The 2009 Megane Trophy will go on sale at the end of the year in the form of kit after the completion of its development programme which will enable existing cars to be upgraded. The 2009 Renault Megane Trophy is based on the new Megane Coupe which is powered by the Renault-Nissan Alliance’s mid-rear 3.5-liter V6 24V engine that produces 360 hp. The front and rear light units and windscreen are from the Megane Coupe road car while flowing lines of the bodywork was designed from digital simulation technology to improve the aerodynamic. The Renault Megane Trophy features front splitter which channel air flow to the extractors and rear diffuser and wing that generated downforce. Downforce has improved by 20 % with the refinements to the set-up and drag was reduced by 15 % , which together, represent a gain of almost 40% in terms of the new car’s aerodynamic performance over the previous generation vehicle.
Apart from that, the Megane Trophy also features butterfly doors reminiscent of the world of GT and sports-prototype racing. The V6 3.5 24V engine is mated to a semi-automatic gearbox with the same mechanical features as the current car, including an FIA-homologated sports-prototype tubular chassis, steering wheel-mounted paddle shift, double wishbone suspension with adjustable dampers, 18-inch wheels and Michelin tires. The power of the standard 330 hp engine was boosted to 360 hp with the help from the new inlet manifold. Rebuild is still at every 5,500 km for the car’s reliability. According to Renault, with the new aerodynamic gains, the extra power from the engine will enable the 2009 Renault Megane Trophy to lap in similar times to those of a Porsche GT3.
Audi Sport will offer a racing sports car specifically developed for customer use in the form of the powerful 500 hp plus GT3 version of the Audi R8 which will be available from autumn 2009. The logistics and factory space required for the AUDI AG customer programme will be created over the next few months in Ingolstadt, Neckarsulm and Györ. The Audi R8 conforms to the production-based GT3 regulations allowing the car to be fielded in numerous national and international race series. Because the GT3 regulations prohibit the use of four-wheel drive the Audi R8 comes with the typical GT rear-wheel drive. The power is transmitted via a newly developed six-speed sequential sports gearbox. The suspension uses almost exclusively components from the production line. A comprehensive list of safety equipment guarantees the highest-level of passive safety. A modified front end and a large rear-wing generate the required downforce for the race track. The Audi R8, which bears the project name “R16” within Audi Sport, was developed under the direction of Audi Sport. Mid August, the first prototype successfully completed a roll-out in the hands of Audi factory driver Frank Biela.
Ferrari F430 is a sports car manufactured by Ferrari. The F430's brakes were collaboratively designed with Brembo. The F430 features E-Diff, a computer-controlled limited slip differential which enables to vary torque distribution based on inputs such as steering angle and lateral acceleration.
Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 Polizia, Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. donated a police version of the company’s newest super sports car to Prefect Antonio Manganelli, the head of the Italian State Police with a private ceremony was held at the Viminale Palace. The new Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 Polizia, which replaces the previous Lamborghini Gallardo Police Car in use by the Italian police force since 2004 has a 560 horsepower engine that can reach speeds of up to 203 mph. The car will begin service with the Lazio Highway Police Department in order to continue accident and crime prevention to sustain security on the Italian roads. Its predecessor is proof of Lamborghini’s outstanding product quality. Since 2004, Rome’s police force has had the first-generation Lamborghini Gallardo in regular police service. The sports car has clocked nearly 87,000 miles of patrol duty on the motorways of central and southern Italy, as well as on emergency medical transport detail.
The original ponycar wars have boomeranged back after forty years. Ford started it all with a retro-tasty Mustang, and Dodge and Chevrolet have rolled out new versions of the Challenger and Camaro to get in on the frenzy. Looking at the window sticker of any of these cars may seriously depress you. Your retired boomer Dad could swing it as a way to recapture the time before his potential was all used up, but you're not going to step into one of these things if the ink on your diploma has been dry for less than a year.
The Vision EfficientDynamics is a concept vehicle for future by BMW which is a low carbon hybrid supercar aiming to achieve the premium end of the auto market with its fuel-efficient design. A three-cylinder turbodiesel engine is empowering this vehicle supported by a couple of electric motors. This car can go 0-100 kilometers per hour in just 4.8 seconds with a top speed of 250 kmph and consumes 3.76 liters of diesel per 100 kilometers. It features an electric mode for day to day use that can be charged through plug-in module. The vehicle stores the power it lithium polymer cells, allowing it to drive for roughly 50km on a single charge, which can be extended through its regenerative breaking system.
Audi e-Tron Concept
BMW isn't the only company at Frankfurt looking to prove that green doesn't have to equal boring. Audi pulled the sheet off the e-Tron Concept — a fully electric car based on the mighty R8. The company also wasted no time in showing off a new V10 version of the car with 100 extra horsepower, but the e-Tron uses four electric motors to provide its power. You'd better sit down for the stats on this concept. Audi says the four motors put out a combined 313 horsepower and a jaw-dropping 3,319 lb-ft of torque. I kid you not — 3,319 lb-ft.
MINI Coupe Concept
The MINI name celebrated its 50th anniversary recently, and parent company BMW celebrated with two hot new concepts, one of which is a coupe. Whereas MINI has traditionally stuck to what works with its 5-passenger hatch, the new chopped concept allows room for only two. Fewer seats mean fewer pounds in a car that weighs next to nothing already, and BMW says a sharpened suspension and potent 4-cylinder engine make the Coupe Concept quicker than anything that MINI is currently producing. Will we ever see the new MINI on the street? Judging by the concept's overwhelmingly positive reception, we wouldn't be surprised.
Denis Manning along side of the BUB Seven Streamliner on the Bonneville Salt Flats - The "Seven" challenges the motorcycle land speed record using advanced NDI technology, OPTOTRAK PROseries Portable CMM. The sharp engineering team at BUB Racing Inc. plans to recapture the title of World's Fastest Motorcycle. Previously owning this title after setting a record at 350.884 mph, Denis Manning and his team plan to push the envelope at 400 mph! Caption & Image Credit: NDI Technology
BUB Seven Streamliner - Two-Wheels, No Wings - Flyin' To A New Record!
This week, Thursday, September 24, 2009 to be correct, a new World Land Speed Record (WLSR) for motorcycles was recorded on the late summer white pan of the Bonneville Salt Flats. The average speed attained over the 12-mile course was 367 miles per hour. Chris Carr piloted the Grass Valley-based bike for the BUB Racing team and this attempt bested the previous motorcycle land speed record of 360 mph set September 26, 2008, by Grass Valley driver Rocky Robinson aboard the Top 1 Oil supported Ack Attack.
In the back and forth world of record holding competitions ... the one to hold the WLSR for two-wheeled craft, loosely called motorcycles, is probably the most heated. First off, both teams herald from a small California town of Grass Valley (about a little more than half way between Sacramento and Lake Tahoe off of I-80 and CA-49). The two teams have been pursuing and trading the record on and off since about 2006.
The main connection to this saga has to be Denis Manning. Manning is a world renowned land speed racer who has designed and built some of the world’s fastest motorcycles. Amongst all of this Denis has continued to expand his own company, BUB Enterprises, to become a manufacturer of high quality performance exhaust systems for cruisers, sport bikes and ATV’s.
The name of the company has its own history - Manning has worked in the motorcycle industry for over 40 years and in his early years, he worked in a shop owned by motorcycle racer Dutch Mueller, who was also known as ‘The Flying Dutchman’. Denis was soon nicknamed BUB (‘Big Ugly Bastard’) and thus became the name behind the legend.
Image Credit: BUB Enterprises
In 1968 he built his first streamliner. In 1970, at the tender age of 24, Denis built the world record breaking Harley-Davidson streamliner that was ridden by the late Cal Rayborn at 265MPH. His racing career expanded from there, to building streamliners for Harley, Triumph, and Norton to name a few. In his career so far, Denis has designed and owned 6 of the 11 fastest motorcycles in history.
Enter Top 1 Oil and its association with Mike Akatiff, President of ACK Technologies, a downtown San Jose, manufacturer of general aviation avionics and sub-contracting services.
Akatiff has always had his hand in the motorcycle industry. He began his racing career with some success racing for the American Motorcycle Association in the 1960s. In 1971 he founded Ack Products Inc., where he designed and manufactured racing and custom motorcycle parts.
The Top 1 Ack Attack Streamliner bested the world record by 10 mph with a 360.913 mph run, which took place during the first annual TOP 1 Oil World Land Speed Shootout at the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah. The event was witnessed by an FIM official, but the record still awaits official FIM ratification. /// Just like the World's Fastest Indian, the Ack Attack Streamliner is essentially a motorcycle encased in an aerodynamic shell, with retractable "landing gear" wheels that fold up when it's in motion. The carbon fiber shell and a roll cage hide a chrome-moly frame, within which rests two heavily modified Hayabusa engines, displacing a combined 2.6 liters. Seven inch thick front and nine inch thick rear Mickey Thompson automotive tires lay the power to the ground. Image Credit: Top 1 Oil
Akatiff used about $100,000 of his own money and two years in the design and construction of the bullet-shaped Ack Attack motorcycle. The goal, After a campfire discussion with Bonneville veteran Sam Wheeler regarding his, then, 14-year pursuit in breaking the world land speed record, was to best a record that had stood since 1991 that had been set by ... Denis Manning.
So, on September 26, 2008, after five days of pushing their motorcycle streamliner to new limits on the salt flats of Bonneville, the TOP 1 ACK Attack team achieved what it came to do. Mike Akatiff, with driver Rocky Robinson and crew toppled the existing absolute FIM motorcycle world land speed record with a blistering 360.913 mph run. "Mike's design expertise is second to none," said Frank Ryan, TOP 1 Oil.
During the WLSR BUB Seven Streamliner record run this last week, Eric Manning, the son of the team's owner, reported that "Seven" recorded an exit speed of 372 mph and an overall top speed of 380 mph.
There was no word whether the Ack Attack team would be taking to the Salt Flats next week in order to try and take back the title of "World's Fastest Man on Two Wheels," which is now owned by Chris Carr of the BUB Seven Streamliner team. (article researched and written with the assistance of Wired, Top 1 Oil, and the internet)
The BMW GINA Light Visionary Model is a two-seater concept car. Incidentally GINA stands for Geometry and Functions in ‘N’ Adaptations. The car is built on the Z8 Roadster platform with its 5.0-liter V8. It consists of a flexible ’skin’ stretched over a metal wire structure enforced with carbon fiber. This gives the owner the flexibility to change the shape of the car as they please; to elucidate: the rear spoiler can be raised, while the rocker panels can effectively be bodykitted out. There is flexibility in the inside as well, the steering wheel and instrumentation sit within the centre console and slide into position when the driver pushes the start button. Apparently the car has been influenced by the infamous ‘flame-surfaced’ styling of BMW’s current lineup.
Yet the Light Visionary Model is not made of metal but of cloth. The virtually seamless stretch fabric is secured on a meshwork of metal wires that shields the movable substructure beneath.
Well guys...and gals...I have decided to expand a little and bring in some of the import world as well into the site. I love muscle cars don't get me wrong but there is just so much out there that I thought it would be nice to share with all of you some of that. Well here are some incentives to keep coming back ;) enjoy
