2016 Mercedes-Benz GT Could Deliver 493hp With 4.0-liter TT V8

The upcoming 2016 Mercedes-Benz GT, while not a true successor to the SLS AMG, will replace the SLS at the top of the Mercedes-Benz range. However, while the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG is only currently offered in a handful of different performance specifications, most notably the regular car and the Black Series, the car’s replacement could take the fight to the complete Porsche 911 range.

Sit atop of the 2016 Mercedes-Benz GT range will be a true competitor to the Porsche 911 Turbo. Currently pinned to be the first Mercedes-Benz to feature the brand’s new twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter modular V8, the range-topping GT should deliver around 493 hp. This engine is then set to be shared for the upcoming next-generation Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG also due out soon.

While peak horsepower of the Mercedes-Benz GT is down on the car it replaces, torque is said to remain around the same and thanks to the twin-turbocharges, peak torque should arrive below 2000 rpm. By comparison, peak torque on the SLS AMG is found at 4750 rpm.

Mated to this new engine is predicted to be a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox mounted with the rear axle assembly. Consequently, the GT is said to receive a 48-52 front-to-rear weight distribution. Thanks to the new supercars lightweight construction, the Mercedes-Benz GT could weight around 1550 kg, which is 145 kg less than the SLS AMG

According to reports, the 2016 Mercedes-Benz GT could debut at next year’s Formula One German Grand Prix before going on sale in 2015

Hamann Nervudo From Frankfurt 2013 Up For Sale

The outlandish Hamann Nervudo, based of course on the Lamborghini Aventador, which debuted at theFrankfurt Auto Show 2013, is up for sale. With a list price of 458,000 euros, it’s inevitable that this HamannNervudo will be purchased by a true supercar enthusiast. Either that or a wealthy person from the Middle East wanting to show off in London or Monaco.

The Hamann Nervudo receives a new two-piece front spoiler constructed from carbon fibre with air ducts to improve cooling of the brakes. The new side skirts contribute to the optimized aerodynamics, stabilising the airflow around the underbody. The inlet covers on the engine compartment supplies air to the engine and the glass panels allows a view inside to the engine. Alternatively, the package can be specified with visible carbon panels instead.

At the rear, the Hamann Nervudo gets a new rear spoiler, a new rear diffuser and a new rear spoiler, all finished in carbon fibre. Hamann has also developed a sports exhaust muffler specifically for the Nervudo with a special race variant which creates a flamethrower effect,.

• CHAPTERS

• 1. A curious sighting
• 2. Stuck in limbo
• 3. The element of surprise
• 4. Rust has won the battle

I love Japan – I really do. I wouldn’t have spent more than half my life here if I didn’t. But there are some peculiar things about this country which casual observers just wouldn’t understand. Japan can be a curious place that’s full of bizarre surprise. From the sheer differences between Eastern andWestern culture, to traditions and the weird things you come across during your day-to-day life. After a while that initial element of surprise slowly fades away; you continue to notice peculiarities, but – just like the locals – no longer give them more than a uninterested glance. Here’s a good example: if I happened to see a middle aged man dressed as a woman and sporting a disturbingly-short mini skirt as he casually awaits his stop on the train, it wouldn’t be anything that would particularly grab me. Live in Tokyo for some years and these sorts of things become frequent occurrences. Cars too, fall into this category. It’s actually come to the point where I just don’t even acknowledge exotics driving by anymore.

There are so many supercars out on the streets of the capital, and with the line of work that I’m in, even modified domestics have began to seem almost normal. Therefore, I can say the element of surprise is somewhat missing in my life. It’s not that I’m jaded, but more a case of being a little spoiled, if that makes any sense.

So I’m very glad that back in August, when I dropped by Rocky Auto to shoot its carbon Hakosuka, we decided to take the half-hour drive up to Watanabe-san’s private garage in the mountain area around his house. Because it was there – just a few kilometers from our destination – that I spotted abandoned Japanese classics scattered randomly across the hilly terrain on each side of the road, an culminating with a sudden high concentration of cars in a wide open space. So once I had finished photographing Watanabe’s garage…

… I just had to take the Lexus IS350 press car I was driving back down the road for a closer look.

It turned out that a long time ago this was a yard where Watanabe-san stored some of his stock. As business picked up he ended up moving his operation to the center of Okazaki city, while this area and the hills around it – which he owns – remained a space to keep cars he no longer needed.

After jumping a little fence I walked down the gravel path where a welcome sense of surprise hit me.

What the hell did I stumble on? But more to the point, ‘What a bloody waste.’

There is no hiding the fact that the sort of work Rocky Auto performs on vintage cars generally requires donor cars to be sacrificed. Engines need to come from somewhere…

… as do transmissions…

… and of course, the occasional body panel too. Over the years Watanabe-san has sourced an incredible number of donor cars – vehicles that were found at junkyards or bought cheaply at auction, like this four-door Skyline.

They have served their purpose and after being gutted they have been left here to rot away.

Cars Graveyard

Lets Visit a car Graveyard and say some prayer.

you can personely go.....



Morris.



California Callin 20 miles to go...


A rally car or something.




Shining like a dead mans eye!




Delux

Tiger doesnt scare me!!

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Renault Clio RS Cup first drive

Driven September 2013

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If you are concerned by reports lamenting the new Clio RenaultSport 200 - turbo four-pot, flappy-paddle gearbox and all - and its lack of fizz, this news will cheer you. Perhaps piqued by accusations of turning a bit soft, Renault has treated the new Clio RS to a full roll cage, giant rear wing, an extra 20bhp and, instead of the 200's cautious dual-clutch transmission, a straight-cut sequential 'box.

Fizz? This thing's got fizz like a chipped SodaStream. It howls like a kelpie, detonates its gearshifts like an elephant gun and corners with the force normally reserved for Thorpe Park's most vomitous rides. It is the hot new Clio we wanted. Job done.

OK, job not quite done. There is one minor issue. The Cup is in no way road legal. It is a track-only racer with slick-sticky tyres and five-point harnesses, and if you take it on a public highway, you shall be arrested and probed in the bottom and then fed to police dogs. But, for all that, it's a racer that shares an enormous amount with the hot MkIV Clio: shell, steering, engine (the only alterations are a new exhaust and airbox) and springs, though the ZF shocks are new. And you know what? The Clio racer feels unmistakably... RenaultSporty out on track: adjustable on the throttle, surprisingly compliant over the kerbs. A high-def hot hatch, if you will.

There is one other minor issue: drive it on a summer's day, and you will discover the Clio racer's cabin is slightly hotter than a rush-hour tube train on the planet Mercury. Gone is the standard car's weighty, wasteful aircon unit, replaced by a hole in the roof through which a few feeble spurts of outside air may occasionally huff into the cockpit. TopGear feels hospitalisation by dehydration is a small price to pay for those lock-and-load sequential gearchanges, activated from a pair of meaty steering-wheel paddles and approximately a million per cent more satisfying than the road-going Clio's plasticky shifters.

If you fancy a slice of Clio racer action, it doesn't come cheap: the car and entry into all eight rounds of the one-make series accompanying the 2014 BTCC circus will cost you around £45,000, while a race team, maintenance and replacement parts could set you back 80 grand a year. But Renault says that's mighty good value for a touring-car series just one tier below the BTCC.

But for those of us not seeking a springboard into professional racing, the Clio racer is proof there's a proper fast car trapped within the 200 RS. Of course, we'd love a road-going Clio with huge spoilers, more power and a roll cage, but, in truth, all it really needs is a gearbox infused with some of that race-car fightiness...

Sam Philip

The numbers
1618cc, 4cyl turbo petrol, FWD, 217bhp, 199lb ft, n/a mpg, n/a g/km CO2, 0-62mph in n/a secs,, n/a mph, 1065kg, £36,000

The verdict
The wildest Renault since, erm, the TwinRun concept we drove. But much cheaper and not quite so bad if you crash it. Ace

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Nissan 370Z Nismo driven

Driven September 2013

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Time to set the record straight: Nismo isn't the equivalent of BMW's M or Audi's RS divisions. Those are the words straight from Nissan's very own mouth. No, the buzzword over there is now "accessible performance", which is why this new 370Z Nismo isn't a fire-spitting, spine-shattering loon. Disappointed?

If such Marketing Newspeak as "accessible performance" chills your enthusiasm, park it for a moment and take in the facts. This new Zed is a tweaked version of Nissan's big-hearted, lovable ol' lug of a sports coupe, showing off a little bit of what Nismo is capable of.

As such, the tweakery begins underneath. The 3.7-litre V6 gets a remapped ECU and a new dual exhaust system, liberating a few extra horses. Power and torque both rise marginally - to 340bhp and 274lb ft, respectively - while the shocks are 23 per cent stiffer at the front and 41 per cent at the back. The front springs are also more rigid - 14 per cent more, in fact - and the whole car sits 10mm lower.

Then you get a new set of 19in lightweight alloys (0.8kg and 0.1kg lighter front and back), coupled to a proper, functional aero bodykit. No trinketry here: the new front splitter, rear diffuser and lovely rear wing help bring about negative lift (which, in Normalspeak, is downforce) for added stability.

A lot of intent, and, in practice, it has made the car... a fraction more agile, a smidgen harder, a whisker sharper. The steering, never the most talkative rim in the world of sports coupes, is nevertheless more responsive, and the ride feels tauter, harder but not painful. The fine damping will no doubt absolve the need for any post-hot-footed-drive surgery.

Saying that, it can still act the nut if you will it hard enough - the uncouth, tail-happy hooligan we've all come to admire is still ingrained within its DNA. Give it a bootful around a corner, and you can indulge in the kind of crass behaviour conservative Britain frowns upon.

The drivetrain is the first of two disappointments, then. The dual exhaust system hasn't extracted a snarling 'midnight racer' soundtrack. In fact, there's no noticeable difference between this and the standard car, meaning the 3.7-litre's lazy drone will frustrate after a while. Plus, we were kind of expecting more, y'know, poweeerrr...

The second is the price. This car costs a not-inconsiderable £36,995. That's £2.7k off a standard Porsche Cayman, and although the comparison is a tad unfair, the pricing pushes the Nismo into dangerous territory. Sure, you get bags of kit - every option is standard on the Nismo Z, including satnav, rear parking and so on - but it's not really worth £10k more than a standard 370Z, and extra kit isn't reall

"There's an inevitability that everything in the future will be electric. I expect to see some form of electrification on the next generation of car in some form, like hybridisation.Turns out that the Leaf wasn't such a bad idea after all, because Nissan can use its electric knowhow to add important things like more SPEED and POWER to the GT-R. This is the plan for the car's next generation, as confirmed yesterday by engineering, sales and marketing boss Andy Palmer.

"Electric systems can fill in the gaps in the torque curve and offer genuine performance gains, as well as lowering emissions and improving fuel economy. It's win-win. Internal combustion is self-limiting, and the future is electric. That's sacrilege to some, but it's engineering fact."

Don't panic, though - Palmer's promised us that the GT-R won't turn into a denim-growing yoghurt weaver, and any electro injections will only serve to add more performance. Which, as we know fromJeremy's drive in the McLaren P1, can produce staggering results.

"Our performance benchmark is still our 'Ring time, and we expect to see it come down each year with every improvement we make to every model year. That includes any hybrid models in the future."