September 9th, 2010 | 
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You can always count on LA Lakers forward Ron Artest to do something that gets him in the headlines. And on the same breath, you can always count on TMZ to be right there in the middle of the action – whether its taking the actual photos or obtaining them from somebody else.
Recently, Artest was flagged by an LA police cruiser while he was driving an Eagle Roadster. Yeah, you know that over-sized go-kart, right? It’s got a 3.5-liter Chrysler V6 engine that produces 253 horsepower with a four-speed automatic transmission, hits 0-60 mph in just 4.2 seconds, and has a top speed of 152 mph.
Apparently – at least according to TMZ – Artest was pulled over because the registration on the Eagle Roadster was expired. What’s more, the car wasn’t even registered to the quirky Laker, but from some dude who lives in Tennessee.
Artest, though, was eventually sent on his way, but not before this photo caught him smiling during the entire proceedings. Only Ron Artest can get away with something like this, which leads us to believe that him and Los Angeles really are made for each other.
LA Lakers forward Ron Artest gets pulled over while driving an Eagle Roadster originally appeared on topspeed.com on Thursday, 9 September 2010 19:00 EST.
The future Chevrolet Camaro Z28 has been caught testing again, this time somewhere in San Diego. The car is expected to be unveiled in 2011, with sales to begin in 2012.
Under the hood there will be GM’s 6.2-liter supercharged V8 that produces 556HP and that was also used in the Cadillac CTS-V. Stopping power will come from the 6-piston front and 4-piston rear calipers.
The 2012 Camaro Z28, already confirmed by GM will be will be distinguished by enlarged air intakes at the extreme, a larger bubble on the hood to make room for the supersized engine, quad exhaust with dual pipes on each side, rims inspired by the ones from the CTS-V, and 20″ SP550 anodized black (20×10 in the front and 20×11 in the rear) wrapped in Goodyear tires.
Previous rumors suggest that the Z28 version will be built on a new Alpha platform (and not the Zeta like the current car).
Camaro Z28 spied in San Diego originally appeared on topspeed.com on Thursday, 9 September 2010 17:00 EST.
Multiple Operational Units Brought Together Under One Roof in New State-of-the-Art Facility Minutes from Airport
In what has become a tradition for Red Bull on the week leading up to a Formula One Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel – and sometimes, Mark Webber – once again sits on the team’s race track simulator to give us a lay-out of the Monza racetrack for this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix.
With the most unpredictable Formula One season in recent memory, the upcoming Italian Grand Prix is going to be a crucial race for all the championship contenders – at this point in the season, five drivers are still very much in contention – all of whom are looking to win the race and bolster their chances of winning the 2010 Driver’s Championship.
Despite being a neophyte compared to his competition, Vettel knows full well the importance of this race to catch up on the 31-point deficit he has to points leader, Lewis Hamilton. Let’s just hope that while showing us the lay-out of Monza in this video, he makes mental notes on how he’s going to attack the track come race day.
Video: Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel takes us for a ride at the Monza race track originally appeared on topspeed.com on Thursday, 9 September 2010 15:00 EST.
Underground Racing will unveil a Lamborghini Murcielago LP670-4 Super Veloce Twin Turbo at the upcoming Paris Auto Show. And this is the first video that, unfortunately, reveals next to nothing from the car, but that proves the upgraded Lamborghini will be fast as hell! Under the hood there will be no less than 1100 HP that, when powered with racing fuel, can get 1300hp!
Underground Racing’s Murcielago won’t be the only supercar attending the party as Lamborghini has already stated that the next and last Murcielago will also be making its appearance known at the Paris Auto Show. The Lamborghini Murcielago LP 670-4 SuperVeloce will be the last version of the Murcielago built, but it’s also going to be the most powerful Murcielago ever. With 670 hp and a weight reduction of 220 lbs, the LP 670-4 SV makes the 0 to 60 mph sprint in 3.2 seconds and can hit a top speed of 212 mph. This is shaping up to be an extraordinary show!
Video: 1100 HP Lamborghini Murcielago twin-turbo originally appeared on topspeed.com on Thursday, 9 September 2010 14:00 EST.
Posted in Lamborghini, Lamborghini Murcielago, Paris Motor Show, Supercars / Exotic cars, coupe, video | 
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When it comes to the successor for the Ferrari Enzo we’ve heard all kinds of rumors. However, we can now clear some of those up as Ferrari S.p.A. Chairman, Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, himself not only talks about the future car, but also about the company’s future.
The next Enzo will be revealed in 2012 and it “will incorporate the state of the art of our knowledge in terms of increasing performances while reducing fuel consumption and emissions. It will then influence all Ferraris that appear after it.” Under the hood there will be the same gasoline-hybrid technology that is found in the Vettura Laboratorio HY-KERS concept that was unveiled in March at the Geneva Auto Show. As for the car’s design language, it was previewed in 2007 by the Millechili concept.
Luca Cordero di Montezemolo also confirmed that Ferrari will be about “fast cars and fast trains – and no politics”, and that despite his 63 years of experience in life, he will continue working for Ferrari: “I want to shape the next product cycle at Ferrari to assure a bright future at a company that has been inextricably intertwined with my life.”
Next Ferrari Enzo will be hybrid originally appeared on topspeed.com on Thursday, 9 September 2010 11:00 EST.
Understanding what makes consumers tick is a critical advantage to how a car manufacturer develops its cars. It’s not enough that you can produce an amazing car, but you also need the insight of the very same people who will be forking over their hard-earned money to purchase the very same car you’re trying to sell.
The approach Chevrolet is using in the development of the Camaro is just that; providing customers a chance to give their two cents on what makes your car awesome and, at the same time, what improvements need to be made to make it, well, more awesome.
In this video, Chevrolet introduces us to the “15 Disciples”, a group of people from all walks of life who are all heavily invested in the development of the Camaro. These enthusiasts, which were chosen by Chevrolet four years ago, give Chevrolet engineers feedback on what they’d want to see in the muscle car and what needs to be added – or deducted – to the car to make it more enjoyable to drive.
The video pretty much shows us the importance of consumer feedback for these auto brands simply because it is through these comments and suggestions that companies like Chevrolet begin to understand how to build and develop their cars with an ear out on those people that will buy it. After all, the name of the game is still to sell cars, and if you’ve got a model that has input from a wide-range of people of different tastes, chances are, you’re going to sell these cars hand over fist.
Consumers put in their two cents in the development of the Chevrolet Camaro originally appeared on topspeed.com on Thursday, 9 September 2010 10:00 EST.
The highly-anticipated arrival of the Bugatti Veyron slayer, the SSC Ultimate Aero II, is fast approaching. We’ve seen a few spy photos of the America supercar, but now it looks like Top Gear Magazine may have done all of us better. A lot better.
In the October issue of Top Gear, the magazine was given full access by Shelby Supercars to get as much load as they can on the Ultimate Aero II, the one car that is expected to make a run at the Veyron Supersport speed record for a production car.
Needless to say, we’re all geeked up to see the American powerhouse in action, and while the sight of the Jason Castriota-designed machine is still a ways away, we can take comfort in salivating over the new photos of the Ultimate Aero II that will make their way to the October issue of Top Gear magazine.
SSC Ultimate Aero II to appear in October issue of Top Gear Magazine originally appeared on topspeed.com on Thursday, 9 September 2010 09:00 EST.
Sorry, BMW. Despite your best efforts in telling everyone to not “blog about this”, we just can’t help it. To be fair, your message is counterintuitive because the sheer message alone is compelling enough that we do, in fact, have to blog about it.
In case you folks don’t know what we’re talking about, there’s a new website that was launched recently that calls itself, “Don’t Blog About This”. When you go to the site, you’ll notice that the website may have come from BMW because the only thing the entire site shows are two photos and two teaser videos of what appears to be a BMW 6-Series concept. The concept itself is hard to identify, but judging from the photos, the car, which has been dressed in matte black, looks to be an entirely new concept that we haven’t seen before.
How do we even know if this is a BMW-owned site? Well, we put on our detective hats and did some digging – we actually just clicked the site’s legal disclaimer – and found this message: “BMW Group appreciates your interest in its products and your visit to this website.”
No surprises there.
Anyway, we have no idea what this whole gimmick is about other than it could be a new concept that BMW is planning on unveiling sooner than later. And with the Paris Motor Show coming up in a few weeks, we’ll even bet a few stones that this mysterious concept somehow finds itself on the showroom floor.
A Second Glimpse after the jump
BMW’s "DontBlogAboutThis" website shows mysterious 6-Series originally appeared on topspeed.com on Thursday, 9 September 2010 07:00 EST.
It’s not really news, but it sure is heart warming in an odd sort of way. A very odd sort of way in fact because, as your heart is warming, your brain is telling you that very soon, your life might be in danger. It’s sort of like drinking whiskey. At this point you may be asking yourself, What are they talking about?”
A Korean woman, Cha Sa-soon, finally passed her driving test after the 960th try. The 69-year-old had to go through a 50-minute, 40-question test in order to pass. She had taken this test once a day since April 2005, but failed every time, until now.
When local news outlets got the story, it grabbed the attention of Hyundai-Kia. As a sort of graduation present, Kia gave the woman a brand-new Kia Soul. Persistence does pay off in the end. Just think, millions will now have to share the road with her and her new car. People would think that after 960 attempts, the woman would have a pretty good idea as to what to do – and what not to do – on the road. However we advise all of South Korea to buckle up, just in case.
Korean Woman Passes Driving Test After 960 Tries originally appeared on topspeed.com on Thursday, 9 September 2010 06:00 EST.
We already know a little about Subaru’s future because of the highly anticipated FT-86 that Subaru has developed with Toyota. However, that is not the only card in Subaru’s hand. Subaru will be unveiling the sports coupe in 2012, but will also be bringing out a hybrid version of the Impreza and improved versions of almost all of their models.
The first, and most awaited model, is the two-door coupe developed in cooperation with Toyota. The exterior of Subaru’s version will differ from the Toyota and will be powered by either Subaru’s 2.0-liter, four-cylinder engine or the 2.5-liter turbocharged engine from the Impreza STI. The sports car developed by Toyota is a RWD model, and the buzz says that Subaru’s version will also be FWD. This is a little surprising for some considering all of Subaru’s vehicles are all-wheel drive, but for cost reasons, this feature just wasn’t practical.
The Impreza will be redesigned for the 2012 model year with bodies created by new design chief Osamu Namba. There are reports that the Impreza will have a hybrid variant, with Subaru getting hybrid technology from Toyota.
As for the other models in the line-up, a new-generation Forester will be revealed this November, the Tribeca will be refreshed in 2012. The Outback and Legacy won’t be seeing a facelift until 2014.
Subaru plans to expand its line-up by 2012 originally appeared on topspeed.com on Thursday, 9 September 2010 02:00 EST.
Ferrari needs to thank its lucky stars after a meeting with the FIA World Motor Sport Council today in Paris. The meeting was held to discuss whether Ferrari should face further punishments after team orders allowed Fernando Alonso to overtake Felipe Massa.
The team was already fined $100,000 for the incident, but no further sanctions would be imposed on the Italian race team. Did you expect anything less? Ferrari is obviously very important to Formula One and we never expected them to be forced to sit out a race, especially with Monza, a home race for the team, coming up next week.
Ferrari claimed that Massa decided to move over and allow Alonso by, even though the radio transmission, stating that Alonso was faster and if he understood the message was quite clear. Ferrari engineer Rob Smedley apologized to Massa after he lost the lead. We can’t image how that could have been taken as anything, but team orders.
No Further Punishments Handed To Ferrari originally appeared on topspeed.com on Wednesday, 8 September 2010 22:00 EST.
The all-new 2011 Bentley Continental GT was just recently shown online. We got to see some pretty pictures and all that, but nothing shows us a car’s true looks and sound than a good video, and that’s just what we have.
There isn’t a whole lot of action in the video, but we do get to see the car up close and personal. The car will be making its first official debut at the Paris Motor Show, which we will be covering. Under the hood will be a W12 with 567 horsepower. Floor the fast pedal and you will be able to hit 198 miles per hour, but if you go down a hill you might hit the magic 200.
Some of the features include climate-controlled seats and a touchscreen for all the car’s toys and gizmos. Chances are the new GT will be pretty sensational, but we will have to wait and see.
Hit the jump to see the video.
2011 Bentley Continental GT Shown In Video originally appeared on topspeed.com on Wednesday, 8 September 2010 20:00 EST.
Too long have we been under the German and Italian wave of performance cars. Too long have we been forced to drive, in Germany’s case, their perfectly engineered soulless rocket ships. Too long have we had to drive gorgeous cars that catch fire from Italy. We want something fast, hardcore, and from an Allied nation. Britain and team McLaren to the rescue.
Let’s start with the name shall we. It might sound stupid, like BMW’s constant use of numbers that mean nothing to the normal person. Is the 750i better than a 760 or a 740? In this case though, the name has some serious weight behind it. The MP4 should ring a mental bell for those of you who love and follow Formula One. Every Vodafone McLaren racing car carries the name MP4 along with it. That should give us some sort of understanding as to how the new car performs.
The 12C aspect of the car isn’t that historical. In fact, it’s not very exciting at all. The C stands for carbon and the 12 for to McLaren’s internal Vehicle Performance Index. See, pretty boring stuff. Despite this, we are about as excited as a child during Christmas to learn more about this new McLaren.
Hit the jump to keep reading.
Attack of the British: The McLaren MP4-12C originally appeared on topspeed.com on Wednesday, 8 September 2010 18:00 EST.
Posted in McLaren MP4-12C, Mclaren, Supercars / Exotic cars, TopSpeed Garage, coupe |
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Ownership of TVR has changed hands a couple of times, with the future of the company changing with each signature placed on the dotted line. Recently, sometime in June 2010, it was announced that TVR would be working together with Gullwing – a specialist German firm – to prepare a new model that would start production in September 2010. Well, here we are in September, and we haven’t heard a thing about the new model.
Turns out, Jurgen Mohr – a former TVR owner and now Gullwing chief – and TVR boss Nikolai Smolenski were unable to reach an agreement on the terms of the new model and so TVR has decided to move along on its own. Its creation is said to be a roadster model featuring a Corvette V8 engine.
Apparently, the new model will be designed by TVR man, David Martin, and will most likely be built in UK, but TVR secretary James Oxley said “we’re keeping our options open.”
As for the engine to be placed under the hood, Smolenski said “We looked at every engine available — including making our own — and decided that the Corvette was the most powerful off-the-shelf design going. Fitting it to our chassis allows us to meet all current regulations and is not too big a step.”
TVR prepares new Corvette V8-engined roadster originally appeared on topspeed.com on Wednesday, 8 September 2010 16:00 EST.
Ever since Chevrolet brought back the Camaro, there has been a debate about which was the better car. We have made our opinion known – we picked the Mustang hands down – and now Consumer Reports has picked as well. The magazine has chosen the Ford.
When it was first launched, the Camaro outsold the Mustang, but it didn’t last for very long. The 2011 Mustang easily outsold the Camaro by over 1000 units. Amazingly though, Americans still love the Camaro, as it has kept up with the Mustang in 2010.
The 2011 V6 Mustang features a 3.7-liter V6 with 305 horsepower and 31 miles per gallon on the highway, compared to the Camaro’s 312 horsepower and 29 mpg. The magazine said that the Mustang is more fun to drive, where as the Camaro seems to have lost its fun factor. They also said that the Mustang was quicker and more economical.
CR also preferred the handling of Mustang, stating that it had “good steering and little body lean.” They weren’t as nice to the Camaro, saying that it felt “relatively ungainly, with slower steering response than the Mustang.”
This wasn’t the first win for the Mustang, as the GT model took top honors over the V8 Camaro.
Consumer Reports Picks Mustang Over Camaro originally appeared on topspeed.com on Wednesday, 8 September 2010 14:00 EST.
You know a major auto event is just around the corner when auto brands begin dropping teaser photos of concept cars that they’re planning to unveil at the auto show.
It just so happens that the Paris Motor Show is coming up in a few weeks’ time, so right on cue, the teasers are coming out by the loads.
The latest automaker to come out with a new teaser is the Lion brand, Peugeot, which seems to be bringing with them a mysterious futuristic concept to the Paris Motor Show. The three photos leave a lot to be desired in terms of showing more of the concept to us. But from what we got, it looks like this concept has got the makings of a looker when it makes its debut at the end of the month in Paris.
More details are expected from Peugeot before the show floor opens so until then, these teaser photos should serve our imaginations well in thinking of what kind of concept Peugeot has in store for us. Anyone with any ideas as to what we will find from Peugeot at the show, please feel free to share them in the comments section.
Peugeot releases teaser images on new concept car originally appeared on topspeed.com on Wednesday, 8 September 2010 13:00 EST.
The last commercial we saw from Lexus was none other than the “Pursuit of Perfection” which featured the LF-A shattering a crystal glass with the use of its “perfect pitch”. And since Lexus is a good display of class and creativity, they have released another commercial that highlights the musical talents of the new IS sedan. The spot is called “Music Track” and features “122 percussion instruments arranged to create a precision-driving course full of angles and straightaways.” Each instrument comes equipped with a lever that is positioned to allow the cruising IS sedan to press it as it passes by. This positioning allows the Ultrasonic Blue 2011 Lexus IS sport sedan to become a master musician with each note it creates.
The commercial highlights the precision of the IS sedan, but the main man behind the wheel of the luxury vehicle is professional stunt driver, Eddie Braun. Together, the car and man duo are successful at playing each note without even coming close to knocking any of the instruments over. Nicely played, Lexus.
Video: Lexus IS – Music Track originally appeared on topspeed.com on Wednesday, 8 September 2010 11:00 EST.
If there’s one thing history has taught us, it’s that there will always be turncoats; people who turned their back on allies, friends, and even fans for the allure of chasing their personal goals. Benedict Arnold did it before when he defected to the British Army during the American Revolutionary War and more recently, star athlete LeBron James burned the hearts of Cleveland by “taking his talents” to Miami.
And now, if you ask Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson, you can add Ben Collins’ name to that list.
In a recent taped interview, Clarkson wasted little time in talking about the controversial Collins and how he was felt deeply betrayed by what the masked test driver did. At the same event, although not captured on video, the affable host of Top Gear even went as far as calling the latter “The Greedy Twat” to emphasize what he really felt about the man who outed himself as The Stig, the mysterious and enigmatic test driver of the hit BBC show, and in the process turned his back on the show that, ironically, made him famous.
Check out the entire video interview over at Witney TV and skip all the way to the 27-minute mark to listen to Clarkson talk about Ben Collins in his own words.
Jeremy Clarkson hurt by Ben Collins’ decision to out himself as The Stig originally appeared on topspeed.com on Wednesday, 8 September 2010 10:00 EST.
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