a series of computer-generated images. Jannarelly has also revealed a...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Fast camp: Take me to Porsches on iceDrivers dread the moment they effectively "run out of talent." That sinking feeling in the bottom of your stomach when a turn goes pear-shaped and the car goes sideways isn't exactly thrilling. For some, talent runs out on the day's last lap, when tires are hot and tensions are hotter. For others...
Aaron Cole